December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Another Anti-Privacy Bigot Heard From (was: The Guilmette/Burnore deba
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

gburnore(a)netcom.com (Gary L. Burnore) wrote: > : The only exception I see is if > : someone threatens the life or wellbeing of another. Then I can understand > : why someone that posts anonymously should get into trouble. > > So when someone posting anonymously makes statements about YOU that are > outright lies what will you say? Will you consider that part of your > exception (falling under the well being of another) or will it be under the > protection from the government part? > > You totally missed his point and turned it into a freedom of speech thing. > > Well guess what bozo, it's NOT within someone's rights to post lies about > another person. THAT's why it's being done anonymously. It's not fear of the > government that's keeping the anon asshole anonymous. It's knowing that if > his/her identity is discovered, he/she could be held accountable for the > _LIES_. What part do you expect the goverment to play in this scenario, though? Shall they establish an "Internet Truth Police" squad? The problem is, for just about every accusation there is another voice saying that the first accusation is false and counter-accusing that the original accuser is a "filthy rotten liar". Neither of these rival accusations deserves to be believed without supporting evidence. It's obvious that when you refer to one party in a debate as an "anon asshole" that your mind is already made up and you're really afraid of hearing all the facts. It is evident that there are a far larger number of NON-anonymous "assholes" on the net. Such ad hominem anti-privacy bigotry only betrays the weakness of your position. Ideas can stand on their own and if you must resort to an ad hominem smear campaign to make your point, you are already well on your way to losing the debate. Are you implying that if an "anonymous asshole" were to say, for example, that the world is flat that you'd prefer to know the person's name so that you could dig up dirt to smear him with rather than simply refuting his IDEA? Why do I get the impression that your modus operandi is to intimidate potential opponents into remaining silent rather than refuting their ideas in reasoned, rational debate? To anyone who hates privacy so much, I'd invite them to post their snail mail address, home phone number, Social Security number, and date of birth lest they likewise be accused of "hiding" something. Most are too hypocritical to do so, of course. --

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Digital Signatures
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

