December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

the Court's private encryption key
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Wednesday 2/18/98 7:23 PM J Orlin Grabbe John Young I just spoke with Bill Goldrick. Read about Goldrick in Deep Black by William Burrows. Goldrick was the Sandia supervisor who supervised installation the Norwegian seismic system. And supervised the second data authenticator. And reviewed my SAND report. We talked about data authentication. And its problems. I looked at Svets February 10, 1998 ORDER And thought about Digital File Stamp This document consists of an official stamp of the Court and, if attached to the document identified above, servers an endorsed copy of the pleading. It may be used in lieu of the Court's mechanical file stamp for the named document only, and misuse will be treated the same as misuse of the Court's official mechanical file stamp. The Court's digital signature is a verifiable mathematical computation unique to the filed document and the Court's private encryption key. This signature assures that any changes can be detected. Think devious. By way of deception. But this for later. Allahu Akbar bill

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Where to buy Terra byte protein ram/rom... [slashdot.org]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://www.slashdot.org/slashdot.cgi?mode=article&artnum=00000702 > Gernot Bauer wrote in to tell us a bit more about organic chips. He > writes "Computer chips are nowerdays made on the base of silicon. > German computing magazine "c't" wrote about an Norwegian company > called Opticom which claims that its ready for series production of > organic mass memory (RAM/ROM and all that nice stuff). Imagine 170 > Terra-Bytes for a few cents. Read here how it works and what you can > expect if this technology is widely used (the article was translated > to english). Will new types of real virus be able to trash not only > your system but also your hardware?" Note this company is claiming 'series production' meaning you can go out and buy them. I tramped over the web but couldn't find a website for them. If anybody knows somebody in Norway please ask them to contact the company and get us some information...please. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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rushdie list
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Orlin Best to try to keep off the list. August 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh are killed in Suresnes, France. Title: Iranian Martyrs This page is dedicated to all those who stood up against tyranny KNOW THAT BEHIND EACH NUMBER, AND EACH NAME, THERE IS A MAN, A WOMAN, A CHILD, A FACE, A SMILE, A TEAR PUT YOURSELF IN PLACE OF THE CONDEMNED AND IMAGINE THE SOLITUDE AND LONELINESS OF THE MOMENT WHEN THEY COME TO TAKE THEM AWAY, THIS LAST VOYAGE, WHERE ARE YOU AT THIS VERY MOMENT, PARTISAN OF HUMAN RIGHTS ? WHY HAS THE WORLD SUDDENLY BECOME A VAST DESERT WHERE THERE EXISTS ONLY THE VICTIM AND HIS EXECUTIONERS ? HOW MUCH LONGER CAN YOU STAY SILENT ? Below is a list of all those who were affiliated to NAMIR or its military wing - NEGHAB - and were murdered by the Islamic Republic of Iran : Date Location Name 04/07/1980 Tehran A.Mohagheghi (general) 04/07/1980 Tehran G.Ghayeghran (non-commissioned officer : pilot) 04/07/1980 Tehran F.Jahangiri (non-commissioned officer : pilot) 04/07/1980 Tehran A.Kamiani 04/07/1980 Tehran A.Karimbar 30/07/1980 Tehran H.Kazemi (non-commissioned officer) 30/071980 Tehran M.Moradi (non-commissioned officer) 30/07/1980 Tehran S.Norouzi (sergeant) 30/07/1980 Tehran A.Mohamadi 30/07/1980 Tehran M.Assangochai 30/07/1980 Tehran Y.Mahboubian 30/07/1980 Tehran E.Mamaghani 30/07/1980 Tehran N.Sedarat 30/07/1980 Tehran E.Baroukhim 30/07/1980 Tehran M.B.Fard (lieutenant) 30/07/1980 Neyshabur Y.Khadjeh 30/07/1980 Neyshabur G.Jafari 31/07/1980 Tehran M.Farzam (lieutenant) 31/07/1980 Tehran H. Karimpurtari (non-commissioned officer) 31/07/1980 Tehran D.Jalaii (colonel) 31/07/1980 Tehran N.Yahyaii (lieutenant) 31/07/1980 Tehran N.Najaf-Nejad (sergeant) 07/08/1980 Tehran I. Soltani (corporal) 07/08/1980 Tehran H.Lashkari (lieutenant-pilot) 07/08/1980 Tehran M.Saghafi (lieutenant-pilot) 07/08/1980 Tehran A.Zarineh (colonel) 07/08/1980 Tehran H.Gohari (major) 07/08/1980 Tehran K.Alizadeh (major) 07/08/1980 Tehran A.Morvaridi (sergeant) 07/08/1980 Tehran S.Pourfahmideh (lieutenant) 07/08/1980 Tehran M.Najafabadi (lieutenant) 07/08/1980 Tehran M.Zahedi (lieutenant) 07/08/1980 Tehran M.Asgharian (non-commissioned officer) 07/08/1980 Tehran H.Abedini 07/08/1980 Tehran F.Azarian (lieutenant) 16/08/1980 Tehran E.Arab-Shirazi 16/08/1980 Tehran A.Awazzadeh 16/08/1980 Tehran M.Sajadi (non-commissioned officer) 16/08/1980 Tehran M.Farahpour 16/08/1980 Tehran Z.Momeni 16/08/1980 Tehran G.Khergani (sergeant) 16/08/1980 Tehran M.Kiani (sergeant) 16/08/1980 Tehran D.Bakhtiar 16/08/1980 Tehran G.NaghibZadeh (non-commissioned officer) 16/08/1980 Tehran H.Zamanpour (flight-lieutenant) 16/08/1980 Tehran K.Azartash (major) 16/08/1980 Tehran A.Azmudeh (colonel) 16/08/1980 Tehran C.Ahmadi (lieutenant) 16/08/1980 Tehran S.Mahdiun (general-pilot) 16/08/1980 Tehran M.Farnejad (non-commissioned officer) 16/08/1980 Tehran K.Mohamadi-Koubaii (non-commissioned officer) 16/08/1980 Tehran M.Tightiz (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran M.Mirlaki (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran M.Abedini-Moghadam (non-commissioned officer0 18/08/1980 Tehran K.Rahmati (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran P.Bayani (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran L.Lotfolahi (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran A.Habibi (lieutenant) 18/08/1980 Tehran N.Zandi (flight lieutenant pilot) 18/08/1980 Tehran C.Karimian (sergeant) 18/08/1980 Tehran O.Boyeri (flight lieutenant) 18/08/1980 Tehran A.Soleimani (flight lieutenant) 18/08/1980 Tehran D.Mazaheri-Kashani 18/08/1980 Tehran D.Fatehjou (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran A.Pourkarbassi-Dehi (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran D.Fateh-Firouz (non-commissioned officer) 18/08/1980 Tehran K.Afrouz (flight lieutenant) 18/08/1980 Tehran M.Azimifar (flight lieutenant) 21/08/1980 Tehran M.Arad (lieutenant) 21/08/1980 Tehran M.Sadeghi (colonel) 21/08/1980 Tehran H.Izadi (colonel) 21/08/1980 Tehran Asghari 25/08/1980 Tehran D.Rahbar (non-commissioned officer) 25/08/1980 Tehran G.Hamedani (non-commissioned officer) 25/08/1980 Tehran F.Javaherian (non-commissioned officer) 25/08/1980 Tehran M.Zade-Naderi (non-commissioned officer) 26/08/1980 Tehran G.Hejazi (female) 26/08/1980 Tehran D.Shomali 26/08/1980 Tehran H.Ahmadi 26/08/1980 Esfahan M.Altani 26/08/1980 Esfahan H.Karimi 26/08/1980 Esfahan S.Mozaii 26/08/1980 Esfahan H.Dari 26/08/1980 Esfahan A.Allahverdi 26/08/1980 Esfahan S.Hemati 26/08/1980 Esfahan M.Vesaali 26/08/1980 Esfahan B.Nikbakht (female) 26/08/1980 Esfahan E.Biglari 26/08/1980 Esfahan J.Hemati 26/08/1980 Esfahan E.Karimi 26/08/1980 Esfahan M.Karimi 28/08/1980 Tehran S.Bassani (female) 28/08/1980 Tehran M.T.Bahrami (non-commissioned officer) 29/08/1980 Tehran A.Almasi (lieutenant) 29/09/1980 Tehran H.Haleki (lieutenant) 29/08/1980 Tehran M.R.Javadi (lieutenant) 29/08/1980 Tehran H.Ahmadi (non-commissioned officer) 29/08/1980 Tehran J.Ranjbar (non-commissioned officer) 30/08/1980 Tehran A.Azizian (major) 30/08/1980 Tehran R.Soltani (colonel) 30/08/1980 Tehran A.Faria (colonel) 30/08/1980 Tehran I.Derakhshandeh (non-commissioned officer) 30/08/1980 Tehran M.Bahrami 30/08/1980 Tehran S.Shahbeui (colonel) 30/08/1980 Tehran I.Khalafbegi (major) 30/08/1980 Tehran K.Keyvanfar 30/08/1980 Ahwaz M.Borati (corporal) 30/08/1980 Ahwaz I.Marvdashti (non-commissioned officer) 30/08/1980 Ahwaz R.Yahyapasand (lieutenant) 30/08/1980 Ahwaz M.A.Mehrabi (non-commissioned officer) 30/08/1980 Ahwaz O.Atashboro 30/08/1980 Ahwaz S.Sotoudeh 01/09/1980 Tehran D.Asghari (officer) 01/09/1980 Tehran D.Raastgu (lieutenant) 01/09/1980 Tehran M.Fatahi-Nourdehi (non-commissioned officer) 03/09/1980 Ahwaz M.Hokmabadtchi (sergeant) 03/09/1980 Ahwaz E.Ostad-Nazari (lieutenant) 03/09/1980 Ahwaz F.Reissi (lieutenant) 03/09/1980 Ahwaz S.Dehgan (lieutenant) 09/09/1980 Tehran M.Sayah (sergeant) 09/09/1980 Tehran M.Rahbai-Nejad (lieutenant) 09/09/1980 Tehran M.Tajvari (lieutenant) 09/09/1980 Tehran B.Partovi (major) 09/09/1980 Tehran H.Mostafavi 11/09/1980 Tehran K.Atri 11/09/1980 Tehran M.Sadeghi (colonel) 11/09/1980 Tehran M.Sohaneki 11/09/1980 Tehran N.Morovati (lieutenant) 11/09/1980 Tehran N.Sajadi (non-commissioned officer) 11/09/1980 Tehran A.Mohammad (soldier) 11/09/1980 Tehran A.Shafigh (flight lieutenant) 16/09/1980 Tehran M.Tabrizi-Khatun 16/09/1980 Tehran E.Azadighaneh (non-commissioned officer) 16/09/1980 Tehran M.Jalali-Ghajar (major) 16/09/1980 Tehran S.Nour 13/071981 Tehran M.Khadem 10/08/1981 Tehran Amir-Tahmasbi (major) 10/08/1981 Tehran A.Abdolmalek-Pour (colonel) 10/08/1981 Tehran Didehvar (colonel) 10/08/1981 Tehran Mohajeri 23/12/1981 Tehran R.Marzban 23/12/1981 Tehran A.Mohebi 30/01/1982 Tehran A.Amir-Tahmasbi (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran K.Yarahmadi 30/01/1982 Tehran E.Seyrafi (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran A.Foroughi (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran A.Abdol-Malekpour 30/01/1982 Tehran G.Rahimi (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran M.Sabah (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran G.Biglou 30/01/1982 Tehran A.Mohajeri 30/01/1982 Tehran M.Lotfzari 30/01/1982 Tehran G.Naghib-Manesh 30/01/1982 Tehran G.Didehvar (colonel) 30/01/1982 Tehran G.Shahandeh-Ashtiani 30/01/1982 Tehran M.Khashayar 11/09/1982 Tehran R.Shahbakhti 11/09/1982 Tehran H.Moghbelzadeh of these victims, none had the rights of an accused as foreseen in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ............................................. Report on the Islamic Republic's Terrorism abroad Since the advent of the Islamic Republic in Iran, terrorist attempts have targeted exiled Iranians as well as citizens of other countries, condemned as heretics, around the world. These attacks were ordered by the Islamic government of Iran. 1. In July 1980, Shapour Bakhtiar escapes an assassination attempt in Paris, France. A French policeman and a neighbor are killed and one policeman is seriously injured. 2. In July 1980, Ali Tabatabai is killed in Washington D.C., United States. 3. In 1981, Shahriar Shafigh is killed in Paris, France. 4. In January 1982, Shahrokh Missaghi is killed in Manila, Philippines. 5. In April 1982, a young German student is killed during the attack of the residence of Iranian students in Mainzer, Germany, by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah. 6. In June 1982, Shahram Mirani is fatally wounded in India. 7. In August 1982, Ahmad Zol-Anvar is fatally wounded in Karachi, Pakistan. 8. In September 1982, Abdolamir Rahdar is killed in India. 9. In 1982, Colonel Ahmad Hamed is killed in Istanbul, Turkey. 10. In February 1983, Esfandiar Rahimi is killed in Manila, Philippines. 11. In February 1984, Gholam-Ali Oveissi and his brother, Gholam-Hossein, are killed in Paris, France. 12. In August 1985, Behrouz Shahverdilou is killed in Istanbul, Turkey. 13. In December 1985, Hadi Aziz-Moradi is killed in Istanbul, Turkey. 14. In August 1986, Bijan Fazeli is killed in London, Great Britain. 15. In December 1986, Vali Mohammad Van is killed in Pakistan. 16. In January 1987, Ali-Akbar Mohammadi is killed in Hamburg, Germany. 17. In May 1987, Hamid Reza Chitgar disappears in Vienna, Austria and is found assassinated in July. 18. In July 1987, Faramarz-Aghaï and Ali-Reza Pourshafizadeh are killed and twenty-three persons are wounded in residences of Iranian refugees Karachi and Quetta, Pakistan. 19. In July 1987, Amir-Hossein Amir-Parviz is seriously wounded by the explosion of a bomb placed in his car in London, England. 20. In July 1987, Mohammad-Hassan Mansouri is shot dead in his house Istanbul, Turkey. 21. In August 1987, Ahmad Moradi-Talebi is killed in Geneva, Switzerland. 22. In October 1987, Mohammad-Ali Tavakoli-Nabavi and his youngest son, Noureddin, are killed in Wembley, Great Britain. 23. In October 1987, Abol-Hassan Modjtahed-Zadeh is kidnapped in Istanbul, Turkey. 24. In December 1988, an Iranian refugee is assassinated in front of the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Karachi, Pakistan. 25. In June 1989, Ataollah Bay Ahmadi is killed in the Emirate of Dubai. 26. In July 1989, Abdol-Rahman Ghassemlou and Abdollah Ghaderi and Fazel Rassoul are killed in Vienna, Austria. 27. In August 1989, Gholam Keshavarz is killed in Cyprus. 28. In September 1989, Sadigh Kamangar is assassinated in the north of Iraq. 29. In September 1989, Hossein Keshavarz, victim of a terrorist attempt, is paralyzed for life. 30. In February 1990, Hadj Baloutch-Khan is killed by a terrorist commando in Pakistan. 31. In Mars 1990, Hossein Mir-Abedini is wounded by an armed commando in the airport of Istanbul, Turkey. 32. In April 1990, Kazem Radjavi is killed in Coppet, Switzerland. 33. In July 1990, Ali Kashefpour is kidnapped and killed in Turkey. 34. In September 1990, Efat Ghazi is killed in Sweden by a bomb intended for her husband. 35. In October 1990, Cyrus Elahi is killed in Paris, France. 36. In April 1991, Abdol-Rahman Boroumand is killed in Paris, France. 37. In July 1991, Alberto Capriolo is wounded in Milan, Italy. 38. In July 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi is killed in Tokyo, Japan. 39. In July 1991, Ahad Agha is killed in Suleimanya, iraq. 40. In August 1991, Shapour Bakhtiar and Soroush Katibeh are killed in Suresnes, France. 41. In September 1991, Saïd Yazdan-Panah is fatally wounded in iraq. 42. In December 1991, Massoud Rajavi escapes a terrorist attempt in Baghdad, iraq. 43. In January 1992, Kamran Hedayati is wounded opening a letter bomb in Vastros, Sweden. He looses his sight and his hands. 44. In May 1992, Shapour Firouzi is killed in Iraq. 45. In July 1992, Kamran Mansour-Moghadam is killed in Suleymania, Iraq. 46. In August 1992, Fereydoun Farokhzad is killed in Bonn, Germany. 47. In September 1992, Sadegh Sharafkandi, Fatah Abdoli, Homayoun Ardalan and Nouri Dehkordi are killed in Berlin, Germany. 48. In January 1993, Ugur Mumcu is killed in Ankara, Turkey. 49. In February 1993, the fundamentalist terrorists in Turkey admit to have kidnapped and killed Ali-Akbar Ghorbani who had disappeared in June 1992 in Turkey. 50. In March 1993, Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi is killed in Rome, Italy. 51. In June 1993, Mohammad-Hassan Arbab is killed in Karachi, Pakistan 52. In October 1993, Turkish fundamentalists admit having tortured and killed for Iranian officials, Abbas Gholizadeh who was kidnapped in Istanbul, Turkey in December 1992. 53. In November 1993, William Nygaard is wounded in Oslo, Norway. 54. In January, 1994, Taha Kermanj is killed in Corum, Turkey. 55. In August 1994, Ghafour Hamzei'i is killed in Baghdad, iraq. 56. In February 1996, Zahra Rajabi and Ali Moradi were killed in Istanbul, Turkey. 57. In March 1996, Ali Mollazadeh was killed in Karachi, Pakistan. 58. In May 1996, Reza Mazlouman ( Kourosh Aryamanesh) was killed in Paris, France. Due to the lack of reliable information, this list of terrorist attempts is not exhaustive. Undoubtedly, since the advent of the Islamic Republic, the number of extra-judicial executions outside Iran, in particular in Pakistan, Turkey and Iraq is higher. Also, this report deliberately leaves out well known terrorist attacks ordered by Tehran, such as: the hostage crisis of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979; the kidnapping of British, American and French citizens in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Hezbollah; the explosive attack on the American and French military headquarters in Lebanon, which were publicly claimed by Mohsen Rafighdoust, then head of the Revolutionary Guards ; the wave of terrorist bombing in Paris in 1986, which resulted in the death of 13 persons and the wounding of hundreds of others; the death sentence against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses; and the Dahran terrorist attempts that targeted the American military in Saudi Arabia. Title: NSA, Crypto AG, and the Iraq-Iran Conflict [Email Reply] NSA, Crypto AG, and the Iraq-Iran Conflict by J. Orlin Grabbe One of the dirty little secrets of the 1980s is that the U.S. regularly provided Iraq's Saddam Hussein with top-secret communication intercepts by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Consider the evidence. When in 1991 the government of Kuwait paid the public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton ten million dollars to drum up American war fever against the evil dictator Hussein, it brought about the end of a long legacy of cooperation between the U.S. and Iraq. Hill & Knowlton resurrected the World War I propaganda story about German soldiers roasting Belgian babies on bayonets, updated in the form of a confidential witness (actually the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S.) who told Congress a tearful story of Iraqi soldiers taking Kuwaiti babies out of incubators and leaving them on the cold floor to die. President George Bush then repeated this fabricated tale in speeches ten times over the next three days. What is remarkable about this staged turn of events is that, until then, Hussein had operated largely with U.S. approval. This cooperation had spanned three successive administrations, starting with Jimmy Carter. As noted by John R. MacArthur, "From 1980 to 1988, Hussein had shouldered the burden of killing about 150,000 Iranians, in addition to at least thirteen thousand of his own citizens, including several thousand unarmed Kurdish civilians, and in the process won the admiration and support of elements of three successive U.S. Administrations" [1]. Hussein's artful slaughter of Iranians was aided by good military intelligence. The role of NSA in the conflict is an open secret in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Only in this country has there been a relative news blackout, despite the fact that it was the U.S. administration that let the crypto cat out of the bag. First, U.S. President Ronald Reagan informed the world on national television that the United States was reading Libyan communications. This admission was part of a speech justifying the retaliatory bombing of Libya for its alleged involvement in the La Belle discotheque bombing in Berlin's Schoeneberg district, where two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman were killed, and 200 others injured. Reagan wasn't talking about American monitoring of Libyan news broadcasts. Rather, his "direct, precise, and undeniable proof" referred to secret (encrypted) diplomatic communication between Tripoli and the Libyan embassy in East Berlin. Next, this leak was compound by the U.S. demonstration that it was also reading secret Iranian communications. As reported in Switzerland's Neue Zurcher Zeitung, the U.S. provided the contents of encrypted Iranian messages to France to assist in the conviction of Ali Vakili Rad and Massoud Hendi for the stabbing death in the Paris suburb of Suresnes of the former Iranian prime minister Shahpour Bakhtiar and his personal secretary Katibeh Fallouch. [2] What these two countries had in common was they had both purchased cryptographic communication equipment from the Swiss firm Crypto AG. Crypto AG was founded in 1952 by the (Russian-born) Swedish cryptographer Boris Hagelin who located his company in Zug. Boris had created the "Hagelin-machine", a encryption device similar to the German "Enigma". The Hagelin machine was used on the side of the Allies in World War II. Crypto AG was an old and venerable firm, and Switzerland was a neutral country. So Crypto AG's enciphering devices for voice communication and digital data networks were popular, and customers came from 130 countries. These included the Vatican, as well the governments of Iraq, Iran, and Libya. Such countries were naturally skeptical of cryptographic devices sold in many NATO countries, so turned to relatively neutral Switzerland for communication security. Iran demonstrated its suspicion about the source of the leaks, when it arrested Hans Buehler, a top salesman for Crypto AG, in Teheran on March 18, 1992. During his nine and a half months of solitary confinement in Evin prison in Teheran, Buehler was questioned again and again whether he had leaked Teheran's codes or Libya's keys to Western powers. Luckily Buehler didn't know anything. He in fact believed in his own sales pitch that Crypto AG was a neutral company and its equipment was the best. They were Swiss, after all. [3] Crypto AG eventually paid one million dollars for Buehler's release in January 1993, then promptly fired him once they had reassured themselves that he hadn't revealed anything important under interrogation, and because Buehler had begun to ask some embarrassing questions. Then reports appeared on Swiss television, Swiss Radio International, all the major Swiss papers, and in German magazines like Der Spiegel. Had Crypto AG's equipment been spiked by Western intelligence services? the media wanted to know. The answer was Yes [4]. Swiss television traced the ownership of Crypto AG to a company in Liechtenstein, and from there back to a trust company in Munich. A witness appearing on Swiss television explained the real owner was the German government--the Federal Estates Administration. [5] According to Der Spiegel, all but 6 of the 6000 shares of Crypto AG were at one time owned by Eugen Freiberger, who resided in Munich and was head of the Crypto AG managing board in 1982. Another German, Josef Bauer, an authorized tax agent of the Muenchner Treuhandgesellschaft KPMG, and who was elected to the managing board in 1970, stated that his mandate had come from the German company Siemens. Other members of Crypto AG's management had also worked at Siemens. Was the German secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), hiding behind the Siemens' connection? So it would seem. Der Spiegel reported that in October 1970, a secret meeting of the BND had discussed how the Swiss company Graettner could be guided into closer cooperation with Crypto AG, or could even merged with it. The BND additionally considered how "the Swedish company Ericsson could be influenced through Siemens to terminate its own cryptographic business." [6] A former employee of Crypto AG reported that he had to coordinate his developments with "people from Bad Godesberg". This was the location of the "central office for encryption affairs" of the BND, and the service instructed Crypto AG what algorithms to use to create the codes. The employee also remembers an American "watcher", who strongly demanded the use of certain encryption methods. Representatives from NSA visited Crypto AG often. A memorandum of a secret workshop at Crypto AG in August 1975, where a new prototype of an encryption device was demonstrated, mentions the participation of Nora L. Mackebee, an NSA cryptographer. Motorola engineer Bob Newman says that Mackebee was introduced to him as a "consultant". Motorola cooperated with Crypto AG in the seventies in developing a new generation of electronic encryption machines. The Americans "knew Zug very well and gave travel tips to the Motorola people for the visit at Crypto AG," Newman told Der Spiegel. Knowledgeable sources indicate that the Crypto AG enciphering process, developed in cooperation with the NSA and the German company Siemans, involved secretly embedding the decryption key in the cipher text. Those who knew where to look could monitor the encrypted communication, then extract the decryption key that was also part of the transmission, and recover the plain text message. Decryption of a message by a knowledgeable third party was not any more difficult than it was for the intended receiver. (More than one method was used. Sometimes the algorithm was simply deficient, with built-in exploitable weaknesses.) Crypto AG denies all this, of course, saying such reports are ""pure invention". What information was provided to Saddam Hussein exactly? Answers to this question are currently being sought in a lawsuit against NSA in New Mexico, which has asked to see "all Iranian messages and translations between January 1, 1980 and June 10, 1996". [7] The passage of top-secret communications intelligence to someone like Saddam Hussein brings up other questions. Which dictator is the U.S. passing top secret messages to currently? Jiang Zemin? Boris Yeltsin? Will Saddam Hussein again become a recipient of NSA largess if he returns to the mass slaughter of Iranians? What exactly is the purpose of NSA anyway? One more question: Who is reading the Pope's communications? Bibliography [1] John R. MacArthur, Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War, Hill and Wang, New York, 1992. [2] Some of the background of this assassination can be found in "The Tehran Connection," Time Magazine, March 21, 1994. [3] The Buehler case is detailed in Res Strehle, Verschleusselt: der Fall Hans Beuhler, Werd Verlag, Zurich, 1994. [4] "For years, NSA secretly rigged Crypto AG machines so that U.S. eavesdroppers could easily break their codes, according to former company employees whose story is supported by company documents," "No Such Agency, Part 4: Rigging the Game," The Baltimore Sun, December 4, 1995. [5] Reported in programs about the Buehler case that were broadcast on Swiss Radio International on May 15, 1994 and July 18, 1994. [6] "Wer ist der befugte Vierte?": Geheimdienste unterwandern den Schutz von Verschlusselungsgeraten," Der Spiegel 36, 1996. [7] U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, William H. Payne, Arthur R. Morales, Plaintiffs, v. Lieutenant General Kenneth A. Minihan, USAF, Director of National Security Agency, National Security Agency, Defendant, CIV NO 97 0266 SC/DJS. November 2, 1997 Web Page: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/

