December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Response to Perrygram
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Am I the only one who thinks that big money could be made selling tickets >for a first class section in which Mr. Metzger and Mr. May were seated >in 2a and 2b? Personally, I'd pay big money for a firehose, myself... Or, as someone said once said long ago on a list far away: Perry and Tim, Why don't you two have sex already? The tension around here is getting unbearable... ;-) Cheers, Bob ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/

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Top 10 anagrams - "Communications Decency Act"
by Rishab Aiyer Ghosh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Terribly sorry, I've a mail backlog a mile long, haven't seen this yet, etc etc. Besides, it's so short, and so brilliant, that it deserves being posted more than once. -Rishab ---begin forwarded text--- From: Mike Morton <mike(a)morton.com> Date: Sun, 11 Feb 96 20:25:35 -1000 Subject: Top Ten Anagrams -- 'Communications Decency Act' Copyright (c) 1996 by the author, Mike Morton <mike(a)morton.com>. All rights reserved. You may reproduce this, in whole or in part, in any form provided you retain this paragraph unchanged. Top Ten Anagrams for "Communications Decency Act" 10. Caution cynic: Scan modem, etc. 9. Communist, candy, cocaine, etc. 8. Academic custom: Cynic on 'Net 7. Connect CIA, communist decay 6. I disconnect my Acme account 5. [This anagram too offensive to post] 4. Condoms, etc., can cue intimacy 3. Decency? Commit a sin, account! 2. Cut my academic connections And the number one anagram for "Communications Decency Act": 1. Comic scene: Nudity act on Mac Runners-up: A succinct edict: man, economy CIA? Disconnect me, my account? Connect Mosaic; induce my act Cute, cosmetic cynic: Madonna I accuse; condemn my tactic, no? I accused: Connect into my Mac I can't commend saucy conceit Media custom: Connect a cynic Mice may disconnect account Scan me: CIA concocted mutiny ---end forwarded text--- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Indian Techonomist - newsletter on India's information industry http://dxm.org/techonomist/ rishab(a)dxm.org Editor and publisher: Rishab Aiyer Ghosh rishab(a)arbornet.org Vox +91 11 6853410; 3760335; H 34 C Saket, New Delhi 110017, INDIA

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Rivest's Goldmine
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Probably old news to wizened Cypher-Codgers, still, Ron Rivest's Web site is a treasure: http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/crypto-security.html Has he omitted any crypto-security source? His site should be regularly cited for cypher-coder toddlers and numbheads.

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Re: CyberAngels
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: IN%"joseph(a)genome.wi.mit.edu" 13-FEB-1996 02:57:56.92 >I agree with allen, about the issues of 'nym. But looking at other aspects >of these cyberangels I'm unsure how to feel. On one hand they seem resonable, >protecting only the children. "Acts bewteen consenting adults are okay" say >they. But the protect the children was what the CDA hid under. The 'CyberAngels' are rather like the CDA in that they keep using child pornography as a red herring to avoid talking about everything else they want to do. I will not be surprised if they wind up being informants for the CDA. The following CuDigest issues may shed some light on the issue. Both I and tallpaul have done some responding to them, incidentally. (In all of these, http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/ should be put in front of the web addresses.): Vol 7, Issue 86: CUDS7/cud786 Vol 7, Issue 87: CUDS7/cud787 Vol 7, Issue 91: CUDS7/cud791 Vol 7, Issue 93: CUDS7/cud793 (I will note that the relevant article contains an inaccuracy on bestiality, claiming that it is illegal in all states. This is not the case, as some later CuDigests explain.) Vol 7, Issue 94: CUDS7/cud794 Vol 8, Issue 4: CUDS7/cud804 Vol 8, Issue 6: CUDS8/cud806 (I would appreciate some responses explaining the difference between an anonymous remailer and methods for mailbombing using forgeries - "Gabriel" does not seem to understand this. Vol 8, Issue 13: CUDS8/cud813 -Allen

