December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

17 Dec '03

This should only be goin to the list maintainers. ||ugh Daniel

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17 Dec '03

Something is broken with the full list, and it seems that I have to waste everybodys bandwidth to figure it out... not good. My apologies. ||ugh Daniel Sometimes Postmaster hugh(a)toad.com

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

tcmay(a)netcom.com (Timothy C. May) writes: > And an even better solution is for folks to have their own private > machines and access to one of the cheap Internet service providers > springing up all around. Then they won't have to worry about their > corporations "snooping" in their e-mail files. Or restricting them > about using PGP or other crypto. Isn't Cleveland Freenet still giving out freebie accounts? If they are, that's a good place to start. > Having your own computer means never having to say you're sorry. That's why I have my own computer and net.access. I'm the only admin making silly rules now! :-) > (I fear laws telling corporations they *can't* snoop as much as I fear > Clipper. The reasons are obvious, to me at least, and I can expand on > this point if anyone's really interested.) Me too, don't worry. :-) --Jef -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Phil G. Fraering" <pgf(a)srl.cacs.usl.edu> writes: > I was on a trip out of town a while back... as soon as I crossed > into another cellular network boundary, I got a call from the > provider's sales droid, telling me how to use their service. They > _are_ tracking individual phone movement, IMHO. Not just IMHO... They are tracking individual phone movement. I know this for fact. What happens is this: When you are out driving, your phone is constantly checking the local zone for strength. When the strength goes down, or signal quality is too low, it scans for a new zone. Then it "logs in" to the new zone while "logging out" of the old zone. Big cities, like LA, have ALOT of zones, none of which are all that big. By knowing which zone one is in, one is leaving, and one is entering, it is very easy to determine where someone is, especially if that zone tracks along a major highway. Then, it's just a matter of time until he's found. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

carterm(a)spartan.ac.brocku.ca (Mark Carter) writes: > Encryption as a weapon is something that's not often talked about, despite > the fact that everyone's always rambling about how valuable information > is... If you have backups and keep paper trails like any serious company, this is merely inconvenient and annoying. > The arguments for restraining encryption in corporate situations can > go on and on... just as the arguments for encouraging private encryption > can go on and on. This argues similiarly to the gun control argument. Encryption, like guns, are a tool. When used responsibly, tools don't cause problems. When used irresponsibly, problems occur. Responsible use of encryption is for privacy. Irresponsible use is for some damaging purpose. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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freenet
by tim werner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: Jeff Gostin <jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us> >Date: Sat, 18 Jun 1994 16:00:35 EST >Isn't Cleveland Freenet still giving out freebie accounts? If they >are, that's a good place to start. Yes and no. All you really get is usenet and email. Plus irc, I think, although I have never used that. You can't telnet or ftp out, although you can telnet or ftp in. Your disk space is limited to 2meg, and all your files expire every 2 or 3 days. As I recall, you have to receive a letter from them with your password, so they know at least your address (no PO box, I think, not sure, been too long), and they require you to use your real name. They're actually pretty cool, but they have a couple of rules about abusing the account. They do carry all the Usenet groups. Also, there are times when it is impossible to log in. Many times, when you do get in, the response time is unacceptable. Still, it's better than nothing. Especially if you have no other way to get alt.binaries.pictures.tasteless. tw

