- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

17 May '17

Here's a little company called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockstream with direct ties to the most toxic, anti 'cypherpunk' forces on the planet. http://www.coindesk.com/blockstream-21-million-seed-capital/ "Additional investment firms...Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, " It turns out that blockstream's 'leaders' are pretty 'influential' bitcoin developers. They seem opposed to increasing the block size limit at the moment but they pretend that their political decision is 'apolitical' 'unbiased' 'code'. Now some background. Bitcoin, allegedly "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution." keywords, peer to peer, no financial middlemen. Now it gets interesting. Blockstream has a solution to increase bitcoin's capacity, which I don't think can be described as "purely peer-to-peer" and involving no middlemen at all. As a matter of fact, blockstream solution is to create middlemen that will process the vast majority of transaction...because they can't scale bitcoin (technical failure) or they don't want (political failure).

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Well yeah! The whole f*cking NSA... - "ShadowBrokers" 'likely includes a US insider'
by Razer 17 May '17

17 May '17

> WASHINGTON > > Cybersecurity experts believe the hacker who leaked the potent > software tool that powered last week’s global ransomware attacks is an > American – perhaps a disgruntled insider in the U.S. intelligence > community. > > Such a finding would raise the stakes for halting The Shadow Brokers > group, which has bedeviled the National Security Agency with releases > of its hacked weaponized cyber exploits for months. > > One of those leaked NSA tools allowed extortionists to spark havoc > last Friday by encrypting the hard drives of more than 200,000 > computers in 150 countries, the largest such cyberattack ever to hit > the globe. The attackers demanded $300 or more to unlock each computer. > > The NSA did not respond to a request for comment. > > The Shadow Brokers group first surfaced last August, claiming to have > breached the NSA and stolen sophisticated cyber tools. It sought to > auction off the NSA exploits but failed to find many buyers, releasing > some for free. It periodically has resurfaced with statements. > > The latest statement came at 2:16 a.m. Tuesday, a long, rambling > screed that used broken syntax to make it seem as if it were written > by a foreigner with poor English. But the message was filled with U.S. > cultural references that experts said were likely to have come only > from someone with a native’s familiarity. > > “I think they are Americans, and I think they are inside somewhere,” > said Dave Aitel, chief executive at Immunity, a Miami cybersecurity > company, who formerly was a chief scientist at the NSA. “Some of the > idioms they use are straight up native. You have to be a native to use > them.” > > Domestic cultural and political references fill the 1,100-word > statement, which carries the headline: “OH LORDY! Comey Wanna Cry > Edition.” > > In addition to references to James Comey, the ousted FBI director, and > the WannaCry ransomware that the extortionists deployed last Friday, > the statement made liberal use of idioms like “BFF” – or “best friends > forever” – and a vulgar expression that “Late Show” host Stephen > Colbert employed May 1 in talking about President Donald Trump. > With links @McClatchy: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/art…

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Bell Canada hacked: 2m account details swiped
by Razer 17 May '17

17 May '17

> Bell Canada said Tuesday 1.9 million customer account details were > swiped by hackers – although stressed no payment card numbers or > passwords were slurped. > > The nation's largest telco said it is working with Canadian police to > figure out who was responsible for the disclosure of the customer > email addresses, and phone numbers and names of another 1,700 people. > > "There is no indication that any financial, password or other > sensitive personal information was accessed," Bell Canada said in its > brief statement > <http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/bell-canada-statement-about-illegal-ac…> > on the matter. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/16/bell_canada_quieting_fears_post_da…

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Cryptocurrencies: Fast "Investor" EB-5 Citizenship Visas and FiatBleed
by grarpamp 16 May '17

16 May '17

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/11/2017-00441/eb-5-immigr… https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-01-11/pdf/2017-00441.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Outreach/IPO_Division_Chief… http://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/

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Re: What is the value of the State?
by jim bell 16 May '17

