What can we do in the next few days?

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Lots of flames lately about "lunatic ravings" and what Cypherpunks can
or can't do to help in the next few days.

Here's my take on the situation:

* Keep current, read all the various groups covering this.

* Add articles and comments whenever you have something to say. Your
argument might help one of the lawyers make his case. (One of "our"
lawyers, one hopes.) Hal Finney's article this morning falls squarely
into this category.

We may have few lawyers amongst us, but we can contribute comments and
background items that the lawyers may find useful. Not much time left
before the grand jury convenes on Wednesday, but time to help after
that.

I agree of course with the sentiment that "Cypherpunks write code," or
at least write text on semi-technical topics, and agree with the
current focus of our group on stuff like remailers, digital cash, data
havens, and the like. The EFF, CPSR, and ACLU are already focussed on
issues of legal cases, privacy laws, etc., and are staffed with mostly
lawyers and legal-background folks. We fill a niche they cannot fill.

* Phil Karn and others have written about DES implementations that are
already described, published, etc., both inside and outside the U.S.
This may help with the precedent issue, namely, establishing that DES
is already widely available (in case this is an important issue).

In particular, see the messages a few days back about compiling a list
of published DES (and IDEA, too) codings. Add to the list if you can.

Cypherpunks can help on this, if they have some experience with DES,
IDEA, and the like.

Perhaps after the indictment (I'm guessing there'll be one) we can
find out from the lawyers if our backgrounds in hacking and crypto can
be tapped to help in the defense.

--Tim May

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