February 2005 - cypherpunks-legacy

Studios Settle Copyright Suit Against Web-Site Operator
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

<http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB110814951191552648,00.html> The Wall Street Journal February 11, 2005 2:21 p.m. EST E-COMMERCE/MEDIA Studios Settle Copyright Suit Against Web-Site Operator Associated Press February 11, 2005 2:21 p.m. LOS ANGELES -- Hollywood movie studios have settled a copyright lawsuit against a Web site operator they say had helped people find pirated copies of films for download. The Web site, LokiTorrent.com, hosted "torrents," or file markers used by online file-swapping programs like BitTorrent to comb the Internet for other computer users sharing a given file. Edward Webber, who ran the site, agreed to pay a "substantial" fine to settle the lawsuit and agreed to turn over copies of his computer server logs and data, the Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday. Those records might prove to be even more valuable to the trade group as a way to ferret out individual computer users who had visited the site, which had more than 750,000 registered users downloading thousands of files, said John Malcolm, head of the MPAA's antipiracy division. The MPAA also took over the LokiTorrent.com domain name and posted a warning against trading movie files online with the slogan "You can click, but you can't hide." The settlement is the first announced by the MPAA following an unspecified number of lawsuits filed by Hollywood studios in December against operators of more than 100 computer servers in the United States and Europe. The MPAA also announced a second round of litigation against U.S. sites that host indexes for BitTorrent, eDonkey and DirectConnect and against individual computer users, but Mr. Malcolm declined to identify who the defendants are or how many. Calls to Mr. Webber's attorney weren't immediately returned Friday. -- ----------------- 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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Security show set to spark debate
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

<http://www.vnunet.com/print/it/1161190> Security show set to spark debate Catch it if you can Roger Howorth, IT Week 11 Feb 2005 The RSA Conference 2005, hosted by security specialist RSA, kicks off in San Francisco on Monday. Keynote speakers include Bill Gates of Microsoft and fraud author Frank W Abagnale. Roundtable discussions will cover possible legislation affecting vendor liability for security products. Some observers argue that the number of flaws in computer products might be reduced if vendors were held legally accountable for damage caused. Gates is unlikely to cover vendor liability in his keynote, but could face a stiff grilling on the matter by attendees. Personal identity theft is one of the fastest growing types of crimes, and also one that is ripe for tackling at the event with emerging technologies based around biometrics and encryption. Other briefings will cover a range of industry topics, including compliance, cryptography, web services and new ideas about mobile & wireless security. Computer Associates will also unveil details around the next phase of integration between its own products and those acquired with last year's purchase of identity management firm Netegrity. -- ----------------- 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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Quantum leap
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

