December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

DigiCash Inc. to File Reorganization, Seeks Partners to Drive eCash Forward
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Reply-To: <sjl(a)sjl.net> From: "Scott Loftesness" <sjl(a)sjl.net> To: <dbs(a)philodox.com> Subject: DigiCash Inc. to File Reorganization, Seeks Partners to Drive eCash Forward Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 12:32:56 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-Msmail-Priority: Normal Importance: Normal X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Sender: <dbs(a)philodox.com> Precedence: Bulk List-Subscribe: <mailto:requests@philodox.com?subject=subscribe%20dbs> X-Web-Archive: http://www.philodox.com/dbs-archive/ FYI... DigiCash Inc. to File Reorganization, Seeks Partners to Drive eCash Forward PALO ALTO, CALIF.--November 4, 1998 DigiCash Inc. has announced that it is entering into a Chapter 11 reorganization to allow it to pursue strategic alternatives for its electronic cash ("eCash" ) products and the associated intellectual assets pioneered by DigiCash. According to Scott Loftesness, interim CEO of DigiCash, "The company is exploring a range of potential alternatives including working with major strategic players to finance the market development of eCash or the sale and/or licensing of the Company's intellectual property portfolio." Loftesness added, "eCash, as it has been developed by DigiCash, is an important and inevitable payment solution in the world of global electronic commerce." The DigiCash payment solution is currently in use by leading banks in Europe and Australia. These banks have deployed the DigiCash eCash solution and continue to add to their respective consumer and merchant eCash acceptance networks. DigiCash's eCash payment solution offers a secure, low cost and private payment option to consumers for payments of any amount. The intellectual property owned by DigiCash consists of a series of patents, protocols, and software systems that were specifically designed to be privacy protecting for consumers and which also enable other applications like online electronic voting. The ability to pay privately, without revealing personal information, and avoiding the capture of personal transaction information for marketing or other subsequent uses is a growing concern among consumers globally. Contact: Scott Loftesness: (650) 798-8183 or via email: sjl(a)sjl.net --- 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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IP: ISPI Clips 6.05: U. of T. Students Question Smartcard Technology & Privacy
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.05: U. of T. Students Question Smartcard Technology & Privacy Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 00:19:58 -0800 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 6.05: U. of T. Students Question Smartcard Technology & Privacy News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Tuesday November 3, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: WIRED News, November 2, 1998 http://www.wired.com Students Wonder: How Smart? http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15978.html by Marlene Blanshay, blanshay(a)total.net TORONTO -- A coalition of University of Toronto students is leading an open forum on smartcard technology Monday to discuss concerns that a new campus card program may be compromising their privacy. The T-card pilot project began last year when the university distributed 45,000 smartcards to students, staff, and faculty. Like many students across the US, where such programs are common, the 39,000 Toronto volunteers were sold on the convenience of having all their ID combined on a single piece of plastic. "[Students] don't have to carry around so many cards," said University of Toronto registrar Karel Swift, the chairwoman of the school's T-card implementation committee. Not everybody feels that way. The university says it has been open about the new program, but some students feel that the school has not been up front with them about what is being done with information on purchases made with the card. "We just want some answers," said James Hooch of the Identity Technology Working Group, the coalition of students and faculty that will host Monday's forum. "We feel we are being used as a captive market." Andrew Clement, a professor of information studies at the University of Toronto, said the university has an obligation to be more open about the project. "We don't think they are up to some nefarious scheme," said Clement, moderator of Monday's forum. "But they are implementing the new technology, which is going to be used in a wider setting, and should be setting a good example." Nevertheless, Swift said that students have not been left out of the process. "We consulted with student reps when the project was under consideration," Swift said. She added that the university has privacy policy and that their records are protected by a rigorous access to information policy. Some still worry that the university, in the interest of efficiency, is introducing a new technology without looking at the potential uses or misuses. "There is a lot of concern among the students about collection of information for purposes they are not aware of," says Jack Dimond, the university's commissioner for freedom of information and privacy. "My concern is that as smartcards are used more, there is a procedure of review of information it collects. When you begin using the new applications, you have to look at them closely." One freedom and privacy advocate encourages students to boycott the cards. "[Students] should just say, 'I refuse to use this card for any cash purchases until you tell me where this info is going and what you're doing with it,'" said David Jones, president of Electronic Frontier Canada. Copyright © 1994-98 Wired Digital Inc. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

