December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Reuters coverage of the Netscape release
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Most people reading this are likely to wonder "how could overseas Net surfers downloading it hurt anyone?", although some wil have their minds go blank (or blanker than normal) at the mention of "terrorist groups." A mixed set of news coverage, overall. As usual (even if I forget to state it), edited to try to stay within fair use. -Allen > _ Wednesday July 17 6:52 AM EDT _ >Government Approves More Secure Netscape > MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Reuter) - Netscape Communications Corp. has > received government clearance to distribute a highly secure version of > its popular Navigator Web browser in the United States via the > Internet. [...] > Officials had been concerned that if the more secure version was > available on the Net, overseas Net surfers -- possibly including > terrorist groups -- would download it, she said. > The software contains multiple formulas that make it virtually > impenetrable for computer hackers and others who might attempt to > break into Internet transmissions, steal credit card codes or tamper > with bank accounts. [...] > ``This new ability ... means more people will have access to stronger > and more secure communications than ever before,'' Netscape co-founder > Marc Andreessen said in a statement. > ``This stronger security will help to accelerate the adoption of the > Internet as a medium for online communication and commerce,'' he > added. [...] > _Reuters Limited_

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Re: Opiated file systems
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 16 Jul 96 at 13:30, Jim Gillogly wrote: > "Deranged Mutant" <WlkngOwl(a)unix.asb.com> writes: > >A problem with a c'punk-style encrypted fs with source code and wide > >distribution is, of course, that attackers will KNOW that there is a > >duress key. > > Good point. This suggests a design desideratum for any such system should > be that the user may choose not to have a duress key, maintaining > semi-plausible deniability for those who choose to have one. Semi-plausible. (See my other reply to this: an attacker could get ahold of the HD and your system, reverse engineer the driver used, to see what you're doing; backups of the encrypted partition in case of destructive measures are helpful ... they could even return your computer to you and take it apart carefully.) The problem with a duress key is that it relies on "security through obscurity". Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Anyone knows TCFS ?
by Alex de Joode 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does anyone use or know off Transparent Cryptografic File System ? More information available on URL http://mikonos.dia.unisa.it/tcfs bEST Regards, -- Alex de Joode | Berserk Consultancy -- Diemen, The Netherlands usura(a)berserk.com | mailto:info@berserk.com http://www.berserk.com/

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119_816
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

6-17-96. NYP: "11 Officers Are Accused of Failure to pay Taxes. Claims of Sovereignty and 98 Dependents." At least 11 New York City police officers have been accused of failing to pay any Federal taxes for several years by declaring they each had 98 dependents and by insisting that the Government had no right to tax them. The officers relied on a package of instructions that described how to avoid paying taxes by declaring that they were sovereign citizens who did not have to pay taxes. "16 Indicted On Charges Of Internet Pornography." Exon-Reno-ing into one of the more distant frontiers of sexual crime, a Federal grand jury charged 16 people in the US and abroad with joining in a pornography ring. Its members shared homemade pictures, recounted their sexual experiences with children and even chatted electronically as two of the men molested a 10-year-old girl. The case appeared likely to heighten concerns about the spread of child pornography over the Internet. ----- http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/119816.txt (11 kb for 2) 119_816 (For 2)

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Re: Code used by George Washington made available at last
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:35 PM 7/16/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote: >There's an AP article by Carl Hartman saying that historians now have >access to a secret handwritten code used by George Washington and >Marquis de Lafayette. (It's a newspaper article that somebody >across the train is reading; looks like today's SF Examiner...) They probably declassified it a week ago, discovering that the "national security" excuse no longer appeared to apply. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: preamble (was Re: Markoff on Clipper III)
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:20 AM 7/15/96 -0700, you wrote: >At 3:50 AM -0700 7/15/96, Duncan Frissell wrote: >>At 09:35 PM 7/14/96 -0700, David Sternlight wrote: >>>Did you miss the part in the Constitution about "provide for the common >>>defence" >>That's a meaningless part of the Preamble. > >Anyone who thinks substantive parts of the Preamble are "meaningless" is >deserving only of contumely. Perhaps you should review your high school >civics course--you did have one of those, yes? I think what he meant (not that I'm trying to speak for him) is that the preamble was intended as an explanation of why the constitution was written, and not to be taken as an actual part of the constitution as such. //cerridwyn//

