December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Govt. key escrow justification
by Michael Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm attaching the Nando and NYT pieces on the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. As feared yet expected, their effort is turning into another key escrow justification. Anyone who is interested, let me know, I've commented the PCCIP summary report (the full report is classified). I'm one of the few public strong- crypto supporters who also happens to be a professional in the field of infrastructural attacks, so this makes things even more lonely. Michael Wilson http://www.7pillars.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ U.S. cyberterrorism report hit on encryption stance ____________________________________________________________________________ Copyright ) 1997 Nando.net Copyright ) 1997 Reuters WASHINGTON (November 6, 1997 00:53 a.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - The U.S. commission on critical infrastructure drew strong criticism Wednesday for endorsing the Clinton administration's controversial policy that would require government access to all private computer data. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said significant questions had been raised about the costs and feasibility of so-called key recovery systems. "Until those significant questions are fully considered and answered, we should be cautious in adopting grand key recovery encryption schemes that may only exacerbate system vulnerabilities," Leahy said in a statement. The commission's report, delivered to President Clinton last month and later released to the public in declassified form, warned that critical telephone, power, water and financial systems were becoming increasingly vulnerable to computer attack. The commission also said it favored greater use of computer encryption programs, which use mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software "key." Encryption programs could be used to prevent hackers or terrorists from infiltrating computer networks that run critical infrastructure systems, for example. But the commission backed use of key recovery, a technology to allow law enforcement officials to decode any encrypted message covertly. "Key recovery is needed to provide business access to data when encryption keys are lost or maliciously misplaced, and court-authorized law enforcement access to the plain text of criminal related communications and data lawfully seized," the report said. FBI director Louis Freeh and other law enforcement officials back legislation to require all encryption products to include such features, but many high-tech companies, scientists, and civil libertarians oppose mandatory back-door access to coded information. The Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet advocacy group, noted that a recent report by cryptography experts found that key recovery features added numerous new vulnerabilities to computer systems. "Key recovery is inconsistent with the (commission's) own calls for greater security in our nation's critical infrastructures," the group said. Robert Marsh, who chaired the commission, defended the report to reporters after a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee's technology and terrorism subcommittee. Marsh contended the report took a balanced view of the encryption debate. "We didn't get into the encryption debate and all the nuances and individual decisions," he said. "We simply came on strong for encryption." In its formal recommendations, the commission urged the government to speed up pilot programs on key recovery, promote efforts to plan for implementing large-scale key recovery systems and encourage private-sector key recovery efforts. ___________________________________________________________________ November 6, 1997 Head of Cyber-Terrorism Panel Says Encryption Rules May Be Needed By JERI CLAUSING Bio WASHINGTON The head of a presidential commission on cyber-terrorism on Wednesday told a Senate panel that a mandatory system guaranteeing third-party access to scrambled computer communications may be necessary if industry does not embrace the Clinton administration's plan for a voluntary encryption decoding system. ________________________________________________________________ Robert T. Marsh, an aerospace consultant and retired Air Force general who is chairman of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, made the remarks in his first non-classified report on the commission's 15-month study and its recommendations for protecting the nation's computer networks from high-tech terrorism. The commission recommended a variety of proposals, including increased private-public partnership and information sharing, more comprehensive background checks on people who hold sensitive positions, strengthening of government computer systems and spending more on research to improve network security. But the key to national security, Marsh said, is strong encryption coupled with a back-door access for law enforcement officials to sensitive communications. "We want to see that adopted over all the critical control functions at an early date," he told the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information. The commission's recommendation for a voluntary system that would give law enforcement officials the ability to decode electronic messages, called a key-recovery system, mirrors that of the administration, which says it wants ensure such officials can gain access to the coded communications of suspected criminals and terrorists. Encryption policy has been a volatile topic on Capitol Hill this year, where bills ranging from an industry-backed ban on key recovery to an FBI-supported mandatory key-recovery scheme have passed various House committees. The Clinton administration insists it supports a Senate bill establishing voluntary key recovery. "We didn't get into the encryption debate and all the nuances of individual positions," Marsh said. "We simply came on strong for encryption. We must have encryption." He told the panel that "we must lower the temperature of the encryption debate" long enough to complete pilot projects on key recovery that will prove to industry that such systems can work. Various agencies of the federal government currently are developing 13 key recovery pilot projects, which were on display Wednesday at a Government Information Technology Services conference. Marsh said the National Security Agency and the National Institutes for Standards and Technology should head efforts to perfect those systems and set standards for a national infrastructure protection office to carry out. Asked by the subcommittee's chairman, Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, if those controls should be mandated, Marsh responded: "We think businessmen will find it in their best interest to incorporate these controls. ... Of course, in due time, that may be an option if they are not willing to accept them." Critics blasted the report as premature and contradictory. "I am concerned that the report's recommendations that large-scale key-recovery encryption systems which allow for surreptitious decryption by law enforcement be deployed for use by federal agencies and the private sector is premature," said Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who has sponsored a bill to relax controls on encryption technology." "Significant questions have been raised by leading cryptographers about the security risks inherent in large-scale key recovery systems, which introduce new vulnerabilities and targets for attack, as well as about the costs and feasibility of implementing such systems." The Center for Democracy and Technology said the "increasing vulnerabilities," "increasing dependence on critical infrastructure," and "wide spectrum of threats" identified by the commission all provide powerful arguments against the deployment of the vastly complex and insecure systems for back-door access that key recovery requires. The center cited a recent study by 11 expert cryptographers and computer security experts, "The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow, and Trusted Third Parties," which identifies numerous risks in the widespread deployment of such key-recovery plans. Among those risks is insider abuse, which Marsh said so far has been the chief culprit in computer-related crimes. Marsh said a separate section of the report makes "recommendations that try to equip us better to deal with the insider threat, that's a separate problem." ________________________________________________________________ Jeri Clausing at jeri(a)nytimes.com welcomes your comments and suggestions. ________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company --- For those who want to track this issue further, the PCCIP is at http://www.pccip.gov/

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Tim May Guilty in OKC Bombing!
