December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Pro-Crypto Fireworks
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Fireworks expected at Thursday encryption hearing Washington, July 24 (Reuter) -- After sailing through two quiet subcommittee hearings, a bill to relax restrictions on computer encoding faces a much choppier ride before the full Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday. The committee will hear from some of the Clinton administration's big guns on crime and national security, including FBI Director Louis Freeh and William Crowell, deputy director of the National Security Agency. [Snip] Netscape's James Barksdale, who entranced senators at a June 12 subcommittee hearing, will return Thursday to again make the case for relaxing export restrictions. [Snip] Others expected to testify Thursday include William Reinsch, undersecretary for the Bureau of Export Administration at the Commerce Department; Tandem Computers Inc. President Roel Pieper; and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. The hearing will be broadcast live over the Internet, starting at about 9:15 a.m. EDT using Progressive Network's Real Audio software. The technique was first used at a June 26 subcommittee hearing on the encryption bill. Computer users anywhere in the world with sound capability can tune in at http://www.hotwired.com/wiredside. -----

1 0

My Cypherpunk Patriotism
by Joey Grasty 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Y'all: I received the following fan mail today, in regards to my announcement of the WinSock Remailer. In my announcement, I noted that I have blocked the Church of Scientology discussion groups alt.religion.scientology and alt.clearing.technology. The author shall remain anonymous: > Please make your blocking configurable in a text file that > the remailer reads at startup time. Other people who install > your remailer may not feel the need to surrender to > the Church of Scientology's legal terrorism the way you have. Anyone who has checked my webpage (http://www.c2.net/~winsock/) knows that the blocking lists are entirely up to the user. Let me state clearly that I'm just not interested in the Church of Scientology, its supporters or detractors. My interest is in writing remailers and seeing that the remailers are widely distributed. If I involve myself in this COS mess, then I'm distracting myself from my mission, which is writing remailers. Fighting "wars" is for the young and strong. Think of me as a weapons designer. I build the weapons, someone else fights the wars. Freedom needs weapons designers and warriors. That is my version of "Cypherpunk Patriotism". I offered my detractor a copy of the remailer so that he can run his own remailer and fight his war with COS. Let's see if he puts up or shuts up. My guess is the latter. Regards, -- Joey Grasty jgrasty(a)gate.net [home -- encryption, privacy, RKBA and other hopeless causes] jgrasty(a)pts.mot.com [work -- designing pagers] "Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin." -- John Von Neumann PGP = A7 CC 31 E4 7E A3 36 13 93 F4 C9 06 89 51 F5 A7

2 1

Keyserver at jpunix.com is retiring
by John A. Perry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The PGP public keyserver at jpunix.com has developed a stability problem over the past week or two that I can't seem to account for. The keyserver stops in the middle of a run and leaves the lock file so all incoming key requests get backed up until I notice it and manually fix it. Having to continually monitor the keyserver has become burdensome and is not doing anyone any good. I've always been happy to provide the keyserver as a public service to the PGP users community but, the keyserver is not getting any better no matter what I do to try and fix it. There are no errors generated and no log entries to point me to what the problem is. With this in mind, I have decided to retire the keyserver at jpunix.com effective 07/27/96 sometime in the AM Central Standard Time. If you have any applications that point to this server, I would ask that you point your application to one of the other servers or make some arrangement to use a different server. It's been an honor and a pleasure to provide this service and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. John Perry - perry(a)alpha.jpunix.com - PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome! WWW - http://www.jpunix.com PGP 2.62 key for perry(a)jpunix.com is on the keyservers. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMfacNFOTpEThrthvAQGl0AQAjcBWAe4beWMCZ6yyeoxkgPqjm3hyVmgb 7DeX8/MQ8tpOG+pMzalslBfWRtOaOk9mU/q2N82gEIq6/QcEvY8yUF105+87k6h3 U7mjBnbSjIAGOHBBARo2kzzmfxqVDCoo9SW+idm94HBNeRsIeFFGndII2YHivyP7 milYetDY0b8= =OkkS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Keyserver at jpunix.com is retiring
by John Perry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The PGP public keyserver at jpunix.com has developed a stability problem over the past week or two that I can't seem to account for. The keyserver stops in the middle of a run and leaves the lock file so all incoming key requests get backed up until I notice it and manually fix it. Having to continually monitor the keyserver has become burdensome and is not doing anyone any good. I've always been happy to provide the keyserver as a public service to the PGP users community but, the keyserver is not getting any better no matter what I do to try and fix it. There are no errors generated and no log entries to point me to what the problem is. With this in mind, I have decided to retire the keyserver at jpunix.com effective 07/27/96 sometime in the AM Central Standard Time. If you have any applications that point to this server, I would ask that you point your application to one of the other servers or make some arrangement to use a different server. It's been an honor and a pleasure to provide this service and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. John Perry - perry(a)alpha.jpunix.com - PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome! WWW - http://www.jpunix.com PGP 2.62 key for perry(a)jpunix.com is on the keyservers. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMfacNFOTpEThrthvAQGl0AQAjcBWAe4beWMCZ6yyeoxkgPqjm3hyVmgb 7DeX8/MQ8tpOG+pMzalslBfWRtOaOk9mU/q2N82gEIq6/QcEvY8yUF105+87k6h3 U7mjBnbSjIAGOHBBARo2kzzmfxqVDCoo9SW+idm94HBNeRsIeFFGndII2YHivyP7 milYetDY0b8= =OkkS -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

