December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:02 PM 7/7/96, Robert Hettinga wrote: >Like a lot of pop-psychopharmacology, "syndromes" frequently get defined by >whether the right drug has the desired effect. If prozac works, you're >depressed, if Ritalin does, you're an ADDer, and so on. By Tim's anecdotal >evidence, the little hellion (hey, *I* was one...) must be ADD because >Ritalin works. Probably so, and I think I recall my friend mentioning that this was the kid needed the dose. Whether it's an upper or a downer or whatever is immaterial: it acts as a downer for this kid. A zombie drug, at least on this kid. (And I gather that this is the main effect on the many California schoolchildren who are getting their school-administered doses of mind control drugs.) >You can actually see ADD with a PET scan, but the proper way to get a >diagnosis of ADD is to get tested for it, which, in the case of ADD, is an >expensive man-day or two with with some clinical shrink in your face, and a >bunch of frustrating (if you're ADD) tests of your attention and ability to >focus in the presence of a lot of distractions. Oddly enough, *another* >pop-psychologist from Harvard was on "20/20" this week talking about >"emotional" intellegence, and one of the determinants was inability to >understand delayed gratification. Like most kids with ADD, I must have been >a drooling idiot, in that case. >From what I've read--and I'm no expert, having long had essentially the _opposite_ of "attention deficit disorder," assuming it really even exists!--most children getting Ritalin are just being sedated. Behavior control in its purest form. While the kids stop their wandering attention and constant physical motions, it's because they're in a mental fog, just one step away from drooling. (The 8-year-old friend of my friend's son is so zoned out he can't play video games well at all...until the drugs wear off.) >However, I practically agree with Tim on all of his screed. (A good one, I >might add. He probably only reread it once for punctuation and spelling >before he did a command-e to send it on its way. After wiping the foam >from his mouth, that is. ;-)) It seems to me that the very *last* person to Au contraire, I almost _never_ rework my posts. They are sent out as I write them, just as conversation is not reworked and edited. For an informal list, the conversational mode works best for me. (I get a kick out of John Young's obscure stuff, but if he _talks_ this way, whoah!) >BarelyObCrypto: ADD is more about lack of attention *control* than lack of >attention itself. Hyperfocus is also a trait of ADHD, and computers tend to >cause hyperfocus for a lot of ADDers. How many easily distracted knee-jiggling >wunderkind hackers do *you* know? Care to guess how many ADDers there are >on cypherpunks? BTW, I saw a comment that Bill Gates is almost certainly an ADD person...or maybe the comment was that he is borderline autistic? (I think it was the latter, based on his focus on things, his physical mannerisms, etc. Perhaps growing up in rainy Seattle made him a kind of "rain man.") --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Word lists for passphrases
by AwakenToMe＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 96-07-06 21:46:03 EDT, stend(a)grendel.austin.texas.net (Firebeard) writes: << It's also trivial enough to be done by 99% of the people on cypherpunks in their sleep. As for realy secure systems, they aren't on the net, they don't have dialups, and you access them from vaults. >> Yes. But let me ask you this. Have you done it yet?? I doubt it. And if ya needed it.. and someone had it...wouldnt you just say.. Uh.. OK.. Ill take it rather than spend my precious time on it. Exactly. Later.

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Re: Net and Terrorism.
