December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Stronghold
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:40 AM 10/3/97 -0700, Alan wrote: >At 10:45 AM 10/2/97 EDT, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > >>> Amazingly, C2Net doesn't like to see its product publicly slandered >>> by reptiles like Vulis. If Vulis' opinion were based on anything >>> other than personal ill will - ie, if he had ever actually downloaded >>> and examined Stronghold and found any problems with it - he would have >>> a leg to stand on. As it is, his allegations are completely unfounded. >> >>If this were true, then C2Net would encourage me to publicly present whatever >>"evidence" I have so they'd be able to refute it. This is not what they >>asked me to do. > >But it is what you *SHOULD* do. If you have evidence, then present it. If >not, then you are just blowing smoke and FUD. While it is true that Dmitri is a proven liar in the grand tradtion of the Soviet Union (shout a lie long enough and loud enough and eventually some people will start to believe it), and a pathological homophobic bigot (who secretly enjoys sucking cock but wears womens clothing to disguise himself), he was absolutely right in decrying the moderation experiment that was thrown at the list earlier. Sandy did drop his C2 rantings from both moderated and flames lists, because he considered them libelous. That's a line of bullshit -- it wasn't for him to decide libel or not. It's for a jury to decide. Sandy wouldn't have been held responsible in either case because he could have hidden behind the "ISP protection" clause of the CDA. As a moderator who was tasked with spreading the bullshit in one of two places, he simply could have thrown it to either of the lists and claimed it was his duty as moderator to put it out. Of course, by that time Dmitri had so little reputation capital that Gilmore patched Majordomo so it wouldn't even respect a subscription request for him. Dmitri's allegations shouldn't even have gone to the flames list -- they should have gone to the moderated list. If Stronghold has a weakness, or even a perceived weakness, it's crypto relevant. But, when Dmitri writes anything, he's got to attach a "cocksucker this" or "molester that", which makes everything he writes libelous. So, even if he had proof that Lying Fuck Freeh were a axe-murderer, he'd fuck it up and call him "Louis Freeh (cocksucker)", which would continue to throw his credibility down the toilet. Ultimately, Dmitri's allegations of weaknesses in Stronghold, true or not, are totally irrelevant. Without mathematical proof of a weakness, he simply cannot be believed to ever be telling the truth. So, if C2 said to him in private e-mail, "if you call Sameer a cocksucker one more time, we'll slap a libel suit across your emigrant ass, take back your green card, deport you and tell Russia that you called Yeltsin a cocksucker," well, I can understand why he shut up. Actually, I don't think Dmitri knows of any real weaknesses. As I recall, I think he made up some fictitious homosexual connection between Sameer and a law-enforcement agent and suggested that there was a "back door" in Stronghold (pun intended.) Of course, I didn't archive any of his spew from back then. Nobody did, he raved so long and loud at the moderation and Gilmore and everybody that it was all my delete key could do to keep up with his shit. So, don't hold your breath waiting for a repost of previous lies from our dear Kook of the Fucking Century. He might get caught, so he's moved on to new lies now. Cannonymous

4 4

InfoWar 33 / The GeigerBurg Text
by Deja Vu 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 * Anarchist Post of the Century * Anarchist Post of the...(Ouch!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anarchist Post of the Century ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Crypto-continuation in Washington: FBI/DoJ keep up the pressure From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: fight-censorship(a)vorlon.mit.edu, cypherpunks(a)toad.com Crypto is hot in Washington. Don't think the battle's over; it's just beginning: * This afternoon when the Senate Intelligence committee met to consider a new CIA deputy director, Sen. Bob Kerrey said "there's a real urgency" to get an encryption bill passed. (Presumably, that would be his bill, the "Key Escrow Infrastructure" McCain-Kerrey/S.909.) Anyone still think that the Senate will do the right thing on crypto? Think again... * * Last week Janet Reno talked at her weekly press conference about balancing law enforcement rights with privacy rights -- through mandatory domestic key escrow. * * Yesterday Louis Freeh spoke at length before the House International Relations committee about the spread of nuclear weapons... and reminded committee members about the problems the FBI has with nonescrowed crypto... * * Sen. Jon "Mandatory Domestic Key Escrow" Kyl said on Sunday that the Clinton administration's export controls on crypto were *not tight enough*... More info: http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1385,00.html http://www.jya.com/declan8.htm -Declan **************** HEARING OF THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE NOMINATION OF LT.-GEN. JOHN A. GORDON TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY CHAIRMAN: SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY (R-AL) 106 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, DC 2:00 P.M. EDT WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1997 SEN. KERREY: I hope no doubt that you've heard of and perhaps had the opportunity to read the recommendations made by Senators Helms and Moynihan, but I think they're excellent. It's an excellent examination of, first, the need in some instances to classify, as well as the need to examine that classification system. It's not really a question, General Gordon. I think it's imperative that, on the issue of encryption, that the president exert some authority and try to pull together the congressional leaders and say, "We need a secure public network." There's counter-intelligence concerns. There's national security issues here at stake, obviously, balanced against the concerns for civil liberties and the concern for commercial interests and the need to develop. But there's lots of action up here on the Hill, both in the House and the Senate, in half a dozen committees or eight or nine committees, or Lord knows how many altogether, more than I realized existed. And I think there's a real urgency to get something passed both for the private sector, so they can have some stability, but also on the public-sector side, so we can protect the nation's interests. MR. GORDON: Senator, I have not delved that deeply into the encryption issue. I certainly take your point on this point. But I do know that if the Senate does confirm me that that will be squarely on my plate. **************** ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO'S WEEKLY MEDIA AVAILABILITY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON, DC THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1997 Q No, wait - ATTY GEN. RENO: You've got to be quicker than that. Q (Inaudible) - yes, ma'am. Director Freeh and Director Constantine both have complained that U.S.-made encryption devices are giving the drug cartels an advantage whereby interdiction becomes impaired. Would you favor, as Mr. Freeh does, some kind of giving of the keys to these devices to the FBI and DEA? ATTY GEN. RENO: I don't think that Director Freeh favors giving keys to the FBI and to the DEA. Q No? ATTY GEN. RENO: What Director Freeh has talked about is what we have today - if someone is going to tap a phone, they don't just go in and tap the phone, if they're going to do it legally. What law enforcement does is it develops probable cause to believe that the telephone is being used to commit a crime and that to overhear would provide evidence of a crime. That is submitted to a judge, both in federal court and in many states courts where wiretapping is authorized. The judge reviews the sufficiency of the affidavits in support of the petition and enters an order directing the telephone company to provide that opportunity. What Director Freeh is hoping to achieve is the same thing with respect to encrypted products; so that the court would direct that the key be provided to the telecommunications system, or the other system, in order to decrypt the encoded message. What we're trying - what the administration is trying to do is to recognize that there are two important interests at stake here. One is the law enforcement interest, which is so vital with respect to terrorists, with respect to being able to decrypt the drug dealer's computer when I - I can get a search warrant now and seize his black book and I can read his black book or decipher what he's talking about. But if he can encrypt the information on his computer, that will be a significant obstacle to law enforcement. At the same time, the whole purpose of encryption with modern telecommunication is to provide for the privacy interest, of commercial interest of the average citizen. And so I think it's important that we work together to ensure the law enforcement capacity and ensure that the present capacity to get court-ordered authorities for surveillance are continued and are made real, while at the same time ensuring privacy. Q So you're saying that the phone company would have the responsibility? Do they have the capability of encrypting? ATTY GEN. RENO: The phone company doesn't have it. There would be a system whereby a key would be provided through third