RSA SECRET ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM POSTED TO THE NET
The source code to the trade secret RC4 algorithm used by RSA Data Security in their encryption products showed up on USENET recently. Inevitable really, if you think about it. The folks at RSA, who hold key patents in public key encryption, are in a snit while hackers rejoice and the FBI nearly wets itself with excitement over the possibility of increased anti-hacker funding. Follow it all on sci.crypt in the thread "RC4 Algorithm revealed" and others with the words RC4 or RSADSI in them. The bulk of the discussion seems to be about whether the code was legally reconstructed or stolen, and what will happen to you if you use it. Several posters have already implemented improvements to the posted code to make it run faster and more efficiently.
PKZIP ENCRYPTION BROKEN USING KNOWN PLAINTEXT
As long as we're talking encryption, it seems that the encryption feature of PKZIP, the popular compression program, apparently can be broken using information about the contents of a file (not that hard to come by, actually). A good discussion of the issues and limitations of this method can be found on sci.crypt under the thread "PKZIP encryption 'contest' password recovered."
CONGRESS PASSES PHONE BUGGING BILL
On Friday the Senate, by "unanimous consent" and despite vigorous lobbying and expressions of loathing from private individuals aware of the legislation, passed a bill (S 2375) mandating that every phone exchange in the U.S. must contain a back door allowing law enforcment to bug traffic passing through that equipment. The house has passed a similar bill (HR 4922) just days earlier. President Clinton is expected to sign the law which places the power to regulate the implementation of this legislation in the hands of the FCC. A sad day for the privacy of U.S. citizens. Tune into alt.privacy or check out the following: "http://http.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Digital_Telephony/digtel94.bill" "ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Digital_Telephony/digtel94.bill"
CIX BLINKS; POSTPONES RESELLER CUTOFF AND DROPS PRICES
The board of directors of CIX, the trade association of Internet providers, blinked in the face of potential competition and decided to postpone until March 1 the cutoff for refusing routing to members who resell their feeds. At the same time, they voted to lower their entry fee from $10,000 to $6,000. Several alternative organizations have begun to form, primarily composed of disillusioned or dissatisfied CIX members, notably the Packet Clearing House in California, and Route 99 in Chicago. If these organizations live up to their intended goals of accountabiliyt to membership and low fees, they may quickly make CIX obsolete. Tune in to alt.internet.services to follow events.
WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES NOW OBTAINABLE BY E-MAIL
Those prolific folks at CERN have created yet another great World-Wide-Web service. Simply send an E-Mail message to "listproc@wwwo.cern.ch" and include the URL of the Web page you want in the body of the message. In the blink of a cybereye (or maybe in a matter of days, you never know anymore) the requested page will show up in your mailbox. This means anyone with just an E-Mail connection - like people on Prodigy, AOL, or CompuServe - can now read Web pages. The audience for WWW materials has just jumped by a few million.
NEW USENET GROUP DELIVERS GENERAL INTERNET ANNOUNCEMENTS
Gleason Sackman has been moderating the prolific net-happenings mailing list for some time now and in the process has provided his thousands of subscribers with a voluminous feed of announcements, press releases, and E-Zines revolving about the life of the Internet. The success of this list has led to the formation of comp.internet.net-happenings, a moderated news group which will now bring this material to the masses. It's an interesting place to keep an eye on if you want to feel the pulse of the Internet.
CAN YOUR WEB SERVER TOP 69+ ACCESSES PER MINUTE?
That's one million home page accesses for the JPL Comet Shoemaker-Levy machine in 10 days, and over 2 million in about three months. New images continue to be added to the spectacular comet collection already there. "http://newproducts.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/sl9.html"
THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND, HILLARY CLINTON, AND THE INTERNET
The history of the Internet is full of surprises. Consider the following nuggets we stumbled upon in our tireless netsurf marathon. In the 1970s, the Queen of England sent an E-Mail message on one of the early Internet precursor networks. While the address for President Bill Clinton is "president@whitehouse.gov", First Lady Hillary Clinton's address is "root@whitehouse.gov". Somehow, this doesn't surprise us. If you want more blinding historical insights, send E-Mail to "timeline@hobbes.mitre.com", and in return you'll receive a copy of Robert Zakon's "Hobbes' Internet Timeline". Robert developed it to teach his students, and it makes an educational and entertaining read. A table of Internet growth figures is also appended.
