August 2002 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: CHAUM CHIMES IN
by cme＠ellisun.sw.stratus.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: 08 Sep 93 16:30:55 EDT >From: Sandy <72114.1712(a)CompuServe.COM> >Subject: CHAUM CHIMES IN >Message-Id: <930908203054_72114.1712_FHF95-2(a)CompuServe.COM> ..From: > SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com [ . . . ] >Of course, the next letter to the editor calls for the adoption >of systems to track every vehicle at all times. The genius who >wrote the letter, thinks it would be a good way to prevent >nuclear, biological or chemical terrorism. Geeeeez. It was signed by Dorothy Denning, right? Actually, they should take that to its full conclusion. We need implants in every individual, broadcasting to the local surveillance agency, giving not only location but also every word spoken in the vicinity. It could also do a chemical analysis of the air in the neighborhood. It should also have a radiation counter. It should also monitor the host body, looking for signs of anger or sexual arousal? How else will we be guaranteed safe from mad bombers, rapists and child molesters? How else will our big budget LE agencies be able to protect us? I know. When it's finally adopted, worldwide, they'll call it the Ellison Plan. :-( - Carl

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Stegno and DAT and digital music...
by Peter Wayner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In this week's Sunday NYT, Hans Fantel, their music guy, writes at length about the new "dithered" CD's and how the guys have improved the sound. He says that the original CD format was limited to 16 bits of sound because of costs. But many audiophiles reacted very negatively to the tinny, metalic quality to the music. For this reason, the companies have developed 20 bit DAT recording tape and then come up with ways to "dither" this into 16 bits. I am curious if anyone knows the details of these algorithms. Also, his point suggests that flipping the least significant bit of 16 bit music may not be imperceptable to some ears. If the classical music starts to sound tinny then there might be something subversive in the least significant bits. -Peter Wayner

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Remail: errors
by HFinney＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have been out of town for the last week, so I missed some CP mail. It looks like some good things are happening with remailers, though. Kudos to Karl, Sameer, and the others for their work! I have received many messages to my remailer in the last week which came from remail(a)tamsun.tamu.edu, which were PGP-encrypted apparently in an effort to get my remailer to send them. They did not work, though, because there was no "Encrypted: PGP" header to trigger the remailer's decryption. This can be arranged by creating the message something like this: ======================================================== :: Request-Remailing-To: hfinney(a)shell.portal.com :: Encrypted: PGP - -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- <rest of message> - -----END PGP MESSAGE------ ======================================================== This would then be sent to remail(a)tamsun.tamu.edu. I don't know whether the multiplicity of such erroneous messages is just due to one person stubbornly re-trying, or whether there is an error in one of the new programs for creating chained remailer messages. Hal Finney hfinney(a)shell.portal.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.2 iQCVAgUBLJaNuKgTA69YIUw3AQHrNwQAowMEQwuH6YyHoj6T7AqZFLNdTf+eqJ9L LhAatHS94nmC1smkfVNq0dZmigmkvBdMNEPlBZemmxALz+KJw6OSY/ULSBmuVNEq 5rJANh3XimoJWqLISy2lZiuC5Fw2R7UvRadcdM94pncSVvev92Fyf7CqEOOtrGAK PUzRds7BVNo= =FpLa -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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more than spread spectrum
by cme＠ellisun.sw.stratus.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There are alternatives to spread spectrum, if we're threatened with loss of freedom to communicate. We could lay our own wires/fibers. We could set up a mesh network of infrared lasers through the air. Last time I looked, there were no laws against shining lights out your window as long as they didn't bother anyone. An infrared laser could hardly bother anyone. We could produce a line of cheap cards to plug into a PC which would do packet routing, using a variety of physical links -- our own wires, lasers, very low range radio, .... Each card would connect to three or more neighbors and become part of the global mesh. Adaptive routing with no global map would suffice for the card and would keep the whole system peer-to-peer with no need for central control and no chance for central tapping. Of course all of these solutions require a high density of users. A college campus might be the right place to start. We could then branch out to cities. I suspect that a place like Chicago or NYC with high rise apartments might be the place to start -- many options for line-of-sight communications. The benefit isn't just for Cypherpunks. It's a free network for the masses -- like the original USENET (with each user donating routing and store/forward) but with unrestricted, low-range, continuously operating physical links. I'll volunteer to do the software for the node card. Does anyone have hardware design/fab to donate to the effort? - Carl

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Virus Alert
by abuse＠bizmailsrvcs.net 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

We have detected a virus (WORM_KLEZ.H) in your mail traffic sent from billy(a)auto-csi.com in the file Gipg.exe on 08/31/2002 17:56:23. We took the action delete. If you have questions regarding files or updating/installing Anti-virus protection on your PC, please contact your e-mail administrator or help desk.

