December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

plugin to sell digital files in cyberspace announced!! (fwd)
by Lindsay Haisley 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>wow, I have been thinking that netscape/microsoft would put >something like this in their browser and that this would >kickstart the microcurrency market. however, it sounds like >someone has preempted them for the moment and >built a plugin. this is an extremely significant development >imho. I don't know how credible they are (the notice was >spam) but it's a step in the right direction, and the >creation of a whole new market I predict. I looked at their website and it looks rather fishy to me. Several issues and questions are obvious, not the least being the observation that this is an absolutely fabulous way to collect a bunch of credit card numbers. There is no information on the website to say where I-Vendor is located, or any way to judge whether it's even a legit company. The website is on AOL, so it's real ownership is effectivley concealed, and the owners could be over the border into Mexico with a hard drive full of stolen CC numbers and no one would be the wiser until it was too late :-( A legit domain name and website to use it on are pretty cheap, and make obvious business sense for a legit business - likewise for a phone number, which is also absent from the web pages. Both provide business points of contact and both provide trackability. Maybe I-Vendor doesn't want trackability. Hmmmm. So I download an exe file from a nearly anonymous site on AOL and run it to find out more about it? No thanks!!! It looks too much like a juicy worm on a hook to this fish. Lindsay Haisley (______) FMP Computer Services (oo) "The bull fmouse(a)fmp.com /------\/ stops here!" Austin, Texas, USA / | || 512-259-1190 * ||---|| * * * * * * ~~ ~~ http://www.fmp.com

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From Our Friends at the Fed
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 20:23:25 -0800 From: jmuller(a)brobeck.com (John D. Muller) Subject: From Our Friends at the Fed To: rah(a)shipwright.com X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by pop.sneaker.net id XAA28997 Thought this missive from the Federal Reserve (SR Letter 97-28 for those who insist on a formal citation) might be of interest. Not sure if it's e$ or dcsb or cypherpunk-type material or none of the above, so I punt and let you decide. Cheers. John Muller mailto:jmuller@brobeck.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Suggested Cover Letter To the Chief Executive Officer or General Manager of Each State Member Bank, Bank Holding Company, State Chartered, Non-Insured U.S. Branch or Agency of a Foreign Bank, and Edge and Agreement Corporation in Your District Dear ______________________: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with Federal Reserve staff and representatives from the other federal banking agencies as well as other federal law enforcement agencies, developed the attached guidance concerning the reporting of violations of the federal criminal statute relating to computer crimes, 18 U.S.C. ß 1030 (Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers) in Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). The guidance is intended to facilitate the timely and accurate reporting of apparent violations of this law to law enforcement and bank supervisory agencies. The guidance describes the provisions of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030 and gives some examples of conduct that may violate the law. It also tells you how to report violations in a SAR. We would appreciate you bringing this matter to the immediate attention of all personnel in your organization responsible for reporting suspicious activity. In the event you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact __________________________. Sincerely, [Reserve Bank Official] Attachment ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- GUIDANCE CONCERNING THE REPORTING OF COMPUTER-RELATED CRIMES BY FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS This guidance is provided in order to explain the federal criminal statute relating to computer crimes, 18 U.S.C. ß 1030, and to ensure the timely and accurate reporting of apparent violations of the statute to law enforcement authorities. Background Regulations issued by the Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, OTS, and NCUA generally require banks, thrifts, credit unions, the U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks, and other types of financial institutions to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) whenever they detect any known or suspected federal criminal law violation or suspicious activity. The SAR system facilitates the reporting of suspected criminal activity and money laundering in a standard format to a single collection point, from which the information may be rapidly disseminated to appropriate law enforcement agencies. SARs play a critical role in collecting information about criminal activity affecting the financial community. Under the five financial institutions supervisory agencies' current SAR rules, a financial institution is required to report any known or suspected criminal law violation involving an insider, regardless of amount. A financial institution is also required to report any known or suspected federal criminal law violation that involves or aggregates more than $25,000 in the event no suspect can be identified--a threshold that drops to $5,000 if a potential suspect can be identified. The current SAR form includes in Part III, Box 37, a listing of 17 various categories of criminal law violations and suspicious activities that a financial institution can check. The categories include check, credit and wire transfer fraud, defalcation/embezzlement and mysterious disappearances, and also include a general category under "Other" that is to be used in the event the offense or activity does not appear to fit any of the delineated types of crimes. There is no category in Part III, Box 37, specifically reserved for violations of the provisions of the U.S. criminal code relating to computer crimes--18 U.S.C. ß 1030 (Fraud and Related Activity in Connection with Computers). Criminal Law Relating to Computers Computers and computer networks are at the heart of operations of a modern financial institution. Criminals--both inside and outside of financial institutions-- recognize the potential vulnerability of computer systems. Consequently, financial institutions must be cognizant of the federal computer crime law, 18 U.S.C. ß 1030. This statute specifically includes as a "protected computer," among other computers shielded by the statute, any computer exclusively for the use of a financial institution, or, if not exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution where the conduct constituting the offense affects that use. Financial institutions should pay particular attention to three provisions of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030. Section 1030(a)(2) specifically prohibits intentionally accessing a protected computer to obtain certain kinds of information without authority or in excess of authority. Not only does it generally prohibit improperly obtaining information from any "protected" computer, but it specifically prohibits improperly obtaining information contained in a "financial record" of a financial institution. The provision may also apply to an individual who hacks into a financial institution computer system. "Financial record" is defined as information derived from any record held by a financial institution pertaining to a customer's relationship with the institution. Another provision applicable to financial institutions is the prohibition on using a "protected" computer without authorization or in excess of authorization to commit fraud. The provisions of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030(a)(4) criminalize the knowing use of a protected computer without authorization or in excess or authorization with intent to defraud, and by means of such conduct furthering the intended fraud and obtaining anything of value. Thus, an individual who intentionally uses another person's home banking software and purloins that person's password in order to transfer money fraudulently into his or her personal bank account has committed a crime. The third provision--18 U.S.C. ß 1030(a)(5)--with applications to financial institutions is the prohibition on intentional access without authorization that results in "damage" to a protected computer. Damage is defined to include any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information that causes loss aggregating at least $5,000 in value during any one-year period. An example may involve a disgruntled former employee who maintains a "back door" into the computer system and uses it to introduce a virus that disrupts the system. Another example may involve an intruder who causes a system outage by flooding an institution's computer system with e-mail requests for information. Other provisions of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030 applicable to financial institutions include subsection (a)(6), which outlaws trafficking in passwords knowingly and with intent to defraud. Subsection (a)(7) prohibits transmitting threats to cause damage to a protected computer with intent to extort money or any other thing of value from any legal entity, specifically including financial institutions. This prohibition applies regardless of whether any actual damage is caused, or whether the offender actually had the ability to cause such damage. A violation of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030 can result in a fine or imprisonment for up to ten years. Guidance A financial institution should report on a SAR any activity that appears to be violative of 18 U.S.C. ß 1030. If a reportable offense is detected, a financial institution should check Box 37r, marked "Other", and describe as completely as possible in Part VII, the narrative section of the SAR, the nature of the illegal or suspicious activity. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>

