August 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Costs of the Surveillance State
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

--- begin forwarded text

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spam blacklists and lne CDR
by Eric Murray 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

Hi. The last couple days I've gotten a lot of mail bounces from cpunks subscribers who are blocking lne.com because it's on the osirusoft spam "blacklist". There is no way to get off this list; in fact the site appears to be down. Lne.com doesn't send spam; I don't know why we are on this list. My guess is that it's becase we're listed on a couple other "extreme" blacklists that blacklist entire networks that are owned by ISPs that the list operator does not like. If you or your ISP uses this blacklist, I have no choice but to drop you from the lne cdr lest my mailbox drown in reject messages. I have mixed feelings about blacklists-- I've had to implement one here so we didn't drown in spam and it seems to work reasonably well. But lists that 1) don't let you get off and 2) list sites to pressure them to change ISPs don't get much respect from me, and neither do the ISPs that blindly use them. Eric

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[cta@hcsin.net: Re: CNN: 'Explores Possibility that Power Outage is Related to Internet Worm']
by Eric Murray 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

Food for thought and grounds for further research: ----- Forwarded message from "Bernie, CTA" <cta(a)hcsin.net> -----

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earthstation 5
by Major Variola (ret.) 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

>>Ras says that once the privacy features are fully utilized by the end-use then no one in the world can figure out who you are.<< Right. And I bet you can get a good deal on a Hamas leader's used cell-phone... >>Despite what Ras might say about ES5, there is a large element in the P2P community that question the claims made by Ras. Some even go as far as to suggest conspiracy theories about the reason for ES5's existence. Ras's view is that he understands why people may view a middle eastern company in this light, given the current political climate in that area, but was obviously quick to dismiss any hidden motive. << "Trust us" If you wanted to plant a trojan on a lot of machines, wouldn't free movies be a great way to do so? They could open source their code, and still have a biz model, since they run central servers (until the MPAA DoS's them). Either they are naif, or they are clever and exploiting others naivite ------ "A person may act psychotic to 'protect' himself from the conscious awareness that he really is psychotic" ---Charles V Ford, MD CNS News Aug 2003 p 51

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P2P Run out of Palestinian refugee camp
by Tyler Durden 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

Interesting story. They're even streaming Terminator3 from their servers, which are also supposedly located in the refugee camp. http://msn.com.com/2100-1105_2-5063402.html?part=msn&subj=ns&tag=nl -TD PS: Saw a Muslim woman walking down Wall Street this morning, wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt! _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: Get 6 months for $9.95/month http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup

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The Register - Why Sobig is bad for privacy and AV vendors (fwd)
by Jim Choate 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/32510.html -- -- ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.com www.ssz.com www.open-forge.com

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The Register - China to form anti-spam task force (fwd)
by Jim Choate 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/32504.html -- -- ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.com www.ssz.com www.open-forge.com

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US Republican Party outsources fund raising to India (fwd)
by Jim Choate 27 Aug '03

27 Aug '03

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=11219 -- -- ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.com www.ssz.com www.open-forge.com

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Ebonics version of the Lord's Prayer. No. Really.
by R. A. Hettinga 26 Aug '03

26 Aug '03

Evidently, there are 1221 different versions besides this one. Cthulhu help us all... Cheers, RAH ------- <http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-ebonics.html> EBONICS A slang dialect used by certain groups of the African-American community. Yo, Big Daddy upstairs, You be chillin So be yo hood You be sayin' it, I be doin' it In this here hood and yo's Gimme some eats And cut me some slack, Blood Sos I be doin' it to dem dat diss me Don't be pushing me into no jive Ang keep dem crips away Cause you always be da man, G Straight up. Aa-men. Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238(a)aol.com SECTION INDEX CONVENT OF PATER NOSTER CHRISTUS REX ) Copyright Christus Rex, Inc. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 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'

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Will tax-dodging dentists fill growth gap?
by R. A. Hettinga 26 Aug '03

26 Aug '03

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-37-793402,00.html> The Times August 27, 2003 European Briefing Will tax-dodging dentists fill growth gap? By Carl Mortished HOW do you catch a Belgian dentist? This is not a silly joke, but a question for the Belgian parliament, which is debating a tax amnesty Bill. By 2005 an EU directive will impose an obligation on the EU`s bankers to disclose details of foreign bank accounts to other EU tax authorities. With internal EU capital flight coming to an end, Belgium is seizing its chance to grab an estimated g160 billion (#110 billion) that is thought to be stashed by its famous 14dentists12 in Luxembourg and elsewhere. The Belgian 14dentists12, afficionados of untraceable bearer bonds and offshore accounts free of withholding taxes, are to be tempted back with a pardon and a penalty. Success could bring the financially challenged treasury an estimated g500 million. There is even talk of a boost to Belgian equity markets if the dentists are persuaded to invest in stocks in exchange for lower fines. The problem is fixing the level of the fine. Too high and the tax-dodgers will turn up their noses; too low and it becomes morally indefensible and could be politically embarrassing. But the lure of billions of euros has created a momentum and there is a model that is exciting the imitators. The Italian Government just avoided breaching the eurozone`s 3 per cent public deficit rule because of g8 billion of exceptional income courtesy of Italy`s returning tax cheats. Vast sums of money, held in Swiss banks, were repatriated. Germany also has a Bill in hand. Gerhard Schr\der, the Chancellor, believes that his countrymen have secreted g100 billion abroad and he hopes the delightfully named 14Act for the Promotion of Tax Honesty12 will encourage the repatriation of much of this money to the benefit of the German state and the Frankfurt b\rse. If it succeeds, and France follows the trend, the recycling of hundreds of billions of euros could be a welcome stimulus to the eurozone economy. Belgian tax experts suggest that the fiscally shy Belgian 14dentists12 will take the bait, not least because a new generation wants the cash. The original capital, hoarded by professionals, is now being inherited by children who get no pleasure from watching interest accrue in a Luxembourg private bank. In the end, there is something grubby about a tax amnesty. Tax law is rigid and subject to very narrow interpretation. You pay exactly what the law says you owe, not a penny more, nor a penny less. There is no overriding political objective here. Forget to pay and you will be charged interest. Hide your income and you go to jail. But find a loophole and you are free to exploit it. How then does an amnesty promote honesty? It does not, but rather promotes contempt of the taxman, who is increasingly seen not as a law enforcer, but as a manager of a government profit centre. The solution, of course, is for the state to reduce its tithe and offer no incentive to cheats. Low taxes mean never having to say you are sorry. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 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'

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