April 1993 - cypherpunks-legacy

Wired `Cypherpunk' issues will be available at the meeting
by gnu 22 Apr '93

22 Apr '93

I got a box of magazines and will be selling them at the cover price ($5) at the meeting. It's the May/June issue. The cover features three masked cypherpunks behind a flag; the whole crew appears on page 54. People who aren't coming to the meeting can get copies at their local bookstore, or call George Clark at Wired at +1 415 904 0660. If you want to subscribe (6 issues/year, $20), you can call +1 800 SO WIRED or send a check to Wired, 544 2nd St, SF, CA 94107. John

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John Draper
by Danny.Swerdloff＠f246.n107.z1.ieee.org 22 Apr '93

22 Apr '93

Anyone know how I can contact John Draper ("Cap'n Crunch") Thanx... Danny -- =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Danny Swerdloff - Internet: Danny.Swerdloff(a)f246.n107.z1.ieee.org

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The Wiretap Chip and the reaction so far
by baumbach＠atmel.com 22 Apr '93

22 Apr '93

I have been suprised at how wide the knowledge of the Wiretap Chip has spread. (and how quickly!) My mom even heard about it before I could tell her. Most of the people I've talked to don't like the idea of the gov't having the keys. These people came to this conlusion on their own. The sources of their information might be biasing their view. :-) I heard a commentary on National Public Radio that was against it! Keep up the fight. It's not a loosing battle. There is also a bright side to this battle. Look at all the free publicity that privacy has gotten. Our gov't has given ground in the early rounds of the negotiation by stating there is a right to encryption. They want to completely control that right to encryption, and this we will fight and win. -----tactic I recommend telling people about the freedom and privacy gained in other countries by their use of PGP. Tell them that the secret police can no longer spy on their citizens as effectively. privacy == freedom no privacy == tyranny Peter Baumbach baumbach(a)atmel.com Boycott the KGB chip Boycott the IRS chip

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Re: Meets 'n Greets
by Giuseppe Cimmino 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

DC's 26oo meetings are held in the food court of a local mall. The location doesn't require scheduling, can be gotten to via Metro and while private property, usually doesn't run into problems with peaceful gathering. A National Park would solve (for the time being) the later problem (perhaps the park in front of the White House?). Any other DC folks interested?

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The (very) next Saturday Meeting
by Arthur Abraham 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

I will be presenting a short talk entitled: Clipper (Nail* | *Ship): External Functionality based on the hardware specs of this topical device. p.s. I tried to get samples, but the price was $300,000 for 10,000 units, and I didn't think that many pe

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Re: The Family Key
by peb＠PROCASE.COM 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

>From: Harry Shapiro <habs(a)Panix.Com> >press release claims that the Clipper >chip doesn't provide anything more than what Law Enforcement already >has. That is not true. I was about to say this myself too, but Hellman already pointed it out. However, it is worth mentioning for emphasis. The Family key is known not only to the NSA, but to the FBI with their black box units. No special protection is given to this key and it allows the equivalent of Caller-ID *and* Callee-ID over all transmissions using Clipper regardless of how the calls are routed. This is *much* cheaper than speaker recognition used in roving wiretaps! Roving wire taps are given out sparingly, but it seems that Clipper would make the scanning of huge numbers of calls and saving traffic info the normal mode of operation. In my letter to Casa Blanca I mentioned that I noticed this deception in the NIST press release. Another feature of the F key is that it could be changed in new runs of chip making, but evidently, protecting F is not a great concern by NIST/FBI, et al. The 3, 34 bit pads, if/when the entire system is entirely compromised, could be changed--in fact they could do it regularly anyway--they can keep a list of Serial number to pad mappings. This would prevent the system from entirely being compromised by an outside [NSA] entity, so it is somewhat robust to that possibility. Paul E. Baclace peb(a)procase.com

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"Cypherpunks Write Code"
by derek＠cs.wisc.edu 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

Hmm, I write code -- but so far no cyphercode. Since I'd like to be part of the cypherdelic revolution, what code needs writing? I agree that the PC/modem scrambled telephone is a good idea, but others are already bashing that out; there must be other neat projects that want doing. Any thoughts? derek psypherdelic psypherdewd (in training)

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Re: Crypto Activism and Respectability
by Stanton McCandlish 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

