FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ALT.CYBERPUNK v4.2.4


Contents


1 Cyberpunk

1.1 Literary Movement
1.2 Subculture
1.3 Cyberspace


2 Cyberpunk Media


2.1 Literature
2.1.1 Books
2.1.2 Magazines
2.2 Audio/Visual
2.2.1 Blade Runner
2.3 Digital Media



3 Cyberpunk Lifestyle

4 Stalking Guide

6 Miscellaneous

7 FAQ History



1 Cyberpunk



1.1 Literary Movement


Gardner Dozois, one of the editors of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction
Magazine during the early '80s, is generally acknowledged as the first
person to popularize the term 'cyberpunk', when describing a body of
literature. Dozois doesn't claim to have coined the term; he says he
picked it up "on the street somewhere".

It is probably no coincidence that Bruce Bethke wrote a short story
titled 'Cyberpunk'in 1980 and submitted it Asimov's magazine, while
Dozois may have been doing first readings, and got it published in
Amazing in 1983, when Dozois was editor of 1983 Year's Best SF and
would be expected to be reading the major SF magazines. But as Bethke
says, "who gives a rat's ass, anyway?!". Bethke is not really a
cyberpunk author, in mid-1995 he published 'Headcrash' which he
calls "a cybernetically-aware comedy". Thanks to Bruce for his help
on this issue.

Before its christening the cyberpunk movement, known to its members
as "The Movement", had existed for quite some time, centred around
Bruce Sterling's samizdat, 'Cheap Truth'. Authors like Sterling,
Rucker and Shirley submitted articles pseudonymously to this
newsletter, hyping the works of people in the group and vigorously
attacking the SF mainstream. This helped form the core movement
consciousness.

Cyberpunk literature, in general, deals with marginalized people in
technologically advanced hierarchical societies. In cyberpunk milieux,
there are usually powerful elites, be they oppressive governments,
paternalistic multinational corporations or fundamentalist religions,
who dominate the lives of the mass population. These regimes are aided
and distorted by artificial intelligence, electronic media and
information technology, resulting in an unusually subdued and
compliant citizenry. Often this technological reliance extends to the
very bodies of citizens themselves, via brain implants, prosthetic
limbs, cloned or genetically engineered organs, etc. In this way human
beings literally become part of ‘The Machine’. This is the 'cyber'
aspect of cyberpunk.

However, as in any society, there are those either unable or unwilling
to conform to cultural norms. Living out on the edge at the margins of
an alienating system, are the criminals, outcasts, visionaries,
dissenters and misfits. Cyberpunk literature focuses on these people,
and often on how they turn the system's technological tools to their
own ends. This is the 'punk' aspect of cyberpunk.

The best cyberpunk works are distinguished from earlier works with
similar themes, by a certain style. The setting is urban, the mood is
dark and pessimistic. Concepts are thrown at the reader without
explanation, much as new developments are thrown at us in our everyday
lives. There is often a sense of moral ambiguity; simply fighting the
system, whether to topple it or merely for survival, does not mark the
protagonists as heroes or worthy in the traditional sense.

Links

DMOZ listings http://dmoz.org/Arts/Literature/Genres/Cyberpunk/
Headcrash http://www.spedro.com/novels.html#headcrash
Cheap Truth http://bush.cs.tamu.edu/~erich/cheaptruth
Cheap Truth archive http://www.io.com/~shiva/SMOF-BBS.html


1.2 Subculture


Spurred on by cyberpunk literature in the mid-1980's, certain groups
of people started referring to themselves as cyberpunks, because they
correctly noticed the seeds of the fictional 'techno-system' in
Western society today, and because they identified with the
marginalized characters in cyberpunk stories. Within the last few
years, the mass media has caught on to this, spontaneously dubbing
certain people and groups as cyberpunk.

Specific subgroups which are identified with Cyberpunk are: Hackers,
Crackers, Phreaks and Cypherpunks.

Hackers are the wizards of the computer community; people with
a deep understanding of how their computers work, and can do
things with them that seem magical.

