December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

[CNN] Stolen Laptops and lame 'solution'
by geeman＠best.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

reproduced under fair-use: > PC, phone home > > Industry aims to stop > theft of laptops > > June 10, 1997 > Web posted at: 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 GMT) > > From Correspondent Greg > Lefevre > > SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Expensive, compact and > frequently out and about, a laptop computer makes an attractive > target for thieves. > > But the computer industry has devised some ingenious ways to > counter theft, including invisible software that knows when the > computer is in trouble. > > "As soon as the thief plugs that machine into a phone network, it > will phone home," said John Livingston, chief executive of > CompuTrace Service. > > The call goes to a Canadian office > that in turn phones the cops. So far, > it has a 100 percent recovery rate. > ====== 100% of WHAT? Systems with it installed which are stolen? How would you know what systems do NOT call in? It's like the question the clerk asks at the airport: "Did anyone put anything in your luggage you don't know anything about?" Now that the word is out, of course, the wily thief will eschew pluggin in until the hard drive is reformatted and installed with a clean OS. As usual: the stupid will be caught.

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Unleashing Micro Viruses on Networks
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

6-11-97, Janes' Defence Weekly: Unleashing Microbots on Iran's IT Networks Unlike the 1990-1991 Gulf War, when the USA inserted a National Security Agency-developed, virus-laden microchip into a French computer printer headed for Baghdad, in 2015 the USA relies on several methods for infecting Iranian computers. These efforts hope to get around problems created by the proliferation of encryption technology. While some peripheral equipment, like printers, will be intercepted and bugged in order to disable mainframe computers, intelligence technicians will also use the internet to send guided viruses into Iran's national information infrastructure. Thumbnail-sized micro-robots, known as `microbots', will also be unleashed by micro-air vehicles and naval guns. These parasites will creep into electronic equipment, attach themselves, and keep themselves alive by draining generator power. Once the electronics system's energy is depleted, the fully charged microscopic vermin will search for a new victim. The main problem will be that they are too small to carry identification equipment and so they infect indiscriminately. As such, they must be deployed far away from allied equipment. However, packages of microbots can be destroyed remotely as allies prepare to invade enemy territory. <> [Copyright 1997, Jane's Information Group]

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CORBA Security beta from IONA
by Martin Janzen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just received the latest "IonaSphere" newsletter from IONA, makers of the Orbix Object Request Broker (ORB), and noticed this item which may be of interest to some of the people on this list: I28-B> IONA announces beta of CORBA Security Implementation =========================================================== OrbixSecurity enables organizations to deploy their mission-critical distributed systems on multiple platforms securely. It is tightly integrated with IONA's leading object request broker Orbix and facilitates the creation of CORBA level 1 secure distributed component-based applications. In parallel with the development of OrbixSecurity, IONA is also working on a secure socket layer (SSL v3.0) solution. SSL will be bundled in the company's Orbix/OTM enterprise suite of object development and management tools, also scheduled for the third quarter. SSL security offers authentication (based on X.509 certificates) and encryption (based on public and session key technologies). Subsequent to the initial general availability of OrbixSecurity in the third quarter of 1997, IONA will be working towards level 2 security support (which deals mostly with the definition and administration of security policies and domains) via product extensions and third party integrations. Availability The OrbixSecurity beta is available immediately on the Sun Solaris and Windows NT platforms. To participate in the beta program send an e-mail to beta(a)iona.com For more information see http://www.iona.com/Press/PR/security.html (Standard disclaimers: I don't work for these guys, get paid by them, etc...) -- Martin Janzen janzen(a)idacom.hp.com

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Re: [Noise, California only] Good deal on ISDN access
by Derek Atkins 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> When for $150 you can get a brand spanking new 56K modem, and pay $20-30 a > month. Not as fast, but a much better price/performance ratio. Granted, ISDN gives you only twice that of a 56k modem (ISDN gives you 128k), the major benefit of using ISDN over analog is latency. The latency of analog modems is as high as 300ms, whereas the latency of an ISDN link is about 10% of that. MUCH better for real-time interactive connections. It all depends on how you define "performance". If you really want good performance, get MediaOne, RoadRunner, of @Home service. -derek Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board (SIPB) URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/ PP-ASEL N1NWH warlord(a)MIT.EDU PGP key available

