December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

NYT login
by David Lesher 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At one point, some kind souls were entering "username: cypherpunks" logins for all the various "free" www sites. Did anyone catch the www.nytimes.com one? If so, what password? -- A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz(a)nrk.com & no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433 is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

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Re: Win a free Apache-SSL-US Commercial license
by Steve Gibbons 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In Article: <Pine.SOL.3.91.960301204634.8380C-100000@chivalry>, Simon Spero <ses(a)tipper.oit.unc.edu> wrote: # On Fri, 1 Mar 1996 sameer(a)atropos.c2.org wrote: # > See http://apachessl.c2.org/ for more details. # Not quite an entry, but am I the only one to pronounce SSL "Cecil" # (SEcure Socket layer), to go along with SHTTP as "Shit-p" (nil)? # Cecil The C2 Web server? The word that always springs to my mind is "sessile." (Granted, I'm a pessimist, at heart... ;) -- Steve(a)AZTech.Net

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Re: PGP PRNG seeds?
by Mutant Rob 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Jean-Francois Avon (JFA Technologies, QC, Canada) wrote: > I tinkered with the switch > pgp +makerandom=size output.fil > > Is there a way to "seed" the PRNG with another file, say , part of an > encrypted text file? Copy the first 408 bytes of that file to the randseed.bin file in your pgp directory. (I'd save the original randseed.bin file or use a good RNG to generate a new one when you're done). - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMTf8qyoZzwIn1bdtAQHrZQF/dM8RgYDEB+pTSmdy9HSIi38YKy9LG9FE yBZtka9z28A2UyVvi37ijP8DrcOYg4zI =duUA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Anonymous Web Browsing
by Mark Grant, M.A. (Oxon) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Fri, 1 Mar 1996, Timothy C. May wrote: > These are "web proxies," and searching on this should produce some > information to answer your questions. There's a problem with that. I've noticed several pages recently with hidden mailto: links that aren't marked as such. So you can be happily browsing away through a web proxy only to click on a link and have your real id mailed to the site's owners. As people have mentioned, this is even worse with Javascript. Note to Netscape people: Is it possible to have an option that will *always* pop up a mail window and request confirmation before mail is sent out? Or disable mailto altogether? It would be a lot easier than binary editing the executable to remove all the mailto strings... Or does it exist? I can't find it. Mark

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Re: Problems with certificates.
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:35 AM 3/1/96 -0500, A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security wrote: >Today, each person generates their own PGP key. While it is unlikely that >any two will match, it is likely that at some point some two will match >(see matching birthdays in a bar - number is less than you would think). If if we colonized every planet in the galaxy, and every planet had a trillion people, and every single person on every planet generated a billion keys a second for a billion billion years, not one pair would match, assuming they were generated from truly random seeds. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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New PRNG method!
by Olcay Cirit 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hello, All! I was just thinking about how to generate random numbers, when I hit upon an interesting idea: If the internet is so huge and complex, why not, say, use the least significant bits of ping times from random internet hosts as seeds for a PRNG? (Practical Random Number Gen.) You could then break the resulting binary value into 128-bit blocks and modulus/xor each with a stream of random numbers taken from a keyboard timing. After all this, you could wash it with a secure symmetric cryptosystem such as idea in CBC mode. Any thoughts, comments? -olcay - -- "For he who lives more lives than one, |) Olcay Cirit -- olcay(a)libtech.com more deaths than one must die" (| http://www.libtech.com/olo2.html - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMTh9pCoZzwIn1bdtAQGuDAGA1QM1KyGQ2i6n9LLF00HrVn7OvBftesA9 +Jsu4W3yZothdL1pFQLt2v5l9mjgTspW =2x/g -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Anonymous Web Browsing
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:24 AM 3/2/96, dwhite(a)pris.bc.ca wrote: > Hi guys..... I'm new here and I don't have the same technical >expertise as I am witnessing with most of the other posters here. > My question is this: Would it be possible to create a web site that >would function along the same lines as remailers do? Something that would >allow a person to browse anonymously. So lets say I surfed into a These are "web proxies," and searching on this should produce some information to answer your questions. Most of us, I think, are not using them. Your intuitions are correct, that protection steps are needed. The technology is developing, but the perceived need (anonymous browsing) is probably less than the perceived need for anonymous e-mail. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 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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Re: Cryptanalysis
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:44 AM 3/2/96, Alan Olsen wrote: >My mistake... The publication I was thinking of was "the Journal of >Cryptology". They reference Springer-Verlag New York Inc. as the source for >back issues, but there is no listing on the linked web page for that journal >and the search engine returns nothing for that journal. (They do have a few >other things of interest however...) One gets the "Journal of Cryptology" automatically by attending the Crypto Conference (at least this was so in the past). I can't see that it carries much that the "Crypto" and "Eurocrypt" Proceedings carry (though Chaum's "Dining Cryptographers" paper was in Volume I, Number 1, circa 1988-89). "Cryptologia" is a much different thing. Neither is necessary for the disposing of snake oil products, however. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 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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Re: Cryptanalysis
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:11 PM 3/1/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote: >At 6:52 AM 3/2/96, Alan Olsen wrote: > >>The author has failed to call me back. I do have some serious concerns >>about the code. (There is not a single XOR used, except to clear >>registers!) I am starting to suspect that it is based on a mathematical >>progression based on the numbers 40, 28, 36. I need to spend a bit of time > ^^^^^^^^^^ >Ah, note that the magic key, 42, is not included. Coincidence, or stupidity? Actually it is an obscure reference to a movie called "Our Man Flint". It was the basis of the code used in the movie. >Alan, there is not enough time in the universe to waste it on those who >will not learn even the basics. The "author," who I had understood to be a >friend of yours (though apparently a more distant relationship is >involved), is apparently developing something John Dee would have been >proud of. He is more aquaintence than friend... Someone who is a close friend asked me to get involved. As for the other reasons for asking for the references, it is more a matter of personal curiosity. I expect his project to fail anyways for reasons i have already stated... --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "I, Caligula Clinton... In the name of the Senate and the people of Rome!" - Bill Clinton signing the CDA with the First Amendment bent over.

