Re: Just to make your life more paranoid:) Re: Surreptitious Tor Messages?
On 10/4/05, gwen hastings [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Troll Mode on: TOR was originally developed as a result of CIA/NRL funding:) .. BTW running TOR makes you very visible that you are running tor even as a client.. its quite a noisy protocol Well, of course that feature is built in. The NSA wants to be able to easily find anyone who's running it. The noisy protocol has the added benefit of causing the network cable to emit lots of radiation, frying the brains of TOR users. The only defense is a hat made of flexible metal. -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: Hello directly from Jimbo at Wikipedia]
On 9/28/05, Roy M. Silvernail [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A Wikiwhiner wrote I have valid although perhaps unpopular contributions to make, and not only is my freedom to express myself limited, the quality of the material on Wikipedia suffers due to the absence of my perspective. Wow. Nice ego there. The status quo is not acceptable and we should work to find a solution. Leaving aside the qualitative discussion, let's remember that the freedom to express onesself does not imply the obligation for any other party to listen. Nor the obligation for any other party to provide you with a soapbox. Operate your own wiki if you don't like their decisions. Tor is transport layer. Authentication for a specific service (such as Wikipedia) is the responsibility of that service and belongs in the session layer. What Roy said. This Wikiwhiner might want to read up on the OSI model. Conveniently, there's a Wikipedia article on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model An authenticated network and an anonymizing network are mutually exclusive. True enough, but to make it clear, an anonymizing network is not exclusive with an authenticated application. (Not necessarily so, anyway. I haven't checked into TOR, but there's no good reason an HTML hidden field couldn't provide session continuity for an anonymous web surfer.) -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: Fwd: Re: MIT talk: Special-Purpose Hardware for Integer Factoring
On 9/19/05, R.A. Hettinga [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 2:29 PM -0400 9/19/05, Steve Furlong wrote: What does George Bushitler stand to gain from this machine? There you go again... Just to be clear, that's what I'd expect the current wave of j-school grads to be asking, not what I'd be asking. (Not that I'm particularly fond of the Prez, but I'm not one of the LLLs who say he's worse than Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and Ronald Regan combined.) (Stalin doesn't go into that equation because he was, you know, a good guy whose actions have been misinterpreted.) -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: Fwd: Re: MIT talk: Special-Purpose Hardware for Integer Factoring
On 9/16/05, R.A. Hettinga [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Time travel aside (okay, innumeracy aside, some state-school philosophy majors can't count, either...), if I'm a reporter, this is new journalism, since most of the missive is about *wonderful* *ME*... Never mind the numbers. How does this special-purpose hardware make you _feel_? Can you express the cost of the machine in terms of bags of rice which could have been given to starving chldren in Nepal, or wherever children are starving nowadays? How much higher could the NOLA levees have been built if everyone who worked on this machine had instead been working full-time pouring concrete and piling sandbags? What does George Bushitler stand to gain from this machine? -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [IP] Internet phone wiretapping (Psst! The FBI is Having
On 9/9/05, Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone have a recent working email address? Does [EMAIL PROTECTED] still work? You might try sending email to that address. If you don't get a response, either it's not a good address or he thinks you're an idiot. (Or he's dead, but he wasn't last I knew.) -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: New Drugs
On 8/23/05, R.A. Hettinga [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- At 1:39 PM -0400 8/23/05, Trei, Peter wrote: I [want] a new drug... I would request the irony-impaired actually look up the lyrics of this paen to endogenous ero-endorphins, written by a drug-hating San Francisco acid-kindergarten refugee. Especially the closing line of the refrain. I think the point was that if you get laid regularly you don't need drugs. Works for me. -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: Italy finally holds USA to the world standard!
On 6/24/05, J.A. Terranson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.masnet.org/news.asp?id=2560 Italian Judge Orders 13 CIA Agents Arrested Over Kidnapping John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it. -- There are no bad teachers, only defective children.
Re: Word Of the Subgenius...
On Wed, 2004-12-08 at 10:47, R.A. Hettinga wrote: At 10:38 AM -0500 12/8/04, Steve Furlong wrote: anarchist Bzzt wrong answer. Must filter that *in*, thankewverramuch... I know what you mean, but (a) I didn't write what I meant, and (b) I don't think a true anarchy would be the proper environment for your anarcho-capitalism. My complaints about Tim's anarchistic writings were about his desire to watch DC detonate, or to watch a rampage against useless eaters of one type or another, or the like. However, unless there were a mass uprising against the current government, or the idea of any government, any limited demonstration would simply be an excuse for the ratchet to turn another few clicks. Viz the OKC bombing. As for anonymous bearer transactions in an anarchy, I'm going to have to bag on that for now. Not cowardice -- work to do. Later, if I remember, which I won't because I'm a burnout. Regards, SRF
Re: Word Of the Subgenius...
On Wed, 2004-12-08 at 09:26, R.A. Hettinga wrote: At 9:17 AM -0500 12/8/04, John Kelsey wrote: But once in awhile, even amidst the crazy rantings about useless eaters and ovens, he'll toss out something that shows some deep, coherent thought about some issue in a new and fascinating direction. Yup. Canonical Cypherpunk, and all that. Impossible to keep in a killfile, etc. Like it or not, we live in a Maysian Universe... All we need is a Bayesian Maysian filter to separate the wheat from the (racist | deranged | anarchist | readthearchives) chaff. On a related note, is it possible that Tim has syphillis and it went to his brain? His earlier work was certainly insightful, well thought-out, and useful. His later writings, generally useless and irritating though they were, still had occasional relevance. Poor Tim, sharing Nietzsche's fate.
Re: Word Of the Subgenius...
On Mon, 2004-12-06 at 17:00, R.A. Hettinga wrote: At 3:34 PM -0500 12/6/04, Steve Thompson wrote: I rather suspect that the people who 0wn the upstream pipe from my points of access are toying with their ability to interpose their data in place of quasi-authoritative texts. Oh, *my*... Where is Detweiller, now that we need him? That was bad enough, but for a real oh my moment, see elsewhere in Thompson's missive: Any way you look at it, the phrase tax money well spent would seem to apply here. I can't think of any way to use that phrase non-sarcastically.
Re: Word Of the Subgenius...
On Sun, 2004-12-05 at 09:30, R.A. Hettinga wrote: At 8:06 AM -0600 12/5/04, Neil Johnson wrote: Where is Tim May when when you need him? :-) Nah, this is mere Younglish wierdness. You have to talk about useless eaters to be totally mayified... Random racist ranting is also required. There are some racist assholes currently posting on cpunks, but none have quite the May flavor.
Re: Unintended Consequences
On Fri, 2004-12-03 at 00:30, Major Variola (ret) wrote: At 04:44 AM 12/2/04 -0500, R.A. Hettinga wrote: John Ross' Unintended Consequences is a classic of the, um, gun culture, :-) and a great read. Made me want to name my first mulatto Gonorreah fer sure :-) I tried, years before _UC_ came out, to get some friends to name their daughter Chlamydia. They didn't know what the word meant, but for some reason didn't trust my advice. Nor did they like Pudenda. I also tried to get my wife to agree to a heroic name for our son. In the tradition of Pericles and Sophocles, I present ... Testicles. No, she didn't go for it.
