December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

signing messages
by Greg Broiles 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Seems like one way to encourage the use of digital signatures is to start forging messages from people who don't ordinarily sign their messages. Necessity is the mother of invention, and all of that. I finally started signing my messages on a regular basis as a result of Detweiler forging a message which purported to be from me. On the other hand, I think Tim has been the most frequent target of Detweiler's forgeries, and I don't detect much of a creep towards signing messages on his part. Eric, would you mind clarifying the purpose of the "sign-or-delay" rule? Last time this came up I assumed that it was to encourage folks who had 95% of the tools/initiative to start using crypto techniques on a day-to-day basis to get off their asses and do so; but other people seem to have different ideas about the purpose(s) of such a practice. I think it might be interesting to try the "sign-or-delay" rule on a part-time basis - perhaps weekends only, or never on weekends, or only during December, or whatever. To me, it seems useful as sort of a "Great American Smoke-Out Day" for crypto; to get folks to go just one day where they use crypto in a practical, applied way, to prove that they can do it. What they do after that is their own business. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtvFC33YhjZY3fMNAQGc+QP/R2kBRlCNVLDVJNOLOGOWv6URYmnj+qTt poo1LKtz31Mzj+rBAiXPZSYY5xPtTXKD/7X8dU3JYyJbH12kwvH/RS1GS4mEV++V QDJD6L84EekrdFy0piP7jsGDMq2SQsHnI6G3GG0koGoMN/3u/UbDiCG3+yJ1b5u1 iMCS8dZQTfA= =eCnh -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

4 3

RE: CFV on Signing Posts To List?
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I disagree that a cypherpunk should be expected agree to commit everyone towards arriving at a consensus over whether anyone who posts to the list should sign their messages, or that the list owner should be expected to submit to their conclusions simply because that is what they agreed among themselves he ought do. It's a matter of (anarchist) principle. Blanc

1 0

Mandatory message signing
by Tom Bryce 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>It's usually a good idea to read for at least a month before leaping >into the discussion, so as not to overreact. I guess so. :) > > I thought the whole grassroots crypto thing was about protecting privacy > > rights and individual liberty and all that. So what if someone wants to > > post a message to cypherpunks AND DOES NOT WANT ANYONE TO BE ABLE TO > > PROVE THEY WROTE THE MESSAGE. > >Mechanisms for this already exist. For example, register a PGP key to >a pseudonym, such as "Dr. Death". >An advantage of doing this is that even though no one really knows who >"Dr. Death" is, you can sign messages certifying that yes, the person >they know as "Dr. Death" wrote this message. Without this >certification, anyone can claim to be "Dr. Death" at any given moment. Hmmm. But even with a psuedonym like that, people can still claim you were Dr. Death, and Dr. Death will have posted enough stuff about enough things so the Dr. and you can be linked fairly certainly, isn't this right? There's a reason why one should prefer the telephone over mail for many matters. That is, no one can record your call (legally) and prove that you said a certain thing at a certain time, while they can keep your letter and prove you wrote a certain thing. Honestly, the chance of someone posting a fraudulent message under someone else's email address to the cypherpunks list is pretty slim, but that possibility (or the chance that they left their computer on and someone sent something, etc.) leaves you plausible deniability if you ever want it. If one has to sign all their posts with their pgp key, or conversely with a psuedonym generated for the purpose, to me, that's beginning a dangerous practice of using the technology to invade peoples' privacy instead of expand their privacy possibilities. People who want a psuedonym identity and who want their messages to be verified against a PGP signature can easily choose to do so, presently, and if you wanted to, you could append a notice to the end of an unsigned message: NOTE: The preceding message was not accompanied by a digital signature, and its authenticity may be suspect. But I guess I just don't see why people should have to sign their messages under some given key to contribute to the group. Unless you generated and registered a new key for every message you wanted to post, there would still be unforgeable evidence linking you or your psuedonym to a series of posts. And if there was a series of posts from your psuedonym, that increases the chances it could be linked to you. And besides that, you might want to post free and clear and sign your name to it, and forget the hiding behind a psuedonym stuff. Just you don't want to sign the message digitally. This seems like a perfectly valid choice that users should have the privacy rights and freedom to make. Tom

2 1

Premail and transparent email
by raph＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It's quite gratifying to see that people are actually using premail and like it. I see premail as a prototype for _real_ transparent email encryption. A lot of people are intimidated by the need to get premail off the ftp site, unzip/untar it, and set all the configuration variables to get it running right. This "intimidation factor," of course, only applies to *x people. Everybody else is completely out of luck. I think the same problems hold with most of the scripts that are out there. Every time I've gotten something to play with, I've had to diddle with pathnames, or the makefile, or whatever. The real solution, I think, is to get all the needed components for transparent email encryption into the standard releases of the tools. I'm currently working on exactly this project. In rough outline, PGP will run as a "server" process. Mailers would connect to the server, and pass all incoming and outgoing mail through it. One advantage is that clients would contain _no_ crypto content, so there would be no problems with exportability. The server would contain much of the functionality of premail. I showed an early prototype at the last cpunks meeting. Initially, I am doing all the work in *x, just because that's what I have tools for, but ultimately it should work for Windows and Mac as well. My intent is to get large numbers of people to use PGP to encrypt all of their email, including casual stuff. This won't happen until encryption and decryption are _totally_ transparent. -- Raph Levien -- raph(a)netcom.com

