December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Algeria & Censorship
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

While I agree with the Algerian military in preventing an Islamic Fundamentalist takeover (it's one of my examples of situations in which democracy goes wrong), I definitely don't support many of their other actions. Lesser of two evils... -Allen > _________________________________________________________________ > PC Travel > _________________________________________________________________ > SUSPENDED ALGERIAN DAILY OFFERED INTERNET PAGE > __________________________________________________________________________ > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > PARIS (Sep 30, 1996 1:24 p.m. EDT) - A press freedom watchdog on > Monday offered the suspended Algerian daily La Tribune a page on its > Internet site to give it an airing during the six-month ban. > "Thanks to this initiative, these journalists, banned from writing by > the Algerian authorities, will be able to practice their trade again," > the Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RsF) said. > An Algiers court suspended La Tribune for six months on September 3 > over a cartoon mocking the Algerian flag. [...] > Fifty-seven journalists have been murdered by suspected rebels. RsF > said authorities had suspended or seized newspapers on 55 occasions > and 23 journalists had been held for more than 48 hours since the > conflict broke out over the 1992 cancellation of a general election > fundamentalists were poised to win. > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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the theory of split currency
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Austrian-econ is an academic economists' list focused on so-called "austrian" economics, like Hayek, Von Mises, etc... Notice the last little bit about Patrick Leahy... Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 20:13:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Fred Foldvary <ffoldvar(a)jfku.jfku.edu> To: Austrian Economics <AustrianEcon(a)agoric.com> Subject: the theory of split currency Organization: JFK University Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-austrianecon(a)agoric.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: AustrianECON(a)agoric.com Is there a name for a dual or split currency, in which there is one currency for domestic use and another, different appearing, currency for foreign usage? Does anyone know of any country which has had such a split currency? Is there any literature on such split currency? Here some thoughts on how it could function in the U.S.: 1) Domestic currency would not be legal tender outside the U.S. 2) Foreign US dollars would not be legal tender in the U.S. It would be illegal to hold foreign dollars in the U.S. Travelers would be required to convert them at customs. 3) The export of domestic currency would be illegal. 4) All exchanges between domestic and foreign currency would be required to be made in official exchanges, with the amounts recorded and reported to the government. 5) All previous currency would be declared of no value after a certain date. All conversions to new currency would be reported. What would be the implications for banking, international trade, and the market process? Would it affect the measurement of the money supply, and monetary policy? A motive for the government would be to control the underground economy, tax evasion, and the trade in illegal substances. This scenario is not entirely hypothetical. I have read that Senator Patrick Leahy introduced Senate Bill #307 to create such a split currency. The Bill failed to pass the Senate, but this shows the concept is out there. Is this worth investigation and theoretical examination? Fred Foldvary --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender." -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard, for Bart Simpson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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Re: Not reputation again! (Was: The Nature of the Cypherpunks List)
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"gregburk(a)netcom.com" 25-SEP-1996 07:25:48.98 >You could contend that the Poster With Nothing Better To Do's reputation >is balanced precariously at exactly 0. I would find that a big stretch, >and as above, if that's 0, what's negative? A fully anonymous individual (not a pseudonym or otherwise trackable individual) is inevitably going to have a reputation of 0. It can't be negative; that would be saying that I could flame myself via remailers and _increase_ my reputation if I did it properly. The person can't exactly build up a reputation of above 0, since that would require multiple good postings and/or some form of escrow. -Allen

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Re: Internet 'terrorism' newsclips [CYPHER, but news]
by aaron sommer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[article in Parade] Love that in-depth technical reporting. >And from another piece of hard-hitting quote-the-official-source journalism >in PARADE, "A New Worry: Terrorism in Cyberspace" [snip] ><SNIP> > >>There were more than 250,000 attacks on Department of Defense computers >last >>year, and 65% were successful. Little is known about who launched them, >why, or >>what they found. In a recent test, Defense Department "red teams" admit to >>intentionally hacking into 18,200 systems, with only 5% of the attacks >>detected; only 27% of those attacks were reported. > >Wonder if the timing of these stories has anything to do with the end of >term legislative push on wiretapping. They're recycling an old USA Today piece. Turns out that figure was extrapolated by an internal investigation team trying to break into unclassified/non-secure systems. They just took the success rate for thier attacks and multiplied it by an arbitrary number to come up with an "annual" rate, according to the USA Today article.

