December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Moore is Moore
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Delivered-To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com X-Sender: believer(a)telepath.com Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 05:38:30 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Atomic Chip Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com Precedence: list Reply-To: believer(a)telepath.com Tuesday 27 Oct, 1998 NOW - THE ATOMIC CHIP Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark said today they have created an atom-sized computer chip, in which a single hydrogen atom jumping to and fro generates a binary code. And the technique operates at room temperatures. It means a million CDs could fit onto one disc. But it is not expected to become commercial for some years. The university's Microelectronics Centre, which carried out the research, is at http://www.mic.dtu.dk **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **************************************************** --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Oct. 30 column -- playing out the clock
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 23:24:55 -0700 Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 22:16:50 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: vin(a)dali.lvrj.com Mime-Version: 1.0 To: vinsends(a)ezlink.com From: Vin_Suprynowicz(a)lvrj.com (Vin Suprynowicz) Subject: Oct. 30 column -- playing out the clock Resent-From: vinsends(a)ezlink.com X-Mailing-List: <vinsends(a)ezlink.com> archive/latest/579 X-Loop: vinsends(a)ezlink.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: vinsends-request(a)ezlink.com FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 30, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Gamely playing out the clock in a hopeless contest Every even-numbered year, literally scores of candidates come trooping through the offices of the newspaper where I work, seeking our endorsement for every office from constable or justice of the peace, to governor or U.S. senator. Playing out the game by the established rules, we cross-question them on their little memorized spiels about how they "respect the Second Amendment" and "want to make government more efficient and more responsive to the people's needs." By and large, those candidates who start out insisting they "respect the Second Amendment" will quickly agree with any new hare-brained scheme you can propose to register or restrict where folks can carry guns, or to ban people from owning "really dangerous" semi-automatic weapons or concealable handguns, for which "obviously no one can have a legitimate use." (Uzis seem to be a favorite weapon for which "no one can have a legitimate use" this year. The only ones available in local gun shops are semi-autos, of course -- essentially a 9mm handgun with a shoulder stock.) Naturally, those who "want to make government more efficient" can rarely name a single government office or program they'd close. But every year, a few candidates show up who actually understand a little economics, have read the Constitution, and volunteer that the purpose of government is to protect individual rights. Pinching ourselves and wondering how they "slipped through," every year we celebrate these few brave souls in our editorial pages. Many people vote for them. And then what happens? Taxes go up, more laws are passed, government grows more intrusive, and our rights are eroded faster than ever. How come? Well, of course, not all the candidates we endorse get elected. A certain number of incumbent redistributionists are "automatically" returned by the voters, no matter what we say or do. Fine: A newspaper has no dictatorial powers, nor should it. But what's more discouraging is how little difference these well-intentioned people seem to make even if they do get elected to the state legislature, or the Congress, or wherever they're headed. I've been in the newspaper business for 25 years. Call me a cynic -- I'll respond that it's simply an objective observation: No matter who we elect, it doesn't matter any more. Government is a machine that crunches anyone you send into it into a cog or gear of the required shape and size to keep the machine running and growing. Why are fewer and fewer folks registering to vote, or showing up at the polls? Vote for the most radical of Libertarians, he will get 4 percent of the vote, and nothing will change. They still won't let him into the TV debates next year, and no corporation will hand him the protection money which we still daintily call "campaign contributions." Vote for (start ital)and elect(end ital) the most radical-sounding "less government" Republican you can find, and the best result will be a government that grows at the rate of 7 percent next year, instead of 8 percent. You will still have to get fingerprinted to obtain your new driver's license, there will still be armed soldiers at the airports strip-searching people "to prevent terrorism and drug-running" (starting next year), and your take-home pay will still be a smaller percentage of your gross earnings next year than it was last year. Oh, these things are never accomplished overnight, say the eternal optimists. Besides, these are all just a bunch of cynical generalities. OK: Let's get specific. in my next column, I will present you with five or six races in which the Las Vegas Review-Journal -- largest newspaper in Nevada -- has made loud, strident, forceful endorsements in Election '98. The five or six candidates the newspaper endorsed may astound you with just how dedicated to personal liberties and limited government they sound, given that they are all "electable" (that is to say -- from one of the "major parties.") But if each voter could personally interview every candidate on his or her Nov. 3 ballot for half-an-hour apiece, not allowing them to get away with any slick double-talk, I daresay you too could find and vote for five or six "viable" candidates in your own town and state who sound just as "libertarian." Then you too could have the experience of seeing them go to the capital and vote for new tax hikes and more gun control laws, vote to send away harmless minority kids for even longer terms in the pen for "getting high" on harmless vegetable extracts, authorize more restrictions of our economic freedom and invasions of our privacy, and then give you a look of shock when you tell them you're disappointed. "But that bill had some good stuff in it!" they will insist. "No bill is perfect. You always have to compromise on something to get things done. We had to make our gun licensing rules just a little stricter, in the hopes our permits will now be recognized by other states. And as for the fingerprinting for the new driver's license, most people favor that, since it will make it much harder for someone else to cash your checks if they're stolen." Next time: five excellent and "viable" candidates, and why voting for them probably won't make a bit of difference at all. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin(a)lvrj.com. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin(a)lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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SNET: [FP] Microsoft puts smart card on table
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Sender: st005940(a)brandywine.otago.ac.nz Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 16:08:19 +1300 To: snetnews(a)world.std.com From: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds(a)airnet.net> (by way of jeremy.compton(a)stonebow.otago.ac.nz (Jeremy Compton)) Subject: SNET: [FP] Microsoft puts smart card on table Sender: snetnews-approval(a)world.std.com Precedence: list Reply-To: snetnews(a)world.std.com -> SNETNEWS Mailing List ====================================================================== SCAN THIS NEWS 10/26/98 Microsoft puts smart card on table http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2C4%2C27923%2C00.html?dd.ne.tx.fs6.1026 By Tim Clark Staff Writer, CNET News.com October 26, 1998 Update: Microsoft tomorrow will announce an extension of its Windows operating system for smart cards, a company spokesman said today. Smart cards, which have very limited memory and processing power, are about the size of a credit card and embedded with a computer chip. The technology is used for storing data on mobile phones, banking online, and paying for phone calls and public transit fares. Microsoft vice president Paul Maritz is scheduled to announce the operating system initiative tomorrow at Cartes 98, a conference on smart card technology in Paris. A new system from Microsoft could bring more acceptance of smart cards in the United States. Smart cards have been used in Europe, which holds more than 80 percent of the market, but have been slow to progress in America, at least in part beacuse of the lack of a standard operating system. Microsoft is bidding to enter that arena, but Sun Microsystems is already active in that