July 2018 - cypherpunks-legacy

patents
by Somebody who actually *knows* about this... 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Bob, What's all the confusion about the Digicash-Chaum patents? They are now all owned by Infospace. The important one expires mid-2005, which is pretty soon. The ec-logix stuff looks like nonsense. They display bitmaps of the old Digicash wallet GUI, and I expect they will be hearing from Infospace. <Somebody's .sig> --- 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' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)wasabisystems.com

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[johnmacsgroup] Follow up to German Anonymizer no longer anonymous
by Twister (Bettina Jodda) 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Hello all :-) I thought this might be interesting: The anonymization service AN.ON, also known as JAP, is no more anonymous. The German crime prosecution organization BKA is logging access to at least one IP address. Obviously not all of the so called Mixes are coverd by the surveillance. No matter if the Mix is being observed or not JAP users easily can hide their real Internet IP by using a SSL Proxy. This is possible because the JAP Client does not transfer any IP addresses to the Mix. So the first Mix just knows the proxy's IP but not the client's IP. If the proxy does not log anything, or at least the BKA cannot access the system, the user can be called anonymous. Therefore, German pro privacy group STOP1984 made up a list of 73 public proxies which are known to be compatible to JAP. To use a proxy you must change JAP's configuration as described on: http://stop1984.com/index.php?lang=en&text=japstop.txt "Though we are very much aware of the explainations the developpers of JAP gave for their measures, we do not agree in the idea of an anonymizer being used for surveillance. Privacy, especially in times when it is so easy to grab data and personal information, should be essential and a service providing this privacy should not be forced into tricking their customers into thinking they are private when they are not." says Twister of STOP1984. "We want to help people to re-gain their privacy by using JAP." Twister ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/XgSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: johnmacsgroup-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ --- 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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Re: [cryptography] can the German government read PGP and ssh traffic?
by Marcus Brinkmann 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

On 05/26/2012 08:01 AM, Peter Gutmann wrote: > Marsh Ray <marsh(a)extendedsubset.com> writes: > >> Perhaps someone who knows German can better interpret it. > > The government was asked "are encrypted communications creating any > difficulties for law enforcement in terms of pursuing criminals and > terrorists?". The government replied "no, not really, so there's no need to > restrict the use of crypto by the public". Sorry, that's not quite it. The "Kleine Anfrage" (small inquiry) is a tool for the opposition to put pressure on the government, which has to explain itself in response to specific questions on a certain topic. In this inquiry, the left party asked questions about telecommunication surveillance by the BND, (encrypted and/or unencrypted), which was reported about in the German press. In particular, they asked questions about the keywords used for filtering, the technical methods for filtering, the amount of filtering that has been done, if any successes were documented, how politicians/attorneys/journalists and other protected groups are protected, etc. The goal is to either find material that is embarrassing or at least to remind the government and secret services of their boundaries. In the end, most of the answers were secret and, as far as they were given at all, are only available to members of the German parliament. There is very little specific information that is not secret, for example that 90% of the emails are spam, that 16400 keywords were used etc. As far as decryption capabilities goes, the text is very clear: The software used to analyse the communication stream can, in principle, decrypt and/or analyze at least some of it. Note the qualifiers: In principle, decrypt and/or analysis, depending on type and quality of encryption. This really can mean anything and everything. I would assume that it just means that the software and services they are buying have implemented some automatic decryption based on the state of the art attacks on weak cryptography, or at the very least the ability to detect encrypted streams and at least analyse the flow. There is nothing in the answer that suggests that the BND has any abilities beyond what is commercially available as the state of the art. Also, there