December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

microcurrency implementation
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

an interesting system that lets people bill for web pages using telephone 800 number technology. ------- Forwarded Message Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 15:19:37 -0300 From: Rick McGinnis <rick(a)dragon.mediadial.com> Message-Id: <199606111819.PAA07849(a)dragon.mediadial.com> Via-Web Access now perfected! Instantly bill people over the web through long distance numbers. 1. Paid in US funds for all 90+ countries using the net! 2. Payouts are weekly! 3. Receive $0.25 US for every minute. 4. Easier than any web billing procedure currently used. 5. Everyone has a phone. If you would like to try Via-Web Access, please call... Can and US Dial 011-592-583-423 Other Countries ++592-583-423 The Via-Web Access home page can be found at: http://stsim.com/mdc/viaweb/

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CDA & Clinton
by Daniel Salenger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It looks as though even after the temporary court injunction against major portions of the CDA, Clinton still wants to push it: http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/960612/news/stories/internet_4.html Very unfortunate. Please protect us from ourselves Bill. Dan Salenger dsalenger(a)dttus.com

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Web Based Encrypted Backup
by foodie＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Connected Corporation announced DataSafe, a Mac/Windows web based backup service. $14.95/Month for 50MB, archival CD-ROM for $24.95 each. Offers passwords and DES encryption. Storage is on 2 mirrored sites. Phone # (508) 270-0035, http://www.connected.com/. >From thier site: ------- Security DataSafe uses the federally approved Data Encryption Standard (DES) with a 56-bit key to encrypt all of your data before it leaves your PC. This level of encryption is so powerful, it is not permitted to be exported outside of the United States (we use a different, but similarly powerful encryption scheme for our international customers). You have the option to choose your own encryption password, which is never transferred to us over the modem. In this way, no one but you can read your data - not when it is in transfer to us, nor when it is being stored in encrypted format at our secure operations centers. When this level of encryption is combined with the fact that we only transmit the portions of each file that change every day, not the entire file, the chances that anyone will be able to read or make use of your data as it travels over the network are practically eliminated. DataSafe uses the TCP/IP communications protocol for both its private dial-up network and Internet-based services. -------- I really like the idea of distributed, encrypted backups, but this strikes me as the kind of thing that has the potential to get a lot of gullible people in trouble. Hopefully someone offshore with proven security and a wider choice of algorithms will compete... (I don't know if Connected is good at security, so this shouldn't be construed as a swipe at them. Does anyone know anything about them?) -j -- The signal is the noise. ____________________________________________________________________ Jamie Lawrence mailto:jal@cyborganic.net mailto:foodie@netcom.com

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RSAREF down?
by Howard Melman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anyone know anything about this? tmp> ftp ftp.rsa.com Connected to ftp.rsa.com. 220- 220-Welcome to the RSA Data Security, Inc. FTP Archive. [...] 220-***************** Special Announcement ******************* 220- 220- RSAREF has been taken down until further notice. 220- We will keep you informed for any new announcement. 220- 220-***********************************************************

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doubleclick monitoring web browsing habits
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A post on comp.risks described a web adverstising service called "doubleclick". As described in its web pages at <URL: http://ad.doubleclick.net >, this service provides targetted advertising on the web. Participating web sites include links to doubleclick to show graphic images. Advertisers sign up with doubleclick and specify profiles for where and when they want their ads to appear. Doubleclick then selects an ad for each user who visits a participating site. Participating sites get paid for each such hit, and advertisers pay based on how many hits are expected. Apparently this is being used quite a bit. But what I found disturbing was the scope of the information being collected by doubleclick. The various parameters that advertisers can use in setting up their profiles for where their ads should appear are described at <URL: http://ad.doubleclick.net/advertising/adreghelp.htm > and include: TARGET BY WEB PAGE/SITE CATEGORY TARGET BY SERVICE PROVIDER (SP) TARGET BY GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION We determine a person's geographic location through the physical location of their network or through user registration. We have created an extensive map of both organization and Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks. TARGET BY USER'S OPERATING SYSTEM TARGET BY USER'S BROWSER TYPE TARGET BY HIGH-LEVEL INTERNET DOMAIN TYPE TARGET BY ORGANIZATION TYPE (SIC CODE) TARGET BY ORGANIZATION SIZE OR REVENUE TARGET BY PERSONAL INTERESTS doubleclick.net continues to add to an extensive database of user interests from activity on doubleclick.net member web sites as well as from publicly available sources like netnews. User interests are kept strictly confidential and will not be released to advertisers. We do allow advertisers to target ad banners based on user's interests. The more your ad banner is targeted at specific user interests, the more likely you are to generate a response. Personal interest categories include: Arts and Literature Business, Finance, and Economy Computers, Software and Internet Culture, Religion, and Society Education and InstructionalEntertainment Government, Politics, and Military Health and Medicine News Recreation and LeisureScience and Technology Social Science Sports Travel This last category is the really worrisome one. doubleclick monitors the web browsing habits of users whenever they hit a doubleclick- participating site, and builds up databases about users from that, as well as from usenet posts. This is exactly what people have been talking about as an abuse of privacy on the net. One question is whether enough information to uniquely identify users is routinely provided by widely used browsers like Netscape. I have refrained from telling my Netscape browser my name and email address out of fear that it would reveal this information; as a result, I can't use mailto: links, which is annoying (and also suspicious; lynx allows me to do mailto: without permanently entering an email address). This points out the need for browser providers to be sensitive to the privacy needs of their users and to clearly explain when and under what circumstances private information is revealed. It also suggests that services like www.anonymizer.com will be increasingly important for people to protect their privacy while browsing. Hal

