October 2000 - cypherpunks-legacy

CDR: Welcome to toyota-prius
by toyota-prius Moderator 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Hello, Welcome to the toyota-prius group at eGroups, a free, easy-to-use email group service. Please take a moment to review this message. To start sending messages to members of this group, simply send email to toyota-prius(a)egroups.com If you do not wish to belong to toyota-prius, you may unsubscribe by sending an email to toyota-prius-unsubscribe(a)egroups.com You may also visit the eGroups web site to modify your subscriptions: http://www.egroups.com/mygroups Regards, Moderator, toyota-prius

1 0

CDR: AD: EARN $5,000+/MONTH WORKING PART-TIME!
by Jans.39＠12move.nl 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Dear Friend: AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV : ''Making over half million dollars every 4 to 5 months from your home for an investment of only $25 U.S. Dollars expense one time'' THANX TO THE COMPUTER AGE AND THE INTERNET ! =============================================== BE A MILLIONAIRE LIKE OTHERS WITHIN A YEAR !!! Before you say ''Bull'' , please read the following. This is the letter you have been hearing about on the news lately. Due to the popularity of this letter on the internet, a national weekly news program recently devoted an entire show to the investigation of this program described below , to see if it really can make people money. The show also investigated whether or not the program was legal. Their findings proved once and for all that there are ''absolutely NO Laws prohibiting the participation in the program and if people can follow the simple instructions, they are bound to make some mega bucks with only $25 out of pocket cost''. This is what one had to say: '' Thanks to this profitable opportunity. I was approached many times before but each time I passed on it. I am so glad I finally joined just to see what one could expect in return for the minimal effort and money required. To my astonishment, I received total $ 610,470.00 in 21 weeks, with money still coming in''. Pam Hedland, Fort Lee, New Jersey. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is another testimonial: ''' this program has been around for a long time but I never believed in it. One day when I received this again in the mail I decided to gamble my $25 on it. I followed the simple instructions and walaa ..... 3 weeks later the money started to come in. First month I only made $240.00 but the next 2 months after that I made a total of $290,000.00. So far, in the past 8 months by re-entering the program, I have made over $768,000.00 and I am playing it again. The key to success in this program is to follow the simple steps and NOT change anything . But like most of the people I was also a little skeptical and little worried about the legal aspect of it. So I checked it out with the U.S. Postal Service (1-800- 725 2161 = 24 hrs) and they confirmed that it is indeed Legal ! I am now loving it !" Richard Templeton, Dallas, Texas. ---------------------------------------------------------------- More testimonials later but first, ****** PRINT THIS NOW FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE ******* $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ If you would like to make atleast $500,000 every 4 to 5 months legally, easily and comfortably, please read the following...then READ IT AGAIN and AGAIN and follow the simple instructions ! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE OF POPULARITY & RESPECT THIS PROGRAM HAS ATTAINED, IT IS CURRENTLY WORKING BETTER THAN EVER. FOLLOW THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION BELOW AND YOUR FINANCIAL DREAMS WILL COME TRUE, GUARANTEED ! The sooner you do it, the faster you start making money !!! INSTRUCTIONS: **** Order all 5 reports shown on the list below. **** For each report, send $5 CASH, THE NAME & NUMBER OF THE REPORT YOU ARE ORDERING and YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS to the person whose name appears ON THAT LIST next to the report. MAKE SURE YOUR RETURN ADDRESS IS ON YOUR ENVELOPE TOP LEFT CORNER in case of any mail problems. **** When you place your order, make sure you order each of the 5 reports. You will need all 5 reports so that you can save them on your computer and resell them. YOUR TOTAL COST $5 X 5 = $25.00. **** Within a few days you will receive, vie e-mail, each of the 5 reports from these 5 different individuals. Save them on your computer so they will be accessible for you to send to the 1,000's of people who will order them from you. Also make a floppy of these reports and keep it on your desk in case something happen to your computer. **** IMPORTANT __ DO NOT alter the names of the people who are listed next to each report, or their sequence on the list, in any way other than what is instructed below in step '' 1 through 6 '' or you will loose out on majority of your profits. Once you understand the way this works, you will also see how it does not work if you change it. Remember, this method has been tested, and if you alter, it will NOTn work!!! People have tried to put their friends/relatives names on all five thinking they could get all the money. But it does not work this way. Believe us, we all have tried to be greedy and then nothing happened. So Do Not try to change anything other than what is instructed. Because if you do, it will not work for you. Remember, honesty reaps the reward!!! 1.... After you have ordered all 5 reports, take this advertisement and REMOVE the name & address of the person in REPORT # 5. This person has made it through the cycle and is no doubt counting their fortune. 2.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 4 down TO REPORT # 5. 3.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 3 down TO REPORT # 4. 4.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 2 down TO REPORT # 3. 5.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 1 down TO REPORT # 2 6.... Insert YOUR name & address in the REPORT # 1 Position. PLEASE MAKE SURE you copy every name & address ACCURATELY ! ========================================================= **** Take this entire letter ( with the modified list of names) and save it on your computer. DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES. Save this on a disk as well just in case if you loose any data. **** To assist you with marketing your business on the internet, the 5 reports you purchase will provide you with invaluable marketing information which includes how to send bulk e-mails legally, where to find thousands of free classified ads and much more. There are 2 Primary methods to get this venture going: METHOD # 1 : BY SENDING BULK E-MAIL LEGALLY ============================================ let's say that you decide to start small, just to see how it goes, and we will assume You and and those involved send out only 5,000 e-mails each. Let's also assume that the mailing receive only a 0.2% response (the response could be much better but lets just say it is only 0.2% . Also many people will send out hundreds of thousands e-mails instead of only 5,000 each). Continuing with this example, you send out only 5,000 e-mails. With a 0.2% response, that is only 10 orders for report # 1. Those 10 people responded by sending out 5,000 e-mail each for a total of 50,000. Out of those 50,000 e-mails only 0.2% responded with orders. That's = 100 people responded and ordered Report # 2. Those 100 people mail out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 500,000 e-mails. The 0.2% response to that is 1000 orders for Report # 3. Those 1000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 5 million e-mails sent out. The 0.2% response to that is 10,000 orders for Report # 4. Those 10,000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 50,000,000 (50 million) e-mails. The 0.2% response to that is 100,000 orders for Report # 5. (there are over 170 million people on the internet worldwide and about 30,000 more new customers signs up everyday). THAT'S 100,000 ORDERS TIMES $5 EACH = $500,000.00 (half million). Your total income in this example is: 1..... $50 + 2..... $500 + 3..... $5,000 + 4..... $50,000 + 5..... $500,000 ......... Grand Total = $555,550.00 NUMBERS DO NOT LIE. GET A PENCIL & PAPER AND FIGURE OUT THE WORST POSSIBLE RESPONSES AND NO MATTER HOW YOU CALCULATE IT, YOU WILL STILL MAKE A LOT OF MONEY ! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- REMEMBER FRIEND, THIS IS ASSUMING ONLY 10 PEOPLE ORDERING OUT OF 5,000 YOU MAILED TO. Dare to think for a moment what would happen if everyone, or half or even one 4th of those people mailed 100,000 e-mails each or more? There are over 150 million people on the internet worldwide and counting. Believe me, many people will do just that, and more! METHOD # 2 : BY PLACING FREE ADS ON THE INTERNET =================================================== Advertising on the net is very very inexpensive and there are hundreds of FREE places to advertise. Placing a lot of free ads on the internet will easily get a larger response. We strongly suggest you start with Method # 1 and add METHOD # 2 as you go along. For every $5 you receive, all you must do is e-mail them the Report they ordered. That's it . Always provide same day service on all orders. This will guarantee that the e-mail they send out, with your name and address on it, will be prompt because they can not advertise until they receive the report. ___________________________ AVAILABLE REPORTS ___________________________ ORDER EACH REPORT BY ITS NUMBER & NAME ONLY. Notes: Always send $5 cash (U.S. CURRENCY) for each Report. Checks NOT accepted. Make sure the cash is concealed by wrapping it in atleast 2 sheets of paper. On one of those sheets of paper, Write the NUMBER & the NAME of the Report you are ordering, YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS and your name and postal address. PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR THESE REPORTS NOW : ============================================== REPORT # 1 : ''The Insider's Guide to Advertising for Free on the Net'' Order Report # 1 from: Jan Scheltes Leerhoevestraat 16 2406 DD Alphen aan den Rijn The Netherlands __________________________________________________ REPORT # 2 : ''The Insider's Guide to Sending Bulk e-mail on the Net'' Order Report # 2 from : Kim Hansen Kyse markvej 6, kyse 4700 Naestved Denmark ___________________________________________________ REPORT # 3 : ''The Secret to Multilevel marketing on the net'' Order Report # 3 from: Lenhard Harlingten 772 16th Street Courtenay, BC, V9N 1X7 Canada ___________________________________________________ REPORT # 4 : ''How to become a millionaire utilizing MLM & the Net'' Order Report # 4 from: Alex Diamond 9903 Santa Monica Blvd; Apt. # 405 Beverly Hills, Ca 90212 U.S.A. ____________________________________________________ REPORT # 5 : ''HOW TO SEND 1 MILLION E-MAILS FOR FREE'' Order Report # 5 from: Rockin' E Marketing 8325 , 35th Street N.E. Warwick, N.D. 58381 U.S.A. ___________________________________________________ $$$$$$$$$ YOUR SUCCESS GUIDELINES $$$$$$$$$$$ Follow these guidelines to guarantee your sucess: *** If you do not receive atleast 15 orders for Report #1 within 2 weeks, continue sending e-mails until you do. Your target should be to receive atleast 20 orders for Report # 1 within 2 - 3 weeks of your mailing to be on the safe side. Because some people will do nothing after they sent you $5 for Report # 1 due to lack of enthusiasm or lack of desire to become a millionaire by end of 2000. We suggest you continue sending e-mails until you have attained the basic goal. *** After you have received 15 - 20 orders for Report # 1, then 2 to 3 weeks after that you should receive atleast 100 orders or more for Report # 2. If you did not, continue sending mails until you do. *** Once you have received 100 or more orders for Report # 2, YOU CAN RELAX, because the system is already working for you , and the cash will continue to roll in ! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER : Every time your name is moved down on the list, you are placed in front of a Different report. You can KEEP TRACK of your PROGRESS by watching which report people are ordering from you. IF YOU WANT TO GENERATE MORE INCOME SEND ANOTHER BATCH OF E-MAILS AND START THE WHOLE PROCESS AGAIN. There is NO LIMIT to the income you can generate from this business !!! ______________________________________________________ FOLLOWING IS A NOTE FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS PROGRAM: "" You have just received information that can give you financial freedom for the rest of your life, with NO RISK and JUST A LITTLE BIT OF EFFORT. You can make more money in the next few weeks and months than you have ever imagined. Follow the program EXACTLY AS INSTRUCTED. Do Not change it in any way. It works exceedingly well as it is now. Remember to e-mail a copy of this exciting report after you have put your name and address in Report #1 and moved others to #2 ...........# 5 as instructed above. One of the people you send this to may send out 100,000 or more e-mails and your name will be on everyone of them. Remember though, the more you send out the more potential customers you will reach. So my friend, I have given you the ideas, information, materials and opportunity to become financially independent. IT IS UP TO YOU NOW ! ************** MORE TESTIMONIALS **************** '' My name is Mitchell. My wife , Jody and I live in Chicago. I am an accountant with a major U.S. corporation and I make pretty good money. When I received this program I grumbled to Jody about receiving ''junk mail''. I made fun of the whole thing, spouting my knowledge of the population and percentages involved. I ''knew'' it would'nt work. Jody totally ignored my supposed intelligence and few days later she jumped in with both feet. I made merciless fun of her, and was ready to lay the old ''I told you so'' on her when the thing didn't work. Well, the laugh was on me! Within 3 weeks she had received 50 responses. Within the next 45 days she had received total $ 147,200.00 ........... all cash! I was shocked. I have joined Jody in her ''hobby''. Mitchell Wolf M.D. , Chicago, Illinois ------------------------------------------------------------ '' Not being the gambling type, it took me several weeks to make up my mind to participate in this plan. But conservative that I am, I decided that the initial investment was so little that there was just no way that I wouldn't get enough orders to at least get my money back''. '' I was surprised when I found my medium size post office box crammed with orders. I made $319,210.00 in the first 12 weeks. The nice thing about this deal is that it does not matter where people live. There simply isn't a better investment with a faster return and so big''. Dan Sondstrom, Alberta, Canada ----------------------------------------------------------- '' I had received this program before. I deleted it, but later I wondered if I should have given it a try. Of course, I had no idea who to contact to get another copy, so I had to wait until I was e-mailed again by someone else.........11 months passed then it luckily came again...... I did not delete this one! I made more than $490,000 on my first try and all the money came within 22 weeks''. Susan De Suza, New York, N.Y. ---------------------------------------------------- '' It really is a great opportunity to make relatively easy money with little cost to you. I followed the simple instructions carefully and within 10 days the money started to come in. My first month I made $ 20, 560.00 and by the end of third month my total cash count was $ 362,840.00. Life is beautiful, Thanx to internet''. Fred Dellaca, Westport, New Zealand ------------------------------------------------------------ ORDER YOUR REPORTS TODAY AND GET STARTED ON YOUR ROAD TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM ! ======================================================= If you have any questions of the legality of this program, contact the Office of Associate Director for Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, D.C. //////////////////////////////////////////////// ONE TIME MAILING, NO NEED TO REMOVE ////////////////////////////////////////////// This message is sent in compliance of the proposed bill SECTION 301. per Section 301, Pragraph (a)(2)(C) of S. 1618. Further transmission to you by the sender of this e-mail may be stopped at no cost to you by sending a reply to: jans.39(a)12move.nl with the word Remove in the subject line. This message is not intended for residents in the State of Washigton, screening of addresses has been done to the best of our technical ability. -------- T H E E N D --------- GOOD LUCK, Jan This ad is being sent in compliance with Senate bill 1618, Title 3, section 301. Here is a more detailed version of the legal notice above: This message is sent in compliance of the new e-mail bill: SECTION 301. Per Section 301, Paragraph (a)(2)(C) of S. 1618, Further transmissions to you by the sender of this email may be stopped at no cost to you by sending a reply to this email address with the word "remove" in the subject line.

