December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cell phone cloning and economics...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, Another point in regards the market behaviour regarding cell phones.... In a free-market there is no reason to believe that phone cloning would be reduced as it would still provide a distinct economic advantage over those who sell 1st line equipment. The only thing that keeps the 1st line companies in business is the regulation, without it they can't afford to do the basic research or infrastrucure construction since they can't sell enough phones in the first place because the clones have bought up their share. So without some sort of 3rd party regulation there is nothing inherent in a free-market that protects that initial intellectual and econimic investment so that it can grow and produce a market and a profit. Now it is clear that this regulation is *NOT* primarily the government but rather the social institution or society the governemt or regulatory body exists within. Remember, the profit goes to the one who occassionaly breaks the social taboo's. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Another question about free-markets... (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 15:53:45 -0400 > From: tzeruch(a)ceddec.com > Subject: Re: Another question about free-markets... (fwd) > Most of these are due to regulation. No, they are due to a basic human trait - greed. The problem isn't a economic one it's a people one. If you assume the Secret Service > will bear the cost of enforcing anti-cloning laws, you will not spend the > money to make your phones unclonable even if the technology exists. Assuming of course you trust the Secret Service fully and they happen to be honest to a fault. > Excessive rate levels are a misnomer. The only way you can succeed in > charging above market prices is if there is a law to bar entry. But that is the exact point in regards cell cloning for example. The final cost to the purchaser of the clone is *less* than the normal market price. In a free-market economy the obviously rational thing to do is clone, the really bad thing is there is nobody short of Guido and his buds to help the original maker recover those costs or prevent recurrences. > sub-standard construction is also a misnomer - if you paid for standard X, > you simply don't pay until the construction is up to that standard. You've got a circular reasoning here. If we're still talking about a free market there is no 3rd party to define standards and such to measure against. There won't even be groups that will be able to review the various products and compare them in an open market (review the current database licenses in regards to doing public comparisons). > Hardly. If you are saying consumers are stupid, you are probably right, No, I'm saying there is a considerable sector of the human population that is dishonest. This won't change based on economic models. > And you assume that men are islands and don't talk or communicate. Actualy I don't. My point is that such assumptions about instant communications (as required by current economic models) is irrelevant. I covered that aspect at one point. The fact that people communicate won't change their base bahaviour characteristics one whit, those are a function of long-term species survival strategies. People are social animals, the maximum strategy in social animals is the Prisoners Delima, you play along most of the time and cheat occassionaly. Over time this strategy will accumulate more resources than either a pure cheating or honest strategy. It's this transient aspect that is completely ignored by current economic though, they recognize only the two extremes. > Imagine two restaraunts. If people get food poisoning every week or so at > one, people will learn not to go there, and it will fold as people go to > the second. This example really doesn't fit my theory since it isn't possible for a single (or even two) restaraunts to saturate a market. I suspect that food, is entirely too tied to the vagaries of transient taste to behave this way. What is more likely to happen is that as people go back and forth between the two restaraunts from day to day (assume that one of them is dealing bad food) both will go down. Remember there isn't a health inspector or somebody to come and test the food, only the experiential evidence of the eaters. Now since it takes as much as 24+ hours for symptoms to develop it is entirely possible for a person to eat at one restaraunt on Monday at luch and get food poisoning and it not show up until the next afternoon, *after* they've already eaten at the second restaraunt. At that point the person is sick and isn't going to want to go back to either. Better safe than sorry. > Reputation (economists include it in the term "good will") > does have an economic benefit. Only in certain kinds of markets. I don't believe free markets are one of them. > You simply may not like human psychology, but that does not make the free > market any less just. I'm not sure how to respond to this. Let me put it to you this way... How do you propose a free market to operate if there aren't people (and as a conequence their psychology) involved? > The market enforces a foolishness tax which no government can repeal. Again, only in certain situations - a free-market is not one of them. You might want to look at some of the recent studies done (I was looking at an article the other day at the bookstore but can't remember the article - sorry) that demonstrate pretty conclusively that mediocre strategies pay off over time nearly as well as optimal ones do. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Human psychology & free-markets: a fundamental question
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Why do people behave more ethicaly (or fairly) in a free-market than in a regulated market? It's clear the pay-off for defection is more in a free-market because the actual opportunities come more often. The market regulation simply makes it more costly to defect, and hence reducing the final profit motive, because it takes more resources to bypass the regulation hence increasing the price of defection and increasing the period between defections because it takes more time to collect and manage the resources to defect. I would contend that the economic problems we experience are not because the market is regulated (or not) but that the regulation is not *impartial* to the outcome. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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[ZA-Hacklist] Web Servers
by postino.up.ac.za＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi There, this is an appeal for help WE are looking for someone to help us set up a remote web server outside our network (internationally or therwise) to experiment with running a web server through port 25 (SMTP) or port 110 (POP3). If you have the abilty to help us with this experiment it would be appreciated. Contact us. Any other comments appreciable too.

