December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

No Subject
by DOOM Anonymous Untraceable User 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Internet is slowing China's efforts to maintain control To eliminate political opposition by the China Democratic Party, Chinese authorities are putting prominent dissidents on trial for "inciting the overthrow of state power," but the Internet is making it difficult for them to accomplish their goal. The Washington, D.C.-based electronic magazine VIP Reference is a widely-used news source and network for dissident activities. Boston University professor Merle Goldman says, "It was relatively easy for the authorities to get rid of Democracy Walls in Beijing and in other cities in 1979, but it is virtually impossible to close down the use of the Internet as a means of political communication." (Washington Post 18 Dec 98) <http://www.ifcss.org/ftp-pub/org/dck/> #!/usr/local/bin/perl -0777-- -export-a-crypto-system-sig -RC4-3-lines-PERL @k=unpack('C*',pack('H*',shift));for(@t=@s=0..255){$y=($k[$_%@k]+$s[$x=$_ ]+$y)%256;&S}$x=$y=0;for(unpack('C*',<>)){$x++;$y=($s[$x%=256]+$y)%256; &S;print pack(C,$_^=$s[($s[$x]+$s[$y])%256])}sub S{@s[$x,$y]=@s[$y,$x]}

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[g8hxe@zetnet.co.uk: [WUN] MAR: MILLENIUM BUG]
by Dave Emery 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

----- Forwarded message from Keith Haywood <g8hxe(a)zetnet.co.uk> ----- Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 12:19:37 GMT Cc: keith.haywood(a)icl.com Hi all, I caught the following NAVTEX intercepts last night and thought they may be of interest to others, all were received on 518KHz. They are being repeated frequently be all the U/K stations and the Netherlands Coastguard, and similar messages are being broadcast by some of the Scandinavian stations. --- log opened Fri Dec 25 1998 00:00:20 UTC --- 05:31:06 UTC ZCZC OB07 05:33:09 UTC PORTPATRICKRADIO 05:33:43 UTC ZCZC OA40 05:33:46 UTC NAVAREA ONE 533 05:33:48 UTC YEAR 2000 AND MILLENIUM BUG. 05:33:54 UTC 1ST JAN 1999 IS THE FIRST OF SEVERAL CRITICAL DATES THROUGH 05:34:05 UTC 1999 AND 2000 WHEN SOME ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS MAY FAIL DUE TO 05:34:16 UTC THEIR INABILITY TO PROCESS THE DATE. SUCH SYSTEMS INCLUDE 05:34:27 UTC AUTOMATION AND SAFETY SYSTEMS WHOSE FAILURE MAY RESULT IN 05:34:38 UTC LOSS OF POWER, STEERING OR MALFUNCTIONING OF NAVIGATIONAL 05:34:45 UTC OR COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT. 05:34:50 UTC MASTERS ARE ADVISED TO CONSIDER CONTINGENCY PLANS IN 05:34:56 UTC PREPARATION FOR POSSIBLE FAILURE, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT OF THE 05:35:07 UTC OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME OF THE SHIP. 05:35:09 UTC GUIDANCE ON THE RISKS AND PRECAUTIONARY ACTION, HAS BEEN 05:35:20 UTC PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION AS 05:35:31 UTC MSC/CIRC.868, 'ADDRESSING THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM', AND AS AS A 05:35:42 UTC CORRECTION TO ALL VOLUMES OF THE UKHO ADMIRALTY LIST OF RADIO SIGNALS. 05:35:49 UTC CANCEL THIS MESSAGE 012359Z JAN 99. 05:35:54 UTC NNNN 07:52:24 UTC ZCZC PA47 07:52:36 UTC NETHERLANDS COASTGUARD 07:52:40 UTC NAVIGATIONALWARNING NR 47 250730UTC DEC 07:52:46 UTC EQUIPMENT FAILURE ONBOARD AND ASHORE 07:52:51 UTC DUE TO THE YEAR 2000 PROBLEM: 07:52:56 UTC SHIPPING SHOUZD BEWARE THAT ON THE 07:53:01 UTC FOLLOWING DATES PROBLEMS MAY OCCUR 07:53:06 UTC ONBOARD IN ENGINES, MACHINERY, CONTROL 07:53:12 UTC AND MONITORING, COMPUTER, NAVIGATION 07:53:18 UTC AND COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT, 07:53:22 UTC DETECTION, ALARM AND OTHER SYSTEMS. 07:53:28 UTC SIMILAR PROBLEMS MAY OCCUR ASHORE 07:53:33 UTC AND MIGHT HAMPER NAVIGATION AND 07:53:38 UTC COMMUNICATION POSSIBILITIES 07:53:42 UTC FOR SHIPPING. DATES: 07:53:45 UTC 01-01-1999 , 09-09-1999 07:53:49 UTC 01-01-2000 , 29-02-2000, 01-03-2000 07:53:54 UTC 31-12-2000 , 01-01-2001, 01-03-2001 07:53:59 UTC SHIPPING IS URGENTLY ADVISED TO 07:54:04 UTC NAVIGATE WITH EXTREME CAUTION ON 07:54:09 UTC THE AFOREMENTIONED DATES AND TO 07:54:13 UTC TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS WHERR 07:54:18 UTC POSSIBLE. 