December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

The Continued Attack on Cash (Was: "The Right of Anonymity"...)
by Black Unicorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Mr. May said: >Suffice it to say that I find nearly all cases where someone is "demanding" >personal information to be cases where the government has required them to, >for various unseemly purposes, or in cases where credit is being arranged. Of late I tried to pay off a rather large American Express bill. Suddenly, AMEX won't take cash in excess of $1,000 in any single billing period (30 days). The large sign on the wall indicated the substance of the new rule (or the old rule newly enforced) and added that customers "may be required to produce two forms of identification including a government issued identification card and a social security number." Here's a situation where the payor is (theoretically) positively identified to the payee (including ssn), where credit has already been established, and where records are certain to exist for all transactions which are being paid for. The AMEX Corporate card was once a wonderful tool to preserve anonymity with. One could issue several cards for a domestic company, 100% owned by an offshore, and settle in cash. Properly done, this was perfectly legal. Well, once upon a time anyhow. I find it extremely alarming that a general transaction like this can be illegal where almost no case can be made for a danger of money laundering or some kind of support of the "underground economy" (except perhaps that I'd have Pablo Escobar pay off my Amex to compensate me for my illegal smuggling flights, but that's a bit thin in my view). Increasingly, I try and find explanations for these kinds of regulations which do not include a paranoid rant about governments making sure they maintain a firm set of records on every citizen for whenever it might be "needed," (or wanted). Increasingly, this becomes a difficult mental task. Increasingly, it is difficult to make cash transactions. In the end that seems to be the point. Make it difficult to pay with cash. Make it suspicious to pay with cash. Make it an attention getter if you pay with cash. Sound paranoid? Try this. I'd like everyone who reads this to try and go 45 days without using plastic or writing a check. Just 45 days. If you don't grow alarmist very quickly (like in the first week) I'd like to hear your experience. If nothing else, try adding up a few months of finance charges, yearly fees on your credit cards, transactions fees, check fees, interest lost on no-interest checking accounts... see what you're paying to keep people from looking at you like a criminal. There's an interesting new awakening in personal finance right now which advises, among other things, "pay in cash, die broke." I'm interested to see how this "pay in cash" advice, which I have followed religiously years before it was put in print, clashes with post-modern financial regulation. I know things have gotten really out of hand because the phrase "No, I'll pay with cash," which I find I have to use more and more often, turns more and more heads and is met more and more often with a cross look from a teller and a finger pointed at a large sign bearing the heading "Restrictions on Cash Transactions." When the question becomes "Which credit card will you be paying with?" and no longer does one hear "How will you be paying for that?" I think people better start thinking about what's happening. (I'm not on cypherpunks anymore, mail me directly).

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The Continued Attack on Cash (Was: "The Right of Anonymity"...) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Mon, 02 Feb 1998 00:51:11 -0600 > From: Black Unicorn <unicorn(a)schloss.li> > Subject: The Continued Attack on Cash (Was: "The Right of Anonymity"...) > Sound paranoid? Try this. I'd like everyone who reads this to try and go > 45 days without using plastic or writing a check. Just 45 days. If you > don't grow alarmist very quickly (like in the first week) I'd like to hear > your experience. I've been doing it for many years. Don't have a checking account, don't own a credit card. I do have a saving account with a local credit union and go in every 3-4 days and withdraw what I need for the next 3-4 days. Pay every bill in cash or money order. I'm not going into how I invest my excess capital. If my employer needs me to travel I do it on their plastic. The only irritating thing I find is that I can't walk into grocery stores any more and get money orders larger than $700 and many won't do it for more than $400. I have to pay my rent each month with a $400 and a $397 money order in order to meet the $797 amound due because I'm too lazy to drive the extra 6-8 blocks to the one who will do the $700 money orders. Other than that I don't have a problem at all. I'm going to go tomorrow and buy a new laptop at around $1500. I intend on paying with a wad of $100 bills. Bet you they don't look twice nor will they ask for ID. I've actualy never had a problem paying cash, never had anyone turn real money down... ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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ELECTRICITY CAN MAKE YOU RICH
by partners＠partnersnow.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

