From: mkj@october.segno.com
Date: Sat, 4 May 1996 14:27:36 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: CryptoAnarchy: Late Comments.
Message-ID: <199605032031.AA03254@october.segno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


I'm amazed at the long thread my naive "CypherAnarchy" question
generated -- not to mention the astonishing range of perspectives,
spanning from the unusual to the bizarre.  (Yes, that was a joke.)

I haven't joined in much up to now, simply because it has taken me
some time to digest it all.  But now that the thread seems to be
winding down, I have extracted a couple of interesting points for
additional comments.

"Snow" discusses nations without borders, then asks:

> Are these the deep waters you refer to?

In part, yes.  But I think the possible definitions of "nation" and
"government" are diffusing even more broadly than you suggest.  A
paragraph which I edited from my original message went something like:
"Suppose a large multinational company finds a way to increase profits
by cutting labor costs.  To what extent does this resemble a global
'tax increase' on the world population?"

A line of thought which (skipping over a lot of boring intermediate
stuff) led me eventually to the questions, "What are taxes?" and "What
is wealth?"  Clearly, when the government exacts payment of taxes from
us, it is more than just a screwy method of recycling used currency!
Taxation, to oversimplify quite a bit, is essentially compelled labor.

But it is even more than that.  Taxes must be paid in dollars, and the
U.S. government maintains tight and detailed controls over what types
of labor and value can be converted into dollars, by whom, and how.
Therefore taxation is also compelled *behavior*.  It keeps us locked
into roles which government has significant power to shape.  In fact,
due in part to tax policies, important traditional American lifestyle
values such as "being independent" and "living off the land" have
become damn near impossible today (while "normal" forms of employment
frequently entail the waiver of important Constitutional rights).

Once taxation is seen as compelled behavior, it is natural to ask how
many other legal controls on behavior might have the effect, at least
in part, of a sort of hidden tax.  The military draft?  Seizures of
property in criminal cases?  Obviously.  But what about regulations on
industry?  Suppose Congress passes a bill which consolidates some
segment of the military industry.  Or suppose a government reserves to
itself some of the most profitable lines of business, such as drugs
and gambling.  To what extent do these actions resemble taxes?

My point being, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and clearly
more than one way to increase government wealth.  Cryptography may be
able to hide value transactions when they take the symbolic form of
money, but can crypto hide value in all its phases?  If not, then
crypto will change only the forms, not the essence, of taxation.  It
cannot shield us, for example, from outright forced labor (such as
compulsory military service) or increased criminal penalties, etc.

A final thought: Just as TV is in the business of selling eyes and
ears to advertisers, the U.S. government has long been involved in
some activities which might, to the cynical eye (such as my own),
resemble the selling of "exploitation rights" over its population to
the highest bidders.  Note that such a strategy could do a complete
end-run around any tax collection problems caused by cryptography!

"Snow" also wrote:

> Fine. So change the tactics. Instead of "Rising Up", simply use an
> ages old an respected solution. Take out the leaders. Note, I am
> _not_ suggesting Mr. Bells assination politics, rather, given a
> violent revolution, or the beginings of one, shorten it by taking
> those who make the policies you disagree with.

But who the hell ARE the real leaders, and how are we supposed to find
them?  Hint: I don't think they're the people on TV!

Politicians today aren't leaders, they are the heads of an unseen
Gorgon: If you cut one politician down, two identical copies will
spring forth in that same place!

					---  mkj