Crackers are the real-world analogues of the console cowboys of
Cyberpunk fiction; they break into other people's computer
systems,without their permission, for illicit gain or simply for
the pleasure of exercising their skill

Phreaks are those who do a similar thing with the telephone
system, coming up with ways to circumvent phone companies'
calling charges and doing clever things with the phone network.

Cypher-punks are those who think a good way to bollocks the
system is through cryptography and cryptosystems. They believe
widespread use of powerful encryption algorithms will
create regions of privacy that the authorities cannot invade.

Some other groups which are associated with Cyberpunk are:

Transhumans are actively seeking to become 'Posthuman'.
This involves learning about and making use of new technologies
that can potentially increase their capacities and life expectancy.
They follow Transhumanism, a set of philosophies of life (such as
the Extropian philosophy) that seek the continuation and acceleration
of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form
and limits by means of science and technology, guided by
life-promoting principles and values, while avoiding religion and
dogma.


Extropians are dedicated to the opposition of Entropy, or lack of
balance in human society. Politically, extropians are close kin
to the libertarians, including some anarchists, some classical
liberals, and even a political neoconservative or two. But many
extropians have no interest in politics at all, and many are actively
anti-political. Extropians have a principle called 'Spontaneous
Order', but politics is by no means the only domain in which they
apply it.

So are cyberpunks any or all of the above? Well, not really. One
person's cyberpunk is another's obnoxious teenager with some technical
skill thrown in, a self-designated cyberpunk looking for the latest
trend to identify with or yet another mass media label used as a
marketing ploy. Whilst most cyberpunks understand, and some have a a
good working knowledge of the above definitions, these pursuits are
seen as a means, rather than anend. The end of course depends upon
your own personal goals.

There are those who claim that cyberpunk is indefinable, which in
some sense it is. Moreover, most regulars on alt.cp are uncomfortable
about even implying that there actually are any cyberpunks. The point
being that we all live in a cyberpunk society today, after all Gisbon
himself said
"The future has arrived; it's just not evenly distributed".

Therefore, by definition most some people are already cyberpunks. That
is why when someone posts on alt.cp claiming "I am a cyberpunk" they
don't get flamed to death, just ignored, whereas statements such as
"survival through technological superiority" get flamed from here to
eternity and back.

In the end, anybody insisting they are a cyberpunk will probably get
flamed in alt.cyberpunk. Think of it as a trial by ordeal. John
Shirley (noted cyberpunk author) didn't make it through the entrance
exam. Chairman Bruce might just hack it, but AFAIK he's never come
visiting.

Links

Phreaks http://dmoz.org/Computers/Hacking/Phreaking/
Crackers http://18hz.com/synthetic/insecurity/insecurity.htm
Cypherpunks http://dmoz.org/Computers/Hacking/Cryptography/
Transhuman http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Alliance/
Transhumanism http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Intro/definitions.html
Posthuman http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Global/Posthumanity/
Extropian http://www.aleph.se/Trans/Cultural/Philosophy/princip.html
Entropy http://www.pynchon.pomona.edu/entropy/



1.3 Cyberspace


To my knowledge, the term cyberspace was first used by William Gibson
in his story 'Burning Chrome'. That work first describes users using
devices called cyberdecks to override their normal sensory organs,
presenting them with a full-sensory interface to the world computer
network. When doing so, said users are in cyberspace. The concept had
appeared prior to Gibson, most notably in Vernor Vinge's story 'True
Names'. Cyberspace is thus the metaphorical 'place' where one 'is'
when accessing the world computer net..

"There's no there, there. They taught that to children, explaining
cyberspace. She remembered ...pilots in enormous helmets and clumsy-
looking gloves, ...providing a touch-world of studs and triggers...
As the technology evolved, the helmets shrank, the video terminals
atrophied."  Mona Lisa Overdrive - William Gibson 1988

Even though Gibson's vision of how cyberspace is in some sense,
surreal, it has stimulated many in the computing community.
The word 'cyberspace' is commonly used in the mainstream world with
reference to the emergent world-wide computer networks, especially the
Internet. Also, some researchers in the virtual reality arena of
computer science are trying to implement something like Gibson's
matrix into a more general computer generated environment, even if its
purpose is not accessing the net.


