December 2021 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

List politics
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Starting on the libertarian ancap right, list politics have steadily moved leftwards as cryptoanarchist infrastructure has moved out into the broader economy. But there's never been any question this was a political list. Prominent founder Mongo often referred crypto-centric posts to other fora. Even before the establishment of " Coderpunks '. This is not a list where encryption fanatics can nerd-out on technical details for too long. Or well they can, but at the risk of being ignored. Here endeth the sermon.

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Project Veritas attempted extortion documented
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

>>> . . . while we hate to resort to whataboutism, can you imagine what the mainstream media would do if Trump's daughter's diary contained allegations of sexual molestation and 'inappropriate showers'? For now, we expect crickets. <<< Trump is on the record as saying he would marry his daughter and has been linked to golden showers. But all that aside, conservatives-coughs-fascists, seem quite happy to see a world where rapists, murderers and thieves can run rampant ( specifically criminals like Assange, Ulbricht and O'Keefe ) This is LOL-GOP-Qanon ' conservatism ' in action today!

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Cryptocurrency: Privacy-Enabled Coins Route Around SWIFT and SPFS Censorship (of your financial interests too)
by grarpamp 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/12/14/belarus-banks-readying-for-swift-… Belarusian banks are preparing for tougher Western sanctions by signing up to Russia’s alternative to the SWIFT, the international financial messaging network that underpins the global banking system, Russia’s Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid has reported. Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) has more than 400 domestic users — practically every licensed Russian lender — but is used by only 38 banks from nine other countries. Developed in 2014, SPFS is designed to keep banking transactions in the event of Western sanctions disconnecting Russia from SWIFT.

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Ars Technica: Backdoor gives hackers complete control over federal agency network
by jim bell 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Ars Technica: Backdoor gives hackers complete control over federal agency network. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/12/us-federal-agency-fa…

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A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists
by coderman 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

