Medusa's Snakes in Cyberspace

L.Detweiler is an extremely prolific writer and building a tight organization of his dozens of posts even in only one vein is a herculean task. This is a fairly comprehensive organized collection of his posts on cypherpunk philosophy, "pseudospoofing" and "pseudoanonymity" etc. (use of fake identities in cyberspace), which altogether comprise only a small facet of his writings, but which for some unaccountable reason are the conduit by which he has achieved the most infamy^h^h^h^h^h^h attention.

Detweiler's Greatest Hits: The diverse, complex, classic, original, almost-sane L.D. masterpieces (Cryptoanarchist Glossary, Joy of Pseudospoofing, Cypherwonk Charter, How do I Trust Thee? etc.) that elevate his status far beyond mere pedestrian crankdom and have earned him high esteem in the cyberspatial ranters' hallowed hall of fame.
Blacknet: The sinister shadows of the cypherpunks: pornography distribution, tax evasion, money laundering, guerilla tactics, and insurrectionism. Also as an added bonus at no extra charge: espionage, propaganda, disinformation, brainwashing. And that's not all! "psychopunks" as Nazis.
The Psychology of Pseudospoofing: Glimpses of L.D.'s early, overly serious, only mildly-annoying musings and seeds of cypherpunk nose-thumbing and ranting about pseudospoofing. With L.D.'s mounting frustration beginning to leak visibly, this section probably gives the best time-lapse snapshots of the Birth of the Vitriolic Ranter including the characteristic vocabulary introducing the timeless terminology of Medusa and the Tentacles, etc.
L.D. vs. the Psychopunks: The story of why L.D. is so beloved by cypherpunks, particularly the "emminent leaders", for his obsession with pseudospoofing. Many posts here appeared under the "S.Boxx" pseudonym and other variations.
Paranoia Runs Deep: L.D. explores the paranoia, conspiracy, and persecution theme, a raw nerve and sizzling hot button of the cypherpunk crowd (in case of tranquility, press button for flames).
The Mendacious Media: L.D. takes on Wired Magazine et. al. for the crime of cypherpunk complicity.
Tentacle Tidbits: An L.D. grab bag: Jim Riverman, L.D.'s software engineer alter ego, displays an early spam script; L.D. poses as the first Zen Master of cyberspace; also, some of the most tasteless, scathing, rabid S.Boxx rants ever to ooze, boil, and snarl through the wires.

Detweiler's Greatest Hits

Detweiler styles himself as a "cyberspatial editorial cartoonist". The caricature he presents to cyberspace is virtually unparalleled in sheer bizarre uniqueness and screeching rant content. Readers will continue to debate his sanity long into the future.

on the CYPHERPUNKS, PSEUDOSPOOFING, and POISON: An essay from late 1993 by Detweiler that was a prelude to his deep explorations into "pseudospoofing" and the more subversive cypherpunk ideals. Quotes various cypherpunks with anti-democratic and pro-identity-subversion sentiments, with an emotional and melodramatic opening that hints at his oncoming descent into madness.
The Joy of Pseudospoofing: This essay introducing and explaining the complex psychology and mechanics of pseudospoofing was originally posted to the cypherpunk list in its earliest form, and later sent to respondents of L.D.'s RISKs article, and finally slightly revised to this last version.
THE CRYPTOANARCHIST GLOSSARY (1/2), (2/2): Probably L.D.'s most intricate satirical masterpiece. L.D. put together an entire "glossary" of cypherpunk terms, reformulating their common definition according to the hidden cypherpunk dogma he claimed to have uncovered. Posted around the time that L.D. began satirizing cypherpunk writings such as the Cypherpunk Manifesto written by T.C.May.
Apocalypse Now (Wed, 24 Nov 93): L.D. announces the formation and charter of his new splinter group, "the Cypherwonks", actually cofounded by J.Helsingius. The charter emphasizes cooperation and honesty and trumpets one of Detweiler's pet projects of "electronic democracy".
...Into your life it will creep: An evocative poem by S.Boxx expressing his hopes and torments, "Why do I trust thee", sent to his many admirers on the cypherpunk/cypherwonk lists.

Blacknet

Blacknet is the name for a fictitious cyberspatial espionage organization, invented by T.C.May, cofounder of the cypherpunks group. L.D. harped on the criminal and covert aspects of this "experiment", asserting they embodied the true cypherpunk vision of "cryptoanarchy". L.D. also frequently drew parallels in what he considered as the true cypherpunk agenda to the Nazi Germany military and intelligence apparatuses. T.C.May is a millionare from shrewd investment of a fortune made in chip fabrication at Intel, and is now retired. L.D. tended to portray his wealth as a sinister influence on his associates. (Rumors abound that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has actually interviewed people about Blacknet, including Detweiler.)

