December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

More Drug Raids
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Every day there are news reports like this. Sometimes the targets of the raid die, as in Malibu, sometimes they shoot back and kill some narcs, sometimes the story gets downplayed, sometimes a new libertarian is made. In this story, note especially the line about: "They were told that if they refused, they would be put in handcuffs, a search warrant would be issued, and their belongings would be tossed into the middle of their rooms." In these Beknighted States of Amerika, any assertion of Constitutional rights is met with toilet plungers. Meanwhile, the LEAs scream for more helicopters, more drug-sniffing dogs, more Bradley fighting vehicles, more Nomex ninja suits, more M-16s, and more toilet plungers. ==begin article== ".c The Associated Press LEE, Mass. (AP) - A federal drug agent publicly apologized Thursday for raiding the home of a local building inspector on the mistaken suspicion he was a marijuana trafficker. A spokesman for the couple said, however, they were awaiting a personal apology and intended to press forward with complaints. "This is the all-American family. If it could happen to them, it could happen to anybody," said state Rep. Chris Hodgkins, a relative who acted as their spokesman Thursday. "They are law-abiding citizens, and I'm very, very sorry this happened," said George Fester, the agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's operations in New England. Daniel Keenan, who serves as building inspector in Lee and neighboring Stockbridge, said he was reading the newspaper in his front yard on Sept. 5, with his son playing nearby, when six state and federal officers drove up in separate cars. The agents told him they had reason to believe that 300 pounds of marijuana had been in his garage. Keenan said the agents didn't have a search warrant, but he signed a consent form allowing the house and garage to be searched. They were told that if they refused, they would be put in handcuffs, a search warrant would be issued, and their belongings would be tossed into the middle of their rooms, Hodgkins said. The agents claimed to have video showing a drug delivery to the house. As neighbors and the couple's three young children gathered to watch, the agents used a drug-sniffing dog to search the house and garage. After a fruitless two-hour search, they left. But the agents said they might return for further interrogation. Festa said an internal investigation was under way to determine just how the Keenans came to be targeted. He said he was sending a regional supervisor to talk to the family and also planned to make a personal visit to apologize. Hodgkins acknowledged that two agents had returned earlier to the house to discuss the raid with the family, but he said they refused to apologize in front of the children. "I want to know how they came to the conclusion this house was the house, how they came to be so wrong," Keenan's wife, Laurie, said Thursday. "We're concerned about the shadow of doubt this has created around us." "We had these cowboys of DEA agents violating their rights," Hodgkins said. "The kids were terrified. Everybody's still terrified." He said he was writing complaints on behalf of the family to U.S. Attorney Donald Stern and state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger. AP-NY-09-11-97 1835EDT ==end article==

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WordBasic and other macro languages
by herbs＠interlog.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 15:47 1995.09.22 -0400, dmandl(a)panix.com wrote: >On Fri, 22 Sep 1995, Adam Shostack wrote: >> I keep hearing this thought. Isn't Win95 with its >> 'executables in email' much more dangerous than Java, which at least >> tries to address security? > >Is that the new MS-Word you're thinking of? I hear that it lets you >imbed macros containing executable code in documents. That's got to >be one of the most dangerous ideas ever cooked up. It's no worse than the other hundreds of products that have macro languages that can write files (even the ones that can't execute other programs are dangerous if they can write a real executable to a file and, say, add a corresponding RUN= line in a WIN.INI or the equivalent to get it executed later). Word's is just more visible because the macro itself can behave like a virus, because of Word's autoexec-macro feature that can make the macro run automatically unless they user disables those options on his copy. Many versions of PostScript have this kind of hole, I understand; some disable the file-manipulation commands to be more secure. I remember hearing recently that Ghostscript, popular on PCs, is one that does have the file-manips, but all of this is hearsay so I can't say for sure. 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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Sorry to bother
by Remo Pini 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

what's the adress to send subscriptions to? Greets, Remo Pini ----------------------------------------------------- Fate favors the prepared mind. (from "Under Siege 3") ----------------------------------------------------- Remo Pini T: +41 1 350 28 88 Pini Computer Trading N: +41 79 216 15 51 http://www.rpini.com/ E: rp(a)rpini.com key: http://www.rpini.com/crypto/remopini.asc -----------------------------------------------------

