December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

INFO: Word Cracking program
by Brian D Williams 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I saw several requests for a program that can break the encryption on Word for Windows ans Word for Dos files....I have just uploaded WORDPWD>ZIP to (thats wordpwd.zip) to soda.berkeley.edu cd pub/cypherpunks/incoming. I think the author put it best; HELLO MICROSOFT: If any of you are listening; it would be very nice if future versions of Winword had competent encryption that can't be broken by any kid who understands his Spiderman Secret Decoder Ring. A false sense of security is much worse than none at all. It misleads people into thinking that they have assured the confidentiality of their documents when they have in fact not, and should have used another method to do so. The best approach is to have winword call an external program to do the encryption. This would let us plug in our favourite cryptengine and save you a lot of hassle vis-a-vis export controls on useful crypto technology. --- Marc Thibault | Automation Architect | All we are saying marc(a)tanda.isis.org | R.R.1, Oxford Mills, | is give global CIS:71441,2226 | Ontario, Canada K0G 1S0 | warming a chance. NC FreeNet: aa185 | | -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.0 mQBNAiqxYTkAAAECALfeHYp0yC80s1ScFvJSpj5eSCAO+hihtneFrrn+vuEcSavh AAUwpIUGyV2N8n+lFTPnnLc42Ms+c8PJUPYKVI8ABRG0I01hcmMgVGhpYmF1bHQg PG1hcmNAdGFuZGEuaXNpcy5vcmc+ =HLnv -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- enjoy... Brian D Williams Extropian Cypherpatriot

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Re: Style Analysis
by lefty＠apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>IN: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. >OUT:The vodka was great, but the mean is rotten. IN: Out of sight, out of mind. OUT: Blind lunatic. -- Lefty (lefty(a)apple.com) C:.M:.C:., D:.O:.D:.

