November 2000 - cypherpunks-legacy

CDR: Re: Phil Zimmerman Profiled
by Max Inux 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

>> Minor controversies continue to dog PGP. Just within the last year, two >> small faults in the released code were discovered. While experts agree that >> neither one presented any practical danger to the security of PGP-based >> communications, both sparked arguments about NAI's ability and even its >> intentions. In the first case, a fault in a specific version for Unix could, >> in principle, compromise a key generated by a method PGP had always >> deprecated: automatically, without user input. > >Heh. A random number generator that produces an output of all zeros. Small >flaw. No biggie. Except for the me that generated a key that was vulnerable to that 0x149DCDDC However I believe there was an email attached to that and the signatures to that key, but apparently not anymore =) And its a big deal, can you say 0 strength key? Max Inux <maxinux(a)openpgp.net> 0xE42A7FB1 http://www.openpgp.net Key fingerprint = E4CA 2B4F 24FC B1BF E671 52D0 9E4B A590 E42A 7FB1 If crypto is outlawed only outlaws will have crypto. 'An it harm none, let it be done' PS, sorry if this is a repost, I posted it about 10 hours ago and it has not gone through ssz, so here it goes to OpenPGP

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CDR: "We may face a situation like a general nuclear war"
by Tim May 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

Noted presidential historian Michael Beschloss just had a very interesting point on the "Lehrer News Hour" on PBS. He thinks it fairly likely now that the spreading litigation, recounts, and marches in the streets will lead to a situation much like a nuclear war. (For those of you now watching and reading the massive coverage, there are many news developments: New Mexico is now back in the "undecided" category, as additional late votes are counted--including 200 votes mysteriously missing but recovered today, the police and DA's office in Milwaukee are investigating reports that Democrats were offering cartons of cigarettes for votes for Gore and that piles of ballots were handed out in heavily-Democrat precincts, the Iowa, Oregon, and Wisconsin results may be challenged, and a million absentee votes in California have yet to be counted.) Beschloss, by the way, said that this event is "much weirder than Watergate." He said it's a potentially much more serious crisis than Watergate was. And it has developed in 48 hours, not two years. Delicious. Whichever side loses, it will attack the winning side with a new venom. Scorched earth, as Leon Panetta just put it. I like Beschoss' characterization of it as an escalating nuclear war scenario. There's a mass "Re-vote in Florida!" rally happening tomorrow (and the 18th, and perhaps every Saturday afterwards...) in 50 cities and towns. Northern California alone has several of these. I may go to the one in Santa Cruz tomorrow ("Town Clock") and spread what disinformation I can. Delicious. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

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CDR: RE: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ...
by Ernest Hua 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

Mis type ... opposite of "Florida". Ern -----Original Message----- From: Me [mailto:commerce@home.com] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 2:45 PM To: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net Subject: Re: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ernest Hua" <ernest(a)luminousnetworks.com> > New Mexico appears to be having a problem ... > A computer glitch left out 60K+ ballots. > What would YOU do about it? Are we talking about the equiv bulb burning out on the card reader? Is there any error in the ballot? Is there a chain of evidence, wrt where they have come from? Yes, no, yes: let them in. > For the violently anti-Gore types: This state > appears to be the opposite of New Mexico in New Mexico is the opposite of New Mexico?

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CDR: Another mental exercise for the absolutists ...
by Ernest Hua 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

New Mexico appears to be having a problem ... Some ballots are not found. What would YOU do about it? A computer glitch left out 60K+ ballots. What would YOU do about it? For the violently anti-Gore types: This state appears to be the opposite of New Mexico in terms of political pursuasion. A re-count or a re-do could very well put Bush ahead. Ern

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CDR: Tu no te fuiste al CONCIERTO...???
by webmaster＠logrande.com 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

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CDR: Physical Meet: Tuesday Nov. 14, 2000
by Jim Choate 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

Austin Cypherpunks Monthly Physical Meeting Central Market HEB Cafe 38th & N. Lamar 2nd. Tuesday of each month 7-9pm http://einstein.ssz.com/cdr/index.html We normaly meet outside at the tables unless the weather is bad. Look for the red covered 'Applied Cryptography' book to identify the group. Please visit the homepage for information on joining both the Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer (CDR) as well as the local mailing list. ____________________________________________________________________ He is able who thinks he is able. Buddha The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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CDR: Announcing PerpetualElection.com, political news/discussion site
by Declan McCullagh 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

PerpetualElection.com Launches News and Discussion Site Press Release NOVEMBER 10, 2000 -- PerpetualElection.com, the only website devoted exclusively to news about the first perpetual presidential election in U.S. history, launched on Friday. The site, operated by activists and journalists, is designed to provide an information and discussion area for Americans who want to follow the recent events in the Sunshine State. For example: Will Al Gore litigate? Did George W. Bush truly win? Why would over 3,000 people vote for Pat Buchanan anyway? Could the House of Representatives pick the next president? At PerpetualElection.com, we'll chart the story's development with the help of our readers. Unlike many other sites, PerpetualElection.com has liberals, conservatives, greens, and libertarians as editors. All have equal ability to post news and start discussions, and there is no single editorial point of view. Some of our editors, in alphabetical order: * Sonia Arrison of the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco * Kathleen Ellis, a Baltimore system administrator and journalist * Declan McCullagh, Washington correspondent for Wired News * Jill Pelavin, a programmer living in Mountain View, California PerpetualElection.com is an open source project: It runs on a Red Hat Linux server and uses mySQL as a database. The Slash engine, made popular by Slashdot.org, is used for discussions and articles. For more information, contact: feedback(a)perpetualelection.com (202) 986 3455 Voice (413) 845-5444 Fax Or visit: http://www.perpetualelection.com/ http://www.perpetualelection.com/about.shtml ###

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CDR: RE: A very brief politcal rant
by Declan McCullagh 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

As a working journalist writing about politics, I get lots of feedback from voters. Many are, sadly, clueless. But it is a stretch to assert, as you blithely do, that every voter knew that the guy was dead. My own experience shows otherwise. -Declan At 09:55 11/10/2000 -0800, Ernest Hua wrote: >To believe your assertions, you would have to assume that the >voter walked into the booth never picking up on any news and >never spoke to anyone, and just had no clue who he/she was >voting for. This behavior is clearly legal. But just as Tim >cannot be concerned about inner city welfare mothers ("maggots"? >what word did he use?), I simply cannot be concerned about this >uninformed segment of the electorate.

