December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: FBI to inaugurate national DNA database
by Ernest Hua 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I'm not talking about whether the FBI/NSA is setting us up politically; they may very well be doing just that. The point is that we need to win wars by winning battles, but it's hard to win battles by sticking to absolute principles and eventually third parties looking no longer find you credible. If we can stick to pointing out just how similar GAK/KR is to cameras in every bedroom, then we can win the battles and the war. If we just stick to either we get 100% of what we want or we don't want it, then the FBI/NSA can manipulate the public into thinking that we would never agree to anything the FBI/NSA wants. Remember ... we don't have what we want yet ... despite some of the rhetoric on this list, and the FBI/NSA is trying to win a war of attrition. Ern -----Original Message----- From: Brown, R Ken <brownrk1(a)texaco.com> To: cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net <cypherpunks(a)cyberpass.net>; 'Ernest Hua' <hua(a)teralogic-inc.com> Date: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 2:56 AM Subject: RE: FBI to inaugurate national DNA database >> I think it would be a very bad idea for civil liberties >> groups to come out 100% against this. So far all they >> have said is that they intend to log all convicted criminals. >> If the C.L. groups complain about that, then it would be too >> easy for the FBI to turn around and say, "Geez! These guys >> complain about anything and everything we do!" > >I think you are falling for the old bazaar bargaining trick. The guy >wants to sell you a carpet that is worth a shekel. He reckons he can do >you for ten shekels. So he starts the bidding at a hundred and you >think you've done well when you've beaten him down to fifteen. America >is - cypherpunks tell me - a country where people worry about their >social security number being kept on databases, where caller id on >phones can be a hot political issue. This DNA business is far more >intrusive and dangerous than any of that. Don't fall for it! > >Don't fall for the argument that it is only the bad guys who get tagged. >They can define anyone they want as a bad guy. How many people do you >know who have never done anything for which they could be convicted as a >criminal? Never driven a car faster then the speed limit, never smoked >dope, never ridden a bicycle on the pavement, never been drunk in a >public place? To a large extent the set of "convicted criminals" is >governed by police or court decisions rather than by the actions of the >criminals. > >Over here in Britain we've had a long succession of intrusive, abusive >laws promulgated in the name of public safety, law and order, peace on >the streets. The previous government had their absurd "dangerous dogs >act" which became a laughing stock before the ink was dry then their >horrendous and evil "Criminal Justice Bill" with racist provisions >allowing the police to persecute travellers and uttely useless laws >against "music with repetitive beats" not to mention new rules to >control "young offenders, bailed persons, squatters, travellers, >ravers, protesters, trespassers, arrested persons, defendants, >hunt-saboteurs, pornographers, video pirates, obscene telephone-callers, >prisoners, racists, terrorists, ticket touts, cannabis-smokers, serious >fraudsters and not forgetting gay men under 18." > >The current lot aren't as bad, and are certainly more well-intentioned >but they haven't repealed any of the earlier stuff and are, bit by bit, >filling in the few gaps in the wall of regulation and legislation the >Tories built around anyone who wasn't a middle-aged white man who >worked 9 to 5, living in a suburb with a car and a mortgage, who never >went out. > >Our current Home Secretary (cabinet minister with responsibility for >police anong other things) was probably the first person in such a >position in any major country who was brought up by a single mother on a >violent estate (what you'd call a housing project in America) and he >thinks he knows - no he *does* know - what most ordinary people in >environments like that want from life. So he proposes law after law to >make things better, to tell people how they ought to live, all with the >best of intentions. Curfews for children (you ask questions and he will >just come back at you and say "do you *really* think 9-year-old children >should be wandering around on their own at night, or in gangs?" to which >the honest answer is "no, but it's none of your business if they do"). >Compulsory parenting education for parents whose children commit >crimes. A national register of paedophiles - which is made public, so a >couple of convicted child abusers, on being released from jail asked to >be taken back in again because their life wasn't safe outside. Defining >email that goes outside the country as "export" so that writing about >bombs (or cryptography?) can come under the strategic arms export >regulations. And so on. > >And all the while local councils put up cameras in every high street...

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Re: What it's like to get a subpoena (re Toto) (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 21:14:41 +0100 > From: Adam Back <aba(a)dcs.ex.ac.uk> > Subject: Re: What it's like to get a subpoena (re Toto) > Perhaps they lack proof that the message in question was sent to the > list, very little is signed, and Toto surrounded himself with > forgeries. True, there is also the issue of SMTP forgeries. Since there is no host authentication your security is as strong as your trust. His signing the message raises some interesting issues, especialy with the subsequent developments related to signature strength. > Not that it makes much difference that I can see -- the issue is > surely whether CJ wrote the post, and whether the post and the AP > mockup constitutes a credible threat. (That they apparently think > Toto's AP mockup was credible shows a lack of understanding). The officers I talked to in person admitted to not knowing about Bell or AP. Their interest seemed to be related solely to issues about threats to specific individuals or locations within the IRS infrastructure. My impression was that from their perspective this was just another subpeona delivery and interview. They each had a list of questions/notes and they basicly looked to be going down the list and filling in blanks. > I don't see why they're bothering you, I wonder if the other majordomo > operators have received, or shortly will receive similar visits. I raised the same issue with the agent in Seattle via phone. He seemed to comprehend the mundane role a mailing list operator leads, especialy since I don't keep archives nor moderate the traffic. He was at least willing to discuss depositions and such. If luck is on my side they'll let me explain how SSZ works in regards the CDR as well as what Toto/CJ/aka said to me directly via phone and in person. > Perhaps we could send archive URLs to Jeff Gordon. I made sure to explain how to get Cypherpunks archives via Yahoo with the two agents this morning. I also explained the very ad hoc nature of participation in the CDR and why users come and go. I even got to explain how the remailer works by using an example involving a spammer. They were quite clear on what a spammer was and how they distribute traffic. > > Please don't call or send private email requesting further > > details. They didn't ask me to keep any of our discussion > > confidential but until I better understand what is going on I'm > > taking the conservative course (I had a big fight with myself about > > whether to even post this). > > Well thanks for making it. I say make it all public, FWIW. I agree in principle. Now whether particular circumstances will allay their wills to mine is another issue entirely. In particular since I'm going to be testifying before a grand jury in Washington state versus Texas is something that tells me I don't know all the ground rules possibly. Especialy since I can't have a lawyer present during questioning (and I thought the only stipulation with council was a value exceeding $20), that bothers my Constitutional constitution more than I care to admit. ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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New Technologies for Espionage
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

It seems that the "old technologies" are approaching their end. This guy got caught by having too many physical contacts: -- walking into the Soviet embassy (well-known to be under surveillance) -- presumably using dead drops to exchange documents and money -- relying on a physical contact with an unknown person (whom he thought to be KGB, incorrectly) Digital dead drops and digital cash will eventually revolutionize spying. The digital dead drops are here now, though not the digital cash. --Tim May Tuesday October 13 11:49 AM EDT Ex-U.S. Army Analyst Arrested On Spy Charges WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former U.S. Army intelligence analyst has been arrested on charges of spying for Russia by allegedly passing to KGB agents highly classified documents from 1988 to 1991, federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday. They said David Sheldon Boone, who worked for the military's super-secret National Security Agency, was scheduled to appear in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, later Tuesday. According to the criminal complaint, Boone, who was arrested Saturday, began spying in 1988 after he walked into the Soviet embassy in Washington and volunteered his services. He was charged with meeting his Russian handler about four times a year between late 1988 and when he retired from the Army in 1991. Boone allegedly was paid more than $60,000 for the highly sensitive, top-secret documents he gave them. He allegedly gave the Russians documents about the capabilities and movements of Soviet forces and about Soviet tactical nuclear weapons. He also allegedly gave the Russians a document based on information that the National Security Agency, which conducts eavesdropping operations around the world, had intercepted. Boone was arrested after he was contacted in September by an individual who worked on behalf of the FBI, but whom he believed to be a Russian agent. According to the complaint, he had agreed to resume his espionage activities.

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RE: INTERNET STOCKWATCH! I S M R
by wllstrtmore＠digisys.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Company: Internet Stock Market Resources Symbol: I S M R Price: 2 1/4 ($2.25/share) " I S M R is evolving into one of the internet's main financial web portals not unlike E*Trade in its future potential." As a featured stock in both Success and Opportunist magazines and as a content partner with Time Warner's Web TV I S M R is rated a "VERY STRONG BUY". For more information on I S M R go to: http://quote.yahoo.com/ plxII7.

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17 Dec '03

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What it's like to get a subpoena (re Toto)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hi, Just thought I'd pass along the latest news in the Toto/Carl Johnson/aka situation. I was visited by two nicely mannerd IRS agents this morning. We talked for about an hour or so about Cypherpunks, CJ, Austin, majordomo, etc. In the process I was served with a subpoena from the Western District of Washington to appear on Nov. 18, 1998 at 1:15pm in room 311 of the United States Courthouse (5th & Madison, Seattle, 98104). I explained how majordomo works, how to manipulate majordomo to get lists of subscribers (I used the SSZ subscriber list as an example), and described the time in July (I believe) when CJ/Toto/aka visited the local meeting. We also discussed the potential for altering email traffic through a remailer. I've made it clear I have no problems answering their questions but have no desire to go to Seattle in Nov. or any other time. They are looking into whether a deposition given here would be sufficient for their needs. Until then I'm getting ready for a 2-3 day trip to Seattle in Nov..... I'm currently trying to decide whether to scan and post the subpoena on the SSZ webpage. It's interesting that they requested archives of the list. I explained that I didn't archive the Cypherpunks or any of my other lists and that other than minimal configuration issues I don't even archive the OS that runs einstein (as it takes about 2 hours to rebuild from scratch from CD). Please don't call or send private email requesting further details. They didn't ask me to keep any of our discussion confidential but until I better understand what is going on I'm taking the conservative course (I had a big fight with myself about whether to even post this). ____________________________________________________________________ To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. Confucius 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 Value of Anonymous Remailers vs. Abuse Complaints and Abusive Comp
by Pallas Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

fa161f121ec06c2dd5b366ff7460fb12(a)anonymous.poster> >The most frequent request we have been receiving >so far is, in fact, about the idendity of the >originator of the anonymous messages. Some >people are being polite, others are not. >Basically, all the ones who write to abuse(a)*.* >want to know the email address of the one who >has offended/harassed/spammed/blackmailed them. The idea to get across is that that information is not available. The snail mail services in various countries allow anonymous mail, after all, so why should e-mail be any different? People can deposit mail in public mailboxes with no return address on the envelope. People can call from payphones and not have the call traceable back to them. People should also be educated that a From: address, even when attached, cannot be relied upon for accuracy. At least anonymous e-mail lets the recipient know, in advance, that the sender wishes to conceal his/her true identity. >That is, it is true that a very significant % of >all messages which pass thru the mixmaster >network is just trash. > >Comments, anyone? Even "trash" is valuable as cover traffic to thwart traffic analysis, especially in the Mixmaster world where packets are intended to be virtually indistinguishable. Once remailer-operators get involved in value judgements as to which anonymous e-mail transactions have redeeming social value, we have sown the seeds of censorship. We empower the Gary Burnores of the world to censor by intimidation when content neutrality is not maintained. For example, if a certain signal to noise ratio were to be used as a criteria for the validity of the remailer net, then a self-destruct device has just been built into it. An attacker need only inject enough noise to exceed the threshold and bring the network down. Consider the episode last year with Gary Burnore and DataBasix vs. Jeff Burchell and his Mailmasher and Huge Cajones machines. Made-to-order abuse appeared right on cue to reinforce the claims that Burnore and his girlfriend Belinda Bryan had made. And now we've learned the real truth behind the whole episode. While Gary Burnore was living with another girlfriend in Santa Clara, CA, he was also molesting her teenaged daughter. An anonymous whistleblower attempted to warn the girl's mother as well as her school officials by anonymous e-mail. Burnore went ballistic and falsely claimed "harassment". But the whistleblower was ultimately vindicated when Burnore pled guilty to the molestation charge, was placed on probation, and was required to register as a sex offender. Unable to silence the whistleblower, Burnore began a campaign of harassment against the operators of the remailers that were being used to expose him. IOW, if you can't refute the message, shoot the messenger. And if you can't shoot the messenger, attempt to disable his means of communication (the remailers net). I recounted this case history, which can be researched in various usenet archives by anyone interested, just to demonstrate that one man's "harassment" can well be another man's investigative journalism, even if the journalist or whistleblower is not in a position to expose him/herself to retaliation by the wrongdoer, which has been (coincidentally?) reported by virtually anyone who has dared to challenge Gary Burnore publicly.

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The guitar video everybodies talking about
by steelin＠hotmail.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: What it's like to get a subpoena (re Toto)
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I haven't. >I don't see why they're bothering you, I wonder if the other majordomo >operators have received, or shortly will receive similar visits.

