- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

Call for Papers: ShmooCon. 2005. No moose. We swear.
by R. A. Hettinga 01 Oct '04

01 Oct '04

<http://www.shmoocon.org/cfp.html> Washington, D.C. Call for Papers [PDF] http://www.shmoocon.org The Shmoo Group is soliciting papers and presentations for the first annual ShmooCon. ShmooCon 2005 will be a highly-technical and entertaining East coast hacker convention focused on technology exploitation, inventive software and hardware solutions, as well as open discussion on a variety of technology and security topics. ShmooCon 2005 will be held on February 4-6, 2005 at the Wardman Park Marriott in Washington, D.C., just minutes from your choice of 3-letter agencies. ShmooCon 2005 will have three tracks, each dedicated to the following: Break It! - Technology Exploitation Build It! - Inventive Software and Hardware Solutions BoF It! - Open Discussion of Technology and Security Topics Topics for the "Break It!" track may include, but are not limited to, EXPLOITATION of: - Consumer electronic devices - Application, host, and network security - Telephony - Physical security Topics for the "Build It!" track may include, but are not limited to, inventive software and hardware SOLUTIONS in: - Robotics - Distributed computing - Community wireless networking - Mobile personal computing Topics for the "BoF It!" track may include, but are not limited to, open DISCUSSION of the following: - Privacy and anonymity - Exploit and vulnerability disclosure / databases - DRM (Digital Rights Management), fair use, copyright infringement - Open source software world domination strategies Presentation Format All presentations and discussions will be 55 minutes in length. Presentations in the "Break It!" and "Build It!" tracks must include demonstrations of personally developed techniques, working code, and/or devices, with code and/or schematics being open-source and released to the public for free. Initiating an open discussion for "BoF It!" requires subject matter expertise, active involvement with the topic at hand, and a brief presentation of the topic/problem scope. Shmooballs will be issued to the audience, to facilitate a frank and open discussion of opinions. Speakers are encouraged to present innovative ideas that not everyone agrees with. Submission Procedure To submit, email cfp(a)shmoocon.org with the following information: 1. Speaker name(s) and/or handle(s) 2. Presentation Title 3. Track preference 4. Two to three paragraph presentation description and/or outline 5. List facilities required. Projector for use with VGA input, flipchart, sound projection, Internet connectivity will be provided. 6. Speaker bio 7. Contact info for speaker (email AND mobile number, please) Accepted speakers will receive free admission to the conference, as well as a $100 honorarium after evaluation of their completed presentation. 6 runner-ups will receive free admission as hot-alternates. They should come to ShmooCon 2005 prepared to speak, and, if it becomes necessary for them to speak as an alternate, they too will receive a $100 honorarium after evaluation of their completed presentation. NOTE: select presentation submissions which are not accepted will be awarded a 50% discounted admission to ShmooCon 2005. Presentations must be designed to include source code, schematics, or other substantial details that demonstrate the topic being discussed. Presentation proposals will be reviewed by members of the Shmoo Group. A list of the reviewers will be posted on the ShmooCon 2005 web site when the Call For Papers is formally issued. If you feel you have a presentation that would be appropriate but that does not meet these guidelines, feel free to submit it anyway but be sure to include a cover letter explaining your reasoning so we can evaluate your proposal. All questions regarding this call for papers should be addressed to cfp(a)shmoocon.org. Schedule Check the web site for final dates July 30, 2004 CFP opens Early Fall 2004 papers for preferential first round consideration due Middle Fall 2004 final due date for all papers Late Fall 2004 speakers notified Submissions are due by late fall 2004. Preference will be given to submissions received by early fall 2004. Selected speakers will be notified by Halloween, 2004. We look forward to receiving your submissions as well as seeing you at ShmooCon 2005! ShmooCON 2005 CFP 1.0 RC6 news about registration cfp program schedule location sponsors links contact us . privacy policy )2004, The Shmoo Group -- ----------------- 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'

1 0

Re: "ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen"
by Tyler Durden 01 Oct '04

