December 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Nul Context
by R.W. (Bob) Erickson 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

Communication is about context Sometimes the context is so obvious that the frame is nearly invisible, sometimes the context is so subtle that indications of obvious significance can only be detected after much study. Language and meaning involve sharing of contexts. This is obvious, what is less obvious is the way that communication implicates a context one might call, A Theory of Mind What does this mean? Well a lot of it is hidden in what we call common sense, or folk psychology. You know what I mean because I'm behaving conventionally in my choice of words, and saying stuff that makes sense. When we use language conventionally, we talk about things that are happening and what people are thinking. When we talk about things that matter we wonder what others think. We think about what other people are thinking, all the time. Its a common enough usage of language, and quite comprehensible. Which makes it all the more peculiar that for a long time science had a weird rule that said that unempirical terms like intention and purpose, not to mention perception and comprehension were "metaphysical nonsense". Science has come a long way since the logical positivists held sway. Its not that they were wrong, the problem was they couldnt be right. The original proof that they were wrong was at hand for most of the 20th century, in the interference pattern between the works of Wittgenstein and Gvdel, As recently as the middle of the last century, back when Chomsky was doing his seminal work in deep structures, psychology was firmly stuck with Pavlovian Reflexes and Skinner Boxes and vigorously opposed adopting any working theory of mind. Stimulus Response Theory just cant handle task of explaining what an artist does. Into this context, Modern Linguistics was born.

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Sheep Herding
by R.W. (Bob) Erickson 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

The secular bible: Our project First let me speak to my Christian brothers and sisters. I mean you no disrespect by using the term "bible" in an unholy attack on your faith. The project of this secular bible honors the sanctity of holy documents. A secular bible could only be true to itself is it stood for tolerance and cooperation. We all know of the worldwide spread of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. We acknowledge the existence of what we can only call "evil" in the world. We have less agreement on what we call "good" or "godlike" We have not found enough agreement on what to do about evil. There are those among us who hold to the principle no agreement is required. The proper agents in the war against chaos are the free and independent thinkers of the mythical open society. The radical edge of this stance is the notion that cooperation always entails disaster in the form of unintended consequences. There are those among us who are afraid of the unknown. Many of us prefer to keep to the familiar. We find ourselves in circles of friends and relatives and find comfort or at least solace in the company of these others. We become "us". There is a subtle danger in this. The formation of community is also the formation of "them" There are those among us who fear "them" so much that the very thought of cooperation is scary. To them the idea that there could be a science of cooperation is absurd. They will cite economics and rational self interest to avoid gambling on trust. The run-away paranoia that can ensue will tax their freedom as surely as the state must. The project of the science of understanding, this secular bible giving people an understanding of their part in the universe, and the tools they need to get along with all manner of thinkers. (tbc) Of course this is all meant sarcastically. The Lord knows, nobody wants to just get along.

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tempest back doors
by Major Variola (ret) 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

>Perhaps I am stupid. I don't know how one would go about modifying >application software to include a 'back door' that would presumably >enhance its suceptibility to TEMPEST attacks. Isn't tempest all about EM >spectrum signal detection and capture? You have your code drive a bus with signal. The bus radiates, you 'TEMPEST' the signal, game over. Back in the 60s folks programmed PDPs to play music on AM radios. Same thing. Dig?

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[p2p-hackers] Don't Let the RIAA Put the Net at Risk! (fwd from seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org)
by Eugen Leitl 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

----- Forwarded message from Seth Johnson <seth.johnson(a)RealMeasures.dyndns.org> -----

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[osint] Ex-Stasi Spy Chief Markus Wolf Hired By Homeland Security?
by R.A. Hettinga 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

