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Senate OKs antipiracy plan
by R. A. Hettinga 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

<http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-5248333.html?tag=st.util.print> CNET News http://www.news.com/ Senate OKs antipiracy plan By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5248333.html Story last modified June 25, 2004, 2:09 PM PDT The U.S. Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved a controversial proposal that would let federal prosecutors file civil lawsuits against suspected copyright infringers, with fines reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The so-called Pirate Act has raised alarms among copyright lawyers and lobbyists for peer-to-peer companies, who have been eyeing the recording industry's lawsuits against thousands of peer-to-peer users with trepidation. They worry that the Department of Justice could be even more ambitious. Senate leaders scheduled Friday's vote under a procedure that required the unanimous consent of all members present. Now the Pirate Act, along with a related bill that criminalizes using camcorders in movie theaters, will be forwarded to the House of Representatives for approval. "These acts will provide federal prosecutors with the flexibility and discretion to bring copyright infringement cases that best correspond to the nature of the crime and will assure that valuable works that are pirated before their public release date are protected," said Mitch Bainwol, chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America. Counting a new round of lawsuits filed this week, the RIAA has sued 3,429 people so far. Friday's unanimous vote represents a key legislative victory for the entertainment industry, which has been lobbying fiercely for ways to halt the ever-growing popularity of file-swapping networks. Their reasoning: If civil lawsuits brought by the music industry haven't been enough of a deterrence, perhaps federal suits brought by the Justice Department will be. One influential backer of the Pirate Act has been urging an avalanche of civil suits. "Tens of thousands of continuing civil enforcement actions might be needed to generate the necessary deterrence," Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said when announcing his support for the bill. "I doubt that any nongovernmental organization has the resources or moral authority to pursue such a campaign." "This turns the Department of Justice into a civil law firm for the industry's benefit," said Adam Eisgrau, the executive director of P2P United. Its members include BearShare, Blubster, Grokster, Morpehus and eDonkey. -- ----------------- 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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Cryptography Research's Nate Lawson to Speak at USENIX '04
by R. A. Hettinga 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040628/sfm086_1.html> Yahoo! Finance Press Release Source: Cryptography Research, Inc. Cryptography Research's Nate Lawson to Speak at USENIX '04 Monday June 28, 9:05 am ET Presents Lessons Learned in Secure Storage for Digital Cinema SAN FRANCISCO, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital cinema transforms the protection and physical transport of film cans into an outsourced storage security problem, but security expert Nate Lawson believes that conventional IT solutions are not up to the task. Lawson, senior security engineer at Cryptography Research, Inc., has used open source software to rapidly prototype digital cinema storage solutions and will offer advice on how to maintain security throughout the entire cinema life cycle, from filming and production to projection, at the USENIX '04 Annual Technical Conference. ADVERTISEMENT Lawson's presentation, "Building a Secure Digital Cinema Server Using FreeBSD," is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29 in the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel. "Traditional storage security solutions are designed to operate within a data center under the data owner's physical management and control, but in digital cinema, the data representing the film passes through multiple parties with different incentives and levels of security," said Lawson. "While encryption is important, it is not sufficient to ensure data integrity or provide the evidence needed to ensure accountability and mitigate leaks at critical junctures in film production and distribution." According to Lawson, the projection booth at the local cinema is rapidly taking on many of the aspects of a traditional IT data center, with racks of computers and storage devices, high-bandwidth LANs and SANs, and other equipment. Digital cinema is still in an embryonic stage, with about 90 digital cinema-ready theaters across the U.S. Lawson's talk will present new criteria for evaluating storage security solutions, from disk encryption or file system encryption to other storage security products, and show how open source software supported the rapid development of a prototype digital cinema server in a proprietary environment. Lawson will also discuss the importance of standardization efforts, including the Digital