December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Denning's misleading statements
by pcw＠access.digex.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I've never met Dorothy Denning, so I hesitate to characterize >her as a >villainess. But certainly she's the only noted cryptographer I >know of >who's gone so far out on a limb to defend a position the vast >majority of >computer scientists, civil libertarians, and cryptographers >scoff at. (And >I don't just mean it is we libertarians and civil libertarians >who are >scoffing, I mean that nearly every noted expert who has >carefully reviewed >the various schemes to control crypto and to provide GAK has >found them to >be essentially unenforceable except via draconian police state >methods, and >maybe not even then.) I believe that David Gelerntner, the professor of computer science at Yale University injured by a UNABOMBER bomb, is also a supporter of the Clipper chip. This may or may not be something that arose from the bombing. But I'm not sure how many cavaets and things he adds to his position. He may have changed it. But then he's not exactly a cryptographer. But, on the other side of the fence, I just passed a section in _Takedown_ where Shimomura and the FBI agents decide that the best place for the Clipper phones is "in the trunk." Apparently they don't communicate with regular phones so they were practically worthless. -Peter

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Re: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 01:40 PM 1/26/96 -0500, Robert A. Rosenberg wrote: >At 20:18 1/25/96, jim bell wrote: > >>Now, I was born in 1958 and thus can't claim personal knowledge of the time, >>but it's truly amazing how UNPERCEPTIVE the public must have been in the >>late 40's and early '50s about "intelligence" realities. Let me give you a >>specific example: The classic movie, "The Man who Never Was," relates the >>(true) story of a counter-intelligence mission done by the British to (I >>think) mislead the Germans into believing that the attack on Sicily would be >>substantially LATER than it actually was. > >The code name for the project was "Operation Mincemeat" and the intent was >to get the defences at Normandy ("Operation Torch" - ie: D-Day) away from >there and transferred to Sicily (which was NOT a D-Day objective) not as >you say to fool them on when the attack was coming. It did its job and much >of the mobile coastal defences were moved out of the area. I apologize for the error (presuming it's an error). I was working from an old memory there, from reading a book called "A Bodyguard of Lies" (William Cave Brown?) which addresses the misinformation/disinformation campaigns that went on during WWII. And, of course, seeing the movie "The Man who Never Was." -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMQlEXfqHVDBboB2dAQHwlwP8DJt2Vg5jmI/gQ8dV5rXJ6mgHFwmzAcMA 12kJWWUJzQg/6M/acTtwTntUYaT9sJ5nxfE6mV58KEpGRuz76ZAZ3LSugG/DlAAx NL1AMqhcv1Xelh+UD7tLqhH/lTt5mDJC0pWWquyOi85l8TOo05142BUOYL9YPx6q 6XjRqUgIDu8= =CcUZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 04:22 PM 1/26/96 +0100, Asgaard wrote: >Jim Bell wrote: > >> While this may be based on the "classic" view of the start of the direct >> involvement in WWII, I agree with the opinion of an old college professor >> that the US KNEW that the Japanese were going to attack, SOMEWHERE and >> SOMEWHEN (but not exactly), and in fact WANTED the attack to occur to >> justify getting into a war that we "should" have entered. > >Alan Horowitz added: > >>I've read that FDR had a humint source warning of a Japanese strike on >>Pearl Harbor. I also recall reading that J Edgar Hoover received a report >>of a diplomatic conversation detailing the planned attack, but sat on it. > >And this is from a post I sent to the list last summer: >*************************************************************** >I just read 'Infamy' by John Toland (1982), containing 'proof' >- very convincing, in my opinion - of the Pearl Harbour cover-up. >The US president, selected members of his cabinette and a >few admirals and generals knew - from Magic and the 'winds' >execute, radio traffic analysis, diplomatic sources, double >agents - exactly when and where the Japaneese were going to >attack, but didn't warn Hawaii, fearing that too efficient >counter-measures by the Oahu military might make the attack >abort and so not convince the isolationists. The unexpected >tactical capabilities of the Japaneese armada then made a >cover-up all the more important. >***************************************************************** >The unfortunate cipher expert Captain Safford spent most of >his post-war life trying to uphold the honour of his fellow >cryptanalysts, putting the blame on generals and politicians, >but in vain. It's interesting that we even HEARD about Coventry, but of course that was a British decision, a civilian target in an attack during an era where there were already plenty of attacks on civilian targets, and the British UNDERSTOOD why Coventry had to die. (But I don't know WHEN "we" (the general public) first heard about Coventry. Anybody know? (For the historically-impaired: Coventry was/is an English town (small city?) perhaps most famous from the Lady Godiva legend...but I digress... British found out, I guess through Ultra, that it was going to be bombed. Telling the inhabitants would have saved many lives, but (possibly) alerted the Germans that Enigma had been broken. British made the correct choice: Let the city get bombed without (much?) warning. The value of keeping the broken-ness of Ultra a secret far outweighed the value of Coventry.) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMQlC2fqHVDBboB2dAQGfpgP+NloVapAgqC3NxGg7TcVMnx+Q1Cmu2B/w Alp8q6uFvWsRqutFZ2+oDElHFxnZiMwZ0sgJkP0xG57TGoRob/DHY1h3+/NN9sYi KApzJHaElMrPFzwgMRLHNOBU/SQ3GsYDA2i4hWZM5ojsqXJQ7H7ov5FFJLGdV1u1 cOb/mUN8q9Y= =SRGU -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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The Unintended Consequences of Suppression
by mpd＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

