December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Seismic Crypto
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a NYT report today on a "mysterious" blast in the Australian outback in 1993, there's mention of "seismic weapons" and research on them by Nicholas Tesla in the 1930s. Would any of our weapons connoisseurs have more info on what these are and how they were supposed to work? Electrical, chemical, nuclear? That Aussie blast has still not been identified except that it was something in the nuclear weapon, earthquake or meteorite range. The Arum sect, which owned 500,000 acres in the viciniity, was a suspect for a while but later cleared, although it was looking into seismic weapons. Will send the story: WHA_the Or read it at www.nytimes.com

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Seismic Crypto
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a NYT report today on a "mysterious" blast in the Australian outback in 1993, there's mention of "seismic weapons" and research on them by Nicholas Tesla in the 1930s. Would any of our weapons connoisseurs have more info on what these are and how they were supposed to work? Electrical, chemical, nuclear? That Aussie blast has still not been identified except that it was something in the nuclear weapon, earthquake or meteorite range. The Arum sect, which owned 500,000 acres in the viciniity, was a suspect for a while but later cleared, although it was looking into seismic weapons. Will send the story: WHA_the Or read it at www.nytimes.com

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The Purpose of the List
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If the cpunk list discusses only crypto, then mathematician-programmers will do their cold work in an isolation which eliminates the need to think about the consequences of their actions. So discussions on philosophy, society, etc., are important, to remind everyone of the context within which this subject operates. However, if "community feeling" is the only thing created on the list, and crypto is no longer the focal topic, then what is to be accomplished: the list will become just a playing ground for wayward KOTM PhDs who are not welcome in most other cyberspaces. So the question of "how will this impact society", must maintain association with "but how does this relate to crypto?". (unless the list has changed its stripes, evolving into something completely different, which many will agree it has). .. Blanc

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FBI Gets 500 Mil to Tap Your Communications
by Ross Wright 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

||| FBI moderates its communications-surveillance request ||| TBTF for 5/4/95 [6] In 1995 the FBI asked for and was granted $500 million to augment the government's ability to tap communications (of this total $100M has been released to the FBI so far). Privacy advocates expressed outrage at the FBI's stated capacity goal: to be able to listen in on 1% of installed telephone lines at any time. This translates to about 1.6 million taps simultaneous of all kinds: pen registers, trap-and-trace, and wiretaps. The FBI withdrew its initial proposal under fire and on 1/14 submitted a revised proposal -- press release at [7], analysis at [8]. Unlike the earlier draft, this essay lays out its assumptions and straightforwardly projects needed capacity growth. The result is a capacity figure of fewer than 60,000 intercepts, less that 4% of the original request. This level of capability would allow the FBI simultaneously to monitor more than 500 phone lines in an area with the population of Manhatta still an enormous increase on historical numbers of intercepts. [6] <http://www.tbtf.com/archive/05-04-95.html> [7] <http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/tele/telephon.htm> [8] <http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_3.01.html> Fuck the FBI. Ross =-=-=-=-=-=- Ross Wright King Media: Bulk Sales of Software Media and Duplication Services http://www.slip.net/~cdr/kingmedia Voice: 415-206-9906

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Re: Dr. Vulis' social engineering experiment
by camcc＠abraxis.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:27 AM 1/21/97 -0600, you wrote: :Jane Jefferson wrote: :> :> The heart and soul of the problem is that "sin", "freedom", "good", :> and "evil" are abstract concepts which fluctuate from individual to :> individual. : :An excellent point, Jane. Worth remembering. : : - Igor. Not only from individual to individual. Please consider the changes in the concepts of "sin", "freedom", "good", and "evil" which occur over time even within the same individual; to wit the on and off again love affair with our nation's past "enemies; individual responses to drug use especially alcohol; premarital sex (ok for me but not my daughter). This constant flux within both society and individual makes creation and implementation of rules extremely difficult and hazardous. Alec

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The Purpose of the List
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If the cpunk list discusses only crypto, then mathematician-programmers will do their cold work in an isolation which eliminates the need to think about the consequences of their actions. So discussions on philosophy, society, etc., are important, to remind everyone of the context within which this subject operates. However, if "community feeling" is the only thing created on the list, and crypto is no longer the focal topic, then what is to be accomplished: the list will become just a playing ground for wayward KOTM PhDs who are not welcome in most other cyberspaces. So the question of "how will this impact society", must maintain association with "but how does this relate to crypto?". (unless the list has changed its stripes, evolving into something completely different, which many will agree it has). .. Blanc

