December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

RE: Hard to Tax Scenario
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 8:44 pm -0500 on 3/29/97, Hal Finney wrote: > I think Robin's example of an anonymous doctor is a bit extreme, > since doctors typically do hands-on work. Ain't quite so far-fetched as it looks. At the ACM 50 year thing a bit ago, they were doing telemedical diagnoses. The Army has a teleoperated meatball-surgery system for battlefields. Onion routed surgery, anyone? > Yes, I think there is general agreement that these methods will not work > well for large businesses. Another issue is the requirement to keep > fraudulent records, etc., which may involve a large number of people in > the conspiracy. Right, but, in a <ducking> geodesic </duck> market, large entities dissolve anyway because (another of my wildly unsubstantiated claims) large firms' internal transfer pricing efficiencies aren't any higher than those of the open market. > I gather that similar dodges are employeed today by wealthy lawyers and, > yes, doctors, to hide some of their income. They hire offshore companies > to perform some services, which are actually under their control via > shell corporations, trusts, etc., set up in banking-secrecy jurisdictions. > Presumably crypto could smooth the way somewhat and open these methods > up to more people, but I don't see it as a particularly essential ingredient. I think, soon enough, we're all going to be sole proprietors of some kind, transacting business on our own behalf on the net, and cash will always king in that kind of world. Frankly, corporations have no way to hide, or they would. Heck, when you think about it, corporations, as legal entities, anyway, can't survive in an environment where laws can't work, anyway. (By the way, I'm going to embarass Doug Barnes now by naming a law after him. He said a thing of beauty at FC97: "Any transaction protocol which has, as one of it's steps, '...and then you call the cops', isn't a real good idea on the internet." Shall we call it Barnes' Law, anyone? Sure, lots have said it before, but no one's said it better...) > These all assume a model where the transaction is open, but where the > ownership issues are hidden. However I think we have been talking about > simpler methods, where the fact of the initial income is what is hidden. Right. Or, if the income is actually earned and spent on the net. There, cash is the best payment method because it settles instantly without the recordkeeping overhead -- much less the indirect cost of law-enforcement :-). > Or she takes some work on the side > via an anonymous network, and the cash goes straight into her pocket. Oops. I shoulda read further, I guess. :-). > If receipt-skimming is facilitated by the untraceable nature of ecash, > then presumably sales tax can be under-reported as easily as income tax. Or capital gains, or any other book-entry tax. > I don't know how or whether crypto could help with the more elaborate > techniques you are really asking about, dummy trading partners and such. > If you're really paying taxes on your gross receipts, then presumably > the only way to save is to hide those receipts. You could do this by > taking some fraction of your work anonymously, even if most of your > income is reported. I think of this stuff at the boundry between cypherspace and meatspace as the equivalent of turbulence. And, as the joke goes, turbulence is a hard problem. :-). However, I do know that as it becomes more and more easy to buy and hold assets on the net, particularly financial assets (the largest category thereof) and, someday, maybe even actual meatspace-physical *stuff*, this problem, like that of punching through the turbulence at the sound barrier, or that any other "barrier" for that matter, will be not such a big deal. (Another paragraph of Proustian proportions, that...) Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA Lesley Stahl: "You mean *anyone* can set up a web site and compete with the New York Times?" Andrew Kantor: "Yes." Stahl: "Isn't that dangerous?" The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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National Citizen-Unit Tracking Database coming soon
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

National Citizen Dossier System Being Quietly Set Up That's what the headlines should be saying, anyway. Instead they're saying things like: (_Knoxville Journal_, 3/27/97) Governor's Budget Includes Money to Set Up Gang-Tracking Network [...] [A]s part of the governor's anti-gang proposals, he's proposing to spend $625,000 worth of state and federal money to set up a gang-tracking computer database and network. Four agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be assigned to do nothing but gather and maintain information about gangs in the state's four regions. They will analyze and compile the information on computer for dissemination throughout the state, the Southeast, and the nation - but not for public use. Law enforcement agencies will be able to use it and update it. Information on the database could include a picture, a description, the gang affiliation, criminal convictions, crimes that a person is suspected in, and possible nicknames. [...] Other press reports have indicated that the database will include "domestic terrorist groups" and will incorporate a great deal of additional data, such as a roster of vehicles which should be given special attention at the now-innumberable roadblocks and checkpoints. The important thing to note is that - as I understand the description of the program - a person does not have to commit a crime to be included in the database. They just have to have contact with a person or group which is already in it. Didn't somebody named Jospeh McCarthy get himself in trouble over this kind of thing? bd

