[75545] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: EFF whitepaper
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Patrick W Gilmore)
Mon Nov 15 18:04:14 2004
In-Reply-To: <20041115142138.L89278-100000@smtp.unitedlayer.com>
Cc: Patrick W Gilmore <patrick@ianai.net>
From: Patrick W Gilmore <patrick@ianai.net>
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 18:02:39 -0500
To: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
On Nov 15, 2004, at 5:47 PM, Tom (UnitedLayer) wrote:
>> In a nutshell, email requires accountability. The EFF apparently
>> thinks
>> that is too high a price to ask for email.
>
> I think you're missing the point. Anonymous communication saves lives,
> allows people to "blow the whistle", and in general it serves the
> greater
> good to have it exist. Email already has an "audit trail" built into
> it,
> and you can at least track it to some extent if you know what you're
> doing. Does email need a DNA signature for the sender? In my mind no,
> you
> can get that if you use PGP signatures and look how few people actually
> use that.
I hate e-mail as much as the next guy, more probably, having spent real
$$ and lots of time, hardware, effort, etc. in support of the cause.
But even I have to say that 1 e-mail/minute is an OK price to let
people send anonymous e-mail if it really will save lives. And this
absolutely does.
If you come up with a better solution, I'm all ears.
--
TTFN,
patrick
