Cryptonomicon

by Neal Stephenson

There is a silence of at least fifteen seconds. The sultan looks stony. Then, suddenly, he brightens up. “Time to start over,” he says. “A very difficult thing to do in a large country, where laws are written by legislative bodies, interpreted by judges, bound by ancient precedents. But this is the Sultanate of Kinakuta and I am the sultan and I say that the law here is to be very simple: total freedom of information. I hereby abdicate all government power over the flow of data across and within my borders. Under no circumstances will any part of this government snoop on information flows, or use its power to in any way restrict such flows. That is the new law of Kinakuta. I invite you gentlemen to make the most of it. Thank you.” The sultan turns and leaves the room to a dignified ovation. Those are the ground rules, boys. Now run along and play.