December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

E-Cash Poses Worldwide Banking Threat - Report 09/06/96
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1996 SEP 6 (NB) -- By Richard Bowers. >By the year 2000, consumers, businesses, governments, and >educational institutions worldwide will use electronic cash (e-cash) >for nine billion payment transactions. According to a new study by Killen >& Associates, this increase in e-cash will pose a great threat to some of >the biggest institutions in the world. > >The report specifically highlights the risk to the retail and banking >industries. Speaking to Newsbytes, a spokesperson for Killen said that >the report, which will be issued later this month, gives little solace to >the problems facing traditional retail companies. The report does >however, say that the banks can regain the leadership position in >payments by moving quickly to leverage their payment transaction >infrastructure to fully support e-cash. > >"By 2005, e-cash transactions will escalate to almost 30 billion," >stated Michael Killen, president of the market research firm. "Banks >must act quickly to leverage their position in payment services. Non- >banks see this as a new opportunity to carve further market share >away from the banking industry. All will compete for new revenue >streams including Internet-based micropayments." > >The report uses a very broad definition of e-cash including among >others; secured debit cards, phone cards, electronic checks, ATM >transactions, point of sale loans, and automated tolls. > >Using this broad definition they estimate that in 1995 there were 536 >billion non e-cash transactions worldwide compared to only 1 billion >e-cash transactions, or about .0019 percent. By the year 2005, of a >total estimated 1 trillion transactions, the report predicts 3 percent >or around 30 billion transactions will be e-cash. > >"The impact of e-cash will be widespread on both banking and >commerce," Killen added. "Opportunities will open for financial and >other product and services players, including ATM vendors such as >NCR, Diebold, and IBM; credit card authorization firms, including First >Data, Total Systems, Equifax, and National Data; ATM/POS terminal >manufacturers and network suppliers, including bank-owned >networks, American Express, Deluxe, ACS, and VeriFone; and cash >handling/cash management services firms such as ADP, GEIS, National >Data, and Brinks. Software firms that understand the enormous >system integration opportunities of adapting legacy systems to on- >line, secured environments will also benefit from the need to support >e-cash transactions." > >The report will include forecasts of the overall payments environment >and the impact of e-cash on cash, checks, credit cards, and other >electronic payment systems though the year 2005. It will also have a >section on the opportunities for new business, dislocations, and >threats to existing businesses, with emphasis on acquisition and >alliance opportunities. > >"E-cash provides the necessary payment options to support new and >low-cost products and services, including micropublishing," Killen >continued. "Information services such as AC Nielsen, Dun & Bradstreet, >and Wall Street investment and advisory firms will fill their clients' >needs for customized news. This will lead to a new understanding of >personal and commercial buying patterns, wants, and needs. >Individual consumer purchase, transaction, and life-style profiles will >be developed. Advertisers can then use this information to target >market-customized advertising and marketing programs." > >(19960906/Press Contact: Jules Street, Killen & Associates, 415-617- >6130) > > > _______________________ Regards, Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength. -Ralph Sockman Joseph Reagle http://rpcp.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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IBM to unveil Internet banking alliance
