From: gbroiles@netbox.com
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 00:58:39 -0800 (PST)
To: gbroiles@netbox.com
Subject: Proposal: alt.cypherpunks (unmoderated)
Message-ID: <855650862.27942@dejanews.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



[This is a courtesy copy of an article posted to Usenet via Deja News]

Some people, including myself, believe that the Cypherpunks mailing list
(cypherpunks@toad.com), running since sometime in 1992, has outgrown the
mailing list format and should move to Usenet. The advantages once gained
by running as a mailing list (faster propagation, more personal/intimate
atmosphere, freedom from Usenet-style flames & spams) are no longer
present. Questions about the appropriateness of moderation, moderator
liability for various "bad" kinds of messages, and the potential for
content control  where there is a single point for distribution have
become very prominent concerns among list members. It's time to move to
Usenet.

Hence, this prelude to a newgroup.  Two cypherpunk-related newsgroups now
exist; mail.cypherpunks and jyu.ohjelmointi.cypherpunks. mail.cypherpunks
is unsatisfactory to become a destination for Usenet-originated
cypherpunk traffic because its name implies that it's a gateway from a
mailing list. This is presently true, but this proposal is intended to
create a newsgroup which supplements or replaces the current mailing
list. I've got no clue where "jyu.ohjelmointi.cypherpunks" originates,
who's in charge of it, or what "jyu.ohjelmointi" is or stands for.
Judging from the limited selection of messages which seem to reach
DejaNews and AltaVista from it, it suffers from relatively poor
propagation.

The cypherpunks mailing list currently has approximately 1300
subscribers, sees traffic between 30 and 70 messages per day (est.), and
on its better days discusses technological defenses for privacy in an
information age. Popular topics include encryption, legal issues around
encryption and export control, and the relationship between technology
and social control.

A sample line for the newsgroups file:

alt.cypherpunks  Technological defenses for privacy

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