December 2022 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Fear and Loathing in Hilo
by professor rat 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

We were somewhere over Snowdens cave when the drugs began to take hold with a vengeance https://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks@minder.net/msg86785.html Reposts not Hawaii Five-Eye handcuffs

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It may be hard to imagine that ESG, now a hotly debated topic in American politics, traces its roots back to a former UK tabloid reporter and a 45-minute meeting in a fifth-floor office in Geneva (United Nations).
by Gunnar Larson 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

See this Instagram photo by @bloomberggreen: https://www.instagram.com/p/CmoPunuOZjc/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_she… bloomberggreen Verified It may be hard to imagine that ESG, now a hotly debated topic in American politics, traces its roots back to a former UK tabloid reporter and a 45-minute meeting in a fifth-floor office in Geneva. There, he and a small team of United Nations staffers coined in 2004 what’s now become one of the most controversial acronyms in finance. Their aim was to get investors and bankers to weigh key risks such as the earth’s rising temperatures, labor disputes and corporate malfeasance, and determine their impact on profits. Using the language of the capital markets — risks and opportunities — ESG was meant to pivot away from socially responsible investing and appeal to Wall Street. But then ESG morphed into a label that was everywhere, and it came to mean different things to different people. The three letters were added to stock funds, bond issues, corporate ratings and Wall Street derivatives worth trillions of dollars, creating confusion and disagreement that left the acronym vulnerable to attack. First, industry insiders criticized environmental, social and governance investing claims for being little more than a marketing gimmick. Regulators were next to crack down on money managers making hollow claims. And then the Republican onslaught began, with US presidential hopefuls saying ESG is something peddled by “left-wing radicals,” while states including Florida pulled money from BlackRock, Wall Street’s biggest ESG proponent. With the backlash reaching fever pitch, sustainable investors called for a course correction. Others sounded the death knell for the acronym. Bemused by the assault is Paul Clements-Hunt (pictured here), who led the UN team that created the ESG label more than 18 years ago. He said the attacks on their invention are in fact a “good thing.” Rather than being upset, he said he’s decided to “relax and enjoy the warring parties attack and defend ESG in equal measure.” Read our interview with him about the future of ESG at the link in our bio or visit: bloomberg.com/green 📷: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg View all 8 comments

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We're all going on a summer holiday . . .♪
by professor rat 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

We're all going on a summer holiday / speak up / don't mumble / free speech is not treason Fun fun fun - " A sports jacket may be worn to dinner but not trousers " Having a Butchers Hook - " I SLAUGHTER MYSELF DAILY " #ComfortingRemindersOfHome " Ears pierced while you wait. Pay for TWO and get another one pierced FREE! " #YoudBeSurprised DO NOT USE THE DIVING BOARD WHEN THE SWIMMING POOL IS EMPTY " Ladies leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time " Time for the Drycleaners - " Drop your trousers here for best results " " Swimming is forbidden in the absence of a savior " #NICE " Cools and Heats. If you want one or the other please control yourself " In case of fire do your best to alarm the hotel Porter " Guaranteed to work throughout its useful life " We highly recommend the Hotel tart NO SMOOTHEN THE LION #SochiMemories A new swimming-pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their work-force. Our nylons cost more - but they are the best in the long run Ladies are requested not to have children at the bar Spend your honeymoon with us and we'll guarantee its the best you ever had Steak and Chops are grilled before customers. #Timely There will be a Moscow exhibition of arts by 15,000 Soviet republic painters & sculptors. These were executed over the past 2 years. #TinkerTailor " Ladies May Have a Fit Upstairs " Our gifts will not last long at these prices... How sweet - " For your convenience we recommend courteous efficient self-service " Time for the chemistry president - " We dispense with accuracy " Do not startle wandering horses - stop by roadside till they pass away ...Beef rashers beaten up in the country peoples fashion #TheRussiansAREcoming Salad's a Firms own make. Limpid red-beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger. Roasted duck let loose... Home wanted for friendly Labrador - will eat anything. Loves children Simply hang your order before retiring on the doorknob Please leave your values at the front desk. The manager has personally passed all the water served here. Why not rent out a movie for a dull evening? " If this is your first visit to the USSR you are welcome to it " #RostovOntheDon " Haircuts half-price today - limit one per customer " " Don't go into another shop to be cheated - come in here! " #RussiaMustHaveInvaded Spotted in the Bottle-Shop - * Our wines leave you nothing to hope for *

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Cryptocurrency: Starves Out $Trillions In Debt-Spend Slavery Forced Upon You
by grarpamp 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

https://twitter.com/SenRandPaul/status/1605295030305816576 When the peoples of nations hold their funds and trade in private wallets instead of bank accounts, it is the people who control the purse strings, not the crooks in Govt.