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IP: [FP] L.A. DMV Tries to Stem the Tide of Fake Licenses
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ScanThisNews" <mcdonalds(a)airnet.net> Subject: IP: [FP] L.A. DMV Tries to Stem the Tide of Fake Licenses Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 22:30:13 -0600 To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com SCAN THIS NEWS [This is a little dated, but well worth reading] -------------------------------------------- Sunday, April 5, 1998 DMV Tries to Stem the Tide of Fake Licenses Crime: Demand for IDs fuels counterfeiting rings and corruption inside the agency. Officials respond with anti-tampering features, more monitoring of workers. By VIRGINIA ELLIS, Times Staff Writer SACRAMENTO - The California driver's license's preeminence as a form of identification has spawned a thriving black market for fraudulent licenses and a major corruption scandal in the state's motor vehicle department, records and interviews show. In recent years, as the lowly driver's license has been redesigned to make it more tamper-resistant, the card has increasingly become the dominant piece of identification for cashing checks, obtaining credit and securing government services. This, in turn, has caused the black market value for licenses to soar, providing a catalyst for counterfeiting and bribery of Department of Motor Vehicles employees. Scores of DMV workers in offices from San Diego to Sacramento already have been caught illegally issuing driver's licenses, and officials say many more are under investigation. "We have, in effect, created a cottage industry," said Steve Solem, a DMV deputy director. "A lot of different changes have been evolving over the years that have made...people feel the need to get a driver's license at any cost." As a result, officials report that: * Counterfeiting rings operate in every large city in the state, serving up fake licenses of varying quality for sale on the streets. In Los Angeles, business is so competitive that state investigators say a prospective customer can bargain for the best price. A counterfeit identification package, including a license, usually sells for $100, but state agents have paid as little as $35. * At many of the DMV's busiest offices, scam artists make use of loopholes in procedures to get legitimate licenses, which are then peddled to undocumented immigrants or suspended drivers. In Santa Clara County, a four-month surveillance of DMV offices recently led to 26 felony and 16 misdemeanor arrests for using false documents to obtain driver's licenses. * In the past two years, 144 DMV employees were fired or otherwise disciplined for illegal activity, primarily driver's license fraud. Most cases were referred for prosecution. The corruption affected more than a third of the DMV offices. "It's by far the biggest scandal and case of severe corruption in my 16 years here," said state Sen. Steve Peace (D-El Cajon), who heads a legislative task force on personal privacy. "It's not a single organized entity. It's a number of entrepreneurial criminal activities." Late this year, officials plan to begin issuing new licenses with even more sophisticated anti-tampering features to help stem the tide of license-related crime. Among the features will be a tiny ghost image designed to make it harder to substitute one person's photo for another. "You've got to be as technologically alert as the criminals out there," said DMV Director Sally Reed. "You've got to keep changing the license. You've got to keep changing your practices." Complicating the task is an overwhelming DMV workload. The department licenses more than 20 million California drivers, issues more than 6 million new licenses and identification cards a year, and operates 172 licensing centers around the state. How many fake and fraudulent licenses may be in circulation is impossible to calculate. But state officials say the problem is rampant, its impact on society insidious. A fraudulent driver's license that is used to steal someone's identity can cause years of frustration as the victim suddenly finds his or her credit destroyed. Or the fake license can put a convicted drunk driver back on the highway, where the next accident may cause someone's death. The role of the driver's license in criminal activity was heightened not only by the technological changes that made it so widely accepted, but by governmental decisions to use it as a tool for punishment. New laws have made a larger and larger pool of people susceptible to losing their license for activities unrelated to driving. The license can be suspended for spraying graffiti, failure to pay child support, truancy and certain kinds of prostitution. And immigrants who lack proper proof of residency cannot be issued one. "If you're a drunk driver, you want a fake ID," said Alison Koch, a senior special investigator for the DMV in Sacramento. "If you're in a gang, you want a fake ID. If you're a deadbeat dad, you want a fake ID. If you're an illegal alien, you want a fake ID. If you want to commit check or credit card fraud, you want a fake ID. "There is hardly a crime out there that doesn't demand some kind of fraudulent identification." For many minor crimes, she said, a bogus license - even a poor one - is all the fraud artist needs. The quick glance that many business people give the license before cashing a check or accepting a credit card is not enough to discern that it's fake. For more sophisticated crimes, said Vito Scattaglia, an area commander for DMV investigators in Los Angeles, criminals want the real thing - and this demand for legitimate licenses has put heavy pressure on low-level state employees to commit fraud. "When you have a technician who is making $2,000 to $2,400 a month and you have an individual who is willing to pay $1,000 to process one driver's license, you don't have to be a genius to figure out how tempting that is," he said. But Peace, the state senator, said high-level officials did not recognize how extensively their department had been infiltrated by criminals until an embarrassing KCBS-TV Channel 2 report last year caught a DMV employee on camera processing illegal licenses. Until the Los Angeles broadcast, only a handful of DMV investigators had been monitoring employee fraud, and they were struggling with a huge backlog. Then Reed temporarily assigned 213 DMV investigators to employee fraud and announced that it would be the agency's No. 1 priority. The results were staggering. Using everything from surveillance to informants, investigators caught dozens of DMV employees around the state processing illegal licenses. Many were teamed up with grifters on the outside, who usually worked the DMV parking lots, preying mostly on immigrants who would be guaranteed a license for about $1,000 to $2,000. Typical was the case of an 18-year Torrance employee who was targeted after a DMV computer in Sacramento showed irregularities in licenses he had issued. After investigators interviewed dozens of his customers, the employee was charged with computer fraud and altering public records. "The first person I interviewed, I knew I was on the right trail," recalled Ken Erickson, a senior DMV special investigator. "The customer was honest. He said, 'Yeah, I'm here illegally and I can't read or write either English or Spanish.'" But, Erickson said, data the Torrance employee had entered into the DMV computer stated that the man was a legal resident of California who had passed the written driver's test in English. Investigators searched the employee's car and found $14,280 in cash stashed behind the front seat, Erickson said. They estimated that over a 15-month period he had improperly issued at least 70 licenses. After pleading no contest to two felony counts, he was fined $14,280 and placed on three years probation. He also was fired and barred from future government employment. The employee fraud, Peace said, is "not some sort of single grand conspiracy with a godfather sitting on top pulling levers." "What it has been is a culture within the department that has allowed for a whole variety of entrepreneurial criminal behavior. It was a culture which says, 'I've got my little deal and you've got yours. Don't mess with mine and I won't mess with yours.'" Although the problem predated Reed's appointment as director, Peace faulted her for initially disbelieving it and being "slow to react" until the television report. Reed acknowledged the bad publicity was a wake-up call but disputed Peace's contention the DMV has a culture of corruption, saying the vast majority of the DMV's 8,600 workers are law-abiding. A spokesman for the California State Employees Assn., which represents DMV employees, accused the department of overreacting. He said the crackdown has destroyed worker morale and become so broad that "it could very likely be called a witch hunt." Investigators concede that corruption within the DMV probably pales compared to that on the outside. Richard Steffen, chief consultant for a legislative task force investigating state government, said crime rings are able to get legitimate licenses simply by knowing how to work the system. He said they know, for example, that photos and thumbprints are not taken until the end of the licensing procedure, a process tailor-made for the use of ringers. The ringer takes the driver's test, then the customer comes in the next day and completes the process. "There is a pattern here that is known on the street," said Steffen, who is preparing to release a report on the DMV. "It's not like masterminds come up with this." Birth certificates, which the DMV requires, are easily counterfeited, and phony ones are hard to spot, officials said. The appearance of birth certificates varies from state to state and sometimes, as in California, from county to county. Adding to the problem is California's open birth certificate procedure, which allows virtually anyone to get a certified copy of anyone else's birth record. One team of ringers arrested by the California Highway Patrol was found with counterfeit birth certificates from Oklahoma, Utah, New York and Texas, according to Bruce Wong, a senior DMV investigator in San Jose. "They were driving up the state from Southern California, stopping at different DMV offices and submitting license applications under different names," he said. "In one day of driving, they had accumulated eight different instructional permits, which they could then sell along with the counterfeit birth certificate." Solem said some loopholes in licensing procedures will be closed when the department begins issuing the new licenses and taking photos and thumbprints at the beginning of the process. "But this is a problem that's going to be with us," he added. "Government does something and the crooks figure a way around it and then government catches up. It goes on and on." Scattaglia said much of the counterfeiting may have its roots south of the border, but no one knows for sure because investigators have only been able to arrest the sellers, not the suppliers. "We have gone into places and recovered sheets and sheets of holograms and state seals - literally a setup [for] putting a license together," he said. "But we've never found the commercial facility that has the printing presses and all the orders. The informants we have all indicated that that place is somewhere in Mexico." Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a consumer information and advocacy program, predicted that driver's license fraud will always be difficult to control because it's not a violent crime and punishment is light. "If these criminals happened to break and enter or use a gun, it would be one thing," she said. "But because they're using paper and documents, they're not seen as a threat to society." Banking officials are starting to rethink their heavy reliance on the driver's license. "That's certainly a trend that's underway because they are increasingly fake," said Gregory Wilhelm, lobbyist for the California Bankers Assn. Los Angeles Times ======================================================================= Don't believe anything you read on the Net unless: 1) you can confirm it with another source, and/or 2) it is consistent with what you already know to be true. ======================================================================= Reply to: <fingerprint(a)networkusa.org> ======================================================================= To subscribe to the free Scan This News newsletter, send a message to <majordomo(a)efga.org> and type "subscribe scan" in the BODY. Or, to be removed type "unsubscribe scan" in the message BODY. For additional instructions see www.efga.org/about/maillist.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Scan This News" is Sponsored by S.C.A.N. 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SETI@home Project Update
by SETI＠home 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear SETI@home volunteer: Thank you for signing up for SETI@home. We're on schedule to distribute the SETI@home screensaver program in April 1999, and we'll send you another email when that happens. On October 30 we began recording data at the world's largest radio telescope, located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Preliminary versions of the screensaver program and the data distribution system have been completed. On November 20 we will begin testing the system with a group of 100 users analyzing real data (sorry - no more volunteers needed). Over the next few months we will complete the testing, making sure the system will handle large numbers of users. We are pleased to thank SETI@home's sponsors and technology partners: the Planetary Society (a 100,000 member organization founded by Carl Sagan), Paramount Studios (in conjunction with their new movie, Star Trek IX: Insurrection), Sun Microsystems, EDT, Fuji Film Computer Products, Informix, and individual donors like you. The screen saver will be free for everyone, but if you can consider making a tax-deductible donation to SETI@home, please visit http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/donor.html. We also invite you to become a member of The Planetary Society. You can visit their site at http://www.planetary.org. For further SETI@home information and news, please see http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu. Thank you again for offering to participate in SETI@home. Our work is enhanced and inspired by the enthusiasm of thoughtful, adventurous, and generous people like you. If you wish to remove your name from the SETI@home email list, please send an empty email message to this address with subject header "remove". Best wishes, The SETI@home project

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Programmer Needed for Privacy Tool Implementation Project Programmer Needed for Privacy Tool Implementation Project
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

As the World Wide Web Consortium's Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (P3P) specification is nearing completion, it's time to start working on P3P implementations. I have an immediate opening for a java programming contractor to implement a P3P user agent as a client-side proxy. For details on P3P see http://www.w3.org/p3p/ This is an excellent opportunity for a programmer who wants to help make it easier for people to maintain their privacy online. An outstanding candidate for this position would have: - several years of programming experience, including project design experience - experience with browser plugg-ins, Web proxy servers, or Web clients (or at least some familiarity with the HTTP protocol) - Windows GUI development experience - user interface design experience - familiarity with XML I'm looking for someone who can start ASAP, preferably in the next month. This project is expected to last 3 to 6 months, most likely 6 months. We would prefer someone who can work on site at the AT&T Labs-Research Shannon Laboratory in Florham Park, NJ, but will consider outstanding applicants who would prefer to work remotely. Florham Park is in a nice suburban area less than an hour from midtown Manhattan. Please email lorrie(a)research.att.com for more information or to apply. -- Lorrie Faith Cranor lorrie(a)research.att.com AT&T Labs-Research 973-360-8607 180 Park Ave. Room A241 FAX 973-360-8970 Florham Park, NJ 07932 http://www.research.att.com/~lorrie/

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FREE CD With Your Free Netcenter Membership
by netcenter-news1＠netscape.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone Alternative
by Matthew James Gering 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[dbts and e$ Cc: dropped] Petro wrote: > However, Privacy + Freedom == Anarchy, or close enough to be > indistinguishable. However much I may or may not agree with you, that is an entirely subjective judgement. In political context, anarchy = without rule of government -- nothing more, nothing less. That necessarily means you will have freedom from government, but does not imply you will have freedom from others. Ditto for privacy. In fact there is good claim that privacy will not exist in anarchy except by those that decide to use the tools and methods to achieve it -- cat and mouse game same as today, except the corporate cats are bound by economics (the value of data to them versus the cost to obtain it) whereas government cats are not. Matt

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SETI@home Project Update
by SETI＠home 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear SETI@home volunteer: Thank you for signing up for SETI@home. We're on schedule to distribute the SETI@home screensaver program in April 1999, and we'll send you another email when that happens. On October 30 we began recording data at the world's largest radio telescope, located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Preliminary versions of the screensaver program and the data distribution system have been completed. On November 20 we will begin testing the system with a group of 100 users analyzing real data (sorry - no more volunteers needed). Over the next few months we will complete the testing, making sure the system will handle large numbers of users. We are pleased to thank SETI@home's sponsors and technology partners: the Planetary Society (a 100,000 member organization founded by Carl Sagan), Paramount Studios (in conjunction with their new movie, Star Trek IX: Insurrection), Sun Microsystems, EDT, Fuji Film Computer Products, Informix, and individual donors like you. The screen saver will be free for everyone, but if you can consider making a tax-deductible donation to SETI@home, please visit http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/donor.html. We also invite you to become a member of The Planetary Society. You can visit their site at http://www.planetary.org. For further SETI@home information and news, please see http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu. Thank you again for offering to participate in SETI@home. Our work is enhanced and inspired by the enthusiasm of thoughtful, adventurous, and generous people like you. If you wish to remove your name from the SETI@home email list, please send an empty email message to this address with subject header "remove". Best wishes, The SETI@home project

