Re: IRS sending warning notes, violating ECPA?

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 10:46 PM -0700 7/22/97, Anonymous wrote:

>  Perhaps the hardest part of maintaining secure communications and
>personal privacy is remembering that, no matter how tight you run your
>own ship, you are, to a certain extent, "married" to the people with
>whom you communicate. And, to use an AIDS analogy, you are also
>"married" to everyone they have slept with.

I really can't agree with this viewpoint. Insofar as _crypto_ goes, the
beauty of public key systems is that one shares _nothing_ with others. They
don't have your secret keys, and you don't have theirs.

It is true that their communications with you, or yours with them, may be
used against you. Maybe by them, maybe if their computers are stolen or
seized. But this is unavoidable with any communication system. Contact
tracking is often possible.

And crypto even allows for fully pseudonymous communication. Thus, if the
IRS and FBI seized Bell's computer and found communications through
remailers with "Pr0duct Cypher," his or her True Name, meatspace personna
would be safe.

>  The bottom line is that one should "err" on the side of safety. Being
>_too_ paranoid is less costly than not being paranoid enough.
>  Tim May's rants are not done in ignorance. He understands the legal
>differences between saying "The criminals in D.C. _should_ be nuked.",
>and saying, "I _am_going_to_ nuke the criminals in D.C., someday."
>(Friday, at 4 o'clock.)
>  I am certain that Tim is well aware that, even if he is right about
>his statements being Constitutionally protected free speech, there is
>always the chance that he could suffer grief or imprisonment for them(
>quite simply because "the criminals" are getting more profecient at
>subverting and destroying the rights protected by the Constitution).
>  I am just as certain that Tim has made a conscious decision as to
>what level of risk he is willing to take to speak his mind and perhaps
>make a difference in the events of his time, without merely being
>egoistical, stupid, and suicidal.

If I wanted to be "safe" and "secure," I'd just stay silent like a good
little sheeple. I'd get off this list, I'd cluck appropriately at those
darned cypher-terrorists, and I'd volunteer some time at the local
Demopublican Party machine.

All of us on this list, except the plants and shills, are risking a certain
amount. (Several corporate types have sent me e-mail saying that now that
they are in positions of respectability within their corporations, they can
no longer say what's on their mind, for fear of repercussions of various
sorts, however mild.)

Speaking out is what separates us from sheeple.

--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."