April 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Anonymous Transport Layer
by Patrick Chkoreff 27 Apr '03

27 Apr '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 From: John Kelsey <kelsey.j(a)ix.netcom.com> (Regarding my non-blinded scheme) > Right. You actually can get reasonable anonymity with the kind of > scheme > you're proposing, assuming anonymous communications and heavy use of > the > system. When you get a coin issued, you just keep it in limbo for > awhile, > and then "spend" it with yourself, iterating until your paranoia level > is > satisfied. If the system is heavily used for real stuff, and the uses > are > over an anonymous communications network, there should be no way for > the > bank to tell when you're transferring the coin to yourself, vs. when > you're > transferring it to someone else. ... I have sometimes wondered if it might be possible to use non-blinded digital notes on top of an anonymous transport layer and thereby achieve the same untraceability as that provided by blinded digital notes. So, I considered the possibility that a coder might be lazy and write a system that over normal IP would have undesirable traceability characteristics, and simply wave his hands and say "Ah, no problem, I'm letting the transport layer (Tarzan, ANON, etc.) take care of that." If such a division of labor were possible, it would be analogous to using a Secure Socket Layer in an application, knowing only how to set up and tear down the protocol but nothing in particular about cryptography. One might even assume the worst case, that the server records every bit of information it ever receives for all time. The main events recorded would be of the form "At time T, the server received note P[i] for redemption and sent out note P[i+1] in return." So there would in fact (worst case) be a traceable chain P[1]-> ... ->P[n]. However, there would be no IP address information because of the anonymous transport layer. > The bank can tell that you have coin X > today, and that 20 iterations ago, that was coin Y. ... Yes, I see, the P[1]->...->P[n] chain. > But that isn't going > to give very much information about whether the coin is still in the > possession of the same person. ... Yes, but the 20 rounds of thrashing occur within a specific short time period, so that won't fool ANY spook worth his salt, right? Alice deposits a gold Maple at the bank and receives P[1]. The next day she thrashes P[1]-> ... -> P[20] in a period of one second. Four days later she spends P[20] with Bob's Kinky Sex Emporium. Bob swaps P[20] for P[21]. The next day he redeems P[21] for a gold Maple (ignoring fees of course). I guess the problem here is that the bank receiving and issuing gold Maples knows that P[1] belongs to Alice and P[21] belongs to Bob@Kinky. The time stamps on the chain of swaps P[1] ... P[20] look suspiciously like obscurity-thrashing, although the bank cannot be absolutely sure, of course. Instead, Alice might have spent P[1] for a gardening book at Amazon and some kinky employee there did the thrashing P[2] ... P[20]. Such a scheme might provide a certain level of plausible deniability, but I am not sure one could capitalize on it enough to build a solid system. It does sound a bit crufty compared to blinding, although the possibility of a more efficient implementation (storing unspent coins only for low disk usage and hyper-fast lookup) might compensate -- although there might be a cost in bandwidth, but that might be proportional to paranoia level and charged accordingly. The idea of implementing a relatively unsafe digital note protocol on top of an anonymous transport layer is appealing, but I am not sure such a division of labor is possible. Can anyone provide a bit of guidance on this point? I know Google is my friend, but this is a pretty subtle question and just a hint will suffice. The problem at the endpoints described above might be mitigated considerably if we had a world-wide network of gold kiosks providing bidirectional swapping of physical gold and digital notes -- a true e-hawala. Alice could don a ski mask and deposit a gold Maple in Jasper, Georgia, and five days later Bob@Kinky could don a ski mask and receive a gold Maple in Helsinki. There would be no "bank" where Alice or Bob would have to identify themselves. <tangent> There's an ideal world scenario for you -- gold kiosks, cheap disposable smart card note purses, and wireless network everywhere. In an interesting twist, this would not in fact be a "cashless society," but an even more "cashful society" with one brand new feature: the ability to teleport fungible gold atoms from Jasper to Helsinki in a fraction of a second. The ultimate hawala, where oil-powered shipment of gold would only occasionally be necessary to balance out the kiosk inventories. Perhaps eventually the need for giant central stores of gold could be nearly eliminated. Gold would just be laying around in kiosks everywhere on the planet, just waiting for someone with the right bits (or tools :-) to pick it up. I'm sure many of you have discussed such starry-eyed visions at length, but please forgive this newbie for indulging a bit as this cappuccino-inspired vision possesses him. </tangent> - -- Patrick http://fexl.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 8.0 iQA/AwUBPqv4x1A7g7bodUwLEQIMfQCgw3QwMINRZKzZdP+8ke6JjuLYAlUAoKBl fMuBMYvCkXdK+kZv1PT5Ki51 =Vxog -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: The Freest Country?
by Thoenen, Peter SPRINT CIV 27 Apr '03

