December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Minneapolis radio on Netscape US Version
by roy＠sendai.scytale.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- KCFE has a brief and shallow "Business Report" in the afternoon. Yesterday, one of the items was Netscape's getting permission to make the US version available over the Internet. The bit mentioned a "strengthened method of scrambling data" and also mentioned the Gov't concern that it might be downloaded by terrorist groups. Some good, some bad. - -- Roy M. Silvernail [ ] roy(a)scytale.com PGP Public Key fingerprint = 31 86 EC B9 DB 76 A7 54 13 0B 6A 6B CC 09 18 B6 Key available from pubkey(a)scytale.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMe7JdBvikii9febJAQE28wP/eyvR1jfi5oU4sHwsnro6EwbHMr45Qptb wdX+0CDEtLCZv2eXQt+guWy4jIuEMrvd5obFiTGDJECkQ1aecYNiosQgdyJzqNgb 5xm98V7MlWBWGr7P5Ev4uOsC7mXbPvnPZ2BiCtlG5H+jnv4KKv7fr1ZtSngU+8Xl vDCp8MwQN9Q= =ZVdP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Reverse Engineer
by Jerome Tan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What do you mean by "reverse engineer?" I have heard this word several times especially in the world of hacking, but... can someone tell me what it really meant?

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Cookies etc...
by EVERHART＠Arisia.GCE.Com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On VMS, I have an applique which can be used to control completely what can be opened by apps you don't trust. It is perfectly capable of ensuring that nothing you haven't authorized is opened behind your back, mainly by telling you before the open proceeds what is being tried and giving you the ability to prevent it. Forcing use of some other disk (or scratch area) instead is of course also possible, selectively. The problem of things like cookies being left around without explicit permission (or other covert actions) would seem to be that there is no basis for assuming that the app is doing any of this as the agent of the person running the app. With EACF I can completely control this sort of thing; native out-of-the-box VMS has some facilities for partial control as well, which can be adequate. In doing so, they step outside the normal paradigm of assuming the "subject" is the user. I would contend that the "subject" should in fact be considered much more complex than user ID. At minimum, use of a tuple containing userid, program being run, location of user, privileges present, time of day, and identifiers ("group memberships") would seem to be needed for serious efforts, so that "subject" has some relation to what actually happens. The ability to treat certain actions as dynamically altering security or integrity levels is important too. Apps that leave files on your system without telling you are doing covert functions; these should be treated with great suspicion. So where are the critics of this? Does leaving such files constitute unauthorized computer use? I would say so. Anyone see the marshals coming to Netscape or Microsoft to haul anyone off to jail? Leaving files around would seem to deserve INFORMED consent. Do we get it? If your OS isn't as secure as VMS, maybe you want to think about this. ;-) Glenn Everhart(a)gce.com

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Re: An interesting instance of poltical anonymnity, now
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:56 AM 7/18/96 EDT, you wrote: >Don't feel sorry for Klein - he's a fucking statist who opposes freedom of >speech. If CBS fires the creep for lying, it'll serve him just right. Than they should fire him on that basis (anti-free speech etc), not on the basis of preserving anonymity. //cerridwyn//

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re: Opiated file systems
by EVERHART＠Arisia.GCE.Com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hmm... I can set up a cryptodisk on a not necessarily contiguous file on another cryptodisk; the software is free. The second cryptodisk would appear to be just a binary file on the first; would it not be an obscured filesystem? (The drivers have been given away for years public domain for vms, vax or alpha, in source. My old rsx11d driver was published similarly back in 1977 or 78.) In fact, though, the containing file of a cryptodisk does not have to have any specific name or location, and can be hidden away as though it were, say, a sound file or something else among the rest of the system store. Before someone comes demanding your keys, they first have to realize that something might in fact be encrypted. My approach would be to have lots of these obscured cryptodisks for the stuff I wanted private, if I wanted to hide a lot, and have the usual assortment of cleartext stuff of all sorts lying around. The default operation mode forgets the keys automatically once you log off...or even at dismount. If you're stuck with a whole partition being hidden, this is harder to do. When any file of over a few kb can be a separate filestructure when the proper magic is applied, locating the keys can be impossible. glenn

