December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Build Your Own Cable TV Descrambler for less than $9.99.
by cabgirly333＠hotmail.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cable Television Descrambler - Easy To Make ! Build your own Cable Television Descrambler with ONLY 7 parts from Radio Shack for UNDER $10.00. (don't hit reply, please check bottom of message for more references) --------------------- (Last minute update: "I've seen my letter and instructions sent by individuals that besides violating copy-right laws, are neither responding to the customer nor providing the original, complete set of plans and instructions. Please be advised you are risking your money and patience by ordering from individuals who know nothing regarding this tech/electrical matter" --Raul Mendez) Build your own Cable Television Descrambler with ONLY 7 parts from Radio Shack for UNDER $10.00. REQUIRED SUPPLIES: ================== 1 - Radio Shack mini-box (part #270-235) 1 - < watt resistor. 2.2k-2.4k ohm (part #271-1325) 1 - 75pf-100pf variable capacitor (special order) 2 - F61A chassis-type connectors (part #278-212) 12" - No. 12 solid copper wire 12" - RG59 coaxial cable Tools required: screwdriver & drill. Soldering gun & solder (optional). Get ALL the Premium Movie Channels, Pay per View and Adult Entertainment Channels for... FREE, FREE, FREE !!! Now, if I have your attention... let me tell you how this fantastic opportunity came about. My name is Raul. I live in New York City, New York. I have season tickets to our citys hockey team. I invited a friend of mine to one of the games this last October. He said, "Id love to go if you can have me back home by 10:00 p.m." I told him that some games run just past 10:00 p.m. and would he mind we stay if the game was close. His response was, "No, tonight is the Mike Tyson - Evander Holyfield boxing match and I have it on pay per view" I said, "do you mind if I watch the fight with you"? He said, "sure, no problem". So we go watch this great fight on cable pay per view and we are the only two guys at my friends house. After the fight (since it was so good) I offered to pay half of the cost for the fight. My friends answer was, "no, no, thats not necessary... I got the fight for FREE!". I said to him, "for free, dont those fights cost around $40.00 a pop?" He told me, "yes, they do, but I bought a cable descrambler box from an acquaintance of mine for $300.00". He further explained that this "little black box" gets ALL the pay per view events available! It also tunes in ALL the premium movie channels and ALL the adult entertainment channels. My response (without hesitation) was, "I gotta have one!" "$300.00, no problem where do I pay !!!" Im serious, I was excited. Lifetime premium movie channels, pay per view and adult entertainment all for a one-time fee of $300.00... no way!!! "No way" was right. The guy that sold my buddy the box was no where to be found. I was really disappointed. It was now time for desperate measures. I begged and pleaded with my friend until he agreed to let me take his box apart piece by piece to see how to make one for myself. Luckily it was very easy, if it wasnt simple I knew their was a slight chance it was not going back together so pretty. Now the rest is history... Ive got my own box which I built with my own two hands. Would you like to build one yourself ?!?! If so, would you pay $300.00. Maybe so, maybe not. Probably not, unless you saw one work first. But since that is not possible, I will sell you a complete set of instructions on how to build one yourself for a measly $9.99. However, at that price YOU MUST ALSO ENCLOSE A #10 SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE WITH 55 CENTS POSTAGE AFFIXED. You might ask, is this some type of rip-off scam deal. The answer is NO! Everything has specific mechanics of how and why they do what they do. We are just used to flipping a switch or pushing a button or moving the mouse across our computer pads. It all happens because of a certain set of processes. The cable television descrambler is no different. However, for legal purposes I must add to this letter that this offer and set of instructions shall be void where prohibited by law and the assembling of parts necessary to make this "little jewel" work is for educational purposes only. To order a set of the instructions send $9.99 by cash, check or money order payable to: Raul Mendez Enterprises, 50 Lexington Av suite 209, New York city, NY 10010 I will mail your order out within 24 hours of receiving it. Further, I will give you a refund upon written request if you are unsatisfied for any reason. Happy Holidays !!! Sincerely, Raul Mendez P.S.: The use of this mini-box if you choose to go on and see if your creation works requires no alteration of your existing cable system. You simply screw it in, right behind your television. P.P.S.: Without the instructions its like figuring out how to set the clock on your VCR. With the instructions, you are guaranteed success.