You can't see it up here, but this is a signed message using a protocol which is modestly titled "Cantsin Protocol No. 1". Suggestions for improvement are most welcome. At the bottom of this message you will find a series of hexadecimal numbers expressed in ASCII which comprise the signature. I considered using ASCII armor or uuencode to store the information, but the straight numbers are easier to work with. That is, the components of the signature are easily manipulated using off the shelf tools such as Perl. Also, because certain numbers are freely accessible, the message is easy to filter without necessarily calling other programs. It makes it easy to find signed messages using search engines which are not necessarily aware of encryption protocol formats. Having the numbers exposed has a nice feel. It lets you see exactly what is going on. It encourages people to investigate the meaning of the numbers and to think about the information a signature really conveys. Cantsin Protocol No. 1 uses El Gamal to sign hashes generated by SHA1. Executive summary of the signature format: <Cantsin Protocol No. 1 code> <comments> <SHA1 hash of public key components> <SHA1 hash of message> <offset> <length> <a> <b> The first line is "16A5942B6EED349ECF4594C784DFD177 [Cantsin Protocol No. 1]". The hexadecimal number was chosen randomly and is the indicator that this is a Cantsin Protocol No. 1 signature. The number was chosen randomly and it is somewhat unlikely that anybody else will accidently choose it. The text following the number is just there so a human reading it will know what they are looking at. No program should rely on that text. The signature begins where the code (i.e., "16A59...") begins - it need not be preceded by a newline. (It can be used to sign anything, in other words.) The public portion of an El Gamal key consists of three variables p, g, and y. p is a large prime, g is a randomly chosen number, and y is computed using the secret key. (See "Applied Cryptography" for the details. I'm using Schneier's nomenclature.) Monty Cantsin's public authentication key is: p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g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y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his key should not be used for communication. It is not very well secured. Also, I like Adam Back's assertion that authentication keys should be different from communications keys.) The second line in the signature is an SHA1 hash of the public key. The hash is computed on the concatenation of the hexadecimal ASCII forms of p, g, and y respectively. There should be no leading zeros. (Remember to leave off the newline!) The third line is an SHA1 hash of the message itself. The fourth line contains an offset and a length to specify the area of the text which is signed. The offset is relative to the signature itself. That is, the first character of the Cantsin Protocol No. 1 code is at position 0. As signatures are usually appended, the offset will usually be the additive inverse of the length. This is an unobtrusive and highly flexible signature format. No text is modified to accommodate the protocol. No information needs to be prepended to the text. This means that signing a document only makes it longer at the end - the area a reader cares the least about. You can sign as often as you like and it won't really matter that much. This protocol could be used to sign The Declaration of Independence. Not only that, but it is possible to be highly selective in what is signed. The user could sign a portion of a message without modifying or sabotaging other signatures. It is completely compatible with other signature formats. Not only can you sign the subset of text which another user signed, but signatures can even overlap. The last two lines are the signatures themselves. El Gamal signatures consist of two values which Schneier calls "a" and "b". Note that the signature does not contain a time stamp! Users who want time stamps can add one in the text. El Gamal is simple enough that the signature on this message can be checked using standard Unix tools such as dc version 1.1. Let's say M is the SHA1 hash of the message. It is checked by verifying the truth of this equation: (y^a * a^b) mod p = g^M mod p. (dc version 1.1 has an | operator which is used to compute equations of the from a^b mod n like: a b n |. The left side of the equation will be easier to compute if you compute ((y^a mod p) * (a^b mod p)) mod p instead.) You also need to be able to compute SHA1 hashes. I've been using something called "sha1file" which, I believe, originated at Adam Back's web site. I have some crude tools for making and verifying these signatures, but they still need work. At some point they will be released into the public domain. Aside from ordinary message signing, there are at least two good uses for these signatures. One is for timestamping services. Since the signature is unobtrusive, it would be easy to route a message to all known timestamping services. The timestamp can only fail if all timestamping services fail. Yet, the message would still be completely readable without any garbage at the top. Another is for authenticating messages from the distributed cypherpunks mailing list machines. Right now it would be somewhat ugly to have all three machines signing every message. But, with this protocol it just makes each message a little longer. This would prevent certain kinds of attack and make it harder to exploit a compromise of any of the mailing list machines. (It's harder because an undeniable trail of inconsistency is left even if the compromiser has the power to sign messages at will.) Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm Subject: Digital Signatures To: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com 16A5942B6EED349ECF4594C784DFD177 [Cantsin Protocol No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Hi
by kirby＠daltek.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Anti-Message
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anonymous wrote: > > "On the Internet nobody knows I'm a dog unless I want them to," > to rephrase a well known cartoon. Wasn't that Toto, explaining why he/she is a Master Baiter of Deception? > Anonymous wrote: > > >Cypherpunk technologies will be a major force to eliminate racism. > >With privacy protected transactions, the color of a person's skin, his > >religion and his ethnicity are no longer apparent. This is why it is essential to take every opportunity to attack the virtual ethinicity of nyms such as NoNookie Masturbateshi. In a world that threatens to reduce us all to a nameless, faceless collection of bits and bytes, ones and zeros, it is essential that we hang on, as long as possible, to those things which may serve as tools to separate us from one another, thus helping to keep us from becoming nothing more than generic fodder for the New Electronic World Order. > >Cypherpunks need to build bridges to minority communities, to show them > >how these technologies can advance their cause. Cypherpunks need to burn bridges to the wolves clothing themselves with the flag of democracy, who are attempting to form us all into 'equal' socialist cogs designed to serve the Evil Machine. Cypherpunks need to show minorities how new technologies can be used to retain and strengthen the differences between individuals, and to evolve new, virtual minorities. > Why not set up a website where minority websurfers could go to read about > privacy issues and how pseudonymity is to their (and everyone's) benefit. So that we can live in a world where hockey players are no longer allowed to settle their own differences and do their time in the penalty box, but are, instead, sent for 'sensitivity training' when they commit Politically Incorrect infractions during a game? > After all, how can another person discriminate against you when that person > knows practically nothing about you (e.g., name, age, race, religion, > geographic location, etc)? Easy as pie... They can discriminate against you based on the virtual model of you that they build, based on what you reveal about yourself via your thoughts and attitudes, you young, commie-pinko, nigger-loving, Jew-hating, northern lattitude, piece of shit cocksucker! > This would be an excellent way to expand > cypherpunk technologies, don't you think? Fuck no! Cypherpunk technologies should be used to enable individuals to build and join in new ElectroMagnetic minorities of their own choosing, as they find their individuality being slowly stripped away by the New DEMOCoRporATIC World Order. Cypherpunks should prepare the citizens of the Information Age to use and develop the ElectroMagnetic tools which will allow us to survive in freedom, choosing our own allies and enemies, our own fate, in a virtual world where wars will be fought over privacy, access, bandwidth, virtual identity... ElectroMagnetic Hitler only wants .gov... "They came for the 0's, and I wasn't a 0, so I didn't speak up..." When Freeh was Fuhrer, the email ran on time... From each, according to his CPU speed--to each, according to his baud-rate... Give me access, or give me death... The rights of the citizen to encrypt data shall not be abridged... Nervous

