December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Anguilla story...
by sasa.roskar＠uni-lj.si 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Can someone please tell me the origin of this whole Anguilla story that's been going around a lot for the past few days... I just got onto the list two days ago, and I didn't catch the beginning of it... thanks, rok

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test-1
by gelona 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

from:gelona@worldnet.net.att To:cypherpunks@toad.com :: Request~Remailing to :BuzzRBee@juno.com Test-1 , done at 9.03

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Yet another blame-the-Internet-for-child-porn
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

They are, of course, failing to answer the question of why encouraging people to consume _computer-generated_ child pornography should be considered a justification for legal intervention, not to mention that such an effort would also make putting _Lolita_ on the Internet illegal (text could drive up demand for it as well, after all), or even political speech such as from NAMBLA. (It's political speech just as much as material from neo-Nazis... or from the Demopublicans.) There is also the lack of realization that someone can't be "exploited" except in the Marxist sense on the Internet... only when the material is originally made. Another point is that countries do differ on when is considered old enough for voluntary participation in making pornography - Tracy Lords material is legal in much of Europe, for instance. I'd also point to the media bias evident; they only quoted from people who were in favor of governmental regulation. Fortunately, as even one of the people at this "world congress" admitted, governmental regulation of free speech on the Internet will ultimately fail. Prevent actual harm - the _production_ of child pornography. -Allen > Centura > WORLD CONGRESS TO FIGHT INTERNET CHILD PORN > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > STOCKHOLM (Aug 11, 1996 12:29 p.m. EDT) - Distribution of child > pornography on the Internet seems destined to top the issues at the > world's first conference against sexual exploitation of children > opening later this month in Stockholm. > Activists are trying devise ways of keeping pedophiles from peddling > such material on the global computer network, which is already used as > a billboard to advertise prostitution and sex tourism and to exchange > adult pornography. > "The Internet is like heaven for the pedophile," said Toby Tyler, a > United States police officer who lectures at the Federal Bureau of > Investigation (FBI) academy on child abuse. > "As far as our ability to restrict the distribution of child > pornography and stop the sexual exploitation of children on the > Internet...it's not something that can be done." > Campaigners are concerned that unless urgent action is taken to stamp > out the Internet's distribution of child porn, whether it features > real children or just computer generated images, it could spark > greater demand for child pornography. > Tyler said the Internet has ended the days when pedophiles had to make > costly cross-border runs to buy child pornography in countries where > laws were laxer and penalties lighter. > Now they can obtain and distribute films and photos from their own > homes on the Internet with little risk of capture. > But not everyone agrees that regulating the internet or its 20 million > users worldwide is the right move. > Some advocates say the Internet represents free speech. > Others argue that the distribution of child pornography on the > Internet is not that widespread. > Margaret Healy from Bangkok-based End Child Prostitution in Asian > Tourism (ECPAT) said in a report prepared for the five-day Stockholm > conference which opens Aug. 27 that the regulation of child > pornography on computers presents special challenges and called on > governments to fund better training. [...] > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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Stealth Buildings Was Re: "X-Ray Gun" for imperceptible searches
