- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

RDRAND used directly when default engines loaded in openssl-1.0.1-beta1 through openssl-1.0.1e
by coderman 20 Dec '13

20 Dec '13

as per the FreeBSD announcement[0] and others[1][2] direct use of RDRAND as sole entropy source is not recommended. from Westmere onward you could use AES-NI to make crypto fast in OpenSSL. a common theme is to initialize OpenSSL via ENGINE_load_builtin_engines() which lets OpenSSL take advantage of this acceleration. with Sandy Bridge you also got RDRAND. now load_builtin_engines results in the application using RDRAND directly for all entropy, in addition to accelerating AES. if you are using an application linked with openssl-1.0.1-beta1 through openssl-1.0.1e you should do one of the following: a.) rebuild your OpenSSL with OPENSSL_NO_RDRAND defined. b.) call RAND_set_rand_engine(NULL) after ENGINE_load_builtin_engines(). c.) git pull latest openssl with commit: "Don't use rdrand engine as default unless explicitly requested." - Dr. Stephen Henson the OPENSSL_NO_RDRAND option is recommended; an inadvertent call to load engines elsewhere could re-enable this bad rng behavior. best regards, 0. "FreeBSD Developer Summit: Security Working Group, /dev/random" https://wiki.freebsd.org/201309DevSummit/Security 1. "Surreptitiously Tampering with Computer Chips" https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/surreptitiously.html 2. "How does the NSA break SSL? ... Weak random number generators" http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2013/12/how-does-nsa-break-ssl.html

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Malware that's transmitted through sound
by Jim Bell 20 Dec '13

20 Dec '13

http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=270551&cid=nl.d…

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PVDF & microcontrollers - (5)
by brian carroll 20 Dec '13