Introduction to Blacknet: T.C.May wrote this introduction to Blacknet around early 1993. He generally refuses to discuss his motivations in inventing it, now calling it a "joke" or an "experiment". However L.D. considers it intrinsic to T.C.May's actual philosophy: bringing espionage organizations to cyberspace, and hence L.D.'s claim that the actual cypherpunk agenda is really something like "assymetric privacy", i.e. strong encryption for those who encrypt it and exploitation of those who don't. L.D. once mischievously flooded Usenet with anonymous posts of the announcement with a different key, to prevent the real owner from decoding replies encoded with the decoy key. T.C.May subsequently brought up the subject of trying to build up the trust of an anonymous organization such as Blacknet on the cypherpunk list.
Pornographic GIFS (Wed, 6 Oct 19): L.D. claimed the cypherpunks were interested in promoting pornography in cyberspace. This is a post from T.C.May that lends credence to the claim. The use of anonymous remailers in a so-called "experiment" is very characteristic. L.D. claims that the T.C.May experiments are actually prototype tests for real cypherpunk design goals.
DEATH TO CYBERANARCHISTS: L.D. believed that "Nick Szabo" (szabo@netcom.com) was a "tentacle" or a front for various cryptoanarchists to post from. L.D. dissects an actual Szabo post here under the S.Boxx pseudonym, but misattributed it to J.Gilmore in a typical mischievous mood. The references to untraceable digital cash are classic cypherpunk. The pornography allusions are rarer but tie in with the T.C.May pornography post above.
Cryptoanarchist Manifesto (Wed, 17 Nov 93): The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto is T.C.May's elucidation of the cypherpunk goals of cyberspatial "privacy". Here L.D. satirizes the propaganda piece under the pseudonym "Eric May" (combination of Hughes and May's names).
A Psychopunk's Manifesto (Tue, 16 Nov 93): Satire of the E.Hughes cypherpunk treatise that emphasizes programming labor as the primary goal, posted under "Tim Hughes". L.D. noted that E.Hughes and T.C.May are in constant conflict over what mailing list traffic should comprise: cryptographic political issues (May) or cryptographic programming (Hughes). But they are unified in the interest of using cryptographic technology and politics to undermine what they consider the "tyranny of the majority" supposedly implicit to democratic government (T.M. overtly and E.H. covertly).

Cypherpunks as Nazis

L.D. frequently hammered the "Cypherpunk = Nazism" theme over a series of S.Boxx posts. He used the Nazi menace as a metaphor for the dangers of a society that embraces the philosophy of technology without morality. L.D. continually asserted that the techniques for subterfuge the cypherpunks used in cyberspace were inherently very dangerous and the kind of devices used in espionage and propaganda operations intrinsic to warfare. L.D.'s favorite and overused adjective here is, of course, insidious.

Nazi counterespionage in Holland: L.D.'s most graphic and disturbing example of the dangers of "pseudoanonymity": the story of Operation North Pole, an actual German intelligence and counterespionage operation that erected an extensive fictitious "pseudospoofing" network via radio to foil Allied operations. L.D. got major mileage and T.C.May exasperation out of this one by changing the subject and introduction ("cyberanarchy hall of fame: Nazi counterespionage in Holland 1942-1943", "1993 NAZI ACHIEVEMENT OF THE YEAR AWARD: THE CYPHERPUNK LIES") and posting on the cypherpunks list and various newsgroups such as alt.conspiracy and soc.culture.jewish. This was very close to the "straw that broke the camel's back" and L.D. soon lost his Helsingius anonymous account.
THE GLORIOUS 1000 YEAR CRYPTOANARCHIST REICH: Satire of an actual T.C.May post that is quite uncharacteristically overt about promoting criminality such as black marketeering, tax evasion, prostitution, etc. Also a good example of how May's ideas seem to seek to extend existing Mafia infrastructures into cyberspace. On the cypherpunks list T.C.May has also explored the idea of using anonymous remailers to reduce the risk of hiring assassins. T.C.May has also remarked on the effects that cryptoanarchy would have on police mafia informants ("traitors" in Mayspeak), saying their witness relocation protection could be nullified in an atmosphere of information thievery, and speculated that they could be hunted down for revenge more readily.

