October 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

FBI Raids Indymedia
by Eric Cordian 08 Oct '04

08 Oct '04

According to http://www.indymedia.it/, the FBI seized Indymedia's servers from their host, Rackspace. > Thursday Oct 7 2004, at 6 PM, FBI issued an order to Rackspace in the US > (Indymedia's provider with offices in the US and London) to remove > physically two of our servers. The order was so short term that > Rackspace had to give away our hard drives in the UK. The servers > hosted numerous local IMCs, including italy.indymedia.org. If you find > a site is down: that might be the reason The reason why the hard drives > were taken are unknown. And at http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/10/08/1097089554894.html ----- The FBI has issued an order to hosting provider Rackspace in the US, ordering it to turn over two of the servers hosting the Independent Media Centre's websites in the UK, a statement from the group says. Rackspace has offices in the US and the UK. Independent Media Center, which is better known as Indymedia, was set up in 1999 to provide grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) protests in Seattle. Rackspace complied with the FBI order, without first notifying Indymedia, and turned over Indymedia's server in the UK. This affects over 20 Indymedia sites worldwide, the group said. Indymedia said it did not know why the order had been issued as it was issued to Rackspace. Rackspace told some of the group's volunteers "they cannot provide Indymedia with any information regarding the order." ISPs have received gag orders in similar situations which prevent them from updating the parties involved on what is happening. Indymedia said a second server was taken down at Rackspace. This provided streaming radio to several radio stations, BLAG (a Linux distribution), and a handful of miscellanous things. In August the US Secret Service used a subpoena in an attempt to disrupt the New York city Independent Media Center before the Republican National COnvention by trying to get IP logs from an ISP in the US and the Netherlands. Last month the US Federal Communications Commission shut down community radio stations around the US. Two weeks ago the FBI asked Indymedia to remove a post on the Nantes IMC that had a photo of some undercover Swiss police and IMC volunteers in Seattle were visited by the FBI on the same issue. Indymedia said the list of local media collectives affected included Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille (all France), Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen (all Belgium), Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, part of the Germany site, and the global Indymedia Radio site. -- 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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Re: Quantum cryptography gets "practical"
by Tyler Durden 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Oops. You're right. It's been a while. Both photons are not utilized, but there's a Private channel and a public channel. As for MITM attacks, however, it seems I was right more or less by accident, and the collapsed ring configuration seen in many tightly packed metro areas (where potential customers of Quantum Key Exchange reside) does indeed make such attacks much easier. Come to think of it, an intruder that were able to gain access to a CO without having to notify the public (Patriot Act) should easily be able to insert themselves into a QKE client's network and then do whatever they want to (provided, of course, they have the means to crack the 'regular' encryption scheme used to encode the bits--NSA). Which means that, should a $75K/year NSA employee want to strike it really, really rich, they'd be able to procure advanced notice of any mergers/acquisition deals. -TD >From: Dave Howe <DaveHowe(a)gmx.co.uk> >To: Tyler Durden <camera_lumina(a)hotmail.com> >Subject: Re: Quantum cryptography gets "practical" >Date: Wed, 06 Oct 2004 11:26:32 +0100 > >Tyler Durden wrote: >>An interesting thing to think about is the fact that in dense metro areas, >>you pretty much have a "star" from the CO out to a premise (which is the >>cause of deployment of "Collapsed SONET Rings"). This means the other >>photon of your encrypted pair might easily pass through the same CO >>somewhere, which would make the system suscpetible to a sort of man in the >>middle attack. Or at least, your fancy quantum crypto system has defaulted >>back to standard crypto in terms of its un-hackability. > Unless I am mistaken as to the Quantum Key Exchange process, only one >photon is ever transmitted, with a known orientation; the system doesn't >use entanglement AFAIK. > I note also that, as QKE is *extremely* vulnerable to MitM attacks, a >hybrid system (which need only be tactically secure, not strategically >secure) can be used to "lock out" a MitM attacker for long enough that his >presence can be detected, without having to resort to a classical but >unblockable out of band data stream. I think this is part of the purpose >behind the following paper: >http://eprint.iacr.org/2004/229.pdf >which I am currently trying to understand and failing miserably at *sigh* > >>Moral of this story is, even if this thing is useful, you'll probably have >>a very hard time finding a place it can be deployed and still retain its >>"advantages". >I have yet to see an advantage to QKE that even mildly justifies the >limitations and cost over anything more than a trivial link (two buildings >within easy walking distance, sending high volumes of extremely sensitive >material between them) > > >> >>-TD >> >> >>>From: Dave Howe <DaveHowe(a)gmx.co.uk> >>>To: Email List: Cryptography <cryptography(a)metzdowd.com>, Email >>>List: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >>>Subject: Re: QC Hype Watch: Quantum cryptography gets practical >>>Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:48:30 +0100 >>> >>>R. A. Hettinga wrote: >>> >>>>Two factors have made this possible: the >>>>vast stretches of optical fiber (lit and dark) laid in metropolitan >>>>areas, >>> >>>which very conveniently was laid from one of your customers to another of >>>your customers (not between telcos?) - or are they talking only having to >>>lay new links for the "last mile" and splicing in one of the existing >>>dark fibres (presumably ones without any repeaters on it) >> >> >>_________________________________________________________________ >>On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to >>get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement >> >> > _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee. Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

