December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Foundation for Information Policy Research
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Source: http://www.ntk.net/fipr/ Subject: URGENT: press release - FIPR Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 16:52:16 +0100 From: Ross Anderson Title: New Independent Research Foundation Backed by Microsoft Embargoed until 11.00 Friday 29th May Too often, policy issues relating to information technology are seperately debated by two distinct grouups: technology experts and those focused on social concerns. Policy makers face the challenge of reconciling the seperate debates in areas where technology is often evolving very quickly. A new research foundation aims to provide clear advice that spans this gap and is independent of vested interests. The Foundation for Information Policy Research will fund research into how information technology affects society. It is launched at a press conference on Friday 29th May at 11.00 am. (1) Microsoft has contributed a six-figure sum to cover the launch costs. Internet service providers Poptel and Demon are also supporting the Foundation. Its independence will be guaranteed, however, by a board of trustees. (2) In the medium term it will be supported by subscriptions from a range of firms in commerce and industry. The goal of the Foundation is to promote research and understanding of the effects, and the likely future effects, of IT on society. Its areas of investigation include: (3) * the regulation of electronic commerce; * consumer protection; * data protection and privacy; * copyright; * law enforcement; * evidence and archiving; * electronic interaction between government, businesses and individuals; * the extent to which various information technologies discriminate against the less advantaged members of society; and * the new risks that computer and communication systems pose to life, health and economic well-being The Foundation will also provide a valuable resource for the press as it will be able to put journalists in touch with a wide range of experts who can explain IT issues as they arise. Contact: Caspar Bowden (Director of the Foundation) 0171 837 8706 Ross Anderson (Chair of the Foundation) 01223 334733 QUOTES The Director of the Foundation, Caspar Bowden, said: ``The IT policies (and failures) which the current government inherited, and the decisions which will be made by them in the future, will have far-reaching effects on who society's winners and losers will be. We have a duty to prevent technological innovation and development taking place at the expense of the poor, the old, the sick and the disabled. We believe that so long as we understand the social and policy implications of new technical innovations, we can make IT into a means to facilitate social inclusion. The Foundation's mission will be to achieve and to spread that understanding.'' The Managing Director of Microsoft UK, David Svendsen, said: ``It's important that we contribute to a broad and informed public discussion on these information society issues.'' The Chair of the Foundation, Ross Anderson of Cambridge University, said: ``We welcome this new source of funding for IT related research. An increase in the diversity of funding sources is almost always a good thing, and the Foundation will be particularly valuable as much of the available IT funding is directed to very short-term and narrowly technical agendas.'' NOTES (1) The press conference is at the "Scrambling for Safety" conference, at the Bloomsbury Theatre, University College, London. URL: (2) The Foundation's Director and full-time CEO, Caspar Bowden, has for the last three years been running Qualia, a consultancy business specialising in internet implementations. Before that he was a financial strategist with Goldman Sachs. He also researched IT and communications issues for Scientists for Labour. Its chair, Ross Anderson, is a faculty member at Cambridge University Computer Laboratory and has done extensive research on topics related to electronic commerce. BACKGROUND The "Millennium Bug" - the problem that many computers cannot deal correctly with the date roll-over from 1999 to 2000 - threatens to cause havoc with many systems and has been declared a national emergency by the Prime Minister. Another problem that has worried policymakers and concerned citizens is that new developments in IT may discriminate against the less well off members of society. For example, the current mechanisms for electronic commerce depend on consumers using their credit cards to order goods and services over the net. They often get a big discount for buying this way; but people without credit cards may lose out. The first task that the Foundation has set itself is to examine the underpinnings of electronic commerce. The European Commission has recently published a draft Directive on this subject and will launch a period of public consultation at the same conference at which the Foundation itself will be launched. (The draft directive is at [missing].) Other topics which the Foundation plans to investigate include: * the maintenance of public records in electronic form. We do not fully understand how to ensure that word processor files and other electronic documents created today can be safely stored for many years, and reliably made available in the future. This affects not just the new Freedom of Information Act, but also the work of future librarians and historians. * the development of copyright law. There are some industry proposals which would restrict the ability of libraries to lend out digital works. Will this mean the end of the public library, as more and more books, videos and other material become digital? What are the implications for schools and universities? What are the implications for the public, if all major sports events in future are pay-per-view? Are these developments inevitable, or is there something we can do about them? * the introduction of electronic communication between the citizen and the government has the potential to cut queues and the frustration of dealing with people on the phone. However, are these changes intrinsically more likely to favour the articulate, and to bring the most benefit to well-off people with their own computers? What technical developments are reasonably possible to ensure that all citizens get a fair deal? * the previous government's proposal for a "personal signature card" that would give access to all government services had a distinct flavour of an ID card. Are such developments necessary, or can we find workable alternatives? * the police are concerned about the spread of prepaid mobile phones, which are increasingly used by stalkers and extortionists. However, if they are banned, then how would people without credit cards obtain a mobile phone service? * there have been many disputes in the past over "phantom withdrawals" from bank cash machines, and banks have defended themselves by claiming that their computers cannot be wrong. How can this approach work when millions of merchants are selling services through a wide variety of computer systems? What will consumer rights amount to in the information age? * the failure of government computer systems - whether spectacular failure due to the millennium bug, or the continuing sporadic failures in the NHS - does most harm to pensioners, the disabled, single mothers, the unemployed and people on NHS waiting lists (who are typically elderly, female and working class). How can we encourage best engineering practice in the public sector? - - - ends - - Thanks to Danny O'Brien, UK Crypto Story: http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/12624.html Web site under construction: http://www.fipr.org

