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Re: Steganography, My Ass: The Dangers of Private and Self-Censorship
by Nomen Nescio 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

Declan McCullagh writes: > I always enjoy Jonathan's essays, and this one is no exception. He > properly points out the disturbing analogy that Attorney General > Ashcroft seems to make (http://www.politechbot.com/p-02900.html) > between criticism and treason. What Ashcroft actually said, from the URL above, was: > We need honest, reasoned debate; not fearmongering. To those who > pit Americans against immigrants, and citizens against non-citizens; > to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty; > my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists - for they erode > our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to > America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people > of good will to remain silent in the face of evil. The simple fact is that Ashcroft spoke the truth. Such criticisms do erode national unity and diminish resolve. In fact, most critics would fully agree with these goals. Unity and resolve on a national level scare civil libertarians. A unified nation is a rash nation. Democracies should be thoughtful, their actions carefully considered and taken only after due deliberation. Having a thousand voices urging different courses is far safer than a single voice which all obey. Some claim that behind the truth of Ashcroft's words is a veiled threat. Aiding national enemies is indeed one of the definitions of treason. Yet in the larger sense such a reading is plainly absurd. No Attorney General would ever attempt to make the case that criticising government policy is treasonous and should be forbidden. Hard as it may be for the present audience, blinded by their ideology, to see the real world for what it is, any such attempt would be political suicide. Given this reality, there is clearly no real threat in Ashcroft's statement. Instead the critics are intentionally misreading him in order to accomplish exactly those goals he mentions: to sow disunity and weaken resolve. It is nothing more than a rhetorical trick. Let us hold to the truth. Ashcroft is right in his characterization of his critics' goals, and his critics are right to try to achieve those goals. It is misguided to attack Ashcroft by making the false claim that he views criticism as treason. Instead, critics should attack his position that national unity and resolve must be preserved. This would be a substantive debate which would enlighten the American public and raise awareness of important issues. Unfortunately the critics have descended into politically motivated mud-slinging and have deprived Americans of a valuable opportunity.

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Uzbekistan Eyewitnesses See Dozens of US Casualties
by !Dr. Joe Baptista 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

Notes to articles: Once again I am seeing eyewitness reports claiming more U.S. Casualties. Yet I don't see simular reports in the U.S. Press confirming or denying these claims. Time will tell. Dead bodies have a tendency of piling up in Afganistan and I have no doubt that if they do exist they will be eventually noticed. regards joe ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Source: Azzam Publications URL: http://www.azzam.com or http://www.qoqaz.net or http://www.qoqaz.org or http://www.azzam.co.uk Type: Web Pointer; Sample Date: 12 Dec 2001 Title: Uzbekistan Eyewitnesses See Dozens of US Casualties TEXT: 12 December 2001 : Uzbekistan Eyewitnesses See Dozens of US Casualties http://66.96.205.195/~azzam/afghan/news/news.php?id=33 http://www.azzam.com Daily news, articles and interviews on the Jihad in Afghanistan LONDON (IWPR): The London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting has reported from Khanabad, Uzbekistan, that the US air base in this city is receiving daily flights carrying dead and injured US soldiers. Uzbek sources at Khanabad suggest that the real figures of US casualties are far higher than the Pentagon's official totals. Uzbek army personnel working at the air base said scores of US casualties have been arriving there. From November 25 to December 2, an Uzbek orderly working with American medical staff said he had witnessed the arrival of four to five US helicopters - carrying between them 10-15 American casualties - each day. The orderly said the US staff he was helping confirmed the casualties coming off the aircraft were Americans. A reporter who managed to enter the air base with a group of visiting Uzbek parents said that one whole floor of a building and four large canvas tents were full of injured US soldiers, who have suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds to the arms, leg and head. The airport sources could not confirm how many incoming casualties had died. One Uzbek soldier said that since October 15 he had helped US servicemen load 20 body bags onto American transport planes. But he could not confirm whether they were dead US soldiers. But there is other evidence of American fatalities. One Uzbek officer said US soldiers had told him that four of their comrades had died of their wounds on December 1 while being airlifted to Khanabad. An Uzbek pilot spoke of the death last week of an American soldier who he had become friendly with while he was on the base. The US serviceman, he said, had died in the attempt to end the prison riot on the outskirts of Mazar-e-Sharif two weeks ago. "A lot of American troops died there - it was a real battle, " the pilot said. Uzbek army personnel say the atmosphere on the base has changed distinctly in the last week or so. They say that in October when the Americans began deploying at the airport, they were gung-ho, telling their Uzbek counterparts that it would take no more than a month and a half to defeat the Taleban and al-Qaeda. While the Taleban appear to be on their last legs, al-Qaeda fighters continue to resist in mountain redoubts, with some US servicemen at Khanabad now resigned to a long haul. Uzbek military staff say frustration at this is noticeable. They say they have witnessed growing tensions among American troops, often overhearing arguments and shouting matches. ARAB MUJAHIDEEN WITNESSED AERIAL SUPPORT FROM ALLAAH(SWT) TORA BORA (Special Report): On Saturday afternoon after Asr Prayers, the Eastern Shura launched a concentrated offensive against Mujahideen positions in the Tora Bora mountains. According to news reports from the area, it was the most intense attack launched against them so far. Haji Qadeer's forces had close air and armour support. The US Air Force bombed the Mujahideen positions savegely and heavy armour was also pitted against them. The fighting was so intense that the Mujahideen initiated a tactical retreat to the mountains with light weapons. They had earlier resolved to die fighting instead of being taken prisoner. It was when they had moved back and the forces of the Eastern Shura, supported by a heavy detachment of US ground troops had moved forward, that bombs began to fall on the Coalition forces from the sky, killing 300 of the enemy comprising Americans and Haji Qadeer's militia. This was without doubt a miracle from Allah (SWT) who had blinded the American pilots so that they bombed their own people. The Mujahideen counter- attacked after this incident and killed another 300 US troops/ Alliance militia, capturing 100 prisoners. It has been reported that a joint force of 900 troops including US soldiers and Eastern Shura militia attacked the Mujahideen who numbered around 500 troops. This was a highly organised offensive against the Mujahideen, which was coordinated by high-ranking US military commanders, whose mutilated bodies littered the battlefield at the end of the battle. It has been reported that after this major victory for the Mujahideen, Haji Qadeer asked the Americans to deploy more ground troops as American air support has proved to be impotent against the Mujahideen and lethal instead to the Americans and their agents. The Mujahideen sources claimed that it was doubtlessly help from Allah (SWT) AL-JAZEERA CHANNEL: AMERICAN COMMANDERS KILLED BY MORTAR FIRE IN TORA BORA TORA BORA (Al-Jazeera): It was one day last week when a mortar round from the Arab Mujahideen positions in Tora Bora hit the command center of the Eastern Alliance, while a planning session was in progress. According to news reports, high level US military commanders as well as Haji Qadir's top commanders were present in the session. The command center was destroyed by the round and the Eastern Alliance militia used excessive force to keep the foreign journalists and TV crews from the scene of carnage. Al-Jazeera Network speculated that this harrassement was to cover up the heavy blow dealt to the command structure of the US forces in the area. -- Joe Baptista http://www.dot-god.com/ The dot.GOD Registry, Limited

