December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

marketing "privacy": a nonproblem?
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

HF wrote a recent message about the "doubleclick" advertising service. I don't know much about it but some things he mentioned sparked my neurons. regarding privacy, it seems that there are a lot of different views and specious arguments. we don't really have a clear idea in our culture what privacy is or when it is really being invaded. is it being invaded when marketers create databases of users and their preferences? this is a frequent topic of conversation here. if we are on the side that says "yes", it seems there is such an enormous industry pushing very hard from the other side that a so-called "pro-privacy" position is untenable. are marketers creating the equivalent of what TCM calls "dossiers"? I just had a brainstorm that perhaps the problem of marketing clashing with privacy is completely nonexistent. what marketers really want is to TARGET PEOPLE'S ATTENTION. they don't necessarily want to know who those people are!! a rather paradoxical situation, but the two are NOT the same. imagine that a marketer selling Widgets could send a direct mailing to people who have an interest in Widgets. now, currently what has to happen is that marketers have to collect info on various people and their interests, and then sort that for "widget interest" to get their mailing list. but the overall database is in a sense a dossier. but what we should note is that the marketer DOESN'T CARE at all about the real identity of the people he is mailing to. in fact it is totally superfluous. he only wants to send his literature to people who are interested in widgets, and he doesn't care who they are or their other interests. in fact, marketers keep track of "other interests" only insofar as they can be used to correlate with what they are actually trying to screen for. so what I am getting at is that I think "dossiers" tend to associate a lot of information about a real person, in a way that people can get info on that person given their name or whatever. the point is that marketers don't really care who is who, and don't really want to necessarily have a database that gives the real identity of people. they only need a way of delivering their literature to people with particular interests. let me give an example to clarify this. suppose a database existed somewhere that contained a total profile of me and all my interests. but I am not called "V.Z.Nuri" in the database, but #3343. furthermore, there is an "address" in that database, and it can be used to reach me, but it is unique to that database and can't be found in any other, and furthermore, no one can correlate that address with my real identity. voila-- the marketer doesn't really want anything more than this. yet in a sense my privacy is completely protected. suppose that police agent tries to query the database to get info on me. if it really is secure, all he has is info that can never be tied to me. such a system creates a very important use for anonymous remailers. of course digital cash plays a big role in this too. in the same vein, it is possible for me to "buy" something from a company without them knowing that it was in result to them sending information to so-and-so identity #3343. actually, it could be set up that I tell them, "I am responding to your direct mail ad campaign #1634" so they can gauge the efficacy of their advertising, but they don't know who of their database was involved. when I think of "dossiers" I think of info that can be tied to REAL PEOPLE. but it is quite possible to create an "interest distribution system" that would keep marketers happy but still not be able to be tied to people's real identities. when one thinks of the horrors of classic privacy abuse, one thinks of the way the Nazi's grabbed (Dutch?) records to find jews, or the way the NSA kept files on people and responded to Nixon queries for radicals. but it seems to me it would be possible to create a system in which people's interests are tracked, yet their real identities are dissociated from that information. furthermore, you can dissociate the mechanism to do so-- anonymous remailers have no connection to companies that deliver info through them. notice that much of the above can be achieved in cyberspace with the use of a pseudonym. if you are signed up through a provider that protects your identity (most of them do), then you can do whatever you want in cyberspace and theoretically nothing can be tied to your new identity. furthermore, if you think you have accumulated too much "baggage" associated with your current identity, you can always start afresh. === this will sound quite heretic, but I think marketing is actually a very legitimate business and that cpunks might actually achieve some of their goals by considering how to create a better marketing system. in essence, marketing is the attempt to match up people with information and products that interest them. in a way, this is a very similar problem to trying to match up people to mailing lists and newsgroups and articles/files that interest them. spamming is the cyberspatial equivalent of a problem that existed before cyberspace: junk mail, so to speak. is there an efficient system whereby suppliers and consumers can be matched up, but at the same time preserving privacy? it seems to me a key question of information technology, perhaps a "killer app" in this area is just now waiting to be born. that's all that marketers want, and in fact instead of seeing them as agents of satan, we should just see them as trying to fulfill customer desires with their own products-- the essence of capitalism. the fact that marketers in our culture are so aggressive speaks of how effective capitalism is. people see junk mail as "junk", but notice that the junk is in the eye of the beholder. what if you got on a direct mailing list that sent you info on products you were considering buying anyway? in a sense, "junk mail" is mail that we don't care about, not merely mail from marketers. we get mail from marketers all the time that we appreciate!! if someone can create a more foolproof system that preserves privacy at the same time, all worlds are satisfied. you have the marketer happy, the consumer happy, and the privacy protection too. as long as one tries to defy marketers basic drive of trying to target people with particular interests, I think this is fighting the wind or trying to stop the river. but if one could find a way of supporting their basic motivation, the scenario becomes totally transformed. building a marketing mechanism that preserves privacy may do far more for privacy protection in the future than a zillion remailers. I think the key is to analyze why people *want* to do things that seem to violate privacy (such as marketers), and then finding new ways of doing the same thing while preserving privacy, rather than trying to defy their basic drives (such as collecting information on potential customers etc.). === imagine a massive cyberspace system that was actually a database of everyone who wanted to register, containing their interests. it would be an accepted practice that all marketers could use this system. people would register if the system was actually effective in only sending them info that they really wanted to see. it would be like an index into the population the way Yahoo is currently an index into cyberspace. one could create guidelines and measures by which spamming could be minimized. the database might be able to minimize the effect of bad marketers and indiscriminate mailings etc. it seems like a very interesting problem worthy of attention. the returns for someone who could pull off such a thing would be tremendous. I continue to believe that many problems that people are insoluable or in eternal conflict, such as marketers and privacy, could be harmonized with some sharp ingenuity.

