December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

News on RSA vs. Cylink Injunctions and Patents
by baldwin 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The following press release from RSA may be of interest to the folks on this list. --Bob ----------------------------------- Subject: NEWS: Cylink loses in attempt to enjoin RSA licensing REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 1996--In a ruling filed March 4, the Honorable Spencer Williams, U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California, denied Cylink Corporation's motion seeking an injunction against RSA Data Security, Inc.'s licensing of its BSAFE/TIPEM toolkit software. Cylink contends that RSA's software infringes its Stanford patents and that licensing required an additional grant from Cylink, despite the fact that RSA already has a license. After hearing oral arguments on Feb. 29, Judge Williams denied Cylink's motion from the bench and later issued a written order explaining that "several factors weigh against finding that (Cylink) has shown a likelihood of success on the merits." In denying the motion the court found that "RSA has raised serious question (sic) regarding the validity of the first of the Stanford patents, the Diffie-Hellman patent." With respect to Cylink's other patent, the Hellman-Merkle patent, the court had this to say: "(I)t is questionable whether the patent warrants such broad coverage." Thus, Cylink has "failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits." RSA had initiated the lawsuit against CKC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cylink, because CKC was threatening RSA's customers in an effort to induce them to purchase sublicenses to the Stanford patents. RSA's action seeks a court determination that the patents are invalid, not infringed and/or RSA's licensing does not exceed its existing rights under the patents. Cylink/CKC responded by filing its motion for preliminary injunction which was denied by the court as described above. In a related matter, the arbitration panel which is handling the winding up and dissolution of Public Key Partners ("PKP"), the entity that formerly held the licensing rights to the MIT and Stanford patents, ruled that: "In addition to the claims discussed above and in our prior rulings, Cylink presented the claim, but did not prove, that RSA breached its fiduciary duty to PKP by providing patent licenses to third parties." The arbitration panel also found that PKP was obligated to reimburse RSA for the costs and attorney's fees incurred in other related litigation, including a patent lawsuit brought by Cylink to invalidate the MIT patent. "The court confirmed that RSA has existing rights to the Stanford patents, and although Cylink knew this, it has forced RSA to investigate. In that process, we have found a number of disturbing facts about the Stanford patents," said Jim Bidzos, president of RSA. He went on to add: "Cylink's losing its motion is likely only a surprise to Cylink who thinks they can achieve through the courts what they haven't been able to accomplish in the marketplace."

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Re: Another Motivation for the CDA (Federal Sentencing Guid
by Mutant Rob 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Note: This post is 100% free of crypto. Bill Stewart wrote: [..] > And the guys who just got busted for having fertilizer, diesel oil, > and drugs on their farm had a whole three ounces of marijuana and > personal-use quantities of crank. Maybe they were planning to blow up > buildings rather than stumps; but the Feds are trying to paint them > as max evil just to build up their case. Perhaps they were going to use the fertilizer for the grass and the heating oil to keep warm (or to keep the plants warm). It's possible... - --- [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 iQBFAwUBMUFBjyoZzwIn1bdtAQFAvgF/ZarRLbmt6KLiK3XPMWqdmPeGs5dg0Jpm aLndW+LmNJODCB2q4Xh9/IrCJ8awEvf9 =P4i6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: U.S. State Dept criticizes Chinese net-censorship
by jf_avon＠citenet.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- - From State dept about China: > Government control > of news media generally continues to depend on self-censorship to > regulate political and social content, but the authorities also > consistently penalize those who exceed the permissable. It is this kind of double talk, "self-censorship", that makes possible the US govt. to do the exact same as China's one does. There is no such thing as "self-censorship". Either you stick to your values, and then it is *not* censorship, or then you do not, and then, it is neither. The *only* ultimate tool of censorship is a gun. JFA -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2i iQEVAwUBMUBUDMiycyXFit0NAQExqQf+JxkWi4BhPwQSXtzscf+AGGA++5dZjTmP 3mkhsPzT1JKT1Pl4LXVLbCEJctv+yeLOq1sRYV3rcdIZOIwh1cvfPoWI8LFqfCH4 63nkX6eTG+6VR1uCOMCuTfJFx/f86v5Y34ehfQDzGzcN2SrxCSXpDFwHuTMpB6/g 6Zjhspfqz8PT7U9vHbyHkytXBI9BdR9b6+WUkJMHMpflrDDbSTrsR+C3XObIO4gu 85l4/HjUqSf+EyAw9/Bv3J5uUFF45o+ff6BvWt5eVUMTgWEBcJkjHbm/JYgj7lrK Bjm3oXboh940zHIRIkjb56SRFEb2ITNSfoKilXLgq3CV9r/+Wx5q4g== =UnIn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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test
by Bryan Koschmann 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

