From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 95 15:22:37 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: CPUSA = CypherPunks USA?
Message-ID: <acecb626030210046f83@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 6:39 PM 12/7/95, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote:

>        I suspect I know what organizations they're interested in (CPUSA et
>al), but did they ask about any specific organizations?

CPUSA? You mean "CypherPunks USA"?

I agree that being on the Cypherpunks list is probably a serious threat to
one's security clearance. After all, the things we talk about are
destabilizing to governments, are conducive to creating open channels for
releasing material anyone thinks is useful to be released, and even makes
espionage trivial.

(We seldom mention this, it being old hat, but the Aldrich Ames' of the
world need no longer resort to archaic tradecraft such as leaving messages
in Coke cans in the crooks of trees--digital dead drops are as close as
your nearest PGP package and remailer. This is a revolution in
espionage--not that I am advocating or condoning it, although it is often
necessary and even moral.)

Given that many of us take an explicitly trans-national approach, with
little or no loyalty to local and national governments, and given that many
of us advocate a Nietzschean kind of personal choice in deciding which laws
to obey and which to ignore, our outlook is probably as dangerous to secret
programs as membership in the Communist Party would be (especially these
days, where membership in the CP would be seen as either a sign of slow
thinking or quaintness).

--Tim May

Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."