1 0

CDR: the rain
by bill payne 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Best laszlo http://www.nmol.com/users/billp/rain1.html I'm still sick about what happened. It would be FUN to send the guilty to the Evin for question and answer time!!!!

1 0

Re: CDR: Re: Hard Shelled ISP?
by Meyer Wolfsheim 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- You don't need to do HTTP at all. Apache can rewrite incoming URLs, so that "http://" is translated to "https://", eliminating the need for a redirect. Metering encrypted email is more difficult... (note that he didn't say "PGP mail" he said "Encrypted mail"... But if you stick to something simple, such as PGP only, you could require the entire message to be a PGP message, and strip off Comments headers, etc., with relative ease. Check the mixmaster code to see how non-PGP messages can be rejected in a simple manner. On Thu, 26 Oct 2000, Mark Allyn wrote: > > I like the idea, however it could be a management nightmare. > > How would you meter the http vs https traffic? How would you > meter the pgp email vs the non pgp email? Many pgp emails > (including mine) have some non encrypted stuff in it (such > as the sentance 'PGP message follows' or whatever. > > Good Luck! > > Mark > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.3 (GNU/Linux) Comment: pgpenvelope 2.8.10 - http://pgpenvelope.sourceforge.net/ iQEVAwUBOfjUQCsFU3q6vVI9AQE2MAgAr9u0At4b7keeYR3sgYrXn+jBTDGksdP0 B9/DJe8XnunLIdi67mQjdBTisSU7LzbrTcjlJa8NYyzax6uvTFCVnoNxZYISWhR9 FuWC0xVw8D2+Mf+/cA/lDuvAfzo3xAdX4R9eE4qsQRCAyhiZI8D/Cvm/+lBf1afx aTvTHcms16n+kf2JSM6pMqu0AnnkHtJBxGv8aGDy/I4viUAvgfzUqZ+pHP8BRdrb D4DM0+plfEpymTuxORsj1x3tGawPAnAc6b/Vzj5rhVv+gG8HtPxChlINsd7IR80/ +lbgZjpQK3ndl+NN609aGUoHMhmyAcmPu4N8kL/N2B/GCOlYAiFF1Q== =H0rS -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -MW-

1 0

CDR: infowar in palestine
by anonymous＠openpgp.net 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Israeli government, army Web sites crash after hostile hits JERUSALEM (AP) -- Several official Israeli Web sites crashed after being flooded by thousands of simultaneous hostile hits in a digital onslaught by Islamic groups abroad, officials said Thursday. The cyber attack is the most intense since Israels government launched its Internet sites several years ago. It opens a new front in Israels confrontation with the Arab world. Palestinian rioters have been clashing with Israeli forces for almost a month. At a weekend summit, Islamic countries condemned Israel and called for cutting relations with the Jewish state. Both sides are emphasizing the public relations aspect of their conflict. Interest in the Israeli government Web sites has increased noticeably since the riots began Sept. 28, officials said. The targeted sites provide information about the conflict from an official Israeli point of view. The first shot in the cyberwar was apparently fired by some Israeli teenagers, who bragged to a local newspaper last week that they had succeeded in sabotaging a Web site of the Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Return fire was not long in coming. Uri Noy, who oversees the Foreign Ministry Web site, said that several extremist Islamic web sites called on their users to attack Israeli sites, providing them access to computer programs that allow users to flood sites with huge amounts of electronic mail, jamming them. First to feel the effects was the official site of the Israeli Prime Ministers office. After that site was restored, the Foreign Ministrys Web site was overwhelmed by incoming mail and knocked off the web. Almost two days after the attack began, the site had still not been restored. The Israeli army repaired its information Web site, and to increase security, switched from a local server to one connected to the U.S. communications giant ATT, the military said. The Web site of the Knesset, Israels parliament, was the target of a different king of cyber attack. Hackers broke into the site and tampered with its files, Knesset spokesman Giora Pordes said. He said the attack may have come from Saudi Arabia. "You cannot be perfectly safe. Any system can be infiltrated," Miki Buzaglo, an Israeli who took credit for first sabotaging the Hezbollah site, said on Israel TV. "There is a war of brains going on here." An Israeli Internet service provider which hosted the three targeted sites scrambled to make repairs Thursday. Israeli officials said no damage was done to sensitive computer systems used by the army and the government, since they are insulated from the Internet. Noy denounced the attacks. "We see the sabotaging of our Web site as equivalent to the burning of books," he said. He said the bombardment of the site continued even as efforts were made to restore it. "Its too bad that the Internet has become another battleground," said member of parliament Michael Eitan, the Knesset Internet expert. "We need to have a cease-fire on the Web." http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/26/israel.cyberwar.ap/index.html

1 0

CDR: RE: why should it be trusted?
by Trei, Peter 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

