December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

RC4 Sting, Contract Killings?
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by schneier(a)chinet.chinet.com (Bruce Schneier) on Tue, 13 Sep 8:57 AM >Ah. So the odd subject line resulted in many people >not seeing. I don't know if any US residents would be >willing to repost. I'm not. Bruce, Was the RC4 posting a sting? Will Bidzos arrange for an anonymous contract killing of every recipient? But then, is this list not a sting? So literal kill-files be implemented against the disreputable, that is, all of us? Are Tom Clancy and John Gilmore identical? Is Tim's epic FAQ the spy novel of our dreams? Yes, six times over. Wow. John

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Re: PRIVACY REGULATIONS
by frissell＠panix.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:46 PM 9/14/94 -0600, Brad Huntting wrote: > >> Can't you free yourself from jail with a writ of habeas corpus ad >> subjiciendum from John Doe? > >But you have to know how to write one. > > >brad > But if you proceed "in forma pauperis" you don't need to know how to write one. DCF "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. Or if they're just a bunch of damn Japs." -- The Constitution according to FDR, Earl Warren, Hugo Black, and William O. Douglas.

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OFFER: I'll filter Cypherpunks for $20.
by Eric Blossom 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is a blatant commercial offer. flames >/dev/null In response to the widely varying signal to noise ratio here on cypherpunks, I've begun offering a filtering service. The service is called Cypherpunks Lite, and contains what I consider to be the most relevant postings. I forward somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 - 10% of the total feed. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity. You can sign up for a one year subscription by sending a check or money order for US$20 along with your email address to: Eric Blossom 1275 4th Street, Suite 194 Santa Rosa, CA 95404 For a limited time, a two week "free trial" is available by sending a message to cp-lite-request(a)comsec.com with the body: subscribe cp-lite If I don't receive your money within two weeks, you'll be quietly dropped from the distribution. Thanks for your attention.

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No Subject
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- 9/13/94 Company Plans Payment System For Shopping On The Internet By Jared Sandberg Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal As millions of computer users browse the Internet for a burgeoning array of goods and services, most can look but not buy. That may soon change. A new company called CyberCash Inc., formed by executives from the Internet and the electronic-payment industries, plans to introduce a system that will allow on-line browsers to pay for an item, either by credit card or through bank transfers, over the global computer network. CommerceNet, a new on-line system funded by Apple Computer Inc., BankAmerica Corp. and others, expects to adopt the CyberCash system by year's end. The company has talked to America Online Inc., which has one million subscribers and to which it has close ties. By clicking a "buy" button, CyberCash users could approve electronic transfers to merchants from checking and credit-card accounts. Companies could pay invoices, and e-mail penpals could settle bets with the point of a mouse. But to do that, CyberCash must first persuade banks that the system is secure from on-line theft, which may be its toughest challenge. "I don't think there's a system that is adequately secure that has been placed on the table," says Sholom Rosen, a vice president for Citicorp, who says he isn't familiar with CyberCash. Even if one emerges, he adds, "it's going to be tough to get everybody to agree on the same system." While some companies, including Citibank, are planning their own business-to-business electronic payment systems on the Internet, CyberCash is aimed at the millions of consumer and business users who browse the Internet. "We want to make the Internet safe for commerce," says CyberCash's co-founder and president, William N. Melton, and "provide safe passage from cyberspace into the banking world." Private on-line services use proprietary software to move funds, which reduces the risk of thieves breaking into the system. But only subscribers are permitted to make on-line purchases, and then only from participating merchants. For example, fewer than 3% of the people who frequent the CompuServe "mall" each month buy anything. The Internet, by contrast, is an unsecured free-for-all that uses "open" software to let tens of thousands of computers link up. That means more computer jocks know how it really works, increasing the chances of a break-in. Mr. Melton is in a good position to overcome the banks' security concerns. He founded Verifone Inc., which makes the devices retailers use to authorize credit-card charges. He sits on the board of America Online and helped launch Transaction Network Services Inc., a data transmission network for six of the 12 largest credit-card processing centers. TNS is expected to be part of CyberCash's private banking network. CyberCash's co-founder is Dan Lynch, founder of Interop Co., a trade-show subsidiary of Ziff Communications Co. that hosts the biggest Internet gatherings. Other partners include Stephen D. Crocker, one of the Internet's architects; James Bidzos, president of RSA Data Securities Inc., a leading software-security firm; and Bruce Wilson, a former Nynex Corp. executive and one-time board member of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, a banking trade group. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 09-13-94 6 06 AM - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9/13/94 Company Plans -2-: A "Digital Purse" For Internet Shoppers The Internet today is one big yard sale of computers, t-shirts, books, compact disks, rope sandals, legal services and hundreds of other products -- with almost no way to buy. An estimated 500 companies, from travel agencies and art galleries to real-estate brokers and a Volvo dealership, have put up storefronts. Most offer only product information and customer support. To make a purchase, a browser must phone a vendor. "It's a very clunky way of conducting electronic commerce," says Jayne Levin, editor of the Internet Letter, a newsletter aimed at business users. She estimates the current value of Internet transactions at a "piddling" $10 million. A few pioneers have passed credit-card numbers safely on the Internet. In July, an electronic bookstore received its first payment over the network. Last month, a small startup retailer in Nashua, N.H., sold its first compact disk on-line. Almost no one, however, has been able to automate payment by bringing banks directly on-line, which is CyberCash's goal. Its approach would let users punch a few keys to ask their banks to set aside money in a "digital purse." When the customer clicks on a "buy" icon, the merchant's computer would pass the request to CyberCash's network, which would forward it to the bank. If funds are available in the "digital purse" or a credit-card account, the money would get tranferred from bank to CyberCash to merchant. CyberCash would receive a small fee for each transaction from the banks. "The transaction is processed instantaneously -- while you wait," says Mr. Crocker of CyberCash. He says the company is working to secure the system, "but there's no question we will have people trying our `front door.'" CyberCash plans to spend $20 million on a private network of computers, which will separate Internet merchants from users' bank accounts. To protect sensitive account information, RSA Data Securities will provide encryption to scramble the data, allowing only those who have a special software "key" to read it. Customers and their banks will hold the keys. In addition, Cybercash is discussing licensing with David Chaum, president of Digicash Inc., a key patent holder for digital-cash technology. Digicash emphasizes anonymity: A merchant is told only whether the cash is available, not who is paying. Other security measures must be taken. On the Internet, users can veil their identities or steal access accounts masquerading as someone else. Backers of RSA and CommerceNet, which posts business and product information on the Internet, are working on tools to verify user ID and keep payment requests private and tamper-proof. Even with those measures, however, CyberCash executives concede it will take some potent powers of persuasion to get the banks on board. "There is no security on the Internet," says Dan Schutzer, president of the Financial Services Technology Consortium, a group of major banks. "Your conversations can be tapped, your passwords can be obtained, and your credit card number can be filched. Clearly, it's there for the reading for a clever hacker." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLneTKqyHUAO76TvRAQHrVgP+MmLm4+YTliqVMLcsNKakx/GXTsgpOGeD aPyqYRxAEEJNmAfGjrmpPHl3FOMvrnZsINDlo+n6CXArMt79YRExtO69hR2lCY7J Uwrf7EAAIhiYc5pKdRTZ29ZgSRbqEP4gOB1TPAoncjR84lXVC61wdNXz6yU7tuaF 6oyXUH5UEw4= =QHMH -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: thoughts on RC4
by Carl Ellison 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Thu, 15 Sep 94 10:52:03 EDT >From: perry(a)imsi.com (Perry E. Metzger) >Can anyone see any reason why one could not change RC4 to >being a word oriented stream cipher, call it "ERC4"? Alleged-RC4 (1) requires that the table be a permutation and (2) might base security on the fact that the table is itself permuted beyond recognition after a small number of inputs. (1) You could conceivably go to an array of 65K short values and retain the permutation but I wouldn't try to go to an array of longs. I don't have 32GB of RAM on my workstation. (2) With a longer array, the amount of input until the array is indistinguishable from the one with which you started is proportionally longer. I don't know if that means that shorter arrays are more secure, but it's worth taking a look at. - Carl