is nothing in the answer that suggests that there is no need to restrict the use of crypto by the public. That is just not within the scope of the inquiry or the response. The topic was surveillance of telecommunication by the BND in general. Encryption was only the topic of one question, which was, compared to the others, not very detailed and not very carefully phrased. Ideally, they should have split the question in decryption and metadata analysis and asked which methods are available in particular. They dropped the ball on this one, and thus government and secret service could weasel out with a typical non-answer: the smallest answer possible that is truthful and does cover the scope of the question. The only other possible answer would have been: "no, we can not analyse or decrypt encrypted communication streams at all", in which case the answer would have been secret because it revealed operational details that allows suspects to evade the measure. Thanks, Marcus _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list cryptography(a)randombit.net http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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patents
by Somebody who actually *knows* about this... 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Bob, What's all the confusion about the Digicash-Chaum patents? They are now all owned by Infospace. The important one expires mid-2005, which is pretty soon. The ec-logix stuff looks like nonsense. They display bitmaps of the old Digicash wallet GUI, and I expect they will be hearing from Infospace. <Somebody's .sig> --- 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' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)wasabisystems.com

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[johnmacsgroup] Follow up to German Anonymizer no longer anonymous
by Twister (Bettina Jodda) 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Hello all :-) I thought this might be interesting: The anonymization service AN.ON, also known as JAP, is no more anonymous. The German crime prosecution organization BKA is logging access to at least one IP address. Obviously not all of the so called Mixes are coverd by the surveillance. No matter if the Mix is being observed or not JAP users easily can hide their real Internet IP by using a SSL Proxy. This is possible because the JAP Client does not transfer any IP addresses to the Mix. So the first Mix just knows the proxy's IP but not the client's IP. If the proxy does not log anything, or at least the BKA cannot access the system, the user can be called anonymous. Therefore, German pro privacy group STOP1984 made up a list of 73 public proxies which are known to be compatible to JAP. To use a proxy you must change JAP's configuration as described on: http://stop1984.com/index.php?lang=en&text=japstop.txt "Though we are very much aware of the explainations the developpers of JAP gave for their measures, we do not agree in the idea of an anonymizer being used for surveillance. Privacy, especially in times when it is so easy to grab data and personal information, should be essential and a service providing this privacy should not be forced into tricking their customers into thinking they are private when they are not." says Twister of STOP1984. "We want to help people to re-gain their privacy by using JAP." Twister ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for Your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at Myinks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/l.m7sD/LIdGAA/qnsNAA/XgSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: johnmacsgroup-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ --- 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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Re: [cryptography] can the German government read PGP and ssh traffic?
by Marcus Brinkmann 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

On 05/26/2012 08:01 AM, Peter Gutmann wrote: > Marsh Ray <marsh(a)extendedsubset.com> writes: > >> Perhaps someone who knows German can better interpret it. > > The government was asked "are encrypted communications creating any > difficulties for law enforcement in terms of pursuing criminals and > terrorists?". The government replied "no, not really, so there's no need to > restrict the use of crypto by the public". Sorry, that's not quite it. The "Kleine Anfrage" (small inquiry) is a tool for the opposition to put pressure on the government, which has to explain itself in response to specific questions on a certain topic. In this inquiry, the left party asked questions about telecommunication surveillance by the BND, (encrypted and/or unencrypted), which was reported about in the German press. In particular, they asked questions about the keywords used for filtering, the technical methods for filtering, the amount of filtering that has