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Re: Call for 'hackers' to try to access voting machines draws stern warning
by Major Variola (ret) 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

t 06:59 PM 9/10/04 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: ><http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article?id=7181775> >Call for 'hackers' to try to access voting machines draws stern warning > The warning came after Elections officials received a faxed document last >week stating that a $10,000 cash award would be offered to anyone who can >successfully "hack" into electronic voting machines to prove whether vote >tallies can be changed. Sounds like a good idea for social hacking in the States, too. The "No paper trail, no trust" coalition needs only a bit of typesetting and some glue to make the point. Art is not a crime. Political sarcasm is art. I'm surprised that flyers haven't appeared in SF yet; art is not just for the playa. Even better, give Diebold's URL on the flyer...

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Re: BrinCity 2.0: Mayor outlines elaborate camera network for city
by Major Variola (ret) 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

At 12:50 PM 9/11/04 +0200, Nomen Nescio wrote: >So, since this is titled BrinCity, it surely means that the image >streams will be available from a web site and that we the people get >cameras in the emergency response center and the mayor's office? Is adultery a crime in Chicago? Given the predilication for peripheral pussy by those in power, the cameras could be used to track them. Conspiracy to commit a crime is also a crime. Who knows, Gary Condit's concubine might still be aerobic had there been enough cameras on the ingress points to various buildings. Hey, its in public view. All those homebodies with computers could help keep the public safe. They're not using crypto to keep the publicly funded, public images from public scrutiny, are they? What do they have to hide? ..Wear light colored burkhas to survive the thermal flash.. aluminized fabrics preferred

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Re: Perplexing proof
by Major Variola (ret) 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

At 08:23 AM 9/10/04 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: ><http://www.vnunet.com/print/1157970> > Perplexing proof > >E-commerce is only one mathematical breakthrough away from disaster >Robert Valpuesta, IT Week 09 Sep 2004 > >The fact that even experts often do not fully understand how IT systems >work was underlined by recent reports that the Riemann hypothesis, >established in 1859, may finally have been proved. This doesn't follow. >It seems the hypothesis would explain the apparently random pattern of >prime numbers that form the basis for much internet cryptography, used for >e-commerce and online banking to guard accounts and credit card details. Can someone explain how finding regularity in the distribution of primes would affect any modexp() system? Suppose that you have a function F(i) which gives you the i-th prime. Since the PK systems (eg RSA, DH) use *randomness* to pick primes, how does being able to generate the i-th prime help? >Louis de Branges, a renowned mathematician at Purdue University in the US, >has claimed he can prove the hypothesis. But the maths is so complicated >that no one has yet been able to say whether his solution is right. > >"[The suggested proof] is rather incomprehensible," professor Marcus du >Sautoy of Oxford University told The Guardian, adding that if correct it >could lead to the creation of a "prime spectrometer" that would bring "the >whole of e-commerce to its knees overnight". Methinks the "expert" du Sautoy is an expert in number theory, not crypto... >Unfortunately, most managers have no way of telling whether the proof is >right or its implications are indeed as stated. Most managers don't understand crypto. This could be an >embarrassment if they are asked to assess risks for corporate governance >reports, since they clearly now have a duty to own up and admit that >business could be threatened by a theoretical prime spectrometer. > >Alternatively they might accept that security is a matter of faith, declare >that nothing can truly be "known", and add that the way of Zen shows that >security is probably an illusion anyway. I think this latter indicates the cluelessness of the author.

