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THE NEW YORKER on the V-Chip
by abostick＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In the Jan. 20, 1997, issue of THE NEW YORKER, the "Comment", written by Malcolm Gladwell, makes a powerful arguement about the unintended consequences of the V-Chip, the programmable device to be included in next-generation television sets sold in the US that supposedly will allow parents to control their children's access to sex and violence on TV. Gladwell makes an analogy between V-Chipped TV content and air-conditioned cars in the New York City subway system in summertime: " . . . we need air-conditioners on subway cars because air-conditioners on subway cars have made stations so hot that subway cars need to be air-conditioned." Similarly, he argues, "the V-chip is likely to increase the amount of sex and violence on television, not decrease it" because when viewers can block offensive programming, there is far less pressure on broadcasters and cable operators to avoid offending. This is just the sort of thing that John Young is given to scanning and putting up on his Web site or sending out to people who send him email with FUN_nie subject lines. If I were him, I'd put it up. And, for the benefit of those people who don't think the V-Chip isn't in itself on-topic for cypherpunks, I might point out that Gladwell's argument applies equally well to mail filtering with procmail recipes -- or Sandy's and John's list moderation experiment. If the noise level on the unmoderated list jumps to even higher than we were seeing before the moderation began, that would provide observational support to Gladwell's argument. -- Alan Bostick | To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height mailto:abostick@netcom.com | of elegance. news:alt.grelb | Jean Genet http://www.alumni.caltech.edu/~abostick

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Re: Airport security [no such thing]
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ichudov(a)algebra.com writes: > Dr.Dimitry Vulius K.O.T.M. wrote: > > Dale Thorn <dthorn(a)gte.net> writes: > > > > > Igor Chudov @ home wrote: > > > > Dr.D. Vulius K.O.T.M. wrote: > > > > > Nurdane Oksas <oksas(a)asimov.montclair.edu> writes: > > > > > > > But think about this: suppose there is a couple, bob(a)household.com, > > > > and alice(a)household.com. Suppose that Rev. Mallory does not like bob. > > > > Mallory forges a lot of emails like "I can still taste your sperm > > > > on my lips", that appear to originate from Cindy(a)phonesex.org. > > > > Then, promptly, Mallory sends an anonymous alert to alice(a)household.com > > > > warning her about naughty email activities of bob. Alice gets mad at hi > > > > and divorces him. > > > > How would bob protect himself against such developments? > > > > > > Frame-ups are as old as time. The ones that work the best are those > > > that are the most believable. O.J., for example. Unless Alice is > > > unusually flaky or paranoid, she'll consider her options against the > > > time she has invested in Bob. > > > > Here's an interesting twist of Sandfort's moderation policy. > > > > My article was crypto-relevant and flame-free and was tossed to > > cypherpunks-flames. > > > > Igor's response to my article was also crypto-relevant and flame-free > > and was tossed to cypherpunks-flames. > > > > Dale's response did not quote me, so it made it to the censored list. > > Is it really true that my response was tossed out as flames? Yes. > It was crypto-relevant. So was my original article. They did not contain any flames or personal attacks, contrary to what Sandy claims. > BTW, this is a more than perfect illustration why rejections > based on "shitstrings" are completely inappropriate for moderating. > > I have nothing again "grey lists", when moderators are alerted when a > message containing certain suspicious word arrives (the way it's done in > STUMP), but am opposed to autorejections (unless mods are mailbombed). It's ironic that Igor's article which I'm quoting ALSO got tossed into cypherpunks-flames, even though it wasn't a flame. Apparently the only comments on moderation that Sandy passes to the censored list are the ones praising him. This way he'll be able to report unanymous support for his moderation policies. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Rejection policy of the Cypherpunks maiing list
by ichudov＠algebra.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I would like to start a thread to discuss the moderation and rejection policy. My perfectly crypto-relevant article regarding possible attacks on human relationships with the use of forged mail and anonymous remailers, has been tossed out (sorted) into cypherpunks-flames mailing list. You can receive a copy of my article by an email request. The explanation that Sandy Sandfort gave me mentioned that he rejected my message because it continued a thread where Sandy noticed instances of "flaming". Note that my message was free of any flames, including its quoted part. Sandy also states rather plainly that crypto-relevance is not the criterion by which he moderates this list. I question this policy. I would like to hear your opinions as to whether such policies satisfy the current readership. - Igor.

