October 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: e-gold
by R.A. Hettinga 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 At 5:32 PM -0400 10/20/04, Somebody wrote: >How much do you know about the e-gold crew? I've sent them a couple >of queries and I've gotten answers back that haven't been very >pleasing. The short story is that they're a Jesus-is-coming-and-boy-is-he-pissed pre-millennium gold transaction startup, and the millennium came and went sans datequake and/or rapture. Good news is they're good businessmen after all, they're making money, and they've honored their internet transactions for more than a dozen years. They even pre-date the commercial net by a few years. Bad news is when they ever do go sideways one of the partners is a tax-lawyer from, er, heck, (the money partner is an oncologist; they met in a bible-study class... not, um, the end of the world, Rockefeller was a bible-thumping baptist, remember...) and the russian-doll puzzle of domiciles subsidiaries and governance documents goes through about six countries including Nevis, Bermunda, etc., not to mention separate gold depository accounts around the world. The long story is, well, long. I trust 'em to do the gold transactions. It's not cheap, though. It's gold, it needs to be stored, and there are storage charges. You need a currency-exchange provider, to get money into and out of the system. The ones I like most are ice-gold <http://www.icegold.com>, in, of all places, Estonia (Latvia???). Jim Ray <jray(a)free-market.net>, a former cypherpunk, is a good guy, and e-gold's original internet evangelist, and has been with them for about 10 years. Another reputable gold-transaction outfit is Goldmoney <http://www.goldmoney.com>. They're just plain-old-fashioned gold-bugs from the old school. You know, a financial calamity around the corner but it's okay, because we're gonna get rich. :-). Seriously, James Turk, the founder there has been a gold bug since the heyday of the Oil Embargo. He used to work at Citibank in the far east, back in the day. And, instead of down in Florida somewhere as it is for E-Gold, GoldMoney's office is in midtown, even if the gold's at ViaMAT in London and the domicile's the Channel Islands, Jersey, I think. Turk's been in the gold bug business so long that he *patented* the whole idea of electronic gold transactions way back when, submarined it until e-gold was hauling it down, and is now collecting royalties. Of course, you know me. I'm not much into the whole commodities-as-money thing, I'd rather do bearer forms of depository-held collateral, like, say, dollars -- or the S&P. :-). So, what kind of problems are you having? Cheers, RAH -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 8.0.3 iQA/AwUBQXf+IcPxH8jf3ohaEQLjQgCeKov2foDmbcM85OazHKhLtryDO6oAn38c 5hZceFFv23q5HYFFIOdciEUK =+GW1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Printers betray document secrets
by R.A. Hettinga 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/technology/3753886.stm> The BBC | Entertainment | Have Your Say | In Pictures | Week at a Glance Monday, 18 October, 2004, 16:58 GMT 17:58 UK Printers betray document secrets That staple of crime novels - solving a case by identifying the typewriter used to write a ransom note - is being updated for the modern day. US scientists have discovered that every desktop printer has a signature style that it invisibly leaves on all the documents it produces. They have now found a way to use this to identify individual laser printers. The work will help track down printers used to make bogus bank notes, fake passports and other important papers. Spot colour Before now it was thought that the differences between cheap, mass-produced desktop printers were not significant enough to make individual identification possible. But a team from Purdue University in Indiana led by Professor Edward Delp has developed techniques that make it possible to trace which printer was used to produce which document. In 11 out of 12 tests, the team's methods identified which model of desktop laser printer was used to print particular documents. "We also believe that we will be able to identify not only which model of printer was used but specifically which printer was used," Professor Delp said. The image processing software developed by Professor Delp's team looks for the "intrinsic signatures" that each printer produces. Professor Jan Allebach, who helped develop the ID techniques, said the production methods demanded by competition in the desktop printer market meant there was quite a lot of variation in the way different machines printed pages. "For a company to make printers all behave exactly the same way would require tightening the manufacturing tolerances to the point where each printer would be too expensive for consumers," he said. The differences emerge in the way that a laser printer lays down ink on the paper and which can be spotted with the Purdue system. Inkjet is next Typically, different printers lay down ink in distinct bands that can be spotted by image processing software. "We extract mathematical features, or measurements, from printed letters, then we use image analysis and pattern-recognition techniques to identify the printer," said Professor Delp. Desktop printers coupled with scanners have become favourites with forgers as they produce high-quality copies of banknotes and personal documents that can fool a casual glance. The team is now working to extend its techiques to cover inkjet printers. The team is also working on ways to manipulate printers so they lay down ink with more easily identifiable signatures. The researchers will present their detailed findings at the International Conference on Digital Printing Technologies in early November. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Re: Seld-defeating US foreign policy
by Tyler Durden 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

