- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

Re: Should we oppose the
by Perry E. Metzger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This has gone on too long -- I'm writing a last reply here in public and then I would ask that we take this to private mail. smb(a)research.att.com says: > Why did virtually all the railroads in the northern U.S. use the same > rail gauge BEFORE regulation of the railroads? > > Ah -- you specify the ``northern'' U.S. The situation in the south > was very different. Yes, the south had fewer railroads and they followed a different gauge -- this is to be expected in such situations. > And even in the north, the Pennsylvania Railroad > was so large (they're the ones who billed themselves as ``the standard > railroad of the world) that other folks had to follow if they came near > the PRR. It was near-monopoly that created that situation, not any > desire for co-operation. I once read a wonderful account of how enraged J.P. Morgan was one day when, while relaxing at his country home on the Hudson in upstate New York, he heard the sounds of a railroad construction gang driving through a railroad competing with the Penn Central line which he effectively controlled via the Vanderbilts. No attempt to set up a railroad cartel or monopoly worked until the ICC was formed, you know -- a government agency created largely so monopolists would have a legal way of enforcing rate fixing. > In Europe, there are still a variety of different gauges, electrical > standards, loading gauges, etc. Yes. Such things typically occur for a while when people aren't geographically proximate and don't interact much -- the north and south were such an example. However, in regions where people do interact standards quickly enforce themselves. Look around you at the computer industry for example. Perry

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tel news
by abootch＠sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FYI ---- (sorry if this is re-hash) Today's SF CHRON reports: Pac's Baby Bell will spend 15 billion installing fiber optics throughout California. ATT will supply ATM switchers to convert the video signals... And PacTel Cellular will offer Bay Area cell users CDPD - faster and more efficient cell data transmittion - it transmits the data in packets during "the idle milliseconds of voice conversations carried on cell. phone systems". So its compressed and.... -- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.3a mQBNAizdNhgAAAECAKYlJfK4YQoaRYtiywdgR7OQmsS23oRFr3QYZf4mE1pQTvPg DGB7xVx2mfRjsqUdQsar4vdWyNZmXLMmHNdez9UABRG0K0FuZHkgSS4gTWF0aW5v ZyA8YWJvb3RjaEBzZnN1dmF4MS5zZnN1LmVkdT4= =KJFP -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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Here's what will happen to U.S. based remailers
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just got a call. Supposedly Clinton just pulled an executive order out of his navel last night, confiscating the assets of 12 "terrorist groups" and 18 disfavored people. CNN is reporting a few of the names, but not all. The ones they mention are associated with groups like "Islamic Jihad". These groups are hard to defend, but if he can do it to them today, he can do it to you tomorrow. My old German acquaintance says that Hitler used to do this, issuing midnight decrees to seize property, make new prohibitions, etc. I assume that the Republican congress approves of what Bill is doing, or they would be impeaching him. After November 8, I thought we had a couple of years of breathing room. Now, I'm not so sure.

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Re: Should we oppose the
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com M >First, I wasn't talking about the local-loop competition. I was M >talking about cable. I don't doubt that in *some* monopoly situations, M >mere reduction or elimination of regulation can allow markets to spring M >up. I just don't think this is true with regard to telcos and cable. Hasn't it occurred to everyone that the local loop is cable and cable is the local loop. There's no difference. Any way of squishing gobs of zeros and ones down a channel to you is the Local Loop and the Trunk and the Cable and everything. M >Secondly, and as I mentioned, there are non-market tactics that a M >supplier can use to prevent competition from arising. For example, why M >should a local telco decide on its own to be interoperable with, say, M >the Electric Company? In this Age of Open Systems? Anyway if they won't connect each other, I will with my own switch just like International Discount Telecommunications and the other companies are smashing the ITU monopoly pricing of international phone calls. M >It's always a mistake to confuse technical feasibility for M >competition. What's to prevent the dominant one or two providers (TPC M >and Cellular, let's say) from closing out the others by refusing to be M >interoperable? M >--Mike Sweden approved 5 national cellular franchises by far the most of any country. Sweden has the most market penetration of cellular by any country. No coincidence. Duncan Frissell --- WinQwk 2.0b#1165

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MATH: new number
by strick -- henry strickland 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

And now for something completely relevant: Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written From: daveb(a)harlqn.co.uk (Dave Berry) Organization: Harlequin Ltd, Cambridge, UK Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1993 19:15:59 GMT > It was mentioned on CNN that the new prime number discovered > recently is four times bigger then the previous record. > -- John Blasik Mathematicians at Cambridge University announced today that they have discovered a new whole number between 27 and 28. "We don't know much about its properties", said a spokesman, "but it is causing lots of bother in equations. However, we do know that it's divisible by 6 - but only once". -- "On the hour", BBC Radio.

