List Archive (Was: Re: p2p, anonymity and security)

Travis Roy travis at scootz.net
Thu Mar 11 12:50:01 EST 2004


>>(and this is a wholely public forum).  
> 
> 
> I disagree there, also.  In order to post to the list, you must sign
> up...  It is not possible to post unless you are a member.  In order
> to sign up, you must provide some amount of personally identifying
> information (an e-mail address).  That e-mail address can ALWAYS be
> traced back to you, with varying degrees of difficulty, by those with
> government-backed subpoena power...
> 
> A public resource, by contrast, is one which anyone can use.
> Generally speaking, there's some amount of anonimity implied.  If I
> use a public restroom, I do not need to sign up to use it, nor do I
> need to identify myself when I do.  If I use a municipal swimming
> pool, (usually) the same is true.  These are public.
> 
> You say that this list is a public forum; not so.  In order to be a
> forum, people must participate.  In order to participate, you must
> sign up and identify yourself (albeit minimally).  Hence, it's not
> public.  Likewise, distribution of the original source messages is
> limited to those who are signed up.  This list happens to also archive
> the messages, but a) not in their original form, and b) this does not
> need to be the case.

Actually, you have no idea what other people on the list are doing with 
regards to the list. For a time I posted a public archive of another 
list that I belonged to (because the list didn't have it's own archive). 
I could easily do the same with this list and post an archive with 
unedited messages that all the world can see. So I wouldn't say that 
there is no public archive of this list, just that there isn't one that 
you are aware of.



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