space with its JavaCard specification. In addition, Mondex, an e-cash company controlled by MasterCard has its MultOS system designed so cards with different operating systems can work together. The company's interest in smart cards parallels its strategy with Windows CE, a stripped-down version of its PC operating system for consumer electronics devices. In April, Microsoft announced a version of Windows CE for automobiles, gas pumps, industrial controllers, and other uses. The smart-card initiative seeks to go after even smaller, cheaper devices--particularly when rival Sun is targeting the same business. The Microsoft spokesman said card developers could use existing Windows tools to work with their software. The annual Paris show is a major showcase for the smart card industry. Schlumberger, a major French manufacturer of smart cards, today unveiled new software for its cards that transforms a smart card into a security device to identify its holder. Many PC makers have said they will produce machines with smart-card readers built in, a capability that Microsoft has provided in its desktop PC operating systems. Microsoft has a certification and logo program that indicates smart card systems work with Windows NT. ======================================================================= Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless: 1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or 2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true. ======================================================================= Reply to: <fingerprint(a)networkusa.org> ======================================================================= To subscribe to the free Scan This News newsletter, send a message to <majordomo(a)efga.org> and type "subscribe scan" in the BODY. Or, to be removed type "unsubscribe scan" in the message BODY. For additional instructions see www.efga.org/about/maillist.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Scan This News" is Sponsored by S.C.A.N. Host of the "FIGHT THE FINGERPRINT!" web page: www.networkusa.org/fingerprint.shtml ======================================================================= -> Send "subscribe snetnews " to majordomo(a)world.std.com -> Posted by: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds(a)airnet.net> (by way of jeremy.compton(a)stonebow.otago.ac.nz (Jeremy Compton)) --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Oct. 29 column -- twilight of an era
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 23:21:30 -0700 Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 22:13:20 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: vin(a)dali.lvrj.com Mime-Version: 1.0 To: vinsends(a)ezlink.com From: Vin_Suprynowicz(a)lvrj.com (Vin Suprynowicz) Subject: Oct. 29 column -- twilight of an era Resent-From: vinsends(a)ezlink.com X-Mailing-List: <vinsends(a)ezlink.com> archive/latest/578 X-Loop: vinsends(a)ezlink.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: vinsends-request(a)ezlink.com FROM MOUNTAIN MEDIA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATED OCT. 29, 1998 THE LIBERTARIAN, By Vin Suprynowicz Twilight of the Gods We seem to be entering the twilight of an era. Changes in our society -- consider the erosion of personal liberties, and even the notion that sticking up for our personal liberties is a good thing ("He wouldn't give his Social Security number when he tried to register to vote? He owned an unregistered firearm? He wouldn't volunteer any information on his tax form? Then he deserved whatever happened to him. I'm sorry they burned up the wife and baby, too, but he brought it on himself") -- have been occurring incrementally over the past 86 years. Hence, the popular notion that future change will continue to be equally gradual. Even "legitimate" Libertarian Party political candidates now patiently explain to me that since the current police/welfare state took 60 to 90 years to put in place, there's no sense alarming anyone by shouting radical ideas about legalizing heroin or machine guns. No, no. These "modern" Libertarians -- respectable middle-aged entrepreneurs in respectable coats and striped ties -- patiently explain that they only wish to move us back toward slightly less government, slightly lower taxes, and the restoration of a few personal liberties at a time. Nothing for anyone to get frightened about. The problem is, neither human nor geologic history seem to bear out this notion of a pendulum swinging steadily back and forth. The era of the swamp-dwelling dinosaurs seems to have continued for hundreds of thousands of years without much change. But ice core samples and ocean sediments now indicate the freeze that killed them may have taken as few as five years. Social and political change in France was pretty gradual from 1480 to 1780. Would one thus have been safe in assuming that things wouldn't be likely to change much from 1780 and 1795? A whole lot of folks went to the guillotine based on that assumption. Our ability to sense the imminent end of an era is seriously hampered by a part of human nature modern psychiatry calls "denial." The loss of familiar things -- even if we know in our hearts they are rotten -- is frightening. Thus, we tend to hope the signs are wrong, and to cling to what is familiar. Is this another one of these rants about how the inability of our computers to process the date "2000" is going to cause an instant reversion to the Stone Age? No -- though such computer malfunctions and shutdowns certainly will occur, creating pockets of panic and accelerated uncertainty about just how reliable our "foolproof" government and economic "systems" really are. But the number of things that are rotten in America -- and thus in "Western civilization" -- has simply grown too large. And as each one fails, it will help to pull down the next. Large dams do not develop small leaks. We could talk about the imminent collapse of the largest, most profligate, most unproductive and socially poisonous make-work social engineering scheme ever devised, the mandatory government youth propaganda camps (you may call them "public schools.") When the cost of things that don't work exceeds what people can pay, they just walk away. That's why the stone temples of the Maya were abandoned long before Cortez showed up, and why most of the nuclear submarines of the Russian Navy now sit rusting at their piers. There was never any popular vote to "shut down the Soviet Navy." Everyone just went home. We could talk about the inevitable failure of the little Dutch boy sticking his fingers in the financial dikes of Mexico, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brazil -- the International Monetary Fund, the failure of which is likely to soon bring down another 20th century institution which we have come to assume could never fail, the vast leveraged Ponzi scheme known as "government chartered fractional reserve banking." (Imagine an evil wizard made the stock market disappear, along with your stockbroker and your bank. For awhile, you might wonder what you would live on in your "retirement." Then it would dawn on you: What "retirement"? "Retirement" at a fixed age was a notion introduced by the 19th century socialists, who believed there was a fixed number of jobs in the world (duh), and that the only way to guarantee work to the young was therefore to "pension off" the oldsters. "Retirement" is a completely artificial invention.) I could talk about the schools or the banks, scrambling around insisting it's not their fault; it's our fault for being too "greedy" to hand them ever-larger "bailouts." But I won't. Instead, since it's election time, I will talk about why the great experiment called "participatory democracy" is failing. Next time -- interviews with virtually every candidate in Southern Nevada produced five or six outstanding prospects this year: Why voting for them isn't likely to make a bit of difference. Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin(a)lvrj.com. The web sites for the Suprynowicz column are at http://www.infomagic.com/liberty/vinyard.htm, and http://www.nguworld.com/vindex/. The column is syndicated in the United States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas Nev. 89127. *** Vin Suprynowicz, vin(a)lvrj.com The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. -- John Hay, 1872 The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality! -- Mordechai Anielewicz, Warsaw, 1943 * * * --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: IP: Uncle Sam Wants Spooks.
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:04 PM 10/26/98 -0500, Robert Hettinga wrote: > "We teach a concept called open source and > public domain intelligence -- that is, taking what > is in the public domain and creating new > knowledge by analysis and interpretation," he So does John Young, EFF, FAS, etc. > Applying for a job with the CIA is easy: Send a > resume. The CIA scans the resumes it gets Applying for a job with the NSA is easier. Just fax your resume. Doesn't matter where.

