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ABC News: Some Say U.S. No Longer Feels Like Home - are leaving
by Steve Schear 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=235904&page=1 ...Sinicki, who has been job hunting in his wife's native France, doesn't blame Bush for what he believes is happening in America, but he doesn't believe Bush will change things for the better, either. "All these things were going on before Bush got elected," he said. "But I also think they got worse since Bush got elected. He's a symptom of the problem and he's making it worse."

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loosing mail..
by Nomen Nescio 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

I seem to have not received a few of the emails in the PROMIS thread. What is the best approach if one really wants to receive all emails? I'm currently only on minder and it seems from time to time mail doesn't get through? Should one simply subscribe to several nodes (and receive some redundant traffic)? I sent test messages (help command) to several of the listed mail servers a whort while back but only these responded: majordomo(a)ds.pro-ns.net majordomo(a)algebra.com majordomo(a)al-qaeda.net I did not receive an answer at all from minder even though I'm receiving my list mail through minder, so it cannot be all dead. Is there (still) an online archive somewhere being saved of the cypherpunks messages? Comments?

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U.S. to Order Wire-Transfer Firms To Boost Their Vigilance Overseas
by R.A. Hettinga 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110246667558793883,00.html> The Wall Street Journal December 8, 2004 U.S. BUSINESS NEWS U.S. to Order Wire-Transfer Firms To Boost Their Vigilance Overseas By GLENN R. SIMPSON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL December 8, 2004; Page A2 WASHINGTON -- The booming U.S. money-transfer industry must step up efforts to ensure that its overseas agents aren't engaging in corrupt activity, federal regulators say. Under rules expected to be issued today, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is ordering First Data Corp.'s Western Union and other wire-transfer companies to closely monitor their foreign agents for suspicious activity and to make sure they have policies against money laundering and no affiliations with criminal enterprises. During the next 180 days companies are expected to come up with programs for conducting due diligence of foreign agents, monitoring them and terminating them when necessary. Firms will be audited for compliance by the Internal Revenue Service. "If they are going to take steps to help protect the gateways to the U.S. financial system, this is a rational thing for them to be doing," said FinCEN director William Fox. The global-remittance industry moves more than $70 billion across international borders annually, mostly for migrant workers and small businesses, and is growing. Regulators are concerned that foreign agents of U.S. fund-transfer companies are a vulnerable area in the struggle against money laundering and other criminal activity because weak regulations in many other nations make it hard to keep criminals out. A page-one article in The Wall Street Journal in October reported that at Western Union alone, the number of agents has mushroomed, to more than 200,000 today from 50,000 in 1998, with much of the growth overseas where it is difficult to vet local operators. In justifying its new "guidance," FinCEN officials said they uncovered "several instances" of suspected criminal activity by foreign agents of U.S. businesses. "There are a variety of ways in which a money-services business may be susceptible to the unwitting facilitation of money laundering through foreign agents or counterparties," the agency said. The cases depict an elaborate and largely successful strategy to launder money through the U.S. financial system. First, FinCEN said, transfer agents made bulk sales of sequentially numbered travelers checks and large blocks of money orders to suspected criminals. These financial instruments "usually had illegible signatures or failed to designate a beneficiary or payor," FinCEN said. " The instruments were then negotiated with one or more dealers in goods, such as diamonds, gems or precious metals, deposited in foreign banks, and cleared through U.S. banks." By the end of the process, "the clearing banks were so far removed from the transactions that they could not trace back or screen either the intervening transactions or the individuals involved in the transactions." Mr. Fox said the examples cited aren't from one specific region of the world, and declined to name the companies. "It is a generalized problem and one we need to address across the board," he said. He emphasized that companies will have discretion to determine the exact steps needed for individual foreign partners depending on their assessment of the risks involved, and that the government isn't trying to discourage firms from entering into such relationships. "Our notion is to make this safer and more transparent, so it does not go underground," he said. -- ----------------- 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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Anti-Syphilis TV Message Finds Few Takers
by R.A. Hettinga 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