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~ Prosecution tries to link May, McVeigh through literature BIENFAIT (CANADIAN NUTLY NEWS) -- Drunks testifying Wednesday in the Oklahoma City bombing trial said they found anti-government literature in the home of defendant Tim C. May that was similar to that found in the car of Timothy McVeigh. A shitfaced Lying Fuck Louis J. Freeh said, "Pro-constitution, anti-government, it's all the same crap." ... One document referred to the government raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, and contained the Thomas Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." FBI agents snorting cocaine in the bathroom were heard to say that they were looking into the possibility that John Doe #3 might, in fact, be Thomas Jefferson. ... The government has argued that McVeigh and May were incensed over how federal agents handled the 1993 clash with the Branch Davidian cult in Waco in which 80 cult members died. Lying Nazi Cunt Janet Reno testified that, to her knowledge, May and McVeigh were the only two people in the US who were angered by the FBI murder of men, women and children. ... One document seized in Timothy C. May's house was a copy of a March 15, 1993, letter published in The Wall Street Journal that referred to Waco and "equates federal agents with Nazi SS agents exterminating Jews in World War II." When prosecutors entered this as evidence, May broke down on his bar stool and confessed. "When they introduced the evidence that I read The Wall Street Journal," May told Canadian Nutly News reportwhores, "I knew it was only a matter of time until they linked me to Jim Bell, who has been learning how to read from prison copies of the newpaper." ... Rumors that May ratted out other readers of The Wall Street Journal in return for a double-shot of Tequila could not be confirmed. All political figures queried by Nutly News reportwhores denied reading the terrorist rag, including its publishers. The editor of The Wall Street Journal vehemently denied rumors that May had secretly named him as an avid reader of his own paper, claiming, "Hell, I can't even read." He also added that Tim May and Jim Bell were known to be Janet Reno's secret lovers, though admitting that they did not fuck her with their own dicks. Tomorrow: FBI investigating reports that a majority of Cypherpunks mailing list subscribers used letters of the English alphabet that were 'similar' to those used by May and Bell.

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Re: Speech as co-conspiring? I don't think so.
by Fed's Bait Shop 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fred wrote: > Mix wrote: > > > (*) Tim seems too wiley to be crazy. Instead, he seems to be playing > > The Most Dangerous Game: Fed baiting. > ^^^ (typo) > > Could you tell me the best way to kill a policeman, politician, or > world leader, without using a gun? Of course, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am referring only to doing so as a member of a freedom-fighting organization whose aims are fully supported by any government who might want to prosecute me for asking a hypothetical question of this nature. And, naturally, I would only be interested in those methods of killing that would result in the deaths of only those who are the evil enemies of any government who might want to prosecute me for asking a hypothetical question of this nature. Fred

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by tri-max＠t-1net.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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church of crypto anarchy (Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea. (fwd)) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 23:25:02 GMT > From: Adam Back <aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk> > Subject: church of crypto anarchy (Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea. (fwd)) > Seems to me that the distinction that churches are exempt from taxes > partly hinges on their non-profit, or not-for-profit status. No, it stems from the fundamental democratic axiom of seperation of church and state. If the churches pay taxes they aren't seperate. If the state supports churches they aren't seperate. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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Re: church of crypto anarchy (Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea. (fwd)) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 08:52:15 GMT > From: Adam Back <aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk> > Subject: Re: church of crypto anarchy (Re: Taxing Churches for their views? Bad idea. (fwd)) (fwd) > Jim Choate <ravage(a)ssz.com> writes: > > Adam Back <aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk> > > > Seems to me that the distinction that churches are exempt from taxes > > > partly hinges on their non-profit, or not-for-profit status. > > > > No, it stems from the fundamental democratic axiom of seperation of church > > and state. If the churches pay taxes they aren't seperate. > > I pay taxes, I am separated from the state. Do you hold US citizenship? If so then, no, your assertion of seperation from the state is incorrect. It's that pesky "We the people..." thing. If you want to be considered seperate from the US *AND* you don't want to pay US taxes then renounce your US citizenship and move to another country *OR* figure out a way to become your own 1 person church. Like it or not that's the way it works. > > If the state supports churches they aren't seperate. > > If the state doesn't tax churches they are subsidizing them relative > to other sorts of organisations. This is surely a form of support. Subsidize means to pay, the government does not pay as a rule pay the churches anything, that would violate the seperation clause as well. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there | | be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves. | | | | -Alan Greenspan- | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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SSL Browser info
