From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 16:57:23 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: EFF Compromises, as described in "Wired"
Message-ID: <ad3303302b021004e6c2@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



If Eric Hughes can break his silence to comment on the FV "discovery" of
keystroke-capture programs (funny, I've had a couple on my Mac for years,
for error recovery), then I guess I can break my silence about "Wired"
articles.

This afternoon I sat in a bookstore and skimmed the article on what
happened at the EFF, about the Digital Telephony compromise that was
approved by the EFF board (our own John Gilmore  was reported to have been
the sole negative vote), and about how the EFF was effectively "chased out
of town" as a result of trying to be a political entity. I can't comment on
this outlook, as I am nowhere near the inner circles of the EFF.

But it underscores a belief I have: that if you play _their_ game, they
have already won, and you just don't know it.

What's the alternative? Get them to play _your_ (_our_) game, and maybe
they won't win.

I'm still a member of the EFF, but the more I read about their problems,
including a $200,000 debt, the more convinced I am that the Cypherpunks
model is a better place to devote one's efforts and hopes to. We're still
going strong after almost three and a half years, with no debt (no assets
except ourselves, of course) and no "relocations" from Boston to Washington
to San Francisco.

So, maybe we're doing OK.

--Tim

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."