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DNA of relative indicts man, cuckolding ignored
by Major Variola (ret.) 07 Jul '03

07 Jul '03

Slashdot pointed to this story of a man indicted via his *relative's* DNA sample: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3044282.stm But an interesting, unmentioned issue is this: in population DNA surveys you find that a lot of purported fathers *aren't*. So the possibility of indicting a cuckolded man on the basis of nominal (only) relatives is quite real. [list rel: tech DBs, errors, law, biosurveillance]

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Cypherpunks List Info
by cpunk＠lne.com 06 Jul '03

06 Jul '03

Cypherpunks Mailing List Information Last updated: Sep 12, 2002 This message is also available at http://www.lne.com/cpunk Instructions on unsubscribing from the list can be found below. 0. Introduction The Cypherpunks mailing list is a mailing list for discussing cryptography and its effect on society. It is not a moderated list (but see exceptions below) and the list operators are not responsible for the list content. Cypherpunks is a distributed mailing list. A subscriber can subscribe to one node of the list and thereby participate on the full list. Each node (called a "Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer", although they are not related to anonymous remailers) exchanges messages with the other nodes in addition to sending messages to its subscribers. A message posted to one node will be received by the list subscribers on the other nodes, and vice-versa. 1. Filtering The various CDRs follow different policies on filtering spam and to a lesser extent on modifying messages that go to/from their subscribers. Filtering is done, on nodes that do it, to reduce the huge amount of spam that the cypherpunks list is subjected to. There are three basic flavors of filtering CDRs: "raw", which send all messages to their subscribers. "cooked" CDRs try to eliminate the spam on that's on the regular list by automatically sending only messages that are from cypherpunks list subscribers (on any CDR) or people who are replying to list messages. Finally there are moderated lists, where a human moderator decides which messages from the raw list to pass on to subscribers. 2. Message Modification Message modification policy indicates what modifications, if any, beyond what is needed to operate the CDR are done (most CDRs add a tracking X-loop header on mail posted to their subscribers to prevent mail loops). Message modification usually happens on mail going in or out to each CDR's subscribers. CDRs should not modify mail that they pass from one CDR to the next, but some of them do, and others undo those modifications. 3. Privacy Privacy policy indicates if the list will allow anyone ("open"), or only list members, or no one ("private") , to retrieve the subscribers list. Note that if you post, being on a "private" list doesn't mean much, since your address is now out there. It's really only useful for keeping spammers from harvesting addresses from the list software. Digest mode indicates that the CDR supports digest mode, which is where the posts are batched up into a few large emails. Nodes that support only digest mode are noted. 4. Anonymous posting Cypherpunks encourages anonymous posting. You can use an anonymous remailer: http://www.andrebacard.com/remail.html http://anon.efga.org/Remailers http://www.gilc.org/speech/anonymous/remailer.html or you can send posts to the list via cpunks_anon(a)einstein.ssz.com and your mail's headers will be stripped before posting. Note that this doesn't provide complete anonymity since the receiving site will still have log file entries showing the source of the mail (or you have to trust that they delete them). You also will be 'sharing' a reputation with the other entities that post through this alias, and some of them are spammers, so some subscribers will have this alias filtered. 5. Unsubscribing Unsubscribing from the cypherpunks list: Since the list is run from a number of different CDRs, you have to figure out which CDR you are subscribed to. If you don't remember and can't figure it out from the mail headers (hint: the top Received: line should tell you), the easiest way to unsubscribe is to send unsubscribe messages to all the CDRs listed below. How to figure out which CDR you are subscribed to: Get your mail client to show all the headers (Microsoft calls this "internet headers"). Look for the Sender or X-loop headers. The Sender will say something like "Sender: owner-cypherpunks(a)lne.com". The X-loop line will say something like "X-Loop: cypherpunks(a)lne.com". Both of these inticate that you are subscribed to the lne.com CDR. If you were subscribed to the algebra CDR, they would have algebra.com in them. Once you have figured out which CDR you're subscribed to, look in the table below to find that CDRs unsubscribe instructions. 6. Lunatics, spammers and nut-cases "I'm subscribed to a filtering CDR yet I still see lots of junk postings". At this writing there are a few sociopaths on the cypherpunks list who are abusing the lists openness by dumping reams of propaganda on the list. The distinction between a spammer and a subscriber is nearly always very clear, but the dictinction between a subscriber who is abusing the list by posting reams of propaganda and a subscriber who is making lots of controversial posts is not clear. Therefore, we tolerate the crap. Subscribers with a low crap tolerance should check out mail filters. Procmail is a good one, although it works on Unix and Unix-like systems only. Eudora also has a capacity for filtering mail, as do many other mail readers. An example procmail recipie is below, you will of course want to make your own decisions on which (ab)users to filter. # mailing lists: # filter all cypherpunks mail into its own cypherspool folder, discarding # mail from loons. All CDRs set their From: line to 'owner-cypherpunks'. # /dev/null is unix for the trash can. :0 * ^From.*owner-cypherpunks@.* { :0: * (^From:.*ravage@ssz\.com.*|\ ^From:.*jchoate@dev.tivoli.com.*|\ ^From:.*mattd@useoz.com|\ ^From:.*proffr11@bigpond.com|\ ^From:.*jei@cc.hut.fi) /dev/null :0: cypherspool } 7. List of current CDRs All commands are sent in the body of mail unless otherwise noted. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Algebra: Operator: Subscription: "subscribe cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)algebra.com Unsubscription: "unsubscribe cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)algebra.com Help: "help cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)algebra.com Posting address: cypherpunks(a)algebra.com Filtering policy: raw Message Modification policy: no modification Privacy policy: ??? 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All posts from other CDRs are forwarded to other CDRs unmodified. Message Modification policy: 1. messages are demimed (MIME attachments removed) when posted through lne or received by lne CDR subscribers 2. leading "CDR:" in subject line removed 3. "Reply-to:" removed Privacy policy: private Info: http://www.lne.com/cpunk; "info cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)lne.com Archive: http://archives.abditum.com/cypherpunks/index.html (thanks to Steve Furlong and Len Sassaman) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minder: Subscription: "subscribe cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)minder.net Unsubscription: "unsubscribe cypherpunks" to majordomo(a)minder.net Help: "help" to majordomo(a)minder.net Posting address: cypherpunks(a)minder.net Filtering policy: raw Message Modification policy: no modification Privacy policy: private Info: send mail to cypherpunks-info(a)minder.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Openpgp: [openpgp seems to have dropped off the end of the world-- it doesn't return anything from sending help queries. 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"Reply-to:" removed Privacy policy: private Info: http://www.pro-ns.net/cpunk

