December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Jim Bell goes to Jail!
by Lucky Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:12 PM 5/18/97 -0700, Alan Olsen wrote: >It is interesting that they have kept the warrent sealed. This, more than >anything makes me question the legitamacy of the whole affair. Sounds like >the IRS is planning a preemptive strike on the Common Law Courts and the >people behind them. There are two reasons I can think of immediately why the feds would keep the warrant sealed. The first is that they don't want to reveal just how little evidence they have. The second reason is that the warrant might give some clue as to future actions/other suspects. Remember that the IRS agent found the AP essay by means of an Internet search engine. That almost certainly means he is following the discussions about Jim Bell on the Net. Such as the discussion on Cypherpunks. It must be truly frightening to this person to read some of the threads on this list. Nerve gas, C4, race-specific biological weapons, bypassing airport security systems, not to mention money laundering and tax evasion, what hasn't been discussed here? The feds may not be aware that the discussions on this list are usually of a theoretical nature. Perhaps they decided to go after the "co-conspirators". Like the anarchists in California with their AR-15's who have so many mags that they can't even remember where they all are. :-) The fact that Jim is held _without bail_ would indicate to me that there is more going on than might meet the eye. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred "I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi

7 8

Re: Jim Bell goes to Jail!
by Lucky Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:17 AM 5/19/97 -0700, Alan Olsen wrote: >At 12:08 AM 5/19/97 -0700, Lucky Green wrote: > >>There are two reasons I can think of immediately why the feds would keep >>the warrant sealed. The first is that they don't want to reveal just how >>little evidence they have. The second reason is that the warrant might give >>some clue as to future actions/other suspects. Remember that the IRS agent >>found the AP essay by means of an Internet search engine. That almost >>certainly means he is following the discussions about Jim Bell on the Net. >>Such as the discussion on Cypherpunks. > >Actually the agent claimed to have found it among some papers in Jim's car >when the seized it for back taxes. I stand corrected. The essay was found in the car. However, after the essay was found the agent searched the Internet for copies of the essay and posts by Jim Bell discussing it. The agent's original affidavit states the number of AP related post by Jim the fed could find via a search engine. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred "I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi

3 2

Clinton on privacy and the Internet
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 22:04:03 -0500 From: Andrew Shapiro <ashapiro(a)interport.net> To: telstar(a)wired.com, declan(a)well.com Subject: Clinton on privacy Todd and Declan: I assume you've both seen this quote about privacy (below) from Clinton's commencement speech last week. Declan, you might want to put up on the FC list -- if you haven't already. Cheers, Andrew *** From: http://www.epic.org/privacy/laws/clinton_speech_5_18_97.html#privacy Third, technology should not be used to break down the wall of privacy and autonomy free citizens are guaranteed in a free society. The right to privacy is one of our most cherished freedoms. As society has grown more complex and people have become more interconnected in every way, we have had to work even harder to respect the privacy, the dignity, the autonomy of each individual. Today, when marketers can follow every aspect of our lives, from the first phone call we make in the morning to the time our security system says we have left the house, to the video camera at the toll booth and the charge slip we have for lunch, we cannot afford to forget this most basic lesson. As the Internet reaches to touch every business and every household and we face the frightening prospect that private information -- even medical records -- could be made instantly available to the world, we must develop new protections for privacy in the face of new technological reality. (Applause.)

2 1

SSZ status
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, SSZ seems to be stable since the power was restored where my ISP was located. There should be no further service interruptions expected. Jim Choate CyberTects ravage(a)ssz.com

