July 1993 - cypherpunks-legacy

SIMTEL 2GB FTP site seeks new home
by L. Detweiler 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

OK, we're the first to jump on the throats of anyone closing down a site, so here's our chance to rescue one. Maybe someone can refer this person to the right place or do the legwork in hooking up a connection. (wuarchive comes to mind) On the other hand, if it is poorly organized or replicated elsewhere or whatever, maybe it should just die with a whimper. (I would be very interested in finding out why the archive is being shut down.) ------- Forwarded Message Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1993 02:44:12 -0500 From: farber(a)central.cis.upenn.edu (David Farber) Subject: WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL is passing away The massive archive site WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, USA, which is home to more than 2 gigabytes of files for many computer systems, including MSDOS, Unix, VMS and some mainframes, will be shut down by its operators as of September 20, 1993. Unless a new home is found for the archives, this major archive site will vanish. This is a major archive and if it is possible to save it, then it should not be allowed to just disappear. If anyone knows of a site that can house the master archives, please send a message to Keith Petersen <w8sdz(a)TACOM-EMH1.Army.Mil> Mr. Petersen is trying to find a new home for the master archives. Note that many of the older files are on CD-ROM, so it is not absolutely necessary that a site dedicate two GB of disk space, as perhaps 3/4 of this is on CDs, so the option would be to loan perhaps 4 CD slots in an optical jukebox, along with perhaps 500 meg of disk space. Please pass this message to any list that might find it of interest. Thank you. - --- Paul Robinson -- TDARCOS(a)MCIMAIL.COM ------- End of Forwarded Message

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t-shirts, imagery, and Cypherpunks PR
by skyhawk＠cpac.washington.edu 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

> From: koontzd(a)lrcs.loral.com (David Koontz ) <koontzd/daemon> > >fnerd(a)smds.com > >For a logo... how a bout a fist holding a key? > > How about a mailed fist holding a key, with the caption > > Privacy is our Profession I like it, but it doesn't emphasize the fact that we're fighting a war here, a war against government oppression. We're fighting a guerilla war, here folks, on the future battlefield of cyberspace. And like anyone fighting a dinosaur, we've got a big jump on the enemy in that we know our way around in this new world, and they're dumb, blind, and slow. We can hit them where they're weak, use disinformation techniques to confuse them, and then fade into the mist. We can introduce false data into their computers to make them run in circles, and drop their systems completely in classic guerilla style. The people will follow us, because we've got truth and freedom on our side -- all we have to do is explain this, and we've won! The leviathan must fall, and we'll help it along its way! We must arm ourselves conventionally, also, for those dark days that may be ahead. When a monster this size falls, we have no idea how chaotic things may become. Automatic weapons, the Anarchist's Cookbook (suitably corrected, of course), and other martial pastimes will balance our technological wizardry. Hm. It's not a particularly good imitation of Tim May's classic parodies, but it'll have to do for now. Folks, we're fighting a war. A public relations war. We are not, NOT, fighting a conventional war. Violence is not something we can have associated with us. We cannot be seen as hardcore anarchists, intent on crushing the state. We cannot enter into an obvious, head-to-head conflict with our country's government, particularly law enforcement. For us to be perceived as such in the eyes of Joe Sixpack is fatal. We will be, indeed we will have BEEN, marginalized and rendered impotent and irrelevant. For us to become so engaged in conflict in *fact* is to have lost, because we have nothing like the power of our wonderful government. If we give them an excuse, they'll crush us like bugs. We can't be seen as crazed revolutionaries. We have to be more like relatively harmless specialists in the field of privacy in cyberspace, explaining that technology has the potential to cause arbitrary badness, and we've got ideas about how to do things a different, better way. We can be out on the fringe of normality, but if we're seen in the same light as [fill in your favorite trivialized group of wackos here], we're fucked. Martyrdom is sexy and romantic, but rarely useful, and almost never ideal. Do keep in mind that this entire message is my personal opinion about how to go about making the world a better place. I'm not completely psycho about it, I don't think people with different ideas are stupid or even necessarily wrong. I just think the "conflict" meme is in danger of being given too much emphasis. -- Scott Northrop <skyhawk(a)cpac.washington.edu> (206)784-2083 ObVirus: The demand for obedience is inherently evil. ObVirus2: As a juror in a Trial by Jury, you have the right, power and duty to acquit the defendant if you judge the law itself to be unjust.

