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Survey: People want receipt showing how they voted
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

<http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2004/nov/12/517815076.html> Las Vegas SUN Photo: Larry Lomax Las Vegas SUN Today: November 12, 2004 at 9:43:50 PST Survey: People want receipt showing how they voted LAS VEGAS SUN An Election Day poll in Las Vegas indicated that 81 percent of voters surveyed want to take home a private "ATM style" receipt to verify for themselves their vote was counted correctly, a consulting group said Wednesday. Lombardo Consulting Group said it surveyed 362 voters in conjunction with political science professor Michael John Burton of Ohio University. Given a choice between leaving a voter-verified paper ballot at the polling place or taking home a receipt, 60 percent of those asked said they preferred take-home receipts and self-verification, and 36 percent said they preferred the idea of leaving a paper ballot with election officials. Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, the man responsible for overseeing elections throughout the state, opposes giving voters a printed receipt, however. He said that while it may sound like a good idea, it could lead to many problems. An employer could require a worker to show his receipt to prove he voted a certain way, or the worker could be subject to loss of his job if he didn't follow the wishes of the employer, Heller said. Unions could require a member to verify he voted a certain way in order to keep his membership, said Heller. Any of those actions would be illegal, however. Heller also said the printed receipts could lead to electioneering problems. He referred to a ruling from his office that a casino could not give free meals to customers who showed records that they had cast their ballots. None of the problems he cited would be caused by voters themselves, however. Nevada was the only state to use "statewide" voter-verified paper ballot printers attached to electronic voting machines on Election Day. In a press release, Burton said that "many voters thought a private receipt that they could take home would be the best way to know if their vote was counted correctly. People are used to getting receipts from ATMs or gas stations -- and they liked the idea of getting a receipt from the voting booth." During the election in Nevada, voters were instructed by poll workers to compare their vote selections on the electronic screen with what was printed on the voter verified paper ballot scroll. The paper ballot scrolls were retained by election officials for use in post-election audits or recounts. The survey also examined voter interaction with Nevada's voter-verified paper ballot machines and found that only 31 percent of the voters actually compared the entire paper ballot to the machine ballot in order to ensure their vote was recorded accurately. Lombardo Consulting Group is a corporate and political public opinion research firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Complete survey results can be found at http://www.lombardo consulting group.com /docs/ nvvotersurvey.pdf -- ----------------- 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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Bin Laden Has "Religious Approval" To Use Nuke
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

<http://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm> The Drudge Report Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers FORMER HEAD OF CIA'S OSAMA BIN LADEN UNIT SAYS THE QAEDA LEADER HAS SECURED RELIGIOUS APPROVAL TO USE A NUCLEAR BOMB AGAINST AMERICANS Fri Nov 12 2004 12:02:34 ET Osama bin Laden now has religious approval to use a nuclear device against Americans, says the former head of the CIA unit charged with tracking down the Saudi terrorist. The former agent, Michael Scheuer, speaks to Steve Kroft in his first television interview without disguise to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Nov. 14 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Scheuer was until recently known as the "anonymous" author of two books critical of the West's response to bin Laden and al Qaeda, the most recent of which is titled Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror. No one in the West knows more about the Qaeda leader than Scheuer, who has tracked him since the mid-1980s. The CIA allowed him to write the books provided he remain anonymous, but now is allowing him to reveal himself for the first time on Sunday's broadcast; he formally leaves the Agency today (12). Even if bin Laden had a nuclear weapon, he probably wouldn't have used it for a lack of proper religious authority - authority he has now. "[Bin Laden] secured from a Saudi sheik...a rather long treatise on the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Americans," says Scheuer. "[The treatise] found that he was perfectly within his rights to use them. Muslims argue that the United States is responsible for millions of dead Muslims around the world, so reciprocity would mean you could kill millions of Americans," Scheuer tells Kroft. Scheuer says bin Laden was criticized by some Muslims for the 9/11 attack because he killed so many people without enough warning and before offering to help convert them to Islam. But now bin Laden has addressed the American people and given fair warning. "They're intention is to end the war as soon as they can and to ratchet up the pain for the Americans until we get out of their region....If they acquire the weapon, they will use it, whether it's chemical, biological or some sort of nuclear weapon," says Scheuer. As the head of the CIA unit charged with tracking bin Laden from 1996 to 1999, Scheuer says he never had enough people to do the job right. He blames former CIA Director George Tenet. "One of the questions that should have been asked of Mr. Tenet was why were there always enough people for the public relations office, for the academic outreach office, for the diversity and multi-cultural office? All those things are admirable and necessary but none of them are protecting the American people from a foreign threat," says Scheuer. And the threat posed by bin Laden is also underestimated, says Scheuer. "I think our leaders over the last decade have done the American people a disservice...continuing to characterize Osama bin Laden as a thug, as a gangster," he says. "Until we respect him, sir, we are going to die in numbers that are probably unnecessary, yes. He's a very, very talented man and a very worthy opponent," he tells Kroft. Until today (12), Scheuer was a senior official in the CIA's counter terrorism unit and a special advisor to the head of the agency's bin Laden unit. Developing... -- ----------------- 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: China's wealthy bypass the banks
by Tyler Durden 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