Re: Word Of the Subgenius...
On Sat, 2004-12-04 at 20:42, R.W. (Bob) Erickson wrote: Bobhood is never a light burden, as I'm sure RAH can attest Bobbittization would make the burden lighter.
Re: Immediate Exception
On Sat, 2004-12-04 at 18:24, R.W. (Bob) Erickson wrote: I''d dismiss the possibility that the universe exists for the express purpose of confounding me. Much evidence to the contrary. My life is sucking pretty bad lately, due to either a long series of fairly unlikely and uniformly unpleasant coincidences or else the machinations of a malevolent universe set up specifically to piss me off. Another possibility is that suggested by the other RAH, the cosmology which presents all of us as mere characters in the stories told by Authors, the multifarious and nefarious gods.
Re: geographically removed? eHalal
On Tue, 2004-11-30 at 21:36, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Halal was deemed a terrorist weapon, and contrary to the treasury's policies, game over. Hawala
US-centrism
On Thu, 2004-11-25 at 16:16, Eugen Leitl wrote: Can we please get out of the regional fixation? The cypherpunks list isn't about the US, US pissant wars, and similiar boring backwater shit. Response 1: When the US sneezes, the world catches a cold. Response 2: The cpunks list isn't US-centric, but most of the regular posters are in the US. Even if you don't count Bob Hettinga because he mostly forwards news articles rather than write original content, and don't count Tyler Durden and me because we're idiots, I think you still have mostly Americans posting.
Re: geographically removed?
On Sun, 2004-11-28 at 21:44, James A. Donald wrote: -- On 27 Nov 2004 at 6:43, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Internal resistance mediated by cypherpunkly tech can always be defeated by cranking up the police state a notch. You assume the police state is competent, technically skilled, determined, disciplined, and united. Observed police states are incompetent, indecisive, and quarrelsome. This is eg why e-cash systems have anonymity problems. The problem is that any genuinely irrevocable payment system gets swarmed by conmen and fraudsters. We have a long way to go before police states are the problem. Heh. When the stasi come a-callin' tell them they'll have to wait because you've got bigger problems. Wonder how well that would work? I see that an irrevocable payment system, used by itself, is ripe for fraud, more so if it's anonymous. But why wouldn't a mature system make use of trusted intermediaries? The vendors register with the intermedi- ary *, who takes some pains to verify their identity, trustworthiness, and so on, and to keep the vendors' identities a secret, if appropriate. The sellers pay the intermediary, who takes a piece of the action to act basically as an insurer of the vendor's good faith. If there's a problem with the service or merchandise and the vendor won't make good, the intermediary is responsible for making the buyer whole. Is there some reason this wouldn't work? If not, why hasn't anyone tried it yet? Not enough cash flow to make it worth their while? * There's a proper word for trusted intermediaries in this context, but hanged if I can remember it.
Re: Patriot Insurance
On Thu, 2004-11-25 at 08:38, Will Morton wrote: How long have soldiers deployed in war-zones been able to get life insurance? Would love to see their actuarial process... It's been a while since I was in the US Army, but I'm sure that the life insurance we had didn't cover parachute-related deaths and I vaguely recall it didn't cover combat deaths. Kinda serious omissions, from the soldier's point of view.
Oswald
On Wed, 2004-11-24 at 20:31, Major Variola (ret) wrote: At 11:34 PM 11/21/04 -0800, Bill Stewart wrote: Slsahdot reports that MSNBC reports http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6549265/ that there's a new video game JFK Reloaded http://www.jfkreloaded.com/start/ I'm waiting for Grand Theft Auto IV, Drunk Over the Bridge With the Secretary variant. Wonder what Teddie will say about that one. Oswald saved the world from nuclear conflict, thank the gods he offed the sex drug crazed toothy one as soon as he (et al :-) did. And a hell of a shot as well. Gotta respect that, with a bolt-action, no less. A piece-of-shit boltie. I don't believe the official story, myself. Huh. Just realized, now that I'm spouting conspiracy theories I must finally be a real cpunks list member.
Re: Turtles all the way down... (was Re: Attention Alif: RDNS is a bitch...)
On Wed, 2004-10-27 at 23:55, J.A. Terranson wrote: Nothings ever regular around here On the contrary, there's a constant stream of shit on this list. _Someone_ must be pretty regular.
Re: the simian unelected is blocking the world
On Wed, 2004-10-27 at 21:57, J.A. Terranson wrote: As for *kids*, we recently had an 11 year old bride (legal here with parental consent) who was on the news for being the youngest *divorcee* at 12! Why not give her the vote? She can't do any worse than the rest of these rednecks. After the divorce, was she still related to her ex? Or am I thinking of Mississippi?
13yo arrested for kiddie porn
First saw the story linked from Drudge, then googled up a handful of stories: http://www.kptv.com/global/story.asp?s=2435549ClientType=Printable Boy,13. arrested on child porn charges 10-15-04 TACOMA, Wash. -- A 13-year-old Lacey boy is accused of child pornography by taking pictures of himself and posting them on the Internet. The boy was arrested Wednesday by investigators from the State Patrol's Missing and Exploited Children task force. They also seized three computers. The boy is being held in juvenile detention without bail. Prosecutors expect to file charges by Monday. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1246411/posts http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20041015/topstories/15049.shtml
Re: Printers betray document secrets
On Tue, 2004-10-19 at 16:14, Ian Grigg wrote: R.A. Hettinga wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/technology/3753886.stm US scientists have discovered that every desktop printer has a signature style that it invisibly leaves on all the documents it produces. I don't think this is new - I'm pretty sure it was published about 6 or 7 years back as a technique. I think you're thinking of color copiers.
Re: Airport insanity
On Mon, 2004-10-18 at 15:17, Thomas Shaddack wrote: Pentagon protects their people by distance - being it by bombing from high altitude, or by using cruise missiles. Everybody uses the technology available to them. What's bad on it? Invariably, the side that uses the defensive measure - being it smart weapons[1] or human shields - classifies it as tactical, while the other side considers it cowardly. A nice example of symmetry in asymmetry. [1] The defensive aspect here is to allow the attackers to attack from distance beyond the reach of the other side's active defenses, thus not risking anything more than a piece of overpriced electronics. If some asshole is coming at you with a knife, it's cowardly to shoot him before he's in range? Dumbass.
RE: Airport insanity
On Sat, 2004-10-16 at 00:43, Major Variola (ret) wrote: At 12:14 PM 10/15/04 -0700, James A. Donald wrote: -- My profile is radically different from all those who killed nearly 3,000 of my countrymen on September 11, 2001. My holy book of choice is the Bible. My race is Caucasian. I am a loyal, taxpaying, patriotic, evil-hating, English-as-first-language, natural-born American. As was Timmy McV, Zeus rest his soul. The unidentified John Doe #2 looked awfully Arabic, though.
