December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Here I come.
by Pat Buchanan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear boys. Enjoy this list while you can. Signed Pat

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Let the Snake Oil Flow
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There have been several purveyors of (potential) snake oil here. Predictably, critics have been drawn into "trying to break" these allegedly strong systems. Some of the purveyors are even saying things like [paraphrased, but with charming misspellings emulated]: "See, even the smarty-pants Cyphurpunks are unabble to brake ouir system! Our virtuel one-time pad, which converts 10 randumly picked bits into 1000 or 10,000 or even a bazillion!, by our patented processo of "entropy enhancemate," has defeated even immacarthy and metzger. Our system rulez!" And so it goes.... Predictably, others are asking/expecting "the Cypherpunks" to break their systems. Just as predictably, many of us are patiently (and impatiently) explaining that breakages cost money and resources. And so the "developers" gleefully respond that this proves the "Cyperpunks" [sic] are helpless before their software. Well, it seems to me that letting some real snake oil out there could be a Good Thing. Being the Neo-Calvinist Darwinist that I am, I set that anyone who puts valuable information into "PowerPads" and "Stream-of-Consciousness Ciphers" pretty much deserves what he or she gets. I am not losing any sleep that Snake Oil Enterprises is hyping a conceptually flawed system. A few highly publicized failures could be educational, and ultimately help to strengthen the Net. You don't get better bridges without some highly-visible bridge collapses. Raises consumer awareness of what good design really is. Personally, I'm much more worried about the behind-the-scenes goings on with key escrow, the pressures being applied to Netscape, Lotus, Microsoft, TIS, etc., than I am in Yet Another Clueless Crypto Product (tm). --Tim May Boycott "Big Brother Inside" 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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Re: Schneier Attacks
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by tighe(a)spectrum.titan.com (Mike Tighe) on Wed, 21 Feb 4:17 PM >You could also count the number of electrons, as well >as their direction across the chips. True, Bruce eggs-on the credulous SciAm reporter: "Is the timing attack a real threat to security? 'Oh, God, yes!' exclaims Bruce Schneier. 'You can't belittle the realness of it. It's not only a theoretical attack -- you can do this!' " And a current IBM ad exclaims! that one of its scientists can dematerialize objects for transmission over the Internet with rematerialization at the other end! And that this technology will transform the world of information! Here comes IPO Photon-optical!!!

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No Subject
by mixmaster＠obscura.obscura.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

IPG Sales <ipgsales(a)cyberstation.net> wrote: > >We fess up - we are pig farmers from TexasL, we never have been to >these high fluting things you call schools, so we do not even >know what you are talking about, much less anything about Cryptography. This explains your spelling skills, which a number of people have already pointed out. TexasL, whatever it is, might offer something called a highschool "GED." You should look into it. >On Wed, 21 Feb 1996, Arley Carter wrote: > >> On Tue, 20 Feb 1996, IPG Sales wrote: >> >> Fess up guys. You are either: >> >> 1. A team of undergrads or graduate students conducting an "exploit". My money's on this one, I hear that Ann Landers gets these all the time. >> 2. A Detweiller tentacle. Dr. FC ? "Vlad" does seem a bit low on his medication, lately. Dr. Fred has been pretty quiet as well. You don't suppose the two of them got together... >> 3. The return of Alice D'nonymous ? Gawd! Please, don't give him any ideas!! >> 4. The reason the coderpunks lists was started. Possibly, but did you notice how quickly "IPG Sales" found this list? >> >> > <huge blank space elided>

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San Diego CPunks Symposium
by Adam philipp 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

San Diego Area CPUNKS symposium Thursday, February 29 (we're lucky this was a leap year...) 1996 Invitation to all Cypherpunks to join the San Diego crowd at "The Mission Cafe & Coffee Shop" were we will get updates on Lance's new ISP, perhaps the new Win32 mixmaster client, and other new goodies. As a special *BONUS* we can also exchange keys, and discuss other topical subjects. Don't forget to bring your public key fingerprint (and two forms of ID). If you can figure out how to get a PGP fingerprint on the back of a business card, that would be cool. Place: The Mission Cafe & Coffee Shop 3795 Mission Blvd. in Mission Beach. 488-9060 Time:1800 Their Directions: 8 west to Mission Beach Ingram Exit Take west mission bay drive Go right on Mission Blvd. On the corner of San Jose and mission blvd. It is located between roller coaster and Garnet. It's kind of 40s looking building... funky looking (their description, not mine) They serve stuff to eat, coffee stuff, and beer. See you there! New people, don't forget your fingerprint. Drop me a note if you plan to attend. Adam, Esq. --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\ | My PGP key is available on my |Unauthorized interception violates | | home page: http://www.rosa.com |federal law (18 USC Section 2700 et| |-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|seq.). In any case, PGP encrypted | |SUB ROSA... |communications are preferred for | | (see home page for definition) |sensitive materials. | \-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/

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BLO_bak
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

2-22-96. TWP: "CIA Can Waive Prohibition Against Using U.S. Clergy Abroad for Covert Work." A controversial loophole permitting the CIA to recruit American journalists as agents also allows the agency to waive a similar 19-year-old ban on employing clerics or missionaries. An official also disclosed that CIA regulations prohibit recruiting employees of members of Congress or congressional committees "without the approval of the member" for whom they work. "The CIA: No Cover For Failure." Now we know why the CIA, the NSA and the DIA and all those other spook agencies that get $25 billion-plus every year can't bring down Saddam Hussein: They have not been able to use journalists or priests -- the latest the Washington/New York national security establishment has come up with to ride out the lean years after the Cold War. In a justification for continued massive spending on spying, the experts ask us to focus on the extraneous and stupid, rather than look at the obvious. "Again, the CIA and the Press." [Editorial] "My Spy Story." [NYT Op-Ed] 2ND_job (for 4)

