December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Smartcard trial in NYC
by Harka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Reuters New Media [ Yahoo | Write Us | Search | Info ] [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] [ Reuters | Wired | ZDNet ] _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: IBM Seeks To Fill Gap In Internet Commerce Next Story: Intel Sells Entire VLSI Stake _________________________________________________________________ Monday October 6 10:08 AM EDT Two N.Y. Banks Launch 'Smart Card' Test By Cal Mankowski NEW YORK - New York's two biggest banks and the Visa and MasterCard groups begin a test Monday to find out how readily consumers and merchants will switch from cash and coins for smaller purchases to a wallet-sized plastic card. The smart cards, billed as a quick, convenient alternative to cash for making everyday purchases, are being distributed to customers of Chase Manhattan Corp. and Citicorp. Chase Manhattan is the largest U.S. bank based on assets and Citicorp is ranked second. Citicorp's Citibank retail bank will issue Visa Cash cards to its customers. Chase Manhattan will issue its customers the Mondex electronic cash product which will appear under the MasterCard banner. Backers have said a key aim of the test is to demonstrate that the different technologies of the Visa Cash and Mondex cards are inter-operable" when it comes down to everyday usage. As one participant put it, the aim will be to show that two systems can be used over one terminal. Participants will also be hoping the smart cards will prove more popular than they did during a much-ballyhood test in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. I would have to say it was not as positive as we thought it might be," said one of the people involved in the Atlanta test. The person, who requested anonymity, said there was a "Catch 22" problem in the test -- with merchants declining to be involved because not enough consumers had the cards, and consumers complaining that there were not enough places to use them. Although the cards can still be used in the area, about the only place they are seen nowadays is the Atlanta area transit system. Another person familiar with the Atlanta test said that merchants surveyed after the Olympics said they liked it, citing among other things the added security that comes from not having a lot of cash around. The New York test has signed up about 675 merchant locations, a spokeswoman said Friday. The number represents an increase of about 35 percent from mid-September. The area targeted for the cards is west of Central Park between West 60th and West 96th Streets, encompassing an area known as the Upper West Side. A news release in September said Citibank and Chase would each distribute 25,000 of the smart cards to customers. Residents of the area who were not customers of either bank could get a stand-alone smart card from either bank. The smart cards work like a regular Automated Teller Machine card but contain a computer chip that lets customers load" value into the card at an ATM or at a special kiosk. As the cards are used at participating merchants, the purchase is deducted from the card's stored value. For merchants, the sponsors of the test say, the benefit is faster, more efficient transactions because the need to make change or handle checks is eliminated when the cards are used. Smart cards have also been tested successfully in closed" environments, such as athletics stadiums or at the Army's Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, and participants have said the results have been good. The development of the smart card even gets people talking about carrying on commerce without any cash at all, although some believe that is a long way in the future. I just turned 50 and I have trouble envisioning that in my lifetime cash will go away," David Slackman, executive vice president of consumer banking at Atlantic Bank of New York, said in a recent interview. But, he admitted, the volume of cash will probably go down as other payment methods win popularity. Some proponents say the card industry is moving toward a "multi-application" card that includes a stored value feature, a debit or check" card component, and the traditional credit card. One issue that proponents of smart cards generally shy away from is the preference of some merchants to deal in an all-cash environment because of the opportunity to under-report income to tax authorities. Copyright, Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved _________________________________________________________________ ________________________ Search News Help _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: IBM Seeks To Fill Gap In Internet Commerce Next Story: Intel Sells Entire VLSI Stake _________________________________________________________________ [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] _________________________________________________________________ Reuters Limited Questions or Comments

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Zergo Report
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thanks to Adam Back and Ross Anderson the full Zergo Report on encryption use by the NHSnet is online at: http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/ukcrypto/zergo.html (139K) There may be action by HMG to prohibit publication in the UK (and maybe elsewhere) so we've mirrored it at: http://jya.com/zergo-aba.htm Other mirrors encouraged.

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[news] TimeStep introduces large-scale security solution for VPNs
by Vipul Ved Prakash 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

TimeStep Corp. Monday introduced PERMIT Enterprise, the first secure virtual private network (VPN) solution capable of large-scale business communications over the Internet. By integrating best-of-breed technologies from market leaders, PERMIT Enterprise allows service carriers, such as ISPs and telcos, and other large distributed organizations to create multiple secure virtual private networks. Supporting the Internet Protocol Security (IPSEC) standard allows PERMIT Enterprise to operate within any network. (PR Newswire) For the story, http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=5296539-c7a -- Powell lingered. "How's Earth?" It was a conventional enough question and Muller gave the conventional answer, "Still spinning." -- "Reason", Asimov. ================================================================== Vipul Ved Prakash | - Electronic Security & Crypto vipul(a)best.com | - Web Objects 91 11 2233328 | - PERL Development 198 Madhuban IP Extension | - Linux & Open Systems Delhi, INDIA 110 092 | - Networked Virtual Spaces