parties or otherwise. But this is something that we need to work together on to ensure that law enforcement interests are protected and that privacy interests are protected as well. **************** HEARING OF THE HOUSE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE SUBJECT: ORGANIZED CRIME CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE BEN GILMAN (R-NY) LOUIS FREEH, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION 2172 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1997 10:00 A.M EDT REP. : Following up on what Mr. Hyde said on your need to fight international crime and terrorism, what do you need, as an agency director and for your agency, in terms of specifics to wage a fight that you can win? MR. FREEH: Yes, sir. As I mentioned in my statement, I think we need it on three levels. We need the permanent and minimal FBI presence overseas to develop the kinds of relationships that Dr. de Gennaro and I have had now for 18 years. We have asked for, and the Congress approved last year, in August of 1996, a plan to expand the FBI's Ligat (sp) program from approximately 23 to 43 Ligats. That would call for, by the end of 1999, 146 special agents in 42 different countries with 116 support employees. That's a total of 262 people. As I mentioned, the plan was submitted last year. It wasn't just an FBI plan. It was jointly submitted by the State Department and the attorney general. And we've asked for funding in the 1998 and 1999 budgets to reach that level. We've also asked for a continuation of the training. As I mentioned, we've been able to train thousands of police officers around the world. The benefit of that training is two-fold. First of all, we can give them what they need most of all, which are the basic tools to conduct their own investigations. Just as importantly, we develop through those relationships, as Dr. de Gennaro described it, the cop-to-cop contacts and relationships. So an FBI agent or a DEA agent can pick up the phone and speak to a police commander in Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan, if that's the place where we need to do our work. So the training is a very important part of the whole program. And again, and finally, we need the technological tools to do our work. We have to be able to communicate rapidly and securely. We have to deal with encryption. We have to deal with cyber-crime. And those are all part of a larger technological challenge which we're trying to meet. [...] REP. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you, John. Director Freeh, appreciate your testimony. It's been quite riveting, actually. One of the briefing papers we have indicates that the American public, in a recent poll, whatever you want to take polls worth, say that 70 percent of the American people who were surveyed found it likely that the United States could be attacked by terrorist groups within the next decade using smuggled nuclear devices. If you were asked that, what category would you be in? MR. FREEH: I think it's a threat and a possibility that should occupy our highest priority. I think we've seen attacks certainly in Oklahoma, in New York City. We know that many of the state sponsors of terror, including Iran, are rapidly and very aggressively acquiring nuclear technology, both in terms of warheads and launching devices. We know that many of the state sponsors of terrorism, particularly Iran, sponsor and fund and control Hezbollah groups, including groups which have connections and operations in the United States. So the links, although I don't think I've seen them in a documented form, clearly suggest that if a terrorist is willing to use a truck bomb to blow up a building with thousands of people at risk, the accomplishment of the particular objective would not be changed or influenced by the opportunity to use a much more devastating (nuclear?) or biological or chemical agent. So I think we have to take the possibility extremely seriously and we have to take drastic steps to try to prevent and detect that. **************** [This thanks to John Young. --Declan] Remarks by Senator Jon Kyl at the First International Conservative Congress--September 28, 1997 [...] The Clinton Administration pursues a foreign policy without clear goals or the will to act decisively and is squandering the national security means left to it by a dozen years of Republican presidency. It emphasizes hope over reality and reliance on arms control agreements like the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) over a stronger defense. And political benefit over national security, as in its decisions to cave in to the concerns of some in industry in irresponsibly relaxing export controls on key items like encryption technology and supercomputers. **************** ------------------------- Declan McCullagh Time Inc. The Netly News Network Washington Correspondent http://netlynews.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anarchist Post of the(Ouch!) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Damn it, Baby!" the Tourette Tic grabbed his elbow and rubbed it. Baby had never bitten him that hard before, and it hurt like hell. "OK, I apologize for the sexist joke I emailed to all of those poor, unsuspecting people." The Tourette Tic knew that Baby had bitten him to keep him from using the same chapter title, once again, but he also knew that his sexist joke was what had put her in a bad mood to start with. "And I'll use a different chapter heading for the next chapter, OK?" Baby sat down on the bed, and resumed chewing on the moose bone she had brought home in the middle of the night from some poacher's stash. She had made her point. "People with Tourette Syndrome often get caught up in repetitious cycles of thought and action." the Tourette Tic was speaking to himself, now, since Baby was putting all of her attention of the moose bone, wrestling it into submission as it tried to escape her grasp. "And sometimes we swear, too, you little cunt." Baby put her bone down for a moment gave the Tourette Tic a cold stare, challenging him to continue with this sexist line of thought. "OK, I apologize." the Tourette Tic said, hastily, but couldn't resist adding, "I forgot that you're on the ragOuch!" Baby trotted back to her bone and resumed her attack on it, having disciplined her alleged master for giving rein to his sexist leanings. Men "<FemiNazi>" the Tourette Tic muttered, glancing at Baby, nervously. Baby pretended she hadn't heard that last comment, but she secretly smiled as she continued pulling at a piece of sinew on the end of the moose bone. He was lucky he had her around to keep him on his toes, or there was no telling how far he would backslide into the bowels of sexist bachelorhood. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You can hardly blame him, though." Alexis spoke the words that all of the members of the Magic Circle were thinking as they read the last few chapters of 'InfoWar' that had been submitted by the head of the 'Department of Redundancy Department.' "True." the Cowboy agreed. "Ever since Lying Fuck Louis Freeh made the mistake of tipping his hand, the CypherPunks have risen to the challenge by inundating the list with a plethora of perceptive and poignant posts." "Cowboy!" Priscilla said sternly, "Are you making fun of the tendency of people with Tourette Syndrome to get caught up in alliteration, wherein they titillate their tonsils, tending to repeatedly recite repartee redundantly representing repetitive phrases?" "Yeth." the Cowboy admitted, making fun of the lisp that Priscilla had been blessed with as a child, only overcoming the tendency in adulthood. "OK, that does it" Jonathan spoke up, shaking his head at the inane attitude that the others had been projecting since their last use of the Trei Transponder. "I am going to reveal to the readers of Part III of The True Story of the InterNet, just how depraved you people are, by adding 'The Plot of the Platypus' to this chapter, and letting them know that you all found it hilarious." Bubba Rom Dos stood up, looking offended. "I resent the implication," he said, "that I am so insensitive as to laugh at the physical disabilities of others. I just happened to think of something extremely funny from my past, at the same time that I was reading 'The Plot of the Platypus' missive." "Me, too." Priscilla added, giggling. "I was thinking of the first time that Bubba and I had sex." The whole group roared with laughter. Jonathan took it as a sign from the Tao that he should indeed add the suggested missive to the chapter, in order to ensure that the readers of 'InfoWar' would understand the truth spoken by Winifred G. Barton, founder of the Bartonian Metaphysical Society and the Institute of Applied Metaphysics, when she said, "Always take metaphysics seriously. Never take yourself seriously." "Nuke DC!" Bubba said, and called up the post onto the GraphiScreen, whereupon Jonathan merged it with the message to the sexist by A Dog To Be Named Earlier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Plot of the Platypus From: nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous) Organization: Replay and Company UnLimited To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com ********** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ********** WARNING!!! Plot of the Platypus !!!WARNING ********** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ********** Since the death of Dale Thorn, I have lurked silently in the list background while observing the creeping conspiracies continually compromising cypherpunk costs. I mean..."posts." {Damn, now I'm doing it, too.