an amusing little exchange between Freenet developer/mouthpiece Ian Clarke and RIAA executroid Matt Oppenheim, hosted by techno-libertarian pin-up-cum-shutterbug Declan McCullagh.

against Ian's basic argument—that the technology to enable anonymous, encrypted networking both exists and is perfectly legal—Oppenheim resorts to a hail of misinformation. toeing the line for the giant media combines he represents, he claims that:

• anonymity is impossible
• encryption is illegal
• developers and companies who facilitate either of the above are liable
• that the RIAA represents artists (a personal favorite of mine)
• that peer-to-peer computing has no "general" use

bankrupt business thinking is one thing, but this kind of willful distortion of reality bodes well only for the lawyers.