Hackers 9.0 Crypto Panel, the Semi-Final Agenda

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

Many of you will be attending Hackers 9.0 beginning next Friday at
Lake Tahoe. This message is for you.

The Hackers Conference panel on crypto has come together nicely. Glenn
Tenney has asked us to move it from Saturday afternoon to Friday
night, 9:30 to 11, and I've agreed. I don't think this should conflict
with any other sessions, as this is a one-track section too. If there
are conflicts, let me know and we can arrange substitutes or somesuch.

A few weeks ago I solicited your advice on topics and asked for any
volunteers. This is what came out of this process:

* a panel discussion, as opposed to the short speeches of last year.

* a discussion of whatever is of main interest after the panel makes
their initial points.

* panelists:

- Phil Karn, on Internet encryption
- Peter Honeyman, on issues of anonymity and trust
- John Draper, on the spread of PGP 
- Eric Hughes, on digital money and banking
- Mike Godwin, on legal issues surrounding crypto

If any of you has changed your mind, let me know as soon as you can.
And if anyone else has some topics they really want to talk about, let
me know...maybe you can be added or be a sub for anyone who drops out.

I'll try to moderate this thing and keep any one topic from sucking up
all available time. Clipper and the legal issues surrounding PGP are
two of the obvious things that the audience could "demand" more
attention be given to. I think we of course _should_ talk about these
issues, but we also want to bring up new material and not just today's
"headlines." (For example, a year ago the "key escrow" stuff was
relatvely obscure next to the Steve Jackson Games issue....then key
escrow blossomed into "Clipper" just six months later and is now the
Really Hot Topic. The use of anonymous remailers in the breaking of
the Verilog encryption system is similarly a portent of things to come.)

These topics will likely come up many times in the audience
participation phase.

And if Phil Zimmermann attends, which I've not been able to confirm, I
expect he will be on the panel, or will participate centrally in the
"BOF" (birds of a feather) session which I expect will start after our
panel).

(In fact, if he attends, it might be good to just let him speak for as
long as he wants at a BOF. I remember Cliff Stoll speaking until
nearly 4 in the morning a couple of years ago.)

See you there!

-Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.