December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: szabo@netcom.com is NOT a tentacle!!!
by futor＠llnl.gov 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> This feels like Detweiler spoofing again. > Anyone else get that feeling? It's not. I recognize: >> ------ Legalize: >--<o | I confess to an unatural, and abnormal . >> \ / :-)-~ o>--< | act I have programmed a computer. . . >> \ / You are ~1,000,000,000,000,000 .1ms NAND gates have a nice day. . . . >> \/ The true theory of everything will run on a finite turing machine. . . . from someone else on the net. There *are* similarities between their names, but I doubt that they're the same person. I *have* been wrong before, however. __ \/ -+- randy -+- all generalizations are flawed -+- futor(a)llnl.gov

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CRYPTO & TAXES
by Sandy 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'Punks, Hal still has his doubts about crypto and taxes. He wrote: I can agree that cryptography will make some kinds of illegal private transactions easier. What I doubt is that this will happen at a large enough scale to seriously threaten the ability of governments to fund themselves by taxes. Government tax policies are extremely susceptible to the "tipping factor." Initially, non-compliance is addressed by simply hiking up collections across the boards. When non-compliance reaches some critical factor, however, such techniques become counter- productive. Previously compliant taxpayers begin to chaff at higher taxes and more aggressive collection. More and more become non-compliant as taxes go higher and higher. Eventually, the runaway chain reaction either causes the government to cut back or the system undergoes a core melt-down. Non-crypto versions of this scenario have occurred repeatedly in countries around the world. Hal also have several specific examples of transactions he felt demonstrated the difficulty of using crypto-anarchy techniques. Perry and others have address some of these, but one or two things should be added to round out the picture. Hal wrote: Most of our transactions are done with businesses, generally corporations. Imagine taking $15,000 in cash to buy a new car anonymously. I believe you will find that the car dealers will not cooperate, that government regulations (designed to crack down on drug dealers) will require them to get some ID from you. Digicash would presumably be under the same restrictions. Maybe, but the example begs the question. You don't need to *own* a car, to have the *use* of a car. Imagine leasing a car and using your cyberspace bank digital checks, digital money or credit card to pay the monthly rent. No audit trail, and no asset to be seized. Similar techniques can be used for virtually all of your assets. Don't like renting? Well there are other offshore techniques that can cure that problem as well. I don't fully understand Duncan's arguments for how taxes can be avoided through being a non-citizen. I gather, though, that this would require me to either move to another country, or to go to work for a company that is in another country. . . . I think Hal hasn't been reading Duncan or my posts very closely. Here's a hint: A Cayman Islands corporation is a non-US citizen even if it is owned by an American. You have questions? We have answers. S a n d y >>>>>> Please send e-mail to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com <<<<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBK1MJWE5ULTXct1IzAQG8cgQAtZ5xbIn6wO/GkjVd68hPe+37Sj4C3uD1 eI2YEUodHRzPC5on4hoHs+AeTtGR132Bcr76oj366cvJF42YqtaZt/4xWKaN+QKJ 5xMJS4qjQorGQw9fxAPjERJ9O+WCgFYn1vNDGnsn4+HGC4Ax/CevQdtBlt2sBlMc SUWGU1GdSkM= =Fyuc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: underground industry
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

My three guesses about cash business in New York had been - retail pharmaceuticals :-) - politics - garment industry all of which have traditionally been off-the-books to large extent. A friend of mine in NJ had for quite a while been a bookkeeper at small companies that typically would only hire her under the condition that she was off-book, and therefore not getting Social Security, etc. For many companies, though, hiring people off-book is a problem, because their income is relatively traceable, and they get taxed on the difference between income and expenses, and payments to suppliers also tend to be traceable because otherwise the IRS won't allow them. If you can make your income look lower, by not reporting cash income, it's not a problem, but otherwise you want the expenses to look high, and non-reporting suppliers aren't as willing to deal with customers who have to report transactions. Another set of trqaditional off-books cash work is the manual labor market - house cleaners, yard work, odd jobs, evening carpentry; a number of politicians have been getting stung on these recently. Bill

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NOTICE: John Perry Barlow, MBONE, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM PST, Jan 17, 1994
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Perry Barlow will deliver the keynote address opening the winter USENIX conference at the San Francisco Hilton, Jan 17-21, 1994. The keynote will be broadcast (audio and video) on the Internet MBONE from a bit after 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM PST on Monday, January 17. Barlow will speak on recent developments in the national information infrastructure, telecommunications regulations, cryptography, globalization of the Net, intellectual property, and, generally, of the settlement of Cyberspace. In 1990, Mr. Barlow and Mitch Kapor co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and he currently serves as chair of its executive committee. <thanks to Evi Nemeth, evi(a)piper.cs.colorado.edu> -- Stanton McCandlish * mech(a)eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist F O R M O R E I N F O, E - M A I L T O: I N F O @ E F F . O R G O P E N P L A T F O R M O N L I N E R I G H T S V I R T U A L C U L T U R E C R Y P T O

