From: plaz@netcom.com (Geoff Dale)
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 93 18:31:36 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Clinton UN Speech / Msg to Prez/VP
Message-ID: <9309290127.AA07856@netcom.netcom.com>
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Perry Metzger states (perhaps incorrectly):
>Mike Ingle says:
>> In his UN speech this morning, Clinton talked about cracking down on nuke
>> and missile proliferation, and he also mentioned eliminating cold-war-era
>> restrictions which are harming American business. Let's put together a
>> message to president@whitehouse.gov and vice-president@whitehouse.gov
>> (since Gore is the info-highway guru) stating our position. 
>
>Messages sent to president@whitehouse.gov are weighed, not read. I
>suspect this will have about as much effect on the president as a note
>written in a bottle and tossed into the ocean.
>
>However, on that basis, its perfectly harmless for you to send a
>letter saying anything whatsoever other than a threat on the
>president's life, so if you and others would like to spend time
>writing such a thing, you can feel free. Just remember that there is
>no cypherpunks organization, so you can't claim to represent us.

Depends how you define harmless. If I recall the original e-mail release
correctly, they do archive all messages. No assurances are made that these
messages will not be used against you (ie- might end up in some file on
you; I doubt that it would be used in court).

To reenforce Perry's point: Any threats against the Prez or his clan WILL
get forwarded to the secret service, so DON'T pull that one. Death threats
are useless (and most likely counter-productive) tactics anyway.

But writing letters to that address are probably at least as effective as
writing to him via US Snail. Keep the message focused on one idea (remember
it will probably be tabulated as for or against an issue) and make sure
that  the message gets across clearly.

Who knows, if a enough messages get through on a subject, Bill or Al might
get a one line statement in one of there meetings saying that the online
community is "up in arms" about skipjack or the pgp subpoenas.


_______________________________________________________________________
Geoff Dale    -- insert standard disclaimers here --    plaz@netcom.com
"Communists! Those bug-brained motherfuckers are even worse than the 
             schmucks who think they run things here."
          - Norman Spinrad, from his novel "Little Heroes"