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Mon, 9 Sep 1996 11:20:03 -0400 >From: reagle(a)rpcp.mit.edu (Joseph M. Reagle Jr.) >To: reagle(a)rpcp.mit.edu >Subject: IBM to unveil Internet banking alliance > > > > SAN FRANCISCO (Reuter) - International Business Machines >Corp. <IBM.N> has made an alliance with more than a dozen >major banks to provide consumer banking services using >Internet technology, IBM and industry executives said Friday. > The consortium will be dubbed Integrity and will be owned >equally by IBM and each of the partners. > Banks will be able to use IBM's worldwide private network >as well as the Internet to enable their customers to do their >banking electronically. Specific details of the banking >arrangement have yet to be worked out, one of the executives >said. > IBM and the banking instititutions involved are due to >unveil the Integrity project in New York on Monday. > The alliance is one of several industry projects that >IBM's Internet Division is establishing to help large >companies utilize the Internet. > The banking alliance will have competition from other >electronic banking services being organised by companies like >Intuit Corp., America Online Inc. and Microsoft Corp. > Just this week, Intuit and America Online said a number of >leading financial institutions would offer their customers >online banking via AOL, using software developed by Intuit >known as BankNOW. > At an Internet and Electronic Commerce conference in San >Francisco this week, Intuit Chairman Scott Cook said the new >service targets people who want to use electronic transactions >to speed up their banking. > Cook said he expects the new service will differ from what >the IBM-led consortium might provide. > NationsBank has been among companies frequently mentioned >as participating in the IBM consortium, but a spokesman late >on Friday declined to discuss a Wall Street Journal report >that it would be involved in the consortium. > > > _______________________ Regards, Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength. -Ralph Sockman Joseph Reagle http://rpcp.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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Re: [WAS xs4all.nl] Terrorists
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:50 AM 9/9/96, Jon Lebkowsky wrote: >At 11:01 AM 9/9/96 +0200, Stephan Schmidt wrote: > >>One thought : How many of you would support terrorist >>web server (say Oklahoma, TWA, Iran, Lybia, RAF, IRA, ...) ? > >I.e. "How many of you support the right to free speech regardless of content." > >Wellll...there is the rule about speech which endangers; "fire in a crowded >theatre" is the cliche-example. What could a terrorist SAY that would >endanger? Personally, I'd rather have terrorists building html than bombs. As Dettweiler is usually so fond of pointing out, it would be disingenuous of us not to acknowledge that the systems we are talking about (fully untraceable, strong anonymity, digital pseudonyms, digital cash, information markets, i.e., "crypto anarchy") will in fact be used for all sorts of things. Including folks who want to blow up Parliament, the Congress, the People's Tribunal, etc. And by folks who wish to trade in CBW secrets, who wish to arrange contract killings, and so on. This has been well-known for many years. My paper on "Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities" was villified by no less than Dorothy Denning for describing how these things may evolve. I don't worry overmuch about a few thousand or even a few million people dying as a result of something we have had an influence on developing, anymore than the developers of many technologies need to worry about how others use their technologies. And the net effect of crypto anarchy is to destabilize and marginalize central governments, which is a net positive effect. If some eggs get broken in the process, the biological imperative will generate more eggs. No big deal. --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: [WAS xs4all.nl] Terrorists
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:32 AM 9/9/96 EDT, you wrote: >Stephan Schmidt <schmidt(a)pin.de> writes: > >> One thought : How many of you would support terrorist >> web server (say Oklahoma, TWA, Iran, Lybia, RAF, IRA, ...) ? > >http://www.terrorist.org ? > Damn! In my backyard no less! whois terrorist.org Terrorist Organization (TERRORIST2-DOM) 1525 SW 14th #4 Portland, OR 97201 US

