December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: India, Productivity, and Tropical Climes
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:31 PM 8/13/96, Arun Mehta wrote: >At 13:15 11/08/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >Sorry, the response took a while: George Fernandes, who was the >industries minister at the time, is an acquaintance, so I thought >I'd get the story from the horse's mouth. Thanks for supplying more details. I'm not convinced, though, of all the points. India still royally screwed itself, reputation-wise. >>As attractive as this sounds, historically this has not happened. And as >>many will tell you, the climate of the Bay Area in particular and >>California in general is extremely benign and delightful. The average >>winter temperature is only about 10C cooler than summer temperatures. > >Didn't Mark Twain say that the coldest winter he had ever >experienced was a summer in San Francisco? I do agree, SF and >environs are great: but US immigration laws being what they are, >not everyone can move there -- some day, "routing around" might >make those places more attractive which have the least >restrictive immigration laws. Here I feel compelled as a Loyal American to point out something that often gets lost in the comments about America doesn't let enough immigrants in, how it discriminates against immmigrants, etc. The thing to remember is that virtually none of the countries which the most vocal critics are from have anything approaching the U.S. policy about immigration! Mexicans and U.S. critics of U.S. policy cite the "border problem." However, Americans cannot work in Mexico except under extreme limitations. Americans in Mexico cannot send their children to Mexican public schools. And so on. This was described in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," where two Americans are stranded in Mexico, unable by law to work. Things haven't changed much. And what about immigration to Japan? Or Hong Kong? Or Taiwan? Ask the boat people still rotting in camps, or turned back to sea to sink. How about immigration into Switzerland, or Sweden, or France? I don't have any knowledge about the situation on immigrating to India--I don't know too many Americans who have, except some friends of friends who moved to Goa some years back. Personally, I favor open borders--but no public schooling, no tax-funded handouts, no welfare, no child support, no public hospitals, etc. --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: More on "Fraud" and Anguilla
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> I've been thinking about this whole "Taxbomber" issue of "fraud." Again, what I said was my lawyer called and said it was illegal to sell fake passports in Anguilla. The fraud was taxbomber saying he never sold fake passports in his post to the net of "feel sorry for me my ISP made me relocate even though I never sold fake passports". > (I'm > still not completely sure whether Taxbomber lost his account at Offshore > Information Services Ltd. because: > > a) what he was offering actually violated Anguillan law (was there a > determination that selling camouflage passports violates a specific > statute?) My lawyer, probably the top lawyer in the country, said it is illegal in Anguilla. I don't have a copy of that law. > b) what he was offering constituted fraud (to whom? His customers certainly > knew what they were buying. To potential victims in the future?) Not clear if it is defined as fraud by the law. > c) he brought unwelcome attention to Anguilla in general and to Offshore > Information Services Ltd. in particular. (Vince's mention that the whole > island had read the story suggests something to this.) This is part of it. If nobody knew where he was things might have continued as they were. I mention it as a lesson learned. > d) he violated some particular clause of his service agreement with > Offshore Information Services Ltd. We did not have any contract. I have since posted a page with the policy. Fair point. > Now I read from this that Vince is encouraging "multi-level-marketing > companies" to use his service. Am I wrong on this? > > Another name for this, commonly used, is "pyramid scheme." Or "Ponzi > scheme." Well, multi-level marketing does not need to be pyramid scheme, but you are right that it could be bad news. So I have taken off that encouragement from my web page. Thanks. -- Vince ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince(a)offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/

