December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

GAK Rat Pack
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

C|NET, October 2, 1996, 1:45 p.m. PT Computer alliance supports encryption policy By Alex Lash An alliance of 11 software and hardware companies has just announced its formation to develop key-recovery solutions for electronic encryption, a crucial component of the Clinton administration's latest plan to loosen the export of encryption technology. Announced yesterday, the administration's plan gives exporters of encryption or encrypted software a two-year window starting January 1, 1997, to build what the administration calls "key recovery" into their products. IBM, Apple Computer, Atalla, Digital Equipment, Groupe Bull, Hewlett-Packard, NCR, RSA Data Security, Sun Microsystems, Trusted Information Systems, and United Parcel Service have banded together to develop systems that will give the government what it wants, which is access to suspicious encrypted messages, so that compliant software companies will be able to get export licenses for hard-to-crack encryption codes. "Export controls are a fact of life," RSA President Jim Bidzos said today. "In an imperfect world this technique will at least allow you to take advantage of what governments around the world will allow." RSA's presence in the alliance is not only a coup for the government but a big surprise, as Bidzos has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Clinton administration's key escrow efforts. He has even accused the government of offering software companies special "sweetheart" deals to gain support for its encryption regulation plans. A key-recovery plan not only satisfies the government's desire for court-ordered access to encrypted messages, but also sets off alarm bells for privacy advocates and civil libertarians. Some within the U.S. software industry also claim they won't be able to sell encrypted products overseas if customers know the U.S. government has access to a skeleton key. "While some companies might choose to cast their lot with the government's key-escrow policy, the marketplace is likely to reject the approved products," said David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Users want strong security, not guaranteed government access to their communications." However, the concept of key recovery is not anathema to companies that acknowledge that firms and folks using encryption to secure electronic transactions and communications will need backup copies of their keys, just as homeowners keep an extra house key under a flower pot. Under the new government plan, a company that promises to participate in key recovery will receive a six-month license to export up to 56-bit DES encryption. When the promise is fulfilled and the government can get access to the decryption keys, the 56-bit limit is lifted. If by the end of the two-year grace period the company has not fulfilled its promise to implement a key-recovery scheme, the 56-bit limit is dropped back down to the current 40-bit limit. "The fact that 56-bit DES [a type of encryption] will be available from significant sources is going to jump-start electronic commerce," said Ken Kay, executive director of the Computer Systems Policy Project, a public policy group comprised of 12 computer industry CEOs. Now that the details are out and endorsements are coming in, executive action is expected in the next two to three weeks, according to one senior administration official. President Clinton will soon sign an executive order that transfers jurisdiction over encryption export licenses from the State Department to the Commerce Department, a move that the computer industry has asked for in the past because they see Commerce as a more sympathetic agency. At the same time, Commerce will announce a new set of streamlined rules to grant companies a "fast track" to an export license if they comply with key recovery, the official said. Commerce plans to begin licensing on January 1. But the new plan will also give the Justice Department a voice in the licensing process, a detail that angers privacy advocates and software companies alike. "The transfer from State to Commerce has been called for for a long time, but a small tweak is that the FBI now has veto power," said Peter Harter, legal counsel to Netscape Communications. "Domestic law enforcement shouldn't have a seat at the table." Harter acknowledged that Netscape has not ruled out key recovery but said that the market must show demand for it. The administration has said it hopes to introduce a bill next spring that would encourage the build-up of key recovery by establishing laws on the conduct of third-party key holders. But it will not try to mandate key recovery through legislation. "I think we have a critical mass of companies willing to work with us," said Heidi Kukis, spokesperson for the Vice President's office. "That would make legislation to mandate key recovery very unlikely." Another fear is that the administration is using export limits to control domestic use of encryption. While Gore directly stated yesterday that domestic use of encryption will remain unregulated, the double standard for domestic and international products might discourage U.S. companies from developing two different versions, leaving U.S. and Canadian customers with the same products that the federal government has deemed safe to ship overseas. "We obtained and intend to hold the administration to its assurances that export controls would not be used to control domestic use," said Kay of the CSPP. "The CEOs have told the administration that if they want to do domestic controls, they should do it frontally through the democratic process and introduce legislation." [End]

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Re: active practice in America
by Marc J. Wohler 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:39 PM 9/30/96 -0800, Tim May wrote: >As for the historical reasons for the "conspiracy to not take seriously the >civil rights of an aggrieved minority" nonsense, isn't it about time to >roll back such laws? Whatever the putative justification for such things >might have been 30-40 years ago, this is now, that was then. "this is now, that was then" This is the same same argument used by those who wish to revise and limit the First Amendment. mjw

