December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

It seems a million dollars in cash is illegal...
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

...in India, anyway. Yes. I know. He probably didn't *earn* it. Well, not *that* way, anyway... Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text To: economist-politics(a)postbox.co.uk From: The Economist <null(a)postbox.co.uk> Subject: Politics This Week (September 13th - September 19th) Data: Thu Sep 19 17:33:56 GB 1996 Sender: Nobody <nobody(a)ivision.co.uk> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 17:33:57 +0100 **************************************************************************** Welcome to Politics This Week (September 13th - September 19th) A weekly summary of the world's main events from The Economist Also available at http://www.economist.com/ **************************************************************************** <snip> Indian police arrested Sukh Ram, a former communications minister, a month after police found over $1m in cash hidden in his house. Mr Ram was arrested on his return from abroad. <snip> Information about this newsletter This is a free newsletter published by The Economist newspaper. To find out where best to direct queries to The Economist, do not reply to this message. Send a blank e-mail message to help(a)economist.com If you are having problems receiving this list, send an e-mail to support(a)postbox.co.uk To cancel your subscription, send an e-mail with the message "leave economist-politics" to newscaster(a)postbox.co.uk Alternatively, you can cancel your subscription (or re-subscribe at any time) by visiting http://www.economist.com/mailing/ Copyright The Economist Newspaper Limited --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender." -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard, for Bart Simpson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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undeliverable mail
by Brian Durham 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anyone else having problems posting? I've been getting a mailbox full problem from a vaxen at mqg-smtp3.usmc.mil ... if anyone is interested, will forward error. This post may make it through ...

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unimbibe cypherpunks@toad.com
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:24 AM 9/19/96, Steve Dyson wrote: >unscribe cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Please unimbibe me, too! I tried "unscrive," "unsuscrive," and "unscribe," and even "unsuckscribe," so now I'm trying "unimbibe." Help, I'm trapped on this list and I can't unscrive from it! --Tim (Of course, had I kept any of the many instructions that have been posted, or the instructions I got when I got signed up, I would've known that the correct way to "unsubscribe" is to send a message to "majordomo(a)toad.com" with the body message of "unsubscribe cypherpunks".) 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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(fwd) Re: Strange telephone call
by frogfarm＠yakko.cs.wmich.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: MS <selahi(a)fox.nstn.ca> Newsgroups: misc.consumers.frugal-living Subject: Re: Strange telephone call Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 18:19:12 -0400 Organization: NSTN Lines: 159 Message-ID: <3241C6DF.17CE(a)fox.nstn.ca> X-No-Archive: Yes I did an Altavista search on Westat with these results: 1.) Westat's Internet site 2.) A document from the DEFENCE LOGISTICS AGENCY on YATS I guess that phone call wasn't a scam after all... BTW, whenever in doubt, just run your Internet browser and use the search engines. You'll be amazed at how much info you can get by just typing in a word or two. MS 1.) Quoted from Westat's home page (http://www.westat.com/) Westat An Employee-Owned Research Corporation Welcome to Westat Westat is an employee-owned corporation headquartered in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan area. We conduct surveys and provide statistical research and related services to the agencies of the U.S. Government and a broad range of institutional and business clients. Our diverse staff of 800 enables us to assemble project teams to meet the challenges of complex research projects. With a more than 30-year history of technical and managerial excellence, Westat has emerged as one of the foremost statistical research and evaluation organizations in the United States. Additional Information about Westat: Research Capabilities Program Areas Employee Ownership How to Contact Westat Opportunities for Systems Professionals Statistical Software (WesVarPC) Last Modified: May 14, 1996 Site comments or problems: Webmaster(a)Westat.com Please note: Pages at this site have been designed for viewing with Netscape 1.1X Navigator using monitors displaying at least 256 colors. Use of a different HTML viewer or a display with less than 256 colors may result in the loss of page layout information and/or poor quality images. 2.) Document on 'YATS' (the following lines as they appeared on Altavista's search) No Title May 1, 1996. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY. Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is being awarded an estimated $44,425,774... http://www.fedmarket.com/blue5-1.html - size 8K - 29 May 96 *********** Westat, Incorporated, Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded a $1,630,647 increment as part of a $15,155,183 firm fixed price contract for a Communications Enlistment Decisions - Youth Attitude Tracking Study (YATS). This effort requires the contractor to administer half-hour computer assisted telephone interviews (CATIs) in an annual survey of 10,000 16-24 year-old men and women that evaluates their attitudes toward the military. The purpose of this survey is to provide the Armed Services with market data that enables them to more accurately target advertising and recruiting activities to appeal to potential recruit populations. The project includes design and selection of the sample, modification of the survey instrument, questionnaire administration, compilation and weighting of the data, production of preliminary and public use data tapes and preparation of documentation and analytical reports. Work will be performed in Rockville, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 45 bids solicited on January 26, 1996, and two bids received. The contracting activity is the Defense Supply Service-Washington, Washington, D.C. (DASW01-96-C-0041). ************* -- http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm ...for the best in unapproved information Tell your friends 'n neighbors you read this on the evil pornographic Internet "Where one burns books, one will also burn people eventually." -Heinrich Heine People and books aren't for burning. No more Alexandrias, Auschwitzs or Wacos.

