December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: "True Identities"
by lex＠mindvox.phantom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

mg5n+(a)andrew.cmu.edu (Matthew J Ghio) Writes: >> >> I find it particularily interesting that on the internet (in contrast to >> almost every other net in existance), people have this strange fettish >> for worrying about anonymnity and "true names". My question is why? >> People on other nets never give the using of a handle or nym a second >> thought. (By other nets I mean Fidonet, WWIVnet, TEAMnet, C-Link, >> Oggnet, fvnet etc) A name is just a way of identifying a paritcular >> person. I don't see why people are so opposed to the use of nyms like >> Wonderer or Black Unicorn because those don't fit your image of what a >> name should be. These names identify the senders in a manner that is >> adequate to the discussion on Cypherpunks. Would it be any better if >> these people used names like Mike or John or something? Would it really >> make any relevant difference to the discussion on cypherpunks? >> Douglas Barnes Writes: > >I think the problem stems from the way most people initially got access >through the Internet, which was through fairly conservative affiliations >such as the military, government or academia; I've seen relatively few >military, government or academic environments that encouraged or allowed >people to go by "Black Unicorn". > >Increasingly, however, people are using the Internet for solely personal >reasons, independent of such affiliations. (Which is how Fidnonet, WWIVnet, >etc. have always been.) Now, no big surprise, we have Black Unicorn, >Wanderer, etc. I think it's a great testimoney to the rapidly increasing >diviersity of the net. (Although CERTAIN PEOPLE I'm sure will tell me that >such alleged diversity is only a PERVERTED SHAM and the number of REAL >people on the net is RAPIDLY DROPPING.) > I agree, background is the key. This whole conversation about Nyms, pseudospoofing, etc. is interesting. >From DAY ONE of me using a computer/modem/BBS/EMAIL in 1983 all I ever knew was to use a handle/pseudonym. On the underground BBS systems, using a real name or even a real-sounding name (even if it was a handle) would cause a good deal of suspicion and would make getting verified for full access difficult. I am constantly amazed how people routinely use their real names in conversations over the internet. I don't judge them however, I don't think they are stupid either, its just DIFFERENT than the way I am used to operating. The complete opposite viewpoint seems to be prevalent among those who have been using the internet for years -- before the general public started to overrun it. Those people have been accustomed to communicating with people who seemed to be real, at least they had real sounding names. Now an increasing number of pseudo-entities are appearing on the Internet. Some are disturbed by this. To me, its more like "what took so long". With irresponsible people sending mail bombs, using personal information from 'finger' to harass people they don't agree with, etc. it isn't hard to see why some people have reservations about various anonymous or pseudo- anonymous entities. The problem lies in the fact that creating a new identity on the internet either by creating additional user accounts or through the use of anonymous remailers is so easily accomplished that the concept of trust and reputation has been eroded. This is different from my background whereas reputation was essentially EVERYTHING and the creation of a new identity that allowed one to use desirable systems/services (ie, 'elite' systems) took long periods of time. The benefit of this type of social structure was that it naturally kept abuse, deception, and harassment to a minimum. I am not sure what my ultimate point is (as you may have surmised by now) other than there are inherent differences in each Internet user's background just as there are cultural differences among races in real life. There unfortunately will always be some prejudice against those who are different. Isn't a lot of energy saved simply by basing judgement on what others SAY and DO rather than what they LOOK LIKE or in this case, what their 'name' or 'nym' is? Lex

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EFF's Kapor on Political Philosophy
by L. Detweiler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Mr. Kapor's words of wisdom. I will not comment except to say that I don't think he has accurately characterized the Cypherpunk position. ===cut=here=== Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1993 11:46:50 -0500 From: mkapor(a)kei.com (Mitchell Kapor) Rich Karlgaard <0005096930(a)mcimail.com> wisely observes: > ...the range of >political opinion in the U.S. is not always spread >along a single axis of left to right. I believe >there is another axis ascendant. It is >authoritarian/libertarian. > Try this exercise. Draw a left-to-right >line across a page. Then draw a vertical line from >top to bottom, labeling it Authoritarian on top, >Libertarian on bottom. You have just created a >grid with four quadrants. I have tried to illustrate his point. My deficiencies as a graphic artist are equaled only by the impoverished of ASCII as a graphical medium. Karlgaard's two axes: -----------authoritarian------------ | ^ | | | | |<----left------|------ right----> | | | | | v | -----------libertarian-------------- I want to substitute "anti-authoritarian" for "libertarian", as follows: ----------- authoritarian---------- | ^ | | | | |<----left------|------ right----> | | | | | v | -----------anti-authoritarian------- Doing this permits distinguishing two varieties of anti-authoritarian, the decentralist and the libertarian. -------------------------------------- | | | | | | |-------------------------------------| | decentralist | libertarian | | | | --------------------------------------- In my terminology Libertarian is used to refer more specifically to the right quadrant of the anti-authoritarian position. The left side of the anti-authoritarian space I have chosen to call decentralist. As Rich indicates, on some issues, like NAFTA and, I might add, the Clipper Chip, the opposing sides are divided, not on liberal-conservative political lines, but on the horizontal axis. I would claim that the lower half of the political space simply be called anti-authoritarian and that it is divided into two quadrants: on the left, the decentralist, and on the right, the libertarian. You can see how this works on Clipper chip and other privacy issues related to encryption. EFF chairs a coalition of 60 organizations, from the American Petroleum Institute to the ACLU, which opposes government control of encryption. You have cypherpunks and corporate interests aligned on this issue, because they all want decentralization of control over encryption technology. On issues where the goal is to remove government-imposed barriers, like privacy, there is easy agreement between left-leaning