December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: ALL OF YOU ARE CRIMINAL HACKERS, I AM GOING TO CALL FBI
by Blake Wehlage 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:33 PM 7/26/96 -0700, anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com wrote: >I AM NOT GOING TO TOLERATE EXISTENCE OF A MEDIUM FOR CRIMINAL HACKERS >AND MUNITIONS SMUGGLERS. I WILL COMPLAIN TO THE FBI IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THEY >CAN TRACK YOU DOWN AND CLOSE THIS LIST. > I find this rather comical. I think I'll add this to my web-site. Maybe then the FBI will close it down. :-) ========================================== Blake Wehlage <jwilk(a)iglou.com> ±» RëVðLû¡ØÑ Bø+ ©ÖmP@ñ¥ «± Goto: http://members.iglou.com/jwilk

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Re: HACKER REPORT
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Just saw part I of a two-part series on "hackers" being broadcast >by a local San Francisco TV station. Nothing horrible, in my >opinion. The adroitly sidestepped the hacker/cracker distinction >by saying the "hacker" has come to mean..." and then gave the >negative, intrusive definition. Did somebody record this, and if so, could I send you a tape so you can copy it for me? Thanks... //cerridwyn//

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EFFector Online 09.09: Mo
by pjn＠nworks.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In> "The Singapore government isn't interested in controlling information, In> but wants a gradual phase-in of services to protect ourselves. It's In> not to control, but to protect the citizens of Singapore. In our In> society, you can state your views, but they have to be correct." In> - Ernie Hai, coordinator of the Singapore Government Internet This was in the latest Effector Online... P.J. pjn(a)nworks.com ... Answers: $1, Short: $5, Correct: $25, dumb looks are still free. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]

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Re: Distributed DES crack
by pjn＠nworks.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In> Has anyone thought of asking RSA, etc, for help? If DES falls (so to In> speak) it yould make thare product more desirable. Hmmm... Damn good idea. P.J. pjn(a)nworks.com ... Captian's log, stardate 25970-point-5. I am nailed to the hull. ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]

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One of the biggest proble
by pjn＠nworks.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In> What our biggest problem is, is that people want the What our biggest problem is is people like you. And that is a hell of a rant for a person with too few balls to use a "normal" E-Mail acct. P.J. pjn(a)nworks.com ... Can not read right brain: <A>bort <R>etry <F>rolic ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]

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Re: Why the world needs privay protecting Ecash
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:20 PM 7/27/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >Who said it had to be in one day? I didn't. Most vacations to Europe last a >couple of weeks, e.g., "If this is Tuesday, I need to make a withdrawal in >Milano." The original definition of multiple transactions (structuring) said the transactions had to occur within one day. There is now a separate rule that says that the bank has to report *any* suspicious transactions even if they don't fall under specific regulations. Keep the population guessing as to what's reportable. >I think a lot of ATMs will now dispense big chunks of cash--I've never >checked on limits, but I notice that some CRT screens now have chunks up to >$600 or so listed. New York money center banks allow $1000 a day or so. Credit cards (which are also bank accounts although most don't think of them as such) let more get out and one can always over pay one's credit card to get a credit balance of any amount. They take the money. Usually in those cases, you can withdraw the credit limit each day and then when the account settles overnight it draws down the credit balance you've built up and your available credit is back. Some may do this "live" one would have to experiment. ATM and credit cards may also have different limits for point-of-sale transactions than for cash withdrawals. >Thanks. Still not sure if it applies, but I'd forgotten that it's up to the >banks to do the reports; good to know it's not up to me. You have to report taking cash (currency or monetary instruments) into or out of the country but you don't have to rat on yourself for cash transactions with a bank here. DCF