20 Dec '13

it is already established my skills do not allow exploration of these issues though i have some basic observations to share about what exists based on web searches that may quicken research for those interested who are new to PVDF sensors. first observation is that a development kit exists for those who have knowledge and interest and want to start experimenting, [0] though it does not appear to include cantilever hole designs of the sensor, that was mentioned in terms of tuning antennas. still, it could be useful for exfiltrating data or capturing signals sent via infra- or ultrasound, and also has a large film element that has been used as a speaker in various online demos. for instance, seemingly you could wire up a PVDF sensor along- side computer chassis and monitor signals via its vibrations, or powersupply, perhaps keyboard or keystrokes or whatnot. likewise, power various tools via energy harvesting of these same approaches else discover free-energy approach based in shared resonance not coupled to another material beyond the antenna itself if tuned to a primary and matched source. it seems Arduino and other microcontroller platforms are for those already saavy in programming and they and other such programmable integrated circuit platforms represent a large population of developers, professionals, experimenters, and hobbyists, and other enthusiasts. this seems equivalent in kind to the early era of electronics with crystal radio kits occurring in an engineering centric culture that grew into the early computer industry via ham radio experimenters, and those who mail ordered and constructed electronic kits, today involving the internet, online stores, discussion boards in the realm of advanced computing, everyone having their own programmable 'computer-based' development platform, and a tremendous kit of parts to choose from, to further explore. including ideas, goals, projects, hypotheses, prototypes, etc. the reason for stating this is that a certain level of literacy may exist for many who are computer literate in the advanced sense of a cypherpunks context, knowing hardware and software and ideas beyond this, into mathematics and linguistic concepts, and so a high-fidelity understanding and awareness may exist that enables greater ease of use within the ready-to-program devices that have limited documentation, and can present a large learning curve for those starting without such experience. thus, straight-away to mention that Sparkfun [1] carries various PVDF sensors, example, that can then be added into whatever microcontroller may exist capable of interfacing with the sensor. the thing is, in researching this, it appears there is potentially limited data for people just starting out, for how to go about this, whereas those already fluent may know how to put it all together. apparently instructions can be lacking and this is mentioned with respect to another approach for those like myself who need more step-by-step instructions and learning tutorials to know what to do and how to think about things, to build up awareness via making circuits on the microcontroller versus using it for an already determined objective. and there are general kits to do this for Arduino, in particular a 37 module sensor kit [2], so it is potentially an experimenter's paradise, if knowing how to get everything functioning, having a plan and enough information. i do not know enough about Arduino to know other competitors in the same domain though it appears there are many others (Beagleboard, etc) so that was used just as an example of several different options that exist where these piezo sensors can be integrated into the existing programmable platform, to custom-build and craft circuits, as is already being done. (note: if i am using 'platform' in the wrong way, my apologies, it is the nearest word i know of to describe these tools) so essentially it is a 'nothing new here' situation for those who know all about this technology, though potentially to question the potential for a piezo film sensor beyond existing boundaries and perhaps for advanced unmentioned cryptologic applications. the issue then is to question an electronic component, this piezo film tab as vibrational cantilever, the piezo element that exists beyond the circular disk and functions in other territory and in other configurations, including also piezo coaxial cable (and again, its potential use as an antenna of other dynamics) and so, for instance, the datasheets are included on some of the urls below, to provide more information if interested in evaluating if the given parameters may allow experimentation within the realms considered, say detecting signals patterns via vibrational 'contact' versus acoustic microphone. [3] so that is perhaps the majority approach for those already up to speed, though everyone may not have the same approach or others may want to learn about this, and thus a programmable microcontroller platform I have successfully learned from before, both about electronics and software programming of breadboard circuits is the Parallax BASIC Stamp Activity Kit [4]. essentially it is a platform for educating people about microcontrollers and provides an indepth tutorial and various circuits as part of a kit, and support forums for experimenters and developers, as with Arduino, which may have its own 'learn electronics' kit, though it seems Parallax has focused on this educational sector and providing materials for schoolchildren, hobbyists, and up, to the professional sector prototyping and development solutions, so is perhaps unique in its tutorial or hands-on learning approach versus what may require additional instruction else a different more self-guided approach otherwise, with other pathways. (trying to be fair, not advertise, yet also provide information about the offerings. also: if other PVDF vendors, they are few or do not have information i could locate in repeated searches) this is why I mention the Parallax kit that includes a fundamental course in learning circuits via a programmable breadboard. this same PVDF sensor [5] can be used with this platform, and it also has additional data on the commands related to it as part of a User Guide for that specific tutorial approach, [6] in that it may provide more structure than other less structured approaches though perhaps this is more related to the overall framework of learning to use a microcontroller itself, where for some a more all encompassing approach may be required prior to interfacing with the PVDF in terms of programming functioning of a circuit. and likewise, following this same general theme, the Sensors Sampler Pack for the Parallax BASIC Stamp microcontroller includes a PVDF element along with other sensor options. [7] the reason for providing examples is to see what is out there for those learning, in individual components and then within an integrated approach, of which there are various routes to take. for instance, consider the following project: Phoenix Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor Project Sub-project: Piezo Film Pulse Sensor http://www.phoenix.tc-ieee.org/004_Piezo_Film_Blood_Flow_Sensor/Phoenix_Pie… if someone already knows what they are doing, competent in the domains of hardware and microcontroller programming, it would probably be fairly likely they could replicate or learn from this demonstration of use for a PVDF sensor. yet further, someone with an interest in cryptography or crytanalysis, could potentially take this same information and apply the pulse reading to the chassis of a computer to monitor vibrational activity or apply this same information in some other way, in terms of security analysis, exploits, defense, research, exploration, experiment. though someone who does not have this knowledge then may be stuck, unless a step-by-step approach exists, which is more the Parallax approach, and perhaps in some ways Arduinio if online tutorials exist in place of paper manuals, though these extra layers of information may be required prior to achieving such finished projects, and needs to be built-up as a skill first. but not everything that is involved in this situation is about technology of computer hardware and software, and the code can go beyond computing, even 'electrons' potentially, in terms of what the situation could be modeled as, via its parameters. in that the PVDF as tunable antenna is not unlike a tuning fork that is made to resonate by another paired vibration, and while it may appear this is acoustic energy, air pressure, it could be the resonance of the material itself that is set to vibrate due to its physics, its particular construction and composition. that is, as with Helen Hall and her study of music physics, that what this involves relates to the issue of a vibrating string, and the 'energy' issues of vibration can be conceptualized likewise in terms of music principles, such that the resonance as it now is conceived of may not exist within computing in the way it is known in music, for instance, yet it may have importance in terms of harvesting energy via non-acoustic vibrations. i do not myself understand what this involves enough to better introduce to topic, though to hh it is 'the Art of Frequencies', as this relates to music physics and music and energy. the reason it is mentioned is that sympathetic vibrations occur in a paired matching or alignment (1:1) and (A=A) in terms of logic, within my own research, and in this way especially in terms of 'consciousness', each person their own antenna, and how they relate to others and in what ways. a common example could be sexual dynamics and 'magnetic fields', in that a certain pressure or boundary may be encountered via anther that either attracts or repels or is perhaps neutral. in this framework, there is something tied into the materiality of encounter, the physical body and its relation to another, other as self or unlike self, as this constitutes circuitry. further, though, beyond or outside a realm of push & pull of both magnetic and electromagnetic polarity, it also can potentially include something 'outside' this EM boundary, in that a non-electromagnetic energy of vibration could also exist -- as if in the realm of information itself -- that maps onto these same connections as 'shared tuning' (all mention of tuning has origin with HH, in my work). so what this is to suggest is that this inductive sensing of humans, this mapping of awareness of self and others, could be occurring as information in this vibrational way, if connecting 'dots' across various views and approaches, and thus how people are tuned or out of tune may relate to what signals they pick up or what movements they are part of, as grounded within certain dimensions, dynamics, self as circuit, then relation with others into groups, etc. and this is also the PVDF antenna model, seemingly. potentially. the only substitution i would suggest is that that 'global electrical current' that could set everything into a shared time and framework of connected circuitry, would be in some sense an analogy of empirical truth that flows into the shared macrocircuit and people are aligned by it. thus, induction beyond electromagnetism, though also as a pressure, perhaps, the pneumatic aspect, and the larger cosmological question of 'strings' that may be of an informational category, in terms of cosmic vibration that is defined by resonance of each and every object, if not mistaken in relaying others knowledge involved. <insert hilarious cat string-theory cartoon here> in other words, consciousness could be modeled by this circuit in terms of information transfer as it also could have an energetic component yet this approach could exist outside or beyond the current conception of the body in both nonexistent electromagnetic terms and also, non-existence non-electromagnetic terms functioning outside this electromagnetic framework, in the sense that aetheric order could exist beneath the existing dimensional space, this described as a vortex model of the atom, as it relates to zero. [8] so the potential, should a vibration on an antenna transform into harnessing free energy - via resonance and this new PVDF film sensor technology - then its significance is also conceptual, beyond perhaps the issues of creating a vibrating cantilever or pendulum in a watch that removes the need for a battery or for winding, due to being tuned to frequency of the earth that becomes part of its circuit, its power source, via this connectivity based upon natural order, its circuit as ecosystem and habitat, context for technology. and how this moves into modeling of self as a being, an entity, modeling of information in relation to energy and matter, in terms of music and physics principles, and how it recontextualizes questions and parameters were it to be unlocked as a common framework within which people relate or decide to disallow its existence i only saw the first two parts of Atlas Shrugged, a recent television movie version, never having read the longer book by Ayn Rand, though it seems to be based upon this same premise, where another world exists outside the ordinary realm, having cracked open the threshold allowing access to other dimensionality. the third part of the film is to be released in the next summer, apparently. in any case, interesting times ahead if this is indeed possible... [0] MSI sensors - 1004308 Piezo Film Sensors Basic Design Kit http://www.digikey.com/catalog/en/partgroup/piezo-film-sensors-basic-design… [1] Sparkfun -- Piezo Vibration Sensor - Large https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9196 Piezo Vibration Sensor - Large with Mass https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9197 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9198 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9199 [2] SunFounder - 37 Modules Sensor Kit http://www.amazon.com/SunFounder-modules-Arduino-Mega2560-Mega328/dp/B00CBD… [3] example datasheet http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Sensors/ForceFlex/LDT_Series… [4] BASIC Stamp Activity Kit - USB (Text v3.0) http://www.parallax.com/product/90005 [5] ex. info: Piezo Film Vibration Sensor Tab http://microcontrollershop.com/product_info.php?products_id=4989 [6] Piezo Film Vibra Tab User Manual http://pub.ucpros.com/download/605-00004-PiezoFilm_V1.1.pdf?osCsid=ecd6b5if… [7] Sensor Sampler Pack http://www.parallax.com/product/28028 [8] Art of Frequencies - Helen Hall http://artoffrequencies.wordpress.com/ intercalate, communication gap, pulse-jet

