April 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Trusted Computing Group trying to be TCPA follow-on [eetimes]
by Bill Stewart 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

New group aims to secure PCs, PDAs, cell phones By Rick Merritt, EE Times April 8, 2003 (2:20 p.m. EST) URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20030408S0046 SAN MATEO, Calif. Fifteen companies announced Tuesday [April 8] they have formed the Trusted Computing Group, an industry initiative to define and promote a specification for security in PCs, servers, PDAs and cellphones. The group essentially reboots the efforts of the now-disbanded PC-centric Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA), this time including participation from Nokia and consumer electronics companies such as Sony and Philips. The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) expects to release a specification for PC security before the end of the year. A spec for cell phones, however, could be as much as two years away. Founding members of the TCG are carryovers from the earlier 190-member TCPA effort. They include AMD, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel and Microsoft. Contributing members include Atmel, Infineon, National Semiconductor, Nokia, Philips, Phoenix Technologies, Sony, ST Microelectronics, VeriSign and Wave Systems. The TCPA defined a trusted platform module (TPM), a basic device with encryption and secure memory capabilities to oversee PC security. However the TPM 1.1 chips now shipping from companies such as Atmel, Infineon and National Semiconductor have not been widely adopted to date and do not conform to concepts for a secure PC execution mode recently defined by Microsoft under a program it called Palladium. The TCG is defining a specification for a 1.2 version TPM and a software stack that will work with the Palladium architecture Microsoft developed in collaboration with Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices. Microsoft will detail this approach publicly for the first time at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in May. Microsoft's implementation, which it now calls the Next Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), will require new logic in several PC components including processors, chip sets, graphics processors and I/O devices. Indeed, the concept for a secure operating mode is so broad Microsoft will devote an entire track at WinHEC about 18 hours of content to describing it. Microsoft has not said, however, when it will ship software that complies with NGSCB. Industry watchers expect that code will appear late next year or early in 2005 in the next major version of Windows, dubbed Longhorn. The security scheme will work in conjunction with processor functions Intel Corp. calls Le Grande Technology and has embedded in its next-generation Pentium processor dubbed Prescott, expected to ship later this year. AMD will also support the PC security concepts in its processors though it has not indicated when. The TPM 1.2 modules will include a new session encryption interface and secure state counters that prevent replay security attacks, said Stephen Heil, a technical evangelist for security at Microsoft. The TCG has separate working groups defining those modules, a security software stack and particular needs for both servers and PDAs. The TCG is about to launch a working group to define a specification for secure cellphones, an effort that could take 18 to 24 months. Nokia is expected to be a key contributor to that group in addition to other members still being recruited by the TCG. I would expect to see our membership broaden to include many of the players required for that effort, said Geoffrey Strongin, a security specialist at AMD. Jim Ward, chair of TCG and a security specialist with IBM, said the group would like to create other specifications for platforms such as set-top boxes and video game consoles though no active efforts are currently underway. We are looking to develop a broad specification that can be used by a broad set of products, he said. The industry is coming together, said John Hull, director of marketing for advanced PC products at National Semiconductor. We are thoroughly convinced that the future of the PC rests on three legs: networking, security and manageability. You will have to have all three to play in PCs going forward, he added. Hull said he expects TPM module makers will update their products to comply with the new security spec when Prescott processors roll out this fall. Further in the future, the modules could be integrated into existing PC components such as SuperI/O parts that provide legacy support for serial, parallel, keyboard and floppy controllers. IBM is about the only company in production with systems using the [standalone] TPM 1.1 devices as far as I know, said Hull. Ward said IBM has shipped millions of TPM devices in its PC systems. An HP spokesman said the company has not yet shipped systems with the modules which typically cost about $5. We have to increase the rate of adoption. That's why integration with Super I/O makes a lot of sense. We think this will be a checkbox item going forward, Hull added. As a legally incorporated group, the TCG will enforce reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing of any intellectual property in the spec and define a mechanism to certify compliance to it. The group is also expected to take a more pro-active approach than its predecessor to addressing controversial issues about privacy and digital rights raised by the PC security effort. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)wasabisystems.com

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Re: "Lone terrorist" bill
by Tyler Durden 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

Variola wrote... "In fact, they'll soon abuse this to monitor anyone, more so (or more "legally") than they do now. And antiabortion loonies, PETA, Earthfirst, folks who hang No War banners, folks without flags on their cars, anyone named Akbar or Mohammed, .." And remember, you don't actually have to DO anything to be a terrorist. Just thinking about these things makes you a "sleeper cell". -TD >From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv(a)cdc.gov> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: Re: "Lone terrorist" bill >Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003 14:11:31 -0700 > >At 12:05 PM 4/9/03 -0700, Eric Murray wrote: > >WTF is a "lone terrorist"? > >What they're trying for is someone who hears an Osama tape and takes the >initiative, without external connections. Sorta like the 101st Airborne >dude >who fragged the invaders, but domestically. > >In fact, they'll soon abuse this to monitor anyone, more so (or more >"legally") >than they do now. And antiabortion loonies, PETA, Earthfirst, folks who >hang No War banners, >folks without flags on their cars, anyone named Akbar or Mohammed, .. > >Terrorist is the new root password to the Constitution. _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Re: "Guaranteed hack-free" encryption useful for Homeland Security!
by Damian Gerow 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

