December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Board games
by apoulter＠nyx.cs.du.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy May writes:- >An obvious problem with crypto card games is this: what does it >provide that is worth the extra effort of doing encryption? Quite so. What other sorts of games are there that could benefit from crypto? There are a large number of multiplayer board games which combine high levels of complexity in move options with the necessity for inter-player diplomacy. Such board games are suitable for play-by-email (PBEM), as players need time to negotiate and work out moves. They generally work by requiring all players to submit orders for their move by a deadline. Problems with PBEM of such games revolve around having to persuade one person to sit out and adjudicate player moves (the luckless 'games master' or GM). There is a die roll server (send 'help' to dice(a)danpost4.uni-c.dk for details) which can provide die rolls for game functions but a person is still needed to request the appropriate die rolls to resolve player orders. The solution here is crypto. You can do away with the need for an extra person as GM by having one of the players act as GM (the 'player-GM') and resolve moves for each turn. Since all moves are due by one deadline there is the risk that the player-GM can move in response to other player's moves which have been sent to the player-GM for resolution. To prevent this the player-GM must make their move before all the other players. If done using plain text this puts the player-GM at a disadvantage so their orders are encrypted before emailing to all other players. These encrypted orders cannot then be changed in response to other player orders. During move resolution all player orders are published. This benefits all players in that they can check that the player-GM has resolved their orders correctly (when using a non-player GM order resolution is typically hidden). These published orders would include the decrypt pass phrase for the player-GM's orders, and the plain text of those orders. It would be incumbent on one or more of the players to be able to decrypt the player-GM's orders using the decrypt pass phrase, just to check that when decrypted they match the plain text version. Player-GM offers other advantages as well. For example, players can swap the onerous role of player-GM to allow for holidays etc. Using a non-player GM, if that person drops out then the game dies. Player-GM also allows short deadlines, each successive deadline being handled by a different player-GM, which speeds up the game and spreads the GMing load. Another use of a non-player GM is to hold secret agreements between players. Using player-GM this is no longer possible, but public/private key-based encryption can be used to allow players to sign secret treaties with each other. There is a specific forfeit in many game rules for breaching a signed treaty, so the need exists to make secret deals that can later be verified by players not in on the secret deal. Once public keys have been exchanged by players then secret treaties are no problem. Persuading gamers to use crypto to play multiplayer board games PBEM does not take much doing. If no one wants to be a non-player GM (and few do) then without crypto there is no game. I am currently playing in a 7-player PBEM board game called 'Empires of the Middle Ages' using the player-GM method. We use PGP as it supports the encryption facilities needed, runs on the various platforms different players use and is free. However, player-GM and crypto have yet to make an impact in the PBEM gamer community. This community is small and the ownership of particular games is limited. The game I am playing player-GM, 'Empires of the Middle Ages', although an excellent game, has been out of print nearly 15 years. I will be trying to start other board games using crypto and player-GM in the near future. Watch rec.games.board and rec.games.pbm for announcements. I should mention that player-GM is not the only solution to the GM problem. Another answer is to code a email-driven program which will adjudicate orders. Here the problem is the inherent complexity of many board games. The most successful adjudicator program to my knowledge is the Diplomacy judge (send 'help' to judge(a)morrolan.eff.org for details). Diplomacy is a relatively simple board game set loosely in Europe prior to the Great War. As the game name suggests, players can only win the game by good diplomacy, as military skills are not enough on their own. Many thousands of people play PBEM Diplomacy and its variants (games which change certain rules and/or map features from the standard game). Although the Diplomacy judge allows anonymous opponents and faked email in certain Diplomacy variants, it has no built-in facilities for use of public keys, which seems to me a strange omission. More information on the Diplomacy Judge can be found in the FAQ for rec.games.diplomacy. Alan Poulter (apoulter@nyx.cs.du.edu/a.poulter@lut.ac.uk)

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Crypto Games
