December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Thanks to Prof. Sternlight for postings to CYPHERPUNKS
by Dmitri Chesnokov 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > Look, folks, we all know that 99% of what David Sternlight posts is > > garbage. Why don't we all pledge not to answer any of his posts, and > > then he'll go away. > > Thanks Perry for a great idea. Add my name to the list. It is not surprising that some members of cypherpunks mailing list failed to answer well-reasoned arguments of Prof. Sternlight. It is sad but not at all unexpected that some of us resorted to ad hominem attacks and attacked the person of Prof. Sternlight instead of trying to refute his arguments. It is reprehensible that after the ad hominem attacks failed to silence a progressive and socially-responsible scientist such as David, the same people are desperately trying to organize a boycott of his postings. This boycott and fake "pledges" IMPOSED on members of Cypherpunks list by those who were thought to have AUTHORITY on this list are contrary to the notion of freedom of speech. Dr. David Sternlight is undoubtedly one of the best experts in cryptography and Government Information Policy, who is generous enough to share his observations with us. We should thank you, David, for taking your time and helping Cypherpunks to reach new heights in our understanding of what should be the proper role of the government. Please continue posting to our mailing list. There are people who are interested in your views! We have seen how so called "scientific establishment" on usenet -- a bunch of "physicists" not known for anything but their intolerance to novel ideas -- tried and failed to silence Prof. Archimedes Plutonium. A real tragedy was prevented by a small number of freedom lovers like myself who supported Archimedes in his tough times. Protect freedom of speech! Do not let evil libertarians silence an opposition scientist! Dmitri Chesnokov.

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 6:42 AM 7/19/96, snow wrote: >On Thu, 18 Jul 1996, Doug Hughes wrote: > >> If people break into my house with the element of surprise wearing >> all black in the middle of the night, they have the element of surprise >> FIRMLY on their side.. I'd have to believe that reaching for a gun >> was the most stupid thing I could do in the entire world in this sort >> of circumstance. >> "You'd be right, but you'd be dead" - Dr. SNMP >> If you don't reach for a gun, at least you have the 'chance' for >> restitution on your side. If you're dead, you have no options. > > If you are trained a certain way, you _are_ going to reach for >a weapon, and hell, at least then my kid will have enough money to go to >whatever college she wants. Snow is absolutely right! Surprised in the night, with no clear identification of the entrants (and yelled "Police!!" claims are used by home invaders, so I would not trust this anyway), a trained person will instinctively reach for his weapon. I again ask what was so wrong with the "You are surrounded. Come out with your hands up." routine of years past. Instead of anonymous ninjas in paramilitary black raiding a house and shooting anything that moves, use some "due process." And "due process" is what it's about. Presentation of a warrant, or at least pretty careful announcement of identity. Blasting down doors without presentation of an arrest or search warrant is just not the American way. Are there circumstances that can ever justify no-warning attacks? I suppose so, such as when clear evidence of, say, a bomb-making or terrorist cell is invovled. Neither condition was met at at either Ruby Ridge or Waco, nor in the vast number of midnight drug raids. If a black-clad ninja enters my house without warning, I'll have to react the only way I know how, by reaching for my gun. I don't have the luxury of freezing, exposing my neck (wolf-style), and hoping that the ninjas are "just" the police. And very interestingly, many cops are saying the same thing. They realize that the dangers of being killed in a firefight in the confusion of a pre-dawn raid are not worth the meager gains. And SWAT-raiding the wrong house has resulted in many a million-dollar judgements agasint police departments. --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: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Llywarch Hen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy C. May wrote: >If a black-clad ninja enters my house without warning, I'll have to react >the only way I know how, by reaching for my gun. I don't have the luxury of >freezing, exposing my neck (wolf-style), and hoping that the ninjas are >"just" the police. Sir, you are not allowing for just how incredibly stupid the cops are. When they show up at your house, it is all over. They've already decided that you are scum. You'd have us believe that you lie awake stroking your gun. You have not had the opportunity to look closely at the business end of a gun. The hole looks enormous. Come off it grandpa. This is not a fashion show -- 'black-clad' indeed. The one 'black-clad' character that comes to mind is the _Economist_ editor found dead last year on his kitchen table wearing a tight-fitting latex number who expired having sex with him/itself. Of course this says nothing about the _Economist's_ readership, except most likely in your case. Forget the crocodile pits and the other juvenile stunts. If you have the slightest bit of incriminating material (queer porn?) on your hard drive, you'll roll over in no time and give your pals to the cops. These assholes would rather shoot you than admit to a mistake. One bullet from one of them, and they'll all execute you on the spot to cover for the idiot. -- Llywarch Hen

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[NOISE} Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:10 AM 7/20/96 -0800, Vinnie Moscaritolo wrote: >Speaking of Bob Hettinga put it to words best, told me that standing on the >Concord bridge he could see the colors of the American flag eminating >outwards to the rest of the country. Yup this is where it all started.. Should teach him not to drink so much in the combat zone in Boston. ]:> --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "Microsoft -- Nothing but NT promises."

