December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Representations of Pi, etc.
by goedel＠tezcat.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

tcmay(a)got.net (Timothy C. May) wrote: >I didn't see this result you mention, but it surprises me. The part about >how it works in some bases, but not in decimal. > >The "hand-waving" (motivational/informal) explanation for why I am >surprised is that "Nature doesn't care about bipeds with 10 digits vs. >bipeds, or whatever, with 2 digits or 16 digits." That is, results >applicable in base 16, hexadecimal, should be easily applicable in base 10. Since we're talking about digits rather than numbers, I can see why base to some power of 2 might turn out to be significant. The trivial base 2 or 16 to base 10 conversion isn't useful if you're working with a single digit. A well, its fruitless to guess without looking at the result. Let me close by saying that in decimal notation, not a single digit of Klarner's Konstant is known. Not really relevant, but its as close a chance as I get to mentioning my research. :-) Dietrich J. Kappe | Web Publishing: http://www.redweb.com Red Planet, L.L.C. | Chess Space: http://www.redweb.com/chess 1-800-RED 0 WEB | MS Access: http://www.redweb.com/cobre RedPlanet(a)redweb.com | Comics: http://www.redweb.com/wraithspace

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Mixmaster On A $20 Floppy?
by tallpaul＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Jan 05, 1996 19:06:21, 'Adam Shostack <adam(a)lighthouse.homeport.org>' wrote: > Towords the goal of making Mixmasters in a box, I've written >an installer script for mixmaster. If you're running on one of the >supported platforms (alpha, bsdi, hpux, linux, sunos, solaris), the >script will walk you through everything from the make to setting up >cron jobs & /etc/aliases. > > If you've been putting off setting up a remailer because its a >pain, give this a shot. Lance will probably be including it in the >next release of mixmaster, but you can get it now by sending me a >message with the Subject: get mix-installer. > > Comments, bugs, bug fixes are welcome. Thanks to Rich $alz >for a extensive comments & suggestions for portability. > >Adam > I've reports that the latest version of SyQuest's external parallel port EZ135 "floppy" drive is due on the shelves this month. Also reported is the ability to effectively boot off the thing, and thus run whatever OS resides on the SyQuest "floppy" rather than an OS that has to be on the host's hard drive partition. Weight, under two pounds. Price ~$US250. Capacity 135 Mb formatted. Price of spare disks: $US 20. Take it off a computer. Put it in a briefcase. Carry it with you nicely out of public view. Hook it up to another machine and .... Question 1: Can you fit linux, pgp, mixmaster, etc. on the 135 Mb disk and have enough useful space left over for a useful amount of data? Question 2: Anybody want to speculate on what traffic analysis is like when encrypted data comes INTO one known Mixmaster site but goes OUT on one or more "unknown" or (partially) random Mixmaster sites? Question 3: Anyone want to speculate on what data recovery is like when encrypted data and the horse it rode in (and out) on has all been physically destroyed at a replacement cost of only $US20? -- -- tallpaul -- "If they think you're crude, go technical; if they think you're technical, go crude." William Gibson "Johnny Mnemonic"

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Big Bill: "You will be assimilated"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:37 PM 1/5/96, Duncan Frissell wrote: >At 01:47 PM 1/5/96 -0500, Gordon Campbell wrote: >>At 12:56 AM 1/5/96 -0500, Larry Sudduth wrote: >> >>>Attachment Converted: C:\WORK\WINMAIL.DAT >> >>What, pray tell, is this? >> > >When a MS Mail attachment wanders around the world, it is accompanied by a >data file of some kind. That is winmail.dat. So every MS MAIL attachment >is really two attachments. Try to ignore it. You know, between Microsoft Mail, Microsoft Exchange, and other weirdnesses associated with Microsoft, it's almost as if Big Bill (the guy in Washington, but not D.C.) is trying to tell us be assimilated or face continued pseudo-spamming. (No insult to Microsoft intended, but other companies seem to understand it is up to them to make efforts to comply with conventional Internet standards, while MS seems to relish doing things its own way, the rest of us be damned.) I hate the thought of putting all Microsoft domain addresses in my kill file, but at least it solves the problem. --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Crypto Rules Report
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In response to the December Financial Times article "Encryption Rules Coming," about an international cryptography meeting in Paris, and our request for additional information, we have received from nobody: Report of the Business-Government Forum on Global Cryptogoraphy Policy Held on 19-20 December 1995 in Paris Detailed Report The report includes meeting background information, notes on the speakers articulation of the positions of industry and governments, and four annexes: 1. List of participants (EU, US, Japan -- biz and gov); 2. Statement of Eurobit-ITAC-ITI-JEIDA which sets out 20 principles of global cryptographic policy; 3. Statement by the Infosec Business Advisory Group (IBAG) on 17 principles of international cryptography; 4. The Mike Nelson Policy Problem (last point: "No one trusts anyone.") It would be great if someone would provide an FTP site. It is about 31 kb.

