December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: CryptoAnarchy: What's wrong with this picture?
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"jimbell(a)pacifier.com" "jim bell" 6-MAY-1996 19:08:19.78 >At 01:44 PM 5/6/96 EDT, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote: > >>On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, jim bell wrote: >> >>[...] >> >>>While strong cryptography is powerful, and secure communications >>>liberating, unplugging the phones would about cripple that 'weapon' for a >>>while. Any group rebelling based only on high technology communication is >>>an extremely vulnerable group, both to widespread denial of service, and >>>more specific 'surgical' attacks. (Motorola stock anyone?) >The attribution above is in error. I didn't type those lines above. Whoops. Sorry, I believe that was Black Unicorn. My apologies to both of you. -Allen

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Re: Is the network layer geodesic?
by Erik E. Fair 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The principle problem is that public exchange points do not scale beyond current LAN technology (i.e. half-duplex 100 Mb/s FDDI or Ethernet), and how many DS3 (T3; 45Mb/s full-duplex!) pipes does it take to fill that up? Two. Now, drop a DEC GIGAswitch in there (16 FDDI ports, 3.2Gb/s backplane), and now you can have sixteen peers on the exchange. Last count I saw, there are 1,800 ISPs operating in the USA alone, and *everyone* want to be at the exchange points. Oops. How many exchange points are there? Well: NSF Network Access Points (NAPs): New York (well, Pennsauken, NJ; Sprint), Chicago (Ameritech), San Francisco (Pac*Bell) MAE-EAST (D.C.), MAE-WEST (Mountain View-San Jose), MAE-LA, CIX (San Jose) FIX-EAST (D.C.), FIX-WEST (Mountain View; just for the Feds) SWAB (D.C., but almost no one left there). There are probably a few new ones that are forming that I am unaware of as yet, but the point is that they're small-fry. There are also probably exchange points outside the USA, but I bet they're being held up with PTT B.S. The Internet is amorphous. It ain't a star, exactly, but it still not too far from that. However, to get away from this situation into the rich and more fully amorphous connectivity we used to take for granted in the UUCP network, we're going to have to see a lot more cooperation on the part of the small ISPs in agreeing to talk *directly* to each other to exchange traffic, and more small exchange points, instead of the small number of large ones. Of course, this means that you, Mr. or Ms. Discriminating Internet Consumer, must educate yourself a little, and ask interesting questions like, "why do my packets have to go to California to get across town to the ISP my friend uses?" If the customers ask, the ISPs will serve. They just gotta know what you want (and you have to be willing, of course, to pay for it). Erik Fair

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STEL b5 released
by Chris Claborne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Just a FYI :) From: cert-it(a)dsi.unimi.it -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- STEL beta5 has been released. 1. WHAT IS STEL? STEL is a free telnet surrogate which provides strong mutual authentication, encryption, secure file transfer, automatic s/Key password generation, centralization and management of s/Key passwords and more. 2. WHERE IS STEL AVAILABLE? STEL is available as: ftp://idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it/cert-it/stel.tar.gz Please note that ftp.dsi.unimi.it is not supporting security stuff anymore. All the security archive has been moved to idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it. 3. WHAT IS THE STATUS OF STEL? The latest version of STEL is beta 5. It has been (quite) extensively tested on the following systems: hpux sunos4 solaris24 solaris25 irix linux aix It has been reported to work (but no testing) on: ultrix freebsd bsdi Bug reports, comments and suggestions should be sent to: stel-authors(a)idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it - -- ******************************************************** ******** Computer Emergency Response Team ITALY ******** ******************************************************** E-mail: cert-it(a)idea.dsi.unimi.it Mailing list: unix-security-request(a)idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it Ftp: ftp://idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it WWW: http://idea.sec.dsi.unimi.it - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.3 mQBNAi1eowgAAAECAOTEMFRZHfBb+ndAmdk3vl20EpynEWwB3ZJo/ocZUXgSjBKS op11p19WyyTV9eW2Sosu9GoC4i7VLDiuFRfmKZUABRG0HkNFUlQtSVQgPGNlcnQt aXRAZHNpLnVuaW1pLml0PokAVQIFEC1epVbakBlHrAS41wEBnskB/iXnREAs044y ngOa8uJtYwFaDKc15GUKx9VV2klikcoWKPgaD6WjFs82HmdY86IQL2bFTi8FTKS2 2auGllxW2zaJAJUCBRAtXqV3kbMTtv2Q670BAccAA/sFW+OVkfr8FnClSAlD7fQc /PL0y8qDF4hYx3tIw1utM5zRGlti+KIOpuUIkQpIX4j8f9lIe/cihL5rlusQFsX4 d7cEJWW8GUM3+/mv89jM0ds6IX9KjfJAQPvPFr5rlRgmHdVm9K4ugCTkOzGsv1E4 o5+ZCN5dJW0+EbmjoghwoA== =WPYC - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: noconv iQBVAwUBMY4wESw4rhUX5imVAQFs1gIAuYqr5IAWRoFQzm71sWdBJCOKTCq/G4ti eucdKJ+5FlmyeQUavWseepozKF019KXElfoHkDVdjl8bnyhFIm7u1w== =nQd0 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ... __o .. -\<, Chris.Claborne(a)SanDiegoCA.ATTGIS.Com ...(*)/(*). CI$: 76340.2422 http://bordeaux.sandiegoca.attgis.com/ PGP Pub Key fingerprint = A8 FA 55 92 23 20 72 69 52 AB 64 CC C7 D9 4F CA Avail on Pub Key server. Dreams. They're just screen savers for the brain.

