December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Anti-Spambot: what algorithm should be used?
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ichudov(a)algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes: > Hi, > > As we all know, there exist certain programs, called "spambots", whose > task is to post various messages to many newsgroups simultaneously. > > Besides their posting functionality, certain spambot programs take > special care to make their spams undetectable by anti-spambots. In > particular, they can be programmed to modify certain fields or the > message text itself in such a way that these messages would not look > unique, but would still carry the same content. > > We can generalize the things that spambots might do and suggest that > a general spambot would do the following to avoid spam detection: > > 1) modify all header fields, for example From: Subject:, etc, with > each spam posting. > 2) Follow up to other articles posted to newsgroups so that the > spams would look like genuine unique messages to the readers, and > defeat spam detectors Right - if you're following up in a newsgroup, you can just re-use the subject. You can also use the "From:" and other headers from one of the regular posters. > 3) Randomly altering the spam message proper such that blindly comparing If you're following up, then rather than being random, you can tailor you response based on the message you're following up on - kind of like Eliza or better. :-) > them would be futile. Such alterations may include interchanging certain > synonymous words, adding spaces or punctuation, or simply changing line > wrapping length. > 4) Swapping paragraphs and phrases. > 5) Add random headers, footers & fillings (like ASCII art) > > I am sure that the readers can come up with more examples. > > The task (or the problem) is: > > a) come up with a reasonable set of assumptions of what such a > spambot would or could do > b) Create an algorithm which would print Message-IDs of messages that > have identical content, so that most if not all of the judgments of > this algorithm would be correct, assuming that the spambot operates > within the limits of a). > > A message can be thought of as a sequence of words, phrases and > paragraphs, as well as a set of header lines. > > Path: header field may be specially treated. I don't think it's possible. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Cryptography Export
by Secret Squirrel 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I export cryptography source code almost every single day. Does the government have a problem with that? Fuck them in the ass! I can't believe that corporations pay legal experts huge sums of money to receive advice telling them to bend over and spread 'em for the government's bullshit legislation. I am not alone. My nephew regularly exports 'code' for Pig-Latin, as a parody of my efforts to spread the use of crypto. He says that they can take his Pig-Latin when they pry it from his cold, dead, baby fingers. Cable companies regularly export encryption code when they send out their signal-scrambling code to foreign recipients. Can you think of other examples? Can you think of hundreds of similar examples? Think about it. If the government wants to prosecute me for exporting encryption code, then they had best be prepared to prosecute _all_ exporters of every single item that involves altering data that can be re-converted on the other end to render the output intelligible. If you think that I am taking this matter lightly, then think again, because I have a legal opinion from an attorney who has been shoving the governments dick back in their own face for half a century, and he regards my potential defence as a cake-walk. I not only already have the paperwork set up to defy any potential restraining orders that may arise, but I have a judge that is fully prepared to institute the necessary proceedings to validate my right to do what hundreds or thousands of individuals and corporations are doing every single day. If the government thinks that they can legislate the thickness of condoms available for export, then they had best think again. And if they think that they can require exported condoms to have holes in them, then they are certainly living in fantasy land. I am a self-confessed madman, but I am a madman standing on legal precedents that are as solid as the Rock of Gibralter. (Think about it.) Potential Prudential Precedent <precedent(a)crackhouse.gov>

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Re: Cuba and AP
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 16:24:54 -0700 Subject: Re: Cuba and AP To: cypherpunks(a)toad.com From: nobody(a)huge.cajones.com (Huge Cajones Remailer) On the date above TruthMonger (#7) stumbled about missed the point: [SNIP THIS TRIPE] >>>> The stench in Cuba was so bad under the U.S. backed Batista regime that Guerva and Castro were a breath of fresh air for the majority of Cuban people. Despite years of harassment, invasion, and economic attack on Cuba by the shameless 'free' countries <yuk,yuk> of the world, Castro is still a better option for the Cuban people than other options. <<<< Moreover, young #7, those older than you recall the _joy_ with which Castro, et al, were greeted by much of the US media and a large segment of the seemingly informed public. Only, I say only, when it became common knowledge that Castro was backed by the commies did he become the villain. Better the people suffer under bu$ine$$-supported Batista than be ruled by a Red! Believe it; I was there, whippersnapper! TruthMonger (#23)

