It's unfortunate that the original poster almost certainly doesn't
appreciate
the fact that had he posted the message from within any number of
other countries,
he'd have been picked up within 24 hours.
Within 10 years, we can reasonably expect that most appliances, even
Adam
and Rohit's munchkins, will include cryptographic support. Afterall,
you
wouldn't want someone to hack into your digital eyeglasses and implant
unauthorized banner advertisements in the middle of your field of
vision (*).
We are already seeing U.S. exports of security products hurt by the
fact that
stronger, or should I say uncrippled, products are available abroad.
Motorola and others have started trying to lobby for less restrictions
on their exports. This could come to impact a vast number of
products.
It won't take long for manufacturers to identify and try to solve the
problems of their international sales.
Ron Resnick wrote:
> However, for such a bit-economy to actually replace an atom-economy (or
> better stated, to swallow it up - the atom economy continues, but
> becomes subject to the rules of the bit economy), there's much, much
> more than crypto needed. Fundamentally, there's a need to really
> grapple seriously with what bit-property is, what bit-currencies are, what
> bit-transactions are, etc. eCommerce to date is a joke of the stalwarts of
> the old economy trying to understand the new one, but for the most
> part not having a clue.
Worse, eCommerce is the antithesis of the goals of the cypherpunk
community.
eCommerce today means a complete lack of privacy. The use of credit
cards
is perhaps the most effective means available for invasion of privacy.
Meanwhile, no legal infrastructure exists to protect the privacy of
individual purchases. One of the only privacy laws on the books
protects
the privacy of video tape sales and was written as a result of a
particular
congressman's misadventure buying porn. Aside from that, very few
barriers
exist to the construction of "Big Brother Databases" which track
travel,
consumer purchases, many business activities, and others.
> The amazing thing is to watch all the various market pressures really coming
> together to enable the total story. Sure, there's still a lot of sporadic
> misfires
> all over the place, but generally the 'inevitable' push to an object web is
> surprisingly strong and broad based. And even more amazing is that the
> instruments of this convergence are the very same businesses &
> governments that are probably most vulnerable to its ultimate success!
>
> Ron
Well said. The object web clearly would change the way software and
firmware is sold, distributed, and supported. I might question that
last reference to the vulnerability of governments to an object web.
While it would certainly change the way that software and hardware
is delivered and supported, the business of governments to enforce
the law and maintain sovereignty remains unchanged. Today these
services
are delivered almost entirely through wet-ware, men carrying guns.
This could remain true for many decades. If you haven't already read
"Snow Crash", take a look at it. It provides an interesting
alternative
to big government.
- Jeff
(*) Concept from "Diamond Age"
-- Experts in Java and CORBA Technologies Http://www.dialogosweb.comCheck out the Distributed Objects web page! Http://www.DistributedObjects.com