April 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Authenticating Meat
by Major Variola (ret) 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

At 11:22 PM 4/25/03 -0400, Patrick Chkoreff wrote: >All this talk about meatspace suggests we should have some spare ribs >with those beers. Ribs from sacred cows are the best. >Of course, writing style and personality can help expose private key >hijacking and impersonation somewhat, though even that can be >counterfeited. I can recognize a post by JP May with my eyes squinted, >just looking at the shapes of the letters and paragraphs. But I bet I >could do an utterly, mind-bogglingly good impersonation if I tried. Try John Young sometime, after those beers. And Hettinga is probably a perl script :-) But seriously, you've just mentioned what's called "textual analysis". Spelling errors and other idiosyncratic choices can be used to "pierce the veil" of anonymity. That's what did in Dr. Kaczynski, who pissed on the FBI for over a decade, until his brother recognized his text. Running text through automatic translators (engl->german-engl) has been suggested, but deeper signatures may remain. It probably wouldn't have helped Dr. K. --- "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship." --Alexander Fraser Tyler

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Re: Anonglish (was: Re: Authenticating Meat)
by Thomas Shaddack 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

> According to Schneier doing this is a bad idea - (or so I recall from the > A.P. book which I've not reread in quite a while - I may be wrong) if you > use the same (or similar) cypher. i.e.: > > blowfish(blowfish(plaintext,key1),key2) is bad, > but rsa(blowfish(plaintext,key1),privatekey) is ok. Does it apply even if it is the same cipher but with different key length and/or block size? I was pondering such "encapsulation" for the situations when The Government forbids using ciphers stronger than <limit>. Then use as strong one as you wish, and encrypt the result in the legally-weak wrapper. Once they ask for your escrowed keys, or bruteforce it, they will figure out that you are a crypto-lawbreaker - but you will pass a routine automated screening. And once you catch their interest, you already have problems anyway.

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Re: Fake News for Big Brother
by Thomas Shaddack 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

On Tue, 29 Apr 2003, Sunder wrote: > Ok fine, but what about the old saw that you can't lie to any law > enforcement types? Who defines what is considered to be the truth?

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Re: Fake News for Big Brother
by Thomas Shaddack 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

On Wed, 30 Apr 2003, Sunder wrote: > > > Ok fine, but what about the old saw that you can't lie to any law > > > enforcement types? > > > > Who defines what is considered to be the truth? > > > Um, the guys holding the guns? Shouldn't then the saying be that you can't tell any law enforcement types what they don't want to hear?

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Re: Quarantines may be justified
by Harmon Seaver 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

On Wed, Apr 30, 2003 at 08:10:03AM -0400, Sunder wrote: > > While we're at it, there should be a law against noisy kids playing in > your neighbor's back yard, That's quite a bit different than having neighbors who play their stereo so loud you can't hear your own stereo in your house, eh? Which we've experienced quite a bit. Or like when the morons next door had the stereo so loud that the two of us who were working on the roof of my house couldn't even work because we couldn't communicate even when shouting. We don't need a new law for this, the cops seem to be able to ticket them with no problem. Or like the idiots who's car stereo wakes us up at 2am, rattling our windows, even tho it's 20 below out and presumably they have their windows shut as we do ours. We do need new or more effective laws to deal with this however. (rest of nonsense deleted) > > Fuck that noise, you intolerant turd. I've a better idea: There should > be a law against people that say "there should be a law..." :) > Being assaulted by others smoke, noise, chemical pollutants or whatever is no different than being assualted by their fist. I find it more than a little amusing that most of the so-called "libertarians" I come across haven't the slightest clue that their "freedom" ends at my personal space. One of the main reasons I no longer contribute to the LP and probably won't vote for any more LP candidates, since most libertarians seem to express the attitude of "Fuck everybody else, I can do whatever I want." -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com

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RE: Finder's Keepers, Smartcards, Anon Cash [Re: double-spending prevention w. spent coins]
by Trei, Peter 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

> Jim Choate[SMTP:ravage@einstein.ssz.com] > > On Sat, 26 Apr 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote: > > > One of the attributes that a digital currency system MAY have is > > whether someone who finds lost currency may spend it. Conventional > > cash has this property. So do tickets to performances, lottery > > tickets, bus tokens, prepaid phone cards etc.. > > A (tamper-resistant) smartcard may have this > > 'finders keepers' property, or may not. > > And anyone with two halves of a clue to rub together will only use a > system that -won't- allow this. Who in their right mind is going to give > money away... > So Jim, you have no coins in your pocket, or bills in your wallet? The 'Finders-Keepers' attribute greatly enhances non-traceability, while putting the onus for security on the holder. It's a tradeoff, like so many things. Peter Trei

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Govt uses private investigators to watch quarantined
by Major Variola (ret) 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/science/sciencespecial/18INFE.html?ex=105… They put a police guard on one patient at a hospital and have hired private security investigators to check on people in isolation. "This is a time when the needs of a community outweigh those of a single person." Ontario's health minister, Tony Clement

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Re: Osama wins, but the patient dies
by Tyler Durden 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