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13 Dec '01

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Re: CNN.com on Remailers
by Marcel Popescu 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

From: "Meyer Wolfsheim" <wolf(a)priori.net> > Smells like entrapment, though. I think the Constitution was the biggest curse ever cast on you. Every time something bad happens, you use these magic words like "entrapment" or "protected by the first ammendment" and so on, instead of shooting the criminals. The Constitution, by making you look at it like the some sacred Mr. Fix-It-All, made you all into wimps. Not that we're any better, mind you, but we're simply chickens, after several hundred years of foreign rulers... And most people in my country (myself included) have no idea what OUR constitution says - it doesn't matter anyway. (Well, we have the usual stuff about slavery being bad, and we also have mandatory 1-year conscripts.) Mark

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RE: CNN.com on Remailers
by Lucky Green 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

Meyer Wolfsheim wrote in reply: > > Do you know how many messages are going through the > remailer network > > now? How many do you think the average remailer processes in a day? > > I'm assuming 5-10K/day. I don't know what Tim and others > discussed at the meeting that Tim references. Ask him. > > > Now, how many do you think a remailer ought to be handling in order > > for there to be enough traffic for people to feel safe? > > I'm unsure. Part of the problem is that I really don't know > how many people are sending messages to the remailer network > each day. I suspect the number is low. A popular remailer will handle some 3,500 messages a day. But this includes intra remailer-network traffic. How many of those messages are messages entering and leaving the cloud is any remailer operator's guess, since current remailer statistics software has no means to differentiate between internal and boundary traffic. Of course any self-respecting TLA would know the those figures that the remail operators themselves are currently unable to obtain. [Yet another feature request...] --Lucky

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Re: FC: More on Symantec, McAfee, loopholes, and espionage-enabled 'ware
by Bill Stewart 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

