- cypherpunks-legacy - lists.cpunks.org

read me before you send away
by tbwow＠yahoo.com 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

Dear Friends & Future Millionaire:AS SEEN ON NATIONAL TV:Making over half million dollars every 4 to 5 months from your home for aninvestment of only $25 U.S. Dollars expense one time THANK'S TO THE COMPUTER AGEAND THE INTERNET !=========================================================== ==============BE A MILLIONAIRE LIKE OTHERS WITHIN A YEAR!!!Before you say ''Bull'', please read the following. This is the letter you havebeen hearing about on the news lately. Due to the popularity of this letter onthe Internet, a national weekly news program recently devoted an entire show tothe investigation of this program described below, to see if it really can makepeople money. The show also investigated whether or not the program was legal.Their findings proved once and for all that there are ''absolutely NO Lawsprohibiting the participation in the program and if people can -follow thesimple instructions, they are bound to make some mega bucks with only $25 out ofpocket cost''.DUE TO THE RECENT INCREASE OF POPULARITY & RESPECT THIS PROGRAM HAS ATTAINED, ITIS CURRENTLY WORKING BETTER THAN EVER.This is what one had to say: ''Thanks to this profitable opportunity. I wasapproached many times before but each time I passed on it. I am so glad Ifinally joined just to see what one could expect in return for the minimaleffort and money required. To my astonishment, I received total $610,470.00 in21 weeks, with money still coming in."Pam Hedland, Fort Lee, New Jersey.====================================================== ===================Here is another testimonial: "This program has been around for a long time but Inever believed in it. But one day when I received this again in the mail Idecided to gamble my $25 on it. I followed the simple instructions and walaa..... 3 weeks later the money started to come in. First month I only made$240.00 but the next 2 months after that I made a total of $290,000.00. So far,in the past 8 months by re-entering the program, I have made over $710,000.00and I am playing it again. The key to success in this program is to follow thesimple steps and NOT change anything.'' More testimonials later but first,===== PRINT THIS NOW FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE ======$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$If you would like to make at least $500,000 every 4 to 5 months easily andcomfortably, please read the following...THEN READ IT AGAIN and AGAIN!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$FOLLOW THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION BELOW AND YOUR FINANCIAL DREAMS WILL COME TRUE,GUARANTEED! INSTRUCTIONS:=====Order all 5 reports shown on the list below =====For each report, send $5 CASH, THE NAME & NUMBER OF THE REPORT YOU ARE ORDERINGand YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS to the person whose name appears ON THAT LIST next tothe report. MAKE SURE YOUR RETURN ADDRESS IS ON YOUR ENVELOPE TOP LEFT CORNER incase of any mail problems.=== When you place your order, make sure you order each of the 5 reports. Youwill need all 5 reports so that you can save them on your computer and resellthem. YOUR TOTAL COST $5 X 5=$25.00.Within a few days you will receive, vie e-mail, each of the 5 reports from these5 different individuals. Save them on your computer so they will be accessiblefor you to send to the 1,000's of people who will order them from you. Also makea floppy of these reports and keep it on your desk in case something happen toyour computer.IMPORTANT - DO NOT alter the names of the people who are listed next to eachreport, or their sequence on the list, in any way other than what is instructedbelow in step '' 1 through 6 '' or you will loose out on majority of yourprofits. Once you understand the way this works, you will also see how it doesnot work if you change it. Remember, this method has been tested, and if youalter, it will NOT work !!! People have tried to put their friends/relativesnames on all five thinking they could get all the money. But it does not workthis way. Believe us, we all have tried to be greedy and then nothing happened.So Do Not try to change anything other than what is instructed. Because if youdo, it will not work for you. Remember, honesty reaps the reward!!!1.... After you have ordered all 5 reports, take this advertisement and REMOVEthe name & address of the person in REPORT # 5. This person has made it throughthe cycle and is no doubt counting their fortune.2.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 4 down TO REPORT # 5.3.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 3 down TO REPORT # 4.4.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 2 down TO REPORT # 3.5.... Move the name & address in REPORT # 1 down TO REPORT # 26.... Insert YOUR name & address in the REPORT # 1 Position. PLEASE MAKE SUREyou copy every name & address ACCURATELY!