December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Office of the Secretary of Defense vs the First Amendment
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 16:07:23 +0000 From: "Glen L. Roberts" <glr(a)glr.com> To: declan(a)well.com, noah(a)pathfinder.com Subject: Office of the Secretary of Defense vs the First Amendment From: Glen L. Roberts, PO Box 1533, Oil City, PA 16301 (814) 676-2345 re: Office of the Secretary of Defense vs The First Amendment Attn: Seema Singh Dear Senator Arlen Spector: I am in receipt of correspondence from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, dated October 7, 1997. (Copy attached) They appear to be asking me to stop quoting certain parts of the U.S. Congressional Record. Obviously, citizens of the United States have a First Amendment right, if not an obligation, to express their opinions on matters relating to the operation of the Government. The DoD, it would appear, is requesting that I not express my opinions, when such expressions include certain portions of the Congressional Record, or that I "excise" my commentary to help cover up their mis-deads. Does the First Amendment give me the right to express my views, or to express my views only in accordance with the desires of the DoD? I can understand the concern and embarassment the DoD may feel by my highlighting certain portions of the Congressional Record and taking issue with them. However, I would think that for any government accountibility to take place, such commentaries are not only proper, but also a necessity. The First Amendment clearly setsforth my right to take issue with governmental polices and actions. I do not think it is within the proper bounds of the DoD to suggest how I may express myself, or what words might be appropriate or inappropriate to use in such expressions. If I were to read between the lines, I would conclude that the DoD is attempting to place the burden of their improper activities upon my shoulders. That is, if I stop reprinting the Congressional Record; no one will understand the problem and it will go away! Completely disregarding the public nature and purpose of the Congressional Record. For if I cannot freely quote from the Congressional Record, why has the Library of Congress moved to increase public availablity and access to it: "Acting under the directive of the leadership of the 104th Congress to make Federal legislative information freely available to the Internet public, a Library of Congress team brought the THOMAS World Wide Web system online in January 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress." There are a number of possible ways that the DoD might seek to resolve the underlying problems of which I have brought attention to on my web pages, radio broadcasts and publications. I fail to understand how adjusting my commentary to meet the desires of the DoD will correct a stupid mistake they made years ago, and continued for years. Eliminating the attention will serve only to cover up and avoid any resolution of the problem. I request your assistance in supporting my First Amendment rights. ------------------------- (any typeos in the following are mine) Office of the Secretary of Defense 1950 Defense Pentagon Washington DC 202301-1950 Adminstration & Management Octover 7, 1997 Mr. Glen L. Roberts P.O. Box 1533 Oil City, PA 16301 Dear Mr. Roberts: This Department has taken the position in a wide variety of contexts that disclosure of the social security number constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's personal privacy. Therefore, the Department is as concerned as you are regarding the public availablity of the SSN and strongly believes that the general public should not have access to such numbers. As you have said, teh Department no longer provides the full social security number to Congress because we recognized and correct what was then a problem. Unfortunately, the numbers currently exact in print and at public websites. But this fact does not mean that we should not minimize, when possible, the proliferation of such lists. Although your apparent goal to obtain greater privacy protection for the individual is certainly laudable, publishing consolidated listings on your website perpetrates and exaverbates the very problem you are attemping to address. Put differently, such publications disregards the very privacy interests you are seeking to protect. Though the lists are available elsewhere, you are making it much simpler to find them because the other sites are not always easy to locate. Therefore, consideration should be given to the deletion of the lists, or in the alternative, excision of the SSN, from your webpage. Either action on your part will demonstrate, not only by word, but by deed, a sensitivity that others have ignored, in that, you have elected to pursure an approach where your advocacy requirements have been balanced against the privacy interests of the individual. Sincerely, //s// Aurello Nepa, Jr. Director Defense Privacy Office

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Declan speaks out on NAMBLA and TIME
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~ SECONDS: Is there any activity that should be forbidden? DECLAN: I'm not in the business of making laws like that. I don't know exactly how to define what's underage and what's intimidation. Kids have to be protected and I sympathize with those who want to write a law. I'm just saying you have to control the bureaucracy and be extremely careful about demagoguery. At the moment, there's too much demagogic hysteria for people to be thinking sensibly about it. SECONDS: Does it help the government get further into people's houses? DECLAN: Another pretext for extension of police apparatuses. Another excuse for the government desire to be able to snoop in on any electronic conversation. It's a useful thing to get votes. I would say where force and violence are involved, where mental violence is involved, there's a fine line. What about some thirteen-year-old kid whose parents have beat him up and rejected him and is out on the street looking for love, hungry, taken in by some pederast who treats him nicely, gives him an education, sleeps with him - what are you gonna do? What humanely should be done? How are you going to make the distinction? The cops don't make the distinction. The law doesn't make the distinction. NAMBLA's good for making public discussion on this issue, discussing what should be the right laws. People want to scapegoat the discussion. They're willing to talk about it publicly all the time and bust people but sensible discussion seems to be out of the question. I've been accused of being a child rapist simply because I went on the air and said I was a member of NAMBLA. Ten years ago, I saw in Time Magazine an attack on NAMBLA saying it was a group involved in "the systematic exploitation of the weak and immature by the powerful and disturbed." At first reading, it struck me as a precise characterization of Time's own assault on the American mind. ~~~~~~~~~ OK, so it was really Alan Ginsberg who said the above. I'll try and put the universe back in balance, later, by attributing some of Declan's comments to Ginsberg.

