December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Thank you for the Archives 100 messages
by qut4.qut＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Apologies, but rich has deleted me from his mailboxes, and for a few days now, somebody has placed a global cancel bot on me. I'm gonna have plenty of fun figuring this out. Kwow any good sniffers? I agree the list should be public usenet: A mail gate-way to a usenet group that ALSO permits unmoderated posts. This would be a nice way to combine a strict moderated mail-list, with a standard netnews group.

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Re: whitehouse web incident, viva la web revolution
by Clay Olbon II 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jonathon, > Statistical proof is only accepted in academia. Depending > upon your POV, this may or may not be a good thing, when > one is facing civil, or criminal charges. > > Finding proof for either civil or criminal charges is a > slightly different matter. IANAL, but your statements are misleading. Statistics are often used in both criminal and civil cases. Look at the DNA evidence in the OJ trial (OK, maybe a bad example), or the evidence that breast implants don't cause various ailments (probably another bad example :-). Both of these examples are based on statistics. IMO, part of the problem with juries (and public discourse in general) today is that anecdotal evidence is often accepted, when that evidence is clearly not statistically significant. The examples I cited previously illustrate this - the four horsemen are a similar example for public policymaking. Clay --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clay Olbon II | Clay.Olbon(a)dynetics.com Systems Engineer | ph: (810) 589-9930 fax 9934 Dynetics, Inc., Ste 302 | http://www.msen.com/~olbon/olbon.html 550 Stephenson Hwy | PGP262 public key: on web page Troy, MI 48083-1109 | pgp print: B97397AD50233C77523FD058BD1BB7C0 TANSTAAFL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Banking's Physical Security
by Sean T Carnes 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We all know that banks are very highly protected as far as their money goes but how safe are there computers? I live very close to a computer database collecting company that collects the data related to many banks in the area. It is all done through land lines and is not very well protected. They aren't very careful about who or what they let into the building also. If someone were to cut the lines the banks in the area would be out for days and they wouldn't have a means to do interbank transactions outside of the immediate area. Has anyone else seen this in there area or heard of it. Wouldn't it be a better idea to do the transactions by satellite.

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Re: whitehouse web incident, viva la web revolution
by Declan B. McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Excerpts from internet.cypherpunks: 5-Jun-96 Re: whitehouse web incident.. by Hallam-Baker(a)ai.mit.edu > I find Meeks' style somewhat tiresome. It is tabloid jornalism > rather than reasoned argument. His dislike for the Clinton is > well known - he recently accused the administration of being > fascist. I know of no evidence that the Clinton administration Phillip: I'll let Brock defend himself. I will, however, say that my conversations with him indicate that he probably dislikes Dole and Clinton equally -- or, if you prefer, likes one as much as the other. -Declan

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Jobs
by Sean T Carnes 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am looking for a job in the computer business doing basically anything computer related, except something like typing all day, where i could get some experience around different computer enviroments. I have good knowledge of PC's and of some basic network situations. If anyone is in the NY metro area or on Long Island and is looking for some summer help could you please e-mail me back. Thanks

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Re: FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
by jamesd＠echeque.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:54 AM 6/6/96 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote: > (I've often > wondered why Hamas uses/used couriers for getting funds to Israel when > Israel has a great ATM network with international links.) Sounds like you are suffering caffeine withdrawal. Try wondering again after you have had some coffee. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | We have the right to defend ourselves | http://www.jim.com/jamesd/ and our property, because of the kind | of animals that we are. True law | James A. Donald derives from this right, not from the | arbitrary power of the state. | jamesd(a)echeque.com

