October 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Second man tests positive for anthrax; media building closed
by mmotyka＠lsil.com 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

>The most likely possibilities appear to be numbers two and three, >that this was either a test run or a botched attempt at infecting the >population. The experts have been claiming for weeks that handling >these bioagents isn't as trivial as fearmongers would suggest. It seems >probable that such factors are at work here. > It is reasonable to guess that if two people have shown signs of contamination, those two people are the ones who handled the stuff. A receives the package/envelope, handles it while sorting, picks nose. B opens package gets heavy dose on hands and hence keyboard, enough is around for him to inhale it. Terrorists overestimated ease of distribution and had some misconceptions about risk of contagiousness - they may have thought mailing it to one guy would infect the whole workplace. Lack of positive tests on other locations/mail : xlow concentrations, things thrown in trash over past week.

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None
by Valerie Loy 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

send me shit on bombs .Please!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Re: How Can Water Distribution Systems Be Kept Secure?
by auto301094＠hushmail.com 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Interesting, but a little more data to move beyond the hype to what we really have to worry about would be helpful. From the data below, looks like purchasing your own chlorine and learning additional water purification techniques is a small investment in time and money that might really pay off, and sure beats solely relying on someone else to do it for you. People focus so much on antibiotics and getting a mask--but it's the other little things, like DEET, flea and tick powder for the yard, citronella buckets, gatorade or other rehydration salts, etc. that will put you in a better place for dealing with a wider variety of potential bioattacks. I haven't seen a list anywhere, but if you do some reading, use common sense, and think about it for five minutes it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with your own. Coleman's Surplus would be a good place to look for equipment: they still have reasonably-priced NBC suits for sale too, last time I checked. http://www.galleria-e.com/cgi-bin/Colemans.storefront/Home ~F. Adapted from Medical Issues Information paper No. IP-31-017, "Biological Warfare Agents as Potable Water Threats," US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA, March 1998: Table 2. Threat potential of biological agents to drinking water Agent Water threat Stable in water Bacillus anthracis Yes 2 years (spores) Brucella spp. Probable 20-72 days Clostridium perfringens Probable Common in sewage Fancisella tularensis Yes Up to 90 days Burkholderia mallei Unlikely Up to 30 days Burkholderia psuedomallei Unlikely Unknown Shigella spp. Yes 2-3 days Vibrio cholerae Yes Survives well Salmonella spp. Yes 8 days, fresh water Yersina pestis Yes 16 days Coxiella burnetti Possible Unknown Rickettsia spp. Unlikely Unknown Chlamydia psittaci Possible 18-24 hrs, seawater Alphaviruses Unlikely Unknown Filoviruses, arenvaviruses, Unlikely Unknown bunyaviruses, flaviviruses Variola Possible Unknown Hepatitis A Yes Unknown Cryptosporiodium spp. Yes Stable weeks or more Botulinum toxins Yes Stable T-2 mycotoxins Yes Stable Aflatoxin Yes Probably stable Ricin Yes Unknown Staph. Enterotoxins Yes Probably stable Microcystins Yes Probably stable Anatoxin A Probable Inactivated in days Tetrodotoxin Yes Unknown Saxitoxin Yes Stable Ambient temperature, 1 ppm free available chlorine (FAC), 30 minutes, or as indicated Table 2. Threat potential of biological agents to drinking water Agent Chlorine tolerance Bacillus anthracis Spores resistant Brucella spp. Unknown Clostridium perfringens Resistant Fancisella tularensis Inactivated 1 ppm-5 min Burkholderia mallei Unknown Burkholderia psuedomallei Unknown Shigella spp. Inactivated 0.05 ppm-10 min Vibrio cholerae Easily killed Salmonella spp. Inactivated Yersina pestis Unknown Coxiella burnetti Unknown Rickettsia spp. Unknown Chlamydia psittaci Unknown Alphaviruses Unknown Filoviruses, arenvaviruses, Unknown bunyaviruses, flaviviruses Variola Unknown Hepatitis A Inactivated 0.4 ppm-30 min Cryptosporiodium spp. Oocysts resistant-killed by 720 ppm for 10 min Botulinum toxins Inactivated 0.6 ppm-20 min T-2 mycotoxins Resistant Aflatoxin Resistant Ricin Resistant at 10 ppm Staph. Enterotoxins Unknown Microcystins Resistant at 100 ppm Anatoxin A Unknown Tetrodotoxin Inactivated at 0.5 ppm Saxitoxin Resistant at 10 ppm Ambient temperature, 1 ppm free available chlorine (FAC), 30 minutes, or as indicated -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: Hush 2.0 wl8EARECAB8FAjvCK8YYHGF1dG8zMDEwOTRAaHVzaG1haWwuY29tAAoJEKadvsVlUK4P qZkAn38aF1SyPK7YPv0otWJtBIkDv1dIAKCzpD0r5YGe71nHltLGdomCbIbLPA== =AdWO -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Re: What color are anthrax spores anyway?
by Declan McCullagh 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