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CUD 5.84
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The following was recently posted to sci.crypt. I would like to get a copy of the referenced issue of CUD and check out the "DES: Broken!" article. I looked in the EFF ftp site, but they only have CUD up to issue 5.76. Anybody know where I can get CUD 5.84? Thanks, Jim_Miller(a)suite.com ------------- From: pwilk(a)reed.edu (The Cannibal) Newsgroups: sci.crypt Subject: Computer underground Digest Sun Nov 7 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 84 Message-ID: <2bn1u8$gt0(a)scratchy.reed.edu> Date: 9 Nov 93 03:14:16 GMT Organization: Reed College, Portland, Oregon Lines: 29 Thought you might like to know: Computer underground Digest Sun Nov 7 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 84 ISSN 1004-042X Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2(a)NIU.BITNET) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Copy Eatitor: Etaoin Shrdlu, III CONTENTS, #5.84 (Nov 7 1993) File 1--Computers, Freedom, and Privacy '94 Conference File 2--CFP '94 Scholarship Announcements File 3--Korea 94: Call for Papers File 4--CPSR NII Paper File 5--DES: Broken! <----------------------------- File 6--NAFTA mandates software patents (fwd) File 7--Phiber Optik Sentenced to One Year in Prison read it. check it out. -- The _O_ "Darkness may cover me: midnight may steal along my living veins; Cannibal | yea and the ultimate futility, the ghastly nothing on which all things play may break ice-thin crust and freeze my soul" pwilk(a)reed.edu -=public key available on finger=- - John Cowper Powys

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Brady Bill and Instant Check system
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I think I heard on CNN last night the the Brady Bill passed the House and is on its way to the Senate. I think part of the Brady Bill calls for the development within 5 years of a nationwide computer system for performing "instant" checks on people attempting to purchase handguns. Without getting into a discussion on the issues of gun ownership (I'm *very* in favour of it), how do you suppose this Instant Check system will work? How will they index into the database? SSN? Health Security ID number? Fingerprints? I know TRW has developed a pilot fingerprint identification system for the San Jose Police Department. It's called C.O.N.F.I.R.M. (COunty-wide Networked Fingerprint Identification Remote Match. I'm not suggesting that CONFIRM was designed for the Instant Check system, just that the technology to create a nationwide fingerprints database exists, if the Gov'mnt were to decide that was a good thing. What can be done to insure that this Instant Check database idea doesn't get out of hand? (If it's not already too late.) Can personal cryptography prevent the accumulation of information on people who are arrested (regardless of whether or not they are convicted)? I doubt it. Only the elimination of the function of a police force would achieve that! A related, and more philosophical question is: Is there any room in Cypher-topia for databases containing information that can be used to identify convicted "rights-violators"? Jim_Miller(a)suite.com P.S. let me know if none of this is appropriate for the Cypherpunks list. I'm still new to this list.

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Re: (fwd) Netcom adds access in Denver area
by geoffw＠nexsys.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> I'd be more thrilled if they were doing what demon do and putting > people's own sites on the net under SLIP for a flat rate (with demon > it's 10 pounds per month - call it 15 bucks) and just ordinary phone- > call costs on top. [If netcom now does this, apologies - it's been > some time since I looked into the US slip culture] Well InterNex is hooking people up via ISDN using PPP. This is a full 56 kbps link with domain name registration, and nntp feed for $150/month (plus your ISDN bill which will run $28/month + $.01 per minute) I have this installed in my house (nexsys.net) and it's great, there's never any need to leave my Sun at home, except for meetings and such, if your interested you can ftp their stuff from ftp.internex.net.

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Fractal cryptography?
by an41418＠anon.penet.fi 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I would be interested in more information on this! Wonderer -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3 iQBVAgUBLOKnzR1kTJuroDD9AQEnJAH/cpHuXA/+xdhHZtSxiD7iawDQMwgQTHDw 8t4oFRF/o98lWztuoiq0Dl3aDYEtcFcJI4NV6qAOjMVsQoDIOgVemQ== =saSN -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help(a)anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin(a)anon.penet.fi.

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New magazine: Meta
by mlinksva＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear cypherpunks, The premier issue of Meta, a monthly for-profit electronic magazine, is now available in PostScript and Replica formats. This issue contains some crypto news and commentary (none of which will be new to someone on this list), and subsequent issues will have more. Generic info follows: Meta is a monthly electronic magazine that covers issues of particular interest to the net community, including, but not limited to: cryptography, electronic publishing, free software development, intellectual property, internet commercialization, privacy and virtual communities. Meta is available via email and ftp, and is freely redistributable. ftp: ftp.netcom.com:/pub/mlinksva meta1193.ps (PostScript) meta1193.ps.gz (gzip'd PS) meta1193.rpl (Replica - requires MS-Windows and Replica viewer) meta1193.exe (Replica with embedded Replica viewer) mail: send mail to mlinksva(a)netcom.com with a subject of: send1193ps send1193rpl send1193exe to obtain the PS, Replica and embedded Replica versions respectively. -- Mike Linksvayer mlinksva(a)netcom.com +1 415 431 0775 voice Publisher, Meta +1 415 327 7629 fax

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