December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cryptography of a sort - redux
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If anyone remembers my original postings from a couple weeks ago (my first-ever on The Net), I described a method to "shuffle" bits in a text-stream, using simple random-number generators, to insure that the text cannot be descrambled by brute-force methods. It has occurred to me only after this time that there was significant misinterpretation of what I proposed. I do not change any bits of text, I merely reposition them, therefore there is no applicability of standard analysis techniques (XOR masking, whatever) to the decoding process. The result file contains the same number of zero and one bits as it started with, through any number of encryption layers. The only way to recover the original text is to reposition the shuffled bits correctly, which requires brute-force guessing of the pseudo-random-number output. This guess is very simple for the first encoding layer, but compounds exponentially in subsequent encodings, so that after half a dozen or a dozen passes, where the executable program(s) is called from scratch for each pass, the shuffling rapidly approaches true randomness, and cannot be decrypted in practice except through the exact mirror-image reversal of the encryption passes. An example: How long would it take for you to guess the number (between 0 and 32000) I'm thinking of, if you could guess 16 billion numbers per second? Would it be .000001 second, on average? If you had to guess the ten different numbers I'm thinking of, and get all ten correct sequentially, it should take an essentially infinite amount of time, yes? And remember, since computer bits have such low differentiation (ones and zeros), looking for "patterns" and so forth just doesn't apply in this type of encryption. As to the Public Key part of the argument, once there is general understanding on the above points at large, it might then be worthwhile to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of how to make/distribute Private keys, etc. One gentleman on this forum made an argument recently, something to the effect that it wouldn't be worthwhile for Hacker X to try to break into datastream Y, assuming datastream Y is encoded with such-and-such a key, that datastream Y is sufficiently unimportant, and motive for such a breakin would not be great enough to justify the expected effort. To such arguments, all I can say is, this is the computer age, and enough mundane transactions can add up to something significant, or, one could lower the expected-effort ratio, you get the picture.

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Re: Workers Paradise. /Political rant.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:43 PM 9/15/96, attila wrote: > NO, it does not need to be or do either, BUT, it means > that everybody independently attempts to succeed and the > 'community' takes care of itself --and in the standard > sense, the ne'er do wells fall off the path of *their own > free choice.* There will always be sickness and calamity, > but that is what the community is for. > > BTW, it still works today; I live in one of 'em. And lest there be any doubt, I _do_ support certain kinds of charities, and will not of course stop anyone from practicing charity. While I have no religious beliefs to speak of, I strongly support the mechanisms some churches have for taking care of their own members, recruits from the street, etc. (Including Salvation Army and "mission" sorts of inner city things--note of course that most such entities also insist on prayer and/or Bible readings as part of the deal...I wonder how long it will be before a class action lawsuit is filed to stop the prayer part? This would effectively shut the missions down, of course.) The thing about _traditional_ charity, of the religious or community sort, was that it was not treated as an "entitlement," as something the resentful masses could "demand" as part of their "human rights." A parish priest, for example, might extend charity to a poor person, or a widow, or whatever, but not to an able-bodied person who simply decided to not work. Nor to an unmarried woman who kept getting pregnant and having more mouths to feed. (I surmise that most such women either died of diseases related to sexual promiscuity, died in childbirth, died of disease brought on by malnutrition, or ended up in convents (Catholic birth control).) The point is that even in an "age of charity," strings have to be attached by the givers of charity. People will simply not give 40-60% of what they earn to support a growing population of people who say it's their "right" to welfare, AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children), WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), food stamps (*), and suchlike. (At certain supermarkets I sometimes shop in on the way back to my town, people in front of me in line put their nice cuts of meat down, their fine loaves of bread, their frozen dinner entrees, their "Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream," and then pay for it with books of blue "Department of Agriculture" food stamps. They use their own cash (perhaps gotten by cashing their welfare and "disability" checks) to buy their smokes and booze, as food stamps are not allowed to be spent on this stuff. My impression is that they eat more expensive food than I do, perhaps because they're buying the food with "play money," whereas I'm buying my food with money that's what's left after I had to pay 40-50 taxes, so I seek to economize when I can!) > Now, I don't intend to be Scrooge, but I'll fight for my > rights to cut off at the knees the knee-jerk liberals and > government slavemeisters who want to tell me that I, and > 2 others are required to support 100 freeloaders. And speaking of Scrooge, I like "A Christmas Carol" about as much as anyone I know, and try to take the lesson of what Scrooge learned as a general lesson about life and living it. (As with "Robin Hood," the message is often confused. Robin Hood was not "stealing from the rich," he was taking back what was stolen from the peasants and farmers by the King and his tax collectors, notably the Sheriff of Notingham. At least this is how I read the myth.) --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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The Living and the Dead
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

For the vets unable to sleep: The Washington Post has two heart-breaking pieces today on a new book about Vietnam, "The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives," by Paul Hendrickson. The book tracks the disaster being formulated in 1965 by DC top-down policy interleaved with savagery to five grunts in bloody battle. There's a laudatory review of the grim book, and a long magazine piece gives an excerpt which includes some of Life's photos of a Marine copter gunner's transition from happy-go-lucky, to butchery of buddies, to grief-stricken collapse. It reawakens what's never forgot. That April, 1965, Life photo-essay, "One Ride With Yankee Papa 13," turned up in a sidewalk stall today so we'll put 18 photos on our Web page for a glimpse back to the future of power-mad policy begetting slaughter. http://jya.com/yp01.jpg through http://jya.com/yp18.jpg

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Re: The Living and the Dead
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:54 AM 9/16/96 GMT, John Young wrote: > The Washington Post has two heart-breaking pieces today > on a new book about Vietnam, "The Living and the Dead: > Robert McNamara and Five Lives," by Paul Hendrickson. > > The book tracks the disaster being formulated in 1965 by > DC top-down policy interleaved with savagery to five > grunts in bloody battle. > > There's a laudatory review of the grim book, and a long > magazine piece gives an excerpt which includes some of > Life's photos of a Marine copter gunner's transition from > happy-go-lucky, to butchery of buddies, to grief-stricken > collapse. It reawakens what's never forgot. > > That April, 1965, Life photo-essay, "One Ride With Yankee > Papa 13," turned up in a sidewalk stall today so we'll > put 18 photos on our Web page for a glimpse back to the > future of power-mad policy begetting slaughter. ObAP comment: A few weeks ago, the tv show "60 Minutes" ran an item about a group of Jews who, after the end of WWII, vowed revenge on the Nazis, down to German soldiers, plotting to kill as many as they could. In their biggest coup, they killed hundreds of Germans in a POW camp by poisoning their bread. My reaction? As you might expect, I think that the main thing they did wrong was to not kill enough of them, but more particularly to not target the higher-ups. The way I see it, the fundamental reason that people will continue to participate in holocausts, even today, is that they see no real prospect of being punished for their crimes. Unfortunately, society has been conditioned if not to "forgive and forget," at least to not punish where it has an opportunity to punish. I suggest that this is no accident: It is in the interest of tyrants everywhere to let the other guy off easy, lest he be in the same position someday. This is why numerous African and South American dictators were allowed to "retire" in peace, rather than being killed. How would an AP-type system treat Robert McNamara? He'd be dead in a second. To those who say, "What good would this do?" I respond: Anyone in the American government today who is considering an adventure which MIGHT turn into another Vietnam should be deterred by the knowledge that sometime, in 30 minutes or 30 years, he could be killed for what he did. Robert McNamara, presumably, did what he did because he thought he'd never be punished. The best way to deter future governmental abuse is to remind these people that they _will_ be punished. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: The Living and the Dead