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:03 PM 7/6/96 +0500, Arun Mehta wrote: > Once the Soviet menace faded, the same > fighters were branded terrorists. Mixed signals like this are responsible > for much of the animosity that one finds in the Islamic world (possibly even > in other parts of the world) against the US. Some of them *were* and are terrorists. Some of them are not. If Islamic freedom fighters refrained from murdering monks and sixteen year old girls then people would refrain from calling them terrorists. It is not the mixed signals, it is the mixed behavior. The islamic fundamentalists have a thoroughly well deserved reputation for malevolent evil, for rape and the deliberate individual personal murder of women and children as an instrument of terror. While the guys fighting the Israelis in Lebanon are more or less honorable men who fight according to the laws of war, the Islamic fundamentalists in Algeria are simply vicious subhuman monsters who deserve to die, each and every one, and their pals in Egypt and the Sudan are not much better. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by David Rosoff 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 07.25 AM 7/7/96 -0700, Sandy Sandfort wrote: >On Sun, 7 Jul 1996, Simon Spero wrote: >> Er... Tim... Ritalin is an amphetamine. > >Yes, normally, but doesn't it have a paradoxical reaction for >hyperactive children (i.e., it acts as a depressant for them)? Yes. I once had a friend who took it, and it calmed him down, but after I had known him for a few years, it began to have the opposite effect; and "they" decided he didn't need it anymore. =============================================================================== David Rosoff (nihongo ga sukoshi dekiru) ---------------> drosoff(a)arc.unm.edu PGP public key 0xD37692F9 -----> finger drosoff(a)acoma.arc.unm.edu or keyservers 0xD37692F9 Key fingerprint = 25 7D AA 01 85 41 43 89 50 5A 33 76 F1 F1 99 67 Do you know who's reading your email? ---> http://www.arc.unm.edu/~drosoff/pgp/ Anonymous ok, PGP ok. -------------- If it's not PGP-signed, I didn't write it. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMeAJxhguzHDTdpL5AQGuPAP/T8aBKGwnNSEjv0VW/Kn8+lYgkRPxEB39 1zKPxuAzwfF+dnPpTKp5R5kdGHtv/KvRGhKRQt0V+ocUdAFHVIhI2AghxunUIPjv 9hLbzJx635LwUuHQBAONdV4tzTC6D5MqH+V5WqOWgPWe1Oqa8bHrSiDVdBX31M4P N7T2cii/s3E= =ebXI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:10 PM 7/7/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >(As Sandy S. also noted, Ritalin has "paradoxical" effects. (I saw Sandy's >remark after sending off my reply to Simon.)) > >I've _seen_ the kid on Ritalin, and he's zombie. When it wears off, he's >back to being alert and active. Stimulants tend to have an odd effect on children. Instead of making them more active, they tend to do just the opposite. (My daughter used to have that problem with caffiene. Used to put her to sleep.) This makes the situation even more scary, considering how little is known about the brain chemistry of growing children. I am expecting the long term effects of these drugs will be "interesting". (And not in a good way.) I know a woman who was tranq'ed as a kid. She is nice and sweet, cannot dream at all, and is a total and unrepentant sociopath. Your results may vary. --- |"Computers are Voodoo -- You just have to know where to stick the pins."| |"The moral PGP Diffie taught Zimmermann unites all| Disclaimer: | | mankind free in one-key-steganography-privacy!" | Ignore the man | |`finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key | behind the keyboard.| | http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ | alano(a)teleport.com |

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Exciting News on Music Boulevard
by owner-mblvd＠telebase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Friends of Music Boulevard: We're excited to announce a major redesign of Music Boulevard, the Ultimate Online Music Store(tm). We invite you - as someone who has visited and/or opened an account with us - to check out our new look at WWW.MUSICBLVD.COM! Many of the changes and improvements we have made are in response to your feedback. The new Music Boulevard is faster, contains more content, and is easier to navigate. Our fantastic collection of music magazines and Billboard(r) charts are now available to everyone! We think you'll really enjoy shopping in our new environment. We are also pleased to introduce the Music Boulevard Frequent Buyers Club. Membership in the Frequent Buyers Club is free. Once you sign-up, you will be rewarded with a free CD of your choice for every 10 you purchase! As always, we continue to provide the best Customer Service of any site on the internet. We have recently added more customer service representatives who will be glad to assist you with your inquiries. We'd like to thank you for visiting Music Boulevard, and we'd be very interested in your feedback on our new interface. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 1.800.216.6000 or 610.293.4793. Our email address is service(a)musicblvd.com. Sincerely, The Music Boulevard Staff

