December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Oregon License Plate Site in the News Tonight!
by jfricker＠vertexgroup.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:23 PM 8/8/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >At 2:49 AM 8/9/96, John F. Fricker wrote: > >>Isn't that the role of legislation? To implement solutions that society >>would not do on it's own? >> >>The enabling technology is obviously off the self. >> >>I think you may have misinterpretted my last sentence which was supposed to >>have had a ? at the end. Where's the proof reader when you need one! > >"To implement solutions that society would not do on it's own?" > >Would not do, or could not do? It is within anyone's power to ask their >psychiatrist what form of encryption he uses to protect his files. Likewise >with doctors and hospitals. > Well where there's a will there's a way. I agree that the general public and the market place often lacks the power to affect particular events. Central planning can facility certain processes. Free-marketers may argue that I can query and select based upon my encryption criteria but chances are my psychiatrist will do nothing more than "make note" of paranoia and ponder it's significance: "Do you resent your mother?" >(Though I freely admit that one would not be likely to get very far. For at >least the next decade or two, the reaction will likely be "Huh?" But >"legislation" mandating a form of encryption is not the answer. For many >reasons.) > >On this list at least, calls for passing laws to implement societal >solutions are not usually smiled upon. This is not to say such discussions >are out of bounds, only that you'd better make some persuasive arguments >and not just appeal to our common sense sympathies for social engineering >and more laws. I am not a great fan of social engineering and regulations. Yet the legisture in Oregon may get called for a special session to address this issue and I see this an opportunity for a grander arguement than merely acccess to the DMV data. And as much as we dislike the presence of the governments they do indeed exist. Living within their domain limits our choices to either: complacency through inaction (cynicism et al), attempts at isolation (back to the land), or taking an active role through voting, education, civil disobedience or participation in the process (a pox on party politics! the latter choice is easily the least enticing while civil disobedience can be truly fun! >g<). Ok so call me a statist and shove me out the door, but I am not argueing for the existance of a state. It does currently exist and I am not self-sufficient. But I digress. So. #1) My state legislature may very well get called to address this issue. Do they have any concept of the big picture here? That the DMV data is one small part of a debate regarding privacy which needs to be addressed. This is an opportunity for some education and by the end of the day I should know if my representatives are willing to listen. #2) The records industry (for lack of a better term to encompass all companies that accumulate data on individuals) needs some standards and guidelines. Or walls and fences. Maybe even bars and a moat! And the sooner the better. Federally imposed software requirements are not uncommon in certain industries. It is time for standards for the personal data maintained by co-operating entities (ie agencies the public co-operates with such as doctors, the DMV, and so on). #3) The goal is the anonymous citizen. The first step it to secure the data currently exposed. Can this be done _without_ legislation? --j

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Re: Why should we trust the system?
by nobody＠zifi.genetics.utah.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

jim bell <jimbell(a)pacifier.com> wrote: >When supporting plans like GAK ("key escrow") and wiretaps... <snip> >If we allow this fiasco to die without a full analysis, >particularly in light of the government's repeated assurances >with regards to search warrants, we will be as incompetent as >the police were. Further, my original question, phoned in anonymously to the FBI, mailed in anonymously to this list, and asked to the media (I guess I like wasting my time) has never been either asked or answered. I will restate it in stronger terms: "Why the hell, when you have a tape of the perp. saying something, do you not air it in the middle of a city chock full of people who could very well know this guy's voice/mannerisms?" Why didn't the media ask for it, and then give the answer (the fibbieclerk had no answer at all for me) the FBI gave?? Am I missing something? We hear 911 tapes ALL THE TIME of various stuff happening. Has the FBI suddenly become a bunch of civil liberties activists WRT the privacy of terrorist bombers? Just asking. me