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Sep 16, 1996 01:54:40, 'jya(a)pipeline.com (John Young)' wrote: >18 Nam photos on our Web page for a glimpse back to the >future of power-mad policy begetting slaughter. Corrected URL's: http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/yp01.jpg through http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/yp18.jpg

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Re: Kiddie porn on the Internet
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[Allegations that "save the children" is a political organization providing cover for an effort to ban cryptography] At 01:54 PM 9/9/96 -0400, Hallam-Baker wrote: > Their main mission is sending food to Ethiopia and other famine > areas, development work etc. It is ultra-worthy stuff. Not everyone who sends food to the starving children is ultra respectable. Problem is that the usual cause of starving children is tyranny. In order to get close enough to the starving children to take those cute fund raising photographs you have to pay off and get cosy with tyrants. This creates a moral hazard, in that it is hard to tell the difference between normal bribery needed to do anything in a tyrannical state, and bribery to bribe tyrants to create starving children for photo ops. It is very common for international charities to develop excessively friendly relationships with murderous tyrannies, Monsters do not generally sport horns and a tail. More commonly they walk around on two legs with large neon halos prominently displayed. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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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ComLaw> Down South
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cross-post from commonlaw(a)teleport.com At 09:11 PM 9/15/96 -0400, James M. Cobb wrote: > 09 14 96 Associated Press distributes a newsstory headed: > > MEXICAN REBELS WARN OF MORE 'SELF-DEFENSE' ATTACKS > AGAINST GOVERNMENT > Points from the newsstory: > Leaders of a violent new rebel group are vowing to > press their war on Mexico's military and police.... > > [Last month's] raids were the most widespread guerril- > la attacks in Mexico in decades. > > ...during the news conference, the rebel leaders... > said that...bomb threats issued since last month's at- > tacks were part of an outside campaign to discredit the > group. > > They said their targets will continue to be government, > not civilian, sites. > Please note that word: OUTSIDE. > > Imported from Atlanta. > "Overnight" via NAFTA Express: > [The rebel group's statement] cited "the TERROR and > desperation caused by unemployment, the drastic reduc- > tion of the buying power of salaries, the lack of at- > tention to health, education and housing." > Cordially, > Jim > NOTE. The AP newsstory's www.nando.net online filename: > > world2_15734.html > I capitalized the Clinton-word in the last quota- > tion. > This critical essay was composed 09 15 96. >From what has appeared in the American media about this new Mexican rebel group, I'm particularly pleased with them. This is exactly the kind of alternative that we need to the stereotypical, "kill lotsa innocent citizens" attacks which are often associated with the term terrorism. They make it clear that they specifically target soldiers, police, and other government employees. After reading a couple of articles, it is obvious what they need: A method to prevent spoofing of their communiques, a function that PGP could do quite easily. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: SPL -- Suspicious Persons List
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:04 PM 9/15/96 -0400, Phill <hallam(a)ai.mit.edu> wrote: >> Work for the competition, or start your own company. >Easy enough for you or me who can charge the minimum wage rate >for an hour for a period more like a minute. In this part of California, most yard work is done by small companies run by guys named Jose or Pablo, who can charge maybe 2-3x minimum at most before the competition undercuts them. And they have to worry about blacklists also - "business licenses" and "immigration papers". >... >Being opposed to government slavery isn't enough. Coorporate slavery >is just as bad. Unless people are enfranchised ecconmically as >well as politically the political liberties don't matter much. It's not corporate slavery when you don't have to work for them. >I am on an SPL that is run by an organisation called the "Ecconomic >League". It is an organisation run by the UK Conservative party >which keeps lists of "unsafe" employees. Of course the list is (Just because I don't believe in the concept of "corporate slavery" doesn't mean I don't think corporations can be offensive. This sucks...) Out of curiousity, I thought the UK had Data Privacy Laws or some sort of Database Cops - does that not apply to applications like this? # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> # You can get PGP software outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto

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"But if it saves just one child."
