July 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

FBI not as incompetent as recent reports say
by Tim May 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Wen Ho Lee, Robert Hanssen, screwed-up lab tests, failure to detect Aldrich Ames, missing handguns, Waco, Ruby Ridge...the portrait of a dysfunctional agency, right? Far from it, from what I can see. Some of the examples are marginally silly, some are due to pressures from bureaucrats, some are things which virtually no organization on earth could have detected. I'm not a particular friend of the FBI, as the Seattle and Portland offices will probably acknowledge, but I seen no particular _decline_ in quality such as the article Matt Gaylor posted suggests. The spotlight is much brighter today, there are many more reporting outlets. And the Net magnifies conspiracy theories. (I believe Waco was mishandled badly--the preacher should have just been picked up by the local Sheriff or arrested on one of his many trips into town or walks along his fence. And I believe Ruby Ridge was an example of a barricade situation which didn' t need to happen. The "crime" of selling a long gun with a barrel one quarter of an inch too short was both a "set up" (to induce cooperation by Randy Weaver) and shouldn't have been a crime in the first place. These are mistakes, not evidence of a Bureau that has become incompetent or malevolent.) The Wen Ho Lee case is much more mysterious. Maybe he _was_ a Chinese spy...certainly China is an emerging superpower with the willingness to recruit spies. We do it, the Russians do it, the French and Germans do it, why not the Chinese? What about missing weapons? Well, large organizations lose all kinds of things. Including guns. Big deal. Hanssen? The Sovs knew that recruiting agents within the FBI's counter-spy division was the equivalent of recruiting agents at Los Alamos in the 1940s. Did the FBI miss some warning signs? Probably. Did Jim Bamford miss some warning signs? Yep. (Bamford was a friend of Hanssen's.) How about the bad lab results? Sure. Shit happens. But, all in all, I see no particular evidence that the FBI is in a state of moral or professional collapse. I think I'd rather have been working for Louis Freeh these past 10 years than a weirdo like J. Edgar Hoover and his queen Tolson. (I had and still have profound disagreement with Freeh and Jim Kellstrom (spelling? I used to know his name, but it escapes me right now) over things like Clipper, key escrow, and no knock raids, but I thought they were competent, professional, and intelligent adversaries. They never knew who I was, obviously, but we were in the same competency league. In my opinion, of course.) Thinking of the FBI as Keystone Kops is dangerous, which is why I am writing this note. --Tim May -- Timothy C. May tcmay(a)got.net Corralitos, California Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns

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Even law enforcement hearings in Congress now classified
by Declan McCullagh 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Title: 7/24/01 Media Advisory - Coast Guard Drug Interdiction Hearing To Be Closed To Public NEWS U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure U.S. Rep. Don Young, Chairman Contact: Steve Hansen (Communications Director) (202) 225-7749 Justin Harclerode (Communications Assistant) (202) 226-8767 To: National Desk July 24, 2001 * Media Advisory * Coast Guard Drug Interdiction Hearing To Be Closed To Public Washington, D.C. - The Thursday afternoon hearing by the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation regarding the United States' drug interdiction strategy is expected to be closed to the public. The Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), is expected to vote to close the hearing to the public because sensitive law enforcement information will be discussed. Only Committee members, Committee staff, and essential personal staff will be allowed to remain in the hearing room after the hearing is closed. # # #

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Kallstrom
by mmotyka＠lsil.com 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Did an interview for Time "Digital" 2 or 3 years ago. Just threw my copy away. Equated limits on the effectiveness of domestic crypto with speed limits. Pretty much spewed the party line. Had quit to work for a bank. google it : james kallstrom fbi cryptography http://www.inet-one.com/cypherpunks/dir.98.07.13-98.07.19/msg00018.html

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Antigen found W32/Sircam-A (Sophos) virus
by ANTIGEN_BAMBI 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Antigen for Exchange found JJ.doc.bat infected with W32/Sircam-A (Sophos) virus. The file is currently Removed. The message, "CDR: JJ", was sent from Stephen and was discovered in IMC Queues\Inbound located at Cognex/Natick/BAMBI.

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Re: Vengeance Against Adobe
by Anonymous 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim May" <tcmay(a)got.net> > My comments were about Adobe's _recruiting_ efforts. I expect > lingering effects of this episode to affect their ability to recruit. That's gonna suck for them ..oh, wait, I forgot.. the economy sucks and nobody's hiring anyways!