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Brock Meeks summary of Gore speech
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[This report from Brock Meeks first appeared on the WELL, and is redistributed with permission. Further redistribution/republication should be cleared with the author first, at brock(a)well.sf.ca.us.] __________ begin forward _____________ Jacking in from the Policy port: Vice President Gore today outlined the Administration's plan for revamping the regulatory regime that will guide the converging telecommunications industry into the next century. Gore said the Administration will propose lifting all restrictions on local telephone companies imposed during the breakup of AT&T, allowing them to enter the long distance and manufacturing markets. But buried deep in his speech, in a single ominous sentence, Gore made a pledge that is sure to a chill into privacy advocates everywhere: "We'll help law enforcement agencies thwart criminals and terrorists who might use advanced telecommunications to commit crimes." In laymen's terms: We're fucked. Gore didn't elaborate on his statement, but his comment hinted that the White House will throw its full behind two of the most controversial policies the Clinton Administration inherited from the Bush presidency: The FBI Digital Wiretap Proposal and the so-called "Clipper Chip," government mandated encryption program. Both policies have been publicly trashed by the computer and telecommunications industry as well as civil liberty groups. The White House is currently working to overhaul the entire U.S. security policy. Earlier this year, in a little noticed speech, FBI Dir. Freeh renewed his push for the ill-conceived Digital Wiretap proposal. It now appears that the White House will back that proposal when it issues new security guidelines due sometime in the Summer. Changing the Playing Field ========================== Gore also challenged the nation to bring every classroom and library online by the year 2000. He outlined 5 broad principles for restructuring the telecommunications industry, leading to a National Information Infrastructure: -- Encourage private investment -- Provide and protect competition -- Provide open access to the network -- Avoid creating information "haves" and "have nots" -- Encourage flexible and responsive government action Gore said the Administration's plan would "clear from the road the wreckage of outdated regulations and allow a free-flowing traffic of ideas and commerce." Administration plan would allow telephone companies to get into cable business and let cable companies into the telephone business, preempting state regulations that for the most part ban such businesses. Although the White House plan allows local telephone companies to provide video, they must also allow any programmer access to those video delivery systems on nondiscriminatory basis. The plan also seeks to stop telephone companies from buying cable systems in the areas where they offer telephone service. But the plan also gives the FCC the authority to revamp that rule within 5 years if "sufficient competition" has risen. The plan also would implement a new flexible regulatory regime called Title VII that encourages firms to provide broadband, switched digital transmission services. Like the Cable reregulation act, the FCC will have the ability to provide for rate regulation on these new companies until "competition is established." One of the trickiest issues facing the Administration was how to define and ensure the concept of Universal Service. The White House plan proposes to make that policy "an explicit objective the Communications Act" in order to make sure that advanced information services are available to rural and low-income urban areas. But the Administration bailed on how to insure the concept, opting to lay that burden at the feet of the FCC. Also, all telecommunications providers, not merely telephone companies as is the current policy, will have to start contributing to universal access subsidies. But the FCC will be responsible for determining a kind of "sliding scale" for how much each company will be required to pay. In fact, if smaller firms can't pony up the cash to help out with the universal service commitment, they can make "in-kind" contributions instead. This might be in the form of free service to school, hospitals, etc. Meeks out.... __________________ end forward ____________ -- Stanton McCandlish * mech(a)eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found. OnlineActivist F O R M O R E I N F O, E - M A I L T O: I N F O @ E F F . O R G O P E N P L A T F O R M O N L I N E R I G H T S V I R T U A L C U L T U R E C R Y P T O

