December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

index.html
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CNN logo Navigation Infoseek/Big Yellow Pathfinder/Warner Bros Tech banner IBM Active Channel for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Find out about your chance to win a computer click here for official rules and information. rule GOVERNORS WARN COLLECTING INTERNET TAXES WOULDN'T BE EASY Internet taxes October 17, 1997 Web posted at: 11:12 p.m. EDT (0312 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's governors and local officials, already having difficulty collecting taxes on catalog sales, said Friday a bill aimed at restricting new taxes on the Internet would worsen their problems. "It's very similar," Republican Gov. George V. Voinovich of Ohio said at a press briefing. "We've had an ongoing problem in terms of how to handle that. We've been continuing to try and work that out with those businesses in the states that have the large mail-order catalogs." The National Governors' Association estimates states lose $4 billion in sales taxes annually from catalog sales. That's because states, cities and counties generally lack the authority to capture sales taxes on such sales if the catalog business is headquartered out of state. That problem could only intensify based on the projected growth of electronic commerce. Voinovich cited one estimate of $1.5 trillion in sales on the Internet by 2002. "I don't think this is the time for the federal Congress to rush into something that will have such a huge impact on state and local government," he said. Joining Voinovich to oppose the Internet tax bill were leaders from the National Association of Counties, National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors. Rep. Chris Cox, a Republican from California, and Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, have sponsored similar bills that would bar any new taxes on computer transactions -- such as taxes on Internet access or online services -- for an unspecified time while Congress studies the whole issue. The bill would make an exception to the moratorium for income earned through an Internet service; local business license taxes, if the Internet provider is located within the appropriate jurisdiction; and sales or use taxes, so long as they are the same as charged for mail or telephone orders. "We would love to have the bill say what the sponsors say it says," said Brian J. O'Neill, a Philadelphia city councilman, representing the National League of Cities. But O'Neill and others say the technical language of the bill contains a broad pre-emption of state and local taxes. Wyden spokesman David Seldin strongly disagrees. "We have bent over backwards to clarify language of the bill so there can be no questions" that local governments retain authority to levy the same taxes on the Internet that are assessed on catalog sales, Seldin said. The bill seeks to halt new local taxes aimed specifically at Internet businesses. One National Governors' Association official said the bill's wording would worsen the states' problem of collecting sales taxes on catalog sales. "We know that we have to sit down with the industry and make the sales tax work on Main Street, on catalogs and on Internet, in some simplified, clear and technologically neutral way," said Tim Masanz of the association's economic development group. "If Congress goes on record and says that Internet sales are the equivalent of catalog mail-order sales, those talks are doomed," he added. "I can understand their desire to fight that battle but it would certainly not do much good to create a situation where you are favoring one at-home purchase over another," said Seldin. Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. rule Related story: * House panels back Internet taxation bill - October 9, 1997 Related sites: Note: Pages will open in a new browser window * THOMAS - Legislative Information on the Internet + HR 1054 - Internet Tax Freedom Act * U.S. House of Representatives + Commerce Committee + Judiciary Committee * National Governors' Association * National League of Cities External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. _________________________________________________________________ Infoseek search ____________________ ____ ____ _________________________________________________________________ rule Watch these shows on CNN for more sci-tech stories: CNN Computer Connection | Future Watch | Science & Technology Week rule Message Boards Sound off on our message boards You said it... [INLINE] IBM Active Channel for Microsoft Internet Explorer. Find out about your chance to win a computer click here for official rules and information. rule To the top © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you.

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Re: [LONG, off-topic]] Interactive Programming
by Brandon Crosby 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > LISP programmers are much more into writing programs which > > build and execute routines on the fly. > > As are some perl programmers. As both a perl programmer and a lisp > programer I have never had the need to use self modifing code. In fact I > would consider haveing to use s-m code as a sine that I have made a > mistate in my desinge. > PERL is a pretty high-level language... how do you add sub's after running the code? -Brandon Crosby