--- begin forwarded text To: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft(a)community-research.com> Thread-Index: AcTeFypjnXqh3PHmQpq2wCUI7SfIsQAANSaQ From: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft(a)community-research.com> Mailing-List: list osint(a)yahoogroups.com; contact osint-owner(a)yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list osint(a)yahoogroups.com Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 12:53:57 -0500 Subject: [osint] Ex-Stasi Spy Chief Markus Wolf Hired By Homeland Security? Reply-To: osint(a)yahoogroups.com http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/04_Global/041209.Stasi.html Ex-Stasi Spy Chief Markus Wolf Hired By Homeland Security? Dec. 6, 2004 Alex Jones Prison Planet Political analyst Al Martin, who has in the past proven accurate in getting ahead of the news curve, is reporting that Homeland Security have hired former Stasi head, the 'Silver Fox' Markus Wolf. Martin states, "Wolf is the man that effectively built the East German state intelligence operation's internal directorate," Martin continues. "He turned half the population into informants. That is his specialty, is taking a population, constructing the various state divisions, mechanisms of control, in order to organize informants within the population. That is his real specialty. And that is precisely, as Primakov has intimated, why Wolf is being brought in. The regime knows that once all of Patriot II is in law and they begin working on Patriot III, they will then begin to establish the internal mechanism to coordinate, as an official function of state, a system of informants. Wolf's speciality was to turn East Germany into the greatest and most efficient informant state ever created." On a radio appearance earlier today Martin stated that the admission that Wolf would be hired was made in a BBC radio interview given by the former head of the KGB, General Yevgeni Primakov. Martin had previously reported that Primakov had been hired as a consultant by the US Department of Homeland Security to implement CAPPS II and the national iD card system which he dubbed an 'internal passport'. Sources close to Martin have told Alex Jones confidentially that the appointment of Wolf was also confirmed by a US Congressman. During his radio interview, Martin outlined the immediate agenda. The remaining portions of the 9/11 Commission intelligence reccomendations which include the introduction of a national ID card would be passed and subsequently 'Patriot Act 3,' which would include the formal establishment of a Stasi-like domestic spying organisation which would be similar in scope to the TIPS program. TIPS, which was supposedly nixed by Congress, would have recruited one in twenty-four Americans as domestic informants, a higher percentage than was used by the Stasi in East Germany. Government funding was cut but private funding continues and the same program was intriduced under a number of sub-divisions including AmeriCorps, SecureCorps and the Highway Watch program. After the passage of Patriot Act 3 Wolf and Primakov would be tapped for their expertise in further collapsing America into a surveillance grid police state. Primakov has openly stated that they are working on behalf of Bush and Cheney to complete the 'Sovietization of America. http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?disc=149495;article=72168;title=APFN ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-osint(a)yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor bisoldi(a)intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint(a)yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscribe(a)yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: osint-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ --- 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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New Global Directory of OpenPGP Keys
by Eugen Leitl 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

Link: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/09/1446203 Posted by: michael, on 2004-12-09 15:50:00 from the how-may-i-direct-your-call dept. Gemini writes "The [1]PGP company just announced a new type of [2]keyserver for all your OpenPGP keys. This server verifies (via mailback verification, like mailing lists) that the email address on the key actually reaches someone. Dead keys age off the server, and you can even remove keys if you forget the passphrase. In a classy move, they've included support for those parts of the OpenPGP standard that PGP doesn't use, but [3]GnuPG does." [4]Click Here References 1. http://www.pgp.com/downloads/beta/globaldirectory/index.html 2. http://keyserver-beta.pgp.com/ 3. http://www.gnupg.org/ 4. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=5671&alloc_id=12342&site_id=1&request_id=2385427… p=click&page=%2farticle%2epl ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144 http://www.leitl.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE http://moleculardevices.org http://nanomachines.net [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]

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Horseman number 4: 'Paedophiles Pose Greatest Threat Facing Internet'
by R.A. Hettinga 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

Okay, so it's a trifecta, today... :-) Cheers, RAH ------- <http://news.scotsman.com/print.cfm?id=3859699&referringtemplate=http%3A%2F%…> print Wed 8 Dec 2004 4:51pm (UK) 'Paedophiles Pose Greatest Threat Facing Internet' By David Barrett, PA Home Affairs Correspondent Online paedophiles are the greatest threat facing the internet, government research said today. A variety of internet child porn issues dominated a "top 10" of criminal threats posed by new technology, a Home Office report revealed. The survey of 53 internet and technology experts saw seven different child porn concerns ranked in the 10 most serious "netcrime" threats, with grooming and possible stalking of children ranked as the top fear. In second place was the growing use of the internet for espionage by corporate spies. Out of a total of 101 crime issues in the league table compiled by the survey, 12 related to child porn. The top 10 rankings were:- 1. Increased online grooming and possible stalking using the internet. 2. Espionage by corporate spies. 3. Increased access to paedophile content sold by organised criminals through various online platforms. 4. Use of online storage for paedophile images to bypass seizure of home computers. 5. Use of secure "peer to peer" technology for all types of paedophile activity. 6. Use of encryption for secure access to paedophile networks. 7. Theft of personal digital assistants or mobile phones containing personal information to commit fraud on the internet. 8. Growing access to "real-time" child abuse on the web. 9. Use of "peer to peer" technology for pirate activity. 10. Grooming of children for abuse using advanced mobile phone technology. The study, entitled "The Future of Netcrime Now", said police were already working to combat internet child porn and the issue's high media profile may have contributed to its prominent place in the poll. "The Government, law enforcement and industry needs to 'gear up' their capability to continuously look forward, attempting to identify new forms of criminal technology misuse as soon as they emerge, or even before they are seized upon by the criminal community," it concluded. -- ----------------- 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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Australian snooping laws pass lower house
by R.A. Hettinga 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

