December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Perry E. Metzger wrote: > > There are surely alternatives to the extremes of unilateral > > disarmament and an arms race? For instance, slowing down the > > race? > > Don't ask the question as though it is theoretical. Don't try > answering it as though your personal values have any bearing, because > there is indeed an objective answer here. Try doing some game theory > simulations and see how well unilateral disarmament works. Perry, just out of curiosity which type of game theory system are you refering to, the standard, single shot game thoery or the communicative model of Alker, Hurwitz and Rothkin? As a computer scientist I would have thought you would have been up on the idea of adding memory to game theory interactions. In such cases the optimal outcome can turn out very differently than in the standard model. Claiming certainty from theoretical results is in general not a good idea. Unless you can explain the relevance of the theory to a situation and explain why the assumptions in the model are justified you are not saying very much. The fact that the US and the USSR did manage to negotiate disarmament despite the standard game theory predictions shows that the system is somewhat more complex than Perry's ideological view. Briefly stated in Alker-Hurwitz a "memory" component was added into the model. The prisoner's dilema was repeated on many occasisons in a variety of contexts, including computer simulation and in practice. In practice the prisoner's chose the joint optimal solution the majority of the time. >Oh, and don't give us stuff about how humans are above evolutionary >pressures or nonsense like that, because we aren't any more above such >pressures than we are above the laws of physics. The "laws" of social scienst are not the "laws of physics". The "laws of physics" aren't so constant either. Theoretical results should inform the intellect not serve as a substitute for it. If you apply genetic programming techniques to the system the strategy that evolves is typically a cooperative one. The facts is that the theory applied in an evolutionary context disproves Perry. Phill

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9107 U.S. Government Unveils New Encryption Policy Recommendations 07.19.96 (fwd)
by pj ponder 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The High Performance Computing newsletter (HPCWire) just ran this article. Looks like Government Access to Export Keys (GAEK) or Government Access to Keys - Export (GAKE) or just plain GAK, for simplicity's sake. ObNetscape- I can run a web browser, like Netscape, over T1 link through firewall, but Netscape can't reverse DNS the address, so I can't get the more secure version; I can run Lynx from my account at the university, but Netscape doesn't like lynx, so I am back to dial-up PPP, at 14.4 .... Frustrating... any news on funet, or other 'export' sites? -- pj ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 11:29:34 -0700 From: HPCwire <hpcwire(a)newsmaster.tgc.com> To: ponder(a)mail.irm.state.fl.us Subject: 9107 U.S. Government Unveils New Encryption Policy Recommendations 07.19.96 U.S. Government Unveils New Encryption Policy Recommendations 07.19.96 NEWS BRIEFS HPCwire ============================================================================= Washington, DC -- U.S. Vice President Al Gore recently unveiled new recommendations to relax encryption export restrictions. The recommendations come with the caveat that restrictions will be eased only if the "keys" are escrowed to permit U.S. government access. Under the proposed key escrow, government officials could gain access to software keys with a court order, undergoing a process similar to that required to obtain wire taps. "These recommendations will protect individuals' transactions and communications on the Internet nationally and internationally while maintaining U.S. security," Gore said. Under the plan discussed by Gore, no restrictions of any kind would be imposed on encryption software for use within the United States. But software programs could only be exported with key escrow features allowing the U.S. government access to the keys. Private companies would be established to hold software keys and government could gain access with a court order. The administration abandoned earlier proposals that would have required the government hold copies of all keys. The new proposal would also give the Commerce Department authority currently held by the State Department over encryption export decisions. Software industry analysts estimate that current export restrictions will cost U.S. companies up to $60 billion in lost sales over the next few years. According to press reports from Reuters, Netscape has noted that it is already losing tens of millions of dollars in overseas sales because of encryption export limits. The limits also impact to some degree the growth of Internet commerce. Whitehouse officials are reluctant to recognize the claims of the software industry. "There are a lot of myths about the nature of the imminent commercial threat," Gore said, adding that officials at some companies, such as International Business Machines, are supportive of the administration's approach. According to press reports, another White House official said other countries would ban the import of U.S. software if controls on encryption were eased. "They will put up import barriers," the official said, adding the United States is trying to craft an international consensus on encryption policy, including use of key escrow, under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The talks are "very far down the tracks," the White House official said. An administration cabinet committee is continuing to address details of the proposal, and expects to send its recommendations to President Clinton by early September. Administration officials continue to hold talks with industry executives, civil liberties groups and others. ******************************************************************************** HPCwire has released all copyright restrictions for this item. Please feel free to distribute this article to your friends and colleagues. For a free trial subscription, send e-mail to trial(a)hpcwire.tgc.com.