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Re: Is PGP still private?
by Toto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Kent Crispin wrote: > On Sat, Oct 18, 1997 at 08:48:56AM +0100, Adam Back wrote: > > My reasoning is this: as PGP Inc can not justify expense on such > > developments, my CDR proposal would be much safer for them to > > implement because it requires no steganography support, or other > > privacy patches to provide protection against abuse of the software > > for uses other than PGP Inc's designers intentions. > You keep talking as if your CDR proposal is other than vaporware. So > far as I have seen you don't have a proposal, you have a wish. Given Adam's many accomplishments in the arena of CypherPunks issues, I find it hard to make a case for his discussion in this area to be mere mental masturbation. 'Democracy in America' is also vaporware--always has been, always will be--but I see no reason we should not go on discussing it and hoping that we will not having to keep pushing the release date of the finished product back, time and time again. > [...] > > > > You are in error. The only time that you are forced to use CMR is when (1) > > > you share the CMRK with the other party AND (2) the strict flag is set. In > > > all other cases, you can opt-out, on a message-by-message basis. > Adam, it is a complete and utter waste of time to debate this. I agree. I think that we should just wait until someone comes out with an actual product, and then castigate them for their ideas being "ill-thought out." > What would *not* be a waste of time would be more concrete proposals. > Whether PGP implements something is a separate question -- I would > like to get back to the question of designing a better email > encryption system. > > Your reencryption scheme fails because of the management of the short > term encryption keys, among other things. Here's another approach I > will toss out, without thinking through: > > How about formalizing superencryption, or tunneling? That is, treat > CMR traffic as a transport medium for messages that are themselves > already encrypted. The "key" idea here is to allow layering of non > CMR traffic over CMR traffic. All the code for both is obviously > already in PGP, with a little glue and perhaps some minor protocol > mods... In return for your positive suggestions, the CDR Board of Dirctors has voted to allow you two posts containg cheap shots at the list member of your choice, without including any points of redeeming, on-topic, list value. Toto ~~~~ "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix "WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs" http://bureau42.base.org/public/webworld "InfoWar" http://bureau42.base.org/public/infowar3 "The Final Frontier" http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/carljohn

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[news] U.S. urged to do more to fight computer threats
by Vipul Ved Prakash 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

*** U.S. urged to do more to fight computer threats A presidential panel is urging the government to increase its efforts to combat computer terrorism, including doubling current spending of $250 million by fiscal year 1999, the Washington Post said Tuesday. The panel said annual federal spending to prevent hackers from using computer networks to sabotage U.S. infrastructure and ensure computer safety should reach $1 billion by 2004. The President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, established a year ago after a Justice Department review of vulnerability to terrorism, delivered a classified 269-page report to the White House Monday, the Post said. For story http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=5535558-766 -- 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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You Have The Right To Know...
by pam＠message4U.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Is PGP still private?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Your reencryption scheme fails because of the management of the short > term encryption keys, among other things. Wait a minute. Didn't Adam abandon the reencryption idea and switch to key escrow? Or did that one turn out to be a non-starter too?

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Underground Reptilian Nazis Infiltrate FBI
by bureau42 Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Choate wrote: > CNN logo > Pathfinder/Warner Bros > FBI HIRES NUCLEAR PHYSICIST TO HEAD CRIME LAB > Web posted at: 2:27 p.m. EDT (1827 GMT) > From Correspondent Terry Frieden > > WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI hired the former head of a government > nuclear weapons laboratory to direct its troubled crime lab, even > though he has no background in forensic science. ... > the man chosen for the post is Donald M. Kerr Jr., 58, a > physicist-engineer who from 1979 to 1985 headed the government's Los > Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed. Of course, this comes as no surprise to those who follow the 'Chronicles of InfoWar,' since we have long been aware that the secret government long ago declared 'information' to be 'munitions.' How long until we hear the official announcement that *all* information will need to be 'registered,' in the interests of National Security, and to protect the citizens from the 2,000,000 Horses of the Apocalypse? (Including, no doubt, terroists with 'suitcases' full of 'information.') > "It just seems dumbfounding and implausible that they would not hire > a world-class forensic scientist to take over the crime lab," center > Director Stephen Kohn said. > > The selection also was criticized by the National Association of > Criminal Defense Lawyers. > > "Once again, the FBI has dealt with Congress and the public with > incredible arrogance," said the group's vice president, William > Moffitt. Is this supposed to come as a 'surprise'? > Kris Kolesnik, senior counselor to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, > one of the harshest critics of the FBI, said Kerr's work at Los > Alamos and more recently for a major defense contractor make him a > "real government insider." His experience and track-record also make him a perfect choice for revitalizing the FBI's ability to cover up their mistakes, keeping their dirty little secrets out of the hands of the public. > Meanwhile, another flap over the crime lab erupted Friday when chief > lab whistleblower Frederic Whitehurst said that in examining FBI lab > reports recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, he > found that five more FBI examiners had altered lab reports. > > "In the last week, I have found five more people that have been > altering cases -- five more that the inspector general didn't find," > Whitehurst said. Whitehust, who will die in a tragic car-accident later this year, will soon be exposed as a drug-addicted, godless-commie pedophile. TruthMonger

