December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cryptology and classification
by nobody＠tjava.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, Just received a memo, the "Desk Reference Guide" to Executive Order 12958. This memo/executive order discusses classified national security information. The cypherpunks-interesting aspect of this memo lies in exceptions to some new guidelines. Basically, this executive order removes the authority for the government to "permanently" classify information. Basically, classification is now limited to 10 years (or 25 years in some special cases). The exceptions to this allow classification for longer durations for certain types of material. These types include things like protecting intelligence sources and nuclear weapons design info. One of the other exeptions is for: "...information that would impair United States cryptologic systems or activities." This appears to be taken directly from the executive order, so these types of decisions are being made at high levels. Thought you might be interested. Hooker

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Mitnick Road Show
by Andrew Barrett/CheckFree Corporation 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Andy P. wrote: >Saw the Stanford seimnar given by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff, >on the subject of Tsutomu's pursuit of Kevin Mitnick. Saw a teaser last night for Friday's broadcast of the Stone and Pauly show. Looks like they're doing a piece on Mitnick. They did not mention him by name, but used some of the epitaphs commonly associated with Mitnick since Markoff's Cyberpunk. Which makes sense, since most of the viewing public doesn't know Kevin Mitnick from Steve Jobs. I just hope this piece is better than the infamous Unsolved Mysteries treatments. I am not holding my breath.

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Cybersloth
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Shimomura and Markoff give an illuminating account of tracking system break-ins; it is in those that Tsutomu and his road crew really dazzle. Skip the filmic crud and enjoy the gritty details of hackers hacking, stretching legality and propriety, emulating their mocking nemeses. Glimpse the far-side hackers, say, jsz and jft and xxx, still taunting, eluding, taking down, making pay for job- security cybersloths.

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Re: Shimomura on TV?
by Douglas F. Elznic 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:15 PM 1/11/96 +0000, Michael C. Peponis wrote: > >> Has anyone heard anything else about this? I am getting real sick of the >> media's portrayal of the internet. They never say anything good about it. If >> they were to mention C2's system they would say how it is a no-rules server >> to hide thugs and pornos from the police. I am getting sick of watching this >> trash. The whole realm of the internet and computers and their associated >> areas are very dear to me I am sick of the media bludgeoning them to death. > >Douglas, > >Why let it bother you? You must understand that the majority of the >population of the United States is working class trash, the news >media is just peddeling to the masses, just like the morons that hold >elected office. > >They can keep up the bitching, but that's a good thing, I encourage >the spread of this kind of disinformation, it keeps even more of the >masses from getting on for fear of being offenced. > >Regards, >Michael Peponis >PGP Key Avalible form MIT Key Server,or via finger > > Mr. Peponis, I see what you are saying but doesn't it bother you the slightest bit? I guess it is the principle of the whole thing for me. Look at us. Members of a group that's purpose is to make computers free. We read hundred's and hundred's of messages a week talking about crypto and legal stuff, because we care about what happens on a economic, civil and most importantly a personal level. I don't know it just bothers me that they are dragging something so important to me throught the mud. They never mention the good stuff like the OK City support group page, the use in schools, the effectiveness of the internet as a research tool. And most of the time their "internet" is AOL. -- ==================Douglas Elznic=================== delznic(a)storm.net http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/ (315)682-5489 (315)682-1647 4877 Firethorn Circle Manlius, NY 13104 "Challenge the system, question the rules." =================================================== PGP key available: http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/pgpkey.asc PGP Fingerprint: 68 6F 89 F6 F0 58 AE 22 14 8A 31 2A E5 5C FD A5 ===================================================

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AP story on PGP
by anon-remailer＠utopia.hacktic.nl 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

U.S. Attorney Won't Prosecute Author of Computer Encryption Program By ELIZABETH WEISE= AP Cyberspace Writer= SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A software writer won't be prosecuted for a program he wrote that was put on the Internet and is now widely used by computer users to keep their communications secret, the government said Thursday. Philip Zimmermann's Pretty Good Privacy encryption program turns computer messages into a jumble of numbers and letters unreadable to anyone except the intended recipient. The code is so unbreakable that it is classified as munitions under the Arms Export Control Act, making its export without a license a felony. Federal prosecutors began investigating Zimmerman in 1993 after the program appeared on the Internet global computer network. Zimmerman said that others put it there, not him. The government opposes export of cryptographic technology for fear it will make it harder to monitor electronic communications overseas, and domestic law enforcement agencies are concerned such programs could keep them from eavesdropping on digital conversations. U.S. Attorney Michael J. Yamaguchi announced the decision not to prosecute Zimmerman, but didn't say why. If convicted, Zimmermann would have faced 51 months in prison. ``I'm just really pleased that the sword of Damocles is not over me anymore and I wonder why it took so long,'' Zimmermann said in a phone interview from his home in Boulder, Colorado. ``This is not just for spies anymore. It's for the rest of us. The information age is here. The rest of us need cryptography to conduct our business.'' The case had been closely watched as computer users and the government square off over free speech and privacy rights. Some critics contended it was foolish of the government to claim that Zimmerman had broken the law because the same coding information forbidden for export electronically may be shipped abroad in print form. They also noted that the technology already circulates throughout the world, making the law unenforceable. ``Zimmermann never exported Pretty Good Privacy, so the U.S. Attorney seemed to be missing the point. Unfortunately there still is no clear ruling from our government as to whether or not making software available on the Internet counts as exporting it,'' said Simson Garfinkel, who wrote a book about the program. Zimmerman's supporters argued that without encryption, government could do widespread eavesdropping, perhaps for political reasons, scanning for words and phrases it considers subversive. They acknowledge that a few criminals may use programs like PGP to hide out in cyberspace, but believe that concern is outweighed by free speech and privacy rights. ``The case was part of the government effort to crack down on good technologies for privacy. We hope the government's decision signals a rethinking of federal policy in this very important area,'' said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, an on-line civil rights watchdog group. Others see the 2.5-year investigation of Zimmermann as intimidation. ``It seems to me is that all the U.S. Attorney is saying is that they don't want the public relations nightmare of prosecuting Philip Zimmermann, but they still want everyone scared so that they won't exercise their Constitutional rights,'' Garfinkel said. --- Pretty Good Privacy is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.epic.org/privacy/tools.html

