Appropriate Topics for Cypherpunks

[nobody@huge.cajones.com (Huge Cajones Remailer)]

At 9:54 AM 12/13/1996, Rob Carlson wrote:
>To make this on topic, how does this apply to cryptography and
>crypto-politics? This issue is a foundation of our discussions here.
>Shall we accept anecdotal evidence such as the "If you only knew what
>we knew" arguments? What is more reliable: IPG's claims that their
>product is an OTP because they say it is or Bruce Schneier's book
>that can be used to point out the fallacy's in their claims?

I'm sure Rob Carlson already realizes this, but just in case let's be
very clear that a discussion of the value of anecdotal evidence is so
on topic to this list that it isn't funny.

We are talking about trust models.

The reason that the Net is a fundamental threat to the established
social order is that it will probably result in a worldwide change in
trust models.  For one thing, we are now learning just how venal and
corrupt the world leadership really is.  At the same time,
cross-border relationships and trust are flourishing.

The rise of anonymous identities raises the question of how we can
"trust" somebody we have never met.  This immediately leads to the
question of why we trust other people we haven't met, such as the
President, or scientists, or whomever.  It turns out our reasons for
"trusting" these people are not as solid as some of us once believed.

The attempts to crush strong cryptography - especially if it implies
anonymity with strong authentication - is an attempt to undermine the
trust developing between disparate groups of people.

And, in a sense, that is what politics has always been about: the
subversion of trust between groups of people so they can be played off
each other for the benefit of the few.

Back to what is appropriate to this list: What the cypherpunks is
suffering right now is not an excess of well written articles that are
off topic.  I suggest that anybody who feels very strongly that they
are not seeing articles of the appropriate content follow Rob
Carlson's example and show the rest of us how it is done.

Red Rackham