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<nettime> The War on David Nelson
by Bruce Sterling 16 May '03

16 May '03

*Imagine if these wretches had the even more common name "Geert Lovink." Really, one shudders to think -- bruces If your name is David Nelson you can expect to be hassled, delayed, questioned and searched before being allowed to board aircraft anywhere in the United States for the foreseeable future. Since the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the federal Transportation Security Administration has, without any public announcement, created a two-tiered list of names "to protect our aviation system," says Nico Melendez, the agency spokesman for the West Coast, who is based in Los Angeles. The name David Nelson apparently is on one of those lists. "There is a 'no-fly' list," he says. "That's people who cannot fly, period, " because they've been determined to be or are suspected of being "a threat to civil aviation or to national security." Details about the list are "considered sensitive security information and cannot be released to the public," Nico says, but the Wall Street Journal suggests there are about 300 names on the "no-fly" list. There's another list that Nico calls the "selectees list." Might as well call them "suspectees." This is a much larger list of names, accumulated, Nico says, from information obtained from intelligence agencies and the airlines. These folks may be allowed to fly but only after they're intensely scrutinized by airline, law enforcement and security personnel. People whose names are on the two lists undergo what is not a routine security screening, in which you're asked to remove your shoes or empty your pockets. This week 18 men named David Nelson, all residents of Oregon, confirmed they have been repeatedly delayed at airport counters and security checkpoints in the last year or so. Take the February experience of Dave Nelson of Salem, a lobbyist whose largest client is the Oregon Seed Council. Dave often travels for business, sometimes accompanying the governor on trade missions. "We were on our way to a trade show in Atlanta," Dave says, "trying to use the auto-check-in for baggage. We punched in our information, and the computer wouldn't accept it." Dave and his wife, Leah, stood in line until an agent was available at the Delta counter. "We gave him our info, and he kept punching on his computer for about 10 or 15 minutes. . . . Then he says, 'I have to go in the back room.' He took off, and we stood there another 10 minutes. I asked L1 another clerk to find out where he'd gone." After more waiting, they were told a supervisor was being sought. "Nobody would tell us what was going on," Dave says. "It's been 30 or 35 minutes by now. Finally the guy came out and said, 'You'll have to talk to the cop behind you.' We turned around, and there's a security guy." Dave says the officer told him there was a list of suspicious people, "and you're on the list." Dave was asked for I.D. and turned over his driver's license. "They called downtown and ran a criminal check, and I was clean. Then the counter clerk had to call national Delta and get permission for me to go on the airplane. We were now pretty close to takeoff time." Dave and his wife were issued tickets, but again at the gate Dave was thoroughly frisked, searched and identified. At the airport in Atlanta on the way back, the same thing happened. "The woman punched in my name and said, 'Oh, no, Mr. Nelson . . .' " One after another, local David Nelsons tell the same story: At airports their bags are put through bomb detectors; they are delayed, searched, questioned. David Nelson of Gresham says he was searched and screened three times at the Portland airport, then again at the gates of Dallas and Atlanta airports before arriving in Savannah, Ga., last month. "It's as if they think you've been transformed into a terrorist en route. You'd think one screening was enough, when you haven't left a secure area the entire trip." "What really concerned me," says David Nelson of Northwest Portland, who recently was delayed trying to fly to Juneau, Alaska, to take care of his mother, "was even when they determined I wasn't the one on the list, it's like I had a label on my forehead that says, 'One must frisk this person at every opportunity and go through his luggage.' It's as if I were a pariah. " David had no idea why he was being singled out; no one mentioned a list. "My son is a pilot for Continental; I thought maybe that had something to do with it." Oregon state Sen. David Nelson, from Pendleton, also had no idea why he was being delayed at airports. "Then we flew into the Medford airport on Horizon, and one of the agents said, 'Your name is on the list. You're going to be checked every place you go.' That was a shock." As David Nelsons all over the country have learned, once your name is on the list, there's no way you can get it removed. Every time you go to an airport, you're assumed to be guilty until you can prove yourself innocent. Dave Nelson, the Salem lobbyist, spent a lot of time making phone calls after his trip to Atlanta, trying to learn how he could avoid the security hassles. "I thought I'd seen something on the news that you could get a pre-clearance, a photo I.D. We called the Port, and they knew nothing. I called the FBI and went up the ranks, and there's nothing like that. You're just stuck. I said, 'What if I used my full name, or just an initial?' They said, 'None of that would make a difference. You're on the list.' " Somewhere in the world there's an actual terrorist suspect named David Nelson who started all this mess. Several David Nelsons have been told by security or airline personnel that he's from Nashville. But they're looking for him everywhere. Portland radiologist David Nelson "never could figure out why I was constantly getting flagged. Our bags would always come back with tape around them, saying they had been searched." His son and namesake, David Wesley Nelson, who's 27, thought he was always stopped "because of my age." When he flew to Los Angeles recently, "they gave me a big hassle because I didn't have a passport. I said, 'I don't normally carry a passport when traveling within the U.S.' " Every single David Nelson interviewed understood the need for greater security in a post Sept. 11 world. They realize there are trade-offs between liberty and security. But in today's world of high-tech wizardry, it's hard to believe the Transportation Security Administration can't come up with a computer software program that would create a "free-to-fly" list of people whose I.D. has been checked and whose innocence already has been verified. The problem is not the "no-fly" list or the "selectees" list. The problem is, once you're on the lists, you can't get off. It's one thing to know you have to get to the airport three or four hours before every flight; the David Nelsons might accept that as a sign of the times. But how would you feel, knowing your name was on a government terrorist watch list? Linda Nelson of Tigard says her husband, David Nelson, has been hassled in airports. "You're treated as a second-class citizen in your own country," she says. David Nelson is a common name. "My dentist has a couple of them in his practice," says David Nelson of Aloha, "and my boss is actually named David Nelson. He's had the same thing happen to him." Nico Melendez of the Transportation Security Administration will not confirm that the name David Nelson is on the "no-fly" or "selectees" list. But he does say that people who want to see if their name is on either list or who want to make a complaint, can call the agency's contact center at 866-289-9673 or send an e-mail to TellTSA(a)tsa.dot.gov. But if your name is David Nelson, chances are you won't breeze through any airports in the near future. Even if you're a celebrity. Remember Ozzie and Harriet's son, David Nelson? "I got stopped at the John Wayne Airport" in Orange County, Calif., he said by phone from Los Angeles this week. "Two police officers knew who I was and tried to explain to the guy behind the security desk. It didn't faze him at all." Even as another officer was saying he had once met David's mother, Harriet, David was being instructed to remove his shoes, he says. "I asked, 'Does the guy on the list have a middle name of Ozzie?' He said, 'It just says David Nelson.' " http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/margie_boule/index.ssf?/base/living /1051877124142830.xml # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo(a)bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)bbs.thing.net --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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: Fatherland tries to tie pot to 'terrorists'
by Tyler Durden 16 May '03