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InfoWar Epilogue 4 (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet')
by Matthew Ghio 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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InfoWar Epilogue 4 / TEXT
by Matthew Ghio 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The True Story of the InterNet Part III InfoWar Final Frontier of the Digital Revolution Behind the ElectroMagnetic Curtain by TruthMonger <tm(a)dev.null> Copyright 1997 Pearl Publishing ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- InfoWar Table of Contents * Epilogue * gomez ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Epilogue ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: Just say "No" to key recovery concerns...keep OpenPGP pure From: Adam Back <aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk> To: tcmay(a)got.net CC: shamrock(a)cypherpunks.to, cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net, eric(a)sac.net Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> writes: > I'll try a different way of making my points... > At 9:12 PM -0700 10/14/97, Lucky Green wrote: > >I can't help but see a difference between enforcing to encrypt to a > >default key and storing the user's key outright. IMHO, the former entails > >less potential for abuse. > > All other things being equal, maybe the former is slightly less intrusive > than the latter. But maybe not even this, as the two give the same results. > After all, what's the real difference between "all mail, incoming and > outgoing, must also be encrypted to a CMR key" and "you must deposit a copy > of your key with us"? CMR keys are the root of all evil in pgp5.5. Without them almost any permutation of recovery care to construct would be less useful to the GAK'ers, for all the organizational, and inconvenience reasons Tim describes. Governments have problems handling complexity. So make their job complex. If you were one of the people writing the IRS tax software back in the 60s, and you were in deep cover, a proto-cypherpunk, and were bright enough to see the future possibilities you would have done all you could to fuck up the IRS system. You would have obfuscated the code. You would have put logic bombs in it. You would have destroyed the source code surreptitiously. (Destroying source code has analogies to destroying keys at earliest opportunity, you are destroying something which your enemy needs). Any bets as to if any of this actually happened on purpose? I reckon so. So, do you all reckon we can make task of fielding GAK impossibly complex for such a big disorganized government? Adam -- Now officially an EAR violation... Have *you* exported RSA today? --> http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/rsa/ print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc` ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- gomez I used to be a bright-eyed young computer guerrilla myself, many years ago, but I guess I have grown a little less radical as I have matured, since it now bothers me when youngsters such as Adam Back attempt to encourage others to sabotage the code of decent, hard-working programmers. This matter is of particular concern to me, since Basis, Inc. initially built the Purchasing and Contracting application in the IRS National Office, to run under UNIX on Zilogs, with a preSQL Informix database. Thus Back's intimations of "deep cover proto-cypherpunks" sabotaging the IRS could quite possibly cause serious harm to my professional reputation, in light of the wild-eyed claims made about me in 'The True Story of the InterNet' manuscripts. I have grown quite tired of being the target of some half-baked, delusional psychopath who is making me a character in the bizarre prevarications which drool from his mind, onto the printed page. I made the mistake of taking pity on a poor fellow one night in a Berkeley bar, buying him a few drinks in return for the atrocious tunes he played on a cheap, pawn shop guitar, and soon found him showing up on my doorstep every time he hit town, looking for a handout. Later, I found out that he had forged a letter of recommendation in my name, in order to help himself get established in the computer industry. It was very disturbing to discover some of the atrocities he had done under cover of affiliation with myself and Basis, Inc., causing me a great amount of legal problems. Now, after believing that his obsessive-compulsive fixation on me (because of his affection for my Jack Russell Terriers) was a thing of the past, I find that he is now pushing some crazy theory in regard to the Y2K problem, which is really a fairly insignificant matter that he has blown all out of proportion, and that he has drawn Adam Back into his madness to one degree or another. Mr. Back seems, from what little I know of him, to be a fairly reasonable individual, but lately he has been sinking into the same type of illogical rants and conspiracy rhetoric that the imbecile who calls himself the Author is notorious for. And now Back is making veiled references to persons connected to 'The True Story of the InterNet' obfuscating the IRS software code and planting logic bombs in it. Of particular concern to me is the fact that I personally had a hand in a rather innocent affair that resulted in our company making some coding changes which could possibly be misconstrued to indicate that we were involved in some type of testing of a Year2000 bomb in the IRS software code. One of the requirements for the application we built for the IRS was that no PO (Purchase Order) could