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Re: Saving money
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > At 2:38 PM -0700 10/24/97, harka(a)nycmetro.com wrote: > The "just don't work for them if 'ya don't like it"-argument > will last about 4 weeks...the approximate time a human can > survive without eating. (or a couple of weeks less, if you have > kids) -=> Quoting In:tcmay@got.net to Harka <=- In> By my third year out of college, I had a big enough cushion of In> saved cash and other investments [american dream deleted] While I am glad for your achievements, you have not addressed my point: all this doesn't apply to the larger mass of people. You were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time...one of the founding-members of a company in an industry, that pays way more than average and thus brought you into the position, that you're in now. Great...more power to you and I encourage everybody to try the same. But that's not applicable to the larger percentage of the population. Besides, it's a supply and demand question. Computer-jobs only pay that much because it's a booming industry right now and there are less people than needed. Fortunate for those who were/are able to ride the wave. But if the available work-force exceeds the demand for it, such jobs wouldn't pay nearly as much as they do right now. Hence, achieving financial independence to the point of freely choosing employers would become much harder again. But this is the reality for MOST people (outside of the elite-industries) already! Especially if they start out with student-loan-debts amounting to several ten thousands of dollars. Add a family/kids to that and you tell me how easy a task it will be to quickly become independently wealthy. (Some people will be able to pull it off somehow, most people won't - - despite their wishes to the contrary. Should they make their best effort? Absolutely! Will everybody succeed? Absolutely not.) The background of this discussion is the free choice of employers (based on their policies). My point is, that for the large mass there is no such thing as a free choice (of employers), not necessarely because they're not willing to improve their financial standing to such a degree (who doesn't want to have more money?), but because they don't have the time, resources and conditions to do so. But even IF you were able to "make yourself more marketable" (as WHGIII eloquently composed)...if ninety percent of businesses in the country use the GAK/CAK-feature of PGP 5.5 how much free choice will then remain for you? > I.e. unless you are the super-duper, three-times > nobel-prize-winner (with lots of money in stocks), who can > AFFORD to choose employers that freely, you will be DAMN GLAD to > have a job AT ALL, regardless of their policies! In> More nonsense. Move out to the Bay Area, if you have any In> talent at all in software or hardware or biotech or Web design In> or multimedia, and you'll find jobs galore. I'll invite you in return to move to Brooklyn, NY to find out for yourself how easy life is for the non-elitists. Or maybe just take a walk around your own town. The truth is, that there are many people outside of Cypherpunks, who get barely through life _despite_ making efforts. They may get enough salary in their 9-5 job to maintain themselves to a degree, but not nearly enough to have the complete freedom, that is the issue here. And to say, "they get what they deserve" (if they don't have the abundance of dollars/freedom) is rather narrowminded and out-of-touch with most people's reality. But these are the people determining if GAK/CAK ever becomes widespread. If companies employing it would face extinction, because nobody would work for them anymore, GAK/CAK wouldn't succeed. However, capitalism doesn't work that way, despite of the few who made capitalism work for them. Ciao Harka /*************************************************************/ /* E-mail: harka(at)nycmetro.com (PGP-encrypted mail pref'd) */ /* PGP public key available upon request. [KeyID: 04174301] */ /* F-print: FD E4 F8 6D C1 6A 44 F5 28 9C 40 6E B8 94 78 E8 */ /*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*/ /* May there be peace in this world, may all anger dissolve */ /* and may all living beings find the way to happiness... */ /*************************************************************/ ... By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAgUBNFF8ijltEBIEF0MBAQFvFAf/TtywGVY8r6JKPljBzQjFAUZuDTrQiISZ qxUAMN6PhXz/fvDHqAJAPSnGiUkMf1goEI0NNG7cpZkdIaayz8PI33JzV9g5dypl lrUGb65+qzuMBi4+RhYbwWJQe44NOUzNDaZJdc0q3m6LDhXOrMLUoCt/i0b+KdB+ E68FAPBkOsYAgU8ooi4EeQkgabsEJRx5Hf4VB0Y0r3xcY5DBm7AbIpResU2xg9Xm ySZPsOpRA/PmFS3wOqoSJQIyZeeOx0k2rKVVNGsRYrtsfvVXj8wGegujRACXnGJF wL+7IIwkosOUESs93LWCQ6CwqsefpQBCrKE0mACxP9F03P4rXEXaGA== =rRS/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption...

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Re: PGP, Inc.--What were they thinking?
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Kent Crispin wrote: >I understand what Lucky meant when he said that PGP had pulled the >greatest hack ever on corporate America. It's so good that you have >to conceal your mirth, for fear of screwing it up... Yes, yes, it's great that the bosses bought the fool's tool, as they ever are doomed to do, unable to escape that the underlings are forever disobedient and disloyal, for right and good reasons: too little pay, as employers are forever rightfully and reasonably paranoid: too little Shut the FU labor. The eternal conflicting interests of the two -- whether gov/cu, he/she, them/us -- is what generates economic enterprise between competitive groups. Each is doomed to fall victim to peddlers of "this will ease your insecurity for sure, trust me," selling to both sides, betraying both sides, bragging to insiders "what clueless jerks, more born every day". The braggarts whistling in the dark at their own terrors. Call them leaders, pols, priests, journalists, scientists, wonks, seers, agony aunts, talking heads, headless tadpoles, all wise asses who are convinced they know what's what when they actually don't know S from S but are mesmerized by their latest foolhardy intellectual conceit, their copyrighted IP IPO for orchestrating a cheating win they don't deserve, doped max on auto-delusionary what were they PGProzacking. Damn, Geiger, was it you snatched my Rx?