RE: becoming suits. No. Cypherpunks is a unique group, don't cheapen it. Get the suits sympathetic to you (and among you) to do the suit thing. RE: change the name. Why? It is not as if cypherpunks is a cable network. It is a mailing list. Most people will never know it exists. If you send out missives for the masses, just sign them with you name, and don't put "cypherpunks" on it, if you fear it will be misinterpreted. I know how it feels. My BBS sounds like a hackers' den, but it is a clean, legal online library, and has not that much in common with the typical BBS. Sometimes I think of changing the name and then I think, "No, no Noise in the Void was the name, is the name, will be the name." If people want a Nat'l. Cryptography Assoc., let them go make one. Re: why I joined, and if it has anything to do with the name. I signed on the list, because I needed info on crypto, and sci.crypt is in- convenient (I hardly use UseNet anymore, it becomes more worthless by the second it seems.) However I did grin punkishly at the name. I like it. If the list had been Nat'l. Crypto. Assoc., I would likely have avoided it, simple because it sounds suit, and I have no patience with suits, and do not trust them. <shrug> -- Testes saxi solidi! ********************** Podex opacus gravedinosus est! Stanton McCandlish, SysOp: Noise in the Void Data Center BBS IndraNet: 369:1/1 FidoNet: 1:301/2 Internet: anton(a)hydra.unm.edu Snail: 8020 Central SE #405, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108 USA Data phone: +1-505-246-8515 (24hr, 1200-14400 v32bis, N-8-1) Vox phone: +1-505-247-3402 (bps rate varies, depends on if you woke me up...:)

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JOBS: Cypherpunks employing Cypherpunks
by The Phantom 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

Clipper: If anyone wants it, I can send you the text to the letter I just sent President Clinton and the local papers. I think it is a decent, fairly non-technical letter that might point out some of the parallels between this crypto chip and invasion of privacy to the common person. In my local area, I have now been responsible for 'educating' over 30 people to my interpretation of the meaning of this chip offering. I think it is important that the public knows a little about what is going on so that they can make a conscious decision about the usefulness of it. I don't however, wish to waste list bandwidth with the text of it, as I don't personally think it is a masterpeice. :) Cypherpunks employing Cypherpunks: On another note, I hate it when people use the list for purely personal reasons, but I really need a summer job / internship. If you own your own business [ :) ] or know of a _possible_ opening in a company you work for, please, please contact me and run it by me. I am an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Washington (I hold a 3.2 in my EE classes) and have very few qualms about relocating over the summer (it might even be nice if it were in the bay area, as then I could make it to a Cypherpunk meeting!) It'd be really nice to finally meet some of the people I've been talking to for all of these months. Any leads or ideas would be appreciated. Matt Thomlinson University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Internet: phantom(a)u.washington.edu phone: (206) 528-5732 PGP 2.2 key available via email or finger phantom(a)hardy.u.washington.edu

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Crypto Activism and Respectability
by tcmay＠netcom.com 21 Apr '93