> ---------- > Nathan Saper[SMTP:natedog@well.com] wrote: > On Mon, Oct 23, 2000 at 08:37:42PM -0700, James A.. Donald wrote: > > You cannot provide cheap insurance by punishing insurers, any more than > you > > can provide cheap housing by punishing landlords. It has been tried. A > > > law compelling insurance companies to insure the unhealthy will merely > > raise costs for the healthy, resulting in more people going uninsured. > > > > If you want to guarantee insurance for the unhealthy without ill effects > > > the TAXPAYER has to pay, and I suspect that if this proposition was put > to > > the public, enthusiasm would be considerably less. Indeed the Clintons > did > > put something very like that proposition to the public, and there was > > little enthusiasm. > > > > Having socialized healthcare would be ideal. However, I think that > the political atmosphere in this country pretty much removes that > possibility. > [...] Nathan, have you ever actually looked at socialized medicine? It's fine for some things, but not for others. Illnessess which can be cured and which curing will return a person to productive labour get treated - after a while. Illnessess which strike late in life and/or require expensive treatment get much shorter shrift. Britain's NHS record on cancer treatment is a national disgrace. Why do you think Austin Power's teeth were a running joke? The state of British (ie, socialized NHS) dentistry lags *far* behind the US, especially in the area of orthodontics. Canadians like their socialized system, but any Canadian who gets sick knows that (for a price) they can get faster, better treatment in the US. There are more MRI machines in single US cities than in all of Canada, and the waiting lists up there can outlast an Albertan winter. The sad truth is that cost of the best medical care has exceeded the ability of the average person to afford it. (When I say 'average' I mean the arithmetic mean of incomes, so robbing the rich to treat the poor still won't get everyone the best possible care). Regardless of how we choose to finance it, there will remain many people whose lives could have been improved by treatments which were not performed due to reasons of cost. Once you recognize that medical care *must* be rationed, the question is how, and by who. The majority of the subscribers to this list are anarcho-capitalists and/or libertarians, and abhor any taking by force. Your socialist outlook is very much a minority viewpoint, and I don't think you're going to change anyones mind. The solution to this problem is not to propose different ways to slice up the too-small pie - it's to expand the pie. The greater the wealth, the more people who can afford good care. People who are responsible for their own welfare (and enslaved to the welfare of others) have the best chance of acheiving wealth. Peter Trei

6 7

CDR: RE: Wired News tech scorecard for U.S. House of Representatives
by Declan McCullagh 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Rush, This is a useful analysis. Thank you. I was considering doing one myself. Let me try to answer your question about how a Libertarian rep would rank. Our rankings were explictly designed to reward "hands-off" votes, so it's a reasonable assumption that one would score highly. But small-l and large-L libertarians disagree among themselves on what the proper role of government should be on tech issues. Consider Ron Paul of Texas. He has been the Libertarian candidate for president and has reportedly never renounced his life membership in the party. Yet he scored just 71 percent, or 5 of 7 votes. That's because he voted against banning states from taxing the Net (probably on federalism grounds), even though libertarian groups such as Cato and Pacific Research Institute liked that tax-ban. (His other negatively-scored vote was an electronic signature law.) This scorecard is by nature brittle. If we had included more votes, it's a near certainty that our two 100-scorers would not have perfect votes. One is anti-porn; we (unfortunately) didn't have any Net-porn votes to include. Neither CDA nor COPA was this session. Adding more votes would have boosted other rankings. Also, the scorecard was designed to focus as closely as possible on votes that only dealt with a narrow issue. We could have included ones such as HR1501, but then we couldn't have figured out whether reps voted for it based on their support of filtering software or firearm restrictions. -Declan At 15:58 10/24/2000 -0500, Carskadden, Rush wrote: >Everyone, > Just a quick observation here. According to the Wired chart, it > appears that the Republicans average roughly 49.85058296 and the > Democrats average roughly 47.27853081 on the Wired News scale, with one > representative being independent (Bernard Sanders), and one > representative with an "A" for their party designation (Spencer Bachus). > Here's my Republicans vs. Democrats breakdown of the Wired News chart: > >Party | Republican | Democrat | >----------------------------------- >HR2301 | 0.181818182 | 0.343137255 | >----------------------------------- >HR3615 | 0.153846154 | 0.024509804 | >----------------------------------- >HR3709 | 0.958715596 | 0.697115385 | >----------------------------------- >HR3125 | 0.218009479 | 0.575129534 | >----------------------------------- >HR1501 | 0.440909091 | 0.908653846 | >----------------------------------- >HR10 | 0.522522523 | 0.058252427 | >----------------------------------- >HR1714 | 0.986175115 | 0.695652174 | >----------------------------------- >total | 3.381165919 | 3.203791469 | >----------------------------------- >votes | 6.798206278 | 6.777251185 | >----------------------------------- >score | 49.85058296 | 47.27853081 | >----------------------------------- > >These are all just averages, and I omitted the "A" and "I" designated >representatives. In regards to the "A" designated representative, Spencer >Bachus, I think the "A" is an error. I was under the impression that he >was a Republican. If he is, in fact, a Republican, then that changes our >averages slightly: > >Party | Republican | Democrat | >----------------------------------- >HR2301 | 0.180995475 | 0.343137255 | >----------------------------------- >HR3615 | 0.153110048 | 0.024509804 | >----------------------------------- >HR3709 | 0.95890411 | 0.697115385 | >----------------------------------- >HR3125 | 0.216981132 | 0.575129534 | >----------------------------------- >HR1501 | 0.438914027 | 0.908653846 | >----------------------------------- >HR10 | 0.520179372 | 0.058252427 | >----------------------------------- >HR1714 | 0.986238532 | 0.695652174 | >----------------------------------- >total | 3.375 | 3.203791469 | >----------------------------------- >votes | 6.799107143 | 6.777251185 | >----------------------------------- >score | 49.75558036 | 47.27853081 | >----------------------------------- > > Which still puts Republicans in more of a hands-off strategy for > technology, according to voting history. If Spencer Bachus is not a > Republican, then please tell me what the hell an "A" party designation > stands for. > > If you are interested in seeing TOTALS as opposed to AVERAGES, here > is your chart: > >Party | Republican | Democrat | >----------------------------------- >HR2301 | 40 | 70 | >----------------------------------- >HR3615 | 32 | 5 | >----------------------------------- >HR3709 | 210 | 145 | >----------------------------------- >HR3125 | 46 | 111 | >----------------------------------- >HR1501 | 97 | 189 | >----------------------------------- >HR10 | 116 | 12 | >----------------------------------- >HR1714 | 215 | 144 | >----------------------------------- >total | 756 | 676 | >----------------------------------- >votes | 1523 | 1430 | >----------------------------------- > > Again, it is entirely possible that my information is incorrect. I > do recommend that you do the research yourself, as relying too much on > these numbers means relying on numbers collected by a media source and in > turn sorted and re-calculated by some punk-ass on the cypherpunks mailing list. > > To the best of my knowledge, however, this looks right. What alarms > me is that though there is a slight difference in the overall score > between Republicans and Democrats, neither party has a very strong > leaning one way or the other, which illustrates the frustrations that a > two-party system creates for those of us who would like to see a strong > stance (either way) on the issue of government regulation of technology. > I anxiously await any speculation that might take place on this list > regarding how Libertarian representatives might have voted had they been > in there, but the fact is that we live in a two-party system for the time > being, and if we feel strongly about these issues, we need to accept that > our representation may not be hearing us. Is it because we aren't > speaking loudly enough on these issues? > >ok, >Rush Carskadden > >-----Original Message----- >From: Declan McCullagh [<mailto:declan@well.com>mailto:declan@well.com] >Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 11:15 AM >To: Cypherpunks Mailing List >Cc: fight-censorship(a)vorlon.mit.edu >Subject: Wired News tech scorecard for U.S. House of Representatives > >At Wired News, we've compiled a list of the technology voting records of >each member of the U.S. House of Representatives. > >That meant picking seven tech bills and grading all 435 legislators -- at >least the ones who showed up those days -- on their floor votes. If they >chose to take a hands-off approach, they got a "1", while regulatory votes >got a "0." (If you disagree with us, flip the scale around.) > >Here's the list sorted by last name (scoll down to find your legislator): > ><http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,39637,00.html>http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,39637,00.html > >Sorted by score, with the two California reps with 100 percent at the top: > ><http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,39636,00.html>http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,39636,00.html > > >And a summary of the results, with some methodology: > ><http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39625,00.html>http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,39625,00.html > > >Some interesting results: Purported privacy advocates like Democrat Ed >Markey didn't score well, getting a 33% of 100%, in part because of his >opposition to financial privacy legislation. Republican Bob Goodlatte, >Internet caucus co-chair, got just 43% because of his support for speech >and gambling restrictions. > >-Declan > > >The floor votes scored: > >HR2031: A vote to restrict online sales of alcohol. (No is 1) >HR3615: A vote to create a new federal agency to spend $1.25 billion on >rural TV service. (No is 1) >HR3709: A vote to extend a temporary federal ban on Internet taxes. (Yes >is 1) >HR3125: A vote to prohibit Internet gambling. (No is 1) >HR1501: A vote on an amendment to restrict the sale of violent material >such as videogames to anyone under the age of 18. (No is 1) >HR10: A vote on an amendment to protect financial privacy by restricting >government monitoring of bank accounts. (Yes is 1) >HR1714: A vote to allow the use of electronic signatures. (Yes is 1)

6 9

CDR: Re: Insurance (was: why should it be trusted?) cpunk
by Trei, Peter 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Anonymous wrote: > > > I believe that the standard argument is "Eliminate the commons." (by > > > auctioning off to the highest bidder perhaps) > > > > > > > So who gets the bid on the environment ? There are some commons > > that can not be eliminated so easily. > > Generally, this would be water and air. If someone pollutes the air > over their land, that's ok. As soon as the pollution crosses into > your land, you sue for damages. People are concerned about the > long term value of their property, so they will have a disincentive > to pollute. > [...] While by default I hold libertarian positions, doing so sometimes requires uncomfortable contortions. Who, for example, should the inhabitants of Tuvalu sue for rising sea levels? Neighbouring territories for failing to prevent excess seawater from crossing their mid-ocean border? Arctic nations for sloppy handling of the runoff from their melting icecaps? The rest of the human race for burning too much stuff? Me for driving a Suburban? Sometimes ownership is so distant and diluted that individual responsibility is impossible to establish, yet the problems are real, and significant. [This is just an example, ok? Lets NOT fork into a debate over the reality (or lack thereof) of global warming.] Peter Trei