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Re: poverty traps (Re: Sa
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Harka <harka(a)nycmetro.com> wrote: > That may indeed work for some people, but the argument of > "self-discipline and sacrifice" usually goes overboard once > people _other than yourself_ are severely affected by that. > "Sorry hun, you can't have a new winter-coat. Mommy has to save > enough money so that she can choose the people she works for. > And no...no christmas this year either". -=> Quoting In:aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk to Harka <=- In> That is indeed a sad financial state to be in. I have trouble In> believing it though. [examples of well-fares deleted] In> So if any kids are being deprived of winter clothes or In> whatever, it's not because their parents don't have enough In> money, it's because their parents are stupid, or selfish. Although my statement was deliberately somewhat exaggerated, it is not that far from reality for quite a few people I know. A real-life example: A single (divorced) mother, 4 kids (3-12 years), working full-time and making in theory $42 000/year. After taxes that comes down to $2000 cash per month. In order for her to be able to work her two youngest kids go to a day-care-center. Wham! $1000 per month (hiring a baby-sitter would amount to even more). Her apartment costs $800/month excluding utilities. That leaves $200 (+ $800 she gets in child-support) per month for _five_ people to live on (clothes, food, utilities, school-books, gas for the car, etc.etc.) One thousand dollars per month for five people!! And that in New York City! She is not entitled to any support such as free school-meals for the kids etc., because she "makes too much money" (_before_ taxes, of course!) What efforts has she made to make "herself more marketable"? She has been working ever since the age of 16, went 8 years to College (paid by herself and paying rent at the same time) and now has a Masters Degree in teaching. What has it brought her? Bill-collectors calling every day! She made a calculation and (confirming your statement) came to the conclusion, that she indeed would have _more_ money by not working at all and simply going on welfare. However, that is not a choice she wants to make. Is she to be called "stupid" and "selfish" because she's poor despite her efforts??? I don't think so. She, btw., is not the only person I know struggeling in this manner from one month into the next, barely being able to even catch up on bills. Neither does she have a free choice of employers. There is only one board of education in the City. Changing for a private school would come with (at least a temporary) pay-cut, that she obviously can't afford. Therefore: Since she isn't the only person I can think of, who is in such a position, the argument formerly known as "If 'ya don't like the company-policy [employing GAK/CAK] just leave and work for somebody else" may now be called: "Ad Acta". Ciao Harka /*************************************************************/ /* E-mail: harka(at)nycmetro.com (PGP-encrypted mail pref'd) */ /* PGP public key available upon request. [KeyID: 04174301] */ /* F-print: FD E4 F8 6D C1 6A 44 F5 28 9C 40 6E B8 94 78 E8 */ /*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*/ /* May there be peace in this world, may all anger dissolve */ /* and may all living beings find the way to happiness... */ /*************************************************************/ ... Don't you hate it when the pessimists are right all the time? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAgUBNFJRbDltEBIEF0MBAQFAGgf+PoTI/+900uSojxfC/xKFPsEnco5fp+df Etn4uJ23l9ZB7QczEuP96JMo+5vmFXc9Tabh5nMkNCRrA3QaAwxFh2+Boc8RvzAv SBLbjeqnCkvca1EgfOO+eZKv/YcRAZ47JH/w6/g/ggSx3vyM9quFeOqGzljG21au JdjFhtcdvWP2R79ldGnjswjjuT8MntSGwfx+wiKVQtt6YcK81/OKCBFMaZ8o7JTr gzYRzv6y+622Z97rUItmdEwQtDqq8k9wtRfmV1xPloqAHJ65VcJ3HI1LoItTmase oEWPiy6NBIeyN+Nbn+aK/egOalOHev8nX/LqTPxN3TawmxnESldEsg== =u2Q5 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption...

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Re: Saving money
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > At 10:00 PM -0700 10/24/97, harka(a)nycmetro.com wrote: > While I am glad for your achievements, you have not addressed my > point: all this doesn't apply to the larger mass of people. -=> Quoting In:tcmay@got.net to Harka <=- In> As I recall your point, it was that most people are a few weeks away In> from running out of money and hence cannot change jobs readily. I was In> saying that a small amount of self-discipline and sacrifice can quite In> easily translate into having a few _months'_ worth of savings. That may indeed work for some people, but the argument of "self-discipline and sacrifice" usually goes overboard once people _other than yourself_ are severely affected by that. "Sorry hun, you can't have a new winter-coat. Mommy has to save enough money so that she can choose the people she works for. And no...no christmas this year either". In> If they won't make these spending tradeoffs and have not even In> a buffer sufficient to carry them through a month or two or In> three, I say screw them. How about you adopting a person/family of your choice instead and providing them with enough startup-money, so that they can at least make an realistic effort to work towards a position of becoming financially independent themselves? :) In> I won't support restrictions on what a company may do, when In> perfectly legal, Neither do I. In> just because Joe Sixpack spent his paycheck on beer or on his two daughters... In> Or because Rawandala Brown spent her money on crack or supporting her sick mother instead. Your repeating of government-propaganda about the "abuse of the welfare-system" etc. doesn't really cut it as an argument in a discussion about the realism of having total financial independence and the freedom of choices, that comes with it. In> The Mormons teach self-reliance, and savings. So do other In> religions and belief systems. Many of them urge their In> followers to have money put aside for just these kinds of In> situations. While I am not a Mormon or whatever, I do believe in self-reliance myself. But to argue, that everybody already _is_ self-reliant to the degree of being able to freely choose your employer at any time is factually incorrect. And that was the beginning of this discussion. [Grasshopper stuff deleted] In> Don't you mean, in your world view: In> If success is outlawed, only failures will succeed. You don't have to start twisting my signature-file and implying things, that were never written by anybody but your projections. :) In> (I urge you to think about how your criticisms of the free In> market fit this aphorism.) I suggest in return you reconsidering the myth, that a free market means equal opportunities and thus quick self-reliance for everybody. Ciao Harka /*************************************************************/ /* E-mail: harka(at)nycmetro.com (PGP-encrypted mail pref'd) */ /* PGP public key available upon request. [KeyID: 04174301] */ /* F-print: FD E4 F8 6D C1 6A 44 F5 28 9C 40 6E B8 94 78 E8 */ /*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*/ /* May there be peace in this world, may all anger dissolve */ /* and may all living beings find the way to happiness... */ /*************************************************************/ ... Freedom is not a circumstance in life, it's a State of Mind! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAgUBNFHX2jltEBIEF0MBAQFftAf/Q4bWgn1DJSz8THyW2VwpvfqXu0Df8uol 4+Kqdg8RRsiKeFiUCXG0h/Ab2IZJmYjYvj4ycI5+VqCReCd5YROckTLqih1K4tc4 t0ZnCwGMkwQF5pJ9rizEQnooo2NhLjW1Nj5zMTfHxYeSUtBUNFabd54Szgl485RC CWTRnBDJJCHhdxcvBl2xy+RWbviJ0+DbCVnt/28YN/4cH/YQKQn05dSLVGP4dOUW SZ4VrRqaD+mU/rmFV8oDNfkxSxwx4s4y1yG0WfSBE2XCQea3uzm9oR2ULFwo6vQD iv0VBBM9x7V4Cl9fDBmi36BXDlZDweJtgUDzGolZq4FAcWQRUzxz4A== =uJPQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption...

