December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

[NOISE] Nerds, Dykes, Niggers, Dweebs, Fags, Bimbos, and Geeks
by Deranged Mutant 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 27 Jul 96 at 4:49, and entity caling itself Timothy C. May wrote: [..] > Look, anyone is perfectly free to wear t-shirts espousing "Wimp Pride" and > saying "We're gimps, we're wimps, we're dweebs, and we're PROUD!" > > I just cringe when I meet young programmers at Cypherpunks who mumble "I'm > just a computer geek." Fine, I write them off as geeks. [..] > As for what people ought to call themselves, e.g., when journalists ask > what they are. just what is wrong with "engineer," "programmer," > "scientist," and "cryptographer"? I prefer reclaiming far more ancient terms. "Journeyman programmer" gets more attention than "Consultant" and actually describes something. 'nuff said. --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.

1 0

Re: The Four Horsemen Go to the Olympics!
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:43 AM 7/27/96 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote: >Yeah, it's been a wild week. There was also an airplane hijacking >today, which ended peacefully. The "funny" part of it, for those who remember the spate of hijackings in the early 70's, is that he hijacked a Cuba-bound airliner...to Miami! Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

1 0

Lynx...
by Charley Sparks 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I have had it with all the cutsie moving graphics and Java intrusions on my feeble 28.8 connection. Can someone PLEASE tell me where I can get a copy of Lynx or similar text based browser for '95 and / or NT ? Thanks folks Charley -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCWAwUBMfo2quJ+JZd/Y4yVAQFPkAQIyBl+XmSRoJUlpDbof8FGNi4TGexivaux ZPPiyuCflseiw53077xP4FsF8Q1v5SgDe/87OCCDiG3XrWqOyRhah5IRmDw+3S2L brxbTc/oqwkCddAGglF08OGOIGHa8iK0x2KhRVZPStRopNbHgVIJiDJzcSFOeFLY mpj0jKto1s7+ =qxPe -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Charles E. Sparks<sparks(a)bah.com> In God we trust, all others we encrypt ! http:/www.clark.net/pub/charley/index.htm Public Key At http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/cp_1.htm

1 0

Public vs. Private Munitions
by Erle Greer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Here's how I understand it: The U.S. Government, concerned only with making America a safer place for us taxpayers to live in, wants to regulate domestic encryption in order to have access to the content of all transmissions. Their theory is that any cryptosystem that is stronger than their cryptanalysis systems can be used in illegal transmissions and should be considered munitions. Theoretically, the government should only be have the resources to control commercially-available, public encryption systems. Who is to stop anyone from designing their own cryptosystem for personal use? If the government intercepted a transmission from this private cryptosystem, and could not decrypt it, would they assume that it must be considered munitions? Similarly, anyone could send uniformly-formatted random garble that could also be considered munitions, or at least waste the governments processing time. Why are we so worried about government regulation? Can't we just devise our own cryptosystems and just don't sell them or make them publicly available? vagab0nd(a)sd.cybernex.net http://ww2.sd.cybernex.net/~vagab0nd/index.html Visit web page for public key.

