December 1992 - cypherpunks-legacy

MEETING: Cypherpunks UK (Sunday)
by whitaker＠eternity.demon.co.uk 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

Announcing - on incredibly short notice! - the first meeting of Cypherpunks UK... Chris Tame, of FOREST and the Libertarian Alliance, has generously offered the use of the meeting room at his offices for our gathering, this Sunday, 13 December 1992, from 1200 onwards (at least until 1800), at: FOREST 4th Floor 2 Grosvenor Gardens London SW1W 0DH 071-823-6550 This is just around the corner from Victoria Station, at the end of the mansion block near Hobart Place. There's a dark green cabbie shelter across the street from the entrance, and some British Telecom payphones. Can't miss it, really. However, if you have trouble, call the telephone number above, or call my pager, on 081-812-2661. If it helps, we're in the direction of Buckingham Palace, which is (very) partially visible from our windows. If you wish to attend, you should bring a 3.5" DOS-formatted diskette (sorry! My UN*X machine is an Intergraph workstation, and I can't use it for crypto) with a copy of your PGP 2.0+ public key. I'll sign it there. Mac users: if you don't have Apple File Exchange (what!?), I'll be extra nice and take your keys anyway ( ;-)) for AFE conversion on my IIcx. Not to fear. It might not be a bad idea to copy your public key on each of several diskettes, so you've got a copy to distribute to each of the others. Don't trust me to copy *your* key to others! As a matter of fact, as there are plenty of power points in the meeting room, you should bring your laptop, and/or a desktop PC: when someone hands you a disk-with-key, you can sign her key, and hand her back her diskette, with your own pubkey added. Otherwise, we might come close to a (n(n-1))/2 situation... ;-) This should be a lively meeting. Among the topics likely to be discussed are: o The proliferation of PGP public keys in the U.K. o The local development of anonymous remailers and a proposed automatic public key repository o Electronic networking/email security for the novice o Pro-active proliferation of PGP 2.1+ to interesting European, African, and Asian sites - ftp placement - BBS distribution - sneakernet across borders .. and much more! Mark Turner, from Demon Internet Systems, is likely to be on hand to demo DIS for non-DIS users. We've set up our own local, high-quality newsgroups: demon.security demon.security.keys and set up the /pub/ibmpc/pgp archives on gate.demon.co.uk (expanding recently to include all versions of PGP, and "fellow traveller" files). There will be other people here whom I think you will find interesting... be seeing you! Semper vigilans, Russell Earl Whitaker whitaker(a)eternity.demon.co.uk Communications Editor 71750.2413(a)compuserve.com EXTROPY: The Journal of Transhumanist Thought AMiX: RWHITAKER Board member, Extropy Institute (ExI) ================ PGP 2.0 public key available =======================

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A/V compression
by Robert Brooks 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

