February 2007 - cypherpunks-legacy

[edrigram@edri.org: EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 5.4, 28 February 2007]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

----- Forwarded message from EDRI-gram newsletter <edrigram(a)edri.org> -----

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Long Time
by Conchita Mccoy 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

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Didnt Understand It
by Sherryl 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

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Special Equity Situati0n xth
by Marsha Leslie 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

MGOA - HIGH OCTANE! ONE COMPANY THAT ALWAYS STAYS HOT AND UNDER CONTROL! MEGOLA ENVIROMENTAL SOLUTIONS Tickers: MGOA MGOA Open Wednesday: $0.05 Trade Date - WEDNESDAY Febuary 28, 2007 Megola Inc. is committed to solving environmental problems without the use of harsh chemicals that, in the long run, can have deleterious effects on company budgets and our environment. MGOA PROVIDING ENVIROMENTAL SOLUTIONS THROUGH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY! Short Term Target: $0.60 Megola Inc. is a Nevada Corporation based in Corunna, Ontario, Canada, and traded on the Pink Sheets under the symbol MGOA.

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Order Confirmation
by Sales Department 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

envoy it's brusque why provident on

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Re: Loan request.
by Valentin Barnard 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

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[awxcnx@web.de: Letters from the feds]
by Eugen Leitl 28 Feb '07

28 Feb '07

As some day it may happen that a victim must be found, I've got a little list--I've got a little list Of society offenders who might well be underground, And who never would be missed--who never would be missed! There's the pestilential nuisances who write for autographs-- All people who have flabby hands and irritating laughs-- All children who are up in dates, and floor you with 'em flat-- All persons who in shaking hands, shake hands with you like _that_-- And all third persons who on spoiling tete-a-tetes insist-- They'd none of 'em be missed--they'd none of 'em be missed! I'll take that as a badge of honor. Or something. Hey, any of you posters here, ever noticed unusual scrutiny on flights, whether domestic, or international? ----- Forwarded message from "Karsten N." <awxcnx(a)web.de> -----

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by Johnnie Rowland 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

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[Clips] How High-Living Founder Of BetonSports Fell, Fled
by R.A. Hettinga 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

