December 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

CERT DoS'd
by Khoder bin Hakkin 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20011205/tc/national_computer-security_site… National computer-security site attacked By Robert Lemos CNET News.com The Computer Emergency Response Team's Coordination Center, an important national clearinghouse for computer-security information, came under attack Wednesday, leaving its main Web site only intermittently reachable. The so-called denial-of-service attack didn't affect the group's ability to push security incident information to its members, but made public access to its sites a crapshoot. "We are working with our service providers to resolve this problem," Bill Pollak, public relations coordinator for the CERT Coordination Center, said in a statement. A denial-of-service attack can take one of two forms: a flood of data that overwhelms the Web server or the bandwidth leading to the server, or a specific command crafted to disable critical servers or Internet routers. The CERT Coordination Center (news - web sites) would not identify which type matched the attack it was suffering from. The group, based at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., coordinates the communications among the myriad response teams scattered among U.S. universities, companies and government agencies. It has public Web sites to inform both members and non-members of threats but also has private networks capable of alerting members to high-priority computer-security incidents. Officials at the CERT Coordination Center would not give details of the attack but earlier acknowledged that such attacks are not uncommon. In May, the group suffered a similar attack. "We get attacked every day," Richard D. Pethia, director of the Networked Systems Survivability Program at Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute, said in a May interview. "The lesson to be learned here is that no one is immune to these kinds of attacks. They cause operational problems, and it takes time to deal with them." The CERT Coordination Center is part of Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute.

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state governors want to design OSes now..
by Khoder bin Hakkin 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

[ If I were Bill G. I'd double the price of an OS sold to one of these States. Since I'm not, but still resent these States, I hope they get all the Windows OS they deserve. ] http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011205/tc/microsoft_settlement_dc_1.html States May Ask for Unbundled Version of Windows By Peter Kaplan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - State attorneys general pressing the antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) may ask a judge to order the company to offer a cheaper, stripped-down version of its Windows operating system, a source familiar with the case said on Wednesday. The nine states still suing Microsoft are eying the requirement as part of a proposed antitrust remedy they are scheduled to submit to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Friday. Requiring an ``unbundled'' version of Windows is one of several ideas the states are considering as they try to come up with sanctions that will be tougher than those agreed to by Microsoft, the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) and nine of the other states who have signed on to a settlement of the case. The draft remedy also would strike down a long list of loopholes in the current settlement deal and do more to ensure that Microsoft discloses key source code in Windows to other software makers, the source said. The draft also contains a provision that would require Microsoft to include Sun Microsystems Inc.'s (Nasdaq:SUNW - news) Java programming language in its new Windows XP (news - web sites) operating system and ensure that its Office software is compatible with other software platforms, the source said. Microsoft had included Java in its operating system for years but dropped it from Windows XP because of legal problems with Sun Microsystems. Lawyers representing the hold-out states held meetings today with antitrust experts and industry officials to get feedback on a draft remedy proposal, sources said. 'GETTING AN EARFUL' ``They're getting input from lots of different players, and they're getting an earful,'' the source said. The hold-out states are California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Florida, Kansas, Minnesota, West Virginia and Utah. Representatives of those states declined to comment on what kind of remedy they will propose. In addition, the draft remedy proposal would require Kollar-Kotelly to appoint a ``special master'' to oversee the remedy, according to the same source. Under the current settlement, that task would go to a three-person technical committee. ``I think they're seriously committed to getting an effective remedy,'' said another source who has met with the attorneys general lawyers. The hold-out states will present their remedy proposal as an alternative to the settlement reached by the Justice Department. In the settlement, Microsoft has agreed to take steps to give computer makers more freedom to feature rival software on their machines. The deal also requires the company to share parts of the inner workings of its Windows operating system with other software makers. The settlement would be enforced by a three-person technical committee and would stay in effect for at least five years. The department says the existing settlement terms are strong enough to stop the company's monopolistic practices and would provide ``the most effective and certain relief in the most timely manner.'' ABUSED MONOPOLY A federal appeals court ordered the remedy hearings in a June 28 ruling, having concluded that the company abused its monopoly in personal computer operating systems. Continuing to litigate could drag the case out for another two years, the department says. But Microsoft rivals and some consumer groups have panned the deal as weak and ineffectual. They say the agreement will not stop Microsoft from retaliating against personal computer makers that promote non-Microsoft software. Critics also worry the settlement does not ensure that Microsoft will allow a level playing field for other companies' add-on ``middleware'' products; and does not ensure that Windows will work well with computer servers running non-Microsoft software. Kollar-Kotelly has scheduled a hearing for March to determine what--if any--further--sanctions should be imposed against the company. Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler declined to comment specifically on what might be in the remedy proposal on Friday. But he said the settlement ``represents a fair and reasonable compromise'' and that the case had been ``drastically narrowed'' by the appeals court since the original ruling against the company last year.