6 6

CDR: Legislative approaches to ID theft?
by Declan McCullagh 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Likely means new criminal laws... (today) SOCIAL ISSUES Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General Identity Theft Prevention Workshop. Panels will discuss victims'views on prevention, Internet issues, workplace ID theft, private industry issues and legislative approaches to preventing ID theft Location: Health and Human Services Department (HHS), 330 Independence Ave., SW, Cohen Building, First Floor Auditorium. 9 a.m. Contact: Rich Rhode, 410-966-1722

2 2

CDR: Re: Insurance: My Last Post
by Tim May 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

At 10:09 AM -0400 10/25/00, Declan McCullagh wrote: >It's a not entirely uninteresting approach, but one doesn't have >to resort to libertarian rights-theory to refute it (not that >arguing about rights is going to resolve anything anyway). > >Simple pragmatism can do the same. I mean, Nathan, have you ever >considered what happens when taxes are raised to 95 percent? > >I know you were just speaking hypothetically, but to be realistic, a >hypo will have to includse the negative effects as well as the >positive. For instance, what are the economic effects? What are the >black markets that arise? What punitive measures must nations adopt >to enforce tax collection? What about revolt and the ensuing >bloodshed? What about public choice theory? > >Think these things through, if you really want to be "pragmatic." I've seen nothing from Nathan Saper that warrants the level of response we've been giving him. I regret having wasted my time writing replies to his puerile points. It's not so much that he's "wrong" as that he's "naive." He arrives on the CP list and begins regurgitating socialist blather he heard in his poli-sci and sociology classes. Junk about mandatory health care, feeding the poor, raising taxes to make the world a better place, government doing what it "needs to do" without regard for constitutional restraints, all said with utter disregard for basic economics. As I have said, and as Lucky just said this morning, the list has for some reason attracted a whole set of such naive and puerile people. One theory is that it's the "fall crop" of students. Another is that the noise coming out of "privacy rights organizations" is increasingly leftist and interventionist. (We have a Canadian branch of the Cypherpunks which is apparently led by a neo-fascist civil rights crusader who wants guns banned and is distrustful of free market solutions.) The Saper-Warped Hypothesis. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

4 6

CDR: Re: why should it be trusted?
by Gil Hamilton 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Nathan Saper writes: >In a recent WHO study, the U.S. was ranked (IIRC) 15th in the world >for healthcare (factoring in quality, availability, etc). This was >behind many socialized healthcare countries, such as Canada. Did it ever occur to you that WHO might have an agenda of its own that its rankings are intended to advance? >This assumes that wealth will be achieved by everyone. This is simply >not true. Look at America. The rich are getting richer, and the poor >are getting poorer. That's bullshit. "Liberals" in this country like to bitch and moan about the suffering of the poor and how stingy the rest of us are, even while most of the so-called poor have cell phones hanging on their belts. The poor aren't getting poorer, their expectations are simply getting higher. How many "poor" homes don't have a color TV and a VCR? To the extent that there are things they are "forced" to do without, it largely reflects their own personal choices and/or their lack of ambition. The few that can really be called poor in this country are the homeless, most of whom are either mentally disturbed or simply ambitionless addicts and alcoholics (or both). - GH _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.

1 0

CDR: giganetstore.com na Inforpor 2000
by apoio＠giganetstore.com 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

A giganetstore.com <http://www.giganetstore.com> vai estar presente na Inforpor 2000, Feira de Negócios e Tecnologias de Informação, na FIL Expo, nos próximos dias 26, 27, 28 e 29 de Outubro. Dias 26 e 27 (5ª e 6ª feira) 14 h - 22 h ( Empresarial ) Dia 28 (sábado) -14 h - 22 h Dia 29 (domingo) -10 h - 19 h Neste sentido temos a decorrer as seguintes promoções: *Ganhe 2.000$00 em compras ao registar-se durante a visita à Inforpor no nosso expositor como cliente giganetstore.com <http://www.giganetstore.com> *Entregamos-lhe no momento um Netpin grátis <http://www.giganetstore.com/index.asp?produtoId=4538> Ao comprar um Computador Compaq à sua escolha na giganetstore.com <http://www.giganetstore.com> , mas terá de fazê-lo na Inforpor Estamos presentes no Pavilhão 1, na àrea profissional com a Microsoft E já agora... QUER CONVITES PARA A INFORPOR? Nós oferecemos-lhe 2 convites Basta dirigir-se à giganetstore.com <http://www.giganetstore.com> , Avenida Defensor de Chaves, nº45, 7º, 1000-112 Lisboa ou então contacte-nos: 808210808, apoio(a)giganetstore.co <mailto:apoio@giganetstore.com> m <mailto:apoio@giganetstore.com> Para retirar o seu email desta mailing list deverá entrar no nosso site http://www.giganetstore.com <http://www.giganetstore.com> ,ir à edição do seu registo e retirar a opção de receber informação acerca das nossas promoções e novos serviços.

1 0

CDR: Gore's Panopticon State (was ip: "Bush is a mixed bag. But I think Al Gore is the devil.")
by R. A. Hettinga 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Gore, like most communists, apparently doesn't understand von Mises' calculation problem very well... Cheers, RAH --- begin forwarded text

1 0

CDR: Illicit words
by Bruce J.A. Nourish 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

I read somewhere that the FBI/NSA/some other Big Bro. organisation has a list of words that they check your email against, and if they find any, they have someone read your mail. Anyone know what they are? TIA & HAND -- Bruce J.A. Nourish (keys - see header) <kode187(a)galadriel.kode187.net>

6 6

ip: "Bush is a mixed bag. But I think Al Gore is the devil."
by VMontgo32＠aol.com 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Ironic Processing By Virginia Postrel http://www.reason.com/0011/co.vp.ironic.html When I give a speech about the big-picture political and cultural ideas in my book <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0684862697/reasonmagazineA/">The Future and Its Enemies</A>, the question and answer period almost always starts with a down-to-earth query: "What do you think of George W. Bush and Al Gore?" "Well," I say, "Bush is a mixed bag. But I think Al Gore is the devil." This line always gets a laugh, but itâ*s not really a joke. Donâ*t get me wrong: Unlike some Clinton haters, who have the same opinion of his boss, I donâ*t mean Gore is literally the Prince of Darkness. I simply mean that he operates according to core principles that work to erode the freedoms of individuals and the progress of the open society. This is true whether you examine the "real Gore"â*the intellectual wannabe who seems like heâ*d rather have my job than Bill Clintonâ*sâ*or the political Gore, who speaks in poll-tested phrases. Both versions share the patronizing world view perfectly expressed in the vice presidentâ*s tendency to address his audiences as though they were dim second-graders. Both want to tell everyone else how to live, to subordinate our diverse, individualized purposes to their own goals. Back before his populist peroration at the Democratic National Convention, the intellectual Gore gave a remarkable interview to Nicholas Lemann of The New Yorker. Lemann was smart enough not to ask routine, soundbite-inducing questions. Instead, he asked Gore about his favorite ideas, and he ran long quotations from their conversations. Goreâ*s responses elicited scorn, derision, and dismay in Washingtonâ*s political-intellectual circles. He was way, way, way too interested in obscure notions about complexity and fractals. He drew strange diagrams. He talked a lot about metaphor. He dropped names of philosophers and physicists. Gore sounded like a New Age version of Newt Gingrich. The pundits were so flabbergasted by his strangeness that they paid little attention to the content of what he said. But Lemannâ*s article revealed more than Goreâ*s interest in odd ideas; it gave readers a peek at his political philosophy. And the substance of Goreâ*s world view is troubling. Gore believes society needs to take ideas from science and apply them to politics and economics, and heâ*s frustrated that scientific ideas are too unfamiliar to the general publicâ*and his political colleaguesâ*to be used that way. He wants to replace the old metaphors of a clockwork universe and machine-age government with something more up-to-date. His favorite metaphor is "distributed intelligence." That sounds promising. The insight that knowledge is scattered through society, and that itâ*s impossible to collect all relevant information (including the knowledge of individualsâ* purposes and preferences) in a single place, is fundamental to understanding why central planning does not work, and why it is incompatible with individual freedom. But Goreâ*s idea of distributed intelligence does not in any way endorse the significance of dispersed, local knowledge. To the contrary, Gore imagines society as a giant computer system, using massively parallel processing to attack a single problem. In such a system, he explained in a 1996 speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, "When a problem was presented, all the processors would begin working simultaneously, each performing its small part of the task, and sending its portion of the answer to be collated with the rest of the work that was going on. It turns out that for most problems, this approach is more effective." (Actually, massively parallel processing isnâ*t good for most problems, but thatâ*s a messy real-world detail.) As a metaphor for society, this analogy suggests that someone in charge decides what the problem is and parcels out tasks to individuals. Individuals do not choose their own problems and purposes or respond to the needs and desires of other dispersed individuals. Asked by Lemann to apply this idea to government, Gore imagined members of Congress bringing information from their districts to "assemble it at the center, in the Capitol building." So "distributed intelligence," a phrase that appears to honor decentralized knowledge, turns out to enshrine centralized decision making. This vision is in keeping with Goreâ*s desire, in Earth in the Balance, for a "central organizing principle for civilization," a goal to which all other goals are subordinated. Gore also rebels against the dispersed knowledge that makes an advanced civilization possibleâ*the specialization that lets people do what theyâ*re good at and enables us to benefit from the knowledge of others, the specialization that acknowledges that each of us is inevitably ignorant about most things. To the AAAS, he <A HREF="http://www.aaas.org/meetings/gore.htm"> bemoaned</A> "the increasing segmentation of society," blaming it for the failure of his favorite metaphor to capture the public imagination. The problem of specialization, he told Lemann, was what Earth in the Balance was all about. The book was an attempt, he said, "to understand the origins of our modern world view, and its curious reliance on specialization and ever-narrower slices of the world around us into categories that are then themselves dissected, in an ongoing process of separation, into parts and subpartsâ*a process that sometimes obliterates the connection to the whole and the appreciation for context and the deeper meanings that canâ*t really be found in the atomized parts of the whole." No wonder the pundits scoffed. That Gore doesnâ*t sound like much of a politician. His views can nonetheless be translated into a campaign document. You just have to push the metaphor: The "atomized parts" are citizens, or voters, or taxpayers, or just plain individuals. Theyâ*re the little pieces that donâ*t count for much until theyâ*re brought into the grand scheme, connected to the whole. You connect them to those deeper meanings by deciding what goals they should pursueâ*programming them to solve the right problems. Follow this analogy, and you wind up with a platform that reads something like Goreâ*s campaign document, <A HREF="http://www.algore2000.com/pdf/gore_prosperity.pdf">Prosperity for Americaâ*s Families</A>.Â Filled with grandiose promises and constant repetition, this 191-page "plan" consists largely of prescriptions to add more headache-inducing complexity to the tax code, all in the name of rewarding good behavior. Take retirement savings. Gore wants people to save, but he wants the savings to cost people the same regardless of how much money they make. Todayâ*s IRAs donâ*t do that. A family making $25,000 pays no income taxes, so putting away $2,000 in retirement savings costs the full two grand. A family that makes $75,000 is in the 28 percent bracket, so sticking $2,000 in a tax-deductible IRA costs just $1,440. Thatâ*s not fair, suggests the Gore document. You could, of course, solve the unfairness problem by flattening tax rates, so that everyone faced the same tax hit. You could even eliminate special treatment of retirement savings and let taxpayers decide, in an unbiased way, how to spend their money. But that even-handed approach would let the atomized parts decide on their own purposes. It would offer no deeper meanings. Instead, the current progressivity of the tax code becomes an argument for even greater progressivity. Gore proposes a new Retirement Savings Plus program in which people who save but donâ*t pay taxes will receive matching funds and people who save and do pay taxes will get credits that go down as their tax rate goes up. Having centrally decided that the nationâ*s little processors should all attack the problem of retirement savings, he has to rig the pieces of the problem assigned to each household. Saving for retirement is important to Gore, but the true central organizing principle of his plan is that everyone should be raising children and sending them to college. His plan thus offers a tax deduction for college tuition, establishes tax-sheltered accounts to save for educational expenses, and gives a tax credit for after-school programs. It hikes the child-care tax credit (including a credit for parents who stay home with very young kids) and promises full-time moms who havenâ*t paid Social Security taxes the same benefits as employed women who have. Parents whose kids arenâ*t either in college or young enough for day care are pretty much out of luck when it comes to tax cuts as, of course, are people who make too much money. Prosperity for Americaâ*s Families goes on and on in this vein. To keep the nationâ*s "atomized parts" from pursuing their own, unapproved goals, Gore creates so many new specialized categories that he winds up contradicting his own goals. His plan "corrects" the marriage penalty by doubling the standard deduction, for instance, but that penalizes any couple who itemizes to take advantage of any of its other creditsâ*or of the old mortgage deduction. The overall effect is an irony worthy of any machine-age, old-paradigm manager: In pursuit of deeper meanings and centralized purposes, Gore winds up slicing Americans into ever-narrower interest groups, favoring some and punishing others. Editor-at-Large Virginia Postrel (<A HREF="mailto:vpostrel@reason.com"> vpostrel(a)reason.com</A>) is the author of <A HREF="http://www.futureand.com/"> The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress</A>, recently published in paperback by Touchstone. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