Cinema Initiative. Nate Lawson, senior security engineer at Cryptography Research, is focused on the design and analysis of platform and network security. Previously, he was the original developer of ISS RealSecure and various products for digital cinema, storage security, network mapping, and IPSEC. Nate has evaluated cryptographic systems for FIPS 140 and other secure standards. He is a FreeBSD developer in his spare time, contributing a SCSI target driver and working on ACPI and CAM. Nate holds a B.S. computer science degree from Cal Poly and is a member of USENIX and SMPTE. USENIX, the Advanced Computing Systems Association, supports and disseminates practical research, provides a neutral forum for discussion of technical issues and encourages computing outreach into the community at large. USENIX conferences have become essential meeting grounds for the presentation and discussion of advanced developments in all aspects of computing systems. About Cryptography Research, Inc. Cryptography Research, Inc. provides consulting services and technology to solve complex security problems. In addition to security evaluation and applied engineering work, CRI is actively involved in long-term research in areas including tamper resistance, content protection, network security, and financial services. This year, security systems designed by Cryptography Research engineers will protect more than $60 billion of commerce for wireless, telecommunications, financial, digital television, and Internet industries. For additional information or to arrange a consultation with a member of our technical staff, please contact Jennifer Craft at 415-397-0329 or visit www.cryptography.com. Source: Cryptography Research, Inc. -- ----------------- 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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Senate Passes Two Measures To Combat Piracy on the Web
by R. A. Hettinga 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB108820092814147912,00.html> The Wall Street Journal June 28, 2004 E-COMMERCE/MEDIA Senate Passes Two Measures To Combat Piracy on the Web By NICK WINGFIELD Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 28, 2004; Page B3 The Senate passed two pieces of legislation designed to help crack down on individuals who trade pirated music and other material over the Internet. But another Senate proposal is causing a growing uproar among technology companies, which are afraid it could stifle innovation and make devices such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod a possible target of entertainment-industry lawsuits. The Senate on Friday passed the Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation, or Pirate, Act, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch, under which the Department of Justice will be able to bring civil copyright-infringement cases against people who download unauthorized copies of music, movies and other works using Internet file-sharing programs such as Kazaa. Under current law, the Justice Department can bring only criminal prosecutions, making copyright-infringement cases more difficult to prove in court. The Senate on Friday also passed a bill introduced by Sens. John Cornyn (R., Texas) and Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) that would increase penalties for distributing pre-release copyrighted works and create a federal law against use of camcorders in movie theaters. Comparable bills still need to be passed by the House of Representatives. While the bills were praised by the entertainment industry and criticized by technology-advocacy groups, the greatest controversy stemmed from a proposal introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week by Sen. Hatch (R., Utah), called the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act. The bill, co-sponsored by a powerful bipartisan group including Senators Bill Frist (R., Tenn.), Tom Daschle (D., S.D.) and Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), would allow entertainment companies to bring lawsuits against any company that "intentionally induces" individuals to violate copyrights by making unauthorized copies of songs, movies and other works. High-tech companies have often been at loggerheads with legislation backed by the entertainment industry, but the latest proposal seems to have struck an especially sensitive nerve in the tech world. The fear: that the proposal could effectively invalidate a key 1984 Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit between Sony Corp. and the movie industry over the video cassette recorder. The ruling protected the VCR, which allowed users to make bootleg copies of movies, because it also had "substantial noninfringing uses." Critics of the Hatch proposal say it could go far beyond penalizing the file-sharing programs that allow users to swap music and movies. Indeed, they said, it could make targets of manufacturers of DVD and CD recorders, personal computers and other hardware. "We are concerned it will have an immediate chilling effect on the introduction of new technologies," says Jeff Joseph, a spokesman for the Consumer Electronics Association. Cindy Cohn, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil-liberties