December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Stop the presses -- Anti-terrorism bill not that bad
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:20 PM 8/4/96 -0400, Hallam-Baker wrote: > It would be entirely foolish for the crypto > lobby to allow themselves to be tied to the NRA. The NRA has > no choice but to support civil liberties, there is no reason > why the wider civil liberties movement needs to support the > NRA. First they came for the communists ..... --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: Bombs & bomb threats in LA
by James A. Donald 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:15 AM 8/5/96 -0800, jim bell wrote: > The molecular difference between TNT and picric acid is a methyl group, > weight 15 (on TNT) substituted for a hydroxyl, weight 17 (on > picric acid.) If there is a difference, it is a very small one. Picric acid is easier for amateurs to make than TNT. It has the same energy per unit mass as TNT, but it's destructive power is greater because of the substantially higher velocity of detonation. It is far less predictable and far easier to detonate than TNT. Also TNT has the advantage that it can be melted and poured into molds, and it is cheaper to manufacture in large quantities. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | 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: FAA to require transponders on all aircraft passengers
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>At 3:21 PM 8/3/96, David Lesher wrote: >>They are going to hang one of these on EVERY bag? >>At what per-unit cost? Probably low enough, at least if they can reuse the tags (should be easy to find them, since they're transponder-equipped.) My guess about how they'll be used is to replace the bar-code stickers used by many baggage-handling systems - they'll stick one on at checkin, corresponding to the number on your ticket, track them when they load them on the plane (so they know that all the bags correspond to people expected to get on the plane, as well as knowing the bags are getting on the correct plane), and track the tickets to make sure that all the people expected to get on the plane actually do get on (I think they use bar-code readers or OCR today, and that'll probably continue.) Tim> "bag escrow" will allow other agencies--such as DEA--to sniff Also useful for the baggage checkers at the baggage claim, who'll be able to check that your baggage tag belongs to your ticket, and that nobody sneaks baggage out unchecked, either stealing it or trying to pick up the contraband. Of course they'll _have_ to check all the bags to collect the transponders. David>>THEN think of the RFI problems..... Tim> The RFI problems are actually the least of the concerns, Tim> given the "code space" technology which is possible. The RFI issue isn't just telling one transponder from another, it's interference with the airplane's electronics. The devices will be a bit quieter than your laptop, since they presumably only broadcast in response to polls - probably quieter than pagers but noisier than digital watches. Bill # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority!

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Re: Cookies on Microsoft Explorer?
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:14 AM 8/6/96 -0700, David.K.Merriman.-.webmaster(a)cygnus.com, wrote: >I have IE3 configured to ask me for permission to accept a cookie. Yes, >some sites send (n!)+1 cookies during a session. If they send too many, I >personally move on to another site, after sending them email (!). If the site sends you *LOTS* of cookies with no expire date, then they have probibly compiled their Apache server with the mod_cookie module. The cookies are only used by the log files and i am willing to bet that most people who have that option compiled in do not even read the logs. --- 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: crypto CD source
by Remo Pini 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: Wed Aug 07 08:04:50 1996 That's all well (your diverse site/mirror-suggestions), but my local phonecompany charges by the minute. If I download the lets say 500MB for the CD, I'm broke! Does anyone have direkt access to the sites and can make a DAT-backup? (In some format I can read: WinNT Backupprog)? Thanks, Remo - --------< fate favors the prepared mind >-------- Remo Pini rp(a)rpini.com PGP: http://www.rpini.com/remopini/rpcrypto.html - ------< words are what reality is made of >------ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBMggyBhFhy5sz+bTpAQGLjQf9EX3/mJQa6woKTZN5uz8dma8Cpv/PFQTC zsV5h0pjDLiA0RdIZexPJMfTNw+ZFyPdNkma9PgB60kGf2CrNrqLlBWv5XmZQ2HH kTqcuou2mHm/JeJv5m8v7Vckm8BmTtvdpL2mWK8pG0iB5fWbwiTo9VkyCrwfq/q+ BoAaGS4zkNOTuTlmWo/zwkheEVdV5gRjwI+IyHCTQMZ9rFRqLvmOYxClcEQ0X7C4 X5pFIZgaxw7u953MNbnmyeGVwpHqahhi8mn8mblKpVG2KIxR17lC9lKcZFygTAqA eddDvrCnCNcyH4zrWksOvPCZfqQbH5mBuFskxjSC1ZXgz+1ZoGKpOw== =veJq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: [NOISE] Stop the presses -- Anti-terrorism bill not that bad
by drose＠azstarnet.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hallam-Baker wrote: >First off Alan posted private mail to the list. In this case mail >that was more than simply personal. > >Secondly unless Alan withdraws his allegations I will bring proceedings >against him for libel. While I accept his right to free speech I do >not accept that he has a right to attempt to restrict mine with his >threats of deportation. > > > Phill Hallam-Baker > Oh goody! Another Hallam-Baker-generated p*ssing contest. Perhaps you fellows should settle your differences with a bet. Oops, I forgot. The good "Doc" dishonors his wagers with a series of fantastic and infantile "misunderstandings".