been done, if any successes were documented, how politicians/attorneys/journalists and other protected groups are protected, etc. The goal is to either find material that is embarrassing or at least to remind the government and secret services of their boundaries. In the end, most of the answers were secret and, as far as they were given at all, are only available to members of the German parliament. There is very little specific information that is not secret, for example that 90% of the emails are spam, that 16400 keywords were used etc. As far as decryption capabilities goes, the text is very clear: The software used to analyse the communication stream can, in principle, decrypt and/or analyze at least some of it. Note the qualifiers: In principle, decrypt and/or analysis, depending on type and quality of encryption. This really can mean anything and everything. I would assume that it just means that the software and services they are buying have implemented some automatic decryption based on the state of the art attacks on weak cryptography, or at the very least the ability to detect encrypted streams and at least analyse the flow. There is nothing in the answer that suggests that the BND has any abilities beyond what is commercially available as the state of the art. Also, there is nothing in the answer that suggests that there is no need to restrict the use of crypto by the public. That is just not within the scope of the inquiry or the response. The topic was surveillance of telecommunication by the BND in general. Encryption was only the topic of one question, which was, compared to the others, not very detailed and not very carefully phrased. Ideally, they should have split the question in decryption and metadata analysis and asked which methods are available in particular. They dropped the ball on this one, and thus government and secret service could weasel out with a typical non-answer: the smallest answer possible that is truthful and does cover the scope of the question. The only other possible answer would have been: "no, we can not analyse or decrypt encrypted communication streams at all", in which case the answer would have been secret because it revealed operational details that allows suspects to evade the measure. Thanks, Marcus _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list cryptography(a)randombit.net http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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[tahoe-lafs-weekly-news] TWN 38
by Patrick R McDonald 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 ========================================================== Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News, issue number 38, September 10 2012 ========================================================== Welcome to the Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News (TWN). Tahoe-LAFS_ is a secure, distributed storage system. `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_. If you would like to view the "new and improved" TWN, complete with pictures; please take a `look`_. .. _Tahoe-LAFS: https://tahoe-lafs.org .. _View TWN on the web: https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/TahoeLAFSWeeklyNews .. _subscribe to TWN: https://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-lafs-weekly-news .. _look: https://tahoe-lafs.org/~marlowe/TWN38.html Announcement and News ===================== Tahoe-LAFS Turning Six - ---------------------- On Oct 22, 2012, Tahoe-LAFS will turn six (6) years old. Zooko |zooko| is looking to host a celebratory party in Boulder, CO and there is talk of a party at `Noisebridge`_ for those in the San Francisco area. I will be doing something in the Kansas City, MO area for those who are interested. How do you think we should celebrate? .. _`Noisebridge`: https://www.noisebridge.net/ Cryptoparty - ----------- `Cryptoparty`_ has sprung up as a grass roots movement to bring cryptography to the people. Topics covered range from Tor to GPG to OTR. However, one topic which I haven't noticed at any of the parties was mention of Tahoe-LAFS. This prevents a great opportunity for us to introduce Tahoe-LAFS to the uninitiated. I am willing to help cover Tahoe at the Kansas City cryptoparty. Anyone else with me? .. _`Cryptoparty`: http://www.cryptoparty.org/wiki/CryptoParty Glowing Quotes ============== b Tahoe-LAFS is an amazing piece of work!b b PC%l Ruud Tahoe-LAFS on Twitter ===================== Tahoe-LAFS mentioned in the keynote at the world's foremost crypto conference! b The End of CryptobbJonathan Zittrain https://bit.ly/ShkJ14 [`0`_] #privacy #crypto MT @zooko Tahoe-LAFS appears as one point of light in an otherwise grim big picture. http://bit.ly/ShkJ14 [`1`_] @msimoni Tahoe-lafs goes at storage and its management indirectly; securing data is where it excels. [`2`_] Tahoe-LAFS = great example of FOSS community building :) RT @zooko: Notes from the Tahoe-LAFS Weekly Conference Call: https://tahoe-lafs.org/pipermail/tahoe-dev/2012-September/007689.html [`3`_] Man this is awesome stuff Tahoe b The Least-Authority Filesystem https://tahoe-lafs.org/~zooko/lafs.pdf hacks are impressive as well https://tahoe-lafs.org/hacktahoelafs/ [`4`_] Tahoe-LAFS decentralized privacy/security-enhanced data storage for I2P http://killyourtv.i2p.to/tahoe-lafs/install/ [`5`_] .. _`0`: https://twitter.com/zooko/status/243068166035623939 .. _`1`: https://twitter.com/jmcest/status/243069592585502720 .. _`2`: https://twitter.com/dehora/status/243363378356162561 .. _`3`: https://twitter.com/hypatiadotca/status/243785768735232000 .. _`4`: https://twitter.com/wolfeidau/status/244616198283739136 .. _`5`: https://twitter.com/mrkoot/status/244732321167724544 Patches Needing Review of the Week ================================== There are four (4) ticket still needing review for 1.10.0: * `#1539`_: stop putting pkg_resources.require() into .tac files * `#166`_: command line order is problematic * `#937`_: 'tahoe run' doesn't work for an introducer node * `#1159`_: stop using .tac files: make it possible to change appname, Python package-directory name, perhaps other names There are two (2) tickets still needing review of 1.11.0: * `#1265`_: New Visualizer is insufficiently labelled/documented (plus layout problem) * `#1382`_: immutable peer selection refactoring and enhancements .. _`#1735`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1735 .. _`#1777`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1777 .. _`#166`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/166 .. _`#937`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/937 .. _`#1539`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1539 .. _`#1159`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1159 .. _`#1693`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1693 .. _`#1265`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1265 .. _`#1382`: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1382 - ---- *The Tahoe-LAFS Weekly News is published once a week by The Tahoe-LAFS* *Software Foundation, President and Treasurer: Peter Secor* |peter| *. Scribes: Patrick "marlowe" McDonald* |marlowe| *, Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn* *, Editor Emeritus: Zooko.* `View TWN on the web`_ *or* `subscribe to TWN`_ *. Send your news stories to* `marlowe(a)antagonism.org`_ *b submission deadline: Friday night.* .. _marlowe(a)antagonism.org: mailto:marlowe@antagonism.org .. |peter| image:: psecor.jpg :height: 35 :alt: peter :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs .. |marlowe| image:: marlowe-x75-bw.jpg :height: 35 :alt: marlowe :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs .. |zooko| image:: zooko.png :height: 35 :alt: zooko :target: http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/wiki/AboutUs -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJQTnJXAAoJEAT4nRyi0ely+N8QAIFgNijXK2P8t4Wc3mmGusFv xtgTROAAHGGnunT4pv7TplUMDog25BN/ysAFQ+v52HWjljCnQDn5vgDvF8+3FZX4 AZ6pKvTm9l/LWaFjV0J4sWYM4qpjOq85qTe160dV4ATGuMVBrxrLMxADkDQNEtDa zK2Tat7144s4xcA/bugRvbn34dyXCt4CxKy1KPx+NgL1bhLoru/uws4H08Mtvepz Mc0cq6nVQHzK9sRHtqiPgB/ylX89oqcuJwT1NilAUkLmIuLULRWD+cORCUALpYw/ FfEHFo8O1uT4rSeTy1XIjyMlgy6sxL4HGRl2qFDqPEj14LYs45gjL8rEf8EhbmUB gKQqn1GsKfYFlOpwSg55qxnlFsubIrPabSlmQczCWUZiSDeJyHjgt76FNKCiaZUs sN+eG149zJ440ej7FLUI0QiLMFk4q3//hvZWgB4JOVhDrxPJzgCEdUxbHDczvLko eN9qQon3XsIFkb4huqZ8ufTSUJh68f5VJKuoXrIDbm+z9DUYZ0mc3dBacaRxTxJf 6EVOiZHpG9GgeegbA+8JBlpCc4vbgOmuxOsj+gylkLm1coDoi658rlWGxgVBzMy0 roel0amvtqfvqdsFZ8xK1q4wk4Y3DTx5+T4cTiR70Fwiuu7p9odKV20EaC06NGE2 YKi0Kxz1ZFV0mi2uebEd =LYdb -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ tahoe-lafs-weekly-news mailing list tahoe-lafs-weekly-news(a)tahoe-lafs.org http://tahoe-lafs.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-lafs-weekly-news ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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Re: CP meet at H2K2?
by dmolnar 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

The buzz on the cypherpunks-NYC list is that the most convenient bar is the "blarney rock", just near the hotel pennsylvania. How about say we'll meet there at midnight on Saturday? -David On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, Greg Newby wrote: > H2K2, 2600's conference, is at Hotel Penn in New York > July 12-14. http://www.h2k2.net > > CP contributors who are scheduled include > John Young and yours truly. Maybe others I > didn't recognize or see yet. I heard of a few other > tentatives. > > The full conference schedule should be online within > the next couple of days. I'm thinking of a CP > meet Saturday night July 12. Anyone else gonna be there? > -- Greg > > ----- End forwarded message -----

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Re: CP meet at H2K2?
