December 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Tenet calls for Internet security
by R.A. Hettinga 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

Now... Try not to laugh, here... MMMGGGPPPFFFFFBWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Heh... Yes, well... Sorry about that. Carry on. Cheers, RAH ------- <http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20041201-114750-…> The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Tenet calls for Internet security By Shaun Waterman UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Published December 2, 2004 Former CIA Director George J. Tenet yesterday called for new security measures to guard against attacks on the United States that use the Internet, which he called "a potential Achilles' heel." "I know that these actions will be controversial in this age when we still think the Internet is a free and open society with no control or accountability," he told an information-technology security conference in Washington, "but ultimately the Wild West must give way to governance and control." The former CIA director said telecommunications -- and specifically the Internet -- are a back door through which terrorists and other enemies of the United States could attack the country, even though great strides have been made in securing the physical infrastructure. The Internet "represents a potential Achilles' heel for our financial stability and physical security if the networks we are creating are not protected," Mr. Tenet said. He said known adversaries, including "intelligence services, military organizations and non-state actors," are researching information attacks against the United States. Within the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security has the lead role in protecting the Internet from terrorism. But the department's head of cyber-security recently quit amid reports that he had clashed with his superiors. Mr. Tenet, who retired in July as director of the CIA after seven years, warned that al Qaeda remains a sophisticated group, even though its first-tier leadership largely has been destroyed. It is "undoubtedly mapping vulnerabilities and weaknesses in our telecommunications networks," he said. Mr. Tenet pointed out that the modernization of key industries in the United States is making them more vulnerable by connecting them with an Internet that is open to attack. The way the Internet was built might be part of the problem, he said. Its open architecture allows Web surfing, but that openness makes the system vulnerable, Mr. Tenet said. Access to networks like the World Wide Web might need to be limited to those who can show they take security seriously, he said. Mr. Tenet called for industry to lead the way by "establishing and enforcing" security standards. Products need to be delivered to government and private-sector customers "with a new level of security and risk management already built in." The national press, including United Press International (UPI), were excluded from yesterday's event, at Mr. Tenet's request, organizers said. -- ----------------- 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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[Interest] FWD: The last crusade of the Templars
by R.A. Hettinga 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

I've liked to joke that, because of their encrypted "passbook" accounting and payment system, a way for holy-land pilgrims to deposit money in Europe, deduct amounts from an encrypted document for Templar-sponsored passage, hostelry, etc., en route, and collect the remainder on arrival in Jerusalem, that the Templars were the original financial cryptographers. :-). More seriously, it was operating this kind of medieval Western Union cum Brinks cum Wells Fargo cum Hilton, which not only allowed them to effectively transfer the asset value of whatever booty they may have acquired in their early days back home, but also to make the lion's share of the money they were eventually disbanded for... Cheers, RAH Who put a "Templar's Square" maths puzzle on the IBUC shirt at the first EFCE conference in Edinburgh because of Roslyn Chapel, just outside of town, and who, coincidentally, has spent the last 16 years in the Boston neighborhood of Roslindale, the former home of a large, discrete, Masonic temple, speaking of punters who think they're modern Templars... ------- --- begin forwarded text

