December 2004 - cypherpunks-legacy

Gary Webb, 49; Wrote Series Linking CIA, Drugs
by R.A. Hettinga 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

<http://www.latimes.com/features/health/medicine/la-me-webb12dec12,1,7938237…> The Los Angeles Times OBITUARIES Gary Webb, 49; Wrote Series Linking CIA, Drugs By Nita Lelyveld and Steve Hymon Times Staff Writers December 12, 2004 Gary Webb, an investigative reporter who wrote a widely criticized series linking the CIA to the explosion of crack cocaine in Los Angeles, was found dead in his Sacramento-area home Friday. He apparently killed himself, authorities said. Webb had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office. He was 49. His 1996 San Jose Mercury News series contended that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine from Colombian cartels in Los Angeles' black neighborhoods and then funneled millions in profits back to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras. Three months after the series was published, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said it conducted an exhaustive investigation but found no evidence of a connection between the CIA and Southern California drug traffickers. Major newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post, wrote reports discrediting elements of Webb's reporting. The Los Angeles Times report looked into Webb's charges "that a CIA-related drug ring sent 'millions' of dollars to the Contras; that it launched an epidemic of cocaine use in South-Central Los Angeles and America's other inner cities; and that the agency either approved the scheme or deliberately turned a blind eye." "But the available evidence, based on an extensive review of court documents and more than 100 interviews in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington and Managua, fails to support any of those allegations," The Times reported. Months later, the Mercury News also backed away from the series, publishing an open letter to its readers, admitting to flaws. "We oversimplified the complex issue of how the crack epidemic in America grew," wrote the paper's executive editor, Jerry Ceppos, adding, "I believe that we fell short at every step of our process - in the writing, editing and production of our work." The paper reassigned Webb to a suburban bureau. In December 1997, he quit. "All he ever wanted to do was write," said Webb's ex-wife, Susan Bell, who met him when they were both high school students in Indiana. "He never really recovered from it." Webb was born in Corona to a military family and moved around the country throughout his youth. He dropped out of journalism school just shy of graduating to accept his first newspaper job at the Kentucky Post, then went to the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Mercury News. Within two years of arriving at the paper, Webb was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Webb continued to defend his reporting, most notably in a 548-page book, "Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion," which was published in 1999. After leaving the Mercury News, Webb worked in state government, including the Joint Legislative Audit Committee's investigation into then-Gov. Gray Davis' controversial award of a $95-million, no-bid contract to Oracle in 2001. "The guy had a fierce commitment to justice and truth. He cared deeply about the people who are forgotten, that we try to shove into the dark recesses of our minds and world," said Tom Dresslar, a spokesman for the California attorney general's office who worked with Webb on the Oracle investigation. But Webb's career remained troubled. While working for another legislative committee in Sacramento, Webb wrote a report accusing the California Highway Patrol of unofficially condoning and even encouraging racial profiling in its drug interdiction program. Legislative officials released the report in 1999 but cautioned that it was based mainly on assumptions and anecdotes. Earlier this year, Webb was one of a group of employees fired from the Assembly speaker's Office of Member Services for failing to show up for work. Webb, who lived in Carmichael, continued to write occasionally for a variety of publications. Last summer, the weekly Sacramento News & Review hired Webb to cover government and politics. He had recently written two cover stories, including one on how much money Sacramento County was making off the use of red-light cameras. "He's obviously a skilled reporter and writer and he was doing good work for us and the evidence was on the page," said News & Review Editor Tom Walsh. Webb is survived by two sons, Ian and Eric; and a daughter, Chr -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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RE: Blinky Rides Again: RCMP suspect al-Qaida messages
by Major Variola (ret) 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

At 02:47 PM 12/9/04 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: >Oh, general cluelessness doesn't suprise me. What suprises me is that the >writer of the original article seemed to believe that Stego was a new >development. The high-level pigs try to introduce this hysteria-generator periodically. The dumb typists eat what they're fed. Eventually it reaches critical mass in Joe Sixpacks and Tipper Gore comes out whining about the chiiildren. This is the intent of the high level pigs. Psyops ain't just for the (overt) military you know... -------- Stego rules for a safer tomorrow: 1. Always use original carrier image/sounds/whatever 2. Generally broadcasting (eg eBay) is best, recipients should download lots of similar carriers 3. Keep S/N low so detection is problematic 4. Wardrive injection/download is best 5. Keep your tools on your flash drive not your HD

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Gentlemen don't read each others' mail.. bush no gman
by Major Variola (ret) 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

Anyone surprised that the US spooks are admitting to wiretapping UN people? If they really had info they'd state it but refuse to answer how they got it. Somehow I doubt that UN officials and the people they might chat with will get the secure phones they need. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57928-2004Dec11.html?nav=rss…

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Re: Mixmaster is dead, long live wardriving
by Major Variola (ret) 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

At 06:01 PM 12/11/04 +0000, Justin wrote: >On 2004-12-11T06:48:41-0800, Major Variola (ret) wrote: >> Mixmaster is the most godawful complex thing to use, much less >> administer, around. Even Jack B Nymble is complex. It needs a simple >> luser interface and something to piggyback servers on. > >Not necessarily. Mixmaster is trivial to use with Mutt. > >1. Compile Mixmaster You've already lost 90% of your possible hosts >2. Put the binary in some directory somewhere. >3. Configure Mutt with --with-mixmaster (sadly not enabled by default) >4. add the line 'set mixmaster="/location/to/bin/mixmaster"' to .muttrc >5. mkdir ~user/Mix/ >6. Add a script to crontab that does: You're obviously talking about some fringe unix-like OS... >7. When sending email, at the summary page just before sending, hit 'M'. And if you forget then your message is sent to the To: recipient. Nice easy-to-screw-up UI there :-(

