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Re: Workers Paradise. /Political rant.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:06 PM 9/13/96, Asgaard wrote: >From a >pure egotistical viewpoint I really should join the present calls >for, as the debate goes here in Sweden, transforming the enemployed >into 'maids and servants'. But I don't. I think it would backlash; >the 'lower classes' would come back at us and cut our throats >eventually (say, when 70% are serving the remaining 30%). The 70% already _are_ cutting the throats of the other 30%. It's called a 60%+ tax rate. This is the sum of: federal income tax, state income tax, city tax, sales tax, gas tax, energy tax, property tax, entertainment tax, special excise taxes on alcohol, cigarettes, etc., and miscellaneous other taxes tacked on...not to mention the "double taxation" of certain forms of income--every dollar Intel earns is taxed first at 48% by the Feds and the State of California, then what's left is taxed at 35-40% when it reaches the owners of the company. (Oh, and buyers of PCs containing Intel chips pay 8.25% for the privilege of buying the PC.) The masses have realized, as De Tocqueville predicted 150 years ago, that they can use the democratic process to pick the pockets of others. This is why I have no faith in "democracy," and consider crypto anarchy to be the best way to undermine this flawed system. >With the present rate of increase in world population the planet >will go to hell anyway. But suppose the population problem could >be fixed. Then, with technology escalating towards singularity, Cf. what sociologists call "the demographic transition." Countries that value learning and wealth are _not_ facing a population problem. In fact, many such countries are now at "below replacement" birth levels. >machines doing almost all labor, there could certainly exist a >system where the 'dumb' and 'lazy' could be fed and housed properly >without anybody complaining. Those who want to become maids and >servants for some extra pocket money, well, good luck to them. One need not wait for this fanciful "singularity"--by any reasonable standards of providing minimal food and minimal shelter, the unemployed poor of today are receiving this. Ask a peasant of, say, 18th century Europe if he'd consider himself sheltered and fed if he could have an apartment in a building, a microwave oven, a television, a MacDonald's nearby, and enough extra spending money for some beer. I predict that "the masses fed by the nanotechnological singularity" will be just as likely to riot and burn down their own neighborhoods as the "masses fed by industrialization and distribution" are prone to do today. (The point being that people want more than "basic food and shelter," but are often unwilling to make the commitments and sacrifices in their lives to gain the wherewithal to earn significant salaries.) >But to force people into menial service jobs just to literally >survive is not to my taste. No, give them minimal shelter for >nothing and from there on let the market anarcho-capitalistic >struggle begin, for obtaining a higher than minimum material >standard or reputational standing. There is a basic error here, one that I see often. Who says that the "anarcho-capitalists" will freely give away, say, some vast fraction of their profits so as to subsidize the overall society? Any more so than the owners of flour mills and computer chip companies give away 99% of their profits. And crypto anarchy means it will not be clear who is making what, who is generating what income, and where it is located. And the producers of wealth will be able to move accounts, resources, and even factories around the world. If one jurisdiction socks them with exorbitant taxes (which may be anything more than a nearly ignorable 10% overall tax), they can move. Regulatory arbitrage strikes again. Ask your fellow Swedes about the drain of talent out of Sweden in the 60s and 70s...the flight of Bergmann, actors and actresses, corporations, and even ABBA. (Though I understand most of ABBA moved back to Sweden and is now chummy with the Queen.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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NANDO: Backup Program
by E. Allen Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Unfortunately, they're only using DES - probably because they do serve international customers. > _________________________________________________________________ > The Peanut Roaster > _________________________________________________________________ > HIAWATHA BRAY: ON-LINE BACKUP SAVES THE DAY > __________________________________________________________________________ > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 The Boston Globe [...] > (Sep 6, 1996 01:17 a.m. EDT) -- It's written in almost every computer > instruction manual and technical guide. It's encouraged, sometimes > even mandated, by MIS lords. Yet it's almost universally ignored. [...] > Fortunately, just before the drive when south I had taken up an offer > from a company called Connected Corp., of Framingham, Mass., which > markets an appealing product called DataSafe. [...] > DataSafe is an on-line data backup system. You load the DataSafe > software onto your computer then connect via the Internet to > Connected's data center. The system asks for a credit card number and > a password of your choosing. Once done, DataSafe searches your hard > drive, identifies every data file, and uploads them to the DataSafe > computer. The system doesn't back up your applications, such as your > copy of WordPerfect; just the data files you've created with the > software. DataSafe stashes your stuff in two separate computers to > ensure nothing is lost. [...] > But a dead hard disk works wonders on one's powers of concentration. > With all my original data gone, it was time to find out whether this > DataSafe really worked. I reinstalled the DataSafe software onto my > new hard drive, made the connection with Connected, and waited to > receive my files. No dice. I'd forgotten the password. And Connected > refused to give it to me or provide me with a new one. That's because > the backed-up data is encrypted, and the password is the key. Even the > folks at Connected can't crack the encryption without your password. > They designed the system that way to reassure customers that nobody > can tamper with the data stored there. [...] > But many, perhaps most, people can't afford to lose a fragment of > data. For them, on-line data backup systems like DataSafe may be the > answer. The company charges $14.95 a month to store 50 megabytes of > data. The software can be set to automatically back up all new and > modified files every day whenever you choose. [...] > Businesses can use the system as an inexpensive data network. Just > create an account, then give the password to everybody in your > company. Now you can store commonly-used files on the backup server, > where they can be downloaded by anyone who needs them. > Connected isn't the only company that has figured this out. MCI Corp. > is selling an Internet-based data backup service. So is McAfee > Associates, the maker of anti-virus software. Many people will > hesitate to store their computer files with a stranger, encryption or > no encryption. But if that makes you uneasy, imagine how you'd feel if > your hard disk crashed. Unless you're a columnist, it could be a > disaster. > (Hiawatha Bray is a member of the Globe staff. You can send him > electronic mail at Bray(a)globe.com.) [...] > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

