From: Ray Arachelian <sunder@beast.brainlink.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 23:58:45 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Eternity Services
In-Reply-To: <v03102801b0df03d95cd4@[207.167.93.63]>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.980114103134.521D-100000@beast.brainlink.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Sun, 11 Jan 1998, Tim May wrote:

> The CD-ROM distribution is just a side aspect, to get some set of data
> widely dispersed. For example, if the data base is of "abortion" or
> "euthanasia" information (a la Hemlock Society), which various parties want
> suppressed, then handing out freebie CD-ROMs is one step.
> 
> Many examples of this: Samizdats in Russia, crypto/PGP diskettes handed out
> at conferences (was Ray Arachelian doing this several years ago?), and
> various religious and social tracts. Obviously, this is what broadsheets
> and fliers are designed to do. Self-publishing in general.

Yep.  I gave them out at trade shows such as PC Expo.  What I found best
was to dump a stack of them on a common table area.  These expos usually
do have public machines for users to login and check email (horrible idea 
in  terms of security!), or surf.  CD's would be better suited for this
of course.

Another idea is to include hidden archives or pieces of archives in the
stuff we distribute.  Have you signature be a piece of a big archives and
post different pieces daily.  If you write shareware, etc. include
inactive files with the distribution, perhaps stegoing pieces in any
images (setup screens, logos, etc...)

> If the intent is to collect money for the data base accesses, then of
> course other considerations come into play.

You could always give the media away then charge a fee for unlocking it.
Many companies already do this.  (see www.warehouse.com and go to download
warehouse from there.)  You can download a package which is unlocked only
when you give them a credit card number.  The unlocking key is RSA
based...

There are also spam based free web sites out there where anyone can get a
web page if they agree to have the provider provide a spam bar ad.  You
could easily get dozens of these on various providers and hide bits of the
info there.

> (* I say "working" in the sense that the concept was very easy to
> demonstrate just by using PGP and remailers. Not much more than what I
> demonstrated in 1993 would be needed to deploy a real system. Except for
> one thing: true digital cash. Not the bullshit one-way-traceable stuff that
> Chaum and others are now pushing, but the original, online-cleared or
> escrow-cleared form, a la the work of Goldberg et. al. For some of these
> applications, below, simple token- or coupon-based schemes might work
> adequately.)

For that to happen, alternate banks must exist first, or at least
alternate ecconomies with some way to translate inbetween.  I doubt many
governments will allow this.  Heck, our city government is taking to
ticketing jaywalkers now, if they're getting this vicious on the city
level, think at the Fed level they'll let this happen?

Perhaps something like a swiss bank might be able/willing to do the
exchange.
 
> Yep, it's hard to disagree with this. Any centralized "Eternity service"
> will be hit with various kinds of attacks in quick order.

The biggest problem to this will be the 'let kiddies posting whole CDROMS
of pirated stuff to the sites, this will certainly eat up all the space on
the servers and make them more liable to raids.
 
Heck, if the kiddies don't take to this, the spooks will pretend to be
kiddies and do the same.

The biggest problem though will be replicating the haven throughout the
world so that the whole haven will be at a point where it can't be easily
shut down, even if one or two go down.

How many servers do we have so far?


=====================================Kaos=Keraunos=Kybernetos==============
.+.^.+.|  Ray Arachelian    |Prying open my 3rd eye.  So good to see |./|\.
..\|/..|sunder@sundernet.com|you once again. I thought you were      |/\|/\
<--*-->| ------------------ |hiding, and you thought that I had run  |\/|\/
../|\..| "A toast to Odin,  |away chasing the tail of dogma. I opened|.\|/.
.+.v.+.|God of screwdrivers"|my eye and there we were....            |.....
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