January 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: citizens can be named as enemy combatants
by Wes Hellman 09 Jan '03

09 Jan '03

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Re: Television
by Tim May 09 Jan '03

09 Jan '03

On Wednesday, January 8, 2003, at 07:26 PM, Sam Ritchie wrote: > Hmmm, is someone a wittle upset over a certain recent textual > reprimand? No > need for petty schoolyard insults, May. What happened to the new year's > resolution you made? I hope someone kills your family within the next two weeks. --Tim May

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Re: Television
by Tim May 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

On Wednesday, January 8, 2003, at 06:06 PM, AARG! Anonymous wrote: > Re- which software does big letters, I can just say that I am appalled > by the ignorance. > > It's the standard unix "banner" program, some 20 years old. > > > ## # > I remember it from the late 60s, well over _30_ years ago. (I know because a famous Playmate from around 1967-68, Myers was her name IIRC, was very widely printed out circa 1970, and probably earlier.) But Tyler and all the other wet-behind-the-ears children are no doubt impressed by the "retro" look. Fer shure! --Tim May

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Crytpo algorithm?
by Mike Rosing 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

Hey guys, (are there *any* women reading this list?) I actually have a crypto question. In the TI docs for their Digital Signature Transponder they reference document number 24-09-05-012 "Digital Signature Transponder Algorithm and Software Requirements". This seems to be a trade secret since they say an NDA is required to get it. It really isn't anything close to a "digital signature", it's more like a hashing algorithm. The key is 40 bits and the result is 24 bits. The basic operation is to send a 40 bit challenge and then check the 24 bit result for a go/nogo final output. The whole thing runs at 134 kHz, so it shouldn't take much to hack something up to watch bits fly around. While this challenge is enticing because it's so easy with not much effort, it's still easier to ask for details which might actually be available. Has anyone seen the actual crypto algorithm used in the TI DST devices? And how close is it to the Ford Securilock E-PATS system? Just curious :-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike

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citizens can be named as enemy combatants
by Michael Cardenas 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/08/enemy.combatants/ -- michael cardenas | lead software engineer, lindows.com hyperpoem.net | GNU/Linux software developer people.debian.org/~mbc | encrypted email preferred Listening to: warsaw pack track_02 "Hear the truth, believe it, practice it." - Zen Saying [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]

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Re: Definitions, Proofs, Derivations
by Ken Hirsch 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

"Sarad AV" writes: > there will be no inconsistency in a formal axiomatic > systems Huh? >-but can any one point me to a contradicting > set of axioms in an axiomatic system? In general you have to consider the whole system, including derivation rules, not just the axioms, although you can certain start with a set of axioms like: { x=1, x=2} or, come to think of it, { 1=2 } Most famously, Frege's system was shown to be inconsistent by Russel. More recently, the first edition of Quine's Mathematical Logic (1940) was shown to be inconsistent by Rosser. For Frege, see "From Frege to Gvdel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879-1931" by Jean van Heijenoort

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Re: Television
by AARG! Anonymous 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

On Wed, 08 Jan 2003 10:01:22 -0500, you wrote: > > WOW! > > While I may agree that Tim May seems to like anarchy as long as he's in charge of it, he does come up with some truly destabilising and dangerous ideas every now and then. > > Like his alter ego Jim Choate, there's some real signal burried under that noise so at least token measures of respect every now and then are due. > I've never come across a Tim May post that I thought wasn't worth the time it took to read it. They are all either amusing, informative, or provocative, or some combination of those. I like that. I can't say that about many other posters.