3 2

Forward: Tim McVeigh trial info from RISKS DIGEST 19.19 (fwd)
by Paul Bradley 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The following may be of interest to those following the Tim McVeigh OKC trial, it relates to technical flaws in the evidence relating to the telephone debit card McVeigh allegedly used. Datacomms Technologies data security Paul Bradley, Paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Paul(a)crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul(a)cryptography.uk.eu.org Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/ Email for PGP public key, ID: FC76DA85 "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 11:47:43 -0700 (PDT) From: hbaker(a)netcom.com (Henry G. Baker) Subject: Oklahoma bombing trial transcripts RISKS readers may find the following transcript from the OK bombing trial to be particularly interesting: http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/okc.trial/transcripts/may/050697.eve.txt (Note CNN's Y2K problem, but that's for another time!) This transcript was brought to the attention of another usenet group due to its details of how the debit-card business works. The bulk of this transcript deals with the testimony of a Mr. John Kane, an executive of the company that handled the telephone debit card that was allegedly used. Problems: There was no one computer that had all of the information necessary to connect a phone debit-card number, the phone number from which a call was made, and the phone number to which the call was made. 3 different logs from 3 different computer systems whose clocks were not synchronized must be related in order to determine this information. Therefore, it is difficult to relate the logs in an unambiguous manner. Furthermore, the logs indicate only a physical port number, and the only way to determine the correspondence is to _physically inspect_ the connectivity of the cables. Q. How often were the cables rearranged? Since the system would work fine with a different permutation of the cables, what assurance do we have that the cables had not been rearranged by a technician who many never have told anyone, or not even realized himself? Due to the large sizes of these files (2.5 billion calls!), the 'matching' process allowed for +/- 4 minutes 'slop' in comparing the clock times of the different logs. Q. Did they take into account Daylight Savings Time (especially given the problems we're recently been talking about)? Q. Did they take into account the fact that on different days the clocks may have had different discrepancies? There are key items missing from the most important transaction log. This is because this computer was _intentionally rebooted_ 3 times every day (perhaps at midnight, 8AM, 4PM, all Los Angeles time). Each time the computer was rebooted, some transactions were lost; whether from not having been saved from the write buffer, or not being logged during a length boot process, was not made clear. Apparently, a very critical phone call was one of the transactions that were not logged due to this rebooting. (What are the chances of this??) Why was this computer rebooted 3X per day? Because it had apparently been crashing of its own accord prior to this, and those crashes had been very inconvenient, so it was decided that purposely rebooting would result in fewer complaints. This rebooting may have resulted in a slight loss of revenue, as well, as the missing calls may never have been logged. There is a presumption that if a PIN (in this case a 14-digit PIN) is being used, that only one person could possibly have used it. However, apparently this system did not check to see that multiple people (perhaps in different parts of the country) were not using the same PIN number at the same time. (Unlike many prepaid phone cards in Europe, there is no physical card to plug into the phone -- the _only_ proof of identity is the PIN.) Henry Baker ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/hb/hbaker/home.html

1 0

Interesting Web Site for Data Protection
by Robert A. Hayden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I happened across this web site today. I was kind of impressed with its innovative approach, although I doubt I'd need these services. http://www.atrieva.com/ Just FYI, in no way an endorsement or anything. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: PGP Signed with PineSign 2.2 iQCVAwUBM4zm+TokqlyVGmCFAQEnxwQAh/GfjR4lGi2rzFiJCj2dgpWtbYbXhf2O 7yAGdWt9d819xhOlLC7Zmcq3QS7WJhJOYuGyPEYZRX5hCR8cgoBo9cul9+tFyvVZ KfQCUUV/rCVPEYBzLyDYrbPT8/IGbCGogvSqKKVlVKHGM8yscdf5Z/aC+nyEUGd4 WsivjiDVzMg= =XqwC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Robert A. Hayden hayden(a)krypton.mankato.msus.edu __ -=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=- \/_ http://krypton.mankato.msus.edu/~hayden/Welcome.html \/

1 0

EXTRO-3: Extropy Institute's Third Conference on the Future (fwd)
by Igor Chudov ＠ home 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----- Forwarded message from Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko ----- >From cpunks(a)manifold.algebra.com Sun Jun 1 02:24:20 1997 Message-Id: <3.0.2.32.19970601030136.016359d0(a)netcom.com> X-Sender: sasha1(a)netcom.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.2 (32) Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 03:01:36 -0400 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: "Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko" <sasha1(a)netcom.com> Subject: EXTRO-3: Extropy Institute's Third Conference on the Future Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com Precedence: bulk Hope you may be interested... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- E X T R O 3: Extropy Institute's Third Conference on the Future August 9-10 1997, Doubletree Hotel, San Jose, CA Saturday (Aug 9) theme: The Future of the Body and Brain. Sunday (Aug 10) theme: Future Infrastructure. The conference will include presentations by Eric Drexler - nanotechnology pioneer and chairman of the Foresight Institute, Gregory Stock - Author of "Metaman", Kevin Kelly - executive editor of Wired, Max More - President of the Extropy Institute, Mark Miller - founder of Agorics, Inc., Chris Peterson, Sharon Presley, Sasha Chislenko, Robin Hanson, Anders Sandberg, and others, as well as panel sessions devoted to progress in Artificial Intelligence, Investing in the Future, and Future of Gender and Sexuality. Extropy Institute functions as a networking organization bringing together scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, philosophers, and artists who share certain general interests including: extending life span, augmenting intelligence (both cognitive and emotional), gaining access to space, and achieving control over our own biology through genetic engineering, bioengineering, neural-computer interfaces, and molecular nanotechnology. We welcome all interested members of the public to attend and participate. Past speakers have included Marvin Minsky of MIT, Bart Kosko - fuzzy logic and neural network pioneer at USC, Roy Walford - leading gerontologist at UCLA, Hans Moravec - Director of Carnegie-Mellons Mobile Robotics Lab, Michael Rothschild - author of Bionomics, and Ralph Merkle - nanotechnologist at Xerox Parc. For more information, please visit <http://www.extropy.org/extro3.htm> or call (310) 398-0375 and leave your mailing address or email address, or send email to more(a)extropy.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html> Great Thinkers page: <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/thinkers.html> ------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- End of forwarded message from Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko -----

