December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

It's not over
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Let's cut all the doom and gloom here. The bill isn't passed yet. It's got to go through at least one and possibly two more committees before it reaches the senate floor, where we'll have another chance to defeat it. Even then the house has to pass similar legislation. That will be yet another chance. When Clipper was proposed, a wave of anger and opposition swept forth. The same thing needs to happen now. This fatalism is self defeating. Either you're part of the solution or you're part of the problem. People who say there's no use fighting, who give up, who oppose the efforts of the crypto lobbying groups in the name of ideological purity, are not part of the solution. They have no right to complain if this law passes. By sitting aside and carping at the efforts of those who are trying to stop this kind of legislation, they are only helping to bring it about. There is no reason this new bill should be any more acceptable or more successful than Clipper was. We only have to fight it.

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Re: "Fuck tha EFF": New banner for Netscum page
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Aaron Marquez <marquez(a)pacbell.net> writes: > I find it curious that when the EFF was silent about the netscum page, the > majority of you were supportive of the EFF, but as soon as the EFF said that > they weren't interested in being associated with the netscum page, the party > line suddenly became "the EFF is a bunch of corporate whores..." This is a lie, like everything else Aaron Marquez says. We've been condemnding EFF at least since October 96, when we caught one of the cocksuckers in charge of it in blatant censorship. > What explanation can there be for such a quick 180 other than to conclude > that you're suffering from a big case of sour grapes? And at any rate, how > does EFF-bashing on a mailing list advance the cause of electronic freedom? > I think it's been made obvious what you think of the EFF, why repeat it over > and over to people who already know? This is a lie (see above). Dave, why did you subscribe this Cabal stooge to this mailing list without announcing it? :-( > >If one dislikes the "National Socialists", the closet historical analogue > >of the Usenet Cabal, it doesn't follow that one is against socialism. > > I disagree that the so-called Usenet Cabal is akin to the National > Socialists. Marquez is not even amusing - just a Cabal liar. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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PGP Crack Challenge Ciphertext
by Pearl Harbor 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Below is the encrypted text of the "hidejews.asc" file which must be decrypted in order to meet the "PGP Crack Challenge" sponsored by Pearl Harbor Computers. In order to meet the terms of the contest, the winner must post the decrypted text to the cypherpunks list, signed with their secret key. Please note that in order to ensure the fairness and integrity of the "PGP Crack Challenge" that the secret key used to encrypt the message will be placed in escrow with a Trusted Third Party. The person chosen for this honor is a respected member of the cypherpunk list, Alec McCrackin. - -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 MessageID: qoLXESdTeOgwO9d+ih1SNm28wJzD5AZ0 hQEMAzxR/vV9bQ8hAQf/TAnNvPRMxYwpv6M9H4YF2h01KMjGYx5Fn8pvHtgy1KiN lvT0GFq7h36g2YncKjRKVkU9RwrOBaGCN9iwslLpuomMgFMBfwhHqyWCchzYUAVg B0oHnfyKM7EIaOgPRZwhuEwmWpvMOOTqltfKKtMZ08A5swFjcHa1c5+BapoI3nah cAXeMXYuCWwFQPDPYywpKNtHyp9D4KIjKkoWTUcC3p3u+dOyao2ZSO1CzVO+CuNf p5SO2eDb9Jqa7/ekIMS3seaH7aYzmZ9QS51YXoLUhfAdtS9tg1Zh7t6qgWd77qgp 7qtW9x3bfhKrL+xp6OhxeI/6I6y6LP/4fsD2ZGFHQaUCov1zaoBOTgvLY0ZypQsk ElxQFRYVId6rvLTODgi7MfkxXhl6l9hR4zkVAxx5vgjJYd2n14SW31Ex3lnqFxkR S/IvpxfIUwtbe7wPKd0Xofymn30LDVn7ziUcSlFJQhvOiyNxBBC2irPXGH56Sjfc vUnz3j8adPfr2Ao+NGH4ignpap2D0KhaVHc0O5Ja/QsOIiuwj1JlEjB9GT8tEiqz f2oOiatGlEcGD9ncxoVp3L23sOEHs/0iDfTTsnVAni+BtckL9zIXbw+B/uwsthp0 sm2AHgBikLL/UtqSQbD1vtZ1KlTDf0nSl3IsmpfUw06Ve8gyzlgK31YAsjCmwtRw vULz557cOkwcNocJxSPhskMYRcR7llkl+HT+nysKUMXhibL4FBZFjcgYvDPFbwHl bpmnoNdcFT+8TxmrfuYYthPxys4YhjQHxjBKL2T7yaHv+IzONAD3lVtxGCptFCKp I15FuEvPZuwpI2h37FXu2ju3QgaV+jul3MqXiz3Trgm3y6GUg5/U72dVK3ncVbbQ 7pzExgFMYNa5jG9qrlPJIlXzwOsy1bUSi8A1qUxv+R8zp8BPneL8slR64lE5WlLz LXKPVIczjz2AcNAYAD4cRj1brG3E0a4T14Djm55UUaQLpKnZDcTj91axug7Tl8SV Gs/bWx/CzoJcvZA+pwHrHvbOtNo2UwlMB8c5bJmKFneIze+cQuw235nR3gLhu1aW +JzME6I5vbqXNBCsxMCK5mY+LtYscF1egmCndp1QiVDU1OadYvAWFPeuGyEUST8Z 0CeHkqgXMjpAkbVCgLDhHkWbsZYysET4Kk/K8QFaVz3xkFEiiB9pXrOgekoE7ceg l46cemnO7Fyu1G+shn6bdVtFqkvtreqgoOeZ3DrnkE+spa6X =WRL+ - -----END PGP MESSAGE----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBM6raTjxR/vV9bQ8hAQEBVAf7BWAr9mJb4kY1iVJiGB55muBfWgSkT6cS oGyNnpWeqIkiOqR29SZYecaz1ve9oEUMXJoP9Si1vvg0qIFS+ZZKFxRQuhk8owxU UFmRf8gaq+ovvQdGIWgfTAFnzYfTOJSh8LpmgNoAeVL5Q5/KAmG4qqOepJyzenkF NneOKcozz/eDWtizzur1jOLutTPTUjJX9alyOa3wzh0hahWVZySmYekqFt7H3bwa KPdX9qj7I7Skm/nw+kKZOMjxbWtXzL5uBfDkboC2QmIZJcFy3Bwlrbn4rJfic+iw JMy3S8hxvKuQeud+5PCFnyIzIGROaMj4cD/CgZfRDOorD8V1O5iK7g== =2pkA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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PGP Crack Solution
