December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

ICANN (New IANA) as a Pawn in an Economic Struggle Between US and
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 17:42:56 -0400 Reply-To: cook(a)cookreport.com Originator: com-priv(a)lists.psi.com Sender: com-priv(a)lists.psi.com Precedence: bulk From: Gordon Cook <cook(a)cookreport.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <com-priv(a)lists.psi.com> Subject: ICANN (New IANA) as a Pawn in an Economic Struggle Between US and X-Comment: Commercialization and Privatization of the Internet I asked the question a few days ago: what could justify Ira's heavy handed tactics. What stakes could be large enough to risk the stability of the net? Here is an informed hypothesis based on a 90 minutes conversation with an expert source in these areas who has a heavy international background. (I have also reality checked this hypothesis with several knowledgable observers.) I am beginning to get an idea of what is at stake in the larger sense. Ira, I fear, is using the internet as a pawn in a far bigger game. The game is is inextricably linked with the privacy statutes of the OECD and the coming October 23th deadline for American companies doing business in Europe and data mining on European citizens as part of their ordinary activities. It is also inextricably linked with the international encryption debate. I have heard credible allegations that the US government is at such loggerheads with the OECD countries over the use of key recovery encryption and over the unwillingness of american big business to change its ways of gathering data on employees, customers, contractors etc that we are coming to the October 23th deadline with billions of dollars at stake and no solution. At the same time Ira has for the past three years focused on his mission with Tom Kalil and working through the National Economic and Security Council to setting up the internet as a mechanism for global economic commerce..... touting the net as a means on which, in a few year's time, the majority of the world's economy will depend. It looks as though Ira's agenda is to do this in such a way that the internet can be controlled by an American based, incorporated, non profit public authority set up under American law with a Board, purposefully established without fiscal restraints and without any oversight or accountability. And with board members who with a smattering of international representation can be made as subserviant as possible to the interests of the large American Corporations. These Board members, through the GIP, will be passing the cup to pay for the expenses of establishing ICANN. Consider Bill Burrington Director of Law and Public Policy and Assistant General Counsel at AOL, a company which huge data holdings. He is the chair of the Washington DC Internetactive Services Association which went on to form the Internet Alliance with membership very simalr to GIP. Burrington is manning the barricades of the companies involved in the privacy dispute with the oecd. (Why should Burrington care? Consider AOL's electronic profiles on its 12 million members) Consider also Andy Sernovitz of AIM whose members have the same general interests and who helped Barb Dooley of the CIX sell out the IFWP process. Did Jon Postel really refuse to attend the Harvard wrap up meeting or did Ira order him not to? So even if Ira looks heavy handed -- for this agenda to be used as the White House intends-- Ira needs to have his ducks in order in time for the OECD meeting in Canada that begins next week. He needs to demonstrate that he has enough power to have rammed through a solution at home. That is why things have turned nasty during the last week and why the iron fist is becoming seen with the incorporation of ICANN even though, by Ira's own allegedly free process, ICANN should not yet be seen as the winner. Ira is determined to confront the OECD next week with an Internet that *HE* and the White House clearly controls and to do so as a bargaining chip to use in getting our way against the Europeans and Asians and Canadians..... on the issues of encryption and privacy statutes. It would be instructive to see the legal basis of the governments arguments being used to get NSI to cave. Could it be that their content might be embarrising? If SAIC doesn't order NSI to sign Ira's demands by the seventh then Ira and the white house will not be as in control of the internet, as they need to demonstrate themselves to be, in order to use the internet as an american dominated global commerce weapon against the other OECD governments. The American view is that with the internet firmly in command of the White House on American corportate terms, the Asians and Europeans will have no choice but to back off their privacy and the American encryption demands. Remember also that Europe is trying to launch the Euro in such a way that it becomes the world's reserve currency. One would like to know whether the White House orders are do what ever is necessary to see that this effort fails. The Europeans and Asians understand perfectly well the power play that Ira is engaged in. They are not surprisingly seething with anger. American arrogance could be doing dangerous things. If we drive Europe and Asia into an economic and political alliance against us, we all will lose. Privacy, and the freedom to live our lives without government and corporate political or economic interference are at stake. *************************************************************************** The COOK Report on Internet White House Corrupts Formation of IANA 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA Corporation. White Paper a Sham. See (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) http://www.cookreport.com/sellout cook(a)cookreport.com Index to 6 years of COOK Report, how to subscribe, exec summaries, special reports, gloss at http://www.cookreport.com *************************************************************************** --- 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: ICANN (New IANA) as a Pawn in an Economic Struggle Between USand