1 0

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of
by TruthMonger.tm＠dev.null 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway." Tim's new sig-line gives recognition to one of what I consider to be the two main reasons that Democracy and Justice can now be considered a part of America's historical past. A major nail in the coffin of Justice for any accused in the U.S. was when the justice system promoted the concept of guilt by virtue of "circumstantial" evidence to the point where people can now be convicted as a result of speculation rather than evidence. Prosecutors now seem to need only to convince the sheeple that it was "possible" for the defendant to have commited the crime and that circumstantial evidence points *only* to the accused. As well, the justice system only allows the government prosecutors to indulge in "speculation" and denies the defense the opportunity to do the same. The McVeigh prosecutors are allowed to put on a key witness who has openly stated that he's going to get rich by telling fables, yet the defense's witnesses are barred from testifying because the judge declares their testimony to be unreliable and the defense's planned defence to be based on speculation. Now that this nail has been driven home, the only thing standing between the average citizen and random or targeted unjust imprisonment is a cause of action for the government to proceed on. Tim C. May's sig-line eloquently points out that the black-robed magicians of the justice system now have enough cards strategically put in place to be able to pull an Ace of Subpoena's seemingly out of thin air. If a perfectly normal, average grandmother/citizen can be threatened with imprisonment for putting money in someone else's parking meter then, pray tell, which action of the average citizen *cannot* be used to imprison him or her? The Pandora's box of laws, regulations and "perceived possibilty of illegality" (probable cause) leaves each of us open to random or targeted search, seizure, arrest and imprisonment not only for laws and crimes which actually exist, but also for those which can be deduced by "speculation" as to the "possibility" of our having had an "intent" to do something illegal. (Twenty years ago I called my lawyer at four a.m. and he asked me what charge the police were using to hold me. I told him, "I think the charge is 'Suspicion of being in jail.'" He laughed and said, "They may *have* you on this one, Bubba." Back then it was a joke, but I fear that today it reflects reality.) A grandmother in the midwest U.S. plugs someone else's parking meter and faces prosecution and interrogation. She mentions she was on her way to pick up paint for a shed being built in her back yard. It turns out she has no permit to build a shed on her property. The zoning official who inspects her house for further malefeasance sees a gun (hunting rifle) in a closet and a line of a white, powdery substance (roach poison) on a kitchen counter. Police search the house and seize the computer as evidence. The woman's son has his cypherpunks list messages on the computer, including Jim Bell's AP/IRS posts. What was the woman doing in plugging someone else's parking meter? She was attempting to prevent the government from collecting money from a citizen by way of a fine for not paying his/her parking tax. Her proven "link" to Jim Bell, terrorist and tax protestor, can be seen as evidence of a "conspiracy." (The question now becomes one of whether she will testify against Bell in return for a reduction in her charges, or whether he will do so against her.) If you consider the above to be in the least far-fetched then you have little understanding of the working of our present-day justice system. If you consider the above to be an unlikely scenario even if the woman was being *targeted* for prosecution then you are totally out of touch with the reality of the current state of the justice system in America. There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. No matter how much anyone attempts to minimize or justify Tim C. May's statement, it is undeniable that the government currently has virtually unlimited power to accuse, convict and imprison its citizens. The IRS is the prime example of this fact. It has long been a known fact, admitted even by IRS officials, that it is impossible for any citizen to completely comply with the country's tax laws over a period of years. What is even more disturbing is that interpretation of the tax laws lies largely in the hands of the IRS, not in the justice system. Add to this the fact that despite having acted in accordance with the legal judgement of an army of tax attorneys, the guilt of any "crime" falls on the citizen and we are all potential felons. Not only this, but with the plethora of legislation covering every aspect of our activity in our private lives and in our interactions with society, most of us are likely guilty of a multitude of potential felonies. Of course, only *bad* people have reason to be fearful, right? Only those who cause *trouble* need fear being *targeted* for prosecution, right? This is of no concern to the average citizen, such as yourself, right? Right. As long as you watch what you do and say so that you give the government no reason to label you as a troublemaker, then you have no reason to fear. As long as you make certain that you have nothing in your life that can even give the "appearance" of connecting you to the *bad* people, you will be safe from government persecution. The price to pay for guaranteeing your freedom is small. Quit hunting and sell your guns. Get rid of white, powdery substances such as roach poison, sugar, flour. Never fail to signal for a turn. Always wear your seat belt and drive 55 mp/h. Never wear jeans or pay cash for an airline ticket. Never read "The Turner Diaries" or "Assassination Politics." Which reminds me... Unsubscribe from the cypherpunks list, physically destroy your computer and never chew gum in a courtroom. (Twenty-four hours in jail for contempt of court in Phoenix, Arizona.) Now that you remain at home and have no contact with the outside world except to meet all of your legislatively mandated requirements as a citizen the only thing you need to fear is what the government *already* has that they can use against you if you become a "target" of prosecution. Cynical? Moi? 1984 came and went with society by and large dismissing the book, "1984," as having been realized in actuality. I was mystified as to how anyone, let alone nearly everyone, could fail to recognize that the seeds had already been planted to bring to fruitation almost every concept of Big Brother that was focused upon in the work. I believe that any rational person can see, in retrospect, that Big Brother was already a fact of life by then. However, it was of no concern to most of us because not only did it did not negatively impact us personally, but also because the arising fascist/police state/society seemed to have little potential to do perswrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. When cops are acquitted of beating a citizen, then if they are still "targets" the government can charge them with violating the citizen's civil rights. When O.J. Simpson is acquitted and is still a target, then a jury of middle-Americans can break him under another set of laws. When the government fails to convict Declan for terrorism because of something he has written about Jim Bell's prosecution, then they can charge him with tax evasion for the deductions he has taken for business expenses when writing is only a "hobby" he has used to commit tax fraud. {The justice system will look to the IRS for the proper interpretation of Section 20098.6, Subsection AF488GC, which states "Writing is Declan's employment, not just a hobby." Their interpretation will result in a conviction.} The government has stacked all the dice in favour of themself and against the citizen. If they can't successfully persecute/prosecute the citizen under "this" law, they will try again under "that" law. If they still fail to get a conviction, they can prosecute under yet another law and drag the case out to the point it financially breaks the citizen. If the citizen gets a large measure of financial and legal support, as in the case of Phil Zimmerman, they may survive. If not, they are "toast" in a very short period of time. There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. In 1984, "1984" had become a reality for "them." Now it is a reality for "us." TruthMonger

