- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

Re: CypherPunks Are Stupid DickWads!!!
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Someone (we will never know who) wrote: NO>Cuthmarks=*** NO> Well, I just thought I'd let you guys know how stupid you are and how NO>you'll never know who I am, or how to find me, because I am cutting the NO>edge off of computer technology. NO> *** The Fire House Inn *** NO> Come visit us NO> Telnet: fhouse.org NO> WWW: fhouse.org NO> *********** It looks like Toto has made fools of us again. Damn he is smart! FoolMonger *** The Fire House Inn *** Come visit us Telnet: fhouse.org WWW: fhouse.org ***********

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Did you *really* write PGP?
by toto＠fhouse.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

PRZ, Some guys from the Secret Service came to see me about the Death Threats I've been sending you. It's pretty funny that after all those years of persecuting you, the GuberMint is now paying these guys to protect you, eh? They sure looked at me funny when I told them that it was all in good humor, and that I wouldn't dream of doing anything bad to the guy who wrote PGP. Are you *sure* you wrote it? They don't seem to think so... Do you play the saxaphone? They said you play the saxaphone. Anyway, say "Hi!" to Buddy for me... Your Pal and CoConspirator, Toto ~~~~ *** The Fire House Inn *** Come visit us Telnet: fhouse.org WWW: fhouse.org ***********

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french Libertarian e-zine in Quebec, Canada (excerpt)
by Jean-Francois Avon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This magazine is bilingual but not translated. Articles are published in their original language only. If the author does a translation, both versions are likely to be published. Ciao JFA Montréal, le 1er aoû1998 Numéro 17 LE QUÉBÉCOIS LIBRE (page 6) LE QUÉBÉCOIS LIBRE sollicite des textes d'opinion <mailto: libre(a)colba.net> qui défendent ou contestent le point de vue libertarien sur n'importe quel sujet d'actualité. Les textes doivent avoir entre 700 et 1200 mots. Prière d'inclure votre titre ou profession, le village ou la ville oùvous habitez, ainsi que votre adresse électronique. <980801-5.htm> <980801-5.htm>page précédente Vos commentaires <mailto: libre(a)colba.net> MUSINGS BY MADDOCKS ID IN THE USA: GIVING THEM THE FINGER by Ralph Maddocks In June of this year, the US Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed some new rules, effective October 1, 2000. They require all citizens to obtain a driver's licence containing a social security number. The law makes mention of «biometric identifiers »by which is meant such high-tech delights as digitized thumb or fingerprints on magnetic strips. An unrelated, for the moment, announcement by the Immigration Service on June 23 revealed a new identification system called INSPASS. The latter is a system which verifies such things as retinal and hand scans in order to let frequent travelers pass through customs more quickly. All very efficient. In this land of the free, whose praises are sung ad nauseam, these kinds of regulations are being introduced frequently and surreptitiously so that the average man, or woman, in the street will not realize what is happening until it is far too late to protest. Requirements such as social security numbers on driving licences are leading inevitably towards their becoming national identity cards. A card which the citizen will soon need to secure government services, apply for a job, conduct banking transactions or even to buy something as simple as an airline ticket. An old topic with a new twist Of course this topic is not new to the US, various groups have been proposing tamper-proof ID cards for many years. Often this was connected to discussions on gun control or immigration, it being believed that illegal immigration could be deterred by the use of such cards. The fact that they would be no more reliable than the documents produced originally to obtain them, plus the estimated $2.5 billions required to implement them, does not deter those who would mandate their use. A great deal of the impetus for ID cards is coming from California where a serious illegal immigration problem does indeed exist. As usual, politicians possessed of little or no imagination propose simplistic solutions to complex social and economic problems. Their idea being that such a card would become a kind of employment passport, which illegal immigrants would not possess. Unless, that is, their friendly local forger could supply one. There can be little doubt that the appearance of such a card would be welcomed by the police, they could then stop people at will and ask for some identification. The potential for the harassment of strange, different looking or foreign sounding individuals will increase exponentially. Minorities such as Asians, Latinos and African Americans will become even more perfect targets for such identity checks. Other groups too, such as banks, health insurers, landlords, merchants and others, salivate at the prospect of employing ID cards in their daily activities. Information, once gathered, can be stored at almost no cost, and retrieved in any imaginable sequence. It is this which is providing the incentive to collect the sort of information that has hitherto been maintained about only a very small portion of the population. The United States already has in its education system a national electronic network of student records. The purpose of this system being to allow the exchange of information between various public and private agencies, and the tracking of individuals through school and university, through their military service, through the criminal justice system, through their civilian careers, and through their use of the medical services. Toward a womb to tomb database At the moment, these databases are provided only with an electronic portfolio for every student, an assessment of each student's work and behavior by his teacher and the student's social security number. It is proposed also to include: data about prenatal care; birth weight; number of years in a pre-school program; poverty status; physical, emotional and other development at various ages; date of last routine health and dental care; plus many other items such as the employer's name and whether the person is registered to vote. A womb to tomb, all seeing, all knowing database. In a book published jointly by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there is ominous talk of «overcoming the confidentiality barrier. »The purpose of the new databases being stated as giving all agencies «ready access to each other's data. » There is a group in the US known as the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) which is actively involved with the Transportation Secretary in proposing or actually changing the various state driving licences to include digitally encoded fingerprints, retinal scans, digital computer readable photographs and other biometric forms of identification. So far, some 28 States have actually begun to make or proposed the changes to their driver's licences. Last December, the AAMVA announced that fingerprints are their currently favored form of biometric identification. It may interest readers to learn that many Canadian provinces are also members of the AAMVA. It would be naive to think that these ideas will not cross the world's longest undefended border before long. All the State assemblies which have introduced the necessary legislation to implement this new form of national ID have done so under cover, usually at the end of a legislative session in the middle of the night. These politicians know a thing or two about journalists. The mainstream media having been remarkably silent on the subject and frequently supportive of the federal government. On a positive note, at least a few States are now actively involved in trying to repeal the fingerprinting requirement. Alabama and New Jersey have done it, and Georgia is considering a piece of draft legislation which will forbid the use of biometric identifiers of any kind. «Live Free or Die »the motto of our neighboring US State of New Hampshire, may well become somewhat more than a motto if its citizens do not resist these latest proposals emanating from their Federal Government. Perhaps, instead of providing their fingerprints, they should show their politicians a collective upraised finger. <index.htm> <index.htm>sommaire page suivante <980801-7.htm> <980801-7.htm> Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. Physics, Montreal, Canada DePompadour, Société d'Importation Ltée Limoges fine porcelain and french crystal JFA Technologies, R&D physicists & engineers Instrumentation & control, LabView programming PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:C58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C