1 0

Re: Securing data in memory (was "Locking physical memory (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From: Jim Choate <ravage(a)einstein.ssz.com> > Subject: Re: Securing data in memory (was "Locking physical memory (fwd) > Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 11:44:04 -0600 (CST) > > Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1998 17:41:53 +0100 > > From: Anonymous <nobody(a)replay.com> > > Subject: Re: Securing data in memory (was "Locking physical memory (fwd) > > > What is Choate thinking when he says the ENTIRE OS is run under this? > > My mistake. Since it really does only handle individual apps it's of limited > utility in the Windows world because of the numerous ways to get system > level access. I forgot to add that I'd still be interested in knowing if the utility would support the entire OS being run under this and what the memory constraints would be. If I had 2 of the Samsung 4G memory modules w/ battery back-up I could run an entire machine without a hard-drive. ____________________________________________________________________ Technology cannot make us other than what we are. James P. Hogan The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

4 3

Re: Securing data in memory (was "Locking physical memory (fwd)
by lcs Mixmaster Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bill Stewart wrote: > Back in the mid-80s, Princeton University got some SDI money for the > Massive Memory Machine Project, researching what you could do if > you had enough memory for anything you wanted. Even with the > CS approaches of the time, you'd do a lot of things differently. > Their non-massive toy machine was a 1.5MIPS VAX with 128MB RAM - > which took 10 extension racks to hold all the RAM. > These days 128MB is cheap, as are 500 MIPS P2s, but 50GB of RAM > is still bigger than most machines' busses will hold, > and even 2GB of DRAM is a lot bigger and more power-hungry than > most laptops can really support, much less 2GB of fast SRAM. There used to be a rule of thumb that you'd want roughly a megabyte per megahertz. Today, with our 200+ MHz processors, we tend to have considerably less memory than this. My Gateway PC from a couple of years ago came with a 200 MHz Pentium Pro but only 32 MB of memory. Most PCs today are not well balanced architecturally. They should really have a couple hundred megabytes of memory. Memory is cheap enough today that this can be added, but the motherboard configuration may limit the amount. If you had this much memory, swapping to disk would be a smaller problem. As for the idea of running without a disk drive, see the handheld PDAs like the PalmPilot and the Microsoft WinCE machines. The problem with these from the security standpoint is that the memory is non-volatile. With a PC, we don't worry too much about junk in memory because we turn it off occasionally. We are concerned about the disk because that is where the persistent storage is. But with a memory-only machine, you end up using your memory as a de-facto disk drive, so that the contents of memory become just as sensitive as the contents of disk would be on a PC. Someone who gets hold of your PDA can dump out memory and find sensitive data which is stored there. Theoretically you can use a password to protect data, but then there are tradeoffs between security and ease of use, and you may end up leaving data exposed for extended periods. But speaking of using passwords to protect data, how about an encrypted swapfile for a PC? There are fast enough ciphers today that the virtual memory system could encrypt data as it swaps to the disk, and decrypt as it loads back into memory. You'd type in the passphrase at boot time. This would solve the problem of sensitive data leaking onto the disk via the swapfile. There could still be traces in memory, but at least this most obvious leak would be plugged. You don't have to wait for apps to be rewritten to use secure memory allocation drivers, you get the benefit immediately. Can existing encrypting-filesystem drivers be used for swapfiles?

4 3

NZ or LA in Y2K
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:54 PM 11/30/98 -3000, Igor Chudov @ home wrote: > >But objectively, there is a large category of people who are bored >with their current lifestyle and gleefully expect a "total breakdown" >of the society so that they could shoot live man sized targets instead >of boring paper targets. > >They are likely to be disappointed by Y2K, or so I expect. (again, >my expectation that social breakdown is not likely to happen does >not preclude me from reasonable preparations) When the power goes out, the rioting and looting starts in the cities. (This isn't New Zealand, baby, this is LA) When the rioters get bored, they'll get into cars. When they run out of gas, they'll stay where they are stranded as the gas pumps don't work. Some fine huntin' then, bubba. Mr. Moisin-Nagant

