December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

ANNOUNCE: SATURDAY Bay Area Cypherpunks Meeting - Stanford University
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The November Cypherpunks Meeting will be Saturday 11/14 from 1-5pm at Stanford, at the tables outside Tresidder Union, near the bookstore. The tables are on the west side, which is the inside of the U-shape. Coffee and food are available in the building. If the weather is uncooperative, we will also be inside the building. Lucky Green will be talking about his latest work. Bagels and Bagel Parephrenalia will be provided. Directions to Stanford Tresidder Hall Stanford is between El Camino Real and Junipero Serra Blvd, which are between 101 and 280. The Tresidder Parking Lot is on Mayfield Ave, off Campus Drive East. http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/search_map.html?keyword=&ACADEMIC=Tresidde… http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/stanford_zoom_map.html?234,312 The upside-down map of Stanford&Vicinity is at http://www.stanford.edu/home/visitors/vicinity.html Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Crypto fallout
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Wednesday 11/11/98 2:26 PM John Young J Orlin Grabbe Emile Zola I visited Jim Omura president of Cylink several times. And bought 6, I recall, CY 1024 public key arithmetic chips for Sandia. At an outrageous price. Omura gave my paper on RSA encryption, posted at jya.com, to Jon Graff. My feeling is that when those who own crypto devices manufactured by Cylink, RSA, Crypto Ag, ... finally realize that PROBABLY their devices have been spiked to transmit the key with the ciphertext there will be a reversal of fortune at these companies. Like the current Cylink problem. http://www.jya.com/cylink-suit.htm The WORD is getting out. Thanks to you guys. And those who read Black and White will realize how to fix their crypto problems TOO. bill Title: Black and White Test of Cryptographic Algorithms Jump to Forum Click Image to Jump to Next Article Go to Text Only Print Version Black and White Test of Cryptographic Algorithms by William H. Payne This article requires special formatting. Please Click Here to Read Send This Article to a Friend: Your Name: Email Address of your Friend: Your Email address: Back to Home Page Quick Menu Visit the Button Shop Interactive Forum Black and White Test of Cryptographic Algorithms E-mail the Editor

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Enter Symbol's Hacker Contest at the Palm Computing Platform Developer Conference!!
by palmdeveloper＠palmdevcon.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Symbol announces the first annual Symbol SPT 100 Developer Contest! You could win a Toshiba Tecra 780 DVD 266 MHz Pentium II Notebook by developing the Best SPT 100 Application. Other cool prizes will also be awarded. Everyone who participates will receive a t-shirt. You must be a registered attendee of the Palm Computing Platform Developer Content to participate. Winners will be announced at the Conference, December 1-4. For more details on the contest, and to register for the conference, point your browser to http://www.palmdevcon.com.

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Re: most of what govts do can be done by business, and done better (Re: How to solve the tax problem w/o anarchy or force)
by Soren 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Burnes - Denver wrote: On Wed, 11 Nov 1998, Soren wrote: > There is a real live example of this kind of transition. New Zealand. > much interesting info deleted What kind of constitution and bill of rights does New Zealand have? Check this out. Do I have the right of gun ownership to protect myself or stop tyrannical takeover? That's very funny. The US, the country that allows most gun ownership (in the 1st world), is the most in need of that right to defend against both illegal and legal criminals. So much for the value of the 2nd amendment. To answer your question though, yes you have the right to buy a gun, just as you have the right to buy a car (a far more lethal instrument in general). You are held to account for what you do with it however (irrespective of whether its a gun or car). If you kill someone, then you are generally arrested and tried for either murder or manslaughter. Manslaughter is the usual charge if you shoot someone who was threatening to kill you. It all depends on how successful they were in the attempt. Several cases of pissed off people shooting neighbours who were merely harassing them, and getting acquitted of any charges, exist. Something like 10 murders a year and climbing (fueled by the gangsta rap lovers amongst the maori, mostly. Thank you USA!!). When most violent crime is of the form of being beaten up in a bar, or surprizing a burglar and getting threatened with a club or knife, responding with lethal force is considered not to be very sporting. Hand guns are rare, but there are hand gun clubs. Seems a lot like a waste of energy to me, preparing for an event that is very unlikely to occur in your lifetime. Most gun owners are hunters, shooting pig, deer, possums, elk .... Permits are not required. Bow hunting is also quite popular. New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy in the english tradition, with only one house. Recently, MMP (similar to Germany's) system of representation, was passed by referendum. This means that any candidate and/or party that gets 5% of a popular vote, gets a seat in the parliament. The more 5%s you get, the more seats. Each citizen gets 2 votes. One for a candidate, and