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IRS wants cypherpunks archives
by Adam Back 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Jeff, and fellow agents seem to be interested in cypherpunks archives (as evidenced by asking Jim Choate who operates one of the mailing list nodes, but who does _not_ offer archived list traffic). Jeff is Cc'd on this post to be helpful (who says cypherpunks aren't helpful -- you only have to ask). This archive seems to be operational: http://www.inet-one.com/cypherpunks/ And looks to cover the last year or so at least. The one at minder.net says 0 items available: http://www.minder.net/cgi-bin/lwgate.cgi/CYPHERPUNKS/archives/ so something appears wrong with that one (Brian?) and Ryan's sof.mit.edu archive is down still since the disk crash. Are there any others? I do have a reasonable set of archives going back to May '96 in RMAIL format, but am not too keen on mailing them due to bandwidth -- would take a few hours at 28.8k baud. (Also there seem to be some older archives on Remo Pini's crypto CD, but I think they are too old to be of interest to IRS). Adam -- print pack"C*",split/\D+/,`echo "16iII*o\U@{$/=$z;[(pop,pop,unpack"H*",<> )]}\EsMsKsN0[lN*1lK[d2%Sa2/d0<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<J]dsJxp"|dc`

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IP: Tracking: F.B.I.'s new national DNA database
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Tracking: F.B.I.'s new national DNA database Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 02:05:53 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: WorldNetDaily http://www.WorldNetDaily.com/exclusiv/981012_fbis_new_national_d.html F.B.I.'s new national DNA database Secret computer set to open for business The FBI is set open a new national DNA data base tomorrow, The New York Times reports. The data base, with a new generation of forensic DNA techniques, is designed to catch repeat offenders, but civil libertarians fear it will be expanded from people convicted of crimes to include almost everyone, giving the government inordinate investigative powers over citizens. The national DNA data base, housed in a secret location, actually consists of 50 data bases run by the states but unified by common test procedures and software designed by the FBI. As of tomorrow, the Times reports, it will be possible to compare a DNA sample from a suspect or crime scene in one state with all others in the system. © 1998 Western Journalism Center ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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RE: DNA
by Michael Motyka 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> If we had a DNA sample of all world citizens, then the pesky problem > of the whole "it was either O.J. that was the killer or there's a one > in five billion chance it was someone else" would simply disappear. I'm not a biochemist but I don't think that this is accurate right now. I think modern DNA analysis yields data that bear more resemblance to a spectrum than anything else. In this case there is always a good possibility for error. Remember how large a project the Human Genome thing is? That is an actual sequencing project. ***** Rather than use this technology for law enforcement why not really try to make a Tyrannosaurus? That would seem to be a higher use. ***** When this new FBI project gets established just watch how wide a net they cast when defining who will be compelled to submit a sample! Then we'll have some crooked fuck selling info to the insurance companies. Or it will be legislated by the other crooked fucks. And pattern analysis will identify the guilty before they even think about committing an offense. Hell, they'll probably be able to ID the bad ones from samples coerced/stolen at birth and then all future opportunity and resource allocation will be effectively decided by the government, inc. Compromise? If this thing is not implemented with strict controls defining the type of offenses included then it is as offensive a totalitarian tool as anything else discussed on this list Mike Is there perhaps a good point to getting everybody in the country on this DNA database? Could it be that a single sample of DNA can be used to produce a large supply of that DNA which could then be used to fabricate evidence? You might say that the existence of the fabrication technology and the availability of seed material invalidates the evidence.

