Missed News: US Adopts Euro Cyber Crime Proposal ...
Title: Missed News: US Adopts Euro Cyber Crime Proposal ... http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/705193l.htm Was this missed by everyone? Or did it appear in another form? Ern
RE: Looking for statistically-unlikely surges in absentee ballots
Title: RE: Looking for statistically-unlikely surges in absentee ballots And would you be so upset if it were a county full of people that share YOUR political persuasion, but similarly configured? Probably not. Therefore, you are not quite the objective guy you claim. You just have a lot of vocal people on this list who share YOUR views. There are a lot of people in Palm Beach County who share some other views. They feel cheated. They are angry. They are using the legal system to do something about it. They may not succeed. (Who cares.) All I claimed was that they have a right to pursue the issue precisely because the goal of elections is to see what the voters want, not whether the voters meet some intelligence criteria or can decipher some level of complexity. I may personally dislike the notion that such idiots are voting, but they have every right to vote. I also am well aware that real people in real situations make mistakes. That is why there are lots of recourses to help fix election process problems. Of course, the ideal would be that everyone votes exactly at the same time, with informed intelligence, etc .. Real life is much more complicated than that, and unlike you, I do not pretend to know every complication (and have an proper solution) that could happen to such a huge process. Ern, President and CEO, PinHead Inc. -Original Message- From: Tim May [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 12:48 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Looking for statistically-unlikely surges in absentee ballots I just heard Karen Hughes of the Bush Campaign express concern about the status of absentee ballots being mailed AFTER the outcome of the election was shown to be so close. In particular, after the legal cut-off date. This fits with what I just posted about concerns that Florida dual-citizenship residents of Israel, or tourists in Israel, sending in absentee ballots they had neglected to send in by the cut-off date. (Or, more ominously, ZOG conveniently postmarking them to match the law in Florida.) [By the way, I think in my ZOG piece I mentioned Palm Beach County. This is not the point, as the closeness of the vote is Florida-wide. This is what I meant to say.] The thing to look for is a _surge_ in ballots arriving in Florida absentee ballots as compared to other states. While other states may also have some degree of after the fact absentee ballots, the incentives are higher in a razor-thin state like Florida. A surge of absentee ballots arriving two or three days after the controversy became obvious would be compelling evidence to justify further investigation. --Tim May -- -:-:-:-:-:-:-: Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Cyphernomicon | black markets, collapse of governments.
Another mental exercise for the absolutists ...
Title: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ... New Mexico appears to be having a problem ... Some ballots are not found. What would YOU do about it? A computer glitch left out 60K+ ballots. What would YOU do about it? For the violently anti-Gore types: This state appears to be the opposite of New Mexico in terms of political pursuasion. A re-count or a re-do could very well put Bush ahead. Ern
RE: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ...
Title: RE: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ... Mis type ... opposite of Florida. Ern -Original Message- From: Me [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 2:45 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ... - Original Message - From: Ernest Hua [EMAIL PROTECTED] New Mexico appears to be having a problem ... A computer glitch left out 60K+ ballots. What would YOU do about it? Are we talking about the equiv bulb burning out on the card reader? Is there any error in the ballot? Is there a chain of evidence, wrt where they have come from? Yes, no, yes: let them in. For the violently anti-Gore types: This state appears to be the opposite of New Mexico in New Mexico is the opposite of New Mexico?
RE: Close Elections and Causality
Title: RE: Close Elections and Causality Thanks Tim. (First, I genuinely appreciate the specificity. Now we can discuss just where we disagree.) Given your points, one would have to argue that the proper election would have to be extremely simultaneous (e.g. everyone votes within 1 hour or whatever will most likely beat any realistic attempt to predict voter results before the vote is actually finished). I can see your point. However, it ain't gonna happen precisely because people have normal life concerns that truly are 24x7 and simply cannot work around them. (e.g. kids, certain kinds of jobs, etc ...). A reasonable level of flexibility is required. Reasonable appears to mean opening polls for most of the day, but I would hate to have some faceless fed tell me what reasonable is. Tax day is another example. Shit. Why should the Post Office do anything extra special for you if you don't get your forms filed in time? Why should they set up special lines and special times on the night of April 15? Because it's a compromise. It's pragmatic. The goal is to get people to file and to file on time. Same thing here. The goal is to give people a chance to vote. Otherwise, national elections should have national rules, according to your reasoning. States should not be allowed to set up their own mechanisms to vote on national elections. But in fact, the states ARE granted such flexibility because that's the tradition. It does not fit yours or someone else's absolute ideals, but then it's such a huge process and who knows what level of flexibility each state or local region needs. So on the issue of extending hours: If each district, county, township, neighborhood should decide to open the polls LONGER, I can't see a problem with that. If they close it earlier, it's probably not a problem either unless someone felt they did not have a chance to get to the polls. Then someone will have to decide whether that person had a fair chance to vote. But you don't want some no-name federal government bureaucrat deciding what constitutes a fair and reasonable chance to vote in your circumstances, right? Yes, I know, you can probably name all sorts of extreme and clearly abusive behavior that this would allow. But surprisingly, most people do not abuse the system. Most people don't if it is too inconvenient to be a pain-in-the-ass. On the issue of re-voting: The causality and the hinge issues are irrelevant if ANY state, county, district, whatever can go to a judge and argue (not demand arbitrarily) for re-vote. It's exactly YOUR argument: Just because county X is demanding a re-vote does not suddenly make that county the hinge vote. They obviously do not know or care if county Y also demand a re-vote. Same flaw. Because every area of the country have the same right (as Palm Beach) to demand a re-vote. But reasonableness and compromise will usually demand some upper bound on how much of this can occur to correct for any problems that arise. My personal view is that it is obvious that the election is close, period. Therefore, any particular place where it's winner-take-all, a reasonable request to re-vote should be granted. Lots of places here and abroad have the concept of run-off elections for precisely the same reasons: Let's see what the voters really want. Ern -Original Message- From: Tim May [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2000 9:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Close Elections and Causality [ Long educational rant about causation and how some people are not clued in. ]
RE: A successful lawsuit means Gore wins!