one for a party. There are currently 6(ish) major political parties. Under MMP, proportional representation means that the the elected candidates have to form a coalition government. I.e. they all get together and make/break friendships until a clear winner/majority is declared (a very public process). If a clear winner cannot be found, another election is held until something gells. Once that happens, the majority coalition designates a 'prime' minister and a cabinet of ministers, to call the shots. This is very unlike a presidential executive, in that these ministers are, in effect, hired by the coalition government and not directly elected to office. Prime ministers do not have to get impeached to remove them from office. If the majority coalition gets P.O'ed with any minister's track record, he gets fired. If the population gets P.O'ed with the winning coalition, the coalitions will change to form a new government and new cabinet, to suit the mood(swing) of the populace. This is a very adversarial system for a government to operate under. There are virtually no bi(multi-)partisan activities (the last was the economic revolution in 1986). Generally, the opposition is always angling to destabilize the current majority coalition, with lots of rhetoric flying in the press. Consequently, the majority coalition has to keep on their toes and please the population. Sometimes this leads to some skullduggery and dishonest activities. The population (and press) have exactly zero tolerance for crooked politicians. Typically, a Member of Parliament who gets out of line, is out of office within the month, often the week. Ergo, no real need for guns when you have a government that can be dissolved at any time by either a new majority being formed, or the population calling for an election. Unpopular laws are generally ignored, or become the cause for a new election. This happens on a regular basis. I always had a sneaking suspicion that basing the US republic on the roman model, was not such a good idea. Look what happened to them. (Hail Clinton!, long live the emperor! Only until the present emergency lasts, honest! Those huns (drug dealers) and vandals (terrorists) have to be defeated first). Its hard to compare, how NZ's system works in practise, with the self-aggrandizing and self-important poll-doll system in the US (bread and circuses). Mostly politicians in NZ are the guys who live next door, and who you go fishing with. They all have a distaste for overinflated egos. This is deeply ingrained in the national psyche, often to a fault (tall poppy syndrome). It is a nation of fiercely rugged individualism (even at its collectivist height in the 1970s). You are still considered to be a wuss if you didn't build your own home, or don't fix your own car or computer (or write your own crypto?), or have your own business, although this is changing under the onslaught of US cultural imperialism and hamburger diplomacy. As it's an island nation, 1 in 5 people has a boat, and generally use it to go fishing. Again, no permits necessary. A lot of people also build their own boats, although this is changing ... I suppose the closest comparison in the US, would be to think of it as a cross between Alaska and Hawaii. Hope that answers your questions. You should look around the NZ web sites for more detail, or better yet, take a month or two and go and check it out. Christmas is fast approaching, which is the start of summer and the holiday season, all rolled into one.

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IP: WiredNews: Virus Thrives on HTML
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: WiredNews: Virus Thrives on HTML Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 09:46:31 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Wired News http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/16206.html Virus Thrives on HTML by Chris Oakes 5:53 p.m.11.Nov.98.PST An old computer invader has found a new place to thrive. A virus-monitoring group this week posted a computer virus -- called "html.internal" -- that is the first to replicate itself through hypertext markup language, or HTML, the code that defines the common Web page. "Looks like the virus crowd has finally discovered the Internet," said Richard Smith of Phar Lap Software. "HTML pages are extremely mobile.... They're intended to be given out." Other observers point out the demonstration virus requires specific Windows scripting software to carry out its task. They maintain that the virus, therefore, exposes the vulnerability of the secondary software, VisualBasic Script, not plain vanilla Web pages. "It draws attention to the power that's available to the VBScript programmer," said Jimmy Kuo, director of antivirus research at Network Associates. A computer virus typically spreads through shared files, such as word processing documents or email attachments. It most often consists of a program or piece of code that runs invisibly on any computer it manages to infect. Like any virus, it replicates itself. That replication can be threatening in itself if the virus is large, since it will quickly fill a computer's memory and cause a crash. Viruses once depended mainly on floppy disks for their travels, but networks have introduced an easier path. The HTML virus, created by the Virus Information Center and released on Tuesday, was built as a demo and does not present a large security risk in and of itself. It works through Internet Explorer 4.0 and relies on the scripting feature, VBScript, built into the latest Microsoft PC operating system, Windows 98. If security warnings are ignored, the virus will load via a Web page and infect other Web pages on the host computer. Protections already built into Internet Explorer 4.0 would warn users if they encountered the virus, said a Microsoft spokeswoman. Copyright © 1994-98 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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FW: Network Associates rejoins Key Recovery Alliance
