July 2018 - cypherpunks-legacy

06 Jul '18

Ramble On The leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way Thanks to you I'm much obliged, such a pleasant stay But now its time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way But now I smell the rage, and with it hate, and it's headed my way. Ah, sometimes I grow so tired, but I know there's one thing I have to do. Ramble on. And now's the time, the time is now. Led Zeppelin http://www.withersworldwide.com/news-publications/324/exit-tax-u-s-expatria… s-to-become-law.aspx Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law 28 May 2008 New rules will impose tax on expatriates and withholding requirements on trustees Giving up a U.S. passport will soon carry a steep price tag. A new law passed by the U.S. Congress and sent to the President will subject certain individuals who expatriate or give up their green cards to immediate tax on the inherent gain on all of their worldwide assets and a tax on future gifts or bequests made to a U.S. citizen or resident. Tax practitioners had been made to feel like the boy who cried wolf in recent months as the U.S. Congress repeatedly threatened to enact legislation aimed at U.S. citizens who expatriate. Congress finally made good on those threats by unanimously passing the Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act (the Act'), which provides tax relief for active duty military personnel and reservists. The new tax regime applies to certain individuals who relinquish their US citizenship[1] and certain long-term U.S. residents (i.e., green card holders) who terminate their U.S. residence (hereafter referred to as expatriates').[2] The so-called mark-to-market' tax will apply to the net unrealized gain on the expatriate's worldwide assets as if such property were sold (the deemed sale') for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date. Any net gain on this deemed sale in excess of US$600,000 will be taxable. In addition, trustees of non-grantor trusts[3] must withhold and pay over to the IRS 30 percent of the portion of any distribution (whether direct or indirect) that would have been taxable to the expatriate had he not expatriated. Failure to withhold the tax could subject the trustee to direct liability for the unpaid U.S. tax. The Act will become law when the President signs it, which is expected imminently. Individuals Covered The Act applies to any expatriate if that individual (i) has a net worth of US$2 million or more; (ii) has an average net U.S. income tax liability of greater than US$139,000 for the five year period prior to expatriation; or (iii) fails to certify that he has complied with all U.S. federal tax obligations for the preceding five years (the covered expatriate'). The Act contains two exceptions, which are broader than those contained in current law. An individual is not a covered expatriate' if he certifies compliance with US federal tax obligations as specified in item (iii) above, and: (i) he was at birth a citizen of the U.S. and another country, provided that (a) as of the expatriation he continues to be a citizen of, and a tax resident of, such other country, and (b) he has been a resident of the U.S. for no more than 10 of the 15 taxable years ending with the taxable year of expatriation; or (ii) he relinquished U.S. citizenship before reaching the age of 18 =, provided that he was a resident of the U.S. for not more than 10 taxable years before relinquishment. In General The Act consists of three key elements: 1. The mark-to-market tax on the covered expatriate's worldwide assets; 2. A tax on certain gifts and bequests made by the covered expatriate to any US person; and 3. A repeal of the current so-called 10-year shadow period for covered expatriates. The Mark-to-Market Tax As noted above, the mark-to-market tax will apply to the net unrealized gain on the covered expatriate's worldwide assets as if such property were sold for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date to the extent that the net gain exceeds US$600,000.[4] However, the mark-to-market tax will not apply to (i) certain deferred compensation items; (ii) certain specified tax deferred accounts; or (iii) any interest in a nongrantor trust. A. Deferred Compensation Items Under the Act, certain deferred compensation items will be subject to the mark-to-market tax. For purposes of this calculation, the covered expatriate is deemed to receive the present value of his accrued benefit on the day before the expatriation date. No early distribution excise tax applies by virtue of this treatment, and appropriate adjustments must be made to subsequent distributions from the plan to reflect such treatment. Other qualifying deferred compensation items will not be subject to the mark-to-market tax; however, the payor must deduct and withhold a tax of 30 percent from any taxable payment to a covered expatriate. A taxable payment is subject to withholding to the extent it would be included in the gross income of the covered expatriate if such person were a U.S. citizen or resident. B. Specified Tax Deferred Accounts Under the Act, the mark-to-market tax will apply to certain specified tax deferred accounts. In the case of any interest in a specified account held by a covered expatriate on the day before the expatriation date, the expatriate is deemed to receive a distribution of his entire interest in the account on that date. Appropriate adjustments are made for subsequent distributions to take into account this treatment. Such deemed distributions are not subject to additional tax. C. Interests in Non-Grantor Trusts The Act makes a distinction between grantor trusts and non-grantor trusts. A grantor trust is ignored as a taxable entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The owner' of a grantor trust must include in computing his personal tax liability the items of income, deduction and credit that are attributable to the trust. Therefore, in the case of the portion of any trust for which the covered expatriate is treated as the owner under the grantor trust provisions, the assets held by that portion of the trust are subject to the mark-to-market tax. The mark-to-market tax does not generally apply to non-grantor trusts.