- cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Re: How long does it take to design and release a chip?
by coderman 13 Dec '13

13 Dec '13

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 5:17 PM, coderman <coderman(a)gmail.com> wrote: > ... if Intel were to decide to include RDRAW in next > CPU line design, how long would it be to retail channels? >3yrs? using Sandy Bridge as a reference: 4 years design to demo, 1-2 years demo to available. design began 2005 demo'd in 2009 shipping in 2011

1 0

Re: [cryptography] Which encryption chips are compromised?
by Andy Isaacson 13 Dec '13

13 Dec '13

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 08:04:00AM -0800, Steve Weis wrote: > On Dec 12, 2013 6:08 AM, "coderman" <coderman(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > i see your skepticism, and i raise you a retort! ;) > > > > i even have a list of candidates you can experiment with to confirm > > Intel Ivy Bridge as best fit. [0] > > I think this is a weak guess. In reply to Declan tweeting about this discussion (shame on you, Declan, if you're reading this and trying to take the discussion to the public), Kevin Poulsen points out https://twitter.com/kpoulsen/status/411226939547222016 that the Times' comment on this redaction appears to imply that the redacted text names two chips: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/05/us/documents-reveal-nsa-campa… Large Internet companies use dedicated hardware to scramble traffic before it is sent. In 2013, the agency planned to be able to decode traffic that was encoded by one of these two encryption chips, either by working with the manufacturers of the chips to insert back doors or by exploiting a security flaw in the chips' design. > The document is talking about FY2013. IVB already shipped in 2012. I'd > guess it was fabricated for testing in 2009-2010 and designed for a few > years prior. > > What enablement would be "complete" in 2013 for something that has been on > the market a year and is already being phased out? VPN gear lasts in the field for 2-5 years post roll-out. Design wins into large provider's hardware will often see the same chip being manufactured for 2-5 years after it ceases being available at retail. (ark.intel.com has an "embedded option available?" field to denote the chips they support this for.) "Complete Enablement" is jargon with a specific meaning. I'm not certain I understand it, but I *think* it means "we have plaintext access on any targeted session". I don't think it means "we can get plaintext for an arbitrary previously recorded session" and I don't think it means "we automatically get plaintext for every session we can hear". Suppose a NSA chip backdoor receives its triggering command by a specific sequence of TCP retransmits (dropped packets) and after being triggered, leaks the key by varying the timing or ordering of outbound packets. By my reading, this would count as "complete enablement" even though a session which was not triggered would not be eavesdroppable. To specifically respond to your point, "Complete enablement" is also time dependent. Productionizing a timing side channel attack could result in complete enablement only for new flows and would still be complete even though there was no enablement before the attack was available. > By 2013, Intel had already started shipping Haswell. They did launch new > IVB E5v2 Xeon server processors this fall, but future CPUs will be Haswell > and Broadwell. > > Intel already has the next, next generation Skylake with SGX fabricated for > testing. > > I still think the document is talking about a dedicated crypto chip for VPN > and SSL acceleration devices, just like it says. Especially taking the NYT commentary into account, I'm even more convinced you're right. "Intel and AMD" is about the right length... -andy

2 2

Fwd: [liberationtech] PrivateSky Takedown
by coderman 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Yosem Companys <companys(a)stanford.edu> Date: Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 9:07 AM Subject: [liberationtech] PrivateSky Takedown Certivox Asked That We Share Their Side of the Story on the PrivateSky Takedown. YC http://www.certivox.com/blog/bid/359788/The-real-story-on-the-PrivateSky-ta… The real story on the PrivateSky takedown. Posted by Brian Spector on Thu, Dec 12, 2013 With the story about our PrivateSky takedown now public, I want to take the opportunity to clarify a few points in various articles that have appeared since yesterday covering the story. Some headlines strongly infer our friends at GCHQ "forced" us to take PrivateSky down. That's not the case. Secondly, a very important point wasn't printed. GCHQ couldn't, by law, request a blanket back door on the system. There are a very rigid set of controls that mean only specific individuals can come under surveillance. The legal request for such surveillance has a due process that must be stridently followed. At no time did I or anyone at CertiVox talk about CertiVox in relation to any RIPA warrant, only the generic process by which these warrants are served. By saying "our friends at GCHQ", there is no facetiousness intended. The team at CertiVox have the upmost respect for the folks we interacted with at GCHQ. They took the due process I outlined in the previous point very seriously. We found that as an organisation, and every individual involved there, were as worried about a breach of public trust as much as we are. Finally, I believe very strongly the following should be a larger part of the public discourse of these subjects. What everyone needs to understand is that every developed democracy in the world, even where privacy rights are enshrined to the maximum efficacy by statute, has laws on the books that mandate that Internet Service Providers have facilities to work with law enforcement for the purposes of legal intercept, to enforce public safety and security. Being L.I. capable is a very important set features and functions that must be in place for any credible, commercial service on the Internet. In endeavouring to make PrivateSky as secure as possible, we overlooked this critical requirement when we built PrivateSky. When CertiVox positioned PrivateSky as the easiest to use and most secure encrypted messaging service, we really had two significant points of differentiation. First, even though we held the root encryption keys to the system, it was architected in such as way that it would have been all but impossible for our internal staff to snoop on our customer's communications, or for the service to leak any of our customer¹s data. Secondly, our possession of the root keys, and our use of identity based encryption, made the system incredibly easy to use. For the user, there were no private or public keys to manage, every workflow was handled for the user in an easy to grasp pure HTML5 interface, no hardware or software required, just an HTML5 browser. We boxed ourselves into a feature set and market position that when called upon to comply with legal statues, we simply had no alternative but to shut the service down. We built it, but we couldn't host it. Why? Because as you can probably surmise, there is an inherent impedance mismatch between being able to host a commercial communications service that gives the upmost in privacy to its users, against any breach, whilst at the same time being able to operate safely within the confines of the law as it is on the books in most countries on the planet. In summary, it's the abuse of the communications interception in the Snowden revelations that has everyone up in arms, as so it should. But that¹s not what happened with PrivateSky. What is our next move? Watch this space. -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys(a)stanford.edu.

