December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

VSNL Censors Indian Internet Sites.
by Vipul Ved Prakash 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

( My 19th nov. post to cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net never showed up on the list, so I reposting. Thanks. ) 17 November, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Vipul Ved Prakash, 2233328. VSNL Censors Indian Internet Sites NEW DELHI, INDIA - VSNL, the Indian Internet monopoly, has been illegally blocking Internet access to a number of Indian web sites for the last several weeks, a Delhi-based Internet presence provider revealed today. The block affects only Indian citizens in India - users anywhere else in the world are not affected. One of the sites targeted is Sense/NET, (www.sensenet.net) Sense/NET lets users of VSNL's text-based shell account use the graphical Netscape browser over their shell accounts, while using only the normal shell account facilities that VSNL provides. With Sense/NET, the common man can surf the Internet just like with VSNL's premium TCP/IP service, but at a fraction of the cost. General Logic, the startup company behind the Sense/NET service, is not taking the blocking of its server lightly. "We did not so much as receive any communication from VSNL about this step, which has the potential to seriously affect our business," said Dr. Pawan Jaitly, a director of the company. "It seems very strange, too, that a security breach was attempted on our server over the Internet just days before the blockage." The censored server, at the (currently blocked) IP address of 208.222.215.97, hosts a number of other web sites including the largest Yellow Pages of Indian exporters and importers available on the Internet and the corporate web sites of the Apple Publishing Technology Center, NewGen Software, and Educational Consultants India Limited. The award-winning web site of Connect magazine, the first Indian print publication to launch a web edition, is also located on the General Logic server. Sense/NET users and others affected by the block who called up VSNL's help desk to request clarification on this issue and access to the sites were told by VSNL staffers that they did not know what the problem was, and that they themselves could not access the sites in question. No official intimation or even acknowledgement about the block has been forthcoming from VSNL. This is not the first time VSNL has blocked access to selected sites on the Internet. On September 19, 1998, online activist Dr. Arun Mehta's writ petition was admitted for hearing in the court of Justice Anil Dev Singh, Delhi High Court, against VSNL, challenging its blockage of certain Internet sites. The sites listed in the petition provide information and software for voice transmissions over the Internet. The petition argues that this action "is wholly without basis in law and amounts to arbitrary and illegal censorship of the petitioner's Fundamental Right to freedom of speech, expression and information as well as an illegal denial of his right to freedom to practice his chosen profession." The petition seeks affirmation that the constitutional rights to free speech apply equally in cyberspace, and it also opens up the issue of VSNL's ban on Internet telephony to judicial scrutiny. The matter will come up for hearing on December 9, 1998. The case is being argued by Mr. Ashok Aggarwal. The Exporters and Importers Yellow Pages web site hosted on General Logic's recently blocked server is a vital e-commerce resource for over sixty-five thousand traders who earn India valuable foreign exchange. "This ban will hurt Indian exporters as well. By banning access to sites... VSNL is cynically choosing to let the nation suffer severe loss if in the process it can safeguard its own monopolistic profits," said Dr. Mehta. "Ironically, VSNL also blocked Educational Consultants, a public sector government organization, with its action." General Logic was able to move all the web sites that were the victims of VSNL's action to a non-blocked area within hours. "Most of our clients didn't even notice their sites and email messages were being blocked by VSNL," said Dr. Jaitly. The Sense/NET site remains blocked, however. "What VSNL is doing is completely illegal. A website is a means of expression and is covered by the right to expression of all indian citizens under article 19(1)a of the Indian Constitution. This can only be restricted under article 19(2) on 'reasonable grounds' which include obscenity, but certainly not the provision of competitive services at reasonable cost," commented Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, managing editor of First Monday, a European journal on Internet law. Last year a duo of computer whiz-kids in Cochin released Shellsock, a software package that made it possible for users of VSNL shell accounts to browse the 'Net graphically. VSNL quickly set about working