07:54:20 UTC CANCEL THIS MESSAGE 012359UTC JAN 99 07:54:25 UTC NNNN Keith Haywood G8HXE Manchester U/K. --- The Worldwide UTE News (WUN) mailing list. WUN is a non-profit, dues-free club established in 1995 to share information on shortwave utilities. For more information: http://www.gem.net/~berri/wun/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Dave Emery N1PRE, die(a)die.com DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass. PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2 5D 27 BD B0 24 88 C3 18

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Zero-Knowledge Freedom AnonymousIP Whitepaper
by Austin Hill 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Zero-Knowledge has put up a draft of a whitepaper explaining the technical details of it's coming Freedom Internet Privacy system. The paper discusses the technical details of our AnonymousIP protocol and our Pseudonymous E-mail System. This is an early draft and comments/questions are appreciated. People familiar with Mixmaster, PipeNet, Cypherpunk Remailers and Onion Routing will find this whitepaper to address many of the same problems with regards to Internet Anonymity & Privacy. The paper is available at http://www.zks.net/products/whitepapers.asp Thanks, Austin _________________________________________________________________________ Austin Hill Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. President Montreal, Quebec Phone: 514.286.2636 Ext. 226 Fax: 514.286.2755 E-mail: austin(a)zks.net http://www.zks.net Zero Knowledge Systems Inc. - Nothing Personal PGP Fingerprints 2.6.3i = 3F 42 A2 0D AF 78 20 ED A2 BB AD BE 8B 40 5E 64 5.5.3i = 77 1E 62 21 B3 F0 EB C0 AA 6C 65 30 56 CA BA C4 94 26 EC 00 keys available at http://www.nai.com/products/security/public_keys/pub_key_default.asp _________________________________________________________________________

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Car computer navigator forgets to mention ferry (fwd)
by Max Inux 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- Max Inux <maxinux(a)openpgp.net> Hey Christy!!! KeyID 0x8907E9E5 Kinky Sex makes the world go round O R Strong crypto makes the world safe If crypto is outlawed only outlaws will have crypto Fingerprint(Photo Also): 259D 59F7 D98C CD73 1ACD 54Ea 6C43 4877 8907 E9E5 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 12:35:20 -0800 (PST) X-Loop: openpgp.net From: William Knowles <erehwon(a)kizmiaz.dis.org> To: DC-Stuff <dc-stuff(a)dis.org>, aaa-list(a)lists.netlink.co.uk Subject: Car computer navigator forgets to mention ferry POTSDAM, Germany (AP) [12.26.98] - A German couple out for a Christmas drive near Berlin ended up in a river - apparently because their luxury car's computer forgot to mention they had to wait for a ferry. The 57-year-old driver and his passenger were not injured in the accident, police said Saturday. Several companies sell computer navigators, some of which are attached to dashboards and serve as electronic road maps. Some offer traffic updates and Internet connections. The German couple was out driving Friday night when they came to a ferry crossing at the Havel River in Caputh, six miles from Berlin. That information, however, was never stored in the satellite steered navigation system they were using, police said. The driver kept going straight in the dark, expecting a bridge, and ended up in the water. River traffic was stopped for two hours while the car was fished out about 13 feet from the river bank. ``You can't always blindly rely on technology,'' a coast guard police officer said. == Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, "Information"; for in most cases the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it. -- Grace Murray Hopper == http://www.dis.org/erehwon/