1 0

Re: [cryptography] Which encryption chips are compromised?
by coderman 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 8:04 AM, Steve Weis <steveweis(a)gmail.com> wrote: > ... > The document is talking about FY2013. IVB already shipped in 2012. I'd > guess it was fabricated for testing in 2009-2010 and designed for a few > years prior. > > What enablement would be "complete" in 2013 for something that has been on > the market a year and is already being phased out? the bulk of 2012 was consume user hardware. the endpoint is a totally solved problem (read: trivial to exploit in many ways, all day, every day, per the docs) only server Ivy Bridge: Xeon E3 in mid-2012. the cores pushed in the SDN initiatives above came out not so many months ago... high capacity crypto aggregation points like this are an ideal target, with backdoor keying of VPN/SSL the ideal (passive) attack with their view of target's long haul fiber. > By 2013, Intel had already started shipping Haswell. They did launch new IVB > E5v2 Xeon server processors this fall, but future CPUs will be Haswell and > Broadwell. > > Intel already has the next, next generation Skylake with SGX fabricated for > testing. but not released, and "enabling" means tied into X-KEYSCORE, TRAFFICTHIEF, whatever else gets draped off UPSTREAM... > I still think the document is talking about a dedicated crypto chip for VPN > and SSL acceleration devices, just like it says. the backdoors for all the other vendor hardware happened in years prior. HSMs and crypto accelerator gear is not exactly a vibrant or competitive market. in fact, these companies never seem to die, just carry on with decent margins riding on incremental design upgrades until they're bought out by a larger/growing competitor. ;) of course, this could be because companies like Sun charge $9,999 for an HSM/accelerator that is at best a reasonable cost at $1,499...

1 1

Re: [cryptography] Which encryption chips are compromised?
by John Young 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

Please stop this suicidal, treacherous discussion. You're undermining the global industry of weak crypto and comsec. That counts as economic terrorism in all the countries who abide arms control, export control, copyright, capitalism, heirarchical rule, suppression of dissent, lawful spying, breaking and entering black jobs, ubiquitous spying on each other and everybody else, in particular what NRO terms "unobservable and unknown phenomena," and a lot of other secret stuff which can only be revealed by low-ranked knobheads sure to be burned at the stake by their cowardly protectors for the irresistable allure of IPO millions based on government contracts to keep this shit among us. Got that? This is a place to share fudging how it should work, and does now and then. You think this is bullshit, dontcha? Well, it aint. Why look at the rising use of Tor, PFS, TLS, those rat-infested private keyservers and millions of eaters of Symantec back-doored dookie-pie. You seen any US producers of comsec go under yet? No, and you wont, for they are locked into surefire global success when failure is built into their products. Screwing customers and citizens with faulty comsec, what's wrong with that, where you been, that's patriotic, and damn profitable. Sure, call for outraged dissent, fine, great, if that moves the ponzi, balloons those bitcoins. At 09:08 AM 12/12/2013, coderman wrote: >i see your skepticism, and i raise you a retort! ;) > >also, this year by end of year, in 2013 you expect to: >- Make gains in enabling decryption and Computer Network Exploitation >(CNE) access to fourth generation/Long Term Evolution (4GL/LTE) >networks by inserting vulnerabilities. >- Complete enabling for [well recognized name] encryption chips used >in Virtual Private Network and Web encryption devices. >and last but not least, >- Shape the worldwide commercial cryptography marketplace to make it >more tractable to advanced cryptanalytic capabilities being developed >by NSA/CSS. > >Ok, given those requirements. Who fits the bill?

