December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Reporters, Declan, Columns, Articles, and Angles
by Ross Wright 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On or About 10 Apr 97 at 19:09, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > "Phillip M. Hallam-Baker" <hallam(a)ai.mit.edu> writes: > <doesn't matter what, 3 times> > > That's $3 for Sinn F\'ein. Thank you, Phil. > > P.S. Fuck your Queen. Free Rule for Ireland!

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Re: store your private key on a multi-user system! use pubkeys without verifying them!
by Toto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bryce wrote: > > The non-cpunks that I talk to frequently say that "no bad guys > would bother to read my e-mail". > as long as the value of reading your private e-mail is less than > the cost of reading it, you can consider yourself safe. Bad, bad assumption. > So my points are as follows: > 2. To the cpunks: the _value_ of invading your privacy is not that > high. There are no evil storm troopers whose full time job is to run > a man-in-the-middle attack … [View More]on your PGP public key, or dedicate a > cracking farm to decrypting your messages, or using TEMPEST devices > on your home computer or whatever. Therefore, simply encrypting your > personal e-mail with a 512-bit PGP key, storing your private key on > your local multi-user Unix system, and using people's public keys > _without_ doing anti-Man-In-The-Middle techniques is more than > sufficient to protect your privacy. Horseshit. Send me all of the email and files from the hard drives of the NSA, CIA, FBI, and the organizations we don't know about, for the last 20 years, and then we'll talk about what evil storm troopers do, or do not, exist. Then we can begin to talk about what really trips up most fugitives/criminals/freedom-fighters--the mundane. J.Edgar Hoover didn't rise from the grave to entrap the UnaBomber with high-tech devices and an army of spooks. His own family turned him in. Four guys broke into a Vancouver bank a few years ago, spent the weekend cracking the vault and safety deposit boxes, and made a clean getaway, except one of their suitcases broke open on the trip out of town, spilling the goodies for everyone to see. They sat in jail until Monday morning, when the banks opened, and the cops could figure out who they robbed. > Now, if you use your e-mail to transmit really _valuable_ data, then > that is a different story. I submit that everyone has _really_valuable_data_, no matter what value others put on it. I would guess that there are no shortage of people who would rather have their company's data compromised, than have their spouse find their secret love-letters. The key is to be as meticulous as possible in your security precautions, because those things you have little knowledge of or control over may well be more dangerous to you than those that you don't. Case in point. I spent twenty years of my life making sure that I had extra 'butts' on me at all times, so that I would not have to face my greatest fear--going to jail without a suffiecient supply of nicotine. The one time I slipped up was when I was on 'safe' ground, in my hometown, crossing a border I had crossed every day for the last few weeks with no trouble. Then I got hauled in for a 'bad check' that was a result of a clerical error. I actually had the cancelled check in my motorhome, but the facts didn't matter--I was headed for the slam with almost no butts. An understanding Sheriff's deputy with a couple extra packs probably saved me from the death penalty for killing cops to escape and go get more butts. When you decide that you've got nothing to worry about, because the 'bad guys' aren't after you, then the 'good guys' will get you. Your wife will hire a teenage hacker to look for the secret love letters that don't exist, and turn up unrelated info that the kid will use to get a sweetheart deal when the Feds break down 'his' door. Your employer's audit of the books will point to you being a thief, and in the process of proving you innocent, will turn up evidence of your office affair, giving your spouse grounds for divorce. The people who get fucked aren't the people who 'deserved' it. They aren't the people who 'took crazy chances'. They aren't the people who 'had the most to hide'. They are the people who got fucked. The bottom line is, if you have something to hide, then hide it, and hide it well. You can be faster than a speeding bullet and leap tall buildings in a single bound, but somewhere out there is a bum going through a dumpster, and he just found a funny, glowing, green rock. -- Toto "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html [View Less]

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Microsoft Site Gestapo
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:53 PM 4/10/97 -0700, you wrote: >Welcome to Site Builder Network - Level 1. > >We went to your site(s) and found the Microsoft Internet Explorer logo >and link, so your membership has been upgraded to Level 1. You now have >access to the Members Only - Level 1 Lounge as well as the Members Only >Download Area. Please take some time to visit >http://www.microsoft.com/sbnmember/lounges/lounges.asp to see what's in >store for you. Your ID and password are listed … [View More]

