December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

1024-bit keys
by David.K.Merriman＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: support(a)luckman.com, cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: Mon Aug 12 14:29:39 1996 In the documentation for Web Commander (page 7-50, item 19, top of page), under the process for getting a digital ID from VeriSign, you state: "Also, please note that you cannot send keys longer than 512 to servers outside the United States." I would like to ask for clarification on this point. Is this meant to say that a server inside the United States is not allowed to use a 512+ bit key with a client outside the U.S., or that a Web Commander server outside the U.S. may not employ a key of greater than 512 bits? In either case, what is the justification for such a statement/restriction? If a Federal regulation, could you please cite the Title and Section? Thank you. David Merriman - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- PGP Email welcome, encouraged, and PREFERRED. Visit my web site at http://www.shellback.com/p/merriman for my PGP key and fingerprint "What is the sound of one hand clapping in a forest with no one there to hear it?" I use Pronto Secure (tm) PGP-fluent Email software for Windows -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMg7PWsVrTvyYOzAZAQFo3QQAn2stH5ZtI2/SGt2qEwTWyhTnp6cMA3qC hsukc3tEcvkaF75G2fdPdPkt/oyMpwU+X6jKk6kttbNNPSShrs7QtKgOoZS4FSU1 Zj+5sKrjUmluonly3JRJeZdIzWOOWGz6wd1pDBn90X9M9LzY+CBJT+yuoCWGVmh4 LJkvCJBkLrc= =b+Ui -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

1 0

Searches
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 01:17 PM 8/9/96 -0400, Thomas C. Allard wrote: > In a landmark decision a federal court in New York has ruled >that a CBS film crew and Secret Service agents are liable for filming and >broadcasting a search of a private citizen's home. It is the first reported >court decision to hold a television broadcaster liable for accompanying >police agents on a search and filming it for the broadcast. Just because someone at your door has a warrant or a contractual right to search your place does not require you to allow anyone else in. Par example: Landlord of (A Member of This List): The fire inspectors are here and would like to inspect your apartment. (A Member of This List): They got a warrant? Landlord of (A Member of This List): No. (A Member of This List): Then they can't come in. Landlord of (A Member of This List): But I can enter the apartment with reasonable notice under the rental agreement. (A Member of This List): You're welcome. The Fire Inspectors aren't. Landlord of (A Member of This List) who allowed a search of the rest of his building was cited by the Fire Inspectors for an illegal apartment in the basement. DCF "Why is it that when I'm faced with a reasonable request from a public servant my immediate response is 'Load triple cannister'?" -- Cannister. A cylindrical metal container filled with lead shot. Designed to turn a field artillery piece into a very large shotgun.

1 0

Yet another blame-the-Internet-for-child-porn
by E. ALLEN SMITH 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

They are, of course, failing to answer the question of why encouraging people to consume _computer-generated_ child pornography should be considered a justification for legal intervention, not to mention that such an effort would also make putting _Lolita_ on the Internet illegal (text could drive up demand for it as well, after all), or even political speech such as from NAMBLA. (It's political speech just as much as material from neo-Nazis... or from the Demopublicans.) There is also the lack of realization that someone can't be "exploited" except in the Marxist sense on the Internet... only when the material is originally made. Another point is that countries do differ on when is considered old enough for voluntary participation in making pornography - Tracy Lords material is legal in much of Europe, for instance. I'd also point to the media bias evident; they only quoted from people who were in favor of governmental regulation. Fortunately, as even one of the people at this "world congress" admitted, governmental regulation of free speech on the Internet will ultimately fail. Prevent actual harm - the _production_ of child pornography. -Allen > Centura > WORLD CONGRESS TO FIGHT INTERNET CHILD PORN > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net > Copyright &copy 1996 Reuter Information Service > STOCKHOLM (Aug 11, 1996 12:29 p.m. EDT) - Distribution of child > pornography on the Internet seems destined to top the issues at the > world's first conference against sexual exploitation of children > opening later this month in Stockholm. > Activists are trying devise ways of keeping pedophiles from peddling > such material on the global computer network, which is already used as > a billboard to advertise prostitution and sex tourism and to exchange > adult pornography. > "The Internet is like heaven for the pedophile," said Toby Tyler, a > United States police officer who lectures at the Federal Bureau of > Investigation (FBI) academy on child abuse. > "As far as our ability to restrict the distribution of child > pornography and stop the sexual exploitation of children on the > Internet...it's not something that can be done." > Campaigners are concerned that unless urgent action is taken to stamp > out the Internet's distribution of child porn, whether it features > real children or just computer generated images, it could spark > greater demand for child pornography. > Tyler said the Internet has ended the days when pedophiles had to make > costly cross-border runs to buy child pornography in countries where > laws were laxer and penalties lighter. > Now they can obtain and distribute films and photos from their own > homes on the Internet with little risk of capture. > But not everyone agrees that regulating the internet or its 20 million > users worldwide is the right move. > Some advocates say the Internet represents free speech. > Others argue that the distribution of child pornography on the > Internet is not that widespread. > Margaret Healy from Bangkok-based End Child Prostitution in Asian > Tourism (ECPAT) said in a report prepared for the five-day Stockholm > conference which opens Aug. 27 that the regulation of child > pornography on computers presents special challenges and called on > governments to fund better training. [...] > Copyright &copy 1996 Nando.net

