December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Information Hiding Workshop
by Ross Anderson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Call for Papers WORKSHOP ON INFORMATION HIDING 15 - 17 April 1998 Portland, Oregon Many researchers are interested in hiding information or in stopping other people doing this. Current research themes include copyright marking of igital objects, covert channels in computer systems, subliminal channels in cryptographic protocols, low-probability-of-intercept communications, broadcast encryption schemes, and various kinds of anonymity services ranging from steganography through location security to digital elections. These closely linked areas of study were brought together in 1996 by a workshop on information hiding held at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge. This was felt to be very worthwhile by the research community, and it was decided to hold a second workshop in 1998. This second international workshop on information hiding will be held in Portland, Oregon from the 15th to the 17th April 1998. Instructions for authors: Interested parties are invited to submit papers on research and practice which are related to these areas of interest. Submissions can be made electronically (latex or postscript; preferred format is latex using llncs.sty) or in paper form; in the latter case, send eight copies suitable for blind refereeing (the authors' names should be on a separate cover sheet and there should be no obvious references). Papers should not exceed fifteen pages in length. Addresses for submission: awk(a)mailbox.jf.intel.com David Aucsmith Intel Architecture Labs 5200 N. E. Elam Young Parkway Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497 USA Deadlines: Paper submission: 31st December 1997 Notification of acceptance: 28th February 1998 Camera-ready copy for preproceedings: 31st March 1998 Camera-ready copy for final proceedings: 31st May 1998 Program committee: David Aucsmith (Intel) - chair Ross Anderson (Cambridge University) Steve Low (AT&T Bell Laboratories) Ira Moskowitz (US Naval Research Laboratory) Andreas Pfitzmann (Technical University of Dresden) Jean-Jacques Quisquater (Catholic University of Louvain) Gus Simmons (University of New Mexico) Michael Waidner (IBM, Zuerich) WWW version of cfp at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/ihws.html Details of the first (1996) information hiding workshop are at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/fapp2/steganography/bibliography/workshop.html

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Re: Jim Bell goes to Jail!
by Lucky Green 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:17 AM 5/19/97 -0700, Alan Olsen wrote: >At 12:08 AM 5/19/97 -0700, Lucky Green wrote: > >>There are two reasons I can think of immediately why the feds would keep >>the warrant sealed. The first is that they don't want to reveal just how >>little evidence they have. The second reason is that the warrant might give >>some clue as to future actions/other suspects. Remember that the IRS agent >>found the AP essay by means of an Internet search engine. That almost >>certainly means he is following the discussions about Jim Bell on the Net. >>Such as the discussion on Cypherpunks. > >Actually the agent claimed to have found it among some papers in Jim's car >when the seized it for back taxes. I stand corrected. The essay was found in the car. However, after the essay was found the agent searched the Internet for copies of the essay and posts by Jim Bell discussing it. The agent's original affidavit states the number of AP related post by Jim the fed could find via a search engine. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred "I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence." Mahatma Gandhi

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RE: Jim Bell goes to Jail--We should avoid raidable, physical meeting
by Chris DiBona 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

