December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: if this is RC4
by Martin Minow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The strange line in the posted RC4 (assuming that's what it is): > xorIndex = state[x] + (state[y]) % 256; might be an intentional do-nothing statement that could be used to show that the original was stolen source code, rather than a decompilation of an executable or object module. An expert could point out that the statement cannot be derived from any distribution of RC4, but was in the source licensed to Company X, and therefore an employee of Company X violated the source code agreement. Just speculating. Martin Minow minow(a)apple.com The above does not represent the position of Apple Computer Inc.

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FREE patent searches
by rishab＠dxm.ernet.in 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I haven't seen this here, so I'm forwarding it all: Date: Fri, 9 Sep 1994 09:32:15 -0400 From: srctran(a)world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) Message-Id: <199409091332.AA16709(a)world.std.com> To: patents(a)world.std.com Subject: PATENT SEARCHING EMAIL SERVER is now open for business APS PATENT SEARCHING ARRIVES ON THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well only in a real limited way for the time being :-) A few weeks ago, I announced plans to provide limited patent searching over the Internet, where you can get a list of patents by specifying the class/subclass. I have decided to do this in two stages. To test out the email-server software I am writing, I first plan to allow email requests to retreive parts of the PTO classification manuals (see below). Once things are running smoothly, I will then add the capability to retrieve patent titles by class/subclass. So feel free to start sending in requests to the address listed below: search(a)world.std.com wish me luck, and start thinking philanthropic. By the way, if someone has a machine readable version of the WIPO international classification system, please send it to me so I can add it to the server. At some point when I have lots of equipment, I will sort US patents by their international classification. Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service ==================== Internet Patent News Service September 1994 PATENT TITLES EMAIL SERVER search(a)world.std.com The Internet Patent News Service is pleased to announced the availability of the Patent Titles email server, where people can retrieve lists of patent titles dating back to 1970 for any USPTO class/subclass, and patent numbers for additional patents dating back to the 1800's. The Patent Titles email server is the first step in our efforts to make the entire USPTO APS patent text database system accessible over the Internet. Approximately one gigabyte of data has been prepared and attached to the Internet. As all of the equipment and network access is borrowed, I am limiting access to an email server until I get a better feel for demand for the data, and until I can raise funding to set up a proper Internet server. Unless the bandwidth and processing load overwhelms the equipment I am borrowing, the service will be free. To use the email server, send requests to the Internet address: search(a)world.std.com using any of the following commands sent as text in the body of the email message: SENDTO account-name(a)internet.site.adr This command is mandatory of all requests and is where you specify the email address you want the information sent to. Occasionally From: lines in email addresses do not provide a correct return address (at least in my experience doing the Internet Patent News Service). SEND INTRO SEND HELP Either of these commands will return this message. SEND UCLASSES This command will return an index to the approximately 400 patent classes that are currently being used, for example: Class: 69 Leather Manufacturers SEND UCLASS XXX This command will return that section of the USPTO's Manual of Classification covering patent class XXX. For example, the command "SEND CLASS 69" would return a list of all of the subclasses in Class 69 by number and title. These files range in size from 5K to 120K. What follows is a section of Class 69: Subclass Subclass Number Title 1 MACHINES 1.5 .Belt-stretching 3 .Horse collar shaping 4 .Horse collar stuffing SEND UCLASS COMPUTING This command will return those sections of the USPTO's Manual of Classification covering patent classes 395 and 364, the two main classes dealing with hardware and software. SEND IPNSINFO This command will return an introductory message to my Internet Patent News Service. SEND CONSULT This command will return an introductory message to my patent searching consulting services I offer. SAVE COMMENT This command lets me know your request is actually a comment about the email server operation, or any inaccuracies you detect in the patent information being sent out. As I am parasiting the equipment to run the server (which basically means that I operate the server at nite and on weekends), please send your requests in at the end of the workday or on weekends. Within a day or so, you will receive back ny email whatever you requested. SECURITY A very important concern for anyone using this email server is secrecy, that what they are searching for is not revealed to others. As a potential inventor, I appreciate this as much as anyone else. While I plan to save the email addresses of people who use the server (but not their search request), no other information will be retained. The email address information will be saved to study who, and how often, people are using the server. I would appreciate any suggestions on how to ensure security beyond this. Please excuse any mishaps that occur as I get this service off the ground. This email server is a classic hack that will get better in time as people use it. In turn, the experience gathered in running the server will be invaluable in demonstrating the feasibility of making massive amounts of patent data available over the Internet. Also, get ready for that voluntary registration fee I mention in my intro piece to the Internet Patent News Service. If the Patent Titles email server is successful, and you all like it, this fall I plan to coordinate an effort to put all of the patent abstract information since 1970 onto the Internet, making it available through email servers, Gopher, WAIS and Mosaic. But first things first, getting the Patent Titles email server working. Greg Aharonian Internet Patent News Service