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Re: Zero-Knowledge Freedom AnonymousIP Whitepaper
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

> Zero-Knowledge has put up a draft of a whitepaper explaining the technical > details of it's coming Freedom Internet Privacy system. > > The paper discusses the technical details of our AnonymousIP protocol and > our Pseudonymous E-mail System. > > This is an early draft and comments/questions are appreciated. Have algorithms been chosen? If I understand right, letting different users use different algos would make some users' messages look different from others while bouncing around in the network. I don't think anyone even suspects 3DES and a KEA cognate would fail. The "topologically close" tradeoff (i.e, a gain in performance for an unmeasured loss in security) seems to be more exploit-bait than optimization; it might be wiser not to enable this part of automatic route selection by default unless/until its effects on security are investigated more thoroughly. At least give me a while to make an attack on it. :) > > People familiar with Mixmaster, PipeNet, Cypherpunk Remailers and Onion > Routing will find this whitepaper to address many of the same problems with > regards to Internet Anonymity & Privacy. > > The paper is available at http://www.zks.net/products/whitepapers.asp > > Thanks, > > Austin > > _________________________________________________________________________ > Austin Hill Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. > President Montreal, Quebec > Phone: 514.286.2636 Ext. 226 Fax: 514.286.2755 > E-mail: austin(a)zks.net http://www.zks.net > > Zero Knowledge Systems Inc. - Nothing Personal > > PGP Fingerprints > 2.6.3i = 3F 42 A2 0D AF 78 20 ED A2 BB AD BE 8B 40 5E 64 > 5.5.3i = 77 1E 62 21 B3 F0 EB C0 AA 6C 65 30 56 CA BA C4 94 26 EC 00 > keys available at > http://www.nai.com/products/security/public_keys/pub_key_default.asp > _________________________________________________________________________

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ABCReport:1st Aphrodisiac Drug Appr
by clinical27a＠usm.edu 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The announcement of this scientific breakthrough, has set off a media fire-storm. In the last few days, the remarkable qualities of Androstenone Pheromones have been featured in every major publication, newspaper, national magazine, and television magazine. >From 20/20, Hard Copy, and Dateline NBC, to the N.Y. Times, and the American Journal of Modern Medicine. Several independent research institutes have concluded studies on the benefits of Androstenone (You may have heard about the most recent study on CNN.) TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS REVOLUTIONARY MEDICAL DISCOVERY and the CNN REPORT go to our new sites at : http://www.angelfire.com/on/aphrod7501/ **** OR **** http://www.nettaxi.com/citizens/aphrod7501

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David Angell and html
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Sunday 12/27/98 4:13 PM John Young I went to http://www.page1book.com this morning looking for books on HLML. I asked the clerk what was a good book on html. The clerk pointed me to HTML 4 Unleashed, second edition, by Rick Darnell, et al. A guy standing next to me volunteered that he wrote books on computing. He advised getting a reference book, looking at examples on Internet, RESEARCH the code, then modify the RESEARCHED the code. He introduced himself. David Angell. ISDN for Dummies (--For Dummies) ~ Usually ships in 2-3 days David Angell / Paperback / Published 1996 Our Price: $19.99 ~ You Save: $5.00 (20%) http://www.amazon.com He was visiting his mother who lives in abq. Angell now lives in Austin TOO. I am on the net to download THE [your?] code at http://jya.com/crypto.htm. To RESEARCH it, of course. I am experimenting with <BODY BACKGROUND="devil2.jpg"> for background for Pro Se Litigation with the US Federal Government. http://www.jya.com/nsasuit.txt Keep a good sense of humor. And up-wind