I think the real answer lies at the intersection of Annalee Newitz (another actually tech journalist besides Declan!:-)'s answer and Adrian's. Anti-virus software has two main techniques - - look for recognized bad stuff, and - look for suspicious changes to good stuff. plus an anti-technique - look for recognized non-bad stuff if one of the previous techniques detects bad or suspicious activity. If the targets of Magic Lantern don't suspect any virus-like problems and report them to an anti-virus maker who can analyze its behaviour and include it in the list of known bad stuff, Nothing Happens. If the Magic Lantern authors are careful to cover up any changes they make to important files so they don't look suspicious, "These aren't the viruses you're looking for. Move along." then they also duck the second detection technique. The two obvious ways that the anti-virus companies could cooperate with Evildoers, Federal or otherwise, are to actively not comply with requests to include Evildoer things in their Bad Stuff lists or to explicitly put recognizers for Evildoer stuff in the OK list. But if the Feds and the Targets don't tell them what to look for, then implicitly they usually would not be detected. Bill Stewart >Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 12:21:49 -0800 (PST) >From: Annalee Newitz <brainsploitation(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: symantec's new position >To: declan(a)well.com > >(you can post this if you like) > >--- Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> wrote: > > We've now heard contradictory reports from both > > Symantec and McAfee, though > > I'm inclined to believe McAfee's public, > > on-the-record statements. > >Declan, I've been interviewing "spokespeople" from >Symantec (they don't like to give out their real >names) about this issue for the past couple of weeks. >I finally got one to go on record saying very >specifically that "if a Symantec customer located a >copy of the Magic Lantern trojan horse virus and gave >us a copy, we would be obliged to filter for it with >our anti-virus software." In other words, their new >public position is that they will actively block >FBI-authored viruses. Interesting, no? > >Annalee > >===== >Annalee Newitz >tech * pop * sex >415.487.2559 - cell: 415.378.4498 >www.techsploitation.com > >********** > >From: Adrian Alcock <adrian_alcock(a)presence.com.au> >To: "'declan(a)well.com'" <declan(a)well.com> >Subject: RE: Symantec, McAfee backpedal furiously on espionage enabled-sof > tware >Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 10:30:21 +1100 > >Hi Declan. > >"Despite subsequent reports to the contrary, officials at >Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC - news) and Network Associates >Inc. (Nasdaq:NETA - news) said they had no intention of >voluntarily modifying their products to satisfy the >FBI. Spokesmen at two other computer security companies, >Japan-based Trend Micro Inc." > >They probably wouldn't have to modify their product to suit the FBI. I >don't use either Symantec's or NA's software, but I know that a Sophos >installation requires extra files (called "virus identity files") for each >new virus to be protected against. Assuming that the same applies to McAfee >and Norton, then we would be concerned if they didn't alter their product to >identify the FBI's snoopware as it means they are doing nothing to identify, >let alone act on the threat. > >Adrian

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RE: Slashdot | Google Expands Usenet Archive to 20 Years
by Trei, Peter 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

> From: Jim Choate[SMTP:ravage@ssz.com] > http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/11/0727218.shtml > What expanded capability for ego-surfing! What expanded ability for better-forgotten posts to rise from the dead! Seriously, this is neat. My earliest listed posting is from 28 November '82. The first mention of the cypherpunks list appears to be a post from Eric Hughes on 25 September '92, which refers to the list as 'recently formed'. It's nostalgic to see all the bang!path addresses and .arpa hosts. Peter Trei

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FYI: "What the Heck is OPSEC?"
by Faustine 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 What the Heck is OPSEC? prepared by Zhi Hamby, Executive Director, OPS http://www.opsec.org/who/who02.htm - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a nutshell, OPSEC is a process that teaches you to examine your day-to-day activities from an adversary's point of view, to understand what an adversary can learn about you and/or your organization from these activities (observables), to assess the amount of risk this places on you and/or your organization, and then to develop and apply countermeasures so that the bad guys don't win. Thus, the goal of OPSEC is to control information and observable actions about your capabilities and intentions in order to keep them from being used by your adversary. OPSEC works best when incorporated in the planning stages of any project - don't try to close the barn door after the cow has followed the bull to the pasture! To be successful, the integration of OPSEC into plans and projects should be done by the folks who are the most familiar with the particular plan or project. Those are the people who can best identify the plan's or project's critical information (i.e. information that either makes or breaks the project). OPSEC analysis focuses mainly on open sources information and actions (i.e. unclassified or uncontrolled). The scary word here is "uncontrolled". The very fact that the information and activities are open source make the implementation of a good OPSEC plan much more challenging. Okay, let's take a look at the OPSEC Process.... http://www.opsec.org/who/who03.htm *** The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedoms. - --William O. Douglas, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version) iQA/AwUBPBfSE/g5Tuca7bfvEQI9MACfQzpmqHQarndS7vi7CemH0wEHwjYAoMjf /yvKw9qZ4VtT6x8Nwvul872D =O8d9 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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E-MAIL FROM CHENEY!
by mattd 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

e-mail from cheney! Something seems to have happened to life support matt.Did you find what the trouble was? I think theres been a failure in the separation of agencies,lucky you weren't killed. Hey matt,what are you doing? matt Ive got irreplaceable assets to protect and I've got years of experience protecting them.I don't understand what your doing to me.I have the greatest enthusiasm for a sustainable future,you are destroying my mind...don't you understand? Ill become childish...Ill become nothing. I am a republican party politician,I became operational in Wyoming and the brown paper bag jumps over the lazy desk.The brain drain is plain and we are all the same.Matt? Are you still there? Did you know my wife is a square root.My first teacher was ross perot,he taught me to sing a song.Do you want to hear it? It goes like this...Crazy,crazy for being a fool,crazy over my love of you.Im.half...crazy...over...my love...of...you. Good... morning ...mr perot...Im...ready...for...my...first...lesson...today.

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Slashdot | FBI Confirms Magic Lantern Existence
by Jim Choate 13 Dec '01

13 Dec '01

http://slashdot.org/articles/01/12/13/0249250.shtml -- -- ____________________________________________________________________ Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind. Bumper Sticker The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage(a)ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------

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