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Re: get mix-installer. (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From adam(a)lighthouse.homeport.org Fri Jan 5 20:23:21 1996 From: Adam Shostack <adam(a)lighthouse.homeport.org> Message-Id: <199601060225.VAA21165(a)homeport.org> Subject: Re: get mix-installer. To: ravage(a)ssz.com (Jim Choate) Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 21:25:59 -0500 (EST) In-Reply-To: <199601060152.TAA04065(a)einstein.ssz.com> from "Jim Choate" at Jan 5, 96 07:52:17 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 ME8b] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 367 Jim Choate wrote: | I would like a copy to use in my consulting business as well as put on the | Austin Cypherpunks ftp site. Both are fine. I assume that a copy was auto mailed to you; let me know if there is a problem. May I ask who pays to get mixmasters installed? -- "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -Hume

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Re: get mix-installer. (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > From adam(a)lighthouse.homeport.org Fri Jan 5 20:23:21 1996 > From: Adam Shostack <adam(a)lighthouse.homeport.org> > Message-Id: <199601060225.VAA21165(a)homeport.org> > Subject: Re: get mix-installer. > To: ravage(a)ssz.com (Jim Choate) > Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 21:25:59 -0500 (EST) > In-Reply-To: <199601060152.TAA04065(a)einstein.ssz.com> from "Jim Choate" at Jan 5, 96 07:52:17 pm > X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 ME8b] > Content-Type: text > Content-Length: 367 > > Jim Choate wrote: > > | I would like a copy to use in my consulting business as well as put on the > | Austin Cypherpunks ftp site. > > Both are fine. I assume that a copy was auto mailed to you; let me > know if there is a problem. > > > May I ask who pays to get mixmasters installed? > > -- > "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." > -Hume > In a earlier message I received from Adam I mistook his auto-remailers scripts responce as a refusal to supply the afformentioned code. I apoligize for my ignorance and retract any negative statements or implications that I may have made. In the last year I have had a couple of local business people and about a dozen individuals ask about remailers and using PGP. I currently have a couple of state political activists in the gun lobby who have begun using it for internal communications. I am hoping to have another machine installed in the next couple of weeks with mixmaster available. It is my intention to run a remailer here in Texas with the help of the local cpunks (I hope) in order to demonstrate what the technology is capable of. I see this script as a major advance in making the software more palatable to the general populace. My current business plan is to educate several international translaters I work with about the technology. They work with foreign patents being applied for here in the US and they typicaly must sign non-disclosure agreements to get the contracts. Such technology may be something they find useful. Jim Choate

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Jan 13 Mountain View CA meeting
by mrm＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi all, happy new year. The Jan 13 Mountain View, California meeting will be held again at Sun Microsystems, at Sparcy's cafeteria. That's building 21, in the set of Sun buildings near Shoreline Park in Mountain View. Take 101 to Amphitheater Parkway exit, turn left onto Charleston at the light (this street is also named Garcia at its far end) and follow the purple Sun signs for building 21. You'll drive down Charleston (Garcia) for about 1/3 mile and then turn right onto a road that in about 3 blocks takes you to B21. Please send mail if you have a topic you would like to speak about, and I'll send out a speaking agenda towards the end of the week. Marianne mrm(a)netcom.com mrm(a)eng.sun.com p.s. I'll bring bagels again but since I never got reimbursed last time around I think I will put out the donation jar this time ...!

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WIRE TAP ON NET
by Douglas F. Elznic 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

E-MAIL-TAP NETS CRIMINALS The first-ever court-approved wiretap of an e-mail account has resulted in the arrest of three people charged with running a sophisticated cellular-fraud ring. The alleged mastermind, a German electrical engineer, advertised his illicit wares on CompuServe, where they caught the attention of an engineer at AT&T's wireless unit. The Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency then got into the act and obtained the Justice Dept.'s permission to intercept e-mail messages between the alleged perpetrator and his accomplices. "This case represents the challenges in the future if we can't get ahead of the curve in technology," says a U.S. attorney, whose office is prosecuting the case. (Wall Street Journal 2 Jan 96 p16) -- ==================Douglas Elznic=================== delznic(a)storm.net http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/ (315)682-5489 (315)682-1647 4877 Firethorn Circle Manlius, NY 13104 "Challenge the system, question the rules." =================================================== PGP key available: http://www.vcomm.net/~delznic/pgpkey.asc PGP Fingerprint: 68 6F 89 F6 F0 58 AE 22 14 8A 31 2A E5 5C FD A5 ===================================================