} Doing what, you ask? How did you know what I said? Are you with the MIND POLICE? AM I SURROUNDED??!!!?? {Oh...I see that I put that thought in brackets, where you could read it. Whew! Had me worried for a minute, there.} To continue... Being an anonymous coward who hides behind remailers the few times that I post, I have been somewhat hesitant, nonetheless, to reveal the observations and accompanying thoughts about the direction that the cypherpunks lissed has taken {Damn, that's twice, already. I may be infected, like many of the others} since the end of the Nazi moderation/censorship experiment. While other, more vocal, list members were celebrating the apparent 'victory' over the Johnboot of fascism being lifted from our typing fingers, I had a troubled mind, worrying whether the evil forces were truly vanquished or whether they had merely escaped by way of the anonymous remailers, to the negative pole, where they would bide their time and prepare to strike again. I was counting on the shit-disturbers, chiefly Dale Thorn, to keep a practiced eye out for signs of the evil farces {Was that a typo, a Freudian slip, or another sign of the mind infection that is rapidly spreading on the list?} regrouping to once again try to destroy the cypherpunks list. Suddenly, Dale disappeared--faster than you can say, "Jimmy Hoffa." For a time, Toto attempted to carry on in his stead, but I *knew* Dale Thorn, and Toto is no John F. Kennedy. {Shit! Now I'm beginning to steal and corrupt the words of others. I'm not certain I like the implications of this. The plot may go even deeper than I previously thought...} Where was I...? Oh, yes...the Plot of the Platypus... William H. Geiger III writed: > A prime example is the welfair class in America. *^^* Anonymous rote: > Many in the welfair class have their basic needs met by... *^^* Then, in a startling development, ? the platypus wrote: >(Australia, most of europe ect have higher welfare rates). ... *^^^^^^^* >Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia see the url in my header. Notice anything a little bit *strange* in the above quotes? Suddenly, "? the Platypus" is the only one of this group that can spell welfair...warfair......welfare. {Damn! What's that clinging to my back?} What is going on here? As the Platypus's spelling gets better, the other list members' spelling gets worse. For example: Ray Arachelian sayhed: > what shal be the punishment? If the one who takes the order... *^* > reposability, then the one giving the order must be doubly... *^^* Tim May wroted: > Agraphia or not, this is one of the lamest posts I've seen in years. > Wealth is to be taken from those who have worked for it or put their > capitcal at risk *^* The CypherPunk Philosophist King, lame-ing while flame-ing? Worse yet, while flame-ing about lame-ing? Lame-ing while flame-ing about lame-ing? Fucking up his spelling while taking a cheap-shot at someone's disability in their ability to 'dis' someone with proper spelling? And then, after his "capitcal" misfire, the object of his scorn returns fire with a correct spelling of "redistribution?" ? the Platypus correctly scripted: > The US has one of the lowest rates of wealth redistribution in the... Am I making too much of this? A few simple typo's, you say? Perhaps an occasional slip of the finger--a momentary lapse of mind and/or memory, leading to a misspelled word? {Or is it 'mispelled'? I don't know, and I'm afraid to look it up. I could use the spell checker, but... No! It's too dangerous.} It's the Plot of the Platypus, I tell you...I AM NOT CRAZY!!!! I did extensive analysis of the list posts in the last few months, and I can state with absolute certainty that for every slight improvement in the quality of the Platypus's spelling, there is a court responding decease in the Kuala-T of many of T ohter libsp mambors spealing. {See? Do you SEE!?!? IT'S EVEN HAPPENING TO *ME* NOW.} That's not all. Just like before, others on the list are acting as the shills for the chief instant gator of this spelling tragivesty. Bill Stewart, a conscienshous speller, said: > [If you're going to rant about government-provided education, > _please_ spell most of your words correctly, or let technology help > you...] See? Do you SEE?!? The subtle slams by the co-conspirators are beginning. It's the next stage... "Having a little trouble with your spelling there, pal? There's no more censorship, so you can say anything you want...as long as you can SPELL it! Haaa...haaaa...haaa." The ebil fartses are once again attempting to split the cybferpukes lissed in2 too kamps--the good spellers and the bag speelers. Think about it. Have you ever heard of "agraphia" before? Ever known anyone that had it? Of course not! It was developed in an underground lavoratory in Area 51 by reptilian Nazis. Well, maybe not "reptilian", but Nazis, just the same. And LOOK! I'm using double-quotes! *Misplaced* double-quotes, nonetheless. THE MARKS OF THE *TOTO*!!! The conspiracy is spreading fast. It's everywhere. Kent Crispin, government schill {Damn! I even spell 'shill' like Toto, now. At least I managed to use single quotes this time, like we did in the old days, before the censorship crisis...which just 'happened' to happen shortly after Toto happeared out of nowhere...} Where was I...? Oh, yes... Crispin, who has long previously been the target of many vicious attacks by both Toto and the Platypus, is now showing signs of the government generated Platyagraphia and the double-quote marks of the Toto. Kent Crispin <kent(a)songbird.com> say-heyed: >will force the "welfair class" to become productive citizens or die. ^ ^^^ ^ Or is Kent Crispin, gubormint chill, marking funds of the wrist of U.S.? Is he laughtering at uds B-hynd R backs? Is he a bubble agent in the Plop of the Paperplutz? Still skeptical? Wait!! There's more!!! {No, not the Ginsu knives, you fools. I'm talking about the Plop of the Pretty Puss.} Think about the following pots, which wah *snot* sent to the list in order to hide the troops from the simplefucks lips dismemberers. Since it was not cent 2 the lips, I had to make it up, and now I'm a forager, like Tutu making those bag fridgeries of ohter cheaples pastes when he abuses their names without having their parsimmons to accuse their name for making his own pissed to the cyberhunks lost. ------- Begin Pretty Good Pretending------- PGP: Bad Spelling Virgin 0.1 To: ciderpundits(a)tao.dot.commie From: TheBadSpellingForger <i_can__spell_good(a)anytime.I.please> Subject: Make Con$piracy La$t Date: {I'm typing it *now*, you idiot.} Tired of being a LOSER? Tired of failing in your list takeover bids while others, like the _fuck_you_morons_ spammer, AOL'ers, and blonde bimbos with huge breasts are getting ahead in life? Tired of not getting your secret cypherpunks decoder ring, like the others, because you don't use an "authorized" operating system, and you can't spell "welfare" even though you're on it? Join the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST today, and turn your life around. {No Bullshit! This conspiracy is so fucking secret that *nobody* knows about it--NOT EVEN ME! I had to make it up! That's how secret it is.} Good gays Finnish lost. Why do they "Finnish lost"? Because they waste their time with correct spelling, proper placement of quotation marks, and trying to develop a consistent list persona when there are already millions of Internet identities out there already, just waiting to be abused. Face it, it's the assholes that usually end up on top, and not just because most people sleep on their stomachs. So why are you WASTING YOUR TIME being a good gay, when the assholes are making the BIG BUCKS by putting naked pictures of big bucks fucking big butts on their "Native American Nude MLM" web site? Tired of being an anarchist? Tired of waiting for Jim Bell to rat you out as being a co-conspirator in his evil plot to overthrow the government? Tired of standing in front of your mirror, trying to practice acting surprised when armed forces from a dozen government agencies kick down your door to announce that someone nuked D.C., and they'd like to "ask you a few questions?" Join the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST. Do it TODAY, and you will be guaranteed a secret cypherpunks decoder ring when the people who pull our strings pass a law criminalizing them (except for use in meeting the legitimate needs of secret conspirators against the cypherpunks list). Listen to what these Secret Conspirators have to say: Peter Trei: "Hi. I used to be a boring guy. I was so boring that none of the assholes on the list even bothered insulting me, or forging posts in my name. "Then one day, my life suddenly changed. Someone forged a post to the list in my name, and it was exciting. It was like getting robbed at gunpoint. What a rush! "When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't face going back to my normal, moral, ethical, boring life. I sent an anonymous post to the list--as TruthMonger! It felt good, like being elected to a government office by lying to people, but I wanted MORE. I began forging posts to the list using other people's identities. If they complained to the list, then I killed them, and assumed their list identities. It felt like driving INSLAW into bankruptcy, stealing their software, and murdering those who knew too much! "Now I am Peter Trei, boring cryptographer, by day, but I am any exciting, unethical asshole I want to be, at night. "I liked the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST so much that I *stole* the conspiracy. "? the Platypus" has nothing to do with the Plot of the Platypus, I'm