December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

The Ethics of Remailers
by nobody＠kaiwan.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From ghio(a)kaiwan.com Mon Sep 5 12:16:28 1994 >Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com >Precedence: bulk > Date: Fri, 2 Sep 1994 11:09:40 -0600 > From: Patrick Juola <juola(a)suod.cs.colorado.edu> > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Subject: Needed for a computer ethics class > > > Does anyone have a concise, citeable statement about why anonymous > remailers are a good thing? Some sort of position statment by > Julf would be ideal. Similarly, if anyone has something for the > *other* side of the coin, I'd love to see that. > > I'm in the process of writing a course on computer ethics for > the University of Colorado at Boulder and I think anonymous > remailers would be a good subject for an essay assignment, but > I need enough material (ideally, primary source material) to > lay the groundwork first. > > Patrick >>No, but it's something that I often get asked. I would be interested to hear >>examples of good things that people are using my anonymous remailer for. Well about the best example I can think of is Canadian related. In Ontario Canada there is a ban in effect on a trial of a young lady named Karla Homolka. Karla and her (ex) hubby (who is presently incarcerated awaiting trial) are likely guilty (certainly Karla was found guilty at her trial) of pretty heinous acts of murder, torture etc. So heinous, that the judge banned all publication of the details surrounding Karla's trial. However, when he did so, he apparantly hadn't heard about Internet, because now its quite likely alot of the details have slipped through the cracks. The remailers have been used to protect anonymous sources posting to the Internet in order to help the public circumvent the ban. If they didn't exist, then its quite likely that circulation of the info....even on Internet, would have been made more difficult. The remailers, with their chaining abilities have certainly helped the spread of the info. Other than that, it's likely the remailers are useful for certain politically sensitive operations (ie circumventing ITAR) or socially sensitive (ie in discussions that the politically correct go up in arms about (ie gay rights.. for or against). And then of course there is the old stand-by use of posting stories to alt.sex.stories, etc :>

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PRIVACY 101
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Conrad Walton wrote: ... PS-I lost the note about Sandy's Privacy Seminar. Did I miss it? Nope, no one did. Due to circumstances beyond *my* control, Duncan has been out of town for the last few days (he should return today). He is running the list software and will be starting things out tomorrow (probably). Thanks for your patients. Stay tuned. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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NYC C'PUNKS MEETING?
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks in the New York City area, Are you interested in having a Cypherpunks physical meeting at (aprox.) the same time as the SF Bay Area Meeting? Is there anyone in the area who can volunteer a venue? Alison Armitage of Acapulco H.E.A.T. wants to attend. Please let me know your thoughts via private e-mail. Please include your phone number. Thanks, S a n d y P.S. I lied about Alison Armitage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: \"Reputations\" are more than just nominalist hot air
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by jamesd(a)netcom.com (James A. Donald) on Sat, 3 Sep 11:51 PM >I really do not want to digress onto the issue of >nominalism and legal positivism, which is seriously >off topic, but a similar approach on other matters has >led to the catastrophic collapse of societies in the >past, and I would claim that it is having something of >that effect in the present. * * * >If such a system was to serve the function that >reputations now serve in the real world, it would lead >to consequences very different from those intended or >desired by Hal. Your elaboration of this claim, to echo Tim's later post, would be welcomed. Tim has mentioned before that "off topic" is solved by artful weaving. Please do. John

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Remailer at Wein?
by Mark Terka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Is the remailer at remailer(a)ds1.wu-wein.ac.at up and running? Test messages to that site kept bouncing. Also, how do I get ahold of that remailer's public key for encrypting messages through them? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Terka | werewolf(a)io.org | public key (werewolf) by Toronto,Canada | dg507(a)cleveland.freenet.edu | public key server or request ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Reputations/Credentials
by tim werner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: Mon, 5 Sep 1994 12:56:53 -0800 >From: cwalton(a)earthlink.net (Conrad Walton) > >Give me a better model to illustrate what you think would be better or >worse. Drug dealers only need cash and a gun to make transactions while >they keep totally anonymous. I used to carry a Swiss Army knife, myself (because of the corkscrew), and a lot of the transactions were based on credit. Reputation was very important, whether dealing in cash or not, and I never dealt with anyone I didn't know and trust. tw

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Random number workbench
by lcottrell＠popmail.ucsd.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was just wondering if something like a random number workbench exists? I am looking for some implimentations of randomness tests that I can run on the output of pseudo-random and random number generators that I am working on. Is there a ftp site where I can get something of this sort? If not, what sort of demand would there be for one if I were to write it? Lance -------------------------------------------------- Lance Cottrell who does not speak for CASS/UCSD loki(a)nately.ucsd.edu PGP 2.6 key available by finger or server. "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra. Suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come." --Nietzsche

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Punk Rock Zine
by schulz＠omcron.uleth.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi Me and some friends of mine are compiling a punk rock fan zine, and i wish to include a section outlining public key cryptography, the cypherpunks as a group, etc. I was wondering if anybody had any press releases, or short (like 1 page) RSA or PGP articles or that sort of thing. It won't be a huge spread or anything, but it will be positive nondigitial media press for cypherpunkism. I am not a current list member, so please email me at schulz(a)omcron.uleth.ca TOM SCHULZ

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Re: Needed for a computer ethics class
by Patrick Juola 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> I'm in the process of writing a course on computer ethics for > the University of Colorado at Boulder and I think anonymous > remailers would be a good subject for an essay assignment, but > I need enough material (ideally, primary source material) to > lay the groundwork first. You're not in any way related to Detweiler are you? :-) Nope, 'fraid not. Never even met the "gentleman," as it happens. I'm sure that whoever is running the Medusa style-analyzer can bear me out on that. 8-) (That and the fact that I've been on cypherpunks for nearly a year now, and Detweiler's not subtle enough to keep his tentacles quiet for that long. Feeling paranoid?) Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough on the question. I don't need to be convinced that remailers are a Good Thing. I already believe it. On the other hand, [I feel] it's more professional to point the students on magazine articles, FAQ's, and stuff and to let them draw their own conclusions about the inherent Rightness of anonymous Email than to simple proseletyze at them, which never works. So I'm looking for material *external* to what I'm presenting them directly, rather than simply arguments, which I can make in the course of the class. Patrick Patrick

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Re: \"Reputations\" are more than just nominalist hot air
by cwalton＠earthlink.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 5:41 PM 9/5/94 -0700, Hal wrote: > >Then perhaps we can avoid arguing about what a reputation is, and instead >focus on the interesting issue of what the role of cryptography will be >in establishing reputations in a possibly-pseudonymous business network. I think the distinction between "reputation" and "credential" is an important one in this context. I would be interested in discussing "the interesting issue of what the role of cryptography will be in establishing <credentials> in a possibly-pseudonymous business network", i.e. TRW credit reports, drivers licenses, or ATM cards (all of which may or may not be tied to a reputation or to a valuable, wonderful person - doesn't matter to me. Will I get my money outta the deal?). ***************************************** Conrad Walton cwalton(a)earthlink.net ***************************************** Without JOY there can be no STRENGTH. Without STRENGTH, all other virtures are worthless. Edward Abbey

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