May 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

RE: EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon
by Tyler Durden 19 May '04

19 May '04

Thomas Shaddack wrote... > >There are quite many important activities that don't require storage of >the transported data. > >For example, very very few people record their phone calls. > Storage wasn't my point per se. My point was that quantum cryptography only becomes unsnoopable* when it's in the optical form. With current optical fiber technologies this would limit the useful bandwidth distance product to short distances (ie, 10s of Km for key exchanges). After that, the signal must go O/E and then it's just the same as any normal digital signal. Where Quantum Crypto might have application is in small metro area deployments, like downtown NYC or the DC Beltway, and where people are completely totally balls-to-the-wall paranoid about security (ie, they assume an attacker is willing to tap into their fiber and has all of the test sets needed to pull out a useful packet exchange--that ain't no pimply-face DoS script bunny, and hell it ain't Al Qaeda either). Of course, to extend quantum protection beyond mere transport you'd need all sorts of quantum logic gates and processors (in addition to storage), but don't look for that in our lifetimes. -TD *: With quantum crypto it is of course possible to 'eavesdrop', depending on the coding, but that will cause the eavesdropper to quickly be revealed. _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself with the new version of MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

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[ISN] Safe and insecure
by R. A. Hettinga 19 May '04

19 May '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Modexp
by Major Variola (ret) 19 May '04

19 May '04

At 12:22 AM 5/19/04 +0100, Peter Fairbrother wrote: > >Peter Fairbrother >(Who is right now composing a talk about the uses of modexp in crypto, for >those far more knowledgeable than I) Modexp is Prometheus send from Olympia to let us speak between ourselves. Modexp has many implementation subtleties. Modexp performs what, in a block cipher, would be called mixing, by using multiplication. (e.g., The IDEA block cipher uses multiplication for this.) Modexp is stirring dye into water by turning the cranks of an eggbeater a certain number of times, and then getting the dye back to its original position by reversing the motion a different, but related, number of times. DH is ephemeral, where "identity" is merely a communication endpoint constant for the session. RSA lets you release (not necessarily publish in the phone book sense) *persistant* authenticators for persistant "identities". So you can assure that an endpoint is the "same" across sessions across time. Modexp is the core of it all. "All is number" -Pythagoras

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RE: EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon
by Tyler Durden 19 May '04

