July 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Email tapping by ISPs, forwarder addresses, and crypto proxies
by Major Variola (ret) 07 Jul '04

07 Jul '04

At 02:47 PM 7/6/04 -0700, Hal Finney wrote: >> Messages in storage have much lower judicial protection than messages in >> transit. (This does not have much technical merit, in the current >> atmosphere of "damn the laws - there are terrorists around the corner", >> but can be seen as a nice little potential benefit.) Ie zero. >One thing I haven't understood in all the commentary is whether law >enforcment still needs a warrant to access emails stored in this way. >Apparently the ISP can read them without any notice or liability, but >what about the police? You are state meat, whether 5150'd or not. >Also, what if you run your own mail spool, so the email is never stored >at the ISP, it just passes through the routers controlled by the ISP >(just like it passed through a dozen other routers on the internet). >Does this give the ISP (and all the other router owners) the right to >read your email? I don't think so, it seems like that would definitely >cross over the line from "mail in storage" to "mail in transit". If you think the cable landings in Va/Md are coincidental, you are smoking something I've run out of. Its all recorded. I'm sure the archiving and database groups in Ft. Meade will get a chuckle out of your "the right to" idioms.

2 1

Re: Email tapping by ISPs, forwarder addresses, and crypto proxies
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

>> Absolutely, look at the threat model. You're not worried about someone >> breaking into your computer, you're worried about your ISP legally >> reading your email. Guaranteed, and encryption is bait. Use stego. >That's very true, however there can be operators you trust more than your >ISP, eg. a group of friends running such forwarder offshore. Until they're busted and open up... As Zappa sang, the hot iron sausage... and the sinister midget...

1 0

Re: UBL is George Washington
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

At 08:44 PM 7/6/04 +0000, Justin wrote: It may be that the only way out is through, >and that the only way to be free from Western Imperialism is to cause it >to strangle itself. You don't get it. The way to be free from Colonialists is to remind the folks *behind the Colonialism* that they are not immune just because they are bordered by oceans and 0wn3d northern and southern placid colonies. UBL understands democracy better than most. Strangling has nothing to do with it; Tim May used to encourage such self-suffication, but that's not the Jihad plan. The plan is to provide negative reinforcement. How do you say that in Spanish?

1 0

Re: UBL is George Washington
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

At 09:32 PM 7/5/04 +0200, Anonymous wrote: >Major Variola (ret) writes: >> >> The yanks did not wear regular uniforms and did not march in >> rows in open fields like Gentlemen. Asymmetric warfare means not >> playing by >> *their* rules. > >But asymm warfare has to accomplish its goal. It's not being very >successful. Worked for Gen W. The only people who are siding with al-qaeda are those whose >brains are already mush -statist socialists, to be precise. Of course their brains are mush, they are *religious*. Much like the xian loonies in DC "God, we pray that our actions here give some glory back to you. We live in grace even here, and we are not afraid of death. ... None of us wants to die here, but death is the blink of an eye, and you wake up in paradise." US Navy Chaplain Wayne Hall http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4717595/ But you get better post-mortem sex if you're Muslim. If al qaeda >bombed government buildings or targetted the private residences or offices >of government officials, they might get more sympathy, from me at least. >Destroying an pair of buildings and killing thousands of citizens -most of >whom couldn't give an accurate account of U.S. forces distribution in the >MidEast- is not a step forward. They are not after sympathy, they are after your attention. As in, "don't tread on me". As in, "get your filthy hands off my desert". As in, death to the Romans. The pentagon hit was apropos, but the pilot hit the wrong side. Still, nice taking it home like that. Not even UBL, who knows civil engineering, expected a pair of implosions. The pigs, fireman, civilians, etc were collateral damage --the point was the video. But architects have to show off, so down they went. Live and learn. But the replacement will be taller, a tower of Babel. More targets: soft targets with videocameras. Disneyland, Olympics, and of course kindergartens on days when parents would be there with cameras. Synchronized of course, so you have zero doubt who it was. Although they're religious, they know engineering and psyops as well as the xian loony hegemonists in DC. Basically its like this: even neighborhood bullies have to sleep. A wimp with a gallon of gasoline can make a point. David & Goliath, remember? All's fair in love and war, baby.

1 0

Re: UBL is George Washington
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

At 12:00 AM 7/4/04 -0400, Howie Goodell wrote: > >For starters, I think the use of terrorism is a moral a distinction >worth making. Murdering thousands of civilians is not the same thing >as attacking enemy troops. (To be consistent, the plane that hit the >Pentagon was not terrorism, but a military attack with civilian >collateral damage.) The yanks did not wear regular uniforms and did not march in rows in open fields like Gentlemen. Asymmetric warfare means not playing by *their* rules.

