re: How to Defeat DVD Zone Controls
Most players cannot be hacked. And many hacks do not operate properly. How about just rent or borrow DVDs, reprocess to remove the region controls and reburn to a DVD-R? DVD-Rs are only about $1.25 or less each. Test burn on a DVD-RW to help prevent expensive coasters. See http://mpucoder.dynodns.net/derrow/copy.html Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
re: How to Defeat DVD Zone Controls
Most players cannot be hacked. And many hacks do not operate properly. How about just rent or borrow DVDs, reprocess to remove the region controls and reburn to a DVD-R? DVD-Rs are only about $1.25 or less each. Test burn on a DVD-RW to help prevent expensive coasters. See http://mpucoder.dynodns.net/derrow/copy.html Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
Re: movie distribution post copyright (Re: Artists)
At 10:20 PM 7/8/2002 +0100, Adam Back wrote: But right now copies of recent release movies (post screen release, but pre DVD/VHS relase) are not generally available in high quality format, suitable for projecting. As you note later, most recent releases to the Net are often lower quality 'cams' shot with consumer quality camcorders. But not all. A number of individuals or groups have managed to consistantly create and distribute VHS or better releases. While not DVD in quality on smaller screens (say below 27-inches) they are more than adequate, sometimes better than the average quality of analog cable reception. See www.vcdquality.com for recent releases and quality ratings. Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 11:29 PM 6/5/2002 -0700, Tim May wrote: On Wednesday, June 5, 2002, at 08:37 PM, Morlock Elloi wrote: I only bought one (1) VHS tape, ever (*). That was Pulp Fiction. So far, I don't have it on DVD. DVDs are probably the first product ever rolled out exclusively for content control purposes. Quality-wise, it's somewhat better than VHS and almost the same as Hi-8 (which I use for archiving purposes), and definitely inferior to analog laserdisc, which had a thriving market but is now almost extinct (a nice side-effect being that titles are now available for $5-10 and there are some which will never make it to DVD). Hype and brandheads that salivate on words like dolby surroundumb sound aside, average consumer got only new expense with DVDs - buying a player. Like CDs, audio cassetes and IP protocol, VHS will stay forever with us. I disagree, politely, with nearly every point you make. DVDs are taking off faster than I have ever seen a product take off, and I've seen quite a few. They are vastly better than VHS, in picture quality, and are mechanically superior to VHS in nearly every way. (No broken/stretched tapes, no complicated read heads and capstans to get knocked out of whack, scratched, etc.) [The following video data snippets are from the excellent hobbyist video site www.vcdhelp.com Many foreign contributors, some with only passable English skills.]] The official (legal) resolutions for optical media are: 720 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by most DVD. 704 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by some DVD 480 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by SVCD 352 X 576 (480 NTSC). Used by DVD and China Video Disc (CVD). It is also the official SVHS resolution. 352 X 288 (240 NTSC). Used by VCD and DVD. It is also the official VHS resolution The official names for those resolutions, come from US and there are defined like this: 720 X 576 (480 NTSC): CCIR-601, Full PAL/NTSC Studio resolution. 704 X 576 (480 NTSC) as 1/1 D1 or simply as D1(Sometimes this resolution is 702 X 576/480). It is the TV Broadcast resolution 528 X 576 (480 NTSC) as 3/4 D1. It is supposed to be the Laser Disc resolution, but ain't. I'll explain later 480 X 576 (480 NTSC) as 2/3 D1. It is the SVCD resolution. 352 X 576 (480 NTSC) as 1/2 D1. Used by DVD and CVD The VCD resolution is 352 X 288 (240 NTSC) and it is called CIF- 601. In Europe and especially Far East Asia, people tend to use other names to describe the legal DVD - Video resolutions. 704 X 576 as D1 352 X 576 as D2 352 X 288 as D4 704 X 288 as D3. (I also have Hi-8, but would never think of archiving _anything_ to it. Flimsy heads/capstans in spades. Ditto for DV, which I also have. It's resolution is the best of all, but it's convenience and robustness are dubious.) I started looking at laser disks in 1979, but never bought one. The disks were too large and unwieldy to be a competitive format. Laserdisc The official Laserdisc resolution is 528 X 576/480, but many titles in US, after 1990, are using the 544 X 480 resolution. That happened because the first cheap video projectors in US, were using the VGA standard for video in. Of course, those machines were for professional use with PCs. But with the use of special (and cheap) connectors/adaptors or the famous VGA - out connection of specific Laserdiscs, it was possible for the very first time, for US video enthusiast, to have big picture at there houses. It was the only true solution for the first home theatres (the term home cinema came later...). Unfortunately, VGA is not based on CCIR-601, so a picture adaption is needed (VGA is 640 X 480). In other words, the picture aspect was wrong and always a part or some parts of the picture was not in use. Because of Laser Disc limitations, the use of pan and scan method (like DVD - Video) wasn't possible. The only solution without compatibility problems and no cost, was to upgrade the Laserdisc resolution, unofficially, to 544 X 480. In Europe, the