1 0

ip: "Bush is a mixed bag. But I think Al Gore is the devil."
by VMontgo32＠aol.com 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Ironic Processing By Virginia Postrel http://www.reason.com/0011/co.vp.ironic.html When I give a speech about the big-picture political and cultural ideas in my book <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0684862697/reasonmagazineA/">The Future and Its Enemies</A>, the question and answer period almost always starts with a down-to-earth query: "What do you think of George W. Bush and Al Gore?" "Well," I say, "Bush is a mixed bag. But I think Al Gore is the devil." This line always gets a laugh, but itâ*s not really a joke. Donâ*t get me wrong: Unlike some Clinton haters, who have the same opinion of his boss, I donâ*t mean Gore is literally the Prince of Darkness. I simply mean that he operates according to core principles that work to erode the freedoms of individuals and the progress of the open society. This is true whether you examine the "real Gore"â*the intellectual wannabe who seems like heâ*d rather have my job than Bill Clintonâ*sâ*or the political Gore, who speaks in poll-tested phrases. Both versions share the patronizing world view perfectly expressed in the vice presidentâ*s tendency to address his audiences as though they were dim second-graders. Both want to tell everyone else how to live, to subordinate our diverse, individualized purposes to their own goals. Back before his populist peroration at the Democratic National Convention, the intellectual Gore gave a remarkable interview to Nicholas Lemann of The New Yorker. Lemann was smart enough not to ask routine, soundbite-inducing questions. Instead, he asked Gore about his favorite ideas, and he ran long quotations from their conversations. Goreâ*s responses elicited scorn, derision, and dismay in Washingtonâ*s political-intellectual circles. He was way, way, way too interested in obscure notions about complexity and fractals. He drew strange diagrams. He talked a lot about metaphor. He dropped names of philosophers and physicists. Gore sounded like a New Age version of Newt Gingrich. The pundits were so flabbergasted by his strangeness that they paid little attention to the content of what he said. But Lemannâ*s article revealed more than Goreâ*s interest in odd ideas; it gave readers a peek at his political philosophy. And the substance of Goreâ*s world view is troubling. Gore believes society needs to take ideas from science and apply them to politics and economics, and heâ*s frustrated that scientific ideas are too unfamiliar to the general publicâ*and his political colleaguesâ*to be used that way. He wants to replace the old metaphors of a clockwork universe and machine-age government with something more up-to-date. His favorite metaphor is "distributed intelligence." That sounds promising. The insight that knowledge is scattered through society, and that itâ*s impossible to collect all relevant information (including the knowledge of individualsâ* purposes and preferences) in a single place, is fundamental to understanding why central planning does not work, and why it is incompatible with individual freedom. But Goreâ*s idea of distributed intelligence does not in any way endorse the significance of dispersed, local knowledge. To the contrary, Gore imagines society as a giant computer system, using massively parallel processing to attack a single problem. In such a system, he explained in a 1996 speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, "When a problem was presented, all the processors would begin working simultaneously, each performing its small part of the task, and sending its portion of the answer to be collated with the rest of the work that was going on. It turns out that for most problems, this approach is more effective." (Actually, massively parallel processing isnâ*t good for most problems, but thatâ*s a messy real-world detail.) As a metaphor for society, this analogy suggests that someone in charge decides what the problem is and parcels out tasks to individuals. Individuals do not choose their own problems and purposes or respond to the needs and desires of other dispersed individuals. Asked by Lemann to apply this idea to government, Gore imagined members of Congress bringing information from their districts to "assemble it at the center, in the Capitol building." So "distributed intelligence," a phrase that appears to honor decentralized knowledge, turns out to enshrine centralized decision making. This vision is in keeping with Goreâ*s desire, in Earth in the Balance, for a "central organizing principle for civilization," a goal to which all other goals are subordinated. Gore also rebels against the dispersed knowledge that makes an advanced civilization possibleâ*the specialization that lets people do what theyâ*re good at and enables us to benefit from the knowledge of others, the specialization that acknowledges that each of us is inevitably ignorant about most things. To the AAAS, he <A HREF="http://www.aaas.org/meetings/gore.htm"> bemoaned</A> "the increasing segmentation of society," blaming it for the failure of his favorite metaphor to capture the public imagination. The problem of specialization, he told Lemann, was what Earth in the Balance was all about. The book was an attempt, he said, "to understand the origins of our modern world view, and its curious reliance on specialization and ever-narrower slices of the world around us into categories that are then themselves dissected, in an ongoing process of separation, into parts and subpartsâ*a process that sometimes obliterates the connection to the whole and the appreciation for context and the deeper meanings that canâ*t really be found in the atomized parts of the whole." No wonder the pundits scoffed. That Gore doesnâ*t sound like much of a politician. His views can nonetheless be translated into a campaign document. You just have to push the metaphor: The "atomized parts" are citizens, or voters, or taxpayers, or just plain individuals. Theyâ*re the little pieces that donâ*t count for much until theyâ*re brought into the grand scheme, connected to the whole. You connect them to those deeper meanings by deciding what goals they should pursueâ*programming them to solve the right problems. Follow this analogy, and you wind up with a platform that reads something like Goreâ*s campaign document, <A HREF="http://www.algore2000.com/pdf/gore_prosperity.pdf">Prosperity for Americaâ*s Families</A>.Â Filled with grandiose promises and constant repetition, this 191-page "plan" consists largely of prescriptions to add more headache-inducing complexity to the tax code, all in the name of rewarding good behavior. Take retirement savings. Gore wants people to save, but he wants the savings to cost people the same regardless of how much money they make. Todayâ*s IRAs donâ*t do that. A family making $25,000 pays no income taxes, so putting away $2,000 in retirement savings costs the full two grand. A family that makes $75,000 is in the 28 percent bracket, so sticking $2,000 in a tax-deductible IRA costs just $1,440. Thatâ*s not fair, suggests the Gore document. You could, of course, solve the unfairness problem by flattening tax rates, so that everyone faced the same tax hit. You could even eliminate special treatment of retirement savings and let taxpayers decide, in an unbiased way, how to spend their money. But that even-handed approach would let the atomized parts decide on their own purposes. It would offer no deeper meanings. Instead, the current progressivity of the tax code becomes an argument for even greater progressivity. Gore proposes a new Retirement Savings Plus program in which people who save but donâ*t pay taxes will receive matching funds and people who save and do pay taxes will get credits that go down as their tax rate goes up. Having centrally decided that the nationâ*s little processors should all attack the problem of retirement savings, he has to rig the pieces of the problem assigned to each household. Saving for retirement is important to Gore, but the true central organizing principle of his plan is that everyone should be raising children and sending them to college. His plan thus offers a tax deduction for college tuition, establishes tax-sheltered accounts to save for educational expenses, and gives a tax credit for after-school programs. It hikes the child-care tax credit (including a credit for parents who stay home with very young kids) and promises full-time moms who havenâ*t paid Social Security taxes the same benefits as employed women who have. Parents whose kids arenâ*t either in college or young enough for day care are pretty much out of luck when it comes to tax cuts as, of course, are people who make too much money. Prosperity for Americaâ*s Families goes on and on in this vein. To keep the nationâ*s "atomized parts" from pursuing their own, unapproved goals, Gore creates so many new specialized categories that he winds up contradicting his own goals. His plan "corrects" the marriage penalty by doubling the standard deduction, for instance, but that penalizes any couple who itemizes to take advantage of any of its other creditsâ*or of the old mortgage deduction. The overall effect is an irony worthy of any machine-age, old-paradigm manager: In pursuit of deeper meanings and centralized purposes, Gore winds up slicing Americans into ever-narrower interest groups, favoring some and punishing others. Editor-at-Large Virginia Postrel (<A HREF="mailto:vpostrel@reason.com"> vpostrel(a)reason.com</A>) is the author of <A HREF="http://www.futureand.com/"> The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress</A>, recently published in paperback by Touchstone. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