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IP: ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 00:10:29 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Monday October 12, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: ABCNews.com, October 8, 1998 http://www.abcnews.com Privacy on the Line http://www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/wiretap981006.html Law enforcement and privacy advocates are battling over wiretapping boundaries in the digital age. By Michael Martinez ABCNEWS.com The FBI wants to be able to tap your cell phone. And it wants your phone company to pay for the privilege of allowing the FBI to tap your cell phone. That, at least, is the contention of privacy advocates and of the telephone industry, which is under federal mandate to open all new telecommunications technologies to wiretap access. Under the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act, telecommunications companies are required provide wiretap capabilities for all of their new systems. Passed by Congress in 1994, CALEA mandated that telecommunications companies comply with access requirements by Oct. 25 of this year. That deadline, however, has been pushed back until June 2000 by the Federal Communications Commission as it tries to sort out just what the FBI is entitled to, and how much reimbursement telecom companies should get. Originally, CALEA set aside $500 million to pay for infrastructure upgrades on systems installed prior to Jan. 1, 1995. The United States Telephone Association and other industry groups want that cutoff point extended until 2000 as well, so that current systems are covered. Voice Mail for Dope Dealers? The telecommunications industry has introduced a wide range of popular and profitable services in recent years, everything from prepaid calling cards to Internet telephony to three-way calling. Cellular phones have become nearly ubiquitous, and newer models are almost entirely digital. Many customers have turned to third party voice-mail systems for message services. When most of these systems were designed and implemented, no thought was given to allowing federal or local law enforcement agencies access. The FBI says its entitled to access these services under current wiretap laws. Privacy advocates disagree. The FBI has been trying to use CALEA to greatly expand its surveillance capabilities in ways never anticipated by Congress when it passed the law, contends Barry Steinhardt, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The telephone companies also disagree, at least in principle. More important, if forced by the government to comply, they want the federal government to pay for the technology necessary to make it happen. The FBI claims that a compromise proposal by the USTA, which represents local telephone companies, was too narrow, and excluded many of the technological advances that have made law enforcements job more difficult. There have been situations in which weve obtained permission to wiretap, and weve been frustrated by the technology, says Stephen Colgate, assistant U.S. attorney general for administration. And the criminals know it. Things like voice mail and prepaid calling cards, these are the things used by the dope dealer or the bomb maker. The Communications Haystack The USTA, however, says the FBI is overreaching by including services not covered by the original law. The rules the FBI put forth in CALEA dont follow the intent of Congress, says Michelle Tober, communications manager for the USTA. If the FBI wants this capability, it has to be granted to them by the FCC or under a new law by Congress. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have petitioned the FCC to limit law enforcements ability to gain access to new telecommunications services. The problem with a wiretap is that its a general search, Steinhardt says. Only one in six conversations that are recorded are criminal in nature. Increasing law enforcements powers will mean more conversations recorded that have no bearing on investigations. Were giving them the power to find a needle in a haystack. The FBI defends its proposed rules, saying that they still fall under the original law allowing wiretaps, and that privacy will still be protected by the judiciary system. We still have to go before the judge. We still have to justify the invasion of privacy in the courts, Colgate says. Were not lowering the bar by any means. This industry has been investing significant amounts of capital into the infrastructure, and weve been losing (wiretap) capability steadily. Copyright (c)1998 ABCNEWS and Starwave Corporation. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you value in the ISPI Clips service or if you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Clips Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Clips Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: Tracking: NYT on FBI's Nat'l DNA Database
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Tracking: NYT on FBI's Nat'l DNA Database Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 03:10:00 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/dna-data-base.html October 12, 1998 F.B.I. Set to Begin Using National DNA Database By NICHOLAS WADE In a computer at a secret location, the FBI will open a national DNA database on Tuesday that advocates say could significantly reduce rape and other crimes by helping to catch repeat offenders earlier. The data base, with a new generation of forensic DNA techniques, promises to be so efficient that some civil libertarians fear it will be expanded from people convicted of crimes to include almost everyone, giving the government inordinate investigative powers over citizens. The national DNA data base consists of 50 data bases run by the states but unified by common test procedures and software designed by the FBI. As of Tuesday, it will be possible to compare a DNA sample from a suspect or crime scene in one state with all others in the system. The national data base has been nearly a decade in the making. The final pieces fell into place in June when Rhode Island became the last state to set up a DNA data base. But the system still faces many unresolved issues, which are likely to play out according to the reaction from the public and the courts. One such issue is what types of offenders should be included. Another is whether the mass screening of suspects' DNA will prove constitutional. DNA, the chemical that embodies a person's genetic programming, can be found almost everywhere. People shed a constant torrent of dead skin cells. Criminals leave blood when breaking and entering; they shed hair and skin cells in fights, deposit saliva on glasses and leave sweat stains in head bands. From only a few cells in such sources, enough DNA can be extracted to identify the owner. A DNA database of sufficient size could presumably help solve many crimes. The crime-fighting potential of DNA data bases is becoming evident from the experiences of Britain, which started earlier and has had fewer administrative and constitutional hurdles to overcome. The data base there initially focused on sex offenses but has spread to include burglaries and car theft because of the high number of DNA matches that police forces were obtaining. Moreover, there was considerable crossover at least in Britain, among different kinds of offenses. "People who commit serious crime very often have convictions for petty crime in their history, so if you could get them on the data base early you may prevent serious crime," said David Werrett, manager of the DNA data base for England and Wales. The English DNA data base includes entries from crime scenes and from everyone convicted of a crime, as well as from suspects in unresolved cases. Since the system's debut in 1995, it has matched 28,000 people to crime scenes and has made 6,000 links between crime scenes. The data base now holds 360,000 entries and Werrett said he expected it would eventually include one third of all English men between 16 and 30, the principal ages for committing crimes. Werrett said that the data base has grown because police forces in England, which pay $55 for a DNA analysis, are finding it cost effective. Recently the Police Superintendents Association called for the entire population to be DNA tested. Forensic use of DNA in the United States is unlikely to go as fast or as far as in Britain. "Their system makes a tremendous amount of sense the way they approach it, but in the United States we have a different perspective on privacy and on the extent to which we would be willing to depend on a data base," said Christopher Asplen, executive director of the national Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence. One major privacy safeguard in the FBI's system is that only a minute fraction of a person's genetic endowment becomes part of the data base. Under a new DNA profiling system known as STR's, for short tandem repeats, a person's DNA is tested at 13 specific sites at which a short length of DNA is repeated in a kind of stutter. The number of repeats is highly variable from one person to another, so that measuring the number of repeats at the 13 designated sites gives a way of identifying each individual with a probability of one in several billion. The blood or other samples donated by individuals are retained by the states in collections known as DNA banks. All that goes into the computerized DNA data bases is the set of 13 numbers from the STR measurements. Only identifying information, and nothing about a person's health or appearance, can be divined from the STR's. Access to the DNA data base is permitted only for law enforcement purposes, with a $100,000 fine for unauthorized disclosures. No known breaches of the system have occurred. One major unresolved issue is that of the types of offenders from whom DNA profiles should be taken. All states require people convicted of serious sexual offenses to donate blood samples, but differ on requiring samples from other groups such as people convicted of violent felonies, juvenile offenders and parolees. Four states -- Virginia, Wyoming, New Mexico and Alabama -- require all people convicted of a felony to provide samples for DNA profiling. Louisiana allows DNA to be taken from people merely arrested in a crime, a practice that has not been tested in the courts. State laws establishing DNA data bases have been challenged in 13 jurisdictions and have been upheld in all but one, in Massachusetts. Some states have revised their original legislation to add offenses. "I think the trend is that 10 years from now all felonies will be covered," said M. Dawn Herkenham, chief of the FBI's Forensic Science Systems Unit in Washington. "We recommend that all violent felonies, burglaries, juveniles and retroactivity for people on parole be included." >From his office in Birmingham, England, last week, Werrett said, "Today we have issued matches on three murders, five rapes, nine serious robberies, two abductions and two violent burglaries." No state DNA data base has acquired the critical mass to furnish such a hit rate. Many state laboratories are understaffed and have large backlogs of DNA samples to analyze. The backlogs are particularly worrisome in the case of rapes where specimens may lie unanalyzed while the rapist assaults more victims. "People may be appalled to know how many rape suspect kits are out there untouched," Ms. Herkenham of the FBI said. "The hit ratio depends on whether we can go back and examine all the evidence that comes in the door," said Dr. Barry Duceman, director of biological science in the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany. "We are trying to address a crushing case backlog and to get the technology on line -- you'd be hard pressed to say we are overstaffed." The case backlog problem is compounded because state laboratories are switching to the STR method of DNA profiling from an older method of analysis called RFLP (for restriction fragment length polymorphism). All the samples analyzed by RFLP must be redone by STR if they are to be searchable in the new data base. When these teething problems are overcome, many experts believe that the state and national DNA data base systems may have a significant effect, particularly in reducing crimes like rape that often involve repeat offenders. By scoring a "cold hit" between crime scene data and a person, DNA data bases can be particularly effective in solving cases with no suspects. "Once we get that infrastructure in place and start getting those hits, the benefits will lead to higher utilization," Asplen said. But like other experts involved with DNA testing, he expressed concern that DNA profiling be developed in a publicly acceptable way. "The public does need to have a trust level with this and be assured that law enforcement is not going to abuse this powerful tool," he said. One practice likely to raise eyebrows, if not hackles, is mass screening, which is widely used in the United Kingdom but not yet commonplace here. In high profile crime cases, police in Britain often ask, and can require, all members of a town or building to give DNA samples so as to prove themselves guiltless and help narrow the search for the culprit. The National Commission on the Future of DNA Testing is examining under what circumstances the donation of samples can be considered voluntary. In an office, where employees who declined to donate a sample might be fired, a police request for DNA might be coercive. A future use of DNA testing is that of phenotypic analysis. It will soon be technically possible to infer from the genes in a person's DNA many probable aspects of their appearance, such as hair, skin and eye color. Werrett said the main problem with such predictions would lie in training police to understand their probabilistic nature: told there is a 90 percent chance that the suspect has red hair, investigators should not ignore the 10 percent chance that he does not. DNA reveals so much about a person that behavioral geneticists might wish to search through state data banks for genetic variants linked to criminal behavior. Most states say their DNA data banks can be accessed only for law enforcement purposes, like the data bases. But Alabama authorizes the use of its samples for "educational research or medical research or development," an apparent invitation to genetic inquiry. An impending issue is whether states should retain their DNA samples once the information has been entered into the DNA data base. Forensic managers like to retain samples as a hedge against changing technology. Others say the DNA sample banks create an opportunity for abuse, and that if there is another change in technology the government should just rebuild its data base from scratch. Because DNA can be found at so many crime scenes, DNA data bases promise to be powerful aids in catching criminals. But what thrills forensic experts tends to chill civil libertarians. "The DNA data base started out with pariahs -- the sex offenders -- but has already been enlarged to include other felons and will probably be extended to include everyone, giving elites the power to control 'unruly' citizens," said Philip Bereano a professor of technology and public policy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Eric Juengst, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a member of the FBI's DNA Advisory Board, said the original policy in setting up the DNA data base was that it was "suitable only for our most serious category of criminals," and that it would be a breach of that policy to expand its scope. The risks raised by Bereano are worth watching, Juengst said, "but as a society we have to learn how to control powerful tools of all kinds, like nuclear power. I don't see it as an endless slippery slope." Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: "The Billion Dollar Terror Rumor"
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: "The Billion Dollar Terror Rumor" Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 06:31:30 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Salon Magazine http://www.salonmagazine.com/news/1998/10/08newsa.html The billion-dollar rumor How unsubstantiated reports that the World Trade bombers may have included nerve gas in their arsenal led to some pretty pricey public policy. BY JEFF STEIN It began as rumor, then became fact. Fact became alarm. And alarm led to a rallying cry for a multimillion-dollar federal program that has now itself ricocheted out of control. Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Clinton? No, it's the federal budget for countering a doomsday attack by terrorists armed with chemical and biological weapons. The rumor in this case was that terrorists had put deadly sodium cyanide into the monstrous February 1993 World Trade Center bomb that killed six people, injured more than 1,000, blasted a seven-story hole underneath the twin towers and created panic in the streets of lower Manhattan. The blast should have turned any sodium cyanide present into hydrogen cyanide, unleashing a poisonous cloud that could have instantly killed hundreds or thousands more people. That is, had any sodium cyanide been there. According to a thorough, as yet unpublished study of the incident by an arms-control think tank at the Monterey Institute for International Studies, there is no evidence to support the long-swirling assertion, which first surfaced in the solemn pronouncement of a respected federal judge in 1994. The rumor then made its way into scores of newspaper articles and was cited by leading U.S. senators to support anti-terrorist initiatives that have amounted to billions of dollars, many of them unaccounted for, according to a recent investigation by congressional auditors. John Parachini, a senior associate at the Monterey Institute, made a draft of the study available after being contacted by Salon. Word of his findings has been circulating in the community of Washington terrorism experts. "I'm not against spending money for defending against chemical and biological weapons," Parachini said in an interview, "but we ought to know why we're spending for it, and to get the facts straight." In his study, Parachini noted that the World Trade Center bombers considered using chemical weapons, but did not -- an important fact for government terrorism specialists to ponder. "Examining the motivations and behaviors of terrorists who would have used a chemical weapon if it was available, but did not, may offer important lessons about how to thwart such attacks in the future," he writes. Parachini traced the origins of the cyanide gas story to the first trial of World Trade Center bombers in 1994, when federal prosecutors raised the specter of a chemical bomb, no doubt to darken the jury's view of the defendants. The theme was picked up by presiding federal Judge Kevin Duffy in his sentencing statement to the stone-faced defendants. "You had sodium cyanide around, and I'm sure it was in the bomb," the judge intoned. "Thank God the sodium cyanide burned instead of vaporizing. If the sodium cyanide had vaporized, it is clear what would have happened is the cyanide gas would have been sucked into the north tower and everybody in the north tower would have been killed. That to my mind is exactly what was intended." The judge may have been "sure it was in the bomb," but the defendants were never even charged under anti-terrorism statutes that make mere possession of potential chemical and biological weapons a federal crime, Parachini noted. The rumor's origins date back to an earlier raid by the FBI of a New Jersey storage shed rented by the suspects. The agents found one sealed bottle of sodium cyanide in aqueous form. Aqueous sodium cyanide is used for photographic purposes and can cost less than $3 per pound, Parachini noted in his study, after consulting chemical experts. But it is sodium cyanide in solid form, usually briquettes costing many hundreds of dollars more, that can be effective as a chemical weapon when it's converted to hydrogen cyanide gas by a blast. Nevertheless, the federal prosecutor in the initial World Trade Center trial raised the idea of a chemical bomb when questioning a senior FBI official, Steven Burmeister, about the consequences of mixing sodium cyanide with other chemicals present in the bomb. Burmeister testified that "if you breathe that gas I'm afraid you've breathed your last breath." Despite this "chilling testimony," however, "Burmeister never suggested during the trial that his investigation had led him to believe that the bomb actually contained sodium cyanide," Parachini writes -- and the trial transcript proves. In addition, an FBI chemist who participated in the case told Parachini flatly, "There is no forensic evidence indicating the presence of sodium cyanide at the bomb site." Judge Duffy's statement to the contrary, however, gave legs to the notion that the defendants had made -- or tried to make -- a chemical bomb. No less an authority than Maj. Gen. George Friel, the former head of the U.S. Army's Chemical and Biological Defense Command, told Gannett News Service that the World Trade Center bombers may have attempted to mix a toxic agent -- most likely arsenic -- with the bomb they planted in the garage of the building. That was a new one to federal investigators. Neither FBI agents nor prosecutors mentioned arsenic as a bomb ingredient in the trial. Despite the nonexistent evidence, however, Judge Duffy's charge was taken up by two influential senators, Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who called it "a warning bell." "The trial judge at the sentencing of those responsible for the World Trade Center bombing pointed out that the killers in that case had access to chemicals to make lethal cyanide gas ... and probably put those chemicals into that bomb that exploded," Nunn said during a 1996 floor debate on a multibillion-dollar bill aimed at bolstering U.S. defenses against weapons of mass destruction. Lugar also cited Judge Duffy's statement as evidence of "how close we have come to witnessing acts of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction directed toward the United States." He urged his Senate colleagues to "listen to Judge Duffy," and compared the World Trade Center bomb to both the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by Japanese cultists and the placement of a radioactive package in a Moscow park. The media were next to pick up Duffy's theme. One typical story, in the Los Angeles Times in July 1996, stated, "The World Trade Center bombers had sodium cyanide, which if used ... would have released poison gas, vastly increasing the fatalities in New York, intelligence officials said." Syndicated columnist Trudy Rubin cited Judge Duffy in the course of applauding "some farsighted lawmakers trying to confront the unthinkable." The Nunn-Lugar bill, which included $235 million for training local "first responders" to a chemical or biological attack, passed 100-0. But that was merely the gateway to a mushrooming federal anti-terrorism crusade that now costs upwards of $1 billion a year -- and perhaps twice that, according to some experts -- and that last week led to the creation of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which will "spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research for better sensors and technology to detect biological and chemical weapons," according to the Associated Press. Counter-terrorism may be the magic word for funding programs in Washington today, but a withering audit by the General Accounting Office has raised questions about where the money is going: "More money is being spent to combat terrorism without any assurance of whether it is focused in the right programs or in the right amounts,'' said Richard Davis, a GAO auditor specializing in weapons of mass destruction. "Billions of dollars are being spent by numerous agencies with roles or potential roles in combating terrorism, but because no federal entity has been tasked to collect such information across the government, the specific amount is unknown,'' the GAO said in its most recent report on terrorism. "Further, no government-wide spending priorities for the various aspects of combating terrorism have been set.'' Meanwhile, past studies have cautioned that while chemical or biological weapons may be cheaper and easier to make than nuclear bombs, terrorists have shied away from using them. Despite past allegations, neither the Red Army Faction, the Beider-Meinhof Gang nor the Weather Underground ever used them, Parachini concluded. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the World Trade Center blast, made the point himself while flying back in custody from Pakistan, where he was captured in 1996, the Monterey Institute study notes. "Yousef ... revealed to U.S. Secret Service agent Brian Parr that the WTC bomb did not contain sodium cyanide or any other poison, but that he had planned to use 'hydrogen cyanide in some other form of a bomb, not as large a bomb, but a different type of bomb to disperse that [poison] in the Trade Center,'" the study says. "Yousef told Parr that he had decided not to take this approach because 'it was going to be too expensive to implement.'" The judge may have been "sure it was in the bomb," but the defendants were never even charged under anti-terrorism statutes that make mere possession of potential chemical and biological weapons a federal crime, Parachini noted. The rumor's origins date back to an earlier raid by the FBI of a New Jersey storage shed rented by the suspects. The agents found one sealed bottle of sodium cyanide in aqueous form. Aqueous sodium cyanide is used for photographic purposes and can cost less than $3 per pound, Parachini noted in his study, after consulting chemical experts. But it is sodium cyanide in solid form, usually briquettes costing many hundreds of dollars more, that can be effective as a chemical weapon when it's converted to hydrogen cyanide gas by a blast. Nevertheless, the federal prosecutor in the initial World Trade Center trial raised the idea of a chemical bomb when questioning a senior FBI official, Steven Burmeister, about the consequences of mixing sodium cyanide with other chemicals present in the bomb. Burmeister testified that "if you breathe that gas I'm afraid you've breathed your last breath." Despite this "chilling testimony," however, "Burmeister never suggested during the trial that his investigation had led him to believe that the bomb actually contained sodium cyanide," Parachini writes -- and the trial transcript proves. In addition, an FBI chemist who participated in the case told Parachini flatly, "There is no forensic evidence indicating the presence of sodium cyanide at the bomb site." Judge Duffy's statement to the contrary, however, gave legs to the notion that the defendants had made -- or tried to make -- a chemical bomb. No less an authority than Maj. Gen. George Friel, the former head of the U.S. Army's Chemical and Biological Defense Command, told Gannett News Service that the World Trade Center bombers may have attempted to mix a toxic agent -- most likely arsenic -- with the bomb they planted in the garage of the building. That was a new one to federal investigators. Neither FBI agents nor prosecutors mentioned arsenic as a bomb ingredient in the trial. Despite the nonexistent evidence, however, Judge Duffy's charge was taken up by two influential senators, Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sam Nunn, D-Ga., who called it "a warning bell." "The trial judge at the sentencing of those responsible for the World Trade Center bombing pointed out that the killers in that case had access to chemicals to make lethal cyanide gas ... and probably put those chemicals into that bomb that exploded," Nunn said during a 1996 floor debate on a multibillion-dollar bill aimed at bolstering U.S. defenses against weapons of mass destruction. Lugar also cited Judge Duffy's statement as evidence of "how close we have come to witnessing acts of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction directed toward the United States." He urged his Senate colleagues to "listen to Judge Duffy," and compared the World Trade Center bomb to both the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by Japanese cultists and the placement of a radioactive package in a Moscow park. The media were next to pick up Duffy's theme. One typical story, in the Los Angeles Times in July 1996, stated, "The World Trade Center bombers had sodium cyanide, which if used ... would have released poison gas, vastly increasing the fatalities in New York, intelligence officials said." Syndicated columnist Trudy Rubin cited Judge Duffy in the course of applauding "some farsighted lawmakers trying to confront the unthinkable." The Nunn-Lugar bill, which included $235 million for training local "first responders" to a chemical or biological attack, passed 100-0. But that was merely the gateway to a mushrooming federal anti-terrorism crusade that now costs upwards of $1 billion a year -- and perhaps twice that, according to some experts -- and that last week led to the creation of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which will "spend hundreds of millions of dollars in research for better sensors and technology to detect biological and chemical weapons," according to the Associated Press. Counter-terrorism may be the magic word for funding programs in Washington today, but a withering audit by the General Accounting Office has raised questions about where the money is going: "More money is being spent to combat terrorism without any assurance of whether it is focused in the right programs or in the right amounts,'' said Richard Davis, a GAO auditor specializing in weapons of mass destruction. "Billions of dollars are being spent by numerous agencies with roles or potential roles in combating terrorism, but because no federal entity has been tasked to collect such information across the government, the specific amount is unknown,'' the GAO said in its most recent report on terrorism. "Further, no government-wide spending priorities for the various aspects of combating terrorism have been set.'' Meanwhile, past studies have cautioned that while chemical or biological weapons may be cheaper and easier to make than nuclear bombs, terrorists have shied away from using them. Despite past allegations, neither the Red Army Faction, the Beider-Meinhof Gang nor the Weather Underground ever used them, Parachini concluded. Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the convicted mastermind of the World Trade Center blast, made the point himself while flying back in custody from Pakistan, where he was captured in 1996, the Monterey Institute study notes. "Yousef ... revealed to U.S. Secret Service agent Brian Parr that the WTC bomb did not contain sodium cyanide or any other poison, but that he had planned to use 'hydrogen cyanide in some other form of a bomb, not as large a bomb, but a different type of bomb to disperse that [poison] in the Trade Center,'" the study says. "Yousef told Parr that he had decided not to take this approach because 'it was going to be too expensive to implement.'" SALON | Oct. 8, 1998 Jeff Stein covers national security issues for Salon. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: Fw: Every word on the Internet is recorded for ALL time
