From: Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 05:33:17 +0800
To: jimbell@pacifier.com
Subject: Re: crypto anarchy vs AP
In-Reply-To: <199609281729.KAA05451@mail.pacifier.com>
Message-ID: <199609291053.LAA00388@server.test.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Jim Bell <jimbell@pacifier.com> writes:
> At 02:06 PM 9/26/96 -0500, snow wrote:
> >Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> [...]
> >> More specifically perhaps they would disconnect key backbones, and
> >> ISPs briefly while they rushed into effect a few presidential decrees
> >> outlawing non GAKed crypto, anonymous ecash, remailers, PGP, DC-nets,
> >> etc.)
> >
> >     This would be cutting their own throats. There is SO much commercial
> >and government traffic going across "The Net" that many businesses would 
> >scream bloody murder, and the government would have MASSIVE trouble with 
> >it's agenda.
> 
> Yes, that "they'll cut off the Internet!" talk doesn't seem to be very 
> practical.  Society very quickly develops dependency on inventions.  Try to 
> take away their computers and they'd scream; take away their telephone and 
> it'd be worse!  Give Internet another couple of years and 50% of big 
> business would be severely impacted should it be cut off.  Wait five years 
> and the world would practically stop rotating without Internet.

Maybe so.  However I suggested that they would more likley outlaw non
GAK crypto, anonymous ecash, remailers, PGP, etc.

Perhaps I should read your later AP essay in case you have already
countered my practicality objections. (Do you have AP on the www
somewhere?),

We've seen people suggest that you couldn't get away with AP, by
claiming that the gambling was legal.  (They'd get you for interstate
gambling, conspiracy probably other things).

So, it seems to me that your only approach is to do the whole thing
anonymously.  That requires anonymous ecash (payee and payor
anonymous).  This means that the anonymous ecash bank will be shutdown
by the government as soon as it becomes apparent what is going on.

Remailer operators are similar soft targets.

The best you could do I think is this.  Publish a PGP public key, and
software or specifications for a robust steganographic encoding for AP
bets.

That would take care of comunication.

You still have the ecash problem.  What do you suggest?

Adam