- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

Re: [WhoWhere?]
by Ryan Russell/SYBASE 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I did a search for "sybase.com" and, while there were no e-mail addresses of Sybase employees, I now know of a bunch of places running Sybase software. At least, I presume so, since they have an account named sybase. Also, a search on root turned up this particularly entertaining entry... http://people.whowhere.com/pages/ask@ist.flinders.edu.au Is this one of the people who volunteered their own information? Ryan

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Re: The Joy of Java
by Hal 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Unfortunately in order to run Java applications it is necessary to have the Java interpreter for your host. You may also have to set up various scripts or filetype assignments so that java files can be easily and automatically run by that interpreter. Right now the Java interpreter is not (AFAIK) available separately, but only as part of the Java Development Kit (which is free, but is a big package). So generally the infrastructure is not really there for Java applications to be easily downloaded and run by end users. The attraction with applets is that if you have a recent version of Netscape and a 32 bit OS you are already set up to run them (whether you like it or not, for probably the majority of end users). Also those security and safety features which exist for applets (buggy as they may be at this time) don't exist at all for applications. Java applications can delete or modify files, make arbitrary net connections, etc. So certainly more care must be taken in choosing to download and run a Java application than an applet, comparable to what is necessary when you download and run a new PC application program. Signed binaries are probably again the way to go here. Hal

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WSJ on Crypto Push
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

WSJ, April 29, 1996 Software-Scrambling Proponents Pushing To Ease Export Curbs New York -- Champions of encryption software -- computer programs that scramble data to thwart eavesdroppers -- this week will step up efforts to loosen export restrictions on the technology. Sen. Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) is expected to introduce tomorrow a bill that would ease the federal government's export rules. At the same time, industry-trade groups and privacy advocates will seek grass-roots support via the Internet. Current regulations limit the export of encryption software to weak systems that are presumed easy for intelligence and law-enforcement organizations to crack. The Clinton administration has opposed the sale of stronger systems, saying terrorists or other foes could use them to conduct operations without being monitored. But technology executives contend these regulations hamper their ability to compete overseas. And because the regulations govern any software that incorporates the technology to keep data secure, they can impede exports of electronic-mail systems, World Wide Web software and other Internet-related packages. "Right now, the industry is just wondering whether the administration will deal with this before we start losing market share," said D. James Bidzos, chief executive officer of RSA Data Security Inc., a Redwood City, Calif., concern that supplies encryption software. The new bill would give software makers free rein to sell scrambling systems overseas as long as the same systems are widely available in the U.S. Other encryption technologies could be exported as well if similar products are already generally available outside the U.S. -----

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Re: [DETWEILING?] Re: The Iron Mountain Report
by tallpaul＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Apr 25, 1996 00:17:25, 'Rich Graves <llurch(a)networking.stanford.edu>' wrote: >On second thought, this is so *obviously* a troll that it *must* be >intended to be obvious. Of course there are a lot of really stooooopid >Nazis out there, but this last round is too much. Did you see the one >about Smart Cards being the Mark of the Beast? Follow the URL that message >gave -- it's even loonier than it looks. > The sense I have is that the highest liklihood is that it springs from a standard run-of-the-mill loon on the conservative side of the spectrum. The net nazis are busy with far more creative trolls and the leftists have no record of picking up on this particular report (since, if nothing else, it was designed as a semi-humor piece when originally published in hardcover.) It more reminds me of the space-alien kidnapping piece on "Penelope Kuntz" from one of the fake newspapers that the _National Lampoon_ ran a few years ago. It was picked up and reposted by some of the paranoids. >Only nobody(a)replay.com knows... > >Possibilities: > >1. Some anti-Nazi (such as Tallpaul -- note this is *not* an accusation!) >trying to make the Nazis look bad. > I didn't take it as an accusation. There's nothing wrong with running through a complete(ish) list of hypotheses when working on a problem. However, this hypothesis is not likely since: 1) I don't think it came from nazis; 2) I (modestly) think I can make the nazis "look bad" by quoting them, not inventing trolls; 3) I don't troll political issues for political reasons. (OK, the BABYLON-5 troll was sort of political but I thought the reference for people to "bite my third secondary grasping tentacle" made it obvious but a couple of left-wing dufuses still took it seriously). 4) I am a generalist, without the detailed technical knowledge for really good trolls. Similar arguments against your other hypotheses. >2. Some really, really stupid Nazi who doesn't realize that he looks bad >(if you don't believe sich people exist, look up just about any Usenet >post from Les Griswold or A HUBER). >3. Some Detweiler tentacle/clone trolling just for kicks. >4. Declan, trying to troll me. >5. Me, trying to troll Declan, or myself. > ><pot-kettle-black=on> > >In any case, the person doing it is an asshole, and there is little call >for substantive replies. Don't feed the animals. > ></pot-kettle-black> > >-rich > >

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DRAFT agenda for DC net-conference in early May
by Declan B. McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I recently saw a DRAFT agenda for a day-long Net-conference to be held in early May, hosted by Congressmen Jack Fields and Rick White. Panels include Future of the Internet, Electronic Commerce, Intellectual Property, Law Enforcement and Encryption, and Education on the Net. Highlights include a POSSIBLE luncheon address by The Honorable Newt Gingrich. Thought DC-area cypherpunks might like an advance heads-up. -Declan

