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Slashdot | Xerox Exploits Printer Flaws To Make Pseudo-Holograms (fwd)
by Jim Choate 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/02/1324257.shtml?tid=126&tid=137&tid=152… -- ____________________________________________________________________ We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Criswell, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.org www.ssz.com www.open-forge.org --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Hackers Bypass 4th Amendment
by Eric Cordian 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

OK - Here's a really dumb decision which shows how willing the courts are to shred the Constitution. Just to make sure that Puritans don't have to worry that someone, somewhere, is looking at a picture of someone under 18, and touching themselves improperly. http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5058835.html Apparently, criminals can break into your home, and look for evidence of illegal activity and thoughtcrime, and if they find it or even plant it themselves, they can give it to the police, not be prosecuted for breaking in, and it can be used as evidence against you. No problem with obtaining those pesky search warrants from the handy rotary tear-off dispenser in the Judge's chambers any more. No indeed. ----- Judges OK evidence from hacker vigilante By Lisa M. Bowman Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 1, 2003, 10:22 AM PT [Comments in [] are mine. -emc] A federal appeals panel ruled this week that the government did not violate search and seizure laws when it used evidence that a hacker gathered to establish a child pornography case. The opinion reverses a lower court ruling in which a U.S. District Court judge in Virginia suppressed the evidence, saying the government had violated a defendant's rights. The decision stems from a case in which a hacker uploaded a file to a child porn newsgroup that made it possible to track who downloaded files from the service. The uploaded file contained the SubSeven virus, which the hacker used to remotely search people's computers for porn. [Notice how the claims by the "hacker" are reported as fact here. For all we know, the hacker could have broken into the computer, and planted the alleged child porn himself. Once the hacker had access, the PC was no longer under the exclusive control of the owner, and I don't see how he could be prosecuted for anything on it. It's not like these child porn crusaders don't lie. Mike Echols lied about child porn for years, and through the posting of his list of the personal information of those he falsely claimed were child pornographers on yet another Web hosting service, by the remnants of his sham organization, he continues to lie from beyond the grave. History has proven that Lying Feminist Cunts and Religious Nutballs will do anything to silence their critics, including planting porn on their computers. How dumb and naive can the courts be?] The hacker then played the role of a cybervigilante, sending anonymous tips to law enforcement officials that alerted them to child porn files the hacker had found on people's PCs. [Again, the files the hacker "claimed" to have found on peoples PCs, but which in reality, could have been planted because the hacker didn't like the subject's public comments about Vigilante Hackers, Bon-Bon Munching Holsteins, and other loathesome creatures.] The attorneys for one of the men nabbed in the hacker's sting sued, saying that the hacker was acting as an agent of the government and therefore needed a warrant before conducting a search of someone's computer. A federal court judge ruled that the government had indeed violated the man's Fourth Amendment rights protecting him from unreasonable search and seizure. [This certainly seems to be the correct interpretation of the law.] However, an appellate panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision because, among other things, most of the major exchanges between law enforcement and the hacker took place after he had searched the man's computer. As a result, the judges said, the government had not established a relationship with the hacker prior to his search that would have made him an agent of the government. "In order to run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, therefore, the government must do more than passively accept or acquiesce in a private party's search efforts," the judges wrote. "Rather there must be some degree of government participation in the private search." However, the appellate judges warned that law enforcement "operated close to the line" in the case. [This is clearly bullshit. We are now privatizing illegal searching, as long as the vigilante group doesn't run to the police until after they break into your home and discover/plant evidence? Someone needs to confiscate these judges' crack pipes.] -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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2nd Brit Agent Named
by John Young 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

This story is breaking in British news, though the name of the agent has not yet been published there -- probably tonight or tomorrow unless OSA kills it like David Kelly. ----- http://cryptome.org/sean-maguire.htm 2 August 2003. Thanks to Anonymous. Kevin Fulton is reported to have named Stakeknife as Freddie Scappaticci.

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Inferno: Big Nous Day (fwd)
by Jim Choate 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 11:39:42 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Inferno: Big Nous Day If I hadn't accidentally looked at a newspaper stand late last night, and noticed the headline that "Bush Takes Responsibility For Misleading Information" I would probably not have known where to look today to find anything out about it: http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=1382287 http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=6620 Although it is a purely rhetorical admission, it is a significant one in that it takes the wind from the sails of any notion of an independent inquiry. And as well, if you look at the front page of CNN, it has already been removed from public consciousness to be replaced with the much more pressing and incendiary notions of: A new audiotape of Saddam's Greatest Hits: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08/01/sprj.irq.main/index.html The Vatican and W come out to bat: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/08/01/vatican.gay.marriages/index.html and in a strange tautological twist, Condi takes personal responsibility for Bush and Bush says Condi is an "honest, fabulous person": http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/31/rice/index.html You see, because BushCo will have its cake and eat you too: "I think the American people should be prepared for surprises," said David Kay, a former U.N. weapons inspector who is leading the CIA's weapons investigation. "I think it's very likely that we will discover remarkable surprises in this enterprise." http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/31/wmd.search/index.html And if that's not enough for you: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030801_689.html http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/20030801p2a00m0fp015000c.html Now I remember why I care more about the nous than the news.

