December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

IRS reform bill going strong [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > IRS Reform Bill Skates Through House > > [INLINE] > > WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Nov. 5) -- A bill to reform the Internal > Revenue Service skated through the House of Representatives today on > an overwhelming 426-4 vote. > > The measure picked up the support of Democrats after its sponsors made > key changes that drew the approval of the Clinton Administration. > > The most significant change would preserve the president's power to > appoint the IRS commissioner. The original version of the bill would > have transferred that duty to an independent board. > > The bill's centerpiece is an 11-member board made up mostly of private > citizens that would oversee the IRS and help manage its long-term > projects. > > Bill sponsor Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said the measure marked "the first > time in 45 years that we have attempted as a Congress to enact > fundamental reform."

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Re: [news] TV station sets cybersex sting
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>*** TV station sets cybersex sting >With cyperporn and cybersex ranking as sensational news items on >local TV stations, Fox's Los Angeles outlet has taken the trend a >step further by ensnaring adult sexual predators. KTTV's Fox 11 News >at 10 worked with a 21-year-old woman posing as a 14-year-old to >conduct cybersting operations that led to the arrests of five men. >KTTV used the unnamed woman as bait, having her enter online chat >rooms where she was immediately targeted. The station filmed the >online seductions as well as the arrests of the men, who included an >attorney, a doctor, a retired Army officer and an investigator for >the Dept. of Labor. See story at >http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=5777644-464 And then they tricked a real 14 year old girl into meeting with them and having sex so that maybe, if they really, really tried very hard, they could argue that a real crime had been committed, right? Didn't think so.

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Re: Government goons force Goddard to recant
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anonymous wrote: > > Time to add a new horseman: "conspiracy theory-spreading libertarians" > Goddard says he wanted to promote libertarian ideology by > encouraging distrust of the government. It's amazing how a few minutes in a cell with Jim Bell can help people see the error of their ways.

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Re: IRS reform bill going strong [CNN]
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Choate wrote: > > IRS Reform Bill Skates Through House > > The bill's centerpiece is an 11-member board made up mostly of private > > citizens that would oversee the IRS and help manage its long-term > > projects. > > > > Bill sponsor Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said the measure marked "the first > > time in 45 years that we have attempted as a Congress to enact > > fundamental reform." Gee, and the IRS is being put in the hands of private citizens just before the Y2K problem comes to a head. Hhmmm...

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A Constitutionalist Recants
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Law & Order has showed me the error of my ways. After watching tonight's show, I realized that those who 'hide behind the Constitution' are all murderers. I was so proud of the judge who made his speech about supporting the concepts behind the constitution, and then was able to see his error in not throwing it out the window because of a single dead person. I cheered when the judge dismissed a juror for quoting the founding fathers. God bless what used to be America! ReformedConstitutionalistMonger "Sure, Dan Quayle was an idiot for getting all worked up over a Murphy Brown episode, but this is different...isn't it?"

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PGP's SMTP enforcer and ISPs
by phelix＠vallnet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Recently, my ISP became the victim of spammers. Their response, like many other ISPs, is to block port 25 for all their dialup users. This means that all outgoing email must be routed through their mail server. Now that PGP has an SMTP enforcers, and that others will eventually follow with a S/MIME equivalent, we are literally an executive order away from an effective (if not 100% complete) ban on "inappropriate" encryption on email communications. All it would take is a national emergency, like the next war against Saddam Hussein, or a law that does not treat ISPs like common carriers and holds them liable for what their users do. And the worst thing of all is that most people won't even notice it. Hell, I was the only person on my end to notice that my ISP had blocked port 25. -- Phelix, "perfect paranoia is perfect awareness"

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First American Corp.
by fasc＠mxtro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

