February 2005 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Sound filtering software. (fwd from kaiser@emjay.net)
by Eugen Leitl 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

----- Forwarded message from Michael Johnson <kaiser(a)emjay.net> -----

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Peppercoin Small Payments Processing Suite Available to First Data Channels
by R.A. Hettinga 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050202/new005_1.html> Yahoo! Finance Press Release Source: Peppercoin Peppercoin Small Payments Processing Suite Available to First Data Channels Wednesday February 2, 9:03 am ET Small Transaction Suite Certified for Sale Through Processor's Merchant Acquiring Partners WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Peppercoin, a payments company that enables profitable, new business models for low-priced digital content and physical goods, today announced its Small Transaction Suite is authorized for sale by First Data's merchant acquiring partners, to satisfy the small payment needs of the 3.5 million merchant clients they serve. Peppercoin offers merchants a hosted small-payment service, based on credit and debit card usage, which enables merchants to optimize revenue and profitability. Peppercoin is the only small-payment vendor that addresses the digital, mobile and physical point-of-sale (POS) markets. "Our agreement with First Data Merchant Services validates Peppercoin's ability to deliver a desired and profitable small payment solution to the financial services market, as well as the growing need for small payment credit and debit card payments solutions," said Mark Friedman, president of Peppercoin. "FDMS will enable a small payment business model that enhances merchant and acquirer revenue with one complete payment application." Significant Market Opportunity: Consumers are demonstrating a clear and growing preference to use their credit and debit cards for all sizes and types of purchases. In a 2004 study, Ipsos-Insight estimated that roughly 37.5 million US consumers would choose to use their credit and debit cards for transactions below $5. Each year, more than 354 billion cash transactions occur in the U.S. for less than $5 at the physical point-of-sale, representing $1.32 trillion in aggregate revenue. Leading markets include vending ($18 billion), parking ($10 billion), coin-op ($6 billion) and quick-serve-restaurants ($110 billion). The online and mobile small payment opportunities are substantial as well; fueled by music, games, video, publishing and services. TowerGroup estimates the digital micropayments opportunity reached more than $3 billion in 2004. And a September 2004 Ipsos-Insight study revealed that, in just one year, the number of US consumers who have made small online purchases grew 250%, from 4 million to 14 million. About Peppercoin, Inc. Peppercoin enables profitable new business models for low-priced digital content and physical goods. Peppercoin's small payment products help merchants, banks, and other payments companies build market adoption quickly through a flexible, consumer-friendly approach. Peppercoin integrates easily with existing business models and systems to accelerate revenues and increase profits while dramatically lowering transaction and customer service costs. For more information visit http://www.peppercoin.com. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Contact: Mark McClennan or Scott Love Schwartz Communications 781-684-0770 peppercoin(a)schwartz-pr.com Source: Peppercoin -- ----------------- 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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MSN Belgium to use eID cards for online checking
by R.A. Hettinga 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/01/msn_belgium_id_cards/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Internet and Law ; Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/01/msn_belgium_id_cards/ MSN Belgium to use eID cards for online checking By Jan Libbenga (libbenga at yahoo.com) Published Tuesday 1st February 2005 14:34 GMT Microsoft will integrate the Belgian eID Card with MSN Messenger. Microsoft's Bill Gates and Belgian State Secretary for e-government Peter Vanvelthoven announced the alliance today in Brussels. "We're working to ensure that our technologies support e-ID, to help make online transactions and communications more secure," Gates said. eID stands for Electronic Identity Card. The card contains an electronic chip and gradually will replace the existing ID card system in Belgium. By end-2005, over 3 million eID cards will be distributed in the country. Microsoft believes that combined with the eID Card MSN Messenger chatrooms will be much safer. Users would have a trustworthy way of identifying themselves online. The Belgian Federal Computer Crime Unit (FCCU) could even refuse young children access to certain chatrooms based on their electronic identity. "We're not sure yet when we will be able to deliver this integration," Bill Gates said. "But developers here in Belgium and the US have proven the concept and are working already on the actual solution." -- ----------------- 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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Cost and privacy concerns stall PAYD car insurance
by R.A. Hettinga 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/01/car_insurace_payd/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Personal ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/01/car_insurace_payd/ Cost and privacy concerns stall PAYD car insurance By Lucy Sherriff (lucy.sherriff at theregister.co.uk) Published Tuesday 1st February 2005 11:53 GMT Pay-as-you-drive car insurance will not be commercially viable anytime in the next three years, according to Strategy Analytics. It cites privacy concerns, launch costs and patent fees, along with back-end data integration, as significant short-term obstacles to the technology's mass-scale deployment. Under pay-as-you-drive insurance, a black box records data about the driver's journeys. Charges vary, according to the risk of each journey. Last August, Norwich Union started testing the technology in the UK, with a pilot scheme for younger drivers (http://www.aviva.com/index.asp?PageID=55&year=&newsid=1971&filter=corporate…) launched this year. Clare Hughes, a Strategy Analytics analyst, said: "While PAYD protects drivers from generalized assumptions, there are still major hurdles to overcome before PAYD insurance schemes are commercially viable; and these are not going to be successfully addressed for a number of years." But in due course, PAYD will become widespread, she said. Its introduction will be driven by an increased government focus on road safety, the availability of tamper-proof vehicle data to verify insurance claims, and the potential cost savings to the companies and the consumer. "The days of the once a year insurance premium will eventually disappear for the majority of consumers, with the rollout of risk-based variable monthly billing." . -- ----------------- 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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[i2p] weekly status notes [feb 1] (fwd from jrandom@i2p.net)
by Eugen Leitl 02 Feb '05

