December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

SEC_ure
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

11-04-96. "Web security threat grows" With a variety of new technologies like stronger encryption, smart cards and digital signatures and envelopes emerging to tighten Web security, experts working on various aspects of the problem agree the goal of end-to-end security on the Web will remain elusive as long as insecure operating systems dominate the commercial market. "You can't build security on top of insecurity," said Netscape's Jim Roskind, who spent much of a session on Webware fending off criticism of Java security flaws. "We have to assume that the [security] problems will be pervasive forever," warned Peter Neumann. "This is a holistic problem, and we have to deal with it in a global way." "Protection sought for U.S. systems" The initiative will be led by the Pentagon's Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University and the Energy Department's Computer Incident Advisory Capability. "Motorola unveils chip for contactless smart card" One chip designing a contactless card that meets all frequencies of a proposed standard while the other adds cryptography to a single-chip solution. The other card incorporates a 1,024-bit modular encryption processor that is reportedly one of the fastest in the industry. "U.S.Joint Venture to Market Acoustic Smart Card Technology" NeTegrity also announced it has invested $1 million in Encotone, Ltd., for a 10% equity interest in the Israeli company. Other Encotone, Ltd. investors include ECI Telecom, a $500 million Israeli telecommunications firm, and Professor Michal Ben Or, Head of the Department of Computer Science at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a worldwide authority on cryptology. "Microchip Technology launches highly secure smart card family with KEELOQ code hopping technology" The SCS152 provides a programmable 64-bit cryptographic key used to create a digital signature unique to each card, which reduces the possibility of unwanted access to card information and the "cloning" of these cards for unauthorized payments. Other features include programmable user memory and "anti-tearing," which prevents the information in the card from being corrupted if the supply voltage is interrupted. "EEMA Lobbies Over Limiting US Encryption Controls" EEMA recognizes that the principal reasons for this is the disparate European legislation that surrounds the use of encryption, and the fact that inter-working with dominant US-based computer software -- operating system and application software -- is subject to US legislation and restrictions. "Putting EDI to the test" Security continues to be the main sticking point for using the Net as a vehicle for EDI. Vendors that will demonstrate secure E-mail messages transporting EDI documents over the Web. The technology used is S/MIME, an encrypted version of the popular MIME protocol. "V-One Secures New Clients" NSA runs the nation's code-breaking operations, and DISA is supposed to keep the nation's networks secure, so there is not much chance of finding out what they do with the software they have bought from V-One. ----- http://jya.com/secure.txt (28 kb) SEC_ure

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RE: Censorship in Western Australia
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 21:59:33 +1100 From: Irene Graham <rene(a)pobox.com> To: fight-censorship(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Re: Australia drafts Net rating system On Mon, 4 Nov 1996 18:53:24 -0800 (PST), Declan McCullagh <declan(a)eff.org> wrote: >---------- Forwarded message ---------- [...] >http://www.smh.com.au/computers/news/961105-news03.html [...] >Under the code, which is being developed by the >Internet Industry Association of Australia (INTIAA), >content will be classified under the existing code used >by the Office of Film and Television Classification. >"R" or "X" rated material would have to be clearly >identified and provided only to registered subscribers. [...] The subject line of this thread is misleading, which is understandable given the content of the newspaper report. "Australia" is not drafting a Net rating system (yet anyway). I doubt INTIAA actually is either. INTIAA purports to be (i.e. wants to be) the "peak Internet industry body" in Australia. However their code *does not* have the support of much of the "industry". The present stage of the fight in Australia is, not against government censorship, but against "privatised" censorship. There is presently no Net content rating system based on the OFLC