by Daniel Carosone 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'd like to float a few ideas on this, generated by cutting right back to fundamental objectives. In his orignal posting, Kent Borg wrote: > It would be really nice if people had practical experiance *using* > cryptography in a friendly, innocent, and non-threatening way. > > How to do this? What about a multi-player game which requires > cryptography to implement the play? A lovely idea. I think that the `requires' above is fundamental, since our objective is to raise awareness of crypto -- not only for the obvious purposes of sending secret messages, but as a basic, useful, and necessary tool for many other applications. Ideally, it should be a game which simply cannot be reasonably played without the use of crypto, a point Tim was driving towards earlier. Additionally, the actual use of encrypted messages must be visible to all parties (and outsiders) as Kent pointed out in his original posting. Without intending to rain on anyone's parade, I think that the choice of a card game is probably not the best vehicle, for a number of reasons. Firstly, most card games are too close to realtime. While that is no great problem technically given internet-connected machines, it severely reduces the visibility of the underlying crypto -- people will be too busy playing with cards to look at the messages, and for the most part I suspect couldn't care if the messages were sent unencrypted. Card games certainly have both popular appeal, and (thanks to various `solitaire' programs) a good assosciation with computers to their advantage. However, I think we need a game that runs over a longer period, which requires (or at least allows for) periods of thought and contemplation between moves. Obvious examples are chess, or some of the play-by-mail type games. Indeed, it may well be worthwhile wandering over into some appropriate newsgroups and looking around, or asking a few questions -- it may well be that there are keen games programmers and players over there with a technical problem that could be solved with a bit of crypto. Since this is intended to be a political move, lets carefully look at what our political objectives are, and then choose (or even design) a game around them. Visibility of the usefulness of crypto, both to players and onlookers, is a key point. Ideally, then, a game that is played by posting an encrypted block to a public place such as a newsgroup for all the world to see, and that can be decoded by players to reveal (perhaps selective) information. This text block can then be captured and fed into the game program -- perhaps not until version 2 does this happen automatically :) It would be ideal if there were something from the game that could be recommended to be put in someone's .sig, perhaps a player code public key or something. This has great benefits for publicity, for instance in the past I've had a reasonable number of queries from net denizens asking `what is this PGP block stuff on the messages you post.. I keep seeing that around more and more'. It would be best if we can design the system to be distributed, and to operate without a central server (or with only a very minimal one), again to highlight the possibilities enabled by crypto. Perhaps players form playing groups amongst themselves using the keys in their .sigs and a group session key. Perhaps its a world-wide game that anyone can join. Maybe a central server issues a `turn key' to every player each week (or whatever play period) to enable them to make their next move. There's one sad consequence that will be hard to avoid.. while the posted messages may be cryptographically secure, it will be hard to come up with a solution whereby the game can be distributed in source form and not be vulnerable to cheating by source modification in the game-play parts of the code above the encryption. I think it is important that the code be distributed in source form, not only for practical reasons, but also to highlight that cryptography does *not* depend on keeping the cryptographic algorithm secret or obscured in any way. The game documentation can include detailed discussions of the cryto techniques and issues involved. The ability for the players to send encrypted messages to other players as part of the basic gameplay is important too. As has been pointed out, it is probably a good idea to keep the actual subject matter non-threatening. I keep thinking about the pbm-style empire-simulation games, perhaps because I've had some contact with them in the past, but that scenario isn't all that interesting for many people (including myself). Games of spies and secrecy and so on suggest themselves naturally, but maybe that assosciation does not need to be strengthened. A game for children might be a very good idea. There is a lot of activity currently in networking k12 schools to internet. One of the important challengers for teachers is finding appropriate educational uses for the technology. Foreign language students corresponding with native speakers and so on. For example, a game that lets students around the globe cooperate in solving problems and ferreting out clues may win wide appeal -- multiplayer distributed _Carmen_Sandiego_.. :) All the better to snub ITAR if it's an innocent game for kids. Should this game be written inside or outside the US? Any of you US citizens planning a move outside soon, who, when the game becomes wildly popular, can claim that the move was motivated by ITAR restrictions? :) > The cards would not be suitable for distributing porn, bomb making > secrets, or drugs, yet would drive the ITAR police *crazy*. What if a > deck of the these cards were to be illegally exported from the > country?!?!? Try telling all those Regular Citizens who are getting > on the net and discover they can play cards that the cards are > dangerous munitions. What a wonderful way to make the ITAR police > look completely silly. Oh, and to be sure they *do* get upset, make > the cards just open enough that they *do* constitute something more > general-purpose. (Make calls to PGP, or let others make calls to the > crypto functions in the digital cards--something like that.) Hmm.. :) > Comments? Suggestions for a game other than cards that would be > better or more suitable? See above for some generalised handwaving, at least. -- Dan.

