December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Duplicate messages
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:40 PM 1/3/96 -0600, you wrote: >-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > >> Has everyone else been getting two messages for the price of one? > >I've gotten several pieces of email from people who are getting two >copies of stuff I post, but I've looked at my mailer (sendmail 8.6.10) >and it's not sending out dups to toad.com, as far as I can tell. > >If people continue to get dups from just me, then I'll have to install a >sendmail front-end to log outgoing email or something... It is not just you. I am getting dups from about half the list. 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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Re: bumper stickers
by tallpaul＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Jan 03, 1996 22:25:26, 'liberty(a)gate.net (Jim Ray)' wrote: ><snip> > >> -- Any political analysis that fits on a bumper sticker is wrong. > > >My bumper sticker says, "Politicians and diapers need to be changed -- >often for the same reason." Politicians keep on proving this analysis >RIGHT, much as I *wish* it were wrong. >JMR >Regards, Jim Ray >http://www.shopmiami.com/prs/jimray >"Hooters GUYS? Washington -- GET A GRIP!" > I am not sure if I understand the political argument that J. Ray believes is so "RIGHT" that he wishes to post it to the cypherpunks list. I infer that the answer he is implying is that they are both "full of shit." I have no problem with humorous bumper stickers. I frequently use parodies of bubble-brained "progressivism" as my .sig files (e.g. "Visualize whirled peas" or "Give pizza chants" but I do not confuse them with detailed social, political, mathematical, philosophical, or especially economic analysis. J.Ray may wish to comment on the anality of politicians; that is an opinion over which I have no desire to comment. But to seriously maintain that one needs to replace an elected official based on the presumed state of his bowels, to post this info publically, and to insist that the analysis is "RIGHT" is rather an example of what I meant. One might define cypherpunks in three areas: a) they write code, *code* and CODE; b) they are concerned about anonymity; c) they are concerned about privacy. The code they write is based on algorythms. They are short, terse, and elegant. The code that the algorythmicly-oriented cypherpunks have written is wonderful and a major contribution to human freedom. They write far better code than I have ever written or will ever be likely to write. And you can put elegant mathematical equations on bumper stickers. They can fit and they are true. The best example might be "E = MC^2". Unfortunately, the other two issues are not subject to the same type of solutions as is encryption code. The time one spends working on the elegant algorythms is time not spent on broader issues of political science, sociology, economics, history, etc. Unfortunately, many do not realize this and so treat complex social issues as if they can be decided with the same type of elegant algorthym as the code. They can not. The English language does not have the compact elegance of C++. Nor is the range of human problems and interrelationships anywhere near as narrow as that of the average instruction set of a CPU. So attempts at solving complex social problems in the same way are *always* wrong, as witness J.Ray's original post to the group. I do not mean to suggest that every algo-oriented individual must, of necessity, miss the larger social issues. Einstein, for example, came up with a mean critique of E. Mach, but only because Uncle AL put a lot of post-1905 time studying complex aspects of philosophy. His critique, by the by, did not fit on a bumber sticker. -- tallpaul -- Gun control means being able to hit your target!

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Re: New Mitnick Book
by Joel McNamara 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Well, here's another minor error. At the hearing, Shimomura >just used a new, shrink wrapped cell phone. I think it was an AT&T >model, but my memory is faint on these details. I'm pretty sure it >wasn't an off the shelf Oki 900. Half the point was to show just >how easy it was. He didn't even bother to hook the >cell phone up to a laptop or palmtop. Just a few button pushes and >instant scanner. I tried to get him to tell me the right buttons afterwards, >but he was too busy and didn't answer. Sigh. The AT&T 3730 model is identical to the Oki 900 and contains the same rich set of features. The key sequences to enter test mode and scan cell channels are the same. The commands are relatively well documented in most cell hacking archive sites. Joel

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No Subject
by Rudi Raith 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Some thoughts on the possibility or well-definedness of banning specific (indecent?) contents on the net (or elsewhere): 1) All contents (files) can be seen as natural numbers. (Use your favourite encoding function.) 2) I suppose that there is a predicate indecent_p(n), which is true if n represents something indecent, false otherwise. (Some implementation of such a predicate could be a police officer arresting you upon presentation of the number to him, yielding true. :-) ) Such numbers may be called "Indecent Numbers", their "posession", "transfer", etc. be banned. 3) Every natural number n can be perceived as the encryption of every other one m (including itself) by some function enc. n = enc(m). (Proof by cardinality) Examples: Trivial enc: "If the number is n, return m." Not so trivial enc: "Take m as a one time pad to encrypt n." 4) As a consequence, every natural number can be perceived as the encryption of an Indecent Number, hence should be banned, shouldn't it? 5) The decimal representation of any irrational number (e.g. pi, e) contains the decimal representation of every natural number somewhere. (Proof by diagonalization.) Hence the algorithm for creating this decimal representation should be banned, too, shoudn't it? 6) Finally I hope this shows what great an achievement to legislation and jurisdiction such banning might become, once established. This creates a universal crime (or vice?), everybody is guilty of automatically without the tedious procedure of seeking evidence. (maybe those not knowing about numbers at all be exempt?) Virtually Yours, Rudi Raith (raith(a)feilmeier.de)

