December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

request
by satan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

satan(a)ccwf.cc.utexas.edu request for mailing list

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17 Dec '03

... along the lines of anonymous cash (and contrary to the AntiCash!) ... What does it take to _issue_ bank cards? Can any bank or credit union issue bank cards? What does it take to get the VISA or MasterCard name? It _seems_ that it should be so simple to set up anonymous credit cards. Here is one simple scenario: Mr. Credit Union gets VISA's approval to issue "secure" (prepaid) VISA cards. Mr. Credit Union has a _good_ reputation, and this reputation is important to his business. Mr. Credit Union sets up 1000 accounts with $500 in each account. A bank card is associated with each account. The name on the front of the card is something like "Joe Cash". Miss Customer walks into Mr. Credit Union's place of business and buys one of these cards for cash (the green, paper kind). She chooses one from a fish bowl full of them (ensuring a random acct #). The card would cost something like $505. No exchange of names, no SS #s, no credit checks. Miss Customer uses the card like any other VISA. When the $500 is gone, she "discards". It would be easy for Mr. Credit Union to cheat. Therefore, the reputation is important. Why not? Why can't _I_ sell these sorts of credit cards? Does this truly provide additional privacy? Cort.

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Re: tmp@netcom.com
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Mr. TMP: > > You can easily settle this by attending or meeting with a CP in your area > who can sign your public key based on your Drivers License etc. > > While it might not be fair, it would put an end to the debate... Another way would be for people to get a *blind* signature from someone else saying "I am not Detweiler" (if that is all people care about). Sup- pose some nym were able to exhibit such a signature from a respected list member, ideally one who has given out a great many such signatures. No one would be able to link the nym to his True Name; all anyone would know is that at one time the True Name corresponding to this nym received a blinded signature making this assertion. This allows a nym to keep his anonymity while still responding to accusations like these, if he wishes. Hal

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Re: Pseudonyms and Reputations
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: greg(a)ideath.goldenbear.com (Greg Broiles) > Hal Finney writes: > > > The simple blinded signature model provides a pretty simple way to allow > > only one pseudonym per True Name in a given forum, if you assume there is > > some way to distinguish people in the real world. > [...] > Real-world application of this protocol still depends on folks not > using the credentials of friends/family/dead people, especially where > "real name" <-> credential mapping isn't available. This is true, but the main purpose of this technology is to prevent users from creating large numbers of pseudonymous accounts. No technology can stop people from cooperating in an on-line forum, and the use of friends' or family members' accounts is also very hard to prevent. So collusion at some limited level will always be possible. But at least it should be possible to prevent the massive use of nyms. Hal

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Re: Pseudonyms and Reputations
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A (semi) real-world application of the is-a-person technology was suggested to me a year ago by someone whom I think is now a list member. To protect his privacy I will change the story slightly. He wanted to set up an online game which would be ongoing for some time, and which new people could join periodically. New members would be given a certain amount of resources (fuel, money, etc.) to start with, and then they would compete with others in the game to try to get more. At any given time standings would be available to show who had done the best in terms of getting the most resources. The problem was that based on the rules of the game it was hard to prevent people from colluding to transfer resources among themselves. This would allow someone who was doing poorly to create a bunch of pseudonymous accounts, enter them in the game as new users, and then to transfer their initial resources to his main account. The result would be that the standings would reflect skill at creating pseudonyms more than the abilities which the game was supposed to test. He asked whether there would be some way to ensure that only one account per person was playing the game. Basically, he was asking for an "is-a-person" credential. One solution would simply be to get a name, address, and phone number from each participant, but he didn't want to violate his players' privacy to that extent. Without an infrastructure supporting this kind of credential, he decided not to go ahead with his plans for the game. This is too bad because the game was actually going to test some very interesting economic and political theories and it would have been good to see it in action. Hal

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1984 Shirt Ordering Info
by jdblair＠nextsrv.cas.muohio.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1984 NSA T-shirt ordering information: The shirt will be printed in white ink on a dark colored shirt. The shirts are 100% Cotton. Available sizes are L, XL, and XXL, and available colors are black, navy, dark green, and maroon. The price is $15, which includes postage and handling. Make your check or money order out to "John Blair" and send it to: 1984 T-Shirt John Blair 210 Mary Lyon Oxford, OH 45056 Be sure to include the requested size and color, as well as an e-mail address for confirmation of the order, and a snail-mail address to send the shirt to. Students: be sure you include an address you will be at after May 14. I must recieve your order by Wed., April 27. It is possible that there will be extra shirts avaiable to people after this date, or a second printing run for late orders, but I can only guarentee shirts to orders recieved by this day. Assuming all goes well, I will have the shirts in the mail by Sat., May 14. Thanks to all who have offered suggestions while I was refining the design, and for all the un-expected interest. A reminder: The shirt is available for viewing at http://phoenix.aps.muohio.edu/users/jdblair/t-shirt.html This is accesable by Mosaic or Lynx. Lynx will download gifs of the design to your own disk. It will be available soon via anonymous ftp. I will post the address when that is confirmed. Thanks again, -john. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- John Blair: <jdblair(a)nextsrv.cas.muohio.edu> voice: (513) 529-4877 PGP public key available upon request. KILL YOUR Privacy in the information age is a right, not a privilage. TELEVISION Information = Power = Control. Fight the centralization of information.

