December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases
by Gary Howland 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases BY GILES WHITTELL AND NIGEL HAWKES IT COULD be the end of the car chase as we know it. With the automotive equivalent of a stun gun, science fiction is coming to the aid of law enforcement. A high-powered electrical device under development at the Pentagon's Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Maryland, is to be tested by police and border patrol agents and could be in use by next year. The car stopper works by focusing an intense electromagnetic charge on the electronic systems that manage most modern engines, disabling them and paralysing the car. In the jargon of its inventors, the 150 kilovolt charge is a nemp, or non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse. Contractors are bidding to produce a police version. Very precisely directed beams are required, but even then there will be problems. A pulse powerful enough to disable an engine at any reasonable range would also be likely to disrupt communications, damage television and radio sets, disable computers and even stop heart pacemakers. There is also the danger of loss of control when a car is being driven at high speed. Counter-measures would include using old-fashioned engines with no electronics, or perhaps surrounding the most delicate components with shielding. The best might be to get hold of one of the stun guns and use it to disable pursuing police vehicles. Original article at http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/timnwsnws01022.html?1060389 Three questions come to mind: Will old fashioned engines be outlawed? Will the "stun guns" be outlawed? Will susceptible electronic systems become mandatory? (and if so, why not just put a remote control switch in all cars?) Gary

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Re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:15 PM 8/10/96, Scottauge(a)aol.com wrote: >I was watched CBS reports a couple nights ago about how all these blue collar >and now white collar jobs are going across seas. > >How programmers in India are taking jobs away from us, programmers and >engineerss, the people pioneering them. (Actually I know some Indian based >programmers and they are worked very hard, even being locked in a building >until they meet some deadline. This is not conducive to quality work, just >enough to get ya back home to family.) Where do I begin? First, what does "taking jobs away from us" mean? That we own these jobs? And who is "us"? And as for locking people in buildings until they meet a goal, I'd say that's a pretty fair description of Silicon Valley start-ups. :-} >White collar jobs are basically knowledge worker jobs, and if one does not >know how to do something, one cannot do it. > >So a possible way to protect jobs is to protect the knowledge on how to do >them. This kind of protection did not work 150-200 years ago, when the "Colonists" figured out to make fabric in mills and how to mechanize factories--they ended up "stealing" the industry the Brits thought they had sewn up. Life goes on. Essentially all of the technologies we talk about on this list work toward erasing national boundaries, much as Singapore and the U.S. might find this distasteful. >>From who could be an interesting question. Obviously some companies would be >interested in sharing the knowledge amongst the non-US tax paying population >of the world, thereby reducing income and taxes collected and thus needing to >raise taxes once again to pay for "rights" and entitlements the government >"gives" away to the citizens and non-citizens of this country.... but, I am >beginning to rant and rave. Indeed you are. I would be interested in hearing a more coherent argument for your case, though. >Perhaps there is a larger picture in the world that the cyperpunks mailing >list is missing. That cryptography is not just for personal privacy, but >could involve job security also - as a matter of fact, the income base for >this whole country. Given that our list is international, with active contributors from Sweden, India, Germany, Cyberia, and even Singapore, I rather doubt many of them see strong crytography, anonymous remailers, denationalized money, and crypto anarchy as a means of propping up the government or the economy of the United States of America. >In essence, knowledge is money, cuz that is what we usually want for it >now-a-days. "Oh you want me to do that for you, hmmmm, lets see...." > >Maybe a discussion could happen on protection of knowledge in a >socio-economic realm. ????? --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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The BBS PRNG
by janke＠unixg.ubc.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is the BBS PRNG covered by any patents anywhere? How about the probabilistic encryption public-key cryptosystem? If anyone has a BBS PRNG working on a 486 could they please send me a the clock frequency and bytes/sec they can generate for some common moduli: 512, 1024, and 2048, say. I am close to having an implementation which will run at 500 bytes/sec on a 486 DX/2 with a 1024 bit modulus and am not sure if that is competitively fast or not.

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Chemistry question please ..
by anonymous-remailer＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is there such a chemical compound as putracine ( maybe not correctly spelled ) which emulates the extreme odor of rotting corpses ? If so where can I find out how to make it ?

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test Anguilla Censors taxBomber ..... ??
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

As of immediately, the "taxBomber's Site & Internet Offshore Center" has been pulled by our Anguilla provider and will remain inaccessible for a few days. This is the work of some journalist hacks who did a major job of character assassination by claiming that we (and our provider) were involved in selling fake passports. This tactics isn't exactly new or particularly original: The Argentine press pulled a similar stunt in April, and again our provider was pressurized to cut us off from the Web without notice. Needless to say, we have NEVER EVER dealt in one single fake passport, nor have we ever offered, sold or brokered any forged, stolen or "lost" documents. Nor is there any need to do so, if you can get the real thing absolutely legally. But of course, this is a political rather than a legal issue - we were, and still are, too successful for Big Brother's liking: on our site, ordinary people (i.e. no govt. or intelligence agency personnel) got loads of free information on *legally* saving taxes, protecting their assets and reffectivel guarding their privacy. While we were and still are a commercial operation, we always made a point of being as educative and topically exhaustive as our resources would permit. But now, it seems, little Anguilla is getting "worried about its international reputation". Well, they are right, though with a vengeance: the reputation they have most certainly lost as of today is that being of one of the world's last truly liberal tax and data havens ... Now for the good news: we will set up a provisional site elsewhere soon and will announce it here on Usenet. Still - if anyone knows of an operational site provider *outside* US and EU jurisdiction, please drop us a line. Your support would be greatly appreciated and full credits given, if you so wish. We will probably either set up a worldwide network of fallback and mirror sites or continue our work in a new, truly innovative way to effectively counter any censorship and dependency on site providers. Until then, you can (still) email us at: pt(a)taxbomber.com or post your request (users permitting) to "alt.privacy", which we will be scanning regularly. Sorry for the inconvenience - hope to see you again soon! the taxBomber

