March 2016 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Rojava - direct democracy, Kurdistan, gender equality, polyethnic
by Zenaan Harkness 06 Apr '16

06 Apr '16

Further to last years documentaries of this punk beginning, Rojava is moving up in the world. There's hope yet. - A wikipedia page :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rojava - Russian military support for the Kurds http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/8/l-todd-wood-russia-supportin… http://www.euractiv.com/section/europe-s-east/opinion/why-a-pro-kurdish-rus… - Syria Kurds' First Foreign Office to Be Opened in Moscow http://russia-insider.com/en/syria-kurds-first-foreign-office-be-opened-mos… - The YPJ (their women's army) is still going strong; though I would have liked to see the Moscow PYD/YPD office include the YPJ.

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solutions for source code take downs due to DMCA?
by Zenaan Harkness 04 Apr '16

04 Apr '16

brief github session: --- python-iview.gitm $ git fetch Username for 'https://github.com': zenaan Password for 'https://zenaan@github.com': remote: Repository unavailable due to DMCA takedown. remote: See the takedown notice for more details: remote: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-10-27-Python-iview.md. fatal: unable to access 'https://github.com/vadmium/python-iview.git/': The requested URL returned error: 503 --- My last change is: caf726732 2015-07-02 (HEAD, master) Humax retired; change to Panasonic feed I had plans to use it, but never quite got a round tuit, but I did grab a clone last year, to make sure I had a copy in case and or when I wanted or needed it. A DMCA takedown has happened since then. Finding alternative repos is not hard, but finding one which is updated is not something I have achieved - it looks like the DMCA ogre has wielded his club and squashed this probject, AFAICT. That's not good. It's not healthy for our (global) community. This feels like a problem we should be able to solve. Further info on this DMCA takedown: https://github.com/vadmium/python-iview https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2015-10-27-Python-iview.md https://theconversation.com/python-iview-copyright-crusader-or-vigilante-op… http://www.mibus.org/2012/09/18/letter-to-the-abc-re-the-takedown-of-python… http://www.mibus.org/2012/09/23/doctor-who-sans-python-iview/ A foundational thought re freedom of information and freedom of culture and freedom to share comes to mind - are there any papers about any form of shock-test resistant hidden server design, e.g. with some number of trusted entry points into the TOR network to hide behind? It seems "we" have yet to design a functional hidden service? Zenaan

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nsa taxis
by juan 03 Apr '16

03 Apr '16

so I took a look at 'uber argentina' - as usual the amount of self parody is almost unreal... 1) nsa-uber steals 25% of the driver's earnings. 2) They have all sorts of draconian requirements, including new cars, age requirements, and all kinds of ID shit from the government nazis. Razer would love it. 3) only credit cards accepted - meaning everything is fully tracked and TAXED And all that for the benefit of having your taxi fares monitored by the pentagon and stored in a datacenter forever. Ah yes, when it comes to freedom enhancing 'innovation', the americunts are the masters of the universe.

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SPICE: Special Purpose Integrated Communications Equipment
by Michael Best 30 Mar '16