19 May '04

Boondoggle. A solution in search of a problem: "Monyk believes there will be a global market of several million users once a workable solution has been developed. A political decision will have to be taken as to who those users will be in order to prevent terrorists and criminals from taking advantage of the completely secure communication network, he said." Silliness itself, at this point. Practical quantum cryptography at this point is limited to transmission. The moment it goes O/E, it's as vulnerable as any other data. And terrorists aren't going to bother splicing fiber. Of course, primitive quantum storage (with error correcting codes!) is possible and done in laboratories, but we're talking tens of bits here. It'll be a decade before quantum storage is practical, and that's only IF someone can find a convincing reason to start developing it. -TD >From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah(a)shipwright.com> >To: cryptography(a)metzdowd.com, cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon >Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 14:32:34 -0400 > ><http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0517euseeks.html> > >Network World Fusion > > >EU seeks quantum cryptography response to Echelon > >By Philip Willan >IDG News Service, 05/17/04 > >The European Union is to invest $11 million ($13 million) over the next >four years to develop a secure communication system based on quantum >cryptography, using physical laws governing the universe on the smallest >scale to create and distribute unbreakable encryption keys, project >coordinators said Monday. > > If successful, the project would produce the cryptographer's holy grail >-- >absolutely unbreakable code -- and thwart the eavesdropping efforts of >espionage systems such as Echelon, which intercepts electronic messages on >behalf of the intelligence services of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New >Zealand and Australia. > > "The aim is to produce a communication system that cannot be intercepted >by anyone, and that includes Echelon," said Sergio Cova, a professor from >the electronics department of Milan Polytechnic and one of the project's >coordinators. "We are talking about a system that requires significant >technological innovations. We have to prove that it is workable, which is >not the case at the moment." Major improvements in geographic range and >speed of data transmission will be required before the system becomes a >commercial reality, Cova said. > > "The report of the European Parliament on Echelon recommends using >quantum >cryptography as a solution to electronic eavesdropping. This is an effort >to cope with Echelon," said Christian Monyk, the director of quantum >technologies at the Austrian company ARC Seibersdorf Research and overall >coordinator of the project. Economic espionage has caused serious harm to >European companies in the past, Monyk said. "With this project we will be >making an essential contribution to the economic independence of Europe." > > Quantum cryptography takes advantage of the physical properties of light >particles, known as photons, to create and transmit binary messages. The >angle of vibration of a photon as it travels through space -- its >polarization -- can be used to represent a zero or a one under a system >first devised by scientists Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard in 1984. It >has the advantage that any attempt to intercept the photons is liable to >interfere with their polarization and can therefore be detected by those >operating the system, the project coordinators said. An intercepted key >would therefore be discarded and a new one created for use in its place. > > The new system, known as SECOQC (Secure Communication based on Quantum >Cryptography), is intended for use by the secure generation and exchange of >encryption keys, rather than for the actual exchange of data, Monyk said. > > "The encrypted data would then be transmitted by normal methods," he >said. >Messages encrypted using quantum mechanics can currently be transmitted >over optical fibers for tens of kilometers. The European project intends to >extend that range by combining quantum physics with other technologies, >Monyk said. "The important thing about this project is that it is not based >solely on quantum cryptography but on a combination with all the other >components that are necessary to achieve an economic application," he said. >"We are taking a really broad approach to quantum cryptography, which other >countries haven't done." > > Experts in quantum physics, cryptography, software and network >development >from universities, research institutes and private companies in Austria, >Belgium, Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, >Italy, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland will be contributing to the project, >Monyk said. > > In 18 months project participants will assess progress on a number of >alternative solutions and decide which technologies are the most promising >and merit further development, project coordinators said. SECOQC aims to >have a workable technology ready in four years, but will probably require >three to four years of work beyond that before commercial use, Monyk said. > > Cova was more cautious: "This is the equivalent of the first flight of >the >Wright brothers, so it is too early to be talking already about supersonic >transatlantic travel." > > The technological challenges facing the project include the creation of >sensors capable of recording the arrival of photons at high speed and >photon generators that produce a single photon at a time, Cova said. "If >two or three photons are released simultaneously they become vulnerable to >interception," he said. > > Monyk believes there will be a global market of several million users >once >a workable solution has been developed. A political decision will have to >be taken as to who those users will be in order to prevent terrorists and >criminals from taking advantage of the completely secure communication >network, he said. > > "In my view it should not be limited to senior government officials and >the military, but made available to all users who need really secure >communications," Monyk said. Banks, insurance companies and law firms could >be potential clients, Monyk said, and a decision will have to be made as to >whether and how a key could be made available to law enforcement >authorities under exceptional circumstances. "It won't be up to us to >decide who uses our results," said Milan Polytechnic's Cova. > > > >-- >----------------- >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' > _________________________________________________________________ MSN Toolbar provides one-click access to Hotmail from any Web page FREE download! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200413ave/direct/01/

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[ISN] Safe and insecure
by InfoSec News 19 May '04