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Not to disturb your exegetic reverie, here, Gord, but I asked Mr. Magaziner, when he spoke at at the Electronic Payments Forum earlier this month, in front of about 400 or so digital commerce and e$ types, the following question: "Given your administration's, um, success, in banning strong foriegn cryptography, how do you propose to ban it in the United States?" His answer then was that he was absolutely postively against key escrow or limits on cryptography of any kind. Besides stealing all my carefully worded thunder :-), he got a big round of applause. <grumble, grumble goddamn liberals, grumble, grumble> He also said that the major reason for the, um, complexity, of US crypto policy was that the administration's internet commerce types were fighting the law enforcent types tooth and nail about it. I want to smash the state as much as the next crypto-anarchist :-), but I figure this is what is happening. The spooks gave up on this crap long ago, and it's just the cops standing in front of the steamroller now. Money trumps crime-FUD, just like it did spook-FUD. F=MA, and all that. :-). Cheers, Bob Hettinga "There's the conspiracy theory of history, where elites conspire to shape events behind the scenes, the fuck-up theory of history, where elites fuck up and conspire to cover it behind the scenes, and the fucked-up conspiracy theory of history, where elites conspire to shape events, fuck up, and conspire to cover it up behind the scenes. My favorite theory is the latter." -- (An as-yet Unremembered) Mizzou History Prof or, in the spirit of William of Occam, "Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by stupidity." --Jerry Pournelle ----------------- 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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Federal Power Grab Threatens Your Rights
by Gun Owners of America 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Massive New Power Grab By The Feds -- gun owners' constitutional rights in jeopardy Gun Owners of America E-Mail/FAX Alert 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151 Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.gunowners.org First, an update on Smith's "Anti-Brady" amendment: The pro-gun Smith amendment that passed the Senate in July is still awaiting action in a House-Senate conference committee. In fact, the House still has yet to pick the House conferees. GOA will keep you updated on this important legislation which would put the brakes on FBI's ability to register and tax gun owners. Keep calling your legislators (202-224-3121) and urge them to oppose the Commerce-Justice-State bill UNLESS it keeps the Smith language 100 percent intact. (Friday, October 2, 1998)-- Rep. Bob Barr has discovered that Janet Reno's Department of Justice (DOJ) is shopping around a legislative "wish list" to further erode our constitutional liberties. They are hoping to take advantage of the chaotic situation in Washington to "load up" an appropriations bill with a number of frightening expansions of federal power: * Enlarged asset forfeiture provisions to allow the FBI to seize personal property in both criminal and civil matters (your entire gun collection would be at risk) * A vastly expanded definition of terrorism to include domestic crimes having no relationship to terrorism (fighting "terrorism" is a new tactic of the gun grabbers, especially since the Supreme Court has stated that the Commerce Clause is no longer sufficient) * The ability to commandeer personnel from other federal agencies without reimbursement (just in case they need more agents for the next Waco) * Authority to force telephone and Internet companies to divulge information on their customers without a warrant (someone posts a message threatening the President to a gun list, and the feds demand the names and addresses of everyone who received the offending message) * Expanded wiretap authority to allow "roving" wiretaps of innocent citizens and gun owners, and wiretaps without any court authority whatsoever (so much for the Fourth Amendment) * Loosening of Posse Comitatus restrictions to allow more military involvement in domestic law enforcement (further blurring the line between police and military, which means destroying targets rather than making arrests) * The establishment of a permanent "FBI Police Force" (one could only speculate as to how bad this would be) * The power to seize commercial transportation assets for federal use (like the rest of the wish list, there is zero constitutional authority for this). In an era in which agencies of the federal government routinely target law-abiding gun owners for persecution, such assaults on our constitutional rights must be stopped. HERE'S WHAT TO DO: Contact your Representative and both Senators. Urge them to oppose any DOJ expansion of power through the appropriations process. Call 202-224-3121 or hit the GOA website at http://www.gunowners.org for phone, fax and e-mail of individual Congressional offices. Tell them to keep Smith in, and to keep the FBI out! **************************************************************** Did someone else forward this to you? To be certain of getting up to date information, please consider subscribing directly to the GOA E-Mail Alert Network. The service is totally free and carries no obligation. Your e-mail address remains confidential, and the volume is quite low, usually one or two messages per week. To subscribe, simply send a message (or forward this notice) to goamail(a)gunowners.org and indicate your state of residence in either the subject or the body. To unsubscribe, reply to any alert and ask to be removed.

