December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Rights are on the CP agenda
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Jim Sewell - KD4CKQ" <jims(a)Central.KeyWest.MPGN.COM> > Sorry for helping to promote an indepth discussion of a topic only marginally > inline with c'punks. Yo! Everyone! Carry this thread on in private, please. > It is a very valid discussion, but not one for all c'punks. While public housing projects may not be on the CP agenda, the confict between a mob-like majority willing, in order 'to reduce crime,' to impinge on the rights of minorities with different opinions is *definitely* something to discuss here. If enough criminals start using PGP, there may well be similar pressure in favour of Clipper. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh "What is civilisation rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in but a ribonucleic Voicemail +91 11 3760335; Vox/Fax/Data 6853410 hangover?" H-34C Saket New Delhi 110017 INDIA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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message splitting for better mixing?
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A variation of the many "send bogus messages through the remailer" ideas... The idea: 1) write sender-side code to split message into N parts and send each part through a different remailer chain. 2) decrypt the parts as they arrive as per normal encrypted remailer messages. 3) write receiver-side code to detect "a part" and stuff it in a file until the remaining related parts arrive. When all related parts have arrived, present the complete message to receiver. Why? To increase the number of "messages" flowing through the remailers to make traffic analysis more difficult. Comments welcome. Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Re: Rights are on the CP agenda
by tim werner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Tue, 26 Apr 1994 08:19:59 -0400 >From: "Perry E. Metzger" <perry(a)snark.imsi.com> > >rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in says: >> While public housing projects may not be on the CP agenda, the >> confict between a mob-like majority willing, in order 'to reduce >> crime,' to impinge on the rights of minorities with different >> opinions is *definitely* something to discuss here. If enough >> criminals start using PGP, there may well be similar pressure in >> favour of Clipper. > >I would suggest that this topic is not appropriate here. I'm sure its >appropriate -- in other places -- but if we do not focus on >cryptography, many people will be forced to leave this mailing list >and the quality will degrade. > >Perry Perry, I would suggest that you leave the list if you don't like it. Your only contributions have been snide little flames, anyway. tw

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Re: Milgram & Authority
by dmandl＠lehman.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: Duncan Frissell <frissell(a)panix.com> > > Milgram, Stanley > -------------------------------- > [...] Milgram took the results as > proof that ordinary people will inflict pain on innocent people when > commanded by an authoritative figure. I would agree, but I'd add an important qualifier: "in this country" (or "in this world," or whatever). I think it's important to keep in mind exactly how obedience to authority is inculcated in people from birth. _I_ don't think it's inborn. The goal should be breaking this pattern and, if it's too late for adults, at least try to raise kids to think for themselves and not follow orders so unquestioningly. --Dave.

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Re: Internet Relay Chat
by joshua geller 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> On Mon, 25 Apr 1994 rishab(a)dxm.ernet.in wrote: > > I've noticed some discussions of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), both as a possible > > model for CP interactions, as well as a location for implementations of > > BlackNet (in #wares, etc.) > > > > Note that IRC, unlike MUDS, has been designed to ensure 'true-names'. While > > you do use nicknames, anyone can find out the machine name and user ID you are > > logged in from, with a /whois. Anytime you join or leave a channel, your full > > machine name and user ID is displayed to everyone, along with your nick. This > > is different from any (possibly pseudonymous) e-mail address you register for > > incoming mail. > > Fraid not....it's a trivial matter to fake the username, and if yer a > smart cookie, faking the hostname is just as easy. as far as I know, you have to hack the server to fake hostname. historically this practice has been frowned upon by the majority of IRC administrators. but yes, faking username is trivial. josh