<http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory4.aspx?id=deca9b6c-4f…> Quantum leap A chance encounter between a computer-science professor and a physicist launches new field of quantum cryptography ALISON MACGREGOR The Gazette Friday, February 11, 2005 CREDIT: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, THE GAZETTE Universite de Montreal's Gilles Brassard has made Canada a world leader in the fast-growing quantum cryptography field. It began 25 years ago in the warm coastal waters of Puerto Rico when a stranger swam over to Gilles Brassard and struck up a conversation about using quantum physics to make bank notes impossible to counterfeit. "I had no idea who he was," recalled Brassard, then a 24-year-old prodigy and computer-science professor at the Universite de Montreal. "He just started talking nonsense about quantum physics." The stranger turned out to be U.S. physicist Charles H. Bennett. Their chance meeting while attending a theoretical computer science conference would end up revolutionizing the art of code making, also known as cryptography. Together, Brassard and Bennett would go on to found a field of science - quantum information processing - whose effects on society some say could even rival the impact that the steam engine had in its time. Already, experts agree, Brassard and Bennett's most famous invention, a technique known as quantum cryptography, is set to eliminate terrifying vulnerabilities that could soon arise in the way governments, banks, the military, business and the public use computers and the Internet to communicate and store data. Some observers see the technology as one day making the Internet secure enough that medical professionals could share confidential health data online in ways that would be insecure now. Yet for all its promise, this invention is also making governments nervous. The ability to send unbreakable coded messages could just as easily be exploited, authorities fear, by criminals and terrorists who now lack a foolproof way of avoiding having their messages cracked. In the midst of all this excitement and controversy is Montreal-based Brassard, who has made Canada a world leader in his fast-growing field. Because of him, Canada "has turned out to be the best place in the world" to do research in quantum information processing, says physicist Raymond Laflamme, a leading figure in the field who recently returned to Canada from a post with the U.S. Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory. "All of this is thanks to Gilles," he says. Barry Sanders, a quantum physicist who recently returned to Canada from a research post in Australia, agrees, saying Brassard has played a key role in making this country "the world leader in this field." Brassard and Bennett's invention sprung from their discovery of how principles from the previously unlinked fields of quantum physics and computer science could be combined to establish an unbreakable secret key. Instead of transmitting information along cables via electronic signals, they use polarized photons - tiny particles of light - that are so sensitive that when intercepted, they immediately become corrupted. This renders the message unintelligible and tips off both sender and intended recipient to the spying attempt. What's causing particular excitement now is that the way that applications of Brassard and Bennett's technology have just been commercialized and put to market. Since late 2003, consumers have been able to acquire quantum cryptographic systems that make short-haul computer links unbreakable to spies. The systems are being sold by two competitors in Geneva and New York for as little as $70,000 U.S. Both firms' devices use Brassard and Bennett's seminal insight. But that's only a start, Laflamme says. "The potential is absolutely enormous." - - - Intrigued during their chance encounter off the shores of Puerto Rico by the idea of impossible-to-forge bank notes, the two men repaired to air-conditioned restaurants and cafes where they tossed it around some more. They left the island firm friends, returning, respectively, to Montreal and Croton-on-Hudson, a village just north of New York City, where they continued their brainstorming. While the anti-counterfeiting idea ultimately proved impractical, both scientists soon realized that one of its underlying principles - a theory that exploited the unique properties of photons - could be applied more broadly to code making. Cryptography has always been a race between code-makers and code-breakers. Today's most sophisticated codes, used for the protection of information on computers, rely on hugely complex mathematical calculations that present-day computers aren't believed to be powerful enough to solve. Yet as Brassard explains, it's possible someone has already figured out how to crack these codes. If so, such a person might want to keep this quiet so as to benefit personally, Brassard remarked, although there could also be an altruistic reason for doing so. The reason? "Society would collapse, electronic commerce would collapse," Brassard says. "There would be chaos. I would keep quiet - just as I would if I found a new weapon of mass destruction." But the biggest fear in the cryptographic world is that a new kind of super-powerful "quantum computer" could soon be constructed that would have the capacity to quickly solve the kinds of code-breaking problems that today's computers are stumped by. Already, experts say, a U.S. mathematician, Peter Shor, has developed a formula that could be used by a quantum computer, once one has been built, to crack current encryption technology. The prospect of such a computer being constructed obviously worries governments, business and the military - and should be of concern to all who value their privacy. It would be "a nuclear bomb to the Internet," says Barry Sanders, director of the University of Calgary's Institute for Quantum Information Science. "All of the security that we rely on when we use the Internet would be obsolete." And this is why Brassard and Bennett's invention is causing such a stir: theirs is the first practical form of cryptography that could not be broken, even by some yet-to-be-built quantum computer. The key to the security of a quantum cryptography code, Laflamme explains, is that it "does not involve solving a mathematical problem; it would involve breaking the laws of physics." Brassard and Bennett's collaboration has led to another breakthrough, too. In an invention reminiscent of Star Trek, the two physicists and their colleagues have developed a "quantum teleportation" technology that can dissemble a particle of matter in one location and beam it for reassembly in another. This technique was invented in 1992, first tested experimentally four years later with photons and is still being tested by scientists around the world. (One of the co-inventers of the technique was Brassard's former student Claude Crepeau, who now directs his own research team in quantum information processing at McGill University.) In 1999, the invention inspired a best-selling novel - Timeline, by Michael Crichton - and a spinoff Hollywood movie of the same name. Filmed in Montreal and released two years ago, the storyline features protagonists being quantum-teleported back to the Middle Ages. - - - Brassard and Bennett's inventions have also generated enormous attention from the world science media. An October 1992 cover story in Scientific American magazine gave the duo's quantum cryptography technique its first burst of stardom. Now, a second wave of coverage has come as experiments prove the commercial viability of their cryptography technique and fledgling new products make their way to market. Most recently, Brassard and Bennett's cryptography technique was again the subject of a cover story - this time in the January issue of Scientific American. They've also drawn coverage from Britain's New Scientist and as well as in German, Australian and Japanese media outlets, among others. Yet the technology still faces serious distance limitations. Photons can only travel so far before they fade. They require amplification at regular intervals if they're to be transmitted over long distances - something that has not yet proved feasible. Scientists are working hard to overcome this limitation. So far, the record for transmitting coded messages through fibre-optic cables is 100 kilometres; the maximum distance reached to date through the air is 23 kilometres between two mountaintops. This latter achievement is of particular significance because it's generally considered harder to transmit photons through the thicker air found near the Earth's surface than up toward space, where there's less atmospheric interference. That's why scientists are hopeful they'll soon be able to send photons to satellites, which typically orbit 150 kilometres above the Earth. Such a development would set the stage for the launch of the world's first truly global unbreakable encrypted communications system. So promising is the field of quantum information processing that governments and corporations around the world are investing millions of dollars in research in the field. The first-ever local quantum-encrypted network of computers is now up and running in Cambridge, Mass., where it is managed by the pioneering Internet firm BBN Technologies Inc. And the Los Alamos National Laboratory's quantum cryptography team has joined with six European research institutions to push the field further. In December, the team tied with another group to snag one of the world's most prestigious science prizes - the European Union's $1.3-million (U.S.) Descartes research prize - for its project to build a secure global quantum cryptographic communications system. In Canada, Research in Motion founder and co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis put up $100 million of his own money in 1999 to fund the non-profit and independent Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, now a leading centre of quantum information research. (Two more RIM executives have since contributed another $20 million, while Ottawa and Ontario have kicked in another $54 million.) Last month, the University of Calgary got into the act, launching its Institute for Quantum Information Science. There have been commercial developments, too. In 2003, a Swiss firm, id Quantique SA of Geneva, became the first to sell a quantum cryptography system to the public. Another company, New York City's MagiQ Technologies Inc., soon followed. Yet Brassard and Bennett haven't made a penny from these ventures; they've chosen not to patent their discovery in the hopes of fostering an environment where colleagues can feel unhindered in their efforts to develop the field. Other companies with projects in the works include IBM - where Bennett is a research fellow at the company's Yorktown Heights, N.Y., research centre - and Japanese computing giants NEC, Fujitsu and Toshiba. So great is the interest among potential buyers that industry analyst Martin Illsley predicts the technology will be widespread in business and government settings in as little as five years. Early adopters will likely be financial institutions, governments and telecommunications firms, said Illsley, an associate partner at consulting firm Accenture Inc., in a telephone interview from France. Others share that optimism. In a report, International Data Corp. has predicted the market for quantum cryptography products will be about $30 million U.S. within three years - and about $300 million within 10 years. - - - Brassard has gathered a devoted group of researchers and students at the Universite de Montreal's computer science department. Now 49, he grew up in Ahuntsic, where his father was an accountant and his mother taught yoga. He credits his three older brothers - all scientists as well - with inspiring him to pursue his precocious interest in math, a precursor to his fascination with computers and physics. A brilliant student, Brassard had entered secondary school by age 10 and was already doing his undergraduate studies at the Universite de Montreal by age 13. At the time, he recalls, he thought there was "nothing unusual" about attending university so young. He said other students treated him well "even though I looked rather small and young for my age." Now living in Outremont with his two daughters, Brassard says he reads, cooks and listens to classical music in his spare time. He used to play squash and go cross-country skiing too. But these days, he says wistfully, there's no time for that. All the attention swirling about him - and the fast pace of developments in his field - keeps Gilles Brassard a very busy man. amacgregor(a)thegazette.canwest.com Further Readings Bennett, C. H., Brassard, G. and Ekert, A. K., Quantum cryptography, Scientific American, October 1992, pp. 50-57. Stix, G., Best-Kept Secrets, Scientific American, January 2005, pp. 78-83. Singh, S., The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography, Random House Inc., 1999. Web Sites Gilles Brassard: http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~brassard Charles Bennett: http://www.research.ibm.com/people/b/bennetc/home.html Claude Crepeau: http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~crepeau/ Raymond Laflamme: http://www.iqc.ca/people/rlaflamme/ Barry Sanders: http://qis.ucalgary.ca/~bsanders/Institutions Universite de Montreal: Laboratoire d'Informatique Theorique et Quantique - http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/labs/theorique/ McGill University: Crypto and Quantum info lab - http://crypto.cs.mcgill.ca/ Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics: http://www.iqc.ca/ University of Calgary's Institute for Quantum Information Science: http://www.iqis.org/Commercial products id Quantique SA: http://www.idquantique.com/ MagiQ Technologies Inc.: http://www.magiqtech.com/ -- ----------------- 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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[osint] Indonesia Off Money Laundering List
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