[5] Rather, in the case of any direct or indirect distribution from the trust to a covered expatriate, the trustee must deduct and withhold an amount equal to 30 percent of the distribution portion that would be includable in the gross income of the covered expatriate if he were subject to U.S. income tax. The covered expatriate waives any right to claim a reduction in withholding under any treaty with the U.S. The Act does not explain how the withholding will be enforced against a non-U.S. trustee of a trust. In addition, if the non-grantor trust distributes appreciated property to a covered expatriate, the trust recognizes gain as if the property were sold to the expatriate at its fair market value. If a non-grantor trust becomes a grantor trust of which the covered expatriate is treated as the owner, such conversion is treated as a distribution to the covered expatriate and will trigger the 30 percent withholding tax. Conversely, if a grantor trust becomes a non-grantor trust after the individual expatriates, it appears that the mark-to-market tax will apply to assets in the grantor trust, and the 30 percent withholding requirement will not apply to the trust once it becomes a non-grantor trust. This is an important point because the grantor's expatriation commonly converts grantor trusts into non-grantor trusts. Tax on Gifts and Bequests to U.S. Citizens or Residents The Act taxes certain covered gifts or bequests'[6] received by a U.S. citizen or resident. The tax, which is assessed at the highest marginal estate or gift tax rate at the time of the gift or bequest, applies only to the extent that the covered gift or bequest exceeds $12,000 during any calendar year. The tax is reduced by the amount of any gift or estate tax paid to a foreign country with respect to such covered gift or bequest. No allowance appears to exist for the $1 million exemption from U.S. gift tax or the $2 million exemption from U.S. estate tax normally granted to U.S. persons. Gifts or bequests made to a U.S. spouse or a qualified charity are not subject to the tax. In the case of a covered gift or bequest made to a U.S. trust, the tax applies as if the trust were a U.S. citizen, and the trust is required to pay the tax. In the case of a covered gift or bequest made to a foreign trust, the tax applies to any distribution, whether from income or corpus, made from such trust to a recipient that is a U.S. citizen or resident in the same manner as if such distribution were a covered gift or bequest. Repeal of 10-Year Shadow Period Current law subjects expatriates to a so-called 10-year shadow period, which results in a covered expatriate being taxed as a U.S. citizen in any of the 10 years following expatriation in which the expatriate spends 30 days in more in the U.S. In addition, current law taxes expatriates on all U.S. source income and gain during the shadow period. Under the Act, individuals who expatriate on or after the date of enactment will not be subject to the shadow period but will instead be subject to the mark-to-market tax and the tax on gifts and bequests to U.S. citizens and residents. Effective date The Act will be effective as of the date of enactment and will therefore not apply to those individuals who expatriate prior to its enactment. Enactment occurs upon the signature of the President or 10 days after the Act is presented to the President if he does not veto it. The White House has not issued an official position on the Act, but given the veto-proof margin by which the Act passed in both houses of Congress and the Act's emphasis on active duty members of the military, most commentators believe that enactment is imminent. Conclusion In light of the Act, individuals who are considering expatriation should consider the substantial new tax burdens that this action will generate. Those persons who expatriate after the enactment date and who are considering making gifts or bequests to U.S. persons in the future should also review their planning. In addition, trustees should very carefully consider whether trust beneficiaries are covered expatriates before making any distribution without withholding U.S. tax. Trustees who fail to become familiar with the new rules do so at their peril. [1] For purposes of the Act, an individual is treated as having relinquished his citizenship on the earliest of four possible dates: (i) the date on which he renounces his U.S. nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the U.S.; (ii) the date on which he furnishes to the U.S. Department of State a signed statement of voluntary relinquishment of U.S. nationality confirming the performance of an expatriating act; (iii) the date on which the U.S. Department of State issues a certificate of loss of nationality; or (iv) the date on which a U.S. court cancels a naturalized citizen's certificate of naturalization. [2] The term long-term resident' means any individual (other than a U.S. citizen) who is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. in at least eight taxable years during the period of 15 taxable years ending with the taxable years during which he ceases to be a lawful permanent resident or commences to be treated as a resident of a foreign country. [3] The definition of non-grantor trust' includes both U.S. and non-U.S. non-grantor trusts. [4] An individual may elect to defer payment of the tax imposed on the deemed sale of property until the return is due for the taxable year in which he disposes of such property, but interest will apply for the period during which the tax is deferred. This irrevocable election is made on a property-by-property basis and requires the individual to provide adequate security with respect to such property and a waiver of treaty rights that would preclude the assessment or collection of the tax. [5] Under certain circumstances, the mark-to-market tax may arguably apply to non-grantor trusts (i.e., where the non-grantor trust holds shares in a passive foreign investment company). [6] Defined as any property acquired (i) by gift directly or indirectly from an individual who was a covered expatriate at the time of such acquisition; or (ii) directly or indirectly by reason of the death of an individual who was a covered expatriate. The definition excludes (i) any property shown as a taxable gift on a timely filed gift tax return by the covered expatriate, and (ii) any property included in the gross estate of the covered expatriate for U.S. estate tax purposes and shown on a timely filed estate tax return of the estate of the covered expatriate.