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Stealth remailers
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

One "quick and dirty" way to get the effect of a stealth remailer is to have all messages leave the remailer net via one or more politically strong hosts. For a long time now I have been having my remailer on alumni.caltech.edu, which I judge to be politically weak, forward mail to shell.portal.com, which seems stronger. When people see some anonymous mail they don't like, they look at where it comes from. They seldom think to blame other remailers in the chain (partially because they can't easily find out who they are). It is the final remailer which takes the heat. If that remailer were in a jurisdiction and/or political position that would allow it to withstand the various threats we anticipate, it would provide cover for the other remailers. And by using other remailers in a chain before going through this final remailer, users don't have to trust the final remailer with any significant secrets. Some time back I proposed a variation of this idea: "second tier" remailers, which always forward their outgoing messages through one or more "first tier" remailers, which work like the current ones and take the political heat as a result. Second tier remailers would be very safe to run and it would be rare that a sysop or supervisor would get a complaint about the remailer's activity. Hal

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H.E.A.T. SEEKING
by Sandy Sandfort 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Bummer! WWOR, here in the New York area, pulled a fast one on me. They rescheduled Acapulco H.E.A.T. from 18:00 to 15:00 without so much as a "by-your-leave." But as Mr. May will tell you, I'm one of the list's perennial optimist. There are no problems, only opportunities. If you saw the show in question, my loss may be your gain. That's right, I asking you to post a "guest review" of this week's episode of Acapulco H.E.A.T. to the list. If we're lucky, we may end up with "dueling reviews." What was the bikini count? How many gun battles? What was blown up? How many computer/privacy/crypto plot devices were used? And most importantly, Fabio or no Fabio?; that is the question. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: Stealth remailers
by Matthew Ghio 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hal <hfinney(a)shell.portal.com> wrote: > Some time back I proposed a variation of this idea: "second tier" > remailers, which always forward their outgoing messages through > one or more "first tier" remailers, which work like the current ones > and take the political heat as a result. Second tier remailers would > be very safe to run and it would be rare that a sysop or supervisor > would get a complaint about the remailer's activity. ftp cs.cmu.edu cd /afs/andrew.cmu.edu/usr12/mg5n/public/remailer get ghio.cp-remailer.tar.gz gunzip & untar Change the following line in the readheaders.c, in the block_addr function: if (match==1) address[0]=0; to if (match!=1) address[0]=0; Your blocked.addresses file is now a pass-addresses file. Put the email addresses of other remailers in the file. You now have a stealth remailer. Now, EVERYONE should go do this RIGHT NOW! No more excuses for not running remailers... :)

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Re: H.E.A.T. SEEKING
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > SANDY SANDFORT > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > >C'punks, > >Bummer! WWOR, here in the New York area, pulled a fast one on >me. They rescheduled Acapulco H.E.A.T. from 18:00 to 15:00 >without so much as a "by-your-leave." > >But as Mr. May will tell you, I'm one of the list's perennial >optimist. There are no problems, only opportunities. If you saw >the show in question, my loss may be your gain. That's right, I >asking you to post a "guest review" of this week's episode of >Acapulco H.E.A.T. to the list. If we're lucky, we may end up >with "dueling reviews." > Wheeeeeep! Wheeeeeeeep! HEAT ALERT! HEAT ALERT! Wheeeeeep! Wheeeeeeeep! :-) Happily, the local affiliate has left it at it's "regular" time (midnight!), so I'll be glad to help fill in the slack. I'll send the stuff to you, if you like/don't mind, so you can merge it with any others (or edit to taste :-). Dave Merriman - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)metronet.com for PGP/RIPEM public keys and fingerprints. Unencrypted Email may be ignored without notice to sender. PGP preferred. Remember: It is not enough to _obey_ Big Brother; you must also learn to *love* Big Brother.

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On the crime bill and remailers
by hughes＠ah.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Even the crime bill doesn't apply _ex post facto_, meaning anything newly illegal under the crime bill wasn't illegal before it. In particular, any discussion about remailers, discussion which has already happened and which might be construed as conspiracy for a newly illegal action, cannot now be subject to the terms of a new bill. Even more in particular, any discussion of remailers that has already happened is perfectly safe. And as for me, I don't plan on shutting up now. Eric

