From: Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 02:38:00 -0800 (PST)
To: dthorn@gte.net
Subject: Re: Anonymous Nymserver: anon.nymserver.com
In-Reply-To: <199703141519.HAA27477@toad.com>
Message-ID: <332A7BF2.1B49@sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Dale Thorn wrote:
> 
> TruthMonger wrote:
> > Peter Trei wrote:
> > > Some handsome devil named "Truthmonger" writes:
> 
> > Take a whiff of some smelling-salts, Peter. The government 'never'
> > runs out of pretexes under which to harass someone who remains an
> > actionable target in their minds.
> > (Where were *you* when J.F.K was shot?)
> 
> Once you've been labeled a "conspiracy theorist", you should
> realize that you've been talking to people who are seeking after
> a smaller truth than you are.  Like the newspapers they read,
> they'll get the story eventually.

Dale,
  I will always remember reading a magazine piece by a fellow who
described the increasing persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany,
and the abuses to which he was himself subjected.
  However, when describing the night when the jackboots kicked in
his door to take his family to the death camps, he begins his 
account by saying, "They came without warning..."
  I remember thinking, "Buy a clue, dude!"
 
> Check out the stiff who's pictured with Phil in the MicroTimes
> current issue, his new partner or something.  Phil looks happy,
> like they gave him a lifetime supply of double-stuff Oreos.

  Are both of Phil's partner's arms in plain view, or is his partner
perhaps holding a gun on him?
 
> PGP really needed to be upgraded in several ways that have already
> been discussed (briefly!) on the list, but couldn't because:
> 
> 2. BIG pressure from the feds to not implement new technology
>   (and by that I don't mean elliptic curves or discrete logs or
>    other stuff that was broken years ago).

  I agree with TruthMonger's position that the very fact of extreme
pressure being applied should be grounds for considering that perhaps
PGP might have been compromised at some level, no matter what an
analysis of the "numbers" shows, or one's faith in Philly Z.
  However, I would expand this argument to conclude that all encryption
software should be considered "compromised", for the purposes of ultra-
level security, given the influences of spooks and shadows during the
the whole course of encryption developement.

  I think that anyone who would use 'any' encryption software 'out of
the
package' for matters that would seriously impact their life and liberty,
should the contents be discovered, is not working on all cylinders.
  There seems to be some weakly thought out definition of 'paranoia'
going around which deems it to be the feeling you are supposed to get
when you hear the sound of the jackboots on your door. Excuse me for
disagreeing, but I believe the proper feeling at that point in time
may be resignation to your own death (and a firm resolve not to go
'alone' into that dark night).
  Or, if your door is strong enough, you might have one last chance
to play "Hide the Salami" with Lady Byrd.

  Someone suggested to me, in private email, that they would suspect
TruthMonger to be a Toto testicle, except for the lack of humor in 
any of his posts.
  However, I couldn't help but notice that TruthMonger's original post
in this thread was a reply to a request for information in regard to
"Anonymous Nymserver at anon.nymserver.com", and a request for an
opinion
as to the competence and integrity of those involved in its operation.
  Neither could I help noticing that TruthMonger's reply, which had
mercilessly slammed both the integrity and motivations behind all 
remailer operations, and which suggested that one unequivocally mistrust 
all of them, was sent from the very anon-server in question.
  Make of this what you will, but bear in mind that Hypocrisy and
Humor are not all that far apart in the dictionary.
-- 
Toto
"The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"
http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html