December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

[Fwd: (Fwd) GILC on racism, Asian events, copyright, etc. (472 l (fwd)] (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 10:34:09 -0600 > From: TruthMonger <tm(a)dev.null> > Subject: [Fwd: (Fwd) GILC on racism, Asian events, copyright, etc. (472 l (fwd)] > [B3.3] CDA's Younger Big Brother > > Last week, in another attempt to clear the Internet of pornography, > United States Senator Dan Coats (Republican from Indiana, former aid > to Dan Quayle, and the originator of the failed CDA) introduced S. > 1482, which seeks to prohibit commerical Internet sites from > distributing material considered "harmful to minors" under 17 years > old. Violators wil be imprisoned for six months with a $50,000 fine. > Supporters of the bill say that it's newly focused, because it covers > only material that's "harmful to minors," and not material that's > "indenent." Coats's concern is over the free "teasers" (images of > naked women and simulated sex acts) that most pornographic sites offer > viewers. This seems to me to be a step backward. Indecent at least has an implicit relationship with sex while harmful to minors does not. Does the bill make some notice that it applies only to sex and sex related issues or can this be applied to any subject matter that would be harmful to minors? This could impact all sorts information such as bomb info, ways to make booze, drug related sites, etc. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | We built your fort. We will not have it used against us. | | | | John Wayne - Allegheny Uprising | | | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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"Kids Safe" calls for mandatory blocking sw; op-ed on summit
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Dec. 5, 1997--Saying that we must protect children from the dangers of >sexually explicit material on the Internet, a leading child-safety advocate >Friday called on Congress to enact legislation to mandate that every >computer sold in the United States by 1999 be outfitted with parental >software that can block out sexually explicit or adult Web sites. "Oh my gawd! A nipple! I'm harmed for life! I'm going to hell! Jesus doesn't like this! All for a nipple!" Um, yeah. And the far-right wackos strike again, this time in the guide of "Kids Safe." And now in addition to paying for Windoze when you buy a computer you get to pay for censorware which you don't want. What if my machine comes with Linux preinstalled? Is censorware still mandated? What if I deliberately come up with a way to purposefully break the censorware every time they release it? What if I come up with a way to get around the idiotware...err, censorware? What if I specify that I don't want them to even TOUCH my hard drive -- just stick it in the case and hand me the CDs? But the #1 reason this is stupid is: What keeps me from using an ActiveX applet to exploit the "everyone is root" "feature" in Windows to remove the censorware or, better yet, check to see if it is installed and horribly hose the system? Granted nothing keeps me from destroying the system as it stands now, but this just gives people a reason to do it other than the standard (and justified) "Windows' point and click crap has destroyed the network." And of course there are two ways to use the actual ratings for civil disobediance. You can either rate porn as "acceptable for children" or you can rate *everything* as "hard-core XXX with graphic gunshots to the head, a bunch of blood, and people cussing." The same applies for filters; I can obsfuscate trigger words (i.e. "fuck" as "fsck" or "fuq") or I can deliberately strewn them all over my pages so that people are, in effect, FORCED to turn it off to read everything from a technical paper to a FAQ for comp.lang.c. One of these days these idiots are going to learn two things: 1) You can successfully censor very little material, and 2) It pisses people off and they go out of their way to offend and put up porn. Remember back during the Exon debacle? Hell, porn was posted to Cypherpunks.

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"Kids Safe" calls for mandatory blocking sw; op-ed on summit (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: 9 Dec 1997 02:26:07 -0000 > From: Secret Squirrel <nobody(a)secret.squirrel.owl.de> > Subject: "Kids Safe" calls for mandatory blocking sw; op-ed on summit > One of these days these idiots are going to learn two things: 1) You can > successfully censor very little material, and 2) It pisses people off and > they go out of their way to offend and put up porn. Remember back during the > Exon debacle? Hell, porn was posted to Cypherpunks. What a pipe dream, as one dies another is born.

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Re: NYTimes oped: Federal laws better than censorware
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I think the answer to your question is that most of us find the very idea >of filterware distasteful (let alone the generally poor quality of the >implementations. However, that's much the same as I find american cars >distasteful. If somebody else wants to blow their money on one of those >pieces of crap, by all means let them. (I admit, they're slowly getting >better) This leads us to poke fun at the current systems and argue against >people actually using them, much the same way a christian friend of mine >keeps trying to get me to accept jesus into my heart and love him so that I >won't go to hell. On the other hand, we get really pissed off when >somebody tries to force us and our kids to use this crap. It doesn't >matter if it is AOL or the FBI, outside coercion is outside coercion. Or public school districts, which are arms of the government regardless of the fact that many of them have the word "independant" in their name and have a quasi-independant regulatory joke known as a "school board." Strangely enough I'm taxed to provide Internet feeds in the schools, then taxed to censor those feeds, then bitched at for not "thinking about the children" when I post to USENET, then threatened with government regulation for the same. All while the public school system is turning out people who can't read or do basic mathematics. And we still come back to the old question: Who determines what is "suitable for children?" Since I, for instance, consider absolutely no material to be "inappropriate for children" on basis of their age and I absolutely deplore censorship in all its forms I would rate everything as "suitable for children," even if that means that I have to rate a porn page as having "no nudity," or a copy of a hack and slash novel with blood and gore all over the place as "no violence." It's blatently obvious to a human that they're walking into a porn page or a copy of The Terrorist's Handbook before they actually transfer it. Since the sole purpose of automated filtering and rating systems is to censor material which some censor decides is "inappropriate" for a particular audience without any input from that audience at all, and in many cases I'm the one paying for the network feed to begin with, screw them. And I'll put whatever I want on my pages, even if that is a ratings tag, thank you. If Little Johnny is of such fragile mentality that he will be damaged for life because he sees a penis or a breast, then he was screwed already. Think of it as evolution in action. Rate falsely and watch them load.