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Fighting the cybercensor.
by Phillip M. Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Mission: Singapore and China are blocking certain net groups. I think this is a bad thing, question is how can we stop it? The Web was conceived as offering despots and dictators a choice between remaining in the dark ages and allowing freedom of speech. Blocking and filtering schemes threaten this ideal. Requirements: A scheme which makes blocking of individual IP addresses impractical. Architecture: The Web allows for proxies such as provided by the CERN server (and versions of Apache etc). A proxy server configured to accept connections from domains enforcing blocking (china, Singapore etc) can serve as a means of circumventing the restrictions. The problem then arises, how can the victims of censorship find out about the holes in the curtain? I believe that it would not be difficult to persuade large numbers of people to mirror a list of sites maintained at a central location. The blue ribbon campaign attracted a lot of interest on the same topic. Activity that brought to light the political aspect of Web censorship would help the domestic anti-CDA effort. Considerations: [i.e. areas needing brainstorming] 1) Copyright. Clearly copyright holders such as CNN etc would need to be involved. Although proxies have long been a part of the Web and the scheme does not threaten their interests it would be as well to get them on board at an early stage. 2) How can one prevent the proxies themselves being blocked? Some ideas that come to mind: 2a) Only issue new sites gradually so that blocking requires continuous updates. 2b) Use DHCP to change network addresses regularly. 2c) Some crypto hack I can't quite work out (hence the post to cypher punks). I can phrase the challenge more compactly though. We have two sets of opposed groups A and M. The A group wish to establish a continued conversation with groups B and C. M is willing to permit communication with group B but not C. Whenever M discovers that a member of group B is willing to act on behalf of group C, M transfers that member to the C group. The problem is to keep A's channels of communication open despite the efforts of M for very large group sizes. I'm not sure if this is a pure crypto challenge or a game theory problem. Comments? If people are willing to work on this I can provide some facilities and act as a media contact. Phill

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No Subject
by mixmaster＠remail.obscura.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is there a moderated list available which expunges only Dale? The good Dr., though vicious, is really quite clever, though vicious. Dale is only a bore. Only. Hugs to all.

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Re: Dr. Vulis' social engineering experiment
by Dale Thorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jane Jefferson wrote: > Also Sprach Toto:[snip] > And fiendishly, it is the very chaos and anarchy and random chance > espoused by proponents of the cypherpunk philosophy that allows these > people to gain this power, unchecked![snip] > We have to face the fact that humans are predators, and as long as > we are, the cycle of this behavior will continue. Jane is showing signs of independent thought. Tsk tsk. > The human race has not evolved to such a point where privacy is not an > essential thing. If tomorrow everyone turned instantly telepathic and > we all were capable of knowing each other's thoughts, you'd best believe > the suicide rate would be beyond belief. Buisnesses would instantly > fail, countries would instantly be absorbed by other countries, many > relationships based on love and trust would be destroyed. > And during that time, the deadliest person alive - the toughest and > the meanest, and the most effective in the face of all the chaos, would > not be the person who was capable of preserving their privacy. Rather, > it would be the one who was capable of surviving in it's complete absence. Telepathy would do no good. You can (if you're hooked into someone's "consciousness") see the general outlines of thought, feel some of the emotions, etc., but the construction of one's abstract thoughts can't be interpreted by an observing person or computer. There are too many variables and random influences. Perhaps someday the quantum machines will make headway there. In the meantime, we can imitate, but we can't speak the full language, a la Star Trek IV. BTW, the suicide rate would not go ballistic, since the suicide rate as reported today is largely ficticious anyway. People would switch to survival mode *very* quickly, which would have the beneficial effect of taking their minds off of their pre-survival-crisis problems.

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Re: Airport security [no such thing]
by Nurdane Oksas 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Sun, 19 Jan 1997, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > Nurdane Oksas <oksas(a)asimov.montclair.edu> writes: > > > On Sat, 18 Jan 1997, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > > > Nurdane Oksas <oksas(a)asimov.montclair.edu> writes: > > > > > > > On Sat, 18 Jan 1997, Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > > > > > > > > > Nurdane Oksas <oksas(a)asimov.montclair.edu> writes: > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, 17 Jan 1997, Dale Thorn wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > > > > > > > > snow <snow(a)smoke.suba.com> writes: > > > > > > > > > > I say we make people fly naked and ship their stuff via UPS ; > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>shudder<< > > > > > > > > > No!. A clear case of the cure being worse than the disease. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Why. it might be fun - those long flight can be so boring with cl > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This one I really don't understand. Cypherpunks lobbied heavily fo > > > > > > > the Final Solution to Spamming and flaming, now along comes the per > > > > > > > solution to the airport security problem, and nobody's gonna go for > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Guess those old, out-of-shape guys don't want anybody laughing at t > > > > > > > Besides, they can put all the clothes in the same plane's baggage > > > > > > > compartment. And planes have those little blankets and pillows, > > > > > > > so what's the problem? > > > > > > > > > > > > Cold temps... > > > > > > > > > > What can naked people do to keep warm??? > > > > > > > > steal blankets from nearby passenger.. > > > > > > I once saw a movie where they had a heroin (or cocaine?) processing lab > > > and everybody was supposed to work naked so it would be hard to steal > > > some of the product. Of course in the movie all the employees were good- > > > looking women (Oksas would have been the big star!). > > > > Thank you for the complement; You've only seen me with clothes :) > > I can tell. > > > Would you like to share my blanket? > > Sure! A true gentleman (like me) is always ready, willing, and able to share > a security blanket with a lady. I am very embarassed... > > "Something nekkid's in the air!" > i think i am in trouble ;) > --- > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM > Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps >

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