December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 08:14:50 -0400 > From: Adam Shostack <adam(a)homeport.org> > Subject: Re: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd) > On Mon, Sep 28, 1998 at 07:09:51PM -0500, Jim Choate wrote: > | > | The problem with your interpretation is that in a sense you want your cake and > | eat it too. In short you want to be able to use somebody elses code in your > | product without their having a say in how their code is used or receiving a > | cut of the profits. The GPL/LGPL is specificaly designed to prevent this. > > > I'll suggest that in a security context, having ones cake and > eating it too may not be such a bad thing. Only if you're the author or publisher and your goal is to watch your bank account grow to exclusion of all else, everybody else gets screwed. > If I can develop a > commercial product with crypto code thats been made available to the > community, then there is a lower chance the code will contain bogosity > in its security critical functions. > > The GPL (not the LGPL) specifically prevents this with the > best of intentions. Prevents what, releasing commercial code within a L/GPL'ed context? No, it doesn't. What it does do is *guarantee* that the customer has some chance of understanding what his code does (it's called code review and is highly regarded in crypto algorithm analysis circles) and makes sure the original L/GPL'ed holder has a stake in any commercial ventures the *source* code is used in. I'd say that's a win-win for everyone except those who want something for nothing so they can buy a new expensive do-dad. I'll say it again, neither the GPL or the LGPL prevent fully commercial code development. *HOWEVER* to do that within the context *requires* that the API to your commercial applications be released and available. This is a good thing. The only objection to releasing an API is to stifle competition, *THAT* is a bad thing. The idea from a free-market perspective: The idea is that while the actual source code is protectable the API is not so that *fair* competition can be ensured. The whole free-market theory must exist in a fairly competitive market. In the context of software that means full and open API's so that alternate but compatible libraries can exist and the consumer (not the manufacturer, the hallmark of a competitively impoverished market) can decide which is the most reliable and stable version. Had Microsoft, for example, been required to publish their API's by the market we wouldn't be spending all this effort and money on the current proceedings. That would be a win-win for everyone (well except Bill who probably wouldn't be worth a value equivalent to the holdings of 40+M US citizens combined). Anyone who objects to published API's is aware their code is trivial and not worth it's price or their code is written poorly and easily improved upon. Bottem line, if you believe in a free-market (which requires fair competition to work and prevent monopolies) and object to releasing your API's then you're a hypocrit. Having your cake and eating it too *never* works, except in Wonderland. There should be no objection to making oneself wealthy, but not at the expense of others. Let the quality of your product define your reputation, not your greed. Become the best supplier of niche code there is because the code is well fast, failure tolerant, and reliable - not because you've managed to squeeze all potential competitors out. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Meriweather v. Gates
by Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Reply-To: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > > It's an ironic indication of where we are that Bill Gates is being hounded > by the Justice Department, Sun Microsystems, Netscape, Novell, and Ralph > Nader while no one is hounding John Meriwether. In fact, the Federal > Reserve System, nominally nongovernmental (wink wink) just helped to bail > out his firm, Long-Term Capital Management. > > Gates, you see, has a non-leveraged investment of $50 billion in Microsoft. > No borrowing, no margin debt, just plain old-fashioned ownership. And a monopoly that doesn't need a bailout. > Meriwether, on the other hand, started in 1991 and took in money from > speculators. He took the $2.2 billion and borrowed with it, hitting the > $125 B in borrowed assets point. Then he and his rocket scientists > essentially borrowed still more, using this $125 B to leverage $1.25 T. (T > for "trillion.") > > Not bad, going from $2.2 B to $1.25 T, a mere 500-fold increase. Sheer unmitigated greed on the part of the banks, not knowing or forcing Meriwether to tell them. Over leveraging is what caused the Great Depression via the stock market collapse. ---guy Gosh, thank goodness they are loosening the bank/brokerage rules...not.

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Horde this Book: the first Y2K action novel
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 08:01:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Horde this Book: the first Y2K action novel http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/0,2326,201980929-14649,00.html TIME Digital's Netly News September 29, 1998 Horde This Book By Declan McCullagh (declan(a)well.com) Book Review America's computers crashed on January 1, 2000. Cars won't start, planes won't fly, and the military is in shambles. Soldiers of unknown origin have seized control of a key high-tech company. China is about to invade. The one man who can save Western civilization from a Digital Dark Age is Y2K fixmeister Mark Solvang. Mark's problem? Well, it happens to be his company those troops took over. What comes next is a predictable romp through gun battles, hacking, and government intrigue that's sure to satisfy Chuck Norris fans but leave anyone else hoping for more. [...remainder snipped...]