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IRS T-Pole Surveillance
by Michael F. Reusch 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Commerce Business Daily, June 11, 1997 >Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, >6009 Oxon Hill Road, Suite 700, Oxon Hill, MD 20745 >Surveillance Systems SOL TIRNO97R00049 DUE 073097 >POC Contract Specialist, Steve VanderLinden, FAX (202) 283-1514 >The Internal Revenue Service requires enclosed surveillance systems >configured as transformers for mounting on telephone poles.... http://www.ld.com/cbd/archive/1997/06(June)/11-Jun-1997/58sol002.htm Still laughing. Made my day!

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(Fwd) Re: FCPUNX:Response to 'My War'
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

William H. Geiger III wrote: > >James A Donald writes: > > >> fAt 10:07 PM 6/9/97 -0700, se7en wrote: > >> > Anyone who thinks this doesn't affect the young children, you are wrong. > >> > I doubt these children consented to the sexual activity. I doubt they > >> > consented to being photographed. I doubt they consented to the pictures > >> > being distributed to others. > >> > >> Most of these children are adults now. A great many of them are > >> grandmothers. Yet I see no prosecutions for the distribution of > >> images by the supposed victims. > >[...] > >> Produce a victim and you will find it a lot easier to prosecute. > > >See http://www.net.be/connerotte/english-text.html for the timeline of > >last year's child sex & porn scandal in Belgium. Some of the victims > >there will never bring suit: they are dead. > > I think that you are missing the most important part of those articles: > > The so-called "protectors of childered" ie government officials were > involved in the kidnaping, rape, and pornography of children and the > subsequent cover-up after the fact. > > If there was ever a need for AP this is it. Mr Donald asked people to produce victims of child porn production, and implied that unless such victims could be found, we should assume that the whole business was consensual fun. I have provided him with proof of such victims. (I'm curious to see how he'll respond). That there was (and for all I know, continues to be) high level collusion within the Belgium government to hush this up is a side issue. While the perpetrators of these atrocities should be given life without parole, I say that AP is not the answer. I object to the death penalty in all circumstances. Peter Trei trei(a)process.com