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Matthew James Gering <mgering(a)ecosystems.net> > Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone > Alternative > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 14:29:47 -0800 > Petro wrote: > > However, Privacy + Freedom == Anarchy, or close enough to be > > indistinguishable. This is silly. > for privacy. In fact there is good claim that privacy will not exist in > anarchy except by those that decide to use the tools and methods to achieve > it -- cat and mouse game same as today, except the corporate cats are bound > by economics (the value of data to them versus the cost to obtain it) > whereas government cats are not. They're bound by economics and nothing else, not even the government cats. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 18:29:20 -0500 > From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> > Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone > (fwd) > At 6:01 PM -0500 on 11/4/98, Jim Choate wrote, from the bowels of my killfile: > > > > They're bound by economics and nothing else, not even the government cats. > > Amen. Which is why it's a *BAD* idea. > A government is just another economic actor. A very large economic actor > with lots of guns and a monopoly on force, but an economic actor > nonetheless. You need to look around, the government has NO monopoly on force. > Reality is not optional. Absolutely, that's why any free-market/anarchy is doomed to fail. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: TriSnakeoil questions
by pgut001＠cs.auckland.ac.nz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I wrote: >I'm currently sitting in a booth at a Tandem user show directly opposite the >Atalla one. If there's anything in particular which someone wants to ask >them, let me know and I'll see how knowledgeable their salesdroids are. I had a talk to them, it turns out that of the two different Atalla's, Atalla the company and John Atalla the person, the snake oil is being pushed by Atalla the person rather than Atalla the company. The Atalla people knew as little about it as everyone else, and although they were careful with their replies I got the impression that they were about as impressed with TriStrata as others on this list are. OTOH perhaps they were just depressed that I asked them about TriStrata instead of their RSA/3DES card :-). [I have half a dozen brochures for this one, in every single brochure it's called something different (SET accelerator, SSL accelerator, e-commerce accelerator, <buzzword> accelerator) but once you get past the first few application-specific paragraphs the rest is identical. Covers all the bases I guess. Their white paper on why hardware crypto is better than software crypto is a hoot too - "Hardware is cheaper" (obviously some new definition of the word with which I wasn't previously familiar), "software crypto can't be shared" (as opposed to hardware, which can be shared with a simple copy command), etc. Their products look pretty good, but everyone I talked to complained about the price and was ready to jump on software alternatives] Peter.

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No Subject
by solution＠hampton.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

11/05/98 INTERNET NEWS 8 Pine Circle Dr. Silicon Valley,Ca. USA INTERNET NEWS/Y2K (YEAR 2000 SOLUTION) Most of the information from the silicon valley is obtained from the local pubs/bars. Un-named sources discussing the Y2K problem at the local brew revealed, that 2 of the big valley software manufacturers are in a bidding war for software technology created by a small publicly traded company OTC-BB symbol:"TCFG" that is in the process of obtaining a patent. This 3 year old emerging growth company has tested and out performed the "Big Boys" with a system industry experts consider to be a technological breakthrough! Several rogue ex-employees of the "giants" joined this company and claims abound about their success. If truth is stronger than fiction then "TCFG" is going to play with the big boys. We all know the Y2K problem and what the real solution would mean to all of us $$! How much will they pay "TCFG"? Back to the pub friday evening for more info...

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Project 415
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Paul Dore, a British engineer involved in SETI research who had picked up signals from a secret NSA/GCHQ intelligence satellite and believed them to be from outer space, was asked by the agencies on November 2 to cease and desist publishing his findings and to cancel a planned press conference to tell his latest news, or face punishment under the Official Secrets Act. The agencies said the satellite was part of "Project 415." http://jya.com/project415.htm This was noted here a few days ago, but that was before Paul's description of the agencies' visit to his home was pulled from its original URL, along with related files which described his findings as well as confirmations by other researchers: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/7193/cancelled.html A Project 415 (maybe the same) was first reported by Duncan Campbell in a 1988 article in The New Statesman, in which he also gave the first public description of ECHELON: http://jya.com/echelon-dc.htm It may not be related to Paul Dore's situation but Duncan's article has had some 9,000 downloads in the last 24 hours. Anyone seen a news report on the topic? Thanks to KF for the lead.

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Thurs. night seminar in W. Mass.: All About Alice (and Bob, Eve, and Oscar, too): The Research Culture of Cryptography
by Lewis McCarthy 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This talk by Jean-Francois Blanchette tomorrow (Thurs.) night may be of interest to those of you in the vicinity of western Massachusetts. Check www.hampshire.edu for a map and directions. Enjoy -Lewis --- begin forwarded message --- ISIS <isisGU(a)hamp.hampshire.edu> wrote: Seminar: All About Alice (and Bob, Eve, and Oscar, too): The Research Culture of Cryptography Location: West Lecture Hall, Franklin Patterson Hall, Hampshire College, =>=>=> Thursday, November 5, 7:30pm Modern cryptology researchers have been enthusiastically portrayed in the media as cyberspace's Freedom Fighters, and the fruit of their work, as tangible evidence that computers not only control, but can also liberate. In this seminar, we'll see how this simplistic picture of cryptological research shapes both the public perceptions of cryptology, and cryptologist's perceptions of themselves and their work. Jean-Francois Blanchette will discuss how the culture of secrecy and military intelligence has deeply informed the models cryptologists use to analyze and design security artifacts. He will also discuss how, from a initial concern with communication secrecy, cryptological research has dramatically expanded its scope to encompass digital signatures and certificates, watermarking, e-cash, copy-protection, and other domains. These are all artifacts of much broader cultural and societal import that can be fit under the analytical category of "privacy." Cryptologists, as well as the rest of us, have to imagine and invent richer and more complex representations of what cryptological research is about and what its object is, and to explore other social and ethical paradigms than those offered by privacy and confidentiality. Jean-Francois Blanchette is a graduate student in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Trained as a cryptologist, he is now researching and writing about the practices, cultures, and ethics of cryptology. --- end forwarded message ---

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internet
by Rusik 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi. i need to crack my internet provider. he use windows 95 operation system. can you help me??? have you any crackers?? or you know where i can find them or any literature that can help me??? BYE with my best wishes Rusik

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Who Cares
by Blanc 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

When the politicians speak they always make statements which imply that they're speaking to, and being heard by, the whole nation. I just read a notice that less than 40% of eligible voters went to the polls. Since the Republicans are still in the majority, this means that less than one quarter of the voting population supports Clinton as President. And only slightly more than one quarter support Republicans. This would be meaningful to me, if I was making policy: what are all those other people doing? .. Blanc

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Matthew James Gering 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> They're bound by economics and nothing else, not even the > government cats. Which is preferable IMHO, and I think most here agree (at least in this context). As soon as you give some entity (e.g. government) the power of force to regulate privacy, you create an entity that will abuse that force and abuse privacy. Plus such regulations are a false security blanket that diminishes demand for true privacy-creating tools (cryptography) -- not to mention you current regime turns around and attacks those tools. Being bound by the law of economics is generally a good thing. Matt

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Who Cares (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: "Blanc" <blancw(a)cnw.com> > Subject: Who Cares > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 21:22:56 -0800 > When the politicians speak they always make statements which imply that they're > speaking to, and being heard by, the whole nation. I just read a notice that > less than 40% of eligible voters went to the polls. Since the Republicans are > still in the majority, this means that less than one quarter of the voting > population supports Clinton as President. And only slightly more than one > quarter support Republicans. This would be meaningful to me, if I was making > policy: what are all those other people doing? If you're talking about the people who didn't vote, they're trying to keep from going under. Probably working two jobs, keeping the kids in school and out of trouble, saving for college, paying the house morgage off, etc. Who's in office won't make a whit of difference to any of that. It's irrelevant. If you're talking about the politicians, they're laughing their ass off on the way to the bank to cash their tax-derived income. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Matthew James Gering 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Robert Hettinga wrote: > A government is just another economic actor. A very large > economic actor with lots of guns and a monopoly on force, > but an economic actor nonetheless. No they are not, nor will they necessarily recognize the economic consequences of their actions before they entirely self-destruct or mutate only to do it again. History shows this. I generally use the economic/political distinction as made by Franz Oppenheimer, and furthered by Rothbard, Rand, etc. In that context they are a political actor, not an economic one. I purposefully ignored the prospect of corporations using coercive force to prevent privacy, it is rather improbable and still preferable to government coercion -- but note they do use coercive force today preventing privacy, but government is their instrument of force. Jim Choate wrote: > You need to look around, the government has NO monopoly on force. They have a *legal* monopoly on force (within a state). You do not generally consider the black market in determining monopolistic conditions, and in fact the existence of a black market in a segment generally points to a coercive monopoly in the public one. Matt