success of Laserdisc was minimal, so the few released PAL titles, continue to use the official resolution for PAL (528 X 576). In theory, there is a 544 X 576, but I never saw a PAL laserdisc using this resolution. The DVB/ -s -t -c resolutions The DVB transmissions became mainstream in Europe in 1996 and today are mainstream in US too. In the last five years, the European Union (E.U.), forced all television and radio providers of E.U. Members, to turn their services digital. So, except Germany and partly France (where the interest for analog satellite TV still is huge), everything today is digital. DVB is based on mpeg 2 (like DVD) and supports resolutions from full CIRR - 601 (top quality) to CIF (lowest quality). Any resolution between those limits can be a DVB picture resolution, with any bitrate/size. The correct output picture aspect is accomplished by the use of the pan and scan method, which takes place between the Digital/Analog conversion, before the final picture signal goes
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 05:06 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, Trei, Peter wrote: Tim, I think you're missing the point here. Valenti and his ilk would like nothing more than to force you to to rebuy your visual media *again*, but they don't have to. I'll bet dollars to donuts that you've rebought some of your VCR tapes as DVDs. Whey wouldn't the MPAA think they can make you do it over? Tim may be willing or able to repurchase his movie collection but many are not. I've backed up all of the movies I have on VHS onto CDs (2-3 per movie average) from DVD in a high quality format called SVCD. As soon as my budget allows I'll be a DVD burn'in fool. Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
RE: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks
At 05:06 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, Trei, Peter wrote: Tim, I think you're missing the point here. Valenti and his ilk would like nothing more than to force you to to rebuy your visual media *again*, but they don't have to. I'll bet dollars to donuts that you've rebought some of your VCR tapes as DVDs. Whey wouldn't the MPAA think they can make you do it over? Tim may be willing or able to repurchase his movie collection but many are not. I've backed up all of the movies I have on VHS onto CDs (2-3 per movie average) from DVD in a high quality format called SVCD. As soon as my budget allows I'll be a DVD burn'in fool. Communicate in total privacy. Get your free encrypted email at https://www.hushmail.com/?l=2 Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
re: Satellite Hacking Article Now Free
Seems to me that oneof the keys to permanently unlocking sat TV is to do away with the vendor's receiver. From my novice perspective, it seems many or most of the attacks against pirate devices are based on the assumption that the pirate must still have a set-top box which is still, indirectly, under control of the service provider (that is its unmodified). What if an affordable software based radio replaced the set-top box and the smart card functionality? It would seem to me that 3M (Three Musketeer) attacks, wherein one or more legal purchasers of the service broadcast in real-time the required stream decryption codes over ICQ/IRQ to all the other SDR boxes. This must have been thought of or already tried. What am I missing Peter? Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution is right for you? HushMail Secure Email http://www.hushmail.com/ HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/ Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/ Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/ Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
re: Satellite Hacking Article Now Free
Seems to me that oneof the keys to permanently unlocking sat TV is to do away with the vendor's receiver. From my novice perspective, it seems many or most of the attacks against pirate devices are based on the assumption that the pirate must still have a set-top box which is still, indirectly, under control of the service provider (that is its unmodified). What if an affordable software based radio replaced the set-top box and the smart card functionality? It would seem to me that 3M (Three Musketeer) attacks, wherein one or more legal purchasers of the service broadcast in real-time the required stream decryption codes over ICQ/IRQ to all the other SDR boxes. This must have been thought of or already tried. What am I missing Peter? Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution is right for you? HushMail Secure Email http://www.hushmail.com/ HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/ Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/ Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/ Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
re: Reputable E-Gold Funded Debit Cards?
I've been monitoring the e-gold discussion list for some time and this guy appears to be legit (i.e., a lack of negative comments). I have not purchased from him, but am considering obtaining one of these. Would be most interested in your experience should you decide to go ahead. https://www.goldnow.st/debit_card_order.asp Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution is right for you? HushMail Secure Email http://www.hushmail.com/ HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/ Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/ Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/ Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
re: Reputable E-Gold Funded Debit Cards?