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JanusPA - A hardware Privacy Adapter using Tor
by Kyle Williams 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Hello Everyone, I've been working on a project for a couple of months now that I'm sure would be of interest to some of you. The goal was to apply the same transparent model coderman and I used with JanusVM and Tor VM into hardware. I wanted something small that you could connect, power on, and use. Literally plug-n-privacy. After several weeks of searching the web looking at different hardware configuration, specs, etc, etc, I decided to go with Gumstix(.com). The privacy adapter is a ARM 400MHz Xscale CPU with 64MB RAM (@100MHz), 16MB of Flash memory for storage, and *TWO* 10/100 NICs. It uses Linux for the OS. The first thought that many people get, including myself, have is that it is not powerful enough to run Tor. Well, after 2 months of breaking this in, I'm very happy with the results. I ran this as a Tor server for about 4 days, and got a good baseline for how much data it can handle. As a Tor server, it was pushing about 250KB/sec (125KB in, 125 KB out). As a Tor client, the best speed test I got was about 1.2MB/sec. BTW, that was after about 45 minutes of "SIGNAL NEWNYM" and speedtest before I found a fast circuit. Here's the URL for what I've got so far. [1]http://www.janusvm.com/goldy/JanusPA/index.html It is lacking all forms of documentation, and the source code needs to be cleaned up some. It does have a general description, the index of the soon to come documentation, openssl speed test benchmarks, pictures, and stats of when I tested it as a Tor server. After about two months of using it, I've never felt more secure and satisfied when using Tor. This is a hardware router that routes your traffic through the Tor network, it's small, and is easy to use. As for security, all TCP and DNS are routed through Tor, and everything else is dropped. So all the nasty side-channel attacks that us hackers have been working on to leak your real IP address are rendered useless. But there is good news and bad news. The bad news: The manufacture (Gumstix.com) is "Phasing Out" this particular setup at the end of DECEMBER 2008!! That's in 10 days! Any orders after Dec. 31, 2008 will have to be in bulk orders, which is 120 or more units. Shitty. Because of the short amount of time left to get this hardware, I've jumped the gun and chosen to notify the Tor community about this hardware before it is gone or out of a practical price range for most of us. The good news: I've been in communication with a very nice gentleman at gumstix who said "Gumstix is also working on a netDUO expansion board for Overo, although a release date has not been announced." There is reasonable hope that there new motherboad product line (the Overo) will at some point have a dual NIC expansion board. So this is somewhat a conflicting situation. I've spent months working on this awesome anonymity adpater, and it's about to be discontinued without knowing an exact date as to when the new line with have the capabilities to do what needs to be done. ugh. I'm very much looking forward to their new product line when a dual NIC expansion board is available, but I don't know when that'll be. If anyone is interested in this, but cannot afford to buy hardware at the moment, please contact Don Anderson ([2]don(a)gumstix.com)and encourage the idea of extending their phase out date or express and interest in a dual NIC expansion board for their new Overo product line. If anyone is interested in getting a hardware based Tor solution, you might want to consider buying a gumstix soon. You'll need the following. Connex 400mx Motherboard: [3]http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&prod ucts_id=136 netDUO-mmc/SD expansion board: [4]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products _id=156 4.0v Power Adapter: [5]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=148 Screws and spacer kit: [6]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=161 This will run you $237.00 USD + shipping and handling. I would also *HIGHLY* recommend the following because flashing the device over the network is very, very risky and has resulted in me having to re-flash it through the serial port many, many times. Serial null-modem cable: [7]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=85 Serial port connector: [8]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products _id=106 This will run you $32.00 USD. If anyone is seriously thinking about a good hardware based solution for Tor, I'd buy the gumstix now. In fact, I just bought a couple more just in case mine breaks. I'll have the source code up withing a week, two tops The FULL documentation will take about a bit longer to get done. Well, that's about it. Feedback is welcome. Best Regards, Kyle PS. Happy Holidays! References 1. http://www.janusvm.com/goldy/JanusPA/index.html 2. mailto:don@gumstix.com 3. http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=… 4. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=156 5. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=148 6. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=161 7. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=85 8. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=106 ----- 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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[Politech] Judge Samuel Alito's police-friendly views of