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Netscrape download
by David Lesher 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[From Phil Karn] Netscape's use of a CGI interface to download the US version (128-bit key) of Netscape Navigator raises the possibility that they are "serializing" or "personalizing" each copy they send out, perhaps in response to a DoS request that they do so in order to trace unauthorized redistribution. One way to test this theory without redistributing the actual code is to compare MD5 hashes of the distributions. After two days of unsuccessful attempts at obtaining the code from their overloaded server, I've just successfully downloaded the SunOS, BSDI and Windows 95 versions of Netscape Navigator. Here are the MD5 hashes of the files I received: BSDI version: 4ec4a705e2e4c6560475852fae807c8c SunOS version: e72ff352ca7c619cb31b8f8ef3651b28 Windows 95 version: 8e936813f12a1b3b77ed03d9239ebd5d Anybody care to compare these to the copies they obtain, assuming the logjam on the server breaks sometime soon? Phil -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz(a)nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close...........(v)301 56 LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead........vr vr vr vr.................20915-1433

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Re: #E-CASH: PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:18 AM 7/17/96, Stig wrote: >Perhaps this has already been voiced on the main list (I get a filtered >helping or two of cypherpunks), but *I'm* surprised that such a generic name >as 'Ecash' was granted trademark status anywhere. > >It's like giving Microsoft a trademark on the term 'Email'... It's nuts! >Was the term ecash not in use before DigiCash showed up on the scene? I agree, but note that Microsoft has gone a long way toward getting the courts to give it full monopoly ownership of the term "windows," or "Windows." I guess that windows-based Symbolics machine I was using in 1984, or those Xerox PARC windows-based D-machine, were violating the standard Microsoft set years later. (I admit that I bought Windows 1.0 about six months before I bought my first Macintosh, but I also note that Windows 1.0 was a ludicrous joke, and did not become a serious product until Windows 3.0 was released in 1990. And Apple had their windows (Windows is a TM of The Microsoft Corporation, all rights reserved) based machine, the Lisa, out in 1982-3.) As for Digicash's claims on "digicash," "ecash," etc., it won't matter much. The whole legal knot (including the patents and claims on the algorithms) makes things more complicated, but I don't worry too much about Digicash claiming people can't use the term "ecash." (If anything, Digicash may have failed to protect the name aggressively enough, and it may have entered the English language as band-aid did.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Alternative Journalism
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:04 PM 7/18/96, enquirer(a)alpha.c2.org wrote: > THE CYPHERPUNK ENQUIRER PRESENTS: > ... >"Don't worry about it. It gets worse before it gets better. Come on, we're >going to a party. Tim May and John Gilmore are throwing a Mad Tea Party." > >"Are they really mad?" > >"May's crazy as a loon. You'll like him. Gilmore, he's just still pissed >at Shimamura for that stunt in the hot tub ... " Ssshhh! Don't let it out that I'm crazy as a loon. BTW, "loon" is now considered to be derogatory slur and has been replaced by the more PC term "differently outlooked." We differently outlooked persons are forbidden by U.S. and California law from owning firearms, a method used increasingly to seize the firearms of those who have ever come into contact with the mental health profession. (Hint: Never, ever, ever, ever have yourself admitted to any kind of psychiatric facility for any reason whatsoever! Never, ever, etc. let a family member have you admitted for treatment, observation, or analysis. You will likely find that your right to own a firearm has evaporated if you do any of these things.) Personally, whenever I fill out the forms to buy a gun, I have no compunctions about lying. (The checking procedures are primitive, fortunately, unless one is so stupid as to answer "Yes" to any of the questions the form asks.) That I am a felon has never stopped me from picking up a gun. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Opiated file systems
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

You had better make sure that you TEMPEST-shield any such hidden drive. Jonathan Wienke "1935 will go down in history! For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead in the future!" --Adolf Hitler "46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. ...Consider the following statement: I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government." --The 29 Palms Combat Arms Survey http://www.ksfo560.com/Personalities/Palms.htm 1935 Germany = 1996 U.S.? Key fingerprint = 30 F9 85 7F D2 75 4B C6 BC 79 87 3D 99 21 50 CB

