December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

NRC Report, 7, 8
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Part III Policy Options, Findings and Recommendations Chapter 7 Policy Options for the Future http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/nrc07.txt (124 kb) Chapter 8 Synthesis, Findings and Recommendations http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/nrc08.txt (134 kb) ---------- 14 (quite meaty) Appendices later today.

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Re: opinions on book "The Truth Machine"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:53 AM 6/1/96, Adam Back wrote: >Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> wrote: >> At 7:06 AM 5/31/96, Timothy C. May wrote: >> >It sounds like a "make.money.fast.by.promoting.this.book" scam to me. > >If you mean myself, this had not occured to me and I assure you I have >no connections with the author, and no interest in promoting sales of >his book. No, Adam, I certainly was not implying you are profiting from this in any way. Maybe the "make.money.fast" description was a poor one...what I meant to imply is that the book is being advertised widely (I've seen half a dozen announcements of it), and it reminds me of either the Craig Shergold or make.money.fast posts, not sure which. >The writing style wasn't great, and I'd agree there were plenty of >flaws, but what I was interested in was cypherpunks opinions on the >technology, rather than the quality of the book, or making money for The main technology, "the truth machine," is so bogus as to be boring. >The interesting technologies touched on were: > >- cheap video used by everyone to record their own lives A better treatment of this is in David Brin's "Earth." >That government might have a go at mandating a "voluntary" video >survielance set up doesn't seem that unrealistic in the current >political climate. Having just read your post on curfews my response >was what the fuck, are you serious? It totally amazes me that public >opinion has got to the stage that something like this would be >accepted. Sounds like a military dictatorship. Children first, >adults next? The level of peoples paranoia about reducing crime at >any cost has been severely underestimated. Surely that's way out of >line constitutionally? We agree. I once jokingly wrote a post about "position escrow," and I now fear it is not so far off. ("The Positional Update Tracking Zoner (PUTZ) meets law enforcement's legitimate needs, with proper court authority, to track the movements of citizen-units.") However, what you say below about being required to explain your movements to cops who stop you on the highway and then present "papers" to them within one week is truly horrifying, far beyond anything we yet have here in these beknighted states: >For instance I have been stopped by the police four times late at >night driving home, as I live some distance from the university. The >questions are basically what is your business (ie what are you doing >so late at night), and then they get you to take in your papers to the >police station within 1 week which is an inconvenience. Also the ... !!! Glad I don't live in Britain. --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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Re: Optimism re NRC Cryptography Report
by anonymous-remailer＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07.40 AM 5/31/96 -0700, tcmay(a)got.net wrote: >Unless laws are passed very quickly to outlaw the things we are involved >with, including such things as superencryption, steganography, anonymous >remailers, and digital money, I think we will "win the race to the fork in >the road." The "fork in the road" being the point at which the changes are >unstoppable. How fast is very quickly?