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Another potential flaw in current economic theory...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, It occurs to me that there is another potential flaw in current economic theory and business practice. Currently (ala Friedmann) the parties that reap the benefit of a succesful business are the shareholders, this is currently seen to exclude the employees in many cases/companies. This approach undervalues the business worth of the employees commitment to the business. A more reasonable approach (and one that might make free-markets more workable, though not by itself) is to consider the employees shareholders even if they don't hold a single piece of stock. And no, their paychecks are not sufficient. Consider, another way to look at a business' goals is "to make every shareholder a millionare so they don't have to work at anything else". What business do you know has the specific goal of making their employees (all the way down to the janitor) sufficiently wealthy from their commitment to the business so that at some point they don't have to work any more either (and we are NOT talking about some measly 401k retirement program)? What would the impact be to the current business models if we include this axiomaticaly? ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: My citizenship renunciation made difficult
by John Cypherpunk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From Vince Cate: : But most of all, the very idea that the US government has to give me : permission to renounce my association with it seems totally : wrong. The people in the US are supposed to be free, not slaves or : subjects. Free means free to leave. ........................................................ Did you use the right forms to establish your citizenship? Suggest the nice embassy people attend your offices to prove you are a US citizen. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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An Appraisal of the Technologies of Political Control
by Theodor.SCHLICKMANN＠BXL.DG13.cec.be 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg4/stoa/en/publi/166499/execsum.htm

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Re: Another potential flaw in current economic theory... (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:17:50 +0100 > From: Mok-Kong Shen <mok-kong.shen(a)stud.uni-muenchen.de> > Subject: Re: Another potential flaw in current economic theory... > I see there are lots of interesting discussions on economy recently > on this list. But I miss stuffs relating to the currently existing > crisis of the financial market, topics like causes of failure of > LTCM etc. etc. All I've been discussing is a handful of thought on free-market economies and human psychology. Haven't really touched the actual market issues directly. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Happy Birthday to Convicted Child Molester Gary Burnore
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hackman <hacker(a)nospam.jump.net> wrote: > James howard wrote: > > > > Did anyone remember to wish convicted child molester Gary Lee > > > Burnore a happy 41st birthday on Tuesday? I was just doing a net > > > search and came across this excerpt taken from his info on the North > > > Carolina registered sex offenders' website: > > > > > > > Street: 4201 BLAND ROAD APT J > > > > City: RALEIGH State: NC Zip: 27609 County: WAKE > > > > > > > > Race: W Sex: M Height: 5'08" Weight: 170 LBS. Hair: BRO Eyes: BLU > > > > Birth Date(s): 10-13-1957 > > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > > > Why is it "Birth Date(s)"? Is it possible to have more than one? > > multiple alias ? Since "Megan's law" where an effort has been made to warn residents of a convicted child molester living in their neighborhood, I can well imagine that many of them have resorted to using aliases. Another possibility is that since so many of them have multiple convictions on their rap sheets, and since the data entry operators cannot always read an officer's handwriting, multiple *POSSIBLE* birthdates for the same perp sometimes float around in the system.

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Re: Another potential flaw in current economic theory...
by lcs Mixmaster Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> I see there are lots of interesting discussions on economy recently > on this list. But I miss stuffs relating to the currently existing > crisis of the financial market, topics like causes of failure of > LTCM etc. etc. Haven't we discused the failures of Little Timmy C. May enough?