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Re: The Four Horsemen Go to the Olympics!
by Charley Sparks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ANybody got a big timer I can run at boot up ?? PC and MAC ? I travel a lot ! On Sat, 27 Jul 1996 01:43:11 -0700 Bill Stewart <stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com> wrote: > At 11:15 PM 7/26/96 -0700, Alan Olsen <alano(a)teleport.com> wrote: > >Well, there was an explosion at the Olympics... It may have been a bomb or > >it may have been a transformer. > >Expect this to be used as fuel as to why every one in America must be under > >constant survelance by the Government. > >The Four Horsemen are now an Olympic Event! > > Yeah, it's been a wild week. There was also an airplane hijacking > today, which ended peacefully. The hijacker had a laptop wrapped > in tinfoil he was claiming was a bomb.* And of course Clinton's > first speeches after the TWA crash were "we don't have any evidence > of terrorism yet but you'll all have to give up your civil liberties > so we can do a better job of protecting you." > > ---- > *Penn Jillette proposed that a good boot-up program for laptops > and PDAs is one that displays a big timer counting backwards, > for use in airports that want to see that you've got a real laptop. > > # Thanks; Bill > # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com > # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> > # Dispel Authority! > ---------------------- Charley Sparks sparks(a)bah.com

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Re: ALL OF YOU ARE CRIMINAL HACKERS, I AM GOING TO CALL FBI
by Scott Schryvers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:33 PM 7/26/96 -0700, you wrote: >I AM NOT GOING TO TOLERATE EXISTENCE OF A MEDIUM FOR CRIMINAL HACKERS >AND MUNITIONS SMUGGLERS. I WILL COMPLAIN TO THE FBI IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THEY >CAN TRACK YOU DOWN AND CLOSE THIS LIST. > I'm not. Yet.

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[NOISE] Nerds, Dykes, Niggers, Dweebs, Fags, Bimbos, and Geeks
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 27 Jul 96 at 4:49, and entity caling itself Timothy C. May wrote: [..] > Look, anyone is perfectly free to wear t-shirts espousing "Wimp Pride" and > saying "We're gimps, we're wimps, we're dweebs, and we're PROUD!" > > I just cringe when I meet young programmers at Cypherpunks who mumble "I'm > just a computer geek." Fine, I write them off as geeks. [..] > As for what people ought to call themselves, e.g., when journalists ask > what they are. just what is wrong with "engineer," "programmer," > "scientist," and "cryptographer"? I prefer reclaiming far more ancient terms. "Journeyman programmer" gets more attention than "Consultant" and actually describes something. 'nuff said. --Rob --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Re: The Four Horsemen Go to the Olympics!
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:43 AM 7/27/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote: >Yeah, it's been a wild week. There was also an airplane hijacking >today, which ended peacefully. The "funny" part of it, for those who remember the spate of hijackings in the early 70's, is that he hijacked a Cuba-bound airliner...to Miami! Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Lynx...
by Charley Sparks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have had it with all the cutsie moving graphics and Java intrusions on my feeble 28.8 connection. Can someone PLEASE tell me where I can get a copy of Lynx or similar text based browser for '95 and / or NT ? Thanks folks Charley -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCWAwUBMfo2quJ+JZd/Y4yVAQFPkAQIyBl+XmSRoJUlpDbof8FGNi4TGexivaux ZPPiyuCflseiw53077xP4FsF8Q1v5SgDe/87OCCDiG3XrWqOyRhah5IRmDw+3S2L brxbTc/oqwkCddAGglF08OGOIGHa8iK0x2KhRVZPStRopNbHgVIJiDJzcSFOeFLY mpj0jKto1s7+ =qxPe -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Charles E. Sparks<sparks(a)bah.com> In God we trust, all others we encrypt ! http:/www.clark.net/pub/charley/index.htm Public Key At http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/cp_1.htm

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Public vs. Private Munitions
by Erle Greer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here's how I understand it: The U.S. Government, concerned only with making America a safer place for us taxpayers to live in, wants to regulate domestic encryption in order to have access to the content of all transmissions. Their theory is that any cryptosystem that is stronger than their cryptanalysis systems can be used in illegal transmissions and should be considered munitions. Theoretically, the government should only be have the resources to control commercially-available, public encryption systems. Who is to stop anyone from designing their own cryptosystem for personal use? If the government intercepted a transmission from this private cryptosystem, and could not decrypt it, would they assume that it must be considered munitions? Similarly, anyone could send uniformly-formatted random garble that could also be considered munitions, or at least waste the governments processing time. Why are we so worried about government regulation? Can't we just devise our own cryptosystems and just don't sell them or make them publicly available? vagab0nd(a)sd.cybernex.net http://ww2.sd.cybernex.net/~vagab0nd/index.html Visit web page for public key.