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Re: A mini rant on IRS and Social Security
by Toto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy C. May wrote: > > Many of you in the United States have probably seen the reports on how the > Social Security Administration has pulled their Web site, citing security > problems. > > I'm not naive. I knew that anything I reported to the IRS, or that my > employers reported, was accessible to those with access (Q.E.D.). I just am > surprised that my earnings for the past 28 years are "online," available > to anyone with the few bits of entropy needed to … [View More]

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Re: KC post per Alec
by Kent Crispin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Thu, Apr 10, 1997 at 10:04:01PM -0600, Toto wrote: [a piece on Tim May] Toto, thanks for your thoughtful comments. Your touching defense of Tim is interesting. Contrary to what you might think, I really don't have anything against Tim May, and I do go read things he (or others) have written in the past. But I am getting to the crusty old fart stage myself... As to his legacy, and the legacy of cypherpunks in general, that remains to be seen. None of the cypherpunks are in a position … [View More]

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Re: "...markets are fundamentally chaotic, not efficient"?
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> By that definition, markets, whether for capital or assassins, > are distinctly _not_ chaotic*, since most people's decisions > [* Unless Life, The Universe, and Everything are really > deterministic, but fate has decreed that I don't believe that...] > about what stocks to buy/sell, and particularly the timing, > are influenced by lots of random events - when they hear what information, > whether they were busy doing something else when they heard, > whether they'… [View More]

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Politics This Week [Tamper Proof Device?]
by Alec 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >From: The Economist <null(a)postbox.co.uk> >Subject: Politics This Week (April 4th - April 10th 1997) >Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 22:01:13 +0100 >Also available at http://www.economist.com/ >******************************************************************** [SNIP] >A Thunderbolt ground-attack aircraft and its bomb-load vanished over >Arizona. Had its pilot defected? [SNIP] >***** >If you find our summaries service useful,… [View More]