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Re: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 10:33:38 -0400 > From: Adam Shostack <adam(a)homeport.org> > Subject: Re: GPL & commercial software, the critical distinction (fwd) > What did I say about not paying for people's work? I'm perfectly > happy to pay for code, and I prefer to buy open source code; it tends > to be higher quality. I don't want to have to accept your opinion on > how I should release code along with the code. Jesus Christ on a stick. Take a fucking chill pill Adam. That 'you' is the literary you, not you personaly. You (not the literary you) should seriously consider counseling. Talk about hair-triggered. If anybody is guilty of demanding people do it 'their way' it's you. You really need to better understand this inability of yours to seperate your self-worth as an individual from the ideas you espouse and supposedly put out for public dialog. Everybody has stupid idea, if you can't admit that then there's a problem more serious than having stupid ideas. Everybody makes mistakes everyday, and if you seriously think you don't then you have found your first mistake today. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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One Nation launch - the day the media snapped
by Scott Balson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear One Nation supporter, Please take time to view this report with images of the One Nation launch yesterday. <A href="http://www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/onenation/federal/launch/">http://www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/onenation/federal/launch/ GWB Scott Balson

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:30 AM 9/29/98 -0400, John Young wrote: >Now that the terrified US Army has axed its Web sites, and >NSA and several other mil sites seem inaccessible and >"temporarily unavailable" this morning, could this portend >a dual-use of the Internet, a closed one for porkbarrell mil and >secret gov sweethearts and a sappy infotainment one for civilians >to gameboy infofoolery? Well, for some months now they've password protected some of the more delicate stuff (e.g., "lessons learned", some of the field manuals). And they have been rejecting non .mil addresses too. Certainly we can expect them to eventually get a clue and think about what's out there. Mostly they have. (Of course it was within the last year that a .mil was exporting PGP!) The army's over-reaction is quaint but essentially reasonable --the W3 pages are just PR, and they're real edgy these days after they tried to scalp Osama with a tomohawk. [digression: I wonder when Osama will have his own web page with matching funds for the head of the Great Satan, and whether there would be a shootout on the net, e.g., the DNS records being changed, a phone call to their ISP] As far as the NSA's online personnel records, I bet they're still worried about the CIA shootout down the street a few years back. There's still plenty of names, phones, email addresses in the .gov domain, with building locations, etc. But Jim Bell is locked up so they're not so uptight. >That would be a tri-power-gov implementation of dual-use >terror-scare to hide perkbellied privileges of natsec obsession. They keep trying different passwords to the constitution. Its a dictionary attack: "pedophile", "droogs", "terrorist", "WMD", etc. --Ceci n'est-ce pas un Toto

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:21 AM 9/29/98 -0500, Jim Choate wrote: > >It's called milnet and it's been in existance ever since about '83. It >occured when ARPA became DARPA. I was working on a DoD project at UT Austin >at the time. Look up SIPRNET

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Re: (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 15:07:45 -0500 > From: Leif Ericksen <leif(a)imho.net> > Subject: Re: > > At 08:21 AM 9/29/98 -0500, Jim Choate wrote: > > > > > >It's called milnet and it's been in existance ever since about '83. It > > 1983???? Are you 100% sure about that I am almost 100% sure that it was > alone longer than that. I can not be quoted on it but I am sure that it > was in existence before that... OH I beg your pardon, 1983 is what the > government will really admit to even if there are documents that show it > may be older than that.... Might have been 82, find out when ARPA became DARPA and *only* worked on defense related material. The distinction was one of administration and not physical changes to anything other than some nameservers and routers. When the change happened it meant that ARPA could no longer participate as an equal with the NFS so they split the funding and administrative servers. ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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GoLive CyberStudio 30-day Activation Key
by sales＠golive.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Fritzie, Thank you for downloading the GoLive CyberStudio Tryout software. Your official 30-day activation key is: TRIA1MT23NFJD8MXGGJ85UDA You'll need to enter this key when you first start-up the software. Included with the GoLive CyberStudio installation are the latest Release Notes and New Product Features for GoLive CyberStudio. NOTE: If you are using Stuffit Expander 4.5.x to decode and decompress PDF documents, please make sure the cross platform preference and the option "Convert Text Files to Macintosh Format" is set to "Never". If you have questions about how to use the Tryout software, GoLive's knowledgeable Technical Support staff is available to assist you. We suggest you first check the Technical Support section of our Web site www.golive.com. If you don't find your answers there, please send us an email at support(a)golive.com or call 1-800-554-6638. When you are ready to purchase GoLive CyberStudio or if you want to know more about why GoLive CyberStudio is the best product for Web site design, please return to our Web site or contact me at 1-800-554-6638 or 1-650-463-1580. Sincerely, Dan Fernandez Director US Sales GoLive Systems Sales(a)Golive.com

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GoLive CyberStudio 30-day Activation Key
by sales＠golive.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Fritzie, Thank you for downloading the GoLive CyberStudio Tryout software. Your official 30-day activation key is: TRIA1MT23NFJD8MXGGJ85UDA You'll need to enter this key when you first start-up the software. Included with the GoLive CyberStudio installation are the latest Release Notes and New Product Features for GoLive CyberStudio. NOTE: If you are using Stuffit Expander 4.5.x to decode and decompress PDF documents, please make sure the cross platform preference and the option "Convert Text Files to Macintosh Format" is set to "Never". If you have questions about how to use the Tryout software, GoLive's knowledgeable Technical Support staff is available to assist you. We suggest you first check the Technical Support section of our Web site www.golive.com. If you don't find your answers there, please send us an email at support(a)golive.com or call 1-800-554-6638. When you are ready to purchase GoLive CyberStudio or if you want to know more about why GoLive CyberStudio is the best product for Web site design, please return to our Web site or contact me at 1-800-554-6638 or 1-650-463-1580. Sincerely, Dan Fernandez Director US Sales GoLive Systems Sales(a)Golive.com

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