From: sharborth@hai-net.com
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 95 15:43:26 PDT
To: Majordomo@toad.com
Subject: Re: Welcome to cypherpunks
Message-ID: <9509258146.AA814672676@houston_cc_smtp.hai-net.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


     Why am I getting this when I am already subscribed to the list??????
     
     Skip


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Welcome to cypherpunks
Author:  Majordomo@toad.com at internet
Date:    25-10-95 12:17


--
     
Welcome to the cypherpunks mailing list!
     
If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list,
you can send mail to "Majordomo@toad.com" with the following command 
in the body of your email message:
     
    unsubscribe cypherpunks cypherpunks@toad.com
     
Here's the general information for the list you've 
subscribed to, in case you don't already have it:
     
     
     
About cypherpunks
-----------------
     
I. Administrivia (please read, boring though it may be)
     
The cypherpunks list is a forum for discussing personal defenses for 
privacy in the digital domain.  It is a high volume mailing list.  If 
you don't know how to do something, like unsubscribe, send mail to
     
 majordomo@toad.com
     
and the software robot which answers that address will send you back 
instructions on how to do what you want.  If you don't know the 
majordomo syntax, an empty message to this address will get you a help 
file, as will a command 'help' in the body.  Even with all this 
automated help, you may still encounter problems.  If you get really 
stuck, please feel free to contact me directly at the address I use 
for mailing list management:
     
 cypherpunks-owner@toad.com
     
Please use this address for all mailing list management issues.  Hint: 
if you try to unsubscribe yourself from a different account than you 
signed up for, it likely won't work.  Log back into your old account 
and try again.  If you no longer have access to that account, mail me 
at the list management address above.
     
For other questions, my list management address is not the best place, 
since I don't read it every day.  To reach me otherwise, send mail to
     
 eric@remailer.net
     
This address is appropriate for emergencies (and wanting to get off 
the list is never an emergency), such as the list continuously spewing 
articles.  Please don't send me mail to my regular mailbox asking to 
be removed; I'll just send you back a form letter.
     
Do not mail to the whole list asking to be removed.  It's rude.  The 
-request address is made exactly for this purpose.
     
To post to the whole list, send mail to
     
 cypherpunks@toad.com
     
If your mail bounces repeatedly, you will be removed from the list. 
Nothing personal, but I have to look at all the bounce messages.
     
There is no digest version available.
     
There is an announcements list which is moderated and has low volume. 
Announcements for physical cypherpunks meetings, new software and 
important developments will be posted there.  Mail to
     
 cypherpunks-announce-request@toad.com
     
if you want to be added or removed to the announce list.  All 
announcements also go out to the full cypherpunks list, so there is no 
need to subscribe to both.
     
     
II. About cypherpunks
     
The cypherpunks list is not designed for beginners, although they are 
welcome.  If you are totally new to crypto, please get and read the 
crypto FAQ referenced below.  This document is a good introduction, 
although not short.  Crypto is a subtle field and a good understanding 
will not come without some study.  Please, as a courtesy to all, do some 
reading to make sure that your question is not already frequently asked.
     
There are other forums to use on the subject of cryptography.  The 
Usenet group sci.crypt deals with technical cryptography; cypherpunks 
deals with technical details but slants the discussion toward their 
social implications.  The Usenet group talk.politics.crypto, as is 
says, is for political theorizing, and cypherpunks gets its share of 
that, but cypherpunks is all pro-crypto; the debates on this list are 
about how to best get crypto out there.  The Usenet group 
alt.security.pgp is a pgp-specific group, and questions about pgp as 
such are likely better asked there than here.  Ditto for 
alt.security.ripem.
     
The cypherpunks list has its very own net.loon, a fellow named L. 
Detweiler.  The history is too long for here, but he thinks that 
cypherpunks are evil incarnate.  If you see a densely worded rant 
featuring characteristic words such as "medusa", "pseudospoofing", 
"treachery", "poison", or "black lies", it's probably him, no matter 
what the From: line says.  The policy is to ignore these postings. 
Replies have never, ever, not even once resulted in anything 
constructive and usually create huge flamewars on the list.  Please, 
please, don't feed the animals.
     
     
III. Resources.
     
A. The sci.crypt FAQ
     
anonymous ftp to rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet-by-group/sci.crypt
     
The cryptography FAQ is good online intro to crypto.  Very much worth 
reading.  Last I looked, it was in ten parts.
     
B. cypherpunks ftp site
     
anonymous ftp to ftp.csua.berkeley.edu:pub/cypherpunks
     
This site contains code, information, rants, and other miscellany. 
There is a glossary there that all new members should download and 
read.  Also recommended for all users are Hal Finney's instructions on 
how to use the anonymous remailer system; the remailer sources are 
there for the perl-literate.
     
C. Bruce Schneier's _Applied Cryptography_, published by Wiley
     
This is required reading for any serious technical cypherpunk.  An 
excellent overview of the field, it describes many of the basic 
algorithms and protocols with their mathematical descriptions.  Some 
of the stuff at the edges of the scope of the book is a little 
incomplete, so short descriptions in here should lead to library 
research for the latest papers, or to the list for the current 
thinking.  All in all, a solid and valuable book.  It's even got
the cypherpunks-request address.
     
     
IV. Famous last words
     
My preferred email address for list maintenance topics only is 
hughes@toad.com.  All other mail, including emergency mail, should go 
to hughes@ah.com, where I read mail much more regularly.
     
Enjoy and deploy.
     
Eric
     
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
Cypherpunks assume privacy is a good thing and wish there were more 
of it.  Cypherpunks acknowledge that those who want privacy must 
create it for themselves and not expect governments, corporations, or 
other large, faceless organizations to grant them privacy out of 
beneficence.  Cypherpunks know that people have been creating their 
own privacy for centuries with whispers, envelopes, closed doors, and 
couriers.  Cypherpunks do not seek to prevent other people from 
speaking about their experiences or their opinions.
     
The most important means to the defense of privacy is encryption. To 
encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy.  But to encrypt with 
weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy. 
Cypherpunks hope that all people desiring privacy will learn how best 
to defend it.
     
Cypherpunks are therefore devoted to cryptography.  Cypherpunks wish 
to learn about it, to teach it, to implement it, and to make more of 
it.  Cypherpunks know that cryptographic protocols make social 
structures.  Cypherpunks know how to attack a system and how to 
defend it.  Cypherpunks know just how hard it is to make good 
cryptosystems.
     
Cypherpunks love to practice.  They love to play with public key 
cryptography.  They love to play with anonymous and pseudonymous mail 
forwarding and delivery.  They love to play with DC-nets.  They love 
to play with secure communications of all kinds.
     
Cypherpunks write code.  They know that someone has to write code to 
defend privacy, and since it's their privacy, they're going to write 
it.  Cypherpunks publish their code so that their fellow cypherpunks 
may practice and play with it.  Cypherpunks realize that security is 
not built in a day and are patient with incremental progress.
     
Cypherpunks don't care if you don't like the software they write. 
Cypherpunks know that software can't be destroyed.  Cypherpunks know 
that a widely dispersed system can't be shut down.
     
Cypherpunks will make the networks safe for privacy.
     
[Last updated Mon Feb 21 13:18:25 1994]