December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Cryptography Technical Report Server (CTRS) needs submissions!
by David J. Bianco 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Earlier this week I posted a note bemoaning the lack of a good searchable repository for cryptography related technical reports. In short, I volunteered to develop, host and maintain such a system as a service to the rest of the Internet. The system is ready, now the fun part begins... The Cryptographic Technical Report Service needs *YOU*. Specifically, it needs your technical reports (or other technical documentation). In order for CTRS to become popular, it needs to have a useful amount of data to search, so I'm currently soliciting submissions for the database. Contributing to CTRS is pretty simple. Detailed information can be found at <http://porthos.itribe.net/CTRS/FAQ.html#contribute>, but basically all that's required is to send <ctrs-submissions(a)itribe.net> a refer-format bibliographic entry which contains a URL pointing to the paper's real Net location. I'll index the entries (prettyprinting them, of course), and CTRS users will follow that URL if they want to retrieve the paper. If you don't have a URL, I'm willing to host as many papers as I have resources for. Full details can be found at the URL above, but please note that I'm only able to accept papers submitted by the authors (or copyright holder). If you'd like to know more about CTRS, you can check out it's beta version at <http://www.itribe.net/CTRS/> (<https://www.itribe.net/CTRS/> for the SSL version). The database doesn't have much (anything) in it right now, so I'm relying totally on submissions in order to build the collection. I firmly believe that CTRS can provide a useful service to the cryptographic community, so I hope you will all consider contributing your reports to CTRS. If you have questions, please check out the CTRS FAQ <http://www.itribe.net/CTRS/FAQ.html>. If you still have questions, feel free to contact me at the email address below. ========================================================================== David J. Bianco | Web Wonders, Online Oddities, Cool Stuff iTribe, Inc. | Suite 1700, World Trade Center | email: <bianco(a)itribe.net> Norfolk, VA 23510 | URL : http://www.itribe.net/~bianco/

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PGPlib-0.3 is available
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text To: pgplib-announce(a)cryp.to Subject: PGPlib-0.3 is available Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 11:10:03 +0200 From: Tage Stabell-Kulo <tage(a)ACM.org> Reply-To: tage(a)acm.org Sender: pgplib-announce-owner(a)cryp.to Precedence: list -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- This mail is sent on the list pgplib-announce(a)cryp.to. It is a (very) low voulme list where announcments are made when new versions of PGPlib becomes available. Please find below a copy of the file README distributed with this new release. Instructions on how to obtain your own copy of PGPlib is included. === Welcome to version 0.3 of PGPlib. This code has not yet matured enough to reach version 1.0. However, this is probably the latest development version before 1.0. Detailed instructions for how to obtain this fine code can be found at the end. Experienced users will know that ftp://dslab1.cs.uit.no/pub/PGPlib.tar.gz is the place to look. What is here for you ===================== PGPlib is a library that lets you generate (and manipulate) PGP packets without having to run PGP. In particular there is code to generate and understand the following types of PGP packets: - Data can be signed with a private key; - Data can be encrypted with a public key; - Data encrypted with your public key can be decrypted; - You can verify signatures on public keys and on buffers (files); - Convential encrypted (IDEA with Zimmermann's context sensitive feedback). The library can both read (decrypt) and write (encrypt) convential packets (in PGP format); - Armor. You can (de)armor a buffer or a file into a buffer or a file; - UserID packets are read and written in a variety of formats; - Literal with filename, mode, etc. You can create literate packages from files, or from buffers, and create files from literate packets; - Keys can be obtained from a database (which is provided) or by parsing keyrings. Keys can be kept in buffers or on files; - You can maintain a PGP public-key database (I use this library to maintain a database with ~40.000 keys). There is code to use DBM as supplied from Berkeley. A copy of DBM is included for your convinience. In general, PGPlib operates on buffers in order for you to use it in your applications. You will find included a small program that will (de)armor anything, a parser to parse PGP files (including decryption and so on), a shell to manipulate a keydatabase, a keyserver to run on top of such a database, a program to verify signatures on keys and/or files, a program to split keyrings in smaller parts and a program that will sign files for you. You will find all these (and more) in the PGPlib/applications/ directory. None of these uses PGP, the