December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Brand e-cash implementation?
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Bryce Wilcox <wilcoxb(a)land.cs.Colorado.EDU> > Could someone point me to Brand's electronic money protocol? I have heard of > it and would like to learn more. If it is a discussable topic then please > someone try to convince me that it is better than Chaum's or > Chaum's-plus-anonymity-both-ways, or some other candidate for E-Money > Protocol Which Has Official Cypherpunk Blessing. <URL:http://ganges.cs.tcd.ie/mepeirce/Project/Mlists/brands.html> has a good collection of earlier discussions on Brands' cash, as well as pointers to Brands' work itself. Brands' home page, <URL:http://www.cwi.nl/~brands> has a long list of advantages which his system has over Chaum's original cash proposals, mostly technical in terms of efficiency and provability. Brands' and Chaum's systems have similar anonymity properties so I don't see much to choose between them on political grounds. Brands tends to work in the context of off-line systems with "observer" chips which prevent double spending. But his protocols can be used in other payment environments as well. Hal Finney

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away from my mail
by zinc 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I will not be reading my mail for a while. Your mail concerning "Re: CFV: rec.knives" will be read when I'm back.

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Dr. Dobbs CD-ROM outside the US?
by Unicorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi Guys (F/M), I am seeing messages about the Dr.Dobbs Crypto CD-ROM not being received by persons inside the US, but right now I wonder if this information is or will be available, in this form, outside of the US? personally I would love to have this info available on CD-ROM, enabling me to take it with me wherever I go (stuck with a laptop or notebook)... And yes, I would of course have no problem with paying for it, or donating the US$ price to a good course. Ciao, Unicorn. -- ======= _ __,;;;/ TimeWaster ================================================ ,;( )_, )~\| A Truly Wise Man Never Plays PGP: 64 07 5D 4C 3F 81 22 73 ;; // `--; Leapfrog With a Unicorn... 52 9D 87 08 51 AA 35 F0 ==='= ;\ = | ==== Youth is not a time in life, it's a State of Mind! ========

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spam apology
by zinc 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

cpunks, sorry for my recent spam of the list due my inept testing of how procmail interacts with the vacation program. -pjf patrick finerty = zinc(a)zifi.genetics.utah.edu = pfinerty(a)nyx.cs.du.edu U of Utah biochem grad student in the Bass lab - zinc fingers + dsRNA! ** FINGER zinc-pgp(a)zifi.genetics.utah.edu for pgp public key - CRYPTO! zifi runs LINUX 1.2.11 -=-=-=WEB=-=-=-> http://zifi.genetics.utah.edu

