December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Scientology and police visit XS4ALL Amsterdam
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 23:09 9/5/95, announce wrote: [...] > Police and members of Scientology church enter offices of XS4ALL > ================================================================ I am wondering about the legalities of booby trapped computer equipment. Would it be legal if a clear warning to the fact was posted on the hardware? Interesting side note: a few months ago, several hundred 5 gallon containers of insecticide were stolen from the lot of an agricultural supply dealer here in California. The incident made a small note in the SF Chronicle. It was mentioned that the FBI is taking part in the investigation. What wasn't mentioned was that this insecticide is an ideal precursor to various forms of neuro toxins, namely Tabun and Soman, two types of nerve gas so vicious and toxic that even Hitler refused to approve their use. I predict that eventful times are just around the corner. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: Stealth Helicopters
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

DisgustedMonger wrote: > I was watching a 'crop' in Humbold County, CA, in the early 80's >and was standing near the top of a hill one day when I heard a >slight "whoosh, whoosh" for about three seconds before a helicopter >came over the hill, scaring the living shit out of me. > I imagine that in the 15 or so years since then, the govt has >managed to make them invisible, as well. The GAO reports that the B-2 stealth bomber cannot fly in the rain, which transforms stealth technology into junk. Moreover, the fragile machine needs strict atmospheric control in the hangar or its skin rots and delicate innards peter out, and because there are none of the luxurious digs overseas, the plane cannot be deployed closer to targets, thereby limiting its threat. The problem is apparently unsolvable for less than the cost of the plane itself, so they've got to be pickled and coddled indefinitely or thrown away. http://jya.com/nsiad-97-181.txt Once armaments, tactics and strategy were battle-tested by using them for war, now with high-price simulation being widely deployed to save money, it's pretty certain that the price of war games will eventually rise to cost exactly the same as an actual war, indeed will make war a cheaper alternative. What's a wonder is that GAO never finds serious fault with any of the government programs it judiciously investigates. Instead, after due research, request for comments from those investigated, and fair deliberation, the somewhat tawdry matters at hands merely require additional funding for fine tuning and keep the congressional sponsors happy to fund the programs, the watch-dogs and shrewdly voting taxpayers doing what needs to be done to complain and bank their cut, short 10% for all the world's sterling leaders. Jeez, is this a California dream of virtual reality war games forever or the bleeding edge of the future set in motion at the dawn of: making peace, making war, what's the diff so long as me and mine never get drafted, never take the actual hit, never wake up dead?

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You Have Over a 50% Chance of Being Owed Money!
by money＠fundsrecovery.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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List Subscriptions / Re: Prior Restraint on Publishers
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: > By the way, which list address are you now subscribed to...I switched from > algebra. com to cyberpass.net, but now expect to see 2-3 hours delay before > posts appear. > > (This applies to others, too. I'm getting replies to my posts, when sent > directly to me, literally hours before seeing it on the list. Someone > mentioned subscribing to toad.com, which, to tell the truth, I thought had > vanished as a list origination site months ago.) If you subscribe to cypherpunks-unedited(a)toad.com you will get almost immediate receipt of toad.com posts much of the day. Algebra.com is generally only a short time lag behind, although this varies (and you get duplicates of the toad.com posts). The advantage of toad.com is that it gives you feedback as to the time-lag of the distributed lists. The advantages of the distributed lists is that you can change among them if one is temporarily having problems.

