December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: T.A.Z. on Disk
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Fri, 20 Jan 1995 Mark Grant <mark(a)unicorn.com> said: Another source is via Nesta Stubbs inspirational home page: http://www.mcs.com/~nesta/home.html The NO address is referenced by Nesta, stylistically inimicably.

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And another thing (Hakim Bey)
by dmandl＠bear.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Also, the current issue of "Axcess" magazine (a slick cyber-zine) has an interview with Hakim Bey in which he mentions the cypherpunks as one of the few groups doing something worthwhile in cyberspace, or words to that effect. I'd post the short passage, but the copy emailed to me by the editor was garbled (heh). --Dave.

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Re: Remailer-on-a-CD
by jalicqui＠prairienet.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ed wrote: >If you look out on ftp.netcom.com:/pub/ec/ecarp/linux*, you'll find a bare- >bones Linux set that will install right in a DOS filesystem (it's a .ZIP file). >It's intended for SLIP clients, but it could easily be adapted for setting >up an "instant remailer". I saw your announcement on comp.os.linux.announce right after suggesting the "instant remailer" idea. (what timing!) Already got it, and plan on playing with it a little bit to see what fun we could have. (5-floppy remailer install, anyone?)

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Re: traffic analyzing Chaum's digital mix
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- From: Wei Dai <weidai(a)eskimo.com> > I have been thinking about the problem of traffic analysis of a > remailer. > [...] > The basic approach is to use this raw traffic information to calculate a > SCORE for each user of the remailer with respect to Alice, where the > user with the highest SCORE is the person Alice is most probably > communicating with. The idea is that with a Chaumian mix, every time > Alice sends a message to Bob there is always a pattern of Alice sending > a message to the mix, followed by Bob receiving a message from the mix > during the next batch. By counting the number of such correlations for > each user over a period of time, and taking into account the fact that > users who receive more messages from the mix will have higher numbers > of coincidental correlations, a SCORE can be calculated so that it would > be a good indication over the long run of the probability that a particular > user is communicating with Alice. This sounds like a good idea. It was very interesting to see your earlier result on the impact of dummy messages on this approach. Even a relatively small number of batches without dummy messages allows continual accumulation of incriminating information. I know that the Eurocrypt 89 proceedings had some articles on cryptanalyzing Chaum's mixes. My library has an excellent crypto selection but is missing this volume. Can anyone who has read this say whether there is anything in those papers that isn't obvious? Another interesting aspect of your analysis is the possible role of latency. Earlier I had thought of latency as primarily a way of doing mixing, an alternative or addition to batching which mixes messages without holding them up quite as much. But in terms of this in/out analysis latency could play a part in blurring the batch boundaries, adding more uncertainty and making the job of the analyst harder so he would need more data to establish his scores. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBLx/jixnMLJtOy9MBAQGFzwH/diYW0NSddacKyXGvsBc53FsR47R+4BSS pVprHz2LfpVl7U2FFAePMjZIGr5w24hA6nxn1brAO9v6JkVzgUabvA== =Vehs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: The Remailer Crisis
by jalicqui＠prairienet.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

James wrote: >Now this is OK if one wishes to run linux, and have a >remailer as one hobby in addition to the main use of the >box, but it is still a bit much to pay for a dedicated >remailer. > >Now I just do not like linux. Sure it is a great >operating system but it will not run codewright > >(Vi causes mental degeneration. Even though I detest, >loath, and hate vi, vi takes up so much brainspace that >I find myself issueing vi commands in editors that I >use much more, and vastly prefer to vi. Vi is evil.) > >Therefore there is no way in the world I am going to >waste a full internet connection and a PC on linux. Would it be better if you didn't have to dedicate your box to Linux, but just ran it every so often when you weren't playing with Codewright? If you had some store-and-forward mail system (like UUCP or Fido), you wouldn't need to say goodbye to DOS/Windows. I envision a setup right now where you could (if you wanted) type "remailer" at the DOS prompt to bring the remailer up. The screen would show a monitor-type program, with a menu option to "R)eboot" to DOS again (or you could just hit Ctrl-Alt-Del). Oh, and I'd probably package a much nicer editor than vi with it. Believe it or not, the state of Unix editors has progressed beyond vi (and even emacs). But that's assuming you'd need to pull up an editor at all...

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Crypto Anarchy/Libertarians in WSJ
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Fri, 20 Jan 1995 frissell(a)panix.com (Duncan Frissell) said: Duncan aptly points to the WSJ article, lots of c'punk topics mentioned. For email copy send blank message with subject: LIB_yep Meanwhile, here's a taste: Mr. Willis says the libertarian concept has particular appeal to people in the computer industry. "We have more members in one computer company in Seattle than in some whole counties, and that company is Microsoft," he says. Indeed, when Mr. Frezza, the Philadelphia computer consultant, last month launched a computer network of like- minded thinkers called DigitaLiberty, he was so overwhelmed with responses, especially from college students, that he had to temporarily shut down the group's electronic mailbox. One member of DigitaLiberty is Bruce Fancher, a 23-year-old who in the late 1980s earned brief notoriety as a hacker who broke into computer systems, though he was never charged with a crime. He is president of a computer communications company called Phantom Access Technologies Inc. "Being involved in computers or the Internet, you inevitably move toward being a libertarian," he says. "It is basically possible to keep all of your secrets from prying eyes, particularly the prying eyes of the federal government."