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Remailers & NYMs
by kpdarby＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone know some good PGP encrypted remailers, that are secure and pretty fast? How about a few good NYMs? KPD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" --Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: #E-CASH: PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
by mccoy＠communities.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lucky wrote: > At 20:19 7/16/96, Stig wrote: [regarding the "Ecash" trademark...] > >It's like giving Microsoft a trademark on the term 'Email'... It's nuts! > >Was the term ecash not in use before DigiCash showed up on the scene? > > No that I am aware of. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, DigiCash's > Ecash is the only ecash that I am aware of. The other "ecashs" lack various > properties of cash, as previously explained by Bryce. Digicash's ecash lacks various properties of real cash from the users point of view (offline transferability, large scale acceptance, etc.) and a great many from the issuers perspective (too many to list...), but we still seem to want to call it electronic cash when it isn't. It may be "Ecash" but it sure ain't digital cash... jim

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Re: New Infowarfare Panel
by nobody＠zifi.genetics.utah.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

David Sternlight wrote: <snip> >I'm talking about some of the information that started slowly leaking out >later, not the prime-time TV pyrotechnics. It doesn't "slowly leak out" as if there were some regrettable lapse in the plumbing. Someone has to commit the federal crime of military espionage! <snicker>

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Re: ABC News on internet telephony
by john (j.) brothers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In message "ABC News on internet telephony", you write: > > General topic of internet telephony > There's something fundamental going on here beneath the surface. > Surprisingly, a recent item (maybe the one you reported) on this suggests > that the big phone companies are trying to use this phenomenon rather than > stop it. I think it was AT&T Sprint has also come out in favor of the internet phone. > This is the rankest speculation on my part, but could some of the bigger, > smarter phone company cum internet providers have done some serious > analysis and concluded that we're moving away from distance-based rates for > voice calls. I will weigh in with my own stinky speculation: Sprint, MCI and AT&T (and possibly LDDS) own pretty much the entire commercial network physically. Every other long distance company leases lines from the big 3 (or 4,etc) and resells them, except for certain very specific points. And the Internet phone has pretty much given them the chance to drive their competitors out of business if it succeeds. After all, there is a constant demand for internet bandwidth. Every T3 they pull out of long distance services is a T3 they can throw into data services. It gives them a real cost savings compared to installing another high bandwidth backbone. They'll lose money from their customers who switch too, but those three are the ones with the lion's share of business lines, which won't be switching to Inet phone anytime soon. and they gain all the business customers who leave the dying small companies. And yes, fixed rate will be the way to go, especially for small bandwidth applications. Bandwidth is exploding - 1 Terabit optical networks have been created. A single phone line becomes miniscule. Now, if you want a much bigger pipe, they might charge you per hour for that. The thing I find second most interesting about this is how the large companies are fighting regulation, while the small ones are demanding it. That is a big change from yesteryear. And I know that AT&T has benefitted in a major way from gov't regulation in the past, but that doesn't make it right for it to be applied now.

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids [Noise]
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I personally keep a Desert Eagle .44 Magnum (66 oz empty, 8+1 capacity, semi-auto,) with +P+ 240 grain FMJSP hunting loads. It's not just a gun, it's an adventure. :) Even if it doesn't penetrate body armor, the impact will knock anyone entering entering through your window at 0400 on their duff long enough for a follow-up shot or two to finish the job. This is in addition to a 12-gage pump shotgun and an M-1 carbine. Jonathan Wienke "1935 will go down in history! For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead in the future!" --Adolf Hitler "46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. ...Consider the following statement: I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government." --The 29 Palms Combat Arms Survey http://www.ksfo560.com/Personalities/Palms.htm 1935 Germany = 1996 U.S.? Key fingerprint = 30 F9 85 7F D2 75 4B C6 BC 79 87 3D 99 21 50 CB

