December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Crypto-history
by CHRISTOPHER JAY LEONARD 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Crypto-history buffs, Apropos the recent discussion of the Bletchley Park and NSA exhibits of WWII rotor-type cipher machines on sci.crypt, there is an excellent article by Glenn Zorpette (of IEEE Spectrum) in the Summer 1994 issue of American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Volume 10/Number 1. This is a Forbes publication that is put out by their American Heritage Magazine group. The title of the article is "The Edison of Secret Codes" and it is about Edward Hugh Hebern who contributed much to the development of rotor-type cipher machines from 1912 until after WWII. It features quotes from David Kahn (The Codebreakers) and some terrific photos of early cryptographic equipment, as well as a nice description of the design/function of the machines and vulnerabilities to cryptanalysis by the Army's William Friedman in the 1920's. There lawsuit by Hebern against patent infringement by the government serves as an an eerie premonition of the Inslaw case. There is a sidebar regarding the National Cryptologic Museum. Last but not least it features this marvelous stanza of an ode to Hebern's crypto machine, an equally fitting a description of public key systems (e.g. PGP). Marvelous invention comes out of the West Triumph of patience, long years without rest Solved problem of ages, deeper than thought A code of perfection, a wonder is wrought. I got my copy directly from someone who works for American Heritage, so I can't vouch for it's availabilty on the news stands. Share and Enjoy :-) cjl

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Sternlight "kill" file
by Tom Allard 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Well, Sternlight has threatened to talk to my superiors (no one is superior to me :) if I don't apoligize to the world for forwarding beker(a)netcom.com's message posted to this list to alt.security.pgp. He told me that he knows the Chairman [of the Federal Reserve Board]. Would Alan Greenspan get involved? Sure, he's kinda busy with that inflation thing... He told me his message to me was copyrighted and I couldn't publish it. I'm going to take that advice while I ponder this. Any advice would be welcome. My pgp key is on the servers. PS: I'm considering pleading "forgery". rgds-- TA (tallard(a)frb.gov) I don't speak for the Federal Reserve Board, they don't speak for me. pgp fingerprint: 10 49 F5 24 F1 D9 A7 D6 DE 14 25 C8 C0 E2 57 9D

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Re: Sternlight "kill" file
by Richard Johnson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From the keyboard of: Tom Allard <m1tca00(a)FRB.GOV> > Well, Sternlight has threatened to talk to my superiors (no > one is superior to me :) if I don't apoligize to the world for > forwarding beker(a)netcom.com's message posted to this list to > alt.security.pgp. Heh. Sternlight is really trying to throw his weight around here, isn't he. How sad, but not surprising. His job will be much easier if he can silence some of the opposition to his half-truths and innuendo. As Jim Thomas notes in the following post to alt.security.pgp, M. Sternlight is somewhat ignorant of Copyright law and precedent, including such things as fair use, implicit assignment of rights, etc. Note that Mr. Thomas posted his missive to a usenet newsgroup that receives posts from cypherpunks. The fact that we have to use manual means to make the gateway go in two directions makes it no less valid a gateway than those between other mailing lists and usenet newsgroups (like comp.society.cu-digest, for example :-). --------- From: jthomas(a)well.sf.ca.us (Jim Thomas) Newsgroups: alt.fan.david-sternlight,alt.security.pgp Subject: Re: David Sternlight's Slurs About Folks With "2.3a" Keys Date: 20 May 1994 04:02:28 GMT Message-ID: <2rhcok$sbq(a)nkosi.well.com> In article <strnlghtCq2Eqs.2xB(a)netcom.com>, David Sternlight <david(a)sternlight.com> wrote: >By publishing a private e-mail, both beker and Johnson are in violation of >my copyright in that message, since it was a private communication and no >permission was given to republish. Not surprisingly, Sternlight reveals his ignorance of copyright law. >Thus beker has now committed a new violation of his netcom agreement, and >Johnson shows he has bad judgement. What's more, by trying to make what >should be a private matter, to be decided by netcom based on their own >rules, into a public cause celebre, and by writing to netcom as Johnson did >to intervene in a private matter, he has made the situation worse for beker, >not better. Sternlight has failed to demonstrate: 1) That the first alleged violation was, in fact, a violation, and not simply a labeling ruse. Sternlight has rushed to judgment and tried and convicted without evidence. An honorable person would first ascertain facts prior to taking action 2) Sternlight claims a second violation of netcom's agreement without demonstrating what the violation is. An honorable person would reproduce the relevant text of the agreement and then make the corresponding case. Instead, Sternlight asserts. This is consistent with his style in which he defames others and then complains that he is defamed when others hoist him by his own petard. 3) That Sternlight snoops through others' stuff and then leaps to judgment on the bases of superficial cues is, indeed, a matter of public concern. If Sternlight snooped through my system files and found titles such as suckme.gif, jailbait.gif, and 69riders.exe, would he have complained to our university officials that I am in violation of school anti-porn policies? If the facts of Sternlight's latest escapades are accurate, and Sternlight's post seems to confirm them, then it is fully appropriate to alert the public that a demonstrable defamer is actively perusing accounts and notifying sysads of what he finds. Perhaps Sternlight should look up "honor" in his dictionary. Jim Thomas ... >David

