December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

request for subscription
by SNMC62A＠prodigy.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

request for subscription

1 0

Clipper Costing / NSA ATM Crypto Venture
by NetSurfer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

CP's, here's a couple of tidbits to get the juices flowing. They are from Infosecurity News July/August 1994 issue, page 10. The ATM part is particularly interesting... "Clipper Debate Rages Onnnn..." by Charlotte Adams Controversy continues to escalate over the government's Clipper escrowed-key proposal. Attacks include an analysis of just how much taxpayers would have to pay for it, and a Freedom-of-Information-Act request to hand over Clipper's escrowed keys. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to backpedal, saying that Clipper will not be mandatory, even for government users. What cost Clipper? To gauge Clipper's economic impact on taxpayers, Steve Walker, president of Trusted Information Systems Inc., offers the following analysis. Approximately 5,000 legally authorized wiretaps take place each year, based on a reported total of 800. He increased this reported figure to 1,000, for argument's sake, and multiplied by five to account for multiphone wiretaps.) There are approximately 500 million phones in the U.S., so the ratio of taps to the total number of phones is about O.001 percent. If the government taps 0.001 percent of AT&T's estimated market of 250,000 Clipper-equipped telephones, that works out to 2.5 key-escrow taps per year. Since the cost to run the country's two planned key-escrow centers is estimated at about $6 million per year, Clipper taps could cost taxpayers $2.4 million apiece (beyond the $250 million to buy the Clipper-equipped phones at $1,000 apiece in the first place). But if the number of Clip per phones sold is 100-fold greater than AT&T estimates--25 million devices--there would still be only 250 escrow taps per year and one call to key-escrow centers every 1.5 days, Walker figures. Each approved Clipper tap, under these cir- cumstances, would cost $24,000. Now, add to these escrowed-tap approval costs the estimated $50,000 to $60,000 that would be required to actually set up each wiretap. More than 1,000 Clipper crypto devices have been sold commercially since the products became available late last year, Department of Justice officials said. So far, the government has purchased another 9,000. Stalling tactics. A response to the Freedom-of-Information- Act (FOIA) request for Clipper's keys filed by Electronic Frontier Foundation cofounder, John Gilmore, is slow in coming. According to Gilmore's lawyer, Lee Tien, the FOIA applications--to the Department of the Treasury and Department of Commerce --have only generated requests for more time. The agencies, however, "seem to be making an effort to respond," Tien adds. Now, it's voluntary. Government witnesses testifying before back-to-back congressional hearings in May stressed the voluntary nature of key-escrow technology for both government and commercial use. But others demanded more than executive-branch reassurances. Raymond Kammer, deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, told a House Science, Space and Technology panel that he hopes government use will drive prices down far enough to make Clipper phones attractive to the public. Citizens may also wish to buy Clipper-equipped phones for communicating with government agencies, he added. Among Clipper critics, David Farber, professor of telecommunication systems at the University of Pennsylvania, told the House subcommittee that Congress needs to "weld into law" guarantees that Clipper will not be mandatory. And Trusted Information Systems' Walker told an earlier hearing before the SenateJudiciary Subcommittee on Technology and the Law that the administration should not "proceed on its own without separation of powers." He suggested putting key-es- crow centers under the judiciary branch, so that the executive branch "can't twist arms." --------------------------------------------------------------- NSA Launches ATM Encryption. Trying to stay in step with rapidly evolving telecommuncations technology, the National Security Agency has kicked off an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) encryption program to provide end-to-end encoding across synchronous optical network (SONET) systems. Called Fastlane, the ATM project specifies optical- channel (OC) rates, with OC12 desired. The work will parallel a SONET encryptor development program awarded to Motorola earlier this year. --------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: these articles were scanned, not forwarded <hehehe> -NetSurfer #include standard.disclaimer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> == = = |James D. Wilson |V.PGP 2.4: 512/E12FCD 1994/03/17 > " " " |P. O. Box 15432 | finger for full PGP key > " " /\ " |Honolulu, HI 96830 |====================================> \" "/ \" |Serendipitous Solutions| Also NetSurfer(a)sersol.com > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1 0

Nixon, Johnson, and the Dollar
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sandy Sandfort <sandfort(a)crl.com> writes: > Don't believe it? What did Johnson say just before silver was removed > from US coinage? For bonus points, what did Nixon say two weeks before > he closed the gold window to foreigners and devalued the dollar? I'll show my ignorance of history once again... I've not clue, but you've tickled my curiosity. Care to inform us? :-) --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 +---------------------------------------------------------+

2 1

Re: Sue D. Nym, and Netcom records
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> >I'm not disturbed by this, actually. The only way to stop it would be >for Netcom to demand to see people's national ID papers before giving >them an account. Do any of us want that sort of world? Oh, sure, give us an easy choice... Detweiler or National ID card..... Dave M Wherever you go in Life - there you are!