2 1

Snake Oil wanted
by Lewis Koch 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I am a journalist who has specialized in investigative reporting. I have been writing about and for the Net for about nine months, though I have about three decades as a reporter/columnist/author. There has been some discussion on this list of one story that I broke -- that of Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick's speech "National Security in the Information Age" delivered at the U.S. Air Force Academy 29 February 1996 in which she calls for the development of a "Manhattan Project" to counter computer hackers. The column and her complete speech can be found at http://upside.master.com/online/columns/cybersense/9607.html "U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick Speaks Out Against Freedom and Security on the Internet." The story was published in a monthly column Cybersense which I write for Upside Magazine's Website. I am currently interested in writing about snake oil, especially as it relates to claims about ensuring e-mail privacy, total computer security, plug-and-play effortless encryption or hype relating to computer crime -- its origins, its prevalence, its prevention. My Net audience is composed of people who perhaps pretend to more sophistication that they truly have but who I think are most interested in clarity. My areas of expertise are non-technical. Over three decades, however, I have proven record of investigative reporting. I have been fortunate to meet and rely on some very responsible people to guide me through the technical thickets -- some of whom are members of this List. Any form of response is acceptable and all confidences will be respected. Lewis Z. Koch lzkoch(a)mcs.net http://www.upside.com -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6.2 mQCNAzHn8xwAAAEEANNKB31dvtigkO5ojKKBAjbrRhkTCrzg3vwhiQ0iS1Ubrxk8 HG/pMYjV4eCR3dZrekbI5/gvNPIG9yRdY8AA3THF761XWHiYZKyhQ8OHxNyjAgSA jze+joT9559kQY++xiayAGK/0sd3P9ByUT+5yy3g9bNBV+vX9vA+Q6AhQTctAAUR tA5semtvY2hAbWNzLm5ldA== =YZQ8 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

1 0

re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by Bart Croughs 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Perry Metzger wrote: > Bart Croughs writes: > > But there is another axiom of economics which the > > nationalist/socialist can use for his case against the free movement of > > capital. This axiom states that the wages of workers depend on the > > amount of capital invested. The more capital invested, the higher the > > wages are. >I failed to note obvious counterexamples. Well known authors get giant >advances for books written with manual typewriters. Minimum wage >workers routinely operate expensive equipment. Workers doing the same >job in different places using identical equipment that cost identical >sums earn different salaries. >Clearly, wages are defined by supply and demand -- not by "capital >investment". When economists say that wages are determined by the amount of capital invested, they mean on a regional/national level, not on the level of individuals. Bart Croughs

2 1

Re: Police prepare stunning end for high-speed car chases
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 4:46 PM 8/12/96, snow wrote: >On Sat, 10 Aug 1996, Gary Howland wrote: >> Will old fashioned engines be outlawed? >> Will the "stun guns" be outlawed? >> Will susceptible electronic systems become mandatory? >> (and if so, why not just put a remote control switch in all cars?) > > One word: Pacemakers. Not just pacemakers, but also cars losing steering control (but not forward speed, obviously) and thus plow into crowds. And airbags that perhaps get triggered in all the ruckus, breaking the necks of infants (as has happened). Think of the liablility issues! Deliberately causing a car to lose control. Mon Dieu! I'm skeptical that this EM cannon will get deployed anytime soon. (And I'm not ignorant of such technologies, having attended several of the Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conferences. I also played around with this as a minor plot element in a novel I was working on several years ago, namely, a character killed in Los Alamos when the Electronic Engine Control circuitry of his BMW was zapped while on a mountain road. This, by the way, is a "side effect" of widely deploying such EM cannon technologies--people using them on twisty mountain roads. I can think of some places near Big Sur and around Devil's Slide where such a gizmo would produce real interesting effects!) --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."

