December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: the cost of untracability?
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 03:36 PM 4/8/96 -0400, Black Unicorn wrote: >In addition, to prevent funds from being removed to non-resident aliens >or foreign entities where tax enforcement and collection is difficult, >there is a 30% withholding requirement in the event the payee is not a >U.S. citizen or resident (for tax purposes). The withholding tax applies only if the payee is not a resident of a jurisdiction with a tax treaty with the US. Net banking will further muddy the waters on this because of the difficulty of telling the residency of customers particularly in the case of accounts transferred to third parties for profit -- a worthwhile future business activity. DCF

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WWW User authentication
by blane＠aa.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just finished writing a cgi script to allow users to change their login passwords via a webpage. I currently have the webpage being authenticated with the basic option (uuencoded plaintext). MD5 would be nicer, but how many browsers actually support it? When the user changes their password, the form sends their name, old password, and new password with it, in the clear. This is no worse than changing your password across a telnet connection, but I'd like it to be more secure, but useable by a large number of browsers. Any advice? Brian ------- <blane(a)aa.net> -------------------- <http://www.aa.net/~blane> ------- Embedded Systems Programmer, EET Student, Interactive Fiction author (RSN!) ============== 11 99 3D DB 63 4D 0B 22 15 DC 5A 12 71 DE EE 36 ============

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Re: unsubscrive
by Brad Shantz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Time May Wrote: >Maybe these dweebs are posting from an alternate universe? A universe in >which not even messages explaining that "unsubscrive," "unsuscribe," >"undescribe," "unscribe," and "unimbibe" are not valid alternate spellings >of "unsubscribe." > >I've copied my short explanation of how to subscribe and unsubcribe too >many times to do it again; and it is clear that these folks are either >doing this out of spite, are not reading any of the messages we send them, >or think it funny. I agree with you to a point, Tim. They probably haven't read the messages about how to properly unsubscrive. Not because they are dweebs or because they think it's funny. they probably haven't read the messages because they have 2 or 3 thousand messages in their inbox and they're all from cpunks. Unfortunately, this time, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt for being ignorant. I don't think they're being vindictive. How many of them have posted Unsub messages after being told the proper way to unsub? Brad This may kill off the Cypherpunks list even where Detweiler's massive rants failed. (Now that Detweiler's cabin in Montana has been raided, and one of his tentacles carried off, who will fill his shoes? Vlad the VZNuri is well on his way to matching Detweiler's volume, if not his obsessiveness.) --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: Bulletin: Cypherpunks say no taxes owed by moneychangers!
by Frank O. Trotter, III 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lets state it simply, if you make a gain by holding a currency then it must be included in your reported income. At least one writer correctly stated that the IRS likely does not care about small amounts taken on a trip, but they are technically reportable. Same goes for a loss, it is a deduction (with string attached of course) from taxable income. Aside from ecash, helping people to exchange currency is my day job so I see this all the time, especially this month each year. Best FOT Disclaimer: Personal not corporate thoughts.... Frank O. Trotter, III - fotiii(a)crl.com www.marktwain.com - Fax: +1 314 569-4906 --------------------------------------------

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NSA Budget
by cpunk＠remail.ecafe.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Is there a public release of the NSA's annual Budget. >If so is there a quarterly release. -Erinn ----- Yes, there are annual and quarterly reports released to the public which describe in meticulous detail expenditures for the agency's program, personnel and equipment: 1. The program of services and information supplied to government and other intelligence organizations, US and foreign, with terms of each client contract. 2. US employees, their organization, skills, duties and longevity of service; their names, ranks, identification codes, secure communication methods and home addresses; the location of workplaces; the continued training each is scheduled to receive; leaves of absence and destinations while absent. 3. Foreign nationals covertly employed worldwide, with information on each as per 2. 4. A comprehensive listing of all types of world-wide equipment operated; its detailed design, function and output; where it is located; its designers, manufacturers and purchase cost; its schedule of amortization; and its schedule for replacement and/or upgrade, with fifteen-year projected procurement. 5. Special short- and long-term contracts with governmental and non-governmental organizations, US and foreign for one-time projects, by goal, personnel and equipment. 6. Special projects with other US and foreign counter- intelligence to issue disinformation about the agency. 7. Special section on world-wide US and foreign cryptology: cryptanalysis, cryptography, steganography, codes, cyphers, glyphs, mimes; each ranked for security and ease of cracking; governmental and non-governmental parties using each; names of cooperative and resistant cryptographers and cooperating pseudo-cryptographers. 8. Sub-section on methods of Internet traffic and language analysis; operation and surveillance of anonymous remailers, bulletin boards and mail lists; lists of cooperative and resistant educational institutions and commercial organizations. 9. Appendices on: black operations; transparent operations; methods for managing cooperative and resistant governmental and non-governmental persons. The public is invited to study and/or download these reports anonymously at: http://nsa.dod.gov/~reports/quarterly.txt

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US crypto laws? Need help!
by Jean.Chouanard＠grenoble.rxrc.xerox.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi! I was wondering if a foreigner like, with a valid work visa but not a permanet green card, is allowed to use crypto in the state. If yes, is there any restriction? Depending on crypto methods? Thank a lot, Jean --- let's all be different, just like me. --- Jean Chouanard | Jean.Chouanard(a)Grenoble.RXRC.Xerox.com Networks & Systems Eng. | Rank Xerox Research Centre Fax: (33) 76 61 51 99 | 6, Ch de maupertuis Ph: (33) 76 61 50 90 | 38240 Meylan FRANCE