by AlecMcCrackin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Solution to Pearl Harbor Computer's ----------------------------------- "PGP Crack Challenge" --------------------- "The cypherpunks aren't hiding Jews." "They are hiding that murdering Armenian bastard, Ray Arachelian, and cocksucker John <spit> Gilmore <fart>." --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ "I think we should all send Pearl Harbor Computers back 10 copies of this" --- Graham-John Bullers -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: cp850 iQCVAgUBM6rHzSKJGkNBIH7lAQGxzgP+MQuVm9DWABUxhp0xVp+5L7qm9JlCZ/GU e2Yktx4n8ouRfUpf5WK9uxCGnKd5S1sv38yrJy8sMbQkN1uY8nJYevmwb/6oH1+n cbXJccanXFtAe4Qt6c6bHKJorU+cjk5K2Xl3c/w3PJBgox2r2sAhC98oGE7l4i71 uiRNsXsbbbg= =OIRG -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Senate panel nixes ProCODE II, approves McCain-Kerrey bill
by David Downey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----Original Message Follows---- In the end, it was child pornography that derailed encryption legislation in the U.S. Senate and dealt a bitter defeat to crypto supporters. Spurred by the chairman's denunciations of cyberporn, a majority of the Senate Commerce Committee rejected ProCODE II this morning -- and instead approved a bill introduced earlier this week that creates new Federal crimes for some uses of crypto and an all-but-mandatory key escrow infrastructure. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), committee chair and chief sponsor of the measure, led the attack, saying Congress must "stop child pornography on the Internet and Internet gambling. These legitimate law enforcement concerns cannot and should not be overlooked or taken lightly." He warned that allowing encryption to be exported would permit child pornographers to use it. "If it's being used for child pornography? Are we going to say that's just fine? That's it's just business? I don't think so." Then Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Tex.) chimed in, saying she doesn't want "children to have access to pornography or other bad types of information." Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO) tried to disagree. "It's like photography. We're not going to [ban] photography if someone takes dirty pictures." (At this point, one of the more deaf committee members asked, "Pornography? Are we going to ban pornography?") Between the child-porn attack team of senators McCain, Hollings, Kerry, and Frist, ProCODE sponsor Sen. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) didn't stand a chance. Hunched over the microphone, Burns was outmaneuvered, outprepared, and outgunned on almost every point. Nevertheless, he introduced ProCODE II -- a so-called compromise measure -- and was defeated 8-12. The changes from ProCODE I gave the NSA, FBI, and CIA oversight over crypto exports and permitted only the export of up to 56-bit crypto products without key escrow. Products of any strength with key escrow could be exported freely. That's hardly a pro-privacy, pro-encryption bill, says the ACLU's Don Haines. "The ProCODE vote shows the political bankruptcy of the pro-business agenda. Even in the Commerce Committee, commerce arguments didn't work," he says. The committee also approved amendments proposed by Kerry that would give jurisdiction over crypto exports to a nine-member "Encryption Export Advisory Board." The panel would "evaluate whether [a] market exists abroad" and make non-binding recommendations to the president. Frist also introduced amendments to the McCain-Kerrey bill that were accepted: * Requiring that not any Federally-funded communications network, but only ones established "for transaction of government business" would use key escrow -- thereby jumpstarting the domestic market. * "Requirements for a subpoenas [sic] should be no less stringent for obtaining keys, then [sic] for any other subpoenaed materials." * Key recovery can mean recovering only a portion of the key "such as all but 40 bits of the key." * NIST after consulting with DoJ and DoD will "publish a reference implementation plan for key recovery systems;" the law will not take effect until the president tells Congress such a study is complete. After the vote, advocacy groups tried to put a good face on the devastating loss -- and an expensive defeat it was. After 15 months of lobbying, countless hearings, backroom dealmaking, and political capital spent, ProCODE is gutted and dead. "There's another day. We have confidence in the system," said BSA's Robert Holleyman. CDT's Jerry Berman said, "What is encouraging is that unlike the CDA other committees are getting involved." Of course, the involvement of other committees is only likely to add more key escrow provisions and limitations on crypto-exports. ProCODE's replacement -- the McCain-Kerrey bill -- now goes to the Senate Judiciary committee, and its chairman has already been talking about mandating key escrow in some circumstances... -Declan ==================================================================== Maybe I'm just paranoid, but doesn't this mean that it is now illegal to use anything over 56 bits in the US, and doesn't this give the US Government the unofficial green light to start cracking down on those of us that use encryption? All they gotta say is that they suspected that we were dealing in child pornography, based on the fact that they monitored encrypted messages leaving from our addresses? It's not that far of a leap in possibilities after everything else they've done. This is starting to get scary ladies and gentleman. I use 2048 bit encryption, does that make me a porn lover because I use that heavy of encryption,and encryption period? I feel some very bad days coming down the pike. I just hope that we can do something to stem the tide. --------------------------------------------------------- Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------