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Re: Hackers Bypass 4th Amendment
by Major Variola (ret) 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

At 01:23 AM 8/2/03 -0700, Eric Cordian wrote: >OK - Here's a really dumb decision which shows how willing the courts are >to shred the Constitution. Just to make sure that Puritans don't have to >worry that someone, somewhere, is looking at a picture of someone under >18, and touching themselves improperly. > >http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5058835.html > >Apparently, criminals can break into your home, and look for evidence of >illegal activity and thoughtcrime, and if they find it or even plant it >themselves, they can give it to the police, not be prosecuted for breaking >in, and it can be used as evidence against you. No problem with obtaining >those pesky search warrants from the handy rotary tear-off dispenser in >the Judge's chambers any more. No indeed. > >----- > >Judges OK evidence from hacker vigilante >By Lisa M. Bowman >Staff Writer, CNET News.com >August 1, 2003, 10:22 AM PT > > [Comments in [] are mine. -emc] > >A federal appeals panel ruled this week that the government did not >violate search and seizure laws when it used evidence that a hacker >gathered to establish a child pornography case. Interesting, because in Calif some hacker-discovered kiddy prawns were tossed out on 4th violations. Perhaps this will go to higher courts. Evidence Barred in Ex-O.C. Judge's Child-Porn Case Writings and photos were illegally obtained from Ronald Kline's computer, court rules. By Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer A federal judge on Tuesday threw out most of the key evidence in a high-profile child pornography case against a former Orange County judge, ruling that sexually explicit diary entries and photos were discovered after illegal computer searches by a Canadian hacker who was working for police. The ruling could undermine much of the case against Ronald C. Kline, whose arrest drew national attention and ultimately resulted in the judge dropping his bid for reelection. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kline18jun18120422,1,5845207.story --- "To the electron -- may it never be of any use to anybody." -- JJ. Thomson's favorite toast

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Re: CA Gov calls Shrub Shrub
by Bill Stewart 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

At 06:40 PM 08/01/2003 -0400, Sunder wrote: >http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030731.ushrub0730/BNStory/… I'd interpreted "CA Gov" as "The Governor of California" rather than "The Government of Canada" (or a province thereof), and was hoping for some good flames about our recallable incompetent :-)

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Gonzo revelation.
by Jim Choate 02 Aug '03

02 Aug '03

On Sat, 2 Aug 2003, Professor Rat. wrote: > In truth, I could be a lot happier about the collapse of Bush and his > people and his whole house of cards and everything he stands for, if it > didn't also mean the certain collapse of the U.S. economy, and the vital > infrastructure, and, indeed, the whole "American way of life." You're an idiot. Never confuse the nation of America with its government. -- ____________________________________________________________________ We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Criswell, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.org www.ssz.com www.open-forge.org --------------------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Digicash Patents, patent-expiry landrushes
by Major Variola (ret) 01 Aug '03

01 Aug '03

At 11:34 AM 7/31/03 -0700, Tim May wrote: >Some people expected a "land rush" when the main RSA patents expired >several years ago. Parties were even thrown. The land rush never >happened. Wrong. RSA algorithm is used freely now in US designs, knowing it is no longer patented. I didn't go to any party, but I flipped a bit in my cranial store indicating that it could be used freely. And this is/was critical, because whereas a block cipher (eg IDEA) can be replaced, RSA can't in some apps. As someone currently rolling his own RSA by setting up the bignums in C, it is a relief to be free of patent issues. I don't believe this would have been the case before the expiry. (This is for embedded devices, I'm not reinventing a protocol wheel.) I'll predict a similarly invisible "land rush" when ECC patents run out, assuming that its patented and also considered useful when the supposed patents expire.

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Re: Poindexter to Resign
by Bill Stewart 01 Aug '03

01 Aug '03

At 08:41 AM 08/01/2003 -0700, Steve Schear wrote: >Report: Poindexter to Resign >Wired News 2:43 PM Jul. 31, 2003 PT > >WASHINGTON -- John Poindexter, the Iran-Contra scandal figure who headed >two criticized Pentagon projects, including one that would have enabled >investors to profit by predicting terrorist attacks, will quit his post >within weeks, U.S. defense officials said Thursday. .... > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59853,00.html > http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3198102 It's nice that some of the news media have changed from their previous policy of toadying up to "Admiral Poindexter" and are now starting out their article by referring to his known dishonesty and unfitness for public service before getting down to explaining what they're talking about. It may not be Fair, but it's a bit more Balanced :-) Of course, much of this may be a play by the "Senior US Defense Officials" to make sure he gets the point and does resign, rather than commentary by the news media, and/or an attempt to distance themselves from a couple of unpopular programs by sticking it on the designated fall guy, but it still couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Wired is a lot more enthusiastic in its comments than Reuters, which was terser. WaPo toadies up to him by starting out "John M. Poindexter, the retired rear admiral involved in the Pentagon's ill-fated plan", while Fox News says "The admiral who developed two controversial Pentagon database programs quickly killed by Congress" and goes on to make it clear that it's that nasty Congress's fault for refusing to fund Poindexter's cool programs. The real question is whether the administration and officials that rehired Poindexter and hired Ashcroft and Homeland Security will continue the same kinds of attacks on US civil liberties now that he's gone, and unfortunately, the answer is presumably yes.

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Man sues over DNA swabs during investigation (fwd)
by Jim Choate 01 Aug '03

01 Aug '03

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-08-01-give-back-dna_x.htm -- ____________________________________________________________________ We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Criswell, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" ravage(a)ssz.com jchoate(a)open-forge.org www.ssz.com www.open-forge.org --------------------------------------------------------------------

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