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Re: WSJ on "IRS-bashing"
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 04:01 PM 5/29/96 -0700, Rich Graves, who lives in a parallel universe where political correctness is no threat to liberty, and the FBI and BATF no threat to law abiding people wrote: > any such law > would be invalidated by R.A.V. v. St. Paul. The only exceptions are > restrictions on "fighting words" that meet the tests in Chaplinsky v. New > Hampshire and "hostile working environment" discrimination, which I assume > is what you're talking about, in some elliptical way. When I was looking for a house in Oregon, I pointed at the map and asked the real estate lady "Why are houses in this area cheap". She did not give a straight answer I pressed her, and then she then started asking me questions that indicated she suspected I was an agent provocateur from the government trying to entrap her into revealing forbidden information. I eventually discovered that the area in question was occupied predominantly by people of a particular ethnic group, but she was forbidden to tell me this information. This explanation of the price disparity did not occur to me until she started feeling me out to see if I was a cop. But Rich Graves does not regard that sort of thing as any violation on freedom of speech. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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Re: [Off-Topic] "Curfews"
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 31 May 96 at 19:08, Timothy C. May wrote: > This is off-topic for the list, but I want to share it anyway. It touches > on issues of increasing police surveillance, and also touches on the issue Not really too off topic at all, considering the surveillance state and GAK relate very much to what we're doing here. An aside: at the University I used to attend, there were field trips to this small museum on the campus by elementary school children, who apparently regarded the motion detectors for the automatic doors as being cameras which they'd happily wave hello to. Images of Huxley's Brave New World intermingled with Warhol's 15-minutes-of-fame stewed up with Orwell here.... > of "age credentials" (in the sense that how else is a cop who stops a young > person for "curfew violation" to determine if a violation has occurred when > most 14- and 15-year-olds carry no driver's licenses?) Since when are we now to carry ID everywhere. And of course the local police will (as usual) be selective about who they stop to ask about directions. Also note that a reasonable exception will be for kids to go to work or school-related activities (institutional), but nothing non-institutional such as a party at a friend's house (drugs or no drugs), band practice, etc. etc. > The "curfew" meme is spreading quickly, with Clinton calling for a federal > curfew, at least in cities, and Dole trying to outdo him with even more > draconian curfew laws. Many communities already have them, including San > Jose, New Orleans, and other large cities. And my own community, Santa Cruz > County, ironically begins a curfew program on Saturday, tomorrow. Some communities here in Long Island have them. Others have fought them, and I think a couple of attempts were struck down by courts. Also a blurb in the local papers about police not wanting the curfew here, believing it to be a waste of their time or unnecessary... (I'll have to dig the article up; I only rememebr it wasn't reassuring.) [..] > (Some purists claim that children are exempted from normal constitutional > protections, such as the right of free association, the right to be free > from unwarranted searches and seizures, the right of free speech, etc. > Especially this comes up in debates about rights in public schools (speech, > locker searches, movements are controlled, etc.). But I think a public A problem indeed. Children grow up used to the surveillance society and don't mind it when they become adults. Imagine a whole generation coming of age being told they are "criminals". Things will be very "interesting" (in the Chinese fortune cookie sense) during the next 10-20 years... > As I said, should such curfews become widespread, children will of course > need forms of age identification, and this opens yet another door for > universal I.D. cards. And for "travel papers." ...or they'll stay at home and net surf. Beware the Four (or six?) Horsemen... 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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Arms Trafficker Page Made CNN!
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Offshore Information Services Arms Trafficker page made CNN Computer Connection just moments ago. :-) The page: http://online.offshore.com.ai/arms-trafficker/ is now famous. :-) -- Vince