3 2

Publicly Verifiable Anonymous Voting System
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[Begin Rant] As I write this, I am listening to the news coverage of the bombing in Centennial Park. The ABC news reports are already linking the suspected Georgia Militia members accused of plotting to use pipe bombs at the Olympic Games. Just like OKC, the militia-gun owner-right-wing extremist smear is gearing up before the blood has a chance to dry. On the other hand, the govt seems to be awfully reluctant to admit the obvious about TWA 800... [End Rant] Here is the how the voting system works. 1. All voting information (public keys, ballots, ballot signatures, etc.) is publicly available via a Web site or other similar means, and can be downloaded in its entirety by anyone who cares to take the trouble to do so. The software (and source code) used to generate ballots should be publicly available as well. 2. When someone registers to vote, they submit a RSA public key to a registered voter key database. The public key database does not contain voter information; only keys. Access to the key entry terminals is controlled, so that only registered voters can submit keys. A receipt is given to the voter with a hash of the key printed on it (PGP fingerprint style), the key entry clerk's name, a receipt serial number, etc., so the voter can verify the correct key was put in the system, and who to shoot if it wasn't. 3. On election day, each voter submits a ballot signed with their private key. The ballot contains the fingerprint of the voter's public key, the voter's choices, (preferably in a standardized ASCII format) and the digital signature. The ballot goes into the vote database regardless of whether it is valid or not. The voter receives a printed receipt confirming that the ballot was entered in the database, with a hash of the entire ballot (headers, signature, and all), receipt serial number, etc. 4. After the election, each voter can verify whether their public key and ballot are in the database, and see whether their vote is deemed valid or not (if the signature on the ballot can be verified by a key in the key database). If there are any discrepancies, the voter has the public key, the ballot, and the receipts to prove that his vote should be counted. 5. Since the key/vote databases are not connected to individuals, no one can connect votes to voters unless cheating occurs during the registration process. If there is fraud or other errors, the key/ballot/receipt combo is all that is necessary to prove the error--no identification of the bearer is required. 6. Keys in the system should expire every few years. Any comments / constructive criticisms welcome. Jonathan Wienke "1935 will go down in history! For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead in the future!" --Adolf Hitler "46. The U.S. government declares a ban on the possession, sale, transportation, and transfer of all non-sporting firearms. ...Consider the following statement: I would fire upon U.S. citizens who refuse or resist confiscation of firearms banned by the U.S. government." --The 29 Palms Combat Arms Survey http://www.ksfo560.com/Personalities/Palms.htm 1935 Germany = 1996 U.S.? Key fingerprint = 30 F9 85 7F D2 75 4B C6 BC 79 87 3D 99 21 50 CB

2 2

Re: HACKER REPORT
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Sat, 27 Jul 1996, Sandy Sandfort <sandfort(a)crl.com> wrote: [snip] >On Sat, 27 Jul 1996, Rich Graves wrote: > >> On Fri, 26 Jul 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote: >> >> > At the end, Pete Wilson (the TV guy, not the governor) said >> > something like, "Hackers tells us that the problem may be >> > overblown. Most people--and this includes most hackers-- >> >> Really? Hackers are people? > >MOST hackers. [snip] The rest, of course, are chupa-cabras, yeti, descendants of the Roswell crash survivors, and ATF agents... Jonathan Wienke

1 0

Re: Fireworks expected, missed at Senate crypto hearing
by Cerridwyn Llewyellyn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>more about terrorists. And Sen. Slate Gorton (R-Wash) jumped on the >>committee staff for leaning too far *away* from national security interests >>in their summary of the legislation. > >What does that mean? As opposed to what? (Gorton's my Senator, and I'm >going to give a little feedback to his local office...) (If you have Real-Audio capability, you can listen to the hearings at www.hotwired.com/wiredside) Basically he expressed his disappointment at the committee for having a biased view and having minds that were already made up regarding the issue, and he said he was beginning to lean towards the bill, but the attitude of the committee just might make him vote against it. He's my senator too and believe me he got some feedback! =) //cerridwyn//

1 0

Vote early, vote often
by Martin Minow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've uploaded my entry in the "Big Java Applet" contest. The best way to locate it (your vote counts) is to point Netscape to http://www.jade.org:8001/jade/show_entries?inCat=Global_Community The best way to view it from a Macintosh is to point the Sun Applet viewer to http://www.vmeng.com/pub/minow/SunClock.html Although you can also use NetScape 3.0b5 to view it, this release seems to have drawing problems on the Macintosh. I haven't tried other browsers. Your comments and improvements are welcome. There is very little Cypherpunks relevance, although "phase of the moon" may be a useful number to mix into a random number generator. (The source is available from the website.) Martin.

