December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: The Expat Tax Is Law - The Door Is Now Closed!
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:20 PM 9/17/96, Duncan Frissell wrote: >At 05:11 AM 9/17/96 -0700, Tim May wrote: > >>It makes me want to just put my stock certificates in my luggage and just >>drive on down to Mexico and cross the border (no border checks) and go >>from there to some safer haven. >> >>(However, I imagine the Feds can effectively block sales of my stock--the >>stock is still formally only an accounting entry, as stock certificates >>are not "bearer instruments." I could probably relocate to a foreign haven >>and sell the assets before the IRS would even notice...unless they >>computerize. I suspect this is coming.) > >But since a 10-year old (who is willing to break the law) can defeat their >expat tax, what difference does it make. All one has to do is cash out, >transfer all funds overseas, follow them, and renounce. Move the funds >around a little. It's not tax fraud (no false documents have been uttered >-- indeed no documents at all). Just take your marbles and go home. While I've always admired your "in-your-face" approach to tax matters, I remain skeptical. What I expect will happen is some variant of "witholding" to be implemented, where one's "transfer agent" (the holder of one's actual stock, regardless of who holds the paper certificates) releases only, say, 60% of the proceeds from a sale and holds the remaining 40% for eventual settlement of taxes. (Much as one's employer "witholds" a percentage, ranging up to 50% or so, for Federal, State, and FICA taxes.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Systems/Communications Security Positions in the South Bay
by steve＠tsearch.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I know someone is going to get PO'd about this, but I didn't know how else to get these in front of you in a timely manner. These positions are critical and interesting parties can interview next week, please read on: --------------- One of the Nation's leaders in Systems and Communications security is seeking several talented engineers to join their South Bay Development/Consulting facility to develop Internet/WWW Commerce Software. As a Software Developer on this project you will be responsible for the development of Electronic Commerce Software that spans the World Wide Web, e-mail, distributed applications, security, cryptography, O/S security, and Internet protocols. Qualified candidates should be experienced system software developers with three years development experience including several of the following areas: Unix, NT, TCP/IP, network protocol development, distributed application development, applied cryptography. For more information on this and other opportunities send a resume/email to steve(a)tsearch.com -------------------------- 2. One of the Nation's leaders in Systems and Communications security is seeking several talented engineers to join their South Bay Development/Consulting facility to develop Distributed, CORBA-compliant Software. As a Software Developer on this team you will join a new project spanning distributed object applications, CORBA ORB services, CORBA security, O/S security, a network protocol development. An existing high security O/S's distributed system capabilities are being extended to provide object request brokerage. New security components for access-controled inter-ORB interoperability are being developed. New and existing security mechanisms are being integrated for these components. This position requires strong system software development experience with at at least three years development experience including several of the following areas: CORBA, Unix, firewalls, TCP/IP, network protocol development, object-oriented software development, distributed application development, Mach, Kerberos, DCE, trusted systems, multi-level security. For more information on this and other opportunities send a resume/email to steve(a)tsearch.com -------------------- 3. One of the Nation's leaders in Systems and Communications security is seeking several talented engineers to join their South Bay Development/Consulting facility as Network Security Consultants. There are 4 positions requiring 2-4, 4-6 (2), and 6+ years of experience respectively. As a Network Security Consultant you will: - discuss network configuration and hacker threats with system administrators - understand issues related to network security policies and procedures - identify effective approaches to security issues of multi-platform systems, corporate LANs, and Internet systems - identify, understand, and effectively communicate risks, and tradeoffs between security requirements and user productivity and system performance - provide input for training materials that address customers' specific policies, network configuration, and risks - operate independently to perform customer relations and project management for some projects, including primary responsibility for written deliverables - provide oversight for a number of projects managed by others, - perform business development and expand customer base, with assistance from junior colleagues. These positions require strong system software development experience with UNIX and NT platforms, as well as some of the following: network protocols, firewalls, network security vulnerabilities, applied cryptography, access control, risk assessment, security policies. For more information send a resume/email to steve(a)tsearch.com ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] Steve Dyson Technology Search International Consultant 25 Metro Drive, STE 238 steve(a)tsearch.com San Jose, CA 95110 VOICE 408.437.9500 FAX 408.437.1033 "...dockin-doid, dockin-doid.........dockin- doid" ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

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All Bets Off
by Brock N. Meeks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Just so this isn't hanging in cyberspace forever, my $5,000 bet for anyone to prove the TWA 800 flight was downed by a U.S. missile is now *off the table*. It's been two-plus weeks since I tossed out the bet and no one took me up on it, so it's now being formally withdrawn. --Brock