02 Feb '05

----- Forwarded message from jrandom <jrandom(a)i2p.net> -----

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FSTC Announces Availability of FSTC Counter-Phishing Project Whitepaper and Supporting Documents
by Zachary Tumin 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

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FSTC Announces Availability of FSTC Counter-Phishing Project Whitepaper and Supporting Documents
by Zachary Tumin 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

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FSTC Announces Availability of FSTC Counter-Phishing Project Whitepaper and Supporting Documents
by R.A. Hettinga 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

--- begin forwarded text

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Le no-no
by R.A. Hettinga 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

<http://www.redherring.com/PrintArticle.aspx?a=11201&sector=Industries> RED HERRING | The Business of Technology Le no-no The U.S. trips up a simple plan between IBM and Lenovo. January 28, 2005 Homeland security is a cornerstone of the Bush Administration. But does halting the IBM-Lenovo deal make the United States any safer? The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has decided to investigate the threat presented by the sale of IBM's personal computer business to China's Lenovo Group. Industry observers want to know what it is about this deal that irks the feds. "I don't know," says Jeff Moss, CEO of Black Hat, a computer security consulting firm. "It could be the loss of any manufacturing technology, any kind of proprietary technology that IBM had; but the Chinese could take a laptop apart themselves, too." Besides, most personal computers are already made in China-PC production is extremely commoditized, perhaps as much as transistors. "It is quite a stretch [to say] that the sale of the PC business to Lenovo would threaten American security," says Baizu Chen, a professor at the University of Southern California's Gordon S. Marshall School of Business. "Some senators want to make a noise. Eventually, this will pass. It's just transfer of ownership." One concern may have to do more with location than technology. The Washington Post quoted a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission-a Congressional panel created to watch commercial relations between the U.S. and China-as saying that Chinese computer experts could use an IBM facility in North Carolina as a base for industrial espionage. While the U.S. Treasury Department wouldn't confirm or deny the launch of the 45-day probe, IBM, which will still hold an 18.9 percent stake in the business, says it has filed the required notice with the committee and is cooperating fully. The company is confident in the process and outcome. One would hope so, given that the deal is worth $1.75 billion in cash, equity, and assumed debt. Where are the red flags? The U.S. government must demand action if a deal impacts domestic production needed for projected national defense requirements, or the capacity of domestic industries to meet national defense requirements, or the control of domestic industries by foreign citizens. The sale of IBM's money-losing PC unit doesn't quite cut it. It could be an issue of pride, say some-or perhaps cryptographic chips, say others. "Some of the IBM laptops have built-in cryptographic chips," says Pete Lindstrom, research director for Spire Securities. Mr. Lindstrom points out that if the intellectual property associated with cryptography is sold to a foreign country, one could potentially transfer a strong cryptographic capability to another country. But IBM is a multinational company, with employees across the globe. Would it really be so hard for someone to access such information? In the end, it all comes down to whom you trust. Legend Holdings owns the majority stake in Lenovo, and the Chinese government controls a large chunk of Legend. A few years ago, Global Crossing wanted to sell its telecommunications network to Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa. It almost did-until the CFIUS stepped in. But that's a story IBM executives would rather not think about. -- ----------------- 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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Mudge Returns to BBN
by R.A. Hettinga 01 Feb '05

