December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

New Forbes Article
by Mark Hedges 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Patrick Mullen wrote: >There is a really good article in the new Forbes. Many >familiar names are mentioned... > >http://www.forbes.com/forbes/97/0908/6005172a.htm It's a great article, but they said that Sameer authored and runs the Anonymizer. He ran it for a while, but Justin Boyan wrote the thing, and now we operate the server. Mark Hedges Anonymizer Inc.

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Re: Patents and trade secrets was: Encryption algorithms used in PrivaSoft (fwd)
by norm＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:47 PM 9/20/95, Ian Goldberg wrote: .... > - Ian "I heard that 'x*y=[(x+y)/2]^2 - [(x-y)/2]^2' is a patented way > to multiply numbers of the same parity. Can anyone verify this > and/or produce a reference?" .... That trick is probably at least 200 years old. There were once "quarter square" tables published that started i q(i) 000 000 001 000 002 001 003 002 004 004 005 006 etc. i [1^2/4] It works for all parities. ab = q(a+b) - q(a-b) These tables were published in nautical navigation books. Mechanical analog computers sometimes used this trick to multiply shaft positions. There would be a cam that computed the square of one angle, expressed as another angle.

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Re: economic espionage (@#$%^&*) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 21 Sep 1995 22:46:09 -0400 (EDT) > From: Black Unicorn <unicorn(a)polaris.mindport.net> > Subject: Re: economic espionage (@#$%^&*) > > > > ah yes, just like the way Clinton alone came up with the whole > > Clipper idea as a way to balance the legitimate goals > > of law enforcement with the right to privacy in society. > > Uh, how do you see balancing in the economic intelligence issue? > Do you believe espionage is never justified? > "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail" almost lost a war. > All out espionage should, idealy at least, only take place if there is evidence that a nations indipendance is directly involved. By this I mean active methods versus passive eavesdropping. It is one thing to send aloft satellites to record cellular traffic between cars and quite another to actively insert agents provocateur. > 'Intelligence officials in the United States estimate that at least twenty > foreign nations are currently engaged in intelligence activities > "detrimental to our economic interests...."' > I had hoped they were better investigators than this, only 20? Or perhaps this is a truer indication of our national paranoia. > > 'The White House Office on Science and Technology estimates losses to U.S. > businesses from foreign economic espionage at nearly one hundred billion > dollars per year.' > What are its estimates on what US business gains with its present industrial espionage infrastructure? Without these numbers the quoted above are useless. Jim

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I told you so
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

To my non-surprise, even the House is getting in on the "ban crypto" bandwagon. This just in (excerpted, to limit copyright infringement...read the full article in your Yahoo or the like service) Wednesday September 10 2:52 PM EDT House Panel Votes To Tighten Encryption Controls By Aaron Pressman WASHINGTON - The House National Security Committee has approved a proposal to tighten already strict U.S. export controls on computer encoding technology, dealing a surprise setback to legislation that would have relaxed the limits. In a 45 to 1 vote, the committee adopted an amendment from Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) and Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Calif.) that would condition all exports of coding technology on the potential for harm to national security. Software companies, civil libertarians and Internet user groups were stunned by the amendment, which they said gutted the bill under consideration. Coding technology, or encryption, uses mathematical formulas to scramble information such as electronic mail or a credit card number sent over the Internet to prevent hackers from stealing the information. Encryption has become an increasingly critical means of securing online commerce and global communications. Under current policy, U.S. companies can only export encryption products offering a weak degree of protection, unless the products also allow the government to decode covertly any coded message. The Weldon-Dellums amendment requires the president to set "the maximum level of encryption strength that could be exported from the United States ... without harm to the national security of the United States." Products at or below the established level could be exported after a one-time review specified by the secretary of commerce with the concurrence of the secretary of defense. The president would be required to review the established level annually to determine if it should be changed without harming national security. Representatives of software companies were aghast after the vote. "This is a disaster," said Rebecca Gould, vice president for public policy at the Business Software Alliance. "This was a bold step backward," said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a cyberspace civil liberties group. "It is worse than the status quo..... [rest elided] --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Cypherpunks, Sun and JAVA
by Harry S. Hawk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Today at the Sun JAVA presenation in NYC.. Sun staff member Hal Stern who was talking about security mentioned Cypherpunks.. when talking about Thomas Jefferson saying roughly that Jefferson would be one if he was a live. He might read this list (Hi Hal!). Anyway he gave a good talk on securty and actually seemed to be aware of many of the issues. /hawk -- Harry Hawk Manager of Computer Services Warwick Baker & Fiore 212 941 4438 habs(a)warwick.com

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Minnesota wins ruling.. in LV website lawsuit
by Steve Schear 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Minnesota wins ruling in LV gaming website lawsuit Assoc Press ST. PAUL, Minn.-Minnesota has the right to regulate Internet activity, the state Court of Appeals ruled in a widely watched l case involving a L as Vegas company's gambling site on the World Wide Web. The site's operator said Monday he would appeal. "For Minnesota to have jurisdiction over a site that has never taken a bet, that requires someone from Minnesota to go look at it, is ludicrous," said Kerry Rogers, president of Las Vegas-based Granite Gate Resorts Inc. The case stems from a push by ~Attorney General Hubert HumPhrey IlI to block Rogers' gambring operation from soliciting business~ from Minnesota residents on the Internet. The court's opinion, filed Friday, said Granite Gate demonstrated a clear intent to solicit business with Minnesota residents, including one successful solicitation. Rogers claimed a lack of jurisdiction because he had not mailed anything or advertised in Minnesota. "We've never taken a single bet in the history of the deal," Rogers said. "It was an idea. I'm being sued for an idea." The decision upholds a district judge's refusal to dismiss the case filed in 1995. The attorney general's office accused Rogers of false advertising, deceptive trade practices and consumer fraud. Now, Humphrey said he would seek a court order to stop the advertising and seek civil penalties of at least $25,000. Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in constitutional, copyright and computer technology cases, said the decision is "a barrier to interstate commerce." "This is a very significant case because when you put up a web site in Nevada, you are essentially doing business in every one of the 50 states." He said the debate is over how to characterize the business: Does the transaction occur in the state of the site's origin, the state where the user is, or in cyberspace? --end PGP mail preferred, see http://www.pgp.com and http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html RSA PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Schear (N7ZEZ) | Internet: azur(a)netcom.com 7075 West Gowan Road | Voice: 1-702-658-2654 Suite 2148 | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 Las Vegas, NV 89129 | economic and crypto dissident --------------------------------------------------------------------- The push by western governments for financial transparency and banning unrestricted use of cryptography is blatent politicial tyranny. Free Cypherpunk Political Prisoner Jim Bell

