December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: A Modest Proposal
by James M. Cobb 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim, On 01 17 96 you say: ...we are for people looking out for Number One, with the expectation that many other people simply won't make it. I'm reading Christopher Hill's The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. At page 270: In 1616 John Rolfe, Secretary to the Virginia Company, attributed to Sir Thomas Dale the view that the English were 'a peculiar people marked and chosen by the finger of God' to possess North America. But the phrase [pecu- liar people] soon ceased to be equivalent to 'the chosen people' and came to be restricted to descriptions of them- selves by the saints. In 1659 Christopher Feake urged 'the real fifth-kingdom men' to 'become a peculiar people (or, as it were, a nation in the midst of the nation) wait- ing for the word of command from their leader [i.e. God] to execute the vengeance against Babylon'. Christ's cause will 'be amiable in the eyes of all the nations in due time'. Quakers and Bunyan also used the phrase. It indicated a group conscious of its superiority but also aware that it was a minority. Time tests prophecy and expectation alike. Hill's book has other pertinent things to say. At p 248: There are two (at least) ways of using the Bible for political controversy, which are not easily separated. First as CODE. When Thomas Goodwin in 1639 asked 'How, by degrees, do these Gentiles win ground upon the outward court in England?' he had already told us that Gentiles mean Papists. 'The outward court' continues a metaphor about the Jewish temple; but it was at Charles I's court that the Papists were making headway. At 249: Secondly, the symbols of the myth can be interpreted to taste. We have seen Cain pass from being all the reprobate to 'all great landlords', Nimrod from a tyrannical king to all kings, all persecutors; Samson from a type of Christ to a freedom fighter or a terrorist. There seemed to be no limits. Cen- sorship had to be restored.... Some of the myths came to be put to secular uses. John Bull with his cudgel, the bully of the waves, the master slave- trader, becomes the symbol of the chosen Anglo-Saxon people, of their manifest destiny to bring the world to protestant Christianity, to civilization, and in our century to 'demo- cracy'. But long before that the Bible had lost its function as final arbiter. At 176: But it is not totally absurd to suggest that the role of the [church] elders who decide and whose decisions are taken over by 'the people' is performed in our [present-day] society by the media. The main difference is in the way in which spokes- men of the latter find their way to such powerful positions: unlike elders, they are not elected. I expect those spokesmen are simply looking out for their Number Ones --their employers. Cordially, Jim NOTE. The first bracketed insertion in the first quotation is mine; the second is not. I capitalized CODE in the second quotation for the minority who can't see all that well. The book was published in 1993 by Allen Lane / The Penguin Press. Its ISBN: 0 713 99078 3. Pages: xiv + 466.