2 1

premail 0.30
by Michael K. Sanders 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've got premail v0.30 installed here as /usr/lib/sendmail. I added the $config{"sendmail"}="real_sendmail" option, but this means that ~/.premailrc is not used. But that users can't specify their own options... Specifically, it looks as if doing it this way I can't automatically PGP sign my mail without adding it to the global script, but that would mean _all_ mail out of this site would be signed with my id. Any suggestions how to go about this? It makes it so convenient to have it replace sendmail, but I'd like to sign my mail as well. -- Michael K. Sanders -- msanders(a)ataxia.res.wpi.edu ataxia: NetBSD/Amiga 1.0 - Creating Chaos out of Anarchy for a Better Tomorrow Ataxia Home Page

2 2

Re: The Market for Crypto--A Curmudgeon's View (fwd)
by Jonathon Fletcher 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Tue, 29 Nov 1994, Sandy Sandfort wrote: [ ... stuff r'moved ... ] > > Personally, I'm against mandatory digitally signatures as a > rerequisite for posting to Cypherpunks. On the other hand, I > like the idea of having the list software automatic verify > digital signatures. This is a valuable service I'm usually too > lazy to perform for myself. > > Here's my suggestion. Eric should unilaterally impose his first > step, i.e., all unsigned messages and messages with spoofed > signatures will henceforth be flagged as such. Let's see what > effect, if any, that has on the way people post their messages. > After the protocol has been in effect for some time, we can > re-open the topic for further discussion. > This is a good idea - certainly a nice way to emphasize (sp) signing posts. Having majordomo verify signatures automatically and add message content if either (as sandy suggests) signature is missing or bad. One question would be whether majordomo should add content upon verification of a signature, or upon failure to verify a signature (missing or bad). Depends on which would have most 'positive' appearance, and (more importantly) would generate least extra volume in the long term. Personally I think that flagging the messages with bad or missing signatures is a better idea - as more people sign articles on the list there will be less flagging volume sent out by md. Nice idea Sandy. ... only snag is that md has to be modified again. Has Eric the time and desire to fit this in. I can't help with the perl - still not grokked it properly. -Jon -- Jonathon Fletcher j.fletcher(a)stirling.ac.uk " .. all opinions expressed or implied are my own and not necessarily those of my employer or any other party ... "

1 0

Re: Hazards of encouraging forged dig sigs
by Mark Grant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Wed, 30 Nov 1994, L. McCarthy wrote: >Encouraging cryptographically >valid signatures was the first suggestion I'd seen in this entire debate >which seemed to promise tangible benefits; encouraging cryptographically >invalid signatures is the first notion which appears to offer tangible >detriment. As one of the few people who verify all PGP signatures for which I have keys, I have to say that encouraging people to put garbage in PGP signature blocks would be extremely annoying. Either I'll have to go back to using a non-PGP-aware mail reader, or fix it to do something sensible with such messages. While I'm going to have to do the latter at some point anyway, there are much more useful things that I could be doing... Mark -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBLt3Kw6FlWzerDvH1AQEyTgP/bPz1NLXeicLD81Ijj8S6/m+D3Tmb363Q +Xj5MDsW+xBNC+p8ViKzZ+zvjZg5Cr6MsQ24TWT3n7DId7l2pAWyAH5JWf7OuW9u xvrfMfFas04RuOE8mjO7Gcp9E3eFNKz9MNQGlG7YwkPLX/twbF7+gX1RWkPGV2JE +b+KOjVkQbs= =lLbP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

