- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

Re: New seccure commercial messaging site?
by Major Variola (ret) 12 May '03

12 May '03

At 01:05 PM 5/12/03 -0700, barabbus(a)hushmail.com wrote: >http://www.stealthmessage.com/s/home/index.cfm?re=about Interesting, but: 1. Who clicks on links in unsolicited email? Workaround is for recipient to go to site on their own. 2. Who browses with Javascript enabled? Java is at least safe (rather, much safer) and would do the same. 3. Who believes in 'self-destructing' bits? Merely forgetting your passphrase suffices, IFF your correspondent hasn't screengrabbed your message (FWIW). I do like giving Joe Sixpack traffic-analysis resistance though, without (e.g.) having to scan some usenet list or spend bandwidth with stego. I also realize the answer to 1-3 is most sheeple, but still.. --- If I have nothing to hide, nobody wants to know. -- Steve Schear

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Cryptoanarchy: violence or peace?
by Nomen Nescio 12 May '03

12 May '03

Tim May writes: > I'd take > everyone involved in blocking Wingspread, the project, and have them > hanged for stealing Ry Kelley's property. I figure killing the 50 or 70 > major culprits would send a message. Cryptoanarchy will someday mean > the millions who need to be punished for their crimes will in fact be > punished and converted into fertilizer, soap, lampshades, and other > things which can be sold to partially pay for their crimes.) How exactly will cryptoanarchy accomplish this? Millions will be killed, and their remains used in this way? Please spell out the details. Cryptoanarchy could reduce the revenues available to government (but they could still lay taxes on visible physical property like land - a victory for the Georgeists after all). It could allow people to traffic in forbidden information goods, to make untraceable payments. It's possible there could be an increase in crimes like the ones you support, but those will still involve activity in the physical world. Assuming that human nature remains constant, people will still support the same general policies that we see today. There will not be widespread general support for turning millions into lampshades, any more than there is in the present world. How could a few disaffected cranks cause millions to be murdered? And even supposing that this can be accomplished, what about other people unhappy with the state of things? What will stop radical Greens from using the tools of cryptoanarchy to further their own violent goals, anonymously executing people for developing their own land? Mr. Kelley above might have faced far worse if he had proceeded with "Wingspread" under a framework of widespread cryptoanarcy. Instead of being shut down and harmed financially, he could have been tortured and murdered. But there is no evidence that cryptoanarchy will grant so much power for violence to an angry minority. The physical world will still exist, governments can function there based on taxing physical goods, and they will deter crime and punish criminals just as they do today. The true nature of cryptoanarchy is fundamentally peaceful. It offers an opportunity for people to interact in a world and framework where physical coercion is impossible. It points to a new form of wealth and value, which is built on richness of information and connectivity, rather than physical wealth. Neal Stephenson was prophetic in his vision of Hiro Protagonist living a simple, anonymous, almost barren life in the physical world while engaging in online activities of superlative excitement and power. This is the world which cryptoanarchy makes possible, a world of peace and fulfillment, not the dark, twisted and violent picture you conjure up in your sickening revenge fantasies.

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RE: changes at lne.com
by Trei, Peter 12 May '03

12 May '03

I hope you whitelist known regular posters. I subscribe to minder, but often post thru lne. Peter Trei > ---------- > From: Eric Murray[SMTP:ericm@lne.com] > Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 12:57 PM > To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com > Subject: changes at lne.com > > The spam load at lne.com is WAY too high. > Last month for example there was an average of 96 spams per day submitted > to cypherpunks(a)lne.com. "submitted" means that it was the first > time we saw that particular mail. Since the CDR system sends everything > to all nodes, that means we got and passed on about 4x that number. > 800 spams a day is a waste. > > So I have changed the way we deal with CDR mail. We will no longer pass > to other CDRs mail that we would not send to subscribers. Eliminating > outbound spam will cut our cypherpunks spam load in half. > > I am also going to filter the non-subscriber mail more effectively. > Lately I have had to check about 50 spams a day to see if they are > actually posts to the list. I find one real post every two or three days. > Now I will save for human processing only the non-subscriber mail that is > PGP signed or encrypted, or that looks like a reply. > The majority of non-subscriber mails I've forwarded to the list > have been replies. (I'll save everything for a while to make > sure my filtering works). > > As always, other CDR operators and anyone else interested > in running a CDR are welcome to my scripts. > > Eric

