December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

INFO: Encryption battle heats up in House; experts weigh in (5/30/97)
by Shabbir J. Safdar 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

============================================================================= ____ _ _ _ / ___|_ __ _ _ _ __ | |_ ___ | \ | | _____ _____ | | | '__| | | | '_ \| __/ _ \ _____| \| |/ _ \ \ /\ / / __| | |___| | | |_| | |_) | || (_) |_____| |\ | __/\ V V /\__ \ \____|_| \__, | .__/ \__\___/ |_| \_|\___| \_/\_/ |___/ |___/|_| PRO-ENCRYPTION BILL CLEARS SECOND CONGRESSIONAL HURDLE; FACES TOUGHER TEST IN COMING WEEKS. CRYPTOGRAPHERS AND COMPUTER SECURITY EXPERTS ASSAIL GOVERNMENT KEY RECOVERY PLANS Date: May 29, 1997 Expires July 1, 1997 URL:http://www.crypto.com/ crypto-news(a)panix.com Redistribution of crypto-news is allowed in its entirety. _____________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents Encryption battle heats up in the House Experts assail government key recovery plans What YOU CAN DO NOW! Background What's at stake How to start or stop receiving crypto-news Press contacts _____________________________________________________________________________ ENCRYPTION BATTLE HEATS UP IN THE HOUSE On May 14th, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill designed to dramatically enhance the ability of Internet users to protect their privacy and security online. The bill now moves to the House International Relations Committee, where it is expected to face tougher opposition from the FBI, NSA, and the Clinton Administration. The International Relations Committee is expected to consider the bill soon. The Security and Freedom through Encryption Act (SAFE - HR 695) will prohibit the government from imposing mandatory law enforcement access to private online communications inside the US, affirm the right of American Citizens to use whatever from of encryption they choose, and relax current export restrictions which prevent the development of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies. The Clinton Administration, led by the FBI and the National Security agency, opposes SAFE and is pushing for a policy of domestic restrictions on the use of encryption, guaranteed law enforcement access to private communications via government designed "key-recovery" systems, and continued reliance on out-dated, cold-war era export controls. For the first time in history, Congress is close to passing real encryption policy reform legislation which will protect privacy, promote electronic commerce, and recognizes the realities of the global Internet. Pointers to additional information on the SAFE bill and other efforts to reform U.S. encryption policy are attached below. Congress needs to hear from you! If you value your privacy and care about the future of the Net, please take a few moments to join the Adopt Your Legislator campaign. Instructions are attached below. ________________________________________________________________________________ CRYPTOGRAPHERS AND COMPUTER SECURITY EXPERTS ASSAIL GOV'T. KEY RECOVERY PLANS On Wednesday May 21, a group of leading cryptographers and computer scientists released a report which for the first time examines the risks and implications of government-designed key-recovery systems. The report cautions that "The deployment of a general key-recovery-based encryption infrastructure to meet law enforcement's stated requirements will result in substantial sacrifices in security and cost to the end user. Building a secure infrastructure of the breathtaking scale and complexity demanded by these requirements is far beyond the experience and current competency of the field." The report substantially changes the terms of the ongoing debate over US encryption policy. For more than four years, the Clinton Administration has pushed for a policy of continued export restrictions on strong encryption, and the development of global key escrow and key recovery systems to address the concerns of law enforcement. The study, the first comprehensive analysis of the risks of key recovery and key escrow systems, calls into question the viability of the Administration's approach. The Report's authors, recognized leaders in the cryptography and computer science field, include Hal Abelson, Ross Anderson, Steven M. Bellovin, Josh Benaloh, Matt Blaze, Whitfield Diffie, John Gilmore, Peter G. Neumann, Ronald L. Rivest, Jeffery I. Schiller, and Bruce Schneier The report is be available online at http://www.crypto.com/key_study/ ________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW 1. Adopt Your Legislator Now is the time to increase our ranks and prepare for the fight that lies a head of us in Congress. Please take a few minutes to learn more about this important issue, and join the Adopt Your Legislator Campaign at http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ This will produce a customized page, just for you with your own legislator's telephone number and address. In addition, you will receive the latest news and information on the issue, as well as targeted alerts informing you when your Representatives in Congress do something that could help or hinder the future of the Internet. Best of all, it's free. Do your part, Work the Network! Visit http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ for details. 2. Spread the Word! Forward this Alert to your friends. Help educate the public about the importance of this issue. Please do not forward after July 1, 1997. _____________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND Complete background information, including: * A down-to-earth explanation of why this debate is important to Internet users * Analysis and background on the issue * Text of the Administration draft legislation * Text of Congressional proposals to reform US encryption policy * Audio transcripts and written testimony from recent Congressional Hearings on encryption policy reform * And more! Are all available at http://www.crypto.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S AT STAKE Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age -- enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet. As more and more individuals and businesses come online, the need for strong, reliable, easy-to-use encryption technologies has become a critical issue to the health and viability of the Net. Current US encryption policy, which limits the strength of encryption products US companies can sell abroad, also limits the availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies in the United States. US hardware and software manufacturers who wish to sell their products on the global market must either conform to US encryption export limits or produce two separate versions of the same product, a costly and complicated alternative. The export controls, which the NSA and FBI argue help to keep strong encryption out of the hands of foreign adversaries, are having the opposite effect. Strong encryption is available abroad, but because of the export limits and the confusion created by nearly four years of debate over US encryption policy, strong, easy-to-use privacy and security technologies are not widely available off the shelf or "on the net" here in the US. A recently discovered flaw in the security of the new digital telephone network exposed the worst aspects of the Administration's encryption policy. Because the designers needed to be able to export their products, the system's security was "dumbed down". Researchers subsequently discovered that it is quite easy to break the security of the system and intrude on what should be private conversations. This incident underscores the larger policy problem: US companies are at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace when competing against companies that do not have such hindrances. And now, for the first time in history, the Clinton Administration has DOMESTIC RESTRICTIONS on the ability of Americans to protect their privacy and security online. All of us care about our national security, and no one wants to make it any easier for criminals and terrorists to commit criminal acts. But we must also recognize encryption technologies can aid law enforcement and protect national security by limiting the threat of industrial espionage and foreign spying, promote electronic commerce and protecting privacy. What's at stake in this debate is nothing less than the future of privacy and the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for commerce, education, and political discourse. ______________________________________________________________________________ HOW TO START OR STOP RECEIVING CRYPTO-NEWS To subscribe to crypto-news, sign up from our WWW page (http://www.crypto.com) or send mail to majordomo(a)panix.com with "subscribe crypto-news" in the body of the message. To unsubscribe, send a letter to majordomo(a)panix.com with "unsubscribe crypto-news" in the body. Requests to unsubscribe that are sent to shabbir(a)vtw.org will be ignored. _____________________________________________________________________________ PRESS CONTACT INFORMATION Press inquiries on Crypto-News should be directed to Shabbir J. Safdar (VTW) at +1.718.596.2851 or shabbir(a)vtw.org Jonah Seiger (CDT) at +1.202.637.9800 or jseiger(a)cdt.org _____________________________________________________________________________ End crypto-news =============================================================================

