December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Culture News from Wired News [news From The Chaos Communications Congress (Berlin) - Stu]
by Stu Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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FW: Repeal Compulsory-School Laws?
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text From: Carla Howell <carlahowell(a)mediaone.net> To: "General lpma (E-mail)" <general(a)lpma.org> Subject: FW: Repeal Compulsory-School Laws? Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 10:45:41 -0500 Sender: owner-general(a)lpma.org -----Original Message----- From: Jack Shimek [SMTP:jshimek@jaqboot.mv.com] Sent: Saturday, December 26, 1998 11:06 AM To: Jack Shimek Subject: Repeal Compulsory-School Laws? Separation of School and State Alliance - New Hampshire ******************************************** The following article is brought to you courtesy of SepSchool-NH If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, please reply with your request to be removed. Thank you. ******************************************** *****REPEAL COMPULSORY-SCHOOL LAWS? ***** Backers Say Learning And Innovation At Stake Date: 12/2/98 Author: Aaron Steelman (c) Copyright 1998 Investors Business Daily, Inc. Three years ago, state Rep. Russell George, a Republican, offered an amendment to repeal the Colorado law that mandates school attendance for children between ages 6 and 16. George's reason: Disruptive kids who would rather not be in school were causing problems for attentive students. "I posed a simple theory," George said. "If you want better education, then you are better off having people in the system who want to learn. We shouldn't be using schools as juvenile justice detention centers. "That forces learning at the lowest common denominator. And until we figure that out, we are not going to get a handle on why the public schools aren't doing well," he said. What's more, some critics of the attendance laws say repealing them could lead to a flowering of innovative private schools. Repeal also could free the estimated 1.7 million children who are schooled at home from burdensome regulations. Such benefits, analysts say, could entice other states to follow Colorado's lead and reconsider the wisdom of compulsory school attendance. Every state requires children to attend school until they earn a high-school diploma or until they reach a certain age, typically 16 or 18. Massachusetts passed the first compulsory-schooling law in 1852. Most states (and former territories) followed suit over the next several decades. George's amendment to repeal the compulsory-attendance laws died in committee, but many parents and frustrated teachers supported the change. The idea was particularly popular in rural western Colorado. But it had supporters statewide, says Arthur Ellis, assistant commissioner of the Colorado Department of Education. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a similar bill brought forward in the next session," Ellis said. If so, it will have a powerful champion in George, who is the new speaker of the Colorado House. Colorado's education establishment is not keen on repealing the state's century-old attendance laws, however. By repealing its attendance laws, the state would be "abandoning" its responsibility to kids, says Jeanne Beyer, director of communications for the Colorado Education Association. Democrat Michael Feeley, minority leader of the Colorado Senate, said: "We would grow an underclass of uneducated, unemployable, illiterate kids who would be sticking a gun in your ribs because that's the only thing they would be capable of doing." On the contrary, "It's actually the system that has abandoned the kids," said Sheldon Richman, senior fellow at the Future of Freedom Foundation. "It sticks them in a custodial facility and lets them languish." Richard Seder, education studies director at the Reason Public Policy Institute in Los Angeles, said that compulsory attendance can contribute to violence in the schools. "A student who doesn't want to be at school and is forced to be there will act out, (either) through intimidation of other students or intimidation of teachers and administrators," Seder said. It's not clear that repealing compulsory-attendance laws would actually put kids on the streets, says E.G. West, an emeritus economics professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and author of "Education and the State." West studied compulsory-attendance laws in Britain and found that education was widespread before schooling was mandatory and free. "There were upward trends in