June 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 12:41 AM 6/27/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: >On Sat, 26 Jun 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> At 11:56 PM 6/26/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: >> > >> >Hrmmm... Cell Phone. TEMPEST Case. >> > >> >What's wrong with this picture??? >> >> 1. You can't receive calls. Only make outgoing, from a location >> which is known to fascists. > >Let's try again. TEMPEST sheilding and outgoing calls are not >compatible. Of course outgoing is impossible inside the TEMPEST box. But you don't reveal the intermediate locations you drove through to get to where you broadcast. I drove to Cheech's with my phone unpowered and my toll-road-transponder boxed. Then I drove to the library and unboxed my gizmos. Simple. The gap must have been a "glitch" to the semiclued Big Bro. >> 2. Use it for your toll-road-transponder too. > >And you own one, why? I don't, because I'm a cheapo and professional paranoid. But in my 'hood, there are many tollroad which use them. Otherwise you have to stop and toss coins. Of course your license and face are video'd anyway. If I had one, I would box it unless I was driving on a toll road.

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 02:02 AM 6/27/04 +0200, Thomas Shaddack wrote: > >Can it be disabled by hardware hack of the phone, a mikropower jammer, or >using an "unofficial" firmware? I wrote: It would be hard to verify/test that you had in fact cut the correct trace, and it would depend on the phone, and you would void your warrantee. Firmware hacks are of course the free man's last refuge. Of course disabling your GPS unit will not prevent the fascists from doing triangulation with signal strength, ie the alternative (and cheaper and less precise alternative). That's merely physics and geometry. To counter that, you need to hack the antennae and and can only displace yourself a few miles. ---- Go for the head shot, they're wearing body armor

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 12:25 AM 6/27/04 -0500, Riad S. Wahby wrote: >Triangluating on a non-isotropic antenna should be quite a bit harder... > Bingo. Watch your sidelobes, baby.

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Border skirmish: Tancredo Proposes Remittance Taxes
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