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Re: bumper stickers--WANNA BET???
by liberty＠gate.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- tallpaul(a)pipeline.com *posted* to the entire list! <snip> >I am not sure if I understand the political argument that J. Ray believes >is so "RIGHT" that he wishes to post it to the cypherpunks list. Er...did I post it to the list, and if I did, why didn't it appear there? This was a *private* message to you, according to my logs. Perhaps you should take a bit more care in responding to look at the message headers before hitting the entire list automatically. Private e-mail is, after all, still a possibility, even for the cypherpunks... <Blah blah blah writecode political stuff elided...> >So attempts at solving complex social >problems in the same way are *always* wrong, as witness J.Ray's original >post to the group. Again, an offer of *proof* of my posting would be appropriate here. The message you got wasn't PGPsigned, which is a good clue I did not send it to the list. I hereby bet $10,000.00 e-cash [hell, I need the money!] that I made NO such posting to the cypherpunks list. I believe an apology (or a bet) is in order. Of course, I'm hoping for the bet. Switch to decaf, tallpaul! JMR PS. to the list. Please try to learn the big difference between their, they're, there, etc. The ghost of my former English teacher groans and moans inside my head when I see these errors. Strunk & White is short and to the point on the subject. The Ghost and I thank you. Regards, Jim Ray http://www.shopmiami.com/prs/jimray "Hooters GUYS? Washington -- GET A GRIP!" _______________________________________________________________________ PGP key Fingerprint 51 5D A2 C3 92 2C 56 BE 53 2D 9C A1 B3 50 C9 C8 Public Key id. # E9BD6D35 <liberty(a)gate.net> IANAL _______________________________________________________________________ Help Phil! e-mail zldf(a)clark.net or http://www.netresponse.com/zldf _______________________________________________________________________ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Freedom isn't Freeh. iQCVAwUBMOvUHG1lp8bpvW01AQHbvgP+JR1gSBQvHu286IiWG+K4OGJi9NNcAHeY u5DLnloHF8UvZ8D1b4uKB85z17iZVvSjGA1HS8SkZ6sxgwsHsv5ZrzI65Nenqb2d vLbE1Ds9USmNBQAOtTs+dVUKkelpgbSLE9a2o8B866vT3lRPwluYSaHNX7CTHS67 /ZbTJ5qiP7E= =X2kk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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"Concryption"
by m5＠dev.tivoli.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Did I miss something in here about the alleged "Concryption" patent awarded Security Dynamics Technologies? Supposedly a press release was posted to sci.crypt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5(a)tivoli.com) | | stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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SecureDrive News
by Edgar Swank 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Overseas FTP site Changes As I thought might happen, the operators of the utopia ftp site have moved SecureDrive 1.4a from the incoming directory to a permanent home, ftp://utopia.hacktic.nl/pub/reply/pub/disk/secdr14a.zip ftp://utopia.hacktic.nl/pub/replay/pub/crypto/CRYPTOapps/secdr14a.zip It has also appeared on at least one "mirror" site Host ftp.univie.ac.at Location: /security/crypt/mirrors/utopia.hacktic.nl/crypto/CRYPTOapps FILE -r--r--r-- 131174 01-Jan-1996 01:54:57 secdr14a.zip Location: /security/crypt/mirrors/utopia.hacktic.nl/disk FILE -r--r--r-- 131174 01-Jan-1996 01:54:57 secdr14a.zip which turned up in an Archie search. New Utility for use with SecureDrive and Windows 3.1 I have previously recommended EDOS as a mechanism to allow setting PGPPASS under a DOS window of Windows 3.1. A user has brought to my attention that a freeware utility, SETENV, that can be found at ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/envutil/stnvjw25.zip that has the same function and also has a "password" mode for non-echo entry. I just tried it and it seems to work. SecureDrive and Windows 95 I have gotten many inquiries about SecureDrive and Windows 95. I don't have a copy of Win95 myself, but, based on user reports, I can report that SecureDrive 1.4a does work with Windows 95, but with some restrictions. 1)Always run CRYPTDSK and LOGIN under bare DOS, outside of Windows 95. Do not try to run either in a DOS window under Win95. 2)Run SECTSR and LOGIN x: /S in AUTOEXEC.BAT before other TSR's. 3)Run LOGIN x: (prompts for passphrase) later in AUTOEXEC.BAT, but before entering Windows. Enter the correct passphrase if you anticipate needing access to the encrypted partition. 4)After entering Windows, use the Control Panel to set 16-bit disk access. Use of 32-bit drivers may give direct access to the encrypted data, which is very dangerous for integrity of the data. I'm told step 4 may not be necessary if the encrypted partition has its own physical disk. In this case, Win95 will automatically switch to 16-bit drivers if the correct passphrase is entered to enable access to the encrypted partition. I've also been told of one instance where CRYPTDSK and/or LOGIN failed to find the correct partition from the DOS drive letter. If this happens, use the physical partition parameters, as explained in the documentation. Please continue to report experiences & problems to me. Edgar W. Swank <edgar(a)Garg.Campbell.CA.US> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMOtGRN4nNf3ah8DHAQGzRAP9G6Ct2+pSH23h1GdoWqjCUAVkxs1oWvLU 4qz76NkVUQ9ZnlbSTY8bPvfAZZICBh9TjnBF+T5ph6fLaBEYj+q6od8RvO+HJY+r a7B6/3RSQHKNcAjpn4YZ9wIVimQS7RNLyBCiiuEbuC70OwgezD8p98/aWuRlCDxC ZcTRbkyyEsA= =KFb/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- edgar(a)Garg.Campbell.CA.US (Edgar Swank) The Land of Garg BBS -- +1 408 378-5108