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Re: Cryptanalysis
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:11 PM 3/1/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote: >>>* The journal "Cryptologia" is largely devoted to amateur cryptanalysis. >> >>The web info for back issues listed a web page from a publisher that had no >>listing for them on the server. I will be sending mail to get more info... > >Last I checked, Tony Patti was still the editor. Not all things are on the >Web in serious ways, obviously. I had no problems finding copies in my >local university library (UC Santa Cruz), but it was several years ago that >I last checked (conventional cryptanalysis not being very germane and all). >Reed College might have copies. My mistake... The publication I was thinking of was "the Journal of Cryptology". They reference Springer-Verlag New York Inc. as the source for back issues, but there is no listing on the linked web page for that journal and the search engine returns nothing for that journal. (They do have a few other things of interest however...) The time spent was not a loss... I found a number of interesting things on the web and recieved a number of pointers to books I was not aware of and are not listed in any of the FAQs. The best site I found was at: http://mnementh.cs.adfa.oz.au/htbin/bib_lpb It is for Lawries Cryptography Bibliography. It contains a search engine to a large listing of crypto articles. Worth checking out. --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "I, Caligula Clinton... In the name of the Senate and the people of Rome!" - Bill Clinton signing the CDA with the First Amendment bent over.

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Re: Cryptanalysis
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 03:55 PM 2/29/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote: >There are several places to look: Thanks for the sources. More money is going to get dumped into cryptobooks soon. (I am amazed how little exists on the web on the topic.) I had seen a few of the books at a local bookstore, but I was uncertain of their quality. (They also had a number of snake-oil crypto books.) >However, these books are based on work done in WWII and the following >decade(s), so the stuff is pretty dated. Still, nearly any "snake oil >crypto" system, such as it sounds like your friend is building, will likely >be far weaker than the ciphers the NSA was attacking back in the early >days. The author has failed to call me back. I do have some serious concerns about the code. (There is not a single XOR used, except to clear registers!) I am starting to suspect that it is based on a mathematical progression based on the numbers 40, 28, 36. I need to spend a bit of time on the code with a debugger to find out just where that segment of code is located. (Should not take too long... Just have to make the time.) >* The journal "Cryptologia" is largely devoted to amateur cryptanalysis. The web info for back issues listed a web page from a publisher that had no listing for them on the server. I will be sending mail to get more info... >>The Cyphernomicon has a couple of paragraphs, but nothing on >>techniques or pointers to other references. RSA's FAQ has >>little to nothing as well. A web search turned up little >>useful. Most of the other references I have found have been for >>current cyphers, but next to nothing about breaking them. > >There are very good reasons to say little about "conventional >cryptanalysis": it just doesn't matter much with modern ciphers, such as >public key systems. Modern ciphers don't fall to conventional attacks based >on word frequency, pattern analysis, etc. Still an interesting topic... >Your friend is on a hopeless task. If he doesn't understand just how >hopeless it is to develop a homegrown, conventional cipher then he's >certainly not likely to take the time to become a skilled amateur >cryptanalyst. I am trying to convince him of the futility of the task. (It is hard as his ego keeps getting in the way.) I just want to give him reasons why it is weak and not just glittering generalities. Thanks again for the book references! --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "I, Caligula Clinton... In the name of the Senate and the people of Rome!" - Bill Clinton signing the CDA with the First Amendment bent over.

