December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: DCSB: Betting on the Future
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:07 PM 7/15/96 -0400, Robert Hettinga wrote: > The Digital Commerce Society of Boston > Presents > Duane Hewitt > Idea Futures >> I will introduce the concept of Idea Futures which is a market in which >> the odds of future events are set by betting. It is designed to reward >> those who can accurately forecast future outcomes. Hmmmm... Betting on future events... What a novel idea... Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Sternlight on C'punks
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:26 AM 7/16/96, David Sternlight wrote: >And another thing. The reason I've not joined this group earlier had >nothing to do with "worthy". It was because after discussion a year or so >ago, Tim May suggested to me via e-mail that it would just generate a lot >of controversy, at a time when people were so polarized that they couldn't >hear each other and thus my presence here would serve no useful purpose. I >took Tim's advice and stayed out. Hmmmhhh...I don't recall the context of our discussion. Certainly I would not discourage anyone from joining who really wanted to. (I also might have said that list views were fairly well-set, and that few minds would be changed by debating certain core issues. Again, I don't recall the context of my remarks to David.) In any case, I certainly welcome David Sternlight to our list. I have not often agreed with all or even many of his points, and I feel he is often abrasive (but, aren't a lot of us?), but I don't think he "wrecked" any newsgroups, much less sci.crypt. (But I've been away from sci.crypt and talk.politics.crypto for quite some time....) There were some flames, which I mostly ignored. Also, a peculiar kind of flame war dealt with endless speculations about his "motives." Utter nonsense, from careful reading of his views. That is, to insinuate that he is an agent of the NSA or the Bilderberger Grand Conspiracy merely because he (then) argued that Clipper was not as bad as most of us thought it was...well, that's just nonsensical. >The presenting symptom for my joining now was a copy of a post by an MIT >professor I respect to this group, which a colleague sent me. Perhaps I was >too hasty in my belief that we can begin to hear each other. As a point of information, many outsiders copy our list on crypto-related things for whatever reasons, without actually being contributors to ordinary discussions (or perhaps without even being subscribers). A decision to remain subscribed should be based more on what is seen on a daily basis than on what occasionally comes over the transom from MIT. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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DCSB: Betting on the Future
by sparks＠bah.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If I can't wear a V2 PGP T shirt It ain't good enuf to attend... cheap lunch too Charley >X-Sender: rah(a)tiac.net >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:07:12 -0400 >To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com >From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> >Subject: DCSB: Betting on the Future >Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com >Precedence: bulk > > >--- begin forwarded text > > >X-Sender: rah(a)tiac.net >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 11:26:33 -0400 >To: dcsb(a)ai.mit.edu >From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> >Subject: DCSB: Betting on the Future >Sender: bounce-dcsb(a)ai.mit.edu >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> > >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > > > > The Digital Commerce Society of Boston > > Presents > > Duane Hewitt > Idea Futures > > "Betting on the Future" > > > Tuesday, August 6, 1996 > 12 - 2 PM > The Downtown Harvard Club of Boston > One Federal Street, Boston, MA > > >Duane says: > >> I am a Molecular Biologist by trade but I am fascinated by all aspects of >> science and technology and especially their long term ramifications. I am >> completing my Master's Degree thesis as well as working full time at the >> University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I have some part time work >> maintaining Web pages and I have been involved with the Idea Futures Web >> site from the very beginning. I also am currently working on a hypertext >> reference on the biology of aging. Many of these interest can be accessed >> from my home page at http://www.lucifer.com/~duane >> >> I will introduce the concept of Idea Futures which is a market in which >> the odds of future events are set by betting. It is designed to reward >> those who can accurately forecast future outcomes. It has been recognized >> by the Austrian Broadcast System, and the Point Survey and mentioned in >> _Wired_. I will discuss the implications of such a market as well as some >> of the history behind it. I will also propose how a similar market could >> be used to construct a market based voting system. > > > >This meeting of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston will be held on >Tuesday, August 6, 1996 from 12pm - 2pm at the Downtown Branch of the >Harvard Club of Boston, One Federal Street. The price for lunch is $27.50. >This price includes lunch, room rental, and the speaker's lunch. ;-). The >Harvard Club *does* have dress code: jackets and ties for men, and >"appropriate business attire" for women. > >We need to receive a company check, or money order, (or if we *really* know >you, a personal check) payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", by >Saturday, August 3, or you won't be on the list for lunch. Checks >payable to anyone else but The Harvard Club of Boston will have to be sent >back. > >Checks should be sent to Robert Hettinga, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, >Massachusetts, 02131. Again, they *must* be made payable to "The Harvard >Club of Boston". > >If anyone has questions, or has a problem with these arrangements (We've had >to work with glacial A/P departments more than once, for instance), please >let us know via e-mail, and we'll see if we can work something out. > >Planned speakers for the following few months are: > > September Tatsuo Tanaka Some Economics of Digital Cash > October Philippe LeRoux Stock Exchanges and the Web > >We are actively searching for future speakers. If you are in Boston on the >first Tuesday of the month, and you would like to make a presentation to the >Society, please send e-mail to the DCSB Program Commmittee, care of Robert >Hettinga, rah(a)shipwright.com . > >For more information about the Digital Commerce Society of Boston, send >"info dcsb" in the body of a message to majordomo(a)ai.mit.edu . If you want >to subscribe to the DCSB e-mail list, send "subscribe dcsb" in the body of a >message to majordomo(a)ai.mit.edu . > >Looking forward to seeing you there! > >Cheers, >Robert Hettinga >Moderator, >The Digital Commerce Society of Boston > > > >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- >Version: 2.6.2 > >iQCVAwUBMepi6vgyLN8bw6ZVAQFsOwP/UuOoWa0LUEyY4dmQ21KIR4GwhB6PurSa >L97eVsbVOigP+TVPFJX7RKqYhCxIL8gDUnSRimGnATmhLo5wdE0UXvgakeGaD5s+ >vKPfhuaG9/MnuZvWFbBEZOrTTKqVE8bfoU2yiw6xTvhyQY0lDA2BSO8vjip28nOA >0Wkuh1VUBhY= >=/5+9 >-----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > >----------------- >Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) >e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA >"'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender." > -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard, > for Bart Simpson >The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/ > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To unsubscribe from this list, send a letter to: Majordomo(a)ai.mit.edu >In the body of the message, write: unsubscribe dcsb >Or, to subscribe, write: subscribe dcsb >If you have questions, write to me at Owner-DCSB(a)ai.mit.edu > >--- end forwarded text > > > >----------------- >Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) >e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA >"'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender." > -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard, > for Bart Simpson >The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/ > Charles E. Sparks Booz Allen & Hamilton http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/index.htm In God we trust, All Others we encrypt Public Key at: http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/cp_1.htm