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Re: Chemistry question please ..
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:53 AM 8/10/96 -0700, you wrote: >Is there such a chemical compound as putracine ( maybe not correctly spelled ) which emulates the extreme odor of rotting corpses ? If so where can I find out how to make it ? > > Why make putracine when you can just buy it? You would be amazed at what you can order from chemical supply companies. But I would recommend muriatic acid instead as it is more persistant -- a couple drops will last for months (sources say). --j

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Re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:15 AM 8/10/96 -0400, Scottauge(a)aol.com wrote: > I was watched CBS reports a couple nights ago about how all these blue collar > and now white collar jobs are going across seas. > > How programmers in India are taking jobs away from us, programmers and > engineerss, the people pioneering them. Indian engineers typically get one tenth or less of what European programmers get. Many companies, for example Informix, have campuses here and there across the USA, a campus in India, and several campuses in Europe. These campuses are linked by private televideo connections, private voice mail systems, and the internet. So theoretically a programmer in India should be much the same to them as a programmer anywhere else. Why should they care where he lives. Yet these companies continually spend vast sums of money on politicians, lawyers, and perhaps bureaucrats, in order to get their engineers out of India, so that they can pay them more than ten times as much in some foreign country. Informix has facilities in the US that are staffed mostly by Indians. Why did it not leave these teams in India, where they would cost less than a tenth as much? Clearly therefore, the same man is more than ten times as valuable to them when he is not in India. Since the communications are pretty much the same wherever he is located, what makes the difference? The power of the Indian government over that man and his work makes the difference. That man is poor because he is more subject to the power of the state, which values him no more than any other expendable slave, than he is contractually subject to those who value what he can do. Crypto relevance? When the crypto economy gets going, and government interference in the exchange of specialized labor becomes less effective, we can expect to see a radical rise in the standard of living. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: Chemistry question please ..
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:53 AM 8/10/96 -0700, anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com wrote: >Is there such a chemical compound as putracine ( maybe not correctly spelled ) which emulates the extreme odor of rotting corpses ? Yes. The proper spelling is putrescine. There's also another one called "cadaverine." And yet another called "skatole." ("scatology") >If so where can I find out how to make it ? Not on cypherpunks. If you want to know more, communicate with me directly. Use a penet-like remailer if you want... Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Data Havens in Anguilla About to End?
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:16 PM 8/10/96, Anonymous wrote: >As of immediately, the "taxBomber's Site & Internet Offshore Center" >has been pulled by our Anguilla provider and will remain inaccessible >for a few days. > >This is the work of some journalist hacks who did a major job of >character assassination by claiming that we (and our provider) >were involved in selling fake passports. "Pulled by our Anguilla provider." This says it all about the probable viability of nominally offshore providers. (I assume this is Vince Cates' site, though I haven't doublechecked...he's the only Anguilla provider of similar sites I know of. I certainly mean no criticism of Vince, if it was indeed his site. My comments are analogous to what we might say about a particular remailer site going down, even if we don't criticize the site operator for removing his remailer.) >But now, it seems, little Anguilla is getting "worried about its >international reputation". > >Well, they are right, though with a vengeance: the reputation they >have most certainly lost as of today is that being of one of the >world's last truly liberal tax and data havens ... I'm not an expert on offshort tax and data havens, but *any* country can be pressured by larger countries, and even by the glare of publicity. If a country derives very little revenue from "permitting" some service, and the costs (they believe) are much greater than the revenues, they will likely act. Thus, the negatives of allowing offshore data havens in Anguilla may easily exceed the few thousand dollars (or whatever) they get in taxes and fees (whatever they might be) from Vince and his customers. Longterm, I've never believed there is much safety in locating in *any* physical country. (By this I mean advertising and making it clear that one is in Country X, said to be "friendly" to tax avoiders, data havens, money laundering, etc. Policies can and do change overnight. Corrupt governments are, well, corrupt, and will change tunes if another piper pays them enough.) The case in Switzerland, with banking, is quite a bit different, with huge deposits and huge fees from their financial services. Even so, Switzerland has continually yielded more ground to tax collectors and various pressure groups from large nations. I'd guess that Vince has had a fun time in the Carribbean, but that he'll be closing up shop sometime soon. Once some services are yanked, confidence is lost. The interesting question will be whether the U.S. authorities and especially the Internal Revenue Service will put pressure on him if he chooses to return to the U.S. (Assuming this was Vince's service that is. But even if it wasn't, pressure on another service means pressure on all Aguillan services.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:30 PM 8/10/96 -0400, Timothy Lawrence Nali wrote: >Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 10-Aug-96 Police prepare stunning >end.. by Gary Howland(a)systemics.c > >[stuff about police wanting a new "stun gun" that can disable a car's >electrical systems deleted] > >1) You just noticed that your car is stolen. >2) You call the XXX security company to report your car as stolen. >3) The company beams down a signal by satellite/pager/cell-phone/etc. > telling the car's security systems that the car has been stolen. >4) This signal instructs the car to disable itself (shut down the engine, > lock the doors, etc.) and, via a GPS module and built-in > cell-phone/pager/etc., transmit it's coordinates. >5) The car is recovered and everyone is happy. > >Of course, once such systems are widespread, the XXX security company >will be "encouraged" to cooperate with local police and send that >shut-down signal to any car the police tell them to. "Car-Key-Escrow"? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Chemistry question please .. (fwd)
by gimonca＠skypoint.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 08:53:09 -0700 > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > From: anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com > Subject: Chemistry question please .. > > Is there such a chemical compound as putracine ( maybe not correctly spelled ) which emulates the extreme odor of rotting corpses ? If so where can I find out how to make it ? > See Neal Stephenson's novel "Zodiac".