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[less paranoid NOISE] Re: Odd Satellite observations
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ok well like I said it was just paranoid noise. So the sats can locate ships at sea. I wonder what else? At 01:58 PM 9/9/96 GMT, Jim wrote: >On Sun, 08 Sep 1996 11:45:45 -0700, I wrote: > >>I saw three satellites gliding across the sky (east to west) in >>a tight right triangle formation. The entire formation was not >>bigger than my hand at arms length. Has anyone else observed >>this? > >John: You probably saw one of the NOSS (Naval Ocean Surveillance >System) constellations. There are several of these groupings -- all >in triangular arrays. They use some form of interferometry to locate >ships at sea. > >Jim > > >

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Lexis-Nexis Database
by Andrew Fabbro 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Note: personal experience indicates that L-N can remove you without your SSN, so there's no need to provide it, though they'll ask for it. Expect to attend a mandatory on-hold-music concert with a 20-25 minute program. L-N won't verify if your name is in the database, but will "performa process which will remove you if you are there". Andrew Fabbro <afabbro(a)umich.edu> ITD Marketing Research http://www-personal.umich.edu/~afabbro/ PGP mail preferred; finger for key ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVACY Forum Digest Tuesday, 3 September 1996 Volume 05 : Issue 17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 11:22:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Larry Hunter <hunter(a)intr.net> Subject: Lexis-Nexis personal information database Lexis-Nexis sells a commercial database called "Ptrax" which holds detailed personal information on nearly all Americans (L-N claims it contains 300 million names). This database includes name, current address, up to two previous addresses, phone number, birth-date, social security number, mother's maiden name and possible other personal information. This database is kept quite current. Through the Nexis Express service, this information could be available to any individual with a credit card. As most readers will are aware, such information could easily be used for theft of identity and other frauds. It is possible to have one's name removed from this database by making a telephone request. Call (800)543-6862, select option 4 ("all other questions") and tell the representative answering that you wish to remove your name from the Ptrax database. You may also send a fax to (513)865-7360, or physical mail to LEXIS-NEXIS / P.O. Box 933 / Dayton, Ohio 45401-0933. Sending physical mail to confirm your name has been removed is always a good idea. As word of the existence of this database has spread on the net, Lexis-Nexis has been inundated with calls, and has set up a special set of operators to handle the volume. In addition, Andrew Bleh (rhymes with "Play") is a manager responsible for this product, and is the person to whom complaints about the service could be directed. He can be reached at the above 800 number, selection option 4 and then ask for extension 3385. The information in this note has been been confirmed by me, and was originally provided in forwarded messages from Russell Whitaker, Jason Werner, Vern Winters, Katherine Florman and Reuben Snipper. Larry Hunter hunter(a)intr.net ------------------------------ End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 05.17 ************************

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Re: Los Angeles Times article on Helsingius and anon.penet.fi
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Gilmore wrote: > PS: I would counsel against the kind of false anonymity provided by > the Finnish server, though. Providing information under the promise > that it will "never be revealed or misused" is a lot more dangerous > than never providing it at all. E.g. "Anonymous cash" that is really > based on dossiers or account-numbers isn't anonymous at all. Even > physical cash is getting easier to trace; the British government has > been tracking money by serial numbers for years, with custom machines > in the banks, to de-anonymize Irish freedom-fighters (oops, I mean > terrorists). Anonymity is another area, like privacy, where changes > from technology can make big social differences. There is a massive difference between anonymous speech and anonymous transactions. Anonymous speech can create problems (defamation etc.) but in the main these are not problems the courts are particularly good at dealing with. In the UK the libel laws are not so much a redress for legitimate grievance than a way for a senior Tory to obtain a nice lump sum towards his pension if he should happen to be filmed handing over 5000 quid in a breifcase to a prostitute he'd never met. The "problems" encountered by the Church of Scientology demonstrate that the court process itself can be imeasurably more harmfull than any imagined grievance. Should society have laws to protect trades secrets? Probably , but not to protect the likes of the CoS. If the Internet makes such laws difficult to enforce then we should return to the original concerns that prompted society to create the laws in the first place and see if the Internet provides better was of achieving the same result. Anonymous transactions are a rather different matter. It is more difficult to argue for anonymity. The extreeme examples of Chaumian cash create considerable difficulties such as making a perfect conduit for ransom proceeds and the profits of drug trafficing. Simply ignoring these problems will result in the proponents of anonymity simply being ignored. The principle fear of the authorities appears to be terrorist rather than normal criminal activities. Terrorism is no longer limited to far off irredentist struggles that ex-patriates can harbour romantic thoughts about. The reality the the IRA is an organisation that murders children by placing a bomb in a rubbish bin outside a MacDonalds has been brought home to the suporters of Noraid through the bombings of the World Trade Center, Oaklahoma and Atlanta. If one lives in a country where there is little terrorism it is easy to imagine that people driven to extreeme actions are driven by a extreeme situation. If one is faced with the reality of terrorism one soon reaches the conclusion that its perpetrators are simply ordinary psychopaths. Having stated that terrorism is an important concern for the state it is necessary to ask whether it is necessary to restrict freedom to combat terrorism. In answering one must bear in mind that a central part of most terrorist strategies is to force the state to respond with disproportionate measures (here recent events in Chetchnya indicate that Trotsky was not widely read in the USSR). Absolutely anonymous cash may create problems, but what if it were possible to generate small quantities of "marked bills" within an otherwise anonymous system. If the circumstances under which the marked bills could be distributed were limited to a small set of tightly controlled circumstances the legitimate need of the government to oppose terrorism and organised crime could be met without imposing a Singapore style system with total monitoring. In effect what is taking place is a negotiation between two groups, the government and civil rights activists. If one side refuses to consider the needs of the other they will be marginalised. Absolutism in politics is usually a bad thing. Politics usually works through compromises. The art being to ensure that one compromises the inessential terms in order to defend the key items. In the present Presidential race the one policy area in which Clinton is potentially vulnerable is privacy. Its the one area which the Republicans could raise and claim it as their own (whether justifiable or not). The Clinton camp could not move from their current position without dropping Freeh overboard, since Freeh has run the FBI without any Ruby ridge or Waco style cockups on his watch I don't think that is likely to happen. If privacy is raised as a policy concern in this election it will reoccur in the next and both parties will have to justify their policies in terms of personal privacy as well as everything else. Just because the election is practically settled does not mean that the campaign will not affect what happens during the administration. Clinton clearly wants Gore to be his successor and is going to want to make it as easy as possible for him to win. Clinton is the kind of politician I can trust - give him an issue and I trust him to look at the opinion polls. If Dole makes any kind of headway in '96 with a privacy plank then Gore will have to have one in 2000. Phill