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Re: bugged?
by rdew＠el.nec.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

TATTOOMAN, Ken Williams <jkwilli2(a)unity.ncsu.edu> wrote on Wed Feb 18 10:28:21 1998: > Breezy > On Tue, 17 Feb 1998, Breezy wrote: > >Babu Mengelepouti wrote: > >> Ken Williams wrote: > >> > ... > >> > I got pgp 5.0. which will not work with your version. Upgrade man :-) > >> He's the one who needs to change his version... to 2.6.x > >Why use 2.6.x vs 5.0? Is 5.0 not as stable or something? Not as good? > >... > >====/------ Breezy ----------------------------/ > >===/---- ebresie(a)ccwf.cc.utexas.edu ----------/ > >==/---- http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~ebresie --/ > > PGP v2.6.2 for UNIX is RSA, and cannot decrypt anything crypted with > PGP v5.x. v5.0 for UNIX features the DSS/Diffie-Hellman algorithm that > all the other 5.x versions have. v5.0 is stable, better, and is basically > the current standard. it is more script-friendly and has a better > command-line. > > basically, it really sucks when every encrypted message i have gotten in > the past week was encrypted with RSA/DSS and i couldn't decrypt it with > the v2.6.2 that is installed at work. due to space limitations on my > volume server and our nihilistic copyrighted software policy, my only > solution/option at the moment is to bring my laptop to work just for > message decryption. > > i've sent in a software request for a PGP upgrade on the network, but due > to the expensive PGP licensing agreements and the fact that we have close NO, NO. PGP licensing agreements are by the server, not by the client. You need 1 server in each local net, on an exported partition (drive). Then the users can run it from UNIX(NT). You still have to combine the public keys onto a single keyring, but ... BTW, arrange your contracts in two chuncks. The small one has the high priced service agreement, and the large one has the licenses for the user majority. > to 50,000 active users, i don't expect anything to be done. > > guess state employees don't have the right to privacy any more huh? > and neither do the studnets here for that matter... > > TATTOOMAN Luck, Bob De Witt, rdew(a)el.nec.com

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Which is secure
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Which is secure block cypher,or stream cypher? Thanks

2 1

Email Survey Form
by Netscape Communications 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thank you for downloading one or more trial versions of Netscape Server applications from our Web site. We appreciate your interest in taking the time to evaluate some of our newest and most exciting products. We would like to follow-up with you to learn more about your company environment and better understand your needs. To do so, please click below or copy the URL site address listed below. http://netscape.web-register.com/cgi/netscape/form/www_form?x=141270 If you experience problems entering the site, and are prompted to enter a customer ID number; your number is 141270 - or you may call 1-888-349-3100. Netscape respects your online time and Internet privacy. If you would prefer not to receive future online surveys, please go to the site listed above and click on the box that has unsubscribe. Thank you for your time, Netscape Communications

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Re: Microsoft's World Domination Failing? [Forward]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, >From somebody in the gun lobby industry who doesn't mind sharing their opinion, though not their name... Forwarded message: > My attitude about Bill Gate$ is: Screw him! Ever since he helped finance a > recent anti-gun initiative in Washington state with over $1 million of > personal cash, I've considered him an elitist jerk. He recently sent out a > chain e-mail in an attempt to collect e-mail addresses, offering $1,000 to > any users who could stack 1,000 addresses below theirs. I refused to > forward it. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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Re: Dealing with Spam, Part 1
by ichudov＠Algebra.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: > At 7:12 PM -0800 2/17/98, Marek Jedlinski wrote: > >Did you read to the point in my post when I said I would happily shut up if > >there *was* technology available? I agree with your "basic philosophy", > > Suppose someone said, "I will happily shut up and stop proposing laws to > restrict online pornography if someone shows me that there is technology > available to block it."? > > How about, "I will happily shut up if there is technology to block bad > thoughts from reaching me. Otherwise, I favor censorship." To add to this, the spam blocking technology is widely available and can be used by anyone with half brain. My spam filters make me spend no more than a minute or so a day on quickly reviewing and deleting spams. I do it by saving all messages that are likely to be spam to a separate folder. A quick browse through subject lines of these messages is enough to delete them really quickly. In the future such spam detection is going to become a lot harder. Perhaps a system where the first time sender pays a refundable digital fee to the reader will become necessary. - Igor.

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SAHMD / Porlo
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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SAHMD / Prologue 2/0 (kinda)
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[Author's Note: This chapter, or continuation of the prologue, or whatever the fuck it is, contains an expose of the true diabolical nature of Lucky Green. Unfortunately, the only existing file-copy and printout are at the residence of a friend who is not currently at home, and it seems to be in my best interest to leave town in a hurry, without turning on my headlights and using only back roads and alleys. Anyone who is just so desperate to read Prologue 2/0 that they are peeing thier pants might want to email Jay Tolkoff at whatever internet address appears on Prologue 1/0 that was recently spammed to the CypherPunks list, pleading, bribing, threatening or thanking him, in order to see if he might possibly be open to sending you (or the list) a copy of foresaid missive. At present, continuation of "Space Aliens Hide My Drugs" seems to be largely dependent upon the speed of my vehicle and the volume of my ammo supply. (The more things change, the more they remain insane.) And the good news is... As soon as I hit 'send', Baby and I will be hitting the road, under cover of darkness, with the sounds of Linda Lou and the Drifters belting out Leadbelly's "When I Was A Cowboy" in our wake. Don't get any on'ya...]

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Re: I was auto-outed by an IMG tag in HTML spam
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

William H. Geiger III wrote: > >This could be a good sting opperation. Send an anonymous e-mail >message that points to a childporn site. The [add your jackbooted >thug orginization here] kick in your door as soon as they get the >signal that your machine has connected to the site and downloaded >the images. > >Hmmmm I wonder if there is a way to get the browser to DL an image >without displaying it. The pictures would be sitting in your cache >without even knowing it. Probably not a big issue I would imagine >that a jury would convict on website logs alone even if no pictures >were found on the machine. <img src="http://sting.tla.gov/randpix.cgi" width=1 height=1> would get shmeebs using netscab or microslop...