=============================================== ==========================**** Take this entire letter, with the modified list of names, and save it onyour computer. DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES.Save this on a disk as well just in case if you loose any data. To assist youwith marketing your business on the internet, the 5 reports you purchase willprovide you with invaluable marketing information which includes how to sendbulk e-mails legally, where to find thousands of free classified ads and muchmore.There are 2 Primary methods to get this venture going:METHOD # 1: BY SENDING BULK E-MAIL LEGALLY==================================================== =====================Let's say that you decide to start small, just to see how it goes, and we willassume You and those involved send out only 5,000 e-mails each. Let's alsoassume that the mailing receive only a 0.2% response (the response could be muchbetter but lets just say it is only 0.2%. Also many people will send outhundreds of thousands e-mails instead of only 5,000 each).Continuing with this example, you send out only 5,000 e-mails. With a 0.2%response, that is only 10 orders for report # 1. Those 10 people responded bysending out 5,000 e-mail each for a total of 50,000. Out of those 50,000 e-mailsonly 0.2% responded with orders. That's=100 people responded and ordered Report# 2.Those 100 people mail out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 500,000 e-mails.The 0.2% response to that is 1000 orders for Report # 3.Those 1000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 5 million e-mailssent out.The 0.2% response to that is 10,000 orders for Report # 4.Those 10,000 people send out 5,000 e-mails each for a total of 50,000,000 (50million) e-mails.The 0.2% response to that is 100,000 orders for Report # 5THAT'S 100,000 ORDERS TIMES $5 EACH=$500,000.00 (half million).Your total income in this example is: 1..... $50 + 2..... $500 + 3..... $5,000 +4. $50,000 + 5..... $500,000 ........ Grand Total=$555,550.00NUMBERS DO NOT LIE. GET A PENCIL & PAPER AND FIGURE OUT THE WORST POSSIBLERESPONSES AND NO MATTER HOW YOU CALCULATE IT, YOU WILL STILL MAKE A LOT OF MONEY!==================================================== =====================REMEMBER FRIEND, THIS IS ASSUMING ONLY 10 PEOPLE ORDERING OUT OF 5,000 YOUMAILED TO.Dare to think for a moment what would happen if everyone or half or even one 4thof those people mailed 100,000e-mails each or more? There are over 150 millionpeople on the Internet worldwide and counting. Believe me, many people will dojust that, and more!METHOD # 2 : BY PLACING FREE ADS ON THE INTERNET================================================== =======================Advertising on the net is very very inexpensive and there are hundreds of FREEplaces to advertise. Placing a lot of free ads on the Internet will easily get alarger response. We strongly suggest you start with Method # 1 and add METHOD #2 as you go along. For every $5 you receive, all you must do ise-mail them the Report they ordered. That's it. Always provide same day serviceon all orders.This will guarantee that the e-mail they send out, with your name and address onit, will be prompt because they can not advertise until they receive the report.=========== AVAILABLE REPORTS ===========================================ORDER EACH REPORT BY ITS NUMBER & NAME ONLY.Notes: Always send $5 cash (U.S. CURRENCY) for each Report. Checks NOT accepted.Make sure the cash is concealed by wrapping it in at least 2 sheets of paper. Onone of those sheets of paper, Write the NUMBER & the NAME of the Report you areordering, YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS and your name and postal address.PLACE YOUR ORDER FOR THESE REPORTS NOW :=========================================================== ==============REPORT # 1: "The Insider's Guide to Advertising for Free on the Net"Order Report #1 from:T.B.6011-B shadow valley cove___Austin, Texas 78731 USA_ use www.paypals.com pay to tbwow(a)yahoo.com to get started now! ___________________________________________________________ ____________________REPORT # 2: "The Insider's Guide to Sending Bulk e-mail on the Net"Order Report # 2 from:J. R.4237 C Jefferson Oak CircleFairfax, VA 22033USA___________________________________________________ ________________________________REPORT # 3: "Secret to Multilevel Marketing on the Net"Order Report # 3 from :D.J.16 Northcrest Drive,London, ONTARIO, CANADAN5X 3V8________________________________________________________ ___________________________REPORT # 4: "How to Become a Millionaire Utilizing MLM & the Net"Order Report # 4 from:E. ZurbiggRR 1St Marys, ONN4X 1C4________________________________________________________ ___________________________REPORT #5: "How to Send Out 0ne Million e-mails for Free"Order Report # 5 from:A. EbertR.R. #4Thamesford, Ontario,CanadaN0M 2M0________________________________________________________ ___________________________$$$$$$$$$ YOUR SUCCESS GUIDELINES $$$$$$$$$$$Follow these guidelines to guarantee your success:=== If you do not receive at least 10 orders for Report #1 within 2 weeks,continue sending e-mails until you do.=== After you have received 10 orders, 2 to 3 weeks after that you shouldreceive 100 orders or more for REPORT # 2. If you did not, continue advertisingor sending e-mails until you do.