December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Internationalism no panacea
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Two recent news stories cast doubt on the principle that the international aspects of the nets will prevent governments from enforcing their laws "in cyberspace". One is the possible trade war between the U.S. and China over that country's continued support of intellectual property piracy, in video, audio, and computer software. Apparently the U.S. is very serious about imposing sanctions because of this problem, while China is threatening retaliation. It is quite amazing to me to see these two big countries going to the mat over "just bits" but as we know bits are big business now. Think of our recent discussions of putting data havens offshore. If the U.S. is willing to turn the screws on a nuclear power like China, how much protection will some dinky Caribbean country offer when people make Windows 96 and Jurassic II available for download for $5 ecash? IMO the trend is going to be toward international enforcement efforts, a general movement towards uniform information laws. The other story related to the idea that individuals can evade laws by moving from country to country as tourists. Apparently in the recent budget bill was a little-publicized change in the tax treatement of people who renounce their U.S. citizenship. (The change would be retroactive to last week and was kept quiet until then to prevent a surge of people leaving.) Since you earned all your assets as a citizen of the U.S., naturally when you leave the grasp of that country you will not longer get to take it all with you. Instead you will apparently have to pay capital gain taxes on some substantial fraction of your assets. The article I read went on to discuss the problems many countries are having with people playing citizenship games. The implication was that this may be just one step in a crackdown to close many of the loopholes that allow people to travel under one flag or another. My take on this is that human ingenuity is sufficient that there will always be new loopholes found, and that a sufficiently energetic and motivated person will probably be able to stay one step ahead of the enforcers. However, this will not be a lifestyle that can be turned into a cookbook; as soon as some trick became widely known, the loophole would be closed. So this is something which will be available to an elite but not to the masses. Hence I don't see "perpetual tourism" as something which will be a serious threat to government power. My views are somewhat iconoclastic for this list; I don't see cryptography as bringing about a libertarian/anarchist state. I continue to believe that the best and only way to achieve freedom for the mass of people is to convince them that it is a good idea. A small elite can and will continue to be able to avoid many laws, and crypto will no doubt be useful to them. But IMO it is not going to change the shape of society. Hal -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQBVAwUBL0BQchnMLJtOy9MBAQGJaAH/WTtd0bYeqKy89AUOSaSdraxN7YNZ2z42 +rJCQH0NS8x3ILT8VT8XtSIuYltBGsQkPagUqYtn3vM/rp3ssPhr/w== =JFan -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Cypher_punks standards, again.
by M00012＠kanga.stcloud.msus.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Cypherpunks, Q. What do I mean, standards? A. A set of specifications that will allow encryption modules to be incorperated into receptacle encryption interface programs easily. The advantages of programs that comply with the CP standard might be illustrated with an example. Suppose Alice wants to use an interface program, say, GENPGP.EXE, to encrypt a message to Bob. Suppose that GENPGP is an interface encryption receptacle program that allows users to add and use their own encryption modules of choice. If Alice were a command line freak, she could type: GENPGP -RSA_encrypt_the_session_key \ -random_session_key_source ISA_Johnson_Noise_ADC \ -chainsession \ -blowfish -rounds 18 -keylength 2048 \ -idea \ -3descfb \ -compress pkzip \ -plain_text_file topsec.doc -receipient bob Or, suppose Alice is a GUI freak. In this case she could use her entcrypt_lab schematic interface to design and save her encryption scheme for topsec.doc, and simply drop the icon for the doc into her block diagram's input icon. Bob, in either case, is still able to use his own program of choise, GNU_safe_mail, to automatically decrypt Alice's message to him, so long as Bob has incorperated all of the latest modules availible. Q. What are some advantages? A. There are numerous advantages. Some programmers are good at writing user interfaces, and others are better at implementing algorithms. Currently, many programmers of the second type make all sorts of encryption algorithms available, but these are not always easily understood by programmers of the first type, and more importantly, coded algorithms are not easily incorperated into existing programs. Another problem that may arise is that existing programs, and programs that may come out in the next year or two, may gain widespread use (e.g. PGP.EXE), but may at some time in the future become practically worthless, for example, if widely used interface programs rely on encryption algorithms that are discovered or perceived to be weak. If a standard such as the one I am proposing is released and gains acceptance, more programmers will comply, and this will allow the users of their interfaces to painlessly adapt the interface programs. More importantly, such interface programs that make use of CP complient encryption modules will allow users to encrypt as insecurely or securely as their parinoia dictates. Also, as new encryption algorithms are invented and coded, hackers who like to optimize may take the extra step and make their code CP complient. And command line Alice will be able to type: GENPGP -add_module BlowFish.mod Q. What are the disadvantages? A. At first blush, one disadvantage is options, like PGP's -m, (for your eyes only) are not practical for a standard such as the one I am proposing. But then again, even using the command: PGP -em susan.doc is little more than a suggestion to the recepient of the letter to not keep the plaintext around. Q. Why should we? A. If we don't, IEEE or some other organization is bound to, and IEEE seems to be getting more politically correct as the years pass, and this doesn't seem to be compatible with the purpose of an encryption module standard. Consequently, I believe that such a task should be initiated and taken to completion by a renegade group such as the cypherpunks, by committe if possible, with the hopes that government moles will not weaken our effort. Mike Morgan -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBMNBuvbwEeVpjJyiBAQEi5QP/T9FmRS2nwWq0lr9iT+cQWMEMV1++Hpf3 u0OWnYYFlRjgJPxTa5vT549tgGeRGV+CB+TI6N3Aj96+LTWb34qS5Y0W2x7R5FEg +XnACQRs9G5qIK4Zn114KlWXyx7Mj0QQCeo4h86gISdrWkfSJiYkwEoGgzcf6ocF gp45YZLznnk= =cMFk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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URL for Crypto Hearing Transcript
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We've put the dox at: http://site108240.primehost.com/hir-hear.htm (97K hearing transcript) http://site108240.primehost.com/crypto-law8.htm (11K Reno letter)