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Re: [cryptography] NIST Randomness Beacon
by dan＠geer.org 20 Dec '13

20 Dec '13

After all that discussion of the randomness beacon, it belatedly occurs to me to ask if anyone has ever applied, even for fun, any of the various tests for randomness to the transmissions from the various shortwave "numbers stations." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station --dan

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tuning piezo antenna - (4)
by brian carroll 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

basically at this juncture there are questions of piezo film itself, and then how to control this within a circuit, which could also involve information transfer, and thus microcontroller platforms are probably involved in such experimentation and development. so how i approach this situation is that i look at what is available for piezo film sensors, and contemplate how that plastic-coated piezo film could be made to vibrate automatically or function as a non-radiating transceiver of 'resonance-based' energy as signal. and thus the options are basically for little rectangle tabs of film that plug into a breadboard circuit of a microcontroller or else can be soldered to a circuitboard, as with various other approaches. [0] e.g. the DT Series from Measurement Specialties is the same type of strain-gage sensor found in contact microphones. [1] though i was still completely puzzled by another version of this element that has a round metal opening in its otherwise flat surface as if a mistake occurred at the hardware store. as if a pierced PVDF sensor. [2] and then after a google search i happened upon a experimenter who built an Arduino Seismic Activity Monitor [3] using the same PVDF element and it was then realized the hole in the piezo tab related to its use as a cantilever that vibrates and that additional weights can be added to limit what frequencies influence it, thus the antenna can be tuned to respond to only certain frequencies, or in the larger consideration, potentially to resonate in a narrow window where it could be specifically tuned to, say- 7.83 Hz, if indeed it either could be manufactured this way as an antenna or retrofitted via weights or modifications. or so it seems possible. in other words, having once had access to a seismic sensor, the range in which the vibrations would trigger the circuit could be fine-tuned to a certain limited parameter which could potentially influence inefficiency or limit any outside involvement, harmonics from powerlines or ambient noise that could lessen or disrupt the clean or predominant movement, seemingly. like only having one vibration versus several that counteract and diminish one another, though perhaps in some cases harmonics could be beneficial and in others counteract the movement. those who know would know. (sidenote: interesting to consider precisely because such a sensor can still be used as a microphone element and could be tuned or adjusted to pick up stray signals or vibrations from the environment, say the 60 cycle hum of alternating current, more on this later..) so, tuning of the adjustable PVDF film tab apparently involves either guesswork or use of an oscilloscope, which i wish i knew how to use because it seems the conceptual foundation of the diagnostics of electronics and circuits, how to relate to and understand them in detail and without it, the multimeter in its non-graphic approach remains to me an issue of numbers only, never having understood how all of it fits together as a worldview. though it is evident that it is possible to put weights onto this cantilever of the sensor and then measure it so that it only can vibrate within a certain wavelength, or frequency, in this case it was bounded for earthquake sensing, to a lower range and thus filtering out all the higher frequencies that could influence if not trigger the sensor, said to be extremely sensitive to vibrations, otherwise. what this amounts to is: if you know electronics and know circuits and have an oscilloscope, you could probably tune the antenna to a particular frequency range, whether to transmit or receive crypto data as infrasound (seems unlikely as transmit, though receive apparently a-ok, if material connection is vibration, again not acoustic or in air; thus computer chassis, cables, etc) or at ultrahigh frequencies (transmit/receive seemingly both ok.) thus perhaps someone with the know-how to see if it is actually possible to transmit data via resonance-based vibration, where movement is induced in another circuit, becoming power for that circuit, else also transmit data via non-electromagnetic means, on the principle of shared tuning. (there is more to this, opening up and tapping into the infinity of a circuit, and somehow having this drive the vibration of the PVDF ((which is more 'the aether' from what i understand, not of this dimensionality)) though that is for some other investigation, in some other time and place. this involves challenging existing mathematics of zero, etc.) in any case, the point here is that there could be multiple ways of tuning the piezo film as an antenna within these parameters, and it could involve differing approaches or circuits to do so. [0] example of Piezo Film Elements http://www.meas-spec.com/piezo-film-sensors/piezo-film-elements.aspx [1] Piezo Sensor - DT Series http://www.meas-spec.com/product/t_product.aspx?id=2478 [2] Piezo Sensor - LDT Series http://www.meas-spec.com/product/t_product.aspx?id=2484 [3] Arduino Seismic Activity Monitor - Ethernet Shield http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Seismic-Activity-Monitor-Ethernet-S… recover, tremulous, lie detector