27 Apr '03

Actually, the US tax issue doesn't care where you live / work / reside / domicile, that's the problem. The US is one of the FEW countries that taxes it citizens regardless of where you live in the world and / or if you are additional paying taxes to foreign governments (since you live / work there). Only bonus you get living outside the US is the first $80K USD is tax-free (federal and state, not FICA (which is paid at 15% since you count as self-employed for tax purposes regardless if you work for a foreign company)). The US looks at it as a kind of future benefits tax. You have NOT given up your US citizenship so obviously one day you do plan to return and live in the US (regardless of truth or not). The taxes you pay while you are not here will support the federal benefits and infrastructure you receive when you do one day decide to return to the US and live. While one could argue you could not report / misreport the monies you made while working / living in a foreign country, that is tax evasion and something the feds don't take kindly to (especially if you bring yourself back to the states to live / visit). Its not as if you can keep it under the table either, your entry / exit records at the US border are kept file. Kind of suspicious not making *ANY* money in the years you lived overseas, raises an eyebrow or two with the IRS. Additional, you are not authorized to declare you have no intention to ever returning to the US live (some states allow you to declare this is writing making you exempt from ALL state taxes). Your options are: 1. Keep US citizenship, pay FICA (and taxes +$80K USD) 2. Keep US citizenship, misreport taxes, risk tax evasion. 3. Pay US taxes until you establish residency in another nation. Official surrender your US citizenship. 4. Immediately surrender your US citizenship (before gaining residency in another nation). You official become a 'stateless person (UN)'. Risky boat to be in. While 3 looks to be the best choice, nice things about being a citizen of the sole superpower is: 1. Can always go back to the US, its relatively stable. 2. US State Dept. honestly does care and try to help US citizens living in foreign countries (even today). 3. US Passport is a gateway to anywhere, very very few visa requirements. Nice thing to have. So for us who never plan to return to the US it comes down to money, just how much is our US Citizenship worth to us. Is that passport / legal status worth the yearly fee required. Its a question we all must ask ourselves. -Peter DISCLAIMER: This message in no way reflects upon the official opinions / policies of the US Army or Sprint. The opinion expressed above is the sole responsibility of the sender. > -----Original Message----- > From: Bill Stewart [mailto:bill.stewart@pobox.com] > Sent: Sunday, April 27, 2003 09:05 > To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com > Subject: Re: The Freest Country? > > > At 09:18 PM 04/26/2003 -0700, Tim May wrote: > >[This space reserved for insertion of usual silliness about > >living out of suitcase, stuffed or not, and being a > "perpetual tourist," > >which only works if one is below a certain net worth and if > >one likes to travel a lot.] > > There are different kinds of perpetual tourism, some of which involve > less travelling than others. I have friends who are believed by the > Netherlands bureaucrats to be spending their time in Belgium, > and by the Belgian bureaucrats to be over in the Netherlands. > > I think the apartment in the Netherlands is probably > different than their > official when-we're-not-outside-the-country address, > and that their Belgian address is a mailbox, but I could have > that backwards, > and at least one of their addresses is probably owned by a > corporation, > and their net worth is probably in Switzerland or some such location, > but while their net worth is fine, I think they're probably retired > or at most "consulting" rather than doing full-time work. > On the other hand, one nice thing about that area is that if they > _do_ need to be out of the country, it's an hour or two across an > unguarded border. > > I don't know if it's as easy to confuse the US and Canada about > which country you're living in, and while the borders are permeable, > they're a lot more thoroughly audited than they used to be, > so maybe you need to spend more time on the ferryboat to Vancouver > instead of driving or flying commercially.

