December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Political Burnout
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To those of you who are tired of the Republican National Convention. And particularly to those who are ALREADY tired of the Democrat National Convention, despite the fact that it hasn't started yet. Remember those irritating signs beside the road, advertising some new apartment complex or housing development that you pass on the way home? You know, the ones which say, "If you lived here, you'd be home by now." Well, as you watch these conventions (conventia?), imagine a sign on the Information Superhighway, just up ahead. It says: "If your country were operated under the principles of 'Assassination Politics', not only would this convention be over by now, it wouldn't have even started!" We return you to your regularly scheduled farce. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

1 0

WinSock Remailer Now Available By E-Mail
by Joey Grasty 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The first alpha release of the WinSock Remailer is now available via e-mail. Due to problems setting up user authentication on my homepage at http://www.c2.net/~winsock/ I have decided to distribute it via e-mail until I can get user authentication working. In order for you to receive the WinSock Remailer, I have to be reasonably sure that you are a US or Canadian citizen or permanent resident. Therefore, you will need to review a copy of the License Agreement and fill out the required information. Then clear-sign the agreement with PGP and mail it to me at jgrasty(a)gate.net. Don't forget to tell me where I can find your PGP public key so that I can check the signature. No signed license agreement, no remailer. In order for me to have a good feeling that you are not a foreign national, I need to have the following information check out: a. Verify that your address is within the boundaries of the US or Canada. I will do this by checking if you are in a public address database such as "88 Million Households Phone Book". b. Verify that your name and e-mail address is the same as in your public key. This is basically the same method that Netscape is using at: http://wwwus.netscape.com/eng/US-Current/ to verify citizenship or permanent residency, but the process is not automated. I don't like having to enforce clearly unconstitutional ITAR regulations, but I'm not ready for an extended stay at Club Fed. - ---------------------------cut here----------------------------------- WinSock Remailer License Agreement This is the license agreement between Joey Grasty and the end user of the WinSock Remailer. Name of User: <your name> Street Address: <your street address> Town, State, Country: <town>, <state or province>, <country> Phone Number: <your phone number> E-mail Address: <your e-mail address> Where to find your PGP Public Key: <instructions> 1. Joey Grasty grants to you a non-exclusive, non-sublicensable, license to use this Alpha version of the WinSock Remailer (the "Software"), in binary executable form for evaluation and trial use purposes only. 2. JOEY GRASTY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY OF THIS SOFTWARE OR ABOUT ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION MADE ACCESSIBLE BY THE SOFTWARE, FOR ANY PURPOSE. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED GRATUITOUSLY AND, ACCORDINGLY, JOEY GRASTY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE UNDER ANY THEORY OR ANY DAMAGES SUFFERED BY YOU OR ANY USER OF THE SOFTWARE. JOEY GRASTY DOES NOT HAVE ANY OBLIGATION TO SUPPORT THIS SOFTWARE OR ISSUE ANY UPDATES IN THE FUTURE. 3. While Joey Grasty intends to distribute a commercial release of the Software, Joey Grasty reserves the right at any time not to release a commercial release of the Software or, if released, to alter prices, features, specifications, capabilities, functions, licensing terms, release dates, general availability or any other characteristics of the commercial release as he sees fit. 4. Title, ownership rights, and intellectual property rights in and to the Software shall remain in Joey Grasty and/or its suppliers. You agree to abide by the copyright law and all other applicable laws of the United States including, but not limited to, export control laws. 5. Joey Grasty may terminate this License at any time by delivering notice to you and you may terminate this License at any time by destroying or erasing your copy of the Software and notifying Joey Grasty of this action forthwith. This License is personal to you and you agree not to assign your rights herein. This License shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida and, as to matters affecting copyrights, trademarks and patents, by U.S. federal law. This License sets forth the entire agreement between you and Joey Grasty. 6. Use, duplication or disclosure by the Government of any locality, state or country, its elected officials or employees, is forbidden. 7. You may not download or otherwise export or reexport the Software or any underlying information or technology except in full compliance with all United States and other applicable laws and regulations. In particular, but without limitation, none of the Software or underlying information or technology may be downloaded or otherwise exported or reexported (i) into (or to a national or resident of) Cuba, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia, North Korea, Iran, or Syria or (ii) to anyone on the US Treasury Department's list of Specially Designated Nationals or the US Commerce Department's Table of Deny Orders. By downloading the Software, you are agreeing to the foregoing and you are representing and warranting that you are not located in, under control of, or a national or resident of any such country or on any such list. 8. JOEY GRASTY OR ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR (a) INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES OF ANY SORT, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF JOEY GRASTY HAS BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR (b) FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL NOT APPLY TO LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE LAW PROHIBITS SUCH LIMITATION. FURTHERMORE, SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THIS LIMITATION AND EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. 9. HIGH RISK ACTIVITIES. The Software is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail-safe performance, such as in the operation of nuclear facilities, aircraft navigation or communication systems, air traffic control, direct life support machines, or weapons systems, in which the failure of the Software could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage ("High Risk Activities"). Joey Grasty and its suppliers specifically disclaim any express or implied warranty of fitness for High Risk Activities. Clear-sign this agreement with your PGP public key and e-mail it to jgrasty(a)gate.net. - -------------------------------cut here------------------------------------ Thank you for your patience with this crude form of distribution. Regards, -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQB1AwUBMhE2UsODO2V89BZZAQGOLAL9GU15R4N/6xIZCJGYaQ0Vlw4e7rqP06+d YH5806om50v/+8P9OKrxBOECEHPJLirFQcITXsYMn/DkVAcTVTrz9rKfJdzToeyB Bwr4vgpMqKw4oZnFGJa1PvUotSjTnETT =Arts -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Joey Grasty jgrasty(a)gate.net [home -- encryption, privacy, RKBA and other hopeless causes] jgrasty(a)pts.mot.com [work -- designing pagers] "Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin." -- John Von Neumann PGP = A7 CC 31 E4 7E A3 36 13 93 F4 C9 06 89 51 F5 A7