--- begin forwarded text Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:09:37 -0500 To: Philodox Clips List <clips(a)philodox.com> From: "R.A. Hettinga" <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: [Clips] How High-Living Founder Of BetonSports Fell, Fled Reply-To: clips-chat(a)philodox.com Sender: clips-bounces(a)philodox.com <http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB117253841220420064.html> The Wall Street Journal How High-Living Founder Of BetonSports Fell, Fled By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER and PETER SANDERS February 27, 2007; Page B1 Gary Kaplan used to throw lavish parties in Costa Rica and plaster the name of his thriving online gambling company on New York City buses. Now, the 48-year-old founder of BetonSports PLC and the multibillion-dollar industry he helped spawn are in reduced circumstances -- the man on the run, the industry in disarray. Mr. Kaplan is a fugitive from a racketeering conspiracy and fraud indictment filed last year in a St. Louis federal court charging him with heading a criminal enterprise that illegally took in over $3.5 billion in wagers since 2001. Several Kaplan colleagues have also been charged, including former BetonSports chief executive David Carruthers, who was arrested at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in July during a brief stopover on a flight from London to the company's headquarters in San Josi, Costa Rica. Mr. Carruthers and several others charged in the case have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. Mr. Kaplan's whereabouts are unknown. The Kaplan indictment is part of a broader federal crackdown in which several executives from other foreign online gambling operations and credit-card processing companies have been indicted. Last October, Congress passed a law banning almost all forms of online gambling. Recently, the Justice Department served subpoenas for records on investment banks that had helped BetonSports and other online gambling companies raise money through public stock offerings. Industry observers estimate that online wagering, which had hit about $12 billion annually, is down by as much as 50%. BetonSports has largely closed down operations. Federal authorities estimate that 98% of the company's business came from the U.S. The saga of BetonSports and Mr. Kaplan demonstrates how some online gambling sites rose fast -- and crashed hard -- by operating at, or beyond, the edge of the law. While Mr. Kaplan has a checkered background that includes run-ins with law enforcement, he may have gotten as far as he did in part by surrounding himself with executives like Mr. Carruthers, who came to BetonSports with a mainstream business background. Before he was an international online gambling impresario, Mr. Kaplan, a New York native, was a bookie and was busted in 1993 by that state's authorities for running an illegal sports-betting operation, according to his federal indictment. He moved to Florida, where he allegedly continued his bookmaking operation, and then on to Aruba and Antigua before later finally settling in San Josi. The Costa Rican capital, with light-handed gambling regulation and a ready work force, began attracting other online betting operations. Mr. Kaplan made a splash. He took over a nine-story office building in a shopping-mall complex and outfitted it with a day-care center for workers' kids as well as luxurious suites and a rooftop pool for visiting high rollers that BetonSports sometimes flew in for huge galas. BetonSports headquarters also housed a shooting range -- a reflection of Mr. Kaplan's fascination with guns and an obsession with personal security, say people who know him. He, his wife and two children routinely traveled with armed bodyguards. The bodyguards were, at least in part, "an ego thing," says Kenneth Weitzner, founder of Eye on Gambling, a Web site that tracks Internet gambling. Mr. Kaplan created the illusion that he thought went with a successful gambling operation, says Mr. Weitzner, who visited Mr. Kaplan at his Costa Rican operation. Another acquaintance called Mr. Kaplan "tough and intimidating." In one tale, he supposedly shot a computer monitor after BetonSports lost big on a football game. As BetonSports grew into one of the biggest online gambling companies, it tried to move mainstream. Mr. Kaplan hired veteran gambling-industry executives, such as Mr. Carruthers, who had worked for Ladbrokes, a major British wagering company. In 2004, BetonSports had an initial public offering in London that raised about $100 million and its stock was listed on a branch of the London Exchange. While Internet gambling is legal in many countries, the U.S. has long contended that it violated various federal statutes -- even before the specific ban was enacted last fall. Federal officials made periodic efforts to attack online gambling, but the companies often managed to operate relatively freely in the U.S. BetonSports was able to run U.S. marketing campaigns, including ads on 250 New York City buses in 2003. But even as the industry soared, federal agents were building criminal cases. Some of BetonSports' "customers" in 2002 and 2003 turned out to be undercover investigators gathering evidence that went into last year's indictment. BetonSports's name has appeared in press reports in connection with a 2005 criminal case filed by New York City prosecutors against an allegedly mob-connected gambling operation that was sending bets to an entity in BetonSports's headquarters building in San Josi. In those articles, BetonSports officials said that the entity simply leased office space and was evicted after the indictment. BetonSports wasn't charged in the New York case. Some observers find the government's crackdown on Internet gambling curious, given the national explosion in gambling casinos and lotteries in recent years. These people wonder whether the initiative will backfire by pushing gamblers to less reputable operations. The recent criminal cases and legislation are " an anti-consumer-protection movement because they're eliminating the most reputable publicly traded companies," says Nelson Rose, a California law professor and gambling-law expert. In recent years, BetonSports and others, including some U.S. casino operators, had lobbied Congress to legalize online gambling, arguing that it could then be regulated and taxed. As for Mr. Kaplan, he is being sought by U.S. and international law-enforcement officials, including Interpol, whose Web site carries a wanted poster for him. Though his home was in Costa Rica, some believe he has left that country. One rumor has him and his family in Israel, there on an Israeli passport. If he is apprehended or returns voluntarily to the U.S., he will have to answer the pending charges in the St. Louis federal case. If convicted he could face a long prison sentence and large financial penalties. -- ----------------- 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' _______________________________________________ Clips mailing list Clips(a)philodox.com http://www.philodox.com/mailman/listinfo/clips --- 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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Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter
by Eugen Leitl 27 Feb '07