where to get secure edit a0.3.3 for macintosh
by Thomas J. Bryce 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I've received a number of inquiries about where to obtain secure edit a0.3.3 for the macintosh. Please finger me at tjbryce(a)amherst.edu if you want information on this. Thank you Tom tjb(a)acpub.duke.edu -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLtuTJk8YjrUhOUC5AQEoAAP/W+kl5cOkuohw5QtafawUFA5kKSrhhv/o rE8mzGVsntNJ52NcCS7ImONTKxH+rHmcrbhYi8A0rVAaf0byYDSZ50PHCqoM4WPc ccNQ4zMO75N38uZ8/pLO9w3nYw5Y386737IND8QOjHmLc/jUQlJqdFuGzxtYq2r1 RzQgKu9xjS4= =m0X4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Re: premail 0.30
by Alex Strasheim 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I've also installed premail as /usr/lib/sendmail, and it works fine. I haven't had any problems with it reading my ~/.premailrc file. I was a little queasy about installing it as sendmail, but I'm very glad I did. It hasn't caused any problems at all, adds a lot of functionality, and doesn't seem to extract too high of a penalty in terms of overhead. I'm not sure how sendmail forks for incoming mail, but my impression is that the additional instance of sendmail is created without calling premail. If that's true, then premail installed as sendmail doesn't add any overhead at all for incoming mail. This was a big concern for me, because I don't have very much memory or processor power, but so far everything's been working great. == Alex Strasheim | finger astrashe(a)nyx.cs.du.edu alex(a)omaha.com | for my PGP 2.6.1. public key -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtvvxREpP7+baaPtAQFq5wQAzT295CbJIQXJU8chI4Cwm9rHGa4mbqNV +geDhS02z/ttYjMIoXRh1066YmnSEB3/3uqQPL4K1w8SP3z7uYfQwDwKwbmRdoPa p03ksQ8PEK/9dbRc05azjz4PFpMTqk4HDhyQnM3xRo34DPNbnfl4HUSMbccvdCEw vS4Vip00zX0= =+du+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Elm and premail (long)
by John A. Perry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have just finished integrating premail 0.30 with Elm on jpunix.com. Since there have been some questions about how to do this type of thing, I thought I'd give a blow-by-blow description of what I did and the pro's, con's and alternatives to what I did. 1) I installed premail as a wedge to the sendmail daemon. In other words, per Raph Levin's instructions in his README file, I renamed sendmail to something else and then renamed premail to sendmail and have it pointing to the renamed sendmail. I realize this requires system admin privs and is a big step to take, but I have testing premail working as the sendmail program with great success and at this point I have no qualms about premail/sendmail being one in the same. 2) I created the ~/.premailrc file in my home directory per Raph's README file. There is an option at the bottom to create aliases and that is what I did at first. Then, I discovered that the alias database created by Elm is compatible with premail!! 3) I edited ~/.elm/aliases.text to make changes similar to the following: The alias raph = Levin; Raph = raph(a)kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu to raph = Levin; Raph = raph@kiwi.cs.berkeley.edu^key=raph@cs.berkeley.edu Elm doesn't seem to mind this new alias structure and premail parses it just fine! I could have added a ^chain=3 also, but I decided that I may not want to email Raph through a set of remailers every time. I decided I would add the extra header during message creation. More on this later. What this does is that from now on, whenever I send email to Raph, it will automatically be encrypted with his public key with no further intervention on my part! When I want to chain the message through some remailers, I just take the H)eaders option from the Elm pre-send menu and add a header line: Chain: 3 This causes the message to be chaine through three random remailers before it gets to Raph. I also added two addition Perl scripts to Elm to help in the creation of encrypted messages for people NOT in my alias file, signing messages, and reading PGP encrypted messages that are not MIME compliant. These scripts are mailpgp and morepgp. These Perl scripts were published with version 2.3 of PGP but work fine with 2.4 and up. In Elm, I went to the options menu and replaced the default editor with mailpgp as well as the visual editor. I also replaced the default builtin+ display parameter with morepgp. These two Perl scripts are listed at the end of this message. The mailpgp script will allow you to encrypt and sign messages right before they are sent. The morepgp script will decrypt/verify incoming messages on the fly. The really nice benefit of these scripts is that you can reply to cleartext version of PGP encrypted messages. With the combination of these Perl scripts, Elm (or Pine for that matter) can be turned into an encrypted mail handler with a minimum of fuss. morepgp: #!/usr/local/bin/perl # -*- Perl -*- # written by jason steiner, jsteiner(a)anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu, Jan 1993 # # if you use or make improvements to this program i would appreciate # copies of your modifications & your PGP public key. # # Modified by Greg Spencer, greg(a)graphics.cornell.edu, May 1994 # Mostly just cleaned up things and added stuff like automatic # addition and detection (and ignoring) of keys to be added to keyring, # and signal catching, as well as environment variable control of # most site-specific stuff. # # Must set the following environment variable: # # PGPCOMMAND set to the pgp decryption command # # PAGER set to the desired pager command # # NOTE that this program NEVER writes sensitive data to a disk file. # it will only slurp it into memory, so if you have a HUGE file, you might # have problems. # setup some variables ($pgpcommand = $ENV{'PGPCOMMAND'}) || ($pgpcommand = "/usr/local/bin/pgp"); # just used for tmpfile names... ($logname = $ENV{'LOGNAME'}) || ($logname = "nobody"); # ($pager = $ENV{'PAGER'}) || ($pager="/usr/local/bin/less -i -n -s -S -c -M"); ($pager = $ENV{'PAGER'}) || ($pager="/usr/bin/more -c"); $|=1; $topgp = 0; $tokey = 0; $pgpused = 0; ($tmpdir = $ENV{'TMPDIR'}) || ($tmpdir = "/tmp"); #temporary file name $tmpfile = "${tmpdir}/.pgp1.