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More on "Entropy"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 6:46 PM 9/22/95, David Van Wie wrote: >Having overcome my initial skepticism on the entire topic of entropy, based >on the useful pointers to the literature I have received, I agree >wholeheartedly with the need for _positive_ design criteria against which >designs may be evaluated. For initial consideration, I recommend the >following: > >The entropy E is defined by the sum across n states of -P_i log_2(P_i), Hah! Another physicist converted to the information-theoretic view of entropy! I should've pointed out in my reading list that several names stand out in this interpretation: - Charles Bennett - Rolf Landauer - John Wheeler Just so you know. ObNetscapeHack: None. --Tim May Notice: Don't expect me to reply to trivial questions and complaints. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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: Council of Europe proposes to outlaw strong encryption (fwd)
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>The proposal would make telecoms operators responsible for decrypting >traffic and supplying it to governments when asked. It would also >`change national laws to enable judicial authorities to chase hackers >across borders'. > >However, `it remains possible that cryptography is available >to the public which cannot be deciphered,' his document says. `This >might lead to the conclusion to put restrictions on the possession, >distribution, or use of cryptography.' This should prove about as effective as the current French or Russian bans. What are they going to do when they figure out that there need no longer be such a thing as a telecoms operator. We do most of the message packaging ourselves. It will be a bit difficult for any connectivity supplier to tell what's going out via one of our encrypted IP sessions. Question for Perry -- I'm assuming that it will soon be possible to originate encrypted TCP/IP sessions with a distant "process" somewhere. Do you see technical problems with a TCP/IP laundry being established "somewhere" that strips trace info from one of my processes and prevents back tracing beyond the mouth of this encrypted pipe? Also Perry, what did you think of the article "How Anarchy Works" in the latest Wired on the IETF? DCF

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Re: The problem of playing politics with our constitutional rights
by John Smith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I'm just pointing out that we saw this situation several years ago with >Clipper. The list was, predictably, sidetracked with literally thousands of >suggestions about how best to recruit more public supporters. T-shirts, >gimmicks, and suggestions for songs about crypto, for getting t.v. >producers to put crypto, pro-privacy themes in their t.v. shows, and so on. >All pretty hopeless, wouldn't you say? Why do you say that? Clipper was defeated. People all over the net united and opposed it. Now there is this new threat, but at least defeating Clipper bought some time. There is no reason the same thing can't happen again. Sometimes I think cypherpunks *want* crypto to be outlawed. "John ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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T-Shirt Spams
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:42 PM 9/22/95, Don Henson wrote: >By now, everyone knows about the TSHIRT that has been classified as a >MUNITION by the US Goverment. If you don't know, just send email to Oh, really? Which government agency declared this t-shirt to be a munition? Inquiring minds want to know. (I wouldn't say more, except these t-shirt spams are getting wearisome.) --Tim May Notice: Don't expect me to reply to trivial questions and complaints. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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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another net phone (crypto)
by Mark Hittinger 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I haven't seen this on the cypherpunk list so I thought I would forward it as an FYI. Interesting that source code is available! >Subject: FWD: Free secure Internet voice communication >From: John Walker <kelvin(a)fourmilab.ch> >Subject: Free secure Internet voice communication > > I've just released to the public domain Release 5 of Speak Freely for > Windows and its Unix counterpart, Netfone for Sun and Silicon Graphics > workstations. Assuming you have a fast enough connection to the > Internet (with reasonably consistent packet delivery time) and/or a > fast enough CPU to perform audio compression in real time, you can > talk to anybody on Earth connected to the Internet who's also running > the program. The Windows and Unix versions have entirely different > user interfaces, but can intercommunicate. Complete source code is > available. > > For communications security, IDEA, DES (less initial and final > permutations), and one-time pad (re-used for each sound packet) > encryption are available. The intensely paranoid can enable any > combination of these. The documentation explains how to use PGP to > securely exchange session keys before a conversation; an automatic > session key generator is provided. DES is included for commercial > users who don't have a license to use the IDEA patent. One-time pad > encryption is for those with machines too slow to run IDEA or DES in > real time. > > I didn't include a public key mechanism because I wanted to avoid all > the confusion. If somebody wants to navigate the narrow strait > between the RSA patent Scylla and Charybdis of export controls, the > programming work to implement public keys is straightforward and the > source code is yours to hack. > > For further information, see: > > http://www.fourmilab.ch/netfone/windows/speak_freely.html > > which describes the Windows version in detail and contains pointers to > the Sun and SGI editions, as well as links to download source code and > a ready-to-run executable for Windows. You can also obtain the > program by anonymous binary FTP: > > Unix source code: > ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/netfone5.tar.gz > > Windows executable: > ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/windows/speakfb.zip > > Windows source code (for Visual C 1.5): > ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/windows/speakfs.zip > > Have Fun! Regards, Mark Hittinger Internet Manager WinNET Communications, Inc. bugs(a)win.net bugs(a)ritz.mordor.com