=== Once you have received 100 or more orders for Report # 2, YOU CAN RELAX,because the system is already working for you, and the cash will continue toroll in ! THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER:Every time your name is moved down on the list, you are placed in front of aDifferent report.You can KEEP TRACK of your PROGRESS by watching which report people are orderingfrom you. IF YOU WANT TO GENERATE MORE INCOME SEND ANOTHER BATCH OF E-MAILS ANDSTART THE WHOLE PROCESS AGAIN.There is NO LIMIT to the income you can generate from this business !!!========================================================== ===============FOLLOWING IS A NOTE FROM THE ORIGINATOR OF THIS PROGRAM: You have just receivedinformation that can give you financial freedom for the rest of your life, withNO RISK and JUST A LITTLE BIT OF EFFORT. You can make more money in the next fewweeks and months than you have ever imagined. Follow the program EXACTLY ASINSTRUCTED. Do Not change it in any way. It works exceedingly well as it is now.Remember to e-mail a copy of this exciting report after you have put your nameand address in Report #1 and moved others to #2 ...........#5 as instructedabove. One of the people you send this to may send out 100,000 or more e-mailsand your name will be on every one of them.Remember though, the more you send out the more potential customers you willreach. So my friend, I have given you the ideas, information, materials andopportunity to become financially independent. IT IS UP TO YOU NOW !============ MORE TESTIMONIALS ================"My name is Mitchell. My wife, Jody and I live in Chicago. I am an accountantwith a major U.S. Corporation and I make pretty good money.When I received this program I grumbled to Jody about receiving ''junk mail''. Imade fun of the whole thing, spouting my knowledge of the population andpercentages involved. I ''knew'' it wouldn't work. Jody totally ignored mysupposed intelligence and few days later she jumped in with both feet. I mademerciless fun of her, and was ready to lay the old ''I told you so'' on her whenthe thing didn't work. Well, the laugh was on me! Within 3 weeks she hadreceived 50 responses. Within the next 45 days she had received total $147,200.00 ........... all cash! I was shocked. I have joined Jody in her''hobby''.Mitchell Wolf M.D., Chicago, Illinois======================================================= ==================''Not being the gambling type, it took me several weeks to make up my mind toparticipate in this plan. But conservative that I am, I decided that the initialinvestment was so little that there was just no way that I wouldn't get enoughorders to at least get my money back''. '' I was surprised when I found mymedium size post office box crammed with orders. I made $319,210.00in the first12 weeks. The nice thing about this deal is that it does not matter where peoplelive. There simply isn't a better investment with a faster return and so big."Dan Sondstrom, Alberta, Canada===================================================== ===================''I had received this program before. I deleted it, but later I wondered if Ishould have given it a try. Of course, I had no idea who to contact to getanother copy, so I had to wait until I was e-mailed again by someoneelse.........11 months passed then it luckily came again...... I did not deletethis one! I made more than $490,000 on my first try and all the money camewithin 22 weeks."Susan De Suza, New York, N.Y.======================================================== ================''It really is a great opportunity to make relatively easy money with littlecost to you. I followed the simple instructions carefully and within 10 days themoney started to come in. My first month I made$20,560.00 and by the end of third month my total cash count was $362,840.00.Life is beautiful, Thanx to internet.".Fred Dellaca, Westport, New Zealand===================================================== ====================ORDER YOUR REPORTS TODAY AND GET STARTED ON 'YOUR' ROAD TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM !=========================================================== ==============If you have any questions of the legality of this program, contact the Office ofAssociate Director for Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau ofConsumer Protection, Washington, D.C.(Note: To avoid delays make sure appropriate postage to Canada is applied ifmailing from the US)-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=Remove Instructions=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=************************************************** ************************************Do not reply to this message -To be removed from future mailings:mailto:2000tips@eurosport.com?Subject=Remove******************** ******************************************************************/////////////////// /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////ONE TIME MAILING, NO NEED TO REMOVE////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////This message is sent in compliance of the proposed bill SECTION 301. per Section301, Paragraph (a)(2)(C) of S. 1618. This message is not intended for residentsin the State of Washington, screening of addresses has been done to the best ofour technical ability.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------- | o | Free bulk email software!! | o | Message composed with MassMailX | o | Get your own copy at | o | http://r2software.home.ml.org/ ----------------------------------------------------------