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Re: PBS show
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 03:55 AM 6/14/96 +0000, jonathon wrote: >> And by refusing to build Masatoshi (?) Shima's design for the Z-80, they > > The number one selling computer with a Z-80 chip inside was > also the number one computer platform which ran CP/M which was > The Apple 2e. > > << Yes, the Z-870 chip was a third party add on. >> Two things: 1. Eventually, that claim might have been true. But that's just because there were a large number of smaller-volume CP/M computers such as Altair, IMSAI, CROMEMCO, Northstar, Kaypro, Godbout, Morrow, Heath/Zenith, and numerous others, as well as TRS-80' (Models I, II, and II; most of which ran TRSDOS instead of CPM) which cumulatively added up to a number vastly larger than Apple-II/Z-80 installations. And I don't want to leave out the "Big Board" Z-80 computer, which put everything on a single large PCB, which was about a 1980 product. Or, for that matter, Sinclair's ZX-80 (?) 2. If anything, the popularity of the Z-80 processor for the Apple revealed just how bad the 6502 and associated Apple software was. People don't generally change (add-in) microprocessors if they're satisfied with the underlying computer and available software. In fact, it's even worse, because the one advantage of the Apple was its color display, while none of the CP/M software being run on the Z-80 card in the Apple knew about color. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Is the list down?
by Scott Schryvers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

PGP encrypted mail preferred. E-Mail me for my key. Scott J. Schryvers <schryver(a)radiks.net>