2 1

Re: [cryptography] Which encryption chips are compromised?
by Andy Isaacson 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 06:28:31PM -0800, Steve Weis wrote: > On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 6:00 PM, coderman <coderman(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > unredacted: > > https://peertech.org/dist/nsa-cpp-goals-FY2013-unredact.png > > > > "Intel Ivy Bridge" > > Is this a guess because "Intel Ivy Bridge" fits into the redacted space or > is there some other evidence? I believe it's just a guess based on fit. > Ivy Bridge processors are general purpose x86 CPUs. It doesn't make sense > to me to refer to it as an "encryption chip" for "web encryption devices". > Do you know of products using IVB processors for SSL offloading or in VPN > appliances? Suppose I'm the manager writing this document, reporting the expected accomplishments of my group. We do cryptanalysis. If we're projecting success against FooBarCo chips' encryption sub-core, and everybody knows FooBarCo chips are used in both encryption and non-encryption products, it makes sense to cite the specific applications where FooBarCo chips are used. So "for FooBarCo chips used in VPN and SSL" makes sense, even if FooBarCo chips are not *solely* VPN and SSL. However, in "for FooBarCo encryption chips used in VPN", the "encryption" seems to me to denote a special purpose chip, rather than a general purpose chip with an encryption sub-core. I've seen worse manglings of language in similar documents, though, so I would not put it past said middle manager to write "for Intel Ivy Bridge encryption chips used in VPN and SSL", even though that's a bit of word salad to anyone who knows the technology. > To me, the redacted document sounds like it's referring to a security > processor used for SSL offloading. For example, something like a Cavium > Nitrox (which I'm not implying is the subject of the document). "Cavium Networks" or "Cavium Nitrox" are approximately the right length to fit. Other vendors that might be interesting include F5, Barracuda, Riverbed, Cisco SCA 11000, Radware (an Israeli/American company), and everybody listed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSL_Acceleration The document looks like Word and appears to be fully justified; anyone with that software want to match the fonts and try out various substitutions to see what fits best? Note that http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/784159/sigintenabling-clean-1.pdf seems to have been digitally processed and redacted; the font baselines are perfectly aligned, to the sub-pixel antialiasing limit; while http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/784280/sigint-enabling-project.pdf appears to have gone out to paper and then been scanned in on a non-flatbed scanner; there is significant vertical slew across the line of text in question. Since the source document appears to be the same for both, an enterprising DTP jockey could use -clean-1.pdf to tune the document settings precisely, and then use -project.pdf to search for better unredaction matches. -andy

2 3

IndependenceKey?
by Matej Kovacic 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

Hi, just a quick question - anyone familiar with this: http://www.independencekey.com/ or with the Swiss company Quantec, whis developed this product? Regards, M.

1 0

Re: [tor-talk] Tor 0.2.4.19 is released
by coderman 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 9:47 PM, Roger Dingledine <arma(a)mit.edu> wrote: > The Tor 0.2.4 release series is dedicated to the memory of Aaron Swartz > (1986-2013). Aaron worked on diverse projects including helping to guide > Creative Commons, playing a key role in stopping SOPA/PIPA, bringing > transparency to the U.S. government's PACER documents, and contributing > design and development for Tor and Tor2Web. Aaron was one of the latest > martyrs in our collective fight for civil liberties and human rights, > and his death is all the more painful because he was one of us. thank you for this! aaronsw++

1 0

Tradeoffs in Cyber Security
by Juan Garofalo 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

http://geer.tinho.net/geer.uncc.9x13.txt "The essential character of a free society is this: That which is not forbidden is permitted." That's a useless tautology. The essential character of a free society is unconditional respect for life liberty and property of people, worldwide, PLUS a libertarian culture. "The essential character of an unfree society is the inverse, that which is not permitted is forbidden." That's the inverse of the previous, virtually meaningless tautology. "The U.S. began as a free society without question;" That's a glaringly false statement. The US began as a **slave society** and remained a **slave society** until a crazy **civil war** ended slavery well into the 19th century, though that was **not** the main goal of the civil war anyway. Today the US is the biggest fascist country on the planet (fascism = militarism, nationalism, collusion of big business and government). I'm wondering if Dan's technical views on so called cybersecurity are as idiosyncratic as his political theory?

