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DIGITAL WARFARE
To: [email protected]
************* Original From: FRISSELL
* FORWARDED * To: [email protected]
* MESSAGE * Date/Number: 09/12/93 - Not Yet Posted
************* On: PANIX - 0000 - Email
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To: [email protected]
Here I innocently go away for the weekend and miss a hot thread on my
favorite topic. Appropriate for the list because it's about what this
list is about and what the results of its activities might be. Better
late than never...
CC> I have heard cypherpunks described as two groups under one label:
CC> 1. those of us who advocate privacy in private hands
CC>
CC> 2. those who advocate anarchy
CC>
CC> I'm in the privacy camp and worry that
CC> enough talk from the anarchists will cause the privacy to be
CC> attacked. I fully expect total retaliation by the governments of
CC> the world against any effective anarchy. The wilder the threats
CC> (even if they're not real), the stronger the retaliation. We could
CC> lose all privacy as a result.
I try not to advocate anarchy but rather to observe it. It is difficult
for large institutions to exercise control over ever more powerful
individuals. Even though I like crypto, it is neither necessary nor
sufficient for what I'll call "governmental downsizing" to avoid
controversy. IBM didn't "rightsize" because sweet reason convinced it
to. It righsized (and is still rightsizing) because markets convinced
it to. We already see signs of governments becoming mere market actors
particularly in the currency markets.
The nets themselves are the most powerful technology which will reduce
the role nation states have to play on the world stage. Crackdowns
against strong crypto are not relevant. Since the nation state is bound
to the nation and individuals are not, telecoms tends to liberate
individuals from states. If I can live anywhere and work anywhere else,
I am hard to find much less control.
People need not have to even be aware of what they are doing to
participate in this process. If they are hired as contingent workers
over the nets because that's where the work is, they will be outside of
the control mechanism and have to choose to bring themselves back in.
Some will do so many will not. For years, those who became expats or
invested money overseas have had to make an affirmative choice to file
US tax returns or report their overseas income on their returns. Some
did so. Many did not. 61% of US expats don't file US returns even
though most have income. Everyone on the nets is effectively an expat.
According to IRS studies, only *48%* of the income of small businesses
is reported. Those are businesses physically located in the US. Since
computers will be converting most of us into small business operators
(selling ourselves as permanent temps at least) and since the nets
encourage locational ambiguity, we will have to choose to cooperate with
our rulers. What do we call a "voluntary government"? A church, a social
club, a corporation, or a family but not (according to *my* poli sci
profs) a government. "An institution that claims a monopoly on the
legitimate use of physical force in a given geographic area."
Note that by the end of this year, some Continental Cable subscribers
will have 100 mbs connections to Internet. Once more people do and they
find that they can buy/obtain almost anything digitizable (including
"free" international telephone calls) over this link, they will do so.
They will have expanded their area of freedom by downloading porno from
Zimbabwae (or whatever from wherever). A few more expansions of liberty
and the state is reduced to just another club.
CC> For example, crypto-anarchic banks -- cute idea -- but if
CC> you ever want a cop to make your banker give you the money, the
CC> banker can't be anonymous and neither can you account be.
Bankers don't give you your money because of fear of cops but because of
the desire for future business.
Duncan Frissell
What is the world's most toxic hazardous waste dump? -- Watch this
signature line for the surprising answer.
* RM 1.2 * Eval Day 1 * X