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Re: Anguilla story...
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim >Vince: > >In a nut shell, taxbomber.com was on my system in Anguilla. He was > >selling "camoflauge passports". One David Evans of Bloomberg Business > >News wrote an article where he quoted taxbombers page saying something > >like "it is illegal to use these passports to open up bank accounts, but > >there is little chance of getting caught". I got a call from my lawyer who > >had seen the article (along with just about everyone else in Anguilla) and > >he told me that was illegal in Anguilla and I should cancle the account. > >I did and taxbomber moved to another provider in another country. > > > >1) A number of cypherpunks are dissapointed that I did not fight to my > >death to defend this guy. > > I think you're overstating the case made by some of us, or, at least, by me. Your not dissapointed? > What I said was that your policies need to be spelled out, and that I saw > little evidence of "fraud" in what the guy was doing. Ok. I now have a link from my main page to a page with my policy. What I said (or meant to) was that MY LAWYER SAID IT WAS ILLEGAL IN ANGUILLA. In my first post I quoted the wrong part and said "this is fraud by taxbomber - he did sell fake passports". I meant to quote a part where he said something like "I never sold fake passports". It may be covered in the anti-fraud sections of the laws. > And that if you cut > off accounts (without warning, it sounds like) He got a little warning, then only web access was cut off. And I forwarded his email and was the nameserver for his domain name so that he could move right away to another site. Then he sent a message to the Internic to move the management of his domain to another site. > based on fairly flimsy (it > seems to me, and to Duncan, and to others) advice, then certain > reputational consequences are likely to follow. Understood. > By the way, from what you quote this guy as saying ("it is illegal to use > these passports to open up bank accounts, but there is little chance of > getting caught"), I _still_ see no fraud. Not saying that is fraud. The most I said was encouraging fraud. It has been pointed out that under common law using another name is not fraud. However, under certain countries laws using a fake passport to open a bank account may be defined as fraud. > >2) If the guy did not mention where his site was, the reporter probably > >would never have mentioned Anguilla and me in the article. > > Is this the real issue, that what he was doing brought bad publicity to you > and to Anguilla? It is both a lesson to be learned, and part of the overall situation. > These issues need to be aired. Of course you have every right to run things > as you wish, modulo contractual arrangements you may have entered into with > your customers and your Internet providers. But we on this list have > certain ideas about what an "offshore information provider" should provide. Sure. And you can run your offshore services as you wish. I like mine better. :-) > Contrast this case with the well-publicized cases recently where Neo-Nazi > material is being hosted on U.S. web sites. If selling fake passports is illegal in Anguilla, and the US has freedom of speech, they are not comparable. -- Vince ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Vincent Cate vince(a)offshore.com.ai http://www.offshore.com.ai/vince/ Offshore Information Services http://www.offshore.com.ai/

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Anguilla...etc.
by Greg Kucharo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble purposes. Check that, obvious noble purposes. While most on this list would agree that free flow of information is noble we have all seen that this is otherwise with people in power. As I stated in my last post, the Swiss have maintained thier "haven" for many years by playing both sides. In accomodating everyone they avoid harassment. This way the Swiss maintain a good system and live to fight another day. ??????????????????????????????????????? Greg Kucharo sophi(a)best.com "People want chaos for about 5 minutes. Then they want some money and a backrub." -Bruce Sterling ???????????????????????????????????????