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commitment trust
by R.W. (Bob) Erickson 12 Dec '04

12 Dec '04

from R. H Frank's "Passion within reason" to gain trust we show our commitment by doing hard work. In web's of trust, one way to add to new reputation would be to require each new node to perform an asymmetrically difficult task for more than one pre-existing node, on top of existing anti-faking provisions. hash-cash buys a chance to earn trust, it functions as a hard to fake gesture of sincerity --bob

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Re: punkly current events
by Major Variola (ret) 11 Dec '04

11 Dec '04

At 11:13 AM 12/10/04 +0100, Eugen Leitl wrote: > >Because nodes are not geographically constrained to US jurisdiction? Name a place which is not subject to US juridiction? Ok, Iran, N Kr, until we pull a regime change (tm) on them. Yeah, they have a lot of 'net bandwidth, right. Some of the ex-soviets perhaps, only because the rubles / threats from the mafia exceed the rubles from the USG. Otherwise our "advisors" will help you "Round Up" your local cash crops, you how to shoot down missionaries, teach you how to gore an election. Even the chinese want trade enough to pander and are not unwilling to enforce a police state. Meanwhile all your Pakis are belong to u$ (except for those that don't, but hide the fact and um Sheik Yerbouti). And if extradition isn't happening fast enough, we'll send a DEA agent or snatch-und-grab specops to kidnap them. Hegemony isn't just for breakfast anymore. If you think you're not under Bush's boot, you just haven't pissed him off enough, yet.

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Kazaa can't bar child pornographers, court told
by R.A. Hettinga 11 Dec '04

11 Dec '04

Quadrafecta!!! Horse Number Four, Paedophilia, or "Pokey", to his friends... Only took 36 hours, true to his namesake... Or something. Cheers, RAH ------- <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/10/kazaa_p2p_trial/print.html> The Register Biting the hand that feeds IT The Register ; Internet and Law ; Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs ; Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/10/kazaa_p2p_trial/ Kazaa can't bar child pornographers, court told By Tim Richardson (tim.richardson at theregister.co.uk) Published Friday 10th December 2004 17:16 GMT Sharman Networks - the company behind peer-to-peer file sharing outfit Kazaa - has denied it is able to block users who use the service to share child pornography. Sharman Networks is currently in the Australian Federal Court in Sydney facing allegations that it created the world's largest music piracy network and knew that its software was being used to distribute music illegally. Earlier in the trial, Tony Bannon, QC - representing dozens of music companies including Universal, EMI, Warner and Sony BMG - dismissed Sharman Networks' claim that the company had no control over how its software was used. Quoting the company's policy on child pornography, he said: "If at any time Kazaa finds that you are using Kazaa to collect or distribute child pornography or other obscene material, [Sharman] reserves the right to permanently bar you and your computers from accessing Kazaa and other Kazaa services." The argument went on, that if Kazaa could bar traders in illegal child porn images, then it could block users who illegally distribute music. However, Philip Morle, Sharman Network's chief technology officer, told the court yesterday that he did not think the company could bar people who used its P2P software to distribute child pornography. He went on to say that he didn't know how people could be blocked; nor was he aware of Kazaa's policy on child pornography, reported ZD Net Australia. The trial continues. . -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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Steve Thompson
by Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer 11 Dec '04

11 Dec '04

Out of nowhere cometh Steve Thompson, and sayeth he all manner of things. But, while his mouth moveth one way, he seemeth to move the other. http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=%22steve+thompson%22&start=0&hl=en&s… What hath suddenly attracted our AUK creep?

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Steve Thompson
by privacy.at Anonymous Remailer 11 Dec '04

11 Dec '04

Out of nowhere cometh Steve Thompson, and sayeth he all manner of things. But, while his mouth moveth one way, he seemeth to move the other. http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=%22steve+thompson%22&start=0&hl=en&s… What hath suddenly attracted our AUK creep?

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Re: Mixmaster is dead, long live wardriving
by Major Variola (ret) 11 Dec '04

11 Dec '04

At 09:47 PM 12/10/04 -0800, Joseph Ashwood wrote: >Wardriving is also basically dead. On the contrary. A recent article (zdnet IIRC) described a non-hacker visiting his father, and using a neighbor's connection accidentally. This is very common. My own non-tech father regularly finds other nets in his neighborhood, using default apps (not 'Stumbler, etc). Sure there are a handful of people that >do it, but the number is so small as to be irrelevant. That 'wardrive' knowing its called that, yes. That do so accidentally, no. >> Or consider a Napster-level popular app which includes mixing or >> onion routing. > >Now we're back to the MixMaster argument. Mixmaster was meant to be a >"Napster-level popular app" for emailing, but people just don't care about >anonymity. Mixmaster is the most godawful complex thing to use, much less administer, around. Even Jack B Nymble is complex. It needs a simple luser interface and something to piggyback servers on.

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