- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Mystical Things May Be Inside Your CPU's
by grarpamp 28 May '17

28 May '17

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode https://danluu.com/cpu-bugs/ We saw some really bad Intel CPU bugs in 2015, and we should expect to see more in the future https://danluu.com/cpu-backdoors/ what could a backdoored CPU do, how could the backdoor be accessed, and what kind of compromise would be required to install the backdoor? https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=219268 Blobs that fix exploitable things may be slightly better than blobs. Awareness should be raised, and updates applied to systems. Unless fixes are tricks to install more exploits ;)

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how to best organise a large community "important" books library?
by Zenaan Harkness 28 May '17

28 May '17

So you're a doomsday prepper and you intend to throw a few dollars at a multi TiB "restart civilization" digital book library with a few million books, a few laptops and some solar cells to power them. How best to hierarchically organise the group/ community doomsday digital book library? Say 5 million books, each in its own directory (for any cover art, PDF and or text versions of the book, perhaps audio, code, etc). Debian has ~40K packages, and divides these into {a..z}* and lib{a..z}*, for roughly 60 "top level" directories. Each package has its subdirectory in one of these. The largest directories are at about 2K to 3K entries (subdirectories). However, when prepping for a few million books, we have around 1000 times as many "packages"/books to store, which could mean e.g. 50,000 or more in the popular s directory for example - probably a little more than is sane. "Formal" library software (e.g. Evergreen) may be the answer for repo wide searchability of meta data, but when others share interest, they may only be able to store, and or may be only particularly interested in a sub-category or two such as health and agriculture/gardening, so it might be best anyway to use a handful of top level "general categories" to reduce our maximums down from 50K books per dir, to 10 fold fewer at least. Has anyone done anything like this, and if so, how did you solve it? (Medium term, the problem begs for a git-like addressed, git-like P2P addressable/verifiable "content management" solution; e.g. if I have a random collection of say 10K books, it would be nice to be able to say something like: git library init # add my books: git add . git commit git library sort categories git library add index1 # create an "indexing" branch git commit # add some upstream/p2p libraries for indexing/search/federation: git library index add upstream:uni.berkely git library p2p add i2p.tunnel:myfriend.SHA git library full-index pull myfriend.SHA git library math-index pull myfriend.SHA git library book:SHA pull myfriend.SHA ) Perhaps this has not been really done before?

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NSA's illegal surveillance of Americans
by jim bell 27 May '17

27 May '17

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447973/nsa-illegal-surveillance-ameri… [partial quote follows] The NSA intentionally and routinely intercepted communications of American citizens in violation of the Constitution. During the Obama years, the National Security Agency intentionally and routinely intercepted and reviewed communications of American citizens in violation of the Constitution and of court-ordered guidelines implemented pursuant to federal law. The unlawful surveillance appears to have been a massive abuse of the government’s foreign-intelligence-collection authority, carried out for the purpose of monitoring the communications of Americans in the United States. While aware that it was going on for an extensive period of time, the administration failed to disclose its unlawful surveillance of Americans until late October 2016, when the administration was winding down and the NSA needed to meet a court deadline in order to renew various surveillance authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The administration’s stonewalling about the scope of the violation induced an exasperated Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to accuse the NSA of “an institutional lack of candor” in connection with what the court described as “a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.” (The court is the federal tribunal created in 1978 by FISA; it is often referred to as a “secret court” because proceedings before it are classified and ex parte — meaning only the Justice Department appears before the court.) The FISA-court opinion is now public, available here. The unlawful surveillance was first exposed in a report at Circa by John Solomon and Sara Carter, who have also gotten access to internal, classified reports. The story was also covered extensively Wednesday evening by James Rosen and Bret Baier on Fox News’s Special Report. According to the internal reports reviewed by Solomon and Carter, the illegal surveillance may involve more than 5 percent of NSA searches of databases derived from what is called “upstream” collection of Internet communications. As the FISA court explains, upstream collection refers to the interception of communications “as they transit the facilities of an Internet backbone carrier.” These are the data routes between computer networks. The routes are hosted by government, academic, commercial, and similar high-capacity network centers, and they facilitate the global, international exchange of Internet traffic. Upstream collection from the Internet’s “backbone,” which accounts for about 9 percent of the NSA’s collection haul (a massive amount of communications), is distinguished from interception of communications from more familiar Internet service providers. Upstream collection is a vital tool for gathering intelligence against foreign threats to the United States. It is, of course, on foreign intelligence targets — non-U.S. persons situated outside the U.S. — that the NSA and CIA are supposed to focus. Foreign agents operating inside the U.S. are mainly the purview of the FBI, which conducts surveillance of their communications through warrants from the FISA court — individualized warrants based on probable cause that a specific person is acting as an agent of a foreign power. The NSA conducts vacuum intelligence-collection under a different section of FISA — section 702. It is inevitable that these section 702 surveillance authorities will incidentally intercept the communications of Americans inside the United States if those Americans are communicating with the foreign target. This does not raise serious Fourth Amendment concerns; after all, non-targeted Americans are intercepted all the time in traditional criminal wiretaps because they call, or are called by, the target. But FISA surveillance is more controversial than criminal surveillance because the government does not have to show probable cause of a crime — and when the targets are foreigners outside the U.S., the government does not have to make any showing; it may target if it has a legitimate foreign-intelligence purpose, which is really not much of a hurdle at all. So, as noted in coverage of the Obama administration’s monitoring of Trump-campaign officials, FISA section 702 provides some privacy protection for Americans: The FISA court orders “minimization” procedures, which require any incidentally intercepted American’s identity to be “masked.” That is, the NSA must sanitize the raw data by concealing the identity of the American. Only the “masked” version of the communication is provided to other U.S. intelligence agencies for purposes of generating reports and analyses. As I have previously explained, however, this system relies on the good faith of government officials in respecting privacy: There are gaping loopholes that permit American identities to be unmasked if, for example, the NSA or some other intelligence official decides doing so is necessary to understand the intelligence value of the communication. While that kind of incidental collection raises the concerns of privacy advocates, it is a small problem compared to upstream collection, the technology of which poses profound Fourth Amendment challenges. Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447973/nsa-illegal-surveillance-ameri…

