December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Drive the SF Central Freeway, have your license plate photo'ed.
by Frank E. Terhaar-Yonkers 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It's been doable and afforadable for years. 7 years ago when I lived in Knoxville TN there was(still is?) a firm there called Perceptics. One of their products was an imaging system to OCR license plates. I understood the system was/is in use or being tested at US border crossings. >Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996 11:56:34 -0700 Bill Stewart wrote: >At 10:45 PM 8/8/96 -0700, Lucky wrote: >>At 21:55 8/8/96, i am not a number! wrote: >>>CBS radio news this morning: 80,000 commuters traveling the central >>>f'way in SF will have information mailed to them regarding the quake retrofit >>>How? Their license plates have been photographed. > >>You *are* making this up, right? Please say you did. > >It's possible today, and probably affordable. If not, it will be in 1-2 years, >as Moore's law cranks down processing costs and video technology improves. >For this application, they don't have to photograph every car, or read every >plate successfully, or do it in real time. The objective is to get lots of >drivers to take other routes or mass transit so they don't have to dump all >the traffic onto surface streets right around the construction. > >Besides, this is nice friendly San Francisco. Imagine New York City doing it: > Yo! Mr. E. Koch, 1234 E. 89th St. - > We saw you takin' the West Side Highway last week. > You better stop that as of next Friday. > We know where you live. > You got a problem wit' that? > Rudy. > ># Thanks; Bill ># Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com ># <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority! > \\\\////\\\\////\\\\\////\\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\////\\\\ Frank Terhaar-Yonkers, Manager High Performance Computing and Communications Research MCNC PO Box 12889 3021 Cornwallis Road Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709-2889 fty(a)mcnc.org voice (919)248-1417 FAX (919)248-1455 http://www.mcnc.org/hpcc.html

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Electronic Cash System Based On The Representation
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Interesting paper I had not heard of, but was recently referred to... http://www.cwi.nl/~brands/cash.html Electronic Cash System Based On The Representation Problem Stefan Brands CWI P.O. Box 4079, 1009 AB Amsterdam The Netherlands e-mail: brands(a)cwi.nl Abstract: We present a new on-line electronic cash system based on a problem, called the representation problem, of which little use has been made in literature thus far. Our system is the first to be based entirely on discrete logarithms. Using the representation problem as a basic concept, some techniques are introduced that enable us to construct protocols for withdrawal and payment that do not use the cut and choose methodology of earlier systems. As a consequence, our cash system is much more efficient in both computation and communication complexity than previously proposed systems. Another important aspect of our system concerns its provability . Contrary to previously proposed systems, its correctness can be mathematically proven to a very great extent. Specifically , if we make one plausible assumption concerning a single hash-function, the ability to break the system seems to imply that one can break the Diffie-Hellman problem. Our system offers a number of extensions that are hard to achieve in previously known systems. In our opinion the most interesting of these is that the entire cash system (including all the extensions) can be incorporated straight forwardly in a setting based on wallets with observers, which has the important advantage that double- spending can be prevented in the \014rst place, rather than detecting the identity of a double-spender after the fact. In particular, it can be incorporated even under the most stringent requirements conceivable about the privacy of the user, which seems to b e impossible to do with previously proposed systems. Another benefit of our system is that framing attempts by a bank have negligible probability of success (independent of computing power) by a simple mechanism from within the system, which is something that p previous solutions lack entirely . Furthermore, the basic cash system can be extended to checks, multi-show cash and divisibility , while retaining its computational efficiency. Although in this paper we only make use of the representation problem in groups of prime order, similar intractable problems hold in RSA-groups (with computational equivalence to facto ring and computing RSA- roots). We discuss how one can use these problems to construct an efficient cash system with security related to factoring or computation of RSA-roots, in an analogous way to the discrete log based system. Finally , we discuss a decision problem (the decision variant of the Diffie-Hellman problem) that is strongly related to undeniable signatures, which to our knowledge has never been stated in literature and of which we do not know whether it is in BPP. A p roof of its status would be of interest to discrete log based cryptography in general. Using the representation problem, we show in the appendix how to batch the confirmation protocol of undeniable signatures such that polynomially many undeniable signatures can be verified in four moves. AMS Subject Classification (1991) : 94A60 CR Subject Classification (1991) : D.4.6 Keywords and Phrases : Cryptography , Electronic Cash, Representation Problem _______________________ Regards, It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. -Seneca Joseph Reagle http://rpcp.mit.edu/~reagle/home.html reagle(a)mit.edu E0 D5 B2 05 B6 12 DA 65 BE 4D E3 C1 6A 66 25 4E

