December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: why compression doesn't perfectly even out entropy
by JonWienke＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 96-04-18 15:05:51 EDT, Perry Metzger writes: >Before making pronouncements like "You are still OK" you ought to >learn a bit more about cryptanalysis. Its tiny little statistical >toeholds like that which permit breaks. I don't know for sure, but my >intuition says that there may very well be instances in which a couple >of little nicks like that into the entropy of a key are sufficient to >radically lower the time to crack something. Since there are far >better techniques available (hash distillation, for instance) for >assuring the quality of a random stream, Jon's suggested techniques >should be regarded as unnecessary and dangerous. [Slightly ad hominem PSA deleted] 1. If "cooking" a byte sequence in a manner that reduces its maximum entropy by less than 1% allows an attacker to break your cryptosystem, then it is crap to begin with. With only a little more effort, he could break it anyway. 2. All I was trying to say was that applying cooking technique X to a byte sequence will reduce the maximum entropy of the sequence by a factor of Y; adjust entropy expectations accordingly. I said nothing about the origin of the byte sequence, the techniques used to generate it, or the exact method for "cooking" it. I did not recommend against using hash distillation, hardware RNG's, or any other commonly accepted method of generating cryptographically useful random or pseudo-random numbers. Jonathan Wienke

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java crypto packages
by Alex Strasheim 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The last time I looked, the coderpunks were talking about java crypto packages. Can anyone on that list tell me if any code has been made available? Unfortunately the archive is dead...

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Dictionary searching code
by Adam Shostack 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone have some code that will search a dictionary, and tell me *quickly* if an arbitrary chunk of text is in the dictionary? Pre-indexing steps are fine, as is using big chunks of disk for hash tables. The point of course, is to check arbitrary possible plaintext that a test decryption produces. Adam -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume

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RE: Anonymous Remailer threat: Scientologists may subpoena anonymous remailer records?
by Eric Anderson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- "Scamizdat" has never used anon.penet.fi, and his (their?) identity is still unknown. >>If A.R.S. is archived by one of those services, than all of those Scamidat postings are still available. Or is the CO$ going to sue them too? Can they retrieve any data from the cypherpunk/mixmaster remailers?

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Bernstein ruling meets the virus law
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It should be interesting to see what happens when the Bernstein ruling (assuming it is further upheld as the court case and appeals proceed) meets the proposed law making the writing of virus code a crime. If crypto software is essentially speech, albeit in a non-traditional human language, then virus software is no different. --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: COQ_tal--comment
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:59 PM 4/17/96, Matt Thomlinson wrote: >damn, that's the second time I've done that this week! dang 'R' key.. > >apologies, > >mattt By the way, Matt, thanks for mentioning this on the list. As this was the second time I'd seen this, I was about to send you a short note mentioning that your requests to John's bot were also going to the list (in case you didn't know). I suspect at least 5 or maybe 10 others were thinking about doing the same thing. So, your acknowledgement helps. (This is the same reason I think most replies ought to be public, as this one will be: it signals others that a reply has been made. Standard game theory arguments.) --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, 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[2]: on corporations and subpoenas
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:42 AM 4/17/96, Adam Pingitore wrote: > Um, well, then I'm going to have to spam your ass. Your metaphor escapes me... Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "If they could 'just pass just pass a few more laws', we would all be criminals." --Vinnie Moscaritolo The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/

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LolitaWatch
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sunnyvale, CA. Nubility, Inc. is pleased to announce the availability of "LolitaWatch," a filter program for the Web and Net which alerts users about the presence of nubile, young teens (and even younger!). LolitaWatch operates by checking the federally-mandated "age bit." No longer will you be frustrated in trying to contact that 12-year-old girl, only to eventually learn she's a 44-year-old male playing mind games. The President of Nubility, Pete Ofeil, said "Hey, the government says that they have to wear a sign announcing their age...all we're doing is offering a service to our customers." (There is still the problem that the girl may be a boy, or vice versa, depending on your preferences, but this is likely to be solved as the "Fairness to Women and Other People of Color Protection Act," which mandates that a "gender bit" be set.) "LolitaWatch allows me to cut quickly to the chase, screening out the hags," says Roy G. Biv, appreciator of young girls. "I've even rigged up my copy of LolitaWatch to automatically alert me when one of these nubile young things enters an IRC chat room!," he added with a sly grin. LolitaWatch is available immediately for Windows and Macintosh. No Unix version is planned because Unix users are, well, unix.

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COQ_tal
by foodie＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- Jamie foodie(a)netcom.com ________________________________________________________________ Our cat is a dog.

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Re: on corporations and subpoenas
by jpb＠miamisci.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

re: > GET ME OFF THE DAMN LIST Read the damn directions you got when you signed on. You know, that first message that told you to save the damn message in case you ever wanted to sign off the list in the future. Your cluelessness does not create any obligation in me to fix your problem. Perhaps if you were a little less rude someone might be inspired to give you useful information. Joseph Block <jpb(a)miamisci.org> "We can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..." -- Bill Clinton (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A) PGP 2048bit-Fingerprint: F8 A2 A5 15 56 42 9B 16 3F BD 57 0F 8A ED E3 21 No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.

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