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:51 PM 9/15/96, James A. Donald wrote: ... >Not everyone who sends food to the starving children is ultra >respectable. > >Problem is that the usual cause of starving children is tyranny. ... >It is very common for international charities to develop excessively >friendly relationships with murderous tyrannies, But there is a simple rationale for this behavior... The rallying cry heard so often these days: "But if it saves just one child." Hence the moves to ban guns, the moves to ban cigarettes, the moves to remove violent scenes from movies, books, and video games, and, yes, the close alliances between Save Our Children and the Idi Amins of the world. (Hillary also thinks it takes a village to save the children.) --Tim May, who think GAK and Position Escrow are justified if they save but one child's life. We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I 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: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Internet Drivers' Licenses
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Mon Sep 16 05:27:03 1996 Received: by bwalk.dm.com (1.65/waf) via UUCP; Mon, 16 Sep 96 07:19:42 EDT for dlv Received: from relay-4.mail.demon.net by uu.psi.com (5.65b/4.0.061193-PSI/PSINet) via SMTP; id AA14516 for dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com; Mon, 16 Sep 96 05:27:03 -0400 Received: from post.demon.co.uk ([(null)]) by relay-4.mail.demon.net id ak19721; 15 Sep 96 11:16 GMT Received: from fatmans.demon.co.uk ([158.152.120.223]) by relay-3.mail.demon.net id aa23486; 15 Sep 96 11:02 BST Received: from fatmans.demon.co.uk by fatmans.demon.co.uk with SMTP id AA842733091 ; Sat, 14 Sep 96 20:31:31 +0000 Comments: Authenticated sender is <paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk> From: paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk To: "Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM" <dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com> Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 20:31:31 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Internet Drivers' Licenses Priority: normal X-Mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.31) Message-Id: <842781779.23486.0(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk> > mpd(a)netcom.com (Mike Duvos) writes: > > A given key could mean "I am Mike Duvos", "I am Tim May" > > Fart. How long is it going to take for you to grow up you trailer butt-fucker? Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security Paul Bradley, Paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Http://www.fatmans.demon.co.uk/crypt/ "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey" -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.3ia mQCNAjH9j+cAAAEEAMBvREiQR0ot9dFCO0TiSCSunAYLv2g1Bc6I3bz8FzKXNH53 6mieJf/W4rD+CxJpT0q9RQaaoRtkHJLwbjfK2il3D7mEahMAyqvF/xRJNqkXfhM3 sRJM0Jh43l+W0M5vwokbEbk25/bxWWGspTsLD3YHbzKnG6pOcL5OPIRbv66xAAUR tCdQYXVsIEJyYWRsZXkgPHBhdWxAZmF0bWFucy5kZW1vbi5jby51az6JAJUDBRAy NwfvNkCBjDT0xHEBATQPA/9TORmN/UjNecj03q4anpvdyCLiez5sKuNbnYK50RiP Jj4QpWWvST3smyQ0A86DrZY/re056MXwQmARESx0rFZxdnD0oORICl5r8dJLIy3b j8rbA5olXwZwKz73/X5s13v/pvHYX4cIsbVK8NHXqh5llSKt6TBAuGgkIGF29z5k C4kAlQMFEDI3B9mdtf/umVkv7QEBcRYD/1FBteLqsUmr81euxqqnnrpLlyHb58B/ 9sdATuua4uSjX46hXDZ264YozspNrzSB4NEdrmXOWVX3fiE0ga6XkSSkIeF23V90 En37Z0BdbFzgF00FRYTFyTq8eezQrdg/+rBPUsZUmG5wpq3e12FKHQsX01i+1mB2 YmqqwCV5e95eiQCVAgUQMh8uSb5OPIRbv66xAQEqJwP/fxQyiCasjFcbDpsFfsYp put5cCC/9pOx6X3DlbKShPMpUOS+A9HsTEmJQN8Iawv1nSwPdtc2cR/GhW6ilVjW LSloGdMVLabm9pGpZZMkRaZlXFUkOv7VhfgsUiL+vIDryBCAwUZCzQiWycjt/cPi mUqFH41Z7NkyO8ZFdi5GGX0= =CMZA -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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