-Caveat Lector- RadTimes # 44 - September, 2000 aka "Shit That Matters" An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANNOUNCEMENT: RadTimes is now on the web and in audio! See LUVeR Alternative News <www.luver.org> for details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --------------- --Why I'm Skipping the Olympics --Waste and Pollution Increase in Industrialised Nations --e-marketing to children --DOJ on 2nd Amendment --It's Not Just About 'Assault Weapons' Anymore --Ex-NSA expert warns of concealed backdoors --Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Promotes Information Sharing --Mobile Phones for Cops Linked stories: *The world is running low on H2O *The Microsoft Playbook *U.S. Leads Effort To Lift Surveillance Safeguards ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Begin stories: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why I'm Skipping the Olympics <http://www.commondreams.org/views/091700-103.htm> by Kaliya Young, 2299 Piedmont #490 Berkeley, CA 94720 (510) 664 2801 I WAS A THREE-TIME All-American at Cal in women's water polo and left college for a year to prepare for the Olympic Games with the Canadian National Team. In July, after the Pan-American Games, I had a change of heart about this decision. I walked away from the opportunity to go to the Olympics and returned to my studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Everyone who knew me asked the same question: "Why?" After all, I had played for 13 years, and been part of the national team program for six years. During my last year on the team, I looked deeper into the Olympic movement. I was deeply troubled by the corporate sellout of the event, by the hollowness of Olympic environmental claims and by the blatant lie that the competition served to "bring the world together." Like all other hopefuls, I gave up a great deal to make the Olympic team. I moved away from friends and family, lived well below the poverty line for years and put my education on hold in order to hone my athletic skills. I made these sacrifices because I loved playing water polo and because I wanted to compete with the best. My perspective on the Games gradually shifted. I began to see that my sacrifices were going to be used by the Olympic Games and their sponsors for ends that conflicted with my fundamental values. My competitive performance would not just be a part of a world community gathering to compete in the spirit of fair play, good will and global unity, but rather it would be sold to the highest corporate bidder for their own commercial gain. The profits of this sale would go not go to the performing athletes, but rather to International Olympic Committee, national Olympic committees and sponsors. The spirit of the Games has been diminished by becoming a platform for multinational companies to promote their unhealthy products to the world, with the Olympians as their unwitting promoters. Coke is not what athletes drink, and McDonald's hamburgers are not what they eat. They are not part of an athlete's healthy diet. I began to question whether I could commit myself to promoting these kinds of products by per forming under their logos since, by doing so, I was suggesting that they were "healthy" and commendable. The environment became the third pillar of the Olympic movement in 1994, along with culture and athletics. The IOC also signed an "Earth Pact" with the U.N. Environmental Program and changed its charter to include sustainable development as a goal. The goal was to have the Olympic movement play an active role in helping sustainable development occur throughout the world. I question the ability of "the movement" to do this when it does not question the consumption patterns that they are ultimately promoting via their corporate sponsors. This pact, called Agenda 21, is rhetorical nature and reflects more generally the rhetorical shift of the corporate world, which pays for the staging of the Games to "Green-wash" their images. A deeper look at the games and the corporate system that supports them is needed. The Olympic movement is a "light" green movement that has raised some public awareness of environmental issues and environmentally friendly alternatives. The Olympic villages use solar water-heating, do water remediation and recycling. While these initiatives address the technical problems of being environmentally friendly, they do not address the truly fundamental value system changes that are needed to prevent global environmental disaster. The 2000 Games were awarded to Sydney, in part, because of its environmental platform. Part of the platform was that an independent monitoring body, Green Games Watch Inc., ensure that they fulfilled the promises that earned them the Olympic bid. Report cards were issued during the lead-up to the Games, and it became clear that their own ecological criteria might not be met. In the fall of 1999, the government funding of Green Games Watch Inc. was cut off. The detailed environmental platforms of Sydney's Olympic Games and the criteria set out for all games in the IOC's Agenda 21 are completely meaningless without independent monitoring. The Games are supposed to reflect the real world. However, only those with credentials (elite athletes, coaches, managers, officials and volunteers who serve the aforementioned) are allowed in, and then only after a security search. Enormous resources are required to feed and care for the athletes, officials and media. The underlying culture is elitist. The Games ironically reinforce nationalist, ethnocentric feelings, imperialistic attitudes and promulgate a culture of consumption. What this world needs is a festival of true cooperation that brings a diverse mix of rich and poor together, not to compete against each other, but to find common ground and to work together to imagine a brighter, fuller future. If this celebration of all that is best in humanity emerges, I will then seek to be a participant. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Waste and Pollution Increase in Industrialised Nations By Danielle Knight WASHINGTON, Sep 20 (IPS) - Major industrialised nations have increased the total amount of wastes and pollutants they emit into the environment, despite efforts to use natural resources more efficiently, according to researchers in Europe, Japan and the United States. >From 1975 to 1996, the total amount of waste generated in Austria, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States remained steady on a per capita basis, according to a report released here on Wednesday. The overall amount of pollution emitted into the air, water and soil, increased by as much as 28 percent, it said. The resource efficiency gains brought about by the rise of e- commerce and the shift from heavy industries toward and the service sector have been more than offset by the tremendous amount of economic growth that favour lifestyles that are energy and material intensive, said the report, 'The Weight of Nations.' The study was carried out by a team of researchers from Austria's Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies of Austrian Universities, Germany's Wuppert al Institute, Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, The Netherlands' Centre of Environmental Science at Leiden University and the World Resources Institute (WRI) here in Washington. ''As long as continued growth in economic output implies continued growth in material inputs to and waste outputs from the economy, there is little hope of limiting the impacts of human activity on the natural environment,'' said the report. The key is to separate economic growth from the use of resources - including fossil fuels, minerals, timber and agricultural products, they stressed. ''Better government policies and savvy management practices on the part of industry can help to break the link between economic growth and resource consumption and waste,'' said Emily Matthews, a researcher at WRI. The amount of waste flowing into the environment vary between the countries studied. Japan produced 11 metric tons per person per year, for example. While in the United States 25 metric tons per person of waste was generated annually. Austria increased its waste and emissions output by 10 percent, while in the United States pollution increased by 28 percent from 1975 to 1996. In Japan waste outputs grew by 20 percent during the same period. But when the researchers included ''hidden waste flows'' - or waste that included soil erosion and earth moved by mining and construction - the total annual material outputs to the environment range from 21 metric tons per person in Japan to 86 metric tons per person in the United States. The difference between waste coming out of Japan and United States largely results from whether a nation has a significant mining sector, according to Matthews. The extraction and use of fossil fuels - including coal, oil and petrol - accounts for most of the pollution or waste emissions in all five countries. When hidden waste flows (like earth moving) are excluded, carbon dioxide, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, accounts, on average, for 80 percent by weight of material outflows in the five study countries. Carbon dioxide is one of the main heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that most scientists believe cause the warming of the Earth's climate. ''The atmosphere is by far the biggest dumping ground for industrial wastes,'' said Matthews. The researchers did report a positive trend, however. Quantities of solid wastes sent to landfills have stabilised or declined in some study countries by 30 percent or more. ''Such reductions have been achieved, in part, through increased recycling efforts,'' it said. Part of the reductions in waste going to landfills, though, resulted from increased incineration, which releases dioxin and other harmful chemicals into the air, it said. Most of the countries studied have been successful in regulating some of the most hazardous pollutants, including lead and sulphur. But other harmful materials, including arsenic, are increasing. Arsenic contamination of the air and water is especially on the rise in the United States where the chemical is used as a wood preservative. The study found that all five countries had improved their efficiency of resources and materials in recent decades, but that did not seem to have had any effect on overall waste since people are buying more and using more fuel, it said. In the United States, more Internet based companies are thriving and using little resources, but this has been offset by the nation's compulsion to consume a lot of resources, such as the popularity of fuel- inefficient suburban utility vehicles despite growing fuel prices. Some nations studied are developing policies that encourage a move away from increased resource consumption, including taxes on pollution and government subsidies for renewable energies, like wind and solar energy. Pollution taxes in the Netherlands, for example, led to a 72-99 percent reduction in heavy metals discharges into waterways between 1976 and the mid-1990s, according to the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental think-tank based in Washington. And Austria has adopted policies to encourage the growth of biomass fuel which led to a reduction in the use of fossil fuels, says Matthews. Yet, even with these measures, carbon dioxide emissions have increased by 12 percent since 1988, according to the report. Some innovative companies are saying that doing more with less makes good business sense. Interface Inc, a US floor and carpeting company has won many awards for its creative steps to reducing waste and using resources more efficiency. ''When we started, we were a typical industrial enterprise, and typically bad,'' explained Ray Anderson, CEO of the Georgia-based company. Now, Anderson says his company saves tens of millions of dollars because it uses less materials and uses them more efficiently. Interface leases carpet tiles, taking the products back at the end of their useful lives for recycling or re-manufacturing. The materials used by the company thus circulate much longer requiring a minimum of virgin material and generating a minimum of waste. Interface also uses a lot of recycled materials such as old plastic bottles and converts them into fabric. ''Why continue to waste expensive raw materials when becoming more resource- efficient can increase companies' profit margins and also protect the environment?'' asked Matthews. