December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

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by ABDULRAZAQ＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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dbts: Georecursive Auctions (was Re: Friedman (The Younger)Sings...)
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 4:01 PM -0500 on 12/21/98, Somebody wrote: > > If it's on my hard drive, it ain't yours anymore, in other > > words. > > What are the assumptions? Assuming that you were given what is on your hard > drive, or can you have procured it by any means, like piracy, theft, etc. :-). I'm going to do a real rant on this, someday Real Soon Now, and you can see the germ of the idea in Freidman's talk, and in my old Shipwright rants <http://www.shipwright.com/>, and also, I think, on the Philodox site <http://www.philodox.com/>. More to the point, we all, as far as I can tell, stole it from Eric Hughes, who even went so far as to present a paper on the subject, long ago at a DEFCON far away. Who knows where *he* got it from, but that's enough geneology for the time being... The point I'm making above comes from Ronald Coase, the father of modern microeconomics, winner of Nobel for same, circa 1992?. The most important thing that Coase said, the thing which got him the Nobel, was that firm size was directly related to transaction cost. In an information economy, especially in a world of Moore's law (yielding increasingly geodesic networks, and the markets overlaid on them) and strong cryptography (digital bearer transactions, perfect pseudonymity, etc.), tranaction costs get *very* small indeed, and in a considerable hurry. To some, I believe clueless :-), people, the above means that we still get economies of scale, because the first copy of a given modern bloatware application, like Word for Windows, is enormously expensive compared to its replication cost, which is functionally free by comparison, even if you put a box around it, much less if you just put it up for download from the web. However, *I* say that if you can do profitable transactions in, say, the micropenny range, you get a world where the bloated, industrially-delivered code-in-boxes that we've all come to know and love starts to surfact, under its own weight, into smaller and smaller functional bits, each maintained by different, and much smaller, firms. I use open source software as my case in point. Notice that, since the cost of code itself is free, there is a huge, and expanding, diversity of very specialized code out there now. The writers of that code don't make any money on that code except by proxy, through enhanced reputation, and so forth. However, if you could drive the cost of *transactions* down, people *would* write code just for the money, and simply auction it off their websites to the highest bidder, and could do so, profitably, for rediculously cheap prices. More about that in a minute. Sure, Red Hat grosses $20 million, but that's more a function of the cost-domination of sneaker-netted CDROM over the still-scrawny lower capillaries of the internet. More to the point, I claim, it's the result of the cost of *credit-cards*, even *checks*, as a way to pay for code. Book-entry settlement, in other words, which is done "out of band", over private, hierarchical, and proprietary financial transaction networks. If it were possible to pay to download code, as you needed it, for instantaneously net-settled *cash*, and for sufficiently small enough bits of money, then the need, the price-economy, if you will, for large glops of code would go away. And, Coase's theorem says (I think) so too would the large firms required to generate those large glops of code. So, what we're left with is a world where the legalities of intellectual property are physically impossible to enforce, thus words like "privacy" cease to have any real meaning. If you can't enforce such an intellectual "property" law, it's kind of hard to call it a law, as most law professors and philosophers of law will tell you. Ironically, I claim, that's a very strong form of a *second* observation that Ronald Coase made, that you can't have markets without private property. Sounds like a motherhood, now, but he was the first person to articulate that clearly, back in the early part of this century, and it's one of the reasons he got the Nobel, of course. *My* variant on Coase says that you don't need *laws* to ensure private property in digital form. Cryptography will do just fine. Like I said, if it's encrypted, and it's on my hard drive, it's now *mine* no matter where I got it, laws or not. I mean, who's to know I have it to begin with, and, more to the point, who's going to take it away without my permission, especially in a world of encrypted offsite net.backups, m-of-n archival reconstruction, etc. Write software, not laws, to quote the my old cypherpunk chestnut. Yet, I claim, to finally answer your point :-), people who *make* new code in such abrave new world, *still* make the most money. No, not "publish", or even distribute new code, like Microsoft and Ingram do, but the actual guy plinking away in CodeWarrior, or whatever. The mind behind the code, the developer, let's call him, in a proper use of the now mostly corrupted word. Here's how. You write software for a living. You upgrade your existing code base, and you announce its availablity to the net. Everyone who has your code knows how good your work is, and they probably have a standing bid in to buy revs of it at some specific price, anyway. So, just like the specialist's book at the New York Stock Exchange, you, or your website's CGI, accepts those bids, highest to lowest, and, as new bids come in, you sort them into the queue of outstanding orders, by price, of course, :-), and accept them in that order. Notice something important, but obvious, here. The people who bid the highest get the first copy. We'll worry about Vickery variations on that auction some other time. Secondly, there's the fun part, the *recursive* part of "geodesic recursive" or neologically, and, this very afternoon, "georecursive", auctions. That is, if I paid a monster pile for the first copy, I must have such a profitable need for it that it's worth it to me to pay that much. Of course, one of the most profitable things I can do especially in a world where the net isn't quite geodesic enough yet, and Freidman hints at this in his Cato talk, is to *flip* that code. Frankly, this is nothing really now. It's done identically the same way that large institutions flip IP0's in the market for a hot stock, or, more properly, a recording company or software "publisher" puts "talent" under contract and remarkets their output in classical vertically-integrated, and I say, now-industrial, markets for those goods. So, back to the future, I pay through the nose to get to the first copy of your code, because I have an orderbook of my *own* to fill, and, more properly, I have sufficient bandwidth and processing power of my own to remarket it. Even more fun, someone *else* can buy from me, and resell what I sell them, *recursively*, ad infinitum, and, frankly I don't really *care* what they do with what I sold them, because I've already bought low and sold high. I claim, even with all this rampant "piracy", and, especially as the network gets more geodesic -- a process which these markets would probably *accellerate* by the way think what would happen if you could sell bandwidth this way -- the person who collects the most economic "rent" would be *you*, the originator of the new code. Just like a rock star, if the code was popular enough, but without the recording company. Well, actually, with lots of very *little* record *distributors*, all taking a haircut, and, rarely would any of them make anything near like what you made selling the first copies. I mean, new information always costs more than old information, right? And, of course, you, as a developer, will always have the *newest* information of all... Finally, it even behoves huge companies who control large blocks of intellectual property, record companies, and Microsoft, for instance, :-), to compete in this new kind of market, precisely *because* the the transaction costs are so low and the initial profit margins are correspondingly higher. It's *profitable* to play in this market, even when you're losing market share, paradoxically, to smaller players. Think of what happened to large movie studios in the 1960's and '70's, and how they were replaced, in the *production* of movies, by director-owned, mostly ad-hoc, "virtual" production companies, like Coppola's Zoetrope, or Speilburg's Amblin, or Lucasfilm/ILM. Even the new "studios", like Dreamworks/SKG are really director-run enterprizes (Spielburg and Geffen, remember?). The "directors", the "auteurs" of software, are pretty much the guys who write the code, yes? Everything else is just transaction cost. Cheers, Robert Hettinga -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.5 iQEVAwUBNn7OucUCGwxmWcHhAQFidwf+MZ8SLZffWvH7g+QMY6Q2Q3P4flVkEVpr keXiF7cXXKlv/zL48wX1fjan93MMwN65b9/o7aIe1Wvq1nQfFE1AhPaShYZwciz9 NpInA2+9Mrz30cU4Nj775gXHfCaFl68tUmKd8GwUBI4rwjrHKgFy5hFSWlxNQSFF yQ8idMnmC7fSIELZJOurejYM90nA4z9QZZibekVuP+u3e6ogkclCS8m3e3QznpWY yCTYHqFFc5JHHEHc4PCOALWei74/rTRVvaziEU3QQCvytXgsZu2j0OLkpukc4zqb eJD/+Zkc3d1pfTqxaR4tLatr+QXVEuxozwz3nyoo3mzfd0LbKdBdnA== =kKXa -----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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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