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Barnes & Nobles indicted on child porno... [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > NATION'S LARGEST BOOKSELLER CHARGED WITH CHILD PORNOGRAPHY > > February 18, 1998 > Web posted at: 10:28 p.m. EST (0328 GMT) > > MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- An Alabama grand jury indicted the > nation's largest bookseller, Barnes & Noble, on child pornography > charges involving the sale of books by noted photographers whose > work includes pictures of nude children. > > State Attorney General Bill Pryor said Wednesday he started the > grand jury investigation after receiving complaints about two books > being sold at Barnes & Noble stores in Alabama: "The Age of > Innocence" by French photographer David Hamilton and "Radiant > Identities" by San Francisco photographer Jock Sturges. > > The indictment accuses the New York-based company of disseminating > "obscene material containing visual reproduction of persons under 17 > years of age involved in obscene acts." ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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privacy trade war
by Attila T. Hun 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FUD: Forwarded at 980219:171500 +0000 by Attila T. Hun <attila(a)hun.org> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Europe, U.S. try to head off privacy trade war _________________________________________________________________ BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - U.S. companies doing business in Europe are nervously counting the days to what they fear could be a new trans-Atlantic showdown. Oct. 24 is the deadline for the 15 European Union nations to implement a tough law designed to protect citizens from computer-age invasions of privacy. The law gives individuals broad rights to know, and in some cases control, how information about their buying habits, credit ratings, health, political affiliations and other characteristics is used. The problem, which has been consuming increasing amounts of attention in Brussels and Washington, is that it also allows governments to block exports of personal information to third countries that do not provide "adequate" protection. The United States is scrambling to show that it does not fall into that category even though it prefers industry self-regulation to strict government controls. "It's clear that the EU has a law with a sort of centralized government-led approach that they have to follow," a U.S. official said. "We don't have such an approach and we're not going to be taking such an approach." Washington argues that industry codes of conduct are an effective way to guard against misuse of data -- a stance that critics say does not appreciate the historical reasons Europe wants the right to privacy enshrined in law. "The difference between the United States (and Europe) is that the smell of fascism is still thick in the air in Europe," said Simon Jones, founder of the British-based global coalition Privacy International, which supports the EU approach. The conflict has raised fears that the two sides are heading for confusion at best and a bruising trade battle at worst once the EU law takes effect. "Every time we meet this comes up because the potential risk is quite large," the U.S. official said. The EU data protection directive, adopted after much controversy in 1995, aims to protect information traveling over electronic networks including the Internet from abuse by potential "Big Brothers." It also aims to ensure that public agencies, banks, mail order firms, multinationals and others can send data across Europe without fearing it will be blocked by differences in national privacy laws. It gives individuals the right to know what data has been collected, to prevent details from being handed over to third parties such as direct marketers, to file complaints about the misuse of data with a national authority and to win compensation for damages. The sticking point for Washington is Article 25, which requires governments to bar organizations from transferring personal data to third countries that do not "ensure an adequate level of protection." Since U.S. law does not mandate the controls required by the EU directive, companies fear the country will be blacklisted. "This disruption of trade would have an enormous impact on data flows required for electronic commerce," the EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce, which lobbies for U.S. business on EU issues, said in a policy paper. Washington has responded to the threat by pushing its business sectors to draw up codes of conduct with teeth. It has set a July 1 deadline for assessing whether that approach will work, the American official said. Industry sources say government officials have urged them to draw up codes bolstered by consumer notices, effective enforcement and outside audits -- or face continued pressure from the EU and home-grown privacy activists. "The hope is there will be a self-regulatory solution strong enough to give the U.S. the opportunity to say, 'Look what we've done' and the Europeans to say, 'They've complied, we can back off,"' Mark Kightlinger, a lawyer at Covington & Burling in Brussels who is following the issue, said. Many U.S. companies already have privacy policies and some sectors have been forced to strengthen their protection under pressure from the Federal Trade Commission. For example, a group of leading American computer database companies that was under fire for releasing Social Security and other information drew up a privacy policy in December. The American Electronics Association says it is among industry groups that are debating how to formulate a code of conduct. The European Commission, the EU executive said, has assured the United States that it does not envisage a blanket ban on data transfers to the United States, even under the status quo. Commission President Jacques Santer said in a letter to the EU Committee that the law allowed for "ad hoc solutions" and a "case by case" approach. But he said codes of conduct alone were not enough. "There is a need for sanctions and individuals must have guaranteed access to their personal data and a means of redress if their rights are violated," he said. A working party of EU national regulators echoed that message when it issued a paper in January outlining criteria for effective self-regulation in third countries. "Self-regulation as such is not a very explicit term," a commission official said. "Does it mean self-regulation, we don't do anything? Or do we inform consumers about our privacy policies and provide a right of access and rectification?" Some say the EU-U.S. conflict highlights the need for a global approach to data privacy. Some international organizations have already taken up the question such as the 29-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Chamber of Commerce. Santer argued in his letter that the Geneva-based World Trade Organization was the appropriate forum. _________________________ NOTICE ______________________ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. _______________________________________________________ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: latin1 Comment: No safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be iQBVAwUBNOxqILR8UA6T6u61AQFcdgIApku3mtLjUenuYQV9tPwev/dbZrcDEeKa Lp/tOlfU5psEeHmcTtA2ltSLwFgZX9dD//41Cll9txi7BfbDOC0YQg== =8FJW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CNN is reporting a news flash, with few details, about two men being arrested in Las Vegas for making or possessing or planning to make anthrax. Details should be emerging, but I have a hunch it's a witch hunt, an invocation of the Four Horsement, to drum up support for Clinton's Dirty Little War. Now, just what are the chances of such an arrest *exactly* as the USG is rattling sabers over Saddam's alleged anthrax and other CBW items? It seems highly likely that the word went out to local FBI offices to "beat the bushes" to produce some news headlines. "Find us some jimbells we can show to the American public as proof that an undeclared, unsupported war with Iraq is justified." Expect more raids on "terrorist cells." Expect more coincidental findings of chemicals and supplies which _could_ be used to make banned items. Expect the usual suspects, like Fineswine, to call for limits on free communications ("which are being used by terrorists") and cryptography. Meanwhile, expect no Congressional vote for Clinton's War with Saddam. Why won't Congress declare war, as is its responsibility (clearly stated in the Constitution)? The last time around, in 1990-1, there was a six-month buildup to the start of the war, there was apparently overwhelming public hatred of Saddam, there was a clear goal ("liberate Kuwait"), and there was clear support by other nations, other Arab states, the United Nations, etc. And yet the vote in Congress was very close...the Congress came very close to not issuing a statement of support. (Of course, this was still not a declaration of war, as the Constitution calls for, but it's about as close as we ever get in this post-WW II "Executive" government, where Congress never declares war, not even in Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf, etc.) And this time around the public's interest in Saddam is ho-hum, the support of other nations is lukewarm to nonexistent, the goals of a war are completely unclear, and Congress appears unwilling to vote support. And yet the war will probably happen. Clinton, the draft dodger and antiwar activist (factual statement, not a judgement on his actions in the 60s), _needs_ a Nice Little War. But I predict it will backfire. He'll kill ten thousand Iraqi women, children, and other innocents, he'll incinerate some underground bunkers holding terrified residents of Baghdad, and he'll bomb some pesticide facilities. But in a region as vast as Iraq is, does anybody think he'll destroy all of those shock-resistant flasks and Thermos bottles carring whatever biological goodies he's already made? When Clinton's minions stood and held up bags of sugar and said "This much anthrax could kill everyone in Washington," why, after the cheering stopped, didn't the obvious question get asked: "And bombing Baghdad stops this bag of sugar from being used in just _what_ way?" If a couple of guys in Las Vegas can get busted for doing Illegal Experiments, regardless of whether actual anthrax is ever found, then why do we think Iraqi, Libyan, Sudanese, and other such nations have not long, long had the means to disperse anthrax in nations which bomb them, kill their children, and tell the U.N. to boycott them? Like I always say, avoid "soft targets." Avoid the Schelling points for attacks, the sites any self-respecting terrorist, freedom fighter, or patriot would attack first. When Washington, the president not the pesthole, advised us to "avoid foreign wars," we should have heeded him. America has become Amerika, Policeman to the World, ready to inject herself into foreign wars in Bosnia, Haiti, Ruwanda, Somalia, Viet Nam, Korea, El Salvador, Kuwait, and on and on. "Pouring out the phials" may be rough justice for Amerika. --Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.

3 3

PLO censoring pro-Iraqi sentiments
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The PLO ("Palestinian Authority") has banned pro-Iraqi demonstrations and has seized the offices of newspapers and radio stations with an editorial bent against the upcoming War with Saddam. (Last time around, of course, the PLO supported Saddam.) So much for any pretense of freedom of speech and the press. (Not that I ever held the PLO, or the State of Israel, or Iraq for that matter, as any kind of exemplars.) Just something to remember when considering the implications of these foreign wars. No doubt Madelyn Albright, William Cohen, and Sandy Berger would love to have had such press controls yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, when their policies were booed and heckled, and when the questions asked were the common sense questions many of us are asking..... I chortled to see tapes of this event being replayed over and over again in Baghdad. But not in Israel. At least not in PLO-controlled areas, now that Washington is their New Master. --Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.

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FBI Claims Germ Attack Foiled
by Eric Cordian 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here's an interesting little story that just floated by on AP. ----- NEW YORK (AP) -- Two members of the Aryan Nation have been arrested in Nevada and accused of plotting a bacterial attack on the New York City subways, an FBI source said today. The source, who spoke in New York on condition of anonymity, provided no other details. The Aryan Nation is a white supremacist group. The FBI in Nevada said that two men were taken into custody in a luxury car outside a doctor's office in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas. FBI spokesman Aurelio Flores in Las Vegas said only the matter was ``serious.'' He said different teams from around the country are ``coming in to look at what we have.'' A news conference was set for late morning Las Vegas time. Flores said the FBI has secured the area where the car was found and had ``made everything safe.'' He said the agency was not looking for explosives. The New York source said the suspects allegedly planned to release a ``dangerous bacterial substance'' in the subways. In Washington, a federal law enforcement source said agents were investigating allegations that the two men arrested in Las Vegas possessed anthrax. The source stressed that the tests were not complete and that there have been unfounded instances in the past involving allegations of anthrax. Anthrax is an infectious disease that usually afflicts only animals, especially cattle and sheep. But Anthrax spores can be produced in a dry form suitable for weapons and can be fatal to humans even in microscopic amounts. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was briefed on the case by FBI Director Louis Freeh and was told ``there is no reason for alarm,'' said mayoral spokeswoman Cristyne Lategano. She would not confirm what the alleged threat was. Giuliani, speaking generally about the threat of terrorism, said: ``Every part of America, every part of the world, is vulnerable to terrorism. ... There is no way to make an open society, a democracy, invulnerable to terrorism or to criminal acts. Short of closing down America and closing down the city of New York, it would be impossible to do that.'' The mayor added, ``It is impossible to have a police officer every place. That would be unrealistic, and it would change the nature of a free society. Short of that, I think New York City is doing everything it can do to try to reduce the risk.'' -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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Opticom.com is *not* the Opticom that makes the TB chips...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, Someone mentioned in private mail that 'opticom.com' was a valid webpage. True, but it isn't the Opticom that is making the tera-byte chips that we have been discussing. I did a whois on them and called the admin contact number and they very quickly made it clear there was no connection. So, if anyone knows how to get in touch with the company on the other side of the big pond please pass that info along to me. I am most interested in getting data sheets, etc. on the devices. Thanks. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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Mainframe solution (fwd)
by D'jinnie 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I do not know where this was published but it seems interesting... --- Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. jinn(a)inetnebr.com ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 13:13:20 -0500 From: "Labry, Phillip" <Phillip.Labry(a)CWI.CABLEW.COM> To: intp(a)jubjub.wizard.com Subject: Mainframe solution,Lengthy but interesting... Resent-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 10:14:27 -0800 (PST) Resent-From: intp(a)jubjub.wizard.com > Got this interesting article from an old friend of mine.........the > best approach seems to be to build GUI-based applications on the > front-end and use mainframes as big servers. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > By Martin J. Garvey > > The mainframe, once the IT backbone for many enterprises, is > regaining that stature. Next month, several large companies will lead > the charge back to big iron in an attempt to rescue unwieldy or > stalled client-server projects. Mainframes, these companies say, > provide better price/performance and return on investment than their > sleeker Unix and Windows NT systems, while delivering proven security, > scalability, and reliable centralized management. > > GTE Data Services, Motorola Semiconductor, University Health > System, and others are at the cusp of a trend toward leveraging the > mainframe to back out of costly or unmanageable Unix and Windows NT > client-server implementations. Brian Jeffery, an analyst with > International Technology Group, an IT consulting firm in Los Altos, > Calif., says about 70 sites worldwide are porting Unix or NT > applications back to IBM OS/390-based mainframes. By fall, he > estimates, as many as 300 sites will convert Oracle, SAP, and > PeopleSoft projects to OS/390. "By 1998, there will be thousands of > these accounts," predicts Jeffery. > > "It's a brand new life for the mainframe," says Cal Braunstein, a > consultant with Robert Frances Group, an IT market research firm in > Westport, Conn. "It's far less expensive to tie Unix and client-server > information into mainframes than it is to spread it out across much > smaller systems." > > University Health System, a 450-bed hospital in San Antonio, hopes > to begin in August to move data-intensive applications, such as > patient accounting and discharge, to the IBM Parallel Sysplex > mainframe. The project is expected to be completed by year's end. "We > can't go in a direction of more and more resources for a nonending > distributed environment," says Tim Geryk, director of technical > services for University Health. "We need to turn it back the other way > for a better scale of economy." > > Currently, University Health's enterprise has 2,500 desktops > attached to LANs, 100 RS/6000 Unix servers, about 600 other Unix > machines, 2,000 dumb terminals, an IBM ES/ 9000 bipolar mainframe, and > an IBM 9672 CMOS mainframe. "It's time-intensive to keep so many > workstations and servers up and running when so many different things > can go wrong," says Geryk. "We can't put our hands around it anymore." > > The company is installing an IBM Parallel Sysplex architecture > that supports Unix applications to provide a single-platform image > across its enterprise. Bill Tudor, director of systems product > management for mainframe maker Hitachi Data Systems in Santa Clara, > Calif., says it's not uncommon to see multiple racks with 200 Unix > servers in the data center. "It's just cheaper to run that same > information on the mainframe," he says. > > According to Jeffery of ITG, it's cheaper and easier to > increase network bandwidth for integration between Unix servers and > the mainframe than it is to add more Unix servers. Also, customers are > demanding that systems management, as well as enterprise data itself, > be centralized. > > And according to the Clipper Group, a consultancy in > Wellesley, Mass., Unix's security hasn't caught up to the mainframe's. > Some intrepid IT users aren't just migrating some applications to > mainframes. They're also consolidating client-server architectures > onto big iron. One financial services company reportedly is > consolidating as many as 600 Unix servers onto one mainframe, sources > say. > > The hidden costs of Unix servers may be the final incentive to > push many customers back to the mainframe. For example, CMOS > mainframes may cost three times more than Unix servers, but management > costs for distributed Unix servers are 20 times greater than those for > supporting a mainframe, according to Giga Information Group in > Cambridge, Mass. > > IT managers can port Unix applications to the OS/390 mainframe > operating system for acceptable performance in a production > environment. Moreover, enterprise applications, including those from > Oracle, PeopleSoft, and SAP, are available on OS/390. And the CMOS > processor architecture, the heart of IBM's Parallel Sysplex mainframe > cluster that scales to 32 processors, is for the first time as > powerful as older bipolar mainframes. > > Motorola's $7.9 billion semiconductor business unit in Phoenix > will begin moving all of its SAP R/3 data to the mainframe in the next > four months. > > Its architecture will then include PC clients, Unix servers as > application servers, and an IBM OS/390-based Parallel Sysplex > mainframe as host for about 500 Gbytes of data. The company says it is > one of five pilot sites for SAP's R/3 on the mainframe. Before taking > on the pilot, the semiconductor manufacturer evaluated multiple Unix > servers and databases. The Unix systems lost to the mainframe because > they lacked the power and manageability Motorola was looking for. "It > was the best way to keep the database in one place," says Patrick > Horrigan, corporate VP and IS director for Motorola's SPS division. > "And it's 40% cheaper than the Unix solutions." > > 'Tons Of Unix' > At GTE Data Services in Temple Terrace, Fla., shifting its > distributed applications to the mainframe conforms to the division's > motto of "right data, right device." The group is consolidating six > systems into three or four. "With our so-called distributed systems,we > have tons of Unix out there, but it's really not even distributed," > says operations director Pat Remick. "We're just piling a lot of Unix > boxes on raised floors next to the mainframes, so we decided to look > at the better reliability and scalability of the mainframe." > > Analysts point out that server consolidation isn't relegated > solely to mainframes. HP and Sun Microsystems recently both announced > enterprise-class servers that many say will suffice as Unix > consolidation servers. "There is increasing value in consolidating > Unix servers and PC servers separate from mainframes," says John > Young, VP of enterprise systems planning for the Clipper Group. > "People are realizing the savings behind the re-emergence of the data > center. It's the place for consolidating processing, management, > accountability, and data storage." > > The pioneers in the migration back to mainframes say they > aren't ready to dismiss Unix. "Our client and application server tiers > of R/3 will remain distributed with Unix," says Motorola SPS's > Horrigan. However, distributed computing could benefit from greater > reliability, availability, and scalability. "Downtime from distributed > systems costs too much in management, and I know a lot of processing > is on Unix," says GTE's Remick. "But some transition must happen. > Something has to be done." > > > > SIDEBAR:Reasons For Returning > * Mainframe security is at least two years ahead of Unix or Windows > NT > * OS/390 can run Unix, NT, and enterprise applications such as SAP > R/3 > * Mainframes have the capacity to store a database of 500 Gbytes or > more without splitting it up > * Parallel Sysplex configurations have no single point of failure > and are easy to update and maintain while the system is running > > Data: > InformationWeek > > > > -- > > > > > > > > >