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PVDF as antenna - (03)
by brian carroll 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

from this vantage of not-knowing, and having experimented some with breadboards and the Parallax Basic Stamp microcontroller platform, it would again seem possible that if the PVDF were conceptualized as an antenna that when it is geometrically aligned does not just access a realm of signals, and instead, this signal is itself energy that correlates directly with a capturing of voltage within the piezo film as capacitor, such that an 'energy antenna' exists and perhaps this is the basis of energy harvesting, though seemingly is bounded by how it is implemented. in that its application appears to be requiring mechanical energy, affixed to a surface which bends the material as the basis for vibration, than tuning into a frequency that is detached from the sensor and yet resonates it via the correspondence and alignment of shared tuning (A=A), and in this way motivates charge within a larger circuit. so there are whitepapers that exist about self-sustaining circuits based on PVDF and microcontrollers [0] and yet nothing in this other realm about the 'global AC circuit' [1] as this could also influence movement of the antenna in a framework beyond that of sidewalks and HVAC vibrations. in that atmospheric electricity and the earth-ionosphere cavity [2] have fundamental relation to EM technologies thus, stating the obvious in an expanded view beyond that of a compartmentalized realm, this condition of being within such an environment, yet not having it understood or conceptualized based upon a false limit or no-go zone, as if fringe to consider or perhaps not obvious to those without instruction, the educational system enforcing a fundamental disconnection, as if to keep everything that is naturally connected apart, as if somehow beyond limits thus basic electromagnetic awareness, to then read the technical manual [3] where it states the following: "Although the forces involved are small, the film can be used to excite other mechanical structures over a very wide frequency range. If a second element of film is used to receive the induced vibration, the system can possess a very high dynamic range, even though the overall "insertion loss" due to the film is about -66 dB typically for a structure at resonance. If sufficient gain is applied between these elements, the structure will self-oscillate at its natural frequency. For these resonant mechanical systems, high voltage drive is not required. The amplifier circuit may function adequately from a normal dual rail op-amp supply, or even from a single 9 volt battery. For analysis purposes, even lower applied voltages, e.g., the noise source of a spectrum analyzer at 70 mVrms, are sufficient to insert the mechanical energy into a structure when piezo film is also used to monitor the result." (p.5) now consider again the issue of tuning and shared resonance, that the movement of one object at a certain vibration/frequency could induce another object to also vibrate at that frequency if the resonance was shared or tuned similarly. thus, a PVDF film 'transmitting antenna' could seemingly generate a vibration at a given frequency, and if matched to anther PVDF film as receiving antenna, could induce it to vibrate and in effect, transfer or transmit the power from one circuit into another, via this vibration. i.e. resonance-based transfer of energy, or remote power generation so you could place a microcontroller antenna tuned to a frequency a few feet from another, on a separate circuit, and seemingly then light up its LEDs via vibrational energy, no electromagnetism that spans this gap, and instead resonance or vibration as the medium. (note: non-acoustic seemingly because it is the material itself that is vibrating and not "acoustic" air pressure pushing it to vibrate.) note: in this way it is clean, non-pollutive, and nonradiating energy and this is what Tesla had discovered apparently, and yet it was not able to be developed further, given the all-encompassing situation. and yet, listening to the stories of hh, she conveys that Tesla who had developed alternating current infrastructure thought in retrospect that it was unnatural and harmful as an energy approach, and that this resonance-based energy was based upon natural cosmic order, and was correctly aligned with life and nature, not functioning against it via invisible toxic pollution of radiation and its massive inefficiencies. so now there are two major themes: one is energy capture via the Schumann Resonance, and another is non-electromagnetic transfer of power via antennas tuned to a shared frequency, whereby current from one circuit could induce it in another. this is different from the magnetic induction whereby magnetic fields bridge the gap between transmitter and receiving device, and any electric or electromagnetic version likewise, whereby current is bridging this gap, ionizing the air inbetween, breaking down the structure of the air to move energy, versus nontoxic vibrating at some imperceptible infrastructural layer that is already active within nature, which all entities are attuned to as part of a living ecosystem and circuit, yet also out of harmony and out of balance via technology and development in the present moment, with populations unable to grasp the hostile situation we exist within, environmentally, ecologically, educationally, intellectually, realistically in the dimensions & parameters that exist, for optimal decision-making what then if the approach or conceptualization is off, and equipment and tools exist for experimentation like early days of electrification, where hobbyists can turn inventors and transform the situation by exploring beyond the edge already defined, via new interpretations or accessing old, discarded ideas and knowledge, thinking it through once again, and perhaps massive discoveries await via such experiment continued... 0. Powering Microcontrollers with Scavenged Energy http://www.digikey.com/us/en/techzone/energy-harvesting/resources/articles/… Evaluating the Options for Different Technologies to Harvest Energy >From the Environment http://www.digikey.com/us/en/techzone/energy-harvesting/resources/articles/… 1. global electrical circuit (images) https://www.google.com/search?q=global+electric+circuit&client=firefox-a&hs… 2. Atmospheric electricity / Earth-Ionosphere cavity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_electricity 3. Measurement Specialties PVDF technical manual (PDF) http://contactmicrophones.com/techman.pdf {educational fair-use of copyright, 2013} laugh track, nosebleed, telamon

