No Subject

[<hughes@toad.com>]

You have been added to the cypherpunks mailing list.

The cypherpunks list is a forum for discussing personal defenses for
privacy in the digital domain.  It is a high volume mailing list.  If
you want to be added or removed from the list, send mail to

	cypherpunks-request@toad.com

There is no automated list processing software; a human (me, Eric
Hughes) will read your message and take the appropriate action.  If
you get two of these welcome messages, it likely means you've double
subscribed and will have trouble getting off the list.  Send mail to
the above address and tell me if this happens.

Do not expect instant turnaround.  Remember, a human is looking at
your requests, not a program.  I try to do list maintenance every
other day or so, but sometimes the delays are longer.

Do not mail to the whole list asking to be removed.  You'll just get
the members of the list thinking you're a newbie and you'll get a note
from me telling you to send mail the the -request address.

If your mail bounces repeatedly, you will be removed from the list.
Nothing personal, but I have to look at all the bounce messages.

There is no digest version available.

There is an announcements list which is moderated and has low volume.
Announcements for physical cypherpunks meetings, new software and
important developments will be posted there.  Mail to

	cypherpunks-announce-request@toad.com

if you want to be added or removed to the announce list.  All
announcements also go out to the full cypherpunks list, so there is no
need to subscribe to both.

There is an ftp site for cypherpunks.  It is

	soda.berkeley.edu:pub/cypherpunks

This site contains code, information, rants, and other miscellany.
There is a glossary there that all new members should download and
read.  Also recommended for all users are Hal Finney's instructions on
how to use the anonymous remailer system; the remailer sources are
there for the perl-literate.

Enjoy and deploy.

Eric

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Cypherpunks assume privacy is a good thing and wish there were more
of it.  Cypherpunks acknowledge that those who want privacy must
create it for themselves and not expect governments, corporations, or
other large, faceless organizations to grant them privacy out of
beneficence.  Cypherpunks know that people have been creating their
own privacy for centuries with whispers, envelopes, closed doors, and
couriers.  Cypherpunks do not seek to prevent other people from
speaking about their experiences or their opinions.

The most important means to the defense of privacy is encryption. To
encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy.  But to encrypt with
weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy.
Cypherpunks hope that all people desiring privacy will learn how best
to defend it.

Cypherpunks are therefore devoted to cryptography.  Cypherpunks wish
to learn about it, to teach it, to implement it, and to make more of
it.  Cypherpunks know that cryptographic protocols make social
structures.  Cypherpunks know how to attack a system and how to
defend it.  Cypherpunks know just how hard it is to make good
cryptosystems.

Cypherpunks love to practice.  They love to play with public key
cryptography.  They love to play with anonymous and pseudonymous mail
forwarding and delivery.  They love to play with DC-nets.  They love
to play with secure communications of all kinds.

Cypherpunks write code.  They know that someone has to write code to
defend privacy, and since it's their privacy, they're going to write
it.  Cypherpunks publish their code so that their fellow cypherpunks
may practice and play with it.  Cypherpunks realize that security is
not built in a day and are patient with incremental progress.

Cypherpunks don't care if you don't like the software they write.
Cypherpunks know that software can't be destroyed.  Cypherpunks know
that a widely dispersed system can't be shut down.

Cypherpunks will make the networks safe for privacy.