Markoff (was: NYT on Internet Flaws)

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

(I counted 7 entities copied on the original of this, and have trimmed the
distribution list down to just the Cypherpunks list.)


At 10:23 AM 10/12/95, Mark wrote:
>>> Not possible. Reporters don't call you for a quote and then send you a draft
>>> of the article for your approval before they publish. They call for a quote,
>>> write their article, and publish, not asking for approval.
>>
>>Depends how well you train them !
>
>Lets train them. Someone post their email addresses so we can send them all
>the RFCs for their education. :) They need to know what the hell they are
>talking about.
>
>I wonder if the biology lists get this, some wannabe hero posting how billions
>of people are infected with deadly toxins just because some researcher
>mentioned a well known fact that an amount of various bacteria and toxins
>exist in all living mammals.


John Markoff knows more about crypto and security and knows more of the
folks working in crypto and security than most of us on this list. In
addition to breaking the Clipper story (*), he also has broken several of
the most important crypto/security stories the Net has seen.

(* Though several of us, including myself, saw the precursors to Clipper
many months prior to its announcement.)

I urge folks to check out his many stories on crypto and security in the
NYT before dismissing him as some ignoramus that needs educating.

(Not that we all don't need more educating, often enough.)

Disagreeing with the tone of a story is fine, even disagreeing with the
basic message or facts is normal. After all, we disagree on this list about
many things (witness the MITM debates).

We also now have commerical interests represented on this list in fairly
important ways, so this often raises the stakes--and the temperature--in
disputes.

But disputes are best handled by arguments as to the points in dispute, not
by insults about the ignorance or cluelessness of the folks involved.

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."