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Quantum cryptography gets "practical"
by Tyler Durden 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Actually, that's an interesting point. In places like downtown NYC, if the fiber doesn't actually go to the basement of a building, it will certainly go within a few 100 feet, so that last hop is trivial. (But the kind of companies this would be targeted for this would already have fiber to the premises or FTTP anyway....however, that fiber will only on occasion make it all the way to the telecom room...the internal building wiring will often be copper.) However, it's not like you'd have a continuous piece of fiber all the way from Customer X Location A to Customer X Location B...you'd definitely go through at least one fiber distributing frame (FDF) aka an optical "patch panel". However, the connectors will almost certainly be at least slightly anisotropic, so you'd get a wavefunction collapse, or at least diminish the distance you can go. So I imagine they actually perform a splice and remove the connectors...this will limit you of course to new, high quality fiber (which is extremely isotropic, and I know this for a fact having previously done a lot of testing for PMD, or Polarization Mode Dispersion.) An interesting thing to think about is the fact that in dense metro areas, you pretty much have a "star" from the CO out to a premise (which is the cause of deployment of "Collapsed SONET Rings"). This means the other photon of your encrypted pair might easily pass through the same CO somewhere, which would make the system suscpetible to a sort of man in the middle attack. Or at least, your fancy quantum crypto system has defaulted back to standard crypto in terms of its un-hackability. Moral of this story is, even if this thing is useful, you'll probably have a very hard time finding a place it can be deployed and still retain its "advantages". -TD >From: Dave Howe <DaveHowe(a)gmx.co.uk> >To: Email List: Cryptography <cryptography(a)metzdowd.com>, Email >List: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >Subject: Re: QC Hype Watch: Quantum cryptography gets practical >Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:48:30 +0100 > >R. A. Hettinga wrote: >>Two factors have made this possible: the >>vast stretches of optical fiber (lit and dark) laid in metropolitan areas, >which very conveniently was laid from one of your customers to another of >your customers (not between telcos?) - or are they talking only having to >lay new links for the "last mile" and splicing in one of the existing dark >fibres (presumably ones without any repeaters on it) _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement

