December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

VISA Electronic Purse
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com For personal use only as directed... Heading #1 Search: 04-05-1994 10:09 ^S/^Q: start/stop; ^C/<ESC>: interrupt; ^T: Paging ON/OFF 2185964 PERSONAL FINANCE - Seeking the Card That Would Create A Cashless World. The Washington Post, April 03, 1994, FINAL Edition By: Albert B. Crenshaw, Washington Post Staff Writer Section: FINANCIAL, p. h01 Story Type: News National Line Count: 105 Word Count: 1164 Now that credit cards are in the hands of virtually every living, breathing adult in the country-not to mention a lot of children and the occasional family pet-and now that almost as many people have ATM cards, card companies are wondering where future growth will come from. At *Visa* International, the answer is: Replace cash with plastic. Last month, the giant association of card issuers announced it had formed a coalition of banking and technology companies to develop technical standards for a product it dubbed the "Electronic Purse," a plastic card meant to replace coins and bills in small transactions. A second coalition of manufacturers and suppliers will seek to develop low-cost equipment for use with the card. The concept is much like a Metro Farecard. Consumers would prepay-or electronically "load"-the card with a small sum, typically $40 or less, according to *Visa* officials, and carry it with them to use in pay telephones, highway toll booths, vending machines, parking meters and thousands of other small-ticket transactions. Unlike a Farecard, though, the card would be reusable. It would contain a memory chip that could exchange information with bank ATM terminals for "loading" and with terminals at vending machines and other places for payments. *Visa* envisions it both as a stand-alone product and as a feature that could be incorporated into credit or ATM cards. "There are a number of benefits to different players" in the market, said Albert Coscia of *Visa*. In theory, machines that would take the "electronic purse" would be used with small-change kinds of devices, such as phones and parking meters, so for consumers, it would eliminate the problem of having the right change. In addition, depending on what consumers want and what the technology can accomplish, the cards might have other features, such as the ability to remember specific transactions so that a consumer could keep track of exactly what he or she spent the money on and where. Budget-conscious individuals or business travelers doing their expense accounts might find that very appealing. For vendors, the card would cut the need for sorting and counting coins and carting them to the bank. The day's transactions would be totaled instantly. Also, vendors would be less likely to lose sales because a potential customer didn't have change. Since transactions would be electronic, it would be tougher for employees or others to dip their hands into the till. But while the idea certainly has appeal, it is far from certain that *Visa* and its allies can make it fly. People have been talking about a cashless society for years, but the number of cash and check payments continue to dwarf those made on plastic. Robert B. McKinley of Ram Research Corp., a Frederick research and publishing company that tracks the credit card market, noted that putting in all the terminals and other equipment "has a horrendous price to it." In addition, he said, "smart cards," those with chips in them, have in the past proved expensive to make and easy to break. Also, a smart card that replaced all your credit and debit cards as well as checks and cash would become "a gateway to your entire financial being, and without some kind of safeguards," loss or theft of the card could be a disaster, he said. Putting in safeguards such as a personal identification number (PIN) would make the card cumbersome to use for small transactions and require more elaborate equipment at the point of sale. The card "certainly (could be) a personal financial management tool" and might evolve into a global payment system-*Visa*'s goal-but it has a long way to go, McKinley said. "It's all pretty much concept stuff right now." *Visa* concedes that there are major technical and market hurdles to overcome. Coscia said the company expects that the concept will spread faster in other countries where telecommunications and on-line systems-that allow instant credit checks and debit transfers-are less developed and less established. Where such systems are not as advanced, off-line systems such as the Electronic Purse are more appealing because they offer the merchant the assurance of payment without external verification. Cards containing microchips cost anywhere from $3 to $8, depending on the sophistication of the electronics, but *Visa* officials said they think that with the volumes they envision, the cost would drop to around $1. Coscia also said that pilot programs in Europe indicate that the physical durability of the cards is improving. "Dropping it won't wipe it out," he said. He indicated that some of the apparent conflicts might be resolved through technology; perhaps it could require a PIN for credit and debit transactions but not for those that tap the prepaid funds carried in the card. As chips become more and more sophisticated, more alternatives become possible, he said. Coscia said *Visa* doesn't expect the Electronic Purse to come into widespread use for years. The purpose of the alliance is to develop standards that would ensure that cards and terminals could talk to each other no matter who makes them or country they are in. "We want to eliminate the possibility that someone gets too far down the road" with a system that is incompatible with others, as happened in videocassette recorders with the VHS and Beta formats, he said. He said the consortium hopes to have its first pilot application of its new standards operating by the end of next year. Besides *Visa*, the consortium includes two large U.S. banking companies-NationsBank Corp., based in Charlotte, N.C., and Wachovia Corp., based in Winston-Salem, N.C.-as well as Electronic Payment Services Inc. of Wilmington, Del. The non-U.S. members are Banksys of Brussels; Financial Information Systems Center of Taipei, Taiwan; Groupement des Cartes Bancaires of Paris; Sociedad Espanola de Medios de Pago of Madrid; and Sociedade Interbancaria de Servicos of Lisbon. The consortium will accept other members in the future, *Visa* said. Both critics and proponents of the Electronic Purse point to the debit card as instructive. The technology to use debit cards at the point of sale-that is, to transfer payment from the customer's bank to the merchant's bank right on the spot-was around for years before they came into widespread use, such as at many grocery stores. It was the growth of one form of debit card-the ATM card-that finally pushed them into general use. Proponents look at that history and say it is only a matter of time, while critics argue that unless some particular use comes along to give it a shove it may never go anywhere. Ultimately, *Visa* hopes to become a true international payments system. Consumers could use its cards for credit or debit transactions or in place of cash and get a single statement with all the currency conversions already done. "If you look at payment alternatives, with a credit card you pay later, with a debit card you pay now, and with a prepaid card you pay before," Coscia said. CAPTIONS: CHANGING PURCHASE PATTERNS (Graphics are not available.) Jerry Edwards helps Isabel Ernst use a credit card at the Georgetown Safeway. Card issuers are now looking beyond credit cards to a card to replace coins and bills in small transactions. ORGANIZATION NAME: *VISA* INTERNATIONAL DESCRIPTORS: Credit cards; Banking industry; Money --- WinQwk 2.0b#1165

