Re: The vital private archive
"F. Marc de Piolenc" <piolenc@mozcom.com> wrote :
Dear Michael,
Michael Motyka wrote:
Won't it be wonderful if the Court rules in favor of the 1st?
OTOH, why trust in a corruptible legal system?
Use cash and don't leave the ID information at the goddam bookstore in the first place. If you're going to keep the book and you can't deduct it, peel stickers, destroy receipts. Duh!
That's fine for the clued-in folk like us, but what the bookdealers are fighting for is the vital but fragile asset of consumer confidence. Joe Sixpack is going to think twice about buying a book on sexual impotence - not to mention the Anarchist Cookbook - if he thinks Big Brother is going to be following his purchases. So a favorable court decision will mean much to the trade.
Both responses are required.
It is time for books to be published on CD. Using open-source tools and good encryption, then the fascists can't even tell what you read. Unless your OS is corrupted.
E-books are already a fact, but most are sold with the same retail machinery as regular books, so changing the medium doesn't change the risk.
I mean something more along the lines of encrypting each of your electronic books and burning it to a CD. Nobody should be able to tell by looking what you read, nobody should be able to compromise someone else's library. Then the issue of reading habits become null. All tools should be open source. Essentially they already exist - just need a little packaging.
Hack CD burners to add a SetBurnerIDCode command.
Sorry. Could you expand on the significance of this for non-programmers? What does this command accomplish? Is it in firmware?
Each data set written to a CDR contains a mfg id code and a unit serial number. This is stored in FLASH or ROM somewhere and the firmware simply includes this info when writing - probably in some header somewhere. I don't remember, it's been ten years since I looked at CD formats. I don't know exactly how much work this would be but I would guess that it is very feasible. Simply put it might be nice to have a raw read/write capability.
Gather, duplicate and distribute widely state, federal and unpopular information that is quickly disappearing.
Yes! I've been doing that for about 20 years, but I'm fettered now by not being able to visit my favorite research libraries in the States.
It's a huge problem, literally. There are bazillions of MB of data out there in the form of maps, R&D reports and other stuff. Shrub and his corpfasc entourage are going to delete it from the public space over the next few years.
Michael Motyka wrote:
E-books are already a fact, but most are sold with the same retail machinery as regular books, so changing the medium doesn't change the risk.
I mean something more along the lines of encrypting each of your electronic books and burning it to a CD. Nobody should be able to tell by looking what you read, nobody should be able to compromise someone else's library. Then the issue of reading habits become null. All tools should be open source. Essentially they already exist - just need a little packaging.
That's pretty much what I understood you to say. The problem is that somewhere in the bookdealers' and jobbers' archives, the sales record will have to be accessible by title and by customer or customer category. In the case of a cash sale, of course, there's no problem, but if a credit card was involved the dealer has to be able to retrieve the record by name in case there's a chargeback or complaint. So the vulnerability to a police razzia still exists. Marc
On Tuesday, January 15, 2002, at 06:38 PM, F. Marc de Piolenc wrote:
Michael Motyka wrote:
E-books are already a fact, but most are sold with the same retail machinery as regular books, so changing the medium doesn't change the risk.
I mean something more along the lines of encrypting each of your electronic books and burning it to a CD. Nobody should be able to tell by looking what you read, nobody should be able to compromise someone else's library. Then the issue of reading habits become null. All tools should be open source. Essentially they already exist - just need a little packaging.
That's pretty much what I understood you to say. The problem is that somewhere in the bookdealers' and jobbers' archives, the sales record will have to be accessible by title and by customer or customer category. In the case of a cash sale, of course, there's no problem, but if a credit card was involved the dealer has to be able to retrieve the record by name in case there's a chargeback or complaint. So the vulnerability to a police razzia still exists.
For physical books, there's always physical cash. (Pace the "Uncle Fester's" book bought in the Denver bookstore, that the Feds want the bookstore to reveal the buyer of.) For online purchases, this trend of Feds snooping on reading habits could be a business opportunity for an anonymized online buying system. How could physical delivery be arranged? First, purchase with some form of untraceable credit card. Second, delivery to a local bookstore or even a Mailboxes, Etc., with pickup by matching the ID. For a small commission. (This should not be in violation of any laws. This is not a mail cover, nor a money changing, etc. operation. Just a package delivery service.) One can imagine t.v. cameras set up, but unlikely if there are thousands of such delivery sites. Organizations like the ACLU, EFF, etc. could even set up such book-ordering services, perhaps via liberty-sympathetic lawyers in various cities and towns, to make the PR point that such services are the only way around government snooping on the citizen-units. (Of course, any normal bookstore is free to order a book and then take cash for it. I've ordered books without ever leaving my name or number and then paying in cash. This works better for conventional books than it does for controversial books on bomb-making, pot-growing, or sex.) --Tim May "Ben Franklin warned us that those who would trade liberty for a little bit of temporary security deserve neither. This is the path we are now racing down, with American flags fluttering."-- Tim May, on events following 9/11/2001
Tim May wrote:
For physical books, there's always physical cash. (Pace the "Uncle Fester's" book bought in the Denver bookstore, that the Feds want the bookstore to reveal the buyer of.)
Right. Pay cash, and don't lodge any "want list" with the dealer, or anything else that would reveal your identity.
For online purchases, this trend of Feds snooping on reading habits could be a business opportunity for an anonymized online buying system. How could physical delivery be arranged?
First, purchase with some form of untraceable credit card.
I believe that there exists, or existed, a debit card on the prepaid phone card model. Show up at a retail "card store," give them cash and get a debit card with a "credit limit" equal to the value of the card. The card behaves like a credit card for retail purchase purposes, but doesn't have your name on it or associated with it in any database. Anybody know if this is still being offered?
Second, delivery to a local bookstore or even a Mailboxes, Etc., with pickup by matching the ID. For a small commission.
Sort of a private Poste Restante. Neat.
(This should not be in violation of any laws. This is not a mail cover, nor a money changing, etc. operation. Just a package delivery service.)
Unfortunately, the Postal Service puts pressure on the retail mail outlets to have their customers complete a Post Office form that "identifies" them. I can't remember whether the outfit I used actually asked me for ID, though.
One can imagine t.v. cameras set up, but unlikely if there are thousands of such delivery sites.
Relatively easy to defeat, in any case. If the identifying feature for picking up the parcel is a number or code, rather than a biometric feature, the simplest disguise would do the trick. You would not have to look like anyone in particular, least of all yourself. I predict a spike in the sale of Groucho Marx masks.
Organizations like the ACLU, EFF, etc. could even set up such book-ordering services, perhaps via liberty-sympathetic lawyers in various cities and towns, to make the PR point that such services are the only way around government snooping on the citizen-units.
Hmm. Fundraising activity, anyone? Marc de Piolenc
participants (3)
-
F. Marc de Piolenc -
Michael Motyka -
Tim May