December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Leahy's guillotine.
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 01:11 AM 3/10/96 -0800, Bill Stewart wrote: >Leahy et al.: >> Whoever willfully endeavors by means of encryption to obstruct, >> impede, or prevent the communication of information in furtherance >> to a felony which may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, >> to an investigative or law enforcement officer shall... > ><Exonive deleted>! > >Let's look at the word "willfully". Among other things, it implies >knowledge; under US law, to be guilty you have to know you did something >that you at least reasonably believe is an activity that you're not supposed >to do. And if the government should take the position that the mere existence of an anonymous encrypted remail allows for illegal use, without detection by the operator, then a person could easily argue that the mere willful OPERATION of that remailer violates the section. >Yes, cops can send you email threatening to use your remailer for >felonious purposes, but if you don't know they've actually done it, >and you haven't agreed with them to provide your encryption services >in support of their felonious action, you're not a willing participant. I disagree. At least, I disagree that this interpretation will be automatically adopted by the government thugs. >Especially if you've got the welcome banner on your remailer page >saying "You may not use this email encryption service for thoughtcrime, >violations of the verbal morality act, idea laundering, anti-abortion activism, >or other felonious or Un-American activities." You're no more a willful >participant than the guy who receives an unordered package of child pornography >mailed by a postal inspector. Which brings up a case from the midwest which (fortunately) was overturned by the SC a few years ago. Seems a person was repeatedly sent ads (in reality, the ads came from the government!) offering some kind of pornographic material. A "long time" later, he eventually "bit" and ordered something. Needless to say, this was enough to get a search warrant, and a prosecution. Question: Despite the fact that this conviction was eventually overturned, don't you think the prospect of a multi-year all-out battle with the prosecutors would be enough to deter people from doing things that they believed might really be legal, but would be looked on with disfavor by equally-sleazy prosecutors? Why is it that I get the impression that the people who don't see this provision as being so bad have no sense of reality? Are they not aware of the various ways prosecutors abuse their positions? >Now, if they make this a felony, surely conspiracy to participate in >such activities could eventually be made illegal, and if the DemoPublicrats >get re-elected, it probably will be some day. But this law doesn't do that yet. In other words, they're aiming the gun at you, but they don't quite yet have their finger on the trigger. When, exactly, do you start worrying? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com Klaatu Burada Nikto -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMUMma/qHVDBboB2dAQGcTQP9E18kw/tyelFbXNRqqEsjwvK9gsig6npR c+aC/B15zgDShJlcPEZXqJboAtE5w0osoEm8wC3uPVhQZNTam1lk0pgQCzCCTjVs KMBDLOBTtzRovxNnq/YmTf01cCLGfFVSFXWa3MNUf0uJtRxgIiN3T7f5NjjlzCLW 4vWenZVpzi8= =530O -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Bell, Detweiler, Ravings, and Whatnot
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I appologize for being trolled into more Assassination Politics discussion. I'll try to sit down, and be quiet and good. Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Leahy's guillotine.
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:11 AM 3/10/96 -0800, Bill Stewart wrote: >Now, if they make this a felony, surely conspiracy to participate in >such activities could eventually be made illegal, and if the DemoPublicrats >get re-elected, it probably will be some day. But this law doesn't do that >yet. As far as I can tell, whether a pol is Republican or Democrat tells us nothing about how s/he stands on issues such as free speech and free crypto. I am feeling friendly toward Lehey and Weld these days and hostile toward Feinstein and Buchannan. We need to treat them as individuals. We need to learn and publicize their positions on the issues that interest us. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Assassination Politics(tm) was V-chips, CC, and Motorcycle Helmets
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:26 PM 3/8/96 -0400, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote: >From: IN%"jimbell(a)pacifier.com" "jim bell" 16-FEB-1996 03:25:12.58 >>At 02:18 PM 2/15/96 -0800, Bill Frantz wrote: Since my name keeps getting dragged into this discussion, I will share with youall the conclusions I reached after my last set of exchanges with Jim Bell. (1) Assassination Politics (AP) will be most useful to a fired-up group of people who want to silence a single person. Madeline Murray O'Hare comes to mind. (She was a Texas atheist who challenged school prayer and won.) (2) Jim Bell and I disagree strongly on the market price for assassinations. (3) Jim Bell and I disagree on the number of deaths needed to deter someone who believes in what they do. In our discussion, this question comes down to: are IRS employees more like corporate consultants or like soldiers. (4) I think that if someone can be traced as profiting from a AP death, e.g. through winning a gamble on the date/time of death, that person's whereabouts at the time of death will be carefully investigated. (5) While killing someone whose name and residence are known is easy, and the killer is likely to get away with it, does that mean that killing someone who has been marked as having a price on her head is as easy? I assume her friends and neighbors will protect her. The TV cameras will be running 24 hours a day. This will, at a minimum raise the price of assassinations. Regards (that means you too, Jim Bell) - Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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re: Bootable disks
by A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>In Mar. 5 (?) Edupage, there's a blurb about a floppy drive that is >compat with 1.44M disks but can also handle special 80M disks, allegedly >available in April. Several years ago Insite had a "floptical" drive that could handle both regular 3 1/2" and special 20Mb flopical drives. Iomega followed suit and there was an industry spec. Compression would yeid 40 Mb capacity to a marketeer. (Can tell a floptical disk easily - the write protect slide is on the other side). Was a great idea then that was marred by U$500 for the drive and U$20 for the cartriges. Never flew. Three years development would give 80 Mb easily (100 Mb Iomega "ZIP" disks could have been put in a normal 3 1/2 case - is a lot of waste space on either side. Think it was kind of dumb that they didn't but suppose there is a marketing reason - probably the same marketeers that insisted that each new Bernoulli be incompatable with earlier ones.) Major difference is that the floptical could be made bootable but then it had a special SCSI card, did not plug into the normal floppy controller & have to tell the BIOS that drive B was not there. The card then added a BIOS extension similar to what I mentioned in an earlier post to access the disk. For that matter, any drive that has a controller on the bus *could* be made bootable with a PROM. It is only those that plug into the parallel port - all of which require special drivers - that would need "help". Warmly, Padgett

