From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 14:02:01 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Slaughter
In-Reply-To: <32BC218C.1B92@gte.net>
Message-ID: <cq3aZD51w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net> writes:
> >    There is a quote I remember which struck me deeply when I heard it,
> > but forgive me if it is not quite correct:
> >    "They came for the Jews, and I wasn't a Jew, so I didn't speak up.
> > They came for the National Socialists, and I wasn't a National Socialist,
> > so I didn't speak up.  Then they came for me. "And nobody spoke up."

Replacing trade unionists by national socialists? An interesting Freudian slip.

> As I remember the quote, it ended something like "and they came for me,
> but there was nobody left to speak up".
>
> [mo' snip]
>
> > "You will take my cryptography from me when you pry it from my
> > cold, dead algorithms."  Think about cryptography.
>
> We're all thinking about it.  We just don't believe (naively) that just
> because someone issues code that was designed 20 years ago, and which
> the NSA can undoubtedly crack in a heartbeat, that that code can
> necessarily protect us against all comers.
>
> There is a difference between principle and fact.  You have the
> principles exactly correct, but as to facts, you have to be eternally
> vigilant, i.e., don't get too comfortable with PGP et al.

The use of encryption in civilial life should as ubiquitous as it is in the
military. The distance from weak crypto to strong crypto is much shorter than
the distance from no crypto to some crypto deployed. Deployment of crypto
takes a serious investment in the infrastructure (such as procedures and
protocols for key distribution), but this investment can be recycled for the
next, stronger, crypto.

Instead of writing code, "cypher punks" verbally abuse anyone who's actually
capable of writing code and proposing new programs and cryptoschemes to
supplant or complement the short list of "cypher punks"-approved apps - recall
Don Wood, literally drowned in obscenities by Paul Bradley.

Instead of encouraging the deployment of crypto, "cypher punks" whine about
the export controls - the circle jerk practices by the punks and their friends
in USG designed to make each other feel important. But in reality neither
punks nor the export controls are relevant. Copyright and libel laws are
irrelevant on the Internet. Child porn is punishable hardeer than strong
crypto, yet there are tons of it on Usenet. USG and other governments are
irrelevant. So are the punks who battle them instead of deploying crypto.

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps