From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 08:01:02 -0800 (PST)
To: "Timothy C. May" <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: "Right to Privacy" and Crypto
Message-ID: <3.0b36.32.19961119105646.00689b68@panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Just cleaning up old responses to old messages:

Sometimes I will see long articles on subpoenas, contempt of court, and
compelled testimony in which no one mentions the fact that the only
sanction used is a little bit of imprisonment (two years seems to be the
max).  That's for things you know.  Since software can be made harder to
compel than people, a properly configured system (sort of like a
spendthrift trust where you can't get at it when compelled) may allow you
to dodge sanctions entirely.

Once we get better at human programming, it should be possible to make our
nervous system a secure system that can't respond when coerced.  This can
already be done by conscious self programming in individuation.  I
certainly try to do that.

Studies of the effects of North Korean brainwashing on different types of
POWs showed a wide variability in susceptibility.  Likewise studies of
Moonie brainwashing.  Political "moderates" with little or no ideology find
it hard to resist coercion.  "You can't fight something with nothing."  In
Korea, the prisoners from Turkey, proved impossible to brainwash.  They had
a mental toughness, a tradition of self posession, and a tolerance for
physical discomfort that strengthened their defenses.  Most U.S. Moonie
recruits were from squishy liberal households (like Barbara Underwood of
the Moonie 5 trial).  

I am not as physically tough as a Turkish soldier but I am certainly tough
ideologically.  In resisting coercion I use a form of "name magic" to
strengthen me and weaken the opposition.  If you can control the naming of
an act or a relation, you can dominate the situation even if you are in a
weaker position.  

Thus when Moonie recruiters approached me at the No. 10 Monterey bus stop
in front of the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in SF
with their usual "Hi sailor, new in town?" approach ("Are you from out of
town?  We live with a group of people.  Would you like to come to dinner?);
I responded "I'm not interested in the Reverend Moon."  They left me alone.

When confronting con artists, I usually name the general category name of
their cons:  "Spanish Prisoners," "Shell Game," "Bank Examiners Con," etc.

Naming works with the Geheime Staatspolizei as well.  "You can't park
here."  "I'm not parking, I'm standing."  "Well you can't stand here
either."  "OK."

"In nature it's kill or be killed.  In politics it's define or be defined."
-- Szaz

DCF