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Re: Economic assumptions
by pcw＠access.digex.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>F >There's a piece by Kevin Kelly called "Network Economics" in the >F >latestWhole Earth Review, about how better communications tech and >F >changed business practices lower transaction costs and (along with >F >competition and the pace of things these days) are pushing down the >F >optimum size of businesses. >F > >F >-fnerd >F >quote me > >Likewise "The Incredible Shrinking Company" from THE ECONOMIST of DECEMBER >15, 1990. > >"Computers were supposed to centralise decision-making and produce >ever, bigger firms. They seem to have done just the opposite > >Peering into its crystal ball in 1958, the Harvard Business >Review said that computers would revolutionise American business. >By the end of the 1980s they would ensure that American business >would be concentrated as never before. The economy would be >dominated by a few giant firms. Within each firm important >decisions would be made by a handful of executives with access to >the firm's single, big computer. > >The exact opposite has occurred. In America the average number of >employees per firm has been falling since the late 1960s; but >more and more of those employees have a computer on their desk." > >DCF > > > >--- WinQwk 2.0b#1165 > > I think we should be careful here. Yes, the big companies are getting smaller, but that doesn't mean that we're not seeing centralization. You might argue the exact opposite: The economy is becoming _increasingly_ centralized and the computers and automation are allowing the large companies to cut out even more people. Consider some facts. Microsoft and Intel dominate the microcomputer market. The auto market in the US expanded over the last several years because more imports started arriving, but now the global auto capacity is really much too large. That's why Jaguar, Lotus and many of the other brands are now just divisions of the large companies. This will continue to happen as the auto companies merge and cross purchase shares. In the airplane market, Boeing is considering pooling resources with one of its two major competitors, Airbus, so the two can design the next big plane. Yes, there are many small, new companies, but I think this is largely because of other considerations. It is much cheaper for companies to hire contractors than employees. The high cost of benefits makes it easier to shed the people and make them fend for themselves. Plus, the affirmative action and other discrimination laws makes it difficult if not impossible to fire anyone but a young, straight, white man without worrying about a discrimination suit. These are the principle reasons why the corporations don't have many employees.

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Headline News
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[My apologies if you see this twice. I think the first attmpt got lost when our system went down earlier today.] At around 9:45 AM Central DST today, Headline News displayed the following "Factoid": [from memory] -------------- Two-thirds of US residents say cell phone privacy is more important than police ability to wiretap phones. - source: Yankelovich Partners -------------- Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Headline News
by jim＠bilbo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At around 9:45 AM Central DST, Headline News displayed the following "Factoid": [from memory] ------------- Two-thirds of US residents say cell phone privacy is more important than police ability to wiretap phones. source - Yankelovich Partners ------------- Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Re: Sen. Kennedy Uses Code to Disguise Personal Data!
by cfrye＠ciis.mitre.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>So, just how is this to be taken? Just as a bit of humor, not meant to be taken seriously. I left out the smilies where I guess I shouldn't have :-). -- Best regards, Curtis D. Frye - Job Search Underway!!! cfrye(a)ciis.mitre.org or cfrye(a)mason1.gmu.edu "Here today, gone ?????"