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14 Governors Receive Mail That's Rigged With Matches
by R. A. Hettinga 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/national/11letters.html?th=&pagewanted=pr…> The New York Times September 11, 2004 14 Governors Receive Mail That's Rigged With Matches By FOX BUTTERFIELD OSTON, Sept. 10 - Envelopes containing matches that were rigged to ignite when opened have been received through the mail at the offices of at least 14 state governors in the last two days. The mailings, under investigation by the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security, bear a return address that names two inmates at a maximum-security prison in Nevada. But a Nevada corrections official said it was unclear whether they were the actual senders. Aides to several governors, including Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, said they had been told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the case was being treated as one of domestic terrorism, and Jennifer Meith, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Fire Marshal's Office, said that was her understanding as well. But spokesmen for the bureau declined to comment on a current investigation, although one of them, Joe Parris, said in Washington, "Cases of this nature are generally handled by the local domestic terrorism squads'' - that is, the joint terrorism task forces set up by the F.B.I. in cities across the country. Because of the Nevada connection, the case is being handled by the bureau's office in Las Vegas, Mr. Parris said. No one has been injured, although 23 staff members in the office of Gov. Judy Martz of Montana were evacuated on Thursday after one of them opened the envelope sent there. It ignited briefly and then petered out, said Chuck Butler, a spokesman for Governor Martz. Not all the envelopes have been opened. Once warnings about them began to spread, some were kept unopened, to be turned over to investigators. The envelopes are of a plain white business type. Each of those that have been opened contained a blank piece of paper. Matches were attached in such a way that opening the envelope could cause them to ignite, aides to the governors said. Each bore a return address from the Ely State Prison in eastern Nevada. Glen Whorton, assistant director of the Nevada Corrections Department, said the two inmates at the Ely prison whose names were given in the return address had been questioned. But, Mr. Whorton said, investigators are not sure whether the inmates, whom he declined to identify, were the senders or whether their names were put on the envelopes by someone else, either inside or outside the prison. "We're not assuming the names on the envelopes are simply the end of the matter,'' he said. The governors who were sent the envelopes are Democrats and Republicans alike. In addition to Mr. Romney, of Massachusetts, and Ms. Martz, of Montana, they are George E. Pataki of New York, Rick Perry of Texas, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Gary Locke of Washington, Olene S. Walker of Utah, Bill Owens of Colorado, Theodore R. Kulongoski of Oregon, Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, Kenny Guinn of Nevada, Linda Lingle of Hawaii and Janet Napolitano of Arizona. One of the mailings was also sent to Jackie Crawford, the Nevada corrections director, at his Carson City office. The aide who opened the envelope was surprised but not hurt when a match ignited as she pulled out a blank sheet of paper, Mr. Whorton said. Copyrigh -- ----------------- 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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U.S. Acts to Notify Foreigners of Tougher Rules for Visits
by R. A. Hettinga 11 Sep '04

11 Sep '04

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/politics/11travel.html?th=&pagewanted=pri…> The New York Times September 11, 2004 U.S. Acts to Notify Foreigners of Tougher Rules for Visits By RACHEL L. SWARNS ASHINGTON, Sept. 10 - Only three weeks before sweeping policy shifts begin affecting foreign visitors at American airports, officials say they are intensifying their efforts to inform travelers from more than 20 industrialized nations to prepare for tough new entry requirements. By the end of September, tourists from 27 nations, including Britain, Germany, Japan and Australia, will for the first time be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival. And beginning at the end of October, passengers from 22 countries, mostly in Europe, must carry machine-readable passports in order to visit without visas. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security plan to start advertising in newspapers in Britain and Australia later this month, informing travelers from those countries that airport inspectors here will start collecting digital fingerprints and photographs from them on Sept. 30. The officials, who have highlighted the new requirement in meetings with trade groups and journalists in London and Germany in recent months, also plan to attend a trade show in Hong Kong in coming weeks. On Wednesday, the State Department sent a cable to its consulates and embassies in the affected nations, encouraging consular officials to expand their efforts to inform travelers about the need to have machine-readable passports by Oct. 26. Consular officials have already been posting advisories on their Web sites and meeting with chambers of commerce, travel groups and news organizations, the department says. Tourists from Europe and other industrialized countries are not typically required to apply for visas to visit the United States, but they will have to do so if they do not have machine-readable passports by the Oct. 26 deadline. Officials at the Travel Industry Association of America, which represents the nation's largest airlines, hotels, cruise lines and car rental companies, say some people in Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland still lack such passports. Travel industry officials commend Homeland Security for its efforts but say the State Department is doing too little to inform travelers about the machine-readable policy. Rick Webster, director of government relations for the Travel Industry Association, said that without a concerted publicity campaign, some travelers might arrive at American airports without either the required passport or a visa. Starting next week, the industry group says, it will send hundreds of e-mail messages to travel associations, foreign journalists and others to advise them of the changes. Angela Aggeler, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said officials had been using various means, among them getting articles published in European newspapers, to spread word. The new policy that requires tourists from 27 industrialized nations to be fingerprinted and photographed affects travelers from 22 European countries and Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand who can currently travel to the United States for up to 90 days without a visa. Because students and other visitors from those nations who stay for more than three months are required to carry visas, they have already been subjected to these new security measures, which took effect for all visa carriers in January regardless of country of origin. The policy that requires travelers to carry machine-readable passports will now affect 22 of those 27 nations. The remaining five - Andorra, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and San Marino - adopted the American standard in 2003. -- ----------------- 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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Call for 'hackers' to try to access voting machines draws stern warning
by R. A. Hettinga 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