i got a mail message delivered by the friendly old postal service, from Toto. he says he has been elected Santa Calus (aka Santa Loco) of Yucca South CellBlock, at FCI-Tuscon but 'Santa is in The Hole (TM).' he is or at least was sharing a cell with a skinhead called 'reaper.' but reaper has 'great reading material' - such as GQ magaazine - so it's 'not as grim as it might seem.' he says he has come down with a skin condition that is still untreated by the prison authorities. his toto-eque notes to the prison staff on 'inmate request' forms don't seem to be helping. that's all.

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Amazing New Virus from NAI!!!
by remailer＠rugratz.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Network Associates has just announced an NT virus which spreads over LAN/WANs. Fortunately, there is a solution. To speak to an NAI customer service representative, please call 800 338-8754. * Written in "C", an initial estimates is that it took NAI programmers 200 or more man-hours to write. Fortunately, there is a solution. To speak to an NAI customer service representative, please call 800 338-8754. Remember, there's a FREE Solution for Licensed NAI Corporate Customers Or If you are not a Licensed NAI Customer, just click to purchase the necessary anti-virus products online on our handy webpage. http://www.nai.com/antivirus/remote_explorer.asp Network Associates: The company you can trust, because we bought out Phil Zimmermann! Copyright (C) 1998 by Your Friends at Network Associates

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Re: Good archive of AES algorithms?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Is there a good archive of all the algorithms submitted for > AES? I'd be interested especially in one that also had > info on what's been broken so far, plus implementations and > performance numbers. I can't find all this info on any one > site, but I can't believe that one doesn't exist. The home page for the AES is http://www.nist.gov/aes/ There is a page with current attack/break information at: http://www.ii.uib.no/~larsr/aes.html. Bruce Schneier et al have done performance comparisons of AES algorithms; links to their results at http://www.counterpane.com/AES-performance.html.

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Anonymous nym ratings
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Adam Back writes: > Probably a good rule of thumb is never to sign anything and always > post via a mixmaster chain. Good idea! > Some messages don't need a persistent nym > even. Perhaps one could construct a zero knowledge proof of nym > reputation rating without identityfing the nym which might be useful > for filtering without linkability. This could be done via some of the recent work on group signatures. Efficient methods have been developed to show that a message is signed by a key, without revealing what the key is, but proving that the key itself is signed by a specific other key. Imagine an editor who only signs keys belonging to people who deserve to get through filters. Call this "endorsing" a key. If you respect that editor, you set your filters to let messages through which are by keys he has endorsed in this manner. Now, people can submit messages anonymously, but in such a way that they are provably written by an endorsed key, without revealing which key it is. The protocols are reasonably efficient, with signature verification taking about 20 times longer than a regular DSS signature. However the methods involve blind signatures, and hence would infringe upon Chaum's patent. The group signature was described at Crypto 97; an extension for blind group signatures at Asiacrypt 98; and more work will be presented at FC 99.

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Re: Anthrax Theatre
by Eric Cordian 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Friday's debut of "Anthrax Theatre" was such an critically aclaimed success, that another performance was given today, to an audience ten times the size. ----- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A telephoned anthrax threat forced as many as 1,500 people to be quarantined for several hours on Monday at two courthouses before it was found to be a hoax. A man called the 911 emergency line at about 11 a.m. and stated ``I have something to tell you -- anthrax has been released in the Van Nuys courthouse,'' then hung up, said Laura Bosley, a spokeswoman for the FBI. The old and new Superior Court buildings in Van Nuys were sealed off and up to 1,500 people taken outside and isolated to determine whether they were exposed to any hazardous materials, authorities said. Hazardous materials crews with face masks, air tanks and protective suits were sent inside. ``They did an investigation and nothing was found,'' said Jim Wells, a spokesman for the city Fire Department. No major injuries or illnesses were reported. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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[ISN] Need help keeping your company's mail respectable? (fwd)
by Jukka E Isosaari 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thought some people might be in need of a tool like this... ++ J ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 13:32:59 -0700 (MST) From: mea culpa <jericho(a)dimensional.com> To: InfoSec News <isn(a)repsec.com> Subject: [ISN] Need help keeping your company's mail respectable? Need help keeping your company's mail respectable? http://www8.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,364134,00.html By Christy Walker, PC Week Online October 26, 1998 9:00 AM ET IT managers looking to clean up their companies' e-mail and enforce corporate e-mail policies can get help from several software developers. New releases due soon from Worldtalk Corp., SRA International Inc. and Content Technologies Inc. will augment the basic management capabilities found in mainstream e-mail packages such as Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange, adding features such as content control, archiving, security and virus scanning. Worldtalk, of Santa Clara, Calif., early next year will roll out an upgrade of its WorldSecure Server that will allow users to control e-mail content, scan for viruses and enforce archive policies on internal messages as well as messages moving between the company and the public Internet. The new release, Version 4.0, will monitor mail moving across the internal network. The current version, 3.2, sits at the gateway level and only scans messages between the company and the Internet. Another tool, Assentor, from SRA, uses a natural language search engine to automate the scanning of e-mail messages for inappropriate content. Assentor 1.2, which is due by early next year, will include the ability to route messages based on the word patterns found in an e-mail message. Version 1.2 will also be able to look for specific word patterns based on the requirements of individual groups, said officials of the Fairfax, Va., company. Assentor is widely used by securities companies that are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission to closely monitor e-mail and other client communications. The product helps reduce the numbers of messages that branch managers and compliance officers must review, SRA officials said. Assentor uses MIMEsweeper, e-mail scanning software from Content Technologies. Content Technologies, meanwhile, plans to boost MIMEsweeper with the ability to deal with encryption. Version 4.0, due early next year, will support message decryption so that MIMEsweeper can scan encrypted messages for content such as viruses, said officials at the Kirkland, Wash., company. In addition, Content Technologies will roll out a MIMEsweeper add-on module next month that scans both inbound and outbound messages for offensive language. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomo(a)repsec.com with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]