30 Mar '16

Does anyone know ANYTHING about Special Purpose Integrated Communications Equipment (SPICE) or a Special Purpose Integrated Communications (SPICECOM) center in Nevada? -- Veritas aequitas liberabit vos Veri universum vici That 1 Archive <http://that1archive.neocities.org/> @NatSecGeek <https://twitter.com/NatSecGeek> -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: SKS 1.1.5 Comment: Hostname: pgp.mit.edu mQINBChG9zoBEADKzALG4UHCjY6L9OFUxWRVGGCW7LY71K2EAK/0jkRh1wPkJ4chPaVJ3vVD nJ0d8HxsyR5R3+y7GH6GCc/tK0IDPJah+xpQnraS1nWUvAlSaaxsBK4hJfuVGyfBg/joQVKU OhpqJLQhRIkUWk30QC94IbOKiCTb6V4pStLYyrLieewjT481vvRIYp/48IS5eiveZW0/IpcA HBON7xJw6P1murC8PNOJSWRCp9FJhcs3wIPG3cFTfsxSZnGcoivMgFLtGAfLbztpZkcHEMOR 4qamVvirzYGHma0UlOzyNr7xpxyLXFsU5kKzQ8Az2nP1GG7vuqXSjPNLIvvHFL+g+gKuCe9W xTa9Ac038RRSiBGdDrvTFpQ/h9h5GWIHP7nsA4TCeZSpL81aqp7Cb0MK3KPQmteTPIujVCnx jXXHrOe9Tj6iYUU8edApISyBEVFZMd+EtfDEDf/ZwDjzSGE85vv1dZ/ck7iJvS8FwM8hsRBG U9huCKiItGs26teUJ2Sum49YaEiDL4QLQhJ+FbsAusxJg+V3GE/4w75K/6/czT0p10Mf66Uo fRFTvYRE7S6CNDxzTI4q7+pnRlxMBduGC33KY4eq4Py/O3LWHBDxZ+LffIa/tWcB/7oZ6yDo bdWleNk5wnJdPGr6lUTHTM4tpDIEcXYpvjzyLcMtg4tFm/Dc0QARAQABtGVNaWNoYWVsIEJl c3QgKFByaXZhdGUsIG5vdCBzZWN1cmUuIEZvciBzZWN1cmUgZW1haWwsIHJlcXVlc3QgYSBv bmUtdGltZSBrZXkuKSA8dGhlbWlrZWJlc3RAZ21haWwuY29tPokCPQQTAQoAJwUCKEb3OgIb AwUJNXc1AAULCQgHAwUVCgkICwUWAgMBAAIeAQIXgAAKCRCiYH9hY4dAS3e+D/sFwyJER4/4 ZnHYC/1EzCpHeDikSmULEgsvNgzo73thOV9/Q2I8mCJTlQjsK4rZ2YiDzi4b0CN8kzjpxtVz BsBsxfyPLrdH4VoqeqeBVzbwHxSk7bYUI3vFt+e3gBgpAxbVfPXCnYUnWPRlr9dc/JZoPJH4 p8yRIqktehbAE3Fa3gkfrXJ5e6+/nKlQhikyvo9VuErrLpPMXBzOq4/2LVfurkcOzlp1RBjs hWr6B98EiOXs44ZGLEkINxJiW8koFhw/WDuON8LKi/DtLiqqtBVTjrkqKCuKzSAVncGGcEVO 3Om3aOIOvG0do/wQKYXnpbeGsHwx2PGrJ7H+lb2bIb5KhbZkbG4rMTjsVnuGN+IF4BxBhmGz MYoooWy4VCLL0o8keomU8JPXt+fZDqJ9sNjY/asTsjOa6aE3bIa6w3mWUeefGwA25oXur3Rr L3wmu1pPzCejumfA1X93dS9UZS3xni+7W34g6YbsREuaZ+YBxFLN227JXAx2pEdjLsuVOaqM 9CO7ARHsxDZoE9U7n0s3txnSw/2YYwjEK1wDhdLnHBL3ZzaAcaHnpzsTYQAVW7uXKKHhzeSK GP3O4ByCisM/7WLFvIIpaNNs85jI1PvKH0GutSTl9xXDfWuYMl9rwwbteBB/oGSxlIFe0pqq IDNfAJdR/HjTLqrTES2wdXJS1bkCDQQoRvc6ARAAmltXrhVfpePdIFrfEHCet4nkQvmRI+AX rUgiNlxQDW8M5FzlUfT2xpMXHMWuKehTYpFq7bNbFi+fwBhMajgvgDsTuLInftKSFp+sisbR n8psv7CpGB4jp0Xd4y1Wm/HejV/kga0kcUVVetaqyzgZedn1UnccQRzDBVWW2j2ed+hi/8g0 /d7mbVG81yzJo8tLidM90xFF7JGlijm0dBAqmhD4UgkxSnJQ3PK5onqdjdbx7HkP68RrkeTQ vhWK1978qzdSl9ljJ0jLnoAaDNPs5Dj/TyYCtqoKHUqMbTwU5nIQnJG7geMeSw/7OVnKlypF Rs/JesZzMBooZTRxZJuIB/q0wOfE/MYTwGSwLs2brUwJFJ6bSYmerZ+81S8W/Y4mehJ3o6Vl SabrrVN+LlBfUuRqd5U909WECzk6HVnwnRfL07zD+1y5cLU+e4MQs2227kLriTIxtDZ/umeG hKQgNgFGTAPHJxA96xGvQ8Ovv+XEivlO0jxBNMIiopNSlMDE+k3nigWHuavt9LUUCOd45aw7 0pgKstQQgpFfVAwV98LPpUKxa61q6wQiQHAcP7YxuQG0dsr4nUq2xids5l1IpOLzZJ3nRThM k7alkljBbqphbocV3FsSXOkpcSWns94k1QGmrPzEPLF0FHFBG6whWoaoEySMkdsN1zVu4GMU o2EAEQEAAYkCJQQYAQoADwUCKEb3OgIbDAUJNXc1AAAKCRCiYH9hY4dASzTaEACKXVgc8KmZ xWyYTUQgIwrj3J/re68uIilq0iBBDocgEZZpxyf6lD1V3IKBjAPpWyYHMrrrLY64rFDR+8DE Xyhm1Wv2S6YJuWJtyAlS4bciXjJE6evirIH5GoFq++vzsufRaudAoQ56hJ0+Z3dNMMWZ6YuP zWNNL2tvpdo3Nvd8bqiADWSffFdIPv5Yj/mZsXmaDN+7iWYlAdCrubGyGzFHlCh26Ghu6SS0 /u8x1/Oi7ma7fUMFnEsFiYjwBkD3pQKK1dm7j2f1OMxi8uky8vgBgx40aeJkoUgEvIHWsCIi CWVTyfiGeWIcKbK7tYP5jsjV5fUv+TaQ1pApt++Pyop1aogfQ8icNBQQkdX6E4gNhnPOPTM8 FTl69Tq5Ori5+TM8VM0iPGiydlcAXIAD3OyR4tZM12Ga1AtppKjx31EyDB4SPzUmDWRy5WgG NRH3+RgiK/iXVcvLdFIKj3/AvctSLdbayyaFD8zrE/wcMzLfie+iE231+rG/7gmcR3H1rcYE vxvmWAPikLQKiMUpPBNSvfLPUTrwNSGiZ5ieAAPgOooc3u5nohwZmEW1pg6HirZgIAgAYuyL aLgnikwH70guiQ4Ufsih3gy0ddsUwliUTtbYQyX0OBQoTUyaiXPy0Wu2FJfsxiW8X9Lu9pIH KOwU9K76VKot+UikGqeFQsS/Ig== =M+du -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