I've been monitoring the e-gold discussion list for some time and this guy appears to be legit (i.e., a lack of negative comments). I have not purchased from him, but am considering obtaining one of these. Would be most interested in your experience should you decide to go ahead. https://www.goldnow.st/debit_card_order.asp Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution is right for you? HushMail Secure Email http://www.hushmail.com/ HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/ Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/ Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/ Looking for a good deal on a domain name? http://www.hush.com/partners/offers.cgi?id=domainpeople
Hacker threat looms for mobile handsets
CANNES, France #8212; Mischief that has caused cell phones to go haywire in Europe and Japan could be just the beginning. The hacker underground has ordered a hit on the mobile phone platform, industry leaders warned at the 3GSM World Congress here this week. An underground Web news service has issued a call to arms, said Ari Hypponen, chief technology officer at F-Secure Corp. (Helsinki, Finland), which designs security software for servers, gateways and mobile devices. He quoted the hackers as saying, Let's go to work. We are starting 'Cell Phone Challenge.' http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020222S0044 Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution is right for you? HushMail Secure Email http://www.hushmail.com/ HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/ Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/ Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/
NYTimes.com Article: U.S. Companies File in Bermuda to Slash Tax Bills
This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] I find it difficult to see why citizens should be treated any different then corporations whe it comes to their ability to shelter offshore income from the IRS. Some in fact engage in buy-back transactions but they must be very careful at tax time. [EMAIL PROTECTED] U.S. Companies File in Bermuda to Slash Tax Bills February 18, 2002 By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON A growing number of American companies are incorporating in Bermuda to lower their taxes sharply without giving up the benefits of doing business in the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/business/18TAX.html?ex=1015008814ei=1en=5d783cc573d595c3 HOW TO ADVERTISE - For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
re: What Kind Of Government......
Further support for my contention that current court opinions still leave legal wiggle
room for tax protesters on their 1040 filings.
In United States v. Sullivan, 274 U.S. 259 (1927), the Court held that the
privilege against compulsory self-incrimination is not a defense to prosecution for
failing to file a return at all. But the Court indicated that the privilege could be
claimed against specific disclosures sought on a return, saying:
If the form of return provided called for answers that the defendant was privileged
from making he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not on that
account refuse to make any return at all.
Id. at 263.{3} [424 U.S. 651]
Had Garner invoked the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination on his
tax returns in lieu of supplying the information used against him, the Internal
Revenue Service could have proceeded in either or both of two ways. First, the Service
could have sought to have Garner criminally prosecuted under § 7203 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1954 (Code), 26 U.S.C. § 7203, which proscribes, among other things,
the willful failure to make a return.{4} Second, the Service could have sought to
complete Garner's returns administratively from [its] own knowledge and from such
information as [it could] obtain through testimony or otherwise. 26 U.S.C. §
6020(b)(1). Section 7602(2) of the Code authorizes the Service in such circumstances
to summon the taxpayer to appear and to produce records or give testimony. 26 [424
U.S. 652] U.S.C. § 7602(2).{5} If Garner had persisted in his claim when summoned, the
Service could have sued for enforcement in district court, subjecting G!
ar!
ner to the threat of the court's contempt power. 26 U.S.C. § 7604.{6}
Given Sullivan, it cannot fairly be said that taxpayers are volunteers when
they file their tax returns. The Government compels the filing of a return much as it
compels, for example, the appearance of a witness{7} before a grand jury. The
availability to the Service of § 7203 prosecutions and the summons procedure also
induces taxpayers to disclose unprivileged information on their [424 U.S. 653]
returns. The question, however, is whether the Government can be said to have
compelled Garner to incriminate himself with regard to specific disclosures made on
his return when he could have claimed the Fifth Amendment privilege instead.
http://www.usscplus.com/online/index.asp?case=4240648
Hush provide the worlds most secure, easy to use online applications - which solution
is right for you?