by Declan McCullagh 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

electronic surveillance [priv] http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5927003.html Nominee's past rulings give hint of tech views November 1, 2005, 4:58 PM PST ...snip... In a case decided last year, Alito ruled that the FBI did not need a warrant to outfit the hotel suite of a boxing official with a hidden audio recorder and remotely controlled video camera that could swivel 360 degrees. The devices were activated when a police informant was also present in the room of the official, who was suspected of taking bribes. Alito's fellow judge Theodore McKee, a Clinton appointee, dissented on the grounds that advances in surveillance technology would eviscerate the privacy principles found in the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of "unreasonable searches." "Given the evolving sophistication of technology, it is increasingly imperative that the fundamental liberties guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment not be eroded by the warrantless use of devices that allow the government to see through curtains, walls and doors," McKee wrote. "To the extent the Fourth Amendment has any vitality in an era of increasingly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping, it surely protects the privacy of someone in the intimacy of a hotel suite from the potential of warrantless 24-hour video surveillance." ...snip... In another case decided in 2002 by the 3rd Circuit Court, police in Pennsylvania acted on a six-month-old tip that a high school teacher was viewing illegal adult pornography on the Internet. They obtained a search warrant for the teacher's home and found child pornography on his computer's hard drive. In an opinion written by Judge Maryanne Barry, another Clinton appointee, the 2-1 majority said the search warrant was invalid because the tip was "stale" and based on a dubious source. Also, they said, police had no probable cause to look for any kind of pornography, and investigators should not go on a fishing expedition through a suspect's hard drive just to find some sort of incriminating files. Alito dissented. "The previously-noted incidents alleged in the affidavit showed that the defendant had a sexual interest in minors and that he had used sexual materials on several occasions as part of his course of conduct," he wrote. "All of this information tends to support a finding of probable cause." ...snip... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/) ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as eugen(a)leitl.org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.leitl.org 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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[IP] Judge Samuel Alito's police-friendly views of electronic
by David Farber 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

surveillance [priv] X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.746.2) Reply-To: dave(a)farber.net Begin forwarded message:

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[gsc] Led Zeppelin
by rc 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Ramble On The leaves are falling all around, time I was on my way Thanks to you I'm much obliged, such a pleasant stay But now its time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way But now I smell the rage, and with it hate, and it's headed my way. Ah, sometimes I grow so tired, but I know there's one thing I have to do. Ramble on. And now's the time, the time is now. Led Zeppelin http://www.withersworldwide.com/news-publications/324/exit-tax-u-s-expatria… s-to-become-law.aspx Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates to Become Law 28 May 2008 New rules will impose tax on expatriates and withholding requirements on trustees Giving up a U.S. passport will soon carry a steep price tag. A new law passed by the U.S. Congress and sent to the President will subject certain individuals who expatriate or give up their green cards to immediate tax on the inherent gain on all of their worldwide assets and a tax on future gifts or bequests made to a U.S. citizen or resident. Tax practitioners had been made to feel like the boy who cried wolf in recent months as the U.S. Congress repeatedly threatened to enact legislation aimed at U.S. citizens who expatriate. Congress finally made good on those threats by unanimously passing the Heroes Earning Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act (the Act'), which provides tax relief for active duty military personnel and reservists. The new tax regime applies to certain individuals who relinquish their US citizenship[1] and certain long-term U.S. residents (i.e., green card holders) who terminate their U.S. residence (hereafter referred to as expatriates').