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Re: NETSCAPE IS "IN MERGER TALKS WITH AMERICA ONLINE"
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Bill Frantz wrote: [..] > could be made within a month. He noted that new data showed that 40% of US > Internet traffic was flowing through America OnLine's network and that > together with Netscape the two companies would effectively control the > technology now shaping the global network - "And then Microsoft would be > left without an Internet standard,". I dunno. The World Wide Web Consortium supposedly exists to prevent corporations from controlling the technology and standards. Most web sites are not on AOL, and not run under DOS/Windows. Rob - --- [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 iQBFAwUBMSEwcioZzwIn1bdtAQFyGgF+LgcuxW9BkzwwMCUUC4/1OK9bGrDrfqHW YKTmghUAd90jOEc4kC3zlSgPrZpfGlOU =5b5G -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Cypherpunks in 3/96 WIRED -"Wisecrackers" by Steven Levy
by abostick＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The Cypherpunks figure prominently in an article by Steven Levy, called "Wisecrackers" (p. 128), about codebreaking efforts like last year's Hack SSL effort and Ian Goldberg's and David Wagner's crack of Netscape's encryption. A quick scan reveals what seems to be a sensible and intelligent article. - -- Alan Bostick | "If I am to be held in contempt of court, Seeking opportunity to | your honor, it can only be because the court develop multimedia content. | has acted contemptibly!" Finger abostick(a)netcom.com for more info and PGP public key -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQB1AwUBMSJPHOVevBgtmhnpAQGM1QL+I57APNZi10VzxR2zswIzKxZ2oGJ62o/t OWT8cBKcohttQEV2y+sdFa4wlaieQXSo4iE7/nFtafW9fG/U7+ISGWbWW0UHOiJq 0FTw0RIzbdlyuJd8j5zVXT5uYUcENtjB =jAhn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: I've just unsubscribed from cypherpunks
by cmca＠alpha.c2.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [To: willer(a)carolian.com (Steve Willer), Rich Salz <rsalz(a)osf.org>] [Subject: Re: I've just unsubscribed from cypherpunks] [Cc: cypherpunks(a)toad.com] willer(a)carolian.com (Steve Willer) wrote: >I don't understand what the issue is. I understand perfectly what the issue is. Rich wrote an important informational message about "MS CAPI export issue" - which raises questions about how exactly MicroSloth got away with exporting CAPI. I for one dearly want to hear the answer. Instead he gets a JimBell rant about conspiracies or something (I didn't read it to the end). He CAN'T just killfile the subject. It's HIS subject, and he wants to read the answer. The thread is relevent. When the noise level exceeds the threshold, even in threads which you want to read or indeed initiated, something is fundamentally wrong. I'd unsubscribe myself, except I can't. ObCrypto: I think the govmint goofed, letting this out. Perhaps someone should (anonymousely) alert the DoJ to start a grand jury to indict Bill Gates. Someone overseas should ASAP interface PGP to it and publish it. Chris McAuliffe <cmca(a)alpha.c2.org> (No, not that one.) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCUAwUBMSJqPoHskC9sh/+lAQFsuQP2JWma2HNFXSLg5h0pEUn3J/BlEmOu2kBa avtfvbvLL+25JkTR2Fn3K+zw1b7OyREX1fSj7lKdfRf6WukUJ55snPrqJmaRYeWS 0b7XVAP4bxYNBVV+IjhU+IaZSOE9YY1zuAQ07lSLTmprNiCCQm37loxfyBRiJsrU VfGxKUXyqA== =RiJ/ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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FW: Laugh Of The Day - Fri, Feb 02 1996 (fwd)
by rah＠shipwright.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text From: "Roger Koppl" <KOPPL(a)FDUSVR1.FDU.EDU> Organization: FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY To: austrianecon(a)agoric.com Date: Wed, 14 Feb 1996 12:38:57 EDT Subject: FW: Laugh Of The Day - Fri, Feb 02 1996 (fwd) Priority: normal Sender: owner-austrianecon(a)agoric.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: AustrianECON(a)agoric.com I got this from a colleague. Apparently the source is LaughWEB. Sound familiar? Roger ---------- Forwarded message ---------- ***************************************************************** Be sure to visit LaughWEB (http://www.misty.com/laughweb/) ***************************************************************** *File Description: The Natural Life Cycle Of a Mailing List* THE NATURAL LIFE CYCLE OF MAILING LISTS Every list seems to go through the same cycle: 1. Initial enthusiasm (people introduce themselves, and gush alot about how wonderful it is to find kindred souls). 2. Evangelism (people moan about how few folks are posting to the list, and brainstorm recruitment strategies). 3. Growth (more and more people join, more and more lengthy threads develop, occasional off-topic threads pop up). 4. Community (lots of threads, some more relevant than others; lots of information and advice is exchanged; experts help other experts as well as less experienced colleagues; friendships develop; people tease each other; newcomers are welcomed with generosity and patience; everyone -- newbie and expert alike -- feels comfortable asking questions, suggesting answers, and sharing opinions). 5. Discomfort with diversity (the number of messages increases dramatically; not every thread is fascinating to every reader; people start complaining about the signal-to-noise ratio; person 1 threatens to quit if *other* people don't limit discussion to person 1's pet topic; person 2 agrees with person 1; person 3 tells 1 & 2 to lighten up; more bandwidth is wasted complaining about off-topic threads than is used for the threads themselves; everyone gets annoyed). 6a. Smug complacency and stagnation (the purists flame everyone who asks an 'old' question or responds with humor to a serious post; newbies are rebuffed; traffic drops to a doze-producing level of a few minor issues; all interesting discussions happen by private email and are limited to a few participants; the purists spend lots of time self-righteously congratulating each other on keeping off-topic threads off the list). OR 6b. Maturity (a few people quit in a huff; the rest of the participants stay near stage 4, with stage 5 popping up briefly every few weeks; many people wear out their second or third 'delete' key, but the list lives contentedly ever after). ****************************************************************************** LAUGH OF THE DAY - A service of LaughWEB (http://www.misty.com/laughweb/) To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo(a)world.std.com, with text: subscribe lotd email_address To subscribe to lotd, point your web browser to: http://world.std.com/~joeshmoe/laughweb/lotd_subscribe.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Roger Koppl Associate Professor Economics and Finance Fairleigh Dickinson University Madison, NJ 07940 USA Internet: Koppl(a)fdusvr1.fdu.edu Phone: (201) 443-8846 Fax: (201) 443-8804 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "Reality is not optional." --Thomas Sowell The e$ Home Page: http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/