First American Scientific Corporation has developed new technology that we feel is of global significance to problems arising from human waste disposal activity. Full details are available at http://www.mxtro.com/fasc . The technology, which is built into ourKinetic Disintegratioin System, is called Kinetic Disintegration Technology (KDT) and incorporates standing sound waves and kinetic energy to disintegrate virtually all non-metallic substances into powders as fine as -400 mesh. This means that previously problematic recyclables like rubber (tires), gypsum (drywall), plastics, insulation, glass, and bio-solid wastes can be cost-effectively "micronized" and separated for re-use as industrial raw materials. This information will be of particular interest to investors, municipal engineers, agricultural research facilities, waste disposal engineers, recycled product developers, and others who have an interest in solving the crises being generated from worldwide waste disposal. Our apologies if you view this information as intrusive, but First American Scientific Corporation will not contribute to global deforestation by disseminating information through printed materials. We feel this technology is of the highest global priority. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Investor Relations First American Scientific Corporation NASD EBB:FASC Please reply with "remove" in the subject line for easy and permanent removal.

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Re: Springer/Gates Merger
by bureau42 Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> CANADIAN NUTLY NEWS: > [CNN, Bienfait, Saskatchewan] BAR OWNERS at the Coaldust Saloon, > in violation of Canadian bartender/customer confidentiality laws, > revealed details of a planned merger between Micro$oft and the > Jerry Springer Show. > "The success of Terminal Man > showed that the future was in snuff-flicks, and Police Chases was > the natural movement of that theme into the trend toward Real TV." Let's see...if the police with the TV camera in their car get in a chase with another vehicle, their chances of getting on primetime TV increase in proportion to the threat posed to all involved, including innocent bystanders. So if the 'perp' kills or gets killed, the police officer gets to sing on 'Star Search'? If the TV camera on the police cruiser gets a particularly gory shot of the fleeing vehicle splattering a child in a crosswalk, the cop gets a free dining room set? I can hardly wait until Jane and Joe Public get their chance to participate in an InterActive snuff-flick in WebWorld. "It will never happen." you say?" Like the Great Evil of Alcohol will never be taken out of the hands of murderous criminals who make outrageous profits, and put into the hands of governement, who makes an equally outrageous profit. Like the government will not use their armed power to out-muscle the scar-faced, pug-nosed thugs in the dark underworld, to take over control of the Great Evil of Gambling. Trust me when I say that I am not just being cynical about the Sheeple (TM) in saying this. If I had a chance for a shot at Louis J. Freeh on the Pay-per-InterAct Snuff Channel... SnuffMonger