<http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-syphilis2dec02,1,2275683,print.story> The Los Angeles Times Anti-Syphilis TV Message Finds Few Takers Many stations reject public service spot aimed at gay men as inappropriate. By Jia-Rui Chong Times Staff Writer December 2, 2004 A public service ad paid for by the Los Angeles County public health agency to raise awareness about the dangers of syphilis has been rejected by local television stations that consider the content inappropriate. County health officials had signed off on the admittedly adult-oriented spot aimed at reaching gay men who are at greatest risk of getting the disease. But they said they were frustrated by their inability to get the ads broadcast at a time when Los Angeles was struggling with a high number of syphilis cases. "It's distressing to hear that some important public health messages are not being aired," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, county public health director. "My question would be, 'Is this content more "adult" than others that are being shown in the evening hours?' " "I don't find it objectionable," he said. "Would I show it to a 4- to 5-year-old? No. But do I think it's appropriate for an adult audience? Yes, I do." The debate comes as the Federal Communications Commission has increased its scrutiny of programming in recent months, following headline-grabbing incidents such as Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the Super Bowl half-time show. Last week, Viacom agreed to pay the federal government $3.5 million to settle complaints that it broadcast sexually explicit material on its radio and TV shows, though it is still fighting the $550,000 fine that resulted from the Super Bowl incident. The 30-second syphilis public service spot features "Phil the Sore," a lumpy, red cartoon character with an earring, who follows two men going home together. As the men later part, one of them, dressed in a bathrobe and underwear, says, "Let's do it again sometime." Phil then calls in his whole family, whose members carry boxes labeled "brain damage," "rash" and "blindness" - all potential results of syphilis. Public health officials said they worked with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to develop a campaign to combat the sexually transmitted disease after a dramatic rise in cases beginning in 2000, mostly among gay men. The agency said countywide early syphilis cases reported for that group grew from 93 to 364 between 2000 and 2003. This year, the numbers have dipped slightly to 254. In the general population, reported cases rose from 256 to 535 between 2000 and 2003, then declined to 407 this year. Broadcasters, however, said they considered the ad in poor taste. KCBS-TV Channel 2 spokesman Mike Nelson said he was troubled that the ad took such a light-hearted tone about a serious disease. He denied that recent FCC actions had any effect on the station's evaluation of the ad. "We found it to be inappropriate for a broadcast audience," Nelson said. "We consider the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases to be a serious matter. It's an issue we have addressed and will continue to recognize through fair, accurate and balanced news reporting, as well as broadcasting public service announcements." Despite pleas from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, none of the five local television stations that were approached - including affiliates for NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB - have run the ad. Two, however, have said they would consider showing the spot between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m., an offer that health officials said was not satisfactory because so few people would see it. KNBC-TV Channel 4 spokeswoman Erin Dittman said her station rejected a request to run the spot during prime-time's "Will & Grace," a show that features gay characters. But Dittman said the ad could run much later - sometime after midnight. The groups were able to get several cable stations, whose content is not regulated by the FCC, to air the spot. When network TV and radio stations' licenses come up for review every seven years, the FCC takes into account public complaints, said Christie Nordhielm, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan. As a result, television stations don't want to take any risks. "It's an easy decision," she said. "Between running the ad and getting money and the risk of losing their license or paying lawyers, they're going to reject the ad. It's a no-brainer." Officials at the American Family Assn., a Tupelo, Miss.-based organization that has pushed for the tightening of FCC standards on decency, expressed support for the stations' stance on the syphilis ads. But the organization's president, Tim Wildmon, said he was surprised that the ad had raised hackles in Los Angeles. "That's a pretty liberal, socially liberal place," he said. "We're not talking about the heartland or the South. It's good at least the station managers and operators are giving consideration to taste and appropriateness and seriousness. That's at least refreshing." Wildmon said he thought the ad did not take the disease seriously enough and seemed to embrace promiscuous sex. "I think if you're going to deal with something like this, you need to deal with it in a more serious manner," he said. Citing the part in the spot where one man says to another, "Let's do it again sometime," Wildmon said, "This doesn't address the root of the problem. The root of the problem is sexual activity." Les Pappas, creative director at the San Francisco ad agency that created the spot, said the anti-syphilis message had already been toned down. Two and a half years ago, Better World Advertising and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation presented both Los Angeles and San Francisco health departments with a "Healthy Penis" campaign featuring a smiling cartoon penis. San Francisco officials accepted the ads, calling them "fun." But Los Angeles wanted a more conservative version and went with "Stop the Sores." Pappas and officials of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said they wanted the "Stop the Sores" campaign to grab attention and chose to give the message a playful tone. Karen Mall of the healthcare foundation said she believed the campaign had been a success with its billboards and public appearances by a 6-foot-tall "Phil the Sore" mascot. A survey in 2003 showed that gay men who had seen the campaign messages were three times more likely to get tested for syphilis. -- ----------------- 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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primes as far as the eye can see, discrete continua
by Major Variola (ret) 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

Saw in a recent _Science_ that Ben Green of Cambridge proved that for any N, there are an infinite number of evenly spaced progressions of primes that are N numbers long. He got a prize for that. Damn straight. Now back to the decline of the neo-roman empire...

