December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Freeware Helps Keep Your Cruising Confidential
by Lou Zirko 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I thought I would pass this along. Just downloaded it and am looking at it. Interesting application for Win 95/NT users. The download page starts at http://www.luckman.com/anoncookie/anoncookie.html Lou Zirko >Freeware Helps Keep Your Cruising Confidential > > > >by Brian McWilliams, PC World NewsRadio > >June 24, 1997 >Concerns about Internet privacy are running hot since the recent privacy >hearings sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. New laws as well as >technology standards may soon come to the assistance of Net users. In the >meantime, a California company is releasing a freeware tool to help users >gain some control over their online privacy. > >Luckman Interactive today posted a utility for Windows 95 and NT called >Luckman's Anonymous Cookie for Internet Privacy. > >According to chief technology officer Marco Papa, the beta software works >with browsers from Microsoft and Netscape. It installs in your Win 95 >system tray and enables you to switch in and out of "anonymizer mode," >that is, controlling whether or not a Web site can write to and read your >browser's cookie file. This file is used by some sites to personalize >their content and in some cases to track your activities online. > >"We save all your cookie files and replace them with either an empty >folder or a file that can't be overwritten," explains Papa. "When you turn >cookies back on, you actually replace whatever may have changed with your >original cookie files." > >Luckman's Anonymous Cookie program is actually technology that was >developed for the company's WebSweep utility, which is scheduled for >commercial release later this summer. But Papa says the firm decided to >pull the cookie piece out now to give users some much-needed control over >online privacy. > >Dierdre Mulligan of the Center for Democracy and Technology says cookie >files are at the heart of many privacy problems on the Net. Her group is >especially critical of companies like DoubleClick, which she says violates >the spirit of the cookie concept by passing user information on to third >parties. She welcomes tools like Luckman's, but she notes that add-ons >don't help protect the millions of less experienced Net users. > >"If you really want people to have an easy-to-use way to protect >information or to control what their kids are going to see on the Net, >build it into the browser. Everybody has one, and they don't have to go >buy an extra program or figure out how to install it," Mulligan said. > >Brent Luckman, chairman of Luckman Interactive, said that's a great idea, >but he doesn't see much impetus for browser makers to give up access to >valuable marketing information. > >If you're a privacy guerrilla, you can grab your free copy of the >Anonymous Cookie program from Luckman's Web site. > > Lou Zirko Key fingerprint =46 F8 6A 89 F1 4A 74 AB 2F 60 21 E3 FB 21 E4 E4 "Were all bozos on this bus", Nick Danger, Third Eye

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LOSE MONEY FAST!!
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