Re: RFID Driver's licenses for VA
On Sat, 2004-10-09 at 12:03, Major Variola (ret) wrote: When you get your driver's license, you should run a magnet over it to keep iron oxides from staining your wallet. And apparently you should now microwave it to clean those DMV-employee pathogens from it. Then it will be safe to carry, and you can see for yourself what it tells everyone else ---part of the definition of safety. And rub that funny black and white smudge thing with nail polish remover -- looks like someone with wet nail polish was handling the card, and you don't want that smudge to cover up whatever was written under it.
Re: Implant replaces ID cards for access to restricted areas.
On Thu, 2004-10-07 at 02:20, Nomen Nescio wrote: Mexican Attorney General, Staff Get Chip Implants Implant replaces ID cards for access to restricted areas. I think I'd get the implant under my scalp somewhere. If the implant gave access to a really critical place, I wouldn't want to risk losing an arm or whatever. Also, I'd be able to block the implant's signals with my nifty tinfoil hat. I've been waiting for a use for that thing.
Re: Quantum cryptography gets practical
On Thu, 2004-10-07 at 14:50, Dave Howe wrote: The regular encryption scheme (last I looked at a QKE product) was XOR Well, if it's good enough for Microsoft, it's good enough for everyone. I have it on good authority that Microsoft's designers and programmers are second to none. (Microsoft's marketing department is a good authority, right?)
Re: Foreign Travelers Face Fingerprints and Jet Lag
On Sun, 2004-10-03 at 05:18, Peter Gutmann wrote: The US now has the dubious distinction of being more obnoxious to get through the borders than the former East Germany (actually even without this measure, the checks had become at least as obnoxious as the East German ones). I wonder whether the next step will be building a wall... Reign in the overheated rhetoric. The East German state built their wall to keep the East Germans from leaving, while the US policies are meant to keep out a demonstrated threat. Now, we can productively discuss the effectiveness of the US government's actions (ie, not very damn effective), but that's a different topic.
Re: ID Rules Exist, But Can't Be Seen
Talking out his ass, Tyler Durden wrote: That's a good point. And those screeners ain't exactly the cream of the crop, if ya' know what I mean. A year ago they were making minimum wage, so if someone wanted a copy of those guidelines, it'd be easy as hell to con it out of one of em. (INVOKE SPIRIT OF TIM MAY HERE)...dress all official-like with a clipboard and some random badge, and start quizzing the locals about the current rules. Maybe that wouldn't work at JFK, but go to the airport at, say, Lexington So Carolina or Bumfuck Idaho and you'd get the information faster than a hillbilly can skin a possum for dinner. Have you ever done penetration testing? It would be harder at a small airport because the people all know each other. It's the larger organizations in which you're able to cloak yourself in anonymity. You are correct, however, in your characterization of the screeners. Sheesh, what a bunch of mouth-breathing imbeciles and petty thieves. I haven't flown since 2001, but I bring people to NYC airports frequently, and am always impressed with TSA's level of professionalism. Not favorably impressed, mind you, but impressed.
Re: How to fuck with airports - a 1 step guide for (Redmond) terrorists.
On Tue, 2004-09-28 at 14:37, Roy M. Silvernail wrote:
The servers are timed to shut down after 49.7 days of use in order to
prevent a data overload, a union official told the LA Times.
That would be 49.71026961805556 days, or (curiously
enough) 4294967295 (0x) milliseconds. Known problem with Win95
('cept they call Win95 a server).
How the heck do they keep a Win95 machine up for 49 days? I think 1 day
is a more realistic MTBF.
Re: T. Kennedy == Terrorist says TSA
On Fri, 2004-08-20 at 09:54, Sunder wrote: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/20/MNGQ28BM1O1.DTL Washington -- Sen. Edward Ted Kennedy said Thursday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government's secret no-fly list. It was a mistake, of course. Chappaquiddick-boy should have been put on the no-drive list.
Re: Reputation Capital Article - 1st Monday: Manifesto for the Reputation Society
On Mon, 2004-07-19 at 13:43, Sunder wrote: Here's a paper/article/screed on reputation capital. A subject we discussed here a long while ago back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, etc... well, not quite that long ago. It's ok, you can still say Tim May around here.
Re: BBC on all-electronic Indian elections
On Mon, 2004-04-26 at 11:34, Jack Lloyd wrote: Hmmm... that's a thought. Tim May as president. Election slogan: You're *all* going up the chimneys. I voted for Cthulhu -- why vote for the lesser of two evils? http://www.cthulhu.org/
Re: BBC on all-electronic Indian elections
On Mon, 2004-04-26 at 12:58, sunder wrote: Al's prise pig of a wife, Tipper, helped found the PMRC against lyrics in songs. And, like all statists, they went widely astray of their goals. Frank Zappa's _Jazz from Hell_ got a Tipper Sticker, indicating obscene lyrics. They didn't notice that _JfH_ was an instrumental album.
Is there a Brands certificate reference implementation?
Does anyone know of a reference implementation for Stefan Brands's digital certificate scheme? Alternatively, does anyone have an email address for Brands so I can ask him myself? (I haven't gotten anything back from ZKS's contact us address. But I don't know if Brands is still at ZKS.)
Re: Is there a Brands certificate reference implementation?
On Sun, 2004-04-25 at 16:25, David Crookes wrote: He started a new company called Credentica. http://archives.abditum.com/cypherpunks/C-punks20020603/0053.html Pretty amusing -- that link points to the achive I maintain. There's probably a parable in there about having knowledge at your fingertips but not knowing it's there. Thanks.
Re: Real-world quantum cryptography
On Wed, 2004-04-21 at 21:49, Steve Furlong wrote: http://www.quantenkryptographie.at/ Gah. That's what I get for trying to do a Hettinga -- he beats me to it. OK, Bob, you got me this time. grin
Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
On Fri, 2004-04-02 at 12:55, Harmon Seaver wrote: Chickens ain't herbivores, they are omnivores, and, in fact, prefer meat, bugs, etc. to all else. Yah, ducks and geese, too. But factory chickens, which is almost all of the chicken most Americans eat, are fed mostly grain. A lot of old trappers I've know tell me they've eaten bobcat and lynx and that they were tasty, and a lot like chicken. Huh. The carnivores I've eaten had a distinctive taste, bitter or something. But I've never eaten any feline, so far as I know.
Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and kittens
On Thu, 2004-04-01 at 16:21, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Tastes just like chicken? Can we change the subject? My girlfriend is Chinese, I've already eaten things that I wouldn't have considered to be food, she doesn't like my cat, and I don't want her getting any ideas. However, to answer Robert's question, cat probably wouldn't taste like chicken. Carnivore and herbivore meat tastes much different.