group, said that under the Hatch proposal it could be argued, for instance, that the huge song storage capacity of Apple's iPod audio player induces copyright violations since it enhances the appeal of file-sharing programs and the piracy therein. Similarly, Toshiba Corp., maker of the iPod's hard drive, and CNET Networks Inc., which has explained how to use music on the iPod, might be considered inducers, the EFF said. Supporters of the bill insisted that such examples are unrealistic and that the proposal is aimed at a more a narrow group of companies, such as makers of file-sharing programs. -- ----------------- 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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Shuffling to the sound of the Morlocks' dinner bell
by R. A. Hettinga 28 Jun '04

28 Jun '04

<http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Jun-27-Sun-2004/opinion/2412740…> Sunday, June 27, 2004 Las Vegas Review-Journal VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Shuffling to the sound of the Morlocks' dinner bell In Atlanta over the May 29 weekend, former movie producer, Bette Midler manager/paramour and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Russo -- who entered the Libertarian Party's national convention as the front-runner for the presidential nomination -- was doing himself no favors on the convention floor. The Libertarian Party has more than its share of dorks and dweebs, who given the chance will corner you and seek a debate on the most arcane details of anything from private space exploration to the Federal Reserve. I can understand Russo's reluctance to waste too much time on this stuff (though in fact, the Federal Reserve seems to have become one of his own favorite topics, of late). But eyewitnesses report Russo's response was to call such gadflies "idiots," sometimes throwing in a few extra modifiers which I can't print in a family newspaper. On the floor, Russo "had a style that some delegates from the South and Midwest fretted would not sell back home -- brash New York ethnic," comments Brian Doherty of Reason magazine (<http://www.reason.com/links/links060304.shtml>). Doherty observed Russo "throwing around the word `baby,' cracking jokes, grabbing floating balloons and nuzzling them, then mock-complaining that one of his vocal opponents would probably call that sexual harassment ... segueing from a mention of orgasms to introducing his wife." If this is the degree of delicacy with which Aaron treated the 808 voting delegates at the very convention whose nomination he sought, who can guess what level of gravitas and aplomb he might bring to a set of tense diplomatic negotiations with, say, Jacques Chirac? I've met Aaron Russo. I believe he's sincerely concerned about the direction this country is headed. But when Aaron ran for governor of Nevada a few years back, he did so from a rented house with rented furniture. On the weekends he commuted back to visit his immediate family in Southern California -- in a fancy car with Vermont license plates. Even in a state where native-born residents are a rarity, Aaron Russo gave carpetbaggers a bad name. The majority of the LP's delegates in Atlanta concluded Aaron Russo might inject some money and some drama, but that he was a loose cannon. "The delegates voted for the man who was the most like them, who presented in the most professional way the modal opinions and views and style of a Libertarian Party activist -- quiet, intense, no deviation from the catechism, more concerned with eternal ideological and philosophical verities than the political events of the day," summarizes Doherty. Michael Badnarik is no table-pounder. But the political maneuverings that landed Badnarik the LP nomination -- a tense, edge-of-your-seat process conducted in the light of day -- produced the best candidate. Michael Badnarik won the nomination, on the issues, because he won the candidates' debate. How close was it? On the first ballot, the delegates split Russo 258, Michael Badnarik 256, and 246 for syndicated radio host Gary Nolan. Then it started to get interesting. Properly covered and explained, it could have made great live television -- but of course no network but C-SPAN will cover such real political drama, any more. Too much chance the voting public might get exposed to some radical new common-sense ideas. Come November, I with perhaps 1 or 2 percent of the populace will cast my lonely vote for Michael Badnarik, an articulate, reasonable, personable freedom fighter of modest means, who lacks any discernible pathological need or expectation for brass bands, snapping flashbulbs or public adulation. I will vote for a candidate who -- if he had his way -- would end the insane war on drugs; end the income tax; restore my God-given and constitutionally guaranteed firearms rights; protect the rights of all Americans to medical privacy; end the noxious daily trampling of our Bill of Rights in the nation's airports; pull us out of the deadly, illegal and unconstitutional war in Iraq; and put the U.S. military back to work tracking down the real culprits of Sept. 11. "At which point, if we can find them, you think