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Psychological Warfare Primer
by Jeff Davis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Since we are engaged in Revolutionary War in Cyberspace, it would behoove us who are actively participating to have a delineation of strategy, tactics, and operations of guerilla warfare eidetic to this medium. Our Guerilla Warfare Operating Area, (GWOA), is the internet, with its peculiar strategic advantages and vulnerabilities. The genius of Patton's campaign in North Africa was the result of simple reading comprehension skills; he read Rommel's book. This primer on psychological warfare is prepared for your perusal offering fundamental intelligence to increase the probability of success in engagements with the competition. It's been said that every revolutionary was a patriot. Our competition has different ideas about patriotism and vastly superior resources. Little is known about the operations of the US intelligence community. If one is going to play hard ball with the big boys, one needs a general understanding of the game before the first pitch is thrown. The DOD view of Vietnam was essentially to train men and test new weapon systems. In this respect, the Vietnam War was quite successful. This point was reiterated ad nauseam during the Gulf War on a daily basis via a sharply censored 4th estate for the duration of conflict. The contrast of censorship in the interest of National Security between the Gulf War and Vietnam is quite marked. The DOD official statement the day of the initial bombing of Iraq made no mention of B-52 strategic bombing missions. Only the tactical missions were announced publicly. Bernard Shaw's awestruck reports from his hotel window in Tehran were broadcast live on CNN. With heightened exclamation he reported a new sound of the ensuing battle, a sustained roar like thunder that refused to quit. From the ground, a conventional B-52 strike is a quarter mile wide, 200 feet high, and travels at 700 mph. There is no sound on earth like it. Having known Pentagon spokesperson Pete Williams since high school, I found it vaguely amusing that he saw fit to inform the rest of the world of B-52 involvement in the bombing several days latter. In Vietnam, we had the grunt's down in the #10 latrine stepping on cockroaches piped into our homes by the US networks nightly. Occasionally the hands playing Cowboy's and Indian's, (LURP's- reconnaissance, locate and identify missions, as opposed to search and destroy), got some air time. Then there was the Harvard/Yale game. The public knew it existed, but heard very little about it. Spooks have their own language. The first principle of psychological warfare is to dehumanize the enemy. Everything is a football game to them. The Administration's policy decision on Clipper, 4 February 1994, would be a, "Double Whammy End Around." The FBI Digital Telephony Bill would be a, "Forward Pass." These analogies were expressed to the public by pilots returning from Persian Gulf combat missions during interviews. No big deal folks, just another football game, and we all know what fun football is! Surgical is not synonymous with random evisceration of innocent men, women and children. Remember the luckiest man in Iraq? Swartzkoff stood by a screen with laser guidance cross hairs centered on a bridge. As a vehicle entered the picture he drew our attention to it with his pointer and followed it's path directly through the center of the bull's eye. "And in his rear view mirror-" Stormin' Norman gloated, the entire bridge was annihilated. The truth of the Gulf War is just now leaking to the public. Let's take a look at the roster of the competition's coaches and quarterback strings. The heavy weights are the DIA, NSA, and CIA, in that order. The CIA is a central clearing house informed on a need to know basis. The NSA obviously has a clearer channel of classified access. The Defense Intelligence Agency, as has been published, is composed of several independent operations reporting to a specific Admiral or General, each with their own S-2 sections. Thus, operations are very difficult to compromise. The CIA is prohibited by its charter from engaging in domestic operations. The DIA is not. These folks are the best on the planet. The other day I was logged on in a friends account at an educational site showing her the ropes of Cyberspace. Out of curiosity I ran an arbitrary finger on the American Embassy in Moscow. Unbelievably, it worked famously. User names and real names of everybody logged on scrolled by on the screen. It's nice to live in an open society. Another friend stopped by and I attempted to demonstrate the phenomenon again. I swear to God, this time I popped up in the San Diego State educational computer. The third time I was dead in the water. The last log on in SDSU's computer was "COSOC Just Passing Through". If I remember my history correctly, this whole EFF thing started over the 911 codes being posted to Usenet. Instantaneous caller location identification capability became generally known. The idiot kid who threatened the president got an autoresponder from Whitehouse.gov that traces the message. Minimal leg work produced the actual perpetrator. The competition is hot, but our apparent vulnerability is our greatest strategic advantage. This is like being on Acid in 1964. We are doing nothing illegal! Cyberspace, in its present state, is a very wild and free place, not unlike the Wyoming high country a few miles from me. With diligence and fortitude, it will continue to be free. The spooks can tie up a tremendous amount of time and resources gathering intelligence on Cyberians rather easily. At present, an analysis of our actions boils down to private citizens well with in their rights doing nothing illegal. One would have to be completely brain dead not to have considered the populist power of the internet. It's guaranteed we will pry power from the intelligence community with much wailing and gnashing of teeth by minuscule increments. Our greatest tactical advantages are the speed of light and non location specificity. We are highly mobile in the field and wired as well as the competition. We are by nature decentralized and deployed for maximal survivability from nuclear attack. We are virtually immune from censorship due to the internal survivability architecture of the net. We're on our own turf. We've chosen our own battle ground, brought nothing unnecessary with us, and are ready to make our last stand here and now. We are defending our homeland from invasive attack, and the 4th estate is fully aware of this. Thomas Jefferson said, "When the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." Our operations are multifaceted and independently organized. The CPSR petition and the EFF letter campaigns work in concert, yet have not the vaguest resemblance to a Civil War Pincer attack. They more closely resemble the jump and run tactics of the Viet Cong and NVA that gave the DOD fits on the battle field and in the press. We have the ability to concentrate a great number of people on a specific operation with the added fluidity of multiplicity of tasks. The concept of truly democratizing not only the United States but the entire planet is a tremendous vision. The collapse of a Union that built its SS-18 and SS-20 missile systems on what are essentially ripped off Pac Man chips has thrown a list to the global economy. Homeostasis is a principle of the universe. Time will restore a natural balance to everything. One small voice in Cyberspace becomes global interpersonal communication at the speed of light as the net grows geometrically. Global interpersonal communication is the greatest tool for world peace our species has ever known. We have the technology to achieve virtual collective consciousness on a planetary scale. The potential of the Electronic Revolution is awesome. Instead of electing an aristocracy who's choices are packaged by mass media marketing to govern us, we have the ability to transcend the physical limitations of deceptive appearance, and illuminate the truth of being through the digitized reflection of intelligence. As it stands now, the Russians pay an information tariff on every bit they transmit or receive. Their phone system is archaic. The infrastructure is neanderthal in comparison to the US. The closest approximation to a backbone they have is an Estonian site hanging by a 80Km fiber optic thread to Helsinki, and the Glasnet site in Moscow linked by a T1. I know what this net is capable of. Consider the invention of digitized satellite navigation. The first bird the Air Force sent up could simultaneously locate 4K automobiles on America's highways. The second bird up could simultaneously locate every single vehicle on the interstate highway system. I'm one small voice in Cyberspace speaking only for myself. Psychological Warfare is the way to fly in the Electronic Revolution. When the competition has been playing hardball with the big boys globally without equal, we would to well to play Medicine Ball with the Gods instead. Keep your personal visions of justice and reciprocity tempered by altruism in your hearts, and fare you well, my compatriots. -- PGP PUBLIC KEY via finger! JAFEFFM Speaking & Thinking For Myself! * eagle(a)deeptht.armory.com email info(a)eff.org * *** O U T L A W S On The E L E C T R O N I C F R O N T I E R **** ***** Committed to Free Public Internet Access for World Peace *****

