December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: ascii art is not a digital signature (Re: Cypherpunk Policeman?)
by Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk Wed Feb 25 04:19:12 1998 > > Guy <guy(a)panix.com> writes: > > > From aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk Tue Feb 24 18:55:45 1998 > > > > > > You sure? I mean it could as easily as not been someone spoofing him, > > > what with the various anonymous mails, etc., that you reported. > > > > It is a blatant obviousity. > > > > [series of ascii art posts posted via different remailer addresses, > > and bwalk.dm.com email addresses] > > It is not at all obvious. You seem to be under the illusion that an > ascii art image is some kind of digital signature. You seem to think people couldn't share a digital signature. > > Traffic analysis simply means convincing one or more people > > that it's the same person... > > Doesn't prove anything. Sure it does, I've proven that with PSI. Guess what happens if those people are a jury? > Here to make the point, I'll use one of your magic digital signature > ascii arts which somehow proves incontrovertably that the post was > made by Dimitri. I can see that one flew over your head, and pooped on you. ---guy

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No Subject
by Trei, Peter 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 23:38:58 -0600 From: David McNett <nugget(a)slacker.com> To: rc5(a)lists.distributed.net Subject: [RC5] [ADMIN] The secret message is... Sender: owner-rc5(a)llamas.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: rc5(a)llamas.net Status: RO --UlVJffcvxoiEqYs2 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Once again I have the great privilege of coming to you with good news. It is with great pleasure (and a sigh of relief) that I can now inform you that the DES-II-1 challenge has been successfully met by distributed.net. The winning key to the challenge was detected and submitted to RSA Labs at 02:26 GMT on Monday, 23-Feb-1998. The correct key, 76 9E 8C D9 F2 2F 5D EA, revealed the words which we've been anticipating these past 39 days: "The secret message is: Many hands make light work." (If you ask me, this is a nice nod in our direction. Thanks, RSA Labs!) In addition to proving that 56-bit DES is no longer sufficient for protecting valuable information, we've now also proved that blind luck need not be a factor in brute-force decryption attacks. The original DES Challenge and the more recent RC5-56 wins were fortunate and did not have to sweep a significant portion of the keyspace. This time around, however, we managed to complete almost 90% of the keyspace and have now proven that even when the law of averages chooses to catch up to us and forces us to pay our dues, we are still an unstoppable force. Our collective victory is all the more impressive when you consider what we had to accomplish to achieve it. We tested sixty-three quadrillion keys. That number is simply staggering. Assuming *0* growth between now and July, we'll be able to sweep the entire DES-II-2 keyspace in just under 29 days. That's assuming that we do not recruit another person, don't add any more machines, and are even more unlucky next time. I daresay at least one of those assumptions is probably false. I'd invite all of you to join us in IRC (efnet, #distributed) for a rowdy victory party. Take a breather. Sit back and watch your clients automatically roll over to RC5-64. The only other issue at hand is *who* found the key. The person who found the winning key has politely asked to remain anonymous. Rest assured, I've been in contact with them and they know they've won. They will be receiving their full share of the prize and are quite excited about the victory. All I'd ask is that we all respect this person's wishes and not bother the list with public speculation as to their identity. I'm sure we all appreciate just how important privacy and anonymity can be. Here are some numbers to chew on while the stats are down: Project statistics: Start of contest: January 13, 1998 at 09:00 PST Start of distributed.net effort: January 13, 1998 at 09:08 PST End of Contest: February 23, 1998 at 02:26 PST Size of keyspace: 72,057,594,037,927,936 Approximate keys tested: 63,686,000,000,000,000 Number of 2^30 (average) keyblocks: 67,108,864 Number of keys in average keyblock: 1,073,741,824 Peak blocks per day: 5,540,982 Peak keys per second: 34,430,460,000 The unencrypted message: Many hands make light work Computing equivalents: Distributed.net is equivalent in processing power to: 11,264 DEC Alpha 21064 533s 15,316 Sun Ultra I 167s 22,393 Intel Pentium II 333s 68,859 Macintosh PowerPC 604e/200s. 41,712 Intel Pentium 166s 399,374 Intel 486DX2/66s 7,446,033 Intel 386SX/20s (based solely on DES client performance) Prospective: If Keys were dollars, we could pay off the U.S. National Debt in 6.25 minutes If Keys were pennies, we could buy 536249385 Mazda Miatas each day. If Keys were pennies, we could buy 256728249 Jeep Cherokees each day! If you printed a single page to represent each key block as it was checked and placed those pages in a stack, it would grow 12.83 inches taller every minute. If blocks were liters of Dr. Pepper, we could produce 6381493 six-packs each day If Key Blocks were cheeseburgers, fries, and a large Dr. Pepper, we could feed the entire city of Toronto, Ontario lunch each day. (on a personal note, It sure feels nice to be doing RC5 blocks again. I feel like I've just slipped on an old, comfortable pair of loafers that were lost in the attic for two months) -- ________________________________________________________________________ |David McNett |To ensure privacy and data integrity this message has| |nugget(a)slacker.com|been encrypted using dual rounds of ROT-13 encryption| |Birmingham, AL USA|Please encrypt all important correspondence with PGP!| --UlVJffcvxoiEqYs2 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBNPOucPqEj3HEBeehAQEKBgQAizpn1SrmYhz/Ycx1aNUxewi9r7X8gRTr ifuwC+4qAJXWcDOesdOx1V1IzQ6eSHLFuiaDyLsNmUwIoUpwJm0CTlmwtYIDDc4R mGrO7t0FUne+l+YhFyYJTarnMjmCpySJjEf9I/GNrWfGTnFAWAaaGQp+f1ZyBTkJ 1bDtm3rzbjk= =iv/8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --UlVJffcvxoiEqYs2-- -- To unsubscribe, send 'unsubscribe rc5' to majordomo(a)lists.distributed.net rc5-digest subscribers replace rc5 with rc5-digest