19 May '04

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/05/18/safe_and_insecure/index.html By Micah Joel May 18, 2004 Last week, I turned off all the security features of my wireless router. I removed WEP encryption, disabled MAC address filtering and made sure the SSID was being broadcast loud and clear. Now, anyone with a wireless card and a sniffer who happens by can use my connection to access the Internet. And with DHCP logging turned off, there's really no way to know who's using it. What's wrong with me? Haven't I heard about how malicious wardrivers can use my connection from across the street to stage their hacking operations? How my neighbors can steal my bandwidth so they don't have to pay for their own? How I'm exposing my home network to attacks from the inside? Yup. So why am I doing this? In a word, privacy. By making my Internet connection available to any and all who happen upon it, I have no way to be certain what kinds of songs, movies and pictures will be downloaded by other people using my IP address. And more important, my ISP has no way to be certain if it's me. In mid-April, Comcast sent letters to some of its subscribers claiming that their IP addresses had been used to download copyrighted movies. Since Comcast is not likely to improve customer satisfaction and retention with this strategy, it's probable the letter was a result of pressure from the Motion Picture Association of America or one of its members. And to Comcast's credit, it stopped short of direct accusation; instead it gives users an out. Says the letter, "If you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then you may send a counter notification to Comcast." That's good enough for me. I've already composed my reply in case I receive one of these letters someday. "Dear Comcast, I am so sorry. I had no idea that copyrighted works were being downloaded via my IP address; I have a wireless router at home and it's possible that someone may have been using my connection at the time. I will do my best to secure this notoriously vulnerable technology, but I can make no guarantee that hackers will not exploit my network in the future." If it ever comes down to a lawsuit, who can be certain that I was the offender? And can the victim of hacking be held responsible for the hacker's crimes? If that were the case, we'd all be liable for the Blaster worm's denial of service attacks against Microsoft last year. Don't get me wrong. I'm not deliberately opening my network to hackers and miscreants bent on downloading copyrighted material. I'm simply choosing not to secure it. That's no different from the millions of people who haven't installed anti-virus software and the millions more who don't keep theirs up to date. Yes, their vulnerabilities allow viruses to spread more quickly, but that's their choice, right? What about the security of my home network? A determined hacker may be able to crack my passwords or exploit weaknesses in the operating system that I never even thought of, but how is that different from before? There's no system that's completely secure, so whether hackers are inside or outside my firewall will make little difference. I'm willing to trade a little security for privacy. It feels strange to be opening up my network after years of vigorously protecting it, and it's not without a tinge of anxiety that I do so. But there's also a sense of liberation, of sticking it to the Man, that's undeniable, as well as an odd sense of community. It seems there's safety in numbers after all, even among strangers. - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Micah Joel is a systems engineer for a software company, an award-winning tech presenter and an early adopter of home wireless. _________________________________________ ISN mailing list Sponsored by: OSVDB.org --- 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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[ISN] Safe and insecure
by InfoSec News 19 May '04

19 May '04

http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/05/18/safe_and_insecure/index.html By Micah Joel May 18, 2004 Last week, I turned off all the security features of my wireless router. I removed WEP encryption, disabled MAC address filtering and made sure the SSID was being broadcast loud and clear. Now, anyone with a wireless card and a sniffer who happens by can use my connection to access the Internet. And with DHCP logging turned off, there's really no way to know who's using it. What's wrong with me? Haven't I heard about how malicious wardrivers can use my connection from across the street to stage their hacking operations? How my neighbors can steal my bandwidth so they don't have to pay for their own? How I'm exposing my home network to attacks from the inside? Yup. So why am I doing this? In a word, privacy. By making my Internet connection available to any and all who happen upon it, I have no way to be certain what kinds of songs, movies and pictures will be downloaded by other people using my IP address. And more important, my ISP has no way to be certain if it's me. In mid-April, Comcast sent letters to some of its subscribers claiming that their IP addresses had been used to download copyrighted movies. Since Comcast is not likely to improve customer satisfaction and retention with this strategy, it's probable the letter was a result of pressure from the Motion Picture Association of America or one of its members. And to Comcast's credit, it stopped short of direct accusation; instead it gives users an out. Says the letter, "If you believe in good faith that the allegedly infringing works have been removed or blocked by mistake or misidentification, then you may send a counter notification to Comcast." That's good enough for me. I've already composed my reply in case I receive one of these letters someday. "Dear Comcast, I am so sorry. I had no idea that copyrighted works were being downloaded via my IP address; I have a wireless router at home and it's possible that someone may have been using my connection at the time. I will do my best to secure this notoriously vulnerable technology, but I can make no guarantee that hackers will not exploit my network in the future." If it ever comes down to a lawsuit, who can be certain that I was the offender? And can the victim of hacking be held responsible for the hacker's crimes? If that were the case, we'd all be liable for the Blaster worm's denial of service attacks against Microsoft last year. Don't get me wrong. I'm not deliberately opening my network to hackers and miscreants bent on downloading copyrighted material. I'm simply choosing not to secure it. That's no different from the millions of people who haven't installed anti-virus software and the millions more who don't keep theirs up to date. Yes, their vulnerabilities allow viruses to spread more quickly, but that's their choice, right? What about the security of my home network? A determined hacker may be able to crack my passwords or exploit weaknesses in the operating system that I never even thought of, but how is that different from before? There's no system that's completely secure, so whether hackers are inside or outside my firewall will make little difference. I'm willing to trade a little security for privacy. It feels strange to be opening up my network after years of vigorously protecting it, and it's not without a tinge of anxiety that I do so. But there's also a sense of liberation, of sticking it to the Man, that's undeniable, as well as an odd sense of community. It seems there's safety in numbers after all, even among strangers. - - - - - - - - - - - - About the writer Micah Joel is a systems engineer for a software company, an award-winning tech presenter and an early adopter of home wireless. _________________________________________ ISN mailing list Sponsored by: OSVDB.org --- 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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ID Pass? But I Am Mayor..
by R. A. Hettinga 19 May '04

