December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

BIO_nfo
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A biocryptoanarchy link to Adleman's DNA work? 6-8-96. FiTi: "Bioinformatics: the jobs of the future." One of the biggest manpower shortages today is in bioinformatics, the area in which biology meets computer science. Biology is becoming a data-intensive science, in the same way that physics did almost 50 years ago when it became clear that computers would be needed not only to store information but also to process it. There's a great shortage of people, partly because a lot of organisations are simultaneously seeing the need for bioinformatics and partly because the skills required are changing so fast: + Search and analysis, including new mathematical techniques for finding patterns in data; + Knowledge management, including ways to integrate information from different databases; + Mapping and genomics, including approaches to identifying the genetic components of complex traits; + Sequence/structure/function including rapid methods to predict the biological function of a gene from its DNA. The mainstream computer and information technology companies are only just beginning to take an interest in bioinformatics. "There's a huge vacuum there." For an undergraduate scientist searching for a field in which to specialise, there are no better job prospects than bioinformatics or - cheminformatics. BIO_nfo

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Re: Is the alpha.c2.org 'Nymserver Down?
by Lynne L. Harrison 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:39 PM 6/7/96 -0700, anonymous wrote: >My 'nym seems to be broken again, and I've heard other reports that >the alpha.c2.org 'nymserver is down. Yet, Raph's ping list seem to >indicate it's healthy: > >remailer email address history latency uptime >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >alpha alias(a)alpha.c2.org +-++**++-++* 49:22 99.66% > >What's the story? FWIW, I just pinged Host: alpha.c2.org - 64 bytes received, icmp _seq 1, time=384 ms --- Round-trip (ms) min/avg/max = 384/384/384 --- I, however, have also heard that the remailer alias(a)alpha.c2.org has down for a few days. Regards - Lynne ************************************************************* Lynne L. Harrison, Esq. | "The key to life: Poughkeepsie, New York | - Get up; lharrison(a)mhv.net | - Survive; http://www.dueprocess.com | - Go to bed." ************************************************************* DISCLAIMER: The above discussion is **NOT** to be construed as legal advice. Proper protection of your legal rights may require consultation with an attorney in a traditional setting.

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No Subject
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Russ of nelson(a)crynwr.com apparently writes: :"Well, you aren't being :carried off in the middle of the night by death squads, so I'm :not going to waste my time on you when I could help other people :in danger of death." I'm not prepared to argue against that :judgement. I am. Russ, this rant is not directed at you. I'm just weary of the Bell-bashing. Perhaps the reason that our society has evolved to the point of not having to fear deathsquads is because of assholes like Bell who keep prodding us to expand the limits of personal liberty and free speech by their rantings. He makes me think; sometimes the unthinkable, and gives me the opportunity to _reject_ his ideas. Each time I suggest that someone goes *a little too far,* I draw in the circle of my own protected speech a bit more. *My God, he can't say that!" He _may_ be an adult who knows and accepts the possible consequences of his speech. Notice the chilling effect on virtually any discussion when the threat of legal action is suggested. There's the danger. Read the entire quote by Donne. *...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;...* By protecting Bell's right to speak what he thinks, we serve as an example to the rest of the world of what personal freedom really means. *Those crazy Americans* Bell gives me the opportunity to say that his pronouncements are antithetical to the best interests of the _inhabitants_ of this nation, not simply the government itself. Thank you, Jim.

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Re: Clam Wars
by anonymous-remailer＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> 2. The anti-scientologists have caused many cypherpunks > anonymous remailers to shut down via their egotistical > misuse of them, viz. criminally posting copyrighted Co$ > writings to Usenet. They did it knowing that the Co$ is > likely to harrass the remailer operators, causing them to > shut down and depriving everyone of their services. This scenario is beginning to sound suspiciously similar each time it happens: an anonymous individual or individuals utilize a remailer in a way that's deemed abusive, certain individuals complain loudly, and the remailer (or mail2news gateway) either shuts down or blocks the affected newsgroup. Thus far I've seen it happen with the alt.religion.scientology, alt.smokers, and alt.syntax.tactical newsgroups. This is setting a bad precedent. It sends the message that you merely have to fabricate a little "abuse" through one or more remailers to get what you want -- the elimination of your opponents' platform to dissent without fear of retribution. Whether the abuse in any of the aforementioned instances was actually fabricated or not is immaterial. If it wasn't, it very could have been, with identical results in either case. The problem being, with an anonymous attack through a remailer and/or mail2news gateway, how do you identify the intended victim? Was it the NG or the remailer/gateway itself? The first two NGs have one striking similarity: both involve a product or service where those who stand to profit from it have recently been plagued with "whistle blowers" and "defectors" from among their ranks -- the CO$ and the tobacco industry. In both cases, those who've come forward and divulged secrets have reported harassment. I'm at a loss to understand the blocking of the third NG, alt.syntax.tactical, however, unless the intent was strictly punitive. I can't imagine anyone from a.s.t. coming forward to complain about "abuse"! That would be like complaining about foul language on alt.blasphemy. <g>