1 0

CDR: CA gun registration, Canada, and civil disobedience
by Nomen Nescio 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

The upcoming deadline for CA's "Assault Weapon Registration" has weighed heavily upon my thoughts for some time. The blank registration form sits on my desk, staring back at me every time my eyes wander away from the screen. Registrant Last Name, Registrant First Name, Registrant Middle Name, DOB, Sex, Height, Weight, Eyes, Hair, Physical Residence Address, Mailing Address, CA Driver License or ID Number, Telephone Number, and, of course, Right Thumbprint. ("The registrant's right thumbprint impression of fingerprint identification quality must be provided in the space indicated. If DOJ identification specialists determine the impression quality is unacceptable, the application will be returned unprocessed. Local police and sheriffs' departments provide quality fingerprint impression services.") The Fall 2000 issue of the JPFO's Bill of Rights Sentinel contained the following article on Canada's C-68. Balancing my own cynicism against the authors' bit of Pollyannaish rhetoric, it seems there are at least a few brave Canadians willing to openly thumb their noses at their Firearms Act on January 1, 2001. What will happen when January 1, 2001 hits CA? Probably not much. I strongly doubt that even a single individual will be bold enough to present himself, unarmed, in public (much less his local police station) and exclaim, "Hear that, CA DOJ? I tore up your little card and I didn't turn in my gun!" Refusal to cooperate with the census seemed almost fashionable this year. My census form met its untimely demise in my paper shredder. No doubt many other forms, both Cypherpunk and Sheeple alike met more creative ends. How many Californians have publicly announced their refusal to cooperate with the fascist Assault Weapon Registration? How many op-ed pieces have been written encouraging citizens to "Just Say No" to this precursor to confiscation? How many outside the state are wringing their hands in dismay that their legislatures will soon follow suit? What sane person would engage in civil disobedience in this climate of trendy gun-grabbing? Likewise, what *fool* would actually register his "assault weapons"? What to do, what to do... "Peace where freedom is compromised isn't peace - it's surrender. In a compromise between poison and food, the only winner is death." ------------------------------------- [Bill Of Rights Sentinel, Fall 2000, JPFO, Inc. www.jpfo.org] Civil Disobedience in Canada: It Just Happened to Be Guns by Dr. Paul Gallant and Dr. Joanne Eisen "One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust...is in reality expressing the highest respect for law... We will not obey your evil laws..." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. In a representative government, and in an ideal world, those elected to public office are expected to act selflessly, and always in the best interests of their constituents. And they are trusted to do so, until the evidence of betrayal is undeniable. Sometimes, that betrayal takes the form of an unjust law, one which is both dangerous and costly to society. That's exactly what befell Canadians in 1995 with the passage of C-68, the Act Respecting Firearms and Other Weapons (generally referred to as simply the "Firearms Act"). As of January 1, 2001, Canadians who currently own a firearm, or who wish to own one are required to obtain a license from a Chief Firearms Officer. And although the Canadian government has required registration of handguns since 1934, as of January 1, 2001 all other firearms lawfully owned must be accounted for by a registration certificate. By that date, the Canadian Justice Department will thus possess a registry of all gun-owners and their guns, if all goes according to plan. But the result of the Firearms Act has been massive civil disobedience. R. Bruce Hutton, formerly of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP, Canada's national police force), formed the Law-Abiding Unregistered Firearms Association (LUFA) in November 1998. Since then, Hutton has been traveling throughout Canada urging non-compliance with the Firearms Act, and exhorting fellow gun-owners, "Come to jail with me." More than twenty thousand Canadian gun-owners had taken Hutton up on his challenge as of July 15, 2000, openly declaring their intent to disobey the law by not complying with registration. When gun-owner populations are compared, that translates to the U.S. equivalent of almost 400,000 American gun-owners, conservatively stated. Hutton's anger has clearly resonated among fellow Canadians, proving that an ordinary man can make an extraordinary difference. When January 1, 2001 rolls around, LUFA's members are prepared to stand unarmed in front of RCMP offices and submit, as felons, to their 5-year prison terms. LUFA's projected membership that time will be enough to overwhelm an already strained Canadian criminal justice system. An equivalent action by American gun-owners would probably have the same effect. Hundreds of thousands of other Canadian gun-owners have made known their intent to delay registration until the last possible moment. Their forms will arrive all together in the last few weeks, throwing the entire bureaucracy into disarray. On June 15, 2000, Canada's Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Firearms Act and finally pushed some Canadians over the brink. The provincial governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have dumped both the administration and the enforcement of all federal gun-control laws -- including the 66-year old handgun registry -- right back into Ottawa's lap, throwing the Canadian government into civil war, one fought on paper for the time being. Interesting times lie ahead to the North of us. Why are our usually obedient neighbors to the North acting out of character? C-68: FALSE PROMISE AND LIES Various rationales have been articulated to explain civil disobedience in response to the Firearms Act. A good deal of discussion has focused on the skyrocketing costs of administration. But none of these explanations account for why Canadian gun-owners are increasingly willing to disobey their government, and suffer hefty fines and serious jail-time. The real answer seems to lie in the fact that, although the Firearms Act mandates firearm registration, it is not "just another" gun-control law, and the defiance it has elicited is not just about guns. When it was enacted into law, the Firearms Act did far more than implement firearm registration. It provided for the confiscation of more than half of all registered, legally-owned handguns in Canada -- without compensation -- an action which Canadian gun-owners rightly interpreted as a blatant disregard for traditional property rights. The Firearms Act also empowered the government to profoundly infringe upon rights that all Canadians cherish. According to Canadian Researcher Dr. Gary Mauser, "these infringements should frighten any civil libertarian. The Firearms Act expands the grounds for warrantless searches, reduces restraints on issuing warrants, and requires people to testify against themselves." In fact, Dr. Mauser noted, the Firearms Act "vastly extends police powers" in Canada, and that "such sweeping police powers...authorize police procedures that [would] violate the US Fourth Amendment's protection against warrantless searches and the Fifth Amendment's protection [of] due process." During the debate on C-68, and upon its implementation, the Canadian government made a number of promises and claims. In discussing some of these (see sidebar [see end]), Canadian journalist Lorne Gunter observed, "perhaps the Liberals do not have as their ultimate goal the disarming of the civilian population. But registration would make confiscation easier by telling the government where all the guns are." Why all the lies, both to facilitate the passage of C-68, and to perpetuate the government's false promises? Addressing the 11th Annual Community Legal Education Associations conference in January 1996, Senator Sharon Carstairs made a telling admission when she thought no one else was listening: the Firearms Act was intended, from the outset, to be integral to her party's plans to "socially re-engineer Canada", something the Liberal party of Canada has set about doing for the past 30 years. Disarming the citizenry and creating a utopian pacifist society is integral to this "social re-engineering". Wrote Lorne Gunter in a March 14, 1996 column: "...the Liberals knew that when they promised C-68 would reduce crime, Canadians would naturally assume the government meant rounding up criminals and throwing them in jail, preventing murders and holdups... when all along, what the Liberals really meant was that they believed C-68 would re-engineer Canada (and especially male gun owners) making its citizens more docile... [But] when lawmakers trample centuries-old liberties without offering an overwhelming social good in return...then respect for the law dies and the rule of law along with it." SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN OTTAWA Garry Breitkreuz is a Member of Parliament from the province of Saskatchewan. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1993, and re-elected in 1997. Columnist Peter Worthington of the Sun chain of newspapers referred to Breitkreuz as "the one-man wrecking crew when it comes to federal gun registration". Recounting his earlier experience with the Justice Department concerning a secret research project designed to evaluate the effects of a restrictive gun law enacted in 1997, Breitkreuz commented: "This statistical analysis was supposed to evaluate the effectiveness of [previous] firearms legislation. After a thirteen month investigation, the Information Commissioner has confirmed that the government knowingly and without any authority whatsoever withheld information from Members of Parliament. The information concerned public safety and was vital to the debate of the federal gun control legislation (Bill C-68) and yet the Justice Minister and his officials effectively hid it from the public and Parliament... If a Member of Parliament can't get information from the government what hope does the average citizen have?" Why would the Canadian government keep this information secret? Could it be that the 1977 law did not work, as advertised, to reduce violent crime in Canada? And could it be that this information might jeopardize its agenda now? Who stands to gain when a government deliberately withholds information from its own citizens? In an attempt to understand the practical implementation of C-68, we went to its actual text. Despite our own familiarity with a wealth of U.S. gun laws, we found C-68 to be an almost undecipherable maze of words. One of the documents we received from Breitkreuz's office shed light on our difficulty. Prepared by the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament, and dated April 18, 1997, it stated the following: "...the sheer volume of regulatory authority can make it extremely difficult for Parliamentary bodies to envisage the final scope of the Act. OR FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE LEGISLATION MAY IMPACT ON THEM. [emphasis ours]. Bill C-68, the Firearms Act, might well be described as an example of such legislation... The combined effect [of its provisions] is to invest the Chief Firearms Officer with an extremely large, if not unprecedented, degree of discretion." In fact, according to Dave Tomlinson, President of Canada's National Firearms Association, C-68 allows the government to "legally confiscate all guns at any time." Now we also know the answer to the question of why Canadians are acting out of character: THEY AREN'T! They are beginning to read the "fine print" of the Firearms Act, and are expressing -- according to Martin Luther King, Jr. -- the "highest respect for the law", in their own way. NICS: A BETTER MOUSETRAP? Contrast the Firearms Act with NICS, our own National Instant Check System. While Canadians refer to th Firearms Act as outright registration, American proponents of NICS have painstakingly avoided any reference to the term, or characterization of NICS as a system of gun or gun-owner registration. Yet NICS may more effectively accomplish what the Firearms Act has openly set out to do -- register law-abiding gun-owners and their guns. The machinery for registration was set in place by the very design of NICS: Americans, and the guns they buy, are automatically -- and illegally -- entered into a Department of Justice database, as an immediate consequence of the instant check provision required for purchases from licensed dealers. Unlike Canada's Firearms Act, however, registration via NICS is essentially passive on the part of gun-owners. Its architects have cleverly removed registration as an option from American gun purchasers. Except for one small detail, that is. The Brady Law's provisions apply only to sales from licensed dealers, and private gun sales are therefore currently exempt from "instant-check"-style registration. But private gun sales account for approximately a third of all gun acquisitions in this country, which leaves a huge chunk of firearm transfers unaccounted for by a government paper trail. The reason then becomes perfectly clear why Bill Clinton and the rest of America's anti-self-defense politicians have relentlessly pushed for a background check on ALL private gun transfers, even at gun shows. Witness the so-called "gun-show loophole" mantra which drones on incessantly from a biased, firearm-hostile mainstream media. Now we know exactly what Bill Clinton had in mind when he announced during his weekly Saturday radio address on February 3, 1999, "No background check, no gun. No exceptions." While registration in the U.S. will take longer with NICS than the published timetable for Canada's Firearm Act, if the "gun-show loophole" is closed, a more complete listing of gun-owners and their guns will likely result. The Canadian experience amounts to a crash-course on registration and confiscation. And it should serve as a wake-up call for gun-owners here in the States." ---- ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Dr. Paul Gallant practices optometry in Wesley Hills, N.Y. Dr. Joanne Eisen practices dentistry in Old Bethpage, N.Y. Lorne Gunter is a columnist for the _Edmonton Journal_, one of Canada's largest daily newspapers. His columns on politics, society, government, the environment, the law, and economics appear three times a week. [References omitted] SIDEBAR: LIES MY GOVERNMENT TOLD ME by Lorne Gunter Mark Twain said "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." The Canadian government used all three to ram through its latest gun controls, which came into effect on December 1, 1998. Among the lies: federal politicians promised that point-of-sale registrations, which must now be completed before a buyer may take his firearm home, would take "only" 10 to 15 minutes over the telephone. Some have taken weeks, many other three months or more. Those of less than an hour are exceedingly rare. The mail-in registration of previously unregistered shotguns and rifles was to be accomplished on a postcard. The form actually contains 135 Questions and is as complicated as a tax return. there were the damned lies -- lies the government still refuses to admit are false. The registry was to cost no more than $85 million over five years. to date, the government will admit it has registered fewer than one-in-five gun owners with just five months remaining to the December 31 deadline. And instead of 200 employees, it has over 1,400, including hundreds of frontline police officers who have been rerouted from crime-busting to gun registration. Canadians were assured the registry would not divert funds from other Police operations. But the Mounties have all but lost their organized crime and white collar crime divisions, while the registry grows and grows. Then there were the statistics. The Department of Justice overestimated (likely knowingly) the number of gun crimes in the country by nearly 10-fold and exaggerated the cost of treating gunshot wounds by nearly 100-fold to create the appearance of a national emergency. Even the nation's police chiefs tried to help justify over half of all guns recovered at cime scenes were long guns. What the chiefs' failed to mention was that most had been stolen from their lawful owners before being used in a crime or had not been involved in a crime, merely recovered at the scene.