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USG-Apple Orders to Assist Search and Decrypt Vacated
by John Young 30 Mar '16

30 Mar '16

USG-Apple Orders to Assist Search and Decrypt Vacated https://cryptome.org/2016/03/usg-apple-210.pdf

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Re: [Cryptography] USG v. Lavabit-Snowden Files Unsealed
by Cari Machet 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

And the guy that started telegram wasnt even treated this way in russia ... they asked to access accounts for a platform he developed he said no and left the country never to return thats why we have telegram ... he just moves around the planet prolly has a swiss like untouchable bank account or 2 If people are surprised by this kind of USG action then that for me is scary .. USG been seriously dead long time now - never was really alive as it likes to propagandize On Mar 17, 2016 3:55 PM, "Bill Cox" <waywardgeek(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Wow, this is scary. It sounds like Lavabit was fined $5,000 per day until > it handed over the encryption keys for its email service, and that Lavabit > further had a gag order and could say nothing about it. Here's the text of > this order: > > ORDER > > This matter comes before the Court on the motion of the government for > sanctions for failure to comply with this Court's order entered August 2, > 2013. For the reasons stated in the government's motion, and pursuantto > Title 18, United States Code. Section 401, it is hereby ORDERED that the > motion for sanctions is granted; It isfurther ORDERED that, if the > encryption keys necessary to implement the pen register and trap and trace > device are not provided to the FBI in PEM or equivalent electronic formal > by noon (CDT) on August 5, 2013, a fine of five thousand dollars > ($5,000.00) shall be imposed on Lavabit LLC and Mr. Levison; It is further > ORDERED that, if the encryption keys necessary to implement the pen > register and trap and trace device are not provided to the FBI in PEM or > equivalent electronic format by noon (CDT) each day thereafter beginning > August 6, 2013, a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) shall be > imposed on Lavabit LLC and Mr. Levison for each day of noncompliance; and > It is further ORDERED that the government's motion for sanctions and this > Order shall remain under seal until further order of this Court > > As an ethical matter, I believe our government should tell its citizens > what form of spying on our private communications it is doing, and under > what conditions. Seeing our government do this sort of thing in secret > scares the heck out of me. It is certainly not what I thought would happen > in the USA. > > Bill > > On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 5:39 PM, John Young <jya(a)pipeline.com> wrote: > >> USG v. Lavabit-Snowden Files Unsealed: >> >> https://cryptome.org/2016/03/usg-lavabit-unsealed.pdf (560 pp, 140MB) >> >> Precursor to USG v. Apple. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> The cryptography mailing list >> cryptography(a)metzdowd.com >> http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography > > > > _______________________________________________ > The cryptography mailing list > cryptography(a)metzdowd.com > http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography >

