Re: WRITTEN CODE

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

At 10:51 AM 11/18/95, Daniel 'genius' Charpentier wrote:

>I didn't want to see this initiative die.  I am a new commer to
>cryptography and I know I shouldn't be posting yet but that is
>what I thought cypherpunk postings was supposed to be in the first
>place ( program code, protocols, and algorithms ).  Please don't
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The list is about several things, some of which overlap the topics
routinely discussed in sci.crypt and sci.crypt.research.

Algorithms, code, etc. _does_ get discussed a lot, as you'll surely see as
you peruse the archives. Volume-wise, it is a drop in the bucket. But this
is not surprising, as primarily mathematical questions and answers tend to
be brief. (You'll see this in the many one-line answwers to questions about
cryptographic algorithms....)

Also, technical questions tend to have precise answers, usually with
answers in the various crypto texts and proceedings of the Crypto and
EuroCrypt conferences. And technical questions which _don't_ have simple
answers in the texts tend of course to be _research_ questions, and the
dynamics mitigate against lively discussion until some progress is made.

The social, political, and economic aspects are seldom discussed adequately
elsewhere, and one thing the Cypherpunks group has really led in is the
discussion of digital money, anonymous systems, pseudonyms, reputation,
markets, and a host of other such topics. These topics can border on pure
politics if people are not careful, but are generally close to the topics
discussed at the first meeting over three years ago, before there was even
a mailing list.


>flame me to badly for this message.  I am doing everything I am
>supposed to before posting ( reading the FAQ's, the entire
>cypherpunk archive, and APPLIED CRYPTOGRAPHY by Bruce Schneier )
>but I could not let this slip by.  Let's talk more about the
>cryptographic algorithms, program code, and chips than
>politics.

So, go ahead and talk. I mean this seriously, not sarcastically.

No one will chastise you or anyone else for discussing technical
cryptography. There are obviously folks interested in this. Experts, even.
Published experts, even.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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."