<http://australianit.news.com.au/common/print/0,7208,11636719%5E15319%5E%5En…> Australian IT Snooping laws pass lower house DECEMBER 09, 2004 POLICE will be able to access stored voice mail, email and mobile phone text messages under new laws passed by federal parliament today. The laws recognise voice mail, email and SMS messages should fall outside telecommunication interception laws originally designed to stop law enforcement agencies from intercepting phone calls. Police and other law enforcement officers will still need a search warrant or a right of access to communications or storage equipment to access voice mail, email and SMS under the changes. "These amendments make it easier for our law enforcement and regulatory agencies to access stored communications that could provide evidence of criminal activity," Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said. "They will also assist in securing information systems by allowing network administrators to review stored communications for viruses and other inappropriate content." Labor referred the proposed law to a Senate committee three times before agreeing to it today. Opposition homeland security spokesman Robert McClelland said there needed to be a distinction between stored messages and live telephone conversations. "There have been concerns expressed about privacy and there always has been a distinction between an eavesdropper and the reader of other people's correspondence," he said. "But written documents have always been susceptible to legal process, to warrants. "Everyone that creates a document does so knowing that that document can be read by others and can be subject to legal process. "I don't think anything turns on the fact the document is written on a computer and sent by email as opposed to being written in long hand and popped in the letter box." The laws are a temporary measure and will cease to have effect after 12 months when a review of the measures will be undertaken. -- ----------------- 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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export regulations updated
by R.A. Hettinga 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

--- begin forwarded text

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Re: primes as far as the eye can see, discrete continua
by Major Variola (ret) 09 Dec '04

09 Dec '04

copied under fair use only because Roy put in the research... NUMBER THEORY: Proof Promises Progress in Prime Progressions Barry Cipra The theorem that Ben Green and Terence Tao set out to prove would have been impressive enough. Instead, the two mathematicians wound up with a stunning breakthrough in the theory of prime numbers. At least that's the preliminary assessment of experts who are looking at their complicated 50-page proof. Green, who is currently at the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tao of the University of California (UC), Los Angeles, began working 2 years ago on the problem of arithmetic progressions of primes: sequences of primes (numbers divisible only by themselves and 1) that differ by a constant amount. One such sequence is 13, 43, 73, and 103, which differ by 30. In 1939, Dutch mathematician Johannes van der Corput proved that there are an infinite number of arithmetic progressions of primes with three terms, such as 3, 5, 7 or 31, 37, 43. Green and Tao hoped to prove the same result for four-term progressions. The theorem they got, though, proved the result for prime progressions of all lengths. "It's a very, very spectacular achievement," says Green's former adviser, Timothy Gowers of the University of Cambridge, who received the 1998 Fields Medal, the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for work on related problems. Ronald Graham, a combinatorialist at UC San Diego, agrees. "It's just amazing," he says. "It's such a big jump from what came before." Green and Tao started with a 1975 theorem by Endre Szemeridi of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Szemeridi proved that arithmetic progressions of all lengths crop up in any positive fraction of the integers--basically, any subset of integers whose ratio to the whole set doesn't dwindle away to zero as the numbers get larger and larger. The primes don't qualify, because they thin out too rapidly with increasing size. So Green and Tao set out to show that Szemeridi's theorem still holds when the integers are replaced with a smaller set of numbers with special properties, and then to prove that the primes constitute a positive fraction of that set. Prime suspect. Arithmetic progressions such as this 10-prime sequence are infinitely abundant, if a new proof holds up. To build their set, they applied a branch of mathematics known as ergodic theory (loosely speaking, a theory of mixing or averaging) to mathematical objects called pseudorandom numbers. Pseudorandom numbers are not truly random, because they are generated by rules, but they behave as random numbers do for certain mathematical purposes. Using these tools, Green and Tao constructed a pseudorandom set of primes and "almost primes," numbers with relatively few prime factors compared to their size. The last step, establishing the primes as a positive fraction of their pseudorandom set, proved elusive. Then Andrew Granville, a number theorist at the University of Montreal, pointed Green to some results by Dan Goldston of San Jose State University in California and Cem Yildirim of Bo_gazigi University in Istanbul, Turkey. Goldston and Yildirim had developed techniques for studying the size of gaps between primes, work that culminated last year in a dramatic breakthrough in the subject--or so they thought. Closer inspection, by Granville among others, undercut their main result (Science, 4 April 2003, p. 32; 16 May 2003, p. 1066), although Goldston and Yildirim have since salvaged a less far-ranging finding. But some of the mathematical machinery that these two had set up proved to be tailor-made for Green and Tao's research. "They had actually proven exactly what we needed," Tao says. The paper, which has been submitted to the Annals of Mathematics, is many months from acceptance. "The problem with a quick assessment of it is that it straddles two areas," Granville says. "All of the number theorists who've looked at it feel that the number-theory half is pretty simple and the ergodic theory is daunting, and the ergodic theorists who've looked at it have thought that the ergodic theory is pretty simple and the number theory is daunting." Even if a mistake does show up, Granville says, "they've certainly succeeded in bringing in new ideas of real import into the subject." And if the proof holds up? "This could be a turning point for analytic number theory," he says.

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