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- e-marketing to children <http://www.sfbg.com/News/34/51/51ogdigi.html> Dot-com marketers descend on S.F. By A. Clay Thompson, San Francisco Bay Guardian If you have children, be afraid. Be very afraid. Internet marketing gurus are busy cooking up online schemes to drain kids' piggy banks not to mention their parents' credit cards. Spending a few hours at "Digital Kids," the two-day e-marketing confab held in San Francisco Sept. 12 and 13, made that crystal clear. Sponsored by Jupiter Communications, a leading tech consulting firm, the forum brought the heavyweights of the dot-coms-for-kids set to the posh Argent Hotel to talk shop and pitch product. Surrounded by some 400 new-economy players think young white people in semi-casual attire punching data into PalmPilots I caught the keynote. "In simple terms we all know that kids are surfing the Web in record numbers but translating this traffic into profits is quite a different matter," offered speaker John Barbour, a Scot who heads ToysRus.com. "I can see a number of you thinking right now, 'Wow, with all these kids surfing the Web, there's got to be a lot of cool business opportunities.' " But right now minors account for only 1 percent of online toy sales, Barbour lamented. "Most kids and teens don't have credit cards to make online purchases," he said. Luckily for Barbour and colleagues, a host of savvy start-ups like Rocketcash.com and MainXchange.com are tackling that problem by offering kiddie e-commerce services. Rocketcash is a debit system mail in a check or money order and start spending at more than 100 online stores, including Backstreet Boys Direct and DesignerOutlet.com! The site offers "RocketFuel Reward Points" for big spenders. MainXchange boasts auctions, a Wall Street game, and even real stock-market investing, as well as e-money. To broaden its reach beyond the home PC, the company is working with schoolteachers to get its stock-trader game into the classroom. "We're in schools in 44 states," marketing vice president Gayle A. Keck told me. "I was surprised at how interested even younger kids are in the stock market. They really are like little stockbrokers." At a panel called "Learning for Profit: The Web and Educational Content," Tom Kalinske, president of Knowledge Universe, kicked off the discussion with discouraging statistics: "Only 10 percent of high school graduates can write a coherent, grammatically correct paragraph." The silver lining: with parents spending $19 billion annually on learning products, "the kids business," as Kalinske dubbed it, is booming. These "sad facts," Kalinske said, "lead up to a huge market opportunity" for companies such as Knowledge Universe and BigChalk.com. Knowledge Universe a $1.8 billion outfit bankrolled by junk-bond ex-con Michael Milken sells a huge array of educational products, many of them computer-based. BigChalk's site aims for kids, librarians, teachers, and parents, offering a workable, semi-organized search engine and online shopping mall. BigChalk, like many of the dot-coms on display at "Digital Kids," hopes to fill its coffers with taxpayer loot by selling Web-based teaching products to school districts. But BigChalk CEO John Lynch complains, "This is not a market opportunity without its challenges. The school building is actually viewed as sacred ground not to be defiled by crass commercialism. And that's not the view just held by the majority of teachers; that's the view held by the majority of educators and the majority of parents, too." The day after Lynch's speech a group of 80 educators and youth advocates, including professors from UC Berkeley and Stanford, released a 99-page report arguing that wiring classrooms is a waste of money that actually hinders learning. Dan Pelson, CEO of Bolt, a teen chat room destination, said his site had sculpted chats to provide market research for Ford, a major advertiser. "When they [young people] get in there and say, 'The Ford Focus sucks,' that is invaluable to Ford," Pelson told listeners. While almost all the panelists were highly caffeinated Caucasian alpha males like Pelson, the company show-and-tell booths upstairs were staffed by bouncy young women. Virginia Ginsberg, a P.R. flack for Your Own World, showed me the company's playful, preteen-focused CD-ROM which promptly crashed. The "interactive environment" features constantly updated banner ads on nearly every page. "The advertisements make a lot of parents uncomfortable," Ginsberg told me. But, she said, Your Own World gives kids an out: click on the banners, and they mutate into video games or animated movie trailers. Later, at a panel titled "Targeting Teen Shoppers," another executive sounded the battle cry: "We are here to suck the money out of their pockets!