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Re: Digital Fingerprinting
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Many interesting points here...but I'll stick to just one: At 2:56 AM 9/11/95, Douglas Barnes wrote: > On the legal front, it's not clear what you can do to someone > even if you _can_ prove that the 100,000 pirate copies of Windows > 95 circulating in Amsterdam stemmed from his copy. Machines get > hacked, co-workers and family members often have free access to > machines running software -- it's not clear that media companies > _want_ to invoke the paranoia associated with potential responsibility > for millions of dollars in damages if someone makes an illegal copy > of one's software and the loaves and fishes ensue. [Imagine what > great revenge this would make for jealous co-workers, ex-wives, etc.] If a piece of mail addressed to me is found littering the highway, can I be convicted of littering? No, because the _provenance_ of that item of mail cannot be determined...it might have accidentally blown out of a trash truch delivering my mail to the dump, for example. Ditto for most schemes to serialize software. As Doug notes, the offending item might have been copied when I wasn't looking, copied by my girlfriend when I was away, or even copied at the factory or at the software store prior to my gaining control. Or copied after I discarded it. (Requiring owners of Microsoft Word to treat it like a state secret--more on state secrets in a minute--is impractical and unenforceable.) One thing serialization could do is to allow proof that a distributor had not acquired a particular copy/instance through normal channels. But it's usually obvious anyway when Joe's Really Cheap Warez has 200 copies of Microsoft Word, all with the same serial number. The "light signatures" scheme I've written about here could be used to authenticate the distribution media itself, though not the installed copies of course. (This would be like the Microsoft hologram, except in spades.) Since the technology for this is not available to home or business users, I don't see this as a viable approach. Another thing that could work to foil mass counterfeiters is to serialize the diskettes and include a hash of the serial number, as some lottery tickets now include. Counterfeiters could try two basic approaches: 1. Make up their own numbers. But they could not compute a valid hash, as they lacked the (presumably secret) knowledge to do so. With public key approaches, a customer could "authenticate" that at least Microsoft, say, must have generated the number. (This doesn't take care of multiple copies of the same serial number, which takes us to:) 2. Multiple copies of a single, valid serial number. Here, the counterfeiter directly copies both the serial number and its hash. (This approach doesn't work to counterfeit lottery tickets. The reason is left as an exercise for the reader.) One way I can think of to head this off is to have a registry of "taken" or "sold" numbers, in which serial numbers are deposited. A purchaser could consult this data base to see if the number on the package he is planning to buy is already registered. (There are complications about time delays, and so forth, but this would eventually limit multiple same number packages.) This discussion assumes that purchasers are interested in getting valid, non-counterfeit programs. Many are not, of course. Certain types of programs pretty much require support by the vendor, others don't. A standard discussion topic. I said I'd mention "state secrets" again. The usual example for making subtle modifications to documents to see who leaked it is the intelligence community, which gave us the term "barium" (because the changes look like barium in an x-ray diagnostic). In that case, the agencies can enforce their laws in a draconian way, sometimes merely by suspicion. And the workarounds we discuss, of DIFFing the files, are unlikely to be practical. ("Hey, Sid, can I borrow your copy of "Covert Operations in Bosnia" so I can DIFF it with my copy?") --Tim May ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: spam apology
by carolann＠censored.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>cpunks, > >sorry for my recent spam Look, the SPAM was hot, and there wasn't too much VELVEETA added other than the mail.cyperpunks category, so it tasted fairly good. It hadn't passed the expiration date, so all is forgiven. Love Always, Carol Anne ps Has anyone ever heard of alt.skullfuck.charles-eicher? Even Gloria Segal doesn't reap that much hatred. -- Member Internet Society - Certified BETSI Programmer - Webmistress *********************************************************************** Carol Anne Braddock (cab8) carolann(a)censored.org 206.42.112.96 My Homepage The Cyberdoc *********************************************************************** ------------------ PGP.ZIP Part [017/713] ------------------- M8H,),S$8G>&.WP(8IRA`-M['+`Q%&_C"">5-F%LX@<_Q$;*P'',Q$Z/AA[8M MF=O0H+*%(-S%&>S%+FS&<LS%3(Q&#W1"<]2%`H^;,]^1C$'HBN8PX$4SYAU^ MPGD<Q0ZLA0D+,`MCT!LA**4M[-JPAK9F?40!AJ,CW"'%DR#:'9?Q)3[%<DQ` ------------------------------------------------------------- for next chunk to export --> http://dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/export/

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Thought Police Make Bust
by bureau42 Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

WEIRDNUZ.492 (News of the Weird, July 11, 1997) by Chuck Shepherd * Brothers Geoffrey and Aaron Kuffner were arrested in New Orleans in June and charged with terrorism as the ones who had recently mailed or hand-delivered suspicious packages to local government and news media offices. The packages contained innocuous items (which nonetheless were frightening enough that two offices called for evacuations) and a four-page manifesto vowing that "Violent Acts of Consciousness Have Only Begun." According to police, the men's goal was to call attention to public ignorance of poetry and that among their demands was that all state inaugural speeches be written in iambic pentameter. Cypherpunks Action Project #323a: Post a message to the list in iambic pentameter. (That'll show 'em.) Cypherpunks Action Project #323b: Turn yourself into the police as a terrorist, for "Violent Acts of Subconsiousness." Take your Dream Diary with you, as proof. Cypherpunks Action Project #323c: Write your violent dreams in iambic pentameter. PentaMonger