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Data Havens
by dfloyd＠runner.utsa.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I know this may be getting off track on this list, but it may be worthwhile. I was exploring the concept of a "data haven" which, to my knowledge, a place whose location is unknown to its users, but via anonymous remailers, files can be stored and retrived from it. I am going to look into writing a script or program that will allow people to store items using a passphrase or their PGP key, and retrive and delete the files on demand. Here are my problems though: 1: I am clueless about Perl, and not that great with C. 2: One must have to "hide" behind a VERY TRUSTABLE remailer, one that does not go down all the time, and one that accepts PGP encoded mail. 3: Would hiding behind one remailer or two be secure enough? There is a problem, unlike simple remailer chaining that people need to be able to E-mail the script. 4: A need for verifing that the mail got to the DH successfully since data errors do occur, and sometimes networks truncate mail packets. (Compuserve is notorius about this, so is Fidonet). 5: A way of making verifing that the user is who (s)he claims to be. (PGP, IDEA, or a passphrase) 6: Multiple security levels, so files cannot be retrived even if one's PGP key is compromised (user settable) 7: How will files be stored? Will folders and directories actually be made, or will they be all stored in one place with wierd names (to prevent name collisions) and one file be the index? Will there be user names or UID's? 8: There will need to be a way to tell if the DH is up or not. 9: How will PGP keys be stored and indexed? One would not want their files mailed in the clear. (How would I mail files if the user cannot use PGP? have a user settable password, and use crypt?) 10: How would people be able to trust a DH? Data Havens, by definition must be _very_ reliable, yet in a secure location to prevent unauthorized access of the files. What bothers me is DH's starting up and either croaking unexpectably or being places for Bad Guys (TM) to be able to snarf unsuspecting people's files. Perhaps a reputation based system? 11: How would a DH turn away files because the disk is full? 12: Would integrating DigiDollars with a DH be a good idea? (For secure storage of your files, we charge $1 DD per month per meg, and .01 DD per transaction.) What would the DH do with the files if they are not paid, or double-spending occurs? I will be working on a command set that one can use for sending and retriving files to and from the DH, as well as an authication system that can support PGP, DES (SunOS style), or crypt (yes, laughable security, but some people cannot use PGP at work). I think I will use perl for eventually writing this, but I know nothing about perl, so will have to print out a manual or two and do some work on my linux box... As per my previous posts, I am very clueless, but If I can get a decent data haven script working, it will be worth all the flames :-). Once the script is written, all one has to do is install the script, and ping a Penet type remailer, then post the anon remailer address, and Voila' a DH now exists. I apologize for the length of this post, but there are a lot of questions and problems in making a stable, usable data haven. - --- Finger dfloyd(a)lonestar.utsa.edu for PGP key, and please use it when mailing me. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.1 iQCVAwUBLntxFXDkimqwdwa5AQEE0gP+P+8sjma3rDkrxhZOBRam7/0v6lsUG0e9 fvtUsLHKAYaB8f6cCUUxwtpwhrI/9TPeh7QoQnEcHlhDO1kV46X9kA1n04hhJpXb Rx+BWSNaLHB3tynaXkN0lTIR/r6CGs+zKvc8BOJpLHSL7ajowmXs1C9Z8Lf4IW+G 8IwG9TR/iec= =9Vg8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Acapulco H.E.A.T. Auxilliary Review
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Well, here we go, sports fans - an alternative review of Acapulco H.E.A.T. In this weeks' episode, the plot was that an Iranian freighter had gone down in the waters off Acapulco - with stolen Russian U-235 aboard (enough to make Iran a Nuclear Power). The heavy (with an atrocious generic Slavic accent) was trying to recover said uranium for sale to Iran ($50M price tag - keep it in mind). Our Fearless Team was assisted by a world-famous salvage diver. Since nearly all the "action" took place underwater (duh!) at 17 fathoms (102 feet to you non-Navy/sailing types :-) the bikini count was inordinately low. Ditto on gun battles. Ditto on explosions. Ditto on crypto/computer/privacy - the closest we got was a database search of typhoon patterns. No Fabio. There *was* a brief flurry of goodguy/badguy underwater WWF action, but considering that their alleged bottom time for the dives was 25 minutes (any diver confirmation out there?), it not only didn't last long, but wasn't terribly productive. Toward the end, the H.E.A.T. team succeeded in recovering the stolen uranium; interestingly, it appeared to be contained in a single box, approximately 2' x 18" x 18" - what with shielding, etc, I don't know that there was $50M worth inside. Something to look forward to: next week, the team goes to Panama to deal with an Evil Drug Lord. From the preview clips, it looks to have a fairly high bikini count - and they appeared to be some very nice bikinis, indeed :-) Dave Merriman ----------------------------- Disclaimer: I'm not a reviewer, but I play one on the Internet. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)metronet.com for PGP/RIPEM public keys and fingerprints. Unencrypted Email may be ignored without notice to sender. PGP preferred. Remember: It is not enough to _obey_ Big Brother; you must also learn to *love* Big Brother.

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RC4 - A response from RSA Data Security, Inc.
by schneier＠chinet.chinet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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