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HushDrive Secure Online Storage http://www.hushmail.com/hushdrive/
Hush Business - security for your Business http://www.hush.com/
Hush Enterprise - Secure Solutions for your Enterprise http://www.hush.com/
New rallying cry (was Re: FOI- Arizona Stadium Tax Nazis)
At 06:32 PM 1/5/2002 -0500, Declan McCullagh wrote: Matt, Thanks for posting. I've forwarded it and copied the board members, as a courtesy: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02994.html I'm one of those who believes there may be something to the claims that Secretary Knox perjured himself when he told Congress that the 16th Amendment had been properly ratified. I've recently come up with this eerily familiar rallying cry. No taxation without re-ratification. mg
WSJ again touts 802.11 as an emerging open solution to wireless
High-Tech Hobbyists Develop Internet Links for the 'Masses' By PUI-WING TAM and SCOTT THURM Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASPEN, Colo. -- Jim Selby clambered up a ladder onto the roof of a four-story office building here to survey his little alternate empire. I've got one on top of there, he said, pointing to a distant rooftop, and one there, too. Mr. Selby was speaking of all the gray antennas dotting the skyline, broadcasting Internet access all over town. The service is fast and free, which makes Mr. Selby, who put up the towers, a bit of a revolutionary. I've got Aspen nailed! says Mr. Selby, 35 years old, as he gestures at a dozen antennas atop low-rise buildings. I've opened the network up to the masses. Some of the nation's big corporations have racked up billions of dollars in losses trying to bring high-speed Internet access to all who might want it. But the 6-foot-4 Mr. Selby, an avowed ski bum, is doing it in his own small way with a combination of Russian military-surplus antennas and electronic parts from a hardware store. His antennas allow anyone in a 45-square-mile area around Aspen with a computer and a $120 plug-in card to surf the Web over the airwaves free at speeds 30 times as fast as with a standard modem. Mr. Selby is a wireless guerrilla, one of several hobbyists around the nation who are building shoestring wireless networks out of such materials as potato-chip cans and rubber hoses. They are doing so by piggybacking free of charge on the premium high-speed Internet connections that telecom and cable companies provide to many homes and businesses for as much as $1,000 a month. Even so, Mr. Selby, who eventually aims to charge for access to his network, says he hasn't encountered any resistance from providers of such high-speed links, who don't seem worried about his plans. Mr. Selby and fellow guerrillas now operating in cities such as New York, Portland, Ore., and Seattle are defying the conventional wisdom that building high-speed networks is complex and costly. Their secret is a technology known in technical lingo as 802.11b, or Wi-Fi. It was never intended for public Internet access. Using the same unlicensed radio spectrum as microwave ovens and baby monitors, it was designed primarily to transmit signals for 300 to 400 feet in wireless corporate computer networks and from a phone line to a laptop. But history is full of unscripted uprisings just like this, in which people take an existing technology off the shelf and put it to an unanticipated use. It doesn't take much time or money to set up an 802.11b network. All that's involved is a simple geek factor, says Bruce Potter, a wireless guerrilla in Leesburg, Va., who estimates it cost him $500 in cables, wireless cards and other equipment to create a wireless node atop his house. I've built three or four other antennas so far using Pringles cans, and that cost me about $4. Many of the guerrillas have adopted a crusading tone about their work. I want bandwidth to be as free as air, says Rob Flickenger, who founded a free wireless network in Sebastopol, Calif. Bandwidth is the capacity to carry data; broadband is used to describe connections that are faster than conventional modems. Kevin Rich, a Denver-based proponent of free wireless networks, adds: We want to make it a people's movement. Wireless guerrillas could face trouble from their own Internet-service providers for allowing nonsubscribers to tap in, but so far nobody has bothered them because of the small number of users involved. Shaun Gilmore, executive vice president of Qwest Communications International Inc., which provides local phone service and high-speed Internet access in Aspen, says the wireless guerrillas are creative people developing creative ways to make high-speed Internet access available. Building an 802.11b network to piggyback on a high-speed Internet line is not technically illegal, Mr. Gilmore says in a statement, but adds that it can slow the Internet connection. Mr. Selby began investigating wireless technologies a few years ago. Through word of mouth, he found a wireless-equipment supplier in Solon, Ohio, from whom he bought two surplus Russian military antennas for a total of $700. At an Aspen hardware store, he picked up a length of rubber hose to protect the wiring. Then he placed the antennas, which he nicknamed the Ruskis, on an office building owned by some friends and atop his own townhouse. When Mr. Selby flipped the switch in August 1999, not much happened. We didn't know squat, he says. But after making a few adjustments, he had a faint signal between his house and the office building. His friends' office was connected to a T-1 line, a direct, high-speed link to the Internet. He had created wireless coverage in a 13-block area. That gave him an idea: Why not deliver the Internet to everybody in town? Mr. Selby quickly sold his house in Detroit and plowed $80,000 into broadening the network. He
US Pat. No. 6,219,185: Large aperture diffractive space telescope
[Intended for astronomical and continuous sub-meter earth surveillance.] A large (10's of meters) aperture space telescope including two separate spacecraft--an optical primary objective lens functioning as a magnifying glass and an optical secondary functioning as an eyepiece. The spacecraft are spaced up to several kilometers apart with the eyepiece directly behind the magnifying glass aiming at an intended target with their relative orientation determining the optical axis of the telescope and hence the targets being observed. The objective lens includes a very large-aperture, very-thin-membrane, diffractive lens, e.g., a Fresnel lens, which intercepts incoming light over its full aperture and focuses it towards the eyepiece. The eyepiece has a much smaller, meter-scale aperture and is designed to move along the focal surface of the objective lens, gathering up the incoming light and converting it to high quality images. The positions of the two space craft are controlled both to maintain a good optical focus and to point at desired targets ! which may be either earth bound or celestial.
