December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Why I Don't Read SF Much Anymore (fwd)
by gimonca＠skypoint.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 00:14:49 -0800 > From: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay(a)got.net> > Subject: Re: Why I Don't Read SF Much Anymore > [among other things] > > - Vernor Vinge, "True Names," obviously, "The Peace War," "Marooned in Real > Time," "A Fire Upon the Deep," and his collections of short stories (incl. > "The Ungoverned"). > > (Caveat: I've been invited to do a chapter for Vinge's forthcoming "True > Names" book, containing essays about computers and society, and, of course, > his novella of the same name. So I may be biased.) > Is this the St. Martin's Press "True Names" edition that was listed in amazon.com? At one time, it was going to be released August or Sept. of this year. I have to mention that the owner of Dreamhaven Books here in Minneapolis complained to me last year that he has a "truckload" of remaindered copies of "Peace War". They still have a bunch--every time I've been in there, there's a hardbound "Peace War" on display with a price tag of $1.00. Buying a copy of "True Names" right now is about as easy as buying an original Dead Sea Scroll--but if anybody wants a cheap copy of "Peace War", look up Dreamhaven in Minneapolis. --C.G.

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Re: Magic passwodr in BIOS?
by Eric Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 12:39 PM 11/21/96 +0100, you wrote: >Hi, > yesterday I've read about so called "magic password" in AWARD BIOS. It >was a surprise for me and I wasn't very happy that the way how to bypass >this is so easy. But nevermind, I heve two questions about it. First, >is there any way how to disabled "magic password" 589589 in AWARD BIOS? > Second, does anobody know another "magic passwords" to various BIOSes? > > Thanks for your answers! > ZERO > > I wouldn't be too disappointed with a hole in BIOS password security. Most of them can be easily defeated by a jumper switch, or shorting a pin on the system board.

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No Subject
by nobody＠cypherpunks.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Thu, 21 Nov 1996, aga <aga(a)dhp.com> wrote: From: aga <aga(a)dhp.com> To: Rabid Wombat <wombat(a)mcfeely.bsfs.org> cc: FREEDOM-KNIGHTS(a)JETCAFE.ORG, Black Unicorn <unicorn(a)schloss.li>, cypherpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: Does John Gilmore EAT Asshole? |FUCK YOU COCKSUCKER -- as long as you keep writing to be, |I will continue to rip a new asshole in the Faggot John Gilmore |who promotes PUNKs like you. [snip] |A 'punk' is a faggot pussy who is really NOT a man! |The faggot Gilmore does take it up the ass and also eat assholes, so |he should be added to the net.scum list at once. I should'a kill-filed this sicko long ago. Like the raving individuals one passes on the sidewalk, he is best ignored. Leave him for professional care. >From whence does such trash arise? Oh me!!

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Re: Why I Don't Read SF Much Anymore
by Ken Kirksey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>The problem with straight SF for me is that computers and networks have >changed the future so much that (in the words of the motto of the SF >Writer's Association) The Future Ain't What It Used to Be. The science >fictional futures of my childhood are now dead as doornails. I still enjoy some of the "old stuff", but not in the same way that I did when I was younger. I read those works as period pieces now. There is a certain romance in the Gersnbackian view of the future that I enjoy, especially in contrast to the Grim and Gritty (TM) "reality" of most modern and post-modern SF. I still find Heinlein's juveniles to be fun reads, probably for this reason. Ditto for Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars books. >And I can't >enjoy contemporary SF that doesn't include a healthy dose of computers and >networking. Computers and networking may not be central to the story the author is trying to tell. And with the way things are going, computers and networking will become (some would say already have become) such an integral part of the culture that they don't warrant special attention. Kinda like airplanes, automobiles, television, radio, microwave ovens, cellular phones, ad infinitum. Computer Networks were a new and nove idea when _Shockwave Rider_ was written, but now with every car and cereal commercial on TV promoting a web site as well, it's not all that exciting anymore. As far as keeping up with current SF, I, like others, don't seem to make as much time to read as I used to. I rely on Gardner Dozios' annual _Year's Best Science Fiction_ anthology to keep me up to date and introduce me to new writers. I've always enjoyed the stories he's chosen, some more than others, and he's introduced me to some great writers that I probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise: Greg Egan, Connie Willis, and Terry Bisson, to name a few. Judging from your comments, I think you'd like Greg Egan, especially his novel _Permutation City_. Ken