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WhoWhere.com v. that stanford.edu loon
by Rich Graves 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Several people asked for an update, so here it is. WhoWhere.com has been provided a dump of the password file that they may never have seen before, and they will be purging all 27,128 addresses therein from its database. Of course, many of those addresses may also be available from other, publicly available sources, and the Stanford community has been made well aware of whowhere.com's service (for user entries), so I expect that thousands of these addresses will return soon. I am confident that the Parsec folks are now acting in good faith, and that they are now sensitive to the relevant privacy and ethical issues. Myself, I'm cognizant of the hypocrisy and foolishness inherent in my position, but hey, we do what we can with what we got. Until the system is fixed, I gotta defend my people the best I can. I'm still reasonably serious about that "Hack Stanford Privacy" thing. If there is an easy way for outsiders to glean our whole kerberos namespace (outside of other major universities interconnected via AFS, and we'll get that fixed Real Soon Now), I want to know about it. - -rich [not on cypherpunks, so please Cc any responses] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMYWLdo3DXUbM57SdAQF9fAP+Pw4ra8Q5JfDy/DnmfrDauP5/4x+sH+SY qOwGk+GDgKW1p9yO+31OhuLsatPK5sXDGjTtwseRZXZXizylGmwQtgs2g9gQMxNR feZLyo0WBVnYw600ppms7nfay0uqEjM25nw/z+HDrUZ7VlWuAXZ/yctqLadiO3P8 +vCGbDfSQWA= =dP6F -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[Joke] It Takes a Village
by cpunk＠remail.ecafe.org 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Friend, Here's Timothy May, the self-appointed village headman. He's surrounded by a bunch of arse-kissing accolytes: -"Gosh, I thought that Java was garbage, but now that Tim mentions it, it's the best thing in the world" -"Tim's right, Java is terrific." Village Jester: "Tim's dead wrong. Java isn't good--it's great!" Then there's Perry Metzger, the local squire, who's embittered over the fact that, while he's got some worthwhile things to say, he's always overpowered by the "charisma" and new clothes of May. Jim Bell, village idiot. He's always good sport for the village bully, Black Unicorn. His pretentions aside ("the black unicorn has been in my family crest for a thousand years"), he is in actuality a short, portly Philadelphia accountant by the name of Irving Lipshitz-Groins. Cordially, Your village historian

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Re: On computer face recognition:
by geeman＠best.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 09:39 PM 4/29/96 -0400, you wrote: ><< "Results were successful (else why write about it?" >> > > > Another believer in the tooth fairy. Send this kid to the "Real World >Academic Life" bootcamp, please. No (sigh) I'm not a believer in the tooth fairy, nor a kid. I take the time and trouble to post to the list something of bona-fide value and interest and all you can do is snipe at some side-comment, tongue-in-cheek at that? I see we're not talkin' bout a 1-percenter here, are we? Let's see if you can't do something more useful next time. > >Note that I am not making any comment on the success of this particular >work. Probably because you haven't a clue. > >

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Re: The Joy of Java
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:45 PM 4/29/96, Perry E. Metzger wrote: >Scott Brickner writes: >> I don't understand what you mean by "insufficiently powerful". It's as >> expressively powerful as most high-level languages, and computationally >> Turing equivalent. It's lack of power seems entirely in the performance >> arena, which may be solved, eventually. > >Java applications can't save files to disk or use data files on >disk. If you were, for instance, buying two CPU weeks of idle time on >some machines, you would need stuff like checkpointing or the ability >to save intermediate results. Java applications _can_ save files to disk, and read them. Further, even the presently-more-constrained applets can retrieve certain types of files. For example, "getImage" and "getAudioClip" methods. I mention this point for two reasons. First, it says the applet model is not forever and totally blocked from reading disk files. (And I would not be surprised to see additional file retrieval methods "allowed." To be sure, this raises more and more security issues to look at, but TANSTAAFL.) Second, the relevance for providing sources of entropy for Java applets. I haven't looked in detail, but I'll be willing to bet quite a bit that someone has already or soon will run a QuickCam video input, not to mention sound input, in a Java applet, and that this could easily be used as a source of entropy bits. --Tim Boycott "Big Brother Inside" software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Licensed Ontologist | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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Re: Social Transformation, Not Tax Evision
by attila 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

** Reply to note from Duncan Frissell <frissell(a)panix.com> 04/29/96 10:28am -0400 = "God fights on the side with the heaviest artillery. These days MarketEarth = has the heaviest artillery." just because you carry, like everyone else, carrying God's banners does not mean God is on your side, or the side with the heaviest artillery. God is on the side of those who have faith and charity-- nothing else required. the heaviest artillery is nothing more than man's pride, not his humility; pride will not bring you to the celestial kingdom, nor will you inherit the earth. -- Overseeing first-rate programmers is a managerial challenge roughly comparable to herding cats. cc: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks(a)toad.com>

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