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Apple engineers... Will they (snigger) crack under pressure
by Rayzer 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

I can't imagine Apple would fire an employee for refusing. AAMOF the best publicity in the WORLD for them would be if they publicly declined to discipline or fire an employee for refusing. "Apple’s engineers may refuse to write software to break into the phone of one of the San Bernardino shooters if the FBI wins its court battle with the tech giant, according to more than half a dozen current and former employees." Apple employees are already discussing what they will do if ordered to help law enforcement authorities. Some say they may balk at the work, while others may even quit their high-paying jobs rather than undermine the security of the software they have already created, according to more than a half-dozen current and former Apple employees. Among those interviewed were Apple engineers who are involved in the development of mobile products and security, as well as former security engineers and executives. The potential resistance adds a wrinkle to a very public fight between Apple, the world’s most valuable company, and the authorities over access to an iPhone used by one of the attackers in the December mass killing in San Bernardino, Calif. It also speaks directly to arguments Apple has made in legal documents that the government’s demand curbs free speech by asking the company to order people to do things that they consider offensive. “Such conscription is fundamentally offensive to Apple’s core principles and would pose a severe threat to the autonomy of Apple and its engineers,” Apple’s lawyers wrote in the company’s final brief to the Federal District Court for the Central District of California. In full: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/technology/apple-encryption-engineers-if-… -- RR "Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble-makers ... And neutralize them, neutralize them, neutralize them"

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Re: [Cryptography] USG Moves to Vacate Apple Decrypt Order
by Florian Weimer 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

* Phillip Hallam-Baker: > Some random thoughts > > * Apple wins big. First, they beat off the FBI warrant, second > everyone with less than a 5s has to buy a new phone. Surely consumers will get a refund because the iPhone 5c has a world-ending, critical security flaw? And we are expected to believe that this flaw happened by accident, as the result of their engineering practices, and not through a deliberate assault of their best brains on their own technology. I find the media reporting on the outcome rather puzzling.

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The World’s Most Famous Economic Hitman Confesses – They’re Coming for Your Democracy
by Zenaan Harkness 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