2 1

catalog A & B (urls)
by brian carroll 12 Dec '13

12 Dec '13

// contact electrification using patterned nanomaterials... // note: the gap, equilbrium via chargeflow, as if via entropy. // discovery originating from malfunctioning piezo-sensor... Capturing wasted electricity with triboelectric generators http://phys.org/news/2013-12-capturing-electricity-triboelectric.html [quote] "Beyond generating power, the technology could also provide a new type of self-powered sensor, allowing detection of vibrations, motion, water leaks, explosions – or even rain falling." ... "They have learned to increase the {power output density by a factor of 100,000} by applying micron-scale patterns to the polymer sheets. The patterning effectively increases the contact area and thereby increases the effectiveness of the charge transfer." [unquote] (the idea of energy harvesting includes recovering energy from everyday kinetics, cars driving on roads, people walking on surfaces. ubiquitous potential energy, how to gain access or tap into latent energy sources everywhere. this perhaps a viable approach to engage the ubiquity if it is ever actually realized and retains its economics; also- still not understanding how this is related or not to electrostatics, is it comparable to an electrostatic generator or electrostatic sensor that registers strain via charge movement, perhaps at momentary high voltage like a static shock though cannot be sustained thus about trickle charges, supercaps, those circuits, perhaps zigbee-like self-sustaining sensor network infrastructures. would it have potential for clothing to harvest small amounts of kinetic movement and like charging a cellphone slowly, use longer durations of time to harvest, attain, store usable current, in normal applications) Why Transit Riders Give Terrible Directions http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/transit-riders-dont-know-where-shit-is "Is cognitive passivity during travel wearing on city travelers' abilities to create mental maps?" // 16 segment LED display + persistence of vision, // now imagine this as a ring platform for comms. // else IR messaging to video via drone in night sky AlphaPOV: An alphanumeric persistence of vision display http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2007/alphapov-an-alphanumeric-persistence-o… [image] NSA as Ceiling Cat http://i.imgur.com/HwJSaSY.jpg [image] diagram http://www.via.com.tw/en/images/initiatives/padlock/fig_aes.gif What kind of sorcery illusion lets these two blocks be the same color? http://sploid.gizmodo.com/what-kind-of-sorcery-illusion-lets-these-two-bloc… == NSA question == how to validate this is the real cypherpunks mailing list and not an emulation on an NSA server? is there any kind of technical protocol that allows this to be evalauted. is everyone seeing the same content. or if a mimic-site, what if the substitute functions as the real list, etc. in other words: could a person's entire online experience be mediated through a false perspective WWW universe constructed by forged sites maintained by the NSA... and further, is it even possible to be outside control of the NSA within an electromagnetic context, if targeted. this involving not only telecom, also nervous system. --- CF (collider function): Harmony in Chaos http://www.minted.com/design-rating/90358 http://www.mnartists.org/work.do?rid=342303 Geek Chic Computer Jewelry // now what if it was functional... High-tech Jewelry made from Computer & Electronic Components http://www.pinterest.com/chipsetc/geek-chic-computer-jewelry/ == note on crypto == wondering if a distinction could be made in the realm of cryptology as with other disciplines whereby there is an existing functionality and then an edge condition of developing ideas where intuitions may be pursued, tested, learned from. i see people in various disciplines working on 'ideas' as part of their work, whereas the same tasks can be pursued in purely functional, managerial terms likewise, perhaps involving an existing mode of operation versus evaluating various parameters or potential paradigms. in some sense then, as with art, there are artists who have skills and can develop their work within a given set of parameters, and others who may be more abstract and involved in this abstraction at the level of ideas, questioning of existing presumptions. i relate this condition and pursuit to 'conceptual art', rightly and-or wrongly, having only an intuitive understanding of what it involves versus art historical accounts of what it means and how it is identified. then, so too with music. there are some who perform and develop music within traditional or known parameters, and others who test or question the limits though also in a deep realm of ideas. and this tends towards 'conceptual music' in my sensibility, because more is involved than what may be discerned from the aesthetics and it may take more to understand it as it may operate in different parameters than what is already known, and may need evaluation within a different sensibility to access what it involves, which may center on grounding of ideas or conceptions beyond a given interpretation, model, or limit in standard approaches. this then relating also to the rich realm of conceptual architecture, typology seemingly having a unique role in this (ex. architects Boullée and Ledoux from the enlightenment era when studying ruins and the discipline of archaeology began, if remembering correctly, moving into another realm perhaps tending towards the surreal compared to existing approaches)... Boullée http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Louis_Boull%C3%A9e https://www.google.com/search?q=Boull%C3%A9e&client=firefox-a&hs=KOV&rls=or… Ledoux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Nicolas_Ledoux https://www.google.com/search?q=ledoux+architect&client=firefox-a&rls=org.m… (note: relation of Cenotaph for Newton and nuclear reactor, containing fission of sun inside building type, significance for evaluating landscape, environment, meaning, symbolism) it is as if 'ideas' and their contemplation was more readily at the center of questioning, the basis for what is developed, less so than unquestioned conventions repeated as patterns. and this continued as a major approach, including Le Corbusier and others, within certain parameters, though a 'high conceptualization' can be involved in an activity that in the griops of other practitioners is merely a functional question that has already proscribed solutions that can be uniquely or methodically rearranged though perhaps not fundamentally questioned. so in some sense the fundamentals or basis or foundational and its basics are secured and relied upon or brought into question and further tested, experimented with, refined, or moved beyond perhaps in particular circumstances as a model or approach. this conceptualization continued into the 1960s (such as Archigram) into the 1980s though its purpose seemed to be made profane, focused on the image as a basis for abstraction, and the deeper questions of architecture ignored for a shallow aesthetic approach that can be hollow or ungrounded from 'reality' in some significant sense, detached from issues and people and of a realm of CAD design, as if architecture is only industrial design, creating pleasing objects or sculpture devoid of economic, social, political, cultural issues it involves, its deep meaning and insight, and instead, developing blindness. this is more anti-architecture, the concept is not about ideas but about extending an ideology of a particular warped value system, and so the image is like an illusion of what actual architecture is, in its greater purpose and mission. not