December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

A New Law Could Take Care Of The Problem
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* In a September statement, Joseph Sniezek, an official of the Centers for Disease Control's National Center for Injury Prevention, lamented the serious injuries suffered by rodeo bull riders and suggested a solution might be to require helmets. ...and seat belts? (When the law is passed to require this, don't be surprised if they tack on requirements regarding the use of child-seats for those riders who take the children along. And of course, if they have a copy of PGP in their pocket when they ride without a helmet...}

1 0

EXTRO-3: Extropy Institute's Third Conference on the Future
by Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hope you may be interested... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- E X T R O 3: Extropy Institute's Third Conference on the Future August 9-10 1997, Doubletree Hotel, San Jose, CA Saturday (Aug 9) theme: The Future of the Body and Brain. Sunday (Aug 10) theme: Future Infrastructure. The conference will include presentations by Eric Drexler - nanotechnology pioneer and chairman of the Foresight Institute, Gregory Stock - Author of "Metaman", Kevin Kelly - executive editor of Wired, Max More - President of the Extropy Institute, Mark Miller - founder of Agorics, Inc., Chris Peterson, Sharon Presley, Sasha Chislenko, Robin Hanson, Anders Sandberg, and others, as well as panel sessions devoted to progress in Artificial Intelligence, Investing in the Future, and Future of Gender and Sexuality. Extropy Institute functions as a networking organization bringing together scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, philosophers, and artists who share certain general interests including: extending life span, augmenting intelligence (both cognitive and emotional), gaining access to space, and achieving control over our own biology through genetic engineering, bioengineering, neural-computer interfaces, and molecular nanotechnology. We welcome all interested members of the public to attend and participate. Past speakers have included Marvin Minsky of MIT, Bart Kosko - fuzzy logic and neural network pioneer at USC, Roy Walford - leading gerontologist at UCLA, Hans Moravec - Director of Carnegie-Mellons Mobile Robotics Lab, Michael Rothschild - author of Bionomics, and Ralph Merkle - nanotechnologist at Xerox Parc. For more information, please visit <http://www.extropy.org/extro3.htm> or call (310) 398-0375 and leave your mailing address or email address, or send email to more(a)extropy.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html> Great Thinkers page: <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/thinkers.html> -------------------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Summit on Cyber-Terrorism
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

May 31, 1997, Asahi Evening News Summit leaders to combat cyber-terrorism World leaders will agree to take measures against a new high-tech element of terrorism--attacks on host computers--at the June 20-22 Denver summit, officials involved in the preparations said Friday. As part of countermeasures against cyber-terrorism, further joint efforts to control the spread of computer encryption technologies will be reaffirmed, they said. Concerns over terrorist attacks on computers and the need for heightened international efforts will be added to the 25 specific counterterrorism recommendations that Japan, the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, France and Russia adopted at a ministerial meeting in Paris last July. ----- For full, brief article: http://jya.com/denver.htm

1 0

SSN - when can agencies ask, and passports
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The privacy act of 1974 (public law 93-579) says that any government agency has to provide you with the follwing when asking for a SSN: 1. If the disclosure is mandatory or optional 2. The statutory or other authority they have to ask for it 3. How it will be used 4. Any penalties for not disclosing it. These should be in a "privacy act notice" the agency should already have. As far as passports, I have a pointer to an article in the Western State Law Review, Fall '92 issue by Stephen Kruger. The title is Passports, Social Security Numbers, & 26 USC sec 6039E where he points out that it is probably unconstitutional to fine someone. A plug is warranted since the above info (and a lot more of value) is in Financial Privacy Report, Vol4N8 (August 1994) - I think back issues are $15, but call first (612)-895-8757. This issue is entitled 22 ways to protect your social security number from thieves, snoops, and bureaucrats. FPR / POB 1277 / Burnsville MN 55337

1 0

Re: The Bible Code
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Young wrote: > > Published today with great fanfare, "The Bible Code" > describes the fruits of three Israeli mathematicians in > decrypting hidden messages in the Bible by textual > analysis algorithms. Blurbs claim that the work passed > peer review for publication in a math journal a few > years back, was confirmed by "a US Defense Department > code-breaker" and predicted the assassinations of > JFK, RFK, Sadat and Rabin. ... > Better, is this book the first of many to come to celebrate the > cook-ups of codes and cyphers and algorithmic chefs? Is a > film in the works, or, best, a Seinfeld of 0s and 1s? I will shortly be releasing my new book, "The ASCII Code" which outlines the predictions made based on decrypting the hidden messages in the ASCII artwork sent to the cypherpunks list. Since none of the predictions have proven accurate, my book speculates that perhaps Tim May isn't a cocksucker, after all. All proceeds from the book will be converted to eca$h and used to wager on the predicted date of death for Graham-John Bullers on the AP Bot at: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/carljohn/AP/AP.htm DeathMonger

2 1

Jim Bell Defense fund
by ichudov＠algebra.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I guess everyone has forgotten about Jim Bell, but he is in no less need of help than he used to be. I would like to know how to help him, and suggest to organize his legal defense fund. igor