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GOP Security (fwd)
by Julian Assange 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From notes(a)igc.org Sun Aug 11 07:25:25 1996 Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 12:46:19 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: Moderator of conference "justice.polabuse" <bwitanek(a)igc.apc.org> From: Bob Witanek <bwitanek(a)igc.apc.org> Subject: GOP Security To: Recipients of pol-abuse <pol-abuse(a)igc.apc.org> Message-ID: <APC&1'0'a9f98b16'b93(a)igc.apc.org> X-Gateway: conf2mail(a)igc.apc.org Errors-To: owner-pol-abuse(a)igc.apc.org Precedence: bulk Lines: 201 Posted: Michael Novick <mnovickttt(a)igc.apc.org> Philadelphia Inquirer: Page One Sunday, August 4, 1996 Next security test: GOP's convention Even before the Atlanta bombing, San Diego had battened down for the Republican s' meeting. By Carol Morello INQUIRER STAFF WRITER SAN DIEGO -- For all the festive bunting and wacky elephants springing up around town, the Republican National Convention will open here in a grim atmosphere of no-nonsense security. With a week left to go, Harbor Street, six lanes sweeping past the convention center, already has been closed to traffic. Owners of boats docked in the marina adjoining the center have been notified that their vessels will be swept and boarded for ``consensual searches.'' Tall chain-link fences ring the convention center itself. But metal detectors like the ones the delegates will pass through were deemed too unwieldy for the parking lot across the street, where 65 protest groups have been assigned carefully choreographed time slots. Instead, a sign at the entrance will advise that satchels and backpacks may be searched, and police have leased 200 pieces of high-tech equipment to detect firearms and explosives. Police also have gathered floor plans and photographs of every hotel and party site where delegates will be lodged and feted, all considered potential targets. They have even pressed the Retired Senior Citizens Patrol into service, and encouraged abortion doctors to ``take a vacation.'' Authorities in Chicago, where the Democrats will meet the last week of August, are taking similar precautions. Metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and surveillance cameras will be in force, along with thousands of police. Coast Guard cutters will patrol Lake Michigan. Chicago police are sealing an eight-block area around the United Center sports arena, the main convention site, to all unauthorized cars, trucks and pedestrians. As the 20th century nears an end, wary, pervasive security is as much a part of the convention scene as Old Glory and silly hats. San Diego has been preparing convention security for more than a year. Then a bomber on the other side of the country suddenly made everyone wonder if the next big public event could be free of mayhem and terror. In an emergency meeting called the day after a pipe bomb exploded at the Olympics in Atlanta, convention security planners assured Mayor Susan Golding that plans already in place were adequate. They said they neither made, nor expect to make, any significant changes. They have devised more than 100 scenarios that could threaten a peaceful convention, from an earthquake to a building collapse to a bomb like the one that twisted Atlanta's moment of glory. Carl Truscott, head of convention security for the Secret Service, said he had reached a ``comfort level'' for security within the center itself. His agents are conducting sweeps of the 800 to 1,000 sites around San Diego County where party potentates will appear. But he said the sweeps began before Atlanta's bombing. ``It certainly raised our awareness level and concern,'' said Capt. Dave Bejarano, head of the San Diego Police Department's convention security planning unit, which is coordinating the deployment of law enforcement from 18 different agencies. ``But we've made no significant changes. We'll just be more proactive. We're planning for the worst-case scenario, and hoping for the best.'' After two failed bids, San Diego fought hard for this moment in the sun. But even before it's begun the clouds are out. Television networks and party poo-bahs have groused about the convention center's puny dimensions. Protesters went to court to guarantee a demonstration zone where delegates can hear and see them after the Republicans tried to shuffle them down the street. With equal amounts of anticipation and trepidation, San Diegans are prepared to host 50,000 visitors who can charitably be described as intense -- 8,000 conventioneers, 12,000 media representatives and tens of thousands of protesters. They know the GOP gathering will showcase this city of 1.2 million people more than all previous events held here, from the Super Bowl to the World Series. Twice before, San Diego was an also-ran in the convention sweepstakes. In 1972, the convention that nominated Richard Nixon to a second term was moved to Miami when a leaked memo by ITT lobbyist Dita Beard disclosed that the Justice Department dropped an antitrust lawsuit against the corporation after it donated $400,00 to the San Diego convention campaign. And in 1992, Republicans encouraged the city to make a costly bid, only to pick Houston in George Bush's home state. With the conventions-that-almost-were behind them, the city that alternately describes itself as ``America's Finest City'' and the ``City of the 21st Century'' hopes to prove to the country -- and itself -- that it has more going for it than the weather. ``We believe in a lot of outside feedback,'' said Francine Phillips, author of America's Finest City -- If We Say It Enough We'll Believe It. ``We've long felt that if we do it here, it's not really good enough. ``For years and years, we were second to Los Angeles in size and second to San Francisco in sophistication. Now San Diego is coming into its own. It's an opportunity, and a risk. We're going to get exposure, and we feel vulnerable.'' Jack Ford, son of former President Gerald Ford, is responsible for setting the stage in the compact bayside convention center, built in 1989. It was designed to hold 13,000, but it's been reconfigured to hold 19,600. That still falls well short of 50,000 in Houston's Astrodome and 40,000 in New Orleans' Superdome, site of the 1988 convention. Seating is so tight that it has helped the price for nondelegate tickets soar through the convention center's tentlike roof. In Houston, anyone who donated $1,000 to the party got two floor passes. In San Diego, donors have to pony up $100,000 to qualify for the same two tickets. The host committee's head of protocol, Bill Black, couldn't even secure enough seats for the 92 foreign ambassadors and their spouses he's entrusted with shepherding around the convention and to social events. Since most are smokers, however, he figures he can rotate them in and out of seats when they sneak to the terrace for a smoke. It will look more cramped than recent conventions. A CBS executive complained the convention will come across on TV screens like ``a postage stamp with a bunch of ants crawling around on it.'' Ford, executive director of the host committee, put the best face on the situation as he walked around the convention floor recently. ``It's the Camden Yards of conventions centers,'' he said, as stagehands hammered away on temporary skyboxes. ``It will be more intimate, not big and sterile like Veterans Stadium.'' As for all the carping about not having a dramatic balloon drop from the 27-foot ceiling, Ford said jovially: ``There are lots of other possibilities, not the least of which is having a balloon rise.'' An array of protesters has lined up to get a rise out of delegates. To control them, police drew up 55-minute slots spread over five days, with 15-minute breaks to rotate protest groups. Groups stood in line for up to 72 hours to have first crack at the 65 spots. Thirteen protest groups identify themselves as Democrats. At least eight spots were reserved by gay and lesbian groups. ``This is going to be the largest mobilization of lesbians and gays ever in this country,'' said Brenda Schumacher, a spokesman for a group called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Voices '96. ``We've faced an extremely hostile political environment ever since '92. We want to expose the lies and show an accurate picture of who we are.'' The Republican National Committee tried to confine all the protesters to a sit e three blocks from the convention center. It said the parking lot across the street should be reserved for handicapped parking. But the ACLU sued, and a federal judge agreed the Republican proposal would violate the protesters' right to be seen and heard by delegates. Police, who estimate 10,000 protesters at a time can wedge onto the two-acre parking lot, had drawn up the time slots for protest groups wherever they wound up. Parking will be at a premium. The Secret Service has banned underground parking at the convention center. And the Republican National Committee has reserved every spare parking space in town for its people. The host committee raised about $12 million to put on this party, more than double what any other city contributed before. In return, it's counting on $160 million to be spread around town during convention week and good publicity to pull in even more economic benefits. Knowing the Republican reputation for big spending, every business in the vicinity, from Hooters restaurant to the Goodwill Industries store, is decking itself out with GOP paraphernalia. The Cuban Cigar Factory laid on extra tobacco rollers in early January. Limousine companies lined up cars from Arizona and Nevada. One bar opened its doors just two months ago, unabashedly calling itself the Grand Old Party, complete with a pink neon elephant in the window. Even Carol the Painting Elephant at the San Diego Zoo is getting into the act, readying an exhibit of the brush strokes created by her swinging trunk. Still, a few San Diegans profess to be unfazed about all the hoopla. ``This is not the biggest convention we've ever had,'' said Stephen Cushman, a Mazda and Jaguar auto dealer who is deputy chairman of the host committee. ``Alcoholics Anonymous and the Baptist ministers both held bigger conventions here. We handled those just fine.'' Posted in pol-abuse(a)igc.apc.org To subscribe, send this message: subscribe pol-abuse To this address: majordomo(a)igc.apc.org -- "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C.S. Lewis, _God in the Dock_ +---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+ |Julian Assange RSO | PO Box 2031 BARKER | Secret Analytic Guy Union | |proff(a)suburbia.net | VIC 3122 AUSTRALIA | finger for PGP key hash ID = | |proff(a)gnu.ai.mit.edu | FAX +61-3-98199066 | 0619737CCC143F6DEA73E27378933690 | +---------------------+--------------------+----------------------------------+