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Netscape RNG
by jpb＠miamisci.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I'd like to see the Netscape RNG implemented as a plug-in, preferably with sample source included to make it easier for other people to create compatible plugins. Once there was a published API for the RNG, other apps could use it as well. I like the option of using a cypherpunks approved RNG. No offense to Netscape, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable using a RNG with say Perry's signature or Matt Blaze's. jpb -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMGINp2GnwFiC3O2NAQGUYwf/e7D+Eg3FmPuovUOWEYFmh5T5PZlPD0BJ Ricg4f0UDA34IVrCCKoM1cDvRye8hUerVSjLJDcm/baghrHhoEZCevLsiq4SefbT XuDIjpE+6wM0I5Yz/bU4HK5O2PsvFXRbvgQog0evGKIT2CJPPY/XEBUyPJFTQRcZ 1zr8hbVD74Xj4Xs2q3FEpI7xT4brVFhOluF4j4/jDIbkR3cIbDB0SJgH838rrcjz kp6t+aRqYHJuBwIpVpA522yrhi07opXidTD6LjsZupkSkf3F7twDZwHwM5wv15YL kxhEMv7kREcNNcb1k1bC0luP5KrzDHtFG+wBKraTiSTJIqTGyXw5Ug== =4wHh -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Miami FL key signing
by jpb＠miamisci.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I'm interested in setting up a key-signing in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area on 28 or 29 October. Location is flexible, but the date isn't very - a friend of mine is going to be in town from Down Under from some time on the 27th to the morning of the 31st and he'd like to snag as many signatures on his key as possible. Joseph Block <jpb(a)miamisci.org> "The subjection to which the American citizen is now exposed every day of his life is so great that the whole idea of liberty ("That which does not injure one's neighbor") is almost totally lost. The greatest of despots, Louis XIV, never told his subjects what they could or could not eat and drink, and he never told them how to conduct their private lives." - -- Jeff Cooper -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMGIQGmGnwFiC3O2NAQEIpQgAwSto9BFdkm1qmtDnDsjAe5JDzP/GrKIm 3yvAA0Uzzl5kg2PVqRWqj4uM0O9ExBO9AN/7iFDinAaEAJTAmfzWQF8ZHNo/EmrM lH3Ec84asrbBBy0pYbQuT3Sj2CDGWk6HtlBOIyn/PKljIW0tz6AeCN0i9T7kNLhO zX6N+4Oq+w2HX9p+OFAbeSE8zlUEh4KNM2bn16GOW+DpxGfGln2Zir3zli4LCZUi UYlVyGWgxiVWzc1a83dar3WByyxcQaGDBL+wtm5bUJGTBywI/8KI8loCYY/6nIvn w1pqqvTsEKfez+Q3ej7L6nl8XOK4tO9E+hUNF7p9fdXnqCz20j/uyQ== =8pcs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: House National Security committee guts SAFE, worse than no bill
by Hiawatha Bray 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I hate to tip folks off as to my column for tomorrow, but that's exactly what I'm doing in it. I have written that if the Feds try to impose key-recovery crypto on me, I'll start using some encryption program that doesn't comply with the law, and I'll send copies of the messages to the Feds, so they can come and arrest me. If I really thought they would, I wouldn't have written it! But I'll stand by it. Anyway, I don't presently encrypt my mail. No reason to--I ain't no pedophile...;-) So if I want to send crypto I must find some partner in crime. Any volunteers? Hiawatha Bray Technology Reporter Boston Globe P.O. Box 2378 135 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02107-2378 USA 617-929-3115 voice 617-929-3183 fax http://members.tripod.com/~krothering/index.html On Wednesday, September 10, 1997 10:04 AM, Syniker(a)aol.com [SMTP:Syniker@aol.com] wrote: > >>Perhaps it's time to dare the Feds to prosecute you. Any volunteers?<< > > Me. > Whatever anyone else does, I'm going to first... > ignore any government mandates or law on crypto [use it anyway] > then, challenge them... and finally, defy them. Period. > That's where I'm at. > And, I'm going to tell them that's what I'm going to do. > On any website I can. > > Larry. >

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Re: Netscape RNG
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:04 AM 9/22/95, Joe Block wrote: >I'd like to see the Netscape RNG implemented as a plug-in, preferably >with sample source included to make it easier for other people to create >compatible plugins. This sounds like a job for.... CyberDog!!! Well, OpenDoc, anyway. How 'bout Mozilloids? Any plans for OpenDoc parts in the works? There's talk on micp about making PGP parts... Cheers, Bob Hettinga I know, I know, If you told me, you'ld have to kill me... ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Shipwright Development Corporation, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA (617) 323-7923 "Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell >>>>Phree Phil: Email: zldf(a)clark.net http://www.netresponse.com/zldf <<<<<

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