2 Cyberpunk Media
2.1 Literature
2.1.1 Books


The following is intended to be a short list of the best in-print
Cyberpunk works. Note that quite a few works written before 1980
have been retroactively labelled cyberpunk due to stylistic
similarities, eg Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, or similar themes such
as Brunner's The Shockwave Rider or Delany's Nova.


William Gibson's Neuromancer, about a cracker operating in
cyberspace, a cybernetically-enhanced bodyguard/mercenary, and
a pair of mysterious AIs, got the ball rolling as far as cyberpunk is
concerned. It won the Hugo, Nebula, P. K. Dick, Seiun, and Ditmar
awards, something no other SF work has done.

Gibson wrote two sequels in the same setting, Count Zero and Mona
Lisa Overdrive. Gibson also has a collection of short stories,
Burning Chrome, which contains three stories in Neuromancer's setting,
as well as several others, such as the excellent 'The Winter Market'
and 'Dogfight'.

Gibson's three most recent works are a triology composed of Virtual
Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties; they share settings (San
Francisco, Tokyo, San Francisco respectively, of the near future) and
a few characters, but were otherwise independent until the third book,
much like The Sprawl triology.
Compared to his first trilogy, the technology they posit is less
advanced in some ways and they are more theme-driven than plot-driven,
but they deal with many of the same concerns as other cyberpunk works.
'Idoru' is a Japanese borrowing of the English 'idol', and refers to a
media-company-manufactured pop-music star, a virtual example of which
plays a prominent role in Idoru.


Bruce Sterling's anthology Crystal Express contains all of the
'Shaper/Mechanist' short stories about the future humanity and post
humanity. Those short stories are also available with Schismatrix,
a Shaper/Mechanist novel, in the combined volume Schismatrix Plus.
Also to be found in Crystal Express is 'Green Days in Brunei' a story
which shares the setting of Sterling's novel Islands in the Net.
Both are near-future extrapolations in worlds very similar to our own.
Sterling also has another collection in print, Globalhead.


Sterling edited Mirrorshades: A Cyberpunk Anthology, which
contains stories by many authors; some are questionably cyberpunk, but
it has some real gems like 'Mozart in Mirrorshades'.

Sterling's latest novel is Holy Fire, set in a 'gerontocratic' late
21st century Earth dominated by the 'medical-industrial complex'
and focuses on a group of young European artists, hackers, and
intellectuals determined to go their own way in a world domianted by
elderly wealth.


Gibson and Sterling collaboratively wrote The Difference Engine, a
novel called "steampunk" by some; it deals with many cyberpunk themes
by using an alternate 19th-century Britain where Babbage's mechanical
computer technology has been fully developed.


Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, carries cyberpunk to a humorous
extreme, what else can one say about a work where the Mafia
delivers pizza and the principle character's name is 'Hiro
Protagonist'?

Stephenson and his uncle J. Frederick George, a Washington insider,
have published two books under the name Stephen Bury - Interface and
The Cobweb.


Larry McCaffrey edited an anthology, Storming the Reality Studio,
which has snippets of many cyberpunk works, as well as critical
articles about cyberpunk and a fairly good bibliography. Other works
of criticism are Bukatman's Terminal Identity and Slusser and
Shippey's Fiction 2000: Cyberpunk and the Future of Narrative.

Some other good cyberpunk works include:

Walter Jon Williams, Hardwired: a smuggler who pilots a hovertank
decides to take on the Orbital Corporations that control his world.

Walter Jon Williams, Voice Of The Whirlwind: a corporate soldier's
clone tries to discover what happened to his 'original copy'.

Greg Bear, Blood Music: a genetic engineer 'uplifts' some of his
own blood cells to human-level intelligence, with radical
consequences.

Pat Cadigan, Synners: hackers and other misfits pursue a deadly new
virus when direct brain interfaces first appear in near-future LA.

Jeff Noon, Vurt: a Clockwork Orange-esque tale in an England where
virtual reality is truly the opiate of the masses.

