December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Differnent Sizes of Public PGP Keys
by Mark Allyn 860-9454 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello: I have been noticing that the sizes of the Public PGP Key Block on some of your messages are different sizes. When I set up my PGP key pair, I selected the largest key size which was 1024. It then gave me a public key block that look like this: -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAzD5t24AAAEEALSR4OvQ9lfGpTjqDsuYgtCtI9eYC82E29VO6tL6cBDNCWc/ KgJiPUvqV3ZSDLEbGy4t3FTDIguKITUxCJwtaMhZyOUFvjP51noFw1lhP3y1GW8J 9sHW+M8eo/F6S5OSUuw6P7yYU2+4cO3lBASFA2aL0JoUIwS2bT+5LqLYocENAAUR tBxNYXJrIEFsbHluIDxhbGx5bkBhbGx5bi5jb20+ =Q3/s -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- This is only 4 lines and a few characters long. I have noticed that some others have public keys that are larger than this. I have noticed one public key that is about 10 lines long. What is happening here? Are there keys that are bigger than 1024? I am using the latest PGP that is available from MIT. Please help! Thank you! Mark Allyn allyn(a)allyn.com http://mark.allyn.com http://clearplastic.com

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Re: China -- the fragile glimmer of freedom
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:10 AM 2/16/96, Bryce wrote: ... >For people who spewed forth hundreds of articles of rants >when the toothless CDA outlawed lewdity and advice about >abortion, and for people who bravely and promptly took >action to protect the free speech of a <contempt>Holocaust >denier</contempt>, the cpunks have been noticeably silent >about this much more cruel and widespread repression. > >Perhaps you think that the compliant Chinese person is >satisfied with his or her role as lackey of his government? >Or is it that we and the Asians inhabit such different >worlds that we will have to make do without each other's >help? Well, where are the posts from outraged Cypherpunks living in the People's Republic of China? Some countries are so far gone, so deep in the muck of statism, that nothing their governments do is very surprising. Ranting about how bad things are in some country is not very meaningful. Supplying them with tools is more meaningful. However, given that I know of no list members living in the PRC, nor even any in soon-to-be-assimilated Hong Kong, I'm not sure what the point is. I don't know about others, but I think the focus should be on the folks who are salvageable, not the billion or so Chinese or the hundreds of millions of Islamic women awaiting their clitorectomies and bowing toward Mecca for guidance. Fact is that 90%+ of all list members are in the United States, and 97%+ are in the so-called "Western world." We have a chance to deploy strong crypto, the residents of Nepal and Singapore do not. (By mentioning Singapore, I will get insulting e-mail, as I did last time, furiously declaring Singapore to be a haven of freedom, free from the corrupt thoughts of decadent imperialist empires, and secure in the knowledge that Lee Kuan Yu (sp?) knows what is best for all of his children.) But if a branch of Cypherpunks wants to start up in Beijing, I'll send them some complimentary copies of my "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" to pass out to local Party members! --Tim May 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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RE: Some thoughts on the Chinese Net
by tallpaul＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Feb 15, 1996 15:17:51, '"Robichaux, Paul E" <perobich(a)ingr.com>' wrote: > >Now that all information has a recognizable source, dissidents in China >can be arrested, and unacceptable information never makes it into the >country. > >Registering IP addresses of course won't block out thoughtcrime originating >outside China, but unless everyone else adopts the packet signing scheme you >outline the censors will still have to filter incoming material >semi-manually. As far as I can tell their government is at least as >interested in keeping things in as they are keeping out the Four Horsemen. > Assuming this system is estabished, then we would want to modify our remailers to strip IP packet information as well as normal header, no? --tallpaul

