Re: Coffee, anyone?

[Larry Gadallah <larry@owrlakh.wl.aecl.ca>]

> 

> Hello, _real_ people and cypher-crypto-pseudo-spoofs!
> 

> I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the recent post
> revealing the TRUE identities of half the people (I use that
> term guardedly these days) in the mail group. It did me a
> world of good.
> 

> Try this on for a quick reality check- this is how I view the
> issue of  anonymity, trust, reputation, validity, etc. in the
> Cypherpunk forum:   I see the list as a coffee house, buried in
> the bowels of a machine at Berkeley. People wander in and out,
> some to chat, others to listen. There is no implied social
> contract in place among the participants, really, just some
> common interests. For the price of a cup of coffee (my time
> and my connection to Internet), I can enjoy stimulating
> conversation and shoot the breeze. When people present their
> ideas, I take their  identities at face value (asking for ID's
> before making small talk seems a bit gauche). Every now and
> then, a message in a bottle comes sailing through the (open)
> door- the waiter pulls the message out and reads an anonymous
> posting. Those so motivated can put replies in the bottle and
> sling it back outside, where the anonymous poster picks it
> up. Truly obnoxious messages can be answered by Molotov
> cocktails in the same manner <grin>.
> 

> My point is this: we're in a coffee house, not a courtroom.
> If I meet someone in a coffee house and want to do serious
> business like buying a car, co-publishing a paper, or betting
> my career on a set of equations, I (we) would adjourn to a
> somewhat more formal setting and follow entirely different
> rules for establishing trust and reputation. In the same vein,
> I might listen to a chorus of voices spouting political
> agendas while sipping my coffee, but I wouldn't expect the
> applause and the catcalls to be tabulated and published as
> election results. I agree entirely with Detweiler about the
> importance of being able to validate people electronically,
> but I think it would be a shame to close the door to the
> coffee house, take attendance, and charge admission.
> ..............................................................
> .......... Philippe D. Nave, Jr.   | The person who does not
> use message encryption pdn@dwroll.dw.att.com   | will soon be
> at the mercy of those who DO... Denver, Colorado USA    | PGP
> public key: by arrangement.
> 



Hear! hear!

I really _like_ my coffee, and I'd hate to see all the interesting  
people and discussions frightened off by excessive officiousness in 

the coffee shop.

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Larry Gadallah                                   Amateur Radio VE4TCP
Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba, Canada                    IP: [44.135.114.9]
SMTP: larry@owrlakh.wl.aecl.ca     AX25: VE4TCP@VE4PIN.#PIN.MB.CAN.NA
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