December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

"Time" Magazine and "Future Shock" Author
by tcmay＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[I'm into my daily "blackout" of toad mail to Netcom, so am posting blind, as usual. If this article has already been posted, my condolences.] The January 23rd issue of "Time," this week's issue, features a cover story on talk shows, Limbaugh, Gingrich, and "HyperDemocracy." I haven't seen the physical issue yet, but have skimmed the Web version at: http://www.timeinc.com/time/magazine/magazine.html Point your browser at it and have fun. Lots of folks are flaming the article, in the usual newsgroups (e.g., alt.data-highway). Me, I'm as scared as "Time" is about "direct, electronic democracy," though perhaps for different reasons. On a related note, the article and sidebars touch heavily on the "cybergurus" who are advising Newt Gingrich on his journey into cyberscpace, notably Alvin Toffler ("Future Shock," "The Third Wave," "Powershift," etc.) and George Gilder ("Beyond Wealth and Poverty," "Macrocosm," lots of essays on the Net). As it happens, I spent some time talking to Alvin and Heidi Toffler at an interview last Friday in L.A.--they were being interviewed before and after me. Not enough time to really get into issues, and of course they did most of the talking (Heidi is especially opinionated, and had just been in a highly publicized battle with newage guru Arianne Huffington, spacey wife of losing candiate in California, Michael H.). Anyway, we talked about John Brunner (as you all know, Brunner's seminal "The Shockwave Rider," was inspired by "Future Shock") and his ideas. (And we all agreed that "Stand on Zanzibar" was his crowning achievement...even Shalmaneser admitted "Christ, what an imagination he's got.") Tidbits: * on digital cash: Heidi: "Oh, we're for it! Did you hear what I just told the interviewer?" (I didn't, as I was in the adjacent room. Later comments lead me to believe that neither of the Tofflers has a clear idea of what's going to happen with digital cash and crypto anarchy.) * on the NSA and the t-shirt I showed them ("Cypherpunks: putting the NSA out of business"): "Oh, no, we need a strong NSA now more than ever!" (What else would I expect? They view the NSA as the main bastion against terrorists plotting to blow up the World Trade Center. Alvin was generally more reserved and thoughtful. When I pointed out that the very hotel room we were in could be used to plot crimes, even nuclear terrorism, and that the solution to stop this would have to be an Orwellian regime of continuous monitoring, Alvin nodded thoughtfully, but Heidi just sniffed. I mention this to give a flavor, just a whiff, of what senior advisors to the most influential man in America are thinking.) * I gave Alvin a copy of my "Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities" paper. * My interview was pretty disappointing, by the way. Lots of sitting around, delays in getting my laptop hooked up to Netcom (outside calls had to be unblocked). The interviewer wanted memorable, quotable stuff from me, but I felt constricted sitting around and being expected to spout on cue. Maybe they'll get a few minutes of usable stuff.... (Print media is so much better. An interviewer can let the tape recorder run for hours, can edit the containing material of a quote, and can thus produce clear, coherent quotes. A video interview is more constrained in lots of ways, and offending gestures or rambling interjections cannot be easily edited out. As one example, at one point I naturally (to me at least) said something about "As we just saw...." Well, this made this quote unusable. And so it goes.) I was generally unhappy with the whole thing. Four hours to get there, two hours spend waiting around, an hour to resolve problems, an hour under the camera lights (being told not to move, to "use the mouse," to "tell us why cryptography is important," etc.), and five hours to get home. All for a few minutes at most on a t.v. show. Oh, the show is the BBC's "Horizons" science series, which may also get sold to U.S. outlets, etc. I think the title will be "The Information Bomb," and features segments on information warfare, a la Winn Schwartau's views, the Tofflers, some military planners, and--maybe--me. I don't have high hopes for my segment. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Cypherpunks list: majordomo(a)toad.com with body message of only: subscribe cypherpunks. FAQ available at ftp.netcom.com in pub/tc/tcmay

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"Disclosing" private email
by Arthur Chandler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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. ---------- 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? 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"? 3) What constitutes "inappropriate"?