On Sun, Oct 07, 2001 at 08:46:44PM -1000, Reese wrote: > but it isn't like the other news agencies are pushing and shoving to > report either one. Until they do, I'm just a little skeptical. Not so. Driving back from Arlington a moment ago, I heard it on NPR (or on the NPR affiliate's pickup of the BBC feed, close enough). Also: Second Case of Anthrax in Florida Oct. 8, 2001 10:25 ET abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/anthraxcase2011008.html Second anthrax case in Florida Oct. 8, 2001 10:10 ET news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/health/newsid_1586000/1586881.stm Local News - The Cincinnati Enquirer Oct. 8, 2001 05:04 ET enquirer.com/editions/2001/10/08/local.html Second Floridian, Workplace Test Positive for Anthrax (Update8) Oct. 8, 2001 15:05 ET http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20World%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad… Etc. -Declan

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Re: Second man tests positive for anthrax; media building closed
by Nomen Nescio 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

> (A complete speculation, admittedly, is the connection with the first > dead guy's occupation: a photographer for the weekly tabloid "The Sun." > Speculations that he was photographing the WTC pilots and their small > plane for a "scoop" on bioterrorism are unsubstantiated.) Additional information from various reports: the first victim, Stevens, lived about a mile from the airport where the hijackers practiced. The Star office building is a few miles away. Stevens' keyboard at his office was found contaminated with Anthrax. The second victim was not infected internally with Anthrax but spores were found in his nose. One of the purposes of the nose is to filter junk out before it gets to the lungs. If the Anthrax spores are the wrong size they will get trapped like this. Part of the art of preparing Anthrax weapons is getting the particle sizes exactly right. Hypothesis one: the Star reporters were trying to get a "scoop" on bioterrorism. Impossible! How would they know where to find bioterrorists? Did Mohammed Atta and associates go around calling up tabloids and offering them a "scoop"? This is inconsistent with the utter professionalism and secrecy with with the operation was conducted. Hypothesis two: Stevens was infected via aerial spraying at his home and carried the spores into the office. Unlikely but possible. It would be difficult to bring enough spores in just on his clothes and person as to contaminate the office and get spores into the nose of his co-worker. And why were more people near Stevens' home not affected? Possibly the spray was extremely ineffective and only Stevens was unlucky enough to get a fatal dose. Hypothesis three: the Star office building was a test for distribution of Anthrax spores via internal air circulation. Unlikely but possible. One would expect to see more internal contamination in the building than just Stevens' keyboard, and more Star employees affected than two. Again it is possible that the delivery was inefficient. It may be that more contamination was found which has not yet been reported. Hypothesis four: Stevens was infected through natural environmental exposure away from work and brought spores into the office. Highly unlikely, given the rarity of Anthrax exposure and the difficulty of bringing in enough spores to infect someone else. Hypothesis five: Stevens was infected through natural environmental exposure in the office. Extremely unlikely: Anthrax is found on animal products (previous industrial cases have involved exposure to such things as goat hides) and a photography editor would not be handling such materials. The most likely possibilities appear to be numbers two and three, that this was either a test run or a botched attempt at infecting the population. The experts have been claiming for weeks that handling these bioagents isn't as trivial as fearmongers would suggest. It seems probable that such factors are at work here.

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ad
by mona ali 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

hello i was wondering what sales maerials do u stuff into the envelopes. and when u send in the order form there is no place to put how many envelopes u want to stuff and how many u need thankyou M.A _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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Epson Printers & Logitech Mouses
by juancarlos＠memorykings.net 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

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C'est Need To Know!
by Jim Choate 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

http://www.ntk.net/ -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. Edmund Burke (1784) The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Limbaugh: 'I'm Going Deaf'
by mmotyka＠lsil.com 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

Does this mean the goofball is going to get even louder?

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FWD: Nation weighing value of security vs. privacy; An edgy America struggles with technology's role
by auto301094＠hushmail.com 08 Oct '01

