December 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cyphermint Partners With PayStar to Provide Prepaid Visa Debit Services to Worldwide Communications Group
by R.A. Hettinga 13 Dec '04

13 Dec '04

<http://www.cyphermint.com/news/2004_12_08_paystar.html> Cyphermint, Inc. - News: NOW Card PayStar Cyphermint Partners With PayStar to Provide Prepaid Visa Debit Services to Worldwide Communications Group December 8, 2004, Marlborough, Massachusetts - Cyphermint, Inc., a leading provider of secure electronic payment solutions, announced today that it will partner with PayStar Corporation, a provider of stored value debit cards, banking debit card load centers and kiosks. This strategic alliance of Cyphermint and PayStar will supply Worldwide Communications Group, Inc.'s (WWCG) underserved low income Government Section 8 housing recipients with Cyphermint's PayCash Now Visa. Debit Card. The PayCash Now Visa Debit Card, issued by BankFirst, will serve as the vehicle to deliver the nationwide ATM debit card services for the program called the Community Technology Network Project (CTNP). WWCG developed the "CTNP" stored value card program and is the administrator of the project. PayStar will offer the ATM debit card program to approximately 16 million existing SEC8 families. The CTNP Project provides a convenient venue for participants to access the Internet and several substantial discounted medical programs for underserved families. The CTNP ATM Card will provide the participants who may not qualify for credit or checking accounts, a flexible and secure cashless payment option. Additionally, recipients of the program will be able to render payment for rent, utilities and pay for discounted program benefits without the use of a major credit card, a checking account or actual cash. The CTNP Card Program will generate a significant number of new PayCash users and may potentially equate to 200,000 or more new PayCash customers for Cyphermint in 2005. "PayStar now participates with the CTNP project through PayStar's GLOBAL Cash division", said William D. Yotty, Chairman and CEO, PayStar Corporation, "we are pleased to have Cyphermint join us in fulfilling this very useful program". "Cyphermint is pleased to help emerging and underserved consumers gain financial independence through the use of our PayCash prepaid Visa card", stated Joe Barboza, President and CEO of Cyphermint, "we are pleased to participate in this opportunity and are excited to be a part of the CTNP Project with PayStar". About PayStar PayStar Corporation (www.paystar.com) provides its distributors and clients with a suite of prepaid, stored value products, national bank load center locations and Kiosk marketing and management. PayStar's GLOBALCash, Inc. (www.globalcash.us) distributes prepaid ATM debit and stored value cards that can be used just like regular credit cards. Prepaid ATM debit cards can be used everywhere major credit cards are accepted (stores, restaurants, theaters) and online. PayStar is a partner in a prepaid ATM debit card program for a national government project that will enable millions of underserved and subsidized housing individual's access to prepaid ATM debit cards. PayStar's corporate and distributor sales, as well as mergers and acquisitions, will continue to drive growth. About Cyphermint Headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., Cyphermint is a provider of Global Electronic Cash Payment and e-commerce infrastructure/integration solutions. Our core technology, PayCash is used in three major areas: (1) Internet Cash Payment Systems, for B2C e-commerce via the Cyphermint PayCash System, (2) Kiosk Solutions - delivering Web-enabled self-service B2C merchandising systems, and (3) The PayCash Now Visa. Debit Prepaid Card. Cyphermint's Kiosk Integration Division provides solutions to online retailers enabling full integration with kiosk networks and also sets up existing kiosk networks with eCommerce capabilities. Cyphermint's core technology, the PayCash System provides businesses complete turnkey solutions. For more information about the PayCash Now Visa Debit or other PayCash products, please contact Kenneth Stempler, VP of Sales, Cyphermint at 508-787-4811 or by email at sales(a)cyphermint.com. Learn more about Cyphermint at www.cyphermint.com. -- ----------------- 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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Tor 0.0.9 is out (fwd from arma@mit.edu)
by Eugen Leitl 13 Dec '04

13 Dec '04

----- Forwarded message from Roger Dingledine <arma(a)mit.edu> -----

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Re: Mixmaster is dead, long live wardriving
by Major Variola (ret) 13 Dec '04

13 Dec '04

At 12:01 AM 12/13/04 -0600, J.A. Terranson wrote: Interestingly, I don't >know of anyone who still actively wardrives at random (as opposed to >against specific targets) for this same reason. I've met some people this year who war-fly SoCal: a cessna, laptop, and regular dipole suffices, and a GPS helps with the mapping, but it was only for curiosity's sake, esp given the short time you're in a given net.

