August 2017 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Global Internet CounterTerrorism Forum: Govs, Corps, BigSocial Conspiring: Spy Privacy, CensorKill Speech and Crypto, Repeal Provider Exemption
by grarpamp 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40788180 http://www.businessinsider.com/home-secretary-amber-rudd-real-people-dont-n… https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/1924247/real-people-dont-need-end-… UK home secretary Amber Rudd has called on messaging apps like WhatsApp to ditch end-to-end encryption, arguing that it aids terrorists. From a report: The major technology companies must step up their fight against extremism or face new laws, the home secretary has told the BBC. Amber Rudd said technology companies were not doing enough to beat "the enemy" on the internet. Encryption tools used by messaging apps had become a "problem," she added. Ms Rudd is meeting with representatives from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and others at a counter-terrorism forum in San Francisco. Tuesday's summit is the first gathering of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, an organisation set up by the major companies in the wake of recent terror attacks. In a joint statement, the companies taking part said they were co-operating to "substantially disrupt terrorists' ability to use the internet in furthering their causes, while also respecting human rights." In an op-ed, she wrote Tuesday: Real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security ... Who uses WhatsApp because it is end-to-end encrypted, rather than because it is an incredibly user-friendly and cheap way of staying in touch with friends and family? Companies are constantly making trade-offs between security and 'usability,' and it is here where our experts believe opportunities may lie. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/01/alter-internet-laws-hold-bac… https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/1959234/senators-propose-bill-targe… A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday that aims to make it easier to sue and criminally prosecute operators of online classified sites like Backpage.com that have been used to advertise sex workers. The proposed bill would amend the Communications Decency Act to eliminate a provision that shields operators of websites from being liable for content posted by third-party users. In addition to removing liability protections for websites that facilitate "unlawful sex acts with sex trafficking victims," lawmakers are seeking to amend the CDA to allow state prosecutors -- not just federal law enforcement -- to take action against individuals and businesses that use websites to violate federal sex trafficking laws. "For too long, courts around the country have ruled that Backpage can continue to facilitate illegal sex trafficking online with no repercussions," said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. "The Communications Decency Act is a well-intentioned law, but it was never intended to help protect sex traffickers who prey on the most innocent and vulnerable among us. This bipartisan, narrowly crafted bill will help protect vulnerable women and young girls from these horrific crimes." https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/01/google-says-ai-better-th… https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/2046215/google-says-ai-better-than… Google has pledged to continue developing advanced programs using machine learning to combat the rise of extremist content, after it found that it was both faster and more accurate than humans in scrubbing illicit content from YouTube. The company is using machine learning along with human reviewers as part of a mutli-pronged approach to tackle the spread of extremist and controversial videos across YouTube, which also includes tougher standards for videos and the recruitment of more experts to flag content in need of review. A YouTube spokesperson said: "While these tools aren't perfect, and aren't right for every setting, in many cases our systems have proven more accurate than humans at flagging videos that need to be removed. Our initial use of machine learning has more than doubled both the number of videos we've removed for violent extremism, as well as the rate at which we've taken this kind of content down. Over 75% of the videos we've removed for violent extremism over the past month were taken down before receiving a single human flag." https://apple.slashdot.org/story/17/07/29/2338204/apple-pulls-anti-censorsh… https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/business/amazon-china-internet-censors-a… https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-china-vpn-idUSKBN1AI0CM

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Legal Wonk Cybercrime Roundup: International Takedown of Two Online Illicit Marketplaces
by Razer 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