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Matthew James Gering <mgering(a)ecosystems.net> > Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone > (fwd) > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 21:20:34 -0800 > > They're bound by economics and nothing else, not even the > > government cats. > > Which is preferable IMHO, and I think most here agree (at least in this > context). As soon as you give some entity (e.g. government) the power of > force to regulate privacy, Woah there cowboy, just exactly how the hell do you jump from economics to privacy...talk about a strawman. > you create an entity that will abuse that force Abuse is the nature of man, not economics, privacy, government systems, etc. They're things, they have no desire and most definitely have no concept of privacy, economics, duty, etc. A a person or persons are abused it's by another person or persons. > Plus such regulations are a false security blanket that > diminishes demand for true privacy-creating tools (cryptography) -- not to > mention you current regime turns around and attacks those tools. It depends on the regulation and how it's applied. You simply can't equitably apply the statement that all regulation is bad because it's equaly clear that no regulation has its own pitfalls and abuses. > Being bound by the law of economics is generally a good thing. Yes, provided you have 'fair competition' which you can't in a free market. Provided all companies and their management operate within some sort of ethical guidelines, which they won't (and don't). And on and on. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Matthew James Gering <mgering(a)ecosystems.net> > Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone > (fwd) > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 21:43:31 -0800 > Robert Hettinga wrote: > > A government is just another economic actor. A very large > > economic actor with lots of guns and a monopoly on force, > > but an economic actor nonetheless. > > No they are not, Yes, they are. Can you say 'taxes'? Can you say 'interstate commerce'? Can you say 'mint money'? Can you say 'federal reserve'? Can you say 'FDIC'? I thought so. > nor will they necessarily recognize the economic > consequences of their actions before they entirely self-destruct or mutate > only to do it again. History shows this. Really? What history? > I generally use the economic/political distinction as made by Franz > Oppenheimer, and furthered by Rothbard, Rand, etc. In that context they are > a political actor, not an economic one. False distinction. Politics is about control and power, and in human society that breaks down to force and money. > I purposefully ignored the prospect > of corporations using coercive force to prevent privacy, it is rather There you go again, confusing privacy with economics... > improbable and still preferable to government coercion -- but note they do > use coercive force today preventing privacy, but government is their > instrument of force. True, but that isn't a function of regulation per se only the particular type of regulation that we have implimented. You're arguing from a specific example and trying to extrapolate to a general rule and it don't fly. > Jim Choate wrote: > > You need to look around, the government has NO monopoly on force. > > They have a *legal* monopoly on force (within a state). No, they don't. It is perfectly legal for an individual to own a weapon. There is also a clear distinction between the local police, your state police, federal agents, military, etc. Lumping them all into one generic category is a disservice and is unrealistic (especialy since they are often in adversarial roles) if we really want to understand how our society works and where we can take it. > You do not generally > consider the black market in determining monopolistic conditions, and in > fact the existence of a black market in a segment generally points to a > coercive monopoly in the public one. No it doesn't. It points to the fact that individuals want to participate in some activity that some other party doesn't want to occur. It does not imply that the regulating party wants the potential income from those activities. Further more, even in a free-market there will exist black markets. It's always cheaper to buy stolen merchandise than legitimately purchased merchandise. The aspect of a free-market is that there is no consequence from such actions (unless you want to admit to allowing corporations to have their own hit squads). Again, a function of human psychology and not economics or political systems. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 21:45:29 -0800 > From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > Subject: Re: TEMPEST laptops > Radio waves scatter...they don't just travel in pure line of sight. And > even if they travelled only in line of sight, the reflections from inside > the box and then into the room and then off surfaces.... It depends on the frequency. Last time I checked a laser or a maser (both are radio waves strictly speaking) travel LOS. The scattering comes from beam divergence and incidental refractions and reflections from the molecules in the air and supported detritus. > Microwave ovens work by having the waves bounce around inside a box. Any > significant hole or crack (up to roughly half the wavelength) would let the > waves out. Depends on the size of the hole and location. In most microwave ovens there are definite dead-spots (corners and the exact center of the area are notorius). > An open top box will not work. If the microwaves (for example) are transmitted parallel to the open side it might very well work just fine. It's going to depend on a variety of factors that will preclude such a blanket statement from being valid. > Unlikely to prevent someone from figuring out what the real signal is. It's > very difficult, generally, to hide a signal with another signal. Noise > won't work, because noise can be filtered or autocorrelated out. A "spoof" > signal can be corrected for. For these to work there must be a time-correlated aspect to the signal that doesn't appear in the noise. If you mask the signal with the same sort of time correlated cover (eg phase shifting) it also might work. > And we are talking about 100 dB sorts of suppression. Mere factors of a few > with fake signals and noise are meaningless on this scale. The absolute magnitude isn't really important. Most of the signals that are emitted by a computer are not in the 100dB dynamic range (@2x=3db that's a signal range of 1:33) , more likely 40-50db if that. For a TTL (5V) signal it barely covers 3dB (LOW is <2.5v and a high is >=4.75). There simply is no way in hell a signal with a 3dB range is going to emit a rf signal that is 100dB. There are other logic families with wider dynamic ranges (eg CMOS w/ 18V Vcc can be nearly 18V or approx. about 12dB). ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Cryptography Study Group - Palo Alto
by John Cutler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A Palo Alto-centered cryptography study group has been been formed. Our first project is to read Schneier's "Applied Cryptography." We meet a couple times each week to go over assigned reading and to play with ideas about cryptography. While the current participants all have a professional interest in the field, we are loosely organized. Readings are decided at the previous meeting giving us the flexibility to explore particular ideas in depth. Please contact me if you would like to join us. John Cutler jcutler(a)via.net

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Re: Kong Re: Using a password as a private key.
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- At 0144 PM 11/1/98 -0800, Bill Stewart wrote > By the way, you don't want to hit the "view" button > after checking this one - you'll get > Run-Time Error 3021 - No current Record > and then Kong dies. Thanks I should release a fix on Monday the 9th. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG z/IoeOpshxPsz77gDorN0rrSb3hSKRfq8BJoUrHV 4MW1ljpG5hCWlOTNpmvtqe+qucj/X1317qNUJjGxf ----------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we are. True law derives from this right, not from the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ James A. Donald

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"Practical Joke"
by Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Pssst... > >When John Glenn returns from space, everyone dress in ape suits. > >Pass it on.

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Netscape inside scoop on "Smart Browsing"
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Authentication-Warning: tarnhelm.blu.org: majordom set sender to owner-isig(a)blu.org using -f From: rivalcs(a)ma.ultranet.com To: <isig(a)blu.org> Subject: Netscape inside scoop on "Smart Browsing" Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 06:00:21 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Importance: Normal Sender: owner-isig(a)blu.org Precedence: bulk Reply-To: isig(a)blu.org > * IS SMART BROWSING REALLY SO SMART? > (contributed by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://www.ntsecurity.net) > Many of you are aware of Netscape's new versions of its Navigator Web > browser. But do you also know that, starting with version 4.06, the > product's Smart Browsing feature can report to Netscape every Web page > you visit, including addresses to private sites on your internal > network? And are you aware that when you download a secure version of > Netscape's browser, the process places a cookie on your system that can > match your name and address to your Web surfing habits? Matt Curtin, > Gary Ellison, and Doug Monroe of Interhack published a report that > outlines the details. Netscape's What's Related? browser feature (a > technology provided by Alexa Internet) seems to be the cause of this > potential invasion of privacy. For those who don't know, the What's > Related? feature delivers a list of URLs associated with the Web page > you're visiting. The feature does this by automatically appending the > URL of the page you're visiting to the end of another URL and sending > it to a server at Netscape. For example, if you visit my Web site > (http://www.ntsecurity.net) the URL that Netscape receives is > http://www-rl4.netscape.com/wtgn?www.ntsecurity.net. And when Netscape > uses this URL to return a list of URLs for related sites, the URLs > aren't directly linked-they go through Netscape, telling Netscape which > site, if any, you chose from the list. The related URLs link to > http://info.netscape.com, which forwards you to the intended > destination. The link URLs look like this: > http://info.netscape.com/fwd/rl/http://www.ntshop.net:80/. > The report states that the group isn't accusing anyone of malice, and > clearly points out that even the best-intended systems can have > undesirable consequences. The real bone to pick here is the lack of > disclosure to potential users of the Smart Browsing technology, and > lack of a statement about the intended storage and use of private > browsing information collected from unsuspecting Netscape users. > According to the report, the feature enables by default, and no > documentation on the feature existed until the report became public. I > don't know about you, but if I bought a new Corvette from General > Motors (GM), and the Corvette reported to GM every place I went, I'd > expect GM to tell me up front. Otherwise, I'd feel deceived and taken > advantage of. But then again, maybe I'm being paranoid when I assume > that private actions should remain private. > http://www.interhack.net/pubs/whatsrelated/ > http://home.netscape.com/escapes/related/faq.html > Rick Desautels Sr. Systems Engineer Rival Computer Solutions rivalcs(a)ma.ultranet.com -- To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to majordomo(a)blu.org with the following text in the *body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter: unsubscribe isig --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 23:19:17 -0800 > From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > Subject: Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd) > >It depends on the frequency. Last time I checked a laser or a maser (both > >are radio waves strictly speaking) travel LOS. The scattering comes from > >beam divergence and incidental refractions and reflections from the > >molecules in the air and supported detritus. > > Oh come on, let's not get into sophistry. And lasers are not considered to > be radio frequency devices by anyone I know of...visible, IR, and UV lasers > are all treated as _photon_ devices, "light." (Yes, yes, I know about > particles vs. waves.) p-v-w is irrelevent. No Tim, it's photons as the intermediate vector boson for EM radiation. *ALL* physicist consider light to be hi-freq radio waves, or radio waves to be low-freq light. Hell, strictly speaking standing in the middle of a dark room waving a bar magnet back and forth is a very low freq. flash light. And you have a physics degree...... > Nope, they'll still get out. The parallel mirror scenario. Irrelevant. Last time I checked my microwave was 8 corner reflectors. That says that ultimately the ray goes back along the way it came with a shift in beam axis. How a microwave works is that up in one corner is a small grating. Behind that grating is a magnetron/klystron/etc. tube. That tube sends a beam out through that little grating. The axis of the tube is slightly mis-aligned ,otherwise the beam would come back into the tube and burn it out - also why you don't put metal things in there, it disrupts the reflection pattern. As a consequence of this design the corners and the exact center of the cavity don't get enough microwave radiation to do much of anything with. If you were to actualy map the microwaves you'd see beams bouncing back and forth and not continous coverage. There are actualy spots in every microwave oven cavity that get zero radiation. Anything put in there cooks as a function of the water in its neighbor heating up and transfered by the standard thermodynamic (which is also EM by the way) mechanism. Test it yourself. > We're talking about signal strength of the emitted RF being knocked down > 80 or 100 dB by the shielding. This is a common way of talking about the > effectiveness of a Faraday cage. True, the point I'm trying to make to you folks is that it *ISN'T* the absolute level of the signal that you are necessarily concerned with but rather the dynamic range in that signal. Simply knowing there's a 3mV signal out there won't do you a damn bit of good unless you have enough signal range to decode the contents. In actuality you could be emitting GW's of signal and if there was only say 1uV of signal range you'd never get anything off it. It just occured to me that one way to weaken TEMPEST is to mask the signals (not sure exactly how) that are emitted by encrypting (ie whitening) the signal when it's on exposed/radiating buss or connector. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Cryptography Study Group - Palo Alto (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 22:45:42 -0800 > From: John Cutler <jcutler(a)via.net> > Subject: Cryptography Study Group - Palo Alto > A Palo Alto-centered cryptography study group has been been formed. > Our first project is to read Schneier's "Applied Cryptography." We > meet a couple times each week to go over assigned reading and to play > with ideas about cryptography. While the current participants all > have a professional interest in the field, we are loosely organized. > Readings are decided at the previous meeting giving us the flexibility > to explore particular ideas in depth. > > Please contact me if you would like to join us. This is a GREAT! idea John. If you don't object, and since Austin Cypherpunks are dead dead dead, I believe I'll start something similar. I think the approach I'll use is a bit different in that I'm going to ask participants to read say the first chapter and get together over some period and actualy write a program (probably in Perl) that impliments the topic(s) under discussion. If it were to meet say every other week for two hours they should be able to go through a chapter every couple of months or so. Now I've got to find a place suitable....:) ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Y2K prompts many to prepare, 6-month delays now common
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>X-Sender: declan(a)mail.well.com >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.0.2 >Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 08:24:55 -0500 >To: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> >Subject: FC: Y2K prompts many to prepare, 6-month delays now common >Sender: owner-politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >Reply-To: declan(a)well.com >X-Loop: politech(a)vorlon.mit.edu >X-URL: Politech is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ > >[I think this is important news: Y2K fear has grown faster than many of us >expected it would. Companies tell me that unless you place your order by >early next year, you'll receive it after 1-1-00. --Declan] > > >http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16035.html > > Companies selling bulk food, > generators, and solar energy systems > report backlogs of up to six months. The > reason: nationwide hand-wringing over > the millennium bug. By Declan McCullagh. > > > > > >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology >To subscribe: send a message to majordomo(a)vorlon.mit.edu with this text: >subscribe politech >More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- >

