December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

CelBomb
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Can anyone in IL, or elsewhere, report more on the head-job of The Engineer: Any crypto used to authenticate the target for the boombox, or to obscure links to the assassin? How was the blast specifically targeted at him and not a phone borrower? How it was set off -- by user-dialing, remote control, some other means? Any fishy smelling brand names to immediately run from? Answers urgent.

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Re: Shimomura on TV?
by Michael C. Peponis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Has anyone heard anything else about this? I am getting real sick of the > media's portrayal of the internet. They never say anything good about it. If > they were to mention C2's system they would say how it is a no-rules server > to hide thugs and pornos from the police. I am getting sick of watching this > trash. The whole realm of the internet and computers and their associated > areas are very dear to me I am sick of the media bludgeoning them to death. Douglas, Why let it bother you? You must understand that the majority of the population of the United States is working class trash, the news media is just peddeling to the masses, just like the morons that hold elected office. They can keep up the bitching, but that's a good thing, I encourage the spread of this kind of disinformation, it keeps even more of the masses from getting on for fear of being offenced. Regards, Michael Peponis PGP Key Avalible form MIT Key Server,or via finger

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Shimomura on BPF, NSA, Crypto
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Shimomura on BPF, NSA and Crypto: One of the tools I modified for my work was a sophisticated piece of software called the Berkeley Packet Filter. ... Unlike the original BPF, my version was designed to bury itself inside the operating system of a computer and watch for certain information as it flowed through the computer from the Internet. When a packet from a certain address, or for that matter any other desired piece of information designated by the user flashed by, BPF would grab it and place it in a file where it could be kept for later viewing. I had developed my initial version of the faster BPF in the expectation that I would receive additional research funding for the work from the National Security Agency. The Agency had begun supporting my work under a Los Alamos National Labs research grant in 1991, and had promised to extend their support for my work, but the funding was never forthcoming. I developed the tool, but after I completed the work, in early 1994, the bureaucrats in the agency reneged on funding. The idea of working with the NSA is controversial in the community of security professionals and civil libertarians, many of whom regard the NSA as a high-tech castle of darkness. Libertarian by inclination or by the influence of their colleagues, the nation's best computer hackers tend to possess a remarkable sensitivity to even the slightest hint of a civil liberties violation. They view with deep distrust the work of the National Security Agency, which has the twin missions of electronic spying around the globe and protecting the government's computer data. This distrust extends to anyone who works with the agency. Am I contaminated because I accepted research funding from the NSA? The situation reminds me of the scene in the movie Dr. Strangelove where General Jack D. Ripper is obsessed by the idea of his bodily fluids being contaminated. I think the idea of guilt by association is absurd. My view is very different. First of all, I don't believe in classified research and so I don't do it. The work I was undertaking on packet-filtering tools was supposed to be funded by the agency for public release. The tools were to be made widely available to everyone, to use against the bad guys who were already using similar tools to invade people's privacy and compromise the security of machines on the Internet. But even more to the point, I believe that the agency, rather than inherently evil, is essentially inept. Many people are frightened of the NSA, not realizing that it is like any other bureaucracy, with all of a bureaucracy's attendant failings. Because the NSA staff lives in a classified world, the government's normal system of checks and balances doesn't apply. But that doesn't mean that their technology outpaces the open computer world; it just means they're out of touch and ponderous. In any case, I feel strongly that tools like BPF are absolutely essential if the Internet is to have real security, and if we are to have the ability to trace vandals through the Net. If people are concerned that individual privacy is at stake, they should probably worry less about who should have the right to monitor the networks, and instead focus their efforts on making cryptographic software widely available. If information is encrypted it doesn't matter who sees it if they can't read the code. Cryptography is another example of my point that a tool is just a tool. It was, after all, used primarily by kings, generals, and spies until only two decades ago. Then work done by scientists at Stanford, MIT, and UCLA, coupled with the advent of the inexpensive personal computer, made encryption software available to anyone. As a result, the balance of power is dramatically shifting away from the NSA back toward the individual, and toward protecting our civil liberties. ["Takedown," pp. 102-04]

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Re:
by andr0id＠midwest.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>[This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature >means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the >signature and forwarded.] > Am I the only one getting this message several times? (\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/) (http://www.oicu812.com Maybe one of the ) ( cheapest Internet services! ) (andr0id(a)midwest.net callsign: N9XLM) (Finger andr0id(a)oicu812.com for public PGP Key)

