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WaJo reports today on IBM's tiny pocket computer that transmits data through the body -- to another body or to a device such as a telephone. Invented by Tom Zimmerman, formerly of the Media Lab, it can tell "anything you touch who you are." Being shown at Comdex. The body as a token. How to crack a human? Grab and squeeze out a pass phrase. ----- http://jya.com/pocket.txt POC_ket
At 11:42 AM -0500 11/18/96, John Young wrote: >WaJo reports today on IBM's tiny pocket computer that >transmits data through the body -- to another body or to >a device such as a telephone. Invented by Tom Zimmerman, >formerly of the Media Lab, it can tell "anything you touch >who you are." Being shown at Comdex. Brings new meaning to "Reach out and touch someone." To make some crypto points, I watched the H-P/Intel/Microsoft CFT press conference...the Intel guy, Ron Smith, was someone I worked with several times in the 1980s. One of the very troubling concerns is the blithe acceptance by all commentators I saw on how natural it is that "policy cards" would be based on whatever governments decided was OK. No libertarian or anarchist views were heard. It was just sort of tacitly accepted that if, for example, Saudi Arabia wanted to ensure that women could not use the new system, an appropriate policy card would be denied to women, and that card vendors would set the gender bit appropriately. (This was not an example used, but it of course is a reasonable example of what Muslim countries will do....not to start a flame war, these comments, but just to point out that many or even most uses of "policy cards" will be for uses we in the West consider unacceptable.) I'm also very concerned that ubiquitous use of CFT means a shift to "machine-centric" key models. Instead of being able to have ephemeral public keys for various uses, the model assumes basically a simple machine-to-machine communications model. "Throwaway keys" are not likely. Now the issue is going to be to what extent the CFT technology displaces other models, or even whether non-policy card models are restricted or banned. --Tim May "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- jya@pipeline.com (John Young) writes: > > WaJo reports today on IBM's tiny pocket computer that > transmits data through the body -- to another body or to > a device such as a telephone. Invented by Tom Zimmerman, > formerly of the Media Lab, it can tell "anything you touch > who you are." Being shown at Comdex. > > The body as a token. How to crack a human? Grab and > squeeze out a pass phrase. this particular paragraph certainly brought some ideas to my head: Among other uses, Mr. Zimmerman says his setup could create a "personal area network" over one's body to link the various electronic devices a person carries. For instance, it could allow a pager attached to one's belt to transmit a phone number it receives to a cellular phone carried in a pocket. The researcher even imagines a version of the small computers that could be built into shoes, with the electricity to power them being generated by a person's steps. talk about an opportunity for sniffing data off someone or just pouring your data own into their 'personal network'. this is the 'denial of existence' attack - the computer cannot talk to you - you don't exist... - -pjf - -- "Those that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin (1773) finger for PGP key zifi runs LINUX 2.1.9 -=-=-=WEB=-=-=-> http://zifi.genetics.utah.edu -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAwUBMpEVLU3Qo/lG0AH5AQF91QP7Bq++q50LIvJ75f5MKPuifHgdO9OKZ7Kz tYRo7YupZrTvhuCF/FO3UBf8l2QJuEPaBXvy8QSGXU/iEi/arBsNQ3o7jZnUKr5V KAaWNM5qaFc596T3acTHu7ESi6/SYt3/8utdjcSl/a4MhrvVlxqYtQCzkGI3r3W2 IGo8ah5MVmw= =CMX6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----