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Tigran Gambaryan needs killing ( My 2000 sats )
by professor rat 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

I wrote the first magazine piece about Bitcoin, the first print magazine piece anyway. I saw it at the time as part of this phenomenon of this cypherpunk movement of people trying to use crypto tools way back when crypto meant cryptography to evade government surveillance. . . " https://duo.com/decipher/q-and-a-andy-greenberg Reposts not corporate cop clutter

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Cryptocurrency: Caesarian Christmas NFT's
by grarpamp 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K--bk2q1LjE

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Repression of cypherpunks as a core issue for cypherpunks
by professor rat 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

Repression of cypherpunks tells us a lot and is something we have to pay attention to as it could become an existential issue. Even repression of the cypherpunk adjacent as per Phil Zimmerman. Repression of a games company ( the Hacker Crackdown ) told us the SS were paranoid about e-gold. The NSA threat against Bidzos over certs told us they were paranoid about RSA. The crypto ' munitions ' lawfare saga - and all this even before we got to Jim and Carl and I being arrested and imprisoned over list-related allegations. Lack of repression also tells us a lot - that there haven't been any more APster cases since 2002 tells me we're winning - despite all the ' Govcorp ' conspiracy theory still pushed here by the Semich imbecile types ( Gramps and Juan Garofalo ) Since I follow these issues so closely I assessed the time had come for the hunters to become the hunted as early as anyone else here barring CJ and Jim. Attack as best defense - now we can repress all police agents from anywhere. Even Space X. Yes?

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Froomkin's critical theory of cyberspace
by professor rat 26 Dec '22

26 Dec '22

I'm hunting down that Hettinga post at MINDER - the MARC archive didn't even show any posts for 2003. MINDER's archive has several hundred. https://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks@minder.net/msg34062.html Froomkin's theorem - could be a Habermas repost

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Re: Cypherpunk list subscriber "threatening" Feds
by professor rat 25 Dec '22