[2] The so-called mark-to-market' tax will apply to the net unrealized gain on the expatriate's worldwide assets as if such property were sold (the deemed sale') for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date. Any net gain on this deemed sale in excess of US$600,000 will be taxable. In addition, trustees of non-grantor trusts[3] must withhold and pay over to the IRS 30 percent of the portion of any distribution (whether direct or indirect) that would have been taxable to the expatriate had he not expatriated. Failure to withhold the tax could subject the trustee to direct liability for the unpaid U.S. tax. The Act will become law when the President signs it, which is expected imminently. Individuals Covered The Act applies to any expatriate if that individual (i) has a net worth of US$2 million or more; (ii) has an average net U.S. income tax liability of greater than US$139,000 for the five year period prior to expatriation; or (iii) fails to certify that he has complied with all U.S. federal tax obligations for the preceding five years (the covered expatriate'). The Act contains two exceptions, which are broader than those contained in current law. An individual is not a covered expatriate' if he certifies compliance with US federal tax obligations as specified in item (iii) above, and: (i) he was at birth a citizen of the U.S. and another country, provided that (a) as of the expatriation he continues to be a citizen of, and a tax resident of, such other country, and (b) he has been a resident of the U.S. for no more than 10 of the 15 taxable years ending with the taxable year of expatriation; or (ii) he relinquished U.S. citizenship before reaching the age of 18 =, provided that he was a resident of the U.S. for not more than 10 taxable years before relinquishment. In General The Act consists of three key elements: 1. The mark-to-market tax on the covered expatriate's worldwide assets; 2. A tax on certain gifts and bequests made by the covered expatriate to any US person; and 3. A repeal of the current so-called 10-year shadow period for covered expatriates. The Mark-to-Market Tax As noted above, the mark-to-market tax will apply to the net unrealized gain on the covered expatriate's worldwide assets as if such property were sold for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date to the extent that the net gain exceeds US$600,000.[4] However, the mark-to-market tax will not apply to (i) certain deferred compensation items; (ii) certain specified tax deferred accounts; or (iii) any interest in a nongrantor trust. A. Deferred Compensation Items Under the Act, certain deferred compensation items will be subject to the mark-to-market tax. For purposes of this calculation, the covered expatriate is deemed to receive the present value of his accrued benefit on the day before the expatriation date. No early distribution excise tax applies by virtue of this treatment, and appropriate adjustments must be made to subsequent distributions from the plan to reflect such treatment. Other qualifying deferred compensation items will not be subject to the mark-to-market tax; however, the payor must deduct and withhold a tax of 30 percent from any taxable payment to a covered expatriate. A taxable payment is subject to withholding to the extent it would be included in the gross income of the covered expatriate if such person were a U.S. citizen or resident. B. Specified Tax Deferred Accounts Under the Act, the mark-to-market tax will apply to certain specified tax deferred accounts. In the case of any interest in a specified account held by a covered expatriate on the day before the expatriation date, the expatriate is deemed to receive a distribution of his entire interest in the account on that date. Appropriate adjustments are made for subsequent distributions to take into account this treatment. Such deemed distributions are not subject to additional tax. C. Interests in Non-Grantor Trusts The Act makes a distinction between grantor trusts and non-grantor trusts. A grantor trust is ignored as a taxable entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The owner' of a grantor trust must include in computing his personal tax liability the items of income, deduction and credit that are attributable to the trust. Therefore, in the case of the portion of any trust for which the covered expatriate is treated as the owner under the grantor trust provisions, the assets held by that portion of the trust are subject to the mark-to-market tax. The mark-to-market tax does not generally apply to non-grantor trusts.[5] Rather, in the case of any direct or indirect distribution from the trust to a covered expatriate, the trustee must deduct and withhold an amount equal to 30 percent of the distribution portion that would be includable in the gross income of the covered expatriate if he were subject to U.S. income tax. The covered expatriate waives any right to claim a reduction in withholding under any treaty with the U.S. The Act does not explain how the withholding will be enforced against a non-U.S. trustee of a trust. In addition, if the non-grantor trust distributes appreciated property to a covered expatriate, the trust recognizes gain as if the property were sold to the expatriate at its fair market value. If a non-grantor trust becomes a grantor trust of which the covered expatriate is treated as the owner, such conversion is treated as a distribution to the covered expatriate and will trigger the 30 percent withholding tax. Conversely, if a grantor trust becomes a non-grantor trust after the individual expatriates, it appears that the mark-to-market tax will apply to assets in the grantor trust, and the 30 percent withholding requirement will not apply to the trust once it becomes a non-grantor