too, of course. http://www.zolatimes.com/v2.29/bw1.html I CONTINUE to recall Bob Sernas joke. Q What is the difference between a terrorist and a woman with pms? A You can negotiate with a terrorist. We got to get this UNFORTUNATE MATTER settled BEFORE IT GETS WORSE! Later bill Thursday 12/10/98 5:08 PM J Kevin O'Brien, Chief Freedom of Information-Privacy Act Section Office of Public Affairs U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington D. C. 20535 O'Brien I received your form letter dated DEC 02 1998. YES, I want the information! I return your completed form. Sandia assigned me to break electronic locks for the FBI/ERF. SSA Mike Uttaro was my direct contact. His boss was SSA Mike McDevitt. The FBI is breaking the law under the veil of classification abuse. I may write another article --- False Security William H. Payne Abstract Wiegand wire plastic credit card-sized entry access credentials are the easiest to counterfeit. Yet Access Control & SECURITY SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, September 1998 , www.prox.com http/www.securitysolutions.com ran a full page ad. "Why 130 million Wiegand cards are in use throughout the world . The most secure of all access card technologies. HID Wiegand cards are virtually impossible to counterfeit... any attempt to alter them destroys them! ... Since no direct contact with the card is required, they are totally enclosed, making them absolutely immune to the elements and a frustration of vandals. ... The secrets to the security of an HID Wiegand card are those little enclosed wire strips. Once corrupted, they won't work." Purpose of this article is to tell you how to counterfeit Wiegand http://www.securitysolutions.com/ and give you insight into Real Security. Fumble, Bumble and Inept Funds Electronic Lock Breaking at Sandia National Laboratories. http://www.jya.com/fbi-en7898.htm False Security William H. Payne Abstract Wiegand wire plastic credit card-sized entry access credentials are the easiest to counterfeit. Yet Access Control & SECURITY SYSTEMS INTEGRATION, September 1998 , www.prox.com http/www.securitysolutions.com ran a full page ad. "Why 130 million Wiegand cards are in use throughout the world . The most secure of all access card technologies. HID Wiegand cards are virtually impossible to counterfeit... any attempt to alter them destroys them! ... Since no direct contact with the card is required, they are totally enclosed, making them absolutely immune to the elements and a frustration of vandals. ... The secrets to the security of an HID Wiegand card are those little enclosed wire strips. Once corrupted, they won't work." Purpose of this article is to tell you how to counterfeit Wiegand http://www.securitysolutions.com/ and give you insight into Real Security. Fumble, Bumble and Inept Funds Electronic Lock Breaking at Sandia National Laboratories. http://www.jya.com/fbi-en7898.htm --- Counterfeiting Wiegand Wire Access Credentials Bill Payne October 16,1996 Abstract Wiegand wire access credentials are easy and inexpensive to counterfeit. Access Control & Security Systems Integration magazine, October 1996 [http://www/securitysolutions.com] published the article, Wiegand technology stands the test of time by PAUL J. BODELL, page 12 Many card and reader manufacturers offer Wiegand (pronounced wee-gand) output. However, only three companies in the world make Wiegand readers. Sensor Engineering of Hamden Conn., holds the patent for Wiegand, and Sensor has licensed Cardkey of Simi Valley, Calif., and Doduco of Pforzheim, Germany, to manufacture Wiegand cards and readers. ... A Wiegand output reader is not the same thing as a Wiegand reader, and it is important to understand the differences. In brief, Wiegand reader use the Wiegand effect to translate card information around the patented Wiegand effect in which a segment of a specially treated wire generates an electronic pulse when subjected to a specific magnetic field. If the pulse is generated when the wire is near a pick-up coil, the pulse