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Govt. key escrow justification
by Michael Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm attaching the Nando and NYT pieces on the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. As feared yet expected, their effort is turning into another key escrow justification. Anyone who is interested, let me know, I've commented the PCCIP summary report (the full report is classified). I'm one of the few public strong- crypto supporters who also happens to be a professional in the field of infrastructural attacks, so this makes things even more lonely. Michael Wilson http://www.7pillars.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ U.S. cyberterrorism report hit on encryption stance ____________________________________________________________________________ Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net Copyright ) 1997 Reuters WASHINGTON (November 6, 1997 00:53 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - The U.S. commission on critical infrastructure drew strong criticism Wednesday for endorsing the Clinton administration's controversial policy that would require government access to all private computer data. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said significant questions had been raised about the costs and feasibility of so-called key recovery systems. "Until those significant questions are fully considered and answered, we should be cautious in adopting grand key recovery encryption schemes that may only exacerbate system vulnerabilities," Leahy said in a statement. The commission's report, delivered to President Clinton last month and later released to the public in declassified form, warned that critical telephone, power, water and financial systems were becoming increasingly vulnerable to computer attack. The commission also said it favored greater use of computer encryption programs, which use mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software "key." Encryption programs could be used to prevent hackers or terrorists from infiltrating computer networks that run critical infrastructure systems, for example. But the commission backed use of key recovery, a technology to allow law enforcement officials to decode any encrypted message covertly. "Key recovery is needed to provide business access to data when encryption keys are lost or maliciously misplaced, and court-authorized law enforcement access to the plain text of criminal related communications and data lawfully seized," the report said. FBI director Louis Freeh and other law enforcement officials back legislation to require all encryption products to include such features, but many high-tech companies, scientists, and civil libertarians oppose mandatory back-door access to coded information. The Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet advocacy group, noted that a recent report by cryptography experts found that key recovery features added numerous new vulnerabilities to computer systems. "Key recovery is inconsistent with the (commission's) own calls for greater security in our nation's critical infrastructures," the group said. Robert Marsh, who chaired the commission, defended the report to reporters after a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's technology and terrorism subcommittee. Marsh contended the report took a balanced view of the encryption debate. "We didn't get into the encryption debate and all the nuances and individual decisions," he said. "We simply came on strong for encryption." In its formal recommendations, the commission urged the government to speed up pilot programs on key recovery, promote efforts to plan for implementing large-scale key recovery systems and encourage private-sector key recovery efforts. ___________________________________________________________________ November 6, 1997 Head of Cyber-Terrorism Panel Says Encryption Rules May Be Needed By JERI CLAUSING Bio WASHINGTON The head of a presidential commission on cyber-terrorism on Wednesday told a Senate panel that a mandatory system guaranteeing third-party access to scrambled computer communications may be necessary if industry does not embrace the Clinton administration's plan for a voluntary encryption decoding system. ________________________________________________________________ Robert T. Marsh, an aerospace consultant and retired Air Force general who is chairman of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, made the remarks in his first non-classified report on the commission's 15-month study and its recommendations for protecting the nation's computer networks from high-tech terrorism. The commission recommended a variety of proposals, including increased private-public partnership and information sharing, more comprehensive background checks on people who hold sensitive positions, strengthening of government computer systems and spending more on research to improve network security. But the key to national security, Marsh said, is strong encryption coupled with a back-door access for law enforcement officials to sensitive communications. "We want to see that adopted over all the critical control functions at an early date," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information. The commission's recommendation for a voluntary system that would give law enforcement officials the ability to decode electronic messages, called a key-recovery system, mirrors that of the administration, which says it wants ensure such officials can gain access to the coded communications of suspected criminals and terrorists. Encryption policy has been a volatile topic on Capitol Hill this year, where bills ranging from an industry-backed ban on key recovery to an FBI-supported mandatory key-recovery scheme have passed various House committees. The Clinton administration insists it supports a Senate bill establishing voluntary key recovery. "We didn't get into the encryption debate and all the nuances of individual positions," Marsh said. "We simply came on strong for encryption. We must have encryption." He told the panel that "we must lower the temperature of the encryption debate" long enough to complete pilot projects on key recovery that will prove to industry that such systems can work. Various agencies of the federal government currently are developing 13 key recovery pilot projects, which were on display Wednesday at a Government Information Technology Services conference. Marsh said the National Security Agency and the National Institutes for Standards and Technology should head efforts to perfect those systems and set standards for a national infrastructure protection office to carry out. Asked by the subcommittee's chairman, Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, if those controls should be mandated, Marsh responded: "We think businessmen will find it in their best interest to incorporate these controls. ... Of course, in due time, that may be an option if they are not willing to accept them." Critics blasted the report as premature and contradictory. "I am concerned that the report's recommendations that large-scale key-recovery encryption systems which allow for surreptitious decryption by law enforcement be deployed for use by federal agencies and the private sector is premature," said Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who has sponsored a bill to relax controls on encryption technology." "Significant questions have been raised by leading cryptographers about the security risks inherent in large-scale key recovery systems, which introduce new vulnerabilities and targets for attack, as well as about the costs and feasibility of implementing such systems." The Center for Democracy and Technology said the "increasing vulnerabilities," "increasing dependence on critical infrastructure," and "wide spectrum of threats" identified by the commission all provide powerful arguments against the deployment of the vastly complex and insecure systems for back-door access that key recovery requires. The center cited a recent study by 11 expert cryptographers and computer security experts, "The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, and Trusted Third Parties," which identifies numerous risks in the widespread deployment of such key-recovery plans. Among those risks is insider abuse, which Marsh said so far has been the chief culprit in computer-related crimes. Marsh said a separate section of the report makes "recommendations that try to equip us better to deal with the insider threat, that's a separate problem." ________________________________________________________________ Jeri Clausing at jeri(a)nytimes.com welcomes your comments and suggestions. ________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company --- For those who want to track this issue further, the PCCIP is at http://www.pccip.gov/

