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[NEWS] Crypto/privacy related wire clippings (per Bill Stewart's request)
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CITIBANK MINES DATA--MARKETING GOALS WARRANT PARALLEL PROCESSING Citibank wants to do more than track its credit-card holders' buying behavior. Soon, it hopes to know what they'll purchase next, and who's committing fraud. Data-mining techniques and data warehouses, part of a project called the Cards Analytical Model (CAM) slated to be completed by the end of 1997, are the tools Citicorp Credit Services in Long Island City, N.Y., hopes to use to predict future consumer patterns. To make CAM work, Citibank's IS team knew it needed a powerful mainframe-class system to handle the complex formulas and algorithms pounding away on close to 2 terabytes of data. But the mainframe wasn't an option. "We didn't want the data warehouse to impact our OLTP (online transaction processing) production," says Kevin Murphy, VP of IS for Citicorp Credit Services. "We didn't have the luxury to give up cycles and drives." Instead, Citicorp chose the IBM RS/6000 SP MPP (massively parallel processing), consisting of 116 nodes (or processors) and 7 terabytes of storage capacity. The database is DB2 Parallel Edition, also from IBM. More than 50 C++ and C developers, from Citicorp and Lockheed Martin, the systems integrator, are working on the CAM project. -- Information Week, 10/07/96 American Banker: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 Card Frontiers Citi Alumna's Consultancy to Focus on New Technologies By Jeffrey Kutler Catherine Allen, the former Citibank vice president and founding chairman of the Smart Card Forum, announced the formation of a consulting partnership, the Santa Fe Group. She is president and chief executive officer of the firm. Former Citibank technologist Ted Fine and entrepreneur Howard Sherman, who helped develop the Midas and SuperCuts franchise operations, are executive vice presidents. The aim is to help businesses understand and assimilate innovations in management and technology. The firm's base, New Mexico's capital city, is a hotbed of the study of complex adaptive systems, a scientific discipline that is crossing over into business management. Ms. Allen said she hopes to "break new ground by applying complexity theory to practical business challenges." She has scheduled a forum, "Complexity and Technology: Organizing for Innovation," in early November. Mr. Fine, who managed Citibank's global consumer systems, said the firm could help "master the challenge" of emerging technologies like the Internet and smart cards. Ms. Allen had been developing the business since she left Citibank early this year. Santa Fe Group has been working on several consulting assignments, but didn't begin widely advertising its services until mid-September. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Service pays users (sort of) to read commercial e-mail
by Greg Broiles 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From time to time we've discussed the economics of paying per-message costs for E-mail, and/or systems where advertisers pay users to read their messages. Someone seems to have set up a system like that. It's at <http://www.aristotle.org>. They seem to be using voter registration as an is-a-real-person credential. (Their idea seems to be that they'll charge commercial (paper) mailers less than it costs to print & mail junk mail, deliver it (and some of the $) to users, and keep the remainder of the $ themselves. They seem to be sensitive about "reading things you're not really interested in", which strikes me as amusing, given all of the crap that people seem to mail me without special regard for whether or not it's interesting. Advertisers seem happy enough to spend $.40 to mail me their stuff, so what's the harm in spending $.30 where I get $.10 of it, regardless of whether or not I ignore it as quickly as I do paper junk mail? They're saving $.10, and I'm making $.10, and we're not wasting paper. Who's being harmed? As I read their terms & conditions, they don't start paying you until Dec 1997, and you need to accumulate $100 worth of credit to get paid. Also, it only seems to be interested in people from California at the moment. (perhaps that's the only state they've got voter info on so far.) -- Greg Broiles | "We pretend to be their friends, gbroiles(a)netbox.com | but they fuck with our heads." http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | |