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Heaven's Cypherpunks
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If you like weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks-Heaven's Gate link? If you like really weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks- Heaven's Gate-Solar Temple link? If you like really, really weird connections, how about a Cypherpunks-Heaven's Gate-Solar Temple- Waco link? Lest you think I jest, let me explain that what I am about to tell you is fairly easy to verify and document, and is not based on vague allusions to some psychic vibrations from the comet, which seem to be rather commonplace lately. In the early 1970's there was a small group in Canada, known as the Bartonian Metaphysical Society. The group was joined by an individual named C.J. Parker, who had just had his first experience of "the end of the world" as a member of Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God. Parker became a teacher and leader in the group, which soon became the Institute for Applied Metaphysics, with metaphysical retreats in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. There were often UFO reports surrounding the dates of their intensive seminars in Eastern Canada, which received press coverage, I believe. Parker was involved, according to both himself and many others, in the founding of the New Covenant Club during his involvement with IAM. This was centered around the belief that the "old covenant" with God, which involved circumcision, had now been replaced with a "new covenant," which involved vasectomies. Later, some of the Eastern leaders began indicating that if vasectomies were a good way of indicating one's dedication to spirituality in the end-times, then castration was even better. Parker was soon involved in a second "end of the world" when Winifred Barton made her prediction in the mid-to-late 1970's. After her prediction appeared (to some) not to come true, then many left the group and quite a few migrated to other groups, including the Solar Temple. Parker migrated to Texas, where he was involved in the music business, and in running clubs for mob interests. He managed clubs in Waco and Killeen, Texas, where he apparently became involved with David Koresh, although that might have been at a later date. He was arrested and convicted in Bell County, Texas for assault on police officers there, sometime around 1980. Parker became a recording artist and soon afterward moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he continued to dabble in music and metaphysics, travelling across the SouthWestern U.S., as well as up and down the west coast. He started a computer company in Tucson, called "Pearl Harbor Computers," which was based on the belief that computers were the work of Satan, that Bill Gates and Microsoft were tenacles of the Satan, and that those who wished to fight evil must dedicate themselves to promoting other operating systems, UNIX in particular. Parker apparently fathered an organization called the "Circle of Eunuchs" that was dedicated to recruiting individuals who had the skills and the intelligence to develop systems and methodologies which could serve to work against what he saw as the plans of Satan to bring domination over the whole earth At various times, he has had vehicles registered in the states which were his main recruiting area: Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon. (He also made limited recruiting trips to Germany, Poland, and, I believe, Russia.) Parker spent time in California where he was in contact with Do, who shared his fetish for mixing computers and spirituality, and it was apparently Parker who introduced him to the concepts underlying the New Covenant Club. Parker and Do also shared an affinity for mixing spirituality and alien theories, and decided that the Internet was going to be the battleground of the future in the fight between good and evil. Parker was also involved with a group in Berkeley, California, Basis, Inc., which was heavily involved in a Unix time-sharing enterprise and gave Parker access to a wide variety of young students and programmers to introduce to his belief system. Parker named the evil protagonist in the manuscript after the login name for one of Basis' founders, "Gomez." Parker wrote the book under the pseudonym of "son of gomez," as Basis' Gomez was his mentor in the world of UNIX. Parker was responsible for a manuscript titled "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" that contained a character, Bubba Rom Dos, which was loosely based on