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Re: Digital Watermarks for copy protection in recent Billboard
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:19 AM 7/22/96, Alex F wrote: >This is probably yet another case of people not thinking ahead. As >usual. People buying CDs at a garage sale & getting arrested for >piracy. Wonderful. Arrests like this are uncommon. Even buying "cheap bikes" and other "cheap" (= probably stolen and fenced) merchandise almost never subjects the purchaser to criminal sanctions. I think the legal types would call it "scienter" (direct knowledge of the act), with a dollop of "provenance" (the paper trail) thrown in. For example, finding a piece of paper with my name on it by the side of the road does not prove I littered, as the paper could've gotten there by blowing off a trash truck, by being thrown there with others who found it (perhaps at the trash site), and so on. Scienter, provenance, etc. ("Alice's Restaurant" not to the contrary; the confession to Officer Obie cinched his fate.) So, purchasers from garage sales need have no fear that the Copyright Police will arrest them. If anything, the garage sale folks might get a visit, assuming they were dealing in large enough volumes to indicate they were links in a chain of pirates. This is in fact what most of the "piracy" cases have involved. >Actually, this would be quite easy. The "watermark" would be a >signal that plays inband, but out of our hearing range during the >entire CD. The human ear can only hear in the 20-20,000 (Hz, KHZ?, >whatever) range. It would be trivial to add a digital ID signal at, >say 30,000 or 15 or something like that. This could then be decoded, Doubtful. The existing CD standard tops out at a Nyquist limit of about 20KHz, with the actual sampling at 44 KHz--but there is simply "nothing" at above 20-22KHz. Putting a signal in at "30 KHz" is simply not possible, given the Nyquist Theorem and the CD sampling rate. Placing a nominally "inaudible" signal in at, say, 15 KHz, was in fact the first proposal for the DAT market, circa 1986-88. The signal was in fact detectable by many, and was dropped in favor of SCMS (pronounced "Scums," but standing for Serial Copy Management System). SCMS does not involve actual changes to the audio stream. It is easily defeated--I have access to one for making DAT-to-DAT transfers. The larger issue of watermarks in digital data is an interesting one. Some of the proposals people talk about have actually been spoofs (esp. the Bart Nagel "announcement" in "Mondo 2000" a couple of years ago, which still gets cited as an actual technique, about the same way the "Infoworld" spoof about how the NSA got viruses planted in equipment bound for Iraq got picked up by some as an example of "infowar.") --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: Bare fibers
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Carbons sent to: In: jimbell(a)pacifier.com -=> Quoting In:jimbell@pacifier.com to Harka <=- In> The fiber is usually coated with a very thin layer of clear plastic to In> protect against moisture and abrasion, and the diameter is around 0.5 In> to 1.0 millimeters in diameter. Doesn't that make it vulnerable (detectable) to Tempest attacks? Harka ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]

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Re: I@Week on crypto export loophole 6/24/96
by tien＠well.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am fairly sure that at least one U.S. district court (the case name escapes me) held that the AECA has extraterritorial application. Lee Tien

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E-Cash promotion idea
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This may or may not fly, but it is at least worth puting out for general comment... Have the people in the e-cash biz thought of getting with the various "Cyber Cafes" around the world to sell e-cash to the patrons. Done properly, this could inject e-cash into a community who would both use the cash, as well as providing privacy and an exchange for real currency. There is probibly some sort of financial regulation against it, but it is an idea to look into... --- 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."