--- begin forwarded text To: "Bruce Tefft" <btefft(a)community-research.com> Thread-Index: AcUQb3dHsLUt0QFdTjyUpZpa+PkdQA== 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: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 14:25:38 -0500 Subject: [osint] Indonesia Off Money Laundering List Reply-To: osint(a)yahoogroups.com http://www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=3 <http://www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=3&news_id=7907> &news_id=7907 Indonesia Off Money Laundering List February 12, 2005 01:43 AM, Laksamana.Net - The government is expecting the nation's investment ratings to be upgraded after an international anti-corruption group removed Indonesia from a list of countries known for money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) this week removed Indonesia, the Philippines and the Cook Islands from its list of countries deemed non-cooperative in efforts to halt money laundering. FATF in 2001 blacklisted Indonesia and 18 other countries, making it more costly for their banks to conduct international transactions. FATF was established by the G7 group of industrialized nations following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US in an effort to track the flow of funds to terrorist organizations. Indonesia passed an anti-money laundering law in April 2002, but FATF said much still needed to be done before the country could be withdrawn from the blacklist. Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said Friday (11/2/05) the removal of Indonesia from the list was due to intense lobbying by herself and three other ministers. She said Indonesia had complied with 40 requirements made by FATF's member countries. "They see that the set of measures they required has been fulfilled, including the establishment of the Finance Transaction Analysis Report Center and the compliance audit," she was quoted as saying by state news agency Antara. Coordinating Minister for the Economy Aburizal Bakrie said Indonesia's country risk would decline and its investment ratings would increase accordingly. "As such, payments for interest on state and private debts will decline. And no one will suspect that any financial transaction with us is money laundering," he said. Separately, Finance Minister Jusuf Anwar said Australia and New Zealand had expressed their appreciation of Indonesia's efforts to fight money laundering. Several agencies, including Standard and Poor's and Fitch, raised Indonesia's ratings after last year's general elections bolstered hopes for further macroeconomic stability and economic reforms. Further credit upgrades will make it cheaper for Indonesia to raise funds in the wake of the December earthquake and tsunamis that killed more than 240,000 people in northern Sumatra. Despite Indonesia's anti-money laundering legislation, experts say corrupt individuals and organizations still set up bogus accounts with brokerage houses and use such them to move huge sums of money from sources such as corruption, drug dealing, prostitution and gambling. <http://www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=3&news_id=7907#top> back to top [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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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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House backs major shift to electronic IDs
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