$logname.$$"; $tmpfile2 = "${tmpdir}/.pgp2.$logname.$$"; # trap signals so we do not leave # garbage around sub catcher { local ($sig) = @_; print "Caught a SIG$sig -- exiting\n"; close (TMPFILE); close (OUTPUT); close (PAGER); unlink ($tmpfile); unlink ($tmpfile2); } $SIG{'INT'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'QUIT'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'HUP'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'KILL'} = 'catcher'; # make sure nobody can read stuff umask 077; # prepare a data area @tmpdata = (); @newkeys = (); while (<>) { if (!$topgp && m/^-----BEGIN PGP .*-----/ && !m/^-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/) { $topgp = 1; $pgpused = 1; unlink ($tmpfile); open (TMPFILE, ">$tmpfile") || (unlink ($tmpfile) && die "Cannot open $tmpfile for output.\n"); } if (!$topgp) { push(@tmpdata, $_); } if ((!$tokey) && (m/^-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/)) { $contains_keys = 1; $tokey = 1; } if ($tokey) { push (@newkeys, $_); if (m/^-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/) { $tokey = 0; } } if ($topgp) { print TMPFILE $_; # OK to write this to a file -- it is encrypted! if (m/^-----END PGP .*-----/ && !m/^-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/) { $topgp = 0; close TMPFILE; open (CLEAR, "$pgpcommand -f < $tmpfile |") || (unlink($tmpfile) && die "Cannot open pipe to PGP.\n"); $blocktype = $_; $blocktype =~s/^-----END (PGP .*)-----/$1/; $blocktype =~s/PGP MESSAGE/DECRYPTED MESSAGE/; $blocktype =~s/PGP SIGNATURE/SIGNED MESSAGE/; chop ($blocktype); push (@tmpdata, "-----BEGIN $blocktype-----\n"); while (<CLEAR>) { push (@tmpdata, $_); if ((!$tokey) && (m/^-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/)) { $contains_keys = 1; $tokey = 1; } if ($tokey) { push (@newkeys, $_); if (m/^-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/) { $tokey = 0; } } } close CLEAR; print STDERR "\n"; unlink ($tmpfile); push (@tmpdata, "-----END $blocktype-----\n"); } } } select (STDIN); $|=1; select (STDERR); $|=1; select (STDOUT); $|=1; # This handles things if we found keys that need # adding to our keyring # note that we are only writing the KEYS to the file. if ($contains_keys) { print STDERR "PGP Keys found, attempting to add...\n"; open (TMPFILE2, ">$tmpfile2"); foreach $_ (@newkeys) { print TMPFILE2; } close (TMPFILE2); # strange things happen if we do not # read/write directly from /dev/tty (perl bug??) system ("$pgpcommand -ka $tmpfile2 >/dev/tty </dev/tty 2>&1"); unlink ($tmpfile2); # get rid of it asap $pgpused = 1; } # copy the contents of @tmpdata to the pager we want to use. open (PAGER, "|$pager") || (unlink ($tmpfile1) && die "Cannot open pipe to $pager.\n"); # do "press any key to continue" # only if we had some output from PGP # (like a verified signature) # again with the /dev/tty thing (weird!) if ($pgpused) { $q=''; open (TTY, "</dev/tty") || (unlink ($tmpfile1) && die "Couldn't open /dev/tty\n"); select(TTY); $| = 1; print STDERR "Press any key to continue...\n"; $q = getc (TTY); select (STDIN); } # output the decoded thing to the pager foreach $_ (@tmpdata) { print PAGER; } @tmpdata = (); close OUTPUT; close PAGER; # cleanup unlink ($tmpfile); mailpgp: #!/usr/local/bin/perl # -*- Perl -*- # written by jason steiner, jsteiner(a)anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu, Jan 1993 # # if you use or make improvements to this program i would appreciate # copies of your modifications & your PGP public key. # # Modified by Greg Spencer, greg(a)graphics.cornell.edu, May 1994 # Mostly just cleaned up things and added stuff like automatic # addition and detection (and ignoring) of keys to be added to keyring, # and signal catching, as well as environment variable control of # most site-specific stuff. # # Must set the following environment variables: # # EDITOR or VISUAL set to editor of choice # # PGPCOMMAND set to the pgp decryption command # # PGPID or SIGNATURE set to the id you wish to # have used for your pgp signatures, etc. # # PREFIX set to the forwarded message prefix that you use # # setup some variables ($visual = $ENV{'EDITOR'}) || ($visual = $ENV{'VISUAL'}) || ($visual = 'pico'); ($pgpcommand = $ENV{'PGPCOMMAND'}) || ($pgpcommand = "/usr/local/bin/pgp"); #($myname = $ENV{'PGPID'}) || ($myname = $ENV{'SIGNATURE'}); ($prefix = $ENV{'PREFIX'}) || ($prefix = "> "); $topgp = 0; $blanks = 0; $paragraphs = 1; $blankcompress = 1; $name=@ARGV[$#ARGV]; #temporary file names $rplyfile = "$name.rply"; $pgpfile = "$name.pgp"; $ascfile = "$name.asc"; $clrfile = "$name.clr"; # trap signals so we don't leave # (possibly sensitive!) garbage around sub catcher { local($sig) = @_; print "Caught a SIG$sig -- exiting\n"; close (OUTPUT); close (PGPFILE); close (CLEAR); close (INPUT); unlink ("$pgpfile"); unlink ("$rplyfile"); unlink ("$clrfile"); unlink ("$ascfile"); } $SIG{'INT'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'QUIT'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'HUP'} = 'catcher'; $SIG{'KILL'} = 'catcher'; # parse the input file to see if we're replying to an encrypted message # user may need to type in pass phrase to decode umask (077); open (INPUT, "<$name"); open (OUTPUT, ">$rplyfile") || die "Cannot open $rplyfile for output.\n"; while (<INPUT>) { # make sure to allow printing of key blocks if (!$topgp && (!m/^$prefix-----BEGIN PGP .*-----/ || m/^$prefix-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/)) { if (m/^$prefix*$/) { if ($paragraphs) { if ($blankcompress) { if ($blanks == 0) { print OUTPUT "\n"; $blanks = 1; } } else { print OUTPUT "\n"; } } else { print OUTPUT; } } elsif (m/^[ \t\r]*$/) { if ($blankcompress) { if ($blanks == 0) { print OUTPUT "\n"; $blanks = 1; } } else { print OUTPUT; } } else { print OUTPUT; if ($. == 1 && !m/^$prefix/) { print OUTPUT "\n"; $blanks = 1; } else { $blanks = 0; } } } # make sure to skip key blocks because we already did 'em in morepgp if (!$topgp && m/^$prefix-----BEGIN PGP .