The Psychology of Pseudospoofing

L.D. explored the endless implications of pseudospoofing in a barrage of volleys to the cypherpunks list and elsewhere in cyberspace, including relationships and properties of identity, reputations, and signatures, the latter also considered at length relative to the Zimmermann's PGP cypherpunk-dreamware. He emphasized the subtle but basic distinction of pseudoanonymity, defined as the situation where the receiving party in a communication is unaware that a message "could be from anyone" (i.e. deceived into thinking "it comes from someone other than those I know"), as opposed to "legitimate" pseudonymity where the receiver is aware the source is a pseudonym (but not the identity of course), and anonymity, where the receiver is aware the message "could be from anyone".

L.D. believed that the use of fake identities in cyberspace was at best disingenuous and at worst dishonest or even dangerous. He pointed out frequently that the use of a name to identify people is a complex social convention that has evolved over centuries and that disrupting or abandoning these implicit but nonetheless prominent standards might have unseen, hazardous ramifications. He asserted that "reputation", which the cypherpunks claim to uphold, is closely intertwined with identification.

To challenge a philosophy espoused by some cypherpunks, "there is only a message", i.e. the "messenger" is irrelevant, he pointed out that even cypherpunks must believe that reputations associated with identity are valuable because they complain when they are misquoted. L.D. entered the period of referring to the cypherpunks as "poisonous hypocrites" and began to unleash and deploy his fearsome arsenal of incendiary devices.

on the term `signature' (Sun, 24 Oct 93): In an uncharacteristically civil mood viewed in retrospect, here L.D. suggests that the term "digital signature" is actually a misnomer in terminology in use by the cypherpunks because it doesn't share critical features and fulfill the same assumptions made of handwritten signatures.
Real Identity: valid or worthless? (Tue, 09 Nov 93): An early, embryonic L.D. rant on the subject of reputations, sulking that cypherpunks are "thieves" who "steal reputation" through the use of fake identities. Probably one of the first posts using L.D.'s famously enduring imagery such as "psychopunks" and "poisonous hypocrisy".
the Tragedies of Pseudospoofing (Thu, 11 Nov 93): L.D. loved to post a searing rant, start a flamewar, and then next write nonchalantly as if nothing had happened. This "Jekyll and Hyde" personality persists in his writing and broke forth dynamically in the pseudonymous writings of S.Boxx. Here he suggests that the cypherpunks have no friends and miss out on all kinds of opportunities in life because of their paranoid preoccupations with secrecy.
pseudopools (Sun, 14 Nov 93): In a short one-two-three punch of posts one night, L.D. blasted a "pseudopool" practice he suspected his enemies of engaging in. In this scenario multiple people post from the same account. He considered this one of the worst abuses of pseudospoofing because of the conspirational aspect. He compared its maliciously identity-disorienting technique to that of intentionally misquoting people. Out of total frustration for the lack of empathy, L.D. next made veiled threats hinting at his capability to systematically disrupt the cypherpunks mailing list, sarcastically discussing his *hot* pseudospoofing ideas!, later making good on the "promise" and himself engaging in some pseudopool FUN (Sun, 14 Nov 93).
the Pseudospoofer Game (Mon, 15 Nov 93): L.D. was not opposed to the use of different names for frivolous purposes, such as within games. His basic emphasis was that in serious forums for public exchange it become problematic. To demonstrate this he invented a "pseudospoofing game", generally based on a scenario he imagined himself to be engaged in at the time, supposedly with multiple cypherpunks harassing him through fake email addresses. The game idea served as the seed later growing into the "SQUISH" announcement, in which L.D. announced that the game was in effect, hoping to arouse others' interest and hopefully eventually match his passion in hunting down fake addresses.
The `Reputation' of Cypherpunks (Wed, 17 Nov 93): Here L.D. uses one of his characteristically emotional and melodramatic thought experiments to suggest that generally reputation is taken to be closely tied to identity in civilized society: What if Ted Bundy were posting to the network behind multiple fake identities? Many cypherpunks responded they would not consider it a problem.
War of the Worlds (Fri, 19 Nov 93): L.D. continually challenged the cypherpunk idea that all activities in cyberspace were morally neutral, suggesting that massive hoaxes and dangerous deceptions could be perpetuated via the technology of communication, and that its builders and users should be deferential to its power. Cypherpunks often responded that "people cannot be protected from their own stupidity" or even more maliciously, "stupid people not only deserve to be deceived, but doing so provides them a public service." Here L.D. try, tries again with his inimitably vivid imagery including Well's infamous War of the World's hoax, and the newly born "Medusa" and "tentacle" terminology (L.D. delighted in mixing metaphors).

PGP and Pseudospoofing

In their passion and paranoia in the pursuit of privacy the cypherpunks have virtually deified P.Zimmermann and PGP. L.D. delighted in goring another sacred cow by lambasting the implications of pseudospoofing in PGP certificates and key servers.

