Cypherpunk News & Views
Front Lines
- A synopsis of the current state of digital
cash and the cypherpunk involvement.
- Statistics on cypherpunk remailer usage by two
operators
on their own sites.
- The declaration of war on remailer operators by the evil scientologist
lawyer scum.
Reputation in cyberspace
- H.Finney
on reputations, credentials, pseudonymity, and transferrability.
- J.Donald
argues irritably against formalizing reputations in cyberspace.
- T.C.May
argues in favor of research into "reputation theory" and its relation to
pseudonymity and acknowledges L.D.'s seminal contributions to the field.
Kodak Moments
- T.C.May introduces the cyberpublication of the Cyphernomicon,
his treatise on cypherpunk philosophy and technology.
- In the periodically recurring, quintessentially cypherpunkesque,
bloated-ego-preening mode, T.C.May brags, "I *am* Blacknet".
- In another pricelessly rare Kodak moment, T.C.May writes, ``My crusade
happens to be against the basic idea of democracy
itself. Yes, I am opposed to democracy and seek to use crypto as a way to
bypass democracy...''
- Eric Hughes, more emotional than ever, on governments, violence, identity,
and morality.
``I desire systems which do not require violence for their existence and
stability. I desire anonymity as an ally to break the hold of morality over
culture. ... I desire the anonymous spaces and the hidden places. I rejoice in
the discussion of their creation on this mailing list.''
- In the middle of a squalid squabble over enforcing signatures for
cypherpunk list posts, a simultaneously egotistical and candid look at the creation
and history of the cypherpunks by E.Hughes and May. Also illustrates the
continuing atmosphere of tension over whether the cypherpunk activism is about
code or politics.
Cypherpunk religion
- Unicorn nicely illustrates the cypherpunkian view that God
resides in Cash. ``I love cash. Not money mind you; cash. Cash clarifies,
it is clean, it lacks strings, it does not impute a dependence on
institutions, or, to a great extent, on government. Cash is freedom, the
ultimate expression of the universality of value, almost worldwide. Ann Rand
has some wonderful descriptions of cash as power. The beauty of cash is its
immense negotiability, its infinite liquidity, and its prospect for universal
acceptance.''
- Szabo rants how government identification is a real world "mark
of the beast" and waxes philosophical on pseudonymity as the salvation of
humanity.
- H.Finney reiterates the basic cypherpunk premise that government power is
always based on force
over a browbeaten populace.
- Gently correcting an undefiled cypherpunk virgin, bitter resident cynic
and nihilist P.Metzger propounds the accepted dogma, denying that bad
government results not from failure to exercise "eternal vigilance", but
because governments always and necessarily evolve toward corruption.
Fresh air
- A first-rate essay by D.Cutrell, a clearheaded and unbrainwashed voice
defying the basic cypherpunk philosophies of "cryptography or death!" and
"humanity be damned!" by advocating caution and deliberation about aspects of
cryptoanarchic
revolution. ``Cypherpunks should consider not just the implementation of
the tools of strong crypto, but also the dynamics of its spread throughout
society and the dynamics of its pattern of use.''
- D.Cutrell spouts more cypherpunk
blasphemy on the legal implications of untraceability. ``Paying someone
else to commit a crime for you is [still] a crime.''.
- A semi-critical look at the politics of cypherpunkesque
anarchism. ``However, there is still the task of proving that crypto
anarchy is not itself a play for power by those who write and master its
cryptographic code.'' Comments on the historical insidiousness and lethality
of black anarchy.
Visions and hallucinations
- A plausible near future scenario in which the cypherpunk ideals could be
bypassed
or squashed.
- P.Phillips asserts that Usenet
is based on "security through obscurity" and actually advocates releasing spam
scripts into the public domain to hasten improvement in the "Usenet++"
infrastructure towards authentication etc.
Comic relief