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How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern.
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here's a simple way to test the bounce-pattern of your micro-wave oven: - Go to your local hobby store and buy some small balsa or pine sheeting, stringers (4x), and glue (non-water based). You'll also need several small open top containers (like a shot glass but smaller for best effect) and a marker. - Cut the stringers to the vertical height of your oven cavity. - Cut the sheeting into 1in. sq. pieces. - Mark the stringers evenly such that there is enough room to glue the sheeting between the stringers, forming a multi-leveled tower. - On each level place your container with a suitable amount of water (fill it almost to the brim). - Place the tower w/ it's containers in one of the corners. Mark a line around the base so you know where you been. - Start your microwave up (adjust time as needed, say start with 30s) and note the temperature of each container after the time. Note that putting your thermometer in there will cool it slightly and you'll also need to have the same number of runs and levels so so each level can be measured immediately after opening the door. If you have access to an optical pyrometer you could potentialy measure them all. - Once you've measured it here, move it over to be adjacent to the lines you drew above, outline the base again and repeat as needed. - Run your regression and your done, tadah. Some glasses will be hot, others won't. Trace the path of the beam out of the magnetron and you'll get a good idea of what your oven is really doing. Whether the cavity is stricly a corner reflector (ie corners are square) or is trapezoidal (slightly off square to help disperse the bounce pattern not the beam) is irrelevant to the actual holes in the pattern, they will be there. I'll mention but not go into the shadowing effect of objects placed in the cavity and the requirement for even cooking means that they have to be rotated for even dispersal of the cooking effect. Another indication that the beam doesn't disperse as widely or quickly as some claim. On another topic about holes and escaping microwaves, if the holes are the right size (which the screen in the glass in the front of your oven is) they will preferentialy absorb the microwave, if it's correctly grounded very little of the radiation will escape (as you can measure with a standard microwave oven leak detector). Now, let's talk about ways to build a laptop that will reduce the emissed radiation to a minimum. First, put all the computing guts into a small box that is well grounded (running on a battery will pretty much screw you here since it ain't grounded unless you drive a stake into the ground). Then make sure that any openings or gaps are in the front edge or on the bottem pointed down. There should be no breaks in the sides, rear, or top. Make sure the floppy, CD, hard drive are placed in the front of the laptop container adjacent to the metal box above and make sure any openings in them point out. The reason you want the openings in the front edge is that your body will make a very good sheild to that hi-energy rf that folks want to tap. The openings on the bottem will direct it to the ground where where they are absorbed (why they call it a ground-plane). Make sure that all cabling from the peripherals to the computing box are shielded (remember, ground the shield at one end only). The seam or hinge between the display and the case should be shielded with standard copper fingers. The cabling should also be well shielded. Make sure there is a grounded screen covering the front of the LCD (and for gods sake don't ever use a plasma display). The exterior case should be metal (why I love my Tadpole 3XP and IBM N40). All openings for batteries and such should be screwed down and not simply retained by a latch of some sort. The *ONLY* way to power the laptop should be by battery. There should be no provision to power it off the ac mains (this is going to be inconvenient since you'll need to carry extra batteries, an external charger for them, and the screw drivers and such to change them - no simply and easy pop-outs here). As to the display, the ideal display would be a dual-display HMD that was also sheilded. This is based on the assumption that if your data is so sensitive that you don't want people snarking it out of the air you probably don't want them reading it over your shoulder (up close or through a tele-photo). If you do decide to stake your laptop as refered above there are a few things to know.... - Make sure the stake is in suitable ground without lots of quartz and other similar peizo-electric materials. - The stake should extend at least 3ft. into the ground. - When the stake is driven in, the ground should be thoroughly wetted which usualy means quite a bit of water (30 gals or so should do it), if possible wet it over a 24 hour period prior to staking. - Make sure the stake and the cable leading to the laptop are copper (or silver if you're rich) - You don't want to be close to phone, power, and other sorts of underground utilities. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Who Cares (fwd)
by Albert P. Franco, II 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> >Forwarded message: > >> From: "Blanc" <blancw(a)cnw.com> >> policy: what are all those other people doing? > >From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)EINSTEIN.ssz.com> >If you're talking about the people who didn't vote, they're trying to keep >from going under. Probably working two jobs, keeping the kids in school and >out of trouble, saving for college, paying the house morgage off, etc. Who's >in office won't make a whit of difference to any of that. It's irrelevant. > >If you're talking about the politicians, they're laughing their ass off on >the way to the bank to cash their tax-derived income. > > And then there are those of us who are denied our opportunity to vote because the damn absentee ballot always seems to arrive a week after the election!! Coincidence? Bad Luck? Or is it design? APF

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(Fwd) Re: DigiCash Inc. to File Reorganization, Seeks Partners
by Warren E. Agin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

For those who are really interested, the DigiCash Incorporated Chapter 11 case was filed in the Northern District of California. The case number is 98-58986. -Warren Agin ___________________________________________________ Warren E. Agin Law Offices of Warren E. Agin 76 Canal Street, Boston MA 02114 (617)227-3201 (f)(617) 227-6365 www.agin.com ___________________________________________________

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US Cyberthreat Policy
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The USIA E-journal, Foreign Policy Agenda, for November is titled "Cyberthreat: Protecting US Information Networks." It has articles by the head of NSA, DoD's Hamre, CIAO's Hunker, Y2K Office's Koskinen, Senator Kyl, and reps from Microsoft, IBM and others: http://www.usia.gov/journals/itps/1198/ijpe/toc.htm Martin Libicki of RAND criticizes the administration's crypto policy for hindering widespread information protection: http://jya.com/ml110498.htm

3 2

How to save a real audio stream?
by Bart van Moorsel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Can anybody explain how to save a real audio stream? I think I saw this question before, sorry to ask for a replay.