just a test to see if my filter works..sorry3 for any inconvenience Gate|<eepeR (!-=Gate|<eepeR ruLeZ=-!)

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Java and PGP
by wiz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

With all the current discussion on Java encryption api's, it got me thinking. Would it be possible to write a Java applet that provides secure email? By secure, I mean that nobody but the intended recipient of a letter can read it. And that the reader knows who wrote it. That is, encryption and signing a la PGP. Using https you would download a Java applet from your mail server. Https is needed so that a MITM can not give you a fake applet. The applet will fetch your secring.pgp from the mail server. It will fetch your mail by POP3 from same server and decrypt any PGP mail using the pass phrase you enter in the applet window. Problem with this setup, your mail server administrator could give you a fake applet that sends your pass phrase back to him. That means that the applet must be verified anyhow, so maybe https doesn't really help. Anybody see a solution to this? If the applet viewer (such as Netscape 2.0) would show an MD5 sum of the applet, we could verify that with a third party. But it should be done automatically, like the way Netscape verifys https. <wiz(a)c2.org>

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ANNOUNCE: NOISE.SYS v0.4.9-Beta /dev/random driver for DOS syste
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The latest version of NOISE.SYS (0.4.9) should be available "real soon now" at ftp.elf.stuba.sk in the ??/security directory [I don't remember the exact path...]. It should also be available at the ftp.wimsey.com and ftp.funet.fi sites soon. NOISE.SYS is a /dev/random driver for DOS systems, similar to the random.c implementation for Linux and FreeBSD. It sets up two devices, "random" and "urandom" which return streams of crypto- quality random bytes based on fast timings from the keyboard IRQ, disk access, Windows 3.x message broadcasts, mouse movement, and cpu clock drift, with some experimental kluges to sample the audio card input [to be improved in future versions]. The raw samples are mixed using a polynomial function and then hashed using SHA-1. Entropy estimation is based on arithmetic coding schemes and how often samples recur, rather than on the sample deltas themselves. The source is included (in 386 assembler) and is relatively easy to modify and experiment with [plenty of comments and macros]. Rob. --- Send a blank message with the subject "send pgp-key" (not in quotes) to <WlkngOwl(a)unix.asb.com> for a copy of my PGP key.

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U.S. State Dept criticizes Chinese net-censorship
by Gary Howland 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > The U.S. State Department's Human Rights Report for 1995 talks about > restrictions on new media in China, pointing out that Internet access is > now limited. But will they have the balls to criticise singapore? SINGAPORE CRACKS DOWN ON INTERNET The Singapore government has informed Internet content and access providers that it will hold them responsible for voluntarily restricting pornographic and politically objectionable material in transmissions to the country's 100,000 Internet accounts. The Singapore Broadcasting Authority is charged with enforcing the ban on materials that could "undermine public morals, political stability or religious harmony." Most content providers will be deemed "licensed" unless they violate the restrictions, but political and religious groups must register their online intentions with the SBA. Punishments for transgressions have not yet been determined. (Wall Street Journal 6 Mar 96 B6) Gary - -- pub 1024/C001D00D 1996/01/22 Gary Howland <gary(a)kampai.euronet.nl> Key fingerprint = 0C FB 60 61 4D 3B 24 7D 1C 89 1D BE 1F EE 09 06 - --- [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 iQBFAwUBMUAQwioZzwIn1bdtAQHYrgF/ZsQe3y/aeQCoouoOJ7SnXSY4uVOkv3eP zPFB9+GjLuQ8xBDEzygjB5FnPkTcVnGI =nIgN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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hammers, crowbars and remailers & Leahy
by jf_avon＠citenet.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What is the difference between an small hardware store owner selling a hammer and a crowbar to a guy that will commit burglary and a remailer owner providing services to , say, the same burglar who wants to sell his stolen goods. Would an anonymous phone call notifying the hardware store owner that somebody will buy tools that will be used to commit a crime be significant? Any comments? JFA Typical govt reasonning: The first cause of death is life, therefore life should be outlawed! Yeah, let make a new law! It'll be fun!