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No Real Debate Yet on the War
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

By the way, for those of you not living in the U.S., and who haven't been here to see the way the debate (or lack of it) has been developing in the U.S., let me make a few points: * the preparations for a new war have been going on for several weeks * Congress has taken no votes one way or the other about this imminent war * Congress, in fact, is not in session, and has not been called back into session to debate and discuss and ultimately vote on a Declaration of War (or what passes for it these days, a "vote of moral support") * the American public has shown a lukewarm response at best to the plans, such as they understand them * speaking of plans, the plans are very vague. The public does not know what the goals of a war might be, what the endgame options are, how many Americans are likely to die, what the likely counterpunch will be (hint: think terrorist attacks), and just how the U.S. plans to fight a war without clear goals and clear support. * essentially no one thinks a bombing campaign will either kill Saddam, who moves around a lot to highly secret locations (including houses of peasants), or will destroy all of those small cannisters of anthrax and sarin and the like...when asked, Albright and Cohen are vague and dissembling. * meanwhile, scare reports of terrorists in Las Vegas are making the headlines...a perfect "give us some jimbells to scare the nation" scenario. (With the usual scary stuff about his "survivalist" books, his membership in Christian Identity, and his links to Aryan Nation. Throw him jail!) In short, where is the debate about this upcoming war? Is Congress now so ineffectual that its main power, the power to declare war, is no longer "operative"? Amazing. --Tim May, posting before his own home gets raided for having supplied PGP to Christian Identity and Aryan Nation. Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.

5 5

Mainframe solutions
by Roger J. Jones 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Having looked at this path I suggest that the article is misleading. No one moves SAP to a mainframe. What you do is move the DBMS from Oracle under UNIX (the normal implementation for 1000 concurrent users or less) to Oracle or more likely DB2 on the mainframe. Also curious about how mainframe security is 2 years ahead of Unix and/or NT. There is almost no security on a mainframe unless you add a package such as ACF2 or TopSecret. Neither are easy to administer, easy to audit, nor do either have anything to do with application security. They monitor use of files, terminals and the like. As far as I know, there is no package that can intercept the PSW being returned after a system call in the System (vice User) state. (Being in system state on a mainframe is like being root in UNIX) I assure you that in the millions of lines of code, much over 25 years old, in the typical mainframe operating system you don't have to wait long for the "right word"

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Congress getting involved in crypto this year
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm in the CFP computer room listening to CDT's Alan Davidson finish his comments on a panel discussion about crypto: "Congress is getting involved in the crypto debate. Bad things may happen, good things may happen. It depends on all of you." Anyone want to bet on the possibility of Congress doing a "good thing" on crypto? Remember, there's no bill being considered in either house of the Congress that does *not* have domestic controls on encryption: the crypto-in-a-crime penalties. Now Jason Mahler, from the Office of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif), is speaking. He stressed that the House Commerce committee "resoundingly" voted down the FBI's bill last September -- but neglected to say that the panel approved included a *doubling* of crypto-in-a-crime penalties. He says Lofgren's plans are to push crypto legislation this year: "Hopefully if we get it [passed] in the House in the spring we'll move to the Senate." What about a presidential veto? "We're going to put pressure on the administration." Now Mahler is talking about how much support the SAFE bill has in the House (yes, the version of SAFE with crypto-in-a-crime penalties) and how it's a good thing. True, a majority of members of the House were at one point cosponsors. But this is a misguided way to look at the situation. Some of these "cosponsors" and "crypto supporters" voted for the FBI's bill. Others, like the late Sonny Bono, ended up speaking out against it. Lobbyists are about to find out that the support for crypto freedom in the Congress is wide but very, very shallow. -Declan

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lately, anonymous messages sent to the list with Replay's Web-based remailer have not been getting through - anyone know if one or more of these remailers (efga, replay, ml, obscura, cypherpunks.ca) are down? In case my last message doesn't get through, I'm looking for info on how one can create and use a persistent Nym. I looked and can't find info on how to do this anywhere (besides the creation of a "free" email account somewhere). Can any cypherpunks help? Thank you.

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What are the "Soft Targets"?
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Someone asked me what I meant by "soft targets," and what specifically some of them are. I won't provide a list here, lest I be tarred by the same "guilt by association" brush the Las Vegans are facing in the media. ("The Army found a map of the New York City subway system." Thoughtcrime.) A "soft target" is a target of opportunity that is both: -- almost impossible to defend and -- valuable for publicity purposes if attacked Traditionally, examples have been public squares, train stations, hotel , etc. When U.S.-sponsored terrorists blew up the Balogna, Italy train station, they knew this would generate massive fear and backlashes against the Left (whom the U.S. supported terrorists were pretending to represent...cf. the info on Lucio Gelli, the strategy of tension, the P2 Lodge, Stefano Delle Chiaie, etc.). And when the Jewish terrorists in Palestine wanted to make a point, they bombed the King David Hotel. In the U.S., soft targets abound. These would typically be crowded, downtown areas any of the 30 or 50 largest cities, but also various tourist attractions and government facilities (though government facilities tend to be "harder" targets, and so less likely). With aerosol weapons, subways and indoor locations are more likely to be targets. Use your own judgment, but I choose to avoid any of the various soft targets near me. -Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.

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TechNet on Feinstein, SF Chron article, and encryption
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 12:58:17 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: TechNet on Feinstein, SF Chron article, and encryption This in response to these comments in the SF Chron article, sent in a sep. message: >Wade Randlett, a Democratic Leadership Council activist who advises >TechNet, said Feinstein's ``detractors are narrow- minded and hung up on >her stance on encryption. If you look at any broad sweep, she is as big a >champion for Silicon Valley as anyone in the U.S. Senate.'' -Declan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 12:43:14 -0800 From: "Garrett, Sean" <sgarrett(a)alexander-pr.com> To: "'declan(a)well.com'" <declan(a)well.com> Subject: Feinstein & Internet Policy Declan: Below is the awaited article about Senator Feinstein and Internet policy. I also want to make sure that TechNet's position on the encryption debate is clear. While encryption regulations are not the only major issue facing the industry, we recognize that they are extremely important to many (including most of TechNet's members). While TechNet as an organization is not playing a role in the debate, we believe the dialogue that we facilitate between tech CEOs and public officials will help further all of our collective goals-including the industry's domestic and export crypto goals. Regarding Senator Feinstein, we hope that future meetings between her and the industry are productive on encryption and other important issues. We do wholeheartedly appreciate the Senator's leadership with education and securities litigation reform-TechNet's two policy goals. Best, Sean Garrett Alexander Communications (representing the Technology Network) Sgarrett(a)alexandercom.com

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Re: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Yet another wrong call by Tim "Chicken Little" May: >CNN is reporting a news flash, with few details, about two men being >arrested in Las Vegas for making or possessing or planning to make >anthrax. Details should be emerging, but I have a hunch it's a witch >hunt, an invocation of the Four Horsement, to drum up support for >Clinton's Dirty Little War. Nonsense. This has nothing to do with Saddam. These men are from the Aryan Nation, a militia group (and one which Tim secretly supports, being a strong believer in Aryan superiority). No wonder he is upset, when his favorite racists are shown to be just another bunch of terrorists, willing to kill innocents to promote their hate-filled cause. >"Find us some jimbells we can show to the American public as proof that >an undeclared, unsupported war with Iraq is justified." How incoherent can you get? How on earth can terrorism by the militias be related to the war in Iraq? Jeez, what an idiot. >Wanna bet they also bring crypto in this media circus? This would be funny if it weren't so sad. And you guys really _respect_ someone who would write this nonsense? It's a sad story when the one who is supposed to be the brains of the group is this stupid.

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RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Ernest Hua <Hua(a)teralogic-inc.com> > Subject: RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding > Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 14:51:32 -0800 > The real issue is why NOW? It's just a bit coincidental, don't you > think, that someone so blatantly advertises his intimate relationships > with biological weapons for years is just now suddenly being arrested? > In politics, timing is everything. > > I am not the least bit sorry for this guy if he really possessed > anything, but I'm just a bit skeptical that this is just another routine > domestic terrorism arrest. There is one other potential reason why 'now'. The guy doing the deed figured it was a prime time to strike. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding
by Ernest Hua 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Relax ... Tim is not condoning this guy's behavior. The real issue is why NOW? It's just a bit coincidental, don't you think, that someone so blatantly advertises his intimate relationships with biological weapons for years is just now suddenly being arrested? In politics, timing is everything. I am not the least bit sorry for this guy if he really possessed anything, but I'm just a bit skeptical that this is just another routine domestic terrorism arrest. Ern -----Original Message----- From: Anonymous [SMTP:nobody@REPLAY.COM] Sent: Thursday, February 19, 1998 1:35 PM To: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net Subject: Re: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding Yet another wrong call by Tim "Chicken Little" May: >CNN is reporting a news flash, with few details, about two men being >arrested in Las Vegas for making or possessing or planning to make >anthrax. Details should be emerging, but I have a hunch it's a witch >hunt, an invocation of the Four Horsement, to drum up support for >Clinton's Dirty Little War. Nonsense. This has nothing to do with Saddam. These men are from the Aryan Nation, a militia group (and one which Tim secretly supports, being a strong believer in Aryan superiority). No wonder he is upset, when his favorite racists are shown to be just another bunch of terrorists, willing to kill innocents to promote their hate-filled cause. >"Find us some jimbells we can show to the American public as proof that >an undeclared, unsupported war with Iraq is justified." How incoherent can you get? How on earth can terrorism by the militias be related to the war in Iraq? Jeez, what an idiot. >Wanna bet they also bring crypto in this media circus? This would be funny if it weren't so sad. And you guys really _respect_ someone who would write this nonsense? It's a sad story when the one who is supposed to be the brains of the group is this stupid.

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RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding (fwd)
by Ernest Hua 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If the guy was after visibility, yes, then I would agree with you (re: "prime time"). Of course, it could also just be monumental stupidity on his timing (to confirm the FBI's "dumb criminal" model). Ern -----Original Message----- From: Jim Choate [SMTP:ravage@ssz.com] Sent: Thursday, February 19, 1998 3:18 PM To: cypherpunks(a)ssz.com Subject: RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding (fwd) Forwarded message: > From: Ernest Hua <Hua(a)teralogic-inc.com> > Subject: RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding > Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 14:51:32 -0800 > The real issue is why NOW? It's just a bit coincidental, don't you > think, that someone so blatantly advertises his intimate relationships > with biological weapons for years is just now suddenly being arrested? > In politics, timing is everything. > > I am not the least bit sorry for this guy if he really possessed > anything, but I'm just a bit skeptical that this is just another routine > domestic terrorism arrest. There is one other potential reason why 'now'. The guy doing the deed figured it was a prime time to strike. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Ernest Hua <Hua(a)teralogic-inc.com> > Subject: RE: Anthrax--The Horsemen are Riding (fwd) > Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 15:26:38 -0800 > If the guy was after visibility, yes, then I would agree with you (re: > "prime time"). > > Of course, it could also just be monumental stupidity on his timing (to > confirm the FBI's "dumb criminal" model). The point I was thinking of was that such a timing would be when the country as a whole was distracted with over-seas events. Since they were Aryan Nation related, as I understand it, the goal was probably to further their white supremacy agenda. An attack on some 'hood would cause a civil uproar between blacks and whites that could have a impact of some importance. The result of that could be quite pervasive. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | When a man assumes a public trust, he should | | consider himself public property. | | | | Thomas Jefferson | | | | | | _____ 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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Vile Vial Files
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

One of the interesting items revealed today was that an FBI file was opened on the Ohio man when he ordered the bubonic plague culture a few years ago. The Maryland company forwarded his name to the Feds, apparently as part of a regular arrangement to do so. The Feds did an investigation, found he had used his company's name "fraudulently" (whatever that might be), and used this to convict him on fraud charges. (Not on the bubonic plague charges, though, as that wasn't a crime. At least not then.) This is part of a larger surveillance state situation, with buyers of all sorts of chemicals reported to the Feds. With buyers of grow lamps reported. (And supposedly the electric utility companies are reporting unusual power usages in the middle of the night to Feds.) While there may be various good reasons not to have botulism or bubonic plague cultures sold to ordinary folks, this whole situation raises serious issues. And the initiation of FBI investigations of purchasers of many kinds of chemicals raises issues. (One can asssume that with more and more such things being added to the "watch lists" each year, that there will be less acceptance of cash, or anonymous digital cash, for such purchases.) ObMinorNote: I recently tried to buy a bag of ammonium nitrate for my yard...the local yard store says it hasn't been available to ordinary customers since OKC. I had to settle for ammonium sulfate instead. We live in a dangerous world, full of potentially dangerous substances and things. Instead of dealing with the danger on a personal basis, we are using the government as our nanny, and also letting it record our purchases, open files on us for "unusual" purchases, and generally track our actions. Which actually won't have much effect on dedicated terrorists and criminals. --Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.