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E-cash and Interest
by Frank O. Trotter, III 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Once the Ecash Mint and the account (in our case the WorldCurrency Access account - others will be different) are merged, the balance you hold in the Mint may be able to earn interest. Like an individual, the amount of interest offered will involve a cost benefit relationship based on cost of funds, regulation, and operational costs, but there should be no obvious reason not to pay something in most curencies. One note, under US banking regulation, "transaction accounts" fall under different rules than money market accounts, savings accounts, and NOW accounts. Depending on the exact functionality desired, and future regulation changes, there will be more or less incentive and/or legal ability to pay interest. Given the current functionality of Ecash there will be little incentive to hold balances on your hard drive once interest is available. It is just too easy to move the money down when you need it. Today there is no specific cost incentive between the Mint and your hard drive. It does not take a long leap to see that when the account and the Mint are merged, that since the Mint _is_ the account, PC/Internet banking, debit and all other regular banking functionality can become immediately integrated! Frank Trotter ftrotter(a)marktwain.com Opinions expressed are my own.... > On Wed, 10 Jan 1996, Tim Philp wrote: > > > With the E-cash systems that I have seen, you generate your own E-cash > > and have it signed by a 'bank' At that moment, it becomes like cash in > > your wallet and you loose interest that this money could be earning. > > >From the standpoint of monetary economics, this is correct. The (ecash) > bank has the right to use your deposits to give out loans. When you > withdraw your money (and turn it into either cash or ecash) they (the > bank) no longer have the right to turn your deposits into loans. > Withdrawn cash/ecash can not earn interest. > > This is the problem of (e)cash: if you have it on hand you _must_ forgo > any interest earnings. Theoretically, the optimum holding of (e)cash is a > function of interest rate (the greater the interest rate, the less cash on > hand), transaction cost of making withdrawals (the easier and more > convenient the withdrawals, the less cash on hand), and the "providence > value" of cash (the more you value instant gratification, the more cash on > hand). > > Thats why ATM machines have caused us to hold less cash. We can now keep > money in the bank (letting it earn interest and letting the bank create > loans with it) and withdraw from ATM terminals only when we need it. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Patiwat Panurach Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. > eMAIL: pati(a)ipied.tu.ac.th Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. > m/18 junior Fac of Economics -Johann W.Von Goethe > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Novel use of Usenet and remailers to mailbomb from luzskru@cpcnet.com
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 18:22 1/12/96, Alan Bostick wrote: >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > >If "digital postage" is ever implemented, this sort of >distributed-origin mailbomb-through-a-remailer would be stopped >immediately. All the messages that the horny net geeks send would >necessarily contain the same postage stamp, and the remailer would >notice this right away -- and throw away messages containing the used >postage stamp. > >One more motivation for e$-like digital postage for remailers. I am not sure that postage would solve this problem. The geeks would individually pay for it. Still, nominal postage would solve a lot of the problems that plague remailnet. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: Zimmermann case is dropped.
by Brad Shantz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Well, so far the feds haven't prosecuted "Jim Bidzos" for posting Crypto++ > to usenet. Anyway, both versions have been on utopia.hacktic.nl for months. I thought that it was determined to be a hoax. Someone "disguised" as Jim Bidzos posted it to USENET. Anyone have confirmation? Brad

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Boston talk on offshore banks
by Rich Salz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I heard an ad on the radio for a free seminar on how to protect your assets using off-shore banks. I forget who the speaker is, I think they're with the English-Irish bank in Austria, or something like that. The thrust was to save assets for when you retire and Social Security isn't there for you. I'm posting this since off-shore banking touches on privacy issues and comes up here now and then. Two dates, Jan 17 (Newton, MA) or Jan 18 (Burlington, MA). Call 617 663 3299 for more info.

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Re: Shimomura on TV?
by Douglas F. Elznic 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:08 PM 1/10/96 -0500, John Young wrote: >Someone just said that NBC's Dateline showed a snippet of >Shimomura on an upcoming show about rampant cyber-crime and >that he was the best hope against it, or something to that >effect. Did anyone see it and get the time and date? > > >Anyone attend the Shimomura-Markoff lecture at Stanford today? > > >Is this the media blitz for their pot-boiler? Can't wait to >slurp it. > > > > > > Has anyone heard anything else about this? I am getting real sick of the media's portrayal of the internet. They never say anything good about it. If they were to mention C2's system they would say how it is a no-rules server to hide thugs and pornos from the police. I am getting sick of watching this trash. The whole realm of the internet and computers and their associated areas are very dear to me I am sick of the media bludgeoning them to death. -- ==================Douglas Elznic=================== delznic(a)storm.net http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/ (315)682-5489 (315)682-1647 4877 Firethorn Circle Manlius, NY 13104 "Challenge the system, question the rules." =================================================== PGP key available: http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/pgpkey.asc PGP Fingerprint: 68 6F 89 F6 F0 58 AE 22 14 8A 31 2A E5 5C FD A5 ===================================================

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Re: Zimmermann case is dropped.
by Michael C. Peponis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Good news, but lets not forget that winning the battle isn't winning the war. > > The dropping of the case means that the legality of the ITAR restrictions goes > untested. Had the case not been dropped it would have expired shortly under the > statute of limitations. > > The real issue here is the abuse of the investigative powers of the FBI in > support of their own political agenda Congradulations to Philip, but Phill(boy this is getting confussing) is right. By dropping the case, the goverment avoids a high visiblity case that could change the rules. What happened to Phillip Zimmermann is unexcusable, but others must continue in his footsteps in order to win a decicive victory. Gee, Anybody got a good public-domain Windoz version of PGP? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2i iQCVAwUBMPUxI0UffSIjnthhAQGkZQP/eTE7ngFyUPE3RqHB3spKmSiqneNw9WBy 5SkR4njN56ylUklkQjkxEtLijucugbsmiwIglBVaVaqwMKMoOjtbxyTrnoJj/8rk YjvGn5Zgn4oD0fTegTKmSk3H2QzdzaHJo+l829KOAsvMOaaazsal3ml2+m5BGWpa kwf11AglmOs= =RPqk -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Regards, Michael Peponis PGP Key Avalible form MIT Key Server,or via finger

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