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Publicly Verifiable Anonymous Voting System
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[Begin Rant] As I write this, I am listening to the news coverage of the bombing in Centennial Park. The ABC news reports are already linking the suspected Georgia Militia members accused of plotting to use pipe bombs at the Olympic Games. Just like OKC, the militia-gun owner-right-wing extremist smear is gearing up before the blood has a chance to dry. On the other hand, the govt seems to be awfully reluctant to admit the obvious about TWA 800... [End Rant] Here is the how the voting system works. 1. All voting information (public keys, ballots, ballot signatures, etc.) is publicly available via a Web site or other similar means, and can be downloaded in its entirety by anyone who cares to take the trouble to do so. The software (and source code) used to generate ballots should be publicly available as well. 2. When someone registers to vote, they submit a RSA public key to a registered voter key database. The public key database does not contain voter information; only keys. Access to the key entry terminals is controlled, so that only registered voters can submit keys. A receipt is given to the voter with a hash of the key printed on it (PGP fingerprint style), the key entry clerk's name, a receipt serial number, etc., so the voter can verify the correct key was put in the system, and who to shoot if it wasn't. 3. On election day, each voter submits a ballot signed with their private key. The ballot contains the fingerprint of the voter's public key, the voter's choices, (preferably in a standardized ASCII format) and the digital signature. The ballot goes into the vote database regardless of whether it is valid or not. The voter receives a printed receipt confirming that the ballot was entered in the database, with a hash of the entire ballot (headers, signature, and all), receipt serial number, etc. 4. After the election, each voter can verify whether their public key and ballot are in the database, and see whether their vote is deemed valid or not (if the signature on the ballot can be verified by a key in the key database). If there are any discrepancies, the voter has the public key, the ballot, and the receipts to prove that his vote should be counted. 5. Since the key/vote databases are not connected to individuals, no one can connect votes to voters unless cheating occurs during the registration process. If there is fraud or other errors, the key/ballot/receipt combo is all that is necessary to prove the error--no identification of the bearer is required. 6. Keys in the system should expire every few years. Any comments / constructive criticisms welcome. 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: HACKER REPORT
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Sat, 27 Jul 1996, Sandy Sandfort <sandfort(a)crl.com> wrote: [snip] >On Sat, 27 Jul 1996, Rich Graves wrote: > >> On Fri, 26 Jul 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote: >> >> > At the end, Pete Wilson (the TV guy, not the governor) said >> > something like, "Hackers tells us that the problem may be >> > overblown. Most people--and this includes most hackers-- >> >> Really? Hackers are people? > >MOST hackers. [snip] The rest, of course, are chupa-cabras, yeti, descendants of the Roswell crash survivors, and ATF agents... Jonathan Wienke

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Re: Fireworks expected, missed at Senate crypto hearing
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>more about terrorists. And Sen. Slate Gorton (R-Wash) jumped on the >>committee staff for leaning too far *away* from national security interests >>in their summary of the legislation. > >What does that mean? As opposed to what? (Gorton's my Senator, and I'm >going to give a little feedback to his local office...) (If you have Real-Audio capability, you can listen to the hearings at www.hotwired.com/wiredside) Basically he expressed his disappointment at the committee for having a biased view and having minds that were already made up regarding the issue, and he said he was beginning to lean towards the bill, but the attitude of the committee just might make him vote against it. He's my senator too and believe me he got some feedback! =) //cerridwyn//