01 Feb '05

<http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_vi…> Business Wire February 01, 2005 10:03 AM US Eastern Timezone Peiter ''Mudge'' Zatko, Information Security Expert -- Who Warned that Hackers ''Could Take Down the Internet in 30 Minutes'' -- Returns to BBN Technologies CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2005--BBN Technologies, an advanced technology and research and development firm, announced today that Peiter Zatko has re-joined the company as a division scientist. Mr. Zatko joins a group of over 75 scientists and engineers at BBN who perform leading edge research and development to protect Department of Defense data and systems and are also well known for their IP security expertise. At a time when cyber threats are occurring at an unprecedented rate, Mr. Zatko is focused on anticipating and protecting against the next generation of information and network security threats to government and commercial networks. Known to the security community as "Mudge," Mr. Zatko has a long track record of success in the security industry, most recently as founding scientist of Intrusic, Inc., the first security software company to target the 'Insider Threat.' He is renowned for running L0pht Heavy Industries (and later founding @stake, Inc.), a hacker research collaborative and consultancy that released security tools such as L0phtCrack, now the industry standard Microsoft password-auditing tool. "It's exciting to be back at BBN, working alongside the very people who helped invent the Internet and defending against some of the toughest information warfare threats," said Mr. Zatko. "I've often said that my personal mission is to 'make a dent in the universe' and what better place to do that than at BBN, where the focus is on protecting vital networks from the most critical and challenging attacks." Mr. Zatko testified before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs in 1998 and warned that, if they were so inclined, any member of L0pht could bring down the Internet in 30 minutes and keep it down for several days. He has also been a witness for the House and Senate Joint Judiciary Oversight committee, and, in 2000, was invited to participate in a security summit with former U.S. President Bill Clinton and ex-Attorney General Janet Reno. "BBN is currently tackling some of the toughest security problems for our government and high-profile corporations," said Tad Elmer, president, BBN Technologies. "This challenging environment is what people like Mudge find most rewarding." Mr. Zatko is the developer of L0phtCrack (now LC5), the de-facto Microsoft password auditing tool; AntiSniff, the world's first remote promiscuous system detector that was used across primary Department of Defense entities; Tempwatch, now a distributed component of Linux and BSD distributions; and SLINT, a pioneering tool in automating source code analysis to discover security coding problems. He originally joined BBN Technologies in 1994, before founding @Stake and Intrusic and consulting for the White House, the Pentagon, the FBI, and Fortune 500 companies. About BBN BBN Technologies, an advanced technology and research and development firm, is focused on solving some of the world's most pressing problems. >From national security, information security, speech recognition and language translation, to integrating disparate systems and networks, BBN has been at the forefront of technological change for over 50 years. Known for pioneering the development of the ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet, BBN continues to create advances in Internet and networking technologies through its work on ad hoc networking, the semantic web, quantum communications, and advanced protocols. Building on its substantial list of firsts, BBN operates the first metro quantum cryptography network, the first real-time foreign broadcast monitoring system, and has developed the world's first stereoscopic digital mammography system. For more information, visit BBN.com Contacts BBN Technologies Contact: Joyce Kuzmin, 617-873-8193 jkuzmin(a)bbn.com or Agency Contact: Mullen Christine Milligan, 978-468-8951 christine.milligan(a)mullen.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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