>That is the revisionist version - that china was a free and >capitalist society, therefore freedom is not enough to ensure >modernity and industrialization - a proposition as ludicrous as >similar accounts of more recently existent despotic states. I can't tell if you're arguing me with or just yourself. You seem to equate disagreement with your assessment with a viewpoint that is completely opposite. To say that China was "despotic" would, on average, be accurate. But then again, one must remember that a form of despotism where the despots are months away is very different from modern forms of despotism. Today's China is in some ways similar to China during many dynasties. The emperor sleeps some insect with a big, fat stinger awakens him and then he gets mad, swats it, and then goes back to sleep. When the locals are fairly certain the emperor is sleeping soundly, they go about their business. Call it despotism if you want, but really it's essentially Chinese. -TD

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Re: China's wealthy bypass the banks
by Tyler Durden 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

Ah. This is an interesting point. The Qing were 1) Manchus (ie, not Han Chinese)...they were basically a foreign occupation that stuck around for a while; and 2) (Nominally Tibetan) Buddhists. Although they of course adhered to the larger Confucian notions, they in many ways deviated from mainstream Confucian beliefs. Also, you need to get more specific about WHEN during the Qing dynasty you believed this occurred. During the 19th century this is most certainly NOT true, and there are many famous naval battles that occurred between the British and the Chinese navies (in fact, the famous Stone Boat in the Summer palace was built using funds that were supposed to pay for real ships). But perhaps you meant ocean-going boat ownership by private individuals, and that is certainly something that was a BIG no-no during many epochs of Chinese civilization. And indeed, this is probably precisely why the Chinese had to defend themselves from British attack, rather than the other way around. But this has nothing to do with Confucianism per se, but is more directly related to good old traditional Chinese xenophobia. In the end, Chinese unification was probably a devil's bargain. It created a far more stable "nation", but at the cost of human freedom. But it's not precisely like this was imposed on the populace from without...that it was successful at all in a place as large and remote as China is a testimony to Chinese dislike of "Wai Guo" culture. -TD >From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd(a)echeque.com> >To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >Subject: Re: China's wealthy bypass the banks >Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 10:11:09 -0800 > > -- >ken wrote: > > > And when was this stagnation? > >R.A. Hettinga wrote: > > Two words: Ming Navy > >For those who need more words, the Qing Dynasty forbade >ownership or building of ocean going vessels, on pain of death >- the early equivalent of the iron curtain. > > --digsig > James A. Donald > 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG > Iw7Wkew4KTQWmS2lvvIMd7+fR3rWAWagnqJ4cF0k > 4Ee4DcVaw474VQFVRrwVAXR4XZSXiaNtRuKXYpsBo

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Re: China's wealthy bypass the banks
by Tyler Durden 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