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Re: PBS show
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:40 PM 6/13/96 -0400, Warren wrote: >I enjoyed the show as well...I was a bit young when the Altair was first >published in Radio Elec., Nope. Popular Electronics. January, 1975 issue. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Class III InfoWar: TST Article
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

N.B. Joss(a)netcom.com was not acceptable to netcom At 1:13 PM 6/13/96 -0800, Norman Hardy wrote: >EMP (Electro Magnetic Impulse), a side effect of nuclear devices, is >purportedly able to damage electronics over distances of many miles. Some >weapons may be designed to enhance this. I vaguely remember hearing that a nuclear device exploded high over the midwest would have significant EMP effects over half the continental USA. When a USSR pilot flew a "state of the art" fighter out and US intelligence got their hands on it we were surprised that all the electronics were vacuum tubes. However, vacuum tubes are highly resistant to EMP. (They arc between elements, rather than fry like ICs.) >Faraday cages attenuate EMP by the same factor that they attenuate secrets. >I think that if a blast doesn't damage the cage then neither will the EMP. >Of course the cage may survive but fail to protect the interior >(insufficient attenuation). I don't know whether a cage sufficient for >tempest is sufficient for EMP protection. Comm lines and power cables go >thru the cage and cause problems here as well. Perhaps hefty surge >protectors suffice here. Communications equipment outside the cage should >at least be equipped to recover quickly upon transient error and not tear >donw circuits. Normal error control can then hopefully compensate for the >transient. (IP, ATM, Frame relay??) Makes you want fiber optic comm cable. Protection inside the cage probably depends on how powerful the EMP is. However, the need for some degree of stealth in Class III InfoWar will limit the strength of the EMP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The Internet may fairly be | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | regarded as a never-ending | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | worldwide conversation. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Insults (was: PBS show)
by Blake Wehlage 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Geek Pride! Yes! Time to start Hacked-Up! > >"We're Freaks! We're Geeks! We've got RSA, Get Used To It" > >--- >Cause maybe (maybe) | In my mind I'm going to Carolina >you're gonna be the one that saves me | - back in Chapel Hill May 16th. >And after all | Email address remains unchanged >You're my firewall - | ........First in Usenet......... > > Speak for yourself, man! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blake "Pokey" Wehlage Age-13 Gaa- 3.69 (for ice hockey goalie) <jwilk(a)iglou.com> My page- http://www.iglou.com/members/jwilk.html Quote- Does whiskey count as beer? -Homer Simpson

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Re:
by Blake Wehlage 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:07 PM 6/13/96 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote: >"We're sitting here watching the sun rise for the first time and we've never >even seen the sun" > >-- Rush Limbaugh about the Internet on today's show. Rush also opined that >it was impossible to regulate. > They will never be able to regulate the net, look at he first and main use for it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blake "Pokey" Wehlage Age-13 Gaa- 3.69 (for ice hockey goalie) <jwilk(a)iglou.com> My page- http://www.iglou.com/members/jwilk.html Quote- Does whiskey count as beer? -Homer Simpson

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Re: President Clinton's Statement on the CDA Decision
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 13 Jun 96 at 13:57, Jonah Seiger wrote: > THE WHITE HOUSE [..] > STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT [..] > I remain convinced, as I was when I signed the bill, that our Constitution > allows us to help parents by enforcing this Act to prevent children from > being exposed to objectionable material transmitted though computer > networks. I will continue to do everything I can in my Administration to Really? Where does it say "...except to help parents protect children" in the Bill of Rights? Hm. Maybe he should have inhaled. Oxygen is good for reading comprehension. My apologies to non-USers on the list. Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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