December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

pathology
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This was taken from the Alameda County District Attorney's Office publication "The Point of View": In a murder trial, the defense attorney was cross examining a pathologist. Here's what happened: ATTORNEY: Before you signed the death certificate, had you taken the pulse? CORONER: No. ATTORNEY: Did you listen to the heart? CORONER: No. ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing? CORONER: No. ATTORNEY: So, when you signed the death certificate, you weren't sure the man was dead, were you? CORONER: Well, let me put it this way. The man's brain was sitting in a jar on my desk. But I guess it's possible he could be out there practicing law somewhere.

1 0

How much you lose under Social Security -- socialsecurity.org
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 10:59:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: fight-censorship-announce(a)vorlon.mit.edu Subject: How much you lose under Social Security -- socialsecurity.org I'm over at the National Press Club now, just came from a Cato Institute press conference unveiling their socialsecurity.org web site. It lets you calculate your retirement income and compare how much you'd get from the Federal government's Social Security "fund" compared with a private system like a 401(k). And it's fun to play with. Let's say I was born in 1970 and make $30,000 a year (BTW, I wasn't and don't). Assuming I retire at 67 and inflation is 3 percent, Social Security would give me $1,293 a month after I retire. And that's if you assume Social Security won't go belly-up, a hard position to maintain since its own trustees say it's underfunded by 25 to 33 percent. Compare that to a stock fund, which yields so much more: $8,635 a month. I can't think of a better argument to privatize Social Security and move to a system like an IRA or 401(k), a solution the Cato folks have advocated for years. Before the big government folks out there criticize Cato's calculator for being biased, let me point out KPMG Peat Marwick did all calculations and programming. -Declan

6 7

The Wassenaar Arrangment
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thanks to Greg Broiles's FOIA effort and Lucky Green, we offer the first US public release of: The Wassenaar Arrangement - List of Dual Use-Goods and Technologies and Munitions List, July 1996 http://jya.com/wa/watoc.htm This is the 200-page document Greg previously announced here which lists in minute detail the wide range of goods and technologies to be restricted by arms and trade export controls. The Wassenaar Arrangement succeeds COCOM as the arms control regime signed by 33 nations. Cryptography is covered in Category 5 - Part 2: http://jya.com/wa/wacat52.htm Which may be compared to the Australian version: http://jya.com/aucat_5.htm

1 0

Re: 1996 Wiretap Report
by Jack Flap 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Eric Blossom <eb(a)comsec.com> may have written: > (2) In the past 11 years (1986 - 1996) a total of 9,912 intercept > applications were approved. Of that number 5 (five!) were for > "Arson, explosives, and weapons." Unless they've classified wiretaps > against "suspected terrorists" in the "Other" category, it looks > as if the LEOs don't think (targeted) wiretaps are useful for stopping > small groups of modestly skilled people bent on blowing things up. No Shit. Hmmm. :-) I guess the spook angle is to ensure that those are <cringe>well targetted</cringe> wiretaps - targetting based on intelligence, which is probably not the same as legal intercept... Jack. --------------------------------------------------------- Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------

1 0

Re: May's Banal Rant
by Marc Rotenberg 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just came back from the 7th annual crypto conference that we've organized in DC. Among the people who spoke were Carl Ellison, Eric Hughes, Matt Blaze, Peter Wayner, Cindy Cohn, Bruce Schneier. (Michael Froomkin was invited, but he's been out of the country. And Whit couldn't make it cause he's finishing his book.) Like I said, Tim May et al are behind the curve. You guys preach cyber anarchy but you're really armchair activists. Marc. - For anyone interested in getting the most recent EPIC Crypto Privacy Sourcebook, we should have a notice on our web site by the end of the week.

3 2

GAK
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

May Timothy Maypole's forgeries get stuck up his ass so he'll have to shit through his filthy mouth for the rest of its miserable life. .::7777::-. /:'////' `::>/|/ .', |||| `/( e\ Timothy Maypole -==~-'`-Xm````-mr' `-_\

