December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Assassination Politics 9!
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Mar 03, 1996 10:57:14, 'nobody(a)REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)' wrote: >Just because you two aren't interested, doesn't mean others aren't. >Work is actually in progress in implementing such a system. The Economist of March 2 has a cover story on state, church and private terrorism, the effectiveness and failures of each, the arguments and apologies, the savages and the victims, the lucrative concocting of imaginary enemies -- military, religious, political, personal. It's conclusions are ... well, have a read and dread how the Demon Trio of state, church and private super-righteous sub-humans will murder you and your loved ones next to fulfill their blind ambitions.

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Electronic Freedom press release
by LibertyWMA＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----------------------------------------------- NEWS FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS LIBERTARIAN ASSOCIATION ----------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release For Additional Information John Brickner Electronic Outreach Director Massachusetts Libertarian Association LibertyWMA(a)aol.com ---------------------------------------------------- Phillies Endorses Electronic Freedom George Phillies, Libertarian Party candidate for the U. S. Senate in Massachusetts, today condemned the so-called Communications Decency Act -- the Internet Censorship Act --and called for its immediate repeal. Phillies, a resident of Worcester, will face incumbent Senator John Kerry and Governor William Weld in the fall election. He further called for elimination of controls that are strangling our computer export industry. Phillies explained his stand on Electronic Freedoms: 'There is no freedom more fundamental than freedom of speech, and electronic speech is speech. When Congress passes a law against undefined 'indecent' speech, it threatens all speech. When Congress extended the Comstock Law to electronic media, it forbade discussion of abortion by pro-life as well as pro-choice supporters. Of course, the Clinton Justice Department says it won't enforce the Comstock Act. But what will happen in 1997 if the Buchanan Justice Department replaces the Clinton Justice Department? Export restrictions on software are hurting the computer industry. Let us have a reality check here. PGP and other strong encryption algorithms are freely available in Europa, Asia, and Africa. The only companies being hurt by export restrictions on software are American companies. The only people being hurt by export restrictions are American programmers and manufacturers. Export restrictions on encryption and other software are hurting us, while stopping no one from encrypting their data. The Libertarian Party supports free trade in computer software, and so do I! Export restrictions on computer hardware are even worse, because those restrictions are a de facto subsidy from the U.S. government to foreign hardware producers. When a foreign producer can manufacture a high power computer, and an American producer cannot export one to compete in the free market, it is the foreign producer who profits, and American designers, workers, and shareholders who takes it in the chin. We have enough challenges from foreign competition now; we don't need our American government helping our foreign competitors. I have long supported electronic speech and publication as Constitutionally protected forms of speech and press. When the Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games to suppress publication of 'Hacker' I immediately wrote Congress to protest. I argued 200 hundred years ago, King George's Hessian mercenaries raided colonial printers to scattered their typecases; now, Federal agents destroyed electronic font files. The physical format of the type was different, but the act was the same. 30 years ago, Russian police raided homes of Russian dissidents, destroying hand-typed samizdat; now, Federal agents destroyed magnetically-stored manuscripts of a game. The physical format of the manuscript was the different, but the act was the same. In the end, of course, word went out across the Net -- Justice was served. Steve Jackson had won his lawsuit. 'Finally, I remind all computer users, programmers, and designers: Liberty is indivisible! By standing together to protect all Constitutional Rights, not just the ones closest and dearest to our hearts, we make every Right safer. We all need to support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the parts that liberals or Republicans find convenient. Support the whole Bill of Rights. Support Your Electronic Freedom. Register and vote Libertarian. --------------------------30---------------- Background information The Libertarian Party is one of Massachusetts' three legally-recognized major political parties. Libertarians stand in the dynamic center of the political spectrum: conservative on fiscal issues, pro-freedom on social issues. To place candidates before the voters, Libertarians must satisfy precisely the same laws that will allow Democrats and Republicans to put Kerry and Weld on the ballot. In 1994, a Libertarian running for statewide office in Massachusetts received over 3% of the vote, more than the difference between Kerry and Weld in a recent poll. ------------------------------------------ For Additional Information: Contact the Candidate Himself: George Phillies Massachusetts Libertarian Association 87-6 Park Avenue Worcester MA 01605 508-831-5334 (w) (Yes, he has a real job.) 508-754-1859 (h) phillies(a)wpi.edu --------------------30--------------------------- Candidate Biographical Data George Phillies was born July 23, 1947 in Buffalo, New York, first son of Eustace G. Phillies, M.D.(deceased) and Clara Phillies. Phillies grew up in Kenmore and Williamsville, New York, finished as salutatorian at the Williamsville Central High School [now Williamsville North], and came to M.I.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While at MIT, Phillies earned degrees of Bachelor of Science in physics and in life sciences, as well as Master of Science and (in 1973) Doctor of Science degrees in physics. Phillies then joined the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program as a researcher. In 1971, Phillies joined the United States Army Reserves, eventually rising to the rank of Specialist, 5th Class, in a Boston unit, the 338th Medical Detachment; he received an honorable discharge in 1977. In 1975, Phillies moved to California, working as a postdoctoral fellow in the U.C.L.A. Chemistry department and living in Santa Monica. Phillies in 1978 moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was employed as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan. In 1985, after declining alternatives at nationally-known schools, Phillies moved to the prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he rose to the rank of Professor in the Department of Physics. Phillies is recognized internationally for his scientific studies of light scattering, soaps, and polymer solutions. Phillies, 48, never married, rents a townhouse in Worcester, Massachusetts, a block from the WPI Campus. In 1994, the Libertarian Party gained major-party status in Massachusetts. Phillies has participated actively in Libertarian Party organizing efforts in Central and Western Massachusetts. In 1996, he was elected Executive Director of the Massachusetts Libertarian Association. The Bill of Rights: "I support the whole Bill of Rights, not just the convenient parts. I support the freedom of unpopular speech, the freedom to practice uncommon religions, freedom for consenting adults in the privacy of their homes, freedom of privacy via exportable strong encryption." ------------------------------------------------

