From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 04:10:47 +0800
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: Re: Too many "Internet Conferences" in Washington
In-Reply-To: <v03102802b0d98a26a9b3@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <v03102803b0d98e7faf2a@[207.167.93.63]>
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At 11:50 AM -0800 1/7/98, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>In truth, I mistyped. Tim not only was talking about the frequency (and I
>gather, the danger) of the conferences, he was responding to the ACM one,
>not the WW one.

Yeah, I didn't even recall which one I was commenting on. Just too many of
these damned boondoggles.

The only conference recently which as sounded interesting was the one on
"anonymity" down near LA recently...I might have gone, but I don't recall
hearing about it, or being invited. Until it was over, of course.

(I guess it was filled up with journalists, judging from the various
articles which have come out of it. Mostly cheesy articles, Declan's
excepted.)

>Now, who attends these things?
>
>1. Journalists
>2. Government bureaucrats happy to have a day off from work, who want to
>position themselves as "Net-savvy"
>3. Lobbyists who bill it to clients
>4. Think tank people who hope someone reads their papers

Yep. Boondoggles.

But as John G. and Declan and others have noted, these things can do real
damage. By skimming the surface, they are really just platforms for
position advocacy. Whether "conferences" on "ratings," or "Net.porn," or
"anonymity," or whatever, they end up being fora for certain policy wonks
to make their cases. And lazy staffers can then regurgitate the positions
as proposed legislation. (Thus satisfying their quotas, and proving they
are working hard.)

>The Naderite "Appraising Microsoft" conference seemed to be populated
>mainly by journalists, at some points.

Too many fucking journalists. Too many fucking staffers. Too many fucking
bureaucrats, lackeys, satraps, and empire builders.

The whole city, America's imperial city, is corruption on earth. The
Ayotollah had that one right.

--Tim May



The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."