<http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,36%257E33%257E2236033,00…> The Denver Post Border skirmish Rep. Tancredo's proposals for immigrant remittances draw First Data Corp. into public policy debate By Aldo Svaldi Denver Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 27, 2004 - First Data Corp. chief executive Charlie Fote and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., are both the grandsons of Italian immigrants and consider immigration a critical public policy issue. Their views just happen to be polar opposites. First Data, based in Greenwood Village, earns billions of dollars a year from its international Western Union money transfer business. Tancredo, a Littleton Republican who represents the 6th Congressional District in which First Data has its headquarters, has built his political career on ideas to control immigration. He recently proposed taxing remittances - the billions of dollars that workers send each year from the United States to their families and friends in Mexico and other countries. Such a move could have hurt First Data's business. Tancredo quickly backed off the trial balloon of remittance taxation and now recommends that U.S. foreign aid be offset by the money that workers in the U.S. send abroad. Fote and First Data oppose that proposal, as well. Meanwhile, First Data employees have formed a political action committee that is funding pro-immigration candidates, including Tancredo's Democratic opponent in the fall election. The political action highlights how First Data, once content to remain a behind- the-scenes player, is strategically and openly inserting itself into the immigration debate. "In the end, political support is a matter of choice, and we will support the individual who we believe best reflects the interests of our business and this district," Fote said in an e-mail to The Denver Post. Tancredo counters that his intent with the remittance tax proposal was not to harm First Data, which employs 2,700 people locally and expects to pull down $10 billion in revenues this year. "Really and truly, it had nothing to do with them," Tancredo said. "I did not purposely do anything to hurt their bottom line. Nobody was talking about taxing Western Union or First Data." "Voices weren't being heard" The skirmish with Tancredo is just one in a series of moves by First Data to shape the country's ongoing public policy debate over immigration. "We selected immigration reform as our jumping-off point because it's an issue that's important to a very large customer group, and we felt their voices weren't being heard," Fote said. First Data is Colorado's biggest company by market capitalization, valued at $38.5 billion. It provides back-end transaction processing for more than 3.5 million merchants and has the country's largest ATM and debit-card network. It's the world's largest provider of money transfers - through its Western Union subsidiary - with 188,000 agent locations in 195 countries. In March, Fote spoke at the National Press Club and unveiled a new $10 million First Data Empowerment Fund to help immigrant communities and foster an "enlightened" discussion of immigration. Fote argued at the time for more humane treatment of immigrants and for eliminating the backlog in families wanting to move to the U.S. legally. Fote is personally hosting a series of immigration reform forums across the country, including sessions in Chicago on July 21 and in Denver on July 22. The company is testing a Business Information Clearinghouse in Denver to assist Latino entrepreneurs and is working on initiatives to teach families in developing countries how to leverage the funds they receive from relatives abroad. STATE OF REMITTANCES About 10 million Latin American- born workers in the U.S. send a total of $30 billion back to relatives each year. Here's how much is sent from the top 10 states. California: $9.6 billion New York: $3.6 billion Texas: $3.2 billion Florida: $2.5 billion Illinois: $1.5 billion Georgia: $947 million North Carolina: $833 million Arizona: $606 million Virginia: $586 million Colorado: $544 million Sources: Bendixen & Associates, Inter-American Development Bank The moves have earned accolades from immigrant groups, who point to First Data as the only Fortune 500 company willing to take a public stand on the subject. "First Data is very courageous and proving to be a gallant leader in our community," said Polly Baca, executive director of the Latin American Research and Service Agency in Denver. "They are addressing one of the most critical issues in our state and nation." Baca said that First Data has brought various sides of the immigration debate together without trying to push the dialogue in a predetermined direction. But one direction that First Data's side of the dialogue will most likely never go is toward Tancredo's position of stronger limits on immigration to the U.S. Tancredo proposed placing a 5 percent tax on remittances last month after reading a Washington Post article detailing how individuals in the U.S. send $30 billion a year in remittances to Latin America. "If the report is correct, even a small levy on remittances could generate millions or even billions of dollars for things like better border enforcement," Tancredo said in May. Fred Niehaus, First Data's senior vice president of public affairs, said Tancredo's tax proposal surprised the company and challenged its interests. Tancredo said that he doesn't design policy based on the interest of any single company, even if that company is the largest in his district. "We don't do business that way," he said. "We don't go to corporations first and say I am thinking about this. You try to think about what is best for the country." However, Tancredo has shelved that plan in favor of a legislative proposal that would reduce U.S. foreign aid by the money a country receives in remittances. A blessing or a curse? More than 60 percent of the 16.5 million Latin American-born adults living in the U.S. send money back to their home countries about once a month, averaging about $240 per disbursement, said Sergio Bendixen, a Florida pollster who researched the topic for the Inter-American Development Bank. Of the $30 billion total estimated to be sent by those individuals annually, about $544 million comes from Colorado, Bendixen said. By comparison, USAID, the agency responsible for directing foreign assistance, requested $805 million in next year's budget for the entire region. Bendixen argues that remittances benefit both the countries receiving them and the U.S., a position that First Data supports. "The only way you are going to curb illegal immigration to the U.S. is to foster the economic development of Latin America," he said. Tancredo disagrees, and argues that remittances actually encourage illegal immigration. There are an estimated 8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In some countries, money transfers represent the largest or second-largest source of national income - even ahead of tourism, Tancredo said. Nations that get large flows of money from abroad have less motivation to address high unemployment rates and to foster economic self-sufficiency, Tancredo said. As a result, he says, those foreign governments encourage workers to cross the U.S. border illegally and drain billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. Executives at First Data's Western Union, which transferred 14 percent of the $151 billion in global remittances last year, see it differently. It's a key reason why First Data Corporation Employees for Responsible Government, the political action committee, was launched a month ago, Niehaus said. The committee has raised $22,500 so far, with contributions given to candidates including President Bush; Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and $2,000 to Tancredo's Democratic opponent this fall - Joanna Conti. Conti calls First Data's support "very significant" and criticized Tancredo's stance on immigration issues. "This is his crusade, not the district's crusade," Conti said. "Our immigration policy is broken. Most people would agree that we need to return to a more sensible policy." Conti most likely stands little chance of winning a district where 46 percent of voters are registered Republicans and just 23 percent are registered Democrats. Tancredo handily beat his Democratic opponent Lance Wright in the 2002 election, winning two-thirds of the vote. That may be why Tancredo doesn't view Conti as a threat to his serving a fourth term and takes First Data's overt opposition in stride. "I live in a live-and-let-live world," Tancredo said. "I want them to do what they need to do. I have to do what I have to do." A risky endeavor Niehaus admits that First Data's reputation could suffer if the immigration reforms backed by the company fail. While corporations may take public policy positions