by Stewart, William C (Bill), BNSVC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded via Dave Farber's list: -----Original Message----- From: Kathleen Ellis [mailto:ellis@epic.org] Sent: Thursday, November 12, 1998 12:25 PM To: cryptography(a)c2.net Subject: Network Associates rejoins Key Recovery Alliance As seen on Slashdot.. http://www.slashdot.org Posted by blizzard on Thursday November 12, @09:41AM from the gimme-your-data dept. Andrew Hagen writes "Network Associates, formerly McAfee, developer of PGP, has quietly rejoined the Key Recovery Alliance. Despite withdrawing from the group last December amid pointed concerns over the continued trustworthiness of PGP, NAI apparently rejoined the Key Recovery Alliance (KRA) three months later with their February 1998 acquisition of Trusted Information Systems, a founding member of the KRA. The KRA's major stated goal is creation of "a global infrastructure that supports recovery of encrypted information." NAI has sent me e-mail stating that they might or might not remain in the KRA, that "PGP products will not be affected," and that they have "no interest in enabling key escrow for government access." Network Associates is presently listed on the KRA membership roster." Kathleen Ellis Admin. Dir., Electronic Privacy Information Center Voice Mail: (202)298-0833 http://www.epic.org Keep up with the latest encryption news and events: http://www.crypto.org PGP 5.0 Key ID 9bf725b4 65FF B997 62B8 C396 A527 2D6A 4901 F701 9BF7 25B4 _____________________________________________________________________ David Farber The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems University of Pennsylvania Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber

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IP: World's biggest hard drive
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: World's biggest hard drive Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 23:15:59 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com WORLD'S BIGGEST DISK DRIVE To mark the centenary of magnetic recording, IBM today unveiled the largest (25gb) hard drive yet produced for PCs. It's shipping limited numbers to PC makers for use in machines that will be ready for Christmas. IBM introduced the first disk drive, back in 1956. It had a capacity of 5mb and was the size of two large refrigerators. The new 25gb drive comes on the 100th anniversary of the Telegraphone, a primitive answering machine. See http://www.ibm.com/News/1998/11/11.phtml From: Alan Farrelly, News Interactive. Australia **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: Clinton Point-Man on 'Y2K' is Low-Balling Magnitude of the Impending Crisis
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Clinton Point-Man on 'Y2K' is Low-Balling Magnitude of the Impending Crisis Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 11:12:41 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Center for Security Policy http://www.security-policy.org/papers/1998/98-C181.html Publications of the Casey Institute of the Center for Security Policy No. 98-C 181 PERSPECTIVE 5 November 1998 Whistling Past the Graveyard: Clinton Point-Man on 'Y2K' is Low-Balling Magnitude of the Impending Crisis (Washington, D.C.): Today's Washington Post features an article about a few of the problems besetting the U.S. government as it grapples, belatedly, with the Year 2000 (or Y2K) "bug." In a perfect (if unintended) metaphor for the trouble on this front now confronting the Clinton Administration -- and, thanks in no small measure to its absence of "leadership" on the issue, the Nation -- the Post headline reads "Y2K Problem Poses Staffing Challenges for Agencies." Yet, the caption on an accompanying photograph quotes John Koskinen, the President's "czar" for the Millennium bug, as saying: "Y2K staffing 'has not turned out to be a major issue at this point, but we are continuing to monitor it.'" Shorthanded Unfortunately, the article proceeds to detail myriad examples that suggest ways in which personnel problems are seriously interfering with the government's Y2K remediation program. For example, the Post reports: "In the scramble to fix computers for the Year 2000, federal agencies have regularly complained that their technology experts were being lured away by better-paying jobs and that qualified contractors were difficult to find." "Of the 24 large agencies required to file quarterly or monthly Y2K progress reports, 13 expressed worries about their computer staffing or staff availability, according to a new General Accounting Office report." "[According to the GAO] four agencies - the departments of Agriculture, Justice and State and the Patent and Trademark Office - [are] facing [acute] Year 2000 staff woes: project delays because of high turnover among contractor staff and losses of skilled information technology employees through retirements and increased recruitment by private-sector companies." A 'Major Issue', Indeed Mr. Koskinen's reassurances notwithstanding, the anecdotal evidence of problems of ensuring compliance of the federal agencies is of great concern for several reasons: The government has historically had a much more difficult time