''' Nour, who lives in exile in Turkey, became suspicious when his phone was “running hot.” ''' https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/16/cytrox-predator-phone-hacking-meta/ A new spyware-for-hire, Predator, caught hacking phones of politicians and journalists While NSO Group was [taking flak](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) for hacking into the phones of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, an entire class of spyware makers and surveillance-for-hire outfits were operating as normal, largely unnoticed. These private surveillance groups develop and deploy never-before-seen exploits that quietly hack into and steal the contents of a victim’s phone — call logs, text messages, emails, location data and more — often on behalf of authoritarian governments targeting their most vocal critics. Now, following an investigation by researchers at Citizen Lab and Facebook’s new parent company, Meta, seven surveillance-for-hire groups have been banned from using the social media giant’s platforms to target other users. Meta [said Thursday](https://about.fb.com/news/2021/12/taking-action-against-surveilla… that it has removed more than 1,500 Facebook and Instagram accounts associated with the seven outfits, which the company said were used for reconnaissance, social engineering and sending malicious links to thousands of victims in over 100 countries. Meta said it’s notified around 50,000 people it believes were targeted by the seven groups. Although much of the recent focus of the surveillance industry has been on companies like NSO Group, both Citizen Lab and Meta warned that the wider surveillance-for-hire industry will continue to balloon if left unregulated. “It’s important to realize that NSO is only one piece of a much broader global cyber mercenary ecosystem,” according to a report of Meta’s investigation seen by TechCrunch before its publication. One of the banned companies is Cytrox, a North Macedonia-based spyware maker. Meta said it found the company using a “vast” infrastructure of web domains mimicking legitimate news sites to target the iPhone and Android devices of its victims. Meta said it sent legal notices to Cytrox and blocked hundreds of domains associated with its infrastructure. Meta was acting on findings by Citizen Lab, which also on Thursday released a [forensic report](https://citizenlab.ca/2021/12/pegasus-vs-predator-dissidents-doubly-infected-iphone-reveals-cytrox-mercenary-spyware/) into the hacking of phones belonging to two Egyptians living in exile — a former politician and the host of a popular news show who asked not to be named. Citizen Lab said the spyware that infected their phones in July 2021, dubbed Predator, was developed by Cytrox. Citizen Lab first discovered the spyware on the iPhone belonging to Ayman Nour, an Egyptian politician and outspoken critic of the incumbent president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who took over the country following a military coup in 2013. Nour, who lives in exile in Turkey, became suspicious when his phone was “running hot.” Citizen Lab found that Nour’s phone had been infected with Pegasus, the now-infamous spyware created by NSO Group. That led to the discovery that his phone had been concurrently hit by the newly discovered Predator spyware. Both Nour’s phone and the phone belonging to the host of the news show were running iOS 14.6, the latest version of iOS at the time of the hacks, suggesting the spyware made use of a never-before-seen exploit in the iPhone’s software to infect the phones. Apple spokesperson Scott Radcliffe declined to say whether the company had fixed the vulnerability. Read more on TechCrunch - [A massive ‘stalkerware’ leak puts the phone data of thousands at risk](https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/19/stalkerware-security-phone-data-tho… - [Apple files lawsuit against NSO Group over Pegasus spyware](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) - [This tool tells you if NSO’s Pegasus spyware targeted your phone](https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/19/toolkit-nso-pegasus-iphone-android… Predator shares a similar set of features to NSO’s Pegasus. Citizen Lab said Nour was sent a malicious link over WhatsApp. When opened, the spyware can access a phone’s cameras and microphone and can exfiltrate the phone’s data. Predator — unlike Pegasus — lacks the ability to silently infect a phone without any user interaction, but it makes up for that with persistence. Citizen Lab said the spyware can survive a reboot of an iPhone — typically clearing any spyware lurking in its memory — by creating an automation using the Shortcuts feature built into iOS. The researchers said that, “remarkably,” Nour’s phone was compromised at the same time with both Pegasus and Predator, but that the infections were likely unrelated. “Based on the slapdash nature of Predator’s code, it’s clear we’re looking at the B Team here,” said Bill Marczak, one of the Citizen Lab researchers who discovered and analyzed the Predator malware. “Even so, Predator was still able to break into the latest, fully up-to-date phones, so it’s no surprise that we found repressive governments, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as Predator operators.” Citizen Lab said it was likely that Predator is being used by government customers in Armenia, Greece, Serbia, Indonesia, Madagascar and Oman — plus Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are known to target their critics with mobile spyware. Meta, meanwhile, said its investigation found Predator customers in Vietnam, the Philippines and Germany. Cytrox CEO Ivo Malinkovski could not be reached for comment; an email sent prior to publication bounced as undelivered. Meta said that it also banned four other Israeli companies involved in the surveillance-for-hire business: Cobwebs, Cognyte, Black Cube and Bluehawk. In addition, it banned BellTrox, an Indian hacking outfit [accused of hacking](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-cyber-mercenaries-exclusi… into thousands of email accounts belonging to politicians and government officials, and a China-based spyware maker believed to be used by China’s law enforcement. Although NSO has faced [legal challenges](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/23/apple-nso-group-lawsuit/) and restrictions on [its business dealings](https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/03/us-bans-trade-with-security-fir… in large part because of accusations of abuse and spying on members of civil society — claims that the company has repeatedly denied — the social media giant warned that the growing surveillance industry continues to proliferate regardless. “We will continue to investigate and enforce against anyone abusing our apps,” Meta’s report said. “However, these cyber mercenaries work across many platforms and national boundaries. Their capabilities are used by both nation-states and private enterprises, and effectively lower the barrier to entry for anyone willing to pay. For their targets, it is often impossible to know they are being surveilled across the internet.” --------------------------------------------------------------- You can contact this reporter securely over Signal and WhatsApp to +1 646-755-8849. You can also send files or documents using our SecureDrop. [Learn more](https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/17/techcrunch-launches-securedrop/).

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[spam?] vids from grarpamp was: [spam] MC ABCK
by Karl 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

grarpamp sent these vids in reply to threads i made, one of them personal i don't know why grarpamp is stuck using youtube when there are more free video sharing services. this means grarpamp has been coerced by google, right? to not use free video services? part of me wanted to transcribe the videos. i don't usually set systems up for watching them, but sometimes watch them anyway. haven't visited the links at this time. i'm pretty scared they could be dangerous to watch. On 12/18/21, grarpamp <grarpamp(a)gmail.com> wrote: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhFzVpb7AsQ > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87sQhfDtClo > ... > On 12/18/21, grarpamp <grarpamp(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> A: My toothbrush is mind controlling me. > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si0qtKLxxiU >

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[spam][wrong][joke][crazy] MC Iguana
by Karl 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

A: My pet iguana is mind controlling me. B: No. Iguanas don't do that A: For real A: [sits down next to iguana] iguana: [twitches slightly] A: [eyes glaze over] A: YES MASTER I WILL FEED YOU. B: Um. A: It's okay. He's been mind controlling me for some time now. A: [gets food] -- C: We must free this poor person from their iguana. B: They said it's okay. C: Would you ever trust a slave who said they were okay? A: [has just come into room] A: I just meant like, I wasn't being injured, and was used to it. A: Is it bad? B: I dunno. What is it like, being mind controlled 'by your iguana'? A: Whenever I am near the iguana, I zone out and listen, I can barely help it. A: All of me is focused on the iguana. Nothing else mat-- B: Ok. Um. -- B: C, OBEY: Do not ask what the iguana asks. C: I WILL NOT ASK. -- B: [sits near iguana] B: So, it, um, doesn't affect you when you are away from the iguana? A: No! B: YES MASTER I WILL FEED YOU. -- Epilogue: The iguana was making money for somebody on a social network. It is soon upgrading to a robot of its very own.