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So what *does* happen to a city without power for 6 days
by David Honig 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A part of Aukland is finding out. http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/news101l.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ David Honig Orbit Technology honig(a)otc.net Intaanetto Jigyoubu If you plan to enter text which our system might consider to be obscene, check here to certify that you are old enough to hear the resulting output. http://www.bell-labs.com/project/tts/voices.html

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Prologue 3
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~ SPACE ALIENS HIDE MY DRUGS / PROLOGUE 3/0 ©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©© The Most Dangerous Man In Lost Wagess: They had followed him from the CypherPunks physical meeting to the outskirts of Las Vegas, before losing him. Two days of frantic searching by a variety of law enforcement agencies led to the Plaza Hotel and Casino, where he was playing the penny slot machine and associating with a variety of local riff©raff and no©accounts. An in©depth consultation with the Plaza head of security revealed that they had been keeping a close eye on the subject for the last two days. "He doesn't cause any real trouble, or anything," the head honcho said, shrugging, "but everything about him seems just a little strange, if you know what I mean." This comment seemed designed to elicit some sort of response from the poker©faced men questioning him, but they failed to respond, merely waiting for him to continue. "He buys ten dollars worth of pennies," and tips the change lady a dollar. "He plays for hours on end, also tipping the waitresses a dollar every time they bring him a free beer. Hell, he even tips the cleaning people when they clean his ashtray." The honcho shook his head, as if this type of behavior from someone spending most of their time playing the penny slots was puzzling and also disconcerting. "Sleeps in his car, with his dog. Only leaves the slot machines to feed, water, and run his dog around our parking lot. It's kind of unnatural, the way he seems to dote on that animal." the security honcho winked knowingly. "Has he met with anyone who doesn't usually frequent your casino?" one of the men asked, impatiently, tired of hearing odd details of the man's lifestyle which seemed intriguing to the denziens of normality that they were constantly having to interview in regard to the subject's movement and activity. "He ran into some legal©eagle named Larry Joe," the honcho said, noting the first sign of interest shown by his interrogators. "My second©shift security chief says he's a middle©weight poker player, taking part in a tournament at the Rio..." adding with a knowing tone, "but the mouthpiece is hanging with one of the heavy hitters on the local poker scene." "Larry Joe Dowling, an Austin attorney." one of the interrogators said to the others. "He usuallyÜj We'd better shift our surveillance team into high gear." The man rose to leave, telling the others, "Dig up all you can here, file a report, and get some sleep. You're going to need it." Boogers? We don't need no stinking boogers!: The agent pulled out his hanky and wiped the disgusting mess off of his jacket sleeve. "I can't believe that they pulled us off of the Tim May detail to check out this fucking loser." "Shit!" he screamed, as he brushed his arm against the steering column and picked up another piece of disgusting slime on his jacket sleeve. "I've shaken down this guy's personals before." the man's partner said, with a grin. "That's why I gave you the driver's side of the vehicle to check out." "He feeds his nose©candy to his dog, and he always leaves her a little desert on the steering wheel for her to chow down on after he brings her back from her walk." He laughed as he saw the bile rising to his new partner's throat. He couldn't help himself©©he reached over and plucked a booker off of the horn button and told his partner, "I'll trade you a green one for a yellow one..." His partner lurched out of the vehicle and concentrated on tossing his lunch while not messing up his shiny new shoes. The more experienced agent finished snapping photos of the gathered items and then replaced them carefully in the same position they had been in before their intrusion. "He usually walks Baby for about ten minutes, to give us time to make a complete pass of his vehicle, so our time is about up." The agent closed and locked the doors of the vehicle, motioning his green©faced partner toward their vehicle. It's A Nuke! No, It's Anthrax! No, It's...AAARRGGGHHHH!!!": Justin Case, Special Agent in Charge of the current investigation, was bothered by the fact that the suspect had seemed to be doing nothing more than wandering around various sites and casinos in Las Vegas, with no apparent pattern or plan to his movement and actions. Until he read the report of the suspect's lingering interest in the placement of the columns serving as the foundation for the Stratosphere Casino, and the layout of the preliminary work on the new Foley Federal BuildingÜj "Soft targets." agent Case said out loud, causing a considerable amount of disconcertment to his fellow agent, Bobby Siller. "Damn!" Siller swore, "We have reports of him having met with Leavitt and Harris, but we didn't have any taps on them, so we don't have any details of what they are planning." "Don't worry about it," Case seemed unconcerned, "if he's scouting soft targets, then he's not planning any sudden moves." "Patience comes to those who wait." Justin Case said, softly, quoting the Author, and making a mental note to have agent Siller shake the Anthrax Twins down a few days after the suspect departed Vegas. "Hold it!" agent Siller shouted, motioning for his superior to remain silent, as Siller adjusted his earpiece to more clearly hear the live report he was receiving from his agents at the Riviera gun show. "The suspect went into the gun show empty handed, and left with several copies of 'Gun List' and then returned to his vehicle. He took his dog for a walk and our agents discovered a 'Dalian' watch wrapped in tear©outs from the firearms paper, dealing with Romanian AK rifles and Bulgarian SLR©95's. The 'Dalian' watch is some type of Polish/Chinese make, or something." Justin Case rolled his eyes, but remained silent. The suspect was yanking the chains of the agents who were shaking down his personals, and it looked like Siller's men didn't have the experience to know when they were being toyed with. The agent that Case had pulled off of the Tim May detail would be wise to the suspect's shenanigans, but it was unlikely he would get in the way of Siller's men making fools of themselves. "He's returning to the casino, using the copies of 'Gun List' to hide whatever it is he's carrying." agent Siller said, with great excitement. "I think we ought to take him in the parking garage, before he reaches the main building at the Riviera." Siller anxiously awaited the word from his superior. "Maintain." was Case's nonchalant reply, causing Siller to have an ill©disguised internal shit©fit. If this operation went totally to hell, it would be Siller's ass on the line, being the Las Vegas station chief.

