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Activist Times Inc. Issue 058
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. 58.
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Issue #58 April-3-1992
U.S. Mail:
ATI
PO Box 2501
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
U.S.A.
Our net address: gzero@tronsbox.xei.com
ATI's Insane Staff:
Ground Zero - publisher, editor, writer
Prime Anarchist - editor, writer
Media Assassin - crass columnist
Geraldo Riviera - sleazy news columnist
Writing/Research Staff: Happy Harry Hardon, Fah-Q, MAC???,
and other occasional contributors
Hi.. Welcome to ATI58! Sorry for the delay. We *were* adhering
to our monthly schedule in the last few issues, but alas... Well, we hope
to be back on schedule next month!
And a hearty welcome to the 10-12 new email subscribers we have.
We have lots of fun things in store for you, so.. on with the show!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LETTERS!!!$!#@
We want to hear from you! Send in letters, comments, suggestions,
and articles for submission. We will assume all correspondence is O.K. to
publish unless you indicate you do NOT want us to publish it. Identifying
information is NOT published unless you specifically ask us to print it.
Now that THAT'S out of the way....
Re: Letter #3, ATI57
We got a lot of mail saying that the formula that said that
"2=1" in the above issue was wrong, because there was a division by zero
error. Oops.. umm... well, I just printed it to see if YOU all were
paying attention, and you are! Heh.. (GZ)
LETTER #1:
Re: DES security, new crypto by Warp 9 from ATI57]
Warp 9 said:
> this before he/she/it messes with your encrypted data. Sure someone can use
> an unassembler to get a semi-clue from the .exe file, but what a pain in the
> ass for most situations. This is only for the mildly paranoid anyway.
Everyone together:
how many gazillion people can disassemble an exe file?
how many (if any) people can crack DES?
Take it from someone who's done the math - it's harder to crack DES than to
hack thru executables. *Much* harder.
In fact, the algorithm Warp 9 uses can be cracked without access to the exe
file. He's XOR-ing the two input files together. This is the Vigenere
cipher method which can be cracked without access to the key or the algorithm.
While you could twiddle the algorithm for an infinite number of variations,
the security of the system still relies on the inability of anyone to
disassemble the exe file. DES and RSA rely on computation complexity,
which is much stronger guarantee of security. For comparisons sake
Warp 9's system
at its strongest,
crackable by anyone
with a pc and a disassembler.
DES
crackable by anyone with a week of
supercomputer time, strong knowledge
of number theory, and 10^25 (or is it 35)
encoded texts
RSA
can be made arbitrarily complex (just
choose a larger pair of primes as keys).
Most secure system - prime factoring
problem guaranteed hard.
--Pat
LETTER #2:
Re: Warp 9's encryption program, ATI57
First of all, I don't know how many people know this, but there was a
bill that went before congress that (paraphrased) said "Anyone who develops
an encryptuion algorithm must leave a back door so the government can
decrypt it". Fortunately word of this filtered through to the right people
and they were able to raise enough of a stink to stop it. But for some
reason I have a feeling it will be back.....
Next, the DES that is often mentioned is the Data Encryption Standard
which is endorsed by the NSA (National Security Agency). No one outside of
the NSA really knows how and why it works, or if they do, I haven't heard
about it yet.... Some people suspect that there is a backdoor into the DES
that will allow the NSA to crack it. There have also been rumors that the
DES has been cracked, however I don't know of any that have been substantiated.
Now on to Public Key encryption. Public key encryption is a method
of encrypting data where each person has a "public key" and a "private key".
The public key is used to encode data and is published for everyone to look
at. To send someone an encrypted message you look up their public key and
use it in conjunction with a publicly known algorithm to encrypt the data.
The data is then sent to the person in this form. To decode it they use
their private key (which they keep secret!) to decode the message.
So why have I gone to all of the trouble to describe Public Key
encryption? Well, because recently the NSA was given the task of evaluating
various public key algorithms and choosing a standard for our government
to use. Now almost everyone expected the NSA to adopt the RSA method.