than the private sector hiring and retaining qualified workers in a competitive job market. More often than not, the workers the government does retain have skill sets deemed unimpressive (read, unemployable) by the private sector. Given the complexity of undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the extent of the Y2K-associated staffing problems, anecdotal evidence is all there is to go on in calibrating the magnitude of such problems. It is a well known fact that over 80% of all large high technology projects are completed behind schedule. That the Clinton/Gore Administration continues to assert that the job -- arguably, the largest high technology project ever undertaken with an altogether inflexible deadline -- will be done on-time defies historical experience, to say nothing of common sense. Panic Prevention? The truth of the matter is that, even if the federal government were experiencing no personnel problems in preparing for the Y2K "bug," the Clinton Administration would still be dangerously "behind the power curve." After all, far and away the toughest part of insuring federal agency compliance with Y2K requirements will be the testing, re-remediation and retesting phases -- work that has scarcely even begun in most agencies. In fact, what seems to be going on here is less crisis management than panic management. Unfortunately, Czar Koskinen's wishful thinking about the staffing problem is not an isolated incident. In public speeches, media interviews and through other vehicles, he has consistently understated the magnitude of the problem while substantially overstating the government's preparedness for dealing with it.(1) Koskinen has plenty of company in the Clinton Administration, however. Indeed, even on the one occasion last July, when (after months of refusing to issue public warnings about the Y2K crisis) President Clinton and Vice President Gore finally used the "bully pulpit" to raise an alarm about this impending danger, they failed accurately to describe the severity of the problem. They also refused to take any responsibility for the significant contribution their lack of leadership to date has made to the Nation's Y2K unpreparedness -- and, therefore, to the likely intensity of the coming crisis.(2) The Bottom Line An insert next to the aforementioned Washington Post article on Y2K staffing issues reports the Federal Reserve plans to release some $30-50 billion in additional reserves late in 1999. The reason: to ensure banks will have sufficient money on hand to satisfy depositors who want to hold their savings in cash on the 1st of January 2000. As of April of this year, there was $3.6 trillion on deposit in U.S. banks. Those banks hold only some $49 billion in cash reserves. Thus, even with the additional funds available for withdrawal, banks will have at most only $2.70 for every $100 on deposit. The Clinton-Gore Administration is sorely mistaken if it believes a potentially cataclysmic socio-economic crisis will be avoided if it persists in misleading the American people. The only hope of preventing such a panic-driven outcome is for the administration to provide steady, honest leadership -- addressing candidly the unknown and greatly increasing the priority given by both the private and public sector to accelerating Y2K remediation and damage limitation efforts. - 30 - 1. See the Center's Decision Brief entitled At Last, Clinton-Gore Publicly Address Year 2000 Bug -- But Continue to Lowball Problem, Duck Responsibility For It (No. 98-C 132, 15 July 1998) and the Casey Institute's Perspective entitled New Theory For Clinton-Gore Silence on Y2K Emerges As N.P.R., Gingrich Offer Contrasting Views Of The Danger (No. 98-D 106, 12 June 1998). 2. See the Center's Decision Brief entitled At Last, Clinton-Gore Publicly Address Year 2000 Bug -- But Continue to Lowball Problem, Duck Responsibility For It (No. 98-C 132, 15 July 1998). NOTE: The Center's publications are intended to invigorate and enrich the debate on foreign policy and defense issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of all members of the Center's Board of Advisors. © 1988-1998, Center for Security Policy ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: [FP] Scanner picks out criminals
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds(a)airnet.net> Subject: IP: [FP] Scanner picks out criminals Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 19:33:38 -0600 To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com SCAN THIS NEWS 11/11/98 Some people will argue -- after reading the following article -- that systems designed to electronically "recognize" a face in a crowd will never be reliable. They will contend: such systems will never be 100% accurate. Unfortunately, "accuracy" is a very subjective term, and, if the administrators of these systems,(i.e. the ones who can forcibly apprehend the "identified" subjects), deem their system accurate, then the burden of "proving innocence" suddenly becomes that of the accused. At that moment, it no longer matters whether the system was or was not "accurate" -- you're under investigation. -----Original Message----- From: Y2kplanner(a)aol.com [mailto:Y2kplanner@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 1998 3:09 PM -------------------------- >From the 11/1/98 Sunday London Times www.sunday-times.co.uk - you must register at the site and then search by date. -------------------------- Scanner picks out criminals TRIALS of a computer system that can recognise criminals and terrorists begin this week. The equipment is to be hidden in an unnamed British airport to see if