9 9

Email tapping by ISPs, forwarder addresses, and crypto proxies
by Thomas Shaddack 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

Reading some news about the email wiretapping by ISPs, and getting an idea. There are various email forwarding services, which are nothing more than a SMTP server with pairs of recipient(a)forwarder.com -- recipient(a)hiscurrentisp.com. Messages in storage have much lower judicial protection than messages in transit. (This does not have much technical merit, in the current atmosphere of "damn the laws - there are terrorists around the corner", but can be seen as a nice little potential benefit.) There can be an easy enhancement for such forwarder service; GnuPG proxy. Every email that arrives to the forwarder address, before it is forwarded to the real recipient, is piped through a GnuPG script; the recipient has then to upload his public key during the registration of the target address, otherwise the function is the same. For added benefit, the forwarder should support SMTP/TLS (STARTTLS) extension, so the connections from security-minded owners of their own mailservers would be protected. The recipient himself then can either run his own mailserver and download mails through fetchmail, or receive mails using SMTP/ETRN (both methods allow automated decryption of such wrapped mail during its receiving), or use a POP/IMAP decryption proxy, or have a plugin in mail client. (I know, auto-decryption is dangerous, but we now talk about the system for one's grandma, transparent to use.) The only vulnerable parts of the mail route then will be the sender's computer, the pathway between the sender and the forwarder server (if SMTP/TLS is not used correctly or at all), the forwarder server (if compromised), and the recipient's computer. The way between the forwarder and the recipient's ISP, including the recipient's mailbox, is secured. What do you think about this scheme?

1 0

Switzerland forcing registration of PrePay customers
by Dave Emery 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

----- Forwarded message from NEXTEL-1 ---- - ------------------------------ Switzerland forcing registration of PrePay customers The Swiss parliament decided last year to make registration mandatory for prepaid cards. By law, all mobile providers will have be able to provide information about customers buying their prepaid products for at least two years after the purchase. As of 1 July 2004, customers will have to register when buying a prepaid card from Swisscom Mobile (NATEL easy). Those who started using their NATEL easy cards on or after 1 November 2002 will have to register retrospectively. The authorities are aiming to limit the misuse of prepaid cards by these measures. Customers will be registered when they buy a NATEL easy SIM card. For verification, proof of identity will be required in the form of a valid passport, identity card or other travel document accepted for entry into Switzerland. In addition to the customer's personal details, Swisscom Mobile must also record the type of and number of the form of identification presented. The NATEL easy card will only be activated for use when all the necessary customer details have been recorded. Customers attempting to make calls with an unregistered prepaid card will hear a greeting prompting them to register their NATEL easy card. Retrospective registration until end of October 2004 On 23 June 2004, the Federal Council decided that prepaid customers who started using SIM cards on or after 1 November 2002 would have until 31 October 2004 to register. Swisscom Mobile will seek to ensure that the registration of these customers takes place in line with the statutory requirements and in as customer-friendly a manner as possible. The customers affected will be prompted via SMS to register their SIM cards. Registration can be made wherever Swisscom Mobile NATEL subscriptions can be purchased. In addition to the customers' personal details, Swisscom Mobile will also have to record their SIM card and mobile phone numbers. In accordance with the regulation, Swisscom Mobile will be obliged to block the access of customers who have not registered by 31 October 2004. Retrospective registration also applies to those prepaid customers who have already registered voluntarily with Swisscom Mobile in the past. The only exceptions are NATEL. easy customers who have registered formally (i.e. on presentation of a valid passport or identity card) in a Swisscom Shop since the middle of April 2004. On the basis of current information, Swisscom Mobile believes that several hundred thousand NATEL easy customers will have to register retrospectively. Posted to the site on 05-Jul-04 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/11407.shtml -- Dave Emery N1PRE, die(a)dieconsulting.com DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass 02493

1 0

Re: UBL is George Washington
by Tyler Durden 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

