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Cypherpunks-resources FAQ for alt.cypherpunks
I am under the assumption that alt.cypherpunks or
alt.privacy.cypherpunks or some such will come into existence shortly.
With that in mind, I have decided to create a FAQ of pointers to
resources on cypherpunk issues. The goal is to help eliminate the
"What is PGP?" and other newbie-questions that are bound to come up
even more frequently in a newsgroup scenario.
A FAQ such as this has probably long been appropriate, but it didn't
really occur to me until just now. Not being a cryptologist or
adequate coder, this is one way I feel I can contribute. It's hard to
have discussions when people haven't even looked at the background
information before piping in. I don't pretend that a FAQ can prevent
this, but it's worth a shot anyway.
I started typing away about two hours ago and came up with the
following. It's pretty shaky since it's late and it's Mardi Gras.
Feel free to comment in public or private. Please, Please, Please
make suggestions and provide relevant pointers. Obviously, I will be
doing a lot of research over the next few weeks to fill in this very
bare outline.
If you disagree with this or feel its useless... fine. Please tell me
and explain all your reasons why. Besides, I'm doing it regardless.
Here's what I'm chewing on so far....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cypherpunks Resources FAQ
version 0.000000001
This document lists resources for readers interested in Cypherpunk
issues and goals.
The primary intention of this document is to get new readers to the
group to explore the background issues which cypherpunks attempt to
address. It also includes pointers to many common cryptographic
implementations and tools. Furthermore, pointers and instructions for
various mailreaders are provided to help users filter out some of
Usenet's inevitable noise and glean the most useful information they
can from this newsgroup.
This FAQ does not attempt to explictly define who the Cypherpunks are
or answer questions about the philosophy. That is an exercise for the
reader who utilizes the pointers within to find the answers on their
own. After exploring these resources, the hope is that the reader
will become a more effective and insightful contributor to
alt.cypherpunks -- even if he/she is opposed to the goals of the
group.
This FAQ is propagated monthly to alt.cypherpunks. It can also be
obtained be sending email with the subject and/or body "get cpunks
faq" to [email protected]. When information in the FAQ is updated, I
will also post a "what's new" message for those who are interested in
reading additions/corrections without wading throught the entire FAQ
again.
-------*********------- Author's Note/Disclaimer ---------*********---------
I maintain this FAQ solely on a voluntary basis. I am doing this
because I think it is necessary.
It would be contrary to the anarchic nature of the Cypherpunks to
attempt to call this an official FAQ of the Cypherpunks group. Anyone
who disagrees with the editing decisions and pointer selections I have
made in this FAQ is free to.
What this means is that you are encouraged to send comments,
suggestions, corrections, new questions, and answers to me. I may or
may not include them in future revisions of the FAQ. I do ask that
somewhere in the subject of your mail redarding this FAQ you include
the text "(CFAQ suggest)", so procmail can file such comments
appropriately and I can address them in a more efficient manner. If I
use your suggestion or answer to a question, I will attribute the
reference to you unless you request that I do not.
You are free to create your own Cypherpunks-resources FAQ if you don't
like mine.
- Scott
_______________________________________________________________
Omegaman <mailto:[email protected]>
PGP Key fingerprint = 6D 31 C3 00 77 8C D1 C2
59 0A 01 E3 AF 81 94 63
Send e-mail with "get key" in the "Subject:"
field to get a copy of my public key
_______________________________________________________________
-------*********--------*********---------********--------*********------
Premliminary Outline
Section 1 Introduction and General Information?
Q1.1 Does this newsgroup have a charter (No but, Tim's "official" charter.
Eric's note at end of original toad.com welcome message)
Q1.2 How did the group get started? (Need a brief history of group as
well as any pointers to early history information and posts, also
include pointer to early wired article)
Q1.3 What do Cypherpunks want? (May's Cyphernomicon, CSUA Berkely
site, Others?)
Q1.4 What happened to the toad.com mailing list? Are there archives?
(Brief explanation, quote Gilmore's message? point to the usual
archives? Note: check and note if arhive site still prevents IE
usage)
Q1.5 Are there other groups besides Cypherpunks who share these goals.
(point to Epic, EFF, etc sites which all have good archival
information on political crypto causes even if many cpunks have strong
disagreement with some of these groups. also point to
[email protected] and coderpunks lists)
Q1.6 What have the cypherpunks done to advance their goals other that
merely talk about them?(Pointers to anon remailers, Linux-IPSEC
project, Mykotronx scandal--really need a good pointer here, more.
Mention of course that many who call themselves cypherpunks are
professionals in the computer security field.)
Q1.7 Im interested, what can I do? Pointers to current projects, i
distributed DES crack
Q1.8 Quick n' Dirty Glossary: ie. GAK, TLA, etc.
Section 2 Crypto in Action
Q2.1 Pointers galore to PGP resources.
Q2.2 Point to Schneir's site and include biblio info on Applied Crypto
Q2.2 Point to cryptlib toolkits
Q2.3 RSA, of course.
Q2.4 pointers to disk encryption utilities for various platforms
Q2.5 pointers to Raph's remailer site and other remailer info sites.
remailer software. software to make remailer usage simpler
(premail, PIdaho)
Q2.6 pointers to the various digital cash purveyors and to
explanations of how Chaumian digital cash works.
Q2.7 pointers to Apache-SSL site and info, Stronghold,
Q2.8 SSH
Q2.9 Pointers to sites describing how various types of crypto actually
work
Q3.0 But how do I know if it's good crypto? Point to snake Oil FAQ?
Schneir's essay. Use your brain.
Section 3 Crypto and the Law
Q3.1 Froomkin's site obviously.. John Young's also obvious. EFF has a
good archive too. Karn case, others.
Q3.2 Pointers to government's current position on crypto. ie. EAR, ITAR
Q3.3 Pointers past Clipper failure info.
Section 4 Who's who & (recent) History of Crypto.
Q4.1 A couple of good general history sites exist. also Codebreakers
bibliographical reference.
Q4.2 Enigma is a common question, point to relevant sites.
Q4.3 Whit Diffie--some interviews etc are available
Q4.4 Bruce Schneir same
Q4.5 Phil Z and PGP history and interviews.
Q4.6 Jim Bizdos
Q4.8 Dorothy Denning (go to include the enemy too)
Q4.7 Pointers to news on breaks of ciphers
Q4.8 NSA site.
(Others? I'm getting sleepy, names escaping me at the moment)
Question 5 Help! I want to know more but I'm drowning in noise
Q5.1 Point to filtered lists in existence
Q5.2 news2mail gateways as source of list. mail filtering tools come
into good use. point to a bunch of them.
Q5.3 Point to kill-file info for various newsreaders and platforms.
Possibly include generic examples from own experience and list user's
experience who wish to contribute. Specific names will be ommitted of
course. Also score information for those interested
Q5.4 point to information on other utilities and verification-type schemes
_______________________________________________________________
Omegaman <mailto:[email protected]>
PGP Key fingerprint = 6D 31 C3 00 77 8C D1 C2
59 0A 01 E3 AF 81 94 63
Send e-mail with "get key" in the "Subject:"
field to get a copy of my public key
_______________________________________________________________