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FTC spotlights proposals on P2P risks
by R.A. Hettinga 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

<http://news.com.com/2102-1025_3-5482429.html?tag=st.util.print> CNET News FTC spotlights proposals on P2P risks By John Borland http://news.com.com/FTC+spotlights+proposals+on+P2P+risks/2100-1025_3-54824… Story last modified Tue Dec 07 18:41:00 PST 2004 The head of the Federal Trade Commission sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday highlighting efforts that file-swapping companies are making to disclose potential online risks. Legislators have criticized software such as Kazaa, Morpheus and eDonkey for exposing users to spyware, pornography and the risk of lawsuits. Although protesting that their software was no more risky than use of the Internet at large, peer-to-peer companies have worked with the FTC to develop better consumer notification techniques. The FTC included several of those proposals with its letter to Congress, saying that when implemented, they would do a better job of warning consumers. "(Peer-to-peer) industry members have developed proposed risk disclosures that we believe would be a substantial improvement over current practices," FTC Chair Deborah Platt Majoras wrote in the letter. "We intend to monitor and report back to interested members of Congress on the extent to which P2P file-sharing program distributors implement these proposed risk disclosures." The letter follows a tumultuous year in Congress for file-swapping companies, which faced proposed legislation that would have overturned a series of court rulings to make them responsible for copyright infringement on their networks. That legislation ultimately did not pass but could return next year. Under the new proposals, consumers would be notified when the software is installed that downloading music, games, movies or software without authorization is illegal. The companies' Web sites would also have detailed information about other possible risks in using the software. Representatives for file-swapping trade associations said the FTC letter could help show legislators that they are serious about playing by the rules. "We are grateful for the interest that the Federal Trade Commission has taken in this young industry's efforts at self-regulation," Distributed Computing Industry Alliance Chief Executive Officer Marty Lafferty said in a statement. "We hope the FTC letter to Congress will help foster a better understanding on the Hill of the realities of P2P technologies and of the actions being taken by responsible parties to commercially develop this new distribution channel." The FTC will hold a two-day session studying the consumer impacts of file-swapping technology beginning Dec. 15. -- ----------------- 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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k-way hash collisions
by R.A. Hettinga 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

--- begin forwarded text Delivered-To: cryptography(a)metzdowd.com Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 07:21:18 -0800 (PST) From: kas kati <kaskati2003(a)yahoo.com> Subject: k-way hash collisions To: cryptography(a)metzdowd.com Sender: owner-cryptography(a)metzdowd.com For an ideal hash function, the complexity of finding a k-way collision is O(2^{(k-1)n/k}) therefore as k becomes larger, the complexity of a k-way collision attack approaches the complexity of a pre-image attack. Recently, Joux showed a generic multi-collision attack for iterated hash functions to reduce the k-way collision complexity to O(log(k)*2^{(n/2)}). But in his attack the pre-images are not independent. They are just combinations of block collisions of k blocks. Here are my questions: 1. How can the formula for the complexity of finding a k-way collision be derived? 2. Is there any hash design that allows to reduce the complexity of k-way collision for "independent" pre-images while preserving the complexity of the pre-image attack? Thanks in advance for your interest. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)metzdowd.com --- 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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Supremes need hanging
by Major Variola (ret) 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

At 07:37 PM 12/7/04 -0500, R.A. Hettinga wrote: ><http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/v-pfriendly/story/259512p-222307c.html> >Klan's unmasked for city protests > The hoods hiding under the white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan will have to >show their faces if they want to protest in New York City, the Supreme >Court decided yesterday. Anonymity is as american as the BoR. The supremes need thermal chimney ascension for their deriliction of sworn duty.

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Kein Thema
by MPajer＠aol.com 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

unsubscribe

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cog sci as a tool of the beast?
by Major Variola (ret) 08 Dec '04

08 Dec '04

At 07:21 PM 12/7/04 -0500, R.W. (Bob) Erickson wrote: >One of the tools currently being used in the cognitive sciences is the >measurement of reaction time to stimulus. >It turns out that the length of time it takes to given situations is a >credible proxy for how difficult the discrimination is to make. >Imagine a paranoia involving mysterious e-mail delays and the length >of time it takes to catagorize The viewscreens of the future will simply monitor the blood flow to various areas of the cortex to see if we are lying when we express our minute of hate, or love for the rulers. RT is so passe.

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