At 05:26 AM 4/8/04 -0400, An Metet wrote: >The privacy news has been full of fuss and bluster lately about >Google's proposed Gmail service.
>Cypherpunks have two somewhat contradictory positions on the issue. >First, as lovers of privacy, they will share the concerns in the letter >and they would be reluctant to use Gmail as configured, at least with >any pseudonym which hoped to retain privacy. I disagree. A punk would assume any server not under their control archives everything, as do all routers between said punk and the server. But second, as lovers of >freedom, they would encourage Google and every other company to experiment >with new services and new technologies, allowing individuals to freely >decide whether to use them or not. We should use the service but only send encrypted mail :-) >One of the oldest Cypherpunk philosophical thought experiments >was BlackNet, a hypothetical offshore data haven whose main job, >paradoxically, was to defeat privacy. BlackNet would serve as a market >and a storage facility for information that might be of value, one example >being credit rating information. BlackNet demonstrated that even when >third parties sought to prevent the flow of information, for example >by mandating that credit report data be deleted after so many years, >Cypherpunk technologies could keep the information available and alive. The net never forgets. BlackNet would support that behavior even in the face of Men with Guns. >Oddly, few Cypherpunks appeared to notice the inconsistency with a >supposedly privacy-oriented group promoting a technology which would >harm privacy. The actual resolution is that Cypherpunks see privacy as >a means to an end. That end is freedom. Privacy will lead to freedom >by allowing people to communicate and contract without interference and >meddling by interlopers. BlackNet is an example of the kind of system >which would appear if people were truly free. That it harms privacy is >merely an incidental side effect. The LA riots were excellent reminders to the layfolk that guns are important. BlackNet's persistant-despite-your-guns behavior is an excellent reminder to curb your info-promiscuity. >>From the Cypherpunk perspective, the criticism of Gmail misses the mark; >rather, all web mail systems should be understood as fundamentally >inconsistent with privacy. If you want privacy, you have to do it >yourself. Writing an angry letter is at best going to make the privacy >violations more covert. It accomplishes nothing in the end. Yep. It could still be useful for things like distributed data storage, dead-man switches, etc. where content is encrypted. Much like any other free service, only nominally with more storage. ------- I think people have not quite gotten their hands around the speed at which information can be disseminated online. -Monica Lewinsky, LATimes 9 may 01 http://www.latimes.com/business/columns/celebsetup/lat_monica010510.htm