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CA fingerprinting welfare applicants?
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Has California has recently begun fingerprinting welfare applicants to help detect attempts at welfare cheating? I saw the tail-end of a news clip about this on Headline News a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't catch the whole report. Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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Re: message splitting for better mixing?
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jim Miller > > The idea: > > 1) write sender-side code to split message into N parts and send each > part through a different remailer chain. > > 2) decrypt the parts as they arrive as per normal encrypted remailer > messages. > > 3) write receiver-side code to detect "a part" and stuff it in a file > until the remaining related parts arrive. When all related parts > have arrived, present the complete message to receiver. Here is a program I found in the usenet archives which will do some of the splitting and merging features. Note that the merge is smart in that you just cat the pieces together and process them. The main feature of the prog is that you can reconstruct even with a few missing pieces, necessary because of the unreliability of remailer email. I don't think the splitting is cryptographically strong, but each piece could be separately encrypted if desired. > Path: ghost.dsi.unimi.it!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!newsflash.concordia.ca!clyde.concordia.ca!altitude!mirkwood.CAM.ORG!hebrais > From: hebrais(a)mirkwood.CAM.ORG (Philippe Hebrais) > Newsgroups: alt.sources > Subject: shade -- split a file with shadows > Message-ID: <hebrais.0xu4(a)mirkwood.CAM.ORG> > Date: 13 Dec 92 07:57:05 GMT > Organization: Secte des adorateurs des semiconducteurs > Lines: 675 > X-Newsreader: MeNews 2.8.0 > > > SSSSS HH HH AAA DDDD EEEEEEE > SS SS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SSS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SSS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SSS HHHHHHH AAAAAAA DD DD EEEE > SSS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SSS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SS SS HH HH AA AA DD DD EE > SSSSS HH HH AA AA DDDD EEEEEEE > > `shade' is a file splitting and merging utility. It takes a large > file and splits it into uniformly sized blocks. It can also output > extra blocks (called shadows). These shadows can be used to recover > missing sections if they get corrupted or it they are lost. With a > single shadow, `shade' can recover ANY single missing block. As many > shadows are needed as there are blocks missing. If too few blocks > and shadows are available, nothing can be recovered. > > For example, foo.bar (259042 bytes) is split into 5 sections > of 45000 bytes, 1 section of 34042 bytes and 2 shadows of > 45000 bytes. Each of these 8 parts is sent through email. > Even if any two of these eight parts gets lost, the original > foo.bar can be reconstructed. > > `shade' is a simple application of the chinese remainder theorem > for polynomials with coeficients modulo two. For more information > see the comments at the beginning of project.c. > > > > SAMPLE USAGE > > Split "bar" (111042 bytes) into 20000 byte chunks and output 2 > shadows. All these parts will be uuencoded and output to > foo.uu.001, foo.uu.002, etc. > > % shade -u -k 2 -l 20000 -o foo bar > [001] [002] [003] [004] [005] [006] [aaa] [aab] Done. > > Merge these parts back together: > > % rm foo.uu.003 foo.uu.005 > % cat foo.uu.* | shade -m -u > Merging bar (111042 bytes) > Got section 4 (20000 bytes) > Got section 1 (20000 bytes) > Got section 2 (20000 bytes) > Got section 6 (11042 bytes) > Got shadow 1 (20000 bytes) > Got shadow 2 (20000 bytes) > > Missing: [003] [005] > > Recovering 2 sections: > [001] [002] [aaa] [004] [aab] [006] > > > > DISTRIBUTION > > Shade is copyright Philippe Hebrais 1992. You have the permission > to use this code is anyway you feel appropriate as long as you give > credit where it is due. There is no warranty of any kind. I am not > responsible for any damage caused directly or indirectly by this > program. > > > AUTHOR > , > Philippe Hebrais <hebrais(a)mirkwood.cam.org> > > -- > Philippe Hebrais hebrais(a)mirkwood.cam.org > Voix: (514)731-9146 uunet!philmtl!altitude!mirkwood!hebrais

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Detweiler
by fhalper＠pilot.njin.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Who is Detweiler? Reuben

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spy satellites
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Two points re the spy satellite thread. First, spy satellites want to be close to what they are looking at, so they can see it better. That means they are generally in low orbits, and low orbits are fast orbits. Typical speeds are on the order of 10,000 mph. This means that any given spot is in view of a particular satellite for only a few minutes on each pass, and due to the earth's rotation it is hard to pass repeatedly over the same spot frequently. This means you need a large number of satellites in order to provide much coverage, and even then you will probably get snapshots at an interval of hours at best (I don't know how many satellites are flying). This is OK for military bases where you are looking at construction, ships, and other large equipment, but it is not at all adequate for tracking the movement of terrorists. Secondly, any technology which did allow the government to surveil us well enough to track the physical movements and meetings of terrorists would be far more of a threat than any Clipper chip! Offering satellite surveillance as an alternative to Clipper jumps from the frying pan into the fire, IMO. Hal

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Re: message splitting for better mixing?
by markh＠wimsey.bc.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Here is a program I found in the usenet archives which will do some of the > splitting and merging features. Note that the merge is smart in that you > just cat the pieces together and process them. The main feature of the prog > is that you can reconstruct even with a few missing pieces, necessary because > of the unreliability of remailer email. I don't think the splitting is > cryptographically strong, but each piece could be separately encrypted if > desired. You can also get shade from either ftp.wimsey.bc.ca:/pub/crypto/software/dist/???????/Misc/shade.tar.gz and shade.patch.gz or ftp.dsi.unimi.it:/pub/security/crypt/code/shade.tar.gz If you're outside the U.S. and Canada please use the Italian site. Mark -- Mark Henderson markh(a)wimsey.bc.ca - RIPEM MD5: F1F5F0C3984CBEAF3889ADAFA2437433 ViaCrypt PGP key fingerprint: 21 F6 AF 2B 6A 8A 0B E1 A1 2A 2A 06 4A D5 92 46 low security key fingerprint: EC E7 C3 A9 2C 30 25 C6 F9 E1 25 F3 F5 AF 92 E3 cryptography archive maintainer -- anon ftp to ftp.wimsey.bc.ca:/pub/crypto

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