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Re: FAA to require transponders on all aircraft passengers
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 3:21 PM 8/3/96, David Lesher wrote: >They are going to hang one of these on EVERY bag? > >At what per-unit cost? > >It's all the airlines can do to get barcode labels on each piece >that geos by, much less even a credit-card-sized gadget. And how >many will they lose??? > >THEN think of the RFI problems..... It turns out that I'm one of the early investors in a start-up company developing a very similar product, albeit (we hope) with some technological advantages. Lucky Green, for one, has met the principals in this company and can confirm what I'm saying. (I began working with them, and investing, several years ago. It was partly the long-term implications of their ideas which triggered my proposal a few years back: the "position escrow system." Under position escrow, citizen-units would voluntarily escrow their positions for access by authorized law enforcement officers, dietary compliance agents, social workers, and other interested officials. The system is voluntary, as key escrow is voluntary, in that it only applies when people leave their houses and use the public streets; they are of course free not to leave their houses, and hence not to voluntarily escrow their movements.) I heard about the Micron-FAA deal on CNN, and went to the Micron Web site for details. It's a spread-spectrum system, so it may well work in a luggage environment (though perhaps not as well as the units planned by the company I'm an investor in). The "every bag" point is feasible, though I would assume conventional luggage tags would work adequately. "Per-unit" costs could be low enough....these units will be reused many times, after all. The RFI problems are actually the least of the concerns, given the "code space" technology which is possible. (That is, tens of thousands of transponders can share the same RF spectrum in a local environment by allocation of frequencies or, even better, by using code space allocation...there are some close parallels with cryptography, of course, as there are in communications technology and spread-spectrum technology in general.) Personally, I'm not convinced that the Micron-FAA deal with accomplish much, but the authorities are rushing to "do something," so struggling Micron may get some of the largesse. (Besides, "bag escrow" will allow other agencies--such as DEA--to sniff bags for traces of cocaine residue and then automatically issue arrest orders for the citizen-unit associated with the bag. The surveillance state needs technology like this.) --Tim May HOW TO MAKE A PIPE BOMB: "Buy a section of metal water pipe 1/2 by 6 inches long, threaded on both ends. Buy two metal caps to fit. These are standard items in hardware stores. Drill a 1/16th hole in the center of the pipe. This is easy with a good drill bit. Hanson is a good brand to use. Screw a metal cap tightly on one end. Fill the pipe to within 1/2 inch of the top with black powder. Do not pack the powder. Don't even tap the bottom of the pipe to make it settle. You want the powder loose. For maximum explosive effect, you need dry, fine powder sitting loose in a very rigid container." (more information at http://sdcc13.ucsd.edu/~m1lopez/pipe.html, or by using search engines)

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Re: More to be paranoid about...
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:14 PM 8/3/96 -0700, you wrote: >Take a look at: > http://www.spiritone.com/cgi-bin/plates >Feed it an Oregon licence plate number and it will feed you back all sorts >of info about the person/victim. It's interesting to know that Senator Hatfield's wife's birthday is 1/17/29, and that the title to the car is held with a security interest by the US SENATE EMPLOYEES FEDERAL CREDIT, and that (at least) Social Security Numbers weren't listed for the plates I checked. Also that, unlike many states, the Governor doesn't have License Plate #1. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> Defuse Authority!

