Wired: Is Encryption Tax-Protective?

[Adam Atkinson]

On 17-Jul-00 23:42:23, Owen Blacker said:

>No, both /The Diamond Age/ and /Snow Crash/ are set in realities whre
>the nation state *has* broken down (at least in part) due to the use
>of strong crypto having made accruing tax income impossible.

Agreed. And Nell / Princess Nell learns how to break public-key
encryption. The Sealand references in your message made
/Cryptonomicon/ seem more pertinent, somehow.

>As an aside, I would definitely class all three books (and
>/Interface/, also by Neal Stephenson, but under the nom de plume of
>Stephen Bury) as recommended reading for anyone who knows how to boot
>a computer   :o)

I'm not _as_ impressed by /Interface/.

Don't you think Brunner's /The Shockwave Rider/ deserves a mention? For
1975 I think it's astonishing. The technical details make no sense, of
course, but the whole business with fake identities, information
infrastructure damage and so on seems plausible enough. Some genuine
cases of identity theft have taken place (see comp.risks etc.).

Stephenson's non-fiction /In the Beginning Was the Command Line/ is
quite fun too.

I think this message _just_ managed to be on-topic. All these books
contain interesting scenarios from a ukcrypto point of view, and as
well all know Charles Clarke is really worried about /Snow Crash/'s
"nam-shub of Enki" as well.

-- 
Adam Atkinson (ghira@mistral.co.uk)
Viva la pappa col pomodoro! (G. Stoppani)