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CDT, RSACi, and "public service" groups (1/3)
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 15:12:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> To: fight-censorship(a)vorlon.mit.edu Cc: chris_barr(a)cnet.com Subject: CDT, RSACi, and "public service" groups On Thu, 24 Jul 1997, Jonah Seiger wrote: > We do not believe ratings are appropriate for news sites or sites that are > geared toward public discussion of political/social issues (CDT has refused > to rate our sites with RSAC). Of course that hasn't stopped CDT from, as I understand it, proposing a "public service site" exemption to RSAC, similar to the "news site" exemption. Under such an RSAC-PS scheme, organizations defined as legitimate "public service" groups -- and only those groups! -- would be exempt from labeling each of their pages for violence, nudity, and so on. After all, if CDT wanted to label and the RSAC-PS scheme didn't exist, they'd have to cordon off the portion of their site with the Pacifica decision as inappropriate for children. The RSAC working group discussed "public service sites," according to RSAC head Stephen Balkam, during a conference call on July 10. RSAC-PS raises the same troubling questions as RSACnews: what is a "public service" group? Who decides? Is CDT? Focus on the Family? The fight-censorship archives? The Cato Institute? The Washington Post? The U.S. Congress? The Democratic Party? NAMBLA? Jim Bell's Multnomah County Common Law Court? The above is what I understand to be the case. I emailed CDT a week ago about this but haven't heard back. I'd appreciate clarification. -Declan

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UUNET Customer Liaison: USENET "netiquette" Reminder
by Perry E. Metzger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It would appear that UUNET does not consider themselves to be a common carrier any more -- they now claim the right to cut sites off for violating netiquette. .pm ------- Forwarded Message From: help(a)uunet.uu.net (UUNET Customer Liaison) Message-Id: <QQxzjt24313.199501191826(a)odin.UU.NET> Subject: USENET "netiquette" Reminder To: news-subscribers(a)uunet.uu.net Date: Thu, 19 Jan 1995 13:26:40 -0500 (EST) Because of recent improper use by users on AlterNet sites we are sending out this reminder to all sites currently subscribing to news. If you have not reviewed the accepted USENET netiquette with your users recently we strongly suggest you take this opportunity to do so. Before you or your users post to USENET, please take the time to learn the rules of the environment which you are entering. Doing so can make the difference between creating a good name for you and your company on the Internet or a bad one. Please read the postings contained in news.announce.newusers to familiarize yourself with the etiquette of USENET. This information may also be obtained via anonymous FTP at UUNET's archive (ftp.uu.net) in the directory /usenet/news.answers/news-newusers-intro.Z UUCP customers may obtain the file via UUCP. It is your responsibility to ensure that the users on your system are also aware of the proper guidelines for posting to USENET. Improper use of "netiquette", the guidelines of the USENET community, will be viewed as a violation of the rules of a network. This is in violation of your contract with UUNET/AlterNet and will likely result in your a loss of news posting privileges for your site. Tamara Bowman help(a)uunet.uu.net Manager Technical Support uunet!help UUNET Technologies, Inc. ------- End of Forwarded Message

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Re: UUNET Customer Liaison: USENET "netiquette" Reminder
by Rich Salz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> It would appear that UUNET does not consider themselves to be a common > carrier any more -- they now claim the right to cut sites off for > violating netiquette. Strange. First, they were never a common carrier: they went to some legal pains to get registered as an enhanced service provider. I don't know what the differences are, but when the first "Internet Porn" article by Joe Abernathy appeared years ago, Rick wasn't worried. He told me ESP was better then CC, but I don't remember why (perhaps it was no FCC regulation?) It's unclear how this new policy affects their ESP status. /r$

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Re: The Remailer Crisis
by david d `zoo' zuhn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

// Are there options for several machines to share a connection? (I'm // sure there are....). Someone who already has a connection may be // willing to host additional machines, which could share some of the // charges. Around here (in the Twin Cities) one can get a dedicated connection for $100/month without any startup fees. And of course one can set up a local network and use the machine with the modem link as a router. Having one of these dedicated lines, I'd be happy to host remailer-boxes at my site. Ideally, they'll be small & only require a network cable and a power cord. I'm also willing to seriously consider initiating remailer-accounts on my machine. If you'd be interested in a remailer account, drop me a line. -- - david d `zoo' zuhn -| armadillo zoo software -- St. Paul, Minnesota -- zoo(a)armadillo.com --| unix generalist (and occasional specialist) ------------------------+ http://www.armadillo.com/ for more information pgp key upon request +----------------------------------------------------

