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[e-gold-list] GOLDMONEY PATENTS - PROOF OF PRIOR ART EXISTS
by Daniel S 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

Take a look at a document I discovered today: http://www.itk.ntnu.no/ansatte/Andresen_Trond/finans/others/interest-free-m… THIS DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED BY Bernard A. Lietaer, July 1990 GoldMoney's patents are of no value as this document describes EXACTLY what James Turk filed as patent 3 years later. --- "This New Currency would be convertible because each of its component commodities is immediately convertible. The Central Bank would commit to deliver commodities from this basket, whose value in foreign currency equals the value of that particular basket." ***** "There are a number of practical ways by which this negative interest rate could be levied. To begin with, most of the "money" in circulation (and practically all of the New Currency that would be circulated internationally) takes the form of accounting entries in a computer somewhere, and it would be fairly simple to charge electronically the negative interest rate on these accounts." ***** "Technically, this New Currency is a combination of two concepts, usually analysed separately: stamp scrip, and currency backed by a basket of commodities." "An additional flexibility: the Central Bank could keep and trade its commodity inventories wherever the international market is most convenient for its own purposes: Zurich for gold, London for copper, New York for silver, etc." "There is even a high-tech option in the form of the "chips on a card" electronic money tested in France: money is issued in the form of an "intelligent debit card" where a computer chip is imbedded in the card." "Whenever a payment is made by inserting the card in a Point of Sale terminal, a phone, or any other device accepting the card, the credit on the card could automatically be adjusted for the time delay since the card was last debited. For smaller amounts which require a lower security level, cheaper magnetic strip cards are also available, such as the ones issued for the rapid transit systems of San Francisco, Caracas or Washington D.C., or the British and Japanese telephone authorities." Comments? --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: rah(a)shipwright.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-e-gold-list-507998N(a)talk.e-gold.com Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses. --- 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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'Motel Six' squad scans guest activity
by R. A. Hettinga 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

<http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2413356,00.html> L.A. Daily News - News Leaving no room for crime 'Motel Six' squad scans guest activity By Jason Kandel Staff Writer Motel Six, LAPD-style, has made a name for itself by checking out who's checking in. A half-dozen officers assigned to a squad nicknamed Motel Six are credited with the arrests of more than 100 felony and misdemeanor offenders by raiding motels across the San Fernando Valley for the past seven weeks. They've picked up suspected sex offenders, parole violators and fugitives in crime-plagued motels lining Sepulveda and Ventura boulevards and other thoroughfares. The Valley operation has become a model program that Chief William Bratton might expand citywide. "It's much more easy to hide in a motel than in your neighborhood," said Valley Bureau Cmdr. Valentino Paniccia, who handpicked the sergeant and five officers for the team. "Guns, violence, drugs, identity theft, computers -- they get free electricity, a base of operations, concealment, mobility. They can move from day to day." Long considered by police as hotbeds of prostitution, motels offer cheap rent and easy access to freeways, and can become a base of operation for felons to manufacture forged identity cards and carry out big drug deals -- and hide out from the cops. "They're becoming more enterprising, and they're fanning out," said Assistant Chief George Gascon, who oversees department operations. "They're becoming more businesslike." The six-member unit was formed after police noted an increase in violence at local motels, including last year's slaying of Burbank police Officer Matthew Pavekla in a gunbattle in the parking lot of the local Ramada Inn. Just last year, Craigor Lee Smith -- suspected of being the "Yellow Tooth Bandit" who held up dozens of Valley motels -- was fatally shot in a police standoff outside an Encino restaurant. In 2002, police caught a murder suspect who had been living out of his car parked in a lot at a North Hollywood motel. The Motel Six patrol checks parking lots, running license plates through police car computer terminals and getting instantaneous information about the registered owners. They then can check the information against guest registers and knock on doors, often turning up weapons, large amounts of cash, drugs and associatedparaphernalia. "The law allows for us to examine the registers," said Capt. James Miller, head of the Van Nuys Division, who had expressed concern about suspects' privacy rights while the project was still in the planning stages. "Running a license plate to see if it's a stolen vehicle or if there's a warrant has been recognized by the courts for a long time." The Motel Six program dovetails with efforts by the City Attorney's Office to shut down problem motels under the city's nuisance-abatement laws. The city attorney has a dozen open cases involving Valley motels where narcotics and prostitution have been problems. "We're going to be working closely with (the motel squad)," said Deputy City Attorney Colleen Courtney, a neighborhood prosecutor for the West Valley and North Hollywood areas. "We know that city resources are limited. This is an effective approach." Officials with the California Hotel & Motel Association applaud the LAPD's efforts. "Innkeepers should view the police as one of their best friends and resources, always," said Jim Abrams, the executive vice president of association, the nation's largest state lodging industry trade organization with more than 1,750 members. "Innkeepers and the cops need to work together." Mike Barry, the manager at the Mission Hills Inn, also appreciates the efforts of the Motel Six patrol. Earlier this month, the squad raided a room at the motel and arrested Joseph Romagnano, 32, on drug charges. They also seized methamphetamine, marijuana and more than $11,000. "From time to time, we get bad people in here," Barry said. "We try to screen our guests as much as we can, but still they can check in with different IDs. When the police come and take them away, we're really happy." -- ----------------- 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: Geopolitical Darwin Awards
by Major Variola (ret) 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

