August 2020 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Feds seize cruptocurrency
by jim bell 13 Aug '20

13 Aug '20

Feds seize millions of dollars in cryptocurrency raised by major terrorist groups, DOJ says https://news.yahoo.com/feds-seize-millions-dollars-cryptocurrency-153726529…

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Soros: Trump “remains very dangerous,” because “he’s fighting for his life and he will do anything to stay in power.” - [PEACE]
by Zenaan Harkness 13 Aug '20

13 Aug '20

Soros lays down the law for November: apparently according to Soros, Trump is "fighting for his life" in this upcoming election. It does not surprise me that Skull & Bones "graduates" would lay down such principles. Do not take November for granted folks. George Soros Discusses “Revolutionary Moment,” Market Bubble, Punishing Trump After Election http://dstormer6em3i4km.onion/george-soros-discusses-revolutionary-moment-m… Don’t put any of this in a bad light. If you said it like it was bad, that would be an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. MarketWatch: … ‘We are in a crisis, the worst crisis in my lifetime since the Second World War. I would describe it as a revolutionary moment when the range of possibilities is much greater than in normal times. What is inconceivable in normal times becomes not only possible but actually happens. People are disoriented and scared. They do things that are bad for them and for the world.’ “Even in the United States, a confidence trickster like Trump can be elected president and undermine democracy from within,” he said. “But in the U.S. you have a great tradition of checks and balances and established rules. And above all you have the Constitution. So I am confident that Trump will turn out to be a transitory phenomenon, hopefully ending in November.” Until then, however, Soros warned that Trump “remains very dangerous,” because “he’s fighting for his life and he will do anything to stay in power.” He added that Trump will be held accountable for his violations of the Constitution if he loses the presidency. ...

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Tech Xplore: 'Achilles' flaw exposes a billion Android phones
by jim bell 13 Aug '20

13 Aug '20

Tech Xplore: 'Achilles' flaw exposes a billion Android phones. https://techxplore.com/news/2020-08-achilles-flaw-exposes-billion-android.h…

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WIRED: When Private Security Cameras Are Police Surveillance Tools
by jim bell 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

WIRED: When Private Security Cameras Are Police Surveillance Tools. https://www.wired.com/story/private-security-cameras-police-surveillance-to…

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US House proposes New Voting Amendment
by Se7en 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

The United States House of Representatives has proposed a new constitutional amendment. Debate has yet to start. The text in-full is the following: > JOINT RESOLUTION > Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States > regarding the right to vote. > Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United > States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House > concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an > amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be > valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when > ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States > after the date of its submission for ratification: > ``Article-- > ``Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal > voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public > election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. > ``Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement > this article by appropriate legislation.''. The source for this is at <https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-116hjres93ih>. The immediate problem that becomes apparent is that this legalizes felons to vote again, and further relies heavily on the ever-changing definition of "citizen", which is already questionable under the 14th Amendment (should you believe the Legalese Religion's interpretation of it). -- |-----/ | Se7en / The One and Only! | se7en(a)cock.email / | 0x0F83F93882CF6116 / | https://se7en-site.neocities.org

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Engadget: WSJ: TikTok used a loophole to track MAC addresses on Android
by jim bell 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

Engadget: WSJ: TikTok used a loophole to track MAC addresses on Android. https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-device-identifier-001349466.html

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AMD critical flaws.
by jim bell 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

https://techxplore.com/news/2018-03-critical-flaws-amd-chips.html

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Decrypt: Hackers steal Bitcoin through large-scale exploit on Tor: report
by jim bell 12 Aug '20

12 Aug '20

Decrypt: Hackers steal Bitcoin through large-scale exploit on Tor: report. https://decrypt.co/?p=38359

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Breaking Defense: GPS Anti-Jam M-Code Takes Two Steps Forward
by jim bell 11 Aug '20

11 Aug '20

Breaking Defense: GPS Anti-Jam M-Code Takes Two Steps Forward. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/08/gps-anti-jam-m-code-takes-two-steps-for…

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Re: Message Channels a Smidge was: Re: Whites going ape for Blacks in America -- Re: Soros' BLM
by Karl 11 Aug '20