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Vinnie Moscaritolo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim, I understand you are pissed about what's going on in society but this really isnt a great strategy; >Personally, I think all folks should be armed at all times in their homes. >Those who aren't are taking their chances. doesn't this make you a prisoner of sorts... it is not healthy to go through long periods of time in orange alert. this might sound macho but it's impracticle. > My personal choice is a Heckler >& Koch USP .45. loaded with Federal Golden Sabres, a hollowpoint round that >has a 92% one-shot stop rate, with adequate penetration through Kevlar >vests (typically worn by BATF raiders). >Fortunately, though KTW ammo is no longer available to "marks" (= >civilians), .45 ACP +P does a pretty good job. Certain +P .357 Magnum >rounds are even better penetrators, but recoil and muzzle blast is pretty >severe with these loads.) Your choice of weapon is admirable, but I would suggest that something more akin to Glaser safety slugs, SW.40 or .45 would be better. with proper training you can perform an upward stitch, legs first. the point is the Glaser won't pentrate the walls and nail your neighbors. The +P penetration is way to strong and most likely to pass through. A scatergun is generaly a better weapon for home defense. there is something about looking down a 12 guage that changes your mind, Ninja suit or not. Besides this kind of strategy is better used on gangsta types. >I may die, but I hope I can take at least two of them with me. pretty dumb attitude, I would also profess that One Live Tim May, even in Jail is worth more to the protection of freedom than one martyred nekid hippy. getting into a gunfight with an entry team that has had much more practice than you can only lead to one conclusion, really the only protection from these Ninja's is through some form of covenant community. All joking aside that what Bo Gritz was really trying to do in Idaho, build a place where your neighbor watches each others back. It doesnt mater whether your agree with his politics or not, the point is he has an workable idea, Now couple that with redundant instant communication..the kind that is hard to jam. hmm imagine what Waco would have been like if the Branch Davidians: 1) were not morons. 2) knew how to use the news media 3) had redundant, spread spectrum, satilite, and underground comms into the net. This equals instant net coverage, to rival CNN. It makes for a hard target.Armed with your Militia-Mailer(tm) the strong crypto edition and live video, these folks would never consider getting near you. In some ways we already have one now, there are quite a few Cypher-punks out there, and it's pretty easy to get the word out. Historicaly folks like BATF prefer softer targets, they are safer. Ever wonder why doesnt the Reno squad hit the crack houses..well thats kind of dangerous, these folks know what they are doing and the cost to raid them can be very expensive in lives. And what do you get when your done, another well payed judge simply lets em out again.. It's also clear that there is another manufactured arms race going on, this time instead of Communism it's the "war on some drugs" It is costing us an incredable amount of tax dollars, it fucks with our freedoms, and produces limited results. This war also has the side-effect of producing a general feeling of disenfrancisement among the very citizens it is designed to protect. Folks like Her Klinton, piss off the the American people, when on one hand they spout rhetoric about how drugs are bad, and on the other hand condone them. Fighting back through firepower is unlikely to acheive the goal you want, It endangers innocent (if there are any left) folks and leaves you looking like a HCI poster child. I can see it now, "Crazed Naked Hippy Dies in battle with Federal Officers, linked to ITAR regulated Munitions factory". A better approach is to disarm and expose these bozos for what they are, and for christ sakes get out there and VOTE... dammit... and get your friends to VOTE.. But what do I know.. I just play a lawyer in Bob's rants.. Vinnie Moscaritolo "Law - Samoan Style" http://www.vmeng.com/vinnie/ Fingerprint: 4FA3298150E404F2782501876EA2146A

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MSNBC and cookies
by Joel McNamara 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In attempting to check out different Net media coverage of TWA 800, it appears the msnbc.com site won't let you in without a cookie. Repeated cookie cancels with Navigator 3.0 drop you into an indigestive loop of the server continuing to try to force feed you cookies. When you finally click OK, you get in. Am I spacing, or is this the first site anyone's stumbled on that requires a cookie for access? I've never been shut out of a site for canceling a cookie. The first cookie request does have a user ID field. If the server (or client) isn't misbehaving, this seems like a wee bit of a privacy issue. I tried accessing the page (http://www.msnbc.com) on 7/18/96 around 9:15 PM PDT. Anyone care to confirm this. Joel