At 12:15 PM 9/19/04 -0400, Tyler Durden wrote: >My running, personal theory is that Muslim fundamentalism (and in general, >most fundamentalisms) get going when the locals gain a persistent sense that >they're gettin' screwed over, See "Crusades", which aint over til the tall buildings fall. and that their current government ain't >helping a whole lot. The Saudi royalty is the best the US can buy! It's kind of a devil's bargain to obtain a source of >strength. By necessity it needs to reject a lot of the local culture, >otherwise there isn't sufficient motivation to fight. In general, it's >probably on many levels predictable and even reasonable. Religion (of any form that posits an afterlife) is a terrorist weapon. Faith in the man with the silly hat is a WMD. >Of course, this can boil over into bizarre, "fanatical" behavior, but then >again as Mr Young so aptly put it, "fanatical" is what the screw-ers >normally call mass behavior they don't like. Winners write the history books. >In the case of Nukes, I'd point >out that the nuclear nations have a distinct advantage at the UN or any >other bargaining table, so if I were Iranian I'd be working pretty hard to >get something quasi-viable together that could be called a "nuke". Of >course, the few truly "fanatical" members of the local nuke-wannabees might >get a hold of the block box and, well, that sucks. 1. The UN doesn't let Rogues (tm) into the Security Council and thus a nuke is only *de facto*, not diplomatically useful in deterring colonial regime-changing. 2. Far more likely is that a decade's worth of work, a lot of money, and a few scientists will be vaporized by an Israeli Hellfire, made in the USofA by those proud flag-flying folks at Raytheon Death, Inc. The counter to 2 is to have two or more, one mounted on a missile on a mobil platform, how do you say MX in Farsi, and keep everything really really secret. The first nuke is for demonstration purposes, which might be a waste if its a U-gun type (except in making abundantly clear how far along your R&D is :-). (Remember the Hiroshima bomb was *not* tested, so sure were the scientists. Trinity was a Pu-implosion finesse job.) The interesting thing is that Iran isn't buying a few from Pakistan. Oh that's right, the U$ bought the Paki 'leadership'. Also means that Al Q isn't willing to share their stash with Iran. They probably think they have higher-priority uses for them.