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Jon Roland <jon.roland(a)constitution.org> Subject: IP: Fw: Every word on the Internet is recorded for ALL time Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 17:09:43 -0800 To: "C.Bryson Hull" <cbryson(a)hotmail.com>, misc-activism-militia(a)moderators.uu.net ------------------------ From: "Adolph V. Stankus" <Adolph(a)Stankus.com> Subject: Every word on the Internet is recorded for ALL time Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 15:13:34 -0700 To: A Message For You <Adolph(a)Stankus.com> http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-10/11/129l-101198-idx.ht ml Washington Post, Sunday, October 11, 1998; Page C01 Your Past Is Your Future, Web-Wise By Joseph D. Lasica SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.-Our past now follows us as never before. For centuries, refugees sailed the Atlantic to start new lives. Easterners pulled up stakes and went west to California. Today, however, reinvention comes less easily and second chances seem more remote. You may leave town, but your electronic shadow stays behind, as anyone who has ventured onto the Internet well knows. We often view the Internet as a communication medium or an information-retrieval tool, but it's also a powerful archiving medium that takes snapshots of our digital lives--which can be stored forever. It's not just official documents or consumer profiles about us that are being collected, but the very essence of our daily online existence: Our political opinions, prejudices, religious beliefs, sexual tastes and personal quirks are all becoming part of an immense media goop that is congealing into a permanent public record. What is different about the digital archiving phenomenon is that our beliefs, habits and indiscretions are being preserved for anyone to see--friends, relatives, rivals, lovers, neighbors, bosses, landlords, and even obsessed stalkers. Take all those ordinary Web pages that many of us have created in a burst of enthusiasm with the new medium. People assume that their home pages disappear once they pull the plug. Not necessarily. Sure, browsers and search engines give you a "404: File Not Found" message when you call up outdated Web pages. But those pages live on in other electronic nooks and crannies. Since 1986, the Internet Archive, a kind of digital warehouse, has been trolling the Web and hoarding everything it comes across--text, images, sound clips. Every two months, it scoops up the entire Web and stores the results on its virtual shelves. It has preserved my expired site, and it may well have yours. Similarly, postings to the Internet's 33,000 news groups may fall off the edge of Usenet after a week or so, but they live on in databases such as Deja News and the Internet Archive. Marie Coady, a freelance writer in Woburn, Mass., was appalled to discover that her posts to online-news, a small, cozy listserv of 1,350 news professionals, was available to anyone through dozens of search engines on the Web. "I consider it an invasion of privacy to have words typed in response to a query chiseled in stone," she said. "In light of our litigious society, it could be dangerous to post any message at all." Many moderators post occasional notices about a list's public archiving policy. But not all do, and few users read the fine print, anyway. "The odd thing is, we perceive the Net as a conversation and not as public record, and it turns out to be public record to a larger extent than people are aware of," said Bruce Schneier, a cryptography consultant and co-editor of "The Electronic Privacy Papers," a 1997 book. "You can easily imagine in 20 years a candidate being asked about a conversation he had in a chat room while he was in college. We're becoming a world where everything is recorded." Beyond the question of informed consent lie larger questions: Should all of this electronic flotsam and jetsam be archived in the first place? What are the consequences for us if our digital footprints survive indefinitely? Who should decide whether they do survive? The answers are hardly comforting, especially for those given to strong displays of emotion or opinion online. "We're now entering an era where tens of millions of people are speaking on the record without any understanding of what it means to speak on the record, and that's certainly unprecedented," says David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. "It is suddenly becoming impossible to escape your past." Your children and grandchildren not yet born will be able to reconstruct a record of your digital life--not just the good stuff but also the best-forgotten postings to alt.sex.fish or rec.nude. The Web shrine you once erected to an old flame, with its hyperventilating vows of eternal devotion, may give pause to a new lover in your life. The union solidarity page you put up at your first job--years before you were bucking for senior management--may come back to haunt your efforts to get a promotion. And who would have predicted that your Senate candidacy would go down in flames when your political opponent uncovered the image-rich homage to porn star Ashlyn Gere you posted in college? Most people don't have posterity in mind when they fire off notes or post Web pages. Observes Schneier: "When you're in college and posting things online, you're young and immortal and you don't think about the impact your words will have five minutes from now, much less five, 10 or 20 years down the road." We can already see the outlines of this new world. When you apply for a job in the high-tech sector, there's a fair chance your prospective employer will use a search engine to scout out your online postings, from late-night musings to intemperate rants fired off to a political news group. Would an employer's decision be colored by information that has nothing to do with a candidate's job qualifications, such as your out-of-the-mainstream religious beliefs, sexual orientation, HIV status or personal habits? Absolutely, and without apology. After all, "character" counts, too. Federal law makes it a crime for agencies to compare most digital information about U.S. citizens, points out Fred Cate, a law professor at Indiana University and author of "Privacy in the Information Age." But nothing prevents private companies or individuals from doing so. Criminal convictions, driving records, property records and voter registration records might be available with a few keystrokes. Should employers, neighbors and descendants not yet born be able to poke around in the digital attic for information about you? Cate believes there are good reasons why we shouldn't be so concerned. "It's the democratizing of Big Brother, and that's not such a bad thing," he says. "You can find out as much about your boss as he can about you. I'm not really happy that someone down the hall can follow me and make a database about me, but that's the way it is in the digital age. If your feelings get bruised, tough. If the information's true and not distorted, then you're stuck with the things you said online years ago. I don't see this as a privacy issue." Perhaps not in the narrowest sense. But if every online expression becomes fodder for somebody's professional, personal or political agenda, clearly we lose certain freedoms of expression in the bargain. Do you really want to live next door to Big Brother, even a more democratic one? Sobel says, "If you define privacy as the right of individuals to control information about themselves--as we do--then mega-archiving systems clearly raise significant privacy issues. These systems convert every passing thought and contemporaneous musing into a permanent, retrievable record--without, in many cases, the knowledge or consent of the creator." Even Brewster Kahle, who founded the nonprofit Internet Archive (www.archive.org) and its commercial offshoot, Alexa Internet (www.aorg) says, "There are some tricky issues here. A lot of this material is public, but is it really meant to endure?" What Kahle is doing is nothing less than astonishing. Alexa's 32 employees, working in a century-old building in San Francisco's Presidio, sends out "spiders" to crawl the Web and Usenet and store the text, video and audio on a digital jukebox tape drive. It takes about two months to capture all 300 million publicly accessible Web pages. So far they've scooped up 10 terabytes of content, or 10 trillion bytes. Kahle says he launched his project because "we need to preserve our digital heritage. Unless we start saving it, every passing day we're losing the record of one of the great turning points in human history." His Internet Archive and Alexa have drawn widespread praise from academics, historians and Net luminaries concerned that the Web's pioneer days may soon become irretrievably lost. For researchers and scholars, it's a field day. For the rest of us, it's a mixed blessing. Sobel points out that individuals can't even prevent private indiscretions from winding up as part of the Internet's global voyeurism machine. "I just got a phone call from a distraught mother whose 16-year-old daughter's ex-boyfriend posted nude photos of her on the Web. The photos were consensual when they were taken. So suddenly it's part of the public domain, and even if the mother persuades him to take them down, he may no longer have control over how long this stuff is out there. This teenage girl may have to live with that for the rest of her life." Kahle offers another example: "The president's personal home page is probably in our archives now--the person who'll become president in 20 or 30 years. You know that he or she is the kind of person who already has a Web page up in college." Are we condemned, then, to a future where journalists will pore over every online college-age musing of a prospective president? It appears that way. "I'm still struggling with the issues raised by this," Sobel says. "We need a public debate to redefine the concepts of what should be private and public. Should anyone be able to type your name into a search engine and come up with public records about your private life? What good are laws that expunge a crime from your record if the old records remain accessible to anyone on the Net? What about information that's misleading, inaccurate, or that you had no idea was out there in cyberspace?" Kahle is well aware of the debate, and he's working with legal experts, historians and privacy advocates to determine the best way to make archived material available. "I used to be very oriented toward privacy, trying to keep track of who knows what about me," he said. "I've become less fanatical about it, because I find that it's more valuable to be found than for me to be obscure. For those who don't want to be found, we should let them be." One may well ask: Do we have that option anymore? As the Net becomes ubiquitous, its underlying essence of interconnectedness and community come with a price: the loss of anonymity. We are being drawn forcibly, inexorably, into the global town square. That is no reason to avoid the Internet (as if we could!). It is becoming inextricably woven into the fabric of our everyday lives. As it should be, for the Net is a gift, connecting us with like-minded individuals around the world and allowing us to interact in soul-stirring ways. But we need to be aware that our digital footprints are permanent ones. Once, words were spoken and vanished like vapor in the air. No longer. Our pasts are etched like a tattoo into our digital skins. For better or worse, we're no longer a people who can reinvent ourselves. Joseph Lasica writes frequently about new media. (c) Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company ---------------End of Original Message----------------- =================================================================== Constitution Society, 1731 Howe Av #370, Sacramento, CA 95825 916/568-1022, 916/450-7941VM Date: 10/12/98 Time: 17:09:43 http://www.constitution.org/ mailto:jon.roland@constitution.org =================================================================== ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: ISPI Clips 5.35: F.B.I. Set to Begin Using National DNA Database
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 5.35: F.B.I. Set to Begin Using National DNA Database Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 00:39:34 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 5.35: F.B.I. Set to Begin Using National DNA Database News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Tuesday October 13, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: The New York Times, October 12, 1998 http://www.nytimes.com F.B.I. Set to Begin Using National DNA Database http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/dna-data-base.html "The DNA data base started out with pariahs -- the sex offenders -- but has already been enlarged to include other felons and will probably be extended to include everyone, giving elites the power to control 'unruly' citizens." By NICHOLAS WADE n a computer at a secret location, the FBI will open a national DNA database on Tuesday that advocates say could significantly reduce rape and other crimes by helping to catch repeat offenders earlier. The data base, with a new generation of forensic DNA techniques, promises to be so efficient that some civil libertarians fear it will be expanded from people convicted of crimes to include almost everyone, giving the government inordinate investigative powers over citizens. The national DNA data base consists of 50 data bases run by the states but unified by common test procedures and software designed by the FBI. As of Tuesday, it will be possible to compare a DNA sample from a suspect or crime scene in one state with all others in the system. The national data base has been nearly a decade in the making. The final pieces fell into place in June when Rhode Island became the last state to set up a DNA data base. But the system still faces many unresolved issues, which are likely to play out according to the reaction from the public and the courts. One such issue is what types of offenders should be included. Another is whether the mass screening of suspects' DNA will prove constitutional. DNA, the chemical that embodies a person's genetic programming, can be found almost everywhere. People shed a constant torrent of dead skin cells. Criminals leave blood when breaking and entering; they shed hair and skin cells in fights, deposit saliva on glasses and leave sweat stains in head bands. From only a few cells in such sources, enough DNA can be extracted to identify the owner. A DNA database of sufficient size could presumably help solve many crimes. The crime-fighting potential of DNA data bases is becoming evident from the experiences of Britain, which started earlier and has had fewer administrative and constitutional hurdles to overcome. The data base there initially focused on sex offenses but has spread to include burglaries and car theft because of the high number of DNA matches that police forces were obtaining. Moreover, there was considerable crossover at least in Britain, among different kinds of offenses. "People who commit serious crime very often have convictions for petty crime in their history, so if you could get them on the data base early you may prevent serious crime," said David Werrett, manager of the DNA data base for England and Wales. The English DNA data base includes entries from crime scenes and from everyone convicted of a crime, as well as from suspects in unresolved cases. Since the system's debut in 1995, it has matched 28,000 people to crime scenes and has made 6,000 links between crime scenes. The data base now holds 360,000 entries and Werrett said he expected it would eventually include one third of all English men between 16 and 30, the principal ages for committing crimes. Werrett said that the data base has grown because police forces in England, which pay $55 for a DNA analysis, are finding it cost effective. Recently the Police Superintendents Association called for the entire population to be DNA tested. Forensic use of DNA in the United States is unlikely to go as fast or as far as in Britain. "Their system makes a tremendous amount of sense the way they approach it, but in the United States we have a different perspective on privacy and on the extent to which we would be willing to depend on a data base," said Christopher Asplen, executive director of the national Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence. One major privacy safeguard in the FBI's system is that only a minute fraction of a person's genetic endowment becomes part of the data base. Under a new DNA profiling system known as STR's, for short tandem repeats, a person's DNA is tested at 13 specific sites at which a short length of DNA is repeated in a kind of stutter. The number of repeats is highly variable from one person to another, so that measuring the number of repeats at the 13 designated sites gives a way of identifying each individual with a probability of one in several billion. The blood or other samples donated by individuals are retained by the states in collections known as DNA banks. All that goes into the computerized DNA data bases is the set of 13 numbers from the STR measurements. Only identifying information, and nothing about a person's health or appearance, can be divined from the STR's. Access to the DNA data base is permitted only for law enforcement purposes, with a $100,000 fine for unauthorized disclosures. No known breaches of the system have occurred. One major unresolved issue is that of the types of offenders from whom DNA profiles should be taken. All states require people convicted of serious sexual offenses to donate blood samples, but differ on requiring samples from other groups such as people convicted of violent felonies, juvenile offenders and parolees. Four states -- Virginia, Wyoming, New Mexico and Alabama -- require all people convicted of a felony to provide samples for DNA profiling. Louisiana allows DNA to be taken from people merely arrested in a crime, a practice that has not been tested in the courts. State laws establishing DNA data bases have been challenged in 13 jurisdictions and have been upheld in all but one, in Massachusetts. Some states have revised their original legislation to add offenses. "I think the trend is that 10 years from now all felonies will be covered," said M. Dawn Herkenham, chief of the FBI's Forensic Science Systems Unit in Washington. "We recommend that all violent felonies, burglaries, juveniles and retroactivity for people on parole be included." >From his office in Birmingham, England, last week, Werrett said, "Today we have issued matches on three murders, five rapes, nine serious robberies, two abductions and two violent burglaries." No state DNA data base has acquired the critical mass to furnish such a hit rate. Many state laboratories are understaffed and have large backlogs of DNA samples to analyze. The backlogs are particularly worrisome in the case of rapes where specimens may lie unanalyzed while the rapist assaults more victims. "People may be appalled to know how many rape suspect kits are out there untouched," Ms. Herkenham of the FBI said. "The hit ratio depends on whether we can go back and examine all the evidence that comes in the door," said Dr. Barry Duceman, director of biological science in the New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center in Albany. "We are trying to address a crushing case backlog and to get the technology on line -- you'd be hard pressed to say we are overstaffed." The case backlog problem is compounded because state laboratories are switching to the STR method of DNA profiling from an older method of analysis called RFLP (for restriction fragment length polymorphism). All the samples analyzed by RFLP must be redone by STR if they are to be searchable in the new data base. When these teething problems are overcome, many experts believe that the state and national DNA data base systems may have a significant effect, particularly in reducing crimes like rape that often involve repeat offenders. By scoring a "cold hit" between crime scene data and a person, DNA data bases can be particularly effective in solving cases with no suspects. "Once we get that infrastructure in place and start getting those hits, the benefits will lead to higher utilization," Asplen said. But like other experts involved with DNA testing, he expressed concern that DNA profiling be developed in a publicly acceptable way. "The public does need to have a trust level with this and be assured that law enforcement is not going to abuse this powerful tool," he said. One practice likely to raise eyebrows, if not hackles, is mass screening, which is widely used in the United Kingdom but not yet commonplace here. In high profile crime cases, police in Britain often ask, and can require, all members of a town or building to give DNA samples so as to prove themselves guiltless and help narrow the search for the culprit. The National Commission on the Future of DNA Testing is examining under what circumstances the donation of samples can be considered voluntary. In an office, where employees who declined to donate a sample might be fired, a police request for DNA might be coercive. A future use of DNA testing is that of phenotypic analysis. It will soon be technically possible to infer from the genes in a person's DNA many probable aspects of their appearance, such as hair, skin and eye color. Werrett said the main problem with such predictions would lie in training police to understand their probabilistic nature: told there is a 90 percent chance that the suspect has red hair, investigators should not ignore the 10 percent chance that he does not. DNA reveals so much about a person that behavioral geneticists might wish to search through state data banks for genetic variants linked to criminal behavior. Most states say their DNA data banks can be accessed only for law enforcement purposes, like the data bases. But Alabama authorizes the use of its samples for "educational research or medical research or development," an apparent invitation to genetic inquiry. An impending issue is whether states should retain their DNA samples once the information has been entered into the DNA data base. Forensic managers like to retain samples as a hedge against changing technology. Others say the DNA sample banks create an opportunity for abuse, and that if there is another change in technology the government should just rebuild its data base from scratch. Because DNA can be found at so many crime scenes, DNA data bases promise to be powerful aids in catching criminals. But what thrills forensic experts tends to chill civil libertarians. "The DNA data base started out with pariahs -- the sex offenders -- but has already been enlarged to include other felons and will probably be extended to include everyone, giving elites the power to control 'unruly' citizens," said Philip Bereano a professor of technology and public policy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Eric Juengst, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a member of the FBI's DNA Advisory Board, said the original policy in setting up the DNA data base was that it was "suitable only for our most serious category of criminals," and that it would be a breach of that policy to expand its scope. The risks raised by Bereano are worth watching, Juengst said, "but as a society we have to learn how to control powerful tools of all kinds, like nuclear power. I don't see it as an endless slippery slope." Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you value in the ISPI Clips service or if you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Clips Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Clips Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