be issued without a signed Requisition being referenced. Also, no PO could reference a Requisition issued outside the current fiscal year. Thus, no PO could be written for a Requisition from the previous year. Butthe BIG Butthe IRS staff had long been doing thisviolating the strict letter of the IRS rules-especially around the beginning of a new fiscal year. Lacking a current fiscal year requisition, they referenced one dated the previous (just closed) fiscal year. Suddenly, however, our application stopped their usual practice dead in the water, once certain PO's could not be processed because we required reference to valid (current year) Requisitions. We later discovered that the staff had been "cheating" by defeating our system's logic, after we were called in to tighten up all the design's enforcement of logic. Next thing you know, we were asked to relax the logic. I would like to stress that it is a matter of record that the calendar year related problems were a result of the government specifications and requirements for the application, and not the result of some devious plot on the part of myself or Basis, Inc., to surreptitiously investigate the potential for designing code that would take advantage of the unique problems surrounding the advance from the 1999 calendar year to the year 2000 in order to bring the IRS system to its knees. Neither was the fact that the garnisheeing of my paycheck by the IRS stopped shortly after our work on the IRS system started in any way related to my work on their system. It was merely a coincidence of timing. Conspiracy theorists might also make much of the fact that several Basis applications programmers shortly thereafter took jobs with the IRS for half of their former pay, but this can be explained by their desire for the long-term security and benefits that come with working for the federal government. The fact that most of them left the IRS and returned to Basis shortly after completing a major reworking of the calendar year updating system which locked the IRS irrevocably into two digit year entries indicates nothing more than the fact that they preferred living on the Left Coast. People often offer raised eyebrows when discovering that I went from having my paycheck garnisheed to receiving a $150,000 tax refund on a $100,000 salary, each year, but this is because they fail to take into account the fact that my work as a Research Faculty member for the Center for Policy Alternatives at MIT involved an interdisciplinary research center with links to Sloan School, which gave me access to superior financial management advice. The Center's close relationship to MIT's engineering departments was in no way connected to any sort of covert government activity, nor to any secret work on the development of the forerunners of today's InterNet in a manner that would make it possible for powerful non-elected Committees and secret Commissions to take control of a large segment of government and society. The Center for Policy Alternatives ceased to exist years ago, and the rumors that the Center was merely moved underground to secretly work toward establishing organizations such as FEMA, and the like, are preposterous. I am really growing sick and tired of the lies and slander that surround myself and Basis, Inc., as a result of the jealousy of other major league computer companies over our success at the peak of the Open Systems computer consulting industry. The constant insinuations that we cannot be trusted with highly sensitive systems such as those at the IRS and PacBell, simply because of our early history as Deadheads, is an insult to our integrity. To suggest that Acidhead Grateful Dead fans all have radical political agendas is no more true than suggesting that all Malcolm X followers are black. Well, OK, maybe that's a bad example Regardless, I would like to put to rest, once and for all, the preposterous rumors that have been circulating which link myself and other top computer industry executives to some mythical secret organization whose aim is to subvert the legitimate machinations of authority and the established power structure. I totally deny any connection to 'The True Story of the InterNet' or to anyone involved in the writing and/or dissemination of the manuscripts, and I would advise others to do the same. Copyright TruthMonger <gomez(a)BASISINC.com> "Last one seen fixing it, gets the blame." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" "WebWorld & the Mythical Circle of Eunuchs" "InfoWar (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet') Soviet Union Sickle of Eunuchs Secret WebSite ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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More Government Bullshit
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From News of the Weird: * In July, the Nova Scotia Gaming Control Commission formally banned the popular charity fundraiser, "cow-patty bingo," in which a promoter marks a field into squares, takes bets, and then releases a recently-fed cow to "select" a winning square. The Commission believed the game could be rigged by training a cow to use a particular spot in the field. The next day, incoming Nova Scotia Premier Russell MacLellan said the ban could be ignored. That same week, the district attorney's office in Santa Clara County announced that a similar fundraiser for the imminent Gilroy, Calif., garlic festival, based on the famous Clydesdale horses' two-mile march through town, could not be held because it violated the state gambling law.

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