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:14 PM 7/7/96, Simon Spero wrote: >On Sat, 6 Jul 1996, Timothy C. May wrote: >> >> When the mother (a single mother, as this is California) drops her son off >> with my friend (also single, of course), she includes several "Ritalin" >> capsules with instructions on how to dose her son with this >> depressant/behavior modification drug. > >Er... Tim... Ritalin is an amphetamine. Whatever. It acts as a calmant/tranquilizer/depressant on many. (As with many drugs, there are apparently paradoxical effects. Alcohol is a downer for some, and upper for others.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:06 PM 7/7/96, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: >Simon Spero <ses(a)tipper.oit.unc.edu> writes: >> Er... Tim... Ritalin is an amphetamine. > >Yes, it's an _anti-depressant, supposedly turning up those pieces of the brain >responsible for "tuning out" outside interference, and letting the hyperactive >kid concentrate. But a true cypherpunk never lets any facts interfere with his >political agenda. Vulis, time to put you back in my killfile. Gratuitous insults, especially those not based on important factual points, is your standard mode. (As Sandy S. also noted, Ritalin has "paradoxical" effects. (I saw Sandy's remark after sending off my reply to Simon.)) I've _seen_ the kid on Ritalin, and he's zombie. When it wears off, he's back to being alert and active. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: NYT/CyberTimes on CWD article
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 6 Jul 96 at 16:56, eli+(a)gs160.sp.cs.cmu.edu wrote: > >http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0706patrol-reporters.html > > "If we believe the encryption scheme has > > been compromised, we will make another > > one." [..] > They have to give you the list, and they have to give you software > that uses it, so there's no way to achieve complete secrecy. I think > the best they can do is to distribute a list of hashed URLs. What? After they paid for the rights to use "Infinite Vigniere Key" Technology.... I'm surprised that they went so far as to try to encrypt the naughty URLs list (but some kids would get off on just reading the list alone anyway). Hashing could be problematic... how to differentiate between a site and it's users. www.pornopix.com is obvious, but the directory tree of www.localisp.com/~perv/mypix/ is harder to filter out with hashing if subdirectories or specific images are called up, unless the software has a way to differentiate between sites and specific users or directories on those sites. (I wonder if the software can tell that ~perv/ and /users/home/perv/ or /home/perv/ can be the same directory on some systems? That would be an interesting flaw. Has anyone hacked with the software?) Another problematic with Net-Nurse type software: a database of naughty sites and naughty users... a real goldmine for prosecutors. Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Oh no! No ratings again... (Re: Need PGP-awareness in common uti
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 6 Jul 96 at 23:16, bryce(a)digicash.com wrote: > If you have a moderation bot for a Usenet group (and could it be > pressed into service as a mailing list handler I wonder?), this > would be a nice tool to start with in order to implement > full-fledged content/author ratings. [..] Bad idea unless the list is rating authors who are not on the list. It would be equivalent to setting up a reputation web. Or is this a stab at humor? Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Re: Need PGP-awareness in common utilities
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 6 Jul 96 at 23:56, bryce(a)digicash.com wrote: [..] > Hm. That might be an interesting addition to my plan, but the > first step is to generate ratings and to consume them at each > individual's mail-handling site. So I, for example, would run a > script every time I received mail (or every hour, or every day, > etc) which looked for ratings certificates, PGP-verified them, > and saved the rating in a database. Then I would run another > script (every time I received mail, or every hour, etc.) which > identified incoming messages and _did_ something to them if > there were sufficient ratings in the database to merit _doing_ > something to them (e.g. delete, promote to a "well-rated" > folder, demote to a "poorly-rated" folder, forward to my > friends, forward to my enemies, etc.). Some lists require plenty of time to read each day (let alone if I go on a vacation for a few days and want to catch up). Managing a rating system would double the work if I were to do it by hand-rating the raters, etc. It's easier to put certain people or subject threads in a twit-list folder and delete the rest by hand rather than put twice that effort into a rating system... chances are most people who quickly tire of maintaining it, let the rating system run on autopilot and then disable it when they realize they missed something really important or interesting. Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Wiretapping Rises EYE_son
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Wash Post today has page one lead story on the sharp rise in wiretapping by the Clinton administration. Former restraints due to high cost have been overcome with more money and more efficeint technology, eagerly supported by a bipartisan Congress and grateful LEA and DoJ cartelest conspiracists. And, there is a lengthy Op-Ed on the "growing stealth slice of the shrinking defense pie." Lots and lots of secrets, can't get enough of them, can't tell the public what they are, about real and imaginary terrorists and anti-terrorists -- and bypass the private citizens that threaten budgets and jobs and inner sanctum privileges. See at: http://www.washingtonpost.com No Web access? Or hate snooping newspapers, and spies traffic-analyzing? Send us via Ross Anderson's true anonymizer end-to-end encrypted spize-only top secret E-mail with the subject: EYE_son