on ways to break Shellsock, and eventually succeeded in restricting the environment on its shell accounts to the extent that Shellsock was unable to function. General Logic launched its Sense/NET service soon after, with the goal of providing TCP/IP Internet 'tunneling' service to users worldwide, not just in India. "There are other countries suffering under the yoke of state censorship of the Internet, like China, whose authoritatian government, without warning, blocked access to the BBC web site for its citizens," said Dr. Mehta. "VSNL is a monopoly that is crippling India's progress on the Internet front." Even Microsoft, he observed, which holds an effective monopoly in the operating system market worldwide, has no mandate by any government in the market - it has to keep forging ahead or lose to its competitors. "VSNL does not have that motivation, and so it is that the Indian consumer and India suffer." Besides the threat of censorship and poor service, another risk with state monopoly Internet access providers is that they can read your mail, and monitor your communications, as the data flows through their systems. Jaitly disclosed that his company is working on providing strong military grade encryption as part of its Internet tunneling services, to provide secure private networks across untrusted links for business and personal use. "We envision Sense/NET as a sort of 'Meta ISP' providing secure, uncensorable Internet tunneling service to people in places where local access providers are unable or unwilling to deliver full access," said Vipul Ved Prakash, Director of research at General Logic. "We believe in every individual's fundamental right to access human knowledge without restriction. Our message to these people is: 'There's light at the end of the tunnel.'" It's not all crypto-anarchy and dreams of digital revolution, however. Sense/NET is a valuable service for ordinary users who are attempting to make the most effective use of their VSNL shell accounts with the limited services provided. Many of the subscribers to the service are students and other low income groups, who simply cannot afford VSNL's higher priced services. A case in point is that of Pranav Lal, a New Delhi student. Pranav is blind, and VSNL's shell account is next to useless for him. Sense/NET on the other hand allows him to use voice-enabled software to surf the 'net. "I can't afford the VSNL TCP/IP account, but for me it is vital that I am in touch with my peers over the world over the Internet," says Pranav. "Sense/NET is great because it lets me handle my email and navigate the web really simply." "We see the global free flow of ideas across national borders, enabled by digital data communications and encryption technology, as the most liberating development of the 20th century," said Ashish Gulhati head of development at General Logic. "Regulation is futile," he added. The company expects its services will be most in demand in countries where authoritarian regimes are in power. "It's shocking that this kind of thing continues to go on in India," observed Dr. Mehta. "We're the world's largest democracy, on the brink of entering the 21st century as a major player in the global software industry. But we're still enslaved by laws created during the British Raj, even in high priority areas like telecom." [1324 Words] _________________________________________________________________ Notes: 1. Dr. Arun Mehta's petition is at <http://members.tripod.com/~india_gii/telepet.html>. 2. The Forum for Rights to Electronic Expression articles are at <http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/FREE> 3. Censored sites: + http://www.sensenet.net/ (Currently blocked) + http://www.trade-india.com/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.aptc-india.com/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.edcil.org/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.newgensoft.com/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.newgen.net/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.connectmagazine.com/ (Now accessible on a new server) + http://www.net2phone.com/ (Currently blocked) + http://www.vocaltec.com/ (Currently blocked) + http://www.netspeak.com/ (Currently blocked) 4. Email addresses: + Dr. Arun Mehta - amehta(a)cerf.net + Ashish Gulhati - ashish(a)generalogic.com + Ashok Agarwal - ashokagr(a)del2.vsnl.net.in + Dr. Pawan Jaitly - pawan(a)generalogic.com + Rishab Aiyer Ghosh - ghosh(a)firstmonday.dk + Vipul Ved Prakash - vipul(a)generalogic.com _________________________________________________________________ Rev: SNPR v0.06 1998/11/17 15:58:14 webmaster(a)generalogic.com -- VIPUL VED PRAKASH Cryptography. "Everything is what mail(a)vipul.net | Distributed Systems. | it is because it got http://vipul.net/ | Network Agents. | that way." 91 11 2233328 | Perl Hacking. | 198 Madhuban IP Extension | Linux. | d'arcy thompson. Delhi, INDIA 110 092 / Networked Media. /