*-----/ && !m/^$prefix-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/ ) { $topgp = 1; unlink ($pgpfile); open (PGPFILE, ">$pgpfile") || die "Cannot open $pgpfile for output.\n"; } if ($topgp) { $_ =~ s/^$prefix//; print PGPFILE $_; # make sure to skip key blocks because we already did 'em in morepgp if (m/^-----END PGP .*-----/ && !m/^-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----/) { $blocktype = $_; $blocktype =~ s/^-----END (PGP .*)-----/$1/; $blocktype =~ s/PGP MESSAGE/DECRYPTED MESSAGE/; $blocktype =~ s/PGP SIGNATURE/SIGNED MESSAGE/; chop ($blocktype); $topgp = 0; close (PGPFILE); system ("$pgpcommand $pgpfile -o $clrfile > /dev/tty 2>&1"); open (CLEAR, "<$clrfile") || die "Cannot open $clrfile for input.\n"; print OUTPUT "$prefix-----BEGIN $blocktype-----\n> \n"; $blanks = 0; while (<CLEAR>) { if (m/^[ \t\r]*$/) { if ($paragraphs) { if ($blankcompress) { if ($blanks == 0) { print OUTPUT "\n"; $blanks = 1; } } else { print OUTPUT "\n"; } } else { print OUTPUT "$prefix\n"; } } else { print OUTPUT "$prefix"; print OUTPUT; $blanks = 0; } } close (CLEAR); unlink ($clrfile); unlink ($pgpfile); print OUTPUT "$prefix-----END $blocktype-----\n\n"; } } } close OUTPUT; close INPUT; unlink ($name); rename ("$rplyfile", "$name"); system ($visual, @ARGV); while (!$q) { print "\nSign this message? [Y]: "; $q = <STDIN>; $q =~ s/[ \t\n]//g; $q = substr ($q, 0, 1); if (($q eq 'Y') || ($q eq 'y') || ($q eq '')) { push (@opts, '-st', '+clearsig=on'); $q = "y"; } elsif (($q ne 'N') && ($q ne 'n')) { $q = ''; } } # note that it is the default to NOT encrypt, # simply because not everyone has PGP (unfortunately :-) $q=''; while (!$q) { print "Encrypt this message? [N]: "; $q = <STDIN>; $q =~ s/[ \t\n]//g; $q = substr ($q, 0, 1); if (($q eq 'Y') || ($q eq 'y')) { push (@opts, '-e'); $q = "y"; } elsif (($q eq 'N') || ($q eq 'n') || ($q eq '')) { $q = "n"; } else { $q = ''; } } if (@opts) { if ($q eq 'y') { print "Enter receipients, each on a separate line, terminate with EOF or a single `.':\n"; { print "> "; if ($_ = <STDIN>) { chop; last if ("$_" eq '.'); push (@receipients, "$_"); redo; } last; } } system ($pgpcommand, '-a', @opts, "$name", @receipients); if ($? == 0) { unlink ($name); rename ("$ascfile", "$name"); } } - -- John A. Perry - KG5RG - perry(a)jpunix.com WWW - http://jpunix.com PGP 2.62 key for perry(a)jpunix.com is on the keyservers. PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome! Finger kserver(a)jpunix.com for PGP keyserver help. Finger remailer(a)jpunix.com for remailer help. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtvwZ1OTpEThrthvAQFwlAP+MxX6olbMempfh6UYdTDGruTngH+WgRsa BacTB86oNIjlllDfZB55KJyuUs5dpP+gRRDW4BZTK6zyNuzy3tv5iErQnvDiV/Tn PjSKmJJFs7HnC88aC830eQ+ojGaXzZCE2IbaTm/a7R6SU9nLc/KnJYY5pMHjdVx+ uN0xwmRrBYw= =SUyb -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Security Services
by Ian Farquhar 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From The Australian, Tue 29th November: Secret Service Files Lost in Blaze, by Cameron Steward (Foreign Affairs Writer) "Hundreds of top-secret documents relevant to the Federal Government's inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service were destroyed by a fire that swept through the ASIS headquarters in Canberra at the weekend." "The fire has erased highly sensitive ASIS files and archives that detailed the activities and operations of the troubled spy agency over the past decade." "The blaze is a big blow to the Government's inquiry into accountability and management of ASIS because it destroyed many of the records needed to adequately assess the organisation's performance." "But despite the suspicious timing of the accident, the Government does not believe it was arson and says that the blaze appears to have been sparked by an electrical fault." "'I can confirm that the fire broke out at 2am on Saturday morning on the fourth floor of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Building,' a DFAT spokeswoman said." "'The damage appears to have been fairly extensive and is believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.'" "Sources yesterday said the area damaged by the blzae was far greater than was originally revealed by the authorities, with the initial damage estimate of about $200,000 ballooning to at least $1 million." "The fourth floor of the DFAT building has housed ASIS for years." "One intelligence source said last night that it was 'highly coincidental' for ASIS to experience such a fire in the midst of a Government inquiry into its operations." "It was rumored yesterday that the fire also destroyed thousands of files that the service was alleged to have kept on Australian citizens." "Two former ASIS officers alleged in March that the organisation illegally held files on thousands of Australian citizens, despite the fact that it is not part of its role involving gaining foreign intelligence." "The former agents also claimed ASIS has bribed politicans in Malaysia and had helped British Intelligence obtain confidential information that harmed Australia's interests." (Small note here which was not in the article: the ASIS jargon for MI6 is 'head office'. Many of the officers were trained by MI6.) "The allegations by the former officers prompted the Government to conduct an inquiry into the control and accountability of the organisation." "The inquiry, headed by former NSW Supreme Court judge Mr Gordon Samuels, is also examining the 'protection of ASIS intelligence sources and methods' as well as the 'resolution of grievances and complaints relating to ASIS." "The inquiry has been in progress for several months. It is still taking evidence and is due to report to the Government early in the New Year." This article was transcribed without permission from the paper, for the purposes of research and study as defined in the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright act. ------- Yet another depressing but compelling reminder that our privacy has as many enemies within the Government as without. BTW, this was the same TLA which I mentioned some weeks ago in connection with the bungled raid on the Sheraton Wentworth Hotel. Ian. #include <std.disclaimer>