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by minow＠apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Simon Spero comments on Tim May's Ritalin rant: >On Sat, 6 Jul 1996, Timothy C. May wrote: >> >> When the mother (a single mother, as this is California) drops her son off >> with my friend (also single, of course), she includes several "Ritalin" >> capsules with instructions on how to dose her son with this >> depressant/behavior modification drug. > >Er... Tim... Ritalin is an amphetamine. > Yup, and it was the illegal drug of choice in Sweden in the 1960's, making its use as a convenient way to quiet down rambuncious kids a bit strange -- but the "medical professionals" have an explanation. Interestingly, it is illegal to hit kids in Sweden -- the courts call it assault, just as if you hit an adult. When I lived there (in the '60 and '70s), I took an informal survey and found only one person who had ever been spanked as a child -- and only once, for breaking her brother's violin. A good friend would infrequently give her infant a pat on the bottom (when he tried climbing on the stove), but was always careful to aim for the well-padded diaper. You may wish to consider whether Sweden's low murder rate is related to the lack of parent-child violence. Martin Minow minow(a)apple.com

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by Michael Myers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:25 AM 7/7/96 -0700, Sandy Sandfort <sandfort(a)crl.com> wrote: >Yes, normally, but doesn't it have a paradoxical reaction for >hyperactive children (i.e., it acts as a depressant for them)? As one of those "ADD" kids back in the '70's, the dextroamphetamine I was given actually did seem to calm me down. Of course, coffee also put me to sleep then. Happily, that situation has reversed itself as I've grown older. *grin* -- /^^^^^^^^^Instead of being born again, why not just GROW UP?^^^^^^^^^^^\ Michael Myers Vote Libertarian....you'll sleep better! Don't like abortion? Don't have one. Don't like guns? Don't buy one. blackavr(a)aa.net E-mail for PGPv2.6.2 public key \____________ http://www.aa.net/~blackavr/homepage.htm ________________/

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 6:33 PM 7/7/96, AwakenToMe(a)aol.com wrote: >Did I miss something?? I fisrt came here and asked something about protected >mode and was yelled at for asking it in this newsgroup. Now we're onto mind >control drugs? >uhhhhhh ok. I did not yell at you. Bear in mind that there are many subscribers, with many views of what is interesting and what is important to talk about. There are only so many times that a particular thread can be talked about meaningfully, and some of the more crypto-related threads (which no one is stopping anyone from starting!) have covered the same ground through dozens of cycles. Thus, while "Where can I get SFS to encrypt my hard drive?," as an example, may _seem_ to be list-relevant than discussions of Ritalin and the use of it in public schools for behavior modification, I think the former thread is "tired," and generates little response, where the latter thread has obviously generated a lot of responses. This speaks for itself, as I see it. But, then, I view the list as partly a social community of reasonably like-minded folks, with a shared interest in several obvious things, and not just a place to discuss C++ code or where to find SFS and PGP. Personally, I'm just as glad the list is not a clone of Libernet or Commienet, but most political threads die out quickly enough. The "Ritalin" thread will die out eventually, In the meantime, it appears to interest quite a few people, and some readers may not have previously known that the public schools are sending out the message of "Just say "No!" to drugs!" while simultaneously using mind-control drugs to dose kids into submission. Sort of like the Feds calling for strict controls on privacy technology while freely passing around confidential FBI dossiers of their political enemies. The foxes guarding the henhouses. All of these examples are useful for our agenda. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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DEA Intercepts
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Would anyone know more about the DEA "process the intercepts by computer" in the excerpt below from today's Wash Post? Any connection to Peter Neuman's remarks at the CRISIS press conference about LEA training and technology as alternatives to breaking strong crypto? This new funding has been a factor in making possible increased use of electronic surveillance. Federal wiretaps cost more than $70,000 a month to operate and generate hundreds of hours of labor for monitors, transcribers, surveillance teams and investigators. Larger budgets mean cost is less of an obstacle. Building for the future, the DEA is carrying out a $33 million program to replace single-line wiretapping gear with new equipment that can monitor 40 lines simultaneously and process the intercepts by computer. The FBI is plowing millions into developing new intercept techniques for digital lines and expanding its cadre of agents who use the bureau's high tech surveillance gear. "I don't think J. Edgar Hoover would contemplate what we can do today in terms of technology," Reno testified during a Senate hearing in May. The total number of federal wiretaps is just one measure of the rise in federal surveillance. The build-up also is evident in the increased use of electronic devices that record the numbers dialed by a target telephone, and the origin of calls to it. These devices allow agents to identify a person's associates. Beginning in 1993, Justice agencies began using the court-authorized monitors more often and leaving them installed for longer periods of time, according to a Justice Department report.