just making fun of his disability, like a real asshole. Toto has nothing to do with it, either. He's such a loser that everyone on the list can spot his forgeries. (Well, they "used to could". But now that I can mimic his style and have hacked his Sympatico account, I can deny all of this from my real list persona tomorrow, and nobody will be the wiser.) "I'm not just a user of the cypherpunks list, I'm an abuser." Kent Crispin: "This isn't Peter's conspiracy, its MINE! I mean, get real, I work in a secret underground lavoratory as a government shill. "Think about it. Who would you expect to conspire against a bunch of anarchists...the government! You all know how much I love the government and authority. I'm Louis Freeh's secret lover. Janet Reno is going to have my baby. "It's me! *I* am the one behind the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST. I'm a STATIST, for God's sake, why won't you believe me? "Because I'm not one of the elitist 'chosen?' Fuck you." Tim May: "God, I *love* this list." Robert Hettinga: "Hey! If you check the archives, you'll find that I said that in a post, long before anyone else did." TruthMonger: "Now Hettinga is stealing Tim May's lines. What the hell is going on, here? Has *everybody* on this list gone crazy? "*I* am the one who is *really* behind the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST. Think about it. Everyone knows that I'm a 33rd degree Mason. No...that's Tim May. "Fuck this shit. From now on, I'm posting as Toto." John Perry: "This has gone on long enough. I'm killing this thread. ...I mean..."post." ...I mean... "Shit! I'm not the list moderator, yet. That's *after* we take over the list." "Sorry." ------- End Pretty Good Pretending------- ... ~~~~~~~ Begin Note From Igor ~~~~~~~ Do you all remember the Perl script I was working on for mimicking the posts of other people? Well, this post is the latest product of that script. What do you think? Is it convincing? Did you really believe that it was actually written by one or more of the people mentioned in the post? I think that I finally have the Perl script to the point where I can effectively fool most people about the true source and method of a computer generated post's actual origins. I was thinking about adding a conspiratorial part about myself. I was going to intimate that the fact that I was so active on the list during the censorship crisis, playing the skeptic who was gradually brought around to the truth of Dale Thorn and Toto's claims, then volunteering to host the list and quietly disappearing into the background, might indicate that *I* was really behind the SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST. In the end, I decided against it, because then the readers would be left with the notion that perhaps even this explanatory note from me was bogus, and that there really was an ongoing SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST. ~~~~~~~ End Note From Igor ~~~~~~~ ********** DISCLAIMER ********** THERE IS *NO* SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! There is no conspiracy by a secret government to destroy the Constitution, enslave the people, and rule the world. Individual cypherpunks are not being imprisoned and murdered and replaced with Identity Bots. There is no need to worry. Declan McCullagh can confirm all of this. You can trust him. He is your representative in D.C. He did *not* give secret testimony against Jim Bell in return for a byline in the "Time" magazine cover story. That is just a rumor. Well, not yet, maybe, but it will be, very soon. Remember, this is just a normal mailing list with a few list members who are a little odd. There are no spooks. There is no background intrigue. This whole privacy thing has just been blown a bit out of proportion. It's really not that important. Waco was just a tragic accident. Ruby Ridge was a simple error in judgment by a government agent who really feels bad about following his superiors orders. Heavily armed U.S. Marines are no match for a goat-herding boy with a .22, and it is only by the grace of God that they are alive today. Oswald acted alone. lai;ekrjke ^C THERE IS *NO* SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! There is no conspiracy by a secret government to destroy the Constitution, enslave the people, and rule the world. dakl;jdafkl;jad;jfa ^C ^C Oswald acted alone. Bears are Catholic. The Pope shits in the woods. The government is concerned for your welfair. *^^^* ldfafd;ljfd; ^C^X^C THERE IS *NO* SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! da;lkdf ^C THERE IS *NO* welfair ad;fljadf; *^^^* ad;sljf;afj ^C ^C ^C THERE IS *NO* SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! SECRET CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE CYPHERPUNKS LIST! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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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index.html
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CNN logo Navigation Infoseek/Big Yellow Pathfinder/Warner Bros Main banner Visit Regal at Buick.com rule REPORT: PARENTS SOUGHT TREATMENT FOR TEEN SLAYING SUSPECT The suspect's house October 3, 1997 Web posted at: 4:18 a.m. EDT (0818 GMT) JACKSON TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (AP) -- Three days before 11-year-old Eddie Werner vanished while selling candy door-to-door, the parents of the teen accused of killing him reportedly asked a judge to lock up their son. The parents of the teen asked a Family Court judge on September 24 to place him in a residential psychiatric treatment center in a bid to get his violent behavior under control, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Friday. Instead, he was allowed to remain at home. Werner Last Saturday, Werner disappeared as he sold candy and wrapping paper for a school fund-raiser. His body was discovered Monday night in a wooded area between the neighborhoods where he and the suspect lived. Authorities have not released the name of the suspect because he is under 18. On Thursday, prosecutors said they believe the suspect was molested by a 43-year-old New York man who met him through an online chat room and arranged trysts. Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said Stephen Simmons, 43, of Holbrook, New York, and the suspect met at New Jersey motels and at Simmons' home for sex several times over the past 13 months. Simmons The boy's parents learned of the meetings and informed police. Simmons, who has been charged with third-degree sodomy and could face other charges, was arrested on September 24 -- the same day the suspect's parents made their request of the judge. "These people had been crying out for help a week before the incident," the suspect's attorney, Michael Critchley, told The Star-Ledger. "Everybody should step back and pause a moment before they put this kid on a pyre and burn him." The teen-age suspect faces murder, aggravated sexual assault and robbery charges. Prosecutors were reviewing whether to have him tried as an adult. memorial Acquaintances described the suspect as a loner and a bully, but others said he was an average teen and a good student with an interest in computers. He built his own Web page, which he filled with biographical tidbits and exhaustive information about his favorite rock band, Smashing Pumpkins. He also explored other regions of the online world. Kaye said information found on a computer drive seized by prosecutors indicated the boy was visiting homosexual chat rooms, where he first met Simmons. Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. rule Related stories: * Violent offenses by teens plunged last year - October 2, 1997 * Door-to-door school sales debated after boy's slaying - October 1, 1997 _________________________________________________________________ Infoseek search ____________________ ____ ____ _________________________________________________________________ rule Message Boards Sound off on our message boards You said it... [INLINE] Visit Regal at Buick.com 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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Stanglehold / Re: Stronghold
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Alan wrote: > C2Net should have demanded proof instead of getting defensive. That > worries me, not because of "hidden backdoors", but because it shows lack of > confidence in their own products. But lack of confidence has nothing to do > with actual strength of the product. Let's think about this for a moment. RSA is so confident in their product that they openly challenge people to prove its strength or weakness, even offering them money out of their own pocket if they cn do so. C2Net, at the merest whisper by the least credible of persons, launches into action an army of litigators to threaten said individual with dire consequences if they fail to duck and cover, not to mention 'shut the fuck up.' Hhhmmmm...... > If you do have evidence and refuse to post it, then you are just helping > C2Net. If I had evidence of a backdoor in C2Net's Stronghold software, and I met with so little support when attacked by them, I would refuse to post it. Why? To let all of C2Net's staunch defenders feel all the more confident in placing their big, hairy balls in the StrangleHold of C2Net's software. Of course, if I were C2Net and I *did* have a backdoor built into my software, I would probably try to link any criticism of my product with the rantings of mentally unstable paranoics. Which begs the question, is Dimitri the 'foil' of C2Net, or a 'creation' of C2Net? TruthMonger "Creator of the 2-way mirror."