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Re: Another Motivation for the CDA
by Mutant Rob 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Timothy C. May wrote: > > Given that Sen. Fineswine is one of the strongest supporters of gun > confiscation, and that she had this to say about the Telecom Bill:[..] Felons may not own a gun unless granted a waiver by certain judges. They also lose the right to vote, BTW. I think you're reading too much into motives, Tim. I don't think that most in congress are capable of thinking that elaborately, and besides, if someone is convicted of violating the CDA for saying "fuck" online, that is the type of felony that one can get a judge's waiver for... - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMT2XCCoZzwIn1bdtAQFkNQF9E31snnxksyX8FREMyloHZg1YnSzAqDDb 30qKVbtDhUN2dLd8ic6afX7MsnKkJWEZ =weLu -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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MS Access encryption?
by Ed Carp 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anyone know how secure the encryption is that Microsoft uses in its Access database product? I was asked that by a client, but didn't know the answer....thanks in advance. -- Ed Carp, N7EKG Ed.Carp(a)linux.org, ecarp(a)netcom.com 214/993-3935 voicemail/digital pager 800/558-3408 SkyPager Finger ecarp(a)netcom.com for PGP 2.5 public key an88744(a)anon.penet.fi "Past the wounds of childhood, past the fallen dreams and the broken families, through the hurt and the loss and the agony only the night ever hears, is a waiting soul. Patient, permanent, abundant, it opens its infinite heart and asks only one thing of you ... 'Remember who it is you really are.'" -- "Losing Your Mind", Karen Alexander and Rick Boyes The mark of a good conspiracy theory is its untestability. -- Andrew Spring

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RE: FCC & Internet phones
by A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I rote: > You seem to forget that the Internet is just about the *only* electronic > communications media not controlled/licensed by the FCC in the US. The > FCC also prohibits use of cryptography by those with amateur licenses. Bill wresponded: >Oh, we remember it :-). But actually, large chunks of the Internet's >facilities _are_ on controlled or semi-controlled media, such as >frame relay (which the Feds just insisted had to be tariffed) or >local private-line (which is often regulated by state PUCs.) Do not disagree, just is not regulated by the FCC the same way radio stations are. Today we think (if you do) of Zenith as manufacturer of computers (owned by Thompson), cable TV decoders, and televisions (Samsung ?). However seventy years ago, Commander MacDonald "willfully" (having notified Herbert Hoover) started broadcasting station WJAZ in Chicago on a frequency reserved for Canadian stations (have a copy of a photograph *somewhere* showing the 1925 station crew in Pirate costumes) in direct violation of a Department of Commerce order. Shortly thereafter Congress passed a law creating the FCC. History tends to repeat itself. Warmly, Padgett

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Re: rhetorical trickery
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:19 PM 3/10/96 -0800, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote: >please, will people stop sending me responses like the above? do you >understand how the American legal system works? a person cannot >be prosecuted without evidence. evidence cannot be illegally obtained. >a person is not required to testify against oneself. these are all >basic long-established cornerstones of our legal system. I'm sure that my friend who tried to argue about a speeding ticket in New Jersey, had the bones around his eye socket broken and then was arrested for "Resisting Arrest" will be comforted to hear this. (BTW, a mutual friend was a witness and confirmed the story. I can't think of any reason they would have to lie to me about the facts.) Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Another Motivation for the CDA (Federal Sentencing Guid
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:08 AM 3/10/96 -0500, JonWienke(a)aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 96-03-09 04:05:26 EST, you write: > >>At 9:59 PM 3/8/96 -0800, Bill Stewart wrote: >>>The pizza guy was a thug, but twice as many third-strikers got >>>their third strike for marijuana as for all violent crimes combined. >>>I assume most of these had large quantities, possibly intended for sale, >>>and a number of them had real crimes as their previous felonies >>>rather than Prohibition-related offenses. But you can get legally >>>serious quantities of marijuana by just growing a couple of plants. >> >>I wonder how many of these drug dealers previous "real crimes" were related >>to using violence to protect their drug business, defense which would have >>used the courts and police had drug dealing been legal. > >What difference does that make? If you are deranged enough to murder someone >because they are selling crack in your territory, you are deranged enough to >shoot your manager after getting fired from McDonalds, or to do any number of >heinous things that ahve nothing to do with drug laws. Sick people will >still do sick things, even if some of them are legalized. Back over 20 years ago, some acquaintances at the time stopped working in the drug trade because it became necessary to carry fire arms to protect against having your drugs or money stolen. Other people of course carried the guns, and I assume used them at times. This violence would not have occurred had the drug trade been legal. Remember that here in California, about 70% of the people think killing someone is a suitable punishment for certain crimes. Many people also think that violence in defense of life or property is a reasonable act. Are all these people "deranged"? Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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