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Style gettting in the way of clear reporting
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:28 PM 7/7/96, Raph Levien wrote: >Declan McCullagh wrote: >> >> "We are writers, not crytographers." >> >> -Declan > > Well done. Very well done. I'm not sure why Brock is constructing >this hard-drinking bad-boy persona (perhaps he's trying to become the >Trent Reznor of crypto journalism), but the piece was great. I found it unreadable. No doubt some fine reporting, but the "faux Chandler" touches made it unreadable for me. "The last gin joint in cyberspace, and I had to to be the one to break it the babe, a thirty-two bit floozy with gams as long as, well, let's just say they made me forget about the Feds waiting to send me up the river for the long one..." With no _personal_ criticism of either Brock or Declan, I find that most modern cyberspace journalism--much more so than the mainstream press--is this kind of "performance piece" stuff, where pastiches of Chandler, Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, and all the like are lathered all over the articles. The clearest and most extreme examples of this trend are the columns by Spencer S. Katt, Robert X. Cringely, and the other rumor-mongers of the trade weeklies, where a few morsels of actual reporting are buried in vast amounts of phony stuff. Such as endless crap about "Pammy," a dingbat--and utterly fictional--Valley Girl who one of these columnists uses to pads his columns with. This New Journalism kind of stuff is also rampant in "Wired." I suppose some people like it. I call them easily impressed. Or as Raymond S. might put it, "She was the kind of dame impressed by a paint by numbers Mona Lisa." Sadly, simple expository prose must be considered to be too boring, too banal. (Actually, were only a few writers doing this, it might be mildy tolerable. Speaking for myself, that is. But so _many_ "cyberspace journalists" are doing bad pastiches of famous stylists that the reportage is being lost in the noise. "A screaming comes across the screen." Wake up, Brock and Declan! And all the other too clever by half New Journalists. I'd like to read some of your stuff, not hit the delete key as soon as see the style-laden ersatz Chandler larding up the article. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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EYE_son
by David K. Merriman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: DEA Intercepts
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:19 PM 7/7/96, John Young wrote: >Would anyone know more about the DEA "process the intercepts by computer" >in the excerpt below from today's Wash Post? Any connection to Peter >Neuman's remarks at the CRISIS press conference about LEA training and >technology as alternatives to breaking strong crypto? > and process the intercepts by computer. The FBI is plowing > millions into developing new intercept techniques for > digital lines and expanding its cadre of agents who use the > bureau's high tech surveillance gear. I have no way of knowing (and I doubt anybody knows and can also speak publically about it), but my informed speculation would be that the FBI is continuing its cooperation with the NSA (as noted by Ken Bass at last week's SAFE forum) and is using COMINT processing gear and programs developed at the Agency. It has been widely reported, from Bamford on, that much of the Agency's computer power is devoted to keyword analysis from audio intercepts. While computer translation programs may not have progressed much beyond "The vodka is strong, but the meat is rotten" stage, it is quite reasonable to assume that computers can mark for later analysis vast amounts of audio surveillance material, based on words said, voiceprints of known targets, etc. The trend of the next few decades is likely to be the turning of the government's Big Ears and Big Eyes on its _real enemies_, namely, the people. > "I don't think J. Edgar Hoover would contemplate what we > can do today in terms of technology," Reno testified during > a Senate hearing in May. Actually, I think Hoover could well imagine the capabilities. Minaret and such programs were in place while he was alive, and his use of confidential dossiers as an instrument of power predated the current use by the Clintons by several decades. > The total number of federal wiretaps is just one measure of > the rise in federal surveillance. The build-up also is > evident in the increased use of electronic devices that > record the numbers dialed by a target telephone, and the > origin of calls to it. > > These devices allow agents to identify a person's > associates. Beginning in 1993, Justice agencies began using > the court-authorized monitors more often and leaving them > installed for longer periods of time, according to a > Justice Department report. Needless to say, key escrow is quite useful in compiling contact lists. A virtual pen register, as it were. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: [RANT] Giving Mind Control Drugs to Children