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Re: Idea: The ultimate CD/DVD auditing tool
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '03

06 Jul '03

At 03:08 PM 7/6/03 +0300, Sampo Syreeni wrote: >. A writing drive capable of working at such a low level >could be used to experiment with new encodings beyond what standard CD's >can do -- say, substituting CIRC with RSBC and gaining some extra room on >the disc, getting rid of the subchannels, a more intelligent coding of >disc addresses... Breaking compatibility wouldn't be too useful, but it >sure would be fun. And think of the ulcers you would cause the TLAs! Assuming they got your disks and not your custom drive... >Now you simply can't do it. There's a good reason why, viz: it would cost the drive developer to allow or export this flexibility. Since very few customers are sick enough :-) to want to invent their own incompatible formats it simply isn't worth their development-engineering time or end-product resources (eg gates) in such a commodity product.

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Idea: The ultimate CD/DVD auditing tool
by Thomas Shaddack 06 Jul '03

06 Jul '03

Pondering. Vast majority of the CD/DVD "protection" methods is based on various deviations from the standards, or more accurately, how such deviations are (or aren't) handled by the drive firmware. However, we can sidestep the firmware. The drive contains the moving part with the head assembly. There is an important output signal there: the raw analog signal bounced from the disk and amplified. We can tap it and connect it to a highspeed digital oscilloscope card. And sample obscene amount of data from it. In comparison with fast-enough ADCs, disk space is cheap. The problem can be in bandwidth, but for the drive speed set up to possible minimum (or for "normal" players) the contemporary machines should be sufficient. Real-time operating system (maybe RTOS-Linux) may be necessary. We get the record of the signal captured from the drive's head - raw, with everything - dirt, drop-outs, sector headers, ECC bits. The low-level format is fairly well documented; now we have to postprocess the signal. Conversion from analog to digital data and then from the CD representation to 8-bit-per-byte should be fairly straightforward (at least for someone skilled with digital signal processing). Now we can identify the individual sectors on the disc and extract them to a disc image file that we can handle later by normal means. We can push the idea a step further, making a stripped-down CD/DVD drive that would be able basically just to follow the spiral track with its head in constant linear velocity (easier to analyze than CAV) mode, with the ability to control the speed in accordance with how fast (and expensive) ADC, bus, and disks we have, and the possibility to interrupt/resume scanning anytimes in accordance with how much disk space we have (or to scan just a small area of the disc). As a welcomed side effect, not only we'd get a device for circumvention of just about any contemporary (and possibly a good deal of the future ones) optical media "protections", but we would also get a powerful tool for retrieving data from even very grossly damaged discs, for audit of behavior of CD/DVD writers and CD vendors (eg, if they don't attempt to sneak in something like a hidden serial number of the writer), and for access to all areas of the discs - including the eventual ones unreachable through the drive's own firmware. If we'd fill this idea with water, would it leak? Where? Why?