2 2

Mandatory sigs
by Mark Rogaski 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I would have to agree w/ not REQUIRING digsigs, but flagging posts w/out them. I guess that's my write in. doc -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQB1AwUBLtv1T3sYwuXlZ+UZAQGXvgL/c21Yws0KUdzea12xExOszs1ZUuVUOKJX O7QtKbX96mZsh6lDUH+QS4uoNetqYdwwmbvW9PWcCkyksbzmjJpQOWzXwaDTw87S duLvkPNd+obUHUrawzUU+d0TNl/kXQIr =5DO0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Re: Mandatory message signing
by jrochkin＠cs.oberlin.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:59 PM 11/29/94, L. McCarthy wrote: >Hold the phone ! As I understand the law, only one party to a telephone >call has to be aware of the recording for it to be perfectly legal. Someone >not party to the call can't do it, but any one of the people talking can do >it. I believe it varies from state to state, but this is indeed the norm. >handle authentication like this. Ideally, some people would get together >with Brent Chapman and incorporate authentication of signed messages in a >future release of Majordomo. I'd love to volunteer for a project like this >but I don't believe I can spare the time. Why stop at authenticating signed messages? I'd like to see some mailing list software that would send mail out to you encrypted if you want (sure, the list is probably public, but you might not want people knowing you subscribe. If list traffic was encrypted, and you routed it through Ghio's remailer-alias doohickey, the fact that you subscribe could be kept completely hidden), and would require authentication on a message to change your address, or to change your public key (which would also be possible). And would have config parameters such that the list operator could make it only accept signed submissions, or even only accept submissions encrypted to the list. [not that I'm advocating this on the cypherpunks list, but it might be good on other lists, especially private ones]. And Ideally, I'd even like the list to be able to mail to you through the remailer-net, by prepending your encrypted address block, and sending to a remailer. Although the existence of Ghio's forementioned doohickey (what is that service being called?) makes that somewhat superflous. I was planning on writing such a beast myself, and might still get around to it eventually. The problem is that I'm unlikely to write something from scratch as robust as the current list server software (I'm not interested in writing good list software, just in implementing the crypto), and I'm not really skilled enough to understand the majordomo code enough to modify it. But I might try, one of these days.

1 0

Mandatory sig workaround
by cactus＠bb.hks.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

So what's the big deal? Eric sets the list to slow down unsigned posts and somebody else sets up a remailer that generates a key for each post, signs it, and forwards it. Similar workarounds abound for every twist and turn in the policy until the policy is dead or the rules are too restrictive (IE, only "human-approved" key signatures are accepted). A fun game, certainly (I'll play!), but hardly a productive way to spend time. It always happens that when hacker A tries to enforce an arbitrary rule on other hackers, hacker B will find an automatic workaround. -- Todd Masco | "Roam home to a dome, Where Georgian and Gothic once stood cactus(a)hks.net | Now chemical bonds alone guard our blond(e)s, cactus(a)bb.com | And even the plumbing looks good." - B Fuller

5 6

Re: PGP Enhanced Messaging (PEM)
by shawn leas 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Where can I get this software? Looks kinda cool. BTW... I like the idea of spurring on some pgp usage. It's a good idea. I would not object to having to sign messages. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtwEkqZRyOzqm29xAQEoKgQAywzBTW92lYiDEFQPVfmWxHg3hYnKDN70 c3gRSNjqO6VcJguXhVBHHjA3/ZBpWybys9deML/2FONUwrm50+MKotifo+7wpKnk E6LIrnuzuJdmlMTACR6Qx3FXVpnuQmuDz2jRybxDST+Iob5jItwt2SsZkSuFscDN vdxQHa26VAs= =BmiN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Re: Sign-or-delay
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Eric Hughes writes > I am still considering the "sign-or-delay" proposal for the toad.com > server, that is, sign your articles to the list or they'll be delayed > and eventually rejected. Well, it's easy to require people to include PGP signatures. However, for some people, it's difficult to do signatures in a secure and also convenient fashion across a mix of mailers; Tim's netcom+Mac example, or anyone using an insecure system. My laptop where I get my work-related mail really can't handle the volume of mail I get from cypherpunks; I'm using it as a terminal to talk to a netblazer to telnet to a Sun where I still have an account several gateways away, on which I haven't been root for over a year... Sure, I forward some of the interesting mail to the not-very-diskful laptop, and could wait for it to arrive and PGP-sign my replies, which will delay my articles anyway. On the other hand, if I sign them here, half of AT&T could probably grab the passphrase with a sniffer, so it's not something I'd trust my real keys to. Similarly, I wouldn't put real keys on netcom or other mass service provider. On the other hand, how carefully were you planning to make your system check signatures - does toad.com have the spare cycles to validate them all, or are you really going for syntax only? Thanks; Bill -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 3.2beta AjtHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTuretHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTuretHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTurexZ ITsBoGustHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTuretHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTuretHiSiSnOtAsIgfoo ReAlLyTrUsTmetHiSiSnOtAsIgNaaTureLouisFreehWasHeretHiSiSnOtAsIgN tAsIgNaaT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