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Re: "Disclosing" private email
by Brett Turcotte 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Arthur Chandler posted to the list: > Greetings! I'd like to solicit your/our best thoughts on the following > message. San Francisco State University is considering a policy of > "disclosing" private email to outside agencies. I'm aware that such a > policy is yet another argument for using crypto; and the last cypherpunks > meeting gave some encouraging instances of "transparent" encryption > schemes that are not a hassle or a fear-barrier for newbies. > But if you could post or private email me your thoughts about the > legal/ethical aspects of "disclosure," I'd be much obliged. > I've put a few of my own concerns at the end of the enclosed quote. > It is probably a CYA move on the part of the University....if someone at SFSU is plotting the overthrow of our (or any other) government, engaging in espionage, child porn, etc. and using their Internet account, SFSU admin probably wants a way that they don't get held liable. However, my view of this is that is sucks. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > >From: "Deirdre C. Donovan" <deirdre(a)mercury.sfsu.edu> > > > >I am rewriting the information handouts which we here in San Francisco > >give out to our students when they apply for Internet access accounts. > >The issue with which I am struggling is one of privacy. I have heard of > >universities (anecdotally only) where the administration reserves the > >right to read E-mail. Here, we are leaning more toward something like the > >paragraph below, which is taken verbatim from an Indiana University draft > >document. > > > > IU computing centers will maintain the confidentiality of all > > information stored on their computing resources. Requests for > > disclosure of confidential information will be reviewed by the > > administrator of the computer system involved. Such requests > > will be honored only when approved by University officials > > authorized by the [President] of the campus involved, or when > > required by state or federal law. Except when inappropriate, > > computer users will receive prior notice of such disclosures. > > > > I'm uneasy about the chain of "prior notice": > > 1) Does this policy give university administrators the power to read > private email before the decision is made to "disclose" it to outside > persons or agencies? > It would have to...otherwise how would they know if they needed to disclose it. > 2) Does this "prior notice" mean "We're going to do it" or "We plan to do > it, and if you disagree, let's discuss it before we release it"? > >From their perspective, prior notice would probably mean they tell you before they do it. While I don't have experience specifically with SFSU, it seems as though large organizations tend to do whatever they please. > 3) What constitutes "inappropriate"? > > Probably anything that is involved in an active criminal investigation. > Note that any thing in this message is just my opinion, and most assurdly could prove to be different when exposed to the real world!! Brett Turcotte turcotte(a)io.com

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IBM Contra Beltway
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Duncan or others may give a more elegant report on the Clipper debate here in NYC last night. My pleasant surprise was to see the IBM rep, William Whitehurst, far outpace the inside the beltway types, EFF's Daniel Weitzer, the White House's Michael Nelson, FBI's Kallstrom and ex-NSA Stewart Baker, as well as the local urbane handsome attorney-mathematician moderator, Albert Wells, who baby-talked the suits through the arcana. Mr. Whitehurst showed more intelligence about crypto -- domestically, politically, economically and politically -- than any of the others. No flash, no preening, just hard-nosed reports on what's happening, and what's not, due to USG cupidity, with the international spread of the heinous munition. He said industry is impatiently waiting for the USG to cooperate or get the fuck out of the way. Well, not quite, but close. The others seemed entranced by the domestic political morass. Kallstrom recited the oft-riden horse-threats, some miscreant clapped, and he said, "child pornographer". All laughed or winced or stared in pin-stripped disbelief at the disrespect shown. Mr. Weitzer recited that the crypto genie is out of the bottle. Kallstrom said over my dead body or something like that, glowering at the crowd. The dapper man in front of me pulled up his sock to show his ankle holster. Protecting the nation's chief protector against high-criminals. I ran out before getting plugged "accidently".

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Cone order?
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Are these two stories related? Associated Press reports on 1/20/95: >Hewlett-Packard Co. has been awarded a $672 million contact to build a >computer system linking 20,000 terminals for the military, Sen. Bob Smith >announced. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It was previously reported: >From rsalz(a)osf.org >Date: Thu, 19 Jan 95 14:25:01 -0500 >From: Rich Salz <rsalz(a)osf.org> >To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com >Subject: Re: Cone of silence update > >---------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------- >Date: Wed, 18 Jan 95 21:03:02 -0500 >From: burton(a)het.brown.edu (Joshua W. Burton) >To: silent-tristero(a)world.std.com >Subject: Cone of silence update [...] >GOVERNMENT'S SECRETS FLOW THROUGH AN INTERNET CLONE > >WASHINGTON - When the US intelligence community recently decided to >modernize the way it communicates, it did what countless other >government agencies, businesses and individuals have done over the >last few years: it turned to the Internet. > >But the regular Internet wouldn't do. For spies and other government >officials concerned about secrecy, that very public, very uncontrollable >global mesh of computer networks was too risky a place to do business. > >So the intelligence community created its own Internet. > >Dubbed Intelink and based on the same technology used to run and >navigate the original Internet, this new network for sharing supersecret >information---including satellite imagery and video footage---officially >began operating just a few weeks ago. > >When the bugs are worked out and a final system is in place, it will >allow analysts, policy-makers, military officials and soldiers in the >field to tap quickly and directly into classified information at the >Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon >and diverse other parts of the national security bureaucracy. [...]

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IRS "DataBase"
by Connie Sadler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In reference to the IRS database, I heard this announced on the radio this morning - that the database has existed for years and that it is being worked currently rather enthusiastically. The news announcer somewhat eggagerated the comment that followed which seemed to make clear the fact the we members of "John Q. Public" would NOT have access to these records to review or correct them. The DJ and others picked it up and talked about it afterwards and obviously did not approve. I believe that the IRS is exempt from many laws, so is this for real??? Digital Cash? Probably. Anonymous Buying? Wishful Thinking? Why not just get 10% tax from everyone and be done with it? Connie

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