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Re: Judge Kozinski Responds
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:21 PM 9/16/96, Jim Ray wrote: >I have been having a private e-mail conversation with Judge Alex Kozinski of >the 9th circuit. Today he said: >>Halloween, it only really works when the people dressed up >>are about four feet tall. In the rare instances where there >>have been adults at my door that were so disguised you >>couldn't tell who they were, I felt threatened--kept my >>Glock handy before opening door. I'll only comment on this one item, for now. Any judge who talks about keeping his Glock handy has my vote. (Of course, I've heard of such things many times before. Chief Supreme Warren Burger once got a lot of publicity by answering his door--in D.C.--with a revolver in one hand. I suspect that an awful lot of judges fully appreciate the kind of perps that are out there, and know the threats they could face, both from random acts of violence and home invasion and from targetted acts of revenge. As they learn that perps they send away to prison are requesting archived copies of "Assassination Politics," I rather expect their paranoia will increase sharply.) (Hint: One reason I seldom discuss AP is that to me it's just a special case of the larger issue of untraceable markets for such acts, something I've been worried about for almost a decade now. There is little reason to engage in the fiction of a "betting pool" when a hit may be untraceably contracted for and the standard fee ($1000 or less in some inner cities, $5000 for ordinary suburbanites, $30,000 or more for high-profile cases...so I hear) be paid with untraceable cash...as soon as truly untraceable digital cash becomes a reality.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Diffie Hellman - logs in Galois fields
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, A question for the matematicians out there: I am looking at the Diffie Hellman public key exchange protocol and am trying to find out why it is computationally hard to take logs in a finite (Galois) field. My maths tutor has told me a bit about the construction of Galois fields (If I`m correct the construction is Z mod N, N some integer, then a transformation F(x) on the residue classes already in the field) I know also the definition is that there are P**k elements, p a prime. My questions are as follows: 1. How can a field be finite, as by definition it has to be closed under addition, subtraction, multiplication and division???? (sorry if this one is a bit of a no brainer, maybe the definition is different but I can`t seem to see how) 2. Why is taking logs in a finite field computationally hard? - Me and Alec (My maths tutor at college) guessed that it is because exponentiation and logs are each others inverse functions, and somehow this becomes a one way function in a finite field. 3. Are the Galois fields used in Diffie Hellman specially constructed in any way or are they just normal GF???? Thanks for any help anyone can give me.... Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security Paul Bradley, Paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Http://www.fatmans.demon.co.uk/crypt/ "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey" -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.3ia mQCNAjH9j+cAAAEEAMBvREiQR0ot9dFCO0TiSCSunAYLv2g1Bc6I3bz8FzKXNH53 6mieJf/W4rD+CxJpT0q9RQaaoRtkHJLwbjfK2il3D7mEahMAyqvF/xRJNqkXfhM3 sRJM0Jh43l+W0M5vwokbEbk25/bxWWGspTsLD3YHbzKnG6pOcL5OPIRbv66xAAUR tCdQYXVsIEJyYWRsZXkgPHBhdWxAZmF0bWFucy5kZW1vbi5jby51az6JAJUDBRAy NwfvNkCBjDT0xHEBATQPA/9TORmN/UjNecj03q4anpvdyCLiez5sKuNbnYK50RiP Jj4QpWWvST3smyQ0A86DrZY/re056MXwQmARESx0rFZxdnD0oORICl5r8dJLIy3b j8rbA5olXwZwKz73/X5s13v/pvHYX4cIsbVK8NHXqh5llSKt6TBAuGgkIGF29z5k C4kAlQMFEDI3B9mdtf/umVkv7QEBcRYD/1FBteLqsUmr81euxqqnnrpLlyHb58B/ 9sdATuua4uSjX46hXDZ264YozspNrzSB4NEdrmXOWVX3fiE0ga6XkSSkIeF23V90 En37Z0BdbFzgF00FRYTFyTq8eezQrdg/+rBPUsZUmG5wpq3e12FKHQsX01i+1mB2 YmqqwCV5e95eiQCVAgUQMh8uSb5OPIRbv66xAQEqJwP/fxQyiCasjFcbDpsFfsYp put5cCC/9pOx6X3DlbKShPMpUOS+A9HsTEmJQN8Iawv1nSwPdtc2cR/GhW6ilVjW LSloGdMVLabm9pGpZZMkRaZlXFUkOv7VhfgsUiL+vIDryBCAwUZCzQiWycjt/cPi mUqFH41Z7NkyO8ZFdi5GGX0= =CMZA -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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Re: Anthrax on the 'net [Was Re: Fear of Flying -- from HotWired ]
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:14 PM 9/17/96, Mike Fletcher wrote: > The Frank Herbert (of _Dune_ fame) book _White Plague_ comes >to mind. Basically a molecluar biologist's wife and kids are killed >by an IRA bomb while visiting Dublin. He snaps and creates a plague >which kills women (men are carriers) as revenge. All without using >that nasty Internet (in fact, the book was written back before even >ARPAnet). A _very_ minor correction. My copy of "The White Plague" is not handy, but I distinctly recall reading it circa 1980-1, certainly no earlier than 1977-8. The ARPANet was going strong by then. Newsgroups were getting started around 1980, give or take, as I recall. But of course I agree that "The White Plague" was written long before "The Net" became a household name. (Interestingly, Herbert was computer-literate, and he even wrote a book about using PCs, circa the late 70s....something like "Nailing Jelly to a Tree.") --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Wealth Tax vs. Capital Gains Tax Reduction