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Analysis wanted
by Bruce Baugh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

If anyone is interested in helping out the gentleman quoted below by ruthlessly savaging :-) his algorithm and assumptions, would you please e-mail me so I can hook you up with him? (He decided not to post to the list directly to avoid the usual signal-to-noise problems. Can't blame him. But I offered to forward along relevant info and queries.) >Is there a way of someone trustworthy to try and break VGP and express an >opinion on it's strength or weakness. I can basically describe the >encryption approach and the reencryption, number of passes, final conversion >to clean text from a binary etc. with you to try to give you some level of >comfort without sharing the code. I would also like to have someone >competent run it through the paces, and then if it is not worthy, go back to >the drawing board. > >In short, I appreciate your comments and frankness, and assure you I am >interested in your opinion or anyones opinion, and interested in making the >system rugged. I agree with your point, and perhaps it sums the whole issue >up in one line, and that is that "bad encryption is worse than no >encryption". encouraging a false sense of security is not something I want >to be part of, I do want to be responsible to others. -- Bruce Baugh bruce(a)aracnet.com http://www.aracnet.com/~bruce

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Bell Labs' Alternative to Java
by Wink Junior 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Looks like Java might have some competition. Perry and others who are concerned that Java has inherent security flaws might want to get a word in with the Bell Labs folks while the project is still in development. Wink >BELL LABS, RITCHIE "DO SIMPLER RIVAL TO JAVA" >(February 20th 1995) AT&T Corp's Bell Laboratories is working >feverishly on a rival to Sun Microsystems Inc's Java, according to >the San Jose Mercury News. The paper reckons that the project has >been accorded such a high priority that most of the 10 or so software >engineers working on the Plan 9 OS have been pulled off that to get >the new language, code-named Inferno, finished. > >According to Silicon Valley's local paper, Dennis Ritchie, credited >with creating both Unix and C, made a brief reference to Inferno in a >speech last Tuesday night at UniForum and was reluctantly persuaded >to enlarge on it a little later. He said that while Java has been the >beneficiary of a lot of hype, the underlying idea behind it was >compelling, but he was worried that Java had become too large and >complex; he also suggested that any Bell Labs version would be useful >in a wider variety of machines, including future television sets. >"Java does not go far enough," he said. > >Ritchie did not say how far along Inferno was, and implied that no >decision had been made about whether it would ever be brought to >market as a product. Bell Labs is of course in the early stages of >moving - not physically but in its allegiance - from AT&T to the >$20,000m-a-year fledgling Lucent Technologies Inc.

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Puffer 2.0 Released
by Kent Briggs 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Information Contact: Kent Briggs February 22, 1996 (817) 666-7737 kbriggs(a)execpc.com CIS: 72124,3234 NEW RELEASE OF WINDOWS ENCRYPTION UTILITY Hewitt, Texas - Kent Briggs, author of Puffer, has announced the release of version 2.0 of the popular shareware encryption utility. Puffer is a password-based data file and e-mail encryption program for Windows. Encryption software allows users to keep their personal, business, and electronic transmitted data private. New for version 2.0 is the addition of a very fast stream cipher, PC1. PC1 operates with a 40-bit encryption key and produces the same stream output as RC4, the most secure encryption technology allowed for export from the United States. Puffer retains the 160-bit Blowfish block cipher in the registered version provided to customers in the U.S. and Canada. Puffer's revamped interface features a tabbed-notebook layout and a new built-in text editor. Users can now encrypt and decrypt data and e-mail directly from disk files, the editor, or the Windows clipboard. An LZ77 data compression option is also available. The ability to produce ASCII, binary, and self-extracting archives is also retained in version 2.0. New data wiping features have been added to Puffer to prevent sensitive data from being unerased on your disk drive. In addition to wiping data files, Puffer now has options to wipe file slack and unused disk space. The user can select from one to seven random stream passes for each wipe operation. A separate DOS utility is provided to securely wipe the contents of the Windows permanent swap file. The shareware version (PUFF20.ZIP, 368K) can be downloaded directly from the author's web site at http://execpc.com/~kbriggs - --- [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 iQBFAwUBMS0emCoZzwIn1bdtAQGMCwF5AYfneePdqO96gzCDNZYB6doioAtAMOh4 K/V0mZ5vx/b8xOj1SIsc/Zy0Z95UlFXx =JWRm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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BLO_bak
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

2-22-96. TWP: "CIA Can Waive Prohibition Against Using U.S. Clergy Abroad for Covert Work." A controversial loophole permitting the CIA to recruit American journalists as agents also allows the agency to waive a similar 19-year-old ban on employing clerics or missionaries. An official also disclosed that CIA regulations prohibit recruiting employees of members of Congress or congressional committees "without the approval of the member" for whom they work. "The CIA: No Cover For Failure." Now we know why the CIA, the NSA and the DIA and all those other spook agencies that get $25 billion-plus every year can't bring down Saddam Hussein: They have not been able to use journalists or priests -- the latest the Washington/New York national security establishment has come up with to ride out the lean years after the Cold War. In a justification for continued massive spending on spying, the experts ask us to focus on the extraneous and stupid, rather than look at the obvious. "Again, the CIA and the Press." [Editorial] "My Spy Story." [NYT Op-Ed] BLO_bak (for 4)

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