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Fake News for Big Brother
by Eric Cordian 27 Apr '03

27 Apr '03

Here's a disturbing little footnote in the evolving story of complicity between news organizations and the government. It seems that not only will the news media provide AmeriKKKans with fluffy PG-rated coverage of the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, and the slaughter of thousands of people only trying to defend their homeland. The news media, will, in fact, print fake news supplied by the government, with full knowlege that it is false, to further an ongoing investigation. Case in point. http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0317/news-dawdy.php This would be a good article to keep in mind when you hear media reports that Saddam's "Weapons of Mass Destruction" have finally been found. ----- NEWSPAPERS HAVE really only one obligation: to truthfully inform readers. Yet last week the King County Journal, a Bellevue-based daily serving the east and south suburbs, admitted failure to do even that in March 2002 when it printed a phony story about a suspicious fire that was actually staged by police to appear to be an arson. This story starts in January 2002, when Steven Sherer was convicted of killing his wife; her body was never found. The conviction didn't sit well with Sherer. From behind prison walls, prosecutors assert, he plotted to kill his former mother-in-law, his son, the prosecutor, and the prosecutor's four children. For starters, he contracted with his cellmate to torch the Bellevue home where his former mother-in-law and his son lived, preferably with them inside, according to court documents. Law enforcement officials found out and decided to stage an arson at Sherer's former mother-in-law's in order to dig up more information about Sherer's conspiracy. One problem: The cops needed to somehow prove to Sherer that the arson happened. So they contacted the King County Journal. Would the paper be willing to report the staged arson as if it were a real event so that they could have a clipping to pass along to Sherer? ... -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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Fwd: [Asrg] A New Plan for No Spam / Velocity Indicator
by R. A. Hettinga 27 Apr '03

27 Apr '03

--- begin forwarded text

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War Criminals or Illegal Combatants?
by Tim May 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

Bottom Line: These so-called Americans have got to go. CNN is reporting that the Big Debate about the rounded-up Iraqi leadership is whether the many Liberated Illegal Regime Members, a la Tariq Aziz and the other 54 spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds, are to be treated as "prisoners of war," and hence subject to the Geneva Conventions ("name, rank, serial number") or are to be treated as "illegal combatants" (torture, metal cages, withholding of food and water, sodium pentothal, shipment to Guantanamo Bay in metal boxes). When one is an "illegal combatant" in one's own country, we know the U.S. is run by characters out of Alice in Wonderland. I would say more, and more angrily, as I just did before deleting my paragraphs, except I don't desire a fatal visit by our Thought Police, aka the SS. What a fucking fascist country we have become. Fuck it dead. Piss on its corpse. Maybe something will then grow out of it. --Tim May, Occupied America "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759.

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Censorship: state bans games that kill pigs
by Major Variola (ret) 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/18/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/index.htm Wash. to ban 'violent' game sales State law will levy $500 fines to anyone selling Grand Theft Auto to children. ... The bill passed the Senate 47-7 and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gary Locke. Rather than targeting games based on their ratings, the bill specifically mentions those that depict violence against law enforcement officials. We are all reporters, we are all book sellers. We are all first class objects. --Tim May --- And from the Ministry of Irony: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has warned the Iranian government to stay out of Iraq and not interfere with the country http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/23/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

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Re: Quarantines may be justified [Santorum]
by Major Variola (ret) 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

At 08:51 PM 4/26/03 +0000, Justin wrote: >At 2003-04-26 17:38 +0000, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> At 05:41 PM 4/25/03 +0000, Justin wrote: >> >At 2003-04-25 16:31 +0000, Major Variola (ret) wrote: >> > >> >> But, Santorum needs to be tried & hung for what he meant. >> > >> >Do you have plans to try and hang the Supreme Court Justices who >> >upheld Sodomy laws in Bowers v Hardwick? >> >> Violating the constitution is treason. Only state actors can violate >> the constitution. > >Where'd you get that idea that private citizens can't violate the >Constitution? Take a look at 18USC241, 242. Regardless, federal judges >are certainly state actors, or at least they were when they committed >treason and a change of status shouldn't make them immune to >prosecution. Because the Constitution prohibits certain govt actions, not private. You can't post a sign on my property without my permission, but if the state allows signposting somewhere then they can't censor content. >> >What about the significant minority of Americans who'd completely >> >agree with Santorum's remarks? >> >> I don't care if its a *majority*, the Constitution trumps democracy. >> Democracy is merely mob rule. > >I'm well aware. I was only suggesting that there are many other people >beside the not-so-distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania who are in >desperate need of trial, rope, and tree. Its perfectly acceptable to agree with Santorum. It is unacceptable to initiate force to impose your tastes on others. Santorum speaks as one who can steer the State to initiate force. Mere voters don't. They get to pick which vermin to send to Congress, but these vermin are constrained by the Constitution, xor treasonous. >I'm confident that in a wide >sampling of religiously-motivated fanatics in the U.S., Who gives a whit if they don't like fudgepackers personally? That's a private affair. If they don't hire or associate with folks they don't like, reasonably or not, that's what liberty is about. "Hate speech", hate thought, private discrimination is not a crime. Its a difference of taste amongst free peoples interacting mutually consensually. Ergo no legal state interest. Unconstitutional actions by state actors is treason.

