16 July 2001
Further information on this, or its refutation, is welcomed: jya@pipeline.com
From: codehead@ix.netcom.com
To: cypherpunks@lne.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 14:29:16 -0700
Subject: What NAI is telling people
I just got off the phone with one of the customer service people at NAI, who informed me that "Encrypted e-mails from certain countries aren't accepted in the US" and that accepting encrypted email from one of the "black list" (i.e., North Korea, Libya, Iran, Iraq, China, etc.) is illegal under US law.
When queried about the issue of *accepting* encrypted e-mail from a "black-list" country, the customer rep stated that this is what he was told by higher-ups in the company.
Never mind the issue of web-based email, mail originating from the dot-com, dot-edu, dot-net or dot-org TLDs, spoofed headers or open relays. It was impossible to resist quoting Tim May on the transparency of national borders, and to point out that so far, anyway, there was no ubiquitous filter at the borders. The rep backpedaled and stated that "some" ISPs, specifically AOL, were choosing not to accept such email.
Anyone have any idea if any ISPs are refusing to accept encrypted email from "black-listed" countries?
Or is this just a matter of NAI cluelessness?
Examples of this covert action and what IP addresses are used are welcomed: jya@pipeline.com
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: BayTSP: anti-digital piracy startup
From: Yeoh Yiu <squid@panix.com>
Date: 16 Jul 2001 17:19:16 -0400
As seen in Red Herring, who observe that the 'automatic shutdown' of sites it doesn't like could be problematic, to say the least:
BAYTSP, $3M
San Jose, CA
THE PITCH: "BayTSP is emerging with the leading technology solution to online piracy of digital media. The company has developed and deployed a sophisticated spidering and detection service that identifies infringing files by their digital 'DNA,' and proceeds to automatically investigate and shut down the offending sites. Customers in the pipeline include Viacom, the NFL, and major record labels. With a slim team, low burn, and virtually no marketing expense, BayTSP has already attracted attention and interest from the major record labels and music publisher organizations in their fight against Napster and other peer-to-peer file sharing networks."
WHY WE LIKE IT: Interest from major customers.
WHAT THEY'RE UP AGAINST: Automatic detection and shutdown of infringement could lead to disaster if there's a mistake made.
CONTACT: investor@baytsp.com