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Re: Zimmermann case is dropped.
by liberty＠gate.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [My sincere congrats to PRZ & Mr. Goen, and to Mr. Keane for getting a clue. I am sure the timing of this happy news had *nothing at all* to do with politics...<g>] A few questions about the investigation: What did the ZLDF end up spending? What did the govt. end up spending? [I know, it's hard to track taxe$.] Was this decision on the part of the prosecution as voluntary as it's made to sound, or were some members of the grand jury starting to make "nullification noises" as the investigation progressed? Has the grand jury been dismissed yet? If so, have any jurors spoken publicly about the investigation? JMR -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Freedom isn't Freeh. iQCVAwUBMPY6HW1lp8bpvW01AQH6oAQAjCePRH2YcEo/OlJrfXMG/K0Fk0/0gcE5 z9k0AYDeNb4iY7vaxSaauPlbQZrw2J48ItWf1y45LSiAE32+sJvYogrIyJbqTDhB 4yC5uXXPzLQcA3tp3AEkUe7Zbr7n1X1uAz2LwfddwRRiNnXxFtd0TIcReg4Bdv5g KB8S+9fCgk8= =hPyf -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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VHDL des model
by koontz＠MasPar.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A mimimal DES chip implementation can be found at: ripem.msu.edu:/pub/crypt/des/vhdl_des.tar.z -rw-r----- 1 mrr ftpsec 93630 Jan 12 02:01 vhdl_des.tar.z It was written to go with a paper on DES Hardware I'm putting the finishing touches on. Note that this site requires a password to belong to group ftpsec to download. It will encrypt in 47 clocks (8 IP, 29 Key Schedule, 8 FP) or decrypt in 46 clocks (28 Key Schedule), and will fit in some of the larger FPGAs. The paper, when finished, will describe various performance enhancements such as double buffered IP and FP (which is covered by an Ultron patent, although probably invalid), direct key schedule (16 clocks), or superscalar DES (approaching 1 clock per 64 bit block). For any hardware wonks, this is done in Synopsys VSS, although the README file contains enough information for other VHDL implmentations. There are also 4 or 5 'C' programs for generating VHDL files of the S Boxes in various configurations, and a sample 'C' DES program done in 1988 for the original UNIX libdes (source included). The 'C' program can be used to generate equivalent structures for debugging your own DES hardware variations. The test vectors are from NBS Special Pub 500-20 (circa 1978).

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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Thu, 11 Jan 1996 hallam(a)w3.org wrote: > make small ones out of big ones. Thats a big plus in many peoples books. > > > > > We've made no progress. Phil has lots lots of time and gained > >lots of grey hairs, and everyone who donated to his defense fund lost > >money. > > No progress? At least Phil is not going off on a trip to Alcatraz to > One of the most overdue reforms of the US government is the renaming of > the FBI building to remove the name of J Edgar Hoover. The abuse of power > under his administration of the FBI continues to poison the US polity > by providing clear proof to many citizens that their government cannot be > trusted. While the abuses of Hoover continue to be commemerated in this > fashion there can be little public confidence in any claims of reform. > > > The US can still harass people if they want, and make their > >life hell. > > Not just the US government. There are many crooks out there who have attempted > or are attempting worse. At least with the government there are means to > bring it to heel eventually. > > Phill > > (defun modexpt (x y n) "computes (x^y) mod n" (cond ((= y 0) 1) ((= y 1) (mod x n)) ((evenp y) (mod (expt (modexpt x (/ y 2) n) 2) n)) (t (mod (* x (modexpt x (1- y) n)) n))))

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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > We've made no progress. Phil has lots lots of time and gained > >lots of grey hairs, and everyone who donated to his defense fund lost > >money. > > No progress? At least Phil is not going off on a trip to Alcatraz to > make small ones out of big ones. Thats a big plus in many peoples books. I wish I could make another of my pollyannaish posts now, but I agree with Sameer. It's great that Phil's off the hook, but there's nothing to stop them from doing the same thing to someone else tomorrow. What's more,, everyone here knows that, and so the government gets what it really wants: a chilling effect on crypto development. How much credit do you give a guy when he stops beating his wife? They put Phil through the ringer, made him spend his money on lawyers, and added a lot of stress to his life. But they haven't admitted that they were wrong, and they haven't renounced such actions in the future. We're all very happy that Phil's out of the woods, and today's announcement is a great thing. But it's not enough.

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PGP_foi
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1-12-96. NYPaper: "Data Secrecy Export Case Dropped by U.S." By John Markoff. PGP_foi

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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: Michael C. Peponis <mianigand(a)unique.outlook.net> > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > > Why let it bother you? You must understand that the majority of the ^^^^^^^^ > population of the United States is working class trash, the news ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hope you're including yourself in that. > media is just peddeling to the masses, just like the morons that hold ^^^^^^^^^ Can't spell - *must* be working class trash... > elected office. > > Regards, > Michael Peponis ^^^^^^^ Tell me: is the 'po' silent?

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reach out!
by William T. Rainbird 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I know this isn't a typical posting for this group, but I thought I'd point out that O.J. Simpson has a video for sale, to further exploit his carnage. You can buy it by dialing 1-800-OJTELLS 1-800-658-3557 it is a FREE CALL (for you). I guess that means the MERCHANT PAYS for the calls, even if NOTHING IS ORDERED... Please repost and tell your friends!

