December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Announcement
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Comments: Authenticated sender is <trotterf(a)[172.16.1.10]> From: "Frank O. Trotter, III" <ftrotter(a)marktwain.com> Organization: Mark Twain Bank To: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 08:55:14 -5 Subject: Announcement Reply-to: ftrotter(a)marktwain.com Priority: normal Bob: Here is an official announcement that can be found at http://www.marktwain.com/prs1096c.html We feel that there is much positive to come from this on the electronic commerce front and will be filling you in more later. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MERCANTILE BANCORPORATION INC. TO MERGE WITH MARK TWAIN BANK ST. LOUIS, October 28, 1996...Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. (NYSE: MTL), an $18.2 billion asset bank holding company, and Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc. (NYSE: MTB), a $3.1 billion asset bank holding company, both headquartered in St. Louis, jointly announced today that they have signed a definitive merger agreement. The transaction will be a tax-free exchange valued at approximately $855 million. "This merger of Mark Twain with Mercantile brings together the strengths of two high-performing organizations and solidifies Mercantile's position as the largest locally managed, and independently owned banking operation in St. Louis and the state of Missouri," said Thomas H. Jacobsen, chairman and chief executive officer of Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. "It is a compelling transaction that will harness the middle market lending and other specialty businesses of Mark Twain with the power and breadth of Mercantile's operation," Jacobsen added. "Both institutions are generating strong revenue growth, increasing market share and earnings momentum. We're convinced that the synergies between our two institutions will create a highly competitive banking organization with long-term benefits for our customers, employees and shareholders." "This is great news for St. Louis and Kansas City at a time of rapid change in the financial services industry. We are very pleased to partner with Mercantile Bancorporation and form a merged banking entity in which everyone benefits," said John P. Dubinsky, president and chief executive officer of Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc. "Customers of Mark Twain will benefit from the extensive array of consumer products and services developed by Mercantile. Both organizations have outstanding CRA records and together will continue to provide civic leadership in the region," Dubinsky said. Mark Twain Directors unanimously approved the transaction and have indicated that they will vote their shares in favor of the merger. Under the terms of the agreement, Mark Twain shareholders will receive .9520 shares of Mercantile common stock for each share of Mark Twain common stock. The merger is structured as a tax-free exchange and will be accounted for as a pooling of interests. Based on Friday's closing price for Mercantile common stock of $52.125, the transaction is valued at $49.62 per share of Mark Twain common stock. In addition, both Mercantile and Mark Twain will rescind all previously announced share repurchase programs. Mercantile may repurchase up to 700,000 shares in the open market from time to time depending upon market conditions and other factors. Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc., one of the highest performing banks in the country, has 39 banking locations in the St. Louis, Kansas City and Belleville, IL areas. Mark Twain's related financial services companies include: Mark Twain Capital Markets Group; Mark Twain Brokerage Service, Inc.; Mark Twain Commercial Finance Division; Mark Twain International Division and Mark Twain Trust. The merger strengthens Mercantile's presence in the three largest Missouri markets, increasing market share in the Kansas City Metropolitan area from fourth to third; and moving Mercantile to a stronger second in market share in the St. Louis area. Mark Twain's pending acquisition in Springfield, Missouri will further increase Mercantile's market share by approximately 20% in the Springfield area. Upon completion of the merger, Alvin J. Siteman, chairman of Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc., will become Chairman of Mercantile Bank of St. Louis, and will join the Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. Board of Directors. In addition, John P. Dubinsky, will become president and chief executive officer of Mercantile Bank of St. Louis and a member of Mercantile's management executive committee, reporting to Thomas H. Jacobsen. Peter F. Benoist, executive vice president, banking division, Mark Twain Bancshares, Inc., will join Mercantile Bank of St. Louis as a key member of the management team. Joseph E. Hasten, the current president of Mercantile Bank of St. Louis, will assume the position of chairman and chief institutional banking officer of Mercantile's Corporate Bank serving the specialized financial needs of Mercantile's commercial customers throughout the Midwest, reporting to W. Randolph Adams, senior executive vice president of Mercantile Bancorporation Inc. Plans call for the merger, which is subject to the approval of Mercantile and Mark Twain shareholders and all appropriate regulatory agencies, to be completed in the second quarter of 1997. Mercantile Bancorporation Inc., an $18.2 billion multi-bank holding company headquartered in St. Louis, operates banks in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas. The company has mergers pending with Today's Bancorp, Inc., First Financial Corporation of America, and Regional Bancshares, Inc. Mercantile's non-banking subsidiaries include companies providing brokerage services, asset-based lending, investment advisory services, leasing services and credit life insurance. Contact: Keith Miller (314) 889-0799 millerk(a)marktwain.com Frank O. Trotter, III Senior Vice President Director International Markets Division Mark Twain Bank ***************************************** mailto:ftrotter@marktwain.com http://www.marktwain.com Fax: +1 314 569-4906 --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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FDA_dis
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