by dmolnar 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

The buzz on the cypherpunks-NYC list is that the most convenient bar is the "blarney rock", just near the hotel pennsylvania. How about say we'll meet there at midnight on Saturday? -David On Thu, 20 Jun 2002, Greg Newby wrote: > H2K2, 2600's conference, is at Hotel Penn in New York > July 12-14. http://www.h2k2.net > > CP contributors who are scheduled include > John Young and yours truly. Maybe others I > didn't recognize or see yet. I heard of a few other > tentatives. > > The full conference schedule should be online within > the next couple of days. I'm thinking of a CP > meet Saturday night July 12. Anyone else gonna be there? > -- Greg > > ----- End forwarded message -----

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[tt] NS: Virtual entrepreneurs and 'griefers' spoil the fantasy of online worlds
by Premise Checker 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Virtual entrepreneurs and 'griefers' spoil the fantasy of online worlds http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19526196.000&print=true * 01 September 2007 * Jim Giles IT SHOULD have been a coming-of-age moment. In December 2006, Anshe Chung, the most prominent of Second Life's entrepreneurs, was interviewed about her burgeoning [12]property portfolio, which she says is worth more than $1 million. It was a milestone to mark the emergence of a mature and corporate side to virtual worlds. But then, for a full 15 minutes, the virtual room in which she was being interviewed was invaded by [13]flying penises. Two months later, something similar happened. The Second Life headquarters of US presidential candidate John Edwards was attacked by a gang known as the Patriotic Nigras, who [14]plastered the building with objects including faeces (see Picture). Other residents say they have received racist materials from the Nigras. To anyone familiar with Second Life, airborne genitalia and offensive comments come as no surprise. Griefers - the disruptive residents who create such disturbances - have been active since the virtual world's earliest days. Since many residents are attracted to Second Life precisely because of its anything-goes ethos, such behaviour is generally tolerated. Now that Wild West spirit is under threat. With tens of thousands of denizens logged in at any one time and [15]millions of dollars' worth of transactions taking place in a single year (see Chart), a class of entrepreneurs is emerging who see griefers not just as an annoyance but as a potential source of lost revenue. That can simply encourage the griefers, some of whom are irritated by residents who seem to take life in Second Life too seriously, but it also prompts entrepreneurs to turn to [16]real-world courts to settle disputes. That in turn is cause for concern for residents who believe virtual worlds' value lies in their freedom from real-world laws and norms. "As the worlds industrialise we're going to see more appeals to the law," says Ren Reynolds, an expert on virtual worlds based in London who is establishing [17]a think tank to explore their policy implications. "The worry is that legislators will say that virtual worlds should be like the real world." That might wreck the main reason for using virtual worlds, which, despite rampant commercialisation, many still view as fantasy spaces. Last week New Scientist reported how virtual worlds can enhance social interactions, by facilitating meetings between people who wouldn't have that opportunity in real life or allowing them to step into the shoes of others (25 August, p 26). But it is also clear that virtual worlds are ripe for abusive behaviour, and that the naively enthusiastic attitude of some residents may even provoke it. Studies of griefer psychology are limited, but the Nigras' former leader, "Mudkips Acronym", who declined to give his real-life name, is happy to talk about his gang's motivations. He says that the group, which boasts between 35 and 60 members, is motivated by "laughs" and a desire to annoy the Second Lifers "who take their 'metaverse' enormously seriously". Despite the fact that the Nigras hurl racist abuse at some residents (see "Second Life - under attack"), Acronym says that he is not aware of anyone who is "truly racist". Rather, "we do anything we can to shock people". In the past, online communities have either endured residents like Acronym or acted together to punish them. In World of Warcraft (WoW), an online game full of elves and dragons where players compete for gold and weapons, users often group themselves into [18]guilds that police themselves, so that certain tasks, such as dividing the spoils of a raid, can be carried out fairly. Linden Lab, the San Francisco firm that runs Second Life, is also happy to let its residents settle their own disputes. The company says its goal is "neither to be a 'government' nor to foist one upon the residents". Rather, it hopes to "foster a self-governing community where residents are empowered to act on things they feel strongly about, and adjudicate such disputes". Self-policing is sometimes so effective that it can be used not just to punish residents, but also to wrest control of a virtual world from its owner. Last year, that's exactly what residents of WoW did when Blizzard Entertainment, of Irvine, California, which runs the world, [19]tried to block an attempt to form a guild for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people. Once word spread, players organised protest marches in WoW, says Reynolds. Some wore pink armour as a symbol of support for the proposed guild. Bloggers also criticised the decision. Eventually Blizzard backed down, and now several GLBT guilds exist. The approach appears to be breaking down, however, as entrepreneurial residents call upon real-world justice systems to settle disputes. "Most people consider virtual worlds to be like the Wild West, places where the law doesn't apply," says Sean Kane, an attorney with Drakeford & Kane in New York City who specialises in internet law. "But the law will catch up." Financial disputes are the most common trigger for legal action. Last month, Second Lifer Kevin Alderman filed suit against a resident known as Volkov Catteneo over Alderman's