decentralists and right-leaning libertarians. The coherence of EFF's Board resides in the libertarian-decentralist commonality of interest which is more important than conventional divisions of left-right politics. On the other hand, the sometimes fractious nature of the public interest community, of which EFF is part, can be seen to in splits along the same horizontal axis. EFF supports private sector ownership and operation of the National Information Infrastructure,, Many other public interest organizations share the same general goals of openness for the NII as EFF but prefer approaches lying above the horizontal midline, e.g., through direct government ownership or operation of the NII. Infrastructure is a trickier issue than privacy. All anti-authoritarians would agree that a government-built NII is the wrong approach. However, there seems to be more willingness among many on the net who think of themselves as libertarians to leave it entirely to private industry to build the NII, where government abandons any role, even as referee. If we wound up with an NII controlled by an oligopoly of enormous corporate interests which resulted in centralized control over content, it would be a bad thing. If independent content providers can't easily get on the network, it would be a huge catastrophe. It seems to me that, in principle, corporate authoritarianism is as dangerous as government authoritarianism, and this is an issue which may separate left-quadrant and right-quadrant anti-authoritarians. A libertarian would argue that if government got out of the way, e.g., deregulated telecommunications and let everybody compete, it would be sufficient to achieve the right kind of NII. Personally, I think that's naive. A more considered libertarian view would be that either the market will produce the desired result by itself OR IT WON'T, but there is nothing anybody can do to alter the outcome. Thus government should stay out of it, and the public interest community should go home. To me, this is both fatalistic and simplistic. A decentralist would say that deregulation alone is not necessarily going to be sufficient to produce a decentralized NII. It might be and it might not. But if it is not, we do not need to be fatalists about it. We have the opportunity to try to influence the outcome both by working at the level of raising consciousness and through the possibility legislation which ratifies some sort of hard-fought compromise that achieves certain goals (e.g. for new common carriage or new universal service). This embodies the EFF approach. We may all get lucky in the sense that the architecture of consumer broadband networks winds up following a model which is more, rather than less, like the Internet in its openness and decentralization. This appears to be the general direction Bell Atlantic is taking. However, while their system is open (in terms of common carriage or system architecture), it is heavily asymmetrical with a big downstream pipe and a small upstream pipe, at least for the foreseeable future. If the TCI merger goes through, and if they are able to rationalize two different networks, business models, and corporate cultures, what obtains for BA will hold for TCI too. There are some mighty big ifs here, and in any event Bell Atlantic/TCI only serves 25% of the country. Other carriers, who have a different business model which does not emphasize revenue from transport a la Bell Atlantic, but revenue from content, may choose to go with closed, channelized systems. We have to see what other cable companies and telcos actually offer. Increasingly I am going to focus my efforts on understanding the likely architectural deployments of the carriers and how close they come to EFF's model of an open platform. The pragmatic question which faces us as we fill in the picture with details will be what, if anything, can be done, to nudge the system into providing alternatives which are closer to open platforms. All in all, I'd prefer to try to catalyze any necessary changes in mindset of carriers in order to secure voluntary moves. But as a pragmatist I believe that government action, or certainly the threat of it, may be useful or, in the worst case, necessary, to achieve the desired end. Further, since the whole process is already highly politicized, I think involvement to prevent bad governmental solutions from being imposed and screwing things up is clearly necessary. Thus politics is inevitably involved to carry out a an anti-authoritarian mission. At least in my view. ................................................................... Mitchell Kapor, Chairman <mkapor(a)kei.com> Electronic Frontier Foundation *** Join EFF!!! Send mail to membership(a)eff.org for information ***

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Duress Codes
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: baldwin(a)LAT.COM (Bob Baldwin) > A fellow I know has a central-office alarm in his home. When > the alarm goes off, the office calls his house to ask if it was a false > alarm. They ask for a password to verify, and no matter what password > you give they say "OK, I'll log it as a false alarm." If you gave the > wrong password, they call the police and notify them of a crime in > progress with hostages. For many years, I worked for a small company that provided various protective services to government, diplomatic and executive accounts. One of the services was electronic security and direct monitoring of emergency EDCs [electronic digital communicators] and other signalling devices connected to security equipment. At the beginning of my employment, the procedure you mention above was standard throughout the more mainstream electronic security industry. A series of unusually violent robberies changed this in the mid-1980s. The problem with the system is that call-backs on "panic button" or duress code activations make it clear - or at least suggest - that the victims have alerted the authorities. In an increasing number of cases, answering the callback was literally the last thing the victims ever did. In spite of frequent complaints due to false-alarm fines levied by the police and moments of great embarrassment, the common procedure became immediate notification of of the police or "other security," with no callback then or later. All duress codes on our electronic equipment was modified to perform the exact functions as non-duress codes, but activated silent duress alarms. Since that time, most manufacturers and programmers of security devices have taken that approach - identical function, but with silent alarms.

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unsubscribe
by markvoor＠mindvox.phantom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

unsubscribe cypherpunks subscribe announce Mark Voorhees ////////////////////// // Mark Voorhees // markvoor(a)phantom.com \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

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Does someone know about irc "/on"?
