From: fergp@sytex.com (Paul Ferguson)
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 93 14:42:24 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: WIRED snippet
Message-ID: <ZFkD3B1w165w@sytex.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Wed, 21 Apr 93 11:30:24 -0600,
 L. Detweiler <uunet!longs.lance.colostate.edu!ld231782>
 
LD> EFF is drawing fire on the proposal or EFF is drawing fire on
LD> itself?
 
I read this elsewhere, but I just can't remember where, off the top
of my head. Anyway, here is a snippet from WIRED (Vol 1, Issue 2,
May/June 1993, page 97) that also mentions it -
 
8<------- Cut Here ------------
 
HYPE LIST          Current        Position        Months
                   Position       Last Month      on List
                   --------       ----------      -------
 
Cryptography          1               4              3
 
Wireless Everything   2               -              2
 
Wired                 3               -              1
 
EFF Sells Out         4               -              1
 
Piercing              5               -              2
 
 
1. Cryptography
 
Cryptography continues to rise in popularity as the solution for all
digital ills. The use of the software encryption package Pretty Good
Privacy (PGP) for e-mail is now tres hip among the network elites,
and public keys are being traded like baseball cards. Of course,
encryption is just a way to hide the same boring messages, but it
does add that element of intrigue. Crypto-philes are a '90s version of
the NRA gun nuts: paranoid of the government's attempts to legislate,
and coonvinced that their guns (codes) are necessary for freedom. "If
encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption," is already
splattered around the Net.
 
2. Wireless Everything
 
There seems to be an unwritten rule nowadays that every product
announcement must trumpet the fact that the new gizmo is, even if
only in some minor way, wireless.  We now have wireless mice,
keyboards, modems, printers, and networks. The once-esoteric
deliberations concerninng radio bandwidth auctioning have become
front page news in the Wall Street Journal. What's strange is that
there is no corresponding consumer clamor for wireless products. In
fact, wireless keyboards and printers have flopped every time thay have
been introduced. But don't expect this to stop Buck Rogers-obsessed
electronics companies anytime soon.
 
3. Wired
 
The glut of recent media hype surrounding this new rag is proof the
WIRED staff has read and understood its Marshall McLuhan. Through
deliberate manipulation of broadcasters, spin-doctored press releases,
and billboards everywhere, WIRED has achieved near total ubiquity,
including spots on everything from Good Morning America to NPR. While
the mainstream media looks on in disbelief, the reaction on the Net
has been more divided. Some on alt.cyberpunk see it as the unholy
offspring of M2 and the Economist, while others see it as a rehash of
the Same Old Stuff, down to the obligatory article on virtual sex.
Like VR, it's a viewpoint-dependent medium.
 
4. EFF Sells Out
 
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's announcement of their
reorganization and the closure of their Cambridge office was greeted
with cries of betrayal and the ripping of membership cards. Many
people on the Net saw the reorganization as a move by the EFF towards
a more slick-corporate-Washington D.C.-Clinton-ass-kicking type of
organization. The critics have grossly exaggerated the charges, but
there is a kernel of truth to them: The EFF gets most of its financial
support from large corporations such as AT&T and Apple, and John Perry
Barlow has admitted that this has influenced the EFF's actions. (Heck,
how many times hhave you seen John Sculley standing next to Clinton
in the past four months?) But a well-endowed EFF is sure to be more
effective than a politically correct one -- we just need to hope that
what is best for Apple is also best for us.
 
5. Piercing
 
Body piercing has been hyped for the last five years, but only
recently has it really caught on in the computer community. Now it
seems as though every programmer in San Jose has a pierced nipple and
is eagerto tell you about it. As Jaron Lanier said, piercing is the
only thing left that can still get a rise from a teenager's ex-hippy
parent. Cyberpunk lit has always emphasized body malfunctions, from
fake eyes to knives implanted under yourr finger nails, and piercing
is a cheap and easy way to be like your heros -- and it;s oh so
rebellious. I just hope that liposuction becomes the next big trend
with this group.
 
- Steve Steinberg
 
8<----- Cut Here ---------
 
Cheers.
 
 

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