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L.A.-area meeting Karl Hess
by j.hastings6＠genie.geis.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > (The same Karl Hess who is involved in libertarian matters.) > The same Karl Hess (sadly departed on the same day as Tricky Dick > Nixon) who wrote for Goldwater: "Extremism in the defense of liberty > is no vice, moderation no virtue" When William F. Buckley was here in Southern California to give a speech at the AARP (buncha greedy old geezers), he was more concerned about Karl Hess than Tricky Dick. So I heard from a friend who met WFB there for other business. Here's the real text: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and let me remind you, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Hess admitted that it came from someone else, I think Tom Paine, but he was the one who got it into Goldwater's speech. When I posted my Karl Hess club flyer a while back, a few people implied that I was an incompetent, bungling moron just because I forgot to say "L.A. area meeting." That's Los Angeles, not Lake Arrowhead. In California, the United States of America, Western Corporate Fascist Empire, Earth, Solar Federation Slave Labor Star System. Others thought it was off-topic. One guy complained about weird ASCII characters like , , , and perhaps . Heh heh heh. So "let me remind you" if you are in the LOS ANGELES AREA, or know someone who is and might be interested, that the Karl Hess Club will meet in the Alpine Village Restaurant Emerald Room, Monday, July 18, 1994, at 7 P.M. Torrance Blvd exit off the 110 freeway, presumably in the City of Torrance. I will be doing my mega-bit to Sink Clipper by distributing PGP. Victor Koman will deliver a timely presentation against NASA, based on the research he did for his new novel, Kings of the High Frontier. Three cheers for "Subnationals in Space." No reservations needed, and free admission. If you want dinner, the arrangement with the restaurant is $17 prix fixe incl tax and tip. Kent - j.hastings6(a)genie.geis.com

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NSA searches for Tentacles
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Someone said: > Someone else posted in t.p.c that they'd sent in a letter and been > told that NSA would not license this technology to individuals. That > sort of echoes the argument that there are some munitions appropriate > for government but not for individuals. Spies generally like to help each other -- after all the CIA and KGB had much more in common with each other than with the common people of their respective nations. Probably the foremost use of NSA's technology would be by governments monitoring traffic and other data for incorrect thought patterns. I can see other uses, though -- if Cypherpunks had this thing, we wouldn't need Arsen Ray's Tentacle-sniffer -- NSALookUp (tm) Detweiler should do it ;-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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Newbies on Cypherpunks
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ksmith(a)beach.com > Please put me on your mailing list. > [...] > Kevin T. Smith, President, TeleSource, A Division of SonRise Corp.... Is there any way to make Majordomo tell all such newbie posters how to subscribe (send a mail with "subscribe cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)toad.com)? After all, almost anyplace you find the Cypherpunks list mentioned, the address given is the list address, not the subscription one. We can't really expect people who are not necessarily very net-aware, who just happened to see the address in some article somewhere, to know all about mailing list protocol... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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Probabilistic encryption works!