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Re: [CyberCash Media hype]
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:24 PM 9/14/94, nobody(a)shell.portal.com wrote: > Private on-line services use proprietary software to move >funds, which reduces the risk of thieves breaking into the >system. But only subscribers are permitted to make on-line >purchases, and then only from participating merchants. For >example, fewer than 3% of the people who frequent the CompuServe >"mall" each month buy anything. > The Internet, by contrast, is an unsecured free-for-all that >uses "open" software to let tens of thousands of computers link >up. That means more computer jocks know how it really works, >increasing the chances of a break-in. These are my favorite paragraphs. 1) Proprietary == secure 2) Understanding how it works == insecure -j -- "Blah Blah Blah" ___________________________________________________________________ Jamie Lawrence <jamiel(a)sybase.com>

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PGP 2.6.1 Makefile
by alano＠teleport.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Has anyone here been able to get the PGP 2.6.1 makefile to work for DJGPP? So far I will probably have to rewrite it... Also are there any special settings for 32-bit compiles in the RSAREF code? I have not found any but I may just be going blind. Thanks! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 iQCVAwUBLne2vmTJ67qS7vTpAQGrmgQAmhAZ67DCqI3WyOTMWTXdNSczgYVvw52q W2X4zKUoVOe7POGBgNhrDxAsn0HLsxvLxPTcsDK9ZOU3KnLJCQ52aUmyHgrPzeWJ AUBrtb5oNS5WAgaH5+Xt1TLiSbeyghKsif2WabqI+R1dsHa8VXlZXWx7g35ow+XH BxQAGGXsqD4= =Ops2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- |"I would call him a Beastialic Sadomasochistic | alano(a)teleport.com | |Necrophile but that would be beating a dead | Disclaimer: | |horse." -- Teriyaki (What's up Tiger Lily?) | Ignore the man | | -- PGP 2.61 key available on request -- | behind the keyboard.|

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Re: US Fascist Dictatorship?
by snyderra＠dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:21 PM 9/14/94, Duncan Frissell wrote: >So is the US about to grab all the guns, seal the borders, make foreign >trade a crime, and change the color of the money? And the link to cryptography is what? Bob -- Bob Snyder N2KGO MIME, PGP, RIPEM mail accepted snyderra(a)post.drexel.edu PGP & RIPEM keys on key servers When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

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RC4 Legal Issues
by Patrick G. Bridges 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

So what does the publication of the reverse engineering of RC4 mean legally? AT&T claimed trade sevret and copyright protection over code that was pretty well known in the BSDI case... Can RC4 still be construed as a trade secret or proprirtary to RSADS and Bizdos or are, as I understand from previous messages, we free to use RC4 now (ignoring the submarine patent issue)?

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Bionomics 2nd Annual Conference, "The Next Economy- An Evolving Information Ecosystem"
by conference94/Bionomics 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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