>As I said, an Islamic regime is objectionable if it tolerates >terror against non islamic minorities, thus creating, perhaps >unintentionally, an environment that facilitates terror against >external infidels - that is to say, terror against me and >people like me. You say a lot of wacky stuff, so it suprises me that I find this pragraph to actually make some sense. > > In this context a very strong case can be made that the US > > caused the Khmer Rouge to come to power, precisely by > > performing in a way similar to what you espouse. > >That "case" is a nutty rationalization put forward by the >former fans of the Khmer Rouge to rationalize their bad >conduct. No. You've got to do more reading. Sihoanouk was in power and loosely held a coalition together. In part because he believed it and in part because it was necessary to hold this coalition together, Sihoanouk did not spout particularly pro-American rhetoric. As a result, the US/CIA backed Lon Nol to overthrow Sihoanouk. Lon Nol could by no means hold things together , so in swept the Khmer Rouge, backed by Mao and the Chicoms. Let's remember some facts here: The US backed the ferociously corrupt Chiang regime, even helping them sack China's treasuries. The US fought China in Korea and was now occupying it. MacArthur threatened to make China a nuclear "Parking Lot". The US was in Vietnam trying to fight their way up. So it would have been pretty evident to anyone watching that the US was trying to undermine the PRC. In fact, this was also a main motivation for the Cultural Revolution: Mao wanted to move heavy industry out into the countryside, away from easy bomb-ability by the Americans. (Of course, that idea was actually used by Mao for consolidating his politcal power which was always with the peasants, but that's besides the point). Mao did the reasonable thing and fought us (and won) in all 3 theaters. I'll agree with you pretty quickly if you say Mao was a fairly Stalinist butcher, but in any event he made use of the Khmer Rouge to push a US-backed puppet out of the peninsula. Note that only after Mao kicked our asses repeatedly did Nixon and Kissinger decide to make friends with Mao and the PRC (which was the smart thing to do all along after the Sino-Soviet split). What if the US had not followed such an aggressive policy towards the PRC? Chinese history gives us a clear indication: They would never have backed the Khmer Rouge. (Sihoanouk regularly traveled to China before and after that time, BTW, and was moderately friendly with Jong Nan Hai.) In addition, the notion of having to hide Chinese industry from the Americans could never have been used as a credible reason for lauching the Cultural Revolution. In the end, our policies in SE Asia likely caused millions to be killed, and in the end were self-defeating. A complete fiasco. And the same thing is happening in the Middle East. So even if one agrees that your goals are 'admirable' (and I question that), your methods would also be a complete, unmitigated disaster. -TD _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

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immune system diseases, TSA, false positives
by Major Variola (ret) 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

An immune system is a great thing until it attacks the self. In part this can be due to the limited size of recognized motifs. For instance, the string "David Nelson" triggers the TSA goons. If you add the phonetic-similarity recognition (required when you transcode arabic names), the matching string-set grows even larger. Any reports from Dave Nelsohns out there? At work the IT-dept-installed AV software on my PC found a virus. Only it was an object file I had just cross-compiled, for an obscure Freescale (nee Motorola) CPU. It promptly notified me and moved my binary. Breaking my build. Costing the company my time, and another engineer's to resolve it. By suppressing the immune system, at least in one region; the cornea is readily transplanted because the immune system can't touch it. I suppose anyone who's pregnancy has been endangered by Rh incompatability knows the dangers of friend or foe vigilance. Interesting security parable, I thought, anyway. ........ Another case: Bush campaigning in FLA. His security parade prevents my folks, living there, from voting, that day. (One of many states with early voting, now.) The irony overwhelms. "Terrorists are the only true avant-garde artists because they're the only ones who are still capable of really surprising people." ---Laurie Anderson (official artist of NASA..)