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IP: Text: Gore Announces New SS# Effort for Victims of Domestic Violence
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Delivered-To: ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com X-Sender: believer(a)telepath.com Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 09:31:32 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Text: Gore Announces New SS# Effort for Victims of Domestic Violence Mime-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com Precedence: list Reply-To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: USIA http://www.usia.gov/current/news/latest/98110403.wlt.html?/products/washfile /newsitem.shtml 04 November 1998 TEXT: GORE ANNOUNCES EFFORT FOR VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (SS numbers to be changed to help victims escape abusers) (630) Washington -- Vice President Al Gore announced November 4 a new policy to allow victims of domestic violence to change their Social Security number. "Today, our message to the victims of these hateful crimes is this: we will offer you the protection you need to regain your safety and rebuild your life. You have suffered enough without having to fight for the protections you need to start a new life for yourself and your children," Gore said, according to a press release from his office. The vice president also mentioned a new booklet, "Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence: A Law Enforcement Officer's Guide to Enforcing Orders of Protection Nationwide," that outlines the meaning of the Violence Against Women Act's requirement to give full faith and credit orders of protection for victims of domestic violence. Following is the text of the release: (Begin text) November 4, 1998 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Vice President For Immediate Release Wednesday, November 4, 1998 VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW POLICY TO ALLOW VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO CHANGE THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore announced today a new effort to help victims of domestic violence escape their abusers -- a federal policy that will make it easier for victims to change their social security numbers. "Today, our message to the victims of these hateful crimes is this: we will offer you the protection you need to regain your safety and rebuild your life," Vice President Gore said. "You have suffered enough without having to fight for the protections you need to start a new life for yourself and your children." For the first time, victims of domestic violence will be able to get a new Social Security number simply by providing written affirmation of their domestic abuse from a third party, such as a local shelter, treating physician, or law enforcement official. The Social Security Administration's (SSA) employees in field offices nationwide will work closely with local domestic violence shelters, the police, the courts, treating physicians, medical facilities, and psychologists to help victims of domestic violence get the documentation necessary to secure a new Social Security number. Previously, the SSA required victims to provide proof that their abuser had misused their Social Security number. For victims of domestic violence, providing this kind of proof was extremely difficult -- only victims who were severely abused or who were in danger of losing their lives were allowed to change their Social Security number. To improve its services to victims of domestic violence, the SSA will post on its web site the steps a victim needs to take to change their Social Security number and provide important referral information. The Vice President also announced a Presidential directive for the Office of Personnel Management to prepare a resource guide that will: (1) assist victims of domestic violence by providing up-to-date information about available resources and outline strategies to ensure safety; and (2) help those who know anyone who is being abused to prevent and respond to the situation. This guide will list private as well as public resources such as counseling, law enforcement, federal workplace leave policies, and substance abuse programs. In addition, he highlighted a new booklet, "Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence: A Law Enforcement Officer's Guide to Enforcing Orders of Protection Nationwide," that outlines the meaning of the Violence Against Women Act's requirement to give full faith and credit orders of protection for victims of domestic violence. This booklet was written by the International Association of Chiefs of Police with a grant from the Justice Department. It will be disseminated to law enforcement officers nationwide to teach them how to enforce protection orders. (End text) ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **************************************************** --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Microsoft Statement
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Authentication-Warning: www.ispo.cec.be: majordom set sender to owner-e-commerc(a)www.ispo.cec.be using -f Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 09:16:56 -0500 From: Freddie Dawkins <freddied(a)compuserve.com> Subject: Microsoft Statement To: CEC E-commerce list <E-commerc(a)www.ispo.cec.be> MIME-Version: 1.0 Sender: owner-e-commerc(a)www.ispo.cec.be Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Freddie Dawkins <freddied(a)compuserve.com> All here - I thought you might like to see this. It was published at the ICX London conference on October 19. Rgds Freddie Dawkins ICX - Building Trust in E-commerce ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Statement of Microsoft on UK Department of Trade and Industry Proposals for Encryption on Digital Signatures October 1998 Microsoft welcomes this opportunity to respond to recent DTI proposals on encryption and digital signatures. As a leading developer of business software applications, on-line tools and operating systems, Microsoft strongly supports the growth of electronic commerce in Europe. 1. UK legislation should eliminate all key escrow and key recovery requirements. The UK should not make the use of encryption subject to mandatory key escrow. The DTI's Secure Electronic Commerce Statement of April 1998 contemplates authorising law enforcement to obtain access to private encryption keys on request. This could effectively require users or encryption service providers to "escrow" their private keys, which would depart from the Statement's rejection of mandatory key escrow and make the use of encryption more costly and burdensome. Many users would also view the obligation to store copies of their private keys as compromising the security of their on-line messages, thus deterring them from fully exploiting electronic commerce. Mandatory key escrow does not serve any legitimate law enforcement goals. Key escrow serves no legitimate law enforcement goals because criminals and terrorists are unlikely to store their private keys or provide them to police on request. Law enforcement's needs in this area could be fully met by requiring users to produce the plain text of any message to which police require access. 2. The proposed legislation should extend legal recognition to all digital signatures. Legal recognition should extend to all electronic signatures, not just those issued by licensed certification authorities (CAs). The secure Electronic Commerce Statement would limit legal recognition to certificates issued by licensed CAs. Because virtually all users will want to rely on the legal validity of their electronic signatures, this would effectively require the use of licensed CAs. Such a rule would impose unnecessary costs on electronic commerce and would place UK law in conflict with the proposed EU Electronic Signatures Directive, which extends legal recognition to both licensed and unlicensed electronic signatures. UK law should extend legal recognition to closed-system and limited-use certificates and affirm parties' freedom of contract. Electronic signatures are used in a variety of closed systems and for a broad range of specific uses, such as on-line banking and credit card systems. Because closed-system and limited-use certificates will play a crucial role in the development of on-line applications, the law should expressly extend legal recognition to such certificates. UK legislation should also treat electronic and paper transactions the same in terms of freedom of contract, so that private parties have the same flexibility to structure their electronic transactions as they do for traditional forms of commerce. The proposed legislation should not require licensed CAs to escrow encryption keys. Many users of electronic signatures will refuse to allow their private encryption keys to be escrowed, and will therefore refuse to use licensed CAs if they must also hand over their private encryption keys. Such a result would undermine the use of electronic signatures and would threaten the development of electronic commerce in the UK. Thus, UK law should allow licensed CAs to provide encryption services without maintaining a key escrow or key recovery system. 3. DTI should abandon plans to extend existing export controls to "intangible" transfers. Applying existing export controls to intangible transfers of encryption is unworkable and impractical. In its recent white paper on Strategic Export Controls (July 1998), DTI announced plans to extend existing export controls to intangible transfers. However, strong encryption is widely available on the Internet from servers located outside the UK. Thus, the proposed restrictions would not prevent criminals from using strong encryption, but would impose added costs and burdens on lawful manufacturers and distributors of encryption products. The proposed export controls will harm UK firms. UK businesses already face a competitive disadvantage to foreign competitors due to restrictions on exporting encryption in tangible form. To extend this to intangible transfers will make it even more difficult for UK firms to compete globally. The UK should loosen, rather than tighten, existing export controls on encryption. Export restrictions on encryption make it much more expensive for UK firms to compete globally, without having any real impact on crime. Rather than act unilaterally on this issue, the UK should adhere to the European-wide standards set forth in the EU Regulation on Dual-Use Goods. /ends # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # To leave the list, send email to Majordomo(a)www.ispo.cec.be saying unsubscribe E-commerc your(a)email.address as the first line of your message (*not* as the subject) # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd)
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim, *** True, the point I'm trying to make to you folks is that it *ISN'T* the absolute level of the signal that you are necessarily concerned with but rather the dynamic range in that signal. Simply knowing there's a 3mV signal out there won't do you a damn bit of good unless you have enough signal range to decode the contents. In actuality you could be emitting GW's of signal and if there was only say 1uV of signal range you'd never get anything off it. *** The distinction you are trying to express is that not all signals have equal information content and that it is the levels of the high-content ones that matter. Fine, but shielding is indiscriminate so shield away. And run your Tesla coil and some Ramones music to increase the ambient noise while you're doing sensitive computing. BTW - Aren't most receivers sensitive to RF field strengths in the 1 uV/m range? With cryogenically cooled front ends the nV/m range is probably usable. Look for MIB carrying Dewars in your neighborhood! How cold do Peltier junctions get? Probably good enough for a sidewinder or a low-noise rcvr. Mike Gabba-gabba hey!

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Announcing Extensis Preflight Pro 2.1
by listmaster＠extensis.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Award-Winning, Preflighting Tool from Extensis Just Got Better. http://www.extensis.com/products/PreflightPro * New! Now inspect your Acrobat(r) PDF Files! * Inspect, correct and collect print jobs for perfect prepress delivery. * Advanced features include customizable inspection profiles, PDF creation, and AppleScript Automation. * FREE! 5 free copies of Collect Pro with each copy of Preflight Pro! Extensis Preflight Pro 2.1 answers all of your Preflight questions. Designed to save prepress professionals time and money, Preflight Pro inspects your documents and corrects problems to ensure they are error-free prior to printing. With an interface that mimics the traditional prepress workflow, Preflight Pro provides you with a familiar environment to review files prior to printing. Further, Preflight Pro now supports documents in all the major graphics applications including Adobe PageMaker, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, QuarkXPress, Macromedia FreeHand EPS, and Multi-Ad Creator2. What's New in Preflight Pro 2.1? Now you can inspect Acrobat PDF files, along with files from all the other major graphics applications. Preflight Pro 2.1 now examines PDF files using more than 40 different profile items, including document security settings, font subsetting and embedding, downsampling rates and compression types. Better yet, Preflight Pro also includes 5 free copies of Collect Pro 2.1. Give Collect Pro to any creative professional you work with to help them correctly collect a job for hand-off to the prepress house. Collect Pro eliminates the problems of missing files (e.g.: fonts and linked graphics) that can delay a job. Extensis Preflight Pro 2.1 will dramatically streamline your preflight workflow, saving you time, headaches and money. For more information, to order, or to download a FREE, 30-day demo of Extensis Preflight Pro, please visit: http://www.extensis.com/products/PreflightPro Or call your Extensis Preflight Specialist at (800) 796-9798 x.168 or (503) 274-2020 x.168 or email to: preflight(a)extensis.com . Already own Preflight Pro 2.0? NO PROBLEM! Visit http://www.extensis.com/products/PreflightPro and download Preflight Pro 2.1 for free (your Preflight Pro 2.0 serial number is required) Are you a FlightCheck(r) User? NO PROBLEM! Upgrade to Extensis Preflight Pro 2.1 for only $99.95 (SAVE $300!) Preflight Pro 2.1 and Collect Pro 2.1 are compatible with QuarkXPress 3.31 or later, including QuarkXPress 4.0, Adobe PageMaker 6.5 and later, Adobe Illustrator 5.5 and later, Adobe Photoshop 3.0.4 and later, Macromedia FreeHand 5.5 and later, and Multi-Ad Creator2 version 1.0. PS. We have made every effort to ensure this message is being sent only to people who have expressed interest in Extensis products. If we have sent this to you in error, please accept our apologies and reply with remove in the subject line for automatic exclusion from future communications. If you know someone who would like to be on our mailing list have them send an email to listmaster(a)extensis.com with ADD in the subject line and their email address in the body. P.P.S. This message is intended for customers in North America. If you are located outside of North America and have received this message, please visit www.extensis.com/purchase/ to find the nearest local distributor in your country.

