Re: extortion via digital cash

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

At 11:01 PM -0400 10/15/96, Rabid Wombat wrote:

>Also - in order to communicate back to the perpetrator, the victim needs
>to communicate to the first step in the chain. The operator of that chain

BlackNet-type pools eliminate the chain. There is no "first step in the
chain," only a message pool or Usenet group which is propagated to tens of
thousands of sites around the world (and even available via one's satellite
dish and local cable, a la DirectPC, @Home, etc.).


>and abetting a crime is another. What's to keep the authorities from
>following the trail of crubs back to the perpetrator, other than the
>usual threats of "don't call the cops" and "you have 24 hours to respond?"
>A few hops through some generally uncooperative jurisdictions might do,
>but perhaps El Dictator of Little Bannana Republic might just decide to
>hold the perpetrator's "payment" hostage ...

Remailers, message pools, and untraceable cash are much more robust against
these sorts of attacks than you are portraying here.

>
>Sounds like the making of a good movie script. Can we get Tom Cruise and
>one of those Thinking Machines laptops??  ;)

Hollywood is too naive. I was interviewed by a screenwriter who came to a
Cypherpunks meeting, circa early 1994. She took copious notes and seemed
very interested in these sorts of things. From the plot she was tentatively
working on, I think the eventual outcome was "The Net," but it's possible
her script never got made, or was used for background, or whatever. In any
case, "The Net" (and "Hackers") had essentially nothing very sophisticated
in it.

--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."