Suggested Book

[frissell@panix.com (Duncan Frissell)]

There was a discussion a while ago on books for cypherpunks.  A very good
fictional discussion of the issues that motivate us in a non-crypto context
can be found in Poul Anderson's book "Shield."

It is the story of an explorer who returns from Mars with the technology for
a (semi-impenetrable) personal force  field.

The story is relevant because the current FBI briefing book on how to pitch
the Digital Telephony Initiative to the press emphasizes the "what if your
daughter's kidnappers had a wall or a shield that couldn't be broken, you'd
demand that we be able to break it, wouldn't you?" argument.

Easy enough to answer with "if my daughter had a wall or shield that
couldn't be broken, she couldn't be kidnapped in the first place" reply.  

The "force field" is a fair analogy to crypto  since, as Tim May, has
argued, the energy cost necessary to break strong cypto is the equivalent of
a journey to the end of the universe and back (or whatever).

"Shield" displays the attitudinal differences between control freaks and
libertarians (like Poul Anderson) quite well.  Impenetrable shields scare
control freaks and give hope to believers in personal autonomy.

Also, the climax of "Shield" includes a decades-old version of the technique
that some members of cypherpunks have used to solve secrecy problems --
uploading the "secret" document to the nets to forestall censorship.

Recommended.

DCF

"Who for decades hoped for the two inventions that would bring about a de
facto free society without having to change anybody's politics -- a force
field or a $5 a pound orbital launch system -- but who never predicted the
direction from which Liberation Technology would sneak up on him."

"Hmmm.. 'Liberation Technology' there's a book title in there or is it too
close to 'Liberation Management?"