16 May '03

I guess there aren't many (currently) pot-smkoing persons on this list. Apparently, pot is the number 2 cash crop in the US, after soy. As a result of Reagun era "war on drugs", pot-growers moved indoors and also in the process created new monster breeds of reefer that render the best hash we had in the 70s "lemonade". There was a fascinating NY Times article in the mid-90s in the subject. Apparently, some counties in the deep south have tossed out elected sherrifs that were hostile to pot growers and installed "friendlier" ones. Look for counties were pot busts went from X to zero in a short time. Actually, there are some technologies used by some pot growers that are probably of interest to Cypherpunks. Apparently, Route 95 is now famous for growers who move up and down between states to their various grow-locations, each one without enough pot to merit long term jail time. If one of the locations are entered, the most sophisticated growers are alerted electronically, and never return to tha location again. One wonders what cryptographic protocols are being used by said growers, and whether growers are able to use them properly. -TD >From: Mike Rosing <eresrch(a)eskimo.com> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: Re: Fatherland tries to tie pot to 'terrorists' >Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 06:13:51 -0700 (PDT) > >On Fri, 16 May 2003, Sandy Harris wrote: > > > In Af, there was hashish more-or-less everywhere, and exceedingly > > high quality. Everyone from customs officials and military officers > > to street urchins and respectable merchants offerred it to us. I > > don't think that, in several weeks in the country, we ever spent > > more than a half hour in public without someone trying to sell us > > hash. Friends visited a warehouse with hundreds of kilos in it. > > > > We were not offerred opium. > >This is what I've read from people on the ground there now. Basicly, >opium is a crop for sale, but hash is the drug of choice. > > > I'd say that if opium is indeed a major crop in Af now, then the > > situation was created by some combination of US pressure on other > > sources, the Islamic gov't in Iran suppressing it there, various > > groups -- including Bin Laden's lads -- needing money to fight > > the Russians, Taliban (probably with the help of the CIA and > > Pakistani Intelligence, who created them) needing money, ... > >It grows well there on top of it all, and gets a high value. >All the rest is opportunism. > >I guess it'd be nice if a lot of that "nice quality hash" made >it back to the US. But I suspect our troops will smoke it all first! > >Patience, persistence, truth, >Dr. mike _________________________________________________________________ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Mafia's 3G electoral fraud tactics
by R. A. Hettinga 16 May '03