3 2

Fighting Censorship at Canadian Universities
by werewolf＠io.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Used to be that Universities were bastions of free thought and discussion. Guess not nowadays, if this E-Mail to me earlier today is any indication: - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- - From kyleh(a)cs.mun.ca Wed Nov 30 01:01:19 1994 Date: Wed, 30 Nov 1994 00:47:41 -0330 From: Kyle Douglas Hearfield <kyleh(a)cs.mun.ca> Subject: interested in PGP To: werewolf(a)io.org Mark, I am a Student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and I have recently been censored and had my postings to newsgroups aborted. I received a message from our system administrator that the messages(of a political nature) were not appropriate. I was wondering if I could use PGP to get past them? I have read some about PGP, but I am still kind of in the dark as to how it works and what it can do. Any info you could provide me would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maybe he was posting some stuff that contravened university policy...shrug. But with the recent events at McGill University in Montreal, I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. The first step was to provide him with the instructions to the the xs4all remailer. If he figures that is what he needs (more importantly....if he isn't scared off!) then I'll give him the list of the other remailers and mail him a copy of PGP. Who knows? Maybe all he needs is anon.penet.fi :> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtwbn6+YbMzawbu5AQHFUwP8CbzooBrhWKVHRaRIBn55ha3mYWIO62lZ 6D09DJvc9YAnwxbSVcE1X8MjNuR9XbRRrJfQMI8lnSWt8pr13FsI8cjHQqjzS9yk HXMYSKy7mdnerHaZSTK0RZdFrRHST6a5qVdNw4ffZsjO4WM/02nN/u9n5ywgsu4C dbCQlp9EMPQ= =mnSN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Is Pr0duct Cypher still around?
by lcottrell＠popmail.ucsd.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Having posted that massive spam asking Pr0duct Cypher for some information, it occurs to me to ask if he has been heard from lately. Has anyone seen anything from him lately? -------------------------------------------------- Lance Cottrell who does not speak for CASS/UCSD loki(a)nately.ucsd.edu PGP 2.6 key available by finger or server. Encrypted mail welcome. Home page http://nately.ucsd.edu/~loki/ Home of "chain" the remailer chaining script. For anon remailer info, mail remailer(a)nately.ucsd.edu Subject: remailer-help "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra. Suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come." --Nietzsche

1 0

We are ALL guests (except Eric)
by skaplin＠skypoint.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- With the recent furor over the possibility of mandatory key signing on this list, I think we all are forgetting something. We are all guests here. Eric is our host. I've seen proposals for voting on the issue, I've seen posts saying "I'm not going to do it, wah wah wah." This list is analogous to Eric's home. We are his guests. If a host asks his guests to do something he or she has two choices, do it or leave. If someone walked into my house and I asked them to do something and they said: "Lets vote on it," they would be out the door quicker than a 'toon on a banana peel. Eric has been a gentleman about this. He is not asking those who do not wish to comply to leave. This is Eric's house and I think we need to play by his rules while we are here. One caveat for Eric though, hosts with stringent rules are usually very lonely. ============================================================================== A government is the only know vessel that leaks from the top. --James Reston-- ============================================================================== skaplin(a)skypoint.com | "...vidi vici veni" - Overheard | outside a Roman brothel. PGP encrypted mail is accepted and | preferred. | Change is the only constant in the | Universe..."Four quarters, please." E-mail key(a)four11.com for PGP Key or | Finger skaplin(a)mirage.skypoint.com | Smile!! Big brother is watching. ============================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLtwymApnimeWAf3FAQGOkQQAgK6OrqyifMk3aICiLdtjHWILxUyAyTWx HyEXgfNdo3VXKALOCpON3sbtgiYlopFU9PyqQY4JGhievAfElEFOgUzfcOcNutKR vLeT73zsvYl0zJPk6TkKhBwLymykHcBq5VtM8qLFustkEOynlVNHanBZlCQEj1sC HKYfjJbX65E= =5hb+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

9 31

Re: We are ALL guests (except Eric)
by dmandl＠bear.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: <jamesd(a)netcom.com> > > If you claim that Eric does not own the list then you claim that it > is unjust for him to change the rules without consent. > > If I claim he owns the list then I claim that it perfectly proper > for him to change the rules without consent, regardless of whether > or not he has a good, or even sane, reason. [...] So what's the point? Fortunately, Eric and not you is running the list, and he's a reasonable man. Yeah, sure, according to the rules of PPL or Roman Law or mathematics or whatever, he has every right to take unilateral action and do whatever he wants to with the list. OK, he's the "owner," so? This is the real world, not an algebra lesson: the whole reason this discussion is happening is that Eric realizes there are a few hundred friends (damn, I should have said "comrades") involved here and he would like to discuss the issue. This "ownership" thread seems like a gratuitous exercise in abstract propertarian philosophy. Man, some people actually seem EAGER to have Eric make some drastic unilateral move just so they can bleat "Yes sir, he's the owner, that's his right! Yes sir, he's the owner, that's his right!" and have their worldview sanctioned. Yes, that IS his right, but he's obviously too nice a guy to just do it tomorrow morning without discussing it first and then inform us all of the new status of his "property." So why don't we just discuss his proposal? I agree with Tim that effortless encryption/signing of email is still a dream for most of us. I don't think there should be any "punishment" for not signing (not even having the non-signer's mail delayed). I do think signing should be encouraged. I think that at some time in the future (a year?) Eric's proposal may be reasonable, but I don't think it's time yet. --Dave.