Some good out-of-print works to look for are Cadigan's Mindplayers,
Michael Swanwick's Vacuum Flowers, Daniel Keyes Moran's The Long Run,
and  Vernor Vinge's short story True Names.

Links

Greg Bear http://www.gregbear.com/gregbear/bear.nsf
Pat Cadigan http://www.mostlyfiction.com/scifi/cadigan.htm
Jeff Noon http://www.jeffnoon.com/
Neal Stephenson http://www.well.com/user/neal/
Walter Jon Williams http://www.thuntek.net/~walter/
Bruce Sterling suggests
http://www.well.com/conf/mirrorshades/cpunklib.htm

Also refer to FAQ section 2.3 Digital Media.


2.1.2 Magazines

Some magazines popular among cyberpunk fans are:


Mondo 2000
P O Box 10171 Berkeley
CA 94709-0171
Voice (510)845-9018, Fax (510)649-9630
Editorials: editor@mondo2000.com
Subscriptions: subscriptions@mondo2000.com
Advertising: advertising@mondo2000.com
HTTP Site: http://www.mondo2000.com/

Many cyberpunk fans have an uneasy relationship with Mondo 2000, their
esteem for it varies according to the amount of technical content and
affected hipness in the articles. Nonetheless, if anything could claim
to be the cyberpunk "magazine of record" this is it. With the
departure of many of those providing creative impetus (notably R.U.
Sirius), its days may be numbered.


Mark Frauenfelder
[bOING-bOING]
11288 Ventura Boulevard, PMB 818
Studio City, CA 91604
Voice (310)854-5747, Fax (310)289-4922
mark@well.com
HTTP site: http://boingboing.net/

bOING-bOING's status is uncertain; most of its writers now work for
Wired, it has ceased newsstand distribution and no longer offers
subscriptions. However, if one can get a copy, it's worth looking at.


Wired
P.O. Box 191826
San Francisco, CA 94119
Voice (415)904-0660 Fax (415)904-0669
Credit-card subscriptions: 1-800-SO-WIRED (1-800-769-4733)
Information: info@wired.com
Subscriptions: subscriptions@wired.com
HTTP site: http://www.hotwired.com/

The magazine which, through aggressive positioning, has managed to
become the "magazine of record" for modern techno-aware culture. It's
aimed more at technically-oriented professionals with disposable
income, but many cyberpunk fans like the articles on network and
future related topics.


SF EYE
P.O. Box 18539
Asheville, NC 28814
HTTP site: http://www.empathy.com/eyeball

Described by some as the house organ of the cyberpunk movement.
Founded by Stephen P. Brown at the urging of his friends Gibson,
Shirley and Sterling. Published bi-annually and contains a regular
column by Sterling.


Phrack
603 W. 13th #1A-27
8 Austin, TX, 78701
phrack@well.com FTP site: ftp.fc.net.com:/pub/phrack
HTTP site: http://www.phrack.org/


2600 Magazine
Subscription correspondence: 2600 Subscription Dept.,
P.O. Box 752, Middle Island
NY, 11953-0752
Letters/Article Submissions: 2600 Editorial Dept
P.O. Box 99, Middle Island
NY, 11953-0099
2600@well.com FTP site: ftp.2600.com:/pub
HTTP site: http://www.2600.com/

Two mainstays of the computer underground. Phrack deals more with
people and goings-on in the community, while 2600 focuses on technical
information. Phrack appears to have ceased publication around July
1998.


2.2 Audio/Visual

TV gave us the late, lamented Max Headroom which featured oodles
of cyberpunk concepts. The Bravo cable network and the Sci-Fi Channel
are rerunning the few episodes that were made. TV also gave us the
somewhat bloated Wild Palms, with a 'cyberspace', evil corporations,
and a cameo by William Gibson.

Also shown on the Sci-Fi Channel is TekWar, a series which evolved
from a set of TV movies based on William Shatner's 'Tek' novels. While
possessing some traditionally cyberpunk elements and extended
'cyberspace runs', they (or at least the TV movies) tend to boil down
to good guys vs. bad guys cop stories. TekLords features a central
plot element that those who have read Snow Crash will recognize.