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\"Concryption\"
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cambridge, MA, Jan 3 -- Security Dynamics plans to license "Concryption," a just patented technology combining encryption and compression, to outside companies for use with a variety of security and compression protocols, revealed Kenneth Weiss, chairman and chief technical officer. "It is my belief that Concryption will solve the two biggest problems that exist today: the need for privacy and more available bandwidth," Weiss said. "Compression has been catching on. It takes less time today to send a whole page of fax than it used to, for example, and part of that is because of better data compression. But encryption has not caught on in the way it should, because of time and expense issues and the hassles of key management." Still, though, available bandwidth for data storage and transmission is diminishing all the time, in arenas ranging from fax to satellite technology, networked information, and the World Wide Web, according to the company chairman. Compression will become an even more significant requirement in the future, with an anticipated explosion of multimedia applications, he predicted. Security Dynamics has been awarded US Patent No. 5,479,512 for Concryption. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company now holds a total of 14 patents from the US Patent Office, most related to its "core business" of computer security, he reported. One of the company's other patents, for instance, is for a biometric technology designed to enable "voice fingerprinting." Security Dynamics also produces the SecureID Card, ACE/Server, and ACM series of user authentication products. Security Dynamics' newly patented Concryption technology is based on mathematical synergies between the processes of encrypting and compressing data. Both procedures call for analyzing arrays of binary patterns, "seeing where the spaces are," and then applying rules to the data. Weiss added that encryption and compression are both highly intensive in terms of CPU (central processor unit) cycles and disk accesses. As a result, he asserted, integrating the two technologies into a "single set of operations" will bring cost reductions in CPU usage as well as faster encryption times. "The time to compress might increase a little bit, but on the other hand, the time to encrypt goes to zero. Whatever the disk accesses are for compression, there would be no other disk accesses for encryption." Security Dynamics sees Concryption as a "concept pattern" suited to use with a variety of data types, network transports, and security protocols, according to Weiss. "This is a new enabling technology that we believe should have an impact on the way information is communicated in the future." The company intends to work with outside licensees on integrating different compression and encryption methods. "Big users have already optimized compression for their unique technologies. We use a different form of compression for fax than we would for satellite data or TV pictures. Beyond that, companies might employ different compression algorithms. Similarly, people like to have control over the type of encryption used," Weiss maintained. Although forthcoming multimedia applications will require much greater compression than text, conventional needs for "privacy" may not be as high, since many video offerings of the future will be geared to entertainment, Weiss acknowledged. "But we will probably be seeing 'economic privacy,' " the company chairman noted, pointing to a trend, already well established in the cable TV industry, toward providing "high demand" fare such as first-run movies only on separately priced, encrypted, "premium channels." Contact: Security Dynamics, 617-547-7820

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An apology to Jim Ray
by tallpaul＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Jan 04, 1996 08:28:11, 'liberty(a)gate.net (Jim Ray)' wrote a critique of my post to the list concerning what turned out to be a private message to me. J. Ray's points made in his critique are on-target and correct. My actions were not. I apologize to the people on the list for eating up their bandwidth in a public response to a private e-message. I especially apologize to J.Ray for whatever inconvience I may have caused him. -- -- tallpaul -- "Let's All Visualize HappyNet!"

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Please take me off your mailing list
by MMiller224＠gnn.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Please take me off your mailing list...I can't keep up with all this mail.

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