08 Oct '01

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- More of the same, from businessmen this time, not bureaucrats. A telling pulled quote: "I kind of feel like if the FBI wants to follow me around, God bless them. I've got nothing to hide." Disgraceful. ~F. If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!" --Samuel Adams **** The Dallas Morning News Nation weighing value of security vs. privacy; An edgy America struggles with technology's role ALAN GOLDSTEIN and VIKAS BAJAJ BODY: But there will be no high-tech silver bullet this time, according to the panel of business and academic experts that convened Tuesday in a special session to discuss technology's role in the crisis. The panel was asked about proposed measures in which airlines could use electronic wizardry to search aggressively for high-risk passengers, culling through myriad databases from both corporations and law enforcement agencies. Security personnel at airports and other high-profile public places would have access to powerful databases brimming with sensitive personal information. FBI records, individual addresses and travel patterns could all be incorporated into the system to help raise red flags. Credit card records could be a particularly illuminating indicator of suspicious behavior, said Tom Klein, president of Fort Worth-based Sabre Holdings Corp.'s airline reservations and emerging businesses units. "It is much broader than how I booked a flight. There are things that will make lots of people uncomfortable. But there are people who say that's where we need to go." The public may be more willing to give up some measure of privacy in exchange for security, said Matt Yarbrough, a former federal prosecutor. The FBI's Carnivore system for monitoring e-mail traffic over the Internet stirred a huge controversy last year, said Mr. Yarbrough, who heads the cyberlaw group in the Dallas office of Fish & Richardson PC. "For some reason, everyone was upset about Carnivore a few months ago. Today, you could probably get it through in a heartbeat." Personal privacy One member of the board said he was willing to subject himself to such scrutiny if it helped make the country more secure. "I kind of feel like if the FBI wants to follow me around, God bless them. I've got nothing to hide," said Guy Hoffman, a Dallas-based partner at TL Ventures, a venture capital firm. But the majority shot back that such systems, perhaps tied to some form of national identity card, could do more harm than good. "You don't know enough about the FBI," said Anne K. Bingaman, chairwoman and chief executive of Valor Telecommunications LLC in Irving. The agency has had a long history of abusing authority through violations of personal privacy, said Ms. Bingaman, a former antitrust chief with the U.S. Department of Justice. "It's one thing to have a card that says who you are. I don't think people object to that. It's what the driver's license is," she said. "But tying it to a database that has all kinds of information that is ostensibly for terrorism but is accessible to thousands of law enforcement people permanently - we have some pretty good reasons to feel threatened by that." Constitutional issues Americans' guarantees of civil liberties were put in place to protect individuals from an invasive government, said Hasan Pirkul, dean of the management school at the University of Texas at Dallas. "The Constitution has not become obsolete because of a terrorist attack," he said. Another threat to the public comes from unauthorized access to the database. >From mischievous teenagers across the planet to sophisticated organized crime rings, computer hackers have breached systems that had once been considered impregnable. "I don't trust the hackers. Those guys can get into anything. Anything we design, they can break," said Mr. Shank of Ericsson. Board members also worried that flawed data could wreak havoc on people's lives. "Mistakes happen," said Laura Rippy, chief executive of Handango Inc. in Hurst, which sells handheld and wireless equipment. "What if they mistake you for someone and you're sitting in jail for a week?" Physical security procedures may prove a better solution for reducing terrorism than their high-tech counterparts, board members agreed. "I still think - the low-tech thing - lock pilots in the cockpit if we're worried about airplanes being used as bombs again," Ms. Bingaman said. "To me, that's far more fail-safe than any of this identification or screening or the rest of it." Limits High-tech screening wouldn't prevent an attack such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, board members said, because the tools were rudimentary and authorities weren't seeking the plotters. Technology isn't just defensive, said board member Shiek Shah. Surveillance tools and advanced weaponry can "exterminate the breeding grounds of terrorism," said Mr. Shah, co-chief executive of Akili, a Dallas firm that integrates software and other technology for corporate customers. "I agree, eradicate them, but part of the eradication is to wipe out the breeding grounds in positive ways," said Leon Kappelman, director of the Information Systems Research Center at the University of North Texas in Denton. Evaluating the impact of the attacks on the telecommunications and computing infrastructure of Wall Street, board members concluded that systems held up relatively well. Dr. Kappelman, a leading expert in the Year 2000 computer problem, said the financial services industry's preparations for the millennium bug helped get the markets running again. "A big part of Y2K, especially in those businesses, as dealing with disaster recovery and business continuity," he said. "Having those things in place made it very much possible to deal with this faster." The attacks should encourage businesses and governments to rethink their technological vulnerabilities, said John Breen, vice president of consulting services at SBC DataComm Inc., a division of SBC Communications Inc. of San Antonio. "Assess what you have learned over the last three weeks," Mr. Breen said. "Analyze whether it's for your business or for your personal life, and then act," he said. "As Americans, we act. And we need to act as best we can to try and address these failures." Technology will probably be just a piece of a broader response, board members said. "Maybe we looked at technology as the answer," Mr. Hoffman said. "Today we recognize that technology is only part of the solution." Coming Monday: The tech industry's new challenges. First of two parts. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: Hush 2.0 wl8EARECAB8FAjvB9nIYHGF1dG8zMDEwOTRAaHVzaG1haWwuY29tAAoJEKadvsVlUK4P U8kAoKsejzozyFnhWj0BIlPp28ROcCW2AJ9fIBKNEtmew0pWdYUve5d3NMxx5g== =SY2Y -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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