December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

From Hatch's testimony
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text X-Authentication-Warning: fma66.fma.com: majordomo set sender to owner-espam(a)lists.espace.net using -f X-Orig-From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> X-e$pam-source: Various X-Sender: rah(a)atanda.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 16:50:55 -0400 To: espam(a)intertrader.com, e$pam <e$pam(a)atanda.com> From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Subject: From Hatch's testimony X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by daleth.atanda.com id OAA23282 Sender: owner-espam(a)lists.espace.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: e$(a)thumper.vmeng.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- This mail is brought to you by the e$pam mailing list --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> Reply-To: rah(a)shipwright.com Organization: The Shipwright Development Corporation MIME-Version: 1.0 To: rah(a)shipwright.com Subject: From Hatch's testimony http://washingtonpost.com:80/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-07/10/015L-071097-idx.htm l Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="015L-071097-idx.htm l" Content-Disposition: inline; filename="015L-071097-idx.html" X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by lbo.leftbank.com i d QAA04134 [Image] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] [Image] Talk Central Section: discuss hot topics of the day online. All Editorials and Op-Ed columns from this morning's Washington Post. All editorials and commentary from Sunday's Washington Post Outlook section. [Image] ------------------------------------------------ For the Record Thursday, July 10, 1997; Page A18 The Washington Post From testimony by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee: Although encryption has historically been a technology reserved for national security and military applications, the explosive growth of both electronic communications and stored data has enhanced the need to develop means to protect business, governmental and individual communications and information from improper access and use. A direct deterrent to economic espionage, consumer or commercial theft or fraud, or improper eavesdropping of private information or communications is the encryption of such information. By employing mathematical algorithms [that] convert electronic information into meaningless text, encryption prevents anyone other than a keyholder -- who has the algorithm necessary to unscramble or decrypt this information -- from gaining access to the information. The importance of meaningful legislation in this area cannot be understated. Consider for instance that consumer confidence in a secure network is deemed essential to the development of such things as on-line commerce, which is projected to grow from last year's $500 million to as much as $12 billion by the year 2000. The difficulty in evaluating a meaningful encryption policy is that, while its employment does protect the privacy of legitimate business and personal interests, it can also be used . . . by criminals to hide their communications and operations. . . . Today, Americans . . . enjoy the ability to use, and industry is free to market, commercial encryption of any strength domestically without restriction. The focus of congressional debate is the export and dissemination of U.S. encryption products abroad and the development of key recovery features that allow law enforcement access to encrypted communications under appropriate circumstances. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [WashingtonPost.com] [I[Image] [Navigation image map] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Where people, networks and money come together: Consult Hyperion http://www.hyperion.co.uk info(a)hyperion.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------- Like e$? Help pay for it! See <http://www.shipwright.com/beg.html> Or, for e$/e$pam sponsorship, <mailto:rah@shipwright.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------- --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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Re: FYI: NSA Requests Source Code From Elvis+
by Stone Monkey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In article <9707071618.AA63188(a)public.uni-hamburg.de> Ulf Mueller writes: >> The National Security Agency has asked Sun Microsystems Inc. and Elvis+, >> the Russian networking company in which Sun has a 10 percent stake, to >> turn over the source code of its SunScreen SKIP E+. > >Why should the US government get access to the source code of foreign >product being imported to the US? To me the announcement implied that the NSA wanted to compare Sun's and Elvis+'s implementations, to verify that they are actually different. To check that Sun didn't simply smuggle the code out and launder it through Elvis+. They're not looking at imports (why would Elvis+'s code be imported? It's already available domestically from Sun), they're looking at Sun's well-publicised end-run around the crypto chilling effect, to see if Sun perhaps cut any corners. But it's more fun to rant about the paranoid thrashings of a government bogeyman than it is to attempt to understand the actions of the NSA, which is not staffed by stupid people.

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FWD: SCIENTISTS PROPOSE NEW ENCRYPTION SCHEME
by edgarswank＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

SCIENTISTS PROPOSE NEW ENCRYPTION SCHEME Two scientists at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif. have developed a new approach to public key cryptography based on mathematical constructs called lattices. The system would be based on a particular set of hidden hyperplanes that constitute the private key and a method of generating points near one of those hyperplanes for the public key. The security of the system rests on the computational difficulty of finding the "unique" shortest line segment (or vector) that connects any two points in a given lattice -- a task that's fairly easy in two or three dimensions, but much more difficult in a 100-dimensional lattice. The researchers are working to turn their theory into a marketable product, and see applications in creating digital signatures and other security and authentication schemes. (Science News 5 Jul 97) Edgar W. Swank <EdgarSwank(a)Juno.com> (preferred) Edgar W. Swank <cryoprez(a)jps.net> (for files/msgs >50K) Home Page: http://members.tripod.com/~EdgarS/index.html

