December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

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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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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Re: Keep Out--The Journal of Electronic Privacy
by John.Schofield＠f903.n102.z1.fidonet.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

rr> About "Keep Out": you might want to be more precise in your blurbs. As rr> things stand, I'm leery of trusting anything I might see in rr> your journal. rr> RSA is not broken, as far as I know. If you have verifiable details that rr> it has, that'll be quite a scoop. If you meant to say "the _factoring_ of rr> RSA-129," well, you should have said that instead. My apologies to the net. RSA is certainly not broken, and I was aware of that when this press release was written. My word choice was sloppy. In the article, the information comes from people I have interviewed who have direct, first-hand knowledge of the effort--people like Arjen Lenstra, who wrote the software that made the factoring possible. rr> > * An interview with Phil Zimmermann, including his thoughts on rr> privacy in the digital age, export controls on cryptography, the rr> copyright on RSA (the algorithm used in PGP), and information on his rr> struggle with US Customs over exporting PGP rr> A publisher, of all people, really needs to understand what a copyright rr> is. Note that we cannot copyright ideas, only our expression of those rr> ideas. Referring to a copyright on "the algorithm used in PGP" is rr> nonsense. Instead, PKP holds licensing rights to a system _patent_ on rr> using RSA to perform public key encryption. Again, I used sloppy language. And again, my apologies. This is certainly not the last mistake I will make. There will be errors in Keep Out. However, I will do my damndest to make sure Keep Out remains as accurate and unbiased as it can be. And when I make mistakes, I trust Cypherpunks to let me know about them, so I don't repeat the mistakes. It's a damn sure bet I won't be making these two errors again! --John Schofield -- : John Schofield - via mcws.fidonet.org - Public Access (213)256-8371 : ARPA/INTERNET: John.Schofield(a)f903.n102.z1.fidonet.org : UUCP: ...!cheshire!mcws!903!John.Schofield : Compu$erve: >internet:John.Schofield@f903.n102.z1.fidonet.org

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ADMIN: Test message
by hugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This should only be goin to the list maintainers. ||ugh Daniel

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ADMIN: Test message
by hugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Something is broken with the full list, and it seems that I have to waste everybodys bandwidth to figure it out... not good. My apologies. ||ugh Daniel Sometimes Postmaster hugh(a)toad.com

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(None)
by Jeff Gostin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

tcmay(a)netcom.com (Timothy C. May) writes: > And an even better solution is for folks to have their own private > machines and access to one of the cheap Internet service providers > springing up all around. Then they won't have to worry about their > corporations "snooping" in their e-mail files. Or restricting them > about using PGP or other crypto. Isn't Cleveland Freenet still giving out freebie accounts? If they are, that's a good place to start. > Having your own computer means never having to say you're sorry. That's why I have my own computer and net.access. I'm the only admin making silly rules now! :-) > (I fear laws telling corporations they *can't* snoop as much as I fear > Clipper. The reasons are obvious, to me at least, and I can expand on > this point if anyone's really interested.) Me too, don't worry. :-) --Jef -- ====== ====== +----------------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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(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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(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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