Career advise on entering the tech field
On Sun, 2004-03-14 at 07:36, Major Variola (ret) wrote: How are you going to land a sweet outsourced job if you ask others to do your homework? If Sarath is, in fact, a student who will soon be looking for work, he may do just fine. Getting a tech job has little to do with how much you know or how well you can do the work. Most of getting a job, at least in the US, has to do with putting together a resume that will get you a call-back, and with impressing the HR guys during the first interview. Neither of these need have any bearing on actual qualifications. Once he has a job in the tech field, someone with people skills sufficient to get others to do his work for him will get farther ahead than the techie who actually does the work. Of course, it's easier for a woman to pull this off in the typical tech-heavy company -- a woman just has to chat with the guys, whereas a man will have to actively brown-nose the bosses or ask favors of his co-workers.
Re: Earthlink to Test Caller ID for E-Mail
On Sat, 2004-03-06 at 10:32, R. A. Hettinga wrote: At 2:21 PM +0100 3/6/04, Eugen Leitl wrote: Facultative strong authentication doesn't nuke anonynimity. Perfect pseudonymity is functional anonymity, in my book... No, pseudonymity lets others identify messages on, say c-punks, as coming from a particular sender. Reputation can work here, even with no meat-space identity attached. Anonymity means reputation can't work, so each message has to be taken on its own, with no history to give clues as to bias or reliability. I certainly wouldn't want to have to wade through all the traffic, wondering which from Eugen and which from the Australian-shithead-who-shall-not-be-named. Yah, it's easy enough to tell once you've read the message, but I'd rather filter it out on the From: level. I realize that your, RAH's, book mostly deals with financial transactions. In the very narrow domain of transactions which don't require any trust, anonymity should be as useful as pseudonymity. In the more general case, I'd think true anonymity would be a handicap. eg, I'm certainly not going to send my hard-earned e-money to the account of some untraceable joker in exchange for his promise to deliver me a week's worth of groceries.
Re: Windows source leaked?
On Fri, 2004-02-13 at 19:02, Justin wrote: Case law on point? I don't think that is true at all. Trade secrets that are leaked are no longer trade secrets. Incorrect. Trade secrets that are deliberately released by the owner are no longer secret. Secrets that are carelessly released by the owner (eg, wide-open path between their web server and their CVS repository) are probably no longer secrets, but that's subject to finding of fact if it goes to trial. Secrets that are stolen or illegally leaked are still legally secrets. That's pretty clear, though things like developers leaving a company and using their knowledge elsewhere can be questionable. That's why most companies have non-disclosure forms for you to sign when you start work. Regarding case law cites, you can check google or findlaw as well as I. Here, for the lazy or inept, is a useful page: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/DVD/research/EFF_General_8.html I think the issue would be copyright and/or patent violation. That, too. In the case of IBM's PC-BIOS that I mentioned before, IBM relied on copyright rather than trade secret. (Obviously, given that they released the source themselves.) Note, also, that that happened in the days before rampant software patents. If the same were to happen today, they'd almost certainly get a patent on their BIOS, and Compaq wouldn't have been able to do their clean-room reimplementation.
Re: US Finally Kills The 2nd Ammendment
On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 15:48, Tim May wrote: (Though of course this is only the _theory_. The fact that all of the Bill of Rights, except perhaps the Third, have been violated by the Evildoers in government is well-known.) A few years ago I wrote a short paper looking at government-installed snoopware in terms of the 3rd A. Given that the other BoR amendments have been broadly interpreted in light of new technology, it's reasonable to view software as soldiers. In light of the Scarfo case (keyboard sniffer software installed in a black-bag operation, ca. 1990) I'd argue that the Fedz have violated the 3rd A. (My paper was before Scarfo, so I claim some prescience. Alas.) SRF
Re: US Finally Kills The 2nd Ammendment
On Mon, 2004-01-12 at 02:07, Tim May wrote: Read up on the Lawson case in San Diego. Tim is referring to Edward Lawson, arrested repeatedly and convicted once in the late 1970s for walking around without ID. The appeal made it to the Supreme Court, as Kolender v Lawson, 461 US 352 (1983). Lawson's conviction was overturned on grounds that the identify yourself law was too vague. Not surprisingly, Justice Actual Innocence Rehnquist felt that the law was good and Lawson's conviction was righteous. The opinion, with some introductory material, can be found at http://usff.com/hldl/courtcases/kolendervlawson.html A web page discussing this case in relation to a national ID card is http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/dept/polsciwb/page5.htm
Re: US Finally Kills The 2nd Ammendment
On Sun, 2004-01-11 at 14:18, Steve Schear wrote: Did you carry and present ID? No. Once it was requested (strongly requested, just short of a demand with threats), but when I demanded his justification he backed down. In NY, at least at the time, citizens were not required to carry or present ID, nor identify themselves on demand without cause. I believe that is no longer the case.
Re: US Finally Kills The 2nd Ammendment
On Sat, 2004-01-10 at 19:02, J.A. Terranson wrote: What good is a Jury when the judge can pick and choose which arguments and evidence you can provide in support of your case? I've occasionally handed out pamphlets on jury nullification outside the local county courthouse. Never been arrested for it, but I've caught a raft of shit from cops. The cops were acting, presumably, under direction from the judges or maybe the DA. Those guys just hate jurors thinking for themselves, you know.
Re: Engineers in U.S. vs. India
On Wed, 2004-01-07 at 18:36, Steve Mynott wrote: Jim Dixon wrote: The term 'software engineer' is becoming less common in the States these days. I have watched the job title wax and wane for more than twenty five years. I think that it was most fashionable in the early 1980s. Any Americans care to comment on this? In the mid-1980s, the US Department of Defense, at the time the largest software customer in the world, told its vendors that 10% (I think) of their software development staff must be software engineers. Along came the HR fairies with their magic wands and poof! almost all software developers were software engineers. The SE job title has ebbed and flowed, as Jim said. It means little other than programmer in the US. As Jim said in another message, almost all states restrict the use of the term engineer to those who are licensed. But most don't really enforce that rule, so HR departments are free to give their programming staff the glorious title. However, contrary to Jim's statement, Texas does license software engineers. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering .) I don't know if any other states license SEs. Regards, SRF, degreed Software Engineer (hooray, me)
Re: Alt.cypherpunks will be where I do most of my posting
On Sat, 2004-01-03 at 02:19, James A. Donald wrote: And to get back to the topic of this thread. I cannot see anything but random deranged crap in alt.cypherpunks -- maybe I need to adjust my filters, but there does not seem to be any signal in the noise. I don't see anything on alt.cypherpunks, except for a test message I put up a couple of days ago. Alas, my ISP, having been bought out recently, has become unresponsive. (Yah, I know there are work-arounds for getting newsgroups which are not carried by your ISP, but they are _work_-arounds, which involve work, which involves time, which I have only in short supply.)
Re: U.S. in violaton of Geneva convention?