classifications, nor with any luck is there likely to be. The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) in its July report on Net regulation was of the view that that system is unworkable for on-line content (which is correct) and proposed the development of a purpose-built classification system. Unfortunately it appears the director(s) of INTIAA have not read that report. The following extract from Electronic Frontiers Australia's response (of 22 Oct 96) to the ABA report tells the rest of the story about INTIAA and its code: "It appears that the ABA has been influenced by a particularly complicated proposed industry code of practice drafted by Patrick Fair of a Sydney corporation "The Internet Industry Association of Australia". That proposed code of conduct, released on the 10th September 1996, proposes a top-heavy industry body, drawing extensive levies from the Internet access providers in order to sustain a professional council as well-funded and well-staffed as a national professional body. INTIAA was established with board members representing hardware and software vendors, a national law firm and several large Internet access providers. Other members of the company include media and the Taxation Institute of Australia. It is fair comment that INTIAA represents a sector of the market with deep pockets and contacts in government, as indeed the Minister for the Communications and the Arts launched INTIAA on the 15th December 1995. The proposed code of practice makes use of the ABA's favoured PICS web page rating standard compulsory , creates an Administration Council with a government appointee as Chair and no direct voting by member service providers on changes to that Code. For those worried about censorship of the Net through the back door, the proposed Code places on service providers the obligation to block "X-rated" material as if it were child pornography. A further problem for service providers is the requirement that they report "illegal" sites to the authorities , report "RC" violations to other site administrators and delete users to enforce compliance with censorship. INTIAA's code of practice does not represent a consensus within the industry. There are State Internet Associations (WA Internet Association, South Australian Internet Association, ACT Internet Association) which do not subscribe to such a bureaucratic system and which instead are developing codes of practice which more fully fulfil industry aspirations and conform more fully to industry experience [...and...] make it quite clear that an Internet access provider cannot be held responsible for content not originating on his or her system under any circumstances. [...] The gloss and complexity of the INTIAA code by comparison has obviously promoted to the ABA the notion that the industry can self-fund a policing function as the government may direct." The INTIAA code is a threat to free speech on the Net (at least in Oz) equivalent to, and possibly worse than, government censorship. Regards Irene ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Irene Graham, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. PGP key on h/page. The Net Censorship Dilemma: <http://www.pobox.com/~rene/liberty/> "A year from now you may wish you had started today." Karen Lamb. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Mixmaster Test
by The Black Knight 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sorry for the spam, folks ... just looking for a mixmaster that puts the Subject: line into cypherpunk messages. Name-Withheld-By-Request Editor in Chief, Cypherpunk Enquirer

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Re: Cypherpunk Inquest?
by Rich Graves 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Yeah, I got it too as <2.2.32.19961104184908.00715ebc(a)popmail.mcs.net>. If I answer it, I'll Cc the list, but I figure he can read what I write here as easily as anyone. Anyone who'd send this same text to both me and John Young hasn't been lurking very closely. - -rich John Young wrote: > > Return-Path: lzkoch(a)mcs.net > X-Sender: lzkoch(a)popmail.mcs.net > Date: Mon, 04 Nov 1996 12:28:29 -0600 > To: jya(a)pipeline.com > From: Lewis Koch <lzkoch(a)mcs.net> > Subject: Regarding a story for Upside Magazine > > John Young: > > This is an identical letter to a limited number of contributors to > Cypherpunks regarding an article I will be writing for Upside Magazine - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMoER5yoZzwIn1bdtAQHXwwGA4FjBcDK1RSWC727Wk/nJM+ztn2/DEwbp 3gRhlPtUTfZ8oXMORvwjL4NEikb+iYfn =KmTb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Vulis profile Vulis profile
