Re: Declan as a Budding Washington Insider

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 4:26 AM -0700 6/16/97, Paul Bradley wrote:
>> I mean, geez, if nothing else, look at what I've been writing. Last
>> Thursday I wrote about how the Federal government should get out of the
>> business of "protecting privacy." On Friday I wrote about how "protecting
>> children" from animated cartoon images is another pretext for
>> Net-censorship. Who else is saying that?
>
>I must side with Declan here, true, sometimes Declans articles show a
>subtle hint of insiderism <tm>, but I believe that is an inevitable
>consequence of working around people in D.C. who don`t want to be
>directly associated with certain statements, to quote them against their
>will would be journalistic suicide and would soon see Declan with no
>contacts whatsoever.

Some of you, including Declan, have read too much in my comments. I did not
say he _had_ sold out, I said in several places there is a well-known
danger of becoming assimilated by the Washington system. Reread what I said.

(By the way, I've never suggested Declan would lose his ideological
bearings. Democrats and Republicans who become assimilated remain true to
their roots, but they see everything as part of a larger system, a
negotiation. They lose their ability to see in outside the Beltway simple
terms. The giveaway will be if and when Declan begins to say that things
are not so simple.)

>Also, although his articles are often written to be readable by the
>uninformed rather than security experts or cryptographers they often
>raise important points. Remember, although through Declan and John Young
>we have a lot of current news posts coming on to the list the average AOL
>account owning newbie won`t know about these things and reading some of
>Declans articles might just get them thinking.

Without intending to criticize Declan, I see nothing especially new or
insightful in his pieces. Stuff we've covered many times. The main
attention given to his articles comes from, I strongly suspect, our
projection that the sheeple are reading and being persuaded by his articles.

But, all part of the traditional "journalist as celebrity" path. No, this
is not jealousy speaking....I'm rather satisfied with my rate of pay over
the years compared to what I might have earned in journalism! And if I
really wanted to speak to the masses, I'd be more diligent in pursuing book
deals.

I wish Declan well, really. But his frequent name-dropping about soirees
he's been invited to, bigwigs he's had power lunches with...well, I think
the evolution has been set in motion. "Things are not as simple as
libertarians would have us believe."?

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
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."