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Most Disturbing Yet - Senate Wants Database Dragnet
by Sunder 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65242,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,65242,00.html Senate Wants Database Dragnet By Ryan Singel 02:00 AM Oct. 06, 2004 PT The Senate could pass a bill as early as Wednesday evening that would let government counter-terrorist investigators instantly query a massive system of interconnected commercial and government databases that hold billions of records on Americans. The proposed network is based on the Markle Foundation Task Force's December 2003 report, which envisioned a system that would allow FBI and CIA agents, as well as police officers and some companies, to quickly search intelligence, criminal and commercial databases. The proposal is so radical, the bill allocates $50 million just to fund the system's specifications and privacy policies. <SNIP> To prevent abuses of the system, the Markle task force recommended anonymized technology, graduated levels of permission-based access and automated auditing software constantly hunting for abuses. {Huh? How would anonimized access PREVENT abuses?} An appendix to the report went so far as to suggest that the system should "identify known associates of the terrorist suspect, within 30 seconds, using shared addressees, records of phone calls to and from the suspect's phone, e-mails to and from the suspect's accounts, financial transactions, travel history and reservations, and common memberships in organizations, including (with appropriate safeguards) religious and expressive organizations." <SNIP> ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--------------------------- + ^ + :"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. /|\ \|/ :They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country /\|/\ <--*-->:and our people, and neither do we." -G. W. Bush, 2004.08.05 \/|\/ /|\ : \|/ + v + : War is Peace, freedom is slavery, Bush is President. -------------------------------------------------------------------------

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RFID special interest group
by Kapil Dev Singh 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hello Mr Hettinga, You had attended the RFID privacy workshop last fall at MIT, so i would like to invite you to a RFID SIG event on behalf of MIT enterprise forum. Details are given below. Please do come. Thanks, Kapil RFID Special Interest Group (RFID SIG), a SIG established under MIT Enterprise forum of Cambridge, would like invite you to its upcoming event. 'Case Presentation: RFID Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry' Keynote Jack DeAlmo: Vice President of Store Replenishment and Inventory Management, CVS Panel Nick Beim: General Partner, Matrix Partners Sanjay Sarma:Chief Technology Officer, Oat Systems Noha Tohamy: Principal Analyst, Forrester Research When & Where: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 5:30 PM , STATA CENTER, Room 123 (Kirsch Auditorium), 32 Vassar Street, MIT The details are also at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/oct04.htm RFID Special Interest Group seeks to establish a community around RFID. The schedule of upcoming events, one every month, is available at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/RFIDSIG.html Join the community. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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RFID special interest group
by Kapil Dev Singh 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hello Mr Hettinga, You had attended the RFID privacy workshop last fall at MIT, so i would like to invite you to a RFID SIG event on behalf of MIT enterprise forum. Details are given below. Please do come. Thanks, Kapil RFID Special Interest Group (RFID SIG), a SIG established under MIT Enterprise forum of Cambridge, would like invite you to its upcoming event. 'Case Presentation: RFID Challenges in the Pharmaceutical Industry' Keynote Jack DeAlmo: Vice President of Store Replenishment and Inventory Management, CVS Panel Nick Beim: General Partner, Matrix Partners Sanjay Sarma:Chief Technology Officer, Oat Systems Noha Tohamy: Principal Analyst, Forrester Research When & Where: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, 5:30 PM , STATA CENTER, Room 123 (Kirsch Auditorium), 32 Vassar Street, MIT The details are also at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/oct04.htm RFID Special Interest Group seeks to establish a community around RFID. The schedule of upcoming events, one every month, is available at http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/RFIDSIG.html Join the community. --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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RFID special interest group
by R. A. Hettinga 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Re: City Challenged on Fingerprinting Protesters
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

At 05:06 PM 10/6/04 +0100, Dave Howe wrote: >Major Variola (ret) wrote: >> There is a bill in this year's Ca election to require DNA sampling of >> anyone arrested. Not convicted of a felony, but arrested. [as in arrested for protesting] >Doesn't surprise me - the UK police collected a huge bunch of >fingerprints and dna samples "for elimination purposes" during one of >the child-murder witchhunts, with written promises given that the >samples were just for that one task, and would be destroyed once the >hunt was over. >They still kept them anyway of course, and made them the basis for their >new "national dna database". The UK is a fantastic example of the US in a few years. In a way, the UK population are beta testers for the statism of the future here. If it passes in the UK, they'll try it in the US in a 'wee bit'. Its when Ross Anderson ends up detained as an enemy combatant that the sleeper cells (tm) will be triggered. Not only DNA, of course; surveillance cameras, papers on demand, domestic CIA (MI-blah) powers, etc. And y'all are our obediant and faithful military poodles. Only the Aussies and Iberians have gotten the feedback though. Your turn will come. Batman in a turban, mofo. We sympathize, of course, protestant angliospeaking folks are regarded as human, but bemoan your lack of constitutional protections (here my more cynical friends accuse me of bill-o'-rights religion) and you must pay penance for Benny Hill, anyway. <insert Franklin's security for freedom subversion here> ------ No one expects the BSA (in a silly voice) ------ \begin{TMay} Funny how those needing killing are nearly universally elected or appointed... what was that old-school Frog's comment about democracy? \end{TMay} ----- Got ANFO?