11 Aug '20

Everything is looking right now with the archives and my inbox on my end over here. I was possibly getting a cached archives page somehow around the 4th. Sorry if this potentially-false alarm was taxing. On Thu, Aug 6, 2020, 7:05 PM Karl <gmkarl(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > Note: I am not set up with pgp, so this message may be corrupt. > > On Wed, Aug 5, 2020, 2:58 PM Punk-BatSoup-Stasi 2.0 <punks(a)tfwno.gf> > wrote: > >> On Tue, 4 Aug 2020 1 hi5:41:34 -0400 >> Karl <gmkarl(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> > Punk, do you know how often the cypherpunks archive is updated? >> >> usually in real time, or a few minutes. >> >> > I seem to be disconnected from the list; didn't get the last archived >> > email yet, and recent posts aren't showing up. >> >> sometimes the confirmation messages get lost, but your messages >> are posted to the list anyway. >> > > I've been having the opposite. I'm getting confirmation messages, but > many threads haven't been showing up in the archives. The last email I > have from this thread in the archives was > https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/2020-August/081663.html : > none of our bitcoin history emails are showing up for me, but I have > acknowledgement emails for them. I emailed Greg a few days ago but no > reply. Maybe it wasn't received or I got his email address wrong. > > Below messages are related to politics and blockchains. Blockchains > provide more reliable message delivery than email. > > > >> > > But NOW he's complaining that his dear 'meritocratic' big businesses >> are siding with BLM. Which in turn tells you that BLM is just controlled >> opposition and which makes James' position even more ridiculous. >> > >> > The businesses are siding with BLM due to the effort of thousands of >> > american activists pressuring people to notice what's up in the flag >> > of violence against blacks, if it matters. It seems something else >> > may have mysteriously helped, too. >> > >> > The position you describe is in line with Trump, who lumps the >> > mainstream with the left. >> >> >> Not sure what position you're referring to. You mean my >> observation that US govcorp is pretending to be 'anti racist'? >> > > Kind of a merging and mutual learning between some fringe and right wing > behaviors that started before trump was elected, and then accelerated with > his election. > > It's meaningful for me because some of the professors who spoke out > against Trump's more oppressive policies experienced targeted bullying by > misled people with some similarity to what I experienced after taking > action against international energy pipelines and large banks. > > > It was a very minority view until he was >> > elected; mostly held by rural demographics near major business >> > enterprises in the areas I'd visited. >> >> >> >> > > > You could also use cryptography to make those things private, and >> mixing >> > > > layers to increase your anonymity, but that's not what I mean to >> worry >> > > > about here. >> > > >> > > But that's the thing. The more public information there is, >> the easier it becomes for censors to decide which transactions to reject. >> > >> > Not with full nodes: the network is invalid if any information at all >> > is missing. But yes, you need a miner to accept it, and you could be >> > identified, posting it >> >> the bare minimum is something like monero where amounts, senders >> and recipients are hidden(at least in theory). A system like monero leaks >> less information than bitcoin so it makes it harder for miners to censor. >> > > Zcash has a messaging app, too. Reference client is written in node, > which can scare some hackers away if it isn't ported to another language > yet. > > > >> > There's a way to push miner acceptance: you can make future >> > transactions require old ones. Like, you can post a special message, >> > and then buy or sell a product in a way that the purchase only goes >> > through if the "special message" is also mined. Once that money is >> > spent for something else, it is required that _all_ preceding >> > transactions go through, for the entire lifetime of the blockchain. >> > Censorship is actually incredibly hard if the protocol is used >> > properly. >> >> >> is that something that works with BTC? do you have a reference? >> > > Yes, that works with most chain protocols including btc. Apparently > because the usual issue is fee related not content related, google says > this technique is called "child pays for parent". Here's an article on its > use at coinbase, but I haven't read the article: > https://blog.coinbase.com/improving-bitcoin-reliability-through-child-pays-… > > > > >> I also know that mining isn't too 'distributed' >> > > > >> > > > What's relevent is that it is still distributed enough to defend >> > > > information in the face of a nation state adversary. >> > > >> > > We'll see... >> > >> > This has already been shown to my satisfaction repeatedly. What would >> > demonstrate it to you? >> >> I mean, we'll see how well cryptocurrencies fare when attacked by >> govcorp. So far they have been tolerated or even encouraged. >> > > In USA they were severely discouraged and attacked for many years. I was > briefly in the development team of the blockchain qora before the dev team > was dispersed after publishing a nonworking client. This happened after I > posted publically that the system made deletion of information impossible. > > > >> > > bitcoin mining is going to be centralized because of economic forces. >> The underlying economic system is pretty centralized and controled by >> govcorp, so only big mining operations can be 'profitable'. >> > >> > This is another thing the devs seemed to realize too late that would >> > be changed if there were focused, productive harmony in their >> > community. They made Jim's error of believing money was held by the >> > people, not the leaders, and better capitalism would provide freedom. >> >> Some developers may have made a mistake, while others are >> actually happy with the current situation... >> > > A lot of overlap there. We are all still learning that billionaires don't > care about money. > > > >> > Instead they produced a mess of cryptoanarchic