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:42 AM 10/26/98 -0800, Michael Motyka wrote: >> How does this differ from the motives of your ordinary politician? >> >> Post-revolution, will there be caliber limitations when hunting them? > >Hunt all you want. The post-revolution utopia will be administered by >persons of the same mentality as those we have administering our >Democratic Republic now. They will use the same if not more advanced >techniques to acquire and maintain power. "Nature abhors a vacuum", >right? Most of nature is a very high quality vacuum, actually. Governments have not always been so parasite-infested; this disease progresses slowly, numbingly, unnoticed, like leprosy.

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:43 PM 10/26/98 -0400, Robert A. Costner wrote: >At 01:15 PM 10/26/98 -0500, Duncan Frissell wrote: >>9. "I do not posses any government-issued photo ID and thus cannot travel >>to the location stated in the subpoena. > >ROTFLMAO... > >This last one is too funny to not use. I don't have a subpoena, but I can >just see myself writing back explaining this and requesting assistance with >a plane flight to solve this problem. Actually you don't need state id to fly, legally. But the airlines will hassle you and not put your bags aboard til you are. There are references on the net to flying without state id.

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Re: files (was: Re: dbts, etc.)
by dporter＠denova.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Steve Bellovin (smb(a)research.att.com) wrote... > . . . to trace the the perturbations caused to the system. . . > The more anonymity, and the more privacy cut-outs, the > harder this is. . . > To be sure, one can assert that the philosophical > gains -- privacy, libertarianism, what have you -- are > sufficiently important that this price is worth paying. . . Steve, as you point out most of us are driven primarily by practical concerns. This is a philosophy: pragmatism. Beyond mind exercise, philosophy is valuable exactly to the extent it is practical. DBS increases freedom. Increased freedom is practical because it reduces risks -- of confiscation, imprisonment, and death -- and because it usually increases efficiency. All of these pragmatic considerations seem much more important than the ease of maintenance, at least to me. Doug

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Re: files (was: Re: dbts, etc.)
by Jean-Francois Avon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

My 1.43 US cents (hey, two canadian cents aren't worth much nowadays!) On 27 Oct 98 10:52:00, D. Porter wrote: >Steve, as you point out most of us are driven primarily by practical >concerns. This is a philosophy: pragmatism. Beyond mind exercise, >philosophy is valuable exactly to the extent it is practical. Pragmatism, as far as philosophy structure is concerned, is opportunistic in the sense that it gets a free ride on other's failures to come up with basic premises that are compatible with reality... >DBS increases freedom. Increased freedom is practical because it reduces >risks -- of confiscation, imprisonment, and death -- and because it >usually increases efficiency. All of these pragmatic considerations seem >much more important than the ease of maintenance, at least to me. Well, this is a point not shared at all by the collectivistic-oriented philosophies, which places the "good of the collective", whatever it may mean, above the values you mentionned. And to deprive them of the ability of imposing confiscation, imprisonment and death it to cut them out of their tools... Ciao jfa "The tree of liberty must be watered periodically with the blood of tyrants...." "Both oligarch and tyrant mistrust the people, and therefore deprive them of their arms." -- Aristotle, "Politics"

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Re: your mail
by Joel O'Connor 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