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Digicash in serious trouble
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Sender: stalder(a)fis.fis.utoronto.ca Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 12:03:10 -0500 To: micropay(a)ai.mit.edu From: Felix Stalder <stalder(a)fis.utoronto.ca> Subject: Digicash in serious trouble Sender: owner-micropay(a)ai.mit.edu Precedence: bulk Reply-To: micropay(a)ai.mit.edu [bad news] http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,28360,00.html By Tim Clark Staff Writer, CNET News.com November 4, 1998, 6:05 p.m. PT Electronic-cash pioneer DigiCash said today it's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after shrinking its payroll to about six people from nearly 50 in February. The company, which has been running off a bridge loan from its venture capital investors since June, is seeking new investors from established financial institutions or a buyer for its software technology. The company's operations in the Netherlands, where it was founded, were liquidated in September. "To really launch and brand something like this in the Internet space is likely to take a fair amount more capital," said Scott Loftesness, DigiCash's interim CEO since August. "It's more appropriate for strategic investors, corporate players or banks themselves as a consortium model." Electronic-cash schemes have found difficult sledding recently. First Virtual Holdings, which had a form of e-cash, exited the business in July. CyberCash's CyberCoin offering hasn't really caught on. Digital Equipment, now part of Compaq Computer is testing its Millicent electronic cash, and IBM is in early trials for a product called Minipay. Under bankruptcy laws, DigiCash's Chapter 11 filing allows the company to continue operations, while keeping its creditors at bay as the company reorganizes. Most of DigiCash's $4 million in debt is owed to its initial venture capital financiers who extended the bridge loan, August Capital, Applied Technology, and Dutch investment firm Gilde Investment. DigiCash's eCash allows consumers to make anonymous payments of any amount--and anonymity differentiates eCash against other e-cash schemes. DigiCash's intellectual property assets include patents, protocols, and software systems that also could be used for applications, like online electronic voting or private scrip issued by a particular retailer. DigiCash suffered a setback in September when the only U.S. bank offering its scheme, Mark Twain Bank, dropped the offering. But a number of major banks in Europe and Australia offer or are testing DigiCash's electronic cash. Also in September, DigiCash closed its Dutch operations and liquidated its assets there. Loftesness said DigiCash has a list of 35-40 potential partners, and he has been talking to players like IBM for months. He expects to resolve DigiCash's status in the next five months. "Everybody feels anonymous e-cash is inevitable, but the existing situation was not going to get there from here," said Loftesness, who is frustrated by potential partners telling him, "This is absolutely strategic, but unfortunately it's not urgent." The company was founded by David Chaum and was well-known in the Internet's earliest days. MIT Media Labs' Nicholas Negroponte is a director of DigiCash. --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo(a)desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner(a)desk.nl -----|||||---||||----|||||--------||||---- Les faits sont faits. http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/~stalder --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)philodox.com> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern.
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim, you said... ***** If you do decide to stake your laptop as refered above there are a few things to know.... - Make sure the stake is in suitable ground without lots of quartz and other similar peizo-electric materials. - The stake should extend at least 3ft. into the ground. - When the stake is driven in, the ground should be thoroughly wetted which usualy means quite a bit of water (30 gals or so should do it), if possible wet it over a 24 hour period prior to staking. - Make sure the stake and the cable leading to the laptop are copper (or silver if you're rich) - You don't want to be close to phone, power, and other sorts of underground utilities. **** Please explain to me why it matters that the box be grounded! Radiated energy from chips and traces is independent of your mongo ground strap to the mother ship. All the strap does is alter the DC potential. Shield your box well but design out the leg irons and the geological requirements. Mike

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Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 09:28:06 -0800 > From: Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> > Subject: Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd) > The distinction you are trying to express is that not all signals have > equal information content and that it is the levels of the high-content > ones that matter. Nope. What I am saying is the absolute magnitude of the carrier wave is irrelevant, it's the modulation that matters and that modulation if small and it's riding on a big carrier is hard to get at because you swamp your front-ends because of dynamic range. > Fine, but shielding is indiscriminate so shield away. Shielding will attenuate all parts of the signal so it is a Good Thing (TM). > And run your Tesla coil and some Ramones music to increase the ambient > noise while you're doing sensitive computing. Gabba gabba hey hey...thought I don't run my Tesla Coil when my computers are on, they object to the 4ft sparks. > Look for MIB carrying Dewars in your neighborhood! > How cold do Peltier junctions get? > Probably good enough for a sidewinder or a low-noise rcvr. Peltier devices are for thermal transport by binding the thermal photons and transporting them to a different environ where they may be emitted. Hence the original environ is cooled. You're talking about Josephson Junctions I suspect and they're useless for signal detection, they're a switch. SQUIDS are what are used for truly small level signals. The KKK took my baby away.... ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern. (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 11:42:41 -0800 > From: Michael Motyka <mmotyka(a)lsil.com> > Subject: Re: How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern. > Please explain to me why it matters that the box be grounded! Electricity runs from a high-potential point to ground. If it isn't grounded it radiates away into space where it can be detected. If the Faraday Cage isn't grounded it simply acts as a parasitic oscillator and re-emits the signal from inside, though at a lower amplitude. Remember, charge rests on the *OUTSIDE* of a object so that any charge picked up internaly gets passed to the outside surface. Which raises another point. Since sharp corners radiate better because they hold larger charges one should probably avoid sharp angles or corners. Though you might be able to use that to advantage by having a caged needle that radiates the majority away into the grounded cage. Probably the ideal 'laptop' would be a metal ball with a grounding wire and a single large mil-spec connector that drives a HMD. Something like the Rock City by Archistrat but round instead of cubical. > Radiated energy from chips and traces is independent of your mongo > ground strap to the mother ship. Not if the ground plane on the pcb is built right. The amount of free-space radiation can be minimized because the capacitive coupling between the emitting source and the local ground is less than the capacitive coupling to Earth through the atmosphere. Since the signal path impedence to the local ground plain is lower it will carry, proportionaly, the majority of the signal. > All the strap does is alter the DC > potential. Shield your box well but design out the leg irons and the > geological requirements. Actualy it is much more complex than that, it effects the AC signal path impedence as well - which is exactly what one wants. As I said above, don't ground the box and it simply acts as a secondary emitter. This is analogous to those parasitic oscillators they put in books and such that ring an alarm if you walk between the poles at the store. I'm at work right now so I can't get too specific but there is a book that I have at home that is called 'Digital Black Magic' (I believe). It covers a lot of these sorts of issues. When I'm home later I'll post a pointer to the correct title, author, and ISBN. The 1st rule of electrons: They always take the shortest path to ground. Corollary: If they can't get to ground they radiate their excess energy away as photons. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: TEMPEST laptops
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:45 PM 11/4/98 -0800, Tim May wrote: >>The other question is how hard, given a _specific_ machine would it be to >>create a "RF" jammer? Sort of an active defense versus the passive defense >>of a Tempest sheild. build a device that measures the RF coming off a Well dang Tim, if you're gonna work inside a Faraday cage you may as well run a Tesla coil outside it... --Lace Aliens Slide on my Rugs

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Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 11:56:20 -0500 > From: Petro <petro(a)playboy.com> > Subject: Re: TEMPEST laptops (fwd) > >It depends on the frequency. Last time I checked a laser or a maser (both > >are radio waves strictly speaking) travel LOS. The scattering comes from > >beam divergence and incidental refractions and reflections from the > >molecules in the air and supported detritus. > > And both Lasers and Masers scatter under certain conditions. If you > can see the laser, it is scattering a bit of [energy light photons] All EM radiation scatters *IF* the wavelength of the signal is comparable to the wavelength of the particulate. If the particulate is less than about 1/3 wavelength it won't significantly scatter. The reason that dust in the air scatters lasers (and masers don't have this problem because the wavelength is too long) is that the particles are significantly larger than the wavelenght of the signal. It is directly analogous to moon-shine. In astronomy this is related to something called the Poynting Effect. This is also the reason that IR radiation goes through smoke and fog while visible light won't. Raleigh Scattering is the reason that the fog appears white. In photography and radar mapping this is what limits the resolution of the bounced signal as well. You can build an experiment to demonstrate this with peg-board, pegs, and some rope. Lay the peg-board on a table. Place a peg on one edge and connect the rope. then along the line of the rope place other pegs at equal but different distances and try to get a transverse plane wave to travel down the rope. Note the relative wavelenght of the wave in the rope to the spacing of the pegs. It takes practice to get it to work correctly so don't give up to easy. > I was under the (apparently false) impression that things like > animal bodies, and ordinary building materials (like wood, Lathe & > plaster/drywall) wouldn't stop or significantly bounce the beams back the > way you didn't want them to go. Depends on the material, angle of incidence, water content, frequency of the signal, transmissivity of the material at that frequency, etc. In the 10cm radar (used by tanks and ground troops to find each other) even leaves will bounce a signal. > I was thinking more of controling the direction of the RF, rather > than trying to completely supress it. Exaclty. The issue then is what do we do with the signal once we've got it directed where we want it. For EM signals we want to get them to a ground plane so they go away and don't exist anymore. If it doesn't exist anymore you can't very well tap it. > We're not cooking Hotdogs here, and we aren't using (for the most > part) microwaves. Yes, you can heat a hotdog on a PII, but that is more > from heat radiation than RF. > > Microwave ovens also leak RF. True enough, but the physics are applicable. Don't confuse cause with effect. As to microwave ovens leaking, yes but they leak orders of magnitude less which makes them orders of magnitude harder to detect. That is the point to TEMPEST after all, take advantage of the 1/r^2 law so the mallet has to be sitting right in your lap to get a good field strength. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern. (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 13:09:09 -0800 > From: David Honig <honig(a)sprynet.com> > Subject: Re: How to test *your* microwave oven distribution pattern. > At 08:47 AM 11/5/98 -0600, Jim Choate wrote: > >Here's a simple way to test the bounce-pattern of your micro-wave oven: > > Simpler: stick a neon-bulb with the leads twisted off into the oven. > Watch the glow vary. Put a cup of water in there since you're not supposed > to run empty. Yes, but they don't give you as easily measured level of the incident radiation. with a neon bulb or a flourescent tube (what I prefer) you have a hard time mapping radiation level to brightness with commenly available photometers. Photo quality stuff isn't nearly accurate enough. > > - Make sure the stake is in suitable ground without lots of quartz > > and other similar peizo-electric materials. > > Not piezo (though quartz is), but non conductive. You have to > tap the groundwater table. Sand, granite don't conduct. Sand has lots of piezo. You don't want piezo because the ground pressure on the stake will cause excessive noise. As to non-conductive, you *WANT* it to be conductive otherwise the signals will form ground waves and propogate horizontaly. You can see this with radar signals from aircraft that bounce off the tarmac (I used to live next to the Austin airport and had access to a spectrum analyzer). If the ground plane isn't conductive it isn't a ground plane. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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No Subject
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