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Re: Beware of Roman Catholic Corruption
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ralph.Stokes(a)f1611.n375.z1.fidonet.org (Ralph Stokes) Spammed thusly: > Beware of the Satanic conspiracy of the WHORISH Roman Catholic Church. The > Pope and his puppets have attempted to infiltrate and subvert the > Protestant Christian church using corrupt modern translations of the Bible. > These are nothing more than religious filth that have spewed forth from the ^^^^^^ > deceitful pens of Satan-inspired men in league with the Vatican. Intersting word, "spewed". It's a synonym for "vomited". If you'd get your head out of your ass and out of the 17th century, you'd realize that the slang expression "to Ralph" also refers to vomiting. And that's exactly what you've done all over the Internet, RALPH! --- piss-ass stuff deleted --- > Don't let them lure you into following them into Hell. ^^^^ Like any fire, it would require STOKing, would it not? Gee, you were sort of appropriately named, weren't you? When somebody asks what your job is in Hell, it can be said Ralph stokes. --- more ass dung nuked --- > For further information regarding this damnable Satanic conspiracy, contact > me: > > Ralph Stokes, sysop King James Bible BBS, Millbrook, AL > Internet address: ralph.stokes(a)f1611.n375.z1.fidonet.org > Fidonet address: Ralph Stokes (1:375/1611) > BBS #: (205) 285-5948 Those who have endured your incessant blathering over in Fido land tell me that you've said a few quotable things, such as "G-d is a Devil", "El Shaddai is Satan", and "all the words in the King James Bible are God's pure words, including 'pisseth', 'ass', 'bastard', and 'dung'". Therefore, I've tried to avoid "profanity" in my response and use only the words that you consider "pure". Thus' let me say, "Pisseth upon thy ass, thou bastard who eateth dung". May your wife (if you can even attract/keep one) "Bobbitize" you. Can I recommend a good doctor? Kevorkian! Go thou and fornicate thyself. Thou shalt not "Spam" the Internet/Usenet! Go back and play in the Fidonet sandbox until you learn how to play nicely with the big kids...

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DE-crypting (trivial case)
by dwomack＠runner.utsa.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fellow C'punks: I was wondering if anyone knew of software that does decryption of weakly encrypted messages, i.e., similar to ROT13, but perhaps ROT(x) where 0<x<26? Or maybe a bit more sophisticated, but not even at the single DES level? Also...anyone know of any histogram software? i.e., I input a file, it counts how many letters of each type, and outputs it in a table and/or a graph? If not, I'll have to (horrors!) write code! Kindest regards, Dave

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something I've always wondered
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does DES (or name your favorite encryption algorithm) produce as output all possible cyphertexts of length L, given all possible conbinations of keys and plaintexts of length L? Since there are more combinations of key and plaintext than there are possible cyphertexts outputs of length L, you know there must be some combinations of key and plaintext that produce the same cyphertext. Just curious, Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Re: (None)
by lefty＠apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>> I was on a trip out of town a while back... as soon as I crossed >> into another cellular network boundary, I got a call from the >> provider's sales droid, telling me how to use their service. They >> _are_ tracking individual phone movement, IMHO. > Not just IMHO... They are tracking individual phone movement. I know >this for fact. What happens is this: When you are out driving, your phone >is constantly checking the local zone for strength. When the strength goes >down, or signal quality is too low, it scans for a new zone. Then it "logs >in" to the new zone while "logging out" of the old zone. > > Big cities, like LA, have ALOT of zones, none of which are all that >big. By knowing which zone one is in, one is leaving, and one is entering, >it is very easy to determine where someone is, especially if that zone >tracks along a major highway. Then, it's just a matter of time until he's >found. Forgive my ignorance, since I've always viewed cellular phones as being overpriced toys, but if the cellular network _didn't_ track the location of a given phone how could it route incoming calls to it? Some friends who were visiting from New Mexico this weekend told me they had to inform their service provider of where they were going to be so they could receive calls on their cellular phone. We've played with wireless mobile networking around here, and routers need to keep track of individual nodes as they move around. Are cellular phones different? Am I missing something here? -- Lefty (lefty(a)apple.com) C:.M:.C:., D:.O:.D:.

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OJ's cellphone again (Bay Area Article)
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article on the front page about cellphone tapping/snooping as a tie in to the O J Simpson case. No time for comment or retyping, just providing a pointer. -j

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Problems with Definitions in Escrow
by blancw＠pylon.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by James A. Donald: If you *define* reputations to be something formal and explicit, and say that the system will work because people guard their reputations, then reputations become something that can be most efficiently granted and withdrawn by some centralized authority. . . . . . . . . . . . I am complaining about dangerous carelessness in your use and definition of words. Your use of the word reputation is as fraught with frightful consequences as Marx's use of the word "value". ................................................................. .... Perhaps when you decry the establishment of 'definitions' you mean that a concept should not be circumbscribed tightly within the boundaries of a pre-determined range of meaning? I thought what Hal intended by 'examining & defining' a term, was simply to assess what it means to those who are seeking to apply it, rather than intending to confine it in advance of any real knowledge of its actual reference. Blanc