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Anthrax
by Bj�rn Karger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is it just coincidence that this scenario (crazy Amerikans brewing biowarfare in their homes) was just discussed on Cypherpunks just days before the attack? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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onward, Clinton soldiers / not so fast, Sen. Lott
by Attila T. Hun 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- let's put the Saddam affair in perspective; I'm sure anyone who is generally enlightened will agree that Bubba needs a nice little war to distract attention from his impending doom from a wandering dickhead which Hillary obviously does not, and has not, serviced adequately. Eric Margolis, whom I have known for many years, is an American, and a Vietnam veteran, on the staff of the Toronto Sun, who went to Canada for editorial freedom. he calls it like he sees it, and the following article on American's failed MidEast foreign policy since WWII should be must reading for the war mongers who have never learned their history and are about to repeat it. _________________________ NOTICE ______________________ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. _______________________________________________________ NOT SO FAST, SEN. LOTT! by Eric Margolis Toronto Sun Editorial Columnist February 16, 1998 Senate majority leader Trent Lott and other senior Republicans are demanding the US adopt a long-term strategy of covert action and subversion to overthrow Saddam Hussein and other Mideast troublemakers who disturb the Pax Americana. Bombing Iraq is simply not enough, warned war-fevered Republicans. Saddam must be driven from power once and for all. Many pro-Israel Conservatives demand the US Army march on Baghdad. If Senator Lott knew Mideast history better, he might not be so eager for covert action, or hopeful Iraq's government could be overthrown to America's profit. He might even learn the United States is not the solution to the Mideast's chronic instability and tensions, but a major source. A few examples: *1947 Washington is displeased by Syria's government. A CIA-Army `political action team' mounts a coup, employing a `CIA asset,' Gen. Husni Za'im. As senior CIA Mideast agent Miles Copeland delightfully recalls, the Americans kept calling Za'im `our boy,' or `Husni,' and ordering him about. The day after Za'im's coup, Copeland and the American agents went to inform the new dictator whom he would appoint as ambassadors and cabinet ministers. When the Americans called him, `Husni,' Za'im ordered them to `stand at attention,' and address him as `Excellency.' US-Syrian relations have been terrible ever since. Two subsequent, US-backed coups backfired. *1952 The US helps engineer a coup against British puppet ruler of Egypt, King Farouk. CIA backs a young colonel, Gammal Abdel Nasser. But when the US later tries to pressure Nasser into joining Washington's `new order' for the Mideast, the Baghdad Pact, Nasser rebels and becomes America's enemy number one. CIA tries first to overthrow, than assassinate Nasser. All attempts fail. *1953 Iran's popular, elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh, attempts to assert Iranian control of his nation's oil industry, whose profits go to the US and Britain. A CIA coup overthrows Mossadegh, and puts `our boy' Reza Shah on the throne. Iran's US-trained secret police keep the Shah in power through a reign of terror. Islamic-nationalist revolution sweeps Iran in 1979, ending US domination. *1957/58 US and Britain thwart popular uprisings against King Hussein of Jordan. *1958 Washington installs a client regime in Lebanon, which then dutifully calls for US troops. Beginning of Lebanon's 35 years of instability and civil war. *1958 Britain's Iraqi puppets, King Faisal and Nuri as- Said, overthrown by the bloodthirsty Col. Kassim. US uses Kassim to attack Nasser. Kassim murdered by Col. Aref in CIA-mounted coup. Aref's helicopter blown up. A few more murders later, CIA helps engineer into power a promising, young, Baath Party enforcer, Saddam Hussein, *1960 Anwar Sadat goes on CIA payroll. After Nasser's death, CIA puts Sadat into power in Egypt. Corrupt and hated, Sadat is assassinated to great popular joy.. *1969 The US elbows Britain out of Libya to gain control of its high-grade oil. CIA overthrows British puppet, King Idris, and - - in one of its most brilliant moves - helps into power a young, reformist colonel, Muammar Khadaffi. When Khadaffi subsequently trumpets the Arabs are being robbed of their oil by the west, and raises prices, he goes unto America's hit list. *1976 US, Iran and Israel secretly arm Iraq's Kurds and promote their rebellion to destabilize Iraq. Kurdish revolt plays major role in igniting Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988 in which one million died. US abandons Kurds, gets chummy with Baghdad. *1980 Saddam Hussein becomes America's most important Mideast ally in trying to crush Iran's Islamic revolution. Urged on, armed and financed by the US, Saddam invades Iran in 1980. CIA and Pentagon supply military advice and intelligence on Iran. US and British intelligence help Iraq obtain its chemical and biological warfare capabilities. *1983 US attempts to install a client, Christian/fascist regime in Lebanon, drive out Syrian influence. US Marines sent to Beirut, under cover of `peace-keepers.' They are bombed out of Lebanon by Shia militants: 309 Americans die, including CIA's top Mideast staff. *1985 CIA's revenge backfires. Lebanese CIA agents detonate truck bomb in Beirut in a failed attempt to assassinate Shia leader, Sheik Fadlallah. Eighty-three civilians killed, 240 wounded. *1986 US tries to assassinate Khadaffi by bombing his residence in Tripoli. One baby daughter killed, one injured. He escapes. Downing of Pan Am and French UTA flights may be revenge for this failed hit. Three other attempt to assassinate Khadaffi, using CIA-organized Libyan exiles, fail. *1996 The Bay of Camels - CIA's biggest flop since Cuba. Urged on by President Clinton, CIA mounts an elaborate coup against Saddam Hussein. Iraqi exiles, armed and trained by CIA, to march on Baghdad from US/British ruled Kurdistan. CIA organizes a cabal of generals to assassinate Saddam. Public places in Baghdad are bombed, many civilians killed, in order to `destabilize' Iraq (this while the US is busy denouncing terrorism). But Saddam's spies have infiltrated the plot. The whole operation collapses. CIA's agent network in Iraq is rolled up. Many Kurds back Saddam, turn on pro-US Kurds. CIA agents in Kurdistan run for their lives, abandoning allies and tons of documents. Saddam is strengthened. CIA's inept Director, John Deutch, fired for this Mother of All Fiascos. . Republicans now urge more of the above to keep the Mideast calm. You certainly can't argue with success. copyright eric margolis 1998 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: latin1 Comment: No safety this side of the grave. Never was; never will be iQBVAwUBNOzdC7R8UA6T6u61AQGciwH8DV95VLZFazEpV9YOI7xaItpsq2892hlW LsEgcfoDRAPp4qHworr1kFymnzNpJXToj1KGO6/yyoEam8Xjw/MBig== =8rR0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: PLO censoring pro-Iraqi sentiments
by Brian B. Riley 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> The next time you "cheer to see the U.S. gets its tail kicked", why >> don't you think about the American troops who lost their lives or were >> maimed, or who were doing something they may have been personally and >> morally against, but they chose to be professional soldiers, and instead >> of displaying cowardice, they tried to do what was asked of them. I prefer to view what Tim said in the context that "Amerika" the ugly got its tail kicked in the broader sense. I don't believe that Tim took any pleasure in seeing American soldiers getting killed. The fact remains that we, Amerika, did get our tail kicked in Somalia; like Viet Nam it was little reflection on the troops but a reflection of the of a command staff being run by Washington DC Apparatchiki all suffering from cranio-rectal inversion. America deserves all the ridicule that has been heaped upon it for those fiascos; only ... some time, maybe we can but hope the we will finally learn at least one lesson and get it right once before I go for the long sleep! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBNOz23D7r4fUXwraZAQFTmAf+NduMJzQp+B4bgILGKcE2n2nMiqqCbV3F gfDqNCANv8I+9VFIZp5yXomg6fmrv/byz/KBAJ0Vb+r8Sgmw/EofflN6s5fInVTq GZlg9aGkdQRHSo8dRuGsxeIkQE0tYqISqFWLNdf5raKEE1UygYoOxQ83snZFvFLU VFOdo37zepo3qlfRNwt2TSW4Wg5D02uQHQIONah64/F9XIENoBAfTLhdeglAN05z L+JGC0hUgyzjv+vmN4qBgtQJIKKOJO1eyQsT1csDXXWPoD/O7I+w6bwS98Yf4UA2 d8T+G8vBdms7rpjQkX7cpa2XASufl1A+3YI8vVDMUREBSjJRTH85nA== =tsyh -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Brian B. Riley --> http://members.macconnect.com/~brianbr For PGP Keys <mailto:brianbr@together.net?subject=Get%20PGP%20Key> "Despite the bleating of various socialistically-anointed freakshow groups, the vast majority of us realize that bringing children into the world is not only the most wonderful endeavor with which we can be associated but absolutely essential if we aren't going to put ourselves on the EPA's endangered species list." Winston Borden

5 6

IFCA
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 21:52:04 -0400 X-Authentication-Warning: online.offshore.com.ai: list set sender to fc98-request(a)offshore.com.ai using -f Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 02:33:04 +0100 (MET) From: Ray Hirschfeld <R.Hirschfeld(a)cwi.nl> To: fc98(a)offshore.com.ai Subject: IFCA Resent-From: fc98(a)offshore.com.ai X-Mailing-List: <fc98(a)offshore.com.ai> archive/latest X-Loop: fc98(a)offshore.com.ai Precedence: list Resent-Sender: fc98-request(a)offshore.com.ai The second year of a new conference is perhaps the most difficult--the novelty has worn off but the conference is not yet firmly established. But all indications for FC98 are promising. Another success next week will be a signal to do it again next year. A new organization, the International Financial Cryptography Association (IFCA) has been formed to support future meetings of the Financial Cryptography conference. IFCA will not only be responsible for organizational aspects of the conference, but will also select the program chair. All paid registrations of FC98 will automatically receive a year's membership in IFCA (unless they indicate that they do not wish to join). Others may join by paying membership dues. A first general meeting of IFCA will be held on the evening of Tuesday February 24, just before the conference rump session, and all members are encouraged to attend. The main purposes of the meeting will be to elect directors and to discuss possible locations for FC99 (and perhaps FC00). If you are interested in hosting an FC conference and can provide some logistic support for it, you are invited to bring a proposal to the meeting. Ideas tossed around so far have mostly focused on other "financial island" locations, e.g., Grand Cayman, Hong Kong, Manhattan, Jersey, etc., but anyplace reasonable will be considered. (There will almost certainly be insufficient information available at the time of the meeting to make a decision, but an indication of the wishes of the membership will be gathered to help guide the directors.) --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>

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No Subject
by Daniel J. Boone 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Barry Wainwright wrote: > > At 4:51 pm -0500 on 10/2/98, sombody pretending to be Brian B. Riley wrote: > > > Alabama licenses have the holder's SSN on them (because that way > >the state gets more Federal highway $), except his parents had never > >applied to get him one, because of their religion. > > What religion precludes the holding of a SS no.? Here's one: Western Sect Freedonianism. Check out http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/2110/F_Freedonian.html <g> -- J.Q. Lurker

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A Bit About Your Last Name
by classic＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: PLO censoring pro-Iraqi sentiments
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Eric J. Tune wrote: > You know Tim, I respect most of what you write, and I respect you in that > you have your own free will and opinions and the right to express them, but > what you have forgotten in your anarchistic ravings is that PEOPLE DIED IN > SOMALIA, including a personal friend of mine. They were all somebody's > son, brother, and friend. These soldiers went where they were ordered to > go, as befits a soldier, and tried to do the job they were given and > accomplish the mission, and for that EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVES Y O U R > RESPECT. I am quite sure the vast majority of them thought it was patently > stupid to go to Somalia in the first place, but a soldier follows orders, > legal ones, and tries to get the job done regardless of personal feelings. There is honor in fighting for something you believe in, taking a risk with the belief that your actions may make things better. What were those soldiers in Somalia fighting for? Yes, we know those people died in Somalia. What did they die for? Oh, just following orders... where have I heard that before...

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No Subject
by David Lopes 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Subscribe

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One Nation birthday raffle
by Global Web Builders 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear One Nation Supporter, We are currently selling tockets for One Nation first birthday raffle. The first prize is a QANTAS Global Explorer Holiday for two valued at $12,000 - a 23 day trip visiting Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Honolulu. The second prize is a 7 day holiday to Hawaii at the Outrigger Reef Hotel for two - value $5,000. The third prize is a 7nights stay at the Novotel Palm Cove at Cairns - value $3,000. You can order a book of 5 tickets (minimum) at $10 per book (or $2 per ticket) by credit card by phoning 1800 620088. Winner's names being drawn at One Nation's Birthday Party at 7pm on April 11th 1998. Winners will be notified by phone and mail with the results being published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday 17th April 1998. Order now while tickets remain!

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Re: PLO censoring pro-Iraqi sentiments
by Eric J. Tune 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Eric Tune writes: > >> You know Tim, I respect most of what you write, and I respect you in >> that you have your own free will and opinions and the right to express >> them, but what you have forgotten in your anarchistic ravings is that >> PEOPLE DIED IN SOMALIA, including a personal friend of mine. They were >> all somebody's son, brother, and friend. > >So were the 100,000 Iraqi military killed by Bush, and the 1,000,000 >Iraqis of all ages killed by US sanctions. So were the civilians >bulldozed into mass graves in Panama, so the country would look neat and >tidy for the arrival of the ReportWhores. > >What the world needs now is not another mass killing of Iraqis by the >United States government. What the world really needs now is a fifty >dollar weapon that sinks aircraft carriers. > >> These soldiers went where they were ordered to go, as befits a soldier, >> and tried to do the job they were given and accomplish the mission, and >> for that EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVES Y O U R RESPECT. I am quite sure >> the vast majority of them thought it was patently stupid to go to >> Somalia in the first place, but a soldier follows orders, legal ones, >> and tries to get the job done regardless of personal feelings. > >Most of them would probably follow "legal orders" to fire upon American >civilians too. You ever served in the military? Unless you've been under fire, you should shut the fuck up about shit you know nothing about nor could comprehend. >> The next time you "cheer to see the U.S. gets its tail kicked", why >> don't you think about the American troops who lost their lives or were >> maimed, or who were doing something they may have been personally and >> morally against, but they chose to be professional soldiers, and instead >> of displaying cowardice, they tried to do what was asked of them. > >The universe does not view the lives of Americans as more valuable than >the lives of people murdered by Americans. Listen up jerk, in case you didn't get any news during 1990, Iraq attacked Kuwait, and murdered thousands of Kuwaitis. "Don't start no shit and there won't be no shit"... ever heard that, asshole? America would have never been involved if Iraq hadn't invaded Kuwait. I was there, in a Bradley, and we could have rolled all over Baghdad, especially after what the Iraqi bastards did to the Kuwaitis, but it wasn't done. Unfortunately Saddam Hussein stayed in power. There will not be a shred of a chance for peace in that region until he is DEAD. I don't think air strikes are the answer to this, and I think Clinton is a moron for his present policy, War is the worst thing that man can do to other men, and there is no such thing as "the good fight"... war is hell. Period. Until you have been in a war, you have no idea of what you are talking about. But if you think that Iraq was "more right" or better yet, "less wrong", you need a radical lobotomy, or perhaps you've already had one. >> Think of the innocent civilians who inevitably die in the conflicts >> started by the megalomaniacs like Saddam Hussein. > >You mean all those melted child car seats and scorched teddy bears on >George Bush's "Highway of Death" leading out of Kuwait? Evidently, you again know nothing of what the Iraqis did to the Kuwaitis on their way in to Kuwait. Get educated, shithead. >Unfortunately, for all the braying Americans do about freedom, Americans >can never be truly happy unless someone is telling them what to do, or >they are telling someone else what to do, or they are bombing someone for >not doing what they have told them to do. > >The only thing Americans understand is dead Americans. The only thing. You sound like nothing more than disillusioned, spoiled, pompous asshole when you presume to know what Americans "understand". Your anarchistic ravings only mark you for the idiot you are. To everyone else besides Cordian who reads this, my apologies, but for all it's failings, I still have pride in America... ...not for all the foreign policy bullshit or the way the government fucks us over, or starts wars, or sticks their collective nose in other countries business...but for the fact that as a whole people, Americans still keep trying, everyday, to be a better people. I'm proud of that. Eric Tune

