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Most Disturbing Yet - Senate Wants Database Dragnet
by Sunder 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65242,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,65242,00.html Senate Wants Database Dragnet By Ryan Singel 02:00 AM Oct. 06, 2004 PT The Senate could pass a bill as early as Wednesday evening that would let government counter-terrorist investigators instantly query a massive system of interconnected commercial and government databases that hold billions of records on Americans. The proposed network is based on the Markle Foundation Task Force's December 2003 report, which envisioned a system that would allow FBI and CIA agents, as well as police officers and some companies, to quickly search intelligence, criminal and commercial databases. The proposal is so radical, the bill allocates $50 million just to fund the system's specifications and privacy policies. <SNIP> To prevent abuses of the system, the Markle task force recommended anonymized technology, graduated levels of permission-based access and automated auditing software constantly hunting for abuses. {Huh? How would anonimized access PREVENT abuses?} An appendix to the report went so far as to suggest that the system should "identify known associates of the terrorist suspect, within 30 seconds, using shared addressees, records of phone calls to and from the suspect's phone, e-mails to and from the suspect's accounts, financial transactions, travel history and reservations, and common memberships in organizations, including (with appropriate safeguards) religious and expressive organizations." <SNIP> ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--------------------------- + ^ + :"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ <--*-->:and our people, and neither do we." -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + : War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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RFID special interest group
by Kapil Dev Singh 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hello Mr Hettinga, You had attended the RFID privacy workshop last fall at MIT, so i would like to invite you to a RFID SIG event on behalf of MIT enterprise forum. Details are given below. Please do come. Thanks, Kapil RFID Special Interest Group (RFID SIG), a SIG established under MIT Enterprise forum of Cambridge, would like invite you to its upcoming event. 'Case Presentation: RFID Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry' Keynote Jack DeAlmo: Vice President of Store Replenishment and Inventory Management, CVS Panel Nick Beim: General Partner, Matrix Partners Sanjay Sarma:Chief Technology Officer, Oat Systems Noha Tohamy: Principal Analyst, Forrester Research When & Where: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 5:30 PM , STATA CENTER, Room 123 (Kirsch Auditorium), 32 Vassar Street, MIT The details are also at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/oct04.htm RFID Special Interest Group seeks to establish a community around RFID. The schedule of upcoming events, one every month, is available at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/RFIDSIG.html Join the community. --- 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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RFID special interest group
by Kapil Dev Singh 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hello Mr Hettinga, You had attended the RFID privacy workshop last fall at MIT, so i would like to invite you to a RFID SIG event on behalf of MIT enterprise forum. Details are given below. Please do come. Thanks, Kapil RFID Special Interest Group (RFID SIG), a SIG established under MIT Enterprise forum of Cambridge, would like invite you to its upcoming event. 'Case Presentation: RFID Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry' Keynote Jack DeAlmo: Vice President of Store Replenishment and Inventory Management, CVS Panel Nick Beim: General Partner, Matrix Partners Sanjay Sarma:Chief Technology Officer, Oat Systems Noha Tohamy: Principal Analyst, Forrester Research When & Where: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 5:30 PM , STATA CENTER, Room 123 (Kirsch Auditorium), 32 Vassar Street, MIT The details are also at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/oct04.htm RFID Special Interest Group seeks to establish a community around RFID. The schedule of upcoming events, one every month, is available at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/RFIDSIG.html Join the community. --- 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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RFID special interest group
by R. A. Hettinga 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Re: City Challenged on Fingerprinting Protesters
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

At 05:06 PM 10/6/04 +0100, Dave Howe wrote: >Major Variola (ret) wrote: >> There is a bill in this year's Ca election to require DNA sampling of >> anyone arrested. Not convicted of a felony, but arrested. [as in arrested for protesting] >Doesn't surprise me - the UK police collected a huge bunch of >fingerprints and dna samples "for elimination purposes" during one of >the child-murder witchhunts, with written promises given that the >samples were just for that one task, and would be destroyed once the >hunt was over. >They still kept them anyway of course, and made them the basis for their >new "national dna database". The UK is a fantastic example of the US in a few years. In a way, the UK population are beta testers for the statism of the future here. If it passes in the UK, they'll try it in the US in a 'wee bit'. Its when Ross Anderson ends up detained as an enemy combatant that the sleeper cells (tm) will be triggered. Not only DNA, of course; surveillance cameras, papers on demand, domestic CIA (MI-blah) powers, etc. And y'all are our obediant and faithful military poodles. Only the Aussies and Iberians have gotten the feedback though. Your turn will come. Batman in a turban, mofo. We sympathize, of course, protestant angliospeaking folks are regarded as human, but bemoan your lack of constitutional protections (here my more cynical friends accuse me of bill-o'-rights religion) and you must pay penance for Benny Hill, anyway. <insert Franklin's security for freedom subversion here> ------ No one expects the BSA (in a silly voice) ------ \begin{TMay} Funny how those needing killing are nearly universally elected or appointed... what was that old-school Frog's comment about democracy? \end{TMay} ----- Got ANFO?