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Re: Sternlight "kill" file
by Peter Murphy 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was aware that David Sternlight had a dubious reputation among the cypherpunks community, but uptil now I was never really sure why. Now I know. Could anyone please tell me, for my benifit (and possibly for other newbies' benefit) what other "escapedes" he has pulled in the past that have been shonky. I would also like to know why he has an instinctive dislike of PGP. (Much of it may have happened before my time.) ======================================================= | Peter Murphy. <pkm(a)maths.uq.oz.au>. Department of | | Mathematics - University of Queensland, Australia. | ------------------------------------------------------- | "What will you do? What will you do? When a hundred | | thousand Morriseys come rushing over the hill?" | | - Mr. Floppy. | =======================================================

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Why PGP 2.5 sucks...
by ER CRAMER 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

PGP 2.5 really sucks... Why? - You can't use your old secret key. So you have to build a new one. Why? I don't know. But PGP 2.5 don't recognize your pass phrase anymore. Maybe that new RSA algoritme is easier to crack. So they force everybody to create a new key... - A new RSA algorithm??? What's wrong with the old one??? - Why not bigger keys than 1024 bits??? - Why can't PGP 2.3a read PGP 2.6 messages anymore after 1 september 1994? The only good thing about 2.5 is that it's legal in de USA and Canada? But why doesn't someone gets a license for PGP 2.3a so that's a legal version too! (or is that inpossible???) ... If you outlaw Privacy, only the Outlaws will have Privacy! Eelco Cramer <crame001(a)hio.tem.nhl.nl> ------ --------------------------------------------------

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unsibscribe
by Trace waz ere 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

unsuscribe udee128(a)bay.cc.kcl.ac.uk

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Re: Why PGP 2.5 sucks...
by rjc＠gnu.ai.mit.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ray Cromwell writes: > PGP 2.5 really sucks... > > Why? > - You can't use your old secret key. So you have to build a new one. > Why? I don't know. But PGP 2.5 don't recognize your pass phrase anymore. > Maybe that new RSA algoritme is easier to crack. So they force everybody > to create a new key... Seems like it should be a simple task to code up a utility to convert old format keys to new ones. -Ray