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Today cryptography, tomorrow ??
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

AP 4/8/94: A federal grand jury indicted an MIT student Thursday on charges he ran a computer bulletin board that allowed people to copy more than $1 million worth of copyrighted software for free. [...] The bulletin board, named Cynosure, allowed people on MIT's computer network to copy business and entertainment software, the indictment said. [...] Internet users also were able to illegally copy the software, Stern said.[..] Many of the Cynosure users hid their identities by using an Internet address in Finland that provided an anonymous forwarding service for the pirated programs, according to the indictment. .... Like to include more but ..uh.. "fair use" and all that .... Wonder how come he didn't encrypt?

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password matrix thing for Windows:
by Stanton McCandlish 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This was uploaded to us. I'm wondering 2 things: 1) is it worth archiving - that is, is it a good idea, or a security risk for anyone that used it, and 2) would it qualify as an ITAR export-controlled crypto product. I have my own ideas about this, but am interested in 2nd opinions. Here's the readme for it (the package is psswrd30.zip) Password Matrix 3.0 Written by Thomas Hassler This Windows utility was written for my personal use and I then decided that it might be marketable. The basic concept of this program is fairly simple: It was created to be used in conjunction with an encryption utility like that of Norton Utilities and other shareware versions around. This program allows people in a group to pass encrypted files around with the password embedded in the filename. Let me explain. This utility uses a matrix (you get to make your own) to encode a filename from a password. This would be incredibly complex if one used any old characters... so I used only numbers in my matrix. this simplifies things and still allows a HUGE number of possible matrices. Version 3.0 will generate a random password and its corresponding filename, decode a filename, or encode a filename to or from a password. Once you see it in action you will see exactly what I mean. In the fully registered version ($10) there is a functioning filefinder (directory tree) that you can double-click on a filename and it decodes the password instantly. If you use this program consistently, please register and you will have full benefits. Future versions (registered users get prior notice) may contain: Random matrix generation Drag and drop (file to program and decrypts) Multiple user defined matrices Thank you for supportin Hossware! _________ end _________

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1984 Shirt--Entrepreneurs Wanted!
by tcmay＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Blair wrote: > 1984 NSA T-shirt ordering information: > > The shirt will be printed in white ink on a dark colored shirt. The > shirts are 100% Cotton. Available sizes are L, XL, and XXL, and available > colors are black, navy, dark green, and maroon. > > The price is $15, which includes postage and handling. Make your check or > money order out to "John Blair" and send it to: Speaking of such things, what I'd love to see is some entrepreneur out there buying and selling "Cypherpunks 1994 World Tour" t-shirts, decals, coffee mugs, secret decoder rings, etc. I neglected to order one of the "Big Brother Inside" t-shirts, or one of the "Cypherpunk Criminal" shirts, so now all I've got is my EFF t-shirt. (Hey, maybe that's another t-shirt idea: "The other Cypherpunks went to federal prison for encrypting and all I got was this lousy EFF t-shirt.") Here's my serious point: An entrepreneur can buy up some number of these items (3 t-shirts now, stickers) and then sell them at a markup to folks like me, who forget or neglect to place their orders at the right time. Capitalism at its finest. It also spreads the word at EFF events, Libertarian Party events (or whatever your politics are), those "rave" things Crunch is always talking about, and so on. Sort of a Cypherpunks Store. P.S. If anybody has any of those previously done t-shirts they want to sell, I'm interested. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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bumperstickers
by nates＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have found a source for paper to print bumper stickers on. It's a thin plastic that is *very* sticky on one side, and made to go through laser printers. I have been tossing around some ideas for stickers to make, and I have come up with a few... what so you think? The WIRED ist icon, with and without text "CYPHERPUNK CRIMINAL" the "Warning: Strong Crypto" logo from the Tshirts "1984: We're behind schedule, NSA" and others. Who would be interested, and does anyone have more ideas. I would be selling individual stikers for between $0.50 and $1.00 each, depending on their size (some may be 3" square, some may be "8x3", etc...) -nate -- +--------- | Nate Sammons <nates(a)netcom.com> PGP Key and fingerprint via finger. | Clipper == Big Brother Inside. Question Authority. Encrypt everything. +---------

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