Re: The Coming Police State

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

Nate Sammons, Cypherpunk Criminal, writes:

> I cannot help but think that having the gov looking in on us will
> be good.  I know, get my head shrunk, but look:  It gives us something
> to fight for.  Look at me:  Somewhat of a slacker who for a long while
> thought there was nothing worth fighting for... now there's the 
> government to fight!  What better entity to wage war against?  It's the
> classic "valiant fight" the "good guys against the bad guys" fight.
> It's the kind of fight you may even feel yourself _wanting_ to fight.

Very good comments. Especially your "slacker" comment. Many GenXers I
know seem to think all the "good stuff" happened in the 60s--nonsense.
Mostly that was a lot of civil rights stuff, a lot of it misguided
(don't get me started, and don't misinterpret this to mean I think
blacks shouldn't have the vote. What I mean is clear to any
libertarian.).

The computer revolution, cyberspace, crackdowns on so many
things....these are the truly astounding developments, good and bad,
and the Zero Generation is in the thick of it! The bulk of this list
is probably centered at age 24 with a standard deviation of about 3
years...and a tail that reaches up into the 40s and 50s.

> I can't help thinking what a kick I'll get out of seeing my kids in
> the future saying, upon them finding my "Cypherpunk Criminal" T-Shirt
> in the attic, "Gosh!  Dad was a Cypherpunk!  Wow!"

Will you also show them your Marion Federal Prison shirt?

> This National ID Card *really* scares me.  It floods my mind with images
> of me standing in line to buy a CD (or whatever) and getting to the front
> of the line, being asked for my National ID card (So the proper taxes can

As well it _should_ scare you! Ensuring that each Citizen Unit adheres
to the terms and conditions of his Preventive Medicine Contract will
dictate this. Ditto for tax compliance, for checking age credentials,
etc.

(It is precisely this Big Brother scenario that motivated Chaum and
others to work on protocols for showing credentials (age, in a bar,
for example) without showing identity. Think of the implications of a
national ID card couple with fast bar-code checking and network
connections....they'll know every bar you entered, how long you
stayed, how many drinks you had ("Your health premiums have been
increased...."), what bookstores you entered, what books you bought,
and on and on. The Surveillance State is almost upon us. And it's
happening under the guise of controlling health care costs, fighting
pornography and child molestation, making sure everyone's fair share
of taxes is paid, and other such seemingly innocuous things.

Everyone should read John Brunner's "The Shockwave Rider" if they
haven't already done so. I read it when it first came out in 1975 and
the tale of Nickie Halflinger scared me...it also came when I was just
getting started in the Homebrew Computer Club, so in many ways it
prepared me for my later role as a hunted CyberFelon. ("Shockwave" is
also credited by many to be one of the first mentions of "worms" in
computers....though Brunner may've been talking to folks at Xerox
PARC...wormly cross-fertilization.)

> location, I would be inclined to take it... fast.  I have been leaning towards
> the "Let's overthrow the government!" crowd lately, what with reading
> all this shit from the FBI, etc... but it's rather pointless to want
> to overthrow a government as vast and powerful as our own, so I think it's
> best to just plot a guerilla underground haven for myself.

Overthrowing the government may not be such a hot idea...the
replacement could be much worse. But finding ways to preserve personal
liberty is a good goal. Finding ways to selectively bypass the State
is also a good goal.

> Sorry to waste the bandwidth, but I had to get this off my chest...
> (Oh, and sorry for not making it to the last Colorado CPs meeting,
> all hell broke loose at work and I had to fix just about everything...)
> 
> -nate

Not a waste of bandwidth at all! Seeing folks get energized does more
to promote our cause than the 9th discussion of TEMPEST or the 13th
debate about whether DES has been compromised.

Besides, the theme for this week is "politics."

George Orwell's "1984" (and some other favorite books of many of us)
did more to help fight totalitarianism than most technical debates
did.

Cypherpunks can ride the "shock wave" of one-way functions!

Hang Ten, Doodz! Ten to the 300th power, that is.

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
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W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
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"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."