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EFF statement on Bell Atlantic/TCI deal
by Mike Godwin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The following is an offical EFF statement with regard to the Bell Atlantic/TCI deal. --Mike ====== The recent spate of telecommunications mergers -- Bell Atlantic/TCI, US West/Time-Warner, AT&T/McCaw, plus numerous others in the works -- raise the stakes for information policy makers and those of us who are concerned about the development of an open, accessible information infrastructure. EFF has just released a major new statement on our Open Platform Campaign, which explains EFF's approach to infrastructure policy. Our big concern is encourage Congess and the Administration to do the right thing and set out a new, positive communications policy that is ready for the information age. We believe that this policy must achieve the following goals: + Diversity of Information Sources: Promote a fully interactive infrastructure in which the First Amendment flourishes, allowing the greatest possible diversity of view points; + Universal Service: Ensure a minimum level of affordable information and communication service for all Americans; + Free Speech and Common Carriage: Guarantee infrastructure access regardless of the content of the message that the user is sending; + Privacy: Protect the security and privacy of all communications carried over the infrastructure, and safeguard the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of all who use the information infrastructure; + Development of Public Interest Applications and Services: Ensure that public interest applications and services which are not produced by the commercial market are widely available and affordable. Our policy proposal, available by anonymous ftp on ftp.eff.org in /pub/eff/papers/op2.0, contains a discussion of these principles and concrete legislative recommendations on how to accomplish many of these goals. Here are a few selected paragraphs from the main paper to give a flavor of our positions, but we hope you'll read the whole thing. "Regulatory changes should be made, and mergers approved or barred based on specific, enforceable commitments that the electronic superhighways will meet public goals and realize the potential of digital technology. That potential arises from the extraordinary spaciousness of the broadband information highway, contrasted with the scarcity of broadcast spectrum and the limited number of cable channels that defined the mass media era. Properly constructed and administered, the information highway has enough capacity to permit passage not only for a band of channels controlled by the network operator, but also for a common carriage connection that is open to all who wish to speak, publish, and communicate on the digital information highway. For the first time, electronic media can have the diversity of information we associate only with the print media." But we can't rely on the promises of industry or the wonders of the competitive marketplace alone to create this infrastructure. We need legislative benchmarks to ensure that all citizens have access to advanced information infrastructure. We will achieve this goal not by having government build the whole thing, but by finding a new communications policy framework that works for the market and brings benefits to consumers. We've expanded the concept of "Open Platform Services" from just narrowband ISDN, to include any switched, digital service, offered on a common carriage basis, by any provider. "To achieve the full potential of new digital media, we need to make available what we call Open Platform services, which reach all American homes, businesses, schools, libraries, and government institutions. Open Platform service will enable children at home to tie into their school library (or libraries all around the world) to do their homework. It will make it possible for a parent who makes a video of the local elementary school soccer game to share it with parents and students throughout the community. Open Platform will make it as easy to be an information provider as it is to be an information consumer." "Open Platform services provide basic information access connections, just as today's telephone line allows your to connect to an information service or the coaxial cable running into your home connects you to cable television programming. This is not a replacement for current online services such as America Online or Compuserve, but rather is the basic transport capacity that one needs to access the multimedia version of these information services. "Specifically, Open Platform service must meet the following criteria: + widely available, switched digital connections; + affordable prices; + open access to all without discrimination as the content of the message; + sufficient "up-stream" capacity to enable users to originate, as well as receive, good quality video, multimedia services. "Open Platform service itself will be provided by a variety of providers over interconnected networks, using a variety of wires, fiber optics, coax cable, and wireless transmission services. But however it is provided, if it is affordable and widely available, it will be the on-ramp for the nation's growing information superhighway." Rather than a narrow focus on stopping or delaying the proposed mergers, policy makers should use the leverage of the moment to create a new Communications Act that serves the public interest. "The Administration and Congress can create an prompt the deployment of open platforms by using the political leverage at its disposal. Bell Atlantic, TCI, Time Warner, US West and others involved in recent mergers are all promising to build open platforms. Telecommunications giants are asking policymakers for permission to enter new markets or to form new, merged entities. Rather than per se opposition to current mergers, or mere reliance on competition to build the data highways, make the mergers and other accommodations conditional on providing affordable open platform services. The terms of this new social contract should be written into a new Communications Act, revised for the information age. With a real "social contract" in hand, we just might realize the Jeffersonian potential of the data superhighways. " "Together with a coalition of public interest groups and private industry, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to establish Open Platform objectives in concrete legislation. Open Platform provisions, which would cause near term deployment of Open Platform services, are present in both the recent Senate infrastructure bill and the latest draft of House telecommunications legislation, soon to be introduced. We are also working with the Administration to have Open Platform policies included in the recommendations of the Information Infrastructure Task Force. In addition to federal policy, critical decisions about the shape of the information infrastructure will be made at state and local levels. Since 1991, EFF has been working with a number state legislatures and public utility commissions to have affordable, digital services offered at a local level. As cable and telephone infrastructures converge, we will also work with local cable television franchising authorities. We invite all who are concerned about these issues to join with us in these public policy efforts." We hope that everyone will have a look at our new proposal, and join in to help us. =================================================================== FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPEN PLATFORM CAMPAIGN CONTACT: Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel, <djw(a)eff.org> MEMBERSHIP: Sarah Simpson, Membership Coordinator, <ssimpson(a)eff.org> ONLINE RESOURCES AND INFORMATION: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, <mech(a)eff.org> EFF DOCUMENTS ON THE SUBJECT (in ftp.eff.org) Open Platform Campaign: Public Policy for the Information Age /pub/eff/papers/op2.0 Senate Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1993 (S. 1086) /pub/eff/legislation/infra-act-s1086 /pub/eff/legislation/infra-act-s1086-summary EFF Testimony on Senate Infrastructure Bill /pub/eff/legislation/kapor-on-s1086

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WARNING: direct-marketing email address list
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FYI... ____ begin forward ____________________________________________ Date: Mon, 1 Nov 93 10:11:21 xST From: [Anonymous] Subject: Direct E-Mail: J.S. McBride & Co. According to the Internet Business Report 1.3 (page 4), J.S. McBride and Company are selling access to a database of Internet addresses, including demographic information. They claim over one million entries. The net address is jim_mcbride(a)netmail.com, and I am sure they would enjoy hearing from anybody who would like to be removed from the list. [Equifax revisited? PGN] ____ end forward ______________________________________________

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New EFF Infrastructure Policy Statement
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