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOJ on 2nd Amendment <http://www.nraila.org/research/20000901-AntiGunGroups-001.shtml> August 22, 2000 Dear Mr. XXXX: Thank you for your letter dated August 11, 2000, in which you question certain statements you understand to have been made by an attorney for the United States during oral argument before the Fifth Circuit in United States v. Emerson. Your letter states that the attorney indicated that the United States believes "that it could 'take guns away from the public', and 'restrict ownership of rifles, pistols and shotguns from all people.'" You ask whether the response of the attorney for the United States accurately reflects the position of the Department of Justice and whether it is indeed the government¹s position 'that the Second Amendment of the Constitution does not extend to the people as an individual right.' I was not present at the oral argument you reference, and I have been informed that the court of appeals will not make the transcript or tape of the argument available to the public (or to the Department of Justice). I am informed, however, that counsel for the United States in United States v. Emerson, Assistant United States Attorney William Mateja, did indeed take the position that the Second Amendment does not extend an individual right to keep and bear arms. That position is consistent with the view of the Amendment taken both by the federal appellate courts and successive Administrations. More specifically, the Supreme Court and eight United States Courts of Appeals have considered the scope of the Second Amendment and have uniformly rejected arguments that it extends firearms rights to individuals independent of the collective need to ensure a well-regulated militia. See United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939) (the 'obvious purpose' of the Second Amendment was to effectuate Congress' power to 'call forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,' not to provide an individual right to bear arms contrary to federal law'); Cases v. United States, 131 F.2d 916, 921 (1st Cir. 1942) ('The right to keep and bear arms is not a right conferred upon the people by the federal constitution.'); Eckert v. City of Philadelphia, 477 F.2d 610 (3rd Cir. 1973) ('It must be remembered that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right given by the United States Constitution.'); United States v. Johnson, 497 F.2d 548, 550 (4th Cir. 1974); United States v. Warin, 530 F.2d 103, 106-07 (6th Cir. 1976) ('We conclude that the defendant has no private right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.'); Stevens v. United States, 440 F.2d 144, 149 (6th Cir. 1971) ('There can be no serious claim to any express constitutional right of an individual to possess a firearm.'); Ouilici v. Village of Morton Grove, 695 F.2d 261, 270 (7th Cir. 1982) ('The right to keep and bear handguns is not guaranteed by the second amendment.'); United States v. Hale, 978 F.2d 1016, 1019 (8th Cir. 1992) ('The rule emerging from Miller is that, absent a showing that the possession of a certain weapon has some relationship to the preservation or efficiency of regulated militia, the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to possess the weapon.'); United States v. Tomlin, 454 F.2d 176 (9th Cir. 1972); United States v. Swinton, 521 F.2d 1255, 1259 (10th Cir. 1975) ('There is no absolute constitutional right of an individual to possess a firearm.'). Thus, rather than holding that the Second Amendment protects individual firearms rights, these courts have uniformly held that it precludes only federal attempts to disarm, abolish, or disable the ability to call up the organized state militia. Similarly, almost three decades ago, the Department of Justice¹s Office of Legal Counsel explained: The language of the Second Amendment, when it was first presented to the Congress, makes it quite clear that it was the right of the States to maintain a militia that was being preserved, not the rights of an individual to own a gun [and] [there is no indication that Congress altered its purpose to protect state militias, not individual gun ownership [upon consideration of the Amendment] . . . . Courts have viewed the Second Amendment as limited to the militia and have held that it does not create a personal right to own or use a gun . . . . In light of the constitutional history, it must be considered as settled that there is no personal constitutional right, under the Second Amendment, to own or to use a gun. Letter from Mary C. Lawton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, to George Bush, Chairman, Republican National Committee (July 19, 1973) (citing, inter alia, Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886), and United States v. Miller, 307 U.S. 174 (1939)). See also, e.g., Federal Firearms Act, Hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate 41 (1965) (Statement of Attorney General Katzenbach) ('With respect to the second amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States long ago made it clear that the amendment did not guarantee to any individuals the right to bear arms.'). I hope this answers your question. Thank you again for writing. Yours sincerely, Seth P. Waxman Solicitor General US Department of Justice ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's Not Just About 'Assault Weapons' Anymore U.S. v. Emerson by Mike Dillon in THE BLUE PRESS [edited.] The Constitution and Bill of Rights DOES NOT protect your right to own or possess firearms! The Second Amendment only allows you to use a firearm while in the National Guard! That is the publicly stated position of the Clinton-Gore Justice Department. This position was not whispered in some back-room meeting--it was stated in open court in a case now before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court is hearing the government's appeal of U.S. v. Emerson, a Texas case resulting from a divorce action that resulted in Dr. Timothy Joe Emerson being indicted by a federal grand jury. Emerson was in violation of the Lautenberg Amendment--the local court had placed a restraining order against him, making it against federal