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PVDF and you - (01)
by brian carroll 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

so i have been researching PVDF piezo film sensors via a technical manual [0] and there is a lot here that may be of potential interest in terms of its applications, [1] especially its use in security systems and to prevent tampering, and energy harvesting, in addition to other areas where its unique functionality could be explored. what follows, a series of short posts about this material... 0a. Measurement Specialties PVDF technical manual (PDF) http://contactmicrophones.com/techman.pdf 0b. technical manual with Appendix of piezo film articles http://www.tufts.edu/programs/mma/emid/piezo.pdf 1. Measurement Specialties Piezo Film Product Guide http://www.meas-spec.com/downloads/Piezo_Film_Product_Guide.pdf --- so PVDF is 'piezo film' that has unique properties and capabilities. while i know little of functional electronics, it is said to be a capacitor that stores and discharges high voltage energy. like a piezo disk it picks up the vibrational energy due to structural deformation that then generates or moves charge in response to this. the application i recently first encountered it was with 'contact microphones' - where it was stated that these PVDF film tab mics record the vibrations as sound input rather than acoustic pressure of condenser and dynamic capsule microphones reliant on soundwaves moving the air. so the distinction is that this piezo film can function as a recording input or SENSOR though by registering the vibrations on the surface of a material. what is more, it also detects temperature differences and thus can be employed as a sensor this way as well, which i did not realize was possible nor expect for a 'microphone'. the PVDF film apparently is already used in security applications within computers, if not crypto systems protected from tampering, via vibration sensing that triggers lock down or equipment destruction based upon monitoring of piezo film signals at perimeter. PVDF film for Tamper-Proofing, Security (white paper) http://www.meas-spec.com/downloads/Applying_Piezoelectric_Film_in_Electroni… (interesting likewise is use of piezo coaxial cable for perimeter security, strung on fencing as a microphone and also buried underground, which then can register & record raindrops, footsteps, people climbing fence, etc.) to be continued: ideas and observations about PVDF... spatter glass, azimuth circle, rift zone

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request for transcript: Bruce Schneier and Eben Moglen discuss a post-Snowden Internet
by coderman 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

Video: https://archive.org/details/schneier Audio: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/events/2013/a_conversation_with_bruce_schnei… "Join us at Columbia Law School as renowned security expert Bruce Schneier talks with Eben Moglen about what we can learn from the Snowden documents, the NSA's efforts to weaken global cryptography, and how we can keep our own free software tools from being subverted."

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Fwd: Jacob impervious to "Rubber Hose Cryptanalysis" performed by Stewart Baker
by coderman 19 Dec '13

19 Dec '13

this is pretty amusing :P (and needs a "Knuth is my Homeboy" homage?) --- http://bendrath.blogspot.be/2013/12/layers-of-struggle-privacy-vs.html Layers of the struggle privacy vs surveillance, in my picture of the year This is the picture of the year for me, on so many different layers: [view the image directly via: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbYqgdMIgAAX7Wk.jpg ] Stewart Baker, ex-NSA general counsel, and Jacob Appelbaum, internet freedom activist/hacker/journalist (left, right). They pretty much symbolise the two sides of the global scandal of the year. They also symbolise the attitudes of both sides. . . .

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patterns & tracks (urls)
by brian carroll 18 Dec '13