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CREDIT CARD PROCESSING
by pop7＠angelfire.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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criticize....
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am creating a program about sparse matrix I am going to use different compression schemes used in building compilers. It is suppose to output a library wherein it support the compression scheme. It would either be used by C, Pascal, or FORTRAN whatever the user intends to use. Could you degrade or "upgrade" my said proposal (just say anything except nonsense of course). Thank you very much. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some people they might say that I'm hard to get to know. I go my own sweet way, well that maybe so. Something about the crowd that makes me walk alone. I never had a need in me to be the party's life and soul. It's me Bernie. metaphone(a)altavista.net ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

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desperate....
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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could you help.....
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I found this example in a book It's about Homophonic substitution and I can't figure how they did it , I mean how the other letters where substituted Here's the example Suppose the alphabet is mapped into the numbers 1 to 99 then map E to 17,19,23,47,64 map A to 8,20,25,49 map R to 1,29,65 map T to 16,31,85 but otherwise the ith letter maps to the 3ith letter Then the cleartext MANY A SLIP TWIXT THE CUP AND THE LIP will become 08 20 16 3185 17 25 16 47 3608397220543324451666246931852117066045253909162147332445 My question is what/how did they represent the other letters like L (etc.) coz I've tried to map them and yet I still can't understand I even wrote A to Z then map them to 1 to 99, I still can't figure it out. Could you also give me an example for polygram substitution. Thank you very much. SALAMAT PO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some people they might say that I'm hard to get to know. I go my own sweet way, well that maybe so. Something about the crowd that makes me walk alone. I never had a need in me to be the party's life and soul. It's me Bernie. metaphone(a)altavista.net ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

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Dust off your anonymous voting protocols...
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Now all we need is a modern-day Robbespierre? I love the smell of mob rule in the morning? Nawwwwww... Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text X-Sender: massmail@css Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:46:02 -0600 To: rah(a)shipwright.com From: cwheeler(a)activmedia.com Subject: Will 'Net Ballots Supplant Congress? WILL DIRECT DEMOCRACY PRE-EMPT SOME OF CONGRESS'S POWER? Questions Remain about Implementation ActivMedia Research (http://www.activmedia.com) - Two of three Internet afficionados think online elections are a good idea (66% to 33%). The same proportion would like to be able to vote on ballot referenda and exercise direct democracy via the 'Net (67%). "Obviously, the technical ability to move toward direct democracy must be accompanied by debate about its merits and what is an appropriate level of technocratic and professional decision-making on our behalf," notes ActivMedia's Director of Information Services Chris Anne Wheeler. "Some laws are best implemented by professionals for the public good such as environmental protection, national defense, and public welfare. But virtually all online consumers polled in ActivMedia's FutureScapes agree that a sunshine policy making legislative bills, voting records, and budgets available online for public inspection would be a good idea (97%)." ------------------------------------------------------------- CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES ONLINE (Good Idea) Total Sample 4+ Yrs Online ------------ ------------- Vote for elected officials 66% 71% Vote on ballot referenda 67% 72% Search bills, voting records, budgets 97% 98% -------------------------------------------------------------- Source: FutureScapes Study, ActivMedia Research, © 1998 Survey respondents with 4+ years of online experience the greatest propensity to want to vote online. As expected, younger (under 15) as well as older (over 65) 'Netizens show a somewhat higher resistance to carrying out civic responsibilities online. The conservatives in the Northeast show a slightly greater resistance especially when it comes to voting for elected officials (63%), but essentially the desire to vote online is favored by the majority no matter their demographic background. All across the country, websites are cropping up that help voters weed through the oftentimes overwhelming amount of information on candidates and issues. The greatest challenge for voters is tracking down objective nonpartisan sources of candidate information. Trials of online voting are scarce as policy-makers grapple with issues of fraud and security. Data in this release is from ActivMedia Research's syndicated study "FutureScapes: Refining 'Net Strategy for the 21st Century." The full study of online habits and interests of 5,600 online citizens is available to purchase for $2,995 (single copy) or $5,000 (multi-user site license). ActivMedia Incorporated conducts custom and syndicated research that guides businesses to profitable online positions. Since 1994, ActivMedia has been detailing global 'Net trends and sector slices with a series of quantitative research reports, market analyses and case studies. Insightful analyses and accessible data support rational businesses decisions for clients including Andersen Consulting, Cisco, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Visa, Yahoo and Ziff-Davis. CONTACT INFORMATION ActivMedia, Inc. http://www.activmedia.com (Research Home Page) Email: research(a)activmedia.com Harold Wolhandler, Vice President of Market Research Chris Anne Wheeler, Director of Information Services Tel: 800-639-9481, 603-924-9100 Fax: 603-924-2184 --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: Homophonic substitution [could you help.....]
