From: The Last True CypherPunk <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 08:34:02 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: InfoWar 2000 (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet)
Message-ID: <343C1E01.2825@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



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                       The True Story of the InterNet
                                  Part III

                                InfoWar 2000

                  Final Frontier of the Digital Revolution

                     Behind the ElectroMagnetic Curtain

                        by TruthMonger <tm@dev.null>

Copyright 1997 Pearl Publishing
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                          InfoWar Table of Contents

   * InfoWar 2000

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                                InfoWar 2000
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"InfoWar is back!" Jonathan cried out, waking the other members of the Magic
Circle instantly. They quickly rose and gathered around the GraphiScreen
hovering over the old oak table.

Subject: Re: [Pigdog] ViaCrypt slowly executes Timmy C. May
From: Flesh <flesh@pigdog.org>
To: pigdog-l@arlington.com, cypherpunks@toad.com

Does the fireBot work well with the
throwemupagainstthewallandaimfortheheadBot?

Cowboy recognized the significance immediately. "A thousand Points of
Presence."

"UUNET...WorldCom?" Alexis asked, surprised.

Jonathan nodded, adding, "And they're moving faster and quieter than they
did in history as we have known it, up to now."
He began reading off the list he had compiled in just a short time, "Fiber,
Digital Microwave, Satellite, Undersea Fiber Cable. Financial markets,
telecommunications, construction, health care, and politics.
"They seem to be putting all of the 'usual suspects' under one flag, around
the globe."
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A Player To Be Named Later scanned the series of posts, for the thousandth
time.
"It's dejavu, all over again." he said, quoting a Yogi Berra malapropism.

The feeling had been growing on him...
The feeling that somehow, everything was the same as before...only different.

"The Lake of Life has started to turn over. The bottom is rising to the top,
the top is descending to the bottom, and everything is becoming the opposite
of what it seems to be."

A Player To Be Named Later sat quietly, contemplating what it was that had
changed, only somehow not changed, since the last time the lake had turned
over on the CypherPunks mailing list.
He thought about "WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs." He began to
see the parallel between the history of the creation of WebWorld and the
creation of the CypherPunks distributed list.

There was the subterfuge which had preceded both the Channel Revolution
which foreshadowed WebWorld and the Censorship Crisis which had presaged the
CypherPunks distributed mailing list.
There were the climaxes that precipitated the structural changes in both
cases, the satellite destruction in the one case, and the loss of toad.com
as host to the mailing list in the other case. There were the parallels with
outside attacks ceasing on both the CypherPunks distributed mailing lists
and the variety of Channels on WebWorld, in an attempt to let the
citizens/members bond with their new channels/lists.
One parallel-or two, depending on how you looked at it-in particular, which
stood out in the mind of A Player To Be Named Later.

There were three CypherPunks distributed lists-at algebra.com, ssz.com, and
at cyberpass.net.
Likewise, there was a reference to the Money Channel Government in WebWorld
having three channels under its control.
Then, there was the strange, strange saga of three religious channels-the
God Channel, the Dualist Channel, and the Trinity Channel-which had somehow
merged, yet not merged, creating a problem which had left the 'powers that
be' very, very nervous.

"What the hell happened to Channel War I?" A Player To Be Named Later, asked
himself, suddenly recognizing a glaring disparity between the parallels he
was drawing between the history of WebWorld and the history of the
CypherPunks list.
"And what the hell happened to InfoWar?" he asked, turning to Baby, who
stood up and barked her agreement that there was definitely something fishy
going on that involved the two shadow wars that had somehow been misplaced
in the annals of history-one in the future, and one in the past.

In 'WebWorld', both the reference to the three Money Channel Governments and
reference to the three spiritual channels which became one, yet didn't,
revolved around the close of Channel War I. But there didn't seem to be a
parallel to Channel War I in the Time-Line of the CypherPunks list.
Likewise, 'WebWorld' began with a reference to an 'InfoWar Scrambler
Mechanism' which seemed to indicate that 'InfoWar' would play a major part
in the history of 'WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs.' Yet there
were only a few later references in Part II of The True Story of the
InterNet in regard to "the beginning stages of InfoWar," with no further
details.