not to encourage any paranoia or conspiracy theory, but this is an interesting warning I saw on another mailing list that I thought I'd pass on--- From: xxxxx Date: Tue Jun 24 21:49:18 PDT 1997 Subject: LOSE MONEY FAST!! I am writing this to WARN THE PUBLIC of a very DIABOLICAL SCHEME that is RIGHT NOW playing out in the market and ingeniously designed to separate GULLIBLE INVESTORS from their lawful returns. I cannot now reveal exactly the name of the company involved, but I will identify it by the initials "FRN". FRN directors are involved in a complex STOCK MANIPULATION SCHEME in which they are selling additional shares of the company beyond those in circulation, with only the hazy knowledge of the existing stockholders. This is being done IN COLLUSION WITH GOVERNMENT REGULATORS, who are receiving kickbacks from the operation! In other words, individual investors of FRN believe they own 1/n of the company, when in fact there are more shares in existence and they actually own far less than the fraction indicated on their certificates! The additional shares are owned by directors of the company who are secretly releasing the FRAUDULENT SHARES on the market with PRECISE TIMING, such that whenever the legitimate value of the company increases, they release new shares for sale at the current share price. The net effect is that market share prices creep up in value only marginally while the directors effectively INCREASE THEIR CONTROL of the corporation by STEALING FROM SMALLER SHAREHOLDERS. Some select shareholders are allowed to participate in the plan if they increase the profitability of the company, but in their BLIND GREED have not done the math and do not realize that they are in effect LOSING MONEY even though numerically their supposed shares are compounding regularly! In effect the corporation is COUNTERFEITING ITS OWN SHARES under the full knowledge and supervision of the topmost echelons, and the general ignorance of shareholders! This thievery is paid for courtesy of an ever-increasing percentage of the company's shareholders without their awareness! In fact, because so many shareholders are participating, the whole system can be thought of as a massive form of INVISIBLE SLAVERY! The energy of the shareholders that is successfully improving the company is being siphoned off by their "masters", while the masters insist that the company is not even breaking even! Perhaps you may scoff, but remember, THE PERFECT SLAVE IS THE ONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE HE'S A SLAVE, and an even better one RIDICULES THE POSSIBILITY. And--some slaves THINK THEY ARE MASTERS when in fact they are really SLAVES. (Do you live in a "land of the free"? Are you sure?) FRN has been operating since 1913 and has sucked in huge masses of unsuspecting shareholders who do not realize that it is a massive pyramid scheme that must eventually collapse! Initially the effects were negligible but the disparities among shareholdings has been magnified exponentially over the years. Shareholders have not realized this EVIL TRICK because the company has been growing incredibly rapidly with massive profits that are never reaped by the DESIGNATED VICTIM SHAREHOLDERS but instead skimmed by the CONSPIRATOR'S ELITE. A sophisticated and well-funded PR Office of the company has hypnotized the shareholders into believing their shares are far more valuable than they really are, even in spite of OBVIOUS SIGNS OF DEPRECIATION! The grotesque nature of the beast is revealed in that eventually, with mathematical certainty, doing absolutely nothing, the SINGLE SHAREHOLDER who owned the greatest share at the beginning of this hoax will eventually OWN VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE COMPANY, with all other shareholders owning virtually nothing! ("The rich get richer and the poor get poorer"-- with some of the poorer thinking they are getting richer!) But the system will collapse before then after enough shareholders FEEL THE SQUEEZE. Unfortunately, it is likely the shareholders will only realize they have been CHEATED and get ANGRY once the whole snake oil enterprise CRASHES! At that point, whoever will be left holding the bag will be mostly random! But what about the masters? Hopefully when the pyramid scheme FINALLY DOES CRASH, the shareholders will have learned their lesson, and go after those truly responsible instead of fighting among themselves, or at the very minimum STOP INVESTING IN PYRAMID SCHEMES! However, history has suggested that the current FRN owners have been using the same strategy in many prior shell games and escaped many previous company "bankruptcies" with their wealth unscathed, and are right now shrewdly planning their escape route by cashing out at precisely the right instant in their LATEST AND MOST GREATEST SKULLDUGGERY EPISODE as well! >From what I have heard, the plan is to then use the proceeds to erect the next, EVEN MORE CONSTRICTING WEALTH EXTRACTION AND SLAVERY SYSTEM. They have been doing this LIKE CLOCKWORK on a schedule of about every 60-70 years, which seems to be about the limit of the public's memory and the lifespan of the system. In fact, it has been going on so long the masters have convinced the population that it's a regular and unavoidable phenomenon! I don't know what will happen, but I am sending this warning to YOU PERSONALLY to check to see if you own shares in FRN, and if so, SELL THEM IMMEDIATELY and invest your hard-earned money into some LEGITIMATE ALTERNATIVE that doesn't steal from you merely by owning it. Also realize that TRADING FRN SHARES, while convenient, is PLAYING INTO THE SCAM! Quite insidiously, far more people own and trade shares in FRN than realize it due to indirect ownership! The MASS DELUSION is everywhere! Eventually the corruption in the government and greed in the population will have to be cleaned up so that companies such as FRN can never begin operating in the first place, and THE TEMPLE IS FOREVER RID OF THE MONEYCHANGERS. But your FIRST DEFENSE is your own intelligence. Remember, YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST PERSON! Part of the moral is to KNOW WHERE ALL THE SHARES ARE and to MAKE SURE THEY ADD UP TO 1! The TREACHEROUS HIGHWAY ROBBERS will invent elaborate, complicated, INCOMPREHENSIBLE reasons why they don't, such as talking about what paper the stock certificates are made out of, or how high government taxes are, or pointing at programs for share-trading among shareholders. But remember, this is all SMOKE AND MIRRORS--a certificate that says 1/n is a CONTRACT no matter what kind of paper it is printed on, the entire government recently became ANOTHER LOSING SHAREHOLDER, and the net result of the share-trades NEVER ESCAPES THE SHARE PARASITES! Please don't attack the losing shareholders! If you have problems identifying the thieves, remember, THEY'RE THE ONES WHO AUTHORIZED RELEASE OF THE FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES in the first place, IN EXCESS OF FACE VALUE. And they'll likely be unscathed after the collapse, but keeping an extremely low profile! (But don't blame the printers! And don't believe it if the "authorizers" pretend to be the "printers"!) Take back your power and DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY, otherwise, you're just ANOTHER VICTIM FOR THE CON GAME! May God be with you--

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Re: Bomb-making instructions....
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Paul Bradley wrote: > I personally know no chemistry at all, but what would be nice is if > someone who knows what they are doing wrote an "anarchists cookbook" type > set of files, but this time got them right so anyone attempting any of > the recipes wouldn`t be killed. People named "Lefty" need not apply...

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GAH--Government Access to Humor
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>From the News of the Weird: * Unclear on the Concept: In January, Bamrer Pong-insee, a spokesman for the Professional Comedians Association of Thailand, said its members will soon be prohibited by rule from being impolite on stage. Especially barred are obscene language, physical humor in which pain is implied, and being disrespectful to a colleague's parents. In reading the above, I realized that in order for the policy to work properly there will have to be penalties for audience members who laugh at inappropriate (illegal?) humor. A suitable agency will have to be formed to enforce these new regulations. Soon the Laughing Police will be no laughing matter. Politicians will be falling all over each other to show the voters that they are "hard on crime" and will eventually call for the death penalty for violators. (Sending them to the Laughing-Gas chamber.) SeriousMonger {I tried to make it in comedy, but everyone laughed at me.}