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Re: CYPHERPUNK CRIMINAL shirts (?)
by cfrye＠mason1.gmu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Phillipe- Yep - I received my order last week. The shirts look great, though I would have made the "Safety in large numbers" banner bigger.

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CRYPT
by Ryan Snyder--Consultant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am trying to crack a textfile which has been encrypted with a program (for the IBM) called CRYPT. Can anyone help me with a method, a program which will break it, or a pointer to more information on how I might go about it? Thanks in advance. Ryan Snyder, Consultant | --->Finger me for my PGP public key.<--- ___ University of Montana CIS| |\ /| CS000RRS(a)SELWAY.UMT.EDU | Copyright 1994 by Ryan R. Snyder. | 0 | RYE(a)ILLUMINATI.IO.COM | |/_\| RYE(a)CYBERSPACE.ORG |

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Re: VISA Electronic Purse
by pcw＠access.digex.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>At *Visa* International, the answer is: Replace cash with plastic. > > Last month, the giant association of card issuers announced >it had formed a coalition of banking and technology companies to >develop technical standards for a product it dubbed the >"Electronic Purse," a plastic card meant to replace coins and bills >in small transactions. Gosh, how many Real Men are going to carry an electronic "purse?"

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Re: VISA Electronic Purse
by pcw＠access.digex.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>Gosh, how many Real Men are going to carry an electronic "purse?" > >Probably the same number of Real Women that are going to carry an >electronic "wallet". > >Eric Most women I know carry a "wallet" in their "purse".

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