13-09-2009, 08:14 PM
Greetings to everybody, I am just back from my vacation which could also be described as an emergency break. I was really a bit over the top, when I left, but three weeks with my family and friends and without internet (deliberately) made me much more calm. But I am also much more determined.
First of all, Happy Birthday to the forum!
Second, yes, meanwhile I am a billionaire. The mailing from Singapore arrived while I was away, but it remained safely in my mailbox. I will detail this in the appropriate thread later.
Third, to the question of anonymity versus using your name. I have thought alot about this in my vacation and I have also noticed that in Germany the "Datenschutzbeauftragte" (person taking care of data security issues) warned on TV against using your real name on the internet, for privacy reasons.
I was also asked by a friend why I think that this warning was issued, and spontaneously I answered that the authorities are afraid of the liberating effect of speaking out the truth openly. That was based on my own experience. Meanwhile I see other reasons also. It is really the second oldest trick in the book of secrecy to use code names, and the reason is that even if the message is read, it cannot be fully understood without the correct assignment of the code names. On an internet forum I feel that a message can also not be fully understood, if the reader does not know, who has written it, what is the background of that person and what other material that person has produced. Without the availability of that information a statement by Posner would be indistinguishable from a statement of P.D.Scott and every statement would have to be analyzed without context.
Of course there is a risk. Standing up against a criminal system is supposed to be risky. Standing up under a pseudonym does not protect you from that risk, but it limits the effectiveness of your action and it eliminates the possible protection from being a publicly known enemy of that system. The more publicly known opponents are attacked, the more people will realize that there is indeed a criminal system at work, desperately trying to suppress the reality to enter the consciousness of the masses.
More later.
Carsten
First of all, Happy Birthday to the forum!
Second, yes, meanwhile I am a billionaire. The mailing from Singapore arrived while I was away, but it remained safely in my mailbox. I will detail this in the appropriate thread later.
Third, to the question of anonymity versus using your name. I have thought alot about this in my vacation and I have also noticed that in Germany the "Datenschutzbeauftragte" (person taking care of data security issues) warned on TV against using your real name on the internet, for privacy reasons.
I was also asked by a friend why I think that this warning was issued, and spontaneously I answered that the authorities are afraid of the liberating effect of speaking out the truth openly. That was based on my own experience. Meanwhile I see other reasons also. It is really the second oldest trick in the book of secrecy to use code names, and the reason is that even if the message is read, it cannot be fully understood without the correct assignment of the code names. On an internet forum I feel that a message can also not be fully understood, if the reader does not know, who has written it, what is the background of that person and what other material that person has produced. Without the availability of that information a statement by Posner would be indistinguishable from a statement of P.D.Scott and every statement would have to be analyzed without context.
Of course there is a risk. Standing up against a criminal system is supposed to be risky. Standing up under a pseudonym does not protect you from that risk, but it limits the effectiveness of your action and it eliminates the possible protection from being a publicly known enemy of that system. The more publicly known opponents are attacked, the more people will realize that there is indeed a criminal system at work, desperately trying to suppress the reality to enter the consciousness of the masses.
More later.
Carsten
The most relevant literature regarding what happened since September 11, 2001 is George Orwell's "1984".