December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Mitnick Road Show
by Andrew Barrett/CheckFree Corporation 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Andy P. wrote: >Saw the Stanford seimnar given by Tsutomu Shimomura and John Markoff, >on the subject of Tsutomu's pursuit of Kevin Mitnick. Saw a teaser last night for Friday's broadcast of the Stone and Pauly show. Looks like they're doing a piece on Mitnick. They did not mention him by name, but used some of the epitaphs commonly associated with Mitnick since Markoff's Cyberpunk. Which makes sense, since most of the viewing public doesn't know Kevin Mitnick from Steve Jobs. I just hope this piece is better than the infamous Unsolved Mysteries treatments. I am not holding my breath.

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Cybersloth
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Shimomura and Markoff give an illuminating account of tracking system break-ins; it is in those that Tsutomu and his road crew really dazzle. Skip the filmic crud and enjoy the gritty details of hackers hacking, stretching legality and propriety, emulating their mocking nemeses. Glimpse the far-side hackers, say, jsz and jft and xxx, still taunting, eluding, taking down, making pay for job- security cybersloths.

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Re: Shimomura on TV?
by Douglas F. Elznic 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:15 PM 1/11/96 +0000, Michael C. Peponis wrote: > >> Has anyone heard anything else about this? I am getting real sick of the >> media's portrayal of the internet. They never say anything good about it. If >> they were to mention C2's system they would say how it is a no-rules server >> to hide thugs and pornos from the police. I am getting sick of watching this >> trash. The whole realm of the internet and computers and their associated >> areas are very dear to me I am sick of the media bludgeoning them to death. > >Douglas, > >Why let it bother you? You must understand that the majority of the >population of the United States is working class trash, the news >media is just peddeling to the masses, just like the morons that hold >elected office. > >They can keep up the bitching, but that's a good thing, I encourage >the spread of this kind of disinformation, it keeps even more of the >masses from getting on for fear of being offenced. > >Regards, >Michael Peponis >PGP Key Avalible form MIT Key Server,or via finger > > Mr. Peponis, I see what you are saying but doesn't it bother you the slightest bit? I guess it is the principle of the whole thing for me. Look at us. Members of a group that's purpose is to make computers free. We read hundred's and hundred's of messages a week talking about crypto and legal stuff, because we care about what happens on a economic, civil and most importantly a personal level. I don't know it just bothers me that they are dragging something so important to me throught the mud. They never mention the good stuff like the OK City support group page, the use in schools, the effectiveness of the internet as a research tool. And most of the time their "internet" is AOL. -- ==================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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AP story on PGP
by anon-remailer＠utopia.hacktic.nl 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

U.S. Attorney Won't Prosecute Author of Computer Encryption Program By ELIZABETH WEISE= AP Cyberspace Writer= SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A software writer won't be prosecuted for a program he wrote that was put on the Internet and is now widely used by computer users to keep their communications secret, the government said Thursday. Philip Zimmermann's Pretty Good Privacy encryption program turns computer messages into a jumble of numbers and letters unreadable to anyone except the intended recipient. The code is so unbreakable that it is classified as munitions under the Arms Export Control Act, making its export without a license a felony. Federal prosecutors began investigating Zimmerman in 1993 after the program appeared on the Internet global computer network. Zimmerman said that others put it there, not him. The government opposes export of cryptographic technology for fear it will make it harder to monitor electronic communications overseas, and domestic law enforcement agencies are concerned such programs could keep them from eavesdropping on digital conversations. U.S. Attorney Michael J. Yamaguchi announced the decision not to prosecute Zimmerman, but didn't say why. If convicted, Zimmermann would have faced 51 months in prison. ``I'm just really pleased that the sword of Damocles is not over me anymore and I wonder why it took so long,'' Zimmermann said in a phone interview from his home in Boulder, Colorado. ``This is not just for spies anymore. It's for the rest of us. The information age is here. The rest of us need cryptography to conduct our business.'' The case had been closely watched as computer users and the government square off over free speech and privacy rights. Some critics contended it was foolish of the government to claim that Zimmerman had broken the law because the same coding information forbidden for export electronically may be shipped abroad in print form. They also noted that the technology already circulates throughout the world, making the law unenforceable. ``Zimmermann never exported Pretty Good Privacy, so the U.S. Attorney seemed to be missing the point. Unfortunately there still is no clear ruling from our government as to whether or not making software available on the Internet counts as exporting it,'' said Simson Garfinkel, who wrote a book about the program. Zimmerman's supporters argued that without encryption, government could do widespread eavesdropping, perhaps for political reasons, scanning for words and phrases it considers subversive. They acknowledge that a few criminals may use programs like PGP to hide out in cyberspace, but believe that concern is outweighed by free speech and privacy rights. ``The case was part of the government effort to crack down on good technologies for privacy. We hope the government's decision signals a rethinking of federal policy in this very important area,'' said Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, an on-line civil rights watchdog group. Others see the 2.5-year investigation of Zimmermann as intimidation. ``It seems to me is that all the U.S. Attorney is saying is that they don't want the public relations nightmare of prosecuting Philip Zimmermann, but they still want everyone scared so that they won't exercise their Constitutional rights,'' Garfinkel said. --- Pretty Good Privacy is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.epic.org/privacy/tools.html