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list
by simya m�hendislik 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

thanks! _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com

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distribution scheme
by FitugMix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'd like to request your comments on the following idea. code for this is ready, awaiting yours and some other people's comments regarding some of the non-coding issues. for example, I'd like a lawyer or someone else familiar with the law to comment on the legal aspects. also, cryptologic expertise would be great. however, this is NOT an encryption scheme. the goals are different ones, I'll talk about that in a second. the basic idea is to take a piece of information and chop it into a number of pieces. this is basically the reverse process of "take the first letter of every word". digital information, however, can be divided at an even lower level, the bit level. imagine to chop a file into 8 parts, with the top bit of every byte going into the first file, the second bit into the second and so on. as you can imagine, the first 8 top-bits will again form a byte in the first file. now imagine the same principle, with an *arbitrary* number of files. the goal of this is not a new encryption scheme. cryptological, my limited knowledge tells me this is not too bad, but far from "secure". the nice things are that the files themselves contain no information about how many total files there are and in which order they have to be re-assembled, and without that knowledge you are in for some work of cryptoanalysis. the idea is to provide for a channel of distribution of arbitrary material, even copyrighted, patented or illegal in your country (e.g. china) in a "legal" way. that's why I'd like legal advice on this - is the idea correct? I cannot be sued for distributing a couple hundred E's and A's because they are part of a copyrighted book. can I be sued for distributing a couple of bits from a copyrighted image file? a trademarked or patented document? are there any legal precedents? I know that in the case of encryption, courts have at least once ruled that distribution of the key that unlocks this is equivalent to distribution of the copyrighted material, but in this case there is no key, no single piece of information that contains anything "central". tell me what you think. I can post code or details if you want. Falcon

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The long, strong arm of the NSA (fwd)
by Jukka E Isosaari 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9807/27/security.idg/index.html The long, strong arm of the NSA July 27, 1998 Web posted at: 4:15 PM EDT by Ellen Messmer FORT MEADE, Maryland (IDG) -- Back in the days of the cold war, Washington insiders used to joke that NSA stood for "No Such Agency." The government denied the very existence of this group, which is dedicated to intercepting and decoding foreign communications. That was then. Today the National Security Agency is well known, and spends a lot of time leaning on software, switch and router vendors, pushing them to re-tool their products. The agency's goal: to ensure that the government has access to encrypted data. The industry is facing a year-end deadline to add a government-approved back door into network gear. Vendors that don't provide this access risk losing export privileges. Cruising up and down Silicon Valley, NSA spooks from the agency's Fort Meade headquarters have been making pit stops at companies ranging from industry leaders Netscape Communications Corp. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. to start-ups such as VPNet Technologies, Inc. in order to get a peek at products still on the drawing board. The NSA wants software vendors to make sure that any product with strong encryption have some way for the government to tap into the data. And because practically every commercial network application, router or switch these days includes encryption or an option for it, almost every vendor now has to answer to the NSA if it wants to export. Hot line to the NSA It's gotten to the point where no vendor hip to the NSA's power will even start building products without checking in with Fort Meade first. This includes even that supposed ruler of the software universe, Microsoft Corp. "It's inevitable that you design products with specific [encryption] algorithms and key lengths in mind," said Ira Rubenstein, Microsoft attorney and a top lieutenant to Bill Gates. By his own account, Rubenstein acts as a "filter" between the NSA and Microsoft's design teams in Redmond, Wash. "Any time that you're developing a new product, you will be working closely with the NSA," he noted. When it comes to encryption, it's widely known that a 40-bit encryption key is easily breakable and hence rather useless. Until not long ago, this is what the U.S. government allowed for the export of software. But the Clinton administration a year and a half ago said it would allow the export of products with stronger encryption keys by any vendor that agreed to add a "key-recovery" feature to its products by year-end - giving the government access to encrypted data without the end user's knowledge. According to Bill Reinsche, Department of Commerce undersecretary for the Bureau of Export Controls, about 50 vendors have submitted plans for government-approved key-recovery, also called data-recovery. These companies, which include IBM, were rewarded with Key Management Infrastructure (KMI) export licenses to export products with 56-bit or stronger encryption until year-end. But some companies are discovering that dealing with the Commerce Department for a KMI license means more involvement with the NSA. The Bureau of Export Control is actually just a front for the NSA, said Alison Giacomelli, director of export compliance at VPNet Technologies, Inc., a San Jose, Calif.-based vendor of IP-based encryption gateways. "The NSA has sign-off authority on these KMI licenses," Giacomelli said. In return for the KMI license, VPNet opened itself up for an NSA audit. "They've already come out once, and they'll be coming out again," Giacomelli said. VPNet remains committed to meeting the deadline for adding key-recovery to its product but has one major problem: uncertainty about what the NSA really wants. The confusion means "there's a lot of risk . . . in terms of engineering and resources," Giacomelli said. Clearly wary of granting the government supervision over its products, Microsoft has stubbornly refused to submit a data-recovery plan, even though the Redmond giant already includes a data-recovery feature in its Exchange Server. "The Exchange Server can only be used when this feature is present," Rubenstein said. "Because we haven't filed a product plan, it's harder for us to export this than for companies that have filed plans." But in an odd-couple sort of joint-partner arrangement, Microsoft and the NSA did work together to build what's called Server Gated Cryptography. Primarily intended to help banks use Web servers to do business internationally, the technology lets a server with a special digital certificate provide 128-bit encryption support to a Web browser outside the U.S. Sybase, Inc., which also submitted a plan to add key-recovery to its products, found it hard to satisfy the government's demands. "They approved our technological approach but disapproved each of our applications with it," said Sybase President and CEO Mitchell Kertzman. "It's been frustrating." Documents recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center contain the data-recovery plan Netscape filed at the Commerce Department last year. Netscape's plan explains that the "escrow of private encryption keys" could be achieved by developing client and server products that can only issue an X.509 digital certificate after the private key has been escrowed. The key can only be held by an entity chosen by the intranet administrator who handles security policy. The Netscape plan called for introducing a certificate server with recovery capabilities in the first quarter of this year, with the introduction of S/MIME clients with basic recovery features in the second quarter. Netscape hasn't actually carried out this plan, and the company declined to discuss it. Netscape attorney Peter Harter would only say officially, "We had no choice but to submit the plan, no matter how much we opposed key-escrow, in order to be part of the ongoing dialog." Other FOIA documents show that Netscape was regularly briefing the NSA on its product plans since 1996 and that then NSA Deputy Director William Crowell took a special interest in trying to dissuade Netscape from using strong encryption. Crowell, now vice president for product marketing and strategy at Cylink Corp., said he had frequent discussions with Netscape, especially concerning changes to Netscape Navigator. "Their product didn't have a separate signature key, so if the government used the product for key-escrow later, you'd have to store the signature key with a third party, which we thought was a bad idea," Crowell said. He added that Netscape Navigator 3.0 adopted the changes the NSA wanted. According to Crowell, the NSA has a great deal of expertise in securing communications, and it wants to ensure that products bought by the Defense Department meet NSA standards. "In addition, as part of the NSA's intelligence mission, [the agency needs] to have a thorough understanding of where commercial products are headed." Taher Elgamal, author of the Netscape data-recovery plan, who recently left Netscape to start his own venture, said Netscape had no choice but to maintain constant contact with the NSA. "They're costing the industry a lot of money," Elgamal said. Others agree. "Everyone in Silicon Valley, including us, has to have specific staff - highly paid experts - to deal with them," said Chris Tolles, security group product manager at Sun. "Their job is to wrangle this from a policy standpoint." Sun has had run-ins with the NSA in the past. Two years ago, the NSA objected to Sun including encryption in the exportable version of Java 1.1. The end result was that Sun stripped encryption out of Java 1.1 and the software was delayed by about six months. Related stories: Hole in Internet security discovered - June 30, 1998 Government restrictions on encryption pose obstacles for Internet security - May 18, 1998