<http://news.com.com/2102-1028_3-5571898.html?tag=st.util.print> CNET News House backs major shift to electronic IDs By Declan McCullagh Story last modified Thu Feb 10 17:46:00 PST 2005 The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses. Under the rules, federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to airplanes, trains, national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by the federal government. The bill was approved by a 261-161 vote. The measure, called the Real ID Act, says that driver's licenses and other ID cards must include a digital photograph, anticounterfeiting features and undefined "machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements" that could include a magnetic strip or RFID tag. The Department of Homeland Security would be charged with drafting the details of the regulation. Republican politicians argued that the new rules were necessary to thwart terrorists, saying that four of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers possessed valid state-issued driver's licenses. "When I get on an airplane and someone shows ID, I'd like to be sure they are who they say they are," said Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, during a floor debate that started Wednesday. States would be required to demand proof of the person's Social Security number and confirm that number with the Social Security Administration. They would also have to scan in documents showing the person's date of birth and immigration status, and create a massive store "so that the (scanned) images can be retained in electronic storage in a transferable format" permanently. Another portion of the bill says that states would be required to link their DMV databases if they wished to receive federal funds. Among the information that must be shared: All data fields printed on drivers' licenses and identification cards, and complete drivers' histories, including motor vehicle violations, suspensions and points on licenses. The Bush administration threw its weight behind the Real ID Act, which has been derided by some conservative and civil liberties groups as tantamount to a national ID card. The White House said in a statement this week that it "strongly supports House passage" of the bill. Thursday's vote mostly fell along party lines. About 95 percent of the House Republicans voted for the bill, which had been prepared by the judiciary committee chairman, F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican. More than three-fourths of the House Democrats opposed it. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat from Washington, D.C., charged that Republicans were becoming hypocrites by trampling on states' rights. "I thought the other side of the aisle extols federalism at all times," Norton said. "Yes, even in hard times, even when you're dealing with terrorism. So what's happening now? Why are those who speak up for states whenever it strikes their fancy doing this now?" Civil libertarians and firearm rights groups condemned the bill before the vote. The American Civil Liberties Union likened the new rules to a "de facto national ID card," saying that the measure would force "states to deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants" and make DMV employees act as agents of the federal immigration service. Because an ID is required to purchase a firearm from a dealer, Gun Owners of America said the bill amounts to a "bureaucratic back door to implementation of a national ID card." The group warned that it would "empower the federal government to determine who can get a driver's license--and under what conditions." -- ----------------- 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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National ID bill vote results and more
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