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CYPHERPUNK OPERATIVE
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

C'punks, Apologies to those who saw this, but most missed it due to the loss of the list yesterday. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Okay, somebody needs to fess up. I *know* someone on the Cypherpunks Channel is writing about the Clipper Chip and other crypto-privacy issues for /Expat World/. I thought I was the only one who had even heard of this newsletter for expatriates until I saw some of the crypto articles. Whoever it is, is doing a great job. In the June 15 issue, in the article, "How Big Brother Wants to LIsten, Too," the writer coined the term "Al Gorewellian." Gotta love it. If the writer of these articles is reading this note, please let us know who you are. You deserve the recognition. (If you want to keep a low profile, how 'bout sending me private e-mail? I'd like to discuss some things with you.) S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLgYBPU5ULTXct1IzAQEINgQAhzypoIDVoX5bad9Vd8psttmS5ClRbKqr vNA7L88jallJzrmUL5NZv6SO7NPAFxQzC2bnS2KJv4MpyRFl+ZYIku2cQZfQWShY 3TLUXuqK9HVHED7rCzq3Xq1Kny/fZZ9U74PSLe8fi+L9xsL5Ht0yDEmBYCG3REkv J0npF+9FCHw= =xgFs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Beware of Roman Catholic Corruption
by gbe＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Don't let them lure you into following them into Hell. The 1611 > Authorized (King James) Version of the Holy Bible is the only book > that God ever wrote. All other alleged translations are frauds > written by the Devil himself. So what version of the scriptures did Jesus quote from? Gary B. Edstrom | Sequoia Software | PGP fingerprint: Internet: gbe(a)netcom.com | Programming Services | 2F F6 1B 28 6E A6 09 6C CompuServe: 72677,564 | P.O. Box 9573 | B0 EA 9E 4C C4 C6 7D 46 Fax: 1-818-247-6046 | Glendale, CA 91226 | Key available via finger What is PGP? Subscribe to alt.security.pgp and find out! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBLgaIwkHZYsvlkKnJAQHfJAP+NBbcCDGzobs2IKuBCro9+Cka9VtMrbqi NQY1SZRv6ZMUb7UwF5dd6J0rPJCwjzs9bLNWDxG643BHww0LWlc8+jfw0N6eZX7U jYeso6+jKwSA3+sVfygyI5WTOUe5dUqFQfzHuxDFzZrgej3eejLw16WiwuCRpViL sk345Pw5dQQ= =SlzJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Gary B. Edstrom | Sequoia Software | PGP fingerprint: Internet: gbe(a)netcom.com | Programming Services | 2F F6 1B 28 6E A6 09 6C CompuServe: 72677,564 | P.O. Box 9573 | B0 EA 9E 4C C4 C6 7D 46 Fax: 1-818-247-6046 | Glendale, CA 91226 | Key available via finger What is PGP? Subscribe to alt.security.pgp and find out!