That's cool man, I see your point. Guess I shouldn't knock it when I've only had one experience. It's true, I got on the train quicker than I've ever gotten on a flight and didn't face any harrassment. Actually, I faced more harrassment from my Gestapo math teacher in high school trying to board a bus than getting on the train. He looked at me and told me I was trouble and searched every crevice of my bag, personal being and space. "But doctor, both your hands on my shoulders. . ."you get the point and that's exactly what's happening to us each and every day. ---Chip Mefford <cmefford(a)video.avwashington.com> wrote: > > > > I've taken that same route, except up > to no. Vermont rather than RI, > > I travelled anonymously, for an extra 50 bux, > I had my own little private cabin, I was never > searched, my bags were never xrayed by incompetent > androids, was able to find company from the > hordes that you describe to sit with me in my > lil cabin and spend some time (wink wink, nudge > nudge) and so forth. > > yeah, an entire day spent with a whole pile of > folks can really be a horrible drag, and I'm > told that travelling on the weekends thats > what you can expect. > > But, shuffling in and out of Polizei Central, > subjecting myself to xrays and potential > cavity searches, showing ID to every bone > head that demands it, just seems a little > too kyrstalnachtish for my taste, I don't care > if I EVER fly again. > > Its easier, less hassle, more anonymous to > travel by train than it is to drive, or > for that matter, walk. > > yes, its VERY easy for the SS > to stop and search a train, but the plane > is a forgone situation. By entering an > airport, you've already consented to be > stripped of nearly every right you thought > you may have had. > > I had an experience like you describe travelling > from Atlanta to DC by bus once when a young-un. > I too, swore I'd never do it again, and I didn't, > not till I mustered out of the military and they > stuck me on a 10 hr busride to the nearest > depot to go home, and yes, I still hated it. > > to each his own, > > take care > > chipper > > On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Joel O'Connor wrote: > > > I traveled by train all the way to Florida from Rhode Island once. 24 > > hours straight it took man and I swore I would never do it again. > > 40-50 people per car and basically one bathroom per car. Come morning > > time man, the lines for the bathrooms stretched out of the cars. > > Screw that, I could have flown and made it in 3 hours. Plus it's > > easier for the gov't to stop trains and search them, I'd rather go > > with the flight. > > > > > > > > > > ---Chip Mefford <cmefford(a)video.avwashington.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > Where possible, > > > > > > fuk a bunch of airlines anyway. > > > > > > Travel by train is a lot more enjoyable, relaxing, fun. > > > Folks that travel by train could fly, but would > > > preferr to enjoy the ride, cause it ain't no cheaper, > > > > > > except, !! > > > > > > you can pay with cash and show no id and go > > > where you would like in the lower 48. > > > > > > anonymously. > > > > > > On Tue, 27 Oct 1998, Anonymous wrote: > > > > > > > At 02:43 PM 10/26/98 -0400, Robert A. Costner wrote: > > > > >At 01:15 PM 10/26/98 -0500, Duncan Frissell wrote: > > > > >>9. "I do not posses any government-issued photo ID and thus > > cannot travel > > > > >>to the location stated in the subpoena. > > > > > > > > > >ROTFLMAO... > > > > > > > > > >This last one is too funny to not use. I don't have a subpoena, > > but I can > > > > >just see myself writing back explaining this and requesting > > assistance with > > > > >a plane flight to solve this problem. > > > > > > > > Actually you don't need state id to fly, legally. But the > > airlines will > > > > hassle you and not put your bags aboard til you are. There > > > > are references on the net to flying without state id. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > == > > Ogre bounces like sonar. . .Peace. > > Ogre > > > > _________________________________________________________ > > DO YOU YAHOO!? > > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > == Ogre bounces like sonar. . .Peace. Ogre _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Airline ID Checking (was: RE: your mail)
by Joel O'Connor 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Who knows for sure anymore. Because of the "Anti-Terrorism" bill, it is required that security be beafed up. When they scan the ID, it is to check against their records that you are who you say you are. . .so they say. In actuality, they are tracing movements of people, so if the shit comes down, they will know where everyone is, no matter where you flew to. Even with trains, all's it will take is one bomb and you better believe security will be pumped up as high as it is with airlines. Who knows anymore, there's so much going on at every spectrum of this globe that the probability of keeping up with a minor fraction is hard enough. The gov't control's all major transportation routes, which control's movement and where everyone is at all times. Soon, there will be no where to run to. ---X <xasper8d(a)lobo.net> wrote: > > Does anyone know what the airlines do with the info they collect off the ID? > Are they just noting whether the names match, or is it more sinister? > > When I was below legal drinking age (21 in my state) I would drive up to the > window (how barbaric! liquor sales to guys in cars!) and give the > sub-moronic guy my REAL ID under the assumption that: he expects it to say > something that proves I am over age, or else why would I be handing it to > him? [nicely enough, this shifts all of the risk of the transaction to him, > should it go wrong.] > > Similarly, if you booked a flight under the name Nevah Umind, when you hand > over a piece of ID, they look to see it says Nevah Umind (unless, of course, > your name happens to be Nevah Umind) and that's all they want, right? > > And if we