December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Former CIA Director and *Strategic Investment* Editor missing
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 04:06 AM 4/29/96 -0700, anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com wrote: >CNN is reporting that Colby's canoe has been found on the Potomac and >Colby is missing. Don't tell me, let me guess: The guy who rented the canoe to him has suddenly retired, and has been reportedly seen going on a Park Avenue shopping spree. Right? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Neuron Magnetics (Data Needed)
by Ben Wern 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There has been a recent discussion on dc-stuff about Dallas Semiconductor's Touch Memory stuff. (http://www.dalsemi.com) Has anyone played with these? Any info on the security / insecurity of the methods they use? Perhaps a cheap way to encode pgp / similar keys onto a card technology? Ben Wern bwern(a)jaxnet.com or bwern(a)unf.edu Try New and Improved Jello: V 2.0 "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be."

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Re: On computer face recognition:
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 0:07 4/30/96, Alan Horowitz wrote: >What task is the human brain optimized for ? None. Which put us on top of the food chain. Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not those of my employer. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Calling other code in Java applications and applets
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:22 PM 4/29/96, sameer(a)c2.org wrote: >> >> Java applications can't save files to disk or use data files on >> disk. > > Uh, yes they can. It's the applets that can't. And I believe that even applets can read and write data files on disk IF THE APPLET ENVIRONMENT PERMITS this. Netscape and similar environments at this time of course _don't_ let this happen, but this is a choice (as I understand it) made at this time and perhaps for this version of the respective pieces of software. (As I understand it, an explicit decision not to allow file i/o, for some obvious though not necessarily permanent reasons.) Certainly the InputStream and OutputStream classes handle file i/o for Java applications--if not applets in general, and presumably not with Netscape 2.0. I can imagine future developments which will allow browsers or similar environments to have full file i/o capability. (Sure, there are dangers. There are always dangers in running code gotten from others. These are recurring problems. I expect lots of flavors of solutions, from signed classes to "playpen" holding tanks (which allow file i/o, but only within some constrained environment), and so on.) By the way, I had a discussion at a party with several Sun folks and other Java programmers, and they agreed that external code (C, for example) could be called, even by an _applet_, if arranged. For example, various underlying graphics routines in the AWT (Alternative Window Toolkit) package are of course using underlying code written in various other languages, code that has been reasonably optimized for speed. "import java.awt.*" makes this code available to applications, and (I believe) to applets within Netscape-type environments. (I suspect there's a simple chart someplace showing what will run under what constraints.) The interesting thing here is that a crypto package, perhaps with speed-optimized underlying routines in C or even hand-coded machine language, could be released. It might be that patent holders (not that I am endorsing this) could license such packages to users. Thus, import java.bignum.* import.java.entropy.* import java.rsa.* import java.digicash.* ... (Such packages may need approval by Sun, etc., and formal integration, a la AWT. But certainly there is talk of replacing AWT with something else, so changes and additions are clearly possible.) Lastly, I don't believe that discussing the implications of Java justifies the claim that "males are posturing." To me, discussing Java, virtual machines, security issues, and advantages/disadvantages is what the list is about, at least as much as the other topics we so often discuss. --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, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Former CIA Director and *Strategic Investment* Editor
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:59 AM 4/30/96 +0100, Ed Carp wrote: >On Mon, 29 Apr 1996, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote: > >> jim bell <jimbell(a)pacifier.com> writes: >> > At 04:06 AM 4/29/96 -0700, anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com wrote: >> > >CNN is reporting that Colby's canoe has been found on the Potomac and >> > >Colby is missing. >> > >> > Don't tell me, let me guess: The guy who rented the canoe to him has >> > suddenly retired, and has been reportedly seen going on a Park Avenue >> > shopping spree. Right? >> >> Jim, I don't find dumb jokes about dead people I liked particularly funny. > >CNN is reporting that although the search is continuing, the authorities >are presuming Colby drowned in a boating accident. I'd like to hear more about the timeline. From a snippet I heard yesterday, he telephoned his wife and said he'd be renting a canoe. Okay, who and why did "they" visit a cabin (?) to find him? (If somebody called me from a cabin, and he had a telephone, I would not consider his failure to later answer the phone to be particularly suspicious...) And one version I heard said that the canoe was at the cabin. How often do fatal canoe accidents occur what might have been a few feet from shore? (You can't sink a modern canoe, especially a rental, because they have floats under the seats to prevent this.) We can't tell, because the information being released is so sparse. Somebody's not telling us the whole story.