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Capital and Taxes
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:18 PM 8/13/96, Brad Dolan wrote: >... and while I'm ranting... > >Can somebody explain why: > >1. Good jobs of the future are knowledge jobs which require little >capital investment. > >and > >2. We need a capital gains tax cut to encourage capital investment to >stimulate the growth of good jobs of the future. > >? Sure, as an investor in some small companies and a high-risk startup, I'll give some thoughts on what motivates _me_, and why a capital gains tax cut would help the economy. First of all, let's dispense with any confusion between "capital investment" and anything related to "capital goods" or "capital equipment." The two things are not at all the same. Consider a business that needs (or claims/hopes/plans) $1M in initial seed money to get rolling. Sure, some businesses get started with less, or with nothing, and finance growth out of sales. But a million bucks is not at all uncommon for a startup company that needs some work to be done before sales get started. Note that this million dollars has nothing to do with buying "capital investment," in the sense I think you mean (and in the sense I think Bart Croughs meant). It may all go to salaries for, say, 5 people for a year or two, plus office expenses, some other expenses, etc. Maybe even $50K worth of computers. This a "knowledge-intensive" company with very little needed in capital equipment. How is this money raised, and what calculations does a potential investor make about the risks, rewards, returns on investment, etc.? For one thing, the gains on such an investment over some time period (typically 3-6 years) are _capital gains_. These are now taxed at a marginal rate of 28% Federal plus whatever state and local taxes may apply, Here in California, the effective total marginal tax rate is 38-40%, depending on some factors. (In several industrialized countries the capital gains tax rate is zero, or nearly zero.) But this 38% rate doesn't even tell the whole story. Suppose that I want to make a $100K investment in this company my friends are trying to start. Money has a cost, both in the "rent" that is charged on it, or the "rent" that _could have_ been charged to another for an alternate use, and on something else that's terribly important: taxes must be paid on other assets sold to raise the $100K. For example, if I own shares in Intel, bought many years ago, I have to sell $160,000 worth of Intel stock, send a $60,000 check to Uncle Sam and Uncle Pete, and then send the remaining $100,000 to my friends. If the new investment *doubles*, my $100,000 gain is taxed at 38% and I'm left with a gain of about $62,000. It doesn't take a number theorist to see that I may as well have not even bothered. So long as I just sit on the Intel stock, no taxes are owed. Sounds like a no brainer to me. Yes, taxes will _someday_ have to be paid...but many of us are hoping, praying, and pleading for a cut in the capital gains tax rate...at least a rollback to the 22% rate of yesteryear (and 4% or less in states). This huge "backlog" of unrealized capital gains (aka gains on paper, but not yet taxable) is what is being spoken of when people like Jack Kemp and Steve Forbes speak of "unleashing" the capital gains now tied up due to the high tax rates. (Letting capital flow more easily will also make for a more efficient market. It may be that I would've liquidated much of my Intel holdings had the tax penalty not been so high.) There are many more things I could say, but this is already too long. Just don't think in terms of "capital" as just being "capital equipment." It is really "investment" in all its many forms. "Free the capital--and I don't mean D.C." --Tim May, author of "DOS Capital" 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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Political Burnout
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To those of you who are tired of the Republican National Convention. And particularly to those who are ALREADY tired of the Democrat National Convention, despite the fact that it hasn't started yet. Remember those irritating signs beside the road, advertising some new apartment complex or housing development that you pass on the way home? You know, the ones which say, "If you lived here, you'd be home by now." Well, as you watch these conventions (conventia?), imagine a sign on the Information Superhighway, just up ahead. It says: "If your country were operated under the principles of 'Assassination Politics', not only would this convention be over by now, it wouldn't have even started!" We return you to your regularly scheduled farce. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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WinSock Remailer Now Available By E-Mail
by Joey Grasty 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The first alpha release of the WinSock Remailer is now available via e-mail. Due to problems setting up user authentication on my homepage at http://www.c2.net/~winsock/ I have decided to distribute it via e-mail until I can get user authentication working. In order for you to receive the WinSock Remailer, I have to be reasonably sure that you are a US or Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Therefore, you will need to review a copy of the License Agreement and fill out the required information. Then clear-sign the agreement with PGP and mail it to me at jgrasty(a)gate.net. Don't forget to tell me where I can find your PGP public key so that I can check the signature. No signed license agreement, no remailer. In order for me to have a good feeling that you are not a foreign national, I need to have the following information check out: a. Verify that your address is within the boundaries of the US or Canada. I will do this by checking if you are in a public address database such as "88 Million Households Phone Book". b. Verify that your name and e-mail address is the same as in your public key. This is basically the same method that Netscape is using at: http://wwwus.netscape.com/eng/US-Current/ to verify citizenship or permanent residency, but the process is not automated. I don't like having to enforce clearly unconstitutional ITAR regulations, but I'm not ready for an extended stay at Club Fed. - ---------------------------cut here----------------------------------- WinSock Remailer License Agreement This is the license agreement between Joey Grasty and the end user of the WinSock Remailer. Name of User: <your name> Street Address: <your street address> Town, State, Country: <town>, <state or province>, <country> Phone Number: <your phone number> E-mail Address: <your e-mail address> Where to find your PGP Public Key: <instructions> 1. Joey Grasty grants to you a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, license to use this Alpha version of the WinSock Remailer (the "Software"), in binary executable form for evaluation and trial use purposes only. 2. JOEY GRASTY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ABOUT ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION MADE ACCESSIBLE BY THE SOFTWARE, FOR ANY PURPOSE. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED GRATUITOUSLY AND, ACCORDINGLY, JOEY GRASTY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED BY YOU OR ANY USER OF THE SOFTWARE. JOEY GRASTY DOES NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO SUPPORT THIS SOFTWARE OR ISSUE ANY UPDATES IN THE FUTURE. 3. While Joey Grasty intends to distribute a commercial release of the Software, Joey Grasty reserves the right at any time not to release a commercial release of the Software or, if released, to alter prices, features, specifications, capabilities, functions, licensing terms, release dates, general availability or any other characteristics of the commercial release as he sees fit. 4. Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in and to the Software shall remain in Joey Grasty and/or its suppliers. You agree to abide by the copyright law and all other applicable laws of the United States including, but not limited to, export control laws. 5. Joey Grasty may terminate this License at any time by delivering notice to you and you may terminate this License at any time by destroying or erasing your copy of the Software and notifying Joey Grasty of this action forthwith. This License is personal to you and you agree not to assign your rights herein. This License shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida and, as to matters affecting copyrights, trademarks and patents, by U.S. federal law. This License sets forth the entire agreement between you and Joey Grasty. 6. Use, duplication or disclosure by the Government of any locality, state or country, its elected officials or employees, is forbidden. 7. You may not download or otherwise export or reexport the Software or any underlying information or technology except in full compliance with all United States and other applicable laws and regulations. In particular, but without limitation, none of the Software or underlying information or technology may be downloaded or otherwise exported or reexported (i) into (or to a national or resident of) Cuba, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Iran, or Syria or (ii) to anyone on the US Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the US Commerce Department's Table of Deny Orders. By downloading the Software, you are agreeing to the foregoing and you are representing and warranting that you are not located in, under control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list. 8. JOEY GRASTY OR ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR (a) INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY SORT, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF JOEY GRASTY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR (b) FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL NOT APPLY TO LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE LAW PROHIBITS SUCH LIMITATION. FURTHERMORE, SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS LIMITATION AND EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. 9. HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES. The Software is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, such as in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support machines, or weapons systems, in which the failure of the Software could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage ("High Risk Activities"). Joey Grasty and its suppliers specifically disclaim any express or implied warranty of fitness for High Risk Activities. Clear-sign this agreement with your PGP public key and e-mail it to jgrasty(a)gate.net. - -------------------------------cut here------------------------------------ Thank you for your patience with this crude form of distribution. Regards, -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQB1AwUBMhE2UsODO2V89BZZAQGOLAL9GU15R4N/6xIZCJGYaQ0Vlw4e7rqP06+d YH5806om50v/+8P9OKrxBOECEHPJLirFQcITXsYMn/DkVAcTVTrz9rKfJdzToeyB Bwr4vgpMqKw4oZnFGJa1PvUotSjTnETT =Arts -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Joey Grasty jgrasty(a)gate.net [home -- encryption, privacy, RKBA and other hopeless causes] jgrasty(a)pts.mot.com [work -- designing pagers] "Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin." -- John Von Neumann PGP = A7 CC 31 E4 7E A3 36 13 93 F4 C9 06 89 51 F5 A7