by Sameer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Like I posted earlier, I'm working a bit to do diffie-hellman key exchange for the IRC. I was hoping to incorporate it into the source, and implement it via /dcc, but that's too tough. I've figured out a scheme which will work, but I don't know how to implement it in irc.. I'm wondering if anyone here knows how to do what I want-- (I still don't have my RNG working correctly, but I could probably grab one from someplace.. or leech off the ~/pgp/randseed.bin file.) Here's my scheme: Suppose I want to initiate an encrypted conversation with Alice. In irc, I do /startdh Alice What startdh does is call "ircdh Alice" "ircdh Alice" computes XB, saves it to a file /tmp/dh.Alice, and outputs to stdout, YB. startdh should then take the output of ircdh Alice and send it to alice, as a /ctcp send of type "dh-key" When Alice receives the /ctcp of type "dh-key" irc automatically should call: "ircdh Sameer YB" (YB is the information in the ctcp packet. ircdh will create an XA, and output YA and the key to stdout. on getting this information, irc should send YA to Sameer, and do /encrypt Sameer <key>. (The standard encryption routine in irc is insecure, but there's a facility for an external crypt program..) When I receive the /ctcp of type "dh-key" irc automatically should call "ircdh Alice YA" (where YA is the information Alice sent me) ircdh will see that a /tmp/dh.Alice already exists, so it will grab the XB from that file, and then compute a key, which it returns. Then irc should take the output of "ircdh Alice YA" and have it do /encrypt Alice <key> where <key> is the output from ircdh Alice YA. So I have the program ircdh working, except for my RNG. I need help with the interface with irc. Any ircII wizards out there? Thanks. - -Sameer -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLO/jAni7eNFdXppdAQH2FgP+OtP68BVfli92iPLBH7x+d7AV+GdTXkie 4Gy4BqlbiVwcSUERehZKcvnrrI0sm22Fb2YSNMLGQIekJDQczcSXu04NkJHoKFMY cig6f4MvySaHedqX3Sfvtg9vh8QM0g0/i4TAtWKq0w0WaTNgvJGQPDP/B4Bl5Zyf 9JI/e3jGIP0= =tv31 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Virtual City Network update
by strata＠fenchurch.MIT.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Virtual City Network(tm) Status Report, 11/21/93 Greetings, in some cases long overdue. If you are reading this directly (ie, not as a mailing list or netnews), your mail has been received and you have been either added to the virtual-citizens mailing list or preregistered for the Virtual City Network. I apologize for the delay in acknowledging correspondence from everyone. Here is a brief status report: Roughly a week after the initial announcement of Virtual City Network, I took a supposedly short term (one month) systems architect contract to generate income so that I could continue working on VCN. This allegedly 3/4-time position quickly turned into a 1 and 1/4 time position and will last until the first week of January. This has resulted in most of the substantive coding work on VCN being postponed in favor of design work which can be done offline, research and meetings with various interested parties, business contacts, fellow researchers, etc. For the last few months, virtual.net has been occupying a corner of a workroom at a friendly company and unofficially sharing a T1 net link. Unfortunately for us, this firm is expanding and needs the space for their own use. I have been exploring various options for office space and sharing network bandwidth to meet their deadline for moving the system. When the first of the recent sendmail bug announcements hit the Internet, we had a breakin and I had to spend a substantial amount of time going over the server to make sure nothing had been compromised. Thursday morning I logged in as usual to find that we had had *another* breakin on the server, this time much more serious than the first. Someone was allegedly using virtual-city.virtual.net as a link in a chain of telnet sessions, ultimately ending up on IRC and behaving offensively and objectionably. I am still investigating this incident. Having two (or possibly more) crackers on the system within a 3 week time period has been something of a last straw. Since I had a hard deadline of December 1st to move the system anyway, I took it offline on Friday evening (Nov 19th). At this point, the server is shut down and sitting in my livingroom. I will be bringing it up again in the next few days, and am arranging a 56K line to the house for access; right now we only have PPP 14.4Kbps service at home. I am setting up an MX server so that mail to virtual.net will continue to be delivered, that should be in place by Tuesday evening. Virtual-city.virtual.net is going to get a complete system upgrade and security overhaul before it comes back online. I will be installing a LISTSERV style mail handler for registration and automated handling of queries. I will send an announcement when the software is in place, probably sometime during the Thanksgiving weekend. I will not be turning on the virtual-citizens mailing list until the LISTSERV is set up, as I cannot respond to add and delete requests in a timely fashion while I am contracting on outside work. Mail to virtual.net will not be working until the MX record and my secondary server are both in place, so please send mail to me at either of the following addresses: strata(a)fenchurch.mit.edu strata(a)hybrid.com Please continue to send me questions and suggestions, I will respond to each and every one, albeit rather slowly. Thanks for being patient. Even though I won't be able to do much in the way of power coding until early January, I have been getting a lot accomplished. This thing has a lot of moving parts, so I'm doing comprehensive design rather than hacking stuff together. Once some of the low-level stuff is actually coded and not just on paper we should hit critical mass within a fairly short time and VCN will start living up to its potential. I am hoping to open the service to City Builders and Freelance Architects in mid to late January. New Year's Party in the Virtual City Plaza? Could still happen, but probably not with most of the interactive multimedia originally planned, we're running about a month or two behind. But you never know, I'm looking into some great Tcl/Tk stuff that may not be hard to get running in the short term, even with the massive constraints on my time right now. I will send out updates as I know more, and invite all of you to test features as they materialize. I hope to make documentation available soon on the design of VCMTA and the VCNCoreLib. Right now I am pretty deep into designing the underlying structure of VCMTA, so I will be outsourcing a fair chunk of the actual MOO hacking on the server structure. At this point I have design specs for various VCNCoreLib features (the built-in 'bot specs, Eliza handlers, etc) and am interested in contracting out the actual implementation-- I am still a novice at low-level MOO coding and want to make sure this stuff is very clean and very solid! I have some limited funding available for server hacking, especially the load and unload core functions, so if you are an experienced MOO coder who would like to do some moonlighting, please contact me. The pay isn't great, but you'll be getting paid to write public-domain MOO code that will be part of something Way Cool, and to potentially co-author a paper on extensible server design that will be submitted to a major VR conference next year. Think of it as being a grad student at a non-accredited virtual university. Not to mention your name in virtual lights on the Marquee in every CityKit that goes out. :-) Those of you who have pet projects or ideas about facilities that should be included in the Virtual City Network, please send me mail, especially if you're interested in building them yourself and making them available for others to use. People who are interested in designing spaces in the city should start to design them on paper/in bits now so that they can upload them easily once VCN opens. We will be supporting HTML documents as well as plain text for room descriptions, and will be setting up a Rogue's Gallery of players for browsing. The Rogue's Gallery will be accessible via Gopher and WWW as well-- you can work on the text of your character's description and create GIF files of the character, your planned virtual spaces, etc, right now and then have them readily available to upload later. Feel free to get started now! Design your virtual spaces and the objects that should be in them, get busy on that artwork, and watch for more mail from us. Closing the gap between Theorem Et Practicum, _Strata M. Strata Rose Unix & Network Consultant, SysAdmin & Internet Information Virtual City Network strata(a)virtual.net | strata(a)hybrid.com | strata(a)fenchurch.mit.edu [Virtual City Network is a trademark of VirtualNet and M. Strata Rose.]