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DON'T DELETE!!!
by Darren Daniels 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I usually delete email like this without even thinking but I had some extra time when I got this and I'm glad I did! This is not a pyramid scheme or chain letter. It's legitimate marketing of legitimate products. You've got nothing to lose by reading it. Lots of people are making money on the internet. Why shouldn't you be one of them? <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <&… [View More]gt; You are about to make at least $50,000 - In less than 90 days Read the enclosed program...THEN READ IT AGAIN!... <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> The enclosed information is something I almost let slip through my fingers. Fortunately, sometime later I re-read everything and gave some thought and study to it. My name is Christopher Erickson. Two years ago, the corporation I worked at for the past twelve years down-sized and my position was eliminated. After unproductive job interviews, I decided to open my own business. 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If you are a fellow business owner and you are in financial trouble like I was, or you want to start your own business, consider this a sign. I DID! Sincerely, Christopher Erickson PS Do you have any idea what 11,700 $5 bills ($58,000) look like piled up on a kitchen table? IT'S AWESOME! "THREW IT AWAY" "I had received this program before. I threw it away, but later wondered if I shouldn't have given it a try. Of course, I had no idea who to contact to get a copy, so I had to wait until I was emailed another copy of the program. Eleven months passed, then it came. I DIDN'T throw this one away. I made $41,000 on the first try." Dawn W., Evansville, IN "NO FREE LUNCH" "My late father always told me, 'remember, Alan, there is no free lunch in life. You get out of life what you put into it.' Through trial and error and a somewhat slow frustrating start, I finally figured it out. The program works very well, I just had to find the right target group of people to email it to. So far this year, I have made over $63,000 using this program. I know my dad would have been very proud of me." Alan B., Philadelphia, PA A PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS PROGRAM By the time you have read the enclosed information and looked over the enclosed program and reports, you should have concluded that such a program, and one that is legal, could not have been created by an amateur. Let me tell you a little about myself. I had a profitable business for ten years. Then in 1979 my business began falling off. I was doing the same things that were previously successful for me, but it wasn't working. Finally, I figured it out. It wasn't me, it was the economy. Inflation and recession had replaced the stable economy that had been with us since 1945. I don't have to tell you what happened to the unemployment rate...because many of you know from first hand experience. There were more failures and bankruptcies than ever before. The middle class was vanishing. 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INSTRUCTIONS We at Erris Mail Order Marketing Business, have a method of raising capital that REALLY WORKS 100% EVERY TIME. I am sure that you could use $50,000 to $125,000 in the next 20 to 90 days. Before you say "Bull", please read the program carefully. This is not a chain letter, but a perfectly legal money making opportunity. Basically, this is what we do: As with all multi-level business, we build our business by recruiting new partners and selling our products. Every state in the USA allows you to recruit new multi- level business partners, and we offer a product for EVERY dollar sent. YOUR ORDERS COME AND ARE FILLED THROUGH THE MAIL, so you are not involved in personal selling. You do it privately in your own home, store or office. This is the GREATEST Multi-level Mail Order Marketing anywhere: Step (1) Order all four 4 REPORTS listed by NAME AND NUMBER. Do this by ordering the REPORT from each of the four 4 names listed on the next page. For each REPORT, send $5 CASH and a SELF- ADDRESSED, STAMPED envelope (BUSINESS SIZE #10) to the person listed for the SPECIFIC REPORT. International orders should also include $1 extra for postage (Be sure and wrap the $5 so it isn't visible). It is very essential that you specify the NAME and NUMBER of the report requested to the person you are ordering from. You will need ALL FOUR 4 REPORTS because you will be REPRINTING and RESELLING them. DO NOT alter the names or sequence other than what the instructions say. IMPORTANT: Always provide same-day service on all orders. Step (2) Replace the name and address under REPORT #1 with yours, moving the one that was there down to REPORT #2. Drop the name and address under REPORT #2 to REPORT #3, moving the one that was there to REPORT #4. The name and address that was under REPORT #4 is dropped from the list and this party is no doubt on the way to the bank. When doing this, make certain you type the names and addresses ACCURATELY! DO NOT MIX UP MOVING PRODUCT/REPORT POSITIONS!!! Step (3) Having made the required changes in the NAME list, save it as a text (.txt) file in it's own directory to be used with whatever email program you like. Again, REPORT #3 will tell you the best methods of bulk emailing and acquiring email lists. Step (4) Email a copy of the entire program (all of this is very important) to everyone whose address you can get your hands on. Start with friends and relatives since you can encourage them to take advantage of this fabulous money-making opportunity. That's what I did. And they love me now, more than ever. Then, email to anyone and everyone! Use your imagination! You can get email addresses from companies on the internet who specialize in email mailing lists. These are very cheap, 100,000 addresses for around $35.00. IMPORTANT: You won't get a good response if you use an old list, so always request a FRESH, NEW list. You will find out where to purchase these lists when you order the four 4 REPORTS. ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-DAY SERVICE ON ALL ORDERS!!! REQUIRED REPORTS ***Order each REPORT by NUMBER and NAME*** ALWAYS SEND A SELF-ADDRESSED, STAMPED ENVELOPE AND $5 CASH FOR EACH ORDER REQUESTING THE SPECIFIC REPORT BY NAME AND NUMBER ________________________________________________________ REPORT #1 "HOW TO MAKE $250,000 THROUGH MULTI-LEVEL SALES" ORDER REPORT #1 FROM: Big D Enterprises Po Box 2626 Longview, Wa 98632 ________________________________________________________ REPORT #2 "MAJOR CORPORATIONS AND MULTI-LEVEL SALES" ORDER REPORT #2 FROM: STAR Enterprises PO Box 271813 Tampa, FL 33688-1813 ________________________________________________________ REPORT#3 "SOURCES FOR THE BEST MAILING LISTS" ORDER REPORT #3 FROM: Success Concepts Rt. Box 430L Hendersonville, NC 28792 ________________________________________________________ REPORT #4 "EVALUATING MULTI-LEVEL SALES PLANS" ORDER REPORT #4 FROM: Prosperity Group PO Box 2005 Englewood, FL 34295-2005 ________________________________________________________ CONCLUSION .I am enjoying my fortune that I made by sending out this program. You too, will be making money in 20 to 90 days, if you follow the SIMPLE STEPS outlined in this mailing. To be financially independent is to be FREE. Free to make financial decisions as never before. Go into business, get into investments, retire or take a vacation. No longer will a lack of money hold you back. However, very few people reach financial independence, because when opportunity knocks, they choose to ignore it. It is much easier to say "NO" than "YES", and this is the question that you must answer. Will YOU ignore this amazing opportunity or will you take advantage of it? If you do nothing, you have indeed missed something and nothing will change. Please re-read this material, this is a special opportunity. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to the sender of this information. You will get a prompt and informative reply. My method is simple. I sell thousands of people a product for $5 that costs me pennies to produce and email. I should also point out that this program is legal and everyone who participates WILL make money. This is not a chain letter or pyramid scam. At times you have probably received chain letters, asking you to send money, on faith, but getting NOTHING in return, NO product what-so-ever! Not only are chain letters illegal, but the risk of someone breaking the chain makes them quite unattractive. You are offering a legitimate product to your people. After they purchase the product from you, they reproduce more and resell them. It's simple free enterprise. As you learned from the enclosed material, the PRODUCT is a series of four 4 FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS REPORTS. The information contained in these REPORTS will not only help you in making your participation in this program more rewarding, but will be useful to you in any other business decisions you make in the years ahead. You are also buying the rights to reprint all of the REPORTS, which will be ordered from you by those to whom you mail this program. The concise one and two page REPORTS you will be buying can easily be reproduced at a local copy center for a cost off about 3 cents a copy. Best wishes with the program and Good Luck! "IT WAS TRULY AMAZING" "Not being the gambling type, it took me several weeks to make up my mind to participate in this program. But conservative as I am, I decided that the initial investment was so little that there was no way that I could not get enough orders to at least get my money back. BOY, was I ever surprised when I found my medium sized post office box crammed with orders! I will make more money this year than any ten years of my life before." Mary Riceland, Lansing, MI TIPS FOR SUCCESS Send for your four 4 REPORTS immediately so you will have them when the orders start coming in. When you receive a $5 order, you MUST send out the product/service to comply with US Postal and Lottery laws. Title 18 Sections 1302 and 1341 specifically state that: "A PRODUCT OR SERVICE MUST BE EXCHANGED FOR MONEY RECEIVED." WHILE YOU WAIT FOR THE REPORTS TO ARRIVE: 1. Name your new company. You can use your own name if you desire. 2. Get a post office box (preferred). 3. Edit the names and addresses on the program. You must remember, your name and address go next to REPORT #1 and the others all move down one, with the fourth one being bumped OFF the list. 4. Obtain as many email addresses as possible to send until you receive the information on mailing list companies in REPORT #3. 5. Decide on the number of programs you intend to send out. The more you send, and the quicker you send them, the more money you will make. 6. After mailing the programs, get ready to fill the orders. 7. Copy the four 4 REPORTS so you are able to sent them out as soon as you receive an order. IMPORTANT: ALWAYS PROVIDE SAME-DAY SERVICE ON ORDERS YOU RECEIVE! 8. Make certain the letter and reports are neat and legible. YOUR GUARANTEE The check point which GUARANTEES your success is simply this: you must receive 15 to 20 orders for REPORT #1. This is a must!!! If you don't within two weeks, email out more programs until you do. Then a couple of weeks later you should receive at least 100 orders for REPORT #2, if you don't, send out more programs until you do. Once you have received 100 or more orders for REPORT #2, (take a deep breath) you can sit back and relax, because YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE AT LEAST $50,000. Mathematically it is a proven guarantee. Of those who have participated in the program and reached the above GUARANTEES-ALL have reached their $50,000 goal. Also, remember, every time your name is moved down the list you are in front of a different REPORT, so you can keep track of your program by knowing what people are ordering from you. IT'S THAT EASY, REALLY, IT IS!!! REMEMBER: "HE WHO DARES NOTHING, NEED NOT HOPE FOR ANYTHING." "INVEST A LITTLE TIME, ENERGY AND MONEY NOW OR SEARCH FOR IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE." ******************************************************************* - sent you this message using WorldMerge, the fastest and easiest way to send personalized email messages to your customers, subscribers, leads or friends. For more information, visit http://www.coloradosoft.com ******************************************************************* [View Less]