On Tue, 2003-12-16 at 18:18, Jim Dixon wrote: I spent several years travelling in that part of the world. Well, that just blew your credibility with this crowd. You're supposed to spout off on topics about which you know nothing. Bonus points for reflexive anti-state-ism [1] [2], and in particular antiamericanism. And for idealistic crypto solutions to the world's problems, which unfortunately will never work in a world inhabited by real people. (Not that you're expected to admit that.) The sheltered children on this list need to get out into the nastier parts of the world. They need to see what life is like when the government is _really_ bad, not just some warts on a mostly benevolent institution. They also need to get a better feel for the cultural differences around the world -- even though we're all humans, what seems like a great idea in Berkeley might not fly in Baghdad or Beijing. [1] As contrasted with anti-statism. [2] Just let the market solve everything. And strong cryptography makes your place of residence irrelevant. Unless, of course, the police goon squad burst in and raped your children in front of you because you were trying to change your place of residence.
Re: Ashcroft's bake sale, no questions allowed, gvt-issued photo ID required
On Wed, 2003-11-19 at 19:49, Bill Stewart wrote: Too bad it's past tomato season on the East Coast Shit, we've (upstate NY, along the Mohawk River) already had our first snow. Didn't stick, but the chill in the air is literal, not figurative.
Re: Chaumian blinding public voting?
On Fri, 2003-10-31 at 23:55, Tim May wrote: Increasing voter turnout is, of course, a Bad Thing. For the reasons we discuss so often. Agreed. To the extent that I want a government at all, I support a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Legions of bleary-eyed, TV-addled, bigoted jackasses are not needed for determining the will of the people. For that matter, I'd just as soon go a few steps closer to the US's original franchise: leaving out the sex- and race-based qualifications, you have to be an established citizen with some assets. This method of setting the franchise would curb the excesses of the bread and circuses crowd, and it would have the added benefit of pissing off the activists and the populists. .. the list of 25 million in these united states who need to be sent up the chimneys? Only 25 million? Gotta disagree with you there, Tim. I'm with Sturgeon on this: 90% of everything is crud. The correct statement is, 25 million should be spared.
Re: [mnet-devel] DOS in DHTs (fwd from amichrisde@yahoo.de)
On Thu, 2003-10-23 at 00:43, Morlock Elloi wrote: There are precedents. In Franko's Spain, all typewriters had to be registered with the state, and all had serial numbers. It was illegal and punishable to possess one without license. What does that have to do with anything? We're talking about the United States. There _is_ no other nation.
Re: Monkeys Control Robotic Arm With Brain Implants
On Mon, 2003-10-13 at 13:46, Steve Schear wrote: Monkeys Control Robotic Arm With Brain Implants Which means that even armless retarded monkeys can post to c-punks. Profr, call your office!
Re: Software protection scheme may boost new game sales (fwd)
On Sat, 2003-10-11 at 15:55, Tim May wrote: As the saying goes, the lessons of the past are learned anew by each generation... And each generation invents sex, too.
Re: What's up with the Cypherpunks archive?
On Friday 12 September 2003 09:36, Jim Choate wrote: Is it really so that there are no up to date archives? Venona seems to have stopped a while back. http://archives.abditum.com/cypherpunks/ _But_ my server has been very unreliable lately. I'm planning on moving the archives to a different box soon, maybe this weekend. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: Digital cash and campaign finance reform
On Monday 08 September 2003 14:34, Ian Grigg wrote: Steve Schear wrote: anonymous contributions to candidates How would you audit such a system? I'm not that up on political cash, but I would have expected that there would be a need to figure out where money was coming from, by some interested third party at least. Would you need to audit it? So long as the contributions can't be tied to a quid-pro-quo arrangement, let the candidates collect as much as they can. Also there would be a need to prove that the funds were getting there, otherwise, I'd be the first to jump in there and run the mix. Or, the mint. Yah, that's a bigger problem. I guess the first step is, establish a digital bank with at least the credibility and trustworthiness of an ordinary, audited and regulated bank. But without the auditing and regulation because, well, this is the internet age. grin -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: Random musing about words and spam
On Tuesday 02 September 2003 19:00, Thomas Shaddack wrote: Spammers recently adopted tactics of using randomly generated words, eg. wryqf, in both the subject and the body of the message. .. Could the pseudowords be easily detected by their characteristics, .. Presence of pseudowords then could be added as one of spam characteristics. Wouldn't work for me. For one thing, I'm a programmer; as John Kozubik noted, identifiers in code look a lot like random strings. For another, I routinely receive email in non-English languages. Not only European languages, which probably have characteristics close enough to English to do matching, but also in Chinese and Korean. And Lojban, too, which itself looks an awful lot like random strings. (And getting legit mail from .cn and .kr prevents me from just blocking the entire TLDs of those national spam factories. My life sucks.) -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: Responding to orders which include a secrecy requirement
On Sunday 31 August 2003 19:20, James A. Donald wrote: Talk is cheap. ... Indeed, the one may be connected to the other -- the absence of stoolies may well be connected to the presence of hot talk. Dunno. I'm not sure that mere talk of killing a librarian would dissuade the potential stoolies. As you say, talk is cheap. Actions, reported widely in the mass media, will grab people's attention. On a related note, does anyone have a recommendation for a nice chianti? -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: Terror Reading
On Saturday 30 August 2003 14:46, Tim May wrote: Even the owner of my ISP is narcing me out. Read what he wrote recently to a Net.Nazi who wanted my speech limited: (snip) Huh. Did the ISP cc you on that, or did the would-be censor forward it to you as a warning that he held your access in his hands? -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: domestic terrorism, fat lazy amerikans ducks
On Tuesday 26 August 2003 05:23, Bill Stewart wrote: Nah - who's afraid of Democrats? Branch Davidians, perhaps. Elian Gonzales's Florida relatives. Dems themselves tend to be pathetic wankers, but you gotta admit they're adept at using the state's monopoly power on force. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: The real ordeals of U.S. soldiers in Iraq
On Tuesday 12 August 2003 13:07, Steve Schear wrote: Through email and chat rooms a picture is emerging of day-to-day gripes, coupled with ferocious criticism of the way the war has been handled. They paint a vivid picture of US army life that is a world away from the sanitized official version. Just bear in mind that it's the grunt's time-honored right to gripe. Gripe about the food, about the weather, about the sergeants, about the officers, about the weapons, about the mission, about anything under the sun. Doesn't mean anything of itself. That said, they have more reason than usual to gripe. Not the overseas posting in a beastly climate, nor even the mission. It's the jerking around. You'll be coming home next month. Make that the month after. Probably be a year, all told. If the pols and the brass had said up front that the troops would be there a year, there'd have been plenty of bitching by both soldiers and civilians but the overall effect would have been less than what's happening now. Army manning a year or two hence ought to be interesting. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel If someone is so fearful that, that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have these weapons at all! -- Rep. Henry Waxman
Re: Duct-tape and tin foil nukular reactor?
