December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Pynchon as roadkill on the digital superhighway
by tcmay＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cyrus Shaoul writes: > Pynchon may not be as stupid as that. Has anyone gone to check up on Mr. > Vineland lately? Perhaps the address in the DMV computer is that of a > fried chicken franchise in Lost Hills, CA! Just cause you have some data > doesn't mean it's useful. Yes, I did. The point of getting the address is because I discovered he lived in Aptos, CA, same as I do. (My source saw my W.A.S.T.E. reference and assumed I was merely making a joke....he was surprised to learn I actually live in Aptos, and then volunteered the NLETS record.) His house was (rumors that he's been back on the East Coast for the past couple of years) about 3-4 miles from my house, less as the crow flies. I shot a dozen or so photos of the house and surrounding countryside, for my scrapbook and for that of the source. Not a fried chicken stand. --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.

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Big Bother Inside Stickers at cpsr.org
by Dave Banisar 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The Big Brother Inside Graphic files are now available at the CPSR Internet Archive - ftp/gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper big_brother_inside_sticker.ps (postscript-change the size to fit your project) big_brother_inside_logo.gif (Color GIF - good startup/background screen) big_brother_inside_picts_info.txt (Info on the files) Have fun. Dave

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Re: Clipper and Traffic Analysis
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> The reason I ask is, I have this sense that one reason the > government likes Clipper is that the Law Enforcement > Access Field enables agents to draw inferences about > who's talking to whom and what they're saying, even > without decrypting the actual communications. > Is it true that law enforcement can obtain phone records from the phone company simply by asking? Or do they need a supena(sp)? It would not surprise me in the least to hear someday that the government will allow law enforcement to record LEAFs without having to obtain a warrant for a wiretap. If Clipper becomes widespread, and most conversations are encrypted, the government might conveniently redefine the term "wiretap" to mean "decrypting a Clipper conversation". This would open it up for the government to continuously monitor and record LEAFs, probably via the soon to be mandated "wiretap" capabilities the FBI is pushing for. "After all, the LEAF is just the electronic equivalent of your phone record. This new definition of "wiretap" does not give law enforcement any new capabilities. Since the actual contents of the conversation are encrypted, there is no invasion of privicy. We're just trying to keep up with the latest technological advances." Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Misc replies
by greg＠ideath.goldenbear.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Sandy Sandfort <uunet!crl.com!sandfort> writes: > Ever notice how few mail bombs we get from Trump or Gates? Maybe the > rich are rich because they've learned self-restraint. Bet you dollars to > donuts that LD doesn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out. H. Ross Perot. ==== Xenon <qwerty(a)netcom.com> writes: > So tell my why I should censor > Larry 'cause I don't see why I should. It's a lost cause. He will simply > aquire other accounts, or telnet to port 25 of a remailer and fake his > address, but this time with greater ambition to do damage. I second Hal's suggestion to route Detweiler's traffic through Xenon's remailer. (Xenon - the point isn't to keep Detweiler off the net. We all know that's impossible. The point is to keep Detweiler from getting remailers shut down by abusing them. That's why this is particularly unlike censorship; Detweiler's goal is to keep all people from using remailers.) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.4 iQCVAgUBLWHDgH3YhjZY3fMNAQEIowQApVUiB4wdXYhTmj8ZuLOSiwTy94+uOUim mZCfbKca40cXkKzdUlX36deIeJ/NLFQsVJ+KVIUqn19IsfGcIQZnZFPJgVnrovji VYTChpGwVQ9LCHjc2ppmmBSC83145+AyKSKXuFt+auLHWLtWrPZGvohweyDv51HY argqt4+Czu0= =1FP6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Greg Broiles ".. has bizarre Cyberanarchist theories relating greg(a)goldenbear.com to human punishment." -- L. Detweiler

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Re: Pynchon as roadkill on the digital superhighway
by mcb＠net.bio.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May writes: > [...] > It seems that in the early morning hours of January 28, 1990, someone > accessed the Department of Motor Vehicles computer files and got a > printout of the elusive man's home address, personal characteristics, > etc. A copy of this was forwarded to someone who studies Pynchon, and > thence to me, for reasons I won't go into right now. > > The implications for Cypherpunks, privacy, and Pynchon as roadkill on > the digital highway are clear. Just looked at the date on this again, and realized it is not as surprising as it sounds -- until 1991 CA DMV records were open to anyone who made a request. No need to break in and look at secret files, all you had to do was go to the DMV and request them. This was changed, I believe, mostly as a response to a case involving a TV actress in LA who was stalked by an obsessed fan, who got her address from the DMV and eventually ambushed her there and murdered her. And as cool an author as Pynchon is, I suspect he is an amateur at the privacy business; anyone who would put their true residence address on their driver's license is obviously not paranoid enough to be serious about not being found. (Don't know if it has been mentioned here, but Simson Garfinkle has an article in this month's WIRED titled "Nobody Fucks With the DMV", about the privacy implications of the amassing of personal data by state DMVs. It's a good -- and scary -- read.) -- Michael C. Berch mcb(a)net.bio.net / mcb(a)postmodern.com / mcb(a)remarque.berkeley.edu