10-28-96. WaPo: Dissing Declan's Hotwired slam of the FDA conference on regulating Internet advertising and promotion: "Ultimately, this debate isn't about speech. It comes down to how much regulation we want." Declan, singe dis negro inquisto, si? ----- http://jya.com/fdadis.txt ftp://jya.com/pub/incoming/fdadis.txt FDA_dis

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copyright violations
by jacobs＠tfn.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FYI, American Banker and all sister publications are copyrighted material. As such, only very few select third parties have permission to redistribute our material. Please notify us immediately of any third party contacting you with our material so that we may protect our copyright. Do not redistribute any information you receive from a third party.

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First Union Ahead of Curve with Sun's "JavaStation"
by Copyright Violator 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

When Sun Microsystems unveils today what it is touting as a radical advance in business computing, First Union Corp. will be in the vanguard of those adopting it. The announcement, at a media event in New York, will center on a hot trend that Sun reduces to three words: Java Enterprise Computing. Sun invited First Union, which has already deployed the technology in its capital markets operations, to share the spotlight with other Java innovators such as CSX, Federal Express, and British Telecom. Rarely has a bank company been so much a part of high-tech hype, which makes the First Union case and what it says about the potential impact of Java computing that much more noteworthy. Based on a programming language -- Java -- that came out of Sun Microsystems but is for practical purposes in the public domain, this new approach exemplifies what technologists call "network-centricity." It is widely seen as an antidote to the difficulty and expense of upgrading and maintaining vast numbers of personal computers in large organizations. First Union bought into the idea long ago and views Java computing as "a natural evolution," said Peter Kelly, senior vice president of the company's lead bank in Charlotte, N.C. After about five months of development and use, he reported "a dramatic reduction in both time and cost for training, administration, and maintenance." Participating in the announcement today, he said, First Union is less interested in glory or in endorsing Sun Microsystems -- the bank is drawn to Java because it is "vendor-neutral" -- than it is in "supporting a good business solution." In the network-centric model, processing and programming power reside away from the desktop on computers known as servers. Today's personal computers can be reduced to, or replaced by, less expensive "thin clients." These rely on "fat servers" for what analyst Jean S. Bozman of International Data Corp. calls "the heavy lifting." The computer press has recently given much attention to thin client opportunities in the home, such as an inexpensive appliance for Internet access that Oracle Corp., a leading advocate, dubbed the Network Computer, or NC. Sun's initial appeal is decidedly to the corporate community, where it believes revolutions happen first. "This may be the beginning of an incredible 10-year change in the way we do computing," Sun Microsystems Computer Co. president Edward J. Zander said in an interview last week. A thin client called JavaStation, along with an "easy administration" server, is to be included in Sun's announcement today. First Union is using the station to link a variety of desktop equipment with numerous data bases and files; Java breaks down the barriers between previously incompatible systems. Mr. Kelly said the bank would likely explore the technology's applicability outside of capital markets. Mr. Zander, who is based in Mountain View, Calif., said Java Enterprise Computing is especially and immediately applicable to "what we call fixed-function applications." These include many back-office and customer-service activities in financial services that can be managed and administered centrally and delivered through specialized thin-client screens. But what really attracts technologists' and business managers' attention is the economics. Sun projects 50% to 80% reductions in "the cost of ownership" of PCs, which can be tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on the size of a corporate network. Hype it may be, but it is hard to find anybody to argue against it. International Business Machines Corp., Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and Netscape Communications Corp. -- technology leaders often at odds with one other and with Sun Microsystems -- have each jumped on this bandwagon in some way. (In other NC-related developments Monday, Oracle and Netscape announced a strategic alliance, as did an opposing group that included Microsoft, Intel Corp., and Hewlett-Packard Co.) Sun's ebullient Mr. Zander will talk a blue streak about almost anything on the leading