by nobody＠cypherpunks.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I had some free time this morning, and just for fun, thought I'd create a brief Net profile of our friend Dr. Vulis. Here's what I found (sources included): Dimitri Vulis #4k Burns St, Forest Hills,NY 11375-3506 (718)261-6839 Source: http://www.yahoo.com (Four11 people search) Birthday: December 29 Source: http://www.boutell.com/birthday.cgi/december/29 D&M Consulting Services (DM-DOM) 67-67 Burns Street Forest Hills, NY 11375 Domain Name: DM.COM Administrative Contact: Administration, PSINet Domain (PDA4) psinet-domain-admin(a)PSI.COM (703) 904-4100 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Network Information and Support Center (PSI-NISC) hostinfo(a)psi.com (518) 283-8860 Record last updated on 31-Oct-96. Record created on 19-Jun-91. Domain servers in listed order: NS.PSI.NET 192.33.4.10 NS2.PSI.NET 38.8.50.2 Source: InterNIC Q: Who is Dimitri Vulis? A: Dimitri is an XSoviet immigrant who is enrolled (or used to be enrolled) in CUNY, and who is a computer professional involved i.a. in unicode matters. The realspace Dimitri is a polite person and a devoted family head. It's cyberspace image is not nearly as nice, unfortunately. He harasses people all over the net with the most offensive sorts of messages, and uses dirty tricks to retaliate to the people who do get offended. Among his accomplished feats is a series of articles about cat-eating dogs posted to rec.pets.cats (which caused a wave of complaints and made him lost his CUNY account) ; a series of porno binaries with obscene comments about his opponents posted to math-related newsgroups (he lost another academic account, at fordham.edu, after this scandal); and a series of racist articles denigrating all aspects of romanian life and culture which used to haunt the romanian newsgroup for years. Of course most of his net.bile is spilled over his fellow XSoviets, particularly of Jewish origin (such as Michael Verbitsky, Boris Veytsman, Vlad Rutenberg or myself, as well as all Brighton Beach together); and a lot of stuff comes out from his alleged aliases in bwalk.dm.com, aol.com and fly.harvard.edu. Some of these aliases match the names of his opponents, as I already mentioned. Sometimes not only the names but also addresses match (although paths don't). Dimitri Vulis also advertises the capabilities of his site for forging and cancelling articles. Sometimes he shrewdly comments articles of his own saying : "This article is most certainly forged, after all I spent a lot of time teaching you how to forge... but I nevertheless like this article's content". Source: http://www.math.harvard.edu/~verbit/scs/cranks/from-Shlomo.html (much more there too) AUTHOR PROFILE: dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis) 510 articles posted between 1995/06/29 and 1996/11/02. 71 % followups. Number of articles posted to individual newsgroups (slightly skewed by cross-postings): 132 misc.jobs.misc 67 news.admin.net-abuse.misc 67 news.groups 40 mail.cypherpunks 32 nyc.food 18 soc.culture.russian 13 news.admin.misc 12 nyc.general 10 news.admin.censorship 9 news.admin.policy 8 alt.censorship 7 alt.usenet.kooks 7 soc.culture.pakistan 6 alt.revenge 5 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy 5 soc.culture.soviet 4 alt.sex.plushies 4 sci.math 4 sci.physics 4 talk.politics.medicine 3 alt.folklore.computers 3 alt.security 3 comp.lang.ada 3 comp.security.misc 3 sci.crypt 2 alt.nocem.misc 2 alt.sci.physics.plutonium 2 aus.flame 2 comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy 2 comp.unix.advocacy 2 microsoft.public.netiquette 2 soc.culture.israel 1 alt.2600 1 alt.anonymous 1 alt.bible 1 alt.computer.consultants 1 alt.consumers.experiences 1 alt.fan.bill-gates 1 alt.fan.my-big-hairy-penis 1 alt.privacy 1 alt.shenanigans 1 alt.society.neutopia 1 aus.general 1 comp.ai 1 comp.mail.uucp 1 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc 1 comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup 1 comp.sys.mac.advocacy 1 humanities.language.sanskrit 1 misc.entrepreneurs 1 misc.invest 1 news.newusers.questions 1 nj.misc 1 nyc.seminars 1 rec.humor 1 rec.motorcycles 1 sci.psychology.psychotherapy 1 soc.motss 1 tor.general Source: http://www.dejanews.com profile Dimitri Vulis: Contrib. post: whose obnoxious, derivative and not-very-funny Soviet emigre jokes from Brighton Beach were a weekly feature about a year ago on rec.humor . He ignored completely any requests to stop. Eventually he started getting flamed in demotic Russian-quite fun for those of us who could read it. - Dan "And to think he felt it important enough to waste his two hours of daily connect time on it" Case -- so what _is_ the deal with vulis? is "russian emigre" a codeword for "jew", or for "russian emigre", or for something else? (if i recall correctly, minor and now somewhat reformed net.loon mikhail zeleny claimed rather convincingly that vulis's posts contained certain tell-tale phrases which are highly un-idiomatic in english ("dandruff-covered" was one of them, i think) which were dead giveaways of classic pathological russian anti-semitism.) so is vulis russian? an emigre? a jew in some sense? self-hating? maybe a self-hating russian jewish emigre who hates only the jewish half of themself? or maybe they hate the russian half too? are they now or have they ever been, while residing in america, on the payroll of any branch of any soviet or russian government? did they stop posting russian emigre jokes when the paychecks stopped coming? are they a zhirinovsky supporter now? the most recent messages posted by vulis that i have seen seem designed mainly to convince people that both zhirinovsky and valery fabrikant are (russian?) jews. (it's very likely true in fabrikant's case, at least.) maybe vulis is a self-hating supporter of zhirinovsky and fabrikant? -- Posts on soc.culture.soviet, and is apparently something of an institution there; likes to stir things up, and to flame and/or troll people. I'm not up on which sides are good and/or bad on s.c.s, which among other things seems to have been ravaged by Serdar Argic for a long time as well, driving away many of the gentler posters. Is currently engaged in flamewar with Peter V. Vorobieff there. Posts from dlv(a)CUNYVMS1.GC.CUNY.EDU (Dimitri Vulis, CUNY GC Math). Source: http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~tskirvin/home/legends/legends3.html Dimitri Vulis's barcode font ftp: ctan: tex-archive/fonts/barcodes/barcodes.mf There is a mailing list, rustex-l, for discussion of typesetting Cyrilic-based languages. To subscribe, send mail to listserv(a)ubvm.bitnet containing the text SUBSCRIBE RUSTEX-L <your name here> or mail Dimitri Vulis, DLV%CUNYVMS1.BITNET(a)cunyvm.cuny.edu [or dlv(a)dm.com?] Source: http://wsspinfo.cern.ch/faq/fonts-faq/metafont-list Bar code fonts ymir.claremont.edu by Dimitri Vulis [anonymous.tex.mf] BibTeX eedsp.gatech.edu for MS-DOS v99 by J. Demel and Dimitri Vulis Source: http://www.clinet.fi/pd/doc/texts/TeX-FAQ-supplement_(part_2_of_3 ) (this FAQ is dated 10 May 93) Server The files of type para used in the index were: /u3/wais/mirror/cissites/cissites.txt A list of contacts for most known organizations in the former Soviet Union who either have or plan to have e-mail connections. Provided by the SUEARN-L list, SUEARN-L(a)UBVM.BITNET. Keywords: USSR, CIS, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Baltic, Moscow, Leningrad, Siberia. The original document is stored on impaqt.drexel.edu:/pub/suearn/misc/cissites.txt and is available for anonymous FTP. >From the front matter: * The Authoritative Soviet E-Mail Directory and Guide ** For more information, subscribe to the SUEARN-L mailing list, or send e-mail to Michael Meystel or Dimitri Vulis (c) 1992 All rights reserved This file contains contact information (correct name / address / phone / fax #... possibly e-mail address) for sites of interest in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We occasionally get asked questions like 'What is the Russian name of IAS?' or 'What is the postal address of St. Petersburg State U's math faculty?' or 'What does IPPI stand for?'. Over the years I've collected a fairly complete electronic address book of addresses of Soviet sites where mathematical research is done, which I gladly share. Sergej Gelfand and Don Parsons have kindly contributed their address lists (respectively, more math and oncology). An even more complete version of such file, listing sites of possible interest to people in other fields, and freely available on the Internet, would be very useful to many. Please send additions, corrections, suggestions, etc to: CISMAP(a)DM.COM I can't acknowledge everything, but I will try to read every e-mail. Dimitri Vulis ) Source: http://www.elvis.ru/wais/c.html

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Re: Censorship on cypherpunks
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:51 AM 11/6/96 -0800, Dale Thorn wrote: >As I've said before, all forums on the net can be arranged at some point in the future >to be "privately" owned, and the question is, can there be a free speech forum where >you won't be arbitrarily banned? > We call it Usenet.