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VSNL Censors Indian Internet Sites. (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 04:20:43 +0000 > From: Vipul Ved Prakash <mail(a)vipul.net> > Subject: VSNL Censors Indian Internet Sites. > ( My 19th nov. post to cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net never showed up on > the list, so I reposting. Thanks. ) > > > 17 November, 1998 > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > Contact: Vipul Ved Prakash, 2233328. > > > VSNL Censors Indian Internet Sites The SSZ list got it. I even forwarded it to a friend who is working on an Indian telco/telcom project. ____________________________________________________________________ Lawyers ask the wrong questions when they don't want the right answers. Scully (X-Files) The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: simple socket forwarder
by HyperReal-Anon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ichudov(a)Algebra.Com (Igor Chudov @ home) wrote: >Anonymous wrote: >> >> Does anyone have a simple packet forwarder to run >> on a unix system? I want to set up a daemon on an >> account to just redirect traffic from a particular port >> to another host for some basic anonymity, but I don't >> have experience doing socket coding, nor a book. >> > >It seems that what you need is called a proxy server. > >There was a perl script floating around that worked as a proxy server. > >If you do it for web accesses, consider using Crowd, a distributed >network of anonymizing proxy servers. > > - Igor. > I want to use it as a proxy for NNTP.

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Digital cockroaches, 5 IP's per body by 2000 [CNN]
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > X-within-URL: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9811/19/cockroach.cdx.idg/ > (IDG) -- LAS VEGAS - People think they're wired now, but they haven't > seen anything yet. Just wait until the world is populated with silicon > cockroaches - wireless devices that can communicate with each other > and the Internet, said John Sidgmore, CEO of MCI WorldCom, in his > keynote at Comdex/Fall '98. [text deleted] > "Everyone will have an average of five IP objects on their body by > 2000," he predicted. Eventually there will even be digital eye glasses > with voice control that would offer all sorts of information to the > wearer. "Sony is working on the technology, so it'll happen. It'll > cost $20." MORE COMDEX NEWS [INLINE] IDG.net home page IDG.net's [text deleted] > "Industry explosions like this are extremely, exceedingly rare," > Sidgmore said. "I think 40, 50 years from today people will look back > and say this was the Golden Age of Communications." [text deleted] ____________________________________________________________________ Lawyers ask the wrong questions when they don't want the right answers. Scully (X-Files) The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: manners and piracy
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> how could someone giving you a "copy of statgraphics" not be > considered priracy? or were you looking for a donation. if so, you > should have been much more explicit about what you wanted. > > > Well anyway thank you for your reply. > > What I'm trying to point out is this > > it is OK with me if you say "Take your piracy requests elsewhere" > > it is not OK with me if you say " ...fuck yourself" > > what we're trying to point out is this > it is not OK with us if you send warez requests to the list. It is the duty of all to say "Hey! respect intellectual property!" I too am against piracy, now I know that that software i.e statgraphics is not a shareware. Thank you. Exactly my point it is OK if you say "it is not OK with us if you send warez requests to the list." it is not OK if you say ".... fuck yourself"

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Re: Search and Seizure abuse...
by Jean-Francois Avon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Thu, 19 Nov 1998 10:22:14 -0800, Steve Schear wrote: NOTE: I AM NOT ON CYPHERPUNKS. PLEASE Cc ME DIRECTLY. >>We're out of luck here! Owning explosive is verboten! >>And real soon, passing gaz with a high content of methane will be an >>indictable offence! :-) > >Certainly you're not constraining a response to an illegal use of force to >legal means ;-) Well, maybe, maybe not. It depends. No use of becoming a martyr if nobody cares... Blowing a SWAT team would be just the right thing to get forever in the klink, while blowing up the story over the net might blow-up the klinks themselves... It is all a question of return on investment, and what price you can afford. Happily enough, we now have strong encryption and the net. There is much less need to spill blood in order to disseminate information. >>Everything you own is a privilege given to you by the Ruler. Didn't you >>know that komrade? > >Rights are what you insist you have and can make stick through any means at >your disposal. If the use of force was optimal, historically, we'd have been living in paradize since the first fight of all time happened. Only, it doesn't work that way... > Our colonial revolutionaries certainly didn't limit the >scope of their rights by what King George allowed. I wholeheartedly agree, but neither did they live in the same context. Beside, it was the only way they could act. Nowadays, we have the phone and the net. But I agree that without threath of physical action, no govt (itself based ultimately on physical threath) will ever stop doing just as it pleases him. Only, you don't have to come up with big house blow-up things. Only the menace of physical resistance and of the dissemination of information suffice. The govt is fed by the voluntary actions of the citizenry. The day large groups decide to stop paying taxes, the govt will simply starve and grind to a halt. Ciao jfa Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. Physics, Montreal, Canada DePompadour, Société d'Importation Ltée Limoges fine porcelain and french crystal JFA Technologies, R&D physicists & engineers Instrumentation & control, LabView programming PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:0xC58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:0x5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C PGP ID:0x6CBA71F7:485888E9FD68415A2945 ACCB366D38486CBA71F7

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learn computer forensics with the boys from the US Treasury
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