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Mainstreaming PGP on Usenet
by Bruce Baugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm surprised nobody has brought this up before.... FIRST CALL FOR VOTES (of 2) moderated group soc.culture.russian.moderated <snip> 6. Individuals in the database of known readers may post freely to the group, subject to the conditions in sections 1-4 above. If need arises, the robomoderator may perform PGP verification of the identity of the known reader and, if the reader requests so, automatically reject all the submissions from the reader without a valid PGP signature. -- Bruce Baugh bruce(a)aracnet.com http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce

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Re: Truelly Random Numbers
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:11 PM 3/3/96, Gary Howland wrote: >Timothy C May wrote: > >> In some PK code I did several years ago in Mathematica, the primes for the >> RSA modulus were found by picking a "random" (more on this later) starting >> point and then counting up from there, testing for primality (actually, >> pseudoprimality, technically). As one would expect, primes are found fairly >> quickly. > >Surely the process of counting up until you get a prime means >that the chances of getting certain primes are greater than >others (eg. 17 is more likely than 19) ? ??? I think you are misunderstanding the point. The count doesn't start at 0, if this is your point...that would be a lot worse than some primes more common than other, that would mean everyone uses the same prime, e.g., "2." Rather, one picks a suitably random number, such as "836480166228153153328299.....845082582622308645" (lots of digits) and tests it for primality (pseudoprimality). For a several hundred digit number, only about a one percent chance or less that it's prime. So, one iterates upward or downward by two (one first makes sure it's odd, as it must be to be a possible prime). Sure, the first prime reached is "more likely" to be selected than the second or third or nth prime reached, but so what? No outsider knows the seed value, which is where all of the security resides. --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" 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: Truelly Random Numbers
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:11 AM 3/3/96 -0500, Gary Howland wrote: >Surely the process of counting up until you get a prime means >that the chances of getting certain primes are greater than >others (eg. 17 is more likely than 19) ? In order to use this information, one would need to determine the number of primes in the vicinity of a potential prime factor. This costs more than actually checking for the factor, hence is not useful. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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No Subject
by burma＠alpha.c2.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello Everyone! I'm trying to help my friend. He doesn't have his own computer. He uses and abuses the school computers. Here is the problem the guy has. Read on! I don't know if any of you have problem with scrolling through the BurmaNet News article recently. It freezes my VT100 screen and give me KBD LOCKED errors at certain spot. It also freezes the xterm window. It turn out that the file contains non-printable ( invisible ) charecters, dc3, to be exact, which screw up something. Below is the octal dump of the BurmaNet content on a unix box. Note the 'dc3' charecter right before "The definition often the ..." on line 4300 and 6700. If any of you are having similar problem please drop me a note.