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Re: Online Zakat Payment: Religious tithe.
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 05:56 PM 2/16/96 EDT, E. ALLEN SMITH wrote: > > >>My, my. For a group of people so uspet at taxes you certainly have faith in >>the ability of private individuals to generate the capital for things like >>the Manhattan Project and high-cost nuke delivery systems! > > Unfortunately, neither of these would take that much. A university with >competent physics, engineering, and chemistry departments could do the first; >smuggling could do the second. > -Allen Actually, I have enough background in all these areas, to the point where I think if I were given a plutonium "pit," I could probably implement the bomb in about 6 months of part-time tinkering. The main engineering problem would be finding/producing two different homogeneous explosives with reliably defined/measured detonation velocities, and calculating the shape of the "lenses" required to cover the pit, and then machining or casting the parts. (I'd probably also want to simulate the mechanical "impedance match" of the chemical explosive to the (dense) plutonium; and as I understand it they use the mechanical equivalent of a transformer to do the matching. Sorry, but I think in terms of electronics, not mechanics. Sue me.) BTW, I think I've already solved the problem of producing a few dozen absolutely simultaneous trigger explosions (+/- 100 nanoseconds) around the periphery at the lens foci, without using multiple electronic detonators. (in fact, a single blasting cap would do nicely.) "But the margins of this book are too small to contain it" Heh heh! Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com Klaatu Burada Nikto Something is going to happen. Something....Wonderful! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMSYVWfqHVDBboB2dAQH8KAP+PBsKYf6J94hU1FLMn/vny1IU827srMPz Hvr7CRuHwPmGKc6VkKwIRBHRZ9adRd9c75HNhi4T+JA/qO1sZX8Qxk+xQUy6Z0pS fx2HoPBQvEXjqkKpCfWWBKg/sXzu1J0XCmyqM3HXt8Cw0upYsHemQD/x+llDfYRM GDV+B/Wt8pw= =vyDu -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: A Cyberspace Independence Refutation
by peter honeyman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> If the Feds pulled the plug on the backbone, I can see that there > are a lot of people who would drag UUCP and pathalias out of the > closet, and the UUCP Mapping Project would live again. i don't know whether to laugh or cry over the prospect. peter

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Re: Carrying the Bible an Offense?
by Greg Broiles 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:31 PM 2/17/96 +0000, you wrote: >Is it not possible in the US jurisdictions to mount private >prosecutions? There is a common law right to do so in England. I'm not aware of a corresponding right in the US, and am pretty sure that none exists. The victim of a crime can likely sue civilly for whatever damages s/he suffered, and can sometimes also recover attorney's fees & punitive damages (e.g., RICO). But I'm not aware of any procedure by which a citizen could bring a real criminal prosecution, with the corresponding risk of incarceration for the defendant, court-appointed counsel for indigent defendants, and so forth. Some statutes (the ones which spring to mind immediately are environmental statutes) allow private citizens to sue to enforce compliance with the law, if the government has been given notice of the violation and has failed to bring its own action for enforcement; but I don't think that those are criminal prosecutions. (I think we're wandering away from anything on-topic for C-punks, so further comments from me on this thread, if any, will likely be in private mail.) -- "The anchored mind screwed into me by the psycho- | Greg Broiles lubricious thrust of heaven is the one that thinks | gbroiles(a)netbox.com every temptation, every desire, every inhibition." | -- Antonin Artaud |

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True random numbers
by maruishi＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I was trying to think of a way to come up with true random numbers... And knowing a bit of UNIX socket TCP/IP programming I made a small little program that generates random numbers by measuring the mili-second timing ies a TCP packet to bounce back, from another network. My program simply send some data to port 7 (echo port) of a network on an internal list. Then timing it, randomly picks a different network to send to. I was wondering if this would be helpful to anyone for generating random key or whatever. If you want the source code please post a request or e-mail me. If you think for some reason that using this method is a bad idea, I would like to know. maruishi(a)netco.com