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[humor] Fwd: Computer News
by Jean-Francois Avon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

==================BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE================== >Subject: Computer News >Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 20:11:42 -0800 Microsoft announced this week that due to Y2K problems, Windows 2000 will be delayed until Jan, 1901. ===================END FORWARDED MESSAGE===================

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MCI hit with encryption virus [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://cnnfn.com/digitaljam/9812/21/virus_pkg/ > From Correspondent Bruce Francis > December 21, 1998: 7:56 p.m. ET > July 30, 1998 Network Associates MCI WorldCom More Quotes.... Network > Associates Anti-virus Research Center NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Employees > at MCI WorldCom were confronted with a science fiction scenario made > cold fact on Monday when a computer virus struck the company's > sprawling network, encrypting and destroying files. > [INLINE] To make things worse, virus consultants Network Associates > (NETA) say that the virus -- called "Remote Explorer" -- is unlike > any other and may be the smartest, most dangerous computer bug to > date. [text deleted] ____________________________________________________________________ What raises the standard of living may well diminish the quality of life. The Club of Rome The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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This one spl. for anonymous (X-mas puzzle)
by Rajiv Malik 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi there I remember u posted a nice puzzle long back this one spl. for u : --> There are two persons. A pair of no is written on each's face. They can see the no (pair of no) written on the other's face and they have to tell the no written on their face. They start one by one. Lets say one person starts he can see the no written on his opponents face , its (13,17). After 3 tries he tells the correct answer. The nos exhibit the following properties: 1> All the nos are prime. 2> Any three no taken ( from the set of 4 nos, two no on each's face) together form a triangle and the perimeter of the triangle is prime. Now you have tell the no written on that persons face and why it took him three tries. The conversation between the two persons is as follows Let p1 and p2 be the persons and p1 starts and p1 saw the no (13,17) written in p2. p1> I don't know p2> I don't know p1> I don't know p2> I don't know p1> Tells the right no. enjoy (Happy X-mas) Rajiv PS : I'm off till 28th So u have enough time.