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(DBWORLD) Massive Digital Data Systems
by nwosuck＠harpo.wh.att.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Birds of a Feather Session on the Intelligence Community Initiative in Massive Digital Data Systems To be held in Conjunction with the 1995 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data in the Crystal Room at The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California on Tuesday, 23 May 1995 from 7 pm to 9 pm ******************************* Massive Digital Data Systems (MDDS) will require effective management, retrieval, and integration of databases that may be heterogeneous. Achieving this concept of massive intelligence information systems will require new technologies and novel approaches for data management. While several advances have been made in database management technology, the complexity and the size of the database coupled with the unique needs of the Intelligence Community (IC) require the development of novel approaches. The MDDS Initiative has been started by the Community Management Staff (CMS) of the IC to identify the data management issues and challenges as well as to develop possible solutions for managing massive databases., The purpose of the Birds of a Feather Session is to provide an overview of the MDDS program, solicit input toward developing a testbed /framework for the initiative, and to have technical discussions on novel methods for managing massive databases. Tentative agenda for the session is as follows: 1. Overview of MDDS Initiative 2. Overview of MDDS Research Projects 3. Discussion on testbed/framework 4. Discussion on techniques for massive database management Information on the MDDS Initiative can be obtained from : http://www.nml.org/other_programs/mdds/mdds.html For more information contact: Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham K329, The MITRE Corporation, Burlington Road, Bedford, MA 01730 email: thura(a)mitre.org; Phone: 617-271-8873; Fax: 617-271-2352 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dbworld alias reaches many people, and should only be used for messages of general interest to the database community. Requests to get on or off dbworld should go to listproc(a)cs.wisc.edu. to subscribe send subscribe dbworld Your Full Name to unsubscribe send unsubscribe dbworld to change your address send an unsubscribe request from the old address send a subscribe request from the new address to find out more options send help ------------------------------------------------------------------------FOOTER-

