December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Another Internet Provider Censors Access (fwd)
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Another shoe drops? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 1 Jan 1996 19:44:30 -0600 From: x To: y Y - Coming off CompuServe's announcement last week that it was cutting off all access to "alt.binaries" newsgroups under pressure from the German government, I'm passing along another apparent development from another Internet access provider, Netcom. Under the guise of a minor software upgrade, Netcom has changed its newsgroups access list to totally exclude "alt" groups altogether. Since there is no way to sign up for a newsgroup other than via the selection menu that Netcom provides, it appears that Netcom has managed to censor access to all those discussion groups. We are witnessing the not-so-gradual erosion of freedom of the Net. I not often find myself allied with John Perry Barlow, but on this one we are four-square: what with stupid attempts of government to pass unconstitutional restrictions, and acquiescence of the private sector to intimidation and pressure, freedoms of the many are being dictated by reactionary elements in places like Memphis, Tennessee. The next opportunity, I expect, will be to help underwrite the defense of the first criminal action brought under the new law. In the meantime, we can unsubscribe to services that curtail our liberties. "X" Speaking solely for myself, this time.

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In Search of Computer Security
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The New York Times, January 2, 1996, p. C15. Special section "Business World Outlook '96." In Search Of Computer Security By John Markoff Computer security is making a transition from the university and the research laboratory to the real world. So far it is proving to be a rocky evolution. Last year, a series of embarrassing gaffes and shortcomings undermined the faith of potential computer users in the certainty that their data are secure. The flaws have led to a growing realization that computer security systems are largely untested and that in complex environments like the Internet, they do not always respond the way their creators had intended. Paul C. Kocher, a computer security expert who discovered one potential flaw, said, "Many of the security systems that I am examining are good enough to keep out casual snoopers, but they're failing catastrophically when it comes to protecting data against determined attacks." The problems are emerging as the computer industry increasingly relies upon an arcane mathematical discipline that is intended to hide the secrets embedded in digital information behind a veil of imposing math problems. Cryptography, the science of writing secrets, was for centuries largely the province of kings, soldiers and spies. But that has changed in the 1990's as the world has rushed to use personal computers and computer networks as the basis for electronic commerce, communication and entertainment. Data scrambling has become the key to a vision that it will be possible to have private electronic conversations and secure financial transactions. In principle, data coding protects information by scrambling it to keep it out of the reach of everybody but those with a supercomputer and tens or even hundreds of years to crunch the data. But computer researchers have begun discovering flaws, sometimes subtle and sometimes glaring, that can help criminals take devious shortcuts to obtain the mathematical keys used to scramble the data. In August, a French computer hacker proved that it was possible to use a network of work stations to guickly find the secret key created by a coding system developed by the Netscape Communications Corporation, the leading developer of World Wide Web software. The feat cast doubts on the security of a system whose security had been scaled back to meet stringent United States Government export controls. The following month, two computer science graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley reported a flaw in the Netscape that would permit a technically skilled attacker to steal data by circumventing the complex calculations needed to break the code. In October, a team of Berkeley researchers, including the two computer science students, detailed security weaknesses in the fundamental software of the Internet that make it difficult to protect data that is sent between computers. And last month, Mr. Kocher explained a potential flaw in a widely used data coding approach known as public-key cryptography. The flaw could allow eavesdroppers to infer a secret key used to protect data in Internet security software, electronic payment smart cards and related systems by carefully timing how long it takes to compute the secret key. Mr. Kocher said that while he believed that trusted electronic security systems would ultimately emerge, there should be no urgency to rush their deployment. Banks have spent several hundred years perfecting systems for protecting money, he noted, but they have far less experience with the new computerized systems designed to protect information that represents money. One of the pioneers in the mathematics underlying most public key systems agrees that prudence is required in developing digital commerce. "Paul's discovery is one more piece of evidence that designing security mechanisms is tricky," said Whitfield Diffie, a Sun Microsystems researcher who was one of the co-inventors of the original public key technology. "Given the trust that we will be placing in systems for electronic commerce," he continued, "we should be putting all the effort we can into getting them right." [End] ---------- [Box] 1996 Will Be the Year When: "Congress will pass a law restricting public comment on the Internet to individuals who have spent a minimum of one hour actually accomplishing a specific task while on line." Andrew Grove, Intel Corp. CEO