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Re: Pynchon as roadkill on the digital superhighway
by Cyrus Shaoul 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Michael C. Berch writes: >> And as cool an author as Pynchon is, I suspect he is an amateur at the >> privacy business; anyone who would put their true residence address on >> their driver's license is obviously not paranoid enough to be serious >> about not being found. Pynchon may not be as stupid as that. Has anyone gone to check up on Mr. Vineland lately? Perhaps the address in the DMV computer is that of a fried chicken franchise in Lost Hills, CA! Just cause you have some data doesn't mean it's useful. [Gratuitous Blues Brothers reference to Wrigley Field inserted automagically.] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Cyrus Shaoul cyrus(a)ntthcs.ntt.jp NTT Human Interface Labs / Yokosuka TEL +81(0)468-59-4672 Visual Media Laboratory / Japan FAX +81(0)468-59-2829 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finger cyrus(a)media.mit.edu for PGP public key, or use the server. Or get it all from my WWW Page: http://iikk.inter.net/ ________________________________________________________________

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An out of country Remailer
by Rob P. Martin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I recently decided that running a remailer from this account might be a good idea. To help the over all good. It is "out of country" for most of you, so it will make one more hop that will be harder for LE to get at from wherever you are. But I also want to protect my account as much as possible, so I would like to ONLY remail to other remailers. (As they are much less likely to complain to my sysadmin than any other recipient) Does anyone have remailer software that could be easily changed to remail to a limited set of adresses? If so I would be interested in helping the cause, if not I probably will go back to being a "watcher" from the sidelines.. Rob PS. Did I really read that someone said that Canada was a Socialist country with limited free speach?

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RFC822 compliant, and already deployed hack for return addresses
by jpp＠markv.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Go ahead, hit 'r' and see what you get. How many of you get the whole verbose reply-to field? j'