SexGen bed, which animates Second Life avatars so that they are able to perform more than 150 sexual acts. Alderman's suit alleges that Catteneo, whose real-life name is not known, is selling a pirated version of the bed, which normally sells for $45. Another virtual entrepreneur who has contemplated - but not yet initiated - legal action is Catherine Fitzpatrick, a Second Life real estate dealer who goes by the Second Life name of [20]Prokofy Neva. She says she regularly receives obscene and racist messages from the Nigras, some of which have led to tenants leaving her properties. "I don't view Second Life as a fantasy world," says Fitzpatrick. "I'm looking at it as a business." That attitude makes some residents anxious. "The worry is that legislators will say virtual worlds should be the same as the real world and make very naive laws," Reynolds says. It is not only business activities that might bring a legal clampdown to virtual worlds. Second Life has a long tradition of adult users adopting childlike avatars, and sometimes getting their characters to engage in sexual acts with adult avatars. Users have debated whether this amounts to virtual child pornography, but since Second Life is viewed as a fantasy world, and all participants are adults, such behaviour has generally been tolerated. In May, however, a German TV show covered the practice and reported details to the police. Linden Lab subsequently banned two of the residents involved. Meanwhile gambling, which is illegal in most US states but widespread in Second Life, has also taken a hit. In July, Linden Lab decided to shut down its virtual casinos after receiving a visit from the FBI. Angry users on the firm's blog accused the company of eroding the freedom associated with an experience that was, after all, designed to be different from normal life. "Welcome to Real Life 2," wrote one user. "Enjoy your stay!" Will big online worlds like Second Life and WoW survive these legal attacks, perhaps by adopting the protected status that sports enjoy (see "Sporting solution")? Or will the pressure from commercially minded users eradicate the anything-goes spirit, perhaps allowing smaller and freer worlds to take their place? Read about a host of planned virtual experiences in next week's instalment of this New Scientist report. Sporting solution The fantasy inherent to virtual worlds is under attack from commercially minded residents and real-world laws. Is it possible to keep everyone happy? One solution is to look to sport for guidance, says New York attorney Sean Kane. When players take to the rugby field, they experience tackles that would be classed as assaults if they took place anywhere else. Courts understand this and create what Kane calls a "magic circle" around on-field behaviour. When disputes arise, the courts tend to respect the arbitration systems established by sport authorities, even though such committees have no formal legal standing. Virtual worlds might earn the same respect from courts if they ensure that the arbitration systems established by residents are fair and transparent. Another option is to have different types of virtual spaces, says [21]Ren Reynolds, who studies virtual worlds, with some regulated to keep entrepreneurs happy, and others free, for people who just want to have fun. Second Life, however, is one space that could face more legal problems. The site currently [22]reserves the right to terminate a user's account "for any or no reason", destroying their virtual assets. If the company does not start to provide residents with genuine ownership, some will feel compelled to go to the courts, Kane says. Related Articles FBI investigates virtual casinos in Second Life http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn11533 4 April 2007 Online games, real-life crimes http://technology.newscientist.com/article/mg19025521.700 20 May 2006 "Grey goo" engulfs virtual world http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn10616 20 November 2006 Game company sued over virtual land squabble http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn9189 18 May 2006 Web letter: What Life? http://technology.newscientist.com/article/mg19526221.100 22 September 2007 Weblinks Anshe Chung's Second Life property portfolio http://dreamland.anshechung.com/ Ren Reynolds http://www.ren-reynolds.com/ Videos and podcasts about the Patriotic Nigras http://www.mefeedia.com/tags/nigras/ Second Life http://secondlife.com/ World of Warcraft guilds http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/guilds.html Drakeford & Kane http://www.drakefordkane.com/whatsnew.htm Virtual Policy Network http://www.virtualpolicy.net/ Prokofy Neva, Second Life http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/about.html Second Life's policy on wagering http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/07/25/wagering-in-second-life-new-policy/ Linden Lab Terms of Service http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php Survey of developers in the Second Life directory http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/07/10/survey-of-developers-in-the-second-li… References 11. http://adserver.adtech.de/?adlink|2.0|289|113580|1|170|ADTECH;grp=125608041…; 12. http://dreamland.anshechung.com/ 13. http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/anshe_chung_cou… 14. http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/2/27/21847/2507 15. http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/07/10/survey-of-developers-in-the-second-li… 16. http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn9189-game-company-sued-ov… 17. http://www.virtualpolicy.net/ 18. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/guilds.html 19. http://news.com.com/Online+game+warns+gay-lesbian+guild/2100-1043_3-6033112… 20. http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/about.html 21. http://www.ren-reynolds.com/ 22. http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php E-mail me if you have problems getting the referenced articles. _______________________________________________ tt mailing list tt(a)postbiota.org http://postbiota.org/mailman/listinfo/tt ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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