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The Bad Lie / Re: in defense on Lon Horiuchi
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Chief Cypherpunks Spokesperson, Anonymous wrote: > In any case, it wasn't really my intention to "compare" the deeds of > Horiuchi and McVeigh. I was merely noting that the defense of > Horiuchi by Herr Direktor Freeh could have been used nearly > verbatim in McVeigh's behalf. As you've pointed out, though, there > /is/ that crucial difference though, isn't there? One of them has a > badge and gets paid by the taxpayers, which makes him a "policeman." My other brother, Anonymous, points out something obvious but often forgotten, since "respect for authority" has been ingrained in us much more than we are generally aware of. "The winner makes the rules." is a truism, and it has a corollary: "So does the tyrant." But nobody ever seems to 'announce' that they are a tyrant. Chairman Mao wasn't a tyrant. Abraham Lincoln wasn't a tyrant. Sadaam Hussein isn't a tyrant. Bill Clinton isn't a tyrant. Well, OK, maybe _some_ of them are tyrants, but only after they are gone, and even then, it depends on who the next winner is. If the winner is, "My other brother, Sadaam." then there is a difference, not just in history, but in the present, from what officially recognized reality is when "My other brother, the-US-backed-shill." is the winner. Many people are impressed with themselves for their brilliance in being able to recognize the truth someone else pointed out, "The winners write history." I am more impressed with people who realize that the winners also write the present. And even more impressed with those who realize that one of the great scourges of our age is that winners *rewrite* the present. We live in the age of the Spin Doctor. Our generation has evolved past the Big Lie, to the 1/2 Lie, to the Bad Lie. We used to be content to smear our enemies with the Big Lie, so that we could round up the Communists and not let them work to feed themself and their families. Then we advanced to the 1/2 Lie, where we would give lip service to freedom of religion/politics and merely subtly discriminate against Communists if they applied for a job. Now we have graduated to the Big Lie, where there are no Communists. A test you can take in the comfort of your own home: Question #1: Yoo hoo! Anybody know what that huge country over there with the billions of people and the nuclear warheads is called? Can you say 'China?' Sure you can... Why is Communist nuclear power, China, not a threat, as the Russians were? Because those in power don't _need_ them to be a threat, right now. How can a country with that many potential consumers possibly be a threat? Look for them to *become* a threat very quickly if they nationalize the McDonald's franchises. Question #2: Who are the 'good' guys? Right! *Our* guys! <trumpets blare> <crowd cheers> <banners fly> Moments In History: WacoShima & RubySaki Remember? When all those Japanese committed suicide when they saw the nuclear bombs coming? For those of you too young to remember this event, it was similar to when all of those Branch Davidians committed suicide when the military tanks sent to 'save' them began firing chemicals and explosives into the Waco complex to get rid of the mosquitos so that the rescue team wouldn't get bitten. The Bad News: DoubleSpeak has come and gone, replaced by the Bad Lie. The Bad Lies: "I didn't inhale." "I don't recall." (dropping the bomb/shooting the child/seeing the money) "It is a 'Police Action,' not a War" "Peace Keeping Force" "It's a 'PeaceMaker', not an 'Instrument of Doom.'" "I promise not to cum in your wallet." "Democracy." And Even As We Speak: Newsworld - CBC (TV) - "Four federal inquiries have found no evidence of price-fixing in the gasoline industry." News Flash!!! New study finds Big Oil Executives psychic! All change prices at the same time, with no collusion. [Please excuse me for a moment, while I PgUp to remind myself what this post is about.] Oh, yeah... > In any case, it wasn't really my intention to "compare" the deeds of > Horiuchi and McVeigh. I was merely noting that the defense of > Horiuchi by Herr Direktor Freeh could have been used nearly > verbatim in McVeigh's behalf. As you've pointed out, though, there > /is/ that crucial difference though, isn't there? One of them has a > badge and gets paid by the taxpayers, which makes him a "policeman." Kevin McHale, Boston Celtic, replying to comment by reporter that his teammate, Danny Ainge, was considered the biggest asshole on the pro basketball circuit: "Yeah...but he's *our* asshole." Say what you want about Waco, but parking ticket payments skyrocketed after the event. Say what you want about Ruby Ridge, but fewer people have missed court appearances for their parking tickets, since then. Say what you want about Jim Bell, but now there is hardly anyone on the Cypherpunks mailing list running around, saying, "NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! NUKE DC! " NON-APOLOGY FOR LONG POSTS -------------------------- 80's Rocker, on the 'new music': "People don't have time for twenty minute guitar solo's anymore, man. They've gotta *be* somewhere." Note to Zooko: My other brother, Anonymous, may be a "vile slander", but he is *our* vile slanderer. Note to 'my other brother, Anonymous': But if Zooko hadn't ripped into you, one of us would have. We're Cypherpunks! The Bad Lie ~~~~~~~~~~~ "Hand me the nine-iron."