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Re: Fate of Jews in America (fwd)
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:01 AM 9/3/97 -0700, Tim May wrote: > ... >(It is true that the vast majority of Cypherpunks are basically >libertarian, and hence are not keen on government programs to favor one >race or sex or group over another. Jesse Jackson calls this point of view >"racism." "Ending discrimination in favor of some races is racism," he >claims. Most list members would reject this.) > >Besides, in a society with strong crypto, how are you or any government >going to stop people from dealing with whomever they wish, on whatever >basis they wish? ... Another consideration is the government spin doctor. With the Oklahoma City federal Building Bombing, the government had a new bad guy. Everyone despised this bad guy because this bad guy had been responsible for the death of innocent children. This bad guy was the mostly Anglo-Saxon Militant Extreme Right-Wingers. By tying this group to the bombing, something that in many peoples opinion they did perfectly. They assured that people wouldn't associate with them, and would prosecute them for any little thing. They immediately tied these groups with gun ownership. They also tied these groups with white supremism. Now if you own a gun, you must be a racist and a militia member, if your white. If your black, you are already figured as a drug dealer, another bogeyman, so they had that base covered. By tying crypto into the same militia movement. Not hard since several posts refer to the second ammendment, (if you have to invoke the second ammendment, you are obviously a militia sypathesizer/member/co-conspirator.) Now that we are the first distributed dangerous militia, we must obviously all be racists because everyone knows that militia members are all racist, gun toting, wackos that run around the woods, shoot at cops and blow up buildings. Next stop, the distributed Ruby Ridge. Where every prominent member who does more than blow hot air will be rounded up, shot for looking funny, and passed off as enemies of the state. The rest of us will be left to blow hot air to give credence to their claims.

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Re: anyone got a cpunk URL for the UK munitions T?
by loki＠obscura.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

My homepage has not got that many links, but it is fairly well known. I would be happy to set up a WWW page just for you. How about: http://obscura.com/~t-shirt/ This will be around for quite a while, since I am getting into the ISP biz, and obscura is my domain. At 1:05 AM 9/12/95, aba(a)atlas.ex.ac.uk wrote: >On the subject of the UK printing of the muntions T-shirt, I've got a >problem, I would like to put a URL for how to obtain the T-shirts, and >cypherpunk political material, anti ITAR, clipper etc, bu yet I can't >very well put my URL: > > http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/rsa/ > >because that may possibly move within a year, maybe sooner, and >T-shirts are so permanent :-( > >It seems like too good an opportunity to miss, as some people may get >the thing nice publicity, and interest in the cypherpunks take on >encryption, so it would be ideal to have an on-line reference on the >shirt. > >So what I was thinking is it would be nice if someone with a permanent >URL, could put a pointer to my URL, that could be updated later, as my >URL moves? > >A cypherpunks page which has been and will be around for a *long time* >with lots of info or pointers to info on ITAR, the evils of key escrow >etc would be ideal. > >I don't need the WWW space for the actual info as such, just a pointer >which can point to where-ever it is my URL moves to, and as most >cpunks URLs seem to be in the US, it wouldn't be a v good idea to put >my content on a US server anyway (arguably). > >Any offers? > >Also now I'm here, there were a few people on the list who ordered >shirts from me, and the progress has been slow, if you want to see the >reasons, and up-to-date state of progress, take a look at: > > http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/uk-shirt.html > >I need to decide soon as to what URL to print, I was otherwise >thinking of removing the URL, as my sys admin made some strange >cryptic comment about me not having my URL after a while anyway (when >I finish the course, pointed comment? who knows), and I thought it >might not go down to well if I printed my URL on the T-shirt, at least >if it's an indirect pointer I have the option to get alternate WWW >space. > >I have decided to switch printers as the last guy seems to have >vanished, no answers to messages on answer phone for > 1 week, and >some shirt printers (like the new one I've chosen) offer to the whole >job in a week, and people are getting impatient for their shirts. So >I ideally need a commitment of a URL so that I can modify the design & >send of to this new printers tonight. > >The main criteria, apart from a nice selection of links (I've got ITAR >and cpunk links allready anyway) is that the URL pointing at my roving >URL is going to stay there for a few years, at least. > >Adam ---------------------------------------------------------- Lance Cottrell loki(a)obscura.com PGP 2.6 key available by finger or server. Mixmaster, the next generation remailer, is now available! http://obscura.com/~loki/Welcome.html or FTP to obscura.com "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra. Suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come." --Nietzsche ----------------------------------------------------------

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draft key mgmt props
by A5113643667＠attpls.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Cypherpunks, Does anyone here feel like explaining the situation between the three key management proposals now at the internet draft stage? Peace

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