The security of the RSA method lies in the difficulty of factoring large
numbers. In general, the larger the number, the more difficult it is to
factor. So as you use larger numbers, RSA gets more secure. Anyway, to
get on with the story, when the NSA finally made their decision they chose
a different method (I forget the name at the moment, but I can look it up).
Most experts in the field of cryptology agree that this method is weak.
It is suspected that at the rate that technology is increasing that this
method can be broken on a desktop computer within a few years. So why
wasn't the RSA method chosen? Well, the NSA's argument was that it was
copyrighted whereas the other algorithm wasn't. This would save the
government quite a bit of money they say....
Now my next question gets into a discussion I've seen a lot.
Supposedly you can't get a copyright or patent on a mathematical
algorithm. So how did someone manage to copyright RSA? Well, probably
like they did LZW data compression. "It's a computer program, not an
algorithm". Well, I'll save my comments on that for later....
BTW, it's supposedly illegal to write a program to implement RSA
now without getting permission first, but I have seen them around. I
also have a sample Pascal program which I wrote for a class that implements
RSA on a small scale. To make it practical you would have to add routines
to do extended precision integer arithmetic. I also have a similar program
which implements RSA in REXX for VM systems.
Croaker
LETTER #3:
I've been wading through all of this nonsense down in the US (I am from
New Brunswick, Canada) and can't get over how screwed over you are getting
in terms of civil rights...
Mind you, paying 18% sales tax on everything you buy up here in
New Brunswick really makes you wonder..
Methinks a revolution is in order... hmmmmm
Keep up the good work!
(Thanks!!! -GZ)
LETTER #4:
Hi,
I am looking for nasty shows in the Detroit area.
I used to live in the area back in the middle 70's and
remember some real good stuff. There used to be a place out
on Jefferson Ave. (Ecorse?) called the Harbor Arts
Theater that always had at least masturbating strippers
with audience contact and occasionally would have live
fuck shows. I even saw a guy in the audience get sucked off
by some slut on stage. Great shows!
This is the type of thing I am looking for. Where are they
now?
I have heard about a place called the Atlantis Bar in
Lincoln Park but that is supposed to be only strippers.
Come on --- where is the live boink shows in Detroit?
(We don't know, but we sure hope you find it! -GZ)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Telephones, Phones, Fones, F0nez, Payphones and more Ph0nez!!!!!
By Deeply Shrouded & Quiet
One day, around 9 AM, I was walking and happened upon at ITT payfone.
The sticker was worn, and of course, the telephone number was missing.
Now, just about everyone knows that in New Jersey (where I live) the ANAC
is 958, when you can dial 958 and a computer voice will read you the
number you're calling from.
So I picked up the phone and dialed 958 pound sign.
A female synthesized voice told me to deposit $2.50.
$2.50? Yeah, ok, I'll just grab a few bucks from the money tree in my
yard.
So, I hung up, and was once again greeted by your friend and mine, the
dial tone. So I dialed 958 without the pound sign. After about a minute of
silence, our buddy the female synthesized voice comes back and says (this is
a direct quote now), "Took Too Long!!!" and proceeded to give me a pulsing
dial tone.
* * * * * * * * *
I called a number in New Hampshire and as the connection was being
made, I heard a series of clicks (!!!) then I got what sounded like an AC
hum. I thought that was weird, since norman phone current is DC except
for the ring voltage. And speaking of rings, I've never heard one like
this one. The ring sounded like a very fast moving relay.
The person I talked to told me that to reach another number in the same
exchange, you only had to dial the last four digits. Touch tone service was
unavailable. Wow, we got a step-by-step system here! This is looking to be
a phreaker's paradise...
A few days later, my phone rang. My friend from New Hampshire told me
that she was having problems with her modem. It kept telling her NO DIAL
TONE even though she could hear her dial tone through the modem speaker. The
step dial tone sounds more like a buzz than the dial tone most people are
used to.
* * * * * * * * *
I was down in Virginia a few years back on vacation. The house we
were in had a black rotary dial phone. For the hell of it, I picked it up
and dialed the number I was at. In most places, you'd get a busy signal.
