From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Sep 1996 23:01:52 +0800
To: James Seng <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: DON'T Nuke Singapore Back into the Stone Age
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960902124403.00ae6430@panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 07:06 AM 9/2/96 +0800, James Seng wrote:
>that). I have a long argument with this person, telling him that despite
>what they have done, i could still access to those stuff which they ban.
>his reasoning is "how many people can do it? 10%? 5%? That's fine with us.
>If the people really wans it, they can get it". 

The flaw with this view is that it is no harder to deploy software that
defeats Singapore's proxy than it is to establish a tcp/ip connection in the
first place.  For civilians (such as myself) establishing a tcp/ip
connection is as hard or as easy as establishing an encrypted tcp/ip tunnel
to defeat government control efforts.  For both these tasks, I am dependent
on software writers who know more than I do.  Since the software of the Net
is written by people not governments, the governments will find it hard to
hold "free users" down to a 5% or 10% figure.  The Net is nothing more than
the software that it runs on and we (not governments) write the software.

In addition, we are not imposing our ideology on Singapore.  If Singapore
changes, it will be because an encounter with the realities of the free flow
of information changes it.

DCF