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Re: FBI decryption capability / MSDOS disk wipe question
by edgar＠spectrx.sbay.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Harry Bartholomew posted: At three sites around the world the hyperdsk.zip file (204,864 bytes) contains only the .exe without any documentation. This is apparently a disk cache with no encryption capabilities. It is usually listed under other names: HYPERDSK.ZIP DCTL 0 DELETED Use SPKT465S.ZIP HYDK420.ZIP TINS 237647 02-14-91 <15>Hyperdisk V4.20, Great 386 Disk Cache HYDK421.ZIP TINS 270730 05-19-91 <15>Latest Of The Greatest Of Disk Caches HYDK422.ZIP DCTL 0 DELETED Use SPKT465S.ZIP HYDK430.ZIP DCTL 0 DELETED Use SPKT465S.ZIP " " " FDUT 255036 12-02-91 HyperDisk V4.3 - The ultimate disk caching utility. And HyperKey V4.14. The shareware release hot from HyperBoard. " " " TINS 270024 12-11-91 <21>Latest Of The Greatest Of Disk Caches V4.30 HYPR460S.ZIP DCTL 0 DELETED Use SPKT465S.ZIP " " " FDUT 291803 07-07-92 HyperDisk, version 4.60 HyperDisk is the finest disk caching utility available. It increases your computer disk drive's performance using advanced features including: support for Conventional, Extended , and Expanded Memory usage; interrupt-driven I/O for both read and write caching; support for PC, XT, AT, 80386, and 80486 type computers; and compatability with all versions of DOS from 2.xx through 5.xx. SPKT465S.ZIP DCTL 400399 09-02-93 SpeedKit from HyperWare Version 4.65 Contains the shareware versions of the world famous HyperDisk, HyperKey and HyperScreen Utilities. New version has updates for XtraDrive, DoubleSpace, new features in HyperKey and HyeprScreen. Documentation and orderform included. Files: 19 Oldest: 8/12/93 Newest: 9/2/93 spkt465s.zip GARB 399508 09-02-xx <diskutil> Speedkit; Hyperdisk disk accelerator v4.65s " " " SIMT 399242 09-07-93 <dskutil> B HyperDisk disk cache w/HyperKey & HyperScreen Note availability of SPKT465S.ZIP at both GARBO and SIMTEL. In January Edgar W. Swank mentioned WIPIT100.ZIP to wipe all free space on your disk. Its free for personal use. I haven't found it though, with Archie searches. WIPIT100.ZIP EGLN 14897 11-21-93 WIPIT v1.00 8/2/93 Wipe all free space on your disk to prevent Undeleting files. Free for personal use. (Files: 4 Newest: 08-02-93 Oldest: 08-02-93) WIPIT100.ZIP is only available (AFIK) on the Eagle's Nest BBS at (408)223-9821. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLduBuN4nNf3ah8DHAQG2ugP+Oa+ewikX73wLniRmaAnNIkmH3/YRN3Ab cqea3WjxQForNx44BqcOfKC73sfBz8+cHjfEvfCtTkvpOcOmiCxWIIEGUUr6R593 2Lio0f5Hif1wCozcrOr0lEXJa2+GRj7GocZyJxTYYQIuHftOweDjcPnlTKfAH0at sG2ejx7MiI4= =a94p -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- edgar(a)spectrx.sbay.org (Edgar W. Swank) SPECTROX SYSTEMS +1.408.252.1005 Cupertino, Ca

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Plee For Help
by r6788＠hopi.dtcc.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hello Fellow Cypherpunks, I need help compiling PGP on DG/UX Release 5.4R3.00 AViiON.. There is no target in the makefile that really fits the system here. I have consulted the sysadm here and he told me to try adding #defines into the source, like #define BSD_SOURCE #define BSD_FLAVOR #define SVR4_SOURCE #define BSD_TTY_FLAVOR I don't want to fudge up the executable, and this isn't working. Someone mentioned to me that i could try make portable. That did not work either. I have gotten it to compile an executable, but only after giving me several errors. I have a little knowledge of c, so i don't need a complete hand holding. If someone would extend a helping hand, i'd appreciate it. On a side note, i have gotten the sysadm here to agree to install PGP2.5, should i be able to compile it and i let him know i did it! He won't install 2.3a. ;<.. I'm using one of the crippled executables to sign this message. Thanks in advance, Joseph R. Rach. r6788(a)hopi.dtcc.edu CIS Student and U.S. Private Citizen. =-=PGP key available thru fingerd.=-= O yeah, almost forgot; Yes, we do have gcc... -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.5 iQCVAgUBLdxpAHIt7G0u7ofRAQFN4gQAt+Kym1RRnbJdpTO6+CygDTX9ssw21u5r Qm/7GFlRVUhvumFtWNspAaTM3g/8mGm8gc7Z/fReVNZv5hBeBpShv31a8lO0N4Bt nJFLRq28BVA8tHTj5ysn2QwfGjgvP+5fuj7DP09H1gNs5EtyDQCPAu1aDm29JA5O 6zG6GCmPUSU= =kbJs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Sternlight and damages
by perry＠imsi.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sternlight claims people are violating copyright laws by posting his private email. I will point out that although this may be true, he would have to show damages to him in order to collect anything. From what I know, his financial position is not such that he can afford to pay lawyers for frivolous lawsuits. I suspect he can't do a thing. Feel free to tell him so. Perry

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