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Re: alternative b-money creation
by Ian Grigg 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> What about near money, e.g., S&H Green Stamps, > frequent flier miles, Toys R Us Bucks, or anything > else that can only be used reflexively with the > issuer? Near money is something that many people hold out hope for, and you may all be right, in that it may be the way forward through the morass of difficulties. I personally don't think so, not for any killer reason, but for a whole host of little reasons. I'll see if I can't enunciate them, and no doubt within the session you are running, we'll have some lively discussions. > In the Depression, many southern manufacturing > firms and, so far as my relatives tell, 100% of > the coal mining outfits, paid in scrip which was > redeemable only at the company store. Some of my > Mother's people worked at the phone company and > converted their scrip to stock since they judged > it worthless otherwise. This is the Hiawatha Hours, as I rudely called them (I keep forgetting the name, sorry). Now, these are working systems. They are more or less the same as the LETS systems, which are sort of successful in many hundreds of places. Where they work is generally an indication of some shortage. With the above systems, and as far as I can tell, with all systems, there is a shortage of cash. It is not just that everyone is poor, but that the cycle of money in its journey from entity to entity throughout the economy is broken. In contrast to this shortage and cyclic failure, demand and supply for goods and services remain high, at least in many sectors. In this case, anything that is injected can conceivably bootstrap the cycle again, and this is why, IMHO, the many different range of instruments all appear to have been successful. It is not the instrument, but the presence of an instrument. One thing to remember is that the local economy is generally the larger proportion of the total economy. I have empirically noted that in most towns with identifiable export industries, there are 3 people employed elsewhere for every one within the direct export sector - this is a reflection that most people are actually supporting the rest. (However, this doesn't take into account the import side of the equation.) Under such circumstances, it is no real wonder that a shortage of money will cause an economy to grind to a halt, and an injection of money will start it up again - to the extent that import/export permits. But bear in mind that this is a competitive scenario, and the scrip money tends to work well when the statal currency disappeared as in the Depression. When the statal money comes back in, the scrip fails to entice, because it is only useful by definition for local products, not imported products. In that scenario it is dominated (to use the term) by statal currency. > You can buy FF miles at > 2c/mile at both the Delta and AA websites and US > Air FF miles now exchange 1-for-1 with AA FF > miles. Every affinity program in the country > offers dollar denominated discounts at the home > issuing location. Yes, one of the huge barriers to any money system is the border to any other money system. At this border, the change costs are a very important limiter on the success of the system. Remember that a merchant must convert to useful money in order to pay his costs, so a small system cannot really work without an internal method of spending money, to offset that. This is the real reason why countries have money, because they have a border that defines a naturally sized unit. With MTB ecash, this became very apparent when merchants had to extract their cash at somewhere between 2 and 5 percent, thus putting the lie to the notion of cash. With FF miles, they alleviate this somewhat by recasting the situation as a loyalty programme, and thus you use the internal goods. So it only works when you are a regular user. Adding convertability makes it closer to money. But there is one killer that will never make it be accepted as a dominating form of money. All loyalty programmes are calculated on the basis of this actually accruing value to the provider, rather than the other way around. Necessarily, this means the user is paying for the priviledge of being loyal. This is done three ways. Firstly, most successful loyalty programmes such as FF miles are based on goods with a low marginal cost but high ticket cost. To the airline, it costs the price of a seat which is somewhere around $30. To you, you believe that you are getting, say, $200 value (for points marked as $200 for example). Within that range, the airline wins. Secondly, on average, FF miles are not actually used up beyond a benchmark figure of 30%. Airlines also have a number of tricks that use up or block the use of points. Thirdly, FF miles work best when the individual is consuming, but the company is paying. What FF miles are is essentially a bribe to the business traveller to insist on using their airline, when the traveller doesn't otherwise care. This separation of user from payer is cunning marketing, something that is employed by all the best companies (IBM were the past masters, now the crown has passed to M$. Odd that computing displays this domination amongst all industries...). Now, regardless of all this, you are right that these systems take on the nature of money if people suffer all these things and then continue to participate. What can stop these becoming real useful is several things: people working out that they are regularly over paying, taxation departments working out that the business traveller is taking an untaxed benefit, and various other hurdles. If you can manage to navigate that particular river stretch of crocs and snakes, then you might make money, to stretch a pun. However, if you are going to all that trouble, why not just start a real money? That's my real thesis. > I can get a tax deduction for > turning in some of these sorts of things to, say, > the Make A Wish Foundation. Well, not sure what to say about giving away your overpaid loyalty points. That makes for two charities, the Foundation and the Airline. > My university co-op > gives rebates based on purchase volume and in > cash, but there is no attempt to verify that the > purchaser is really the account holder if that > holder pays in cash. Oh, anonymity/untraceability/bearer status might be useful features, but that is only what they are, features. If our objective is to invent one with those features as requirement, then I think you will find a single purpose, centralised registry, poor convertability system as a really bad starting point. > For the longest time, > stamps could be used in place of coin for small > denomination mail order. Single system. Why did they stop? > Until security worries > required a named passenger, shuttle tickets > between Boston and NYC might as well have been > cash. We know why these have been stopped. For precisely reasons similar to the elimination of unknown activity, including monetary activity. Add this to the list of disadvantages of near money. > The Mass State Legislature only this past > week considered a bill that would make used > (non-winning) lottery tickets have a residual > cash value useful only at lottery agents (this as > an anti-litter thing). Ah, so this will be very interesting. So will there be an arbitrary limit placed on there to stop them being used as cash? Remember that cash itself dominates if you can more easily use cash rather than a handful of used lottery tickets. > My thinking -- enough near money and it will tend > to convertibility... Yes, that I agree with. But I fall short of saying that it reaches a useful level of convertibility. Looking forward to our loyalty systems session in March! Actually, I should mention that whilst I do not favour these systems for the above reasons, I do believe that in the study of them, we better understand how money works, much more so than if we were to simply study money, which is so completely lost in statal marketing these days as to be unfathomable in isolation. iang

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Trust in Cyberspace
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We offer the National Academy of Sciences September 1998 report, "Trust in Cyberspace," a 243-page survey of all security issues and technologies associated with the Internet and computer networks: http://jya.com/tic-intro.htm (Introduction only, 58K) http://jya.com/tic.htm (Full report, 882K) http://jya.com/tic.zip (Full report zipped, 302K) The report reviews prior studies such as the CRISIS report on cryptography, the PCCIP report on protecting US infrastructure, the DoD report on Information Warfare - Defense, and several others, assesses those findings in greater depth, looks at technology and research needed, and recommends what government (NSA and DARPA) and private industry/eduation should do to assure security. NSA is upbraided for its opposition to strong cryptography and culture of overcontrolling secrecy. NSA's R2 research unit is singled out as needing to find ways to compete with industry for the best talent so that the agency's skills and tools do not lag the world market.

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[mitnick] on another note .. (fwd)
by Max Inux 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

No introduction needed... --Max ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 17:25:40 +0100 X-Loop: openpgp.net From: Tor Fosheim <tor.fosheim(a)bigfoot.com> Reply-To: mitnick(a)2600.com To: mitnick(a)2600.com Subject: [mitnick] on another note .. The Highest court in Norway has freed a computer engineer from Norman Data Defense Systems from charges relating to a computer break-in at the University of Oslo in 1995. It acknowledged the fact that he broke in through a security hole, but said it was not illegal for him to do so. The court said that anyone who makes their computers available on the internet should be prepared for the machines to accept "requests for information contained on it". Ie, if its not protected well enough -- its the owner of the machine who is to blame. Tor

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Re: MCI hit with encryption virus [CNN] (fwd)
by Ian Moya 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anyone else find it interesting that the release for this outside of NAI press release was at CNN/fn and not CNN's tech section? The stock shot up 6 and 3/8 on the news. Pretty nice Christmas bonus to say the least. Couple other more timely and detailed notes on the event: http://www.ilhawaii.net/webnews/wed/aq/Nd55_38.html http://www.ilhawaii.net/webnews/wed/dm/Nd55_51.html Also a local TV station (Austin) on the 5pm news last night had some official working on this fiasco quoted as saying that this was the first large case of "cyberterrorism" that he had encountered. I hope the national media doesn't start goose stepping to that account things; otherwise, expect this and related events to be cited by CIAO and other gubment offices in their initiatives next year to round up network incident response teams nationally and globally. http://www.ciao.gov/ http://www.pccip.gov/ moya -- a Navigo farmer Have an <Interesting> New Millenium- <http://www.netmeg.net/jargo/terms/i/interesting.html> <Days: 374 Hours: 11 Minutes: 42 Seconds: 6> > Forwarded message: > >From owner-cypherpunks(a)ssz.com Tue Dec 22 07:32:13 1998 > From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)einstein.ssz.com> > Subject: MCI hit with encryption virus [CNN] > To: cypherpunks(a)einstein.ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer) > Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 07:31:11 -0600 (CST) > > > X-within-URL: http://cnnfn.com/digitaljam/9812/21/virus_pkg/ > > > From Correspondent Bruce Francis > > December 21, 1998: 7:56 p.m. ET > > > July 30, 1998 Network Associates MCI WorldCom More Quotes.... Network > > Associates Anti-virus Research Center NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Employees > > at MCI WorldCom were confronted with a science fiction scenario made > > cold fact on Monday when a computer virus struck the company's > > sprawling network, encrypting and destroying files. > > [INLINE] To make things worse, virus consultants Network Associates > > (NETA) say that the virus -- called "Remote Explorer" -- is unlike > > any other and may be the smartest, most dangerous computer bug to > > date. > > [text deleted]