Bill Frantz <frantz(a)pwpconsult.com> wrote: > At 12:22 PM -0700 4/8/03, Declan McCullagh wrote: > >http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/4/prweb61830.php > > I like particularly: > > "Patent Pending Encryption Algorithm Encrypts Data Dynamically. The > HyperDrive Encryption Method Dynamically changes and as it is not a seed > based algorithm, it is impossible to decipher." > > Now impossible to decypher is a claim I haven't seen before. Let's see, we > can combine it with compression, and get SHA1, or for even faster execution > and better compression, MD5. This could be coincidence, but did you guys see the release date? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 1, 2003 01:00 p.m. EST NEWS MEDIA CONTACT Jeff Fries, (919)663-6291 Web Site http://www.fly-pegasus.com Not to mention that they're a web design shop...

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Re: The secret government marches on...
by Tyler Durden 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

Bill Stewart wrote... >He may have snorted one plane-load of that coke, but this is the first time >I've heard an assertion that he flew the planes as opposed to just getting >high... There are many facts linking George W to moving drugs. First, the airplane he would occasionally fly while Governer of Texas was the same plane used to move the drugs during Iran-Contra. Second, there's that strage rumor that George W. actually took a bust in Florida after having landed a planeload of coke there. (Apparently him getting busted was a result of one of those inter-agency snafus...he was released quickly but there's apparently some video somewhere.) This may seem unlikely, but when one remembers that 1) George W is a licensed pilot, 2) His daddy is George Sr, ex-CIA chief and mastermind of Iran-Contra... Search around on www.spitfirelist.com and you can find the references. -TD _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Time for the UN to cease.
by Sarad AV 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

hi, What do we need the UN for any way.I think its a waste of lot of money. If you want to help kids you can help as a local organisation.WHy security council-If you want peace you can send your own peace keeping troops.How many ethnic cleansings have the UN been able to stop?If you want to give others food-send them food,why do you need the UN? Why do we need the ICJ-all trials are not fair and unbaised?Why do we need UN to be a mouthpiece of US and UK for spreading propoganda? When the UN cease to exists others countries will have the power to prevent aggressions as it no longer needs to follow the commitment a perfectly useless organisation called UN. US stepped in when kuwait was invaded by iraq,what happened to the Un when US invaded iraq? The UN is not working-if it did,I wouldn't be saying this.Who is going to respect the judgements of UN from now any way? So why don't all our nations spend the money on more useful things like educating its children,provide help and shelter. Sarath. Yahoo! Tax Center - File online, calculators, forms, and more http://tax.yahoo.com

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Re: "Lone terrorist" bill
by Major Variola (ret) 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

At 01:12 PM 4/9/03 -0700, Tim May wrote: >(Also a good time to get rid of those teflon-coated frying pans. Better dispose of that freon-filled fridge, too.[1] You don't have a pool, do you? That muriatic acid and chorine powder is a WMD just waiting to be deployed. Hate to be an Arab-American pool maintainer.. And Allah help you if you work at a metal plating factory. Metal cans make excellent timers, too. [1] In college, long ago, we had a fridge whose freezer regularly iced up solid. Some folks decided to use a propane torch to rapidly defrost. Luckily there was a chem major who wandered in.

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ANNOUNCE: SF Cypherpunks Meeting, Saturday 4/12, Moscone Center SF, 1-5pm
by Bill Stewart 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

The San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks will be meeting Saturday, April 12, 2003, from 1-5pm. The meeting will be in Moscone Center North, Room 112. The RSA show starts Sunday, so people from all over will be around. Agenda: Our agenda, as ever, is a tightly held secret :-) This is an open public meeting on US soil. Logistics - You'll need to go to registration to get day passes, because it's a show floor setup day. I'll try to make sure there are signs, and that the processes work. Kellie Beakey is the person at registration who coordinates them. They might want people to sign in (so think of creative aliases!) but I will try to make this not happen. Directions: Moscone Center is at 3rd-4th St. and Howard. Moscone Center North is the side closer to Market St., adjacent to the Sony Metreon (which has coffee and food court.) - BART stops at Powell, which is near 4th and Market, about 3 blocks away. - Muni busses run down 4th St. from Market - Caltrain is still doing weekend construction, but they claim to run busses. The Caltrain depot is 4th and Townsend, and Muni busses go back up 3rd. Bill Stewart - bill.stewart(a)pobox.com - cell phone +1-415-307-7119