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(Fwd) FWD: Texas Driver's License database on the web
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Just in case it's not clear from the headers, this is being posted by Peter Trei. ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Some forwards removed. From: Jim Thompson <jim(a)hosaka.SmallWorks.COM> I got a '503 Service Unavailable this server has been placed offline by the operator. Please try again later.' response the first two times I tried. But then... Oh look. A record of which elections in which you've voted. If you don't think this is the likely future, you're dead wrong. Jim =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= From: Brent Heustess <heustess(a)mail.utexas.edu> This is a really spooky web site <http://www.publiclink.com>. You can search 17 million Texas drivers by name, driver's license number or license plate number. When you find a person, you can then find everyone at that address with a license. You can even find everyone with the same 9-digit zip code. The record does not have a GIF of the photo, but it has everything else on the license. Did Psychos-R-Us request this site? "Could you create a database so I don't miss anyone when I go on a killing spree on the 900 block of Rosewood?" "28 my ass. I just checked the web and it says you were born 1965. Not ready to admit to be post-30? I'm not buying the 'I weigh 110' either. I read 118 plain as day." "I can't believe it. That asshole just cut me off. Well, Mr. ZBW-446, I guess a little midnight visit is in order to 1918 Grover St. Prepare to be stalked." "Johnny, I looked up your record last night and I couldn't believe my eyes. You're livin' in sin with that Sally Jenkins slut. How could you do this to your Dad & me? You move out now or we're gonna cut off your college money!" Public Link says this is public information, but where are the good old days when you had to have a friend down at the Dept of Public Safety who would look plate numbers up for you? If it was good enough for Rockford, it's good enough for me. Suprress your phone number & address from the phone book, but then it shows up in a searchable database on the web. Lot of good that did you. Now all those 7th Day Adventists know excatly where you live. Privacy, schmivacy. Ta, Brent =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Public Link Corporation Public Databases on the Internet 5930-E Royal Lane Ste 173, Dallas, TX 75230 (214) 890-6817 Welcome to Public Link Corp., the Information Source of the Internet. We are here to provide public access to public information and public databases. The company uses data obtained from public sources currently available through the Freedom of Information Act and Open Records Laws. We believe it is the citizen's right to have this information available for their use. We expect to grow our database offerings to you over the next several months. Many times you have needed the type of information we provide and have had to use varous methods to obtain the information. Some of these methods you would prefer not to have to use again. Not any more! Just sit back and let us do the work for you. If you have a special suggestions or request, please let us know. Come and join us as we enter the information age! - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TexasDriverLink State of Texas Licensed Drivers. Over 17,000,000 Texas Drivers License Information. Updated weekly. This database contains the information contained on a person's drivers license. Data included are Name, Address, Weight, Birth Date, Sex, Expiration Date, Status (Active or Suspended), Class of License, and Restrictions. This database does not contain information on a person's traffic tickets, DWIs, or Insurance information. Search either by name or if you know the drivers license number, search by number. TexasTagLink State of Texas License Plates. Over 16,000,000 license plates with accompaning information. Updated weekly. This database contains the information about the owner of a vehicle. This database does not contain insurance information. Search currently only available by plate number. TexasDallasVoterLink Registered voter role for Dallas County Texas. This database also contains voting history for each of the one million registered voters. This database is updated quarterly. TexasArrestLink EvictionLink CivilCourtLink PropertyOwnerLink MarriageRecordLink - -- Jim Thompson / Smallworks, Inc. / jim(a)smallworks.com 512 338 0619 phone / 512 338 0625 fax HTML: The 3270 of the 90s

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toner
by 53365743＠prodigy.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Money magazine on digital cash
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

As some of you know, I work in the Washington bureau of Time Inc., which is home not just to Time Magazine and AllPolitics but also People and Money. Some folks down the hall at Money are working on an article about digital cash and the Net and would like to interview some folks who might have something interesting to say. Keep in mind the magazine's focus is on personal finance. If you're interested let me know and I'll forward your names and contact info. -Declan ------------------------- Declan McCullagh Time Inc. The Netly News Network Washington Correspondent http://netlynews.com/

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Flag burning vote TOMORROW and government-imposed ratings
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 13:32:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: fight-censorship-announce(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Flag burning vote TOMORROW and government-imposed ratings I don't often forward along non-Net issues, but these are too important to ignore. First, from my colleagues at AllPolitics: http://www.allpolitics.com/1997/gen/analysis/counterpoint/ Counterpoint: Ban Flag Burning? It's baaaack.....! The House is set to vote June 12 on a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would ban flag desecration. Democratic Rep. William Lipinksi, a lead sponsor, says the flag is too important a symbol not to be protected, while ACLU executive director Ira Glasser warns against weakening the First Amendment. Read on for a note from Chris Finan. Also check out Cato's web site for a related paper on mandatory "voluntary" ratings by f-c subscriber Bob Corn-Revere: http://www.cato.org/pubs/briefs/v_chipes.html -Declan ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 12:43:54 -0400 From: Chris Finan <mediacoalition(a)sprintmail.com> To: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> Subject: Government ratings of TV Declan, The opponents of government-mandated TV ratings need help. The FCC is under heavy pressure to appoint a panel to devise a system of ratings to replace the ratings that the networks have voluntarily adopted. More than 300 of the 355 e-mail comments received by the FCC have been from individuals and groups urging greater censorship of TV. Would you post this message on the Fight Censorship list to let people know that they can e-mail their views to the FCC? Their messages, which needn't be long or formal, should be sent to vchip(a)fcc.gov as soon as possible. The Free Expression Network has jumped in with both feet to the fight against a government-mandated TV rating system. Its website, the Free Expression Clearing House, www.freeexpression.org, has a lot of current information on the TV ratings fight. Thanks.

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