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Re: India, Productivity, and Tropical Climes
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:31 PM 8/13/96 +0600, Arun Mehta wrote: > As regards IBM, its agreement with the government of India, under > which it was allowed to operate in the country, stipulated that > it would produce here, and transfer some technology. Instead, as > the government found, all it did was sell time on second-hand > computers (1401's as I recall, and this was mid to late '70s). > IBM was asked to either dilute, or live up to its original > agreement, which it wasn't prepared to do, so it left. Every single foreign computer company left during roughly the same period, as did almost all foreign companies and anybody who had a choice. The reasons generally given by those who left, for this mass exodus, which eventually sent the government into insolvency, is that Indian ]officials were arrogant, rude, dishonest, corrupt, continually broke contracts and agreements, and attempted to exercise direct power over everyone and everything. If indian government officials have a different version, I would not regard that version as coming "from the horses mouth" --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: Anguilla...etc.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:21 AM 8/14/96, Greg Kucharo wrote: > While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the >authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble >purposes. Check that, obvious noble purposes. While most on this list >would agree that free flow of information is noble we have all seen that >this is otherwise with people in power. As I stated in my last post, the >Swiss have maintained thier "haven" for many years by playing both sides. >In accomodating everyone they avoid harassment. > This way the Swiss maintain a good system and live to fight another day. Let me be clear that I am not talking about "noble motives." In the sense of somone sacrificing himself for the good of the herd, blah blah. Rather, there is an "archetype," if you will, of what a "remailer" is, what a "data haven" is, what a "tax shelter" is, etc. While we cannot reasonably expect a remailer to exactly match the archetype, we can point out obvious deficiencies. For "data havens," we have very few examples, compared to operational remailers. We have the fictional form in Bruce Sterling's "Islands in the Net," some of whose plot twists have some parallels to the current Anguilla situation. Another is the form described in Ross Anderson's "Eternity Service." What might we expect of a true data haven? I've tried to describe several of the attributes in my earlier posts, mainly by asking questions about specific examples (bomb-building instructions, "Kill the monarchy" screeds, etc.). Interestingly, with several of these examples, Vince has said that he is not interested in having this kind of material on his site. His invitation for Multi-Level Marketers to avoid U.S. and other laws by locating on his service has now been withdrawn, from his latest comments. (To the person who sent me mail explaining that MLM schemes are not illegal in the U.S., indeed, some are legal and some are not. I said as much. And for those which are legal in the U.S. or France or wherever, they would hardly have any need to use Vince's service, would they? I surmised from his invitation that he was encouraging MLM/pyramid scheme operators to avoid their parochial fraud laws and use the services in Anguilla.) I plan to do more looking at just who is left, who is using Offshore Information and what kinds of services they are offering. Not to harass Vince, of course, but to better look at the envelope of what is considered OK and what is not. If i find that all the "juicy" stuff is gone and all that is left is booking sailing cruises around the Carribbean, I'll hardly call it a "data haven." Which is not to say it's not still a useful and profitable business for Vince, just that it has no Cypherpunk relevance. --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: More on "Fraud" and Anguilla
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:29 PM 8/13/96 -0400, Vincent Cate wrote: > Again, what I said was my lawyer called and said it was illegal to sell > fake passports in Anguilla. The fraud was taxbomber saying he never sold > fake passports in his post to the net of "feel sorry for me my ISP made me > relocate even though I never sold fake passports". He never sold fake passports. If his passports had been marked "United States of America" or some such they would indeed be fake. They were not fake. Who says that only generally recognized governments of major nations are entitled to issue passports? > > a) what he was offering actually violated Anguillan law (was there a > > determination that selling camouflage passports violates a specific > > statute?) > My lawyer, probably the top lawyer in the country, said it is illegal in > Anguilla. I don't have a copy of that law. You should. The fact that you do not indicates alarming willingness to bend over, which is inconsistent with the way you represent your service in your ad. Amend the ad, or employ more spine. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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2600 (the magazine)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, The current issue of 2600 is out. I bought mine at Barnes & Nobles. It has a couple of articles on cryptography as well as a port scanner program for Linux. Jim Choate

