December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Anon remailer on new ISP ?
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Recycled PGP sig header above :-) >Great ! Two quick reactions: > [] Would it be possible to run an anon-http server on it ? > [] If you start a remailer-friendly site, I'd be very surprised if > no-one here wanted to get an account there and establish a Windows > NT remailer, written from scratch if necessary.... > I expect it will be a remailer-friendly site - the other two guys are even less computer-literate than I am, so I get to be the IS Manager :-/ If the NT-based tools were available, I'd be agreeable (even enthusiastic) about setting up "independent" remailers on it (ie, Tim's Remailer-in-a-box [my box, but what the heck :-]). We're looking at calling the site genisys.net, so additional remailers could be remailer(a)vogon.com, remailer(a)flatulnt.com, or whatever. Hell, if all folks wanted was a remailer, I might even be convinced to offer remailer-only accounts at a discount :-) I'm still looking into what kind of magic I need to invoke to get it to all happen in the right order (IP address, then register the domain, do them in parallel, or ???. Any rules/restrictions on what we can call our site (we'll be incorporated, but can we call the site ???.net/org/???], etc.). ObQuestion: whyfor isn't toad set up so that the default reply-to address is the CP list, vice the originator? Recycled signature follows for the benefit of the toad (easier to recycle them than do them from scratch on a plain-Windows box) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 iQCVAwUBLvd8tmf7YYibNzjpAQEJGgP+NmDO/UKwXGPC2XcuEJLUQ78T4auvna+l ia5RNXEUVpXVlRrXgARxwN+gnh7AMxBLNNGBZUbawrlwcef8/olb5D7+y5tGp2ja RSbWhwmrOzl2dc/dCJ7fxlsvDc0r0z3/5v0TvYEU+ju3HOP2NoJ5pEl7uVttndqY eyPzdoZTfL8= =KrKW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)fohnix.metronet.com for PGP public key and fingerprint. PGP encrypted Email welcome, encouraged, and preferred. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." John F. Kennedy

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Re: c'punks top 5
by jrochkin＠cs.oberlin.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:30 PM 12/20/94, Adam Shostack wrote: [> someone else I've lost wrote:] >| A proxy server for HTTP transport so that one could access the web >| anonymously. I don't think coding is the problem here; one could be >| easily hacked out in perl, or you could use CERN HTTPD as a proxy >| server. I think the problem is finding someone who will offer up their >| machine as a place to run this service. > > It might also be nice to encrypt the connection from client to >proxy. Otherwise, this service only protects you from the server >knowing who you are. If you add encryption, then it begins to offer >anonymity agianst people watching the proxy. (Assuming there are >multiple connections to the proxy.) > >Adam Yeah, and ideally the software would allow "chaining" through several anon-proxy-servers, similar to what you can do with the remailers. I think that would give you just about the most security you could expect from such a set-up.

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NYT on Sonofusion
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Malcolm Browne writes today on sonoluminescence to produce cold fusion. Nix crypto, no excuso. For email copy send blank message with subject: SON_fuz Some tidbits: New Shot at Cold Fusion By Pumping Sound Waves Into Tiny Bubbles [Drawing caption] New Fusion Recipe: Sound Plus Bubbles Fusion creates great energy but requires tremendous temperatures. In a new approach that scientists hope might reach such temperatures, they are using minuscule bubbles as the focus for sound waves. In this figure, a tiny heating element boils just enough water to create a single micron-sized bubble. A sound field makes the bubble pulsate. As it expands, it absorbs sound energy. Then it violently collapses, launching a spherical, inward-moving supersonic shock wave, which produces enormous temperatures and a flash of light. By Malcolm W. Browne Ever since the first hydrogen bomb was detonated in 1952, scientists have sought to harness thermonuclear fusion as a peaceful power source, but that goal has proved tantalizingly elusive. Now, however, there seems to be an outside chance that a wholly new technique could achieve it. Bombarding microscopic bubbles with intense sound waves could convert the bubbles into minuscule fusion furnaces. Recent experiments by a half-dozen laboratories suggest that a mysterious phenomenon called sonoluminescence may be capable of raising the temperature of gas trapped in a tiny bubble to 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit or more -- enough, in principle, to ignite fusion. If fusion were achieved, a microbubble could be expected to radiate neutrons, nuclear particles produced by thermonuclear reactions. So far, the laboratories experimenting with sonoluminescence have failed to detected any neutrons, but there are other signs that the project is far from hopeless. *** Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, the nation's preeminent hydrogen bomb laboratory, has conducted some small experiments on "sonofusion," the name that would be bestowed on any fusion technique powered by sonoluminescent bubbles. As part of its nuclear weapons research programs during the 1980's, Livermore built the Nova laser, which focuses multiple beams of ultrapowerful lasers from all directions on a small target. Among the targets Livermore has tested are tiny, hollow glass spheres filled with hydrogen isotopes. In a typical experiment, the laser beams are turned on, the glass instantly vaporizes and the resulting shock wave of glass vapor is driven inward to compress the hydrogen. The idea is to get the hydrogen hot enough to initiate fusion. *** Still, the nation's thermonuclear bomb designers eventually solved similar problems for full-scale hydrogen bombs, and Livermore's scientists believe that inertial confinement fusion as a means of generating comparatively cheap electric power will eventually prove to be practical. The tiny bubbles used in sonoluminescence experiments are similar in terms of their fusion physics to their big brothers, hydrogen bombs and on a smaller scale, to the glass spheres used in inertial confinement fusion. ------------------- End tids Note: The NYT advertises an email address for "comments from readers about published articles and suggested areas of coverage": <scitimes(a)nytimes.com>