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Filtering out Queers is OK
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:29 PM 7/18/96, Cerridwyn Llewyellyn wrote: >I am not saying that a private entity doesn't or shouldn't have the Legal >Right to censor, but I am saying that censorship of any form by any >entity is a Bad Thing and the public (not the government, mind) should >fight it on all fronts. This, in my mind, is the only reason to be >dismayed by the decision on the CDA. It was found that the government >shouldn't censor on the Internet because there were forms of Corporate >censorship available. It would have truely been a great day if the >decision had been that the government shouldn't censor on the Internet >because censorship is wrong. Filtering is not "wrong," Cerridwyn, it is a rational response to garbage being spewed constantly. I filter lots of items. I read "Scientific American" and "The Economist" because they filter (or "censor," in the sense some are objecting to here) nonsense about "queer rights" and "peircing fashions," to name but a few things I have no interest in hearing about. If I had kids, I'd make sure that lots of negative memes were kept away from them until they reached an age where it no longer mattered, where there views are already basically set. I see nothing wrong in this. Anyone who disagrees is, of course, free to set his filters differently, but not to insist that my filters be changed. And the government is not free to pass any laws about what filter sites can and can't do. Unfortunately, I think many on this list are so taken by "liberalistic" notions that they think the State needs to intervene to stop me from filtering my son's access to "The Joys of Queer Sex." (As a libertarian, I really don't care what sexual practices others practice, so long as I am not forced to either fund or witness their practices. And so long as I am free to filter out their practices as I see fit, including for my minor children and/or members of my household.) >That is another problem, not the Real Problem. The Real Problem is that >parents are scared to have to explain to children why something they've >seen is wrong or bad. They are afraid to teach their children their >beliefs and values, so instead would rather just filter everything that >conflicts with those beliefs, so that they believe it by default. This is Some parents simply get tired of spending time each night trying to undo the propaganda taught in many public school, such as books like "I Have Two Mommies." Many of these parents eventually give up and put their kids in religious or private schools (even though they continue to pay taxes for schools their own children are no longer using). Queers are, as far as I'm concerned, perfectly free to practice their AIDS-spreading practices to any and all receptive anuses they can find, but I eschew this lifestyle and will fight to the death for this right to avoid their practices from being forced on me or my children (if I had any, which I don't). I think of AIDS as "evolution in action." Retroviruses which have existed for millenia now find new vectors for spreading in our population. I cry no tears for those dying of AIDS, and work to reduce to tax dollars spent on such things as "AIDS research." Let those who introduced the new vector pay for the research. What do you call ten million AIDS deaths? You figure it out. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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********Apology**********
by Charles Senescall 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To the dozens of people subject to a careless error on my part and who would have received bounced mail from me I apologise. I have fixed the error. Sorry.

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy C. May wrote: > I wonder when and how raids in the U.S. moved from the "Come out with your > hands up" verbal announcement (for the cases that needed more than a knock > on the door) to this blast-in-the-doors approach, where the raiders are > dressed in "tactical black" and are wearing black Nomex hoods and carrying > MP-5s and blast any "perp" who looks at them cross-eyed? If people decide that they are going to permit widespread ownership of guns then these tactics are inevitable. They are rare in the UK because gun ownership is relatively rare. I find this type of talk typical wishy washy libertarian twaddle. There are dangerous people arround besides the government and the government is the only agency that is going to protect society from them. If you don't like living in a country where the police are armed to the teeth then move to the UK where there are very few armed police. Of course you will find that the price of freedom of mind is a minor restriction on your personal freedom, you won't be allowed a weapon either but that is the tradeoff. If you want to own guns then you should accept the fact that you risk having your head blown off in the middle of the night by a SWAT team. Just as the car has introduced the risk of being killed in a trafic accident the gun has introduced new risks. If society dosen't like the risks then it can opt to ban the technology. If you want to own a gun because you have some kind of personality problem and you need to prop up your ego then Phill