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SLACKER JOB
by ss 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: sandfort(a)crl.com 401 Merrydale Road * San Rafael, CA 94903 * USA * +1 415 472 6525 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, I sent out the following message just before the Second Great Cypherpunks List Blackout. Probably, there are many of you who never saw it. Sorry for the repetition for some of you, but this is a great opportunity for the right folks. * * * Would you and your SO like a great slacker job in the San Francisco Bay Area? Yes? Well, have I got a deal for you! I will be leaving for Hongkong (by way of Madison, Wisc., it would now appear) in the latter part of July. I'm looking for someone to take over my slacker job managing a self-storage facility in lovely Marin county. Here's the deal: WHAT YOU GET -- Two bedroom, two bath, 1200 sq.ft. house (rent free) with large living and dining rooms, porch, covered carport, big backyard and garden, in a fenced compound. -- Washer and dryer, dishwasher, disposal, gas range and electric oven. -- Free electricity(!), water and garbage pick-up, plus $25/mo. towards gas. -- All of the above, is within a short walking distance of shopping centers, supermarkets, restaurants, parks, government offices and public transportation. WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO -- Be on site from 8:00am to 6:00pm, M-F. -- Walk the self-storage yard several times per day. -- Answer the phone and give information about storage (averages less than 10 calls per day). -- Assist potential and current customers (averages about once per day). -- Misc. duties (averages less than 20 minutes per day). Most of the time in this position is your own. You can read, watch TV, eat, work on your computer--whatever. Of course because there is no pay, you much have another source of income. This could mean having an SO with an outside job, you doing shift work, telecommuting or running your own at-home business. In addition, this is a stealth position. It has an extremely low profile if you manage things properly. If you're interested, call, write or e-mail me at the address at the top of this message. S a n d y S a n d f o r t Reply to: sandfort(a)crl.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: Beware of Roman Catholic Corruption
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:58 AM 06/21/94 -0700, Gary Edstrom wrote: >> Don't let them lure you into following them into Hell. The 1611 >> Authorized (King James) Version of the Holy Bible is the only book >> that God ever wrote. All other alleged translations are frauds >> written by the Devil himself. > >So what version of the scriptures did Jesus quote from? > >Gary B. Edstrom The ones that were printed with the red letters, silly. That's how he knew what his lines were. :) -j

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HOW TO MUTATE AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD
by Judith Milhon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Please write to me personally if you want to express indignation at this posting. It's not an ad: it's an invitation to culture hacking, okay? And write to me personally if it interests you. I, Judith Milhon, am not a fink. I was at the first meating of this weird coalescence. I even thought up the name "cypherpunk." I write tech humor, I'm a good editor, I used to program under Unix, okay? My bona fides can be verified by several on this list; write me for references. I have a contract with Ballantine Books, bless their stingy but experimental hearts, to compile with R U Sirius a hack/prank book called HOW TO MUTATE AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD. You are invited to write yourself in as a character. We want to present the cypherpunk movement in its own words, with its own cast of characters, as themselves or as their pseudonyms. If you want to buckle a swash with impunity, you can hide your identity even from me. You know how. If you have the time to change the world a little, this is a magnificent propaganda opportunity. Rant! Issue underground manifestos! Start your own cell of an international hack/phreak/prank Underground. Conceive and dedicate amazing hacks! Write the future your way! The book is a scrapbook of media reportage, DIY manuals and email commentary starting way back in 1994 and continuing till 2001, at which time the world ends in a nanotech industrial accident. If you're interested, write me and I'll send you the year by year timeline, as HADL, the Human Anti-Degradation League [this ad degrades women. This article degrades children. And THIS degrades...] forces the gobliment to crack down on speech in the society at large, and btw succeeds in censoring the Internet, in response to which an entirely virtual Underground appears overnight, one that you can join as easy as you can say... F S P. Bam FSP sites that appear and disappear within hours, on hacked Internet sites, distribute crypto programs and anarchist cookbook-style hacking info; and pirate TV interrupts our regularly scheduled broadcast to bring you today's edresses for these sites (and also very slick computer-animated ads for Stego and bogus ads for parodic nonproducts and on and on and on... The issues are privacy and censorship, the hacker mindset, Dada revolution, media pranking, etc etc etc. Write your own! At minimum it will be fun, and will even pay minimal $$ -- like a few-cent word rate. R U came up with these, but you can whomp up your own identity: -------------------------------- >8 Cut Here 8< ---------------------------- MUTATE CHARACTERS/ROLES: TECHNICAL You're a how-to, hands-on phreaker, intruder or media pirate and can draw DIY circuit diagrams, maps and step-by-step instructions. TECHNO-REVOLUTIONISTS You are a born anarchist hacker rhetorician w. enough techno knowledge to monkey wrench a bit in the digital realm. You're a black post-riot grrrrl, Sub Rosa, with the most popular online pirate multimedia show in the world. You are a generalist hacker/cracker who can write technical material and engage in colorful email exchanges. You're a vile revolutionary psycho into media piracy advocating direct technological attacks on the government You are a hacker genius who can figure out ways to do things that simply can't be done, and talk about them in a reasonably accessible way. Or maybe you're the near-cartoon brilliant NERD, living the Vampire shift on caffeine and canned corn. With an entirely fictoidal posse of nastyass teeners with whom you concoct horrid pranks. Etc etc. THE "MAN" You are a puritanical nut who likes to write personal threat notes You write official statements for the forces of purity and repression You're Vice-President Tipper Gore, a HADL fellow traveler, on a rampage. JOURNALISTS You are good at compiling data on a subject and making it readable. You are a mainstream journalist or a techno-newsletter writer or both ...with Extropian tendencies. ...into Media Piracy. You are a detail-oriented hard-tech journalist with wit and style You are a detail-oriented science writer specializing in biotech, with wit and style You're a business journalist. You're a serious mainstream journalist with a left-liberal agenda monitoring social and cultural trends You're a Goddess-pagan oriented writer ready to shill for a religion based on bodily fluids. You're a Gonzo "rock" culture journalist of the wickedest sort!! You are a music/art writer/critic with a good sense of the ludicrous. ------------------------8< cut here >8------------------------ Write to me, flame me, whatever. This is a chance for you to engage in some cultural monkey-wrenching, at least... Judith Milhon, aka stjude(a)well.sf.ca.us