RE: Noise: Re: Responding to Pre-dawn Unannounced Ninja Raids
by Bill Olson (EDP) 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Alan Horowitz writes: > >Phil, > >are you saying that you're a better businessman than Rush Limbaugh? > >Can we see some 1040's, please? Rush Limbagh is a big fat *RICH* idiot. >

2 1

Data Sources for DES Breaking
by mpd＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Given that we might embark upon this public demonstration of the fragility of single DES, what should we use for test data? If a lone Cypherpunk simply encrypts a file with DES-ECB, hides the key in a drawer, and publishes the cyphertext and plaintext for use in a distributed cracking effort, there will of course be the suggestion that the exercise was rigged, and any public policy implications will be lost in the endless "Was So/Was Not" quibbling which will undoubtedly take place after the crack is complete. Given that most of the people currently singing the praises of single DES live in the banking industry, which has so far resisted all reasonable suggestions that it is time for them to move to something stronger, it would seem almost obvious that this crack should be done on some form of live financial data, such as might be obtained if one were to capture bits passing over publicly accessible phone lines between various financial institutions, ATM machines, and centralized computer facilities. The ideal data would be replete with prepended fixed headers which could be used as a wedge for a known plaintext attack, and should be sufficiently sensitive that breaking it will result in scandalous tabloid headlines and numerous opportunities for Cypherpunks to promote their policy agenda in the media. DES is, after all, a prime example of the type of encryption one gets when the government, rather than the brightest minds in the private sector, are in charge of determining National Crypto Policy and mandating the use of "approved" techniques. I would suggest we obtain the test data for this exercise as soon as possible, and widely disseminate it on the Net. There is no need to wait until we have distributed cracking software ready to go before doing this, and having the actual data to play with while munging the code together may lead to some new insights as to efficient ways to attack the problem. -- Mike Duvos $ PGP 2.6 Public Key available $ mpd(a)netcom.com $ via Finger. $

4 4

Re: When books are outlawed
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:07 PM 7/24/96 -0400, you wrote: > ><< On Our Backs magazine>> > >That's "Off Our Backs". Very much at the forefront of the >PC-gestapo-thought-police trend. > >Also has a _fabulous_ running comic strip about the reality of lesbian >relationships. "Dykes to watch out For", if my memory serves me well. Off Our Backs is a PC lesbian magazine. "On Our Backs" is an S&M Lesbian magazine edited by Suzie Bright. It is not anything resembling PC. (Ms. Bright does not have a nice oppinion of Dwarkin and her fellow travelers, to put it mildly.) ObOff-Topic: If you ever get the chance to hear Suzie Bright speak on one of her tours, by all means go. It is well worth the time! --- 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."