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Re: Saving money
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Self-reliance and socialism are diversions confected by capitalism to conceal its evils," some poor bastard finally understood, muttered to nobody and died. Nearly all governments are socialist to some degree in that they provide services (bribes) that other social structures do not; even the vilest must do so to fend off the hordes, rebels and revolutionists, or go broke funding the military, guards, spies and police, as most eventually do like the wealthy being sucked empty by their lawyers, bankers, families and lovers. Indeed, the most fervent proponents of coercive force are those who have the greatest wealth to protect against the folks trying to get it by all possible means. "More cops, more laws, more education in obedience, more loyalty oaths and prenupital 'surely you're joking's." However, even those of great wealth know that mere coercive power is not enough, that you've got to employ religion, education, culture and social pressure to induce acceptance that some have it and some don't, and screw those who don't -- keep the Armalite handy. Borrowing from the Catholic Church, John Calvin tweaked this wealth-hoarding philosophy to a high-definition blind faith in predestination: one is born to have it and too bad about the others -- which relieves those who got it by luck and crime (misnamed self-reliant hard work and careful planning) and can't quite find solace in their own self-deception, can't quite believe their protectors are trustworthy. Calvinist voodoo in updated guises has been for a couple of centuries the fundamentalist faith of the newly wealthy of the industrial (and now electronic) culture, and economic soothsayers know how to keep the grants, lecture fees and book profits coming by peddling all sorts of new versions especially tailored to fit semi-ignorant, fearful souls unsure how to capitalize on their capital, and terrified that it will evaporate just as inexplicably as it rained down on the very spot they happened to be at while all around them folks were dying of drought. None of this applies to the good hearts on this list, who are amazingly generous of their time to contribute wit and wisdom and frank admission that what else can one do except joke about god's folly, endure the drought and pray that the rains come and shit storms don't. As now in southeast Asia. What an amazing RICO op is Wall Street, now World Street, comparable to RICO government, now world gov, composed of the same Bosses and Pols working hand in hand to smirk, smirk blame the other, both knowing that self-reliance and socialism are for clueless fools unable to grasp the wonders of highly organized theft to avoid labor (and taxes) altogether, that coercive-capitalist-gov self-delusion unable to stanch the endlessly increasing cost of defending security threats. Now, I have to confess that stock market plunges lift my spirits wonderfully. Without that I have only the WSJ's thigh-slapping comedies of financial vainglory and ruin. And aoccasional upbeat homilies here about how to get ahead -- none believable of the jokemaster authors. Tim, Adam, Good Humorers.

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Administration to revive vetoed projects [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Administration Will Help Revive Some Vetoed Projects > > Aides put the blame on Defense Department for line-item veto mistakes > > line item > > WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Oct. 24) -- The Clinton Administration is > looking for ways to restore funding for a number of military projects > which, aides say, the president mistakenly vetoed. > > In a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens > (R-Alaska), White House budget chief Franklin Raines blamed the > Defense Department for providing faulty data, which he said led to the > vetoes. > > Clinton, wielding his new line-item veto power that allows the > president to strike individual items from larger spending bills, > vetoed 38 military projects from this year's defense funding bill on > Oct. 14. raines > > Congressional leaders have said despite the administration's mea > culpa, they are not about to try to revive the spending projects for a > veto-override vote during an election year. > > But Raines told Stevens, "We are committed to working with Congress to > restore funding for those projects that were canceled as a result of > inaccuracies in the data provided by the Department of Defense." > > How? Three possibilities have been floated: One would shift surplus > funds from the Defense Department's existing budget; another would > include the money in a supplemental spending bill next year; a third > would insert the items in a so-called "bill of disapproval." > > Stevens told reporters the White House had expressed willingness to > revive 14 projects, though he put the number of mistakenly vetoed > projects at 28. > > "Maybe even the White House is educable," the Alaskan muttered to > reporters after a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill.

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Bernstein oral argument set for December 8
by Cindy Cohn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has set the specific date and time for the oral argument. It will be on Monday December 8, 1997 on the 1:30 p.m. calendar. It will be held in Courtroom 1. The 9th Circuit is located at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco. There are 5 cases scheduled for the yet-unknown panel. The first 3 are limited to 10 min oral arg per side. The other two (us included) get 20 min per side. Cases are generally heard in order so as it stands we would be last. Cindy ************************ Cindy A. Cohn McGlashan & Sarrail, P. C. 177 Bovet Road, 6th Floor San Mateo, CA 94402 (415) 341-2585 (tel) (415)341-1395 (fax) Cindy(a)McGlashan.com http://www.McGlashan.com

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in celebration of informational "vandalism"
by Zooko Journeyman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forgeries motivate people to adopt digital signature technology! Spam motivates people to develop better filtering techniques! Cracks motivate people to adopt secure systems and to back-up their important data! Mailbombs and SYN floods motivate people to acquire denial-of-service-attack-resistant services! Trolling a la D.M.Vulis separates the tough and realistic from the fragile psyche and nascent censor! In the world of physical interaction, attacks or acts of vandalism are the components of evolutionarily stable (more or less) strategies of extortion and oppression. But in the world of information exchange, no such strategy is evolutionarily stable, and each attack is best regarded as an opportunity to up your tech and improve your capabilities while simultaneously defending against further attacks. :-) Z