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Nobody comes up with a great point!
by StanSqncrs＠aol.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to want to share it with the Cypherpunks. Nobody - << >> Of course, I do admit, that I do speak from a left POV. Which one? >> Mine. << There are so many left POVs! >> Correctamundo! We aren't a bunch of brain-washed DittoHeads like the right is. :-) Stan

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I need a compiler!
by one4evil＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Cypherpunks, Tis I, D, again...I just have one other question...Could some of you tell me what C compilers you use...Also, could you just tell me every program you would have that has anything to do with crypto if you had the cash? I guess one would need a C compiler, a hex editer maybe, are there any crypto programs that are sort of like templates, where you set the paramiters and the program compiles the encryption for you...Pipe dream I am sure... That is about it... D. _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

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KeyNote v0.1 Release Announcement
by Angelos D. Keromytis 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- To: coderpunks(a)toad.com Subject: KeyNote v0.1 Release Announcement Cc: cypherpunks(a)toad.com Date: 06/01/98, 15:56:45 KeyNote is a trust-management system, designed on the same principles as PolicyMaker, but simpler and better-defined. This is the first public release, and although the code has been tested, it is by no means guaranteed bug-free (but then, what is). That said, you can get a copy from http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~angelos/keynote-0.1.tar.gz -Angelos PS. From the README file: There should be a real README file here, but in the meantime read draft-angelos-spki-keynote-01.txt for the spec of KeyNote. There's much to be done yet to improve the user interface(s). Signature verification is (deliberately) missing from this release, but the next one will have it. The hooks are obvious in the code (search for XXX in parse_assertion.c). The makefile creates the libkeynote.a library which can be linked with other applications. The program keynote-verify can be used to verify a request, given a set of assertions and an environment. There will be a man page in the next release both for the library and the program, along with some sort of graphical UI to make assertion generation (including signing) easier. For any questions, comments, bug reports, praise, or anything else you have in mind, contact me at angelos(a)dsl.cis.upenn.edu Angelos D. Keromytis May 31 1998 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: noconv Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAwUBNXMHfr0pBjh2h1kFAQElOgP9FyKPDQPvctQyJLl5djz4xj/edgRgQrlb YmqwVQqGrKKC/KrgUbu/A6c/RyqT1l1/nk9U4pONQaJoAtT0pQcgpYISQ2Ji/0JY tG8y+r+WqhWElgUuPxZff5jH5V3mbCDInKoe4BvkE0wwnW7QvwCSVa/nP/Ecs+1e KpiewSL6Ug8= =0f31 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: WinNT C2?
by Andrew White 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Versions are important, too... Quote from current Microsoft Web site... "<The NT 3.51 ITSEC> evaluation along with the US TCSEC class C2 evaluation completed in 1995 for Windows NT 3.5 demonstrates Microsoft's commitment to building a secure operating system and continuing to provide customers with assurance of its security characteristics based on these evaluations>" NT 4.0 has never passed ANY security evaluation. NT 3.51 passed a UK one in October 1996, NT 3.5 passed C2 in 1995. Both these earlier versions are effectively unusable due to diverse and numerous bugs unrelated to security, and both the evaulations were without a network card. Later, Andrew.

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Re: I need a compiler!
by one4evil＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

J-Dog >who says I am socalled "elite"? Gee, your 'handle' is J-Dog...And your sending your mail through EliteHackers.org...Very original...I think have been to your web site once or twice...The EliteHackers.org that is... >WOW.. A dual PII 266... then you will really be elite... because you >know.. if you have a fast machine, you don't ahve to know shit.. you can >just fake it.. because your machine will cover up for you..... fuqin >moron... First...I am not a hacker and don't pretend to be...I phreak a little and like phones and shit...I subscribe to Telecom Digest and just like to play with phones...I like to blow shit up for fun so you could say I am a pyro...I got five bitches on my dick so you could call me a pimp...But I never said I was a hacker...I just like to know about how shit works...And in order to exploit any system, for fun or money or super 3l33t props, you gots to know the system...I want to put linux on my system because linux does have bugs and quirks and you have to know how to do more than click a mouse button for the shit to work. >bwhahahhaha....if you can not detect the sarcasm in here, then damn, you >are a bigger idiot than I thought..... geez man.. Ya, sure...Sarcasm...You laugh at me but dude...William is to busy with Netscape trying to dick him up the ass for me to call him again... >> And you know this...MAN! I am wanting to write my own supper program...I >> want to take all the good h/p/v/c apps out there and make a nice point > >and click interface for them all...one in linux and one in win ( ...fuck >> the mac people... ) Put it all on a CD and send free copies to all the >> cool hackers out there...Sort of a library O' chaos...Of coarse, I would >> not send one to just anyone...r00t would get a copy...I would send Eric B >> one just for kicks...Then I would send one to Death Vegi and the rest of >> the cDc...They got the cool philes....Anywhoo...Let me know who bill is. >Good Yogi, and while your att it, stop world Hunger, Racism, and poverty >with your uberhacker program... Again, you laugh at me for sarcasm.... But back to the real problem...yes, gcc would be ideal...How ever...I am not running Linux as of yet...so do you or any of you know any OTHER WINDOWS BASED COMPILERS that are worth a shit...I know it is a stretch but god... And J-Dog, what is up with the fucked up lingo...This ain't the movies... _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

