From: nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 1997 02:06:00 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Jerry Springer Crypto Special
Message-ID: <199707141747.TAA01314@basement.replay.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



  Sitting at home this morning I decided to turn the TV to the Jerry
Springer show, assuming that, since his network was trying to promote
him as a News person, his show would no doubt be dealing with a serious
issue such as the future of the InterNet, encryption, censorship, etc.
  Instead, the show turned out to be titled, "I Cut Off My Manhood." It
was a delightfully artful mosaic about a guy who cut off his penis with
gardening shears, the queer stalker who had killed the penisless guy's
cat by throwing a recliner across the room, the stalker's lesbian friend
and two fairly average relatives of the self-mutilater who apparently 
were there to confirm for us that cutting off one's penis with a pair
of gardening shears is a bit over the edge, to say the best.

  Although I was disappointed in that encryption issues were not being
addressed on the show, I did get somewhat enlightened as to what we
can do to help spread strong encryption.
  The Jerry Springer audience got to see pictures of the mutilated penis
(I assume in close-up color glossies) while those of us at home had to
be content to watch the audience members groan and try not to throw up.
I immediately realized that if the show had been on WebTV and pictures
of the mutilated penis were available to home viewers in encrypted form,
that "Applied Cryptography" would soon be on the Best Seller lists
around the nation.

  Thinking about crypto issues from the standpoint of female body parts,
I realized that GAK and Key Recovery are likely to become a part of our
everyday reality because Silicon Valley Crypto has the same allure as
Silicon Breasts.
  We live in a bottle-fed society that has learned from infancy to
accept substitutes for the real thing. From topless bars to the beach,
we are willing to settle for the illusion that matches the advertised
product our minds have been sold, rather than accept the forms that
exist in reality and take the time and effort to find ones that truly
suit our needs and desires.

  Is a society that eats food that sometimes has less nutritional value
than the package it comes in, are the masses going to demand "the real
thing" in a crypto product, or will they settle for a watered down
product which "meets government standards" and comes in a pretty box?
  The masses don't have the time or expertise to test the nutritional
value of their food or the security of their crypto. They depend on
the government, corporations and the press to provide them with the
products and information to make a rational choice as to what truly
meets their needs.
  The government's main interest is power over the citizens; the
corporation's main interest is profiting from the citizens; the press'
main interest is pandering to government and corporations enough to
be kept from getting cut "out of the loop" of money and power.
  The only hope the masses have of getting anything resembling a square
deal in regard to the products and information they are fed is for
there to be enough individuals within the government, corporations and
the press who are willing to resist the mindless, self-perpetuating
evolution of these non-human entities, and make an effort to provide
products and information which have real value based on the goals which
they are designed and advertised to meet.

  There was a discussion on the list as to whether the cypherpunks who
have "gone corporate" are a blessing or a curse to the spread of strong
crypto. I think that the answer lies in the individual and in the final
product of their efforts.
  Perhaps crypto needs Colonel Tom Parker to promote it, with Barnum and
Baily bringing the Silicon Rockettes to town to give away pictures of
of a mutilated penis which can only be viewed using a strong crypto
product. ("As seen on the Jerry Springer show!")

  The Dark Forces are making a concerted bid to set the direction and
the tone of crypto debate and crypto development in a manner which will
lead to the negation of the constitutional right to have our freedom 
and our privacy unfettered by government intrusion.
  It is not government, nor corporations, nor the press, who ultimately
decide whether our freedom and privacy will be maintained or whether it
will be compromised. It is the individuals who make a decision whether
to go along with the abrogation of our rights in their own individual
self-interest, or whether they will speak out and/or resist those who
put the goals of organizations over the interests of the people.

  Our government and our society are being directed by manipulation of
the same mob mentality that is in evidence on the morning talk shows.
The voice of reason gets shouted down unless there are enough people
who realize that the answer to noise is more noise.
  The greater the position and authority of an individual, the more
noise they are able to make to counter the efforts of those who are
attempting to work the mob into a frenzy for their own aims. Thus
the greater is their responsibility to act in the long-term interest
of freedom. At the same time, unless there are people of conscience
at every level of government, corporation and society who are willing
to take a personal stand, and to support those in higher positions
who take a stand, then freedom is doomed.

  There is a Swiss bank security guard who discovered bank records
about to be shredded which detailed the accounts of Jews who were
victims of the Holocaust. He chose to resist "going along" with the
government laws, corporate rules, and societal taboos against making
a decision based on one's own conscience, and he "stole" the records
in order to prevent them from being destroyed.
  He was threatened with death, prosecution, had to leave his home
and country behind and faces an uncertain future. 
  There is a cost to resisting the fascism of organizations and of
society itself, and the less that resistance is spread among us,
then the greater the cost that each of us has to bear.

  Resist. Make noise.
  The freedom you save could be your own.

TruthMonger