WARNING: The following post, I realize, assumes that we all agree that we should all have the right to buy and sell and take any chemicals we damn well please. In Extropians, you don't have to mention this. In the world at large, this elicits wide eyed stares, and sputtering noises of disbelief. ( I recall someone being willing to give up some privacy for 'less crack in the schools.' Sorry. Not a good enough reason to give up one whit of privacy.) SELLING 'OFF THE SHELF' PRIVACY TO THOSE THAT WOULD PAY FOR IT... (Providing Pointers, that is...) I've been thinking about this PGP thing. Playing with it has been a lot of fun, (The ultimate secret decoder ring!) and has made me wonder, who *needs* this kind of security that doesn't have it already? Who would pay for it? Who wouldn't care too much about the legalities? Mid to large scale drug dealers, that's who! I began to think of things I could do with off the shelf hardware and software. Ease of use is important--I don't think many drug dealers are going to want to mess around with command line interfaces--So I started playing with the idea of a voicemail/answering machine type thing, using macs with built in microphones, modems, telecom software, etc. Maybe use hypercard to create a single application with a phone book, so that they would just double click on someone's name, and talk into the microphone. Hit a button to end the message, and then hit, SEND. The hypercard stack compresses and encrypts using PGP the voice file, which is decompressed and encrypted automatically at the other end, maybe producing a blinking button with that persons name on it, and the time of the call. The interface design would be fun, actually. Asynchronous, but perhaps useful enough? (With a 1.44 modem and the 6/1 compression rate of my shareware voice recorder, it would take about 2 minutes to modem a minutes worth of message--not too bad, really.) I think it might be interesting to typeset a booklet describing how to do this, and try to sell it in the back of magazines--maybe Rolling Stones and High Times. The booklet might just be pointers to the hardware and software needed, and the few skills the client would have to acquire. You could sell the "ease of use" hypercard stack through the booklet, too. You could wait and see if the thing takes off before actually making the stack. I've also thought, that you could sell phone support to people who are trying to get this type of thing going. I'm less enthusiastic about this; it seems like this would be a good way to get busted. Of course, the legality of this hinges on the legality of PGP. I've read some stuff about the copyright infringment aspect, and have seen on Extropians, a legal action threatened against someone who was advertising PGP in a big way. Any thoughts? I'm halfway serious about this. Perhaps it could exist in the same sort of quasilegal half-life as bongs, psyloycybin spore logs, and automatic weapon conversion kits--sure, it's illegal to use this stuff I'm selling, but I'm not selling illegality...I'm just selling the stuff! First Draft of Ad: PHONE WITHOUT FEAR Did you know that personal computers can be used to communicate with others with absolute privacy? That free public domain software exists that cannot be cracked? Not even by the CIA? For plans for a user friendly, voice-mail encryption system send 10.00 money order to: Jay. Maybe. If I don't chicken out. ;-) __________________________________ Albert Einstein--"God does not play dice with the universe." Me--"No, he plays Super-Scratch-Card-Wingo (TM)