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Vote early, vote often
by Martin Minow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've uploaded my entry in the "Big Java Applet" contest. The best way to locate it (your vote counts) is to point Netscape to http://www.jade.org:8001/jade/show_entries?inCat=Global_Community The best way to view it from a Macintosh is to point the Sun Applet viewer to http://www.vmeng.com/pub/minow/SunClock.html Although you can also use NetScape 3.0b5 to view it, this release seems to have drawing problems on the Macintosh. I haven't tried other browsers. Your comments and improvements are welcome. There is very little Cypherpunks relevance, although "phase of the moon" may be a useful number to mix into a random number generator. (The source is available from the website.) Martin.

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Re: Fireworks expected, missed at Senate crypto hearing
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:44 AM 7/27/96 -0700, Cerridwyn Llewyellyn wrote: > >>>more about terrorists. And Sen. Slate Gorton (R-Wash) jumped on the >>>committee staff for leaning too far *away* from national security interests >>>in their summary of the legislation. >> >>What does that mean? As opposed to what? (Gorton's my Senator, and I'm >>going to give a little feedback to his local office...) > >(If you have Real-Audio capability, you can listen to the hearings at >www.hotwired.com/wiredside) >Basically he expressed his disappointment at the committee for having a >biased view and having minds that were already made up regarding the issue, >and he said he was beginning to lean towards the bill, but the attitude of >the committee just might make him vote against it. >He's my senator too and believe me he got some feedback! =) I would not trust Slade Gordon as far as I can shoot him with a tree shreader. Gordon was the CO-SPONSOR of the CDA. Exon got all the press, but Gordon was just as responsible. (Maybe the netfolk ought to make that fact well known when he comes up for re-election. Hint! Hint!) Where issues of freedom are involved, I doubt if he is on our side. --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "Microsoft -- Nothing but NT promises."