18 Dec '13

\:/:/:/:/:/:\:|:/:/ comment: so here in the Great White North, one year all of the sudden many people on local television were complaining about the fact that there is snow in Minnesota. i had never heard anyone in my life complain about snow in Minnesota, as if it was a negative event. who are these people? when did the population get replaced? - and it seemed that another kind of person now existed in the area who was fundamentally not from here else did not belong, and hopefully finds a place they like better. rather than stand in snow complaining about it. so take an event X that has certain functioning and variables, that could even be its nature, what makes it what it is (X). thus, X=snow. and then consider a place (MN) as being invariably tied to this condition, such that MN=X within a certain range of parameters, say 'wintertime'. and for many, as long as they have shelter, warm clothes and boots, it can be an enjoyable time. if not, you may not survive. though snow and winter have profound aesthetic value as a transformation from what is known into another realization and understanding of the same place, within differing parameters (light, color, temperature, clothing, transportation, etc). so living in the north can be an education in itself, knowing about winter, learning from it. the larger situation is repeated elsewhere. in particular, in educational contexts that have also migrated online as a type of disapproval of certain natural functioning and awareness. most notably, discussion groups online where a given [topic] will then have limits placed upon its exploration, even though inquiries may fall squarely within a given domain. and to this my response is similar: who are these people, where did they come from? for instance, the basic principles of [disciplines] such as architecture can be censored in discussion or other areas (cultural, technological) because it falls outside the artificial lines or boundaries so conceived by a given ~managing population. such that 'the ideas' cannot be discussed, in their natural habitat, which instead relies upon a definition of a place such that: place=not-X. or in other words: topic = not-topic. insofar as it challenges a given ideological boundary. and this can be as unnatural as believing 'snow is bad' in Minnesota- fundamentally unnatural as a viewpoint. yet so too, 'architecture is bad' for architecture, and onward. 'security is bad for security' etc. and perhaps this is evident in boundaries that are upheld and constructed, maintained, such that certain issues and ideas cannot be discussed due to enforcement of limits, and these may not have anything to do with secrecy via NDA and instead, of wrong ideas and thinking that challenge the status quo interpretation and belief system (religion as state, essentially), yet that substitutes a condition of truth with another, a pseudo-version that is fake, unreal by comparison, and yet upheld as the basis for relation and exchange. in that, having a negative view of snow in Minnesota, at least for me and those i have known, is going against what makes this place what it is, in its depth and connection with the area. and viewing 'ideas' as negative that have this connection with a given topic or understanding, likewise, unnatural and out-of-place. indicative of other dissonance, ungrounded relations. to forbid 'ideas' of crypto within discussion of cryptography, poo-pooing it, for instance, would be an interesting realm to consider for how deep this disconnection could go, thus revealing a surface relation or deception reliant upon the not-X condition to sustain itself, or in this case, the need for insecurity, obscurity, unknowing, disconnection, as vital to the ruse. all such betrayels of truth reveal themselves in how truth is related to, observed or ignored. consider in this context, then, how might the government ever combat issues of 'cyberspace' if its relation with electromagnetism was never allowed to be established; such that: cyberspace = not-EM on NSA interview on 60 minutes: it was stated that the interconnection between various computer analysis systems (metadata) was needed to get the 'whole picture', in that it is necessary to engage the situation at the scale it exists. without this, conceptual blindness due to limits or boundaries that prevent greater understanding of how things relate. now consider an entire university system, education system down to gradeschool, that is forbidden from uniting its metadata beyond compartmented views. that is essentially the condition today that enforces illiteracy and makes it impossible to reason about advanced situations beyond finite language games: culture = not-EM everything that is connected via electromagnetism, and interdisciplinary via shared structure and order of truth, is denied by its lack of inclusion, allowance, and validation by authority - and get this: on the basis for superior (private) belief based upon what amounts to religious opinion, that instead censors truth so that this wider viewpoint cannot be established. leave it up to some girls in gradeschool to challenge the paradigm on a science project, the very situation that cannot be addressed through reason otherwise, due to issues of power. the NSA gets its integrated metadata. the citizens and education system does not. this is to include EMF hazards and electropollution in relation to telecoms and telephony, etc. what about metadata of [this] connected with contradictory data of [that], working all of it out. --:--: correlations :--:-- [video] Start-stop traffic helps penguin huddles grow http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24763-startstop-traffic-helps-penguin… // if these analogous skills are not yet carried over into computing // models, scenarios, analyses, the core concepts should be. think // of how biomimetics influences drones and robots, and how the // realm of detection, data tracking, movement has direct corollary, // if not even transponders and tagging within a virtual approach... Outdoor Action Guide to Animal Tracking https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/nature/tracking.shtml Outdoor Action Animal Tracking Cards https://www.princeton.edu/~oa/nature/trackcard.shtml note: irony of shtml; could see augmented reality apps helpful to snapshot tracks, then database search and output hypotheses, could be useful for mass inventorying by park rangers else a SETI-like wildlife census by people in their local vicinities where people can volunteer data for others research studies rel. [image] snow music http://lynneraeperkins.