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Ice, Snow, Cold, who needs it 31321
by l8051＠mail.yahoo.co.jp 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

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Slashdot | U.S. Department of Interior Ordered Offline
by Jim Choate 07 Dec '01

07 Dec '01

http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/07/0223216.shtml -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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yank view of Guy Fawkes day
by Major Variola (ret) 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

At 08:17 PM 12/6/01 -0600, measl(a)mfn.org wrote: >> http://www.bonefire.org/guy/ >That's a *great* site! I can't believe it's been there since 1996 and I >never found it. Thanks! Sounds like a distributed, conservative brit version of Burning Man with Independence-day replacing the Mardi Gras aspect. Cool.

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Slashdot | War Driving With The Kids
by Jim Choate 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/06/1248209.shtml -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Slashdot | The Age of Paine Revisited
by Jim Choate 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

http://slashdot.org/features/01/12/04/1737234.shtml -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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The Register - Europe told to rethink e-privacy directive
by Jim Choate 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/23234.html -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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CJ sent you a Yahoo! Greeting
by greetings＠reply.yahoo.com 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

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Delta airlines doesn't allow sick person to carry their meds
by Khoder bin Hakkin 06 Dec '01

06 Dec '01

Delta for Kicking Him off Flight Because He Was Carrying the Drug The Associated Press Published: Dec 6, 2001 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - A man who legally uses marijuana for medicinal purposes is suing Delta Air Lines for kicking him off a plane because he was carrying the drug. Irvin Rosenfeld, a stockbroker from Boca Raton, filed suit Wednesday in federal court, claiming the airline violated federal protections for people with disabilities. Rosenfeld, 48, suffers from a rare and painful bone disease and finds relief in smoking marijuana, which is prescribed by a doctor and grown for the government. Every day, he smokes up to 12 marijuana cigarettes to fight tumors. In March, he was kept from boarding a Delta flight from Fort Lauderdale to Washington, D.C., where he was to attend a U.S. Supreme Court session on possible expansion of medicinal marijuana use. Officials told him he had to leave the marijuana behind or get written permission from every state he was flying over. Rosenfeld's attorney, Christopher Sharp, said refusing to seat his client on the airliner was like kicking a diabetic off the flight for carrying hypodermic needles and insulin. "We're not putting any price tag on this, but Delta's exposure in this is considerable," Sharp said. Rosenfeld is one of a handful of people in the country receiving marijuana from the federal government because of unusual diseases. He has smoked government-provided marijuana for nearly 30 years and says without the drug, his condition would become so painful that he could not walk and could hemorrhage. Under the federal Air Carriers Access Act of 1986, Delta had to specify in writing why Rosenfeld could not board the airplane and why he was thought to be a threat to the safety of those on board, Sharp said. The airline did not do that, he said. A Delta spokeswoman said she was unaware that any Americans were permitted to smoke marijuana. "Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal drug, and I'm not aware of any medical use exception of the nature he claims or of any private citizen having a right to possess it in the United States," Katie Connell said. Rosenfeld said that when Delta turned him away, he had to find a flight on another airline and did not get to Washington until the following afternoon. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA3X79RWUC.html

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