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INFORMATION WARFARE
by Brian D Williams 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Winn Schwartau's new book is out, "Information Warfare" and I am enjoying it a great deal. I thought the list might be interested. Here are the contents: an introduction to information warfare 11 1. The Econo-Politics of Information Warfare 27 2. Computers Everywhere and the Global Network 49 3. Binary Schizophrenia 65 4. On The Nature of Insidious 82 5. Influenza, Malicious Software, and OOPS! 95 6. Sniffers and the Switch 114 7. The World of Mr van Eck 137 8. Cryptography 148 9. Chipping: Silicon-Based Malicious Software 160 10. HERF Guns and EMP/T Bombs 171 11. Hackers: The First Information Warriors in Cyberspace 190 12. Who are The Information Warriors? 215 13. The Military Perspective 249 14. Class 1: Personal Information Warfare 258 15. Class 2: Corporate Information Warfare 271 16. Class 3: Global Information Warfare 291 17. Defense Before Defeat 312 18. Outline of a National Information Policy: A Constitution for Cyberspace and an Electronic Bill of Rights. 316 19. The Future of Information Warfare 354 Afterword: Practical Proactive Security and Privacy 367 Resources 384 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLgdUGdCcBnAsu2t1AQHuOQQAnUItVChxiifCuLyU91B5QxysJ2FuFUfT bL0S3y2z8L6HXDZ7fMJQOsBY6/xM8Pl71Ak8EzEupF26UrEAUvpSlQRo1DDA2fp6 XfAZMqDWOBj9hLYvrzBj4etH9LB8s1h2iYkJrTt7M5nuaOrJVnw8Et3ysUSwlrAR D6w0vfVDXp0= =bBAW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Tracking Mobile Nodes--was Re: (None)
by kentborg＠world.std.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Wireless communication does *not* require nodes be closely tracked. Efficiency demands some tracking but the amount of tracking can be traded off. I just drove cross-country. With me were my little hand-held phone and my Sky Pager. Lacking battery power (and out of general principals), I keep the phone off. The pager, however, was on. With this combination I can be in quite good contact with the world yet not reveal my location if I didn't make any calls. (Limited money did a pretty good job of keeping me from making roaming calls.) Out of cities the pager coverage is pretty bad--cells have much better coverage--but the point is that other than my occasional use of phones (wired and cell) I was a vanished person. In 1994 I can still buy gas and new tires with cash and vanish--for a time. (I am behind in my reading so I might repeat you people with this next comment--sorry.) The physical tracking of phone users is not just theoretical if the stories are true of finding O.J. via his cellular phone usage. Where I sit right now (Venice, CA) police helicopters fly over nearly constantly watching drug gangs or some such. That is expensive. A few gigs of hard disks is cheap, on the otherhand. The idea of logging *all* cell phone movement seems to me not at all far-fetched. I am glad I know enough about phones that before I got caught I could accomplish at least several calls through the effective call "remailers" in the system. (Isn't there a commercial phone anonymity service? It had a catchy 800-number, but I forget it.) -kb P.S. Yes, I am about to go out and buy the SF Chronicle to read the O.J. article. -- Kent Borg +1 (617) 776-6899 kentborg(a)world.std.com kentborg(a)aol.com Proud to claim 28:15 hours of TV viewing so far in 1994!