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RE: Protecting Your Data With Crypto
by John Fricker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Windows 95 and Windows NT users: after a couple sleepless nights I have created a mini-front end for ciphering files with Blowfish. This is an alpha version so I'm looking for bugs, feedbacks and feature creep. Read all about it at http://www.program.com/FileCipher/ and let me know what you think! thanks etc, and happy encipheration! --j >John Young (jya(a)pipeline.com) said something about Protecting Your Data With Crypto on or about 11/5/96 1:45 AM >We have put the November UNIX Review article Peter cited >in his letter to the editor, "Protecting Your Data With Cryptography," >at: > > http://jya.com/protect.htm > > --j ----------------------------------- | John Fricker (jfricker(a)vertexgroup.com) | -random notes- | My PGP public key is available by sending mail with subject "send pgp key". | www.Program.com is a good programmer web site. -----------------------------------

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CLA_sh0
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Vigorous Cypherpunk debate on its purpose and future may be a harbinger of global conflict. A book review today on global conflict and six related essays in November Foreign Affairs may provide illumination -- both for Cypherpunk's crypto-mission and for its intramural clashes. (See Lewis Koch's inquest of global CP disputes.) 11-6-96. NYP: "A Scholar's Prophecy: Global Cultural Conflict." Book review. With the end of the cold war, the division of the world into ideological camps and political networks has yielded to the basic human propensity to find meaning and identity in cultural commonality -- in blood, religion, heritage and birthright. After four centuries of Western domination, global politics will now become a complicated and deadly earnest contest among the world's major civilizations, mainly the Western one, the Islamic one, and the Sinic one deriving from China. Unless the West recognizes the power of cultural conflict, it could perish from ignorance, overconfidence and complacency. ----- http://jya.com/clash0.txt CLA_sh0 ---------- The Foreign Affairs essays: http://jya.com/clashidx.htm (The URL is the index of the six; Huntington's is ready; others follow.) Abstracts: The West: Unique, Not Universal, Samuel P. Huntington Many in the West believe the world is moving toward a single, global culture that is basically Western. This belief is arrogant, false, and dangerous. The spread of Western consumer goods is not the spread of Western culture. Drinking CocaCola makes a Russian no more Western than eating sushi makes an American Japanese. The essence of the West is the Magna Carta, not the Magna Mac. As countries modernize, they may westernize in superficial ways, but not in the most important measures of culture language, religion, values. In fact, as countries modernize they seek refuge from the modern world in their traditional, parochial cultures and religions. Around the globe, education and democracy are leading to "indigenization." And as the power of the West ebbs, "the rest" will become more and more assertive. For the West to survive as a vibrant and powerful civilization, it must abandon the pretense of universality and close ranks. Its future depends on its unity. The peoples of the West must hang together, or they will hang separately. Democracy and the National Interest, Strobe Talbott Democracy makes good neighbors, and in an increasingly interconnected world the United States has both the means and the motive to promote the democratic process abroad. On the home front, Americans crave a foreign policy grounded, like their nation, in idealpolitik as well as realpolitik. The administration has made support of nascent democracies a priority of its diplomacy from Latin America to East Asia, and the returns from South Africa, Haiti, Russia, even Bosnia seem positive. But democratization is a long, hard journey in which elections are only the first step. The United States should encourage new democratic governments through their most fragile phase. Defense in an Age of Hope, William J. Perry Twice before, America had the opportunity to make the prevention of conflict its first line of defense. It must not lose this moment after the Cold War to foment a revolution in security strategy. Preventing proliferation is key, and U.S. programs help turn Soviet missile sites into sunflower fields. The American armed services the world's most emulated, show other militaries how to function in a civil society and conduct exchanges that head off misunderstandings. In Europe, George Marshall's fondest hopes are being realized through the Partnership for Peace which reverberates well beyond the security realm. Meanwhile, the United States leverages forces for maximum deterrence and invests in smart technology. But its best investment is in openness and trust, the essential tools of the art of peace. Germany's New Right, Jacob Heilbrunn Not skinheads in jackboots but journalists, novelists, professors, and young businessmen constitute the German new right. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, they have sought the "normalization" of German history, a revival of nationalism, and recognition that Germany is the most powerful country in Europe. When confronted with the Nazi past, they talk about Stalin's crimes and complain of an oppressive "political correctness." Violence against immigrants is answered with complaints of attacks against Germans. Though not a political movement, the new right is extending the boundaries of the politically acceptable. Banning Ballistic Missiles, Alton Frye Heady years for arms control make a superpower complacent. The structure of restraint accepted by Washington and Moscow could crack; meanwhile, proliferation continues apace and nuclear materials trickle onto the world market. The Clinton team has followed through on the work of past negotiators, but it is high time for a third START. The United States should propose the dramatic steps of placing nuclear warheads in "strategic escrow" and banning ballistic missiles. Advanced monitoring and inspection technologies make the plan practicable, and there will be security payoffs for all. Is the World Ready for Free Trade?, Charles R. Carlisle Though a leap to global free trade is a nice idea, the political support is just not there. Nor is any such earthshaking step necessary. The World Trade Organization has an extensive built-in agenda that should not be derailed. Fears of regionalism are greatly exaggerated, since regional trade has not increased much since the early 1970S and current plans for free trade in the Americas and the Pacific are unlikely to succeed. Few countries share the free-trade faith of the United States and Great Britain, and even in those places, economic anxiety threatens to push trade in the other direction. -----