that serve their interests, they don't often confront public officials in the open. "It is rare that you hear about these things coming out and happening," said Katie Kimberling, director of operations at Wilson Research Strategies in Oklahoma City. Larry Sabato, director of the nonpartisan University of Virginia Center for Politics, said a company wouldn't challenge a sitting member of Congress lightly. "When you challenge a politician who has significant power in the majority caucus, which Tancredo does, you are taking a chance," he said. Shareholders could balk at the company's activist position, and so could people who agree with Tancredo's stance. Corporate America isn't behind enforcing existing immigration policies, said Craig Nelsen, director of ProjectUSA, a group opposed to accepting foreign identification cards to open bank accounts in the United States. "There is no money in enforcing immigration law," Nelsen said. "It is all in the other side, in circumventing it, increasing it or turning a blind eye to it." Fote counters that immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy, diversify the social fabric of society and must be treated fairly. In the past, First Data has focused primarily on growing its business, but it now is in a position where it can advocate for its customers, who often have no one to take their side, Fote said. "Sure, we risk criticism from those people who disagree with our work in the area of immigration reform," Fote said. "We're prepared to face that criticism, but the fact is we believe what we're doing is the right thing to do." -- ----------------- 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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Despite an Act of Leniency, China Has Its Eye on the Web
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/international/asia/27chin.html?th=&pagewa…> The New York Times June 27, 2004 Despite an Act of Leniency, China Has Its Eye on the Web By HOWARD W. FRENCH HANGHAI, June 26 - A Chinese court recently announced that an Internet democracy advocate charged with subversion would get a suspended sentence instead of a long prison term, with the case drawing criticism from human rights groups and serving as a rallying cry for this country's growing number of online commentators. Both in China and abroad, some commentators quickly applauded what seemed like an official show of leniency toward the accused man, Du Daobin, a prolific author of online essays on issues of democracy and free speech. But many among China's rapidly growing group of Internet commentators are warning that what appears to be government magnanimity in this high-profile case conceals a quiet but concerted push to tighten controls of the Internet and surveillance of its users even though China's restrictions on the medium are already among the broadest and most invasive anywhere. Internet cafe users in China have long been subject to an extraordinary range of controls. They include cameras placed discreetly throughout the establishments to monitor and identify users and Web masters, and Internet cafe managers who keep an eye on user activity, whether electronically or by patrolling the premises. The average Internet user, meanwhile, neither sees nor, in many cases, suspects the activities of a force widely estimated to number as many as 30,000 Internet police officers. Experts on China's Internet say the officers are constantly engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with equally determined Web surfers, blocking access to sites that the government considers politically offensive, monitoring users who visit other politically sensitive sites and killing off discussion threads on Internet bulletin boards. The Chinese government has also established a Web site where people are able to report fellow Web users for suspicious or provocative behavior. Web surfers who try to visit sites being blocked by the government receive messages announcing a page is no longer accessible, or their computer screen may simply go blank, or they may be redirected to unrelated sites. Similarly, people who participate in Web-based discussions on certain subjects may be warned that in order to log on to a discussion group, real names must be used, along with genuine e-mail addresses and even telephone numbers. As its first line of defense against what in another era China's Communist leadership might have called ideological pollution, Beijing controls the Internet by insisting that all Web traffic pass through government-controlled servers. Now, coming on top of these measures, which are all deployed at the national level, China's provincial governments are getting into the act, introducing regulations of their own that critics say severely impinge on privacy and freedom of speech. In recent weeks, Shanghai, China's largest and most Internet-connected city, has quietly introduced a series of controls, arguably the country's most far-reaching yet, and critics fear, a model eventually to be used nationwide. Described by city officials as a measure intended to combat pornography and to bar entry for minors to Internet bars, the Shanghai regulations require customers to use swipe cards that would allow administrators or others to record their national identity numbers and track their Internet use. The regulations have kicked up little public debate, in part because they have received little publicity here during the planning stage. But fierce protests have appeared online, where many active Internet users are interpreting the new regulations as an extension of the police state. "We will hold press conferences during each step of the implementation, and the public can express their own opinions and the media could discuss and question it,'' said an official with the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and Television, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "And we have made a priority of making sure that our actions are not against the law. That's our bottom line.'' Asked if the privacy of Internet users could be infringed, the official said that the Shanghai government had noted the issue, but added that "Internet bars are public areas, and some experts say that what one says in a public area should not be considered private.'' Speaking in an interview, one online commentator rejected out of hand the idea that invasive Internet controls had any legitimacy. "I can see that China's progress in the area of law is going very slowly,'' said Su Zhenghua, an economist who frequently posts his thoughts online. "This is a situation that I really must regret, and I hope the Chinese government will follow the spirit of the Constitution and protect freedom of speech and the individual's right to privacy.'' Some experts on China's Internet censorship say that in releasing Mr. Du recently, the government may have been making a subtle bow to China's own domestic public opinion, as expressed through online communication and debate. International analysts who follow China's Internet scene say that the government has been particularly taken aback by the explosion in a new form of online communication for China - the Weblog, or blog. It started last year with a celebrated case of a young woman who made a running online commentary about her own sex life, and now hundreds of thousands of people take enthusiastically to this form. Indeed, Mr. Du himself earned the government's wrath in this way when he wrote to condemn the jailing last year of another well-known Web commentator, Liu Di, whose online moniker was "stainless steel mouse.'' In turn, at least 1,000 people signed a petition in support of Mr. Du that urged the government to stop using antisubversion laws to hinder free speech. According to the analysts, the country's censors, always eager to contain waves of public opinion before they get out of hand, particularly in matters of politics, have become alarmed that despite their intense efforts, Internet technology is quickly making free expression far harder to control. "With the Du case, the government is saying, 'Look, our actions may be nicer than in the past, but fundamentally, the judgment of the crime is unchanged, so don't be fooled, we are also willing to be harsh,' '' said Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley. "No matter how hard they try, though, it is a fact that the volume of online information is increasing vastly, and there's nothing the government can do about that. You can monitor hundreds of bulletin boards, but controlling hundreds of thousands of bloggers is very different.'' -- ----------------- 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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[IP] NYTimes.com Article: In an Age of Terror, Safety Is Relative (fwd from dave@farber.net)
by Eugen Leitl 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave(a)farber.net> -----