trivial, not just manufacturing buildings or 'culture' as if a fashion item to be copied, reproduced as a trend or style, yet that is what it has devolved to in tersm of its 'ideas', in many or most cases- if just on its detachment from understanding nature itself and people and serving these interests instead of designing building as part of a political-economic flow that aestheticizes an existing and harmful way of life, yet makes it as enticing as possible. (in this way the excellent observation of such 'architecture' as pornographic forms, as introduced by Dr. Elisabeth von Samsonow in The Plasticity of the Real video lecture.) i tend to consider this earlier intersection between archeology and architecture vital for understanding both disciplines in their interrelated depth, bridging past and future, and asking questions again in a different context than just a present mode of operation. thus to question and learn from ruins or evaluate a situation in a larger context than it may otherwise have due to convention. and it appears a lot is lost to narrowed conception of processes and existing functioning that may limit potentials for insight and innovation beyond the existing boundaries, again due to convention if not conforming to rules or patterns or models that may already work in the given constraints or parameters- though these too also change and transform over time, yet the 'ideas' attached to them do not, and often approaches can become fixed ideas or conceptions, as if the world does not change becomes a routine is continued the same, even while everything is shifting underneath yet may be unrecognized in a given approach or even denied, to retain a way of doing things and thinking, beliefs, etc. so, a potential exists and perhaps it is like basic research of architecture or a given discipline, where it may not be ready to be applied or may question fundamental assumptions and this is purposeful and can be extraordinarily beneficial if it cracks open the malmodeling that may become standardized as approach, and allow other development to occur by falsifying given notions or providing alternative paths or techniques. and yet also, infrastructure can exist that forbids this from occurring, that limits any such conceptions, or confines questioning to what amounts to only small tweaks in the functional circuitry because it is a situation that is nearly completely controlled and there is little room within for fundamental changes and an entire system would need to be rebuilt from scratch to replace what exists, otherwise. and there are dreamers who do this, and architects who focus on utopia. or modeling of cities. Frank Lloyd Wright (FLlW) had his vision for the development of the US which was based on a different approach to city planning, democratizing it via planning principles if not mistaken, though part of this was developing a low-cost affordable home (if not made of concrete), the USonian home, a unit or component in the larger integrated plan of massive development. Le Corbusier had skyscrapers and green spaces as part of the Ville Radieuse (my memory is gone though approximating a general sketch of approaches) and both these efforts were based on social goals, what architecture and master planning can effect via focused development. and Arcosanti by Paolo Soleri is yet another example, building a prototype community with new building techniques as part of a larger vision that is potentially counterpoint to the existing approach, and that there is a tradition of this questioning of existing development patterns and yet it is also fraught with issues in the realm of ideas as relativism bounds such inquiry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usonia http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%20Pages/PhRtUsonAuto.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ville_Radieuse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcosanti for accuracy it should be noted that this innovation in thinking has basically evaporated from the practice of architecture, it is completely without support as a research endeavor in the given model of education and development, as if the technical approach + aesthetic fashion is the peak sum of its content as fixed-idea, though it is more a purification of given ideology intimately tied to existing warped economic, social, political agendas evidenced as "culture" that is antihuman, against nature, against thought, essentially anti-architecture as it exists. so the conceptual potential of architecture, the critical questioning of assumptions can be lost or drown out by other priorities or values, superseded by a particular view or agenda that in turn limits what can be pursued in that domain, as it becomes normalized, made a shared worlview, institutionalized. yet likewise, detached from fundamentals edited or censored out of existence given the tyranny of convention or otherwise, e.g. deceptive motivations. and so at the edge of development, there could be little blood occurring because there is no real-stake involved at this leading or front position. it could be somewhat mundane or basic or commonplace, detached from significance or risk, and more about continuing to extend a particular approach than testing, questioning, learning and pivoting into other unknown or newly discovered realms via discovery, innovation, invention, failure even and falsfication of beliefs and approaches. defeat of ideology. instead- there are no ideas, potentially. just the same old beliefs repeated ad naseum yet without questioning them again and again, thus to assume their rightness or correctness through their repetition, no more integrity than that. thus mediocrity as a type of security even, doing what has been done as a validation process or confirmation of value, matching a pattern as pattern and not its truth it must represent. and thus the detachment, the moving away from what is vital, developing in the wrong ways and directions towards a false viewpoint and framework, if not at odds with what is needed. and this all occurs automatically- especially in peoples minds and thinking, psychologies and relations, as individuals and groups then combine into organizations, continuing such efforts. conceptual architecture is then about ideas. thinking through architecture, architecture as a model, a medium for ideas. for communication and relation. the importance of language in all the above examples, and its fundamental relation to geometry (art, music, architecture). and this fundamental consideration also involving a kind of philosophical approach to the questioning, in terms of research, the basics, fundamentals, foundation of disciplines and beliefs, techniques approaches actions, methodology. questioning, debate, discussion, the role of basic research in development, its application over time via refinement, testing of hypotheses and improvement of models and approaches. it is not just engineering alone. and it also involves a larger domain than just a detail, so while research into concrete may always be ongoing, that concrete sidewalk technology around for thousands of years since Roman times, the heated sidewalk or improved wear or illumination or concrete via other additives to the mixture is not in itself a larger modeling of the depth and breadth of the question of architecture beyond that narrowed realm- though can be incorporated into it as a vital detail, and so definitely is related, though a part of a larger research enterprise, a larger more encompassing and ecosystem view, where each detail has its value and importance and insight, yet in the realm of ideas, 'big ideas' need to occur to frame the big situations, and to limit these to