COURSE TITLE: Computer Encryption/Decryption LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: Lecture Laboratory Practical Exercise Total 2:00 2:00 2:00 6:00 DESCRIPTION: Advancing computer technology, coupled with a growing user awareness of privacy and security issues, has resulted in the widespread use of program, electronic mail, and data file encryption techniques. Today seemingly all sophisticated applications have their own optional encryption schemes including WordPerfect, Word, Lotus, Excel, and a host of others. The computer investigator can expect to encounter encrypted (unreadable) files when examining seized computer evidence. This course demonstrates software tools which will enable the student to decreypt many different files, and examines features of the most commonly used encryption/decryption tool used today: PGP. http://www.ustreas.gov/fletc/ffi/scers.htm

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re your site
by par04783＠yahoo.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: Search and Seizure abuse...
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(Apparently Bob H., juding from the cc: list, forwarded my message to Jean-Francois. I am responding to Jean-Francois' comments, but also am copying the Cypherpunks list.) At 5:15 PM -0800 11/19/98, Jean-Francois Avon wrote: >On Thu, 19 Nov 1998 19:40:47 -0500, Robert Hettinga wrote: > >>:-). >> >>Why don't you just subscribe to cypherpunks and get it over with? >> >>Cheers, >>Bob > >Because of practical time constraints. I am quite active on the firearms >front and if I start getting CPunks stuff, I'll take forever, >notwithstanding what TM said on the topic in 1995 about how little time it >actually take to screen and process the list volume. Yeah, and your "news" items on Canadian gun laws, along with a dozen other people bombarding the CP list with "urgent news," are adding to the clutter. And to the lack of serious discussion. Too many lists, especially, I am sad to say, uncensored lists, are being bombarded by news items. The fact is, there are far, far better ways to get all the news one wants. I refer to Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, Wired, Dejanews, and at least a dozen other such general sites. Not to mention various and sundry sites for news magazines and networks. Some people, even some people actually subscribed to the CP list, routinely bounce a dozen news messages at a time to the CP list. One thing I've taken to doing is to use the "Option-Click" command in Eudora to group _all_ of the messages from one author together and highlight them...then I delete them all at one time. (So, Detweiler, now you know why I may not be responding to your non-news articles...I've been forced to delete the dozens of "vznuri" articles from "Ignition point" and other such news spammers.) >>Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 16:02:23 -0800 >>To: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net >>From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> > >>At 12:46 PM -0800 11/19/98, Jean-Francois Avon wrote: >>> >>>NOTE: I AM NOT ON CYPHERPUNKS. PLEASE Cc ME DIRECTLY. >>> >> >>Sorry, I won't do this. >> >>Anyone who wants to start a discussion on a mailing list SHOULD BE ON THAT >>MAILING LIST! > >But, Tim, I have no intention on starting a discussion, I just spam CPunks >with information pertaining to freedom and, to some extent, ITAR. Consider >me as a news service... :-) Your stuff is often days behind what we've already seen, notwithstanding the fact that this list is not a news dump site. (It's especially ironic when one of the news spammers forwards an article written by Declan McCullagh. Declan writes it, the Web sites carry it, "ignition point" newsspams it to subscribers, then some subscriber to "ignition point" who isn't bothering to read the list forwards it to the CP list. Sometimes with a clueless "Hey, thought you guys might be interested in this.") >I refrain to post personnal opinions and simply forward topics that are >freedom-related. Since crypto and firearms are very close cousins indeed, I >think that it might be on topic. You will note that whenever I post on the >CFD, I use a crypto-flavored *.sig file. Come on guys, stop nitpicking! >And among all of CPunks, especially you, Tim May! If you can't do your own analysis, you have no business blindly spamming lists you are not even subscribed to. --Tim May Common Y2K line: "I'm not preparing, but I know where _you_ live." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.

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Re: manners and piracy
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:59 PM -0800 11/19/98, Bernardo B. Terrado wrote: > >It is the duty of all to say "Hey! respect intellectual property!" If you send me a check for $350 I will agree to issue the statement "Hey! respect intellectual property!" But it is by no means a duty of anyone to make any kind of political statement. Final hint: Cypherpunks don't respond well to "argument ad shame on 'em." That is, to arguments along the lines of "It is the duty of all to protect X." Or to condemn Y. Or to support Z. --Tim May Common Y2K line: "I'm not preparing, but I know where _you_ live." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments.

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