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Re: Netcom and Credit Cards
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > The "credit card numbers were stolen" point, that I believe Ed Carp was > referring to, had to do with the Mitnick affair, and is very old news. The fact that they had been stolen was mentioned in an edition of 2600 6 months before the Mitnick saga. Netcom had been told about the security breaches many times, but refused to acknowledge that their site was insecure. It was this arrogance that pissed people off more than their insecurity. - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMTm0vyoZzwIn1bdtAQFHgQGA2lxrjz1dzFmNmveG6yIhdc9xC3ghDr4h Q12sN3g9/s7uof66Q+bVBpIxsqbeJM0s =JckI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Truelly Random Numbers
by Gary Howland 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Timothy C May wrote: > In some PK code I did several years ago in Mathematica, the primes for the > RSA modulus were found by picking a "random" (more on this later) starting > point and then counting up from there, testing for primality (actually, > pseudoprimality, technically). As one would expect, primes are found fairly > quickly. Surely the process of counting up until you get a prime means that the chances of getting certain primes are greater than others (eg. 17 is more likely than 19) ? Gary - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMTm2jCoZzwIn1bdtAQEIOwGAg9YkxQXKKS07ZVBvEfzTRaNcxMnZDUYa sfyzl2mr7UZ94AEoVyWgcsYQXvuFG1QK =fOGq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Assassination Politics 9!
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Sun Mar 3 1996, Just Rich wrote: : On Sat, 2 Mar 1996, Black Unicorn wrote: : : > On Wed, 28 Feb 1996, jim bell wrote: : > : > > "Assassination Politics" Part 9, by Jim Bell, February 27, 1996 : > > : > > For about a year I have been considering the implications of "Assassination : > > Politics," and for more than six months I've been sharing the subject and : > > my musings with you, the interested reader. : > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ : > You're pushing it here. : : No he's not. "Reader" is singular, and Jim is on cypherpunks. Just because you two aren't interested, doesn't mean others aren't. Work is actually in progress in implementing such a system. - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMTnBWSoZzwIn1bdtAQF1zQF7BuwNLQ+C6ql4gUQi5FIaPmdpudvVHKjE K+HLZRrkUm7ziPXq0tGWecuBJ3ucD6lw =628g -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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MTM_moi
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

EcoMist, March 2, 1996: "Many people believe that the Internet will make middlemen extinct. It is more likely to help them thrive." The Net's fans argue that it allows consumers to bypass intermediaries while increasing their choices and finding better bargains. One influential proponent of this idea is Bill Gates. Compelling as they seem, however, these arguments do not prove their case. Hal Varian, an economist at the UC Berkeley, claims there will be greater competition among intermediaries, and maybe many more of them. Instead of competing on the basis of inside information, those agents will compete by adding value in other ways. The Internet will put some intermediaries out of business, but it will create more work for others. And among these will be not only suppliers of familiar services, but also a new breed monitoring Internet sites, collecting news and information, and repackaging it -- folk, in other words, like Mr Gates. MTM_moi

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Re: Anonymous Web Browsers
by Mark Grant, M.A. (Oxon) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Sat, 2 Mar 1996, A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security wrote: [Netscape mailto] > Disabling is easy, just do not specify a mail server (or better, one that > will refuse mail) in "options/preferences/mail and news". Netscape (at least > 1.1n) initiates a port 25 connection to the designated server to send mail. Tried that. Doesn't work with 2.0 on SunOS, it just connects to localhost instead... Mark

