December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

DOES U.S. INTERVENTION OVERSEAS BREED TERRORISM?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<snip from http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-050es.html> Executive Summary According to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, terrorism is the most important threat the United States and the world face as the 21st century begins. High-level U.S. officials have acknowledged that terrorists are now more likely to be able to obtain and use nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons than ever before. Yet most attention has been focused on combating terrorism by deterring and disrupting it beforehand and retaliating against it after the fact. Less attention has been paid to what motivates terrorists to launch attacks. According to the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, a strong correlation exists between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States. President Clinton has also acknowledged that link. The board, however, has provided no empirical data to support its conclusion. This paper fills that gap by citing many examples of terrorist attacks on the United States in retaliation for U.S. intervention overseas. The numerous incidents cataloged suggest that the United States could reduce the chances of such devastating--and potentially catastrophic--terrorist attacks by adopting a policy of military restraint overseas. <snop> <snip> In fact, the interventionist foreign policy currently pursued by the United States is an aberration in its history. Adopting a policy of military restraint would return the United States to the traditional foreign policy it pursued for the first century and a half of its existence before the Cold War distorted it. Such a foreign policy is more compatible with the individual freedoms and economic prosperity that define the American way of life. <snop>

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Re: Question about 'TEMPEST': UPS
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Now... Just curious, if I simply make my study into a faraday cage via use of fine (< 1/2 inch) chicken wire, and insulate my power system from the computer emenations, would that be enough? Chicken wire is not that expensive, and I think that I could make it look nice on walls. > The cages I've used were framed in wood and had several layers of copper screening. The mesh was like standard window screen, <.125". There were two, I think sometimes three, layers. The corners/joints were copper sheet. The screen was soldered to the corners. The doors were stepped or beveled and had several sets of fingers - indside edge, outside edge, perhaps one intermediate. Screen makes ventilation easier. Power should be brought in through a separate, partitioned, shielded box with filtering in each partition. Phone lines, same thing. You trust your apps, os and TCP/IP stack to not rat you out? If not, work off-line always. One cage I saw had ferrite tiles on the solid walls to minimize internal reflections which would cut down on leakage too. Al foil if it were thick enough would be OK but how do you reliably join edges? Al has a bad habit of oxidizing rapidly in air. I guess you could fold edges over several times - seems tacky. Converting your study is non-trivial. The door would look like crap. You would need the euivalent of a door over the window. Build one in your garage. Make it out of sections so you can move it. 6' x 8' seems about right for a couple computers and some lab equip. Is the cost justified? I wouldn't trust 1/2" galvanized chicken wire for containing anything but chickens or other non-gnawing furry woodland creatures. Mike

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mobil cctv cameras... sigh...
by Sunder 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://www.patrolcctv.com/ "PATROL CCTV: The PATROL CCTV Called MOBILE VISION, is a mobile surveillance system, which extends the visual perimeter for Law Enforcement, Military, Government mobile surveillance requirements and for both on and off road driving for SUV enthusiasts. A Pan/Tilt/Zoom is compatible with in-car video recorders. Stabilizes images, reads license plates at 300FT. With a 24X Zoom and 85,000:1 dynamic range camera, makes Mobile Vision a unique system. " -- ---------------------------- Kaos Keraunos Kybernetos ------------------- + ^ + Sunder "The real aim of current policy is to /|\ \|/ sunder(a)sunder.net ensure the continued effectiveness of /\|/\ <--*--> ALLOW FREE EXPORT OF US information warfare assets against \/|\/ /|\ STRONG CRYPTOGRAPHY! individuals,businesses and governments \|/ + v + PROTEST WASSENAAR!!! in Europe and elsewhere" -- Ross Anderson ------------------------------ http://www.sunder.net ---------------------- RESTRICTED DATA - This material contains RESTRICTED DATA as defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Unauthorized disclosure subject to administrative and criminal sanctions. NOFORN ORCON WNINTEL SIOP-ESI CNWDI