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VeriSecure Systems, Inc. Demonstrates Check 21 Fraud Prevention
by R. A. Hettinga 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

<http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_vi…> Search Results for Google September 20, 2004 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone VeriSecure Systems, Inc. Demonstrates Check 21 Fraud Prevention FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2004--VeriSecure Systems(TM), Inc. announced that its Check Fraud Prevention System (CFPS) was tested under the auspices of the Financial Services Technology Consortium, whose members include the largest financial institutions in the US, as well as community banks, check clearing exchanges and other institutions. VeriSecure Systems technology was demonstrated to survive the check truncation, imaging and exchange and to offer security value throughout the process. In October of 2003, Congress passed legislation known as Check 21. This legislation becomes effective October 2004 and enables the banking industry to exchange bank check images in lieu of paper bank checks. Called "Controlling Fraud in a Truncated Check Environment", the purpose of the project was to assess the survivability, performance and viability of "next-generation" document security features in image based operations for bank checks, by conducting real life simulated exchanges among ten institutions. VeriSecure Systems employed its Check Fraud Prevention System (CFPS) for the project, which is based on its US Patent #5,432,506 "Counterfeit Document Detection System." The technology uses cryptography to create a unique code for each check. The security feature is applied as a standard printed barcode symbol by the check issuer. VeriSecure's software, developed in conjunction with Inlite Research, Inc., can provide a fully automated solution to read and validate the codes from either the actual paper documents or from the images of the documents. The software rapidly verifies the authenticity of the information printed on the checks, and identifies any alterations, thus preventing the most prevalent forms of fraud. Tom Chapman, VeriSecure's founder and the inventor of the technology said, "This project has certainly helped to demonstrate how cryptography can easily and conveniently be put to use, to validate any type of physical documents or their images. Along with fraud losses, this technology has the potential to reduce operating expenses of financial institutions as well as remittance processing for corporations." Gene Manheim, President of Inlite Research explained that "Industry standard barcodes serve as the robust foundation to secure check images, and enable innovative technologies like CFPS to provide fraud prevention across a huge range of images." Frank Jaffe, project manager for FSTC, said "Based on the results of the project, and given the magnitude of the risks of loss from check fraud, FSTC believes that financial institutions and check issuers will be well served by the adoption of these new document security features." About VeriSecure Systems The Company licenses its patented technology which is designed to verify the authenticity of physical documents and/or captured images. It is located in Plantation, Florida. (954) 401-8378 http://www.verisecuresystems.com About Inlite Research Since 1992, Inlite Research Inc. offers its Image Processing and Barcode Recognition technologies to OEMs and solution providers in markets that demand the utmost accuracy, productivity and quality in business processes. It is located in Sunnyvale, California. (408) 737-7092 http://www.inliteresearch.com About The Financial Services Technology Consortium The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC.ORG) is a consortium of leading North American-based financial institutions, technology vendors, independent research organizations, and government agencies. New York, NY. (212) 461-7116 http://www.fstc.org Contacts VeriSecure Systems, Inc., Plantation, Fla. Tom Chapman, 954-401-8378 Print this Release Terms of Use | ) Business Wire 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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The Meaning of Security
by R. A. Hettinga 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

--- begin forwarded text

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[e-gold-list] GOLDMONEY PATENTS - PROOF OF PRIOR ART EXISTS
by R. A. Hettinga 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Re: Academics locked out by tight visa controls
by John Kelsey 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

>From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah(a)shipwright.com> >Sent: Sep 20, 2004 8:33 AM >Subject: Academics locked out by tight visa controls ><http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/9710963.htm?template=contentModu…> >Posted on Mon, Sep. 20, 2004 >Academics locked out by tight visa controls >U.S. SECURITY BLOCKS FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS >By Bruce Schneier ... I guess I've been surprised this issue hasn't seen a lot more discussion. It takes nothing more than to look at the names of the people doing PhDs and postdocs in any technical field to figure out that a lot of them are at least of Chinese, Indian, Arab, Iranian, Russian, etc., ancestry. And only a little more time to find out that a lot of them are not citizens, and have a lot of hassles with respect to living and working here. What do you suppose happens to the US lead in high-tech, when we *stop* drawing in some large fraction of the smartest, hardest-working thousandth of a percent of mankind? --John