On Tuesday 01 April 2003 15:16, Tim May wrote: This Tyler Durden nym claims to be a high school physics teacher, IIRC, and also claims to have once worked in industry. The high school part I find plausible, the industry part also plausible (given some of the folks I had to work with). And yet he posts at least a couple of credulous, recycled news stories or rumors each week. I find nothing, in his credulity or his shallow understanding of topics or his shallow and flawed analyses, which is inconsistent with my high school science teachers or others I have known. He desperately needs to get up to speed. Maybe he can't. Again, fully consonent with my high school science teachers. cf A Nation at Risk. If it weren't for momentum and brain drain from countries with decent schools for children, we'd be getting eaten alive by oriental nations. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Quote of the Day
On Sunday 30 March 2003 11:37, Tyler Durden wrote: Hey, as for Sharpton, I'll quote my brother: I'm gonna vote for Sharpton just to piss YOU off! I know someone who voted for Sharpton a few years ago (Governor? Senator? One of his no-chance campaigns.) because he figured he'd be the only one voting for the doofus in his very conservative county and he'd be able to point at that 1 entry and say That's mine!. To his dismay, three or four others apparently though the same way. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Skeletons at the gates
On Sunday 30 March 2003 15:13, Tyler Durden wrote: Uh...I don't think Tim May gets the picture here. Think a few dozen PVC-groups consisting of 100 or more each, lying in the middle of, say, 5th avenue, or at the mouth of the midtown tunnel. Oh, and say it happens at 8:00AM on a Weekday. The result is a significant impact on the local economy (at least), and a city that is partially paralyzed for half a day. Hey, finally a legitimate use of SUVs for people who never go off-road! My commuter bug would get hung up when I drove over the protoplasmic speed bumps, but the big tires of a 4WD SUV would have no trouble. I'm pretty sure the self-indulgent imbeciles who engage in this sort of infantile behavior would find another venue once the great mass of people stopped indulging their temper tantrums. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Quote of the Day, Re: Usenet as solution to Al-Jazeera jamming problem
On Friday 28 March 2003 00:10, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Sometimes when you're in government you have to do things for the people whether they like it or not. That's what governing is all about, said Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick. Hitlary, Chucklehead Schumer, the now-deceased Pat Old Drunk Moynihan, George Pataki, Al Sharpton, and now Joe Bruno. Tell ya, I'm damn proud to be a New Yorker. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Social democrats on our list
On Sunday 09 March 2003 11:52, Tim May wrote: Neither MegaCorp nor anyone else has property rights to the air. MegaCorp doesn't have property rights to the air, but Amazon was recently granted a patent on A Process for Bringing Oxygen into the Body. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Give cheese to france?
On Thursday 06 March 2003 22:21, Tim May wrote: snip Tim's message, all of which I agree with * * Except I think he made a typo: he wrote shooing but I suspect he meant shooting. Ditto, completely. Tim, you bring the matches and I'll get the gas. (Now, when I find myself in complete agreement with Tim, is it time to adjust my meds? grin) Really, some of you statist bastards need to look at the success of societies which respect and protect private property and compare with the success of those which do not. You can measure success by almost any criteria and get the same result. You'd think that watching statist nations self-destruct for more years than most of you have been alive would provide a clue, but I guess statist bastards' rock-like skulls and flabby, underdeveloped minds are clue-proof. In the meantime, you stupid, statist bastards can keep hiding behind your remailers when you post your anti-property or anti-American screeds. You'd better --- after all, hundreds, even thousands, of protesters have been shot dead right in the street for protesting. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Give peace a chance?
On Tuesday 04 March 2003 21:08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Apparently Give peace a chance is dangerous, subversive speech, not to be tolerated in polite company http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnyt/m276307.asp?0ct=-302cp1=1 From the article, New York Civil Liberties Union President Stephen Gottlieb says, We believe, most of us, in the Bill of Rights, and we believe that protects the freedom to speak. How is Constitutionally- protected freedom of speech imperiled when an agent of a private corporation asks someone to leave because his speech is offensive? Gottlieb is presumably a lawyer, since they tend to infest *CLUs. Either he missed Constitutional Law class the day they talked about scope of applicability of the Bill of Rights or else he's just a dumbass. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Say Bush is Nuts, Go to Jail
On Wednesday 26 February 2003 17:15, Tyler Durden wrote: Gulp. But then again, are they going to arrest all 250 million of us? cf The Asylum from Douglas Adams' _So Long and Thanks for All the Fish_. Just turn the entire US into a jail with a few, small not jail locations. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Deutsch Jackboots
On Monday 24 February 2003 14:20, Greg Newby wrote: If he had weapons that non-soldiers can't get licenses for, I'd be more suspicious. Weapons that non-soldiers can't get licenses for includes pepper spray in NYC. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Guns will get you through times of no duct tape better than duct tape will get you through times of no guns. -- Ron Kuby
Re: Passenger rail is for adventurers and bums
On Friday 31 January 2003 12:40, Tim May wrote: On Friday, January 31, 2003, at 07:58 AM, Harmon Seaver wrote: (snipped) I understand your politics is lefty...this has been shining through for years. But your analytical skills are lacking. That's redundant in the modern US. Too bad; there needs to be a counterbalance to the right-wing control freaks, but the left just isn't up to it. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
On Wednesday 15 January 2003 18:09, Petro wrote: Now, hunting black _helicopters_ is a different matter, you realize What is the recommened minimum caliber for taking one, and how does one get it to the taxidermist? I don't have a copy of _Unintended Consequences_ handy, but I think Henry used a 20mm. The heli was pickled, not mounted. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: citizens can be named as enemy combatants
On Wednesday 08 January 2003 23:35, Michael Cardenas wrote: I think you're overreacting a bit. The actual case involves someone who was in a foriegn country for years, and was in the war zone at the time he was fighting the US. The ruling says that he was squarely in teh war zone and discusses the issue that he hda been out of the US for a long time. And the court specifically said its ruling did not cover Jose P. Taliban, the (alleged) would-be dirty bomber. But I strongly disagree with some of the dicta in the ruling: if there is any time that the courts need to let the administration have its way, it's during war time. (I paraphrased that.) My view is, if there's any time the courts need to keep a closer eye on the administration, it's during a popular war. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: The Culpability of the Conformist Criminal Choate.