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RFC2015 on MIME Security with PGP (fwd)
by P. J. Ponder 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 14 Oct 96 14:18:26 PDT From: RFC Editor <rfc-ed(a)ISI.EDU> To: rfc-dist(a)ISI.EDU Cc: rfc-ed(a)ISI.EDU Subject: RFC2015 on MIME Security with PGP A new Request for Comments is now available in online RFC libraries. RFC 2015: Title: MIME Security with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) Author: M. Elkins Date: October 1996 Mailbox: P.O. Box 92957 - M1/102 Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 Pages: 8 Characters: 14,223 Updates/Obsoletes: None URL: ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2015.txt This document describes how Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) can be used to provide privacy and authentication using the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) security content types described in RFC1847. This is now a Proposed Standard Protocol. This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. This announcement is sent to the IETF list and the RFC-DIST list. Requests to be added to or deleted from the IETF distribution list should be sent to IETF-REQUEST(a)CNRI.RESTON.VA.US. Requests to be added to or deleted from the RFC-DIST distribution list should be sent to RFC-DIST-REQUEST(a)ISI.EDU. Details on obtaining RFCs via FTP or EMAIL may be obtained by sending an EMAIL message to rfc-info(a)ISI.EDU with the message body help: ways_to_get_rfcs. For example: To: rfc-info(a)ISI.EDU Subject: getting rfcs help: ways_to_get_rfcs Requests for special distribution should be addressed to either the author of the RFC in question, or to admin(a)DS.INTERNIC.NET. Unless specifically noted otherwise on the RFC itself, all RFCs are for unlimited distribution. Submissions for Requests for Comments should be sent to RFC-EDITOR(a)ISI.EDU. Please consult RFC 1543, Instructions to RFC Authors, for further information. Joyce K. Reynolds and Mary Kennedy USC/Information Sciences Institute ... Below is the data which will enable a MIME compliant Mail Reader implementation to automatically retrieve the ASCII version of the RFCs.

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extortion via digital cash
by scottb＠aca.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, I have been reading numerous threads on digital cash, and I have some questions I would like discussed. currently when someone does extortion (kiddnapping too), they have two choices; 1-pick up the cash personally (or via a stooge) 2-transfer the funds via bank Both ideas are bad, in that you stand a good chance at getting caught. I was wondering, what if you demanded payment via Ecash, through nym servers, aliases, etc. From what I understand, it is just like cash, ie: no record of transaction, but you get the added bonus of not having to meet the other party-like a fund transfer. Once you have your 1,000,000 Ecash, you could dump it on a disk, and close your internet account (unless you really really trust your privacy technology). And I also think that you would have the option to cash this into real funds at either the Mark Twain bank, or likely somewhere in the Caymen Islands (maybe through those online gambling houses). I am hoping that this will spark some discussion, and maybe slow down the dlv, TM spam war. Also, I was only wondering about this for mere discussion reasons :) /sb

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PINmail in the SCMP
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text From: somebody Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 15:13:07 +0800 To: rah(a)shipwright.com Subject: PINmail in the SCMP MIME-version: 1.0 (Created by TFS) Front page of the Technology Post section of the 15/10/96 edition of the South China Morning Post, next to a cheesy photo of the two men quoted in the article looking (peering?) through venetian blinds. Headline: Anonymous e-mail site launched. Byline: Keala Francis Highlights: "Hong Kong advertising agency Momentum has created an anonymous e-mail service for Internet users around the world." penet closed down "because it was perceived to be condoning child pornography. [Director] Tobin said PINmail (http://www.PINmail.com) was designed as an offshore address only for legitimate businesses, but the compay could not necessarily control its users." Tobin: "If there is proof of illegal activities, I would give up a name." "Momentum created and owns shares in AsiaFocus International, which owns PINmail." Access via Netscape 3.0. IExplorer due before December. (Uses CGI and Javascript in a way that is incompatible with IE3.0.) Daley (Momentum GM): "There are really no disadvantages to having your e-mail sit on a server rather than your PC." "PINmail can also allow you to maintain an anonymous address." "Momentum has set up three server sites in Hong Kong, California and Amsterdam to enable easier and more efficient access." PINmail = USD19.95/yr. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/