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Re: Novel use of Usenet and remailers to mailbomb
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jammin' on the mailbomb trick... Looks like it's a variant of another scheme used elsewhere, viz, --- begin forwarded text To: rah(a)shipwright.com (Robert A. Hettinga) From: oldbear(a)arctos.com (The Old Bear) Subject: Re: Novel use of Usenet and remailers to mailbomb Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 23:10:43 EDT rah(a)shipwright.com (Robert A. Hettinga) writes: >From: rah(a)shipwright.com (Robert A. Hettinga) >Newsgroups: tiac >Subject: Novel use of Usenet and remailers to mailbomb >Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 14:34:18 -0500 >Organization: e$ >| Somebody, too clever for their own good by half, has come up with a >| novel way of using Usenet and anonymous remailers to perpetrate >| mailbombs. The M.O. is to post a message to the naked-lady newsgroups >| saying "get pics in your mailbox! send this message to this address!), >| giving the email address of a cypherpunk-style anonymous remailer and >| including a pgp-encrypted message block. A variation on the mailbomb from dispersed unwitting sites, except involving the telephone network, was discussed on alt.dcom.telecom some time back. Maybe you call this a phone bomb. As you know, pager companies get blocks of numbers within a local exchange for their operations. So, for example, 635-3000 to 635-3999 may represent a thousand radio pager customers of a particular paging company. Wanting to harrass an estranged spouse, some nefarious character programmed a dialler deamon to sequentially call each of the numbers in a pager block and leave a messsage to return call to the spouse's phone number. Naturally, caller id did no good to track or ignore the unwanted calls to the spouse at all hours from pager subscribers who were receiving messages on their alpha-numberic pagers to call the spouse's number. 'Wrong number' calls were coming in to the spouse from all over at all times. Moreover, it is virtually impossible for a pager company to track a single number which calls each of its lines only once. Definitely not a nice thing. --- end forwarded text Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell The NEW(!) e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/

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E-mail Spoof Throws Apple for a Loop
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Your message here. Dirty, Rotten E-Mail Liar Accuses Apple of Being Worth a Lot More By JIM CARLTON Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal To Apple Computer Inc.'s litany of woes, add a mad e-mailer. The e-mailer struck this week with a copy of a bogus message from Sony Corp.'s president threatening a hostile takeover of the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker. The "letter" showed up in e-mail baskets of computers throughout Silicon Valley and beyond. Managers at Apple read the letter with great interest -- until they got to the part about Sony offering $63 a share, or roughly double Apple's stock value. Now Silicon Valley is abuzz about who the mad e-mailer is. Sony has launched an investigation, promising to explore "the availability of appropriate legal action against those responsible." At first glance, the letter appears to be worded authentically enough. Addressed to Apple CEO Michael Spindler from Nobuyuki Idei, it says Sony intends to buy all of Apple's shares for $7.74 billion after a breakdown in merger talks that were supposedly taking place between the two companies. "We believe this is the fastest, most efficient way to bring our companies together," Mr. Idei purportedly says. But at Apple, executives quickly dismissed the letter as a prank. For one thing, the Apple e-mail address was for a "c.franz," a person unknown to the company. The letter also misidentified Mr. Idei as Sony's chairman and CEO. And initial notification of such a takeover bid is almost never made by letter, for secrecy reasons. So just who is the mad e-mailer? The return address was left blank, and a list of suspects could prove endless. A disgruntled employee is one possibility. Scads of Apple managers have departed in recent months. Or, analysts say, it could be a cheap shot by an employee at an Apple competitor. Whoever the culprit is, "this sounds like a real attempt to tick somebody off," says Mark Macgillivray, an industry consultant in Sunnyvale, Calif. The e-mail letter was circulating as Apple was announcing an estimated loss of $68 million and plans for a restructuring that analysts expect to include massive layoffs. Since Apple has long been rumored to be a takeover target, the letter added to the angst in Cupertino. In a reflection of morale at Apple, some engineers are joking they're disappointed the letter was phony. They would have liked Apple to accept the offer.

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Re: (none)
by Jeff Weinstein 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com wrote: > I was today playing around with a Mozilla 2.0beta5 that someone gave me > [more bells and whistles than my 1.12, but not much more bang for the buck] > and was showing a friend all the nifty information that netscape tells > about you when you visit sites, then went to c2 to show off the apache > web server and when I tried to use https:// to show off how you can have your > own encrypting web server for free and everything, a window popped up and > said the certificate was expired. > > I couldn't really tell if it meant that the certificate that Sameer generated > really needed to be updated, or if Netscape beta 5 had just been rigged to > reject non-netscape certificates, but the end result was no encryption. I just looked at c2's certificate, and it doesn't expire until april. The only reason I can think of that you should have a problem is if the date on your machine is wrong. > (Jeff, if you're reading this, of course we know that Netscape, with it's open > loving policies wouldn't do anything underhanded, but the thought does come > to mind, and by the way, when are we going to see an option to turn off or > control what information is passed out to the other end. Specifically, I'd like > http://anonymizer.cs.cmu.edu:8080/prog/snoop.pl to come up nearly blank.) We do not send the HTTP 'From:' header. I will look into where they are getting the user name and location from. There is really nothing I can do in the Navigator to stop them from getting your IP address or DNS name. > Soooo, anyway, I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the use of > privately generated certificates. Yes, Jeff, we know that Netscape is jumping > to fully support user-specified certificates, but personally I saw, relating > to certificates, a lot of *nifty* options and displays, but really didn't > see much in the way of anything that looked like "add". If you are operating a server you can use a certificate signed by any CA you want. When someone running Navigator 2.0 connects to that site they will be presented with a sequence of dialogs that allow them to decide if they want to talk to your site. Adding new certificates (other than for remote SSL servers) will generally be done via CA web pages, not the preferences UI. --Jeff -- Jeff Weinstein - Electronic Munitions Specialist Netscape Communication Corporation jsw(a)netscape.com - http://home.netscape.com/people/jsw Any opinions expressed above are mine.