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No Subject
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy Mayhem's father, an idiot, stumbled across Timothy Mayhem's mother, an imbecile, when she had no clothes on. Nine months later she had a little moron. ---- '@ *> Timothy Mayhem |\ 7 / `-- _

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Int'l High School Exchange
by buyguy222＠erols.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Have you ever thought about having a high school student from another country come and stay with your family? Chances are you have. You may have had a neighbor that "hosted" an exchange student. Or your child may have talked about the foreign student that was staying with a friend of his. But you may not have known how to bring this experience into your home. Pacific Intercultural Exchange (P.I.E.) has been matching high school students with American host families for more than 20 years. Since 1975, our experience and expertise has enabled us to bring together more than 18,000 families from across the United States with students from around the world. These students, screened and prepared by our overseas counterparts, come anxious to share their cultures with American families, families just like yours. Imagine sharing your traditions with a teenager from another country. What must it be like to experience an American Halloween for the first time? Can you picture the expression of wonder that will fill the face of a child when he witnesses the spectacle of an American Christmas in your hometown? P.I.E., a program designated by the United States Information Agency and listed by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel, is prepared to assist your family in making this dream a reality. Our staff is working hard to match students from around the world with host families in time to start the new school year this August. These students, who are between the ages of 15-18 years old, will attend the local public high school. Our program provides full insurance for the students, the students will bring their own spending money to cover expenses. We ask only that the host family provide room and board, and of course, love. And with a 24 hour assistance number and local representatives in cities and in towns thoughout the country, our program will be there to support you every step of the way. While we have many traditional two-parent families, single parent families and couples (both young and retired) without children also host successfully. The most important qualification to host is a genuine desire to share your life with a child from another country. To learn more about hosting opportunities with P.I.E., please visit our web site at: http://www.pieusa.org or Email us directly at INFO(a)PIEUSA.ORG

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More on crypto from Bonn
by Donald Weightman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Another story in today's FINANCIAL TIMES http://www.FT.com describes a "clash" between USCommerce Sec'y Daley and German economic minister Rexrodt on strong crypto. Because the speakers' choices of words are interesting, I quote from the FT article by Ralph Atkins: On coding technology, however, Mr Daley insisted, "there are certain legitimate areas where governments have to be involved". Encryption should be used to protect credit card numbers or detailed contracts from being read. But, he went on: "We must also make sure national security is safeguarded by applying those rules sensibly, so that potential terrorists or other sophisticated criminals cannot hide their work." Mr Rexrodt hinted the European ministers regarded US policy on exporting encryption technology as discriminatory. He backed "strong" encryption procedures, which he said were "offering users the only protection that they have, the only certainty, that their data is not going to be divulged or misused on open networks". Mr Rexrodt was backed by Mr Ron Sommer, chairman of Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecommunications group, who said: "Anyone who uses the point of public security as an argument in this [encryption] issue has not realised or acknowledged that any such legal requirements stand in the way of the further spread of electronic commerce." Questions for the reader: What's a "potential" terrorist? (Is the occasional apparent c'punx paranoia justified?) How is the US export policy discriminatory? Why is DT coming out on this issue? Who are their strategic partners for ecommerce among US telecomms? (I'll have to ask around about that ...) cheers ......................................... Donald Weightman dweightman(a)radix.net