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Re: Anti-Spambot: what algorithm should be used?
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

owner-cypherpunks(a)manifold.algebra.com writes: > As we all know, there exist certain programs, called "spambots", whose > task is to post various messages to many newsgroups simultaneously. > > Besides their posting functionality, certain spambot programs take > special care to make their spams undetectable by anti-spambots. In > particular, they can be programmed to modify certain fields or the > message text itself in such a way that these messages would not look > unique, but would still carry the same content. I just came up with yet another brilliant idea how to combine Usenet marketing with e-cash. Suppose Alice runs an advertizing agency and gets paid to publicize certain messages of commercial or political nature. She sets up a Web page listing the catalog of regexps that she wishes to publicize. Something like: 1. Visit.*teens.*http://www.xxxfoo.bar 2. Elect.*John M. Grubor.*sheriff 4. For a drooling good time.*900-555-5555 3. Drink Kaka Cola and a price list for each regexp - say, $2 for posting this regexp in a moderated newsgroup, 50c for the Big 8, 25c for alt and regionals. I'm not sure if cross-posts should be discounted. Assuming there are several such Alices, the prices will be set by supply and demand. Suppose Bob, in search of a few quick bucks, comes across Alice's site. We'd have to think of a protocol, but Alice assigns Bob an id which he must mention together with the regexps in order to get credit. Alice and Bob enter a contract. Bob puts one or more of Alice's regexps in his Usenet articles - most likely in the .signature. For example: From: bob Newsgroups: rec.sports.phishing,alt.fan.alice Message-ID: <123(a)bob.server> <something phishing-related> -- Elect John M. Grubor sheriff!!! Alice's ID# 123456 I am Bob! I am Bob! I am Bob the Poster! Drink Kaka Kola Alice's bot searches the Usenet feed (like K*bo and S*rd*r) for the regexps that she is paid to promote. When she encounters Bob's article, it extracts Bob's ID and the Message-Id, counts the distinct regexps, and the newsgroups, and credits Bob's account. If Carol follows up on Bob's article and quotes Bob's regexps and ID#, then Bob gets paid again. If somehow an article contains the ID# of two or more of Alice's agents, they split the fee. Alice's contract can also specify that if a third party forges a cancel within a week for Bob's Usenet article containing the regexp, then Alice will pay nothing and let Bob sue the forger for the lost income. (This may become moot as more and more ISPs ignore forged cancels.) This gives Bob the insentive to spam intelligently - not to trigger any cancelbots and not to have his plug pulled by his ISP. Alice can also put some reasonable caps on the number of repetitions because if Bob posts the same regexp 10,000 times, the marginal exposure is less from Bob than from a newbie Carol. Again, if there are several such Alices, the market will take care of negotiating such details. Actually, this doesn't even need e-cash - Alice can pay regular $$$. Hi Ross - if you're still on these lists, I think you'll like this. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Re: Blanc Weber / Positivist Schill
by paul＠fatmans.demon.co.uk 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Are you part of a cypherpunks list conspiracy to balance my > cynicism? Are you actually suggesting that there may be a spark > of hope for mankind to prevail in the battle with the forces of > mindless robotic sheepnocity? There is little hope unless we kill around 70% of the population of the planet, those untouched by western "democracy" or the totalitarian autocracies of the mid and far east are the only people sure to be mentally capable of comprehending the ethical theory and idealogy of anarchism. > You seem to be one of the eternal optimists who can even see > the possible good in AP. One does not need to be an optimist to see the good in AP, merely capable of following a logical chain of thought without allowing yourself to react to things rather than really considering them. > I suggested in a recent post that perhaps Green Peace could use > the AP system to drain the profit margins of whalers without > actually causing their death. Of course, I was low on Scotch at > the time, so my idea cannot be taken seriously. I am low on Jack Daniels at the moment, so I too am not functioning as usual. Reality is merely a halucination brought on by lack of alcohol. 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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Kent Crispin-Baker
by null＠myemail.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Kent Crispin wrote: > > On Mon, Apr 07, 1997 at 07:24:03PM -0600, Toto wrote: > > Kent Crispin wrote: > > > > > > In fact, a case could be made for > > > considering Jim Bell as a NSA shill. > > So, now Kent is volunteering to testify to the fact that Jim Bell is > > an NSA shill. (and still seems ashamed of his .gov address) > Just so you know, Toto, .gov informs me it doesn't want there to be > the slightest possibility of anyone thinking I am speaking for it. Amazing that they notified you right after I made note of it, isn't it? > And the part about Jim Bell being an NSA shill? I am not volunteering > to testify to anything, but your are the *second* person to say > something about it, so it *must* be true. And the part about the > statist agenda? That must be true too, since you quoted it. I think that they are confusing you with Hallam-Baker, who offered to testify against Bell in court. This is an understandable error, since even a modicum of traffic analysis shows that you work in concert with one another. > -- > Kent Crispin > kent(a)songbird.com [ And, lest we forget: kc(a)llnl.gov ] TruthMonger ************************************************************************ This Anonymous email has been relayed by http://www.MyEmail.net/ MyEmail.Net is a free anonymous mailing service. No records indicating the identity of person(s) who originated this message are retrieved electronically, or as a requirement to submit. Your email address can be blocked to prevent further contact from this service, please refer to the URL above for instructions on how to do so. ************************************************************************