New EFF Open Platform Statement Online The recent spate of telecommunications mergers -- Bell Atlantic/TCI, US West/Time-Warner, AT&T/McCaw, plus numerous others in the works -- raise the stakes for information policy makers and those of us who are concerned about the development of an open, accessible information infrastructure. EFF has just released a major new statement on our Open Platform Campaign, which explains EFF's approach to infrastructure policy. Our big concern is encourage Congess and the Administration to do the right thing and set out a new, positive communications policy that is ready for the information age. We believe that this policy must achieve the following goals: * Diversity of Information Sources: Promote a fully interactive infrastructure in which the First Amendment flourishes, allowing the greatest possible diversity of view points; * Universal Service: Ensure a minimum level of affordable information and communication service for all Americans; * Free Speech and Common Carriage: Guarantee infrastructure access regardless of the content of the message that the user is sending; * Privacy: Protect the security and privacy of all communications carried over the infrastructure, and safeguard the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of all who use the information infrastructure; * Development of Public Interest Applications and Services: Ensure that public interest applications and services which are not produced by the commercial market are widely available and affordable. Our policy proposal, available by anonymous ftp on ftp.eff.org in /pub/eff/papers/op2.0, contains a discussion of these principles and concrete legislative recommendations on how to accomplish many of these goals. Here are a few selected paragraphs from the main paper to give a flavor of our positions, but we hope you'll read the whole thing. "Regulatory changes should be made, and mergers approved or barred based on specific, enforceable commitments that the electronic superhighways will meet public goals and realize the potential of digital technology. That potential arises from the extraordinary spaciousness of the broadband information highway, contrasted with the scarcity of broadcast spectrum and the limited number of cable channels that defined the mass media era. Properly constructed and administered, the information highway has enough capacity to permit passage not only for a band of channels controlled by the network operator, but also for a common carriage connection that is open to all who wish to speak, publish, and communicate on the digital information highway. For the first time, electronic media can have the diversity of information we associate only with the print media." But we can't rely on the promises of industry or the wonders of the competitive marketplace alone to create this infrastructure. We need legislative benchmarks to ensure that all citizens have access to advanced information infrastructure. We will achieve this goal not by having government build the whole thing, but by finding a new communications policy framework that works for the market and brings benefits to consumers. We've expanded the concept of "Open Platform Services" from just narrowband ISDN, to include any switched, digital service, offered on a common carriage basis, by any provider. "To achieve the full potential of new digital media, we need to make available what we call Open Platform services, which reach all American homes, businesses, schools, libraries, and government institutions. Open Platform service will enable children at home to tie into their school library (or libraries all around the world) to do their homework. It will make it possible for a parent who makes a video of the local elementary school soccer game to share it with parents and students throughout the community. Open Platform will make it as easy to be an information provider as it is to be an information consumer." "Open Platform services provide basic information access connections, just as today's telephone line allows your to connect to an information service or the coaxial cable running into your home connects you to cable television programming. This is not a replacement for current online services such as America Online or Compuserve, but rather is the basic transport capacity that one needs to access the multimedia version of these information services. "Specifically, Open Platform service must meet the following criteria: * widely available, switched digital connections; * affordable prices; * open access to all without discrimination as the content of the message; * sufficient "up-stream" capacity to enable users to originate, as well as receive, good quality video, multimedia services. "Open Platform service itself will be provided by a variety of providers over interconnected networks, using a variety of wires, fiber optics, coax cable, and wireless transmission services. But however it is provided, if it is affordable and widely available, it will be the on-ramp for the nation's growing information superhighway." Rather than a narrow focus on stopping or delaying the proposed mergers, policy makers should use the leverage of the moment to create a new Communications Act that serves the public interest. "The Administration and Congress can create an prompt the deployment of open platforms by using the political leverage at its disposal. Bell Atlantic, TCI, Time Warner, US West and others involved in recent mergers are all promising to build open platforms. Telecommunications giants are asking policymakers for permission to enter new markets or to form new, merged entities. Rather than per se opposition to current mergers, or mere reliance on competition to build the data highways, make the mergers and other accommodations conditional on providing affordable open platform services. The terms of this new social contract should be written into a new Communications Act, revised for the information age. With a real "social contract" in hand, we just might realize the Jeffersonian potential of the data superhighways. " "Together with a coalition of public interest groups and private industry, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to establish Open Platform objectives in concrete legislation. Open Platform provisions, which would cause near term deployment of Open Platform services, are present in both the recent Senate infrastructure bill and the latest draft of House telecommunications legislation, soon to be introduced. We are also working with the Administration to have Open Platform policies included in the recommendations of the Information Infrastructure Task Force. In addition to federal policy, critical decisions about the shape of the information infrastructure will be made at state and local levels. Since 1991, EFF has been working with a number state legislatures and public utility commissions to have affordable, digital services offered at a local level. As cable and telephone infrastructures converge, we will also work with local cable television franchising authorities. We invite all who are concerned about these issues to join with us in these public policy efforts." We hope that everyone will have a look at our new proposal, and join in to help us. =================================================================== FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPEN PLATFORM CAMPAIGN CONTACT: Daniel J. Weitzner, Senior Staff Counsel, <djw(a)eff.org> MEMBERSHIP: Sarah Simpson, Membership Coordinator, <ssimpson(a)eff.org> ONLINE RESOURCES AND INFORMATION: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, <mech(a)eff.org> EFF DOCUMENTS ON THE SUBJECT (in ftp.eff.org) Open Platform Campaign: Public Policy for the Information Age /pub/eff/papers/op2.0 Senate Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1993 (S. 1086) /pub/eff/legislation/infra-act-s1086 /pub/eff/legislation/infra-act-s1086-summary EFF Testimony on Senate Infrastructure Bill /pub/eff/legislation/kapor-on-s1086