2 1

y2k+oil refineries
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

a disturbing post on the idea that maybe embedded systems in refineries are so "embedded" they can't even be reached/ isolated. also hugely ubiquitous.... ------- Forwarded Message > > Gary North's Y2K Links and Forums > > 1998-11-30 13:28:22 > Subject: > Fuel Production Plants > Comment: > Let's hope this informant is wrong. If you have counter-evidence, contact me > at P. O. Box 8000, Tyler, TX 75711. > > * * * * * * * * > > I have one very, very reliable source within that industry who tells me that > the oil refining industry can't cope with the task. I am told that the problem > of embedded systems can NOT be fixed EVER, no matter how much time were > allowed. WHY? Because the refineries themselves would have to be dismantled to > uncover these embedded systems. Essentially, the refineries would have to be > destroyed and rebuilt!!! These embedded systems are buried within enclosed > systems. Identifying, testing and replacing these systems is too impractical. > It is financially unsound to do so. The better option is to build new ones. > There is no time to do this with less than 400 days left and the time to build > a new refinery is 3 to 5 years. > > So, what does this mean? My sources, especially the most reliable source tell > me that it means that on January 1, 2000... the oil and gas refineries will > cease operations. These facilities also have converted their inventory > management control systems to small inventory levels so that inventory levels > are running about 1 to 2 days capacity. A few years ago, the industry averaged > a 1 to 6 month supply in storage tanks. Not so today. > > The results: By 1/5/2000 there will be no gasoline, no diesel fuel, no natural > gas, no heating oil, no fuel oil products at all. This means trains will have > no fuel. Trucks will have no fuel. Cars will have no fuel. Electric Power > Plants will have no oil for fuel, nor coal... because there will be no fuel to > power the vehicles to get it to them. So, there will be no electricity. And > you know the remaining domino schematic from that point.

1 0

Re: NZ or LA in Y2K
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:51 AM 12/1/98 -0600, Igor Chudov @ home wrote: >I am now considering another possibility: what happens if the power DOES >NOT go out? What would the gunnuts do? Um, start shooting the insulators and pole-transformers? :-P Or, if the power does go out but >looting does not start, would the gunnuts shoot some blacks that they >mistake for "looters" but who are just walking down the streets? Now you're confusing arms fanciers and survivalists with violent racists. Get a grip.

1 0

New Brady Bill Implications
by Carol Anne Cypherpunk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I'm watching Headline News, and they are reporting that "now", under new provisions in the Brady Bill, and 'instant' background check is being made. This even is for simple rifles and shotguns. Just think, soon there might be 'instant' background checks, even just to use simple 56 bit DES. Or somewhere lurking around in your browser code, a teeny tiny program that sends a cookie to the NSA, FBI, etc every time you use crypto. Who knows, it's probably there already. Or a realtime NCIS check to buy a copy of PGP! Wild! cab8 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP Personal Privacy 6.0 Comment: PGP 6.0 is the "The Living End". iQA/AwUBNmOomDiM2656VXArEQLQRQCgg3l0PO8DOzkj/7McAUI8gQSC03cAnRhk AybC39FkOKoV7ZQUvJcuFTT8 =9sxR -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Member Internet Society - Certified Mining Co. Guide - Webmistress *********************************************************************** Carol Anne Braddock (cab8) carolann(a)censored.org 206.165.50.96 http://www.primenet.com/~carolab http://www.ozones.com/~drozone - The Cyberdoc *********************************************************************** Will lobby Congress for Food & Expenses!!!