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Kent Crispin-Baker
by null＠myemail.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Kent Crispin wrote: > > On Mon, Apr 07, 1997 at 07:24:03PM -0600, Toto wrote: > > Kent Crispin wrote: > > > > > > In fact, a case could be made for > > > considering Jim Bell as a NSA shill. > > So, now Kent is volunteering to testify to the fact that Jim Bell is > > an NSA shill. (and still seems ashamed of his .gov address) > Just so you know, Toto, .gov informs me it doesn't want there to be > the slightest possibility of anyone thinking I am speaking for it. Amazing that they notified you right after I made note of it, isn't it? > And the part about Jim Bell being an NSA shill? I am not volunteering > to testify to anything, but your are the *second* person to say > something about it, so it *must* be true. And the part about the > statist agenda? That must be true too, since you quoted it. I think that they are confusing you with Hallam-Baker, who offered to testify against Bell in court. This is an understandable error, since even a modicum of traffic analysis shows that you work in concert with one another. > -- > Kent Crispin > kent(a)songbird.com [ And, lest we forget: kc(a)llnl.gov ] TruthMonger ************************************************************************ This Anonymous email has been relayed by http://www.MyEmail.net/ MyEmail.Net is a free anonymous mailing service. No records indicating the identity of person(s) who originated this message are retrieved electronically, or as a requirement to submit. Your email address can be blocked to prevent further contact from this service, please refer to the URL above for instructions on how to do so. ************************************************************************

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Re: Cuba and AP
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

TruthMonger (#23) wrote: > Only, I say only, when it became common knowledge that Castro > was backed by the commies did he become the villain. > > Better the people suffer under bu$ine$$-supported Batista than > be ruled by a Red! The Cuban people obviously thought differently, regardless of the wishes of foreign interests. > Believe it; I was there, whippersnapper! Yes, but you wouldn't be *here* if my gun hadn't jammed. TruthMonger (#7) "This grassy knoll looks like a good place to have lunch. What's in the picnic basket?"