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http://walkerdigital.com/html/patents.html
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Walker Digital, a self-described "Edison in Menlo Park" knockoff, and propagator of the priceline.com business model patent (which see, above), is the feature article of this week's omi-1998-gawd issue of The Industry Standard. WD has been patenting everything it can think of, including something I heard of at least 3 years ago from Eric Hughes and Bob Hilby at Simple Access: accumulating internet purchases to a 900- telephone number bill. However, since WD is 5 years old, maybe they got there first after after all, and that's why Hilby, Hughes and Co., stopped talking about it. Either that or Eric got Yet Another Big Idea, and they went chasing down *that* rabbithole instead. As a mostly unmedicated ADDer, I can sympathize with that problem, myself :-)... Anyway, since business process patents are the subject of this month's DCSB meeting, with what I'm sure will be a great talk by Michael Schmelzer and Ira Heffan of Testa Hurwitz here in Boston, I figured I'd give everyone on these lists some food for beforehand. People should monitor <http://www.thestandard.com>, for the actual text of the article, if and when it eventually hits their archives. It'll probably take a week or so. If, of course, they don't have a copy of the magazine themselves already, that is. William Braddock, who's the chairman and CEO of Priceline now, used to be up my direct chain of command, three or four bosses up, when I was an operations analyst at Citicorp 10 years ago, though I never met him. Eventually, he ended up President and CEO of Citicorp after I left. The guys I worked for always used to talk about him reverentually, but that could just be an organization-man thing. I seem to remember Steve Schear, who used to work at a different Citicorp company back then, talking lately about Braddock once or twice, but I can't remember if Schear knew Braddock back then or not. Finally, and most important for us, it looks like Bruce Schnier's involved with Walker Digital as a partner. Given the cryptographic content of not a few of their patents, (like 5,828,751, "Method for Secure Measurement Certification", or 5,768,832, "Remote-Auditing of Computer-Generated Outcomes and Authenticated Billing and Access-Control System Using Cryptographic and Other Protocols") it looks like that's where he's parking some of his IP these days. But, of course, I haven't gone to look at the patents themselves to see if his name's on them, so that's only speculation. Curioser and curioser. Reading all of this stuff this afternoon me made me antsy enough, grouchy, really, to start a rant about this kind of patent-farming, sparked both by all the registered trademarks in the DigiCash bankruptcy filing, and compounded all the fun things Walker Digital has gone and patented, things which are braindead simple. To some people, anyway. :-). Priceline, for instance, seems to me exactly like the specialist's book at the New York Stock Exchange, frankly, but since it's now on the internet, it's patentable, according to the Patent Office. Anyway, the rant on this is forthcoming, or at least in the hopper, my having vented a little steam here, and, in the meantime, I thought I'd fire off this heads-up to everyone so they can read the Industry Standard article themselves. It's on Page 60 of the December 28 / January 4 issue. And, tangentally, to plug January 5th's DCSB meeting, of course, :-), which should be a really good one, in light of current events. Cheers, Robert Hettinga -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.5 iQEVAwUBNoFsicUCGwxmWcHhAQFQzQgAmVZDbchvpnDb5/ofq9OKGu5yqD9YMnyf I0H75rjorm/k9TNSC8kH1yvp8s0n6eaXh0r7Bf0CayYeAKg+4tZHHjysHKxKowwR Xjcmm8ACwNLTlQTF1GWpaUoSE5RQ3cDZJKJGHA3OQRRewJlC7D/Zz48pZfP7EXuB ASDOC+f+aDjAYFa66d8ax1a49SbKC4Xpr0blpxp9uCU7aUdgJp51H25jiZvE/Wi3 NvgxDZzw1me6LToSPZR+qa7rmExlEyFJsDmhYkhHh7PH8qOR4gwGXD9ZunpPlm6U buW99TtKNzM32os0Pdbod9AcuifOS+s1f5ubJxJ5i21RmeeOPEtiig== =wb+S -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Navy ordinace personnel always to have a keen sense of irony and, therefore, a fine sense of humor. On Cohen. Well, he affirms his belief in his coic. What else needs to be said? This press statement does sound like Algore though. Maybe the two have been spending too much time together or drinking from the same fruit bowl. ;) anon y. mous

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Re: Jury Duty
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Greg Broiles writes: >If you really do want to avoid jury service, mentioning FIJA or jury >nullification ought to do the trick - it may get every juror within >earshot excused, too, depending on how paranoid the locals are. > >But I think that's a horrible idea - jury participation is an opportunity >to exercise much more influence than you wield if/when you vote in an >election. All by yourself, voting your conscience as shaped by the >evidence and the jury instructions, you can force a mistrial, which might >or might not mean the end of the case. If your view of the evidence and >your understanding of the law, as explained by the judge in the jury >instructions, proves to be persuasive to your fellow jurors, you will >collectively make the law as it applies to the parties in your trial. It's >pretty difficult to overturn a jury verdict - not impossible, but it's >harder than you might think from watching TV. Be aware that concealing your opinions on this matter can get you into hot water. Juror Laura Kriho was convicted of obstruction of justice for not revealing that she believed in jury nullification, during the selection process. Kriho has appealed. More information is at http://home.utah-inter.net/don-tiggre/jrp.krihotoc.htm. The judge's ruling, at http://www.eagle-access.net/index3.html: :} After reviewing all the evidence and the law, and applying the standard :} of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the Court reaches the following :} conclusions. During the jury selection process Ms. Kriho was aware that :} the trial court and the lawyers felt it was a juror's duty to follow the :} law as given by the trial court, and they wanted to know if any juror :} disagreed with this proposition. Ms. Kriho was also aware that the trial :} court and the parties wanted to know if the jurors could follow the rule :} that punishment was not to enter into their deliberations. Ms. Kriho :} was also aware that the trial court and the parties wanted to know if :} the jurors could follow the rule that punishment was not to enter into :} their deliberations. Ms. Kriho was also aware that the trial court and :} the parties wanted to know if any juror had strong feelings concerning :} the enforcement of drug laws or any experience that would affect their :} attitude about drug laws. While being aware of the importance of these :} issues and having been given the opportunity to comment on these issues, :} Ms. Kriho deliberately withheld her opinions on these topics from the :} trial court and the parties during the jury selection process. Based on :} all the evidence, this Court concludes that it was Ms. Kriho's intent to :} withhold this information from the trial court and the parties so that :} she could be selected to serve on the jury and obstruct the judicial :} process. By deliberately withholding this information, she obstructed :} the process of selecting a fair and impartial jury. The selection of :} jurors who have open minds and who have not preconceived the verdict :} is essential for a fair trial. Ms. Kriho's lack of candor about her :} experiences and attitudes led to the selection of a jury doomed to :} mistrial from the start. This Court finds this conduct constitutes :} obstruction of justice and this conduct was offensive to the authority :} and dignity of the trial court.