it would be OK to just kill them?" I asked the candidate last week. "Sure," Badnarik said. Sounds about right to me. I will cast that vote on Nov. 2, and get my ass whupped (politically speaking), and go to bed proud and justified. In contrast, 95 percent of you (if you bother going to the polls at all -- and who can blame you for your increasing sense of mortification? You must start to feel like the Eloi, shuffling in to the sound of the Morlocks' dinner bell in H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine") will vote for a lying politician who you know to be a lying politician -- one of two interchangeable Skull & Bonesmen without any discernible political principles, who (no matter which wins) will proceed to raise your taxes, take away more of your freedoms, and continue frittering away whatever remains of America's reputation for decency by continuing the violent military occupation of scores of foreign countries that have never attacked nor declared war upon us. All this in hopes of temporarily propping up the bottom lines of sundry well-heeled banks, oil companies and federally subsidized engineering and construction firms. All because you don't want to "throw away your vote" -- and register your disapproval with that state of affairs -- by voting for a guy who would make you feel decent and clean. Because he's going to lose. So, I don't get it: Let's say you flip a coin and manage to pick the winner. What do you win? Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal and author of the books "Send in the Waco Killers" and "The Ballad of Carl Drega." His Web site is www.privacyalert.us. -- ----------------- 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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Florida to Tax Home Networks
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

<http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,63962,00.html> Wired News Florida to Tax Home Networks By Michelle Delio? Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,63962,00.html 02:00 AM Jun. 24, 2004 PT Florida state officials are considering taxing home networks that have more than one computer, under a modified 1985 state law that was intended to tax the few businesses that used internal communication networks instead of the local telephone company. Officials from Florida's Department of Revenue held a meeting on Tuesday to see whether the law would apply to wired households, and exactly who would be taxed. About 200 people attended, including community and business representatives. In 1985 the state passed a law to tax businesses using their own communications networks, because otherwise the state could not collect tax revenue on the businesses' local telephone service. In 2001, that law was expanded to make "any system that is used for voice or data that connects multiple users with the use of switching or routing technology" taxable up to 16 percent. The law is so broad that it would apply to networked computers, wireless services, two-way radios and even fax machines -- or "substitute communications systems," as the state calls them. The tax would be applicable (PDF) to the costs of operating such a substitute communications system, not to the purchase of the system's components. In some cases, it appears the tax would be collected by the providers of communications services such as wireless companies or voice-over-IP firms. The tax would be added to the user's bill and then turned over to the Department of Revenue. But some substitute communications services don't require a service plan. For those, the state could take the tax from the amount deducted on business, and perhaps personal, tax filings. "According to my accountant, the way the law is written, if my tax filing includes deductions for the repair or maintenance of my two computer and one printer network, those costs will be subject to state communication taxes," said graphic artist Linda Kellman, who works from home. "Self-employed people get slammed with insane taxes everywhere, and I've sadly but grudgingly accepted that. But this tax, if they ever try to collect it, would be the last straw. Can I outsource my network to a more sensible state, do you think?" Florida businesses and residents -- and even some officials in the Florida Department of Revenue -- agree that the wording of the law is too broad. In May, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill that would have prevented collection of the tax until 2006, during which time the law could be carefully reviewed. The bill was then sent to the House, but wasn't voted on before the summer break, clearing the way for officials to begin collecting the tax. As a result, the Florida Department of Revenue, which, according to local newspaper reports, was in favor of the bill to delay the collection of the tax, must now begin to address how the tax should be implemented. "The tax language is so broad that virtually any communication technologies in your home or office could be subject to this tax," said Chris Hart, spokesman for ITFlorida, a not-for-profit industry organization for the state's technology professionals. "It's difficult to imagine a more anti-technology, anti-business