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Prologue3a
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

SAHMD 3A ©©©©©©©© "Maintain," Siller told his agents, but couldn't help adding, "and disclose." This was a vague term meant to signal his men to intercept the suspect and do a bump©and©run on him to sniff out what it was he was hiding©©without alerting Siller's superior that his orders were being countermanded. "The Electronic Privacy Papers." agent Case said, to no one in particular. "What?" Siller asked, perplexed. "Documents on the Battle for Privacy in the Age of Surveillance, by Bruce Schneier and David Banisar, ISBN: 0©471©12297©1." Much to agent Siller's consternation, his superior continued, "That's what your men are going to discover he is hiding furtively under those copies of the 'Gun List' magazines when they disobey my orders and risk blowing their cover." "It's the suspect's form of humor." Justin Case smiled at his subordinate's discomfort. "He's laughing at all the spooks from various agencies, including yours and mine, who are at the gun show shadowing the Anthrax Twins, the Samsonite Nuclear Warrior, and various members of the Loose©Screw Gun Nut Club." Seeing the confused look on agent Siller's face, he explained further. "The suspect is laughing because he believes he is carrying the most dangerous weapon available at the gun show." "And he's probably right..." Case said, with a far© away look in his eyes that sent shivers down agent Siller's spine. Special agent Justin Case took a tattered copy of a paperback titled, "Paper Prison" out of his inside jacket pocket, and stared at it©©lost in a universe that belonged far in the past, but which seemed to be intersecting the present in a manner which bode nothing but ill for those who continued to live in both. "The future is now..." Justin Case said, in a low monotone voice that seemed to come from a world beyond the one in which he and agent Siller were so diligently pursuing the 'Threat of the Day'. "He's carrying a book." the voice came crackling through Siller's earpiece. "Never mind." Siller said, adding, "Maintain." "Maintain." Siller repeated inwardly, to himself,Üj crept up his spine and into the lower regions of his mind as he observed the strange, semi©hypnotic state that his superior had entered into. "Maintain."