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No Subject
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hmm. Okay, then. I think Vulis needs each of us to send twenty copies of this back to him in a horribly mutilated state. >I think Vulis uses procmail. > >On 7 Dec 1997, Secret Squirrel wrote: > >> I think Vulis needs each of us to send ten copies of this back to him. >>

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Re: Complete package for Cantsin Protocol No. 2
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Steffen Zahn wrote: >I have put together a package for Cantsin 2 Signatures, to generate >the keys, sign documents and check signatures. I've been looking this over and it's a nice job. The code is clean and orderly. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but it looks like everything is done the right way. For example, it doesn't tell you how many valid signatures a file has, it outputs a fragment of the file for each valid signature. The database of known keys has the nice property that you can name each key anything you like. The source code is completely unencumbered. This is great! For some reason, it has been the custom to issue free software with all sorts of restrictions, in particular restrictions which hamper its commercial use. But, if we are giving it away to people so they will use it, why restrict it? If somebody can use it to start a cypherpunk company, this is a Good Thing. (This can even be a Very Good Thing for the original programmer. ;-) It might be a good idea to publish the SHA1 checksum of the file you are distributing. The checksum of the file I got (cantsin.tar.gz) was: D054C9E4ABD5CEE0C5A4343E5D1E2EF91C00048A I may not approve of the restrictions on free speech in Germany, but at least the German government isn't trying to stop people from publishing arithmetic. The truth is, that for Monty Cantsin's activities, he would get a better deal on free speech if he were German. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm Subject: Re: Complete package for Cantsin Protocol No. 2 To: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com 25BA1A9F5B9010DD8C752EDE887E9AF3 [Cantsin Protocol No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Re: Singapore
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Mr. Frissell asserts that Germany lacks rights >such as freedom of speech and >association. >This is not true. >The German Basic Law provides for everyone the right to freedom of speech, >religion and association. >However, Germany prohibits hate speech i.e. National Socialism and >incitement to racial, religious and national hatred. >The reason for this exception is the German history. And thus there is no true freedom of speech and such in Germany. I can either say "Fuck the Jews" or I can't. I can either say "Bill Gates can blow me" or I can't. I can either post naked pictures of myself or I can't. (And yes, this means that there is no true freedom of speech and such in the United States either.) Nice try.

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Singapore & Freedom
by nobody＠neva.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