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Interactive Programming
by Brandon Crosby 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I know that this isn't precisely on subject, but... Most of the people on this list probally do some amount of programming, right? Does anyone have information about self-modifing programs/routines? Thanks for the help. -Brandon Crosby

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CyberTimes on Magaziner: "U.S. Encryption Policy Is Unformed"
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CyberTimes / The New York Times October 7, 1997 Clinton's Top Internet Adviser Says U.S. Encryption Policy Is Unformed By MARTIN NISENHOLTZ AMSTERDAM -- President Clinton's top Internet policy adviser acknowledged Monday that the administration lacked a firm position on the controversial issue of encryption. "We don't have a position" at present, Ira Magaziner, Clinton's senior adviser for policy development on the Internet, told representatives of 21 nations, mostly European, gathered here for the annual High Tech Forum. complete article: http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100797encrypt.html

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Jim Bell 5
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We've received a report on Jim Bell, a request from him for books, and his scenario for punishment, contrition, revelation, redemption, begging mercy from Sam: http://jya.com/jimbell5.htm What a vicious ransom racket the Sam's devil church runs, burying the victim in hell, torturing for tithe.

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Press Release: Federal Government Teams With Tivoli (fwd)
by James Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From Sandra_Lara(a)brahms2.tivoli.com Tue Oct 7 09:17 CDT 1997 X-Lotus-FromDomain: TIVOLI SYSTEMS From: Sandra_Lara(a)brahms2.tivoli.com To: Yall(a)tivoli.com Message-ID: <86256529.004E6A0D.00(a)notes-brahms2.tivoli.com> Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 09:09:58 -0400 Subject: Press Release: Federal Government Teams With Tivoli Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Length: 3758 Federal Government Teams With Tivoli To Develop Security Specifications Austin, TX, and Baltimore, MD, October 7, 1997 -- Tivoli Systems, architect of TME 10, the world's leading systems, network and applications management platform, today announced it will work with the U.S. Government to establish new security specifications for Information Technology solutions. Threats to information security have never been more prevalent than they are today. Valuable data is commonly stored within and transmitted over corporate and public networks. The rapid adoption of the Intra/Internet for business purposes has magnified the challenge of securing this data and has caused an increased demand for better methods of establishing IT security certification. Responding to this demand, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have partnered to form the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), a joint effort between government and private industry. To help further its goal of developing new certification processes and criteria, NIST turned to Tivoli. "The NIAP is an important step forward in improving overall commercial security," said Gail Daniels, vice president of marketing at Tivoli. "As the introduction of Tivoli's TME 10 Security Management product made clear some time ago, we have solidly demonstrated our commitment to meeting the vast marketplace demands for security. We applaud the NIAP and its efforts as it works to identify faster and better methods for certifying security products." "We are meeting with a broad variety of industry leaders, such as Tivoli, to refine the goals of the National Information Assurance Partnership and its programs to meet the demands of the public and private sectors for timely, efficient and effective testing, evaluation, and certification," said Tim Grance, NIAP program manager. "We are determined to make this a collaborative effort between industry and government. With the support of industry leaders and their customers, we can do just that." Tivoli's TME 10 Security Management is the only product to centralize enterprise security management and extend mainframe-class access control across distributed computing platforms. Modeled largely upon IBM's RACF, the leading access control product for datacenter environments, TME 10 Security Management was designed for distributed environments, including UNIX and Windows NT platforms. About Tivoli Systems Tivoli Systems provides TME 10, the industry's leading solution for end-to-end management of distributed computing environments, from mobile computers to mainframes. Thousands of companies around the globe use TME 10 and compatible third-party products to reduce the cost and complexity of managing networks, systems, databases and applications. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Tivoli is an IBM Company. Tivoli distributes its products worldwide, through a network of domestic and international sales offices, system integrators, resellers and IBM sales channels. For more information, visit Tivoli's World Wide Web site at http://www.tivoli.com. ###