Title: RE: A successful lawsuit means Gore wins! Well, Tim, maybe I'm just part of a huge conspiracy to piss you off. Or maybe you utter lots of theoretical purity of process without being the least bit accomodating to the fact that often times, in a large distributed process, things don't go as smoothly and as perfectly as you would prefer. You really should try managing a large organization or process and try to be able to claim that you can make it perfect. And, of course, to get to YOUR point ... What is different this time? Will their evil twins to be doing the voting? What? What is the problem? It's the same damn vote. One for one. If someone does not feel like fixing his/her vote, he shouldn't have to. If the second pass is a clean slate, then he/she can vote the same damn way again. I really don't get it. Do they get TWO votes this time? Are they now FORCED to vote even if they did not the first time? Let's face it, if there are forces, then they'll be there this time around as well. These people weren't objective one day, and the next day, they were suddenly sheeples toppled over by political ads. So what's the difference? Just spit it out, Tim. You just aren't talking substance, but you love insulting me ... What a way to communicate ... but maybe that's not your goal. Ern -Original Message- From: Tim May [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2000 9:28 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: A successful lawsuit means Gore wins! At 8:57 PM -0800 11/8/00, Ernest Hua wrote: There cannot be a re-vote of the County, or even of the entire State, as this would distort the forces acting on the electorate in a way never seen before. The Palm County voters would know _they_ would be electing the next president. Billions of dollars would be spent trying to buy each and every voter. distort the forces ... Lord! No! Don't let them do that! Geez, Tim. What happened to personal responsibility? Who gives two bits what forces will be upon them. They will ultimately still have to cast a vote which they were casting just days earlier. Who cares if idiots spend billions to sway a few thousand votes. That's THEIR problem. It's free speech, as you have claimed in the past. You're a complete idiot if you don't understand this point. I made my points, briefly, above. This would not be a matter of the same voters simply recasting their same ballots. Think about it. (I'm not convinced you can, Ernest. In reading hundreds of your posts I have concluded that you're just part of Vinge's Slow Zone.) --Tim May -- -:-:-:-:-:-:-: Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Cyphernomicon | black markets, collapse of governments.
Frenchelon: The Next Generation ...
Title: Frenchelon: The Next Generation ... http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/003184.htm France Telecom to build American fiber network NEW YORK (Reuters) - France Telecom said Tuesday it will invest $200 million to build a 15,000-mile fiber optics network connecting 28 major cities in North America by the end of 2001. The network will be connected to France Telecom's pan-European backbone network, opened in October 1999, with international submarine cables. ... Gee ... This wouldn't be used for commercial ... er ... I mean ... national security espionage ... er ... I mean ... surveillence, would it? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean ? Ern
RE: RE: Carnivore - Matt Blaze testimony
Title: RE: RE: Carnivore - Matt Blaze testimony Amazing ... one minute I'm accused of being a cop ... the next minute I'm accused of living in a fascist country ... I suppose, logically speaking, there is a corner case where both could be true. As a friend once said, On the Internet, no one knows you're a dog. Ern -Original Message- From: Sunder [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 3:17 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ernest, what kind of fascist or socialist country do you think you're living in? Haven't you learned anything from the likes of our John Young? This is the USA the last time I checked. The government can't legally force you to do things and keep your mouth shut. Can you imagine how much more heat the FBI would be getting under their asses right now if they tried to hide such things? All it would take is one brave soul running to the press and they'd have a revolt on their hands.
