December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Is this list alive?
by Carl Ellison 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>> Is this mailing list still alive? >>> I do not get any message for about one week. >> >>Well, technically it's working. Just doesn't seem to be much traffic... >> >> Julf >> >> >es scheint, ich bin nicht der einzige der Probleme hat. Es kommen zwar rund >fuenfzig mail taeglich :-) hier an, aber manchmal fehlen Mails, zu denen >ich replys sehe. Hat wahrscheinlich mit der Umstellung der >Mailreflectorsoftware zu tun. Andreas, ich habe das auch gesehen. Aber, manchmal kommen die urspruengliche Mails *nach* den Replien (sp? :-). Vielleicht ist das immer das Problem. - Carl

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[mccon@erim.org (Joe McConnell): Latest Headlines ]
by emv＠mail.msen.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

+===========================================================================+ | Copyright 1994 by Wood-Charles Associates. All rights reserved. | | WCA News is available on the Msen Gopher. | | gopher://gopher.msen.com/11/vendor/wca | +===========================================================================+ HEADLINES FROM THE NATION'S NEWS COMPILED BY DISINFORMATION SYSTEMS EDITOR, FAIRLY N. COHERENT BATF JUMPS ON ENCRYPTION BANDWAGON WASHINGTON: THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, AND FIREARMS (THE ONLY FEDERAL AGENCY WHOSE NAME SOUNDS LIKE A SUPPLIES LIST FOR A HIGH SCHOOL PROM) IS GETTING INTO THE ENCRYPTION MANDATE GAME WITH ITS OWN VERSION OF A TAPPABLE-MESSAGE-MANGLER. BATF IS PUSHING FOR A DESIGN CALLED THE "WACO" CHIP WHICH WOULD ALLOW ATF AGENTS TO SMASH IN THE FRONT DOOR OF YOUR SYSTEM, ERASE ALL YOUR FILES, REFORMAT YOUR DRIVES, AND SEND ABUSIVE EMAIL TO YOUR CAT. THE ADMINISTRATION'S OFFICE OF CAVING IN TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ISSUED A STATEMENT SUPPORTING THE PROGRAM. NEW INTERNET PUBLICATIONS ON SHELVES ANN ARBOR: THE OUTPOURING OF PUBLIC INTEREST IN CONNECTIVITY HAS, PREDICTABLY, RESULTED IN A SPATE OF INTERNET BOOKS. AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, THE FIRST CROP WERE MOSTLY INTRODUCTORY AND AIMED AT GENERAL AUDIENCES. NOW, HOWEVER, THE TITLES ARE BECOMING MORE NICHE-ORIENTED, WITH THE FOLLOWING NEW VOLUMES HITTING THE STORES NOW. THE INTERNET GUIDE FOR CATS: INCLUDES CHAPTERS ON "HOW TO SEND ONE OF YOUR OWNERS MAIL DENYING THAT THE OTHER ONE HAS REMEMBERED TO FEED YOU," "WALLOWING AROUND ON THE KEYBOARD: THE ULTIMATE ENCRYPTION SYSTEM?" AND "HOW TO TELL IF SOMEONE ON THE INTERNET REALLY _IS_ A DOG." EVERYTHING THE GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET: A LANDMARK IN NICHE MARKETING -- A BOOK AIMED AT ONE INDIVIDUAL READER. FEATURES: "GET RICH FAST! 1001 SCHEMES FOR FUNDING YOUR SCHOOL SYSTEM," AND "EVEN ON THE INTERNET, EVERYONE CAN TELL YOU'RE A MORON." LOCAL FIRM OFFERS ELECTRONIC DECOR ANN ARBOR: "SO YOU GOT THIS INFO HIGHWAY THING. SO YOU GOT PEOPLE DRIVING BY ON IT. SO WHAT YOU NEED IS SOMETHING FOR 'EM TO LOOK AT." SO SAYS THE PRESIDENT OF ZASTRONICS, INC., MAKERS OF ELECTRONIC LAWN ORNAMENTS. THE ZASTRONICS LINE FEATURES LITTLE KISSING EECS UNDERGRADS, BIG CONCRETE PARENT PROCESSES WITH A WHOLE STRING OF LITTLE CHILD PROCESSES FOLLOWING THEM AROUND, AND A LINE OF COY, PLYWOOD HOME PAGE BUTTS. "ON THE INTERNET, NO ONE CAN TELL THAT YOU'VE EATEN A TEMPEH BURGER," SAID AN OLD TOWN WAITPERSONAGE WHO CHARACTERIZED HIS PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT AS "KIND OF A SEA SHELL CITY ON THE INFO SUPERHIGHWAY." -30- ------- End of Forwarded Message