library provides all the functionality you need. What is not there for you ========================= - Sufficient documentation. I have written this library because I need it. In order to make life less hard for my students, I will have to provide some documentation. Possibly even on-line. However, quite a few manual pages are included. What you need ============= - Unix (for some definition of "Unix"). - You must have the SSLeay library as I have not implemented any cryptographic functionality; I hope SSLeay is a good choice. I did not major in mathematics and can thus not judge the quality of their work, although it looks solid (to me). I link with their version 0.8.1. I rely on SSLeay for many things, in particular their BIGNUMs, RSA encryption and IDEA. You can obtain your copy of SSLeay from: * ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL/ - SSLeay source * ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSLapps/ - SSL applications * http://www.psy.uq.oz.au/~ftp/Crypto/ssl.html - SSLeay Programmer Reference SSLeay is quite large and I only use a fraction of it. other hand, SSLeay seems to be well maintained and their crypto-library might very well shrink or become more modular as time passes. Also, work is in progress to strip out from SSLeay only thise parts that PGPlib uses. Porting ======= PGPlib has been developed on NetBSD 1.2. It should compile smoothly on FreeBSD, HP-UX and Linux. If you port PGPlib to some other platform, I would be greatful if you would send me patches. In particular, PGPlib does not compile on SunOS 4 and 5, your assistance would be valuable. Regarding PGP ============= - Work is underway to ensure that PGPlib is compliant with RFC1991. - The name PGPlib might not be final as I respect Zimmermann's "ownership" of the acronym PGP and he might not like that this library uses the name PGPlib. Thus, this library might become libRFC1991.a or something. - PGP-5.0 is available. It has several new features, such as a multitude of encryption methods. PGPlib might evolve to support them all. Your Feedback ============ Your feedback is solicited. Peter Simons <Peter.Simons(a)gmd.de> has created a mailinglist for PGPlib. To subscribe, send an e-mail to the address pgplib-dev-request(a)crypt.to and write the command SUBSCRIBE into the BODY. If you want to be subscribed under a different address than the one you're mailing from, you can also use SUBSCRIBE yourname(a)somewhere.else to do the trick. To post to the list, send an e-mail to pgplib-dev(a)cryp.to as usual. There is also (very low volume) list pgplib-announce(a)cryp.to. Subscribe by sending an e-mail to pgplib-announce-request(a)cryp.to with SUBSCRIBE in the body. Both lists are archived at URL:http://www.cryp.to/ If you write a nice application based on this library (the ultimate feedback :-), please feel free to send it to me and I will include it in the next release; Where to get PGPlib =================== ftp://dslab1.cs.uit.no/pub/PGPlib.tar.gz This file is a link to the latest version. If you obtain the file PGPlib-0.3.tar.gz instead, note that a name conflict will occur when you unpack the file (see below). What to do ========== First, uncompress PGPlib, which should give you the file PGPlib.tar. When you unpack PGPlib.tar you will get three files in your CURRENT directory. These files are README : This file PGPlib-0.3.tar : The library PGPlib-0.3.tar.sig : My signature on the above. Verify the signature by running pgp PGPlib-0.3.tar.sig and verify that PGP prints Good signature from user "Tage Stabell-Kulo <tage(a)cs.uit.no>". When you unpack PGPlib-0.3.tar, tar will create the directory PGPlib-0.3 and place all the files within it. Unless you run SunOS, running the script configure should produce Makefiles that you can use to compile everything. To verify that everything compiled correctly, you should run the script applications/test.sh. Before you do so, you must edit away the code that asks you to read this file. COPYRIGHT (yum, yum) ========= The library and included applications are all available under "Berkeley style" copyright terms. Basically, this means that PGPlib is FREE for commercial and non-comercial use, and that you can do almost anything with the code. The only thing you can not do is to say that you wrote it. See the file COPYING for details. //// Tage Stabell-Kuloe | e-mail: tage(a)ACM.org //// /// Department of Computer Science/IMR | Phone : +47-776-44032 /// // 9037 University of Tromsoe, Norway | Fax : +47-776-44580 // / "'oe' is '\o' in TeX" | URL:http://www.cs.uit.no/~tage/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: latin1 Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.2, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAwUBNAPu4wMzZ6tx+9RpAQEM2AP/Sp7REQHWSRGhscblUpX7CPoin6h9Lo5Y D0CzO/7cm9kqXqB3oQ3xPhchEcXzJEyABz8mehoAm6+D3Bqus1aI1JkcD6mVmoUE yQ3QU0X0jXdN84xcjTn6cyQx3iuu17MQ5/WKoLh2Ftq5DzBGATGlmGN6O6TRUbAW SZrCOQDN54M= =XjX4 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PGP Library Announcements --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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Re: fast modular reduction (proof?)