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First call for papers
by Gawlick, Thomas 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi everyone ! Please find the attached first call for papers for a new international forum for information security. We apologize if you have multiple receipts of this message. We wish you all a joyous Holiday Season and a Happy New Year! secunet Security Networks GmbH CQRE - Team First CALL FOR PAPERS -------------------------------------- CQRE [Secure] Exhibition & Congress -------------------------------------------------------- Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 1999, Duesseldorf, Germany CQRE [Secure] Exhibition & Congress provides a new international forum giving a close-up view on information security in the context of rapidly evolving economic processes. The unprecedented reliance on computer technology has transformed the previous technical side-issue "information security" to a management problem requiring decisions of strategic importance. Hence, the targeted audience represents decision makers from government, industry, commercial, and academic communities. If you are concerned with solutions relating to the protection of your countryŽs information infrastructure or a commercial enterprise, consider submitting a paper to the CQRE [Secure] Exhibition & Congress. We are looking for papers and panel discussions covering: * ELECTRONIC COMMERCE * CORPORATE SECURITY --------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- - new business processes - access control - secure business transactions - secure teleworking - online merchandising - enterprise key management - electronic payment / banking - IT-audit - innovative applications - risk / disaster management * NETWORK SECURITY - security awareness and training --------------------------------------------- - implementation, accreditation, - virtual private networks and operation of secure systems - security aspects in internet in a government, business, or utilization industry environment - security aspects in multi- * SECURITY TECHNOLOGY media-applications -------------------------------------------------- - intrusion detection systems - cryptography * LEGAL ASPECTS - public key infrastructures ------------------------------ - chip card technology - digital signature acts - biometrics - privacy and anonymity * TRUST MANAGEMENT - crypto regulation -------------------------------------------------- - liability - evaluation of products and systems - international harmonization of security evaluation criteria * STANDARDIZATION * FUTURE PERSPECTIVES Any other contribution addressing the involving of IT security in economic processes will also be welcome. Authors are invited to submit an extended abstract of their contribution to the program chair. The submissions should be original research results, survey articles or "high quality" case studies and position papers. Product advertisements are welcome for presentation, but will not be considered for the proceedings. Manuscripts must be in English, and not more than 2.000 words. The extended abstracts should be in a form suitable for anonymous review, without author's names, affiliations, acknowledgements or obvious references. Contributions must not be submitted in parallel to any conference or workshop that has proceedings. Separately, an abstract of the paper with no more than 200 words and with title, name and addresses (incl. an E-mail address) of the authors may be submitted. In case of multiple authors the contacting author must be clearly identified. We strongly encourage electronic submission in Postscript format. The submissions must be in 11pt format, use standard fonts or include the necessary fonts. Proposals for panel discussions should also be sent to the program chair. Panels of interest include those that present alternative/controversial viewpoints or those that encourage lively discussions of relevant issues. Panels that are collections of unrefereed papers will not be considered. Panel proposals should be a minimum of one page describing the subject matter, the appropriateness of the panel for this conference and should identify participants and their respective viewpoints. MAILING LIST: -------------------------------------- If you want to receive emails with subsequent Call for Papers and registration information, please send a brief mail to cqre(a)secunet.de. WEB SITE: -------------------------------------- Up to date information about CQRE [Secure] Exhibition & Congress will be available at http://www.secunet.de/Forum/cqre.html IMPORTANT DATES: -------------------------------------- - Deadline for submission of extended abstracts May 14, 1999 - Deadline for submission of panel proposals June 1, 1999 - Notification of acceptance June 25, 1999 - Deadline for submission of complete papers July 30, 1999 PROGRAM COMMITTEE: -------------------------------------- Johannes Buchmann (TU Darmstadt) Dirk Fox (Secorvo) Walter Fumy (Siemens) Rüdiger Grimm (GMD) Helena Handschuh (ENST/Gemplus) Thomas Hoeren (Uni Muenster) Pil Joong Lee (POSTECH) Alfred Menezes (U.of Waterloo / Certicom) David Naccache (Gemplus) Clifford Neumann (USC) Mike Reiter (Bell Labs) Matt Robshaw (RSA) Richard Schlechter (EU-comm.) Bruce Schneier (Counterpane) Tsuyoshi Takagi (NTT) Yiannis Tsiounis (GTE Labs) Michael Waidner (IBM) Moti Yung (CERTCO) Robert Zuccherato (Entrust) PROGRAM CHAIR: -------------------------------------- Rainer Baumgart secunet Security Networks GmbH Weidenauer Str. 223 - 225 57076 Siegen Germany Tel.: +49-271-48950-15 Fax: +49-271-48950-50 R.Baumgart(a)secunet.de

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RE: politically correct bomb graffiti
by Jim Gillogly 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Department officials said Monday they were ~> distressed about ``thoughtless graffiti'' referring to the Islamic holy ~> month of Ramadan on a Navy bomb being prepared for dropping on Iraq. xasper8d writes: > What's the 90's PC war cry? Go ahead and nuke 'em, just don't be > insensitive about it. While I also would be more offended by someone bombing me into a thin film of viscera and connective tissue than by having them ridicule my beliefs, I think the Pentagon was more concerned about the effect on our allies in the Gulf. The recent bombing was an attack against the Iraqi military and leadership rather than on Islam, and having that graffito get big airplay could offend other countries that we'd prefer not to offend. So while they looked silly complaining about the Ramadan reference, they'd have looked worse if they'd passed it off with a shrug and/or another ethnic or religious slur. There is of course a long tradition of personalizing ordnance; ISTR that the bomb in Dr. Strangelove had more of a message than just its megatonnage. -- Jim Gillogly Sterday, 2 Yule S.R. 1999, 18:50 12.19.5.14.5, 11 Chicchan 18 Mac, Sixth Lord of Night

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Re: alternative b-money creation
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:28 AM -0500 on 12/22/98, Ian Grigg wrote: > This is the Hiawatha Hours, as I rudely called them > (I keep forgetting the name, sorry). Now, these are > working systems. They are more or less the same as > the LETS systems, which are sort of successful in many > hundreds of places. Ithaca Hours. They like LETS, are based, more or less, on Marx's "Labor Theory of Value". 'nuff said, I figure. Stupid is as stupid does, to quote a famous Alabaman... :-). Cheers, RAH ----------------- 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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Graffitti or National Policy?
by Missouri FreeNet Administration 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