I don't know if Osama wins... The tumor may have been removed but the cancer has metastisized. -TD >From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv(a)cdc.gov> >To: "cypherpunks(a)lne.com" <cypherpunks(a)lne.com> >Subject: Osama wins >Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:24:20 -0700 > >Most U.S. Troops to Leave Saudi Arabia >PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia - In a major shift in American >focus in the Persian Gulf, the United States is all but ending its >military >presence in Saudi Arabia, abandoning this remote desert air base that >was >built in the 1990s and made the site of a high-tech air operations >center in >2001. >http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20030… > > > >And the Minister of Fatherland Security shows his bravery: > >WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tom Rich planned a family vacation to Britain but >changed his mind after the deadly poison ricin turned up in a London >apartment during the arrest of terrorist suspects. > >"I just don't think it's the right time to go," says Rich, of Duxbury, >Mass. "I don't think we'll do anything this summer." >http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRAVEL_ANXIETY?SITE=FLTAM&SECTIO… > > > > Father and I went down to camp, > Along with Colin Powell; > And there we saw the men and boys, > As thick as oil most foul. > > Sheik Osama, keep it up, > Sheik Osama dandy; > Mind the music and the step, > And with the planes be handy. > > There was Gen'l Tommy Franks > Upon a slapping stallion, > A-giving orders to his men, > I guess there was a million. > > And then the feathers on his hat, > They looked so' tarnal fin-a, > I wanted pockily to get > To give to my Jemima. > > And then we saw a tomahawk, > Large as a log of maple; > Upon a deuced little cart, > A load for father's cattle. > > And every time they shoot it off, > It takes a horn of powder; > It makes a noise like father's gun, > Only a nation louder. > > I went as nigh to one myself, > As' Siah's underpinning; > And father went as nigh agin, > I thought the deuce was in him. > > We saw a little barrel, too, > The heads were made of leather; > They knocked upon it with little clubs, > And called the folks together. > > And there they'd fife away like fun, > And play on cornstalk fiddles, > And some had ribbons red as blood, > All bound around their middles. > > The rangers, too, would gallop up > And fire right in our faces; > It scared me almost to death > To see them run such races. > > Uncle Sam came there to change > Some noni and some onions, > For' lasses cake to carry home > To give his wife and young ones. > > But I can't tell half I see > They kept up such a smother; > So I took my hat off, made a bow, > And scampered home to mother. > > Cousin Rumsfeld grew so bold, > I thought he would have cocked it; > It scared me so I streaked it off, > And hung by father's pocket. > > And there I saw a pumpkin shell, > As big as mother's basin; > And every time they touched it off, > They scampered like the nation. > > Sheik Osama, keep it up, > Sheik Osama dandy; > Mind the music and the step, > And with the girls be handy _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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The Power to Believe
by Tyler Durden 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

"Sometimes god hides." -Fripp Fripp rules. Anyone heard "The Power to Believe" yet? Appropriate cover art. -TD >From: "Major Variola (ret)" <mv(a)cdc.gov> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: Re: Mike Hawash, Rev N. >Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:51:03 -0700 > >At 07:06 PM 4/29/03 -0700, Tim May wrote: > >Gee, I also have a beard, and a copy of the Koran, > >And if you don't personally have hypochlorites, you >know people who do. > > >I hope the Fedz never learn that I have ricin and > >There are Castor plants on the Central Expresway >north of Santa Clara. Clearly within your grasp. >And that lye you supposedly use to clear your >drains, yeah right. > > >sarin formulas on my computer, > >So, that tin-flouride in your so-called toothpaste is for >apatite-strengthening? Yeah, right. This boy was >on the same terrorist mailing list as a known >chem-terrorist, and IRS-unslave JBell. And >known antisocialite, JY. > >And you probably have isopropanol in your >so-called "bathroom". Lithium metal in so-called >"batteries". Speed-precursors in so-called >"decongestants". Radioisotopes in so-called >"salt-substitutes". And allah knows how many >Ca-illegal rice flails. > >"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is >the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough >criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that >it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws." >-- Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged" > >--- >SARS is Alallah's way of saying there are too many chinese, like HIV is >is the polytheistist way of saying too many Africans. And Anthrax is >a Federalist way of saying too many mailmen. Hogg taught percolation, >but no one was listening. > >"Sometimes god hides." -Fripp _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Secret Service Buffoons
by Major Variola (ret) 30 Apr '03

30 Apr '03

[from the cryptography list..] Hi -- I just returned from the Post Office. And I don't mean SMTP, I mean ink on paper, with little self-adhesive micropayment certificates on the corner. The reason is that the US Secret Service asked me to mail them some info about an identity-theft scam. I offered to email the info, but the Special Agent said he didn't have email at work, and it was "not convenient" for him to check his email account at Yahoo. At that point I broke off the conversation, figuring that if they couldn't invest the effort of checking their email they wouldn't invest the effort of actually investigating the incident in question, so I wouldn't waste any more of their time or mine. To my surprise, the Special Agent called back and pleaded with me. He changed his story and said they had means of sending and receiving email, but they _weren't allowed_ to give out their email addresses. I know this is supposed to be the Secret Service, but keeping their email addresses secret is going a bit far IMHO. I would think most computer-security professionals would know how to set up a temporary and/or anonymous email address. I hope he enjoys transcribing the scammers' 350-character-long URLs from the paper I sent. I put the info on a secure web site and suggested he pull it down from there, but he declined that, too. The Special Agent was surprised to hear that I controlled multiple web sites. He didn't understand how that was possible. The Special Agent was surprised to hear that given an IP address, I could figure out what country it's in. He argued with me about this. The term "whois" meant nothing to him. Heretofore I didn't understand how identity- theft rings could operate so openly. One might have thought they would be afraid of stings, but evidently they're not. There's a lot of darkness here. I've set out a few candles, but I'm not sure it's going to be enough.

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