From: s1018954@aix2.uottawa.ca
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 95 21:32:45 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Truth serum, tuition & Re: PINs
In-Reply-To: <199510180315.EAA27271@utopia.hacktic.nl>
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9510172359.A22460-0100000@aix2.uottawa.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




On Wed, 18 Oct 1995, Anonymous wrote:

> What if You had Two PINs ???
> And One Works and One Sounds a Silent Alarm Then If You are Forced 
to give your PIN ,You give Them your Second PIN 
> and They get Caught !!!!!!
Yeah, that's what was being talked about: duress pins. Except (see 
previous messages) the problems arise from the fact that all criminals
will presumably know this and have some computational resources to deal
with it (seeing how fast tuitions are rising around here, I predict the 
majority of ecash theives will be CS undergrads who missed out on 
scolarships).

[warning, severely low crypto relevance]

OTOH, might as well carry around syringes filled with scopolamine (truth
serum) if you intend on getting the real PIN. This stuff is actually legally
obtainable from seeds of plants of the Datura family, as in Belladona (aka 
Nightshade), Stramonium (aka Jimson Weed) and a few others. They can be 
obtained from a variety of botanical catalogs (and probably in your 
backyard) and are highly toxic hallucinogens (only the bad ones are legal). I 
think their chemicals (atropine, hyoscamine and scopolamine) are also 
available as pharmaceuticals as they have some legitimate medical applications.

I've heard from several sources that the US mil also checked it out 
(once upon a paranoid rumor that turned into an urban legend mayhap) as 
truth serum. Supposedly in certain S. American countries it has been used 
for quite some time in thefts. An added benefit is amnesia. 

Perfect way to gain people's PINs, pgp keys, home keys, non-essential 
organs, bank accounts, state secrets, astrological advice...). The antidote is
legal in all countries except either Columbia or Brazil (can't remember which, 
ironically, it's the place where the most such thefts occur. The thieves 
must have a strong lobby.).