harish.pillay(a)brokat.com wrote > ..much deleted text... > >So, yes, the govt does at times choke the entrepreneurship drive >of the local population, but there are industries where the >coexistence of private initiative and govt-linked companies have >been possible and viable. Please advise what industries and the companies involved. >Let's analyze the premise of an educational system. .... >It has been a fine balance between a fully liberal system and >one that generates worker units for the most part of the last >30-35 years. ... It will take 5-10 years before an increasingly >liberal system is in place - an increasing thinking population >that is part of the global information flow that will >characterize the next centuries economies. This last sentence appears to have been taken right out the PAP policy manual, and it is a good policy statement. Educational systems are generally engineered by society to help prepare the students for life in that society. In western societies the educational system is engineered by a number of different groups in that society in what is thought to be in the best interest of the society. Who is doing the planning in Singapore and for what ends? I believe you will find Elder Statesman Lee has a major involvement at this time. If you look you will find an accelerated push to generate a more technical population. Children in Singapore start school at 5 years of age, after 5 years of schooling, what is the daily homework load for a 10 year old student?? Three to 5 hours per day? If this figure is not correct please advise the correct figure. What percentage of parents feel compelled to hire tutors to enhance their child's education or just so they get good grades? Is 60% too low?? What type of bonuses do school principals receive, is it based on the overall grade-point average of the students in their school? Why the big push? Who is the primary beneficiary of this push? Is this being done for the benefit of the worker units or the collective good of the controllers of the political group in power? Harry and his buddies have done a fantastic job with Singapore Inc. over the last 40 years. Harry had a great vision and splendid execution of that vision. Problem now is that he is rather long in the tooth and his people have changed. Instead of loosening up and allowing more democratic freedoms Harry and the boys are finding excuses to state that Singaporeans must work harder and expect less in the way of freedoms. Harry has stated many times that one of the biggest problems with western style democracies is that the voters can defeat a perfectly good government and install a bunch of goofs who spoil everything. True enough, we sometimes vote goofs into power, but at least we have the choice. Harry and the PAP have destroyed every bit of political opposition or made the opposition unpalatable to the voters. >Pray tell me how the SG govt has brought BB into reality? ... Singapore is surrounded by the Muslim hordes who covet their wealth and it has no internal security apparatus? In the 50s Singapore literally had a den of spies. The regional den of spies is now Bangkok. Why do ya figure they all moved their operations?? The Singaporeans politely asked them to leave? Have you ever had any dealings with your nation's security apparatus? If you did you would notice something strange. You just got picked up for something that happened last week but these people know about your whole life. They know how many hours you spend at the office, when you are out of the country, who you socialize with, and any vices you may have. Maybe they really don't do the Big Brother thing, they probably just have a crystal ball and got lucky with a few guesses and bluffed the rest. If you believe this last statement I have a real deal for you on some excellent used cars. When the Singapore government announced their intent to connect every household to the Internet they asked every citizen to become an informant and watch their neighbors (neighbours) for subversive activity and report any such activity to the authorities. Now, if you connect to those 100 restricted porn sites and saved copies of all you viewed on your computer and the authorities discovered that porn what would be your fate? Or are you immune to this threat? >Interesting that you hide behind an anomymous name... I notice your government does not like anonymous dissent either. The standard procedure in Singapore in dealing with trouble makers is to dig up their records, school, National Service, employment, and whatever else they can get and then tear the poor souls apart. Harry has participated in this tactic many times. Just so it will not bother you, I admit I am a low-life. Dropped out of school, fired from every job, do drugs, abuse alcohol, guns, no church, beat my kids, beat my wife, beat my dog, and I hang-out in second-rate strip-joints with bikers who deal drugs and loanshark. Plus I collect welfare..... I use anonymous mail for many reasons. The reason here should be pretty obvious. SingMonger

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Crypto Law Survey updated
by Bert-Jaap Koops 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have just updated my survey of existing and envisaged cryptography laws and regulations. See the Crypto Law Survey at http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/koops/lawsurvy.htm This update includes: -new entries on Estonia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, Turkey (import/export) and on Argentina, Malaysia, South Korea (domestic) -update on European Union (Commission Communication: advises export adaptation, wary of key recovery, EU will use encryption itself), Belgium (govt proposal), Brazil (import/ use controls possible in 1998), France (expected decrees delayed by NL), Germany (Kanther chip; no regulation intention), Sweden (Cabinet Office report), Turkey (perhaps domestic controls), US (BXA seeks comments; Bernstein hearing scheduled; SAFE Act amended/ uncertain future; KMI FIPS meetings; AES candidate call) -clarification on Poland (import), Singapore, South Africa, UK (export) -URLs added to EU (KRISIS), France (critique), UK (list of responses), US (KMI FIPS, amendment S909) Kind regards, Bert-Jaap --------------------------------------------------------------------- Bert-Jaap Koops tel +31 13 466 8101 Center for Law, Administration and facs +31 13 466 8149 Informatization, Tilburg University e-mail E.J.Koops(a)kub.nl -------------------------------------------------- Postbus 90153 | This world's just mad enough to have been made | 5000 LE Tilburg | by the Being his beings into being prayed. | The Netherlands | (Howard Nemerov) | --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://cwis.kub.nl/~frw/people/koops/bertjaap.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Cato forum tomorrow: should money laundering be a crime?
by Steve Schear 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>(Why is this discussion limited to just the four of us? Surely Declan and >his Cato buddies are worthy to hear our arguments? I dislike the "taking >things private" mindset, when the lists are already so cluttered with Toto >rants and other consumers of vast amounts of bandwidth.) If my header lines implied this, it was inadvertent. I agree more 'relevent' content on CP is desireable. >I haven't quite said that all forms of communication/spending money will be >speech and therefore protected. (Besides, we all know of many forms of >speech that are unprotected.) > >What I (and Michael Froomkin, in his own CFP talk) have argued is that >digital money will be _undetectable_ in many cases unless government >demands that the contents of a private communication be revealed. A kind of >prior restraint on speech. > [snip] >If the government determines, somehow, that Alice was >involved in an illegal transaction, tax evasion, money laundering, etc., >they can try to get her on that. But they can't insist that words be >submitted to a government agent for approval." Isn't uttering a check protected speech? What about if a check is stego-coded in some political rant? Can the Feds insist I not utter that speech? --Steve PGP mail preferred, see http://www.pgp.com and http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html RSA fingerprint: FE90 1A95 9DEA 8D61 812E CCA9 A44A FBA9 RSA key: http://keys.pgp.com:11371/pks/lookup?op=index&search=0x55C78B0D --------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Schear | tel: (702) 658-2654 CEO | fax: (702) 658-2673 First ECache Corporation | 7075 West Gowan Road | Suite 2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | Internet: schear(a)lvdi.net --------------------------------------------------------------------- I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me ECache or give me debt! "It's your Cache"

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