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Re: Continuing spam from vulis
by Jeff Burchell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Fri, 30 May 1997, Paul Pomes wrote: > The wider circulation is due to the complete lack of response from > remailer-admin(a)cajones.com. Be careful when you say "Complete lack of response". You've got no idea what I did and didn't do once I got your message. I have previously talked with the operator of the cypherpunks list (this was about 2 months ago when someone else was abusing the remailer to post trash to that list). At that time, I offered the standard good will gesture that remailer operators can offer: "Would you like me to block the list, so this remailer won't send anything to it". Because of the nature of anonymous remailers, this is about the extent of the action that I can take. To this, I recieved a very firm "no!" (cypherpunks is of course a list where people do have good reasons to use remailers). Because of that, I _WON'T_ block cypherpunks, until I am instructed to by May, Gilmore, Hughes, et.al. Period. This holds true for all mailing lists. I need to have authorization from the list maintainer to block the list. I have added your address to my block list, this remailer won't send anything directly to you in the future. If you don't want to read anything from this mailer that comes across lists, then you should either manually delete anonymous messages before reading them (the headers and return address make it obvious when a message has come through a remailer), or turn on some client-side mail filters. Your own company makes a product with adaquate functionality to do this. -Jeff Operator... Huge.cajones.com P.S. Besides... aren't ad hominum attacks on Tim May a Cypherpunks tradition? P.P.S. Isn't there a non-flames moderated cypherpunks? Perhaps you want to be on that list instead of the free-for-all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "When they came for the 2nd Amendment, I said nothing, for I owned no gun Then the sixth was next to go, and I remained silent, as I was not on trial They took away the fourth, and I said nothing, as I had nothing to hide And then they came for the First, and I could say nothing."