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Digital Telephones in Europe (at least)
by Michael＠lawprof.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I happened to be talking to a friend who works for a Very Large International Corporation. He has just been put in charge of managing their new products division. First on the list is whether and how to become a value added reseller of digital telephones and/or digital telephone services in Europe and evetually worldwide. They would probably include some financial/transactional services as part of the package. He is pro-encryption, but not well informed. What should he insist the telephones have in the way of features? What should he read? He is not an engineer (he used to be a salesman...) but he's smart. I will summarize emailed replies to the list. Please note that this ID expires on Dec. 27. -- Michael Froomkin until Dec. 27: michael(a)lawprof.demon.co.uk U.Miami School of Law Didsbury, Manchester, England PO Box 248087 Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087 It is NOT warm here

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Re: c'punks top 5
by Jonathon Fletcher 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > 1. anonymous http proxy servers ("re-webbers") > What is wanted/meant for these ? -Jon -- Jonathon Fletcher, j.fletcher(a)stirling.ac.uk

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Re: GUI: PGP vs novices
by bshantz＠spry.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thomas Grant Edwards writes: >On the issue of signing, there is another question. Do I really want >to sign every message? I don't like signing my written name anywhere I >don't have to. And whenever I do, I am careful to look at all the >potential consequences. Signatures imply I am agreeing to some kind of >contract. Perhaps I prefer my email unsigned, to give me a level of >disputability. If my email was a business contract, then I'd be >enthusiastic about signing it. But for a post to a political newsgroup, >for instance, perhaps I don't want to make sure everybody can >cryptographically assure themselves it comes from me. This leaves me >open to potential forgery, but email forgery is well known and understood. Good point. However, the digital signature issue is still outside of what my topic was. I agree with you wholeheartedly. That's one of the reasons I don't sign everything. That particular "argument" about digisigs has been pounded into the ground by the Cypherpunks for the last year and probably longer. I just think (boy I feel repetitive) that there should be something inside the software so the user has the option to sign, or sign on the fly. If I type up a message and think, "hey, I really want people to know this is from me", It would be really cool to just hit a button on the toolbar, or grab a menu option to sign automatically before sending. You don't have to sign everything. But, you don't have to go out to another application (of any sort) in order to sign. It's right there in front of you. That was my point. >Finally is physical security of keys. If I am going to sign anything, I >want that key to be under control of only me. On a personal machine, say at home, that's not really a problem. On a computer at the office where everything is password protected, isn't really a problem either. Since the situations I work with deal mainly with the home user, key management isn't as much a worry as if you're using workstations. >It is difficult for someone like me who uses workstations to keep a key >only on floppy, especially as I find myself on different workstations, >many diskless, all the time. This issue has also been pounded into the ground. Carrying a disk around with you is really the only way to guarantee security. (Or memorizing your private key and typing it in every time. EEEEERRRGGHHHH) But, you are right. It is a pain in the ass. -- Brad

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Win NT crypto?
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone know if any of the 'standard' CP tools (remailers, etc) would run on a Windows NT machine (server edition 3.5)? A couple friends and I are under serious contemplation of setting up an ISP in a town of 100K+, and if it's possible, I'd like to put an anon remailer on it. Thanks... Dave Merriman - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)fohnix.metronet.com for PGP public key and fingerprint. PGP encrypted Email welcome, encouraged, and preferred. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." John F. Kennedy

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Re: PGP-MIME spec (No Flames Allowed!)
by Nathaniel Borenstein 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Excerpts from radiomail-dups: 19-Dec-94 PGP-MIME spec (No Flames Al.. "JEFF LICQUIA @mhc.uiuc. (1794*) > I've noticed Mr. Borenstein's presence here in cypherpunks; I invite him > to clarify or update as needed. I think you stated it pretty well. I think we now have someone who has stepped forward to write the new MIME-PGP draft, in consultation with Phil Zimmerman and myself. (I won't name him in public, since he may prefer to keep a low profile for now.) I'm sure that when the draft is ready, its existence will be announced on cypherpunks. -- Nathaniel

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Re: HTTP redirectors
by Andrew Lowenstern 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> However, running this kind of local proxy or a general chaining > proxy does require root access. Most systems will not let you > create a low-numbered socket unless you are root. So this is not > something which people will be able to do from their user > accounts. Normally a URL can specify an alternate port as well (of course). A common one is http://site.org:8080/dir/file.html... This gets around setting up the proxy without a privileged account. The only web browser I'm familiar with (OmniWeb for NeXTSTEP) also allows you to specify the port number for the proxy. I was under the impression that all browsers supported alternate port numbers for proxies since they are commonly used for URLs... Do Mosiac and Netscape allow specifying the port for proxy servers? andrew

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Kiwi cypherpunks & other things
by Tony.Gurnick＠nzdairy.co.nz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

All, I am going on holiday for 3 weeks so will be unsubing from the list for a while. Can you email me directly about kiwi cpunks? and other stuff. A listserv @ cybernet would be a good thing. We could have our own NZ kiwi cypherpunks mailing list! Oh, what we would talk about! :) Oh, Thanks to all who helped me with the 2048 bit keys. I thought it was the 15-dec-94! Anyway I changed the source a bit so now I can generate 16384 bit keys. On the other hand trying to gen a 2048 bit key with this modified code just failed so maybe I`ll have to wait!!! (shiiit!) I cant set the clock on our machines. T

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