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Re: Anguilla Censors taxBomber ..... ??
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anonymous wrote: > > As of immediately, the "taxBomber's Site & Internet Offshore Center" > has been pulled by our Anguilla provider and will remain inaccessible > for a few days. Before people get too carried away the site is still up and appears to have been up all along. Of course it would be a convenient ploy to advertise a site of this type by claiming to have been censored. I had a look at their wares and was not impressed. The diplomatic passport and "second passport" offers are somewhat pricey at $10 to $20K. Note that a diplomatic passport does not convey any status or privileges unless the holders credentials have been accepted by host state. "non-revenue producing investments" will be familliar to anyone who has traded extensively in that area. Note that no country in the world offers such passports openly, to do so would be contrary to a number of international conventions. There has been the long running case of the South African immigration laws which meant that whites used to get citizenship whether they wanted it or not after a stay of about six months. Its possible that it hasn't been repealed. Note that the statement that the trade is illegal is countered by the assertion that the documents are genuine. Its very easy to obtain genuine documents if the right bribes are paid. That does not make a scheme legal. The various licenses etc appear to be avaliable on condition that you provide them with appropriate statements as to eligibility. If you apply for the student's card in this way and you are not a student you are committing fraud. If you are willing to do that you can get a student ID card much more easily - go to any branch of British Rail in the UK and you can have one for a few quid. Similarly the various other "offers" tend to be priced rather high. If you know what the card is being offered you can probably get it legit much cheaper. The piece de resistance is the offer of an EU driving license to peoplke from Ireland, Netherlands etc for only $680. Its the same goddam license! Just go to your embassy and ask them to replace your current license for an EU pink 'un. All in all stay well clear. Phill