Do, including veiled references to his sexual inclination toward youngsters. Among those in the Circle of Eunuchs, it was also referred to as Part I of "The True Story of the Internet," which they foresaw as the vehicle that would prove the manuscript prophetic. Parker and his tenacles used the Internet to quietly spread the manuscript among those thought to be potential recruits, even as Do's group began making their impact on the Internet. Parker believed that Phil Zimmerman's troubles were a result of his group using Zimmerman's PGP to spread the manuscript secretly across the Internet. He apparently impressed upon Do the need to use PGP to secure any communications which were of a nature that they could cause undue trouble for groups which were working against Satan and Gates. Parker's second manuscript, Part II , began as "TV World" and later was changed to "WebWorld and the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs." This manuscript was apparently supposed to be converted to hypertext, with complete graphics, by Higher Source, and several chapters were in the works, but about a week before the El Rancho suicides, Parker was told that he should go ahead and release it in its present form, because Higher Source would not be in a position to complete the work. Parker began converting the second manuscript to hypertext himself and has had members of his organization releasing it on the Cypherpunks list. Chapters of the manuscript have been released from various points in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Russia. Although the manuscript had already been completed around a year before this, Parker, after receiving word to begin its release, began making _changes_ in the manuscript, apparently as a result of no longer having a need to so heavily disguise the connection between the Circle of Eunuchs and Do. A prologue was written for "WebWorld," sent to the Cypherpunks list on March 18, 1997, in which the opening strains contained the quote, "Why didn't I _do_ something?" The word "do" was in bold hypertext. Then, the next word in bold format was the word _me_, indicating that the first bold word should be pronounced as in the musical notes, do, re, me. The sentence containing the world _me_? It was a reference to Do soon being 'picked up,' "This time, they are coming for _me_." And the new opening sentence of the manuscript? A veiled reference to the fact that those left behind had been warned of their last chance to 'escape' the fate that awaits them. "The great tragedy of it, is that it didn't have to happen. Not at all... we were warned." The URL's of the manuscripts are: http://bureau42.base.org/public/webworld/ http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html They are apparently hosted by David E. Smith <dsmith(a)prairienet.org> I don't believe that he is a member of Parker's inner circle, although he does have many connections to hackers and phreaks in the Edmonton, Alberta area. Except for the prologue, the sections of the original manuscript seem to be in small print, with the newly written sections in large print. The new sections appear to use the Cypherpunks as analogous to the space aliens, and a new character, Jonathan, representing one of the Heaven's Gate members, is added. "He rode the river of tears once again, only this time the journey was _toward_ the CypherPunks, and toward freedom." It is my understanding that the "Magic Circle" is quite active in both Western Canada and the Southwest U.S. They seem to be a very secretive organization with ties to a number of groups, including the Solar Temple cult in Quebec, and a Diamond System (?) Freudian-Sufi sect centered in the Bay area. I dropped all involvement with these people a year or so ago, as I decided that involvement with them is unhealthy. I hope that you will make an effort to check out what I have told you, and perhaps expose any activities which could lead to more deaths and castrations. I don't want to be involved with anything further to do with them, as I am uneasy about being connected with them in any way, shape, or form, although I still keep track of their activities through certain members who are on the periphery of their organizations. C.J. Parker is a nome-de-plume he took on as a musician, and I can't recall his real name, but it shouldn't be too difficult to find, given the fact that he has a criminal record in the U.S. which should link the pseudonym with his birth name. He also might be located by tracking him through his record releases, which were done in Canada, I believe. TruthMonger