all booked flights under the same name, then wouldn't that throw > 'em WAY off? Pick a name, DON'T scan your license in, DON'T edit it, DON'T > laminate it, and (for pete's sake!) DON'T use that name. Their querying > will tell them, "I have a match, he's okay" (These are not the droids you > are looking for, eh!) and away you go! > > X > > > ~> -----Original Message----- > ~> From: owner-cypherpunks(a)minder.net > ~> [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@minder.net]On Behalf Of Joel O'Connor > ~> I traveled by train all the way to Florida from Rhode Island once. 24 > ~> hours straight it took man and I swore I would never do it again. > ~> 40-50 people per car and basically one bathroom per car. Come morning > ~> time man, the lines for the bathrooms stretched out of the cars. > ~> Screw that, I could have flown and made it in 3 hours. Plus it's > ~> easier for the gov't to stop trains and search them, I'd rather go > ~> with the flight. > ~> > > == Ogre bounces like sonar. . .Peace. Ogre _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the ForegoneAlternative
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 12:38 PM -0500 on 10/27/98, Steve Bellovin wrote on dbs: > For the record, though, I not only don't think that cryptography should > make the state vanish, I don't think that it will. Cryptographer ~== Libertarian, certainly. Much less Anarchist. I like to joke that David Chaum is a liberal statist with a privacy fetish. PRZ was, too, but, after his bout with a certain kangaroo court prosecutor, I bet he isn't so liberal anymore. :-) Crypto *is*, however, a liberty/anarchy magnet. It certainly changed my thinking about a whole lot of things, including how the state will collapse, someday, in a giant paroxysm of technological determinism. ;-). Dragging this back to the topic of the DBS list itself (and, frankly, the topic is a subset of the cryptography list, too, and lots of others,), the paradox of financial cryptography, and, more specifically, digital bearer settlement, is not that it gives you privacy and freedom (anarchy? :-)), it's because it gives you *cheaper* transactions. Transactions which just happen to be anonymous. You don't *have* to keep records in the normal course of business in order to keep your transactions from unraveling at some later date. You can monitor your own business operations, certainly. But you're not *forced* to, by some, um, regional monopoly. That's attractive. To lots of economic actors, besides terrorists, drug dealers, pedophiles and money launderers. :-). To machines, for instance, but also to actors in markets which are, as they say in economics, perfectly competitive, where things are sold like commodities are. This is opposed to so-called monopolistic competition, where all of a company's products are branded as much as possible. McDonald's versus Burger King is a good example of monopolistic competition. McDonald's doesn't make something *exactly* like a Whopper, for instance, if they did, they'd be sued for copyright violation, or even patent enfringement, though they do make branded, and patented, almost-substitutes. Coke and Pepsi are the same kinds of thing. Except for the Secret Coke Formula, of course. :-). But, stuff like soybeans, or switched bits on a wire, or copies of Linux, or cash, or debt, or even equity in the portfolio aggregate like a stock index, are not *branded*, they're *graded*. Every item in a perfectly competitive market is perfectly substitutable with any other item in that market. If you're trading graded commodities, you don't *care* who you're doing business with. You care about what they're selling you. And it's something which you can verify the quality of on an independent basis. Those grades are certified by someone with a reputation, of course, but even those reputations are graded to the extent that they're priced in a market somewhere. A NYSE seat, for instance, has a price on it, and I think internet product-certifying reputations will too, someday. That's what a digital bearer underwriter is, when you think about it. I think, over time, that Moore's law and a geodesic internetwork gives us increasingly perfect, and not monopolistic, competition, and, in practically every market you can imagine. Graded surgical instructions, say. And to bring up that paroxysm again, if you could convert teleoperated machine instructions like surgery into graded, fungible, and cash-settled, commodities, why not force, currently the product of that most monopolistic of competitors, the nation-state? Anyway, I think that these perfectly competitive markets will be the of hallmark of a geodesic information economy, just like marketing and branding and monopolistic competition are the hallmarks of a late-industrial, hierarchically-organized, mass-media economy. But, again, it is the reduced *cost* of those cryptographically-enabled transactions which will drive everything else, and that is a logical outcome of the technology of financial cryptography and digital bearer transactions. The cost of anything is the foregone alternative. Cheers, Bob Hettinga -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.5 iQEVAwUBNjYjzcUCGwxmWcHhAQGOmgf9F3ZHnTP1Io83CJEPmyiTWww/ppvupmiW uHh2i+txJoigxNxDbMHtRQDzP9FXtADH8z+nbGmWZY4PnxbxmKcSFDfH0zXL2sMi beHYaUvya14gtchwPZkCx/XxaZ4RYnZeg7BvjlYWDjScZwgoJP5rV63tSW/gDri1 bnAt2Oa7pNpSmBFad7LNuSTOw0BVZzaoJ/Ucl+MSp2//frf4iL/7p/XjJcOlnhI7 0KyTtAjhfuV886clgpcFfceaS9G14q1FPZfh7yzZyWMReOEe3S1JDptEuuIX35AJ r/2GgSSulY2/v/D6qOgZk6FUgRNFxtMKts6FU8hce0CdN/Pprj97JQ== =xWio -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: dbts: Cryptographic Dog Stocks, The Dirigible Biplane, and Sending the Wizards Back to Menlo Park
by Dave Birch 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Vin McLellan said Bob Hettinga said >>It's biometric >>*identity* which is the problem Actually, I would have thought that biometric revocation is the problem! Cheers, Dave Birch. === mailto:daveb@hyperion.co.uk ===== http://www.hyperion.co.uk/ ===

