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Re: \"Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits
by jayh＠1st.net 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

Not necessarily. It is a well documented phenomenon that people show up at hospitals with even some seemingly real conditions whenever there is a particular panic in the media, even in cases where it is simply not possible that they were made sick by the incident. (Assuming of course that even the reports of treatment are themselves accurate, which is doubtable under the circumstances.) Jay <----- Original Text -----> The press was reporting that some dozens of people went to hospitals after encountering shuttle parts, and about 8 were actually treated for something, between lung or skin problems (presumably chemical burns of some sort.) So it's not totally harmless.

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RE: The Statism Meme
by Eugen Leitl 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

On Tue, 4 Feb 2003, Blanc wrote: > A sad, disturbing prospect to contemplate. Someone on another list > remarked that it might become necessary for those in Europe to do some > internet-type rescuing of the American people. Hmmmm. If things get utterly intolerable, and fighting makes no sense since you're in a minority you can always emigrate. My parents did it more than twenty years ago when leaving Evil Empire; some of my best friends are expats unwilling to go back to Merkinland for political reasons. Don't count on EU, we're just as fucked, albeit with a slight delay.

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Putting the "NSA Data Overwrite Standard" Legend to Death... (fwd)
by Thomas Shaddack 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2003 10:57:09 -0600 Subject: Putting the "NSA Data Overwrite Standard" Legend to Death... From: Jonathan G. Lampe <jonathan(a)stdnet.com> To: bugtraq(a)securityfocus.net OK, I'm sure this one will start a flame war, but...I work for a vendor whose products overwrite files when "deleting" them as a way of protecting old data. Lately several customers have been asking for "NSA" or "DoD" standard overwrites, usually with a value of 3, 7 or 9. (Our response to the feature was to more or less let the owner of the product pick the number of overwrites; the obvious tradeoff is morewrites=slowerdisk.) Anyway, while researching how we wanted to document recommended values for the overwrite feature, I looked into the "DoD" and "NSA" standards. I was not surprised to see that a "DoD standard" DOES exist: Government name: DoD 5220.22-M A nice summary: http://www.zdelete.com/dod.htm (not my product) Some original documents: http://www.dss.mil/isec/nispom.htm Long story short: 1 overwrite = CLEAR, 3 overwrites = SANITIZED (non-removable rigid disk) I was surprised, however, to learn that a "NSA standard" DOES NOT exist. I did the usual Google searches and came up with nothing but various sites and postings claiming the standard was anything from 5 to 20 overwrites. Then I called the NSA (1-800-688-6115 - http://www.nsa.gov/isso) The first person I chatted with passed on the question, but the second answered the question in no uncertain terms - NSA is aware of DoD 5220.22-M and DOES NOT have a separate recommendation. So...could this finally be the end of IT employees casually tossing around the "NSA overwrite standard" - or is there something I'm missing? Second, where did the number 7 really come from? (It seems to be the leading recommendation out there right now for number of overwrites and is frequently attributed to the NSA.) - Jonathan Lampe, GCIA, GSNA - jonathan.lampe(a)stdnet.com

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RE: Tiny whiskers make huge memory storage
by Trei, Peter 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

> Sunder[SMTP:sunder@sunder.net] writes [..] > Yeah, yeah, yeah, lots of hype about storing terabytes and so on, not > worried about that at all. The real question now is this: how effective > are these nickel whiskers are recovering erased data off existing > platters, or more precisely how many times do we need to overwrite a disk > now to wipe the data? [...] Each time a more sensitive detector is discoverd, it's used by disk manufacturers to increase storage density. The tracks get finer, the bits and the magnetic forces they generate smaller. I expect this at least partially cancels out the advantage that a more sensitive detector gives the spy. Of course, some sensitive techniques (SQUIDs, etal) are not economic for casual use. Peter

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Re: Encrypted hard drive enclosure for $139
by Michael Shields 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

In article <5.1.1.6.2.20030201181300.02629df0(a)idiom.com>, Bill Stewart <bill.stewart(a)POBOX.COM> wrote: > Now, 712 Mbit/sec is about 90 MByte/sec, which means if it > were doing 3DES, it'd probably be about 30 MByte/sec, > which is no longer fast enough to be entertaining. Yes, it is. Despite the disk manufacturers' intentionally misleading spec sheets, most hard disks are not very much faster than 30 MB/s. For example, the new Barracuda V transfers between 23 and 44 MB/s, depending on where on the disk you read from. http://www.storagereview.com/benchimages/ST3120023A_str.png Even if the disk were infinitely fast, the Firewire interface is limited to 50 MB/s. I think this product would be extremely useful, if it is trustable. -- Shields.

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Tiny whiskers make huge memory storage
by Sunder 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=20030131-020248-9059r Tiny whiskers make huge memory storage UPI Science News >From the Science & Technology Desk Published 1/31/2003 4:07 PM BUFFALO, N.Y., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- New, tiny magnetic sensors could help break a technical barrier to ushering in the next generation of computer disk storage capacity, researchers reported Friday. The sensors, filaments of nickel thinner than a wavelength of visible light, are capable of detecting extremely weak magnetic fields. <SNIP> Yeah, yeah, yeah, lots of hype about storing terabytes and so on, not worried about that at all. The real question now is this: how effective are these nickel whiskers are recovering erased data off existing platters, or more precisely how many times do we need to overwrite a disk now to wipe the data? The Guttman technique is what, overwrite something 37x with various patterns and random numbers, so how does this discovery change this number? Yes, yes, we've all discussed to death that the best way to wipe a hard disk is to melt it down in a furnace, scatter the ashes in the ocean, etc... but what if you want to reuse it? (The 2nd obvious parallel is to encrypt everything ahead of time too... also discussed to death, see the archives, yadda, yadda) My question is what's a reasonable order of magnitude of overwriting data now, assuming you're not trying to hide data from, say the NSA. ----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--------------------------- + ^ + :NSA got $20Bil/year |Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :and didn't stop 9-11|share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ <--*-->:Instead of rewarding|monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :their failures, we |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :should get refunds! |site, and you must change them very often. --------_sunder_(a)_sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------

