On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 9:00 AM, <cypherpunks-request@cpunks.org> wrote:

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Today's Topics:

1. Re: cypherpunks Digest, Vol 14, Issue 11 (Andrew White)
2. Re: Update your Tors - Tor security advisory: "relay early"
traffic confirmation attack (Juan)
3. A post-spy world (John Young)
4. Re: Update your Tors - Tor security advisory: "relay early"
traffic confirmation attack (rysiek)
5. SnakeoilMailbox? (rysiek)
6. Ukraine passed the bill about sanctions in first reading, it
give power to close media, websites, and more (Anton Nesterov)
7. Re: [cryptography] A post-spy world (Ryan Carboni)

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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:37:53 -0700
From: Andrew White <invalidheader@gmail.com>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Subject: Re: cypherpunks Digest, Vol 14, Issue 11
Message-ID:
<CA+gYD=_VsQqV4_tGwjQ0NdV4np_afTETU4=bpsKQ6iFqcELCwQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

>
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 08:42:20 +1000
> From: "James A. Donald" <jamesd@echeque.com>
> To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
> Subject: Ripple's consensus algorithm.
> Message-ID: <53E7F54C.80805@echeque.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Bitcoin's consensus algorithm is weight of computing power, which is OK
> as long as weight of computing power aligns with interest in bitcoin
> being a useful currency.
>
> Weight of stake would be better, but so far I am unaware of any
> satisfactory proposals for weight of stake.
>
>
This is called "proof of stake" not weight of stake and is different from
Ripple's consensus process.

> Ripples consensus algorithm is weight of club members, and the process
> for getting into the club is opaque, as are the interests and incentives
> of the existing club members.
>

This doesn't really describe how Ripple works. Ripple relies on the
agreement of 80% or more of validator nodes per gateway to verify if a
transaction took place or not. I write more about this in
http://rippleinvestmentguide.com/

>
> I would suppose one gets into the club if no existing member blackballs
> you, which would be fine if there is already sufficient diversity of
> interests within the club.
>

Only if 80% of the networks validator nodes do that which is in practice
not likely to happen on a large enough scale.

>
> It is not obvious to me how well the ripple consensus algorithm would
> work in the event of substantial conflicts between club members, or bad
> behavior by club members, or bad things happening to the network.

> Has it been analyzed for performance in the event of bad behavior by
> some club members?
>

I'll ping David Schwartz one of the co-inventors about this question.
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:24:08 -0300
From: Juan <juan.g71@gmail.com>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Subject: Re: Update your Tors - Tor security advisory: "relay early"
traffic confirmation attack
Message-ID: <53e924fb.0938ec0a.5497.4914@mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:13:10 +0200
rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl> wrote:

> Dnia wtorek, 5 sierpnia 2014 20:31:26 Juan pisze:
> > On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 00:19:17 +0200
> >
> > rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl> wrote:
> > > One of the things I have learnt during the years of my brushing
> > > shoulders with Teh Gummint (public consultations, conferences,
> > > etc) is that a huge bureaucracy like a government is bound to have
> > > conflicting interests and fund/take conflicting actions.
> > >
> > > Governments are not homogeneous, to say the least.
> >
> > Governments are pretty homoneneous criminal organizations.
> > The fact that sometimes different government factions within a
> > given government quarrel a bit over the spoils is basically
> > meaningless, from the point of view of government victims at
> > least.
>
> Well, obviously you haven't much experience with how governments look
> from the inside.

...but I do have some inside information about the 'legal
system', having been raised by lawyers =P

>
> Ministries and departments have different and conflicting policies
> regarding some of their overlapping responsibilities, and the flow of
> information is a real problem. Add to that some personal animosities
> and ambitions and you get a clusterfuck of an organisation.

Yes, all of that is true. I am aware of the fact that there are
different factions inside a government. I did explicitly
mention that. It doesn't affect my argument(s) though.

>
> A clusterfuck leaving quite a lot of space for projects like Tor.
>

Sorry, but that's circular.

You *assume* tor isn't designed as a tool to further imperial
american policies and you arrive at the conclusion that there
are some 'good guys' in the US government.

Too bad your assumption is what you actually need to prove.

The argument here is that tor is a small network that can be
more or less easily 'traffic analyzed' by the US government -
the same government that created it. This is not 'rocket
science'...

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:52:19 -0400
From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org, cryptography@randombit.net,
cryptography@metzdowd.com
Subject: A post-spy world
Message-ID: <E1XGwYA-0004Z3-DQ@elasmtp-scoter.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"

"We are moving toward a post-spy world, according to the guy that
runs the CIA's venture capital arm."

