December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Phil G. Fraering" <pgf(a)srl.cacs.usl.edu> writes: > I was on a trip out of town a while back... as soon as I crossed > into another cellular network boundary, I got a call from the > provider's sales droid, telling me how to use their service. They > _are_ tracking individual phone movement, IMHO. Not just IMHO... They are tracking individual phone movement. I know this for fact. What happens is this: When you are out driving, your phone is constantly checking the local zone for strength. When the strength goes down, or signal quality is too low, it scans for a new zone. Then it "logs in" to the new zone while "logging out" of the old zone. Big cities, like LA, have ALOT of zones, none of which are all that big. By knowing which zone one is in, one is leaving, and one is entering, it is very easy to determine where someone is, especially if that zone tracks along a major highway. Then, it's just a matter of time until he's found. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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ADMIN: MajorDomo Meltdown
by hugh＠ecotone.toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Humm, seems as I have my work cut out for me tonight, as majordomo zeroed out the list again and is having problems with it's temp files (filling up a second disk here at toad.com) Eric Hughes and I freed up 15 megs on the disk where majordomo keeps the cypherpunks list, and I tought that would give me the time to do the fix right (and speend the weekend not hacking...). Turns out that the disk filled up again tonight, this time with 12+ megs of bounce messages from Cypherpunks subscribers durring the last 9 days. Seems we have some major problems to solve still with the basic mail list technology. I have 11 hours to make a major meeting, so I am going to go back to hacking the software and see how much I can get running tonight. I will install a backup from a few days ago, some of you will have duplacates that we will have to remove yet again, sigh, thats the way it goes. If you have futher questions or problems, please contact me. ||ugh Daniel Muchtimes Postmaster hugh(a)toad.com

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

carterm(a)spartan.ac.brocku.ca (Mark Carter) writes: > Encryption as a weapon is something that's not often talked about, despite > the fact that everyone's always rambling about how valuable information > is... If you have backups and keep paper trails like any serious company, this is merely inconvenient and annoying. > The arguments for restraining encryption in corporate situations can > go on and on... just as the arguments for encouraging private encryption > can go on and on. This argues similiarly to the gun control argument. Encryption, like guns, are a tool. When used responsibly, tools don't cause problems. When used irresponsibly, problems occur. Responsible use of encryption is for privacy. Irresponsible use is for some damaging purpose. --Jeff -- ====== ====== +----------------jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us----------------+ == == | The new, improved, environmentally safe, bigger, better,| == == -= | faster, hypo-allergenic, AND politically correct .sig. | ==== ====== | Now with a new fresh lemon scent! | PGP Key Available +---------------------------------------------------------+

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freenet
by tim werner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From: Jeff Gostin <jgostin(a)eternal.pha.pa.us> >Date: Sat, 18 Jun 1994 16:00:35 EST >Isn't Cleveland Freenet still giving out freebie accounts? If they >are, that's a good place to start. Yes and no. All you really get is usenet and email. Plus irc, I think, although I have never used that. You can't telnet or ftp out, although you can telnet or ftp in. Your disk space is limited to 2meg, and all your files expire every 2 or 3 days. As I recall, you have to receive a letter from them with your password, so they know at least your address (no PO box, I think, not sure, been too long), and they require you to use your real name. They're actually pretty cool, but they have a couple of rules about abusing the account. They do carry all the Usenet groups. Also, there are times when it is impossible to log in. Many times, when you do get in, the response time is unacceptable. Still, it's better than nothing. Especially if you have no other way to get alt.binaries.pictures.tasteless. tw