<RANT> I couldn't disagree with you more Tim. If the FBI wants to come raid a Cypherpunk meeting and arrest me, they should be ready for a law suit that will make thier heads spin. I mean can you think of anything more protected by the first amendment than a bunch of hobbiest getting together to discuss math, for christs sakes? I know a couple of lawyers who would drool at the chance to defend someone who is lily white and is arrested for meeting and discussing prime numbers. To suggest the cessation of meetings (no matter how worthless Dimitri) really seems to me to be counter to everything this group is about. </RANT> Chris DiBona -----Original Message----- From: Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM [SMTP:dlv@bwalk.dm.com] Sent: Monday, May 19, 1997 4:30 AM To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Subject: Re: Jim Bell goes to Jail--We should avoid raidable, physical meeting Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> writes: > (Also, I suggest _physical_ Cypherpunks meetings not be held for the > foreseeable future. I know I plan to skip them all. A gathering of "reputed > information terrorists, who have openly discussed assassination markets, C4 > explosives, and the destabilization of democratic governments" would be too > ripe a target for clowns like Reno, Freeh, and Kallstrom.) The physical meetings I've been to were not worth the trip. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Re: In my opinion .... (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, Fount this interesting for traffic on a RPG ML... Jim Choate CyberTects ravage(a)ssz.com Forwarded message: > Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 11:29:50 +1000 (EST) > From: Michael Solomani Mifsud <solomani(a)electric-rain.net> > To: "traveller(a)MPGN.COM" <traveller(a)MPGN.COM> > Subject: Re: In my opinion .... > On Tue, 20 May 1997, Steve Brengard wrote: > > > In my opinion I see 'offended' personalities as a sign the direction the World Community is headed, and it's a damn shame. I believe that most members of the list live and work within the national boundaries of the United States. Last time I checked, the constitution still protected the right of free speech. Every US citizen is entitled to free speech. If someone chooses to express there option, no matter if with taste or without, so be it. It is this same right that allows all of us to respond to such opinions. If you do not like a post or opinion, that great! If you like and support an opinion or post, that's great too! > > No all are from the USA, I am from Australia, free speech is a privelage > not a right and it can be revoked. > > Anyway as free speech pertains to this list, what you said means > jack. > > The list runs on a *private* server, therefore when you post to the > server your using someone elses property with permission. If that > permission is withdrawn by the owner then you have no recourse. Free > speech is not pertinent unless the *owner* promotes it. The owner can be > as arbitary as s/he wishs with the rules of *his* list on *his* server. > > God bless capatalism > > > > > > But lets be adults about it all. This liberalist path the US has > taken UPSETS me. That's right, its getting so bad that no one can say > anything without offending someone. Get over it. We all live in a world > of differing opinions. You MUST accept that other have differing opinions > then yours, and you MUST accept that they are entitled to their opinions. You may not agree with those opinions, but that simply does not invalidate them. > > > > This I agree with whole heartedly - down with political correctness!

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17 Dec '03

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Forgery detection
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim C. May is just another garden variety Intel pansy that has been misusing its `manhole' so badly that the overstretched sphincter cannot hold back the shit that all Intellers are full of and it spills out onto this mailing list. /\_/\ ( x x ) -oo0-(o o)-0oo- Tim C. May

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Availability of Pini's CryptoCD
by Bill Campbell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been trying to get a copy of the Crypto CD using the ISBN number he used to have listed on his web page. However, every bookstore I've checked with can find no reference to it. Has anyone on the list gotten it via this method? I looked for Pini's web page but it appears to be gone. Anyone know about sources for the CD? Thanks =Bill=

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Availability of Pini's CryptoCD
by Bill Campbell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I've been trying to get a copy of the Crypto CD using the ISBN number he used to have listed on his web page. However, every bookstore I've checked with can find no reference to it. Has anyone on the list gotten it via this method? I looked for Pini's web page but it appears to be gone. Anyone know about sources for the CD? Thanks =Bill=