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CDR: RE: Looking for statistically-unlikely surges in absentee ballots
by Ernest Hua 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

And would you be so upset if it were a county full of people that share YOUR political persuasion, but similarly configured? Probably not. Therefore, you are not quite the objective guy you claim. You just have a lot of vocal people on this list who share YOUR views. There are a lot of people in Palm Beach County who share some other views. They feel cheated. They are angry. They are using the legal system to do something about it. They may not succeed. (Who cares.) All I claimed was that they have a right to pursue the issue precisely because the goal of elections is to see what the voters want, not whether the voters meet some intelligence criteria or can decipher some level of complexity. I may personally dislike the notion that such idiots are voting, but they have every right to vote. I also am well aware that real people in real situations make mistakes. That is why there are lots of recourses to help fix election process problems. Of course, the ideal would be that everyone votes exactly at the same time, with informed intelligence, etc .. Real life is much more complicated than that, and unlike you, I do not pretend to know every complication (and have an proper solution) that could happen to such a huge process. Ern, President and CEO, PinHead Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Tim May [mailto:tcmay@got.net] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 12:48 PM To: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com Subject: Looking for statistically-unlikely surges in absentee ballots I just heard Karen Hughes of the Bush Campaign express concern about the status of absentee ballots being mailed AFTER the outcome of the election was shown to be so close. In particular, after the legal cut-off date. This fits with what I just posted about concerns that Florida dual-citizenship residents of Israel, or tourists in Israel, sending in absentee ballots they had neglected to send in by the cut-off date. (Or, more ominously, ZOG conveniently postmarking them to match the law in Florida.) [By the way, I think in my ZOG piece I mentioned Palm Beach County. This is not the point, as the closeness of the vote is Florida-wide. This is what I meant to say.] The thing to look for is a _surge_ in ballots arriving in Florida absentee ballots as compared to other states. While other states may also have some degree of "after the fact absentee ballots," the incentives are higher in a razor-thin state like Florida. A surge of absentee ballots arriving two or three days after the controversy became obvious would be compelling evidence to justify further investigation. --Tim May -- ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, "Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.

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CDR: RE: Rants and sour grapes ...
by Ernest Hua 10 Nov '00

10 Nov '00

1. I still find it funny that bozos like you assume that I would vote for Gore. But that's one thread that will probably not lead anywhere with your type. 2. I did not say that the right resolution for Palm Beach County was to let them vote. I simply stated that the goal is of an election was to figure out what the electorate wanted, not whether the electorate was good at using or abusing any particular voting technique or process. Tim and company (and perhaps you) seemed to be quite absolutist in the notion that whatever shit happens on election day, that's the way it is, and no one ever get a chance to correct anything. I don't subscribe to that absolutist view. I also did not say that any flexibility or compromise resolution is only for Palm County or any other Gore-leaning counties. YOU and Tim and the rest made that assumption (hence, probably item #1 above). 3. Unlike many of you nuts, I do not subscribe to the notion that violence is the next step (even if you claim that YOU yourself wouldn't do it, but someone else will ... that's just a lot of chicken shit BS). If you want powder keg and ammo and Ryder trucks, you are on a different planet than mine. It is not impossible for me to ever pick up a gun, but it is not anywhere near top-10 on my list. I may agree with you and Tim on crypto, but I certain loath to meet either of you in person on the streets. Your anti-everything and get out of my hair anger is just too much for my tastes. Ern -----Original Message----- From: Gil Hamilton [mailto:gil_hamilton@hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, November 10, 2000 11:08 AM To: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com Subject: Re: Rants and sour grapes ... Ernest Hua writes: >It is abundantly clear to me that much of the ranting going on here on this >list is at least 50% sour grapes. > >Not to pick on Tim, but he just seems like a convenient example; it is >clear in Tim's mind that he does not want the possibility of Gore being the >next president. He may have some procedural reasons to back this rant up, >but he definitely does not like Gore. You arrogant pinhead. It is you who have been whining that these poor dimwitted voters in Palm Beach County must be allowed to vote again; after all, "the voters should get what they want." In any case, if they did hold a revote in Palm Beach County, what happens after that? What if Bush is still ahead and there are more spoiled ballots? What if Gore is ahead, but there are spoiled ballots? Or, is the objective to just allow them to re-vote again and again until you and Gore get the outcome you're looking for? And what about other states? There were spoiled ballots in every state and probably every precinct, and I have no doubt there was some idiot confused by the ballot in every such case. What is the threshold at which we allow that state or precinct to vote over again? I'm beginning to think Tim is right: The fuse on this powder keg is lit. The NAACP and its ilk, along with Gore partisans like you, will never accept the outcome of this election. And holding a re-vote is the beginning of the end. Republicans aren't likely to let the Dems get away with stealing it back. In the end, I guess Slick Willie will just have to declare himself dictator-for-life and invoke martial law to "maintain order". Better stock up on ammo, folks. (Maybe Y2K was just a few months late.) - GH _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.

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