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Re: Oregon License Plate Site in the News Tonight!
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:24 AM 8/9/96 -0700, Rich Graves wrote: >It might be fun to make the database open for a couple weeks, without a >caveat about logging, and then publish the logs. Allow reverse lookups, >i.e., who looked up my record. A nice little dragnet of people who are >interested in invading your privacy. This is impractical for one reason. In most cases it will show the address of the service provider, but will report nothing beyond that. You will just see which IP address you were assigned when you logged on. The logs would be true is some sense, flase in some sense and meaningless in most sense. >For the near-medium term, I am resigned to the fact that government is going >to collect personal information, and that it is going to leak out. I'm just >interested in full disclosure of the leaks, and who is benefiting from them. This brings up an interesting point. Is it poosible to obtain the list of all the individuals/corporations that have purchaced the list of DMV information and post *THAT* information to the net. I think that people would be surprised just who uses that information and for what... --- 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: photographed license plates
by Alan Olsen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 08:23 AM 8/9/96 -0700, i am not a number! wrote: >O, and I think they're talking more about putting up cameras at some >troubling intersections to take pictures of cars running red-lights. > >And cameras on transit vehicles (buses primarily). They already have cameras on Tri-Met busses in Portland Oregon. (Not all of them, yet... But many of them have two cameras. One at the front and one at the middle.) It occured during one of the media inspired panics about people with guns on busses. >Gee, I am starting to feel so warm and safe! Remember: A Paranoid constabulary is an effiecient constabulary. (Just because you got caught in the crossfire of a cop shooting at a suspected jay walker does not make it any less effiecient.) Support your local police for a more efficient police state! --- 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: Massively parallel carbon-unit-based voice pattern matching
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 9:54 PM 8/9/96, Ernest Hua wrote: >Also, the FBI, no doubt, has voice analysis systems much more >capable of detecting subtleties. 100,000 enthusiastic people But the FBI presumably has no data base of voices to compare the voice on the 911 tape to! They can have the most sophisticated voice analysis system in the world and it useless, except in comparing the voice to previously-recorded samples. (This is presumably how the NSA's capabilities are used, as they have the voice patterns of Boris Yeltsin, Yassir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Bob Dole and other previously-recorded voices. Plus, they can use COMINT at will outside the U.S. (and maybe in the U.S....) and can acquire new voice patterns for their libraries.) --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: Massively parallel carbon-unit-based voice pattern matching
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:54 PM 8/9/96 -0700, Ernest Hua wrote: >Now what if the FBI had voice detection systems just like the ones >used in "Clear and Present Danger"? Now THERE'S a good reason for >tapping 1% of every phone switch ... > >I wonder if the public would mind having a MACHINE do drift net >matching on voices on all public phone switches in the U.S. just to >find the Olympic bomber ... What if the specifications of that >machine were made public and the machine placed under Congressional >oversight? (At least members of Congress would never get tapped.) Voiceprints used to be doable only with sophisticated, specialized equipment. Presumably, they would be doable today with "only" a PC and soundcard, along with some software. This raises an interesting question: Would it be possible to modify speech to remove the identifiable characteristics which came from the speaker, and replace them with those of some other person. In other words, could somebody fake a bomb threat using a recording which has been processed to sound "exactly" like some famous person whose voice you can analyze? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: John Gilmore on the Radio!
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 04:38 PM 8/9/96 -0400, P. J. Ponder wrote: >Today at lunchtime in the Eastern Time Zone, the radio show Real >Computing with John C. Dvorak had John Gilmore as a guest, >Gilmore was referred to by Dvorak as the head of the cypherpunks a few >times. What was that old saying, "Like herding cats"? Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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Re: Massively parallel ca
by harka＠nycmetro.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

* Carbons sent to: In: tcmay(a)got.net -=> Quoting In:tcmay@got.net to Harka <=- In> But the FBI presumably has no data base of voices to compare the voice In> on the 911 tape to! They can have the most sophisticated voice analysis In> system in the world and it useless, except in comparing the voice to In> previously-recorded samples. In> (This is presumably how the NSA's capabilities are used, as they have In> the voice patterns of Boris Yeltsin, Yassir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Bob In> Dole and other previously-recorded voices. Plus, they can use COMINT at In> will outside the U.S. (and maybe in the U.S....) and can acquire new In> voice patterns for their libraries.) Here the technical progresses made in eaves-dropping technology come in really handy. Eaves-dropping on, let's say, apartments is these days rather trivial and a great way of collecting voice samples of 'suspects'. That the FBI doesn't have a voice database or at least access to one, I seriously doubt. Most of the technologically advanced countries use voice-recognition already to monitor phone traffic. The US does, Germany does, the UK.... The system functions 'vacuum-cleaner-like' and reacts to voice patterns (individual voices) and trigger words. If a trigger word is said, the entire conversation will be recorded and the telephone number on either end determined for later review. There are a few books out there, that deal with that kind of thing. Unfortunately, I only remember a german one: "The RAF Phantom", written by three journalists. But an Altavista might bring something up too... Harka ___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]

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New web page for pgp.com
by Philip Zimmermann 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I just wanted to let folks know that my new company has a new web page up at www.pgp.com. Also, we are hiring a lot of people. If you would like to work for PGP Inc, contact us. We need engineers, cryptographers, marketing people, and people with many other skills. If you are interested, send email to our CEO, Tom Steding, at tsteding(a)pgp.com. Or call us at 415 631-1747. --Philip Zimmermann prz(a)pgp.com

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Re: cybergangs?
by Eric Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:47 PM 8/9/96 +0100, you wrote: > > > > Okay, so this is a bit Gibsonish but after reading that piece on cybergangs > and some of the ecash issues what I wanna know is this: > > There are no laws in cyberspace right? No one to enforce them as such > shall we say? What happens if a group of hackers/crackers/cypherpunks > set up shop and started offering their services to the highest bidder? > > Let's say that the US Government bans strong crypto and attempts to > enforce is using the many, conventional, means at its disposal... > what happens if the cypherpunks group raises the money to pay a group > or individual to hack/destroy/grind to a halt milnet? Or some such > government network? Or all of them? > > How come this hasn't happened yet? Okay maybe not at such a grand scale, > but ya know? > > Hey it's just an idea, > > Zaid > > >"The wave is already gathering; one day it will wash us away." - Hermann Hesse > A kind of Cybermilitia! Can we still wear green uniforms and camouflage face paint? Eric

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