December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Redlining
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:20 PM 12/11/1996, Matthew J. Miszewski wrote: >>(Let me add that remailers are great. I would be reluctant to express >>these ideas in any other way for professional reasons.) > >hehehe. Actually, there's nothing funny about the suppression of free speech. What I fear is being dragged into a baseless "discrimination" lawsuit if I should ever hire somebody from a "protected class" and find that their employment needs to be terminated. Note that the "protected classes" constitute the overwhelming majority of the US population. >>(Those who don't believe me should get "Love Supreme" by John >>Coltrane and listen to it carefully about 20 times. There are >>layers and > >And what was it that Bird's contemporary society called him? Was it >crazy? This is one of the social ills potentially caused by >discrimination. Far more important to me than the politics of any >time is the music that a time period presents. But this visionary >jazz musician was all but discredited by the musical environment of >the times. Thankfully, it survived on its merits. But imagine if >the campaign to discredit Coltrane had been successful and my young >ears never experienced that beauty. That is part of the potential >harm I am talking about. Is this a joke? How can we pass a law telling people to like somebody's music? Respect cannot be legislated. It must be earned. Red Rackham

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Re: Draft of Commerce Department Crypto Regs
by Peter D. Junger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cindy Cohn writes: : Steptoe and Johnson have kindly posted the draft Commerce Department : regulations on encryption exports at http://www.steptoe.com/commerce.htm. Thanks. Since it took a long time to download them from Steptoe and Johnson's web site, I have taken the liberty of mirroring them at http://samsara.law.cwru.edu/comp_law/commerce.proposed.regs.html on my web server. -- Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH Internet: junger(a)pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu junger(a)samsara.law.cwru.edu URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu

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[OFF-TOPIC] RE: (Fwd) Books for Children's Hospitals
by James A. Tunnicliffe 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Paul writes: >i know that this is WAY off topic, and that we never post off-topic mail >here, >but, this seems worthwhile, so please excuse, (maybe flames for off-topic >posts >will count ) > >cheers, > -paul >>"The Houghton-Mifflin publishing co. is giving books to children's >>hospitals; how many books they give depends on how many emails they >>receive from people around the world. for every 25 emails they receive, >>they give one book--it seems like a great way to help a good cause. >> >>All that you have to do is email share(a)hmco.com. >> >>I hope that you can spare the seconds...and let your friends know. So far >>they only have 3,401 messages...last year they reached 23,000. >> >>This seems like an easy and simple thing to do -- please take the time!" My "urban legend detector" pegged when I saw this, but it turns out to be on the level. See http://www.hmco.com/hmco/trade/hmi/polar/ for more info. Tunny ====================================================================== James A. Tunnicliffe | WWWeb: http://www.inference.com/~tunny Inference Corporation | PGP Fingerprint: CA 23 E2 F3 AC 2D 0C 77 tunny(a)Inference.com | 36 07 D9 33 3D 32 53 9C ======================================================================