16 May '03

...From the "the only good vote is a vote you can sell" department... Cheers, RAH ------ <http://www.reuters.co.uk/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=internetNews&story…> Reuters Mafia's 3G electoral fraud tactics Last Updated: 15 May 2003 21:18 BST ROME (Reuters) - Italy's mafia organisations have come up with a use for third-generation mobile phones that makers of the gadgets probably did not have in mind -- vote-rigging. Here's the idea: you promise a voter 50 euros (31 pounds) to cast their ballot for your candidate, send them into the booth with a 3G phone, they send a picture via the phone proving that they have voted as instructed and then they get the cash. But Italian authorities have caught onto the plan and pledged to stop it going ahead in regional elections on May 25. "Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu has taken immediate measures to stave off any attempt to violate the secrecy of the vote, with particular reference to the use of 3G phones in polling stations," a ministry statement said. It did not specify what the measures were. Mafia organisations in parts of Italy have traditionally tried to influence the outcome of elections to get favours in return once their candidates are in post. In one infamous instance of postwar vote-rigging, mafiosi handed impoverished voters a left shoe when they went to vote, promising the right shoe if they voted as instructed. -- ----------------- 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' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)metzdowd.com

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RE: Payments as an answer to spam
by Patrick 16 May '03

16 May '03

> > In the case of micromint I agree, there still has to be a centralised > mint, so one can reasonably make a direct economic comparison with > blind signature based coins or whatever and do the cost benefit > analysis and decide which scheme to use (micromint may be cheaper per > coin after the large initial investment has been recovered); however > with hashcash it's major advantage is that it doesn't require any > infrastructure. > > Having a centralised e-cash bank issuing coins (or a group of banks > with inter-bank clearing) is a highly non-trivial task when you're > talking about micropayments that are expected to be attached to every > email. The volume alone is staggering. And it's not clear what the > > Adam While it's true that some infrastructure is required for a value-based stamp (as opposed to destruction-of-value proof of work stamps), that infrastructure is also useful for many other purposes: the same mints that handle email stamps can also handle bearer instruments for game tokens, site passes, subscriptions, deeds, shares, and good old fashioned loot/money/cash. It also provides an opportunity for a clever entrepreneur to make money by running a self-sustaining service; this financial incentive can be a powerful factor in getting things done. Also, a value-based stamp bought for cash can also be acquired by consumers through side channels. Perhaps an ISP can purchase huge batches at steep discounts and redistribute them to users as a service; they can be given away as promotions; perhaps a spammer or advertiser could throw in email coupons as an incentive to read, or grocery stores could print them on the backs of receipts. As a very-low-value but useful token, it would be a prime target for commercial vectors. Again, a clever entrepreneur can come up with hundreds of angles. I believe that micropayments get stuck in the millicent ghetto because even a few million transactions at low value is probably not worth the effort. But the market for email stamps could be in the billions of transactions per day, and maybe that would be worth the effort. Patrick http://lucrative.thirdhost.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)metzdowd.com

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Fatherland tries to tie pot to 'terrorists'
by Major Variola (ret) 16 May '03

16 May '03

Number of marijuana plants seized at Sequoia has soared. Officials say Mexican cartels linked to Mideast terrorists run the operation. ... The pot fields are financed by the Mexican drug cartels that dominate the methamphetamine trade in the adjacent Central Valley, drug enforcement officials say. The officials say there is evidence that the cartels, in turn, have financial ties to Middle Eastern smugglers linked to Hezbollah and other groups accused of terrorism. <snip> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pot14may14,1,4366659.story?coll=la%… If the middle-eastern freedom fighters actually had ties to Mexico, not just sending some $ that way, you can kiss your texas ranch goodbye. ---- I love the smell of RDX in the morning. It smells like.. victory.

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Nmap is actually fast in the future.
by R. A. Hettinga 16 May '03

16 May '03

--- begin forwarded text

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Re: Fatherland tries to tie pot to 'terrorists'
by Major Variola (ret) 16 May '03

16 May '03

At 11:16 AM 5/16/03 +0800, Sandy Harris wrote: >I'd say that if opium is indeed a major crop in Af now, then the >situation was created by some combination of US pressure on other >sources, the Islamic gov't in Iran suppressing it there, various >groups -- including Bin Laden's lads -- needing money to fight >the Russians, Taliban (probably with the help of the CIA and >Pakistani Intelligence, who created them) needing money, ... Um, hello? Farmers are *rational beings*. They will grow cash crops given sufficient ROI. No different from Kentucky inbreds growing tobacco. (Funny how no one is allowed to criticize the US exports of this addictive plant. Very funny indeed. Perhaps the Columbians will start spraying tobacco fields, (hey if other crops die its collateral damage), and shooting innocent planes out of the air. Frankly I'd rather they buy Al Q a kilo-class sub driven up the Potomac, tobacco keeps social fnord security solvent)

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Re: NYT on Biometrics
by Major Variola (ret) 15 May '03

15 May '03

At 07:40 PM 5/15/03 -0400, BobCat wrote: >From: "Bill Stewart" <bill.stewart(a)pobox.com> > >> The eye-scanning system at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is >> something of a novelty. But the technology might someday >> replace traditional forms of identification. > >Ha. That's my opthamologist in the article. I'll ask him about it, I need to >get my eyes checked anyway. While you're at it, ask him whether my nastigmatic (albeit deceased) grandmother would have problems (or rather, the system with her) (modulo her being deceased).