On Wednesday 01 January 2003 09:28, Jim Choate wrote: ... If I as an individual can not decide to take anothers life at my whim (ie 'convicted' by individual ethics) how than can a group of men do it? Can a group of men have a right that as individuals they do not? No. Ergo, the state has no 'right' (which is another hole in the logic) to take a life through some process called 'conviction'. ... The positions are actually hold-overs from past despotic mono-authoritarian world views. They have no place in a democratic society. I am in complete agreement with Jim on this. Crap --- now I need to check my meds. SRF -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: Extradition, Snatching, and the Danger of Traveling to Other Countries
On Friday 13 December 2002 11:44, Trei, Peter wrote: ... this sort of thing could give the Libertarian Party legs, if they handled it right. Hahahahahahaha -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: [IP] Dan Gillmor: Accessing a whole new world via multimedia phones (fwd)
Jim Choate, in a display of bad judgement and ill temper never before seen on the internet, spewed forth the following blood-libel: Nitwit, who are the daughters talking to, dial-tone? Not. They are solving two problems, entertainment and a problem (social connectivity). The point was, the content providers aren't providing the entertainment. The daughters are talking (and talking!) to their friends with no help from the big companies other than providing the connectivity. I believe that was Olyzko's point in the first place, that people are more interested in being connected with other people (regular people, not entertainers) than in simply receiving entertainment or other content from canned sites. I'm not sure I agree with Odlyzko's point about connectivity vs content. But your prior statement, Bullshit, if there isn't content why do they want connectivity? What is it they are connecting to?, misses the distinction between the two. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley
Re: OPPOSE THE WAR! We are going to ruin Iraq to get the oil. Who's ne
On Thursday 14 November 2002 12:16, Harmon Seaver wrote: It's all relative -- what Dubbya and Asscruft have done to destroy freedom in the US is far worse than anything Saddam has done. Iraq had no freedom to lose. So...When Iraqis are tortured to death, it's not really that bad because they're just wogs and don't know any better? Dubbya and Asscruft have millions of people in prison for doing nothing wrong, only violating their bullshit rules in the War On Some Drugs. I agree that the WoSD is bullshit, but get some historical perspective. The WoSD has been in place for thirty years (Nixon), or for almost a century (vil blacks and hispanics using marijuana to seduce white women). Bush43 and Ashcroft have been in office less than two years, and neither was alive when _Reefer Madness_ came out.. They have killed thousands of innocent Afghans Thousands of Afghans has been thoroughly debunked. Only the very stupid continue to believe or propagate it. Not that Klinton was any better. Bubba was much worse. He killed people to distract attention from his crimes. Bush43 at least has a supportable rationale, whether or not you agree with it. Now, I am far from a Bush43 supporter. I have serious concerns about his interest in the rights of Americans. But idiots like Harmon Seaver make it more difficult to effectively oppose Bush43 and Asscruft (*) because their supporters need only point to the idiots to discredit all of the opposition. (*) I'm the one who came up with that nickname, so you can assume that my opinion of him is not favorable. SRF -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: eJazeera?
On Monday 11 November 2002 15:38, Major Variola (ret) wrote: 3) stream via standardised protocol using (camouflaged) 8 3db omni stick antenna. Do this in AP mode. Camoflaging this in the obvious place we note that our metallicized underwear provides a nice ground plane reflector, adding a db or two. Hey, that's a _good_ idea! And we can get side shielding by sticking the antenna between a fat guy's ass cheeks. The Fedz might notice that he's always keeping his butt pointed in one direction, but maybe that's normal at these events. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: What email encryption is actually in use?
On Sunday 03 November 2002 12:53, Len Sassaman wrote: On Sat, 2 Nov 2002, Tim May wrote: PK crypto has made a lot of things a lot easier, but expecting it all to work with a click of a button is naive. Of course, most of us don't actually have secrets which make protocols and efforts justifiable. There's the rub. I expect it to work with the click of a button. ... crypto applications *must* be as easy to use as AOL. Sacrificing the level of security provided is a reasonable option. ... Agreed. Setup should be pretty simple, but daily use for the unwashed masses has to be one-click. And version compatibility problems have _got_ to disappear. Actually, PGP's Outlook plug-in comes pretty close to this. It has just two usability shortcomings that I can think of right now: it needs an option to remember the passphrase (yah, it's a security hole, but not as big a one as not using encryption at all); the identification and fetching of other users' keys needs to be simpler (1); and the compatibility problems have _got_ to disappear. Yes, I know I'm repeating myself on that last bit, but it's the biggest show-stopper of the bunch. The receiving side needs to be completely painless. Again, optionally remember the passphrase and optionally automatically decrypt and verify signatures. KMail is pretty good, at least with signatures: it shows a stripe down the side indicating a GPG/PGP message and it checks the signature if the signer is in my keyring. I want copious use of crypto partly out of a slight regard for the interests of the average user but mostly as cover for anything I might want to do. And partly to make harder the lives of the kind of bastards who'd go into a career of looking at other people's mail. 1: I don't have any workable ideas on how to find the right person's key in the face of changing email addresses. But the selection of the particular key from those available for a given person needs to be automated; having to drill down through several levels and then choosing from several possible keys is too confusing and too much work even if it's not confusing. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: What email encryption is actually in use?
On Saturday 02 November 2002 12:09, Adam Shostack wrote: An interesting tidbit in the September Information Security Bulletin is the claim from MessageLabs that only .005% of the mail they saw in 2002 is encrypted, up from .003% in 2000. ... Last month, about 5% of my email was sent PGP encrypted, about 2% STARTTLS encrypted, and about 25% SSH encrypted to people on the same mail server, where POP and IMAP only function via SSH. I'd be interested to hear how often email content is protected by any form of crypto, including IPsec, Starttls, ssh delivery, or PGP or SMIME. There's probably an interesting paper in going out and looking at this. Well, here's a datum for you: in the past four or five months, I have sent exactly no encrypted email. There are several reasons, notably that most of my email correspondents are business types who can't handle encryption even after several lessons and checklists and even when the tools are integrated into the MUA. Prior to that, the encrypted email I've sent in the past year or so has almost always failed, because of version incompatibilities, human error, changes of email address, and what-not. Or because the recipient simply isn't bothering to decrypt mail any more because it's more trouble than it's worth for the low quality of information conveyed. The only business environment I've ever worked in which successfully used encrypted email mandated specific versions of mail client (Outlook, ecch) and PGP (integrated into Outlook), had a jackbooted thug to make sure everyone's keyring was up to date, and had a fairly small (couple dozen), mostly technically proficient, user base. And even there, half the time the encrypted message wasn't sensitive enough to be worth encrypting nor important enough to be worth decrypting. I have signed a few messages in the recent past, but that was probably even less worthwhile than encrypting them. For all I know, not a single one has been verified. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: A non-political issue
On Tuesday 29 October 2002 19:34, Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer wrote: What technology is available to create a 2048-bit RSA key pair so that: 2 - no one knows the secret part, 3 - The secret part is kept in the box and it is safe as long as the box is physically secured (expense of securing the box is a don't care). 8 - the key must never be destroyed, so backup is essential. 2 and 8 seem to be contradictory. Unless you just back up on the box, as Tim mentioned. That's not much of a backup. If you're treating this box as an unrepairable black box, you'd just throw it away and use a new one if it broke. That would technically meet these requirements, but it would require sending out the public keys occasionally and it would make it possible for Fred to fraudulently sign a message and claim it came from one of the replacement boxes. If there were a single, eternal signing box he wouldn't be able to get away with that. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: For everything else, there's MasterCard.
On Wednesday 16 October 2002 15:41, Thoenen, Peter Mr. EPS wrote: (re hunting people) If anything, this is more wasteful and degrading as you are not eating the meat... Speak for yourself. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Durden lies, was: Echelon-like resources...