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

17 Dec '03

Applied Crypto 2nd Edition - page 334-335. Brief stuff: Block Cypher (symetrical), 64 bit key, 64 bit block size "The S-boxes are implemenation dependent, but not key dependent." resistant to differential and linear cryptanalysis "Northern Telecom is using CAST in their Entrust security software package for Macintoshes, PCs, and UNIX workstations. The particular S-boxes they chose are not public. The Candadian government is evaluating CAST as a new encryption standard. CAST is patent pending." If you don't have the book - GET IT! ;-) Dan > From: "Stephen A. Gutknecht" <sgutknec(a)computek.net> > To: "'cypherpunks(a)toad.com'" <cypherpunks(a)toad.com> > Subject: RE: Nortel "Entrust" > > I too would like to see an open discussion on this. Microsoft uses this for > their new Exchange Server client/server email product.... > > ---------- > From: Jonathon Fletcher[SMTP:jonathon@japan.sbi.com] > Sent: Friday, March 01, 1996 10:17 AM > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Subject: Nortel "Entrust" > > > Can anyone tell me anything about a product called "Entrust", by Nortel > (Northern Telecom). The notes talk about the software using DES ("which > employs a 56-bit key") so I guess it's single DES, not triple DES. It also > mentions a proprietary algorithm called CAST. > > Is this worthy of further investigation, or is it suspect ? What is > CAST, and would it be classed as snake oil ? > ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke(a)aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX

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Duress
by A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Ms. Wilson then gave into the pressure applied and gave >the passwords required by Justice Haggerty. Those of you who follow FIREWALLS may recall that I premote the use of "minefields" on networks, machines that should never be accessed and will trigger an alarm/response on any access. Some years ago I wrote a spec for cryptographic securing of notebooks/ E-Mail that included a "duress" capability: a "password" that, when entered would appear to be properly accepted but would report an error on retrieval. Optional was to be overwriting of any material whose access was attempted. For some time people have been puzzled when I have said that good systems protection will increase the risks to the *people* involved just as good locks on cars led to carjacking. Warmly, Padgett

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Re: Assassination Politics 9!
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Mar 03, 1996 10:57:14, 'nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)' wrote: >Just because you two aren't interested, doesn't mean others aren't. >Work is actually in progress in implementing such a system. The Economist of March 2 has a cover story on state, church and private terrorism, the effectiveness and failures of each, the arguments and apologies, the savages and the victims, the lucrative concocting of imaginary enemies -- military, religious, political, personal. It's conclusions are ... well, have a read and dread how the Demon Trio of state, church and private super-righteous sub-humans will murder you and your loved ones next to fulfill their blind ambitions.