All of us are constantly bombarded by people hawking "unbelievable", "once-in-a-lifetime", "get-rich-quick" business opportunities. I graduated from Yale, became Commissioner of Housing in New York City, started a real estate development company, and now own an 83-year-old diamond-cutting company. Quite bluntly, I won't waste my time even listening to the pitch. And yet right now, I am telling eveybody I know (and, obviously, hundreds of people I don't know) about an opportunity available in the deregulation of electricity that sounds just as outrageous as all the phony talk we've heard in the past. The difference is that this is real. And the urgency comes from the fact that it will never happen again. You might choose to read no further, but you will never be able to say that you weren't there when business history was being made. MAKE NO INVESTMENT AND START PART-TIME Know up front that your participation will not require start-up costs of more than about $300 nor that you leave your current full-time job. You should also know that deregulated electricity in the US, albeit a $215-billion industry, is only one component in a global master plan that will soon tap even larger markets in internet commerce, telecommunications, and energy distribution. In all these markets, our participation will be in partnership with the most respected names in the corporate world. The structure of this precedent-setting Company has already been formed and the names of our partners will be announced over the next few weeks. We intend to do for all services entering homes, offices, and factories what the supermarket did to individual food shops and what the mall did to Main Street stores. The powerful trend to consolidation will naturally successfully extend to essential modern services because the benefits will be the same: lower cost and greater convenience. This is nobody's pipe dream. This is history in the making, and you can become a very rich player by finally being in the right place at the right time and taking action. DEREGULATION CAN ONLY HAPPEN ONCE By the year 2002, the domestic electric utilities industry will be fundamentally deregulated. That means that the out-dated, costly, monopolistic utility providers, which we have always accepted like death and taxes, will be forced to compete in the open market with lower-cost, high-tech, entrepreneurial, service-oriented private companies. In many states, the process has already begun. California's $20-billion industry will be one of the first to deregulate completely in 1998, along with New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are right behind, with many other states scheduling to start in 1998, too. Consumers will have the right to choose the source of their power and you will have the opportunity to sell it. And it has all been done before. In the 1970's, the airline industry deregulated and the resulting competition destroyed established companies and made fortunes for others. In the 1980's, AT&T lost its monopoly and now barely holds on to 50% of the market. The significant difference in the deregulation of electricity in the 1990's is that you are right now being given a chance to participate even before it happens. Our Company has developed the multi-million-dollar infrastructure to support its goal of becoming to deregulated electricity what MCI became to deregulated telephone. And the distribution of our electricity will be made only through independent entrepreneurs empowered by the Company to profit every time a customer turns on a light. Even more eye-opening, these "electricity entrepreneurs" will profit to an even greater extent from their monthly commissions on their customers' use of all the other services the new Company will offer: internet commerce, telephony of all kinds, home security, cable TV, and many more. With three or more services "bundled" together, studies have shown that customers are lost at a rate of less than 10% a year. This is true residual income. Compensation accrues from four main sources: (1) up-front agency fees paid to the Distributor when customers subscribe to our services; (2) up-front training fees paid to the Sponsor when new Distributors join the Company; (3) residual commissions paid to the Distributor as a percentage of customers' monthly use of the Company's services; and (4) executive bonuses paid to Distributors on the total volume generated by his or her entire organization. CAPITALIZE ON A PROVEN ROCK-SOLID COMPANY As I said, we are not looking for investors. Our parent is a 13-year-old, $1.4 billion, high-tech company with a D&B 5A-1, no debt, US Olympic Committee licenses, and operations in 23 countries all over the world. It is one of nine companies in the history of the United States that grew from start-up to one billion dollars in sales in less than ten years (others include Microsoft, FEDEX, Nike, and Home Depot). Our Asian division went public on the New York Stock Exchange with Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch as our underwriters. Most important, the Company has established a brilliant, highly-leveraged plan for growth that has empowered over 400 associates, working on their own schedules, usually out of their own homes, to reach an income level that in 1996 averaged $561,000 a year. Significantly, that track record was achieved in industries a small fraction of the size of deregulated electricity and our other future markets. Please be aware that