On Friday 11 October 2002 14:13, Trei, Peter wrote: If anonymous were a person of character... Oxymoron, eh? Pseudonymity has many socially acceptable features. Anonymity has all of the practical benefits of pseudonymity and no additional advantages in a conversational forum such as cpunks. Anonymous persons (or dumbassbots; it's hard to tell sometimes) who snipe from behind the veil may be assumed to be cowardly jackasses. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: why bother signing?
On Saturday 05 October 2002 07:34, Ben Laurie wrote: Ben Laurie wrote: On Fri, Oct 04, 2002 at 01:07:50PM -0700, Major Variola (ret) wrote: But Ben is not spoofed here! He is now. Cheers, Ben. I will confirm this as a (detectable) spoof :-) Cheers, Ben. Ah, but how do we know that that wasn't the spoofer confirming his own spoof? (That's not an entirely joking question. Not enough headers make it through the mailing list and my ISP for me to tell the difference b between the two Ben Laurie messages cited above.) -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: What good are smartcard readers for PCs
On Friday 27 September 2002 18:53, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Besides, its computers we have to ban, then the internet problem goes away too, see... No, that won't do it. People could still spread their dissentious ideas by telephone, and photocopy the intellectual property of content providers. We need to ban electricity, then the problem goes away... -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
LNE Cypherpunks archive
List members, Thanks to the good offices of Len Sassaman, you can access the list archives which I maintain at http://archives.abditum.com/ (Yes, I have the technical ability to obtain a domain name of my own. No, I do not have the financial ability; I'm a decent programmer but the worst businessman you'll ever meet. Hey, anyone want to hire a consulting programmer you can easily rip off? grimace) SRF -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Cypherpunks inet-one archieve not updating.
On Wednesday 11 September 2002 15:44, Gary Jeffers wrote: My fellow Cypherpunks, I said down . More precisely not updating since Sunday. The LNE cpunks archive which I host is still up and still updated. http://208.171.236.113/cypherpunks/ -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: U.S. Military Uses the Force
On Thursday 22 August 2002 14:26, Mike Rosing wrote: On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, Major Variola (ret) wrote: The specific heat of Cu is blah heat of vaporization is blah and the ... And, where does the momentum of blah grams x blah-thousand m/sec go? According to the article it leaves dents. So instead of a focused blast puncturing a hole, it gets splayed out all over the place. Also, just out of curiousity, what are the health effects of finely dispersed Cu oxide ? Does anyone make liners out of DU? Yummy. Steven denBeste (the captain of U.S.S. Clueless) discussed anti-tank weapons and anti-anti-tank defenses at http://denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/08/MoreontheT-72.shtml . The HEAT discussion applies to RPGs. It doesn't answer all of Major Variola's questions, but gives a conceptual overview without the math. Note: Although denBeste generally writes good essays on the technical subjects he covers, he's been known to make omissions and errors. As with everything on the net, read with a grain of salt. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Freedom of association denied in Ventura Cty
On Thursday 01 August 2002 15:46, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Dress Code Keeps 9 Hells Angels Out of Fair in Ventura Security: The new policy is enforced after biker club members refuse to remove vests marked with group's insignia. Their leader says he will sue. Is it just me, or does I'll see you in court lack the impact of I'll make your bitch squeal? -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: sources on steganography
Hector Rosario wrote: Why would I be interested in fool[ing] [you]. All I asked was for some ^ ^^ ^ help with sources. If you cannot be of help, at least don't be a ^ ^ ^ hindrance. Besides, don't claim to speak for others. If envy is what ^^ ^ drives you, then I suggest that you work on that. ^ ^ ^^ -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: When encryption is also authentication...
and judges have neglected to ask for my input. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Missing pieces?
Mister Heex wrote: What are the fundamental building blocks that we're missing for a bright 'n' shiny crypto-future? Cluefull users. Politicians who aren't trying to grab power. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Missing pieces?
Mike Rosing wrote: Speaking of power grabs, I just sent a 4 page letter to my senator on the Judiciary committee on S.2048 - the bill to make A/D converters test for copyright notice. We can't stop power grabs, but we can at least educate clueless politicians. Probably won't change anything, but at least we can try! My senators are Clinton and Schumer. Makes me damn proud to be an American, I tell you. Neither's office has responded to any of my letters, probably because I didn't include money with my missives. I guess there's no point to further letters to my senators, unless I can get my hands on some anthrax. (Note to hypothetical snoop: that was a joke. Get a life, idiot girl.) -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Testing..
Bill O'Hanlon wrote: Sorry for the intrusion. No problem --- I was just waxing my bikini line. (This disgusting mental image courtesy of the Janet Reno Full Frontal Nudity Collection.) (That disgusting mental image courtesy of me.) -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Bad guys vs. Good guys
Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer wrote: I used a VISA debit card to buy a $25,000 Ford Explorer. You mentioned this for the fourth time this month. It would be refreshing if you could name some other merchandise next time, maybe some non-redneck items ? Not redneck. A redneck would buy a pickup truck, a gun rack, and about six extra rims, for lawn decoration. Half of my relatives are rednecks, so I know these things. An Explorer is more a soccer mom purchase. If you want to bust on Tim, try to aim a little more accurately. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: college roomates a national in/security threat
Major Variola (ret) forwarded: The issue arose in October when Bush directed the government to prohibit certain international students from receiving education and training in sensitive areas involving the development and use of weapons of mass destruction. The most horrific technology of mass destruction is in the school of education. I'd think the US government would encourage students from hostile nations to study it here, then export our system of public schooling back home. In a generation the hostile nations would be no threat to us. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel Vote Idiotarian --- it's easier than thinking
Re: Bad guys vs. Good guys
Daniel J. Boone wrote: Don't forget, they arrested the guy who bought a truckload of candy at Costco just before Halloween If you're talking about the New Jersey man, he was (a) not Arabic (b) not a terrorist and (c) a candy wholesaler. He just wanted to turn a profit by making little kiddies fat. I suppose the backers of the current fatty food tax would like to let him rot, but the FBI didn't see a case. I never did hear if they let him out or if he is still rotting in preventive detention Cavity preventive dentition, perhaps. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
Re: Bad guys vs. Good guys
Tim May wrote: On Tuesday, April 30, 2002, at 12:55 PM, Michael Motyka wrote: His credit card usage sometimes flips the stolen card bit But you make a good point, that the net to snare bad guys is snaring vastly more ordinary people. And most of the sheeple _like_ it. They'd rather be safe than free. For every complaint I've heard about having to reassure the bank that the card wasn't stolen, I've heard a couple dozen praises for the wonderful safe system that takes care of its members. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
Re: Odp: Cypherpunks Europe
Jan Dobrucki wrote: World, this is the USA, USA, this is The World. Now that you know each other, start thinking in a more broad perspective, please. Blow me. /s/ An Ugly American -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. -- George Bernard Shaw