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Re: Cryptographic Implementations
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:03 PM 2/18/98 +0530, Akshay Vashist wrote: >Hi, > Could somebody point me to some of the software implementations >of the cryptographic algorithms ( RSA , DES ,3DES ) .Actually, >Iam interested in evaluating their performance on firewalls etc., >so if there are sites, that contain their performance metrics/data >and the time it takes to break them ( approximately , on an average >m/c say sun ultra sparc ), please do mail me.Any help is welcome. There are a lot of good crypto web and ftp sites. Look at ftp.ox.ac.uk and ftp.funet.fi . Look at Ron Rivest's pages (AltaVista knows where they are.) Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Re: Dealing with Spam, Part 2
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:27 PM 2/18/98 +0000, T.G.Griffiths(a)exeter.ac.uk wrote: >Mark(a)unicorn.com makes a good point about MailGuard. >If A and B both run MailGuard, and neither is on the >other's allowed list, do you get an infinite bounce >when A mails B or does the prog. get around it? I can >think of a couple of ways, but what does MailGuard do? The classic implementations of systems like that do one of three things 0) Don't think, leading to infinite mailbounces (often caught in testing, since it's very bad.) 1) Prevent loops, but there's no way to communicate 2) Prevent loops, and recognize mail from other MailThingies, which makes it easy for Spammers to forge. If you get fancy, you can probably work something like Receive message Send and record Alice-cookie -> <-- Reply with Alice-cookie and new Bob-cookie verify Alice-cookie and accept message Reply to Bob-cookie --> Verify Bob-cookie for future use Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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by postmaster 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Declan pro-cencorship (sorta) (fwd)
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Unfortunately, there's a conflict between real definitions of spam (you knew it when you sent it, and the recipients knew it too) and the real-world problems encountered with blocking/canceling spam, which tends to result in either censorship or under-blocking. Number of recipients _isn't_ the right criterion at all - but it's objective enough to agree on, and usually makes a clear enough boundary between most spammers and most non-spammers. Rigidly defining numerical limits can also have serious problems, because there are good messages that get excluded. The more important number is the number of people deciding which things are and are not spam - "More than 1" is best, while "There can be only one" is censorship, either deliberate or as a side-effect. At 10:52 PM 2/17/98 -0500, Robert A. Costner wrote: >At 07:20 PM 2/17/98 -0600, Jim Choate wrote: >>So, we actualy do agree that the number of recipients is irrelevant. > >When it comes to spam, the ONLY thing that is relevant is the number of >recipients, and whether these recipients have offered some form of implicit >or explicit permission to receive the email. ... >Any attempt whatsoever to define spam in terms of content and how liked or >not liked the message is, interferes with traditional 1st amendment >definitions of speech, if codified in law or promulgated through (gov't) >rules. Ignoring first amendment concerns, any attempt to define spam in >terms of anything other than numbers causes a severe curtailing of the true >communication and business purposes of the internet. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Re: Declan pro-cencorship (sorta) (fwd)
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Unlike the rest of this discussion, Jim is mostly right here, and in a way that neither censors anyone nor discourages them from providing filtering services for people who want it. However, Wabe is reinventing NoCeMs - which support multiple NoCeM issuers, and you can pick any one or more that you like to kill off spam for you before you read it. I'm not sure how widely available implementations of NoCeM mailreaders are; probably they're mostly Emacs macros. On the other hand, while the Cypherpunks list gets lots of noise, it doesn't get much spam (except when somebody's targeting it), Filters that pick out the most interesting 10% are much more useful than filters that discard the bottom 10%. Attacking the list, while less suicidal than spamming alt.2600, is still not very bright, given the potential risks :-) >> Date: Sun, 15 Feb 1998 12:40:39 +0000 >> From: wabe <wabe(a)smart.net> >> Any reason Cyperpunks couldn't set up a distributed "spam innoculator?" >> >> If I get spam, I'd send it to "spam(a)cypherpunks.com" and then spam would >> send a fingerprint to all of our modified netscape messengers, which have been >> programmed to erase any messages which match that fingerprint. >> >> Then, if one person sees a spam message and declares it spam, no one >> else has to see it. (If they get the message from spam@cypherpunks in time.) At 12:02 PM 2/15/98 -0600, Jim Choate wrote: >What makes you think you are suitable to decide what others want to see? >How is this any different than any other form of censorship? This exact >issue is why the CDR was setup with multiple nodes. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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RE: financial incentives for hashcash?
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:13 PM 2/17/98 -0500, Fisher Mark wrote: >I am curious -- does anyone have any statistics on how much spam (what >percentage) is done via SMTP relay? To me, using the SMTP service of >someone/something you don't know to send 1000's/10,000's/more of email >messages seems pretty unfriendly at best. Yes, it's one of the major techniques used by spammers; the other big one is disposable accounts. maps.vix.com has information about the Realtime Blackhole List system, which lets you configure your sendmail system to reject incoming mail from any system that permits relays, and provides lots of information about setting your system not to do relays. They're a bit inflexible, but if you're up to rolling your own sendmail.cf code, you can fix that. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Re: Declan pro-cencorship (sorta) (fwd)
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:03 PM 2/15/98 -0600, Jim Choate wrote: >Then you are saying that the only way to send email to yourself, for >example, is to contact you prior to the transmission and obtain your >permission to send the traffic? That's fine - people who take this approach may get less mail from interesting people as well as getting less mail from spammers. It's easy to find mail forwarding systems that don't cost much and will filter out well-known spam, either for free or for a small fee. Pobox.com offers this, and I think the iname.com systems do also; I don't know about hotmail and other web-based mailreaders. >Why should the fact that I have a mailbox on my front porch while you use a >mailbox (that you pay extra for) at the post office matter to my ability to >send you a letter in the mail? Should I call you on the phone and ask your >permission before sending it? Should I not get some mechanism to contact >you before contacting you using the phone? No ,I assume because local calls >are flat rate and therefore don't increase your out of pocket expense? Then >perhaps the problem is you're choice of payment for net connections? Why >does your choice of personal expense effect my ability to send traffic? Most of us have flat-rate email, and the important cost is our attention span, not the transmission cost. For other people, that's not true, and sending them junk mail _is_ ripping them off financially as well as ripping off their time and concentration. As far as "how do you know something is bulk mail"? The sender knows, and the sender is the one being rude to thousands of receivers if it is bulk mail. >If we accept the free-market view then we should expect all net connections >to be flat rate since this provides the consumer, the final arbiter in >free-market theory, the most bang for the buck. This does not apply in countries that still have Government-granted Monopoly Postal/Telephone/Telegraph companies. It also doesn't apply in places where the Telephone Company decides to charge for connect time by the minute rather than flat rate - even if your internet provider is flat rate, you may be paying 1-5 cents/minute - mildly annoying on a US salary, and much more so on a Polish salary. And in a free market, you'd expect a mix of options, since different people have different net connection needs, financial constraints, and communications costs. My main ISP offers an 800 number for about 10 cents/minute, and I sometimes use it when I'm on the road at hotels with stupider-than-usual telephone systems. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Feb. 22 column - privacy, long version
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 21:28:11 -0700 X-Sender: vin(a)dali.lvrj.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 20:25:09 -0800 To: cathy(a)engr.colostate.edu From: Vin_Suprynowicz(a)lvrj.com (Vin Suprynowicz) Subject: Feb. 22 column - privacy, long version Resent-From: vinsends(a)ezlink.com X-Mailing-List: <vinsends(a)ezlink.com> archive/latest/440 X-Loop: vinsends(a)ezlink.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: vinsends-request(a)ezlink.com FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA EDITORS NOTE: This is the longer version of "privacy," at 2,900 words. A shorter, 2,400-word version also moves. A VERSION of this essay originally appeared in "Las Vegas" magazine. FOR EMBARGOED RELEASE DATED FEB. 22, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Big Brother wants your number The New York Times is generally in editorial favor of any government intervention you can name. Most would agree it is the furthest thing from a marketplace of paranoid, feds-are-out-to-get-us conspiracy theories. Even Times columnist William Safire is hardly a true Libertarian -- Mr. Safire still believes "No sensible passenger minds the frisking for bombs at airports." (I guess I'm not very sensible; it seems to me anyone who has ever put any real effort into getting around such Fred-and-Ethel security screens has succeeded, while the REAL target of all the sniffing and scanning appears to be the now-prohibited transport of tax-free agricultural extracts and untaxed currency.) Anyway, more significant than what Mr. Safire actually wrote for publication on Jan. 8, 1998, is where it was published: America's pro-government paper of record, The New York Times. Mr. Safire warned, in part: "WASHINGTON -- Your right to privacy has been stripped away. You cannot walk into your bank, or apply for a job, or access your personal computer, without undergoing the scrutiny of strangers. You cannot use a credit card to buy clothes to cover your body without baring your soul. Big Brother is watching as never before. "Encouraged by an act of Congress, Texas and California now demand thumbprints of applicants for drivers' licenses -- treating all drivers as potential criminals. "Using a phony excuse about airplane security, airlines now demand identification like those licenses to make sure passengers don't exchange tickets to beat the company's rate-cutting promotions. "In the much-applauded pursuit of deadbeat dads, the Feds now demand that all employers inform the government of every new hire, thereby building a data base of who is working for whom that would be the envy of the KGB. ... "Hooked on easy borrowing, consumers turn to plastic for their purchases, making records and sending electronic signals to telemarketers who track them down at home. ... "Enough. "Fear of crime and terrorism has caused us to let down our guard against excessive intrusion into the lives of the law-abiding. ... But doesn't this creeping confluence of government snooping, commercial tracking and cultural tolerance of eavesdropping threaten each individual American's personal freedom? And isn't it time to reverse that terrible trend toward national nakedness before it replaces privacy as an American value? ..." Unfortunately, Mr. Safire stopped short, in that January column, of calling for an end to government "ID cards" of any sort, an end to mis-labeled "airport security" checkpoints, an end to the very "War on Drugs" under which most of these new interventions have been justified. He also ran the risk of diverting attention from the government as the major culprit here, by treating as equally culpable the kind of folks who collate data from warranty cards -- hardly the folks who have the right to raid your home and throw you in jail if they don't like what they find. (On my list of things that concern me, my supermarket knowing what brand of catfood I prefer still ranks somewhat below armed government agents tracking where I travel, and how much cash I carry.) Finally, Mr. Safire suggest that we "Pay cash," which is harder to track. That advice might be fine, if the very pattern of abuses Mr. Safire catalogs wasn't moving us rapidly toward the ballyhooed "cashless society." Already, the old $500 and $1,000 bills are nowhere to be found, and those trying to withdraw more than $5,000 from their own savings accounts to buy a used car or other large-ticket item find themselves being grilled by their own government-regulated bankers -- amateur surrogates for the DEA and IRS -- like so many money-laundering drug-dealers. A rogue candidate That so-called "cashless society" is frequently on the mind of Aaron Russo, former producer of such Hollywood films as "Trading Places" and "The Rose," now running an iconoclastic long-shot 1998 GOP primary campaign against Kenny Guinn -- former head warden of the Las Vegas government schools and hand-picked anointee of the casino bosses -- for the governorship of Nevada. Russo is campaigning on such populist issues as eliminating state privilege taxes (so that car registration costs in Nevada would be limited to "$35 and not one penny more" -- rather than surging upwards based on blue-book value) and his vow to sue the federal government to fight the taxation of Nevadans' "estimated" tips as income. But Russo has also includes in his platform opposition to such federal steps as the wiring of all telephones for tapping (already authorized under House Resolution 4922, which passed on Jan. 25, 1994), and the aforementioned national law requiring all states to issue drivers' licenses with thumbprints or other personalized "biometric" ID tags to serve as a "national ID cards." Those stances have gained Russo the sobriquet of a "federal paranoiac" from one well-established Nevada political columnist, who coincidentally does not appear to have ever met a new tax he didn't think those in power should have the "courage" to enact. "In my view, the wiretaps are authorized under a federal regulation, and they cannot impose any federal regulations on any of the states," said Russo, in between passing out cards to well-wishers during Sunday lunch at the Celebrity Deli, on Flamingo near Maryland, as we took a break from an afternoon watching the NFL playoff games ... liberally sprinkled with $150,000 in TV campaign ads which Russo had bought in the one-week New Year's period, just to put the opposition on notice that he's in the game. "The governor has the authority to go to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court has to hear the case. You have something to stand on. A senator or congressman needs other people to work with him. But in a dispute between the feds and a state, the Supreme Court has the only jurisdiction," says Russo, in the Brooklyn accent he has never shed. "So we wouldn't have to go through the 9th District (Court of Appeals), like anyone else. A governor can stop federal agents from coming into his state to enforce these things; they need the permission of the individual county sheriffs to try and enforce these laws within the state." I pointed out to Russo that skeptics will claim HR 4922 creates no actual new wiretaps; it merely puts phone companies and others on notice that they must wire their systems in such a way that federal agents can come in and tap lines, if necessary, "pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization." "Then why, if it's only by court order the way it should be, does it say, 'or other lawful authorization'?" Russo asks, between bites of the corned beef and pastrami. "That means any cop can request it," the same way your bank account can now be frozen and levied with a mere letter from an IRS agent -- no court order required. "Uri Dowbenko wrote a piece on this for the National Review; call him up." Russo obligingly supplied a copy of the federal law, which requires the attorney general to tell congress how many "communication interceptions, pen registers, and trap and trace devices" federal agents expect to need in the next four years. A dutiful subordinate of Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director "Louis Freeh has told Congress he needs money to tap 1.5 million phones simultaneously," Russo says. "The worst part of the federal ID card is not the card itself but what's going to come out of it," candidate Russo adds, segueing without drawing a breath into the other federal intervention that gets his goat. "The ID card and the debit card merging; getting rid of cash. Everything will be on the card. Every time you go buy something, they'll know what books you read, what tapes you rent. "They'll debit your Social Security tax payments automatically. You'll have no more cash. Cash will be gone; it will be illegal; you won't be able to hide any more money in your mattress. And as Ross Perot pointed out, the current Clinton budget will eventually mean an 82 percent tax rate" to cover expanding welfare programs. "If they freeze your card, you can't buy food; you can't pay a lawyer. If they can assume how much money a waitress should make in tips, and tax that amount, then they can assume how much you make, and tax the amount they assume you should be making. And at that point you're a slave. You are a slave." Digital fingerprinting Central in organizing resistance to the national ID card to which Russo refers is the Coalition to Repeal the Fingerprint Law, at 5446 Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Suite 133, Atlanta, GA 30341, telephone 404-250-8105. The group's web site is at http://www.atlantainfoguide/repeal/. Posted there is an article by Cyndee Parker - self-described Georgia "housewife turned activist, because no one else was doing anything about it" - which begins: "In September of 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Buried at approximately page 650 of the new National Defense Bill, also known as Public Law 104-208, Part B, Title IV, the American public was given a national ID card. With no fanfare, no publicity and no scrutiny, the bill easily avoided the watchful eyes of even its most aggressive opponents. ... "In Section 401-403, pilot programs have been initiated by the U.S. Attorney General, one of which is the 'Machine Readable Document Pilot Program.' In this particular program, employers would have to 'procure' a document reader linked to the federal government's Social Security Administration in order to have the potential employee swipe their new drive's license/national ID card through the reader. Then it would be up to the federal government to either approve or disapprove the applicant for employment. ... Additionally, Section 656 of the new law states that "after October 1, 2000, Federal agencies may only accept as proof of identity driver's licenses that conform to standards developed by the Secretary of the Treasury," after consultation with state motor vehicle officials and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. "The AAMVA sees digital fingerprinting as the best way to go in driver's license identifiers," Ms. Parker reports. Parker quotes Dick Armey, R-Tex., calling the move "an abomination and wholly at odds with the American tradition of individual freedom." Jack Kemp told the New York Times this was "an anti-privacy, anti-business and anti-American approach." Of course, Parker adds, "all this was said before the bills were snuck through in the last defense bill. ... For the first time in American history and reminiscent of Communist countries, our government would have the ability to grant approval before a private company enters into private employment contracts with private citizens," all justified as necessary to ban illegal immigrants from the workplace, and to track down "deadbeat dads" delinquent on their child-support payments. Your number, please? A sister law is the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, now Public Law 104-193, approved by the "Conservative Republican Congress" on July 23, 1996, and signed into law by President Clinton on Aug. 22, 1996. Public Law 104-193 requires that, as a condition for receipt of federal "Child Support" and "Aid to Families With Dependent Children" funding, each state must implement federally-defined citizen locating and tracking measures, and specifically authorizes the use of Social Security numbers in a new biometric identity card ("biometric" referring to individualized digital fingerprints, retinal scans, and so forth) for NON-drivers. Of special note in that bill are Section 313, the "State directory of new hires," which Ms. Parker summarizes as "all new employees to be databased with nationwide multiple agency sharing of personal information. ... felony conspiracy charges for employers not reporting." Section 316, the "Expansion of the Federal Parent Locator Service" then gives us "Employee assets and debts to be databased. Secretary of the Treasury to have access to database." And that one's followed by Section 317, "Collection and use of Social Security numbers for use in child support enforcement," which Ms. Parker summarizes as "All applications for professional licenses, occupational, drivers and marriage licenses to include Social Security numbers. Formerly illegal as an invasion of privacy under the Privacy Act of 1974, USC Title 5, Section 552a." Uri Dowbenko did indeed look up all this stuff for his article in the Oct. 13, 1997 National Review, as candidate Russo reported. And Dowbenko confirms Cyndee Parker's reading of these laws, adding: "There is also a stipulation for the development of 'counterfeit-resistant Social Security cards,' implying the use of biometric data like fingerprints and/or retinal scans. This is not sci-fi, folks, it's the law." 'Resistance will spread' As Mr. Safire of the Times reports, several states have already moved to comply with the new federal requirements -- some picking up federal "pilot program" funding for their efforts. "The new driver's license requirement mandating fingerprints for Georgia drivers and those wanting ID cards passed the state Legislature with virtually no public or media attention in April of 1996," Cyndee Parker reports from Atlanta. "The first known announcement was on the local Atlanta news announcing an October 1996 date to begin fingerprinting." Since then, efforts to repeal the Georgia fingerprinting law have been blocked by inspired procedural maneuvering on the part of the leadership of the Georgia state Legislature. Bobby Franklin is a first-term member of the Georgia House of Representatives from District 39, in Marietta. Marietta is in Cobb County, home of Kennesaw, which recently and famously reacted to firearm bans elsewhere by passing a law which requires every head of household to own a gun. "And the crime rate immediately dropped, and stayed down, which you will not see covered in the national news, because that's something they do not want you to know," laughed Rep. Franklin when I reached him at his home on a Monday night in early January. But I was calling Franklin about the fingerprint law. "They did that here back in '96, on the last day of the session. I was not in the House then; I was elected in '96. So we tried last year to repeal the measure. We had several bills that were introduced, we were promised by the chairman of the committee that it would be let out so it could be voted on by the whole house. ..." Needless to say, that did not happen. "The (state) Senate amended to remove the fingerprints, and we missed upholding that by one vote. "I know in Alabama, their department of public safety said last year, they just up and said, 'Hey guys, we're fingerprinting.' And there was such a public outcry against it that the department backed down and they're not fingerprinting. And we're very close to repealing, here. Our two major Republican candidates for governor this year are both saying they will issue an executive order banning our Motor Vehicle Department from fingerprinting." At which point, won't they just substitute retinal scans, or something else to meet the federal requirement, I ask Franklin. After all, no state wants its residents cut off from all those fine, federal benefits as of the year 2000. "Our draft legislation says they're not allowed to use (start ital)any(end ital) biometric identifiers. We hope if we can block it in Georgia it will spread, that we can prevent them from instituting their program, that resistance will spread. No one wants to be chattel. If we're treated like a number, we're property." Alabama "was basically a pilot program, from what I understood. They threw out a trial balloon to see how it would go, and they got slammed, so they backed away from it." On June 19, 1997, Congressman Bob Schaffer rose to the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, and read into the record Colorado Joint House Resolution 97-1027 (passed unanimously in the state Senate, and by a vote of 59-6 in the House): "Resolved ... that we, the members of the Sixty-first General Assembly urge the Congress of the United States to amend or repeal those specific provisions of the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 set forth in this Resolution that place undue burden and expense upon the several states, that violate provisions of the Constitution of the United States, that impose insufficiently funded mandates upon the states in the establishment, modification, and enforcement of child support obligations, or that unjustifiably intrude into the personal lives of the law-abiding citizens of the United States of America." Resistance IS spreading. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His book, "Send in the Waco Killers," is due from Huntington Press in May, 1998. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin(a)lvrj.com. The web site for the Suprynowicz column is at http://www.nguworld.com/vindex/. The column is syndicated in the United States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas Nev. 89127. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin(a)lvrj.com "If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 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' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>