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Diffie Speaks at Sun^h^h^hMIT: "Cryptology, Technology, andPolitics"
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Sender: rah(a)tiac.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:27:15 -0400 To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: Diffie Speaks at Sun: "Cryptology, Technology, and Politics" ^^^ MIT, of course... Sorry! Cheers, Bob ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "'Bart Bucks' are not legal tender." -- Punishment, 100 times on a chalkboard, for Bart Simpson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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the theory of split currency
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fred Foldvary <ffoldvar(a)jfku.jfku.edu> wrote: > Is there a name for a dual or split currency, in which > there is one currency for domestic use and another, different > appearing, currency for foreign usage? > > Does anyone know of any country which has had such a > split currency? Many third world nations employed this system, one currency for internal use only, and one currency for international transactions. The international currency was sometimes denominated in hard currency, and reasonably convertible into it. This strategy was frequently associated with police state tactics, lawless imprisonment, and swift execution, for vaguely defined economic crimes. It has become substantially less common in the nineties. The external currency tended to spread into the internal economy, despite police state measures to prevent this from happening, and the internal currency tended to become worthless and could only be spent while holding a gun to the head of the person accepting it. In countries employing this system, women, and often children of both sexes, are often cheaply available for sexual purposes if you have foreign currency. I speculate that this is because people find that they *must* obtain foreign currency, the internal currency being unspendable, and any method available to them for obtaining foreign currency is a criminal offense. A retreat from this system, usually by allowing the international currency to freely penetrate the internal economy, tends to be associated with a substantial reduction in the availability of young girls, as for example in Cuba recently. > This scenario is not entirely hypothetical. I have read that > Senator Patrick Leahy introduced Senate Bill #307 to create > such a split currency. Why am I not surprised that it was Senator Patrick Leahy of crypto bill fame? --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: Public Schools
by snow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> On Sat, 28 Sep 1996, Adamsc wrote: > able to learn from their experiences, and will probably find working for > them less frustrating than working for a "Dilbert Zone" manager. Sooner > or later, though, you will encounter Dilbert's boss in the workplace, and > not everyone can leave to become a famous cartoonist. You may need to Well, there is always AP. > become (eeek!) a technical manager. You won't fare well if you've > completely neglected those non-technical skills. You'll be forced to > communicate with mundanes ... > Work to succeed in that creative writing course. Someday you will have a > Great Idea, and no matter how well you know you can implement the Great > Idea, you will need to convince others to believe, too. You will need > funding, or staffing, or equipment, and you will need to make others > understand the Great Idea, even if they do not have the technical > background to do so. You will be a sad and frustrated individual if you > cannot convince them. You get hold of a technical writer, explain it to them (they are use to translating geek to mundane). > Pack in all the math and comp sci you can, but take a real English course > or two, and not "pocket protector comp. 101", either. Dabble in eastern > philosophy, art history, or whatever catches your fancy, and see a bit of > the world outside the computer lab. Your technical skills will take you > much farther if you can understand their impact on the world. Good luck. While this is all true, most of it could be aquired in a competent High School. Petro, Christopher C. petro(a)suba.com <prefered for any non-list stuff> snow(a)smoke.suba.com

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Re: More proposals for European censorship
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"trei(a)process.com" 24-SEP-1996 07:54:10.53 >Or are you suggesting that this particular gang of sub-humans was >exposed at this time in an attempt to influence policy, implying that >the Belgian LEAs knew about, but did not stop the ring until they >needed a publicity coup? How about "The LEAs put more effort into solving cases which can get a political benefit than ones that don't"? Given limited police resources (fortunately), they've got to prioritize somehow... and given politically-appointed higher-ups, some form of concentration on helpful-publicity cases is inevitable. -Allen

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Re: Utah as a Religious Police State
by Ryan Russell/SYBASE 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A couple of people have pointed out what he was talking about, one of which is below. I haven't been able to find an article on the web that does more than reference the event. I'll try to hunt up one of the books. If anyone cares, I'll post what I find later. Ryan ---------- Previous Message ---------- To: cypherpunks cc: From: mirele @ xmission.com ("Deana Holmes") @ smtp Date: 09/30/96 06:53:41 AM Subject: Re: Utah as a Religious Police State On 29 Sep 96 at 17:36, Ryan Russell/SYBASE wrote: > Hmm...never heard that one before. Care to produce > a reference? > > (Or am I supposed to be ignoring this guy when he > makes ridiculous claims?) > > Ryan I suspect that Dmitri is referring to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It's not a pretty story and is one of the low points of Mormon history. The late historian Juanita Brooks wrote about the masscre, and about the leader, John D. Lee, in a couple of books. > ---------- Previous Message ---------- > To: cypherpunks > cc: > From: dlv @ bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM) @ smtp > Date: 09/29/96 05:54:09 PM > Subject: Re: Utah as a Religious Police State > > Ryan Russell/SYBASE writes: > > I guess that depends on your definition of liberty. The Mormons > > originally moved there to have a place to practice their religion, > > and have freedom from persecution. I suppose one could extend that > > to wanting a place to have the freedom to have a set of rules consistant > > with their beliefs. Should that include freedom from interferance from > > folks such as yourself who want to change their rules, even though > > you're not presently effected? > > It's worth noting that one of Utah mormons favorite pastimes was to ambush > the settlers heading for California, kill them all, and take their property. > However the mormons were dealt with much less severely than the local Indians > who tried the same tricks. Pity. ===end vulis rant=== Deana Deana M. Holmes April 1996 poster child for clueless $cientology litigiousness alt.religion.scientology archivist since 2/95 mirele(a)xmission.com

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Minor wording error in Snake Oil FAQ
by rjasonc＠pobox.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Mon, 30 Sep 96 11:05 EST >From: "Robert S. Powers" <@mcimail.com> >To: rjasonc <rjasonc(a)pobox.com> >Subject: Wording error in your email > >Minor wording error. Your paragraph: > > random session This is a temporary key that is generated specifically for > key one message. Typically, in public key cryptosystems, the > message to be sent is encrypted with a symmetric key that > was specifically generated for that message. The encrypted > version of that message, as well as the associated session Wording error here > < > key can then be encrypted with the recipient's public key. > When the recipient decrypts the message, then, the system > will actually decrypt the message it gets (which is the > ciphertext message and the symmetric key to decrypt it), > and then use the symmetric key to decrypt the ciphertext. > The result is the plaintext message. This is often done > because of the tremendous difference in the speed of > symmetric vs. asymmetric ciphers. > > >...says that BOTH the message and the secret key are encrypted >using the public key system. I'm sure it's just a wording error; >but clearly the public key system is NOT generally used to encrypt >the full message. That would take too long, as you point out; >and that's why the secret key is used at all! > >bp

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