Instead, I got: "You have dialed a party on your <sigh> line, please hang up
and wait for the ring." So I hung up, and it rang. I let it ring 3 or 4
times, and picked it up only to find a dead line. Weird.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, for an e-advertisement:
This is about
21st century politics:
The time has come when our inner world ought to be placed on
the political agenda as well, alongside such items as
pollution, debt, or external human rights. Because no matter
how many beaches are cleaned up, how many trees not felled,
how many people taught to read and write and how many eye
sights saved, UNLESS the psychological impact of government
and cultural policy is understood and acted upon all the rest
is merely superficial.
In other words, the underlying thought structures need to be
considered, those ideas and fears and desires which are part
of the human psyche and which are constantly being shaped by
experience and which also constantly shape our reactions to
the outside.
A suggestion therefore:
There are two books available from L.O.S. Newsletter P/L which
deal with the above. Topics from tax to education, from morals
to government, etc. etc. are being discussed, all the time
having the holistic, harmonious perspective in mind.
1. LOGIC AND ORDER IN SOCIETY (274pp)
2. MANIFESTO ON THE THIRD MILLENNIUM (57pp)
The contents will be provocative for some people, but their
nature will set the agenda for the next decades to come (their
contents have already been endorsed by the Club of Rome). It
is now that the groundwork for a positive solution to an
overcrowded, violent, and dynamic planet must be laid. And
time is running out.
To order, contact the publisher directly via -
1. E-mail: APC Networks peg:losway
InterNet losway@peg.apc.org
uunet!peg.apc.org!losway@uunet.UU.NET
2. phone/fax on +61 2 356 3606 -
3. or at PO Box 484, Potts Point NSW 2011, Australia.
Cost (includes airmail) for both: Australian$22.00.
Transmit funds to Westpac Banking Corp. A/c 732-032 60 8305,
Australia.
************
Our motto:
Be wise and have fun !!
****************
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Drug Forfeiture Laws: Your Civil Liberties AT STAKE!
===========================
= info following brought =
= on by a need for more =
= real information =) =
===========================
According to the Crime Bill of 1984 (yeah, Orwell only predicted WHEN it
would start, not when it would be going full-swing...) law enforcement
officials may seize the possessions of *suspected* drug users and drug
dealers, prior to charges being filed or convictions being rendered, on
little more evidence than probable cause. Now, this sounds a little too
noticeable to have gotten by, but remember this was 1984, and the country
was populated by people who re-elected Reagan and then elected Bush, so its
understandable how they snuck it through. Since the passing of the 1984
Crime Bill, civil forfeiture has been implemented for other crimes through
state statutes (including drunken driving, solicitation, using a
prostitute, pornography, etc.).
What this means is that on little to no evidence, any law enforcement
officer may stop you on the street, in an airport, or on the road; search
through your bags, suitcases, or vehicle; and then seize anything he wants
if he discovers something "suspicious." Suspicious things include: a
person dressed like a "hippy", or a black man, either one possessing
something fairly expensive or carrying a lot of cash; a black man driving a
sports car, a kind of car that is "frequently stolen"; having a bag or
money that a drug dog reacts to; etc. In other words, no evidence
whatsoever other than race and class being non-white and non-rich.
Getting your stuff back isn't easy, either. Since property seized is
"tainted by drugs", and due to the nature of the 1984 Crime Bill, the
property itself is charged with a crime (resulting in dockets like: U.S.
vs. 1.4 acres of land, U.S. vs. 667 bottles of wine, etc.). Since the
owner is not involved directly, one must go through civil court to retrieve
the property, during which you must prove that there is no connection
between your property and drugs. Your property is "guilty until proven
innocent." While technically this means that you are not harmed legally by
an arrest or conviction, you are harmed financially by the loss;
legislators and law enforcement officials conveniently ignore this. Also,
since this is civil court and no life or liberty is at stake, traditional
rules for criminal proceedings do not apply, meaning that jury trials can
be refused, illegal searches condoned, rules of evidence ignored. In
short, if you are willing to go to court to get your property back, its an
uphill battle all the way.
