From: dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 09:40:29 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Hardening lists against spam attacks
In-Reply-To: <32CA4ECF.3FAC@eskimo.com>
Message-ID: <F64uZD69w165w@bwalk.dm.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


It's remarkable how "cypher punks'" only interest in cryptography
seems to be in making up lame pseudo-crypto censorship protocols.

John H West <jwest@eskimo.com> writes:
>                              grant unlimited posting rights to
> anyone with more than one month's membership in the list.
> This idea could be called "the endorsement scheme."
>
> If anyone wishes to make an anonymous post, their submission
> would go into a "general pool" along with all the submissions
> from non-members and people who have subscribed for less than
> one month.  The "general pool" would be a webpage somewhere
> which has on the screen an "Approve" button which would bring
> up a "Username/Passowrd" box.
>
> Anyone with more than three months membership in the list
> could apporove messages from the general pool.  If the senior
> member (_any_ _one_ senior member) feels that a post in the
> general pool is worth sending on to the full list, then the
> message gets general distribution, date- and time-stamped:
>
>    "Determined by --your_name_here-- (not the author)
>     to be of possible interest to at least one member
>     of the list."  (no problem ... Vulis could still
>     approve his "Huge Cajones Remailer" and his
>     "Suck_My_Big_Juicy_Cock" postings, and none of us
>     will ever figure out where they're coming from)
>
> Senior members would never be in any way reprimanded for any item
> that they forwarded, unless through some "call-for-votes" type of
> action their item-inclusion privileges were curtailed (that'll
> never happen).  No one can "disapprove" or otherwise block any
> message from forwarding to the list.

Yeah, sure. Remember - I'm not a "list member" because the cocksucker John
Gilmore didn't like the contents of my submissions, so he unsubscribed me,
and further instructed majordomo to play dead when it sees a request from me.

This list is already much more censored than what you describe by the
asshole censor John "I like to suck big dicks" Gilmore. It also has no
credibility. It's a laughing stock for the media.

But if your proposal is implemented, I'm sure some honorable person(s) would
try to thwart censorship by approving submissions that socksucker John Gilmore
doesn't like, and would find their ability to approve curtailed very soon.

You're also forgetting about the approver's liability. This mailing list has
seen a lot of racist garbage about "crazy Russians" and the "colored race"
from scum like Timmy May and Ray Arachelian. This is what happened to one
such vile racist in California (I don't know whether he's a "cypher punk"):

] E-MAIL SENDER INDICTED
]    Irvine, Calif. [November 14, 1996] (AP) -- A former
] college student was indicted on 10 federal hate-crime
] charges for allegedly sending computer messages threatening
] to kill Asian students.
]    According to federal prosecutors, Wednesday's grand jury
] indictment of Richard Machado, 19, of Irvine marks the first
] time the government has prosecuted an alleged federal hate
] crime committed in cyberspace. . . .
]  [...]
]    Machado could spend up to a decade in jail and face up to
] a $1 million fine if convicted.
]  [...]
]    The grand jury accused Machado of sending a threatening
] electronic message to about 60 University of California,
] Irvine, students on Sept. 20.
]  [...]

---

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