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http://anarchy-online.dementia.org/book/
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[I'm not associated with this book except that I helped HTMLize it. -Declan] For Immediate Release ------------------------------------------------------------- A New Book Investigating Sex on the Internet is Pre-Published, Free, via the World Wide Web ------------------------------------------------------------- While the fate of online freedoms is being determined by federal judges in Philadelphia, a contributing writer to Wired magazine has decided to give away his investigative book on the subject. Charles Platt spent six months gathering data about netporn for a book to be published later this year by HarperCollins. According to Platt, "My publishers hoped to rush the book into print. When their plans changed as a result of factors outside my control, I decided the material was so topical and so important, it should be placed freely on web sites." Titled ANARCHY ONLINE, the book is divided into two parts. The first deals with net crimes such as hacking, viruses, and data piracy. Platt includes first-hand descriptions of hackers and pirates and debunks myths created by melodramatic press coverage. Part Two of the book explores free speech online and examines netporn more frankly and in greater depth than has been achieved elsewhere. Platt concludes that although a genuine problem does exist, a "war on porn" will be as unwinnable, expensive, and divisive as the "war on drugs." Part Two of the book contains about 65,000 words and is being placed online in its entirety. It includes transcripts from pornographic IRC chat sessions and sexually oriented Usenet news groups; a look at pedophilia on America Online; a new, damning investigation of Martin Rimm (whose porn study was immortalized in Time magazine); and a reassessment of issues raised by Jake Baker (who faced years in jail after he placed sadistic stories on Usenet). Platt also examines federal attempts to control encryption; the Guardian Angels; anonymous remailers; repressive laws at the state level; content-filtering software; and content rating schemes. There are exclusive interviews with Scott Charney at the Department of Justice, Ann Beeson of ACLU, Louis Rossetto and Kevin Kelly of Wired magazine, anti-child-porn crusader Barry Crimmins, David Chaum of DigiCash, and Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP. Many other industry figures and commentators make cameo appearances. Platt concludes that net fears have been exaggerated and demands for censorship are unwarranted. "Most people who want to censor the net don't use it and are willfully ignorant of it. They tend to be religious extremists and opportunistic legislators looking for a hot-button issue. I question their right to inflict laws on a community that they don't live in and know nothing about." Platt feels that if widely available methods are used to control access by children, the net can be safer than a day- care center. "My daughter started net surfing when she was 15. Even if children have totally unrestricted access, the net is still more benign than most real-world environments. I believe this is thoroughly substantiated by my book." ANARCHY ONLINE is freely available at http://anarchy-online.dementia.org/book/ Charles Platt is the author of 40 books, ranging from computer guides to science fiction. His novel PROTEKTOR was published this year by Avon Books. He is a contributing writer to Wired magazine and has an article on net censorship in the current issue, dated April. Platt can be contacted at (212) 929 3983 or via email at cp(a)panix.com. -------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: "social responsibility" was (dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect) (fwd)
by Jim Burnes 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

