Crypto-activism

["Deranged Mutant" <WlkngOwl@unix.asb.com>]

On 13 Jul 96 at 0:37, Arun Mehta wrote:
[..]
> >> 1) Collect the e-mail addresses as Allen suggested (including those in
> >> Hongkong), and send them a single, short message offering to teach them free
> >> of cost how to use pgp and all the goodies at
> >> http://www.eskimo.com/~joelm/cbsw.html
> >
> >Might be condescending.  'Civilized white man brings PGP to the 
> >barbarians...' 
> 
> Look around you: while "civilized", "white" and "man" might characterize the
> vast (?) majority on this list, I'm sure that's not the universe on
> cypherpunks. And how does it matter? I'm suggesting an e-mail course that

My point is that a lot of people in those countries are aware of PGP 
etc. than make it out to be.  Certainly many activists are.  They 
focus on the human rights issues at hand, to which PGP etc. may be a 
tool... but isn't the central focus.

It would be condescending to email to many people in a domain saying 
"hey, have you heard of PGP?..."  Chances are they'll think it's a 
strange commercial spam anyway.

The "civilized white man" comment was more of a metaphor.  Change 
that to "Cypherpunks bring gifts of crypto to the natives" or maybe 
"Cypherpunks civilized the barbarians with PGP"...

[..]
> > They may well know about PGP, but not in a position 
> >to make that knowledge widely known.
> 
> That's no good to the rest of the world. Forget them: the question is,  are
> *you* in a position to share your knowledge?

Yep.  But there's a proper way to share knowledge.  You don't want to 
do it in such a way as to get the person you're sharing it with in 
trouble (esp. for something like crypto, where you could go to jail 
or be shot in some jurisdictions).  If that person isn't interested, 
there's not much you can do... you may end up turning someone off.  
If you want someone to listen, and be interested (if they're not 
already), you have to do it in an appropriate way.

You also have to know what you're talking about: if you're not familiar
with the nitty -gritty of politics in such countries, you'll come off as the 
"cypherpunk bearing gifts of crypto for the natives"... the politics 
going on in places like Cuba, China, Iraq, Russia are a bit more 
complex than what comes off through the media (to some extent no 
matter where you are and what media you watch).

For example... there are many anti-Castro 'democratic' socialists in Cuba.
If you approach them as if they were anti-Communists you'll be seen 
as a clueless kook.  Some Chinese I have spoken to are suspicious of 
the Tiennamen Sq. activists, claiming they were more 'reformists' 
than true democratizers who were unknown before Tiennamen. Many 
Iranians will insist Iran is a democratic country where 
fundamentalists hold a lot of popular power, and that Western 
tinkering will only strengthen fundamentalists rather than allow a 
transition to a more moderate party.

I'm not saying any of these are true... they are just examples of how 
people in the respective territories view their situations 
differently, and that one can do more harm mistaking the situations 
in those countries.

One more important issue: people have to trust you.  You can't go 
into a strange environment and expect trust if you come off as a 
tourist.

As for sharing knowledge... share crypto with activists involved with 
other issues.  If one right, they're likely to use it in ways one 
hasn't imagined.

[..]
> >I'd leave the specifics to activists who are already familiar with 
> >the respective cultures, societies, politics, etc.... 
> 
> I'm one. Be glad to tell you more,...

Yes, do tell.

[..]
> It's only crypto, not the Bible or Koran. And let them be their own judges?
> You seem to want to protect people in the Third World the way the US
> government wants to keep cyberporn from kids.

No. I don't want to see somebody do something annoying and 
counterproductive that can get people it's allegedly meant to help in 
trouble and perhaps make a case for strengthening crypto regulations.

Rob
 
---
No-frills sig.
Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help"
Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl@unix.asb.com (root@magneto)
        AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl@unix.asb.com>
Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.