6 8

SASMF, Part 2
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Space Aliens Stole My Freedom, Part 2 Know Your Spineless SheepleNeighbor(TM) If the banks can be required to Know Their Customers, maybe you can be required to Know Your Neighbor. This is already an established system in Cuba, so importing it should be cheap, fast and easy. ----- "Know Your Neighbor" Requirements AGENCY: Federal Bureau of Investigation ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. SUMMARY: The FBI is proposing to issue regulations requiring FBI-supervised citizen-residents to develop and maintain "Know Your Neighbor" programs. As proposed, the regulations would require each citizen-resident to develop a program designed to determine the identity of its neighbors; determine its neighbors' sources of gossip and political views; determine the normal and expected comings and goings of its neighbors; monitor household activity for things that are inconsistent with those normal and expected activities; and report any activities of its customers that are determined to be suspicious, in accordance with the FBI's existing suspicious activity reporting regulations. By requiring citizen- residents to determine the identity of their neighbors, as well as to obtain knowledge regarding the legitimate activities of their neighbors, the proposed regulations will reduce the likelihood that citizen- residents will become unwitting participants in illicit activities conducted or attempted by their neighbors. It also will level the playing field between citizen-residents that already have adopted formal Know Your Neighbor programs and those that have not. --- Minimum steps to take to comply with the Know Your Customer rule. Identify the neighbor. Paragraph (d)(2)(i) requires that the Know Your Neighbor program provide a system for determining the true identity of prospective neighbors. If a citizen-resident has reasonable cause to believe that it lacks sufficient information to know the identity of an existing neighbor, paragraph (d)(4)(ii)(A) also requires that the program provide a system for determining the identity of that neighbor. --- Determine the source of people and property. Paragraph (d)(2)(ii) requires that the Know Your Neighbor program provide a system for determining the source of a neighbor's possessions and household members. The amount of information needed to do this can depend on the type of neighbor in question. Determine normal and expected comings and goings. Paragraph (d)(2)(iii) requires that the Know Your Neighbor program provide a system for determining a neighbor's normal and expected comings and goings involving the citizen-resident. A citizen-resident's understanding of a neighbor's normal and expected comings and goings should be based on information obtained both when a neighbor relationship is established and during a reasonable period of time thereafter. It also should be based on normal comings and goings for similarly situated neighbors. Without this information, a citizen- resident is unable to identify suspicious comings and goings. Determine if activity should be reported. Once an activity is identified as inconsistent with normal and expected behavior, paragraph (d)(2)(v) requires that a citizen-resident determine if the activity warrants the filing of a Suspicious Activity Report. This is consistent with a citizen-resident's existing obligations under 12 CFR 353.3(a). --- A. Reasons for and objectives of the proposed rule. The proposed Know Your Neighbor rule is designed to deter and detect neighborhood crimes, such as plots to establish "Constitutional government," gathering of information about alleged "crimes" committed by government agents, and meeting to discuss subversive literature such as the Constitution. B. Requirements of the proposed rule. The proposed rule would require citizen-residents to identify their neighbors, determine their neighbors' normal and expected activities, determine their neighbors' sources of possessions and household members, monitor neighbors' activities to find those that are not normal and expected, and, for activities that are not normal and expected, identify which are suspicious. Know Your Neighbor monitoring would be similar to monitoring that citizen-residents already do. For example, citizen-residents monitor neighbor activities to ensure that comings and goings exceeding 100 per month are reported under the Neighborhood Secrecy Act, to ensure that neighbors do not overuse their driveways and sidewalks, and to ensure that required comings and goings accurate and timely. ----- Editor's Note: The worst part of this parody is that it's true. Cuba, like most communist dictatorships, has a highly developed system of block watchers. They are responsible for all of the foregoing, making their reports to the secret police. The U.S. government is instituting a system of "bank account watchers," toadies in the supine, excruciatingly closely regulated banking industry, who will have to "know you," get to know your normal and expected bank account activity, and watch your bank account activity to detect and report "Suspicious Transactions." Welkomm to Orwell's 1984. Welkomm to Nazi Amerika. Hold your arm out straight... there... this will just sting a bit... Does anyone not get it yet? There is _nothing_ in the Constitution that gives the federal government any power to subject the American people to financial surveillance, to restrict or require reporting of cash transactions in any quantities, to restrict or encumber firearms ownership to anyone not actually serving time in a prison, or to do _any_ of the onerous abominations being thrust upon us in new and terrible forms almost daily. Does anyone not get it yet? The federal government is forfeiting, just as fast as its android minions can think up new ways to do it, its last shreds of any claim to legitimacy. They may as well fly the skull and crossbones over government buildings. Their occupation army of marauding thugs is _here_, bringing to ghastly life the very words of the bill of particulars laid against King George III of England by the Founders of this now-decayed, now-corrupt, hollow Republic, in the Declaration of Independence. Do they _never_ learn? (Obviously not) Will we _have_ to go through it all again? (Obviously yes) Has the line been crossed? (Obviously yes) Has force been initiated? (Obviously yes) Has the federal government placed itself outside the law? (Obviously yes) So be it. Cry "Havoc!" and let loose the dogs of war. The Revolution is upon us. We have nothing to lose but our imminent slavery. Sam Adams has a piece of advice: Keep your own counsel. Translation: Do your own thing and don't look to prop up your courage with the flawed courage and lack of trustworthiness of others. Don't be a groupie -- be a commando. Required re-reading: http://www.dhc.net/~toarms/henry.htm FuckingFedUpMonger