However, the police are happy to provide you with alternative methods for
getting your property or money back. Merely pay a "small" fee for
"assorted costs" (fees ranging from 10% to one-half of the seized property)
and agree not to sue, and you can have your property back right away.
In short, civil forfeiture is an extortion racket done by law enforcement
and assisted by legislators. Since no charges need be filed, innocence
means nothing; in fact, the DEA's own database lists 4 out of every 5
people who have been victims of civil forfeiture as completely innocent.
For more information, the Pittsburg Press in PA has done a 10 month
researched article series on civil forfeiture, and you can order your own
*free* copy of reprints of the articles by reading the text below and
calling the number:
>Just something I thought you'd like to know:
>
> The Pittsburg Press (in Pittsburg, PA) did an article series from August
> 11 to August 16th on a new set of "anti-drug" laws that are now and have
> been affecting innocent people more than the individual drug dealers (like
> nuking a crowd to get the drug dealer in the middle). They are called the
>"Forfeiture Laws", and they allow law enforcement officials to literally
>steal thousands of dollars in homes, property, and cash from anyone
>directly associated *OR* of _suspected association_ with drug use,
>possession, or distribution. This would seem to let the police get drug
>dealers even if they are not convicted, but the problem with them is that
>it gets everyone else who just happens to fit a vague profile of what a
>drug dealer/user looks like: usually a colored person (77% of people
>stopped and stolen from are colored), flashily dressed, known to have
>large amounts of cash on their person or vehicle (to buy drugs with, the
>reasoning goes), and "looks suspicious". Anything taken through "civil
>forfeiture" is property, and therefore not subject to the traditional
>protections of criminal court (i.e., the object is charged with being
>drug-tainted, not the owner), so jury trials can be refused, illegal
>searches condoned, rules of evidence ignored. The government can do
>whatever it wants to you, because all it has to do is make you a
>suspected drug dealer/user through its own rules, and you are then
>subject to punishment under civil forfeiture.
>
> You can call the Pittsburg Press direct, at (412) 263-1100, and order
>your own set of reprints. The first set of reprints is free (your own
>copy), additional copies to one person require a fee. The call may be
>long distance, but the Pittsburg Press is amazingly fast and helpful;
>your call will not go beyond 5 minutes in length. The reprints come in
>a NICE booklet form that could easily cost $5, but they print them up
>for free as a public service. Included are the actual articles, plus
>editorials, followup articles, editorial cartoons, and photographs of
>victims and various law enforcement and DEA figures.
Please look into this; its a matter of your civil liberties at stake!
The Tall One
* * * * * * * *
AMENDMENT IV TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION:
The right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not
be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
STILL think your rights are intact??? STILL think Conservatism will get
Government off your back??? STILL think it was a good thing to "pack" the
Supreme Court with people who believe in Forfeiture Laws??? This stuff
should have been overturned YEARS ago!
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
Random Ramblings From Ground Zero
How many of you out there own shortwave receivers? I just got a
digital one from DAK - a DAK MR-101.. You can hear things on the shortwave
that you'd never hear anywhere else. I'm just beginning to explore the
different stations that are out there. One I found is WWCR, 7.435 MHz. It
broadcasts Christian programming during most hours, but from 8-10 PM they
broadcast a show called For The People, which discusses a wide range of
subjects from an alternative viewpoint. From 10 PM - Midnight, a show
called Radio Free America is on. Both shows will expose you to a whole host
of things you'd never hear on the mainstream media. Also, both shows take
on-air phone calls, so you get to hear what America is REALLY thinking.. Do
listen to both shows, they're highly recommended. Also, on Sunday nights
from about 9 PM - Midnight, WWCR broadcasts a crew of crazy people who once
ran a pirate radio station off the coast of Long Island a few years back
(they were busted for it & received a fair amount of media attention). They
also discuss interesting things, including pirate radio.
Speaking of pirate radio, if anyone knows of any pirate stations,
please do let me know the frequency and a good time to listen in. Now
that I've got my shortwave, I'm dying to listen to my first pirate broadcast!