<http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article?id=7181775> The Virgin Islands Daily News - A Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper Call for 'hackers' to try to access voting machines draws stern warning By AESHA DUVAL Thursday, September 9th 2004 ST. CROIX - Law enforcement officials and the V.I. Board of Elections issued warnings Wednesday saying anyone who tampers with voting machines will face criminal prosecution. The warning came after Elections officials received a faxed document last week stating that a $10,000 cash award would be offered to anyone who can successfully "hack" into electronic voting machines to prove whether vote tallies can be changed. The flier lists on top in large bold letters, "Cash Payout" and further reads, "The first person to change vote tallies undetectably can claim $10,000!" Hope Gibson, a St. Croix resident and former senatorial candidate, said she sent the document to Elections offices and the media and insists she is not asking that anyone break the law. Gibson states in the document that she is calling the Joint Board of Elections to allow challengers the opportunity to access the voting machines and prove that the machines can or cannot be programmed to give false results. She said similar challenges are being offered on the mainland and that the accuracy of the same machines used in the territory - the 1242 ELECTronic voting machine which is manufactured by the Danaher Corp. - have come into question. Gibson said the $10,000 is being offered by Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist. "I didn't do anything illegal," Gibson said Wednesday. U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Azekah Jennings disagrees, saying the document can be misinterpreted as an open invitation for anyone to illegally tamper with voting machines and that by changing voting results, a cash award can be claimed. "It is unlawful for anyone to engage in any kind of voter fraud," Jennings said. "There are substantial criminal penalties for such violations. If such actions are taken, those individuals run the risk of being exposed to criminal prosecution." Jennings said tampering with voting machines is a federal offense and violators could face substantial fines and possibly imprisonment depending on the violation. He declined to say if criminal action would be taken. Elections board member Alicia Wells and other members were shocked and appalled by Gibson's challenge. "We want to make it clear that any tampering with voting machines will not be tolerated," Wells said. Gibson said although Supervisor of Elections John Abramson Jr. has said fail-safes are built into the machines to ensure accuracy, she believes the machines are unreliable and vulnerable. She said a paper ballot system is the only means for a voter to physically verify their vote before they cast it. "The point that is being made here is the only people who really know if your vote counts are the voting machine vendor, the local programmer and the potential hacker - not the voter," Gibson said. Abramson said Wednesday he forwarded the document to the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office and V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron. "We are leaving this in the hands of law enforcement," Abramson said. [CLOSE WINDOW] -- ----------------- 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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Re: Perplexing proof
by Victor Duchovni 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

On Fri, Sep 10, 2004 at 08:23:06AM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: > "[The suggested proof] is rather incomprehensible," professor Marcus du > Sautoy of Oxford University told The Guardian, adding that if correct it > could lead to the creation of a "prime spectrometer" that would bring "the > whole of e-commerce to its knees overnight". http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/~dusautoy/flash/1hard/listpub.htm So at least now we have a named source, even one who works on generalized zeta functions. The out of the blue "prime spectrometer" claim is still rather puzzling... Does anyone know why Du Sautoy is making this claim (if it is indeed reported correctly). -- /"\ ASCII RIBBON NOTICE: If received in error, \ / CAMPAIGN Victor Duchovni please destroy and notify X AGAINST IT Security, sender. Sender does not waive / \ HTML MAIL Morgan Stanley confidentiality or privilege, and use is prohibited. --- 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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Re: Perplexing proof
by Victor Duchovni 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