both literacy and school attendance" before compulsory-schooling laws passed, West said. In the mid-1800s, school attendance rates were growing twice as fast as the population. By 1870, the British literacy rate was more than 90%, and nearly all kids received some formal schooling. What's more, many youths benefited from apprenticeship programs. "A lot of the firms that employed younger people provided them with education on the job," West said. If all that's true, why were the compulsory-attendance laws passed in the first place? "I think the primary reason was to eliminate competition in the labor force," said Mary Novello, author of "For All the Wrong Reasons: The Story Behind Government Schools." She says some of the support for mandatory schooling came from labor organizers who thought young workers were taking jobs from adults. Marshall Fritz, director of the Fresno, Calif.-based Separation of School & State Alliance, thinks that the attendance laws create an artificial distinction between campus schooling and everyday, less-formal learning. If the laws are repealed, he says, that distinction will be blurred, and innovative schools will prosper. That's badly needed, Fritz says, because most private schools now mirror the public schools in their approach. "I think the government schools are teaching the kids to run a 17-minute mile," he said. "The private schools are teaching them to run a 13- or 14-minute mile. And they look great in comparison, because in the race of the slow, someone has to be first." Richman, the author of "Separating School and State," shares Fritz's frustration about private schools' lack of creativity. But he's less optimistic about alternative schools sprouting up. For that to happen, he says, it may be necessary to eliminate the taxes that fund public schools as well as to repeal attendance laws. "When Christopher Whittle set up the Edison Project (a system of private, for-profit schools), he said he was going to reinvent the school. But he ran up against the problem that a lot of people who were already paying taxes for schools didn't also want to spend money for tuition," Richman said. However, repealing compulsory-attendance laws would instantly make life easier for many home-schoolers, says Michael Farris, father of 10 home-schooled children and president of the Home School Legal Defense Association in Purcellville, Va. The laws not only say that kids must go to school, but they also define what is and is not a school, Farris says. Consider the case of Stephen and Lois Pustell of Lynn, Mass. They home school their three school-aged children. They've been in a court battle with their local school district since '91. The school district says it should be able to inspect the family's home to see how the kids are being taught. The Pustells object. "In our case, they were willing to waive all the other requirements (for home-schoolers, including an annual review of the curricula and the students' progress) except for the home visits," Mr. Pustell said. "Without the compulsory-attendance law, there would be no justification at all for what they are trying to do." Despite the Pustells' situation, Farris says home-schoolers are having fewer problems now than in the past. "There's no question that things have moved in a more lenient direction in the last 15 years. If you were a home-schooler in the early '80s, there was a high probability that you would be prosecuted," Farris said. In '96, Hawaii lowered its compulsory-attendance age to 16 from 18. Other states have considered similar changes. Will Colorado go all the way and repeal its attendance laws? Ellis said that the Colorado Department of Education isn't "going to lead the charge to repeal the laws, but we're not going to put any energy into preserving them, either." But you can count on teachers unions to put up a fight. "Even though you could probably find lots of frustrated teachers (who would like to see the attendance laws repealed), organizationally we wouldn't support that," the Colorado Education Association's Beyer said. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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PWL files
by Chris Rowley 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been trying to figure out the method of encryption for OSR2 Win95 and Win98 *.pwl files and I was hoping someone had some details about the method used. I've been told that resources are encrypted using RC4 with a MD5 hash of the password as the key, although I haven't had any luck using this information to decrypt resources with a known password. Does anyone have it figured out?