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ROB_not
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

11-21-96. NYP: "Treasury Report Will Oppose Federal Taxes on Internet Sales" Issues of key escrow, digital cash, anonymous transactions, and identifying where in the world transactions occur. Feds claim they differ from greedy states who want to rob the Net golden goose. The report will be posted to www.ustreas.gov for comment. (Not there yet at 10:30 EST.) ----- http://jya.com/robnot.txt ROB_not

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Re: Anderson & Kuhn's "Improved DFA" paper
by Matthew J. Miszewski 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> It's also an opportunity for some well-timed press releases. > Clipper 1's reputation was severely damaged by Matt's attack. > Anybody know if HP's giving out samples, and if there are real or test > GAK plugins for them? I agree. There are many people on the list with contacts with the media (or ARE the media :). There was a time that I would suggest posting all of our media lists to cypherpunks but, unfortunately, I fear that would no longer be productive. So... I suggest everyone fire up their fax modems and send out to all of the contacts we each have personally. Even local papers can be important in this action. Make sure your local ISPs understand the issues (and maybe even release it in a newsletter or daily email. > > HP URL http://www.dmo.hp.com/gsy/security/icf/main.html > > The paper was posted to coderpunks, and it's on > ftp://ftp.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/dfa > Here's the intro: > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Improved Differential Fault Analysis > > Ross J Anderson, Markus G Kuhn > (Intro snipped) Matt