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Re: NSA/CIA to snoop INSIDE the U.S.???
by Anonymous User 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

: This is a fucking big story. : Allowing the CIA and NSA to snoop domestically, and using only a handful of : suspicions and anecdotes about cybernastiness and evil cryptohackers to : justify this major policy shift -- well, it's fucking amazing. : Nunn's proposal, unfortunately, was more than a "suggestion." This is very serious. Why has there not been more discussion about this on the list? How close/far is this from becoming law? If they are now trying to make it legal for the CIA and NSA to snoop inside the US I would guess that it's happening already. Remember wiretaps? Do it now and they will make it legal later.

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Re: Neologism: "crackerbox"
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:43 AM 6/8/96 -0400, Robert Hettinga wrote: >I think we have another winner, folks! > >At 3:47 AM -0400 6/8/96, Bill Stewart wrote: >> It's probably close enough for anti-government work; the relative strength >> depends a lot on whether you're using general-purpose computers or >> custom crackerboxes, and on the state of the art in factoring technologies. > ^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >I *like* it! I am sorry, but the term "crackerbox" has been deemed derogatory to Southern Americans by the Society for the Protection of American Minorities (SPAM). You will have to apply for another neologism from the Bureau of Neologisms. This time I suggest that you remember to fill out the proper paperwork so that these problems will not occur in the future. (To speed your application, please include doubling the filing fee, the first half as a check made out to the Bureau and the other half in cash.) --- |Coors - For people who don't want to think about what they are drinking.| |"The moral PGP Diffie taught Zimmermann unites all| Disclaimer: | | mankind free in one-key-steganography-privacy!" | Ignore the man | |`finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key | behind the keyboard.| | http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ | alano(a)teleport.com |

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Re: Thank you for the Archives 100 messages
by qut＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> qut4.qut(a)netcom.com wrote: > > > > Apologies, but rich has deleted me from > > his mailboxes, and for a few days now, > > As I have, too, now. > > > somebody has placed a global cancel bot on > > me. I'm gonna have plenty of fun figuring > > this out. Kwow any good sniffers? > > I'm glad! If my processor/filtering software doesn't > have to deal with your garbage, that's more time I have > to spend with folks who have something to say. The only thing your type of "cypherpunk" has to say, is blather about liability, copyrights, and other capitali$t bs. REAL crypto-anarchists, of course, want the destruction of copyrights, trademarks, and other weapons of capitali$m, and will implement crypto-anonymonity to proceed forthwith. > No, I don't know of any better "sniffers" (I assume you > mean, "software that can detect a cancelbot"), as such > software is impossible to detect. Of course, unless Rich > (or whomever cares so much about a moron) has either root > on toad.com, or at least as many resources as the NSA, he > can't cancel your mail to Cypherpunks (or anywhere else). I was talking about netnews, mormon. > > I agree the list should be public usenet: > > A mail gate-way to a usenet group that > > ALSO permits unmoderated posts. This > > would be a nice way to combine a strict > > moderated mail-list, with a standard > > netnews group. > > Er, what? > > That paragraph makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. There's already hundreds of groups like that, stupid. It will be implemented, whether you like it or not. -- Kill Your Television

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Re: [NOISE] Buying whales with digicash Re: Anonymous stock trades.
by Perry E. Metzger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bill Stewart writes: > Oh, come on now, Perry - while Friedman has more sense than that, > you've been around the Libertarian party long enough to know people > who call themselves free-market environmentalists who contend that whales > will be best protected if they're owned property, Sure, but Dr. Phill Hallam-Baker, D.Phil., was contending that Friedman said the free market solution was for people to voluntarily stop buying whale meat -- he wasn't even contending that Friedman said the whales should be owned. Dr. Phill Hallam-Baker, D.Phil., presented a portrait of Friedman that is so totally out of line with even the most fuzzy headed free market types that it is almost impossible to believe that he said anything of the sort. Perry

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need meeting location
by strick at Jihad 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

hey, could a few of you forward me the location of the bay area meeting today .... sorry to bother you, but the ftp server seems to be down ... thanks,,,, strick(a)yak.net

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Re: RFD: Time to kick some anti-scientologist ass?
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+(a)CMU.EDU> writes: >> The attached summary is substantially incorrect. At 12:29 PM 6/8/96 EDT, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: >You mean, the anti-scientologists aren't massively forging cancels >for scientologits' posts on alt.religion.scientology using my cancelbot? No: He means that the anti-scientologists are massively forging cancels of robotically generated spam produced by the scientologists in an effort to close down the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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