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[ShmooCon-News] First selected BoF run by Jon Callas, CTO, PGP Corporation
by R. A. Hettinga 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Micropayments Are Multiplying
by R. A. Hettinga 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

<http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1003079&printerFriendly=yes> Emarketer.com Micropayments Are Multiplying October 07, 2004 Exactly 14 million Americans made online purchases for less than $2.00 over the past year, reports Ipsos. A survey from Ipsos-Insight on the small payments market, released yesterday at the Micropayments Conference in New York City, reported that more than 14 million Americans, ages 12 and older, purchased digital content for less than $2.00 in the past twelve months. The rate of small purchases is going up fast. In July, Ipsos-Insight reported that more than 10 million Americans purchased digital content for less than $2.00 in the past year, and in November the number of US purchasers in the past year was approximately 4 million. In all, the 14 million represents an increase of over 10 million micro-purchasers since October 2003, a 350% yearly increase. By comparison, the survey found that more than an estimated 37 million Americans are willing to use credit, debit or charge cards for purchases of $5.00 or less. "The data suggest that increasing the availability and consumer awareness of compelling online content for less than $2.00 could be the key to sparking growth in this emerging online commerce area," says Matt Kleinschmit, Director, Ipsos-Insight. The survey estimates that 30 million Americans are at least somewhat likely to purchase content for less than $2.00 in the next twelve months, and states that the primary reason consumers have not yet made an online purchase for $2 or less is lack of compelling content in the price range. In fact, more than 44% of those surveyed have made an online purchase in the past year - and over 50% of them indicated that the main reasons they have not made a micropayment was because it was not worth the effort, lack of interesting content or availability of content. "The technology is available today to enable cost-effective sales of low-priced digital content," emphasizes Mr. Kleinschmit. "The most significant challenge is packaging and pricing the content to meet consumer demand." Among consumers who had made online purchases of $2.00 or less, the most commonly purchased items were ring tones, music, games and articles, so it is not surprising that teens were the age group most likely to make micro-purchases in the near future. Teenagers are also the most likely to make purchases of under $20.00. While the Ipsos-Insight survey focused exclusively on the US and the online environment, a study recently released by Juniper Research, "Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) & Micropayment Strategies," looked at the worldwide micropayment market with an emphasis on the mobile channel. Juniper projects that the global mobile commerce market - excluding mobile entertainment - will become a $40 billion industry by 2009, fuelled by a growth in micropayments. Juniper reports: "Large numbers of small payments will make up the vast majority of sales via mobile phones, with the average Western European making approximately 28 transactions a year via the mobile phone by 2009. The average cost of each transaction in 2009 in Western Europe is expected to be worth approximately $3.00." Foreseeing the day when the mobile phone could develop into a full-fledged digital wallet, the author of the report, Marc Ambasna-Jones, says the key to m-commerce growth is simplicity: "Will it be easier to use than a credit card for example? Can it ever be more convenient than cash? Ultimately the success or failure of mobile commerce comes down to this." Bruce Cundiff, an analyst with Jupiter Research, told CNET that "what it comes down to is that there simply must be a viable transaction model for smaller-cost products to make a dollar off e-commerce sales." As these two new reports make clear, both online and on the phone, a lot is riding on consumers' ability to pay very little - quickly, securely and conveniently. But can the micropayment market put its history of failures (Beenz, Flooz and DigiCash) behind and really start to churn out macro revenues? As for now, no one knows for sure. )2004 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved -- ----------------- 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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"ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen"
by Tyler Durden 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65154,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4 I post this not as a refernce per se, but to ask the question: Exactly Why Does the Government Not Want to Reveal Their ID Rules? This would seem obvious at first, but upon thinking about it I have to admit to being a little confused. For instance, is it indeed possible that revealing this rule would pose an additional security risk? If such a rule exists (and it does) then hijackers obviously already know about it. Could this rule also reveal some deeper secrets about how hijackers can be detected? I seriously doubt it. Then of course, the argument may be that the government wanted to hide the rule for the very reason of making it more unassailable. In other words, if the rule were known, then it might be more easily contested in court. Hiding the rule protects the law which in turn protects national security. This last idea is the only one I can think of that might be behind why the government would make such a rule secret. If this is the case, then this reveals what I would argue to be a dangerous mindset: The government needs to protect the people from themselves...ie, from the normal operation of democracy. On Cyperhpunks I would suppose this does not seem suprising. But it perhaps reveals that there is explicit, conscious thought occurring along these lines in the government. THAT, perhaps, is new. -TD _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee. Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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Announcement 5th APES Workshop
by R. A. Hettinga 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Interesting report on Dutch non-use of traffic data (fwd from gnu@toad.com)
by Eugen Leitl 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

----- Forwarded message from John Gilmore <gnu(a)toad.com> -----

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