Nonviolence in cyberspace

[szabo@netcom.com (Nick Szabo)]

Arthur Chandler:
> If the publication of this information is intended as a prelude to the 
> RL persecution or harassment of Mr. Detweiler, I want to lodge a strong 
> dissenting opinion.

This raises an interesting meta-point.  What fundamentally important
reason is there beyond the threat of physical persecution
(often as retribution or preemption against a wrong real or perceived), 
to actively seek a net user's physical identity on the net against that 
user's will?  Should "accountability" for offenses committed on the 
net include a threat of physical violence, or should the scope of the 
punishment be limited to the scope of the offense, namely "plonking" 
of the offender's reputation on the net?  I contend that in 
a sufficiently mature net culture (ie with "kill" files, reputation
ratings, and digital cash) there is no possible offense evil enough
to require violent retribution.  My ideal is to see a day when threats of 
violence on the net, including the nasty, implicit threat of violence 
lying behind many calls for "accountability", are rendered 
moot by voluntary self-disclosure and tolerance for a wide variety of
pseudonymity and anonymity.  Cyberspace with pseudonymity allows
us for the first time to create a rich subculture that is nonviolent 
in a way Gandhi could only dream of.

On the specific case of info on Detweiler: this net stalker has 
explicitly made violent threats against several list members while 
at the same time attempting to track down their identities, and
implicitly made threats against most of us by branding 
cypherpunks "criminals", "traitors", etc. in a wide variety of forums, 
implying that the normal violent retribution for such states of 
infamy is in order.

In an ideal net culture, Doug Barnes' action would be reprehensible. 
But the world is far from ideal, and while we still must put our physical
identities at risk we need some defense against demogogic stalkers of 
the world, and thus I applaud Doug Barnes' efforts in providing us 
information about Detweiler, just as Detweiler is seeking information 
about us.

Nick Szabo				szabo@netcom.com