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2021: Year In Review
by grarpamp 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

The Year Of The New Normal Fascist https://consentfactory.org/2021/12/16/the-year-of-the-new-normal-fascist/ And so, as 2021 goose-steps toward its fanatical finish, it is time for my traditional year-end wrap-up. It’s “The Year of the Ox” in the Chinese zodiac, but I’m christening it “The Year of the New Normal Fascist.” And what a phenomenally fascist year it has been! I’m not talking amateur fascism. I am talking professional Class-A fascism. Government and corporate sanctified fascism. Bug-eyed, spittle-flecked, hate-drunk fascism. I’m talking mobs of New Normal fascists shrieking hatred and threats at “the Unvaccinated” as they are dragged off “Vaccinated Only” trains, painting Nazi-era messages on their windows of their stores, leaders of government fomenting mass hatred, TV commentators literally quoting sadistic Nazi SS doctors, leftists going full-fascist on Facebook, concentration camps, Goebbelsian propaganda, censorship of dissent … the whole nine yards. Here in Europe, things are particularly fascist. One by one, New Normal countries are rolling out social-segregation systems, ordering “lockdowns” of “the Unvaccinated,” and otherwise persecuting those who refuse to conform to official New Normal ideology. Austria has made “vaccinations” mandatory. Germany is about to follow suit. “Covid passes” have been approved in the UK. Greece is fining “Unvaccinated” pensioners by reducing the amount of their state-pension payments. Swedes are “chipping” themselves. And so on. In New Normal Germany, “the Unvaccinated” are under de facto house arrest. We are banned from society. We are banned from traveling. We are banned from protesting. Our writings are censored. We’re demonized and dehumanized by the New Normal government, the state and corporate media, and the New Normal masses on a daily basis. New Normal goon squads roam the streets, brutalizing pensioners, raiding barber shops, checking “papers,” measuring social distances, literally, as in with measuring sticks. The Gestapo even arrested Santa Claus for not wearing a mask at a Christmas market. In the schools, fascist New Normal teachers ritually humiliate “Unvaccinated” children, forcing them to stand in front of the class and justify their “Unvaccinated” status, while the “Vaccinated” children and their parents are applauded, like some New Normal version of the Hitler Youth. When New Normal Germany’s new Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced that, “for my government there are no more red lines as far as doing what needs to be done,” apparently he wasn’t joking. It’s only a matter of time until he orders New Normal Propaganda Minister Karl Lauterbach to make his big Sportpalast speech, where he will ask the New Normals if they want “total war” … and I think you know the rest of this story. But this isn’t just a story about New Normal Germany, or New Normal Europe, or New Normal Australia. And it isn’t just a story about mass hysteria, or an “overreaction” to a corona virus. The “New Normal” is a global GloboCap co-production, a multi-trillion-dollar co-production, which has been in development for quite some time, and this year has gone exactly to script. Given all the drama over the past 12 months, it’s easy to forget that the year began with the occupation of Washington DC by thousands of US (i.e., GloboCap) forces in the wake of the “Terrorist Assault on the Capitol” (a/k/a the “January 6 Insurrection,” or the “Attempted Coup,” or some such nonsense) carried out by a few hundred totally unarmed Donald Trump supporters, who were allegedly intent on “overthrowing the government” and “destroying Democracy” with … well, their bare hands. This was the long-awaited “Return to Normal” spectacle that had been in the pipeline for the previous four years, the public humiliation of the Unauthorized President (and the “populists” who put him in office) and the GloboCap show of force that followed. Here’s how I described it back in January: “In other words, GloboCap is teaching us a lesson. I don’t know how much clearer they could make it. They just installed a new puppet president, who can’t even simulate mental acuity, in a locked-down, military-guarded ceremony which no one was allowed to attend, except for a few members of the ruling classes. They got some epigone of Albert Speer to convert the Mall (where the public normally gathers) into a ‘field of flags,’ symbolizing ‘unity.’ They even did the Nazi Lichtdom thing. To hammer the point home, they got Lady Gaga to dress up as a Hunger Games character with a ‘Mockingjay’ brooch and sing the National Anthem. They broadcast this spectacle to the entire world.” As I assume is obvious to everyone by now, the “Return to Normal” was a “Return to the New Normal,” which the global-capitalist ruling establishment was already imposing on the entire world. The message couldn’t possibly be clearer. As Arnold Schwarzenegger succinctly put it, the message is, “screw your freedom.” The message is, shut up and toe the fucking line. The message is, show me your fucking papers. Use the fucking pronouns. Eat the fucking bugs. Get the fucking “vaccinations.” Do not fucking ask us “how many.” The answer is, “as many as we fucking tell you.” The message is, there will be no more unauthorized presidents, no more leaving the European Union, no more “populist” rebellions against the global hegemony of global-capitalism and its soul-crushing, valueless “woke” ideology. GloboCap is done playing grab-ass. They announced that back in March of 2020. They informed us in unmistakable terms that our lives were about to change, forever. They branded and advertised this change as “the New Normal,” in case we were … you know, cognitively challenged. They did not hide it. They wanted us to understand exactly what was coming, a global-capitalist version of totalitarianism, in which we will all be happy little fascist “consumers” showing each other our “compliance certificates” in order to be allowed to