there will be many start-up companies hustling to be players in this historic opportunity. There will be efforts by the utility dinosaurs to hang on to their markets. Be sure that your potential in this industry isn't undermined by the failure of the insubstantial up-starts or the collapse of the prehistoric giants. LIFE IS NOT A DRESS REHEARSAL In my role as President of a diamond-cutting company, I know the frustrations of a capital-intensive, high-risk, low-margin, slow-growth industry. As an Administrator in the medical community, my wife sees the deterioration in doctors' earnings and the downsizing and closing of hospitals everywhere. While many of the old ways of making money are gone, new opportunities abound. Deregulated electricity is the next big opportunity, structured by a genius hyper-growth Company that is already allowing my wife and me to continue our professional work full-time, while enabling us to develop part-time a perpetual income with unlimited potential. The partners we are seeking for this opportunity should be independent, open-minded, self-motivated, highly-principled entrepreneurs. Such a profile might seem demanding, but the financial rewards can be gigantic. I was skeptical, too, at first. But the more I investigated, the more I realized that this is the rare, legitimate, dynamic opportunity that people, not long from now, will look back to and lament that they they missed. Electricity deregulation has never happened before and will never happen again. There is no doubt that fortunes will be made as a result of deregulation and the Company's global vision. The only question is who will be along for the ride. And it might not be for you. There are always reasons. But clearly, if you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always gotten. And if you've already gotten all the time freedom and all the money you've always wanted, this opportunity is probably not for you. But if you haven't, how long are you going to wait? For more information, please call 1-800-326-9253 or email me back and leave your name and daytime and evening phone number and the best time to call. Serious inquiries only please. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// We practice responsible emailing. If you wish to be removed from future mailings, please reply with remove in the subject. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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BXA Meet
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Should anyone attend this a report would be welcome. Federal Register: February 2, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 21) Page 5353 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Bureau of Export Administration Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee; Notice of Partially Closed Meeting A meeting of the Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee will be held February 25, 1998, 9:00 a.m., in the Herbert C. Hoover Building, Room 3884, 14th Street between Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W., Washington, D.C. The Committee advises the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Export Administration on implementation of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and provides for continuing review to update the EAR as needed. Agenda Open Session 1. Opening remarks by the Chairperson. 2. Presentation of papers or comments by the public. 3. Update on implementation of the National Defense Authorization Act computer control regulations. 4. Update on the Wassenaar Arrangement implementation regulation. 5. Discussion on the ``deemed export'' rule. 6. Discussion on the encryption regulations. 7. Update on the License Process Review initiative. 8. Discussion on efforts to conform the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations on export clearance requirements. 9. Discussion on clarification of EPCI (Enhanced Proliferation Control Initiative). Closed Session 10. Discussion of matters properly classified under Executive Order 12958, dealing with the U.S. export control program and strategic criteria related thereto. The General Session of the meeting will be open to the public and a limited number of seats will be available. To the extent that time permits, members of the public may present oral statements to the Committee. Written statements may be submitted at any time before or after the meeting. However, to facilitate the distribution of public presentation materials to the Committee members, the Committee suggests that presenters forward the public presentation materials two weeks prior to the meeting date to the following address: Ms. Lee Ann Carpenter, OAS/EA/BXA MS:3886C, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230. The Assistant Secretary for Administration, with the concurrence of the delegate of the General Counsel, formally determined on December 16, 1996, pursuant to Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, that the series of meetings or portions of meetings of the Committee and of any Subcommittees thereof, dealing with the classified materials listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) shall be exempt from the provisions relating to public meetings found in section 10(a) (1) and (a) (3), of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The remaining series of meetings or portions thereof will be open to the public. A copy of the Notice of Determination to close meetings or portions of meetings of the Committee is available for public inspection and copying in the Central Reference and Records Inspection Facility, Room 6020, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. For further information, call Lee Ann Carpenter at (202) 482-2583. Dated: January 27, 1998. Lee Ann Carpenter, Director, Technical Advisory Committee Unit. [FR Doc. 98-2393 Filed 1-30-98; 8:45 am]