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Re: Mixmaster is dead, long live wardriving
by Riad S. Wahby 13 Dec '04

13 Dec '04

Joseph Ashwood <ashwood(a)msn.com> wrote: > I regularly drive down through Los Angeles, when I have stopped > for gas or food and checked I rarely see an unprotected network. This seems like a peculiarity of your location. Here in Austin almost all of downtown is covered by free wireless. -- Riad S. Wahby rsw(a)jfet.org

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To the Computer, You're Still Beautiful
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/12/weekinreview/12bigp.html?oref=login&pagew…> The New York Times December 12, 2004 To the Computer, You're Still Beautiful By MATTHEW L. WALD UNATTRACTIVE passport photos, once merely traditional, may become mandatory. The reason is that computers do not like smiles. A United Nations agency that sets standards for passports wants all countries to switch to a document that includes a "biometric feature," a digital representation of the bearer's face recorded on an embedded computer chip. In airports and at border crossings, a machine will read the chip to see if the information there matches the bearer's face. But the machine can be flummoxed by smiles, which introduce teeth, wrinkles, seams and other distortions. The State Department issued instructions that passport photos "should be neutral (non-smiling) with both eyes open, and mouth closed." In a grudging sop to the irrepressible, a "smile with closed jaw is allowed, but is not preferred." A State Department spokeswoman pointed to another page of the Web site where "neutral" had been changed to "natural." But it, too, said that the mouth should be closed. Canada and Britain have issued similar instructions. In the end, some critics say, the joke may be on the government, because the face recognition system may deal poorly with aging, and a passport is good for 10 years. -- ----------------- 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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Re: Mixmaster is dead, long live wardriving
by James A. Donald 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

-- On 10 Dec 2004 at 21:47, Joseph Ashwood wrote: > Wardriving is also basically dead. Sure there are a handful > of people that do it, but the number is so small as to be > irrelevant. I regularly use the internet through other people's unprotected wireless networks, simply for convenience while travelling, not for any stego or anonymity purpose. So do lots of other people. I only target places convenient to tourists and likely to be rich in unprotected networks. Maybe your network is located someplace where it is not worth the trouble to find it. Sometimes I go down the street and steal some bandwidth just because I find it a change to work in the open air. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG hOnTAnMFC4mbjwvyxYfLSmvpUXtw2xutPOvdyU0k 4Jx3r8szirxwjD/2L68Q0/BDk3jSlebytG9a9+2IQ

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Gary Webb dies - reported on CIA Cocaine Connections
by Bill Stewart 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/pen… http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/11745531p-12630606c.html (AP Storty) Gary Webb, 49, former Mercury News reporter, author INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST WROTE CONTROVERSIAL SERIES By Jessica Portner Mercury News Gary Webb, a former Mercury News investigative reporter, author and legislative staffer who ignited a firestorm with his controversial stories, died Friday in an apparent suicide in his suburban Sacramento home. He was 49. The Sacramento County coroner's office said that when A Better Moving Company arrived at Mr. Webb's Carmichael home at about 8:20 a.m. Friday, a worker discovered a note posted to the front door which read: ``Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance.'' Mr. Webb, an award-winning journalist, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head, Sacramento County Deputy Coroner Bill Guillot said Saturday. Mr. Webb's friends and colleagues described him as a devoted father and a funny, dogged reporter who was passionate about investigative journalism. As a staff writer for the Mercury News from 1989 to 1997, he exposed freeway retrofitting problems in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and wrote stories about the Department of Motor Vehicles' computer software fiascos. Mr. Webb was perhaps best known for sparking a national controversy with a 1996 story that contended supporters of a CIA-backed guerrilla army in Nicaragua helped trigger America's crack-cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. The ``Dark Alliance'' series in the Mercury News came under fire by other news organizations, and the paper's own investigation concluded the series did not meet its standards. Mr. Webb resigned a year and a half after the series appeared in the paper. He then published his book, ``Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.'' In the past few years, Mr. Webb worked in the California Assembly Speaker's Office of Member Services and for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The committee investigated charges that Oracle received a no-bid contract from Gov. Gray Davis. After being laid off from his legislative post last year, Mr. Webb was hired by the Sacramento News and Review, a weekly publication. Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for state Attorney General Bill Lockyer who has known Mr. Webb for more than a decade, was distraught Saturday when he heard that his friend may have taken his own life. ``He had a fierce commitment to justice, truth and cared a lot about people who are forgotten and society tries to shove into the dark corners,'' Dresslar said. ``It's a big loss for me personally and a great loss for the journalism community.'' Services for Mr. Webb are pending. ---- Bill Stewart bill.stewart(a)pobox.com