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NEW TRAVEL INFO -- Israel (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From owner-travel-advisories(a)stolaf.edu Fri Feb 20 04:04:45 1998 Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 11:07:49 -0500 From: owner-travel-advisories <owner-travel-advisories(a)stolaf.edu> Subject: NEW TRAVEL INFO -- Israel Sender: "U.S. Department of State" <76702.1202(a)compuserve.com> To: travel-advisories(a)stolaf.edu Message-ID: <199802171112_MC2-33A4-1596(a)compuserve.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Precedence: bulk STATE DEPARTMENT TRAVEL INFORMATION - Israel and the Occupied Territories ============================================================ Israel and the Occupied Territories - Public Announcement February 14, 1998 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman The American Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem are issuing the following Warden Message: "This message supplements the Public Announcement issued by the U.S. Department of State on February 10, 1998 for the Middle East and South Asia. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and Consulate General in Jerusalem continue to closely monitor the situation with Iraq. The U.S. Government believes there is a low probability of attack on Israel, the West Bank or Gaza, and that the possibility of Iraq using chemical and biological weapons (CBW) is remote, but cannot be excluded. American citizens are advised to avoid travel to the West Bank and Gaza and to exercise caution in Jerusalem, particularly in the area of the old city of Jerusalem. The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem has suspended personal travel of its employees to the West Bank and has placed restrictions on official travel to the West Bank. These are precautionary measures only. However, given the current tensions in the region, the U.S. Government believes it is important for all citizens to maintain readiness in the unlikely event of an emergency. At this time, the Government of Israel is distributing protection kits to Israeli citizens and legal residents only. However, we understand that the government of Israel is putting in place arrangements to determine the most effective ways to distribute gas masks to foreign nationals and is in the process of acquiring adequate numbers of gas masks to provide for non-Israeli citizens in Israel, Jerusalem, and the areas of the West Bank under its control. The Palestinian authority has informed the U.S. Government that it does not have protection kits to supply its population or foreign residents living within its areas of control. For those American citizens who need to obtain a new passport or to update their registrations, passport hours at the Embassy (71 Hayarkon Street, Tel Aviv) are Monday through Friday mornings from 8:30 to 11:00 am and Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:30 pm; Consulate General in Jerusalem (27 Nablus Road, East Jerusalem) passport hours are Monday through Friday mornings from 8:30 to 12:00, except for the last Friday of the month. The Embassy and Consulate General urge all U.S. citizens to monitor local and international media for further developments. Should the U.S. government need to issue advice to U.S. citizens, the Embassy and Consulate will notify the local media and activate our citizens warden network immediately. U.S. citizens contemplating traveling to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza should take the above information into consideration and should, in addition, consult the latest Consular Information Sheet on Israel and the Occupied Territories dated December 23, 1997." This Public Announcement expires on May 14, 1998. Israel and the Occupied Territories - Consular Information Sheet December 23, 1997 (INCLUDING AREAS SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE PALESTINIAN INTERIM SELF-GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY) Country Description: The state of Israel is a parliamentary democracy with a modern economy. Tourist facilities are widely available. Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem as a result of the 1967 War. Pursuant to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, an elected Palestinian authority now exercises jurisdiction in most of Gaza and most of the major cities of the West Bank. Palestinian Authority police have responsibility for keeping order in those areas and the Palestinian Authority exercises a range of civil functions in other areas of the West Bank. Areas of Israeli and Palestinian Authority responsibilities and jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza are complex. Definitive information on entry, customs requirements, arrests and other matters in the West Bank and Gaza may not be available and is subject to change without prior notice. Embassy/Consulate Location and Sources of Assistance: The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, is located at 71 Hayarkon Street. The U.S. mailing address is PSC 98, Box 0013, APO AE 09830. The telephone number is (972) (3) 519-7575. After hours number: 519-7551. The fax number is 972-3-516-0315. The e-mail address is acs.amcit-telaviv(a)dos.us-state.gov. The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy should be contacted for information and help in the following areas: Israel, the Gaza Strip, and ports of entry at Ben Gurion Airport, Haifa Port, and the northern (Jordan River) and southern (Arava) border crossings connecting Israel and Jordan. The Consular Section of the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem is located at 27 Nablus Road. The U.S. mailing address is Unit 7228 Box 0039, APO AE 09830. The telephone number is (972) (2) 625-3288 (via Israel) the after hours number is 625-3201. The fax number is 972-2-272-2233. The U.S. Consulate should be contacted for information and help in the following areas: west and east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and border crossings at the Allenby Bridge, connecting Jordan with the West Bank. There is a U.S. Consular Agent in Haifa, at telephone (972) (04) 853-1470, who reports to the Embassy in Tel Aviv. The Consular Agent can provide routine and emergency services in the north. Entry Requirements: Israel: Passports, an onward or return ticket, and proof of sufficient funds are required for entry. A three-month visa may be issued for no charge upon arrival, and may be renewed. Anyone who has been refused entry or experienced difficulties with his/her visa status during a previous visit, or who has overstayed a visa, can obtain information from the Israeli Embassy or nearest Israeli consulate regarding the advisability of attempting to return to Israel. Permission must be obtained from Israel for anyone attempting to claim the status of a returning resident. Palestinian Authority: Except during periods of closures, U.S. citizens, except those of Palestinian ancestry (see below) may enter and exit Gaza and the West Bank on a U.S. passport with an Israeli visa. It is not necessary to obtain a visitor's permit from the Palestinian Authority. Private vehicles frequently encounter long delays entering or leaving Gaza; and may also expect to be stopped at checkpoints entering or leaving the West Bank. U.S. citizens who have ever held or now hold resident status in the West Bank or Gaza should be aware that they may be subject to the same travel regulations governing entry to and exit from Israel that affect all other resident Palestinians. In general, such individuals are required to hold a Palestinian passport to enter or depart Gaza or the West Bank via Israel. U.S. citizen Palestinian residents arriving at Ben Gurion Airport without a Palestinian passport will be granted an entry visa to enable their transit to the West Bank or Gaza to obtain such documentation from the Palestinian Authority. A Palestinian passport and permit to depart are required to leave via Ben Gurion Airport. No permit is required for departure via the Rafah or Allenby border posts. Palestinians who last departed Israel before the May 1994 Cairo Accords (regarding Gaza and Jericho) or the September 1995 Interim Agreement (regarding other areas of the West Bank) should re-enter Israel through the same port of entry from which they last left (and where their travel documents were then deposited). Specific questions may be addressed to the nearest Israeli embassy or consulate. Israel-Jordan Crossings: International crossing points are now in operation between Israel and Jordan at Arava (Wadi al-'Arabah) crossing in the south and the Jordan River crossing (Sheikh Hussein Bridge) in the north. Prior visas are not necessary for American citizens using these two crossing points, but travelers will have to pay a fee. Visas should be obtained in advance for those wanting to cross the Allenby Bridge which links Jordan and the occupied West Bank. (Note: Palestinian Americans with residency in the West Bank must cross into Jordan using the Allenby Bridge.) Procedures for all crossings into Jordan are subject to frequent changes. For further entry information, travelers may contact the Israeli Embassy at 3514 International Dr., NW, Washington, DC. 20008, telephone (202) 364-5500, or the Israeli Consulate General in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Houston. Customs Requirements: Video cameras, among other items, must be declared upon entry to Israel and travelers carrying these items must go through the red zone at customs. Definitive information on customs requirements for the Palestinian Authority is not available. Security Measures: Israel has strict security measures that may affect visitors. Prolonged questioning and detailed searches may take place at the time of entry and/or departure at all points of entry to Israel, including entry from any of the areas under Palestinian jurisdiction. American citizens with Arab surnames may expect close scrutiny at Ben Gurion Airport and the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. For security reasons, delays or obstacles in bringing in or departing with cameras or electronics equipment are not unusual. During searches and questioning, access may be denied to U.S. consular officers, lawyers, or family members. Definitive information on security measures in the Palestinian Authority is not available. Terrorism/Security: Although they have not been specifically targeted for attack, U.S. citizens have been killed in past terrorist actions in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. The most recent attacks have been in highly frequented shopping and pedestrian areas, and public buses. U.S. citizens should use caution in crowded pedestrian and shopping areas. In addition, the U.S. Embassy and the Consulate General have warned their employees and American citizens to avoid travel on public buses, as well as congregating at bus stops and other crowded areas. This restriction does not apply to tour buses. U.S. citizens should, at all times, avoid large crowds and political demonstrations, and not remain in an area where a demonstration or altercation appears to be developing. Such gatherings can occur spontaneously, and have the potential to become violent without warning. Areas of Instability - West Bank and Gaza: During periods of unrest, the West Bank and Gaza are sometimes closed off by the Israeli government. Travel restrictions may be imposed with little or no warning. Strict measures have frequently been imposed following terrorist actions. In such circumstances, movement of Palestinians (including Palestinian Americans) and foreign passport holders has been severely impaired. Demonstrations by Palestinians and Israelis in the West Bank have led to confrontations and clashes with the police, with some turning deadly. Stone throwing and other forms of protest can occur without warning and can escalate quickly. In view of the continued potential for violence and unrest in the West Bank and Gaza, the State Department advises all American citizens to avoid travel to these areas, except for daylight visits to Bethlehem, Jericho, Highway 1 from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, Route 90 through the Jordan Valley, and tourist sites along these routes. Accessible sites for daylight visits include the Inn of the Samaritan, Nebi Musa, St. George's Monastery, Mount of Temptation Monastery, Qumran, and Qualiah Water Park. The Consular Section of the U.S. Consulate General, located at 27 Nablus Road in East Jerusalem, is safe and accessible to all visitors. The U.S. government maintains tight security procedures regarding travel of U.S. government employees, officials, and dependents to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Frequently, U.S. government employees are instructed not to travel at all to these areas. Travel guidelines for U.S. government employees may change at any time. The Palestinian police force has been established in Gaza and the major cities of the West Bank which are under Palestinian jurisdiction. Joint Israeli/Palestinian police patrols and checkpoints may be encountered. Many Israeli and Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank possess their own guns. General Precautions: Travel on strike days or after dark is not recommended. Tourists using public transportation or traveling by car in areas less frequented by tourists are at risk. Vehicles have been damaged, with rental cars in particular being targeted. Jerusalem: In Jerusalem, travelers can reduce their risk of being involved in violent incidents by traveling in groups, avoiding the old city at night, except for the Jewish quarter, and exercising caution at religious sites on holy days, Fridays, and Saturdays. Most roads into ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhoods are blocked off on Saturdays. Assaults on secular visitors, either for being in cars or for being "immodestly dressed," have been known to occur in these neighborhoods. In the North: In the Golan Heights, there are live land mines in many areas, and some minefields have not been clearly marked or fenced. Visitors who walk only on established roads or trails will reduce the risk of injury from mines. Rocket attacks from Lebanese territory can occur without warning close to the northern border of Israel. Driving and Road Conditions: There is a high rate of fatalities relating to auto accidents, and drivers should use caution. While the roads in Israel are well built, the roads in Gaza and most of the West Bank are of poor quality. Arrests and Detention: U.S. citizens arrested by the Israeli National Police (INP) and charged with crimes are entitled to legal representation and consular notification and visitation. Typically the INP notifies the Embassy or Consulate General within two days of arrest, and consular access is normally granted within four days. This procedure may be expedited if the arrested American shows a U.S. passport to the police as proof of U.S. citizenship, or asks for access to the Embassy or Consulate General. U.S. citizens arrested in the West Bank for criminal offenses may be prevented from communicating with lawyers, family members, or consular officers. The U.S. Consulate General is often not notified of the arrest, or notified in a timely manner. Consular access to the arrestees can be initially denied and is frequently delayed. In contrast to persons arrested for criminal offenses, U.S. citizens arrested or detained in Israel and the West Bank on suspicion of security offenses often are not permitted to communicate with consular officials, lawyers, or family members in a timely manner during the interrogation period of their case. They may be detained for up to six months at a time without charges. Youths over the age of fourteen have been detained and tried as adults. Neither the Embassy nor the Consulate are normally notified of the arrests of Americans in the West Bank by Israeli authorities, and access to detainees is frequently delayed. Notification may be more rapid if the detained American shows a U.S. passport as proof of citizenship and asks the local authorities to contact the Embassy or Consulate General. Medical Facilities: Modern medical care and medicines are available in Israel. However, some hospitals in Israel and most hospitals in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank fall below U.S. standards. Travelers can find information in English about emergency medical facilities and after-hours pharmacies in the "Jerusalem Post" newspaper. Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for health services. U.S. medical insurance is not always valid outside the united states. Supplemental medical insurance with specific overseas coverage has proven useful. The Internet site at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov) has additional health information. Travelers from regions where contagious diseases are prevalent may need to show shot records before entry into Israel. Information on Crime: The crime rate is moderate in Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. The loss or theft of a U.S. passport abroad should be reported immediately to local police and the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. Useful information on safeguarding valuables, protecting personal security, and other matters is provided in the Department of State pamphlets, "A Safe Trip Abroad" and "Tips for Travelers to the Middle East and North Africa," available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 20402. Drug Penalties: U.S. citizens are subject to the laws of the territory in which they are traveling. Penalties for possession, use or trafficking in illegal drugs are severe in Israel, and convicted offenders can expect jail sentences and fines. The Palestinian Authority also has strict penalties for drug use by persons under its jurisdiction. Court Jurisdiction: Under Israel's judicial system, the rabbinical courts exercise jurisdiction over all Jewish citizens and residents of Israel in cases of marriage and divorce and related issues, such as support and child custody. Rabbinical courts can also impose sanctions, including jail terms and restrictions against leaving the country, on individuals married in a Jewish religious ceremony who, in case of divorce, refuse to give their spouses a religious divorce ("get"). In some cases, Jewish Americans, who entered Israel as tourists, have become defendants in divorce cases filed against them in a rabbinical court in Israel by their American spouses who are seeking a religious divorce that the defendants have refused to give. These Americans have been detained in Israel for prolonged periods while the Israeli courts consider whether such individuals have sufficient ties to Israel to establish rabbinical court jurisdiction. In one case, the rabbinical courts detained in Israel a Jewish American tourist who had been sued for support by his spouse in the United States. Jewish American visitors should be aware that they may be subject to involuntary and prolonged stays in Israel if a case is filed against them in a rabbinical court. This may occur even when the marriage took place in the U.S., and/or the spouse seeking relief is not present in Israel. Dual Nationality: Israeli citizens naturalized in the United States retain their Israeli citizenship, and their children are considered Israeli citizens as well. In addition, children born in the United States to Israeli parents acquire both U.S. and Israeli nationality at birth. Israeli citizens, including dual nationals, are subject to Israeli laws requiring service in Israel's armed forces. U.S.-Israeli dual nationals of military age who do not wish to serve in the Israeli armed forces may contact the Israeli Embassy to obtain proof of exemption or deferment from Israeli military service before going to Israel. Otherwise, they may not be able to leave the country without doing military service. Israeli citizens, including dual nationals, must enter and depart Israel on their Israeli passports. (Note: U.S.-Israeli dual citizens must enter and depart the U.S. on their U.S. passports.) Palestinian-American citizens with residency rights in Gaza or the West Bank are subject to the same regulations as other resident Palestinians. This normally requires them to depart these areas with Palestinian travel documents or (for residents of Jerusalem) laissez-passers with re-entry permits approved by the Israeli Ministry of Interior. Registration: The State Department advises American citizens who plan to be in the region for a substantial period of time to register at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv or the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem. When registering, U.S. citizens can obtain updated information on travel and security in the area. No. 97-169 This replaces the Consular Information Sheet dated January 22, 1997, to provide new information about travel documentation for Palestinian Americans, and to update the sections on entry/exit requirements, terrorism and security, and arrest and detentions. ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- The "travel-advisories(a)stolaf.edu" mailing list is the official Internet and BITNET distribution point for the U.S. State Department Travel Warnings and Consular Information Sheets. To unsubscribe, send a message containing the word "unsubscribe" to: travel-advisories-request(a)stolaf.edu Archives of past "travel-advisories" postings are available at the URL: "http://www.stolaf.edu/network/travel-advisories.html" or via Gopher: gopher.stolaf.edu, Internet Resources/US-State-Department-Travel-Advisories