WARNING: This message contains Bad Thoughts. The Surgeon General has determined that Bad Thoughts cause Critical Thinking, which may be illegal in Canada, Germany, and other countries too numerous to mention. I just visited the Ernst Zundel Webcom page, which given the number of server overload errors I experienced trying to browse it, is now the Numero Uno Web Site on the entire Internet, thanks to some anonymous and largely clueless official running telecommunications services for the former Third Reich. Like most sites run by "Infamous Holocaust Deniers", this one was largely unimpressive, and would have garnered little attention from anyone were it not for the noisy public villification lavished upon it by its detractors. After the furor this site is alleged to have percipitated, I fully expected to see pictures of skinheads with explosives and automatic weapons holding up pictures of Nazi atrocities and libelous screeds blaming the Jews for all the misfortunes of mankind. You can imagine my surprise when I found only a few rather simplistic historical questions, and that Mr. Zundel had even included links to rebuttals of his points contained within the Simon Wiesenthal Center's own Web Pages. All of this might have gone completely unnoticed by the majority of humankind, or have been the subject of dry boring debates at occasional universities, were the topic not constantly dragged into the public eye by stories about anti-free speech laws, shrill cries by organizations like the SWC for censoring the entire Internet, and officials who summarily unplug major chunks of the Net and disrupt legitimate business while trying to stuff a sock into the mouth of some individual whose views they find embarrassing. In doing this, the Speech Nazis, the Wiesenthalistas, and the Clueless Bureaucrats have drawn more attention to the views of people like Mr. Zundel than he ever could have on his own, and have alienated many of the people who would cheerfully have argued against Mr. Zundel on their behalf. This goes beyond simple stupidity, and clearly approaches the lobotomy level of impaired mental functioning. -- Mike Duvos $ PGP 2.6 Public Key available $ mpd(a)netcom.com $ via Finger. $