RE: Carnivore - Matt Blaze testimony
Title: RE: Carnivore - Matt Blaze testimony It's hopeless. Only technology, and terrorism, will work. ^ Ahem ... trying to feed Carnivore? The biggest lesson the FBI has learned is that they should have kept this damn thing secret. Slap secrecy orders on everyone. Make 'em sign all sorts of nondisclosure etc ... I doubt any bureaucracy will learn to be nicer and more open. They just learn to find a new way around the old obstacles. Ern
Good Slash Dot article on conspiracies
Title: Good Slash Dot article on conspiracies http://slashdot.org/features/00/07/22/176249.shtml For those who are still so inclined to think that huge organizations can some how muster the collective singular mindset to pull together major conspiracies ... Obviously there truth is somewhere in between, as this article suggests. There are probably much smaller but wide spread bureaucratic incompetencies and butt-covering, but the centralized, one villian puppeteer will likely take a genius to make it even half way successful. That said, bureaucratic incompetence still has its price and can do just as much damage as a single Dr. Evil. The key is to ensure that process transparencies make it difficult for anyone or small number of people to succeed. And the head guy should still be the fall guy, not one of his underlings. This make high level managers act far more responsibly than if some scum staffer is always making it plausibly deniable. Unfortunately, this is often in direct conflict with the need for Official Secrecy Act and our U.S. equivalents. Therefore, whistle blower statues need strengthening, as does more third party witness protection, as does many other small steps to allow abuses to come out. That is one major reason why crypto must be universally freed. (I still don't get why there were at least two readers who accused me of being a cop ...) Happy reading ... Ern
RE: FBI Requests File Removal
Title: RE: FBI Requests File Removal Hmmm ... I will have to totally (but respectfully) disagree. The underlings are not necessarily just delivering a friendly reminder in this case. Threats are generally considered not just in poor taste, but real criminal offenses, when it comes from someone in the position to cause someone else a lot of trouble. (e.g. your boss threatens you, the county prosecutor threatens you, the FBI threatens you, etc ...) In this case, John is dealing with stuff that pisses off the FBI. But the FBI is not allowed to make random threats just to get its way. It is clear that what may be harmed in this case is more a diplomatic and/or political in nature rather than some serious security issue. Therefore, the FBI is clearly in the wrong, unless otherwise proven. John's move to ignore that threat is certainly within his rights, by default. And your baseline point about underlings ... It is really the underlings that pull the trigger. Larry Potts did not pull any trigger in Ruby Ridge, for instance. The extent to which a person on the front line should be held responsible should take into account the seriousness of the situation, and in the case of Ruby Ridge, there is at least some reason to ponder the question. In this case, however, John is not threatening the agents with shotguns. Yet the agents did more than just gently advise John. There is a real difference when the attitude is bad. Ern -Original Message- From: T. Bankson Roach [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, July 21, 2000 8:13 AM To: John Young; Steven Furlong Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: FBI Requests File Removal [SNIP] First, we know about Carnivore, or think we do. What earthly good is it to put the agent's names in the public domain? Unless you planned to do something cruel, evil or harmful to people doing their job it would serve no useful purpose. Contrary to the nonsense propounded at Nuremberg in the flush of victory at the end of WW2, I do not think it wise to hold underlings responsible for policy decisions made by people way up the food chain. [SNIP]
RE: I don't call for Hillary or Chelsea to be killed
Title: RE: I don't call for Hillary or Chelsea to be killed Clearly, Mr. Anonymous has an issue, but so do I, and I don't call for Hillary or Chelsea to be killed just because I don't like what Bill is doing. Take a trank, Ern! You're jumping to way too many conclusions here. No one has called for action against either of these two agents. Your rhetoric here and in other of your posts suggests you think hit teams are being dispatched to deal with Jim and Dave and perhaps even their families and their pets. Well, I obviously mispoke because that's too many that have concluded that I claimed people are on their way to hurt these agents. WHAT I MEANT TO SAY WAS ... Mr. Anonymous condone the collateral damage of families, friends (of the FBI agents) being hurt in the process should anyone try to do so, just because some other government agent, he claims, had done so in the past. I am NOT debating whether Ruby Ridge was right, wrong, unjust or whatever. I am NOT saying that anyone is on their way to hurt these agents. What I AM saying is that publishing their home addresses has consequences far beyond the agents themselves, and these consequences are obvious and obviously not desireable. But Mr. Anonymous appear to disagree. I really believe that Mr. Anonymous could have just publish their office addresses, E-Mail address and/or identify the supervisor(s) and/or FBI regional director or something like that. I say, leave their friends and family out of this. For all we know, maybe their friends and family despise what these two are doing. Their homes are just as sacred as yours, Tim. Ern