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Re: Cookie alternatives
by Greg Broiles 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hal Finney wrote: >It is interesting to consider how shopping carts might be done without >cookies and similar technologies which allow servers to get more >information about me than necessary. One partial solution would be to turn cookies into nonces - instead of using server-supplied cookies, which may or may not contain hashed/hidden information, client software (and by extension, the human(s) in charge of it) could control the generation and modification of cookies. Some cookie uses are predictable - e.g., "Put the current date and time in the cookie", or "Put the user's E-mail address in the cookie". The user could be presented with dialog boxes asking "Server sneaky.tricky.com would like to set a cookie which will record the date and time of this visit. OK?" or "Server sneaky.tricky.com would like Netscape to generate a random number to keep track of your visits. OK?" A switch from server-generated cookies to client-generated cookies shouldn't involve too many changes on the client software side. (One danger which occurs to me about such a scheme is the potential leakage of client state information, assuming that the algorithm used to generate the pseudorandom cookies is or will be known to attackers.) -- Greg Broiles |"Post-rotational nystagmus was the subject of gbroiles(a)netbox.com |an in-court demonstration by the People http://www.io.com/~gbroiles |wherein Sgt Page was spun around by Sgt |Studdard." People v. Quinn 580 NYS2d 818,825.

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New MiddleMan Remailer! (reno)
by Middleman Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ATTENTION *** ATTENTION *** ATTENTION *** ATTENTION I'm proud to announce the birth of a new middleman remailer! This new remailer uses John Perry's middleman mixmaster code and is located at cyberpass.net thanks to Lance Cottrell. Here are the statistics: NAME: Janet Reno SHORTNAME: reno ADDRESS: middleman(a)cyberpass.net MIXMASTER KEY: reno middleman(a)cyberpass.net b864a69c831f38593d24187122e954f6 2.0.3 -----Begin Mix Key----- b864a69c831f38593d24187122e954f6 258 AASx+Qa23TBIu7MTGZQekob8EJrxyhNPYPBRhzZC 17F5scF1MzFIk1PhY0O78QN29aYMHlo99jE37Hlh MvJpQ7HUrqnklRIaRZJBLxUcuBoTckMltIJEdh1r 9Lbh8e5AIoqPr6c9SAxr7Q3v2cthkwuBYEiWDlui 0vGtsX/EC6lTdwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQAB -----End Mix Key----- John Perry, will you please add my remailer to your list when you get a chance? middleman(a)cyberpass.net

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Re: Opiated file systems
by Steve Reid 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> But, on the other hand, it wouldn't be to hard to have the user set both > keys (yeah, so that didn't actually say anything, so what...), and then do > an every-other-byte type thing (although that would be slow... every other > block would be more efficient), and have 2 EFS's in one file, and make it > so that on the "duress" one the extra space appears to be "free". > One could make it a real file system, and add a fake disk error to prevent > over-writing of the "non-duress" filesystem. This sounds a lot like security through obscurity... What happens when someone reverse-engineers the software and sees that it's carefully skipping over blocks? If you don't want people to know about your encrypted data, use stego. Even if They find the stego software, you can always produce the keys to unlock the duress data from two or three .gif files, and say "that's all there is." Use stego to hide data. Use encrypted filesystems for convenience. If you try to put the two together, you'll probably end up with feature-bloat. The idea of an encrypted filesystems being accessable over the internet sounds interesting, though. Sort of a cross between NFS and CFS. Would be great for backup purposes. ===================================================================== | 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: #E-CASH: PRODUCT OR SERVICE?
by Alex de Joode 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In article <m0ugN8o-000HEEC(a)JATO.hackvan.com> Stig wrote: : > Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 22:48:23 +0200 (MET DST) : > From: Alex de Joode <usura(a)replay.com> : > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com : > Subject: Re: #E-CASH: PRODUCT OR SERVICE? : > Newsgroups: list.cypherpunks : > : > [..] : > : "Ecash" is a registered trademark of DigiCash. It is registered : > : with the Benelux trademark office and the United States : > : trademark office. I believe that it is considered unwise to use : > : minor variations on trademarked names, but I'm not an : > : intellectual property rights lawyer. : > : > The Benelux (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) trademark laws : > don't allow for slight variations, certainly not if there is a : > change that people get confused, it is very very likey that the : > judges of the benelux trademark court will decide that : > ecash and e-cash are just to simular, and will thus confuse the : > public. (art 5 lid 1 BMW) : > : > btw: I'm surprised DigiCash didn't file for a European Trademark, : > but opted for Benelux and US protection. : Perhaps this has already been voiced on the main list (I get a filtered : helping or two of cypherpunks), but *I'm* surprised that such a generic name : as 'Ecash' was granted trademark status anywhere. : It's like giving Microsoft a trademark on the term 'Email'... It's nuts! : Was the term ecash not in use before DigiCash showed up on the scene? Untill januari 1st 1996 you could trademark anything in The Benelux. A bank (ABM*AMRO) has a trademark on 'the bank'; they essentially upgraded a generic name into a trademark, but the recent changes made that impossible since the Benelux Trademark Buro has to check if a name is a generic name and they now have the power to refuse a registration. bEST Regards, -- -AJ-

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