by danisch＠ira.uka.de 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> In the following pseudocode, B is the radix in which the numbers are > represented (2^32 for a 32-bit machine), n is the length of modulus in > blocks, U is B^(n+1) mod the modulus, X is the number to be reduced, k+1 > is the length of X, and Y is the result. > > 1. Y = X > 2. For i from k down to n+1, repeat steps 3 and 4 > 3. Y = Y - Y[i] * B^i + Y[i] * U * B^(i-n-1) > 4. If Y >= B^i, then Y = Y - B^i + U * B^(i-n-1) To do a proof I rewrite the algorithm: n = len(modulus) // modulus < B^n Y = X // obviously Y = X mod modulus K = B ^ (n+1) - U // U = B ^ (n+1) mod modulus, // therefore K = 0 mod modulus // furthermore K > 0 for (i=len(Y)-1 ; i>n ; i--) { F = B ^ (i-n-1) * K // F > 0 // F = 0 mod modulus Y -= Y[i] * F // Y shrinking, but // Y still the same mod modulus if ( Y >= B^i ) Y -= F // again shrinking, // still the same mod modulus } This shows that Y was shrinking, but is still equal to X mod modulus. To see whether Y really shrinks enough: Y = sum(i=0..len(Y)-1) Y[i] * B^i In the step Y = Y - Y[i] * B^i the highest block of Y is deleted (what could be done fast by reducing the length of Y). Now Y < B^i Afterwards the same value mod modulus is added to keep Y constant: Y = Y + Y[i] * U * B^(i-n-1). Y[i]<B -> Y[i]+1 <= B U < modulus < B^n , therefore U < B^n -> (Y[i]+1) * U < B * B^n = B^(n+1) -> Y[i] * U < B^(n+1) - U -> Y[i] * U * B^ (i-n-1 ) < F Therefore after doing the addition Y < B^i + F Check of the last step: 0 <= U < B^n therefore B^n < B^(n+1) - U <= B^(n+1) Therefore in every loop B^(i-1) < F <= B^i -> Y-F < B^i Partial Correctness: Y = X [ Y = X mod Y < B^len(X) ] K = B ^ (n+1) - U [ K = 0 mod B^n < K <= B^(n+1) ] for (i=len(X)-1 ; i>n ; i--) { [ Y = X mod , Y < B^(i+1) ] F = B ^ (i-n-1) * K [ F = 0 mod , B^(i-1) < F <= B^i ] [ 0 <= Y[i] < B ] [ Y[i] * F = 0 mod , 0 <= Y[i] * F < B^(i+1) ] [ Y >= Y[i] * B^i -> Y >= Y[i] * F ] Y -= Y[i] * F [ Y = X mod , Y < B^i + F (reason see above) , Y >= 0 ] if ( Y >= B^i ) Y -= F // again shrinking, // still the same mod modulus [ Y = X mod , Y >= 0 , Y < B^i ] } Last i was n+1, therefore Y = X mod , Y >= 0 , Y < B^(n+1) This is not enough, Y < B^n is requested. The loop can't be done once more because i-n-1 would become negative. k+1 was the length of X, and n the length of the modulus. You walk down from k to n+1 . In every loop you remove one block of the number. This means you have to do len(X)-len(modulus) loops. In the pseudocode you do only len(X)-len(modulus)-1 loops. One loop seems to be missing. This may be a result of confusion whether your Y starts with Y[0] or Y[1]. I do understand the algorithm as: n = len(modulus) U = B^n mod modulus K = B^n - U // = 0 mod modulus, 0 < K < B^n Y = X for(i=len(X)-1 ; i>= n ; i--) // squeeze Block i in Number Y { // Y < B ^ (i+1) F = B ^ ( i-n ) * K // F = 0 mod modulus Y -= Y[i] * F // subtract Y[i] * B^i, now Y < B ^ i // add the equivalent Y[i] * B^(i-n)*U <= F // now Y < B^i + F if ( Y >= B[i] ) Y -= F // now Y < B^i } Last i was n, therefore Y < B^n , Y = X mod modulus , but perhaps still Y >= modulus. Ok, algorithm understood and agreed (after modifying the loop counter). Any more agreement or disagreements? Hadmut

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Re: Socio-Economic Cults (Re: Cypherpunk Cults)
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- "John Smith" <jsmith58(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >You know, there's a reason people started using judges to help settle >disputes. There's a reason the common law evolved with the idea of >proportionate response and restitution. This kind of >shoot-everybody-I-think-harmed-me approach just doesn't work. Nobody >knows what someone else will consider harm worth shooting over. If >somebody disagrees that a shooting was justified, they'll shoot back, >and feuds begin. See "The Machinery of Freedom" by David Friedman. (Sorry if this is old hat to you or other members of this list.) Friedman's legal arrangement works something like this: Say you kill somebody. If you want to protect your life from revenge, you immediately report what you did to three people nearby who were uninvolved. This keeps you inside the legal system. Afterwards, a compensation arrangement is made between your protection company and the protection company of your victim. This occurs within the legal