by Jim Gillogly 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bernardo B. Terrado writes: > It's about Homophonic substitution and > map E to 17,19,23,47,64 > map A to 8,20,25,49 > map R to 1,29,65 > map T to 16,31,85 > but otherwise the ith letter maps to the 3ith letter > MANY A SLIP TWIXT THE CUP AND THE LIP > will become > 3608397220543324451666246931852117066045253909162147332445 > > My question is what/how did they represent the other letters like L (etc.) > coz I've tried to map them and yet I still can't understand > I even wrote A to Z then map them to 1 to 99, I still can't figure it out. That's the "otherwise" rule right after the four "maps". If the 2-digit number is divisible by 3 (like the first "36"), divide it by 3 and count that many letters through the alphabet starting with A. The 12th letter (0-origin) is M, so 36 corresponds to M and L corresponds to 33. That particular example doesn't use the ciphertext space very efficiently: only 41% of the available 2-digit numbers are used. If you must use a homophonic, I'd suggest a 100-letter pangram, which gives a reasonable distribution of letters, full coverage of the alphabet, and some chance of remembering the thing without carry incriminating documents. -- Jim Gillogly Sterday, 29 Winterfilth S.R. 1998, 17:38 12.19.5.11.2, 13 Ik 15 Yax, Sixth Lord of Night

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17 Dec '03

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NEWS
by christian masson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: your mail
by ichudov＠Algebra.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

there is no policy just do not flood the list igor Jason Winge wrote: > > Please send information on the policy of the list owner. > > > > ______________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > - Igor.

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No Subject
by insight＠sprynet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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IP: Privacy Under Threat
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Privacy Under Threat Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 02:37:56 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com PRIVACY UNDER THREAT The Global Internet Liberty Campaign has released its latest survey of privacy in 50 countries. It found that new technologies including the Internet are increasingly eroding privacy rights, but there is a growing trend towards privacy and data protection acts around the world. Over 40 countries are in the process of enacting such laws. See http://www.gilc.org/privacy/survey/ **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 09:40:46 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1998-10/20/021r-102098-idx.html Former FBI Workers File Whistleblower Suit Three Say Legal Protections Not Enforced By Michael Grunwald Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 20, 1998; Page A17 Three former FBI employees sued the federal government yesterday, alleging that President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno have failed to enforce a 1989 law that protects whistleblowers who complain about misconduct at the agency. Former FBI agent Thomas M. Chamberlin, former FBI chemist Jorge L. Villanueva and former FBI staffer Cheryl J. Whitehurst all allege that they were fired or forced out of the bureau for reporting misconduct by their colleagues. Whitehurst also contends she was harassed because she is married to Frederic Whitehurst, a chemist whose allegations launched a major investigation of the FBI laboratory. Congress exempted the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency from the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989, which established a government-wide Office of Special Counsel to investigate complaints of retaliation against employees of most federal agencies. But a companion law directed the president to set up a separate system to protect FBI employees from reprisals, and in April 1997, after a lawsuit by Frederic Whitehurst, Clinton issued a memorandum directing Reno to create it. Justice Department officials are drafting new regulations that would establish an office at the department to handle internal complaints about the FBI. But after 18 months of work, the regulations are not ready. "This is not a simple process, but the attorney general is taking it very seriously," said Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg. "When we're done with this, there will be a structure that FBI whistleblowers can turn to with confidence. . . . We're trying to set up something entirely new here. It's not just add water and mix." Brandenburg said the department expects to issue new regulations soon, but said he could not be more specific. But David K. Colapinto, an attorney for the three former FBI employees, said the government has been promising those regulations for nine years. "They keep telling us it's in the works, but they never produce any results," Colapinto said. "Without whistleblower protection for FBI employees, there cannot be effective oversight of the FBI's activities." The FBI declined comment, referring questions to Brandenburg. According to recent testimony by Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich, the FBI received 499 allegations of "serious misconduct" from its employees last year and another 518 allegations of "routine misconduct." But since the employees who made them were not covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act, they had no guarantee