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Re: Office of the Secretary of Defense vs the First Amendment (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 19:20:55 +0200 (MET DST) > Subject: Re: Office of the Secretary of Defense vs the First Amendment > From: nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) > Someone is vastly over-reacting. I read this letter as a polite request > to do what they think is the "right thing" along with some reasons > intended to gently persuade you that this is a morally correct choice. > > There is no threat. No hint of compulsion. It is IMHO utterly legal and > appropriate. > > Just as it would be utterly legal to comply with or ignore this > letter. (Appropriateness we could debate...) > > No foul. > > A. Michael Froomkin +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) > Associate Professor of Law remailed to foil spam > U. Miami School of Law froomkin =A=T= law.miami.edu > P.O. Box 248087 http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/ > Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA It's quite warm here Lawyers = bottem feeding scum suckers They're the ones who get us in these kinds of messes. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Judge orders man to obtain permission to file suits [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > JUDGE CLAMPS DOWN ON FLORIDA MAN FOR FILING TOO MANY LAWSUITS > > AP > 25-OCT-97 > > > MIAMI (AP) Enough is enough. Chief U.S. District Judge Edward Davis > said he is tired of reading "rambling, incomprehensible diatribes" > directed at everyone from Elizabeth Dole to William Rehnquist. > > So Davis has ordered Robert Parker of Deerfield Beach to get his > written permission before filing any more lawsuits. Parker has filed > at least 85 federal suits in 10 years. > > In dismissing the latest batch of 11 suits, Davis said Parker has > argued that "three presidents, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, > the CIA, the FBI, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, every judge and > magistrate in this district, as well as numerous executives of the > American Red Cross and related entities engaged in a massive civil and > criminal conspiracy to deprive Parker of employment, his marriage, > access to the federal courts and, indeed, his very life." > > Parker's displeasure apparently stems from his five-year employment > with the Red Cross until 1972, and an executive's alleged remark to > his next employer that he was fired for stealing. > > "The bottom line is that this district has expended enough of its > scarce resources administering the same complaint from Parker," Davis > wrote Thursday. > > Parker's home telephone number is not listed and he could not be > reached for comment.

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Compuserve going after corporate customers [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > COMPUSERVE SETS ITS SIGHTS ON CORPORATE INTERNET USERS > > InfoWorld > 25-OCT-97 > By Rebecca Sykes > > > > CompuServe last week announced an online product targeted at business > Internet users. > > The offering, called C from CompuServe, will combine CompuServe's > features, such as its forums, in new ways to appeal to Internet-savvy > business users who require different functions from the Web than > consumers, according to Bob Kington, executive producer of CSi, the > company's online service. > > The Internet "is great for surfers; it's not good for busy business > people," Kington said. Business people "want to get on, get their > information, and get off [of the Internet]." > > C for CompuServe will assist them in doing so by packaging > CompuServe's assets in new ways. Instead of following the model of > CSi, the company's current online offering that gives paying > subscribers full access to all forums and other CompuServe resources, > C will offer access on three levels. > > * The Guest level will provide free, read-only access to CompuServe's > 500 forums to all Web users. Guest-level users also will have access > to forums' reciprocal links to thousands of Web sites selected for > their relevance to the forums' topics. > > * The Member level will operate on a pay-per-transaction basis to > provide access to hundreds of research databases. Users enter their > credit-card information online once and then are charged small amounts > for functions they perform. > > * The Subscriber level will offer three options. One will feature full > interactive access to forums, including posting and receiving > messages, and will cost less than $10 per month. The other two > options, which will each be priced quite a bit lower, are a > subscription to integrated e-mail, voice mail, fax, and pager services > and a subscription to Computing Pro, a value-added service for > computing professionals. > > The service, free to current CSi users, will be available by year's > end. > > Asked whether CompuServe was acting prematurely given the impending > acquisition by America Online of its online assets, Steve Conway, > CompuServe vice president of corporate communications, said it was > just moving ahead with plans it had before AOL made its bid. > > CompuServe Inc., in Columbus, Ohio, can be reached at (614) 457-8600. > America Online Inc., in Dulles, Va., can be reached at (703) 448-8700. > > > Rebecca Sykes is a Boston correspondent for the IDG News Service, an > InfoWorld affiliate. > > Article Dated 24-OCT-97 > > COPYRIGHT 1997 InfoWorld Publishing Company

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Elliptic Curves
by semprini＠theschool.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Can anyone point me to some good documentation on elliptic curves as applies to cryptography? I'm interested in finding some good documentation from which I would be able to learn how to use elliptic curves in creating a public/private key system. I have mainly been studying symmetric systems and would like to move on to asymmetric systems. Any help would be appreciated. --Dylan