tax. It directly attacks the efficient use of information technology." Florida businesses aren't in favor of the tax. It also could tax almost any Florida resident who uses any sort of modern communications technology, something that Florida's battalions of retirees on fixed incomes have just begun to become aware of, according to Hart. "Information on this issue is starting to reach the general public, and it probably isn't widely understood just yet," he said. "However, once people do realize how this tax could impact them on a personal level, they wake up very fast." "All my life, I've willingly paid my fair share of taxes in exchange for community services," said 73-year-old George Fedoro, a retired engineer who now lives in Boca Raton. "But this tax is not fair and could turn senior citizens into criminals, because no one that I know can or will pay it." Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would have to approve any rule the tax department suggests. Bush has said he isn't in favor of the tax, but many fear he may be swayed by city and county government officials. The tax would go, in part, toward school construction and other projects. Additional meetings on the proposed rules for the tax will be held in other locations around the state later in the year, Department of Revenue officials said. If the law is implemented, Florida would have the most wide-reaching state tax on technology. But it may not be the last -- state officials estimate enforcement of the tax could bring in more than $1 billion a year in revenue for the state. -- ----------------- 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: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Bill Stewart 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 01:13 PM 6/27/2004, Jack Lloyd wrote: >On Sun, Jun 27, 2004 at 01:01:53PM -0700, Bill Stewart wrote: > > Do any of them let _you_ see the GPS results (which would be useful), > > or are they only available to Big Brother and maybe advertisers? > >Not as far as I know. The cheaper ones certainly don't, >it's possible the more expensive ($300+) models do allow this >but I have seen nothing advertising such a feature. Sigh. It probably doesn't even cost them anything - it's just another user interface menu item. (I suppose that's not strictly true - if I were trying to build a GPS Big Brother feature into cellphones for minimum cost, I guess I'd probably look at having the phone just take satellite readings and forward them to a central site for calculations, to avoid having to put any extra computing support into the machine. Don't know if that's a win or loss cost-wise.) >I think the best bet for something like that is to get a Treo (which don't >have >GPS built in), then get a GPS card for it. I've already got a GPS, but I seldom carry it around unless I'm camping - it's old, so it's too clunky.

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 12:41 AM 6/27/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: >On Sat, 26 Jun 2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> At 11:56 PM 6/26/04 -0500, J.A. Terranson wrote: >> > >> >Hrmmm... Cell Phone. TEMPEST Case. >> > >> >What's wrong with this picture??? >> >> 1. You can't receive calls. Only make outgoing, from a location >> which is known to fascists. > >Let's try again. TEMPEST sheilding and outgoing calls are not >compatible. Of course outgoing is impossible inside the TEMPEST box. But you don't reveal the intermediate locations you drove through to get to where you broadcast. I drove to Cheech's with my phone unpowered and my toll-road-transponder boxed. Then I drove to the library and unboxed my gizmos. Simple. The gap must have been a "glitch" to the semiclued Big Bro. >> 2. Use it for your toll-road-transponder too. > >And you own one, why? I don't, because I'm a cheapo and professional paranoid. But in my 'hood, there are many tollroad which use them. Otherwise you have to stop and toss coins. Of course your license and face are video'd anyway. If I had one, I would box it unless I was driving on a toll road.

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 02:02 AM 6/27/04 +0200, Thomas Shaddack wrote: > >Can it be disabled by hardware hack of the phone, a mikropower jammer, or >using an "unofficial" firmware? I wrote: It would be hard to verify/test that you had in fact cut the correct trace, and it would depend on the phone, and you would void your warrantee. Firmware hacks are of course the free man's last refuge. Of course disabling your GPS unit will not prevent the fascists from doing triangulation with signal strength, ie the alternative (and cheaper and less precise alternative). That's merely physics and geometry. To counter that, you need to hack the antennae and and can only displace yourself a few miles. ---- Go for the head shot, they're wearing body armor

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Re: For Liars and Loafers, Cellphones Offer an Alibi
by Major Variola (ret) 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

At 12:25 AM 6/27/04 -0500, Riad S. Wahby wrote: >Triangluating on a non-isotropic antenna should be quite a bit harder... > Bingo. Watch your sidelobes, baby.