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Re: Imprisoned for Not Having a Gun?
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sandy Sandfort wrote: > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SANDY SANDFORT > In addition > to the "exceptions," there was no penalty for violation of the > law, thus making sure it was unenforceable. It was not a case > of "pro-gun fascism" but of rough American political humor. At > the very least it kept the city council out of more serious > mischief. Was there a bar against a person obtaining an injunction to force someone to purchase a gun or a provision providing that no liabilities would be incurred as a result of not owning one? The law is much too important to start abusing to make political points. Phill

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Re: Imprisoned for Not Having a Gun?
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Peter Trei wrote: > Quite a while back, I read an article in National Rifleman (the NRA > magazine), that for part of the 19th century it was the law that all > adult men in the Balkan statelet of Montenegro must carry a pistol > when in public (a close relative of the ruler had a monopoly on the > manufacture and sale of firearms in the kingdom). > > Traveler's reports noted the extreme civility of Montenegrin > society during this period. Yes and what happened in the early part of the 20th century with respect to that area of Europe? Phill

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Rumors of death of Anguilla Data are greatly exagerated.
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Taxbomber wrote: >This is the work of some journalist hacks who did a major job of >character assassination by claiming that we (and our provider) >were involved in selling fake passports. This is a fraud by taxbomber. He is totally involved with selling fake passports. He calls them "camouflage passports" and they have names like "British Honduras" of countries that no longer exist, or never did. He does not think they are "fake", but the rest of the world does. He also suggested opening up bank accounts with these fake passports (encouraging fraud). My lawyer called me up and told me that fake passports are illegal in Anguilla and that I should pull this guy immediately. I did. It is our policy to not permit anything on our servers that is illegal in Anguilla. My lawyer is where I get the definition of "illegal in Anguilla". Tim: >(I assume this is Vince Cates' site, though I haven't doublechecked... Yes, taxbomber was using Offshore Information Services. Tim: >Longterm, I've never believed there is much safety in locating in *any* >physical country. (By this I mean advertising and making it clear that one >is in Country X, said to be "friendly" to tax avoiders, data havens, money >laundering, etc. As a practical matter, taxbomber would have been better off to not state what country his web site was currently in, let alone who the provider was. This reporter seems not to even use email, and I doubt he would know how to locate a sites provider. Tim: >I'd guess that Vince has had a fun time in the Carribbean, but that he'll >be closing up shop sometime soon. Once some services are yanked, confidence >is lost. I am not closing up at all. Anything that is legal in Anguilla can be done from my servers. If not, then not. Note that there are no taxes here, and there are still many things a guy can do here that are not permitted in other places. However, fake passports turns out not to be one of them. Sameer: > Note that the taxbomber site is moving to a provider in the US. Actually, at the moment http://www.taxbomber.com/ is off in Europe someplace. The US provider has been slow to come up with an IP address. :-) -- Vince

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Re: Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Time to fire up the '57 Chevy. At 05:04 PM 8/10/96 +0200, Gary Howland wrote: >Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases > > BY GILES WHITTELL > AND NIGEL HAWKES > > IT COULD be the end of the car chase as we know it. With the automotive equivalent of > a stun gun, science fiction is coming to the aid of law enforcement. > > A high-powered electrical device under development at the Pentagon's Army Research

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Re: Imprisoned for Not Having a Gun?
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:21 PM 8/10/96, Hallam-Baker wrote: >Sandy Sandfort wrote: >> >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> SANDY SANDFORT >> In addition >> to the "exceptions," there was no penalty for violation of the >> law, thus making sure it was unenforceable. It was not a case >> of "pro-gun fascism" but of rough American political humor. At >> the very least it kept the city council out of more serious >> mischief. > >Was there a bar against a person obtaining an injunction to >force someone to purchase a gun or a provision providing that >no liabilities would be incurred as a result of not owning one? > >The law is much too important to start abusing to make political >points. This, of course, was my exact point. I don't buy the argument that Kennesaw (or whatever) was just making a symbolic point. If one community passes a law which mandates the ownership of guns, in contravention to the Second Amendment, then another community could ban ownership of guns, using the same logic and "general principal." (Several have, of course. I think such laws violate the Second Amendment, but apparently the courts do not agree.) And what of making a "citizen's arrest" of a "perp" who refuses to own a gun. I prefer not to have to guess which laws are real and which are merely posturing. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Going Postal (Was: Boom!)
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(Regarding the one pound limit on anonymous parcels) At 08:13 AM 8/9/96 -0700, David.K.Merriman(a)toad.com, wrote: > Don't know that I'm a 'bomb expert', but it would appear reasonable that 6 > just-under-a-pound bombs would do approximately as much damage as a > similarly sized larger device. As was pointed out earlier in this thread, a one pound device containing high explosive can drop a plane out of the sky as if it was swatting a fly. Note that any moron can make high explosive, though the average moron has a good chance of blowing himself up in the process. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Anguilla / taxbomber - legality
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I meant to quote this part in the previous post: taxbomber: >Needless to say, we have NEVER EVER dealt in one single fake >passport, nor have we ever offered, sold or brokered any forged, >stolen or "lost" documents. Nor is there any need to do so, if you can >get the real thing absolutely legally. He was definately selling fake passports. He thinks of them as camouflage. If I look up fake in websters, they fit the definition. Turns out this is not legal in Anguilla. If it is no longer in his web page, you can see quotes from his web page in the David Evans article. The Internet spans many counties and if something is not legal in one country but legal in another, someone can move. He has moved. One of the exciting things about the Internet. If there are taxes in your country and banks cooperate with the government, you can incorporate in Anguilla, put your web site here, and run your business from here (coming in over the Internet) tax free. But fraud is illegal in Anguilla, and fake passports are concidered fraud. -- Vince http://online.offshore.com.ai/