framework. If you do not comply with the compensation agreement, you are outlawed. Outlaws receive no legal protection. You can change protection companies anytime you like. Improbable? This is very similar to the Icelandic legal system of circa 1000 C.E. Friedman claims that this worked quite well for many years. Icelanders at that time were murderous pirates, yet in Iceland they murdered each other much less frequently than Americans do now in the United States. The compensation payments were typically nontrivial - on the order of twenty years of income. Some interesting aspects of medieval Icelandic politics: no prisons, no standing army, no single political leader, and no taxes. Just Another Cypherpunk - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQENAzQDR/QAAAEH/16yrVPsexy8QB9PVBBWYEYwdurA9pNjqPc+zSnxtt51d74Z nLsjzHUdGReLFjRM6RjG95STr6Wn0fhOPGMujNyxkV3fbgGxdupQ+9S/3eET0sNO 0NMn4YbOrHec9+3sq3J/Lb1Ds+Me4ioeWWMkgQ2MfpDbhajih0ZL6A6w6s3hkars qPxZy5/Wf3ahQ7M2M5IoujVj6G1PczaU/cUoGNg9HkB+PVZNEyVOkZfVoS3lTywx 6GfpLOEssQI8sprYr4qEOVP7TaevuGPGW5r1uTvqnbKGPxbqCrpVTEG620JwupLA OEAda0052TdZqJXm8T84aUrICloG/7WvDgiTIEUABRG0Jkp1c3QgQW5vdGhlciBD eXBoZXJwdW5rIDxmb29AZGV2Lm51bGw+ =as72 - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBNAOj5v+1rw4IkyBFAQGszQf9EOsOO6rZkboCTGes5IcM/co7Os5Gb7Ri YhQQTVAsMD7zQ30rrEmx9pMCPtgkaF9zesG0/EUVOogbPiv1LagFJOLOiKjiqHrI sA48lGAYB5YBBBNtGMP7kMIJDc5M7QY7RoyHzsCGKaymsFFQNzpOCmKmTIKC3LD5 jQ6a9hBe9xwzzXkS0j+sdI62zjv/2Fco2DK8PkHFOINi3+GsKLZrVSelC6htEi7W amBdi2clNYcawoc9yGXOiL6233e5/A+Usrh9fQ74EPAErSkz8EjI13Yd8+HOes8U 6CMm+SWdCGKpp6Z9DN7B6i5ybLoNek3pl5mHWGfbZOtJ8nIblrMPRA== =DiLK -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Govt seeking emergency stay in Bernstein case
by John Gilmore 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 13:43:36 -0700 From: Cindy Cohn <Cindy(a)mcglashan.com> Hi all, Just talked to Mr. Coppolino at the Justice Department. They are filing ex parte emergency stay papers tonight or tomorrow morning to try to stay the impact of Judge Patel's ruling pending appeal. He'll be faxing me the documents when they are ready. He said yesterday that they would seek to stay the "export" of crypto source code, although not the teaching or discussion (whatever that means). Cindy A. Cohn [Update: We received the faxed papers about 8PM; images of them will be in a sub-directory of http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/Bernstein_v_DoS/Legal/ on Thursday morning. The Bernstein team is opposing their motion; our filing will also be on the Web site. It was reported by C|Net that the government is "appealing"; this is not true. They are asking that Judge Patel to "stay" her own ruling -- hold it in abeyance -- to prevent Prof. Bernstein from exercising his First Amendment rights before they can appeal. But they have not filed an appeal, or formally indicated their intent to do so. --gnu]

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Re: How tO MutAte anD TaKE OVer tHe WOrld
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:28 AM 8/27/97 -0700, Alan wrote: > >On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, luciana luciana wrote: > >> I'm very interested on that. >> could u let me know anything else? > >I picked up a copy of the book a while back. > >Some of the sidenotes and off-storyline events are interesting and mildly >humorous. The ending was incredibly unbelievable and anti-climatic. (The >tacked on end-of-the-end was just plain stupid.) The main characters >spend little time involved with the revolution they claim to be bringing >about. > >It does make mention of the Cypherpunks. (One of the authors was involved >in the very beginning, but I have not seen her post here any time in my >memory. (She claims to have coined the term "Cypherpunk".)) > >If you want Cyberpunk/Cypherpunk fiction, there are much better choices. >Neal Stephenson (sp?) is a good choice. ("Snow Crash" and the short story >"Hacking the Spew" are two of my favorites from him.) > >If you do get "How to mutate...", wait until it comes out in paperback. >Then you won't feel as cheated as I did when i finished the book. > >alan(a)ctrl-alt-del.com | Note to AOL users: for a quick shortcut to reply >Alan Olsen | to my mail, just hit the ctrl, alt and del keys. > The author who claims that is St. Jude, AKA Judith Milton, she is a former UNIX programmer who is also absent from the MUT home