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Some thoughts on the Chinese Net
by Jon Lasser 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Several people have posted to the list that the Chinese, censored, Internet will fail. Usually, the claim is that the censored network will fail mostly because of technical reasons, namely the inability of the Chinese government to censor everything. The other significant claim made was that the Chinese problem is "behind" the "firewall" leading into the country... Suggestions have been made that RSA is involved with China to implement this censorship. I would suggest that the Chinese solution to these problems is singular, and simple: the total inability to conduct any transaction anonymously. How can this occur? It takes two parts; one simple, one somewhat more difficult. The simple portion is a national (Chinese) database associating true names with key IDs. These keys will be usable only to sign documents, not to encrypt information, similar to the Federal DSS. The more complex portion (from my perspective, at any rate) is a modification of the standard TCP/IP protocol, requiring that each packet be signed by its originating user. This would require lots of software modification on the Chinese end, as well as a conversion process at the National firewall. (This is where the censorship takes place; the censors don't filter out unwanted information, they sign acceptable information. They then store a reference to the bit of information with a hash. If the hash checks out, they don't need to re-sign the data. This allows a ramp-up after a while to provide adequate quantities of information). The real question is who's going to design/implement this protocol? The answer is Western sofware companies which want to do business in China. RSA would obviously be called upon to design the protocol, as well as perhaps provide certain implementations of it. Another likely candidate is Microsoft, whose Windows OS has been declared a National Standard by China. It would hold obvious financial benifits for MS to develop a Chinese TCP/IP protocol for Windows. Any company which wants a monopoly in a country of > 1 billion people could probably get in on this deal. Now that all information has a recognizable source, dissidents in China can be arrested, and unacceptable information never makes it into the country. Can anybody say why this can't be implemented? Or why China wouldn't implement it? This is obviously a worst-case scenario, but one which appears, at least to me, to be technically feasable. I'd love to hear otherwise. Jon Lasser ---------- Jon Lasser (410)494-3072 - Obscenity is a crutch for jlasser(a)rwd.goucher.edu inarticulate motherfuckers. http://www.goucher.edu/~jlasser/ Finger for PGP key (1024/EC001E4D) - Fuck the CDA.

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Re: True democracy the electronic way
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:03 AM 2/15/96, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote: >1. this is an extremely interesting problem in my opinion. the ideal >form of government has not been achieved in many millenia. could it >be solved given the full power of the information age, i.e. ... >if anyone knows of >a mailing list to discuss this concept of trying to apply technology >to government, I would be most interested. the closest I can see You might try the "Cypherwonks" mailing list that L. Detweiler set up a couple of years ago to explore the very ideas you are supporting here. You might find you have a lot in common with him. --Klaus!, a tentacle 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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