From: Anthony Garcia <agarcia@sugar.NeoSoft.COM>
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 94 06:11:41 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Cyberspace is by nature crime-free
In-Reply-To: <gate.ZB7iNc1w165w@dxm.ernet.in>
Message-ID: <199406071311.AA13308@sugar.NeoSoft.COM>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


rishab@dxm.ernet.in writes:

    The major difference between cyberspace and the world of brick houses
    is that no _physical_ crime is possible

Right on.  With the exception of fraud (the danger of which is
lessened by the use of appropriate cryptographic protocols in your
business transactions), cyberspace is essentially crime free.

Mind y'all, when I said "Wacos in Cyberspace: Hear, hear!"  I thinking
of the positive aspects of the former Branch Davidian community: they
were independent, effectively sovereign, and capable and willing to
defend themselves.  (Vernor Vinge's "The Ungoverned"[1] is one of my
favorite stories.)

I *am* *not* fond of their plethora of bad aspects: that they were
religious-fanatic leader-following probably-child-abusing collectivist
loonies with barely a gram of rational grey matter amongst the lot of
them.

    What's the FBI going to do? Jail people for _talking_ ... ?

I'm sure they'd like to.  It would certainly make things more... *orderly*.
"You have been found guilty of Thoughtcrime..."

Actually, in a recent case a person was threatened with jail for
exercising freedom of expression.  Underground comix artist named Mike
Diana recently was found guilty of distributing pornography; he
self-published a xeroxed zine containing his own rather raw artwork.

As part of his sentence, the judge ordered him to *never draw this
kind of stuff again*!.  Seriously: the judge ordered that the guy's
parole officer was to *make unannounced checks of the guy's house
periodically to make sure he wasn't drawing anything pornographic*!
Even if he wasn't publishing it!  [Check around on Usenet for more
details; I can't remember which newsgroups I saw this in.]

ObCrypto: Perhaps Diana could begin drawing on a Mac, and use Stego
to hide his stuff.  "Sure, officer, wanna see some of the landscapes
I've been working on?"

-Anthony Garcia
agarcia@sugar.neosoft.com

[1] Vernor Vinge's short story "The Ungoverned" is a great depiction of
anarchocapitalism in action.  Look for it in either of his collections
"Across Realtime" and "True Names and Other Dangers", both from Baen
Books, in paperback.