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Re: The Grand Compromise is Coming
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>By the way, I have no heard no good counters to my point that the "use of >crypto in furtherance of a crime" is quite analogous to "freedom of >religion shall not be abridged, but saying a heathen prayer in furtherance >of a crime shall subject the heathen to an additional five years of >imprisonment." Two differences: Saying a prayer, heathen or not, does not make the commision of the crime easier. Using a gun, or using crypto, does. Saying a prayer can be done in complete privacy and silence, making it impossible to tell whether someone is doing it. Using crypto generally involves some outward evidence. It is not all in your head. If some form of prayer were invented which did not have these properties, then it might be forbidden. The Marinsha prayer, shouted with the appropriate intensity, paralyzes the hearer for several minutes. Robberies have become common using this method. Making the Marinsha prayer illegal in all circumstances is too broad, but criminalizing it for use in the commision of a crime would be a plausible response.

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It ain't over till the fatman burns...
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Paul Bradley wrote: > > > I still am concerned about kids being subject to material that is > > inappropriate for their age group (what ever that may be). So how do I > > insure that my son/daugher does not get their hands on _THIS_ material? > > Supervision, plain and simple. However, if you honestly believe your > children are going to be harmed in some lasting way by any images they > might find there is clearly something wrong with the way you have brought > them up Good, strong beatings will also help to deter them from doing things that they find interesting or pleasurable. This will help to reinforce the concept that things which feel good lead to pain and punishment. Pictures of people burning in hell can be put in prominent places in the home, with constant verbal reminders that God will punish bad people who have different values than you. It is particularly important to impress on your daughter that she must keep her head covered at all times and never look a strange man in the eye or allow her ankles to show. Remind her that, as much as you love her, you will still be forced to join in stoning her to death if she choses to stray outside acceptable social standards. Impress upon your son that if he wants to have sex with teenage girls under the age of 18 he must move to a foreign country where he can receive millions of dollars in foreign aide while he does so. Explain that if he has sex with his teenage girlfriend in this country that he is an evil person and will be convicted as a sex offender (which will delay their wedding plans) and be marked for life as a child molester. Most important of all, carefully explain to your children that if their gaze ever happens to fall upon material which you find unacceptable that they will end up being murdering, drug-dealing pornographers because they are immoral dupes with no character or self-will. Use Paul and myself as examples of where libertarian thinking leads, in the end. After all, he is writing from DEMON.co.uk and I am writing from LUCIFER(a)dhp.com. If you are concerned about what your children may encounter on the internet that will expose their lack of character and morals, there is a program available that is even better than Cybersitter. It was sent to the list by fuck(a)yourself.up a few months ago. Check the archives for it or ask the cypherpunks list's on-call librarian, Tim C. May, how to find it. FlameMonger

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Re: Comparing Cryptographic Key Sizes II
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>I can assure you >that in moving from a 1024 bit key to a 4096 bit key, the attackers >job is well in excess of 50x harder. Greatly in excess of a trillion >trillion times harder. First part true, second part false. See Schneier, p.160. Extrapolating using GNFS factoring indicates ratio of 1E21. If SNFS factoring becomes possible it is much worse, ratio less than one million.

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Re: New Laws in Oregon - "Land of the Legal betatest"
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ryan Anderson wrote: > We've got a relatively decent style of government here. Sure, as long as you don't step out of line, like at Kent State or Waco, or at the Democratic convention in Chicago. Any style of government is "relatively decent" if you don't rock the boat. Buy a fucking clue... Putting a "Fuck Clinton" sign in your front yard in America probably won't bring significantly different results than if one had put a "Stalin Sucks" sign up during his reign. I also doubt if our body count is significantly different than that of Stalin, either. If we all just keep our mouths shut as our rights and freedoms are stripped from us one by one, then we will have a "relatively decent" journey into oppression. ClueMonger

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tacdfipsfkmi: What the gov't wants
by fudman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

What the government wants in a key recovery system. And, ummm: doesn't Benaloh work for Microsoft? >From ... Minutes of the February 19-20, 1997 Meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee to Develop a Federal Information Processing Standard for the Federal Key Management Infrastructure 2. Security Models working group chaired by Dr. Brickell. Dr. Benaloh was asked to give their report in Dr. Brickells absence. Dr. Benaloh said that there was a good deal of overlap between the requirements and framework groups and they are trying to separate the two. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He stated that from what the agencies presented, they are looking for a flexible mandatory standard, covering both stored and transmitted data, for commercially available off-the-shelf products. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A major issue noted was the matter of flexibility. The standard must be broad enough to allow products to be developed by anyone. The scope of this working group was stated by Mr. Chokhani as identifying things such as key recovery agents, TTPs, two entity systems, integrity, authorization of keys, confidentiality of information, and accountability, especially of key recovery agents.

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Shell cancels all but $25 pre-paid cards
by Brad Dolan 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

About 6 months ago, Shell introduced pre-paid cards in $25, 50 and 100 denominations which could be used to ~anonymously pay for gas at the pump. Suddenly, Shell has withdrawn all but the nearly-pointless $25 cards. Security problems? Complaints from the Freehdom usurpers? Inquiring minds want to know.

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