December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Fighting the cybercensor. (fwd)
by Phillip M. Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Choate <ravage(a)EINSTEIN.ssz.com> wrote in article <5cg99p$7a(a)life.ai.mit.edu>... > The part of it that comes out of their pocketbook does. Just like the part of > 'the net' that I pay for belongs to me. The net is a bunch of computers, > running software, hooked together over cables and other links. Each and > EVERY ONE of these require installation, upkeep, repair, and utility > support. This costs money. He who pays the money owns the net, everybody > else is along for the ride. The network is largely an intellectual creation. The hardware is relatively unimportant, it can always be replaced. > If we take your argument to its logical conclusion then once a box goes on > the net it belongs to nobody/everybody. Clearly utter nonsense. If you start from such a state and property centered ideology perhaps. I'm a philosophical anarchist and I don't consider the state to have "rights" over its "subjects", nor do I believe in the pure ideology of property you do. Its worth noting that the origin of property is theft. In the case of the controllers of China literally so since they stole most of their "property" from the previous rulers. I believe that the relationship between a state and individual is a much more complex one than the slavish subjection model you propose. In this I am in agreement with practically every philosopher since Locke. It is true that there is the convenience of the state as agency but the question is on whose behalf that agency is exercised. I see no reason why I should not meddle in the affairs of states I'm not a 'subject" of. > If you really and truly believe that the net belongs to everyone and nobody > has a right to limit or otherwise control the hardware and software along > with the associated comm links they own and pay for then you obviously don't > understand what is going on. They are allowed to connect their machinery to the Internet so long as they are prepared to accept the Internet's ethic. They are not allowed to have a free ride, to demand a valuable connection facility on their own terms. > ps I also support France's current attempt at forcing the Georgia university > web site on French soil to use French. As a citizen of Europe I disagree. I believe that the narrow and parochial attitude of the French province breaches undertakings in the Treaty of Rome and under the European declaration of human rights. France is not a sovereign state and does not have the right to pass laws that infringe on the rights granted to European citizens as a whole. Phill

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can Sun Tzu be a cypherpunks?
by nobody＠nowhere.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Quotations from the Art Of War by Sun Tzu A Military operation involves deception. Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. Though effective, appear to be ineffective. Draw them in with the prospect of gain, take them by confusion. Use humility to make them haughty. Tire them by flight. Cause division among them. Attack when they are unprepared, make your move when they do not expect it. The formation and procedure used by the military should not be divulged beforehand. Comment: He seems to be advocating security through obscurity here. The one who figures on victory at headquarters before even doing battle is the one who has the most strategic factors on his side. The one who figures on inability to prevail at headquarters before doing battle is the one who has the least strategic factors on his side. The one with many strategic factors in his favor wins, the one with few strategic factors in his favor loses--how much more so for the one with no strategic factors in his favor. Observing the matter this way, I can see who will win and who will lose. The superior militarist strikes while schemes are being laid. The next best is to attack alliances. The next best is to attack the army. Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability is in the opponent. Therefore skilled warriors are able to be invincible, but they cannot cause opponents to be vulnerable. That is why it is said that victory can be discerned but not manufactured. Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack. Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victories in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those who have already lost. So it is that good warriors take their stand on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat. Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory. Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules. Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt. Comment: Would it not be wonderful if we could prevail over the corrupt? Making the armies able to take on opponents without being defeated is a matter of unorthodox and orthodox methods. Therefore those skilled at the unorthodox are infinite as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the great rivers. When they come to an end, they begin again, like the days and months; they die and are reborn, like the four seasons. The unorthodox and the orthodox give rise to each other, like a beginningless circle--who could exhaust them? Disorder arises from order, cowardice arises from courage, weakness arises from strength. Therefore those who skillfully move opponents make formations that the opponents are sure to follow, give what opponents are sure to take. They move opponents with the prospect of gain, waiting for them in ambush. To unfailingly take what you attack, attack where there is no defense. For unfailingly secure defense, defend where there is no attack. So in the case of those who are skilled in attack, their opponents do not know where to defend. In the case of those skilled in defense, their opponents do not know where to attack. Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate. Comment: Are cypherpunks capable of this? To advance irresistibly, push through their gaps, to retreat elusively, outspeed them. Induce them to adopt specific formations, in order to know the ground of death and life. Comment: Sounds like known plaintext attack to me. Therefore the consummation of forming an army is to arrive at formlessness. When you have no form, undercover espionage cannot find out anything, intelligence cannot form a strategy. Comment: Sun Tzu seems to being saying that if your cipher is properly designed, you need not rely on security through obscurity. Victory over multitudes by means of formation is unknowable to the multitudes. Everyone knows the form by which I am victorious, but no one knows the form by which I ensure victory. Military formation is like water--the form of water is to avoid the high and go to the low, the form of a military force is to avoid the full and attack the empty; the flow of water is determined by the earth, the victory of a military force is determined by the opponent. So a military force has not constant formation, water has no constant shape;the ability to gain victory by changing and adapting according to the opponent is called genius. Foreknowledge cannot be gotten from ghosts and spirits, cannot be had by analogy, cannot be found out by calculation. It must be obtained from people, people know the conditions of the enemy. There are five kinds of spy: The local spy, the inside spy, the reverse spy, the dead spy, and the living spy. When the five kinds of spies are all active, no one knows their routes--this is called organizational genius, and is valuable to the leadership. Local spies are hired from among the people of a locality; Inside spies are hired from among enemy officials. Reverse spies are hired from enemy spies. Dead spies transmit false intelligence to enemy spies. Living spies come back to report. Question: Can cypherpunks use these methods to defeat those who would take our freedom?