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Cryptography banned in the Netherlands....
by mrs＠tinac.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have always thought that the Netherlands was a very liberal country. But now the government is proposing a law that totally outlaws the use of encryption methods. According to this proposal anyone that wants to use encryption have to register the keys they use with the government, thus allowing the government to decrypt anything they want to decrypt. It is also proposed to totally ban the sales of anything that can be used to encrypt data. Ofcourse this is a blatant violation of civil rights, but to my big surprise the opposition is not even acting upon it. According to them, the matter is not interesting!!!! It most certainly would not surprise you that this news has really outraged almost anyone in the computer and telecommunications industry. But the really sad thing is the procedure. Here in the United States there is a at least a public discussion about the use of the Clipper chip. In the Netherlands the government planned to approve this law before the upcoming elections in the beginning of May '94. Given the total lack of interest from the opposition it seems that they might actually succeed with these dirty scheme. Any comments???? Mike

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crypto software/papers/docs CD -- is there any interest?
by markh＠wimsey.bc.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forgive the somewhat commercial nature of this message, but I think it is well within the lines of the cypherpunks mission of getting code out to people. --- I'm considering the possibility of producing a CD (for distribution in North America only) of crypto source code, information/papers and binaries for common platforms. It would include the software available from the common ftp archives (soda.berkeley.edu, wimsey.bc.ca, ripem.msu.edu, ftp.dsi.unimi.it &c.) plus other assorted tidbits I've collected over the last few years. The cost would be somewhere around US$50 depending upon the demand (more CDs pressed translates into a lower price; there would be some equipment costs to offset). The CD doesn't exist yet; I'm just considering the possibility of putting this together. So, would anyone be interested in such a CD? -- Mark Henderson markh(a)wimsey.bc.ca (personal account) RIPEM MD5OfPublicKey: F1F5F0C3984CBEAF3889ADAFA2437433 ViaCrypt PGP Key Fingerprint: 21 F6 AF 2B 6A 8A 0B E1 A1 2A 2A 06 4A D5 92 46 cryptography archive maintainer -- anon ftp -- wimsey.bc.ca:/pub/crypto

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Finger/Remailer Ping server
by rjc＠gnu.ai.mit.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Someone asked about having a "list of remailers" ping server available via finger. I took some code I wrote over a year ago and hacked together such a system. I need volunteers to run it. The server does the following: 1)forks off a "cron" to automatically ping remailers every X hours 2)ping's the remailers (by requesting a remail to itself) 3)any remailers which respond will have their timestamps updated 4)any change in the status of remailers (a ping received) recreates your .plan file as so copy .realplan to .plan tackon a banner for the list of remailers tackon a list of remailers and the last time a response was received (e.g. remailer(a)remail.com last heard from 2.3 days ago) Anyone running this perl script from their .forward file will have a list of remailers automatically embedded in their finger information. Optimum use would be for remailer operators to add a line to their maildelivery slocal configuration which catches "Subject: --PING!--" (which is one of the ways pings are detected, the body of the message is most important) and pipe it to the script. Then you could just finger any remailer for a list of remailers (assuming the remailer doesn't run from its own alias) Note: the software may or may not work. I have only superficially tested it by piping in fake pings. I have no idea whether or not it will be stable so I need someone to run it for a few nights to see if it works correctly (and if not, I can fix any fatal bugs) -Ray "Perl is the Ultimate Language" -- Ray Cromwell | Engineering is the implementation of science; -- -- rjc(a)gnu.ai.mit.edu | politics is the implementation of faith. --

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Well...shit
by Jeff Davis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If whatzits(a)netcom.com is Detweiler, at least he's paying $20/mo to pop in here. I have Sternlight attacking me on eff.talk- that's good. He sure perceives me as a threat for a Wyoming ranch hand. That's good advice y'all have there about not feeding the animals. I've been looking at this remailer business. Well, hell. I want to go the other way. I'm Jeff Leroy Davis AKA Eagle, and lots of people know that. Ram Dass has this thing of his public self and his private self as one. In other words, he is himself, whether in public or private. I'm open about myself, and have projected my true persona into cyberspace. At least the truth about myself as I see it here now. I have no reason to create an anonymous persona, or construct some sort of personality. Now if I have to go underground in the net at some future date, that's a different story. For now, I'm quite secure in who and what I am, and endevor to let the truth of my heart shine in cyberspace. -- PGP PUBLIC KEY via finger! JAFEFFM Speaking & Thinking For Myself! * eagle(a)deeptht.armory.com email info(a)eff.org * *** O U T L A W S On The E L E C T R O N I C F R O N T I E R **** ***** Committed to Free Public Internet Access for World Peace *****

