Re: Crisis Overload (re Electronic Racketeering)

[Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>]

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                          SANDY SANDFORT
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C'punks,

On Thu, 13 Jul 1995, Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> As unpleasant as the congress is, it isn't the enemy. The governmental
> forces desiring control are not the same as the congress.

I'm not so sure.  Both politicos and bureaucrats go into their
respective lines of work for many reasons.  One of the main 
reasons--in my opinion--is a lust to control others.  Being the 
"others," we should resist this tendancy.  This begins with the
realization that most of them *are* the enemy and acting 
accordingly.

> This is not to say that we shouldn't be widely deploying crypto -- we
> should. (Of course, offshore sites will always have crypto available,
> but...) 

Yes, what we really need is easy, drop-in, point-and-click PGP
for the computer neophytes.  And we need to give it away to
all of them.  I wish I know how to accomplish all that.

My "wish list" also includes a fantasy in which someone 
(hopefully, a Cypherpunk) cracks some NSA developed, secret
algorithm, crypto system, preferably causing some sycophantic
company or organization to lose a bundle.  Ah, dreams.


 S a n d y

P.S.  My 84 year old mother went in to buy a refrigerator 
      from Sears or Monkey Wards or whomever.  She picked 
      out a top-of-the-line Tappan.  However, when she was 
      getting ready to pay, the salesperson began to ask
      her a series of questions which included her age and
      social security number.  My mom said, "Just stop
      right there.  If you want to ask all this personal 
      information, I'll just buy it somewhere else."  The
      stopped asking questions and took her check.  

      I think Nancy Reagan had a good idea there.  Just 
      say `NO'.

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