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Bruce "Penis With a Blister on it" Taylor strikes again...
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 17:19:03 -0800 Reply-To: Law & Policy of Computer Communications <CYBERIA-L(a)LISTSERV.AOL.COM> Sender: Law & Policy of Computer Communications <CYBERIA-L(a)LISTSERV.AOL.COM> From: Robert Cannon <cannon(a)DC.NET> Subject: Members of Congress file CDA Amici Curiae Brief To: CYBERIA-L(a)LISTSERV.AOL.COM Approximately 22 members of Congress filed an Amici Curiae brief with the Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLY, the constitutional challenge to the Communications Decency Act (this makes three known briefs filed so far in support of the CDA). The brief was filed on behalf of, among others, Exon, Coats, Helms, Grassley, Hyde, and Goodlatte. It was written by Bruce Taylor and Cathleen A. Cleaver. This brief can be accessed at http://www.cdt.org/ciec/SC_appeal/970121_Cong_brief.html Litigation update page: www.cais.net/cannon/cda/cda-up.htm --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/rah/ FC97: Anguilla, anyone? http://www.ai/fc97/ "If *you* don't go to FC97, *I* don't go to FC97"

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Re: Fighting the cybercensor
by drose＠azstarnet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Phill" wrote: >Society is not bound to put up with cranks and psychopaths. Err, "Phill", how then do you see yourself fitting in?

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Important information and instruction
by helpinghands＠lgcy.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Fighting the cybercensor
by drose＠AZStarNet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Phill" wrote: >Society is not bound to put up with cranks and psychopaths. Err, "Phill", how then do you see yourself fitting in?

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Re: Machine readable form (was:RE: [DES] DES Key Recovery Project, Progress Report #7)
by Phil Karn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I think you're being far too subtle here. The issues have been clearly drawn in my case. The government is also now officially on record as reserving the authority to regulate the exports of even paper copies of cryptographic source code (e.g., books). They have simply chosen not to do so for now out of the goodness of their hearts. Or, more likely, because even they understand the furor this would cause, and the damage it would do to their position in court. Phil

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Re: Machine readable form (was:RE: [DES] DES Key Recovery Project, Progress Report #7)
by Anil Das 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Jan 29, 2:23pm, Phil Karn wrote: > Subject: Re: Machine readable form (was:RE: [DES] DES Key Recovery Project > I think you're being far too subtle here. The issues have been clearly > drawn in my case. The government is also now officially on record as > reserving the authority to regulate the exports of even paper copies > of cryptographic source code (e.g., books). But isn't your case still based on the arbitrariness of prohibiting the export of a floppy while allowing the export of a book containing the same information, unlike the Bernstein case, which is based on the constitutional protection for free speech? That is the impression I got from the various press reports and web pages. -- Anil Das