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Morality, Responsibility, Technology.
by Douglas B. Renner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Some previous thread mentioned the potential usefulness of a large database containing private medical information, and possibly genetic detail as well. While I agree on the tremendous constructive potential of such a hypothetical data-mine, I seriously doubt that Mankind has the moral integrity to use this type of knowledge responsibly. Supposing for example, a particular genetic "defect" were found with such a database to have a 90% correlation with the presence of epilepsy. Immediately, doctors & scientists would strive to find a way to gain some leverage against this "defect." We might for example see a testing procedure for human fetuses to determine whether a particular pregnancy "should be" terminated. People would become famous, and much money would change hands due to this "discovery." Generally people will conclude that Science has given them more control over their lives than they previously had. The problem is, nobody really understands just what this "defect" really means. Nobody understands why it is there, or what kind of a choice we are really making my attempting to remove it from our gene pool. Remember that Sickle Cell Anemia is caused by a genetic "defect". We are lucky enough to know that the carriers of this "defect" are uniquely able to survive certain plagues. This so-called "defect", as troublesome as it may be to some individuals, is really a latent strength, which is how natural selection reinforced it in the first place, and we may need it again. The term "defect" is therefore entirely out of line. We have no business placing judgements from our own limited material value sets onto something which has the definite potential of affecting all future generations of Humanity. It's none of our business. Further, when such a database is eventually created, I ask not "who" but "what" will have access to it? What kind of non-sentient group mentality will have sufficient authority and be presumptuous enough to declare itself morally objective? What kind of a larger process might such an entity be unwittingly serving? We already have many times more material knowledge than we are morally capable of handling as a species. Here's one tiny example. The most widespread use of the knowledge of psychology is guess what? Advertising and Marketing. Our average American sits entranced watching hours of television daily, unwittingly absorbing countless impressions by advertisers with more money than morality. Can he identify the "glittering generalities" or the "bandwagon appeals" or any of the other effective forms of propaganda? Does he know the truth from a lie when sexual titillation is part of the presentation? May he readily accept what is presented, and most of all: Does he see himself sitting there, absorbing these impressions? We don't see our selves in action. We can't know what we're doing. None of us have developed sufficient "presence" to know what we are really doing most of the time. We can't possibly be objective, except in extremely rare, life-changing moments, and even then only if we're lucky. Just thinking about yourself thinking isn't enough, because where are your emotions? Do you really understand why your thoughts are what they are? Did *YOU* put those thoughts in your head intentionally, or did they sort of happen on their own... one thought following another through some combination of association and external stimuli? And while you've been busy reading this, with your attention directed outward, why haven't you been aware of the sensation in your feet, or the tension in your face, or your posture, or your breath? As westerners we have directed so much of our attention "outward" that we develop little or no objective knowledge of what goes on within us. Can we break this cycle? If there really are esoteric schools, with disciplines and methodologies of obtaining self-knowledge, then this knowledge must be such that by its very nature, it cannot possibly be communicated successfully in any large, public manner. But I digress. As a reader of this list, have you ever asked yourself Why, why is it that you personally want strong encryption to be widely available? It's a very powerful emerging technology, and it's in the palm of your hands. Douglas B. Renner dougr(a)usa.globelle.com

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[Noise] Do unto others...
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:26 AM 9/19/96 +0000, attila wrote: >Mike Farrell, actor and longtime opponent of the death penalty: > > "We don't rape rapists, > we don't burn arsonists, > why should we kill killers?" > > well, come to thing of it, why don't we let a bull rape a rapist? > > or burn an arsonist at the stake? > > seems fair to me. maybe even sell tickets to pay for the cost. I guess that begs the question of what to do with politicians... "Squeal like a pig! Squeal! Squeal!" "There will be no crisco today!" - Caligula --- | "Remember: You can't have BSDM without BSD." - alan(a)ctrl-alt-del.com | |"The moral PGP Diffie taught Zimmermann unites all| Disclaimer: | | mankind free in one-key-steganography-privacy!" | Ignore the man | |`finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key | behind the keyboard.| | http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ | alano(a)teleport.com |