27 Feb '07

http://ibtimes.com/articles/20070226/surveillance-cameras.htm Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter By Stephen Manning Posted 26 February 2007 @ 06:35 am EST The next time you walk by a shop window, take a glance at your reflection. How much do you swing your arms? Is the weight of your bag causing you to hunch over? Do you still have a bit of that 1970s disco strut left? Look around - You might not be the only one watching. The never-blinking surveillance cameras, rapidly becoming a part of daily life in public and even private places, may be sizing you up as well. And they may soon get a lot smarter. Researchers and security companies are developing cameras that not only watch the world but also interpret what they see. Soon, some cameras may be able to find unattended bags at airports, guess your height or analyze the way you walk to see if you are hiding something. Most of the cameras widely used today are used as forensic tools to identify crooks after-the-fact. (Think grainy video on local TV news of convenience store robberies gone wrong.) But the latest breed, known as "intelligent video," could transform cameras from passive observers to eyes with brains, able to detect suspicious behavior and potentially prevent crime before it occurs. Surveillance cameras are common in many cities, monitoring tough street corners to deter crime, watching over sensitive government buildings and even catching speeders. Cameras are on public buses and in train stations, building lobbies, schools and stores. Most feed video to central control rooms, where they are monitored by security staff. The innovations could mean fewer people would be needed to watch what they record, and make it easier to install more in public places and private homes. "Law enforcement people in this country are realizing they can use video surveillance to be in a lot of places at one time," said Roy Bordes, who runs an Orlando, Fla.-based security consulting company. He also is a council vice president with ASIS International, a Washington-based organization for security officials. The advancements have already been put to work. For example, cameras in Chicago and Washington can detect gunshots and alert police. Baltimore installed cameras that can play a recorded message and snap pictures of graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers. In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before. In London, one of the largest users of surveillance, cameras provided key photos of the men who bombed the underground system in July 2005 and four more who failed in a second attempt just days later. But the cameras were only able to help with the investigation, not prevent the attacks. Companies that make the latest cameras say the systems, if used broadly, could make video surveillance much more powerful. Cameras could monitor airports and ports, help secure homes and watch over vast borders to catch people crossing illegally. Intelligent surveillance uses computer algorithms to interpret what a camera records. The system can be programmed to look for particular things, like an unattended bag or people walking somewhere they don't belong. "If you think of the camera as your eye, we are using computer programs as your brain," said Patty Gillespie, branch chief for image processing at the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. Today, the military funds much of the smart-surveillance research. At the University of Maryland, engineering professor Rama Chellappa and a team of graduate students have worked on systems that can identify a person's unique gait or analyze the way someone walks to determine if they are a threat. A camera trained to look for people on a watch list, for example, could combine their unique walk with facial-recognition tools to make an identification. A person carrying a heavy load under a jacket would walk differently than someone unencumbered - which could help identify a person hiding a weapon. The system could even estimate someone's height. With two cameras and a laptop computer set up in a conference room, Chellappa and a team of graduate students recently demonstrated how intelligent surveillance works. A student walked into the middle of the room, dropped a laptop case, then walked away. On the laptop screen, a green box popped up around him as he moved into view, then a second focused on the case when it was dropped. After a few seconds, the box around the case went red, signaling an alert. In another video, a car pulled into a parking lot and the driver got out, a box springing up around him. It moved with the driver as he went from car to car, looking in the windows instead of heading into the building. In both cases, the camera knew what was normal - the layout of the room with the suspicious bag and the location of the office door and parking spots in the parking lot. Alerts were triggered when the unknown bag was added and when the driver didn't go directly into the building after parking his car. Similar technology is currently in use by Marines in Iraq and by the subway system in Barcelona, according to ObjectVideo, a Reston, Va., firm that makes surveillance software. ObjectVideo uses a "tripwire system" that allows users to set up virtual perimeters that are monitored by the cameras. If someone crosses that perimeter, the system picks it up, sends out an alert, and security staff can determine if there is a threat. Company spokesman Edward Troha predicts the technology, currently designed primarily to protect borders, ports and other infrastructure, could be adapted to help prevent retail theft or guard private homes. The Jacksonville Port Authority uses ObjectVideo software as part of its security measures to watch the perimeter of the Florida port that handles 8.7 million tons of cargo and thousands of cruise ship passengers each year. The surveillance system sends real-time video from anywhere at the port of possible intruders to patrol cars. Still, industry officials say the technology needs to improve before it can be widely used. There are liability issues, such as if someone is wrongly tagged as a threat at an airport and misses a flight, said Bordes. Troha warns humans are still essential to intelligent video, to tell, for example, if a person in a restricted area is a danger or just lost. And the cameras can only see so much - they can't stop some threats, like a bomber with explosives in a backpack. They can't see what you are wearing under your jacket - yet. "That is an eventual goal, but we're not there yet," said Chellappa. Read the full aticle of: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20070226/surveillance-cameras.htm -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature which had a name of signature.asc]

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