Re: Cypherpunks know they're cool

> Hmm..... how is this alike, and how is this different, from a hardliner
> NRA saying, "We should ask people to protect themselves by wearing
> bulletproof vests, instead of trying to ban guns"?

Ted, please don't be a bonehead on purpose.  I bet you can see the
difference between some bits coming down a wire and a bullet coming
at you at 1000 feet per second.  It has to do with the level of threat
and the feasibility of protecting yourself.

> As long as we are really being freedom-loving, there's nothing we can do
> (or should _want_ to do) to get people to attend groups that allow
> anonymous posters, if they only want to travel in "real person only"
> circles.

Not true at all!  Just because I like freedom doesn't mean I shouldn't
try to convince people to act in a way that is more freedom-loving.

-- Marc Ringuette (mnr@cs.cmu.edu)

Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1993 21:18-EST
   From: Marc.Ringuette@GS80.SP.CS.CMU.EDU

   > Hmm..... how is this alike, and how is this different, from a hardliner
   > NRA saying, "We should ask people to protect themselves by wearing
   > bulletproof vests, instead of trying to ban guns"?

   Ted, please don't be a bonehead on purpose.  I bet you can see the
   difference between some bits coming down a wire and a bullet coming
   at you at 1000 feet per second.  It has to do with the level of threat
   and the feasibility of protecting yourself.

I'm not being a bonehead; this is a serious question!  I was drawing an
analogy; of course bits and bullets are different!  What is the same is
the philosophy of "the initiator can do know wrong"; i"it's always the
receivers' problems."  I am merely pointing out that your philosophy of: 

>What these solutions have in common is that we ask people to protect
>themselves, rather than requiring everyone else to adhere to their
>notions of good behavior.

is dangerously close, if not identical to "if the victim gets hurts it
his/her fault (for not protecting him/her-self)".  This logic obviously
does not work for rape; whether or not someone protects herself, there
are standards of conduct which say that rape is still a bad thing.  
The question is whether or not there are similar standards of conduct
for cyberspace --- "community standards" or not.

							- Ted