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Electronic Freedom press release
by LibertyWMA＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----------------------------------------------- NEWS FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS LIBERTARIAN ASSOCIATION ----------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release For Additional Information John Brickner Electronic Outreach Director Massachusetts Libertarian Association LibertyWMA(a)aol.com ---------------------------------------------------- Phillies Endorses Electronic Freedom George Phillies, Libertarian Party candidate for the U. S. Senate in Massachusetts, today condemned the so-called Communications Decency Act -- the Internet Censorship Act --and called for its immediate repeal. Phillies, a resident of Worcester, will face incumbent Senator John Kerry and Governor William Weld in the fall election. He further called for elimination of controls that are strangling our computer export industry. Phillies explained his stand on Electronic Freedoms: 'There is no freedom more fundamental than freedom of speech, and electronic speech is speech. When Congress passes a law against undefined 'indecent' speech, it threatens all speech. When Congress extended the Comstock Law to electronic media, it forbade discussion of abortion by pro-life as well as pro-choice supporters. Of course, the Clinton Justice Department says it won't enforce the Comstock Act. But what will happen in 1997 if the Buchanan Justice Department replaces the Clinton Justice Department? Export restrictions on software are hurting the computer industry. Let us have a reality check here. PGP and other strong encryption algorithms are freely available in Europa, Asia, and Africa. The only companies being hurt by export restrictions on software are American companies. The only people being hurt by export restrictions are American programmers and manufacturers. Export restrictions on encryption and other software are hurting us, while stopping no one from encrypting their data. The Libertarian Party supports free trade in computer software, and so do I! Export restrictions on computer hardware are even worse, because those restrictions are a de facto subsidy from the U.S. government to foreign hardware producers. When a foreign producer can manufacture a high power computer, and an American producer cannot export one to compete in the free market, it is the foreign producer who profits, and American designers, workers, and shareholders who takes it in the chin. We have enough challenges from foreign competition now; we don't need our American government helping our foreign competitors. I have long supported electronic speech and publication as Constitutionally protected forms of speech and press. When the Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games to suppress publication of 'Hacker' I immediately wrote Congress to protest. I argued 200 hundred years ago, King George's Hessian mercenaries raided colonial printers to scattered their typecases; now, Federal agents destroyed electronic font files. The physical format of the type was different, but the act was the same. 30 years ago, Russian police raided homes of Russian dissidents, destroying hand-typed samizdat; now, Federal agents destroyed magnetically-stored manuscripts of a game. The physical format of the manuscript was the different, but the act was the same. In the end, of course, word went out across the Net -- Justice was served. Steve Jackson had won his lawsuit. 'Finally, I remind all computer users, programmers, and designers: Liberty is indivisible! By standing together to protect all Constitutional Rights, not just the ones closest and dearest to our hearts, we make every Right safer. We all need to support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the parts that liberals or Republicans find convenient. Support the whole Bill of Rights. Support Your Electronic Freedom. Register and vote Libertarian. --------------------------30---------------- Background information The Libertarian Party is one of Massachusetts' three legally-recognized major political parties. Libertarians stand in the dynamic center of the political spectrum: conservative on fiscal issues, pro-freedom on social issues. To place candidates before the voters, Libertarians must satisfy precisely the same laws that will allow Democrats and Republicans to put Kerry and Weld on the ballot. In 1994, a Libertarian running for statewide office in Massachusetts received over 3% of the vote, more than the difference between Kerry and Weld in a recent poll. ------------------------------------------ For Additional Information: Contact the Candidate Himself: George Phillies Massachusetts Libertarian Association 87-6 Park Avenue Worcester MA 01605 508-831-5334 (w) (Yes, he has a real job.) 508-754-1859 (h) phillies(a)wpi.edu --------------------30--------------------------- Candidate Biographical Data George Phillies was born July 23, 1947 in Buffalo, New York, first son of Eustace G. Phillies, M.D.(deceased) and Clara Phillies. Phillies grew up in Kenmore and Williamsville, New York, finished as salutatorian at the Williamsville Central High School [now Williamsville North], and came to M.I.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While at MIT, Phillies earned degrees of Bachelor of Science in physics and in life sciences, as well as Master of Science and (in 1973) Doctor of Science degrees in physics. Phillies then joined the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program as a researcher. In 1971, Phillies joined the United States Army Reserves, eventually rising to the rank of Specialist, 5th Class, in a Boston unit, the 338th Medical Detachment; he received an honorable discharge in 1977. In 1975, Phillies moved to California, working as a postdoctoral fellow in the U.C.L.A. Chemistry department and living in Santa Monica. Phillies in 1978 moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was employed as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. In 1985, after declining alternatives at nationally-known schools, Phillies moved to the prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he rose to the rank of Professor in the Department of Physics. Phillies is recognized internationally for his scientific studies of light scattering, soaps, and polymer solutions. Phillies, 48, never married, rents a townhouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, a block from the WPI Campus. In 1994, the Libertarian Party gained major-party status in Massachusetts. Phillies has participated actively in Libertarian Party organizing efforts in Central and Western Massachusetts. In 1996, he was elected Executive Director of the Massachusetts Libertarian Association. The Bill of Rights: "I support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the convenient parts. I support the freedom of unpopular speech, the freedom to practice uncommon religions, freedom for consenting adults in the privacy of their homes, freedom of privacy via exportable strong encryption." ------------------------------------------------

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Mainstreaming PGP on Usenet
by Bruce Baugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm surprised nobody has brought this up before.... FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2) moderated group soc.culture.russian.moderated <snip> 6. Individuals in the database of known readers may post freely to the group, subject to the conditions in sections 1-4 above. If need arises, the robomoderator may perform PGP verification of the identity of the known reader and, if the reader requests so, automatically reject all the submissions from the reader without a valid PGP signature. -- Bruce Baugh bruce(a)aracnet.com http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce