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[Fwd: Seasons Greetings [Ref: 42057]]
by Calumn Shearer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Taking confidentiality to an extreme..... Apparently, micro$oft are giving out christmas wishes on a "need to know" basis. OEMNews <OEMNews(a)microsoft-contact.co.uk> wrote: > Dear Calumn Shearer > > __________________________________________________________________ > > The Microsoft System Builder team would like to wish you a very happy > Christmas and a successful 1999. > > __________________________________________________________________ > >> CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE << > The information contained in this email is proprietary and confidential, > and > is intended only for users of the Microsoft OEM Web site as > "confidential > information" under your Web Site Registration and License Agreement. > If you (or your company) are not licensed to use the Web site, then any > use, copying, and distribution of information contained in this message > is > strictly prohibited. > If you received this message in error, please immediately notify us by > sending email > to msoemnet(a)microsoft.com. > (c) 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. > Microsoft and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks > of Microsoft Corporation > in the United States and/or other countries. > Microsoft OEM products are licensed to system builders by Microsoft > Licensing, Inc., a wholly owned > subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation. > This email is provided for informational purposes only.

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Online Sales SkyRocket With Real-Time Credit Card Processing
by dvf＠btm.de 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

INCREASE SALES UP TO 1500% ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS OVER THE INTERNET ***NO SETUP FEES*** Good Credit / Bad Credit/ No Credit ***NO PROBLEM*** It Just Doesn't Matter - Everyone Gets Approved No Upfront Fees For Application-Processing While Others Charge You From $195 TO $250 To Get Set Up WE CHARGE ZERO FOR SETUP FEES!! Limited Offer So Take Advantage Of It!! We Specialize In Servicing The Following: *Multilevel Marketing *Mail Order/ Phone Sales *Home Based Business *INTERNET BASED BUSINESS *New Business* Small Business Whatever!! We Do It All!!! Everyone Is Welcome! * Scroll to bottom of this e-mail for CONTACT INFORMATION. >>>>> INTERNET SERVICE <<<<< It's finally here!!! A fast and reliable way to process credit cards through your web site The Internet's reach is global - it knows no time zones or physical boundaries. With our user friendly, easy to use program, you will convert your web site from an electronic brochure to a virtual storefront without the addition of a sales clerk!!! SECURE REAL-TIME ON-LINE TRANSACTIONS make it as easy as possible for your customers to purchase your products or services. We use SSL SECURITY(best on the NET today). You will summon your customers' impulse buying when you can safely process credit cards through a secured web site linked directly to your web page. The Internet is the fastest growing industry in today's direct marketing business. DON'T BE LEFT BEHIND!!! Give your customers the convenience of ordering products right from your web page Now tell me if this doesn't sound intriguing, lets say a customer visits your web site and decides they want to buy your product(s) or service(s). They would simply enter their credit card information and receive an approval WITHIN 5 SECONDS. That's all there is to it!! >From that point on, the sale is complete and the money will be directly deposited into your business checking account within 24 to 48 hours. So you will have LIQUID ASSETS AVAILABLE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY!!! Your customer will be e-mailed a receipt and you will be e-mailed an invoice slip, all instantaneously. Now, since this program is automated for 24 hours a day 7 days a week, you will be receiving orders and making money in your sleep!!! IT'S JUST THAT EASY!!! We Also offer SOFTWARE AND TERMINAL PACKAGES. With our SOFTWARE PROGRAM, you can now take PHONE and MAIL ORDERS, accept credit cards and expose your business to thousands of new customers. All of this done through your own personal computer!!! To accommodate your STOREFRONT RETAIL BUSINESS, we offer an ELECTRONIC TERMINAL and PRINTER PACKAGE. A terminal will allow you to receive the LOWEST DISCOUNT RATE per transaction available. >>>>>CONTACT INFORMATION<<<<< Through CSI, you can apply for a merchant account with NO APPLICATION FEE, NO SETUP FEE, and BETTER RATES!!!! We believe the ability to accept credit card payments greatly enhances your business, adds additional credibility in the marketplace, and increases your potential for immediate sales. So, if your serious about increasing your business potential, get your own Merchant Account today!!! CALL 1(800) 600-0343 ext. 1625 ************************************************************ The Mailing List that you are being mailed from was filtered against the Global Remove List at: FFcvfgt(a)gmx.de Remove-List is a free public service offering to help the general public get removed from bulk mailings lists and has not sent this message. If you want their help please add your name to their list and we you will not receive a bulk email from us or any other ethical bulk emailer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************************************************************

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THE REGISTER [Relaxation Of Encryption Export Constraints (Not really, but better than Wassenau) - Stu]
by Stu Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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THE REGISTER [I bin einer Noski, Tooski - Stu]
by Stu Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: OpenBSD vs FreeBSD
by Mark Lanett 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Use an etch-a-sketch. Etch-a-sketch displays are not vulnerable to power-line denial-of-service attacks or fires. They *are* vulnerable to data loss during earthquakes or if physical access is obtained, however most operating systems running on standard hardware are also vulnerable to attacks of this nature. They are not vulnerable to remote electronic eavesdropping, as they emit no power signature, in fact no emissions of any kind. I am not familiar with TEMPEST specifications, however, and can not claim this level of security. ~mark From: Robert Watson <robert(a)cyrus.watson.org> >Use a toaster oven. [...] >Toaster ovens may be vulnerable to a remote denial of service attack >involving manipulation of power lines -- however, most operating systems >running on standard hardware are also vulnerable to this attack.

