Re: e-mail forwarding, for-pay remailers

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

At 01:20 PM 12/14/95 EDT, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:

>	The more critical question is likely to be what the people at the local
>MBE/whatever _think_ the rules are. When I last got a box (under my real name,
>in case anyone's wondering), I seem to recall that they'd accept credit cards.
>Once one has one box under a given name, this opens up the possibility of
>getting a secured credit card to make future access easier. However, I believe
>that they do want at least one form of photo ID; I can't remember just off what
>their specifications were.
>	-Allen

I have found that credit cards are very good ID (even though they aren't ID
at all) since people are sure that you can't get one without getting
thoroughly checked out.  A secured credit card in a nome de guerre backed up
with employment photo "ID" will usually get you what you want.

The reason that market access controls like these break down is that they
are dependent on every seller on earth giving up the profit involved in
selling to you.  Sellers are different.  You can usually find one who
doesn't check ID well or is in another jurisdiction (in the case of non
physical transactions).  

A new effect is the spread of libertarian (small L) political ideologies
which means that a growing group of market participants are philosophically
opposed to traditional control regimes.  Eg C2.ORG.

A final problem for control freaks is that Friction Free Capitalism is
eating away at the traditional market institutions that have grown up during
the control era.  Thus if traditional banking, telephony, and electricity
distribution are wiped out by new forms of competitive business activity it
is hard for regulatory agencies to extend their traditional controls to the
new entities.  Budget restraints play a part as does inertia.  All of this
is before the new market players deploy anti control technologies and
procedures.  They are in business because they can displace traditional
quasi-monopoly institutions and often see government as just another
competitor to be bypassed.

DCF