December 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Fun with bleach and nail polish remover
by Sampo Syreeni 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

On Sun, 30 Dec 2001, Eugene Leitl wrote: >> Minor correction: /H2H2/ should be /H2O2/, naturally. > >Organic peroxides are useful as improvised blasting caps, but otherwise >much too unstable. Yes, it's unstable, but what, exactly, is it that makes $H_{2}O_{2}$ organic? Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy - mailto:decoy@iki.fi, tel:+358-50-5756111 student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front openpgp: 050985C2/025E D175 ABE5 027C 9494 EEB0 E090 8BA9 0509 85C2

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Afghans Demand End to Bombing
by Anonymous 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

Heard on the news tonight that the "interim Afghan government" was demanding an end to the bombing in 3 days, and that all troops leave in 6 months. Some US general asshole then announced from Dubbya's ranch in Texass that "we will decide when we'll stop bombing, and nobody else" and Dubbya says the troops will be there for a long time. I love it -- won't it be fun when the Afghans all start killing Yanks? Anybody want to bet on how long it will be before the first Americans are killed by non-Taliban Afghans?

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Violating the Constitution with Impunity
by keyser-soze＠hushmail.com 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

A recent speech by former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth is rather refreshing. A key quote. "Today, when the federal government violates the constitution including the First Amendment, we mostly find silence from the media." http://www.aei.org/sp/sp111601b.htm There is little doubt that much that we have taken for granted in the United States has changed in the past two months. Our feeling of security, our confidence in the safety of public facilities, and our general sense of well-being have all been shaken. The poignant question is raised about whether the First Amendment—particularly the speech provision--has changed, or perhaps whether the government’s interpretation of it has changed. I have some good news. The words of the First Amendment are the same today as they were two months ago, or two years ago, or two decades ago, or two centuries ago. But I also have some bad news. The First Amendment has been violated many times in the past two centuries. As Floyd Abrams noted earlier this morning, many of our greatest national leaders have taken great liberties in curtailing the First Amendment, particularly in times of crisis. And it is not just our great leaders, and it is not only in times of crisis, that the First Amendment has been violated. The constitution itself, and the First Amendment in particular, are violated frequently. Moreover, those who violate the constitution are rarely held accountable. Public servants largely have immunity for liability in their performance of their public functions. But, when it comes to the constitution, that immunity often turns into impunity, a veritable license to violate at will. Aside from occasional public disapprobation, there is no penalty for violating the Constitution generally or the First Amendment in particular.

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Re: Fun with bleach and nail polish remover
by KPJ 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

It appears as if Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer <noreply(a)cypherpunks.to> wrote: | |I have seen too many "dangerous" mistakes in this NG when AP is being |discussed. I will rather give you the correct details that you make it and do |not blow off your hands. [...] |Hydrogen peroxide H2H2 - Available at a beauty supply store and possibly a |pharmacy. Minor correction: /H2H2/ should be /H2O2/, naturally.

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Re: Fun with bleach and nail polish remover
by keyser-soze＠hushmail.com 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

At 11:29 PM 12/29/2001 +0100, Anonynmous wrote: >You will need 30% Hydrogen Peroxide (6% will give you a rather poor yield). Now to get the 30% Hydrogen Peroxide, go to your local hospital chemist. 30% will never be sold to someone for their hair so don't try that story, so spin a story that the Peroxide is to clean a wound as it is a great disinfectant (diluted of course). If you have trouble finding concentrated H2O2 you can distill your own from dilute sources. http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp/Reports/Stills_199x.html

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Fun with bleach and nail polish remover
by Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

