From: dporter@denova.com (D. Porter)
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 01:44:23 +0800
To: vin@shore.net (Vin McLellan)
Subject: Re: files (was: Re: dbts, etc.)
Message-ID: <199810271107.39975@denova.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Steve Bellovin (smb@research.att.com) wrote...

 >  . . . to trace the the perturbations caused to the system. . .
 > The more anonymity, and the more privacy cut-outs, the
 > harder this is. . .
 > To be sure, one can assert that the philosophical
 > gains -- privacy, libertarianism, what have you -- are
 > sufficiently important that this price is worth paying. . .

Steve, as you point out most of us are driven primarily by practical
concerns. This is a philosophy: pragmatism. Beyond mind exercise,
philosophy is valuable exactly to the extent it is practical.

DBS increases freedom. Increased freedom is practical because it reduces
risks -- of confiscation, imprisonment, and death -- and because it
usually increases efficiency. All of these pragmatic considerations seem
much more important than the ease of maintenance, at least to me.

Doug