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Save Money...Own your own Cable Descrambler!
by cableus＠ecast.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Pauline Hanson's One Nation Monthly Newsletter
by Global Web Builders 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Issue 1.4, November 1997 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- PLEASE NOTE: No unsolicited email is sent. If you do not want to be on the mailing list please say "REMOVE" in the subject line and return this message in the body. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Dear supporter in NSW, Pauline Hanson's One Nation continues to grow an extraordinary rate. There are now over 200 branches of the party nationwide - this just twenty eight weeks after the April launch. The interest in what we have to say and the level of our support is best demonstrated by comparing the recent visits of National Senator Bill O'Chee and Pauline Hanson to the traditional National heartland of Gympie in central Queensland. At their respective dinners O'Chee managed to attract just 12 people while Hanson attracted a full house of 400! These are challenging times ahead for the party. With this explosive growth and interest the Manly head office of One Nation has come under enormous pressure with calls from the media, the growing need to manage the new branches and a number of related teething problems. Please be patient if you find delays in One Nation responding to an inquiry. This is due to the workload being faced by the Manly office. -------------------------------------------------------------------- As you will have read Pauline Hanson's One Nation will contest the Queensland state elections after an independent survey revealed that the party had, conservatively, up to 27% support in certain electorates. If you know of someone who would make a good candidate please contact Manly office on (02) 9976 0283 for application forms. Please note closing date for nominations is December 1st. -------------------------------------------------------------------- There have been a number of One Nation press releases during October. These can be viewed at: http://www.gwb.com.au/onenation/press -------------------------------------------------------------------- Pauline Hanson's on-line Working Group: There has been a tremendous response to the establishment of Pauline Hanson's on-line Working Group and we thank those who have become involved for their support. If you would like to participate please email the following information for consideration. Name, Contact details (address, phone, fax), membership number (this is a pre-requisite) and branch (default is Manly). -------------------------------------------------------------------- Like any growing political organisation Pauline Hanson's One Nation needs your financial support. Please help NOW if you are able... Their is an on-line form that can be printed out and posted together with your donation at: http://www.gwb.com.au/pledge.html Let's get that donation-meter reading moving! Pauline Hanson

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Where can I get my hands on an anon-remailer that runs under Win95? Does such a remailer even exist? If not, why not?

