Getting attention the old-fashioned way

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

A second journalist has contacted me for reaction quotes for a story he's
working on about the evolution of the Cypherpunks list, people leaving the
list, and so forth. Presumably Vulis figures in a central way, though this
second journalist did not mention him by name in his short request for
comments.

I sent him a note saying I would not give him such quotes.

Many of you apparently received a letter from another journalist last week
asking for comments for another story, with a mostly-similar theme. There,
Vulis was the obvious focus. (I ignored his letter. The journalist who
mailed me this morning I actually refused with a reply, as he's written
some good pieces in the past. I just won't cater to assisting Vulis in
disrupting the list by giving him more publicity.)

Well, these "stories" prove that a disruptor can get the attention he
craves by shitting all over the list, mailbombing it, referring to list
members as pedophiles and "limp-wristed blonde bitches" (methinks Vulis has
a pretty strong latent fixation, given his constant focus on certain topics
and words).

Sad that journalists cater to this kind of thing. I guess "personality
pieces" are ever so much more popular than technical pieces, or even
careful explications of things like crypto anarchy and the real
implications of the tecnologies we are involved with.

By the way, nothing in this post may be used by any journalist in any
story. Rights are reserved. Readers of this list may read these comments,
but reporters may not quote them. (I'm not sure of the legal status of such
comments, but if they can assert their copyrights for their widely
distributed stuff, why can't I?)

--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."