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DE-crypting (trivial case) (fwd)
by jktaber＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com Tue Jun 21 09:14:10 1994 > From: dwomack(a)runner.utsa.edu (David L Womack) > Message-Id: <9406211522.AA12298(a)runner.utsa.edu> > Subject: DE-crypting (trivial case) > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 10:22:42 -0500 (CDT) > X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23beta2] > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Content-Length: 463 > Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Precedence: bulk > > Fellow C'punks: > > I was wondering if anyone knew of software that > does decryption of weakly encrypted messages, > i.e., similar to ROT13, but perhaps ROT(x) where > 0<x<26? Or maybe a bit more sophisticated, but > not even at the single DES level? > > Also...anyone know of any histogram software? > i.e., I input a file, it counts how many > letters of each type, and outputs it in a > table and/or a graph? > > If not, I'll have to (horrors!) write code! > > Kindest regards, > > Dave > I have a hack in C for the PC that does trigraphic counting a la Sinkov. It is just a hack, without documentation, and limited to a file that is smaller than a 80x86 segment. But if there is interest in it, I can make it available. Trigraphic counting, BTW, is the way to go. Helps reveal repeated sequences. The same counting gives you your more normal stats too.

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Re: Tracking Mobile Nodes
by Jim Sewell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've read many comments about cell phone tracking and would like to add my own: In Louisville, KY where I used to live you could find out where a person was by the frequency they were on. Each cell site used a different frequency so you could tell at least the part of town a person was in. This made listening to conversations frustrating because they kept shifting frequencies as they drove around. A cell phone is a glorified radio. Any radio-smart person with an active conversation and a directional antenna could track a cell phone. Add in a friend with another antenna and you could triangulate (biangulate?) to within blocks in a jiffy. Add in some common sense (he's on the freeway) and it's easy to find someone. Of course, I never listened to cell phone conversations because THEY made it illegal to do so. Forget the fact that they are radiating my body with RF radiation and I should have a right to hook up a speaker to it! Sheesh, the government can be so anal sometimes! Jim -- Tantalus Inc. Jim Sewell Amateur Radio: KD4CKQ P.O. Box 2310 Programmer Internet: jims(a)mpgn.com Key West, FL 33045 C-Unix-PC Compu$erve: 71061,1027 (305)293-8100 PGP via email on request. 1K-bit Fingerprint: 8E 14 68 90 37 87 EF B3 C4 CF CD 9A 3E F9 4A 73

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Re: cell Phones and Digital networking.
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