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Re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by Arun Mehta 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:05 10/08/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >At 12:15 PM 8/10/96, Scottauge(a)aol.com wrote: >>I was watched CBS reports a couple nights ago about how all these blue collar >>and now white collar jobs are going across seas. > >Where do I begin? First, what does "taking jobs away from us" mean? That we >own these jobs? And who is "us"? Well said. While I didn't see the CBS program , I bet the scaremongerers did not point out that programmers don't just produce software, they are major consumers as well. The growth of the software industry in other countries therefore means business for US industry, which produces most of the compilers and other utilities that programmers everywhere use. This clearly helps programmers in the US. >>So a possible way to protect jobs is to protect the knowledge on how to do >>them. To some extent this happens automatically -- for instance, if you live in the Silicon valley, your knowledge levels are higher on account of higher frequency of user meets, conferences, etc. But, to the extent you use the Internet as an information source, it is available internationally. So you cannot have it both ways: use an open forum like the Internet, and hope to keep knowledge bottled in. In earlier generations of computing, monopolistic organizations such as IBM and DEC charged huge sums for information. One of the reasons that IBM was thrown out of India in the mid seventies was their practice of shipping only outdated computers from the US to India. Indian programmers were at a disadvantage, and clearly could not charge as much as American ones. But the openness of MS-DOS and UNIX changed all that, a trend that has only been strengthened by the Internet. While jobs could easily move overseas, the developing world may not be able to absorb them. To start with, such migration assumes the availability of excellent telecom facilities. These are severely lacking in most developing countries, which have about 75% of the world's population and 16% of its product, but only 12% of the total number of telephone main lines. These too are mostly in cities. While the World Bank's 1988 figures indicate that in industrialized countries, major cities have a 20-30% higher telephone density than do other areas, in a country like Ethiopia, cities have a density of about 14 times the national average. In other words, most people in developing countries have practically no access to telecom facilities. In addition, the quality of the facilities, typically provided by state-owned monopolies, is often abysmal. While low-earth orbit satellite projects such as Iridium, Odyssey, Teledisc and Globalstar threaten to change all this, little impact will be felt until the end of the decade. In any case, telecom facilities in the industrialized countries will most likely continue to be considerably superior, providing workers there with an ongoing competitive advantage. Further, as economists such as Paul Krugman point out, developing countries lack the means for sustained growth ("Which Asian Model?", Newsweek, November 20, 1995). Those economies that have shown dramatic growth, such as the East Asian, have relied essentially on low-cost inputs, rather than on their efficient utilization. Professor Alwyn Young of Boston has in fact come to the surprising conclusion that Singapore's total factor productivity (which measures such efficiency) is so poor as to be comparable to that of the Soviet Union. He points out that "at just the time that everybody was ranting about how magnificent Japan was, it ceased to catch up." Cheap inputs is not a long-term phenomenon, as companies looking for good programmers in India are increasingly discovering. Programmer salaries in India are rapidly rising. While many youngsters are keen to become programmers, India lacks adequate training facilities. Today, teachers receive poor pay, even by Indian standards. Educational institutions are hardly going to be able to raise salaries of software teachers alone, while raising them for everybody will be impossible. Consequently, there is going to be little incentive for good programmers to become teachers, and the educational institutions will continue to churn out large numbers of poorly trained students. It is suggested that universities in industrialized countries could use the Internet to teach students in developing countries, but the efficacy of this model has yet to be proven. Also, a very small percentage of Indians are fluent in English, and from it come the senior bureaucrats, managers for the private sector, the military, newspapers, educational institutions -- in short, all the important posts of the country. Unless there is to be a severe disruption of the nation's activities, not too many can be diverted to cater to export. >>Perhaps there is a larger picture in the world that the cyperpunks mailing >>list is missing. That cryptography is not just for personal privacy, but >>could involve job security also - as a matter of fact, the income base for >>this whole country. I'd argue the opposite: I see no reason why companies such as Netscape have to put up with such draconian US laws as ITAR: why don't they simply develop their software overseas? If they made a highly publicised move, that might do wonders to change the opinions of US Congresspersons voting on ITAR-related legislation. My prediction is that with the blessings of the Internet, the next generation of multiracial programmers, even those that were born in the USA, will be more likely to be found on the beaches of tropical islands than in the fog of San Francisco. When you can work in the shade of a palm tree, even if you should earn less, it's worth it :-) Arun Mehta Phone +91-11-6841172, 6849103 amehta(a)cpsr.org http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/ finger amehta(a)cerfnet.com for public key