1 0

Re: Fireworks expected, missed at Senate crypto hearing
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:44 AM 7/27/96 -0700, Cerridwyn Llewyellyn wrote: > >>>more about terrorists. And Sen. Slate Gorton (R-Wash) jumped on the >>>committee staff for leaning too far *away* from national security interests >>>in their summary of the legislation. >> >>What does that mean? As opposed to what? (Gorton's my Senator, and I'm >>going to give a little feedback to his local office...) > >(If you have Real-Audio capability, you can listen to the hearings at >www.hotwired.com/wiredside) >Basically he expressed his disappointment at the committee for having a >biased view and having minds that were already made up regarding the issue, >and he said he was beginning to lean towards the bill, but the attitude of >the committee just might make him vote against it. >He's my senator too and believe me he got some feedback! =) I would not trust Slade Gordon as far as I can shoot him with a tree shreader. Gordon was the CO-SPONSOR of the CDA. Exon got all the press, but Gordon was just as responsible. (Maybe the netfolk ought to make that fact well known when he comes up for re-election. Hint! Hint!) Where issues of freedom are involved, I doubt if he is on our side. --- Alan Olsen -- alano(a)teleport.com -- Contract Web Design & Instruction `finger -l alano(a)teleport.com` for PGP 2.6.2 key http://www.teleport.com/~alano/ "We had to destroy the Internet in order to save it." - Sen. Exon "Microsoft -- Nothing but NT promises."