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Jim Bell Update
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Date: Sun, 01 Feb 1998 Hi, John. Received a letter and phone call from Jim, as below. -------------------------------------- . He had a little altercation with a fellow prisoner ("through no fault of my own" - he thinks he was set up) and his privileges were reduced for 35 days, so that he could only make one phone call each week. . In reference to the bad publicity (all those articles and news alerts) which his case received, he speculates that the government gave a copy of AP to a 'think tank' like Rand, etc., with the request to figure out how to stop or delay AP. But it is his conclusion that AP is unstoppable, although: "I think that one last (temporary) hope for government is to delay AP. Chances are good that the "think tank" decided thatt the best way to delay AP is to discredit me, its author. It was a desperate gamble, particularly because the act of harrassing me automatically gives AP more publicity. That's the reason they will fail; the more they try to "get" me, the worse it will be for them." He wants it noted that his writing and discussions of AP ideas are in the sense of a "prediction", a "warning", or even a "vision", not an advocacy of it. . Regarding his guilty plea, he said it was because he realizes that he did do a few things wrong and that, although he did think that some of the charges against him were overblown and distorted, there was enough of a risk of being found guilty that it didn't make a lot of sense to contest them. He adds, "I also felt (and still do, of course) that government had already 'lost the war' so to speak." . He expects to be out around mid-April. Upon his release he wants to go to some of his favorite restaurants, and to have several BIG pizzas. He hopes he can get his old job back as electronics designer, and has some ideas he wants to work on for a virtual reality peripheral device which will bring everyone steps closer to the Star Trek Next Generation 'holodek'. - end

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RE: Dr Dobbs crypto CD
by Trei, Peter 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I called them up a couple weeks ago to ask about this. The person I talked to had clearly fielded this question quite a few times. The story he gave is that preparation of the master CD was farmed out to some particular individual contractor who was stalling. I got the impression that I was being told that the contractor was apparently imcompetant, and could not turn in a usable master in a timely fashion. There was also some mention of the possiblity of 'legal difficulties', though I was given no details on that. Peter Trei ptrei(a)securitydynamics.com > -----Original Message----- > From: dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com [SMTP:dlv@bwalk.dm.com] > Sent: Saturday, January 31, 1998 12:14 PM > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Subject: Dr Dobbs crypto CD > > The DDJ I just got (March 98) has a full-page ad for the crypto CD > (p.113) > saying inter alia "New Release! fast Search Engine" > > Has anyone received even the "old release"? > > --- > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM > Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, > 14.4Kbps [Trei, Peter] I called them up a couple weeks ago to ask about this. The person I spoke to had clearly fielded this question quite a few times. The story he gave is that preparation of the master CD was farmed out to some particular individual contractor who was stalling. I got the impression that I was being told that the contractor was apparently imcompetant, and could not turn in a usable master in a timely fashion. There was also some mention of the possiblity of 'legal difficulties', though I was given no details. I'm still waiting for my copy. Peter Trei ptrei(a)securitydynamics.com

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List of reliable remailers
by Raph Levien 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I operate a remailer pinging service which collects detailed information about remailer features and reliability. To use it, just finger remailer-list(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu There is also a Web version of the same information, plus lots of interesting links to remailer-related resources, at: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/remailer-list.html This information is used by premail, a remailer chaining and PGP encrypting client for outgoing mail. For more information, see: http://www.c2.org/~raph/premail.html For the PGP public keys of the remailers, finger pgpkeys(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu This is the current info: REMAILER LIST This is an automatically generated listing of remailers. The first part of the listing shows the remailers along with configuration options and special features