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[Interest] FWD: The last crusade of the Templars
by dee3＠pothole.com 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1379629,00.html> November 29, 2004 The last crusade of the Templars By Ruth Gledhill The knights want a Papal apology nearly 700 years after they were disbanded and hounded into exile THE VATICAN is giving "serious consideration" to apologising for the persecution that led to the suppression of the Knights Templar. The suppression, which began on Friday , October 13, 1307, gave Friday the Thirteenth its superstitious legacy. A Templar Order in Britain that claims to be descended from the original Knights Templar has asked that the Pope should make the apology. The Templars, based in Hertford, are hoping for an apology by 2007, the 700th anniversary of the start of the persecution, which culminated with the torture and burning at the stake of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay for heresy and the dissolution of the Order by apostolic decree in 1312. The letter, signed by the Secretary of the Council of Chaplains on behalf of the Grand Master of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon Grand Preceptory, with a PO box address in Hertford, formally requests an apology for "the torture and murder of our leadership", instigated by Pope Clement V. "We shall witness the 700th anniversary of the persecution of our order on 13th October 2007", the letter says. "It would be just and fitting for the Vatican to acknowledge our grievance in advance of this day of mourning." Apologies have already been made by the Roman Catholic Church for the persecution of Galileo and for the Crusades. The Templars hope that these precedents will make their suit more likely to succeed. Hertford Templar Tim Acheson, who is descended from the Scottish Acheson family that has established Templar links and whose family lived until recently in Bailey Hall, Hertford, said: "This letter is a serious attempt by a Templar group which traces its roots back to the medieval Order to solicit an apology from the Papacy." He added: "The Papacy and the Kingdom of France conspired to destroy the Order for reasons which modern historians judge to be primarily political. Their methods and motives are now universally regarded as brutal, unfair and unjustified. "The Knights Templar officially ceased to exist in the early 1300s, but the order continued underground. It was a huge organisation and the vast majority of Templars survived the persecution, including most of their leaders, along with much of their treasure and, most importantly, their original values and traditions." The Hertford Mercury newspaper has reported newly discovered Templar links with Hertford, including a warren of tunnels beneath the town. At the heart of the maze of tunnels is Hertford Castle, where in 1309 four Templars from Temple Dinsley near Hitchin were imprisoned after their arrest by Edward II, who believed that they were holding a lost treasure. The treasure was never found. When Subterranea Britannica, a group of amateur archaeologists, expressed an interest in investigating Hertfords tunnels last month, they received anonymous threats telling them not to. The Templars captured Jerusalem during the Crusades and were known as "keepers of the Holy Grail", said to be the cup used at the Last Supper or as the receptacle used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christs blood as he bled on the Cross, or both. Interest in the Templars and the Holy Grail is at an unprecedented high after the success of books such as The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, and the earlier Holy Blood Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, which claimed that Jesus survived the crucifixion and settled in France. The Knights Templar were founded by Hugh de Payens, a French knight from the Champagne area of Burgundy, and eight companions in 1118 during the reign of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, when they took a perpetual vow to defend the Christian kingdom. They were assigned quarters next to the Temple. In 1128, they took up the white habit of the Cistercians, adding a red cross. The order knights, sergeants, farmers and chaplains amassed enormous wealth. In Rome, a Vatican spokesman said that the demand for an apology would be given "serious consideration". However, Vatican insiders said that the Pope, 84, was under pressure from conservative cardinals to "stop saying sorry" for the errors of the past, after a series of papal apologies for the Crusades, the Inquisition, Christian anti-Semitism and the persecution of scientists and "heretics" such as Galileo. _______________________________________________ Interest mailing list Interest(a)pothole.com http://pothole.com/mailman/listinfo/interest --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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[Interest] FWD: The last crusade of the Templars
