From: Sherry Mayo <scmayo@rschp2.anu.edu.au>
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 94 22:37:50 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Blame me! I started the "What motivates crypto-folk" thread
Message-ID: <9407020537.AA21798@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I only joined the cypherpunks list a few days ago so 'imagine my
surprise' to see that a post I sent to talk.politics.crypto had been
forwarded here and was the topic of some considerable debate!
I've also had stacks of replies by email, so I thought I should
stick my head above the parapet and post here with a few observations.

It is self evident from the emails I have received that crypto-use
and cypherpunks encompass people of every political stripe. Someone
used the phrase 'strange bedfellows' to describe the variety of people
on cypherpunks and I couldn't agree more. The majority of people shared
a simple desire for privacy, from government snooping in particular.
I guess the articles I had read on WWW that lead to my original post
were not very representative of crypto-users as a whole.

I wasn't really intending to start a political left vs right debate with
my post. As many people have pointed out to me, crypto is a neutral tool that
can be used by all sorts of people for all sorts of ends. I don't expect
to agree politically with all those people any more that I expect to
agree with all car drivers (for example). I was just curious that there
was an *apparent* trend in the politics of the crypto articles I read -
How wrong I was :-)

To all those who have replied to me by email, thanks for your views.


Sherry Mayo


PS. Someone wrote:

> > Thanks for your thoughtful comments.  However the message was 
> > not by me but by Sherry May <scmay@rschp2.anu.edu.au>.
> 
> Sherry May, Tim's EVIL TWIN?  (Or is it the other way 'round?)

Ha ha ha this had me ROTFL!!!

PPS. Its Mayo - I'm no relation!