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FBI trainees good, nab innocent teen-agers
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CNN logo [ISMAP]-Navigation Infoseek/Big Yellow Pathfinder/Warner Bros Main banner AST. Working For Your Business. rule FBI trainees goof, nab innocent teen-agers October 3, 1997 Web posted at: 9:35 p.m. EDT (0135 GMT) ELIZABETHTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Armed FBI trainees in bulletproof vests and camouflage surrounded a group of teen-agers, handcuffed them and forced them to the ground before realizing they had the wrong people. The trainees were taking part in a training exercise at a town square Wednesday night in which they were apparently supposed to nab others taking part in the drill. Instead, up to 30 FBI trainees jumped out of a caravan of vehicles and descended on the innocent teen-agers, bound their wrists with plastic ties and ordered them to lie face-down on the sidewalk. After about 30 minutes, the agents set the teens free. The FBI would not comment on the specifics of the drill, but an FBI official apologized Friday and two agents visited the home of one of the youths Thursday night to express their regrets. Copyright 1997 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Re: New PGP "Everything the FBI ever dreamed of"
by Alex Le Heux 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On 3 Oct 1997 17:27:29 +0200, in list.cypherpunks you wrote: >An article in today's (Fri, Oct 3) New York Times (CyberTimes) ><http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/100397pgp.html> >describes the new release of "PGP for Business Security 5.5," which >contains mechanisms that incorporate key recovery mechanism that can either >be volontary or be enforced by using PGP's software for controlling a >company's SMTP server -- the server can verify that all encrypted messages >include the corporate public key (or conform to other corporate policies): [snip] Keep in mind that this is the 'PGP for Business'. Companies often operate on the principle that email that's sent and received from their machines is the company's, not the employee's. This is actually reasonable business practice. Specially when encryption enters the picture. The employee could walk under a bus, and leave some vital but encrypted emails in his mailbox. This could be a real problem for corporations. Individuals should of course stay as far away from something like this as possible. Alex -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQA/AwUBNDXEUduYAh4dUSo/EQKERQCg6v6i8v+hvh4/zFDXGEt2e0eyl0kAn2An 2tlYh85ewSbxsCmD8L9H1OI/ =i0zt -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --- Violence is the last resort of those who have lost all control over a situation.

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InfoWar 29 / (Part III of 'The True Story of the InterNet')
by C. Crockett Flintstone 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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InfoWar 29 / The GeigerText Edition
by C. Crockett Flintstone 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 * Death & Texas * 2000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Death & Texas ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I see that our link to the past" Jonathan paused to remember what the hell the man was calling himself, lately, "The Same Guy, that's it" What had he been about to say? Jonathan shook his head to clear away the fog that invariably resulted from use of the Trei Transponder to make contact withThe Same Guy. "He fucked up the 'Death and Taxes' chapter title." Alexis helped Jonathan regain his train of thought. "Oh, yes, thank you." Jonathan sighed, and continued. "Well, if he fails to pick up the reminder from the LMBoyd sampler, then there's no telling what the next chapter will be about, since he'll be away from the 'Home' for the weekend." Priscilla added, "Perhaps we would have been better off to let him usurp the TruthMonger multi-user personality, since he seems to have become a one-man multi-user personality, all on his own." Bubba Rom Dos laughed, and reminded the others of one of his self-coined 'old-sayings': "When you talk to yourself, that's normal. When you answer yourself, that's a little weird, but nothing to seriously worry about. However, when you say, 'Huh?'you're in big, big trouble." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Sampler: October 3 Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 00:15:01 -0700 From: sampler-request(a)lmboyd.com ====================================================== Clients write: "What I think of when somebody says 'death and taxes' is death only collects once."... "What gets me is this is supposed to be National Apathy Week, and nobody cares."... "What I can't figure out is how hailstones were described before golf balls were invented." ============================================== LMBoyd Web Site / U. S. Newspapers / Start Email / Stop Email http://www.LMBoyd.com/postscript.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Taxes!" The Same Guy exclaimed. "Damn! Taxes" The Same Guy looked at the chapter of 'InfoWar' that he had been working on for the last week. Now it made sense why he couldn't quite get it all to quite come together. Still, 'Death and Texas' had been a pretty good guess, since it did tie in with some of the main players in the worldwide conspiracy destined to come to fruition at the turn of the millennium. Someone had gotten to Paula Jones' attorneys and forced them to bow out of her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, so that the Puppet Masters behind the scenes could bring in a heavy-hitter from Texas, and fund the attack on the President through the spook-connected Rutherford Institute in Charlottesville, Va. "Donavan Campbell!" The Same Guy slapped his forehead. Now the obviously 'wrong' reference in chapter 26, "Everything You Know Is Wrong," made sense. "One of the reasons the Author attributed to his becoming a computer guru in an amazingly short period of time, was his entry into the computer arena as the apprentice of Bill Campbell, one of the designers of the Adam motherboards, and the Authors work with retarded children early in life." The man referred to in this passage was the owner of CCPPR Computers, Inc., in Tucson, Arizona. But his name was Bill Williams, not Campbell. The Same Guy had known that whoever had changed the name in the manuscript while it was in route to the CypherPunks mailing list was sending a message to someone that everything they knew about something was wrong, and that it involved someone named Campbell, from Texas, where the Author had worked with a number of retarded children. The references to the Feminazis was another reference to the use of Paula Jones for the attack on the Presidency, but what about the reference to George Carlin? The Same Guy had done a quick Web search for Paula Jones and George Carlin using fuzzy pattern-matching, and came up with the email from CNN's 'Carin' Dessauer announcing Paula Jones' switch of attorneys. "Yes, the one-two punch!" The Same Guy had leapt from his chair and given himself a high-five, causing Baby to look up at him as if she was glad she was a dog, and therefore in no way related to these crazy humans. Suddenly, everything was coming full circle"Full Magic Circle!" The Same Guy joked to himself, laughing uproariously, and causing Baby to get up and go into the next room to lay down, lest someone come along and think that she was associated with this lunatic. Men "Sure, pretend you don't know me!" The Same Guy hollered after Baby, knowing what she was doing. "Just wait until people around the world are applauding my genius and giving me the 'Key to the City' for my prophetic foresight. Then you'll be sorry you're not there to accept the 'Doggie Bone to the City' for standing by my side, as my faithful companion." Baby just looked at him from her new spot on the Lazy Boy in the front room, and put her head down to sleep, not seeming particularly impressed. "Awe-Stun Taxes." That's what the T-shirts said. The name of the man who engaged the Author to promote the T-shirts for him was C. Crockett Flintstone. Crockett was not only person responsible for introducing the Author to Sam Houston Johnson, and politics, Texas style, but he was also the reason for the Author's fortuitous encounter with gomez@basisinc, and his subsequent journey into the bowels of the UNIX operating system. And, of course, there was the ugly scene at Don Politico's bar in Austin, when the Author had introduced the prototype of a bumper-sticker he had come up with, to sell in Dallas. It said, "Honk if you killed Kennedy." That was a long, long time ago, but the tangled, twisted trail which had led The Same Guy to this point in time still revolved around Death and Taxes, Death in Texas, and nowthe Death of Taxes. But The Same Guy didn't want to write about Death, Taxes, Texas, or any of that depressing stuff. He was tired of dealing with the Dark Side of the conspiracy. He wanted to think about the positive things that could be done to counter the Dark Terror that was about to descend upon the world, once again. Stuff like nuking DC. Well, OK, maybe that was a bad example. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Looks like he's done fucking up the chapter." Alexis smiled at Jonathan, as she put her arms around him and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now it's your turn." "Bubba! Cowboy! Grab the liquor and get your asses out here, we've got work to do." Jonathan shouted to the two men who were laying in their cots, trying to recover from the exceedingly long hours they had put in the day and night before. "The year 2000." Bubba shouted to Jonathan, dragging himself out of bed. The Cowboy was rising equally slowly, beside him. "Already got it." Jonathan pointed to the chapter title that lay waiting for a reason to exist. He took the bottle from Bubba's hand as the old coot eased himself into a chair, and poured three shots of bourbon while they waited for the Cowboy to join them. Jonathan glanced at Alexis, holding a fourth shotglass in his hand. "No, I have other things to do, unless you need a woman's presence so that you guys can keep it in your pants long enough to complete the chapter without jumping up and down and screaming, 'Nuke DC! Kill! Kill! Kill! Nuke DC!'