OK, Mr Donald. You clearly imagine the China of 2,500 years ago to operate like a modern 20th century nation-state. You need to rethink this, given a few simple facts: 1. There were no telephones during Confucious' time. 2. Several provinces of China are larger than all of Western Europe. Even a very high-priority message could take months to propagate. 3. "Control' of China 2500 years ago was almost nonexistent. It was a geographically, ethnically, and linguistically diverse set of quasi-nation-states. To even imagine them to be anything like a modern nation state indicates you are extrapolating your bizarre little philosophical universe well beyond the breaking point. (But then again, that wasn't too hard!) 4. Event the early Ryu-Jya (Legalists) were nothing like what you imagine modern laws to be. In fact, their activity probably centers on creating an established set of standardized weights (ie, for weighing food and whatnot). "Law" in early China was NOTHING like what you imagine it to be, and was a higly decentralized affair. Indeed, modern China is rapidly 'deteriorated' into the same. As for... >Which is a commie nazi way of saying that the the Confucians >were not a heck of a lot different from the legalists - and the >legalists set up an early version of the standard highly >centralized totalitarian terror state, which doubtless appears >quite enlightened to the likes of Tyler Durden. Again, you seem to visualize me as (-1) times yourself, or basically your old commie self. The point I continue to harp on (and that you fail to understand) is that, despite how well one may argue that one sees reality 'objectively' (and others don't), completely alternate viewpoints are possible and very often held by others throughout the world. An action like the US in Iraq (irregardless of what you believe the objective reality to be) is futile precisely because it only re-inforces the world view of the locals (ie, that the US is a giant, bullying oppressive regime that has stuck it's big dick into the holy land and needs force to remove it). In other words, perception is often reality, and until you (and others like you) accept that, then we'll continue to have bloodbath after bloodbath, initated by 'Christian' and 'Islamic' true believers alike. -TD >From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd(a)echeque.com> >To: cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: Re: China's wealthy bypass the banks >Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 09:41:20 -0800 > > -- >On 12 Nov 2004 at 9:51, Tyler Durden wrote: > > As far as I'm concerned, what Kung Tze does ca 5 BCE is > > really consdolidate and codify a large and diverse body of > > practices and beliefs under a fairly unified set of ethical > > ideas. In that sense, the Legalists were merely a refocusing > > of the same general body of mores, etc...into a somewhat > > different direction. One might call it a competing school to > > Kung Tze de Jiao Xun, but I would argue only because, at that > > time, Kung Tze "authority" as it's known today was by no > > means completely established. But in a sense, the early > > legalists weren't a HECK of a lot different from Confucious. > >Which is a commie nazi way of saying that the the Confucians >were not a heck of a lot different from the legalists - and the >legalists set up an early version of the standard highly >centralized totalitarian terror state, which doubtless appears >quite enlightened to the likes of Tyler Durden. > > --digsig > James A. Donald > 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG > k9Dumf7XMAhNCRDuxNd2aKQtrN2PqD2p2l3TDcjw > 4SMVqw0LGnr3oZKU5v0WQpooJ4tKHdZvNiokzj2e9

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Banks brace for cashpoint attack
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/banks_prepare_for_atm_cyber_crime/p…> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Security ; Network Security ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/banks_prepare_for_atm_cyber_crime/ Banks brace for cashpoint attack By Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus (klp at securityfocus.com) Published Thursday 11th November 2004 10:42 GMT An international group of law enforcement and financial industry associations hopes to prevent a new type of bank robbery before it gets off the ground: cyber attacks against automated teller machines. This fall the Global ATM Security Alliance (GASA) published what it says are the first international cyber security guidelines specifically tailored to cash machines. Experts see new dangers as legacy ATMs running OS/2 give way to modern terminals built on Microsoft Windows. "The recommendations presented in this manual are essentially designed to provide a common sense approach to ... the rapidly changing threat model that the introduction to the ATM channel of the Windows XP and other common use operating systems, as well as the TCP/IP network protocol suite, has created," said the manual's author, Ian Simpson, in a statement. The move comes one year after the Nachi worm compromised (http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7517) Windows-based automated teller machines at two financial institutions, in the only acknowledged case of malicious code penetrating ATMs. The cash machines, made by Diebold, were built on Windows XP Embedded, which suffered from the RPC DCOM security hole Nachi exploited. In response to the incident, Diebold began shipping new Windows-based ATMs preinstalled with host-based firewall software, and offered to add the program for existing customers. Though ATMs typically sit on private networks or VPNs, supposedly-isolated networks often have undocumented connections to the Internet, or can fall to a piece of malicious code inadvertently carried beyond the firewall on a laptop computer. Last year's Slammer worm indirectly shut down some 13,000 Bank of America ATMs by infecting database servers on the same network, and spewing so much traffic that the cash machines couldn't processes customer transactions. The goal of the ATM cyber security best practices document, which has not been made public, and a related white paper developed by GASA, is "to be proactive in fighting what might be the next wave of ATM crime - namely cyber attacks," said Mike Lee, founding coordinator of the group, in a statement. GASA's members include fraud prevention agencies, financial industry associations, the US Secret Service, Visa and MasterCard, and some ATM networks and manufacturers, including Diebold and NCR. Related stories ATMs in peril from computer worms? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/20/atm_viral_peril/) The ATM keypad as security portcullis (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/21/atm_keypad_security/) Ukrainian teen fights the Rise of the Machines (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/13/girl_terminates_atm/) -- ----------------- 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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FBI captures Intel staffer with Texas-sized gun cache
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