by dee3＠pothole.com 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1379629,00.html> November 29, 2004 The last crusade of the Templars By Ruth Gledhill The knights want a Papal apology nearly 700 years after they were disbanded and hounded into exile THE VATICAN is giving "serious consideration" to apologising for the persecution that led to the suppression of the Knights Templar. The suppression, which began on Friday , October 13, 1307, gave Friday the Thirteenth its superstitious legacy. A Templar Order in Britain that claims to be descended from the original Knights Templar has asked that the Pope should make the apology. The Templars, based in Hertford, are hoping for an apology by 2007, the 700th anniversary of the start of the persecution, which culminated with the torture and burning at the stake of the Grand Master Jacques de Molay for heresy and the dissolution of the Order by apostolic decree in 1312. The letter, signed by the Secretary of the Council of Chaplains on behalf of the Grand Master of the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon Grand Preceptory, with a PO box address in Hertford, formally requests an apology for "the torture and murder of our leadership", instigated by Pope Clement V. "We shall witness the 700th anniversary of the persecution of our order on 13th October 2007", the letter says. "It would be just and fitting for the Vatican to acknowledge our grievance in advance of this day of mourning." Apologies have already been made by the Roman Catholic Church for the persecution of Galileo and for the Crusades. The Templars hope that these precedents will make their suit more likely to succeed. Hertford Templar Tim Acheson, who is descended from the Scottish Acheson family that has established Templar links and whose family lived until recently in Bailey Hall, Hertford, said: "This letter is a serious attempt by a Templar group which traces its roots back to the medieval Order to solicit an apology from the Papacy." He added: "The Papacy and the Kingdom of France conspired to destroy the Order for reasons which modern historians judge to be primarily political. Their methods and motives are now universally regarded as brutal, unfair and unjustified. "The Knights Templar officially ceased to exist in the early 1300s, but the order continued underground. It was a huge organisation and the vast majority of Templars survived the persecution, including most of their leaders, along with much of their treasure and, most importantly, their original values and traditions." The Hertford Mercury newspaper has reported newly discovered Templar links with Hertford, including a warren of tunnels beneath the town. At the heart of the maze of tunnels is Hertford Castle, where in 1309 four Templars from Temple Dinsley near Hitchin were imprisoned after their arrest by Edward II, who believed that they were holding a lost treasure. The treasure was never found. When Subterranea Britannica, a group of amateur archaeologists, expressed an interest in investigating Hertfords tunnels last month, they received anonymous threats telling them not to. The Templars captured Jerusalem during the Crusades and were known as "keepers of the Holy Grail", said to be the cup used at the Last Supper or as the receptacle used by Joseph of Arimathea to catch Christs blood as he bled on the Cross, or both. Interest in the Templars and the Holy Grail is at an unprecedented high after the success of books such as The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, and the earlier Holy Blood Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, which claimed that Jesus survived the crucifixion and settled in France. The Knights Templar were founded by Hugh de Payens, a French knight from the Champagne area of Burgundy, and eight companions in 1118 during the reign of Baldwin II of Jerusalem, when they took a perpetual vow to defend the Christian kingdom. They were assigned quarters next to the Temple. In 1128, they took up the white habit of the Cistercians, adding a red cross. The order knights, sergeants, farmers and chaplains amassed enormous wealth. In Rome, a Vatican spokesman said that the demand for an apology would be given "serious consideration". However, Vatican insiders said that the Pope, 84, was under pressure from conservative cardinals to "stop saying sorry" for the errors of the past, after a series of papal apologies for the Crusades, the Inquisition, Christian anti-Semitism and the persecution of scientists and "heretics" such as Galileo. _______________________________________________ Interest mailing list Interest(a)pothole.com http://pothole.com/mailman/listinfo/interest --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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Anti-RFID outfit deflates Mexican VeriChip hype
by R.A. Hettinga 03 Dec '04