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Re: The Right to Work for Nobody
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:08 AM 10/6/97 -0500, William H. Geiger III wrote: >founders. While the socialist is pissing his life away on the road to >medocracy the founders of such companies, and 1000's like them, are >working 80+ hours a week building their company sometimes at the expence >of health, home and family. > >After years of hard work, when the founders are finaly able to reap the >fruits of their toil, the socialist will step up and say: "I want what you >have, you can't have that because I don't" even though the socialist has >done nothing to earn it. I understand your argument here, but I have to disagree with some of your base assumptions. There are people who are in situations beyond their control, working their asses off. Born to the wrong parents, with the wrong skin color in the wrong neighborhood, or got a girl pregnant at age 15 and instead of leaving her on welfare and running off to finish law school (unlike a few senators) he did the "right" thing and married her; and then this poor schlep takes two 40-hour/week jobs at McDonalds to try to make the rent payment on some rat-infested converted warehouse. What's the difference between his 80+ hours per week and the C.E.O. of K-Mart's 80+ hours per week? I'm not saying that society owes him anything more than the chance he already had (and blew); rather, I'm just pointing out that there are more people lined up at the dole than just socialists crying, "there ought to be a law." Some of them are truly hard workers that either had shit-for-luck when they needed it, or no scruples when they should have used them. Which would you choose in the above situation? Abandon the girl & child to welfare and go on to run for president, or marry her and lead a hard life of squalor, working 80+ hours per week trying your damndest to stay out of the welfare office? Get a better job, in this factory town that just closed down and has 25% unemployment? You're glad for the two jobs you've got. Or how about a worse case: your car is hit by a poor, lazy drunk driver with no insurance, leaving you paraplegic and blind? Your occupation used to be carpenter, and you worked 80+ hour weeks including night jobs for friends, but you never could afford long-term medical insurance. Your insurance company claims you recorded your car's VIN number incorrectly, so they're not liable for covering you. What do you do? Your company makes some chemoglarb for use in rat poison. You've worked 80+ hour weeks trying to get a job as the safety coordinator because the company needs one desparately. They have a toxic leak before you get the job, and are bankrupt before the affected workers see their last paycheck. You're laid off, and now you can't even sit up in bed because of the damage to your lungs. What do you do? Or you're black, working 80+ hour weeks at a job trying to get ahead. Your white coworkers start talking about lynching you for being uppity. What do you do? Before condemning all of humanity asking for handouts as lazy scum who don't deserve them, consider all these people in situations that didn't deserve to be there any more than you deserve to be rich. You have many advantages: brains, education, situation, location. They have more than equal (or even overwhelming) disadvantages: injuries, responsibilities, situations, locations. There are some people in truly shitty situations. So, what do we OWE them? That's easy -- *nothing*. They were not offered a signed contract when they were born saying that life would be fair to them. Should we help them? That's a different question. A friend of mine has a T-shirt that says "Detroit -- where the weak are killed and eaten." That's a common enough response in the animal kingdom, but are we higher than that? Sure, people like you will ignore them on the streets because they're "Somebody Else's Problem." Does that make it more or less fair for the people who actually give a shit about others and do something to help them? Or, maybe we're just stupid for trying to drag the injured gazelles along with the rest of the herd. Maybe we should just let them fall to the lions. Here's a toast to your long good health and continued prosperity, so I don't have to sweat hauling your sorry ass up from the lions some day in the future.

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Re: Trademarking CypherSpace???
by Antonomasia 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim wrote: > Seems to me I-Planet can't trademark a word which has been in usage by many > of us for several years. What could they do, demand that we stop using a > word we in all likelihood coined? Remove our old writings from the Web? > I don't know about trademark law, and about whether "prior use" invalidates > an attempted trademark. It seems unrealistic for them to lay claim to a > word someone else invented. The Kodak disposable camera I have in front of me says "Kodak, Fun and Gold are trade marks." and "(c) EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, 1994" while I have 361 references to Gold, dated 1611, and it was very likely an old word then. These trademark assertions are daft. -- ############################################################## # Antonomasia ant(a)notatla.demon.co.uk # # See http://www.notatla.demon.co.uk/ # ##############################################################

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Re: Four horsemen skew Internet
by Lyle Seaman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is an off-topic rant. Anyone who wants to make me happy will convince the NYT to investigate the following question: How did Magaziner get to be "Clinton's Top Internet Adviser"? Last I knew, he was the Clintons' "Top Health Care Adviser". That is, after he was Rick Miller's $1k/hr "Top Wang Labs Turnaround Adviser", 1 year before they declared bankruptcy. For a guy with such a string of successes, he seems to keep popping up someplace new. At 01:33 PM 10/7/97 -0500, jbugden(a)alis.com wrote: > >Excerpted from the following NY Times article: > >http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100797encrypt.html > >Clinton's Top Internet Adviser Says >U.S. Encryption Policy Is Unformed > >Magaziner took The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to task for what >he characterized as sensationalizing negative aspects of the Internet. An >analysis of the newspapers' front-page coverage of the global computer network >in the last year, he said, revealed that the four most popular words or phrases >in such articles were "drug deal," "stalker," "bomb maker" and "pornography." >Such coverage, he asserted, had led to a popular image of the Internet that was >fundamentally skewed and that made arguing for market-driven solutions >difficult. > > >

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