Quarantining Toxic Waste (Tue, 16 Nov 93): L.D. considered the ironic name "toxic waste" applied to one of the key servers, and mused it might be due to the preponderance of keys for fake identities. Here he lays out arguments in favor of segregating the tentacles.
PRZ on Pseudospoofing (Fri, 19 Nov 93): L.D.'s summary of a talk by P.Zimmermann in Boulder, CO, in which L.D. asked PRZ about his opinion on pseudospoofing via PGP. PRZ replied that "It strikes me as unethical if used in fraudulent ways."
Key vs. Signature revocation & Trust Webs (Fri, 19 Nov 93): L.D. proposes the idea of tentacle amputation via "signature revocation certificates" to mirror "key revocation certificates" in PGP for indicating the loss of trust or discovery of a fictitious identity.
Re: Key Servers (Sat, 20 Nov 93): Extremely exasperated over what he perceived to be total defiance to his promotion of honesty in cyberspace, L.D. spit out a terse, venemous rant. (If you can't beat 'em, and you can't join 'em, flame 'em.)

L.D. vs. the Psychopunks

L.D. was one of the most enthusiastic adherents to cypherpunk ideals of privacy for almost a year until he discovered that the cypherpunks seemed to have secret agendas and conspiracies no more noble than those they condemned in the government. It appeared to him that the cypherpunks were traitors and hypocrites to their own philosophies, themselves participating in collusions and disingenuities in only slightly different forms than those in the government they lambasted, and that their bottom line philosophy was really something fundamentally corrupt like "secret conspiracies should be the domain of private citizens only, not the State."

L.D. however found to his amusement that he could use the cypherpunks' rampant and unbridled paranoia as a tool of sowing dissension and chaos within the group as a graphic illustration of the consequences of their attitudes. He started out as a more subtle and surreptitious "agent provacateur" posting only through his Helsingius pseudonym but escalated the melodrama of his campaign to blisteringly overt levels. He was greatly amused at the careful and tedious style analysis that some cypherpunks went to in trying to trace the identity of his pseudonym. He played a game of dropping hints of his identity through his pseudonym and delighted at the cypherpunk's shock at his blunt and nonchalant violations of their complex and strict etiquette and religion of pseudonymity. L.D. also loved to post "feints" such as apologies or exclamations of anguish, only to turn around and mount a new scathing attack a few days later.

L.D. first tried to persuade the cypherpunks as a group to introspect over the honesty of their beliefs. But as it became increasingly clear that none of the numerous inconsequential members ("small fries") were interested in moral introspection, and that in fact they ridiculed it, he began to attack who he saw as the cypherpunk leaders ("big macs") for their promotions of dishonest philosophies and possible participation in or even masterminding the pseudospoofing conspiracy. Eventually in utter disgust and resignation he finally decided that even the leaders themselves were deceiving each other and that the whole rotten crowd deserved each other, but he still could not restrain himself from his by then long-time hobby of "tormenting tentacles".

A Clarification on My Trials and Tribulations (Sun, 05 Dec 93): L.D. summarizes the motivations for his jihad, focusing on the theme of honesty. "Is there an honest cypherpunk in the world?" Also, a hint of his preoccupation with trying to find if the cypherpunks deceived the media.
A Message from Medusa: L.D. desperately tries again to prove the existence of the pseudospoofing conspiracy, posting a message he received from E.Brandt who claimed to be "Medusa, controller of all tentacles." (Exchanges like this seemed to blur the question of who the joke is really on...)
The Magic Question (Sun, 05 Dec 93): L.D. cries in anguish, what is the magic question that will cause tentacles to tell the truth?
A Glimmer of Light (Sun, 14 Nov 93): L.D. rejoices after a "psychopunk" finally admits that he recognizes the existence of pseudospoofing, but does not see it as immoral. This was an early post in which L.D. explored the theme of equating the apparent cypherpunk taboo of discussing pseudospoofing with the social stigmas associated with homosexuality.
the bitter end: This is a never-before-seen post of L.D.'s feigning defeat. L.D. started an autoposting script to the cypherpunks list that sent an anonymous rant every 6 hours, and this post was intended to be sandwiched in the middle before the second, more spectacular volley. He stopped this campaign in the middle after deadly return volleys by cypherpunks to his newly created "cypherwonks" list started driving away his subscribers.