A Player To Be Named Later strained to touch the wispy haze of memory which
was rising somewhere in the back of his mind-a memory which whispered
"InfoWar" from somewhere deep in the heart of the CypherPunks mailing list
censorship crisis.

"Toto!" he said, suddenly feeling a ferocious stinging sensation behind his
right ear, which resulted in a loss of balance as he fell to the floor, and
a loss of consciousness as the blackness closed in around him...
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The tattered remnants of the Magic Circle of the future sat quietly around
the antique oak table, anxious and depressed.

"Why is the Trei Transponder receiving interference from Toto's digital
implant?" Priscilla asked the group. "All of my monitoring tests show that
the last adjustments we made to the Zooko Zamboni were up to Journeyman
standards."

"Perhaps it is a result of the differences in the winter climates between
the Netherlands and Canada." Jonathan said.
"It seems to me that the effects of Global Warming were just beginning to
have undeniably noticeable effects in that particular epoch."

The Cowboy got up and paced a bit, as the others realized he was working up
the courage to say what they were all thinking.
"Or.." he hesitated, then turned to face the others and continued, "perhaps
the rebirth of InfoWar reflects that our efforts toward changing the past
have not only been successful, but are now irrevocable."

Jonathan pulled up a passage of 'WebWorld' onto the GraphiScreen,
contemplating what he had originally perceived as the failure of InfoWar
during the hotly contested battle which took place on the CypherPunks list
during the censorship crisis.

"January 19, 1997.
"The beginning date of the 'moderation experiment' on the legendary
CypherPunks mailing list. The beginning probe in preparation for the
launching of InfoWar-an experiment which had failed miserably and had caused
a delay in the plans of the Evil One. A delay caused by the damnable
insolence of the terminal misfits among the CypherPunks. An insolence that
was rumored to be fueled by the Circle of Eunuchs, fanning the 'flames' of
dissent among the CypherPunks, helping them to resist the herding of their
list members into the group-mindset desired by the Evil One."

The other members of the Circle of Eunuchs sat still in their seats, not
wanting to disturb the deep thoughts of Jonathan, who was indeed the Last
True CypherPunk, having grown up at their feet, immersed in their logic and
their lore, and whose whole life had been ruled by his connection to the
infamous anarchists who had been, alternately, both the shining light of
freedom and privacy in their era, and the treacherous instigators of Channel
War II-the war which had led to the ultimate triumph of the Gomez and the
Dark Allies and the conclusive ascent of the Dark Forces in their domination
of WebWorld under the dictum of the Evil One.

The room was quiet as Jonathan reluctantly pulled up the next passage of
'WebWorld' which had described his feelings when his bereft past had come
back to haunt him.

"Jonathan sat frozen in his seat, once again, his brain locked from the
major dichotomies being produced as a result of his present-in which the
CypherPunks were a villainous band of rogues who had instigated the
launching of Channel War II-and his past, in which his grandfather had been
exposed both as one of the major players in both the launching of Channel
War II, and as traitorous scum who had sabotaged the goals of the
CypherPunks in that same historical battle.
"Jonathan's grandfather wasn't just a CypherPunk. He was the Fool."

"We won..." Jonathan's voice trailed off, before he rose from the table and
repeated his statement, in anger.

"We won, damn it!
"I know we won. Grandfather knew we won the censorship battle. Everyone knew
that we won the censorship battle. History itself knows that we won...we..."

Jonathan stopped short, turning to stare at the others, who were staring
back.

"Jonathan..." Bubba said softly. "History has changed."

"I know that, damn it!" Jonathan resumed his pacing, knowing that he was
missing something very, very important, but he couldn't for the life of him
think what it might possibly be.

The others in the room watched and waited, knowing that it was Jonathan, and
Jonathan alone, whose heritage was intricately and irrevocably linked to the
era in history which they had, for better or worse, interfered in through
their use of the Trei Transponder.