However, it may be impossible to prevent the publication of all information concerning the making and use of explosives. The problem of easy availability of information on how to make improvised explosive devices is compounded by the ease with which anyone can also obtain the necessary materials to make a bomb. Improvised explosive devices can be manufactured from such common chemicals as acetone (fingernail polish remover), peroxide (hair bleach), and one additional readily available ingredient. For example, Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), a combination of these ingredients, is currently the most common explosive used by terrorists in Israel. I have seen too many "dangerous" mistakes in this NG when AP is being discussed. I will rather give you the correct details that you make it and do not blow off your hands. You will need 30% Hydrogen Peroxide (6% will give you a rather poor yield). Now to get the 30% Hydrogen Peroxide, go to your local hospital chemist. 30% will never be sold to someone for their hair so don't try that story, so spin a story that the Peroxide is to clean a wound as it is a great disinfectant (diluted of course). The acetone can be bought at either a hardware store or at a hospital or normal chemist. If you get asked why you need the acetone, spin a story that it is used to thin paint, or to strip paint. Remember that acetone is highly flammable. The Hydrochloric Acid can be purchased from any swimming pool shop, or from your local hardware store. The type that goes into your pool is normally 31.5% and is perfect for what you need. The Hydrochloric acid will give you a trimmer, sulphuric acid will give you the dimmer version of the AP. Now that you have acquired all the ingredients, take a beaker or clean 500 ml bottle and place it into some nice cold water. Into this beaker, add 200 ml hydrogen peroxide (try not to get any of this onto your skin). Now add 150 ml of the acetone. Remember to do this outside as the fumes are rather unpleasant to breath in. You will feel the beaker will start to get a bit warm. Now add 50 ml hydrochloric acid to the mixture and stir with a glass rod. There that is all you have to do. Do this experiment in the evening and let the AP stand over night. In the morning you will see that you will have +- 2.5 cm of crystals at the bottom of the flask and +- 0.5 cm floating on the top of the flask. Take a glass funnel and insert coffee filter paper or oil filtering paper and filter the AP crystals out. Place these crystals out onto a sheet of clean paper and leave them to dry +- 1/2 a day to a day. Try to keep the crystals out of direct sunlight, preferably in a shady area. Place these dry crystals into a camera film container. Please do not hit these crystals with a hammer as a bright person claimed to have done, you could land up with that hammer in your forehead. AP is sensitive to heat and to friction. When the crystals do not respond to either friction or impact it simply means that the crystals are still too wet. WARNING: Acetone Peroxide is dangerous and very sensitive to FRICTION, SHOCK, HEAT OR FLAME. Handle with great care!! This composition is dangerous and would need to be handled by someone with a lot of common sense. If you do not have experience with explosives DO NOT MAKE THIS. I can not stress enough how unstable and dangerous acetone peroxide is. This explosive is the most unstable of all other explosives. Making large quantities is suicide as the weight of the crystals will detonate themselves. Information on Acetone Peroxide: Acetone peroxide is formed when hydrogen peroxide 30% acts on acetone. The introduction of dilute sulfuric acid causes the reaction to go into completion. There are actually two isomers of acetone peroxide, the first is tricycloacetone peroxide and the second is dicycloacetone peroxide. Both of these compounds are very similar, but the reaction seems to favor the tricyclo over the dicyclo. Both will be made in the reaction to differing degrees. The trimmer has about 80% the power of TNT. A quantity the size of a pea in contact with a flame will burn instantaneously with a small 'pop' and producing a fireball, much like HMTD does. Any sign of confinement will ensure that ignition will rapidly give rise to detonation. Acetone peroxide is a powerful primary explosive. It, as with other explosive peroxides, seems to be very volatile. In standing 10 days at room temperature, 50% of the sample will completely volatilize. It's vaporizable nature makes it a explosive that would have to be used immediately after manufacture. However, this explosive is compatible with metals and will not cause their corrosion and the subsequent dangers involved. It is also compatible with picric acid, R.D.X., T.N.T. and P.E.T.N. It is highly friction sensitive and extreme care should be taken to avoid this. Acetone peroxide is one of the most sensitive explosive known to man. Great care would be needed to handle this explosive carefully. Mixtures of R.D.X. and Picric acid with acetone peroxide are reported to be used between primary explosive and the base charge. Mixtures such as picric acid / acetone peroxide (40/60) or similar mixtures with R.D.X. and P.E.T.N. will give explosives greatly increased resistance to impact without losing much performance. These dried crystals would be ready to load into detonators for immediate use as the storage stability is not very good. DETONATION VELOCITY: 3750 M/sec. @ 0.92 G/cc 5300 M/sec. @ 1.18 G/cc FRICTION SENSITIVITY: Very Sensitive!!! Materials Sources ---------------- Acetone C3H6O - Used as a solvent for stripping paint and cleaning brushes. It can be purchased in pint to gallon sizes at hardware stores or paint supply stores rather cheaply. Sulfuric acid H2SO4 - Available at chemistry stores. Hydrogen peroxide H2H2 - Available at a beauty supply store and possibly a pharmacy. Procedure For Tricycloacetone Peroxide -------------------------------------- This information is no longer available. However I will give some tips on the procedure: I used a 500-mL beaker during the stirring/preparing of the AP. Make up a salt-ice tub. Place the beaker in the tub and cool it to 50 C. When adding concentrated (75%) sulfuric acid, do it drop by drop using an eye dropper. Stir the mixture continuously while adding the acid, keep the temperature between 50 C to 100 C, stop adding acid if the temperature gets to high. After adding all the acid continue stirring for 5 minutes. Keep the mixture in the tub for about 24 hours. After sitting a white precipitate should have formed. The mixture is poured over a filter to collect the crystals, then the white product is washed three times with distilled water. Allow the crystals to dry before using. Keep them damp if storing. I would suggest using this explosive within several days because it will quickly vaporize. If you wish to store the crystals, you should keep them damp. NOTE: If the crystals vaporize inside a container it will crystallize into a unstable form that will explode at the touch, even if damp! ----- >From the Diane Feinstein Center for the First Amendment

