December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Reputations
by gregburk＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- tcmay(a)got.net (Timothy C. May) writes: > Briefly, think of "restaurants" when thinking about reputations. If one > arrives in a new city, most restaurants may have the same baseline > reputation, e.g. "none." A few may be known by name, for their > "reputation," either good ("You have to eat at Louie's--the laser chicken > is incredible") or bad ("Blecch!). Positive reputations and negative > reputations are self-explanatory. And the reputations of others may affect > the reputations of restaurants ("John Gilmore says he likes the Burma > Burger on Castro Street."). Bad recommendations may affect the "reputation > capital" of John, for example. (We speak of "reputation capital" because it > can in some sense be "spent.") That part of the "reputation capital" theory has always seemed suspicious to me. "reputation capital" doesn't behave linearly. There's too much incentive to bottom-feed and too little incentive to shoot for the heights. As an "asset", it is extremely non-liquid. It is hard to spend it in a controlled manner. Too much incentive to bottom-feed: For example, let's say there's someone well-known who frequently speaks nonsense on crypto issues. We'll call her "Norothy Nenning". She makes a recommendation on some particular crypto issue, say "The government's Nipper chip is a safe and effective form of crupto". Plenty of naive people will credit her to some degree. True, fewer people than if she had carefully husbanded her reputation, and to a lesser degree, but still a lot more than zero. Notice that that's a zero cost/benefit ratio. She never does anything to husband her reputation, she just spends it every chance she gets. And while no single expenditure rewards her as much as it would if she made the same expenditure with a good reputation, she spends so much more freely that it is a good strategy for her on the whole. "Reputation capital" is hard to spend down to absolute 0 because it is significant work to distinguish valid "reputation capital" from worthless counterfeit, and it is easy to counterfeit... just talk. I anticipate the answer "Well, the work pays off". But that misses the point. Frequently the work required to tell the good "reputation capital" from the worthless is as much as would be required to find the straight dope yourself. Too little incentive to shoot for the heights: Suppose you judge that you've accumulated twice as much "reputation capital" as Joe. How do you get twice as much payoff? It seems to me that above the threshhold of credibility, minor side issues make more difference than your two-fold "reputation capital" differential. As an "asset", it is extremely non-liquid: How exactly would you "convert" your reputation into other capital? Would you accept bribes and tell lies? Seems to me you would only get a one-shot "conversion" and it couldn't possibly hope to equal your investment. As soon as you leave the information-broker business, you discover that your "asset" cannot be converted, sold, auctioned off, or much of anything else of value to you. It is hard to spend it in a controlled manner: See above. The single bribe-and-lie will spend your "reputation capital" down to below the threshhold of credibility, no matter how much you started with. Human discourse often tends to be absolutist. It is often very difficult to make people understand and retain a message of partial support or qualified support. Particularly on hot issues. Restaurants, sure, you can give 1 to 5 stars, but in many subject areas there is no such system. And any system you yourself invent tends to be ignored. So I think the latter part of the analysis is wishful thinking, or at least restricted to a small subset of subject-matter. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 iQBVAwUBMi4omrMyVAabpHidAQGGPAIAizIOktCC4B5gtVYPblaTi9FL6ZtwTfkP sAFHT626mMLz1f/ZKa2SLq3pdag09ACCklJLJ1djFwSFP4bvoijMfw== =rFti -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Steganography -- Tell-tale signs?
by makof＠alias.cyberpass.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi there! I'd appreciate some help from you experts in steganography. 1) If I hide some PGP encrypted data in a gif, jpg or wav file will there be any tell tale signs to the naked eye of an expert? If yes, what are they? 2) Would it better to hide the data in a jpg with black and white image rather than a color one? 3) Are there any tools at the moment to expose (not crack) the hidden encrypted data? If none. are there tools in development? If this appears twice please accept my apologies. I didn't see the first posting and so I assumed it was lost in transit. Please email replies to me directly if this is off-topic. Thank you. Makofi

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Internet Tax in Tacoma cancelled
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