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Donald Trump
by grarpamp 26 May '17

26 May '17

Recapping a weeks worth of new US Pres first official foreign tour... https://twitter.com/POTUS https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump

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Re: [Cryptography] "Post-quantum RSA"
by grarpamp 26 May '17

26 May '17

> IBM Q has successfully built and tested two of its most powerful > universal quantum computing processors to date > With a hint of progress > the big TLA agencies will be digging into their checkbooks. > I have not seen an industry that can clearly > profit from quantum machines > but that may a lack of imagination on my part. At a minimum of industries, if none other, you just said it clearly above... the surveillance, anti privacy, datamining, hegemony interests over everything everyone, etc... http://www.visualcapitalist.com/death-taxes-2015-visual-guide-tax-dollars-g… http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/black-budget/ $25B+ to decrypt and solve everything... no problem, drop in the bucket, straight out of your wallet, and not particularly to benefit you, beyond whatever's already been spent secretly to date on "breakthroughs", by say US/UK. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product#Lists_of_countries_by_… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency#Power_consumption https://www.wired.com/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/

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France, Germany, Israel, Austria - Are Not Free Speech Zones
by grarpamp 25 May '17

25 May '17

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/21/revealed-facebook-internal-rul… https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/05/25/0134227/how-facebook-flouts-holoca… https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/24/how-facebook-flouts-holocaust-… Facebook's policies on Holocaust denial will come under fresh scrutiny following the leak of documents that show moderators are being told not to remove this content in most of the countries where it is illegal. The files explain that moderators should take down Holocaust denial material in only four of the 14 countries where it is outlawed. One document says the company "does not welcome local law that stands as an obstacle to an open and connected world" and will only consider blocking or hiding Holocaust denial messages and photographs if "we face the risk of getting blocked in a country or a legal risk." A picture of a concentration camp with the caption "Never again Believe the Lies" was permissible if posted anywhere other than the four countries in which Facebook fears legal action, one document explains. Facebook contested the figures but declined to elaborate. Documents show Facebook has told moderators to remove dehumanizing speech or any "calls for violence" against refugees. Content "that says migrants should face a firing squad or compares them to animals, criminals or filth" also violate its guidelines. But it adds: "As a quasi-protected category, they will not have the full protections of our hate speech policy because we want to allow people to have broad discussions on migrants and immigration which is a hot topic in upcoming elections." The definitions are set out in training manuals provided by Facebook to the teams of moderators who review material that has been flagged by users of the social media service. The documents explain the rules and guidelines the company applies to hate speech and "locally illegal content," with particular reference to Holocaust denial. One 16-page training manual explains Facebook will only hide or remove Holocaust denial content in four countries -- France, Germany, Israel and Austria. The document says this is not on grounds of taste, but because the company fears it might get sued. Free speech, free thought, free analysis, free association... look elsewhere.

