December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: V-chips, CC, and Motorcycle Helmets
by jf_avon＠citenet.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH(a)mbcl.rutgers.edu> wrote: > Has it? Currently, we've got the guys who deal with the public (the >politicians and the low-level bureaucrats) and the faceless drones (the rest >of the bureaucrats). The politicians can be protected, and already are to some >degree. The low-level bureaucrats aren't _that_ likely to be targeted by enough >people to make a difference, and the ones who go bad enough to do so can be >protected (or sacrificed, if that seems to be the way to keep the public >happy). The faceless drones can be even more faceless, and so very hard to >target. Just a question to you: What makes the faceless drones powerfull? JFA Over the clouds, the sun always shine. 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

1 0

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-----

1 0

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=-!)

1 0

Re: ANTI-CRYPTO CYPHERPUNKS
by JonWienke＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 96-03-08 01:37:10 EST, you write: >Subj: ANTI-CRYPTO CYPHERPUNKS >Date: 96-03-08 01:37:10 EST >From: anonymous-remailer(a)shell.portal.com >Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)toad.com >To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > >This is the first in a regular series of postings of cypherpunks >who have joined big brothers fight to deprive you from Unescrowed >Crypto. Some of these pigs have come out in favor of the new anticrypto >bill which makes it a crime to use crypto if big bro can't read it >and also sets up key escrow but others have just said that they >don't care if the government can read YOUR mail as long as they get >what they want. I see the mentally impaired, chicken crap eating buttwipe that wrote this drivel wasn't even brave enough to post his real email address. Jonathan Wienke

2 1

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>

1 0

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.

1 0

Re: steganographic trick
by JonWienke＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In a message dated 96-03-07 23:02:48 EST, vznuri(a)netcom.com writes: >imagine an application where you freely admit that you have your >cryptographic tools, and that you are even willing to tell the >"feds" the key for your data. they run the crypto program, and >indeed the file decrypts. however, unknown to them, you have given >them a key that decrypts the file into something meaningful yet >benign, such as a cookie recipe, not >your plans for the overthrow of the state. in other words, >"interlaced" or "coincident" within the same file is your secret >data. given one key, it decrypts into one set of data, and given >another key, it decrypts into another set of data. The only computationally feasible way to accomplish this would be to use a variation of the one time pad (OTP) cipher, and use two keys: the genuine key, which is made by the random number generator of your choice, and a specially cooked key generated by XORing the encrypted message with an innocuous message. Decrypting with the random key will yield the real message, and decrypting with the cooked key will yield the innocuous message. The disadvantage to this system is that each key will be the same length as the message. The method you propose (using multiple RSA keys) is not workable. Finding 2 RSA keys that will decrypt a given ciphertext block to any 2 meaningful plaintexts is at least as difficult as breaking RSA, and expanding this concept to messages longer than 1 block moves it into the realm of impossibility. Jonathan Wienke

2 1

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-----

1 0

Re: Another Motivation for the CDA (Federal Sentencing Guid
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 2:32 AM 3/8/96, Deranged Mutant wrote: >That aside, in running trials and in many other little things both >federal and non-federal judges have too much leeway in deciding what >evidence can be admitted, in some of the sentencing details and in >various forms of punishment and restitution, etc. > >But yes, you made a good reminder point about mandatory sentencing. I saw a report on CNN Thursday that a new study (done by some law industry body, I didn't note which) indicated that California's "Three Strikes and You're Out" sentencing law is having this effect: 85% of all of the felons sent away for 25-years-to-life were sent away in cases where there 3rd strike was for a drug deal, petty theft, etc. One guy featured had never committed any violent acts, and his 3rd strike was for lifing a pizza. Now I am generally for harsh punishment for true crimes (murder, rape, and even robbery), but many of the "felonies" are not in this class. Many are drug-related (you all have heard the many horror stories about 19-year-old Deadheads sentenced to 15 years for having blotter acid at Dead concerts). The relevance to this list, and to the CDA? The felonies the CDA defines are just that: felonies. Not misdemeanors. While sentencing guidelines have not been issued--a point Brian Davis reminded me of in a private communication--it is likely under California law that these felonies will count toward the "Three Strikes" sentencing. These fuckers in Congress are full of shit. There, I could be prosecuted under the CDA for "manifestly indecent" language, made available to minors (several high school students have identified themselves as being on the list, so it is highly likely minors are on the list at any given time). It's unlikely that mere indecent language would ever be prosecuted, but the CDA says it can be. I'd better not fuck up a third time....whoops. Oh shit. "25-years-to-life." Welcome once again to Amerika. --Tim May, a felon 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."

1 0

Re: Vexatious Litigants (was: SurfWatch)
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:11 AM 3/8/96, Bill Frantz wrote: >I agree fully so far. However, when your TimWatch software takes action >based on your opinions, you may have crossed the line between speech and >action. Since you made the decision, rather than just provided an opinion, >you might, in our current legal climate, have caused a tort. So, when someone downloads the Siskel and Ebert list of thumbs up/thumbs down ratings, and then "lets the software decide" which movies to see, a tort has possibly occurred? I don't buy it. SurfWatch is just a ratings service. They aren't coercing people to use it. >It would be interesting to see if a HIV positive teen could sue SurfWatch >because it blocked him from getting information on safe sex. Presumably the owners of the machine he is using--maybe his parents, maybe his Catholic school, maybe his company--installed the SurfWatch or similar program and programmed the ratings. The teen should look to them. (Not that matters, but I really dislike using AIDS education as an example. Any person who claims to not know about AIDS prevention probably is either uneducable or doesn't want to know. A Web site isn't going to make a difference. I'm not arguing for censorship, nor would I ever install SurfWatch in my home, just saying that the hype about AIDS education is a hot button being used by arguers of all stripes to push their policy agendas. More heat than light.) >IMO our society has tilted too far away from caveat emptor toward "it's >someone else's fault". People who let a machine censor their data deserve >what they get. Parents who consistantly hide reality from their children, >instead of helping them learn how to deal with it, are crippling their >children. Well, they're my children to educate as I see fit. I view religions as more crippling than denying a child access to "The Gay Men's Safe Sex Site," but, fortunately, I cannot interfere with the upbringings others give their children. We may dislike the "programming choices" that the current instance of SurfWatch provides, but the solution is _competing_ ratings services, not talk of suing SurfWatch on the basis that it creates a tort, or denies children access to proper exposure to Gay Sex Lifestyles. Let a thousand ratings systems, including the No Rating System, bloom. --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."

1 0