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Re: Fairness, Justice, and Cypherpunks (fwd)
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:49 PM 6/1/96, Jim Choate wrote: >Businesses (and government) have no rights under the Constitution and should >enjoy no rights under the Constitution. Rights are the sole purvue of real live >human beings (ie individuals) and not groups or paper individuals (stupidest >idea I have ever seen in the legal field). It is not reasonable to support This may come as a surprise to newspapers, which are corporations for the most part, and other publishing companies. Here we thought the First Amendment covered them. Apparently not. The government of the U.S. may freely tell "Time" magazine what to right, may tell "Wired" what official slant to put on a story, and what images "Playboy" may not publish. Oh, and the various religious institutions are clearly not covered, either, as they are groups. While _individuals_ are free to worship as they please, they'd better not form a church or synagogue, lest the government give them instructions on what to do. And the Fourth Amendment and other amendments don't cover small businesses, large corporations, etc., so the cops are perfectly free to knock the doors down, enter whenever they wish, force companies to quarter troops, seize property without due process,.... Is this what you're saying is the case, or is this what you want to be the case? --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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Interesting forum on CSPAN
by Mike Fletcher 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Was channel surfing last night while MST3K was in a commercial and wound up watching a panel on CSPAN from the World Economic Forum on "Technology & Security". The pannelists were Nicholas Negroponte from MIT's Media Lab, John Barlow from the EFF, a Mike Nelson from the White House (no relation to MST3K's :), and two other people whom I can't for the life of me remember their names (one was from a security consulting firm, and the other was a lawyer from something like the "Bristol Group"). It was 3am, so sue me. :) I missed the first few minutes, but there was a bunch of administration encryption policy bashing from all sides. Nelson kept saying that the administration wanted to support "good strong encryption" and they wanted to be able to say (paraphrasing) "We think this is good. Use this." (Trust us, we're from a TLA. :) He also kept saying that (again, paraphrasing) "most encryption out there is no good". Which begs the question then why are they wanting to ban its use and export. Negroponte kept bringing up the point that their policy was based on the (flawed, as we all believe) assumption that no one outside the US could create good crypto. Other topics that were touched on were intellectual property rights and e$. It was interesting that the lawyer person agreed to a good extent with a lot of the remarks Barlow made. Overall it was pretty interesting (and not just to watch the White House guy squirm as his premises were invalidated out from under him :). CSPAN usually replays stuff like this at odd times during the weekend so you might want to keep your eyes peeled. --- Fletch __`'/| fletch(a)ain.bls.com "Lisa, in this house we obey the \ o.O' ______ 404 713-0414(w) Laws of Thermodynamics!" H. Simpson =(___)= -| Ack. | 404 315-7264(h) PGP Print: 8D8736A8FC59B2E6 8E675B341E378E43 U ------

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(Fwd) Developers Directory
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I got the following 'junk' email so I bit. They asked for updated descriptions of software that I've thrown on the net, along with shareware/freeware/GPL/comm. ratings, etc. Also violence ratings... I set all my source codes to "Gruesome" <insert cheesy emoticon here> Interesting to see what proggies of mine they listed and what they didn't. --Mutant Rob ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Sat, 1 Jun 1996 15:21:29 -0600 From: Author Database Maintenance <authors(a)exodus.pht.com> Subject: Developers Directory Dear Author, We're building a public database called the "Developer's Directory" which contains information about authors of shareware/freeware programs. We'd like to include you and some information about your programs. We'd sure appreciate it if you'd visit our website and help us fill in some info. http://pacific.pht.com/ [ my info deleted ;] Since this system is still in the testing phase, we'd like to hear your comments and suggestions. Please send them to: authors(a)pht.com Thank you! Koji Ashida --- 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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Re: NRC Cryptography Report: The Text of the Recommendations
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:55 AM 6/1/96 -0700, watson(a)tds.com wrote: >Anybody know who the NRC is and whether they have any influence with anyone? They have influence in that their reports have a fair amount of credibility with the extra boost of NAS's "scientific authority." If one wanted to distinguish what they do with what the OTA did for instance, one could say that while the OTA generally had a very smart/competent staff (and had a turbulent, poorly managed history and political troubles) the NRC has the strength in that it is non-governmental and has the shroud of "scientific neutrality" about it it could hope to pull from its parent organization, the NAS. The NAS and NRC have interesting histories, the NAS was an honorary society that had some fundings for it snuck into an appropriations bill back in 1863, but generally it was not supported by the government aside from specific "contract" studies which the Congress might ask for. The NRC (known as the NDRC) was created as an advisory council under NAS to help the government with munitions research and development during WWI. Since, they conduct hoc scientific/policy studies to investigate a topic on Congress's behalf. Their "Realizing the Information Future" that came out a couple of years ago was highly regarded. For history on these topics I recommend: Hunter Dupree, Sciene in the Federal Government: A History to 1940, Harper & Row, 1974. Bruce L. R. Smith, American Science Policy Since World War II, Brookings Institution, 1990. >From their WEB page: National Research Council NRC Logo The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of further knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the National Research Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The National Research Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is the chairman of the National Research Council. _______________________ Regards, Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present. - Albert Camus Joseph Reagle http://farnsworth.mit.edu/~reagle/home.html reagle(a)mit.edu E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E

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