From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 09:17:33 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Pyramid Schemes
In-Reply-To: <2.2.32.19961111045417.00967cb0@healey.com.au>
Message-ID: <v03007800aeabbd7e613b@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 4:23 AM -0500 11/10/96, Mark Rogaski wrote:
>An entity claiming to be Benjamin Grosman wrote:

>: Aren't these Pyramid Schemes Illegal?

>
>Yep, 18 U.S.C. sec. 1343 if I remember correctly ... one of the only
>laws I truly appreciate.  I've already sent a message to
>postmaster@mindspring.com pointing out the fact that a felony has
>been committed.

I deleted the original spam, but from my brief glance at it, it may have
been more of a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme than a simple
pyramid...something about selling mailing list services. And of course MLMs
are mostly protected, else Amway, Herbalife, Avon, and all the other such
MLMs would not survive.

But I have a more radical view: pyramid schemes should not be illegal.

They are classic nonviolent behaviors, and are not even examples of fraud.
(Because it is _true_ that if one succeeeds in getting enough people to
follow one on the chain, profits come in. It is also true that a large
fraction of participants will see only losses. So?)

Thus, people against pyramids should educate people if they want to, should
try to get them not to participate. But I can't support hiring men with
guns to force people not to participate.

(And there are ways that cryptography allows "crypto-pyramids," though I
doubt many crypto-savvy folks would participate.)

BTW, predictions of great returns in pyramids if instructions are followed
closely are not different from predicitions of earthly and heavenly rewards
if religious commands are followed. Outlaw one, outlaw the other.

--Tim May

"The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM
that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology."
[NYT, 1996-10-02]
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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,
Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."