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Re: Geopolitical Darwin Awards
by Tyler Durden 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

John Young wrote... >from school and fucked up parents who use you like a >beast of burden -- in every age and country. >The military has found that teenagers are better fighters >than those over 21, more malleable, patriotic, healthy, ready >to kill when told it's okay. ..... Grunts younger than 20 are >the universal soldier. Non-caucasians especially. Hum. I wonder if it's a coincidence that the US school system is such a mess. What on earth would we do if non-caucasians, especially, were equipped for some kind of opportunity? Guess we'd have to start the draft again, and folks get kinda touchy when the exemptions are a little too obvious. -TD >From: John Young <jya(a)pipeline.com> >To: cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: Re: Geopolitical Darwin Awards >Date: Sun, 19 Sep 2004 20:46:27 -0700 > >James A. Donald: > > >I don't recall the American revolutionaries herding children > >before them to clear minefields, nor surrounding themselves > >with children as human shields. > >No, not minefields, but a good percentage of Washington's >army and that of the French, were children. Young boys were >taught the art of war as gofers and undercover spies among >the Brits. Some were caught and executed. Others packed >weapons and fought like men who welcomed their foolhardy >bravery when their manly courage withered. > >Today, even the US uses children in war, 17 being the minimum >age to enlist. Others sneak in by lying about their age, some as >young as 14. Recruiters look the other way when the kids >and their parents lie. Been there, done that. Enlisted in the >army at 15, served months before being kicked out when a >relative ratted on me. Went in again at 17. That was not >uncommon then, and still is not. Good way to get away >from school and fucked up parents who use you like a >beast of burden -- in every age and country. > >The military has found that teenagers are better fighters >than those over 21, more malleable, patriotic, healthy, ready >to kill when told it's okay. Older guys and gals think for >themselves too much to charge a machine gun. A kid >thinks life will never end. That's why it's not so hard >to cultivate suicide bombers. > >Flying a $50 million plane is a piece of cake, no guts >required. Fuck those stand-off cowards in artillery, >the navy and air force. Grunts younger than 20 are >the universal soldier. Non-caucasians especially. > >No need to mention today's Africans, the pre-teens and >teens Mao used effectively, the underage North Koreans >in the Korean Conflict, and not least the Amerindians who >taught kids from puberty to make war -- boys and girls. > >It is worth pondering that older guys don't like war up >close, in fact the the further away it is the better they >like to promote it with Stallonian filmic ferocity -- witness >the current yellow-bellied administration, though hardly >the first to cry for war to be fought by disposable youngsters. > >What older soft-gutted guys in all nations like most is the >Wagnerian tragedy, the soap opera sturm and drang, of >other people's suffering and death for their loose-screw >agenda. _________________________________________________________________ Check out Election 2004 for up-to-date election news, plus voter tools and more! http://special.msn.com/msn/election2004.armx

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Re: potential new IETF WG on anonymous IPSec
by John Kelsey 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

>From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv(a)cdc.gov> >Sent: Sep 17, 2004 10:27 PM >To: "cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net" <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >Subject: Re: potential new IETF WG on anonymous IPSec >At 06:20 AM 9/17/04 +0000, Justin wrote: >>On 2004-09-16T20:11:56-0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote: ... >>Oh, come on. Nothing can be absolutely trusted. How much security is >>enough? >>Aren't the DOD CAs trusted enough for your tastes? Of course, 'tis >>problematic for civilians to get certs from there. >DoD certs are good enough for DoD slaves. Hospital certs are good >enough for their employees. Joe's Bait Und Tackle certs are good enough >for Joe's employees. Do you think that Verislime is good enough for >you? You seem to have rediscovered the fact that crypto can move trust around, but can't create any. You have to decide to trust someone for it to be useful. The great problem with practically using this stuff is getting someone that you're comfortable trusting, who can then use crypto to move the trust around in a sensible way. The condition necessary for Verisign certificates to have a lot of trust, to me, is for the appearance of a fraudulent Verisign certificate to be a major scandal, leading to the CEO getting canned, the stock price dropping by some large fraction, and a huge fall-off of business for their CA. When that isn't the case (for the high security certs; it's clearly silly to expect it for low-security ones), the CA doesn't have as much incentive as I'd like to be careful about forgeries. You'd like the exposure of a fraudulent certificate signed by a CA to have the same kind of effect as the exposure of a bank being unable to produce the money a depositor demands. Fraudulent certificates issued for any purpose--whether furnishing fake IDs to FBI agents, or to Al Qaida terrorists, or to random Nigerian-scam operators--leave a permanent trail; the recipient of the certificate can show it around when he discovers it's fraudulent. If the last step of this protocol for the CA is "and then you go out of business," the incentives not to issue fraudulent certificates looks right. --John