Don't troll me #$%$&@! .. > Purportedly a guide to accessing and safely using AlphaBay, > Alphabaymarket.com provides tips to help AlphaBay users protect their > anonymity. Those tips include the following: > > [image] > > If Alexandre Cazes, the alleged owner and operator of AlphaBay, had > taken those steps seriously, his own anonymity might still be intact. > > Cazes’ mistakes involved his use of several different online > identifiers on both AlphaBay and elsewhere on the web: the monikers > “Alpha02” and “Admin,” the email “Pimp_Alex_91(a)hotmail.xn--com,-jb7a and a > company called EBX Technologies (EBX Tech). By using several of these > identifiers on other sites outside AlphaBay, he left a trail of > breadcrumbs to his true identity. . . . > Once AlphaBay was shut down on July 5th, users, in the words of Acting > Director McCabe “flocked” to another online illicit marketplace—Hansa. > According to a Europol press release, Hansa saw an eightfold increase > of new members after AlphaBay went down. Unbeknownst to the users, > however, the Dutch National Police had covertly taken control of Hansa > since June 20, 2017. This allowed for collection of intelligence not > only on Hansa users but also on those who were driven from AlphaBay. > From the Europol press release, it appears not only that significant > intelligence was collected but also that it was shared with the > international coalition that coordinated to produce this > unprecedented double takedown. > > > > Looking Ahead > > This takedown can be read as touching several of the Department of > Justice’s priorities. First, it has consistently emphasized the > importance of taking down criminal computer networks and their > operators... > > In full with links: > https://lawfareblog.com/cybercrime-roundup-international-takedown-two-onlin…

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the intercept - yet another pentagon propaganda outlet
by juan 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

But no, actually, the intercept is on a class of its own. While all of the US media doesn't pretend to be anything but the government's department of fascist propaganda, greenwald has promoted himself as the good guy...and that's something which, when you look at the evidence, is clearly a deranged pretense. https://theintercept.com/2017/08/02/white-house-says-russias-hackers-are-to…

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Global Energy
by grarpamp 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/2019230/us-nuclear-comeback-st… In a major blow to the future of nuclear power in the United States, two South Carolina utilities said on Monday that they would abandon two unfinished nuclear reactors in the state, putting an end to a project that was once expected to showcase advanced nuclear technology but has since been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The two reactors, which have cost the utilities roughly $9 billion, remain less than 40 percent built. The cancellation means there are just two new nuclear units being built in the country -- both in Georgia -- while more than a dozen older nuclear plants are being retired in the face of low natural gas prices. Originally scheduled to come online by 2018, the V.C. Summer nuclear project in South Carolina had been plagued by disputes with regulators and numerous construction problems. This year, utility officials estimated that the reactors would not begin generating electricity before 2021 and could cost as much as $25 billion -- more than twice the initial $11.5 billion estimate. The utilities also struggled with an energy landscape that had changed dramatically since the large reactors were proposed in 2007. Demand for electricity has plateaued nationwide as a result of major improvements in energy efficiency, weakening the case for massive new power plants. And a glut of cheap natural gas from the hydraulic fracturing boom has given states a low-cost energy alternative. Facing those pressures, the two owners of the project, South Carolina Electric & Gas and Santee Cooper, announced they would halt construction rather than saddle customers with additional costs. Predict: Energy futures traded in cryptocurrencies...

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US NSA Honey Badger's Kim Dotcom and Entire Planet
by grarpamp 03 Aug '17

03 Aug '17

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=11897719 http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/344742-nsa-unlawfully-surveiled-kim… https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/01/210209/nsa-unlawfully-surveilled-ki… According to new documents from New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), the NSA illegally used technology to spy on Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom. "The New Zealand Herald first reported that the GCSB told the nation's high court that it ceased all surveillance of Dotcom in early 2012, but that 'limited' amounts of communications from Dotcom were later intercepted by its technology without the bureau's knowledge," reports The Hill. From the report: Dotcom was surveilled by the NSA and the GCSB in a joint intelligence operation named Operation Debut. According to the Herald, that surveillance was scheduled to end in January 2012, but the United States continued to use New Zealand's technology. According to court documents obtained by the Herald, "Limited interception of some communications continued beyond the detasking date without the knowledge of GCSB staff." The court papers don't explain how the NSA was able to use the GCSB's spying technology without the bureau's knowledge. According to the Herald, "The GCSB documents do contain an admission of NSA involvement, although it was not made outright." Dotcom is facing charges of copyright infringement and money laundering related to Megaupload, a file-sharing website shut down in 2012. He is currently fighting U.S. attempts to extradite him from New Zealand. "New Zealanders must know how much power a foreign state holds over their private information," Dotcom said. "The NSA has unrestricted access to GCSB surveillance systems. In fact, most of the technology the GCSB uses was supplied by the NSA." HBDGAF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg

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Earth Overshoot Day... Is Today
by grarpamp 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Overshoot_Day Earth Overshoot Day (EOD), previously known as Ecological Debt Day (EDD), is the calculated illustrative calendar date on which humanity’s resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources that year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_consumption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_States_military https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-c… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Footprint_Network https://interactive.guim.co.uk/uploader/embed/2017/07/co2_saved/giv-3902H9Q… https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/6r0d9h/wednesday_august_2_2017_… http://www.overshootday.org/ https://water.usgs.gov/

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Re: [Cryptography] Bitcoin Blockchain Has Been Forked (New: BitcoinCash UAHF)
by grarpamp 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 7:39 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker <phill(a)hallambaker.com> wrote: > So what happens if someone spends the coins on both forks??? Then your wallets are empty and you are broke. Pre-fork tx remain valid in both. Post-fork are generally valid only in respective. Closest financial sector analogue for dummies is a 2 for 1 stock split. However there's much more to it than that. https://blockchair.com/bitcoin-cash/blocks https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2040221.0 https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin-cash/#markets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0qQvXP5Om8

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House Judiciary Committee taps /r/The_Donald subreddit for Amended Resolution
by Make America Golem Again 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

> Razer g2s at riseup.net > Wed Aug 2 07:50:59 PDT 2017 > current year > 84% of American Adults use the internet 84% of America is not "white" you dishonest nigger. Today, 78% of "blacks", 81% of Hispanics, and 97% of English-speaking Asian Americans use the internet."" > Pew Research Center > 15 years-worth of data > 15 years Poll data isn't any more reliable than you, larpanon.

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The CIA's curious connection to curious religions
by Make America Golem Again 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

> grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com > Tue Aug 1 15:14:57 PDT 2017 > freemasons I think you spelled Jews wrong, realnewsanon.

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(EC)DSA partial knowledge of nonces and existential forgery with with structured nonces
by Georgi Guninski 02 Aug '17

02 Aug '17

(EC)DSA partial knowledge of nonces and existential forgery with with structured nonces There are attacks against the private key of (EC)DSA when partial knowledge of the nonces $k$ is known, e.g. least significant bits [1] or shared bits [2]. On the other hand, existential forgery with structured nonces is possible. In DSA the public key is (p,q,g,y=g^x). To forge a signature (r,s) of integer $h$ for all integers a,b != 0 set: r=(g^a y^b mod p) mod q s=r/b mod q h=a s mod q Since y=g^x mod p, the unknown nonce is $k=a + b x$ where $x$ is the private key. If $b=1, a=a'+2^l a''$ and we brute force the $l$ LSBs of $x$, we can generate efficiently many messages with known LSBs (a' + (x mod 2^l)), which appears in the favorable case the unconditional [1]. Similar existential forgery exists for ECDSA. Forgeries were tested in practice. Could this approach give subexponential algorithm for breaking the private key, possibly under other assumptions? [1] appears to be deterministic and the abstract starts: |We present a polynomial-time algorithm that provably recovers the |signer's secret DSA key when a few bits of the random nonces k (used at each |signature generation) are known for a number of DSA signatures at most linear in |log q [1] The Insecurity of the Digital Signature Algorithm with Partially Known Nonces [2] Attacking (EC)DSA Given Only an Implicit Hint

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