Dear Mr. President

Here are a few thoughts on the letter we will send to Bill.

[A] We should make up a key for the whole group with an insanely long
password and all get together and sign it in person.

[B] We should send our message to Bill _heavily_ encrypted and as anonymously
as possible (I'm talkin' to you remailer studs), and we should send the key
under a separate 'envelope.' I suggest that this will definitely get the
White House's attention (probably a lot of other people at the No Shit
Association too, but hey...).

[C] Beyond a congratulatory notes that he has actually bothered to take the
Presidency "online," the letter might focus on two main areas:

1. Technology/Privacy:
- Privacy and how important it is to the preservation of Democracy.
Mentioning the White House email situation to bring it home.
- Advancement of technology and how the Government can support us by getting
the fuck out of the way and/or providing R&D support (hear, hear, Crunch).
I.e let's get those data highways rolling along.
- How we feel about the various Intelligence Services of the US Government
and how taming them might improve our international reputation. And tell them
not to fuck with our mobile phones, etc.

Politics:
We might also mention how nice it is that he supports Family Values (unlike
Bush and rich Cronies), how savvy he is to leave gays in the military alone
(unlike most of the GI's I have ever heard of, who mercilessly harrass
women), what a good thing it is to house homeless people in unused military
barracks and how important it is to send aid to Russia before they come over
here and try to live in our unused military barracks, stuff like that.

[D] Let's make it a nice letter, full of support, good vibes and humor. We
are an interesting group of engineers, artists and creative people and he
should be reminded that we are watching him and that he has some support. The
guy has a tough job cleaning up all the shit the Bushmen left behind. He
deserves some goodwill.

[E] ?

  dave

>Politics:
>We might also mention how nice it is that he supports Family Values (unlike
>Bush and rich Cronies), how savvy he is to leave gays in the military alone
>(unlike most of the GI's I have ever heard of, who mercilessly harrass
>women), what a good thing it is to house homeless people in unused military
>barracks and how important it is to send aid to Russia before they come over
>here and try to live in our unused military barracks, stuff like that.

	Why don't we just stick to privacy and encryption and leave out
everything else?  There is no way I'm going to affix my name to a letter
expressing any of the above opinions. 

-- 
Bruce Fancher -+- dead@phantom.com

I applaud the Clinton administration for making itself available via
email.  I do not think it advisable, however, to send a single
cypherpunks letter.  Rather I urge all interested parties to compose
their own letters, and send them in separately.

Stress privacy, and technological defenses thereto.

At risk of offensively stating the obvious, I also urge the following
general writer's guidelines:

1) Engage brain before typing.  Think about the one thing you want to
talk about, and talk about that.

2) Do not be paranoid.  Do not rant.  These are a sure ways to
indicate that more money should be budgeted for public relations.

3) Be brief.  If you cannot summarize your argument into a single
paragraph, neither will the reader of the mail.  The mail system is
already overloaded, and concision indicates politeness.

4) Write in standard English.  Use a spelling checker, and use
complete sentences.

5) Offer to help.  Offer to make timely review of proposed policies.
If they accept your aid, keep your promises.

6) Have someone else read your letter for content and for form.  You
can do this yourself if you put the text aside for a week or two.
Remember that obsession with keeping every cleverness you think up in
a text is the surest way to ensure that it never improve.

Eric