Blade Runner, based loosely on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids
Dream of Electric Sheep? is considered the archetypal cyberpunk movie.
Gibson has said that the visuals in Blade Runner match his vision of
the urban future in Neuromancer. Few other movies have matched it;
some that are considered cyberpunk or marginally so are Alien and
its sequels, Freejack, The Lawnmower Man, Until The End Of The World,
the Terminator movies, Total Recall, Strange Days and Brainstorm.

Cyberpunk stories can also be found in Japanese anime films, including
the Bubblegum Crisis series and Ghost in the Shell.

There is an hour long documentary called Cyberpunk available on video
from Mystic Fire Video. It features some interview-style conversation
with Gibson, is generally low-budget, and the consensus opinion on the
net is that it isn't really worth anyone's time. Gibson is apparently
embarrassed by it.

Regarding films based on Gibson stories: At one point a fly-by-night
operation called 'Cabana Boys Productions' had the rights to
Neuromancer; this is why the front of the Neuromancer computer game's
box claims it is"soon to be a motion picture from Cabana Boys". The
rights have since reverted to Gibson, who is sitting on them at the
moment.

Gibson's short story Johnny Mnemonic was made into a big-budget full-
length motion picture . Gibson himself wrote the screenplay and was a
close consultant to the director; the result "has his blessing", so to
speak. As might be expected, there are many additions to the short
story as well as outright differences. The film contains elements not
only from the original story, but also from Neuromancer and Virtual
Light; there is much more violent action and the ending is more
upbeat. Very significantly, Molly does not appear in the film; her
place is taken by a character named Jane, who has no inset eyeglasses
or retractable claws, due to issues surrounding use of the Molly
character in any future Neuromancer production.

The film was not a critical or box-office success in the U.S., which
Gibson has partly blamed on the post-production editing; he claims the
longer Japanese release is the better one.

The Gernsback Continuum was adapted into a short (15 minute) film in
the UK called 'Tomorrow Calling' (1995), starring Sarah Stockbridge,
Toyah Wilcox, and Don Henderson. It has been shown on some
European TV networks, but I don't know if it's available in the US.

The movie New Rose Hotel was released in 1998, directed by Abel
Ferrara, staring Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Asia Argento.

Rumors claim that Count Zero will be made into a film titled The Zen
Differential.

William Gibson wrote one of the many scripts for Alien 3. According to
him, only one detail from his script made its way to the actual film:
the bar codes visible on the backs of the prisoners' shaved heads. A
synopsis of Gibson's script can be found in part 3 of the Alien Movies
FAQ list. Alternatively, try the Internet Movie Database.

Links

Max Headroom http://www.techtv.com/maxheadroom/index.html/
Sci-Fi Channel http://www.scifi.com/
TekWar http://www.scifi.com/tekwar
Neuromancer http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/neuromancer.html
The PC game http://www.8op.com/gibson/en/download.html
Johnny Mnemonic http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/johnnymnemonic/
New Rose Hotel http://us.imdb.com/Title?0133122
Gibson's Alien 3 http://www.netaxs.com/~sleet/downloads/gibson-s.txt
Alien FAQs http://www.faqs.org/faqs/movies/alien-FAQ/

For movie details & reviews search the Internet Movie Database -
http://us.imdb.org/


2.2.1 Blade Runner

The Blade Runner FAQ is available at
http://www.brmovie.com/BR-FAQ.htm

Here are short answers to the most common questions.

There are several alternate versions. The original theatrical release
In the US omitted the Batty-Tyrell eye-gouging sequence and a few
other bits; these were added back in Europe and the video release. In
1992, a 'director's cut' was released, now available on video, which
omits the Deckard voiceover and the happy ending, and reinserts the
'unicorn scene'. Before that, however, a different cut (known as the
workprint) was shown at two theaters, one in LA, the other in San
Francisco, for a brief period; this had a different title sequence and
soundtrack, some different dialogue, no voiceover and no happy ending,
but no unicorn sequence.