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New Add-On Law / Re: Freeh's Testimony (FBI Seeks Domestic GAK)
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Duncan Frissell wrote: > More generally, it is legal not to speak and thus to deprive police and > prosecutors of the contents of your mind. Crypto just extends this right. Duncan, as he often does, points out a small truth which goes to the very heart of the issue of criminalizing strong encryption. Criminalizing crypto is criminalizing _private_speech_ and also _private_thought_. Mark my words, when the day comes that LEA's have the technology to read human thoughts, then we will be seeing this same debate taking place in that arena. The "legitimate needs of law enforcement" rhetoric, et al, will be drug out for the billionth time to thwart the danger that a CypherPunk might fart in the woods without an LEA recording it. Think back to the first time you read "1984" and think about what you, yourself, could _add_ to the book from your own personal knowledge and experience since that date. If we added all of the instances of "Big Brother" becoming an accepted reality of everyday life since then, the tome would rival "War and Peace" in volume and scope. If I choose to write my prayers on a word processor, in order to better organize my spiritual thoughts and be able to reference them to remember my promises to God, does the State have a right to demand I let them view those prayers, and private religious thoughts? If I use a computer to write my attorney, perhaps even outlining my activities, etc., in regard to criminal charges against me, does the State have a right to demand access to it? Am I allowed to whisper to my lawyer in court, but not to type what I want him to know on a computer screen he has in front of him in the same courtroom? Am I allowed to tell a $200/hour psychiatrist that someone made me mad enough to "kill" them in order to stay sane enough not to do so, and have it kept confidential, but be denied the right, if I am a poor person, to do the exact same thing in writing on my computer, with the help of a $4.95 paperback self-help/psychology book? Have private thoughts been "corporatized/governmentized" somehow? Are our private thoughts sacred only when shared with a recognized authority? If I share them with myself, do they become the property of the State? Am I totally out of my mind, or has life become tremendously fucking scary, and nobody but me has noticed? Sometimes I feel like the guy on the plane in the "Twilight Zone" movie, who is the only one who can see the monster on the plane's wing that is endangering everyone's life. And if you shoot at the monster nobody else can see, then they strap you down and take you to the rubber room. (Obvious analogy to McVeigh and Death Row purely unintentional.) {"Your honor, this search warrant is for the purpose of cracking the suspect's head open with a crowbar and prying his brain out so that we can poke around, in _good_faith_, I assure you, and look for evidence that pertains to a crime that may have been committed.") If you don't provide a breathalyzer sample, you are automatically guilty of drunken driving (even if the DMV License Tester is handing you a perfect score/report as the officer places you in handcuffs). I have no doubt that under future key escrow laws that your prayers to God and your letters to yourself detailing the most intimate details of your life will make you automatically guilty of tax evasion unless you allow strangers who are hostile to you (police, judges, prosecutors) to read them. Yes, and one day, even our private thoughts will be considered to automatically make us guilty criminals unless we allow LEA's access to them. (The "lie detector" is a case in point, and it has in the past come dangerously close to being afforded the same status as the breathalyzer, even though it represents "voodoo" as much as it does "science.") If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it--is it a drug trafficking tree or a child molesting tree? TruthMonger

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Routing around damage
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Remember "the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it"? I'd be happy with an internet that interprets DAMAGE as damage and routes around it. >A minor construction accident in San Jose, California, caused >three hours of Internet slowdowns this morning, especially for >those trying to connect to and from West Coast Web sites. >Backbone Internet providers route requests and information >through about a half-dozen network access points (NAPs). >When one has a problem, it can affect the entire Internet.

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Re: write up AP for FC++
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May wrote: >>I'm now mildly amused that Bell is being seen as the inventor of anonymous >>and untraceable murder markets, with clueless journalists seeking >>information on his discovery. But, hey, better he rot in jail than me. At 04:27 PM 8/18/97 -0700, Blanc wrote: > A presentation from you at FC98 would remind everyone of your own initial > writings on the subject and provide you with due credit (better credit than > a jail/rotting sentence). I can't think of anyone else who would be more > qualified for this. Freedom of speech is protected by nothing stronger than the cluelessness of our masters. If you publish your idea in appropriate forums, you can get away with it. If you go from forum to forum singing your idea like a broken record, and flogging it like soap, you will probably go to jail. I see no point in explaining our ideas so thoroughly and repeatedly that even cops and politicians start to understand them. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: write up AP for FC++
by Blanc 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

More than a month later, James A. Donald responded: >I see no point in explaining our ideas so thoroughly and repeatedly >that even cops and politicians start to understand them. ......................................................... I dont' think where you publish your idea makes as much difference as in how you present it, based on what attitude and inclinations you reveal about your motives for the future. If you are having an abstract discussion which explores the ramifications of what a new technology makes possible - not only for the good, but for the bad - it is surely distinguishable from a discussion on who exactly you dislike and how precisely you are going to hurt them badly with your new, advanced weapon-tools. One type of discussion could reveal your perspective and the scope of your ability to follow ideas to their logical conclusions. A different discussion, conversely, could reveal your psychological problems and the malfunctioning of a disturbed imagination. Anyone who studies ideas seriously will want to explain their discoveries to colleagues; it's almost a given that this is so. I wasn't suggesting to Tim that he reiterate himself to clueless public authorities for the purpose of elevating their understanding (although it is a fact that Tim very often has explained, again and again, the same ideas which he has posted in the past, until lately he has arrived at the point of merely referencing himself and his previous contributions to the list.). I was making reference to the mistake certain people are making, as he mentioned, of attributing to Jim Bell the origin of the AP ideas, when Tim's own extensive exploration of this subject preceded Jim's epiphanies by years. I was encouraging Tim that presenting his ideas to a physical gathering of people who are of the mind to consider the impact of these possibilities upon their business enterprises, would contribute to clarifying the situation (to some degree - I can't say how or what kind of effect it would actually have, obviously). But anyway, James, don't you think it is better to live in an atmosphere of people who have a clue, rather than otherwise, regardless of their position in this contradictory world? .. Blanc

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