HIDE: embedded msgs in grphics & snd

[The Phantom <phantom@u.washington.edu>]

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Recently George Gleason and myself have exchanged email concerning the
embedding of messages into broadcast medium. We discussed options that
would confound the traffic analysis performed upon the host medium. We
came up with a few ideas that may be interesting to the list.
 
George pointed out what I pointed out earlier - sending the latest
Michael Jackson tune over the net might raise eyebrows as well as
copyright violations. Being from the 'grunge town' of Seattle, it was
discussed that perhaps it would be possible to send a copy of some
'unknown' band over the net without harm. In fact, perhaps this is a
good place to start: the underground music scene.
 
gg - "This week on Music By Wire, a new song by the Subversives,
recorded at Pretty Good Productions. . ."
 
This distribution channel has advantages over DAT -- no delay and the
possibility of a large audience if there was a steady flow of musical
traffic.
 
Next, discussion turned to the integration of modem carrier tones as
samples in music (rap). If this new twist caught on, the artist could
encode messages (in plaintext, or later ciphertext) into the song,
including the key on the record insert. What does this do for us? By
using ciphertext "... as an artistic product, ..[we] thereby gain
another layer of 1st Amendment protection." Free speech.
 
Lastly and perhaps most interesting: I suggested that by using one of
these garage bands, we might be able to distribute our own messages
on CD. By getting ahold of a local bands' master before they take it
to get a record pressed, we could digitize it ourselves, encode our
messages (the kama sutra, a message of goodwill, the songs' lyrics,
whatever the band wants, too!) into the LSBs and then give it back to
the band to press CDs (put the key on the front cover if you like).
The band could be told that not only were they certain to sell ~100
CDs (@ $12-$14 each = $1,300 -- no small sum for a garage band) just
to cypherpunk members, but they would also be "the first band in
history to digitally encode messages into their music... etc."
I don't think the ~100 CDs is an understatement, either. How many
cypherpunks do we have nowadays? I would be willing to shell over
$15 for a (basically) small-capacity encrypted CD ROM disk, even
though I personally don't have a player.
 
gg and myself are both rather interested in this last idea --
tweaking with a bands' CD before it gets pressed. Does it
sound promising to anyone else?
 
matt
 
 
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Matt Thomlinson
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Internet: phantom@u.washington.edu      	    phone: (206) 528-5732
PGP 2.2  key available via email or finger phantom@hardy.u.washington.edu