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Re: Protocols for Insurance to Maintain Privacy
by nobody＠neva.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Adam Shostack wrote: >Many insurance companies with Mutual in their name (Liberty Mutual is >large in the Northeastern US) get that from being founded as mutual >insurance companies, where you pay to be part of the mutual insurance >group, and when you get sick, injured, etc, the group pays money >towords your treatment. I think it broke down with increases in >mobility. They were implicitly based on reputation capital, and were >not highly fraud resistant. > >Adam's suggestion of a charity which only pays for the treatment of >those who donate thus recreates an old system. Mutual insurance companies are owned by the people who purchase their policies. The policy holders actually elect the management. As there are no policy holders who own a significant percentage of the policies, the management of the companies do not have much feedback. Surprisingly, they seem to function well. However, these companies are not a thing of the past. As of ten years ago, the mutual life insurance companies managed about half the assets in the life insurance market. Many of them are quite old. The Presbyterian Minister's Fund is the oldest continuous life insurance company in the world. It was founded in 1759. Mutuals are said to be formed when investors can't be found to provide capital for the company. A number of mutuals were formed in the seventies to handle medical liability insurance which commercial companies did not want to handle. (It seems likely that somebody, somewhere, was behaving irrationally. ;-) Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNGLH4JaWtjSmRH/5AQGUDgf/VB1nTOZJqMVN1Rv9uqAydKxcIB3Mgwgj jVaTVLVcDKl6hdhih9go88Wo5H3M4KdXUeUbdef+yqbY8yDxebQim+0Nn78QUOdX 8FSZ+S+CnNbqttGwDkl3lktRubygycKrG9whBIIC0DhnPECXPAYsmG/OXdfRzbNG iPGDfHDN7CtEsohrsC/lTI+3r8FqQ4PJ2n8JTB7BoXEhKmGlKd80YhFuA/98SkDk GcS7eUwlN+E2PsbBUWS9h/gYo2iDGMo5oQgvc/kdLHzPRVw/E8i/PKW0bhYcMJ6X RCrTbBRavphfBWpeMqOsqMPCP7wPmGYuLoTlLYfg3XtnTKvRJDDq7g== =WNjT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Protocols for Insurance to Maintain Privacy
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Adam Back wrote: >> Before the test, though, insurance might be useful--I could >> essentially place a bet with someone that I had the disease--I pay >> $1, and get a million dollars back if my test comes back >> positive--just enough to pay for my treatment. > >The insurance company would have no financial incentive to take on >such risks -- I reckon they'd sooner let the wanna-be customer die. >Nasty, but it's reality. They could charge an addtional $1 premium. Insurance, if properly administered, is a bad bet for the customer if we only pay attention to financial considerations. However, the customer can lose more than money, he or she can lose her life, which is worth an up front premium to the insurance company. The numbers we have been working with here are interesting, though. Usually, the cost of the tests isn't justified by the information they give us. Presumably if the tests were economical, they would be required. Insurance companies do require checkups sometimes which is really just a set of tests. >And being a hard line anarcho capitalist, I draw the conclusion that >if you can't afford to keep yourself alive, that is your problem. >(Heartless ain't it:-) In practice you might not be so heartless. Even Monty Cantsin has been known to help those who have fallen upon hard times. The real philosophical question is whether other people should be forced to support our charities. (The real world question is whether other people should be forced to support alleged charities.) Those who advocate forced "charity" are making a curious assertion. They themselves do not wish to dispense the charity they so highly value, but they wish others to do so, at gunpoint if necessary. I do not see any way in which such behavior may be defended as civilized or decent. >A charity could also refuse to help people who hadn't donated, if >it chose. > >I bet it would work too, and a lot more efficiently than the >government regulated setup now. Many decades ago there used to be organizations called "mutual aid societies". They were sort of like mutual insurance companies, except they may have been more flexible in the benefits they guaranteed. They took care of whole sets of misfortunes for their members. For instance, if your house burned down or you were laid off, or whatever, the other members of the society would help you get on your feet again. Note: the other members had a strong incentive to get you on your feet. (This cannot be said of welfare bureaucrats whose market share dwindles the more they succeed.) They were typically organized into local chapters which would then belong to larger organizations which would, to some extent, insure that the local chapter remained financially solvent. The societies were more than insurance companies - they were also social clubs. This aspect was used to manage the moral hazard problem. These societies were tremendously successful. A conservative estimate of membership in the United States showed ten times as many people belonged to these societies as belong to labor unions at the peak of the labor movement. Yet, they have been almost entirely ignored by academia, probably because they do not fit nicely in a patronizing ideological framework. Tom Palmer of the Cato Institute has studied the subject. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNGLDQpaWtjSmRH/5AQFiNAf9Eb8qyHkL2881F0xpDaOUeNUCqX4UsrZd zJtihskZi5Vg+FOiFAqSWFHsNHmDlhnw7W1fvFL2vs8+Pe5h6MtAUY1vWGaweG7Y OjtwnnKt8q0jGeq/thV+cieYy0wdMcRLe9LQc79F2mmKniOIcZxwt+OHR9RtTqxn d6aJJF3rsapZjb9OfS/1B/kFEcy80VuhnExF56za9YfDiKuW9b0Re3+8iwNeZrK3 a4ToHmL6AUImwmO+03BJfavCr/g+NqknL/gJOMcPAZTf4+PHhGRZctBKp4N/qQcg hZmrFWKYBQXRxLx4HJuGIW46N5WNKpCcOilZ7mSHv5RUv/+fzRgkww== =vH+d -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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THANKS FOR YOUR BUSINESS--SEE WHAT'S NEW!
by tia 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: FEMA site using cookies
by Crisavec 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Attila T. Hun typethed the following... >> The USMC 29 Palms Combat Arms Survey: #46. "The U.S. >>government declares a ban on the possession, sale, >>transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms >>...consider the following statement: >> >>> I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or >>> resist confiscation of firearms banned by the >>>U.S. government..." > > they were looking for a yes/no answer --no maybes. if anybody thinks >this is a joke --it was not; it was given to most units at 29 Palms, >Pendleton, LeJuene, and Paris Island. the percentage responses were >interesting: men with less than 5 years service were 90% "yes" --grizzled >old NCOMs with 15 or more years were less than 15% "yes." shows what the >federal government educational system is capable of conditioning with a >little help from movies and television. subliminally, was has been >glorified by the merchants of death: arms manufacturers and power hungry >politicians. -- This doesn't surprise me at all Attila.They don't teach the constitution in High School anymore. That accounts for the lower ranks. The NCOM's answers are to be expected, They STRESS Posse Commitais<sp?> and the constitution for ALL noncom's. It's part of the testing for promotion to E-5 and up. Most of the noncom's have been in long enough to be thorouly disillusioned by the military in general. The only thing keeping a lot of them in is enertia... --Dave Any neural system sufficiently complex to generate the axioms of arithmetic is too complex to be understood by itself. Kaekel's Conjecture

