December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

cyber FOIA/settlement e-mail
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Friday February 27, 1998 11:18 AM By e-mail and US mail Lieutenant General Kenneth A Minihan, USAF Director, National Security Agency National Security Agency 9800 Savage Road Fort George G. Meade, MD 20755-6000 Dear General Minihan: Purposes of the letter are to 1 request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2 explore settlement possibilities of our current lawsuit. In about 1986 Sandia National Laboratories assigned me the task of design and construction of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty seismic data authenticator. In the initial stages of the project, Sandia cryptographer Gustavus Simmons attempted to convince both Sandia management and NSA employees Tom White, Mark Unkenholtz, and Ed Georgio that a form of public key authentication should replace NSA employee Ronald Benincasas National Seismic Station/Unmaned Seismic Observatory 11-bit data authentication algorithm. My Sandia supervisor John Holovka and project leader H B [Jim] Durham ordered me to write a paper explaining public key cryptography. This paper, RSA ENCRYPTION, along with my SAND report describing my implementation of Benincasas algorithm and filings in our lawsuit, now appear on Internet at http://www.jya.com/index.htm, click CRYPTOME, then OpEd, then http://www.jya.com/whprsa.htm. Sandia explored the merits of switching from Benincasas algorithm to a public key-based authentication method suggested by Simmons. For Sandias evaluation of the merits of public key, electronic tagging, and Bureau of Engraving and Printing projects , I bought for Sandia samples both the Cylink CY1024 and AT&T A & B two chip sets for modulo m arithmetic computations. NSA employee Tom White sent me a copy of the SECRET classified NSA report on IBMs hardware public key chip FIREFLY. I wrote in my tutorial paper RSA hardware computations The slow speed of software RSA computations plus the potential wide use prompted several companies to build chips which compute modular arithmetic to at least several hundred bits. Most of these chips "cascade" to compute with a larger number of bits. Corporations involved in building these chips are 1 IBM Firefly 2 AT&T 3 Motorola (apparently a three chip set) 4 Cylink Pittway-First alert 5 Sandia Labs (Algorithm M and predecessor chip) Details of the IBM chip is classified. AT&T as of July 1987 has not released details of their chip. Little information is available on the Motorola chip set. The Cylink chip is commercially available. Its price dropped from $1,500 to $600 each in June 1987. Data is transferred to and from the chip with serial shift register communication. The early Sandia chip was limited in speed. The replacement chip is cascadeable, communicates with 8 or 16 bits parallel, matches the speed of the Cylink chip, but is not out of fabrication. Rumors circulate that there is about an order of magnitude performance difference between some of these chips. These hardware chips improve exponentiation speed about 3 orders of magnitude over software implementation benchmarked on an Intel 8086 family microcomputer. Whitfield Diffie writes about both the Cylink and Sandia chips. And is quoted at http://www.aci.net/kalliste/nukearse.htm. Sandia had terrible luck with its public key chips. I reported SOME of the troubles to Electronic Engineering Times editor Loring Wirbel [http://techweb.cmp.com/eet/823/] on March 23, 1994. Dr. John Wisniewski was a supervisor at Sandia's Center for Radiation-hardened Microelectronics. Wisniewski was a graduate student at Washington State University in about 1975. I was a professor at WSU. Wisniewski knows all about the failing Sandia chips in the nuclear arsenal. I took notes on February 13, 1993. Wisniewski reviewed the problems again for me. 1 No quality initiative. Each chip lot had a different process. 2 Overall yield - 40-50%. Down to 10% after packaging. 3 Metalization problems. No planarization. No flow of glass. Couldn't use high temperature. Step coverage problems. Layed down over tension. 100% field returns over several years. 4 Sandia would store lots of parts for replacements. Sandia management made the decision to place low yield parts in the nuclear arsenal. Sandia must meet DOD schedules management reasoned. Hundreds of millions spent on CRM. Sandia must show productivity. Wisniewski told me that low yield chip test survivors are those which the tests failed to detect failures. Wisniewski will talk. 503-625- 6408. Wisniewski now works for Intel in Oregon. Have Wisniewski tell you about the fire in the CRM clean room! Sandia supervisor Jerry Allen later told me it cost $300,000 each to remove Sandias failing chips at Pantex from a nuclear bomb. NSA apparently is biased toward hardware implementations of cryptographic and authentication algorithms. As opposed to software implementation. NSA representatives and Sandia management decided not to use a public key authentication scheme for its CTBT seismic data authenticator because of all of the problems with implementing public key algorithms. But NSA surely has spent MUCH MONEY on public key chip implementations. NSA is promoting its Clipper crypto chips as described at http://cpsr.org/dox/clipper.html. And we get some information about technical specifications of NSAs Clipper chip at http://www.us.net/softwar/http://www.us.net/softwar/clip.html Clipper Chip Information MYK-78 CLIPPER CHIP ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION ON A CHIP 1 micron double level metal CMOS technology 0.35 watts power 28 pin plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC) package Transistor to transistor logic (TTL) interface Chip ID, family key and device unique key are installed at programming. Chip ID, family key and device unique key are installed at programming facility and are completely transparent to the user. Therefore, Under the provision of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 USC 552, I am requesting access to: 1 Copies of all invoices from A AT&T B Motorola C IBM D Sandia National Laboratories to NSA for payments for developing ANY public key-related chips between January 1, 1980 and February 27, 1998. 2 Copies of all invoices to NSA from ANY corporation involved in development of ANY Clipper chip-related hardware between January 1, 1980 and February 27, 1998. The public has a right to know how much NSA spent on TRYING monoploize the crypto business. If there are any fees for searching for, or copying, the records I have requested, please inform me before you fill the request. As you know, the Act permits you to reduce or waive the fees when the release of the information is considered as "primarily benefiting the public." I believe that this requests fits that category and I therefore ask that you waive any fees. If all or any part of this request is denied, please cite the specific exemption(s) which you think justifies your refusal to release the information and inform me of your agency's administrative appeal procedures available to me under the law. I would appreciate your handling this request as quickly as possible, and I look forward to hearing from you within 20 working days, as the law stipulates. With respect to our current FOIA lawsuit, I feel that we should settle this unfortunate matter. I see from your biography at http://www.nsa.gov:8080/ and http://www.nsa.gov:8080/dirnsa/dirnsa.html that you are 1979 Distinguished Graduate Master of Arts degree in National Security Affairs Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California One of my former M.S. and Ph.D students in Computer Science, Ted Lewis, is currently the chairman of Computer Science at Naval Postgraduate School [http://www.friction-free-economy.com/] Small world. But I think that this emphasizes that WE SHOULD all be on the same side. Not engaged in a conflict in US federal court. Or on Internet. NSA attempts to withhold requested information are possibly unwise. In our wired world the aggrieved know what happened to them. http://www.wpiran.org/,http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/impact/namir/namirm.h… And moderates in Iran, http://persia.org/khatami/biography.html, appear want settlement too. My family and I have been damaged by these crypto wars. I ask you that consider fair settlement of damages caused by the National Security Agency. I cannot find your e-mail address on Internet. Therefore I will forward the e-mail copy of this FOIA/settlement letter to Ray Kammer of NIST [http://www.nist.gov/] who along with the FBI [http://www.fbi.gov/, http://www.fbi.gov/fo/nyfo/nytwa.htmand] and NSA are trying to control the crypto business so that Kammer can possibly forward an e-mail copy of the FOIA/Settlement letter to you. Sincerely, bill William Payne 13015 Calle de Sandias Albuquerque, NM 87111 505-292-7037 [I am not reading e-mail]