19 May '04

<http://www.mirror.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?method=printable_version_mirr…> ID PASS? BUT I AM MAYOR.. By Geoffrey Lakeman SELF-important mayor Anne Rey refused to open a police conference in her town - because she had to wear a security pass. Home Secretary David Blunkett will wear official ID at the meeting in Bournemouth, Dorset. But councillor Rey was "insulted" when asked for a passport photo for her pass, and said wearing her robes should be enough. Clive Chamberlain of the Dorset Police Federation, which is hosting the Police Federation Conference at Bournemouth International Centre, said: "She's being very silly. "The Home Secretary will be wearing a pass and when the Prime Minister comes to conferences he wears a pass too. "I don't know who she thinks she is. Her stance will embarrass the people of Bournemouth." Bournemouth-born Mrs Rey, 47, said: "I'd have thought going in my robes, wearing my chains and going with the mace-bearer would be enough." Deputy mayor David Baldwin, who will wear ID, will open the event. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "Several times a week, to enter a TV studio say, or to board a plane, I have to produce a tiny picture of my face." -- Christopher Hitchens

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VIA Reveals Details of Next Generation C5J Esther Processor Core With Advanced Features For Securing E-Commerce Transactions
by R. A. Hettinga 19 May '04

19 May '04

<http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/20040519090517729> LinuxElectrons - VIA Reveals Details of Next Generation C5J Esther Processor Core With Advanced Features For Securing E-Commerce Transactions Wednesday, May 19 2004 @ 09:05 AM Contributed by: ByteEnable San Jose, CA -- VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, has revealed details of the ultra power efficient VIA C5J "Esther" processor core manufactured with IBM's advanced 90nm SOI process and optimized for information security and e-commerce transactions. With its ultra low power consumption, the VIA C5J Esther core targets smart digital devices that extend the reach of x86 architecture further into the consumer electronics, embedded and mobile fields than current processor performance and thermal limitations allow. The new core is based on IBM's advanced 90nm SOI manufacturing process, providing a significant boost in processor speed within the same thermal bracket as current VIA processors, and reducing maximum power consumption to a mere 3.5W at 1GHz. Designed to be coupled with a range of feature rich chipsets from VIA, the C5J Esther core will enable unprecedented performance of demanding applications, such as high compression video streaming and data encryption/decryption, from miniature, fanless devices. The new C5J Esther core provides world-class security for e-commerce transactions by accelerating RSA encryption and Secure Hashing (SHA-1 and SHA-256), together with support for execution (NX) protection for countering email worms/viruses. Other performance enhancing features include a new faster Front Side Bus (FSB) of up to 800MHz, SSE2/SSE3 multimedia instructions, and a larger L2 cache. "Our approach to processor design allows small, fanless devices to carry out the most demanding security operations while simultaneously processing today's increasingly sophisticated digital entertainment applications," said Glenn Henry, President, Centaur Technology. "The new architecture of the C5J Esther core will allow us to ramp up processor speeds to 2GHz and above within the same thermal design points as previous cores, opening up new markets for our processors and extending the reach of the x86 architecture into new device categories." More of the World's Most Advanced On-Die x86 Processor Security Features The C5J Esther core extends the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite to include execution (NX) protection, Montgomery Multiplier support for RSA encryption and secure Hash (SHA-1 and SHA-256) algorithms in addition to the VIA PadLock RNG and VIA PadLock ACE that are featured in the current VIA C5P Nehemiah processor core. These hardware-based building blocks effortlessly carry out operations within security programs and help to improve overall system performance. "It's great to see a CPU vendor provide hardware support for the most important needs of crypto," said Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP 1.0. "It's always been hard to find a good entropy source for random number generation on an unmanned server, a fast AES implementation for on-the-fly disk encryption, and hardware support for fast public key operations for a server to handle a high traffic workload from remote users. I wish all CPU vendors would do this." Execution (NX) protection prevents malicious code associated with worms or viruses from executing and