4 4

Re: May's Banal Rant
by Michael Froomkin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I don't understand this. Of all the alphabet soup privacy groups out there, EPIC is the one I consider most pro-privacy and anonymity other than the ACLU itself. And EPIC knows the tech better, on the whole (although the ACLU is quite clued-up too). It is true that EPIC is not absolutist on SAFE -- and I'm not quite sure that they are right to give even the inch they gave to get a mile -- but they're awfully good. Rotenburg should be a near-hero to most readers of this list. Instead, canabalism. Weird. Very weird. That does it. When I get back to the US, I'm sending EPIC a donation. -- Michael Froomkin until 6/11: michael(a)lawprof.demon.co.uk Associate Professor of Law Various Points, England froomkin(a)law.miami.edu <-- this will still find me, eventually PO Box 248087 Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087 "Rain in parts, then dry" --BBC http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin

7 9

RE: The Bible Code
by Chris DiBona 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello again... I see this sort of thing as being like when people see jesus in a bar of saop and charge a buck to the suckers who come to see it. Okay... here's the EMAIL code. I you read the following message: On Saturday, May 31, 1997 12:10 PM, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM [SMTP:dlv@bwalk.dm.com] wrote: > lucifer(a)dhp.com (lucifer Anonymous Remailer) writes: > > I will shortly be releasing my new book, "The ASCII Code" which > > outlines the predictions made based on decrypting the hidden > > messages in the ASCII artwork sent to the cypherpunks list. > > > > Since none of the predictions have proven accurate, my book > > speculates that perhaps Tim May isn't a cocksucker, after all. > > But John Gilmore is surely a cocksucker. > > I've met Rips, who's supposedly behind this "bible code" nonsense. > He's an asshole, and I dismiss anything he says as total bullshit. > > --- > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM > Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps > and put it though a filter using the "bible code" method.. you get : stupid dorks will buy this book. >From characters : 3,5,6,.... you get the point. Suckers. Chris DiBona

1 0

Re: Rotenberg as the Uber Enemy
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Paul Bradley wrote: > > Sure it is unpleasant to have your privacy violated, but it is your own > choice whether you allow information to become available or not. Theoretical bullshit. Your choice is to not work, not go on welfare, not drive, not get a telephone, not be born in a hospital...ad infinitum. Even then, when you are arrested for trespassing on private land or misuse of public land for those grubs and worms you ate, the government will take your fingerprints and attach an identity to them. When you return to your cave, the postman will be waiting at the entrance to deliver the "Worms R Us" snailmail spam. > All true law within anarchist, and indeed much minarchist belief derives > from the non agression principle, by making use of freely available > information about you I do not initiate violence against you, therefore I > am guilty of no crime. Everyone seems to neglect recognizing that most of the proclaimed "freely available information" is the result of coercion of one kind or another. "If you want a driver's license so that you can earn a decent living, then you must give us your social security number so that we can make sure that you get your fair share of junk mail and spam. If you drive without a license, men with guns will lock you in a cage." Try dumping your garbage on other people's doorstep and telling them that you haven't initiated violence against them and are thus guilty of no crime. Sell "freely available" information about other people's children to convicted child molesters and then explain the same thing to the parents. Why don't the people who send out spam go out ringing people's doorbells at 4 a.m. to tell them how to "Make Big $$$"? It is because they would be held personally accountable for the effect their actions have on the lives of others. They can explain until they are blue in the face about their right to be an asshole who is intruding in my life but they are unlikely to convince me to put up with it without acting in a manner they find offensive. I enjoy many of the posts on anarchy by Paul and others but I think most of the concepts are valuable mainly as personal standards one applies to their own life. You can explain to the guy who slashes your tires that you had a right to ring his doorbell at 4 a.m. to try to sell him your product but he had no right to slash your tires. You will be right, but so what? If Tim McVeigh beats the rap and returns to society, I'm going to buy him a computer and an email account and then give the address to CyberPromo. I am sure he will understand the issues of anarchy and free enterprise involved, and act in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience. TruthMonger

2 1

Re: Rotenberg as the Uber Enemy
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lucky's right on Bell's undue incarceration. There's more to the story than tax avoidance. Declan perhaps should look beyond the government's citations of law to examine the other allegations of intent to harm federal officials which did not receive substantiating cites. The affidavit which prompted Jim's arrest was a potpourri of disingenuous spleen and bile and unintentional humor. This appears to be another instance of the USG patchworking public menace and phlegm (the Kallstrom syndrome) when it's in its self-preservative and -promotional interest to do so. As Tim and cie often note, the syndrome's fountainhead is DC and world centers of ambitious regulators, enforcers and promoters for "public security." Which is fast replacing national security, via dual-use sleight of hand, as a career trajectory. Counterterrorism is the fastest growing governmental subculture at the moment, and no longer aimed overseas. Secret laws, courts and committees are burgeoning, anticipating that the public cannot be trusted to protect itself against the enemy within, ahem, the Beltway.

1 0