CORRECT ENGLISH SPREADING IN ALL DIRECTIONS
It's happening on alt.usage.english. There is much humor and some more serious discussion. Some sample threads and quotes: "Your Flight Will Depart Momentarily"; Definition (of) Political Correctness; "An Historical Occasion"; split infinitive; "heists" vs. "theyists"; and Possessive of Inanimate Nouns. It's fun to see the directions in which our language moves. Even more fun to prod it along paths it was never meant to travel. Check out "Thee and Thou."
ONLINE CULTURE COVERED IN ALT.CULTURE.USENET
This newsgroup covers much of what happens on Usenet, such as new Web pages, new E-Zines, and new newsgroups. Controversy often spills over here, as with the creation of the "Girlfriends" newsgroup and the Cantor and Siegel T-shirt episode. You'll also read the perennial "Death of the Internet" alarms and hear moans of dismay as freshmen arrive in September. More serious threads cover the NII (Information Superhighway to some) and new FAQ formats. Lurk here to keep your finger on the pulse of Usenet.
HIGH SIGNAL FORUM: RISKS DIGEST TELLS TALES OF COMPUTER MAYHEM
Odds are you've been a victim of the natural perversity of the computer, or more properly been exposed to the failures of those who design and operate them. If not yet, then it's just a matter of time, as contributors and readers of comp.risks will be happy to tell you. This newsgroup, moderated by Peter G. Neumann, is an absolute first-class example of a high signal, topic-specific discussion forum dedicated to exposing, dealing with, and avoiding risks associated with computers and technology. At times technical, at times scary, often amusing, and always entertaining, it covers everything from airplane crashes to nuclear accidents to change of address tales of woe. Try "Yet More daring tales of address disasters!" and you'll never want to move again.
ACCESS ART OFFERS FINE COLLECTION OF PINUP AND FANTASY ART
Access Art bills itself as the "newest and largest virtual art gallery on the Internet." That may be debatable, but they do have 60+ works by some of the biggest names in the fields of fantasy and pin-up art. Selected works of Alberto Vargas, Jean-Giraud Moebius, Olivia De Berardinis, Ted Kimer, Edson Campos, and William Buffet are on display here. In addition to images of the works, short bios of the artists are available, as are more detailed descriptions and prices for the real prints. Naturally, all of the works can be ordered either online or through an 800 number. A great resource for the upcoming holiday season. "http://www.mgainc.com/homepage.html"
"ART CRIMES" SHOWCASES GRAFFITI
A gallery of graffiti art from Prague, the Czech Republic, and Atlanta, Georgia, has opened on the Web. In celebration of graffiti artists, the gallery showcases some surprisingly detailed wall pictures. The creator has called the site "Art Crimes," noting that "in most places, painting graffiti is illegal." For those interested in comparing cultural differences, the images are labeled by location. "http://www.gatech.edu/desoto/graf/Index.Art_Crimes.html"
PINK FLOYD HOME PAGE FEATURES FINE ALBUM COVER COLLECTION
Arriving here, you are greeted by a great rendering of the prism cover from "Dark Side of the Moon." Below is a large index of Pink Floyd material. Without doubt the biggest draw at this site (access stats are available) is the large collection of Pink Floyd album covers available as GIFs. There are also the usual lyrics, discography, concert photos, articles, interviews, and FAQs. Under the rabid fan category, you can find GIFs of all the band members' signatures, and a scan of tickets to the Norway concert. The site is maintained by Greg Humphreys, who is still adding material to the already impressive collection. "http://humper.student.princeton.edu/floyd" Mirror: "ftp://humper.student.princeton.edu/floyd"
GENERATION X: MARVEL'S NEW ENTRY IN THE X-MAN SERIES
Marvel Comics has decided to release the entire first issue of this new spin off from the X-Man series to the online community. This savvy marketing move consists of a set of 40 GIF files, all in the range 150-200K, which are available on AOL and Compuserve as well as the Internet. Though viewing on a CRT is not the best method to appreciate the truly great art or read the story, it is by no means impossible to enjoy it in this medium. The only drawback is its size - the collection will take a long time to download. Note that this ftp site is rather slow (we could only get 0.3K/sec out of it). "ftp://alpha.vyne.com/pub/marvel"
This digest item is being reprinted from Netsurfer Digest Issue 22, since many of you were unable to access the full review due to a disk failure on our server. We apologize for the inconvenience.