The 5/6 replicants problem: This is widely accepted as an editing
Glitch which slipped through to the release. The film originally
featured a fifth live replicant, Mary, who was later deleted. In the
workprint, the line "one got fried" is changed to "two got fried ...".
Bryant does not include Rachel in the original six escaped replicants.
However ... internal clues, such as lack of emotion, the photographs,
and the reflective eyes, do suggest that Deckard is a replicant.
However, this is not explicitly stated in any cut. The unicorn scene
gives this theory more weight.

An excellent resource for any fan is Paul Sammon's in-depth book
Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, which goes over the
differences between the various version in minute detail.

K.W. Jeter has written two novels which are sequels to the movie:
Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human and Blade Runner: Replicant Night.
One's judgement of the "appropriateness" of these may be influenced by
the fact that Jeter was a good friend of Philip K. Dick's.
The first sequel deals very directly with the extra replicant and
Deckard a replicant? issues. The second sequel involves Deckard's
participation in making a movie about his experiences hunting Roy
Batty et. al. (as seen by us in the movie). More sequels by Jeter are
apparently to come.

Link

Blade Runner FAQ http://www.brmovie.com/BR-FAQ.htm


2.3 Digital Media

Agrippa: A Book of the Dead, the textual component of an art project,
was written by William Gibson in 1992. Gibson wrote a semi-autobio
graphical poem, which was placed onto a computer disk. This disk was
part of a limited release of special reader screens; the reader units
themselves had etchings by Dennis Ashbaugh which were light-sensitive,
and slowly changed from one form to another, final, form, when exposed
to light. Also, the text of the poem, when read, was erased from the
disk - it could only be read once.

On the net, opinion on the Agrippa project ranged from "what an
interesting concept; it challenges what we think 'art' should be"
to "Gibson has sold out to the artsy-fartsy crowd" to "Gibson is right
to make a quick buck off these art people".

Naturally (some would say according to Gibson's plan), someone got
hold of the text of "Agrippa" and posted it to Usenet..

Links

Agrippa text http://www.8op.com/gibson/en/agrippa.html

SF and Cyberpunk Literature

Cyberpunk Project's
online library http://project.cyberpunk.ru/lib/index.html
A-Z of cyberpunk authors http://www.replicant.net/cyberpunk/authors/

Rutgers SF archive http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/
Pat Cadigan info http://www.mostlyfiction.com/scifi/cadigan.htm
William Gibson FAQ http://www.8op.com/gibson/download/gibson_faq.txt
bibliography http://www.slip.net/~spage/gibson/biblio.htm
Daniel Keys Moran http://www.kithrup.com/dkm/
John Shirley info http://www.darkecho.com/JohnShirley.html
Jason Harrison's http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/harrison
Richard Kadrey's novel Metrophage http://www.fuchsiashockz.co.uk/
Tom Maddox's Halo http://www.fuchsiashockz.co.uk/
Rudy Rucker's Page
http://www.mathcs.sjsu.edu/faculty/rucker/rucker.html
Bruce Sterling info
http://www.replicant.net/cyberpunk/authors/sterling.html
Walter Jon Williams http://www.thuntek.net/~walter/

An alternative cyberpunk fiction vault exists at
http://www.fuchsiashockz.co.uk/

A Gibson buffet resides at http://www.8op.com/gibson/

Usenet

Usenet information http://www.dmoz.org/Computers/Usenet/
FAQs repository http://www.faqs.org/faqs/
Usenet Database http://www.deja.com/
alt.cyberpunk archive
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&group=alt.cyberpunk

'Cyberpunk From subculture to mainstream' - a classic alt.cp post from
1992

http://www.coffee-n-classics.com/library/cyber/cyberpun.txt

Hardware Hackers

Survival Research Laboratories http://www.srl.org/


3 Cyberpunk Lifestyle

There are a lot of posts to alt.cyberpunk asking what cyberpunks like,
do, wear etc. These posts are seen as inane due to the reason they are
asked, i.e., "Cyberpunk sounds cool, how can I become one". Cyberpunk
is not a fashion statement, therefore little of this FAQ is taken up
with such matters.