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Re: Digital Watermarks for copy protection in recent Billbo
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:03 AM 7/24/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >>Not familiar with the Nyquist limit w/ regards to sampling rate vs >>frequency :( > >Check any textbook, or even a good dictionary. Basically, it says that one >must sample at more than twice the frequency of the highest frequency to be >reconstructed. Thus, a 20 KHz top frequency needs at least 40 K samples per >second. The exact number is, I think, about 2.2x the freqency, which is why >CDs were standardized at 44 K samples per second per channel. No, Tim, the minimum Nyquist sample frequency _is_ precisely 2.000 times the highest frequency to be recovered. However, what is somewhat less well-known is the fact that in order to keep higher frequencies from being "aliased" (reflected to lower frequencies by heterodyne processes) it is necessary to remove (by filtering) any frequency content above that maximum, before sampling is done. Real-world filters (at least, _economical_ ones) do not have instantaneous cutoffs, so it is necessary to provide a little margin, in this case about 10%. Fortunately, a play-only CD only needs output filters, and the input data (the CD disk itself) has already been limited to about 20 kilohertz, so its requirements are not so stringent. The reason so-called "oversampling" started to be done on CD players is that interpolating digitally between samples results in a far higher aliased noise frequencies, allowing either better performance with the same-quality of filters, or equal quality with lower-cost filters, or a combination of them both. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Code of Password File
by Jerome Tan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What is the code of password file of Unix? I have them but don't know how read them. Any file converter or viewer for that?

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Re: Digital Watermarks (long, getting off-topic)
by Alex F 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Easy enough. > > - Unless somebody reversed-engineered it, filtered it, and re-stamped it. Never said that it would be fool proof :) > - The entertainment industry has a reputation of being paranoid Sometimes with good reason, just like software producers are paraniod about piracy. Though, the Ent. Ind. does tend to overreact. IMO the copyright laws that are currently in place are enough to protect against the forms of piracy that they are trying to protect themselves against. I really don't think that there is need for new legislation or potentially privacy invading practices at this point. The forgers of the copyright laws (at least as they relate to music) had incredible foresight. Basically, from the laws that were originally drafted (30's maybe? Then revised in the early '70's at least as far as public domain goes) both videos and CDs are protected. These were written when there were no CDs or videos. > Some of you may recall > the flap over DAT, which significantly reduced the consumer market > penetration (the industry itself uses them all over the place). The Ent. Ind. got what they wanted though. There are taxes, etc. (some sort of import restrictions anyway) that keep DAT player/recorder devices at around $700 per unit. By this time normally the prices *should* be down to like $200 (using the CD industry as a guide) DATs are used all over the industry because they are cheap (see below), and because going from analog tape to DAT for CD mastering is a million times easier then sending off reels of analog tape, even if the tape is a properly mixed down duplicate of the master. There are still track times, numbers, etc., etc. A HUGE pain in the ass for CD manufacturers, but easy to do on a one-off basis in the studio where the producer & artist can sit there and help mix, fix tracks, select times, indexes, etc., etc. It can all be done to a single DAT )(which would then be copied for safety) and set along with a time code sheet. > (you still > have the even-less-effective argument of the associated cover art not > being included or being scanned and duplicated with reduced signal > quality, unless the distribution is all on-line). Cover art is pretty easy to duplicate if you have access to a color laser printer. Just scan the original in at 300dpi, and print it out at the same resolution/size and you have it. Just don't scan it in as a .GIF :) (too few colors) > Probably not done that way. My guess is that the disk ID is assigned > to the disk at the time of manufacturing. At the point of purchase > the customer is forced to give name, address, ID, whatever. This is > then stored in a database > > - Would YOU want to be responsible for maintaining that database? It's > like maintaining a hardware store trying to maintain an ID on every > single screw and nail in inventory. You would run into the same problems if it were done by CC. Hopefully the industry will do some sort of a cost-analysis (an accurate one) and realize that they would spend more on this than they lose (esp. since they still wouldn't eliminate piracy, just make it a little more difficult). > - Nobody's going to try and do a higher-frequency encoding (I HOPE). While > the human ear cannot hear those frequencies directly, we have found out > that those higher-frequencies interact in such a way to influence the > sound waves that influence what the user can hear. Yes, that's true. Anyone ever hear of HAARP? :) Certain frequencies can affect the brain in certain ways (a guy by the name of Robert A Monroe, while maybe a little eccentric, has been using this method since the 50's to do things like keep people awake when they are sleepy, vice versa, etc.). Also the body. Your body parts resonate a certain frequencies. For example, there is a very low note (I believe that it is a B) that vibrates at the same frequency as your bowels. Play that note, and you loose control... :) (If anyone knows this frequency, PLEASE let me know. I'm serious :) ). This is the reason > there's still a debate between digital and analog recordings, and is > still a big reason a lot of artists still record on analog equipment > (in musical "fuzzy" terms, it's equated with the warmth of the sound, > sort of like the tube-amp vs. solid-state amp debate among some guitar > players, etc.) If somebody deliberately played with such frequencies, > the journalistic media would probably have a field day. Yes, there are > audio cancelling and other tricks that could be deployed, but no matter > what, you're still deliberately introducing signal noise I touched on that in my other posting. The real difference between analog vs. digital is actually 2 things; static and musical "overtones" (used to produce various distortion effects and feedback, for example. ANyone who has listened to Robin Trower, Hendrix, Van Halen, etc. knows). People *are* playing with these frequencies. It's known as COSM or Composite Object Sound Modeling, and apparently is fuzzier (as in fuzzy logic, not fuzzy sound) than cold sampling is. Companies like Roland and Line6 are playing with such things. Roland is really doing some amazing things with this technology. > If I remember correctly, there is plenty of room in the design of the > audio CD protocal to embed such information, just like you can embed > the timing and track number information. Yeah, that's something else too. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I *think* it's like a 1Khz or 1 hz signal that signals this. At least it is for the start of the first track on a cd. In the manufacturing process, at least > - Well, the MASS market piraters are exactly the point. Well, let's face > it, if the industry controllers got their way, there would be no > second-hand market like garage sales - there IS money involved here > (witness the bizarre dealings with CD-rental stores that have shown up The thing is, there is no money lost, really. Think about it. In order for one CD to be bought at a garage sale, someone else had to buy it at a retail store. If the record companies were in the used CD business then there may be money lost, but otherwise. The place where real money is lost is sale of promo CDs (many say "Promotional copy. Not for sale" on them). Here the record company loses nothing. The artist loses big time. With the exception of Sony records, most record companies will only pay artists royalties on 85% of records sold. The other 15% is said to be "promotional material" which is a huge scam run by the recording industry to take advantage of the artists. These 15% are still paid for (manufacturing, etc.) by the artist, and are given away to radio stations, etc. There is where the real money is lost. The rest is lieing with numbers. Getting off topic, Alex F =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Alex F alexf(a)iss.net Marketing Specialist Internet Security Systems =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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Re: Netscape download req
by pjn＠nworks.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-=> Quoting Int:dlv@bwalk.dm.com to pjn(a)nworks.com <=- In> of Archimedes Plutonium, Dr. Jozeph Goebbels, and Janet Reno combined. Ewwww... (Two is fine, but Reno pushed it over the edge :) P.J. pjn(a)nworks.com ... Hey Bill Clinton: I'll give you something to censor.... ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]

