December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

A CC of my letter to Gelernter@cs.yale.edu
by pcw＠access.digex.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I caught your piece on the Op-Ed page. Of course I agree with you about the fact that there is a need for wiretaps. But I think that there are serious problems with the Clipper chip. It is very expensive compared to software only solutions and it is also very, very brittle. First the cost: * Every extra chip adds to cost, battery usage and pocket bulge. This is a heavy price to pay for something that could be done in software. Many of the next generation digital phones, for instance, use a DSP. There are more than enough spare cycles available to do encryption. * The high cost is effectively a tax on privacy for the average person. It is easy to imagine clipper chips adding $100 to the cost of an already digital phone, fax machine or computer. The poor are just as much targets as the rich. In fact, they are often easier targets because no one wants to bother chasing down a fake credit card transaction or bank account withdrawl if it only amounts to $75. If a chip was necessary, then it would be a different story. Software could help all of America, not just the rich. Now the Fragility: * The first generation of Capstone chips is already obsolete. They're worthless. All of the money that went into fabbing and producing them is gone. Why? Because the NSA discovered a weakness in the Secure Hash ALgorithm. They've fixed it now, but all the old chips are worthless. * Imagine that problems arise well after the chip is standardized. What will millions of Americans do? All of the digital phones, fax machines and modem cards will need to be replaced. * Now imagine that a pair of turncoats sell out America and put both halves of the key escrow on the black market. If we're lucky enough to discover this leak, it could easily take 6 months to a year to replace our now worthless phone system. * Software, on the other hand, is very easy to change. In many cases, the anti-virus programs travel faster than the viruses. These are the main reasons why I think that the Clipper is a boondoggle. Software based solutions would solve all of these problems _except_ the government's desire for a firm grip on the world and technology. -Peter Wayner

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Net Banking in Info Week
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The May 9th Info Week (now being distributed on news stands) has an article on using the Internet for funds transfer. "these banks could save millions by not having to build expensive private networks, and the Internet...could become the backbone of worldwide electronic commerce. Photo of and interview with Daniel Schutzer Citicorp VP. I had breakfast with Shutzer last Fall. He follows this list among others and is up to speed with the institutional changes under way. He thinks it will be a real challenge for conventional banks to survive. DCF "Where do messages go when sent to a Majordomo listserver with an empty subscribers file?" -- unanswered questions of the Net. --- WinQwk 2.0b#1165

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DigiCash announcement correction
by Black Unicorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

An error was made in the UniBank/Phantom Exchange press release which indicated that DigiFrancs were backed by a store of 16 oz Diet Coke cans. There are of course no 16 oz cans, but rather 12 oz cans. UniBank regrets the error.

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Des....
by lile＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Where might I find DES? I have a friend that needs to decript a tape... thanks, -lile

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What happened?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What happened to the list? It hasn't been sending anything out...

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PGP and Yarn (offline reader)
by cort＠ecn.purdue.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- (This may be the 2nd time you hear this.... but the original post may have been flushed.) .............................Cort. PGP can now be nicely integrated with the excellent offline news/mail package, Yarn. You can now, at the touch of a key, encrypt an out-going note, sign an out-going note/post and decrypt/verify incoming notes/posts. Yarn (stable beta version .64) can be retrieved by ftp from oak.oakland.edu:/pub/msdos/offline/yarn-064.zip (as well as mirrors and other sites). Yarn imports news/mail in the SOUP format. (I am quite pleased with this combination.) Thanks to the author, Chin Huang. Cort. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLc/cCus4vmytylqdAQElwgP9G3WSjphJ+C9e0JFQV7GaKNzV3orVy0xV oBKSvO2Hw9jZFp7iPq75PAkyQgYX+vALbJe6LqzWF7Oc0jaEd+LhBjWiYv3rTNzR f+CZCZf2FnNc+00Ylus/MxrXNJj2svYF9nHHH0Pld9CYylq/qNntVuj43MvdNi4W stI98P8c6C0= =GHLe -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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away from my mail (fwd)
by Ed Carp 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I sent Phil a copy of my patches to get pgp-2.3a to build under Solaris 2.2 with gcc-2.5.8, and this is what I got in return: From: via the vacation program <prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU> Subject: away from my mail I will not be reading my mail for a while. I am on travel until Wednesday, 11 May 94. This canned message was generated automatically by the "vacation" program, but my business trip is not a vacation. Your mail regarding "pgp-2.3A diffs to compile under Solaris 2.2 with gcc-2.5.8" will be read when I return. Also, in case you are still using my old email address, please update your records to use only my current email address, which is prz(a)acm.org. In case you haven't heard, MIT is releasing PGP version 2.5, available from an FTP site at MIT, for US noncommercial users only. It is a nice version of PGP, with all the strength and integrity of PGP 2.3a, with some bug fixes and improvements. -Philip Zimmermann