edge, as he did last week in declaring, "Java computing is ready for prime time." But he was also careful not to oversell. Given the huge and entrenched population of PCs, he said, network computing is more evolutionary than revolutionary. Regarding Oracle chairman Lawrence Ellison's vision of $500 NCs' replacing virtually all PCs, Mr. Zander saw a lack of realism because PC-based spreadsheet and graphics applications, among others, are likely to persist. "We're not telling people to give up the power of the PC," Mr. Zander said, but to "put the complexity on the server, where it belongs . . . . It will take a couple of years, but it will happen." Mr. Kelly, who is responsible for First Union's capital markets technology and support, described JavaStation as a logical extension of the bank's work with object-oriented computing -- the programming approach that relies on reusable objects, or building-blocks of code -- and C++, the standard programming language from which Java was derived. Investment banking and capital markets gave Sun Microsystems its first major inroads into financial services, which may explain why Mr. Kelly's department has been looking into Java opportunities for more than a year. The stations have recently replaced "fat client" terminals in trade reconciliation, settlement, and clearing. "The redesign of an interface took only two to three weeks because we were already on the server-centric model," Mr. Kelly said. "This won't be the only client equipment we deploy . . . ," he added. "Interoperability is also our goal." The pricing does have a revolutionary ring to it. Sun said it would begin shipping the entry-level JavaStation in December, with miniSparc chip and eight megabytes of main memory, for $740. With keyboard, mouse, and 14-inch color monitor, it will go for $995; with double the memory and a 17-inch monitor, $1,495. A business PC installation rarely costs less than $3,000. And that is only part of what has come to irk corporate technology bosses. System maintenance, upgrades, and other expenses can amount to $12,000 per desktop per year. Java technology allows changes to be "written once and run anywhere" -- meaning "locally" on thin clients with powerful RISC (reduced instruction-set computing) processors embedded. A large corporation with JavaStations, which don't need hard or floppy or CD-ROM drives or moving parts because they depend on fat servers, "can save millions of dollars and deliver the same or better functionality, even if this is implemented by just 10% of your work force," said Gene Banman, general manager of Sun's desktop systems group. Sun executives expect JavaStation sales and related software applications to flourish -- they already count 450 of the latter -- because of the cost factor and the Internet and intranet boom. Java is "a secure universal interface language" designed specifically for broad distribution over such open networks without regard to hardware and operating-system choices, said Jeffrey P. Morgenthal, research analyst at D.H. Brown Associates, Port Chester, N.Y. Chief information officers can install Java "in phases without jeopardizing the existing infrastructure investment," he said. "I'm hard-pressed to believe that somebody is going to come up with an architecture in the near future to wipe this one out." Ms. Bozman, the International Data analyst in Mountain View, said alternative ways exist to shift the PC-support burden to central sites. But Java is gaining momentum. It burst on the Internet scene in the form of simple "applets" such as moving stock tickers but is evolving toward mission-critical corporate and packaged software. "This is not just happening in the Sun world," she said. "Even Microsoft is selling Java toolkits." Sun financial services vice president Rob Hall said he anticipates a rapid spread of Java computing because of the "dramatically lower total cost of ownership while providing flexible, platform-independent solutions. "We are seeing strong interest in our thin-client JavaStation for process-heavy and repetitive tasks such as trade settlement back-office operations and customer service applications in retail banking call centers," Mr. Hall said.

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? for HTML experts...
by Peter Hrabinsky 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Sir/Madam: I am wondering how I can include tags in my HTML form wihtout it screwing up the presentation of old browsers? For example, when I get my mail-to form mailed to my server, I want it ready to be clipped into an HTML format. For example: First Name: (or Nick Name) <blockquote> <input type=text size=25 maxlength=256 name="Name/Nickname"> Ok, so if you look at my name="" area I include a and tag so that it automatically formats the form that is submitted to me... The problem is that IE 3.0 and the new Netscape browsers can handle it, older browsers cannot. So is there anyway to include tag text in a form without screwing everything up? Thank you for your help! I look foraward to your reply! Peter