21 Apr '93

Crypto Activism and Respectability, or, Should We Become "Suits"? Several Cyperpunks, er, "Privacy Advocates," have called for the name "Cypherpunks" to be changed to something more serious, more respectable, less likely to scare the horses. Something like "Cryptography Privacy" or "Cryptologic Research Association." Some even want a parallel to the NRA, such as the "National Cryptography Association." Further, there have been comments that referring to "crypto anarchy," as I've been doing for several years (my "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" was first distributed in 1988) is, to put it bluntly, "not helpful to the cause." Talk of libertarian ideas, "If crypto is outlawed, only outlaws will have crypto," and other such "crypto radicalism" is seen as unrespectable, as counterproductive. We're not speaking the language of the "suits," it's said. Middle America will be turned off by the hippie radicals in t-shirts, leather jackets, sandals, and beards. (Some readers of this list have volunteered that they'd make better spokespersons for the Cause because they are clean-shaven, they look like good corporate citizens, and they know how to make the right soothing noises to interviewers. I say, "Great! We need more publicity." Just don't tell the rest of us California types, where sandals, beards, and jeans remain common, that we need to "go corporate." Picture a "smiley" here, if that's your style.) I want to respond by making several comments: * Radicals like ourselves have always been under pressure to conform to societal norms, whether to dress in the "gray flannel suit" in the 1950s or to eschew long hair and beads in the 60s. * Guess what? The message is almost more important than the messenger. People have a pretty clear idea of what people are saying, despite their appearance. And, frankly, my guess is that even most of Middle America will feel somewhat more comfortable listening to a John Gilmore, for example, than a Bill Gates-type nerd clone. People know honesty and sincerity when they see it, and they know lawyers when they see them. It's been 25 years since the hippie heyday, and most Americans have adjusted to varying outward appearances. (Actually, they've internalized and accepted long hair and beards....shaved heads, nose piercings, and body adornments they probably haven't yet accepted. But most of the "crypto anarchist cypherpunks" are of the more conventional kind of "disreputable" appearance, so the point is moot.) * The more serious message of toning down our calls for complete and total access to whatever crypto tools we can get is potentially more divisive to this group. We don't all have the same politics...some of us are anarcho-capitalists, some are socialists (I hear), some are nonpolitical (as near as I can tell), some decline to state, and some may off in their own uncharted territory. But what we all seem to believe in common is that no government has the right to force us to make tape recordings of all of our conversations (to be placed in escrow, in case the government someday needs to listen to them!), to tap our phones, to insist we speak in government-approved non-coded language, and to use their "Wiretap Chips." I said "potentially" more divisive. In practice, nobody on this list is really disagreeing in a major way with our general goals of privacy and access to tools (to borrow the "Whole Earth" phrase). A few people disagreed with the way remailers, like our home-grown remailers and like Johan Helsingius' (he's also on this list, of course), were being handled. But that's the kind of debate we want. * To some, like David Sternlight, Dorothy Denning, and Andrew Molitor, these are radical, unreasonable, and subversive views. "Remember, children, the policeman is your *friend*." seems to sum up their view of crypto. It's hard to imagine just what we have to "be reasonable" about with such people. A basic ideological divide separates us. * I fully agree with many of you that the name "Cypherpunks" has some, shall we say, _unusual_ connotations. Some will assume we're skateboarding geeks, others will assume we're "crypto primitives" who pierce our bodies and spend all our time at raves. But the name has undeniable appeal to many, and certainly grabs a lot of attention. It seems improbable that some staid name like "Northern California Cryptography Hobbyists Association" would've gotten much attention, let alone a write-up in "Wired" (and upcoming pieces in "Whole Earth Review," "The Village Voice," etc.). (Perhaps you out there who first heard about us via an article in "Mondo," or "Wired," or a reference someplace, like MindVox or sci.crypt, can tell us what grabbed your attention, what you liked and disliked about the name, etc. Just as feedback.) In any case, it's much too late to change the name now. Publicity of "Cypherpunks" has spread the name, lots of journalists are intrigued by it, and it basically *does* capture the spirit of our group. After all, for basic civil liberties and cyberspace issues, the ACLU, CPSR, and EFF already exist and do a fair job at presenting lawyer-like faces to the press. And for conventional "phreaking," the group "2600" is having their own meetings. We don't have to be the group with the subdued and staid image. And note tha the "Hackers Conference" has not changed _their_ name, either, despite the negative publicity given the name. (A meta-rule: There is no such thing as negative publicity. All they have to do is spell your name right. Ironically, in a recent "MacWorld" column, Steven Levy misspelled our name as "Cipherpunks." He got it right in his "Wired" piece, though.) * As for respectablity, is our goal to be "co-opted" into the Establishment? (Geez. these words I'm writing could've been written in 1968!) Is it to be a respectable voice for moderation and the gentle process of negotiating? I think not. (Note that the Wiretap Chip was *not* presented for discussion and for industry comment. Neither the Bush nor Clinton camps presented this for public debate--unless you consider Dorothy Denning's comments to be the "trial balloon" I suggested it was last fall in sci.crypt...Denning has made the curious claim that she knew "nothing" of the Clipper plan until the night before it was publicly announced. This plan is a fait accompli, production of the chips is underway, and AT&T has already announced their Clipper-tapped phone. The best we can do is undermine the proposal, deploy strong crypto as widely as possible before it's outlawed completely (Clipper will fail if strong crypto alternatives are available...what do you think Big Brother plans to do about this?), and continue to make as much noise as we can about the evils of invading privacy in this way. I see little indication that reasonable negotiation is being invited.) * There are already several groups, as I've mentioned, made up of lawyers and "respectable spokesmen" like Mitch Kapor and Mike Godwin (wherever he is now). In a sense, Cypherpunks fill an important ecological niche by being the outrageous side, the radical side...perhaps a bit like the role the Black Panthers, Yippies, and Weather Underground played a generation ago. (By the way, "The Crypto Underground" was one of my favorite name proposals....aren't you glad now we settled on Jude Milhon's "Cypherpunks" suggestion?) * Cypherpunks write code, as Eric put it. They write code, they build remailers, they test systems to see how they break, they share their findings, they ignore restrictions on crypto, they look at the consequences of strong crypto, and they write articles like this. * Now I'm all for respectability in certain ways, ways that come naturally to each of us. When I talk to journalists, I speak in complete sentences, I explain things in the most straightforward way possible, etc. I don't roll in on my skateboard and say "Dewd! Yo bro, let's skank this Clipper shit!" But I don't plan to shave off my beard, cut my hair, start wearing suits, or be "moderate and reasonable" in my arguments. Nor do I intend to water down my messages about digital money, anonymous systems, and crypto anarchy. "Let a thousand flowers bloom." --Mao (not one of my heroes) "Live dangerously." --Nietzsche (one of my heroes) -Tim May, Cypherpunk -- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, smashing of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: MailSafe and PGP available. Waco Massacre + Big Brother Wiretap Chip = A Nazi Regime

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