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Re: Guerilla Internet Service Providers
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:07 PM 1/1/96 -0500, David Mandl wrote: >I agree. It's not a good idea to assume that there's going to be some kind >of widespread opposition movement when the big Net Crackdown comes. Most >people will either obey the law, be unaffected by it, or violate it in very >insignificant ways ("net jaywalking"). There's strength in numbers, but I >just don't think the numbers will be there. > > --Dave. During Prohibition, consumption of illegal booze increased steadily during the whole period. Hard liquor consumption was actually higher at the end of Prohibition than it had been before Prohibition. DCF

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Re: Guerilla Internet Service Providers
by andr0id＠midwest.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>At 23:30 1/1/96, Andreas Bogk wrote: > >>So I guess we'll need some computers in outer space, on offshore boats >>or in well-bribed stable dictatorships. > >o Outer space: not very realistic Not that I'm into Guerilla Internet Services or anything; but; an Outer space server isn't all that far off. Its not hard at all controlling a lynix box remotely using a good sat. link. All you need to do is go to your nearest junkyard and get an old used Satalite, contract Russia to send it up for you for the price of an e-mail account or somthin and away you go. :) (andr0id(a)midwest.net callsign: N9XLM) ( Computer Consulting & Management ) (P.O. Box 421 Cambria, IL 62915-0421) -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQENAzCsIi4AAAEH/1hb5+tO/n99Nbppf0ImLJ6AaVZ3NlZP0ZHwRQor00uA129i d4zWixNXxc8t2auaqN+asV99LpIip3/nQzBnjydiumeBdGLF2PR9+6X8X/RrqKa1 dVIukxM5Agg2eM6ih+0J38hgKJ3qzKXSz6sjYmpaxvbXZoHHOLUk/ZtHUKvvEyPw hnJEYnut8NUnIeK56lqeqRw86yoeRKymbfCdjdpgeY2aRwK2FJts8sbb7Fs10s4y jgxWIxIipBznbGUTh1hb2XrLGPENwk3E/qqXQJEsrySbtwdl6VgTVQjhDDEJMitL DYeiQ3W5EgxfcdbM1j2FwYu3P/dM6Y0I8xLMYT0ABRG0NmFuZHIwaWRAb2ljdTgx Mi5jb20gKG9pY3U4MTIuY29tIHN5c3RlbSBhZG1pbmlzdHJhdG9yKYkBFQMFEDCs LO90C7R/GkJcSQEB01cH/0KC3sd+u4OxMku5378SJktoN6QIQYLJ7uVbuV4S51yK NAotCGf4Wl6wwjynzZvXKU0H87oDuMiq7FybgMNL2n+4bQIZi0iz0lIuzwoMDu63 NrHUW9Kz42pOnhrEhrdkHhHL9O5GgD1yc40fJ3qw5h7LQEjDxgypyw0IFILFc34u LeRLliNibxKp8JwAxXNHWSgxu28TQvmnkHi0AHP6tJ/uZYe+4dqJtrMMsYFjzZaz DPmxD+dzbTwlQKtJaP1ZkDI0Sr072wrZDv+G86GyGBMX2lpSafpRitnxuUttjU9o wsQ9Qo5xiH1nZRCs/bDzJe/gng+GHzevixDIITurtNA= =SgPT -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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COP_box
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

