December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: New Clinton (anti-) Encryption Policy nnn
by nobody＠cypherpunks.ca 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> CLINTON ADMINISTRATION FACT SHEET: U.S. CRYPTOGRAPHY POLICY (Industry, > international cooperation urged) > Following is the text of the fact sheet: kersnip > Militia groups advise their members to use encryption to hide illicit > weapons, financial, and other criminal activities. Using encryption to hide illicit weapons? I think somebodys been watching too much TV. VR Troopers Transform!!

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Re: fbi, crypto, and defcon
by TQDB 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 17:31:25 -0400 > From: Stephen Cobb <stephen(a)iu.net> > To: cypherpunks(a)feist.com > Subject: Re: fbi, crypto, and defcon > Okay, so their boss is part of the law making process, subject to the checks > and balances that exist between the three branches of US government. They > are in a position to supply their boss with data and I am personally > impressed with their grasp of some of that data (it sounds to me like they > are telling their boss that hackers like the ones at Defcon are not the > problem). I think what they are really saying is that they would love to bust most hackers, but since they can't they might as well use some of them to catch the bigger fish. If they truly did believe in the laws they are supposed to uphold they wouldn't associate with hackers (who commit computer crimes) at all. > All of us who have some understanding of these issues need to do our best to > educate the public and the politicians, even if we have to start from the > "See Jane hack" level (pun intended). Otherwise dumb laws will be passed and > then we will have to engage in mass civil disobedience (which I have > personally done in the past). Stopping bad laws from becoming law is a lot > easier than overturning them later. This is exactly one good reason for having additional support for our Hack The Lies (HTL) project. Besides spreading truthful and factual information to the public, we recognize that the government definately could use its share of help from people who know what they are talking about. .TQDB

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Re: Smart cards "a giant leap backwards" - Canadian Privacy Commissioner
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:23 PM 7/30/96 -0400, Richard Martin wrote: >Very little that might be new or enlightening to the world; attendees >of CFP '96 will remember [fuzzily, in my case] the closest thing to >Bruce's counterpart in the states admitting that the USA doesn't actually >have much of a counterpart to the privacy commissioner. Most Central European countries have both privacy commissioners and legal requirements that everyone register their addresses with the police. I'll do without the former if I can also avoid the latter. DCF

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G7T_err
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Excerpts of four reports on the G7+1 antiterrorism meet in Paris: WSJ: + Mass Transport: The International Civil Aviation Organization will implement new standards for bomb detection at domestic and international airports. The eight nations will jointly develop standards for more detailed and accurate passenger and cargo lists, as well as new vehicle-identification tagging methods to make car-bombing investigations easier, U.S. officials said. + Information Sharing: The U.S Federal Bureau of Investigation will lead an effort to develop an international forensic database. The FBI offered to share certain computer records with the other seven countries. + Wiretapping and Internet: The eight countries said they would develop new lawful means to intercept communications among terrorists. They agreed to study how to prevent the Internet from becoming a tool for planning and executing terrorist events. + Explosives Tracing: The U.S. will share its research on new technologies to trace the origin of explosive devices U.S. officials said, and will push for international use of such technologies if they are found to be workable. + Other Measures: Controlling trade in certain weapons and chemicals financing of terrorist organizations and forgery of travel documents also will be studied. WaPo: The 25-point plan calls for close cooperation in formulating a range of security measures, including tightened controls on firearms and explosives; prevention of terrorist communications on the Internet; improved bomb detection methods at airports; and interdiction of terrorist groups' financial resources. They also called for the expediting of extradition procedures and faster exchanges of information on terrorist activities, including any use of chemical, biological or nuclear materials. Details on all 25 points were left for law enforcement and forensic experts to work out, with deadlines for finalization of specific measures set for 90 days to six months. FiTi: Among the measures agreed in Paris were an accelerated programme of research designed to find ways to mark explosives so their origin could be identified after a blast; the development of ways to prevent terrorists using electronic or wire communication systems, including the Internet and tougher sentences. The ministers also called for investigations into organisations with social, charitable and cultural goals which were abused by terrorists; restrictions on asylum- seeking by those who had committed attacks or were suspected of planning or funding them; and more effective border controls and extradition procedures. NYP: The details were not all made public today, but the measures the officials agreed to draft included devising methods to monitor terrorist attempts to communicate over the Internet; developing standards to make it easier to trace the origin of explosives used in terrorist bombs and cracking down domestically on the manufacture, sale, transport and export of explosives and firearms. ---------- For extensive background, links to related sites and latest information on the G7 series of meetings see: http://www.diplomatie.fr/actual/g7lyon/index.gb.html ---------- For today's four full reports: http://jya.com/g7terr.txt (20 kb for 4) G7T_err