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Broad spying tools would become permanent
by Jei 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/04/0… GOP wants to keep anti-terror powers Broad spying tools would become permanent New York Times Wednesday, April 9, 2003 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington -- Congressional Republicans, working with the Bush administration, are maneuvering to make permanent the sweeping anti-terrorism powers granted to federal law enforcement agents after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said Tuesday. The move is likely to touch off strong objections from many Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress who believe that the Patriot Act, as the legislation that grew out of the attacks is known, has already given the government too much power to spy on Americans. The landmark legislation expanded the government's power to use eavesdropping, surveillance, access to financial and computer records and other tools to track terrorist suspects. When it passed in October 2001, moderates and civil libertarians in Congress agreed to support it only by making many critical provisions temporary. Those provisions will expire, or "sunset," at the end of 2005 unless Congress reauthorizes them. But Republicans in the Senate in recent days have discussed a proposal, authored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would repeal the so-called sunset provisions and make the expanded powers permanent, officials said. Republicans may seek to move on the proposal this week by trying to attach it to another anti-terrorism bill that would make it easier for the government to use secret surveillance warrants against "lone wolf" terrorism suspects. Many Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated by what they see as a lack of information from the Justice Department on how its agents are using their newfound powers. The Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said Tuesday that without extensive review, he "would be very strongly opposed to any repeal" of the 2005 time limit. He predicted that Republicans did not have the votes to repeal the limits. A senior Justice Department official on Tuesday said the Patriot Act has allowed the FBI to move faster and more flexibly to disrupt terrorists before they strike. "We don't want that to expire on us," the official said. With the act's provisions not set to expire for more than 2 1/2 years, officials expected that the debate over its future would be many months away. But political jockeying over separate, bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., appears to have given Hatch the chance to move on the issue much earlier than expected. The Kyl-Schumer measure would eliminate the need for federal agents seeking secret surveillance warrants to show that a suspect is affiliated with a foreign power or agent, such as a terrorist group. Advocates say the measure would make it easier for agents to go after "lone wolf" terrorists who are not connected to a foreign group. The proposal was approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But Republicans were upset because several Democrats said that when the measure reaches the Senate floor for a full vote, perhaps this week or later in the month, they plan to offer amendments that would impose tougher restrictions on the use of secret warrants.

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Model legislation proposed for Iraq
by Tim May 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

BAGHDAD (Routers) -- A team of Coalition legislators, lawyers, prosecutors, and judges has been air-dropped into Firbol Square to take charge of Saddam's statue's head and to prepare Iraqi democracy for the post-liberation era. Copies of the suggested model legislation were distributed to reporters outside the Tel Aviv Hotel (formerly the Palestine Hotel). Copies were made on French copiers looted from the Ministry of Information. Some of the items in the model legislation include: * passage of the "Iraqi PATRIOT Act." This Act would ban speech deemed harmful to the nation, would allow jailing of material witnesses and other illegal combatants without charges, would declare Islam to be a terror-related cult, and would basically be much more efficient that the primitive tools used by Saddam. * establishment of a dual-party system and the lobbyists and graft collectors necessary to make such a system work. The names of the parties have not been finalized, but at least one of them will likely be called "The Republican Guard." * a change in the name of the Ministry of Information to "Department of Homeland Security." It is suggested that the current Minister of Information, aka Baghdad Bob, be named Secretary of Homeland Security. * restrictions on terrorist use of cryptography (in other words, use of cryptography by non-governmental bodies). * a national ID system based on the system in use in Coalition countries * an extensive system of surveillance cameras similar to the one deployed in the United Kingdom, a Coalition principal * a recommendation that Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabia reporters face charges of sedition for illegally reporting events not intended to be reported * strong new restrictions on pornography, smut, and hate speech * a nationwide smoking ban [rest of model legislation at www.coalition.gov/ourplan]

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Re: "Lone terrorist" bill
by Major Variola (ret) 10 Apr '03

10 Apr '03

At 10:48 PM 4/9/03 -0500, Harmon Seaver wrote: >> "Olsen would face life in prison if convicted of the federal charge of >> possession of a biological agent or toxin for use as a weapon. " > > Holy shit -- a cigarette falls under that classification. There's enough >nicotine in one to kill anyone if simply extracted. Good observation. And unlike ricin, there are good reasons for making a tobacco extract --garden use. (A few pro gardeners a year die from commercial nicotine-based pesticides, I've read. A drop'll do ya.) Keep your nic setup with your gardening stuff, just like you keep your pipes and endcaps with your plumbing supplies, your chlorine generators with your pool supplies, your AN with your other fertilizers, you get the picture. However ricin takes a day or so, whereas nic is fairly immediate. Rather interesting that both Olsen's wife and jilted mistress both deny any plans. Though Agilent spying on his work-browsing and turning him in to Feds is perhaps more interesting. Lots of bored prosecutors needing slow deepfrying, like that Eastern Missouri inbreed Raymond W. Gruender (who charged Paypal with terrorism), trying to build his career perhaps because his sister won't fuck him any more. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110103,00.asp

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