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Re: Idea: The ultimate CD/DVD auditing tool
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Jul '03

06 Jul '03

At 04:13 AM 7/6/03 +0200, Thomas Shaddack wrote: >Pondering. Vast majority of the CD/DVD "protection" methods is based on >various deviations from the standards, or more accurately, how such >deviations are (or aren't) handled by the drive firmware. > >However, we can sidestep the firmware. > >The drive contains the moving part with the head assembly. There is an >important output signal there: the raw analog signal bounced from the >disk and amplified. > >We can tap it and connect it to a highspeed digital oscilloscope card. This is a valid idea. You do have to get in there with delicate probes to read the amplified analog signal, its not available past the drive. The people who already do this are called test engineers for CD drive companies. Or the data-recovery techs for the NSA et al. I doubt that hardcore pirates bother, they may as well just do a single high quality ADC. That, as has been mentioned here before, is always the fatal flaw, even if you put the DAC in your DRM chip (and solve the resulting noise issues..) ---- "Yes, we know they have logic analyzers in Hong Kong" --a Sony engineer when confronted with weaknesses in the design of a DRM box

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Re: A firewall problem?
by Major Variola (ret) 05 Jul '03

05 Jul '03

At 01:55 AM 7/4/03 -0700, Sarad AV wrote: >Wont the following cause a firewall breach- > >First we capture inbound packets to a firewall >assuming we have a man in the middle(M). > >If (M) use block replay on packets he can inject bits >and pieces of his own information to an inbound >firewall and can go undetected? > >M doesn't alter the source and destination ip's and is >perfectly acceptable to the firewall.Even a timestamp >won't work since a packet is expected at any time. > >We can still re-calculate the CRC of Checksum field by >the same attack and replace the old crc/checksum after >changing various required bit positions. > >Do firewall programs use initialisation vectors and a >chaning mode to prevent this attack? You are confusing a firewall with a protocol like IPsec that provides authentication and replay resistance (using crypto). A firewall is just a packet filter --if this field is that, do this. (Steve Bellovin has an online book about them you might enjoy.) Sometimes they're clever and look inside the streams, but this won't resist the attacks you're talking about. Various components of IPsec will. Read up on how it does that. ----- http://www.geocities.com/the_irvine_observer/

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[Reverse panopticon] Govt Information Awareness
by Major Variola (ret.) 05 Jul '03

05 Jul '03

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59495,00.html Researchers at the MIT Media Lab unveiled the Government Information Awareness, or GIA, website Friday. Using applications developed at the Media Lab, GIA collects and collates information about government programs, plans and politicians from the general public and numerous online sources. Currently the database contains information on more than 3,000 public figures. The premise of GIA is that if the government has a right to know personal details about citizens, then citizens have a right to similar information about the government.

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Brinword on again in Kelowna, BC: CanPrivComm's replacement drops police surveillence camera lawsuit
by Tim Meehan 05 Jul '03