3 2

IP: Privacy Fears: FBI's DNA Database
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Privacy Fears: FBI's DNA Database Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 08:54:57 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: San Jose Mercury News http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/dnadata12.htm Published Monday, October 12, 1998, in the San Jose Mercury News DNA database offers promise -- and privacy fears BY NICHOLAS WADE New York Times In a computer at a secret location, the FBI will open a national DNA database Tuesday that advocates say could significantly reduce rape and other crimes by helping to catch repeat offenders earlier. The database, with a new generation of forensic DNA techniques, promises to be so efficient that some civil libertarians fear it will be expanded from people convicted of crimes to include almost everyone, giving the government inordinate investigative powers over citizens. The national DNA database consists of 50 databases run by the states but unified by common test procedures and software designed by the FBI. As of Tuesday, it will be possible to compare a DNA sample from a suspect or crime scene in one state with all others in the system. The national database has been nearly a decade in the making. The final pieces fell into place in June when Rhode Island became the last state to set up a DNA database. But the system still faces many unresolved issues, which are likely to play out according to the reaction from the public and the courts. One such issue is what types of offenders should be included. Another is whether the mass screening of suspects' DNA will prove constitutional. DNA, the chemical that embodies a person's genetic programming, can be found almost everywhere. People shed a constant torrent of dead skin cells. Criminals leave blood when breaking and entering; they shed hair and skin cells in fights, deposit saliva on glasses and leave sweat stains in head bands. >From only a few cells in such sources, enough DNA can be extracted to identify the owner. A DNA database of sufficient size could presumably help solve many crimes. Britain's experience The crime-fighting potential of DNA databases is becoming evident from the experiences of Britain, which started earlier and has had fewer administrative and constitutional hurdles to overcome. The database there initially focused on sex offenses but has spread to include burglaries and car theft because of the high number of DNA matches that police forces were obtaining. Moreover, there was considerable crossover, at least in Britain, among different kinds of offenses. ``People who commit serious crime very often have convictions for petty crime in their history, so if you could get them on the database early you may prevent serious crime,'' said David Werrett, manager of the DNA database for England and Wales. The English DNA database includes entries from crime scenes and from everyone convicted of a crime, as well as from suspects in unresolved cases. Since the system's debut in 1995, it has matched 28,000 people to crime scenes and has made 6,000 links between crime scenes. The database now holds 360,000 entries and Werrett said he expected it would eventually include one-third of all English males between 16 and 30, the principal ages for committing crimes. Werrett said the database has grown because police forces in England, which pay $55 for a DNA analysis, are finding it cost-effective. Recently the Police Superintendents Association called for the entire population to be DNA-tested. Forensic use of DNA in the United States is unlikely to go as fast or as far as in Britain. ``Their system makes a tremendous amount of sense the way they approach it, but in the United States we have a different perspective on privacy and on the extent to which we would be willing to depend on a database,'' said Christopher Asplen, executive director of the national Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence. One privacy safeguard One major privacy safeguard in the FBI's system is that only a minute fraction of a person's genetic endowment becomes part of the database. Under a new DNA profiling system known as STRs, for short tandem repeats, a person's DNA is tested at 13 specific sites at which a short length of DNA is repeated in a kind of stutter. The number of repeats is highly variable from one person to another, so that measuring the number of repeats at the 13 designated sites gives a way of identifying each individual with a probability of one in several billion. The blood or other samples donated by individuals are retained by the states in collections known as DNA banks. All that goes into the computerized DNA databases is the set of 13 numbers from the STR measurements. Only identifying information, and nothing about a person's health or appearance, can be divined from the STRs. Access to the DNA database is permitted only for law enforcement purposes, with a $100,000 fine for unauthorized disclosures. No known breaches of the system have occurred. One major unresolved issue is that of the types of offenders from whom DNA profiles should be taken. All states require people convicted of serious sexual offenses to donate blood samples, but states differ on requiring samples from other groups such as people convicted of violent felonies, juvenile offenders and parolees. Four states -- Virginia, Wyoming, New Mexico and Alabama -- require all people convicted of a felony to provide samples for DNA profiling. Louisiana allows DNA to be taken from people merely arrested in a crime, a practice that has not been tested in the courts. Databases upheld State laws establishing DNA databases have been challenged in 13 jurisdictions and have been upheld in all but one, in Massachusetts. Some states have revised their original legislation to add offenses. ``I think the trend is that 10 years from now all felonies will be covered,'' said M. Dawn Herkenham, chief of the FBI's Forensic Science Systems Unit in Washington. ``We recommend that all violent felonies, burglaries, juveniles and retroactivity for people on parole be included.'' >From his office in Birmingham, England, last week, Werrett said, ``Today, we have issued matches on three murders, five rapes, nine serious robberies, two abductions and two violent burglaries.'' No state DNA database has acquired the critical mass to furnish such a hit rate. Many state laboratories are understaffed and have large backlogs of DNA samples to analyze. The backlogs are particularly worrisome in the case of rapes where specimens may lie unanalyzed while the rapist assaults more victims. The case backlog problem is compounded because state laboratories are switching to the STR method of DNA profiling from an older method of analysis called RFLP, for restriction fragment length polymorphism. All the samples analyzed by RFLP must be redone by STR if they are to be searchable in the new database. When these teething problems are overcome, many experts believe that the state and national DNA database systems may have a significant effect, particularly in reducing crimes such as rape that often involve repeat offenders. But like other experts involved with DNA testing, Asplen expressed concern that DNA profiling be developed in a publicly acceptable way. ``The public does need to have a trust level with this and be assured that law enforcement is not going to abuse this powerful tool,'' he said. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