1 0

Re: India, Productivity, and Tropical Climes
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:31 PM 8/13/96 +0600, Arun Mehta wrote: > As regards IBM, its agreement with the government of India, under > which it was allowed to operate in the country, stipulated that > it would produce here, and transfer some technology. Instead, as > the government found, all it did was sell time on second-hand > computers (1401's as I recall, and this was mid to late '70s). > IBM was asked to either dilute, or live up to its original > agreement, which it wasn't prepared to do, so it left. Every single foreign computer company left during roughly the same period, as did almost all foreign companies and anybody who had a choice. The reasons generally given by those who left, for this mass exodus, which eventually sent the government into insolvency, is that Indian ]officials were arrogant, rude, dishonest, corrupt, continually broke contracts and agreements, and attempted to exercise direct power over everyone and everything. If indian government officials have a different version, I would not regard that version as coming "from the horses mouth" --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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

2 1

Re: Anguilla...etc.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:21 AM 8/14/96, Greg Kucharo wrote: > While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the >authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble >purposes. Check that, obvious noble purposes. While most on this list >would agree that free flow of information is noble we have all seen that >this is otherwise with people in power. As I stated in my last post, the >Swiss have maintained thier "haven" for many years by playing both sides. >In accomodating everyone they avoid harassment. > This way the Swiss maintain a good system and live to fight another day. Let me be clear that I am not talking about "noble motives." In the sense of somone sacrificing himself for the good of the herd, blah blah. Rather, there is an "archetype," if you will, of what a "remailer" is, what a "data haven" is, what a "tax shelter" is, etc. While we cannot reasonably expect a remailer to exactly match the archetype, we can point out obvious deficiencies. For "data havens," we have very few examples, compared to operational remailers. We have the fictional form in Bruce Sterling's "Islands in the Net," some of whose plot twists have some parallels to the current Anguilla situation. Another is the form described in Ross Anderson's "Eternity Service." What might we expect of a true data haven? I've tried to describe several of the attributes in my earlier posts, mainly by asking questions about specific examples (bomb-building instructions, "Kill the monarchy" screeds, etc.). Interestingly, with several of these examples, Vince has said that he is not interested in having this kind of material on his site. His invitation for Multi-Level Marketers to avoid U.S. and other laws by locating on his service has now been withdrawn, from his latest comments. (To the person who sent me mail explaining that MLM schemes are not illegal in the U.S., indeed, some are legal and some are not. I said as much. And for those which are legal in the U.S. or France or wherever, they would hardly have any need to use Vince's service, would they? I surmised from his invitation that he was encouraging MLM/pyramid scheme operators to avoid their parochial fraud laws and use the services in Anguilla.) I plan to do more looking at just who is left, who is using Offshore Information and what kinds of services they are offering. Not to harass Vince, of course, but to better look at the envelope of what is considered OK and what is not. If i find that all the "juicy" stuff is gone and all that is left is booking sailing cruises around the Carribbean, I'll hardly call it a "data haven." Which is not to say it's not still a useful and profitable business for Vince, just that it has no Cypherpunk relevance. --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."