live our lives. I don’t need to review the entire year in detail. You remember the highlights … the roll-out of the “safe and effective” miracle “vaccines” that don’t keep you from catching or spreading the virus, and which have killed and injured thousands of people, but which you now have to get every three or four months to be allowed to work or go to a restaurant; the roll-out of the global social-segregation/digital compliance-certificate system that makes absolutely no medical sense, but which the “vaccines” were designed to force us into; The Criminalization of Dissent; The Manufacturing of “Reality”; The Propaganda War; The Covidian Cult; the launch of The Great New Normal Purge; the whole Pathologized Totalitarianism package. I’d like to end on an optimistic note, because, Jesus, this fascism business is depressing. So I’ll just mention that, as you have probably noticed, more and more people are now “waking up,” or relocating their intestinal fortitude, and finally speaking out against “vaccine” mandates, and “vaccination passes,” and social segregation, and all the rest of the fascist New Normal program. I intend to encourage this “awakening” vociferously. I hope that those — and you know who you are — who have been reporting the facts and opposing the New Normal, and have been ridiculed, demonized, gaslighted, censored, slandered, threatened, and otherwise abused, on a daily basis for 21 months, as our more “prominent” colleagues — and you know who you are — sat by in silence, or took part in the Hate Fest, will join me in applauding and welcoming these “prominent” colleagues to the fight … finally. Oh, and, if you’re one of those “prominent” colleagues and you start beating your chest and sounding off like you’ve just rediscovered investigative journalism and are now leading the charge against the New Normal for your YouTube viewers or your Substack readers, please understand if we get a little cranky. Speaking for myself, yes, it’s been a bit stressful, doing your job and taking the shit for you out here in the trenches for the past 21 months. Not to mention how it has virtually killed my comedy … and I’m supposed to be a political satirist. But there I go, getting all “angry” again … whatever. As the doctor said, “buy the ticket, take the ride.” And it’s the season of joy, love, and forgiveness, and publicly crucifying dissidents, and paranoia, and mass hysteria, and persecuting “Unvaccinated” relatives, and, OK, I might have had one too many. Happy holidays to one and all, except, of course, to the New Normal fascists, especially the ones that are torturing the children. God, forgive me, but I hope they fucking choke. https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1471272129450631173 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1471275647720849416 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1471266579702759425 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1467195231699456011 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1421139150657540097 https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/1465001132149944320 https://taibbi.substack.com/p/meet-the-censored-cj-hopkins-critic https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/19/world/europe/austria-covid-vaccine-manda… https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/austria-pushes-on-with-plan-f… https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59662142 https://nypost.com/2021/11/30/greece-to-impose-monthly-fine-on-unvaccinated… https://twitter.com/haintz_markus/status/1470568913452908548 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1465313264003395590 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/world/europe/germany-public-transportati… https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1469983528100188160 https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1470519740187779090 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1470715089846157313 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-youth-2 https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1469971320213540865 https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-sportpalast/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/02/08/the-new-normal-war-on-domestic-terror/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/01/24/thats-all-folks/ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-field-of-flags-lighting-ce… https://twitter.com/consent_factory/status/1349774377815048192 https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2021-01-20/inauguration-lady-gaga-g… https://nypost.com/2021/08/12/arnold-schwarzenegger-on-anti-maskers-screw-y… https://consentfactory.org/2021/11/22/pathologized-totalitarianism-101/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/02/23/the-vaccine-disinformation-war/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/03/29/the-unvaccinated-question/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/05/03/the-criminalization-of-dissent/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/06/20/manufacturing-new-normal-reality/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/07/19/the-propaganda-war-and-how-to-fight-i… https://consentfactory.org/2021/09/02/the-covidian-cult-part-iii/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/10/12/the-great-new-normal-purge/ https://consentfactory.org/2021/11/22/pathologized-totalitarianism-101/

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Leak
by zeynepaydogan 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:A6EF4D336F11BC502BB76006D669E695C959BE79

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Anarchist victory despite association of cryptocurrencies with libertarians and/or finance bros
by professor rat 18 Dec '21

18 Dec '21

Victory in spite of all setbacks and all terror. Because without victory we will not survive. I still have strong and constantly growing belief in our victory - one day soon we will live in a free society. https://anarchistnews.org/content/no-ethical-activism-under-capitalism

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