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Re: Vengeance Against Adobe
by Faustine 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

Tim wrote: >Likewise, I know of even some Cypherpunks who have left their >employers for ideological reasons. And if some have _left_ jobs, the >effects are likely greater on the _recruiting_ side (where the costs >of a decision are much less). Absolutely. More than that, I try to never take a job unless I'd be willing to do it for free. All free-market principles aside, if you're just in it for the paycheck, what's the point? I'd rather do something I love that's meaningful to me than just make a pile. Even better not to have to choose at all. (Not there yet, so #1 it is...) This won't be too interesting to all the venerable greybeards out there, but you'd be surprised what kind of work you can end up with by taking an unpaid volunteer internship first. If there aren't any available, find someone to talk to, create a work plan and propose one yourself. If you can scrape by, trading your free labor for experience isn't always a bad bargain...it's worked for me more than once, and I sometimes I eventually ended up on the payroll. And I know I never would have got where I am without building up my resume that way. Also, even if you find yourself unemployed or stuck in a 9 to 5 rut, sitting in on college classes to gain skills (programming, networking, higher math etc.) gets you experience that'll move you toward doing more of what you want. Most professors aren't too uptight about letting you sit in for free, it's probably a refreshing change to teach somebody who's there because they want to be. That's my two cents, anyway... Has anyone ever been in the position of turning down work because you didn't want to apply for clearance? I seem to remember some people here saying they already have it, was it a hard decision for you? I don't really have a problem with the idea of facing a background check (though I don't imagine anyone looks forward to it), it's the pre-publication review board requirement that bothers me. ~Faustine.

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Re: WHERE IS DILDO? (was: Vengeance Against Adobe)
by Jim Windle 25 Jul '01

25 Jul '01

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001 17:15:35 Sandy Sandfort wrote: > >The Dildo AI wrote: > Perhaps instead of offering "Jim Choate" money to take the LSAT, the money should be offered for "Jim Choate" passing a Turing test to be judged by contributors to the fund. Also other prizes could be given for things like figuring out what hardware "Jim Choate" is running on. Just a thought since he doesn't seem likely to take the LSAT. Jim Windle > > > S a n d y > > /| > |/ \ > / \ \ > / \ \ > / \ \ > /_______\/ | > | | | > | o | | > | //// | | > | ||||| | | > | (.)~(x) | | > | | O | | | > | (_=_) | | > | |_| | | > | | | > |WHERE IS | | > | DILDO? | | > |_________|/ > > > Join 18 million Eudora users by signing up for a free Eudora Web-Mail account at http://www.eudoramail.com

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Re: Vengeance Against Adobe
by mmotyka＠lsil.com 24 Jul '01

24 Jul '01

>At 1:58 AM -0700 7/24/01, Petro wrote: >>At 11:47 PM -0500 7/23/01, measl(a)mfn.org wrote: >>>On Mon, 23 Jul 2001, Tim May wrote: >>> >>>> Adobe will be suffering for a long time to come. >>> >>>While it is a consummation devoutly to be wished, I predict that the >>>"backlash" will be gone in a mere matter of weeks, if not days. Let's >>>face it: the people most likely to be Adobe *customers* are anything but >>>hungry. A fat customer is an apathetic customer... >> >> Let us also be honest and admit that the very people Adobe products >>target are also the least likely to understand this whole thing, and often >>even less likely to care--or if they do, they might even agree with Adobe. > >Let me be clear about something: I wasn't predicting a significant >"boycott" against Adobe products. Most corporate purchasers pick >their tools based on what they need, not based on ideology. If they >need InDesign or Photoshop, that's what they'll buy. > >My comments were about Adobe's _recruiting_ efforts. I expect >lingering effects of this episode to affect their ability to recruit. > >I stand by that prediction. > >--Tim May > A very sound prediction about the behavior of a subset of potential employees. I would bet that 40-50% of SW people haven't even heard of the DMCA and Sklyarov or don't see it as a problem. While I'd like to think Adobe's behavior will limit their access to people who fall on the high side of the curve, I've met plenty of bright people who just don't care about certain issues. Another counter-factor for your prediction would be continued economic decline and a scarcity of jobs which while not a certainty is certainly a possibility. The all-consuming Bay Area monkey-on-the-back mortgage might tend to eclipse the politics for all but the most stallwart technology freedom fighter. Mortgage low, politics intact, Mike PS - I can't fault Adobe for wanting to protect their business but the DMCA has got to go. It's the tech version of the war on drugs ain't it? An excuse to storm and destroy without even trespass to justify it. Pure evil.

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Re: Salon: The real enemies of the poor
by Faustine 24 Jul '01