it can pick out criminals even if they have grown a beard or are wearing glasses to hide their identity. The system is the first that can produce three-dimensional scans of a face instantly and then search a database of suspects for a match. It has been devised by Cambridge Neurodynamics, which already produces software that analyses fingerprints and then searches a database for a match. Police in South Yorkshire use its software. Cambridge Neurodynamics says its facial-recognition project will enable security officers at Britain's ports and airports to concentrate on people the computer indicates bear a good likeness to known criminals and terrorists. The alternative is to rely on trained officers to remember faces of people on the wanted list. George Harpur, a Cambridge Neurodynamics systems consultant working on the project, says a computer will be able to store thousands of pictures of wanted people. "It should be like having an extra security officer with the most incredible memory," he says. "We're not intending to replace immigration officers but rather give them a tool that can point them towards the people they are mostly likely to be interested in." The system works by taking pictures of a person as he approaches a video camera. The resulting handful of frames give several two-dimensional pictures. To add depth to the face, two low-power lasers scan its contours from either side. A computer combines the contour information with the images it has of the front of the face. It can then build a virtual model of each traveller's face, which is checked against the database of wanted people. "The airport involved in the trial is particularly interested in the possibility of using the technology to track people who bring in groups of illegal immigrants," says Harpur. "The computer could be alerted to their presence and take a 3D scan of their faces when they pass through passport control. Then the system could track them every time they enter the country and build up evidence against them." The system can also be used to store 3D Photofits of terrorists. Again, it is most likely to be used to take a 3D scan of suspects when they pass through its lasers for the first time. The scan would be stored and the computer would log the suspect's movements. Cambridge Neurodynamics says it can build 3D Photofits from ordinary photographs or video stills but says the system is far more accurate if the suspects are photographed by the system. The team believes 3D scans are necessary because 2D technology can be fooled. It generally measures the distance between facial features but these can change with the angle of the head to the camera. The new computer system can be fooled only if a suspect has surgery to change the shape of his face. Criminals who realise they are about to be scanned and look away or pull a funny face will not trick the computer. It is geared towards seeking similarities around the eyes, which humans use to pick out one another and that do not change with expression and age as much as the rest of the face. The airport trial will last six weeks. If the equipment works, the company will load the software on a powerful workstation computer, rather than a PC, so searches can be speeded up. Cambridge Neurodynamics also plans to approach banks to set up a trial in which the computer would allow only designated staff into security-sensitive areas. Eventually, the technology could be used to verify a customer's identity before he is given money. ++++++++++++++ Nancy Martin y2kplanner(a)aol.com ======================================================================= Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless: 1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or 2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true. ======================================================================= Reply to: <fingerprint(a)networkusa.org> ======================================================================= To subscribe to the free Scan This News newsletter, send a message to <majordomo(a)efga.org> and type "subscribe scan" in the BODY. Or, to be removed type "unsubscribe scan" in the message BODY. For additional instructions see www.efga.org/about/maillist.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Scan This News" is Sponsored by S.C.A.N. Host of the "FIGHT THE FINGERPRINT!" web page: www.networkusa.org/fingerprint.shtml ======================================================================= **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: ISPI Clips 6.33: Patent May Threaten E-Privacy
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "Ama-gi ISPI" <Offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.33: Patent May Threaten E-Privacy Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 00:08:59 -0800 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 6.33: Patent May Threaten E-Privacy News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Thursday November 12, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: WIRED news, November 11, 1998 http://www.wired.com Patent May Threaten E-Privacy http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/technology/story/16180.html?wnpg=al l by Chris Oakes, chriso(a)wired.com The future of a key Web standard that would give consumers control over their online privacy hangs in the balance after news emerged that a entrepreneur will likely be awarded a set of patents on the technology. The technology, the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) is critical to the Internet industry's current effort to show the US government that it can look