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Re: pledge status
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Carbons sent to: In: alanh(a)infi.net -=> Quoting In:alanh@infi.net to Harka <=- In> black-ninjas-pretending-that-they're-in-a-Hollywood-script thread After all these figure of speech comparisons of federal agents with 'ninja's' I think it's noteworthy, that the ninja's of old were a counterculture themselves. In fact, they were despised by the ruling class (government) of the samurai as low-lifes and scum of the earth, because the ninjas families would not subdue themselves to 'codes of honor' like the samurai and also practiced different religions (Buddhism) The samurai in turn tried to eliminate the ninja's by outlawing the use of weapons, repressing religious freedom and even invading the ninja's 'heartland' of the province of IGA. Nevertheless, the subsequent elimination of rights for ninja's led to the opposite effect, the ruling samurai had hoped for: instead of being turned into defenseless kids, the ninja's were now free from any boundaries in terms of existing norms and were thus much more innovative and efficient than the samurai and their 'code of honor'. That enabled the ninja's eventually to survive all onslaughts and dangers to their culture until today. OBCrypto: They also used various cryptographic methods and systems to transport messages. Harka ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]

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A quick question please
by sparks＠bah.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hi all, I'm somewhat new to this and was wondering if there is a nice re- mailer fornt end for the Mac ( Same as Private Idaho ) I have unix, mac and intel, I use the Mac on the road for good connectivity back to the office and the net in a small cheep package. Thanks Charley Sparks -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCXAwUBMfQnKOJ+JZd/Y4yVAQGEqgQNEhNp1/WfnIoMp3sTJtcuaZTAg7CsvCxc w3MRCfkkosf2jzRSOvmwJoFmag3I21eCCA7JKhUt+yvtOGyJDxN3fgBl669hZDWG YE05B8QMaQyHkVIJLe4o6UO+JBCvrEA6jylID/Z41BEJErO+kaN49sbZV0x2nBM9 q4s/ET67KhPt7g== =u9sO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- Charles E. Sparks http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/index.htm In God we trust, All Others we encrypt Public Key at: http://www.clark.net/pub/charley/cp_1.htm

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Re: Opiated file systems
by Chris Adams 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 20 Jul 96 14:46:12 -0800, ceridwyn(a)wolfenet.com wrote: >>BTW, I'd try a fiber-optic connector to the machine because 1) it's > >Do you know anything about where to find info. on connecting drives >(IDE or SCSI) with fiber? I'm very interested in this possibility, >but need to research further. I'd like to home-build a system, but >any info on current products would also be helpful. One, you could probably replace the wires with fiber/xmitter pairs. However, this would probably screw your timings to hell - SCSI probably wouldn't work. OTOH, it's possible that with a careful enough job and some decent components you could pull it off. It would be incredibly wasteful, though, as you would need 40+ fibers to do the job of one... I'd find some network cards that support fiber and breadboard a little system together. Possibly, you could find a hookup that would work off the shelf - look for sources for embedded systems. For instance, at least Novell's networks have embedded system support. I recall a DDJ that had someone wire up a coffemaker as a network controlled device, so I doubt you'd need a PC. As I recall, he had a single chip ethernet device. Now, this was for regular ethernet, but I'd assume you could connect a fiber based ethernet over with some sort of adapter. Search for the article at http://www.ddj.com - if you can't find it there, drop me a note. // Chris Adams <adamsc(a)io-online.com> - Webpages for sale! Se habla JavaScript! // Automatically receive my resume or PGPKEY by sending email with a subject // of 'send PGPKEY' or 'send resume'. Capitalization counts so be careful!

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Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Vinnie Moscaritolo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On 19 Jul 1996 19:51:39 Hallam-Baker wrote >It is no coincidence that the Tree of Liberty needs to be watered with >blood on occasion. As a native Bostonian, I have to tell you that the original "Tree of Liberty" was cut down many many years ago and in it's place now stands a storefront, if you look up onto the second floor you will notice a frieze of a tree. This is all that stands to commemerate the "Tree of Liberty". oh btw that storefront is in the comabat zone of boston, and the last time I checked that store was called either the "Naked I"or the "Pussycat lounge", can you guess what they sell? It's been a while since I've been in that neighborhood, so I dont remeber the street corner, ask bob hettinga if you want to know where. Speaking of Bob Hettinga put it to words best, told me that standing on the Concord bridge he could see the colors of the American flag eminating outwards to the rest of the country. Yup this is where it all started.. Vinnie Moscaritolo "Law - Samoan Style" http://www.vmeng.com/vinnie/ Fingerprint: 4FA3298150E404F2782501876EA2146A

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