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Re: Information Hiding Workshop
by Hal Finney 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> WWW version of cfp at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/ihws.html > > Details of the first (1996) information hiding workshop are at > http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/fapp2/steganography/bibliography/workshop.html The second URL above has abstracts from the conference, many of which sound very interesting from a CP point of view. It's kind of strange though that this topic encompasses both steganography and fingerprinting. The first has connotations of freedom, while the second connotes restrictions. What both have in common is embedding information undetectably and/or unremovably. The conference proceedings, "Information Hiding", are currently checked out from the local university library but I will be looking for them. There sounds like a lot of good stuff. Check out the URL for the T. Aura paper below; it has some statistics on actual LSB distributions in digital images, with implications for doing truly undetectable stego. Below are a few of the abstracts, with URL's for more info where available. Hal === Stretching the Limits of Steganography R Anderson, Info Hiding 96 pp 39--48 The author provides a brief overview of the state of the art in steganography, and shows how public key steganography is possible --- at least in the presence of a passive warden. The basic idea is that if the communicating parties can manipulate at least one out of n bits in the cover text, then the warden can not distinguish the parity of successive blocks of n bits from random noise; accordingly these parity bits can be used to hide cipher text in plain sight. Information theoretic limits of general steganography are also discussed, and it is shown that parity techniques can make many systems more efficient. Finally, the differential effectiveness of active and passive wardens is discussed. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/ftp/users/rja14/stegan.ps.gz === Computer Based Steganography: How It Works and Why Therefore Any Restrictions on Cryptography Are Nonsense, At Best E Franz, A Jerichow, S Möller, A Pfitzmann, I Stierand, Info Hiding 96 pp 7--21 The authors discuss a system for hiding ciphertext in the low order bits of an ISDN telephone signal, and report measurements of the perceptibility of various covert signal levels as a function of the cover signal and background noise. They also discuss the meaning of perfect and pragmatic security in the stego context. They argue that steganography is easy, and thus restrictions on crypto will simply force criminals to use stego which will make the law enforcement job harder. === Practical Invisibility in Digital Communications T Aura, Info Hiding 96 pp 265--278 The author discusses some of the problems of information hiding, including synchronising with a cover message which is a stream such digital audio. Where the cover message is a block, such as a digital picture, his technique is to use the Luby-Rackoff construction to embed the hidden bits pseudorandomly throughout the picture. A test implementation using SHA as the underlying primitive is reported. http://deadlock.hut.fi/ste/ste_html.html http://www.tcm.hut.fi/Opinnot/Tik-110.501/1995/steganography.html === Establishing Big Brother Using Covert Channels and Other Covert Techniques Y Desmedt, Info Hiding 96 pp 65--71 The author discusses a number of ways in which covert technologies that are initially deployed for relatively mundane purposes, such as copyright protection, can end up being subverted to provide the means of surveillance. This problem could become progressively more serious as more and more everyday objects become endowed with some kind of intelligence and communications capability. === Anonymous Addresses and Confidentiality of Location IW Jackson, Info Hiding 96 pp 115--120 The author describes how anonymous remailers can be used to process personal location information from active badges. The goal is that each user should be able to control who has access to information about his location; the mechanism is that the remailers forward this information to a server that the user trusts to enforce his security policy. The crypto protocols used in this system are described.

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[PROJECT] Virtual c'punks forum
by Michael Wilson 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Tim May recently made some comments that it might be a good idea to avoid having any physical meetings of cypherpunks for the near future, given the Jim Bell circumstance. This ties in with a project that I am currently undertaking, and I thought I would solicit assistance from the cypherpunks at large. Those of you familiar with the mechanisms of the net may be familiar with the concept of MUSHes (a variant of the Multi User Domain or MUD). While email/lists are a wonderful asynchronous communication tool, the value of an interactive medium which provides real-time discussion is a piece of the overall communication spectrum that has been overlooked (mostly). New efforts to move audio or video are interesting, but the net bandwidth needed is extreme at this stage, and frankly 'a word is worth a thousand pictures.' Myself and a friend would like to initiate a MUSH oriented around creating a virtual meeting place for virtual organizations, such as the cypherpunks. Chat systems like IRC don't provide a context, or some of the nifty features you can build into a MUSH. We can provide the coding muscle (although help is always welcome--MUSHcode is a bastard variant similar to C or PASCAL, with some LISPy list processing), but we need a host to provide us with a machine. If you might be interested, drop me a line, I can feed you the MUSH requirements (light--~20M disk space, and light processing, since you're just moving text). A MUSH for a virtual organization will provide benefits: -- an 'avatar' address in the net where people can leave you mail or connect for an interactive discussion; -- a virtual space, like an office, for people who want one; -- meeting rooms, with logging available; -- simulations; -- briefings, so for instance, a newbie to cypherpunks could be told the address and they could log in to receive a canned (but still more interactive) discussion of cypherpunk issues and technology, as well as the option to talk with other c'punks; -- clients for MUSHes are freely available (including window and shell variants), and we could also hack together a secure client; this will also be a good time to work out 'anonymous telnet' systems (MUSHes allow admin to see the host of origin, but not username). We would like to begin this project inside the next few weeks, and we could have something reasonably functional inside of a month after that. Incidentally, this is a project we've been working on for some time, just that the need and utility have suddenly become timely. Michael Wilson 5514706(a)mcimail.com

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