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[ShmooCon-News] First selected BoF run by Jon Callas, CTO, PGP Corporation
by R. A. Hettinga 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Micropayments Are Multiplying
by R. A. Hettinga 06 Oct '04

06 Oct '04

<http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1003079&printerFriendly=yes> Emarketer.com Micropayments Are Multiplying October 07, 2004 Exactly 14 million Americans made online purchases for less than $2.00 over the past year, reports Ipsos. A survey from Ipsos-Insight on the small payments market, released yesterday at the Micropayments Conference in New York City, reported that more than 14 million Americans, ages 12 and older, purchased digital content for less than $2.00 in the past twelve months. The rate of small purchases is going up fast. In July, Ipsos-Insight reported that more than 10 million Americans purchased digital content for less than $2.00 in the past year, and in November the number of US purchasers in the past year was approximately 4 million. In all, the 14 million represents an increase of over 10 million micro-purchasers since October 2003, a 350% yearly increase. By comparison, the survey found that more than an estimated 37 million Americans are willing to use credit, debit or charge cards for purchases of $5.00 or less. "The data suggest that increasing the availability and consumer awareness of compelling online content for less than $2.00 could be the key to sparking growth in this emerging online commerce area," says Matt Kleinschmit, Director, Ipsos-Insight. The survey estimates that 30 million Americans are at least somewhat likely to purchase content for less than $2.00 in the next twelve months, and states that the primary reason consumers have not yet made an online purchase for $2 or less is lack of compelling content in the price range. In fact, more than 44% of those surveyed have made an online purchase in the past year - and over 50% of them indicated that the main reasons they have not made a micropayment was because it was not worth the effort, lack of interesting content or availability of content. "The technology is available today to enable cost-effective sales of low-priced digital content," emphasizes Mr. Kleinschmit. "The most significant challenge is packaging and pricing the content to meet consumer demand." Among consumers who had made online purchases of $2.00 or less, the most commonly purchased items were ring tones, music, games and articles, so it is not surprising that teens were the age group most likely to make micro-purchases in the near future. Teenagers are also the most likely to make purchases of under $20.00. While the Ipsos-Insight survey focused exclusively on the US and the online environment, a study recently released by Juniper Research, "Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) & Micropayment Strategies," looked at the worldwide micropayment market with an emphasis on the mobile channel. Juniper projects that the global mobile commerce market - excluding mobile entertainment - will become a $40 billion industry by 2009, fuelled by a growth in micropayments. Juniper reports: "Large numbers of small payments will make up the vast majority of sales via mobile phones, with the average Western European making approximately 28 transactions a year via the mobile phone by 2009. The average cost of each transaction in 2009 in Western Europe is expected to be worth approximately $3.00." Foreseeing the day when the mobile phone could develop into a full-fledged digital wallet, the author of the report, Marc Ambasna-Jones, says the key to m-commerce growth is simplicity: "Will it be easier to use than a credit card for example? Can it ever be more convenient than cash? Ultimately the success or failure of mobile commerce comes down to this." Bruce Cundiff, an analyst with Jupiter Research, told CNET that "what it comes down to is that there simply must be a viable transaction model for smaller-cost products to make a dollar off e-commerce sales." As these two new reports make clear, both online and on the phone, a lot is riding on consumers' ability to pay very little - quickly, securely and conveniently. But can the micropayment market put its history of failures (Beenz, Flooz and DigiCash) behind and really start to churn out macro revenues? As for now, no one knows for sure. )2004 eMarketer Inc. All rights reserved -- ----------------- 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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