Re: Education needed, but what specifics?

["Philippe Nave" <pdn@dwroll.dw.att.com>]

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Seth Morris writes :
> 
>  For some time now, I have been kicking around ideas for games related to
> crypto, and I have decided that it may be an excellent education/propoganda
> tool.

Interesting.. Interesting..

> 
>  Perhaps the game should make frequent mention of PGP, RSA, Chaum and
> other sources in the literature (a door with a bibliography!)?

Getting better...

> 
>  What do y'all think of the idea? I think gaming is a wonderful way to
> spread ideas, and have been looking for a way to use it for some time.
> What elements of cypherpunks' philosophy and methods should/could be
> incorporated? I think emphasising the cyBerpunk-like aspects of the
> game (spoofing to get information, copyiong mail logs to follow
> message traffic, etc) would make the game more popular, and while it
> might hurt the game's reputation as a propoganda tool (wow-- a game
> that's a manual on attacking services on the net... how is that good
> for people?), it should increase the player's awareness of the
> _need_ for signatures, reputations, untraceablility, etc.
>  Besides, who wouldn't want to infiltrate Denning Associates Corporation
> and Stern & Light Pharmaceuticals to funnel money and information
> to Mayday Publishing or somesuch?
> 

Whoa... is this thing supposed to be a *game*, or a training school for 
net.guerilla.warfare? I may be a minority of one, but I'm not going to
risk *anything* by trying to hack mail systems, trace their logs, or 
spoof. Quite frankly, I can't be bothered - apart from a sort of 'James 
Bond' thrill, that sort of thing has no appeal whatsoever. Hopefully, I'm
just missing the point here, but I wonder how smart it is to advocate
'hacking net services' in a game that is supposed to introduce people to
strong crypto. Although it might not be very thrilling, my hope is that 
Mom and Pop Citizen will one day use PGP (or <insert-favorite-crypto-here>)
on their routine e-mail - they may never know or care about telnetting to
port Q-47, and I don't think that matters much. Be careful with the game;
don't overemphasize the cloak-and-dagger to the point that Average Citizen
gets spooked off strong crypto.

Don't take this as flame-bait, please; this just posting just hit me at
the right time to provoke a philosophical outburst. While it is fun for 
the cypherpunks to skulk around and spoof each other, we must not lose 
sight of a large segment of our intended audience - namely, those people
who might hop on the strong crypto bandwagon so long as the 'skullduggery'
factor does not get too high. I think there is a large market for crypto
services that is completely detached from the 'full blown' cypherpunk 
agenda of anonymity, remailers, untraceability, etc. 

[Soapbox in hand, he shuffles off for more coffee.......]

- -- 
........................................................................
Philippe D. Nave, Jr.   | Strong Crypto: Don't leave $HOME without it!
pdn@dwroll.dw.att.com   | 
Denver, Colorado USA    | PGP public key: by arrangement.

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