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Re: SecurID
by vin＠shore.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Paul J. Bell <pjb(a)ny.ubs.com> gave a desperate shout for help: >someone at my firm is about to press the securid system down our collective >throats. please point me to the recent thread on this subject, and/or point >me to some url's or the like, or to someone who has some firsthand >knowledge of the pitfalls and/or vulnerbilities of secirid. I think Enigma Logic, Digital Pathways, and Cryptocard -- all vendors of competitive one-time passsword (OTP) tokens --have diatribes against the ACE/SecurID system on their web sites. Check them out. Over the past two years, there have also been a number of fairly in-depth debates about SecurIDs and the ACE protocols on the Firewalls mailing list (ftp the archives at greatcircle.com) and in comp.security.unix. My SecurID FAQ, available from SDTI at <http://www.securid.com> might give you ideas too. Most people find the SecurID (and most of its competitors) relatively well-designed and and secure devices. Most of the negative comment I've seen is from competitors who say the SecurID and it's ACE support system is too expensive, and from ACE administrators who gripe that the software is not optimized for their favorite platform. It is unfortunately true that SDTI has not yet mastered the knack of producing perfectly bugless code. Earlier this year SDTI also fouled up badly when they failed to bring their Customer Support operation up to speed to support a new generation of authentication servers (ACE 2.X) which involved a relatively more complex Unix installation. They've spent a lot of money and hired a lot of people, but I don't think there is yet a consensus about whether they've licked that. Still, some people think they get their money's worth. SecurID is the OTP token of choice at most (80 percent +) large corporate sites --in a market with a lot of competitors, including well-done freeware OTP alternatives: s/key and OPIE. Of course, those buyers could all be wrong. SDTI's success is really built on the fact that users -- the people who actually carry the tokens -- usually say they like the SecurID better than the alternatives. The SecurID claims the lion's share of the market because it is relatively intuitive and easy to use: the PIN and token-code can be typed in like a (long) traditional password. The alternative tokens -- all challenge/response devices -- force the user to engage in a multi-step process to get a random challenge from the remote host, tap it into the token, encrypted it, then send it back to the host as the OTP. SecurIDs are supported by an ACE authentication server which -- alone among the OTP vendors -- holds its Access Control files in a commercial-grade SQL-savvy relational database, which means that can be interlinked with HR or any other SQL-savvy corporate RDBS. As the industry sets the stage for enterprise-wide IP security (hopefully soon to include crypto) many believe the authentication server's capabilities become more important than the token's design. But, hey, those folks could be wrong. SDTI also just bought RSA Data Security, which some feel enhances its prospects for making some further contribution to enterprise security. Even before that, some 50 of the leading independent vendors of network-based products (from firewalls and comm servers to big databases) had chosen to integrate ACE/SecurID client code into a huge variety of products. This is a fairly unprecidented level of industry support -- but they might be all wrong too. ACE/SecurID is notable among other OTP systems for both its support infrastructure (STDI supported the client/server architecture five years before any other OTP vendor,) and because it is a (patent-protected) time-synched device: the 30/60-second dynamic token-code the SecurID displays is a hash of Current Time and a token-specific secret seed. This has pros and cons (honest, both pros and cons;-) Unfortunately, what ACE/SecurID does not do -- what no OTP can do -- is safeguard or secure your communications links. (It also does not minimize the need for ongoing system administration; capable auditing and oversight; or an explicit local security policy -- all of which can also be burdensome to the user. But the real bear is network security.) On an unprotected network or telephone link -- in the face of a sophisticated attack -- nothing but network-level crypto or link encryption can stave off either eavesdropping or active TCP "session stealing." (Several of SDTI's strategic partners do provide encrypted tunnels through open networks. There are even some well-regarded freeware or shareware options.) SecurIDs, like any OTP, only identifies the guy who knocks on the front door. This is useful; it's even important -- but it's not enough. Most environments need (but don't have) crypto too. But even in the face of this acknowledged threat -- session hijacking -- many sites still find it useful to invest in OTP tokens, often SecurIDs. They do this because: * OTPs can offer a more-certain two-factor authentication (something known; something held); * OTPs foil a whole array of trojan and sniffer-based attacks which seek to collect the passwords of innocent users like yourself; and * OTPs can raise a partial barrier against network-based attacks. Effectively, OTPs force most network-based attacks to become overt... so the user and/or sysadmin has a chance to recognize that something is wrong and react defensively. Some believe the ACE/SecurID system actually does a little better than that. The ACE protocol encrypts all packets containing user authentication data as it passes between the ACE/Clients (often embedded communication servers of various types) and the ACE/Server. This establishes an encrypted virtual net for authentication data with the user site, which blocks another class of attacks. In an ACE/SecurID-protected environment, the threat of network-based attacks is thus somewhat constained. Authentication calls, and the TCP/IP sessions they authorize, remain quite vulnerable if they are transmitted over the Internet, or an extended private network, or telephone links susceptable to physical wiretaps. OTPs safeguard the authentication calls against replay attacks --and most of the race attacks seem managable -- but unencrypted sessions ultimately remain vulnerable to both eavesdropping and session hijacking In many corporations, however, only a fraction of the data traffic travels on these high-risk links. While there are net-based attacks that might reach in to grab unencrypted message traffic on your internal LAN (Is someone is also trying to force a firewall on you guys too, PJ?) within the ACE client/server environment, at least user authentication data -- name, OTP, and PIN -- seems to be securely encrypted. Not that there aren't hackers -- and cynical system administrators -- probing and testing it daily. Rumors and dark suspicious whispers abound, as seems inevitable with any successful product that relies on crypto. (Actually, any widely used computer security product -- have you noticed?) Personally, I find it reassuring to remember that for virtually every flaw there is, inevitably, a fix. But then, Wall Street's recent soaring climbs and plunging drops remind me of just how potent rumors can be. Please come back and tell us if you find any real dirt, Mr. Bell. (And please pardon the blithe spirit that infected my comments. It's just hard to play the straight man on a Saturday summer night.) Also, an obligatory avowal: SDTI regularly pays me huge sums of money for information and advice, but they ignore at least half of what I say. You can too. Suerte, _Vin Vin McLellan +The Privacy Guild+ <vin(a)shore.net> 53 Nichols St., Chelsea, Ma. 02150 USA Tel: (617) 884-5548 <*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>

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Re: Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 23:16 8/10/96, Anonymous wrote: >Why don't they just have government access to car engines? They could >just require car manufacturers to include remote shutdown devices for >the engines. But they will. Didn't you know that? -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. Defeat the Demopublican Unity Party. Vote no on Clinton/Dole in November. Vote Harry Browne for President.