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Level30 Newsletter (fwd)
by William Knowles 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Recently, you requested from our email autoresponder a copy of The Agincourt Project. You were not alone. That document has made its way around the world. Law enforcement agencies, public officials, prosecutors, ISP's and concerned citizens have all been reading it. And it has made a difference. Illegal obscenity and child pornography IS being removed from the Internet. And now that the first round of the CDA legal battle is over, and the focus in the battle against Internet pornography will change back to the enforcement of local obscenity and child pornography laws. But the issues are complex, and a single document is just not enough to keep the public informed. And so we have started Level30. Since you had an interest in The Agincourt Project (whatever your position on it), we thought you'd be interested in Level30. To receive this biweekly (or more frequently) newsletter, simply send an e-mail message To: majordomo(a)databack.com Subject: (leave blank) Message: subscribe level30 About the Purpose - To instruct families on how to safely use the Internet, and to inform families, law enforcement, the media and other interested Internet organizations about breaking news in the fight to keep illegal pornography and child pornography OFF the Internet. About the Title - This is the Offense Level mandated by the United States Sentencing Commission for the trafficking of child pornography often found on the Internet in Usenet newsgroups. (Base offense level - 17; if the material involves a prepubescent minor, increase by 2 levels; if the offense involves distribution, increase by at least 5 levels; if the offense involves material that portrays sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence, increase by 4 levels; and if a computer was used to transport or ship the visual depiction, increase by 2 levels.) (The Sentencing Table can be found at http://www.ussc.gov.) About the Author - Paul D. Cardin, P.A Member of the Board of Directors of Oklahomans for Children And Families (OCAF) Author of The Agincourt Project - the electronic expose that explains how Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are responsible for the distribution of illegal pornography and child pornography throughout America. Architect of the most effective and successful campaign in the United States today to stop the electronic distribution of illegal pornography and child pornography. Former officer in the Oklahoma Civil Liberties Union About the Regular Features - America's Most Wanted - A list of public corporations that are the enemies of America's children and families because of their continued electronic distribution of illegal pornography and child pornography. (Your State Here)'s Most Wanted - A state by state list of ISPs that are the enemies of children and families because of their continued electronic distribution of illegal pornography and child pornography. Commentary - Incisive and hard hitting analysis of the legal and constitutional issues facing the Internet today. Battle Reports - Updates from the front lines, from "war correspondents" across the country- The court battles over the Communications Decency Amendment. The status of OCAF against the Oklahoma ISPs. The status of Loving v. Boren - is it a ridiculous waste of taxpayers money or will it be the definitive Internet court ruling? The status of other important electronic obscenity court cases. The status of battles yet to be engaged. Special Reports - Testimonies from the victims of pornography. Profiles of the men and women who are engaged in the battle to free our society from its plague. Interviews with law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and ISPs. You should subscribe to Level 30 if: You are an INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER who wants to stop violating federal and state obscenity and child pornography laws. You are a LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER or PROSECUTOR who wants to learn how to stop ISPs from violating federal and state obscenity and child pornography laws You are a PUBLIC OFFICIAL who wants to learn how to keep illegal pornography and child pornography off of publicly owned and operated computer systems. You are a UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL or LIBRARY OFFICIAL who wants to learn how to keep illegal pornography and child pornography off of your university or library computer system. You are a SCHOOL OFFICIAL or TEACHER who wants to learn how to keep illegal pornography and child pornography off of your school's computer system. You belong to a CHILD ADVOCACY or WOMEN's RIGHTS group and you want to learn how to fight illegal pornography and child pornography on the Internet. You belong to a CHURCH or RELIGIOUS GROUP and you want to learn how to fight illegal pornography and child pornography on the Internet. You are a CORPORATE EXECUTIVE or PR OFFICER who wants to learn how to avoid extremely damaging publicity for your company. You are a REPORTER who wants to stay one step ahead of the above. Or, finally....... You are a PARENT or GRANDPARENT who wants to learn more about how to keep the Internet safe for your children and/or grandchildren. Thank you for your time. --

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WEB: Child molester database
by Damaged Justice 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Along with the arms trafficker page, now we have a "child molester database": http://www.greatworld.com/public Deadbeat Dads, Drug Dealers and more, coming soon according to blurb. -- http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm ...for the best in unapproved information "We think people like seeing somebody in a uniform on the porch." -US Postal spokeswoman, quoted in AP, 1/27/96. I don't know about you, but most people I know who saw someone in uniform on their porch would pull out the shotgun...

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update.275 (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From physnews(a)aip.org Fri Jun 14 18:39:08 1996 Date: Fri, 14 Jun 96 16:45:16 EDT From: physnews(a)aip.org (AIP listserver) Message-Id: <9606142045.AA11832(a)aip.org> To: physnews-mailing(a)aip.org Subject: update.275 PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News Number 275 June 14, 1996 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein THE FIRST QUANTUM COMMUNICATION USES "TRITS" INSTEAD OF BITS. For the first time, physicists have exploited the laws of quantum mechanics to send data, and with their technique have conveyed information more efficiently than with traditional means. In contrast to a traditional computer, in which messages consist of tiny electric pulses encoded in binary form (i.e., streams of 0s and 1s), researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria send messages consisting of single photons which can be coded as 0s, 1s, and 2s, setting up a base three system called "trits." The Innsbruck group (Harald Weinfurter, harald.weinfurter(a)uibk.ac.at) converts a single ultraviolet photon into two photons whose properties are quantum mechanically interlinked, or "entangled." Devices then encode a 0, 1, or 2 onto one of the photons by performing an operation on it (such as flipping its spin or shifting its phase); since the devices are blind to the initial state of the photon, they change the overall properties of the entangled photon pair without determining its final state. The two photons are recombined and then the interlinked pair travels towards a network of detectors. Two-photon interference creates three different sets of detection possibilities in the Innsbruck setup that reveal the quantum state of the entangled pair and whether the photon was encoded with a 0, 1, or 2. The physics of entanglement has been exploited in numerous recent experiments, to build quantum logic gates (Update 250) and perform an atom-level demonstration of Schrodinger's cat (Update 273), but until now it has never been used for quantum communication---encoding a message at one location and receiving it at another. Furthermore, the same information contained in a typical ASCII character, normally requiring the use of 8 bits, can also be transmitted using only 5 trits. (K. Mattle et al, Physical Review Letters, 17 June 1996. More information and graphics can be found at http://www.uibk.ac.at/c/c7/c704/qo/photon/_qdc) THE CLOSEST EXTRA-SOLAR PLANET yet discovered orbits the star Lalande 21185, only 8.1 light years from Earth. George Gatewood of the University of Pittsburgh observed a telltale wobble in the light coming from the star, indicating the presence of a Jupiter-sized planet circling the star in a Saturn-sized orbit. Gatewood's data, presented at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, WI, even hinted at the possibility of other planets in the same solar system. (Washington Post, 12 June.) Also, another planet has been found by Geoff Marcy of San Francisco State and Paul Butler of Berkeley, who announced two new planets in January 1996. Their new find is a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Rho Cancri (40 light years from Earth) at a distance of only 0.1 astronomical units. It completes a "year" in only about two Earth weeks. (Sky & Telescope, July 1996) A MOVIE OF THE CRAB NEBULA provides new details about pulsar dynamics. At the heart of the nebula is a pulsar (the remnant of a 1000-year-old supernova) which casts powerful streams of particles into the surrounding debris-filled medium. The Hubble Space Telescope has recorded a sequence of pictures which show where much of the pulsar's energy goes. One surprise was how quickly the landscape alters: noticeable changes in the region around the pulsar sometimes occurred in a matter of days. A second surprise is that the outward flow of energy is confined largely to two zones: jets shooting out from the poles and wisps of material in the pulsar's equatorial plane. (Science News, 8 June; Science, 7 June.)