1 0

IP: FBI Intentionally Obstructing Justice: TWA800
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: FBI Intentionally Obstructing Justice: TWA800 Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:25:58 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: The Winds http://www.TheWinds.org/ TWA FLIGHT 800 ANALYSTS SAY FBI IS INTENTIONALLY OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE "I will probably never watch national television news again, and take it at face value for the rest of my life." -- Comdr. William S. Donaldson The FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) intentionally lied to Congress and the public concerning key evidence about the downing of Trans World Airlines Flight 800. So indicates recent evidence brought to light in a tape-recorded conversation with James Kalstrom, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the disaster investigation. On that tape, obtained by Accuracy In Media (AIM) Chairman Reed Irvine, Special Agent Kalstrom is allegedly heard to admit that U.S. Naval vessels were present in the immediate area where, on July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 was blown out of the sky along with its 230 passengers and crew. Previously, the federal agencies contended publicly and in testimony before Congress that the closest military asset other than an unarmed navy aircraft, a P-3 Orion, was the USS Normandy, 185 miles away. However, speaking on condition of anonymity, a reliable source confirmed to The WINDS that the claims Irvine is making as to the contents of the tape are indeed accurate. In the recording, the details of which were disclosed privately to a meeting of Washington's Judicial Watch, Irvine alleges that Agent Kalstrom is clearly heard to confirm that there were in fact three U.S. Navy vessels within three to six nautical miles of the crash site. These ships, according to Kalstrom, were on a highly classified mission. This information is enormously important because it greatly strengthens the already formidable position of those claiming that a missile strike was responsible for the Flight 800 disaster. Commander William S. Donaldson, USN Ret., a longtime thorn in the side of the federal agencies investigating Flight 800, informed The WINDS that he also has personally heard, and has a copy of, the aforementioned tape recording. He quotes Special Agent Kalstrom as saying, in reference to mysterious unnamed radar surface targets the FBI refused to identify, "We know what they were...they were navy ships on classified maneuvers." Of the two factions hotly advocating the facts indicating a missile strike, one believes it was an errant U.S. Navy anti-aircraft missile launched from those very ships the FBI and NTSB claims were not present. The other position of the pro-missile group asserts that the ships were present because the navy knew that there was a threat of terrorist activity in the area and failed in an attempt to intercept the terrorists and thwart the destruction of the airliner. This is seemingly corroborated by eyewitnesses who claim to have observed a previous attempt that failed, only because the vessel launching the missiles was too far offshore and out of range. Attempts to locate the craft bearing the terrorists and their portable missiles were apparently the reason for the "classified" naval presence in the area. It would also explain the presence of the P-3 Orion which is technically a navy sub-chaser but, according to Comdr. Donaldson, can be used as a reconnaissance platform with its forward-looking infrared (FLIR) optics and radar. Comdr. Donaldson claims to also have obtained testimony from several witnesses, one of whom "is an ex-Navy Bombardier/navigator aboard A6 Intruders, who observed an Aegis Cruiser to the west of the air disaster." An Aegis is a highly sophisticated Virginia Class guided missile cruiser with radar and electronic counter measures (ECM) that would be immensely suitable in searching for and neutralizing a seaborne terrorist threat. Because of the highly trained nature of men such as the A6 bombardier/navigator, Donaldson, in his words, considers the identification of the Aegis Cruiser to be "positive, with 100% credibility." Interestingly, the USS Normandy, the one warship the navy admits was 185 miles away, is also an Aegis Guided Missile Cruiser of the Ticonderoga Class, stationed out of Norfolk, Virginia, less than 300 nautical miles away--an easy and quick journey for the nuclear-powered cruiser. Either the former A6 crewman has extraordinarily good over-the-horizon eyesight, or the Normandy (or another Aegis Cruiser) was much nearer the scene than the navy and FBI are willing to admit. Much to the dismay and irritation of federal authorities from both the FBI and the NTSB, the specter of TWA Flight 800 simply will not go away. Special Agent Kalstrom went on record as angrily denouncing those responsible for perpetuating American consciousness of the tragedy--and who disagree with their official position of cause for the disaster: an internally ignited center wing fuel tank. Kalstrom is also quoted in Salon Magazineas arrogantly admonishing that "these people should get a life." [1] In that article entitled, "The Buffoon Brigade," Salonrefers to those opposing the government's declaration as to the cause of the crash as a "motley army". That "motley army"--the one advised by Special Agent Kalstrom to pursue a worthwhile existence--is composed of such as: Pierre Salinger: once Press Secretary to President John F. Kennedy former ABC News commentator Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN, Retired: Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arguably the most powerful visible position in America outside the presidency (with the possible exception of Federal Reserve Chairman) Commander William S. Donaldson, USN Retired: Former Navy combat pilot 89 combat missions over Viet Nam Several years as a highly trained aviation accident investigator and team leader in a dozen or more military crash investigations Richard Russell: Former 747 pilot for United Airlines Over 26 years experience with the Airline Pilots Association investigating commercial aviation accidents serving as the Air Safety Representative for the agency Former U.S. Army Major Fredrick Meyer: Army combat helicopter pilot Extensive combat extraction experience in Viet Nam with firsthand witness of thousands of detonations of military explosives ordinance Currently an attorney and Air National Guard helicopter pilot First person on the scene of the Flight 800 incident after he and his copilot witnessed from their ANG helicopter what he says he would "swear to God, was [exploding] military ordinance" bringing down the TWA jet.[2] "Motley army"? Could it be surmised that many on Salon Magazine's staff--and the FBI--would kill (metaphorically speaking) to obtain such a life as have those men--that is, if intellect and integrity are any longer deciding factors in the definition of "a life". With the exception of Fredrick Meyer, who The WINDS has already interviewed extensively for previous articles on Flight 800, and Adm. Moorer, this agency spoke at length with each of the aforementioned individuals. "IT IS VERY CLEAR IT WAS A NAVAL MISSILE" Pierre Salinger has informed this agency that he is in possession of what he refers to as "new information that makes it very, very clear it's a naval missile [that brought down Flight 800]....and very hot information about the number of naval ships that were in that area--much more than anybody thought." He said he was unable, at this time, to share details of that information with The WINDS, but directed this office to a source which would. The information Mr. Salinger alluded to, it turns out, is the same as what was revealed on the aforementioned AIM tape recording. Mr. Salinger has been the target of innumerable attacks by the media and the U.S. Government for the position he has taken on the Flight 800 disaster. "I've been so attacked by the press and everybody else," Salinger told The WINDS, that he said he would not speak publicly on the TWA matter "until the government comes out with what they claim to be a solution. If what they say is something that we do not believe, then I'm definitely going to start speaking." Interestingly, Salinger, and the unofficial truth about the downing of the TWA jet, are taken quite seriously outside the United States media. In a previous article, for example, The WINDS quoted The Times of London,a newspaper of no small reputation, as reporting that "satellite images have proved FLT 800 was tracked and hit by a sophisticated missile. 'An American spy satellite positioned over the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island is said to have yielded important information about the crash. A law enforcement official told The New York Postthat the satellite pictures show an object racing up to the TWA jet...and smashing into it.'" "There was extraordinary information that was being dug up by other news organizations that was blocked and never ever went to the press," James Sanders, author of The Downing of TWA 800told this office, "and yet the most moronic government statement would go to the head of the line in each and every case." According to current knowledge there is, it seems, as much firsthand corroboration that the aircraft was downed by an errant or intentionally launched missile as there is for the fact that Americans have landed on the moon. Yet, the obfuscation in which the FBI, NTSB and other federal agencies are engaged seems to effectively blot that fact from their conscious thinking. "That's something very weird," Salinger said, "because at that time, as a matter of fact, at the top of [Agent] Kalstrom's list was the missile theory. So why," Salinger asked, "was he attacking me when I said it was a missile? The reason he did is that I was talking about a naval missile--that's why. He himself was thinking at that time that it was a missile," Mr. Salinger continued. "And you know there were 350 witnesses that saw the missiles." When asked if he thought that the media assault on him was orchestrated by the government he replied, "I don't have any actual facts but I have had people tell me that it resulted because the FBI was in touch with the media." Of the two positions previously mentioned as to the origin of the missiles that destroyed Flight 800 in the eastern sky that July evening, the one headed by Comdr. Donaldson holds that the missiles were SA6 SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) of Soviet origin, launched by terrorists. The other view, espoused by Pierre Salinger and James Sanders, et. al., is that the missiles were errantly fired by the U.S. Navy ships in the vicinity. There is, however, no dissension between the camps on the fact that irrefutable data points to some manner of anti-aircraft missile ordinance, whatever its origin, as the source of the tragedy and definitely away from the absurdities of, as Sanders puts it, "moronic government statements". In his interview with The WINDS Mr. Sanders, expressing his frank admiration for the former Navy Commander, admitted, "I really didn't have the ability to get at the things that Donaldson has gotten at." Comdr. Donaldson's chief logical argument against a failed navy missile test comes from his many years experience with naval operations. He claims that the navy would never test fire a missile off the U.S. coast with the capability, should it malfunction, of reaching land. The fact that it is now apparently confirmed that there were, indeed, naval warships in the near vicinity of the Flight 800 downing should cause critics to look more closely at the facts and compare them with what is becoming even more confused and bewildered government explanations of the incident. But will this new evidence of a government cover-up make any difference as to whether the truth will be heard and accepted? This is the haunting question that pursues those who are perhaps getting their first real experience into the power that the New World Order exercises over information flow. Their power for creating media stupefaction was vividly presented in the opening paragraph of a recent Village Voice?article. "In January more than twenty-five reporters attended the Washington, D.C. press conference," Voicecorrespondent Robert Davey reported in July, "--virtually a military briefing that for all the actual media coverage it received might as well have been labeled Top Secret. At the widely ignored event retired Navy pilot Commander William S. Donaldson and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas H. Moorer announced that evidence existed to suggest that a surface-to-air missile brought down TWA Flight 800." Davey shared, on the syndicated Mike Jarmus radio talk show, that he had first become interested in the TWA Flight 800 affair "in Christmas of '96 after Pierre Salinger came out with his charges," he said. "And it struck me as interesting the way he was greeted with such hostility and so disparaged in the media." AS AIRTIGHT AS IT GETS: Commander William Donaldson pulls the flowers out of the FBI's garden. In a stinging letter to FBI Director Louis Freeh, Comdr. Donaldson presents a most cogent and concise assembly of facts, decimating the government's position on the cause of the tragedy. In that document, a copy of which Comdr. Donaldson submitted to The WINDS, he begins: "Considering your New York office's recent abandonment of its law enforcement responsibilities, let me refresh your memory and provide the following reality check: FACTS In the entire history of American turbine powered civilian air transport, there has never been an in-flight fuel tank explosion in any aircraft caused by mechanical failure! (Laws of probability do not support the NTSB theory). Jet A-1 fuel used by FL800 is safer than all its predecessors. It cannot be made to explode in-flight unless the tank is first exposed to shock (chemical properties of the fuel do not support the NTSB theory)." Commander Donaldson informed The WINDS of an experiment he had conducted for Fox Television News and other news organizations in which he demonstrated by the use of Jet A-1 fuel in a tank at the same vapor concentration that would have been present in Flight 800's center wing tank that it could not have exploded as the federal authorities contend. None of the footage, Donaldson said, ever made it on the air. Donaldson continues: The fuel temperature in TWA 800's center wing tank (CWT) was well below minimum flammability much less at explosive vapor temperatures. (Environmental conditions do not support the NTSB theory). There is no source of ignition in the B747 CWT (aircraft design does not support the NTSB theory). Conventionally designed aircraft cannot fly much less generate lift to climb absent the gross tonnage of fuselage forward of the wing. (Laws of physical science and principles of aerodynamics do not support the NTSB theory). The twelve or more explosive chemical residue hits by BATF's EGIS 3000 equipment are physical evidence of high explosive involvement. (Leading edge hi-tech forensic evidence does not support the NTSB theory). Testimony from eyewitnesses along eleven nautical miles of shore front show first sightings of ascending objects that cross correlate to a launch position well away from FL800's track. (Eyewitness testimony does not support the NTSB theory). The medical examiners' report shows a uniform instantaneous cause of death and evidence of high velocity metal in the cabin. (Post mortem examinations do not support the NTSB theory). The debris field shows that TWA FL800's nose forward of the wing was shattered after being hit from the left by a huge force that distributed the gross tonnage as much as 2900 ft. right of the projected aircraft track. (Debris field evidence does not support the NTSB theory). Comdr. Donaldson's letter to Director Freeh continues in considerably more technical detail with each point followed by the parenthetical summation ending with "(...does not support the NTSB theory)." Other points including those summations are: (Ballistic geometry does not support the NTSB theory). (The historical record of airframe damage during in-flight center wing tank explosions does not support the NTSB theory). The forward cabin debris shows through-holes from left side to right side [those that would have been made by a high-speed object such as a missile passing through the 747's fuselage]. (The forward cabin debris does not support the NTSB theory). The debris field shows initial cabin integrity was lost, 16 feet forward of the center wing tank at FS800, forward left hand cargo bay. (The cabin break-up sequence does not support the NTSB theory). Comdr. Donaldson then concludes his list of details, with which he is at odds with federal authorities, with the pointed comment: The FBI has withdrawn before the cause has been determined. (The FBI does support the NTSB theory). Why? Under the heading: "Collusion with NTSB Goals, Suppression of Eyewitness Evidence" Donaldson continues to flay the FBI director with his eminently logical analysis of the incident. Mr. Freeh I will be candid, the fact that the FBI is now joining in lockstep with the NTSB political script sadly was not a surprise to me, because of what I had discovered on Long Island. Mr. Kalstrom's agents who 'who turned over every rock ten times' failed to tape critical eyewitness testimony, failed to establish visual bearing lines from the witnesses who observed ascending objects, failed to get elevation measurements, failed to get relative motion statements and in some cases failed to even go to the observation point, that is except from some eyewitnesses who didn't see the missile!... Multiple witnesses tell me agents on rare second or third visits to persons who saw ascending objects tried to get the witnesses to change their original stories? Many of these people are now afraid of and disgusted with their own government, the administrative mantra "no evidence of criminal act" is turning normal American citizens into bitter cynics." Referring to the FBI's tightly choreographed control and feed of the media Comdr. Donaldson seems to have no other recourse than to resort to sarcastic humor in making his point on the ridiculous show produced for public consumption. "It was entertaining," Donaldson told Director Freeh, referring to the CIA's 14-minute animated video on the disaster, "but like most cartoons [it] grossly abused universal laws of nature. Like: Newton's law of gravitation, Newton's first and second law of dynamics, Newton's' law of hydro-dynamic resistance and fundamental principles of aerodynamic lift, drag, dynamic stability and jet engine mechanics. Other than that," Donaldson cynically observes, "it was a media masterpiece....Perfect junk science fluff for television." The former navy commander continues to thoroughly wrap the extraordinarily flawed FBI investigation in his Gordian Knot of logic as he, point-by-point, encases the agency and the NTSB within a web of seemingly inescapable logic. At one point he berates Freeh's organization by telling him that if his "people had continued the commendable job the county police started and actually developed witnesses who observed ascending objects, as they [the county police] were doing, you would have provided the CIA with data showing the object was moving three times faster than a 747 and was first sighted close to shore." Donaldson calls the CIA's "cartoon" a "most outlandish abridgment of testimony and obstruction of justice" referring to the "amateurish depiction of sound analysis which claims that only the sound of the aircraft was actually heard during the disaster. This, Comdr. Donaldson claims, fails "to consider the number of explosions heard by witnesses." Responding to the bizarre assumption that a noseless 747 could continue to climb another 3,000 feet when it was already just above stalling speed, the former U.S. Naval aviator asks rhetorically, "why doesn't the New York office just have the cartoon changed and get the 747 to zoom climb to 30,000 feet...[?] After all, the cartoon's pilotless 747 [pilotless because the nose section of the fuselage containing the pilots had been sheared off] is already the current record holder in the zoom climb category." To this contention by the FBI and NTSB that the aircraft continued to climb for another 3,000 feet after losing nearly everything forward of the leading edge of the wings, the Pensacola News Journalcites Donaldson as saying, "The final readings show chaos in the sky - with airspeed dropping instantly by almost 200 knots, the pitch angle jumping five degrees, altitude DROPPING 3,600 feet in about three seconds, the roll angle going from zero to 144 degrees (the airplane almost inverted), and the magnetic heading changing from 82 degrees [just North of due East] to 163 degrees [just East of due South]."[emphasis supplied]. By Donaldson's account it appears that only if one were standing on their head while evaluating the data, could it have been misconstrued as the aircraft CLIMBING 3,000 feet. "'There couldn't have been an aviator at CIA who had anything to do with that,' Donaldson said, 'They were laughed out of town by pilots.'" [ibid.] "They [the CIA] failed to address the two 'bright', 'hard', 'high velocity', 'ordinance"' explosions three seconds apart, in addition to the large petroleum [fuel] explosion agreed to by witnesses airborne, on land and sea." Donaldson continues by explaining in detail how the linear scattering of the 747's debris is impossible to explain by any other theory than a high velocity inertial and explosive impact crossing the aircraft's flight path. As mentioned before, Comdr. Donaldson's logic seems inescapable and has not been intelligently refuted in any government press release or document The WINDS has been able to obtain. With his particularly blunt humor the former naval officer, under the subheading, "The Train Wreck at 13,700 Feet" makes the assertion: From a physics point of view, TWA FL800, at the time of the incident, represented a force of about 465 million foot pounds of inertia oriented on a vector of 071 [degrees] at 13,700 ft. In order to deflect the gross tonnage of debris to the positions found in the field, much of it thousands of feet right of course, either the aircraft was hit by an Amtrak metro-liner on the left side or by a powerful anti-aircraft weapon. Much of the forward fuselage debris is strung out on a 160-degree axis which closely matches observed eyewitness missile intercept angles as well as known fuselage through-holes. Because the wind was very light and almost on the tail, the maximum windage offset of falling metal debris would be approximately an additional 200 ft. downrange. The same offset would be nearly universal throughout the field on similar heavy debris, but proportionally further for light debris. This massive deflection of tons of debris to the right...are absolute and irrefutable physical evidence of a massive blow to the forward fuselage from the left side. Comdr. Donaldson then proceeds to confront the FBI director with even more serious charges. Under the heading of "Obstruction of Justice by Political Intercept" Donaldson charges, Mr. Freeh, I am keenly aware of the justice department's suppression of the EGIS 3000 high explosive residue evidence gathered by BATF. Having consulted with both the equipment manufacturer and independent high explosive experts, the picture is clear. Donaldson then explains for Director Freeh that the EGIS 3000, the most advanced and sensitive state-of-the-art chemical analysis instrument currently in existence, determined in no less than twelve instances that residue from the high explosive PETN was present on parts of the aircraft's wreckage. PETN is an explosive used in, among other applications, the detonation of plutonium-based nuclear weapons, as well as some commercial employment. The flight data recorder apparently presents another critical piece of evidence pointing to a cover-up. According to a report published by the Pensacola News Journalin January of this year the NTSB is said to have explained why the transcript of the last five seconds of Flight 800's data recorder was cut. They claimed it was a leftover segment from a previous flight. "'The only reason you put flight data recorders into an airplane at millions of dollars' cost,'" the newspaper quotes Commander Donaldson as saying, "'is to capture this last data line.'"[3] The explanation given by the NTSB is that the last five seconds were left over from a preceding flight. The paper quotes TWA pilot Howard Mann as saying, "not possible - it's erased - there's just no way." [ibid.] RADAR TAPE AUTHENTIC - - FBI FRANTIC Richard Russell, former 747 pilot for United Airlines with twenty-six years experience in airline accident investigation with the Airline Pilots Association, obtained another crucial piece of evidence in the damning mosaic that describes the last moments of the life of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 and its occupants. Through undisclosed sources Mr. Russell came into possession of a copy of the FAA radar video tape of the sky from which the ill-fated jet fell. When the FBI discovered that he had it, Russell told The WINDS, they immediately confiscated it. "After obtaining a copy of the tape," Russell said, "I studied it--I've worked with air traffic control problems for years and years and I know what's on that tape. I can read it. What was on that tape," he asserts, "was not an electronic glitch. This was an unidentified rogue target going some place in a big hurry--not a ghost target. But it is a definite rogue target that appears for four sweeps and then disappears." A rogue target, Russell explained, differs from a ghost in that the rogue is very real--just unidentified-- whereas a ghost target is a glitch, an electronic artifact that doesn't exist in real life. "The interesting part about this," Russell added, "is that this target appeared just seconds before TWA 800 blows up. The speed of the target during those four sweeps indicates something that was traveling very fast. They have never talked about it," Russell elaborates. "They still will not talk about it. Several controllers, I'm not sure how many, actually reported that it was a missile." When The WINDS asked Mr. Russell if he had been able to extrapolate the speed of the object from the radar images, he declined to share that data at this time. He merely stated that "it's faster than any jets that we have presently operating except for the Concord, and this was not a Concord." Russell then makes what, under normal circumstances, would seem an incredible allegation. Concerning those controllers who claimed they saw a radar missile track arcing toward Flight 800, "James Hall, the NTSB chairman, told Barry Valentine--at that time acting head of the FAA--to obtain signed statements from all the controllers that they were mistaken as to what they saw. Barry Valentine, as far as I'm concerned, was the only guy in the FAA who had any guts. He said, 'I won't do it.' None of them signed the statement and, apparently because of that, Barry Valentine was involuntarily retired." Author James Sanders is another who has felt the intense displeasure of the government for his activities in exposing the cover-up of what has become the most investigated air disaster in history. Sanders is currently under indictment for receiving stolen wreckage of Flight 800.[4] He is accused of asking a TWA pilot, Terrell Stacey, to obtain parts of the aircraft including a piece of seat material from the Flight 800 wreckage, even though the "hanger man", as Sanders refers to him in his book, testified that he provided Sanders with the material "of his own volition"--without being asked. The government is proceeding with its prosecution of Sanders and his wife, even in the face of federal case law that gives journalists the right to request such services. An interesting study in paradoxical hypocrisy is that Special Agent Kalstrom, himself, took pieces of the aircraft as souvenirs for certain people, according to Sanders, Donaldson and other sources. This was done about ten days after the incident, Sanders says, which was before anyone knew what potential investigation value any debris pieces might have. Yet, Kalstrom suffers no legal problems from his action even though the law, Sanders claims, clearly defines the act of retrieving such material for souvenir purposes to be illegal--while, at the same time, defining Sanders' actions as permissible for journalists. "Both my wife and I were in hiding from the FBI and she was under psychiatric care," Sanders told The WINDS. Part of what caused the government to go after Sanders and his wife, Elizabeth, was his insistence that the clearly visible reddish stain that contaminated row 14 of the TWA jet was, in reality, rocket fuel residue. Sanders claims that the federal agencies are afraid to do an analysis of the substance. "I have a legally tape-recorded conversation with a government official, Dr. Merrit Burgee," Sanders claims, "who was the senior scientist for the NTSB in Calverton Hanger [where Flight 800 wreckage is stored]. I have him on tape admitting that they never intended to find out if my residue was from a missile or not. On that tape," the author explains, the chemist "very clearly says that several times, and then he gives the very telling statement that 'Boy, if we had analyzed it and it came out wrong, then what do we do? We could never put this thing to bed.'" The FBI claimed, in March of last year, that the residue was glue. However, Sanders claims that Charles W. Bassett [the chemist in charge of Flight 800 chemical analysis] agreed to him with a notarized affidavit concluding "absolutely that the residue the FBI and NTSB were calling glue most certainly was not." Sanders claims many witnesses have seen the plain reddish trail left on the aircraft's seats as something passed through the cabin forward of the wings. He also contends that all of the foam rubber from the backs of those seats that had the red stains had been mysteriously and purposely stripped away, but none had ever been submitted for chemical analysis. Interestingly, Comdr. Donaldson has suffered no harassment whatever for his most active role in shining the spotlight on government blunders and cover-ups. This is something he attributes to his extensive, unimpeachable military record. Because of the multiple references and relationships he maintains with fleet admirals and CINCPAC (Commander in Chief of Naval Operations, Pacific) the "footprint" he lays down under that umbrella of credibility is formidable enough that federal authorities apparently dare not do more than just wish he would go away. Others, such as Pierre Salinger and James and Elizabeth Sanders, have not been so fortunate. Richard Russell has had his share of government and media aggravation. He told The WINDS that the FBI made multiple visits to his home attempting to determine how he obtained that FAA radar tape--the same one they first claimed was bogus; then admitted it was genuine. Mr. Russell went on to make some very ominous statements in relation to the strange manner in which the accident investigation was carried on. When, according to Russell, the Airline Pilots Association representative, whose name he declined to disclose, arrived on the scene of the Flight 800 crash, "he was greeted by 500 police officers, several hundred FBI agents and twenty-three CIA agents." "He went to the head APA official and asked, 'What the hell is going on here?' The official said, 'I wondered how long it would take you to figure this out.'" "Normally," Russell continued, "investigators will take their clipboards and cameras out and record the scene. When any of the investigators attempted to photograph the area the FBI would forbid it." The APA investigator told Russell that there were as many as two to six agents shadowing every investigator, watching every move they made. If one would closely examine a piece of metal, for instance, and lay it down, it would disappear when the investigator was not present. "He also told me that if you would pick up a fragment and call another investigator over to look at it with obvious interest, an FBI agent would come over and take it out of your hands and you would never see it again. "This information comes from somebody on the inside and I cannot reveal their names to you, but this is what went on there." Russell said he first got interested in the disaster when the Defense Department got involved at the outset. "Why is the Pentagon making an announcement of a civil airplane disaster?" Russell asked himself. "I couldn't believe that." "The second thing that occurred to me," Mr. Russell shared, "was why is the military involving themselves in this immediately? Generally speaking, the military is brought into an accident investigation only after the civil authorities are unable to do the job." The NTSB is the chief authority in investigating aircraft accidents-- even above the FBI which, to Russell, made a strange scenario even stranger. "The night of the disaster the navy provided a DC-9 in Washington and loaded up the FBI and the navy people--and even though there were seats available, they would not allow the NTSB Go-Team to ride with them. They had to wait until the next day. By that time the FBI had taken over and never relinquished control. "The most important data is the eyewitness reports. And they would not even allow them to be interviewed by the NTSB people--only the FBI who are not qualified to investigate accidents. But in this case they just blundered through with brute force and kept everyone at bay." Any application of normal logic would clearly seem to indicate that this type of activity portends far more than the government merely covering up the fact of an errant missile strike. Another observation can be made concerning the government's attempt to conceal the truth from the American people and the world at large. Whenever subterfuge is engaged and the government--or anyone for that matter--contrives to deceive and cover up essential truth, a reaction takes place where the truth appears to take on a life of its own. It will not be buried or obscured and the more one attempts to do so, the louder and more obnoxious the truth becomes until, like Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," the truth just keeps beating louder until it must be acknowledged and its opponents appear insane. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.--Luke 8:17 REFERENCES: 1.Salon Magazine,March 26, 1997. 2.Pensacola News Journal, January 9, 1998. 3.[Ibid.] 4.FBI Press Release: "CONSPIRACY THEORIST AND WIFE, A SENIOR FLIGHT ATTENDANT FOR TWA, CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH THEFT OF TWA 800 WRECKAGE". 5.Commander Donaldson's letter to FBI Director Louis Freeh Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6, Page 7 RELATED ARTICLES: Flight 800 - Why Won't it Go Away? Witnesses Allege NTSB Covering Evidence of Missile Attack Commander Donaldson's Flight 800 Report Refutes NTSB Letter to WINDS about Flight 800 Copyright © 1998, The WINDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. http://www.TheWinds.org Contact The WINDS webmaster. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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Two? ways people could use your code
by Richard Stallman 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