The Small Fries

L.D. found the categorization of different cypherpunks useful in his campaign. In his taxonomy (which is most crystallized in his "SQUISH" announcement) he characterized some as "clueless outsiders" who are unwitting onlookers unaware of the deeper cypherpunk conspiracy; the "small fries", typically California meeting-goers who participate to obtain fawning recognition by their cypherpunk peers, and the "big macs", or the leaders, who are interested in creating a personality cult and celebrity worship by their followers. L.D. notes that after the "small fries" began to bore him and his tussles got him nowhere he started going after the "big macs".

G.Barnes -- Stellar Hypocrite (Tue, 23 Nov 93): D.Barnes proved to be a "front man" for the cypherpunk leadership for some time and attacked Detweiler while the "big macs" appeared to be uninvolved. (L.D. claimed once that D.Barnes told him in email that Hughes introduced him to the practice of pseudospoofing.) D.Barnes tracked down Detweiler's employer at the time and called him, widely considered in cyberspace as one of the most brazen and scurrilous attacks possible and something like escalation to "Mutual Assured Destruction" levels. After Barnes went on the defensive L.D. went in for the kill. with more searing sarcasm and tasteless provocations, publicly daring the cypherpunks to censor him. (Barnes has since apparently disappeared from cyberspace under his "true name".)
The History of Cypherpunks (Thu, 25 Nov 93): Nate Sammons is L.D.'s favorite example of a small fry cypherpunk sycophant. Sammons started a local Colorado chapter of the cypherpunks and curry favor with Hughes and May by barring Detweiler. L.D. simultaneously flames him and uses the opportunity as a chance to formulate and flesh out some of his cypherpunk conspiracy ideas for the first time.

The Big Macs

L.D. considered the cypherpunk leaders to be John Gilmore, Eric Hughes, and Timothy May, and at times, Perry Metzger. He attempted to play each against the others over the pseudospoofing issue but found to his amazement that they all defended it as at least not immoral and portrayed it even as important tenet of cypherpunk philosophy. This is perhaps one of L.D.'s greatest demonstrations. The issue had been nonexistent in the collective consciousness before his jihad, and while his claims of a conspiracy went largely unproven, it remains a demonstrable fact by their writings that the this core cypherpunk leadership not only approves but probably embraces the practice of pseudospoofing, albeit purely clandestinely. (All three reiterated repeatedly that they see it as a defense mechanism against State oppression.) Prior to his campaign Gilmore, May and Hughes addressed the issue only peripherally.

L.D. found that Gilmore defended both pseudoanonymity and drug use, which gave him the idea of relating the two for his anti-pseudospoofing propaganda purposes. He found Perry Metzger to be a "Jekyll and Hyde" or "the pit bull of cyberspace" who could not engage in a civil conversation on any subject, and who in fact would resort to scurrilous attacks such as mailbombings.

L.D. crossed swords with E.Hughes over the latter's supposedly sleazy defense of lying in cyberspace and his philosophy, "that which cannot be enforced should not be prohibited", saying that it was in fact tantamount to "anything is OK as long as you don't get caught." L.D. also considered E.H. to be an authoritarian dictator in regards to "his" mailing list, who failed to be sufficiently deferential to the collective nature of contribution that characterized the cypherpunk list.

L.D. however reserved his most longlasting searing satire for T.C.May in particular because he apparently felt that T.M.'s ideas of subversive "cryptoanarchy" (including "Blacknet") embodied the true cypherpunk philosophies, and that at the core they involved manipulation and treachery so were fundamentally rotten and corrupt. (L.D. drew parallels to May's philosophy to a lingering antidemocracy sentiment among the cypherpunk leadership.) L.D. also seemed to derive great glee from attacking T.C.May, who is a millionaire from his employment at Intel, on the level playing ground of cyberspace, a realm where pure ideas reign transcendent above reputation or influence due to secondary factors like net worth. L.D. completely violated the hidden aura of deference given to T.C.May by many cypherpunks. L.D. reiterated that merely starting a group does not give a leader any superior moral discernment or collective authority, and that the followers of a group define its character at least as much.

