Re: CDT's Berman Opposes Online Anonymity

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 9:48 AM -0700 7/21/97, Anonymous wrote:
>                     AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
>
>
>                       WASHINGTON OFFICE
>
>                                                    122 Maryland Avenue, NE
> November 1, 1985                                   Washington, DC 20002
...

In fairness to Berman, in 1985 very few people were thinking seriously
about these issues, and Chaum's paper (presumably the one published that
year in "Communicatons of the ACM") was probably seen as far-off technology
then.

I'd be more interested to see Berman's more recent views on online anonymity.

It might well be that in 1985 he saw little hope for technological
solutions, and understandably placed more faith in legislative solutions.

Now that the technology for anonymity is widely deployed, this situation
has changed.

If Berman or any of the other "cyber rights" groups were to call for bans
on anonymity, this would be news indeed. (And I don't expect them to. The
Supreme Court rulings on anonymous leafletting and speech were pretty
clearcut.)

--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."