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And speaking of spamming! (was: Stanton McCandlish)
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Speaking of unwanted messages, which legislators call "spamming." An EFF person, whom I do respect, by the way, added my name to a spammer's list, some shtick they have called "sixdegrees." Here's the spam I just got, complete with what they claim is my "password." Inasmuch as I never requested this password, and have no intention of using it, and have no contractual relationship with either "sixdegrees" or Stanton McCandlish, you folks might want to have some fun with this alleged service and (unrequested) password. The password may only work if it comes from "tcmay(a)mail.got.net," but, then, I hear that such "From:" fields are easily spoofed. --Tim >X-From_: bmkf0032(a)auto.sixdegrees.com Sat May 31 10:43:36 1997 >X-Real-To: <tcmay(a)mail.got.net> >From: "sixdegrees" <bmkf0032(a)auto.sixdegrees.com> >To: "May Tim" <tcmay(a)mail.got.net> >Reply-To: "sixdegrees" <bmkf0032(a)auto.sixdegrees.com> >Subject: Stanton McCandlish >Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 13:45:12 Eastern Daylight Time > >Name: May Tim >E-Mail Address: tcmay(a)mail.got.net >sixdegrees Password: cusproll > >You've been listed by Stanton McCandlish as "Acquaintance" >as part of a free Internet networking service called sixdegrees(tm). > >WHAT WE ARE: > > sixdegrees is a Web site at http://www.sixdegrees.com/ that's > based on the theory that everyone on earth is connected to > everyone else through a path of six people or less. We hope to > use the power of the Internet to revolutionize the way people > network. > >WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU: > > You can come to http://www.sixdegrees.com/ and use our FREE > services to network with the people you want to know through > the people you do know. You can find out how you're connected > to specific people, like that person who's interviewing you for > a new job next week. Or, you can find out how you're connected > to certain kinds of people, like pediatricians in San Francisco, > or inline skaters in New York. > >WHAT'S IN IT FOR US: > > We make money by selling ads on the sixdegrees site. We > never sell lists of names or any specific information about > our individual members to anybody. To find out more about > our policies regarding privacy, just visit > http://www.sixdegrees.com/about/privacy.cfm > >HOW IT WORKS: > > If you list your contacts and how you know them, we'll forward > them an email like this one. They'll be invited to confirm their > relationship to you and to participate in sixdegrees themselves > by listing their contacts. > >WHAT TO DO NEXT: > > Just reply to this e-mail by following the INSTRUCTIONS below > (you may want to print it out first - it's easier that way.) > > > And remember to visit http://www.sixdegrees.com/. Click on Services, > log-in with your password, which is cusproll, and enjoy > networking on a whole new level. > >=================================================================== >INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPLYING: > >FIRST: > > Click your mail program's REPLY button. > >SECOND: > > On the FIRST line of the message body of the reply e-mail that > opens, type only the word CONFIRM or DENY to let us know if you > are in fact Stanton's Acquaintance. > >THIRD: > On the next line of the message body list the first and last names > and e-mail addresses of at least TWO people you know, and the > relationship numbers that correspond with how those people are > related to you. > >MAKE SURE: > >* That the first name, last name, e-mail address and relationship > number are separated by SEMI-COLONS. > >* You list at least TWO people if you want to become a member. > (You can list as many as you want - the more you list, the > larger your network of contacts will be.) > >* Each entry is on its OWN LINE. > >* You follow the format of these examples: > > John; Smith; jsmith(a)fakeplace.com; 12 > Jane; Doe; superjane(a)fakeplace.com; 3 > >* And that you define each relationship by choosing a number from > this list: > > 1=wife 2=husband 3=life partner > 4=significant other 5=mother 6=father > 7=sister 8=brother 9=daughter >10=son 11=other family member 12=friend >13=employer 14=employee 15=co-worker >16=client 17=service provider 18=business contact >19=fellow alum 20=acquaintance > > >FOURTH: > > Click send, and that's it. We look forward to hearing from you. > >=================================================================== > >** PLEASE NOTE: All replies to this address are processed by a > computer. If you have any problems, questions or requests send an > e-mail to issues(a)sixdegrees.com and someone will get back to you > as soon as possible. > >** If you'd rather not participate in sixdegrees and would prefer > not to receive any further e-mails from us at this time, please > send an e-mail to remove(a)sixdegrees.com that says "REMOVE ME". > >=================================================================== > > > >E.DB.ANB.1 >