3 2

Re: Digital Watermarks (long, getting off-topic)
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:26 AM 7/24/96 -0800, jim bell wrote: >Isn't it odd that when music is sold, CD's are MORE expensive than cassette >tapes, even though you _know_ that the manufacturing cost of CD's is less? CDs sell for more because buyers decided that they wanted a wider range of titles with shallower sales (hence higher unit costs) rather than a narrower range of titles with lower sales prices. The number of CD titles available is far greater (in general distribution) than the number of vinyl titles that were available during vinyl's peak year. This greater availability of short run pressings raises average unit sales costs justifying the higher prices. Had the market decided (when physical production costs fell) that it was satisfied with a Top-40 CD stock, average CD prices would have fallen to vinyl levels. >Another oddity: The price for a blank, standard-quality videocassette is >about the same as that of a blank, standard-quality audio cassette tape, >despite the fact that the volume of tape included in the former is probably >about a factor of 10 higher. Materials cost is a minor part of total cost. In both cases, the cost of production is a small part of the cost of goods sold. Almost all of that cost is the cost of marketing (as with all mass-market products in a modern capitalist economy. DCF "The only adequate description of the Universe is the Universe itself. The only fair price of an item is the market price. Neither the Universe nor the Market can be adequately duplicated in the head of a Congresscritter."

2 1

FW: Schelling Points, Rights, and Game Theory--Part II
by Blanc Weber 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: tcmay(a)got.net >...certainly a Schelling point or evolutionary game >theory interpretation of what we call "rights" is superior to an appeal-to-God or "natural rights" interpretation. ........................................................................ ................. So there is the "game theory" interpretation of "rights" as would be understood by an individual within a group of 2 or more, or a "society" of many individuals, and then there is the interpretation of how anyone might interpret the concept even if they were not a member of any society but lived totally alone in the wilderness? I don't know why these would be categorized as being part of a "game" - evolutionary or otherwise. A game is something that is evaluated somewhat outside the context of our regular life - a diversion, an accessory, even if it also can be taken seriously or if it can become a career for some people. It is not given the same significance as other practical pursuits like medicine or engineering, which are intended to have definite, practical, beneficial results. Any person normally posseses some ability to determine the propriety to themselves of certain things in existence: they have some measure of ability to make judgements over what is "right" or "wrong" for humankind similar to themselves. Most people develop some sensitivity to the difference between that which is destructive to the goals & values of living things versus that which is supportive of them; most everyone is expected to improve the ability to think about these things as they grow up, even if they don't hold formal arguments with anyone else about it. But people's minds work on overtime and just because they can make judgements, they therefore do make judgements, and furthermore they intend that everyone else should accept these same conclusions - they go into "global mode", expecting that their perspective will be incontestably valid over all. But I wouldn't think that they imagine themselves to be playing a game. I think they're quite serious about it, and "rightly" so, as the consequences of these decisions have major effects upon the quality of their life and happiness. I think that to think of these concepts in terms of game theory is to miss the place of significance which these decisions have in the life of conscious, self-determining beings like ourselves; that it doesn't do justice to the need to achieve correspondence with the facts of life & molecular physics. Or, what's the Prize for these Olympics (and who cares)? .. Blanc ~ Blanc

1 0

violating ITAR
by Arun Mehta 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 21:43 21/07/96 -0500, snow wrote: > > Put up enough money to defend me and tell me how I can get arrested. > > I'm not doing a lot at the moment, and I wouldn't mind getting my 15 >minutes of fame at this point. I could spare the time too. Maybe you (and whoever else volunteers) could DCC me some software that violates ITAR via mIRC: We announce that this is going to happen, which channel and when, have a virtual party for the condemned person(s), during which we first openly discuss what we are going to do... I doubt they'll want to take me to court in India, but if they do, I know lawyers who would defend me for free. Arun Mehta Phone +91-11-6841172, 6849103 amehta(a)cpsr.org http://www.cerfnet.com/~amehta/ finger amehta(a)cerfnet.com for public key

2 1