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My Absence
by nate＠VIS.ColoState.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hey guys. I have been gone for a few weeks now, taking care of lots of personal business. I thought I might tell you that I am dropping my netcom account as of the 15th of may, so please start sending mail to nate(a)vis.colostate.edu again (yeah, yeah, don't whine) -nate -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Nate Sammons <nate(a)VIS.ColoState.Edu> <nate(a)yuma.ANCS.ColoState.Edu> | | Colorado State University Computer Visualization Laboratory | | Data Visualization/Interrogation, Modeling, Animation, Rendering | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

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Real DigiCash !
by geoffw＠nexsys.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

MONDEX SPECIFICATIONS FOR ELECTRONIC CASH PAYMENT RELEASED Nationl Westminster Bank today (26th April) announced that it is rele asing the first of its product development specifications for Mondex, the electronic cash payment service which it will launch in the UK n ext year in a joint venture with Midland Bank and BT. These specifications will enable manufacturers to begin the developme nt of Mondex-compatible products such as point-of-sale terminal equip ment for retailers and bank cash machines as well as opening up compe tition for the production of other Mondex devices such as the Mondex electronic wallet and the Mondex personal balance reader. The specifi cations take account of existing ISO standards for Integrated Circuit (IC) cards and other emerging IC card standards. Tim Jones, Chief Executive of Mondex, said: "Production of Mondex dev ices was neccessarily limited to a number of specialist suppliers to provide the basis of next year's large scale launch in Swindon. Howev er, Mondex has been designed as a global product and we are now in a position to provide interested manufacturers around the world with th e specifications they need to begin development of their own new prod ucts or to adapt their existing ranges to be Mondex compatible. "Mondex offers manufacturers an exciting opportunity to develop and m arket new product ranges that add value to the simple Mondex proposit ion -- the storage and transfer of electronic cash" he added. Devices for the Mondex launch in the UK are being developed by: * AT&T Global Information Solutions (formerly known as NCR) -- cash m achines * BT -- residential telephones and payphones * Dai Nippon Printing Co. Ltd. / SPOM Japan Co. Ltd. -- cards * De La Rue Fortronic -- retailer terminals * Hitachi Ltd. -- integrated circuits * Oki Electric Industry Company Ltd. -- electronic wallets * Panasonic (Matsushita Electric/Matsushita Battery) -- electronic wa llets and personal balance readers * Texas Instruments Ltd. -- personal balance readers. NOTES FOR EDITORS 1. Mondex is an open, unaccounted electronic purse initiative which h as been developed by National Westminster Bank. Mondex is being launc hed in the UK by a joint venture of NatWest and Midland working with BT. 2. The first specifications available are: * IFD-Purse Application Interface Specification. (IFD stands for Inte rface Device.) This core product development specification defines th e commands to which a card will respond and refers to the relevant in ternational standards covering general communications to an from smar t cards. * Introduction to Mondex Purse Operation. This is a companion documen t to the above specification. It provides an overview of the Mondex c ard and its interface with a Mondex device. * The Mondex Brand Manual. This document defines the permissible impl ementations of the Mondex brand. 3. Other specifications will cover the communications between two int erface devices, the user-interface standards designed to ensure user- friendly product design and the card specification. 4. Manufacturers interested in Mondex specifications should contact t he Mondex Information Centre, National Westminister Bank plc, 1st Flo or Podium, Drapers Gardens, 12 Throgmorton Avenue, London EC2N 2DL (f ax 071 920 1562). Further enquiries to David Morton, PR Department, NatWest Bank, UK Br anch Business, 41 Lothbury, London EC2P 2BP (tel 071 726 1782, fax 07 1 726 1530).

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Re: away from my mail (fwd)
by dwitkow＠eis.calstate.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:23 PM 5/10/94 -0700, Philip Zimmermann wrote: >From: via the vacation program <prz(a)columbine.cgd.ucar.EDU> >Subject: away from my mail > [snip] > >In case you haven't heard, MIT is releasing PGP version 2.5, >available from an FTP site at MIT, for US noncommercial users only. >It is a nice version of PGP, with all the strength and integrity of >PGP 2.3a, with some bug fixes and improvements. > 'an FTP site at MIT' is rather vague. Anyone have specifics? ...dtw ---------------------------------------------------------------- Notice of address change: Please send mail to the following: dwitkow(a)eis.calstate.edu (Mail sent to dwitkows(a)nermal.santarosa.edu will be forwarded) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Transmitted via modified Eudora 1.4.2 over LINUX host dialup! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Finger dwitkows(a)nermal.santarosa.edu for PGP key ----------------------------------------------------------------

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