1996-11-08 - Re: Why is cryptoanarchy irreversible?

Header Data

From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
To: Matts Kallioniemi <cypherpunks@toad.com
Message Hash: fed9c75817c3ad1f2f588dde575240f55654d46348c1e8b989f98e43bb04c494
Message ID: <199611081935.LAA25361@mail.pacifier.com>
Reply To: N/A
UTC Datetime: 1996-11-08 19:37:21 UTC
Raw Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 11:37:21 -0800 (PST)

Raw message

From: jim bell <jimbell@pacifier.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 11:37:21 -0800 (PST)
To: Matts Kallioniemi <cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Why is cryptoanarchy irreversible?
Message-ID: <199611081935.LAA25361@mail.pacifier.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 02:46 PM 11/8/96 +0100, Matts Kallioniemi wrote:
>At 17:12 1996-11-07 -0800, jim bell wrote:
>>Simple analogy:  Suppose you put two people into a room with a deck of 
>>playing cards and a table, instructing "Person A" to build a house-of-cards, 
>>and telling "Person B" to stop him from achieving his goal.  Who do you 
>>think will win?  Obviously, the latter will win:  It's vastly easier to 
>>knock such a structure down than to build it in the first place,  and all 
>>"Person B" has to do is occasionally take a whack at the structure. 
>
>What if Person A is better armed? Could that change the outcome?

Well, okay, I sorta assumed a non-violent scenario.  But adding that as a 
possibility actually strengthens the argument:  Generally, it's easier to 
stop somebody doing something out in the open, than to do it.  It's easier 
to knock down a house of cards than to build it up.  But it's also easier to 
shoot the person doing the knocking down, etc.

On the other hand, it's easier to DO something...if it can be done in 
secret.  And it's harder to keep somebody from doing something, if that 
something can be kept secret.  That's why it's so important that good 
cryptography remain legal.



 

Jim Bell
jimbell@pacifier.com





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