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Re: True random numbers
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 8:02 PM 2/17/96, maruishi(a)netcom.com wrote: >I was trying to think of a way to come up with true random numbers... >And knowing a bit of UNIX socket TCP/IP programming I made a small little >program that generates random numbers by measuring the mili-second timing >ies a TCP packet to bounce back, from another network. > My program simply send some data to port 7 (echo port) of a network on >an internal list. Then timing it, randomly picks a different network to >send to. > > I was wondering if this would be helpful to anyone for generating random >key or whatever. > >If you want the source code please post a request or e-mail me. If you >think for some reason that using this method is a bad idea, I would like >to know. To paraphrase, anyone who thinks he can get truly random numbers from Unix boxes and network timing info is living in a state of sin. More helpfully, I suggest you do several things: 1. Several textbooks discuss the problems implicit in generating pseudorandom and "pretty random" numbers. Easier to read what others have thought about than to spend time writing code that is flawed conceptually. 2. The CP list has discussed RNGs many, many,..., many times. Consult the archives for a sampling. 3. If network and machine timings have to be used, other people have written programs that do this. I think Matt Blaze's package includes at least one such program. 4. I'd avoid altogether phrases such as "generates random numbers," unless your method uses radioactive decay or Johnson noise measurements, for example, and maybe not even then. --Tim May 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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Credentials ?
by A. Padgett Peterson P.E. Information Security 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ed rites: > Even with the manned entrances, the ones with just a >receptionist/secretary, they seldom check that the picture matches the one >on the badge, so even if they've invalidated the badge, the receptionist >will still more than likely let you into the place if you wave your >keycard/badge around. People have *always* been the weak link in spite of the fact that "personal recognition" is considered best. Back in the days of high compression engines measured in hundreds of cubic inches rather than bottle sizes, everyone who worked at the Cape (Canaveral, Kennedy, whatever) had a pack of Winstons in the car. The back entrance was through a drawbridge, a sweeping right turn, and then a short straight to the guardboxes at the entrance. When the bridge was up, a considerable amount of 28 cents/gal Sunoco 260 waited for the bars to raise. Unleashed, a small block could be wound up pretty good by the gate. Seems that a pack of Winstons (white rectangle over red rectangle) at 40+ looked just like a Secret badge. Warmly, Padgett ps Tim was correct, believe I *registered* Libertarian that year - do remember not getting invited to vote in any primaries.

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ANNOUNCE (a cypherpunks exclusive!)
by Bryce 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I've added a couple of features to BAP (mainly being able to quote an encrypted message that you are replying to, and a command-line interface for script-writers.) and called it v1.1 and I'm distributing the 1.1beta at <a href= "http://www.c2.org/~bryce/Niche.html"> the Niche </a> for 20 cents payable in Mark Twain Bank Ecash. If you are too technologically backwards or miserly to pay 20 cents for this then you can probably convince me to e-mail a copy. BAP is "Bryce's Easy PGP"-- my own PGP<->Unix programs integrator script. When I set out to write it, my goal was to make it easy enough to use that my mother could do so. She does now, so I consider it a success! Here is what some other people have said about BAP: "Great job! Much better than the hacked sendproc I used to use with MH!" - Philip R. Moyer <prm(a)rome.isl.sri.com> "I've tried competing products and found this to be the cleanest, smoothest and easiest to install. I have no personal, commercial or financial interest in this product. It does 'auto-pgp' for pine, elm and tin." - Henry W. Farkas <hfarkas(a)ims.advantis.com> "So far, I've been absolutely _thrilled_ with BAP and how easily it integrates with both elm and trn. As you can see, I actually have it running on almost everything I post or email from this site." - Alexander Williams <thantos(a)runic.mind.org> "I have just 'bought' copies of your bap_in and bap_out software, and I'm just letting you know so that you can add me to your user list. You may be interested to know that this is the first thing that I've found worthwhile 'buying' using [cyberbuck trial] ecash since I joined the digicash ecash scheme just after it started. I've been wanting to incorporate pgp into email (I use elm) for a while now, and your software has enabled me to do so easily. Good on you, keep up the good work." - Glen Pringle <pringle(a)cs.monash.edu.au> I'm not going to be available to work on BAP for a little while so all the glaring security holes, uglies, crashing errors and so forth that come with 1.1b1 are just going to stay there for a week or two unless someone else fixes them. People who give me complaints, bug reports and feature suggestions have the privilege of being added to the <a href="http://www.c2.org/~bryce/BAPThanks.html"> "Hall of BAP Contributors" </a>. <BLINK> tag available upon request. Oh yeah-- and I've marked down the price of "BAP classic" (v1.0whatever) to US$0.50 for each piece. Come and get 'em! :-) Bryce "Toys, Tools and Technologies" the Niche New Signal Consulting -- C++, Java, HTML, Ecash Bryce PGP sig follows -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Auto-signed under Unix with 'BAP' Easy-PGP v1.1b1 iQCVAwUBMSXwNPWZSllhfG25AQGHVQP/e5csq/Kw5yJOrIHLw8eFtNCd4Wa6A5ta JYZinIMhVpXSaoOwt9Wktu+6F3DKfY8qIMYXIEKWcF6LaUUoqtnP+ul/Ilcgp2ft xrA2jTjoa4U12oCLYgwxRZHAtV+LGCTWp5qekU9bbj9rdIG1L0TRdcm/LfhEz+4f xE2EOaoLAyg= =j7/+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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