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cryptography
by David K. Merriman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Response to Freedom Now! program on PBS, regarding expanding use of cryptography by individuals. - ----------------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, the NSA representative (Mr. Baker?) on today's (3/3/96) show neglected to mention that the Clinton administration called for the introduction of the Clipper chip in *all* phones, NOT just those used by the government. This may be readily verified online via the archives at the EFF (http://www.eff.org) EPIC (http://www.epic.org) and even the White House' (http://www.whitehouse.gov) own ftp-able copies of the President's speeches. Also missed was the fact that the Clipper chip would readily permit the implementation of what is called "traffic analysis" - knowing who spoke with whom, regardless of content. Traffic analysis data could readily be misinterpreted. If I were to make a dozen calls to a KKK office, traffic analysis would show such; it would *not* indicate whether the calls were in support of, or opposition to, the KKK's existence. I found 'interesting' the NSA representative's emphasis of the fact that with the introduction of the automobile, the government's response was licensing and requirements for absolute identification. Extending that response, and the extensive licensing and identification procedures used to (legally) acquire (legal) firearms, to the use of cryptography and communications: are we going to see licensed telephones? Are we going to be obliged to present a National ID card before being able to use a public pay phone? Somehow, I have trouble equating a submachine gun to a Princess phone... but then, I'm not a (probably justifiably so) paranoid government official. David K. Merriman merriman(a)arn.net -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMTks9MVrTvyYOzAZAQF+tQP/Z1WQQ5lA04Lkt1e4pDM6x/MA113+LuAQ DnKSSy50778cblcW44IimEkeWvxAQ/ee4FYtDlDvpxVgCXJc9ARUdawpZ0eFoCON 5nQ1VixVUMhmMrZYUrx1MFmacvgYDfkqXS7QEHmkrQzvZTKsjM67gs2VKCUhJm0D p54R34ooaKM= =1HPq -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------- "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> For privacy tools: http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/1148

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remailer, web site, listserve
by David K. Merriman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I and a partner are expecting to be online by the 8th of March with a commercial web server (shellback.com) As part of this presence, I am working on hacking together a program to interface with the SLMail95 (yes, it will be running on a Win95 machine :-) email server to allow operation as a remailer. Initially, I anticipate that it will be a fairly 'dumb' remailer, offering only remailing, reordering, and PGP encryption. Additional CP-style features will be added as my time to implement them permits. I am offering to maintain an initially limited archives of CP materials and a listserve host (if needed/wanted). I am also actively soliciting (via email to me personally, please, and forgive me if I don't acknowledge it) pointers and materials (files, documents, etc) to include on the site. I have the PGP files from the CP ftp site (before it got 'lost' again), but anything else is *most* welcome. We will also be offering anonymous email accounts for $5/month. Following is the PGP key for the remailer we'll be operating (remailer(a)shellback.com) I want to emphasize that the remailer will *not* keep *any* kind of logs. Bad headers, bounces, or anything else not processed on the first go-through will simply fall into the bitbucket for electron recycling. Since I'll be the postmaster/webmaster, I can say that with no small measure of confidence :-) - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAzE0kfEAAAEEALf5sIOqMfEAFi3geJ6aofyaCRy1ZJt8D91QBqPPeU1X3ond BoIcEcfaMf7s3cOBaiEl7rKFMYqEpL08G7FFelQxc1WRvsR5XtTN+xFB3j0RPNON vMxju5j6anjPVb2RMnowSYqNKUWIEYd4Soa7L+ZWpaHgLSGkhb6Ex2tu6LdpAAUR tCFSZW1haWxlciA8cmVtYWlsZXJAc2hlbGxiYWNrLmNvbT6JAJUDBRAxNJK/xWtO /Jg7MBkBAfiVBACk6dDtebwemmY2+nxK+WD46a0Uj/lwpXLGzJvixdYGo4mwYG2/ LUw/23xBNxLIvPCFR8Qvt9zguyPdMWAp07I64ZlL6yv9Co3DETtTLB8wBdPce6Wx CLswIWAQ3MSLOmgVB35TzOYrYf5RzYtNKktCl3YDa9mxV4sug9xAx5uxvw== =9EvL - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- We return you now to your regularly scheduled anarchy..... Dave Merriman -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMTkzSsVrTvyYOzAZAQGVxQP/cFSgADQRFs58aTRv9FmzVFKK5xP4Ew2T lFajc73ltr0u6qa3luCfZKUqhG93REt8KXqzj2j65i+wrSKzs10DN2N75dEfRHO9 oGm0ka82eTmY+NXLLuNn1THw0+J8EsH9itQD0H4IzEWFkqUYq/C8pEtARF8LCt3V oKN1V/E6zPs= =sfA+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------- "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> For privacy tools: http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/1148