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Re: Anguilla...etc.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:25 AM 8/14/96 Moscow Time, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTD wrote: >"Greg Kucharo" <sophi(a)best.com> writes: >> While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the >> authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble >> purposes. ... > >Nor was there any activity from the authorities. > >A while back, when Vince first started advertizing his site, I asked him a few >hypothetical questions, and he said roughly this: If client X posts something >to Usenet from Vince's site, and if Y dislikes X's article so much that he >mailbombs X, then Vince would pull X's plug. (I have the exact quote saved.) >I lost interest right then. I'm not surprised that Vince acted dishonorably by >pulling a client's plug with no warning for a very flimsy reason. "Acted dishonorably"? Really, Dimitri, are all Russians this rude? (Seeing the battles on Usenet between the "Sovoks" and the "Gruborbots," I'm beginning to think so.) While I think the Anguilla situation is an interesting one to analyze, I avoid such loaded terms as "dishonorable." --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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[NOISE] Statists get to make choices, too.
by nobody＠replay.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dr. Dimitri Vulis KOTM writes: >There is no place on the 'net safe for the Usenet Cabal or the fucking statists >who call themselves "libertarians". Oh, sure there is. The Misguided Cabal Dupes [tm] have decided they prefer the relative order of the current system to the chaos of a disbarred lawyer's vision. News admins have simply taken extra steps to make sure that their services won't be disrupted by a few individuals who style themselves the "Usenet Freedom Knights." I'm sure the Fucking Statists have taken similar steps. Your right to rant doesn't override my right to ignore you. Isn't that really what this country's supposed to be about? The right to be left alone?

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yet ANOTHER "Internet == child porn "story.
by I=(!isnum(self)) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Again on today's CBS all-news stn. An elementary school teacher arrested for exchanging, or whatever, kiddieporn on the Internet. The reporter was duly dramatic and ominous sounding. Damn I wish I knew how many kiddie porners were doing their whatver OFF the 'net. Maybe, my fine friends, we're catching MORE o' them because they are on the net and clueless, rather than in back alleys and hard to find. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Recommended reading: "Manufacture of Consent", Noam Chomsky. Altho I hate much of his politics, that one's right on.