> > This brings up a fun concept: encrypted digital video and audio. > Would it be hard to do IDEA encryption at the standard CD rate? > There are schemes to compress video to that rate--how available > are they? How much investment in equipment and crunch time do > you need? How easy is it to interrupt the bit streams in and out > of a DAT recorder? How cheap is the decoder? > I picked this up off the net a while ago. Sounds like the CL451 might be programmable to do encryption/decryption, too. Background: MPEG is a compression standard for compressing VHS-quality video and stereo audio into a 1.5Mbit/s stream. If anyone's interested in funding/collaborating on a project involving this, let's talk. --- >From eletanjm(a)nuscc.nus.sg Fri Jul 10 21:06:25 1992 >Relay-Version: version Notes 2.8.4 1990/05/09; site hprpcd.rose.hp.com >From: eletanjm(a)nuscc.nus.sg (TAN JIN MENG) >Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1992 04:06:25 GMT >Date-Received: Sun, 12 Jul 1992 01:35:12 GMT >Subject: NEW MPEG I CHIP >Message-ID: <1992Jul11.040625.17239(a)nuscc.nus.sg> >Organization: National University of Singapore >Path: hprpcd!hprdash!hpergfg2!hpda!hpcc05!hplextra!hpscdc!sdd.hp.com!nigel.msen.com!yale.edu!jvnc.net!nuscc!eletanjm >Newsgroups: comp.multimedia >Lines: 23 > >Has anyone seen a demo or read about the new MPEG chipset from C-Cube >systems? > >I heard it's great! > >Some facts I know (or think I know) > >* CL450 - is a decoder only >* CL451 - due out later this year is full encoder/decoder codec >* core is a RISC based processor with 36bit bus splittable into > 4 data streams. 4 separate acc/mul units (ie SIMD). >* Can stream a full resolution video at ISA bus rates. >* Microcode and C compiler development kit. >* CL451 currently runs at 66MHz using fairly old .8 micron > technology ==> we can expect to see even higher speed devices. >* CL451 is pipelinable - ie can put multiple CL451 in tandem to > perform any amount of processor intensive activities. (eg real > time edge/motion detection, special effects etc). >* CL451 is a single chip solution. Just add VRAM. > >* Largest demand so far - for Karaoke!! C-Cube has Jap. backers. > >jin meng > > > -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Robert Brooks ~ ~ Hewlett Packard Company ~ ~ rb(a)hprpcd.rose.hp.com ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Robert Brooks ~ ~ Hewlett Packard Company ~ ~ rb(a)hprpcd.rose.hp.com ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Tapes of Cypherpunks meeting?
by fnerd＠smds.com 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

>Fourth Meeting > >When: Saturday, Dec 12, 1992, 12:00 noon >Where: Cygnus Support offices Would it be possible to pay someone to video (or at least audio) tape this meeting (& others)--or at least the scheduled speakers? I can imagine privacy concerns... Maybe someone could get ready to do it and then ask the attendees whether it's okay, or under what arrangement. There will definitely be people there with somewhat informed opinions on whether to trust me. This brings up a fun concept: encrypted digital video and audio. Would it be hard to do IDEA encryption at the standard CD rate? There are schemes to compress video to that rate--how available are they? How much investment in equipment and crunch time do you need? How easy is it to interrupt the bit streams in and out of a DAT recorder? How cheap is the decoder? At present I would prefer VHS. from out of nowhere -fnerd fnerd(a)smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)

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crypto credits
by fnerd＠smds.com 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

>need for a shorter term than "digital cash" for this cryptographic >money. He suggested "cryps". I thought of "emoney" or "ecash" by >analogy to "email". Here's another one: "crydets", based on >"credits". Or maybe we should call them "Chaums".... How about "crypto credits" or "quatloos?" (And you're right about David Chaum, Dining Cryptographers and Digi Cash.) -fnerd quote me fnerd(a)smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)

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CHATTER Broadcast/Filter vs. "Fetching"
by fnerd＠smds.com 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

Yanek Martinson basically says that the information that comes over the netnews right now is small enough that you could archive a couple weeks' worth on a gigabyte disk and put the rest on four DAT tapes per year. True, but that's only the current rate of this particular channel. Plus, most of the time I'd have to go back to tape. But the real problem here is that I haven't explained what I want instead. I want all the archives of all the information in all media that have ever been published and stored electronically (including on video and audio tape) available at a second's notice. That's the volume and access-time part of it. The other part is, how do I find what I want? Yanek responds to me: >>...I don't trust computer filters much. > >So how would you expect to know to "fetch" it? Because I read one thing, and it says "in response to your article number so-and-so," or, "Hey, folks, there's a great book on this over here." In other words, following mentions in other things I see--things written mostly by humans, at least at this point, but also published indexes (manual or automatic) and guides. That plus maybe a couple of low-bandwidth subscription setups like magazines, and maybe one or two discussion groups like this one that I would give full time attention to. >> ...support distributed redundant archives, > >That's the current setup. > >> preferably with cross-checking. > >What exactly do you mean by this? That when I requested something, automatically a couple of storage sites would be asked for its MD5 checksum, and my machine would check them against each other and the actual data I got. > >> It would be even nicer if information could be stored, with >> storage cost charged to the owner and/or readers, > >I don't think this would work too well. Just because I answer someone's >question on a newsgroup, I would not want to receive a bill for the >storage. The DAT system you describe has all the potential readers pay for the storage. If they want to, then fine, but if not, and you don't want to either, that's fine, let your answer evaporate. Someone always *is* paying. >> and the rigamarole over creating new groups, and whether all the machines >> between you and the center of the universe get all the groups, etc. > >Then get Len Rose's satellite dish (I did) and you can be pretty sure >you get all the newsgroups. What's that cost, including electronics, modem, etc? Also, you didn't answer about the difficulty of creating groups. -fnerd store me now and quote me later fnerd(a)smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)