millionaires which is >> > still quite helpful. >> >> well, I don't think they are too helpful. Even roger ver who has >> somewhat clear ideas is more ultimately more concerned about all his money >> than freedom . >> > > I guess yeah. I'm not sure who finances Steem, but I think it managed to > form a smidge of improved communication between techheads and oppression, > just slightly. Many of these new blockchain businesspeople are against > cover-up and have a technology to prevent it. Doesn't mean they don't get > covered up and stigmatized. > > > Blockchains still show a single programmer can change the whole world, >> > by stepping into the digital cultural spaces that people leave >> > unaddressed, and automating them. >> > >> >> we'll see. Also automation isn't good per se. >> > > Yeah automation is deadly. This list is mostly programmers. I see that > bitcoin already has changed the world, by trending financial distribution > and economic discourse farther from government control. > > > > >> > > My comment was somewhat obscure. What I meant is that >> 'satoshi' wasn't worried about mining being centralized...and wasn't >> worried about 'scaling' either. Here's the pertinent bit >> > > >> > > https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/cryptography/2/ >> > > >> > > "as the network grows beyond a certain point, it would be >> left more and more to specialists with server farms of specialized hardware" >> > > >> > > ...you know, like amazon-NSA. >> > >> > Nice pairing of names. This is just because Satoshi was making the >> > Jim fallacy I mentioned above. >> >> >> Question is, was that a honest mistake, or part of the 'design'? >> > > Both. We're referencing a political issue. People raised in capitalism > believe it to mean freedom. Within it, it can be, which moves capitalist > power around a lot. For people who don't value money and can influence > that, there's a lot of space the people who do value it are not worrying > about at all. > > >> > It takes a very long time for bitcoins to merge with amazon-nsa. They >> > don't like them: the dollar seems more predictable and familiar, and >> > the dollar makes it much easier for them to keep secrets. >> >> The fact that bitcoin's supply can't be manipulated makes it >> unappealing to govcorp. However, other bitcoin features aren't as governmnt >> unfriendly as that one. Bitcoin as a surveillance tool with unerasable >> records is something that govcorp likes. >> > > I like how it surveils everyone equally in that permanent record. Govcorp > has a lot of secrets. > > It is easy for a skilled developer to add privacy to blockchains > comparable to other private systems if needed, see monero, zcash. > > > > > > 1. Bitcoin is hugely valuable and is designed to rise in value >> exponentially >> > > > 2. The design is such that censoring it e.g. by miner collusion >> also lets >> > > > people steal money >> > > > 3. There are more creative thieves than creative censors >> > > > 4. When the protocol is attacked, it becomes obvious on the >> network: the >> > > > whole network is told >> > > >> > > >> > > the protocol doesn't allow double spending, but it certainly >> allows 'discrimination'. >> > >> > I don't know what you mean here. Economic discrimination and miner >> collusion? >> >> yes, miners can even mine empty blocks if they want and sitll be >> paid for it(block reward). >> > > Mmm it doesn't sound like you have a good handle of the protocol. The > design is such that nobody does that. Block rewards shift exponentially > towards being proportional to included transactions as years pass. It > takes a long time to mine a block. > > > > >> > > Look at ethereum. The chain was 'forked' and the majority of >> people went to the chain that had some 'bad' transactions reverted. Same >> thing could happen to bitcoin. >> > >> > This required agreement from the entire dev team and is exactly how >> > blockchains die. Note that ethereum is big enough that the original >> > chain is still easy to acquire in its entirety. Bitcoin is much >> > bigger. >> >> yeah the original chain is likely to survive. My point is that it >> may be possible for govcorp to take an existing system and force a mahority >> of people to accept 'new rules'. >> > > Yeah, they've been pushing that stuff, as could possibly be my references > following. > > >> > Disruptive forking has already happened to bitcoin with bch, bsv, etc. >> > It doesn't mean any information is lost, though: each one of those >> > chains has the entire history prior to the fork. >> >> True. But those forks were not really attacks but rather >> competition. >> > > Aren't these exactly what you describe above, with people deciding on new > rules without agreement as rational collective decisions reduce alongside > negative media etc? > > > All the people who >> > trusted the blockchain to preserve something, in bitcoin and ethereum >> > prior to their unexpected forks, have that trust still honored, >> > without any regard to the content: except for the one person whose >> > permanent impact was hacking the ethereum community itself. >> >> True. >> >> >> >> > >> > > >> > > > It is still impossible enough to erase things on the Bitcoin >> blockchain, >> > > > for now, >> > > >> > > True, for now. On the other hand, look at all the cancer that >> grows around bitcoin like coinbase-mosad-GCHQ-NSA. Bitcoin 'exchanges' are >> worse than banks. >> > >> > Economic war is happening. But bitcoin still has friendly communities >> > who will trade with you in person for cash. Most of the exchanges >> > appear run by millionaire cryptoanarchists, learning business and the >> > intense difficulties the situation entails. >> >> >> I don't think any big exchange is run by anarchists. On the othre >> hand, something like coinbase is run by literal US govt agents. >> > > I believe those two sets to overlap. > > Cryptocurrencyophiles call themselves cryptoanarchists but they are > generally pro-capitalism and pro-blockchain-businesses. Many many > cryptoanarchy business out there, see smart contracts, but often small > yeah. The first exchange, mtgox, was run by a guy from the Bitcoin > community; I wasn't around much after that. > >

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