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No Subject
by anonymous-remailer＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello! Sorry for the off topic. I want to ask how to install Netscape3.0b5a under NT. I keep getting "Netscape is unable to locate the server: home.netscape.com. The server does not have a DNS entry." Thanks

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Periodic Mix-to-DOS Port Inquiry
by kdf＠gigo.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(Please reply via netmail - I haven't regular list access.) Is Mixmaster ported to DOS yet? Thanks... -- : Fidonet: John Erland 1:203/8055.12 .. speaking for only myself. : Internet: kdf(a)gigo.com

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SANDY SANDFORT > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >Nope, not true. Say what you will about California, but the one >thing it did right was pass a law that said anyone found in your >house at night is presumptively a threat to which you may respond >with deadly force. Shoot on sight, in other words. I find it hard to believe "anyone". If "anyone" happens to be law enforcement, as has been proven again and again: yer screwed no matter what (either dead or in jail forever). //cerridwyn//

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Re: MSNBC and cookies
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:25 AM 7/19/96, Joel McNamara wrote: >In attempting to check out different Net media coverage of TWA 800, it >appears the msnbc.com site won't let you in without a cookie. Repeated >cookie cancels with Navigator 3.0 drop you into an indigestive loop of the >server continuing to try to force feed you cookies. When you finally click >OK, you get in. > >Am I spacing, or is this the first site anyone's stumbled on that requires a >cookie for access? I've never been shut out of a site for canceling a >cookie. The first cookie request does have a user ID field. If the server >(or client) isn't misbehaving, this seems like a wee bit of a privacy issue. > >I tried accessing the page (http://www.msnbc.com) on 7/18/96 around 9:15 PM >PDT. Anyone care to confirm this. Microsoft and GE, the parent corporation of NBC, are participants in the FBI's "Web Awareness Program." Like the FBI's "Library Awareness Program," which tracked which books were being checked out by which patrons, the Web Awareness Program tracks user interests at Web sites. The WAP has already allowed the FBI and other intelligence agencies to check up on several people who appeared to have an unusual interest in the TWA 800 case. (Don't spend too much time in certain sites, friends.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:27 AM 7/19/96, Igor Chudov @ home wrote: >Sandy Sandfort wrote: >> >> > If you had a metal door, you would have enough time to wake up >> > and assess the situation. >> >> This is good advice though. Ironically, the only person I know >> with such a door is an ex-cop. Who should know better? > >That was the essense of my letter. The problem of Tim's approach is that >he has no time to react to a situation. The intruders will kill him >faster than he will be able to shoot. Look, I took this discussion to private e-mail with Igor earlier today, figuring the rest of you had already gotten my basic point in my main article and did not need further explanations. However, as Igor is imputing motives and plans to me, I have to comment. First, as I explained to Igor in e-mail, my home has _multiple_ (7 or 8) windows on the ground floor, several (3) sliding glass doors, and a couple of outside doors. The expense of fortifying each to Igor-recommended, Ninja-resistant levels would be quite high. (And I have seen houses with bars on all the windows...not a pretty sight, and not something I moved to my hill to turn around and imprison myself with. Not only are such bars ugly, they are expensive. And a potential fire hazard, as several cases have shown; people have been trapped in burning homes, unable to unlock the bars.) Second, and in line with Sandy's comments, I am quite aware--and quite careful--when visitors or guests are staying in my home. The scenario of my not realizing a noisemaker is one of my guests is implausible. In any case, most of the time I have no guests. Those who train with guns understand the dangers, the risks, and the proper handling of situations. Third, there are no plausible scenarios for "someone peaceful who entered your home with good intentions." If someone is in my home, uninvited and without my knowledge, the law in California and in most other states says that I am justified in firing. Period. I don't have to read him his rights, I don't have to ask if his intentions are peaceful, I don't have to have proof that he plans to shoot me. All I have to have is reasonable fear that I or my family/guests could be in danger. (The exact legal wording is something like this, but may be slightly different.) I know of few if any cases where a prowler was shot in a darkened house--or even during daylight--and