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Re: Hack Lotus?
by daw＠quito.CS.Berkeley.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In article <9601200326.AA09366(a)toad.com>, Peter Trei <trei(a)process.com> wrote: > > > If they're nasty, they'll check on the receiving side as well, to > > > ensure that the LEAF and/or the espionage-enabling key have not been > > > patched in the sending 'International' version. > > > > Nearly impossible. Why? Because they can only include the public key, > > and not the private key, of the GAK authority in the code. You can > > encrypt the three bytes of key, but it is very hard for a receiver > > other than the govvies to read them. There is no shared secret > > information or private information available, ergo, they can't check > > their LEAF equivalent. > > Think it through. [suggesting that Alice encrypts 24 bits of key under NSA's public key, Bob repeats calculation and checks that the two LEAFS are the same] > Thus, you can prevent a non-complying copy of Lotus from talking to > a complying copy of Lotus, which is one of the goals of the GAKers. No, you're wrong, the process you've described does not work. Note that RSA normally is used as probabilistic encryption: encrypt the same plaintext twice, and you'll likely get two different ciphertexts. Thus, if RSA is used in the normal probabilistic way, the receiver can't tell whether the sender was compliant. Now you might suggest that the sender should not include probabilistic padding, and use RSA deterministically, so that (somehow) the receiver can check whether those 24 bits are correct. That again won't work, since a third-party eavesdropper will be able to do a 2^24 brute force calculation to recover those 24 bits. There are complicated ways to prevent a non-compliant copy of Lotus from inter-operating with a compliant copy (as others on cypherpunks have kindly pointed out), but they are complicated, and would require a re-design of Lotus Notes' encryption module. Since the export version is interoperable with the non-export version, this would seem to require too much foresight and work to be very likely. In any event, I've heard that the export version of Lotus Notes 4 always sends a LEAF, but the receiver never checks it. So I think a simple binary patch to change the NSA's public key should work. P.S. So does anyone know how large the NSA's public LEAF key is? - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBMQKzSyoZzwIn1bdtAQF/zAGAxODShPqrBQLsWzRVAkW7+jbVJidQIF5q 1Jyisn2EedTQoBLHnZD7ojnmws807XZK =bRAO -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Censorship
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Censorship: In the past, whenever a new medium came into play, the new medium was subjected to extraordinarily restrictive censorship, while censorship was radically relaxed, or abandoned altogether, on the old media. Thus when the talkies came in, censorship on books was relaxed. When TV came in censorship on movies was relaxed. I conjecture that this represents the power of vested interests, and the relative weakness of new interests. Now if this pattern is going to be repeated, we would expect the FTC to attempt to utterly strangle the internet in a straightjacket, on behalf of the television interests that have largely captured the FTC. Note that current proposed legislation, legislation containing Exxon's severe censorship rules, gives the FTC ownership of the internet. They may claim to own it. Let us see them try. Censorship on television is now much tighter than it used to be: Expect a radical relaxation when internet use starts to cut into television time. Remember the original Star Treck: Every episode would have a fistfight, a gunfight, a space battle between starships with really cheap cheesy special effects, Captain Kirk would dip his wick (off screen) in a new exotic alien female, and he would defy orders, or Starfleet regulations, and most regularly and spectacularly, he would violate the prime directive. In most episodes a redcoat or two would be killed in a completely senseless and unnecessary manner, illustrating the cold indifference of the universe, or the casual evil of sentient beings. Whenever they introduced a new character with a red coat, you knew that violent death was on tonight's menu. Now consider the bland successor show "Star Treck the Next Generation": In a bow to political correctness they changed the words from "To boldly go where no man has gone before" to "To boldly go where no one has gone before". The "Next Generation" universe is socialist, and socialism is boring. Worse still, on "Next Generation" socialism actually works, and if there is anything even more boring that actual real life socialism, it is socialism that works because everyone cares about each other and they are all such very nice people. Well it came to pass that our TV executives woke up to the fact that there was something missing from the boring "Next Generation" universe, so they shift their plots to less perfect places. In an upcoming science fiction series "Osiris" the story universe has social collapse and reversion to barbarism, the exact opposite of the sickeningly perfect "Next Generation" universe. A logical continuation of the gimmick they pulled in "Deep Space Nine" in order to get the story out from the deadly grip of socialism. So far so good. But guess what? Nobody in the "Osiris" story suffers violent death, and the bad guys reproduce asexually. Asexually!! What would Captain Kirk do? Probably sodomy. And now let us consider the cartoons. Remember Yosemite Sam with his fiery temper and his two six guns? Pow! Blam! Well guess what? In today's cartoons, Yosemite Sam has no guns! Poor Captain Kirk. Poor Yosemite Sam. Under these circumstances we should expect a certain amount of friction around such newsgroups as alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.children, alt.conspiracy, alt.sex.bestiality.barney, alt.nationalism.white, and so forth. You will notice that political censorship goes hand in hand with censorship of sex and violence: Not only does Captain Whazisname of the "Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine" refrain from spreading his semen indiscriminately across the galaxy and refrain from beating people up man on man, he also obeys orders and regulations and never says anything that would be controversial in his universe or ours. They had to make Captain Whazisname of "Deep Space Nine" black instead of the white Captain Whazisname in "Next Generation" and young instead of old, because otherwise nobody would have noticed that he was supposed to be different person, played by a different actor. Typical politically correct diversity: Different colors, but only one voice. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: Respect for privacy != Re: exposure=deterence?
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:19 AM 1/19/96 +0100, Anonymous wrote: >On 15 Jan 96, Rich Graves wrote: > >> But government employees should only be held accountable for >> their actions as government employees. If the situation >> warrants, go ahead and tap their offices, break into their work >> computers, etc. But don't fuck with their personal lives. > >Oh, my! A little sensitive, are we? Aren't you even a *little* >struck by the fact that fucking with people's personal lives >is *precisely* what errant government officials *do*??? I LOVE this response! This is the kind of comment that totally destroys Rich Graves' position: Graves' would allow the government to screw with US, as ordinary citizens, while we're denied the ability to defend ourselves. Maybe I was excessively rude by calling Rich Graves a "fucking statist" on this list, but I don't think I was at all inaccurate. >We Jurgar Din Thank you for putting Rich Graves in his place. Jim Bell

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Re: Cypherpunk Enquirer
by Tim Cook 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> THE CYPHERPUNK ENQUIRER > > "Encyphering minds want to know." > <snip...great stuff deleted> ROTFLM?O..... We NEED stuff like this in these stressful times. <G>. Another "Logical Conclusion" by: Tim Cook <twcook(a)cts.com> Support THE US Constitution... Vote Alexander in '96 and '00!