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Authenticating Meat [was Re: Thanks for the living hell]
by Major Variola (ret) 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

At 06:01 PM 4/25/03 -0400, Patrick Chkoreff wrote: >Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> At 02:20 PM 4/25/03 -0400, someone claiming to be Patrick Chkoreff >> wrote: > >(-: The sig is valid for the key at http://fexl.com/keys/patrick.txt) I didn't doubt that it was. However, my caveat remains true, and you haven't proved anything additional. An entity claiming that name, and claiming to be not-a-bot, and apparently controlling the DNS entry at the server I checked today for fexl.com today, has signed a message. Yep, I believe [1] that. I'm not picking on you. Neither am I trying to be a dick; skeptical socratics sometimes appear so. Check the archives for extended discussion as to what, exactly, signing proves. On the other hand, *whatever* entity has been signing these messages collects the reputations associated with them *more reliably*[1] than merely posting under your name. Maybe you're a 14 year old girl pretending to be an FBI agent pretending to be a cryptographer :-) Making the leap from key-holder to meatspace entity is unsound unless something in meatspace demonstrates it. You're all bits from here. ----- [1] Note that these beliefs are moderated by unfounded trust in PGP implem & algs, that you've protected your private key, etc. But we'll grant that for now. ----- "With a laser printer, you can get away with anything" --a Quark-using confederate in the late 80s, referring to the widespread trust of finely printed documents at the time

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Re: Quarantines may be justified [Santorum]
by Major Variola (ret) 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

At 05:41 PM 4/25/03 +0000, Justin wrote: >At 2003-04-25 16:31 +0000, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > >> But, Santorum needs to be tried & hung for what he meant. > >Do you have plans to try and hang the Supreme Court Justices who upheld >Sodomy laws in Bowers v Hardwick? Violating the constitution is treason. Only state actors can violate the constitution. Maybe we can send them to Manzanera for re-education. >What about the significant minority >of Americans who'd completely agree with Santorum's remarks? I don't care if its a *majority*, the Constitution trumps democracy. Democracy is merely mob rule. Its merely the easiest govt to sell to the proles. Unfortunately it leads to looting and ignoring the Constitution when its enforcers are swayed by popinion.

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Some interesting quotes...
by Jim Choate 26 Apr '03

26 Apr '03

The Earth should be regarded as the womb of life - but one cannot remain in the womb forever. Frank Tipler Though control, like birth control, is best undertaken as long as possible before the fact. Richard Mitchell When the people are being beaten by a stick, they are not much happier when it is called "the People's Stick." Michael Bakunin The question that will decide our destiny is not whether we shall expand into space. It is: shall we be one species or a million? A million species will not exhaust the ecological niches that are awaiting the arrival of intelligence. Freeman Dyson Green technology means we do not live in cans but adapt our plants and our animals and ourselves to live wild in the universe as we find it. Freeman Dyson Tyranny is always better organized than freedom. Charles Peguy One has to multiply thoughts to the point where there aren't enough policemen to control them. Stanislaw Jerzey Lec The corporation evolves to serve the interests of whoever controls it, at the expense of whoever it does not. William Dugger Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass Man is an artifact designed for space travel. He is not designed to remain in his present biological state any more than a tadpole is designed to remain a tadpole. William Burroughs If we desire to form individuals capable of inventive thought and of helping the society of tomorrow to achieve progress, then it is clear that an education which is an active discovery of reality is superior. Jean Piaget Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter. African Proverb Take from: GURPS: Transhuman Space: Deep Beyond Steve Jackson Games ISBN 1-55634-586-0 -- ____________________________________________________________________ We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Criswell, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.org www.ssz.com www.open-forge.org --------------------------------------------------------------------

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