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[>Htech] WP: Leave-Us-Alone Democracy (fwd)
by Eugen Leitl 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

<<< No Message Collected >>>

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Re: The Statism Meme
by Tyler Durden 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

Tim May wrote... "Even t.v. commercials are spreading the meme that Big Brother is our friend." Funny he should mention this. This very morning was watching the news and a commerical came on for a local monitored Burglar alarm system. It featured a Customed Superhero "Alarmo" (I think), going around the neighborhood interrogating garbage men, mailmen, even kids and dogs and crap. Basically, the guy was 'jokingly' depicted to have gone a little nutty and certainly facsist. And in the end there was an old couple looking on that LOOKED horrified but basically called to see if Alarmo could work for them to. That commercial was either written by a real nut or by someone who also doesn't like the way things are headed. -TD >From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: The Statism Meme Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 20:16:05 -0800 > >OK, so I watch a lot of t.v., or at least have t.v. dramas on a lot. > >I'm struck by how many of them this year treat civil liberties as gone, >either as old-fashioned or as just plain ignorable. > >* On the episodes of "Law and Order" (three different versions weekly, >often repeated on other nights), the cops routinely roust citizens, shop >owners, hotel clerks, etc. Warrants are the exception, and when they are >produced, they are merely waved in front of the targets. Whether this >represents reality is not the point--the point is that the Fourth, Fifth, >and Sixth Amendments are treated as technicalities to be violated at will. >Cops, prosecutors, and judges violating the Constitution are not >sanctioned. Those being violated never fight back, whether with shotguns >or their own lawyers. > >* I just watched a new series called "Miracles." A planeload of passengers >is held without charges, without arrest warrants. One passenger is simply >taken away by the NSA because he may have information of use to them >someday. Again, maybe not plausible, but this shows the meme Americans are >becoming conditioned to accept. > >* On one often execrable show called "Judging Amy," "Child Protection" >workers are shown bursting into homes and apartments, sans warrants of >course. One memorable line was "Yes, we can enter your home without a >warrant...because we're not the police." > >* Even t.v. commercials are spreading the meme that Big Brother is our >friend. G.E. has one such commercial where doctors are told: "Wouldn't it >be wonderful if you could just type in a name and see every medical >treatment your patient has ever received?...with G.E.'s new software, >you'll be able to." (paraphrase of their actual commercial) > >* "Hate speech" is presented on these cop and lawyer shows as being ipso >facto illegal. "These people think the Constitution gives them the freedom >to spew hate." > >* Nearly all of the programs present the Internet as a place which needs >government control. The lawyers and cops editorialize (actually, the script >writers, of course) about how the "Wild West" atmosphere is a haven for >terrorists, gun nuts, pornographers, and Islamic militants. Various plots >on the court shows have involved ISPs being forced to spy on customers. > >* "9/11 changed everything" is heard at least weekly. The judges cite it to >justify unconstitutional measures, the prosecutors use it to justify >warrantless searches and coerced admissions. > >Yes, I understand this is all fiction. Well, some of the scripts are based >on actual events, including coerced confessions, warrantless searches, >"sneak and peek" wiretaps, concentration camps in Cuba, etc. That so many >of these popular programs have themes as I've described tells us what to >expect. > >The statism meme is growing under hothouse conditions. > > >--Tim May, Corralitos, California >Quote of the Month: "It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes; >perhaps there are no true libertarians in times of terrorist attacks." >--Cathy Young, "Reason Magazine," both enemies of liberty. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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opportunistic encryption
by Eugen Leitl 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

Are there any reasons why current systems (whether OpenSource or not) don't ship with opportunistic IPsec out of the box? FreeS/WAN is really easy to set up, and such, but why having to do BIND juggling and extra installation steps. What are the reasons, crypto restrictions?

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Re: "Real Facts" and "Good Facts"
by Ken Hirsch 04 Feb '03

04 Feb '03

Eric Cordian writes: > In another teletext moment on CNN, the shuttle was described as traveling > at "Mock 18." There was an interesting article in the New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/5b4x) back in Nov 2001 about stenographers working on 9/11--that was an angle I didn't see anywhere else. When these special reports come on--and then go on and on and on--the captioners don't get a break. There are no commercials and they have to keep typing even though the talking heads get to take turns. On 9/11 it was even worse because communications in NY were so screwed up. Y'all are making a big deal about the "dangerous debris". As you may have noticed, there were very few real facts to report so they kept repeating the few tidbits they had, whether they made sense or not. The danger may well be overblown, but it is just prudent of NASA to say not to touch it. There were some pretty big pieces that fell and it is plausible they are still dangerous: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030203/170/36q9q.html http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030203/168/36jm1.html Good article from 1980 on the boondoggle that is the space shuttle: http://washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/8004.easterbrook-fulltext.html

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