HEY, REEZA! ARE YOU *LISTENING* ??? ----- Pentagon Decries U.S. Bomb Graffiti Tuesday, December 22, 1998; 1:24 a.m. EST ::WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defense Department officials said Monday they were ::distressed about ``thoughtless graffiti'' referring to the Islamic holy ::month of Ramadan on a Navy bomb being prepared for dropping on Iraq. Next time, the CIC demands that you put *more* thought into it... ::The Associated Press last Saturday transmitted a photograph of a ::2,000-pound laser-guided bomb on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in ::the Persian Gulf waiting to be loaded on F-14 and F-18 jet fighters. Of course, they didn't mind the *bomb* being televised, only the graffitti :-/ ::The bomb bore several inscriptions, including one that said, ``Here's a ::Ramadan present from Chad Rickenberg.'' Reeza, why wasn't *your* Ramadan Missive there? ::``Department of Defense officials were distressed to learn of ::thoughtless graffiti mentioning the holy month of Ramadan written on a ::piece of U.S. ordnance during Operation Desert Fox'' in Iraq, chief ::Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said in a statement. Yeah, it's perfectly OK to bomb them during Ramadan (for their own good of course), but not to actually *acknowledge* it... ::``Religious intolerance is an anathema to Secretary of Defense ::William S. Cohen and to all Americans who cherish the right to worship ::freely,'' he added. Unless you (a) happen to be Arabic [aside: The odds that an Arabic male is depicted as dirty, bad, untrustworthy, etc, in any motion pic emanating from the US? A: 19 in 20 {harpers}] (b) happen to live in any territory currently occupied by any puppet of the USG (Israel comes immediately to mind, but lets face it, there's plenty of others), (c) don't agree with every single thing the USG/POTUS has done for the last 200++ years... :: ``The United States deeply respects Islam. We are grateful for ::our good relations with Arab and Islamic peoples, We are especially grateful that they so freely allow us to bomb their men women and children whenever we get bored or involved in any domestic issue that might embarrass the USG/POTUS/IRS/NSA/etc... Or when we aren't sure that a new weapon technology is actually "Ready For Prime Time"... :: and we appreciate the ::important contributions of Muslim-Americans to the U.S. military and to ::our nation as a whole. See above :-/ ::``I know our people in uniform respect and appreciate religious ::practices different from their own. Exactly! What Mr. Rickenberg *meant* to say was "Merry Christmas", right? :: This incident is a rare exception that does not :: reflect American policy or values.'' The bombing/starving/massacring of innocent civilians, or the graffitti that didn't have enough thought in it? Isn't it amazing how the military hates having their laundry aired in public??? Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin(a)mfn.org -- If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Returned post for press-english-technical@lists.datafellows.com (fwd)
by Missouri FreeNet Administration 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

They are using the EzMLM Pgm??? What does *that* tell you??? Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin(a)mfn.org -- If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... -------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 22 Dec 1998 15:51:33 -0000 From: press-english-technical-help(a)lists.datafellows.com To: measl(a)mfn.org Subject: Returned post for press-english-technical(a)lists.datafellows.com Hi! This is the ezmlm program. I'm managing the press-english-technical(a)lists.datafellows.com mailing list. I'm sorry, the list moderators have failed to act on your post. Thus, I'm returning it to you. If you feel that this is in error, please repost the message or contact a list moderator directly. --- Enclosed, please find the message you sent. To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com, Marita Nasman-Repo <Marita.Nasman-Repo(a)DataFellows.com>, pirkka.palomaki(a)DataFellows.com, ari.hypponen(a)DataFellows.com Subject: Re: MEDIA RELEASE: Data Fellows Joins the Microsoft Security Partners Program From: Missouri FreeNet Administration <measl(a)mfn.org> Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 12:23:32 -0600 (CST) cc: press-pr(a)lists.datafellows.com, df-pr-us(a)lists.datafellows.com, press-english-technical(a)lists.datafellows.com, press-english-general(a)lists.datafellows.com Delivered-To: moderator for press-english-technical(a)lists.datafellows.com In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19981215170136.0098ad60(a)smtp.datafellows.com> Posted-Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 12:23:32 -0600 (CST) On Tue, 15 Dec 1998, Marita Nasman-Repo Blathered: :Helsinki, Finland, December 15, 1998-- Data Fellows, the global leader in :developing data security software solutions, has been invited to join the :Microsoft Security Partners Program. "Invited"? You mean they finally accepted your application, right? :The Microsoft Security Partners Program :(http://www.microsoft.com/security/partners) provides customers with the :tools and information they need to establish, test and maintain effective :information security for their computing infrastructure. By providing real-life examples of how NOT to implement security practices. By simply purchasing these failed products (at only *slightly* exhorbitant prices), so can learn by example: see for yourself just how easy it is to completely botch a security directive. Witness how thoroughly you can mangle password encryption. Learn what major design flaws *really* look like! :The program brings :together software manufacturers, security consultants and security :trainers, making it even easier for customers to provide robust security in :their Microsoft Windows NT operating system-based networks. Just as soon as it becomes available? Oh, BTW, when *will* that be??? :Three Data Fellows products are included in the Microsoft Security Partners :Program. I'm sorry. But don't worry, if you keep working on it, you'll be able to sell it to a *real* vendor someday... :F-Secure Workstation Suite consists of malicious code detection :and removal as well as unobtrusive file and network encryption, Very unobtrusive, I'm sure! Does the attacker even know it's there? : all :integrated into a policy-based management architecture. Hmmm... Somebody's been playing with their buzzword-generator again :) :F-Secure VPN+ :provides a software-based, IPSec/IKE VPN solution scaleable for large :corporate networks as well as remote and small office networks. Was that IPSec/IKE, or IPSec-like? I vote for the latter. It's just like IPSec, but without wasting all those nasty cycles on dumb things - like encryption: it's *so much* more user-friendly when it doesnt [further] slow the speed of new window open/closes... : F-Secure :FileCrypto is the first and only product to integrate strong real-time :encryption directly into the Windows NT-based file system. Could be, we already know that Micro$loth has *no clue* when it comes to these things (Right Paul???)... :"Microsoft is pleased to include Data Fellows as part of its Security :Partners Program," said Karan Khanna, Windows NT Security Product Manager :at Microsoft Corp. Of course you are. Micro$loth would be pleased to welcome Joseph Stalin into the Security Partners Program. : "This program will help our mutual customers develop and :deploy secure solutions built on the Windows NT platform." Just as soon as they can get Windows NT to run faster than a 6809 with 1k of 512ns RAM and a single parallel port for IO ;-) :"The relationship with Microsoft shows Data Fellows commitment to improve :the native security of standalone and networked computers with a :comprehensive, centrally managed suite of security services," said Risto :Siilasmaa, president and CEO of Data Fellows. You're *that* worried about Micro$loth's current offerings, huh? Personally, I'd let them fend for themselves, but... :"Data Fellows is committed to :providing globally available And this *IS* your *FIRST* priority, isn't it? :seamless security for Windows users; security :that is strong yet easy to manage and economical." Great! Let me know when it's available! :Data Fellows is one of the worlds leading developers of data security :products. Really? Who decided that? Do you have any research to back up this awe-inspiring claim? : The company develops, markets and supports anti-virus, data :security and cryptography software products for corporate computer :networks. That's only because most of the private networks already know better. Yours, J.A. Terranson sysadmin(a)mfn.org -- If Governments really want us to behave like civilized human beings, they should give serious consideration towards setting a better example: Ruling by force, rather than consensus; the unrestrained application of unjust laws (which the victim-populations were never allowed input on in the first place); the State policy of justice only for the rich and elected; the intentional abuse and occassionally destruction of entire populations merely to distract an already apathetic and numb electorate... This type of demogoguery must surely wipe out the fascist United States as surely as it wiped out the fascist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The views expressed here are mine, and NOT those of my employers, associates, or others. Besides, if it *were* the opinion of all of those people, I doubt there would be a problem to bitch about in the first place... --------------------------------------------------------------------