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Re: PBS show
by wxfield＠shore.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Blake; I agree with you...(re:Apple II was a toy)... <smirk> Eniac, by comparison was also a toy...(I wonder how many lives it saved???) Heck, Eniac has it 'all over' the Abacus - Gosh, those darn Babylonians seem so primitive nowadays! >At 11:23 PM 6/13/96 EDT, Blake Wehlage wrote: >>At 09:35 AM 6/13/96 -0800, jim bell wrote: > >>>But the Apple II WAS a toy! Non-detached keyboard, poor placement of reset >>>key, upper-case only, 40-character wide display, odd microprocessor, VERY >>>SMALL capacity floppies (which were very slow as well), as well as a hostile >>>legal situation regarding the building of clones. Hell, they even objected >>>to other companies building boards which plugged into the bus! >> >> >>I was not a toy it was what started the PC revolution > >Grandly ignoring the Altair, the TRS-80 Model I, the IMSAI, et al. Even Jolt! > > >Jim Bell >jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Fuseable Links - no guarantees??
by wxfield＠shore.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have never paid much attention to the protection of firmware or the technical issues revolving around such schemes...was wondering: I recently saw an add for a UK based group that says they can take a PIC OTP micro and read the prom (for a fee, of course) - How the heck is this done?? I have my suspicion that they (somehow) magically peel off the ceramic coating (without destroying the chewy center), get a circuit mask and 'micro probe' the I/O of the IC...they then download the secret recipe to the afore mentioned 'chewy center'. Is this close to accurate?? How is it 'done' ??? -Just Curious

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Re: PBS show
by AwakenToMe＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 96-06-14 23:48:14 EDT, jwilk(a)iglou.com (Blake Wehlage) writes: << At 12:51 PM 6/14/96, Josh Sled wrote: >On Thu, 13 Jun 96 23:23 EDT, Blake Wehlage wrote: > >>Mac rule they have an awesome GUI (graphical user interface), easy of use it >>way up there and they have bitchin' software. >> >>I know i will regret saying this but: >> >>The mac OS is 3 times better than Windows '95 > >Though I agree with you, and I think OS/2's WorkPlace Shell and >Presentation Manager is about 10 times better than MacOS, this isn't >the place for GUI or OS holy wars... > >ObCrypto: Incorporating crpyto into a GUI : strong crypto (RSA, 3DES) >represented as strong locking devices (safe, vault, etc), weak crypto >represented as weak devices (padlock, chain-link)... what do you think? > >Joshy > > > > Oh my God someone agrees with me I see the light at the end of the tunnel, in this window covered world. >> WELllllll Id hate to say.... but after coming across A LOT of different users from both systems.. It has seemed to me that... IN GENERAL, Mac users are more computer 'illiterate' seeing as the mac's ease of use. Fine for the everyday person... but not for me. Secondly.....as far os the computers software are concerned...... Not much beats winNT => windows=> PC THe chips arent 'too' much different. and that leaves me to say..... There's more PC's out there... which seeing as whats presented..... Leads me to thinks PC's are 'better' in my eyes. So... how baout those mets?

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alpha.c2.org problem?
by nobody＠replay.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

For the past two days, all mail to my alias at alpha.c2.org has arrived with the message stripped out. All I'm getting is the end remailer's disclaimer statement. ?????

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