trust. This is an important point because the grantor's expatriation commonly converts grantor trusts into non-grantor trusts. Tax on Gifts and Bequests to U.S. Citizens or Residents The Act taxes certain covered gifts or bequests'[6] received by a U.S. citizen or resident. The tax, which is assessed at the highest marginal estate or gift tax rate at the time of the gift or bequest, applies only to the extent that the covered gift or bequest exceeds $12,000 during any calendar year. The tax is reduced by the amount of any gift or estate tax paid to a foreign country with respect to such covered gift or bequest. No allowance appears to exist for the $1 million exemption from U.S. gift tax or the $2 million exemption from U.S. estate tax normally granted to U.S. persons. Gifts or bequests made to a U.S. spouse or a qualified charity are not subject to the tax. In the case of a covered gift or bequest made to a U.S. trust, the tax applies as if the trust were a U.S. citizen, and the trust is required to pay the tax. In the case of a covered gift or bequest made to a foreign trust, the tax applies to any distribution, whether from income or corpus, made from such trust to a recipient that is a U.S. citizen or resident in the same manner as if such distribution were a covered gift or bequest. Repeal of 10-Year Shadow Period Current law subjects expatriates to a so-called 10-year shadow period, which results in a covered expatriate being taxed as a U.S. citizen in any of the 10 years following expatriation in which the expatriate spends 30 days in more in the U.S. In addition, current law taxes expatriates on all U.S. source income and gain during the shadow period. Under the Act, individuals who expatriate on or after the date of enactment will not be subject to the shadow period but will instead be subject to the mark-to-market tax and the tax on gifts and bequests to U.S. citizens and residents. Effective date The Act will be effective as of the date of enactment and will therefore not apply to those individuals who expatriate prior to its enactment. Enactment occurs upon the signature of the President or 10 days after the Act is presented to the President if he does not veto it. The White House has not issued an official position on the Act, but given the veto-proof margin by which the Act passed in both houses of Congress and the Act's emphasis on active duty members of the military, most commentators believe that enactment is imminent. Conclusion In light of the Act, individuals who are considering expatriation should consider the substantial new tax burdens that this action will generate. Those persons who expatriate after the enactment date and who are considering making gifts or bequests to U.S. persons in the future should also review their planning. In addition, trustees should very carefully consider whether trust beneficiaries are covered expatriates before making any distribution without withholding U.S. tax. Trustees who fail to become familiar with the new rules do so at their peril. [1] For purposes of the Act, an individual is treated as having relinquished his citizenship on the earliest of four possible dates: (i) the date on which he renounces his U.S. nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the U.S.; (ii) the date on which he furnishes to the U.S. Department of State a signed statement of voluntary relinquishment of U.S. nationality confirming the performance of an expatriating act; (iii) the date on which the U.S. Department of State issues a certificate of loss of nationality; or (iv) the date on which a U.S. court cancels a naturalized citizen's certificate of naturalization. [2] The term long-term resident' means any individual (other than a U.S. citizen) who is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. in at least eight taxable years during the period of 15 taxable years ending with the taxable years during which he ceases to be a lawful permanent resident or commences to be treated as a resident of a foreign country. [3] The definition of non-grantor trust' includes both U.S. and non-U.S. non-grantor trusts. [4] An individual may elect to defer payment of the tax imposed on the deemed sale of property until the return is due for the taxable year in which he disposes of such property, but interest will apply for the period during which the tax is deferred. This irrevocable election is made on a property-by-property basis and requires the individual to provide adequate security with respect to such property and a waiver of treaty rights that would preclude the assessment or collection of the tax. [5] Under certain circumstances, the mark-to-market tax may arguably apply to non-grantor trusts (i.e., where the non-grantor trust holds shares in a passive foreign investment company). [6] Defined as any property acquired (i) by gift directly or indirectly from an individual who was a covered expatriate at the time of such acquisition; or (ii) directly or indirectly by reason of the death of an individual who was a covered expatriate. The definition excludes (i) any property shown as a taxable gift on a timely filed gift tax return by the covered expatriate, and (ii) any property included in the gross estate of the covered expatriate for U.S. estate tax purposes and shown on a timely filed estate tax return of the estate of the covered expatriate.