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The Big Lie
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:59 PM 1/28/96, Mike Duvos wrote: >I just visited the Ernst Zundel Webcom page, which given the >number of server overload errors I experienced trying to browse >it, is now the Numero Uno Web Site on the entire Internet, thanks >to some anonymous and largely clueless official running >telecommunications services for the former Third Reich. Like many born after the Second World War, I took it as a fact that the so-called Holocaust actually happened. I saw pictures of death camps, interviews with survivors, etc. But if it really happened, why are so many countries trying to suppress the evidence that it was all just a CIA-Mossad plot? It seems more likely that the pictures were faked, or were pictures taken of dying Germans in Russian POW camps on the Eastern Front. If They are trying to suppress discussion, maybe there's something to their ideas. If the Germans are suppressing attempts to get at the truth, I suspect the stories are true that the Holocaust was part of Truman's "Big Lie." --Tim [Note: I present this as a line of thinking that is actually often the result of suppression of views. "If They are suppressing it, maybe there's some truth to it." Note also that the views of Zundel and other Holocaust Deniers are not causally related to the deaths of millions of Jews, gypsies, and others in WW II. The damage, if any, is in the "hurt feelings" and "insults" felt by survivors and their relatives. The other danger often cited, that Zundel will recruit a Fourth Reich or somesuch, is no more likely than that Jerry Falwell will recruit a New Crusade, or that J. Random Ranter will do the same. In a free and open society, we let people believe in "wrong ideas" (witness Christianity, Islam, Scientology, Judaism, and a thousand other cults).] Boycott espionage-enabled software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: more RANTING about NSA-friendly cpunks
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:04 PM 1/28/96 -0800, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote: >Zimmermann supports my contention, as I wrote in the post. NOTHING >happened to him. it is conceivable this same result could have >been arrived at (government drops investigation) if he never even >hired a lawyer. > >Zimmermann is a perfect example of what may be counterproductive >hysteria on *our* side, toward advancing crypto. if Zimmermann >cannot be prosecuted, and is not prosecuted, where are the ITAR "teeth"??? I am not a lawyer, but I suspect that the proscuters gave up because they could not build a trail of evidence between Zimmermann and the actual export. After all, Zimmermann only wrote PGP. He didn't post it on the net. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Denning's misleading statements
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 03:12 PM 1/28/96 -0500, Rev. Ben wrote: >On Sun, 28 Jan 1996, Peter Wayner wrote: > >> I believe that David Gelerntner, the professor of computer >> science at Yale University injured by a UNABOMBER bomb, is also >> a supporter of the Clipper chip. This may or may not be >> something that arose from the bombing. But I'm not sure how many >> cavaets and things he adds to his position. He may have changed >> it. But then he's not exactly a cryptographer. > >There's quite a few folks in the Yale CS department that are pro-Clipper >or fence sitters. They justify it in class by claiming that law >enforcement needs these abilities if LE is to remain effective. I wonder if the same justifications were used for the Inquisition. "We have to use these methods in order for the Church to remain effective." Currently we have a whole host of laws that are difficult, if not impossible to enforce. The response from law enforcement is that we have to use stronger and stronger enforcement methods to shore up laws that are by their nature unenforcable. How they expect to do this and remain in a non-police state is beyond me. I expect that such enforcement methods will be sold to us the same way that they sell us soap and presidents. The media will give us plenty of "reasons" as to why we have to accept draconian methods to resolve problems from undefined enemies. Already we get the "real life" cop shows showing us a whole host of "enemies" who need to be hauled off to jail and the news programs showing us the scare story of the moment. Expect the four horsemen to get closer and closer as the shacles are ready to be put into place. Such enforcement is self-defeating in the long run. It is based off the false perception that the governed cannot recognise that these laws are unenforcable. Continued enforcement of "unenforcable" laws increases the disrespect for laws in general. ("The imposition of order equals the escalation of disorder.") The question is when the bulk of the population will see what is being prepared for them... Probibly after it is too late. Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ Is the operating system half NT or half full?