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Where to find some papers on the the information economy?
by Donald Weightman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The "World Economy Survey" in the Current ECONOMIST makes some interesting points about the intractabilty of the information-based economy to traditional manufacturing-based econometrics, which looks at things like industrial outputs as the basis for forecasting, and, not least, macroeconomic policy. The gist of it is that the older measures overweight the more traditional transactions -- production & sale of widgets and ingots -- and undercount digital economic activity -- writing code, for example -- because no one knows how to measure the latter. The implications for the political control of cybercommerce are pretty striking -- how can a government control -- using the traditional blunt instruments like fiscal and monetary policy -- sectors it cannot see, measure, or quantify? Anyway, the ECONOMIST Survey cites a couple of papers I'd like to see: Charles Goldfinger; "The Intangible Economy and its Implications for Statistics and Statisticians". Eurostat -- ISTAT seminar, Bologna, Feb. 1996 Danny Quah; "The Invisible Hand and the Weightless Economy". LSE Centre for Economic Performance, occasional paper No. 12, April 1996. I ran some Web searches with null results. Does anyone know how I can get these quickly? Thanks, and apologies if the cross-posting is burdensome. Don Weightman dweightman(a)radix.net

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LEO_rat
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

10-1-96. WaPo: "U.S. to Ease Encryption Restriction." Page One lead. Sources at IBM say scientists there have devised a scheme that uses several steps to encrypt information and the keys for unlocking it. Law enforcement officials authorized to unscramble information would not get a key for unlocking a message but instead the instructions for how to break open a specific encrypted message. ----- http://jya.com/leorat.txt LEO_rat ----- For an earlier report on IBM's LEO-rat, see http://jya.com/ibmgak.txt

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Re: ASAP letter on e-cash
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forbes, ASAP, October 7, 1996, p. 18. Bankrupt the Bureaucrats! Eugene Ludwig's principal concern ["The Money Changers," August 26] is not counterfeiting, theft, or fraud: Those crimes have victims, and regulators are never concerned with victim crimes. As comptroller of currency, he is worried sick about tax evasion (i.e., avoidance) and money laundering because he knows that technology like Chaum's Ecash could put him and his entire bureaucracy out of their cushy jobs, regardless of the actions of the executive branch or Congress. Counterfeiting a $100 bill, even one of the new ones, is easier than counterfeiting one of David Chaum's Ecash payments, and the previous level of government "concern" regarding offshore counterfeiting of $100 bills is instructive here (they let it go on for years!!). Some in government have gotten a clue by osmosis, such as Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), but the damage is already done. My solution: Vote Libertarian! Jim Ray liberty(a)gate.net [Right E-steamed Cypherpunk]

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DES CRACKING SCREENSAVER, was: Can we kill single DES?
by azur＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>On Wed, 2 Oct 1996, Frank Andrew Stevenson wrote: > >> DES CRACKING SCREENSAVER >[...] >>the screensaver itself can simply display a rotating globe, >> where the different densities of global usage is given in colour shades, >>showing >> an inverse sunclock of sorts. I think such a concept might give the >>DES-cracking >> screensaver a critical mass. Suggest you make it a plug-in module to one of the popular screen savers (e.g., After Dark). I'd run it. PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61 81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Snoop Daty Data | Internet: azur(a)netcom.com Grinder | Voice: 1-702-655-2877 Sacred Cow Meat Co. | Fax: 1-702-658-2673 7075 W. Gowan Road, #2148 | Las Vegas, NV 89129 | --------------------------------------------------------------------- Just say NO to prescription DRUGS. "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." -- C.S. Lewis "Surveillence is ultimately just another form of media, and thus, potential entertainment." -- G. Beato

