December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Digitial Money [SHAMELESS PLUG FOR BOOK]
by cman＠communities.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Leslie Lundquist, a co-worker of mine here at Electric Communities, together with Dan Lynch from Cybercash & Interop fame, has written a book called _Digital Money: The New Era of Internet Commerce_. It should appear in stores "real soon now"; it can be ordered right now from any book store for $24.95. The book is intended as an overview of current and projected digital payment systems and commerce, and contains basic background information on the underlying technology. It is intended for the general reader: this is the kind of book a techno-weenie might buy for his or her manager to help them understand some of these issues. Note that this is a different book than _Digital Cash_, by Peter Wayner. I'm not in the loop on this, but this appears to be "one of those things" and not intentional on anyone's part. For more information, e-mail leslie(a)communities.com

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I resubmitted the CJR
by Raph Levien 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have been told by several people that I did it wrong. Apparently there are two addresses: one for mail, and one for couriers. The first time, I sent it by mail to the courier address. This time, I also sent a fax. From what I've heard, I should be receiving a tracking number within a few days. Also, for those who were wondering, the "Arlington, CA" address was merely a keying error. The actual envelope said VA. I will keep the list up to date with any further developments. Raph

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Diane Rehm Show just ended
by Carl Ellison 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

You just finished a show on terrorism (WAMU, 10-11am, 10/26/95). Thank you. Some of your callers said most of what I would have said and I found that pleasing, since I wasn't able to call in. However, there was a theme which kept coming up and which wasn't addressed specifically. You might hold it in mind for future shows on terrorism: The FBI representative was saying that the goal is to *prevent* terrorism, not just to investigate and prosecute crimes after the fact. I heard Director Freeh (on 10/19 on All Things Considered) say something similar -- that the FBI's job was to protect the people (which can be be translated into "prevent terrorism"). This seems to be a major problem and perhaps the source of the concern about civil liberties. Terrorism might be a product of an organized, identified group and infiltration of that group might enable the FBI to prevent acts of violence. Of course, the permission to infiltrate suspicious groups has been used in the past to justify infiltration of non-violent but unpopular groups like the Sanctuary Movement. However, many of our recent terrorist acts appear to be the result of individual actions -- not those of organized groups. [Unabomber, OK City, train derailment] Infiltration is out of the question in such cases. The only way to prevent such acts is to put the entire population of the US under surveillance -- an authentic instance of Big Brother from 1984. The conclusion to me is that we can not task the FBI with the job of prevention of terrorism. I suspect that we must insure that the FBI is formally and carefully restricted to the job of investigating and prosecuting crimes once they occur -- allowing the threat of almost certain prosecution to serve as a prevention -- rather than with the impossible job of prevention of such crimes. ------------------------------ Meanwhile, there was one question I had that no one answered: I didn't like history much as a student, but I vaguely remember other periods of domestic terrorism: bombings in the early 1900s, acts of violence associated with the labor movement, sabotage during WW-I conducted by German agents. There may have been many others. This seems to be a feature of life -- nothing recent, nothing special, frightening from its news coverage but not a serious threat to any one individual (because of the actual statistics around the threat -- comparing my chance of injury due to auto accident, plane flight or terrorist act (for example)). It would be interesting to know why we had the pause in terrorism during the Cold War -- or, for that matter, if we actually did. Could it be that the apparent return of terrorism is actually a perception rather than a fact -- as a result of shift in focus of the news media? - Carl +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Carl M. Ellison cme(a)acm.org http://www.clark.net/pub/cme | |PGP: E0414C79B5AF36750217BC1A57386478 & 61E2DE7FCB9D7984E9C8048BA63221A2 | | ``Officer, officer, arrest that man! He's whistling a dirty song.'' | +---------------------------------------------- Jean Ellison (aka Mother) -+

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MD5 and ITAR questions
by Simon Spero 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I can't remember the exact details, so could someone give me a quick refresher- which of the following are considered ok under ITAR? MD5 as a checksum keyed MD5 for authentication keyed MD5 as a stream cypher Thanks Simon --- (defun modexpt (x y n) "computes (x^y) mod n" (cond ((= y 0) 1) ((= y 1) (mod x n)) ((evenp y) (mod (expt (modexpt x (/ y 2) n) 2) n)) (t (mod (* x (modexpt x (1- y) n)) n))))

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[Dr. Fred] [FRED] (was: Re: Fred, Fred, Fred: Enough already!)
by Herb Sutter 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:51 10.26.1995 +0800, James A. Donald wrote: >At 11:58 AM 10/24/95 -0400, Robert Hettinga wrote: >> Can we please talk to Dr. Fred, the Poster Child of the Informal Fallacy, >> if we *really* have to, off line? > >Yes, please, will everyone please killfile Dr Fred. I am tired of seeing >things that are glaringly obvious explained in painful detail to someone >who is reluctant to understand them. At the very least, please put "Dr. Fred" or "[FRED]" in the subject line so my filter hits it ("Fred" alone is too general). Thanks. :-) Herb ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Herb Sutter 2228 Urwin, Suite 102 voice (416) 618-0184 Connected Object Solutions Oakville ON Canada L6L 2T2 fax (905) 847-6019