for each of the remailers. The second part shows the 12-day history, and average latency and uptime for each remailer. You can also get this list by fingering remailer-list(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu. $remailer{'cyber'} = '<alias(a)alias.cyberpass.net> alpha pgp'; $remailer{"mix"} = "<mixmaster(a)remail.obscura.com> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut ek ksub reord ?"; $remailer{"replay"} = "<remailer(a)replay.com> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut post ek"; $remailer{"jam"} = "<remailer(a)cypherpunks.ca> cpunk mix pgp hash middle latent cut ek"; $remailer{"winsock"} = "<winsock(a)rigel.cyberpass.net> cpunk pgp pgponly hash cut ksub reord ?"; $remailer{'nym'} = '<config(a)nym.alias.net> newnym pgp'; $remailer{"squirrel"} = "<mix(a)squirrel.owl.de> cpunk mix pgp pgponly hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{'weasel'} = '<config(a)weasel.owl.de> newnym pgp'; $remailer{"reno"} = "<middleman(a)cyberpass.net> cpunk mix pgp hash middle latent cut ek reord ?"; $remailer{"cracker"} = "<remailer(a)anon.efga.org> cpunk mix remix pgp hash ksub esub latent cut ek reord post"; $remailer{'redneck'} = '<config(a)anon.efga.org> newnym pgp'; $remailer{"bureau42"} = "<remailer(a)bureau42.ml.org> cpunk mix pgp ksub hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{"neva"} = "<remailer(a)neva.org> cpunk pgp pgponly hash cut ksub ?"; $remailer{"lcs"} = "<mix(a)anon.lcs.mit.edu> mix"; $remailer{"medusa"} = "<medusa(a)weasel.owl.de> mix middle" $remailer{"McCain"} = "<mccain(a)notatla.demon.co.uk> mix middle"; $remailer{"valdeez"} = "<valdeez(a)juno.com> cpunk pgp pgponly hash ek"; $remailer{"arrid"} = "<arrid(a)juno.com> cpunk pgp pgponly hash ek"; $remailer{"hera"} = "<goddesshera(a)juno.com> cpunk pgp pgponly hash ek"; $remailer{"htuttle"} = "<h_tuttle(a)rigel.cyberpass.net> cpunk pgp hash latent cut post ek"; catalyst(a)netcom.com is _not_ a remailer. lmccarth(a)ducie.cs.umass.edu is _not_ a remailer. usura(a)replay.com is _not_ a remailer. remailer(a)crynwr.com is _not_ a remailer. There is no remailer at relay.com. Groups of remailers sharing a machine or operator: (cyber mix reno winsock) (weasel squirrel medusa) (cracker redneck) (nym lcs) (valdeez arrid hera) This remailer list is somewhat phooey. Go check out http://www.publius.net/rlist.html for a good one. Last update: Thu 23 Oct 97 15:48:06 PDT remailer email address history latency uptime ----------------------------------------------------------------------- hera goddesshera(a)juno.com ------------ 5:03:45 99.86% nym config(a)nym.alias.net +*#**#**### :34 95.82% redneck config(a)anon.efga.org #*##*+#**** 2:00 95.44% mix mixmaster(a)remail.obscura.com +++ ++++++* 19:18 95.27% squirrel mix(a)squirrel.owl.de -- ---+--- 2:34:19 95.16% cyber alias(a)alias.cyberpass.net *++***+ ++ 11:26 95.11% replay remailer(a)replay.com **** *** 10:06 94.93% arrid arrid(a)juno.com ----.------ 8:50:34 94.41% bureau42 remailer(a)bureau42.ml.org --------- 3:38:29 93.53% cracker remailer(a)anon.efga.org + +*+*+*+ 16:32 92.80% jam remailer(a)cypherpunks.ca + +*-++++ 24:14 92.79% winsock winsock(a)rigel.cyberpass.net -..-..---- 9:59:18 92.22% neva remailer(a)neva.org ------****+ 1:03:02 90.39% valdeez valdeez(a)juno.com 4:58:22 -36.97% reno middleman(a)cyberpass.net 1:01:28 -2.65% History key * # response in less than 5 minutes. * * response in less than 1 hour. * + response in less than 4 hours. * - response in less than 24 hours. * . response in more than 1 day. * _ response came back too late (more than 2 days). cpunk A major class of remailers. Supports Request-Remailing-To: field. eric A variant of the cpunk style. Uses Anon-Send-To: instead. penet The third class of remailers (at least for right now). Uses X-Anon-To: in the header. pgp Remailer supports encryption with PGP. A period after the keyword means that the short name, rather than the full email address, should be used as the encryption key ID. hash Supports ## pasting, so anything can be put into the headers of outgoing messages. ksub Remailer always kills subject header, even in non-pgp mode. nsub Remailer always preserves subject header, even in pgp mode. latent Supports Matt Ghio's Latent-Time: option. cut Supports Matt Ghio's Cutmarks: option. post Post to Usenet using Post-To: or Anon-Post-To: header. ek Encrypt responses in reply blocks using Encrypt-Key: header. special Accepts only pgp encrypted messages. mix Can accept messages in Mixmaster format. reord Attempts to foil traffic analysis by reordering messages. Note: I'm relying on the word of the remailer operator here, and haven't verified the reord info myself. mon Remailer has been known to monitor contents of private email. filter Remailer has been known to filter messages based on content. If not listed in conjunction with mon, then only messages destined for public forums are subject to filtering. Raph Levien