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Re: Saving money
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Harka wrote: >Do you really expect single mothers with 3 kids to have the time to >do it to the degree of being able to _freely choose_ their >employers?? Or even Joe Average, who just came out of College and has >$100 000 school-loan-debt? Certainly there are people who will give up their privacy rights for money. Some of them will not perceive it as a problem. Some will have put themselves into a bad situation where the money is worth more than their privacy. In almost all cases their problems do not exist outside their minds. The mother with 3 children did not get into that situation by accident. Certain choices and actions were taken that put her into that "bad" situation. ("Bad" in quotes because if one really really wants to have children, the situation may be preferable to the alternative.) The kid who borrows $100,000 and can't find a good job did not receive good advice. It is terribly important to recognize when people are in situations of their own creation if we wish to advise people in ways to avoid such situations or avoid them ourselves. >While I am glad for your achievements, you have not addressed my >point: all this doesn't apply to the larger mass of people. I completely disagree with this. Read "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin. This book describes a method which anybody can use to make good decisions in managing their life. The purpose of the book is to teach ordinary people how to become independently wealthy. There are few people who would not benefit from this method and who are incapable of applying it. >You were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right >time...one of the founding-members of a company in an industry, that >pays way more than average and thus brought you into the position, >that you're in now. Great...more power to you and I encourage >everybody to try the same. You should also look at "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. This is a study of millionaires in the United States. To quote from "Money" magazine: "To learn what today's millionaires have in common and how they accumulated their wealth, Stanley and Danko sent questionnaires to affluent Americans and conducted focus-group interviews. They learned that about two-thirds of those millionaires who still work are self-employed - versus one in ten for all Americans. The types of businesses they own tend to be mundane, such as welding and dry cleaning. The overwhelming majority aren't trust-fund babies; eight out of ten accumulated their riches themselves. Most are extremely frugal. Although their average net worth is $3.7 million, they generally live so modestly that even their neighbors don't have a clue about their wealth." The article has these five bullet points to recommend: "1. Live below your means. 2. Launch a savings and investing plan. 3. Take on debt sparingly. 4. Pay as little as possible to Uncle Sam. 5. Start your own business." Standard Ben Franklin stuff, but it works. >But if the available work-force exceeds the demand for it, such jobs >wouldn't pay nearly as much as they do right now. Hence, achieving >financial independence to the point of freely choosing employers >would become much harder again. Actually, it doesn't cost much to change employers. All you have to do is find an employer who will hire you. Mostly this is a question of time and effort. >But this is the reality for MOST people (outside of the >elite-industries) already! Especially if they start out with >student-loan-debts amounting to several ten thousands of dollars. >Add a family/kids to that and you tell me how easy a task it will be >to quickly become independently wealthy. (Some people will be able >to pull it off somehow, most people won't - - despite their wishes to >the contrary. Should they make their best effort? Absolutely! Will >everybody succeed? Absolutely not.) I agree most people will probably not pull it off, but that's too bad. The reason they won't pull it off is that they won't make their best effort. Sure, you can dig up people who appear to have really tried and then failed anyway, but they are rare. You can easily see that most poor people are not making their best effort by studying how much money they spend on alcohol, tobacco, or other recreational substances. You can also study TV watching habits. Poor people watch a lot of TV instead of making themselves useful. >The truth is, that there are many people outside of Cypherpunks, who >get barely through life _despite_ making efforts. They may get enough >salary in their 9-5 job to maintain themselves to a degree, but not >nearly enough to have the complete freedom, that is the issue >here. And to say, "they get what they deserve" (if they don't have >the abundance of dollars/freedom) is rather narrowminded and >out-of-touch with most people's reality. Gee, I don't know about that. When I was in school there was tremendous peer pressure to not study, to not get good grades, to not program, to not study electronics, to not master calculus, etc. etc. etc. If those people end up poor, I have no hesitation in saying they deserve it - at the very least! >That may indeed work for some people, but the argument of >"self-discipline and sacrifice" usually goes overboard once people >_other than yourself_ are severely affected by that. "Sorry hun, you >can't have a new winter-coat. Mommy has to save enough money so that >she can choose the people she works for. And no...no christmas this >year either". I think I hear violins! ;-) In practice, these are very seldom the choices that are being made. Winter coats are available second hand for almost nothing. When I was a kid my parents made many of our presents by hand to save money. Christmas need not be expensive, and it's not clear that it is improved in any meaningful way by spending lots of money. People are perfectly capable of living economically and making good decisions, even when their children are involved. (In> is Tim May, quoted by Harka.) > In> If they won't make these spending tradeoffs and have not even a > In> buffer sufficient to carry them through a month or two or three, > In> I say screw them. >How about you adopting a person/family of your choice instead and >providing them with enough startup-money, so that they can at least >make an realistic effort to work towards a position of becoming >financially independent themselves? :) Uh, excuse me, but I didn't see Tim volunteering for Santa Claus duty. Why should he help out people who will, in all probability, fail to take his advice, squander any money he gives them, and resent him for his efforts? For that matter, why should he help out people who will be eternally grateful if he doesn't value that gratitude? And the claim that all that is needed is a little startup money is a standard lame excuse that has probably been used for millenia. Making excuses is not how the job gets done. >I suggest in return you reconsidering the myth, that a free market >means equal opportunities and thus quick self-reliance for everybody. The term "equal opportunities" is a curious one. A free market does mean that everybody has the equal opportunity to make agreements with each other. But, clearly some people will have more success making these agreements for reasons which are not under their control. Somebody might have parents who introduce them to the right people and show them the ropes, for instance. This is one reason why the free market does not eliminate the formation of elites. But, so what? Are we really going to claim that people shouldn't help their children to succeed? In the sense that I think you mean the term, "equal opportunities" are exceedingly undesirable. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNFIxl5aWtjSmRH/5AQFjQAf9GlFXsJQ1Iyii7Ch26a38Xi80Q1QMcbq4 rJPVzncFntQjfau99j6jUiNdsjk2Zr8XhLZtyP95yQX3VcaAmsyY7imXImWyH1uU r2OezEg5S9+e/mi7knTsOfzlYOBhKklMTprKo2K539g05B9xJCOqb8S9CyX9/Ie6 5ZH2gss2jANWM6cWsCmZ0nRtG3Rc1fKXJDl5DgsdceCzkVRGms6r7WMzvwUxTTFC wlaWUwjyUcnEK+cqnvsq4rBW/Bh4dvCwzUnEHbyckukO5wOsYxDFb9kuWaIufMJh ukvif/SP9SGzLsqpJ/Iv2pqdRL7B/C4DP+gFP1iODkaER0a7/wUR9A== =9Kt3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Office of the Secretary of Defense vs the First Amendment (fwd)
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim choate wrote: >Lawyers = bottem feeding scum suckers > >They're the ones who get us in these kinds of messes. You may be right for all others, and you may be kidding, but in the case (!) of world-beloved Michael Froomkin, he's the sweetest, kindest, most caring, funniest lawyer professor qua human on the orb, in the dying galaxy, ever. Visit his web page for irrefutable confirmation that he is the real thing in earthbound angels of legal humor. http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/ Best of all, he has no e-mail address. [This is a pitifully low-bartered bar-prohibited ad]