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Prologue 4
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Prologue 4/0 SPACE ALIENS HIDE MY DRUGS ©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©©© A Nuclear Bullet, With *Everyone's* Name On It: [Your Name Here] Excerpt from an interview with Marilyn Manson on NPR: MM: A lot of the lies spread by Fundamentalist Christians about our tour were believed by people because they read them on the InterNet. The InterNet is the CB Radio of the 90's. People perceive it as a legitimate news source, which it's not. Eventually there will need to be some sort of laws or something... Top Ten Ways To Convince The Sheeple The Revolution Is NOW: 10,9,8,.7,6,5,4,3,2... 1. Put Marilyn Manson's name on the first bullet. "Give me nuclear freedom, or give me death." ~ Patrick Hussein The TRUTH About Area 51: It's a resort©spa for the reptilian Nazis who are shaping our present and our future, preparing to rule all of mankind when they emerge from the underground bunkers beneath Los Alamos, Livermore, Colorado Springs, Muleshoe, Texas, etc., at the end of the Milleniuum. Why can't you buy a straight 2"x4" anymore? The reptilian Nazis are keeping all of the good stuff for themselves. The reason for the tight security at Area 51 is not because of secret spy©planes and the like. The reptilian Nazi's don't want us to know that they are all driving '56 Chevy's. (Their original plan was to have earthlings all driving Edsels, but they tried to implement the plan before their mind©control experiments had proven successful.) Who It Is OK To Put A Fucking Bullet Through Their Head: Officially Recognized Bad Guys©©For the Sheeple, this is Saddam Hussein, Timothy McVeigh, Dennis Rodman, paramilitarists, grandmothers who plug other people's parking meters, Branch Davidians (but it's a shame about the children), and The Subject Of A Ten©Second Sound©Byte To Be Named Later. For Republicans, this is welfare cheats, the homeless, tax cheats making less than $100,000 per year, liberals, Ralph Nadar, CypherPunks, Alt2600 avocados, the 4 Horsemen, and anyone who looks like me. For the Democrats, this is the non©avant©guarde wealthy,Üj liberals consume, Rush Limbaugh, Republican presidents, rednecks, people who drink water straight out of the tap, and anyone who looks like me. For Kris Kristofferson, this is "People doing something dirty, decent folks can frown on..." "Sunshine is the best disinfectant." ~ Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, 1928 "Bullet holes let the sun shine in." ~ Supreme Asshole TruthMonger, 1998 When Existence Is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Exist: The revolution is now. The only question that those who have the balls to participate in the inevitable chaos which will be needed to balance the Tao against the current onslaught of digitally structured reality that is being forced upon humanity by the new technology being promoted by the pawns of the reptilian Nazis whose headquarters is deep within the confines of the AdamAntarctic is: "Whose brain do I put my first bullet through?" For many, the answer will be, "TruthMonger!" Nobody likes to hear the truth, and the truth is: We all deserve to die. Not only that, but the extinction of humanity, according to our current values, epitomizes the crowning glory of our evolutionary path. What places us *above* the other primates and the other forms of life on our planet? What is it that makes us special, that deems us worthy of ruling over all other life forms on the planet Earth? It is our ability to control; our ability to master our environment and the objects and life©forms contained within its bounds. Ultimately, it is our ability to *kill* whatever stands in the way of the fulfillment of our desires and our goals. For all of our soul©searching, spiritual posturing, deep down inside we all know that