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Re: FBI national wiretap stalled for $$
by William Towey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[B[B

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Prologue 5/0
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Prologue 5a/0
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Prologue 5c/0
by Linda Reed--PCC West Campus CSC 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Prologue 3/0
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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Prologue 3a/0
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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Medical Privacy Alert --- please redistribute to all concerned
by JWRCLUM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF MASSACHUSETTS 99 Chauncy Street, Suite 310, Boston, MA 02111 (617) 482-3170 Fax (617) 451-000 CONTACT: John Roberts (617) 482-3170 http://users.aol.com/mcluf/home.html BENNETT-JEFFORDS BILL PLACES MEDICAL RECORD PRIVACY AT RISK The confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship will be totally undermined as medical records become widely available without patient knowledge or consent. BOSTON - February 27, 1998. On Thursday 2/26/98 the United State Senate's Labor and Human Resources Committee heard testimony concerning a bill proposed by Senators Bennett and Jeffords that, if passed, would license the widespread disclosure of personal medical information contained in files held by doctors, hospitals, employers, educational institutions, and others. The bill which purports to be a privacy bill is, in fact, just the opposite. It places virtually no restrictions on the disclosure of personal medical records within health care entities (no matter how large and geographically widespread) or to a long list of other entities and agencies including the following: - any agents or contractors of the health care entities - Public Health Agencies, Oversight Agencies - Health Care Accreditation Agencies - State Health Care Databases There are major loopholes in access provisions for - Health Care Researchers - "Outcome" analysts ("cost/benefit" analysts for hospitals, HMO's, insurers, etc) Even law enforcement agencies will have easy access to browse computerized medical record systems for so-called "legitimate" investigatory purposes. This will make every American's medical record part of a new massive law enforcement database. The bill will destroy the confidential "doctor-patient relationship" and replace it with a new "patient-health care industry relationship." "This bill serves only the interests of the burgeoning health care industry," said John Roberts, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. "It allows the transfer of your medical records to many entities that stand to profit from its information. Gone is doctor-patient confidentiality. Your doctor cannot protect your most sensitive medical information from many entities outside your medical facility. Even employers who have health plans are considered 'health care providers' in the Bennett-Jeffords bill. How many of us want our employers to have access to any of our medical records without our knowledge or consent?" The bill will also - Impose requirements that patients sign blanket consent forms for release of information as a condition of getting treatment, even for self-pay patients - Redefine "treatment" to make the patient's record a subject of continuous research - Blur the boundaries between individual patient care and the so-called "Population Management" and "Disease System Management" The bill will pre-empt all state laws which may be more protective of the confidentiality of medical records. The bill will not apply even its own minimal privacy protections to so-called "non-identifiable" medical records information. But...interestingly, the bill also refers to issuing "keys" to re-identify previously purportedly "non- identified" information. A formal logical analysis of this reveals that the bill itself admits that what it calls "nonidentifiable" medical record information is actually identifiable (i.e. containing patient information). The ACLU of Massachusetts believes that what is really needed for medical privacy protection would be the following: - Federal law should set a foundation or floor of privacy protection - State laws which are more-protective of patient's rights should not be preempted - No "Unique Patient Identification Numbers" - No electronic "linkage" of patient records stored in various sites - Computerized patient records must be encrypted with keys provided only to those directly involved in the individual patient care - The right of the individual patient to contract directly with physicians and health care providers regarding the privacy of the patient's medical records. -end-