People have brought up the argument of the two classes of possible users of a library: those who want to write a free program, and those who want to write a proprietary program. This is a valid approach, but we must consider all the terms in the equation. There are actually three classes of possible projects that might use code you have written: * Those who want to make a free program. * Those who want to make a proprietary program. * Those who don't have strong views about the matter. So let's look at each of these three cases, considering two available choices (copylefting, or not copylefting), and how the decision affects the goals of encouraging use of encryption, discouraging back doors, and encouraging users' freedom. * Some people believe in free software and will make their additions free no matter what. Whether you use copyleft makes no difference in this kind of case. * Often at companies, and sometimes at universities, people are dead set on making a proprietary program. This program may be capable of doing a job, but its users will not have freedom, and they will have to take it on faith that there are no backdoors. Copylefting your code says this project cannot use it. Most likely, the project will spend some extra money to write their own code, and the outcome for the public will be much the same. They might do a worse job, or a better job. There's some chance they would not do the project; whether that is a loss for the public is not clear. It could mean less use of encryption; but if you also care about avoiding secret back doors, and about users' freedom, you won't see this as an unambiguous loss. * Often at universities, and sometimes at companies, people decide to write a program but don't think about whether to make it free software. They may not care, they may dislike thinking about the issue, they may simply not understand that there is an issue. In these cases, they will probably judge your code by its features, not by its distribution terms. If they want to use your code, and your terms say that's permitted only if their program is free, they'll say, "Ok, I'll make it free, and use your code." In this kind of case, using copyleft will produce a benefit: more freedom for the end user, who can check, rather than trust, that there are no back doors in the program. Conclusion: if you care *only* about more use of encryption, and *absolutely not* about secret back doors or users' freedom, then you would find it a better strategy not to copyleft. But if you care about encouraging use of encryption, about discouraging back doors, and about freedom for software users, copyleft (such as the GNU GPL) is a good way of promoting all of these goals together.