Hello again! (Mon, 06 Dec 93): L.D. tries to be as irritating as possible by keeping up the steady stream of posts to the cypherpunk list, and sow the paranoia virus by suggesting that the leaders and E.Hughes in particular are manipulating unwary followers through pseudospoofing. The idea that the conspiracy was not uniform and that different cypherpunks might not only be conspiring against him but against themselves was a new theme of later writings. L.D. later rebutted a seemingly shockingly amoral and conscienceless post of Hughes' that appears to rationalize deception via "epistemology".
Humility, Embarrassment, Shame, and an Apology (Tue, 07 Dec 93): This is one of L.D.'s longer essays showing his irresistible urge to satirize everything, even himself. He feigns an apology for weeks of rants sent to the cypherpunks list, condemns his own "S.Boxx" pseudonym, and pretends that a long list of letters sent by emminent cypherpunk correspondents was critical in helping convince him of the futility of his delusion and madness.
The Depravities of Cypherpunks (Wed, 10 Nov 93): Detweiler tells the story of a mailbomb sent to him by Perry Metzger. Metzger was put in the strange position of trying to pretend he did not advocate censorship of L.D. from the cypherpunks list (of course, censorship is one of the greatest cypherpunk sins). Some cypherpunks later complained that Detweiler "violated the privacy" of Metzger by revealing that Metzger had sent him a mailbomb.
J. Gilmore on Pseudospoofing (Fri, 19 Nov 93): L.D. attacked E.H. and T.M. over their waffling for some weeks while J.Gilmore was on vacation on a trek to Nepal. L.D. hoped that when Gilmore returned he might weigh in with his own opinion against pseudospoofing. When Gilmore returned and commented negatively, suggesting that Chaum would approve of pseudospoofing, L.D. at first thought Gilmore was being obtuse and didn't understand the distinction he was trying to make, and thought that once Gilmore understood it, he would agree with L.D. on the issue. L.D. considered his plight Pitch Black after he finally realized from further correspondence that the last of the "big three" leaders, and one that he felt some affinity to, rejected him and his thesis as well.
the GWELST Game (Sun, 28 Nov 93): After L.D. realized he had been utterly rejected not only by every cypherpunk member but the founders as well because of his passionate beliefs and proseletyzing about pseudospoofing, he became extremely embittered and completely alienated. After a year of bathing himself in the cypherpunk ideology and posting complimentary, laudatory messages about everyone in the group, particularly the leaders, he found himself completely isolated and his previous bedrock reality in the cypherpunks in shambles. He bitterly attacked the three leaders in a trilogy of exceedingly tasteless posts, quoting them anonymously, attacking, and ridiculing them over the pseudospoofing issue for their defenses, evasions, stonewalling, and vehement refusals to take a moral stand.
Vinegar, Honey, Flies, and Snakes (Sat, 27 Nov 93): Detweiler posts one of his final, more civil letters desperately trying to exert pressure on the "big macs" to "come clean" about their true pseudospoofing practices. He alludes to his essay about German espionage operations (Operation North Pole) that elevated pseudospoofing to an art. This was the final prelude to Detweiler's experimentation with using the cypherpunk remailers to provoke major emergencies, crises, and spamming incidents after total disenchantment with the "cypherpunk cause".
Eric Hughes & the Cypherpunks Movement (Tue, 30 Nov 93): After giving what he called "every benefit of the doubt", L.D. attacks E.Hughes directly over E.Hughes' supposedly slippery, waffling, evasive, and unconvincing denial of personal pseudospoofing published in RISKS, followed by perhaps his singlemost blisteringly vitriolic condemnation of the cypherpunk group in general ever (with a minor "correction").

The Cypherpunk Religion

A realization of the Cypherpunk "religion" dawned on L.D. after his windmill-jousting over the pseudospoofing issue. In the immense correspondence he traded with members and leaders, he found that the leaders and followers had very definite philosophies that were not really encoded in any official charter but that were so frequently reoccuring in their collective essays as to be considered universal, basic beliefs of the group. Some of these basic themes included glorification of drug use, condemnation of government in all forms, defense of pornography or "deviant" sexual practices among consenting adults, tax evasion strategies, etc. Even more to his horror he found a basic antidemocratic sentiment running through core cypherpunk essayists who suggested that no government, including our own, can ever escape the "tyranny of a majority" pitfall.

The Religion of the Cypherpunks (Sat, 13 Nov 93): Detweiler focuses on "The Tantalizing Two", May and Hughes' evasion on pseudospoofing. He talks about his findings related to a survey attempt on pseudospoofing, and refers to the stability of his internet connection in the face of his mounting "piles of slobbering hate mail".
Characterizing Cypherpunk Culture (Thu, 18 Nov 93): A long and facetious essay by L.D., posing as the "humble cypherpunk servant-historian", about his findings on his study subjects based on the available "cypherpunk culture research materials", with a focus on the alpha male of the group. The last part of the essay is a long run on sentence style that L.D. experimented with to insult his readers & audience (cypherpunks).
Long Litanies of Lies (Sat, 27 Nov 93): L.D. characterizes the cypherpunk culture as a group of people who believe in a collective lie of pseudospoofing, calling it "anticommunication", and suggests the "paranoia", "grouchiness", "noise", and "frustration" characteristic of the cypherpunks' list is in part due to it.
The Perils of Leadership: L.D. lambastes the cypherpunk leaders as corrupt in front of his newly-formed pet splinter group, the "cypherwonks", and includes quotes from what he regards as brainwashed followers, who eloquently defend a culture of amorality, anti-leadership, and lies.

