December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: POISON PILL
by dmandl＠lehman.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: jet(a)netcom.com (J. Eric Townsend) > > The US Gov policy for the disposal of any media that has been used to > store classified data is: > > wipe -- demagnatize with a *massive* demag unit > grind -- toss in a thing that'd make ground chuck out of godzilla > incenerate -- at some amazingly high temperature. > > -eric At last! I've always wondered that the mysterious "certain government conventions for wiping files" in the Norton Utilities Wipe Disk program referred to. Glad I never selected that option. --Dave.

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Re: Media declassification
by eb15＠postoffice.mail.cornell.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Can you suggest the best overwrite programs for other platforms and where to get them? Ned > LAT sells the only overwrite program that has been approved >for Unix platforms. > > --Bob

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TRAVELLER'S ADVISORY
by Sandy 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Punksters, Here's a scary (but so far imaginary) news item: MILLIONAIRE HIPPIE HACKER ARRESTED FOR SMUGGLING WAR MATERIEL (San Francisco) Silicon Valley entrepreneur and self-styled "cypherpunk," John Gilmore, was arrested today at San Francisco International Airport. A Secret Service spokesperson said Gilmore was attempting to smuggle restricted software to England where he was to have been a speaker at a hackers' conference. The spokesperson added that the Secret Service has reason to believe that Gilmore intended to meet with members of a radical Islamic terrorist group, but declined to elaborate on this charge. Apparently, airport security personnel received an anonymous tip that Gilmore had hidden the software in his laptop computer. The computer and several computer disks were seize as evidence. Think it couldn't happen? I'm not so sure. It would be child's play to plant PGP in someone's seized laptop or to put a PGP disk in their luggage. While they were at it, a little marijuana or crack cocaine could be put in there too. Think of the photo op as John is lead away in handcuffs. What a PR coup for the Feds. I think this is a real danger for outspoken Cypherpunks or other high-profile individuals such as Phil Zimmermann. Unfortunately, I don't have any bullet-proof solutions. Suggestions? S a n d y >>>>>> Please send e-mail to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com <<<<<< ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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FIDONet Mail filtering - a course of action
by L. Detweiler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FIDONet mail filtering came up many months ago. It is indeed an atrocious policy. Are these people in the same cyberspace we are? This is like hearing neanderthals inhabit many houses in the neighborhood. As for what *we* can do, well, if premier cyberspatial laywer Mike Godwin considers himself a hardcore cypherpunk, I'd expect that a letter on EFF stationary would have a pretty significant effect. It wouldn't have to be hostile or intimidating, just something along the tone of `please join the cyberspatial community and your concerned peers.' It could mention the strict legal significance of the ECPA -- that a strong case can be made that *any* filtering is in violation of it, and that one cannot screen encrypted mail without breaking it. In fact, ideally the letter would be general enough to give to anyone who is engaged in unwholesome activities along the same lines. If this is all too much work, I think just quoting his cypherpunk-list letters that suggest the ECPA does not exactly condone their behavior might have an effect too... Hee, hee, though I'd say the actual letter would be worth a coveted L.D. Cypherpunk of the Week award <g> I'm just waiting for an excuse to give M.G. one. I don't think everyone realizes how lucky we are to have him and Gilmore in the same room with us!

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Re: POISON PILL
by peb＠PROCASE.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

All this talk of booby-traps reminds me of this booby-trap expert who had written books and had his house set up completely. He was found dead one day when one of the traps got him... [This anecdote is vaguely remembered from a short note in Whole Earth Review. I remember seeing a review in the '70s on the book itself when it was originally reviewed.] Paul E. Baclace peb(a)procase.com