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Re: Detweiler remailer abuse
by qwerty＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To lefty, (Skip to end for remailer discussion). -----BEGIN POINTLESS FLAME BLOCK----- When a control freak has zero to actually say, yet has been infuriated, he turns to personal attack. If I am infuriating the control freaks, then I am doing my job admirably. >I suggest a short chat with Mr. Dictionary to determine the actual >definition of the word "censorship". In the immortal words of Inigo >Montoya, "You keep saying that, but I don't think it means what you seem >to believe it does." Which dictionary do you own? I personally own THREE 4 inch thick dictionaries, all modern. They cost me hundreds. I have a wooden stand to hold them up. As I am at lab, I do not have them available however and will have to go to the library.... I'm back. Censor: A supervisor or inspector especially of morals and conduct. An official empowered to examine written or printed matter (as manuscripts of books or plays) in order to forbid publication, circulation, or representation if it contains anything objectionable. An officer or official charged with scrutinizing communications to intercept, suppress, or delete material harmful to his country's or organization's interests. One who lacking official sanction but acting in society's interests scrutinizes communications, compositions, and entertainments to discover anything immoral, profane, seditious, heretical or otherwise offensive. Examine, cut out, parts of (a book, etc.); act as a censor. >>And after all, he wasn't the one who wrote that "Blacknet" blurb. >Was there a point to this statement? Yes. >Do you believe that drunk drivers should not be held responsible for their actions because they don't build their own cars? No. >Please feel entirely free to avoid using the old one while you wait >patiently for the new and perfect one to show up. I suggest you avoid >posting any further until you have _real_ _encryption_ running in your >laptop and _optical_ _fiber_ connecting you to all the places with which >you might consider communicating. This is good advice to anyone interested in maintaining privacy in a public forum. >>I can't take the IDEAL of the First Amendment lightly >>enough to do so either. >OK, I see we can add the First Amendment to the list of subjects on which >you are essentially totally ignorant. When you finish with Mr. >Dictionary, you might try puzzling out Mr. Bill of Rights. _It_ doesn't say >what you apparently think it does, either. Ideal: A conception of something in it's absolute perfection. An honorable or worthy principle or aim. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. I find it unfortunate that those who wrote the Bill of Rights limited its scope, to not apply also to industry and other organizations. And it is people who nit-pick the wording of the Constitution and its amendments who are turning the USA into a repressive state. Burn baby, burn. >Not nearly as amusing as _I_ find it to see know-nothing children >attempting to impress the big kids with their general level of >uninformedness. Part of the problem with this command-line interface we are using is that you can't see me, and thus you can't know me, for who I am as a person. Flaming one another isn't what we need. If you feel someone misunderstands something that you understand better, educate them. But realize that most cases of one person becoming infuriated at another stem from misunderstanding, a failure to communicate. So tell my why I should censor Larry 'cause I don't see why I should. It's a lost cause. He will simply aquire other accounts, or telnet to port 25 of a remailer and fake his address, but this time with greater ambition to do damage. The "know-nothing children attempting to impress the big kids with their general level of (sic) uninformedness" who wrote that Blacknet thing should think again about getting their thrills out of illegal activity, real or imagined. You wouldn't have this Detweiler problem if you called yourself "libertarians" instead of "Cypherpunks". You would increase you level of support by orders of magnitude as well. -----END POINTLESS FLAME BLOCK----- This following was my response to a discussion in e-mail. I expressed that I think the MEANS suggested to me to censor Detweiler would so more harm than good. It was pointed out to me that at least it would make it less convenient for him to abuse the remailers.... >And that extra work will anger him and fill him with the unfortunate >drive to do more damage, since in his mind our trying to fight him >means he has to try so much harder to point out to us whatever the hell >he is trying to point out. >Julf cutting off someone's account isn't effective either for someone >like Detweiler. I myself found out that I could telnet to anon.penet.fi >port 25 and simply fake my incoming address, and thus gain access to as >many new anon.penet.fi addresses as I wanted. >Again, I wish we could get a net modeled on the postal service, in >which there WAS NO "From: qwerty-remailer(a)netcom.com" in the headers. >The day someone posts kiddie porn via qwerty is the day I tell Netcom and >the police that I am running remailer, and that I will shut it down to >avoid this again, but that if they want to know who posted it they need >to look at Netcom's sendmail logs, and follow them to the next remailer. >And to avoid Detweiler becoming angry enough to post kiddie porn via >qwerty, I wish not to try to block him in ineffective ways. >What we need is an abuse filter, not a Detweiler filter, because he >can always post kiddie porn under another name. And honestly, I dont' >think he would ever post kiddie porn, or carry out any serious illegal >abuses. He could however make his point a lot clearer were he to >state it up front. His pranks do serve to warn us about possible >REAL abuses. And I wrote this, when told that Larry wasn't a responsible net.citizen, doesn't deserve to be treated as such: >I agree, but I'm not sure if the means suggested to me are going to >be effective. He will just aquire other accounts, or telnet to post >25 of a remailer, to get through, and this time with more passion >about doing real harm. Fight him and he'll fight back, with greater >ambition. I don't know the real answer. And are those who wrote that >Blacknet thing "responsible net.citizens"? If anyone should have been >censored, it was he who starting sending those things out in the first >place. >And I spoke of the "IDEAL" of the first amendment, which to me means >stopping someone from using a PUBLIC forum, normally available to all, >from expressing his views. If his Blacknet posts via Hal's remailer >be called performance art, and in a way they CAN, then I cannot YET >bring myself to censor them. And indeed part of the problem is that I >do NOT yet understand well enough about the internet, Blacknet, >Cypherpunks, and Detweiler to be confident that I'd be doing the right >thing. -=Xenon=- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3 iQCVAgUBLWD6lQSzG6zrQn1RAQFzUwP/cDRVTBeW/76wywDYKyzShbiNq5DQsAFG I72DHYailmY63mwAaMYmXeDnN21bJaUUkWd+JaWt0EzEPo6ruPVA44OphWsxoZy3 9BRr7ZWijIs4BlHMMtaObuRooM7MeCzfSjpU1C2ahB89+E8byWPpFyVzlIUiYuht 5CaHwkkeUzc= =el7y -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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money maker
by Gary Jeffers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have an idea of how ambitious cypherpunks could make money. They could be communications intermediaries between financial clients in the U.S. & financial institutions in locations such as the Bahamas & Switzerland. This would require a cypherpunk in the U.S. & another cypherpunk in the foreign country. From now on in text cypherpunk = CP. The U.S. CP would get message from client & then use the internet with anonymous remailers & strong encryption to send message to CP in foreign country. CP in foreign country then decrypts message & gives it to local financial institution. Financial institution gives message to foreign CP who then encrypts & uses anonymous remailers to send info. back to U.S. CP. U.S. CP decrypts & gives info to client. In this way, encryption naive client could have access to great financial privacy & CPs get money. At this point, I think everybody gets the basic idea. CPs would have initial problem getting clients. To do this they would need to hook up with a financially sophisticated partner. That shouldn't be too hard. College friends in finance, local CPA's you've dealt with,th, lawyers, etc.. CPs would probably be the rare & precious birds. Once the CP has his financial contact, that financial contact can develop the clients. In the foreign country, the CP shouldn't have much of a problem getting a financial partner/advisor & could probably operate with neon lights. In the land of the free (the U.S.), I would advise discretion. This business should not take a lot of capital. CPs would bring the rare communications technical expertise & the financial expertise should be plentiful. There is a possibility of harassment, so the CP's should have courage. By the way, there was someone on CYPERPUNKS that was offering a percentage of the profits for great financial ideas. I would like to volunteer this idea. It might not meet all the specifications, but then someone might like to change specifications & accept this idea. This idea may be half baked. In which case, I leave it to my fellow cypherpunk geniuses associates to fully bake it. Good luck - Gary Jeffers GO TEAM GO! - GO TEAM GO! PUSH EM BACK! - PUSH EM BACK! WAAYY BACK! BEAT STATE! - BEAT STATE!

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