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US Vermont Ignores Own Laws to Violate your Face and other Bio / Data
by grarpamp 25 May '17

25 May '17

http://www.vocativ.com/432762/vermont-dmv-facial-recognition-aclu/ https://www.acluvt.org/en/press-releases/aclu-demands-immediate-end-dmv-fac… http://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/23/009/00634 The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles has been caught using facial recognition software -- despite a state law preventing it. Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont describe such a program, which uses software to compare the DMV's database of names and driver's license photos with information with state and federal law enforcement. Vermont state law, however, specifically states that "The Department of Motor Vehicles shall not implement any procedures or processes that involve the use of biometric identifiers." The program, the ACLU says, invites state and federal agencies to submit photographs of persons of interest to the Vermont DMV, which it compares against its database of some 2.6 million Vermonters and shares potential matches. Since 2012, the agency has run at least 126 such searches on behalf of local police, the State Department, FBI, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

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British Cunts to Invade All Sense of Internet and Personal Privacy over Manchester, Others to Censor
by grarpamp 25 May '17

25 May '17

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/manchester-at… https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/05/24/2045238/manchester-attack-could-le… https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/30/investigatory_powers_act_backdoors/ The UK government looks to be about to put the most egregious parts of the Investigative Powers Act into force "soon after the election" (which is in a couple of weeks) in the wake of the recent bombing in Manchester. "Technical Capability Orders" require tech companies to break their own security. The Independent reports: "Government will ask parliament to allow the use of those powers if Theresa May is re-elected, senior ministers told The Sun. 'We will do this as soon as we can after the election, as long as we get back in,' The Sun said it was told by a government minister. 'The level of threat clearly proves there is no more time to waste now. The social media companies have been laughing in our faces for too long.'" Government officials appear to have briefed newspapers that they will put many of the most invasive parts of the relatively new Investigatory Powers Act into effect after the bombing at Manchester Arena. Govt News Briefings - verb - Injecting FUD and Propaganda into Sockpuppets Don't forget... while the US workslave populace isn't, the US Govt and Elites were and are a direct fork of the British Imperialist scum... that was never lost. Magna Carta is firewood to Govts. And the Special Relationship between Govts is bidirectional... a mutual enablement. This invasion is coming to the US, beyond what is already in place. Related, looking at what two massive "arms" deals between Special Relationship Partners does.... http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-censorship-idUSKBN18K307 https://www.buzzfeed.com/magedatef/egyptian-journalists-say-the-government-… Egypt has banned 21 websites, including the main website of Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and prominent local independent news site Mada Masr, accusing them of supporting terrorism and spreading false news. The blockade is notable in scope and for being the first publicly recognized by the government. It was heavily criticized by journalists and rights groups. The state news agency announced it late on Wednesday. Individual websites had been inaccessible in the past but there was never any official admission. Reuters found the websites named by local media and were inaccessible. The move follows similar actions taken on Wednesday by Egypt's Gulf allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which blocked Al Jazeera and other websites after a dispute with Qatar. "This is not the typical Egyptian regime attitude," Lina Attalah, the editor-in-chief of Mada Masr told BuzzFeed News in an interview in Cairo. "We are used to facing troubles with the regime since we have always chosen to write the stories they don't like to hear. We are used to being arrested or have cases filed against us, but blocking us is a new thing." Mada Masr, since its founding in 2013, has regularly published critical stories of the regime in both English and Arabic.

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malware increasing salaries
by Georgi Guninski 25 May '17

25 May '17

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/22/ciso_salaries/ Salaries for chief information security officers (CISOs) at leading European firms have hit €1m (£850,000) as the threat of data breaches grows, City AM reports.

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4th Circuit: Wikimedia Has Standing to Challenge FISA Sec. 702 Upstream Surveillance
by Razer 25 May '17

25 May '17

Also see: Three Reasons Why You Should Care About the Fourth Circuit’s Wikimedia Ruling: https://www.justsecurity.org/41374/reasons-care-fourth-circuits-wikimedia-r… > > In a major ruling handed down this morning, the Fourth Circuit has > reversed a district court ruling from last year and held that > Wikimedia has Article III standing, at least at the motion to dismiss > stage, to challenge “upstream” collection under section 702 of the > Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Judge Diaz wrote the 39-page > majority opinion (which also affirms that the other plaintiffs lack > standing); Judge Davis concurred, but wrote separately to suggest that > the other organizational plaintiffs have also alleged enough to > establish Article III standing. > > I hope to have more to say later about the analysis and its > implications, but this is a big deal–and, at first blush, the right > result, methinks. If left intact, this means we’ll finally have > meaningful adversarial litigation (outside the context of a motion to > suppress in a criminal case) over the legality and constitutionality > of “upstream” collection. With links: https://www.justsecurity.org/41302/fourth-circuit-holds-wikimedia-standing-…

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