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Re:I have had ENOUGH of this government bullshit!!
by David Yaffe 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I'm Canadian, and I am really scared by what is going on in the States. If the US gooberment succeeds in banning/controlling crypto, how long will it be before it happens here. Does anyone know if the Canadi-humm gooberment is trying to do ban/control crypto? And to the person who wrote this I have one word: A-F*CKIN-Men! >Screw this. I have finally blown my stack over this bullshit governmental >crap. From this oint forward, I fully and completely make available, IN THE >U.S, the International version of PGP 2.63.ix. >If there are any cops, Feds, Spies, wops, spics, gigaboos, alternate >lifestyles, punks, crackers, crackheads, whatever other name calling terms, >I left out, want to stop me --- TRY!!!! This is bullshit people! We have >the inalieable right to full and total screcy, privacy, and personal >protection of whatever * W E * determine to be private information. The >government has gotten out of hand with this shit. If you are a member of the >F.B.I, C.I.A, S.S, N.S.A, X.Y.Z community and you don't like this action, >show up at my doorstep guns drawn. Cause you show up at MY door step, you'll >need them! That I promise! David. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBM9m01DoM1b3tdf0JAQGbTwP+O3SE9MjWYBGsSjhlk+9PhbNrKsstHgVH zG8kTfcAyAku5OEQt3bNGCbStsxiAGkYjhqT2G5i+cvdjSODMive5V2tquSjacz2 yn5GrEfGq4fUJbr1FuFN6xO+2xHSvjEVmMa5bHz8XOjDTP3NvGQUnhbcQC+YoLPi sa05zvnWd7Q= =axM8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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

17 Dec '03

>>The "Linux mavens" followed by the "black box" stuff sparked an idea... > >>package. To make it as easy as possible, I'd use the UMSDOS filesystem so >>that Linux could be installed on a DOS machine without any reformatting >>repartitioning, or similar headaches. > >>distribution already has) and some boot options, you'd have an "instant >>remailer" software package, able to transform any 386SX/4MB RAM DOS macine >>or better into a Linux-based remailer site, complete with aliases, loggng > >>So, am I dreaming, or does this sound viable to y'all? > >OK, let's ponder the minimum hardware necessary, >possible minimal configuration (Intel/clone based): > >(1) Case. >(2) Power supply. >(3) Motherboard/CPU and 4mb RAM. >(4) Hard drive w/ controller. >(5) modem card. Add "standard serial port" here, for reasons I'll get into in a moment... >(5) No monitor, keyboard, floppy, or video card. > (a) would require some "umbilical cord" connection to initially > set up from another PC. > (b) need to operate on "umbilical", direct and uucp modes. The "umbilical cord" here could be a standard serial port; this could be used in several ways. In addition, Linux has the ability to do TCP/IP through the parallel ports (using a LapLink-style protocol), so that could possibly work as well. There are a few options here: Reuse the monitor, keyboard, etc. for each installation. Go ahead and throw in the floppy, and set up the Linux kernel on the floppy to use the serial port as the console instead of the monitor/keyboard. Connect your second PC using the PLIP (that's the parallel port IP stuff) protocol. On the second PC, one would run a program that wouls telnet to the first PC and run the install program, which would run via NFS on the PLIP line. >I am just thinking out loud here, but the hardware could be damn >cheap (sub $500). You can find old 386 boards with 4mb right on >the board (no SIMMs) for next to nothing (the decreasing popularity >of 30-pin SIMMs makes this a surplus store reality, as nobody >wants to bother to strip out the RAM chips anymore). As far as price, I've seen 386SX motherboards run for $99. At a going rate of $50 per MB of RAM, buying a used MFM disk and controller for, say, $40 (I had the option of buying a junk box full of stuff, including two 20MB drives and a 10MB, for $100), some cheap $10 everything-board, a $70 14.4 modem, and a power supply at $50 (here I may be way off), that adds up to... $470. Not a bad guess! And this assumes you pay new prices for the motherboard, RAM, multiport, modem, and power supply... Also, if you wanted to splurge, you could opt for a few more MB of RAM and a CD-ROM drive. With our recently pressed "Cypherpunk Toolkit" CD-ROMs :-) and a boot floppy, you wouldn't necessarily need to install anything at all; the Linux kernel could store site-specific info (entered the first time you booted up via a cute user-friendly interface) on the floppy and load it to a RAMdisk, mounting the CD-ROM for all the rest of the interesting stuff. On multipurpose systems (you only use the computer a few hours per day and run the remailer using some store-and-forward system the rest of the time), this wouldn't take up any hard disk space, and your remailer could conveniently disappear with a simple Ctrl-Alt-Del and the slam of a safe door. ("But officer, all I have on my hard drive is DOS and Windows. See for yourself! I don't even have PGP here...") You know, the more I think about this, the more ideas pop into my head. I'd better quit before I get dizzy... What if the site-specific stuff on the floppy were encrypted... or the kernel... ? Could we use Matt Blaze's CFS...? Store the site-specifics on a data haven for backup... with auto-download on bootup... notebook remailers in car trunks using RadioMail or POP3 that have no single physical location... dynamic remailer configuration (download your IP address and alias info, etc. from the Remailer Server)...? STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF!!! There; that's better. Maybe I'll play around this weekend and try building a minimal Linux distribution (on what hard disk space :-). Then again, maybe I won't, so don't be bashful to play around on your own!