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

solman(a)MIT.EDU: > Here is how it works: > > First, choose two large prime numbers that are one less than a multiple of > [...] > plaintext and append the final seed and you get your cyphertext. Congratulations! You've just described the Blum-GoldWasser Efficient Probabilistic Public-Key Encryption Scheme, first outlined in Crypto 84. Nice description in Schneier, who says it's much faster and more secure than any other PK scheme, but can obviously only be used one-way as it's vulnerable to a chosen plaintext attack. It would be possible to cook up a protocol to allow for signatures as well, but it'd be tricky. > algorithms for that anyway. What this provides is a public key system based > on the hardness of factoring that is faster than RSA and apparently not > covered by the RSA patent. (although I've asked for opinions on this last > point in another post) But we don't know whether it's covered by any Blum-Goldwasser patent... or the PKP ones. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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Encrypting fax machine
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Pointer: Encrypted fax patent Publication: The New York Times, July 18,, 1994; Business Section D; Patents column; p. D2. Title: A small Company offers a scanning device to make faxes private by encoding their computer bits. By: Sabra Chartrand Some excerpts: The Kryptofax Corporation . . . was set up to sell a scanning device that uses encryption algorithms to turn fax text into indecipherable dots on a page. *** Then the most critical thing is to provide a password, says Richard Varga, a former computer programmer who is the president. *** The encoded page emerges with the title and addressee name appearing in plain language at the top. The rest is a grid of random dots. *** As the [receiving] Kryptofax machine reads the encrypted grid, it begins simultaneously to print a decrypted version of the page. *** We use an encryption algorithm called seeded pseudo-random number generator, Mr. Varga said. The company chose that algorithm because it is in the public domain, he added. *** The Kryptofax Corporations's patent is 5,321,749.

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Detweiler Files on FTP
by Robert A. Hayden 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Following the announcement last week that I'd be willing to hold the "detweiler files" (sounds like a FOX television show), they are now available on FTP: vorlon.mankato.msus.edu: /home/ftp/pub/cypherpunks/detweiler_files/detweil.zip Enjoy. ____ Robert A. Hayden <=> hayden(a)vorlon.mankato.msus.edu \ /__ -=-=-=-=- <=> -=-=-=-=- \/ / Finger for Geek Code Info <=> I do not necessarily speak for the \/ Finger for PGP Public Key <=> City of Mankato or anyone else, dammit -=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (GEEK CODE 2.0) GJ/CM d- h-- s-:++>s-:+ g+ p? au+ a- w++ v* C++(++++) UL++++$ P+>++ L++$ 3- N+++ K+++ W M+ V-- -po+(---)>$ Y++ t+ 5++ j r+++$ G- v+ b D+ b--- e+>++(*) u** H* f r-->+++ !n y++**

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The Detweiler Files on FTP
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Thanks to Joichi Ito and Robert Hayden, The Detweiler Files should now be available by ftp at: eccosys.com/pub/incoming vorlon.mankato.msus.edu/pub/cypherpunks It includes an earlier CRaP post from Detweiler: > From: vikram!an12070(a)anon.penet.fi (Cryptoanarchist Assassination Squad ) > X-Anonymously-To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1993 15:56:58 UTC > Subject: Surrender or Die > There has been some extremely strong speculation as to our > identity lately. It's time for us to identify ourselves. We are > Operation CRaP, the Cryptoanarchist Repression and Poison, and > we have infiltrated your own conspiracy to the most sensitive > levels. L.Detweiler retypes most notes to prevent style analysis > and inference detection that would lead to our identities. > We have infiltrated the *interesting* mailing list, have a > 'bug' planted at crl.com, and a brilliant spy in one of your > ... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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Re: ID card from hell
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Duncan says: > Opposed to [German] model is the Anglo Saxon model of individual rights. > (X.25 vs TCP/IP to you networking types.) Ha! I like that. Also X.400 vs RFC-822. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "Clean the air! clean the sky! wash the wind! rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in take stone from stone and wash them..." Voice/Fax/Data +91 11 6853410 Voicemail +91 11 3760335 H 34C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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