"THE INTERNET FOR EVERYONE" KICKS OFF NEW BOOK REVIEWS PUBLICATION
We are happy to announce Netsurfer Books, our new publication dedicated exclusively to book reviews. Since Netsurfer Digest's format doesn't lend itself to in-depth coverage of literary material, this space will continue to carry short snippets, but with the new addition of pointers to full-length reviews on our archive sites. To inaugurate the new publication, one of our crack netsurfers, Joanne Eglash, has reviewed "The Internet for Everyone," one of the more useful entries in the recent flood of Internet books. This and all the reviews we publish under the Netsurfer Books banner will also be available in the form of a mailing list ("subscribe ns-books-txt [firstname] [lastname]" or "subscribe ns-books-html [firstname] [lastname]" in the body of an e-mail meesage to ns-books-request@netsurf.com), but if you're impatient, check our online sites: "http://www.netsurf.com/books/nsb.94.09.16.html" "ftp://ftp.netsurf.com/pub/books/nsb.94.09.16.txt"
"SAVE THE PLANET, KILL YOURSELF"
Are they ecofreaks? Are they performance artists pranking the world? Are they a bunch of UFOlogist nut cases spamming the Internet mailing system? Hard to tell. SnuffIt E-Zine recently achieved a degree of fame by mailing unsolicited ads for their magazine to at least 30,000 people on the Internet. Whatever the merits of that action, their magazine is worth a quick read (and a head-scratching). It's a publication of the Church of Euthanasia, which has four pillars: suicide, abortion, cannibalism, and sodomy. The common thread is population control, but the content spreads: why UFO's assemble at New Age crystal shows; praise for rock-star suicides; the saga of Reverend Korda's humiliations at the hands of police; and diatribes about consumer culture. Don't forget to order the T-shirt, by the way! "ftp://ftp.etext.org/Zines/Snuffit"
CATCH THESE VIBES: VIBE MAGAZINE ONLINE
Now you can dance with Dee-Lite, jump in the House of Pain, and catch Public Enemy - virtually, of course. VIBE magazine's hipper-than-thou June/July, August, and September issues are now on the Web. In addition to listening to the latest music releases and reading about your favorite musical groups, you can view photos of celebrities such as Spike Lee and read about contemporary issues such as juvenile boot camps. "http://www.vibe.com/"
SNAKE OIL: YOUR GUIDE TO KOOKY KONTEMPORARY KRISTIAN KULTURE
This is an electronic preview of Snake Oil #3, apparently a real
paper zine. The zine in question appears to be a hilarious gossip and
scandal sheet focusing on the antics of the ultra-evangelical preacher
set. Four links will take you to various features. "Gospel Grapevine"
gives you the dirt on various preachers and delivers such jewels as the
God Rocks Department (David Koresh's musical legacy now on CD!). "Salvation
Sideshow" provides examples and mini bios of disfigured lay preachers,
"Robert Tilton Goods" gives the lowdown on Robert Tilton Trading
Cards and the immortal Fart Video, while "Benny Hinn Blew Me" is not at
all what you think (this is serious RELIGION, sinner!). You know it's
good stuff when the WWW site providers include a disclaimer.
#top"
THE ELECTRONIC NEWSSTAND NOW ACCESSIBLE BY E-MAIL
The Electronic Newsstand collects articles, editorials, and tables of
contents from over 165 magazines and provides them to the Internet. Now, in
addition to their Telnet, Gopher and WWW links, they can be reached via
E-Mail. To get instructions and info, send a blank message to
"gophermail@enews.com". General information about
The Electronic Newsstand can be had by E-Mailing "info@enews.com".
"gopher://gopher.internet.com:2100/11/"
If you ever were curious about what Swedish looks like, here's your chance.
It's "a monthly magazine for debate, literature, art, film, music,
comics and - Cyberspace." And actually Swedish isn't that hard: check
out "En intervju med Tobias Wolff" or "Socialism for miljonarer". Just
thought you'd like to know. This'll prep you for the Swedish Chef
item in the next issue. "http://www.jmk.su.se/kultur/8.94/home.html"
JOURNAL FOR FEMALE COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS SEEKS CONTRIBUTIONS
"Women's Work and Informatics" (Frauenarbeit und Informatik) is a
special interest group founded in Germany eight years ago. Serving as a
networking forum for female computer professionals, the group hopes to
increase the influence of women on the design and application of
information technology. The next issue of their bi-annual journal,
Frauenarbeit und Informatik, will focus on international perspectives.
For information on contributing to the journal, mail
"behnke@iug.uni-dortmund.de", "oechteri@informatik.uni-bremen.de", or
"koehler@rrz.uni-hamburg.de".
NEW BUSINESS JOURNAL SEEKS ONLINE SUCCESS STORIES
A new Internet business magazine wants your success stories.
Internet Business Advantage is requesting that businesses who use
the Internet submit their tales of triumph. If you've attracted
more customers, started a new business or service, or
used the Internet in a unique way (such as the famous Pizza
Hut WWW site), mail "tmc@mediavox.com".
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