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Re: Hughes Markets? (Was Re: Copyright commerce and the street musician protocol)
by R. Jason Cronk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii(a)invweb.net> >Date: Thu, 06 Nov 97 19:12:16 -0600 >To: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> >Cc: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net, cryptography(a)c2.net >Subject: Re: Hughes Markets? (Was Re: Copyright commerce and the street >musician protocol) > <SNIP> > >Well how exactly does one prevent data from being stolen once it has been >unlocked? I pay my 2X to view the picture anonymously and now I copy it >save it and distribute it worldwide. I fail to see how any >encryption/watermark scheme can prevent me from doing so. Most of my discussion on this subject took place in DCSB mailing list, which I didn't cc to cypherpunks or cryptography(a)c2.net. Anyway, the gist the most ERMs (Electronic Right Management) is that the "unlocking" has to be integral with the playing. In other words, you don't pay for and then get an "unlocked" version on your computer, but rather the player and decryption mechanism are integrated to the point that they can be unintegrated. Still this doesn't prevent one from sticking a microphone up next to the speaker to pointing a camcorder at the video screen, but it, in theory, prevents one from making an exact digital duplicate. This is not to say that I agree that ERM will work. I am of the impression that market forces will negate the benefit of said system. Its easy when there are just a few media producers, but with hundreds of thousands vying for attention, those that seek to control their content through ERM are at a disadvantage in the marketspace. Jason Cronk

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