by AwakenToMe＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim, You have a very good point about what goes on in this thread. I wasnt speaking about you yelling at me.. some of the members decided to write me 'personal' memos..one idiot being 'AOL SUCKS KILL ALL AOL SUCKS' or some stupid idiotic undereducated statement like that. Thanks for the response though..it was appreciated. :) Adam

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Re: Style gettting in the way of clear reporting
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Believe it or not, this has some very slight cypherpunk relevance. (Gasp) At 10:06 PM 7/7/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: > Sadly, simple expository prose must be considered to be too boring, too banal. > > (Actually, were only a few writers doing this, it might be mildy tolerable. > Speaking for myself, that is. But so _many_ "cyberspace journalists" are > doing bad pastiches of famous stylists that the reportage is being lost in > the noise. When news media were concentrated into fewer and fewer hands during the twentieth century, the appearance of neutrality, objectivity, and authoritativeness became a major selling point, and so media adopted a tone and manner of neutrality, with an accompanying "just-the-facts" style, though in reality they became far less neutral Now that everyone can grab the megaphone, people are not so worried about objectivity. If something is unfair to Nazis or blacks or evil polluting capitalists, they know they will hear about it from the Nazis, the blacks or the evil polluting capitalists. As a result, people no longer value the superficial appearance of neutrality and objectivity. Suddenly colorful and openly biased reporting has become popular. This has led to some people engaging in florid excesses of colorful style and concocting totally phony attitudes., just as when word processing programs first gained the capability to handle a wide variety of fonts, some people produced memos that looked like ransom notes. Soon enough they will settle down. English prose was at its greatest in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when many voices could be heard, and some of them were on the florid side. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: Style gettting in the way of clear reporting
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:40 AM 7/8/96, James A. Donald wrote: >When news media were concentrated into fewer and fewer hands during >the twentieth century, the appearance of neutrality, objectivity, >and authoritativeness became a major selling point, and so media >adopted a tone and manner of neutrality, with an accompanying >"just-the-facts" style, though in reality they became far less neutral An interesting point. You are probably right that journalism is becoming more florid as "amateurs" flood the market. However, I don't quite buy the concentration argument, as things were pretty concentrated in the Hearst era, and the explosion of magazines in the past few decades has not been as concentrated. (In any case, these are hard things to quantify without more research, which I for one am unlikely to pursue.) >Now that everyone can grab the megaphone, people are not so worried >about objectivity. If something is unfair to Nazis or blacks or evil >polluting capitalists, they know they will hear about it from the >Nazis, the blacks or the evil polluting capitalists. > >As a result, people no longer value the superficial appearance of >neutrality and objectivity. Suddenly colorful and openly biased >reporting has become popular. I still think of "The Wall Street Journal" and "The Economist," two of my favorites, as being _careful_ in their reporting (careful is different from unbiased). But my main focus in this thread was on the _styles_, and this I think is more explained by faddishness. And advertising. To get "mind space," as with "shelf space," the packaging must entice, fool, and trick the reader. >This has led to some people engaging in florid excesses of colorful >style and concocting totally phony attitudes., just as when word >processing programs first gained the capability to handle a wide >variety of fonts, some people produced memos that looked like >ransom notes. Yes, and many of the newsletters we're seeing--as many are cc:ed or forwarded to our list--are the kissing cousins of "zines." Same faux style, same emphasis on "flash" over substance. (Not all of them of course.) --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: more about the usefulness of PGP