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A Number Theory Problem....
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There is a desert which is 1000 miles across. There is a camel who can carry 1000 bananas maximum. The camel eats 1 banana per mile travelled. The camel has a total of 3000 bananas to begin with. What is the maximum number of bananas that the camel can get across to the other side uneaten? ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- -------------------------------------------------------------------- A: 533

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Re: Why do we need remailers, anyway?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Reeza! wrote: > > ... the First Adulterer/Purjurer, you question why I > call him this > No, I'm questioning why you're telling *me* about it. -- an anonymous AOL32 user

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Re: propose: `cypherpunks license' (Re: Wanted: Twofish source code)
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Richard, you seem to be missing one of the major reasons behind the little schism developing here. You say that proprietary software developers shouldn't expect the GNU project to help them for nothing in return. Thing is, Cypherpunks *want* to help with crypto -- even if those we help make proprietary software, and even if we get nothing for our help -- and if GNU folks don't do that, well, we just won't be GNU folks. (More generally (and more abrasively), we'd like to make a license suited to our goals -- meaning one promoting placement of easy-to-use cryptography wherever it can be useful (including (gasp) in proprietary software) and discouraging the spread of incompetently-done, weak, or escrowed crypto -- and the GNU GPL just isn't it) By the way, regarding the GNU GPL's interaction with export regs: In general, the fact that action A is illegal does not mean you must include a requirement in your distribution terms not to do A. ... I agree that what you say is correct and, logically, should apply to crypto regs*, but in practice, failing to include the requirement you mention is asking for trouble. Ask Cypherpunks if you want to know more about that, as I believe elaboration in this post would draw <ahem>s from our beloved retromoderator. * Logically, crypto regs shouldn't even exist in a marginally free society, but, again, this is deep in <ahem> territory.

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Ozeafood.com - Update and Special Offer
by Adam Yared 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Netsurfer Digest: Vol. 04, #29
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text From: editor-bounce(a)netsurf.com Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 19:22:38 -0700 (PDT) X-Authentication-Warning: smtp2.zocalo.net: editor set sender to editor-bounce(a)netsurf.com using -f Subject: Netsurfer Digest: Vol. 04, #29 Mime-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk NETSURFER DIGEST More Signal, Less Noise Volume 04, Issue 29 Wednesday, September 30, 1998 <snip> BREAKING SURF Credit Card Data Compromised at Online Auction Sites Mark Dodd owns AuctionWatch, a neat auction site information center. He was running searches on the major search engines and by sheer accident uncovered a security hole in some software used by many of the online auction houses. It's a big one, too. If the auction site misconfigures its software, and apparently many do, the first happy hacker to come along can steal its customers' credit card numbers and addresses. Mark went to CNet with the story, which warned many of the affected sites of the potential havoc and scooped up a good story in the process. Remember, the safety of your credit card data is only as good as the security savvy of the webmaster guarding it. AuctionWatch: <http://www.auctionwatch.com/> http://www.auctionwatch.com/ CNet: <http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,26760,00.html> http://www.news.com/SpecialFeatures/0,5,26760,00.html <http://adex3.flycast.com/server/socket/127.0.0.1:2800/click/NetsurferDigest… ernetnews/123456> New Hacker Tactic: Slow, Coordinated Attacks from Multiple Locations A clever new twist in the evolutionary arms race between hackers and online security forces gives us an excuse to bring you this fascinating Web site. Hackers, it seems, have discovered herding behavior. Their latest tactic is to coordinate probes and attacks against online sites from a large number of separate machines