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CLT&G Update: 29 Dec 98
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text From: "Chip Ford" <chip_ford(a)cltg.org> To: "MassLP Reflector" <general(a)lpma.org>, "MassGOP Listserv" <debate(a)list1.channel1.com> Subject: CLT&G Update: 29 Dec 98 Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 14:31:11 -0500 Sender: owner-general(a)lpma.org Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960 Phone: (508) 384-0100 * E-Mail: cltg(a)cltg.org Visit our website at: http://cltg.org --------------------------------------------------------------- *** CLT&G Update *** Tuesday, December 29, 1998 The Boston Globe Monday, December 28, 1998 The US suffered through turmoil in '98 -- 1798, that is By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist, 12/28/98 So shocking were the president's deeds, so extreme were his opponents, so furiously did partisan passions roil the public, that by the end of '98 some of the nation's most eminent leaders were questioning whether America's experiment with constitutional democracy was coming undone. No, not the Clinton scandals. The year was 1798. John Adams was in the White House and the United States was undergoing an agony of political turmoil. It was a bitter time, but it produced two of the most remarkable statements on liberty and limited government in our history - the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798. Americans were sharply divided over a host of issues that year, none more so than US-French relations. The Federalists, who controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, deeply mistrusted the French revolutionaries and refused to support them when France went to war with Britain. Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson were sympathetic to the French cause, which they identified with America's own revolt against royal abuse two decades earlier. The Jeffersonians denounced Adams and the Federalists as "monarchists" and "Tories" - denunciations echoed by a growing population of anti-British immigrants. Angered by Washington's neutrality, France began seizing American vessels. US diplomats in France were snubbed. A scandal erupted - the famous XYZ Affair - when agents of the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, demanded a bribe from President Adams's emissaries. Federalists were outraged; war fever swept the country. There were rumors that France was planning an invasion - and that Vice President Jefferson, whose Republican supporters were violently condemning the federal government, would join the invaders and overthrow the Adams administration. In this superheated atmosphere, Congress and the president enacted a package of grotesquely unconstitutional laws. The Alien Enemies Act empowered the president to jail or expel without trial any foreigner he deemed "dangerous to the peace." The Sedition Act prohibited all criticism of federal officials made "with intent to defame." Just seven years after the ratification of the First Amendment, editors, printers, and politicians were hauled into court and sent to prison for the crime of opposing the president. Jefferson and James Madison - who called the Sedition Act a "monster that must forever disgrace its parents" - resolved to strike back. Knowing that a Supreme Court fight would lose (the bench was dominated by Federalists), they decided to attack through the state legislatures. Working with allies in Kentucky and Virginia, Jefferson and Madison arranged for each state's general assembly to adopt a statement protesting the new laws. Jefferson drafted the Kentucky resolution, which was passed on Nov. 16, 1798. Madison wrote the Virginia resolution, which was adopted on Christmas Eve. "Resolved," the Kentucky Legislature declared in its opening paragraph, "that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." Supreme authority in America, it argued, was held not by the federal government but by the people and the states, and Congress and the president had only those powers clearly delegated to them by the Constitution. The Alien and Sedition Acts were intolerable above all because the federal government had no right to enact them. In the 20th century, the 10th Amendment has been largely ignored, but in the Kentucky Resolution, Jefferson quoted it repeatedly: "It is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."' Nothing in the Constitution gave federal officials any right to interfere with freedom of speech or the press, or to exercise any jurisdiction over aliens. "Therefore, the act of Congress passed on the 14th day of July, 1798 ... is not law, but is altogether void, and of no effect." The Virginia Resolution was also blunt. Congress and the president, Madison wrote, have only the powers "enumerated in that compact [the Constitution]; and that in case of a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of other powers not granted by the said compact, the states ... have the right and are duty bound to interpose for arresting the progress of the evil." These resolutions weren't empty theory. They were a forceful defense of freedom, and a reminder that when governments are allowed to infringe the liberty of A, it is only a matter of time before they move on to B's. "The friendless alien has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first experiment," declared the Kentucky resolution, "but the citizen will soon follow - or rather has already followed, for already has a Sedition Act marked him as its prey." Jefferson and Madison were fearful, as more Americans should be today, of allowing power to be concentrated in the central government. They won the battle: Americans came to hate the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Federalists were thrown out in the election of 1800. But did they win the war? In our day, the federal government has grown monstrous, strangling Americans' freedom through endless regulations, restrictions, and taxes. The bicentennial of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions reminds us how much we have lost - and points the way to win it back. Jeff Jacoby is a Globe columnist. You can write Jeff at Jacoby(a)globe.com. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "The Only Alternative to Limited Taxation and Government is Unlimited Taxation and Government" --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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QuickEmail, A Web-based E-mail message
by whiterose＠liveinfreedomor.die 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

SSA, IRS, VA A-OK FOR Y2K President Clinton says that the U.S. Treasury Financial Management System has completed testing by independent auditors and is now "certified as Y2K (Year 2000) compliant." The Y2K problem or "millennium bug" is found in old programs that (because their authors used only two rather than four digits to designate years) will make mistakes when doing calculations based on dates. The Social Security Administration has led the way in dealing with the Y2K problem, which it first started working on in 1989. (San Jose Mercury News 29 Dec 98) A service provided by TechAID Computer Services, http://www.techaid.net The e-mail address of the sender MAY NOT BE AUTHENTIC.

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