16 May '17

From: \0xDynamite <dreamingforward(a)gmail.com> >Without a State, would we have electronics? Radio? That's a question which displays a lack of knowledge of technical history. Radio transmission was known as a consequence of Maxwell's equations, Maxwell's equations . Heinrich Hertz Electronics can be traced to the "Fleming Valve", Fleming valve the rectifying diode implemented using the Edison effect, which was actually discovered by Frederick Guthrie. Frederick Guthrie Shortly afterwards, Lee DeForest Lee de Forest added a grid, which made it possible for the "vacuum tube" to oscillate and amplify, leading to radio communications. Radio broadcasting occurred BEFORE government regulation: Arguably, the need to allow many stations to share a limited spectrum made such regulation necessary. >Computers?Computers existed before IC's; I used one, the DEC PDP-7, in 1976-80. But at about $50,000 in 1964 dollars (about $500,000 in today's), the average individual wasn't going to buy one. What we know today as "computers" was primarily the product of the invention of the integrated circuit (IC) by MOSFET - Wikipedia various scientists and engineers. Once the concept of the Integrated circuit existed, and was seen to follow the scaling described by Moore's law (initially, in the 1960's, a doubling of transistors on a chip every 12 months; later in the 70's and 80's the doubling period lengthened to 18 months, then to 2 years in the 1990's and later), if one transistor was possible in, say, 1961, 13 years later 2**13 transistors (8192) was possible, in 1974. So, the development of early microprocessors such as Intel's 8080, 6502, and 6800 was virtually assured. This was definitely NOT the product of government! And it would have happened regardless of the "space race" of the 1960's and 70's. Also, you didn't mention The Internet. Statists are fond of suggesting that the United States government made the Internet possible. Well, no, it didn't. During a time in which that government was financing research, some money was spent to develop network interface controllers Network interface controller, which at the time typically fit into a single RETMA 19" rack. Not long afterwards, the same thing could have been (and was) implemented by means of more modern IC's. But at that point, "the Internet" (as we know it, or at least knew it in 1995), was still impossible. If you still doubt this, consider: Why didn't the Internet as we know it today exist in 1980? To me, the answer is simple. The fastest modem in common use by consumers at that time was a 300 bits-per-second, Bell 103 (different Bell!) compatible. Great improvements followed: 1200 bps in about 1981; 2400 bps in 1983, 9800 bps in the early 1990's. Modem I'd say it was the latter, 9600 bps, which really made the modern Internet plausible for the vast majority of the population. So, it was the people who developed and built 9600+bps modems that made the Internet (as we knew it, in 1995) possible. > MassTransit? I think most of the New York subway systems were originally privately financed and built. Similarly, most railroads. Similarly bus lines. And airlines. > Bikes? BTW, you haven't forgotten that powered human flight was first accomplished by Orville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle mechanics. >And if we need a State, what form should it take? Written into history books as events long past. Jim Bell

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Did m$ released patch for unsupported windozes after Wannacry hit?
by Georgi Guninski 16 May '17

16 May '17

Wannacry hit on 2017-05-12 using exploit generously donated by the NSA. For supported windozes the bug was fixed in 2017-03 for unknown reasons. Looks like for unsupported windozes like XP the patch was released on 2017-05-13 after Wannacry hit: http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012598 Is it really so?

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Re: [Cryptography] Bizarre behavior of a non-smart mobile phone
by grarpamp 15 May '17

15 May '17

On Sun, May 14, 2017 at 6:56 PM, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote: > I don't know about American mobile phones, but here down-under I have the > choice of the phone's memory or the SIM card on my ancient Android phone. For "contact" lists, yes, and there is also question of if one refers to that, explicitly, or to storing of "missed" "received" "dialed" calls on the phone or SIM. Same for SMS / MMS messages. Writers should be much more clear when specifying example cases.

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[TriggerWarning: Alt-Right troll] Richard Spencer leads torch-bearing Confederate statute defenders
by Razer 14 May '17

14 May '17

SOME PEOPLE have discipline problems. "The interests of the State are therefore the same as those of the United States. Its prosperity will rise or fall with the welfare of the country. The duty of its citizens, then, appears to me too plain to admit of doubt. All should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the country; promote harmony and good feeling; qualify themselves to vote; and elect to the State and general Legislatures wise and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the interests of the country, and the healing of all dissensions. I have invariably recommended this course since the cessation of hostilities, and have endeavored to practice it myself." ~Letter to former Virginia governor John Letcher (28 August 1865), as quoted in Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Robert E. Lee (1875) by John William Jones, p. 203 https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/alt-rights-richard-s… Also see this informative FlowChart: http://i.imgur.com/hY438ba.jpg

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How the Executive can override Congress and the ACLU
by Ryan Carboni 14 May '17