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Re: Olympic bombing
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:41 PM 7/27/96 +0200, Mike van der Merwe wrote: > >Hi all > >I can just see the FBI screaming "we need weaker encryption to combat >terrosism on US soil" with nasty effects -- it seems all to many people, >lawmakers included, will be only to happy to sacrifice their privacy that >the FBI can better combat these terrorist acts (which could *of course* >could been prevented had only the FBI been able to read their encrypted >mail...) > >Somehow I got the feeling watching CNN that the FBI was given a shitload >of ammo. Call me cynical but the Reichstag fire comes to mind... > >Later >Mike This was on another list. It expresses my sentiments quite well. >Received: from ez0.ezlink.com (lneil(a)ez0.ezlink.com [199.45.150.1]) by bud.indirect.com (8.7.4/8.6.6) with SMTP id UAA15498; Fri, 26 Jul 1996 20:36:06 -0700 (MST) >Received: by ez0.ezlink.com id AA20227 > (5.67b/IDA-1.5); Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:36:25 -0600 >Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:36:25 -0600 >From: "L. Neil Smith" <lneil(a)ez0.ezlink.com> >Message-Id: <199607270336.AA20227(a)ez0.ezlink.com> >To: mongoose(a)indirect.com >Subject: TWA 800 and Atlanta >Cc: tompkins(a)indirect.com > >TWA 800 AND THE POLICE STATE OF GEORGIA > >By L. Neil Smith <lneil(a)ezlink.com> > >Special to _The Libertarian Enterprise_ > > I've been sitting around all week, watching the Olympics whether I >like it or not, because my wife and daughter want to watch them, and I >can deny them nothing. > > In between undeniably dramatic moments -- astonishingly courageous >little girls "playing hurt", as if they were major-league football >players -- I've been treated to story after story of how, due to the >efforts of thousands of uniformed professional paranoids, Georgia, USA >is coming to resemble _Soviet_ Georgia. The sight of _hundreds_ of >trailers moved in to house these security "troops" is demoralizing in >and of itself to anyone with a regard for a free society. > > At the same time, I've been a TV witness to the tragedy of TWA >Flight 800 and an ignoble struggle by network fear-vampires to wring >the story of its last delectable drop -- "It was a bomb!" "It was a >missile!" "It was a bomb!" "It was a missile!" -- the whole thing >beginning to sound like a macabre Certs commercial. > > Over it all hung the spectre of international terrorism, and the >swollen, corrupt, bulbous-nosed, droopy-jowled visage of a politician >(no "New Democrat" as it turns out, but just another damned fascist) >grimly determined -- exactly like Richard Milhous "Guns are an >Abomination" Nixon before him -- to be the last democratically elected >President of the United States: William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. > > Clinton -- aided by his vile minions, the national "news" media -- >went into raptures of ecstasy, listing all the ways that the freedom >of Americans would have to be curtailed (Clinton has spoken of this >before; it's a favorite theme of his) due to the heinous act he >transparently hoped had been committed against TWA 800. > > Afterward, the round-heeled sprayheads obligingly searched out the >usual street-cretins to rubberstamp Our Glorious Leader's latest Five >Minute Plan, and add that they wouldn't mind at all paying extra for >the "service" of having their inalienable rights violated even worse >-- within the increasingly Bulgarian-style compounds American airports >have become -- than they're being violated now. > > But there's a simpler, more effective way to prevent the criminal >acts generally labelled "terrorism" that Clinton and his idiot-box >doxies don't want anyone to know about. Behind virtually every >terrorist attack we've ever seen or suffered, it's relatively easy to >discover vicious and repeated acts of aggression against innocent >individuals by the state. > > Preceeding the highly-publicized excesses of the Irish Republican >Army, for example, we find 850 years of violent occupation by an >exceptionally brutal foreign power that's managed to con the world >into believing that it's civilized. > > Half a hundred years of Middle Eastern terror arise directly from >the fact that, instead of coming to America -- the appropriate refuge >for "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" -- either before or >after World War II, European Jews decided to take somebody else's land >away, and treat their victims the same way they themselves were >treated by the Nazis. (In fairness, at least before the war, would-be >refugees from Hitler's terroristic state weren't given much choice, at >least not by the American Medical Association, the American Bar >Association, and the Roosevelt Administration, all of whom worked >overtime, keeping out imported professional competition.) > > Similarly, there would never have been an Oklahoma City had there >never been a Ruby Ridge or Waco. If Clinton had any real interest in >reducing the threat of "domestic terrorism" (he most assuredly does >not: terrorism, like war before it, has become "the health of the >state") instead of ratcheting government controls tighter around the >necks of 250 million Americans who've done nothing wrong, he'd >immediately arrest, try, convict, and punish all of those responsible >for Ruby Ridge and Waco, abolish the outlaw agencies in whose names >they were perpetrated, and repeal or nullify the unconstitutional laws >which provided them their justification. > > The trouble is, he'd have to arrest, try, convict, and punish >_himself_. > > Oh, yeah, the plan: the best-kept "secret" of our overly- >governmentalized age is that terrorism almost invariably >_reactionary_; simply stop doing things -- things you shouldn't be >doing anyway -- that cause terrorists to attack you and the attacks >will stop. > > Terrorism is the price that governments -- and their hostage >subjects -- pay for exercising illegitimate power. Despite pundits >whose ignorance is exceeded only by their presumption (_Wall Street >Journal_'s Paul Gigot leaps immediately to mind) 20th century history >demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that no further expansion of >that power will do anything but make make the problem worse. > > Benjamin Franklin warned us, more or less, that anyone who trades >liberty for safety is a fool, in part, because there ain't no such >_thing_ as safety. > > We're reminded by Amnesty International that more individuals have >been murdered by governments in this century -- well over 100 million >-- than have died in its wars (war itself being a government >enterprise, as well), proving that government is a worse threat than >anything it claims to protect us from. Tragedies like TWA 800 is >presumed to be, represent a failure of the _state_ -- of the very >_idea_ of the state -- and it is the state, not individuals, that must >be penalized, by reducing its income, and especially the power it >wields over individual lives. > > Americans are famous the world over for doing what was never done >before. It's time we did something historically unprecedented again. >We flew the first airplane; we sent the first men to the Moon. Both of >those were possible _only_ because we were the first people ever to >tell a King to go to hell. > > Now it's time to tell a President to go to hell. It's time to be >the first people ever to _refuse_ to be steam-rollered out of our >liberties by jackbooted thugs claiming to protect us from people and >events that don't threaten any of us nearly as much as the thugs >themselves. > >=================================== > >L. Neil Smith's award-winning first novel, _The Probability Broach_, >which has long been out of print, will be republished by TOR Books >this October. Permission to redistribute this article is herewith >granted by the author, provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its >entirety, and appropriate credit given. > > > Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Pie cutting algorithm
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:40 AM 7/27/96, Rollo Silver wrote: >Tim May said: ><< ObCrypto Sidebar: The "fair" method for dividing a pie between two people >I (RS) believe Claude Shannon proposed the following N-person pie-cutting >algorithm more than 25 years ago: Thanks! I should've suspected that The Master had worked on this problem. >Tim May: as a Licensed Ontologist, do you know who made the wiseassed (but >deep) remark "Ontology recapitulates Philology"? or for that matter, >"Oncology recapitulates Proctology". No, but my friend Chip Morningstar pointed out that "ontology recapitulates philately," (For those befuddled by these jokes, the biological original was "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny," which means that the morphological development of a fetus in the womb retraces, or recapitulates, the morphological development throughout history of the species, roughly. Thus, gills, fins, etc.) --Tim 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: The Four Horsemen Go to the Olympics!
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:32 PM 7/27/96, Nathan Syfrig wrote: >This is very worrysome, as it truly is a "world stage" event that could >really serve to galvanize various governments into uniting against strong >non-escrowed crypto. Hey, it will look good for the international PR, >never mind the fact that not everybody will be so 'diligent' in registering >their keys and/or use the "approved" crypto. Well, the large crowds milling in public squares with massive numbers of world journalists watching...a classic series of "soft targets." If several million-dollar bomb sniffers are placed in all airports, the terrs will just shift to _trains_, as experts point out. Or _ships_. Or _crowds_. Next time you're out driving around, think of places where a car bomb could take out dozens of people, or where a bag or backpack could take out crowds. (The Mad Bomber in New York or Boston killed quite a few people by using lockers in public places....kind of hard to put bomb sniffers in all such places. And bomb technology, timers, detonators, etc. have advanced apace in the last several decades since the Mad Bomber.) While I don't claim there is nothing to be done about terrorism, the fact is that modern nations highly value free travel and often mingle in "soft target" areas. Even a police state wherein people's movements are carefully controlled cannot fully avoid such acts. By the way, the airline solution is not too difficult to visualize: 1. Eliminate checked baggage, or at least require those with checked baggage to deposit it enough hours in advance to be inspected and to pay any surcharges for this inspection. (I try to only have carry-on baggage, and this seems to be a major trend.) 2. Let the market decide. Airlines could announce their baggage inspection policy, and customers could decide on the tradeoffs between increased inspections and higher costs, and greater confidence in security. I think I'll repost my "Soft Targets" piece of a few weeks ago, in the light of TWA 800 and this morning's bomb in Atlanta. --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: "privatizing" phones?
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>While shopping for a new phone recently, I came across >two models (Toshiba and Uniden I believe) that >have buttons to "privatize" you conversations. These >were on no-cord models. Does anyone have any idea >on what these actually do? Can the phones change > the frequency the call is on randomly >so people can't tune into it? I know cellulars offer something >similar. Personally, I would never put much faith into >something of this sort. Even if they did change the frequency the call was on, it would be a simple matter to decode how the frequency change was negotiated, and "follow" the call (also easily accomplished with cellular calls). Failing that, there is a very limited range of frequencies allocated for cordless fones, and simply re-scanning for the conversation is a trivial inconvenience. //cerridwyn//