1 0

Check out the New ZDNet and ZDTV Forums!
by ZDNet Announce 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Forum Member: If you are reading this message, you are a participant in the ZDNet or ZDTV message boards (a.k.a. ZDNet Forums or Community). I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about some changes that will affect you on December 8. We are moving from our current forum software, called Podium, to version 1.0 of new forum software created by Deja News. On Dec. 8, when you follow a link or bookmark to one of our forums, you will be directed to the new software automatically. You don't have to download or install anything -- our forums remain entirely Web-based -- but the apearance and functions of the forums will be different. All your messages posted in Podium are being brought over, so your conversations won't miss a beat. We have been testing the Deja News software in three of our current forums for several months, and we have also created a test forum so you can try out the software and give us your feedback. We know that any change is disruptive; you will have to re-learn some forum functions and get used to a new interface. We apologize in advance for the hassle. We felt the switch to the Deja News software was the only way to improve the performance and reliability of the forums, plus the new software has a better search engine and great possibilities for integrating Usenet newsgroups into our offerings. If you have not yet had a chance to try out the new software, you can do so at any one or all of the forums listed below: Test Forum http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/f5.dejanews.com/frames/test.html Help Channel General Discussion http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/f5.dejanews.com/frames/generaldiscuss… Microsoft Office http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/f5.dejanews.com/frames/msoffice.html Gadget Gab http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/f5.dejanews.com/frames/gadget.html Please give us your feedback about the new software in the Test Forum. We are using your comments to make the software work better, so we appreciate as much of participation as possible. In addition to the new software, we will be merging several forums. Over the months, ZDNet and ZDTV have created a number of overlapping message boards, and some forums have lost their appeal to users. As part of the switch to Deja News, we'll be integrating forums on similar topics. As a result, expect most forums to be busier after Dec. 8. Thank you for your time and effort. We are looking forward to seeing you in the new forums, and we are glad to have you as a part of the ZDNet Community. We will send you just a few more e-mails like this one to keep you up-to-date on the switch, but we promise not to continue spamming you after the transition is complete. Regards, Wendy Frankwich ZDNet and ZDTV Community http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/www.zdnet.com http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/zdn11202/www.zdtv.com _______________________________________________________________________ To be removed from this list, simply reply to this message with "unsubscribe" as your subject.

1 0

Re: "Export" controls
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Can you give me an example of a commercial vendor who has suffered >because someone bought a "dangerous" product ( Windows, for example ) at >retail and carried it out of the country in a suitcase? My guess would I cannot give such example because hard crypto products are not available to the general public. I am unaware that microshit OS has hard crypto built-in. The only hard crypto package I have ever seen for sale at mail-order (and thus not anonymous) is NAI's PGP (and I have never seen any hard crypto available in a store for cash - but that can only mean that there is no perceived demand). However, any hard crypto that would work on system level and encrypt all communications is not available for purchase (it is available for free, though, in the form of IPSec package with 128-bit block ciphers for *BSD operating systems.) There is a number of VPN companies that offer crypto boxes, but AFAIK they either do not mention crypto scheme they use or they say DES. There is only one VPN company that advertises 128-bit crypto in it's product. >> [ For example, try to buy one of IBM crypto-cards - give them a call >> and ask what does it take to purchase one with hard crypto on it >> >Save me the phone call and describe your experience. BTW - IBM derives a You'll miss all the fun. After talking to 5-6 departments one concludes that no one knows anything about 4758, but they are all nice and helpful, and forward your call to each other. 4758 does not exist for casual callers. My guess is that if you have been dealing with IBM for some time you may be able to get it. To recap, there are no hard crypto drop-in hardware products available to general public in the USA today. >just write a damn book, source, VHDL etc. You can even export that. My The question is how to make money by selling hard crypto in the US. NAI seems to be the only company that can get away with so-called "publishing exception" in the commercial world. Their joining the key recovery alliance is probably unrelated :-) >Disk encryptor - SCSI/EIDE, a bump in the wire between the motherboard >and the disk drive. With its own smartcard/keypad interface, keys are >never seen by OS. It doesn't solve the security problem while the system There are many neat ideas. But no hardware.

1 0