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Re: THE WORLD IS SCREWD UP
by Remo Pini 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: Wed Aug 07 08:16:48 1996 > THIS WORLD IS SREWED UP i hate my life so mue hobbeys makeing time pipe > bommbs so what is this all about huh what the fuck "anti terrisiom bill" > damn sad ok so what does this mean FREE COUNTRY hahahaha i laugh when i > hear that term there is no free country and we never have a wright to > privesy u know man this sux so much....... oh and to the government u > can kiss my ass And here I was thinking my English sucks! By the way, keyboard do have keys like ".,;:". :-) - --------< fate favors the prepared mind >-------- Remo Pini rp(a)rpini.com PGP: http://www.rpini.com/remopini/rpcrypto.html - ------< words are what reality is made of >------ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBMgg01BFhy5sz+bTpAQFz9ggArJOn4g8i/xREcEAjYXAO5oB+Jt6wUox1 dMh9GYpoYiYkb2qzpvQ9kK7JRMbehZRqhsltPQ7ydn1hNs/v+O+M4MG6I0FoIJg4 mmpEY7DDfLmqyPUAgEFq07re3pGraeteLFdSTlDvjxiBNw2+0K1EjQWHVVgxT/2p CKeKW8/v/dSA68TFVFcBlYKbNYZREUeEhTLhFLmuXXXkJcC3orrO0ODaENT7MWUz o1uCPq0v+XM+WMhNji5dIkVN6/SJQ0QT1MjocCmOFuMAa/UW8lwX2BPqBvI3K1ao EOb8hHDut+yMExRI2X6rtC3u8lgvm/8i58BBc1IncuI1Oxgn1ivmDw== =hwr+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Apple people on the list
by jon＠taurus.apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

A quick response to Tim May's recent mail. I'm an Apple employee. I'm on the cypherpunks list, but I'm not sure if Tim would consider me active. I read cypherpunks on one of the edited versions (the "frogfarm" edition, many thanks to its editor, Damaged Justice), but I subscribe to and read Coderpunks. I do, however write software and papers on security and crypto. I have done so for over six years. One of the reasons I subscribe to Cypherpunks is, in fact, Tim May. Whenever I see something he's written, I read it, which is more than I can say for most of Cypherpunks. When I was getting all of Cypherpunks, I used Tim's messages as navigation buoys. I am disappointed that Tim won't be at the Mac Crypto conference. I thought it was an excellent idea for him to speak, and think it would still be an excellent idea. I would like to hear his views in a forum more detailed than the short things that go on Cypherpunks. As for me, I'm going to be giving a talk at the conference on using, abusing, and constructing random number generators. The talk is an updated reprise of the talk and paper I gave at MacHack '96. A number of us would also like to hear Tim speak. I'm sure that as a consulting fee we can come up with enough t-shirts and beer that it will make the drive back over 17 even more harrowing than it usually is. I'll toss in a copy of the Macintosh Entropy Manager, but since I'm giving it away to anyone who wants it, it's not much. Perhaps I can autograph a floppy or something. Jon Callas Senior Scientist Apple Labs, Advanced Communications and Collaboration jon(a)taurus.apple.com http://www.merrymeet.com/jon