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Using a password as a private key.
by RedRook 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Assymetic crypto systems such as Diffie-Hellman, El-Gamel, and DSS, allow the private key to be a randomly chosen number. But, as a cute hack, instead of using a random number, for the private key, you could use a hash of the User Name, and a password. Doing so allows the users to generate their private key on demand. They don't have to store the private key, and if they want to work on a another computer, they don't need to bring along a copy. Has any one tried this? Is there existing software that does this? Any comments on the security of such a scheme?  The only draw back that I can think of is the potential lack of randomness in the key. If the user chooses a bad password, it would be possible to brute force the public key. Harv.RedRook(a)yahoo.com _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: No Subject
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Most of nature is a very high quality vacuum, actually. > Yup, I did my 100hrs of Physics, Chemistry and Math too. I like the way the 'vacuum' behaves near very hi-Z nuclei. > Governments have not always been so parasite-infested; > And I find this very difficult to believe. > this disease progresses slowly, numbingly, unnoticed, like leprosy. > Interesting that you use 'numbingly' to describe leprosy; it shows an understanding of the nature of the infection. Be careful if you swim in the freshwater streams in Hawaii. Better not have any cuts or abrasions! More interesting, though, is this: why would a block cipher use key bits rather than an LFSR to do input or output whitening? Is it strictly a performance issue? Is it proven that doing this doesn't leak key bits in some way? Mike

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Re: MIB Subponeas (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 12:42:36 -0800 > From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > Subject: Re: MIB Subponeas > * Is travel paid for? How? By spending hours completing forms in > quadruplicate, or do they just cut a check for some per diem sort of > payment? The IRS offered to pay my travel from the local Austin airport to Seattle and pay the hotel bill and meals. I was trying to determine how transportation in Seattle was going to be handled when they said they didn't need me in person. > * What if one has pressing engagements? (Travel out of the country, an > anniversary party, washing the dog?) I told them I didn't want to go to Seattle, they suggested an affadavit. > * What if one shows up with no records and claims not to have them? Exactly what I did after checking to make sure I didn't. They said 'Ok'. > * What about lawyer expenses? I know the line about "If you cannot afford What lawyer? You don't get a lawyer with Grand Juries. > More soberly, this kind of subpoena could well nuke the Cypherpunks list, Not even hardly. A subpoena isn't an accussation, it's an instrument to obtain potentialy relevant testimony and evidence. It means (at least in this case) "We believe you may know something or have possession of information related, but not necessarily directly involved in this matter." The sub-channel message is "Don't fuck with us, you're only about a hairs breadth away from hell on earth." Besides, they wanted me to testify *for* the prosecution, preferebly willingly. The last thing they were going to do was go heavy handed. > even the distributed node instance. If Igor Chudov, Lance Cottrell, and Jim > Choate all have to fly to Seattle and face scrutiny, implied threats, and > possible jail time for failing to jump when the Feds say jump, they may > decide to stop acting as Fed magnets. If the operators are that jumpy I suspect they wouldn't put up with the bills, occassional stupid private emails, the costs in time, etc. I knew this sort of stuff was a possibility. The only issue that took me by surprise was two officers showing up at work unannounced. It took me till the next day to burn off the heeby-jeebies from that. Of course, a truly motivated and worried, not to mention well heeled, cypherpunks might consider putting up a node themselves....<nah> ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Using a password as a private key.
by Christopher Steel - Java Design Center McLean VA 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Why not encrypt the private key with a 128 bit symmetric key (created from the hash of a username and paasword) and store on a keyserver, along with the public key? That way, you don't have to store it yourself locally, you get it off the keyserver. I wrote a keyserver that does just that. In addition, it also verifies ies the user before returning the key. It requires the user to encrypt a known string with a separate password. The encrypted string is sent to the keyserver, encrypted with the keyserver's public key. Seems rather safe. Anyone disagree? -Chris P.S. I might not use it for military purposes, but for company email... "RedRook" <redrook(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 13:53:07 -0800 (PST) >Assymetic crypto systems such as >Diffie-Hellman, El-Gamel, and DSS, allow the private key to be a >randomly chosen number. But, as a cute hack, instead of using a >random number, for the private key, you could use a hash of the User >Name, and a password. > >Doing so allows the users to generate their private key on demand. >They don't have to store the private key, and if they want to work on >a another computer, they don't need to bring along a copy. >Has any one tried this? Is there existing software that does this? Any >comments on the security of such a scheme?  >The only draw back that I can think of is the potential lack of >randomness in the key. If the user chooses a bad password, it would be >possible to brute force the public key. >Harv.RedRook(a)yahoo.com >_________________________________________________________ >DO YOU YAHOO!? >Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com >