page. The book itself is a little large for a paperback version, you have to read the warning about the broken "scrapbook" method and remember that these people are humor writers. I grabbed a copy probably 3 months after it was released. The dust cover is very flimsy, has it improved? There is a web site dedicated to the book, HTTP://www.onworld.com:80/MUT The site is a shambles right now but I was told that they were going to try to salvage it after the holiday weekend. When it is working it has a nice web-based bulliten board, with some threading, and way too many "how do I hack" questions. There are a few good gems and some people very much in line with those here, however. It's worth a visit, but give it a little while and see if they get the bulliten boards back on line. It is over 18 months old, I have been visiting it off and on for about a year.

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Bell
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I read that Jim Bell is now in jail, in part over his A.P scheme. Reading it reminded me that I had vowed to return at the end of the summer. Could someone fill me in on any details that the article might have missed or ommitted?

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Re: heart
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:55 PM 8/26/97 -0700, Kent Crispin wrote: > >On Mon, Aug 25, 1997 at 02:20:33PM -0700, Tim May wrote: >> And I think that most of what passes for "help" actually does more harm >> than good, at least in the longterm. > >There is no doubt that sometimes "help" does more harm than good. >There is also no doubt that sometimes help does more good than harm. >Platitudes like these don't really give one much real guidance. > >> For example, sending food aid to Third World countries sounds noble and >> good. But most studies show the real effect of such aid: it destroys the >> local infrastructure of food production and distribution. (Imagine being a >> poor Somali farmer bringing your grain to market, and seeing tons of U.S. >> grain being distributed freely...it wipes that farmer out, and his future >> years of production are gone, even after the U.S. food aid is also gone.) > >So the farmer can die of starvation later rather than earlier. The >problem is not with help, per se -- it's with the specifics of how the >help is implemented. What do you think the farmer would chose -- get >some food now, and take his chances with his food production at a >later time, or die of starvation immediately? > >A current case is North Korea. Of course if you give them food it >will help perpetuate an evil government. On the other hand, if you >don't give them food, lot's and lot's of people would die. Tim's >answer is that you might as well let them die, rather than perpetuate >the government that enslaves them. Others aren't quite as >cold-blooded as Tim. > I would venture to guess that very limited sustanence and more active aid to the faltering industry would be more effective. Then again I have heard of brand new tractors rusting in the field because the local farmer couldn't or wouldn't adapt to it, so even aid to the industry can be ineffective. >> For example, the welfare system. Who can argue that it produces persons >> unable or unwilling to take the available jobs, mostly at or near minimum >> wage? When a welfare mother of two or more children can collect the total >> equivalent (direct payments, food coupons, tax exemptions, day care) of $15 >> an hour, it would be foolish for her to apply for a job at Burger King for >> $6.35 an hour, and then have to pay almost that amount to put her kids in >> some day care center. The longer she is out of the job market, the worse it >> gets. > >The welfare system obviously has all kinds of problems. It's not >easy giving help without creating dependency. That doesn't mean it >can't be done. > I like the idea of reviving the WPA. We have enough county and state jobs that need to get done, and do not require any formal training. Some can even be done by the blind, deaf, mentally handicapped, and wheelchair bound individuals who might actually jump at the chance to pull thier own weight. I believe the idea is called "right to work", but I could be misinformed. >> For example, saving people from their bad choices in life. When we force >> insurers to cover those who do stupid, formerly uninsurable things, or when >> we force the providers of legally and freely-chose substances (tobacco, >> hamburger, guns, breast implants, rock climbing equipment, etc.) to pay for >> the stupid actions of others, even if only imagined, costs rise and choices >> narrow. > >Yep. I don't see this as the same category of trying to help people, >though. Rather, I think this example points out the end result of >our adversarial legal system. Pretty soon every revolver will have a warning label. "Warning, misuse of this tool can result in injury and death. By handling this item you consent to bear all legal responsibility reguarding its use." Never mind that such should be implied.