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RE: Overwelmed with Stupidity...
by Jean-Paul Kroepfli 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Shaun Clark[jacquard(a)teleport.com] wrote 27 juillet 1996 09:18 >For instance what the heck is a TRS-80, DES, or even GAK? TRS-80: A venerable microcomputer, twenty years ago (Tandy Radio Shack, I believe with 80 columns); many experiences begin with this one (and Altair (some years before) or Apple II). DES: Data Encryption Standard, a (also venerable) cryptography algorithm, it has a too short key (56 bits effective) but a good design. Recycled, with TripleDES (or 3DES), in a three pass function. GAK: Government Access to Key, his private key must be deposited (mandatory or pushed voluntary) to a public or private (registered) agency. The Law Enforcement Agencies (and intelligence agencies, but sh!) have access to the key with a court order (nobody is smiling). Jean-Paul ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- Jean-Paul et Micheline Kroepfli (our son: Nicolas and daughter: Celine) eMail: JeanPaul.Kroepfli(a)utopia.fnet.fr Also Compuserve and MSNetwork Phone: +33 81 55 52 59 (F) PostMail: F-25640 Breconchaux (France) or: +41 21 843 27 36 (CH) or: CP 138, CH-1337 Vallorbe Fax: +33 81 55 52 62 (Switzerland) Zephyr(r) : InterNet Communication and Commerce, Security and Cryptography consulting PGP Fingerprint : 19 FB 67 EA 20 70 53 89 AF B2 5C 7F 02 1F CA 8F "The InterNet is the most open standard since air for breathing"