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Re: [STEGO] Quadratic residues
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

`A pen is mightier than a sword', not to mention Timothy C[ocksucker] Mayonnaise's pea-sized penis. He would be better served by a safety razor, possibly applied in a bathtub filled with warm water (something he has surely never been into). ((__)) Timothy C[ocksucker] Mayonnaise (00) (o__o)

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Re: [EFGA] WE won our court case!! (fwd)
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bill Stewart wrote: > the distributed internet project to crack > the DES Challenge key succeeded on the day that the Senate committee > was trying to tell us that 56kbps should be plenty for anybody. What an amazing coincidence. RSA works in mysterious ways. MysteryMonger

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new money systems
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've written frequently on ideas about money here. not too long ago I suggested that stocks are actually becoming a kind of a currency, and that a diversity of currencies is actually preferrable to a uniformity. after a lot of research, I've come across some neat new technology that cypherpunks might be interested in. the use of money lies at the root of social interactions. what kind of properties does that money have? those properties are likely to influence the social interactions that ensue. in this country, our money supply is controlled by the federal reserve, which is actually a private banking system. there are some people who claim that key parts of it are being kept secret from the public, such as the controlling interests. there is definitely little doubt that board meetings of the fed are held in the strictest of secrecy. in the computer industry, all software and hardware is moving toward open standards. could this ideal translate to our money system as well? I suspect it can. some very reputable people are beginning to reexamine our money system and conclude that it is not that we are competing for scarce resources via money, but that we are competing for scarce money utilizing resources in the process. this involves the problem of creating money and then charging interest on this fictitious entity, as opposed to charging interest on money that is actually backed by energy and not debt. after a lot of study I've concluded that the entire money system functions like a massive electrical circuit. this is related to ideas presented in a mysterious document called "silent weapons for quiet wars" which I highly recommend to anyone on the list. some will claim it is fraudulent, but I've decided the ideas it presents are extremely genuine, regardless of the source or motives behind the writing. in an electrical circuit, you have the problem of resistence gumming up the works. engineers spend their entire lives trying to squeeze electrical efficiency out of their devices. yet the largest electrical circuit of all, of the greatest importance to the health and well-being of the entire planet, I believe has gone largely unexamined. quite possibly the electrical circuit that comprises our world economy has large amounts of undesirable resistance. this manifests in a very subtle way-- not direclty as inflation, not interest rates, but as a difficulty in obtaining money. in a system with less resistance, money would actually be easier to obtain. and in fact many have reason to believe the world economy has been intentionally designed/manipulate to have undesirable properties, such as creating an invisible and undetectable slavery. imagine that I have a rat on a wheel, and I am using its power to drive my machines. part of the energy the rat expends goes into moving food pellets into its box. but the remaining energy I siphon off for my own ends. the rat does not realize that it doesn't in theory have to expend as much energy as it is doing to live, and does not question its existence as long as it lives. but I can use this energy for my own agenda. would it be possible to create such a system using money? are *we* the rats on the treadmill? is all our money energy going toward feeding ourselves, or is some of it being siphoned off? others who have written intelligently on the subject are suggesting exactly that-- that a system of invisible slavery is now in existence and actually pervades our culture. it is involved in the way the fed creates money and manipulates interest rates, charging interest on money that isn't truly backed by energy. consider these questions: 1. why is it that even as our economy becomes "more productive", we have to work harder? families now require more than one wage earner when before they did not? 2. there are statistics that show in earlier times, it took [x] farmers to produce the food for the