Sternlight

Has anyone else noticed that David Sternlight has been quiet for the past 
two weeks or so?

I hope he's not like you-know-who in that mentioning his name summons the
fiend.

ObCrypto: Maybe he has decided that PGP 2.6 is okay, and now has had the
          wind removed from his sails...   Doubt it.

-Bill

> Has anyone else noticed that David Sternlight has been quiet for the past 
> two weeks or so?
> 
> I hope he's not like you-know-who in that mentioning his name summons the
> fiend.
> 
> ObCrypto: Maybe he has decided that PGP 2.6 is okay, and now has had the
>           wind removed from his sails...   Doubt it.
> 
> -Bill

No, Sternlight has in fact posted a number of incisive articles--which
I publically agreed with--in the cpsr and eff groups. His analysis of
the public funding of a "free lane on the information highway" was
accurate (he's opposed). And Sternlight and Carl Kadie have been
debating the competing approaches to 'wiring the home,' with
Sternlight arguing for a common carrier, "video dialtone" approach
instead of a TCI "500 channels of what we think you want" approach.

[Don't agree or disagree _here_, as I'm only giving a thumbnail sketch
of the debate.]

I find myself agreeing with some things Sternlight says, and I
certainly find polite debate with him more rewarding than exchanging
stupid insults. (Not saying Bill did here, of course, just saying many
people seem to think debating with Sternlight means calling him clever
names like "Sterndark," "Sterno," and "UnProfessor." Not quite.)

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

On Mon, 27 Jun 1994 16:13:13 -0700 (PDT)  Timothy C. May wrote:
--------
> 

> No, Sternlight has in fact posted a number of incisive articles--which
> I publically agreed with--in the cpsr and eff groups. His analysis of
> the public funding of a "free lane on the information highway" was
> accurate (he's opposed). And Sternlight and Carl Kadie have been
> debating the competing approaches to 'wiring the home,' with
> Sternlight arguing for a common carrier, "video dialtone" approach
> instead of a TCI "500 channels of what we think you want" approach.
> 
> [Don't agree or disagree _here_, as I'm only giving a thumbnail sketch
> of the debate.]
> 
> I find myself agreeing with some things Sternlight says, and I
> certainly find polite debate with him more rewarding than exchanging
> stupid insults. (Not saying Bill did here, of course, just saying many
> people seem to think debating with Sternlight means calling him clever
> names like "Sterndark," "Sterno," and "UnProfessor." Not quite.)
> 
> --Tim May
> 

Oooh.  Thank you, Tim.  This is exactly the kind of response I'd half hoped
for, and didn't think I'd get.  I was hoping someone HAD seen Sternlight, and
that he hadn't just been out of town or something.  It cheers me that he is
around but not prodding people on newsgroups that I am interested in.  There's
hope that his crypto-noise will die down, then.

I don't always disagree with him, either, but I don't like what the results are
once he takes a position on a news group.  Once, I talked (via email) him into
not posting to sci.crypt, for no other reason than because there were people
who had an emotional investment in putting him down, and the resulting 
arguments had nothing to do with sci.crypt.


Hmm.  As an attempt to legitimize this note in the crypto sense, does anyone
have an opinion as to whether or not I should upgrade the version of PGP I'm
using for the remailer@rebma.mn.org?  I'm using 2.3a, currently.

-Bill