A panel of cryptography experts gathered at the Computer History Museum last night to remember 30 years of public key cryptography. The panel included Whitfield Diffie, PhD, Martin Hellman, PhD, Ray Ozzie, Dan Boneh, PhD, Brian Snow, Jim Bidzos.

A audio podcast of the event can be heard here.

Snow, former chief scientist of the NSA –

Snow … acknowledged that public needs public-key cryptography but the government may not have wanted the public to have it.

That’s a bit of an understatement! Just read the cypherpunk archives from the 1990’s. Look at the fight they put up against Phil Zimmerman and Pretty Good Privacy if you need an example.

Security researcher Chris Soghoian, in the tradition of may before him, has demonstrated the insecurity of the system by creating an web-based boarding pass generator (which is currently down). And in the tradition of may government ‘lets stick our heads in the sand’ goons before him Congressman Markey has called for his arrest.

Something that they do not understand is that the terrorists that we are fighting are not stupid. If a security researcher can figure out how to do this, so can they. How about this for a change — instead of tossing him in jail and censoring his research they ask him for some advice on how to fix their problem riddled system.

Let us not forget that one of the hallmarks of the old Soviet system was hiding its failings from public view. This did not make them any less fallible, just stupid.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Rep. Ron Paul (R) from Texas made this observation in his latest Texas Straight Talk column where he discusses the widespread view that tax cuts ‘cost’ the government money.

One tax in particular should be eliminated as soon as possible– the tax on Social Security benefits. Those benefits were never taxed between the 1930s and 1984. Treating them as taxable income represents nothing more than a trick to reduce Social Security benefits by stealth. I supported legislation that successfully repealed a 1993 tax increase on benefits, and my own bill, HR 180, would go further and eliminate all taxes on Social Security. Our seniors paid taxes throughout their working lives to fund the Social Security system, and it is immoral to tax them again on their benefits.

Rep. Paul is my kind of Republican. Actually he looks alot like a Libertarian. Maybe that’s because he is, I remember voting for him for President in 1988, back when I thought the Libertarians had a chance to win something. I’ve since come to realize, as has Rep. Paul, that change can better be effected from the inside. Like it or not we live in a 2 party system, so choosing a 3rd party is a waste of your vote. I regret the vote that I wasted on Ross Perot, helping to allow Pres. Clinton to be elected. But I have corrected my ways. Instead of whining about the system and its state of affairs, get involved in your local primary elections. That’s where the real difference can be made. Help the more conservative/libertarian candidates succeed and get into the general election.

But once you are at the general election you have a clear choice. Do you vote for the ‘best’ candidate, or do you vote for the one who has the best chance of winning and furthering at least some of your personal beliefs? I used to vote for the best, and that got us 8 years of the Clinton administration. These days the best way to protect your rights is to vote for the GOP. They’re not all perfect, but they’re a hell of alot better than the alternative. The following was sent to the WA-CCW mailing list by Dave Workman. It does a good job of summarizing what we are up against:

Well, all one has to do is imagine, just for a moment, Nancy Pelosi as House
Speaker.

John Conyers as chair of the House Judiciary committee.

Chuck Schumer as chair of Senate Judiciary

Dianne Feinstein as Senate Majority Leader

Hillary getting a launch for the 2008 presidential run, which some people
are already predicting she will win.

You think we had it tough under the “first” clinton regime? Just wait until
Hilly flies into the Oval office on her broom.

Kiss national CCW goodbye. Say hello to a new, improved AWB. Say hello to
one handgun a month nationwide. Say hello to “arsenal licenses” for anyone
with more than five guns and X-number of cartridges.

And more and more and more…..

Dave W.

Professor Williams has another clear lesson in economics and free trade in his October 18th column.

He explains trade deficits like this:

When I purchase $100 worth of groceries, my goods account (groceries) rises by $100, but my capital account (money) falls by $100. That means there’s really a balance in my trade account. By the same token, my grocer’s goods account (groceries) falls by $100 but his capital account (money) rises by $100, also a balance in his trade account.

Which makes sense. We buy goods, we get something for our money, and the producers are able to either produce more or invest the money in other things. And by buying the cheapest available goods I now have more money to buy more goods from more people. I don’t see the problem.

According to recently uncovered KGB documents the disingenuous Senator from Massachusetts attempted to conspire with the Soviet Union to undermine the reelection campaign of President Ronald Regan.

In his book, which came out this week, Kengor focuses on a KGB letter written at the height of the Cold War that shows that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered to assist Soviet leaders in formulating a public relations strategy to counter President Reagan’s foreign policy and to complicate his re-election efforts.

The letter, dated May 14, 1983, was sent from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, who was then General Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party.

In his letter, KGB head Viktor Chebrikov offered Andropov his interpretation of Kennedy’s offer. Former U.S. Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) had traveled to Moscow on behalf of Kennedy to seek out a partnership with Andropov and other Soviet officials, Kengor claims in his book.

Update: Michelle Malkin has updates on this over at Hot Air here and here.

From the Altavista Journal comes the latest in the fight againt cybercrime -

I am a local farmer; my wife teaches elementary school; our three children are well-adjusted, “A” students.

We go to church, work hard, and pay our bills and taxes.

We are law-abiding, responsible members of society; we have never had reason to fear the law.