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JanusPA - A hardware Privacy Adapter using Tor
by Kyle Williams 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Hello Everyone, I've been working on a project for a couple of months now that I'm sure would be of interest to some of you. The goal was to apply the same transparent model coderman and I used with JanusVM and Tor VM into hardware. I wanted something small that you could connect, power on, and use. Literally plug-n-privacy. After several weeks of searching the web looking at different hardware configuration, specs, etc, etc, I decided to go with Gumstix(.com). The privacy adapter is a ARM 400MHz Xscale CPU with 64MB RAM (@100MHz), 16MB of Flash memory for storage, and *TWO* 10/100 NICs. It uses Linux for the OS. The first thought that many people get, including myself, have is that it is not powerful enough to run Tor. Well, after 2 months of breaking this in, I'm very happy with the results. I ran this as a Tor server for about 4 days, and got a good baseline for how much data it can handle. As a Tor server, it was pushing about 250KB/sec (125KB in, 125 KB out). As a Tor client, the best speed test I got was about 1.2MB/sec. BTW, that was after about 45 minutes of "SIGNAL NEWNYM" and speedtest before I found a fast circuit. Here's the URL for what I've got so far. [1]http://www.janusvm.com/goldy/JanusPA/index.html It is lacking all forms of documentation, and the source code needs to be cleaned up some. It does have a general description, the index of the soon to come documentation, openssl speed test benchmarks, pictures, and stats of when I tested it as a Tor server. After about two months of using it, I've never felt more secure and satisfied when using Tor. This is a hardware router that routes your traffic through the Tor network, it's small, and is easy to use. As for security, all TCP and DNS are routed through Tor, and everything else is dropped. So all the nasty side-channel attacks that us hackers have been working on to leak your real IP address are rendered useless. But there is good news and bad news. The bad news: The manufacture (Gumstix.com) is "Phasing Out" this particular setup at the end of DECEMBER 2008!! That's in 10 days! Any orders after Dec. 31, 2008 will have to be in bulk orders, which is 120 or more units. Shitty. Because of the short amount of time left to get this hardware, I've jumped the gun and chosen to notify the Tor community about this hardware before it is gone or out of a practical price range for most of us. The good news: I've been in communication with a very nice gentleman at gumstix who said "Gumstix is also working on a netDUO expansion board for Overo, although a release date has not been announced." There is reasonable hope that there new motherboad product line (the Overo) will at some point have a dual NIC expansion board. So this is somewhat a conflicting situation. I've spent months working on this awesome anonymity adpater, and it's about to be discontinued without knowing an exact date as to when the new line with have the capabilities to do what needs to be done. ugh. I'm very much looking forward to their new product line when a dual NIC expansion board is available, but I don't know when that'll be. If anyone is interested in this, but cannot afford to buy hardware at the moment, please contact Don Anderson ([2]don(a)gumstix.com)and encourage the idea of extending their phase out date or express and interest in a dual NIC expansion board for their new Overo product line. If anyone is interested in getting a hardware based Tor solution, you might want to consider buying a gumstix soon. You'll need the following. Connex 400mx Motherboard: [3]http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&prod ucts_id=136 netDUO-mmc/SD expansion board: [4]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products _id=156 4.0v Power Adapter: [5]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=148 Screws and spacer kit: [6]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=161 This will run you $237.00 USD + shipping and handling. I would also *HIGHLY* recommend the following because flashing the device over the network is very, very risky and has resulted in me having to re-flash it through the serial port many, many times. Serial null-modem cable: [7]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products _id=85 Serial port connector: [8]http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products _id=106 This will run you $32.00 USD. If anyone is seriously thinking about a good hardware based solution for Tor, I'd buy the gumstix now. In fact, I just bought a couple more just in case mine breaks. I'll have the source code up withing a week, two tops The FULL documentation will take about a bit longer to get done. Well, that's about it. Feedback is welcome. Best Regards, Kyle PS. Happy Holidays! References 1. http://www.janusvm.com/goldy/JanusPA/index.html 2. mailto:don@gumstix.com 3. http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=… 4. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=156 5. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=148 6. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=161 7. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=85 8. http://gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=106 ----- 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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[Politech] Judge Samuel Alito's police-friendly views of
by Declan McCullagh 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