2 1

Re: FCC_ups
by shamrock＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:36 8/12/96, Brian D Williams wrote: > First I would like to mention Lucky that I always enjoy your >posts. Second I would like to say that as I have mentioned >previously, the RBOC I work for filed for complete unbundling of >the local loop in March of 93. We are not the one's holding up the >show. Thanks for kind words. I am happy to hear that your RBOC is so enlightened. I did not mean to exclusively blame the Baby Bells. There is plenty of blame to go around. Look at the FCC's incomprehensible decision to require that an ISDN line be billed as two lines, arguing that it requires double the upstream bandwidth. I know that I am repeating myself, but here is a brief primer on telco realities: There is plenty of upstream bandwidth, since everything but the local loop is already running on fiber. The problem is in the local loop. In many cities, there is simply no room left in the ducts to run even one more wire. Anything, such as ISDN, that can get more lines out of the same number of wires is a Good Thing to the telcos and the consumers. The alternative is trenching. An often prohibitively expensive proposal, especially in a downtown area. The FCC should encourage, not discourage the use of such wire saving technology. >10 Mb/s ethernet and 100 ISDN B channels (64k each)? I would >certainly like to here more! Unfortunately as I have also >previously pointed out, point-to-point copper is a thing of the >past, it is rare and expensive now. The current fiber-to-the-curb >standard involves "slick 96" muxes which use 4 framed T-1's (1.536 >Mb/s) to provide 96 voice channels. Given the cost of running fiber to the home, the near and intermediate future is definitely fiber to the curb. The technology we were developing works beautifully with this set-up. To be more precise, the system provides a 10Mbps Ethernet, 96 64bps ISDN B channels, a D and an M channel if using iso-Ethernet based technology. But the key to getting all this bandwidth isn't iso-Ethernet, it was our chip. This can be done at ~$600/home and for a low as $100 per node. Yes, this will increase upstream bandwidth requirements, but as I mentioned earlier, there is plenty of upstream bandwidth. Last office I worked in was facing an alley full of loading docks and trash binns. Six feet away from the door ran MFS's OC-48 SONET. There are of course exceptions. If you live in a very old building, you might have to rewire. My current apartment uses three wire cabling. I have no idea what the third wire is good for. You can't run two POTS over three wires. In a building like this you'd have to rewire. But few office buildings are likely to have such lousy wiring. Anyway, I hate to be a tease, but that's about as far as my NDA will let me go. [Any further dialog in private email, please. Time to take this tread off-list.] -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred. Defeat the Demopublican Unity Party. Vote no on Clinton/Dole in November. Vote Harry Browne for President.

1 0

Re: [NOISE] Newspapers and basic science (was: US Power Outages)
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 11:53 PM 8/12/96, Z.B. wrote: >Well, all I remember is the 3-1/2 Seattles part - I put the"for a day" >part in because I wasn't sure about it. > Well, by putting in that "for a day" line, you made the news folk seem even more ignorant than they actually may be! It was the "for a day" that made the quote seem so stupid, as Ian's point below makes clear. (I had read this stupid quote and just deleted the message, rather than get into the difference between power and the integral of power.) In the future, you might try leaving quotes alone, without improvements. (One way is to add comments such as "[for a day?]", which readers can then accept or reject as they wish.) --Tim >On 12 Aug 1996, Ian Goldberg wrote: > >> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- >> >> <GRUMBLE> >> Watts are a measure of energy per unit time; it makes sense to say >> "60 W powers a light bulb", not "60 W powers a light bulb for one hour". >> </GRUMBLE> 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."

1 0

AW: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by Bart Croughs 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Timothy C. May wrote: >At 10:31 PM 8/11/96, Bart Croughs wrote: >> But there is another axiom of economics which the >>nationalist/socialist can use for his case against the free movement of >>capital. This axiom states that the wages of workers depend on the amount >>of capital invested. The more capital invested, the higher the wages are. >>If American >I agree strongly. In my Econ 101 class, lo those many years ago, I was >constantly reminded to "Remember the Croughs Axiom!" I would be proud if I had discovered this axiom, but alas, I haven't. It's an axiom that is generally accepted among austrian economists (Rothbard, Hazlitt, etc). I don't know who actually discovered it. >It is why MacDonald's workers, who work at a company which has invested >truly vast sums of money in the capital of its outlets, pays its workers so >much more than do the legal firms, advertising firms, etc., which have >invested almost nothing in the capital of their facilities. When economists say that wages depend on the amount of capital invested, they mean on a regional/national level, not on the level of individuals. Back to class! Bart Croughs

3 2

re: National Socio-Economic Security Need for Encryption Technology
by Bart Croughs 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Arun Mehta wrote: >Indeed. Bart makes a very remarkable assumption, which is that the total >amount of capital in the fastest growing industry in human history is constant. I didn't make this assumption. When I say that when capital leaves the US, the amount of capital in the US will be lower, I mean that the amount of capital will be lower than it otherwise would have been. It will be *relatively* lower, and so the wages in the US will be *relatively* lower than when when the capital wouldn't have left the US. Of course, absolutely speaking the wages could still become higher. I thought this was so obvious that I didn't make this explicit. Bart Croughs

1 0