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The Cypherpunk Glossary
by an12070＠anon.penet.fi 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

democracy -- (1) Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. (2) a nation or social unit with this form of government. (3) Social and political equality and respect for the individual within the community. Medusa -- (1) A Gorgon with eyes that had the power to turn an onlooker into stone, who was slain by Perseus. anarchy -- (1) absence of any form of governmental authority or law. (2) political disorder and confusion. (3) absence of any cohering principle, as a common standard or purpose; disorder and confusion. guerilla -- A member of an irregular military force that uses harassing tactics against an enemy army, usu. with the support of the local population. conspiracy -- (1) an agreement to perform together an illegal or evil act. (2) a combining or acting together, as if by evil design: `a conspiracy of natural forces'. (3) Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or to accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. government -- (1) the act or process of governing, esp. the political administration of an area: `the government of a state.' (2) a system by which a political unit is governed: `democratic government'. (3) a governing body or organization. (4) political science. consensus -- collective opinion or concord; general agreement: `the consensus among the voters is that the new program is a good one.' agenda -- n. a list of things to be done, esp. the program for a meeting. police state -- A country or other political unit in which the government exercises rigid control over the social, economic, and political life, esp. by means of a secret police force. oppress -- tr.v. (1) to burden harshly, unjustly, or tyrannically. (2) to weigh heavily opon the mind or spirit. tyranny -- (1) a government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. (2) the office, authority, or jurisdiction of such a ruler. (3) absolute power, esp. when exercised unjustly or cruelly. (4) the arbitrary use of such power; a tyrannical act. (5) extreme harshness or severity; rigor. dictator -- n. (1) a ruler who has complete authority and unlimited power, esp. a tyrant. (2) a person who dictates. (3) in ancient Rome, a magistrate appointed temporarily to deal with an immediate crisis or emergency. autocracy -- n. (1) government by a single person having unlimited power; despotism. (2) a country or state having this kind of government. autocrat -- n. (1) a ruler with absolute or unrestricted power; despot. (2) any arrogant and domineering person. dictatorship -- n. (1) the position or rule of a dictator. (2) a. a form of government in which one person or class has complete authority and unlimited power. b. a country having such a government. tyrant -- n. (1) an absolute ruler who governs arbitrarily without constitutional or other restrictions. (2) a ruler who exercise power in a harsh, cruel manner, an oppressor. (3) any tyrannical or despotic person, esp. one who demands total obedience. poison -- n. (1) any substance that causes injury, illness, or death, esp. by chemical means. (2) anything that is destructive or fatal. (3) Chem. a substance that inhibits or retards a chemical reaction. tr.v. (1) to kill or harm with poison. (2) to put poison on or into: `poison a cup'. (3) a. to pollute: `noxious fumes poison the air.' b. to have a harmful influence on; to corrupt: `Jealousy posoned their friendship.' (4) chem. To inhibit or retard (a chemical reaction). confess -- tr.v. (1) a. to make known (one's sins) to a priest or to God. b. to hear the confession of. (2) to disclose or admit (a fault): `he confessed his mistake.' (3) to admit conversationally: `I must confess that I was surprised.' (4) to acknowledge belief or failth in. intr.v. (1) to admit or acknowledge a crime or deed: `the suspect confessed to the robbery.' (2) to tell one's sins to a priest. contrite -- (1) repentant for one's sins; penitent. (2) feeling or caused by contrition: `contrite words, contrite tears.' inquisition -- n. (1) the act of inquiring into a matter; an investigation. (2) an inquest. (3) Inquisition. In the Middle Ages, a tribunal of the Roman Cotholic Church established to seek out and punish those people considered guilty of heresy. (4) any investigation that violates the privacy or rights of individuals. insidious -- adj (1) working or spreading harmfully ina subtle or stealthy manner: `an insidious disease without warning signs.' (2) intended to entrap; treacherous: `an insidious plot.' accomplice -- n. One who aids or abets a lawbreaker in a criminal act but is not necessarily present at the time of the crime. treachery -- (1) willful betrayal of loyalty, confidene, or trust; perfidy; treason. (2) a disloyal or treasonous act. treason -- (1) the betrayal of one's country, esp. by giving aid to an enemy in wartime or by plotting to overthrow the government. (2) any betrayal of a trust. moral -- adj. (1) of or concerned with the principles of right and wrong in relation to human action or charactter; ethical. (2) teaching or exhibiting rightness or goodness of character and behavior: `a moral lesson.' (3) conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: `a moral decision.' (4) arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: `a moral obligation.' (5) psychological rather than physical or concrete in effect: `a moral victory.' (6) based upon strong probability or conviction rather than actual evidence: `a moral certainty'. n. (1) the lesson or principle taught by a fable, story, or event. (2) a concisely expressed precept or general truth; maxim. (3) morals. principles or habits of what constitutes right or wrong conduct, esp. sexual conduct. morale -- n. the condition or attitude of an individual or group in regard to the willingness to perform assigned tasks, confidence, cheerfulness, and discipline. ethics -- n. (1) The branch of philosophy that deals with the general nature of good and bad and the specific moral obligations of and chioces to be made by the individual in his relationship with others. (2) the rules or standards governing conduct, esp. of the members of a profession. punish -- tr.v. (1) to subject to a penalty for a crime, fault, or misbehavior. (2) to inflict a penalty on a criminal or wrongdoer for (an