Ha! Made you look! Cheers, RAH See .sig, below... ------------------- <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/intel_gun_man/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Odds and Sods ; Bootnotes ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/intel_gun_man/ FBI captures Intel staffer with Texas-sized gun cache By Ashlee Vance in Chicago (ashlee.vance at theregister.co.uk) Published Thursday 11th November 2004 19:18 GMT It's not often that "AK-47" and "Intel" make it into the same sentence, but that's exactly what just happened after it was learned that a former Intel employee has been charged with plotting to attack one of the company's plants in Arizona. Last month, David Dugan was arrested after agents observed him "picking up an AK-47 and 1000 rounds of ammunition" at an Arizona gun shop. Dugan had been under surveillance ever since he allegedly placed a phone call to a family member, suggesting that he planned to shoot up Intel's Chanlder, Arizona plant. Intel confirmed that Dugan was a former employee, and investigators suspect that the man was disgruntled after being fired and enduring a long-standing dispute over disability payments. "The criminal complaint charges that on October 16, 2004, Dugan communicated with a family member in Missouri via telephone, discussing that Dugan had received a letter of termination from Intel and describing ways in which Dugan would cause production at Intel to cease and that people would possibly be hurt at the production facility," the Arizona District Attorney said in a statement. Dugan has been charged with one count of of transmitting a threat via the telephone. He could face up five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Agents searched Dugan's home and found an AK-47, a loaded rifle, a loaded shotgun, two handguns and 1800 rounds of ammunition. In Texas, that's known as "the executive weekend retreat package." The FBI alleges that Dugan planned to open up gas pipes in the basement of the Chandler plant and then to begin shooting at machinery. The former manufacturing technician was looking to cause millions in damages, according to the FBI's complaint. A reporter for the Arizona Republic travelled over to Dugan's home and interviewed some of his neighbors. "My daughter had seen him out walking his dog," one neighbor told the paper. "He had just had surgery, and he was very feeble in his walk." A sign on Dugan's front door said, "No trespassing. No solicitations. Place nothing on doorknob. Post no bills please," according to the paper. . Related links Arizona Republic breaks the story (http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/1030cr-workplace30Z6.h…) Follow up on assault weapons (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/tempe/articles/1110gr-thomason10Z6…) Related stories For sale: missiles, heroin and exploding Barbies (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/missiles_and_exploding_barbies/) Eight fined in eBay auction scam (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/ebay_auction/) 'See through clothes' scanner gets outing at Heathrow (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/heathrow_scanner_pilot/) 37 arrested in net gun swoop (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/05/met_guns_net/) Canada offers refuge to distraught Democrats (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/05/canada_offers_refuge/) ) Copyright 2004 -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "When I was your age we didn't have Tim May! We had to be paranoid on our own! And we were grateful!" --Alan Olsen

