December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: IRS Hit
by William H. Geiger III 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In <1.5.4.32.19970605134956.008db240(a)pop.pipeline.com>, on 06/05/97 at 08:49 AM, John Young <jya(a)pipeline.com> said: >In a harshly worded 17-page opinion, Judge William Downes of the U.S. >District Court in Denver found that one of the IRS agents, James Dolan, >was "grossly negligent" and acted with "reckless disregard" for the law, >and that he made three false statements in a sworn declaration. So why is James Dolan still working for the IRS? Why is he not under enditement for perjury? Oh I forgot Federal Agents are "just a group of humans" so I guess we shouldn't expect the laws of the land to apply to them. - -- - --------------------------------------------------------------- William H. Geiger III http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii Geiger Consulting Cooking With Warp 4.0 Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail. OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html - --------------------------------------------------------------- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3a Charset: cp850 Comment: Registered_User_E-Secure_v1.1b1_ES000000 iQCVAwUBM5bMt49Co1n+aLhhAQGn0wQAuG0n4ppXx5QdtNQrrcB4drcbkbDkpcdV 0L28z5zWbbidfz2Mq8wS2HLG01NLPd/6NFDF8EYpezBfpGv9O3SIm3WvhbzhvJOP jEVGUZdNVM+RA3gAMzrBMoiEiIrFfaFO/3615dSHPLpa3NWmbf+QDnVRXFIO1Rxp kFttB1pjRjM= =Vx80 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Interesting article.
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Full story at http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,11249,00.html?latest Leaders want crypto rules lifted. By Reuters June 5, 1997, 7 a.m. PT WASHINGTON--Computer industry captains called on President Clinton yesterday to drop efforts to regulate data-encryption technologies, a move the FBI warned would cripple law enforcement and leave the country more vulnerable to terrorism. In an open letter to Clinton, Bill Gates, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft, and 12 other industry titans said U.S. competitiveness in electronic commerce was at stake in the debate. ---------------- Peter Trei

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RE: McVeigh? Nimrods.....
by Bill Frantz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:50 PM -0700 6/4/97, Paul Bradley wrote: >> Like my fellow Santa Clara County Resident Bill Frantz said : >> >> For cypherpunks this comes down to: Make code, not bombs. > >True, code will lead to further liberation in the virtual communities, >but bombs are an effective device for ending the corrupt tyrannical >government that rules us. It is my contention that, in the present circumstances, bombs are not effective devices for ending the corrupt tyrannical government which rules us. They are much more likely to make enemies for "our cause" than they are to physically stop the government. Does the phrase, "Bomb throwing anarchist" give you the feeling of hero, or of villain? Most people will answer villain, and killing people is not likely to change their minds. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | The Internet was designed | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | to protect the free world | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz(a)netcom.com | from hostile governments. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

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(Fwd) RE: McVeigh? Nimrods.....
by Peter Nicol - VRL / BroomStick Productions 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:50 PM -0700 6/4/97, Paul Bradley wrote: >> Like my fellow Santa Clara County Resident Bill Frantz said : >> >> For cypherpunks this comes down to: Make code, not bombs. > >True, code will lead to further liberation in the virtual communities, >but bombs are an effective device for ending the corrupt tyrannical >government that rules us. It is my contention that, in the present circumstances, bombs are not effective devices for ending the corrupt tyrannical government which rules us. They are much more likely to make enemies for "our cause" than they are to physically stop the government. Does the phrase, "Bomb throwing anarchist" give you the feeling of hero, or of villain? Most people will answer villain, and killing people is not likely to change their minds. Anyone head of Non-Violent Action (NVA) ? Seems to me writing and disseminating Code is a pretty effective form of NVA Peter Nicol Global Media Magnet nicol(a)iap.net.au 019 111 943 "Nonlinear models differ form linear ones in a number of ways. Rather than trying to figure out all the chains of causality, the modeler looks for nodes where feedback loops join and tries to capture as many of the important loops as possible in the system's "picture." Rather than shaping the model to make a forecast about future events or to exercise some central control, the nonlinear modeller is content to perturb the model, trying out different variations in order to learn about the system's critical points and its homeostasis (resitance to change). The modeler is not seeking to control the complex system by quantifying it and mastering its causality; she wants to increase her "intuitions" about how the system works so she can interact with it more harmoniously."