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Crypto Boundries
by ratak 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: Tue Oct 01 12:38:37 1996 Hello All... A few questions here... The idea of a Crypto programming division has been tossed around over here, and was wondering... Does anyone have any serious hard facts on what crypto is allowed in which countries? How about Crypto development within Canadian Boundaries, are there any limits/concerns? Are any of the Crypto systems subject to different laws i.e 3Des/IDEA/MD5/Blowfish etc.? Later ___________________________________________________________________ GarGoyle Securities - -Intrusion Assessment Systems - -Security Consultation/Education/Curriculum Development - -Project Management/Research/Analysis World Wide... - -Member of CITDC (Canadian International Trade Development Council) - -Email 1: <ratak(a)escape.ca> Jason E.J. Manaigre - -Email 2: <ratak(a)GargSec.mb.ca> - -Email for PGP key with phrase 'Get Public Key' as Subject - -2048 PGPKey iD E2 FA 30 E5 F5 AD EC F3 00 9A 9D 33 59 FC DF AD ___________________________________________________________________ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3i Charset: noconv iQEVAwUBMlFXIfqtmO8M92GRAQF2tgf/aZ1bATXGeE8jK309T1gcnl25cogE0I0a pO1hAtgtBedSO56XBas0bwhJD5tWeNuR46uQNKNH3hX7MeJN1wAKGg5o7sBsf4k0 J1ApRTXt2DsbELkYdIkcMVsTf1W40AimormYDKq2DPqSg7b9C1n1vQe/uDkDxDN3 aT/MOl7YLH1d31TffF7zwOLmcs1d0qZ8n0w//QcGwOI9l1Q2i0hc98DW6qYwdpJG Zg+rZzt7jWJxICufh43AABs3j1X7FBsN+g0zBVrLmBK+I55/cHoxAg0uK+b1umTJ eetc2GyjtO3H7uzpFDBZLJ3bTamm9nyA6fmYgjKm0dXpfYPlR5UBpw== =BjRl -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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San Diego CPunk Physical meeting Thursday
by Christian Claborne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- <<<<< NOTE! I have a new address!!! >>>>>> This Thursday!!! San Diego Area CPUNKS symposium Thursday, Oct. 3, 1996. Invitation to all Cypherpunks to join the San Diego crowd at "The Mission Cafe & Coffee Shop". We discuss cryptography and other related subjects, have the special cypherpunk dinner, and unwind after a long day at the grind stone. Don't forget to bring your public key fingerprint. If you can figure out how to get it on the back of a business card, that would be cool. If you want the suspicious crowd there to sign your key, bring two forms of ID. Michelle is going to bring her PGP fingerprint in for signature. Can you believe it? Hopefully Lance Cottrell will give us an update on Mixmaster and what's going on at San Diego's best ISP. You can also get the scoop on the latest development of my job situation (hint, some people are getting free eats from me on Thurs). Place: The Mission Cafe & Coffee Shop 3795 Mission Bl in Mission Beach. 488-9060 Time:1800 Their Directions: 8 west to Mission Beach Ingram Exit Take west mission bay drive Go right on Mission Blvd. On the corner of San Jose and mission blvd. It is located between roller coaster and garnett. It's kind of 40s looking building... funky looking (their description, not mine) They serve stuff to eat, coffee stuff, and beer + wine. See you there! New guy, bring your fingerprint. Drop me a note if you plan to attend... NOTE: My primary e-mail address has changed to use my own domain. You can reach me at "claborne(a)cyberthought.com". Permanently replace any other address that you may have for me. I am currently not subscribed to the CP list since my current internet connection is slow (I can't afford anything right now :) 2 -- C -- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 4.0 Personal Edition iQEVAgUBMlFWioP1MBWQ+9udAQFx4wf/XYFLdsCzyCuIAHyswaKLxZWVgbj8lZiZ 0uxh1kv6SY0BW1UVrz5Fi9mkqcfy8D1t70VZj2BfxsEcVPSWKoaBaZA/NJaKyt29 UYHleHz00bkzesSKyJpZ6TSGFgG765okgG3xI3Q/93IbgiZxDzbmYvDGGsYLO9FY 0RSageZaeSALZgZxCQkG64EwChTqolJgBPpLS8Fv3kDEM96aA6d2zfip6nhgSYYR +omBwcmGU2Y+kG+LAtV7YxAm7VFHSPy5FvmETcDDWH8+IbSECGgtJIvFFanIxk1F LmJjgjfzgr9vpM/3CAuX4ar/WrffLuyZxGXH49fWDzht9o4ayb94xw== =jEwG -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ... __o .. -\<, Claborne(a)CYBERTHOUGHT.com ...(*)/(*)._ Providing thoughts on your computing needs. http://www.CYBERTHOUGHT.com/cyberthought/ PGP Pub Key fingerprint = 7E BF 38 3F 24 A7 D1 B0 54 44 96 AA 10 D0 5D 51 Avail on Pub Key server. PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome! Dreams. They are just a "screen saver" for the brain.

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[ADVICE] Dimitri Vilus`s personal attacks
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Hmm...never heard that one before. Care to produce > a reference? > > (Or am I supposed to be ignoring this guy when he > makes ridiculous claims?) I shouldn`t take any notice, he`s a loon who posts rants, lies, off topic rubbish and personal attacks to the mailing list. just ignore him, hopefully he`ll soon realise he`s not wanted and leave... Datacomms Technologies web authoring and data security Paul Bradley, Paul(a)fatmans.demon.co.uk Paul(a)crypto.uk.eu.org, Paul(a)cryptography.uk.eu.org Http://www.cryptography.home.ml.org/ Email for PGP public key, ID: 5BBFAEB1 "Don`t forget to mount a scratch monkey"

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Clipper IV Proposal
by Dave Banisar 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

FYI, The Clipper IV Proposal is now up at the EPIC Web site at: http://www.epic.org/crypto/key_escrow/clipper4_statement.html Dave _________________________________________________________________________ Subject: Clipper IV Proposal _________________________________________________________________________ David Banisar (Banisar(a)epic.org) * 202-544-9240 (tel) Electronic Privacy Information Center * 202-547-5482 (fax) 666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301 * HTTP://www.epic.org Washington, DC 20003 * ftp/gopher/wais cpsr.org

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