1 0

Sue D. Nym
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I trust that everyone got the joke: Sue D. Nym = pseudonym Dave Merriman Wherever you go in Life - there you are!

1 0

RE: uh... excuse me
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Sue D. Nym "....maybe I should leave. You guys seem a little too paranoid for my tastes." ......................................................... It's not paranoia, it's just that LD is always trying to induce the list members into self-incrimination: he intends to evoke crowd-gathering behavior wherein they will all betray their true nature, true motives, true attitudes. He doesn't believe that they deserve as much credit as they seem to give themselves and wants to reveal to them, by their actual responses, what they would deny in public. He doesn't think that they have all that much respect for privacy, but are only opportunists bent on only their own advantage, rather than supporting the principle of privacy per se (even for their enemies, who could as well use the available methods against them). Everyone always knows what his true aims are, though, and no one ever gives him any slack. Blanc

1 0

Re: PGP bug *NOT* yet fixed
by jis＠MIT.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Chill out friend. We are working on a bugfix release to PGP which will fix several important bugs. The bug you mention is fixed in our development sources and will be fixed in the next release. Read Colin's note carefully. If you do you will realize that this problem is not a disaster. The reason that you need good random numbers for cryptographic purposes is to make an exhaustive search through all possible values of a key too hard to do. There is more then enough randomness in the random pool even with this bug to prevent someone from being able to search all possible values. -Jeff -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6x iQBVAgUBLinTiVUFZvpNDE7hAQGm2QH/S7uvlJMUGeYNTncQ9rvr0Dkowjto2GG7 Pi+f0cLlUGTfDNTtAlSdao0HxwT5uv2PUwXMAd6Cns3uo3ordRiP1Q== =9BZ3 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

RE: ACAPULCO H.E.A.T.
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thinking about card games & privacy/technology issues (eliminating el Fabuloso for a minute): It would be interesting to see TV shows with real-life crypto scenarios, demonstrating the advantages of using it and how it prevents the bad guys ("them") from intruding upon the free movement, the private property, etc. of the hero-winners. "It's just me and my code (and my public key. . . . and my pc....and my laser gun) against the world, winning against the odds....." But it probably wouldn't be as interesting as an exotic melange of Iran/Iraquis, renegade biologists, casinos, blackjack, etc. (not to mention bikinis). Blanc

1 0

New FLA
by j.hastings6＠genie.geis.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The computer-designed replicant, Kent Borg, writes: >We need another TLA? >I propose: TPD: Terrorists, Pedophiles, and Drug-dealers. No, we need another FLA: TPMD: Terrorists, Pedophiles, Money-Launderers, and Drug-dealers. The Treasury's IRS and Customs collectors are really concerned that the rich will evade their fair share of taxes. We'll accomplish something if we can discredit tax collection. Billions of unregulated dollars will destabilize foreign democracies. Corrupt regimes may enact strict bank secrecy laws. These new evil dictators may not cooperate with income tax investigations. Send the Marines and the ATF now!!! Yes, a horde of Islamic fundamentalist, child molesting, dope smoking, welfare chiseling tax cheaters may soon cross our borders. There is only one way to repel this invasion. We must give up our infantile obsession with Liberty. The President's responsible leadership with the Clipper chip and Digital Telephony will protect us from certain doom. Let's unite under Uncle Sam's infobahn jackboot, install Big Brother's interactive video cameras in our homes, and embrace the new national socialist health I.D. internal passports without complaint. Then we can be happy. The one true Kent - j.hastings6(a)genie.geis.com Proud to have watched 1,743.21 hours of Beavis and Butt-head this week

1 0

Re: Sue D. Nym, and Netcom records
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Oh, sure, give us an easy choice... > > Detweiler or National ID card..... That's real easy - I'd take Detweiler in a minute. Sure, it takes work to filter out each incarnation of Sue D. Spoof, and there are N-1 more like him out there, but it's a lot less work than explaining to people why you don't have any intention of using the Nationalist ID Card Number in your databases, or carrying it on your person, or presenting it when you open bank accounts, or getting it printed on your armonce they make tattoo removal the monopoly of the National Health Care System or whatever the paranoids will thinnk of next. (And *please* don't say too much of this around politicians; they tend to miss the smileys and think this sort of thing is a good idea....) Bill

1 0