." The Cowboy gave Alexis a peck on the cheek as he passed by, assuring her, "Run along dear, we have everything under control. As a matter of fact, we think that after we finish prophesying the pastour past-the CypherPunks' futurethen we will leave it up to the kindlier, gentler CypherPunks, such as Attila T. Hun, to help light the way for the CypherPunks and the Circle of Eunuchs to forge a new distant past for ourselves, and a new future for themselves." The Cowboy paused, to think about what he had just said, and added, "It's hard to believe I haven't even had my morning 'hair of the dog' and I'm already on a roll." Alexis shook her head and said, "Count me out. Just add a disclaimer at the end of the chapter which involves the womenfolk from any responsibility for stirring up the likes of Attila T. Hun and Conan the Destroyer, or whoever you plan to incite to join in your madness." "Actually, I think that it is we who are joining in theirs." Bubba said, sorting through some recent posts to the CypherPunks list. He turned to Jonathan and the Cowboy, as Alexis joined Priscilla in making some adjustments to the Trei Transponder. "Shall we sugar-coat it, or tell it like it is?" Bubba asked his companions. "The less time we take in the telling, the more time we have for drinking." the Cowboy turned to Jonathan for his opinion. "I defer to the wisdom of my elders." Jonathan smiled, pushing his shotglass forward for a refill. "OK!" Bubba exclaimed. "Quick and dirty." "2000. The end." "Uuhhh, Bubba" the Cowboy said, "you wouldn't mind terribly, would you, if I filled in a few details before we close out the chapter and open another bottle?" Bubba waved for the Cowboy to proceed, pouring himself another shot. The Cowboy decided to lay out the basics and let those actually living in the era confirm the details of the flow of InformEnergy that lay in their future if they failed to take steps to counterbalance the attempts of the Dark Allies to force the past, present and future into a narrow mold corresponding to the desires of the Evil One. Now playing at a Whitehouse near you-the one, two punch. Clinton and Gore are destined to be run out of town on a train, similar to the Nixon and Agnew railroading. The players behind the scenes laid the groundwork for setting them up like bowling pins, only to be knocked down once they had served the purpose of smiling benignly as the shakers and movers drove the final nail in the coffin of democracy by getting the line-item veto passed. Once this was done, most of the substructure was then in place for bringing in the new millennium with a New World Order, compliments of Josef Goebbels, George Bush, and a Dictator To Be Named Later (Monty Cantsin?). There were already non-elected Committees and Commissions in place that had the power to arbitrarily enact the draconian measures that had been pre-approved in order to deal with the National Security Emergencies that were already on the drawing boards, waiting only for all of the pieces to fall in place. The last decade of the millennium was mostly used for fine-tuning all of the parts of the maleficent machines that had been created and developed for the purpose of providing the physical tools necessary for instituting a worldwide dictatorship of the Evil One across the face of the earth. The mass media had been co-opted and brought under control, now being basically a press-release arm of the government and corporations, through the influence of powerful figures who pulled their strings from the shadows above them. Once the control of the media had been confirmed during Desert Storm, the process of consolidating that control proceeded rapidly. The government had given those on the growing InterNet a fairly free rein, in order to let them remain a large enough threat to the established, mainstream media, that the government could seal their lips and their loyalty with a fifty billion dollar digital bandwidth giveaway that would ensure their financial stability and dominance in the technology of the future. Little did even the press, let alone the public, know that the import of the digital bandwidth placed in the hands of the established media was much greater than it appeared on the surface. The government already had the technology in place to turn the digital airwaves into the InterNet technology of the future. By the time that the new technologies developed in the government's underground laboratories around the world were revealed to the public as 'new' breakthroughs, they had invariably already been in use for years by the secret government's agents. (Like the radar that can see through walls, being 'announced' as a new technology developed at Lawrence Livermore Labs. CypherPunk Kent Crispin had known about its existence for years, having used it extensively himself-not that he didn't trust his wife...) The World Wide Web was completely under control of the military, having been carefully woven under the watchful eyes of DARPA, who preferred to centralize development of the WWW under CERN, in Europe, in order to get around sticky US laws regarding privacy and freedom. They could move pawns, shills and agents, such as Tim Berners-Lee, Ben Segal, and Phillip Hallam-Baker back and forth between CERN, MIT, and other openly clandestine institutions which served to host the distributed network of quasi-military secret agents supporting the grand designs of Gomez and the Dark Allies. The world at large would little notice that the development of the technology behind the Digital Revolution lie in the same hands as the development of the atomic bomb and nuclear energy. The military, high-security scientists, secret committees and clandestine intelligence organizations-with a background of spooks, spies, and assorted secret societies and their agents, all having their strings pulled by Puppet Masters who remained unknown behind the scenes that were being played out on the stage of everyday reality. Those who cheered the 'failure' of the Clipper Chip, the 'victory' of the Bernstein ruling, or the 'defeat' of the CDA, little realized that these were merely diversionary maneuvers for the real battles which were taking place in the background, between those who were participating in an underground war which was for 'all the marbles.' Like the battles over the intricate details of what types of 'legal' wiretapping would or would not be 'allowed' by the laws of society, the openly fought battles over freedom and privacy were being waged only for the purposes of defining the virtual reality of a world view which was actually based on an underlying 'operating system' which was hidden from the view of the 'average user.' While anti-trust battles were openly being waged with the likes of Microsoft and Intel, the real deals were being cut in the secret meetings between the movers and shakers who could say, "Let there be back doors:" and there would be back doors. While Jane and Joe Normal were playing with their Graphical User Interfaces, the operating system of the underlying reality was being defined, manipulated and controlled by those in the subterranean layers of their Digital Society-by those with access to the 'Command Line.' The 'Above-Ground Players' were working a virtual theater in which the battles they were fighting on the public stage had already been won by the Authors of the scripts, who remained in the background, already knowing how the Grand Play would come to an end, in its final scene. Except for the 'Baker Street Irregulars' The CypherPunks had recognized the final challenge being thrown down by those playing on the outer stage of reality. "The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography" Tim C. May's weather-vane signature line pointed out that a new game was afoot. What even most of the CypherPunks failed to realize, however, was the timing of the announced intention to begin enforcement of the draconian measures being proposed by Lying Fuck Louis Freeh ('eLFeLF' to his friends.) 1999 Why 1999? Can you say "Taxes."? Sure you can. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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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russia_1.html
by Harka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Reuters New Media Beatrice shows you the best sites for... Beatrice's Web Guide [Relationships.....] Show me! [ Yahoo | Write Us | Search | Info ] [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: U.S. Sees Hope for War Criminals' Surrender Next Story: U.S. Searches for Its Oldest Worker _________________________________________________________________ Friday October 3 7:09 PM EDT US Sees No KGB Role in Russia's Nuclear Arms WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The United States Friday rejected the claim of a Russian scientist that Moscow had secretly developed nuclear "suitcase bombs" under KGB orders in the 1970s specifically for terrorist purposes. "We have no information or evidence suggesting that nuclear weapons were ever developed for or put under the control of the KGB, which is part of the story here," State Department spokesman James Rubin said. Rubin, reflecting previous U.S. statements, did not deny so-called "suitcase bombs" may be part of Russia's arsenal. "We cannot comment...about the precise specifications or dimensions of any nuclear weapons," he told reporters. But he repeated the U.S. view that "there is no evidence other than hearsay to support such claims" that portable Russian nuclear weapons may have gone missing. "There's probably no issue where you have the combined resources of the U.S. government working as well together and with such determination as the issue of security of nuclear weapons, and we work on it every day, hundreds if not thousands of people in the government," he said. "And if they say that we have no information on this and they say that these accounts are hearsay, that's pretty compelling," Rubin added. Testifying before Congress Thursday, Alexei Yablokov, a respected scientist who served on the Russian National Security Council, contradicted statements by Russian officials denying the existence of the weapons and buttressed claims that many of them have gone missing. "I am absolutely sure that they have been made," he told the House Military Research and Development subcommittee. The issue arose when former Russian National Security Adviser Alexandr Lebed alleged that up to 100 portable suitcase-sized bombs were unaccounted for since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. According to Lebed, who has agreed to testify before the House committee later this month, the devices have an explosive capacity of one kiloton -- the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT -- can be activated by a single person and could kill as many as 100,000 people. Yablokov said he had spoken to the scientists who worked on the weapons and so was certain of their existence. But he said the former Soviet Defense Ministry might never have known about the so-called "atomic demolition munitions" because they were developed for the KGB spy service under a secret program. On the issue of possible missing nuclear weapons, Rubin said Moscow "continues to assure us that it retains adequate command and control and that appropriate physical security arrangements exist for these weapons and facilities." "We have no reason or evidence to doubt these assurances," he said. _________________________________________________________________ ________________________ Search News Help _________________________________________________________________ Previous Story: U.S. Sees Hope for War Criminals' Surrender Next Story: U.S. Searches for Its Oldest Worker Beatrice shows you the best sites for... Beatrice's Web Guide [Relationships.....] Show me! _________________________________________________________________ [ Index | News | World | Biz | Tech | Politic | Sport | Scoreboard | Entertain | Health ] _________________________________________________________________ Reuters Limited Questions or Comments

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Data Protection in the United States: A Rising Tide?