On Fri, Sep 10, 2004 at 08:23:06AM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote: > "[The suggested proof] is rather incomprehensible," professor Marcus du > Sautoy of Oxford University told The Guardian, adding that if correct it > could lead to the creation of a "prime spectrometer" that would bring "the > whole of e-commerce to its knees overnight". http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/~dusautoy/flash/1hard/listpub.htm So at least now we have a named source, even one who works on generalized zeta functions. The out of the blue "prime spectrometer" claim is still rather puzzling... Does anyone know why Du Sautoy is making this claim (if it is indeed reported correctly). -- /"\ ASCII RIBBON NOTICE: If received in error, \ / CAMPAIGN Victor Duchovni please destroy and notify X AGAINST IT Security, sender. Sender does not waive / \ HTML MAIL Morgan Stanley confidentiality or privilege, and use is prohibited. --- 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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Re: Perplexing proof
by R. A. Hettinga 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

--- begin forwarded text

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P2P company sues RIAA over patent
by R. A. Hettinga 10 Sep '04

10 Sep '04

<http://news.com.com/2102-1027_3-5357332.html?tag=st.util.print> CNET News P2P company sues RIAA over patent By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5357332.html Story last modified September 8, 2004, 5:45 PM PDT Altnet, a company that sells music and other digital goods through file-swapping services, sued the Recording Industry Association of America on Wednesday for alleged patent infringement. The company, a subsidiary of Brilliant Digital Entertainment, contends that the RIAA has been infringing on one of its patents in the course of copyright enforcement efforts inside peer-to-peer networks. Overpeer, a copyright company owned by Loudeye, and MediaDefender, also are named in the lawsuit. "We've exhausted every means of trying to work with these defendants and those they represent to patiently encourage and positively develop the P2P distribution channel," said Altnet Chief Executive Officer Kevin Bermeister in a statement. "We cannot stand by and allow them to erode our business opportunity by the wholesale infringement of our rights." The patent infringement suit comes as one of the sideshows in an ongoing legal battle over peer-to-peer networks that has led to piracy charges against technology companies and antitrust claims against record companies, and that now appears to be headed ultimately to Congress for resolution. Altnet and Brilliant Digital Entertainment are joint venture partners with Sharman Networks, the Australian company that owns the Kazaa software. The company has been trying for several years to persuade record labels and music studios to allow Altnet to sell authorized versions of their products through the Kazaa file-swapping network. The big entertainment companies have unanimously said no, however. They've lost recent court battles that aimed to put companies like Sharman out of business, but are now seeking legislation that would revive their claims against file-swapping ventures. Altnet has also been seeking other funding sources and ways to strike back at the record labels' efforts to undermine peer-to-peer networks. In the summer of 2003, it announced that it had purchased patent rights to the process of identifying files on a peer-to-peer network using a "hash," or digital fingerprint based on the contents of the file. Initially, Bermeister indicated the company would approach other file-swapping companies to sign them up for licenses. That proved controversial, but Altnet did send cease-and-desist letters last November to nine companies engaged in businesses related to peer-to-peer networks. Some of these, such as data collection company Big Champagne, said they weren't using any technology that would infringe on the Altnet patent. An attorney for Altnet said the disputes with most of the nine had been resolved. Altnet's lawsuit says that antipiracy companies Overpeer and MediaDefender are still on the hook, however. Overpeer is a "spoofing" company that posts millions of false or corrupted files on networks such as Kazaa, trying to make real files harder to find. Media Defender uses "interdiction" techniques, which essentially clog networks with requests that block real download efforts. Both of these services use unauthorized versions of Kazaa and the underlying FastTrack peer-to-peer technology, and so are using Altnet's patent without permission, the company contends. In its complaint, Altnet said that RIAA executives had been notified several times in 2003 about the patent, but that the trade group has continued to support Overpeer and to conduct its own enforcement efforts on the Kazaa network without permission. Overpeer said it did not believe it had infringed on Altnet's patents. "We vigorously deny these claims and find them to be completely baseless and without merit," said Marc Morgenstern, who heads Loudeye's Overpeer division, in a statement. Representatives from the RIAA could not immediately be reached for comment. Altnet and Brilliant Digital Entertainment have been skating on thin financial ice in recent years. In its last quarterly report to federal regulators, Brilliant said it had just $509,000 in cash on hand. An attorney representing Altnet said that financial considerations would not impede the company's attempt to enforce the patent, however. The lawsuit was filed in a Los Angeles federal court. -- ----------------- 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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