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Directions to Cygnus support offices
by hughes 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

Cygnus Support 1937 Landings Drive Mt. View, CA 94043 +1 415 903 1400 switchboard +1 415 903 1418 John Gilmore Take US 101 toward Mt. View. From San Francisco, it's about a 40-minute drive. Get off at the Rengstorff Ave/Amphitheatre Parkway exit. If you were heading south on 101, you curve around to the right, cross over the freeway, and get to a stoplight. If you were heading north on 101, you just come right off the exit to the stoplight. The light is the intersection of Amphitheatre and Charleston Rd. Take a right on Charleston; there's a right-turn-only lane. Follow Charleston for a short distance. You'll pass the Metaphor/Kaleida buildings on the right. At a clump of palm trees and a "Landmark Deli" sign, take a right into Landings Drive. At the end of the road, turn left into the complex with the big concrete "Landmark" sign. Follow the road past the deli til you are in front of the clock tower that rises out of one of the buildings, facing you. Enter through the doors immediately under the clock tower. They'll be open between noon and 1PM at least. (See below if you're late.) Once inside, take the stairs up, immediately to your right. At the top of the stairs, turn right past the treetops, and we'll be in 1937 on your left. The door is marked "Cygnus". If you are late and the door under the clock tower is locked, you can walk to the deli (which will be around the building on your left, as you face the door). Go through the gate in the fence to the right of the deli, and into the back lawns between the complex and the farm behind it. Walk forward and right around the buildings until you see a satellite dish in the lawn. Go up the stairs next to the dish, which are the back stairs into the Cygnus office space. We'll prop the door (or you can bang on it if we forget). Or, you can find the guard who's wandering around the complex, who knows there's a meeting happening and will let you in. They can be beeped at 965 5250, though you'll have trouble finding a phone. Don't forget to eat first, or bring food at noon! I recommend hitting the burrito place on Rengstorff (La Costen~a) at about 11:45. To get there, when you get off 101, take Rengstorff (toward the hills) rather than Amphitheatre (toward the bay). Follow it about ten blocks until the major intersection at Middlefield Road. La Costen~a is the store on your left at the corner. You can turn left into the narrow lane behind the store, which leads to a parking lot, and enter by the front door, which faces the intersection. To get to the meeting from there, just retrace your route on Rengstorff, go straight over the freeway, and turn right at the stoplight onto Charleston; see above. See you there! John Gilmore

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Re: 'token exchange' market in Arizona
by Marc.Ringuette＠GS80.SP.CS.CMU.EDU 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

I participated in SFI's "Double Auction Tournament" a couple of years ago, placing second. Computer programs participated in a stock market game, with individual buyers and sellers competing with each other to make profit from fictional tokens. The emphasis of the contest was on computer trading strategies, not on monetary systems or computer security. This new "token exchange" sounds like a continuation of the original contest in which there will be an opportunity to compete and refine strategies over a longer term. It will probably be run from a central server with minimal concern over security; these are economists interested in stock market systems, not computer security people. In the original contest, there was a prize pool of $10,000 divided among the 30 contestants, with no contestant winning more than about $500. It seems likely that they'll have a similar bankroll for this one, as an inducement for people to compete. -- Marc Ringuette (mnr(a)cs.cmu.edu)

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Key swap in Vancouver, BC, Canada, anyone?
by andrew_derry＠sfu.ca 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