01 Oct '04

John Kelsey wrote... >Maybe. I guess the thing that's confusing about any of these answers is >that the rules as they're >applied must be propogated to thousands of >people. It's not like they could easily hide guidance >like "no more than >10 Arabs per flight" or "double-screen anyone with brown skin and a >Koran"-->someone would leak it. Perhaps the written rules include things >like this that they don't want to >subject to court scrutiny, but then how >do they get that down to the people doing the screening >at the gate? That's a good point. And those screeners ain't exactly the cream of the crop, if ya' know what I mean. A year ago they were making minimum wage, so if someone wanted a copy of those guidelines, it'd be easy as hell to con it out of one of em. (INVOKE SPIRIT OF TIM MAY HERE)...dress all official-like with a clipboard and some random badge, and start quizzing the locals about the current rules. Maybe that wouldn't work at JFK, but go to the airport at, say, Lexington So Carolina or Bumfuck Idaho and you'd get the information faster than a hillbilly can skin a possum for dinner. So no way they could keep such a big secret, and I would suspect that the Brazil-factor is not so great that the TSA doesn't already know that. I think you may be onto something w.r.t the Profiling issue. That may have more to do with it than anything. In other words, they don't want the thing contested in court, and the powers that be may not want to be personally liable. So in other words, this law is basically secret so that it can be secret. If nothing else, the Iraq WMD debacle should teach that they really don't have some deep, secret and "justifiable" information. -TD _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee. Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963

2 1

Re: "ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen"
by John Kelsey 01 Oct '04

01 Oct '04

>From: Tyler Durden <camera_lumina(a)hotmail.com> >Sent: Sep 30, 2004 5:06 PM >To: cypherpunks(a)al-qaeda.net >Subject: "ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen" ... >For instance, is it indeed possible that revealing this rule would pose an >additional security risk? If such a rule exists (and it does) then hijackers >obviously already know about it. Could this rule also reveal some deeper >secrets about how hijackers can be detected? I seriously doubt it. One possibility raised by Dan Simon (I think) on Eric Rescorla's excellent blog is that the rule is part of some monthly briefing that is sent out, which might include some kind of information they'd rather not have published, e.g., "be especially careful about anyone carrying a guitar case; we've heard rumors about using one to bring a Tommy gun onboard." >Then of course, the argument may be that the government wanted to hide the >rule for the very reason of making it more unassailable. In other words, if >the rule were known, then it might be more easily contested in court. Hiding >the rule protects the law which in turn protects national security. Maybe. I guess the thing that's confusing about any of these answers is that the rules as they're applied must be propogated to thousands of people. It's not like they could easily hide guidance like "no more than 10 Arabs per flight" or "double-screen anyone with brown skin and a Koran"--someone would leak it. Perhaps the written rules include things like this that they don't want to subject to court scrutiny, but then how do they get that down to the people doing the screening at the gate? The whole idea of laws that the citizens aren't allowed to see just sounds like something you'd expect in some godawful third-world dictatorship, not in the US. >-TD --John Kelsey

1 0

Tor 0.0.9pre1 is out (fwd from arma@mit.edu)
by Eugen Leitl 01 Oct '04

01 Oct '04

----- Forwarded message from Roger Dingledine <arma(a)mit.edu> -----

1 0

Re: "ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen"
by Major Variola (ret) 30 Sep '04

30 Sep '04

At 05:06 PM 9/30/04 -0400, Tyler Durden wrote: >I post this not as a refernce per se, but to ask the question: > >Exactly Why Does the Government Not Want to Reveal Their ID Rules? > >For instance, is it indeed possible that revealing this rule would pose an >additional security risk? If such a rule exists (and it does) then hijackers >obviously already know about it. Not only that, but as Bruce S pointed out, they can reverse-engineer the rules by sending probes.