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dsc011481.jpg A story written in the snow... http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/01/story-written-in-snow.html Another story written in the snow / (not-pc) http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/01/another-story-written-in-snow.html http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_SqhhJb_P3Kk/R38mCjzEM6I/AAAAAAAAAG0/ye9JbHUCitM/s… _._._._._._ God particle signal is simulated as sound / via hh http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10385675 note: first sample gives glass harmonica a run for its currency; the second sample adds thunder tube in with harmonium; third sample as if Laurie Spiegel electronic music composition // must be a parable in there somewhere... Non-transitive dice http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/01/non-transitive-dice.html _._._._._._ bit (digital/binary) weighting, sliding-scale, gradient/strain-gage (analog) in context of loop --- (my naive questioning) --- is crypto used for online communications modeled in conceptual 'flatland' or flat earth scenario, how do the relational approaches exist dimensionally or are the relations based on 2d dynamics and flow patterns to what extent are _diagrams of relational exchange flattened into a single layer or approach even while having various features and different functionality (hierarchical nested sets) could there be a conceptual limit or fixed approach that starts considerations and modeling of dynamics in a given domain/mindset and never leaves or goes beyond/outside it // archeology, patterns, code, programming, language, culture... [video] The Cyrus Cylinder: An Artifact Ahead of Its Time - {This relic from ancient Persia had a profound influence on the Founding Fathers) http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2013/03/the-cyrus-cylinder-go… The Monolithic Sculptures of Data Viz Whiz Edward Tufte http://gizmodo.com/the-monolithic-sculptures-of-data-viz-whiz-edward-tufte-… Snowden: NSA's indiscriminate spying 'collapsing' / via drudgereport http://news.yahoo.com/snowden-nsa-39-indiscriminate-spying-39-collapsing-39… [quote] "There is a huge difference between legal programs, legitimate spying ... and these programs of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire populations under an all-seeing eye and save copies forever," he wrote. "These programs were never about terrorism: they're about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're about power." [unquote] --- electromagnetism & culture --- It’s a Man’s World, And It Always Will Be / via drudgereport http://ideas.time.com/2013/12/16/its-a-mans-world-and-it-always-will-be/pri… [quote] Over the past century, it was labor-saving appliances, invented by men and spread by capitalism, that liberated women from daily drudgery. [unquote] note: there is a tremendous story in electrification of household and city that someday should become general knowledge because there is a lot to learn about technology, social relations, culture through greater understanding of the daily inhabited environment; (the book Electrifying America by David E. Nye is one such account) for instance, you could take any appliance or artifact and map it out, back to previous dynamics, say a ice box compared to e-refrigerator, or iron heated on fire to electric iron, its relation to laundry room of washing machine and dryer. how these effected social roles, etc. e.g. electrical desk light, radio, computer, home alarm systems. note also: importance of certain items connected to ecosystems, say alarm system with external security monitoring and police. the relations be mapped out via typology: tools, buildings, and systems. in architecture a big event was the geometric relation in the kitchen between sink, refrigerator and stove in a triangular arrangement... Kitchen work triangle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_work_triangle it should also be mentioned that this type of 'feedback' is potentially possible and valuable in any work or routine process, where it could function in more or less efficient or effective ways. and this can be connected to individual lives or managerial issues within companies that either allow for such local perspective or seek a top-down model where the viewpoint and ideas only originate from a given vantage, and this could distinguish an intelligent and adaptive organization from a rigid approach that is stuck in time and ultimately overtaken by others innovation- thus relation of processes and functioning with business philosophy, application of principles, their mediation that can have economic, social, political effects, un-shared beliefs, &c. (for instance, a worker in a production process has insight into how it is and is not effective and can offer feedback for tweaks, improvement or not allowing this and having that inefficiency/ineffectiveness built-in and then normalized, including as relational ideology, that can limit the engagement with the situation or force disengagement, detachment. in other word, testable hypotheses of flow and routine functioning or are these unquestioned and enforced to uphold given social relation) likewise, what may appear only commonsense today - having enough room to maneuver in the kitchen and use appliances effectively - can extend as a conceptual question into the present and future day, such as how the pantry, kitchen, and e-commerce in an automated scenario. this was part of the idea for the Asperger Management System (AMS), whereby a home computer system (data furnace) would use A.I. to bid on restocking pantry, perhaps even in a financial market sense, where 'group bids' for a local community could exist to purchase wholesale, and so an exchange could develop and suppliers to fill the contracts. this would then integrate the 'intelligent refrigerator' with pantry, and then have an A.I. data furnace device manage routine orders, based on patterns that could include weather, past price history. and of course a dwelling would need a way to store/allow packages when people are away from home, to allow deliveries at any time. note here the vital role of both encryption and security protocols. (this leading to how existing courier/shipping services function, in that people can wait all day for an e-commerce shipment to arrive when instead an e-commerce portal or secure drop box could exist, and before that, wireless updates when a driver is on their way to a destination, providing a 30 minute window or lead-time vs. 8 hrs via wi-fi and network-based updates of when a package may arrive) _._._._._._ Make a contact mic with baking soda and cream of tartar http://leafcutterjohn.com/?p=1518 // hard to imagine there would be no scaled macro-effects, // especially in charged atmosphere, if not influence on dust, // wildlife sensing, peoples mental states, invisible toxic smog // more dangerous than black sky of 18th c. industrial revolution What If You Could See Your Cellular Network? // via hh http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk/#cellular-network note: this is cellular network only, apparently. now imagine many if not most online/broadband households having wi-fi turned on, whether or not in use, HDTVs, printers, audio gear, computers, routers, at the level of the household. would be interesting to know # of wi-fi device per, as statistical average then extrapolate. (great that engineers involved in this art-research visualization) now what if with GIS and GPS every antenna lease could be mapped into grid and antenna/radiation patterns mapped locally. such as: look at schoolkids environment, top floors of apartments, etc. this information should be open to the public and 3d visualized // author Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov on public libraries. // internet as public library, yet those access fees, esp. mobile data* "I don't believe in colleges and universities" - updated http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-dont-believe-in-colleges-and.html [*thing is, if you are not a phone talker, a mobile phone makes little sense especially if main use would be mobile data, which is made so economically infeasible, so hostile to lookup of data, the hurdles to just sustain massive locked-in access prior to any data, removes value of info or turns it into an extreme luxury only elites can access beyond chained to wi-fi providers, which is yet another service provider reduplicating access, only for mobile and only in limited zones, at least in this area. then again: EMF POLLUTION. basically there is tremendous downside to the entire scheme for citizens, they get irradiated, swamped by harmful EMFs, yet access is uncorrelated to this ubiquitous hierarchical covering of the landscape, no useful signals] [image] "Cross sea" and "cross swell" http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2013/12/cross-sea-and-cross-swell.html [image] http://www.modeskine.com/wp-content/uploads/Calendario_Vespa_Piaggio_1996_D… --- ze kollider funktion --- [image] R. Crumb's A Short History of America (original) http://www.kunstler.com/Grunt_Crumbshorthistory.html [image] Special report: G2 in Crumbland http://arts.theguardian.com/crumb/images/0,15830,1430854,00.html -- more... Robert Crumb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Crumb R. Crumb Poster: A Short History of America -- 15 panel version http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=P_S… The Seven Chakras of R. Crumb http://beingsakin.