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Crypto '98: Call for Papers
by John Gilmore 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CRYPTO '98 August 23-27, 1998, Santa Barbara, California, USA CALL FOR PAPERS GENERAL INFORMATION Original papers on all technical aspects of cryptology are solicited for submission to Crypto '98, the Eighteenth Annual IACR Crypto Conference. Crypto '98 is organized by the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), in cooperation with the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Security and Privacy, and the Computer Science Department of the University of California, Santa Barbara. For more information, access http://www.iacr.org/ INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their papers electronically. A detailed description of the electronic submission procedure will appear by December 1, 1997 at http://www.iacr.org/conferences/c98/submit.html. Electronic submissions must conform to this procedure in order to be considered. Authors unable to submit electronically are invited to send a cover letter and 22 copies of an anonymous paper (double-sided copies preferred) to the Program Chair at the postal address below. Submissions must be received by the Program Chair on or before February 16, 1998 (or postmarked by February 7, 1998, and sent via airmail or courier). Late submissions and submissions by fax will not be considered. The cover letter should contain the paper's title and the names and affiliations of the authors, and should identify the contact author including e-mail and postal addresses. Only original research contributions will be considered. Submissions must not substantially duplicate work that any of the authors have published elsewhere or have submitted in parallel to any other conference or workshop that has proceedings. The paper must be anonymous, with no author names, affiliations, acknowledgments or obvious references. It should begin with a title, a short abstract, and a list of key words, and its introduction should summarize the contributions of the paper at a level appropriate for a non-specialist reader. The paper should be at most 12 pages excluding the bibliography and clearly marked appendices, and at most 20 pages in total, using at least 11-point font and reason- able margins. Committee members are not required to read appendices, so the paper should be intelligible without them. Submissions not meeting these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits. Notification of acceptance or rejection will be sent to authors by April 30, 1998. Authors of accepted papers must guarantee that their paper will be presented at the conference. CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Proceedings will be published in Springer-Verlag's Lecture Notes in Computer Science and will be available at the conference. Clear instructions about the preparation of a final proceedings version will be sent to the authors of accepted papers. The final copies of the accepted papers will be due on June 5, 1998. SUBMISSION: February 16, 1998 ACCEPTANCE: April 30, 1998 PROCEEDINGS VERSION: June 5, 1998 PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Dan Boneh, Stanford University, USA Don Coppersmith, IBM Research, USA Yair Frankel, CertCo, USA Matt Franklin, AT&T Labs - Research, USA Johan Hastad, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden Lars Knudsen, University of Bergen, Norway Hugo Krawczyk, Chair, Technion, Israel and IBM Research, USA Ueli Maurer, ETH Zurich, Switzerland Alfred Menezes, Auburn University, USA Andrew Odlyzko, AT&T Labs - Research, USA Rafail Ostrovsky, Bellcore, USA Jean-Jacques Quisquater, Universite de Louvain, Belgium Tal Rabin, IBM Research, USA Matt Robshaw, RSA Laboratories, USA Phillip Rogaway, University of California at Davis, USA Rainer Rueppel, $R^3$ Security Engineering AG, Switzerland Kazue Sako, NEC, Japan Dan Simon, Microsoft Research, USA Moti Yung, CertCo, USA ADVISORY MEMBERS: Burt Kaliski, chair Crypto'97, RSA Laboratories, USA Michael J. Wiener, chair Crypto'99, Entrust Technologies, Canada Joe Kilian, electronic submissions, NEC Research Institute, USA ADDRESS FOR NON-ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS: Hugo Krawczyk, Program Chair, Crypto '98 Department of Electrical Engineering Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Technion City, Haifa 32000 ISRAEL Phone: (972) 4-829-4652 Fax: (972) 4-832-3041 E-mail: crypto98(a)ee.technion.ac.il FOR OTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew Klapper, General Chair, Crypto '98 Department of Computer Science 763h Anderson Hall University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506 USA Phone: (1) 606-257-3961 Fax: (1) 606-323-1971 E-mail: crypto98(a)iacr.org STIPENDS: A limited number of stipends are available to those unable to obtain funding to attend the conference. Students whose papers are accepted and who will present the paper themselves are encouraged to apply if such assistance is needed. Requests for stipends should be addressed to the General Chair.

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