after the interests of consumers. The specification was to be used in the next versions of America Online, Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and many other software products and Web sites. "If somebody owns [P3P], they can prevent other people from using it," said Deirdre Mulligan, staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology. "We put all this work into something that works, then who knows if it's going to get out there." At the core of the issue is one man, Drummond Reed, CEO of Intermind. Reed said that the US Patent and Trademark Office is expected to issue his company a patent on the idea of P3P. Intermind [ http://www.intermind.com/ ] was, until July, a member of the standards group that is collectively developing P3P. He resigned when word spread among the members that he would likely be awarded patents on technologies affecting a broad category of "automated information exchange using software objects." That sounds very much like P3P. The standard is meant to provide a way for consumers and the Web sites they visit to automatically negotiate what can and can't be done with any personal data collected by a site. The technology would reside within both Web browsers and Web sites. On a document [ http://www.intermind.com/W3CMembers/licensing_summary.htm ] on the Intermind Web site, Reed said that his company would request a minimum royalty of US$50,000 per year to a maximum of $2.5 million from companies implementing P3P, plus 1 percent of all revenues directly associated with the technology. Both Microsoft and Netscape declined to comment for this story. "P3P is the nuclear weapon of privacy," said Matt Markus, chief architect and cofounder of Privacy Bank, a company developing an automatic registration service that safeguards a user's privacy. Privacy Bank shifted its company strategy to lessen its dependence on P3P. Markus said he expects the patent will be revoked. "[The patent] is going to hurt young companies who want to help develop the solution," Markus said. "It is the snake in the grass, a complete surprise, it would really shoot the morale at my company if I was depending on [P3P]," he said. Reed acknowledges that some working group members want "to just crucify us" -- but he says his company has been up-front from the beginning that it has held intellectual property rights pertaining to P3P and other Web standards relating to "push" technology. "We have been in communication with the [Consortium] and working group members pretty much from the start," Reed said. "We've been in constant communication with W3C management and key member companies involved in this area." P3P is not yet a final standard, but progress in the World Wide Web Consortium working group has slowed since news of the pending patent seeped out in July, according to Steve Lucas, chief information officer for an Excite division that has been developing P3P-based software. "There are ways of working around P3P," he said. These include custom-made variations on the protocol that circumvent elements covered by the patent, and shifting work toward an older protocol known as the Open Profiling Standard. Lucas said companies are going ahead with work on P3P. But they are simultaneously making contingency plans should the patent have a stifling effect. If Drummond's pending patents stand, the thousands of companies doing business on the Internet could face new laws designed to protect the interests of consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, which would recommend such laws, has given the industry until the end of this year to demonstrate that it can "self-regulate," and P3P is key to that plan. "Some combination of the [P3P and Open Profiling Standard] technologies may be a more transparent way to protect consumers privacy," David Medine, an associate director at the Commission told Wired News earlier this year. Daniel Weitzner, who oversees the development of P3P at the World Wide Web Consortium, insists P3P development is still on track, but echoed the same concerns. "If anyone succeeds in extracting big licensing fees for P3P implementations, that would hamper the availability of the technology," he conceded. "Really the question turns on what happens with that patent." But working on ways to perform privacy negotiations without a standard presents a big obstacle to the industry. "Not having a standard everybody can agree on does create some interoperability problems," Lucas said. "This is a collaborative process about trying to develop socially useful protocols and now we have somebody walking away and saying they own it," added working group member Mulligan of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Weitzner said the issue now is not who said what when but what to do once the patents are issued. He declined to comment on the possibility of mistakes made in the past by W3C management. "The issue is whether or not the patent is valid, not who told what to whom or when," Weitzner said. "The concern I hear is about the attack on openness, not the timing." That issue -- how a patent might affect a Web standard -- is a new one for the W3C. "Our members have not had to face this issue because no one has had to try to stand in the way of openness in a way that Intermind appears to be doing...." The question now is "whether or not they're going to be able to hold up a standard that has a potentially significant social impact." James Glave contributed to this report. Copyright © 1994-98 Wired Digital Inc. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . 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