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WOW-COM News Update
by wowcom＠ctia.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

====================================================== This update is sponsored by Hughes Network Systems http://www.hns.com/2CAREERS/careerMain.html ====================================================== WOW-COM named a "TOP WEBSITE" by Mobile Computing & Communications Magazine (2/98) Dear WOW-COM Reader: WOW-COM(TM) is the wireless industry's online information source, a free service of CTIA. The world of wireless is in constant motion. Stay on top of the news and benefit from CTIA's analysis by reading http://www.wow-com.com everyday. INDEX: ====== 1) LARGEST WIRELESS INDUSTRY SHOW, WIRELESS 98, BEGAN TODAY IN ATLANTA, GA. 2) CTIA AGAIN CALLS ON FCC TO TAKE ACTION ON WIRETAP STANDARDS 3) CTIA ASKS FCC FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN ENHANCED 9-1-1 RULES **WIRELESS JOB OPPORTUNITY OF THE WEEK*********** http://www.hns.com/2CAREERS/careerMain.html Company: Hughes Network Systems Job Title: Senior Digital Design Engineer - Hardware Location: Germantown, MD - US Job Description: Lead digital design engineer for satellite baseband communications hardware. Position requires experience in design of digital communications subsystems such as modulators, demodulators, digital filters, NCOs and FEC encoders/decoders. Requires BSEE (MSEE preferred) and 7-10 years of digital design experience with emphasis on communication circuit design. ********************************************************************** WIRELESS 98 TO BEGIN NEXT WEEK IN ATLANTA ========================================================== http://www.wow-com.com/professional/convention/ CTIA's WIRELESS 98 is breaking all records. Sessions at the largest, global wireless convention feature hot topics and top industry speakers. On February 23-25, join the largest gathering of analysts, CEO's, equipment suppliers, hardware manufacturers, network operators, retailers, regulators, software developers and venture capitalists from around the world for the most comprehensive wireless telecommunications exposition - - WIRELESS 98. It's only 6 days away! Don't miss it! CTIA AGAIN CALLS ON FCC TO TAKE ACTION ON WIRETAP STANDARDS ========================================================= http://www.wow-com.com/professional/WirelessDigest/ The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission again asking that it take several steps in regard to implementation of the federal Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. CTIA points out that the telecommunications industry has moved forward towards timely implementation of the Act, but that the law enforcement community, represented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has continued to delay the process. Read it here. Simply click above for full text. CTIA ASKS FCC FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN ENHANCED 9-1-1 RULES ========================================================== http://www.wow-com.com/results/professional/news/index.cfm "Enhanced 9-1-1" will provide the next generation of emergency services for wireless phone users. The basic outline for Enhanced 9-1-1 services was developed jointly by the public safety communications community and CTIA. In a petition filed yesterday, CTIA points out that the FCC should improve wireless emergency calls throughout the United States. To learn more about CTIA's petition and other implementation issues regarding 9-1-1 please click above. ============================= MORE WOW-COM(TM) FEATURES ============================= WOW-COM(TM) is current: Routine Updates throughout the business day WOW-COM(TM) is insightful: CTIA's unbiased analysis WOW-COM(TM) is beneficial: Find products and services in WOW-COM(TM)'s Virtual Trade Show. List open positions in the WOW-COM(TM) Career Center, receive resumes via email and hire qualified individuals. ======================================================== This update sponsored by: HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS http://www.hns.com/2CAREERS/careerMain.html Hughes Network Systems is one of the fastest-growing digital communications companies in the world, providing world-class wireless, satellite and broadcast products to customers in over 60 countries. Today, HNS employs over 500 software engineers and 200 hardware engineers dedicated to developing our products, services and systems from our Germantown, Maryland headquarters and San Diego, California facility. To be part of the next HNS breakthrough, visit our Web site: http:// www.hns.com/2CAREERS/careerMain.html to explore the 100+ opportunities currently available.

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Cylink + NSA
by Ernest Hua 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Did anyone notice that Cylink just got a new VP of product development? Did anyone notice that this person just retired from the NSA? Care to guess the name and former rank? Ern

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