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Stop the presses -- Anti-terrorism bill not that bad
by declan＠well.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Stop the presses -- the other shoe didn't drop. Despite a flurry of last-minute hyperbole, the House passed an anti-terrorism bill this afternoon without the ominous encryption or wiretap provisions. Now the bill lies in the lap of the Senate, which probably will approve it later today or tomorrow before they leave town for the August recess. In the wake of the dual bombings, Congress wanted to be seen as taking *some* action before they adjourned, and last weekend Clinton and the Dems started lobbying hard for the heinous measures they wanted in an anti-terrorism bill. Vastly expanded state-snooping capabilities: multipoint wiretaps, warrantless short-term wiretaps, dialed-phone number recorders, and black and smokeless powder taggants. Even possible of anti-crypto language that Jamie Gorelick, deputy attorney general, has been shopping around for months. The Net owes its thanks to the House Republicans for stopping these fool Dems in a fine backroom political maneuver late last night. They did it through the House Rules Committee, which in the wee hours of the morning reported a rule allowing the GOP leadership to introduce the terrorism bill on the floor today -- without letting Democrats see it, amend it, or even send it back to committee. It was a good plan -- coordinated by Rep. Chris Cox -- keeping the legislation away from the hands of the Big Brother Dems. The Democrats waxed pissy. Rep. David Bonior, the party's whip, called the majority's maneuvering "extrordinary." John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted Gingrich and the Republican leadership for "bringing a meaningless bill to the House floor." Conyers said to reporters at 1 pm: "It's a hoax on the American people. It is all bark and no bite... This bill is missing the important wiretapping provisions that would allow law enforcement to find and stop terrorists before they kill. The House Republicans and the NRA say we should not have emergency authority for surveillance even if we know terrorists are about to blow a plane out of the sky. They also say that we should not have wiretap authority for terrorists who use more than one telephone to make their deadly plans." Of course, this is political grandstanding at its finest -- or worst. Conyers conveniently neglected to add that law enforcement officers already have the right to use roving wiretaps with court approval. Also, there was a mixup over Digital Telephony funding, compounded by the text of the legislation's being kept secret until the last minute. Summaries distributed to reporters early this afternoon said: "The bill authorizes the FBI to use enhanced telephone technology to investigate suspected terrorist activity. Funding for equipment purchase was provided in the 1996 omnibus appropriations measure enacted earlier this year." But the DT provisions weren't in the final draft of the bill. Silly Congressperns. The House had *already* approved the DT slushfund on July 24 as part of the 1997 Commerce, Justice, State departments appropriations bill. Now the 1997 CJS appropriations bill goes to the Senate, which will decide how much cash to give Digital Telephony when they return in early September. What's going to happen? Well, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), a former prosecutor and longtime proponent of Digital Telephony, said yesterday at the Intelligence Committee hearing on terrorism: "I was proud to have worked with the FBI director to ensure passage of the Communications Assisatance for Law Enforcement Act, sometimes called the digital telephony law." With Republicans like the ones in the House, who needs so-called "civil libertarian" Democrats? -Declan

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BOO_mer
by jya＠pipeline.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

8-2-96. WaJo: "More Bombs Are Exploding Across the U.S." What also worries law-enforcement officials are the comparatively unspectacular bombs exploding at a rising rate in neighborhoods across the country. Indeed, with homicides declining, bombings may have become the fastest-growing category of violent crime. "In the old days, kids would break windows," says John O'Brien, an agent in Washington with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "Now, they're making pipe bombs." Police say one of the most popular bombs among youths -- one combining acid and other ingredients in a bottle -- is called the "McGyver" because many learned about it from the television show. David Estenson, head of a bomb-crisis management firm and former head of the Minneapolis police bomb squad, observes that many of the pipe bombs in Israel contain only match heads. "U.S. Studies Use of Chemical Tracers To Track Explosives in Terrorist Blasts." The Treasury Department is studying a family of trace chemicals -- first developed by U.S. weapons scientists to track the fallout of nuclear weapons -- as a way to give terrorist explosives an identifiable trail. The trace chemicals are newer and much smaller than plastic "taggants," which have provoked resistance from the explosives industry and gun lobbies. Desmonde Cowdery, vice president of Isotag L.L.C., a small Houston company that has obtained commercial rights to the process, claims the chemical tracers are so small they can be blended with all types of explosives, including fertilizers and gunpowders, without interfering with chemical reactions. "Can America Stomach a War on Terror?" The lessons from the world's battlefields of terror are sobering. Not only have few countries been able to make much of a dent in a determined terrorist campaign, but their efforts also often incur a heavy price. Due-process rights have been suspended, freedoms of speech curtailed, police powers beefed up. Tommy Sands, a Belfast folk singer, praises America's caution. He says that in Northern Ireland and other hot spots, authorities have often overreacted to the initial threat. "It's like driving a car and seeing a red light come on that means you're short on oil. If you take a hammer to it, the red light will go out, but you're still short on oil," Mr. Sands says. "Sometimes there are answers other than the big hammer." ----- http://jya.com/boomer.txt (19 kb for 3) Lynx: http://pwp.usa.pipeline.com/~jya/boomer.txt BOO_mer

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Re: [off-topic] roving wiretaps (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 15:23:23 -0700 > From: shamrock(a)netcom.com (Lucky Green) > Subject: Re: [off-topic] roving wiretaps > > The Fourth Amendment has been abolished by the Supreme Court for all > intends and purposes. It remains listed in the Constitution for historic > reasons only. ARTICLE IV. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. I must agree with the above sentiment by Lucky. When Steve Jackson got busted (I was peripheraly involved through Mentor and Bloodaxe) and the warrant was not only sealed (ie Mentor and Bloodaxe didn't get to see it) but it was unsigned as well when it was executed. Jim Choate

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AP story: Police look for Olympic bombing Internet link.
by Martin Minow 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Search Campus Where Jewell Worked; Check Internet Link By Associated Press, 08/02/96 ATLANTA (AP) - Widening their investigation of Richard Jewell, federal and state agents descended on a small Georgia college campus Friday to hunt for evidence linking him to the Olympic park bombing. Among other things, investigators were trying to determine whether the former campus guard had tapped into the Internet via Piedmont College computers, a campus source reported. Bomb-making instructions available through the global computer network have contributed to an increase in bombings in the United States, authorities say. [From http://www.boston.com/globe/cgi-bin/globe.cgi?ap/apnat.htm ] Martin Minow minow(a)apple.com