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Body Bunker Usage
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We offer excerpts from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center "Catalog of Training Programs FY 1997-98": Financial Fraud Institute The FFI takes the proactive role of arming the student with specialty skills and techniques to develop solid prosecutable cases in a range of crimes. Included are crimes involving government contracts, procurement fraud, illegal tax shelters, complex financial transactions supporting terrorism and criminal conspiracies, asset removal/seizures, money laundering activities involving drug smuggling organizations and other illegal enterprises, insurance frauds, electronic funds transfer fraud, and employee embezzlement. Also addressed in training are technical crimes involving computers and networks such as unauthorized access to government data systems and complex fraud cases using or involving computer systems. Training programs: Computer Evidence Analysis Criminal Investigations in an Automated Environment Financial Crimes Investigations Financial Forensics Techniques International Banking and Money Laundering International Financial Fraud Microcomputers for Investigators Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Seized Computer and Evidence Recovery Specialist Telecommunications Fraud White Collar Crime Windows Applications for Investigations http://jya.com/ffi.htm (34K) ----- Security Specialties Division The design, development, and conduct of courses relating to antiterrorism, physical security, and officer safety and survival is the prime mission of the Security Specialties Division (SSD). Courses include; Bombs and Explosives, Personal Protection, First Response, Handling Sensitive/ Classified Information, Criminal Information/Intelligence, Officer Safety and Survival, Physical Security, Surviving Hostage Situations, and Weapons/Explosive Detection. Training programs: Advanced Physical Security Antiterrorism Contingency Planning Antiterrorism Management Criminal Intelligence Analyst Crisis Management First Response Officer Safety and Survival Physical Security Managers Protective Security Operations Seaport Security/Antiterrorism http://jya.com/ssd.htm (22K) ----- The former addresses, among others, "encryption/decryption, disguised data, data hidden by programming techniques, hackers and phreakers." The latter addresses, among others, "left-wing terrorism, right-wing terrorism, animal rights and environmental extremists, assassinations and body bunker usage."

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Re: Password pirates plunder XXX sites, from The Netly News
by Phillip M. Hallam-Baker 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Although you can never completely eliminate it, technological fixes to do >velocity checking, source IP address profiling, etc., seem so obvious I >just don't see how this can be any sort of insurmountable problem... Agreed but see bellow >It should have been obvious from the start that you would have a lot more >people trying to steal service from a porn site than from, say, a Disney >site. I think the problem is that a large number of the people who run porn sites are neither technically sophisticated nor well funded. I suspect that many do not know how to write a program and can't afford hiring someone to do it for them. Its a business where there are low barriers to entry and there are a very large number of competitors. One way of discouraging new entrants is to claim that there are major technical problems... Phill

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"Clinton has done a great deal for Intel"--more trolling
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 1:03 AM -0700 6/5/97, Kent Crispin wrote: >Clinton has a *very* successful career as a politician, and has done >a great deal for Intel, in that role. And he is a great family man ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >who also gets along well with a host of people. Another absurdity. Clinton is the President. There is _nothing_ of any significance Intel has ever sought from the government. Except for the government to get off its back. When I was there the government was in fact very frustrated with Intel for not entering the "mil-spec" market in any serious way. The government wanted to buy 8080s, 8086s, etc., and we said, "Fine, send us an order. We'll even charge you $500 more per chip if you want us to shake them around at a lot of Gs, cook 'em in a pressure pot, and then stamp them "MIL-SPEC." We refused government contracts. I did some volunteer work (a few days) for them on directed energy weapons, some work for DARPA and the Naval Research Lab, but there was no charge for this, and certainly no "help" for Intel from the then-President. Intel also was a reluctant participant in the g-job labs, including the MCC in Austin (never a real member), and only in the last few years has it bowed to the inevitable by undertaking some joint efforts with the labs it has so heavily been taxed for. To call this "help from Clinton" is absurd. (By the way, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore were supporters of Bush in '92 and of Dole in '96. They actively opposed the "Clinton-friendly lobby" in the Valley, the John Sculleys and whatnot who hobnobbed with Clinton. Clinton I'm sure does not see Intel as his ally in any way.) More trolling from Crispin. Why am I not surprised? ---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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by 20797248＠bbtt.de 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Christian IP Network / Re: Webpage picketing (fwd)
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John Deters wrote: > (This brings to mind another solution: "The Christian IP Network. > Guaranteed to not deliver unto you the E-vil packets of the Demons of > Pornographers, Terrorists, Narcotics Traffickers, Money Launderers or > Cypherpunks. We're the ISP that delivers only Family-Valued, God-Blessed > and Jesus-Approved packets to your customers. Send lots of money now, > censors are standing by." If Jesus has a sense of humor, then when he comes back he will make the announcement only on sites blocked by CyberSitter. (I will forward the announcement to the list for the benefit of those list members whose subscription to the "Hot Teenage Sluts" website has expired.) SlutMonger