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Re: Encryption and the 2nd Amendment
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:39 PM 1/20/96, Michael Froomkin wrote: >IMHO the 2nd amendment argument is bunk. [I haven't seen the Wired >article BTW, so this is just a general point.] I haven't seen the "Wired" article either, as I no longer read it. I agree with Michael that an association of crypto with arms is a long reach, unsupported in anything I've seen in the Constitution or related papers. Moreover, any successful link made could be disastrous. After all, it is well-established--whether we like it or not--that the government can regulate and control access to hydrogen bombs, bazookas, nerve gases, grenades, fully-automatic weapons, and even various kinds of rifles and handguns. I would hate to see crypto truly classified as an armament (beyond what the ITARs say) and thus be subject to the same kinds of regulations as above. Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. A much stronger claim can be made, I think, that crypto is a form of language or speech, clearly protected by the First Amendment. Thus, writing one's diary in an encrypted form (a common practice in colonial days, interestingly) is a form of language one uses. Thus, "Congress shall make no law..." about this speech or writing. That two people choose to converse in ROT-13 or in RSA or in their own private code is not something the government is authorized to interfere with. Ikewiselay, itingwray inlay igpay atinlay islay otectedpray. --Imtay Aymay Boycott espionage-enabled software! 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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E-Cash and the Treasury Department
by cpunk＠remail.ecafe.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[POSTED BY: PUBLICUS ANONYMOUS ("Oh! That Publicus.") ("Oh! That Anonymous.") INTELLIGENCE N. 269, 24 July 1995 (Vol. 16, N. 15) Publishing since 1980 Editor Olivier Schmidt Intelligence, N. 269, 24 July 1995, p. 11 RONALD K. NOBLE - U.S.A. This time the U.S. Treasury Department hasn't jumped the gun in announcing that Ronald K. Noble, the hard-line Undersecretary for Enforcement at Treasury, was the new chairman of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) set up in Paris by the G-7 group of industrialized nations in 1988. Last year at this time, the Netherlands took over the chair but U.S. Treasury wrongly issued an announcement that Noble was occupying the post. Asked by "Intelligence" for an explanation, Treasury simply stated that it had "made a mistake." Last year in Washington, Noble backed bankers complaining about the several million Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) they were required to file every year. Noble and the banks said that filing was not necessary on deposits by businesses like department, grocery and convenience stores that routinely make fluctuating large deposits in cash, and Treasury intended to slash CTR filings by 30 percent. Critics contend that businesses exempt from CTR filing will quickly be used by criminal organizations to launder their cash. As Undersecretary for Enforcement at Treasury, Noble oversees five of the eight largest federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S.: the Secret Service, U.S. Customs, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) which was taken over by Treasury's Office of Financial Enforcement under Noble last year at this time. At the FATF, Noble replaced Leo Verwoerd of the Netherlands on 1 July 1995 and will direct the FATF for one year. Following last year's resolution to "monitor implementation of the forty Recommendations of 1990 by its members," Noble intends to use forceful methods including open criticism in annual FATF reports of non-complying members, followed by written reprimands from the FATF chairman to recidivist member countries, and finally high-level mission visits to the faulty country. Greece has already been criticized twice for its lack of progress in implementing FATF recommendations. .

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Innaresting Fortune article on "Garbage Goodfellas" in NYC
by Rich Graves 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

January 15th Fortune (don't normally read it, but I picked up a free copy) has a lengthy and evidently well-researched article bylined Richard Behar on the efforts of BFI, a large regional trash hauler and recycler, to break into the (by most accounts) Mafia-controlled garbage collection industry in New York City. Cypherpunk relevance: BFI is cooperating closely with the DA in helping to prosecute its allegedly mob-affiliated competitors, which raises a lot of very interesting questions, for which I have yet to formulate any answers. Also a sidenote about how NYC's disclosure laws actually aid organized crime by helping the various bosses track who owns what territory. Electronic surveillance. Money laundering. Steganography (sending messages by way of the disembodied head of a dog). Open access to information and free-market capitalism versus violent bozos, with and without uniforms. Pen trumps sword. Rich says check it out. -- Rich Graves Fucking Statist

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Web site with Updated Telecom Bill Info
by Thomas Grant Edwards 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://bell.com/ (Alliance for Competitive Communications) has updated Telecom Bill info including "A concise resource guide to the House Senate Conference on H.R. 1555/S. 652.", 12/22/95 draft of the Telecommunications Conference Bill, and a statement by VP Gore. (Beware of editorial bias at this site, as these people are not a disinterested party). Our beloved Vice President said: "We are very gratified that the bill contains the provisions for the V-chip that will enable families to control the contract of television programming that comes into their homes and that it contains a provision to make advanced telecommunications services available at low cost to schools, libraries and hospitals" -Thomas

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Update on Netscape and the Anonymiser site
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Netscape 2.0b6a (win32 version) now reports the user name as "Mozilla". Name is no longer fed out through the ftp... Thanks Jeff! 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/ "Is the operating system half NT or half full?"

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