law for him to possess a firearm. In April 1999, U.S. District Court Judge Sam Cummings ruled that this law was an unconstitutional infringement of the "individual right to bear arms." Cummings set aside the indictment, and in doing so, struck a grievous blow to the gun prohibitionists. Of course, the government appealed the decision. Now, if Cummings' decision is upheld on appeal, not only will the Lautenberg Amendment be invalidated, hundreds of gun laws will be in jeopardy of being struck down. We're all holding our breath awaiting the Court of Appeals' ruling, especially since the most significant bit of information to come out of the case is the on-record position of "our" government on the Second Amendment. The following exchange is from the transcript of the oral arguments: Judge William L. Garwood: "You are saying that the Second Amendment is consistent with a position that you can take guns away from the public? You can restrict ownership of rifles, pistols and shotguns from all people? Is that the position of the United States?" Assistant US Attorney William B. Mateja: "Yes." Garwood: "Is it the position of the United States that persons who are not in the National Guard are afforded no protections under the Second Amendment?" Mateja: "Exactly." Mateja then argued that even membership in the National Guard would not qualify an individual to possess firearms. Garwood: "Membership in the National Guard isn't enough? What else is needed?" Mateja: "The weapon in question must be used IN the National Guard." That pretty much disqualifies your Model 70, your Model 700, your Marlin 336, your Perazzi, your Weatherby, your Anshutz, or your Merkel from protection under the Second Amendment, now doesn't it? And you thought the government was only after those nasty high-capacity handguns and "assault weapons." But you didn't have any of those, so you weren't worried. For the terminally clueless, let me spell it out -- IT'S LONG PAST TIME TO START WORRYING. IT'S TIME TO ACT! Your deer rifle and your duck gun are on the same "to-confiscate" list as all handguns, "assault" rifles and "sniper" rifles. It makes no difference what your gun looks like, the official position of the Clinton-Gore administration is that YOU have NO right to own it. You can continue to hide in your duck or deer blind and pretend that you're not a target. Keep pretending, right up until that day when the government looks at the roster of hunting licenses and comes to your house to confiscate your "thutty-thutty." Oh, you'll fight? You'll give up your gun when they pry it from your cold, dead fingers? Bullshit. If you won't fight now, why should I believe that you'll be willing to spend your BLOOD later? I don't know about you, but I'd much rather fight to keep them from taking my rights away at the ballot box instead of trying to get them back by fighting in the street. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ex-NSA expert warns of concealed backdoors <http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/38/ns-18077.html> [See webpage for embedded hyper-links.] Mon, 25 Sep 2000 by Will Knight Ex-spook believes that software backdoors are out there, fueling conspiracy theories Former NSA (National Security Agency) analyst and representative of Internet rights watchdog EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Centre) Wayne Madison warned privacy groups Friday that a growing number of proprietary commercial software applications may have backdoors allowing the security services to carry out surveillance activities. Speaking to privacy groups as well as cryptography and security experts at the International Forum on Surveillance by Design at the London School of Economics, Madison warned that this is an area of growing interest for security services such as the NSA. "A lot of manufacturers play ball with the NSA," said Madison. "This is an area that the NSA is moving into a lot and we have to be really careful about it." Until recently the US government strictly controlled the strength of cryptography in software exported to different countries, in order to protect the government's ability to access and monitor communications data. The regulations were relaxed after pressure from industry but Madison believes that this may have driven the NSA to find ways to carry out surveillance. "They're not going to give in over exporting strong cryptography without getting something in return," he says. The NSA carries out the US government's intelligence gathering operations. It is known to gather information from Internet traffic. It is possible for programmers to put secret capabilities into the code used to build programs that are difficult to detect. Software companies including Microsoft have in the past been accused of colluding with the NSA to provide backdoors into their applications. Open source software, which publishes the underlying source code with a finished application, is by contrast entirely transparent. This has caused some foreign governments including the French administration to take an interest in open source solutions. According to Madison, evidence of the FBI's controversial Carnivore email surveillance tool shows that NSA technology is finding its way into other law enforcement departments. He predicts that similar surveillance tools may be applied to other technologies including biometrics and smart cards and used track the movements of individuals. "These are new intelligence targets," he says. Madison warns that government agencies often have a significant role in the development of standards for new technologies. The London forum saw presentations from a host of experts on government surveillance technology including Duncan Campbell, famous for his work on Echelon, and Tony Bunyan of Statewatch. See also: Anti-snooping gurus converge on London <http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2000/37/ns-17972.html> Echelon: World under watch <http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/2000/06/echelon/> Surveillance, a ZDNet News Special <http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/1999/09/surveillance/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Promotes Information Sharing FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (08/00) Vol. 69, No. 8, P. 21 Law enforcement officials have an Intranet communication system, Law Enforcement Online (LEO), that will allow them to share sensitive information in a secure environment. LEO currently has some 23,000 users every day who are accessing the system not only to communicate and obtain mission critical information but also to familiarize themselves with the latest law enforcement issues; contact peers, colleagues, or experts in various fields; and to participate in educational programs online. The Intranet communication system is also an excellent way for law enforcement officials to reach special interest groups for inquiries, research, and to access experts. The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and the FBI Bomb Data Center are just two of the more than 50 special interest groups that are connected to the online network. LEO's services are free, easy to use, and can be accessed anywhere and at any time. ************************************************************** To learn more about the LEO system, or to request an application, contact the LEO Program Office at 202-324-8833, or via e-mail at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ************************************************************** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mobile Phones for Cops Law Enforcement Technology (08/00) Vol. 127, No. 8, P. 68; Rogers, Donna Although wireless handsets specifically designed for law enforcement do not yet exist, there are numerous cell phone products with features useful to police. The Ericsson Screen Phone HS210 uses Bluetooth Technology to link together a touchscreen with virtual keyboard and a base station. Ericsson's water-proof, dust-proof, and shock-proof R310 has voice dialing, vibrating call alert, and data/fax features. The Ericsson R280LX wireless phone can offer unlimited wireless Internet access with AT&T Digital PocketNet service. The R280LX also features extensive battery life and memory capacity, caller ID, a phone lock, keypad lock, emergency dialing, call mute, and any-key answer. The Ericsson Model R250d PRO is designed for rough environments and resistant to abuse. Kyocera Wireless Corporation, which recently acquired QUALCOMM Incorporated, offers the pdQ smartphone and QCP thin phone series. The pdQ smartphone can exchange data with a desktop computer and has vast memory storage, while its infrared technology enables the device to send messages, business cards, and the like to Palm III Organizers or other smartphones. The QCP thin phones possess analog, digital, and dual-mode features, along with cell and PCS services. The Motorola CipherTAC 2000 module is used by the U.S. government, military, and other agencies for surveillance or covert activities, since the device adds STU-III compatible secure voice communications to its MicroTAC Elite flip phone. The phone offers desktop, tactical STU-IIIs, AMPS, NAMPS, and ETACS cellular infrastructure interoperability. The Motorola Wings' companion and connectivity solutions are a line of accessories that can give phones modem capability, fax connections, and mobile PC data-sharing. Several Motorola models also use Nextel's Online Two-Way Messaging Service to receive email. Nokia's 8890 offers voice dialing, predictive text input, picture messaging, and operates in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The 8890 can switch between bands and time zones automatically, and has an infrared link like the Kyocera smartphone. A PC suite will be available for the device in the near future. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Linked stories: ******************** The world is running low on H2O <http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho091900.stm> by Lester R. Brown Water tables are already falling on every continent, thanks in large part to powerful pumping technology developed in the last 50 years, which allows humans to deplete aquifers faster than they can be replenished by precipitation. ******************** The Microsoft Playbook <http://commoncause.org/publications/microsoft/> Computer giant Microsoft, facing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice and state Attorneys General, turned what was a sleepy Washington presence into a financial and political powerhouse, spending more than $16 million across a wide spectrum of political activities since 1997, according to a report released today by Common Cause. The study, The Microsoft Playbook, details the explosive growth of Microsoft's lobbying, contributions to candidates and parties, goods and services donated to the party conventions, and donations to influential trade groups, think tanks, and foundations. ******************** U.S. Leads Effort To Lift Surveillance Safeguards <http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000921S0007> Which country snoops the most on computer users? According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International, the United States leads efforts to remove legal and technical safeguards that could limit electronic surveillance. ******************** ====================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ______________________________________________________________ To subscribe/unsubscribe or for a sample copy or a list of back issues, send appropriate email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ______________________________________________________________ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om