1 0

CFP: Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET 2005)
by R. A. Hettinga 30 Sep '04

30 Sep '04

--- begin forwarded text

1 0

Are horrific means justified by utopia?
by R. A. Hettinga 30 Sep '04

30 Sep '04

<http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/printFlynn20040929.shtml> Townhall.com Are horrific means justified by utopia? Daniel J. Flynn (back to web version) | Send September 29, 2004 If you believe the fulfillment of your cause will create Heaven on Earth, anything done in its name is justified. Grasping this basic concept helps one to better understand the present-day beheadings by backward fundamentalists hoping to create Allah's Kingdom in the temporal world. It also helps one understand the mass killings of the past in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union supported by cultured intellectuals promising to make men perfect. This is why utopianism is so dangerous. It rationalizes horrible crimes done to attain the unattainable. The intellectual morons discussed in my book by the same name get blinded to reality by the causes that they serve. The loftier the ideal, the baser their actions become in its name. Examples abound. Idealism unchecked by reality fueled the worldwide eugenics movement of the first half of the twentieth century. English intellectual Herbert Spencer articulated the lofty goal of eugenics by announcing that "all imperfection must disappear." Toward this end, Margaret Sanger called for forced sterilization, concentration camps, and birth control for the "creation of a new race." In America, the ideals of Planned Parenthood's founder were partially realized through the sterilization by state governments of nearly 70,000 people. In Germany, these same ideals-"a new race"-resulted in something far more horrible. W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the NAACP, believed Karl Marx a "colossal genius." Du Bois's fanatical devotion to Communism's triumph made a liar out of him. To the esteemed professor, Stalin was a "great" and "courageous" man, while the "sinister" Churchhill was the primary leader bringing the "death and destruction of human civilization." Amidst the mass killings of Maoist China, Du Bois detected "a sense of human nature free of its most hurtful and terrible meanness." America, fresh from victory over Nazism and immersed in a cold war against the Soviet Union, was to him "the greatest warmonger of all history." Deluded by an ideology that promised utopia, Du Bois confused statesmen for murderers and murderers for statesmen; free nations for totalitarian ones and totalitarian nations for free ones. Novelist Ayn Rand hated Nazism and Communism, but this didn't stop her from imitating many of the unattractive aspects of those ideologies in both her fiction and in her real life. The high priestess of Objectivism established a cult of personality, held show trials against followers, denied reality (such as the success of Sputnik) when it didn't conform to her theories, and demanded the submission of individual judgment to her own. In Rand's books, she fantasized about the destruction of the portion of humanity standing in the way of her ideals. Examples of this include the holocaust that concludes Atlas Shrugged and the words of We the Living's heroine: "What are your masses but mud to be ground underfoot, fuel to be burned for those who deserve it?" The damage done by Objectivism, thankfully, rarely went beyond the movement's ranks. Ideologies promise to save the world. They fail. Instead, they breed fanaticism, justify dishonesty, and cloud reality. They do this by keeping adherents transfixed on the unreachable goal: human perfectibility. The focus on the impossible keeps the actual out of sight. Thus, crimes, lies, and even murders committed on the ideology's behalf are ignored, excused, and denied. Rather than demonstrating that men can be made perfect, ideologues show us how fallen man can be. This is as true today among al Qaeda's followers as it was eighty-five years ago among the Bolsheviks. Most of the evil committed is done in the name of the good. Aristotle, for instance, observed in the Nicomachean Ethics that "every action and decision, seems to seek some good." Crucially, he added, "But the ends appear to differ." Do they ever. When you're providing earthly deliverance, all is permitted-the gulag, the gas chamber, beheadings, etc. After all, ends that glorious will always justify means that horrific. Unfortunately, utopian ideologies never succeed in their ends or spare in their means. The road to heaven on earth invariably detours to a dead end more closely resembling a much hotter place. Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas -- ----------------- 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'