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Internet World Magazine
by jml＠wizard.synapse.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This month's issue of Internet World Magazine deals primarily with internet security. I'm am not going to review everything in the mag but I'll list the table of content: Better Safe: Danger lurks on the Info Highway. You must take precaution to reduce your riks. By Dave Taylor and Rosalind Resnick Getting Cryptic: Phil Zimmermann's PGP gives you powerful encryption to keep your messages safe from prying eyes. Read all about it. By William Stalling. (Introductory article about PGP. Nothing we, here, don't already know) Securing the Enterprise: Connectiong your corporation to the Internet can be a security nightmare. Firewalls are the main line of defense. By Alton Hoover (An overview of Firewalls, application-layer gateways and token-based authentication schemes) Beyond the Firewall: The latest firewall technology not only detects intruders, but strikes back. By Winn Schwartau (Very interesting article. Here are some quotes to wet your appetite: Wouldn't it be nice if a computer system attacked from the Internet responded to the attack by striking back at the intruder? This is exactly what Sidewinder's implementation of type enforcement does.....It will detect the intrusion immediately....As soon as a violation occurs, a silent alarm is activated....sidewinder can be configured to react in any number of ways, once an attack has been detected...it can shut the intruder cold...(or)...it can invoke a mechanism that would record all the information from whence came the attack....By luring the attacker into a false sense of security, the hacker would continue trying to break in, unaware that every step was being recorded... Cashing In: As Internet commerce expands, a host of companies are vying to establish their system as the basis for cyberbanking and credit-card transactions. By Lisa Morgan Business Browser: New versions of Mosaic with built-in encryption promise to keep your transactions safe. By Richard W. Wiggins Unlawful Entry Crackers can feasts on your data if you fail to plug your leaky Unix system By Aaron Weiss (Five Ways to crack a Unix System) It's Alive: Although the furor has subsided, reports of Clipper's death are greatly exaggerated. The government's controversial eavesdropping effort lives on. By Steven Vaughan-Nichols Building Trust The chief executives of Trusted Information Systems -Steve Crocker and Steve Walker- talk about encryption, CyberCash, Clipper, and more. By Jeff Ubois. All in all a rather interesting mag. Check it out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ wizard(a)alpha.c2.org Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Re: The Remailer Crisis
by frissell＠panix.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 01:14 AM 1/19/95 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote: >* I favor separating the "account that remails" from the "owner of the >site," as I have argued in vain in the past. (Example: a willing site >gives out or sells many accounts...each is legally separate, and each >must be legally challenged. My longer posts dealt with this.) I offer to pay for and operate a remailer account on any system that will have me. Do we have the software yet to run a remailer out of an account? >It's time to get cracking on this crisis. The Cable companies may come to our rescue. Even old fuddy-duddy Cablevision is going to be offering connections this year. If those connections are characterised merely as physical connections, that could offer legal protections. My contrib for now will be to draft an all purpose response letter to respond to civilian and official complaints concerning remailer abuse. DCF - -- You know, Private Idaho brings PGP signing within about 10 keystrokes in any Windows mailer. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLx6vUYVO4r4sgSPhAQFjzgP/ZVAonNBsZpMCg/tlWohvC7ratGTZWtCz /WXC+Z1PAKhigdz8VhWhkPXLj/jYba1LUMBI9giNP6T9TSxMw6jjzgvs44tw4LF4 X0pF/lv9OS7GKcPw//4FyB1FKgfwpJA+mHr8gqlLrxREXv3qpHfKRuu/ecg5urmS jwiSSKsjZhU= =Aoq4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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