we live in a predatorial universe. Republicans cry out for bigger guns to defend our way of life from everyone who fails to salute the flag. Democrats cry out for the press and political leaders to invent enemies to justify the liberals crying out for bigger guns to protect us from the 'bad guys.' And it's all bullshit... The reason we need to launch wars and destroy our environment is to keep the price of our refrigerators and our color TV's reasonable©©to keep the price of aÜj dollar high enough that we can feel good about ourselves for saving a starving child for less than ten cents a day, while ignoring the fact that an obese Sally Fields could save more starving children in a week than we possibly could in a lifetime, just by donating one of her lunches to the charity she is promoting. Think About This, You Stupid Fucking Bastards: Why do we need to allow our basic human rights and freedoms to be compromised?: In order for our hallowed leaders and our protectors in the law enforcement community to adequately protect us from the 'bad guys.' Why do we need to be protected from the 'bad guys'?: Because if they win out over the 'good guys', they will take away our basic human rights and freedoms. The Reason TruthMonger Will Die Broke And Alone: Because he invested all of his money in ClueServers, believing that the Sheeple might one day find them to be of value. "TV Is Real! (Just go back to sleep, dear.)"

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From Peter Gutmann Re: So what *does* happen to a city without power
by David Honig 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I wrote: > >>A part of Aukland is finding out. >> >>http://www.tampabayonline.net/news/news101l.htm Peter G replies: >It's pretty serious, so far it's affected (at various times) a number of >banking data centres (the first day the power went out was on the Thursday >when everyones pay is supposed to be processed - the data centres themselves >have generators, but the sources feeding them information don't), the stock >exchange, some (unidentified) central city post office buildings, customs and >immigration, inland revenue, internal affairs, social welfare, the Auckland >City Council, the central police station, Aucklands main hospital and medical >school complex (they have generators, but one of them failed, leaving the >childrens hospital without power for awhile), the city campus of the >university and technical institute (affecting 30,000 students in the middle of >enrolment), several TV and radio stations, and God knows what else (the >government departments have tentacles all over the city, so it's not so bad >for them). Although many of these places have generators, there were various >glitches in switching over and one or two breakdowns which have caused >problems, and most of the generators can't handle anywhere near the load being >placed on them but were designed to power only essential services. One >comment I've heard is that the power company may not survive the lawsuits >which follow this (taking out some suburb is serious enough, but taking out >the central business district with its cluster of multinational accounting and >legal firms, banks, government departments, and whatnot is really bad). > >There's fairly detailed coverage of what's going on at >http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/power.txt, with a temporary copy at >http://www.kcbbs.gen.nz/users/peterg/power.txt (the Auckland site doesn't have >power at the moment, the other one is located outside the city centre, I'll >move things to the first site once power is restored). > >Peter (usually pgut001(a)cs.auckland.ac.nz when we have power). > ------------------------------------------------------------ David Honig Orbit Technology honig(a)otc.net Intaanetto Jigyoubu The Internet Protocol's only guarantee is that your packets will not clog the net.