2 1

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of
by TruthMonger.tm＠dev.null 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway." Tim's new sig-line gives recognition to one of what I consider to be the two main reasons that Democracy and Justice can now be considered a part of America's historical past. A major nail in the coffin of Justice for any accused in the U.S. was when the justice system promoted the concept of guilt by virtue of "circumstantial" evidence to the point where people can now be convicted as a result of speculation rather than evidence. Prosecutors now seem to need only to convince the sheeple that it was "possible" for the defendant to have commited the crime and that circumstantial evidence points *only* to the accused. As well, the justice system only allows the government prosecutors to indulge in "speculation" and denies the defense the opportunity to do the same. The McVeigh prosecutors are allowed to put on a key witness who has openly stated that he's going to get rich by telling fables, yet the defense's witnesses are barred from testifying because the judge declares their testimony to be unreliable and the defense's planned defence to be based on speculation. Now that this nail has been driven home, the only thing standing between the average citizen and random or targeted unjust imprisonment is a cause of action for the government to proceed on. Tim C. May's sig-line eloquently points out that the black-robed magicians of the justice system now have enough cards strategically put in place to be able to pull an Ace of Subpoena's seemingly out of thin air. If a perfectly normal, average grandmother/citizen can be threatened with imprisonment for putting money in someone else's parking meter then, pray tell, which action of the average citizen *cannot* be used to imprison him or her? The Pandora's box of laws, regulations and "perceived possibilty of illegality" (probable cause) leaves each of us open to random or targeted search, seizure, arrest and imprisonment not only for laws and crimes which actually exist, but also for those which can be deduced by "speculation" as to the "possibility" of our having had an "intent" to do something illegal. (Twenty years ago I called my lawyer at four a.m. and he asked me what charge the police were using to hold me. I told him, "I think the charge is 'Suspicion of being in jail.'" He laughed and said, "They may *have* you on this one, Bubba." Back then it was a joke, but I fear that today it reflects reality.) A grandmother in the midwest U.S. plugs someone else's parking meter and faces prosecution and interrogation. She mentions she was on her way to pick up paint for a shed being built in her back yard. It turns out she has no permit to build a shed on her property. The zoning official who inspects her house for further malefeasance sees a gun (hunting rifle) in a closet and a line of a white, powdery substance (roach poison) on a kitchen counter. Police search the house and seize the computer as evidence. The woman's son has his cypherpunks list messages on the computer, including Jim Bell's AP/IRS posts. What was the woman doing in plugging someone else's parking meter? She was attempting to prevent the government from collecting money from a citizen by way of a fine for not paying his/her parking tax. Her proven "link" to Jim Bell, terrorist and tax protestor, can be seen as evidence of a "conspiracy." (The question now becomes one of whether she will testify against Bell in return for a reduction in her charges, or whether he will do so against her.) If you consider the above to be in the least far-fetched then you have little understanding of the working of our present-day justice system. If you consider the above to be an unlikely scenario even if the woman was being *targeted* for prosecution then you are totally out of touch with the reality of the current state of the justice system in America. There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. No matter how much anyone attempts to minimize or justify Tim C. May's statement, it is undeniable that the government currently has virtually unlimited power to accuse, convict and imprison its citizens. The IRS is the prime example of this fact. It has long been