December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Detweiler's motivations
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: NetSurfer <jdwilson(a)gold.chem.hawaii.edu> > The author is Gordon > McLachlan (mclachlan(a)cardinal.com) and the article appeared in the > "Crosswired" column of May 1994 Vol. 5 No. 5 Lan Computing. > [...] > First of all, we need a seven-day waiting period and a thorough background > check before anyone can get issued a user-ID. This would give system > administrators time to find out if a user is a loon, or has been bounced > off of other systems for misbehaving. To support this effort, congress > should establish a national database to keep track of network offenders. > > A quick scan of almost any mailing list or newsgroup will reveal sociopaths > who should have their access priviledges revoked. And we should never > forget that network access is a priviledge and not a right. Its ironic to > me that we license people to drive cars, but all you need to get on the > information superhighway is a MODEM. This kind of suggestion, although made in jest, provides a clue to what Detweiler is trying to do, IMO. (These are just my speculations, and perhaps they are obvious to others, but I haven't seen these specific points made here.) He posts innumerable messages, alternating between reasonable-sounding arguments and insane gibbering. He replies to himself, posting other people's words as if they were his own. He calls for accountability and decries the use of pseudonyms while being one of the most prominent users and abusers of this technology. Some have concluded that Detweiler actually is insane, but I don't think so. I suspect that he is acting on a carefully calculated program designed to discredit the kinds of technologies we support. By posting trash to the newsgroups under a pseudonym, and making clear that it is just a psuedo- nym, he hopes to undermine tolerance for this method of using the net. He has largely ruined talk.politics.crypto as a forum for serious discussion of the kinds of social changes which might be brought about by strong crypto- graphy. This kind of abuse will undoubtedly lead to complaints against his service provider, as well as demands to know his true identity. Detweiler also seeks to reveal hypocrisy on the part of supporters of anonymity, as when I posted logs of his "Death to Blacknet" post bombs to dozens of Usenet groups, breaking his anonymity. He is saying that anonymity is so bad that even its supporters will seek to destroy it when provoked. In this way he seeks to further discredit CP goals. His bizarre practice of posting replies to his own messages, criticizing his own words in scathing tones (apparently basing these messages on the private email he receives) is designed to show that lack of clear ident- ification of message sources is confusing. This further advances his argu- ment that psuedonymity is bad and that clear identification of identities will be necessary for effective communication. So, having failed to persuade by his words, Detweiler is trying to demon- strate his points by example. By taking all that he hates and becoming the embodiment of it, to an exagerrated degree, he is trying to show that anonymity is dangerous, confusing, and a barrier to communication. In this light, his behavior is perfectly rational. Hal

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Phone Taps Take In Israeli Who's Who
by jktaber＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > > LA Times, Sat. 5/28/94, pA2 > > Phone Taps Take In Israeli Who's Who > > Two private eyes are charged with listening in on hundreds of > people's cellular calls. The incident is viewed as a warning > to a security-conscious country. > > By Michael Parks > (Times Staff Writer) A little skepticism is in order. The story reeks of PR, most likely by Israeli counter-intelligence. It appears to threaten (in a nice way) the civilian leadership. I would suspect the facts as being inflated, the private eyes a convenient cover for the desired message. I read it as some sort of blackmail by Israeli secret police.

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doubled messages? doubled messages?
by Eli Brandt 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Anybody else started getting double messages? They're both To: the list, not a Cc: and a To:. Eli ebrandt(a)hmc.edu

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procmail
by tim werner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Someone said: >> > With procmail, you can associate arbitrary actions with a match, so no >> > it would not have to be silent. Will anyone who has procmail working please send me an example of how you use it? I am totally confused. thanks tw