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Where is the fraud? (re: Anguilla)
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

One more thing.... At 12:53 AM 8/11/96, Vincent Cate wrote: >This is a fraud by taxbomber. He is totally involved with selling fake >passports. He calls them "camouflage passports" and they have names like >"British Honduras" of countries that no longer exist, or never did. He >does not think they are "fake", but the rest of the world does. He also >suggested opening up bank accounts with these fake passports (encouraging >fraud). On this last point, how is this "encouraging fraud"? If I deposit money in a bank and choose to identify myself as "Mickey Mouse, Citizen of the Magic Kingdom," perhaps even presenting a Disneyland Passport, who is being defrauded? Is the bank being defrauded? Not if Mickey is depositing money. What if the bank is _lending_ money to Mickey? Then of course they might find that the "Magic Kingdom" is not a real country, and that Mickey's "passport" was not issued by one of the 192 godfearing countries in the United Nations. So what? Then they deny the loan. Where is the fraud? Is Anguilla in the business of determining what a True Name is? (What is it, by the way?) I should remind readers that it is legal to sell such passports in the U.S....somewhere I have one that says "This document not good for travel in the People's Republics of Berkeley, Santa Monica, and Madison," or somesuch. Again, which specific law in Anguilla specifies which pieces of paper may be bought and sold? Does the law say an actual crime or case of fraud has to occur, or is only the potentiality of a crime or fraud involved? Does the crime or fraud have to occur in Anguilla? Inquiring minds want to know. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Rumors of death of Anguilla Data are greatly exagerated.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(I have respect for what Vince did, by actually moving to the Caribbean and setting up a data haven/offshore ISP business. However, just as we discuss the situation about remailers going down, or monitoring the cleartext, or blocking certain addresses, so too should we discuss what Vince is choosing to do. Maybe he is ultimately right, maybe not. I'm including this preface just so no one thinks I'm trying to start a feud. No way.) At 12:53 AM 8/11/96, Vincent Cate wrote: >Taxbomber wrote: >>This is the work of some journalist hacks who did a major job of >>character assassination by claiming that we (and our provider) >>were involved in selling fake passports. > >This is a fraud by taxbomber. He is totally involved with selling fake >passports. He calls them "camouflage passports" and they have names like >"British Honduras" of countries that no longer exist, or never did. He >does not think they are "fake", but the rest of the world does. He also >suggested opening up bank accounts with these fake passports (encouraging >fraud). "What is truth?" Many of the things customers of a data haven are likely to be doing are "fraudulent" or "illegal" in some jurisdictions....I'm sure I don't have to spend effort here citing examples from religious, medical, and business domains. (But I can't resist: vitamin data the U.S. calls fraudulent, political information about Ireland the U.K. calls illegal, sex information the government of Iran punishes with death, and so on.) Selling fake passports seems not to be something Vince ought to even be paying attention to. Granted, pressure from outside states may put pressure on Vince, but this actually confirms my worst (OK, _nearly_ my worst) suspicions about the viability of such data havens. >My lawyer called me up and told me that fake passports are illegal in >Anguilla and that I should pull this guy immediately. I did. It is our >policy to not permit anything on our servers that is illegal in Anguilla. >My lawyer is where I get the definition of "illegal in Anguilla". Instead of "pulling" this guy, did you first send a copy of your lawyer's letter to you to this guy, and advise him that he should remove just this one specific item, the allegedly illegal British Honduras passports? >Tim: >>I'd guess that Vince has had a fun time in the Carribbean, but that he'll >>be closing up shop sometime soon. Once some services are yanked, confidence >>is lost. > >I am not closing up at all. Anything that is legal in Anguilla can be >done from my servers. If not, then not. Note that there are no taxes >here, and there are still many things a guy can do here that are not >permitted in other places. However, fake passports turns out not to be >one of them. Then I suggest you carefully provide a full copy of what you consider to be illegal to all subscribers. Or give subscribers a time period to remove the _specific_ items that are deemed to be illegal. I have some questions, though. Would bomb-making instructions be legal or illegal, acceptable or not acceptable on your system? How about "Kill the Queen" screeds? And so on. Sorry to put you on the spot, Vince, but a "data haven" is by its nature going to have a lot of "unusual" material, to use a euphemism. Everything from Bell's bids for having government officials offed, to plans for sale on creating false identiites, to crypto anarchy manifestos advocating the destruction of democracies. If you "pull" the entire account of a business when the Governor-General, or His Royal Excellency--or whomever it is that runs Anguilla--applies pressure....well, you won't have much of a real data haven, now will you? Could you actually give us an idea of what is considered legal to run in Anguilla, and what is not? How about dial-a-porn sites? (I seem to recall mention from you or a visitor that "Penthouse" is not permitted to be sold in Anguilla, so....) How about gambling? How about assassination markets? (Is it legal in Anguila if no residents or citizens of Anguilla are included in the "game"?) And so on. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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