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Re: Zimmermann case is dropped.
by liberty＠gate.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [My sincere congrats to PRZ & Mr. Goen, and to Mr. Keane for getting a clue. I am sure the timing of this happy news had *nothing at all* to do with politics...<g>] A few questions about the investigation: What did the ZLDF end up spending? What did the govt. end up spending? [I know, it's hard to track taxe$.] Was this decision on the part of the prosecution as voluntary as it's made to sound, or were some members of the grand jury starting to make "nullification noises" as the investigation progressed? Has the grand jury been dismissed yet? If so, have any jurors spoken publicly about the investigation? JMR -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Freedom isn't Freeh. iQCVAwUBMPY6HW1lp8bpvW01AQH6oAQAjCePRH2YcEo/OlJrfXMG/K0Fk0/0gcE5 z9k0AYDeNb4iY7vaxSaauPlbQZrw2J48ItWf1y45LSiAE32+sJvYogrIyJbqTDhB 4yC5uXXPzLQcA3tp3AEkUe7Zbr7n1X1uAz2LwfddwRRiNnXxFtd0TIcReg4Bdv5g KB8S+9fCgk8= =hPyf -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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VHDL des model
by koontz＠MasPar.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A mimimal DES chip implementation can be found at: ripem.msu.edu:/pub/crypt/des/vhdl_des.tar.z -rw-r----- 1 mrr ftpsec 93630 Jan 12 02:01 vhdl_des.tar.z It was written to go with a paper on DES Hardware I'm putting the finishing touches on. Note that this site requires a password to belong to group ftpsec to download. It will encrypt in 47 clocks (8 IP, 29 Key Schedule, 8 FP) or decrypt in 46 clocks (28 Key Schedule), and will fit in some of the larger FPGAs. The paper, when finished, will describe various performance enhancements such as double buffered IP and FP (which is covered by an Ultron patent, although probably invalid), direct key schedule (16 clocks), or superscalar DES (approaching 1 clock per 64 bit block). For any hardware wonks, this is done in Synopsys VSS, although the README file contains enough information for other VHDL implmentations. There are also 4 or 5 'C' programs for generating VHDL files of the S Boxes in various configurations, and a sample 'C' DES program done in 1988 for the original UNIX libdes (source included). The 'C' program can be used to generate equivalent structures for debugging your own DES hardware variations. The test vectors are from NBS Special Pub 500-20 (circa 1978).

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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Thu, 11 Jan 1996 hallam(a)w3.org wrote: > make small ones out of big ones. Thats a big plus in many peoples books. > > > > > We've made no progress. Phil has lots lots of time and gained > >lots of grey hairs, and everyone who donated to his defense fund lost > >money. > > No progress? At least Phil is not going off on a trip to Alcatraz to > One of the most overdue reforms of the US government is the renaming of > the FBI building to remove the name of J Edgar Hoover. The abuse of power > under his administration of the FBI continues to poison the US polity > by providing clear proof to many citizens that their government cannot be > trusted. While the abuses of Hoover continue to be commemerated in this > fashion there can be little public confidence in any claims of reform. > > > The US can still harass people if they want, and make their > >life hell. > > Not just the US government. There are many crooks out there who have attempted > or are attempting worse. At least with the government there are means to > bring it to heel eventually. > > Phill > > (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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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> > We've made no progress. Phil has lots lots of time and gained > >lots of grey hairs, and everyone who donated to his defense fund lost > >money. > > No progress? At least Phil is not going off on a trip to Alcatraz to > make small ones out of big ones. Thats a big plus in many peoples books. I wish I could make another of my pollyannaish posts now, but I agree with Sameer. It's great that Phil's off the hook, but there's nothing to stop them from doing the same thing to someone else tomorrow. What's more,, everyone here knows that, and so the government gets what it really wants: a chilling effect on crypto development. How much credit do you give a guy when he stops beating his wife? They put Phil through the ringer, made him spend his money on lawyers, and added a lot of stress to his life. But they haven't admitted that they were wrong, and they haven't renounced such actions in the future. We're all very happy that Phil's out of the woods, and today's announcement is a great thing. But it's not enough.

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PGP_foi
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1-12-96. NYPaper: "Data Secrecy Export Case Dropped by U.S." By John Markoff. PGP_foi

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No Subject
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: Michael C. Peponis <mianigand(a)unique.outlook.net> > To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > > Why let it bother you? You must understand that the majority of the ^^^^^^^^ > population of the United States is working class trash, the news ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Hope you're including yourself in that. > media is just peddeling to the masses, just like the morons that hold ^^^^^^^^^ Can't spell - *must* be working class trash... > elected office. > > Regards, > Michael Peponis ^^^^^^^ Tell me: is the 'po' silent?

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