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Re: Email Stalking on CNN
by sidney＠apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jeff Davis <eagle(a)deeptht.armory.com> said: >You might pass this information on to CNN in Atlanta. I think that there's an aspect to this that people are missing. I've been told that there's a big flame/discussion happening on WISEnet (Women In Science and Engineering mailing list) about a recent article in Newsweek which portrays women on the Internet as being intimidated by the technology and the net traffic, going so far as to show pictures of women at their pink computers. People on the mailing list are upset over the underlying message of the article that the net is technological and male and no place for a poor helpless unscientific woman. The CNN report seems to have the same message. It doesn't matter to them that there exists technology to prevent "e-mail stalking", whatever that is. The whole story doesn't match most people's experience of e-mail, anyway. The point is not to present facts, but to perpetuate the culture that relies on CNN for information rather than wider and more free alternatives represented by the Internet. I admit that I did not see the report, and I am not questioning the reporter's intentions or objectivity. This is a comment about the broader messages that make the commercial news media worthy of funding by corporate and governmental powers. The relevance to cypherpunks goes beyond the fact that anonymous remailers can prevent "e-mail stalking". It has to do with what is newsworthy when information is set free. -- sidney markowitz <sidney(a)apple.com>

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Re: Email Stalking on CNN
by snyderra＠dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:33 PM 5/27/94 -0700, Jeff Davis wrote: >The idiot box behind me is making noise about Headline News' lead story >for the evening, Email Stalking. The woman involved states she'll never >use email again. Seems to me her arguments are moot, as cypherpunks has >already developed the technology to solve this problem. Anyone volunteer >to be a spokesperson for rebuttal? The stalking itself wasn't conducted via email, from my understanding of the story. They met via email (on AOL, it appears), and she tried to slow things down, and he showed up and sent her email saying he saw her leave work, and that he thought she was attractive. The involvement of email is only secondary, but since email fits in the "Information Superhighway" buzzword catagory, I suspect CNN jumped on this. This really has little to do with cryptography, though. Bob -- Bob Snyder N2KGO MIME, RIPEM mail accepted snyderra(a)dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu finger for RIPEM public key When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

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Re: Email Stalking on CNN
by kentborg＠world.std.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

various people wrote: [various things about email stalking, kill files, and whether AOL has 'em] No, AOL does not have kill features, but between rebooting their overloaded computers they are adding new features to their email system... Having recently subscribed to both cypherpunks and savoynet, I only now have my first real need for mail filtering, first in many years of doing email. Hey folks, it ain't something my mom is going to figure out any time soon. procmail (which several of you very nicely mentioned to ignorant me, thanks again) has about the worst man page I have ever seen--imagine hiding the "SEE ALSO" section near the beginning of a man page? Now that I have also found the procmailrc man page and have some examples (thanks pierre) I will soon be shunting you folks into a different cubby hole from Mikado and leap year discussions. Related note: when was the last time you successfully explained how to use PGP to a "normal" ( <- be honest here) person? The "real world" (which now *does* include email) needs better tools than this. If you expect CNN reporters to even know that man pages exist you are in for a disappointment. -kb, the money-in-mouth Kent who will donate user interface design work to c'punk-type efforts to make this stuff easier... -- Kent Borg +1 (617) 776-6899 kentborg(a)world.std.com kentborg(a)aol.com Proud to claim 24:35 hours of TV viewing so far in 1994!

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Re: Email Stalking on CNN
by lile＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am pretty sure that kill files work silently. THe whole point is to not be bothered with mail coming from a person. Haven't heard from Sternlight in awhile.... :) As for AOL, I am not sure what mailer she was using and if she even knows how to use such things as killfiles. Prehaps someone could get an account on AOL and investigate what is offered in this area. It would be great if the oldones could inform the newones... though it's hard. Prehaps we should write a book... -lile

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

kentborg(a)world.std.com (Kent Borg) writes: > Related note: when was the last time you successfully explained how to > use PGP to a "normal" ( <- be honest here) person? Interestingly enough, just yesterday. I assure you, the person who needed the explanation was hardly what one could consider 'techno-savvy'. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

sidney(a)apple.com (Sidney Markowitz) writes: > pink computers. People on the mailing list are upset over the underlying > message of the article that the net is technological and male and no place > for a poor helpless unscientific woman. For almost two years, I was a Tech Support Rep (ooooooo! Evil Incarnate!) for a software company. It was my experience that, of all the customers I dealt with, women tended to be less "clued in" about computers. However, I also found that they were easier to work with, and didn't require as much "diplomacy" as the male customers I dealt with. Mind you, this is my experience -- your mileage may vary. The whole point here is that, as a whole, women do tend to be less informed about technology (or at least computers.). Technology is generally seen, by society, as a "male thing". This trend is changing, but it is still in force. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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