that they could appear before an administrative law judge if they believed they were victims of retaliation, or that they would have access to documents about their case during the discovery process. Frederic Whitehurst, once the FBI's top expert in explosives residue analysis, recently settled his own whistleblower lawsuit with the bureau for about $1.65 million. Bromwich's massive investigation did not substantiate all of Whitehurst's allegations, but it did reveal major shortcomings at the FBI lab. Cheryl Whitehurst said she was retaliated against for her husband's activities and for reporting the widespread use of bootlegged software on FBI computers in violation of copyright laws. She said she quit her job under duress last month. Villanueva, who also worked in the laboratory, said he lost his job in January because he refused to sign a petition supporting a supervisor who had been criticized in Bromwich's report, and because he complained that a colleague had forged a signature on a lab report. Chamberlin said he was fired in 1994 after he gave confidential testimony about wiretap violations by the FBI's Detroit field office, and then complained that the subsequent FBI investigation of the alleged violations had targeted him. © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: Biometric Weekly: 10-19-98
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Biometric Weekly <biometrics-request(a)anet-stl.com> Subject: IP: Biometric Weekly: 10-19-98 Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 08:48:10 -0600 To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com 10-19-98 Welcome to "Biometric Weekly " - a weekly e-mail report on biometric identification news - a service of the Biometric Digest. "Biometric Weekly" is distributed free of charge on Monday of each week. ............................................................................ .... Mentis Corp., a market research firm in Durham, N.C., says the biometric market will total $100 million this year, a tiny fraction of the $100 billion spent on private security in the U.S. Yet Mentis predicts the market will grow at a brisk 27% to 35% through 2000 as pattern-recognition software improves, computers become better able to handle the power-hungry biometric applications and prices fall. ............................................................................ .... Sonoma Resource Corp. has an agreement to acquire 45% of Biometric identification Inc. . BII is an innovator in creating and applying fingerprint authorization and verification technology. ............................................................................ .... Biometric Identification Inc. Chief Executive Officer Bob Kamm announced his firm is collaborating with Key Source International to integrate Bio ID silicon sensor fingerprint verification technology into Key Source computer keyboards. ............................................................................ .... Biometric Identification Inc. announced the development and introduction of prototypes for the first complete Biometric Fingerprint Identification System that utilizes silicon sensor verification technology. ............................................................................ .... SAFLINK Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of The National Registry Inc. announced that it has licensed speech recognition and speaker verification software technologies from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. ............................................................................ .... BERGDATA AG releases its new Fingerprint Software Developer's Kit . Using this tool interested companies are able to develop and market their own fingerprint based security applications. ............................................................................ .... Identix Inc. (ASE:IDX), a provider of live-scan and biometric verification systems, announced the State of Wisconsin has chosen Tacoma, Wash.-based Sagem Morpho Inc. (Morpho), a subsidiary of Paris-based SAGEM SA, to provide Identix TouchPrint 600(TM) live-scan systems and TouchPrint 602 card-scan systems for use by Wisconsin law enforcement agencies. ............................................................................ .... Philips Flat Display Systems (FDS), a division of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, and Who? Vision Systems, Inc., a developer of fingerprint biometric technologies and products, announced they have partnered to develop and market a new line of flat fingerprint sensors for an array of portable computing and consumer electronics products. ............................................................................ .... T-NETIX, Inc. (Nasdaq: TNTX), a provider of specialized call processing and fraud control software technologies, announced today it was awarded a three-year contract, with an option for two additional years, for the installation of its new Inmate Calling System to Bell Atlantic and AT&T for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. ............................................................................ .... Speech recognition took a small step forward last week when four companies announced that they had formed a V-Commerce Alliance to promote the technology for electronic commerce. Details of these four companies will appear in the next printed edition of the "Biometric Digest." ............................................................................ .... -Sylvan/Identix Fingerprinting Centers, a joint venture of Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. (SLVN) and Identix Inc. (IDX), received a contract from UAL Corp.'s (U) United Airlines unit to provide fingerprinting services. Sylvan/Identix said United will use Identix's TouchPrint 600 live-scan units in screening applicants to meet U.S. Postal Service requirements for background checks on employees who handle mail. ............................................................................ .... Printrak International Inc. (AFIS) received a contract valued at more than $45 million to provide automated fingerprint technology to the government of Argentina. The company said it expects to have the system up and running in less than a year. Printrak will work with prime contractor Siemens Nixdorf GmbH, a unit of Siemens AG, to fulfill the contract ............................................................................ .... Identix Inc. said it has won a contract for over $1.2 million to supply fingerprint identification equipment to the Internal Revenue Service. ANADAC Inc., a subsidiary of Identix, will supply the IRS with the TouchPrint 600 system which scans fingerprints automatically. The systems are being installed at IRS service centers throughout the nation to automate the fingerprinting process which is a major part of all IRS employee background checks. ............................................................................ .... A service of the "Biometric Digest," a monthly newsletter with weekly e-mail updates published by Biometric Digest, P.O. Box 510047, St. Louis, MO 63151-0047. Tel: (314) 892-8632. Fax: (314) 487-5198. "Biometric Digest" is an advertising-free technology newsletter dedicated solely to biometric identification technology. More information on the above is provided in the printed copy of the "Biometric Digest." You can obtain additional biometric information from our web site at: http://www.biodigest.com. The annual subscription is $255 in the United States and $325 outside the U.S. To subscribe, please send e-mail with your name, title, company name and address, email address, telephone and fax to - wrogers(a)anet-stl.com. We will send you an invoice. For information on Banking on Biometrics Conference on October 12-14, 1998, visit http://www.biodigest.com/conf98 If you should wish to discontinue the Biometric Weekly news service, you can cancel automatically by sending a request direct to: biodigest-request(a)anet-stl.com In the BODY of the memo, type - unsubscribe biometrics end Note: on a second line type "end." ..... or please press your REPLY button and send us a return e-mail requesting removal. **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: Privacy Rules Send U.S. Firms Scrambling
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Privacy Rules Send U.S. Firms Scrambling Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:15:15 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/frompost/oct98/privacy20.htm Privacy Rules Send U.S. Firms Scrambling By Robert O'Harrow Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, October 20, 1998; Page C1 Business executives and government regulators have spent years noodling about whether new rules are needed to protect an individual's right to privacy in this information age. The European Union, by contrast, agreed to "harmonize" its member states' tough privacy protections three years ago, and regulations born of that agreement take effect next Monday, Oct. 26. That could be a big problem for many businesses on this side of the Atlantic. Under the new rules, the EU's 15 member countries are obliged to prohibit the transmission of names, addresses, ethnicity and other personal information to any country that fails to provide adequate data protection as defined under European law. European officials have said repeatedly over the past year that the patchwork of privacy rules in the U.S. may not meet their standards. Though no one expects the flow of information from Europe to stop suddenly on Monday, anxiety about the new laws is growing because no one is sure how they will be applied. Each country will have separate privacy laws that cover the mandates of the EU directive, and all have privacy agencies to oversee those laws. The kind of information covered by the regulations includes direct-mail lists, hotel and travel reservations, medical and work records, orders for products on the World Wide Web and a host of other data. Companies also will have to provide detailed disclosures to individuals about how the data will be used and give those same individuals access to the information to correct the data. To weigh the task at hand, consider that Citibank alone has 7.7 million consumer accounts and about 9,000 employees in EU countries. "The scope is very broad," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University and co-author of "None of Your Business: World Data Flows, Electronic Commerce, and the European Privacy Directive." "For major companies, there will be significant compliance issues," he said. Thomas P. Vartanian, a D.C. lawyer and author of "21st Century Money, Banking & Commerce," said the effects could be both sweeping and quotidian. Consider the case of a German tourist who breaks a leg in New York, he said. The tourist's health plan in Berlin may be unwilling or slow to send medical records here. American companies also may be prohibited from transferring work records of European employees. Moreover, direct marketers could face sharp limitations on how they use lists of potential customers. Marketers, travel companies and other