Today's meeting

Thanks to everybody that showed up for today's meeting. Much is happening.
And it is not just the evil legislation moving through Congress.
Cypherpunks have been busy writing code. A very useful Ecash implementation
compatible with DigiCash's protocol will be released next week. Onion
Routers have been ported to Linux. Other semi-clandestine projects are
moving forward as well.

Again people asked me where to find some pictures from the Cypherpunks
field trip to HIP'97. One more time: all archives are accessible via
http://www.hip97.nl/

Some of the better archives are Joichi Ito's pages at
http://www.ito.com/mpeg/hip/ which amongst other things features an MPEG of
myself as a DJ

Next, check out the HIP'97 network site at http://spin.vpro.nl/hip.shtml
You have to go a few levels deep before seeing the usual suspects.

And you haven't lived until you see the RealVideo of Brian the HIP Brain
http://magazine.dds.nl/XArtikel.phtml?ArtID=156&KatID=7

In fact, there are about five or six articles about us on this
semi-official HIP journal site. http://magazine.dds.nl/XKaterng?KatIDnu=7

Have fun,

--Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
  PGP encrypted mail preferred.
  DES is dead! Please join in breaking RC5-56.
  http://rc5.distributed.net/

At 12:28 AM -0700 9/14/97, Lucky Green wrote:
>Thanks to everybody that showed up for today's meeting. Much is happening.
>And it is not just the evil legislation moving through Congress.
>Cypherpunks have been busy writing code. A very useful Ecash implementation
>compatible with DigiCash's protocol will be released next week. Onion
>Routers have been ported to Linux. Other semi-clandestine projects are
>moving forward as well.
...

Indeed, it was a very good meeting. Thanks to Hugh Daniel and Dave Del
Torto for the planning and arrangements for the meeting space.

For those who didn't make it, a few notes:

* About 45 people attended. This was actually the 5th anniversary meeting,
and several of us who were at the first one were at this one. (Eric Hughes,
John Gilmore, Hugh Daniel, me.)

*The UnFreeh legislation was a major topic of discussion. Kelly Baugh (sp?)
of PGP Inc. gave a good update on the unSAFE and Procto-CODE bills.
Pro-CODE is essentially dead, of course, replaced by the McCain-Kerr(e)y
text, and not moving much. SAFE is in a state of confusion. The worst
language, the stuff we've been talking about so angrily, is not from the
committees that actually have primary control. She doubts their's enough
time for this language to clear the Rules Committee and make it in
NatSec-Intelligence draconian form to the floor, let alone pass, let alone
reach the Senate floor. She expects Congress to adjourn for the year in
late October or early November, and their just isn't time.

* Their strategy is "next year." Some opposition is building. She says Sen.
Trent Lott is strongly opposed to the unFreeh form. A coalition called
"Americans for a Secure Tomorrow" (Madison Avenue wins again) is active.
URL not immediately obvious as of yesterday (to all of those in the room
with Ricochet modems, which was about half the room!).

* I conducted a Delphi Poll to see what the sentiment was, at the end of
the discussion. Three outcomes presented:

- Outcome 1: The Congress passes and the President signs some form of the
"Crypto is banned" language this year.

- Outcome 2: The original form of SAFE, liberalizing crypto exports, but
also felonizing use of crypto in a crime or while thinking about a crime (a
joke), passes this year. (I didn't get into whether Clinton signs or vetos
it.)

- Outcome 3: Nothing happens. The original SAFE dies, and so does the
unFreeh version. For this year.

There were 7 votes for Outcome 1, zero votes for Outcome 2, and the
remainder, about 30-35, votes for Outcome 3.

* Much more was discussed, about corporations and their complicity, about
why crypto is such an obscure issue for most Americans, and so on. The
meeting got rolling at about 12:30, ran steadily for about 6 hours, and
adjourned to a nice dinner at Little Sichuan, just below the meeting place.

* On a personal note, I bought one of the "Communications Security Corp."
Triple-DES phone scramblers from Eric Blossom, who had a pile of them at
the meeting.

Others can add more about what happened.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

On Sun, 14 Sep 1997, Tim May wrote:

> Pro-CODE is essentially dead, of course, replaced by the McCain-Kerr(e)y
> text, and not moving much. SAFE is in a state of confusion. The worst
> language, the stuff we've been talking about so angrily, is not from the
> committees that actually have primary control. She doubts their's enough
> time for this language to clear the Rules Committee and make it in
> NatSec-Intelligence draconian form to the floor, let alone pass, let alone
> reach the Senate floor. She expects Congress to adjourn for the year in
> late October or early November, and their just isn't time.

I agree with just about all of this. I do, however, think there's just
enough time for the NatSec/FBI version of SAFE to move to the floor. It
depends on how much effort the NSA/FBI want to expend. I wrote more about
this just now in the "Re: unSAFE won't pass?" thread.

> * Their strategy is "next year." Some opposition is building. She says Sen.
> Trent Lott is strongly opposed to the unFreeh form. A coalition called
> "Americans for a Secure Tomorrow" (Madison Avenue wins again) is active.
> URL not immediately obvious as of yesterday (to all of those in the room
> with Ricochet modems, which was about half the room!).

True, Lott would seem to be opposed to the FBI's language. (At least he
was opposed to McCain-Kerrey's bill, which didn't go nearly as far.) As
for the coalition, the hope would seem to be in running print ads in
members' own home districts. Make them sweat.

-Declan