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Re: your mail
by Jim Sewell - KD4CKQ 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<My computer told me that nobody(a)shell.portal.com said:> > > Since people are talking about new remailer features, can I suggest > another one - how about single-use (or limited use) anonymous return > addressess (ARAs) ? There are quite a few situations I can envisage where > I might want to give an anonymous return address to someone that could > only be used a limited number of times, or for a limited period of > time ... digi cash example and comments deleted. Another good use of this would be to maintain anonymity. If you used the same aa382043 address over and over again people will attach an identity to that and they will remember, "Oh yes, that's the guy that said he works for a computer company and hates spinach and likes Amy and ...." and soon (assuming a long term use of the account) you will have an identity and people will be biased one way or another toward you, even though they do not know who you are in real life. A one shot id will allow people to remain truly anon and not have to go to the trouble of switching accts and putting a burden on the remailers with 1000's of accounts.

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New ID technique: warning of things to come
by lstanton＠lehman.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is a little off-topic, but it does apply to authentication... I have been abroad for the past few weeks. In the course of my travels, I was given some data about a new program that the US Dept. of State/Customs and Immigration people are moving into limited testing at JFK and LAX. They want to implement a "fast, positive identification system to speed processing of entrants to the United States by use of biometric data." The system works by use of a handprint scanner, and a smart card. Participants would go through an initial hand scan, and then be issued a smartcard. Upon subsequent entries to the US, instead of going through the normal passport check, you would place your hand on a scanner and insert your card in the slot. The system would then positively identify you, and clear you for entry. I have no details about the format/security of the card data, and the INS guy I spoke to made no statements about privacy, security or other uses of their ID database. If this takes off, the risks of it spreading to a national ID card, or to the 'healthcare card' are obvious. Linn H. Stanton <stanton(a)acm.org> The above opinions are exclusively my own. If anyone else wants them, they can buy them from me. Easy terms can be arranged. -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.2 mQBNAitK8+EAAAECALzK83DH79m7DLKBmZA2h9U33fBE80EwT4xRY05K7WRfxpO3 BmhPVBmes9h97odVZ0RxAFvinOl4wZGOb8pDclMABRG0IUxpbm4gSC4gU3RhbnRv biA8c3RhbnRvbkBhY20ub3JnPrQnTGlubiBILiBTdGFudG9uIDxsc3RhbnRvbkBz aGVhcnNvbi5jb20+ =oCru -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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Remailers
by Matthew J Ghio 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

For all the newbies who keep asking for info on the remailers, the address is: mg5n+remailers(a)andrew.cmu.edu You can get an anonymous address from mg5n+getid(a)andrew.cmu.edu Each time you request an anon address, you get a different one. You can get as many as you like. The addresses don't expire, however, so maybe it's not the ideal 'one-shot' system, but it allows replies without connecting you to your 'real name/address' or to any of your other posts/nyms.

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RE: Pseudonyms and Reputations
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: hfinney "One possibility is a digital reputation system. Presently people and nyms develop informal reputations in the minds of their readers. This could be formalized by allowing readers to create endorsements of various types for those who have worthwhile things to say. " Could I really allow myself to be so prejudiced by what a number of others have determined is (or is not) a worthwhile contributor to a list? My interest in reading a message has first to do with the subject of attention, then second the one who has something to say. There are many types of commentary which someone could introduce at any time; sometimes in humor or sarcasm, sometimes with great insight, more or less successfully. I think whoever attends to messages on a list should consider their motives - whether they just want company, a sounding board, or whether they want to read about a particular subject of interest. The opportunity to interact with others in abstract conversation is also the opportunity to develop and refine the ability to communicate, to improve upon the formulation of a thought and express it with greater ability. I might not like the style or manner of what someone has said in the past, yet accept what they have to say some other time. But this would be my own judgement at work, not a conclusion derived from the aggregate opinion of others. I myself wouldn't pay excessive attention to a reputation system, outside of its entertainment value. Blanc

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