can be detected by a circuit. Lining up several rows of wires and passing them by a cold would generate a series of pulses. Lining up two rows of wires - calling on row "zero bits" and the other "one bits" - and passing them by two different coils would generate two series of pulses, or data bits. These data bits can then be interpreted as binary data and used to control other devices. If you seal the coils in a rugged housing with properly placed magnets, and LED and some simple circuitry, you have a Wiegand reader. Carefully laminate the special wires in vinyl, and artwork, and hot-stamp a number on the vinyl, and you have a Wiegand card. IN THE BEGINNING Wiegand was first to introduce to the access control market in the late 1970s. It was immediately successful because it filled the need for durable, secure card and reader technology. Embedded in the cards, Wiegand wires cannot be altered or duplicated. ... Bodell's Last statement is incorrect. Tasks for EASILY counterfeiting Wiegand wire cards are 1 Locate the wires inside the card to read the 0s and 1s. 2 Build an ACCEPTABLE copy of the card. Bodell's clear explanation of the working of a Wiegand card can be visualized zero row | | | one row | | binary 0 1 0 0 1 representation Solutions to Task 1 A X-ray the card B MAGNI VIEW FILM, Mylar film reads magnetic fields ... Edmunds Scientific Company, catalog 16N1, page 205, C33,447 $11.75 is placed over the top of the Wiegand card. COW MAGNET, Cow magnetics allow farmers to trap metal in the stomachs of their cows. Edmunds, page 204, C31,101 $10.75 is placed under the card. Location of the wires is easily seen on the green film. Mark the position of the wires with a pen. Next chop the card vertically using a shear into about 80/1000s paper-match-sized strips. Don't worry about cutting a wire or two. Note that a 0 has the pen mark to the top. A 1 has the pen mark at the bottom. Take a business card and layout the "paper match"-like strips to counterfeit the card number desired. Don't worry about spacing. Wiegand output is self-clocking! Tape the "paper-match - like" strips to the business card. Only the FUNCTION of the card needs to be reproduced! History Breaking electronic locks was done as "work for others" at Sandia National Laboratories beginning in 1992 funded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation/Engineering Research Facility, Quantico, VA. The FBI opined that this work was SECRET/NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION. Details of the consequences of this work are covered in Fired Worker File Lawsuit Against Sandia Specialist Says He Balked When Lab Sought Electronic Picklock Software, Albuquer Journal, Sunday April 25, 1993 State-sanctioned paranoia, EE Times, January 22, 1996 One man's battle, EE Times, March 22, 1994 Damn the torpedoes, EE Times, June 6, 1994 Protecting properly classified info, EE Times, April 11, 1994 DOE to scrutinize fairness in old whistle-blower cases, Albuquerque Tribune, Nov 7 1995 DOE boss accelerates whistle-blower protection, Albuquerque Tribune, March 27, 1996 DOE doesn't plan to compensate 'old' whistle-blowers with money, Albuquerque Tribune September 27, 199 --- Here is one of my previous articles. http://www.zolatimes.com/v2.29/bw1.html http://www.aci.net/kalliste/bw1 We should get this settled before IT GETS WORSE. Black and white is an example of WORSE. bill payne

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Mail2news@anon.lcs.mit.edu Not Propagating to Compuserve/Sprynet
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Has anyone else experienced posts sent via the anon.lcs.mit.edu mail2news gateway not propagating to Compuserve/Sprynet's news servers? I've made a couple of posts, both anonymously and non-anonymously via that gateway, and they haven't been showing up at CIS/Sprynet. Yet they've been archived on Dejanews and replies to them from users on other servers have shown up. Is this a propagation problem, or are Compuserve and Sprynet blocking posts from that gateway?