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(DBWORLD) MDDS Session Time Change
by Bhavani Thuraisingham 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

5/15/95 5:17 PM MDDS Session Time Change Birds of a Feather Session on the Intelligence Community Initiative in Massive Digital Data Systems Held in Conjunction with the 1995 ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data in the Crystal Room at The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, California on Tuesday, 23 May 1995 from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm ******************************* Massive Digital Data Systems (MDDS) will require effective management, retrieval, and integration of databases that may be heterogeneous. Achieving this concept of massive intelligence information systems will require new technologies and novel approaches for data management. While several advances have been made in database management technology, the complexity and the size of the database coupled with the unique needs of the Intelligence Community (IC) require the development of novel approaches. The MDDS Initiative has been started by the Community Management Staff (CMS) of the IC to identify the data management issues and challenges as well as to develop possible solutions for managing massive databases., The purpose of the Birds of a Feather Session is to provide an overview of the MDDS program, solicit input toward developing a testbed /framework for the initiative, and to have technical discussions on novel methods for managing massive databases. Tentative agenda for the session is as follows: 1. Overview of MDDS Initiative 2. Overview of MDDS Research Projects 3. Discussion on testbed/framework 4. Discussion on techniques for massive database management Information on the MDDS Initiative can be obtained from : http://www.nml.org/other_programs/mdds/mdds.html For more information contact: Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham K329, The MITRE Corporation, Burlington Road, Bedford, MA 01730 email: thura(a)mitre.org; Phone: 617-271-8873; Fax: 617-271-2352 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dbworld alias reaches many people, and should only be used for messages of general interest to the database community. Requests to get on or off dbworld should go to listproc(a)cs.wisc.edu. to subscribe send subscribe dbworld Your Full Name to unsubscribe send unsubscribe dbworld to change your address send an unsubscribe request from the old address send a subscribe request from the new address to find out more options send help ------------------------------------------------------------------------FOOTER-

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Re: Num Rat
by hardin＠cyberspace.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Young posted: > He's Got Their Number: Scholar Uses Math to Foil Financial > Fraud > > By Lee Berton > Mark Negrini, an assistant professor of accounting at St. > Mary's University in Halifax, is trapping tax cheats, check > forgers and embezzlers with an obscure theory known as > Benford's Law. Formulated by physicist Frank Benford in > 1938, the law lays out the statistical frequency with which > the numbers 1 through 9 appear in any set of random > numbers. > > Mr. Negrini applies the law to the numbers on suspicious > checks or tax returns. A series of legitimate check amounts > or tax write-offs will be genuinely random, while those > dreamed up by a human will not. If the numbers on the > checks or tax returns do not obey Benford's Law, they can't > be random, and "someone is taking the company to the > cleaners," Mr. Negrini says. I just looked @ the front of a M.O. computer catalog & the numerals in the prices are anything but random. A very heavy concentration of eights (8) & nines (9), apparently this company is more into $508.98 (color inkjet printer) & $38.98 (well known game s/w) than the old late night TV standby of "JUST $19.99!". Of course, this is because of excessively documented ad nauseum human psychological tendencies that salescritters, who set at least the lsd's of price, have been aware of for millenia. I'd bet, that 5(five), 8(eight), & 9(nine) are significantly more represented across the board in prices (& thus in amounts for checks & tax write offs) than than their random distribution by Benford's Law or more well known tests for randomness would suggest. Has Mr. Negrini factored this into his program? I guess the lesson is do a few pgp make__random's & convert a few of the hex numbers to dec digits for the lsd's the next time one does creative expense reporting. tjh