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Limiting Reuse of Certificates
by JMKELSEY＠delphi.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [To: cypherpunks list ## Date: 01/11/96 02:25 pm ## Subject: Limiting reuse of certificates. ] >Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1996 17:31:24 -0500 (EST) >From: Michael Froomkin <froomkin(a)law.miami.edu> >Subject: Certificates: limiting your liability with reuse limitations >Suppose I am a CA. I am worried that by issuing a certificate with >a lifespan of more than 2 milliseconds I am opening myself up to >unlimited liability if for some reason, despite my best efforts, I >issue an erroneous certificate. >I know I can put an expiration date on the certificate, but that's >not enough. I can accumulate a lot of exposure in a few seconds, >much less weeks. >I know I can put a reliance limit in the X.509 ver 3 certificate, >but that's not enough. Even a $1 limit could be used many millions >of times. >Is it feasabile to say: Can only be relied on once per >day/week/month? Is this something the relying parties can reasonably >be expected to monitor? This is a hard problem. The only way I can see to do this is to require interaction with the CA (or its proxy) for each signature. The good news is that if you're doing certificate revokation lists online, then there is probably already some interaction with the server to verify that a certificate is still valid, before it is accepted. The trick here is to flip around who has to check the CRL server. a. Bob forms D = document he wants signed, ID_B = Bob's ID, and sends to Alice M_0 = ID_B, D. b. Alice forms T = timestamp and sends to the Server M_1 = T, hash(ID_B, D), Sign_{SK_A}(T, hash(ID_B, D)). c. The Server verifies the timestamp, the signature, and that Alice is currently allowed to sign things (her certificate is valid and hasn't been overused today). If not, it drops the connection and ends the protocol. If things all check out, however, it forms M_2 = T, Sign{SK_S}(T, hash(ID_B, D), Certificate_A). d. Alice now has (until the timestamp T becomes too stale) an authorization to sign D. She does so, and sends to Bob (who's been waiting all this time) M_3 = T, ID_B, D, Certificate_A, M_2, Sign_{SK_A}(ID_B, D). Now, the trick is to redefine valid signatures as only those that look like M_3. The recipient has to verify the timestamp, and that he hasn't received an identical signature from Alice recently, and has to verify the two signatures. (I make no promises about the soundness of this protocol--it's meant to illustrate the idea, not to be used directly.) Other than that, I can't think of anything that will fit the bill. >A. Michael Froomkin | +1 (305) 284-4285; +1 (305) 284-6506 (fax) >Associate Professor of Law | >U. Miami School of Law | froomkin(a)law.miami.edu >P.O. Box 248087 | http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin >Coral Gables, FL 33124 USA | It's warm here. Note: Please respond via e-mail as well as or instead of posting, as I get CP-LITE instead of the whole list. --John Kelsey, jmkelsey(a)delphi.com PGP 2.6 fingerprint = 4FE2 F421 100F BB0A 03D1 FE06 A435 7E36 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMPV110Hx57Ag8goBAQFVggP+P9ilz7cM8BQX+nDgjByG4avAoHxgDpDw cWsx7dw31MQsPCEkzvuvCcwf36e4xEQd3jKMh5rYmWrYRAMQAoB4yGm7ixN4tqXH 1g6Xw9QPCLnW4OJvjfynzFfKb5i8KcvOSBnCXzOd1Z/LYEI23/6phdNd9rRf/YjL mxbKS7gDrHI= =dn6t -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: BIG NEWS: PRZ investigation dropped!
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: Stanton McCandlish <mech(a)eff.org> >Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 11:53:46 -0800 (PST) > >Justice Dept. dropped investigation of Phil Zimmermann, declines to >prosecute. I never expected them to prosecute, unless he forced them to by toilet bombing the court, but I did expect them to keep on "investigating" him forever and a day. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: Certificates: limiting your liability with reuse limitations
by Censored Girls Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In Minnesota, you wouldn't be liable. All you can do IS all you can do. Anything else is a crime! (on their part). Love Always, Carol Anne At 05:07 PM 1/11/96 -0800, you wrote: >You write: >How do notaries public get around this liability problem? It seems to me >that the checking done for a certificate might be similar to the checking >done by a notary - a glance at a driver's license, say. Are they subject >to liability if they are fooled by fake ID? > >Hal > > -- Member Internet Society - Certified BETSI Programmer - Webmistress *********************************************************************** Carol Anne Braddock (cab8) carolann(a)censored.org 206.42.112.96 My Homepage The Cyberdoc *********************************************************************** ------------------ PGP.ZIP Part [017/713] ------------------- M8H,),S$8G>&.WP(8IRA`-M['+`Q%&_C"">5-F%LX@<_Q$;*P'',Q$Z/AA[8M MF=O0H+*%(-S%&>S%+FS&<LS%3(Q&#W1"<]2%`H^;,]^1C$'HBN8PX$4SYAU^ MPGD<Q0ZLA0D+,`MCT!LA**4M[-JPAK9F?40!AJ,CW"'%DR#:'9?Q)3[%<DQ` ------------------------------------------------------------- for next chunk to export --> http://dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/export/