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Cryptography in France
by Thomas Hennes 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is my first post to the cypherpunks mailing list. I've been monitoring it for a little while now, and I would like to initiate a thread on the sorry state of public crypto in France, and would much much appreciate feedback, comments and thoughts on the following. It is no secret that public crypto here in France is a fucking joke. For those of you who aren't up-to-date with French gov't policy on the subject, let me state the simple: Public use of crypto (and esp. STRONG crypto) is *outlawed* in France. This mere fact gives us (the French) the dubious achievement of being rated along with the likes of China, Iran, Iraq and former USSR, to name a few. Now remember, this comes from a country that labels itself as the "Home country of the Human Rights", yet denies its citizen access to the technical means of ensuring REAL privacy. A much-needed privacy, considering the phone-tapping scandal that rocked France two or three years back (then-prez Miterrand himself had ordered that a whole bunch of people --novelists, journalists, politicians, artists and various other intellectuals-- have their phone tapped and their conversations recorded, without any legal permission to do so. Even an uncle of mine was placed on such a list.). I _do_ believe that a strong case --legally, economically and philosophically-- could be made for the legalization of strong public crypto in France. And I am also confident that we are moving toward a de facto use of strong crypto in everyday life. There are several legal points that could force the French gov't to give some slack on crypto regulation. The first one is, of course, the process of building Europe (I am not so naive as to believe this will be a success, but it WILL provide us with some legal power to wield). Of all nations being part of the EEC, France is the only one that enforces such restrictions on public crypto. But, and this is my point, French gov't has made a big fuss about standardization of regulation throughout EEC and its participants, and when it comes to crypto, I believe they've put their foot in their mouth!! ;-) Second legal point: arguing the moral point of freedom of guaranteed privacy. Outlawing public crypto *might* be unconstitutional, considering that the French constitutions have always been built around the anarchists revolutionaries of 1789 declaration of human rights. The gov't will counter with 'Raison d'Etat' and need for terrorist surveillance, but this is the same as saying weapon sales should be prohibited to keep thugs away from weapons. Thugs *always* manage to get weapons, and terrorists *always* manage to escape surveillance and plant bombs in our streets and metro system. Economically, the case could be made for public crypto by underlining the importance of internet economics. It is a stated and definitive fact that e-cash cannot exist without cryptographic means. Now if the general public hasn't got access to strong crypto, why would they risk dealing in e-cash??? Thus France would be left out of an immense -and as of now virgin- commercial market, which in the near future would mean commercial death. And that's not counting all the employement opportunities that would be, one can speculate, created by the flourishing of web commercial ventures. Ironically, Netscape has been granted by the French gov't an 'extraordinary' license to use cryptography in their Navigator software (even though it's the lame, 40-bit export key size). Which means that, as of now, the one and only company that WOULD technically allow French citizens to engage in electronic commerce is a foreign company... So on one hand we have the French gov't making a huge fuss about 'Cultural Exception' when the subject at hand is protecting the French TV and movie business --which nobody actually gives a damn about--, and on the other hand, the very same gov't not only regulates against strong public crypto, but when it finally gives in a little, it's to the profit of a foreign company.. Next thing you know, France is going to equip all its phones with the Clipper chip so that the NSA can listen in on, say, Airbus trade secrets.. Can you get any dumber than this? The last economically sound point relates to competition. By forbidding strong public crypto, France has seriously hampered the ability of French cryptologists to move forward technically, since they receive much less feedback than, say, their scandinavian or US counterparts. And I believe that, in the long term, strong public crypto WILL prevail --I AM optimistic (or is that naive?). So all the French gov't is doing here is denying would-be French companies to deal competitively in the crypto market, which I am sure will explode with the coming of electronic commerce. My last arguments are of the philosophical/moral/political order. Politics in France have reached an all-time low at the end of 14 years of Socialism (some may disagree on this, but this is MY belief). Corruption is now widespread, at every levels of the public administration, and at all 'rays' of the political spectrum. Politicians now have more privileges than the royalty used to have just before the revolution of 1789, when the laws and budgets were more deftly controlled by house representatives than they are nowadays. Politicians nowadays live as a microcosm, in an enclosed glasscase, protecting each other regardless of ideology or political faith. They act as superior-class citizens where they were meant to be representative of the people, the citizens that mandated them as such. So I believe that strong crypto is not only a right, but a mean that every citizen should use against the preponderance of such a privileged class, in order to make the French motto 'Liberte Egalite Fraternite' something else than an obsolete joke. I'm not an anarchist, nor am I illuminated. I'm a regular guy with a regular job. I'm simply tired of all these self-proclaimed important people that live in the fast lane with MY taxes. And crypto would be a mean for me to combat them more efficiently and to bring back some of that much-needed social equilibrium. And, the hell with it, I want GUARANTEED PRIVACY. On Monday 18 Nov. Greg Broiles wrote: >ICF is "International Cryptography Framework". > >The press release includes quotes from US and >>French<< government officials >indicating that the new system will meet their needs. Man, this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E ... ;-) Thomas Hennes aie-rd(a)pobox.oleane.com PS: I would've loved to CC this thing to Chirac or PM Juppé, but neither of them have actual e-mails, which tells you a lot about the interest they have in net-business...

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[TARGET ACQUIRED] Cryptography in France
by nobody＠cypherpunks.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:46 PM 11/21/1996, Thomas Hennes wrote: >I'm not an anarchist, nor am I illuminated. I'm a regular guy with a >regular job. I'm simply tired of all these self-proclaimed important >people that live in the fast lane with MY taxes. And crypto would be a >mean for me to combat them more efficiently and to bring back some of >that much-needed social equilibrium. And, the hell with it, I want >GUARANTEED PRIVACY. Here's our target! France is the perfect testing ground for a top-notch cryptoanarchist system. Lots of computers, lots of smart users, high taxes, and a police state.