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Re: Demonizing the Opposition: Bruce "The Toolman" Taylor
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:08 PM 4/12/96 -0400, Robert Hettinga wrote: >Bruce "Penis with a Blister" Taylor >abbreviated PWAB, or "Blister" I suppose Seems to me that "a penis with a blister on it" is a good description of a picture of active syphilis. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Frantz | The CDA means | Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 | lost jobs and | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | dead teenagers | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: RC4 improvement idea
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<jamesd(a)echeque.com> wrote: > > Such keys are not weak. At 02:57 AM 4/9/96 -0700, David Wagner wrote: > No, the report was right: the weak keys are real. > > For one key in 256, you have a 13.6% chance of recovering 16 bits of > the original key. > > On average, the work factor per key recovered is reduced by a factor > of 35 (i.e. the effective keylength is reduced by 5.1 bits) by using > this class of weak keys. Why do you not just assume the last byte of the key is 0x4A Then for one key in 256 the effective keylength is reduced by a whole 8 bits instead of a measly 5.1 bits. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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Re: No matter where you go, there they are.
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:14 PM 4/11/96 -0500, Adam Shostack wrote: >Jim McCoy wrote: > What is >| Dennings fascination with building Big Brother? > > She read Snow Crash, and it scared her. > Snow Crash is a book about a future in which governments are >ineffective. Companies run things, and have complete local control. >The world has gone to hell, and as a result, life is nasty, poor, >brutish and short. Many people do not look forward to this world. >Thats an understandable reaction; when I first heard about anonymous >assasination markets, I thought it was pretty bizzare as a world to >look forward to. However, looked at from the standpoint of somebody who is not already steeped in it, OUR society is a "pretty bizarre world." Ostensibly we live in a society that loves freedom, yet it's controlled by a rather tiny number of people who wield an extraordinarily large amount of power. We can be beaten or killed by agents of the government, and the only time a ruckus seems to be raised is when there happens to be a camcorder nearby, one that the police do not notice in time. I haven't heard much speculation about why we never (actually, almost never) see such cases without recordings. > Then I heard Neal Stephenson speak. And he brought up a very >good point, which was Hitler killed more people than Charles Manson >because Hitler had a big country, and its large army. I look >forward to smaller, weaker government that can't put the Japs in >holding camps, surround and harras the Branch Davidians, etc. > > The debate, really, boils down to Hobbes v. Locke, or Plato v. >Aristotle. Its not going to be resolved anytime soon by a >philosopher. I think it will be resolved by a computer programmer. I am reminded of the scene in the TV show "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," when the two philosophers complained to the computer, "Deep Thought" (Assigned the task of answering the question of "Life, the Universe, and Everything"), something like "What's the point of debating the existence of God, when you're going to tell us his address?" There is precedent for this kind of frustration. I seem to recall that more than 10 years ago, or more, that the solution/proof for the 4-color mapping problem (The theory that all maps could be colored with at most 4 colors) was done by computer. It was accomplished, as I recall, by exhaustively testing "all" the various possibilities (having been narrowed down appropriately), and determing that they needed no more than 4 colors. Mathematicians, who were used to multi-page proofs that a human could actually comprehend and follow on a step-by-step basis, were unhappy that it all came down to a computer. Many of us have read Mill, Hayek, Freidman, Nozick, and >decided that we prefer that world view. That Dr. Denning has decided >that she likes Philosopher-Kings is not particularly unusual, except >in the computer business. Go read Leviathan. Think about what we're >talking about here. > > Its a scary new world that I expect will be created, by the >UNSTOPPABLE advance of technology. There is no weapon created that is >not used by someone who judges the cause to be worthwhile. Nukes, >chemicals, and biologicals have all been used against civilian >populations. I judge that stopping the advance of cryptoanarchist >technology will fail (in the long run), and not be worth the price. I >suspect Dorothy disagrees, and there lies her fascination with >building in Big Brother. I think the thing to remember is that the "worth the price" issue appears to depend substantially on who you are. If you're a powerful government official, who fears losing his cushy job and maybe even his life, it may appear to be worth an effort. From the standpoint of the ordinary citizen, however, if he understands what's at stake he'll recognize that it isn't. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: questions about bits and bytes
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:00 AM 4/10/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote: >At 09:33 PM 4/8/96 -0400, Jack Mott wrote: >>This may be a bit of a no brainer, but everything I have read sorta >>skips over this point. a bit is 1 or 0. 8 bits make up a byte (0-255). > >Be careful writing code - sometimes a byte is -128 to 127 instead of 0 to 255. >Also, there are machines (mostly old kinky ones) that use bytes of sizes >other than 8 bits. No, Bill, a "byte" has ALWAYS been 8-bits. One of the main reasons the term "byte" was invented was because the term "word" (as in, "word length") varied for different computers, especially in the 1960's. (In fact, many computers of that era used word lengths other than 8, 16, 32, 64 bits, as surprising as this may sound to the current crop of PC and Mac afficionados.) This made it inconvenient to talk about memory capacities unless you were referring to the same machine. The solution was to invent a new term, "byte," which conviently had about the same size as an ASCII character and was always 8 bits.

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