<http://t.co/5eYfbRYU8k>http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/08/10-ways-make-internet-safe-cyber-attacks/90866/?oref=d-channelriver
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 23:09:52 +0200
From: rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Subject: Re: Update your Tors - Tor security advisory: "relay early"
traffic confirmation attack
Message-ID: <3216983.cEZSaLLodi@lapuntu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Dnia poniedziałek, 11 sierpnia 2014 17:24:08 Juan pisze:
> On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:13:10 +0200
>
> rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl> wrote:
> > Dnia wtorek, 5 sierpnia 2014 20:31:26 Juan pisze:
> > > On Wed, 06 Aug 2014 00:19:17 +0200
> > >
> > > rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl> wrote:
> > > > One of the things I have learnt during the years of my brushing
> > > > shoulders with Teh Gummint (public consultations, conferences,
> > > > etc) is that a huge bureaucracy like a government is bound to have
> > > > conflicting interests and fund/take conflicting actions.
> > > >
> > > > Governments are not homogeneous, to say the least.
> > >
> > > Governments are pretty homoneneous criminal organizations.
> > >
> > > The fact that sometimes different government factions within a
> > >
> > > given government quarrel a bit over the spoils is basically
> > > meaningless, from the point of view of government victims at
> > > least.
> >
> > Well, obviously you haven't much experience with how governments look
> > from the inside.
>
> ...but I do have some inside information about the 'legal
> system', having been raised by lawyers =P
>
> > Ministries and departments have different and conflicting policies
> > regarding some of their overlapping responsibilities, and the flow of
> > information is a real problem. Add to that some personal animosities
> > and ambitions and you get a clusterfuck of an organisation.
>
> Yes, all of that is true. I am aware of the fact that there are
> different factions inside a government. I did explicitly
> mention that. It doesn't affect my argument(s) though.
>
> > A clusterfuck leaving quite a lot of space for projects like Tor.
>
> Sorry, but that's circular.
>
> You *assume* tor isn't designed as a tool to further imperial
> american policies and you arrive at the conclusion that there
> are some 'good guys' in the US government.

No, I didn't say there are any "good guys" (nor that there aren't any, mind
you). But even between a clusterfuck of "bad guys", each dragging in their own
direction, simply *because* they are dragging all in different directions,
there might be space for some neat projects.

Think of it as a hack on the system.

Guy A needs total secrecy of communication for their moles in third world
countries and finances a tool that incidentally is a huge PITA for guy B, that
tries to surveil everything and everybody.

Guy A and guy B are far enough from each other
(system/hierarchy/department/competence-wise) that they do not co-operate, nor
even know of each other too well. Or: they know of each other and are in a
state of "cold war" for resources or ambition-related aims.

--
Pozdr
rysiek
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 11:01:54 +0200
From: rysiek <rysiek@hackerspace.pl>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Subject: SnakeoilMailbox?
Message-ID: <1604479.NSJMfQmOgd@lapuntu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Hi there,

so, this got sent my way:
http://securemailbox.com/

It rings several of stef-defined bells for snakeoil, but maybe I don't see
something? Anybody any info on this?

--
Pozdr
rysiek
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Message: 6
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 13:01:43 +0000
From: Anton Nesterov <komachi@openmailbox.org>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Subject: Ukraine passed the bill about sanctions in first reading, it
give power to close media, websites, and more
Message-ID: <53EA1037.5090805@openmailbox.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

It includes many types of sanctions, but most interesting is that ones:

9) the prohibition or restriction of the retransmission of television
and radio channels;
10) the prohibition to use radio frequency resource of Ukraine;
11) the restriction or termination of the media or other information
activities, including those in the Internet;
12) the restriction or prohibition of production or distribution of
printed materials and other information materials;
24) the prohibition of political parties, movements and other civil
society associations and foundations;

So if that bill will be passed, National Security and Defense Council
can ban any foreign media, website, foundation, movement, printed
material, etc. without court.

http://osvita.mediasapiens.ua/material/33612 news report (in Ukrainian)
http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=51915 text (in
Ukrainian)

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 08:14:39 -0700
From: Ryan Carboni <ryacko@gmail.com>
To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org, cryptography@randombit.net
Subject: Re: [cryptography] A post-spy world
Message-ID:
<CAO7N=i3q80s6AY419ON0uEw2GBLb2+MvtjFx4vaA4XytgZnFZQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

John Young, true masterspy.

On Mon, Aug 11, 2014 at 1:52 PM, John Young <jya@pipeline.com> wrote:

> "We are moving toward a post-spy world, according to the guy that runs
> the CIA’s venture capital arm."
>
>
> http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2014/08/10-ways-make-internet-safe-cyber-attacks/90866/?oref=d-channelriver
> <http://t.co/5eYfbRYU8k>
>
> _______________________________________________
> cryptography mailing list
> cryptography@randombit.net
> http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
>
>
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