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Re: Drive the SF Central Freeway, have your license plate photo'ed.
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:55 AM 8/9/96, i am not a number! wrote: >CBS radio news this morning: 80,000 commuters traveling the central >f'way in SF will have information mailed to them regarding the quake >retrofit blah blah. > >How? Their license plates have been photographed. >... and the cheery "news" anchorwoman sweetly moved on to the next ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >story..... Don't expect anchorbimbos to have a thought about anything. (*) Though it might have given her more pause if the story was about how 80,000 women in California are being mailed special information on birth control options because their license plates were photographed in Planned Parenthood parking lots.... It really ought to be illegal for any level of government to monitor citizen-units this way, for any purpose. By the way, it also underscores something we've talked about before: surveillance technology is moving so fast that the Chaumian idea of avoiding movement-tracking by "digital cash" may be impossible to achieve. You can spend your digibucks to avoid being tracked on a toll road, but their cameras will see your (mandatory) license plate and maybe even your face anyway. --Tim (* In the first "Robocop," anchorbimbo extraordinaire Leeza Gibbons, clone of Mary Hart, did a wonderful satire of bubbleheaded hairspray journalists.) 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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Fw: The Ostrich Security Principle
by Charley Sparks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: Fri Aug 09 17:42:15 1996 OK Tim, I looked up Ontology.. how did you get your license ? - -----Begin Included Message ----- - ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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." - ---- End of forwarded message ---- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCXAwUBMguwuOJ+JZd/Y4yVAQE+/wQMDMNJ7XIrI+VkTaNKQDdLkzUT9v8aEQzG x9/8aFFbw5/jVJQjd3TwWjuRut3L+mc+/2GOqJwQHf1z9vakVDSdnMzIKKB68FfP NtzU92MoqHip5D/R37cVACcAnXkoaSKvwy+m+V6Rxk2ffOlLoKLEUd9xK91hNFvs 2WymcjvaLC+MLQ== =owbR -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Pronto Mailer
by Charley Sparks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: provos(a)wserver.physnet.uni-hamburg.de, cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: Fri Aug 09 17:42:06 1996 I use Pronto Mail also. I just started using it yesterday. I can honestly say that it makes things simpler... no cutting, pasting, decrypting, encrypting...and on and on. It is the sweetest mailer since Ishmail ( UNIX / Linux ). Not even Ishmail did key management and fetching, sending, etc.... I will be able to use Pronto in my effort to proselytize the cause. The only thing I see that will prevent a lot of folks from getting it ( and paying for it ) is the price. $300 US seems a bit steep to some. I am going to pay for it because of the time it saves me. I would like to see a few things added, though. Multiple address books, keyed and non-keyed ( this might speed up the address book or add a search ( I have several hundred members of my firm listed in my Eudora mailer ). I'd also like to see some sort of IMAP address book support ( like Simeon or Z Mail ), These would also be accessable seperately in the interest of spped, since the pubring would be on each users machine. With the C2 option in the NT Resource kit, I'd like an explanation on using Pronto with NT 4. I tried all sorts of things and had no luck after installing.. Pronto kept telling me the pifs were no good, couldn't find keys, etc... None the less, I love it so far.. Just have to get the MC down a bit to pay for it (<GRIN> That;s why it's a 60 day demo ) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCXAwUBMguwsOJ+JZd/Y4yVAQGeJgQJAU+SB/cl48Jhmu1khb/7p0xG24ruL4cI av4myCELKV2GgOFfX+u48BLwCkTwRNaMIMdzBkNrQYQdofeSO0WrKJoDQVzMLeas IK6OUCI3uELqMjtJs1TK2qrDcSKue9COpbPe4D9MzyieuObZ0CDLXhWgWGmA72Up zFUPMrvd7swEIQ== =c/6c -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Why should we trust the system?
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:19 PM 8/9/96, Anonymous wrote: >Further, my original question, phoned in anonymously to the FBI, >mailed in anonymously to this list, and asked to the media (I >guess I like wasting my time) has never been either asked or >answered. I will restate it in stronger terms: >"Why the hell, when you have a tape of the perp. saying something, >do you not air it in the middle of a city chock full of people >who could very well know this guy's voice/mannerisms?" Why didn't >the media ask for it, and then give the answer (the fibbieclerk >had no answer at all for me) the FBI gave?? Am I missing something? >We hear 911 tapes ALL THE TIME of various stuff happening. Has the >FBI suddenly become a bunch of civil liberties activists WRT the >privacy of terrorist bombers? >Just asking. This is the single best suggestion/question I have heard about this entire case! Why, indeed, has the 911 threat not been aired publically, where someone might recognize the voice as being that of their brother, or boss, or whatever? And might hear immediately that whomever it is, it ain't Richard Jewell. If any of you cyber-journalists who hang out here in the wings on Cypherpunks, collecting material for stories, are reading this, please ask your journalists covering the Atlanta bombing about this. --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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PGP/Unix scripts, mail proggies?
by Chris Lee 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello all, I joined this list a while ago and am curious whether a there is a simple way to encrypt/decrypt e-mail with PGP in a Linux(Unix) enviroment...? Sorry if this has been answered a thousand times, but it would really make PGP a more viable option with my small ISP. Thank you very much for any answers, please reply to me personally. Chris Lee PS Please don't suggest any Windows programs, excluding X-Windows of course. :) =============================================================== | chrislee(a)sunspot.tiac.net | Finger for PGP Public Key | | "What color is a chameleon on a mirror?" -BSD | | WWW Page: http://www.tiac.net/users/chrislee | ===============================================================

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Re: Suit filed to enjoin crypto provisions of the ITAR
by Peter.C.M.M.Terporten＠Inter.NL.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am just such a simpe foreigner trying to understand this. I thought that the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) had in the meantime been replaced with the Defense Trade Regulations (TDR). If not, is this still in the planning? And is the latest ITAR text somewhere on the net? TIA, Peter Advokatenkantoor Terporten Computer law Peter C.M.M. Terporten Media- and information law Paulus Potterlaan 28 e-mail: terporte(a)inter.nl.net NL-3723 EZ Bilthoven tel 31-30-2251892 The Netherlands fax 31-30-2251889 *** Waar Recht En Techniek Samenkomen ***