and over a long period of time. By limiting probes to rates as low as two per hour and dispersing their sources, hackers can probe beneath current security software's threshold of detection. The Navy Cooperative Intrusion Detection Evaluation and Response team (CIDER) just released a report on the technique. The CIDER site is also worth visiting for information on security and intrusion detection software projects, notably a database comparing commercial and government tools. Cool spook stuff. CIDER: <http://www.nswc.navy.mil/ISSEC/CID/> http://www.nswc.navy.mil/ISSEC/CID/ Report: <http://www.nswc.navy.mil/ISSEC/CID/co-ordinated_analysis.txt> http://www.nswc.navy.mil/ISSEC/CID/co-ordinated_analysis.txt <snip> CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Netsurfer Digest Home Page: Subscribe, Unsubscribe: Frequently Asked Questions: Submission of Newsworthy Items: Letters to the Editor: Advertiser and Sponsor Inquiries: Netsurfer Communications: <http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/>http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/ <http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/subscribe.html>http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/subscribe. html <http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/ndfaq.html>http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/ndfaq.html <mailto:pressroom@netsurf.com>pressroom(a)netsurf.com <mailto:editor@netsurf.com>editor(a)netsurf.com <mailto:sales@netsurf.com>sales(a)netsurf.com <http://www.netsurf.com/>http://www.netsurf.com/ CREDITS Publisher: Arthur Bebak Editor: Lawrence Nyveen Contributing Editor: Production Manager: Bill Woodcock Copy Editor: Elvi Dalgaard Netsurfer Communications, Inc. President: Arthur Bebak Vice President: S.M. Lieu Writers and Netsurfers: Sue Abbott Regan Avery Kirsty Brooks Judith David Joanne Eglash Lisa Hamilton Jay Mills Elizabeth Rollins Kenneth Schulze NETSURFER DIGEST © 1998 Netsurfer Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. NETSURFER DIGEST is a trademark of Netsurfer Communications, Inc. --- 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: A Number Theory Problem
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> There is a desert which is 1000 miles across. There is a camel who can carry > 1000 bananas maximum. The camel eats 1 banana per mile travelled. The camel > has a total of 3000 bananas to begin with. What is the maximum number of > bananas that the camel can get across to the other side uneaten? My camels don't understand/can't eat fractional bananas. My first camel put 2000 bananas at 200 miles then 1001 bananas at 533 miles then left 1 banana at mile 533 and sprinted for home, arriving with 533 bananas My second camel put 2000 bananas at 200 miles then 1001 bananas at 533 miles then ate 1 banana at mile 533 and found the energy to move the 1000 bananas to mile 534 and sprinted for home, arriving with 534 bananas My third camel put 2000 bananas at 200 miles then 1001 bananas at 533 miles then ate 1 banana at mile 533 and found the energy to move the 1000 bananas to mile 534 and sprinted for home, arriving with 535 bananas figuring he'd pay for his last mile with credit. My fourth camel, the biggest strongest camel, was already waiting at the destination and charged each of the other camels a 50% banana tax, rounded up to the nearest banana, plus a 10 banana collection fee and left with 832 bananas and didn't have to do anything but paperwork while the other camels were now short of bananas and had to find a new way to get more bananas. Mike

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2 books of potential interest...
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello, I was in Bookstop a while ago and noticed two books that could be of potential interest. The first I didn't buy, "We were soldiers once....and young", about the Ia Drang valley incident in Nov. of 65 (I had stated it was in '64 in the discussion about "The Best and Brightest"). It is written from notes and interviews with the survivors apparently. For those who are interested in the issues that were involved in the Vietnam War it may be of some use. The Law Enforcement Handbook D. Rowland, J. Bailey ISBN 1-56619-471-7 $6.98 (in the cheap books section) Looks to discuss a majority of police proceedures and details the items of interest to police officers in performing their duty. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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