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Re: PSYOPS/infowar
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:47 PM 3/29/97 -0500, Robert Hettinga wrote: >This is surely going to piss some people off, but let's some fun with this, >shall we? > >At 9:30 pm -0500 on 3/29/97, Greg Broiles wrote: > >> According to Ronald Duchin, graduate of the US Army War College and >> former special assistant to the Secy of Defense and director of the >> Veterans of Foreign Wars, activists fall into one of four categories: >> radicals, opportunists, idealists, and realists. He recommends a >> three-step strategy to neutralize activists: >> >> 1. isolate the radicals > >Tim May >Kelly Goen >Phil Zimmermann (then) >Belize, say I'm PISSED! Ya forgot me!!! B^) Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Money Laundering Conference
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:13 pm -0500 on 3/30/97, Black Unicorn forwarded to DCSB: > This is a formal invitation to you to attend the upcoming 8th > International Oceana Conference on Money Laundering, The Caribbean & Latin > America, Cybercrime, Financial Crytography and International ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Wonder where they got *that* from? :-) > Financial Crimes on May 6-7, 1997 at the Sonesta Beach Resort and Casino > Curacao, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. This conference sponsored by > Oceana Publications, Inc. in cooperation with the > Association of International Bankers of the Netherlands Antilles (IBNA), > The Association of the Compliance Officers of the Netherlands Antilles > (CONA), and the Centre for International Financial Crimes > Studies, College of Law, University of Florida will provide global and > regional coverage of Money Laundering and International Financial Crimes. > > > (See, http://www.oceanalaw.com/seminar/ml2toc.htm) Hey!!! There's an *echo* in this room. What's the propagation delay here? Say, what, 3 months? Sheesh. Don't ever look behind you. They might be gaining... Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA Lesley Stahl: "You mean *anyone* can set up a web site and compete with the New York Times?" Andrew Kantor: "Yes." Stahl: "Isn't that dangerous?" The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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WebWorld 21
by Bubba Rom Dos 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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WebWorld 22
by Bubba Rom Dos 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: National Citizen-Unit
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In> Governor's Budget Includes Money to Set Up Gang-Tracking In> Network In> [...] In> [A]s part of the governor's anti-gang proposals, he's In> proposing to spend $625,000 worth of state and federal money In> to set up a gang-tracking computer database and network. In> Four agents of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will be In> assigned to do nothing but gather and maintain information In> about gangs in the state's four regions. <snip> In> Information on the database could include a picture, a In> description, the gang affiliation, criminal convictions, In> crimes that a person is suspected in, and possible In> nicknames. -=> Quoting In:bdolan@usit.net to Harka <=- In> The important thing to note is that - as I understand the In> description of the program - a person does not have to commit a In> crime to be included in the database. They just have to have In> contact with a person or group which is already in it. This has been going on in Germany for several years now under the name "Raster-Fahndung" (cross-reference-search). What it means is as you write it: even mere contacts to suspected "terrorists, gang-members, drug-dealers" etc. is enough, to get you flagged as "suspected supporter of [see above]". An example of how one could get into that was being presented by a german civil liberties group: Let's say, there is a non-permitted demonstration going on in City A of "anarchic chaots" (the german term for ultra-left-wing groups). The police installs street barriers around the city and screens the drivers licences in search of potential demonstrators. Bob drives up, shows his ID and happens to be believed by the police man to be somehow affiliated with the demonstration. They might search his car and will let him go after that, if nothing is found. However, his name will be put in a central database as "suspected supporter of unconstitutional groups". That is enough to target his entire family and close friends with possible surveillance etc., if the police (or actually the interior intelligence agency "for the protection of the constitution") chooses to. Bob will never know of that and although, he has nothing to do with the demonstrators, his name will be in such a database as a suspect. That example shows, that the law can be (mis)used to almost unlimited surveillance on pretty much everybody to the hearts extent of the "law-enforcement" agencies. And guess what? They will. Ciao Harka /*************************************************************/ /* This user supports FREE SPEECH ONLINE ...more info at */ /* and PRIVATE ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS! -> http://www.epic.org */ /* E-mail: harka(at)nycmetro.com (PGP-encrypted mail pref'd) */ /* PGP public key available upon request. [KeyID: 04174301] */ /* F-print: FD E4 F8 6D C1 6A 44 F5 28 9C 40 6E B8 94 78 E8 */ /*<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*/ /* May there be peace in this world, may all anger dissolve */ /* and may all living beings find the way to happiness... */ /*************************************************************/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAgUBMz83nTltEBIEF0MBAQGNnwf8CL7L2pEY1Qfnfh+5D5LWwTb/DXWAr6+C TJcsuBYA8MQ94tNhM7DDwBLlf60AKVgKJjh/BX6JEOWMrXLXewkDxNCj9PG1iDwV bPXmEsI8ovX8EZJrNjFAhF7pG83bwHzD+23xpamx+9fYq6T2hHpZse7XEavYNBqv 0+8vJiCxsvuLn9q8CWng+KgNYmCk9JXJUj+8jUvJJHgbXt+Bkvech4mfL7cW7nvN HPAMXalKWaWrcroJAnz/2bi2JlMovfVftU1u79CUrPi9rPMYJJAaD28VEfeCHd5T e9WfTnu6F3C67CEZ0TCR+toQxLM5RgNej3mv69OiVyntNnmaPD9GeQ== =1e2d -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have encryption...

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National Citizen-Unit #22
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

WebWorld 22

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rot13 Encoder/Decoder
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://otto.cmr.fsu.edu/~davis_t/rot13.cgi

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