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Border skirmish: Tancredo Proposes Remittance Taxes
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Jun '04

27 Jun '04

<http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,36%257E33%257E2236033,00…> The Denver Post Border skirmish Rep. Tancredo's proposals for immigrant remittances draw First Data Corp. into public policy debate By Aldo Svaldi Denver Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 27, 2004 - First Data Corp. chief executive Charlie Fote and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., are both the grandsons of Italian immigrants and consider immigration a critical public policy issue. Their views just happen to be polar opposites. First Data, based in Greenwood Village, earns billions of dollars a year from its international Western Union money transfer business. Tancredo, a Littleton Republican who represents the 6th Congressional District in which First Data has its headquarters, has built his political career on ideas to control immigration. He recently proposed taxing remittances - the billions of dollars that workers send each year from the United States to their families and friends in Mexico and other countries. Such a move could have hurt First Data's business. Tancredo quickly backed off the trial balloon of remittance taxation and now recommends that U.S. foreign aid be offset by the money that workers in the U.S. send abroad. Fote and First Data oppose that proposal, as well. Meanwhile, First Data employees have formed a political action committee that is funding pro-immigration candidates, including Tancredo's Democratic opponent in the fall election. The political action highlights how First Data, once content to remain a behind- the-scenes player, is strategically and openly inserting itself into the immigration debate. "In the end, political support is a matter of choice, and we will support the individual who we believe best reflects the interests of our business and this district," Fote said in an e-mail to The Denver Post. Tancredo counters that his intent with the remittance tax proposal was not to harm First Data, which employs 2,700 people locally and expects to pull down $10 billion in revenues this year. "Really and truly, it had nothing to do with them," Tancredo said. "I did not purposely do anything to hurt their bottom line. Nobody was talking about taxing Western Union or First Data." "Voices weren't being heard" The skirmish with Tancredo is just one in a series of moves by First Data to shape the country's ongoing public policy debate over immigration. "We selected immigration reform as our jumping-off point because it's an issue that's important to a very large customer group, and we felt their voices weren't being heard," Fote said. First Data is Colorado's biggest company by market capitalization, valued at $38.5 billion. It provides back-end transaction processing for more than 3.5 million merchants and has the country's largest ATM and debit-card network. It's the world's largest provider of money transfers - through its Western Union subsidiary - with 188,000 agent locations in 195 countries. In March, Fote spoke at the National Press Club and unveiled a new $10 million First Data Empowerment Fund to help immigrant communities and foster an "enlightened" discussion of immigration. Fote argued at the time for more humane treatment of immigrants and for eliminating the backlog in families wanting to move to the U.S. legally. Fote is personally hosting a series of immigration reform forums across the country, including sessions in Chicago on July 21 and in Denver on July 22. The company is testing a Business Information Clearinghouse in Denver to assist Latino entrepreneurs and is working on initiatives to teach families in developing countries how to leverage the funds they receive from relatives abroad. STATE OF REMITTANCES About 10 million Latin American- born workers in the U.S. send a total of $30 billion back to relatives each year. Here's how much is sent from the top 10 states. California: $9.6 billion New York: $3.6 billion Texas: $3.2 billion Florida: $2.5 billion Illinois: $1.5 billion Georgia: $947 million North Carolina: $833 million Arizona: $606 million Virginia: $586 million Colorado: $544 million Sources: Bendixen & Associates, Inter-American Development Bank The moves have earned accolades from immigrant groups, who point to First Data as the only Fortune 500 company willing to take a public stand on the subject. "First Data is very courageous and proving to be a gallant leader in our community," said Polly Baca, executive director of the Latin American Research and Service Agency in Denver. "They are addressing one of the most critical issues in our state and nation." Baca said that First Data has brought various sides of the immigration debate together without trying to push the dialogue in a predetermined direction. But one direction that First Data's side of the dialogue will most likely never go is toward Tancredo's position of stronger limits on immigration to the U.S. Tancredo proposed placing a 5 percent tax on remittances last month after reading a Washington Post article detailing how individuals in the U.S. send $30 billion a year in remittances to Latin America. "If the report is correct, even a small levy on remittances could generate millions or even