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Article: Embedding Identities
by BlancInk 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

>From http://www.israel21c.com/channels/technology/articles/tech_0014.htm: Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the University of Connecticut have designed a novel method for improving the security of identification cards or passports. In the sophisticated approach, a block of encrypted information - such as the bearer's fingerprint pattern or other unique personal facts - can be concealed within a picture on a document. Because this information is relevant to the bearer alone, use of the ID by a person resembling the cardholder is easily unmasked. Moreover, since only the issuer knows the complex keys used to encrypt the hidden information, it would be nearly impossible to forge an ID that would pass through the system. According to Prof. Joseph Rosen at BGU's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the new development combines two well-known methods of representing data. One is the half-tone image, a two-dimensional pattern of larger and smaller dots used in reproducing pictures. The other is a 2D barcode, in which a checkerboard of tiny dots and spaces represents digital information. Barcodes are familiar to all of us: They are the long string of lines printed on packaging labels for product identification. But a 2D barcode comprised of small dots can record much more information than the string of lines and is an inexpensive way to provide extensive data about a person or a manufactured product. In this new development, Rosen and his colleague Prof. Bahram Javidi of the University of Connecticut have combined the 2D halftone image and barcode by slightly shifting the positions of the arrangement of halftone dots. The concealed barcode information can be retrieved using what is known as a 2-D spatial correlator, which contains a confidential filter function that deciphers the concealed image. The new technology, Rosen said, is very robust as even a damaged ID picture or a half-covered picture contains sufficient hidden data to retrieve the encrypted information. This is because the entirety of secret data is distributed throughout the picture. However, if the original picture is not whole, the hidden picture will be reproduced with lower quality. Another advantage of this development is that both optical and computational approaches can be used to reveal the hidden data. A patent has been submitted for the approach to conceal an image within an image. -------- .. Blanc

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RE: CNN.com on Remailers
by Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

> One solution, which I've long advocated, is for the remailer to drop > mail which has an unencrypted body after it's applied it's decryption > key. > > Provided this is an announced policy, substantially increases the > protection of the mail and the remop. It does mean that only people > capable of using encryption can receive mail via the remailer, but > that's probably a *good* thing. No, that is a terrible idea. It totally destroys the usefulness of remailers on Usenet and mailing lists. "Make your system so hard to use that no one uses it. That way, no one will abuse it!" Pshaw.

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Re: [fsml] Euro Banknotes embed RFID chips (fwd)
by Steve Schear 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

At 01:52 AM 12/29/2001 +0100, Eugene Leitl wrote: >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 00:36:31 -0000 >From: Andrew Hennessey <pegasus(a)easynet.co.uk> >To: fsml(a)yahoogroups.com >Subject: [fsml] Euro Banknotes embed RFID chips > >http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011219S0016 > > > >Euro bank notes to embed RFID chips by 2005 > >By Junko Yoshida >EE Times >(12/19/01, 3:03 p.m. EST) > >SAN MATEO, Calif. - The European Central Bank is working with technology >partners on a hush-hush project to embed radio frequency identification tags >into the very fibers of euro bank notes by 2005, EE Times has learned. >Intended to foil counterfeiters, the project is developing as Europe >prepares for a massive changeover to the euro, and would create an instant >mass market for RFID chips, which have long sought profitable application. > >The banking community and chip suppliers say the integration of an RFID >antenna and chip on a bank note is technically possible, but no bank notes >in the world today employ such a technology. Critics say it's unclear if the >technology can be implemented at a cost that can justify the effort, and >question whether it is robust enough to survive the rough-and-tumble life >span of paper money. Not to mention intentional Electro-Magnetic Pulse exposure of bills to thwart the system. A cheaper and more robust solution would embed random length and oriented glass/plastic fibers in the paper. When exposed to a line illuminator as it is passed through a verifier, each bill would have a unique "illuminate here" - "light comes out there" signature that can be read out and matched to a DB generated at the mint. Because of the fiber's resilience it will be more difficult to damage or thwart than RFIDs. steve

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yes I would like to make my own DVDs
by DRenck1042＠aol.com 29 Dec '01

29 Dec '01

what do I do? Drenck1042(a)aol.com Who do I pay?

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