offense). (3) to handle roughly, injure, hurt: `heavy rains punished the coastal towns.' intr.v. To give punishment. corrupt -- adj. (1) Lacking in moral restraint, depraved: `the corrupt court of an aging Roman emperor.' (2) Marked by or open to bribery, the selling of political favors, etc.; dishonest: `a corrupt judge.' (3) decaying; putrid. (4) containing errors or alterations, as a text: `a corrupt translation.' tr.v. (1) to destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of, as by bribing. (2) to ruin the morality of; to pervert or debase: `Many fear that permissiveness will corrupt the youth of America.' (3) to cause or become rotten; spoil. (4) to change the original form of (a text, language, etc.) intr.v. To become corrupt. lie -- intr.v. (1) to present false information with the intention of deceiving: `lied about his prison record.' (2) to convey a false image or impression: `appearances often lie.' n. (1) a false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood. (2) anything meant to deceive or give a wrong impression. propaganda -- (1) the communication of a given doctrine to large numbers of people, esp. by constant repetition. (2) ideas, information, or other material distributed for the purpose of winning people over to a given doctrine, often without regard to truth or fairness. cult -- n. (1) a system or community of religious worship and ritual, esp. one focusing upon a single deity or spirit: `the cult of Dionysus.' (2) a. obsessive devotion or veneration for a person, priniciple, or ideal. b. the object of such devotion. (3) a group of persons sharing a common interest: `a fashionable political cult.' bystander -- n. A person who is present at some event without participating in it. integrity -- n. (1) strict personal honesty and independence: `a man of integrity'. (2) completeness; unity: `a movie shown without interruptions to maintain its integrity.' (3) the state of being unimpaired; soundness. honest -- adj. (1) marked by or displaying truthfulness and integrity; upright. (2) not deceptive or fraudulent; genuine: `honest weight'. (3) conforming to fact or to the truth; not false: `honest reporting'. (4) frank and straigtforward; sincere: `an honest opinion; an honest face.' (5) without disguise or pretense: `honest pleasure'. (6) Archaic. Chaste; virtuous. honesty -- n. (1) the quality or state of being honest; integrity. (2) truthfulness; sincerity: `in all honesty.' true -- adj. (1) consistent with fact or reality; right; accurate. (2) not imitation or counterfeit; real or genuine: `true gold.' (3) faithful; loyal: ``this above all, to thine own self be true'' (Shakespear). (4) Rightful; legitimate. (5) sincerely felt or expressed: `speaking with true emotion.' (6) a. rightfully bearing the name; properly so called: `the true vampire bat can be found only in the New World.' b. having the characteristics associated with a certain group or type; typical: `he was lusty and thickset, a true Dutchman.' c. exactly conforming to an orginal or standard: `a true copy of the birth certificate.' adv. (1) rightly; truthfully: `she speaks true.' (2) without swerving froma course; accurately: `I'll sail the ship straight and true.' pseudonym -- n. A fictitious name, esp. one assumed by an author; pen name. hypocrisy -- n. The practice or act of professing virtues and beliefs that one does not possess. pure -- (1) having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed: `pure oxygen.' (2) free from adulterants or impurities; full-strength: `pure chocolate'. (3) free from dirt, defilement, or pollution. (4) free from foreign elements. (5) containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous: `a pure literary style.' (6) complete,; utter: `pure folly'. (7) without faults; perfect; sinless. (8) chaste; virgin. (9) of unmixed blood or ancestry. (10) genetics. Breeding true to parental type; homozygous. (11) Theoretical rather than applied: `pure science'. poseur -- n. a person who assumes a false attitude, character, or manner to impress others. tax -- n. (1) a charge or contribution required of persons or groups within the domain of a government for the support of that government. (2) an excessive demand; a strain. tr.v. (1) to place a tax on income, property,goods, etc. (2) to exact a tax or taxes from. (3) to make difficult or excessive demands upon: `overpopulation taxes a nation's resources.' fraud -- n. (1) a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain. (2) a piece of trickery; a swindle. (3) a. a person who defrauds; a cheat. b. a person who assumes a false pose. psychopath -- n. a person with a severe personality disorder, esp. one manifested in aggressively antisocial behavior. psychosis -- n. Any of a class of serious mental disorders in which the mind cannot function normally and the ability to deal with reality is impaired or lost. egomania -- n. obsessive preoccupation with the self; extreme egotism. fair -- adj. (1) pleasing to look at; beautiful; lovely: `a fair maiden'. (2) lightin color: `fair hair; fair skin.' (3) free of clouds or storms: `fair weather.' (4) characterized by evenhanded honesty; just: `fair play; a fair trial.' (5) neither good nor bad; average: `the movie was only fair.' (6) consistent with rules or logic: `a fair question'. (7) lawful to hunt or attack: `fair game.' adv. (1) in a fair manner; properly: `I believe in palying fair.' (2) directly; squarely; straight: `a blow caught fair in the stomach'. hoax -- n. Something, as a joke or fraud, that is intended to deceive or trick others. society -- n. (1) human beings in general. (2) a group of people with a common culture or way of life. (3) a group of people who unite to share a common interest: `a stamp collecting society'. (4) the rich and fashionable social class: `her introduction into society'. (5) companionship; company. obsession -- n. (1) an excessive preoccupation with an idea or emotion. (2) an often unreasonable idea or emotion that is the cause of an obsession. monomania -- (1) a mental disorder characterized by an obsession with one idea. (2) an intense preoccupation with or exaggerated enthusiasm for one subject or idea. persecute -- tr.v. (1) to cause to suffer, esp. on account of politics, religion, etc.; oppress. (2) to annoy persistently; to bother. censor -- n. (1) a person authorized to examine literature, plays, etc., and who may remove or