2 1

Re: Olympic bombing
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 05:41 PM 7/27/96 +0200, Mike van der Merwe wrote: > >Hi all > >I can just see the FBI screaming "we need weaker encryption to combat >terrosism on US soil" with nasty effects -- it seems all to many people, >lawmakers included, will be only to happy to sacrifice their privacy that >the FBI can better combat these terrorist acts (which could *of course* >could been prevented had only the FBI been able to read their encrypted >mail...) > >Somehow I got the feeling watching CNN that the FBI was given a shitload >of ammo. Call me cynical but the Reichstag fire comes to mind... > >Later >Mike This was on another list. It expresses my sentiments quite well. >Received: from ez0.ezlink.com (lneil(a)ez0.ezlink.com [199.45.150.1]) by bud.indirect.com (8.7.4/8.6.6) with SMTP id UAA15498; Fri, 26 Jul 1996 20:36:06 -0700 (MST) >Received: by ez0.ezlink.com id AA20227 > (5.67b/IDA-1.5); Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:36:25 -0600 >Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 21:36:25 -0600 >From: "L. Neil Smith" <lneil(a)ez0.ezlink.com> >Message-Id: <199607270336.AA20227(a)ez0.ezlink.com> >To: mongoose(a)indirect.com >Subject: TWA 800 and Atlanta >Cc: tompkins(a)indirect.com > >TWA 800 AND THE POLICE STATE OF GEORGIA > >By L. Neil Smith <lneil(a)ezlink.com> > >Special to _The Libertarian Enterprise_ > > I've been sitting around all week, watching the Olympics whether I >like it or not, because my wife and daughter want to watch them, and I >can deny them nothing. > > In between undeniably dramatic moments -- astonishingly courageous >little girls "playing hurt", as if they were major-league football >players -- I've been treated to story after story of how, due to the >efforts of thousands of uniformed professional paranoids, Georgia, USA >is coming to resemble _Soviet_ Georgia. The sight of _hundreds_ of >trailers moved in to house these security "troops" is demoralizing in >and of itself to anyone with a regard for a free society. > > At the same time, I've been a TV witness to the tragedy of TWA >Flight 800 and an ignoble struggle by network fear-vampires to wring >the story of its last delectable drop -- "It was a bomb!" "It was a >missile!" "It was a bomb!" "It was a missile!" -- the whole thing >beginning to sound like a macabre Certs commercial. > > Over it all hung the spectre of international terrorism, and the >swollen, corrupt, bulbous-nosed, droopy-jowled visage of a politician >(no "New Democrat" as it turns out, but just another damned fascist) >grimly determined -- exactly like Richard Milhous "Guns are an >Abomination" Nixon before him -- to be the last democratically elected >President of the United States: William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. > > Clinton -- aided by his vile minions, the national "news" media -- >went into raptures of ecstasy, listing all the ways that the freedom >of Americans would have to be curtailed (Clinton has spoken of this >before; it's a favorite theme of his) due to the heinous act he >transparently hoped had been committed against TWA 800. > > Afterward, the round-heeled sprayheads obligingly searched out the >usual street-cretins to rubberstamp Our Glorious Leader's latest Five >Minute Plan, and add that they wouldn't mind at all paying extra for >the "service" of having their inalienable rights violated even worse >-- within the increasingly Bulgarian-style compounds American airports >have become -- than they're being violated now. > > But there's a simpler, more effective way to prevent the criminal >acts generally labelled "terrorism" that Clinton and his idiot-box >doxies don't want anyone to know about. Behind virtually every >terrorist attack we've ever seen or suffered, it's relatively easy to >discover vicious and repeated acts of aggression against innocent >individuals by the state. > > Preceeding the highly-publicized excesses of the Irish Republican >Army, for example, we find 850 years of violent occupation by an >exceptionally brutal foreign power that's managed to con the world >into believing that it's civilized. > > Half a hundred years of Middle Eastern terror arise directly from >the fact that, instead of coming to America -- the appropriate refuge >for "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" -- either before or >after World War II, European Jews decided to take somebody else's land >away, and treat their victims the same way they themselves were >treated by the Nazis. (In fairness, at least before the war, would-be >refugees from Hitler's terroristic state weren't given much choice, at >least not by the American Medical Association, the American Bar >Association, and the Roosevelt Administration, all of whom worked >overtime, keeping out imported professional competition.) > > Similarly, there would never have been an Oklahoma City had there >never been a Ruby Ridge or Waco. If Clinton had any real interest in >reducing the threat of "domestic terrorism" (he most assuredly does >not: terrorism, like war before it, has become "the health of the >state") instead of ratcheting government controls tighter around the >necks of 250 million Americans who've done nothing wrong, he'd >immediately arrest, try, convict, and punish all of those responsible >for Ruby Ridge and Waco, abolish the outlaw agencies in whose names >they were perpetrated, and repeal or nullify the unconstitutional laws >which provided them their justification. > > The trouble is, he'd have to arrest, try, convict, and punish >_himself_. > > Oh, yeah, the plan: the best-kept "secret" of our overly- >governmentalized age is that terrorism almost invariably >_reactionary_; simply stop doing things -- things you shouldn't be >doing anyway -- that cause terrorists to attack you and the attacks >will stop. > > Terrorism is the price that governments -- and their hostage >subjects -- pay for exercising illegitimate power. Despite pundits >whose ignorance is exceeded only by their presumption (_Wall Street >Journal_'s Paul Gigot leaps immediately to mind) 20th century history >demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that no further expansion of >that power will do anything but make make the problem worse. > > Benjamin Franklin warned us, more or less, that anyone who trades >liberty for safety is a fool, in part, because there ain't no such >_thing_ as safety. > > We're reminded by Amnesty International that more individuals have >been murdered by governments in this century -- well over 100 million >-- than have died in its wars (war itself being a government >enterprise, as well), proving that government is a worse threat than >anything it claims to protect us from. Tragedies like TWA 800 is >presumed to be, represent a failure of the _state_ -- of the very >_idea_ of the state -- and it is the state, not individuals, that must >be penalized, by reducing its income, and especially the power it >wields over individual lives. > > Americans are famous the world over for doing what was never done >before. It's time we did something historically unprecedented again. >We flew the first airplane; we sent the first men to the Moon. Both of >those were possible _only_ because we were the first people ever to >tell a King to go to hell. > > Now it's time to tell a President to go to hell. It's time to be >the first people ever to _refuse_ to be steam-rollered out of our >liberties by jackbooted thugs claiming to protect us from people and >events that don't threaten any of us nearly as much as the thugs >themselves. > >=================================== > >L. Neil Smith's award-winning first novel, _The Probability Broach_, >which has long been out of print, will be republished by TOR Books >this October. Permission to redistribute this article is herewith >granted by the author, provided that it is reproduced unedited, in its >entirety, and appropriate credit given. > > > Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

1 0