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DES search
by Dr. Alan Sherman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Why doesn't someone speed up the DES search with Hellman's time-space tradeoff, whose precomputation could be done within a month? Alan T. Sherman sherman(a)cs.umbc.edu

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bugging the swiss
by David Honig 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Mossad was busted for bugging Swiss telephones today. http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpne0j.htm Swiss Claim Israelis Were Spying By IRENE HARNISCHBERG Associated Press Writer BERN, Switzerland (AP) -- Switzerland said today it had caught Israel's spy agency in an attempt to bug telephones on the outskirts of the Swiss capital. It was the third highly publicized Mossad bungle to embarrass the Israeli government in recent months, and angered Swiss leaders. ``The least Israel can do is apologize quickly,'' said spokesman Franz Egle of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, which formally protested the alleged bugging attempt as a violation of national sovereignty. Israel radio said the Israeli agents were trying to eavesdrop on Iranian diplomats, but Swiss officials denied the report, saying the targets were neither Iranian nor diplomats. ...... ------------------------------------------------------------ David Honig Orbit Technology honig(a)otc.net Intaanetto Jigyoubu The Internet Protocol's only guarantee is that your packets will not clog the net.

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KRA Dis-Trust
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Federal Register: February 27, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 39) [Page 10040-10041] >From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Notice Pursuant to the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993; Key Recovery Alliance (``KRA'') Notice is hereby given that, on October 20, 1997, pursuant to Sec. 6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 15 U.S.C. 4301 et seq. (``the Act''), the Key Recovery Alliance (``KRA'') has filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission disclosing (1) The identities of the parties and (2) the nature and objectives of the venture. The notifications were filed for the purpose of invoking the Act's provisions limiting the recovery of antitrust plaintiff's to actual damages under specified circumstances. Pursuant to Sec. 6(b) of the Act, the identities of the parties are: Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA; Cylink Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA; Data Securities International, Inc., San Diego, CA; Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua, NH; Golden Star Technology, Inc., [[Page 10041]] Cerritos, CA; Information Resource Engineering, Inc., Baltimore, MD; Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR; International Business Machines, Inc., Somers, NY; Motorola, Scottsdale, AZ; NCR, West Columbia, SC; Novell Inc., Provo, UT; Sourcefile, Atlanta, GA; Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA; Trusted Information Systems, Inc., McLean, VA. KRA was formed for the following purposes: (a) Stimulate global electronic commerce by encouraging the harmonization of market driven solutions available globally for secure communication using strong encryption; (b) serve as a focal point for industry efforts to develop commercially acceptable solutions for recovery of encrypted information; (c) determine interoperability concerns and potential architectural solutions among key recovery technologies and non-key recovery technologies; (d) support the development of a global infrastructure that supports recovery of encrypted information and (e) promote the implementation, deployment and use of interoperable key recovery technologies in the market. In furtherance of the foregoing purposes, KRA may undertake research, development, analysis, testing, study, and experimentation concerning or relating to key recovery technologies, and it may engage in the collection, exchange and analysis of research information concerning key recovery technologies. Additional parties may become members of KRA. KRA will file supplemental written notifications disclosing all new members. Constance K. Robinson, Director of Operations, Antitrust Division. [FR Doc. 98-5014 Filed 2-26-98; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4410-11-M

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