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R3 ANNOUNCES SSL HTTP SOLUTION PROVIDING (fwd)
by Adam Shostack 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----- Forwarded message from Strate Andreas E. ----- >From list(a)glacier.mcom.com Thu Dec 12 11:42:56 1996 Resent-Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 08:33:29 -0800 (PST) From: "Strate Andreas E." <strate(a)r3.ch> To: "'ssl-talk'" <ssl-talk(a)netscape.com> Subject: R3 ANNOUNCES SSL HTTP SOLUTION PROVIDING Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 17:32:00 +0100 Message-Id: <96Dec12.173217gmt+0100.41475(a)gateway.r3.ch> Encoding: 56 TEXT X-Mailer: Microsoft Mail V3.0 Resent-Message-ID: <"IBQbP2.0.UY.MF3io"@glacier> Resent-From: ssl-talk(a)netscape.com X-Mailing-List: <ssl-talk(a)netscape.com> archive/latest/3087 X-Loop: ssl-talk(a)netscape.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: ssl-talk-request(a)netscape.com [Charset ISO-8859-1 unsupported, filtering to ASCII...] R3 ANNOUNCES SSL HTTP SOLUTION PROVIDING STRONG CRYPTOGRAPHY Aathal, Switzerland, December 12, 1996 - r3 security engineering ag announces "r3 SSL HTTP Client" which provides strong cryptography to any browser which supports HTTP proxies. The product available on Win95/NT and Win3.1 is in final Beta state and will be available on these platforms by the end of this year. A beta version of "r3 SSL HTTP Client" can be downloaded from http://www.r3.ch/products/ssl/ The "r3 SSL HTTP Client" has been selected by the major Swiss Banks to enable their homebanking applications with their customers. The solution provides strong cryptography based on the 128 bit IDEA algorithm. Export security and smaller key lengths were ruled out as inacceptable for sensitive Internet homebanking services. Strong cryptography with 128 bit IDEA algorithm is a must for their homebanking Internet services. The "r3 SSL HTTP Client" is part of a suite of SSL products developed by r3 security engineering which consists of _ r3 SSL HTTP Server _ r3 SSL HTTP Proxy Server _ r3 SSL HTTP Gateway _ r3 SSL FTP Server _ r3 SSL FTP Gateway The r3 SSL server products will be available during the first quarter 97. r3 security engineering ag - located in Aathal/Zurich, Switzerland - is one of the major providers for security solutions in the area of EDIFACT and Internet applications. r3's activities in international standardization committees and in research projects guarantee state of the art products and solutions. "r3 SSL HTTP Server" and "r3 SSL HTTP Client" are trademarks of r3. r3 SSL products use software modules developed by Eric Young (eay(a)mincom.oz.au) Eric Young's SSLeay is used but the SSL layer has been completely reengineered to provide full control over the SSL handshake. For further information please contact : ---------------------------------------------------- Andreas E. Strate r3 security engineering ag Internet: strate(a)r3.ch Hofstrasse 98 Phone: +41 1 934 56 56 CH-8620 Wetzikon Direct: +41 1 934 56 72 Switzerland Fax: +41 1 934 56 79 http://www.r3.ch/ ---------------------------------------------------- ----- End of forwarded message from Strate Andreas E. ----- -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume

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Windows 95 Easter Egg
by Travis Ogden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thought you all may find this entertaining... Regards, Travis --- ~Webmaster~ ~Tejedormaestro~ Travis Ogden SpiritOne, Inc. traviso(a)SpiritOne.com 7302 N Richmond Ave Phone: 503.240.8200 Portland OR 97203 Portland's Quality Fax: 503.240.8205 Public-Access Provider Web: http://www.SpiritOne.com Personal: http://www.SpiritOne.com/~traviso ~All opinions expressed herein are mine and not my employers~ --- ============================================================================== 1.Point the mouse at the desktop and click the right mouse button. Choose "New" from the resulting pop-up menu, and then choose "Folder." 2.A new folder will appear on the desktop, with the temporary name "New Folder." Change the folder's name by typing "and now, the moment you've all been waiting for" (do not type the quotation marks), and pressing the Enter key. 3.Point at the folder and click the right mouse button to display its pop-up context menu. Choose the Rename command, and type "we proudly present for your viewing pleasure" (again, without the quotation marks). Press the Enter key. 4.Once again, right-click the folder and choose the Rename command. This time, type "The Microsoft Windows 95 Product Team!" (again, without the quotation marks). Press the Enter key. 5.Double-click on the folder to open it. ==============================================================================

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RE: !! Point 'n Crypt -- Win95 Privacy for Everyone !!
by Walt Armour 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The focus for the current PnC offering is more privacy than security. To avoid any issues of ITAR and export we chose to make the first version weak. There will be future offerings that use stronger, non-exportable crypto. As for the posting, I have seen the occasional commercial post float through. This will be the only time that the post will show up on Cypherpunks. Now if we can keep any long threads from getting kicked off (an all too common occurrence). Perhaps replies could be taken to e-mail... walt ---------- From: Gabe Kostolny[SMTP:gabe@ixlabs.com] Sent: Thursday, December 12, 1996 2:45 AM To: Walt Armour Cc: coderpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: !! Point 'n Crypt -- Win95 Privacy for Everyone !! > > Point 'n Crypt uses 40-bit DES-CBC (exportable), salted SHA passphrases, > and conforms to PKCS #5 and PKCS #7. > It seems to me that anything that's exportable is pretty damn useless, if you really want to keep something secret. Also... I kinda got the impression that this list wasn't for silly commercial traffic? -gabe