--- begin forwarded text

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[Announce] Attack against OpenPGP encryption
by David Shaw 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

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[Announce] Attack against OpenPGP encryption
by David Shaw 11 Feb '05

11 Feb '05

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[Announce] Attack against OpenPGP encryption
by R.A. Hettinga 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

--- begin forwarded text

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Desire safety on Net? (n) code has the solution
by R.A. Hettinga 10 Feb '05

10 Feb '05

I'm starting get the hang of this. I mean, fertilizer...crypto, crypto...fertilizer: They're both *munitions*, right? Right? :-) Cheers, RAH -------- <http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=117201#> Express India Desire safety on Net? (n) code has the solution Express News Service Ahmedabad, February 9: ADDRESSING a wide spectrum of needs of the Net-dependent business world ranging from online buying to signing and sending web forms, (n) code solutions, promoted by IT branch of the Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizer Company Limited, has launched its nationwide services at NASSCOM, India Leadership Forum 2005. (n) code solutions has been recently licensed by the IT ministry as certifying authority for providing digital signature certificates to individuals and organisations. Digital certificates can be explained as digital passports, which help in authentication of the bearer on the Internet. This also helps maintain, privacy and integrity of Net-based transactions. Digital signatures are accorded the same value as paper-based signatures of the physical world by the Indian IT Act 2000. Each of these functions help bring trust in Net-based transactions. (n) code has simultaneously released a suite of applications like, (n) procure, (n) sign, (n) form and (n) pay to make use of digital signatures to ensure safety and security in the virtual world in various ways. (n) code has also put in motion, nationwide machinery to support different market segments like banking and financial institutions, public and private sector enterprises and state and central government organisation. -- ----------------- 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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