No Subject

[technopagan priest <tedwards@wam.umd.edu>]

Recently, there has been some talk on here concerning anonymous
remailers and harassment.  

I don't think we will ever exist in a society where anonymous information
sources will be eliminated.  Even 50 years ago, the "rumour mill" was
the equivalent of the modern anonymous remailer.  And yes, harassing
rumours got started and hurt people. 

But the fault, as I see it, lies not so much in those who started 
the rumour, but more in the people who believed the rumour without
trust in the source.

And that is where cryptographically secure models of trust comes in.
If we are going to continue to be coherent in our future virtual world,
we are going to have to "filter out" information which originates from
sources which we do not have a cryptographic web of trust to.

Does this make any sense?

-Thomas

(I'm not signing this message on purpose ;)