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No Subject
by anonymous＠extropia.wimsey.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Reply to msg originally in CYPHERPUNKS > From: mdiehl(a)triton.unm.edu (J. Michael Diehl) > I had heard a rumor that fidonet forbade encrypted e-mail, but I > had to find out for myself. Well, they do. No, they do not. This is a myth, and you have drawn a mistaken conclusion from your experiment. This thread has already run off into left field by the time I got to it, but to try to drag a little reality back in, I submit the following: FIDOnet has within it SECURENET, which is a netmail-handling network specifically for encrypted netmail. Mail points not wishing to handle PGPed or other encrypted netmail are provided with software to automatically remove PGP netmail and re-route it into the FIDO SECURENET network. FIDOnet has at least two conferences specifically for PGP and other public-key encryption system discussions and key exchange, PUBLIC_KEYS and KEY_DROP (if I remember correctly). Now, the point most internet people forget is that FIDOnet hosts are hobbyists with 100% privately-owned machines and generally pay for the entire participation of their userbase out of their own pockets, excepting a few who get some dollars here and there from their generous callers. As a completely justified consequence, they can decide if they allow encrypted traffic _on their individual BBSs_. In that there is considerable fear of the consequences of illegal activity being conducted on their BBSs via encrypted mail, many sysops (such as the one you mention, leaving aside, for now, that he apparently confused a PGP key with an encrypted message) do not wish to take the risk and forbid encrypted traffic. They also monitor e-mail, if only incidentally during the course of routine system maintenance, and notices to this effect are generally contained in log-on screens and new-user info files. In that these sysops are extremely, _personally_ vulnerable, they are generally more cautious than those internet folks who can hide behind institutions and businesses. In spite of this, there are a very large number of FIDOnet sysops who participate in SECURENET and encourage the spread of encryption technology to the general public.