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Church of Scientology
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Scuttlebut is, CoS rolled over on some pesky ultra-right-wingers as a favor to Morris Dees and various scumbag associates. For this, CoS got their long-awaited (40-plus years!) federal tax-free status. This status is big cash, so naturally, interested parties wanted to know under what rules did CoS get their tax-free gift, since long-standing high court decisions laid out the profit-making business plan of CoS in no uncertain terms, explicit and detailed. Problem is, nobody was able to get the details of the policy change - did CoS change their business plan, or did the fed change their rules?

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FW: Re: talker
by Blake Wehlage 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Return-Path: <doom13(a)juno.com> >To: jwilk(a)iglou.com >Subject: Re: talker >References: <m0uzcEf-000bPKC(a)relay.iglou.com> >X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 1-5 >From: doom13(a)juno.com (Floyd W Odom) >Date: Sun, 08 Sep 1996 10:56:43 EDT Check this out guys & gals > >Hey Blake cyphering sucks. You want to live on the like us? I went to >jail for jackin the westroads. And I still got away wit some shit. > > > >Doom13 > > ========================================== Blake Wehlage <jwilk(a)iglou.com> ±» RëVðLû¡ØÑ Bø+ ©ÖmP@ñ¥ «± Goto: http://members.iglou.com/jwilk

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Re: Encourage Singapore To Come Out Of the Stone Age
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:39 PM 9/3/96 +0800, Enzo Michelangeli wrote: > The idea that rights and values can be "natural" is contradicted by > several thousand years of history, during which absolutism or downright > tyranny have been well more common than freedom. The existence of foot binding in China is not evidence that women's feet have no particular natural shape. > The success of that misleading view in America, and by extension in most > of the western countries, is largely due to the unfortunate influence of > [...] When one engineers bridge, designed according to one theory of materials physics, stands up, and another engineers bridge, designed according to a different theory of material physics, falls down, does that not suggest that the first engineer knows what he is talking about, and the second engineer does not? > In the real world, freedom is a by-product of a materially prosperous > society (which is why capitalism generally produces free societies, but > socialism does not). First, you have this completely the wrong way around: Prosperity is the product of a free society. For example when the Dutch revolted from Spain, they were at first poorer than spain. Secondly there is ample counter evidence: For example in America before the european conquest, some Indian societies were extremely free and others, such as the Incas, had institutions very similar to modern totalitarianism, yet their material level was very different to today's, and not very different from each others. Again the Germanic tribes that conquered England had very high levels of liberty, yet were terribly poor, and the Icelanders of Saga period Iceland were very free, yet very poor. > Trying to build a free society by screaming loud > what the "natural" rights are supposed to be, has no better chances of > success than [...] Succeeded the last two times it was tried. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: TWA 800 - Friendly Fire?
by Stephen Cobb 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> >-Millie >sfuze(a)tiac.net > >"What we have here is a FAILURE to COMMUNICATE" (some song) > Actually some movie, Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman. The WAV file is around here somewhere. s.

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Re: What the NSA is patenting
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>The NSA STM method is related to reading _very subtle_ variations in >magnetic domain modifications. Jitter in read-write head positions can be >thought of as a noise (N) added to some signal (S)l. > Extraction of signals >in low S/N ration environments is a well-developed science. As anyone who has ever subscribed to alt.sex will know ;-) Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security Paul Bradley, Paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Http://www.fatmans.demon.co.uk/crypt/ "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey" -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6 mQCNAjH9j+cAAAEEAMBvREiQR0ot9dFCO0TiSCSunAYLv2g1Bc6I3bz8FzKXNH53 6mieJf/W4rD+CxJpT0q9RQaaoRtkHJLwbjfK2il3D7mEahMAyqvF/xRJNqkXfhM3 sRJM0Jh43l+W0M5vwokbEbk25/bxWWGspTsLD3YHbzKnG6pOcL5OPIRbv66xAAUR tCdQYXVsIEJyYWRsZXkgPHBhdWxAZmF0bWFucy5kZW1vbi5jby51az4= =riHc -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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Re: Church of Scientology
by Jim Byrd 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:44 AM 9/8/96 -0700, Dale Thorn <dthorn(a)gte.net> wrote: >Scuttlebut is, CoS rolled over on some pesky ultra-right-wingers as a >favor to Morris Dees and various scumbag associates. For this, CoS got >their long-awaited (40-plus years!) federal tax-free status. > >This status is big cash, so naturally, interested parties wanted to know >under what rules did CoS get their tax-free gift, since long-standing >high court decisions laid out the profit-making business plan of CoS in >no uncertain terms, explicit and detailed. > >Problem is, nobody was able to get the details of the policy change - >did CoS change their business plan, or did the fed change their rules? This is exactly the subject of a lawsuit by Tax Analysts, Inc. against the IRS. This is still in progress. The cult is not a party to this suit, so they can't bring their lawyers into this one.