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Re: A Libertine Question
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 06:01 AM 7/31/96 -0700, Greg Broiles wrote: >Which is a long way to say that street cops >don't usually torment people with nice cars and/or houses, so those folks >don't need to be so concerned about making sure their "papers" are "in >order". Most demands for ID and conformations with police involve the operation of motor vehicles. I have never been "IDed" except at border crossings and when I was operating motor vehicles. Clean and dressed up people are rarely IDed on foot. Maybe you should mention some of the specific practices in Seattle that disturb you. >So the unconstitutional and oppressive character of the various laws >Mike Duvos refers to is mitigated by their lack of evenhanded enforcement. >If a cop can demand ID from someone who "looks like he doesn't belong here" >he can demand it from you. (modulo driving, this isn't legal. But give >Justice [sic] Rehnquist and Clinton and random congressional maniacs a few >more years and see where things stand.) Or flying on a commercial flight. So far, prosecutions for "failure to possess ID" have not succeeded. You *can* be prosecuted for failure to identify yourself (which is *not* the same thing). The Philadelphia airport was allegedly requiring *two* pieces of ID for flights. If they are talking about two pieces of photo -- government-issued ID, I wonder where the 80% of Americans without a Passport (x the 90% of Americans who are not government employees) get the second piece of ID. [Is it a violation of something if you Heil Hitler od Sieg Heil the airline clerk when they ask to see your ID. It's not a threat, it's an expression of honor.] >with guns or other weapons. And just as some people "don't have a right to >live in Seattle" if they won't toe the line, other people may find they >"don't have a right to live in the United States." * The Supremes outlawed exile as a punishment in a case during the 1950s. Said it was cruel and unusual punishment. Guess it's OK to execute people but not deprive them of having a government. DCF "If the security guard did it in Atlanta, that will be the second US Olympics in which the only 'terrorist incident' was perpetrated by a security person. I guess we should outlaw security at such gatherings to prevent terrorism."

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****Tacoma, Washington Starts Taxing Internet Access 07/30/96
by Joseph M. Reagle Jr. 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 JUL 30 (NB) -- By Bill Pietrucha. >Tacoma, Washington, has just gained the distinction of being the >only municipality in the United States to tax Internet Access >providers (IAPs) like telephone service providers. > >The city of Tacoma has extended its six percent gross receipts tax on >telecommunications services to include Internet services, Information >Technology Association of America (ITAA) spokesperson Bob Cohen >told Newsbytes. > >"IAPs use telephone lines to provide consumers with the `on-ramp' >access to the Internet," Cohen told Newsbytes. "Since consumers and >providers already pay taxes on basic telephone service," Cohen said, >"the new Tacoma tax would amount to double taxation, applying to >both the telephone service and the content transmitted over the >telephone line." > >Cohen said ITAA has called on Tacoma Mayor Brian Ebersole to rescind >the new tax, saying that "excessive regulation and taxation will >change the fundamental nature of this new medium (the Internet)." > >In urging the mayor to stop the city's attempt to impose a tax on >the IAPs, ITAA President Harris N. Miler said that "Tacoma will be >hurting both the Internet and its own economic future." > >Miller told Newsbytes that the tax will mean "a loss of profits >to Tacoma-based IAPs, as well as a paperwork nightmare which may >drive companies out of business. IAPs doing business in Tacoma will >be at a competitive disadvantage to their competitors in other >municipalities." > >Miller noted that the tax regime could cause Tacoma-based IAPs to >move to other jurisdictions, "taking the jobs they provide, and the >taxes they currently pay, with them. They (IAPs) may also decide not >to provide service to Tacoma residents rather than deal with the >administrative nightmare of complying with the new tax regulations," >Miller said. > >If other cities attempted to follow Tacoma's lead in taxing IAPs, >Miler said, it could cause the "Balkanization of the Internet, a >hodgepodge of confusing, conflicting, and difficult to administer >Internet tax rules and regulations. > >Miller also hinted that the tax could inadvertently be in violation >of international tax treaties. > >"To begin taxing at the local level before it is clear what the >impact will be on industry and the public in general is bad public >policy," Miller said. > >(19960730/Press Contact: Bob Cohen, Information Technology >Association of America, 703-284-5333, Internet e-mail bcohen(a)itaa.org) > > > _______________________ Regards, There are no facts, only interpretations. -Friedrich Nietzsche 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:WaPo on Crypto-Genie Terrorism
by Vinnie Moscaritolo 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