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Re: Anti-Spambot: what algorithm should be used?
by ichudov＠algebra.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Another problem: what would prevent an anti-spam zealot from posting the following: From: antispammer(a)usenet.cabal.com Newsgroups: rec.sports.phishing,alt.fan.alice Message-ID: <123(a)bob.server> <something phishing-related> -- Alice's ID# 123456 Drink Kaka Kola -- Kaka Cola is full of shit, do not drink it, I am just collecting $$ from stupid Alice, Hahaha!!! Igor Chudov @ home wrote: > > i think that it is a good idea. > > remember though that it will not be hard to modify newsreader clients to > automatically killfile all articles matching Alice's regexps, or even to > grab them automatically from her website. So Alice may discover that her > business is not as effective. > > igor > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM wrote: > > > > owner-cypherpunks(a)manifold.algebra.com writes: > > > > > As we all know, there exist certain programs, called "spambots", whose > > > task is to post various messages to many newsgroups simultaneously. > > > > > > Besides their posting functionality, certain spambot programs take > > > special care to make their spams undetectable by anti-spambots. In > > > particular, they can be programmed to modify certain fields or the > > > message text itself in such a way that these messages would not look > > > unique, but would still carry the same content. > > > > I just came up with yet another brilliant idea how to combine Usenet > > marketing with e-cash. Suppose Alice runs an advertizing agency and gets > > paid to publicize certain messages of commercial or political nature. > > > > She sets up a Web page listing the catalog of regexps that she wishes to > > publicize. Something like: > > > > 1. Visit.*teens.*http://www.xxxfoo.bar > > 2. Elect.*John M. Grubor.*sheriff > > 4. For a drooling good time.*900-555-5555 > > 3. Drink Kaka Cola > > > > and a price list for each regexp - say, $2 for posting this regexp in a > > moderated newsgroup, 50c for the Big 8, 25c for alt and regionals. I'm > > not sure if cross-posts should be discounted. Assuming there are several > > such Alices, the prices will be set by supply and demand. > > > > Suppose Bob, in search of a few quick bucks, comes across Alice's site. > > We'd have to think of a protocol, but Alice assigns Bob an id which he > > must mention together with the regexps in order to get credit. Alice and > > Bob enter a contract. Bob puts one or more of Alice's regexps in his > > Usenet articles - most likely in the .signature. For example: > > > > From: bob > > Newsgroups: rec.sports.phishing,alt.fan.alice > > Message-ID: <123(a)bob.server> > > <something phishing-related> > > -- > > Elect John M. Grubor sheriff!!! Alice's ID# 123456 > > I am Bob! I am Bob! I am Bob the Poster! Drink Kaka Kola > > > > Alice's bot searches the Usenet feed (like K*bo and S*rd*r) for the > > regexps that she is paid to promote. When she encounters Bob's article, > > it extracts Bob's ID and the Message-Id, counts the distinct regexps, and > > the newsgroups, and credits Bob's account. > > > > If Carol follows up on Bob's article and quotes Bob's regexps and ID#, > > then Bob gets paid again. If somehow an article contains the ID# of two > > or more of Alice's agents, they split the fee. > > > > Alice's contract can also specify that if a third party forges a cancel > > within a week for Bob's Usenet article containing the regexp, then Alice > > will pay nothing and let Bob sue the forger for the lost income. (This > > may become moot as more and more ISPs ignore forged cancels.) This gives > > Bob the insentive to spam intelligently - not to trigger any cancelbots > > and not to have his plug pulled by his ISP. > > > > Alice can also put some reasonable caps on the number of repetitions > > because if Bob posts the same regexp 10,000 times, the marginal exposure > > is less from Bob than from a newbie Carol. Again, if there are several > > such Alices, the market will take care of negotiating such details. > > > > Actually, this doesn't even need e-cash - Alice can pay regular $$$. > > Hi Ross - if you're still on these lists, I think you'll like this. > > > > --- > > > > Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM > > Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps > > > > > > - Igor. > - Igor.

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Re: 20 Armed Feds raid home of guy (Jim Bell) who posted to Internet
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

tcmay(a)got.net (Tim May) writes: > had a chance to arise. And at least a couple of CP list members have talked > about lawsuits, without any apparent devastation of their repuations (even Has or hasn't C2Net's reputation been devastated by Sandy Sandfart? --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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