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Re: Continuing spam from vulis
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(I've removed 9 of the addresses from this response.) At 12:42 PM -0700 5/30/97, Jeff Burchell wrote: >I have previously talked with the operator of the cypherpunks list (this >was about 2 months ago when someone else was abusing the remailer to post And just who is "the operator of the cypherpunks list"? If this was about 2 months ago, it would've been well after the Cypherdiaspora, so there would be even less of a concept of the "operator" than there was before. And why would he or she or they have anything to say about blocking remailers? >trash to that list). At that time, I offered the standard good will >gesture that remailer operators can offer: "Would you like me to block the >list, so this remailer won't send anything to it". Because of the nature >of anonymous remailers, this is about the extent of the action that I can >take. > >To this, I recieved a very firm "no!" (cypherpunks is of course a list >where people do have good reasons to use remailers). Because of that, I >_WON'T_ block cypherpunks, until I am instructed to by May, Gilmore, >Hughes, et.al. Period. This holds true for all mailing lists. I need to >have authorization from the list maintainer to block the list. Neither May nor Gilmore nor Hughes have any say over blocking remailers, blocking use of remailers, etc. >-Jeff >Operator... Huge.cajones.com > >P.S. Besides... aren't ad hominum attacks on Tim May a Cypherpunks > tradition? I mean no disrespect to Jeff, but even getting involved in the slightest way in debates about remailer traffic and what should/should not be blocked is what can only be called a "conceptual error." Ideal mixes, which today's remailers are of course only an approximation of, do not pass and reject messages based on content, or even on sources and destinations. The ideal mix is a soulless black box executing certain protocols. (Practicality may dictate that a remailer place certain minimal, and hopefully publicized, constraints on the process, e.g., no sending to whitehouse.gov, no sending to hundreds of addresses, whatever.) --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Elliptic Curve Rumor
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 10:53:16 -0700 To: Robert Hettinga <rah(a)shipwright.com> From: Somebody Subject: Elliptic Curve Rumor Mime-Version: 1.0 I assume you will pass this information on. Please don't associate my name with it. I have heard that Apple has a working implementation of Elliptic Curve Cryptography. Because of the export regulations they don't want to include it in their products. If anyone wants to try to change their minds, now would be a good time. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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Janus (now called LPWA) ready for pre-testing)
by Robert Hettinga 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

--- begin forwarded text Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 13:31:25 -0400 From: alain(a)research.bell-labs.com (Alain Mayer) To: rah(a)shipwright.com Subject: Janus (now called LPWA) ready for pre-testing) Cc: alain(a)research.bell-labs.com Hi Robert, the Janus system I presented at FC97 is now running on a proxy at Bell Labs, accessible to everyone. Maybe you can send the announcement below to the fc97 mailing list? Many thanks and I hope everything is fine with you, -- Alain ======================================== Hi, Janus (now called the Lucent Personalized Web Assistant, LPWA) is now pre-testing. Its main goal is to increase convenience, security, and privacy for browsing the web, especially with sites that require registration (and hence user names, passwords and e-mail addresses). We hope that you will use it for a while and give us some feedback on what you like and what kind of things are annoying. Note, that you can only participate if you are able to configure your browser to directly connect to our proxy. Some of you might be behind a firewall or ISP where a particular proxy is required. Instructions can be found at http://lpwa.com:8000. More on the project is located at http://www.bell-labs.com/project/lpwa/ An arbitrary list of (free) sites which require registration can be found at http://www.bell-labs.com/projects/lpwa/extended_summary_tmp.html#account Please note that this project has not yet been publicy announced and that documentation and code are currently being revised. Also, the current set-up, where you have to connect to LPWA/Janus over an insecure connection is not "optimal" (to say the least, but all in all much better than if you browse the "usual way"). Hence, we are really looking for "friendly users" at this time whose feedback might help us to make improvements. Regards, -- Alain --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah(a)shipwright.com) Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/