1 0

CDR: Imagine how many people in your downline would like to use this service to boost their online recruiting efforts. Now multiply that number by $10.00!
by gary＠gnetservices.com 26 Oct '00

26 Oct '00

Welcome to the most effective prospecting site on the Internet today! I began using your website just 75 days ago and it now has become my number one source of qualified prospects for my business! So far this month I have enrolled 19 new Marketing Executives into my program with my HomeBusiness.to website and it's only the 19th of the month. I have never enrolled one per day in my entire career in this business before now! Jim Simpson ***************************************************************************************** You can now use our site to promote either an e-commerce opportunity or a diet and nutrition opportunity. When signing up, simply choose the version you would like to use. To make our service even better, you can now earn an incredible $10.00 PER MONTH for each person you refer to our site! That's right, every month you can get paid $10.00 for every person using our service that you sent to us. Imagine how many people in your downline would like to use this service to boost their online recruiting efforts. Now multiply that number by $10.00! Our basic subscription service is just $19.95, that means with just two active referrals your service now becomes virtually free! With three referrals, you actually make money each month. How many magazines and newspapers can offer that? Signup Now http://www.homebusiness.to/GNetSvcs ACT TODAY!!!

1 0

CDR: Re: Insurance: My Last Post
by Rev. Parker Bright 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

If you truly believe this why not take a hint from Camus and kill yourself. You could one, lose nothing due to inherent lack of value, two, exercise the one undeniable right, three, the secession of personal pain and four, free up resources to reduce the pain of others. Not taking shots, just offering options. Rev. PHB I like to hold the door open for people approaching the door behind me, especially when they're really far behind and they have to hustle so as not to leave me standing there. Then I get to hear those stupid polite bastards thank me, when all I did was make them run. - Jonathan Colan

3 2

CDR: quick question
by john doe 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

was surfing the net and ran across an artile you posted that had a picture in it in and was wondering where to get the decoder for the picture... the website is http://www.inet-one.com/cypherpunks/dir.97.06.19-97.06.25/msg00323.html thanks _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.

1 0

CDR: CIA in Oregon, Intelink
by John Young 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

Would anyone in the Oregon area know about a CIA organization acronymed ISTAC? Here's the NIC entry, which includes a CIA rep in Bend, OR. Note that the other CIA rep used only a last name initial. CIA (ISTAC-DOM) 1820 Electric Avenue Vienna, VA 21076 Domain Name: ISTAC.GOV Status: ACTIVE Domain Type: Federal Technical Contact, Administrative Contact: S, Dan (DS3) 703-281-8087 DAN(a)ISTAC.GOV Domain servers in listed order: MARS.ISTAC.GOV 199.99.221.33 NS1.SPRINTLINK.NET 204.117.214.10 NS2.SPRINTLINK.NET 199.2.252.10, 199.2.252.1 NS3.SPRINTLINK.NET 204.97.212.10 Record last updated on 31-Oct-97. cia (W19990412003631) Federal Government: Yes Unlisted Organization: Yes Status: Pending Designated Agency Rep, Requester, Sr. Registration Official: Mueller, Deforest X. (DXM2) (541) 385-6836 MUELLER(a)BENDNET.COM Record last updated on 13-Apr-99. ----- Mueller, Deforest X. (DXM2) cia 63350 majestic loop bend, OR 97701 (541) 385-6836 MUELLER(a)BENDNET.COM ------ Second inquiry on accessing Intelink, or IC.GOV While this is registered, it does not respond to a browser inquiry. Here is its NIC data: IC.GOV Central Intelligence Agency (IC-DOM) Global Network Enterprise Washington, DC 20505 Domain Name: IC.GOV Status: ACTIVE Domain Type: Federal Technical Contact: Networks, Public (PN2) (702) 874-7205 EDSN(a)UCIA.GOV Administrative Contact: Farnham, David B. (DBF) (703) 874-2871 DAVEF(a)UCIA.GOV Domain servers in listed order: NS.DIGEX.NET 164.109.1.3 NS2.DIGEX.NET 164.109.10.23 Record last updated on -Apr-10. ------------------------------------------------------------ Networks, Public (PN2) Central Intelligence Agency ATS/EDSN, 1U1332 NHB Washington, DC 20505 (702) 874-7205 EDSN(a)UCIA.GOV E-mail Host: UCIA.GOV Record last updated on 27-Jan-99. ------------------------------------------------------------ Farnham, David B. (DBF) ATS/NSG, 2W03 NHB ATS/NSG, 2W03 NHB Washington, DC 20505 (703) 874-2871 DAVEF(a)UCIA.GOV Record last updated on 27-Jan-99. ------------------------------------------------------------ Source: http://www.nic.gov/REFERENCE/rfc2146-2.txt CROSS-AGENCY COLLABORATIONS Q. An organization maintains a domain name that represents a cross-agency community, IC.GOV, which represents members of the intelligence community. As a cross-agency collaborative effort, does the domain have to be re-registered? A. The policy states that "Cross-agency collaborative organizations (e.g., "Federal Networking Council", "Information Infrastructure Task Force") are eligible for registration under .GOV upon presentation of the chartering document and are the only non-listed (in either FIPS 95-1 or the US Government Manual) organizations eligible for registration under .GOV." "IC.GOV" however, is grand-fathered since it is an existing domain. Nevertheless, it would be appropriate to provide a copy of the chartering document to the FNC for the record. This would ease future changes to the IC.GOV domain if necessary. -----------------------------------------------------------