24 Jul '01

But there's no real meat here--it's the kind of thing that tells you just enough to make you feel like you know what you're talking about, but doesn't go nearly deep enough to be worth anything. So what's on my summer reading list? The Institute for National Strategic Studies and the National Defense University just came out with a monstrously long (1124 pp.)two-volume compendium of essays: "The Global Century: Globalization and National Security" that explores the implications of globalism in 49 essays from every angle you can think of by a collection of genuine heavy hitters. I think I'll certainly be better off for having invested the time in reading it. here's a link to the pdf: http://www.ndu.edu/inss/books/GlobalCentury/globcencont.html and here's the table of contents: Introduction: Policies for a Globalized World Chapter 1 Meeting the Challenges of the Global Century Stephen J. Flanagan Part I. Globalization: Strategic Implications for the United States Chapter 2 Globalization and National Security: A Strategic Agenda Ellen L. Frost Chapter 3 Controlling Chaos: New Axial Strategic Principles Richard L. Kugler Chapter 4 Global Economics and Unsteady Regional Geopolitics Robert E. Hunter Chapter 5 Stability, Stasis, and Change: A Fragmegrating World James N. Rosenau Chapter 6 Military Power and Maritime Forces Seymour J. Deitchman Part II. U.S. National Security Policy: Emerging Priorities Chapter 7 A Global Agenda for Foreign and Defense Policy Jonathan T. Howe Chapter 8 Beyond Global-Regional Thinking Alan K. Henrikson Chapter 9 Foreign Policy in the Information Age David J. Rothkopf Chapter 10 Economics and National Security: The Dangers of Overcommitment David P.H. Denoon Chapter 11 Toward Alliance Reform Ronald D. Asmus Chapter 12 The Globalization of Energy Markets Martha Caldwell Harris Chapter 13 Dealing with Rogue States Kori N. Schake and Justin P. Bernier Chapter 14 Deterrence, Intervention, and Weapons of Mass Destruction William Miller Chapter 15 Peace Operations: Political?Military Coordination Michael J. Dziedzic Chapter 16 Export Controls: A Clash of Imperatives Charles B. Shotwell Part III. Military Power: The Challenges Ahead Chapter 17 Future U.S. Defense Strategy Richard L. Kugler Chapter 18 The Military in a New Era: Living with Complexity Anthony H. Cordesman Chapter 19 Transforming the Armed Forces: An Agenda for Change Paul K. Davis Chapter 20 The Navy and the New Strategic Environment Bradd C. Hayes Chapter 21 Security from the Oceans Sam J. Tangredi Chapter 22 Influencing Events Ashore Harlan K. Ullman Chapter 23 Formative and Operative Engagement Stephen Benson Chapter 24 The Navy and Globalization: Convergence of the Twain? Gwyn Prins Chapter 25 The Coast Guard: Past Catalyst, Future Tool Timothy L. Terriberry and Scott C. Truver Chapter 26 The Corporate Experience: Lessons for the Military Solveig Spielmann Volume II Introduction: Dealing with Diverse Trends Part IV. Global Trends: Unity or Fragmentation? Chapter 27 Alliances and Alignments in a Globalizing World Laurence Martin Chapter 28 The Net: Power and Policy in the 21st Century Leslie David Simon Chapter 29 Corporations in the World Economy: Dynamic Innovation Theodore Roosevelt Malloch Chapter 30 Developing Countries: Winners or Losers? Carol Lancaster Chapter 31 Religion and Culture: Human Dimensions of Globalization Douglas M. Johnston Chapter 32 Ideas Matter: A Diversity of Foreign Policies Esther A. Bacon and Colleen M. Herrmann Chapter 33 Facing Down the Global Village: The Media Impact Samuel Feist Chapter 34 Oil Resources: Markets, Politics, and Policies Patrick L. Clawson Chapter 35 The Sinister Underbelly: Organized Crime and Terrorism Kimberley L. Thachuk Chapter 36 International Law and Institutions: A Post-Westphalian Landscape Charles B. Shotwell Chapter 37 Proliferation of Advanced Weaponry: Threat to Stability William W. Keller and Janne E. Nolan Chapter 38 Global Networks and Security: How Dark Is the Dark Side? Martin C. Libicki Part V. Regional Trends: Promise or Peril? Chapter 39 The European Quest for Unity Richard L. Kugler Chapter 40 Russia and Its Neighbors: Integration or Disintegration? F. Stephen Larrabee Chapter 41 Latin American Economies: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Moisis Namm and Carlos Lozada Chapter 42 Latin America: Emerging Challenges Luis Bitencourt Chapter 43 The Arab World: Economic Progress and Struggle Kathleen Ridolfo Chapter 44 The Persian Gulf: Security, Politics, and Order Shahram Chubin Chapter 45 Asian Economies: The Dynamics of Progress Richard P. Cronin Chapter 46 Asia-Pacific Security Relations: Changes Ahead Thomas W. Robinson Chapter 47 Africa: Troubled Continent in a Globalizing World P. Frangois Hugo Chapter 48 The Balkans: Failing States and Ethnic Wars Laura Rozen Chapter 49 The Canadian Role in Human Security Brooke A. Smith-Windsor

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The Plan
by Morlock Elloi 24 Jul '01

24 Jul '01

Tasteless as it may sound (but this is home of cypherpranks anyway), it seems that Sklyarov's arrest advanced the anti-DMCA case more than anything else. And it will continue to advance it as long he remains in jail. Almost as if the whole thing was a clever setup. And it works. If feds release him they will prove that they are a corporate police in very clear terms. If they do not release him DMCA is facing a very real challenge. So I'd like to congratulate to whoever has masterminded this in Adobe. Excellent job. And when DMCA collapses the author should get public recognition. - ===== end (of original message) Y-a*h*o-o (yes, they scan for this) spam follows: Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

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