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CL: PJ O'Rourke on economic books & Hayek
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

My only exception to this rule is "Investments", by Sharpe, which, unfortunately, isn't for the innumerate. :-). Cheers, RAH --- begin forwarded text Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 16:56:45 EST Reply-To: Hayek Related Research <HAYEK-L(a)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: Hayek Related Research <HAYEK-L(a)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Hayek-L List Host <HayekList(a)AOL.COM> Subject: CL: PJ O'Rourke on economic books & Hayek To: HAYEK-L(a)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU >> Current Literature << -- economics / humor "A NOTE ABOUT THE BIBLIOGRAPHY There isn't one. I'm too lazy. And who ever heard of humor with footnotes? But there are certain books which I found crucial to a neophyte student of economics, especially if (and I mean no insult to the texts by this) that student is uninformed, innumerate, light-minded, and a big goof-off. In other words, these are the books to read if you want to know something about economics but have never gotten further into the subject than figuring out a trifecta at Belmont: _Free to Choose_ and _Capitalism and Freedom_ by Milton and Rose Friedman ,,, _The Road to Serfdom_ by Friedrich A. Hayek ,,, _The Armchair Economist by Steven E. Landsburg ,,, There are certain books you should avoid, such as anything with the words Investment and Success in the title and everything ever written by John Kenneth Galbraith ,,," P. J. O'Rourke, _Eat the Rich: A Treatise On Economics_. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. 1998. pp. xvi-xvi. Current Literature is a regular feature of the Hayek-L list. --- 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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Advanced Crypto Graduate Course
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 20:00:31 -0500 (EST) From: Christof Paar <christof(a)ece.WPI.EDU> To: "WPI.Crypto.Seminar":; cc: DCSB <dcsb(a)ai.mit.edu> Subject: Advanced Crypto Graduate Course Sender: bounce-dcsb(a)ai.mit.edu Reply-To: Christof Paar <christof(a)ece.WPI.EDU> Please find below an announcement for the Crypto II graduate course. I'll be happy to answer any question about the course contents. For registration questions, please contact WPI's Graduate Admission Office at "gao(a)wpi.edu". Regards, Christof *********************************************************************** Christof Paar, Assistant Professor Cryptography and Information Security (CRIS) Group ECE Dept., WPI, 100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA 01609, USA fon: (508) 831 5061 email: christof(a)ece.wpi.edu fax: (508) 831 5491 www: http://ee.wpi.edu/People/faculty/cxp.html *********************************************************************** >>> WORKSHOP ON CRYPTOGRAPHIC HARDWARE AND EMBEDDED SYSTEMS (CHES) <<< >>> WPI, August 12 & 13, 1999 <<< >>> check http://ece.wpi.edu/Research/crypt/ches <<< ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EE 579R, ADVANCED TOPICS IN CRYPTOGRAPHY Spring `99 Semester WPI, Thursdays, 5:30-8:30pm, AK219 First day of class: January 21 COURSE DESCRIPTION The course is a continuation of EE 578/CS 578, Cryptography and Data Security. It will provide a deeper insight into several areas of cryptology which are of great practical and theoretical importance. One focus of the course is on techniques for efficient software and (to a somewhat lesser extend) hardware implementations for public-key algorithms. The second focus is on attacks against public-key schemes, which is fundamental for an in-depth understanding of the choice of practical algorithms. Many techniques will be introduced which are usually only treated in the research literature. SYLLABUS Week 1: Introduction Overview on practical public-key algorithms and efficient implementation techniques. Efficient implementation of RSA: The Chinese Remainder Theorem. Week 2: Selected public-key algorithms Review of the generalized discrete logarithm problem and elliptic curve cryptosystems. Week 3: Efficient Implementation Introduction to long number arithmetic. Week 4: Efficient Implementation Fast modular reduction algorithms. Week 5: Efficient Implementation Fast inversion algorithms. Week 6: Efficient Implementation Efficient exponentiation algorithms. Week 7 Midterm Exam Week 8: Attacks Attacking DL systems: Baby-step giant-step method and Pollard's rho method. Week 9: Attacks Attacking DL systems: Parallelization of Pollard's rho method. Week 10 Topics TBA, depending on student interest. Possibilities are: Index-calculus attack, differential cryptanalysis, correlation attacks, modern block cipher design, Galois field arithmetic. Week 11 as week 10 lecture Week 12: Student presentations Week 13: Student presentations Week 14 Final Exam. TEXTBOOKS A. Menezes, P. van Oorschot, S. Vanstone: Handbook of Applied Cryptography. CRC Press. (primary, mandatory) D. Stinson, Cryptography: Theory and Practice. CRC Press, 1995. (recommended) PREREQUISITES The knowledge of the material of EE 578/CS 578, Cryptography and Data Security, is assumed (in particular with respect to public-key algorithms). In addition, some experience with the C programming language is required. *********************************************************************** Christof Paar, Assistant Professor Cryptography and Information Security (CRIS) Group ECE Dept., WPI, 100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA 01609, USA fon: (508) 831 5061 email: christof(a)ece.wpi.edu fax: (508) 831 5491 www: http://ee.wpi.edu/People/faculty/cxp.html *********************************************************************** >>> WORKSHOP ON CRYPTOGRAPHIC HARDWARE AND EMBEDDED SYSTEMS (CHES) <<< >>> WPI, August 12 & 13, 1999 <<< >>> check http://ece.wpi.edu/Research/crypt/ches <<< For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to "dcsb-request(a)ai.mit.edu" with one line of text: "help". --- 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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