14 May '17

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/01/us_customs_open.html Here, Schneier commends the ACLU for improving civil liberties protections. http://www.rstreet.org/2014/11/19/yes-the-government-can-open-your-mail-wit… A John Conyers requested the DoJ view on the matter, to investigate it. Governmentattic requested the documents in 2010, was released to them in 2012, and they finally posted it in 2014. A large issue in our modern era is apparently how US laws are being interpreted far outside what people expect. The ACLU has done nothing in this matter. They are protecting civil liberties through the most ineffective and indirect mechanisms imaginable, anyone who spends millions of dollars per year with their lack of accomplishments must be doing something wrong. The executive issues signing statements saying that the judicial branch overrules Congress, whereas Congress writes the laws. Congress will always overrule the Supreme Court when it comes to reasonable interpretations of laws, it appears as if Congress has to explicitly state it so, which Congress has not done. I just thought everyone should be aware that the Holocaust was strictly legal. So was the Soviet gulag. The law itself is not a prophylactic against immorality. Anyway, Seymour Hersh has done incredible reporting, he talks about it here: https://www.c-span.org/video/?311093-1/seymour-hersh-investigative-journali… He hears a rumor from one place, and then goes thoroughly investigates it. (makes me wonder how anything was Top Secret with Bavarian fire drills) Of course it doesn't seem like the ACLU ever asked him about any of it... or famed Jason Leopold for that matter. So what matters? Either federal intrusions are wholly legal, or they are illegal. Somehow they have proven to be wholly legal over time, besides the meek complaints by the ACLU that it's still illegal. Or maybe the NSA is filled with thousands of men acting with impunity, who know what they are doing is illegal. The most frightening possibility of all, no? On a wholly different topic, I wonder why certain crimes are still possible to commit through the internet. Congress can always mandate ID for some services or cut funding for other services.

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Keylogger Found in Audio Driver of HP Laptops
by Razer 13 May '17

13 May '17

H/t @Liberationtech @twitter https://twitter.com/Liberationtech/status/862849917806661634 > > The audio driver installed on some HP laptops includes a feature that > could best be described as a keylogger, which records all the user's > keystrokes and saves the information to a local file, accessible to > anyone or any third-party software or malware that knows where to look. > > Swiss cyber-security firm modzero discovered the keylogger on April 28 > and made its findings public today. > Keylogger found in preinstalled audio driver > > According to researchers, the keylogger feature was discovered in the > Conexant HD Audio Driver Package version 1.0.0.46 and earlier. > > This is an audio driver that is preinstalled on HP laptops. One of the > files of this audio driver is MicTray64.exe > (C:\windows\system32\mictray64.exe). > > This file is registered to start via a Scheduled Task every time the > user logs into his computer. According to modzero researchers, the > file "monitors all keystrokes made by the user to capture and react to > functions such as microphone mute/unmute keys/hotkeys." > > This behavior, by itself, is not a problem, as many other apps work > this way. The problem is that this file writes all keystrokes to a > local file at: > > C:\users\public\MicTray.log > > Audio driver also exposes keystrokes in real-time via local API > > If the file doesn't exist or a registry key containing this file's > path does not exist or was corrupted, the audio driver will pass all > keystrokes to a local API, named the OutputDebugString API. > > The danger is that malicious software installed on the computer, or a > person with physical access to the computer, can copy the log file and > have access to historical keystroke data, from where he can extract > passwords, chat logs, visited URLs, source code, or any other > sensitive data. > > Furthermore, the OutputDebugString API provides a covert channel for > malware to record real-time keystrokes without using native Windows > functions, usually under the watchful eye of antivirus software. > Keylogger feature confirmed in HP laptops > > Modzero researchers said they found the Conexant HD Audio Driver > Package preinstalled on 28 HP laptop models. Other hardware that uses > this driver may also be affected, but investigators haven't officially > confirmed that the issue affects other manufacturers. > > HP EliteBook 820 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 828 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 840 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 848 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 850 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 640 G2 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 650 G2 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 645 G2 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 655 G2 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 450 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 430 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 440 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 446 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 470 G3 Notebook PC > HP ProBook 455 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 725 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 745 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 755 G3 Notebook PC > HP EliteBook 1030 G1 Notebook PC > HP ZBook 15u G3 Mobile Workstation > HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Tablet > HP Elite x2 1012 G1 with Travel Keyboard > HP Elite x2 1012 G1 Advanced Keyboard > HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G3 Notebook PC > HP ZBook 17 G3 Mobile Workstation > HP ZBook 15 G3 Mobile Workstation > HP ZBook Studio G3 Mobile Workstation > HP EliteBook Folio G1 Notebook PC > > The Conexant HD Audio Driver Package has versions for the following > operating systems. > > Microsoft Windows 10 32-Bit > Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit > Microsoft Windows 10 IOT Enterprise 32-Bit (x86) > Microsoft Windows 10 IOT Enterprise 64-Bit (x86) > Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic 64 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Starter 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Edition > Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Edition > Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7 32 > Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 7E 32-Bit > > HP did not respond to a request for comment from Bleeping Computer in > time for this article's publication. > > Here's how to Check for and Remove the HP MicTray64 Keylogger... > BleepingComputer: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/keylogger-found-in-audio-dri…

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