December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

"Anonymity is bad," says a source who wishes to remain anonymous
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm not going to dig up the exact quote, but I was struck by a couple of "comments" on crypto policy recently. One involved some crypto news of several days ago, and one was reported yesterday in the "San Jose Mercury News," in an early glimpse of what the NRC report would say. In both cases--and these were not the first such cases I've seen--a source "who wishes to remain anonymous" is announcing just how bad and dangerous crypto, anonymity, remailers and stuff like that are. "But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted that any computer system that did not include a way for authorities to decipher data would 'pose very costly and time-consuming problems' for law enforcement officials." [SJMN, C1, 1996-05-30] ""Anonymity is bad," says a source who wishes to remain anonymous." The definition of irony, I'd say. --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, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Statistical analysis of anonymous databases
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 15:53 5/31/96, David Wagner wrote: >How about a simple non-technical solution? Each patient picks a >random pseudonym; the database is keyed off that pseudonym, and the >person's True Name(tm) never appears in the database. Patients >should remember their pseudonym (or write it down); then they can >add information to the database. In medical research, third party audit, i.e., the Department of Health and Human Services, is often required. A simple pseudonym picked by the patient won't do. Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not those of my employer. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: "Anonymity is bad," says a source who wishes to remain anonymous
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 07:27 PM 5/31/96 -0700, Timothy C. May wrote: >In both cases--and these were not the first such cases I've seen--a source >"who wishes to remain anonymous" is announcing just how bad and dangerous >crypto, anonymity, remailers and stuff like that are. > >"But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted that any >computer system that did not include a way for authorities to decipher data >would 'pose very costly and time-consuming problems' for law enforcement >officials." But Tim, you know he is absolutely and literally correct! It will, indeed, cause SERIOUS problems for those law-enforcement officials. It'll put'em out of a job, at the very least. Termination. Possibly with extreme prejudice. Seriously, however, for once I'd like to see some reporter pursue this kind of allegation with the person they're talking to. He should ask, "what percentage of existing crime could be accomplished more effectively with good encryption that the cops can't break." The truthful answer is, "not too damn much!" It seems to me that official-types must be thinking overtime about this kind of thing, because we're getting so much out of them along these lines. They're scared, for sure. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Ok, what about PGP (was: MD5 collisions)
by Chris Adams 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 29 May 1996 19:03:04 pdt, wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com wrote: >I poked around the pgp.h and pgformat.txt files in the PGP 2.6.2 >distribution. There *are* designator bytes for the hash (and cipher) >algorithms, hash size, etc. > >It seems quite doable to add support for SHA-1 signatures (and possibly key >generation for encrypting secret keys?). > >Adding 3DES (and maybe Luby-Rackoff-SHA, assuming it hasn't been cracked >recently at the Fast Software Conf.... more info?!?) would be nifty too... >unless, of course, there's meaning to the Real Soon Now that PGP3 folx >claim. How about a NSA-stomper option that would use all-of-the-above? For the truly paranoid (or owners of Pentium-Pro 200Mhz multi-processor machines Also, what's the verdict on IDEA? Is there a switch yet that would allow straight RSA? (with the obvious speed decrease...) >I'd work on the hack now (and just might...) but I'm stuck stranded in the >United States. :( I've always wondered what it says about a country that is afraid to let its citizens work on privacy... /* From Chris Adams <adamsc(a)io-online.com> on a Warped PC running a proudly unregistered (for now) PMMAIL 1.5! The Enigman Group - We do Web Pages! */ This Message Was Sent With An UNREGISTERED Version Of PMMail. Please Encourage Its Author To Register Their Copy Of PMMail. For More Information About PMMail And SouthSide Software's Other Products, Contact http://www.southsoft.com.

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Re: Statistical analysis of anonymous databases
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 0:56 6/1/96, Alan Horowitz wrote: >> In medical research, third party audit, i.e., the Department of Health and >> Human Services, is often required. A simple pseudonym picked by the patient >> won't do. > > It's not clear to me that the second sentence follows from the first. HSS needs to verify that the researcher didn't just make up the data. The Department therefore has to be able to audit the results of the study by contacting a small subset of the participants directly. How can the Department contact the participants if they are known only under their nyms? No, pseudonymous remailers are not a valid answer. All this has to be done without requiring any type of email/Internet access. US Mail only. Disclaimer: My opinions are my own, not those of my employer. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred.

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Re: FTC online workshop on privacy
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 23 May 96 at 7:46, Declan B. McCullagh wrote: [..] > More to the point, the left and the right come together on privacy issues. > > Remember the Christian Coalition's take on national ID cards? "Mark of > the Beast!" (Does anyone have an original cite for this? I also recall > the CC opposing Clipper...) There was actually a pretty good special on the 700-Club when Clipper first came out (at least from a transcript posted on the comp.org.eff newsgroup). Yep. They were against it. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Re: The Political Map [NOISE?]
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 23 May 96 at 9:45, Bill Frantz wrote: > This is because any analysis of political opinion that tries to reduce it > to a one dimensional metric is ipso facto wrong. Two dimensions gives you > a much better match. (Try personal freedom on one axis and economic > freedom on the other.) I suspect the more dimensions you include, the > better you analysis will be. Just two dimensions? I'd be cautious of the personal freedom scale, since many groups aren't consistently in one place there. Certain groups assign priorities to some freedoms over others, as well as who those freedoms apply to, etc. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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Re: The Anti-Briefing...
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 24 May 96 at 10:12, Peter Wayner wrote: > I'm sure the "Briefing" is quite impressive and it includes > several strong arguments for government surveillance. There are > bound to be more than a few kids that are alive today thanks to > eavesdropping and the quick thinking of folks in FBI, NSA et al. > > That being said, I'm sure that there is also an "anti-Briefing" > that can be given that illustrates that the huge cost of [..] So where did J.Edgar Hoover's infamous "Blue Files" go? Then again, what about the alleged pictures of him wearing a dress and going down on his (male) companion? It seems invoking the name of L.Ron Hoover and the Church of Applientology does plenty for an 'anti-briefing'. > redesigning the phone system and forcing businesses and people > to operate without protection. Here are some examples from the > recent press that I think are good arguments for why strong > crypto won't change the status quo. On the contrary. Much of the status quo needs to be changed. [..] > Some might argue that if weak crypto can save one child's life > than it is worth it. This is a strong, sentimental argument, but Worth what? Ruining his life when he becomes an adult? Or preventing him from ever becoming an adult? --Mutant Rob. --- No-frills sig. Befriend my mail filter by sending a message with the subject "send help" Key-ID: 5D3F2E99 1996/04/22 wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com (root@magneto) AB1F4831 1993/05/10 Deranged Mutant <wlkngowl(a)unix.asb.com> Send a message with the subject "send pgp-key" for a copy of my key.

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No Subject
by unknown＠example.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

yes -- Love, Qut(a)netcom.com

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No Subject
by unknown＠example.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

! > Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company ! > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ! > Report Warns of Security Threats Posed by Computer Hackers ! > ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ! > [W] ASHINGTON -- Government investigators warned ! > Wednesday that computer hackers cruising the ! > ^^^^^^^^ ! > Internet posed a serious and growing threat to national ! > ^^^^^^^^ ! > security, with the Pentagon suffering as many as 250,000 ! > ^^^^^^^ ! > "attacks" on its computers last year. ! > ^ ^ ! > ! > ! > -- ! > Love, ! > Qut(a)netcom.com ! > -- Love, Qut(a)netcom.com

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