suppress the sections considered morally or otherwise objectionable. (2) in ancient Rome, one of two officials responsible for supervising the public census and public behavior and morals. tr.v. to examine and expurgate. hallucination -- n. (1) an illusion of seeing, hearing, or otherwise sensing something that does not really exist; false perception. (2) something, as a vision or image, that occurs as a hallucination. insanity -- n. (1) serious mental illness or disorder. (2) a. Civil Law. unsoundness of mind sufficient, in the judgement of a court, to render a person unfit to maintain a legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental hospital. b. Criminal Law. A degree of mental malfunctioning sufficient to prevent the accused from knowing right from wrong. (3) a. extreme foolishness; total folly. b. something foolish. arrogant -- adj. Excessively and unpleasantly self-important, as in disregarding all other opinions but one's onwn; haughty; conceited: `arrogant boasts'. effigy -- n. 1. A painted or sculptured representation of a person, as on a stone wall or monument. 2. A crude image or dummy fashioned in the likeness of a hated or depised person. egomania -- obsessive preoccupation with the self; extreme egotism. vain -- adj. (1) not successful; futile: `a vain attempt'. (2) lacking substance or worht; hollow: `vain talk.' (3) overly proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited. idiom. in vain. (1) to no avail; without success. (2) in an irreverent or disrespectful manner: `take the name of the Lord in vain.' vainglory -- n. (1) excessive pirde and vanity. (2) vain and ostentatious display. impostor -- n. A person who deceives by pretending to be someone else. pervert -- tr. v. (1) to cause to turn from what is considered the right or moral course; to corrupt. (2) to employ wrongly or incorrectly; misuse: `perverted the law to suit his own ends.' (3) to interpret incorrectly: `an analysis that perverts the meaning of the poem.' n. Someone whose sexual behavior is considered abnormal or unnatural. depravity -- moral corruption; a depraved condition. (2) a wicked or perverse act. delusion -- n. (1) a. the act of deluding; deception. b. the condition of being deluded. (2) a false belief held in spite of evidence to the contrary, esp. as a condition of certain forms of mental illness. truth -- n. (1) conformity to knowledge, fact, or actuality; veracity. (2) something that is the case; the real state of affairs: `tell the truth'. (3) reality; actuality: `even before the Appomattox the Civil War was in truth over.' (4) a statement proven to be or accepted as true: `scientific truths'. (5) sincerity; honesty: `tyhere was no truth in his speech or character.' leader -- (1) A person who leads others along a way; a guide. (2) A person in charge or in command of others. (3) a. The head of a political party or organization. b. A person who has an influential voice in politics. (4) a. The conductor of an orchestra, band, or choral group. b. the principal performer of an orchestral section, as the first violinist. (5) the foremost horse or other draft animal in a harnessed team. brainwash -- tr.v. to indoctrinate (someone) until he is willing to give up his own beliefs and passively accept an opposing set of beliefs. tentacle -- n. (1) Zool. One of the narrow, flexible, unjointed parts that extend from the body of certain animals, as an octopus, used for grasping, moving, etc. (2) Bot. One of the hairs on the leaves of insectivorous plants, as the sundew. (3) something resembling a tentacle, esp. in the ability to grasp or hold. attack -- (1) to set upon with violent force; begin hostilities against or a conflict with. (2) to criticize strongly or in a hostile manner. (3) to start work on with purpose and vigor: `attack a problem'. (4) to affect harmfully; afflict: `flu attacked thousands of people.' intr.v. to make an attack; launch an assault: `the troops attacked at dawn.' n. (1) the act of attacking; an assault. (2) occurrence or onset of a disease. (3) the initial movement in any task or undertaking: `an attack on a messy room.' (4) mus. the manner in which a tone, phrase, or passage is begun: a hard, cutting attack. evade -- tr.v. (1) to get away from by cleverness or deceit: `evade arrest.' (2) to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing: `evade responsibility'. (3) to baffle or elude: `the accident evades explanation.' intr.v. To use cleverness or deceit in avoiding or escaping. harass -- (1) to bother or torment repeatedly and persistently. (2) to carry out repeated attacks or raids against. crime -- (1) an act committed or omitted in violation of a law for which punishment is imposed upon conviction. (2) unlawful activity in general: `crime in the suburbs is on the rise.' (3) any serious wrongdoing or offense, esp. against morality; a sin. (4) an unjust or senseless act or condition: ``It's a crime that so many people live in poverty.'' (5) informal. a shame; a pity: `It's a crime to waste food.' privacy -- (1) the condition of being secluded or isolated from contact with others. (2) concealment; secrecy. torment -- n. (1) great physcial pain or mental anguish; agony. (2). a source of harassment or pain. (3) torture or suffering inflicted on prisoners, as in the proceedings of the Inquisition. tr.v. (1) to cause to undergo great physical or mental anguish. (2) to annoy, pester, or harass; worry. phantom -- n. (1) something apparently seen, heard, or sensed, but having no phusical reality. (2) a ghost; specter. (3) an image that appears only in the mind. adj. (1) unreal; ghostlike. (2) phoney; fictitious: `a phantom caller'. accusation -- n. (1) the act of accusing or condition of being accused. (2) Law. A formal charge that a person is guilty of some punishable offense. paranoia -- n. (1) a serious mental disorder in which a person imagines himself to be persecuted and often has an exaggerated idea of his own importance. (2) irrational fear for one's security. traitor -- n. A person who betrays his country, a cause, or a trust, esp. one who has committed treason. disrupt -- tr.v. (1) to throw into confusion or disorder. (2) to interrupt or impede the progress or continuity of: `floods disrupted communications.' (3) to break or burst; rupture. pretend -- tr.v. (1) to put on a false show of; feign: `pretend illness.' (2) to claim or allege insincerely or