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DSS: `Stamp Tax'?
by L. Detweiler 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

Interesting comparison of NIST-PKP-DSS licensing arrangement as `stamp tax' with proceeds to `private company'. Originally in RISKS. - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Jul 93 17:05:57 -0700 From: Mark Seecof <marks(a)wimsey.latimes.com> Subject: DSS as a stamp tax Many people raised in the U.S. are unfamiliar with general stamp taxes. We know about excise taxes (e.g., liquor) with payment evidenced by stamps, and tax stamps to validate specific documents (e.g., hunting licenses). But (to my perhaps inadequate knowledge) the U.S. hasn't had a general stamp tax since the War of Independence. England had one years ago... most signatures on receipts for money or bills of sale were invalid unless scrawled across postage stamps. England still imposes stamp taxes on some business transactions, e.g., transfer of real property. NIST's proposal to "license" the DSS to PKP, forcing "the rest of us" including all who wish to transact business with the U.S. government to pay PKP every time we sign something digitally amounts to the imposition of a general stamp tax. Worse, it is a tax imposed by the government for the benefit of private persons (those who are paid by PKP). Attempts by George III's government to impose various stamp taxes on American colonists 200-odd years ago fueled revolutionary sentiment among them... ------- End of Forwarded Message

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tidbit on Clipper review, San Hose Mercury News
by L. Detweiler 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

Don't believe this was posted here. Mostly a rehash, but included for completeness of the soda.berkeley.edu archive, and does note that the analyst review deadline is `the end of the month' (July). So, depending on how long the bureacrats sit on the results, we should hear something soon. Sorry about the poor format quality. (I wonder who the 6 were who defined? Surely a Who's Who in Cryptography, e.g. W. Diffie etc. I wonder if they'd have the nerve to ask Kahn?) ------- Forwarded Message Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1993 21:01:33 -0500 From: farber(a)central.cis.upenn.edu (David Farber) Subject: Critics Belittle Data Security Probe A bit late but ... from sci.crypt San Lose Mercury News - July 16, 1993 Critics Belittle Data Security Probe By Lee Gomes A federal effort to answer complaints about a controversial government data security plan apparently has fallen short of its goal, with critics saying the effort isn't dealing with all of their concerns. On Thursday, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, an agency of the Comerce Department, named five outside computer researchers to evaluate software being used in the "Clipper" program, a proposed federal standard to encode computer messages in order to keep them secret. Clipper, which uses both software and a special chip, has been criticized by some cryptography experts for being an inferior technology, and for potentially having a hidden "trap door" that might allow law enforcement agencies to surreptitiously peek at computer messages. While the program would directly apply to only federal agencies, many predict the standard would also come to dominate the commercial market. In an effort to convince people no such trap door exists, the five experts working with NIST will evaluate the classified software used in Clipper and then report publicly on their findings. But Jim Bidzos, of RSA Data Security in Redwood City, a company that sells a private encryption plan and which is one of the government's main critics in the controversy, said the work of the five outsiders will be of limited value, since they will only be looking at a protion of Clipper software. "There are a million other places where you can do some funny business to grab messages," he said, including by copying or tampering with Cliper hardware. NIST has always maintained there is no trap door and that including one would be superfluous because law enforcement agencies would be able to get the "keys" to Clipper with a court order. NIST spokeswoman Janice E. Kosko said the agency had invited 11 experts to examine the actual encryption software, called Skipjack, provided they would agree to obtain a security clearance and to speak publicly about their findings without revealing the detailed workings of the software. Six declined. The five who accepted are Ernest Brickell of Sandia National Laboritories, Dorothy Denning of the computer science department of Georgetown University, Stephen T. Kent of BBN Communications Corp., David P. Maher of AT&T, and Walter Tuchman of Amperif Corp. The five outsiders have been asked to submit individual findings by the end of the month. Because Clipper software is secret, the work of the five will take place at a classified government laboratory in Bowie, MD. - --- ------- End of Forwarded Message

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Re: Tee-shirt
by J. Michael Diehl 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