a known fact, admitted even by IRS officials, that it is impossible for any citizen to completely comply with the country's tax laws over a period of years. What is even more disturbing is that interpretation of the tax laws lies largely in the hands of the IRS, not in the justice system. Add to this the fact that despite having acted in accordance with the legal judgement of an army of tax attorneys, the guilt of any "crime" falls on the citizen and we are all potential felons. Not only this, but with the plethora of legislation covering every aspect of our activity in our private lives and in our interactions with society, most of us are likely guilty of a multitude of potential felonies. Of course, only *bad* people have reason to be fearful, right? Only those who cause *trouble* need fear being *targeted* for prosecution, right? This is of no concern to the average citizen, such as yourself, right? Right. As long as you watch what you do and say so that you give the government no reason to label you as a troublemaker, then you have no reason to fear. As long as you make certain that you have nothing in your life that can even give the "appearance" of connecting you to the *bad* people, you will be safe from government persecution. The price to pay for guaranteeing your freedom is small. Quit hunting and sell your guns. Get rid of white, powdery substances such as roach poison, sugar, flour. Never fail to signal for a turn. Always wear your seat belt and drive 55 mp/h. Never wear jeans or pay cash for an airline ticket. Never read "The Turner Diaries" or "Assassination Politics." Which reminds me... Unsubscribe from the cypherpunks list, physically destroy your computer and never chew gum in a courtroom. (Twenty-four hours in jail for contempt of court in Phoenix, Arizona.) Now that you remain at home and have no contact with the outside world except to meet all of your legislatively mandated requirements as a citizen the only thing you need to fear is what the government *already* has that they can use against you if you become a "target" of prosecution. Cynical? Moi? 1984 came and went with society by and large dismissing the book, "1984," as having been realized in actuality. I was mystified as to how anyone, let alone nearly everyone, could fail to recognize that the seeds had already been planted to bring to fruitation almost every concept of Big Brother that was focused upon in the work. I believe that any rational person can see, in retrospect, that Big Brother was already a fact of life by then. However, it was of no concern to most of us because not only did it did not negatively impact us personally, but also because the arising fascist/police state/society seemed to have little potential to do perswrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. When cops are acquitted of beating a citizen, then if they are still "targets" the government can charge them with violating the citizen's civil rights. When O.J. Simpson is acquitted and is still a target, then a jury of middle-Americans can break him under another set of laws. When the government fails to convict Declan for terrorism because of something he has written about Jim Bell's prosecution, then they can charge him with tax evasion for the deductions he has taken for business expenses when writing is only a "hobby" he has used to commit tax fraud. {The justice system will look to the IRS for the proper interpretation of Section 20098.6, Subsection AF488GC, which states "Writing is Declan's employment, not just a hobby." Their interpretation will result in a conviction.} The government has stacked all the dice in favour of themself and against the citizen. If they can't successfully persecute/prosecute the citizen under "this" law, they will try again under "that" law. If they still fail to get a conviction, they can prosecute under yet another law and drag the case out to the point it financially breaks the citizen. If the citizen gets a large measure of financial and legal support, as in the case of Phil Zimmerman, they may survive. If not, they are "toast" in a very short period of time. There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. In 1984, "1984" had become a reality for "them." Now it is a reality for "us." TruthMonger

