Re: The House Rules At The Permanent Virtual Cypherpunks Party

[Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>]

Bryce wrote:
> Here is a document I just hacked.  I am breaking several of the Rules
> by posting it, since I am not actually subscribed to cypherpunks
> right now.
> Welcome to the cypherpunks mailing list!  Starting now, you will
> receive hundreds of email letters every week on the subject of
> privacy and social change in an age of cryptographic networks.

[snip]

> I.  Etiquette -- The House Rules At The Virtual Cypherpunks Party
> The Meta-Rule:  It's John Gilmore's virtual house.  He is the
> sole owner of the computer (toad.com) that hosts cypherpunks
> and the sole authority over what the users of that computer
> (you) can do with it.

[mo' snip]

Ordinarily, I'd leave this post alone, but I really hate it when people
twist ideas for their own philosophical purposes.  To whit: "John is the
sole authority over what the users of his computer can do with his
computer" (quote approximate).

I don't *do* anything with *his* computer. I send email into the ether
with an address on it, and he picks it up at his discretion and does
what he wants with it.  I am in no way involved in that process, and I
do not share *any* responsibility for how he handles the email. As far
as his authority goes, I've been subscribed for several months now, and
I don't recall a single statement by Gilmore himself as to what this
"authority" thing means.  But then, why should he, and why should you?
It's patently obvious to anyone with a brain, and we don't need some
authoritarian boot-licking computer-bureaucrat telling us how it is.