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"Terror Suspect" Appears in Court
by Eric Cordian 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

After the Jim Bell and Carl Johnson festivities, I would imagine most readers of this list have an above average ability to recognize bovine effluent in the rantings of federal prosecutors, whose Chicken Little bellowings about conspiracies and threats to public safety often bear little resemblence to actual events. "Illegally discharging firearms during a conspiracy" The mind boggles. Conspiracy is to defendants rights what goose droppings are to traction on grass. ----- Ujaama lashes out at prosecutors in public hearing Man accused of aiding al-Qaida to be transferred to Seattle jail Saturday, August 31, 2002 By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Terror suspect James Ujaama unleashed an angry outburst in federal court yesterday during his first public court appearance since being charged with conspiracy and weapons counts. After weeks of being held in secret as a "material witness," the former Seattle man wasted no time showing his disdain for Justice Department prosecutors who filed the case Wednesday in Seattle. "These guys have lied -- they've always lied," Ujaama said during a terse exchange cut short by Magistrate Judge Barry Poretz. During the 10-minute court appearance, a prosecutor read the charges against Ujaama, then Poretz ordered the U.S. Marshal's Service to transfer him from a Virginia jail to Seattle. He is expected to be moved by Monday or Tuesday, although defense attorney Greg Stambaugh said Ujaama would like to return to a jail in Seattle even earlier if possible. Ujaama stood quietly through most of the proceedings. He appeared gaunt and unshaven, wearing a green jumpsuit marked "PRISONER" on the back. After the routine business was done, Stambaugh complained to the judge that a courthouse guard referred to Ujaama as "bin Laden boy," a reference to al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Before being placed in isolation Thursday, Ujaama had been held among other prisoners in the general population, and such a label could cause Ujaama problems, Stambaugh said. "Clearly, everybody is entitled to respect in this court," Poretz said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg questioned whether the name-calling actually happened, and alluded to Ujaama's repeated complaints about his treatment in statements released through his attorney and a family spokesperson. "His client has repeatedly lied to the public before to manipulate the public," Kromberg said. "It's not beyond the realm of possibility he's lying again to manipulate the public." That drew Ujaama's ire, and he asked the judge for permission to respond. Poretz told him to talk to his attorney first, and then Ujaama spoke loudly and angrily. "These guys have lied -- they've always lied," Ujaama said. "For them to refer to me as a liar when they've leaked material to the press ...." Poretz interrupted, suggesting he speak through his attorney. Ujaama remained quiet. Outside the courtroom later, Stambaugh read a brief statement in which Ujaama, 36, repeated his criticism of prosecutors: "They literally kidnapped me using a material witness warrant. This is further proof of what I've been saying all along: They are criminals posing as 'statesmen.'" Ujaama, who was arrested in Denver on July 22, is accused of providing "training, facilities, computer services, safe houses and personnel" to al-Qaida in a conspiracy to "destroy property and murder and maim persons located outside the United States." He also is accused of illegally discharging firearms as part of a conspiracy, when he allegedly was scouting a training area for terrorists at a property in Bly, Ore. Kromberg said Ujaama could face up to life in prison for the conspiracy charge, although Stambaugh said that would not be consistent with the wording of the indictment. During yesterday's appearance, Ujaama waived a routine identification hearing, where prosecutors must show that the person named in the indictment is the same as the person in custody. The indictment refers to him by his birth name, James Ernest Thompson; the name he took as a Muslim, Earnest James Ujaama; and aliases Bilal Ahmed, Abu Samayya and Abdul Qaadir. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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RIAA's Final Solution
by Harmon Seaver 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

http://www.ibiblio.org/Dave/Dr-Fun/html/Dr-Fun/df200201/df20020107.jpg -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com