finite or specific details then bounds what can occur. it is equivalent to saying we can build skyscrapers to look like furniture and if that is all it involves, a vast many other potential realms of questioning or consideration can be lost in the process as it is defined and conceived, in terms of what is and is not considered, put on the table in terms of questioning. for most the skyscraper itself as a building type has become a default solution, so too the high rise city as a defacto approach to eco/soc/pol development, yet it is fraught with vast many problems and creates and solidifies certain patterns that are ineffective, inefficient, though believed the correct way because that is the standard, the way things are done today and how wealth or success has been generated. it is an engine, in other words, that provides momentum to many industries and questioning it as foundation could even be heretical. and thus if questioning is removed, everything works just like a machine. yet a machinery that is functioning against life, the earth, people, economics, society, and other dimensions if a true accounting were to take place beyond the controlled viewpoint that secures this approach. conceptual architecture potentially could delve into these areas, yet without support or even vital influence upon these processes, either for being unrealistic or uneconomical or without existing capacity, technology, or other limitations that restrict alternatives from developing. again- the lack of research and its replacement by a default 'ideology' the indicator that the process is determined by an existing agenda that does not want to be fundamentally questioned in its rightness, correctness as method, practice, income-generating structuring. and yet an amazing discipline such as architecture can then lose its soul, its essence, its insight and become shallow, ungrounded from reality, and force disconnection through its development which then is no longer actual or real architecture and instead something else, a substitute process that stands-in for it as mimic, yet operating within different principles that confine questioning to a narrow range of consideration that basically destroys it, the ideas turning to answered questions, architecture turned against itself, becoming only a question of engineering, the art of construction being about decorative buildings instead. though no deep insight into the human condition beyond an archaeological condition where these forms can be evaluated, analyzed, as they map to social, political, economic issues, versus serving people as part of a heightened moral and ethical obligation, service to culture and its development, not turning away from it for money or just another career, etc. and thus 'the ideas' of architecture are nowhere to be found within the field as it exists today, they are instead censored out of it by default of the existing securing of ideology within institutions as this then is the basis for further development within constrained parameters of "design" that has more in common with the particularities of fashion than wide-ranging investigation into questions and understanding and development of culture in its highest manifestation, to include the role of technology and its coherent and innovative integration within built form, which instead becomes a manufacturers and industry consideration: "smart homes", etc. this versus master planning of civilization across all of its dimensions in a cohesive clear vision. this as context for cryptography, in that there may be a standard approach via public-key or other security systems in place that have become normalized, made routine as processes and that assumptions may readily exist as 'solutions' that remain bounded in given considerations while there could be more going on beyond the existing framework or limits of these same systems in practice, when evaluated in terms of basic research, tweaked or tested or broken, and this appears part of a vital process of improving and securing cryptographic systems even. that a basic RD&D process exists already, though to still question- within what parameters and is it possible that the existing modeling is based on fundamental assumptions that could in some way be limited or narrowed and a larger inquiry is restricted because of these beliefs that become 'assumed truths' via their restricted boundaries, as if knowns or certainties due to history or precedent yet these not brought back into questioning again (reinterpreting of previous models, as if archeological ruins even, where new insights may still be available or other approaches discovered through their reevaluation and testing of assumptions). it is to question if there may be a distinction made between cryptography that is operational and active, that exists as an infrastructure and working system (however rube-goldberg the issues of implementation, chaos of variability as it connects with secured/insecure modes), and what may be a more research-oriented approach, not just into mathematical approaches to cryptographic modules, and instead potentially further into the most basic realm of crypto questioning, perhaps at the level of signs & symbols (language) and how operations function (geometry) instead of an algorithm that is operational as software approach or methodology, within a given or existing set of parameters or assumptions that may be relied upon yet also may be limited or even false in certain instances or deny other approaches from occurring. in other words, it is to wonder if there is a realm of 'conceptual cryptology' that may already exist and yet not be defined or understood this way, or 'conceptual cryptography' in a more particular realm whereby these core questions of cryptographic models could be pursued in their depth- or does the existing institutionalization of these "ideas" restrict these inquiries due to a forced perspective of ideology, a particular value system that relates to economic, social, political pressures that retain a given approach for the good of institutional control or manufacturing or to keep validating the static conception, even as it may deteriorate within its 'ideas' made static, assumed true by their repetition and continual access, matching the sign equals sign as confirmation of correctness, versus grounding in this greater depth of inquiry and realm of potential and perpetual insight, when going back to the source and evaluating the situation with fresh eyes and minds, in the dimensions that exist, which could be far more than is modeled or believed or allowed in existing approaches or functioning. as with archaeology and architecture, it is to question if cryptography may have a unique in situ condition at this intersection of language and geometry, that currently may exist outside its conceptualization in terms of practice, as crypto is developed systematically, as it is made into infrastructure via technology, manufacturing, and extension of these. and here, of the danger of ideology, answered questions that move towards further falsity, as if unconscious, when questioning of 'ideas' becomes detached from action and through further development becomes ever more disconnected from a fundamental condition of truth than in service to it. and what if this integrity, securing this foundation of cryptography in truth is requirement for security, yet given existing parameters could be ignored in its philosophical dimensions that predate, inform, and give life to the discipline, yet may not be valued or identified or related to this way, as it becomes institutionalized or supported, made into systematic development. is there such an entity as 'conceptual cryptography' and where does it begin and end. how might it be different than a primarily engineering based approach or evalaution or crypto. to what extent is it supported and operational as inquiry, yet what parameters or domain does it occupy, including in past times and efforts that map out this relation, its core questioning. could it today function in non-crypto domains yet influence crypto development, etc. and thus questions of the universality and connectedness of patterns, their permutations and relations, potential interdisciplinary relevance as language and geometry across mediums. (if not involving inquiries and in-depth research at the junction and structural intersection of linguistics and mathematics, and a wider-range of potential communication strategies.) --- [image] album cover http://rbhsjukebox.