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New Agers feeding at the porkbarrel trough
by Alan Horowitz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Looking at page 98 of the August-September _Home Power_ magazine, I see the publisher, Richard Perez, saying about vendors of non-solar-generated electricity: "None of this money is billed via your electric meter, but instead concealed in taxes or paid out everywhere from supermarkets to hospitals." On page 76 of the same edition, in an article titled "The New Utility", we see the following statement: "If all goes well in November, voters in Davis, California will vote on implementing the first US rate based incentive (RBI) program. As discussed in previous issues of _Home Power_, RBI programs are are locally adopted programs in which communities assess utility bills a 1% surcharge. The surcharge is used to purchase PV [viz., photovoltaic solar-generated] power from participating homeowners at a premium rate. The incentive plus the benefits of net metering [a plan in which electric utilities are required to pay home-based electricity vendors, the full cost of a kilowatt-hour of power, notwithstanding that the homeowner didn't pay for the distribution losses, plant costs of the transmission grid, untimed-to-load-demand supply, etc] should allow recovery of 90% of system investment in 10 years." Now, call me politically incorrect, but I say that utility bills don't get assessed surcharges - *people* get assessed *taxes*. I say that if it's good for the non-solar vendors to be denounced for wanting to offload some of their costs onto taxpayers, then the sauce is good for the solarpower gander, too. I say that Richard Perez makes his living by encouraging the distribution of solarpower hardware and services. I say that Richard Perez has a circle of friends and business associates who are in that industry. I say that Richard Perez has a conflict of interest. I say that Richard Perez is a hypocrite. I will renew my subscription to the magazine.... the non-political articles are high quality and unmatched elsewhere. I will continue to purchase selected items from _Home Power_'s advertisers - they fill my needs. I will agitate strongly against the "establishment" of solarpower (and its lesser analogues, such as microhydro, windturbine, biomass) in the pantheon of pork barrel empires.

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Denning 98
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dorothy Denning's Spring 98 course schedule provides an informative overview and recommended readings: Information Warfare: Terrorism, Crime, National Security http://guru.cosc.georgetown.edu/~denning/cosc511/spring98/schedule.html The 1997 course was discussed here last year, along with criticism of a parallel student web site on criminal use of encryption, as noted by anonymous on UK Crypto: http://infinity.nus.sg/cypherpunks/dir.97.07.10-97.07.16/msg00003.html

