December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: I Like ASCII, not MIME and Other Fancy Crap
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim wrote: [various reasons why television is a bad thing because it can't be received on a radio deleted <g>] >Me, I think I'm just going on a personal crusade to simplify things. >Computers should not be making my life _vastly more complicated_. Amen. They also should enable people to communicate in more and better ways with more people. MIME, HTML, Maven (phone calls over the net for free), CU-SeeMe (video over the Net for free,) and similar tools are first examples of how these goals might be achieved. I love email, but I would also like to be able to see and hear from some of the friends I made all over the world. >One last note: I read my mail on-line, interspersed with reading >NetNews. Although I have Eudora, and of course use it, I don't use it >for routine work (for one thing, it may take 20 minutes to download my >mail, so I tend to use it when I'm heading out to do something else, >or to go to sleep, etc.). So all the "solutions" that involve using >Eudora are not my cup of tea. That's just the way it is. Twenty minutes for your mail? How fast a modem do you use? As for solutions, the only solutions there are and ever will be involve you getting of that terminal server. The evolution of the Internet will make ASCII terminals obsolete. If it hasn't already done so. Let's take that poll of what people use. I am curious. Happy netting, P.S. If anybody here on the list wants to know how to turn their regular shell account into a SLIP account, email me for info or read alt.dcom.slip-emulators. Please don't ask about it on the list. -- Lucky Green <shamrock(a)netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Verifying RC4
by gnu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> "RC4" as used herein, is used to identify an apparently reverse-engineered > algorithm recently posted to sci.crypt that claimed it was compatible with > the RC4 sold by RSA Data Security, Inc. (RSADSI) and/or Public Key Partners > (PKP). Although the reaction of RSADSI and the press indicates that the two > algorithms are the same, I could have missed something. I suggest that someone apply for expedited export permission for some small piece of software that uses the "apparent reverse-engineered RC4". Tell them that you want to export crypto software containing RC4 on the 7-day plan. The State Department will send you a set of test-vectors which you can use to prove that you're really using the real RC4. If you pass, and are given export permission, then I guess the rev-eng version is the real thing. Be sure your keys are 40 bits or less (only for purposes of the test export; I don't recommend short keys for any other purpose). Full bureaucratic details are at ftp://ftp.cygnus.com/pub/export/cjr.kit. Search for "test vector". This info is also reachable from my Web page on crypto export, http://www.cygnus.com/~gnu/export.html. Please email me a full copy of any CJ that you submit, so I can add it to the Web page (along with the eventual response from the gov't). John Gilmore

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Re: I Like ASCII, not MIME and Other Fancy Crap
by merriman＠metronet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>One last note: I read my mail on-line, interspersed with reading >>NetNews. Although I have Eudora, and of course use it, I don't use it >>for routine work (for one thing, it may take 20 minutes to download my >>mail, so I tend to use it when I'm heading out to do something else, >>or to go to sleep, etc.). So all the "solutions" that involve using >>Eudora are not my cup of tea. That's just the way it is. > >Twenty minutes for your mail? How fast a modem do you use? That, or how much email do you get? I can d/l the email I found this morning (17 messages, mostly this list) in under 2 minutes. > >Let's take that poll of what people use. I am curious. PC Eudora, Trumpet, the WS_* 'suite', Mosaic. Ran Chameleon for a while, but got tired of GPFs, hiccups, etc - finally concluded that it ate dirt, and scrammed it. Dave Merriman - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Finger merriman(a)metronet.com for PGP public key and fingerprint. PGP encrypted Email welcome and encouraged. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. No?

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Re: pointers to IETF drafts
by snyderra＠dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:20 PM 11/18/94, Perry E. Metzger wrote: >The standard thing in these cases is to say "There are some neat RFC >drafts on security in ftp://hostname/names; you might be interested." At which time someone will go "Gee, what are they about?" The announcement, in my opinion, *is* pointer. What would be unacceptable is the posting of said document with a note saying "Here's something I thought everyone should read" >I have already gotten three other copies of each of the three messages >associated with Ran's new IPng drafts because every security mailing >list on earth seems to operate on the "just forward everything" >premise. More aren't needed. Were they relavent to each of the lists? I feel they are relavent to this list. You're the one on multiple security lists. Surely it falls on you to cope, not for the list to cope around you. Bob -- Bob Snyder N2KGO MIME, PGP, RIPEM mail accepted snyderra(a)post.drexel.edu PGP & RIPEM keys on key servers When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

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Re: working group draft announcements
by snyderra＠dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 6:32 PM 11/18/94, L. McCarthy wrote: >Speaking of which, can anyone explain why my usually-MIME-compliant mail >reader (ELM 2.4 PL22) pukes on the fancy parts of all these draft >announcements ? Personally, I find MIMEd messages very annoying because I'm >forced to hit RETURN (not just "any key") several extra times for each >message. {Luckily, it's clear that I'd never have time to read any of these, >so they get tossed in the bit bucket almost immediately.} I would suspect because your copy of metamail, which elm's MIME handling requires, isn't configured correctly. It works fine for me in elm, and in Eudora. If you don't like the way elm calls out to metamail, you can set the NOMETAMAIL environmental variable (under csh, "setenv NOMETAMAIL"), and elm will show the messages without calling metamail (which means you lose MIME capabilities, but if that's what you want....) The optimal answer is a better MIME reader, but...... Bob -- Bob Snyder N2KGO MIME, PGP, RIPEM mail accepted snyderra(a)post.drexel.edu PGP & RIPEM keys on key servers When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