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Surf-filter lists
by Damaged Justice 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Vlad: How can consumers make an informed decision as to which filter they wish to purchase, if they are not told exactly what information each product is filtering out? Meeks et al may be guilty of flamboyant, emotionalistic prose, but I find the concept that the public is expected to buy various filters without knowing what they filter...frankly, ridiculous. -- "Your wish is my command, if you know what's good for you, bitch." - William Shakespeare (Or perhaps it was his brother Fred who said that.)

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Chicago Area Cypherpunks Try 2.
by snow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ok, I'm an idiot. The first time I posted this I forgot that the machine that the account that the cypherpunks mail goes thru was going to die. In otherwords, Crash did. I recieved a total 5 responses to a suggestion of a cypherpunks meet, and this is what I sent them earlier : There were 5 respondents, not including erehwon(a)c2.org, but he is the one who first affirmed the idea in my head. There may have been more, but my account at crash.suba.com (infact the whole machine) went away shortly after I posted, so I may have missed some responces. I am going to post again, so if you got this you don't need to re-respond. If you didn't get this, please respond and tell me how you are reading it without getting it. Is there anyone else out there who might want to organize this thing? I don't mind doing it, but I tend to be a little authoritarian about these kinds of things. I arrange an almost monthly meeting for a bunch of freaks on Usenet, and it has been my experience that the best way of doing these things is simply to announce a time and a place and stick to it unless there is a _major_ event that causes a change. On the other group I have the meetings at my house, and my Wife's grand mother died. Immediate grounds for a change other reasons could be a major conference that I didn't know about etc. An individual being out of town is not a reason, at every random event there will be someone who would prefer a different day. The other thing to consider is where to hold the event. There are a couple of decent pubs/bars here in Chicago, or Coffee Houses. I would prefer not to hold the first one in my home, because I am paranoid. Anyway, a couple of the responses were from out of town, so I think it might be a good idea to do this on a weekend. _______________________________________________________________________ If you responded, and would like to be in on the discussion, please re-respond. Sorry for the inconvience and the lousy spelling. Petro, Christopher C. petro(a)suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff> snow(a)smoke.suba.com