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Re: http://walkerdigital.com/html/patents.html
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 15:18:40 -0800 (PST) From: <Somebody (who founded a software company :-))> To: rah(a)shipwright.com Subject: Re: http://walkerdigital.com/html/patents.html Status: U IMHO, the patent office has no clue what the hell they're doing. Maybe it is time we do away with patents and let people who feel ripped off rely the courts for restitution. I have always thought that patents were to protect the inventor from being ripped off. However, i now find that: 1. patents are slowing down progress, since someone with a better idea can't use that idea since somehow, any incarnation of the patented idea, however different it may be, is covered by the broadness of the patent, thanks to some high paid lawyer. 2. patents are meant for "inventions", not ideas. Ideas are getting patented everyday. I know of many. Why do I consider them ideas and not inventions? Because the patented "thing" isn't available. There is a description of how it will work, what it will do and how someone could build it, in a million different ways, if they could figure out the tiny details themselves, since that is the part missing. But can you go anywhere and touch the invention, or see it operate or use it in some manner, however preliminary? No. I still have the folder that E*Data sent me four or more years ago, stating: We would rather license than litigate. Here is a list of companies we've sued. You'd look through the paperwork and everything was spelled out except what you would get from them if you licensed their patent, other than permission. You remember E-Data? Where are they now? Well they had a big blow a few months ago to their silly patent. All in all, I don't think patents help the small inventor any more. Those who can afford it, tell a lawyer what they are thinking and in 60-90 days, the attorney will have filed a patent with no more than a few follow-up phone calls or faxes. Those who can't afford it will continue to be robbed of their inventions. My rant. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: Question about 'TEMPEST': UPS (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 17:22:58 -0800 > From: Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> > Subject: Re: Question about 'TEMPEST': UPS > These were commercial cages used in the consumer products design Someplace you might want to check into about actual real-world cage design and computers is Cray. When I worked at UT Austin and we put in the comp center at the Balconese Research Center it had a wire mesh cage installed per spec by Cray for the X-MP & Y-MP. It would not surprise me if they didn't have some literture and design guides available. ____________________________________________________________________ What raises the standard of living may well diminish the quality of life. The Club of Rome The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Merry Christmas from <Somewhere>
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Now, *this* is curious... Anyone, especially from C2NET, wanna take a shot at the following? I think I can tell him what CTO means ;-), but what about the rest? Cheers, RAH --- begin forwarded text From: Somebody To: <rah(a)philodox.com> Subject: Merry Christmas from <Somewhere> Date: <would actually tell you where they were...> Status: U Dear Rob Hettinga Merry Christmas and a happy new year! Hi, my name is <Somebody> I hope you remember me from FC98. I am trying to find out what is happening with C2net. I heard a rumor that C2net had corporate restructuring and Sameer quit CEO and became CTO. What is CTO anyway? Also, there was a rumor that someone who was in charge of the development of the SSL in Australia quit working for C2net. Does this have to do with Sameer's announcement of the OpenSSL project? I really need to know this. Please reply to my e-mail if you know anything about it. Thank you. <Somebody's .sig> --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Expansion of handgun bans? [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/23/gun.study/ > > EXPAND THE HANDGUN BAN? STUDY DRAWS FIRE > > guns December 23, 1998 > Web posted at: 4:28 p.m. EST (2128 GMT) > > In this story: > * Misdemeanor convictions linked to future crimes > * Critic: Study flawed > * Related stories and sites > > > > CHICAGO (CNN) -- It's legal in the United States for a person > convicted of a misdemeanor to buy a handgun. But, according to a study > being challenged as flawed, such purchasers are more likely than those > without a criminal record to commit a crime and should be barred from > buying handguns, just as felons are. > > The study was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American > Medical Association. [text deleted] ____________________________________________________________________ What raises the standard of living may well diminish the quality of life. The Club of Rome The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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