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Re: Mass-market crypto phones
by azur＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>A while back, Eric Blossom posted a URL for a mass-market, phone encyrption >device (http://www.comsec.com/) The point of this post is to posit a >scenario based on the implications of this product. This is speculation >based on where I think such products should be heading. > >I think we need to keep a couple of goals in mind. The first, is to get >encrypting phones (or phone add-ons) into Wal-mart, K-mart, etc (where >probably most Americans now buy their phones). The prices need to be low >enough that people will want to buy them (<$100?). Is this technically >feasible? The comsec device from the above URL already demonstrates the >needed capability. Is the cost target possible? My guess is soon, given >the lowering costs and increasing capabilities of current processors. I've worked with these products, while at Cylink, and don't think it will be posible to reach your $100 figure for a standalone device without manufacturing volumes of 100,000/month or so--even AT&T's attempt at a similar device was priced considerably higher. Given the lack of general population interest it is very unlightly a market of this volume will develop. A more likely scenario is the inclusion of this technology in a digital cordless phone, since the A/D-D/A circuits are already part of the design--some analog units already include scrambling circuits--although increased power consumption and therefore either power supply weight or decreased talk and standby times could become a maketing problem. If you're interested go contact one of the many Asian consumer electronics companies (see http://www.asiansources.com> tell them how many 10,000's of units you're willing to buy and have them built for U.S. resale. > >The second goal needs to be to push a similar product for cell-phones. I >think this will be perhaps an easier sell, given the higher initial cost for >these phones, and their reduced security. Perhaps a home device could be >sold with the cell-phone as a package deal, so that communications with the >"home base" (i.e your office, home, etc) would be secure. With the rapid >growth in cell-phone sales, selling a package such as this might ensure a >larger user-base of home devices. Again inclusion in a digital phone is easiest and best, but then again its already digital and if GSM probably encrypted over the air. Cylink's briefcase-sized SecureCell was never a success (too heavy and expensive). Maintaining a >9600bps stable modem link via analog cellular still isn't easy (even when stationary), but has improved with the availability of specialized modems. However, you're right that many more users will be willing to pay and could be a winning combo. I'm not sure interconnection of such a device with most miniature cell phones would be a slam dunk. > >Given that these goals are met, I think widespread use of crypto over phone >lines would become almost inevitable. However, the fun part would be the >introduction of such products. The FUD coming from police, the government, >etc. would be amazing to behold. > > Clay > > > >******************************************************* >Clay Olbon olbon(a)ix.netcom.com >engineer, programmer, statistitian, etc. >**********************************************tanstaafl

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Re: The Limey PUNK needs TERMINATED
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> what are you, fat? Maybe I am, maybe I`m not, at least I can honestly say I`m not a homophobic fuckup. > you are now scheduled for termination as a result > of this e-mail. this is your last warning. Termination? - give me a break you pre-pubescent "k00l HaKk1nG D0od" > Hey you limey PUNK, you can not do SHIT! If you get out of hand here, > I will mailbomb you into SMITHERINES! And kill your whole fucking > site with fork-bombs if necessary. Go ahead punk, make my day. As they say, your ass is grass and I`m the lawnmower. Your postmaster will be forwarded copies of any more abusive mail you send me and if, as I suspect, you are about 13 years old, I will tell your parents, now go on, shoo. > Paul Bradley seemsw to be just another faggot suppporting the > main Faggot, John Gilmore. Learn how to spell and type. Once you have done that become educated as to why someones sexual orientation is their own business and nobody elses. Then in about 20 years return when you have something worthwhile to add to the discussion. > A "punk" means you are a WIMP! Oh no, I`m so depressed now. To think that being a cryptographer could mean that I couldn`t kick your scrawny ass. I have no interest in your aspersions being cast at my physical prowess. I believe I, along with the other members of the list have progressed beyond the neanderthal level of insulting and physically pounding people into submission. However, you are making me think about returning to this practice. > I think it is about time for the Freedom Knights to > just kick the fucking shit out of the cypherpunks list! Yes, sure Mr. Grubor. > This is your last warning, punk. Oh no, was it, looks like I`m being mailbombed then. > If you get out of line again, both you and your list > will be terminated. Yes, I knew it. Please, for the sake of all humanity get an education you pimply adolescent masturbator. Good day to you. 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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