by Scott Schryvers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:56 PM 8/12/96 EDT, you wrote: Since metal blocks the waves and stands out on the screen one could affectively block its use by putting up a fine metal mesh on the interior of all walls that are exterior to the house. The same could be said for clothing that looks normal but has a metal mesh liner, like say a trench coat. > I would wonder if a jamming device (preferably area-effect with a >slowly randomly varying swathe of area, to avoid figuring out who was carrying >it) would be possible, or some variety of shielding (i.e., emitting waves >looking similar to flesh). > -Allen > >> Direct Media >> NEW X-RAY GUN TRADES PRIVACY FOR SAFETY >> Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net >> Copyright &copy 1996 The Associated Press > >> SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Aug 12, 1996 09:47 a.m. EDT) -- The latest >> weapon against terrorism can see right through you. > >> The Passive Millimeter Wave Imager can X-ray through clothing to "see" >> a concealed weapon, plastic explosives or drugs. A police officer can >> surreptitiously aim it into a crowd from as far away as 90 feet. > >> The new X-ray gun is becoming a symbol for an unlikely alliance of >> civil libertarians and gun owners who fear the fight against crime and >> terrorism may be waged at the expense of personal freedoms. > >> "I'm incredibly concerned," said John Henry Hingson, a past president >> of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, meeting here >> this past week. "The entire nation could become a victim of illegal >> searches and seizures and the law is powerless to protect them from >> these police abuses." > >> But in these nervous times following the the crash of TWA Fight 800 >> and bombings at the Olympics, Oklahoma City and the World Trade >> Center, many Americans are now willing to trade some of their privacy >> and civil liberties for greater security. > >> A poll last week by the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of >> people -- 58 percent -- said they would curtail some civil liberties >> if it would help thwart terrorism. Thirteen percent said it would >> depend on what rights were at stake. The poll didn't ask people to >> single out any rights. > >> The Clinton administration has proposed increased wiretapping and >> other anti-terrorism steps, and is doling out research grants for >> cutting edge anti-crime technology that once may have been intended >> for only military use. > >[...] > >> Two models are being developed of the Passive Millimeter Wave Imager, >> a creation of Massachusetts-based Millimetrix Corp. > >> The larger one, about the size of a shoebox, is mounted on a patrol >> car and pointed at the unsuspecting person. The gadget doesn't send >> out X-rays; instead, it picks up electromagnetic waves emitted by >> human flesh. > >> Anything that stands in the way of those waves -- like a gun -- or >> anything that emits weaker waves -- like a bag of cocaine or a plastic >> explosive -- will show up on a little screen in the patrol car. > >> Clothes emit no waves. Neither do walls, allowing the device to be >> used from even outside a room. > >> A second model is a smaller, battery-operated version that an officer >> can operate by hand, like a radar gun. > >> Millimetrix hopes to field test the larger model soon at a police >> agency. > >> Hingson argues the device runs roughshod over bans against illegal >> searches and seizures. The law says police can stop and frisk a person >> only when an officer has a "reasonable suspicion" the person is armed >> or involved in a crime. > >> Millimetrix points out that while the imager can see through clothing, >> it still leaves people some privacy. The device's display screen, the >> company says, "does not reveal intimate anatomical details of the >> person." > >> Chip Walker, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, noted that >> devices like the imager threaten the legal rights of people in 31 >> states who are allowed to carry concealed weapons with proper >> licenses. > >> "We certainly support efforts to disarm criminals, but we need to be >> careful that we're not painting with too broad a brush here," he said. > >> Walker said that as troubling as terrorism is, people may be playing >> into terrorists' hands by giving up their privacy. > >> "One of the broader issues is that if we start giving up certain civil >> liberties, that essentially means that the terrorists are starting to >> accomplish one of their goals," he said. > PGP encrypted mail preferred. E-Mail me for my key. Scott J. Schryvers <schryver(a)radiks.net>