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RF stories
by Major Variola (ret) 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

Read a story about some college student whose plasma TV was emitting quite a lot of 121.5 MHz. He got a nice visit from S&R & Sheriffs types telling him to shut his TV off. Or else. 121.5 is a satellite-received distress freq. Toshiba will send him a new TV for free. Chatting with an Aussie from work. He was surprised that I knew what Pine Hills, where his dad worked, was. He told me a story about working there as a kid, painting a fence. The wind took his and his friend's hats flying towards some antennae, he went chasing. The Italian supervisor was very distressed when he returned to the fence. Gesticulated towards the antennae, then the ground, went "boom". Nice field there, apparently, when it was on. I wonder if it was a 'roo or a staffer who first found this out. I explained that the NSA was the Adversary, so We monitored Them; he was surprised, thought it was the Russkies. But he's a bit of a republican-yokel. I explained Little Sister vs. Big Brother; who had the $ and acres of computers (etc), and that Technical Means is Technical Means, regardless of your politics. Also mentioned that terraserver.microsoft.com recently added "urban area" pix, so you can see in full color the cars in your 'hood early morning last spring. Why UBL doesn't use his sat phone, fibre optics hurt but WiFi is great, or not, and in any case if the CounterIntel folks at the FBI and CIA go for under $2mill it really doesn't matter much anyway. Got Keyloggers?

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stealth
by Major Variola (ret) 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

Various ways to stego pharmaceuticals: http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/forensicsci/microgram/bulletins_index.html

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Get Out Of Jail Freeree
by R.A. Hettinga 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

<http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1020041forge1.html> The Smoking Gun Get Out Of Jail Freeree Indiana man charged with forging court records in escape bid OCTOBER 20--Meet Jared Bailey. The 20-year-old Indiana man was locked up in a Bloomington jail when he recently hatched a unique escape plot, investigators allege. Jailed on felony forgery and theft charges--and being held on $100,000 bond--Bailey fabricated court documents ostensibly dropping his bond to $500, according to a probable cause affidavit. A supposed Monroe Circuit Court order, which included the signatures of a judge and clerk, recounted a September 29 pretrial hearing during which Judge Douglas Bridges drastically cut Bailey's bond. However, Bailey's gambit failed when a friend on the outside mistakenly faxed the phony court order (and an accompanying docket sheet) to Monroe County Correctional Center, where officials were immediately suspicious of the documents. It surely didn't help that the material--apparently fashioned in Bailey's jail cell--was faxed from a nearby Kinko's and, on one line of the order, the county was spelled "MONROEROE." For his efforts, Bailey was hit with a few more felonies and had his bond boosted to $250,000. (5 pages) -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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test [3]
by Riad S. Wahby 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

This is another test. Please disregard. -- Riad S. Wahby rsw(a)jfet.org

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test [2]
by Riad S. Wahby 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

This is another test; hopefully it's the last one. Sorry for the trouble. -- Riad S. Wahby rsw(a)jfet.org

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Berkeley Hack Yields 1.4 Million SSNs
by R.A. Hettinga 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

<http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=5090…> Break-In At Berkeley May Have Compromised Data Of 1.4 Million Californians State officials say it's not clear if names and Social Security numbers were accessed or stolen but urge individuals to take precautions against identity theft. By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek Oct. 20, 2004 URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=50900249 California state officials revealed Tuesday that in August a hacker broke into a University of California, Berkeley, computer containing a database with the names and Social Security numbers of some 1.4 million Californians. Carlos Ramos, assistant secretary at the California Health and Human Services Agency, said the breach occurred on Aug. 1 but wasn't detected until the end of the month. It was reported to the state Sept. 21. He confirmed that the California Highway Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are pursuing the incident and that the hacker has not been found. He also stressed that it has not been determined whether the information in the database on the compromised system was actually accessed or stolen. "Really, this announcement is a precautionary measure," he says. The database in question contained the names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth of caregivers and care recipients participating in California's In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program since 2001. The data was being used in a UC Berkeley study of the effect of wages on in-home care and was obtained with authorization from the California Department of Social Services. The Social Services Department is urging IHSS participants to follow the recommendations of the Office of Privacy Protection, which include contacting the three major credit bureaus in order to review their credit reports for signs of identity theft and related fraud. UC Berkeley officials were not immediately available for comment. "It's a bit ironic," says Jonathan Bingham, president of Intrusic Inc., a security software company focused on internal threats. "The same thing happened to UC Berkeley back in 1998. What it highlights are a couple of factors that are inherently flawed within the industry and within the security profile of not just UC Berkeley but all of the organizations that are out there today." The university's approach to security is focused too much on keeping unauthorized intruders out and not enough on policing the actions of users deemed by the system to be legitimate, Bingham contends. He points to the fact that the intruder operated for a month before being detected as a sign that those with access need to be watched more closely. "UC Berkeley has a fairly open network, as most universities do," he says. "They want to give access to as many people as possible, especially in their research network. When you start introducing confidential information into open network settings, you need to have a better ability to detect compromises." -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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