Jamming technology blocks cell phone rings
[I've played around with an expensive version from another vendor. It appeared to function (my dual mode CDMA PCS phone quickly became inopperative). Range was limited due to low power output (about 12wm). The circuits are very simple and the addition of an inexpensive 10-12db power amp stage for both the 1900 and 800 MHz bands would extend effective ranges to 50m or so. This is a good candidate for anonymous cash sale. It could become the next teen gota have prank product (the laser pointer dotting thing is about played out.)] Jamming technology blocks cell phone rings By Reuters November 21, 2001, 10:00 a.m. PT HONG KONG--A Hong Kong company hopes to sell signal jamming technology, previously used by the military to thwart lethal missiles, to block annoying cell phone calls in places such as hospitals, places of worship and restaurants. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-7942522.html?tag=lh
Re: Carnivore To Get Magic Lantern
At 05:53 PM 11/20/2001 -0800, FogStorm wrote: http://www.msnbc.com/news/660096.asp?0si=-cp1=1 ... MAGIC LANTERN installs so-called keylogging software on a suspect's machine that is capable of capturing keystrokes typed on a computer. By tracking exactly what a suspect types, critical encryption key information can be gathered, and then transmitted back to the FBI, according to the source, who requested anonymity. The virus can be sent to the suspect via e-mail perhaps sent for the FBI by a trusted friend or relative. The FBI can also use common vulnerabilities to break into a suspect's computer and insert Magic Lantern, the source said. Magic Lantern is one of a series of enhancements currently being developed for the FBI's Carnivore project, the source said, under the umbrella project name of Cyber Knight. Possible countermeasures: 1. Air gap - run your pgp client from a machine which is never connected to the net 2. Add ID token (e.g., Dallas Semi iButton) support to gpg
Re: Red Herring: Terrorism and the challenge to globalization.
At 08:20 AM 11/15/2001 +0100, Nomen Nescio wrote: [Another glimmer of hope as even some of the mainstream business press is venturing beyond simple patriotic flag waving. Posted in its entirety as its not online.] Terrorism and the challenge to globalization. BY PETER SCHWARTZ Stupid article, and your comment doesn't make much sense either. First, the terrorist attacks are the best thing that has ever happened for globalization. No one is a purer anti-globalist than bin Laden. Now the anti-global movement is associated with death and terror. Anti-globalization protests have been scaled back and cancelled all around the world since September 11. To the extent that radical Islam is the new standard bearer for anti-globalism, the movement is doomed. --- My comments had nothing directly to do with globalization and everything to do with the (unintended?) consequences of arrogant and naive domestic and foreign policies.
Red Herring: Terrorism and the challenge to globalization.
[Another glimmer of hope as even some of the mainstream business press is venturing beyond simple patriotic flag waving. Posted in its entirety as its not online.] Terrorism and the challenge to globalization. BY PETER SCHWARTZ THE CATASTROPHIC, evil attacks on the United States are the result of deep grievances held by violent factions of radical Islamic movements. But within hours of the World Trade Center's collapse, many voices that have been raised in opposition to globalization were arguing that the attacks were the result of the American drive for global political and economic hegemony. Is there really a connection here? The question is not whether there is some grand conspiracy. Rather, the question is whether the events of September ii are part of the same story as the challenge to globalization. If so, what does it portend? There are several good arguments that the answer is yes, there is a bigger story that ties together fanatic Islamists and World Trade Organization protesters. Both are challenging American power, and both are opposed to American global dominance of culture, economics, and politics. But there are different interpretations of the opposition to globalization. The globalization debate is really about the power of global corporations, argues Paul Hawken, cofounder of gardening retailer Smith Hawken, and an active participant in Seattle's anti#64979;WTO demonstrations. In his forthcoming book, Uprising, he suggests that a loose network of worldwide organizations is attempting to limit global entities' power to dominate, exploit, and sometimes corrupt societies. These network groups are not opposed to trade, private enterprise, or modernization; they just want these pursuits on terms that recognize certain values. They are repelled by violence. Still, they believe global companies hurt, more than help, people, and that poverty and corporate tyranny fertilize the soil from which fanaticism grows. Kevin Kelly, the former executive editor of Wired magazine and the author of Out of Control: The New Biology of A4acleines,Social Systems and the Economic World (Perseus, i995),suggests that radical Islam could come to play a role similar to that of Communism. The Communist movement around the world served to organize opposition to Western capitalism and give hope to the oppressed, however misplaced. Today in the Islamic world, America is seen as the source of poverty and powerlessness, while radical Islam is seen as the strongest opponent of American power, and the source of an alternative vision of better life. For American citizens, the violent extreme of radical Islam has become, like Communism before it, the nightmare that organizes our darkest fears. The United States calls itself the land of freedom and democracy, but, argues Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World (Ballantine Books, t996), it supports an often oppressive and undemocratic international order. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the WTO all function behind closed doors, where the United States and its brethren control the world economy. America has opposed efforts to increase transparency of the system and broaden participation in it. The U.S. government has opposed several new treaties covering issues like global climate change, war crimes, and even biological weapons. Many who challenge American power see the country as reserving democracy and freedom for itself. If these interpretations of political reality are valid, we can glimpse where the geopolitical future may be headed. If radical Islam is the new Communism, we may be in for a long and ugly war. This scenario involves a world of perpetual conflict with no winners. As atrocities on both sides feed on each other, the dividing lines become deeper and wider in an ever more#64979;terrible cycle of violence. If Mr. Hawken and Mr. Barber are right, there are at least two possibilities. In the best of all possible worlds, democratic governance would begin to emerge globally. Existing institutions would become more transparent and democratic. New institutions would be created to better regulate common elements like the air and the oceans, and to establish appropriate global rules of behavior for corporations. But one has no trouble imagining another scenario, in which the United States refuses to surrender any sovereignty and acts unilaterally in its own interests. In such a rogue superpower scenario, the reception for U.S. companies around the world will become chilly indeed, as the world lines up to resist American hegemony. Sympathy for any new horrors inflicted upon the United States will be very limited, and cheers will be heard in Paris and Rome, as well as in the back streets of Gaza and Karachi. PETER ScHwaarz, chairman of the Global Business Network, is also a partner at the venture capital firm Alta
Cash - egold co-op
Egold attempts to solve a number of transactional issues, especially non-repudiation. It doesn't directly address privacy concerns. One aspect of establishing financial privacy is unlinkability and one of the best ways to offer that quality is to use bearer instruments during the buy and/or sale of an otherwise trackable transaction. I'd like to invite those with an interest in egold (and other metal backed ecurrencies) to contact me. If there is sufficent interest I'd like to kick off a cash-egold co-op to provide a introduction agency for these activities. I'll be at the Bay Area Cypherpunks meeting this Saturday ready to buy and sell limited amounts of egold. Come bring your web enabled and configured Sprint PCS phone or laptop with wireless link. If you wish to buy or sell more than a few hundred dollars please contact me by Friday.
How-to be a sheep article on the WSJ
October 4, 2001 Capital A Pivotal Point In American Life IT IS EASY TO ASSERT that Sept. 11 changed everything. It certainly is redefining normalcy in New York and Washington, where the sound of a siren or the darkness of a blown fuse revives the anxiety of that terrible Tuesday. But life is changing irreversibly in peaceful places such as Tyler, Texas, too. The sting of the terrorist attack will fade, albeit more slowly for those whose loved ones perished. But Sept. 11 looks like one of those pivot points in American life. Its true significance will be clear only with the hindsight of history. Three weeks is time enough, though, to begin to see the magnitude of the changes -- and they aren't limited to New York and Washington. Before Sept. 11, Americans worried about the growing capacity of government and business to use technology to instantly retrieve and share intimate details of our lives. When the Department of Health and Human Services was drafting new privacy rules for medical records last year, it got 52,000 comments. Today, concern about privacy is displaced by concern about security. At Tyler's tiny airport, the screeners open every carry-on bag and examine every crevice. But no one complains, even silently, about exposing dirty underwear in a public place. Public pressure to protect the confidentiality of financial information, the subject of those small-print notices stuffed in bills and bank statements, is now countered by a more urgent need to track the terrorists' money trail. Technologies that seemed frightening to many last month -- such as the cameras and software that scan and identify faces in public places -- seem comforting today. Polls show a surge in support for a national identity card, especially when it is described as a way to combat terrorism. BEFORE SEPT. 11, the U.S. was striving for frictionless air travel, offering boarding passes at computer terminals and baggage check-in at downtown counters. Complaints about air travel weren't about fares, which were driven down by competition, or safety, but about delays caused by the popularity of air travel. Today, we are putting friction back into airplane check-ins -- and that, along with fear of hijacking, may drive American families back into their cars. The generation that dominates most markets, the baby boomers, are obsessed with safety and their own well-being, more than any other generation that has preceded them, says Jim Bulin, a Northville, Mich., consultant to the auto industry. 