lefty(a)apple.com (Lefty) writes: > Forgive my ignorance, since I've always viewed cellular phones as being > overpriced toys, but if the cellular network _didn't_ track the location of > a given phone how could it route incoming calls to it? Bingo. :-) It has to know the proper ESN to send the signal to. The ESN is an Electronic Serial Number, and every Cell Phone has a unique one. Your cellphone number is attached to the ESN. > Some friends who > were visiting from New Mexico this weekend told me they had to inform their > service provider of where they were going to be so they could receive calls > on their cellular phone. Well, I don't know about the need to let them know. I do know that you can generally "log in" and "log out" of zones as you pass through them, allowing the system to track you as you trek across the country. > We've played with wireless mobile networking around here, and routers need > to keep track of individual nodes as they move around. Are cellular phones > different? Am I missing something here? This is where I get a little shady on my knowledge. If you substitute routers for signal centers, and individual nodes for ESNs, you have the general idea. :-) --jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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e$: Geodesic Securities Markets
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Flame bait alert. Those of you who "know this already" (or know who's posting ;-)) hit your spacebar (or down-arrow, whatever) now. When it rains, it pours. I've been yammering about e$ to another one of my UofC friends for a while now. He's ABD (all but dissertation) in Physics, repeated the process in Finance, spent some time at First Boston and now builds asset/liability software for insurance companies. He'll remain nameless, 'cause if he wants to fess up for his part in this craziness, he can do it himself. Recall I'm screwing around with business models for e$ financial entities, and how I talked about how the crypto-security it requires makes the funds transfer system more granular and the network it lives in more geodesic. Definition of geodesic network: a network where nodes (switches) become more prevalent than lines (lines :-)) the opposite of pyramidal or hierarchical, where the opposite holds. (From Peter Huber's "The Geodesic Network", 1987, U.S. Government Printing Office) So I'm swapping OJ jokes with this guy, and he says, "I've been thinking about how this electronic money stuff makes brokerage firms disappear". And I blurt, "like I did with banks!", and I sent him my last e$ screed, about how to make demand deposits obsolete with digital cash ;-). We gibbered at each other for an hour or so, and here's how *he* made *brokerage firms* go away... The primary reasons for a brokerage account are 1.) safety, to protect your securities from theft. 2. To be able to trade those securities conveniently, by keeping them in "street name", 3. only brokerage firms can trade in the capital markets, because the markets are a giant "web-of-trust", to quote someone around here. Strong crypto accomplishes 1, and e$ protocols make 2 and 3 meaningless. Without boring you folks too much, trades are executed by brokerage firms for their clients in the market, where buyers and sellers are matched. The trades are given to clearing houses, which are like banks, but hold nothing but stock. The clearing houses swap book entries around and then notify the corporation that the stock was sold so the company know who the new stockholder is. The reason this can happen is because your stock is actually held at the clearinghouse in the name of your brokerage. You've signed paper somewhere allowing all this to happen. Otherwise you have to take physical delivery of your securities, and re register them in street name when you want to sell them, which takes time and money to do. Your time and your money. Most people don't take physical delivery as a result. They just leave it at the brokerage in street name. If you remember the last post, you can see where I'm going with this. Strong crypto allows the reinstitution of physical delivery. Well, the electronic analog of it, anyway. Instead of keeping a security at a broker's account in a clearinghouse, a stock "certificate" is issued by the clearinghouse to the buyer immediately at the time of sale. Instead of keeping brokerages' securities on account and swapping accounting entries, the clearinghouse acts more as an officiator, "blessing" the trade, and notifying the corporation of the change in its ownership, etc. Like digital cash, No one can steal your certificate or use it if they do, and if you're backed up, you might as well have it in Fort Knox... Okay. Those are points 1 and 2 from above. Point 3 is where we wave our hands a bit. Unless I'm beaten senseless by arcana, it seems to me that every kind of securities market (including the electronic ones!!) from the specialist system to open outcry can be done on line. (In cyberspace no one can hear your open outcry <hyuk!>). The important question here is, _who trades?_. It seems pretty obvious to me that if you can prove you own a security, you should be allowed to trade it. Since you have taken "physical" (metaphysical???) delivery, if *you* can't prove ownership, no one can. Notice this system allows for position traders, arbitrageurs, portfolio managers, investment bankers, equity and fixed income salesmen (who buy inventories of securities and resell them to their clients at a spread for the information<fat chance!>), and lots of other current players in the markets. In addition, it blows the doors off the role of the brokerage firm as the gatekeeper to the capital markets. It also creates a menagerie of other financial creatures and entities... To quote the famous Dr. Emil Lizardo, "It make-a the ganglia twitch!" My pal says that these protocols could help in derivatives markets, where securing ("insuring?") instruments is a problem...When I get that out of him, in a form that I can understand, I'll write it up and kill more bandwidth... Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923