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Re: FLY_not
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:30 AM 10/14/96 -0400, John Young wrote: > 10-13-96. CoWo: > > "Encryption confusion" > > Reminded of the secret Clipper algorithm, I sought > details from IBM. I asked a spokeswoman why the company > hadn't just put out a nice, snappy white paper > explaining its new approach to key recovery. "We spent > three months trying to do that, quite literally," the > spokeswoman said. "It's pretty confusing stuff, and > whenever we get it on paper, we aren't happy with it." That's interesting...whenever they get it on paper, _we_ aren't happy with it either! Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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COMMUNITY CONNEXION SUED IN FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
by sameer＠c2.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

COMMUNITY CONNEXION SUED IN FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT For release: October 14, 1996 Contact: Sameer Parekh 510-986-8770 Oakland, CA - Community ConneXion, Inc, dba C2Net, condemns the lawsuit served by Adobe Systems, Inc., Claris Corporation, and Traveling Software, Inc. as a frivolous lawsuit. "As near as we can tell," said C2Net President Sameer Parekh, "we are being sued for being an Internet Service Provider." C2Net is an ISP, providing shell accounts and web hosting services. But the company is primarily a software vendor, selling Stronghold, one of the most popular secure web servers on the market. "We were looking into joining the Software Publisher's Association, who filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs," said Parekh, "but it's not very likely to happen at this point." The lawsuit appears to charge C2Net with liability based upon allegations that C2Net's customers provide links to pirated software on other machines and "cracker tools" that allow users to beat copy-protection mechanisms like software serial numbers. "It's completely outrageous that the SPA has nothing better to do than to file frivolous lawsuits against hard-working Internet Service Providers," said Parekh. "We are not aware of any such links on our pages or our customer's pages, and if our customers are breaking any laws, we want to know about it so we can terminate their accounts." (The lawsuit provides no specific examples.) The lawsuit was apparently filed after a single attempt to contact the company with a form-letter e-mail. The copy of the alleged e-mail included as an attachment to the suit shows the SPA's real motive. "They want us to sign a 'Code of Conduct'," said Parekh. "Among other things, we'd have to agree to routinely monitor our customer's web pages, which we won't do. We deal with complaints about our customers on a case by case basis, and we have a firm and clear policy against illegal activity of any sort. We've shut down accounts for less than what they're alleging in this lawsuit." "This is clearly a frivolous lawsuit," said Terry Gross, counsel for C2Net. "The plaintiffs know that an ISP can only be liable if it participates in and has knowledge of the improper activity, and it is clear that they have no such basis." Although the lawsuit does not mention the "Code of Conduct", it appears that most ISPs who received the e-mail ended up signing it, largely to avoid legal action from the much-feared SPA. Those that didn't kowtow got sued. "The terms of the 'Code of Conduct' are completely unacceptable," said Parekh. "It basically gives the SPA the right to go on an ongoing fishing expedition through our customer's files, and requires us to do the same as their agent on a regular basis. The Code would classify us as 'publishers', and we would become responsible for everything our customers do. We've built this business on a solid foundation of respect for our customer's privacy. Monitoring their activities without grounds for suspicion is completely inconsistent with maintaining their privacy." "This lawsuit is grossly unfair, and it's going to cost us a lot of time and money, but we don't have any choice but to fight it," said Parekh. "What we have here is three giant software companies and their well-funded bag of lawyers trying to bully a smaller software company into adopting costly policies that invade customers' privacy." A coalition is currently being formed to fight this case and make sure that this form of legal terrorism does not occur in the future against internet providers. The coalition will probably include the three companies that have been served in the suit and other organizations with a stake in creating a rational legal enviroment for ISPs and their customers. C2Net provides high-security encryption solutions for the Internet worldwide. More information about C2Net's products are available at https://stronghold.c2.net/. Information about the forming coalition may be found at https://www.c2.net/ispdc/.