05 Jul '03

Too bad George Radwanski didn't just bring his lunch to work more often. This was one of his more prominent causes, an important one, which his successor is just rolling over on. --- http://tinyurl.com/g30t The Toronto Star Jul. 5, 2003. 01:00 AM Radwanski stand-in cleans house Sidelines aides, ends pricey B.C. court challenge Staff co-operating with auditors: Robert Marleau TONDA MACCHARLES OTTAWA BUREAU OTTAWARobert Marleau, the man replacing former privacy commissioner George Radwanski, has moved quickly to overhaul the beleaguered office, halting a $250,000 court challenge to RCMP surveillance cameras yesterday and sidelining two of Radwanski's most controversial senior aides. Marleau, a former clerk of the Commons who is filling the job on an interim basis, said in an interview he dropped the high-profile court action in Kelowna, B.C., that Radwanski had undertaken as a crusade because it was not "a useful way of spending public funds." Marleau also accepted on Wednesday the resignation and early retirement of Art Lamarche, Radwanski's chief of corporate services. Marleau said there was no special incentive package offered to Lamarche to retire July 31; it was Lamarche's own decision. The interim privacy commissioner also ordered Dona Vallieres, Radwanski's director of communications and frequent travel companion, to take "special leave" with full pay pending the outcome of Auditor-General Sheila Fraser's financial probe. "When I came in, I took stock of the situation and thought it was in her best interests and our best interests while the audit was ongoing, and pending its results, that she go on special leave," Marleau said. He would not speculate on the likelihood of Vallieres returning to her job. "The audit will dictate the outcome," he said. Vallieres travelled extensively with her former boss to Paris, Madrid, London, Rome, New York and New Zealand among other destinations. Her expense claims show she often dined at the same Ottawa restaurants preferred by the ex-commissioner. A self-described sufferer of chronic fatigue syndrome, Vallieres had refused to appear before the Commons committee investigating Radwanski's expenses, saying she was ill. She did, however, appear at Radwanski's news conference the following day. Vallieres has declined interviews, but indignantly denied to a CTV reporter she had any improper relationship with Radwanski. In 2001-2002, documents show Radwanski claimed $182,777 in domestic and foreign travel expenses. Vallieres claimed a total of $129,542 for the same period. Marleau declined to reveal the salaries of Vallieres and Lamarche, who is on "special leave" with full pay until his July 31 retirement, but both are considered senior executives in the public service. Under recently announced pay increases, an executive's salary ranges from $102,200 to $165,000. The NDP's Pat Martin said he was pleased with the moves by Marleau, and said the results of the auditor general's investigation may mean future sanction for Radwanski's former aides. "(Canadians) should be comforted by the fact that any maladministration of public funds may be considered a criminal matter," he said. Neither Lamarche nor Vallieres returned the Star's calls yesterday. Marleau, and all senior officials in the privacy office, have already met with and provided documents to federal auditors from Fraser's office, and more interviews are set for Monday, he said. As well, a "broad" audit of staffing practices by the Public Service Commission is underway. "As far as I'm concerned, they have complete access," Marleau said. "I look forward to their findings." As for the Kelowna surveillance camera court challenge Radwanski had launched, Marleau said he made a "risk assessment" of the likelihood of success and the future legal costs, and believed it was "not reasonable" to proceed. Up to now, the merits of the case hadn't been argued, yet the challenge had already cost $250,000 to litigate, mostly in fees to Toronto lawyer Morris Manning. The challenge, Marleau said, was not "the best use of funds of this small office." The federal justice department opposed Radwanski's efforts to bring the matter to court, and Radwanski had lost his first bid for standing to intervene. Marleau said the office still has concerns about the privacy implications of surveillance cameras, and if it received a complaint from an individual Kelowna resident, which it has not, it would "pursue" the matter, and apply a test of "reasonableness" to the use of surveillance equipment. -- Tim Meehan, Communications Director Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis tim(a)ocsarc.org * http://www.ocsarc.org * 416-854-6343

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Radiation Sniffer
by John Young 04 Jul '03

04 Jul '03

The radiation sniffer in NYC and proposed for elsewhere in the US is described in this DOE doc: http://www.eml.doe.gov/factsheets/HS_Platform.pdf Here's the aircraft monitoring program: http://www.eml.doe.gov/factsheets/rampscan.pdf There's more on a variety of homeland security monitoring programs at http://www.eml.doe.gov/factsheets/ EML is the DOE's Environmental Monitoring Laboratory located in NYC, whose history goes back to the earliest days of the nuclear age when it was set up to track medical and health effects of nuclear weapons. It now does worldwide monitoring of nuclear activities. Why is it located in NYC? Up on the 7th Floor of a non-descript office building, along with a batch of federal agencies such as a passport office, social security and what not. The classified work of the lab must account for the amazing entrance security you have to go through to get a passport renewed. Reminds of going to a plain-jane office building at an outer edge of DC a while back, heading for a meeting with a construction firm, when, bam, step inside the lobby and there you are facing a heavily armed phalanx of federal police and camouflaged soldiers. You ask the M-16 bristling receptionist about the firm and she barks for the team to surround the perp, demands ID, says you know where your are. Uh, sure, I say, this is the capital of the free world. Smart ass, she says, not any more. This country is ours. Show me what's in that bag. So I did. She screamed when it dawned on her what she was seeing in my tote. The troops jumped back as if electroshocked. Sir, she said, we would appreciate it if you would just leave. Yes, sir, the troops chorused, just please leave the premises, what's in that bag is not what we enlisted to handle. Here, I said, taking the device out of the tote, have a taste. No, no, no, they all yelped, and backed against the wall, legs shaking, weapons clattering to the floor, please take it away. Have mercy, sir. Well, I said, okay, if it scares you, and put away the gleaming jewel of kryptonite, titled fine print US Constitution, printed in China.

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A firewall problem?
by Sarad AV 04 Jul '03

04 Jul '03

hi, Wont the following cause a firewall breach- First we capture inbound packets to a firewall assuming we have a man in the middle(M). If (M) use block replay on packets he can inject bits and pieces of his own information to an inbound firewall and can go undetected? M doesn't alter the source and destination ip's and is perfectly acceptable to the firewall.Even a timestamp won't work since a packet is expected at any time. We can still re-calculate the CRC of Checksum field by the same attack and replace the old crc/checksum after changing various required bit positions. Do firewall programs use initialisation vectors and a chaning mode to prevent this attack? Regards Sarath. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com

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