propagating from memory. The VIA C5J Esther core's NX feature marks memory with an attribute that indicates that code should not be executed from that memory, helping to prevent damage or propagation of malicious code within x86 devices. Execution (NX) protection is an important new hardware-based feature that will be supported in the Microsoft. Windows. XP Service Pack 2. The RSA algorithm is the most widely used public-key cryptography system today and is increasingly important to e-commerce transactions that require exchanging confidential information with websites or checking access privileges. The major challenge facing public-key cryptography is that it requires large amounts of processing power, posing a critical problem for low power consumer electronics and embedded devices that cannot afford to halt in the middle of a video stream or transaction while it does the heavy lifting required by security programs. The VIA C5J Esther core features a dedicated x86 instruction that performs Montgomery Multiplication, an operation used to speed-up RSA cryptography, reducing the workload on the processor and helping to improve overall system performance during e-commerce transactions. Secure Hash Algorithms are used in cryptography to provide digital signatures that enable the recipient to verify the authenticity of the origin of the message. The VIA C5P Esther core provides two Secure Hash functions (SHA-1 and SHA-256) that assist in the creation and verification of digital signatures through algorithms that are embedded in the processor die. "The addition of hardware acceleration for SHA-1 hashing and large-integer operations for public-key cryptography make VIA processors an excellent choice for the implementation of security protocols such as IPsec, SSL/TLS, and SSH, since they eliminate the often heavy CPU overhead normally imposed by the crypto portions of these protocols," said Doctor Peter Gutmann of the University of Auckland and author of "CryptLib". "This removes the need to use the expensive external crypto-processors that are often required to achieve acceptable performance under load." "I am delighted to see that VIA's impressive on-chip AES capability is being further extended to provide execution (NX) protection, SHA hashing and support for public key cryptography using Montgomery Multiplication," said Dr. Brian Gladman, a leading information security specialist from Worcester, United Kingdom. "This will put VIA processors in a leading position for building secure applications offering high throughput and low CPU security overheads." More information, programmers guides and independent third party evaluations of the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite are available from the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite website. IBM's 90nm SOI Process The VIA C5J Esther core is being produced with IBM's groundbreaking silicon manufacturing technologies that include copper interconnects, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and low-k dielectric insulation, together with its advanced 90-nanometer (nm) process. These advanced manufacturing technologies are designed to reduce power consumption and allow processor speeds of 2GHz and beyond within the same thermal envelope as current VIA processors. IBM's 90nm manufacturing process provides greater scope for power saving and performance enhancements by decreasing the internal distances traveled by electronic signals within the processor. The low-k dielectric technique, introduced by IBM, is a new method of building microchips that can deliver boosts in computing speed and performance of up to a 30 percent by facilitating the faster movement of electronic signals through the chip. Similarly, IBM's SOI CMOS technology limits transistor leakage, further increasing performance by an estimated 20-35% while reducing power consumption. The C5J Esther processor core is designed by Centaur Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of VIA Technologies, Inc., and being manufactured by IBM at their state-of-the-art 300mm (12 inch) foundry in East Fishkill, N.Y. VIA at Embedded Processor Forum 2004 VIA is staging various live demonstrations of the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite at the Embedded Processor Forum in the Empire Room on Tuesday and Wednesday, 18th and 19th May, including a new AES encryption benchmark tool that compares software-based encryption to hardware-based encryption using the VIA Padlock ACE. Also on display will be the soon to be released VIA EPIA SP12000 Mini-ITX mainboard demonstrating high compression rate MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 digital video playback. -- ----------------- 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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IRS May Help DOD Find Reservists
by R. A. Hettinga 19 May '04