0See more information about some of the items mentioned in this column. * * * Please send comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We'll post selected replies at WSJ.com/CapitalExchange2 on Sunday. The generation that put bike helmets on kids and durable car seats in minivans will be reluctant to fly to Disneyland or Club Med. The attacks have revived talk of building a world-class high-speed rail network. But that's just talk. For now, many more families will be taking vacations by car. Before Sept. 11, the U.S. was, with some hesitation, erasing its national borders. A long-simmering dispute over allowing Mexican trucks to travel U.S. highways was nearing resolution. The border with Canada was all but invisible. President Bush was pondering ways to legalize the status of immigrants from Mexico who came here illegally. Today, we are fortifying our borders again. The aerial photos of trucks waiting to carry parts from Canadian factories to Detroit-area auto plants are just the most tangible evidence. Congress is moving to fortify the Canadian border. The power of globalization to wash away the nation's borders like ocean waves seems less inexorable at a moment when the president has created an office of homeland security. THE IMPORTANCE of government was widely questioned before Sept. 11. For a time, Washington was plain boring to many. Then, thanks to Bill Clinton, it became fascinating in the way a soap opera is fascinating. And Washington became a venue for sitcoms. The power of markets to produce prosperity was self-evident; the potential to privatize functions once reserved to government appeared unlimited. There was debate, but there was no doubt which side was winning. Today, the centrality of government -- particularly the one in Washington -- is unquestioned. The government is criticized for not foreseeing or preventing the attacks, and for the adequacy and shape of its military and economic response. But no one is calling Washington irrelevant. The widespread belief that a federal takeover of airport security is the best way to assure travelers of their safety suggests a slowing in the momentum to privatize everything, no matter how strong the economic case for privatization and competition. The lasting impact of Sept. 11 is likely to be greatest on Americans in their late teens and early 20s, the people who are still young enough to have their values being formed, Mr. Bulin
The Myth of Posse Comitatus
The Myth of Posse Comitatus MAJ Craig T. Trebilcock, USAR The Posse Comitatus Act has been traditionally viewed as a major barrier to the use of U.S. military forces in planning for homeland defense. In fact, many in uniform believe the Act precludes the use of U.S. military assets in domestic security operations in any but the most extraordinary situations. As is often the case, reality bears little resemblance to the myth for homeland defense planners. Through a gradual erosion of the Act#8217;s prohibitions over the past twenty years, Posse Comitatus today is more of a procedural formality than an actual impediment to the use of U.S. military forces in homeland defense. http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/Articles/article.cfm?article=7
Email snarfing
I've recently encountered a number of email problems (delayed delivery, lost mail, etc.) both from my pop accounts and Hush. I'm not trying to be paranoid but could these be caused by problems of TLA-installed transparent SMTP, POP, and HTTP proxies at ISP's in a man-in-the-middle mode, so that they'd be sure to see all traffic, because Carnivore's storage capacity is pretty limited? Also, if missing email causes a sender to re-transmit the same message could this expose the message to some sort of replay-resend attack if the crypto isn't well coded?
EarthLink rejects FBI\'s request to install Carnivore
EarthLink rejects FBI's request to install Carnivore ATLANTA -- Less than 24 hours after last week's terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, FBI agents visited executives in EarthLink's Atlanta headquarters. The agents, subpoenas in hand, wanted EarthLink personnel to install the FBI's controversial tracking software -- called Carnivore -- on the networks the company uses to connect customers to the Internet. The agents were looking for electronic clues, trying to retrace suspected terrorists' steps in cyberspace. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/business/docs/earthlink19.htm
Omniva\'s E-Mail \'Shredder\' Offers New Level of Security
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- - -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- [Didn't these guys present something at a BA CP meeting last year?] September 6, 2001 Under the Radar Omniva's E-Mail 'Shredder' Offers New Level of Security By ELLEN BYRON Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Imagine e-mail that can self-destruct after a certain amount of time, leaving no trace in in-boxes and servers. Omniva Policy Systems has created software that can do just that. Michael Burkland The San Francisco-based firm, founded in 1999 as Disappearing Inc., has taken on the loophole left by the deletion key: Even though an e-mail has been deleted, it still lurks within the servers of the sender and recipients. What Omniva (www.omniva.com1) aims to do is help companies establish retention policies for e-mail, much like those typically in place for paper documents, by offering the e-mail equivalent of a paper shredder. After spending nearly two years on research and development, the company released the first version of its software in July. E-mail is a huge gateway -- electronic assets are constantly flowing in and out of a company, says Chief Executive Michael Burkland. We're giving companies control. Here's how it works. The software installs a second send button on the