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Re: WARNING: direct-marketing email address list
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> According to the Internet Business Report 1.3 (page 4), J.S. McBride and > Company are selling access to a database of Internet addresses, including > demographic information. They claim over one million entries. The net > I receive an unsolicited e-mail from these people just the other day. It said something to effect of "I have heard that you may be interested in implementing UNIX/Mac/PC software...I have a database of contact addresses that may interest you...I am NOT selling anything...If I have mis-read your intentions, I apologize. However, could you forward this letter to someone would may be interested." I deleted it. Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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re: Internet "mailing list"
by m5＠vail.tivoli.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(Hoping I don't get yelled at (TYPED at?) for something not suitably cypherpunkish...) I wonder if the Internet mailing list people have "ringers" in the list? They could set up accounts on netcom and other services, I suppose, and just keep a .forward file there. Of course, if one stole the list (or bought 1 use and decided to keep using it) but sent all mail through an anonymous remailer, that wouldn't do them much good (not that mailing through an anonymous remailer could do much good to a business abusing the list in an attempt to make a profit.) I wonder whether any well-used anonymous addresses are in it? One could, in principle, compile quite useful demographic information about a nym. And what if (gasp! shudder! my fluids!) several names in the list map to one real user? Could the purchaser of the list demand a partial refund? -- Mike McNally

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Re: WARNING: direct-marketing email address list
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>> I receive an unsolicited e-mail from these people just the other day. >> It said something to effect of > > You should have posted it and their address so we could all email them > and tell them how pleased we were to receive their crapola. :) > Their address is the one mentioned in Stanton McCandlish's "WARNING: direct-marketing email address list" post: jim_mcbride(a)netmail.com Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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oops
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Please pardon the double posting of the Open Platform info. We'll try not to let that happen again. -- -=> mech(a)eff.org <=- Stanton McCandlish Electronic Frontier Foundation Online Activist & SysOp "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood of ideas in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." -JFK NitV-DC BBS 202-232-2715, Fido 1:109/? IndraNet 369:111/1, 14.4V32b 16.8ZyX Join EFF! For more information about membership, send mail to eff(a)eff.org

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Looking for WORDPWD.ZIP
by Philippe Nave 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I used anonymous ftp to connect to soda.berkeley.edu and wandered through the directory structures in search of WORDPWD.ZIP, but to no avail. Has anybody else picked this software up from there? I get a giggle out of demonstrating just how 'secure' the encryption schemes in popular PC packages really are... ........................................................................ Philippe D. Nave, Jr. | The person who does not use message encryption pdn(a)dwroll.dw.att.com | will soon be at the mercy of those who DO... Denver, Colorado USA | PGP public key: by arrangement.

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