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Re: Gary Burnore vs. Earth (Was: Value of Annon. Remailers)
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Information Security <guy(a)panix.com> wrote: > > From: Missouri FreeNet Administration <sysadmin(a)mfn.org> > > > > Obviously, as defenders of this man's right to post material offensive > > to Burnore, we too came under attack. > > One man's attack is another's defense. I'll have to remember that one. Some defense lawyers in Wyoming might want to use it in their clients' trial for their "defense" against that gay student. Now about Gary Burnore's "defense" against the underaged daughter of his girlfriend... > > The point here is that what little survives about this lunatic child > > molester (he has even successfully had his North Carolina Sex Offender record > > removed!),... > > Gee, why don't you ask North Carolina why, in writing? Irrelevant. The North Carolina website of registered sex offenders was only the vehicle by which the truth about Gary Burnore's existing conviction in California became known. Depublishing it in NC on some technicality doesn't alter the fact of the original offense for which Gary Burnore pled guilty in a Santa Clara, CA court, which sentenced him to probation and required him to register as a sex offender. And given Burnore's pattern of harassment ... er, "defense" ... of those who criticize him, the ability of someone with knowledge of the facts to freely speak without fear of retaliation enabled the public to learn the truth. Perhaps the original whistleblower's e-mailed warnings led or contributed to Burnore's arrest, and to the resulting psychiatric treatment which may have protected future potential victims. > Let us know when you have an original thought. Ad hominem often comes in handy...

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Ex-NSA Cryptanalyst
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We'd like to get the affidavit, search warrants and complaint for the ex-NSA cryptanalyst, David Sheldon Boone, arrested for spying to see what the specific allegations are. See court docket below. News reports say he is being held in Alexandria, VA, so a lead to a legal doc retrieval service in that area would be appreciated. Or should anyone have the docket-listed docs, copies would be welcomed: Fax: 212-799-4003 Snail: John Young 251 West 89th Street, Suite 6E New York, NY 10024 Vox: 212-873-8700 X---------------------------------------------------------------------------X PACER session date: Tuesday October 13, 1998 09:29:28 PM EST Docket as of October 13, 1998 6:21 pm Page 1 Proceedings include all events. 1:98m 882-ALL USA v. Boone U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 98-M -882-ALL USA v. Boone Filed: 10/13/98 Dkt# in other court: None Case Assigned to: Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan DAVID SHELDON BOONE (1) defendant Defendant Assigned to: Magistrate Judge W. Curtis Sewell Pending Counts: NONE Terminated Counts: NONE Complaints Disposition 18:794(a) and 3238 Espionage U. S. Attorneys: Charles Rosenberg [COR LD NTC] U.S. Attorney's Office 2100 Jamieson Avenue Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 299-3700 FTS 574-3700 Docket as of October 13, 1998 6:21 pm Page 2 Proceedings include all events. 1:98m 882-ALL USA v. Boone 10/9/98 1 SEALED COMPLAINT as to David Sheldon Boone (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/9/98 2 AFFIDAVIT by USA as to David Sheldon Boone Re: [1-1] complaint (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/9/98 3 MOTION by USA to Seal search warrants [2-1] affidavit by USA, [1-1] complaint (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/9/98 4 ORDER as to David Sheldon Boone granting [3-1] motion by USA to Seal search warrants [2-1] affidavit by USA, [1-1] complaint as to David Sheldon Boone (1) ( Signed by Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan ) Copies Mailed: yes (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/9/98 -- Arrest WARRANT issued as to David Sheldon Boone (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/13/98 5 ORDER as to David Sheldon Boone, Unsealing Complaint Search Warrants, and affidavit ( Signed by Magistrate Judge W. C. Sewell ) Copies Mailed: yes (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/13/98 -- Complaint unsealed as to David Sheldon Boone (avax) [Entry date 10/13/98] 10/13/98 -- Initial appearance as to David Sheldon Boone held before Magistrate Judge W. C. Sewell ( Tape #266.) USA appeared through: T. Connolly. Dft(s) appeared through: w/attys; Sinlair and Clark (Defendant informed of rights.) US motions for detention-granted. Deft. waives PH reserves the right to a bond hearing at a later date. Deft. is remanded to the custody of the USMS w/o bond pending action og the GJ. (ntho) [Entry date 10/13/98] [Edit date 10/13/98] 10/13/98 6 Waiver of Preliminary Examination or Hearing by David Sheldon Boone (ntho) [Entry date 10/13/98] [END OF DOCKET: 1:98m 882-0]

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ATTN: BlackNet, sog's keys 4 sale
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear BlackNet, TOTO Enterprises, Bienfait, Saskatchewan hereby offers for sale sog's key under the BlackNet anonymous information market. Payments must be in anonymous ecash delivered to a digital dead drop to be arranged later. Or alternatively, we are willing to take bids in bottles of Scotch delivered to TOTO Key Escrow Services, Box 281, Bienfait, Saskatchewan SOC OMO. Please find enclosed Son of Gomez's key. Sincerely, Toto -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: 2.6.2 hDwDqeLyyFpa0WsBAYCBbyWMo5Iw6imvX1D2Y3GRp3kuCGnEbgPRmQTyOKHoiSoi teyTpjuZNrAw9iGrvAamAAAEQShD47SVtGHkxHYI8BmXb+tvF65wOkOwClzYFjVL cBAD7FcyE8JqWiKVu5+iYEGqqIWkbVX61RetGDSVaErIOESUcRPce5e5muzWMfhe vFEaeu1IC3MnE3qmvEyJu6uTuQk/ahkLf5/l5ouprhIPs4yCxQhOM8WPIMy/pCuO QnVgQ2g4vYDPYRb4bRZXw9cKoKpbfKcrST5SXkfNVrYoAQf8WozqdIMGeeDoVWLG h7NjbtTsCbnO79DZm/b2fblKVQHVoJH+U60F2/b2WFx/JWDnacocJdfAzaeit3mJ FSEcPo1R5JDkfm022MJ7vaSKPpGjIhWS+07kyPLFf0Au1spr23Sabvmznkm8AXZZ tnUAjHY1PQvIqMwmZ+JZd5ihC72S1/b9mQwha/ICnwjCRSi3VJ9GJByiZ7Gpra09 UC8whkc6mVhJxXLzFoLKNvVg1nt5QXyRu7TpVjTgtTfusFhYkZ6sV6BMn6Rq1ppX DLqsZ+XWgYWAjrLeJv4z743LpB+NPQQIM4gklyggCY51VlW26JmXOu9Zv+J58Nqx O3S2MPaecYt/0yFKy80KdMYEAQycWaaWq00b4WIPzO/39oxhlAtdV7Xp9t5VFE9N f3Xnc8hyqrcHlJWMro+xLaWofJv/45GE5jz+oCZ0L0s2hxhZf5I2fRro65RZeBJl JNxuDl7iYAmUSXzH+taiHqZ4H9+6YLMxRVKHL4cFXUDIJ+JiUB+lFQy1GGaTh8YR uXfAtjiew2bCqaUmov7phgzwjnZD4iiLWrR4z4IyA3xkvAaFrPgprBDmp6SaTX4E Q43rrjgr+a/dc5vzm9rZ0BywIC60+1h7bz/Qu5jq0EAqitSXHHbjBbwxC8mAtjyK HpG3917gWIgJk82N6sNWywLBJLmkWusLLj6Z3YKTixjhoFC01WDaPvX/nc2nBuJ+ qEaAmi7fwD1IlESiC2wpKOFUR1zRxkk1X7+n1fdDTyfl6XnhHkOfj2iMyID+PHl6 A+0a+io89tEUNslh/YefcX6pNNtbeeetr9ySzAM3pS+264b7Fi9bw+NpV2BgsaST 0u9Yspjv3uQHPa6g2zFXkMSYzsOqmK9lblw29djiOGAe8g/xH9Xww/IpItNTG2aa St3AYPssbceylpwy8o1/mSgp5roaM6wQ//xkGSkIoPV3I9bdPckgo/IKJEuaLh0d XT7JGxHvG+Bb1jU/nPIod4YJIAPR8nKGwSGaHq/RyKXyVr7k7HQTqs+wrZ53zvEb HTqFOAa1oiYGJyyIiO73yeedYcXnc0uW77RqaBqQA0+ViTAs69GD2piK1sEzBP5J mDxeQvseR0H/i84bkGLUsHRcV/b/CoAmn+sbvSFRrtsO5G5gvejqJpZR69qMIo/J afwGLv3K/O1YVACKJme+3xHTEiGrCu3BfYoLDNdl0ubYqW0DSmOXyuhtcn+JlNoa GOsu7Q== =MILa -----END PGP MESSAGE----- *** The Fire House Inn *** Come visit us Telnet: fhouse.org WWW: fhouse.org ***********

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Earn your worth not mlm!!! 330-258-9131
by owner-cypherpunks＠toad.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I AM LOOKING FOR 2 TO 4 PEOPLE WHO ARE READY TO TAKE CHARGE OF THEIR FINANCIAL FUTURE!! IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF OVER WORKED AND UNDER PAID AND WOULD LIKE TO BE IN A DIFFERENT POSITION 6 MONTHS FROM NOW, CALL THIS 1 MINUTE MESSAGE THAT WILL EMPOWER YOU FOR THE FUTURE. This is not multilevel or network marketing!!(330) 258-9131

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INFO-RUSS: moving to Chicago... (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: >From INFO-RUSS-request(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu Tue Oct 13 21:42:32 1998 Message-Id: <9810140035.AA02214(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu> Errors-To: INFO-RUSS-request(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu Sender: INFO-RUSS-request(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu From: MARGOL(a)newman.basnet.minsk.by To: info-russ(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 11:18:47 +1200 Subject: INFO-RUSS: moving to Chicago... --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is INFO-RUSS broadcast (1200+ subscribers). Home page, information, and archives: http://psi.ece.jhu.edu/~kaplan/IRUSS/inforuss.html To post, or to subscribe/unsubscribe, mail to info-russ(a)smarty.ece.jhu.edu INFO-RUSS assumes no responsibility for the information/views of its users. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi! 1. I am going to move in Chicago in the end of this year and I am looking for a job there. Brief information: Belarussian State University (mathamatics dep.), Ph.D. in mathematics (algebra, arithmetic geometry) in 1995, during some period was interested in algebraic methods in the image processing, now dealing with mathematical (algebraic and partially statistical) methods in data security (cryptography), programming experience in Visual C++ 5.0 (C++, MFC, DB, ActiveX by MFC). I am ready to sent my CV, list of my papers, and any other detailed information needed. I am also looking for colleagues everywhere! 2. By the way, in some info-russ letters the problem of e-mail privacy was discussed. I would like to write some words on that topic. There is always a great risk that your envelope can be opened before its arrival. And there is the unique way to keep the privacy: encrypt the letter before sending. It is especially important, if your letter contains your bank account number, credit card number and so on. The same situation takes place in case of e-mail. The cheapest, simplest, and most reliable way is to apply some cryptosystem (with either public or private key). Good cryptosystems are totally practically unbreakable. You can use coding programs built in your Internet browser, in your e-mail program or separate encrypting-decrypting programs (for example, PGP). Attention: the export of crypto programs is strictly forbidden by the american law. But everyone can get such programs by Internet on the European servers without any restrictions. Some nice helpful books on that topic: - "Personal Computer Security" by Ed Tiley (for users), - "Internet Security Secrets" by John R. Vacca (both for users and specialists), - "Handbook of Applied Cryptography" by Alfred Menezes and others (for specialists). Best regards, Genady. MARGOL(a)newman.basnet.minsk.by

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