An excellent case of considering regulatory arbitrage effects. -Allen > _________________________________________________________________ > webslingerZ > _________________________________________________________________ > TACOMA, WASH. CITY COUNCIL REPEALS TAX ON INTERNET PROVIDERS > __________________________________________________________________________ > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > TACOMA, Wash. (Sep 4, 1996 01:17 a.m. EDT) - Tacoma City Council > members voted Tuesday to exempt Internet service providers from a 6 > percent telecommunications tax that had attracted nationwide > attention. > With only one dissenting vote, the council approved the exemption at > the urging of Mayor Brian Ebersole, who said Tacoma's reputation as a > good place to do business outweighed the estimated $200,000 in annual > revenue the city stands to lose. > The tax had been imposed on Internet companies in March by Tacoma's > tax and license department as part of a broader levy that affects > users of cellular telephones, pagers and other equipment who get > billed at addresses within the city, about 30 miles south of Seattle. [...] > Tacoma is one of many cities and states who have seized on the rapid > growth of the Internet as a potential for raising needed tax revenues. > West Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, New York and Ohio have similar taxes > in place, and California, Florida, New York and Washington state are > considering them. [...] > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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ASEAN nations generally pro-censorship
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The interesting "cultural sovereignty" variation on the usual "national sovereignty" excuse for censorship and other such unethical actions. I'm reminded of another Asian state that used it... after Tianenmin Square. At least one member (the Phillipines) is making, at the minimum, lip service for freedom of speech. US control over them does appear to have done some good. -Allen > _________________________________________________________________ > The Peanut Roaster > _________________________________________________________________ > ASEAN FORUM AGREES ON NEED TO POLICE THE NET > __________________________________________________________________________ > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > SINGAPORE (Sep 4, 1996 11:41 a.m. EDT) - Southeast Asian broadcasters > and officials agreed on Wednesday to police the Internet and block off > sites that run counter to Asian values. > A statement issued at the close of the three-day Internet forum in > Singapore also said there was a need for nations in the West to > understand concerns about the Internet in the region. > It said the meeting "affirmed the importance of having safeguards > against easy access to sites which ran counter to our cherished > values, traditions and culture. ASEAN would encourage other nations, > especially the West to understand its concern." > The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, > Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. > Earlier this year, ASEAN information ministers met in Singapore to > discuss the darker side of the information technology revolution and > agreed to set up a regulatory body to oversee the Internet invasion. [...] > But the statement suggested there was no agreement on a uniform > approach to policing the Internet. > The ASEAN officials had agreed that regulatory frameworks would depend > on each country, and said they would continue to meet regularly "to > help each country formulate and fine tune its regulatory approaches," > it said. > Policing of the Net in ASEAN varies from Singapore's stance of strict > controls by licensing only three Internet service providers who have > to screen all material accessed by clients. > Other ASEAN members encourage more self-regulation, and the > Philippines says freedom of speech is a critical factor. > "Political control would not be on the Philippines' agenda," Glenn > Sipin, deputy executive director of the Philippines Council for > Advanced Science and Technology, told Reuters at the start of the > conference. > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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Re:
by Joey Grasty 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bugged: > Subject: How to send bogus mail to mislead traffic analysis? > > Hi > > How can I send messages to remailer so that they will get lost? > I want to generate a more or less steady flow of remailer-processed, encrypted mail. > > Can I send to nobody(a)some_remailer.net? > What are the guidelines for that? > What are the best remailers to send to? > > Cheers > > Bugged Set your final destination to "null:", e.g. ============================== :: Request-Remailing-To: null: This message gets trashed. ============================== This works for mixmaster remailers, WinSock Remailer, and probably most other cypherpunk remailers. Regards, -- 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

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No Subject
by ISP-TV Main Contact 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

*** ISP-TV Program Announcement: Meeks Interview *** Monday, September 9 9:00 PM ET Brock Meeks Chief Washington Correspondent for WIRED and HotWIRED WIRED's chief muckraking journalist will join ISP-TV for a discussion of the the technology policy underbelly of Washington, D.C, ranging from the Communications Decency Act to pornography in the bathrooms of the Senate Russell Building. This video interview can be viewed on the ISP-TV main CU-SeeMe reflector at IP 205.197.247.33, or other ISP-TV affiliate reflectors listed at http://www.digex.net/isptv/members.html There will be a call-in number for questions, and we will be monitoring EFnet IRC channel #isptv See URL http://www.digex.net/isptv for more information about the ISP-TV Network