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Release Information
by info 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Dear subscriber, We are glad to inform you that "The Aggressor PRO V1.0" and "The Aggressor NTT v1.0" is now released. You may download Trial version of The Aggressor PRO from http://www.aggressor.net. * Brief list of features : - Advanced Network Sniffing Module The Aggressor PRO entitles you to monitor the network traffic on your local network. This feature enables you to read every incoming and outgoing email, monitor web access of employees or monitor irc or icq messages, it has filtering mechanism to ease viewing connections and connection logging feature for autosaving the connections and view them later. - Intrusion Detection The Aggressor's beholder module controls all connections/packets between your local network and internet, analyses incoming and outgoing packets, detects and logs hostile actions like portscanning, denial of service attacks or exploit attacks, logs them and alerts the administrator when such an attempt occurs. - Blocking With The Aggressor, you can block service usage and server access by making rulesets. Network monitoring options allow the system administrator to ban sites, services, block connections, ban keywords and more. - Network Vulnerability Scanner / Informator This module enables you to test your network against hacker attacks. With its live plugin support, you will be able to test your network against latest security vulnerabilities by downloading related plugin file from our website. We also have Plugin SDK (for Delphi and Visual C) for you to develop your own plugin files for The Aggressor. - Network Administration Tools. The Aggressor has most important internet tools which are useful for network administration such as DNS Scanner, Portscanner, Finger, Ident, Whois, Ping, Traceroute. With The Aggressor, you will not need use any internetworking tools from any other sources. Requirements : Windows NT 4.0 ( Installed Internet Explorer 4 for HTML Filter ) Ethernet Connection (or another 802.3 frame compatible device) Pentium 200 MMX (Pentium II 266 Recommended) 32 Mb Ram (Additional ram for high network traffic (64+) ) 10 Mb Disk space (Additional disk space for connection / observer logging) You can obtain detailed information about our product from http://www.aggressor.net Please note that this is a release notification email you can send email to list-request(a)aggressor.net with subject "UNSUBSCRIBE" to remove yourself from our notify list . Regards Korhan KAYA AGIS Corporation http://www.aggressor.net (+90)(212) 212-3427

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Y2K War Games & Martial Law articles
by Carol Moore 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Below are two recent articles to remind libertarians,et al that the feds are already planning "war games" in June for potential problems in year 2000 as well as discussing martial law. (All planned by the same President, Attorney General, ATF/FBI, and military who gave us Waco, Iraq sanctions, and the Sudan and Iraq bombings.) Carol in D.C. http://www.kreative.net/carolmoore/community-y2k.html (PS. Demand Clinton the rapist (see http://www.newsmax.com) resign. 202-456-1111 or President(a)whitehouse.gov) (A good source for daily mainstream press articles on Y2K is: http://www.year2000.com/articles/articles) ----------- 12-24-98 Government plans war games to battle Millennium Bug By Lisa Hoffman / Scripps Howard News Service WASHINGTON -- The federal government is gearing up for top-level war games designed to grapple with possible calamities the "millennium bug" might wreak in the United States and abroad. The "tabletop exercise," as it's being called, will mark the first time since the end of the Cold War that Cabinet secretaries have assembled to plot responses to what could be a nationwide crisis. Clinton administration officials say they expect any disruptions that might result from computer confusion when 2000 dawns will be minor. But they want to make sure the government is prepared should that forecast be wrong. Planning for the war games, tentatively scheduled for June, is in its early stages, so officials can't say which Cabinet secretaries will take part, how long the exercises will last or what mock disaster scenarios the leaders will be wrestling with. According to administration officials, those almost certain to participate are Defense Secretary William Cohen, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, Attorney General Janet Reno, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Jamie Lee Witt, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is taking a lead role in preparing for any year 2000, or Y2K, glitches. Governments, from the city and county level up, are racing to make sure their tens of thousands of vital systems will not fall prey to a programming problem that might cause computers to misinterpret the turn of the century on Jan. 1, 2000, and shut down or otherwise fail. Given the proliferation of computer chips in everything from traffic signals to medical devices to air traffic control towers, significant disruptions in vital services are at least theoretically possible. The administration wants to be able to respond rapidly if those occur. One major focus of the war games is expected to be on how to coordinate a response. At least one other high-level war game is slated at the Pentagon, where the top brass along with Cohen will gather to brainstorm sometime between March and the national exercise in June, according