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Re: "adjust your attitude with their billy club" (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1996 11:48:45 -0400 (EDT) > From: Alan Horowitz <alanh(a)infi.net> > Subject: Re: "adjust your attitude with their billy club" (fwd) > > << 9th & 10th AMendments to the Conmstitution >> > > Cute, you left out the Third. ARTICLE III. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any home without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. I didn't include it because it isn't germane to the discussion at hand. > We are referring to the Sovereign power of the State of Washington to > allocate to the municipality of Seattle, a general Police Power to > maintain the Peace. Every lawyer seems to think that Seattle has the > power to forbid people from using sidewalks as latrines and kitchen sinks. I agree with the municipality, if you want to eat your own shit and piss go right ahead. You have no right to expose me to the deliterious health effects of such material randomly sprayed around my city. Hell, even animals are smart enough to know not to shit in their own bed. Pitty all these smart people seem to have forgotten such a basic rule of nature. Such actions are clearly a threat to my person and property. > I am in bed with the government, so I have better knowledge than most of > the people on this list, about how bad it is. Nonetheless, I recall the > aphorism from the Talmud: "Pray for the health of the government, lest > the people eat other alive". If these sayings indicate such insight how come the Jews have such a terrible time getting along with anyone for any length of time? Why does their current regime have such a hard time? Why is it that I get such a rising in the hackles on my neck when I am reminded that it is illegal in Isreal to carry a Palestinian flag in public. How come they begin to look more and more like the new age nazi's? The Isrealis love of government and structure has certainly not brought them great amounts of security, wealth, or friends. > If you want to walk into the public library after a six-month moratorium > on bathing - well, the courts are divided on this, but _I_ stand for the > proposition that this is an assault on the other patrons and I will lobby > _my_ city councilman for there to be rules against it. I will oppose it. While I would oppose those self same persons from touching me or my property without my prior permission (which I would not give) I would not prohibit them from entering any public facility. I oppose Austin's recent ruling prohibiting sleeping in public parks and other area because the local businesses said it effected their profits. I oppose their recent ruling that ALL persons who ride a bike MUST wear a helmet, ostensibly to protect children even though the law doesn't mention minors at any point. The mayor when queeried on this point simply ignored it. I assure you none of them will get my vote, and from what I have seen not a lot of others either. > But if you want to play your boombox loud near me, make damn sure you do > it behind soundproof walls. Where I live, the cops will respond to that > kind of complaint and shut down the nuisance, with nightsticks if need be > (in my little rural area, it's seldom necessary). Maybe you California or > NYC folks don't have police forces that will mitigate nuisances. Enjoy > your progressive radical-chic neighborhood, folks. Unless you can demonstrate that your person or property are harmed by the action I oppose such laws. Simply smelling bad is not a physical act. Austin has a law which basicaly does the same thing. In general the people of the city don't like it, the police don't enforce it, and the people drive around town jammin' to their hearts content. If my apartment neighbor is playing their radio too loud I am not going to call the cops I am going to call the manager if my attempts at becoming some sort of aquaintence fail at mediation. It is private property and short of violence to a person or property they have no business in here without a warrant. I own 5 acres near Lockhart, just outside Austin, and I have made it clear to several of the county mounties that parking in my driveway is verbotten if they don't have a warrant for searching my property, they liked to park there to eat food and fill out reports. They seem to understand and respect my wishes. They now park down at the intersection of my dirt road and 71 on public land. The right to freedom of speech means you have a right to be offended and to offend. If you haven't been offended at least once a day you need to get out of your apartment and quit watching the roaches crawl the walls. If what is on television offends you then start your own television station and play family (or porno) material till your hearts content. Passing laws that tell privately owned stations what to air is wrong because it is equivalent to limiting the freedom of speech and press. This can be extended to all such prior restraint laws. To regulate content based on the public airwaves model is equivalent to the state telling me what station to listen to on my car radio because I am on a public road. When I was a small child I learned an important lesson the hard way. I was smaller than the other kids so they would call me names and pick on me to no end. Did I fight with them? No, I recognized even at that young age that violence would not stop the actions, only change their nature. Violence as a means of coersion is a signal of a small mind. On the other hand, I only lost a single fight in the 1st grade. This taught me that if one is attacked in a physical sense respond with all the force and violence you can muster, show no mercy until the beggar is on the ground and in a sorry state. Don't stop if they say they surrender, they may be saying it to gain a tactical advantage. Stop only when you are certain they no longer have the will or means to carry the fight further. It would be a great thing if our government and society in general would learn this lesson regarding violence. We would live in a much less violent world. Jim Choate

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Paranoid Musings
by JMKELSEY＠delphi.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- [ To: cypherpunks ## Date: 08/02/96 12:29 pm ## Subject: Paranoid Musings ] >Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 11:13:59 -0700 >From: frantz(a)netcom.com (Bill Frantz) >Subject: Paranoid Musings >Sometimes paranoia strikes. Since these musings are crypto related, >I thought I would share them. >Now expensive specialized cracking equipment can certainly speed up >the process, but there may be a better way. If cryptanalysis of RC4 >yields techniques which make the process much easier, then it is the >ideal cypher to certify for export. Actually, this makes sense for another reason. Academic cryptanalysis is often about finding any attack on a cipher that's easier than keysearch, even if the requirements for that attack are still completely impractical. (Differential and linear attacks on DES are a good example of this.) However, if you're interested in actually recovering data in your attacks with high probability and low cost, then it makes sense to focus on protocol and implementation weaknesses, and then on attacks like keysearch which can be done with either ciphertext-only or known-plaintext. I would guess that some of NSA's best people work on optimizing keysearches. This especially makes sense because of the widespread use, first of DES, and more recently of exportable 40-bit ciphers like RC2 and RC4. >The paranoid conclusion is that there is a significant weakness in >RC4. The paranoid conclusion is that there is a significant weakness in any cipher you're counting on. >Bill Frantz | Cave ab homine unius lebri | Periwinkle -- Consulting >(408)356-8506 | [Beware the man of one | 16345 Englewood Ave. >frantz(a)netcom.com | book] - Anonymous Latin | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA --John Kelsey, jmkelsey(a)delphi.com / kelsey(a)counterpane.com PGP 2.6 fingerprint = 4FE2 F421 100F BB0A 03D1 FE06 A435 7E36 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMgI7X0Hx57Ag8goBAQEsNAQAm6SbOnCkTh2EByH8Oa1GoTItx+JUE2hA mtEDp//VW1qH5Lzem14ARGbcgIHbPQqVHN355p5pSrH7tI+RnPc45RRjmF6Ot96r CjnOz3DWPOXx30pm4NGchKs3MmfMyeDKvL3GofMZee8qNm8IZsnMuLMhQABUIdBM kU/oaYwfZdE= =C9ip -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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