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Re: e$: Geodesic Securities Markets
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I don't really want to thrash this out point by point, but I will anyway ;-). >Perry Metzger says: >>Robert Hettinga says: >> Strong crypto accomplishes 1, and e$ protocols make 2 and 3 meaningless. > >Not really. Not all commodities are fungible. Agreed. And? >Not all entities are >willing to conduct all sorts of trades with all other sorts of >entities. No, but buyers of a specific security might want to buy those securities from those who hold them... Could you elaborate on your comment, please? >Besides all that, someone has to hold physical goods, Unless it is a stock, bond, derivative, call option, etc. Most of which are "held" in offsetting book entries at brokerage houses, banks, and clearinghouses. If it's not kept there, then you need a certificate of some sort (though I'm hard pressed to have heard of a certificate for a call option, say), which might as well live on a hard drive as a desk drawer. I guess I was saying that it could be that a "certificate" on a hard drive was as tradeable, as "liquid"? as book entry in a clearinghouse. >and >investing will continue to be a realm for which expert advice is >purchased. I thought I did say that people like portfolio managers, anal(ah, I *didn't* say *analysts* back there... OK. There. I said "analysts")lysts, investment bankers etc., still played their usual roles. For example, a market analyst essentially sells his time to a brokerage house to write reports on securities. Those reports are then "sold" to the brokerage's customers in exchange for brokerage fees. They don't have to work for brokerage houses any more, even. In the institutional markets, it is now a common practice for some percentage of a commission to go on a soft-dollar basis to third party analysts for their work. (There was a time 10 years ago or so where portfolio managers were getting *junkets* to investment "seminars" in tropical locations on soft-dollars. They don't do that much anymore, I'm told.) In an e$conomy, you sell your reports direct. Newsletter writers do it already. Our "Peter Lynch" (forgive me Mister Lynch, I take your name in vain) successor sitting in Marblehead would do some background e$ transaction to have the report stuck on the screen of his trusty UltraPowerMac VXXI (next to a Ren-N-Stimpy rerun) as soon as it came out. In that case, as we said before, the mutual fund is where the investment advice, the "editing" *is* being purchased. But if an individual, or even a professional trading his own money for his own profit, wanted to trade, he only need put up one of two things to do so. Money if he's buying, of the securities if he's trading. In either case you don't really need a brokerage firm for that... Thanks Perry. Cheers, Bob ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923

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Cellular Phone Monitoring Made EZ!
by Michael Handler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In light of the recent cellular phone monitoring discussions: check out the most recent issue of _2600_, Spring 1994. It has a product review for the "Cellular Telephone Experimenters Kit", $125 from Network Wizards in Menlo Park, CA. Given this kit and a OKI-900 cellular phone ($450 new, $300 used), you can do wonderous things. The kit connects to the phone and a standard PC RS-232 port, and lets you control the phone via your computer and do all sorts of things. The kit comes with a C API for controlling the phone, so you're not limited by what software comes with the kit. The author of the article listed these things that he programmed in a day or so: * Scan for a paging channel and display the messages. If a voice channel is assigned, go to that channel and listen to the call. * Scan for voice channels and listen to active channels. * Scan OMNICELL channels and listen to active channels. * While listening to a call, display the voice channel messages. * Automatically follow handoffs. * Decode DTMF, change the volume or audio source. * Automatically mute the audio and stop monitoring when the call is released. Possible things he said you could do with more time: * Log all messages and call information for certain cellular phone numbers. You could log paging channel messages, calls places and recieved, call durations, DTMF digits dialed, cell channels used, etc. * Create a "spectrum" display of the cellular band by scanning all channels and recording the signal strength. * With a map of cell sites in your area, physically track a phone as it moves from cell to cell. The article is interesting in itself. Check it out. Spring 94 issue of _2600_. I'm typing in the article for a friend, so I'll mail it to anyone who wants a copy.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Brandt Handler <grendel(a)netaxs.com> Philadelphia, PA PGP v2.6 public key on request Boycott PSI, Inc. & Canter & Siegel <<NSA>> 1984: We're Behind Schedule

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