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[From RRE --Declan] >Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 14:18:57 -0400 >From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg(a)epic.org> >Subject: EPIC Speech in Brussels > >[...] > >------- > >"Data Protection in the United States: A Rising Tide?" > >Marc Rotenberg >Electronic Privacy Information Center >Washington, DC > >17 September 1997 >19th Intentional Conference on Data Protection >Brussels, Belgium > > Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I am >grateful for the opportunity to be with you this morning. > > I will speak today on behalf of consumers and users of >the Internet in the United States. There are few issues of >greater concern to us than the protection of privacy. You can >read about this in our newspapers and our magazines. Privacy >stories routinely appear on the front pages of national >magazines and in the daily newspapers. In just the past few >weeks stories about privacy have appeared in Time Magazine, >the Washington Post and USA Today. So extensive is our >discussion of privacy concerns that we even export the news >of our problems. I found a story from the New York Times >about the use of the Internet to collect detailed personal >information on the front page of the International Herald >Tribune that I purchased yesterday morning here in Brussels. > > We believe that strong measures must be taken to >protect personal privacy. You can see this in our responses >to public polls. We have consistently expressed concern about >the loss of privacy, and we have consistently shown support >for new legislation to protect privacy. > > We know that law is often an imperfect solution, but we >are also firm believers in the rule of law. You will >recognize this if you trace the development of privacy law in >the United States over the twentieth century. You can see >this if you understand that our country has always shown >great regard for the right of privacy and expressed >widespread concern when privacy was at risk. > > So, when I say to you today that privacy is a great >concern in the United States and that we need to do much more >to protect it, I do so with the newspaper stories piled high, >the polling numbers unambiguous, and with a respect for >history that makes clear that few rights in American life are >more greatly valued than the right to protect private life. > > I will speak now to the three central issues that need >to be addressed to build a bridge between the United States >and Europe so that we can enter the information society >together with mutual standards that protect the privacy >rights of our citizens . The first issue concerns current >attitudes of consumers in the United States and the current >policies of government. The second concerns the short-comings >of self- regulation. My final point is two recommendations >for how we should proceed. > > First, it is clear the consumers and users of the >Internet favor the passage of law to protect personal >privacy. Professor Westin found this year that 58% of the >American public want government o pass law to protect privacy >now. And 24% said that government should formally recommend >privacy standards. Only 15% favored letting groups develop >voluntary privacy standards and government taking action only >if real problems arise. > > Professor Westin's results are consistent with other >surveys of attitudes toward privacy in the United States. A >1991 poll conducted by Time Magazine found that 93% of the >U.S . public felt that companies that sell personal >information to others should be required to obtain explicit >permission. And the most comprehensive poll of Internet users >ever undertaken found that users of the Internet in the >United States, on a 1 to 5 scale, said that the Internet >needs new laws to protect privacy at a level of 3.8. > > Public support for privacy legislation is clear. > > Second, it is also clear that some political leaders >favor the adoption of privacy law. While it is true that the >White House has expressed the opinion that privacy >legislation is unnecessary at this time, members of Congress >are of a different opinion. Bills have been introduced in the >House and the Senate that address a wide range of privacy >issues. One bill would limit the disclosure of Social >Security Numbers. Another bill would prohibit Internet >Service Providers from disclosing customer information >without consent. A third bill restricts the ability of direct >marketers to sell information about young children. Several >bills have been introduced to address public concern about >unsolicited commercial email. Many other bills are also under >consideration. > > It is also clear that the United States is fully >capable of enacting privacy laws to address public concern, >particularly when new technologies threaten personal >freedoms. In fact, we have passed several laws in a little >over a decade that specifically target new technologies. >Privacy protections for cable subscriber records were enacted >in 1984. Electronic mail was covered in 1986. Video rental >records gained protection in 1988. Even junk faxes and auto- >dialers became subject to privacy legislation in 1991. > > So, we must observe at this point, that the view of >some that the United States does not support passage of >privacy legislation is not supported by the majority of >people of the United States, many of our elected officials, >or our recent history. > > Much has been said in the last few months in support of >self-regulation. Self- regulation has been offered as a >privacy solution, a way to steer a course between government >control and free market chaos. It is critical to look closely >at the case for self-regulation. > > First, it should be said that the current argument for >self-regulation is based on a preference and not a principle. >While much has been said about the "common philosophy" of the >Administration's policy toward the Internet, it is quite >clear, some would say painfully clear, that the >Administration is prepared to regulate if the interest at >stake is copyright or cryptography./1/ > > Second, self-regulation as an argument against privacy >protection is hardly new in the United States. The direct >marketing industry has argued for more than twenty years that >it did not need privacy regulation. The result is that today >Americans receive a flood of junkmail, more junkmail per >capita than any other country in the world. Millions of >Americans sign up for the Mail Preference Service to escape >this onslaught, but there is no assurance that the privacy of >these people will be protected. Professor Reidenberg and >Professor Schwartz have shown in their study of data >protection in the United States that the Mail Preference >Service is ignored by about half the members of the Direct >Marketing Association./2/ > > Self-regulation has also failed repeatedly in the last >few years as trade groups and individual companies have been >unwilling to uphold their own principles and their own >contractual agreements. In 1991 the Direct Marketing >Association failed to take action against the Lotus >Marketplace product even though it plainly violated the >industry's own guideline on the need to offer an effective >opt-out. Similarly, the DMA failed to take any action against >Metromail after the company turned a mailing list into a >look-up service in violation of another DMA edict. Companies >also appear unable to police themselves. America Online >entered into a deal with a telemarketing firm even after it >assured customers in its service agreement that it would not >disclose telephone numbers to others. There are many other >similar cases. > > Consumer groups challenged these practices, and >eventually changes were made. But this is hardly proof, as >some proponents have claimed, that the self- regulatory >approach is working. > > The advocates for self-regulation have also redefined >privacy in a way that is ultimately harmful to the interests >of consumers. Instead of focusing on the obligations of the >organizations that collect personal information to safeguard >the information and use it only for appropriate purposes, the >self-regulatory environment has produced numerous proposals >that all share the common goal of extracting as much >information from the individual as the individual can be >coerced to give up by means of contract. A typical >negotiation in an environment produced by P3 or OPS requires >consumers to satisfy the information disclosure requirements >of the business as a condition of gaining access to services. > > As my colleague Professor Agre has observed, these >relationship easily become asymmetric with the organization >having the greater power to control what information about >itself is released while simultaneously obscuring the nature >and scope of the information it has obtained about >individuals. > > Of course, one remains "free" to withhold consent and >to therefore be denied admission to a web site, service from >a web-based company, and many other opportunities in the >Information Society regardless of whether a fair >justification for the data collection is provided. > > Simply stated, self-regulation elevates the principles >of notice and consent to