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Re: DES-Busting Screen Savers?
by Steve Reid 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On the subject of choosing keys randomly, rather than dividing up the keyspace... This seems like a very good idea to me. One potential problem is actually choosing the random keys. Have to be able to get entropy at a fast rate, and/or use a good PRNG. Both of these things would take time away from the actuall cracking (more time than just incrementing the key). And if a weak PRNG is used in order to save time, it's possible that it might favour certain keys and thus interfere with the attempt. Any ideas for a fast and good PRNG? ===================================================================== | Steve Reid - SysAdmin & Pres, EDM Web (http://www.edmweb.com/) | | Email: steve(a)edmweb.com Home Page: http://www.edmweb.com/steve/ | | PGP (2048/9F317269) Fingerprint: 11C89D1CD67287E68C09EC52443F8830 | | -- Disclaimer: JMHO, YMMV, TANSTAAFL, IANAL. -- | ===================================================================:)

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RE: Distributed DES crack
by Andy Brown 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 22 July 1996 22:48, Ben Holiday[SMTP:ncognito@gate.net] wrote: > I've a few machines around that could be dedicated almost full time to the > task. What are the bandwidth requirements? Specifically, could the > keycracker be run over a 28.8 (with a 486 running linux)? If so, how many > 486's could I get over a single 28.8 (i.e. 28.8 -> multiple 486's daisy > chained with ppp over direct serial connection)? It's not a factor of the bandwidth, you search offline and send in your results to a central server. But first, a little reality check is in order. According to libdes, the 200Mhz Pentium Pro on my desk will do 1,827,997 ECB bytes/sec, or 228,499 ECB blocks. A DES crack would have to try, on average, 2^55 blocks. That would take my machine 43,798,875 hours, or 1,824,953 days. OK, so let's be reasonable and say that a week would be a good time to come up with a DES key. We would need 260,707 200Mhz Pentium Pro's to achieve this. Looking at that, 30 days seems not such an unreasonable target. We would need 60,831 200Mhz Pentium Pro's to achieve this. It seems obvious to me that DES is still *way* out of reach of anything other than special purpose hardware. Regards, - Andy (hoping he got his sums right) PS. For those more acquainted with Sun hardware, an Ultra-1 will do 1,683,647 ECB bytes/sec (gcc 2.7.2).

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