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Thank you
by Askbill Questions 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thank you for your email. I appreciate you taking the time to write to me. As you can probably imagine, I receive hundreds of messages from outside of Microsoft each day. While I love to read people's views and share ideas about technology, unfortunately, I am not able to answer each and every inquiry. Instead, I'll be responding to some of your questions in my column. The second column each month will be dedicated to answering questions from readers like you, so keep reading and I'll do my best to address the topics that are of interest to readers worldwide. I also invite you to check out the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo where you can find all of the columns, as well as lots of additional fun and useful information. Thank you for your continued support of Microsoft and our products and best of luck with all your endeavors, Bill Gates

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9yrold
by doom13＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone out there know any kids mailing lists, because my little brother Richard just joined and he doesn't have anything to mail to he's only 9 years old. floyd odom

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Re: PRESS RELEASE: GERMANY CENSORS DUTCH WEBSITE WWW.XS4ALL.NL
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 03:24 AM 9/6/96 -0700, you wrote: > >* wouldn't it be deliciously ironic if the "Free Speech Blue Ribbon" now >attached to so many pages were to be joined by a "Star of David"? This Star >of David symbol could mean "We support freedom to read, and our site >contains the "Radikal" publication which Germans are forbidden to access." > Well I think the Star of David has so many meanings that the message may get muddled. Seems like busy sites can support the mirror of their choice by putting a note such as "This is a Radikal site". The "mispelling" is the medium. >(I know nothing of how such symbolic campaigns are actually launched and >managed, so I'm suggesting the hint of an idea. I do think mirroring the >banned publication (_any_ banned publication, by _any_ government) on as >many sites as possible is a Good Idea.) > Tell two people. Put up a mirror. Add a link on a busy page. Did I miss anything? --j http://206.101.74.42 is a Radikal site

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Cypherpunks subscribers - Singapore and NZ gvts, plus IRS
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I suppose it would be only polite to ask the Singapore government folks and IRS employees to join our conversation. The cypherpunks list now has nearly 1,400 direct subscribers, plus whoever reads it through local mail-news gateways. (Note I'm not indicating that a .gov.sg or .irs.gov address implies anything about an individual's personal political beliefs.) -Declan // declan(a)eff.org // I do not represent the EFF // declan(a)well.com // video(a)nhmxw0.fnal.gov e875836(a)popcorn.llnl.gov foley_p(a)kosmos.wcc.govt.nz cypherpunks(a)cheetah.llnl.gov cypherpunks(a)citec.qld.gov.au kwans(a)nii.ncb.gov.sg sklim(a)nii.ncb.gov.sg cypherpunks-x(a)nasirc.hq.nasa.gov rromine(a)nsf.gov peter(a)nii.ncb.gov.sg kfall(a)ee.lbl.gov timb(a)defcen.gov.au marty.burkhouse(a)ccmail.irs.gov peterb(a)lanl.gov cypherpunks-2localnews(a)mailhost.dpie.gov.au stevek(a)telchar.jpl.nasa.gov il1(a)ornl.gov walters(a)snad.ncsl.nist.gov bgamble(a)wo0033wp.wo.blm.gov "Bruce C. Dovala" <bdovala(a)solaria.mil.wi.us> kmigoe(a)orion.ncsc.mil kda36(a)naic.wpafb.af.mil mengertc(a)seoul-1sig.korea.army.mil tut(a)ncr.disa.mil holmesb(a)rl.af.mil serverb(a)mqg-smtp3.usmc.mil sezgin(a)tsk.mil.tr halland(a)hq.hqusareur.army.mil

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Denver Physical Cypherpunks Meeting?
by Jeff Davis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anyone in the front range interested in a physical meeting? Majordomo's Net Cafe at 1401 Ogden is a natural. Let me know. I'm teaching some fundamental crypto classes there next month, and it's never a bad idea to get our heads together on effecting the passage of Pro Code and SAFE. -- According to John Perry Barlow: *What is EFF?* "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker." *email <info(a)eff.org>* *** O U T L A W S On The E L E C T R O N I C F R O N T I E R **** US Out Of Cyberspace!!! Join EFF Today! *email <membership(a)eff.org>*

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