Re: Cypherpunks Press release

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

I guess you all know how much I hate this "who will be our spokesman?"
thread, but my opinion has been explicitly asked, so I will again comment.
Hopefully, adding a few new points.

At 6:55 AM 9/26/95, Craig Hubley wrote:

>Damn fine idea, but how do a bunch of (p)anarchists choose a mouthpiece ?
>Should we assign someone to be 'our' lawyer ?
>
>I'd volunteer to be 'spokespunk', I've certainly been interviewed for TV and
>print enough, and know how to handle and present myself to the press, but if
>this is considered an 'honor' rather than a 'pain in the ass and potential
>legal lightning rod' then I'd like to suggest someone with a longer pedigree
>who has been writing more code lately take it on.  Tim ?

I've turned down several recent chances for interviews, for these reasons:

1. I feel the people doing the work should be interviewed, not just someone
who has some visibility (whatever mine might be). If PGP is the issue, then
they should talk to those working on PGP. If anonymous remailers are the
issue, etc. If, by some chance, they are interested in things I have
directly worked on or written extensively about, then maybe they should
interview me.

(Although for other reasons I refused to have my name attached to the cover
story in "Information Week" about "Internet Theft," BlackNet, etc.)

2. Location, location, location! The media foci are Washington, New York,
and San Francisco, at least for our area of interest. Occasional forays
into Austin, Miami, L.A., etc. This is where the taped interviews are done.

Several "crews" recently in SF wanted "sound bites" and "video bites" from
people like me. I refused, pointing out the wastefullness of my time in
driving 100 miles over mountain roads to SF, fighting parking problems,
waiting around, and ending up with a 7.89 second clip of me saying
something scripted.

(In February I stupidly agreed to travel to LA for a filming of a BBC show
about encryption. Left at dawn, drove to San Jose, flew to LA, took shuttle
to Hollywood, waited around for several hours while crew finished taping
Alvin and Heidi Toffler, set up my laptop, was interviewed by show's
producer, agreed at her repeated prodding to say "I am a Cypherpunk." Got
back to my house at midnight. Guess what they used? The stupid line "I am a
Cypherpunk" and maybe about 20 seconds of other random comments. This is
what we face, as other high tech shows I see have the same disjointed,
out-of-context flavor.)

The point? These "journalists" are tuned to looking for catchy quotes, all
the more so on video than in print. Text journalists can handle complex
themes much better than video reporters can, for many and oft-discussed
reasons.

(Even more disgusting than this was a more recent appearance of a BBC film
crew at a Cypherpunks meeting. They wanted to "stage" the news, to have the
meeting discuss a 2-year-old topic, because that's what their script called
for. I got up and left, as did several other people. I haven't seen this
BBC show, but I gather from a URL that this is the one that has
"performance art" examples of crypto....)

Any "spokesman" needs to be easily accessible when they need a "filler
quote," or a "reaction quote."

However:

3. THERE IS NO SPOKESMAN, THERE IS NO CENTRAL OFFICE, THERE IS NO BOARD OF
DIRECTORS!

With no organization, no office, no coordination, we cannot "feed the media
machine" the way it expects to be fed.

Nor can we "elect" such folks. I didn't help start this list--not that this
gives me more moral sway--in order that J. Random Volunteer will start
speaking for "our beliefs" or will start explaining "our goals" and "our
plans."

Far better that journalists like Steven Levy and John Markoff subsribe to
the list, or to condensations by people like Eric Blossom, and then deal
directly with the experts in some area. Thus, on the latest Netscape flaw,
they would contact Ray Cromwell directly, not deal with the press releases
written by J. Random Volunteer.

Anarchy is part of our charm. More importantly, part of our theme.

Face it, we don't have a press office, we don't have staffing, and--most
importantly--there is no one out there who speaks for me. A spokesman for
the Cypherpunks is an oxymoron.

--Tim May


---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."