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RE: RE: Binding cryptography - a fraud-detectible alternative to
by Hal Finney 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: everheul(a)mail.rijnhaave.nl > Hal Finney[SMTP:hal@rain.org] wrote: > >Another flaw with schemes of this time (in terms of failing to meet > >their goals) is that they cannot detect superencryption and other > >forms of non-standard encryption of the message body proper. All > >they can really do is verify from the outside that the same session > >key is encrypted for the two recipients (the intended recipient and > >the Government Access to Keys Party - let's not abuse the term by > >calling him a Trusted Third Party). But they can't be sure that the > >session key is sufficient information to decrypt the message. > We offered a solution for the *first* task not for the *second*; the > point is that criminals(!) do not gain any real advantage from using > the system in that way as they - among other things - still face the > key-management problem. The above dicussions are only relevant in > countries where the use of crypto outside the structure would be > prohibited. BTW, it is by such discussions that I believe such a ban > is ineffective and in fact counterproductive. I have not read your paper, but let me illustrate via what may be a similar scheme how criminals can use the key management infrastructure, create messages which look good from outside, yet which still cannot be read by the GAK (government access to keys) people. In ElGamal encryption we start with a message session key M which we want to send across. We have the public key y1 = g^x1 of the recipient (^ is exponentiation). We choose a random blinding factor xm, and calculate ym = g^xm. We send ym and M * (y1^xm). y1^xm equals g^(x1*xm), and the recipient can recover this by ym^x1. Now with two recipients, if we choose the same blinding factor xm for both, we send ym = g^xm, and both M * (y1^xm) and M * (y2^xm). We use the two different recipients' public keys y1 and y2. I believe this can be checked from outside by taking the ratios of these two factors (y1/y2)^xm and using known methods to prove that this is of the proper form. This can be circumvented though simply by replacing M, the true session key, with M' = M*(y1^xm), where y1 is the intended recipient (and y2 is the GAK party). We send M'*(y1^xm) and M'*(y2^xm). Outsiders still verify that this is of the proper form. And the intended recipient can calculate the true M by dividing twice by y1^xm instead of once (in effect M' is the El Gamal encryption of M for party 1). But the GAK party, who gets M'*(y2^xm) and recovers M', finds it useless in trying to decrypt the message. This shows how keys from a standard infrastructure can be used in a slightly non-standard way to confound your scheme. Granted, the parties involved have to share knowledge about using the keys in this non- standard way, but that is only one bit of information and not at all hard to distribute. Hal

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Re: Blinded Identities [was Re: exporting signatures only/CAPI]
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 04:01 AM 10/14/96 -0400, Black Unicorn wrote: >On Sun, 13 Oct 1996, jim bell wrote: > >> At 04:28 PM 10/13/96 -0400, Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law wrote: >> >It is unpublished, but he kindly allowed to me describe it in a paper I >> >wrote that discussed whether a bank would ever want to take the risk of >> >allowing bank accounts where it did not know the identity of the customer. > >> And I don't think that a bank can ever be embarrassed (assuming bank >> accounts are anonymous) by it being revealed that some particular bad guy >> kept his money there, any more than other cash-based (anonymous) businesses >> are embarrassed if it is revealed that some bad guy used their services. > >I would refer you to Union Bank of Switzerland in the late 80's >(kidnapping), BCCI (drug and intelligence money), BMI (drug >money/offshore insurance fraud), PNC Bank (accounting fraud), and a host >of others I won't bother to list. Banks do suffer from these disclosures, >in many cases quite severely. (PNC bank was nearly ruined by their fraud >harboring disclosures). Are you talking about ANONYMOUS accounts, or merely CONFIDENTIAL ones? (Anonymous accounts, as I use the term, are ones in which even the bank doesn't know the owner.) I think you're lumping these two things together; I was not. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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RE: LET'S MEET DIMITRI (WHO CARES?)
by Alex Filacchione 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<FLAME> Hmm. Maybe I am missing something. Can someone please explain to me exactly WHAT relevance this has to the list? People, I really DON'T CARE what your opinions are of Tim May, or anyone else for that matter!!! Can you please stop acting like children in a playground name-calling contest and move on to something else? Something of relevance to the list please? If you absolutely *HAVE* to continue to act like children then take it to private email. If for nothing else, then to save YOURSELVES from embarrassment. </FLAME> Thank you, AlexF(a)iss.net ---------- From: Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM[SMTP:dlv@bwalk.dm.com] Sent: Friday, October 11, 1996 8:55 AM To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: LET'S MEET DIMITRI [snip] No deal, then. I suggest that for your next meeting you book Timmy May to perform live sex acts on stage with his two cats, as Ray and Zach do the Macarena circle-jerk. > How about you and Tim sit down and *NICELY* talk about your differences?

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