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Re: unimbibe cypherpunks@toad.com
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:37 PM 9/19/96 -0700, you wrote: >I tried "unscrive," "unsuscrive," and "unscribe," and even "unsuckscribe," >so now I'm trying "unimbibe." Try sending mail to: drummajor(a)toad.com with uncircumcise cypherpunks in the body of the message. --- | "Remember: You can't have BSDM without BSD." - alan(a)ctrl-alt-del.com | |"The moral PGP Diffie taught Zimmermann unites all| Disclaimer: | | mankind free in one-key-steganography-privacy!" | Ignore the man | |`finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key | behind the keyboard.| | http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ | alano(a)teleport.com |

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More proposals for European censorship
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fortunately, the European Parliament really doesn't have much power. I'd point out to those squeamish about child pornography that - aside from that it's the production that's the problem, not the transmission & duplication - what can be used to censor it can be used to censor everything else. Incidentally, what nonsense is meant by "social rights"? -Allen > _________________________________________________________________ > webslingerZ > _________________________________________________________________ > EU PARLIAMENT DEMANDS ACTION ON CHILD SEX > __________________________________________________________________________ > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > STRASBOURG, France (Sep 19, 1996 11:24 a.m. EDT) - The European > Parliament pressed the European Union on Thursday to act to curb child > sex and trafficking rings, saying the fight against sexual abuse of > children must be an "absolute priority." [...] > Euro-MPs also called for action to stop criminals using the Internet > to disseminate pornography and to deal in women and children. They > urged the European Commission to look into technical and legal > measures, at European and global level, to combat the use of the > information superhighway for criminal purposes. > They said a strong regulatory framework for controlling the networks > was needed to ensure that people's personal and social rights were > enhanced by the advent of the new technology. [...] > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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Re: All Bets Off
by Daniel Miskell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I don't doubt this, honestly. After all, novels alone don't earn the kind of guided tours, information, and assistance he's received on many counts. It had the feel of military connections, but I wasn't about to doubt it, I've allways this truely was the Land Of Opertunity. In any event, he deserves such treatment. He's an excellent author, and does justice to the people he portrays, despite the disclaimer that none of the characters are made to represent anyone living or dead. Daniel.

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Re: Fear of Flying -- from HotWired
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:51 PM 9/18/96 -0400, Black Unicorn wrote: >On Wed, 18 Sep 1996, Bill Frantz wrote: > >> At 1:21 AM 9/18/96 -0400, Black Unicorn wrote: >> >> On Thu, 12 Sep 1996 12:03:18 -0700, Bill Frantz wrote: >> >> >Gee, biotech has come a long way. Now I can download the Anthrax DNA >> >> >sequence from the net and insert it in some carrier bacteria and start >> >> >making Anthrax bacteria. Neat! >> > >> >Culturing and growing anthrax is painfully simple. No DNA required. >> >> Sorry Unicorn, you missed my point. (1) You need DNA to grow bacteria. >> You can get the DNA two ways. (A) You get a sample of the beast, or (B) >> You get a DNA sequence and then regenerate the DNA. (I don't think B is >> technically feasable yet.) (2) You can't send samples of the beast thru >> the net. > >I think your point was that the net was not responsible for the >proliferation of Anthrax development data. (Am I wrong?) My point was that you need more than just information (but see below). You also need some materials that may be hard to get. Being totally ignorant in the anthrax growing area, I have no idea where I would get my starter bacteria. (Presumably any net-info would tell me. I haven't looked.) At 12:34 PM 9/18/96 -0800, Jim McCoy wrote: >Yes, B is possible. At the moment the devices only work for relatively >small sequences but this is improving and the current generation should be >able to handle a constructing a bacteria sequence pretty well... Ergo >you _can_ send samples of the beast through the net (or at least genetic >clones.) Oh well, if not this year, then next people will be able to down load any virus/bacteria they want. Come the millennium, it will be plants, with mice and rats to follow. Black Unicorn wrote: >My point was that in the eyes of the "leaders" all that is required to >make the net responsible for the proliferation is for the process to be >describeable in a simple one or two page set of instructions (such as >Anthrax is). I have no problem with your point. Mine was intended as sarcasm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | "Cave softly, cave safely, | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | and cave with duct tape." | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | - Marianne Russo | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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