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Re: PGP Employee on MKR
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Harka wrote: >Implying, that the freedom of an (average) person does not get >infringed by (privacy-intrusive) policies "because they can always >choose a different company" is IMHO plainly incorrect and out of >day-to-day reality for most people. (Also note, that I am not saying >companies don't have the right to have such policies) It sounds like everybody is in agreement, then. Companies have the right to ask their employees to give up some privacy, time, and effort. You are arguing that many employees will opt to give up their privacy rights because that choice is preferable to the others they perceive. Because there is a large number of such people, it is likely that large numbers of people will become accustomed to giving up their privacy and will be sympathetic when other people are forced to give up their privacy. Where there may be some disagreement is whether the solution is to pass even more laws that restrict what choices people may make or to pursue other solutions. Given that the governments of the world are the source of nearly all privacy problems, it seems unlikely that an appeal to government is likely to be productive. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNFIjYJaWtjSmRH/5AQHm7gf+NswjBZyddLueZ66LbSw3YA2xcf5U8PLz v8dZaB2RjFqI7GCS8xXKY+fOg7OQ31sy6OR7yOOpHRoeAB5OU1vqR9lAKQwUX26C pp+ROMKT+TRCj1uLaCdSqgCq8I4Hg8TFWHxuVM81si8sgZGDMTD72EmXY32Av9na 8CtQu+vFx7OZiKZeoDl30TkoR3O/bnb9X4KIBNm5TTn2Fld6HL3c/iy1tSGuETnS zLWSUvxqAm761wv/W73A9GAlQpOd+4DiT/rav0HIUcDrhGpGWeEhDgs5l9w6HQ9w U2GbdiWFb74lrGS0pvPAvzfp7cZeWvODUKD/2Zk57YThhlQjIWuvFQ== =Ghfd -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Forwarded mail...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 21:15:11 +0200 (MET DST) > From: nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) > Subject: Re: PGP Employee on MKR > It sounds like everybody is in agreement, then. Companies have the > right to ask their employees to give up some privacy, time, and > effort. > Given that the governments of the world are the source of nearly all > privacy problems, it seems unlikely that an appeal to government is > likely to be productive. > > Monty Cantsin > Editor in Chief > Smile Magazine Monty, without a doubt that is the stupidest thing you have ever said on this list. If a company makes your employment contingent on something you don't like, change jobs. DON'T need laws, don't want laws that get involved in this. This is *STRICTLY* a civil contract issue between the two parties, PERIOD. Why is it that so many people start discussions regarding social issues and then meander into government issues, or visa versa, without ANY recognition of their schizophrenia? Personaly, I blame it on spin doctors like yourself. At least I have the satisfaction knowing that in no way am I contributing to putting food on your table, making your car payments, or paying off your drug dealer... ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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DISCOUNT ADVERTISING SOURCES! $1 PER PAPER!
by pnwood＠earth.we-deliver.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: poverty traps (Re: Sa (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: harka(a)nycmetro.com > Date: 25 Oct 1997 16:09:58 EDT > Subject: Re: poverty traps (Re: Sa > Although my statement was deliberately somewhat exaggerated, it is > not that far from reality for quite a few people I know. > > A real-life example: > Is she to be called "stupid" and "selfish" because she's poor > despite her efforts??? > > I don't think so. She, btw., is not the only person I know > struggeling in this manner from one month into the next, barely > being able to even catch up on bills. I know quite few people in that sort of situation. > Neither does she have a free choice of employers. There is only one > board of education in the City. Changing for a private school would > come with (at least a temporary) pay-cut, that she obviously can't > afford. I must disagree there. She has the qualifications to obtain employment in may corporations and such. As a matter of fact, unless she happens to be inequivicaly wedded to live in her current abode have her send me her resume. I will be quite happy to submit it to the H/R department at Tivoli (an IBM company I admit) for a position in our training department (last time I checked they had like 90 positions they wanted to fill globaly). I can guarantee the cost of living is somewhat lower than NY here in Texas and her pay will most likely be higher than current. There is also the opportunity for global travel if she is interested and were to get hired. Sending out resumes is cheap, about $.40 a company. > Therefore: > > Since she isn't the only person I can think of, who is in such a > position, the argument formerly known as "If 'ya don't like the > company-policy [employing GAK/CAK] just leave and work for > somebody else" may now be called: "Ad Acta". Obviously this is open to alternate interpretation depending upon to what lengths the party is willing to go to change their life. Skills are what you sell not a particular job title or duty set. Complacency and despondancy can be opportunity killers. [I have attached my 'long' .sig both to include the Tivoli address and to aggravate those who bitch about the length of my 'short' .sig] "Reality is observer dependant" \ \ \\///// | | (.) (.) ===========================oOO==(_)==OOo========================== James Choate Tivoli Systems, Inc. The Armadillo Group Senior Engineer SOHO - Internet - Technology 9442 Capitol of Texas Highway North 608 E. 48th. Suite 500 Austin, TX 78751 Austin, TX 78759 Email: jchoate(a)tivoli.com Email: ravage(a)ssz.com Phone: 512-436-8893 Phone: 512-451-7087 Fax: 512-345-2784 Fax: n/a WWW: www.tivoli.com WWW: www.ssz.com Modem: n/a Modem: 512-451-7009 Pager: n/a Pager: n/a Cellular: n/a Cellular: n/a =================================================================== Political ideal: The Constitution says "Congress shall make no law..." & What happened to the 9th & 10th Amendments? Philosophy: Pantheism - the belief that everything is divine, that God is not seperate but totaly identified with the cosmos, and that God does not possess personality or transcendence. Favorite Cartoon - Danger Mouse & Mighty Mouse (the original) =================================================================== The end of our exploring will be to arrive at where we started, and to know the place for the first time. T.S. Eliot =================================================================== Adopt, adapt, improvise! Anonymous =================================================================== For a succesful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. Richard Feynman =================================================================== Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. Thomas Jefferson, 1st Inaugural Addr =================================================================== The Chinese icon for crisis consists of the icons for danger and opportunity. An observation by J. Choate =================================================================== You are What you do When it counts The Masao

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Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