25 Dec '22

Thanks Greg Its probably a Google issue as I was able to find it that way for a while but their service has deteriorated recently. Enclosed copy Denver Post Online threats target Denver investigators - Anarchist says e-mails harmless; feds disagree By Jim Hughes - Denver Post Staff Writer Monday, July 07, 2003 - An anarchist using the online moniker “Professor Rat” has threatened the lives of two federal terrorism investigators in Denver, advocating that they “need killing.” The threats name an FBI agent assigned to the local multiagency Joint Terrorism Task Force and the government’s lead prosecutor of terrorism cases in Colorado. Although those who travel in the same online circles as Professor Rat say his provocations are not to be taken seriously, officials say they are concerned about the threats, which were sent to an e-mail listserv and posted on the Internet in April. “The recipients of the threats have no way to discern their validity,” said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. "They cause fear and they disrupt lives, and it’s for that reason that they’re taken very seriously. “It’s more than the individual targets. It’s the families and those associated with them,” he said. That is the purpose of the postings, an Australian man who admits to using the Professor Rat name and to posting these kinds of threats saidin a telephone interview and a series of e-mails: To scare people out of working for the government. He refused to admit to any specific threat, to avoid prosecution, he said. He already is charged with making similar threats against police in Australia, according to the Victoria Police in Melbourne. Saying that his real name was Matt Taylor and that he was 48 years old, Professor Rat said he promotes a theory called Assassination Politics that emerged at the periphery of cyberanarchist circles in 1997. The concept is that of an online lottery in which people bet on a date that public figures will die. The implication is that the lottery “winner” likely helped arrange the death. Winnings would be paid in untraceable digital cash, which does not yet exist. The development of digital money, and encryption software restricting government’s ability to monitor Internet activity, are common goals among the online anarchists and libertarians known as “cypherpunks.” The ultimate purpose of Assassination Politics is to deter people from working for government agencies, corporate media outlets or institutions “beholden to the violence of the state,” Taylor said. Professor Rat also has threatened a University of Ottawa law professor, a columnist for The Boston Globe and a Cincinnati police officer. Many of those threats were posted to a listserv called Cypherpunks. The e-mail distribution network allows libertarians and anarchists interested in the tension between government oversight and individual liberty on the Internet to discuss those issues via e-mails that when sent to the listserv are distributed to all members. Dorschner would not say whether there was an investigation into Professor Rat, calling the matter an issue of “internal security.” The columnist for The Boston Globe, whose sin, in the eyes of Professor Rat, was to criticize civil libertarians for objecting to the Patriot Act of 2001, said he did not take the threat at all seriously. He learned of the threat only last week, when told of it by The Denver Post, he said. The Post is withholding the names of the subjects of posts by Professor Rat to avoid promoting any specific threats. “The way I see it, this kind of talk is pretty cheap on the Internet,” the columnist said. “This is something I would consider casual hate speech. This person didn’t send me an e-mail saying 'I’m going to kill you.”’ But officials in Denver see nothing casual about the statements, Dorschner said. In an interview, Taylor taunted the Denver officials named in the April 8 statement. “They’re welcome to come and get me extradited,” he said. “Here I am. Come and get me.” The Cypherpunks listserv is also where Jim Bell, an MIT-trained chemist and Washington anarchist who now is in prison for interstate stalking of federal agents, unveiled his Assassination Politics. He was convicted in 2001. Federal prosecutors in Seattle that year also won a conviction against Carl Johnson, a Canadian man accused of threatening federal judges and Microsoft founder Bill Gates by e-mail. Later in 2001, Thomas Wales, a federal prosecutor in Seattle, was shot to death. Though his death was noted on the Cypherpunks listserv, no connection to Assassination Politics has ever been made. The case remains unsolved. John Hartingh, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle, declined to comment on Wales’ death. Taylor said his threats are intended solely as a rhetorical deterrent. “No one has to die,” he said. “All that has to happen is for people to accept the system.” If anyone Taylor threatened ever was assassinated, “I would totally reassess my involvement in it,” he said. “It would totally change the whole situation. Basically, I’m a nonviolent person.” The posts made by Professor Rat fall under a relatively new category of crime known as “cyberstalking,” said Jim Doyle, a retired New York City police sergeant who now works as a cybercrimes consultant for a Connecticut company called Internet Crimes. The statements made by Professor Rat constitute prosecutable offenses, he said. “The bottom line is what the victim feels,” he said. “Is the victim threatened? Is the victim alarmed? Hey, that’s a crime.” Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles and a First Amendment specialist, said the threats were probably criminal, given Taylor’s description of the purpose of Assassination Politics. But “in order to (prosecute), you have to get your hands on the guy,” he said. Most current Cypherpunks subscribers have set up their e-mail in-boxes to block any messages coming from Taylor, said Declan McCullagh, a reporter for the high-tech website CNET.com. He has subscribed to Cypherpunks for 10 years, he said. Taylor exists on the “radical fringe” of online anarchists, McCullagh said. “He’s routinely ignored and ‘kill-filed’ by just about everyone on the list. I’d be surprised if more than a small handful of people are reading his postings, let alone taking him seriously.” Taylor acknowledged that he does not not have much support in anarchist circles. “Most anarchists see what I’m doing as counterproductive. … I’m not exactly at the center of anarchism by promoting Assassination Politics, that’s for sure.” R. A. Hettinga ( email obscured ) The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA “… however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience.” – Edward Gibbon, ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’

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Cypherpunk list subscriber "threatening" Feds
by professor rat 25 Dec '22

25 Dec '22

>>> It's familiar to see you posting this quote again. I'm curious, why do you post it? <<< It serves a number of purposes - for example 1) Give lie to Mongo's Crypto Winter and further isolates the c-punk circle of eunuchs that includes Adam, Back and Julian Assmange, to name just two. 2) Shows all USG agents we were gunning for them before 9-11 and will maintain our campaign till they surrender or die. 3) Is timely due to all the recent calls to abolish the FBI - a quick search will reveal many recent links. Abolishing the FBI is a huge historical advance and indicator of USG weakness and crypto-anarchist strength. Do you still have the link to the article? The Post no longer publishes it and the Hettinga repost has gone missing ( Greg? ) I don't link to Conde Nast's edited version at McCullagh's since he went over to the enemy in 2001. I can publish the entire article here if desired or alternatively direct the curious to my insane journal back-up at ' buttdarling ' . https://buttdarling.insanejournal.com/129512.html?mode=reply That's a copy of the missing cypherpunks post from Hett. Now since when have you ever taken a positive interest in the core affairs of this list? You waddle like an agent and quack like one we might as well shoot you in agent-shooting season. Get a life agent Semich.

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