August 2002 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cryobrain Leitels bush-eugene condensate.
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

>>I don't try to filter<< Not much:) That archive over there does not exist.Don't go there.(I have an brother called Ruprecht who impersonates me sometimes...an evil twin? You kill me Leitel. You'd give stand up comic Clinton a run for his money.What, were you SLEEPWALKING! Drank some liquid nitrogen? WHAT? >>I don't try to filter, but to join several sources. << Oh,so you just get into a lynch mob with fruit loops like jamesd occasionally,join several extralarge sources and mailbombs away? I think I get it,Filter feeders cant be to discriminating,right? Your an idiot, but at least an intelligent one. I can't leave you out without creating a skewed picture of what is going on.Chill brother.

1 0

Another Nail in the RSA coffin.
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

Prime efforts may boost encryption Ram Ram Bam Bam. By Sandeep Junnarkar Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 9, 2002, 11:39 AM PT Computer scientists in India have cracked an age-old mathematical problem by designing a method for computers to quickly prove whether a figure is a prime number--a vital step in cryptography. RSA, a popular encryption algorithm used in securing Internet commerce, is built on the assumption that when prime numbers--those evenly divisible only by themselves and the number one--are large enough, they're nearly impossible to generate and determine. To create encryption keys, RSA uses two huge prime numbers and multiplies them together to produce another number that is considered the "key." Testing then confirms whether the initial numbers were in fact prime. The current algorithms used in so-called primality tests are speedy but have a miniscule probability of producing a wrong answer. But a new algorithm, developed at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur by Manindra Agrawal and his students Neeraj Kayal and Nitin Saxena, is believed to generate correct results each and every time. "The most glaring weakness in the current cryptographic software is that we can't prove with a guarantee that a number is prime," said Eric Allender, a professor of computer science at the State University of New Jersey at Rutgers. "This new algorithm answers a fundamental question that has been open for some centuries and studied intensely for several decades." Although Agrawal's paper on the subject, titled "Primes is in P," has yet to be published, it is causing a stir in the field because of the way it handles a math problem that has captivated mathematicians as far back as the ancient Chinese and Greeks. Several leading computer scientists and mathematicians have studied the paper. "Some of the preceding work was quite complex," Allender said. "This is really a lovely, crisp and elegant algorithm." Practical uses for the algorithm, computer scientists admit, are still far off. "Our algorithm is slower than the fastest-known primality testing algorithms," Agrawal said. "The satisfying part of our algorithm is that it is completely deterministic as opposed to earlier ones that may make an error--even though rarely." Computers scientists said that in many areas, people are often willing to live with that small probability of error. But with the increasing reliance on encryption in fields such as banking and secure communications, a greater priority is being placed on strengthening cryptography. "The greatest import of this (algorithm) is as a theoretical result and as a first step," Allender said. "It opens the door. There will be subsequent refinements and improvements in the techniques to make it more practical." E-mail story Print story Send us news tips Related News Critical hole found in encryption program June 27, 2002 Security company drops PGP encryption March 8, 2002 Distributed computing strikes gold December 13, 2001 Get this story's "Big Picture" FROM http://news.com.com/2100-1001-949170.html?tag=fd_top

1 0

Trei makes headlines.Yay peter!
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

http://www.norwalkadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-snakebit3aug08.story?coll=… Despite published reports of the "untimely demise" of Trei, a northern snakehead on display at Pagano's Seafood, the fish is alive and well and gobbling up goldfish by the handful, owner Kris Drumgold said yesterday. Apparently giving new meaning to the snakehead's nickname, Frankenfish, Trei was swimming menacingly with the goldfish yesterday morning, just hours after a Norwalk newspaper hit the stands with a front page story that pronounced the fish dead of "broken gills." About two weeks ago, Trei, one of 28 species of Chinese snakeheads capable of walking on land and surviving out of water for days, was put on display in the Scribner Avenue seafood store. Snakeheads have been reviled in the news since they were discovered in a pond in Maryland and a lake in North Carolina. Biologists fear the snakeheads, which have no known predators, are capable of cleaning out ponds and streams of other species of fish and wriggling over dry land into new areas to eat more. Unlike the lead character in Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein," Trei was not brought back to life, Drumgold said. The fish unwittingly took part in his own "staged death" for a store clerk. As a practical joke, Drumgold said he faked Trei's demise by filleting a fish that looked like him and presenting it to the clerk, who then reported to the Norwalk newspaper that the fish had died. It is illegal to possess snakeheads in 13 states, and U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton has proposed a federal ban on importing live snakeheads into the country. They are legal to own in Connecticut and Mass, but it is illegal to release them. The state Department of Environmental Protection is looking at a possible ban of the razor-toothed creature, said Rick Jacobson, assistant director for inland fisheries at DEP.