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Re: Mitigating Dangers of Compromised Anonymity
by Major Variola (ret) 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

At 01:21 AM 8/31/02 -0700, Morlock Elloi wrote: >Just wondering ... in a life & death situation (say, blackmailing att. >general), what would be the choice of readers of this forum: > > >a) use mixmaster remailer from their home/business/friend. Like that one-degree of separation is comforting... >b) use an internet cafe Your face might be recognized later. Willing to shave for the transmission and then go on vacation to regrow the mane? >c) use an open wireless AP Bingo. Use a rented car. Or better, stolen :-) > >b and c assume, of course, one-time use of a throwaway e-mail acct. Why bother even establishing one? Simply use a fake name and domain that your SMTP server takes. Works for me :-) [1] though I don't get personal replies -not something you want anyway for your task. [1] Though header-stripping lne.com can trace me ---real anonymity would require b) or c) or a trusted a) (only without my end being observed before the fact). >c) makes most sense to me, provided that you fake your radio card's MAC and do >it while walking by, with folded laptop in a bag running a script. Or treat your fixed-MAC card as a one-time-use disposable and torch the thing. Along with the laptop, probably. Separately.

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Holidays in Columbia.
by Matthew X 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

A top figure in a terrorist group has told his armed fighters to target American interests and to extort, kidnap and murder American citizens. "The United States has declared war," he said in a radio message to armed followers. "Your obligation is to fight them." Instructions from a bin Laden deputy holed up in a cave somewhere? Maybe a radical Islamic band in Pakistan? Or extremists in the land of our "ally" Saudi Arabia? None of the above. Wrong region. The threat comes from our very own hemisphere, and was issued by Jorge Briceno, military chief of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. The communication was intercepted by Colombian police and reported by a television station in Bogota. So far, indications are that the FARC plans to attack American citizens in Colombia itself. So far, no one is saying FARC plans to bring terrorism to American soil. And the best way to assure that that horror does not happen is for the United States to fully support the efforts of Colombia's new president, Alvaro Uribe, to defeat the terrorists who have brought his nation 38 years of war in which more than 100,000 people have died. There might be doubts about the real motives of Middle Eastern governments that are supposedly part of the struggle against terrorism, but there can be no doubt about Uribe. Aside from his very personal motivation - Uribe's father was killed by terrorists two decades ago - the new president of this Andean nation was elected by a landslide after promising voters a hard line against terrorism. His predecessor, Andres Pastrana, had made the mistake of believing FARC would be open to a reasonable dialogue and would negotiate in good faith. Pastrana turned over to the rebels a Switzerland-sized chunk of Colombia, which FARC used as a base to conduct terrorist attacks in the rest of the nation. Pastrana came to his senses when he called off talks this past February. Violence has intensified since. In fact, earlier this month FARC attacked the Colombian Congress while Uribe's inauguration ceremony was being held, killing 21 people in a shower of mortars. It was FARC's way of showing off, of telling the nation that even an event as supposedly secure as the swearing-in of a president was within reach of their violence. Although the attack sowed fear among the long-suffering people of Colombia, it also showed FARC's own fears. Its leaders know that Uribe is no Pastrana, not someone about to be hoodwinked into thinking Colombia's terror groups will settle for anything short of the imposition of a Marxist dictatorship. That Uribe means business is clear from the measures he has taken barely a month in office. He wants to double the size of the professional army to 100,000 and add $1 billion to annual defense spending of $3.1 billion. He has imposed a special war tax on people and businesses with assets of more than $60,000 and has promised to train a network of 100,000 civilians to act as police auxiliaries. http://www.colombiatimes.com/ PUERTO ASIS, Colombia (AP) -- Black spirals of buzzards mark the fresh corpses that turn up in this frontier town and in the nearby coca fields, jungle and pastures, where paramilitary death squads roam freely, killing suspected rebel collaborators or anyone else who gets in their way. Despite patrols by Colombian soldiers and police, the carnage is mounting, and terrified residents don't know where to turn for help. "We are in Puerto Asis, where there is no justice, no law," snapped a medical worker, who asked not to be named for fear he might be killed for speaking out. "Someone could come into this office right now and shoot me, and nothing