From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 12:51:08 +0800
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Subject: Nuking the Weapons Labs
In-Reply-To: <v03007807afa968fc0dbe@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <v03007809afa988c9868b@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 8:07 PM -0800 5/21/97, Willaim H. Geiger III wrote:

>In <v03007807afa968fc0dbe@[207.167.93.63]>, on 05/21/97
>   at 09:16 PM, Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said:
>
>>(My spies within LLL tell me of desperate efforts to find alternative
>>funding sources, e.g., the "Extreme UV" project. Ultimately, hopeless. A
>>government lab which loses its main raison d'etre cannot reconfigure
>>itself as a "think tank" for private industry. Gimme a break.)
>
>
>"think" and "government" should never be used in the same paragraph. I was
>laughing so hard at the prospects of government drones trying to compete
>in the private sector I pulled a muscle.

Believe it. I suspect the "we can help you" program Kent Crispin is working
on (some form of key recovery) is just such a program. When we hire people
to design and build H-bombs and they instead collect their paychecks by
working on "key recovery" schemes for Big Brother, something is drastically
amiss.

(I'm surprised no whistle-blowing journalists are picking up on this story.)

Lowell Wood's O-Group (or W-Group...I don't have my papers handy) tried
this some years back, as did the "laser pantography" group. Laser
pantography was one of those technologies the trendy science magazines,
like "Science '86" and "High Technology" once gushed over as being
TEOSVASWKI (The End Of Silicon Valley As We Know It). Not very
surprisingly, laser pantography is nowhere to be seen.

And there was the attempted commercialization of LLL's (alleged) CAD tools.
Silvar-Lisco was the name I recall from those days, c. 1984-86, though I
may be confusing it with another of the late-lamented CAD companies.

And the S-1 supercomputer project, using all of the above-named G-job
technologies.

None of these "commercialization" efforts went anywhere, nor was it ever
appropriate for taxpayer-funded labs to enter into competition with
privately-funded enterprises like Cadence, Daisy, Cray, etc.

To be sure, LLL and LANL do pretty nice jobs of making hydrogen bombs. Now
that H-bombs are passe, "remediation" is one way they're seeking contracts
to survive. (Remediation of nuclear waste and existing weapons.)

And things like the Extreme UV project. Look for an announcement soon.

Hey, it's seemingly a good idea for these national labs, paid for by the
taxpayers, to "do work for industry." However, a moment's thought will
point out the problems implicit in such deals: if they do the Extreme UV
work for Intel, say, what about TI and Motorola?.

And an even better thing to tell them is this:

"You did your work well. The Cold War is over. No job lasts forever, not in
Detroit, not in Seattle, and not in Livermore. Thank you, and good luck in
the private sector. Your work here is done."

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."