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No Subject
by Bovine Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Wed, 6 Nov 1996 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com wrote: > Headline: > >> AUSTRALIA - CENSORS STRIKE AT INTERNET, LANS - Western Australia's > State Government says it will seek to censor all computer > transmissions of offensive material after its censorship act came > into force last Friday. [Newsbytes, 67 words] > > Probably not as competent as Singapore at enforcement, > but what do people know about it? I'll check with the Aus EFA and get back to you on the above. Hmmm, I wonder if a home user with a networked computer in say his lounge and another in his study will be guilty of a crime if he sends an electronic (and offensive) message to that other node! Press 'N' now if your not interested in a tounge in cheek brief on Australian politics this week... Action such as the above by WA would not suprise me it..of course its been tried before and defeated but that doesn't stop our political thugs here, they just put it on the backburner for a year and try again until people get tired of responding and pass it by default. Hell last week a federal member from WA spent 20 minutes ranting in parliament why all domestic cats (and feral cats) in Australia should be destroyed (Pussy Hater) whilst Australia's economy continues to slide, manufacturing moves offshore and our already record unemployment continues to rise. Semi-auto firearms were banned here this month (even though the Prime Minister stated earlier that he knew it wouldn't solve 'The Problem'), including semi-auto shotguns. All other firearms are now hard to obtain (must show a valid _reason_ for obtaining a permit for each individual firearm, including air rifles - note the protection of ones life is not a reason..its specifically excluded in the legislation); double edged knives are now a prohibited import. [Note: sling shots are already banned so that leaves just spears, bows and stones to be legislated against and Australia will be projectile-weapon free]. A local member was asked if police would still be carrying guns now that The Problem was solved and he responded with..no, there's still dangerous criminals out there; without realising the irony of his statement. Hmmmmm. This morning I read in the paper that my local city council is going to pass a regulation that will enable them to gas my cat (Lots of Pussy Haters here) if it eats a bird, 'strays' off my property, or generally has the nerve to make itself noticed. There is talk of banning 'protection' type dog breeds after an old women was killed recently, supposedly by a Rotty. A police sgt told a WA poliscum that a stolen car incident he investigated 3 weeks ago could only have been done by criminals using information obtained from the internet (yeah thats how ALL the crims learn hotwiring). This was then reported to the WA parliament as factual. Meanwhile our Foreign Minister (the same intellectual giant that recently spoke to the CEO of the US Reserve bank then spilled his guts to the press about the US Reserve Banks' intentions wrt interest rates - and awoke the next morning and found, much to his suprise, a bit of a market ruffle in full swing) today made a commitment to the UN that we would be taking steps with respect to multi-culturalism and native reconciliation, like some arse-licker at the international-cocktail party. Well at least it's now clear he is answerable to the UN for domestic policy. Our PM (Little Johnny 'flaK jacket' Howard) made a statement recently that his election would usher in a new era of free speech, however, now that an independant member with apparantly substantial grass roots support suggests politically incorrect things like reducing immigration, cutting the 50 hours a week child care for unemployed stay at home single mothers and the billions spent on ineffective aboriginal bodies all of parliament wants her to shut up. She has received death threats from Vietnamise drug gangs for expressing these views but she should be OK now because firearms are illegal. This week a recently retired Supreme Court Judge was named in parliament was named in parliament (under parliamentary privelege) as receiving favoured treatment by a commission investigating child sex charges. Apparantly the shock was so severe that he was forced to commit suicide that very night after insisting his innocence. The government side called for her dismissal (seemingly not because he was named but because he chose to kill himself) and suggested limitations on parliamentary speech. The good judge must not have had enough faith in his own legal system to trust his reputation to it and face a court of law. Police are also under investigation on child sex charges by that same body. Now you point out that if I say fuck here (Ooops thats illegal now) I can expect armed thugs kicking down my door to drag me back to WA for trial. I guess anyone state side better cancel any plans to visit our little autocracy here now, especially John, after all the message is being bounced into WA from his computer and if the legislation is like the laughable bill that was attempted to be introduced into New South Wales earlier this year he'll be in big trouble (i know this will come as a frightening shock to him). I better go find myself a good throwing rock, I think I here the sound of jack-boots on my path.