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(fwd) E-Commerce Info. Needed
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Reply directly to this person, and not me, please... Cheers, Bob Hettinga --- begin forwarded text From: aiq005(a)teix.uib.es Date: Tue, 30 Apr 1996 09:46:56 +0200 To: RAH(a)shipwright.com Subject: E-Commerce Info. Needed Status: U Dear sir, I'm doing a project on Security and E-Commerce. I would like to know if you could help me on my search of information on two subjects: * Graphics and statistics about the growth of the e-commerce in the last years, and also on the attacks to comercial sites on this period. * Future tendencies, projects... on e-commerce, and how security is going to affect the future on the commercial sites. When I say 'information' I'm talking about URL's (of course) Thanks a lot, and please forgive my bad use of English! Joan Andreu (Universitat de les Illes Balears) aiq005(a)teix.uib.es --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "If they could 'just pass a few more laws', we would all be criminals." --Vinnie Moscaritolo The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/

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Austin, TX meeting notice
by sdt＠zilker.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There will be a physical meeting of cypherpunks in Austin, TX. Location: Central Market Cafe 4001 N. Lamar Blvd. Time: Saturday, May 4 at 6:00PM This will be a general meeting covering the existing projects (the video, the web page rebuild, and remailer planning), events in the news, and assorted other topics. As usual, look for a table with a stack of crypto-related books.

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Re: Calling other code in Java applications and applets
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I understand that Sun is considering including a bignum package and possibly other crypto support in native form in a future release of Java. There has been considerable discussion of this on the coderpunks list. Apparently Sun has said they will release their crypto API within the next week or so. However these kinds of things are often delayed, in my experience. An earlier version of the crypto API was shared with Java developers at a meeting a few months ago, and the response was quite negative, according to list memebers. The class and method design in many cases seemed awkward, spotty, and inconsistent. Apparently there are also export considerations, with the NSA resisting the inclusion of too many explicitly crypto oriented classes. Hal

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"Scruffies" vs. "Neats"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(The version I apparently just sent out was not quite complete. I saved it in my mail program, intending to work on it later today, but it got queued for sending inadvertently. Sorry it got sent. But maybe it's just as well, as I can look at the commentary--if any--and make additions and clarifications later.) --Tim 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, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: [Joke] It Takes a Village
by attila 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

** Reply to note from cpunk(a)remail.ecafe.org 04/30/96 10:49am +0100 well, might as well flesh it out and get the rest of us who were slighted --and don't forget yourself. if you can not laugh at yourself occasionally, check your pulse = Friend, = = Here's Timothy May, the self-appointed village headman. = He's surrounded by a bunch of arse-kissing accolytes: = -"Gosh, I thought that Java was garbage, but now that Tim mentions it, = it's the best thing in the world" = -"Tim's right, Java is terrific." = = Village Jester: "Tim's dead wrong. Java isn't good--it's great!" = = Then there's Perry Metzger, the local squire, who's embittered over the = fact that, while he's got some worthwhile things to say, he's always = overpowered by the "charisma" and new clothes of May. = = Jim Bell, village idiot. He's always good sport for the village bully, = Black Unicorn. His pretentions aside ("the black unicorn has been in = my family crest for a thousand years"), he is in actuality a short, = portly Philadelphia accountant by the name of Irving Lipshitz-Groins. = = Cordially, = = Your village historian -- Overseeing first-rate programmers is a managerial challenge roughly comparable to herding cats.

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