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CRYPTO & TAXES
by Sandy 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'Punks, I was asked in private e-mail: So how does the average US citizen go about starting a Cayman Islands (or similar) corporation? . . . Look in the advertising sections of international publications such as THE ECONOMIST, THE EUROPEAN and THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. Every issue will contain several ads for incorporation services. These services exist everywhere, but for historical and legal reasons, many have offices in the UK or Isle of Man. Request information from every company with an ad. You can save big by doing a little comparison shopping. Follow the ads for several months, if possible, to see which companies stay around and which are fly-by-night operations. Even better, check back issues from previous years to see if the same folks are still in business. The following, is a fee schedule from just one such company: ____JURISDICTION_________ANNUAL_FEES_________FORMATION_FEE_______ United Kingdom B# 32 B# 150 Hong Kong HK$ 1200 HK$ 2500 Ireland IR# 10 IR# 195 Isle of Man B# 285 B# 250 Gibraltar B# 250 B# 250 Jersey/Guernsey B# 600 B# 500 Turks & Caicos US$ 300 US$ 500 Brit. Virgin Is. US$ 300 US$ 500 Bahamas US$ 100 US$ 500 Liberia US$ 100 US$ 750 Panama US$ 150 US$ 750 Of course, these companies offer lots of other interesting services, as well. Come the crypto-anarchy--or just a simple bank in cyberspace--and everything gets a lot easier, a lot cheaper. (If Detweiler thinks things are "bad" now . . . ) S a n d y >>>>>> Please send e-mail to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com <<<<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBK1MwR05ULTXct1IzAQGxngP/azAd7kcstUoiohyWqE1JEHASptoo/WY6 W+FfiHTguaiaWn0m7EtR0CGIgUVZFrEWASiOboEYlkS6xnhk7TEK+pkfHw1BXprA oMnObtqn4sxsvRc3bSkGFzLrHa00Kg3KeRT9VUcc76Ds3sSC04lleQFVv/1MFjM9 U0hpjQw+qAY= =viLe -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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PGPShell Version 3.0
by James Still 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -------------------------------------------------------------------- PGPSHELL VERSION 3.0 PROGRAM RELEASE PGPShell, a front-end DOS program for use with Philip Zimmermann's Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) public-key encryption software, has just been upgraded and released as version 3.0. PGPShell incorporates easy to use, mouse-driven menus and a unique Key Management Screen to easily display all public key ring information in a flash. PGP encryption will never be the same again! Breeze through PGP UserID's, KeyID's, Fingerprints, E-mail addresses, Signature's, Trust Parameter's, and PGP's Validity ratings all in one screen, at one place, and with a single mouse-click. PGPShell is archived as pgpshe30.zip at many Internet sites including garbo.uwasa.fi:/pc/crypt and oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/security and has been posted to the FidoNet Software Distribution Network (SDN) and should be on all nodes carrying SDN in a week or so. To immediately acquire version 3.0 by modem you can call the Hieroglyphic Voodoo Machine BBS at +1 303 443 2457 or the GrapeVine BBS at +1 501 791 0124. Questions or comments? Ping me at --> still(a)kailua.colorado.edu

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No Subject
by Mark Brand 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

subscribe brandm(a)acfcluster.nyu.edu

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Skepticism on the Detweiler Conspiracy Claims
by remail＠tamsun.tamu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Detweiler says we don't understand that `all that is required for the spread of evil is for good people to do nothing' Understand it? Yes. Believe it completely, or even believe that it applies here? No. May's beliefs that pseudo-spoofing can lead to monetary and governmental anarchy have little connection in reality, despite the writings of Bruce Sterling and Vernor Vinge. In that context, May's pseudo-spoofing is little more than childish play-acting. In any event, we need far more evidence to come to light before Occam's razor can even be applied. ``in other words, `entertain me some more, detweiler. I don't believe you yet, but maybe, just maybe, you will find something that convinces me. for now, I simply don't give a damn either way, and most of all I am not going to post, even though there are some things I would like to post on, because I am a sheep like the rest of humanity, and while these people could be dangerous lunatics out for revenge on anyone who posts, how could these highly respectable people be behind a conspiracy?'' Take out everything above before "I don't..." and after "...not going to post", and you're close. You're right, they could be dangerous lunatics out for revenge on anyone who posts. So could you. Are they respectable? Who knows? Who cares, given that their sphere of influence is so incredibly small? Convince me. I'm a fairly hard-core skeptic -- I don't believe *anything* until I can weigh the facts on both sides. You've told me that Geoff Dale sent you mail implying that Nick Szabo was *not* his roommate, but something tells me that you believed Szabo wasn't real long before that. Why? What led you to that conclusion. Posting the evidence would help convince other skeptics, especially if it's concrete enough. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ``Death is the ultimate form of censorship.'' (author unknown) Jim Riverman Software Engineer jr(a)netcom.com (415) 941-4782 [work] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about this anonymous remail service, send mail to remail(a)tamsun.tamu.edu with the word "remail help" as the only words in the subject field.

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No Subject
by Ryan Snyder-Consultant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

subscribe cypherpunks

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