December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

While we waste our time discussing crypto issues...
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* News of the Weird reported in 1994 on the controversy over who owned the world's largest cow hairball, but it now appears that an also-ran at that time, Mike Canchola of Sterling, Colo., is now number one. In 1994 a Garden City, Kan., historical society had a 37-incher, but Canchola has since come across one measuring 43.3 inches around. In the course of his work at a local beef plant, Canchola plucks out the non-championship hairballs, dries them, has colleague Frank Alcala paint faces or scenery on them, and sells them for $50 each. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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But will it work for Congress?
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* The University of Minnesota was seeking more "specialists" to work on its three-year, $390,000 program to set an "odor emissions rating system" for regulating the state's 35,000 animal feedlots, according to an August Minneapolis Star Tribune story. Having judges, or government officials, go sniff the feedlot apparently would give insufficient due process of law; rather, a panel of sniffers will develop objective standards on the types of odors and their strength. Already 35 people are employed and have begun sniffing the nearly-200 chemical components of cow and pig manure in order to categorize them for the formal state stench test. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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But, do they insure Japenese CypherPunks...?
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* In February, members of the West Palm Beach, Fla., Pit Bull Terrier Club received notices that some insurance companies would not renew their homeowner policies because that breed of dog was responsible for an increasing number of liability claims. Club officer Linda Kender termed such insurance company stereotyping "dog racism." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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Glad I could clear that up for everyone...
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* The Dutch Federation for Military Personnel union (which 20 years ago won the right for soldiers to wear their hair long) announced in April it would back a female recruit's desire to wear a tongue ring. The code of conduct, the union said, bans jewelry "on the head," not "in the head." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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Password Snarfing
by TruthMonger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Life Imitates TV: (1) A Bangkok hotel worker was convicted in July of stealing from guests' safe-deposit boxes by rubbing his nose oil onto the buttons so he could check later to see which buttons had been pushed by the guest to open the safe. He said he learned the trick from watching the TV show "MacGyver." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)

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Flight 007 and our Civil Liberties
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The FBI has just completed a long press conference in which it reported its "no terrorist activity suspected" conclusions. Having watched most of it, and having seen the CIA animation shown at the press conference, I agree with their conclusions. (Cypherpunks arch-enemy James Kallstrom, Assistant Director of the FBI, nevertheless did a fine job, both in the investigation and in the reporting. Credit where credit is due.) However, now that the Flight 007 explosion has been ruled a non-terrorist event, will we get our freedoms back? The other big "terrorist event" of that summer of 1996 was the bomb in a crowd at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. The "fits the profile" perp, Richard Jewell, was finally cleared of all charges. So, these were the two big events which stimulated the FAA, under higher orders, to require mandatory ID of all travelling passengers. And more multimillion dollar sniffers to be installed in airports. It seems that each such event ratchets down certain civil liberties, and even the later repudiation of terrorists and other Horsemen in these events never results in the liberties coming back.... --Tim May The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^2,976,221 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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- Herbatrol Beats Them All -
by Afriend＠good-buddy-911.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Report on UN conference on Internet and racism
by Mikhael Frieden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:53 PM 11/18/97 -0600, William H. Geiger III wrote: >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >I think that there is plenty of case law of extending constutional >protections to non-citizens. One that comes to mind were the rulings >against California inwhich the courts ruled the they were obligated to >provide schooling and social services to illegal aliens (a really fucked >rulling IMNSHO but if some good can come out of it no sense not making use >of it). In a much more fundamental sense, if they were not given constitutional protections they really could be rounded up and bussed across the border. -=-=- The 2nd guarantees all the rest.

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Re: Report on UN conference on Internet and racism
by Mikhael Frieden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:33 PM 11/18/97 +0100, Peter Herngaard wrote: >Does the First Amendment prevent the Congress from passing >a law that would make it illegal for anyone who is outside the United >States to set up a web site in the U. S. in violation of a local speechcode? >For example, a German nazi organization could establish a WWW site in >California out of reach of German law. It is not against US law to claim to be or to be a Nazi so the action is legal in the US. >Would it be constitutional to make a law barring foreign citizens from >violating the speech codes of their home countries using a U. S. ISP? The US currently has laws governing foreign ownership of publications in the US. Ted Turner had to become a citizen. Don't remember the details but precedent for publications not intended primarily for US consumption. (A CNN of the future will be an interesting question.) At least by international custom, a person another country is bound by the laws of the country is in. Doing business in the US is bound by the laws of the US. A non-US citizen setting up a website in the US receives the same protections as anyone else doing business in the US. This is a principle of international commerce. As a matter of diplomacy, international conventions, such a law would not be passed. The larger issue is it would incorporate the foreign law into US law and in consequence case law stemming from it. At the moment, on more important issues like taxes, because there is no common tax law, even extradition for tax law violations is not possible. As to the constitutionality of it, strict reading says no. It is difficult to conceive that original intent would have meant Congress could have passed laws prohibiting speaking ill of the King of England. As to the ISP situation. The US has held that if you call for it, it can not be regulated. Dial 1-900-sex4all can not be subject to federal law. The internet is at worst a 900 number by analogy. It can not be legislated against only regulated as to the mechanics of charging and transactions, not content. A lot of words but from what has gone before, no both constitutionally and diplomatically and as a matter of economic policy. -=-=- The 2nd guarantees all the rest.

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Re: Report on UN conference on Internet and racism
by Mikhael Frieden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:22 PM 11/18/97 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote: >[Forwarded with permission, first few grafs deleted by request. --Declan] > >Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 10:40:22 -0800 (PST) >From: Margarita Lacabe <marga(a)derechos.org> >Subject: UN Conference > >[The lineup from the conference] Without reviewing the list, these are all people from NGOs, non-governmental organizations. They speak for no one but their organizations if then. These people are no more representative of what they might claim than is David Duke or Simon Wiesenthal. Rather where it the public outrage at UN money being wasted on giving self-important assholes a platform to promote their agendas? -=-=- The 2nd guarantees all the rest.

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