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BlackNet Investigations--the Truth (fwd)
by tcmay＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cypherians, Here's a posting I sent to the "Extropians" list, which many of you are already on..sorry about getting this twice. Hit "delete" now if you are not interested in the "crypto-anarchy" side of what we are doing. I say this because when I post on these topics, which are apparently of interest to some, I often get notes or postings saying "Not all of us are anarchists, so keep this stuff off the list!" Now we are a diverse bunch. Some of us are fairly radical libertarians and see strong crypto as the technological tool to demolish governments (including the U.S. government). Others of us are anti-big business and see crypto as a means of reducing the power of large corporations over individuals. Others are socialists, acid freaks, even military cadets. Whatever. Some want to talk about using thermite bombs to melt hard disks (a current hot topic, as it were). Others are deeply into Perl scripts, MIME, and so on. For others, patent law and the ins and outs of the ECPA are the big excitement. The point is, there are a lot of loosely related items in the Cypherpunks agenda. What follows is related to _my_ main interest, the colonization of cyberspace and the institutions and methods which will arise. Don't read it if it doesn't interest you. And if you're scared that talking about using technology to bypass laws and ultimately overthrow national governments as we know them today will get you into trouble with the authorities or with your company, well, then this list is probably not for you. Me, I say what I think. Others can say what they think, too. -Tim May Forwarded message: To: Extropians(a)extropy.org Date: Fri, 1 Oct 93 14:06:16 -0700 From: tcmay(a)netcom.com (Timothy C. May) Subject: BlackNet Investigations--the Truth BlackNet Investigations Announces New Dossier Services FLASH: BlackNet Investigations is pleased to announce the immediate availability of dossiers from the former East Germany (DDR) and the former Soviet Union. We have obtained tens of millions of dossiers on activists, dissidents, extropians, and ordinary people and have meticulously scanned and digitized the essence of these files (many of these files were already in magnetic format, albeit primitive). Now you can learn what the KGB had on your business associates! Now you can discover if that little German pastry is as innocent as she seems. And you can even find out what the GRU had on you from your visit to Vienna in 1984. Contact us for details. Competitive rates, as always. And coming soon: the previously secret files of the KriminalStaatsPolizei. Plus, the now-privatized dossiers of the South American police states! Sources close to the FBI may soon make their files available as well! We are also negotiating with personnel at hospitals and insurance companies to obtain black market copies of insurance records, describing in gory detail all medical and psychiatric conditions for tens of millions of Americans. Onward and Upward! -BlackNet Investigations, a Cyberspace Entity ......... By now many of you know that BlackNet Investigations is not quite real...yet. More than just a Klaus!-style put-on, it's a basically plausible implication of current trends. Some of you requested your dossiers, others even wrote threatening notes. And a few of you even played along, saying how "shocked, simply shocked" you were to see the dossiers compiled on you. (Thanks! You know who you are.) As Dave Krieger noted in his piece on BlackNet Investigations, folks need to keep the inevitability of such dossier-based systems in mind. Others may not "advertise" the way BlackNet does, but they're just as surely keeping dossiers. I don't think it's overly paranoid to suggest that things you write on Usenet, or in mailing lists like Extropians and Cypherpunks, are being compiled by some into dossiers of sorts...call them "databases" if you like, but they're still dossiers. And in fact I do have a lot of Extropians and Cypherpunks postings tucked away in places that my Mac databases can access them easily, via keyword searches, tagged fields, etc. I'm quote sure a lot of people are doing this, quite likely some TLA agencies. All of the Extropians and Cypherpunks traffic for the past couple of years, and a lot more, fits on a single 128 MB magneto-optical cartridge...and I've got 10 or so of them. All Usenet postings are archived on CD-ROMs, available by subscription (Walnut Creek Software, or somesuch...and maybe multiple sources). Easy to obtain. Expect ftp sites to carry these back postings, if they aren't already available. In the next 10 years it'll be essentially a trivial exercise for any person--your child, your potential employer, credit agencies, etc.--to sift through the 20 or 30 gigabyes of Usenet traffic for a 10-year period and look for juicy items, for admissions of unusual sexual practices, for extreme political statements, etc. Data storage increases (CDs, DATs, MOs, new media) and processor speed increases will make searches easy and fast. Rather than having all this data on one's own machine, many people will compile it into files or dossiers, and then charge access fees. Customized searches, specialized grepping, and database "engines" optimized for search (like the Connection Machines, the Teradata hypercubes, neural net and fuzzy logic engines, etc.) will make this even easier. As jurisdictions attempt to pass laws restricting these accesses, as with the convoluted U.S. laws regarding credit, tenant (renter) credit, medical malpractice databases, etc. (the whole credit market, in other words), these databases will be moved offshore. Or the access may go offshore, and then back again! (You can set up the databases in your bedroom, then sell access through "cut-outs" that lie beyond the reach of U.S. laws.) Private investigation as we know it today will be radically changed. (Actually, much of current P.I. work is already accessing records and databases, so-called "skip-tracing" work, to see where vanished people have ended up...deadbeat dads, missing children, etc.) Entities like BlackNet will flourish in the crypto-anarchic world of cyberspace (or "cypherspace," as John Draper dubbed it). Positive reputations will be of utmost importance, as we've discussed so many times. Digital pseudonyms will of necessity become more widespread. Offshore data havens, credit agencies that aren't restricted to the "7 years" allowed by U.S. law, repositories of stolen software, all will be accessible by "BlackNet"-style "wormholes" (the public key access methods that allow entities to communicate anonymously and untraceably). Wake up and prepare for this future. Embrace it, or be left behind. Crypto-anarchy is inevitable, and changes everything. -Tim May -- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: by arrangement Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.

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Medium destruction
by Peter Capek (TL-863-6721) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have no firsthand knowledge, but a friend who was into this a few years ago told me that the following is used for NSA's "best stuff" on paper... First, it is shredded. Then, it is burned. Then, the ashes are soaked in acid Then the acid is allowed to evaporate and the resulting mass is formed into bricks. The bricks are dumped at sea at a classified location which is changed weekly. Maybe he was putting me on, but... A few years ago, the American embassy in (I think) Teheran was invaded by mobs of locals. They apparently managed to get hold of a lot of classified documents which had been shredded in the minutes before they managed to break in. But a few months later, there appeared in the New York Times reconstructions of a few pages of the original material, based on a lot of tedious labor. So, maybe the procedures above aren't excessive...