Paranoia Runs Deep

Detweiler discovered that the cypherpunks had a definite collective psychology that included some basic themes. These are all rooted in their ideology of hatred of Big Brother: there are conspiracies in the U.S. government to suppress communication and human rights, the government and general public is intent on persecuting the cypherpunks for what are legitimate and honest beliefs and right to privacy, etc. The cypherpunks tend to see privacy as a black and white, zero-sum game in which either Government and Big Business has it (tyranny) or the individual does (liberation). Beneath this ideology are persistent and ample veins of fear, paranoia, hatred, pain, and ridicule that L.D. mined to fuel his legendary flamewars.

Under the pseudonym S.Boxx, L.D. loved to allude to a supposed group of secret correspondents, informants, and spies he had infiltrated into the cypherpunk leadership. He experimented with disinformation tactics and would continually feint, veil threats, and embed subtle decoys or hints about his identity and pseudonyms. He liked to post anonymous "agitprop" essays to the cypherpunks list, later change a few key lines that seemed to hint of his identity, and then post them to talk.politics.crypto. Another favorite ploy of L.D.'s was using grisly metaphors about mass murderers, inquisitions, executions or death to increase the atmosphere of hysteria to the boiling point. (The ploy sometimes backfired as various jaded or moral relativist cypherpunk types who are not shocked by anything said, "huh?")

Detweiler insisted all along that he was only asking for an honest and candid account of pseudospoofing practices by the leaders to their followers and only intensified his belligerent troublemaking as it became increasingly clear they were resolutely against the slightest disclosure on the subject.

CRYPTOANARCHIST INFILTRATION ALERT: One of L.D.'s more infamous and humorous declarations of war on tentacles, posted to the cypherpunks list and many newsgroups variously as S.Boxx, The Executioner, etc.
MEDUSA'S SNAKE SPEAKS: L.D. posted this letter as a justification for his own mounting paranoia about tentacles and to try to alert others to a nefarious conspiracy. It was received from one of the first tentacles he discovered, jamie@netcom.com.
pseudoparanoia and poison (Thu, 23 Dec 93): S.Boxx announces that he is tired of playing by gentlemens' rules with scoundrels and vows to "fire up" a bunch of subtle, insidious, omnipresent tentacles such that no one will never again know he is present.
Surrender or Die: S.Boxx introduces himself as the leader of the massive "CRAP" agency dedicated to cryptoanarchist infiltration and torment in another famous missive. "Tentacle hunting is one of our favorite pastimes."
The Final Ultimatum (Tue, 23 Nov 93): S.Boxx gives the cypherpunk crowd a final chance to surrender prior to posting the cypherwonk charter and launching spam volleys through the remailers.

Decoys and Disinformation

L.D. experimented with the symmetries associated with pseudonymity such as simultaneously sending conflicting messages through two outlets, his real identity and his pseudonym S.Boxx. He also amused himself by revealing his identity to one boisterous cypherpunk in particular, leaving him like a dutiful soldier to send mail and report to his superiors on L.D.'s secret identity.

A Clarification on My Loyalty and Allegiance (Sat, 27 Nov 93): L.D. thumbs his nose at the cypherpunk sycophant Nate Sammons by posting an article Sammons sent to a local Colorado chapter of the cypherpunks to the main cypherpunks list, verbatim, under his S.Boxx pseudonym. Sammons eloquently laments Detweiler's delusions and the cypherpunk hysteria. L.D. simultaneously posted a scathing satire under the pseudonym at the same time, entitled "Public Enemy #1", portraying S.Boxx as a vicious cypherpunk bent on revenge.
Paranoia Strikes Deep... (Wed, 29 Dec 93): After the formation of his splinter group of "cypherwonks", L.D. posted snippets of disinformation to confuse everyone. The tactic seemed to be, with his cyberspatial reputation in shreds, a last ditch attempt at confusing his audience and getting them to disregard claims about his supposedly disruptive activities in cyberspace as bogus.

Death to Cryptoanarchists!

In a series of a few brief but viscerally intense posts, S.Boxx attempted to create a blazing, crescendoing pitch of paranoia on the cypherpunk side. He explored the imagery of executions by stoning or guillotine, used the metaphors of inquisitions and witchhunts, and even used political analogies to Watergate, McCarthyism, and the Kennedy Assassination. (Warning: parental discretion is advised.)

