December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Suggested Reading
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Declarations of Independance: Cross-examining American ideology Howard Zinn ISBN 0-06-092108-0 $14.00 US ____________________________________________________________________ Technology cannot make us other than what we are. James P. Hogan The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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No Subject
by Xena - Warrior Princess 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

U.S. claims success in curbing encryption trade WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Clinton administration officials Thursday said they had persuaded other leading countries to impose strict new export controls on computer data-scrambling products under the guise of arms control. At a meeting Thursday in Vienna, the 33 nations that have signed the Wassenaar Arrangement limiting arms exports -- including Japan, Germany and Britain -- agreed to impose controls on the most powerful data-scrambling technologies, including for the first time mass-market software, U.S. special envoy for cryptography David Aaron told Reuters. The United States, which restricts exports of a wide range of data-scrambling products and software -- also known as encryption -- has long sought without success to persuade other countries to impose similar restrictions. ``We think this is very important in terms of bringing a level playing field for our exporters,'' Aaron said. Leading U.S. high-technology companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp., have complained that the lack of restrictions in other countries hampered their ability to compete abroad. The industry has sought to have U.S. restrictions relaxed or repealed, but has not asked for tighter controls in other countries. Privacy advocates have also staunchly opposed U.S. export controls on encryption, arguing that data-scrambling technologies provided a crucial means of protecting privacy in the digital age. ``It's ironic, but the U.S. government is leading the charge internationally to restrict personal privacy and individual liberty around the world,'' said Alan Davidson, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group. Special envoy Aaron said the Wassenaar countries agreed to continue export controls on powerful encryption products in general but decided to end an exemption for widely available software containing such capabilities. ``They plugged a loophole,'' Aaron said. The new policy also reduced reporting and paperwork requirements and specifically excluded from export controls products that used encryption to protect intellectual property -- such as movies or recordings sent over the Internet -- from illegal copying, Aaron said. Encryption uses mathematical formulas to scramble information and render it unreadable without a password or software ``key.'' One important measure of the strength of the encryption is the length of the software key, measured in bits, the ones and zeros that make up the smallest unit of computer data. With the increasing speed and falling prices of computers, data encrypted with a key 40 bits long that was considered highly secure several years ago can now be cracked in a few hours. Cutting-edge electronic commerce and communications programs typically use 128-bit or longer keys. Under Thursday's agreement, Wassenaar countries would restrict exports of general encryption products using more than 56-bit keys and mass-market products with keys more than 64 bits long, Aaron said. Each country must now draft its own rules to implement the agreement.

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Twofish/AES News
by Bruce Schneier 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There are some new papers on the Twofish webpage. We have improved our performance numbers. On Pentium-class machines, key setup is faster. We also have large-RAM implementations, that speed key setup at the expense of 256K of RAM. We aso have a variety of performance options on smart cards, trading RAM off for speed. And finally, we have a new hardware implementation that reduces the total gate count. Details are in Twofish Technical Report #3: http://www.counterpane.com/twofish-speed.html Dave Barton has implemented Twofish in Delphi: http://www.hertreg.ac.uk/ss/d_crypto.html And finally, we have compared the performance of all AES submissions on 32-bit processors, smart cards, and hardware. Our results are in. http://www.counterpane.com/AES-performance.html As always, thanks for your support. Bruce ********************************************************************** Bruce Schneier, President, Counterpane Systems Phone: 612-823-1098 101 E Minnehaha Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55419 Fax: 612-823-1590 Free crypto newsletter. See: http://www.counterpane.com

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Make your own IQ test online!!! (Free+FUN)
by phormiga＠bigfoot.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

you can do it now! YouŽll know your IQ in a few minutes Go to http.//www.hormiga.org/iqt.htm FREE AND FUN YouŽll know your Intelligence Coeficent Spanish version http://www.hormiga.org/iq.htm

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Mixmaster client 4 the Mac OS?
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I heard sometime last summer that the mixmaster client was being ported to the Mac. Does anyone know the status of this project?

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ChemWeb password
by info＠chemweb.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Your request for a ChemWeb password has been received. We will try to help you out as soon as possible. For additional help with technical problems, please see our online help guide at http://chemweb.com/help/html/index.html Thank you ChemWeb administration

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Apology for mixup in press release mailing list
by Teemu Hukkanen 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Due to an unsuspected flaw, our mailing lists were slightly misconfigured which allowed replies to the original press release email to be forwarded to all recipients in the list. -- postmaster(a)datafellows.com

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Re: I Got Mine
by HyperReal-Anon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Now there's a really intelligent response to the MIB! I think Blanc would >have done a better self-service to have responded that way. > >MAKE THEM GET A WARRANT! It's your ONLY legal defense against a fishing >expedition! It's our CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to require a warrant before >letting them in! We are NOT criminals just because we do not allow the MIBs >to make ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL searches of our properties! > >If they can't convince a judge AND obtain a specifically worded search >warrant then they are obviously fishing! Tell to go find a real deep lake... > >I also give the writer an A+ for the Clintonian and Reagonesque touches! > >APF The MIB have a convenient way around this. If you let them in voluntarily, they're nice. If you make them get a warrant, they come back, guns drawn. They barge in and tear the place up for hours. Maybe they'll hack down some of the walls to search for drugs. In the end, you have something which is a cross between a pile of papers, a bunch of dust, electronic parts, wiring, torn up books, destroyed furniture, and a pile of crumbled drywall to call home. Heil Klintonkov! Heil Reno! Heil Freeh! StatistMonger

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Re: I Got Mine
by Albert P. Franco, II 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>The MIB have a convenient way around this. If you let them in voluntarily, >they're nice. If you make them get a warrant, they come back, guns drawn. >They barge in and tear the place up for hours. Maybe they'll hack down some >of the walls to search for drugs. In the end, you have something which is a >cross between a pile of papers, a bunch of dust, electronic parts, wiring, >torn up books, destroyed furniture, and a pile of crumbled drywall to call >home. > >Heil Klintonkov! Heil Reno! Heil Freeh! > >StatistMonger > Unfortunately, this is true. That's why I loved the response given by Anon! It accomplished all the right things without giving them cause for coming back!! VERY, VERY GOOD! APF

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ChemWeb.com
by Davina Heaven 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear Dr Cypherpunks Thank you for your message to ChemWeb.com. Please enter your Member Name (user name) and Password exactly as shown below (please note that our system is case sensitive and will not tolerate spaces): Member Name: cypherpunks Password: crossfire If you have any further queries or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me again. Yours sincerely, Davina Heaven Customer Services ChemWeb Inc. 50 New Bond Street London W1Y 6HA Tel: +44 (0)171 499 4748 Fax: +44 (0)171 499 4102 http://ChemWeb.com World Wide Club for the Chemical Community > -----Original Message----- > From: cypherpunks(a)toad.com [SMTP:cypherpunks@toad.com] > Sent: None > To: info(a)chemweb.com > Subject: ChemWeb password > > Request for password: > > Full name: cypherpunks cypherpunks > Current e-mail: cypherpunks(a)toad.com > Other e-mails: > Member name: cypherpunks > Comment:

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