by Gary Howland 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, You may be interested to know that I've set up a web page at http://www.hotlava.com/demos/ssl-query.html which displays the SSL version and cipher types of your browser. Gary -- pub 1024/C001D00D 1996/01/22 Gary Howland <gary(a)hotlava.com> Key fingerprint = 0C FB 60 61 4D 3B 24 7D 1C 89 1D BE 1F EE 09 06

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WINDOWS *.PWL program
by �ukasz Bromirski 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Two years ago, you've posted an Windows 95 *.PWL cracking program. However, it was severly broken in our news group. Could you post me personally a full-working copy of it (as an e-mail) or a source (full) of this program? I'll be glad to see it. Thanx in advance. -- ### ### ### ### ## ###### £ukasz Bromirski # # # # # # # # ## # #### e-mail: szopen(a)gazeta.pl # # # # # # # ### # ## tel. (+48) 022 699 48 00 # #### # ### # # # ## # #### Agora-Gazeta Sp. z o.o. ###### ####### ### ## ###### Dzia³ Telekomunikacji

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Clarifying the Language
by Mixmaster 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- TruthPastor wrote: >Jim Burnes wrote: >> On Wed, 5 Nov 1997, Anonymous wrote: >> > Churches, like governments, corporations, or any other organized >> > entity, have some wonderful people in them, doing wonderful things. >> > The problem, as always, is what our founding fathers realized--these >> > types of organizations/structures tend to grow and attain power which >> > is then used for the purpose of self-sustained growth (survival). >> > Humanity tends to evolve, while organized humanity tends to de-volve. >> > Biped humans, walking upright, form organizations which move toward >> > becoming quadrapeds dragging large clubs. > >> Ha! This is pretty interesting. Rather than the typical cypherpunk >> approach of eliminating such inefficient and corrupting methods as >> income taxation and tax exemption we are playing by their game. Pathetic, isn't it? > Taxation and exemptions are, conceptually, no different than a >tribal agreement that those who bring home the deer will share >with those who guard the campsite, and that the shaman who keeps >the evil spirits at bay has to do neither. The important word in this sentence is "agreement". If the American taxpayer does not agree with how his tax money is being used, does he not have the right to demand that it be used in an appropriate way? If his demands go unanswered, does he not have the right to refuse to continue paying? If the American taxpayer does not like substandard education, abortion, weapons manufacturing, destructive environmental legislation, and so forth, why should she be forced to pay for it? The simple fact is that taxation in America has ceased to be an agreement, and has devolved into extortion with the threat of jail/forfeiture for "non-compliance". >> The whole of [Orwell's] warning to society was that by systematically >> altering the language, you alter the things that can be discussed. > > I believe that half of the disagreements on the cypherpunks list, >and the vast majority of disagreements in the world in general, are >the result of disputes over semantics, rather than beliefs. If one were to break down the anti-Income Tax argument to its most basic level, it would be that the government does not have the right to extort money from its citizens to promote agendas which are destructive of the citizens' persons and property. Basic Common Sense (TM). Nerthus -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.0 Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBNGHX9uFWwZe05jcJAQGj8AgAhPmUFgdrB5Wf5TYARJs7BovxFd+irLSA DlSehEMQfzergb3hsl90rW+HFxlw01CueQrkZpCKlRoHUxeoj3vimgpXBJRwjFDE ky2qhCSlFcjXEtqB6IBvPkzqd7lUK/lpv7VQzgsUrz6kS97l566sQTSILzF10mN2 NUT2CawCaU+69ZzR+oNwe6V8Yf1CWygIDYKnOiSpwRYsB6AV0kZcb5RKIYfDnNe7 FFjLsbg6L7LhQvvHHcs8CRkzjwo70sDI6kLOdUJvWPhyzuf4laam8L+tguTxrA96 2TUsMuG6Hi3WJVcUkabkx8J4D6yy3Pqep/scSgaqvwAr6VFJBh+KLg== =32Dc -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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CNN's "Ian Goddard Plot"