would ever come of it." The paramilitaries have waged a war of terror across Colombia in their zeal to combat the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and a smaller rebel group. Their bloody battle is among the greatest obstacles to President Alvaro Uribe's promises of finally bringing peace to this country after years of bloodshed. The FARC is fighting its own war against the government, a conflict that has stretched 38 years. In the meantime, Colombian civilians -- like the residents of Puerto Asis -- are caught in the middle. In only a few months, dozens of civilians, including two mayoral candidates, have been shot dead in this town in the steamy southern lowlands of Colombia's cocaine heartland. Many wind up buried in body bags in the trash-strewn "nameless" section of the town cemetery. Police and soldiers set up checkpoints and patrol streets filled with snarling motorcycles, smog-belching buses and horse-drawn carts. But they seem unable to stop the bloodshed. Even the presence in town of an U.S.-trained army counternarcotics battalion has had no effect. Planes and U.S.-donated Black Hawk helicopters regularly fly along the horizon on their way to fumigate the coca fields. Authorities say the killers get away scot-free because few witnesses want to point fingers at paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. "They are afraid to report the killings, because they think there will be reprisals against them," said Puerto Asis Mayor Manuel Alzate, who survived an assassination attempt last year. Residents admit they're terrified of being targeted, but also suspect the police and army turn a blind eye to the killings. A paramilitary leader, contacted on the phone in Puerto Asis, refused an interview request. Members of the outlawed group openly prowl through town, wearing baseball caps over close-cropped hair, pistols stuck into jeans beneath loose-fitting shirts. "To arrest someone, we need an arrest warrant," insisted a police officer at the police station, protected by sandbags and rifle-toting officers. "We can't arrest someone just because he looks suspicious." The paramilitaries moved into Puerto Asis about three years ago, while FARC guerrillas occupy rural areas outside the town. The guerrillas are known to commit their own killings in areas they control. The area is becoming among the world's deadliest places, with 128 reported homicides this year, hospital records say. Many more are thought to have gone unreported. That's a ratio of 450 homicides per 100,000 people. In the United States, the ratio last year was 5.5 per 100,000. On the evening of July 28, Leonidas Yague, a municipal official until he resigned in May to run for mayor, left his mother at home and headed to a nearby store, only to be slain on the street. "He said, 'Mom, I'll be back in a little while,"' his mother, Rosa Benavides, recalled as tears sprang to her eyes. "Twenty minutes later he was dead." According to the police report, an unidentified gunman shot Yague five times. "He said he would never leave me," said Benavides, a stocky 73-year-old widow with swept-back short hair. "I'm left all alone here." Other victims included Serafin Merino, another candidate for mayor, who was shot in the head more than a dozen times on August 22 outside a hospital. Days earlier, a woman was executed after she allegedly slapped a paramilitary gunman in a bar. One of the few who takes the carnage in stride is funeral director Maria Cruz. "Business is great, thank God," she told a reporter without a hint of irony, sitting amid empty coffins trimmed with purple velvet. "Sometimes there are bodies everywhere." http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/americas/08/30/colombia.deadly.town.ap/index.…

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Re: Cyberpunks: Seattle "Activist" Is Not an Innocent Webmaster,
by Matthew X 31 Aug '02

31 Aug '02

Bravo Eric! A classic of deconstruction! James... An au citizen goes to Kosovo and becomes a hero protecting helpless locals from serb tanks,he then travels to 'Ghan and is protecting local women there from rapists and murdering slave/opium traders in the North,when he is taken prisoner and kidnapped to Cuba.He is still there,no visitors except ASIO agents,no letters,no rights,no rules.Did I mention he is an AUSTRALIAN.An ALLY.The US ambassador,a crooked shrub crony from Arlington condemns and smears the au citizens name much as you did with similar sounding diabolical scaremongering that was old when tailgunner joe was alive.Actually it was old when they were burning witches at Salem. Another au citizen was kidnapped from Pakistan,he was taken to X-ray as well and is suffering the same cruel,unusual punishment as the other for arguably even less 'reason.' No charges,no trials,no geneva convention rights.No human or civil rights at all.FUCK AMERIKKKA all to HELL! You deserve poison for all your crimes,who poisoned the indigenes? Take your 'intelligence' and shove it up your ass. In a genuine democracy, the rights of even a minority of one are sacred and cannot be violated with impunity. V K Narasimhan.

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