From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 04:51:05 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: Avoid loud warnings--it only attracts disruptors
In-Reply-To: <Pine.GUL.3.95.970613205522.3433K-100000@Networking.Stanford.EDU>
Message-ID: <v03102805afcb4eabeb59@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 10:21 AM -0700 6/16/97, Bill Stewart wrote:

>Put a warning on the front page that it's NOT to be used for
>illegal purposes etc., phrased seriously, complaining that you'll
>have to shut it down if people keep abusing it...

The problem here is that this just makes shutting down the remailera more
attractive target for malicious persons, pranksters, and other such folks.
Like waving a red flag in front of a bullshitter.

I suspect some of the remailers which have been shut down were hit by folks
just trying to see if they could do it.

Such loud warnings are unneeded by ordinary members of a community, and
will be ignored or even deliberately tested or flouted by certain others.
As with Sandy's imposition of his notions of "civility" and "comaraderie,"
the predictable effect was testing of the limits.


(I admit to having a perverse side, too. No suprise to many of you. Several
years ago I posted some binaries to the brand-new newsgroup,
"alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.children". I claimed they were some hot
lolitas, though in fact they were misc. PGP noise, with hidden text
messages running down some of the diagonals, to get me off the hook if some
DA claimed they were real pictures and demanded the decryption key. I
wanted to shake things up. Got a lot of outraged responses, too.)

--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."