Well, the federal budget is being done.. and the way it's written
now, over 50% (!) is dedicated to "entitlement programs" (welfare, and
welfare-type programs). Whoever said that the gov't "isn't doing enough for
the 'poor'" should be smacked. No wonder taxes are so high. It's a WEALTH
TRANSFER, nothing more.
And if that's not all, the federal government mandates welfare-type
programs like Medicaid and literally FORCES the state governments to fund
them and have them in place. Recently, New Jersey has begun trying to change
its welfare system in making a new rule that says welfare payments will NOT
increase due to birth of children, thus removing the incentive for welfare
mothers to have more kids to get a bigger check. Well, New Jersey has to get
the federal government's permission before it can put this new rule in
effect! Also, the governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and California were
on an ABC news programming discussing this very same thing. These governors
complained that the state governments were going broke trying to fund these
federally mandated welfare-type programs.. In Connecticut, the state's single
biggest expenditure is Medicaid (which pays for medical care for people under
a certain income, including nursing home care), forcing it to adopt a state
income tax, much to the chagrin of Connecticut residents.
By the way, by 1997, the percentage of the federal budget devoted to
"entitlement programs" will be a whopping 65%!!!!!! I'm telling you, it's
way out of hand. This is not what our founding fathers intended.
When we try to throw money at problems by putting these insane
programs in place, we just make more problems.
Regarding the '92 presidential campaign: Clinton's a liar and a
cheat and an all-around bozo. Brown is a fake, phony and fraud for trying to
pass himself off as an "outsider" to mainstream American politics. He's an
insider all right.. And having Jessie Jackson as a running mate is a JOKE!
Jessie Jackson isn't fit for any public office. Plus, if by some weird
cosmic flip Brown is elected (in that case I'm moving to the North Pole),
some Black extremist just might assassinate him just so Jessie Jackson
becomes President. Bush is gutless and can't take a firm stand on any
issue. No new taxes? Hah.. he signed a tax increase. He won't sign a quote
bill? Hah.. he signed that same quota bill - the so-called Civil Rights Act
of 1991. If your state is up for a primary, vote for Buchanan as a protest
vote. It's the only chance of forcing Bush to take a solid position.
BUT- that's not who we endorse for President. We at ATI hearby
endorse Andre Marrou of the Libertarian Party for President. The Libertarian
party is the only one whose views are consistent with our stand on reducing
the size of government. More on that at a later date...
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Private C0deline
By Deeply Shrouded & Quiet
(To the tune of "Hotel California")
On a long empty loop line, no hackers around
Must have all gotten busted, when Sun Devil came to town
On the end of the loop line, a loud glug I did hear
A hacker just dialed in, said he was drinking some beer
Said he was smokin' a joint, just rolling a bone
Said he had himseld a VMB and c0deline of his own
Knew the tricks of the trade and knew just how to phreak
Made me wonder if he was just another War Games geek
Welcome to my own private c0deline
Codes all over the place, and they do not trace,
Codes all over the place
Many a phreaker calls my elite c0deline
When your codes do die, when they disappear,
Find some fresh ones here
He spoke of 950's and really elYte stuff
He told me all about how the feds were getting tough
The d00d was a whiz.. I guess he had the knack
He could program and social engineer
And he could really hack
So we called up a sex line
And 3-way'd Clifford Stoll
And told him what we thought of him
He really was appalled
As he slammed down the fone, all the hackers did laugh
Next we tried the President but got the Chief of Staff
Welcome to my own private c0deline
Codes all over the place, and they do not trace,
Codes all over the place
Many a phreaker calls my elite c0deline
When your codes do die, when they disappear,
Find some fresh ones here
Service for the taking
And phreakers abound
Many codes were hacked to hell
With this elYte d00d around
And on his private conference, we gathered for a treat
A freshly hacked out Unix, my god he can't be beat!
Last thing I expected was the root account for me
And he told us all to never try to be on talk shows on TV
Yeah, he taught us things about the hacking way
(He said)
Real hackers hack at night
While the feds are working days....
(Guitar solo & end of song)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
That's all for ATI58! Ciao!
ATI: Part of George Bush's thousand points of light.