According to Morgan Davis: > Harry Shapiro <habs(a)panix.com> writes: > >Orwell was wrong > > > > 1994 > > Orwell was probably right, but some editor went in and changed the title to > 1984. If only Orwell had PGP back then... :-) Orwell never said 1984. He said 1994. If your version says anything else, you have an unofficial version which needs to be returned to The Ministry of Truth. ========================+==========================================+ J. Michael Diehl ;^) | Have you hugged a Hetero........Lately? | mdiehl(a)triton.unm.edu | "I'm just looking for the opportunity to | mike.diehl(a)fido.org help| be Politically Incorrect!" +=========+ al945(a)cwns9.ins.cwru.edu| Is Big Brother in your phone? | PGP KEY | (505) 299-2282 (voice) | If you don't know, ask me. |Available| ========================+================================+=========+ PGP Key = 7C06F1 = A6 27 E1 1D 5F B2 F2 F1 12 E7 53 2D 85 A2 10 5D This message is protected by 18 USC 2511 and 18 USC 2703. Monitoring by anyone other than the recipient is absolutely forbidden by US Law

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More stuff...
by pat＠tstc.edu 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

Ok, How about maybe one of these. Obscure, but kinda fun. - 1984 + 10 - Orwell missed by 10. - Big Brother has arrived! - So what's 10 years between Orwell and a few friends? -- "I'm not being irrational, I just know to much." - Tim Allen -- Pat Hykkonen, N5NPL Texas State Technical College at Waco Internet: {pat,postmaster,root}(a)tstc.edu Instructional Network Services Packet: N5NPL(a)WD5KAL.#CENTX.TX.USA.NA 3801 Campus Dr. Waco, Tx 76705 Public keys available! ** 1984 + 10 ** V:(817) 867-4830 F:(817) 799-2843

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RE: A few more slogan ideas
by nate＠VIS.ColoState.EDU 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

I would like to add to John's idea: Cypherpunks: There's safety in numbers. (back of shirt: BIG numbers.) Cryptography: There's safety in numbers. (back of shirt: BIG numbers.) replace "BIG numbers" with "BIG, BIG, PRIME NUMBERS" -nate

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dissention in the ranks
by nate＠VIS.ColoState.EDU 28 Jul '93

28 Jul '93

Tim May says: > Folks, there just isn't any agreed-upon set of priorities. For some, > it's PGP. For others, digital money. And talking to journalists, > writing rants, investigating offshore banking, for others. > > Let a thousand flowers bloom. Amen. (meaning a lot coming from an agnostic!) I think that what does not belong on this list is people bickering, essentially, about what cypherpunks are supposed to be doing. If you don't like a particular article, don't read it. Look at the subject, and decide. I often don't read all the mail thoroughly, but I don't tell everyone to stop posting so much ;-) I think that it is important to remember that one of the basic ideals of the cypherpunk movement is the protection of FREEDOM. Freedom to not worry about if a posting in CP-Politically correct not. It's almost (but not quite) censorship. Let everyone do what they feel is important. Publicity is important, talking to journalists is important, and everything we do here and outside of the net is important. -nate sammons +-------------------------------------------------------------------- | Nate Sammons email: nate(a)VIS.ColoState.Edu | Colorado State University Computer Visualization Laboratory | Finger nate(a)monet.VIS.ColoState.Edu for my PGP key | #include <std.disclaimer> | "I have but one single desire - to tear down the sky" -A. Toomba | Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? +----------------------+

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No Subject
by koontzd＠lrcs.loral.com 27 Jul '93

27 Jul '93

>fnerd(a)smds.com >For a logo... how a bout a fist holding a key? How about a mailed fist holding a key, with the caption Privacy is our Profession :)

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Programmer pushes pen to proliferate privacy programs.
by Mike Johnson 27 Jul '93

27 Jul '93

I'm writing a book on practical cryptography for programmers. As part of my research for this book, I'd like to know what you would like to see (or not see) in such a book. If you would like to help me out by answering a few questions, I'd be grateful. Only the aggregate results will be published, but if you want to ensure that your response is anonymous, please reply directly to me via one or more cypherpunk remailers. In your opinion, what are the three most important applications of cryptography in the private sector (I'll leave military and diplomatic stuff to the NSA)? What programs do you currently use, if any, to encrypt data? What encryption algorithms do you use? Who are you most concerned about reading your private data without your permission? Do you use PGP? If so, how do you think it could best be improved? What computer platforms do you use? What operating systems do you use? What language(s) do you program in (ANSI C, K&R C, C++, Pascal, BASIC, ASM, Ada, etc.)? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Johnson | Opinions expressed herein are mine, and come with no mikej(a)exabyte.com | warranty, expressed or implied. PGP key on request. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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