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Clarke denies pedophilia [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > > AUTHOR OUTRAGED AT REPORT HE IS PEDOPHILE > > Arthur C. Clarke seeks postponement of knighthood > > Clarke Clarke > > COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- A British newspaper report that Arthur C. > Clarke is a pedophile is false, his spokesman said Monday, and the > science fiction writer is consulting lawyers. > > "I am outraged by the Sunday Mirror's allegations, and I am seeking > legal advise," Clarke said in a brief statement read to reporters by > his secretary, Roshan Amarasekhara. > > "Mr. Clarke is very upset by the false reports," Amarasekhara added. > > Clarke was quoted at length discussing sex with young men in the > sensationalist British newspaper's report Sunday, a day before > Prince Charles was to fly to Sri Lanka to confer the honorary > knighthood Queen Elizabeth granted the author late last year. The > prince will also take part in the former British colony's 50th > independence anniversary celebrations. > ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Re: Bush Gang Suspected In Assault On Presidency
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

EIR is one of the mouthpieces for the Lyndon Larouche cult. I ran across them in an airport recently, and was surprised to find they're now strongly behind Bill Clinton; I'd thought that a few years ago they were accusing him of being a tool of the Tri-Lateral Commission, though perhaps it was some other group of anti-TriLateralists. At 10:22 PM 2/1/98 EST, covici(a)ccs.covici.com wrote: >Bush gang suspected in new assault on Presidency > >by Edward Spannaus and Jeffrey Steinberg > >In the midst of the worst global financial crisis in modern history, the >United States Presidency has come under renewed, vicious attack from a >combination of British and nominally ``American'' Bush-League circles. ... >From Executive Intelligence Review V25, #5. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart(a)pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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SmartCards in the news
by Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Also see: http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0112/12bio.html ---guy --------------------------------------------------------------------- This article is from Internet Computing (http://www.zdnet.com/icom/) Visit this page on the Web at: http://www.zdnet.com/icom/content/anchors/199802/02/smarten.net/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Features ] February 02, 1998 Smart Cards Smarten the Net By Albert Pang For many contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Internet will become an important ally this year, helping them resolve one of the most daunting challenges when doing business with the government: Getting paid on time and with a minimal amount of hassle. Thanks to a new breed of smart cards backed by sophisticated Web applications, 200 defense contractors will start receiving electronic checks (e-check) from the government via secure Internet e-mail through a pilot program launched in January 1998. The contractors will use their smart cards to access the mail box, validate, and endorse the checks. They will then forward the checks to BankBoston or NationsBank, the two authorized banks, that will deposit them into their accounts. The smart cards, which include digital certificates developed by GTE Cybertrust, will play a critical role in helping the defense department and other agencies comply with a mandate that requires most of the 800 million payments the government makes every year be converted to electronic form by January 1, 1999. Because of the mandate, the number of smart-card applications in different stages of development within the government has doubled to more than 900 in the past year, says Jim Hagedorn, a spokesperson for the Treasury Department. That's good news for vendors such as Anthony Caputo, chairman of Information Resource Engineering (IRE) in Baltimore, which develops the smart cards and the readers for the e-check program. "It will create a nice revenue stream," Caputo says, adding that his company has issued 100,000 smart cards to government and corporate customers mostly for use in private networks. Now with the Internet, the smart card market could grow substantially, especially in Asia and Europe. "Smart cards are the ultimate personal network computers," capable of handling everything from simple tasks such as identification to complex ones such as online banking and electronic commerce, says Philip Yen, senior vice president of chip platform at Visa International in Foster City, CA. [TABLE NOT SHOWN] Both Visa and its rival MasterCard are engaged in smart-card pilots around the world, promoting the use of stored-valued chip cards that run on private networks or the Internet. For example, AT&T Universal Card is working with Mondex, the electronic cash venture majority-owned by MasterCard, to sign up a small number of online merchants for a pilot program that will allow Internet users to buy products from them using smart cards issued by AT&T. However, analysts expect acceptance of smart cards in the United States to be slower than that in other countries because of privacy concerns, interoperability issues (Visa and MasterCard use different operating systems, for example), and the desire to put as many complex applications as possible on a single card. Albert Pang is the online editor of the Internet Computing MagaSite Send e-mail to apang(a)zd.com. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1998 ZDNet. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNet is prohibited. ZDNet and the ZDNet logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Inc.

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