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Re: Drive the SF Central Freeway, have your license plate photo'ed.
by Frank E. Terhaar-Yonkers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It's been doable and afforadable for years. 7 years ago when I lived in Knoxville TN there was(still is?) a firm there called Perceptics. One of their products was an imaging system to OCR license plates. I understood the system was/is in use or being tested at US border crossings. >Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 11:56:34 -0700 Bill Stewart wrote: >At 10:45 PM 8/8/96 -0700, Lucky wrote: >>At 21:55 8/8/96, i am not a number! wrote: >>>CBS radio news this morning: 80,000 commuters traveling the central >>>f'way in SF will have information mailed to them regarding the quake retrofit >>>How? Their license plates have been photographed. > >>You *are* making this up, right? Please say you did. > >It's possible today, and probably affordable. If not, it will be in 1-2 years, >as Moore's law cranks down processing costs and video technology improves. >For this application, they don't have to photograph every car, or read every >plate successfully, or do it in real time. The objective is to get lots of >drivers to take other routes or mass transit so they don't have to dump all >the traffic onto surface streets right around the construction. > >Besides, this is nice friendly San Francisco. Imagine New York City doing it: > Yo! Mr. E. Koch, 1234 E. 89th St. - > We saw you takin' the West Side Highway last week. > You better stop that as of next Friday. > We know where you live. > You got a problem wit' that? > Rudy. > ># Thanks; Bill ># Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com ># <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority! > \\\\////\\\\////\\\\\////\\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\ Frank Terhaar-Yonkers, Manager High Performance Computing and Communications Research MCNC PO Box 12889 3021 Cornwallis Road Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709-2889 fty(a)mcnc.org voice (919)248-1417 FAX (919)248-1455 http://www.mcnc.org/hpcc.html

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Electronic Cash System Based On The Representation
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Interesting paper I had not heard of, but was recently referred to... http://www.cwi.nl/~brands/cash.html Electronic Cash System Based On The Representation Problem Stefan Brands CWI P.O. Box 4079, 1009 AB Amsterdam The Netherlands e-mail: brands(a)cwi.nl Abstract: We present a new on-line electronic cash system based on a problem, called the representation problem, of which little use has been made in literature thus far. Our system is the first to be based entirely on discrete logarithms. Using the representation problem as a basic concept, some techniques are introduced that enable us to construct protocols for withdrawal and payment that do not use the cut and choose methodology of earlier systems. As a consequence, our cash system is much more efficient in both computation and communication complexity than previously proposed systems. Another important aspect of our system concerns its provability . Contrary to previously proposed systems, its correctness can be mathematically proven to a very great extent. Specifically , if we make one plausible assumption concerning a single hash-function, the ability to break the system seems to imply that one can break the Diffie-Hellman problem. Our system offers a number of extensions that are hard to achieve in previously known systems. In our opinion the most interesting of these is that the entire cash system (including all the extensions) can be incorporated straight forwardly in a setting based on wallets with observers, which has the important advantage that double- spending can be prevented in the \014rst place, rather than detecting the identity of a double-spender after the fact. In particular, it can be incorporated even under the most stringent requirements conceivable about the privacy of the user, which seems to b e impossible to do with previously proposed systems. Another benefit of our system is that framing attempts by a bank have negligible probability of success (independent of computing power) by a simple mechanism from within the system, which is something that p previous solutions lack entirely . Furthermore, the basic cash system can be extended to checks, multi-show cash and divisibility , while retaining its computational efficiency. Although in this paper we only make use of the representation problem in groups of prime order, similar intractable problems hold in RSA-groups (with computational equivalence to facto ring and computing RSA- roots). We discuss how one can use these problems to construct an efficient cash system with security related to factoring or computation of RSA-roots, in an analogous way to the discrete log based system. Finally , we discuss a decision problem (the decision variant of the Diffie-Hellman problem) that is strongly related to undeniable signatures, which to our knowledge has never been stated in literature and of which we do not know whether it is in BPP. A p roof of its status would be of interest to discrete log based cryptography in general. Using the representation problem, we show in the appendix how to batch the confirmation protocol of undeniable signatures such that polynomially many undeniable signatures can be verified in four moves. AMS Subject Classification (1991) : 94A60 CR Subject Classification (1991) : D.4.6 Keywords and Phrases : Cryptography , Electronic Cash, Representation Problem _______________________ Regards, It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. -Seneca Joseph Reagle http://rpcp.mit.edu/~reagle/home.html reagle(a)mit.edu E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E

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