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E-pass defeats HP, MS' case dismissal demand
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/e-pass_vs_ms_hp_nov_04/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Mobile ; Devices ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/11/e-pass_vs_ms_hp_nov_04/ E-pass defeats HP, MS' case dismissal demand By Tony Smith (tony.smith at theregister.co.uk) Published Thursday 11th November 2004 16:27 GMT Microsoft and HP have suffered a set-back in their attempt to defend themselves against allegations made by a patent holding company that their PDA software and hardware violates its intellectual property. Last week, Judge Kenneth M Hoyt of the US District Court for Southern Texas in Houston rejected a request made by Microsoft and HP in July this year that a series of claims made in the patent, number 5,276,311 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=…) filed in 1989 and granted in 1994, were invalid due to prior art. ? E-pass' patent covers a "multifunction electronic card" which can be used to store information on a range of credit and debit cards, accessed securely through a password system. Essentially, it describes a single device that users can carry around in place of a multitude of cards. Long-time Register readers will recall that E-pass sued not only Microsoft and Compaq (now part of HP), but 3Com's Palm subsidiary (now PalmOne). In each case, it accused them of selling PDAs that duplicate functionality and techniques outlined in its patent, without authorisation. The Palm action was initiated in 2000 (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/03/01/smart_card_company_sues_over/) the Microsoft/HP case in 2002. E-pass is also suing the Visa organisation. It claims Visa met the company in 2000. After the meeting, it never heard from Visa again, until it spotted Visa's then VP for Product Development, Susan Gordon-Lathrop, appear with then Palm CEO Carl Yankowski to demo a Palm storing secure credit card details. The MS/HP case was put on hold pending the outcome of the Palm action, which initially saw Palm victorious - only to be defeated at appeal. Much of the legal toing and froing to date has centred on the patent's use of the word 'card' and what that word means exactly, in this context. 'Card', the defendants claimed, means a specific thing - something thin, flat and the size of a credit card. Our devices are no so sized, said Palm - ergo, they do not infringe E-pass' patent. The US District Court of Northern California agreed, but in August 2003, the appeal court rejected (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/22/judge_dismisses_palm_patent_case/) the verdict, sending the case back to the lower court. The Court of Appeal did not address Palm's infringement or otherwise of E-pass' patent, only that the lower court had been mistaken in its application of the law. The following November, E-pass won the right (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/12/epass_allowed_to_reopen_microsoft/) to re-commence its action against Microsoft and HP on the basis of that appeal court judgement. In February 2004, Judge Hoyt confirmed (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/27/judge_denies_ms_attempt/) the appeal court's ruling and its definition of the word 'card' - it's any "flat, rectangular piece of stiff material", in case you were wondering - and essentially brought the Microsoft/HP case into alignment with the Palm action. The latest judgement centres on a request for dismissal based on prior art. Microsoft and HP claim US patent number 4,701,601 (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=…) the Visa SuperSmart card - which embodies that patent - and a manual designed for the SuperSmart both detail key elements of E-pass' patent before 5,276,311 was filed. However, Judge Hoyt ruled that in each of the three cases they did not anticipate the claims made in E-pass' patent. Assuming no further requests are made, the case is scheduled to go to trial in March 2005. . Related stories Judge denies MS attempt to re-define 'card' (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/27/judge_denies_ms_attempt/) E-Pass allowed to re-open Microsoft, HP patent lawsuits (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/12/epass_allowed_to_reopen_microsoft/) Judge dismisses Palm patent case win (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/08/22/judge_dismisses_palm_patent_case/) Smart card company sues over Palm patent piracy claim (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/03/01/smart_card_company_sues_over/) ) Copyright 2004 -- ----------------- 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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Keeping Better Track From Factory to Checkout
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/technology/circuits/11howw.html?8cir=&ore…> The New York Times November 11, 2004 HOW IT WORKS Keeping Better Track From Factory to Checkout By BARNABY J. FEDER IKE investing or hitting a baseball, using radio scanners to wirelessly identify consumer products is simple in concept but dauntingly complex in reality. The current form of the decades-old technology, now known as radio frequency identification, or RFID, has three building blocks: small tags built around microchips that carry a digital identification code; scanners, which are also known as readers; and networking hardware and software to link scanners to computer databases. The biggest challenge for retailers and their suppliers has been melding the building blocks into systems that are reliable without being cumbersome or unduly expensive. Unlike the RFID systems that automatically collect tolls from motorists or control access to buildings, those designed for commerce call for disposable, batteryless tags that are tiny and unobtrusive. And since the tags are meant to be slapped on every pallet or carton or even on every item, they must be cheap enough for businesses to buy them by the hundreds of millions. Perhaps most important, retailers need software capable of filtering out huge amounts of data while recognizing relevant information - when an item has unexpectedly disappeared from a shipment, for example. "It's been very hard to do an intelligent investigation into how you need to change the business because the technology is not good enough yet," said Simon Ellis, supply chain futurist for Unilever, the consumer products company. "It's costing over $1 a case, which is fine for a pilot test. But there is no technology to get labels onto our production-line products." The ultimate goal of an RFID system is to track individual products all the way from manufacture to sale. Under such a system, every item would have a tag embedded in its label or attached separately. The tag consists of a microchip and a flat ribbon of antenna; the microchip would contain a unique code identifying the manufacturer, type of product and individual serial number in a format approved by EPCglobal USA, a nonprofit group that has been developing retail RFID standards. As the item moved through the supply chain, scanners in doorways, on loading docks or at other handoff points would capture the movement. Radio waves from the scanners would be picked up by the tag's antenna, providing enough energy for the tag to broadcast its identity back to the scanner. Data would flow through the Internet or other networks to corporate computers, but if the tags had read-write capability, status updates on the item could be added to the tag itself as well. Once products reached the store, scanners in the stockroom could track how rapidly they are moved to shelves, and scanners on shelves could monitor when shoppers removed them. Finally a checkout scanner could ring up everything in a shopping cart as it was wheeled toward the door. Such technology could speed up checkouts and returns, but the bigger economic impact would be in keeping store shelves filled with the products consumers want. Right now, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, stores are missing products consumers want to buy about 8 percent of the time on average and up to 15 percent of the time when the product is being promoted. RFID tracking would also make a big dent in theft and counterfeiting, according to proponents of the technology. And, they say, the tags would be designed so that consumers could easily disable them after purchase. That will not mollify privacy advocates, who object to manufacturers and retailers building up electronic records of shoppers' buying habits, but it could calm fears that individuals or institutions outside the store could use the tags to spy on consumer behavior. So much for the vision. Today's tags are too expensive to put on every item (the cheapest cost about 20 cents each). An effort by Wal-Mart to force its suppliers to use RFID has focused on handling tagged cases, cartons and pallet loads of goods rather than individual items. "Even Wal-Mart is still discovering what this technology can and cannot do," said Omar Hijazi, an RFID specialist at the consulting firm A. T. Kearney. With standards not yet settled, few individual items being tagged and retailers not yet demanding RFID tags at more than a few test distribution centers, manufacturers have put off automating RFID tagging. Instead, most are resorting to "slap and ship" strategies in which tags are applied to items involved in tests just before they leave the warehouse. -- ----------------- 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: China's wealthy bypass the banks
by Tyler Durden 12 Nov '04