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17 Dec '03

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Int'l Computer Law Observer #1
by Steve Schear 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 00:59:32 +0200 >Reply-To: wgalkin(a)lawcircle.com >Sender: lawobserver Computer Law Observer > <LAWOBSERVER(a)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> >From: "William S. Galkin" <wgalkin(a)lawcircle.com> >Subject: Int'l Computer Law Observer #1 >To: LAWOBSERVER(a)MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU > > **PREMIER ISSUE** > ================== > =============================== > =========================================== > INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER LAW OBSERVER > December, 1997 -- No.1 > =========================================== > =============================== > ================== > > PLEASE FREELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS ISSUE!!! > >Welcome to the Premier Issue of the International Computer Law Observer >(ICLO). The ICLO is an e-mail report providing monthly coverage of >significant legal developments from around the world relating to computers, >technology and the Internet. Back issues and a listing of the Editorial >Board can be found at http://www.lawcircle.com/observer . The >Editor-in-Chief, William S. Galkin, Esq., is located in Ramat Gan, Israel, >and can be reached for comments at wgalkin(a)lawcircle.com . > [big snip] >--- SOUTH AFRICA --- > >[BOTTOM LINE] COURT GIVES NO SANCTION FOR ONLINE GAMBLING > >[WHAT HAPPENED] Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa - In South >Africa's first Internet related judgment, the Witwatersrand division of >the High Court of South Africa ruled in late October 1997 that it would >not sanction online gambling in its jurisdiction [Ruben Olivier v The >Minister of Safety and Security and the MEC for Safety and Security of the >Province of Gauteng] > >[WHY IT HAPPENED] The cyber cafe had brought an application to court for >the return of certain computer equipment comprising of a number of >networked personal computers, the network server and certain peripherals >following on the search of the cafe's premises and the seizure of the >computer equipment. > >In refusing the application, the Court held that it was lawful for the >South African Police to impound computer equipment owned by a cyber cafe, >which was allegedly being used for online gambling. > >In terms of existing legislation, Internet gambling is illegal and the >owner of the site is in contravention of national and provincial Gambling >Acts, where they exist. > >[THE SIGNIFICANCE] Many experts have indicated that this case is indicative >of the controversy and complexity surrounding the issue of regulating >Internet related transactions. Local gambling experts argue that the >proliferation of online gambling threatens to undermine the development of >a legal casino industry in South Africa at a time when companies are vying >with one another for casino licenses. Many such companies are investing >billions of rands in setting up in infrastructure development, but are >threatened with competition from Internet gambling site operators who can >set up shop online with ease. > >[INFORMATION SOURCES] Cape Times Newspaper, 27 October 1997 edition 2.) >Michael Silber - Werksmans attorneys > >[CONTRIBUTING EDITOR] Hofmeyr Herbstein Gihwala, Inc. - Contact: Lance >Michalson - e-mail: lbm(a)hofmeyr.co.za