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been thinking a lot about the prospects of a "wealth tax," or "asset tax," in the U.S. With the stock market averages at record levels (and, hey, Intel has gone up $6 just so far today, to an unheard of $94.5 level), and with increasing fractions of people's overall net worth tied up in equities, bonds, houses, property, etc., it may be that the looters will take a more serious look at taxing people's overall wealth, e.g., the 5% of net worth per year that some countries have. (At the same time, there is also a chance that the tax on capital gains will be greatly reduced or even possibly eliminated, also as some countries such as Japan have already done.) The conundrum is this: so long as stocks, bonds, and other holdings are not taxable while unsold, and so long as large amounts of private pension funds and whatnot are flowing into equities, this wealth is "unreachable" to the government tax collectors. Further, much of this wealth is "locked" by the high marginal tax rates on capital gains (35-40%, depending on which state one lives in, on so-called "tax preference items," etc.) Many people will not sell assets if they have to pay 35-40% to the tax man if they sell, but nothing if they just sit on the asset and watch it go up in value. (Obviously, the assets get sold eventually. But many people will choose to simply not worry about the heavy taxes _this_ year, and delay selling 'til some future date. They may also think the capital gains rates will go down, or may have visions of taking their stock certificates and simply moving to Anguilla :-}.) If this trend continues--more money in equities and investments, and a higher overall valuation (as prices are driven up by more folks getting in, and by other conventional factors)--the government would seem to have two main choices: 1. Start taxing the overall wealth, e.g., 5% per year. 2. Reduce capital gains taxes so that the "locked assets" will at least come to market and generate some income from capital gains, even if at a reduced level. At 6:38 PM 9/17/96, Duncan Frissell wrote: >Note too the recent article in the Economist about how European firms are >raising capital in the UK and the US because it is available there in >private pension savings while European government retirement systems suck >loads of capital out of the system leaving nothing but massive government >debts. The flow of capital into equities is truly astounding. Some fraction of Americans are really preparing themselves well for retirement, emergencies, vacations, etc. Of course, a distressing fraction of Americans have no savings plans to speak of, and will essentially have no money as they age. Needless to say, I despise the idea of a "wealth tax," and I can see various loopholes and workarounds. I'd also expect a lot of folks to simply move out of the country if this were to happen. In the current political climate, I'd say the chance of a wealth tax in the next several years is small. Ditto for a capital gains tax rate reduction. As with selling assets, "doing nothing" is often the likeliest path. --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Snake-Oil FAQ
by Krenn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- It would be nice to have a list of actual products which are deemed potential snake-oil. Such a list could be maintained anonymously through a nym to avoid all the annoying legal problems with commenting on another's product. Though truth is the best defense against libel charges, it would be very annoying to be sued or some such by some hairbrained snake-oil peddler. Krenn -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMj84gEnqfwPpt/QVAQEWZAP9EZ7+3dQol+ZBLYQIiEk8f8avKDje5LBh EmE5GVxFXDgD9wAmcccMMuVxxCaUhN0kc8Q4StQ4aZGjwdrCGouHq4aNJdd73ERP vuk+VpQrlUwSvwwPlfXKUIQrM1PHfNigXrS5OrsQe/H/GjLw2lFa/WI2urR2Cuqg oMmtuQKrJik= =r2wq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Paradox: NO OPPRESSION IN AMERICA
by Douglas B. Renner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Those of you who took Logic 1001 will recall the paradox known as "The Heap" which goes like this: 1. A single grain of sand does not constitute a heap of sand. 2. You can create a heap from a non-heap by adding a single grain of sand. 3. Therefore, there is *NO SUCH THING* as a heap of sand. You with me here? Okay, this is important, because the public actually does think like this: 1. Our current society in America is not oppressive. (generally accepted) 2. You cannot change a non-oppressive society into an oppressive society by removing one liberty from its citizens. (also generally accepted) 3. Therefore, it is not possible for America to become an oppressive society. Sleep well, Douglas B. Renner

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Free E-Cash
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

WSJ, September 20, 1996, p. A16. Fed Chief to U.S: Back Off On Electronic-Cash Rules Washington -- Regulators should stay out of the way and let the market for electronic money develop without government meddling, said Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. "The private sector will need the freedom to experiment without broad interference from the government," he told a government conference on electronic cash yesterday. Too much interference could impede innovation, he said. Bank debit cards, along with other forms of electronic payments, "account for a very small percentage of transactions," he said. "Even the use of popular credit cards has only recently begun to challenge paper's dominance." [End]

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