December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: "lifeguard(?)": bullet tracking system???
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>C'punks, > >On Sun, 29 May 1994, Arsen Ray Arachelian wrote: > >> Hey guys, I heard a blurb on the radio a few days abo about something called >> "lifeguard" which can track the source of gunfire. My guess is that they [snip] and Sandy Sandfort <sandfort(a)crl.com> replied, [much really spiffy stuff about shooting the shooter(or not) "elided" as they say around here...] uh, is this *really* cryptography? [sorry...] ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923

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FBI: to Russia with love
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ho ho. Not content with Big Brothering America, the FBI is draping a protective arm around the Russians, to teach the KGB's progeny how to _really_ do their job. Freeh said that Russian mafia selling nukes to terrorists may pose the single largest threat to American security. Whatever happened to all the ferocious pedophiles on the Net? Does Boris know that his new protector's favourite encryption ensures the absolute secrecy of his communications? I thought that US jurisdiction was extended to the whole world through the spooks and the DEA. The FBI's in good company, no doubt. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA The National Short-Sleeved Shirt Association says: Support your right to bare arms! --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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ecash-info (fwd)
by bart＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From info(a)DigiCash.nl Mon May 30 05:44:18 1994 > Date: Mon, 30 May 1994 14:08:20 CET > From: "DigiCash Information" <info(a)DigiCash.nl> > To: bart(a)netcom.com > Subject: ecash-info > > Thank you for your interest in our electronic money technology. > Because of all the reactions we have received, we have made available > some background information on our Web server > > http://digicash.support.nl > >... > David Chaum > Managing Director > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > DigiCash bv info(a)digicash.nl > Kruislaan 419 tel +31 20 665 2611 > 1098 VA Amsterdam fax +31 20 668 5486 > The Netherlands http://digicash.support.nl > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >

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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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tmp's illness and a free world
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Various people, on Unicorn's suit: > > You only had to find someone who was ill, and then kick him > > while he was down. > > It has never been demonstrated to my satisfaction that tmp(a)netcom.com > is ill, and while the suggestion has been made frequently I don't > think we can use the supposition to accuse Mr. Unicorn of "kicking" a > sick person. This is a serious twisting of the facts. Hee hee. True, Detweiler (who's not tmp, of course) has often been accused of being 'ill' -- meaning mentally deranged. I doubt that he'd agree, though ;-) > > Was it Rousseau who said, "First, we kill all the lawyers"? > > No, my ignorant friend, it was Shakespeare. Shakespeare?? Not Moses... ;-) As I said earlier: > In an ideal world one would have the freedom to express without any risk of > damage, whether it be economic, material or social. Ideally, I should be able > to publicly discuss my views, on anarchy or religion or sadism or whatever, > without risking social censure. In an ideally tolerant society, the need for > anonymity would then be reduced to freedom from analysis. > > Unfortunately our society is far from ideal. Though Unicorn could freely post > on the relatively more tolerant Net, he still faces intolerance in the 'real' > world. > > For all we may talk about reputation systems, multiple identities and so on, > the seven-digit possible loss Unicorn talks about is _real_, in a way > cyberspace and lost net.reputations just aren't, yet. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA The National Fairness to Game Animals Association says: Support your right to arm bears! --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Cypherpunks' Electronic Book
by Gary Jeffers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Please see my current post of the truncated subject title: The Cypherpunks' Electronic Bo Yours Truly, Gary Jeffers

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Re: Does Estonian RSA chip violate patents?
by smb＠research.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

