From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 09:44:33 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Netscape
Message-ID: <ae1956e20c021004dc94@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 6:23 PM 7/22/96, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:

>David suggests that Netscape will be royally screwed if the gov't
>cracks down on them because of "monkeywrenchers". but quite the
>opposite is possible. as TCM fondly points out, sometimes you win
>by losing and lose by winning (not necessarily in those words).
>
>by creating a very large, glaring, and visceral
>public spectacle of the government cracking down on crypto, the
>resulting outcry could be absolutely enormous and resonate throughout
>the entire population. it would be a vivid portrayal of what the
>government has been doing quietly and secretly for decades, and
>perhaps the public might finally understand what is going on.

By the way, I certainly don't want to be seen as a main promulagator of
"monkeywrenching" Netscape's system! I made a few snide/droll/obvious
points that the software will likely leak out fairly quickly, but I was not
_advocating_ such a thing, nor was I suggesting that someone be pinned up
on the wall as a decoy (;-}).

I don't think Netscape is misbehaving.

I do have some concerns about a method to control leakage that requires
data bases of names and addresses of persons accessing a site. One can
imagine this concept extended to requiring data bases of names and
addresses to be accessed before Web sites may be connected to.

(Especially when such "verifications" are so easily spoofed or the results
subverted. For example, if the results reported here are valid, the
Netscape downloads are not serialized, so any of the millions who download
it could be the exporters...essentially nothing is gained, but the
precedent is set for demanding identity before downloading...note that
retail software purchases do not as yet require identification--you pay
your money and that's that. Even if some dirty furriner could buy his
software and take it home in his luggage.)

--Tim May

Boycott "Big Brother Inside" 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,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."