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 12:01 AM 6/27/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: >Interestingly, some [early] models had external antenna jacks built in to >them. Again I am a few Moore's generations behind. (Does that make me a semi-Amish atheist? Or a reformed Luddite?) Where I vacation sometimes, I would need a metallized umbrella (or better) and tripod to find a cell basestation. And that rules out valleys leaving ridges, although a few hundred feet of RF cable isn't so expensive. I am aware of the need for non-fixed antennae for 802.11blah fun; I did not realize that modern cells don't have RF connectors. I have also heard of folks war-flying with a simple (tilted) dipole thus pointing part of the donut-shaped receptive region (orthogonal to the dipole) at the ground. >> Go for the head shot, they're wearing body armor > >If at close range, it is far easier to simply throw water at them prior to >firing. For one, the water acts as apowerful lubricant, effectively >removing the armor, huh? Wet kevlar is still strong, no? >and for two, it distracts the hell out of them ;-) The fundamental problem is the head is more agile than the C.G. However if you don't hit a seam, or aren't using something better than a handgun, only a rapid bit of ballistic neurosurgery will disable the target. Best to have enabled the claymores when your cameras notice a change. And as Mr. Burns says, to let the hounds loose. -------- A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. --George Washington

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 11:56 PM 6/26/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: > >Hrmmm... Cell Phone. TEMPEST Case. > >What's wrong with this picture??? 1. You can't receive calls. Only make outgoing, from a location which is known to fascists. 2. Use it for your toll-road-transponder too.

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Instant dissemination of cracks, biz models, etc
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 07:04 AM 6/27/04 +0200, Thomas Shaddack wrote: >On Sat, 26 Jun 2004, J.A. Terranson wrote: > >> Yes, I suppose that the more technical amongst us could selctively jam >> only the one signal, however, cellular phones are mighty low power >> devices, and I would not hazard a guess as to whether it would be possible >> not to overpower the wanted signals on something like this. > You still deal with triangulation and phone-tracking sats as a threat model. >> Even if this is doable, it is out of reach of Jane Citizen. > >If a J. Random Hacker with the necessary capabilities is within her reach, >the countermeasure is available to her regardless of her own tech skills. Yes, the internet effect, as described by Schneir amongst others. Cracks spreak instantly. >With continuing outsourcing, there should be enough out of work engineers >available who are sufficiently hungry to risk working for the underground >market. Their *employers* need a viable biz model. Many of us (quasi academics or engineers) forget this. The rest is just earning a living as an engineer building something, ideally something cool and challenging under a reasonable schedule for decent pay. ----------- "Il dulce far niente" The sweetness of doing nothing My unemployment motto -S Schear

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Re: [IP] When police ask your name,
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 05:16 AM 6/22/04 +0200, Eugen Leitl wrote: >----- Forwarded message from dave(a)farber.net ----- >The court's 5-4 decision upholds laws in at least 21 states giving police >the right to ask people their name and jail those who don't cooperate. I'm out of it for a few weeks and this is what happens. How many names can a person have? Anyone can change their name any number of times if not for fraudulent purposes. My brother changed his middle name from something normal to Cariboo. My dad's a lawyer so the fees were zero. Can I use Major Variola (ret) as a nym since I use it? Must I spell my last (real) name which is hard to write as its from another language? Can I abbreviate? Can I have a religious exemption (We do not identify our religion to nonbelievers, nor do we speak to government officials, in my faith). Can I use cyrillic or mandarin to write it, a temporary bout of elective mutism? Of course lying to a pig is illegal (but not vice versa) but lying is subject to interpretation. My name is yahway, ie I am. Yours is go away, ie fuck off. Go for the head shot, they're wearing body armor. Suicide by police is a noble cause, if you take one of them out.

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