stratospheric heights and ignores >virtually all other principles of privacy and data >protection. It is, to borrow from the British philosopher >Jeremy Bentham, "contracts on stilts." > > This has been made clear by virtually all of the >proposals in the United States that focus on obtaining >consent. The most ironic of these was one recommendation >earnestly made by a government official on this issue of >children's privacy who proposed in place of legislative >safeguards the use of biometric identifiers to ensure that a >parent's consent to make use of a child's data for marketing >purposes had in fact been obtained. > > Self-regulation has also given rise to the emphasis on >a multiplicity of privacy preferences. But whether >individuals actually have such diverse privacy preferences, >particularly in routine commercial transactions or in data >gathering activity remains to be seen. As Professor Agre >notes, "particular importance should be paid to uniformity of >protocols across different industries and applications, so >that consumers are not overwhelmed by a pointless diversity >of interfaces and contracts." /3/ > > He suggests that it will be particularly important to >look at a broad range of criteria, "including ease of >understanding, adequacy of notification, compliance with >standards, contractual fairness and enforceability, >appropriate choice of defaults, efficiency relative to the >potential benefits, and integration with other means of >privacy protection." > > Self-regulation has a further problem: it provides a >very limited view of the problems surrounding privacy >protection. It focuses on the microeconomic relationship >between buyer and seller and ignores the larger social >questions of architecture and design. Should highway systems >be designed with anonymous toll payment ? Which technologies >could facilitate commerce and protect privacy ? What stand >should governments take on the use of cryptography ? Self- >regulation provides no answers to these questions, it >provides no mechanisms to find solutions. > > Self-regulation have failed to work even in areas where >public and industry support is overwhelming. The Center for >Media Education found that more than a year after the release >of a widely publicized report on children's privacy that >companies were continuing to collect personally identifiable >information from children at their web sites without >disclosing how the information will be used, who will have >access to it, and without obtaining parental consent. As the >CME concluded, "it is clear that industry self-regulation >does not provide adequate protection for children's privacy." > > It has been proposed that the Federal Trade Commission >could enforce a self- regulatory privacy regime by >prosecuting deceptive trade practices. But the FTC's ability >to actually enforce privacy protection in this manner is >highly suspect. First, the legal authority of the FTC under >section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act typically >requires a showing of <<<< actual harm ~ to consumers. As those >who have studied privacy law in the United States know, this >will be a difficult test to satisfy. But even if this problem >is overcome, one could well ask why the FTC, if it had such >legal authority, pursued only one privacy case after two >years of intense privacy investigation. And in the single >case that the FTC investigated, the Commission issued an >opinion only after the company had discontinued the >challenged practice. There was no actual judgment against the >firm or any sanction imposed. Finally, what expectation can >there be that the FTC will pursue any privacy actions in the >near future when the Commissioner responsible for privacy >matters has now left the Commission ? One can look to the >Federal Trade Commission for the enforcement of privacy >safeguards on the Internet, but you will see only an empty >chair. > > Finally, there is a significant legal objection to >self-regulation as a means to protect consumer privacy in the >United States: such an arrangement could be impermissible >under anti-trust law. It is, as one commentator has noted, a >violation of competition law for businesses in the same >market to combine to set the terms of competition and then to >enforce those terms on their competitors. Establishing >industry-wide privacy standards could have exactly this >consequence. Some commentators have suggested that it may be >possible for such agreements to survive anti-trust scrutiny >if the codes are sensibly designed and do not discourage >competition. But drafting such a policy may not be so simple. > > What happens, for example, if industry adopts a code >based on an opt-out procedure and an innovative company, >recognizing the need for a higher privacy standard, prefers >to offer an opt-in procedure instead? If the industry >association discourages the company from offering the higher >standard, consumers would be harmed and an anti-trust action >could result. Indeed, there is already anecdotal evidence >that the marketing industry has engaged in just such >practices. (Note that in this example a regulatory framework >that established opt-out in law could still permit the >innovative company to offer the opt-in procedure.) > > What we realize now is that self-regulation provides >neither the assurance of a legal right nor the innovation and >competitive benefit of the marketplace. It is simply an >answer to the question: how do we regulate without the >government ? This is not a path to privacy protection, it is >not even privacy policy. > >THE FUTURE > > It seems to me surprising that we are unable today to >resolve the privacy differences between Europe and the United >States particularly as they concern the Internet. Both >regions share a high regard for privacy and a long privacy >tradition. Both regions seem eager for greater privacy >safeguards. We know also that there is a convergence in the >development of privacy standards around the globe./4/ > > But even more obviously, the Internet offers the ideal >environment to establish uniform standards to protect >personal privacy. This is clear to anyone who recognizes that >the platform is consistent around the globe, that the >protocols are consistent, and the customs surrounding >commercial transactions off-line are surprisingly consistent: >money buys products and services, the disclosure of one's >address is necessary to receive delivery of goods, and the >release of personal financial information may be necessary >when credit is sought. > > For the vast majority of transactions on the Internet, >simple, predictable, uniform rules offer enormous benefits to >consumers and businesses. It is clear what the goal is. > > We must find a way forward. The Commission would have >ample justification at this point if it decided to restrict >certain data flows to the United States because of the >absence of appropriate privacy safeguards. How can this point >be disputed? Consumers in the United States know that we lack >adequate privacy protection. > > I think it is time to end what Colin Bennett has >called "American Exceptionalism.~ There is little support in >our public attitudes, law, or history for this stance. The >United States should move quickly to establish a privacy >agency, and then proceed to explore the application of the >OECD Privacy Guidelines to the private sector. This useful >framework provides a strong foundation for the development of >technical means to protect privacy and the development of new >privacy standards and legal safeguards. It is already found >today in several US privacy laws and in the practices of many >US companies. > > I also propose today that the United States, Europe, >and Asia join together to develop an intentional convention >on privacy protection based on the OECD Guidelines. A simple >framework of general goals combined with a consultative >process that brings together a wide array of countries could >help ensure that privacy standards are extended to all comers >of the globe > > Only when we have established privacy standards and >guidelines as strong as security standards and guidelines >will users of advanced networked services have the trust and >confidence to participate fully in the Information Society. > > It is also my hope that in the process of working >together toward a common goal that some of the current >differences between the United States and Europe will >diminish. There is too much at stake for consumers, and >citizens, and users of the Internet to risk a clash of >privacy rules. > > We share a common interest in the protection of >privacy. Let us go forward together and establish the >policies that will launch the information economies of the >next era while preserving the personal freedoms we cherish >today. > > I thank you for your attention. > >NOTES > >/1/ Framework for Electronic Commerce (1997) > >/2/ Paul M. Schwartz and Joel R. Reidenberg, Data Privacy Law >(New York: Michie, 1996). > >/3/ Philip E. Agre and Marc Rotenberg, eds., Technology and >Privacy: The New >Landscape (Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 1997) > >/4/ Colin J. Bennett, Regulating Privacy (Ithaca: Cornell >Press, 1992) >

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