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Mitnick: Markoff responds to Platt's CuD "Takedown" critique
by Declan B. McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Topic 1119 [media]: Media Appearances of WELLperns VI, S.F.Bay Area Division #160 of 296: john markoff (johnm) Wed Dec 20 '95 (14:49) 557 lines Charles is certainly entitled to his opinion about our book, but I thought I would take this opportunity to correct his inaccuracies. REVIEW OF TAKEDOWN ON THE COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST The Mad-Scientist Myth Figure A circumlocuitous review of_Takedown_ by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff (Hyperion, $24.95) by Charles Platt > Perhaps it seems strange that a journalist should defend herself by pleading ignorance of the subject that she chose to write about. Still, we should give Katie Hafner credit where it is due: she now seems genuinely repentant. Just for the record, Katie says that her remarks were taken out of context here by Charles. For her actual views you might want to look at her Esquire article on the subject, which is reprinted in a new paperback version of Cyberpunk. > The same can hardly be said for her ex-husband and ex- collaborator John Markoff, who must have made well over half a millions dollars by now, portraying Kevin Mitnick as an arch-enemy of techno-society. If Markoff regrets the "darkside hacker" label, he hasn't said much about it. * * * > Unlike many hackers, Kevin Mitnick never looked for publicity. He felt he should be paid for giving interviews, and when Hafner and Markoff refused to come up with any money, he refused to talk to them. He became famous--or infamous--while doing his best to remain obscure. The darkside hacker label was created during the late 1980s by the Southern California press. It is a label that I noted, but I didn't create. However, he's right I don't regret using it. And also for the record, Kevin Mitnick used to drive around in Las Vegas with a stack of copies of Cyberpunk in the trunk of his car to give away to admirers. He is on record as saying the book is "20 percent inaccurate." > The key event that catalyzed this strange ascent to notoriety occurred on July 4th, 1994, when a story by John Markoff appeared on the front page of _The New York Times._ Headlined "Cyberspace's Most Wanted: Hacker Eludes F.B.I. Pursuit," the text described Mitnick as "one of the nation's most wanted computer criminals" and was accompanied with a suitably menacing mug shot. The story was liberally spiced with tidbits recycled from _Cyberpunk,_ but if you looked more closely, there wasn't any actual news. Mitnick had violated parole a year or so previously, had disappeared at that time, and hadn't been seen since. That was all. This is really inaccurate. Kevin Mitnick had become notorious nationally in the late 1980s as a result of his being arrested for attacks on Digital Equipment Computers. A menacing mug shot? It was the only photo available. No actual news? Not the way I remember it. The news was that he was being pursued by the FBI (three agents full time), the California DMV, US Marshalls, telco security, local police, etc. The further news was that the FBI had told cellular telephone companies that they believed the fugitive had stolen software from at least six cellular phone manufacturers. I thought then, and still think, this merited a story. I also think the story was a good yarn. Mitnick had succeeded in evading law enforcement for more than a year - again. Why was this on the front page of a highly respected newspaper? Maybe because of the scary implications: that a weirdo who could paralyze vast computer networks was on the loose, and law enforcement had been too stupid to catch him. In reality, though, Mitnick has never been accused of willfully damaging any hardware or data, and has never been Wrong again. He was accused of doing more than $100,000 damage at US Leasing, a SF time sharing company in 1980. Their system was trashed by a group that Mitnick was a member of. After that, at various other times he cost companies tens of thousands of dollars trying to close the door on his attacks. A further point is that I have no control over placement of my stories in the paper. In _Cyberpunk,_ he was described as an omnipotent, obsessive-compulsive, egotistical, vindictive sociopath who used his computer to take revenge on the world that had spurned him. He later claimed (in _2600_ magazine) that this This is a totally misreading of Cyberpunk. I invite anyone to read that section of the book and see if that is the way he was portrayed. was "twenty percent fabricated and libelous." Maybe so, but I guess Kevin acknowledged 80 percent of what we wrote as accurate... 8) So far as I can discover, the FBI didn't classify Mitnick as one of America's most wanted; it was John Markoff who chose to apply that label. Markoff went far beyond the traditional function of a journalist who merely reports news; he helped to create a character, and the character himself became the news. Sorry, but I didn't create the character, Kevin did. He has now been arrested six times in fifteen years. Each time, except for this last time, he was given a second chance to get his act together. He chose not too. It seems to me that he is an adult and makes choices. He chose to keep breaking in to computers. He knew what the penalty was. So what's the problem? Unfortunately for Mitnick, this made him the target of a hacker witch hunt. A few years ago, here in CuD, Jim Thomas A witch hunt? Give me a break. It was an article describing a law enforcement hunt for a fugitive, who had been arrested five times previously, convicted at least three times, and was known to be attacking the computers of the nation's cellular telephone companies. * * * This information probably wasn't worth much; Markoff told the feds that Mitnick could probably be found stuffing himself with junk food at the nearest Fatburger, whereas in fact Mitnick was working out regularly, had slimmed down to normal weight, and had become a vegetarian. Oh please. I was called by Kent Walker, the AUSA on the case during a meeting at the Well. He asked me if I thought Mitnick was dangerous. I responded that everything I knew about Mitnick had either been in Cyberpunk or my July 4 1994 article, ie. in the public. I repeated the story of one arrest in which Kevin ended up handcuffed in tears over the hood of the detective's car. I gave no other information, nor got any. John Markoff's precise motives remain a mystery. We can, however, learn something by examining his writing. In his _Times_ article describing Mitnick's capture, he stated that the hacker had been on a "long crime spree" during which he had managed to "vandalize government, corporate and university computer systems." These are interesting phrases. "Crime spree" suggests a wild cross-country caper involving robberies and maybe even a shoot-out. In reality, Mitnick seems to have spent most of his time hiding in an apartment, typing on a keyboard. The word "vandalize" implies that he wantonly wrecked some property; in reality, Mitnick caused no intentional damage to anyone or anything. This is just not true. Kevin Mitnick was actively sharing system vulnerabilities with other people on the net. That is about the most damaging thing that could be done to the Internet community. When it came down to it, Markoff's journalism was long on opinion and short on facts. Sort of like this review, I guess..... 8) * * * I have a fantasy. In my fantasy, John Markoff bursts into a room where Tsutomu Shimomura sits as solemn as a zen master, peering impassively at a computer screen while he types a Perl script. "Tsutomu, I have good news and bad news!" Markoff exclaims. "The good news is, we sold the book rights for three-quarters of a million. The bad news is, I haven't got a clue what Mitnick was doing for the past two years. What the hell are we going to write about?" Shimomura doesn't even bother to look up. He gives a barely perceptible shrug and says, "Me, of course." This is weird... Mitnick grew up in a lower-class single-parent household and taught himself almost everything he knew about computers. Nice try. Kevin took lots of computer classes at various schools. * * * Presumably because Markoff felt that some romantic interest would help to sell the story, this book contains revelations of a type normally reserved for Hollywood celebrities or British royalty. While he was pursuing Mitnick, Shimomura was also pursuing "Julia," the long-term girlfriend of John Gilmore, one of the first employees at Sun Microsystems in 1982 who subsequently co-founded the software corporation Cygnus. The reason we described what happened at Toad Hall on Xmas was that the attacks first came from toad.com while Tsutomu and Julia were there. If we hadn't have been complete in our description someone would have charged us with a cover up. Please remember that David Bank, a San Jose Mercury reporter, spent several weeks pursuing the hypothesis that Tsutomu had attack his own computers. Kevin Mitnick begins to seem likable by comparison. At least he shows some irreverence, taunting Shimomura and trying to puncture his pomposity. At one point, Mitnick bundles up all the data he copied from Shimomura's computer and saves it onto the system at Netcom where he knows that Shimomura will find it. He names the file "japboy." At Yea, That Kevin is a real likeable guy. another point, in a private online communication (intercepted by Shimomura without any lawful authorization) Mitnick Wrong. At the Well, Netcom and in Raleigh, Tsutomu, at all times was operating under the exemptions granted Internet Service Providers by the ECPA. Well, maybe so, but unlike Shimomura, Mitnick never claimed to be heroic. Nor did he cause any intentional "damage." Nor did he "attack," "pilfer," and "vandalize" computer systems, even though these words are used repeatedly throughout the book--in the same pejorative style that John Markoff previously perfected in _The New York Times._ Perjorative?? Yikes! I mean we could go to the dictionary..... * * * All the charges except one have been dropped against Kevin Mitnick. He may even be out of jail in time for the Markoff/Shimomura book tour. In other words, the man Wrong. Kevin Mitnick is in jail in Los Angeles facing charges from more than six United States Federal Districts. He may go on trial or he may plea bargain. described in advance publicity for _Takedown_ as a threat to global civilization will befree to go about his business-- because, in the end, he wasn't much of a threat at all. Will this create an embarrassing schism between _Takedown_ and reality? Probably not. Reality has been at odds with the Mitnick myth for quite a while, but the myth is stronger than ever. Myth and reality? I have been writing about Kevin Mitnick for a long time, since 1981 to be precise, but I didn't create a myth, he created his own story.