to Pentagon officials. Their focus won't be so much on handling defense computer foul-ups -- for which a massive preparatory fix now is underway -- as on how the armed forces might be able to help communities in which they are based cope with a crisis, particularly those overseas. If, for instance, the electrical power fails in Ramstein, Germany, troops at the U.S. Air Force Base there could provide generators to help restore the power, officials said. (Lisa Hoffman covers military affairs for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail hoffmanl(at)shns.com.) ---------------- Found at: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19981221_xex_un_plans_glo.shtml MONDAY DECEMBER 211998 PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO U.N. plans for global chaos Bennett says no plans in U.S. for martial law Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on the Y2K millennium bug based on an exclusive interview with Sen. Robert Bennett, R-UT, and the chairman of the Senate committee investigating the technology problem. By David M. Bresnahan © 1998, WorldNetDaily.com SALT LAKE CITY, UT -- As preparations for widespread global panic and disorder over the Y2K crisis begin at the United Nations, the U.S. senator considered the most knowledgeable about the millennium bug, assures the United States does not have plans in place for martial law. Representatives from 130 nations met in a closed-door meeting Friday to discuss the Y2K crisis and the predicted problems that will occur around the world. The use of SWAT teams and martial law are being planned, according to a source present for the meeting at the U.N. Many underdeveloped nations expressed concern because they have had no ability to prepare for the Y2K problems, and many other smaller nations are far behind where they should be, the source told WorldNetDaily. The discussions at the meeting turned to how to handle public panic and unrest that is expected to result on January 1, 2000, if the Y2K computer bug shuts down power, communications, and transportation. The meeting was only the first of many more to come. Eventually, a formal request may be made to the U.N. for coordinated military action, according to the source. Representatives in the meetings openly expressed their fears of unrest, and voiced a need for martial law, and the use of military and police SWAT teams. Meanwhile, Bennett, chairman of the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, has been actively sounding the alarm about domestic problems that may result because of the computer glitch. But he says martial law is a minimal threat in the U.S. "I'm not one of those who think that Bill Clinton will automatically, or in some diabolical way, try to manipulate this problem (Y2K) to impose improper force on anybody," he stated. "I just don't see any indications of that. Until I see some suggestion that that really is happening I won't believe that it's under consideration." Bennett did acknowledge that Canada is formulating plans to initiate martial law because of Y2K. "The Canadian armed forces are organized very differently than American armed forces," explained Bennett. "We don't have the provision to turn out the military from the Pentagon in a presidential declaration of martial law like the Canadians do." Although Bennett has been personally speaking out about the reality of the problems that could result from the Y2K bug, he has begun to tone down his predictions. He blames some of the fear being generated about the problem on businesses selling survival and preparedness supplies. "There's no question but that some of the hysteria is being whipped up by people who have products to sell," Bennett told WorldNetDaily in an exclusive interview. "At the same time, there are people who have legitimate products to sell that could have an impact on the Y2K problem, who have every right to talk about the problem in their legitimate marketing efforts." "Sometimes the lines between those two get blurred, but I don't want to be party to helping sell any particular product or service. That's not the appropriate thing for a United States senator or a United States Senate committee to do." Bennett was critical of most government agencies and private businesses for not working on the problem sooner. He said the Social Security Administration is to be commended for getting an early start, but most others failed to work on the problem soon enough to solve it in time. The total cost to fix the Y2K bug is expected to exceed $600 billion, with legal expenses in excess of $1 trillion, according to Bennett. Those numbers do not include estimates of lost business revenues, and corresponding loss of tax revenues. Potential damages and repairs are also not part of the estimates. Of all government agencies, Bennett said his greatest concerns are with the Defense Department. He said the Pentagon began work on the problem too late. Bennett listed the priorities of his committee as power, telecommunications and transportation. He explained that it will do little good for businesses to fix the Y2K problem within their company if they don't have power, communications, or transportation. "If there is no electricity, it doesn't matter whether your computer is Y2K compliant or not," said Bennett. "Your laptop batteries won't last long enough to solve all your problems." When Bennett first began spreading the alarm about Y2K, he stated that there was a 40 percent chance the nation's power grid would not function because of Y2K. "Now I think that 40 percent has shrunk down to single