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Net Day 96 and AOL
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Heard on the radio today that AOL will be donating service for a year to the first 2000 schools that ask for it, as part of their contribution to Net Day. (For those of you not from California, an industry-led group has been coordinating volunteers and materials to wire up schools to the net; tomorrow's effort will be installing inside wiring so that schools that have computers will be able to get hooked up.) Does anybody know if there's an AOL-friendly version of PGP that we can donate to the schools, to help teach kids about proper encryption? If nothing else, some of the cut&paste interfaces will do, I suppose. AOL is fairly friendly about pseudonyms, and remailer support is a no-brainer except for documentation readily understandable to kids. Bill #-- # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com, +1-415-442-2215 pager 408-787-1281 # "At year's end, however, new government limits on Internet access threatened # to halt the growth of Internet use. [...] Government control of news media # generally continues to depend on self-censorship to regulate political and # social content, but the authorities also consistently penalize those who # exceed the permissable." - US government statement on China...

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Re: U.S. State Dept criticizes Chinese net-censorship
by jf_avon＠citenet.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 8-Mar-96 Re: U.S. State Dept >critici.. by JFA T. QC, Canada@citene >> There is no such thing as "self-censorship". Either you stick to >> your values, and then it is *not* censorship, or then you do not, >> and then, it is neither. > >Self-censorship does happen, and it's a growing problem in the arts >community. (I'm not a commercial artist, so this is my understanding >from other panelists and speakers at a conference I spoke at last month.) > >Making art more palatable or less "extreme" to curry favor with >corporate patrons, or to get that NEA grant, or to get that faculty >position is self-censorship, and it does happen. No, it does not. Making art more palatable is simply the process of free trade between two uncoerced entities. If the artist does not offer what the corporate purchaser wants he will not sell. He thus adapt his style out to his customer. Nobody is threatening to use force to have the artist conform to the client. Nobody is forcing the client to buy what he does not like. The artist does not have to compromise, he simply have to refuse the contract. Anybody using the term "censorship" to describe that is in the following situation : he *wants* the advantages of the contract (money) without respecting the customer, therefore. He deplores the fact that somebody (the customer) can act to his best judgment. The fact that the artist calls that censorship shows that he have the same thought process as the true censorers, i.e. the conviction that the end justify the means, and more specifically, the feeling that *his* ends justify *any* means. The artist may not act on his feelings but nevertheless, they are, in essence, of this nature. And unfortunately, too many artists think that way. JFA Accepting a grant is accepting stolen money. The collectivists and their free-lunchers be DAMNED! Restore an objective monetary standard such as gold! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2i iQEVAwUBMUDVbsiycyXFit0NAQHG0gf+P1rmX5xQiRo5sHpvYBlvvclVdGxJaJ6c E+n35ln3/FFMGiguk5TEr6tOG+vj6UNBW2VibggQ9HkMkQ+6yTeJRrWQVje+YxxY pygYrY6wfDB8F9aemkVIiypZqvo+UrG+IZwKSsuqZuFmyxu5VsnAzFB/NQS6z/fq WPnm23t51kj2d6e+1PDVJRmv1Gpjaj34xt9YIif7S7fXdMI8vRbopRkoFfbXcFsE +I+fzeIPINXde44duW/tUmVbPZcrwxNgL0xo7AZ3fwzYGqOw2cR3zNFH9iPWs6O5 iV+fNIx2f1sKl1MbkydEHtPVctLT3cqX0Bvi5f0k6XKdzmCMGSOr9g== =qWzV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Public Key at http://w3.citenet.net/users/jf_avon Jean-Francois Avon <jf_avon(a)citenet.net> 2048 bits key ID:C58ADD0D 1996/03/01 fingerprint=52 96 45 E8 20 5A 8A 5E F8 7C C8 6F AE FE F8 91

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