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Re: community gardens
by Tyler Durden 12 May '03

12 May '03

"Yup. Barbed wire definitely spruces up a community..... " I guess you've never been to Brooklyn Neighborhoods such as Red Hook or East New York... -TD >From: Bill Stewart <bill.stewart(a)pobox.com> >To: "Tyler Durden" <camera_lumina(a)hotmail.com> >CC: cypherpunks(a)minder.net >Subject: Re: community gardens >Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 10:33:01 -0700 > > >>Tim May wrote... >>"I said I saw the same thing in Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Both are said >>to be "progressive" communities, but in both places the so-called >>community garden areas are essentially for hoboes and deadbeats to scratch >>at." > >Minor technical correction - hoboes are migrant workers, >as opposed to tramps, who are migrant non-workers, >or bums, who are non-migrant non-workers, >and hoboes aren't likely to be hanging out in that kind of area, >at least during the times of year there's active gardening going on, >because that's when they're most likely to be working on farms. >That may be different down in Watsonville, where there's a lot of >railroad connectivity and a lot of farms, but up in Santa Cruz and >certainly up in Berkeley, it's much more likely to just be bums. > >>At 10:21 AM 05/12/2003 -0400, Tyler Durden wrote: >>In NYC the phenomenon is entirely different. First of all, the gardens are >>almost always gated and barbwired. For two, its primarily the non-drugged >>members of a community that are working the garden, and a prime reason for >>creating the garden is to pretty up and otherwise crappy looking block. >>The flowers and produce of the garden are almost tertiary. > >Yup. Barbed wire definitely spruces up a community..... > _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

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Homeland insecurity
by Tim Meehan 12 May '03

12 May '03

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--boy-bordercrossin0512may12… Boy bikes undetected into the United States May 12, 2003, 11:11 AM EDT NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- A 7-year-old Canadian boy apparently biked into the United States undetected by U.S. Customs officials, leaving his parents and police questioning how such a security breach could occur. Mitchel Hernder rode his bike about 8 1/2 miles Saturday, ending up at a busy intersection in Niagara Falls. U.S. Customs officials on Sunday said they were unsure how the mistake occurred. "What surprises me is that he crossed the border and got through without being caught," Niagara Falls Police Lt. Salvatore Pino told The Buffalo News. "This child basically got through Customs without being stopped by anybody." Mitchel, described as mildly autistic, apparently slipped away from his Niagara Falls, Ontario, home and rode away on his sister's bike. His parents called Niagara Regional Police about 4:15 p.m. and a search was launched involving dozens of officers, family members and neighbors. Across the border, meanwhile, a motorist noticed the boy standing in the middle of a busy intersection and called police about 5:45 p.m. Police suspect Mitchel rode his bike to the two-tier Whirlpool Bridge, about 1 1/2 miles from his home, and made his way across on either the deck for vehicle traffic or one with abandoned train tracks. "How can a kid walk across the border in these times of high security?" his father, Mark Hernder, asked. "It blows me away how he made it that far. I guess someone wasn't watching the gate." The boy told police his name and address and then waited for his father to pick him up at a police station. "If he didn't know his name or his address, I don't think we would have ever found him," Hernder said. "We would have never thought to look for him in America." Janet Rapaport, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs & Border Protection, said the incident would be investigated. "If he did come across the border, we didn't encounter him," Rapaport said.

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None
by Tyler Durden 12 May '03