Very disheartening, the battle rages on... Chickens will come home to roost one day, I think soonish. Z http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_World%E2%80%99s_Most_Famous_Economic_Hit… The World’s Most Famous Economic Hitman Confesses – They’re Coming for Your Democracy Published: March 26, 2016 Source: Michael Krieger Allen Dulles, the CIA director under presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, the younger brother of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and the architect of a secretive national security apparatus that functioned as essentially an autonomous branch of government. Talbot offers a portrait of a black-and-white Cold War-era world full of spy games and nuclear brinkmanship, in which everyone is either a good guy or a bad guy. Dulles—who deceived American elected leaders and overthrew foreign ones, who backed ex-Nazis and thwarted left-leaning democrats—falls firmly in the latter camp. But what I was really trying to do was a biography on the American power elite from World War II up to the 60s. That was the key period when the national security state was constructed in this country, and where it begins to overshadow American democracy. It’s almost like Game of Thrones to me, where you have the dynastic struggles between these power groups within the American system for control of the country and the world… Absolutely. The surveillance state that Snowden and others have exposed is very much a legacy of the Dulles past. I think Dulles would have been delighted by how technology and other developments have allowed the American security state to go much further than he went. He had to build a team of cutthroats and assassins on the ground to go around eliminating the people he wanted to eliminate, who he felt were in the way of American interests. He called them communists. We call them terrorists today. And of course the most controversial part of my book, I’m sure, will be the end, where I say there was blowback from that. Because that killing machine in some way was brought back home. Most readers will be familiar with John Perkins and his best-selling novel Confessions of an Economic Hitman. What you may not know, is he’s currently making the rounds warning us that all the corporatist mercenary tactics employed against third-world nations to financially benefit U.S. conglomerates are now being turned inward on American communities. Twelve years ago, John Perkins published his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, and it rapidly rose up The New York Times’ best-seller list. In it, Perkins describes his career convincing heads of state to adopt economic policies that impoverished their countries and undermined democratic institutions. These policies helped to enrich tiny, local elite groups while padding the pockets of U.S.-based transnational corporations. If economic pressure and threats didn’t work, Perkins says, the jackals were called to either overthrow or assassinate the noncompliant heads of state. That is, indeed, what happened to Allende, with the backing of the CIA. Perkins has just reissued his book with major updates. The basic premise of the book remains the same, but the update shows how the economic hit man approach has evolved in the last 12 years. Among other things, U.S. cities are now on the target list. The combination of debt, enforced austerity, underinvestment, privatization, and the undermining of democratically elected governments is now happening here. Sarah van Gelder: What’s changed in our world since you wrote the first Confessions of an Economic Hit Man? John Perkins: Things have just gotten so much worse in the last 12 years since the first Confessions was written. Economic hit men and jackals have expanded tremendously, including the United States and Europe. Back in my day we were pretty much limited to what we called the third world, or economically developing countries, but now it’s everywhere. van Gelder: So how has this switched from us being the beneficiaries of this hit-man economy, perhaps in the past, to us now being more of the victims of it? Perkins: It’s been interesting because, in the past, the economic hit man economy was being propagated in order to make America wealthier and presumably to make people here better off, but as this whole process has expanded in the U.S. and Europe, what we’ve seen is a tremendous growth in the very wealthy at the expense of everybody else. On a global basis we now know that 62 individuals have as many assets as half the world’s population. van Gelder: Is this the same kind of dynamic about debt that leads to emergency managers who then turn over the reins of the economy to private enterprises? The same thing that you are seeing in third-world countries? Perkins: Yes, when I was an economic hit man, one of the things that we did, we raised these huge loans for these countries, but the money never actually went to the countries, it went to our own corporations to build infrastructure in those countries. And when the countries could not pay off their debt, we insisted that they privatize their water systems, their sewage systems, their electric systems. van Gelder: I want to ask you about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and other trade deals. Is there any way that we can beat these things back so they don’t continue supercharging the corporate sphere at the expense of local democracies? Perkins: They’re devastating; they give sovereignty to corporations over governments. It’s ridiculous. I was just in Central America and what we talk about in the U.S. as being an immigration problem is really a trade agreement problem. They’re not allowed to impose tariffs under the trade agreements—NAFTA and CAFTA—but the U.S. is allowed to subsidize its farmers. Those governments can’t afford to subsidize their farmers. So our farmers can undercut theirs, and that’s destroyed the economies, and a number of other things, and that’s why we’ve got immigration problems. van Gelder: Can you talk about the violence that people are fleeing in Central America, and how that links back to the role the U.S. has had there? Perkins: Three or four years ago the CIA orchestrated a coup against the democratically elected president of Honduras, President Zelaya, because he stood up to Dole and Chiquita and some other big, global, basically U.S.-based corporations. He wanted to raise the minimum wage to a reasonable level, and he wanted some land reform that would make sure that his own people were able to make money off their own land, rather than having big international corporations do it. The big corporations couldn’t stand for this. He wasn’t assassinated but he was overthrown in a coup and sent to another country, and replaced by a terribly brutal dictator, and today Honduras is one of the most violent, homicidal countries in the hemisphere. It’s frightening what we’ve done. And when that happens to a president, it sends a message to every other president throughout the hemisphere, and in fact throughout the world: Don’t mess with us. Don’t mess with the big corporations. Either cooperate and get rich in the process, and have all your friends and family get rich in the process, or go get overthrown or assassinated. It’s a very strong message. That is how a once proud nation gets transformed into a rancid, oligarch-controlled Banana Republic.

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Re: [Cryptography] USG Moves to Vacate Apple Decrypt Order
by John Young 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

At 11:22 PM 3/28/2016, Phillip Hallam-Baker wrote: >Some random thoughts > >* Apple wins big. First, they beat off the FBI warrant, second >everyone with less than a 5s has to buy a new phone. > >* The new phone might still be crackable by someone who has the tools >to reverse the secure enclave. But Apple isn't one of the parties that >can do that. > >* FBI might in future be able to subpoena information to use it for >making a break attempt against the secure enclave. > >* If your security depends on someone else refusing to obey a >subpoena, change your security. > >* If their security depends on you refusing to obey a subpoena, get >another job. USG wins by assault, PR, obscurity, secrecy, and sanctification of the justice-court system. No substantiation yet of USG access to Farook's phone. The claim could be a ploy to raise doubt about Apple security, and have the same effect as if access was successful. This would take the public and political pressure off USG without having to disclose how access was obtained. As well as improve USG reputation for prowess, determination and triumph. Deception, lies, bluffs and ploys are obligatory in legal proceedings and all stripes of security. Doubt, braggardy, obscurity and secrecy are essential features of defensive and aggressive security whether governmental, commercial or personal.

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