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Nmap is actually fast in the future.
by gkm＠petting-zoo.net 15 May '03

15 May '03

Forwarded-by: nev(a)bostic.com Forwarded-by: "Frank Byrum" <byrum(a)infionline.net> From: Fyodor [mailto:fyodor@insecure.org] Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 5:17 AM To: nmap-hackers(a)insecure.org Subject: Whoa! Hi Everyone. There is a disturbance in the force! You may recall a couple weeks ago that MS started recommending Nmap on some of their web pages. That was strange, but I did not foresee the anomalous omens that would ensue. Like almost any self-respecting geek, I bought tickets to 'Matrix: Reloaded' several weeks back (no spoilers, I promise). After all, who can resist the combination of philosophical mind games and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in that tight leather bodysuit? So after waiting an hour in a line snaking out of the theatre to the parking lot, I finally got in to my 10pm Wednesday showing. All was going well until Trinity needed to do some hacking. Oh, no! I was sure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated "hacking scene". Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She whips out Nmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open, and proceeds with an 8ber ssh technique! I was so surprised, I almost jumped out of my seat and did the "r00t dance" right there in the theatre! There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the hots for me! Now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to secure a screen-shot of that few-second episode! Not only is it important for the coolness factor, but we can learn how Nmap looks in the future by studying that output! So perhaps some of you gray hats in the audience have a quality DivX/MPG of the movie already? Let me know if you do (but no 2GB email attachments please!) Or perhaps someone could sneak a quiet flashless digital camera into the theatre and take a shot. But you must react quickly as it is literally only up for a few seconds (Nmap is actually fast in the future). Do this, and you will prove that you are truly "the one"! I'll also put your name and a thumbnail on the front page of Insecure.Org if you send in the best shot. In other news, a few people have inquired about further survey results. Sorry I have been so slow, but things have been very busy. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to send more by next week. I hope to have a couple other announcements ready for next week as well! Keep it real, Fyodor -------------------------------------------------- For help using this (nmap-hackers) mailing list, send a blank email to nmap-hackers-help(a)insecure.org . List run by ezmlm-idx (www.ezmlm.org) --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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Nmap is actually fast in the future.
by gkm＠petting-zoo.net 15 May '03

15 May '03

Forwarded-by: nev(a)bostic.com Forwarded-by: "Frank Byrum" <byrum(a)infionline.net> From: Fyodor [mailto:fyodor@insecure.org] Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2003 5:17 AM To: nmap-hackers(a)insecure.org Subject: Whoa! Hi Everyone. There is a disturbance in the force! You may recall a couple weeks ago that MS started recommending Nmap on some of their web pages. That was strange, but I did not foresee the anomalous omens that would ensue. Like almost any self-respecting geek, I bought tickets to 'Matrix: Reloaded' several weeks back (no spoilers, I promise). After all, who can resist the combination of philosophical mind games and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in that tight leather bodysuit? So after waiting an hour in a line snaking out of the theatre to the parking lot, I finally got in to my 10pm Wednesday showing. All was going well until Trinity needed to do some hacking. Oh, no! I was sure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated "hacking scene". Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She whips out Nmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open, and proceeds with an 8ber ssh technique! I was so surprised, I almost jumped out of my seat and did the "r00t dance" right there in the theatre! There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the hots for me! Now your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to secure a screen-shot of that few-second episode! Not only is it important for the coolness factor, but we can learn how Nmap looks in the future by studying that output! So perhaps some of you gray hats in the audience have a quality DivX/MPG of the movie already? Let me know if you do (but no 2GB email attachments please!) Or perhaps someone could sneak a quiet flashless digital camera into the theatre and take a shot. But you must react quickly as it is literally only up for a few seconds (Nmap is actually fast in the future). Do this, and you will prove that you are truly "the one"! I'll also put your name and a thumbnail on the front page of Insecure.Org if you send in the best shot. In other news, a few people have inquired about further survey results. Sorry I have been so slow, but things have been very busy. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to send more by next week. I hope to have a couple other announcements ready for next week as well! Keep it real, Fyodor -------------------------------------------------- For help using this (nmap-hackers) mailing list, send a blank email to nmap-hackers-help(a)insecure.org . List run by ezmlm-idx (www.ezmlm.org) --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- 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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