Is anybody in, or comming to, Vancouver, BC that I could swap public keys with? Thanks. --- Andrew Derry | ACS@HCC - Simon Fraser University | Internet: derry(a)sfu.ca |

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No Subject
by hughes 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

Fourth Meeting When: Saturday, Dec 12, 1992, 12:00 noon Where: Cygnus Support offices Schedule: Noon Schmooze, key exchange 1:00 Business 5:00 Adjourn Agenda: 1. Media coverage. Do we want to deal with the press? If so, how? 2. Reputation Systems. Dean Tribble presenting. 3. Authenticated Diffie-Hellman (STS). Arthur Abraham presenting. 4. Reports Notes: 1. Please be prompt. We will begin the business section at 1:00 sharp. 2. Bring a portable computer and your key rings for PGP key exchange and signing.

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'token exchange' market in Arizona
by Edward Vielmetti 10 Dec '92

10 Dec '92

For you all. Interesting because it would appear to be a real live marketplace, with real live money, tho no crypto per se in there. --Ed ------- Forwarded Message From: rkeca04(a)uts.manchester-computing-centre.ac.uk (Thomas Krichel) Subject: Arizona token exchange To: cti-econ(a)mailbase.ac.uk Date: Thu, 10 Dec 92 11:55:03 GMT Greetings, this is an item from corryfee. Apologies to those who have already seen it. I thought it was sufficiently interesting to pass it on. BTW, the some of the results of the Santa Fe experiment, to which the text refers, will be published in a forthcomming book by John Rust and Dan Friedman "Double Auction Markets: Theory, Institutions, Evidence". Publisher is Addison-Wesley (Santa Fe Institute series On Studies in the Science of Complexity). Cheers, ______ / / Department of Economics / /_ ________ __. _ University of Keele / / /_(_) / / <_(_/|_/_) ST5 5BG _ , _ Great Britain ' ) / / // Tel.: 44 - 782 - 714847 /-< __ o _. /_ _ // Fax: 44 - 782 - 717577 ./ )/ (_<_(__/ /_</_</_ E-mail: Krichel(a)uts.mcc.ac.uk > > > > > ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF THE > > ARIZONA TOKEN EXCHANGE (AZTE) > > January 1, 1993 > > Earn cash profits by competing against computerized program traders > > THE CHALLENGE > > Is "artificial intelligence" superior to human intelligence? In > some domains such as chess, computer programs now outperform all > but the very best human players. However in other domains such as > speech, handwriting, and other kinds of pattern recognition, > computers lag far behind human beings. On Wall Street computer > "program traders" are becoming increasingly common, yet there is > substantial controversy over their performance -- they have even > been blamed as a factor in the October 1987 stock market crash. > The purpose of this study, co-sponsored by the University of > Arizona's Economic Science Laboratory and the Santa Fe Institute, > is to compare the performance of human and program traders to see > whether humans can learn to exploit the limitations and > idiosyncracies of computers in repeated interactions. > > THE ARIZONA TOKEN EXCHANGE > > To compare the performance of human and program traders we have > created a computerized market, the Arizona Token Exchange (AZTE), > in which a fictional commodity, "tokens", are traded. The market > is a simplified version of commodity exchanges such as the Chicago > Board of Trade where buyers and sellers are able to call out bids > and asks to buy or sell units of the commodity. In each trading > session on AZTE traders are assigned the role of buyer or seller > and are given an allocation of tokens. A seller's objective is to > sell their tokens for as much as possible above the token cost and > a buyer's objective is to buy tokens as cheaply as possible below > their redemption value. > > By ranking the token costs and redemption values, well-defined > supply and demand curves can be constructed. The intersection of > these curves defines the so-called competitive equilibrium (CE) > price and quantity, at which neoclassical economic theory predicts > all trading will occur. The complication is that in the AZTE, > each trader's token costs and redemption values are private > information and differ from trader to trader. Thus traders in the > AZTE face a complex sequential decision problem: how much should > they bid or ask for their own tokens, how soon should they place a > bid or ask, and under what circumstances should they accept an > outstanding bid or ask of some other trader? An additional > complication is that each trading session runs for a fixed amount > of time. This creates a difficult trade-off, for if traders spend > too much time