2 1

The Market for Crypto--In Real Life
by gnu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May ranted: > In any case, the notion that a bunch of us--students, dabblers, > activists, engineers, etc.--can somehow create a finished product, or > a company, as some folks periodically try to argue for ("Let's do a > company!"), is not too likely. As Heinlein said, babies aren't too likely either. I'm immediately looking for a contractor to work on documentation for Cygnus Network Security, the Kerberos software. Our goal is to create a finished product. A bunch of us dabblers already created the company and got it to make money. If you're interested, send me mail at gnu(a)cygnus.com and show me why you'd be good at it and how soon you're available. The writer who started the job ended up unable to finish it for personal reasons. It'll help a lot to be in Boston or SF Bay Area since our Kerberos engineers who can explain what to write are there. I'm also "likely to" eventually need another crypto programmer, contract or full time. For this we don't have a burning need yet, but talk to me if you might come available, and stay in touch. General programming wizardry on some platform is the basic requirement. Not mastery, not skill, not a degree. Wizardry -- exceptional skill. Interest and expertise in crypto technology, markets, and politics are desirable. Interest and expertise in the guts of compiler tools is also desirable, since that's our other main business, and people swap back and forth at times. Yes, it's a job posting. I just couldn't resist this followup to Tim. And I suspect some of you might actually care to read job postings for crypto jobs here; I would. John -- John Gilmore gnu(a)toad.com -- gnu(a)cygnus.com -- gnu(a)eff.org Can we talk in private? Chairman, Crypto Committee Not if the FBI and NSA have their way. Electronic Frontier Foundation Board Let's sell free crypto software. Product Manager, Cygnus Network Security

1 0

The pain of encrypting email
by dmandl＠bear.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Jonathan Rochkind wrote: > > > Because premail makes it incredibly easy to use PGP on a unix box. "Incredibly easy" is an exaggeration, since the docs themselves say that you need root privileges to install premail properly. The alternative is using premail in stand-alone mode, i.e., entering your mail line-by-line a la the generic mail program! Now, I think premail is beautiful, but the bottom line is that at this point it's not something I can actually use, like most email-encrypting tools I hear about, alas. --Dave.

1 0

Economist's Dash for E-cash
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been away for a couple of days so I don't know if this has come up already, but... The Economist has proven yet again my firm belief that it's the most wired magazine around. In a special report on e-cash in the latest issue, it presents a lucid description of the pros and cons of different digicash, including Chaum. It then goes on to discuss in detail how e-cash could work, how it would be backed by real money and therefore not earn interest, how governments might get worried by the development of implicit currency markets beyond their control, how eventually e-cash might become an independent currency with no 'real' value, hinting at my outline of 'cooking-pot' markets in Electric Dreams #37. ObHeeHee: an article on the anti-DWEM backlash against Shakespeare quotes Gary Taylor, editor of the Oxford Shakespeare, as saying that "Shakespeare helped murder" Nicole Simpson. Why? The play Othello "makes a wife-murderer not only tragic but also, pervesely, heroic." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." rishab(a)arbornet.org Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

1 0

Re: PGP hook for Eudora?
by jrochkin＠cs.oberlin.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:17 AM 11/30/94, dmandl(a)bear.com wrote: >I keep hearing about PGP hooks for (Mac) Eudora, but a casual search >of at least five advertised ftp sites has turned up nothing. Can >someone post an address where this stuff can definitely be found? There is a bunch of applescript PGP stuff, in various states of done-ness, at ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/xenon. I'm not quite sure what the status of this stuff is, or if it's actually final release software, or just betas and such, because xenon seems to have disappeared for an indefinite period of time and isn't answering email. You want the MacPGPKit Installer, and the Eudora/PGP scripts (I'm not sure about the exact name for the Eudora scripts). In my own experience, the Eudora scripts work really well and are quite stable, but the more general purpose MacPGPKit has some problems and isn't so stable.

1 0

Re: The Market for Crypto--A Curmudgeon's View
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sandy wrote: > >Here's my suggestion. Eric should unilaterally impose his first >step, i.e., all unsigned messages and messages with spoofed >signatures will henceforth be flagged as such. Let's see what >effect, if any, that has on the way people post their messages. >After the protocol has been in effect for some time, we can >re-open the topic for further discussion. It seems we have pretty much reached a consensus. Eric should implement a way to flag un signend posts. [Loved the various headers in Eric's post. They were real funny.] After this is implemented lets se how it works and see what else should be done. However, I agree that this is Eric's list and Eric's rules. If he decides that it would be a Good Thing to incentivise us Cypherpunks to use more crypto when posting to the list, he is free to do so with our without anyone's consent. -- Lucky Green <shamrock(a)netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. "The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good." <George Washington>

1 0