:: Subject: more on Dore's discovery of intelligence (satellite 415) http://www.enterprisemission.com/images/auscnfrm.jpg http://www.lunaranomalies.com/update2.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_203000/203133.stm

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Holloween II: Microsoft Plugs Linux
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://www.opensource.org/halloween2.html is a more extensive, (positively glowing) freshly smuggled (planted?) internal analysis of Linux by Microsoft. 103k, but definitely worth reading. Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- 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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Now where am I gonna get a good horseburger?
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In CA it is now a felony to eat a horse. I don't remember asking to be transported to Walt Disney World...wait 'til someone other than Gary Larson anthropomorphises the chicken, cow and pig! On a lighter, more technical note - Avoiding carefully, for the moment, Harvey Rook's statement that weaknesses in cipher systems often lie in key generation and management and not in the crypto algorithms, I'll ask a few -naive- questions: If we construct a CSPRNG with a ?sufficiently? large state and then use the output of that PRNG to generate a new key for each block encrypted by a standard block cipher have we gained anything? Large files vs. small? When used with triple encryption like 3DES? The ROI for finding a single key is certainly much lower if the PRNG is "good". I've never seen a PR keystream for a conventional block cipher discussed so I thought I'd lob it out there. Mike

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Matthew James Gering 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Robert Hettinga wrote: > > A government is just another economic actor. A very large > > economic actor with lots of guns and a monopoly on force, > > but an economic actor nonetheless. > > No they are not, > > Yes, they are. Can you say 'taxes'? Imposed by a gun. > Can you say 'interstate commerce'? What about it? > Can you say 'mint money'? Can you say 'federal reserve'? Can you say government fiat? > Can you say 'FDIC'? Can you say banking regulation at the point of a gun? > I thought so. Yep. > > History shows this. > > Really? What history? The Soviet Union is a prime recent example. British Mercantilism. Governments are ultimately bound to economics in the sense of human behavior and productivity -- the more they deny the nature of microeconomic actors, the quicker they self-destruct. History shows that every dynasty well eventually self-destruct, to think ours won't is foolish. My point is we don't have competitive governments per se, you have a power void that is filled by new government that can be just as hostile to those microeconomic actors. All our government failures have yet to produce a sustainable government. > False distinction. Politics is about control and power The fundamental laws of economics are supply and demand. As soon as you through force into the equation, it is no longer economic, it is political. > in human society that breaks down to force and money. The essence of money has no political roots. The essence of money is human productivity and trade. Money is tied to politics currently because it is regulated by force of government and the money *supply* is created by government fiat. > There you go again, confusing privacy with economics... The discussion *was* *privacy*, or did you completely miss the initial discussion? Privacy (as opposed to secrecy) is about discretionary disclosure of information. To invade privacy is to remove or prevent that discretion. There is an economic cost of doing so, and an economic benefit. Corporations are bound by those economics, whereas government can mandate transparency by whim and gun. > > use coercive force today preventing privacy, but government is > > their instrument of force. > > True, but that isn't a function of regulation per se only the > particular type of regulation that we have implimented. It is the *nature* of regulation. The end element of any regulation is a gun. Government is a natural instrument of collective legalized force by any group that can influence it, and to think it can't and won't be influenced denies human nature in regards to power. Every government is despotic by nature, force corrupts. > > They have a *legal* monopoly on force (within a state). > > No, they don't. It is perfectly legal for an individual to > own a weapon. The legal monopoly on the *initiation* of force. And in fact you have very little freedom (eternally diminishing) to obtain potential force (arms) and use it in a *reactionary* manner. You have absolutely *no* freedom to use it reactionary against government (which is in the face of the 4th). > There is also a clear distinction between the local police, > your state police, federal agents, military, etc. It is an irrelevant distinction in this case, it is all government. They do not use force against each other as any sort of competitive balance. > No it doesn't. It points to the fact that individuals want to > participate in some activity that some other party doesn't > want to occur. General democratic consensus is highly controlled by media and government propaganda (if they are not one in the same). What is the underlying motivation? Is hemp illegal because people don't want people to smoke weed, or because of the cotton lobby? Is the war on drugs so unbreakable because people don't want people taking drugs, or because the government funds black operations with its sales, uses it to confiscate private property, and as a sounding post for increased powers? Do people not want free banking, or does the government wish to protects its fiat currency and artificial stability flying in the face of economic reality? > It does not imply that the regulating party wants the potential > income from those activities. Money or power, more often than most people think. > Further more, even in a free-market there will exist > black markets. Provided you don't corrupt the meaning of free-market to include any possible black market, then yes, there will *always* be a black market. It can be made rather insignificant however. > The aspect of a free-market is that there is no consequence from > such actions (unless you want to admit to allowing corporations to have > their own hit squads). And again you pervert the meaning of free market. I'm tired arguing that subject with you, go read a book. Matt

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RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 10:43:40 -0500 > From: Petro <petro(a)playboy.com> > Subject: RE: dbts: Privacy Fetishes, Perfect Competition, and the Foregone > (fwd) > Anarchy is usually defined as the absense of government. What > exactly makes up a "government", what are it's defining characteristics? Well let's see.... control over some geographic area arbitration of conflict tithe from the inhabitants of that area regulation of economic systems by controlling the medium of trade (ie money) > Simply a device for reallocating wealth?--Insufficient, there are > lots of mechanisms for that. No, government control economies that's not the same thing as having re-allocation of wealth as a goal. That's more a responsbility of a business than a government. Governments, at least in principle, are concerned with stable economies and the continued existance of same. Who exactly, if anyone, is holder of that wealth is in principle irrelevant to the definition of political systems as a general expression of human psychology. Though it is clear the devil is in the details. > A body that lays down standards and rules of conduct?--Sounds like > a church or industry consortium to me. It sounds like an expression of the social aspects of human psychology. Whether it's a church, industry consortium, local LEA, local fire dept., etc. > A heirarchical (sp?) structure that uses fear, propaganda and force > to reallocate wealth, enforce standards and rules of conduct, and other > things at whim (for varying values of "whim", from the "whim" of a > dictator, to the "whim" of the "body politic"). Who cares whether it's heirarchical or flat (as in an anarchy or free-market). The point is that abuse takes place. It is no more ethical to bash somebodies brains in under an anarchy than it is in a democracy or a communicsm. > Now, THAT is a government. Yes, some of what it enforces is > probably a good idea (i.e. everyone driving on the same side of the road, > &etc) some if it is kinda silly (don't smoke dope, or you're going to jail > (Here, have a beer)), and some of it is downright stupid and shortsighted > (encryption policy, not drinking beer out of a bucket on the sidewalk). Sounds like an expression of the range of human beliefs. Whether something is right, wrong, stupid, etc. is a function of individual statements of importance and ranking of consequences. > Anarchy is not having to be effected by that, being "free" to > follow what one thinks is right. Which unfortunately includes the neighbor being able to take your property by force since he believes it's right. > How one gets to that state is not really > relevent. Tell that to the mother of the kid who got killed last night because he had something somebody else wanted. Also explain to here how under an anarchy there isn't any recourse for her other than to try to find that person herself and kill them.... Yep, that is a very efficient and ethical system you wanna build. My statement above simply lays out the position having Privacy > (for large enough values of privacy to be meaningful) and Freedom (for > large enough values of Freedom to be meaningful) one is effectively in an > anarchistic state. That is what "close enough to be meaningful" meant. Freedom is the right to do what you want *WITHOUT* impinging or otherwise limiting others right to express their desires and wants. Anarchy clearly won't do that. > Privacy is (at least it's my understanding) the ability to hide or > mask information in such a way that only people you wish to have access > to it do. If privacy exists you don't have to hide things because nobodies looking in the first place. You only need to hide things if you're reasonably certain somebody else wants it. > There are varying degrees of Privacy, from "Well, at least they Yep, like there are varying degrees of pregnancy. Either somebody is looking or they aren't. > don't analyize what's in my feeces, even if they do watch me take it" to > being able to completely hide any information at all from anyone. No, that is varying degrees of *respect* for privacy. Not the same animal at all. > Freedom is the ability to make choices, and exercise those choices. Without impinging on others freedom. It's worth noting that anarchist don't add that last one in there because it blows their whole little house of cards completely away. > Just like privacy, there are varying degrees of freedom, from the > convict who can chose wheter he/she wants to eat that slop or go hungry, to > the president of the US who can (apparently) bomb people with impunity, lie > under oath & etc. No, there are varying degrees of respect for freedom. > When the amount of freedom and privacy is high enough, it is > indistinguishable from anarchy. Sure it is, because under anarchy there is no protection that one persons expression won't interfere with anothers expression without resorting to violence. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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