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/the-seven-chakras-of-r-crumb.… --- crypto email & et al --- reading of how crypto systems could be implemented for email, perhaps to include chat and file transfers even, alike with web browser functionality and perhaps extending it with SSL secure icon that validates connection status. anything short of this would appear too complicated for ordinary users. that is, a simple icon that is pressed or depressed to decrypt or encrypt/re-encrypt information within a personal computer operating system slash desktop environment, moving to mobile operating system and its micro UI likewise. of anyone who could implement such a simple interface for managing crypto it would be Apple, Inc. and yet, then again, the problem remains of 'the keychain' paradigm as a basis for managing keys, certificates, passwords and other items that has remained a mystery to me. in that its use is not apparent to the uninitiated, though it supposedly performs some function or other, though it appears manual, requiring management and maintenance and knowledge of what to use it for and how- efficiently and effectively. and that is the missing information though also an area of non-Mac like roughness in functionality, in that encryption does not appear to be part of the seamless experience on par with importing GarageBand files into iTunes or email or something such- versus protecting identity, privacy, information, files from illegal snooping and intrusion. as if essentially leaving the bank vault open for any visitors. though the entire drive can be encrypted on the fly, data that is sent and received is not automated this way, as far as could be understood via the basic feature set and settings. (it should be said of Apple, of the great hardware innovation since the 1980s, and nearly no innovation in the operating system itself as paradigm, remaining file and folder junk drawer and thus stalled out conceptually in terms of information organization and 'tools for thinking' beyond ongoing bureaucratization, where the CPU binary approach itself is determining and limiting functionality, and cannot be altered from its existing course as solidified, seemingly. in that a new computer architecture likely needs to be introduced to make basic changes to the informational paradigm, what can be done vs. what is done as it continues to be done) on the Macintosh platform it appears possible that a basic 'icon' approach could work, such that in any given application a 'lock' or 'secure' status could be engaged/disengaged, when wanting to send/read/write an encrypted email, or decrypt a file, or communicate via chat. and that whatever data is involved, archived or store, could likely be held in a vault that is encrypted outside the normal whole-disk encryption, whether emails or files, and that this would be locked by default (apparently this is part of Keychain management functionality, if not mistaken, at least for passwords). in other words, a computer user could decide they want to write a secure message via email and press an icon (aka switch or button) that changes the visual interface to a new state, a phase change indicating 'secure session' (say a gray striped bar occurs around the perimeter of the windowpane) and then when the document is either closed and saved (changing phase again, say black striped bar aside filename) or sent, that this document is secured automatically by protocol, such that once the decision for security is made, it is automatically followed through as a process and thus the email would automatically lock-down before being transmitted, and upon receipt by another would need to be unlocked to be read, and when closed would relock itself via encryption scheme. and any such documents or files would be held in a secure information vault and could be accessed via a security manager interface that would be integrated into various software, including mobile. therefore, once logged onto a computer (identity validated via perhaps advanced measures such as biometrics and-or other) then a person could just click the icon to access or compose data, and not need to worry about keys or authentication, though perhaps an additional layer could exist as a security option (prior to sending or opening) if need be. say fingerprint scanner beside computer, to unlock files to read or send via email. anything less than this - of a computer vender who controls the OS and hardware and can unify and embed the 'security infrastructure' within an existing ecosystem - probably could not control enough factors to make it work in these ecosystem terms. that is, a basic unified experience from start to finish in the exchange or dynamics of interaction. Apple can. and if Apple can, within its own OS-iOS platform, then others can follow up, which would enable cross-platform functionality within given standards- whatever they may be. without this self-contained trial of 'icon'-based crypto and working through the usability issues - so that it is dead simple and effective - which is what Apple excels at, rolling out such 'solutions' in a larger realm would likely be met with unmatching interactions and the problems of fragmentation that limit such cross-platform exchange in shared standards and-or frameworks and security definitely loses out, or is non-existent, due to such dynamics. in that if even different computers cannot trust one another, how can people be expected to. so how could a 'secure file' be sent to another if the computers themselves do not have enough trust to establish, manage, or maintain this connection. it would appear a systematic approach is required that can then be extended once it is worked out as a security process, vetted by professionals, to allow a new level or layer of personal security in response to the issues and problems of ubiquitous surveillance, to design a private perimeter that extends beyond -bank transactions online-and involves all data of value that requires security, more protection and limits from unauthorized and non-legal snooping, seizure, and manipulation. -:-:-:-:-:- Crows could be the key to understanding alien intelligence / via hh http://io9.com/crows-could-be-the-key-to-understanding-alien-intellige-1480… Your wireless router could be murdering your houseplants / via digg http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/wireless-router-wi-fi-plants ('An experiment by a handful of high school students in Denmark') >> moral of story: keep chia pet away from router & mobiles phones?? {educational fair-use of copyright, 2013} endomorph Rutherford citral

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