looking for a good deal, they may find themselves > locked out of the market without trading anything. > > HOW IS TRADER PERFORMANCE EVALUATED? > > In the AZTE there is a well-defined performance measure: trading > efficiency, EFF. This is the ratio of profits a trader actually > earns divided by the profits it would have made if all trades took > place at the competitive equilibrium level. Thus, if a trader's > EFF is greater than 100% they are earning more than their "fair" > share of the profits. The use of EFF is more desirable > performance measure than simply using trading profits, since > profits depend on the token allocations which are allocated at > random from a known distribution. > > After each trading session, participants will earn cash profits > equal to the following linear function of their efficiency: > > $ payments = a + b(EFF-100) > > The term a represents a fixed fee paid for participating in the > trading session and the term b(EFF-100) represents a bonus > (penalty) for trading above (or below) 100% efficiency. Thus, it > is possible to lose money in any particular trading session. > Dollar earnings are cumulated over successive trading sessions and > subjects are eligible to "cash out" at any time after participating > in a minimum number of trading sessions (provided cumulative > earnings are positive). > > THE OPPONENTS: COMPUTER PROGRAM TRADERS > > Unlike real commodities markets where most traders are humans, in > the AZTE all of your opponents will be computer programs. The > opponent programs will be selected from a field of over 30 > different trading strategies including winners of the Santa Fe > Institute's Double Auction Tournament held in March, 1990. The > program traders range in sophistication from simple rules of thumb > (such as Gode-Sunder "Zero-Intelligence" strategy) to sophisticated > optimizing/learning algorithms (such as neural nets and genetic > algorithms) developed from the recent literature on artificial > intelligence. The identities of your opponents will (usually) be > revealed to you at the start of each trading session. You will > also be informed about other market characteristics such as the > number of buyers and sellers, the number of tokens, and the joint > distribution from which token values are drawn. > > SETTING UP AN ACCOUNT > > To trade on the AZTE you will need a Unix or PC-compatible computer > linked to the Internet computer network. We provide the trading > interface software that allows you to log on and trade at any time > you like and for as long as you like (subject to general > restrictions). To qualify for an AZTE trading account you need to > file an application providing information on your address, phone, > and email address, and a release form stating whether or not you > want to remain anonymous in published analyses of the outcome of > this experiment. Upon receipt of the application we will set up a > trading account and access password. Your dollar earnings will > cumulate in your account until you decide to cash out, at which > time we will close your account and mail you a check for the total > amount of your earnings. > > The software and ASCII traders' manual (including the application > form) is available via anonymous ftp on "fido.econ.arizona.edu", in > the azte sub-directory. The manual (azte.man) explains how the > software works and what is required to use it. We suggest you ftp > this first and read through it, then get the appropriate trading > interface for your system. The DOS interface requires VGA graphics > resolution and the use of Clarkson packet drivers for the network > interface card. The Clarkson drivers are also available via ftp on > "fido.econ.arizona.edu". > > If you don't have access to anonymous ftp, we will mail you a > diskette containing the software and trader's manual. To cover the > costs of a diskette and surface mail, send $5.00 to: > > Shawn LaMaster > Manager, Economic Science Systems Development > Economic Science Laboratory > McClelland Hall, Room #116 > University of Arizona > Tucson, Arizona 85719 > (602) 621-6218 > > Internet: lamaster(a)ziggy.econ.arizona.edu > > We will assist in ftp and setting up the Clarkson packet drivers, > just give us a call. > > > The AZTE software was co-developed by: > > Sean Coates Economic Science Laboratory, University of Arizona > Shawn LaMaster Economic Science Laboratory, University of Arizona > Richard G. Palmer Duke University > John Rust University of Wisconsin > Vernon L. Smith Economic Science Laboratory, University of > Arizona > ------- End of Forwarded Message

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