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Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
by Eugen Leitl 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/4883623.htm Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary By Dean Takahashi Mercury News >From wealthy private homes to military installations, security cameras are going high tech. Prompted in part by new fears after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, camera makers, security specialists, hard-disk makers and chip designers are transforming the art of video surveillance, long known for its grainy, black-and-white images and reams of tape. With the new smart cameras, data is recorded in a digital format on hard disk drives so that reviewing hours of surveillance is much easier. Solar batteries let cameras run without the risk of failing because somebody cut the power. Data can be sent over the Internet -- often through wireless data networks -- directly to a company's hard drive archives. Processing chips inside the cameras make the images much easier to discern, and new software analyzes faces so that the cameras can send alerts to security guards when they spot known criminals or suspicious movements. ``On one level, this is taking analog camera technology and adding digital capabilities with new chips,'' said Bruce Flinchbaugh, a fellow at Texas Instruments in Dallas. ``On another level, it's adding new intelligence to redefine security.'' Geoff Beale, owner of The Alarm Company in Los Gatos, has installed a whole digital setup at the San Jose estate of one client. If someone moves past the light beams that line the home's perimeter, the movement will activate the estate's 15 security cameras, which work even at night and record their data onto hard disks. The motion detector will also trigger the garage door to let out the owner's German shepherds. A camera trained on the road leading to the house can discern a car's license plates and cameras trained on doors can capture faces. The cameras send alarms to the owners with varying degrees of urgency based on the nature of the security threat. ``If they have an incident, I can jump to the spot on the hard disk drive where the video is recorded and deliver the scene to them by e-mail,'' said Beale. Road patrol Concerned about homeland security, the California Department of Transportation is installing video cameras that will monitor the Bay Area's transportation infrastructure and transmit the data to Caltrans engineers and the California Highway Patrol. Hundreds of cameras will watch over the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. Proxim, which makes wireless networking gear in Sunnyvale, will provide wireless Internet networking technology for the project, saving on huge wiring costs. Nick Imearato, a research fellow at the Hoover Institute, said he expects the federal government to require cameras be placed every 400 feet or so in airports to monitor all aspects of airport security, from cargo areas to boarding areas. Over time, as the technology gets cheaper, he said, ``This will migrate to millions of businesses and even homes.'' Such constant surveillance, even in the name of homeland security, scares civil libertarians, who feel it amounts to an illegal search of everyone who passes within view of a camera. ``Our position is this kind of continuous recording can be very dangerous, especially if coupled with technology to recognize faces,'' said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology watchdog group in San Francisco. ``You have to always ask what is the compelling justification for such surveillance.'' But the surveillance business continues to grow. Last year, the closed-circuit TV camera market generated about $1.5 billion in revenue, according to JP Freeman, a market researcher in Newtown, Conn. While sophisticated cameras that use technologies like Internet connectivity are only about 10 percent of the market today, they are growing at 30 percent a year, or twice the rate of standard security cameras, said Joe Freeman, president the firm. By 2005, the market could top $500 million in the U.S. alone. Specialized market The market for smart cameras is fragmented. Leaders include big companies like Panasonic, Sony, JVC and General Electric. But the niche is small enough for companies like Rvision of San Jose, supplier of cameras to CalTrans, to compete. At the heart of the smart cameras are video-processing chips from companies like Texas Instruments in Dallas, National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, Pixim in Mountain View, Equator Technologies in Campbell and Smal Camera Technologies in Cambridge, Mass. Equator designs media-processor chips that security companies use inside cameras that monitor entrances to buildings. The camera detects motion and determines whether two people walk through an open door when only one flashes a security badge over a card reader. If it finds a possible violation, like someone walking the wrong way in an airport corridor, it can flag guards with an alarm. Wide image range Avi Katz, chief executive of Equator, says that security application revenue are generating a substantial portion of the closely held company's revenue, with money coming in from customers like Siemens in Germany, which is installing cameras to monitor smoke, fires and accidents in car tunnels. John O'Donnell, chief technology officer of Equator, notes that cameras need good processing intelligence because cameras need to distinguish between truck exhaust and car fires before they send an alarm to those monitoring cameras. Cameras come with image-processing chips like Equator's as well as sensor chips, which capture the image in digital form. Pixim makes an image sensor that has the benefit of wide dynamic range, or the ability to capture an image whether there are bright or dark spots in the picture. ``Bad guys like to hide in the shadows,'' said Rob Siegel, executive vice president of marketing at Pixim. ``Dynamic range brings out the images in the shadows or those that are obscured by glare of the sun.'' Human error Pixim has deals with a number of camera makers and has a sample networked camera in its lobby. There, employees can log on to a Web site and view the images from the lobby camera so they can see who is visiting them. Capturing good images is one step in improving security. But another is recognizing known criminals based on surveillance photos. A variety of companies like Identix in Minnetonka, Minn., are creating software that can recognize faces and compare them to pictures in law enforcement databases. Ultimately, the problem with smart cameras is the same problem with normal cameras: human beings. Flinchbaugh at Texas Instruments visited Northampton, England, a town that installed cameras all over town to catch known criminals. ``They found that the guards watching the videos didn't do so well at spotting people because they just became hypnotized by watching so long,'' Flinchbaugh said. Contact Dean Takahashi at dtakahashi(a)sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5739

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Re: Cryptome Log...A nice opportunity!
by Bill Stewart 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

At 01:14 PM 01/07/2003 -0600, Some troublemaker Anonymously wrote: >So if someone generated a nice-looking fake log this >would be legally binding in court? Please don't. John has to put up with enough hassles as a result of running a valuable and controversial web site. He doesn't need your, ummm, help.

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Re: Television
by Mike Rosing 08 Jan '03

08 Jan '03

On Wed, 8 Jan 2003, Nomen Nescio wrote: > It's amusing that Mr. May thinks that anyone gives a fuck if he (Mr. May) filters him/her out for whatever reason and considers worthwhile/effective effort to explain that reason at length every time, and yet doesn't consider that similar and far more intensive efforts by the state-directed mass media are as well effective. > > (more at the bottom) [...] That was rude and impolite. But I couldn't stop laughing for quite a while :-) Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike

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