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Arguments for good crypto and against GAK.
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I frequently find myself explaining to the uninitiated the whole crypto mess, and have come up with a line of arguments which I find work fairly effectively. Basically, I take the tack that strong encryption will help prevent crime, espionage, and terrorism, while weak and/or GAKed crypto will promote it. There are good arguements for this position. We lock our houses, cars, etc. This activity is promoted by the police as a crime prevention measure, although it unquestionably makes it more difficult for them to serve search warrants, etc. They realize that good locks prevent far more crime than would their unfettered access to unlocked property. Crypto works the same way as good locks, but in the data sphere. While it would clearly make court-authorized wiretaps more difficult (but not impossible), it also stops the far more frequent unauthorized interception of messages by criminals (whether in or out of government). At this point I usually give some recent examples of losses that might have been prevented by good crypto - cell phone cloning fraud and eavesdropping, the recent credit card sniffer, etc. Going back a couple of years, some hackers on the west coast modified major backbone routers to record ftp and telnet passwords, etc. If the audience is aware of the putative info-war threat, I can work that in as another threat that good crypto can put a stop to. If the question arises 'well, why does the FBI, etc, seem so worried about the widespread use of crypto?', I have a response. "There's an old saying: 'When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember that you're trying to drain the swamp.'" We have law enforcement agencies because we want people and their property to be safer. However, the FBI and other LEAs actually do very little to directly *prevent* crime; almost all of their efforts are post-facto, designed to catch criminals, or make it easier to catch them, *after* they've already committed one or more offences. While a criminal in jail is only rarely a menace to society at large, most criminals get away with many crimes before they are caught - if this was not the case, there would be no such thing as a 'career criminal'. LEAs have little motivation to prevent crime - there is not much career or budget boost in a robbery which did not take place, a murder which was not committed, or a spy who could not get the data he sought. Widespread and effective use of good crypto acts before the fact, preventing crimes from occuring in the first place. While it certainly would make some wiretaps more difficult (and here I bring up the very low number of wiretaps preformed in the US compared to the number of crimes), on the balance it is clear that the use of good security is a win. If you ask most people if they had a choice between a high crime rate with some of the criminals being caught, and a much lower crime rate with a slightly higher chance of them getting away, most people who are not part of the LEA establishment will instantly opt for the latter. As for GAK, there are two basic arguements I use. First, I ask them how they would feel if their town required that copies of all house, car, and file cabinet keys be deposited with the local cops 'just in case they need to serve a search warrant'. Most people are rightly appalled by the idea. Secondly, I describe the idea of key escrow agencies and "TTPs", and how they would create huge storehouses of private keys. I point out what a target of opportunity these archives would provide to criminals and spies - by compromising the security of a single site, they could unlock the private, confidential information of thousands of individuals and corporations. Depending on the audience, I might bring up Filegate, Aldrich Ames, the Walker case, etc, to demonstrate that even the government can't be relied on to keep secrets ("despite their best intentions"), and re-emphasize the catastrophic single-point-of-failure that GAK represents. In short, it's possible to pro-crypto, anti-GAK without ever getting near sounding anti-government; in fact, being pro-crypto, anti-GAK can be a conservative, anti-crime, law & order position. Peter Trei trei(a)process.com

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