As this is in Estonia, I don't suppose you're bothered about the patents? As far as I know, RSA/PKP patents are for _algorithms_, not respected outside the US, though patents for RSA/PKP _hardware_ would be respected world wide. I'm not sure how algorithm patents can be applied to hardware -- you may or may not be able to sell this chip in the US _without_ violating patents. (Though you can freely sell RSA hardware or software outside the US.) You may even be able to apply for a European patent for the hardware, which would then be respected everywhere, except in the US where it may be superceded by the algorithm patents. There's a lot of confusion about what the RSA patent covers, and what's prohibited by it. Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman did not patent an algorithm. Rather, they patented a cryptographic communication system based on certain equations. That means that it doesn't matter if you build it using software or hardware -- if it's still a system using the mechanisms described by their patent, it would infringe the patent in the U.S. Both within and outside the U.S., RSA hardware is patentable to the extent that the circuitry used is new, useful, and non-obvious. But what you're patenting is a circuit to do RSA, not RSA itself, of course. (The circuit might actually be more general, i.e., a modular exponentiation chip or some such -- in which case you'd be well advised to patent the more general concept rather just its utility for RSA.) That doesn't mean you could use the circuit to do RSA in the U.S. without a license from PKP. A patent is *not* the right to do something; rather, it is the right to prevent others from doing it. But if the circuit did not do only RSA, there's no reason why you couldn't sell it within the U.S. without worrying about the RSA patent. Finally, many folks have claimed that non-U.S. law does not permit ``algorithm'' patents. That may very well be. However -- there have been a lot of patents like that that have been issued within Europe; IDEA and Schnorr's signature algorithm come to mind. Whether these have been issued due to some quirks of the Patent Co-operation Treaty, or whether they could be issued without that, or whether they'll stand up in a European court, I couldn't say -- but the patents *are* being issued. --Steve Bellovin

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re: digital clearinghouse
by brookfld＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We are able to use ACH ourselves. Yes, a customer can pre-authorize us to take amounts out of their checking account using ACH. The amounts do not have to be periodic, they can be any time, any amount. Our bank, with whom we are setting up ACH, determines whether or not we are using adequate security and authorization procedures, and holds us responsible if we're not. BROOKFIELD ECONOMICS INSTITUTE (U.S.A.) Limited ----------------------------------------------------------- Do you want to subscribe to our newsletter? Send email to brookfld(a)netcom.com, with the words SUBSCRIBE BBA your_first_name your_last_name as the subject of the message. Do you have a business question? Send it to brookfld(a)netcom.com. Questions which Brookfield determines are of common interest will be answered in the newsletter. Submissions become property of Brookfield Econcomics Institute. Copyright (c) 1994 Brookfield Economics Institute (U.S.A.) Limited. Rights are granted for use or duplication of this information by subscribers and individuals, but all commercial rights and rights of resale are reserved. Other use or duplication is prohibited. Brookfield is not engaged in rendering professional advice. In business and legal matters the advice of an attorney or other competent professional should be sought.

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Does Estonian RSA chip violate patents?
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jyri Poldre <jp(a)jep.pld.ttu.ee>: > Recently i became involved in project of designing semi-custom VLSI device > for endecryption. The device uses variable length RSA for key exchange and > IDEA for data encryption. For pipelinig IDEA block we have to use 6 > multipliers 16 bit ant that leaves us with 96 bit adder for RSA calculations. > ( The chip should be reasonably cheap ). Otherwise the RSA speed would not As this is in Estonia, I don't suppose you're bothered about the patents? As far as I know, RSA/PKP patents are for _algorithms_, not respected outside the US, though patents for RSA/PKP _hardware_ would be respected worldwide. I'm not sure how algorithm patents can be applied to hardware -- you may or may not be able to sell this chip in the US _without_ violating patents. (Though you can freely sell RSA hardware or software outside the US.) You may even be able to apply for a European patent for the hardware, which would then be respected everywhere, except in the US where it may be superceded by the algorithm patents. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA The National Fairness to Game Animals Association says: Support your right to arm bears! --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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PRZ Endorses PGP 2.6
by edgar＠spectrx.sbay.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I was a little surprised to receive the following as a response from a "vacation" program apparently prepared by PRZ to answer his e-mail during a temporary absence: In case you haven't heard, MIT is soon releasing PGP version 2.6, available from an FTP site at MIT, for US noncommercial users only. It is a nice version of PGP, with all the strength and integrity of PGP 2.3a, with some bug fixes and improvements. -Philip Zimmermann I suppose this means he thinks (knows?) that problems inter-operating with overseas & commercial (Viacrypt) users will be worked out. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLechXt4nNf3ah8DHAQHDCQP/YejwsDpt/Mtb9KvKKY4m7xlC7nudFFO3 s6Q8v9ExknOsnpQ9Xp+vEeosFVtYkceqI3Saa1uhErwF3HBR4xCczGEXGE9jk0PD 1OHoe5lbzjg6dsjw6wj89GGSLM/oEaJEj3+3kBXq2UJPunQHmXryx5KV4lW8RGtQ NW8ydMIwaZA= =GrzX -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- edgar(a)spectrx.sbay.org (Edgar W. Swank) SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005 Cupertino, Ca

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