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Re: Mail OnNet
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:06 AM 9/4/96 -0700, Alan Olsen wrote: >At 05:10 PM 8/31/96 -0700, Joel McNamara wrote: > >>Two notes. (1) It only runs under Win95 and NT. (2) It's ITAR restricted. > >(3) It is bigger than a battleship. The distribution is just shy of 10 >megs. Installed it is supposed to be about 45 megs. (In perspective, a >full install of Visual Basic 4.0 "Professional" is about 50 megs.) >--- The install is only 5MBs. Part of that 10MB package is a silly collection of netscape plugins which don't have to be installed. I guess they could be nice if I tried them. It also only works on NT4 regardless of what the web page says. With it's ability to run a program on receiving an email based upon filter criteria the possibilities are endless. (I know I know old hat for unix but so whiz bang for NTnoids like me.) --j

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Re: DON'T Nuke Singapore Back into the Stone Age
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:13 PM 9/2/96 -0400, you wrote: >> (This was done by many of us during the Karla Homulka and Teale trial in ... >There is a big difference between the Canada situation and the Singapore >situation. In Canada the restrictions are temporary and stem from making >the right to a fair trial a higher priority than the right to free >speech. >It is a conflict of two competing individual liberties. No observer of ..... >The situation in Sigapore is simply a corrupt government trying to >supress >legitimate democratic discussion. The intention is not to protect an >individuals right to a fair trial, the intention is to restrict argument >permanently. The Karla Homulka case and other criminal trials aren't the only censorship in Canada - there are far more serious problems. Zundel's problems (his legal ones, not just his moral ones) are well-known, as are the Dworkin/MacKinnon-inspired anti-pornography laws which Canada uses to censor lesbian bookstores and gay magazines. For the most part, other than sex and drugs, Canada's censorship is the pro-human-rights-politically-correct-liberal-hypocritical variety rather than the Singapore-style anti-human-rights-order-enforcing- politically-correct-dictatorship variety. But it's not only illegal to sell unapproved drugs in Canada, it's illegal to sell materials advocating drugs or their legalization, or of course information on how to make or grow drugs as well. (This helped Mark Emery get the capital to start his Hemp store in Vancouver by selling Cannabis magazines door-to-door :-) (It turns out that, since hemp seeds don't contain THC, they're not illegal in Canada, and hemp stores he's started or encouraged have sold enough seeds to grow more dope than Canada's police have confiscated in the last year or two. Mark openly violates the censorship laws, and his shop occasionally gets raided, and after the last bust they've decided he's a co-conspirator with everybody who's grown drugs using seeds or light bulbs bought from him, and they're playing a FUD game about whether to charge him with 8 life sentences, in under-5-year pieces....) Vancouver newspaper columnist Doug Collins gave a talk on censorship at an international libertarian conf. in BC recently, which Emery also spoke at. He knows the subject fairly well, since some of BC's censorship laws were written just for him. He's one of those anti-immigrant anti-Semitic* WW2-veteran curmudgeons who's got an editor who lets him write whatever he wants, and he offends a lot of people. In BC, and to some extent in the rest of Canada, you can be charged with human rights violations for disparaging ethnic and religious groups, and he's been tried and defended himself successfully for that, because Canada does have some limited protections for free speech in their Charter. So BC wrote a law that allows the BC human rights commission to fine people for human rights violations with just an administrative proceeding, not requiring a full-scale trial, and you generally can't get a jury in Canada for crimes with punishment less than 5 years in jail anyway. He hasn't been busted under the new law yet, but his publisher has spent about $30K in legal costs trying to make sure it doesn't happen. [*He knew better than to specifically say anything anti-Semitic while he was talking to us, but he referred to Jewish groups that oppose him in ways that implied he probably was.] And of course Canada has broadcasting licensing requirements that prevent people from starting radio and TV stations whenever they want to, plus a huge government broadcasting company, but they're not as limited as Singapore on that, and there are other countries with that problem. And of course they have silly language laws in Quebec, but they don't really limit what you can say as long as you say it in French (or Chinese or Vietnamese or just about anything except English and maybe Native languages.) # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> # You can get PGP software outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto

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Tack of Internet censorship
by nobody＠replay.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Six months ago, the Internet censors and Exon wannabees took the tack of "the Internet is too hard to censor". Now, their motto is "There will be some who get around our censorship, but we will try anyway." Unfortunately, I believe these censorship strikes will keep happening unless we find a way to stalemate them. What I am proposing is that Apache or other WWW servers have a way to allow access to site B's URL at site A, similar to the old trick of finger user@sitea.com@siteb.com. Implementation should be simple. However, I wonder what is a good standard way to specify this in the URL or a site.

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GSI
by gsi＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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