1 0

[IP] Carry Umbrella in DC (fwd from dave@farber.net)
by Eugen Leitl 30 Sep '04

30 Sep '04

----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave(a)farber.net> -----

1 0

ADV: Announcement To All Staff
by Admin 30 Sep '04

30 Sep '04

Attention All Nonprofit Organizations: Members, Staff and Associates: You Must Respond By 5 P.M. Friday, October 1, 2004. Through a special arrangement, Avtech Direct is offering a limited allotment of BRAND NEW, top of-the-line, name-brand desktop computers at more than 50% off MSRP to all Nonprofit Members and Staff who respond to this message before 5 P.M., Friday, October 1, 2004. All desktop are brand-new, packed in their original boxes, and come with a full manufacturer's warranty plus a 100% satisfaction guarantee. These professional grade Desktops are fully equipped with 2004 next generation technology, making these the best performing computers money can buy. Avtech Direct is offering these feature rich, top performing Desktop Computers with the latest Intel technology at an amazing price to all who call: 1-800-884-9510 by 5 P.M. Friday, October 1, 2004 The fast and powerful AT-2400 series Desktop features: * Intel 2.0Ghz Processor for amazing speed and performance * 128MB DDR RAM, --- Upgradeable to 1024 * 20 GB UDMA Hard Drive, --- Upgradeable to 80 GB * 52X CD-Rom Drive, --- Upgradeable to DVD/CDRW * 1.44 Floppy disk drive * Next Generation Technology * ATI Premium video and sound * Full Connectivity with Fax modem/Lan/IEE 1394/USB 2.0 * Soft Touch Keyboard and scroll mouse * Internet Ready * Network Ready * 1 Year parts and labor warranty * Priority customer service and tech support MSRP $699 ........................................ Your Cost $297 How to qualify: 1. You must be a Member, Staff or Associate of a Nonprofit. 2. All desktop computers will be available on a first come first serve basis. 3. You must call 1-800-884-9510 by 5 P.M. Friday, October 1, 2004 and we will hold the desktops you request on will call. 4. You are not obligated in any way. 5. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. Call Avtech Direct 1-800-884-9510 before 5 P.M. Friday, October 1, 2004 Visit our website at http://www.avtechdirectcomputers.com If you wish to unsubscribe from this list, please go to: http://www.computeradvice.org/unsubscribe.asp Avtech Direct 22647 Ventura Blvd., Suite 374 Woodland Hills, CA 91364

1 0

More Convenient Use of Electronic Gold Payments
by Bill Stewart 29 Sep '04

29 Sep '04

I've used E-Gold in the past, and found that the hardest part of the process is buying the stuff to put in your account - setting up an account and paying people with it are both easy, but to buy the gold, you need to find some way to give somebody some other kind of money so they'll give you electronic gold. If you want $10000 worth, or want to transfer physical gold, it's not hard, but if you just want small quantities it was annoying. Jim Davidson's article talked about E-Gold and other currencies, and almost all of them operate under a model in which the gold service transfers gold credits between accounts, but buying the gold credits with other types of money is handled by third-party retailers, and almost none of the retailers will accept credit cards or Paypal without long delays, though they'll happily accept other gold currencies. There's now a much more convenient way to buy online gold - goldage.net. To pay them cash, you do an online form, then go to a bank they use, and fill out a deposit slip with their account number from the form, and hand the bank your cash, and then do another form to say you did it. They use banks in USA, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and South Africa. Their US banks include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and three or four others. You don't need to set up an account with them - they mostly do transactional business, though their fees are a bit lower if you're a large frequent customer. The gold currency payment isn't instant - it can take a couple of days for Goldage to see that the deposit was made. They seem to be a small operation, so they're very responsive to email. A couple of months ago, I wanted to pay for some services using an online gold currency, and the merchant accepts E-gold, Pecunix, and several other gold currencies. I didn't want to use E-Gold itself, because there are too many spammers phishing for people's e-gold account information the way they do for credit cards, and I didn't want to have to miss any _real_ email from them mixed in with the spam. Pecunix was one of the gold currencies that my merchant's online payment system Goldcart accepted, and they were easy to use. So I did the online form at Goldage, deposited the cash at the bank, checked Pecunix a couple of days later, and paid the merchant. I think the total fees were about $6-7 between the different service providers, mostly the $5 minimum fee at Goldage, and I may have a buck or two of round-off-error money sitting in Pecunix, but the percentage costs would be lower if I were using it more frequently rather than a one-shot transaction. It worked very well, and was much simpler than a few years ago.

2 1