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Re: Duress
by David K. Merriman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 02:49 PM 03/3/96 EST, dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com (Dr. Dimitri Vulis) wrote: >"A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security" <PADGETT(a)hobbes.orl.mmc.com> writes: >> Those of you who follow FIREWALLS may recall that I premote the use of >> "minefields" on networks, machines that should never be accessed and will >> trigger an alarm/response on any access. >> >> Some years ago I wrote a spec for cryptographic securing of notebooks/ >> E-Mail that included a "duress" capability: a "password" that, when >> entered would appear to be properly accepted but would report an error >> on retrieval. Optional was to be overwriting of any material whose access >> was attempted. > >As a side remark, every burglar alarm connected to a phone that I've ever seen >has this feature: a code that one can type under duress that will both turn >off the alarm and call for help. I wonder how many users will remember this >code when under duress. > Many (if not most) alarm companies make the duress code the *reverse* of the normal code. Dave Merriman -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMTlEzsVrTvyYOzAZAQG9sAQAjfAQP6pEReh/vzx/dsJKU987FOMbqWgV Ik/NtzW7fRRzVYmruribT1ZtPQAcPTkdORZC22xHvk82E/m9Awv9q6Zhkbd29/TQ kcLQ42G3ddcUMA7EWtWtP231tofnyQtM5M7KRdIkKyT7oZdyXgjP42mysjGNDHAy wv2VcfiPwPQ= =fc6C -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------- "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." P. J. O'Rourke (b. 1947), U.S. journalist. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> For privacy tools: http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/1148

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Re: NYT login
by Phillip M. Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Just Rich wrote: > > Rumour has it that there might be a cpunks/cpunks (cypherpunks was taken). This brings up an interesting prtoblem which I have been trying to solve. How can we fund content providers on the Web while not compromising privacy? Early on I targeted political and governmental sites as likely users of the Web. This also reflected a personal belief that I have in open government. What I did not anticipate was the speed with which the mainstream press started appearing on the Web. In part this was due to the Whitehouse server which has legitimized the Web in many corporated boardrooms. There is a problem though, nobody has a fully convincing revenue model yet. This will have to chage if sites like the NYT are going to stay online. Ideally I would like these sites to be free to the readers because it helps break down international chauvnism and petty minded nationalism. I believe that the significant number of trans-national relationships forged over the internet have lead to a significant shift in support for French Nuclear testing for example. Ten years ago many French supported terrorism such as the sinking of the Rainbow warrior in persuit of this policy, this time round there has been much less support for the government posistion. The challenge therefore is to find a means by which NYT etc can pay their staffs. Advertising is an obvious mechanism but here there is a problem. Advertisers need to know what they are receiving by way of value for money. Don't believe the stories of $50K per month advertising charges, many of these prices are very heavily discounted. $50K is what advertisers are willing to pay once they know for sure the Web works for them. If we apply traditional advertising logic it would be necessary to use very intrusive methods to discover how effective the Web is. This is not necessarily the case on the Web since it is an interactive medium. As Jock Gill pointed out at a recent conference we organised, instead of targetting customers the Web permits a participatory process which may be far more profitable for big name brands, allowing them to establish the high value long term relationships they really want. So the question is how can we square the circle? I have no problem telling the NYT's advertisers that NYT have a reader who is in the high tech goodies purchasingcategory. I have a serious problem allowing the government to know that I read the NYT, remember that in many countries that could lead to getting you arrested. I also think we need to be cautious about comapnies collecting similar information. Imagine for a moment that the US elected a fascist president opposed to "left wing intellectuals". It would be a bad thing if he could obtain a list of likely left wing intellectuals compiled from readership of various magazines, visiting of left wing Web sites etc. This is a live issue in Holland where no phone records are kept because stored records were used by the NAZIs when they were invaded to find out who was talking to whom. Some Ideas I had: 1) An anonymous session identifier generated by the browser constructed in a cryptographically secure manner so as to prevent linkage across sites. This would allow NYTs to find out that a reader had moved from the sports section to the politics section within the site but not to track them from the NYT to Time Warner. 2) A privacy code of conduct. Sites adhering to this code would be alowed to display a trademarked icon on their pages. This code would cover items such as not selling log files not maintaining online records of identity. There are many people who are willing to put in the effort to make the Web a place where people can interact in privacy. I know very senior people in very large companies who are as concerned as many cypherpunks on this issue. The point is that we need to come up with a scheme which addresses their legitimate business needs and protects privacy. Otherwise the market will decide and it does not care much about privacy. I have written up some working drafts. You can get them from the IETF in ascii text or via the web as W3c working drafts http://w3.org/ Phill Hallam-Baker - --- [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.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMToQuyoZzwIn1bdtAQFSZgGAwMeBfDr4g3yBclG08m6f8K2Ml1Gv07i1 L5wybpz4/8o4Gy7/P3UUP+82IcEpgGrl =hUU/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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