information-hungry firms in the United States - from giant International Business Machines Corp. to start-ups on the World Wide Web - are scrambling to assess what it could mean for them. And government officials are meeting to head off any potential crisis on Monday. "It holds the potential for leading to disruptions in the flow of data," said David Aaron, undersecretary for international trade at the Department of Commerce, who has been involved in talks with officials from the European Commission. "This could have a major impact." The deadline has sharply etched differences in approaches to data protection. Europeans consider information privacy a human right. Their dreadful memories of how Nazi Germany used personal records in the Holocaust played a role in development of the laws. In the United States, industry and government officials have stubbornly resisted the regulation of data collection, fearing restraints would stymie commerce and tread on the First Amendment. Privacy advocates in Europe have made it clear they intend to press their governments to be strict. A group called Privacy International has already said it intends to monitor an array of U.S. and British companies, including American Express Co., Citigroup, Microsoft Corp. and Visa International. "Until there is some sense of certainty about how these rules are going to apply, you're going to get what you always get with business uncertainty, that is, you get delays and you get increased costs of doing business," Vartanian said. Charles Prescott, vice president of international business for the Direct Marketing Association, agreed. "The uncertainty over how the directive will be turned into local law is causing tremendous anxiety," said Prescott, adding that hundreds of the group's U.S. members do extensive business in Europe. In an effort to head off disruptions, Commerce Department officials have been talking for months with counterparts in the European Commission, the government body that helps coordinate regulations and policies that affect all EU members. Those talks have eased fears of a sudden cutoff of data. Commission officials said they are impressed by the Clinton administration's efforts to highlight the importance of data protection and to press industry groups to come up with a self-regulation framework to ensure privacy on the Internet. "It's [in] nobody's interest, least of all ours, that we have a trade dispute," said John F. Mogg, a director general of the European Commission, who has been involved in talks with the Commerce Department's Aaron about the matter. Mogg described the talks as "wholly constructive." Both Mogg and Aaron acknowledge, however, that significant differences remain. Among the sticking points are provisions that give every citizen of member countries the right to find out what information about them is in a database and the power to correct mistakes. Few U.S. companies are prepared to offer such access because of the costs involved. The directive also requires each outside country to have an independent arbitrator to decide whether a company is being forthcoming about its data. Mogg said that is "fundamental to us." But a system for such accountability still does not exist in the U.S. Some countries also want remedies to be available to citizens for violations. But officials say there are reasons for optimism. Many companies may be able to meet the new guidelines by writing contracts that promise to uphold key provisions, and by giving customers, employees and others detailed disclosure statements about how their information will be used. A group called Privacy & American Business has worked with experts in the United States and Europe to draft model contracts that would be helpful, particularly for small and medium-size businesses that can't afford to enter into lengthy negotiations. Companies also may be able to collect information from individuals who give explicit consent, officials said. "The mood now is cautiously optimistic," said Harriet Pearson, director of public affairs for IBM. Pearson said IBM has been working for more than a year to prepare for the regulations and is in good shape to comply. But she added that many questions remain unanswered for large and small companies alike. "It's a very uncertain equation at this point," she said. © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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Re: Happy Birthday to Convicted Child Molester Gary Burnore
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

gburnore(a)databasix.com (Gary L. Burnore) wrote: > >fees and PLED GUILTY, > > Ronald Guimlette, please correct your lies. I didn't plead guilty. If you're going to smear him you should at least learn to spell "Guilmette". So what was your plea? No contest? > >Real comforting to the folks with kids living on Bland Road and the > >immediate vicinity... > > More lies Ronald. Can't see to well from CA, eh? How can an opinion be a "lie"? Sarcasm is lost on perverts like you, I guess. If you're saying that your neighbors welcome convicted sex offenders in their neighborhood, then you and they deserve each other. > >> There are a few > >> that post here that really don't like him, though, and it seems they > >> will do most anything to keep this thread alive. > > > >What? Someone doesn't like child molesters? Imagine that! > > There are no child molesters posting here. You're lying again. That was a self-contradictory statement, since you, a convicted child molester, just posted.

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