4 3

EVENT: Online town hall meeting with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (June 3, 8:30pm
by Shabbir Safdar 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

========================================================================= _ _ __| | ___ _ __ ___ ___ ___ _ __ __ _ ___ _ _ _ __ ___| |_ / _` |/ _ \ '_ ` _ \ / _ \ / __| '__/ _` |/ __| | | | | '_ \ / _ \ __| | (_| | __/ | | | | | (_) | (__| | | (_| | (__| |_| |_| | | | __/ |_ \__,_|\___|_| |_| |_|\___/ \___|_| \__,_|\___|\__, (_)_| |_|\___|\__| |___/ Government Without Walls _________________________________________________________________________ Update No.8 http://www.democracy.net/ May 29 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents - Join Encryption Warrior Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) - Background on Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) - How to participate in the Online Town Hall Meeting - Upcoming Events - About democracy.net ___________________________________________________________________________ JOIN REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R-VA) LIVE ONLINE TUESDAY JUNE 3, 8:30 PM ET Who is Congressman Bob Goodlatte? Depending on your point of view, the Republican Congressman from Virginia is either a steadfast champion of online privacy, or a supporter of censorship in cyberspace. This year, Rep. Goodlatte has been leading a successful charge to overturn the Clinton administration's encryption control policies. Goodlatte is the principal author of H.R. 695, "The Security and Freedom through Encryption (SAFE) Act." -- a bill designed to promote privacy and security on the Internet by encouraging the widespread availability of encryption technology. Goodlatte's efforts to protect privacy and prohibit the government from imposing "key-escrow" and "key-recovery" domestically have won him praise from Internet users. The SAFE bill was recently approved by the House Judiciary Committee (the first time an encryption reform bill has ever cleared a major Congressional committee), and is now headed to the House International Relations Committee where a tougher fight is expected. But in 1995, Rep. Goodlatte was a leading supporter of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) -- a law which for the first time imposed broad content regulations on the Internet. The CDA is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court and a decision is expected before the end of June. Join Congressman Goodlatte for a live, Virtual Town Hall meeting and find out what makes him tick. You can submit questions in advance by visiting http://www.democracy.net. The discussion will be moderated by Todd Lappin, Section Editor at Wired Magazine. ____________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND ON REP. BOB GOODLATTE (R-VA) [This information is taken verbatim from Rep. Goodlatte's World Wide Web page at http://www.house.gov/goodlatte/] Bob Goodlatte, age 44, was elected to serve as the Sixth District's Congressman in November of 1992. He was re-elected to his second term without opposition in 1994. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law, and his undergraduate degree in Government was earned at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Before being elected to Congress, Bob served as former Congressman Caldwell Butler's District Office Manager from 1977 to 1979, where he was responsible for helping folks across the Sixth District. In 1979, he founded his own private law practice in Roanoke. He is a former partner in the law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman, working there from 1981 until taking office. Bob has long been active in his community, serving as President of the Civitan Club of Roanoke, and he's been active with the Parent Teachers Association at his children's public school and with the United Way of the Roanoke Valley. Bob serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Agriculture Committee. His subcommittee assignments on Judiciary are: the Constitution Subcommittee and the Courts & Intellectual Property Subcommittee. His subcommittee assignments on Agriculture are: the Livestock Subcommittee and the Department Operations and Nutrition Program Subcommittee where he serves as the Chairman. After Republicans won the majority, Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) selected Bob to serve as an Assistant Whip. Bob and Maryellen, his wife of 22 years, live in Roanoke with their two children, Jenny and Bobby. ____________________________________________________________________________ INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PARTICIPATE * Interactive Town Hall Meeting with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) * DATE: Tuesday June 3, 1997 TIME: 8:30 pm Eastern (5:30 pm Pacific) LOCATION: http://www.democracy.net In advance of the town hall meeting, please visit http://www.democracy.net and fill out the form to ask Rep. Goodlatte a question. We will collect the questions and forward them to the moderator on the day of the event, and will make every effort to ensure that questions from constituents are asked first. 1. Attend and ask Rep. Goodlatte a question! Please mark this date in your calendar: Tuesday June 3, 8:30PM Eastern at http://democracy.net/ 2. Get your friends and co-workers to join the discussion Members of Congress love to hear from their constituents. If you have friends that live in the district, please forward this invitation and encourage them to attend. _____________________________________________________________________________ UPCOMING EVENTS Visit http://www.democracy.net for upcoming event information. _______________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT DEMOCRACY.NET The democracy.net is a joint project of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and the Voters Telecommunications Watch (VTW) to explore ways of enhancing citizen participation in the democratic process via the Internet. To this end, democracy.net hosts live, interactive cybercasts of Congressional Hearings and online town hall meetings with key policy makers. democracy.net is made possible through the generous support of WebActive, Public Access Networks, the Democracy Network, and DIGEX Internet. More information about the project and its sponsors can be found at http://www.democracy.net/about/ To receive democracy.net announcements automatically, please visit our signup form at http://www.democracy.net/ or send mail to majordomo(a)democracy.net with "subscribe events" in the body of the message. _____________________________________________________________________________ End update no.8 05/29/1997 =============================================================================