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Rejection policy of the Cypherpunks maiing list
by ichudov＠algebra.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I would like to start a thread to discuss the moderation and rejection policy. My perfectly crypto-relevant article regarding possible attacks on human relationships with the use of forged mail and anonymous remailers, has been tossed out (sorted) into cypherpunks-flames mailing list. You can receive a copy of my article by an email request. The explanation that Sandy Sandfort gave me mentioned that he rejected my message because it continued a thread where Sandy noticed instances of "flaming". Note that my message was free of any flames, including its quoted part. Sandy also states rather plainly that crypto-relevance is not the criterion by which he moderates this list. I question this policy. I would like to hear your opinions as to whether such policies satisfy the current readership. - Igor.

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Re: No Dimitri??
by Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM" <dlv(a)bwalk.dm.com> writes: > "William H. Geiger III" <whgiii(a)amaranth.com> writes: > > > I have noticed that there has not been any post from Dimitri in a couple of > > days. > > > > I am assuming that this means that the list moderation has now started? > > Yes - anything I say is junked irrespective of content. I see that Moderator Sandfort has allowed this article through (to prove me wrong) but has tossed all my other articles into cypherpunks-flames. Most of them were crypto-relevant, on-topic, and contained no flames. I bet he's going to toss this one too. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Re: Rejection policy of the Cypherpunks maiing list
by Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ichudov(a)algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes: > I would like to start a thread to discuss the moderation and rejection > policy. I predict that Sandy won't allow any posts on the censored list that question his moderation poilicy - only the unanymous praises. > My perfectly crypto-relevant article regarding possible attacks > on human relationships with the use of forged mail and anonymous > remailers, has been tossed out (sorted) into cypherpunks-flames > mailing list. A dishonorable act. > You can receive a copy of my article by an email request. Perhaps you want to start putting up rejected articles on a Web page? > The explanation that Sandy Sandfort gave me mentioned that he rejected > my message because it continued a thread where Sandy noticed instances > of "flaming". Note that my message was free of any flames, including > its quoted part. That's correct. > Sandy also states rather plainly that crypto-relevance is not the > criterion by which he moderates this list. I question this policy. Sandy's personal likes and dislikes of certain posters are the criterion. > I would like to hear your opinions as to whether such policies satisfy > the current readership. You won't be allowed to on this censored mailing list. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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ATTENTION HOMEOWNER
by CV Communications 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: THE NEW YORKER on the V-Chip
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 08:23 AM 1/24/97 -0500, Alan Bostick wrote: >Gladwell makes an analogy between V-Chipped TV content and >air-conditioned cars in the New York City subway system in summertime: >" . . . we need air-conditioners on subway cars because air-conditioners >on subway cars have made stations so hot that subway cars need to be >air-conditioned." Great analogy except that it's wrong. Subway tunnels were hot before the cars ever had air conditioning. The traditional method of controlling the amount of power delivered to an electric traction motor was to run the juice through a resistor array. As the motorman moved the controller up and down, the current would pass through fewer and more banks on the grid of resistors and the amount delivered to the motors would change. Well you might guess that at 600 V DC and I don't know how many Watts, those resistor grids had to dump a lot of heat. They were/are located on the tops or bottoms of cars and are quite apparent when the cars pass you on a winter morning. DCF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 4.5 iQCVAgUBMujKnYVO4r4sgSPhAQHgmAQAh82IvjwPXFdDchT1JvOuwf0pHGyO1xzY FsuPo2ig696dnWfXEyRhAcCvK6MKpXyaXPwtsPvJD6o8VUY2kU9UB5oddPBG7Q65 KAEwF/CBAtk3qyGmbfsd1ax65vjSkqm/+D675g/kHjAgOfaNFoRdlEXi4TLFjZZO ocj3IrSqZSE= =U0/n -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: THE NEW YORKER on the V-Chip
by Duncan Frissell 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- At 08:23 AM 1/24/97 -0500, Alan Bostick wrote: >Gladwell makes an analogy between V-Chipped TV content and >air-conditioned cars in the New York City subway system in summertime: >" . . . we need air-conditioners on subway cars because air-conditioners >on subway cars have made stations so hot that subway cars need to be >air-conditioned." Great analogy except that it's wrong. Subway tunnels were hot before the cars ever had air conditioning. The traditional method of controlling the amount of power delivered to an electric traction motor was to run the juice through a resistor array. As the motorman moved the controller up and down, the current would pass through fewer and more banks on the grid of resistors and the amount delivered to the motors would change. Well you might guess that at 600 V DC and I don't know how many Watts, those resistor grids had to dump a lot of heat. They were/are located on the tops or bottoms of cars and are quite apparent when the cars pass you on a winter morning. DCF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 4.5 iQCVAgUBMujKnYVO4r4sgSPhAQHgmAQAh82IvjwPXFdDchT1JvOuwf0pHGyO1xzY FsuPo2ig696dnWfXEyRhAcCvK6MKpXyaXPwtsPvJD6o8VUY2kU9UB5oddPBG7Q65 KAEwF/CBAtk3qyGmbfsd1ax65vjSkqm/+D675g/kHjAgOfaNFoRdlEXi4TLFjZZO ocj3IrSqZSE= =U0/n -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[DES] DES Key Recovery Project, Progress Report #7
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