In late 1993 Billy Idol released an album called 'Cyberpunk', which
garnered some media attention; it seems to have been a commercial and
critical flop. Billy made some token appearances on the net in
alt.cyberpunk and on the WELL, but his public interest in the area
seems to have waned. No matter how sincere his intentions might have
been, scorn and charges of commercialization have been heaped upon him
in this and other forums.



4 Stalking Guide

This FAQ used to list the email addresses of some Cyberpunk authors.
This may have been appropriate in the days when the number of Internet
users was much smaller. However, the potential for authors to be
flooded with fan mail (or commercial advertisements sent to addresses
extracted by WWW search engines) has increased to the point where the
need to respect authors' privacy and working time, outweighs the
desire to give fans addresses in one convenient location. You may
instead want to consult public email directories for the email
addresses for authors of interest.

However, before you ask for William Gibson's, you should know that at
the time of writing this FAQ, he has no public email address. In fact,
he doesn't really care about computers all that much; he didn't use
one until he wrote Mona Lisa Overdrive and was thinking of kids
playing videogames when he developed his cyberspace concept.

Link

Gibson has found at least one personal use for the net -
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.01/ebay.html

Neal Stephenson


6 Miscellaneous

PGP

PGP is short for "Pretty Good Privacy", a public-key cryptosystem
that is the mainstay of the Cypherpunk movement. However, before you
rush off and obtain a copy of PGP, I think it may be of useful to
explain why it should be used, and the best reason I've heard comes
from the guy who developed it, Phil Zimmerman.

Why Use PGP ?

"It's personal. It's private. And it's no one's business but yours.
You may be planning a political campaign, discussing your taxes, or
having an illicit affair. Or you may be doing something that you feel
shouldn't be illegal, but is. Whatever it is, you don't want your
private electronic mail (E-mail) or confidential documents read by
anyone else. There's nothing wrong with asserting your privacy.
Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution.

Perhaps you think your E-mail is legitimate enough that encryption is
unwarranted. If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to
hide, then why don't you always send your paper mail on postcards?
Why not submit to drug testing on demand? Why require a warrant for
police searches of your house? Are you trying to hide something? You
must be a subversive or a drug dealer if you hide your mail inside
envelopes. Or maybe a paranoid nut. Do law-abiding citizens have any
need to encrypt their E-mail?

What if everyone believed that law-abiding citizens should use
postcards for their mail? If some brave soul tried to assert his
privacy by using an envelope for his mail, it would draw suspicion.
Perhaps the authorities would open his mail to see what he's hiding.
Fortunately, we don't live in that kind of world, because everyone
protects most of their mail with envelopes. So no one draws suspicion
by asserting their privacy with an envelope. There's safety in
numbers. Analogously, it would be nice if everyone routinely used
encryption for all their E-mail, innocent or not, so that no one drew
suspicion by asserting their E-mail privacy with encryption.
Think of it as a form of solidarity."

There are two newsgroups dealing with PGP and encryption, namely
alt.cypherpunk and comp.security.pgp

Links

PGP http://www.pgpi.com/
http://www.pgp.net/
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/cypherpunks/

Remailers http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/remailer-list.html
http://www.well.com/user/abacard/remail.html


7 FAQ History

Earlier editions of this document were not allocated version numbers.
In an attempt to clarify matters, Goobs has retrospectively numbered
these versions.

Maintainers/editors and version numbers:

version 4.2.x Iain x & Aurora Slyde

Version 4.1 Shirkahn & Goobs
Version 3 Erich Schneider
Version 2 Tim Oerting
Version 1 Andy Hawks

We would also like to recognize and express our thanks to Jer and
Stack for all their help and assistance in compiling the early
versions of the FAQ.

The vast number of the answers here could be predicated by "in several
peoples opinion" The general consensus is however that no one person
is the ultimate cyberpunk authority.

This FAQ, as with cyberpunk literature, is a living document. If you
have any comments, criticisms, additions or questions, please send
them to nymphomation-at-gmail.com Send a request to that address for the latest
version of this document.
  

{ Iain x - 21/02/2004 }

[ For further linkage see the wonderful open sauce Wikipedia Cyberpunk page! ]