1 0

e$: Altered States. Transfer payment addiction, Le Infame, andPhil Dick's definition of reality.
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Sender: e$(a)thumper.vmeng.com Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Precedence: Bulk Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:57:32 -0400 From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> To: Multiple recipients of <e$(a)thumper.vmeng.com> Subject: e$: Altered States. Transfer payment addiction, Le Infame, and Phil Dick's definition of reality. At 1:23 pm -0400 on 5/28/97, Bill Frantz wrote in cypherpunks: > I object to the state, providing addictive substances/experiences when > private enterprise could do the job. If they are against addiction, then > they should set a good example. For myself, I deplore the state's all-too-successful efforts to "provide" that ultimate addictive substance, the transfer payment. >From the oxymoron of "Social" "Security", to direct subsidies on everything from electricity to sugar to helium, from deliberately mispriced federal assets like lumber, water and mining rights, to indirect subsidies like the tax-deductibility of mortgage interest and health "insurance", we use our government to bleed money, initiative, and, ultimately, freedom from the people who produce wealth and material well-being and give almost all of it to people who do nothing but consume and obstruct. We've all become a nation of innumerate dole-junkies, unaware of the economic consequences of our actions because the state has hidden them behind a veil of pseudoeconomics and political cynicism. The heyday of Roman dole was nothing compared to the "compassion" we increasingly have for ourselves. So, like a lot of people, I hope and work for the day when that giant mosquito on the Petomaine :-) river -- and its larvae in places like Jefferson City -- starts sucking air instead of the economic and moral lifeblood of people who actually work for a living. Then, maybe, this nation of lotus eaters will wake up to the fact that we've no one to rely upon but ourselves. Science fiction author Phillip K. Dick said, "Reality is that which doesn't go away when you change your mind." I would ammend it to say that reality is that which is still there when transfer payments stop. Voltaire used to end all his correspondence with "Death to Le Infame". "Le Infame" translates as "the infamous thing". He was talking about the church then, but nowadays it seems that *all* of us take communion at Our Lady of the Federal Transfer Payment. The end of opressive religeous control of society was the advent of science, the enlightment, and the triumph of reason that resulted from them. The founding of this country was part of that revolution. Unfortunately, unreason shed its priestly vestments and immediately counterattacked in the form of Rousseau, Robespierre and the French revolution. Since then, through the mechanations of Rousseau's intellectual decendants like Karl Marx, and lately, the people that Harold Bloom calls the "School of Resentment", nation states have justified more and more oppression in the interest of unobtainable mirages like "equality" and "security", and in perverting words like "fairness" and "justice" to mean envy and arbitrary confiscation. The very touchstone of reason in political thought, this country's constitution, is now standing on the bottom of a vast lake of irrational statist excrement, with its nose barely above the waterline. Sometimes, I think that, when we can breathe no longer, and we try to return to the shore of reason, we'll forget the swimming lessons the founding fathers and the philosophes of the enlightenment taught us. That we'll drown in our own sloth, envy, resentment, and, more important, lack of faith in ourselves. However, most of the time, I'm much more optimistic. I believe that the increasing ubiquity of all information, and, more important, the means for each person to competitively process that information himself to get independently replicable results, will create a world where people and their computing technology become the equivalent of scientists, testing and verifying facts about the world themselves, rather than having reality served to them on a lotus leaf. The operative word in that Proustian sentence was "competitively". That means markets for everything which can be put into ones and zeroes and sent on a network, which in turn means instant settlement and clearing of those transactions, and, most important, a myriad of autonomous economic entities operating in efficient, competitive, auction markets for that information. Fortunately, we have the technology, in the form of things like the blind signature algorithm, public key cryptography, Moore's law and geodesic networks, to make this happen. I believe that we actually have no economic choice, and so it will happen. It's as if we have found the dole-receptors in our economic neurochemistry, and soon our transfer payment addiction will be a thing of the past. "Reality is that which doesn't go away when you change your mind." Kicking an addiction is by definition a mind-altering experience. :-). Polemically, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ ---------- The e$ lists are brought to you by: Intertrader Ltd: "Digital Money Online" <http://www.intertrader.com/library/DigitalMoneyOnline> Where people, networks and money come together: Consult Hyperion http://www.hyperion.co.uk info(a)hyperion.co.uk Like e$? Help pay for it! <http://www.shipwright.com/beg.html> For e$/e$pam sponsorship, mail Bob: <mailto:rah@shipwright.com> Thanks to the e$ e$lves: Of Counsel: Vinnie Moscaritolo <mailto:vinnie@webstuff.apple.com> (Majordomo)^2: Rachel Willmer<mailto:rachel@intertrader.com> Commermeister: Anthony Templer <mailto:anthony@atanda.com> Interturge: Rodney Thayer <mailto:rodney@sabletech.com> --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

1 0

Re: US grants export license for PGP
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Joey Grasty writes: > > At 08:00 PM 5/28/97 -0700, Lucky Green wrote: > > > >PGP crypto approved for export > > > > Alright, what's the catch? What kind of GAK does PGP have to > > stick in to get this approval? Encyphering minds want to know... > > The catch is that the license only extends to business use by > subsidiaries of certain large US corporations. > > See PGPInc's press release at: http://www.pgp.com/newsroom/prel34.cgi Well that sure got buried by the "Truth Above All Else (tm)" press. Not surprising however. > > It may be moot since some versions of PGP are available around the > world, but this strikes me as patently unfair to all those companies > not big enough to be on The List. > > On the other hand, maybe this is the beginning of the end. It seems > to me that it will be difficult now to deny a similar license to > Netscape or Microsoft or... We have so many laws in this country, doesn't one of them prevent "discrimination" based on dollar value of corporation? ;) How about extortion... "You must be a large company paying buttloads in taxes and making sizeable contributions to the administration to receive license to use PGP overseas..." Can't we use this against them and force the license to be extended to everyone? > > -- Jeff (currently employed by a Real Company :-) > -- Mr. E (not employed by a Sellout^H^H^H^H^H^H^HReal Company)

1 0