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Mitnick #4: Platt's final response to Markoff
by Declan B. McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Topic 1119 [media]: Media Appearances of WELLperns VI, S.F.Bay Area Division #217 of 296: Aaron L Dickey (kieran) Wed Jan 3 '96 (20:19) 7 lines Charles Platt responds: "John Markoff's reply to my replies is much more factual and convincing than his original response to my review of his book. I thank him for his time and trouble. I still find it hard to agree with his overall perspective, but I am now convinced that he does have a sincere point of view, and I value the instances where he has corrected me on details." Topic 1119 [media]: Media Appearances of WELLperns VI, S.F.Bay Area Division #223 of 296: Declan McCullagh (declan) Thu Jan 4 '96 (07:33) 23 lines And one final response from Charles Platt: "Someone suggested that by criticizing TAKEDOWN I attempted to further my own career. "My primary career has nothing to do with computer journalism. Under a different name I write a series of prehistory novels, the first of which now has 200,000 copies in print. This is my main source of income; I pursue computer journalism as a sideline, because it pleases me. "I do have a computer-related book coming out under my own name later this year, but it was written more for pleasure than profit and is aimed at a small audience: people who are more concerned about really dangerous criminals such as James Exon or Ralph Reed than about hackers such as Kevin Mitnick. Frankly, this book will not sell a lot of copies no matter what I do, because decency legislation and first-amendment issues are a noncommercial topic compared with so-called computer crime. "Bearing all this in mind, it is misleading to suggest that I wrote my review for motives of self-promotion. I wrote it because I had just finished reading TAKEDOWN, it had irritated me greatly, and I believed (perhaps wrongly) that I possessed background information that might not be mentioned by other reviewers elsewhere."

