From: an42035@anon.penet.fi (the Surgeon)
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 07:22:33 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: crypto anarchy
Message-ID: <9310201421.AB11672@anon.penet.fi>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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>Count on it.  Things are moving much too slowly on "our" side.  Entities
>like AT&T, Warner, etc. stand a good chance of controlling much of what
>becomes "the net" in the future, if much of this technology is not:

>1) in place and functional
>2) easy to use by the clueless and lazy as well as techies
>3) accepted for use within the network, indeed considered *part of* the
>   network both as "flavour" and technical specifications
>4) impossible to remove - no govt/corporate turning back of the tide

>VERY soon.  In addition the populace has to become aware of:

>4) HOW to do all of this - easy "newbie" software is needed - plug-n-play
>5) that privacy is possible.  Most have forgotten this.

If we need this stuff out VERY soon, then there is a serious problem:
Time-Warner, AT&T, etc. can afford to spend major $$$ on implementing
technology, including having employees work on these projects full
time, while the cypherpunks work that goes on is largely on a part
time basis by otherwise employed professionals, or students.

Not to insult anybody; each contribution in anonymous mail, digital
cash, dc-nets, crypto software, etc. is GREATLY appreciated.  

However, the progress that has been made still has a fun oriented
research and development slant.  

But all the same, if what you are saying is that these
volunteer/hacker types have to battle for the future of the net,
there's no way.  I mean, look at all the stuff Phil Zimmerman went
through to put out one crypto program.  Can you expect anybody else to
do the same?

Many volunteers have spent countless man-hours working on PGP, and by
no stretch of anybody's imagination is it "plug-n-play" ready.  I
can't tell you how many announcements of upcoming Windows PGP
front-ends I've seen.  I'm sure many hobbyists are working on it as
much as they can, and I'm glad, but these people can't be expected to
compete with real software development efforts.

A software company that wants to make "plug-and-play" easy to use
crypto software which meets #1 and #2 - including integration into
popular mail software - will bury PGP or RIPEM by sheer numbers.  Most
people fall into the "clueless and/or lazy" category.

>There's a lot of work to do.

The Wired article may have called cypherpunks "millionaire hackers",
but I don't think the majority of this list can afford to work on
cypherpunks stuff full time like it probably needs to be worked on.

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