12 May '03

Tim May wrote... "I said I saw the same thing in Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Both are said to be "progressive" communities, but in both places the so-called community garden areas are essentially for hoboes and deadbeats to scratch at." Well, there's a selection effect that's going to take place in many of the cities under discussion. In NYC both rich and poor live in the city (sometimes within blocks of each other, though $$$ are pushing non-$$$ to the outer boroughs). In a lot of American cities, your "inner city" is inhabited by lower income folks and carless down-and-outs almost exclusively. So of course you'll see community gardens overrun. In NYC the phenomenon is entirely different. First of all, the gardens are almost always gated and barbwired. For two, its primarily the non-drugged members of a community that are working the garden, and a prime reason for creating the garden is to pretty up and otherwise crappy looking block. The flowers and produce of the garden are almost tertiary. In addition, in NYC we see a lot of abandoned properties that remain brick/rat/garbage lots for years and years, and so the locals decide to do something about it and clean it up. (Sometimes its city property, sometimes 'private'). Of course, we could talk about philosophy and what these people "should" do, but if I were living in one of those areas and didn't have the $$$ to move out, I'd definitely try to fix up our community, and to hell with philosophies of "collective ownership" statism, communism or so on. You want your block to look nice, and the locals DO something. How simple is that? And then, after years of working the garden, the neighborhood starts to look/feel better and then all of a sudden an "owner" appears who wants to bulldoze your garden. Fuck that. I'd be pissed off too, and try to fight the 'dozers. If Tim May or somebody like him tried to sit me down and explain his philosophies for a few hours and why I "had no right" to stop the 'dozers, I'd probably say, "Well, I'm not smart enough to understand your theories, but I wish you well with them. Hey--there's the bulldozers, gotta go!" -TD _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail

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Yet Another Reason to Reject the Pledge of Allegiance
by Steve Schear 12 May '03

12 May '03

The firestorm which began a few months back in the 9th Circuit is now before the Supreme Court. At issue is whether a child can be forced to recite a pledge which is abhorrent to either the student's or the parent's religious convictions. But if thought of another reason to reject the Pledge: its a fraud. "I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." There hasn't been a Republic is 150 years. Not since the illegally passed 14th Amendment made Federal law supreme in almost all areas over State laws. The states are now little more than Directorates or Districts (using the French term) of the Federal government. steve "A Jobless Recovery is like a Breadless Sandwich." -- Steve Schear

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givin it up
by Harmon Seaver 12 May '03

12 May '03

Looks like the real search for WOMD is over: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3018063.stm -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com

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Re: Underestimating long-term consequences of cryptoanarchy
by Harmon Seaver 12 May '03

12 May '03

On Sun, May 11, 2003 at 10:36:08AM -0700, Tim May wrote: > On Sunday, May 11, 2003, at 06:35 AM, Harmon Seaver wrote: > > >On Sat, May 10, 2003 at 09:10:01PM -0700, Tim May wrote: > >>On Saturday, May 10, 2003, at 08:44 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote: > >> > >>>On Sat, May 10, 2003 at 10:03:43AM -0700, Tim May wrote: > >>>>Which is all evolution in action, except that government should not > >>>>be > >>>>in the construction and business development business. (I would go > >>>>further and say that nothing in the U.S. Constitution, which states > >>>>and > >>>>localities are bound by, justifies taking money from citizens to > >>>>give > >>>>to businesses. No matter "how smart an investment" it looks to be. > >>>>Ditto for governments running gambling operations, but I digress.) > >>>> > >>> I agree with all the rest of this, however, I think you're wrong > >>>about the > >>>gambling. I think that's the only way gov't ought to be allowed to > >>>fund itself, > >>>by selling lottery tickets. > >> > >>A superficially good idea ("sounds good!"), but ultimately silly. > >> > >>Government bans gambling, or heavily regulates it, or declares illegal > >>the exact odds it grants itself. > > > > > > You're not making much sense here, Tim. Who said anything about > >making > >gambling illegal? > > > > You're being deliberately obtuse. You're on the verge of entering my > filter file. > > Gambling is not a free market in most U.S. states. Government runs the > gambling franchise in most states. > > This is what I said. I'm being obtuse? Give me a break. I clearly said that "I think that's the only way gov't ought to be allowed to fund itself, is by selling lottery tickets." I can't imagine how anyone could read that and think that I was talking about the situation we live in today. Who cares if gambling is illegal today? WTF does that have to do with anything -- I was clearly talking about some hypothetical future scenario, as in a vastly reduced government where lotteries were what they used for funding instead of taxes. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com

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RE: Collectivism in "community gardens"
by Trei, Peter 11 May '03

11 May '03

Tim May wrote: > (I'm joking about "conflict vegetables." But ever since all the various > PC television shows and movies started nattering about "conflict > diamonds," I have realized this is just another PC scam. If I buy > diamonds from Zaire I don't give a hoot in hell that they were bought > from "capitalist roaders" or whomever the U.N. has declared to be > politically incorrect. Seeing a James Bond movie centered around > "conflict diamonds" made me ill.) > In the spirit of 'one man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter', I have taken to calling these 'liberation diamonds'. Peter

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