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"German service cuts Net access" (to Santa Cruz)
by Alan Pugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>"Germany's biggest Internet provider has blocked access to a Santa Cruz >computer service that makes available neo-Nazi propaganda in another sign >of the growing tension over material available on the Internet. > >"Deutsche Telekom, Germany's national phone company, blocked its 1 million >customers Thursday from gaining access to Internet "Web sites" maintained >by customers of Web Communications of Santa Cruz. At least my local paper got it right in the AP article they published on this... "The block - analogeous to the government ordering a bookstore to take every book by a given publisher off the shelves because it objected to one title - was imposed Thursday."

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[NOISE] FIG_newt/on CIA
by Dave Del Torto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[ This came to me from someone at Apple, through our pal Stephan Somogyi ] [ ...another "your tax dollars hard at work" story... heh. --dave ] ................................. cut here ................................. There's an easter egg in the 2.0 Newton (MessagePad 120) which was "censored" by, yes, the CIA. Back in '94, one of the Newton software types make a trek to the (very) small town of Rachel, Nevada, which is located at the edge of a secret government airbase. The base, called "Area 51," is thought by UFO-enthusiasts to be filled with alien technology which the government is in the process of reverse engineering. Meanwhile, the government denies the very existence of the base, in spite of widespread media coverage ("Larry King Live from Area 51", etc.). We figured it'd be funny to put a reference to Area 51 in the Newton -- especially given the substantial overlap between conspiracy buffs and computer nerds. So, in the "Time Zones" application, contains a world map, we put an entry for Area 51 in its correct location. Later, we added a twist -- if the user picks Area 51 from the map, the icons in the datebook application take on an alien theme. Normally, meetings are represented by an icon of two people face-to-face, events are represented by a flag, etc., etc. But when Area 51 has been chosen, the icon for a meeting is a person facing an alien, the icon for an event is a flying saucer, a to-do task is represented by a robot, an so on. Okay, cute enough. Now cut to August 1995, when the 2.0 ROM has been declared final, seed units have been in customers' hands for a little while, and the release is just about ready to go. One of the seed units, it turns out, was sent to a cryptographer working for the CIA. When he found that Area 51 was listed at the correct latitude/longitude, he complained to Apple, demanding the removal of the easter egg and threatening to have his superiors take the issue to Spindler if necessary. In the end, Newton management caved in to the demand, and decided to pull the joke out of the system. But the ROM was already done -- so the feature was hidden by a software patch ("System Update") -- but this part of the patch can itself be removed, and "Area 51" returned to its rightful glory. Here's how to get the easter egg back: 1) Open the Extras drawer. 2) Switch the folder of the Extras drawer to "Storage". 3) Tap on the icon "Time Zones" and press the "Delete" button. Warning -- any cities you've added to your Newton will be lost. 4) Switch the folder of the extras drawer back to "Unfiled icons." 5) Tap on "Time Zones." You'll find that Area 51 is on the map -- just tap near Las Vegas and choose Area 51 from the popup. Now look at the icons in Dates. (To purge the aliens from your PDA, open the back and press reset).

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Re: "Concryption" Prior Art
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It occurs to me that such a combined form would be useful for the idea of having a message that can get multiple results depending on the passphrase used. One example might work as follows: A section of data is placed at the beginning of the encrypted material. When it is decrypted or encrypted (depending on how one wants to work things) with a given passphrase, it turns out a series of bits, reiterated as needed. Each x bits is used to say how far along in the encrypted material the next piece of information making up one encrypted message (using the same passphrase) is. If you put in a different passphrase, you get a different series of bits, and thus use a different set of information for the encrypted material. The The major problem that I can see with this scheme is overlap between messages. I would guess that one would need to keep coming up with different data sections until one originated that wasn't a problem. How long this would take would depend on the value of x and how long the data section was. However, this should only need to be done once for a given set of passphrases and the corresponding key (used for all of them). Any alternate suggestions? Not being a programmer, I have no real idea how to put this concept into practice. (And, moreover, someone else came up with the idea of multiple data sets from a given encrypted message; I am simply suggesting a potential mechanism). -Allen

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