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Re: Stop the presses -- Anti-terrorism bill not that bad
by JonWienk＠ix.netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Tue, 06 Aug 96, hallam(a)Etna.ai.mit.edu wrote: > >Contrary to reports of some sort of inversion it is not the case that >shell cases need to be found at the scene of a crime to cause an >arrest and conviction. There are many people who are serving time >after having left their fingerprints on shell cases found in a gun >recovered after a crime. If the gun can be linked to a crime scene >via balistics reports and the shells in the gun to an individual via >fingerprints that is circumstansial evidence. I am very skeptical of this. When a gun is fired, the shell casing becomes quite hot--hot enough to burn skin. (I have learned this from experience--once when firing my semi-auto .22 at a range, an ejected casing bounced off a post next to me and landed inside my collar. The resulting burn formed a blister on my neck.) This kind of heat has a tendency to evaporate the skin oils that fingerprints are composed of, which is going to make getting any useful print from the case extremely difficult. Also, when the gun is fired, the pressure inside the case presses it flat against the chamber wall, which is going to smudge the print, especially on semi-autos where extraction occurs while there is still a significant amount of pressure in the case. Furthermore, most shell cases are too small to get anything close to a complete print, which makes positive matching even more difficult. It is much more believable that prints were taken from the gun, which is handled more (thereby collecting more prints) and which generally doesn't reach skin-damaging temperatures. Regardless of feasibility of collecting prints from cases, serial numbers on ammunition is still a stupid idea. Currently, all firearms are required to have serial numbers. However, serial numbers only rarely help solve crimes. Most criminals use weapons that have had the serial number welded over, filed off, etc. or that have been stolen, so the gun is registered in someone else's name, or both. Registration is a vastly more effective tool for the government to know where most of the lawfully owned firearms are (and who owns them) than it is at preventing or solving any crime. Putting serial numbers on ammo has all of the same problems, except the paperwork would be worse because people purchase ammo more frequently than guns. Imagine someone breaks into your house while you are gone, and steals your serial-numbered gun and serial-numbered ammo. Then he uses them to stick up some of the local Stop-N-Rob's in your neighborhood while wearing the same gloves and ski mask he wore at your house. He fires numerous shots and reloads the gun several times, leaving fired cases in each store. After the last robbery, he dumps the gun in a storm drain, burns the gloves and mask, and catches the next flight to Tahiti. Do you really think that serial numbers on the gun or the ammo are going to help YOU? Also, 32 bits of serial number is not enough. Over a billion rounds of .22 Long Rifle are fired in the US annually. Need I say more? Since there are already natural means of positively matching bullets to guns, guns to cases, and guns to fingers, which cannot be used to falsely implicate anyone, , and since the claimed benefits of serial numbering can easily be circumvented by unscrupulous persons (in other words, CRIMINALS) I contend that serial numbers are a much better tool for facilitating a police state than for reducing crime. On Tue, 6 Aug 1996, Rabid Wombat <wombat(a)mcfeely.bsfs.org> wrote: >How about just numbering the criminals? There's more room for the >numbers, there's precedent, and less specialized equipment is required. obCrypto: How about defining the "number" as an MD5 hash of the X-Y coordinates of the entry points of 15 pellets of 00 buckshot in the criminal's chest, sorted in ascending order X, Y? (ORDER BY X ASC, Y ASC) Jonathan Wienke [End of gun rant. Sorry for burning up so much list bandwidth on this, but I recently had an experience where gang members were following me around for several weeks, trying to intimidate me from testifying against some of their friends who beat the crap out of some of my neighbors with sawed-off baseball bats... "Cold, dead, fingers" and all of that.] "A conservative is a liberal who got mugged last night." --Lee Rodgers "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

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The Solution: 20 Beautiful women
by Mark Neely 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fellow Cypherpunks, Maths was never my strong point, but this response (from my statistician g/f) sounds convincing...but then, maybe I'm biased :) -----8<------- According to your friendly neighbourhood statistician (ie me) the answer can be deterined as follows: Suppose we have 20 beautiful women and we call them W1, W2 through to W20. For any given women, say Wi where 1<=i<=20, we have only two choices, choosing her or rejecting her. Knowing that she's beautiful anyway, we assume that: Probability(Choosing Wi)=Probability(Rejecting Wi)=0.5 Now, let Wn where 1<=n<=20 be the most beautiful woman, then the probability of getting the most beautiful woman is: Probability(Getting Wn) =Probability(Rejecting W1) * Probability(Rejecting W2) * Probability(Rejecting W3) * ... * Probability(Rejecting Wn-1) * Probability(Choosing Wn) =(0.5)^(n-1) * (0.5) =(0.5)^n Now we know that the value for a fraction raised to any of the valid values of n (defined above to be 1<=n<=20) can be maximised by minimising the power to which the fraction is raised. So we take the minimum possible value of n, namely n=1. Thus Probability(Getting Wn)=(0.5)^n=0.5. This gives us the highest chance of choosing the most beautiful woman. This could have been done more intuitively and less rigorously by considering the fact that when we multiply any fraction by another fraction, it always becomes a smaller fraction (and hence our probability is reduced). So you can see there is a moral in this story, can you not? I pat myself on the head. I am extremely brilliant. She who is most luscious ___ Mark Neely - accessnt(a)ozemail.com.au Lawyer, Internet Consultant, Professional Cynic Author: Australian Beginner's Guide to the Internet (2nd Ed.) Australian Business Guide to the Internet Internet Guide for Teachers, Students & Parents WWW: http://www.ozemail.com.au/~accessnt

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