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Echelon Furor
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The UK Sunday Times on the Internet had a story yesterday on the rising Echelon furor in Europe, "Spy Station F83." http://www.sunday-times.co.uk (see Focus feature) If you don't want to register we've mirrored the piece: http://jya.com/nsa-f83.htm It reviews the rapidly-growing NSA operation at Menwith Hill and Bad Aibling, with some recent information not covered in earlier reports. Several European pols -- German, French, Italian, et al -- are calling for investigations of alleged economic spying by NSA. NSA denies all, the writers say, except the Agency claims it's the best in the world at what it's capable of but not doing.

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Commerce Echelon
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The UK Sunday Times article claims that there is a unit in the Department of Commerce that receives NSA Echelon interceptions of economic data for massaging and passing on to interested US parties. Any information on this unit and how it decides who gets which secrets?

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Re: I need a compiler!
by one4evil＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Ok, this is starting to get really odd. I am not a hacker...I DO NOT want to make some supper program...IT WAS A CRACK BASED ON WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT WIDOZE CODE!!! I don't know shit about hacking other than how to maybe use a cheese scanner like 'Phonetag' (which I have set up at school so that I don't get busted useing it at home.) I mean what is the argument here? Also, you keep putting things in here like: > uberl33t > k-rad > /<-rad Well, what the hell is up with that...I don't talk like that...Do you talk like that? Do you walk up to your local dealer and say you want some K-rad KB? No! You just say you want a fat once of KB! You don't fuck around. >Not running linux as of yet? hehe so when are you gong to do a search for >linux.exe and start to run it?.. as soon as your superkool P2 266 gets >here... wowwie... I am impressed...... Hey DK.. pass me another beer... Well, I have no net access...Boy that's 3L33T...and when I tried last time I had access, I kept having trouble makeing the boot disk...Maybe you can explane it to me...You do know stuff about linux and for that I ask a question...The page I was trying to get it from said that I needed to save some program ( this has been like eight months ago ) and then put the program, which was 1.44 mb, onto a floppy then boot your computer off the floppy...I put in a brand new, unnamed formated disk and it said that there was not enough disk space...I dont' have a damn clue as to why it would not work...Also, with my thirst for info, I am going to get the QUE linux book that comes with Linux 3.0.8 (?) slackware, redhat, a disk of misc. utilitys and a disk of net utilitys... I don't know why we are bitching at each other...You hack, I don't, you use jargon, I don't, I can spell and type, you can't...Where is the problem? Anyone back me up on this? I really don't like to fight with people I don't know...So what does the J stand for? Sort of ironic, my initals are JD, Jordan David...Fucked up, O my brothers... D. _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

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refrigerator magnet
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Monday 6/1/98 6:05 PM Masanori I put the refrigerator magnet 1945 509th COMPOSITE GROUP 1995 FIRST ATOMIC BOMBARDMENT 50th ANNIVERSARY in the mail to you today. Reason I sent the magnet is to show THAT THERE ARE SOME REALLY-SICK MINDS [see reverse side of magnet] IN POWER in the US. Just got off the phone with John Young. Governments, including Japan, TRY to mess with peoples' minds. There is a book on this. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/quicksearch-query/002-2147604-1106833 But I have a solution. I do not read e-mail. At this time. I also believe in what Kahn wrote Thursday, March 20, 1980, 09:30 David Kahn addressed Congress, the Committee on Government Operations. Kahn stated to the committee, A final benefit is that refusing to restrict cryptologic studies erects yet another rampart against the chipping away of American liberties. Is this rampart, again, worth the danger to national security? Yes, because the danger is not as acute as the N.S.A. wishes people to see it. N.S.A. wants people to think that publication of cryptologic material would slam shut its window into the Third World countries. In fact such publication has little effect ... The national security dangers are not so great as to dismantle individual freedom. For all of these reasons, then, no limitation should be placed on the study of cryptology. And beyond them all lies something more fundamental, in the end, will probably prevent any restrictions anyway. It is called the First Amendment. I thank you. I hope you see that I am using the seventh amendment. http://www.jya.com/whp052898.htm And even more adamantly I believe For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Kahn on Codes page 172 Best regards bill

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