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COL_oss
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

7-27-96. FiTi: "Colossus faces rebirth into a world of dispute." The man behind the resurrection of Colossus is Tony Sale, a computer expert and former MI5 operative who once worked for Peter Wright of "Spycatcher" fame. Its reconstruction, now in its final weeks, is not merely an act of homage to the mathematical supermen of Bletchley who hastened the Allied victory over the Nazis. Neither is it just a triumph over the official secrecy in which the machine was cloaked until a few years ago. It is a working demonstration of Sale's contention that Colossus was the world's first computer. So sophisticated was the machine intelligence at Bletchley Park that the very existence of Colossus was not revealed until 1970, according to Tony Sale. After the war the government ordered 10 Colossi to be broken up -- some say as part of an intelligence deal with the Americans. Gripped by a desire to assert the claims of Colossus, the former MI5 man asked GCHQ to reinstate his security clearance so he could work on the project. The parts could be found in any British telephone exchange up to the 1970s. Yet it took until 1992 to get all the electronics declassified. Only last November was Sale allowed to demonstrate the machine's ability to break the Lorenz wheel settings. Even today members of the public are forbidden to operate Colossus: some of its codebreaking algorithms are still, it seems, a secret. ----- http://jya.com/coloss.txt (15 kb) COL_oss

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[REPOST] The Net and Terrorism
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[I sent this out on 29 June 1996. In light of recent events, the comments about "soft targets" seem worth mentioning again. I doubt my comment, "A few airliners will shot down by Soviet surface-to-air missiles. This is unsurprising." will get me any visits from the FBI, as this is the consensus of folks far more expert than I. Likewise, my closing coment, "avoid crowded downtown areas," was just common sense, not a tip-off to the Atlanta bombing.] There have been many recent reports linking the Net and anonymous remailers, pseudonyms, and (of course) strong crypto to various possible and actual terrorist events, with an emphasis on the "possible." (If the Net is linked to _actual_ terrorist incidents, little is being disclosed publically as of yet.) Recent comments by John Deutch, William Perry, and Louis Freeh make reference to the growing danger of the Net. And the "Russian mafia" is playing a major role in this debate; I won't recap the various articles in major magazines about arms sales from the former Soviet Army, the reports that an entire paramilitary unit of the KGB is now working for the Russian mafia, and the obvious corruption of the entire former Soviet system (I'm not saying it wasn't corrupt before, just that now the paymasters have changed). Can anything be done? To stop the likely effects of lots more surface-to-air missiles, lots more nerve gas available on the black market, and so on? In a word, "no." I've been thinking about this a lot, reading the various articles, and pondering the implications. The plain fact is that the modern world is one of great "liquidity," and the vast amount of arms built up by the U.S.S.R. (thanks in large part to responding to a similar build-up in the U.S., without taking any sides...) are now "leaking out" in increasing numbers. (The leakage is quite similar to that seen in the 1975-79 period, when thousands of tons of armaments abandoned by the U.S. in Viet Nam were sold around the world. Except, of course, that the the Soviet weapons include some interesting new things.) Not even a police state can stop armaments from being diverted in situations such as faced in the former U.S.S.R. (For those not familiar with the conditions, read up on it. The combination of former command economy, secret police, selling off of industry to highest bidders, lack of a conventional industrial base...all of this makes it nearly unavoidable that much of the former state industry is now controlled by black marketeers and former Party apparatchniks....after all, who else would have the money to buy these former State industries?) In fact, a former police state does not change its stripes. The names and paymasters change a bit, but the organism lives on. (One need only look at the police states of Central and South America and their platitudes about the "Drug War" to understand the realities of such markets.) Unbreakable crypto will of course be used. This is unsurprising. A few airliners will shot down by Soviet surface-to-air missiles. This is unsurprising. I expect a city or two to get nuked in the next decade or so. (Haifa or Tel Aviv would be my leading candidates.) To me, this is unsurprising. My personal solution dovetails with other perceived threat responses: avoid living in or near major cities and take reasonable measures to cope with moderate economic or physical crises. (No, I am not a "survivalist," just mentally and physically prepared to deal with a major earthquake, economic dislocation, or terrorist incident in San Jose, which is 30 miles north of me.) FBI Director Louis Freeh and the TLA spooks are already sounding the alarm about the "Four Horsemen." Sen. Sam Nunn is calling for measures to ensure that cyberspace is "secured" and that the Net is not used to further chemical and biological terrorism. The point is that even a police state cannot stop the consequences of the increased "degrees of freedom" the modern world (and the Net) provides. In fact, police states tend to make the scale of the corruption even greater, as the Soviet and Latin American examples show. (I could of course get into the examples of arms dealings in Iran-Contra, the CIA's role in covert arms supply, etc., but this should be self-evident to all.) An Australian radio journalist asked me if the Net could make possible new types of terrorism, and could allow terrorists to plot crimes in new ways. He seemed surprised when I said "Of course" and then proceeded to give some examples of how the Net can be used to undermine governments (what those governments of course refer to as "terrorism," even when it is mostly not). I'm not advocating such "terrorism," by the way, merely telling it like it is. Arguing that the Net cannot and will not be used in such ways is naive and ultimately counterproductive. It is more accurate and useful to point out that the increased role of terrorism is due to many factors, including prominently the vast amount of armaments in the world, the role of police states which have benefitted from these build-ups in the military-industrial complex, the expansion of "virtual communities" around the world, and, crucially, the expanded number of degrees of freedom in transportation, communication, banking, and other such Information Age channels. Keep your head down, avoid crowded downtown areas, prepare for moderate disruptions, and reject arguments that an American Police State will do anything to stop terrorism. (Remember, terrorism is just warfare carried on by other means, with apolgies to Von Clausewitz.) --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: ALL OF YOU ARE CRIMIN
by pjn＠nworks.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> At 09:33 PM 7/26/96 -0700, anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com wrote: >I AM NOT GOING TO TOLERATE EXISTENCE OF A MEDIUM FOR CRIMINAL HACKERS >AND MUNITIONS SMUGGLERS. I WILL COMPLAIN TO THE FBI IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THEY >CAN TRACK YOU DOWN AND CLOSE THIS LIST. > Damnit Sen. Exxon! We told you not to use the computer!! :) P.J. pjn(a)nworks.com ... "The future of robotics" Ä by Cy Borg and Anne Droid ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]

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