by Steve Reid 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> make sure that you are protected from replay attacks. > a good idea would be to make the server to send cookies by request of > the remote user (you can limit the number of people to whom the server > sends cookies) and make sure that messages without the latest cookie > will NOT be executed. A simpler solution would be for the user to number each message. He would send message #1, then message #2, then #3, etc... Skipping some numbers should not be a problem. The server would just have to keep track of the most recently recieved message number, and only accept messages with a larger number. The user would also have to keep track... It would be very easy to do; the user could number each message based on date and time. ===================================================================== | Steve Reid - SysAdmin & Pres, EDM Web (http://www.edmweb.com/) | | Email: steve(a)edmweb.com Home Page: http://www.edmweb.com/steve/ | | PGP (2048/9F317269) Fingerprint: 11C89D1CD67287E68C09EC52443F8830 | | -- Disclaimer: JMHO, YMMV, TANSTAAFL, IANAL. -- | ===================================================================:)

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List of reliable remailers
by Raph Levien 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I operate a remailer pinging service which collects detailed information about remailer features and reliability. To use it, just finger remailer-list(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu There is also a Web version of the same information, plus lots of interesting links to remailer-related resources, at: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~raph/remailer-list.html This information is used by premail, a remailer chaining and PGP encrypting client for outgoing mail. For more information, see: http://www.c2.org/~raph/premail.html For the PGP public keys of the remailers, finger pgpkeys(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu This is the current info: REMAILER LIST This is an automatically generated listing of remailers. The first part of the listing shows the remailers along with configuration options and special features for each of the remailers. The second part shows the 12-day history, and average latency and uptime for each remailer. You can also get this list by fingering remailer-list(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu. $remailer{"extropia"} = "<remail(a)miron.vip.best.com> cpunk pgp special"; $remailer{"portal"} = "<hfinney(a)shell.portal.com> cpunk pgp hash"; $remailer{"alumni"} = "<hal(a)alumni.caltech.edu> cpunk pgp hash"; $remailer{"c2"} = "<remail(a)c2.org> eric pgp hash reord"; $remailer{"penet"} = "<anon(a)anon.penet.fi> penet post"; $remailer{"flame"} = "<remailer(a)flame.alias.net> cpunk mix pgp. hash latent cut post reord"; $remailer{"mix"} = "<mixmaster(a)remail.obscura.com> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut ek ksub reord ?"; $remailer{"replay"} = "<remailer(a)replay.com> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut post ek"; $remailer{"ecafe"} = "<cpunk(a)remail.ecafe.org> cpunk mix"; $remailer{"amnesia"} = "<amnesia(a)chardos.connix.com> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut ksub"; $remailer{'alpha'} = '<alias(a)alpha.c2.org> alpha pgp'; $remailer{'nymrod'} = '<nymrod(a)nym.jpunix.com> alpha pgp'; $remailer{"lead"} = "<mix(a)zifi.genetics.utah.edu> cpunk pgp hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{"treehole"} = "<remailer(a)mockingbird.alias.net> cpunk pgp hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{"nemesis"} = "<remailer(a)meaning.com> cpunk pgp hash latent cut"; $remailer{"exon"} = "<remailer(a)remailer.nl.com> cpunk pgp hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{"vegas"} = "<remailer(a)vegas.gateway.com> cpunk pgp hash latent cut"; $remailer{"haystack"} = "<haystack(a)holy.cow.net> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut ek"; $remailer{"ncognito"} = "<ncognito(a)rigel.cyberpass.net> mix cpunk pgp hash latent"; $remailer{"lucifer"} = "<lucifer(a)dhp.com> cpunk mix pgp