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Sony/Philips has trouble exporting Web TV's (fwd)
by Ray Arachelian 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 15:59:04 -0500 (EST) From: v0!d <voidmstr(a)primenet.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <wwwac(a)echonyc.com> Subject: Sony/Philips has trouble exporting Web TV's (fwd) >> >> From Electronic Buyers' News: >> >> October 28, 1996 >> Issue: 1030 >> Section: News >> >> CODE LIMIT EXCEEDED >> >> By Jack Robertson >> >> Washington - New Internet-television systems from Sony Corp. and >> Philips Electronics Co. are technically munitions under U.S. export >> controls and cannot be shipped to the companies' worldwide sales >> networks, it was disclosed last week. >> >> Sony officials said the company's TV set-top box designed by WebTV of >> Palo Alto, Calif., includes a state-of-the-art 128-bit code encryption >> system for electronic commerce. This far exceeds the 40-bit encryption >> code permissible for export under the U.S. Munitions Control List. >> >> Philips also makes a WebTV set-top Internet box at its Magnavox TV >> plant in Knoxville, Tenn., and is similarly barred from shipping the >> unit to sales channels around the world. >> >> Both global electronic giants face immediate competition in the >> emerging TV-Internet surfing market from other Japanese, South Korean, >> and European set-makers that don't face the U.S. encryption >> controls. They now join the U.S. computer industry, which has long >> protested that the outmoded encryption export curbs are causing them >> to forfeit overseas sales of PCs and workstations to foreign rivals. >> >> President Clinton last month proposed lifting the level of encryption >> export controls from the present 40-bit code word to 56 bits, but only >> if a trap door is embedded in the cipher to allow law enforcement >> agencies to decode wiretapped messages. Clinton is expected shortly to >> sign an executive order putting the new control limits into effect. >> >> The pending 56-bit-code threshold doesn't help the Sony or Philips >> Web-surfing TV systems - nor most U.S. computer companies that build >> systems with encryption exceeding even the new control limit. Both >> Netscape and Microsoft Web-browsing software includes 128-bit code >> encryption, surpassing export curbs. >> >> Zenith Electronics Co., maker of a Web-surfing TV set, isn't concerned >> about the encryption controls, since it sells only in the U.S. market >> where the curbs don't apply. >> >> Divicom Inc., based in Milpitas, Calif., must get an export license >> from the U.S. State Department for every exported cable TV front-end >> encoder, which includes 128-bit code word, according to Tom >> Lookabough, the company's sales manager. He said the license review >> process can take eight weeks or more, a troublesome delay that foreign >> competitors don't face. >> >> Divicom and Scientific Atlanta both said their new digital TV set-top >> boxes include encryption that exceeds allowable export limits - but >> virtually all sales so far are in the U.S. market. As digital-box >> production ramps up, the companies would like to sell overseas, but >> run into the export control ban that puts them at a severe >> disadvantage against the foreign competitors aggressively entering the >> set-top market. >> >> President Clinton's encryption export control changes include an >> industry-favored provision to take the category off the State >> Department's Munitions Control List and shift responsibility to the >> Commerce Department. >> Dennis Wilen : WWW Design, Production and Consulting voidmstr's law: bandwidth expands to fit the waste available voidmstr(a)primenet.com http://www.primenet.com/~voidmstr 2385 Roscomare Road, Bel Air CA 90077 voice: 310-471-7849

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