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RE: Fighting the cybercensor
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:15 PM 1/28/97 -0800, Steve Schear wrote: >I think a hole in your thinking is to assume that the assasins have no >motive other than financial gain. I would submit that there are those that >have the skills, training and a political agenda coherent with the >wagerers, lacking only the financial incentive to make the risks >acceptable. These wetworkers won't consider accepting the bribe of the >rich/powerful This may be true, but the example was to show how easy a defensive line could be thrown up around the powerful. For example, conventional body guards could be included, ones with no real pay but with the fore knowledge that they will be buried with the tyrant. These body guards could be ten children out of each local village. Merely a human shield. In an attack, they would scatter, but the parents would know that the children would die if a successful action were taken against the tyrant. Also, the tyrant could put an open bounty on anyone caught trying to harm him. Just bring the decapitated head of the assassin along with a VHS cassette of the attempted action for a big reward. By layering the defenses, it becomes increasingly difficult for anyone to get through. Obviously the castles walls are the first line of defense, so a reward is given for anyone caught using any entrance to the fortress except those that are provided. The household is told that their participation will result in the extermination of their families. They are then told that if they know of an impending action and fail to report it or attempt to stop it, they are considered party it those actions. A human shield of innocents is "given the privaledge to live in the fortress with our great leader" so that actions by concerned parties is limited further. A standing bounty is placed on the head of the assassin, who so ever brings in the head of the assassin and all children parented by that person after the assination will be given a reward of some set sum. Probably 110%. A bounty is set on security breaches, this bounty would probably be 110% of the death mark on the tyrant. A series of more conventional boobytraps are layed in normally inaccessable areas, the layers of these either being prisoners who have unknowningly been condemned to die, the tyrant himself, or some other disposable or trustable deployment device. The most common of these would probably be a mine field between the two outer most walls of the fortress, and maybe a funnel-gun parimeter inside of that. An inner sanctum with self contained air, water, and food is maintained for the tyrant and h[is/er] closest relatives/advisors. This sanctum would be accessed by biometrics and only used in a percieved emergency. All dissent is declared illegal with capitol punishment for the mere discussion of the impending death of the tyrant, exceptions to this would be persons in the direct company of the tyrant with the tyrants full awareness, and permission.

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Re: Best Computer School?
by Cynthia H. Brown 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Mon 27 Jan, SpyKing queried: > This is a little off topic but maybe someone can help. I've got a > teenage son (HS sophomore) who's interested in majoring in computer > science in college with a particular interest in cryptography. He's > leaning toward MIT. Any suggestions from list members as to colleges > to investigate? Avi Rubin at NYU has compiled a list of all security- and crypto- related university courses that he is aware of. The URL is: http://www.cs.nyu.edu/~rubin/courses.html (This was posted on sci.crypt a couple of weeks ago.) Hope this gives a starting point, Cynthia -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: cp850 iQCVAwUBMu/0bpOg7xGCJGQtAQEEPgP8DIMqGqUmGWXtWWrQpv7OP+iIFxegwS9J 6+ZRg1OeB/ivLV2ZTvPbyZJ5a0zevrGIM4uPPjt2YQVLdpyZrpWm0TNPlPE4bgb8 hWEKkpfF8HVRF5jf4s80x3nhmtMzRLSSXy9L03f/m+I45l9HkTOQ4tX7U3WE42ea 9rGdR7SUm1U= =qDPt -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- =============================================================== Cynthia H. Brown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada E-mail: cynthb(a)sonetis.com Home Page: http://www.sonetis.com/~cynthb/ PGP Key: See Home Page Junk mail will be ignored in the order in which it is received. It is morally as bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it. - Edmund Way Teale, "Circle of the Seasons"

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