03 Dec '04

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/30/mexican_verichip_hype/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT Anti-RFID outfit deflates Mexican VeriChip hype By Thomas C Greene (thomas.greene at theregister.co.uk) Published Tuesday 30th November 2004 18:00 GMT Reports that 160 Mexican officials have had RFID chips implanted within their flesh in some bizarre "security" scheme have been exaggerated, Anti-RFID outfit CASPIAN (http://www.nocards.org/) (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) says. "Our concern is that dozens of news outlets have repeated the inflated number, which has reached the level of an urban legend," CASPIAN Director Katherine Albrecht said in a recent press release. "I myself have repeated the erroneous figure in several media interviews, and I want to set the record straight," she added. The true number of Mexico's new robo-crats, based on a transcript (http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/mexican-translation.html) from a Televisa Mexican interview, is only 18, CASPIAN says. In a 19 July, 2004 press release, Albrecht made a clear mention of the imaginary 160: "Promoting implanted RFID devices as a security measure is downright 'loco,'" says Katherine Albrecht. "Advertising you've got a chip in your arm that opens important doors is an invitation to kidnapping and mutilation." That's Albrecht's response to the announcement by Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha that he and 160 other Mexican officials were implanted with Verichip RFID devices. We wondered how the inflated figure got circulating in the first place. The earliest mention in English that we could find on the Web, following a not-terribly-aggressive search, comes from a blog called igargoyle (http://igargoyle.com/archives/000448.html) on 13 July 2004. This is followed, with more details, by the Associated Press (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5439055/) The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/story/0,12976,1260858,00.html) and The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/14/mexicans_get_chipped/) each on 14 July. CASPIAN, weighing in several days later, is clearly not to blame for the hype. And now the outfit has learned that classic lesson about believing what one reads in the papers. But who is to blame? Well, there is a 13 July item in Spanish (http://www.el-universal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia_busqueda.html?id_nota=11…) that seems to have words in it that relate to the RFID story, along with the number 160; but this is unlikely to be the original source. There is also (we believe) a brief mention (http://presidencia.gob.mx/buenasnoticias/index.php?contenido=8614&pagina=28) in a 13 July press release on what we think is the Mexican President's official Web site. The thirteenth seems to be when the story broke in Mexico, and the source seems to be Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha himself, although we could not find a place where he is directly quoted as saying that 160 employees would be chipped. Reporters have offered the number in the context of interviewing him, which suggests that he's the source, but there are no specific, direct quotes that we could find. Perhaps, like many senior bureaucrats, he had no idea what he was talking about. Perhaps a companion press release contained the bogus number, or perhaps the Spanish words for 18 and 160 sound alike, as fifteen and fifty do in English. In any case, we're pleased to have cleared this up. . -- ----------------- 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: Jewish wholy words..
by Major Variola (ret) 02 Dec '04

02 Dec '04

Just remember this [C]Hanu[k]ka[h] that the Macabbees were terrorists from the POV of the dominant hegemony... Oh, but the [solstice-coopted 'holiday'] is about someone topping off oil, not about rebellion against domination. Ooops. Nope, no parallels here.

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Got Chips?
by Major Variola (ret) 02 Dec '04

02 Dec '04

At 10:59 AM 12/1/04 -0800, John Young wrote: >Lying about having an implant is kidnapping and mutilation >protection. If they even think you have a tracking chip, you'll be boxed up in a Faraday cage faster than you can say Jimmy Walker-Lindh. Clothing optional, baby. Got 121.5 Mhz?

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Hawala != Halal
by Major Variola (ret) 02 Dec '04

02 Dec '04

At 09:07 AM 12/1/04 -0500, Steve Furlong wrote: >On Tue, 2004-11-30 at 21:36, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> Halal was deemed a terrorist weapon, and contrary to the treasury's >> policies, game over. > >Hawala Yep, sorry, I've got templegrandin.com on the brain. Only PETA thinks Halal is a terrorist, or at least carnivorous, weapon.

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O'Reilly is a terrorist
by Major Variola (ret) 02 Dec '04

02 Dec '04

At 09:17 AM 12/1/04 -0500, R.A. Hettinga wrote: > Appearing on Fox News' "O'Reilly Factor" Monday night My favorite irony-pegging experience of the week was Bill O accusing an Al-Jazeera spokesman of not being fair and balanced. Lets bomb those mofos and blame it on an out-of-date Yugo map.

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RE: Jewish wholy words..
by Tim Benham 02 Dec '04

02 Dec '04

On Thursday 02 December 2004 10:46, "Tyler Durden" wroye <camera_lumina(a)hotmail.com> > Subject: RE: Jewish wholy words.. > > No. > > Technically speaking, only the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible, > written by Moses) are technically "scripture"...everything else is > commentary. Doesn't the commentary have equal if not superior status? Sanhedrin 59a I took the trouble to look up. In fact it says that a non-Jew who studies the Torah deserves death. It also says he is a "High Priest" and rounds off with a discussion of which animals one may cut living parts from and eat. Whether googling the rabbinical Law qualifies me for the death penalty is unclear. cheers, Tim

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