1-2-96. WaPo: "Undercover on the Dark Side of Cyberspace. On-Line FBI Agents Troll for Those Who Prey on Children." The FBI unit now has more than $1 million worth of equipment, including high-speed modems and large data storage devices. In cases where suspects' computers have been seized, the agents have run up against password-protected and encrypted files, which sometimes have taken FBI technicians hundreds of hours to decode. 1-2-96. FiTi: "Pobox and the magic cookie." Which company will have the greatest effect on the development of the Internet this year? My answer is neither Microsoft nor Netscape. It is a tiny new company called Pobox.com. Its product consists of a simple forwarding service that is an electronic equivalent of a post office box. This service allows people to give out an e-mail address that is independent of where they work or where they choose to buy Internet access. COP_box

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Unmuzzy Explained
by Laszlo Vecsey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

So is the idea beyond this that if file or a group of files were to be distributed over many computers (possibly hundreds or more) then none of the computers would be "responsible" for their content? I would think that any participant in the network would have to claim full responsibility for the content, assuming the file(s) could be accessed from any of the participating servers. I'd be interesting in joining the Unmuzzy (programmers) mailing list, does anyone know what the email is or where the home page is? A net search returned nothing.

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Re: Guerilla Internet Service Providers (fwd)
by frantz＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:51 1/2/96 -0800, jim bell wrote: >At some point, individual urban and suburban blocks could easily be >"guerilla re-wired" for ISP access without serious trenching, etc. The >phoneco would still be involved, but in a far lower-profit mode, as the >supplier of a single T1 to a multi-block area. Don't forget about infrared to cross public rights-of-way. I have long dreamed of tossing a piece of coax over the fence to my neighbors. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz Periwinkle -- Computer Consulting (408)356-8506 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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Re: Foiling Traffic Analysis
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 20:02 1/2/96, Jon Lasser wrote: >When the group of packets arrives at a given station, it replaces its >current encrypted packet with a new packet; if it doesn't have any new >packets to send, it puts up a garbage packet that is indistinguishable >from a normal packet. It then scans all the other packets and attempts to >decrypt them with its private key. Any it can read, it does; all the >packets are forwarded to the next station in the ring. All participants in this network are clearly guilty of conspiracy. Their assets will be confiscated under RICO. As Brian mentioned, the law enforcement agencies are creating a surplus by such seizures. The costs associated with more prosecutions are more than offset by the revenue generated. Your computer will make a welcome addition to their budget. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: Guerilla Internet Service Providers (fwd)
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:27 PM 1/1/96 -0800, you wrote: >Jim Choate: >> If you live in the Austin, TX area I will setup a dedicated slip for you at >> only $100/mo. > >in the Portland Oregon area, the price ranges from $234/year to >$1750/year for unlimited ppp access. (I have no idea how long the >$234/year is going to stay in business. that won't even cover the >cost of a phone line.) It seems to me that phone line costs are turning into a floor price for Internet access, when they shouldn't really be. The main asset telephone companies have, right now, is in RIGHTS OF WAY. Put an ISP in a business park that allows you to run your own dedicated copper pairs, and you've bypassed $25/month/line business phone line charges. At some point, individual urban and suburban blocks could easily be "guerilla re-wired" for ISP access without serious trenching, etc. The phoneco would still be involved, but in a far lower-profit mode, as the supplier of a single T1 to a multi-block area.

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[local] Portland OR Cypherpunks meeting
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It looks like the Portland Cypherpunks meeting is going to happen. The meeting plans are not set in stone. (I am still trying to make certain that the maximum amount of people can attend.) The current plans: Location: The Habit Internet Cafe 21st and Clinton Portland Or Time: 5:23pm (Discordian Standard time) Date: January 20th, 1996 There are machines and Internet connections available at the site. I am concidering adding an IRC channel for virtual Cypherpunk attendance. (Encrypted IRC anyone?) Planned activities include keysigning, discussing various issues and projects of the day, drinking lots of coffee, and whatever else we can come up with. (A Detwiller Doom patch?) No video cammeras, regualer cameras, and/or other soul stealing devices will be allowed on the premises. (Many of the people attending have pork and pork-substitute related alergies.) A more detailed porting will occur in a couple of days. For more information, complaints, flames, etc., just send me e-mail. Thanks! Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "Governments are potholes on the Information Superhighway." - Not TCMay

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