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Cameras in Public Places (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 11:57:22 -0800 > From: Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> > Subject: Cameras in Public Places [ravage: don't remember who said it... > > ] > > Privacy is also needed on public places (e.g., violated by face > > recognition systems) Anonymity is not equal to privacy. > The appropriate way of dealing with them is to wait for some people to > be misidentified and then file suit against the municipality using the > equipment. Harassment, false arrest, invasion of privacy, abuse of > power, loss of reputation, loss of the ability to earn a living - take a > few of the cities for $10 or $20 million and they'll get the message > that they've been had by the SW vendors. It makes no more sense to outlaw cameras in private or public places than it does to outlaw printing presses in some areas, a very basic way they're identical from the perspective of the law - it isn't the media that matters (with little respect to Marshall). What matters is they record some 'instance' and allow it to be distributed widely. What we do need is a mechanism that prohibits the police or other law enforcement bodies from access without a properly served warrant. Camera use in say a mall is permissible because it's the vendors who pay the rent who are deciding what is and isn't safe - not the customers of those vendors. It's permissible in traffic control and such because it is cost effective in those applications. In traffic control, if a motorist stalls or a wreck occurs the civilian (ie non-LEA) operators can call the necessary resources into play. Once the cop is on the scene a warrant could be issued if charges of some sort are filed. Ulitimately, what we need is a law that says: All law enforcement personnel are prohibited from accessing public or private documents in the course of their duties without a properly served and executed warrant. The two key points are 'public and private' and 'course of their duties'. A cop should be able to walk into a public library and get a book on some subject of interest (even law enforcement). But if it's related to the LEA's cases then a warrant should be required to step foot in the building. Now if he's a beat cop walking his patrol he obviously can't stop chasing a perp on the run who traverses the library (though it is highly unlikely they would stop to read, but imagine a dope deal just as well). Now, one way to deal with that is to insert some sort of phrase about 'openly accessible' or 'anonymously accessible' (that way the question becomes does one need an ID, if so then you need a warrant). ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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looking for articles
by Homayoun Saleh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello, I am looking for any articles or papers having to do with the computability of Poisson distributions in the plane, and someone suggested I ask this list. If anyone knows of anything related, or where else I should be looking, please let me know. Thanks a lot. Cheers, Homayoun

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looking for articles (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 18:13:14 -0500 (EST) > From: Homayoun Saleh <hsaleh(a)phoenix.Princeton.EDU> > Subject: looking for articles > I am looking for any articles or papers having to do with the > computability of Poisson distributions in the plane, and someone suggested > I ask this list. If anyone knows of anything related, or where else > I should be looking, please let me know. > Thanks a lot. Not sure it's what you're looking for but: Statistical Distributions M. Evans, N. Hastings, B. Peacock ISBN 0-471-55951-2 It's got around 40 different distributions and their related equations and characteristics. There is also an appendix that lists the various distributions and the functions in several computational math programs (go MapleV !)... Now if you're looking for various approaches to how to impliment it then I can't help you there, I cookbook that sort of stuff out of my library. Have you tried Knuth? ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Rendering ( was MIB Subponeas ) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 11:31:52 -0800 > From: Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> > Subject: Rendering ( was MIB Subponeas ) > Collecting real names and addresses is, apparently, enough of a concrete > step to at least begin the "rendering" process. Which is the whole point of probable cause and civil rights. It turns out the 'respect' part is the hard one...;) > press-squashing, poison-cow BST boys ). Then what would be needed is > some sort of Eternity Service for an active server - detect tampering > and jump hosts. Actualy, something like Plan 9 would be more effective. That way the thing is distributed from the get go. With a suitably object oriented approach it could be feasible to distribute the data to specific servers but encode the program in the connections between the servers task swappers. By using Plan 9's economic resource bidding model it injects a level of anonymity in the repetitive execution aspect that wouldn't normaly be there. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Using a password as a private key.
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