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Updating the white bit
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: >And the original comment above, that cypherpunk technologies will be >a major force to eliminate racism is only part of the picture....the >technologies also allow race to be considered as participants choose. One benefit of making your living through a wire is that your end of the wire can be anywhere you like. So, if you want to be surrounded exclusively by members of Group X, you are free to go live in some commune populated exclusively with the members of that group and still make a living. To the extent that racism is caused by ignorance, the Net will tend to reduce it. But, is this claim really correct or is it simply a slur against racists? (The implication being that all U.S. racists live in the South and that Southerners aren't that smart.) I believe that many people are racists because they like to be that way and that more knowledge about other racial groups isn't going to change that. Knowledge about someone is not synonymous with liking them or forming a relationship with them. The people who are working themselves up into a panic regarding "hate speech" would appear to agree with me on this point. What they fear is that certain ideas will "spread". That is, as certain people are exposed to ideas and knowledge they did not have before, they will become racist or more racist than they already are. In other words, there are groups of people who cannot be trusted to think for themselves. >Ironically, an equivalent example, but one which is deemed >politically correct by many, is the example of "women-only" forums on >the Net. Oh, you mean the majority group? The majority group will always protect its own privileges. Look how many men are in jail when compared to women. Clearly men are an oppressed group. ;-) Seriously, people like to spend at least some of their time with people who are a lot like themselves. This is true of just about every person on the planet. A common theme in the United States at this time is that it is wrong for white males to behave this way, but it is not wrong for anybody else to behave this way. Monty Cantsin Editor in Chief Smile Magazine http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm Subject: Updating the white bit To: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com 16A5942B6EED349ECF4594C784DFD177 [Cantsin Protocol No. 1] AF823675BFB992A1CD9CD2EEBC5CDAE4041E6F06 A7F5555FE7CC853AB405C5D8A60E33A0D99B08BE -8FE 8FE 678E1792DC56F906871B1FF3B5148AE1E7F847BF20F2C5D515A30487C1CE1382D7F8EEE250F162CEFA08E09E6703F3355989C248A2B1331D7AE2AA991B7CFB046B711E0C24D8F9EEE2648B537D48B4A2ABB1205476B92B0D6F96E0C30B50360641602ADC0BF69B38B6042F1ECAEDA4ED9C6B3A801338799DA07DB326847511AFB2DCF6252EE09E8ED22F3833FFD1E3B22A5F7D707FA4FF84C10139E8EDC7624A28652F1537E9A4E5C0BBB4DAC77210DD54061A0E5CE4D20AE120DFEF023C9B2A30C17BC348D17EE5DE3051409735F688C417B3E52F243302C04A38EE81F8101FF9826BBE7063269EB1C807BACE781CBE3892BBF8F7E15C0F618FD624262DDE76 6A9728DD9550E345067032129D9EEED49BBB40D09CFC371EA3F4A93D97B1C30F5C1A6E7763DE2F93BC376272D63AE396ADF40F3DB9C9C670CFDC26DFCBBCC8489787A67BF154471ABF22AAB2EBF8EDBB79D83035740B83EC52B0B805491AC425014E15AEDCD152A90D85E07FC35A78B0F83EC42B5434C6FC1A1BCBBD0D29ECE7BF66AE0531486C50D7E4EAC801207854979E6C948072FEB0B8721D3EB10FE0DE10E8A4807273C17326DFCDAC486841D6C156DF39F95689A2892A67A3B6E8F35E09AE5D114C9A0E850DC4C00CA168891F3940F0CA1DD3E206C3054DDE802E62B32D5E22BC3632F818939EB8F2C76949788E3B2728C97D676884F6194DAD3ACFAC

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Junk E-Mail Remover software
by Ed Bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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December's Phrase
by CypherPunks Chief SpokesPerson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

With November drawing to a close, WE will be winding down OUR use of the phrase, "ad hominem." The Official CypherPunk Phrase of the Month, for December, will be: "Ad gaolas deliberandas" Any disputes over the proper meaning and use of this phrase will be settled by Jim Bell's judge (once he comes out of hiding).

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Death Penalty Expanded
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What's next, the death penalty for unregistered crypto? No doubt Swinestein plans to introduce her own version of this in Amerika. --Tim # Date: Mon, 24 Nov 1997 6:43:53 PST # # TAIPEI, Nov 24 (AFP) - Taiwan brought in new heavy penalties # Monday to curb illegal firearm possession in an effort to tackle a # rising crime wave here. # Under an amended law effective from Monday anyone caught # manufacturing, selling or transporting illegal firearms faces the # death penalty. Previously the law stipulated a maximum penalty of # seven years jail. # The move comes just five days after the island's most wanted # fugitive gave himself up to police. # "The amened law is expected to emerge as a deterrent force to # effectively keep at bay illegal holding of firearms," President Lee # Teng-hui said. # In the past, nearly 80 percent of offenders under the law faced # only 18 months jail and were often released on parole after serving # a third of their sentence, official statistics show.

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