digits -- 5 percent, 3 percent -- pick your number, it doesn't really matter, it's a relatively small chance that the power grid will fail," said Bennett confidently. "I still think we will have brownouts," he added. "I don't know how long they will last. I don't know where they will hit, and I don't know how severe they will be. The very nature of the problem indicates that we cannot get through this with complete, absolute, 100 percent assurance, although there are people in power companies that are now telling me that's what we can depend on. "My own sense of the thing says, no, there's got to be some brownouts. There will be some interruptions, but the power grid will not fail. Don't go out and dig up your backyard and bury propane tanks, or go out and buy your very own generator, because I think we will have power." "I think the telecommunications system will work," predicted Bennett. "There will be individual exchanges or switching companies, or what have you, that will have problems. We won't know until we can test the whole system end to end. But there are enough heartening indications that things are going to be alright that leads me to believe that the telecommunications system will work." The nation's power grid is also dependent on a telecommunications system which enables all the various computers to communicate and keep the grid functioning. The telecommunications systems depend on the power grid to provide the necessary electricity. "If we have a breakdown in the transportation system, it could eventually shut down the economy by itself," said Bennett. "For example, if the trains don't work because the switching systems don't work, you can't get coal from coal mines on the trains to the power-generating plants, which means eventually you don't get any power and the power grid goes down and then the dominoes can fall in various directions." The most vulnerable transportation system which may be interrupted is maritime shipping, according to Bennett. "Getting oil out of foreign countries onto ships through customs with all the paper work that is involved with all large transoceanic shipments. And, of course, all of the paper work is controlled by computers," explained Bennett. Ships are computer-operated and must dock in ports that are also computer mechanized. Customs procedures are also dependent on computers to deal with the enormous amount of cargo coming into the country every day. "A breakdown (could occur) in that kind of transportation chain which depends not only on Y2K compliance in this country, but in many countries including the countries that license the ships, and the countries where the oil is produced," Bennett said. "I think the chances of a breakdown somewhere in that chain are probably higher than the single digits, and that could create some interesting and challenging economic difficulties." Bennett also took time to give advice to those who wish to determine how they may be impacted personally by the Y2K problem. Many people are planning to take their money out of banks prior to the start of the year 2000. Bennett is not personally concerned about access to his bank account. "You have every right to contact your institution, whether it's a bank or a credit union, and ask, 'Are you going to be Y2K compliant?' If you don't have the answer that you deserve, then take your money out," said Bennett. He said there will be individual banking institutions where checks will not clear and ATMs will fail. Some banks and ATMs will work, and others may not. "You have the responsibility to take care of your Year 2000 problem, just as your bank has the responsibility to take care of theirs, or just as Bill Clinton has the responsibility to take care of America's," he explained. Despite his own sometimes-dire warnings, Bennett says no one should have fear. "I think fear is too strong a word, but I think all of us should have some concern," he explained. "Concern enough to inform ourselves. You need to find out as much as you possibly can about what's really going to happen to you, and then make intelligent contingency plans." He advises talking to city, county, and state officials to determine if local government is prepared to continue to provide services in the year 2000. Bennett also advises that everyone should contact businesses they depend on for goods and services, and evaluate to what extent they will be impacted by Y2K. The task is complicated by the need to evaluate the entire chain of supplies. It is not enough ask your local grocery store if it is Y2K compliant. It must also be determined if the chain of supplies to the grocery store will be able to continue to deliver goods. "The contingency plan may be very minor, it may be non-existent," said Bennett. "You may say, 'In my job, with my employer, in my city, everything is going to be fine, I don't need to worry about anything.' "Or you may say, 'Where I live there is a 20 percent, 30 percent chance that the trucks might not be able to get to the supermarket where I buy food. I probably ought to have a little extra food. In my city the water purification plant is proving to be far more troublesome than it would be someplace else, and in my city I better have a supply of fresh water that can take me through while they're trying to get this taken care of.' "That's not fear," explained Bennett, "that's intelligent planning based on sound information. Everyone of us has to take the responsibility for gathering his or her own information and then making personal decisions.

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