billions of dollars for things like better border enforcement," Tancredo said in May. Fred Niehaus, First Data's senior vice president of public affairs, said Tancredo's tax proposal surprised the company and challenged its interests. Tancredo said that he doesn't design policy based on the interest of any single company, even if that company is the largest in his district. "We don't do business that way," he said. "We don't go to corporations first and say I am thinking about this. You try to think about what is best for the country." However, Tancredo has shelved that plan in favor of a legislative proposal that would reduce U.S. foreign aid by the money a country receives in remittances. A blessing or a curse? More than 60 percent of the 16.5 million Latin American-born adults living in the U.S. send money back to their home countries about once a month, averaging about $240 per disbursement, said Sergio Bendixen, a Florida pollster who researched the topic for the Inter-American Development Bank. Of the $30 billion total estimated to be sent by those individuals annually, about $544 million comes from Colorado, Bendixen said. By comparison, USAID, the agency responsible for directing foreign assistance, requested $805 million in next year's budget for the entire region. Bendixen argues that remittances benefit both the countries receiving them and the U.S., a position that First Data supports. "The only way you are going to curb illegal immigration to the U.S. is to foster the economic development of Latin America," he said. Tancredo disagrees, and argues that remittances actually encourage illegal immigration. There are an estimated 8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In some countries, money transfers represent the largest or second-largest source of national income - even ahead of tourism, Tancredo said. Nations that get large flows of money from abroad have less motivation to address high unemployment rates and to foster economic self-sufficiency, Tancredo said. As a result, he says, those foreign governments encourage workers to cross the U.S. border illegally and drain billions of dollars from the U.S. economy. Executives at First Data's Western Union, which transferred 14 percent of the $151 billion in global remittances last year, see it differently. It's a key reason why First Data Corporation Employees for Responsible Government, the political action committee, was launched a month ago, Niehaus said. The committee has raised $22,500 so far, with contributions given to candidates including President Bush; Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.; and $2,000 to Tancredo's Democratic opponent this fall - Joanna Conti. Conti calls First Data's support "very significant" and criticized Tancredo's stance on immigration issues. "This is his crusade, not the district's crusade," Conti said. "Our immigration policy is broken. Most people would agree that we need to return to a more sensible policy." Conti most likely stands little chance of winning a district where 46 percent of voters are registered Republicans and just 23 percent are registered Democrats. Tancredo handily beat his Democratic opponent Lance Wright in the 2002 election, winning two-thirds of the vote. That may be why Tancredo doesn't view Conti as a threat to his serving a fourth term and takes First Data's overt opposition in stride. "I live in a live-and-let-live world," Tancredo said. "I want them to do what they need to do. I have to do what I have to do." A risky endeavor Niehaus admits that First Data's reputation could suffer if the immigration reforms backed by the company fail. While corporations may take public policy positions that serve their interests, they don't often confront public officials in the open. "It is rare that you hear about these things coming out and happening," said Katie Kimberling, director of operations at Wilson Research Strategies in Oklahoma City. Larry Sabato, director of the nonpartisan University of Virginia Center for Politics, said a company wouldn't challenge a sitting member of Congress lightly. "When you challenge a politician who has significant power in the majority caucus, which Tancredo does, you are taking a chance," he said. Shareholders could balk at the company's activist position, and so could people who agree with Tancredo's stance. Corporate America isn't behind enforcing existing immigration policies, said Craig Nelsen, director of ProjectUSA, a group opposed to accepting foreign identification cards to open bank accounts in the United States. "There is no money in enforcing immigration law," Nelsen said. "It is all in the other side, in circumventing it, increasing it or turning a blind eye to it." Fote counters that immigrants strengthen the U.S. economy, diversify the social fabric of society and must be treated fairly. In the past, First Data has focused primarily on growing its business, but it now is in a position where it can advocate for its customers, who often have no one to take their side, Fote said. "Sure, we risk criticism from those people who disagree with our work in the area of immigration reform," Fote said. "We're prepared to face that criticism, but the fact is we believe what we're doing is the right thing to do." -- ----------------- 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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