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Anonymous Account Help
by hroller 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I have been having problems trying to set up an account at alpha.c2.org. I have followed all the instructions but am still unable to get a reply or anything that works right. What I am doing wrong? This is what I have done so far. I am about to pull my hair out. I have been working on this for 2 days now. Anyway, 1. Created a Reply Block like this: Request-Remailing-To: hroller(a)metronet.com 2. I then encrypted it with remailer(a)replay.com's Public Key. I prepended it with the "Encrypted: PGP". 3. I then created the following message: From: hroller(a)alpha.c2.org Password: MyPassword Reply-Block: :: Anon-To: remailer(a)replay.com :: Encrypted: PGP -------Begin PGP Message---------- "The Encrypted Reply Block Message" ------End PGP Message------------- 4. I then sent it to "alias(a)alpha.c2.org". Then I wait. But never get anything from alpha.c2.org. I have gotten some anonymous messages from replay, but they are still encrypted so I don't know what it is sending me. Any help you can supply would be greatly appreciated. hroller

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Re: rejection of CJR
by Peter D. Junger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I happened to speak to Mr. Capilino at the Office of Defense Trade Controls this morning, and mentioned that the Commodity Jurisdiction Request for the T-Shirt had been returned and read him the message to that effect. He told me that that was the wrong address for mail, since it was used only for currier deliveries, and that they have stopped accepting even currier deliveries there since the Oklahoma city bombing. He suggested that those who want to apply for the Commodity Jurisdiction determination should call him at 703-875-7396. He will fax the current information on how to submit a CJR to anyone upon request. He did not say so, but I rather think he looks forward to getting the T-Shirt request. -- Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH Internet: junger(a)pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu junger(a)samsara.law.cwru.edu

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A real payoff of the export-SSL bruting.
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I know of two companies which are developing products incorporating cryptography. At both, the original plan was to distribute only a weak exportable version. Marketing & distribution didn't want to deal the hassle of stocking different versions, and worried that the export version would be seen as inadequate. Since the bruting of export SSL by the cypherpunk's key-cracking ring, this policy has changed. It is now clear that the exportable version can be cracked, and probably will be cracked, with all the bad PR that entails. Both companies now plan to release export and domestic versions. (Some overseas sales are better than none, and not everyone needs or uses the cryptographic capabilities). Speaking only for myself, Peter Trei ptrei(a)acm.org

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Re: [Noise] Perrynoia in the Comics
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 6:05 PM 10/26/95, Alan Olsen wrote: >At 08:13 AM 10/26/95 -0400, you wrote: >> >>Alan Olsen writes: >>> This has no real crypto relevence, but some anarchistic relevence. >> >>Alan; >> >>As much as I found the comment interesting, it probably belonged >>somewhere like libernet-d, not here on cypherpunks. > >I posted it on Cypherpunks becuase it is the only list I take where such >political views are even mentioned. I thought that people on the list would >enjoy it. I prefaced it with [noise[] so that people who would object would >skip over it. Evidently that disclaimer is not enough anymore. I found Alan's comment about the comics interesting, as even Alan's critic apparently did, and hardly harmful to the overall noise level. It gave in a short snapshot a vignette of "pop culture" views of surveillance. At less than 1% of the size of the latest EPIC crosspost to our list (or was it EFF, or VTW?) it hardly will affect the list in any significant way. Many of us have posted movie reviews, book reviews, even mentions of Alison Armitage sightings. The list is more than just about Java and Netscape, though newcomers may not know this. --Tim May Views here are not the views of my Internet Service Provider or Government. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: newsweek oct 30 Levy digital cash article
by cman＠communities.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[stuff about losing e-cash] They already point out that you shouldn't hoard money on your own machine. I've been doing what I can to pitch in and help out, including some suggested edits to their materials. Here's my suggested rewording of that section: ========= Ecash that you keep on the hard drive is like cash. It can be erased accidentally in the event of a hard drive crash or other system problem. While we do have safeguards against this, there is a possibility you could lose money if your ecash files are lost. Money in the Ecash Mint is also like cash. Although the Mint is well- secured and maintained by computer professionals, it is a new, somewhat experimental system. Also, it is connected to the Internet. While we have taken many steps to ensure the Mint's security, we cannot at this time make the same guarrantees we'd make for a regular bank account. Because of these factors, we strongly urge you to keep your balances in the Mint and on your hard drive fairly low. A good rule of thumb is to have no more money on your personal computer than you'd be comfortable carrying in your wallet in a typical American city. Don't leave more money in the Mint than you'd be comfortable leaving stashed in a drawer in your house. ================

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