any successful prosecution or lawsuit resulted. Fourth, the huge increase in "home invasions" in recent years should cause anyone to stop and ponder self-protection. ("Home invasion" is the practice of a gang of robbers hitting a house hard and fast, tying up or shooting the occupants, and then ransacking the place for anything they can carry. Often the occupants are shot execution-style.) Cops are not likely to be of much help. Fifth, when intruders, robbers, wandering drunks, and home invaders think there is no chance of a homeowner defending himself, crime rates tend to be high. In communities of the West where large percentages of homeowners have shotguns and assorted handguns, the crime rate appears to be much lower than in "disarmed" places back East. (We could argue the statistics on this til the cows come home, and I don't plan to. Talk.politics.guns is the place.) >Also, do not forget that if you sleep at night, your eyes will not be >used to bright light. Thus, an intruder with a bright flashlight would >be able to make you almost blind (and yes, you can keep the flashlight >away from your body). Your point being? I have no idea if intruders are planning to use flashlights to blind victims, but I rather doubt it. The nature of the most common intruder-defender situation is that the intruder typically does not want to awaken the defender...indeed, he tries to strike when he thinks the defender is away. (And most cases of intruders killing the defenders is when the defenders surprise the intruders.) Obviously there are all kinds of scenarios, but I'm skeptical that flashlights are a useful strategem for either side to count on. (I am thinking about getting a ultra-bright flashlight, though.) >I of course have no idea about Tim's accommodations, but in my apartment >it takes about one second to break into my door if you have a heavy axe. >Then three seconds after you break into the door you are in my bedroom and >can shoot at me. Would a gun under my pillow help? I don't think so. The good news for we defenders, and this applies to both the gun case and the hypothesized "flashlight" case is that most intruders are poorly trained in gun-handling, are armed with fairly wimpy guns (e.g., .38s), have practiced very little, and rarely carry high-power flashlights (such as the extremely bright "Sure-Fire" tactical flashlights). Cops are, of course, another story. The point being that a citizen who practices at the range, firing at least 500 rounds a year or so at combat-range targets, is usually _much_ better-prepared to win a firefight with a street punk carrying a .38 or .25 he's never fired before. (Ninjas are another story, of course.) (However, to a person who is unarmed, a shot from a .38 or a .25, or even a .22, can result in death.) >Now if I had a good door, I would have tim to wake up, cock the gun, >maybe call for help, and so on. Quite a different situation. Yeah, fine, you've now made your "good door" point several times, here and in private mail to me. So get a "good door" already! (BTW, my door is a solid-core heavy door, with Schlage lock and deadbolt, so it ain't wimpy. Ninjas have special tools to zap even such doors, but, frankly, I'd expect them to come in through the windows. As I said, I don't plan to spend thousands of dollars installing Lexan windows and bars, for various reasons. And windows are almost always the point of entry for burglars, not crashing through the front door.) >If you do not believe me, refer to the rec.guns FAQ. It has all >been discussed there. Puh-leese! As Perry would say, don't teach Grandpa how to suck eggs. I've been shooting since 1974 (not counting childhood target practice) and am pretty well-versed in such things. >I am not asking Tim to get rid of his gun -- I am merely suggesting >how to _improve_ security. Yeah, but you have a one-track mind ("get a good door"). And bringing in all the nonsense about bad dreams and sleepwalkers and lawsuits by people strolling through living rooms for "peaceful purposes" (though not invited by the owner!) and the like...this set of nonsense can only be interpreted in the context of your thinking that having guns in a house is dangerous. Do as you wish, Igor. Please, by all means, replace your apartment door with a heavier one, even a steel-core one. But don't conflate this advice with nonsense about dreams, sleepwalkers, getting arrested for defending a home, and suchlike. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: New Infowarfare Panel
by Llywarch Hen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I'm certainly not saying "information warfare" is impossible--for example, >I did some work in the late 70s for DARPA on knocking out satellites with >particle beam weapons. Specifically ... There is an interesting document at http://www.rand.org/publications/electronic/. _Strategic Information Warfare: A New Face of War_, by Roger C. Molander, Andrew S. Riddile, and Peter A. Wilson. -- Llywarch Hen

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