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speak freely
by Bob Smart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"One Time! This must be some new meaning of `one time' that I'm not acquanted with." - apologies to Douglas Adams. ------- Forwarded Message Date: Fri, 22 Sep 95 16:11:20 PDT From: ari(a)es.net (Ari Ollikainen) Message-Id: <9509222311.AA27810(a)viipuri.nersc.gov> To: RCWG(a)nic.hep.net, ESCC(a)viipuri.nersc.gov Subject: FWD: Free secure Internet voice communication Cc: rem-conf(a)es.net, videophone(a)es.net Found in my mailbox... From: John Walker <kelvin(a)fourmilab.ch> Subject: Free secure Internet voice communication I've just released to the public domain Release 5 of Speak Freely for Windows and its Unix counterpart, Netfone for Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations. Assuming you have a fast enough connection to the Internet (with reasonably consistent packet delivery time) and/or a fast enough CPU to perform audio compression in real time, you can talk to anybody on Earth connected to the Internet who's also running the program. The Windows and Unix versions have entirely different user interfaces, but can intercommunicate. Complete source code is available. For communications security, IDEA, DES (less initial and final permutations), and one-time pad (re-used for each sound packet) encryption are available. The intensely paranoid can enable any combination of these. The documentation explains how to use PGP to securely exchange session keys before a conversation; an automatic session key generator is provided. DES is included for commercial users who don't have a license to use the IDEA patent. One-time pad encryption is for those with machines too slow to run IDEA or DES in real time. I didn't include a public key mechanism because I wanted to avoid all the confusion. If somebody wants to navigate the narrow strait between the RSA patent Scylla and Charybdis of export controls, the programming work to implement public keys is straightforward and the source code is yours to hack. For further information, see: http://www.fourmilab.ch/netfone/windows/speak_freely.html which describes the Windows version in detail and contains pointers to the Sun and SGI editions, as well as links to download source code and a ready-to-run executable for Windows. You can also obtain the program by anonymous binary FTP: Unix source code: ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/netfone5.tar.gz Windows executable: ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/windows/speakfb.zip Windows source code (for Visual C 1.5): ftp://ftp.fourmilab.ch/pub/kelvin/netfone/windows/speakfs.zip The Sun and SGI versions of this program are quite stable, and should work for just about anybody with an adequate network connection. Porting the code to other Unix workstations with audio hardware should be relatively straightforward. The Windows version has just been finished and until it's shaken down on a variety of machines, networks, sound cards, etc. may not work for everybody. The Windows version requires a sound card with Windows Multimedia drivers (I've tested it on a variety of Sound Blasters of various generations) and a TCP/IP stack that supports WINSOCK (I'm using NetManage Chameleon NFS). Since multimedia and network hardware and drivers vary tremendously from machine to machine, I wouldn't be surprised if some tweaking were needed for various configurations. The CPU speed required interacts with the speed of your network connection; if you have a high-bandwidth connection to the Internet, or you're talking to another person on a high-speed LAN, there's no need to compress sound and the CPU load is minimal; just about any machine will do. If you need to compress in order to squeeze 8000 samples per second into a dial-up connection, then you need a CPU fast enough to run GSM compression in real time: basically we're talking a very fast 486 or Pentium. If you turn on IDEA and/or DES encryption, that also consumes CPU time. Based on my experience with other Windows programs, it will probably take months to track down misbehaviour due to strange hardware and software configurations. Complete, detailed bug reports are welcome. I may not be able to respond individually, but the Web page will track updates as they're released. I have tested the program only on vanilla 16 bit Windows 3.1. The Windows version contains preliminary code to support direct dial-up modem connections, acting as a phone scrambler. Serial port support in most Windows machines is so poor (unless you have a 16550A UART and appropriate drivers, which most people don't) that this feature isn't usable at present. I've left the code in just in case somebody with suitable hardware wants to bash it into working form. If you add features, port the program to 32 bits, fix bugs, etc., let me know so I can make your contributions generally available. -------------------- <http://www.fourmilab.ch/> ------------------- John Walker | A sufficiently advanced Internet: kelvin(a)fourmilab.ch | technology is indistinguishable | from a rigged demo. ------- End of Forwarded Message

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