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Social Security Fraud
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Red Rackham wrote: >>>As for the social security number, it has been claimed many times on >>>this list that nobody checks them anyway. There are programs which >>>generate real-appearing numbers. (I think one was called >>>"ssn.exe".) > >>While I understand the greater social good, I, personally, am not >>interested in violating applicable fraud statutes. This is a >>borderline case in which consideration to the idea, of course, should >>be given. I would hesitate to expose these people to that risk. > >I would not propose committing fraud. I do not understand who would >be defrauded by giving an employer an incorrect social security >number. The company pays the salary either way. To which Matthew J. Miszewski replied: >>I would not propose committing fraud. I do not understand who would > >You already have. As Mr. Miszewski is clearly too busy to answer my question, perhaps some of the lawyers on the list will be kind enough to help me out. Under what conditions is it fraudulent to give the wrong social security number? It seems to me that in the case of an employee giving the wrong number to his employer, the only person that suffers is the employee through loss of future payments from the Social Security Administration. The employer certainly doesn't suffer. Assume that the income tax is paid. What laws would an employee violate? What are the chances of conviction? What are the likely penalties if convicted? Red Rackham

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Whom can you trust with your keys -- government version
by Hal Abelson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The Commerce Department draft crypto export regulations (see http://www.steptoe.com/commerce.htm) include the following stipulation on Key Recovery Agents: Evidence of an individual's suitability and trustworthiness [to act as a key recovery agent] shall include: (i) Information indicating that the individual(s): (A) Has no criminal convictions of any kind or pending criminal charges of any kind; (B) Has not breached fiduciary responsibilities (e.g., has not violated any surety or performance bonds); and (C) Has favorable results of a credit check; or, (ii) Information that the individual(s) has an active U.S. government security clearance of Secret or higher issued or updated within the last five years. It's nice to know that we can trust ex-cons, frauds, and deadbeats to hold our keys, provided that they have obtained a Secret clearance. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAwUBMrBrBfiGKLV9Y6XFAQH53AP5AXAG5ys1ju6R1imLJYTKQcgDtNec9YBw kSimzx/GIOAf0eWJFTU+fMTsJp9g7K1LasNYRYfXM2aqPuwB6UJ2PU1JKhi2u8ew Qk06TllDvhzGwWTCAd53J616181srw3Gb+lARvBQT4m/1trRNDR24d0rdxS7jxPk ytwNprO06zQ= =CXXb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Redlining
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"dthorn(a)gte.net" "Dale Thorn" 12-DEC-1996 14:56:52.69 >Actually, there is not only good evidence for the environmental argument, >but you can reason it out yourself if you give attention to some things >that don't make it into most discussions on this topic. Yes, there are strong arguments for the environment being the determining factor... there are also strong arguments (such as interracial adoption still leaving blacks below the average IQ of adopted siblings) for it being genetics. We won't be able to find out which is which until we know what the genetic determinants of intelligence are, which will take some time. (Using current techniques, several hundred years at the minimum... but I'm not prepared to predict how good techniques will get). As I previously stated, I don't believe it is any part genetic. -Allen

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Re: Redlining
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"mjmiski(a)execpc.com" "Matthew J. Miszewski" 12-DEC-1996 11:32:36.79 >Just wanted to clear up that my reference to student loans was not meant to >start a discussion of the granting of _those_ loans. It was meant to spark >a discussion of the lending to those borrowers *after* they graduate. As a >group, their default rate is generally high. And yet, as a group, the >extension of credit to these people is not systematically denied (as in >redlining). >I take responsibility for the thread being confused as I believe my first >mention of it was unclear. mea culpa. I see... that explains your apparantly nonsensical answer that the guarantees on student loans don't make any difference. Quite alright; we all make mistakes. I would like to suggest that the essential problem in determining loans to those who have just graduated is that of headaches in gathering sufficient information; namely, the cost of finding out "is this a good school" and "how good are this person's prospects" are sufficiently high so as to make up for the default rates. As previously mentioned by Dale Thorn, the inclusion in this figure of various trade schools is also a (related) problem, one that Clinton's proposal of student loans for 2 years of college for _everyone_ would make worse. -Allen

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