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Re: Why I Pay Too Much in Taxes
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:16 PM 5/5/96 -0700, Sandy wrote: >Actually, no. When I used to edit a magazine, I commissioned an >article about how much "tax" slaves, serfs, etc. paid. That is, >how much of what they produced, did they get to keep; how much >went to their masters. The surprising, cross-cultural answer my >researcher/writer found was that they got to keep everthing they >produced except 5-10%. That's a lot better, percentage-wise, >than for modern "tax slaves." It was fairly common for serfs to have to provide direct manual labor on their landlord's farm for 1-2 days per week, depending on the lord, plus of course if there was a war you often got drafted (depending on how much you were needed as a farm laborer.) # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com, +1-415-442-2215 # goodtimes signature virus innoculation

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INFO: Transcript of crypto chat with Sen. Burns at www.crypto.com
by shabbir＠vtw.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

------ ======================================================================== __ _________ __ \ \ / /_ _\ \ / / Voters Telecommunications Watch \ \ / / | | \ \ /\ / / (vtw(a)vtw.org) \ V / | | \ V V / May 6, 1996 \_/ |_| \_/\_/ Redistribute only until 5/28/96 TRANSCRIPT OF ONLINE CHAT WITH SENATOR BURNS (R-MT) AVAILABLE AT ENCRYPTION POLICY RESOURCE CENTER (HTTP://WWW.CRYPTO.COM) SENATOR BURNS IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR AT HOTWIRED: MONDAY 5/13/96 9PM EST Please widely redistribute this document with this banner intact until May 28, 1996 ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS The Latest News Schedule of upcoming chats related to encryption About VTW and Whistlestop96 ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS Senator Burns went online tonight and discussed encryption and his new bill, PRO-CODE, with Internet users in America Online's News Room auditorium. The full transcript of this session is available at http://www.crypto.com/. Some highlights from the fifty minute discussion: Question : Senator Burns, As a small business in Montana that provides web-space to local Montana businesses, I'm concerned that the lack of privacy and security on the Net will keep many of my potential customers from purchasing online. How will this bill help? Sen Burns : That's exactly why I introduced this bill. Right now I don't think any of us feel safe transmitting our credit card numbers over the Internet, and many companies who have workers around the nation or world are worried about how they can safely send sensitive information back and forth between them. If we can raise their level of security, we can guarantee that that information will be sent without unwanted eyes looking in. Question : What do you think the Administration, FBI, and NSA reaction to your bill will be? Have you already heard from them? (I run an ISP in Missoula, Montana.) Sen Burns : We expect them to have some concern with this, and we will work with them but we have to undertsnad that the people we are concerned with can already gain encryption that is already longer than 40 bits on teh international market. The transcript is the property of America Online, who retains the copyright. ________________________________________________________________________ SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING CHATS RELATED TO ENCRYPTION Sen. Burns Hotwired: Monday May 13, 9pm EST Sen. Leahy America Online: date not yet available Hotwired: date not yet available You can connect to AOL over the Internet through a SLIP/PPP connection or by dialing up one of their services. Download the AOL client software from URL:ftp://ftp.aol.com/ and install it. HotWired's Club Wired is easy to reach. Go to the WWW page URL:http://www.hotwired.com/club/ and follow the instructions. ________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT VTW AND WHISTLESTOP96 VTW (Voters Telecommunications Watch) is an Internet-based grass-roots advocacy group concentrating on issues of civil liberties and telecommunications. Whistlestop96 is VTW's project to bring more members of Congress and Congressional candidates to online chats to talk about core Internet issues with net users. We do not accept unsolicited donations at this time. If you want to help, register to vote at URL:http://www.vtw.org/ivoter/ . For more information on encryption policy, please see the following resources: Encryption Policy Resource Page: http://www.crypto.com/ Internet Privacy Coalition: http://www.privacy.org/ ...run by these fine organizations: Center for Democracy and Technology: http://www.cdt.org/ Electronic Frontier Foundation: http://www.eff.org/ Electronic Privacy Information Center: http://www.epic.org/ Voters Telecommunications Watch: http://www.vtw.org/ ________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1994-1996, Voters Telecommunications Watch ========================================================================