2 1

CDR: RE: CIA in Oregon, Intelink
by John Young 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

Yes, the BXA ISTAC is familiar since I'm on its mailing list. The CIA ISTAC is a different dog. And it was the Oregon rep which surprised, not the Vienna, VA and DC addresses. Why Oregon? Intel, Microsoft, In-Q-tel, or another bedmate helping equip and run Intelink? Intelink is reportedly restricted to those with intelligence need to know, and is blocked to outsiders. However, IC.GOV has been around a while and I wondered if a wizard here might know a way to finagle access. Here are few specific URLs provided in the DoD Intelligence Information System Instructions 2000: Intelligence Community PKI activities: http://www.iccio.ic.gov/ DIA page: http://www.dia.ic.gov/proj/dodiis/dodiis.html JITF Intelink: http://web1.rome.ic.gov:82/vtf.cgi Here's the URL for the DoDIISI2000 doc: http://www.dia.mil/Graphics/Intel_community/dodiis_2000/0204_DoDIISInstr_Fin al.doc (The URL may wrap.) For the dark side of the Albright bearhug, the DIA FOIA site offers the "North Korea Country Handbook," May, 1997, prepared by the intel community, and published by the Marine Corps Intelligence Acitivity: http://www.dia.mil/Graphics/FOIA/nk/nkor.pdf (429 pages, 5.6MB) It could be useful to those intending to exchange URLs with the Chief of NOFOIA DPKR.

1 0

CDR: Privacy: Dems criticize GOP, Calif, Australia, and Carnivore
by Declan McCullagh 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

********* More privacy stuff at: http://www.cluebot.com/search.pl?topic=privacy ********* http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/25/2351218&mode=nested Democrats Criticize Census Data Sharing posted by cicero on Wednesday October 25, @06:49PM from the hypocritcal-congresscritters-so-what-else-is-new dept. David Sobel of EPIC just sent us a letter that a pair of Democratic legislators are circulating on Capitol Hill. Turns out they want to stop a Republican plan to share some Census data with other government agencies. The opposition from Carolyn Maloney and John Dingell is certainly welcome, but it's important to realize that this is a simple partisan manuevering. While they piously bleat that "Congress should be protecting personal privacy," neither voted for privacy-protective measures when they had the chance, according to a Wired News scorecard. The letter, dated October 25: http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/25/2351218&mode=nested http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/226242&mode=nested CIX: E-mail Headers Aren't Legal Carnivore Fodder posted by protozoa on Tuesday October 24, @04:38PM from the slippery-slope-vs-vertical-slope dept. The Commercial Internet Exchange Association has published this white paper (PDF format) arguing that e-mail headers shouldn't legally be considered the same thing as telephone numbers dialed. Why is that important? Because according to the paper's introduction,"[t]hrough programs like "Carnivore," the government seeks real-time access to the e-mail addresses and other transactional elements of e-mail communications under the low "pen register" standard used to trace the digits dialed on a telephone,". It's a tricky legal distinction, but a very important one -- such a finding in court could cut the FBI's net surveillance plans off at the knees. I've included the paper's introduction below. The CIX introduction (in HTML): http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/24/226242&mode=nested http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/21/1517258&mode=nested California Creates State Privacy Office posted by protozoa on Saturday October 21, @09:58AM from the you-said-what-to-who? dept. According to this press release, California Governor Gray Davis signed twenty bills yesterday tailored to protect privacy and other consumer interests for state residents. Most noteworthy of these bills is SB 129, which creates the first-ever statewide Office of Privacy Protection under California's Department of Consumer Affairs. Other new laws include and procedural assistance for identity theft victims and new consumer "opt-out" reqirements for credit bureaus. Dan Gillmor wrote a column about identity theft and privacy protection in California back in March, expressing his support for two stronger and more far-reaching bills in this arena. Neither of them were among those passed. http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=00/10/21/1421235&mode=nested Australian Privacy Legislation Inches Forward posted by protozoa on Saturday October 21, @09:07AM from the privacy-privacy-oi-oi-oi dept. An Australian Senate committee has produced a set of recommendations (in PDF form) governing private corporations' data collection practices. The bill is scheduled to be considered during the coming session. The Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Bill 2000 aims to update regulations in light of the "dramatic developments in information technology and data communication practices" since the passage of the Privacy Act in 1988. The recommendations include an exemption for small businesses (except in instances where medical information is involved) and a strategy for accordance with the European Data Directive. Electronic Frontiers Australia called the bill "complex, unwieldy, ineffective and an insult to the citizens of Australia" in its testimony in May, citing numerous loopholes and inadequate enforcement provisions. Many of their concerns appear to have been ignored. ABC (that's A for Australian) ran a brief piece on Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams' support of the bill. As it says at the bottom of the box: Post your comments below. Can any privacy legislation better than none? Is ineffectual privacy legislation worse than none?

1 0

CDR: RE: CIA in Oregon, Intelink
by Trei, Peter 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

> ---------- > From: John Young[SMTP:jya@pipeline.com] > Reply To: John Young > Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2000 6:34 PM > To: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net > Subject: CIA in Oregon, Intelink > > Would anyone in the Oregon area know about > a CIA organization acronymed ISTAC? > > Here's the NIC entry, which includes a CIA rep > in Bend, OR. Note that the other CIA rep used > only a last name initial. > > CIA (ISTAC-DOM) > 1820 Electric Avenue > Vienna, VA 21076 > > > Domain Name: ISTAC.GOV > Status: ACTIVE > Domain Type: Federal > > Technical Contact, Administrative Contact: > S, Dan (DS3) > 703-281-8087 > DAN(a)ISTAC.GOV > [...] Well, you *could* call up Mr. Dan and ask (the worst he could do is lie), but that would be too easy, wouldn't it? The most likely suspect appears to be a BXA advisory body. Of course, acronyms can get overloaded :-) Since the duties of this ISTAC appear to include advising BXA on encryption, I think it's relevant to the list. Peter. google gives: -------------------------------- http://207.226.239.89/990126mo.htm and http://bxatac.doc.gov/ suggests ISTAC = Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee That page also has links to minutes from the public parts of meetings, (which are held in DC) The next ISTAC meeting is November 15 &16, and is partially open to the public. Here's some cut&paste text WHAT ARE TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES? Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) advise the Department of Commerce on the technical parameters for export controls applicable to dual-use commodities and technology and on the administration of those controls. The TACs are composed of representatives from industry and Government representing diverse points of view on the concerns of the exporting community. Industry representatives are selected from firms producing a broad range of goods, technologies, and software presently controlled for national security, foreign policy, nonproliferation, and short supply reasons or that are proposed for such controls, balanced to the extent possible among large and small firms. HOW ARE MEMBERS CHOSEN? TAC members are appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and serve terms of not more than four consecutive years. The membership reflects the Department's commitment to attaining balance and diversity. TAC members must obtain secret-level clearances prior to appointment. These clearances are necessary so that members can be permitted access to relevant classified information needed in formulating recommendations to the Department of Commerce. Each TAC meets approximately 4 times per year. Members of the TACs will not be compensated for their services. HOW MANY TACS ARE THERE, AND WHAT DO THEY DO? The following is a list of TACs that currently advise BXA, along with a short summary of each TAC's issue areas. You can access the committee's charter by clicking on its name. 1.Information Systems - Articles, materials and supplies of computers electronics, and telecommunications equipment. 2.Materials - Articles, materials, and supplies for radar absorption, jet engine turbines blades, super- conductivity, fluids, lubricants, composites, and for nuclear, missile, chemical, and biological weapons, including technical data and other information. 3.Materials Processing Equipment - Articles, materials and supplies of metal-working equipment, numerically controlled machine tools and robots, including technical data on the integration of numerically controlled machine tools and robotics equipment to form manufacturing cells and flexible manufacturing systems and enterprise automation technologies, as well as other information. 4.Regulations and Procedures - The Export Administration Regulations (EARs) and procedures implementing these regulations. 5.Sensors and Instrumentation - Articles, materials and supplies of sensors and instrumentation, including technical data and other information. 6.Transportation and Related Equipment - Articles, materials and supplies of transportation and related equipment, including technical data and other information.

1 0

CDR: Re: Re: Illicit words
by Bill Stewart 25 Oct '00

25 Oct '00

At 09:37 AM 10/25/00 -0400, Riad S. Wahby wrote: >There is also the 'spook.lines' file that has come in every Emacs >distribution at since 19.34 or earlier. On my machine it's >/usr/share/emacs/20.7/etc/spook.lines >You can use M-x spook to pull several random ones from a file and put >them in the current buffer, like the following: >CIA Legion of Doom Peking Noriega cracking Waco, Texas domestic >disruption bomb security Kennedy KGB $400 million in gold bullion >counter-intelligence colonel Semtex Makes a fine substrate for steganography as well :-) Pick 64 spookwords or spookphrases, which gets you six bits per word, or four bits with some duplications to level out distributions a lot. Heroin Intel Detonator DomIntel Echelon Noriega Semtex Terrorism Umber Feinstein Phreaking Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

1 0