user's e-mail program, titled Send With Policy. When a customer selects the button, Omniva's technology encrypts the e-mail into an unreadable state before it is sent, and allows the sender to specify a detonation time of anywhere between 30 minutes or even years after the e-mail is dispatched. Only a specific and unique key from Omniva's server can make the e-mail readable. Once the message reaches its destination, the recipient's e-mail program requests the key from Omniva's server to decode the message. When the detonation time is reached, that key is voided, making all copies of the e-mail permanently unreadable, including forwarded copies. Corporate customers can customize the software to fit their document-retention policies. Firms may determine the level of control employees have in specifying e-mail expiration dates and what types of e-mail are retained. E-mails detailing lunch menus, for example, could have one expiration date, while communication regarding clients can have another. Likewise, departments and levels of management can also have respective retention policies set by the company. Though only Microsoft Outlook users can send the disappearing e-mail, any e-mail program can receive it, including the Blackberry hand-held device. Omniva is currently in collaboration with Ernst Young LLP to develop a Lotus Notes version of the technology, due out later this year. Although a trial version of the current software can be downloaded free from the company's Web site, the company aims to customize the product for corporate customers. A one-year corporate subscription starts at $70,000. Omniva changed its name in July, saying it wanted to convey its software does more than just make e-mail disappear. Part of its broader focus is on electronic-document maintenance, which came about as the company became aware of an increasing amount of litigation involving recovered e-mail. Think Bill Gates in Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's courtroom. Writing is permanent, compared to speech, so we were trying to find something that is between the two, the company's co-founder, Dave Marvit, says. We're empowering people to have conversations that go away. Mr. Marvit, who had been at Alexa Inc., a San Francisco-based Internet archivist and Web-navigation service provider that is part of Amazon.com Inc., joined with his brother, Maclen Marvit, and two friends, Keith Rosema and Jeff Ubois, to found the company in 1999. Mr. Marvit now serves as a company spokesman, and his brother sits on its board. Mr. Burkland joined the company in September 2000; he is founder and former CEO of Eventus Software Inc., which is now part of Segue Software Inc. Since its founding, Omniva has raised $20 million, with the bulk of that coming from funds raised in February of this year. Its backers include venture-capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield Byers, Menlo Park, Calif.; Red Rock Ventures, Palo Alto, Calif.; Mitsui Co. Venture Partners, New York, and J.P. Morgan Chase Co., New York. The company, which has 30 employees, has no paying customers at this point; it says it is negotiating with two companies and several firms are testing the s! oftware. E-mail security that acts like a shredder, that is, software that enables e-mail to expire, is still a small industry, says Maurene Grey, senior research analyst at Gartner Group. Other players in the industry include Authentica Inc., Waltham, Mass.; Atabok Inc., Newton, Mass.; and Privacy Preserve Inc., Greenville, Del. She cautions that e-mail shredding is less defined by the courts than archiving and could be a liability should courts deem the action to be
Re: The Privacy/Untraceability Sweet Spot
At 09:56 PM 8/25/2001 -0700, Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: some really great stuff deleted CONCLUSION: To really do something about untraceability you need to be untraceable. Draw this graph I outlined. Think about where the markets are for tools for privacy and untraceability. Realize that many of the far out' sweet spot applications are not necessarily immoral: think of freedom fighters in communist-controlled regimes, think of distribution of birth control information in Islamic countries, think of Jews hiding their assets in Swiss bank accounts, think of revolutionaries overthrowing bad governments, think of people avoiding unfair or confiscatory taxes, think of people selling their expertise when some guild says they are forbidden to. Most of all, think about why so many efforts to sort of deploy digital cash or untraceability tools have essentially failed due to a failure of nerve, a failure to go for the brass ring. Right on target. There is one aspect to this loss of nerve not mentioned: the correlation between those with the means and interest to pursue these avenues and those with merely the interest. One of this list's members shopped here and elsewhere a few years back for participation in building a DBC-based payment and value system. He had assembled a team with the banking experience, needing the technology implementors. None were willing to put their talents to the test. They all nodded regarding the need for such a facility but none would expend any efforts. They were all being courted by the failed dot.bombs which waved generous salary and stock offers. Now that the tulip market has evaporated along with the dreams of quick riches I wonder if any these pseudo-zealots were ever really interested or was it a merely a childish fancy from the start? As Tim demonstrates the opportunity is still there it waits only for those with the right stuff to grab for the ring. Free, secure Web-based email, now OpenPGP compliant - www.hushmail.com
