Re: extortion via digital cash

["Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>]

At 11:44 AM -0400 10/15/96, scottb@aca.ca wrote:
>Hi, I have been reading numerous threads on digital cash, and I have some
>questions I would like discussed.

Just for your own education, this issue was discussed extensively in the
early days of the list, and over on the Extropians list. I myself have
written extensively about this, and the Cyphernomicon has sections on this.

Hal Finney, Robin Hanson, David Friedman, Nick Szabo, and several others
were active in these discussions. And the extortion/contract killings
market issues are well-known to folks like David Chaum. (That people are
aware of, and discussing, issues does not, of course, imply that they
endorse or advocate anything. In fact, several of these named people are
quite concerned with the implications.)

Searches of archives, depending on what is available at any given moment,
may turn up articles. Try to read these articles and raise specific points.
It is unreasonable to expect any of us to write brand-new essays on
well-trod ground.


>I am hoping that this will spark some discussion, and maybe slow down the
>dlv, TM spam war.

The best way to spark discussion is to compose essays, in my opinion.

For the record, you should note that I am not taking part in the "spam war"
you refer to. I don't respond to Vulis, and his stuff (including any good
analyses, unfortunately, go into my trash folder...sometimes I glance at
them to keep current on what he's ranting about, sometimes I just empty the
trash without even seeing what's landed in it.

(I've also received a couple of notes from people suggesting basically that
I should "stop participating and "just make nice"" with Vulis. Such
cluelessness about what is actually being said, and the use of
Kindergarten-level phrases like "just make nice," shows that some people
have no sense of reality and have no concept of who is to blame and who is
not to blame. "Why can't the Jews and the Arabs just make nice?")

--Tim May

"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."