"Grandfather was a traitor to the CypherPunks...a traitor to freedom and
privacy. He sabotaged everything that the CypherPunks had fought so hard to
defend, since the inception of their anarchist, cryptography mailing list.
"But the CypherPunks loved us..."

Jonathan was lost in memories of a childhood in which he and his family had
been forced to remain in constant motion, staying a half-step ahead of the
Dark Allies, who had been hunting down the last remaining members of the
CypherPunks-with a vengeance.

His family had been soundly welcomed by the remaining CypherPunks, in their
flight to freedom after his Grandfather's assassination. They had given the
family food, clothing, shelter, and warned them when the Dark Allies were
closing in, and it was once again time to flee. Duncan Frissell had even...
Perhaps they all had...

Jonathan sank to the floor, slowly, with Alexis leaping up and catching him
softly. Cowboy helped her guide him toward the table and lower him into a
chair.
Jonathan slowly pulled off his shirt and stared at his tattoo...the Mark of
the Toad.

"Duncan Frissell arrived at our last safe house, in the middle of the
night." Jonathan spoke, finally understanding the real story behind his
family's flight into obscurity.
"He warned us to flee, but it was too late...the Dark Allies were close at
hand."

Jonathan's voice was full of amazement as he recounted an event which he had
long known, but had never managed to fully understand.
"Duncan held the Dark Allies at bay, while we made our escape. I can still
hear his screams..." Jonathan shuddered, then began shaking terribly. Alexis
closed her arms around him, hugging him lightly.

"Your Grandfather knew that the CypherPunks had lost the battle." Bubba
picked up the thread. The other members of the Magic Circle looked on,
mystified as to this strange turn of events which turned the whole history
of the CypherPunks and the Circle of Eunuchs on hits head.

"It wasn't a censorship battle." the Cowboy said, amazed as much by what he
was saying as those listening to him were.
"It was InfoWar!"

"That's what happened to InfoWar." Alexis cried out, in disbelief of her own
words. "It was over before it had begun."

Bubba d'Shauneaux IV rose to his feet, and filled in the details of the
battle as could only be done by one who had spent a lifetime of subterfuge
playing a role which was the exact opposite of what it had seemed to be from
surface appearances.

"It was the first battle fought solely within the bounds of Virtual
Reality."

"It represented the true nadir point in history when the battle between the
Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness moved beyond the physical plane
and into the minds of mankind."

"InfoWar!" he roared, the word reverberated throughout the room, sending the
Trei Transponder into a soft hum which grew louder and louder, with a pitch
that went lower and lower until it became subsonic, unheard, but shaking the
room...the earth...even WebWorld itself...

The Trei Transponder exploded with a mighty boom, shaking the room so
violently that the tattered remnants of the Magic Circle were thrown from
their chairs, and found themselves rising to see only ruins around them,
where their safe house had once been. They immediately realized that they
must flee at once, as those investigating the explosion would undoubtedly be
the Dark Allies, fully aware that the event had rent WebWorld at the seams.

Jonathan paused, weapon in hand, covering the retreat of d'Shauneaux, who
had remained behind to remove the last traces of evidence that the Circle of
Eunuchs had ever truly been there.
As d'Shauneaux joined him, motioning for him to proceed, he took one last
look at the shattered remains of the Trei Transponder. All contact with the
CypherPunks of the past was now gone, with little hope of it being renewed.

Silently, he sent a message to the CypherPunks of his youth-from the bottom
of his soul and into the inestimable profundity of the Tao. It was a message
that would be understood by those who had been at Woodstock-a physical
gathering of a Magic Circle which had come into physical being through a
random blessing of Time and Chance.

"You're on you own, folks...because we're sure on ours."
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      Those who fail to learn from the future, are doomed to repeat it.
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                        "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre"

                 "WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs"

           "InfoWar (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet')

                Soviet Union Sickle of Eunuchs Secret WebSite
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