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Mitnick #2: Platt responds to Markoff's rebuttal
by Declan B. McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Topic 1119 [media]: Media Appearances of WELLperns VI, S.F.Bay Area Division #190 of 296: Declan McCullagh (declan) Tue Jan 2 '96 (09:38) 212 lines <hidden> From cp(a)panix.com Tue Jan 2 09:26:11 1996 Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 03:11:10 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <cp(a)panix.com> To: Declan McCullagh Cc: Charles Platt <cp(a)panix.com> Subject: John Markoff's "rebuttal" In Computer Underground Digest I wrote a critical review of the recent book _Takedown_ by Shimomura and Markoff, in which I suggested that John Markoff had profited handsomely by mythologizing Kevin Mitnick as one of "America's most wanted computer criminals." My review was copied to The Well, where JM wrote a rebuttal. I am amused to fiund that this rebuttal not only fails to answer my rather serious allegations, but commits exactly the same journalistic sins of vagueness and hyperbole that I complained about originally. JM writes: "Just for the record, Katie [Hafner] says that her remarks were taken out of context here by Charles." This statement is perhaps intentionally vague, because if I don't know exactly what I'm being accused of, I can't answer it. *What,* precisely, was taken out of context? JM doesn't say. All I know is that when Katie Hafner contacted me directly, she complained that she never branded Kevin Mitnick a "darkside hacker" in the book _Cyberpunk;_ she merely used the phrase as the title of the first section of the book. But in fact, the "darkside hacker" term *is* applied to Mitnick within the text of the book; and in any case, a section heading obviously sets the tone for everything that follows. Therefore, I do not believe that I quoted Katie Hafner out of context--unless JM is talking about something else entirely, in which case he should say so, instead of attempting to devalue my review by a generalized accusation. JM Writes: "The darkside hacker label was created during the late 1980s by the Southern California press. It is a label that I noted, but I didn't create. However, he's right I don't regret using it. And also for the record, Kevin Mitnick used to drive around in Las Vegas with a stack of copies of Cyberpunk in the trunk of his car to give away to admirers. He is on record as saying the book is '20 percent inaccurate.'" JM is confusing the issue. I never suggested he invented the "darkside hacker" term. This is totally irrelevant. I said, very specifically, that he was the first to *apply* this label to Mitnick. JM does not actually deny this, and I believe it is true. Re my description of his initial article about Mitnick for the NY Times, JM writes: "This is really inaccurate. Kevin Mitnick had become notorious nationally in the late 1980s as a result of his being arrested for attacks on Digital Equipment Computers. A menacing mug shot? It was the only photo available. No actual news? Not the way I remember it. The news was that he was being pursued by the FBI (three agents full time), the California DMV, US Marshalls, telco security, local police, etc. The further news was that the FBI had told cellular telephone companies that they believed the fugitive had stolen software from at least six cellular phone manufacturers. I thought then, and still think, this merited a story. I also think the story was a good yarn. Mitnick had succeeded in evading law enforcement for more than a year - again." "Notorious" in what sense? This is another of those vague terms that JM throws around without limiting or defining it. Mitnick may have been "notorious" in hacker circles, but not in the eyes of the general public. My point was, and is, that JM converted Mitnick from a relatively obscure hacker into a public figure. JM tries to evade this point but cannot specifically deny it. As for Mitnick being "actively pursued," I believe this is a vast overstatement. As I understand it, law enforcement had largely lost interest until JM's news item embarrassed them. Even after that, according to JM's own book _Takedown,_ law enforcement had to be prodded into taking action. They seemed not to share JM's perception of Mitnick as a severe threat. They certainly didn't characterize him as one of "America's most wanted." In response to my statement that Kevin Mitnick has never been accused of intentionally damaging a computer, JM writes: "Wrong again. He was accused of doing more than $100,000 damage at US Leasing, a SF time sharing company in 1980. Their system was trashed by a group that Mitnick was a member of. After that, at various other times he cost companies tens of thousands of dollars trying to close the door on his attacks. A further point is that I have no control over placement of my stories in the paper." With all due respect, this is not fair or accurate journalism. Was Mitnick *active* in the group that caused the alleged damage? Did he play a personal role? Does JM know? If not, he's just slinging mud. This is a smear and should not be presented as if it is a fact. On the other hand, if there is evidence that Mitnick was indeed actively responsible, I will gladly admit that I didn't know of this. As for the money that companies spent fixing the security weaknesses that allowed Mitnick to gain access, it is grossly unfair and misleading for JM to throw this into a paragraph discussing "intentional damage." This is exactly the kind of deliberate blurring of different kinds of computer misuse that I complained about in my review. Regarding Mitnick's "most wanted" status, JM writes: "Sorry, but I didn't create the character, Kevin did. He has now been arrested six times in fifteen years. Each time, except for this last time, he was given a second chance to get his act together. He chose not too. It seems to me that he is an adult and makes choices. He chose to keep breaking in to computers. He knew what the penalty was. So what's the problem?" Here again, JM avoids my direct point--that he was the first to categorize Mitnick as "one of America's most wanted." Of course Mitnick is responsible for his actions. I never disputed this, and never suggested he was innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted. I merely suggested that the crimes were relatively trivial and were exaggerated out of all proportion by JM's extravagant prose. Exaggeration, imprecision, and innuendo: *that's* the problem, JM. JM writes: "A witch hunt? Give me a break. It was an article describing a law enforcement hunt for a fugitive, who had been arrested five times previously, convicted at least three times, and was known to be attacking the computers of the nation's cellular telephone companies." My review complained that JM throws around words such as "attack" without ever defining them in computer terms. He's still doing it here in his rebuttal. Kevin Mitnick never attacked any computer, by my understanding of the word. Re providing advice to the police, JM writes: "I was called by Kent Walker, the AUSA on the case during a meeting at the Well. He asked me if I thought Mitnick was dangerous. I responded that everything I knew about Mitnick had either been in Cyberpunk or my July 4 1994 article, ie. in the public. I repeated the story of one arrest in which Kevin ended up handcuffed in tears over the hood of the detective's car. I gave no other information, nor got any." Since we will never know the extent to which JM tried to help the FBI, I guess we'll just have to take his word for this. Re Mitnick's dangerousness, JM writes: "This is just not true. Kevin Mitnick was actively sharing system vulnerabilities with other people on the net. That is about the most damaging thing that could be done to the Internet community." Is JM aware that some highly respected security experts believe that sharing news of vulnerabilities is the best way to encourage better security? True, this is a controversial subject; but certainly the sharing of vulnerabilities is NOT "the most damaging thing that could be done to the Internet community." That's just another of those wildly exaggerated phrases that JM throws out for emotional effect. I can think of many politicians--and even a few journalists--who pose a far greater danger to the future of the net than Kevin Mitnick ever did. Re the petty gossip in _Takedown,_ JM writes: "The reason we described what happened at Toad Hall on Xmas was that the attacks first came from toad.com while Tsutomu and Julia were there. If we hadn't have been complete in our description someone would have charged us with a cover up. Please remember that David Bank, a San Jose Mercury reporter, spent several weeks pursuing the hypothesis that Tsutomu had attack his own computers." Uh-huh. And I suppose the rest of the sordid, relentlessly personal thread in _Takedown,_ describing every little nuance of Shimomura's campaign to steal someone's long-term girlfriend, was merely included so that no one could complain that the account was incomplete? Really! In my review, I complained about pejorative terms (such as "attack") that JM uses repeatedly. His response: "Perjorative?? Yikes! I mean we could go to the dictionary....." Well, I guess JM *should* go to the dictionary. If he does, he will find that pejorative is a perfectly good word which I spelled correctly. It's ironic that he seems unaware of it, since it so aptly describes his own journalistic technique. Re my assertion that all charges but one against Mitnick have been dropped, JM replies: "Wrong. Kevin Mitnick is in jail in Los Angeles facing charges from more than six United States Federal Districts. He may go on trial or he may plea bargain." I tried to contact Mitnick's attorney before I wrote my review. He did not return my calls. I based my statement on information from three other sources. If it's incorrect, obviously I stand corrected. As I understand it, though, those charges from other federal districts may not have been actually filed. Is "facing charges" another of those slightly misleading terms that makes the situation sound worse than it really is? Are the charges actual, or potential? Finally JM writes: "Myth and reality? I have been writing about Kevin Mitnick for a long time, since 1981 to be precise, but I didn't create a myth, he created his own story." In his own rebuttal, JM has already referred to the Mitnick story as a "good yarn." A yarn, of course, is a richly embroidered, sometimes fictionalized version of the truth. This is precisely what I believe he concocted, and it isn't my idea of decent journalism. ---- Lastly, a question which occurred to me after I wrote my original review. Around the same time that Kevin Mitnick broke into Tsutomo Shimomura's computer, he also broke into the system of Dan Farmer, another extremely well known security expert. What did Farmer do? He didn't get self-righteous about the "invasion of privacy." He didn't start ranting about the "extreme danger" posed by Mitnick. He certainly didn't take several weeks from his normal schedule and pursue a personal vendetta. Nor did he coauthor a book portraying Mitnick as a danger to the net. He presumably fixed the flaw that had allowed Mitnick to get in, and went on with his life. Would JM like to explain how Dan Farmer's perception of "the Mitnick threat" can be so different from Shimomura's? To the outside observer, it almost looks as if there wasn't a significant security threat, and Shimomura must have been motivated by wounded vanity, while John Markoff was motivated by his desire to tell a "good yarn" and make a lot of money. Am I wrong?