4 3

No Subject
by glendale＠clear.net.nz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

__________________________________________________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ glendale(a)clear.net.nz |"`-/"|_.-'"``-._ o o `; -._ )-;-,_`) = v_,= _ )`-.\ ``-' Lamb Laidir an uachdar _.- _..-_/ / ((.' O ((,.-' ((,/ -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQEdAzOKldMAAAEIAO64pUwrhsn5ggVG3Y+kORuGoOVFgBOKJB8dP0FRIc31cQIV JHzHh1fYMnkSPPrjofLwMZgJeMiEBeZrtR5tz4Z43vQgmprF67Tq0SL5ecBnHtf7 3xaTl4hTy1CZEAFyrGOnSn3NYdopc+gm55UXgMwlTDckKJCthwLkxlOgc4p1Ry1d rgLBHPSCz+SXxwfwxiHcxscjRvECmhPrw7eqq9RhwEk/PIQk/8RVBYEM3E/t8vG2 ObpgDWTvJRBqZjEtpAHjCPBbEY+thbwynSVtN252Zp9Fiy4/DFkc3/NXTa81nrwY 6FoqAjIdUuqfIl65p/NvM8tSoCCt65/dX0UlWOkAhAgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAF tCREYWxlIE8nQnJpZW4gPGdsZW5kYWxlQGNsZWFyLm5ldC5uej4= =uqqS -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

1 0

Re: OECD attacks one of the Four Horsemen
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

TruthMonger wrote: >There will be a "War on Porn" on the internet that will mirror the >"War on Drugs" currently taking place. In financial, as well as freedoms, cost. >All that the government wants is their piece of the action. Like >drugs, the porn will always be available, but the price will >fluctuate according to the level of government control and/or >illegality. Yup. Like drugs, "intelligence" agencies will also get <ahem> intimately involved, and then deny it, in a romantic tradition dating back before language. >The "War on Porn" will turn into another essential national industry >which will become part of the GNP. A negative part. Tax-spend. Spend-tax. >The "winners" in this war will be the journalists who have covered >the "War on Drugs" as they will merely have to dust off old stories >and substitute "Porn" for "Drugs" wherever it occurs. The real winners will also be in a strange quarter. The Playboys and Penthouses of this world are concerned about profit, not morality, but they will be perfectly willing to surreptitiously line up with the Christian Coalition on this one. Strange bedfellows. >The "loser" will be the Hoover Vacume Cleaner Company, whose development >of Virtual Cathouse technology will fall victim to new legislation. Old Woody Allen movies, anyone? om

1 0