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/mannlost.jpg [image] Nelson Mandela & EM aesthetics http://24.media.tumblr.com/45424eb2509739cc87f0120b8e91af89/tumblr_mxctqtfi… == re: Amazon LCD tablet == i grew up studying those giant shopping catalogs for Sears and JC Penneys stores that had inventories of everything in stores and that could be mail ordered. they were seemingly hundreds of pages thick, consumer bibles of specific national retailer chains in the U.S. and for those without encyclopedia, did offer an interesting look into the development of digital watches as they took over analog, calculators, early computing, electronic and video games, and then 'electrics' spanning tools to housewares, various large and small appliances. when the Amazon Kindle lineup went from e-ink only into a mixed-category of LCD screens it seems to blur the distinction in purpose between the e-reader devices and more ordinary tablets that compete with others, in particular ecosystem-based devices from Apple. my initial thought was that there were two different categories occupying a single name of "Kindle" and that they were functionally very different devices with different purposes. while it is understood that 'tablets' are a category unto themselves and need no further justification for existence in an online retail or software/app model, it struck me as strange that there was not something more conceptual going on with the Amazon HD Fire devices, beyond ordinary tablet functionality, at least from what reviews mention about it in terms of user experience and how it streamlines access to Amazon services through the tablet UI. one thought has stuck with me about the potential for this tablet-Amazon ecosystem relation and it is that this device now competes with others in a general 'multimedia' tablet category, yet its real and potential advantage in terms of apps or whatever is its unique connection to Amazon inventory, which spans multimedia in an intranet sort of way, perhaps as if portal. from here, at this location, in this particular and unique context of relation between those who access Amazon through such a tablet interface, it would appear the killer functionality of such an LCD tablet would be to provide 'catalog-like functionality' in the style of earlier paper-based approaches, such as the Sears Catalog and others, though perhaps beyond just existing approaches determined by web interfaces and into a higher degree of functionality, such that the tablet actually is the Amazon Catalog in electronic format, in particular- mail-order format whereby, say, ala Whole Earth Catalog or Hammacher Schlemmer, you could potentially order anything that Amazon lines up into its supply-chain, even if for a one-time sale, via such a massively connected inventory and integrated yet distributed delivery system. This probably sounds very bad to some peoples ears in terms of the impact or effects this could have if suddenly Amazon is bidding on installing pools in the neighborhood, though perhaps it would be bounded to certain things like European appliances that are imported or other high-rated, quality based interactions vetted by a review-system recovered from the troubles of existing feedback environments internet-wide. curated merchandize, then, that is presented in deep categories of content, with additional information (requiring dimensions of items from manufacturers, etc) and matrix-based searching functions (using grids and geometry to search instead of only keywords) that then are the basis for a _new_design of the Amazon interface that standardizes the interface and user experience with the available inventory, instead of relying on existing web technologies to define parameters for what can occur in these interactions, including variable results. What this is to question is why the Amazon Fire LCD tablet is competing in a multimedia category as if just another tablet when instead it could be 'the Amazon Catalog' instead and while able to deliver movies, music, book content, that ultimately a programmatic hierarchy could exist that this is a platform for interfacing with and accessing Amazon inventory firstly, before that secondary utility, which allows delivery of online data (movies, movies) though also, and primarily it is assumed: offline 'content' in terms of sales from its warehouses and third party suppliers, and thus is the basis for creating, sustaining, and developing this huge momentum in sales, or having it operate in more conventional terms, competing as another tablet in a highly competitive space, and perhaps not having this catalog-functionality as its core mission to the extent that this is how the tablet is designed, its fundamental purpose and advanced functionality, versus just an extension of existing web technology approaches that leverage an excellent e-commerce experience though remain heavily defined by what is a very low-resolution 'catalog' of its inventory, when instead there could be more extensive information about each item, so that people do not need to research missing facts or data repeatedly and instead it could be presented as advanced specs (dimensions, materials, warnings; contains lead, requires widget Z), that combined with expert reviews or more in-depth analysis could transform the experience into a research-based activity where all of the necessary data is in the Amazon Catalog, perhaps not the web version, but the tablet catalog version that acts like an encyclopedia attached to extended or other content or dimensions. For instance, if a product attaches to a table, yet no information is provided for how this connection takes place or how deep or thick the table must be, the same item could be ordered and then returned if it does not fit a particular table. And if this information is not provided for in the reviews, then orders and returns are the 'feedback process' that is in effect a negative interaction as a total exchange, inefficient, and time-wasting for everyone when instead that additional information which could be known to be critical (no less by the product manufacturer) could be provided as _missing detail in the current approach, in many cases, with sales across the online retailer landscape. It could require several google searches of discussion forums or downloading PDF manuals to get this information if it exists or a call to the manufacturer, all that stands in the way between simply evaluating the item and then deciding it will work and clicking through the sale. Instead this short-circuit of necessary or missing information could require dozens of clicks and several searches of discussion groups looking for answers or clues to what may become a mystery by default. Consider then the condition whereby there is lack of basic information in this entire process, encountered with online retailers and e-commerce in general, not just Amazon of course. It is assumed