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UPS sorters love PGP
by Philip Zimmermann 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was just sorting through my backlog of paper mail after returning from a 3-week trip. I found an envelope sent to me via United Parcel Service from George Washington University. Addressed to Philip Zimmermann, Boulder Software Engineering, at my address. On the back of the outside of the envelope was a scrawled note, "UPS sorters love PGP". :-)

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currency strips "salted" for neutron activation analysis?
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Re. detectability of the funny plastic threads in recent U.S. currency issues: I think it would be interesting to try neutron activation analysis on currency. To do this, you would bombard the currency with neutrons and then look at the activated gamma spectrum to see how much of what odd trace materials might be present. I don't have any specific knowledge that the threads are "salted" for easy identification but this technique would work very nicely and has been used elsewhere. I used to have ready access to a californium source but don't any longer. Anybody else out there want to give this a try? Brad D.

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Re: I Like ASCII, not MIME and Other Fancy Crap
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim wrote: >I really do feel we're on the edge of chaos here. Every day that >passes I get more junk mail, more MIME mail, more > 80 column mail, >etc. Yes, the solution is for me to either filter this junk out >or to jump out out to the bleeding edge myself. Re-reading the above paragraph, you know that in the long tern there is only one answer. >But many people won't. We risk losing our lingua franca in a >transition to chaos. There are a lot of new tools out there. Some will survive the test of time, others won't. But if anything, there is less chaos today than there was two years ago. Two years ago, nobody used URLs. They typically described the location of a file as such: "You can get the file at ftp foo.bar.com, its in the pub/mac directory, I think it's called wonder.sit." So you hit ^Z to get out of tin, type ncftp, type all the stuff above, hope it is right - it probably isn't - find the file, get it, type "quit", type sz wonder.sit, get up to fetch a cup of coffee instead of just sitting there and staring at the screen while the file is being transfered to your machine, drink the coffee, ten minutes later you type "fg". Back to tin. Neato, isn't it? Today, most posters on USENET have learned to use URLs and it has become easier to do so, because more and more programs supports them. This is how the above exchange works today: I read my news with Newswatcher. Someone mentions the new hot piece of software at ftp://foo.bar.com/pub/mac/wonder.sit. I option-click anywhere on the URL. Newswatcher passes it to Anarchie for retrieval in the background. I read the next post. I say, burn all the VT52 terminals of this world to fuel the fire of progress. Toss the 2400 bps modems in there, too. I know that few folks will feel sad over the long overdue end of the ASCII era. I can, of the top of my head, name five friends with computers who, after seeing the VT100 display of a shell account, refused to have anything to do with the Internet. "You got be joking. I am not dealing with *this*." Now years later and after much evangelizing and MacWeb demonstrations, they are finally begining to show interest. The dialog was always the same: "I won't have to do any work in one of those terminal windows, will I?" -- "I promise, you won't." -- "Good, because I hate this ASCII garbage." It typically takes me 1-2 hours to install and configure everything on their machines. Yes, it is true, I have spent many hundered hours obtaining the knowlege in the first place, but I am willing to share my knowledge with anyone who asks. As for my friends, they all have been very happy with their new tools. None of them has so far expressed any interest in the telnet client that I have included. Happy netting, -- Lucky Green <shamrock(a)netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: Cash
by RGRIFFITH＠sfasu.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> According to Treasury figures as of Mar 31, 1993, there were still 335 $10,000 bills out, 345 $5,000 ones, and 169,645 $1,000 bills (counting FRN only). >I though all the $10,000 had been accounted for. Are there really some >left running around? Any idea how much one is worth? Last time I heard >of a $1000 going to auction, it sold in excess of $7000. >-- >America - a country so rich and so strong we can reward the lazy > and punish the productive and still survive (so far) > >Don Melvin storm(a)ssnet.com finger for PGP key. >

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SPOOF SENDERS?
by nobody＠jpunix.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>More remailers (maybe one that 'spoofs' real identities to hide the fact the it is a remailer?) with transparent PGP (download the whole keyring to the Great idea, at least on the face of it. Those in charge have a history of assuming that if you want privacy and low profile then you must have something to hide. If I use remailers to obtain privacy / low profile, why would I want to use a remailer that advertises itself as such? Rather, I'd prefer a nice little quiet one so my messages would blend in with all the rest of the usenet junk. I hate the five lines of disclaimers. I'd pay for my remailing if I could (and will when the feature becomes available), but I'd take my business to the discreet firm of _Chaemeleon Remailers S.A._ - not to all the _Remailers 'R' Us_ that advertise their business in neon on top of my messages.

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