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Netscape download requirements
by Julian Burke 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jeff Weinstein wrote: > We received written permission from the State Department for our >download verification mechanism. What exactly is the reason for Netscape asking for the name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number of anyone who wishes to download the US-browser? If I remember correctly MIT in distributing PGP only asks that you affirmatively assent to obeying export laws (and the terms of the rsa license). I have not heard at any point that the MIT system does not meet the legal requirements of ITAR. Is there perhaps some other reason Netscape wishes to have this information? --Julian Burke

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Clueless "Attachment converted" uses
by Raph Levien 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Simon Spero wrote: > > On a very similar note - could people who are using clear-text PGP > signatures with mime use text/... instead of application/...; that way > people without pgp will see the message text without having to mess with > their mailcaps (that's the way text/* is supposed to work) I'd hate to turn this into "e-mail encryption"-punks, but I believe that clear-signed PGP messages should not have MIME types at all. Here's why: 1. All PGP-aware mail reading programs can recognize MIMEless PGP messages. Thus, adding the MIME type does not help. 2. For all mailers that are not PGP-aware, the best way to handle clearsigned messages is to cut-and-paste them to a PGP window. This is most easily done if the message is simply displayed as text. Thus, adding the MIME type does not help. 3. There _is_ a PGP/MIME standard, and these clearsigned PGP messages do not conform to it. ObPlug: premail, I believe, implements the correct policy. Some messages need to be in MIME format (e.g. pictures). These messages are encoded using the real PGP/MIME spec. Other messages do not. These are encoded using plain PGP, and no MIME gorp. There is a small bug in 0.44, by the way, that causes messages with tabs to be wrongly classified as needing MIME. Just my two cents. Raph

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Encrytions over multiple platforms
by tangent＠alpha.c2.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone know of a hard-drive/partition encrytion program that has been ported to both DOS and Linux/UNIX based systems? I am searching for a system that, obviously, allows both reading and writing of secure/encrytped data. You help will be greatly appreciated. -- Tangent <tangent(a)alpha.c2.org>

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Encryption over multiple platforms
by tangent＠alpha.c2.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone know of a hard-drive encryption program that has been ported to both DOS and Linux/UNIX based systems? I'm looking into installing some flavor of UNIX on my system, but still wish to retain my DOS based setup. Windows support would be a bonus, though not necessary. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

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Washington Post -- "Block but Verify"
by declan＠well.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[An editorial in today's Washington Post, about blocking software and the CyberWire Dispatch that Brock and I sent out earlier this month. --Declan] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1996-07/15/006L-071596-idx.html Editorial: "BLOCK, BUT VERIFY" Monday, July 15 1996; Page A18 The Washington Post THE NEXT generation of highly publicized Internet products may have less to do with what you can get from the Net than with what you can protect yourself against getting. In the wake of the concern over pornography that sparked the now-overturned Communications Decency Act, vendors have rushed to market software with names like SurfWatch and NetNanny. [...] Some incidents of what might be called over-screening are accidents resulting from the overzealous use of keywords or other sweeping means by the inexperienced. Others are exactly what the products' makers intend... An on-line article by cyberjournalists Brock Meeks and Declan McCullough reported on a product called CyberSitter, marketed by the conservative group Focus on the Family, that blocks access to any discussions of homosexuality. It's advertised as a product for families who want just that: a relatively G-rated version of cyberspace. The feasibility and ready availability of such products is, of course, a strong argument that the government needn't meddle. Anyone, not just those worried about porn, should soon be able to find software that edits what a family wants edited and lets through what it wants to read. One pitfall, though, as Messrs. McCullough and Meeks observe, is the commercially inspired reluctance of many of these producers of software to specify exactly what they are blocking. Though understandable, this raises obvious dangers that products meant to block one type of transmission -- violence, for example -- will in fact muffle wider areas of debate. Smart consumers will want, and demand, to know what they're not getting, the better to make use of the information they have.

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