when product data went online, that perhaps nothing new was expected of the items in the way they were modeled as 'data' in terms of their sale. Yet for instance this same product was in a store in yesteryear, it could be touched, evaluated as a 3-dimensional item, and if it attached to a table the mechanism to do this could be evaluated or a box could be opened by a worker to help evaluate the device to see if it actually would fit a particular table or not - prior to sale. And here is point: the information is available for the person in the store, though when it is sold online this information may be non-existent online even though it is a very basic consideration for its practical and successful use in basic scenarios and everyday conditions. It is unexceptional to ask such questions in an offline context, yet when this same questioning occurs in a remote 'catalog-context' or 'online retailer' context often there is no one to ask or anyone who knows the answer, and it instead is a gamble. The way this is made to work is by offering free returns, and yet this also effects other prices and is a structural inefficiency if it could be solved and such returns unnecessary when they could instead be avoided, due to an issue such as 'missing information' that is important to the seller and the buyer, to know enough about the item at the center of such exchange. Thus, of various products sold online, consider if they had a more robust and in-depth data model that consisted of various "dimensions", and therefore if there were these attachment devices to tables, you could narrow a search for such items not just by the main category {tablet attachment}, and instead further by subset details, such as {clamp to 2-3/4 inches} when others only may only open to 1-1/4 inch and therefore would not fulfill the criteria. And so in modeling a particular item or device, as category, it could be modeled in various subset details that may already occur in areas like HDTV sets, to some limited extent (a bit too fuzzy whereby false positives are frequent as with many hierarchical approaches based on, it is assumed words versus geometric structures based on such functional details). In some sense it could be equivalent to a limited 'dimensional-search' via matrix, that in some cases may involve measurement (height-width-depth), color, form or shape, materials, and other specifics (calories, toxins, requirements). Then instead of searching from the general to the specific, looking for the needle, a person could start with the needle, knowing what they usually are looking for -though cannot find- and located it through geometry of such data. In this way, potentially the future of online catalogs in a tablet interface as it may streamline the process of interaction and exchange with this data ecosystem of media and other goods. (concepts: patterns, typologies, variable details, relational structures) (also, this strategy could be used for other search via structurally organized -if meta- data as a content or information search via categories, dimensions, graphs and grid. dimensions, 3- and N-value logic, set theory, AI interface and interactions. tending toward 'living queries' where, given parameters, search could continue or map/carto/survey realms, provide reconaissance, report back data structures, variables. this could be basis for custom data structure of PC, a model built up over many queries, spanning local-global structure, heuristic feedback, etc.) --- Scientists jump the "air gap" with hidden acoustic networks http://www.gizmag.com/malware-jump-air-gap/30056/ == urls via hh == (of lithophones and ringing stones... Stonehenge as xylophone) Researchers reveal Stonehenge stones hold incredible musical properties http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/researchers-reveal-… -- in article url, refrenced with audio sample & video... Stonehenge 'was a prehistoric centre for rock music': Stones sound like bells, drums, and gongs when played http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2515159/Why-Stonehenge-prehi… // electromechanical codebreaking machine 1938 A Codebreaker's Dream: The Bombe! (photo-essay) http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2013/11/a-codebreakers-dream-bombe.html#sAh… // archeology and the unlocking of remote time & communications... // to decipher rightly and wrongly, conundrums of political cryptology [review] The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/dec/05/what-was-greek-to-them/ "But then what? The sequel to the decipherment is little more than a final, self-evident coda to most of these stories. “Enigma” is broken, so the Allies win the war; hieroglyphs are decoded, so the culture of pharaonic Egypt is revealed to us. What this conceals, however, are all the further disputes and rivalries that regularly follow the successful cracking of the language or of the code. Just how correct was it? And, if it was, what does it tell us about the culture concerned, or the history of the period? Whose theories are now confirmed or disproved? These controversies can be just as exciting and bitter as those leading up to the decipherment, and probably more significant. But we rarely get to hear about them before the heroic tale ends." (note: on archaeology, often referred to as excavations of the past, centuries ago though this moves into decades ago, particularly with industrial archeology, or potentially even the near-present especially in terms of media, as this relates to crypto, hacking, cracking, exploits, etc. that is, discovering not stone tablets and instead electronic tablets with known or unknown security measures. as related to ingenious techniques for how to access the locked-in data without having it vanish, such as freezing chips or other surgical critical access methods; note: should also mention data archeology and data recovery belonging to this same context. in archaeology often trash sites are highly valued for the information they bring, proverbial 'trash to treasure' scenario. thus to consider old data, databases, or even receipts in this way, as with inventories in Linear B. and what actionable realms does that relate to within today's processes: corporate intelligence or whatever, to model a situation, exploit information, etc. ('exchange your electronics' for rebates or upgrades, and the hidden data could be gleaned and monetized, though perhaps someday another route to recovering rare elements instead of mining them, gold, silver, rare earth metals from old circuit boards. preexisting approaches within new EM context: archeology, geology/mining, crypto/spying, on and on, into today) the relevance of archeology does not stop here either. concepts and methods could be useful in computing, developing a new data structure to access information via layers or time-based evaluations, reconstructions, modeling, etc. then also the great tools, LADAR and others. just the issue of dust alone, reimagined in future of smart dust, traces of info everywhere, data fossilization, TSCM-like correlations. thus interdisciplinary structures, models and methods, knowledge, shared value. integrating perspective via n-dimensionality, unified frameworks, continuum of truth throughout shared cultural scaffolding via logical reasoning, maximized, optimized, tested and improved. thus what might archeology have to offer crypto/security and development of computing in the realm of paradigm, conceptualization, understanding, meaning, integrated modeling, measurement, organization of data, archive and records, inventory, digs, reconstructions, research, mapping & cartography, language, excavation) {educational fair-use of copyright, 2013} 452a, 392h, 902c

1 0