On Saturday morning, Sept. 23, 2006, many police vehicles appeared in our driveway. Men in black with flak jackets ran to and around our house.

I was held at gunpoint, searched, taunted, and led into the house. I had no idea what this was about. I was scared beyond description. I feared there had been a murder and I was a suspect.

My wife and I were interrogated about Internet crime. We are not avid computer users; we do not even e-mail. We knew nothing of what they were speaking.

At 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 2, the chief investigator of Pittsylvania County returned our possessions and said that the wrong IP (computer) address had been identified. We would not be charged.

It appears that the local Sheriff made a mistake. I wonder if they cleaned up their mess after searching thus poor guy’s house? Did the issue him an official apology? Will they compensate him for the terror that he endured while under investigation for two weeks? Doubtful.

The 4th Amendment is pretty darn clear as to how the Government is to behave in this situation. Maybe they need a refresher course?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 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.

Previously I wrote about Germany arresting a mother for home schooling her children, now the German authorities are dragging children from their homes and forcing them into state run schools according to this WorldNetDaily article.

Homeschoolblogger also has an update on this and on the previous arrests.

Every good gun needs a name. Maybe I’ve been playing with my kids too much, but when I finished the changes to my PCR-99 AR-15 the phrase – “Simon Says Stop!” sprung to mind. Simon started out as a kit from M&A Parts back in 1999/2000 (I ordered it in December 1999 but because of the Y2K scare it wasn’t available until January). Originally it had an A2 upper on it. After visiting the Olympic Arms Phoenix Rising event and returning with a post-ban flattop upper it got more serious.

I added a Leupold scope, but after a bit of shooting with it decided that a scope on a 16″ was really overkill so I sold it for a Bushnell Holosight. That worked out really well, the Holosight works better than expected, I can smack the 200 yard 3′ gong at the range consistently with it.

Earlier this year I augmented it with a GG&G MAD BUIS (BackUpIronSight) just in case the Holosight batteries died at the wrong moment. Some more time passed and I decided it was time to get rid of the ugly post-ban compensator, its allen screws were continually coming loose and falling out anyway. So I yanked it off (using a slide hammer) and sent the upper off to AR15barrels for threading and a Phantom flash hider.

While waiting for USPS to deliver it back to me (their non-tracking system reveals why UPS and FedEx are so popular) I attended the Washington Arms Collectors show in Puyallup and picked up an ACE skeleton stock, A2 sized, for it. USPS showed up while I was at the show and I have everything re-assembled and ready to re-zero it this weekend. I’ll report back after putting a couple of hundred rounds of Lake City XM193 down range.

The fight to protect our rights is never over, every election is crucial to defending freedom, and this year’s is no exception. There are enough seats in question in the House and Senate that control could be thrown back into the hands of the gun-grabbers who brought us the 1994 ‘assault-weapon’ ban.

From the NRA-ILS Grassroots Alert:

None of these pro-gun victories would have been possible with Pelosi, Conyers and Slaughter in control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The message for gun owners and sportsmen is obvious. Elections matter, and votes count. We cannot take our past victories for granted; we must continue the fight. Pro-Second Amendment candidates can only win if NRA members lend their support to those who support our gun rights and hunting heritage.

Mail in ballots are arriving here in Washington and across the nation. Take some time to sit down and vote this weekend, get those ballots back in the mail before they are buried by your stack of junkmail. While you are making your decisions take a look at the Gun Owners of America 2006 Voters Guide and the NRA Candidate Grades, they tell the real story of how a candidate acts, not what they say on the campaign trail.

Here in Washington State we have an initiative on the ballot in the next election, I-933, which basically says that if the Government (you know, the guys that threaten you with guns and jails and fines and things) decides to restrict your use of your property that they ought to compensate you for it.

The Seattle Times is reporting that a whole bunch of ex-governors have banded together to help fight off I-933. I notice that they don’t mention Dino Rossi… Anyway, they think it will be the worst thing to happen to the state since … Here are a couple of choice quotes:

Evans said I-933 would cost taxpayers billions because, despite what supporters say, it wouldn’t allow governments to waive regulations instead of paying landowners.

No, Mr. Evans, you just don’t pass the regulation in the first place! It doesn’t cost you a dime if you’re not trampling all over their property.

Locke said cities that recently incorporated could be forced to pay landowners for city rules that are more restrictive than the county regulations they replaced.

Sounds like a good reason to pass I-933 to me! How would you like to be happily living in un-incorporated King County one day and the next find that you are now part of a city with higher property and sales taxes? And with no recourse! What are you going to do? Pick up your property and move a couple of miles east?

She added that the state Growth Management Act, the source of much of the rural frustration behind I-933, isn’t perfect but is too complex to change by voter initiative…

So if its so damn complicated how do our citizen legislators understand it? Or do they? And if they don’t then what business do they have passing laws that are ‘too complex’. Sounds to me like Queen Christine thinks she’s smarter than the average voter. And maybe she is, since she won by 126 votes (or thereabouts).

Michelle Malkin has a good roundup of articles about the murder of outspoken journalist and Putin critic Anna Politkovskaya. Events like this remind you of how things used to work in the Soviet Union. I don’t doubt that there are some that would like those days to return.