One of the themes of modern computing I strongly support is that of "orthogonality," or clean functionality. A browser should not also try to be a money management program. A word processor should not also try to be an accounting program. Failure to observe this rule of thumb has led to spreadsheets which can run MPEG movies in spreadsheet cells (I'm not kidding), and to Web browsers which take 20 MB of free memory to run reliably because they also contain mediocre news readers, mediocre mailers, and lots of bloatware cruft. The move toward modular decomposition is supported in functional and object-oriented languages (like Java and C++) and in modern operating systems. Much of the strenght of Unix has obviously come from the philosophy that a function or utility should do some small set of things well and cleanly, with chaining of these clean tools to accomplish more complicated tasks. A crypto program like PGP is intended to encrypt messages between a sender and a recipient, or to provide authentication through signatures, or to encrypt files on a storage medium. These are the classic, well-documented, oft-discussed functions of crypto. Look in textbooks under "crypto" and there won't be much talk of how to supply MIS with emergency backdoors, or ways to monitor employees. If properly modularized and orthogonalized (so to speak), such crypto programs can then be used as building blocks for other tasks, like remailers, data havens, and so on. But there is a growing tendency, as seen in the bloatware examples of browsers and spreadsheets mentioned above, to throw in all kinds of "wish list" and "wouldn't it be nice" stuff. PGP is headed for bloatware. ("It's not just a crypto program, it's also a tax preparation and disaster planning program!") I'm quite certain that the Security and MIS directors at various companies asked PGP, Inc. to include message recovery features. Not so much to handle the very rare (almost nonexistent) cases where a piece of mail sent at some time in the past has to be recovered because Alice was hit by a truck, or similiar unlikely events (*), but because Security and MIS folks would like the option of "monitoring" e-mail traffic. (* I have heard no plausible scenarios under which transient communications, which are presumably stored in the form composed (plaintext) on the sender's machine or in the for received and read (also in plaintext) on the receiver's machine, need to be recovered from the *transit* state. We know why the FBI wants access to communications keys--because access to the transit state is what they get when they wiretap or sniff a communications line--but there is no plausbile explanation of why a company would not simply ask Alice for the plaintext, or ask Bob if for some reason Alice is unavailable. The idea someone floated, that he needs to go in and decrypt his employee's mail in emergencies is far-fetched.) But are such bloatware crypto programs even good for disaster recovery? I say they are not. I say e-mail will be a tiny, tiny portion of the recovery strategy if Alice gets hit by a truck, for example. Far more important will be recovery of her hard disk and related files. (No, I am _not_ proposing anything be added to PGP to deal with this disaster planning. Nor am I proposing that PGP enforce plaintext storage, or anything else for that matter. These are all matters _orthogonal_ to the basic function of a crypto program, and a crypto program cannot enforce crypto hygiene any more than a spreadsheet can enforce good tax planning hygiene.) I am also not terribly interested in convoluted, byzantine schemes for building "CDR" and such into crypto programs, as some are proposing. Again, this is trying to make a crypto program into a disaster preparation product, and trying to (partly) solve backup and disaster problems best solved in other ways. Not something PGP should worry about (either the program or the company). "What if Alice forgets her key?" (Loses her private key, forgets her passphrase, whatever.) A very real concern. A concern I have myself. I won't say how I deal with it, for security reasons, but it ain't something I expect PGP, Inc. to solve _for_ me. Nor is my solution, whatever it is, a step toward GAKking of keys, or any kind of building of an infrastructure for surveillance. In fact, this was my point a while back about how a diversity of approaches to disaster planning, to key insurance measures, makes the imposition of mandatory key escrow or Government Message Recovery (GMR) very difficult. The very chaos helps. "Let a thousand flowers bloom." And it turns out that the "what if Alice forgets her key?" scenario is very poorly dealt with by PGP 5.5 (unless the corporation actually _does_ keeps a copy of the private key generated for or by Alice...something supporters of CMR says is not the case. Whether it _can_ or _will_ be the case is another issue.) So, disaster planning, for dealing with crashed disks, dead employees, malicious employees (who, for example, encrypt their disks and then leave the company), and general failures to backup work product, etc., these examples of disaster planning issues are NOT dealt with in any important way by PGP 5.5. Nor should any communications security program try to be this kind program. Keep it simple, stupid. This kind of bloatware is a fig leaf for security, and very probably introduces major new security flaws. (I've discussed at length the issues of just who will be reading the CMR messages. It's very unlikely such CMR messages will simply be archived away for that rare day when someone's old messages need to be "recovered" for the reasons usually given...in fact, as I have been arguing, I can't imagine companies even bothering to get some transient piece of e-mail sent 2 years earlier by Alice to Bob. They don't archive phone calls, and these are every bit as likely to be "critical" in some sense as old e-mail messages are.) As this relates to PGP, it just ain't their problem to try to answer the demands of control freaks in corporate MIS departments that backdoors be built into crypto products. (Call it snoopware, call it surveillance software, call it CMR. But what it really is a backdoor built into a crypto system. And one thing we know from several decades of crypto work is that backdoors are holes in security. Given that these backdoors apparently have little use in any real disaster situations, they represent a serious dilution of security for little or nothing gained.) PGP, Inc. should stick to its core business, and not try to build in snoopware backdoors for control freak MIS managers. If it is claimed that corporate America is demanding these backdoors, our industry and community then faces a major educational battle. If this battle is lost, as it may already be, then the same reasons for corporations to insist on "emergency access" (which of course won't be very "emergency" oriented, as actually used in corporations) will be seen by many to apply to government as well. "What have you got to hide?" Keep it simple, stupid. That makes for efficiency, functionality, and easier product development. And it doesn't build the case for government to later demand message recovery. --Tim May The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^2,976,221 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

3 2

Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Sat, 25 Oct 1997 13:52:05 -0700 > From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > Subject: Orthogonality and Disaster Recovery > One of the themes of modern computing I strongly support is that of > "orthogonality," or clean functionality. Any idea how a term meaning 'at right angles' came to hold all the various interpretations it now does?... I see this word in a lot of my reading and it almost never implies any sort of 'indipendent multi-variant reference system'. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Use of an 'air freshener' in commission of a crime...
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* In June, a Scripps Howard News Service reporter examined Consumer Product Safety Commission records recently made public and found that 1,823 serious injuries caused by "electronic air-fresheners" had been reported to the agency. Though the records were short on details, they included 50 cases of amputation, 46 burns, 48 scaldings, 68 poisonings, 56 "foreign-body" penetrations, and 69 "drownings." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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Great Balls of Fire!
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* In April in Port Washington, Wis., Kevin Gillson, 18, was convicted of sexual assault of a child when his 15-year-old girlfriend became pregnant, despite the fact that the couple were attending parenting classes together and that Gillson said they planned to marry. Upon conviction, Gillson was barred from being around any non-adults, including the mother of his child. And Richard A. Duke Jr., 22, was jailed for 30 days in May in St. Mary's County, Md., for having sex with the 15-year-old girl whom he had married in the interim between arrest and conviction. Nonetheless, a judge ordered Duke, thus as a sex offender, to stay away from the girl, even though she is his wife.

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Shit happened...
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* The Michigan Court of Appeals in April ruled, on a technicality, in favor of a prison inmate who had tossed a cup of liquified feces in the face of a guard. Alphonso Gaines, 34, already serving time for assault, could not be punished further, said the court, because the prosecutors forgot to prove that Gaines was "lawfully" incarcerated in the Ionia facility at the time he threw the feces. Prosecutor Gail Hitchcock was incensed: "Did they think we were charging someone who had sneaked into prison?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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