** forwarded as requested ** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 19:04:57 -0600 (CST) From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)einstein.ssz.com> To: Jim Burnes <jvb(a)ssds.com> Subject: Re: "social responsibility" was (dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect) If you want a responce post it publicly. > > On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Jim Choate wrote: > > > > I am willing to pay for fire protection. I am not willing to pay > > > for "universal health care", "welfare", and other such nonsense. > > > > The Constitution happens to mention that the federal government is detailed > > with taking care of the general welfare. If you don't like that sort of stuff > > then get a Constitutional amendment passed. > > > > Wow. He said it. This proves that Jim hasn't really read any history > since public high school. > > Actually this is the central fallacy of those that haven't bothered to > actually read the federalist papers, the anti-federalist papers or the > constitution, much less say how it should be amended. > > If a constitutional amendment had to have been passed it would have been > to give the federal government unlimited power to do what they believe is > in the interests of our general welfare. Madison explicitly addressed > the issue of unlimited federal power emanating from the welfare clause. > > Had the supreme court bothered to read the founder's writings on this > they would have found it in a week or two. That's assuming their > conclusion was not already decided. > > The constitution is a document that enumerates the powers of the federal > government. It is very specific. As Madison stated, if the general > welfare clause meant what the socialist engineers wished it meant, there > would have been no need to enumerate the specific powers of the federal > government. In fact, it would have been as if the founding fathers had > said: > > "The federal government has unlimited power to do whatever it > feels necessary." > > "The powers of the federal government are as follows" > > (1) > (2) > (3) etc > > Which would be ridiculous on its face. > > The reality of the situation is that Roosevelt kept trying to stack the > Supreme Court. He eventually suceeded in appointing his socialist > crony judges to "reinterpret" the constitution. The first result > of this was that Social (in)Security was ruled constitutional because > it was in "the general welfare". > > This was probably the last nail in the coffin of the Republic. The first > nail was imposing huge export duties on cotton in order to limit demand > outside the country -- in effect driving down cotton prices so it could be > had cheaply by the northern industrial (clothing/textile) markets. > Southern states saw this as blatant price controls. In their inability to > change the taxes they sought to leave the union. A prime example of the > old adage -- "the power to tax is the power to destroy". In this case it > was destroying the union itself. Only after the war was on did the north > use the anti-slavery propaganda to peddle their cause. And use it to good > advantage they did. I'm glad the slaves were emancipated, but I wish > it were done with less blood and more foresight. > > Bear in mind that as a libertarian I view slavery as one of the ultimate > evils. However, the northern industrialists had no leg to stand on > because they were one of the prime beneficiaries of cheap labor and thus > cheap cotton prices during the era of westward expansion. Never mind that > only the wealthy in the south owned slaves. If that was so, why was the > opposition to the feds so virulent? > > By 1913, Jekyl Island was a done deal. The income tax and the federal > reserve banking system were unleashed. A concise discussion of this is > beyond the scope of this posting. Needless to say centralized federal > power was on the move. The system of institutionalized fiat currency was > one of the main causes of the 1929 crash that put Roosevelt in power. It > was that "government breaks your leg, government hands you a crutch, > government becomes savior" mentality that resulted in the endless cycle > of market distortions and power grabs that put us where we are now. > > Does this mean that Roosevelt was "evil". No. Just that, as one > playwrite once said, "the conflict of good against good is much more > interesting". Well-intentioned "good people" have contributed more to the > misery of the human race that any other factor alone. I'm sure that > Roosevelt felt he was doing "good" when he undid the Republic. His > crowning achievment was his stacking of the Supreme Court and the > resulting unlimited expansion of federal power. If this country survives > Y2K it will have to contend with the issue that the scope of the federal > government's power is not unlimited. Something has got to give. Y2K > seems as likely a bifurcation and surfaction point as any. > > Maybe Hettinga is right. Economics, like physics obeys the "reality is > not an option" rule. When centralized bureacracy becomes too expensive > the invisible hand will select something more efficient. > > jim > > > > > >