population, such that the ratio was something like 1 to 2 or so. now the ratio is nearly 1 to 60 or greater. why does this not translate into more free time for everyone? could it be there is a means by which some entity can siphon off our spare energy and time? 3. if someone is siphoning off energy from *everyone* simultaneously, could it be detected in our system? how? == what's the solution? some are looking toward "alternative" or "local" currencies. there are some cases such that local communities experienced more efficient economies when they resorted to local currencies out of desperation. this has extreme relevance to the cypherpunk ideals of trying to extricate oneself from the "powers that be" and be a sovereign individual, particularly using technical means. it is possible that new kinds of digital currencies will flourish, and that will not be tied to what appears to be a very sinister system involving the federal reserve. some interesting ideas in new money, including digital cash, can be found at www.transaction.net also, there is a system called "LETS" (local exchange transaction system) that is getting more exposure and acceptance. I believe that in the future there will be more and more propaganda relative to money systems, and I hope that those here will have a head start in understanding the secret agendas of others. I hope others will post on this subject in the future. as I say, I believe it is of extreme cypherpunk relevance.

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cypherpunks PR fluff-ups (was Re: Garbled in transmission.)
by Adam Back 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sameer Parekh <sameer(a)c2.net> writes: > ET <emergent(a)eval-apply.com> writes: > > I can't remember it word for word, but it went like this: > > "If you're going to decrypt financial transactions you'd better > > be prepared to get 1000 computers and spend 3 months on > > the project." > > Not at all surprising, considering the wording of Rocke's > press release. I agree. He didn't even mention the possibility of hardware cracks, nor estimates of times to break DES with hardware. 10,000 people burn more CPU than ever managed by a distributed effort in history, and the PR is poorly managed. You need to invest some of that effort in PR. Why no mention of the fact that the crack cost $10,000 (the prize money). And what happened to the prize money? (Who won it? Did the guy finding the key? Or did something boring like giving it to GNU or EFF happen to it?) Why no source code? Some general comments about the crack: Many of the people involved in running the cracks seemed more concerned with their own glory, or with getting their name in lights to enhance their consulting rates, or the technical interest of it, or control freakish tendencies over the management of it, arguing over how best to design the software to conceal the key from the finder of the key! etc, than in making a political statement about the weakness of DES. Seemed like few of them were cypherpunks at heart. This reflected itself I think in the complete hostility to giving the prize money to the winner, the fact that several of the cracks wouldn't reveal the source code, nor their techniques. The earlier cracks the cypherpunks as a group were involved in (netscape breaks) were much more open (source code was released, and benefited from release by others contributing speed-ups). There was none of this attitude which I detected amongst some of the DES groups of excluding others from a small groups organisational effort, because that group wanted the lime-light. Adam -- Have *you* exported RSA today? --> http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/rsa/ print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`

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A site idea
by Jason William RENNIE 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello all, Well after joining this list a few days ago, i've decided to take the plunge and post something. I was looking for feedback on an idea for a site. I hope this dosen't violate any rules for posting and i appologise if it does. Please dont flame me for my ignorance if i've broken any unspecified rules for posting. Anyway on to my idea. I'm a Christian (NO not some religious right looney from the states). My idea was to setup a site dedicated to secure and anonymous transmiion of data. The appilication being for Christian missionaries in dangerous countries, but also as a general purpose site for crypto and anoniminty. I was hoping to collect information on setting up anon remailers of various types and compiling links and articles for the site. Can anybody point me in the right direction ? Again i hope i haven't offended anyone or broken any posting rules to this forum. Jason =8-]

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