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Pipeline Down
by jyy＠gnn.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Pipeline appears to be down. Maybe a SYN sin, maybe just a Sunday sin. If any unanswered messages to jya(a)pipeline.com, try jyy(a)gnn.com

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Re: common sense (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 11:33:24 -0700 > From: Dale Thorn <dthorn(a)gte.net> > Subject: Re: common sense > > HipCrime wrote: > > And rather than "dispensing drugs in clinics," why not simply > > scrap the drug laws entirely? People have a *right* to do as > > they please with their bodies. > > Let's hear it for common sense. It's the first decent posting I've > > seen to this list. > > -- HTTP://www.HIPCRIME.com > > A question for you: In the Civil Rights era (1960's mostly), we dealt > with the question of whether people had the "right" to not only choose > their neighbors, but whether they could extend that logic, so once they > move in, whether they could "enforce" the status quo by preventing other > people from moving in if those other people didn't "fit in" somehow. > > If drugs and/or other items of Vice are liberalized, there will be a > tremendous marketing opportunity created, and new stores and new > departments within existing stores will pop up everywhere offering the > newly-liberalized goods and services. So my question is, since there are > "dry" areas in the country now, where the citizens can vote to exclude > alcohol sales, for example, will drugs, prostitution, gambling, etc. > fall within the purvey of citizen democracy as in the "dry" county > example, or will there be new problems with this analogy, and will any > of those new problems relate to the Civil Rights issues I mentioned > previously? > History already has examples of such incidences. Alaska, California, and other states have tried various levels of legalization. To date I believe that all such experiments have ended because of federal pressure on the uncooperative states. The Indians 'right by treaty' to operate gambling casino's is another good example of a contemporary situation. Jim Choate

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unwanted mail..what can I do?
by AwakenToMe＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I recieved mail from netfree.com.. I tried mailing it back (it def. had a forged address, but I got the netfree from the mail header.....) So anyway..... I tried sending to root@netfree....my mail was rejected (not unknown ...it was rejected by the system) said it wasnt authorized... so I tried support@netfree...same thing. It ISSSSS rather annoying...any sugestions?

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by ddfr＠best.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> If they were teaching anything, I bet the kid _would_ sit still. >I sure would have been a lot less distracted. Or, as Adam Smith put it: "but after twelve or thirteen years of age, provided the master does his duty, force or restraint can scarce ever be necessary to carry on any part of education." and "No discipline is ever requisite to force attendance upon lectures which are really worth the attending, as is well known wherever such lectures are given." David Friedman P.S. sorry to be so late--I just came across this post.