RedRook(a)yahoo.com writes: > Assymetic crypto systems such as Diffie-Hellman, El-Gamel, and DSS, > allow the private key to be a randomly chosen number. But, as a cute > hack, instead of using a random number, for the private key, you could > use a hash of the User Name, and a password. > > Doing so allows the users to generate their private key on demand. > They don't have to store the private key, and if they want to work on > a another computer, they don't need to bring along a copy. Has any one > tried this? Is there existing software that does this? Any comments on > the security of such a scheme? The only draw back that I can think of > is the potential lack of randomness in the key. If the user chooses a > bad password, it would be possible to brute force the public key. You can accomplish the same thing by encrypting your private key (including RSA) with a passphrase and publishing it. Because of the problems with passphrase bruting, it probably only makes sense to do this with a machine-generated passphrase which has guaranteed entropy. Something like: "Aarhous mocrader Fals paca rate portion wiserustingned" has a guaranteed > 128 bits of entropy, which should be enough for most purposes. Probably with an hour's study most people could memorize such a passphrase.

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Re: UK police chase crooks on CCTV (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: bill.stewart(a)pobox.com > X-Sender: wcs(a)idiom.com (Unverified) > Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 09:27:28 -0800 > Subject: Re: UK police chase crooks on CCTV (fwd) > >> ``The only people entered on to the system will be convicted criminals > >> who, through our intelligence, we believe are habitually committing > >> crimes in the area,'' > >> Dave Armond as saying. ``If people are not committing crime they have > >> nothing to fear, but if they are among the small minority who are, the > >> message is, 'We are watching out for you.''' > The policeman's statement, if honest, implies that the > system needs a real mugshot or more detailed set of pictures to work from, > so they're going to start with feeding it the Usual Suspects, > for whom they can get good data for the system to search. > It probably also has capacity limitations, so they won't be searching > for everybody they have pictures of, just the most likely. For now. What's the curve on facial recognition for 2x improvement? It would seem probable to me that there would be a feature to snap closeups off the cameras and feed them back in real-time. Talk about real-time traffic analysis. > >We need a law or court ruling pretty quickly in the US that sets the > >standard that a group of people have no more or less rights than an > >individual. This will required LEA's to provide probable cause prior to any > >actions against groups of people (such as this). > > Ain't gonna happen - are you kidding? If there is a ruling like that, > it'll be done in some way that restricts citizen rights rather than > expanding them, or expands police powers rather than restricting them. I'll have to disagree. > It's already legal for cops to hang around street corners watching for > suspicious activities or suspicious people, and all video recognition Um, it was always legal and should continue to be so, just as it should be legal for you or I to stand around that corner and watch for unusual activity. It's there job. They call it walking the beat. > Unfortunately, I'm being increasingly forced to take the David Brin position of > "Cameras are cheap, get used to it, just make sure we have more cameras > pointing at the cops than they have pointing at us, and make sure > the cameras the government has are citizen-accessible as well." I don't know about citizen-accessible. I don't want some joe blow walking down the street to get access to the cameras that track my trek to work each day. No, it needs to be very limited and require full interaction of the courts to gain access. Simply putting on a police uniform (or a army uniform) shouldn't mean you give up your rights as a citizen. This may be hard to believe, but I'm not the state's nigger and neither is that police officer or soldier. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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unsubcribe
by StoneCold-PT 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

unsubcribe ---Diederik Smets <Diederik.Smets(a)emd.be> wrote: > > IF the owner of the id also entered an internet password AND it is the same > as the one for the id file, then you can use brute force (dictionairies) to > try and crack it. Get the encrypted value in the > properties>fields>HTTPPassword of the persons document in the PNAB and > compare it to the results of the @password() function. > > Alternatively, do a search for old id files which might still be accessible > with the 'default' password (if you know which one that is), but you won't > be able to access servers that have the 'check password' option enabled. > > If you need to access a local DB that has 'enforce a consistant ACL across > all replicas' enabled, just use another id and add that person's name with > the necessary roles to the ACL via LotusScript. > > Diederik > > > Hello > I'm using lotus notes and I have a big problem. I have a id file with > no > password. How can I get a password for it or reset it. Is there some type > of > utility or something someone knows of?I have been told that I'm out of luck > unless I have the original. > > John... > > > == My Favorite Surfing Sites: http://www.dilbert.com/ and http://www.nro.odci.gov/ "To keep you is no benefit; to destroy you is no loss" by Thida Mam _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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RE: No Subject
by Harvey Rook (Exchange) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> More interesting, though, is this: why would a block cipher > use key bits > rather than an LFSR to do input or output whitening? Is it strictly a > performance issue? Is it proven that doing this doesn't leak > key bits in > some way? > > Mike > In many newer block ciphers, the key schedule comes from a fairly good one way hash of the key. Take a look at RC6, or TwoFish. Essentially this accomplishes the same thing as using a good LSFR. Harv.

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