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FIDO, encryption
by Karl Lui Barrus 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Here is the companion script to the other one I posted. It takes the output of the previous script (which takes PGP encrypted ascii to a list of geopraphic name), and turns it back into a PGP file. Not really stegonography since it's really just a substitution cipher. But, with a more sophisticated output grammar, you could embed your encrypted file in a bizarre vacation itinerary :-) pgphide < file.asc | mail -s "not encryped at all" user@host and then pgpuhide < mail_file_from_sneaky_person > pgpfile.asc will allow your friend decrypt pgpfile.asc. - ---------- #!/usr/local/bin/perl #pgpunhide - converts a geographic file back to pgp #Karl L. Barrus <klbarrus(a)owlnet.rice.edu> %conversion = ( 'canada', '0', 'united states', '1', 'mexico', '2', 'pacific ocean', '3', 'atlantic ocean', '4', 'arctic ocean', '5', 'gulf of mexico', '6', 'north america', '7', 'allegheny mountains', '8', 'rocky mountains', '9', 'alabama', 'a', 'alaska', 'b', 'arizona', 'c', 'new mexico', 'd', 'arkansas', 'e', 'california', 'f', 'colorado', 'g', 'connecticut', 'h', 'rhode island','i', 'delaware', 'j', 'maryland', 'k', 'florida','l', 'georgia', 'm', 'hawaii', 'n', 'idaho','o', 'illinois', 'p', 'indiana', 'q', 'iowa','r', 'kansas', 's', 'kentucky', 't', 'louisiana','u', 'maine', 'v', 'massachusetts', 'w', 'michigan','x', 'minnesota', 'y', 'mississippi', 'z', 'missouri','A', 'montana', 'B', 'nebraska', 'C', 'nevada','D', 'utah', 'E', 'new hampshire', 'F', 'vermont','G', 'new jersey', 'H', 'new york', 'I', 'north carolina','J', 'north dakota', 'K', 'south dakota', 'L', 'ohio','M', 'oklahoma', 'N', 'oregon', 'O', 'pennsylvania', 'P', 'south carolina', 'Q', 'tennessee', 'R', 'texas','S', 'virginia', 'T', 'washington', 'U', 'west virginia','V', 'wisconsin', 'W', 'wyoming', 'X', 'washington d.c.','Y', 'bermuda', 'Z', 'guam', '+', 'puerto rico','/', 'virgin islands','=', ); print "-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----\n"; print "Version: 2.3a\n\n"; while (<>) { $line = $_; chop $line; if ($line eq "") { print "\n"; } else { print $conversion{$line}; } } print "-----END PGP MESSAGE-----\n"; -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLKyz4YOA7OpLWtYzAQF3JAP9EjWnj7pix65fJLFf9mE+gLkw719nX0Xa jMgHFxmDIdeOxewi9ZnuzE99QqQHv4+TO3dO+CGg0zxGhCMO8/mu4vQtK6825kHl 9fESP/f2oSVLDPd2/Zv3c0/kMKe9UnMModNgl7tngzsMeBkFJVCnKjkQNGsJGCSz C5Z4uXaZccs= =M+N2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[Question EFF yielding of crypto authority to NIST]
by Doug Humphrey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[stuff deleted] >Actually, they have issued such legal guarantees. They're in the form of the >administration's vow to uphold the US Constitution. That document's 9th and >10th amendments preclude US Government denial or disparagement of the people's >right to use cryptography (and a whole lot of others). The fact that these >legal guarantees are being ignored simply illustrates that their tyranny is >unbridled. When I first scanned this, I saw "... illustrates that their tyranny is unbundled" And I thought, what a concept! Doug

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