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A Geodesic Society?
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Sender: rah(a)pop.sneaker.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 08:36:21 -0500 To: e$(a)vmeng.com From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: A Geodesic Society? Sender: <e$(a)vmeng.com> Precedence: Bulk The following is something I wrote for a private online conference sponsored by Nikkei, the Japanese financial news organization. Since they're supposedly combing the list for quotable bon mots, I may end up in the Japanese papers. :-). Anyway, longtime residents of this list have seen me say this kind of stuff before, but for those who haven't, the following explains the kinds of effects I think the combination of ubiquitous public networks and financial cryptography can have. Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text X-Sender: rah(a)pop.sneaker.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 00:24:07 -0500 To: gis-ec(a)nikkei.co.jp, gis-net(a)nikkei.co.jp From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: [gis-asia 10] A Geodesic Society? Cc: gis-asia(a)nikkei.co.jp Reply-To: gis-asia(a)nikkei.co.jp X-MLserver: majordomo-1.94.1 k-patch-2.0-alpha p-patch-1.0 X-sequence: gis-asia 10 Sender: owner-gis-asia(a)tokyo.nikkei.co.jp Precedence: bulk -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- As the token cryptoanarchist around here, I've been lurking way too long, mostly because I'm working on this financial cryptography conference we're doing in Anguilla next week. However, A lot of good stuff has gone by on all of these groups, and I think it's time I put my oar in and earned my keep a bit before I enter the maelstrom of next week's FC98 conference, and loose my chance to say anything here until it's all over. The first topic I'd like to talk about is something which is more general than my ostensible commercial focus in these discussions, and, after I've said my piece here, I'll go back to the commerce list and pay more attention to that end of things. I have a little more to say there on what you can do with the technology of money on public networks, though I'll drop a few hints here to get people thinking about them. My observation about networks in general is a rather obvious one when you think about it: our social structures map to our communication structures. As intuitive as it is to understand, this observation provides great insight into where the technology of computer assisted communication will take us in the years ahead. Because of Moore's Law and its effect of collapsing the price of semiconductors by half every 18 months, our telecommunication architectures have changed from hierarchical networks, where it's cheaper to add lines than it is to add expensive switching nodes, to geodesic networks, where it is ever-exponentially cheaper to add microprocessor switches instead of now relatively more expensive transmission lines. This isn't new. In fact, it's outlined in Peter Huber's landmark "The Geodesic Network", written in 1986 as a report for Judge Harold Greene as part of the Modified Final Judgement which broke up American Telephone and Telegraph, and with it the US telephone monopoly. I believe the original version is still available from the US Government Printing Office, and I know that you can order a revised edition from Peter Huber's law firm in Washington. Huber himself is now a famous technology analyst from the Manhattan Institute and a Forbes columnist, among other things. In "The Geodesic Network", Huber observed that because the network was becoming more and more geodesic, competition in telecommunications was becoming much easier. That's because switching, a scarce thing which had theretofore caused economies of scale and resultant "natural" monopoly, was becoming cheaper and cheaper to build, and thus causing *dis*economies of scale in the telephone markets. One can almost hear Huber doing a little heavy lifting from the Marines in report's conclusion, which was, essentially, "Deregulate 'em all, and let God sort 'em out." It's nice to see that we're finally getting to see deregulation of the "last mile" of the US telephone network 10 years after Huber's recommendation. As it is, it took *me* almost 10 years to realize something else about geodesic networks. It's something which required me getting back on the internet 4 years ago, after not being there since grad school, and discovering that financial cryptography -- that is, the cryptographic protocols for internet payment -- was much more important than the project management software I had wanted to sell on the net at the time. My realization was, if Moore's Law creates geodesic communications networks, and our social structures -- our institutions, our businesses, our governments -- all map to the way we communicate in large groups, then we are in the process of creating a geodesic society. A society in which communication between any two residents of that society, people, economic entities, pieces of software, whatever, is geodesic: literally, the straightest line across a sphere, rather than hierarchical, through a chain of command, for instance. This seems like a very simple truth these days. A "motherhood", as people in American business like to say. But, once you start thinking about the world in the terms of geodesic networks versus hierarchical ones, the world changes. A Buckminster Fuller version of satori, if you will, though I'm sure Bucky didn't think of human society in geodesic terms, at least from what I've read of his work. His "World Game", for instance, is primarily about the hierarchical centralization and redistribution of resources in an industrial fashion. But, as it was, Bucky Fuller had discovered a geometric archtype which was deeper than even his capacious understanding of its implications had gotten him before. So in light of this observation, for fun, let's look at human history in a few paragraphs. :-). Humans first lived in small groups on the African savanna. An artifact of this life is the fact that most people can't have serious emotional relationships with more than about 12 people, depending on how you define serious. :-). Think of it as the carrying capacity of the human "switch", and things get interesting. These small groups communicated geodesically. When you wanted to talk to someone, you went up and talked to them. Then we developed agriculture and its resulting food surpluses, people tended to congregate at the crossroads of trade routes, and that's where the first cities began. Civilization means, literally, "life in cities", remember? Once we had large groups of people in a single place, we had lots of information to pass around, but we also had expensive humans "switching" that information who were only able to trust about 12 people at any time. So, we had to develop hierarchical "networks", social organizations in other words, to move that information around. Notice we finesse the whole trust problem by using the entire hierarchy as one entity in everyone's trusted-person list. That's why people die for king and country, for instance, instead of just their family hunter-gatherer clan. So, we can now see the ancient city-state as a hierarchy of power, economics, whatever. We can also see ancient empires as a hierarchies of city states, and so on. Notice that the size of any given hierarchy in geographic terms is determined by the *speed* of communications it posesses. Athenian triremes were very secure ways to move goods and information in a relatively lawless Agean. Roman roads and galleys didn't just haul goods quickly, they moved information as well. Staged Mongol riders could carry messages across their own short-lived empire from a capital near China to the gates of Warsaw in as little as 14 days. Napoleon invented his 10-mile-an-hour stagecoach and highway system for exactly the same reason, and could almost legitimately call himself an emperor for the feat alone. That brings us to the modern nation state, which, I claim, is entirely the result of industrial communications technology. That is, you have increasingly faster communications, from sailing ships to trains to telegraphy and finally telephony, but you still have humans switching information. That gives you larger and larger communication, and thus social, hierarchies. Up until the automation of telephone switching -- paradoxically brought about a demand for universal service in exchange for that ultimate industrial hierarchy, the US telephone monopoly -- things just kept getting bigger and bigger. One could even see the increasing size of government in this century as an "antihierarchy" funded by the forcible confiscation or political extortion of economic rents from the large industrial hierarchies where industrial society's money was being made in the first place. For a tasty little digression, Marxism then can be seen as simple anti-industrialism, and an intriguing validation of Bertrand Russell's comments about the similarity of Marxism and the feudal aristocracy it hated so much. Hegel can't come to Marx's rescue here at all, because, for all it's anarchistic pretensions, Marxism can now be seen as merely industrialism's hierarchical antithesis, and not something "beyond capitalism". Besides, trading has been around since the savana itself. It's hard to imagine something antithetical to trade -- and have the result be human, anyway. :-). Okay. Now let's look at the future, shall we? Oddly enough, the "future" starts with the grant of telephone monopoly to AT&T in the 1920's in exchange for universal telephone service. When AT&T figured out that a majority of people would have to be telephone operators for that to happen, it started to automate switching, from electricomechanical, to electronic (the transistor was invented at Ball Labs, remember), to, finally, semiconducting microprocessors. Which, Huber noted, brought us Moore's Law, and, finally, that mother of all geodesic networks, the internet. So, seen this way, using the hierarchy-to-geodesy synthesis (speaking of Hegel :-)), a lot of things jump out right at us. Let's look at financial operations, for example. One can see, for instance, that the thing we call disintermediation in the capital markets is in fact a process leading to something I call *micro*intermediation, where large human decision hierarchies, like the New York Stock Exchange, or money center banks, are being outcompeted by large integrated proprietary computer networks, like the NASDAQ interbrokerage network, or Fidelity Investments here in Boston. Yet, these financial versions of big dumb bulletin boards, which still need humans to operate them on behalf of the customer, will themselves be replaced someday by smaller, more specialized and automated entities operating in increasingly smaller market niches, and, we aren't just talking about financial "shovelware", with database-driven web forms, either. Someday, for instance, a couple of portfolio managers from Fidelity could strike out on their own peculiar investment specialty, and set up a web server to handle their investor relations, but in a way that financial operations people thought was obsolete decades ago. Using financial cryptgraphy like David Chaum's blind signature protocol, our portfolio managers could just issue digital *bearer* certificates, right over the net to their customers, representing shares in the portfolio they manage, rather than keep track of all a given client's transactions in a database for posterity. Even more fun, using the digital bearer *cash* they get from the sale of those certificates, they could turn right around and instantly buy debt, equity, or any derivative thereof, in digital bearer form, of course, without waiting for any transactions to settle through a clearinghouse of any kind. Why? Because knowing that you've digitally signed a unique blop of bits and honoring the promises those various outstanding blops represent is a whole lot easier, faster, and, of course, cheaper than keeping track of every transaction you make for seven years, or whatever your friendly nation state says you have to do so they can send somebody to jail if that person lies to you. And, of course, digital bearer settlement is *much* faster than waiting for all those book-entries to percolate through various clearinghouses, banks, brokerages, and other financial intermediaries in order for a trade to clear and settle. Financial cryptography is a direct consequence of Moore's Law. You can't do it without computers, and, more important, lots of cheap computers on a network. But, you can do a lot of very neat things with it, as we've seen above. In fact, the protocols of financial cryptography will be the glue which holds a geodesic economy, if you will, together. And, of course, as Deke Slayton put it, "No bucks, no Buck Rogers." No geodesic economy, no geodesic society. I joke about VISA being replaced someday by an innumerable swarm of very small underwriting 'bots' whose job it is to form an ad hoc syndicate which buys the personal digital bearer bond issue you floated for today's lunch. In a geodesic market, the one-to-many relationships of hierarchical book-entry-settled industrial finance, like checks and credit cards, becomes to the many-to-one relationship of the geodesic digital-bearer-settled cash and the personal bond syndicate. But, what, you ask, do I do when someone defrauds me? The neat thing about using financial cryptography on public networks is that you can use the much cheaper early-industrial trust models that went away because you couldn't shove a paper bearer bond down a telegraph wire. In short, reputation becomes everything. Like J. Pierpont Morgan said 90 years ago, "...Character. I wouldn't buy anything from a man with no character if he offered me all the bonds in Christendom." In a geodesic market, if someone commits fraud, everyone knows it. Instantly. And, something much worse than incarceration happens to that person. That person's reputation "capital" disappears. They cease to exist financially. Financial cryptographers jokingly call it reputation capital punishment. :-). The miscreant has to start all over with a new digital signature, and have to pay through the nose until that signature's reputation's established. A very long and expensive process, as anyone who's gone bankrupt will testify to. So, you don't need biometric identity to stop non-repudiation. Translated, that means that since you're moving secure digital bearer certificates over an insecure private network like the internet, and not moving insecure debits and credits over a secure private network like the SWIFT system, you don't need audit trails to send someone to jail if they make the wrong book entry. Instead, you trust the issuer of a given piece of digital bearer cash, say, and not the person who gave it to you, just like you trust the issuer of a given currency today. Biometric identity is orthogonal to reputation in, um, "cypherspace". And, of course, a financial intermediary like the above issuer of digital bearer cash is not about to destroy its reputation for the sake of a very small transaction like the one you're doing, any more than the Fed would demand 6 one dollar bills in exchange for one five dollar bill just to make an extra buck. Well, not since they started listening to Friedman, anyway. :-) Microintermediation means what it says. Financial intermediaries never go away. You can't have markets, much less efficient ones, without financial intermediaries buying things low and selling them high. Renting their reputations to ensure transaction liquidity, in other words. This is at the essense of Von Mises' "Calculation Argument" against planned economies, and the defunct economy of the ex-Soviet Union is mute testament to that particular economic truth. Moore's Law, I like to say, operates like a surfactant of information, breaking great globs of concentrated information fractally into smaller and smaller bits, like so much grease in soapy dishwater. Capital, for the most part, can now be converted into information and instantantly bought or sold, or, more to the point, instantly settled and cleared in digital bearer form, in increasingly smaller and smaller bits, by smaller and smaller and increasingly more automated financial intermediaries. Microintermediated, in other words. What we get is a world where anything which can be digitized and sent down a wire will be auctioned off in real-time in cash-settled markets. Stuff like capital we've seen, but lots of other things, which are not immediately intuitive. Machine instructions -- teleoperated or not. Software of all kinds including entertainment and art. Bandwidth; I talk about a router saving enough micromoney out of switching income to buy a copy of itself. Maybe even adjudication and physical force, someday. After all, who says we have to buy violence from the local force monopolies we now call nation states, especially if we can get it cheaper and better -- and possibly in smaller amounts -- in a competitive auction market? Curioser and curioser, as Alice used to say... I mean, the nation-state's just another hierarchical artifact of industrial communication technology, right? Besides, If everyone's paying for things in cash and no book entry taxes can be collected because there aren't any book entries, then, as someone said on a Harvard Law School list a few years ago, "What happens when taxes become a tip"? Of course, there are various cypherpunks out there who say things like "Write softare, not laws.", which should make those folks on Mass Ave in Cambridge more than a little nervous themselves. So, welcome to the geodesic future. Not hoping to attract the wrath of the famous curse, isn't it an, um, interesting place? Cheers, Bob Hettinga -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.3 iQEVAwUBNOvB0cUCGwxmWcHhAQHVUAgAgYFUDcKLcsTNnevVmPaTp7lXxLo59oMI qChTR7TmeEi0W6SgSn4nUd5zlJiBkx1ut6n2tIasvfpXgd3OaLqkPo9ZNSrMQZE7 8C1d5dI42/VgN36fDPgB/zVxNrqxDNIFYdOf9aH1A7u4TYUJTe9PSSQdfKxzMyTf FQ+IfAzJjC3PFfxh566ghtHea7n235djGvAd8oHpr0SKBaSfu7jQjGUeecMDcTlg ZzQf7V51MFcgKd/UPi2dybzYZoK8bIb7aJ9cazGc5k1chUOeVOykpW4EIvXZrBs7 Z0oRQfxwU/u+oLpA8Vt7xdK0qCTRLdxnsTzEFLUjTH/70ep3YNcgRA== =9Xak -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/> --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Where people, networks and money come together: Consult Hyperion http://www.hyperion.co.uk/ info(a)hyperion.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Full-Strength Cryptographic Solutions for Worldwide Electronic Commerce http://www.c2.net/ stronghold(a)c2.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Like e$? Help pay for it! For e$/e$pam sponsorship or donations, <mailto:rah@shipwright.com> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 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' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>

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