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Snake-Oil FAQ
by wlkngowl＠unix.asb.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Subject: Snake-Oil FAQ's New Maintainer From: Rob Rothenburg Walking-Owl <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> C. Matthew Curtin <cmcurtin(a)research.megasoft.com> will be taking-over the "Snake-Oil FAQ". I no longer have the time to finish (let alone maintain) it. - --Rob -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3b Charset: cp850 iQEVAwUBMjRWPATNlSxdPy6ZAQEnIwf+PXgXNNBZP7ylTfMhugeH8FuFDY/zybNb poSIWCRUhM7EEndYkuyzaTYC44aE0ltAkiN7HvaqXbExQEmEv34aYTa+u9ISabOK BOEQdgi8oCHJlQ3R6lBTMWKfpFELpORsjDJbsKt/Gcgef+uInMUG8RF7F3Va40dh CTar/Nr4Quj/EkkVaY6hkaXsMF0CvWq+cKZmo8KR0v4vPeWEKHskslfgXSpfPR9d uXYyUVD21HRSG5YTZmdm3PJn3GUvgXuQdz1pooQ+x+u8EXsOFRjAEiaFtMey2DYW imHub+XewnbS93JGZ+q+J93hHpL2OE8LMQFB8ViUe6K05uj7RBi06Q== =wMjQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Crypto Anachy MUD
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Did anyone make the point (I gave up on the thread) that we already have a great Crypto Anarchy MUD with lots of the coding already done. We call it the Internet. Digital cash, strong crypto, remailers, everything. I have never been able to figure out why anyone would want to play games on a computer in any case when the whole system is a game. Word processing, spreadsheets, telecoms -- it's all a game. And they pay you to play it. DCF

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Anonymous FedEx, was: What is the EFF doing exactly?
by azur＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>David Lesher wrote: >Try & mail an anonymous FedEx package. Not a problem. You merely use the FedEx number of local company. Get FedEx forms from an unmanned FedEx pick-up point, fill one in (using an impact printer, if desired, to simulate the appearance of the pre-addressed forms given to their regular customers), attach to parcel and drop it in the box (no finger prints please). Works like a charm. PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Snoop Daty Data | Internet: azur(a)netcom.com Grinder | Voice: 1-702-655-2877 Sacred Cow Meat Co. | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 7075 W. Gowan Road, #2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Just say NO to perscription DRUGS.

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