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Blinky Rides Again: RCMP suspect al-Qaida messages
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

Lions and Tigers and Steganography, Nell... For those of you without a program, here is the new, official, Horsemen of the Infocalypse Scorecard: At 3:14 PM -0400 10/3/04, R. A. Hettinga wrote: > Horseman Color Character Nickname > >1 Terrorism Red Shadow "Blinky" >2 Narcotics Pink Speedy "Pinky" >3 Money Laundering Aqua Bashful "Inky" >4 Paedophilia Yellow Pokey "Clyde" Cheers, RAH ------- <http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/12/08/pf-773871.html> December 8, 2004 RCMP suspect al-Qaida messages By JIM BRONSKILL OTTAWA (CP) - The RCMP has warned its investigators to be on the lookout for cleverly disguised messages embedded by al-Qaida in digital files police seize from terror suspects. An internal report obtained by The Canadian Press gives credence to the long-rumoured possibility Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and other extremist groups are using a technique known as steganography to hide the existence of sensitive communications. Steganography, from the Greek word stegos, meaning covered, and graphie, or writing, involves concealing a secret message or image within an apparently innocuous one. For instance, a seemingly innocent digital photo of a dog could be doctored to contain a picture of an explosive device or hidden wording. "Investigators in the course of their work on terrorist organizations and their members, including al-Qaida and affiliated groups, need to consider the possible use of steganography and seek to identify when steganography is known or suspected of being used," the report says. It recommends investigators consult the RCMP's technological crime program for assistance, including "comprehensive forensic examinations" of seized digital media. A heavily edited copy of the January 2004 report, Computer-assisted and Digital Steganography: Use by Al-Qaida and Affiliated Terrorist Organizations, was recently obtained from the Mounties under the Access to Information Act. Among the material stripped from the document is information on how best to detect, extract and view surreptitious messages. Steganography dates to before 400 B.C. The ancient Greeks hid messages in wax tablets, while invisible inks have long been used to convey secrets. Simple computer-assisted steganography helps apply such traditional methods in an electronic environment, the report notes. The messages may also be scrambled using cryptography to prevent them falling into the wrong hands. The RCMP seems especially concerned, however, about digital steganography - the use of special computer programs to embed messages. "There now exist nearly 200 software packages which perform digital steganography," the report says. A limited number of publicly available software tools are designed to detect the use of steganography, but the "success rate of these tools is questionable," the RCMP adds. Some only detect the use of specific software, while others are useful for scouring only certain types of files in which the secret message may be hidden. There have been numerous media reports in recent years that terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, were using steganographic techniques. The phenomenon is "deeply troubling," said David Harris, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service officer now with Ottawa-based Insignis Strategic Research. He suggested any delay in detecting disguised messages could be disastrous. "We're talking very often about time-sensitive issues: where is the bomb? Who's operating in connection with whom?" he said. "On that kind of basis, this is really, really disturbing as a development." Harris also questioned whether western security agencies have sufficient personnel and resources to uncover the messages. -- ----------------- 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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Re: punkly current events
by James A. Donald 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

-- On 9 Dec 2004 at 19:47, Joseph Ashwood wrote: > In short, except for those few people who have some use for > MixMaster, MixMaster was stillborn. As one of those few people who have had some use for Mixmaster, it does not seem stillborn to me. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG Ro+kP9M7vm+5D5reA+LsRnc0ZS0gmtCx5gMXfF1C 4b44ZbduosEwPf20ABp+i55nWmvT0qNthPt1OryTC

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Steve Thompson
by A.Melon 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

Out of nowhere cometh Steve Thompson, and sayeth he all manner of things. But, while his mouth moveth one way, he seemeth to move the other. http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=%22steve+thompson%22&start=0&hl=en&s… What hath suddenly attracted our AUK creep?

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