DES Key Recovery Project, Progress Report #7 Friday, Jan 23 1997 Peter Trei Next Tuesday morning, 9AM, RSA is scheduled to release the 'real' $10,000 DES challenge data. My software is in a state where it can be used for the challenge, though there is room for improvement. It currently tests about 185,000 keys/sec on my 90MHz machine. This translates to about 205,000 keys/sec on a 100 MHz machine. I still have to replace my DES round, which takes 25 clock cycles, with Svend Mikkelsen's, which takes only 18. Since the DES rounds are well over 80% of the work, this should boost the speed to over 250,000 keys/sec at 100 MHz. If I'm lucky, I'll perform this conversion over the weekend. I've sent out early betas to a few people for porting, but have had no feedback yet. I've approached several restricted FTP sites as possible distribution sites, and have had some positive responses, but nothing definitive yet. I'm being pretty strict in my interpretation of EAR for this purpose. In advance of the challenge, I'm willing to email copies as a ~100k uuencoded zip file to people, but to do so, you must comply with the following: 1. Send the request to ptrei(a)acm.org, NOT trei(a)process.com. I won't be able to read the latter for the next 10 days. 2. Include your 'true name' and residence address, as well as the email address to which it should be sent, . 3. A statement of your nationality. I'll mail it only to US Citizens, Canadian citizens, and US Green Card holders, residing in the US or Canada. 4. A statement to the effect that you understand that this is restricted code, and that cannot be exported or given to non-US/Canadian citizens I'm going to hold this information in strict confidence, and will surrender it only to a valid court order. It's similar to what you have to go through to download the domestic version of Netscape Navigator or PGP from MIT. You are free to distribute the software further. If you've complied with the requirements above, I believe that at that point I've done more than due diligence under ITAR/EAR. My software gets it's challenge data either from a text file cut-and-pasted from the RSA page, or from internally stored data. Tuesday night, I'll recompile the program with the real challenge data, and redistribute. My version runs on WinNT or Win95, on 486's and above. It's set up as a console app, which can run in background. I don't yet have a version for Win 3.1 or below 486, but may do in the future. The software is set up in such a way that it can be used either on a standalone system, or in a LAN environment with shared disks. The latter has a slightly more complex setup, but will allow many machines to share one executable and results file. I envisage people installing one copy on a shared disk in their workplace, and then adding the appropriate commands to the autoexec.bat file of every machine they can, so the program will start running whenever the machine is booted. (I HOPE you get permission!). The distribution includes both source and the Win32 executable. The source includes both fast Intel assembler, and much slower generic 'C'. There's nothing that's really Microsoft specific in the code - it should be easy to port to other systems with 32 bit or better processors. I'm attempting to do a 'PGP style' distribution with a signed, nested zip file. The signing key I'm using is available at http://www.ziplink.net/users/trei/crypto.html (I hope I've done this right). I'm only going to send out signed archives. If you get one where the signature fails, or one lacking a signature, I repudiate it - and you should be suspicous of it. I'll be trying to set up that URL as a page describing the project, with info on other efforts, and FAQs. Once the challenge starts, I hope you'll all evangelize it to your friends and acquaintences. I'd like to see 100,000 machines trying for the $10,000. All next week I'm in the San Francisco area (I'm flying out in a couple hours). I'll be attending the Verisign Partner's Day on Monday, and I'll be at the RSA Data Security Conference Tuesday through Friday. I'll be trying to read cypherpunks and coderpunks at least once a day, along with checking mail to ptrei(a)acm.org. I can't read cryptography(a)c2.net from an archive, so I will not see it unless it cc's ptrei(a)acm.org (Perry, could you temporarily subscribe ptrei(a)acm.org?) Happy hunting! Peter Trei ptrei(a)acm.org

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