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Glut of Doctors? (Oh Horror, Oh Horror!) / Re: index.html
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Choate wrote: > CNN > REPORT: U.S. TO PAY HOSPITALS NOT TO TRAIN DOCTORS > Doctor graphic August 24, 1997 > WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In an effort to reduce a glut of physicians in > the United States, the federal government will pay training > hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars not to train doctors, The > Washington Post reported Sunday. Thus protecting the citizens from the horrible spectre of reasonably priced health care. Sick people around the nation must be applauding this government effort. > Medicare underwrites residency training programs heavily. Taxpayers > spend $7 billion a year on the training, with each resident > translating into an average subsidy of $100,000 a year. I don't suppose that simply "dropping" the subsidy would have the same result of reducing the number of doctors, would it? (Hello! Is anybody home...?) > The payments are the government's first effort to constrict the > pipeline of people entering the medical profession, and one of the > few times the federal government has used subsidies as leverage to > shrink a particular work force. At the same time that the baby boom is turning into a geriatric boom which will increase the need for physicians. Sounds like the makings a future "HEALTH CARE CRISIS!!!!" which the government will have to address with new laws and a dramatic increase in government funding for subsidized residency training. Thank God that the government has had the foresight to increasingly arm a variety of government agencies so that they can step in to halt the old, sick sheeple from rushing the medical centers. > But the agreement drew fire from teaching hospitals in other areas > of the country who were cutting their residency rolls voluntarily > and absorbing the cost of the lost subsidies without federal > assistance. Oh, you mean like is regularly done in the "real" world? Is it "legal" to do that without government assistance? > Others wondered whether it was necessary. The number of doctors > training to become specialists in some fields has declined > dramatically despite the subsidy program, the Post article said, due > to well-publicized warnings that jobs for specialists were only > available in less populated areas. Oh Horror, Oh Horror! Reasonably priced health care, and physicians forced to endure the indignity of providing medical services to people in areas free of big-city smog. Better to heavily arm the big-city government agents to thwart the threat of all of those country bumpkins getting past the road-block identity checks and attempting to access the dwindling number of big-city physicians. Jim, did you make this post up? Are you a forger/spoofer? This post is so typical of government insanity that it seems like a National Lampoon parody. TruthMonger

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Are we 'Safe' yet?
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Why does it always seem that when my supply of Prozac is dangerously low, the people on the cypherpunks list who pay attention to what is happening in the outside world decide to deluge the list with a variety of posts reminding me how many reasons I have to be depressed about the creeping tyranny and corresponding usurpment of human rights that is threatening my right to the pursuit of drug-induced happiness? Even more depressing is the realization that I am a cloistered type of individual who has little contact with the outside world, and that this probably indicates that I am only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the atrocities being commited in the name of government. Aren't we safe, yet? With the thousands of laws that have been generated for our protection over the last few years, shouldn't we be *more* safe now, rather than *less* safe? Since our safety seems to depend on the erosion of our Constitutional rights, could the problem be that our rights aren't being eroded *fast* enough? Should we be pressing the government for immediate suspension of *all* of our Constitutional rights, so that we can achieve total safety *immediately*? Or should I go hide out at my family's cabin at Ruby Ridge until the government has finally made the rest of the world safe for me? A CypherPunk Enquirer subscriber Oppressed Minds Want To Know

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Re: gephardt slams crypto regs
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote: > Encryption is vital to the Net > BY RICHARD A. GEPHARDT > Fearing the availability of > encryption abroad could make it more difficult for the U.S. > government to intercept the communications of criminals and > gather intelligence, the current and past Administrations have chosen > to maintain strict export controls on encryption. The above only makes sense in the case of the U.S. government intercepting the communications of overseas criminals and in gathering foreign intelligence. If encryption is indeed "munitions," then we are effectively scaling back our contribution to the "arms race" without getting a corresponding scaling back from "the enemy," who is proceeding forward in the crypto arms race at a full pace. TruthMonger