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Re: Cost of brute force decryption.
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> From: "Deranged Mutant" <WlkngOwl(a)unix.asb.com> > > On 4 Jun 96 at 10:58, Bruce M. wrote: > > [..] > > "If you can ensure secrecy either until no one cares about the > > information or so that cracking the code costs more than the information > > is worth, it's 'secure enough.' > > > > "For example a 40-bit key takes about $10,000 worth of supercomputer > > time and two weeks to crack. Although this key may be adequate to > > protect my checking account, it's probably not large enough for the > > accounts of a major corporation. > [..] > > The figures look familiar. No references around. I'm not sure it would > require a whole two weeks for 40-bits, though. Possibly less than a > day? (Or was that why you asked baout the figures?) A week? No. The second round of the cypherpunk's distributed key cracking (which bruted 40 bit RC4) completed in 38 hours. That was a year ago. With the growth in the number of interested people on the net, and the upgrades in cpu power since then, I expect that a similarly motivated effort could burn the same number of cycles in well under 24 hours. (The bottleneck a year ago was in coordination - not raw processing power). Prediction: By the millenium, we'll have made single DES look about as silly as 40 bit RC4 is today. Peter Trei

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Re: FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:29 AM 6/7/96 -0700, jamesd(a)echeque.com wrote: >At 06:54 AM 6/6/96 -0400, Duncan Frissell wrote: >> (I've often >> wondered why Hamas uses/used couriers for getting funds to Israel when >> Israel has a great ATM network with international links.) > >Sounds like you are suffering caffeine withdrawal. Try wondering again >after you have had some coffee. > --------------------------------------------------------------------- James. What am I missing? It is trivial to keep both ends of an international ATM transaction anonymous. And if Hamas suicide bombers can make it into Israel proper, I'm sure bagmen can hit ATMs there. There may even be ATMs in East Jerusalem or on the West Bank. DCF

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It tolls for thee
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 7:29 AM 6/7/96, jim bell wrote: >Even so, given how much noise we've been hearing out of DC on the subject >of the Internet, digital cash, and good encryption, I'd say SOMEBODY is >getting a bit worried. I haven't exactly been keeping this stuff a secret: >What do you think their reaction has been, so far? When those >government-types start considering various scary scenarios, what do you >think they are imagining? I don't think any significant amount of the current stuff coming out of Washington has anything to do with my words, your words, or the words of anyone on this or any other forum I know about. Importantly, I'm including my own words, explicitly. Sorry to burst _our_ bubbles, but I just don't think the lawmakers and burrowcrats are being driven by loose talk by us. Rather, the reasons for their actions and hyperbole about the Net, the Web, online porn, money laundering, the "information highway," and all that trendy stuff is because they can see many of the same trends we see. While I have a certain amount of pride that my single-page "Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" essentially nailed a bunch of trends which have become obvious to all in the 8 years after I issued it, I don't for a picosecond think anything I wrote then or since has had any significant effect on proposed leglislation. While some of our writings and talk may have inspired "sound bites" in their own reports, the concerns governments have about strong cryptography, transparent borders, alternative forms of money, data havens, etc., are easy to understand. >Not quite yet, anyway. I'm very disappointed to have waited over a year for >some slick lawyer to show me how I'd be violating some law or another to do so. This is factually incorrect. I recall at least one law professor and at least one assistant DA publically commenting on the legal implications of your actual deployment of AP (as opposed to merely speculating about such things, which all agree is protected speech). And this was soon after your initial flurry of posts describing your "wonderful idea." --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: FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 04:05 AM 6/7/96 -0000, nelson(a)crynwr.com wrote: >jim bell writes: > > > My impression is that it is frequently the pacifist-types who get us into > > war, because they start the process out by tolerating actions by others that > > turn into more serious actions, etc. You know, the appeasers. Are you an > > appeaser? > >A quote from Donald Wetzel's book Pacifist: > >The pacifist is often asked what he would do in the event the United >States were to be conquered by a hostile power. The assumption on the >part of the questioner is almost always that we would simply assume >the proper position in which best to have our asses kicked. I suggest >that anyone who believes that such would be the pacifist response to >the imposition in America of an oppressive, authoritarian >rule--foreign or domestic--should consult the prison authorities that >were in power when America's prisons were host to some six thousand >pacifists. I am sure it will be found that we have not been >forgotten. I propose that there has ALREADY been "the imposition in America of an oppressive, authoritarian rule." What are the pacifists doing now? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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