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Re: Truelly Random Numbers
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:11 PM 3/3/96, Gary Howland wrote: >Timothy C May wrote: > >> In some PK code I did several years ago in Mathematica, the primes for the >> RSA modulus were found by picking a "random" (more on this later) starting >> point and then counting up from there, testing for primality (actually, >> pseudoprimality, technically). As one would expect, primes are found fairly >> quickly. > >Surely the process of counting up until you get a prime means >that the chances of getting certain primes are greater than >others (eg. 17 is more likely than 19) ? ??? I think you are misunderstanding the point. The count doesn't start at 0, if this is your point...that would be a lot worse than some primes more common than other, that would mean everyone uses the same prime, e.g., "2." Rather, one picks a suitably random number, such as "836480166228153153328299.....845082582622308645" (lots of digits) and tests it for primality (pseudoprimality). For a several hundred digit number, only about a one percent chance or less that it's prime. So, one iterates upward or downward by two (one first makes sure it's odd, as it must be to be a possible prime). Sure, the first prime reached is "more likely" to be selected than the second or third or nth prime reached, but so what? No outsider knows the seed value, which is where all of the security resides. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 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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Re: Truelly Random Numbers
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:11 AM 3/3/96 -0500, Gary Howland wrote: >Surely the process of counting up until you get a prime means >that the chances of getting certain primes are greater than >others (eg. 17 is more likely than 19) ? In order to use this information, one would need to determine the number of primes in the vicinity of a potential prime factor. This costs more than actually checking for the factor, hence is not useful. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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No Subject
by burma＠alpha.c2.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello Everyone! I'm trying to help my friend. He doesn't have his own computer. He uses and abuses the school computers. Here is the problem the guy has. Read on! I don't know if any of you have problem with scrolling through the BurmaNet News article recently. It freezes my VT100 screen and give me KBD LOCKED errors at certain spot. It also freezes the xterm window. It turn out that the file contains non-printable ( invisible ) charecters, dc3, to be exact, which screw up something. Below is the octal dump of the BurmaNet content on a unix box. Note the 'dc3' charecter right before "The definition often the ..." on line 4300 and 6700. If any of you are having similar problem please drop me a note.

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cryptography
by David K. Merriman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Response to Freedom Now! program on PBS, regarding expanding use of cryptography by individuals. - ----------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, the NSA representative (Mr. Baker?) on today's (3/3/96) show neglected to mention that the Clinton administration called for the introduction of the Clipper chip in *all* phones, NOT just those used by the government. This may be readily verified online via the archives at the EFF (http://www.eff.org) EPIC (http://www.epic.org) and even the White House' (http://www.whitehouse.gov) own ftp-able copies of the President's speeches. Also missed was the fact that the Clipper chip would readily permit the implementation of what is called "traffic analysis" - knowing who spoke with whom, regardless of content. Traffic analysis data could readily be misinterpreted. If I were to make a dozen calls to a KKK office, traffic analysis would show such; it would *not* indicate whether the calls were in support of, or opposition to, the KKK's existence. I found 'interesting' the NSA representative's emphasis of the fact that with the introduction of the automobile, the government's response was licensing and requirements for absolute identification. Extending that response, and the extensive licensing and identification procedures used to (legally) acquire (legal) firearms, to the use of cryptography and communications: are we going to see licensed telephones? Are we going to be obliged to present a National ID card before being able to use a public pay phone? Somehow, I have trouble equating a submachine gun to a Princess phone... but then, I'm not a (probably justifiably so) paranoid government official. David K. Merriman merriman(a)arn.net -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMTks9MVrTvyYOzAZAQF+tQP/Z1WQQ5lA04Lkt1e4pDM6x/MA113+LuAQ DnKSSy50778cblcW44IimEkeWvxAQ/ee4FYtDlDvpxVgCXJc9ARUdawpZ0eFoCON 5nQ1VixVUMhmMrZYUrx1MFmacvgYDfkqXS7QEHmkrQzvZTKsjM67gs2VKCUhJm0D p54R34ooaKM= =1HPq -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------- "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> For privacy tools: http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/1148

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