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Re: Monkey Wrench into the works
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Myron Lewis" <mrlewis(a)keygen.com> > We invite you and everyone on the list (Please send this invitation out to > them as the info on how to do that didn't come through.) to visit the KeyGen > webpage, www.KeyGen.com and learn about Automatic Synchronized > KeyGeneration(TM). If you think you recognize it as something you have seen > before, you're close but wrong. What one man knows, nobody knows. What two men know, everyone knows. Shared secrets just don't work. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: Socio-Economic Cults (Re: Cypherpunk Cults)
by Sean Roach 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:23 AM 8/27/97 -0400, Anonymous wrote: > >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > >"John Smith" <jsmith58(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >>You know, there's a reason people started using judges to help settle >>disputes. There's a reason the common law evolved with the idea of >>proportionate response and restitution. This kind of >>shoot-everybody-I-think-harmed-me approach just doesn't work. Nobody >>knows what someone else will consider harm worth shooting over. If >>somebody disagrees that a shooting was justified, they'll shoot back, >>and feuds begin. > >See "The Machinery of Freedom" by David Friedman. (Sorry if this is >old hat to you or other members of this list.) > >Friedman's legal arrangement works something like this: Say you kill >somebody. If you want to protect your life from revenge, you >immediately report what you did to three people nearby who were >uninvolved. > >This keeps you inside the legal system. Afterwards, a compensation >arrangement is made between your protection company and the protection >company of your victim. This occurs within the legal framework. If >you do not comply with the compensation agreement, you are outlawed. >Outlaws receive no legal protection. > >You can change protection companies anytime you like. > >Improbable? This is very similar to the Icelandic legal system of >circa 1000 C.E. Friedman claims that this worked quite well for many >years. Icelanders at that time were murderous pirates, yet in Iceland >they murdered each other much less frequently than Americans do now in >the United States. > >The compensation payments were typically nontrivial - on the order of >twenty years of income. > >Some interesting aspects of medieval Icelandic politics: no prisons, >no standing army, no single political leader, and no taxes. > >Just Another Cypherpunk I got something very similar from a friend who is much higher on the technological food chain than myself. He also told me that there was this big fair/trade-show/political rally that everyone attended. Once a year I think. That in addition to stopping by three houses to report the killing the killer had to report it at the next of these events to occur. It was also suggested that the compensation was a fairly fixed amount but that a person who could afford it and really didn't want trouble from the heirs of the deceased could pay more, thus suggesting that he considered the deceased to be more valuable than the average man. Sort of a post-mortem complement by the killer. Also, according to what I remember, the "protection company" was your extended family. Pay up or face the wraith of all the deceased's cousins, nephews, uncles, neices, aunts, maybe his kids. I would love to get more information on this, however, the friend who told me this much has left this little school for the larger waters of Oklahoma State University where he is in the engineering pod.

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