Everything Radiates: Does the Fourth Amendment Regulate Side-Channel Cryptanalysis?
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3096711 [papers.ssrn.com]
2018-01-23 15:12
tags:
crypto
opsec
paper
pdf
policy
security
sidechannel
One means of doing so is through a “side-channel attack.” Our electronic devices are always radiating something—electromagnetic emissions, heat, and so forth. Those emissions reveal information, called “side channel information,” about the device. The physical implementation of a cryptosystem leaks electromagnetic emissions from which academic researchers have shown it is possible to extract the system’s secret encryption keys. Side-channel cryptanalysis is not a known law enforcement tactic at present, but that may change in time.
Law enforcement use of side-channel attacks will raise Fourth Amendment issues that will require a fact-intensive analysis to resolve. In determining what legal process (if any) will authorize a side-channel attack, a court will have to carefully examine what information will be acquired, from where, and how.
This is long, but reviews quite a lot of material.
source: green
The New Writs of Assistance
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3075587 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-12-01 22:58
tags:
history
ideas
ioshit
life
networking
paper
pdf
policy
social
web
One possible solution to this problem is for network intermediaries to refuse government requests for aid, and attempt to sustain those refusals in court. Although this possibility has received an enormous amount of attention, there is substantial cause for skepticism about how well it can work. Congress has given the government wide authority to demand information and assistance through tools like subpoenas, the Stored Communications Act, and Title III. Even when the government does not have specific statutory authorization, courts have interpreted the All Writs Act to authorize a great deal of open-ended aid, consistent with the well-settled Anglo-American history of third-party assistance in law enforcement. It is also far from unheard-of for the Executive to read restrictions on its surveillance authority narrowly, and its own inherent powers broadly, to engage in surveillance that is quasi- or extra-legal.
This is a very good read, covering several hundred years of common law history in general, plus a hundred years of wiretapping history, plus some current events.
Trade, Merchants and Lost Cities of the Bronze Age
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3066020 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-11-08 18:20
tags:
finance
history
maps
paper
pdf
transport
urban
We analyze a large dataset of commercial records produced by Assyrian merchants in the 19th Century BCE. Using the information collected from these records, we estimate a structural gravity model of long-distance trade in the Bronze Age. We use our structural gravity model to locate lost ancient cities.
Triangulating from metadata for fun and profit?
(Paywall, but a free version at https://economics.stanford.edu/events/trade-merchants-and-lost-cities-bronze-age.)
source: MR
Fortifications and Democracy in the Ancient Greek World
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3057639 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-11-08 18:17
tags:
history
hoipolloi
paper
pdf
policy
In the modern world, access-limiting fortification walls are not typically regarded as promoting democracy. But in Greek antiquity, increased investment in fortifications was correlated with the prevalence and stability of democracy. This paper sketches the background conditions of the Greek city-state ecology, analyzes a passage in Aristotle’s Politics, and assesses the choices of Hellenistic kings, Greek citizens, and urban elites, as modeled in a simple game.
Their simple game has a pretty neat decision tree. How to win civilization.
source: MR
The Loss of Loss Aversion: Will It Loom Larger Than Its Gain?
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3049660 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-10-25 14:20
tags:
factcheck
finance
ideas
life
paper
pdf
Loss aversion, the principle that losses loom larger than gains, is among the most widely accepted ideas in the social sciences. The first part of this article introduces and discusses the construct of loss aversion. The second part of this article reviews evidence in support of loss aversion. The upshot of this review is that current evidence does not support that losses, on balance, tend to be any more impactful than gains.
This is a long paper (59 pages) but an easy read. Reviews many prior studies, taking another look at exactly what effect was observed and measured.
source: MR
The Ten Most Important Section 230 Rulings
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3025943 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-10-12 18:50
tags:
paper
pdf
policy
web
A review of the most important Section 230 cases tells a story about how the case law has built such an important yet controversial immunity. This essay takes that journey by rank-ordering the top Section 230 cases of the past two decades.
Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2900447 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-10-10 23:21
tags:
finance
history
math
paper
pdf
When stated in terms of lifetime dollar wealth creation, the entire net gain in the U.S. stock market since 1926 is attributable to the best-performing four percent of listed stocks, as the other ninety six percent collectively matched one-month Treasury bills. These results highlight the important role of positive skewness in the cross-sectional distribution of stock returns.
Lots of little interesting facts about stocks over time.
Manipulation in the VIX?
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2972979 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-05-25 07:34
tags:
finance
paper
At the settlement time of the VIX Volatility Index, volume spikes on S&P 500 Index (SPX) options, but only in out-of-the-money options that are used to calculate the VIX, and more so for options with a higher and discontinuous influence on VIX.
source: ML
Replicating Anomalies
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2961979 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-05-09 22:43
tags:
factcheck
finance
math
paper
pdf
Encryption Workarounds
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2938033 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-03-22 21:54
tags:
crypto
essay
opsec
pdf
policy
security
It begins with a taxonomy of the different ways investigators might try to bypass encryption schemes. We classify six kinds of workarounds: find the key, guess the key, compel the key, exploit a flaw in the encryption software, access plaintext while the device is in use, and locate another plaintext copy.
source: SOS
Surge Pricing Solves the Wild Goose Chase
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2890666 [papers.ssrn.com]
2017-01-01 23:39
tags:
business
finance
paper
pdf
transport
urban
Why is dynamic pricing more prevalent in ride-hailing apps than movies and restaurants?
Interesting theory. Increased demand for rides actually results in reduced utilization, as a hailed ride must transit to the pickup location (the wild goose chase). Increase pricing, reduce demand, increase utilization.
source: MR
Risk Targeting and Policy Illusions - Evidence from the Announcement of the Volcker Rule
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2466477 [papers.ssrn.com]
2016-11-28 08:29
tags:
finance
paper
pdf
policy
However, the announcement of the rule did not reduce the banks’ overall risk-taking. To keep their risk targets, the affected banks raised the riskiness of their asset returns. We also find some evidence that the affected banks raised their trading risk and decreased the hedging of their banking business.
Good intentions and all that. Attempting to fix one variable causes others to drift even more.