falsely; profess: `pretended ignorance of the problem.' (3) to represent fictitiously in play; make believe. (4) to take upon oneself; venture: ``whether my bullets did any execution or not I cannot pretend to say.'' (W.H. Hudson). intr.v. (1) to give a false appearance, asin deceiving or playing: ``He's only pretending.'' (2) to put forward a claim: ``a nobleman who pretends to the throne.'' disreputable -- adj. Not respectable in character, action, or appearance: `a disreputable establishment; a disreputable businessman.' appropriate -- adj. suitable for a particular person, condition, occasion, or place; proper; fitting: ``apropriate clothes; an appropriate blend of music and text.'' authority -- (1) a. the right and power to command, enforce laws, determine, etc.: ``the principal had the authority to close the school.'' b. A person, group, or organization that has this right and power: `school authorities; the Transit Authority.' (2) Power delegated to others; authorization: `you have my authority to decide.' (3) an accepted source of expert information or advice, as a bookk or person: ``an authority on history.'' (4) an expert in a given field: ``a well-known plant authority.'' (5) power to influence or to affect resluting from knowledge or experience: ``write with authority.'' courtesy -- n. (1) polite behavior; gracious manner or manners. (2) a polite gesture or remark: ``He aluted me, and I returned the courtesy.'' (3) consent or favor; indulgence: ``received a fruit basket by courtesy of the hotel.'' movement -- n. (1) the act, process, or an instance of moving. (2) a group engaged in actions intended to achive a specific goal: `the labor movement.' (3) a tendency or trend: `a movement toward fiscal conservatism.' (4). a. An evacuation of the bowels. b. the matter so evacuated. (5) Mus. a. a section of a large composition, as a symphony or sonata. b. Rhythm; tempo. (6) a mechanism that producs motion, as the works of a watch. pariah -- n. (1) a member of a low caste of workers in southern India and Bruma. (2) a person who has been excluded from society, an outcase. cooperation -- n. (1) joint action: ``this treaty will promote international cooperation.'' (2) assistance; support: ``the principal sought the cooperation of the students.'' (3) willingness to cooperate: ``please show more cooperation.'' cabal -- n. (1) a small group of people organized to carry out a secret plot or conspiracy. (2) a secret scheme or plot organized by such a group. intr.v. to form a cabal; plot; conspire. cacophony -- n. harsh, jarring, dischordant sound; dissonance. stalemate -- n. (1) a drawing position in chess in which only the king can move and although not in check can move only into check. (2) a situation in which further progress is impossible; a deadlock. tr.v. to bring to a stalemate. discord -- n. (1) lack of agreement or accord; dissension: `discord within the government.' (2) a confused or harsh mingling of sounds. (3) Mus. A combination of simulatneously sounded tones that is considered to sound harsh or unpleasant; dissonance. subvert -- tr.v. (1) to destory or overthrow completely; ruin. (2) to undermine the character, morals, or allegiance of; corrupt. martyr -- n. (1) a person who suffers death rather than renouncing a religious principle or belief. (2) a person who makes great sacrifices or suffers a great deal for a cause or principle. (3) a person who endures great suffering. tr.v. (1) to make a martyr of. (2) to inflict great pain or suffering upon; torture. public -- adj. (1) of, concerning, or affecting the community or the people: `the public good.' (2) maintained for or used by the people or comunity: `a public park.' (3) participated in or attended by the people or community: ``public worhsip.'' (4) connected with or acting on behalf of the people, community, or government, rather than private matters or interests: ``public office.'' (5) open to the knowledge or judgement of all: ``made the testimony public.'' n. (1) the community or the people as a whole. (2) a group of people sharing a common interest: ``the reading public.'' (3) admirers or followers, esp. of a celebrity. revolt -- intr.v. (1) to attempt ot overthrow the authority of the stae; rebel. (2) to oppose or refuse to accept something: `revolt against high taxes.' tr.v. to fill with disgust; repel. n. (1) an uprising, esp. against state authority; rebellion. (2) an act of opposition or rejection. (3) the condition of opposition or rebellion: be in revolt. revolution -- n. (1) a. movement in an orbit around a point, esp. as distinguished from rotation on an axis. b. a spinning or rotation about an axis. c. a single complete cycle of motion about a point in a closed path. (2) a sudden or momentous change in any situation: `the revolution in physics.' (3) a sudden political overthrow or seizure of power brought about from within a given system. scapegoat -- n. someone or something that bears the blame for others. blind -- adj. (1) without the sense of sight; sightless. (2) performed without the use of sight: `blind navigation.' (3) unwilling or unable to perceive or understand: `she was blind to his faults.' (4) nto based on reason or evidence: `blind faith'. (5) without forethought or reason: `in a blind rage'. (6) hidden or screened from sight: `a blind intersection.' (7) closed at one end: `a blind alley'. (8) having no opening: `a blind wall.' (9) Informal. Drunk. n. (1) something that shuts out light or hindes vision, as on windows. (2) a shelter for concealing hunters. (3) something that conceals the true nature of an activity, esp. of an illegal or improper one; a subterfuge. adv. (1) without being able to see; blindly: `fly blind.' tr.v. (1) to deprive of sight. (2) to deprive (a person) of judgement or reason: `Greed blinded him to the dange.' (3) to dazzle. sabotage -- n. (1) the destruction of property property or the obstruction of normal operations, as by enemy agents in time of war. (2) any treacherous action to defeat or hinder a cause. tr.v. to commit sabotage against. infiltrate -- tr.v. (1) to pass (a liquid or gas) into something through small openings. (2) to fill or saturate with a liquid or gas passed through small openings. (3) to enter gradually or secretly: `foreign agents infiltrated the organziation.' intr.v. to gain entrance gradually or secretly. n. a substance that accumulates gradually in bodily