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Prior Restraint on Publishers
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I used to think things like this would be quickly declared unconstitutional, but not any longer. The New Order is making things like this all too predictable. I just hope Adam Shostack does not get in even more trouble for speaking out. --Winston Smith > >From the New Yerk Tomes cybertimes: > >Proposed U.S. Rules Would Place Prior Restraint on Publishers > >By PETER MAYNOR > >Under a proposed set of rules being circulated by the Commerce >Department, the Clinton Administration is considering regulating >Web servers that allow publishing of political tracts and other forms >of information. Among the sites that would be affected are those now >operated by organizations like Planned Parenthood, the National Rifle >Association, and Citizens for the Destruction of Washington, all of >which distribute publications over the Web. Under the proposed rules, >access to such sites would be more tightly controlled or could disappear >altogether in the future. > >The requirement for Federal approval of a Web server, however, is >buried inside the densely written, virtually impenetrable document, >and the change is not even noted in the executive summary at the >beginning. The new regulation would require that anyone setting up >a Web server offering published materials seek an "advisory opinion" >from the Bureau of Thoughtcrime Affairs. > >The opinions carry no weight in court and only serve as an indication >of the agency's view on the matter at a given moment. A company >could later be prosecuted for publishing materials despite receiving >permission in an advisory opinion, although the existence of the >opinion should offer some emotional support with the court. Failure to >seek >permission will likely be interpreted by courts as evidence of >criminal tendencies. > >The purpose of the rule is to force the Web server to take all prudent steps >to ensure that publications do not violate the laws of the United States. > >The proposed regulations do not set out any hard and fast guidelines >for an organization to meet. The new regulations hwould effectively force >>organzations to shut down their Web servers until the Ministry of Truth >could rule on the material -- a process that can take several months. > >Brewart Staker, a former general counsel for the Ministry of Truth who now >>practices at the Washington law firm Goldsgtein, Blair & Orwell, said >that the >difficulty the regulators face is that the regulations must >adapt to a quickly >changing Internet environment. > >"They're saying 'Here's the basic standard. Show us what you're trying to >do. If you're doing what we feel is a good faith effort, then we'll >approve it,'" >Staker said. "They don't quite say that, but I suspect >that's what's going on." > >To draw an analogy, he compared the action to a hand check in basketball, a >move by which a defensive player warns someone with a ball that they're >there by touching them. "Think of this as just as a friendly >warning from >Big >Brother, telling you he loves you and is looking out for your best >interests." > >Adam Shostack, a Boston-based Cypherpunk facing imprisonment for >belonging to a subversive organization, said that the current rules were >already making it difficult for his clients to publish their ideas. The >new >regulations, Shostack predicted, will just make matters worse. > >"We've never needed the permission of the government to publish >anything in this country," Shostack said. "I don't see where their >legal authority comes from." >

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MACKERALS / Re: MIRICLES EVERYWHERE!!!
by bureau42 Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

BBblue(a)delphi.com wrote: > > Financial Healings. This is actually from list forger, Robert Hettinga, who was trying to write a post called 'Financial Dealings' when he was seized by a fit of Platypus-Downey Syndrome. Originally a government-generated hereditary Trojan virus developed by allegedly reptilian Nazis, agraphia was introduced to the cypherpunks mailing list, becoming commonly known as Platyagraphia, as it spread quickly throughout the list. By a curious penalty-stroke of fate, the Christian hordes descending on the list as the outbreak of Platyagraphia spread, were inflected, and the resulting inflection turned them into Christian 'whores,' at which time Platyagraphia became uncommonly known as Platypus-Downey Syndrome. > Enclose a self stamped and self addressed envelope with one dollar in it to each of the people below. > COME ON! What are you going to loose? 6 WHOLE DOLLARS! NO WAY CAN YOU POSSIBLY LOSE. Hettinga, once a respected member of the financial crypto community, has been turned into pathetic figure by Platypus-Downey Syndrome, which has aggragated the Money Fever that he had been successful in controlling up to this point. Now he has been reduced to spamming the Internet with MLM Prayer-List chain mail, in a desperate attempt to "Make Money La$t" at a dollar-a-pop. Once a secular figure known as the Father of eCa$h, Hettinga is now a quasi-religious Cyhperpunk Cult of One leader known as the Dollar Llama. > Remember to have a copy of Your favorite healing prayer to stuff in envlopes as they send you $1.00. > If you don't have one you may use mine. In his own defence, Hettinga, making a veiled reference to the "lack of evolutionary pressures" thread currently raging on the list, said, "I'm providing a service to both the Christan community and the financial eugenics movement, by confiscating financial munitions from those too stupid to pray without my help, one dollar at a time. MackeralMonger

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by ynter＠spica.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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