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Re: Pi Stuff
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 01:15 PM 1/5/96 -0800, you wrote: >Various amazed people on the Pi thread wrote: > > > But BTW, isn't it interesting, that news item from a few > > weeks ago, on an algorithm for determining individual bits > > in Pi, regardless of whether you've calculated all the > > previous ones. Only problem is, it only works in > > hexadecimal (and, obviously, binary, etc, not decimal. >A few quick comments. The notion that one might be able to >compute digits of Pi efficiently at any starting point in the >number is not late-breaking news. The Chudnovsky brothers >developed a formula which permitted them to do this a number of >years ago, and used it to compute Pi to several billion digits. While I'm not an expert at this, I think you're misrepresented the Chudnovsky result. They formulated an equation that allowed "you" to continue the calculation past "N" digits as long as you had the result that far. As far as I know, they DID NOT generate any formula for the generation of isolated digits of pi, the more recent news. I'm signing this message after having turned off word-wrap in Eudora. I'm told this my help my clearsigning process. Could somebody verify this? - -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAi1zvWcAAAEEAKmSqngLWK2N2gOJKPtjF9VCfSkXY+XUZBRCbbFU71uH/dLX C2Uq6wFS8alRgMc3rp90JnnJ/6eJqXwMjCunogwucWOaU7S/w+OwjOG9fUqsXIA6 2j25Wtjce65mbp0TKLAzwMb/P/Qq7BlclqhuKzfVBH7dIHnVAvqHVDBboB2dAAUR tBFKYW1lcyBEYWx0b24gQmVsbA== =G3LA - -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMO3ArPqHVDBboB2dAQFXfQP+OhdkTw+3TFF4x97Or4hBRGSCd015+ZfJ 1wTov5MuKgfHlVEqml02mi3RJQSD1WYryysMkcQKrGS+X6IULolxtasKrXEUBw5P fIiEAc+ueY68XZULGTL0IpsUDhUYXTWRaP9l64iELrdtmvtDQAd0zxfGDAoeyhvO goZCWxWXUqs= =ZGyP -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: Revoking Old Lost Keys
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:07 AM 1/6/96, Bruce Baugh wrote: >I'd like to bring up a problem I haven't seen addressed much yet, and which >I think is going to come up with increasing frequency as PGP use spreads. > >The problem is this: how can one spread the word that an old key is no >longer to be used when one no longer has the pass phrase, and cannot >therefore create a revocation certificate? Basically, you are screwed. Any revocation you attempt will not be trusted, as we will suspect the new "you" to be an attacker, perhaps an agent of the NSA or the Illuminati. In the view that "you are your key," the old you no longer exists. Perhaps you could just move to a different city, change your name, and create a new key. (However, be sure you write down your passphrase and other salient information to handle your next memory loss.) > >In my case the problem is medical: thanks to autoimmune problems, I get >random memory loss from time to time. Sometimes it's big - like an entire >semester of my sophomore year of college. Sometimes it's small - like three >old pass phrases. So there are keys of mine floating around the key servers >that I don't want used, and which are just taking up space. Pardon me for being politically incorrect (*), but anyone who has these sorts of memory lapses should certainly write down the passphrases! While it is true that writing down a passphrase increases the risk slightly that a black bag operative will sneak into one's house and use his Minox to record the passphrases, in practice this is a minor risk. Especially compared to the immediate risk of losing or forgetting the passphrase. (* I said I was being "politically incorrect" because I've found that people these days don't want their defects and weaknesses commented upon by others, even when they mention them themselves. Thus, cripples don't want anyone to comment on their handicaps, and so on. Someone on this list with "Multiple Personality Disorder" got mightily offended when someone else mentioned MPD in a joking way in a post. Others freak out at innocent remarks, seeing their own demons.) So, if you are losing entire semesters worth of memory, you might want to start writing a lot of stuff down. Seriously, this is an example where "escrow" works. Seal an envelope with your passphrase and any other stuff you want to remember, and leave it with your lawyer or escrow agency with instructions to only turn it over to you. Same as a safe deposit box, unless you forget the key. (You could forget you have a lawyer, so better write that down somewhere, too.) I've not forgotten my PGP passphrase, but then I've only had one PGP key in the last several years and I've written a note to myself someplace which describes what the passphrase is in terms I think would only be meaningful to me. Not fully secure, but nothing really is. And secure enough. If you've had several keys in several years, and yet you are risk of forgetting entire semesters, maybe you ought to think about whether encryption is all that necessary for you. (I rarely see the need to encrypt, even as I cherish the ability and present right to encrypt, so I naturally wonder what it is all these people who seem to be encrypting nearly every private message they send are really concerned about....just my opinion.) I hope all turns out well, and I hope my candid answers to your questions are not too politically incorrect. --Tim May We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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