12 Nov '04

Mr Donald's comments are almost completely nonsensical. or rather, they vaguely reflect some aspects of reality glimpsed through a really fucked up mirror while on bad crack. Probably Mr Donald is referring to something he saw on TV about China's response (or relative lack of response) to Japan's Meiji Restoration. China definitely did not respond to foregin ideas of industrialization and technology like the Japanese did. (Or at least, not at the time!) But it should be remembered that China did slowly and steadily evolve it's technology, and was well ahead of the western world until the Enlightenment. However, blaming the Chinese response to the Meiji restoration on officially unsanctioned thought illustrates a complete cluelessness about China. During that time Chinese intellectuals (which at the time meant practically anyone who had any kind of an education) regularly debating notions of "Ti Yung", or the tension between what is esentially Chinese vs what's useful from the Western World (and by the 1860s it was starting to become clear that the west had some advanced ideas). This is far more than a top-down dictatorship in the Stalinist sense, just as the Cultural Revolution was for more than a bunch of teenagers "obeying orders". In the end, a simplistic (though not clueless) argument could be made that China decided to remain "Chinese" rather than embrace what would have been a big disruption to their way of life. As it turned out, the 20th century (and the Japanese) more or less forced this new way of life on them. Hell..come to think of it, the closest precedent to the US invasion of Iraq might be the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. -TD >From: ken <bbrow07(a)students.bbk.ac.uk> >To: cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >Subject: Re: China's wealthy bypass the banks >Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 15:40:27 +0000 > >>China stagnated because no thought other than >>official thought occurred. > >And when was this stagnation? > >And what were the reasons China did not "stagnate" for the previous >thousand years?

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