Re: Recommendation: Creation of "alt.cypherpunks"

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

At 2:17 PM -0800 2/13/97, Leonard Janke wrote:

>That being said, I fully support the idea of a comp.* newgroup,
>over an alt.* group. The important advantages are the greater
>propogation many have described, and the reduction in "outsider"
>noise. I also think that people interested in computing
>in general might be more likely to stumble onto the newsgroup,
>since the comp.* hierachy is so much smaller than the alt.*
>hierachy.

Given that _political_ discussions of crypto are now encouraged in
_talk_.politics.crypto (emphasis added) rather than sci.crypt, do you think
political and social essays dealing with crypto anarchy, offshore
databases, undermining governments, etc., will be welcome in the "comp"
hierarchy?

I rather doubt it. And I would bet that if comp.org.cypherpunks is ever
approved, those who dislike crypto anarchy and sociopolitical chatter will
use the "comp" name to try to suppress such discussions.

And thus comp.org.cypherpunks will be mostly a duplicate of sci.crypt and
other such groups.

>To be fair, though, I doubt that anyone would seriously try to
>disrupt the creation, given the dedication I am seeing people putting
>into finding a new home (or homes!) for the list, and that there does not
>seem to be anyone dedicated to distrupting that process as John Gilmore
>worried there would be. (And I am on the unedited list, too!)

Sorry, Leonard, but this is one of the most naive statements I've ever
heard. You really think whoever is spamming the list with ASCII art and
broke into Paul's account to post hundreds of "John Gilmore is a
cocksucker" posts will back off because of the "dedication" of some? To the
perverse personality, this is merely a greater challenge and temptation.

--Tim May

Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
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: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."