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"Can't we all just get along?"
by Pot＠networking.stanford.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is not FLAMEpunks.

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Turn yourself in!
by anonymous-remailer＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The alt.tasteless crowd is currently discussing the CDA, with some predictable results, and some not so predictable... If you wish to participate in mass civil disobedience, follow these instructions: Send a message CC'd to your local media's net address and to justice.usdoj.gov (Department of Justice) which contains something to the effect of, "I wish to turn myself in for the crime of distributing offensive material via the Internet and as evidence, provide the following:" Attach some sort of uuencoded data to your message as "evidence". Make sure that every possible media outlet hears loud and clear that you want every last case prosecuted.

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CRTC asks if it should regulate the internet
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 10:37:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Jeffrey Shallit To: efc-talk(a)efc.ca Subject: CRTC asks if it should regulate the internet X-EFC-Web-Site: http://www.efc.ca The front page of today's Globe & Mail has a story about the CRTC asking if it should regulate the Internet. The front page story directs you to page A4 for the remainder, which is actually on page A3. On page A3 an incorrect URL for the CRTC releases. The correct ones are: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/NEWS/RELEASES/1998/R980731e.htm (press release) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/ENG/bcasting/notice/1998/p9882_0.txt (public notice in English) All EFC members should write and say they are opposed to CRTC regulation. Unfortunately, I am scheduled to leave for vacation tomorrow, but David Jones will post this and perhaps suggest some sample letters to write to the CRTC. EFC will plan to attend the public hearings on the issue on November 23 in Hull, Quebec. Jeffrey Shallit

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Hey, we are quaint! (Was: A Sign of the Future)
by Bill.Humphries＠msn.fullfeed.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Steve Levy replied to Alex Strasheim over an alledged 'plot' to discredit cypherpunks at Wired Magazine: >Give me a break. I do not work for Wired but I write for them at times, >and most often my subject is crypto related. [...] >On Mon, 5 Feb 1996, Alex Strasheim wrote [citing Gary Wolf 'channeling >McLuhan']: > >> > Concerns about privacy and anonymity are outdated. Cypherpunks >> > think they are rebels with a cause, but they are really senti- >> > mentalists. >> >> I'm not much for big conspiracy theories, but I like the little ones. <rant> Hey folks, we are quaint Jeffersonians for the most part here. We believe that reasoned arguement should carry the day instead of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). And that privacy is a good thing. Whereas modern, marketing driven media (as described by McLuhan) will use FUD and whatever else it takes to deliver an audience. Ask any of the people who have been publicly tarred as Nazi's for their involvement over the Zundel/Hollow Earth/webcom business. Wolf's portrayal of McLuhan is spot on, because media producers who give a damn about anonymity and privacy aren't going to land the big contracts. The money to buy bandwidth and servers wants the highest quality data availiable so we can be coerced to spend every minute we aren't working, commuting, sleeping, or fornicating (was f*cking before the CDA) as 'consumers.' And many people aren't going to think of these issues, not because they are dumb, but because they are so busy working to provide for their families to spend any time in the reflective/meditative state required to make political choices. I suggest that Cypherpunks add one more slogan to their list: "Cypherpunks teach." Because no one is going to invest in the time and effort to use PGP, remailers, and blind web proxies unless they understand why they should. I'm going to invest in the time to show my family and friends why these technologies are important so when I mention PGP to someone they'll have something other than the soundbite "only Nazis use strong encryption" to fall back on. </rant> bill.humphries(a)msn.fullfeed.com "The more you know, the more jokes you get" -- Tompkins and Kaufman

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Re: FV's blatant double standards
by Simson L. Garfinkel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Yes, clearly if you are not concerned about missing 50-75% of First Virtual's users, this attack will work just fine. -simson

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