1 0

Re: More on "Fraud" and Anguilla
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:29 PM 8/13/96 -0400, Vincent Cate wrote: > Again, what I said was my lawyer called and said it was illegal to sell > fake passports in Anguilla. The fraud was taxbomber saying he never sold > fake passports in his post to the net of "feel sorry for me my ISP made me > relocate even though I never sold fake passports". He never sold fake passports. If his passports had been marked "United States of America" or some such they would indeed be fake. They were not fake. Who says that only generally recognized governments of major nations are entitled to issue passports? > > a) what he was offering actually violated Anguillan law (was there a > > determination that selling camouflage passports violates a specific > > statute?) > My lawyer, probably the top lawyer in the country, said it is illegal in > Anguilla. I don't have a copy of that law. You should. The fact that you do not indicates alarming willingness to bend over, which is inconsistent with the way you represent your service in your ad. Amend the ad, or employ more spine. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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

3 2

2600 (the magazine)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, The current issue of 2600 is out. I bought mine at Barnes & Nobles. It has a couple of articles on cryptography as well as a port scanner program for Linux. Jim Choate

1 0

Re: Anguilla...etc.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:25 AM 8/14/96 Moscow Time, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTD wrote: >"Greg Kucharo" <sophi(a)best.com> writes: >> While Tim may be right that nobility is lost when backing down to the >> authorities, the fact is that this game has little to do with noble >> purposes. ... > >Nor was there any activity from the authorities. > >A while back, when Vince first started advertizing his site, I asked him a few >hypothetical questions, and he said roughly this: If client X posts something >to Usenet from Vince's site, and if Y dislikes X's article so much that he >mailbombs X, then Vince would pull X's plug. (I have the exact quote saved.) >I lost interest right then. I'm not surprised that Vince acted dishonorably by >pulling a client's plug with no warning for a very flimsy reason. "Acted dishonorably"? Really, Dimitri, are all Russians this rude? (Seeing the battles on Usenet between the "Sovoks" and the "Gruborbots," I'm beginning to think so.) While I think the Anguilla situation is an interesting one to analyze, I avoid such loaded terms as "dishonorable." --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."

2 1

[NOISE] Statists get to make choices, too.
by nobody＠replay.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dr. Dimitri Vulis KOTM writes: >There is no place on the 'net safe for the Usenet Cabal or the fucking statists >who call themselves "libertarians". Oh, sure there is. The Misguided Cabal Dupes [tm] have decided they prefer the relative order of the current system to the chaos of a disbarred lawyer's vision. News admins have simply taken extra steps to make sure that their services won't be disrupted by a few individuals who style themselves the "Usenet Freedom Knights." I'm sure the Fucking Statists have taken similar steps. Your right to rant doesn't override my right to ignore you. Isn't that really what this country's supposed to be about? The right to be left alone?

1 0

yet ANOTHER "Internet == child porn "story.
by I=(!isnum(self)) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Again on today's CBS all-news stn. An elementary school teacher arrested for exchanging, or whatever, kiddieporn on the Internet. The reporter was duly dramatic and ominous sounding. Damn I wish I knew how many kiddie porners were doing their whatver OFF the 'net. Maybe, my fine friends, we're catching MORE o' them because they are on the net and clueless, rather than in back alleys and hard to find. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Recommended reading: "Manufacture of Consent", Noam Chomsky. Altho I hate much of his politics, that one's right on.

1 0

Church of Scientology
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Scuttlebut is, CoS rolled over on some pesky ultra-right-wingers as a favor to Morris Dees and various scumbag associates. For this, CoS got their long-awaited (40-plus years!) federal tax-free status. This status is big cash, so naturally, interested parties wanted to know under what rules did CoS get their tax-free gift, since long-standing high court decisions laid out the profit-making business plan of CoS in no uncertain terms, explicit and detailed. Problem is, nobody was able to get the details of the policy change - did CoS change their business plan, or did the fed change their rules?

1 0