19 May '04

<http://www.military.com/Content/Printer_Friendly_Version/1,11491,,00.html?s…> Military Insider Newsletter IRS May Help DOD Find Reservists Fort Worth Star-Telegram May 18, 2004 FORT WORTH, Texas - The Defense Department, strapped for troops for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, has proposed to Congress that it tap the Internal Revenue Service to locate out-of-touch reservists. The unusual measure, which the Pentagon said has been examined by lawyers, would allow the IRS to pass on addresses for tens of thousands of former military members who still face recall into the active duty. The proposal has largely escaped attention amid all the other crises of government, and it is likely to face opposition from privacy rights activists who see information held by the IRS as inviolate. For it to become practice, Congress and President Bush would have to approve the proposal, which would involve amending the tax code. Ari Schwartz, an associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, said granting access to any IRS data would open the door to more requests from other arms of the government. Just a few years ago, Congress strengthened the privacy provisions of the tax code, he said. "There are other ways to solve the problem they have, without putting the tax information at risk," Schwartz said. "We would hope that those members who worked only four or five years ago on strengthening tax-privacy laws would stand up and say this is a bad idea." Lt. Col. Bob Stone, a spokesman for the assistant defense secretary for reserve affairs, said the proposal was developed several years ago and is unconnected to the Army's current shortage of troops. Part or all of nine of the Army's 10 active-duty divisions are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and 167,000 members of the reserves or National Guard are on active duty, with thousands more on alert for mobilization. Unknown to most Americans, though, is the existence of the Individual Ready Reserve, which has more than 280,000 members. The IRR is a distinctly different animal than the drilling reserves or National Guard. Those in the IRR are people who have completed their active-duty tours but are subject to involuntary recall for a certain number of years. For example, a soldier who serves four years on active duty remains in the IRR for another four years. During that time, however, they receive no pay, do not drill with a unit and are otherwise completely civilian. The problem for the Pentagon is that the whereabouts of 50,200 of those veterans are unknown to the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. The largest number - 40,700 - are former Army GIs. Because Texas sends more people into the service than almost any other state, it's a good bet many are in the Lone Star State. "While the military today is comprised of an all-volunteer force, every individual who volunteers for service in the armed forces voluntarily accepts an eight-year military service obligation," Stone said. The troops are required to keep the services' updated on their residences, but many do not. Thirty-four percent of former Army soldiers cannot be tracked. The unknowns in the other services are in the single digit percentages. "One of the difficulties that the military services confront is keeping addresses current," Stone said. The Defense Department has called on members of the IRR before. About 7,000 people have been recalled since 9-11, Stone said. Approximately 30,000 were recalled for service during the buildup for the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and 1991, he 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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[Politech] Here's someone who actually likes political spam [sp]
by R. A. Hettinga 19 May '04

19 May '04

--- begin forwarded text

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