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Phil Z getting through customs
by Brad Shantz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

David Koontz wrote: > The question is, can Phil get through U.S. Customs at a point of entry > in a reasonable time, now? No. Just because he's off the hook as such doesn't mean that Customs will know about it. Customs officials often appear to me to be in their own little world...(personal opinion only.) I wasn't aware that Phil would have problems at customs anyway. If you answer the questions truthfully and are a US citizen, they really can't hold you back. Brad

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Re: Zimmermann case is dropped.
by Brad Shantz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Well, so far the feds haven't prosecuted "Jim Bidzos" for posting Crypto++ > to usenet. Anyway, both versions have been on utopia.hacktic.nl for months. I thought that it was determined to be a hoax. Someone "disguised" as Jim Bidzos posted it to USENET. Anyone have confirmation? Brad

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SPO_oks
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1-12-96. WashP: "Agencies Debate Value of Being Out in the Cold. Spies Under 'Nonofficial Cover' Are Among Most Sensitive Operations." Today, as the roles and missions of American spying are being reviewed, one of the most sensitive debates in the U.S. intelligence community is whether to step up the overseas use of NOCs, not only by the CIA but also by the Pentagon's Defense Humint Service and the FBI, both of which also can work abroad under cover. Because they operate alone and outside embassies, NOCs need their own secure communications and a safe way to keep their highly classified files. 1-11-96. WashP: "Israeli Media Break Censorship Rules to Name New Security Service Head." The man who will take the reins of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Rear Adm. Ami Ayalon, was named today in Israeli news accounts for the first time in the history of the secretive organization. Israeli media have yet to name Ayalon's predecessor, Karmi Gilon, who was still referred to today as "Kaf." 1-11-96. FinTim: "Yeltsin's New Spy Master to Play by the Rules." Mr Trubnikov will be the first spymaster to work under new legislation which says the intelligence services must use "a combination of open and secret methods and tactics and in accordance with the principle of legality and respect for human rights and freedoms". Separately, Mr Yeltsin signed a decree limiting phone taps and the unauthorised collection of information on firms and individuals. But Tass, which reported the decree, gave no details of how it would work. SPO_oks

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Next on "Geraldo": "Darkside Hackers in Love with their Trackers"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:48 PM 1/12/96, Perry E. Metzger wrote: >PS I'm really not interested in reading large chunks of information on >John Gilmore's or Tsutomu Shimomura's sex lives anywhere at all, but >I'm sure there is SOME mailing list where it is relevant. Why don't >you go and post the garbage there, eh? On this one I have to agree with Perry. As I started to read the item someone posted (I have mercifully forgotten the poster) about TS in the upstairs-hot-tub-with-waterfalls and the Nepal-returned-starstruck lovers and their "committed" relationship, I felt I'd opened a manhole above a sewer. Or tuned in to "Sally Jesse Raphael." "Takedown" is one book I don't plan to even flip through at the bookstore. No offense intended to John, Tsutomo, Kevin, Julia, Kent, Katie, or John. --Tim May 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, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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