hash"; $remailer{"jam"} = "<remailer(a)cypherpunks.ca> cpunk mix pgp hash latent cut ek"; catalyst(a)netcom.com is _not_ a remailer. lmccarth(a)ducie.cs.umass.edu is _not_ a remailer. usura(a)replay.com is _not_ a remailer. Groups of remailers sharing a machine or operator: (c2 alpha) (flame replay) (alumni portal) Use "premail -getkeys pgpkeys(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu" to get PGP keys for the remailers. Fingering this address works too. Note: The remailer list now includes information for the alpha nymserver. Last update: Mon 8 Jul 96 6:48:30 PDT remailer email address history latency uptime ----------------------------------------------------------------------- alumni hal(a)alumni.caltech.edu *+*#+*#-*### 3:36 100.00% replay remailer(a)replay.com **+*******+* 4:23 99.99% jam remailer(a)cypherpunks.ca ******** 16:45 99.98% c2 remail(a)c2.org +-++++++-+++ 46:47 99.97% nemesis remailer(a)meaning.com +*********** 17:25 99.97% nymrod nymrod(a)nym.jpunix.com #+#-##*##### 2:49 99.97% lead mix(a)zifi.genetics.utah.edu ++++++++++++ 38:37 99.96% vegas remailer(a)vegas.gateway.com *___.+#*+#*+ 4:34:27 99.95% mix mixmaster(a)remail.obscura.com .------+++++ 5:42:01 99.92% flame remailer(a)flame.alias.net .-++---+--++ 3:59:13 99.91% haystack haystack(a)holy.cow.net +###+#* #+## 3:07 99.80% lucifer lucifer(a)dhp.com +++ -+++++++ 48:41 99.78% ncognito ncognito(a)rigel.cyberpass.net .__.___-... 24:13:12 99.68% extropia remail(a)miron.vip.best.com ----.----.- 7:38:28 99.39% amnesia amnesia(a)chardos.connix.com ---- -----+ 3:42:52 99.31% alpha alias(a)alpha.c2.org +++*****++++ 38:39 99.29% penet anon(a)anon.penet.fi ...--....- 27:11:56 99.00% ecafe cpunk(a)remail.ecafe.org --##* ### 1:26:57 98.73% portal hfinney(a)shell.portal.com #+*####- ## 3:52 98.05% treehole remailer(a)mockingbird.alias.net +++- --+ + 2:18:51 97.06% exon remailer(a)remailer.nl.com **+**** ** 4:35 95.60% History key * # response in less than 5 minutes. * * response in less than 1 hour. * + response in less than 4 hours. * - response in less than 24 hours. * . response in more than 1 day. * _ response came back too late (more than 2 days). cpunk A major class of remailers. Supports Request-Remailing-To: field. eric A variant of the cpunk style. Uses Anon-Send-To: instead. penet The third class of remailers (at least for right now). Uses X-Anon-To: in the header. pgp Remailer supports encryption with PGP. A period after the keyword means that the short name, rather than the full email address, should be used as the encryption key ID. hash Supports ## pasting, so anything can be put into the headers of outgoing messages. ksub Remailer always kills subject header, even in non-pgp mode. nsub Remailer always preserves subject header, even in pgp mode. latent Supports Matt Ghio's Latent-Time: option. cut Supports Matt Ghio's Cutmarks: option. post Post to Usenet using Post-To: or Anon-Post-To: header. ek Encrypt responses in reply blocks using Encrypt-Key: header. special Accepts only pgp encrypted messages. mix Can accept messages in Mixmaster format. reord Attempts to foil traffic analysis by reordering messages. Note: I'm relying on the word of the remailer operator here, and haven't verified the reord info myself. mon Remailer has been known to monitor contents of private email. filter Remailer has been known to filter messages based on content. If not listed in conjunction with mon, then only messages destined for public forums are subject to filtering. Raph Levien

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Hurricane Bertha hitting Offshore Information Services
by Vincent Cate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hurricane Bertha is almost certainly going to hit Anguilla, where Offshore Information Services is located. It will probably be at the strongest about 9 am Eastern time Monday morning. This is still not a really big hurricane, so we will not get anything like the trouble we had with Luis last year. Still, there is some chance that we will be offline at some time. If so please understand why. I have about 8 hours of battery backup. If power is out at our location for longer than that I will relocate the server to another location, as I did after Luis. There is little chance that power will go out everywhere for longer than 8 hours. There is a good chance that we get through this without going down, but I just wanted to let people know what our status is. Be patient if sometime tomorrow you can not get to our site. -- Vince Cate Offshore Information Services, Ltd. Anguilla http://online.offshore.com.ai/

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