McCarthyism vs. Watergate vs. Kennedy Assassination (Fri, 19 Nov 93): S.Boxx first explored the McCarthyist-Watergate-Kennedy connection to the cryptoanarchist psychology in this short essay to the list. Later he revised it and posted to various newsgroups the expanded version entitled THE CRYPTOANARCHIST CONSPIRACY.
Ways to Die (Sat, 27 Nov 93): In this essay S.Boxx harps mercilessly on edgy, intense, gruesome death imagery, delighting in unleashing the bizarre literary contrast of facetiousness and horror in front of the cypherpunks. Interestingly this essay may contain the first seeds of the idea of murder via cryptoanarchy (at this early point only speculation by L.D.) that T.C.May has explored overtly in later writings.
On Hypocrisy, Stoning, and Forgiveness (Sun, 28 Nov 93): S.Boxx brings out the theme of religious persecution and stoning for subversive ideas and looks at the saying about "casting the first stone" from his own inimitable perspective, but also displays his biblical illiteracy by mixing stories up.

The Mendacious Media

Detweiler continually hinted that the cypherpunks were involved in perpetrating premeditated deceptions within the media, not on the level of large hoaxes but on the level of collusion with reporters, etc. Beside noting the irony and hypocrisy of this (the cypherpunks frequently lambaste the media as corrupt, but rarely indicate they thereby feel entitled to contribute to that decay), he was very upset by what he saw as an extremely dangerous philosophy.

Cypherpunks Wired Photographer (Sat, 04 Dec 93): L.D. apparently believed that the first cypherpunk article used a fictitious photographer, and that both the cypherpunks, the author and editor were colluding in the deception. E.Hughes further aroused his suspicion. In the full clutches of paranoia L.D. speculated that Larry Dyer, the supposed photographer, was actually a joke epigram of his own name.
The Subversions of Cypherpunks (Sat, 20 Nov 93): S.Boxx wrote a bitter but partly facetious letter to Wired trying to warn the rest of humanity about the evil cypherpunk plague, calling their mailing list a "disinformation and brainwashing outlet" run by "guerillas, terrorists, and cryptoanarchists". For some inscrutable reason Wired did not run the letter.

Tentacle Tidbits

S.Boxx continues to defy all categorization, but this is an attempt at organization of the multicolored leftovers.

CounterCryptoAnarchist Software (Mon, 20 Dec 93): L.D. demonstrates his software engineering expertise by exhibiting his early, rudimentary spam script and the associated nick program. Also, a legendary spam posted through cypherpunk remailers in diverse forms to about 100 different mailing lists, conveniently summarizing the formidable L.D. vocabulary and research, entitled INTERNET SNAKE HUNTING CONTEST! CASH PRIZES!
The Darkness of Hell (Fri, 03 Dec 93): S.Boxx uses the drug metaphor in this propaganda piece, suggesting that pseudospoofers are like drug dealers or users (posted under one of his other pet pseudonyms, Pablo Escobar). Its inspiration was based on actual passionate defenses of drug use he elicited at times in response to his "evil" metaphors from various cypherpunks all the way up to John Gilmore. Indeed after it was posted someone went to the trouble of carefully rebutting it, sentence by sentence. (S.Boxx also amused himself as, precisely according to forecast, cypherpunk wannabes set about carefully analyzing the multiple subtle false or true hints of his identity he intentionally dropped in the writing.)
Love Lost (Mon, 06 Dec 93): L.D., utterly fed up, sticks his tongue out at E.Hughes and the rest of the cypherpunk crowd in one of his most tasteless, self-indulgent provocations ever, all under his true name as the final insult.
RAMPANT CONSPIRACIES and MASSIVE COVERUP (Sun, 14 Nov 93): Messages like this one to the cypherpunks list made the group painfully reconsider their religion of free and unrestricted anonymity.
Sodomy, Homosexuality, and Pseudospoofing (Sat, 27 Nov 93): S.Boxx, having exhausted all his other tricks, scrapes the dank bottom of the barrel for some final tasteless metaphors.
the Zen of Cyberspace (Sun, 14 Nov 93): A thinly veiled allegory about the corruption of the cypherpunks, by the indefatigable cyberspatial raconteur.
The Tectonics of Truth (Wed, 17 Nov 93): Another justification of the S.Boxx crusade in a rather bizarre analogy that makes the reader question the writer's sanity.
The Zen of Pseudospoofing (Wed, 17 Nov 93): The irrefutable proof that S.Boxx went totally insane, speaking in senseless gibberish that would make even a real Zen master commit suicide.