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Re: "X-Ray Gun for imperceptible searches
by Weld Pond 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This thing sounds like it could be easily defeated by sewing some "space blanket" material on the inside of coats, etc. Maybe jackets that show up false positives with gun shaped cutouts will become fashionable with the already harrassed inner-city set. Weld Pond - weld(a)l0pht.com - http://www.l0pht.com/~weld L 0 p h t H e a v y I n d u s t r i e s Technical archives for the people - Bio/Electro/Crypto/Radio

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Re: Article on Electronic Commerce with a few too many assumptions
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:32 PM 8/11/96 EDT, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote: >[Permit me to recommend that you read this very interesting draft paper >and send its author, Andrew Odlyzko, detailed comments.] > Andrew Odlyzko > AT&T Labs - Research > amo(a)research.att.com > Preliminary version, August 9, 1996 [lotsa stuff deleted] > >There are many examples in the marketplace of behavior that appears >even less fair. For example, in 1990, IBM introduced the LaserPrinter >E, a lower cost version of its LaserPrinter. The two version were >identical, except that the E version printed 5 pages per minute >instead of 10 for the regular one. This was achieved (as was found by >independent testers, and was not advertised by IBM) through the >addition of additional chips to the E version that did nothing but >slow down processing. Thus the E model cost more to produce, sold for >less, and was less useful. However, as Deneckere and McAfee show in >their paper [DeneckereM], which contains many more examples of this >type (referred to as "damaged goods"), it can be better for all >classes of consumers to allow such behavior, however offensive it >might be to the general notions of fairness. Consumers who do not >need to print much, and are not willing to pay for the more expensive >version, do obtain a laser printer. Consumers who do need high >capacity obtain a lower price than they might otherwise have to pay >since the manufacturer's fixed costs are spread over more units. I too find this concept offensive, at least to the extent that it is kept a secret from the marketplace. Even so, as a libertarian and free-market capitalist, I certainly see nothing wrong with "allowing such behavior," and indeed I'd see something wrong with NOT "allowing" it. Nevertheless, to the extent it occurs it should be well understood and identified for what it is. You might recall the Intel 386SX microprocessor, which was the 16-bit-bus version of the 386 DX, which itself had a full 32-bit bus. At the time the DX was selling for many hundreds of dollars, probably about $3-400 or so, Intel sold the SX for about $80. However, chances are good that the only difference internally between these devices is the bus interface unit, so the size and complexity of these two chips would have been virtually identical, and thus their costs would likewise be the same. The reason for their vast difference in price was this "damaged goods" concept. (A similar situation occurred with the 486SX versus the 486DX.) Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: US Power Outages
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:15 AM 8/12/96 -0800, jim bell wrote: >This morning, I read the new claim: extreme heat (presumably assisted by >heat dissipated in the power line itself) cause the power cables near The >Dalles (about 100 miles east of Portland, along the Columbia river) to >stretch and sag, eventually shorting themselves out to trees near the ground. The real cause was inadequate supply of nuclear power plants caused by technophobe agitation. DCF

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re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by Bart Croughs 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Perry Metzger wrote: > Bart Croughs writes: > > But there is another axiom of economics which the > > nationalist/socialist can use for his case against the free movement of > > capital. This axiom states that the wages of workers depend on the > > amount of capital invested. The more capital invested, the higher the > > wages are. >I failed to note obvious counterexamples. Well known authors get giant >advances for books written with manual typewriters. Minimum wage >workers routinely operate expensive equipment. Workers doing the same >job in different places using identical equipment that cost identical >sums earn different salaries. >Clearly, wages are defined by supply and demand -- not by "capital >investment". When economists say that wages are determined by the amount of capital invested, they mean on a regional/national level, not on the level of individuals. Bart Croughs

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Re: Article on Electronic Commerce with a few too many
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:19 PM 8/12/96 EDT, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: >jim bell <jimbell(a)pacifier.com> writes: >> I too find this concept offensive, at least to the extent that it is kept a >> secret from the marketplace. Even so, as a libertarian and free-market >> capitalist, I certainly see nothing wrong with "allowing such behavior," and >> indeed I'd see something wrong with NOT "allowing" it. Nevertheless, to >> the extent it occurs it should be well understood and identified for what it >> is. > >This reminds me of the recent revelation how a major disposable lens maker >was marketing three lines of lenses: cheap ones, good for a few days; >medium ones, good for a week; very expensive ones, good for a month. >You guessed it - the lenses inside the packaging were identical. > >(I find that most self-described "libertarians" are actually fucking statists.) I don't see how that last statement follows anything that went before. I made it explicitly clear that companies have a right to market in such ways; I also have a right to dislike those methods. As for other libertarians, I don't see that they're appreciably different. So where did that last comment come from? BTW, your KOTM credential is outdated...are you trying to have it renewed? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Rumors of death of Anguilla Data are greatly exaggerated
by Greg Kucharo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In the Swiss system, who dictates to the banks thier policies about who and what they can store? Do the banks have enough influence to sway lawmakers? It seems to me that the issue is not illegality, but rather if the depositor is a viable political entity with "something on the other guy". When the Nazis or Columbian drug dealers are still in power, the Swiss look the other way. As soon as these types fall to other forces, the Swiss hand over the goods to the victors. I think if you were to sucessfully store information that a large power finds personally objectionable, the best solution is to play both sides. Scenario; The U.S. leans on the Anguilla authorities to close down Vince. Vince goes to the British consulate and negotiates for the depositing of some nasty information about the Queen or something. The British lean on the Americans to lay off. A little far feteched but you get the idea. And it would work in the majority of situations. I bet money stashed by Hitler and Goebbels got confiscated after World War II. But Gerhard Whelen got his loot when he linked up with the CIA. ??????????????????????????????????????? Greg Kucharo sophi(a)best.com "People want chaos for about 5 minutes. Then they want some money and a backrub." -Bruce Sterling ???????????????????????????????????????

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