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Rotenberg as the Uber Enemy
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I suppose I am developing a reputation amongst the Inside the Beltway Cyber Rights Groups (tm) as a pain in the ass, but nearly everytime I see one of their chief spokeswonks giving a policy statement I realize they are "not on my side." The latest quote is from Marc Rotenberg, on a CNN piece on spam and anti-spam legislation, saying that what the legislators in Congress really need to look into is how the spammers develop their data bases..... Incredible. Does he propose investigations of private data gathering? Perhaps search warrants served on those who take public postings and construct data bases? Look, I'm annoyed by getting 5-10 "unwanted" spam messages a day. But I realize the "spammers" are merely taking publicly available (= legally available, as 99.99% of all such information is) information and using legal channels to contact me. I may not "like" it, but their behavior is as legal as someone calling me on the phone. (And ny nearly any measure of hassle factor, dashing to get to the phone only to find it's a salesman selling something I don't want is worse than any 20 unwanted e-mail messages.) So, Marc Rotenberg wants Congress to "look into" (= interfere with) compilation and use of public information. These people are NOT our allies. --Tim May There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- 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, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Seismic Data Authenticator
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Bill Payne has provided his 1992 Sandia report: "Data Authenticator for the Deployable Seismic Verification System" Marked "For Official Use Only." The 185-page paper describes in fine detail the design, data security and fabrication (with photos and technical drawings) of the third generation authentification device for verfiying seismic data in connection with the nuclear weapons control-START treaties with the USSR. The paper also cites deficient cryptographic algorithms provided by NSA for the device. http://jya.com/da/whpda.htm (98K)

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legal EAR work-around/Paper based remailers
by Adam Back 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

EAR says that you can't export crypto in electronic form. EAR says you can export crypto in textual form. We have electronic cash in terms of MT banks digicash. Email is more convenient for exporting crypto source code and binaries that snail mail. Let's do it. Here's what we need: 1. US entrepreneur to accept mail with :: Snail-To: <street address (outside US)> Snail-Fee: <Fee + 2c/sheet + postage stamp charge, digicash> Scanning-Fee: <50c/sheet, digicash> Request-Remailing-To: <cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net> Anon-Post-To: alt.cypherpunks US volunteer strips off first two headers, prints out the document in a large OCR friendly font. Puts in envelope and posts at highest priority snail that can be paid for out of the included postage (overnight/air-mail/slow-boat). 2. Non-US entrepreneur to scan and remail results :: Scanning-Fee: <50c/sheet, digicash> Request-Remailing-To: <cypherpunks(a)toad.com> Anon-Post-To: alt.cypherpunks US volunteer scans the sheets, mails/post them to the requested email address/newsgroup, and collects his digicash fee per sheet. I volunteer for #2. (You understand the importance of the Scanning-Fee, I can pay someone to feed sheets into a scanner if needs be with a fee, without that I can become overloaded with a ream of paper representing the binary for PGP5.0). Legal questions: I'd be interested in legal interpretations of whether the above scheme is legal for the US entrepreneur. Peter Junger said a short while ago on the list that printed material could be exported under the EAR regulations administered by Commerce Dept. Does this scheme qualify? Technical questions: If this is to include uuencoded or radix-64 mime encoding, we might want to think about redundancy to allow error correction. Perhaps we want that anyway to ensure that what we have is 100% character-by-character perfect. Or perhaps not as it may damage the legality aspects. They may start saying that you can only export human readable stuff on paper, etc. Then we move on to `texto' apparently human readable steganographically encoded paper based remailer messages. Adam -- Have *you* exported RSA today? --> http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/rsa/ print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`

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No Subject
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

http://www.datafellows.com/gallery/ F-Secure SSH 1.0 Windows Client pc_ssh.com - removes time-limit. Copy into SSH-directory and execute. pc_ssh.com in ASCII: -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: 2.6.2 owFbczSJqyA5vrg4Qy85P5cBCPYlML6wZ9hiu4FpVwjjWcUihcUxjFucNjB0y8Uw 7joTsJOB4aziFoedTAy74oDSr7kn7OtlfMHHsMXnrOK+5YwvWMCsLhG3hl8MJWxb mIBKPh0ODvbQc41wBZr+uvSfgptucGpyaVGqAlBYocxQz0DBuSgxOVtBV1ehKrMo OT9PQV+hINnSnJeL4Z+Ca1FRfpGCf0FqXmZeugLUILCMc35uQU5qSaoikAcA =KINJ -----END PGP MESSAGE----- WarezMonger

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