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Academics locked out by tight visa controls
by R. A. Hettinga 20 Sep '04

20 Sep '04

<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/9710963.htm?template=contentModu…> Posted on Mon, Sep. 20, 2004 Academics locked out by tight visa controls U.S. SECURITY BLOCKS FREE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS By Bruce Schneier Cryptography is the science of secret codes, and it is a primary Internet security tool to fight hackers, cyber crime, and cyber terrorism. CRYPTO is the world's premier cryptography conference. It's held every August in Santa Barbara. This year, 400 people from 30 countries came to listen to dozens of talks. Lu Yi was not one of them. Her paper was accepted at the conference. But because she is a Chinese Ph.D. student in Switzerland, she was not able to get a visa in time to attend the conference. In the three years since 9/11, the U.S. government has instituted a series of security measures at our borders, all designed to keep terrorists out. One of those measures was to tighten up the rules for foreign visas. Certainly this has hurt the tourism industry in the U.S., but the damage done to academic research is more profound and longer-lasting. According to a survey by the Association of American Universities, many universities reported a drop of more than 10 percent in foreign student applications from last year. During the 2003 academic year, student visas were down 9 percent. Foreign applications to graduate schools were down 32 percent, according to another study by the Council of Graduate Schools. There is an increasing trend for academic conferences, meetings and seminars to move outside of the United States simply to avoid visa hassles. This affects all of high-tech, but ironically it particularly affects the very technologies that are critical in our fight against terrorism. Also in August, on the other side of the country, the University of Connecticut held the second International Conference on Advanced Technologies for Homeland Security. The attendees came from a variety of disciplines -- chemical trace detection, communications compatibility, X-ray scanning, sensors of various types, data mining, HAZMAT clothing, network intrusion detection, bomb diffusion, remote-controlled drones -- and illustrate the enormous breadth of scientific know-how that can usefully be applied to counterterrorism. It's wrong to believe that the U.S. can conduct the research we need alone. At the Connecticut conference, the researchers presenting results included many foreigners studying at U.S. universities. Only 30 percent of the papers at CRYPTO had only U.S. authors. The most important discovery of the conference, a weakness in a mathematical function that protects the integrity of much of the critical information on the Internet, was made by four researchers from China. Every time a foreign scientist can't attend a U.S. technology conference, our security suffers. Every time we turn away a qualified technology graduate student, our security suffers. Technology is one of our most potent weapons in the war on terrorism, and we're not fostering the international cooperation and development that is crucial for U.S. security. Security is always a trade-off, and specific security countermeasures affect everyone, both the bad guys and the good guys. The new U.S. immigration rules may affect the few terrorists trying to enter the United States on visas, but they also affect honest people trying to do the same. All scientific disciplines are international, and free and open information exchange -- both in conferences and in academic programs at universities -- will result in the maximum advance in the technologies vital to homeland security. The Soviet Union tried to restrict academic freedom along national lines, and it didn't do the country any good. We should try not to follow in those footsteps. BRUCE SCHNEIER is a security technologist and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, Inc., in Mountain View. He wrote this for the Mercury News. -- ----------------- 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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