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Re: alias servers (al la alias.c2.org)
by David E. Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > How much information do they actually want, and how much do they > check? I seem to recall that they wanted some info for giving to the > advertisers and for targeting the advertising. > -Allen ["They (TM)" being Juno, the free email people] Basic marketing stuff: (I just abbreviated from their survey, which you can go back and change at any time :) Full address, phone numbers optional. How often do you use this computer, and for what? Which of the following (shopping, bill paying, horoscope, etc...) would you do online if you could? Which online services (AOHell, CI$, MSN, etc. ) have you used/do you use? What is your profession? What is your income level? What about children? Which major appliances/ electronics do you use? What magazines do you read? What about your free time? What hobbies/other interests have you? (Optional question: have you traded any securities in the past twelve months?) OTOH, there is nothing at all preventing you from completing all of this with your favorite pseudonym's information; Juno says that they can't/don't verify all of this, since they just don't have the resources or the inclination. Besides, the ads are cute - so far, I've gotten ads for Welch's grape juice, an Okidata laser printer, Columbia House record club, and Snapple. I already buy from three of those four, so I guess they're preaching to the choir :) dave -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMY6S1jVTwUKWHSsJAQEcywf+NgrPzFH002OEwtNOoQozidxHN2V8KmlK +//dLmTz2YkKr1Nrndb1QUHxYYP4n0Bdp0s4Y/GOh30gTKN71WFpa8+wOyEP/kOC 6iaz7KfC9PKBrxWSmpUOeDjnxL3YBzP2LcCvB057gB5Tvrwx6qC9pZ5W6cYnjg9w 77b6EKSP75Seh7jOVDmcEbfSJBOQoTqhjOQhrKHg1uoMvJnojlTGk3HZirr1bDsP 4mISloHVxuJGcg5SDAiOHQu/NG1fRITckV00M9t/YFV3E9BtraJX4AvbBK5zttoJ 2V/ExGvkAVF+VV85tj8OFjms6uzUFzxEQYtlQRz+Ku205uv4A6ZJWg== =Sj/T -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: More on Internet connections
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: IN%"rre(a)weber.ucsd.edu" 6-MAY-1996 01:36:44.84 >From: Phil Agre <pagre(a)weber.ucsd.edu> > "THE FIRST 100 FEET" > OPTIONS FOR INTERNET AND BROADBAND ACCESS > This conference looks at options for Internet and broadband >access from the perspective of home owners, apartment complexes, >and small businesses. It will evaluate opportunities and >obstacles for "bottom-up" infrastructure development and the >implications for traditional and alternative providers at the >neighborhood, regional, and national levels. We are seeking >original analysis, position papers, and background material for >use in the conference program, on the project website, and in a >book to be published in early 1997. > > The conference challenges business and policymakers to >rethink fundamental issues in telecommunications policy by >recasting the "problem of the last 100 feet" as "opportunities >for the first 100 feet." This paradigm shift suggests >consumer/property owner investment as an answer to the dilemma of >whether there should be one or two wires into the home. I'm glad to see that somebody's addressing this issue. It seems to me that if all the people on a given suburban block want some sort of low-cost, alternative method to access networks, they should be able to install some sort of centralized switchbox and run the cabling themselves down their back fence. Where is industry on this sort of thing? Why can't we buy such a thing? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: alias servers (al la alias.c2.org)
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>Of course, having just previewed the Juno "free-email" >>service, I might count it also. > > How much information do they actually want, and how much do they >check? I seem to recall that they wanted some info for giving to the >advertisers and for targeting the advertising. They don't want that much information, nor do they really check it; the big thing they're doing is sending you advertisements and probably selling your name, but they may have privacy policies. The big negative about using them as alias servers is that you have to use _their_ software and dial up to them; you can't get your mail by POP (though you can argue that it's harder to trace that way), and you have to use their silly advertisement-displaying user interface (shades of Prodigy!). I assume that behind their silly interface is a standard network protocol, which somebody can decipher and figure out how to use SLIP or PPP or X.3/X.28/X.29 or whatever instead. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com, +1-415-442-2215 # goodtimes signature virus innoculation