by freematt＠coil.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Ian Goddard <igoddard(a)netkonnect.net> Subject: CNN's "Ian Goddard Plot" _________________________________________________ ( free to forward & copy nonprofit with attribute ) ------------------------------------------------- CNN's IAN GODDARD TWA 800 "PLOT" (c) 1997 Ian Williams Goddard I've tried to decisively extricate myself from my TWA 800 inquiry, but it seems that CNN and the gov't don't want me to go. CNN is spreading gross misinformation on television, indicating that I said my inquiry into TWA 800 was part of a "sham" and a "plot." That is FALSE!! I've always promoted what I believe, and now I believe promoting the Navy-missile theory was a big mistake! I believe that the evidence is not sufficient to blame the Navy and I wish to move away from that and all areas of conspiracy inquiry forever. But I never said my inquiries were a "plot" or a "sham." Christine Negroni with CNN contacted me a few days ago to ask about my change of direction, I did not contact her. CNN reports now suggest that I said my conspiracy inquiry was part of a "plot" (a secret scheme) to do damage to the government's reputation. That's 100% FALSE !! My only crime is honesty. I'm honest enough to admit, as I have for months, that my inquiry into TWA 800 was an effort to identify untruth in the government. I have a fact-based bias against government, I'm a libertarian. My webpage was entitled "Anti-Authoritarian Journal," identifying my bias up front, unlike most sources. Such up-front honesty is NOT a "plot," as CNN attempts to portray it. The fact is that anything that is labeled what it is up front is by definition NOT a plot. I'd say CNN has a bias for the gov't line, however, does CNN label its journalism "Authoritarian Journalism?" No. WITNESSES NOT MY FAULT I did not invent nor am I to blame for the fact that 150+ witnesses reported having seen something fly upwards and explode at the spot TWA 800 was. That there were such wit- nesses, up to 154, has been widely reported in the media. CNN just reported in reference to me: Joe Lychner of Houston, who lost his wife and two daughters in the crash, told CNN that Goddard and Salinger owe an explana- tion to the American public. The basis of the missile theory are the witnesses, and I did not invent the witnesses. If anyone owes America an explanation for the missile theory I think it's the wit- nesses, not me. All I did was report what they said and commit the error of theorizing that maybe that fiery thing shooting up was a Navy missile and the Navy is covering it up. I also did not invent the Navy-missile theory. My explanation for that theory is that the Navy is known to have many missiles and is known to be off- shore where the plane crashed. However, an inventory showed that all Navy missiles were accounted for... OK fine, I'm ready to move on, but it seems they aren't: National Transportation and Safety Board spokesman Peter Goelz told CNN that my re-reporting of witness accounts and theorizing that the Navy was at fault has done "real damage" and "caused innumerable people great agony." Wow! It seems I'm a human monster of immense proportions. I am sorry for that, yet it would seem that the fault lies in part and primarily with the major media for ever having reported the witness accounts in the first place. I then made the mistake of suggesting that the Navy may have been at fault and is covering it up, which I now see as a mistake, for I could be wrong and if I'm wrong I've impugned the reputations of America's finest, which is something I should not and do not now want to do, and for which having done in the past, I am very sorry. I don't know what happened to TWA 800, and at this point I don't care! I just want to be left alone and no longer harassed by the major media and others over the TWA 800 case. I'm sorry I thought the Navy did it. It was a mistaken thought. I'm sorry my thoughts have "caused innumerable people great agony." I'm a humani- tarian and have been a vegetarian for 19 years because I want NOT to cause suffering to any living being. CNN's "SECRET SCHEME" THEORY I've never published anything I thought was false. I even published errata notices when required. All claims I've made were meticulously referenced so that readers could check up on what I said for themselves. Providing not just referenced information and ideas but all the links necessary to access the larger body of information about the case is what made my reports so popular and what made this little guy the focus of world news. My plan has been to end my "war on the Establishment." Wanting to move on from conspiracy theory and set a new course, I asked Doctor David Stern, who hosts the DEEP TIMES webpage, to remove my conspiracy reports. However, due to CNN's misleading charges that I've admitted to having been engaged in a "plot" and thus that I will- fully attempted to mislead people to believe what I knew to be false, I have requested that David Stern temporarily replace all my reports so that people can judge for themselves if I was the liar CNN suggests. It will take David some time to get the reports back up, but when they are up you can access them directly at: http://www.copi.com/articles/Goddard or indirectly at: http://www.copi.com/articles/. Please check the first site within the next few days. _____________________________________________ Ian Goddard, now at <igoddard(a)netkonnect.net> ************************************************************************** Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt(a)coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.,#176, Columbus, OH 43229 Archived at http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/listarch?list=FA@coil.com **************************************************************************

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