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Camelot PRNG
by inssdl＠dstn21.dct.ac.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In the UK, the National Lottery is run by a company called Camelot (in case anyone didn't know) A while back, they introduced a new option, in that if you checked a certain box on your ticket, 6 numbers would be 'chosen' for you, presumably 'randomly' Does anyone have any info on how this system works? i.e. The PRNG used? Whether the PRNG is in the shop terminal or at the central computer @ Camelot? et cetera. (I am looking at the problems of PRSG for my Masters dissertation - hence the interest) Please reply either to the cypherpunks list or to my e-mail address if you think this doesn't have any crypto-relevance. Thanks in advance... ********************************************************************** David Lucas PGDip Software Engineering @@ BEng(Hons) Civil Engineering Postgraduate Software Engineer, University of Abertay Dundee, SCOTLAND @ E-mail: inssdl(a)dstn21.dct.ac.uk @ 2+2 = 5 for large values of two @ If you're not living on the edge, then you're taking up too much space Organisations can't have opinions, only people can and these are mine. Dave's Doorstep is back!!! - http://river.tay.ac.uk/~inssdl/index.html **********************************************************************

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Sameer should sue the SPA
by Matthew Ghio 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Let's see, what can Sameer sue the SPA for... 1) Filing a frivilous lawsuit, of course. 2) Extortion. "Sign this or we'll sue." 3) Libel and Defamation. "SPA's false statements about Mr. Parekh have harmed his reputation as a software publisher, and cost him profits..." 4) Conspiracy to violate the ECPA by demanding logs and records which may contain private/confidential information. (Dunno about this one, but it's worth a shot.) 5) Anything else? How much $ in damages do you think he can get? Also, SPA is going after C2 because one of their customers allegedly had a link to a pirate site - but they have (apparently) not gone after the pirate site itself! Could someone explain to me how there can be a finding of contributory copyright infringement, when there is no direct copyright infringement? Fonovisa v. Cherry Auction is an often-cited case here. In this case, a lawsuit was brought against the swap meet operators only after action had been taken against the vendors of the illegally copied material. It does not seem logical that c2 could be liable for contributory infringement when no actual infringement has (yet) been shown to exist.

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RE: LET'S MEET DIMITRI (WHO CARES?)
by Alex Filacchione 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<FLAME> Hmm. Maybe I am missing something. Can someone please explain to me exactly WHAT relevance this has to the list? People, I really DON'T CARE what your opinions are of Tim May, or anyone else for that matter!!! Can you please stop acting like children in a playground name-calling contest and move on to something else? Something of relevance to the list please? If you absolutely *HAVE* to continue to act like children then take it to private email. If for nothing else, then to save YOURSELVES from embarrassment. </FLAME> Thank you, AlexF(a)iss.net ---------- From: Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM[SMTP:dlv@bwalk.dm.com] Sent: Friday, October 11, 1996 8:55 AM To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: LET'S MEET DIMITRI [snip] No deal, then. I suggest that for your next meeting you book Timmy May to perform live sex acts on stage with his two cats, as Ray and Zach do the Macarena circle-jerk. > How about you and Tim sit down and *NICELY* talk about your differences?

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RE: PLEDGES
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Sandy Sandfort Wah whoo! This, plus some other new pledges puts us over the $1000 mark. Now all we need is some show of intestinal fortitude from Dimitri. ........................................................ Well, hey - if Dimitri is feeling kinda weak & puny, I'll take his place. Youall can pay my airfare & hotel charge, and I'll think of something to talk about with you guys. How about: Imaginative, Non-Crypto-Related Ways to Avoid the Government. (Uni? I'd be delighted to discuss this in person). $1000 makes for a fine party! .. Blanc

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extortion via digital cash (fwd)
by gimonca＠skypoint.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: scottb(a)aca.ca > Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 11:44:25 -0400 > Subject: extortion via digital cash > > Both ideas are bad, in that you stand a good chance at getting caught. > > I was wondering, what if you demanded payment via Ecash, through nym > servers, aliases, etc. From what I understand, it is just like cash, ie: no > record of transaction, but you get the added bonus of not having to meet the > other party-like a fund transfer. Once you have your 1,000,000 Ecash, you > could dump it on a disk, and close your internet account (unless you really > really trust your privacy technology). And I also think that you would have > the option to cash this into real funds at either the Mark Twain bank, or > likely somewhere in the Caymen Islands (maybe through those online gambling > houses). > The Digicash product only has one-way anonymity. Their own pages are a good place to start: http://www.digicash.nl/ecash/about.html --CG

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