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Re: FW: Edupage 7/9/95 (fwd)
by dmandl＠bear.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Perry E. Metzger" <perry(a)imsi.com> said: > Mark Contois writes: > > Would that this were so. There seems to be a burgeoning number of web > > sites spouting neo- (and not-so-neo-) Nazi disinfo. Check out > > > > http://204.181.176.4/stormfront/ > > > > and some of the links provided therein. > > 204.181.176.4 is "stormfront.wat.com". > > I suspect that something is amiss (i.e. faked) about the following, > but wat.com shows up as [etc.] That may be (I wouldn't be surprised if they registered their site with an innocent-sounding name to avoid trouble), but I know that those guys are definitely on the net. I've got their URL at home and I take a look at their stuff now and then, just to keep abreast of what those half-wits are up to. There are at least a few bona fide Nazi/White Power sites out there. --Dave. -- ******************************************************************************* Bear Stearns is not responsible for any recommendation, solicitation, offer or agreement or any information about any transaction, customer account or account activity contained in this communication. *******************************************************************************

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Obscura down for a few days.
by loki＠nately.UCSD.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Obscura is suffering from HD troubles. The backups have failed so I am going to have to rebuild it from scratch. This means that the web page and remailer will be down. All mail to the remailers will be lost. I have changed the name server so I will still get mail sent to loki(a)obscura.com. -Lance -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMALFV1Vkk3dax7hlAQHPvAP6A7IWAczKJ3eimrWUgh0F5DMEr7oSpAXg lJJCC2VV4g9lIDD8C2wob1L6sEZwlDnUt6dMpbKBiT3aksSmBqnvMpe/BlaTd2zk ZRGCYHUZkx3aOSp9iZevRhjI0HEdm+g2+PwjJcMyPn5EUmz5vnPI9exOt9VGyJV1 eSCCC3Ngz9k= =ahD6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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A more sophisticated form of moderation.
by Michael James Gebis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

With all the recent traffic about if moderation is the future of the net, it seems like an appropriate idea to get some brainstorming on some better forms of moderation. Specifically, I was thinking along the lines of a newsgroup where only selected individuals are able to post, but anybody who wants to can read the group. However, the "selected individuals" could fall into several categories. You could have one or very few "selected individuals" and the newsgroup would work almost exactly like the current moderated groups. You could have many "selected individuals" who may have been selected by proving that they read a FAQ or some other minimal criteria, which could theoretically cut down on newbie fever. You could have several dozen "selected individuals" who are selected by some means (a committee? a vote? a "trusted individual who selects more individuals") and have an unrestricted talk between these individuals. This way, you have a newsgroup where these experts can discuss topics in an unrestricted way. I'm thinking along the lines of the "boards" in _Ender's Game_, where a newsgroup is somewhat similar to a newspaper. Once the reporters get hired, they have a lot of freedom on what they can report about. There are a lot of details to be worked out, including: 1) Can such a system work? Are there protocols which can guarantee authentication on a large distributed system like news? I'm assuming that there would have to be some sort of cryptographic authentication to prevent wide-scale abuse. 2) Is such a system desirable? Is the current "anybody can post anywhere if they know how" system better? Which one promotes cypherpunk goals more? Can I anonymously prove that I am a "selected individual"? Remember, I'm considering this a brainstorming session, so I'd like to hear any comments you may have. -- Mike Gebis m-gebis(a)uiuc.edu Mean people suck. http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/m-gebis/

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Moby ints [Re: Num Rat]
by Jim Gillogly 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> pjm(a)ionia.engr.sgi.com (Patrick May) writes: > This invocation of the name of the diety reminds me of a question > I've been meaning to ask. Is Knuth still a good source of algorithms > for implementing large integers or do more recent books exist that > contain superior methods? While Knuth is now and forever the algorithm deity in general, Arjen Lenstra is as close to godhood as one can get in moby ints these days. I'd look at the Lip package Lenstra wrote; it's used in his state of the art factoring programs. It's available with masses of PostScript documentation from ftp.ox.ac.uk. Studying the code and docs might remind you of some issues that aren't obvious... and, of course, you might decide you don't need to write a moby int package, but could just use his library. Jim Gillogly Hevensday, 18 Afterlithe S.R. 1995, 18:48

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