electronic surveillance [priv] http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5927003.html Nominee's past rulings give hint of tech views November 1, 2005, 4:58 PM PST ...snip... In a case decided last year, Alito ruled that the FBI did not need a warrant to outfit the hotel suite of a boxing official with a hidden audio recorder and remotely controlled video camera that could swivel 360 degrees. The devices were activated when a police informant was also present in the room of the official, who was suspected of taking bribes. Alito's fellow judge Theodore McKee, a Clinton appointee, dissented on the grounds that advances in surveillance technology would eviscerate the privacy principles found in the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of "unreasonable searches." "Given the evolving sophistication of technology, it is increasingly imperative that the fundamental liberties guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment not be eroded by the warrantless use of devices that allow the government to see through curtains, walls and doors," McKee wrote. "To the extent the Fourth Amendment has any vitality in an era of increasingly sophisticated electronic eavesdropping, it surely protects the privacy of someone in the intimacy of a hotel suite from the potential of warrantless 24-hour video surveillance." ...snip... In another case decided in 2002 by the 3rd Circuit Court, police in Pennsylvania acted on a six-month-old tip that a high school teacher was viewing illegal adult pornography on the Internet. They obtained a search warrant for the teacher's home and found child pornography on his computer's hard drive. In an opinion written by Judge Maryanne Barry, another Clinton appointee, the 2-1 majority said the search warrant was invalid because the tip was "stale" and based on a dubious source. Also, they said, police had no probable cause to look for any kind of pornography, and investigators should not go on a fishing expedition through a suspect's hard drive just to find some sort of incriminating files. Alito dissented. "The previously-noted incidents alleged in the affidavit showed that the defendant had a sexual interest in minors and that he had used sexual materials on several occasions as part of his course of conduct," he wrote. "All of this information tends to support a finding of probable cause." ...snip... _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/) ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as eugen(a)leitl.org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.leitl.org 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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[IP] Judge Samuel Alito's police-friendly views of electronic
by David Farber 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

surveillance [priv] X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.746.2) Reply-To: dave(a)farber.net Begin forwarded message:

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[liberationtech] New Citizen Lab report: Permission To Spy
by Ronald Deibert 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Dear LibTech I am pleased to announce a new Citizen Lab report: Permission to Spy: An Analysis of Android Malware Targeting Tibetans April 1, 2013 Key Findings A compromised version of Kakao Talk, an Android-based mobile messaging client, was sent in a highly-targeted email to a prominent individual in the Tibetan community. This email message repurposed a legitimate private email message sent by an information security expert in the Tibetan community to a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. This malware is designed to send a userbs contacts, SMS message history, and cellular network location to attackers. The cellular network information gathered by this malware would only be useful to actors with detailed knowledge of the cellular communication providerbs technical infrastructure. The compromised application was not detected as malware by any of the three mobile malware scanning applications we tested. Full report is here: https://citizenlab.org/2013/04/permission-to-spy-an-analysis-of-android-mal… There is a Forbes news article about the report here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/04/01/evidence-mounts-that-c… Regards Ron Ronald Deibert Director, the Citizen Lab and the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies Munk School of Global Affairs University of Toronto (416) 946-8916 PGP: http://deibert.citizenlab.org/pubkey.txt http://deibert.citizenlab.org/ twitter.com/citizenlab r.deibert(a)utoronto.ca -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys(a)stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech ----- 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: [silk] Bitcoin
by Alaric Snell-Pym 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

On 06/20/11 17:59, Jon Cox wrote: > Yes, the value of Bitcoins crashed from $17.50 down to $ 0.01 > in the span of about 5 minutes yesterday, and though people > were allowed to buy at $0.01, they probably won't be able to > cash out, because Bitcoin just announced a rollback. > > A rather timely illustration, wouldn't you say? ;) That wasn't Bitcoin itself, just mtgox, the biggest exchange. Somebody hacked an account and sold a heap of bitcoins at a negligble price, so the exchange froze itself before the USD were actually cashed out and is resetting to the state before the exploit... There's been a few bitcoin heists, down to the usual computer security issues; bitcoin itself has, interestingly, remained unbroken, which bodes well for its underlying security. The mtgox heist could have happened just as well with any online banking system; it's just that the bitcoin economy rather new, so there's lots of little bit players suddenly finding themselves transferring hundreds of thousands of dollars without having the expertise or capital to build the kinds of security that banks do... ABS -- Alaric Snell-Pym http://www.snell-pym.org.uk/alaric/ ----- 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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