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Re: Beware of Roman Catholic Corruption
by nobody＠shell.portal.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ralph.Stokes(a)f1611.n375.z1.fidonet.org (Ralph Stokes) Spammed thusly: > Beware of the Satanic conspiracy of the WHORISH Roman Catholic Church. The > Pope and his puppets have attempted to infiltrate and subvert the > Protestant Christian church using corrupt modern translations of the Bible. > These are nothing more than religious filth that have spewed forth from the ^^^^^^ > deceitful pens of Satan-inspired men in league with the Vatican. Intersting word, "spewed". It's a synonym for "vomited". If you'd get your head out of your ass and out of the 17th century, you'd realize that the slang expression "to Ralph" also refers to vomiting. And that's exactly what you've done all over the Internet, RALPH! --- piss-ass stuff deleted --- > Don't let them lure you into following them into Hell. ^^^^ Like any fire, it would require STOKing, would it not? Gee, you were sort of appropriately named, weren't you? When somebody asks what your job is in Hell, it can be said Ralph stokes. --- more ass dung nuked --- > For further information regarding this damnable Satanic conspiracy, contact > me: > > Ralph Stokes, sysop King James Bible BBS, Millbrook, AL > Internet address: ralph.stokes(a)f1611.n375.z1.fidonet.org > Fidonet address: Ralph Stokes (1:375/1611) > BBS #: (205) 285-5948 Those who have endured your incessant blathering over in Fido land tell me that you've said a few quotable things, such as "G-d is a Devil", "El Shaddai is Satan", and "all the words in the King James Bible are God's pure words, including 'pisseth', 'ass', 'bastard', and 'dung'". Therefore, I've tried to avoid "profanity" in my response and use only the words that you consider "pure". Thus' let me say, "Pisseth upon thy ass, thou bastard who eateth dung". May your wife (if you can even attract/keep one) "Bobbitize" you. Can I recommend a good doctor? Kevorkian! Go thou and fornicate thyself. Thou shalt not "Spam" the Internet/Usenet! Go back and play in the Fidonet sandbox until you learn how to play nicely with the big kids...

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No Subject
by Jef Poskanzer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>1.C How about if we take the hiss that you find between stations on an >FM receiver, and digitize them through a PC soundcard? Hmm. And if an attacker discovers you're using this method, and decides to send out a signal on the same frequency? You might find your "random" numbers are suddenly all zeros... --- Jef

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Re: Having your own computer means never having....
by wcs＠anchor.ho.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> >Beyond that, unrestrained encryption is dangerous to corporations, because > >what's to stop a ticked off employee from encrypting everything in the office > > What to stop him/her from shredding everything in the office? This is a > personnel/legal problem; there's nothing special about the use of > cryptography (except that it might be reversable). Reversability is the main difference - the disgruntled fired ex-sysadmin can encrypt everything and promise to restore it for big bucks plus amnesty. On the other hand, hiding the backup tapes and shredding everything is relatively reversable as well, and has the advantage that you can threaten to sell it to the competitors, so it's not much different. When I was an undergrad, an ex-sysadmin left the University, and a week or so after he was gone, the database system announced that it would self-destruct in a week. They had to keep the system shut down for a couple of weeks and change the system clock while they hunted for the time-bomb, and the same sort of thing could be done in many modern systems without crypto, though crypto makes it easier.

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something I've always wondered
by jim＠bilbo.suite.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Does DES (or name your favorite encryption algorithm) produce as output all possible cyphertexts of length L, given all possible conbinations of keys and plaintexts of length L? Since there are more combinations of key and plaintext than there are possible cyphertexts outputs of length L, you know there must be some combinations of key and plaintext that produce the same cyphertext. Just curious, Jim_Miller(a)suite.com

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OJ's cellphone again (Bay Area Article)
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article on the front page about cellphone tapping/snooping as a tie in to the O J Simpson case. No time for comment or retyping, just providing a pointer. -j

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DE-crypting (trivial case)
by dwomack＠runner.utsa.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fellow C'punks: I was wondering if anyone knew of software that does decryption of weakly encrypted messages, i.e., similar to ROT13, but perhaps ROT(x) where 0<x<26? Or maybe a bit more sophisticated, but not even at the single DES level? Also...anyone know of any histogram software? i.e., I input a file, it counts how many letters of each type, and outputs it in a table and/or a graph? If not, I'll have to (horrors!) write code! Kindest regards, Dave

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