From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996 02:19:05 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
Message-ID: <ae32022e03021004e1bc@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 12:15 PM 8/10/96, Scottauge@aol.com wrote:
>I was watched CBS reports a couple nights ago about how all these blue collar
>and now white collar jobs are going across seas.
>
>How programmers in India are taking jobs away from us, programmers and
>engineerss, the people pioneering them.  (Actually I know some Indian based
>programmers and they are worked very hard, even being locked in a building
>until they meet some deadline.  This is not conducive to quality work, just
>enough to get ya back home to family.)

Where do I begin? First, what does "taking jobs away from us" mean? That we
own these jobs? And who is "us"?

And as for locking people in buildings until they meet a goal, I'd say
that's a pretty fair description of Silicon Valley start-ups. :-}


>White collar jobs are basically knowledge worker jobs, and if one does not
>know how to do something, one cannot do it.
>
>So a possible way to protect jobs is to protect the knowledge on how to do
>them.

This kind of protection did not work 150-200 years ago, when the
"Colonists" figured out to make fabric in mills and how to mechanize
factories--they ended up "stealing" the industry the Brits thought they had
sewn up. Life goes on.

Essentially all of the technologies we talk about on this list work toward
erasing national boundaries, much as Singapore and the U.S. might find this
distasteful.

>>From who could be an interesting question.  Obviously some companies would be
>interested in sharing the knowledge amongst the non-US tax paying population
>of the world, thereby reducing income and taxes collected and thus needing to
>raise taxes once again to pay for "rights" and entitlements the government
>"gives" away to the citizens and non-citizens of this country.... but, I am
>beginning to rant and rave.

Indeed you are. I would be interested in hearing a more coherent argument
for your case, though.

>Perhaps there is a larger picture in the world that the cyperpunks mailing
>list is missing.  That cryptography is not just for personal privacy, but
>could involve job security also - as a matter of fact, the income base for
>this whole country.

Given that our list is international, with active contributors from Sweden,
India, Germany, Cyberia, and even Singapore, I rather doubt many of them
see strong crytography, anonymous remailers, denationalized money, and
crypto anarchy as a means of propping up the government or the economy of
the United States of America.

>In essence, knowledge is money, cuz that is what we usually want for it
>now-a-days.  "Oh you want me to do that for you, hmmmm, lets see...."
>
>Maybe a discussion could happen on protection of knowledge in a
>socio-economic realm.

?????

--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."