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Disappearing Cryptography
by hoz＠univel.telescan.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A book by Peter Wayner (pcw(a)access.digex.com) of interest to cypherpunks. (OK, cypherpunks mailing list subscribers then) There is more info at Peter's home page: http://www.access.digex.net/~pcw/pcwpage.html but I couldn't get to it when I tried just now. I got my copy from Border's in Houston on Sunday. He describes mimic functions, a particular interest of mine. He also covers basic encryption, error correction, secret sharing, compression, context free grammers, anonymous remailers, reversible computing, etc. There is an evaluation of several stego packages, and an inclusive (there isn't enough published about steganography to call it extensive) bibliography. The presentation is at an introductory, but not trivial level. I wish there had been more technical explanations, but I suppose the author would have lost a sizable fraction of an already tiny audience. By the way, "the people who participate on the cypherpunks mailing list" get a nice "thankyou" in the preface. Rick F. Hoselton (who doesn't claim to present opinions for others)

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Re: CryptoAnarchy: What's wrong with this picture?
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"unicorn(a)schloss.li" "Black Unicorn" 29-APR-1996 02:21:27.65 To: IN%"jimbell(a)pacifier.com" "jim bell" CC: IN%"cypherpunks(a)toad.com" "Cypherpunks" Subj: RE: CryptoAnarchy: What's wrong with this picture? Received: from toad.com by mbcl.rutgers.edu (PMDF #12194) id <01I43INDKHI88WWLV8(a)mbcl.rutgers.edu>; Mon, 29 Apr 1996 02:18 EDT Received: (from majordom@localhost) by toad.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) id TAA27441 for cypherpunks-outgoing; Sun, 28 Apr 1996 19:17:23 -0700 (PDT) Received: from polaris.mindport.net (unicorn(a)polaris.mindport.net [205.219.167.2]) by toad.com (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id TAA27428 for <cypherpunks(a)toad.com>; Sun, 28 Apr 1996 19:17:12 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (unicorn@localhost) by polaris.mindport.net (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id AAA07591; Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:15:56 -0400 Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:15:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Black Unicorn <unicorn(a)schloss.li> Subject: RE: CryptoAnarchy: What's wrong with this picture? In-reply-to: <m0uDagf-00093GC(a)pacifier.com> Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com To: jim bell <jimbell(a)pacifier.com> Cc: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)toad.com> Reply-to: Black Unicorn <unicorn(a)schloss.li> Message-id: <Pine.SUN.3.93.960428234342.5923A-100000(a)polaris.mindport.net> X-Envelope-to: eallensmith Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Posted-Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 00:15:56 -0400 X-Sender: unicorn(a)polaris.mindport.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk On Sun, 28 Apr 1996, jim bell wrote: [...] >While strong cryptography is powerful, and secure communications >liberating, unplugging the phones would about cripple that 'weapon' for a >while. Any group rebelling based only on high technology communication is >an extremely vulnerable group, both to widespread denial of service, and >more specific 'surgical' attacks. (Motorola stock anyone?) Wouldn't that partially depend on: A. the level of backups - packet radio as a backup for phones, for instance... a reason I've been forwarding the stuff on radio to here. B. the necessity to the government of keeping what else may depend on those phones - the economy - going. -Allen

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