tissues. subterfuge -- n. an evasive plan or tactic used to avoid capture or confrontation. ignorant -- adj. (1) without education or knowledge. `an ignorant person.' (2) exhibiting lack of education or knowledge: `ignorant assumptions'. (3) unaware or uninformed: `not having seen a newspaper, she was ignorant of the day's events.' patriotism -- n. love of and devotion to one's country. etiquette -- n. teh body of rules governing correct behavior among people, in a profession, etc.: `court etiquette; military etiquette.' rant -- intr.v. To speak violently, loudly, and at length; rave: `ranted against high taxes.' n. A loud, violent speech; a tirade. reality -- (1) the condition or quality of being real or true; actual existence. (2) a person, thing, or event that is real. exorcize -- tr.v. (1) to expel (an evil spirit) by or as if by incantation or prayer. (2) to free from evil spirits. facade -- n. (1) the main face or front of a building. (2) the face or front part of anything, esp. an artificial or false front: ``of the most famous people we know only the imposing facade'' (Edith Hamilton). false -- 1. a. contrary to fact or truth; erroneous: `a false assumption.' b. arising from mistaken ideas: `false hopes.' (2) marked by an intent to deceive; untruthful: `a false accusation'. (3) funfaithful, disloyal: `a false friend.' (4) a. not natural; artificial: `false teeth'. b. not real or genuine: `a false name'. (5) Mus. Wrong in pitch. humility -- n. the quality or condition of being humble; lack of pride. mockery -- n. (1) scornful contempt; ridicule; derision. (2) a specific example of ridicule or derision. (3) an object of scorn or ridicule. (4) a false, ridiculous, or impudent imitation; a travesty: `the trial was a mockery of justice.' network -- n. (1) an open fabric or structure in which cords, threads, or wires cross at regular intervals. (2) a system or pattern made up of a number of parts, passages, lines, or routes that cross, branch out, or interconnect: `a netowrk of roads and railways; a network of veins.' (3) a chain of interconnected radio or televion broadcasting stations, usu. sharing a large proportion of their programs. (4) a group or system of electrinc components designed to function in a specific manner. manipulate -- (1) to operate or manage by skilled use esp. of the ahnds. (2) to influence or manage shrewdly or skillfully: `manipulated public opinion.' (3) to manage artfully or deceitfully for personal gain or advantage. masquerade -- n. (1) a. a costume ball or party at which masks and elaborate costumes are worn. (2) any false outward show or pretense: `a masquerade of humility.' intr.v. (1) to wear a mask or disguise, as at a masquerade. (2) to have a deceptive appearance: `a sermon masquerading as a novel.' ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help(a)anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin(a)anon.penet.fi.

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Re: Can NSA crack PGP?
by jamie＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Irrespective of whether the NSA can crack PGP, most other potential snoops probably can't. Let's hope there's no "chilling effect" on PGP usage because it may not be perfect. Few things are. "Pretty good" likely means just that. -- ................................ Jamie Dinkelacker Palo Alto CA Jamie(a)netcom.com 415.941.4782 ................................

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Re: anonymous postings and trust
by jrk＠sys.uea.ac.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Black Unicorn writes: >You would have preferred that I quote the entire thread and then >add my comment? Or is it the lack of accompanying detail in >the comment that you resent? It's mainly the lack of detail. As you and others point out, any "Fred Jones" might be a covert pseudonym, and even if it isn't, I may know equally little about its holder as abut a "Black Unicorn". So yes, it's a matter of reputations rather than true names. Obvious anonymity just makes it more noticeable. >[further details about Black Unicorn] Somehow, this makes your posting about the existence of Liechtenstein numbered accounts much more plausible, even though I have no practical way of verifying any of the circumstantial detail which (to coin a phrase) adds verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative. I can't put my finger on why this is. >Should you be more interested >in detail, I would be happy to discuss what I can in person, by >telephone, or in encrypted E-Mail, in descending order of the >detail I would be willing to disclose. Even though you don't really know who I am? I mostly lurk here, but although I'm moderately active on a couple of other mailing lists and newsgroups, even if you looked at what I write there and verified the info in my .sig, it seems to me you'd need to do some further investigation to be safe in making potentially job-threatening disclosures to me over any of these media. This raises the question of how we come to trust people in RL situations where obvious anonymity is not present. In short, why should we believe anything that anyone says at all? If we don't check their claims by personal observation, why believe them? If we can check them, why not do so instead? How is a reputation for trustworthiness built in the first place? I'm just rambling, so I'll shut up for now. -- ____ Richard Kennaway __\_ / School of Information Systems Internet: jrk(a)sys.uea.ac.uk \ X/ University of East Anglia uucp: ...mcsun!ukc!uea-sys!jrk \/ Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.

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Re: Zen Master
by jrk＠sys.uea.ac.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lyle Seaman writes: >Reads like another L.D. "tentacle", doesn't it? > >an12070(a)anon.penet.fi (Zen Master) writes: Don't look at the readable id, look at the an12070 part. Whether S.Boxx == L.Detweiler or not, S.Boxx and Zen Master (and one or two other nyms) are posting from one and the same account. Boxx, if you want to play the Medusa, changing the nick on your penet account doesn't hack it. -- ____ Richard Kennaway __\_ / School of Information Systems Internet: jrk(a)sys.uea.ac.uk \ X/ University of East Anglia uucp: ...mcsun!ukc!uea-sys!jrk \/ Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.

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