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Grumpy Old Cypherpunks
by TruthMangler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Kent Crispin wrote: > > Toto, thanks for your thoughtful comments. Your touching defense of > Tim is interesting. I don't think it's so much a case of defending Tim as it is that Toto is an old mangy dog who is losing his eyesight and biting at everything that comes into his limited range of vision. > Contrary to what you might think, Assuming what others are assuming gets to be a nasty little cyle that leads you to sitting alone with two beers in front of you, arguing … [View More]with yourself and finally getting mad enough at the *other* guy to drink *his* beer, too. > I really don't have anything against > Tim May, and I do go read things he (or others) have written in the > past. Apology accepted. > As to his legacy, and the legacy of cypherpunks in general, that > remains to be seen. The "legacy" already exists, whether it is recognized in the future, or not. Even a fruit fly has a legacy which is important to certain scientists. > None of the cypherpunks are in a position to be > able to judge very well, because they are so close to their favorite > issues that of course they look very large. Group discounts should be used for saving airfare, and not for lumping people (especially anarchists) into one mass and discounting their thoughts and opinions. I get tired of hearing how an individual's ability to 'judge' an issue increases with his lessening knowledge of it, or interest in it. Perhaps we need more retarded legislators and world-rulers in order to properly test this theory. > But it isn't a certainty > that any of the predictions of crypto-anarchy, for example, will come > to pass. It is possible that the surveillance state will win. Spank yourself, throw some cold water on your face, and take a look around you. The average person is not allowed to move an inch without taking a number and/or waiting for it to be called. "What were once vices, are now habits." The medium *is* the message, and today's mental medium is DoubleSpeak. The age-old "number's racket" is no longer a "criminal enterprise," but is, rather, a "government sponsered charitable institution" (or was; I have no idea what the current DoubleSpeak for it is). My personal view is that the war on DoubleSpeak was lost when we allowed Ronnie Rayguns & Co. to name a weapon of mass destruction "The Peacekeeper." If we had risen up and slaughtered a few hundred politicians at that time, then mental freedom would have had a slim chance of survival. Anyone who claims that 1984 hasn't arrived and thrived because we do not yet have loudspeakers on the streetcorners blaring, "You are not getting fucked by the government...You are not getting fucked by the government..." The surveillance state has already won, the only question is whether or not there will be a revolution. For God's sake, man, take a look around you. The surveillance state has ruled for years in the places it counts most--in the medium and in the message. The government is only solidifying ground already held with their further intrusions into areas of freedom and privacy, as well as extending their reach into the latest medium, the Net/WWW. Media content is ruled by the few and the powerful, and the masses are ruled by the media. You are permitted to speak out against government policy only if you have Freedom of Speech Permit #900873.7b and post a $50,000 Non-Incitement to Terrorism bond. The battle for freedom and privacy is mostly about governments and corporations fighting over each other having access to *their* secrets, not the common man and woman's secrets. Their fight over the common people is only whether they will be controlled via key escrow or cookies. Name any issue and you will find it surrounded by a plethora of laws regulating when, where, and how it can be spoken about. The only thing that makes Jim Bell (the lunatic, speed-freak, drug addicted tax-dodger whose convictions seem to have mostly only taken place within the confines of media-reality) special is that he spoke loud enough to get some government and media attention. Most people are like dogs with their tails between their legs, who take vain pride in the decent, law-abiding "character" they display in whimpering, somehow managing to forget that the reason they no longer bark is because they were beaten every time they did so. > More > likely, of course, the world will go in a direction that will surprise > all of us (except that Tim will tell us he considered the possibility > in a paper he wrote back in the 1970s). What will look portentious and > what will look pretentious 10 years from now is hard to judge... > > Personally, I am in favor of absolute personal privacy, but I don't > define that to include economic dealings -- as far as I am concerned, > business or economic privacy is at a lower level of concern than > personal privacy. And having a small burning rod shoved up your ass is "at a lower level of concern" than having a large one shoved up there? Are you being held hostage in a tower of intellect? > This puts me at odds with the prevailing > libertarian bent of cypherpunks, of course. However, I was thrown off > my stride by the high level of downright hostility so common on this > list. Like most people, I tend to respond in kind. This list is one of the few places where the dogs still bark (and bite, as well). Smarmy "gumming" of the logic and opinions of others on this list will not get you many doggie bones. My personal pet peeve is the fucking happy faces that abound in posts everywhere. If you can't figure out whether a comment is an insult or humor, then take it as an insult, because any professed difference between the two is only an illusion. I suppose that it is only a matter of time before I walk into a happy-face factory and start blowing people away at random. A barking gun is only the final result of years of govement and societal suppression of our natural instinct to bark loud and long when intruders invade our personal space. Or perhaps I will walk into a happy-face factory and just bark at them. If they fail to recognize the humor in my actions, then I suppose that I will have to grab a mask and "put on a happy face." After all, the medium is the message. TruthMangler [View Less]

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Re: Reporters, Declan, Columns, Articles, and Angles
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Comments: Authenticated sender is <rwright(a)adnetsol.com> From: "Ross Wright" <rwright(a)adnetsol.com> Organization: King Media and RW Marketing To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com, dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM) Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 Subject: Re: Reporters, Declan, Columns, Articles, and Angles On or About 10 Apr 97 at 19:09, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > "Phillip M. Hallam-Baker" <hallam(a)ai.mit.edu> writes: > <doesn't matter what, 3 times> > > … [View More]

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