here is something my girlfriend sent me the other day, after reading the Klinton-Antifreedom/terror news Setting: Germany in the late 30's. Quote from "Stones from the River", by Ursula Hegi. I think this rings true for our country today. The tragic reality is that the majority of people have simply forgotten the urge to question what they read in the news. "The people of Burgdorf went to parades and speeches--some because they genuinely believed in their leaders; others, because not to go would call attention to themselves. Most practiced the silence they were familiar with, a silence nurtured by fear and complicity that would grow beyond anything they could imagine, mushrooming into the decades after the war which, some began to fear, was about to happen. To justify this silence, they tried to find the good in their government or fled into the mazes of their own lives, turning away from the community. They knew how not to ask questions; they had been prepared for it by government and church. Over the years, they had forgotten that early urge to question." Vinnie Moscaritolo http://www.vmeng.com/vinnie/ Fingerprint: 4FA3298150E404F2782501876EA2146A ------------------ "And someone said Hey man did ya see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud.. I wonder if he knew what he was getting into... Or was he just lost in the flood?"

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Re:FPGAs and Heat (Re: Paranoid Musings)
by jim bell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 02:14 AM 7/31/96 -0800, Jim McCoy wrote: >The interconnection problem has also been solved in this chip series. [A >long-standing problem with FPGAs is that there were generally a limited >amount of "wires" running between the logic elements and thus a lot of cells >were wasted because there were no interconnections left, I/O to the outside >world was also a problem.] The chip has a really cool interconnection method >which allows a much more efficient use of the chip real estate and which >makes the entire chip directly addresable (like regular RAM) through an >on-chip interface module. Given the relatively compact design in Ian and >Dave's paper and the new chips one might even fit two or four cracking >engines on a single FPGA. However, I think it very unlikely that an organization like the NSA would bother with an FPGA to do a cracking engine. FPGA's have substantial limitations, as you alluded to above, due to the need to make them "general purpose." A non-field programmable Gate Array, a hard-wired chip, would tend to optimize the interconnections on chip including minimizing the delays, but not incur the full-custom costs such as the penalty for low volume. Jim Bell jimbell(a)pacifier.com

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If you have Fortezza experience
by Rich Salz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Please excuse the interruption. If you have experience building software that uses the Fortezza card, Murray Mazer at OSF would like to chat -- he's trying to scope out what would be involved in adding it to some WWW work for an ARPA project. (Yes, we already have the various Lock-step, etc., documents from the NSA.) Please respond to Murray directly. By way of penance for sending email to a list that I am not on, I offer a short page on exporting crypto software, http://www.osf.org/crypto-export.html, that some might find useful. /r$

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Geo-Politics
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Two articles today in WSJ and FiTi show an unpected link between geo-technology and geo-politics: One reviews the explosives sniffing technology invented by geologist Anthony Barringer for global mineral exploration -- like copper, luxury metals and oil -- but which came to have more practical utility in the antiterrorist market (the company's stock is rocketing). Even so, its best use may prove to be in discovering petroleum and other wealth of the earth. As this tech becomes more widespread, Shell has good reason to encrypt its geological logs and steganographize its governmental bribes. And, a column reviews the tie between nationalist conflicts (markets for cheap explosives) and the invention of modern states (markets for expensive munitions). How the citizenry of modern nations are united by "the need for context-free communication" that was once limited to the members of the "high culture" of pre-modern communities. And how the nationalist citizenry are adopting the cheap versions of expensive munitions of the states' high culture to get their overdue share of the earth's pie. It explores the geopolitical differences among: Ethnic community Ethnic category Nation Nation-state Nationalism ----- http://jya.com/geopol.txt GEO_pol

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