1 0

Liars poker at http://www.smirkingchimp.com/
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

WASHINGTON (AP) - Memo to Republican candidates for the House: Never let Democrats "get away with" using words such as privatization or stock market when they criticize GOP plans for Social Security. Avoid supporting any specific proposal for personal retirement accounts the concept backed by President Bush to let workers invest part of their payroll taxes on their own. And "never use the word 'privatize' when referring to Medicare modernization or reforms." Those and other morsels of advice are in a 280-page campaign primer distributed in recent weeks to House GOP candidates by the party's congressional campaign committee. The material was obtained by The Associated Press. ( The full story... | 4839 bytes more | 20 comments

1 0

Does Shrub smoke? Give the man a ciguatera.
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

A MEAL of spanish mackerel turned a dream fishing trip into a 19-month nightmare of bizarre and painful illnesses, a family says. Miecha McLean, 15, her mother, Glenda, and father, Bruce, claim they became violently ill and had to be treated in hospital soon after eating the mackerel on a fishing trip around Queensland's Hervey Bay Marina. Seven others who ate the fish, caught on the MV Princess 2 in January last year, also fell ill, according to documents tendered to the Supreme Court. One victim, a young Canadian backpacker, was even blinded for a few days by her illness, Mr McLean - who is the Supreme Court's chief executive - told the Herald Sun. Mr McLean claims he suffered 19 months of bizarre, unexplained illness including heart-attack-like symptoms, painful muscle spasms, "terrible aching all over", fluid retention and depression. He and his family are suing the Princess 2's skipper, Anthony David Nicholson. The Kilsyth family claim Mr Nicholson should reasonably have suspected the big spanish mackerel could have caused ciguatera poisoning. Mr McLean said ciguatera poisoning occurred in only about seven places in the world, but Hervey Bay was one of the most notorious. He said toxic amounts of it were more likely to be found in big fish that fed on little fish who ate plankton off the reef. Mr McLean said when he took his daughter to the hospital, soon after she ate the spanish mackerel in a Thai curry, she was drenched in sweat and her eyes were rolling back into her head. "She was in a very, very bad way," he said. "So was my wife - she was on the verge of collapsing. And then I copped it, and a short time later my brother-in-law became very, very ill. "In the end, he was the worst of all of us. "We were hallucinating, shaking. My daughter stopped breathing for a while. "We didn't know what had hit us until the doctor asked whether we had eaten fish." Mr McLean said his family had continued to suffer as a result of the neurotoxin still in their bodies. He said he had lost about 10kg in weight and had become "pretty much a loner".

1 0

.The Hollywood 19.Marked for death
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware; Republican Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin; Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia; Democratic Rep. John Conyers of Michigan; Republican Rep. Howard Coble of North Carolina; and Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. A spokesperson for Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who signed the letter, said that lawmakers did not want FBI agents to arrest casual users; they'd rather go after operators of network "nodes" that handle much of the traffic. Its Time some 'nodes' in power were gone after.(my 2$) APster; who do you want to kill today?

1 0

Frankly Tommy F is a McDill.(Lost laptops flap)
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

Drop in the ocean,http://www.cdi.org/msc/clock.html When Golitsin was shown files detailing appalling security breaches he would ask what the officer responsible was doing now. "Same job,"he would be told. Golitsin would then ruminate for a few days then announce he was sure the man was a traitor. "But why,Anatole?" Because in KGB,failure is serious offense,you would not be trusted and maybe he then thinks of turning." "But thats not the how its done in the west,we don't act like that...except in the FBI." Golitsin looked blank,he was almost devoid of humor. Spycatcher,page 318.Peter Wright.

1 0

Cover your butt on the Internet
by Susan 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

1 0

Sony the Darkhorse.
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

Its already got its sound down,now...http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4860 SONY HAS OFFICIALLY announced its own digital rights management technology, OpenMG X. Meeja companies keen to implement some way of limiting the use of digital content - generally video and music are also competing for the standard way of managing digital rights. Microsoft is making strenuous efforts in this area but Sony with its interest in producing the video and music people may be tempted to pirate is determined to establish itself as the standard setter. According to Sony, OpenMG X" consists of the following software modules: 1. An encoding module which adds digital rights management information, such as the number of times content was copied or played, to music/movie content and converts them into code at the distributors' end. 2. A server module which distributes digital rights management information on content to the users' end. 3. A client module for developing application software compatible with "OpenMG X" Sony says that as "both a hardware manufacturer and content/service provider," it is seeking "to connect content producers and end users in providing range of services that distribute high-value content in a secure environment." Sony says the technology can be applied to mobile phones and PCs as well as its own digital Walkman and PlayStation2 products and wants to leverage its position the console and consumer electronics king to persuade content makers to sign up to its system. It says that, since OpenMG X" as an open platform technology, it should support the secure distribution of content. It says it is considering licensing this technology to hardware manufacturers and software vendors. Also Sony is appealing a 'zones' crack down here in OZ.

1 0

"Go learn some finance."
by Matthew X 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

>>Go learn some finance before you attempt to abstract emotion into the quantifiable.<< Umm,Hett,old buddy,old pal,have you seen this? http://www.cdi.org/msc/clock.html How Quantifiable is infinite? >>Actual numerate, thinking, people gave up on that nonsense in the 1970's<< We're all keynesians now? WTF? BTW how are the digital bearer bonds going? Do we still have need of that hypothesis? The fact that Bell and CJ eventually ended up betting on equity volatility like it was actually predictable and got their asses handed to them for their efforts is beside the point, of course. :-). "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of money as we know it] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Hett the Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Chowderhead Empire'

1 0