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No Subject
by zac 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Internet Drivers' Licenses
by Jean-Francois Avon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 13 Sep 96 at 22:51, Rabid Wombat wrote: > When even some on c'punk readers are calling for manditory > identification, where do you think the great unwashed position > themselves? As Auric Goldfinger :) once said: Once is happenstance... Twice is coincidence... The third time is enemy action! jfa Jean-Francois Avon, Montreal QC Canada "One of theses centuries, the brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force." - Ragnar Danneskjold PGP key at: http://w3.citenet.net/users/jf_avon ID# C58ADD0D : 529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891

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Re: Erasing Disks
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:12 PM 9/11/96 -0700, you wrote: >The paper starts with the comment that most secure data destruction guides >are classified. There is the suspicion that the unclassified ones do not >cover the newer recording materials and techniques, and will not protect >you against government attackers. I disagree. The methods for declassification in the Army and Defense Department security manuals included several approaches: 1) Physical destruction - acid, sandblasters, etc. 2) NSA-Approved Whopping Big Magnets 3) NSA-Approved Hopefully-Bugfree computer programs for some computers. The most secure methods were the unclassified ones - after we sandblasted our RM05 disk packs, the NSA and KGB can't read anything. The less secure methods are the ones that require NSA approval - how strong is a Whopping Big Magnet this year? (Too strong to put near MY computer lab, thank you! :-) The answer tells you something about what the NSA can crack, which they not only don't want known, they don't want to encourage the KGB to erase their own disks better or to use the knowledge to become better at reading stolen Yankee disks. And NSA-Approved computer programs presumably have weaknesses and bugs, like all computer programs; they carry the risk that Reverse Engineers can figure out how to find the data the NSA missed. But shredding the floppy? No need to classify that, no secrets leaked by saying "Yeah, if you dissolve the magnetic film in acid we can't read anything on the etch marks in the mylar." It's Dumb and Safe (as long as you do the paperwork to make sure that you know which magtapes were fed to the shredder, which ones were overwritten with other RILLY SEKRET DATA, and which ones were stolen by the Tape Drive Repair Truck driver.) # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> # You can get PGP software outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto

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Re: really undetectable crypto
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:26 PM 9/12/96 -0700, Jim_Miller(a)bilbo.suite.com wrote: >Most everybody on the list is familiar with the technique of hiding >encrypted messages in the LSBs of image files. Personally, I would not >use such a technique because don't I believe it's really undetectable. >I assume, without proof, that the LSBs of images files have statistical >properties that are sufficiently different from encrypted data that a >clever person could determine whether or not an image file contained an >imbedded encrypted message. First of all, they should at most be able to tell that there are random-looking-noise bits in there - if they start seeing patterns of ------BEGIN PGP ENCRYPTED SECRET MESSAGE------ you haven't done your job, though there are more subtle patterns that are more annoying to hide, like the slight bias of an RSA-encrypted piece of data; Hal Finney and others have written about this in the past. Hiding Depends substantially on the image source and the compression methods, if any, used on the image. For instance, a 24-bit true-color image or 8-bit grey-scale image from a scanner with 6-bit resolution will be pretty noisy in the LSBs, and if the Bad Guys are clever enough to find the patterns in them, you can be clever enough to find them and encode your initially-pseudorandom cyphertext stegobits in a way that matches the stats of the noise. On the other hand, if you take the LSBs of cartoon data, with large areas of solid colors, and start dithering them with stegobits, it's obvious you're up to something, if not necessarily what it is - be careful. Ron Rivest posted a message on coderpunks mentioning somebody's suggestion of building an internet-phone sort of program that shoves stegobits into the voice compression. I'd be extremely surprised if you could do that with the fancier compression algorithms, such as CELP, LPC, and friends, but it shouldn't be too hard with the looser compression algorithms such as ADPCM and Delta-Modulation, which need 16-32kbps and can run on really dumb processors - you've got more bits per second to hide in, can get away with stealing more of them, and there isn't any real subtle prediction stuff going on that you've got to work around. Given that most of the popular Internet Phone products don't do encryption (sigh...), this would at least be a good cover. (Well, assuming you've got a credible voice conversation going and aren't saying things like "OK, Carlos, let me send you the secret message starting ... NOW".) [tricks #1,2 - picking your cleartext so the RC4/40 cyphertext or MD5s have chunks of the real stego-cyphertext you want - cute.) # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> # You can get PGP software outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto

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