>Destroying an pair of buildings and killing thousands of citizens -most of >whom couldn't give an accurate account of U.S. forces distribution in the >MidEast- is not a step forward. Well, I think that was the point. At least, Al-Qaeda was saying (amongst other things) that the US public could no longer remain ignorant of US force activities. Or at least not without significant reprecussions. It's debateable wether they acheived this, however. The Spanish got the message, however. -TD >From: Justin <justin-cypherpunks(a)soze.net> >To: cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: Re: UBL is George Washington >Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 16:31:16 +0000 > >On 2004-07-05T21:32:16+0200, Anonymous wrote: > > Major Variola (ret) writes: > > > The yanks did not wear regular uniforms and did not march in > > > rows in open fields like Gentlemen. Asymmetric warfare means not > > > playing by > > > *their* rules. > > > > But asymm warfare has to accomplish its goal. It's not being very > > successful. The only people who are siding with al-qaeda are those >whose > > brains are already mush -statist socialists, to be precise. If al qaeda > >Who cares who sides with Al Qaeda? They're not keeping track of their >sympathizers. It's foreign policy change, social change ("reform" >perhaps?), and volunteers for martyrdom they want, not rhetorical >support. > > > bombed government buildings or targetted the private residences or >offices > > of government officials, they might get more sympathy, from me at least. > >The WTC and the pentagon were specific, well-thought-out targets. The >plane that crashed in PA was headed to the Capitol. If you're so eager >to see Al Qaeda blow up better targets, why not suggest a few? > > > Destroying an pair of buildings and killing thousands of citizens -most >of > > whom couldn't give an accurate account of U.S. forces distribution in >the > > MidEast- is not a step forward. > >As everyone else pointed out, Even though the 9/11 attacks may not have >garnered your support, it accomplished other objectives. > _________________________________________________________________ Check out the latest news, polls and tools in the MSN 2004 Election Guide! http://special.msn.com/msn/election2004.armx

1 0

Re: UBL is George Washington
by Tyler Durden 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

Traditionally speaking, Asymetric warfare has almost always been successful. The best example, of course, is the French exodus from Algeria. As for sympathisizing with OBL, I agree with you, but then again I've never been an asymmetric warrior myself. But it seems to me the bombing of that Indonesian discoteq wernt a long way towards getting the locals to view OBL as just another wannabe remote control dictator wanting to force-feed foregin culture into a complex, multicutlural area where those 'solutions' might be completely inappropriate. Meanwhile, however, anyone read that Vanity Fair article? The United States has almost single-handedly transformed OBL into an underdog and symbol of resistance. -TD >From: Anonymous <nobody(a)paranoici.org> >To: cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: Re: UBL is George Washington >Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 21:32:16 +0200 (CEST) > >Major Variola (ret) writes: > > > > The yanks did not wear regular uniforms and did not march in > > rows in open fields like Gentlemen. Asymmetric warfare means not > > playing by > > *their* rules. > >But asymm warfare has to accomplish its goal. It's not being very >successful. The only people who are siding with al-qaeda are those whose >brains are already mush -statist socialists, to be precise. If al qaeda >bombed government buildings or targetted the private residences or offices >of government officials, they might get more sympathy, from me at least. >Destroying an pair of buildings and killing thousands of citizens -most of >whom couldn't give an accurate account of U.S. forces distribution in the >MidEast- is not a step forward. > > _________________________________________________________________ Get fast, reliable Internet access with MSN 9 Dial-up now 2 months FREE! http://join.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200361ave/direct/01/

1 0

Re: Tyler's Education
by Tyler Durden 06 Jul '04

06 Jul '04

Now this might matter. If there's a phone line near the surveilled computer, then no blackbag op is necessary. Thus, "fishing" is much easier. If they've got to roll the trucks, then they'll probably need to have something fairly concrete to nail you with. -TD >From: John Kelsey <kelsey.j(a)ix.netcom.com> >Reply-To: John Kelsey <kelsey.j(a)ix.netcom.com> >To: "J.A. Terranson" <measl(a)mfn.org>, "cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net" ><cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> >Subject: Re: Tyler's Education >Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:32:19 -0400 (GMT-04:00) > > From: "J.A. Terranson" <measl(a)mfn.org> > Sent: Jul 4, 2004 12:57 AM > To: "cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net" <cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net> > Subject: Re: Tyler's Education > > Interestingly, I have had more than one report of aural acquistion of > typists keystrokes being used to attempt to calculate the content of a > short keysequence (I assume a password is what was meant by "short > keysequence"). These reports indicated "poor, but occasionally lucky > results". > >I wonder if this follows the technique used by Song, Wagner, & Tian to >attack SSH-encrypted passwords by watching keystroke timings. > > J.A. Terranson > sysadmin(a)mfn.org > >--John Kelsey > _________________________________________________________________ MSN Life Events gives you the tips and tools to handle the turning points in your life. http://lifeevents.msn.com

1 0