1 0

If we had key escrow, Scarfo wouldn't be a problem
by Declan McCullagh 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

The Washington Post finally catches on to the fact that the Scarfo case exists, a few weeks after everyone else wrote about the hearing in Newark. The front-page story today by Jonathan Krim contains this memorable passage: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55606-2001Aug9.html "Encryption is virtually unbreakable by police today, with programs that can be bought for $15," said Stewart Baker, former general counsel of the National Security Agency and now partner at the Washington law firm Steptoe & Johnson. Although agreeing that surveillance should be done under strict guidelines, Baker said that "to a degree, the privacy groups got us into this by arguing that there should be no limits on encryption, and the police have to deal with it." -Declan

2 1

Re: Linux On Steroids: DIY supercomputer +Distributed Terascale Facility
by Faustine 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

Tim wrote: On Sunday, August 12, 2001, at 02:41 PM, Faustine wrote: > >>> Cryptographically speaking, *yawn*. > > "Fairly impressive" in that it's better than what I've got in my > basement > right now. And for me, part of the appeal lies in the satisfaction of > putting something like that together entirely yourself out of components > other people considered worthless and discarded. Not to mention being > able > to use it for whatever you want, whenever you want, without depending on > anyone else's machine: a wonderful blend of self-sufficiency, ingenuity > and megalomania, ha. >>So, are you now claiming you plan to build one? Why else the "part of >>the appeal lies in the satisfaction of" bit? As a way to address the implicit question "why would anybody ever want to build a thing like that". For what it's worth, at one point I was tantalizingly close to getting my hands on a donation of 53 G3s. Unfortunately it fell through, but if an offer like that ever happens to come my way again, I can't really say I'd turn it down. If someone else is convinced it's interesting enough to be willing to foot the power bill (as I had anticipated would be the case), where's the downside? Nobody thinks strategically enough to see why they'd be better off buying me a few shiny new G4s instead. Since I know that's 100% out of the realm of possiblity, it's better to be resourceful and take whatever I can get: more CPU power than I have now (or am likely to get adequate access to in the near future). I might have even been able to turn around and share/rent time on it to other "low-priority" people like myself who're just out to further their own research without getting underfoot elsewhere. Not a bad idea, at any rate. I still maintain that the lure of tinkering and scavaging is a large part of the appeal anyway. If it leaves you flat and, being rich and retired, have far better ways to spend your time, to each his own. ~Faustine.

1 0

RE: Products Liability and Innovation. Was: ...
by Trei, Peter 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

It's been interesting seeing the back and forth on this, especially since I kicked off this subthread. I've found the anti-liability arguments quite persuasive. Peter Trei

2 1

Programmers Available Now!
by Stealth123＠btamail.net.cn 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

1 0

stuffing envelopes
by gene mcwhorter 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

any information that you can ssend me on stuffing envelopes for money would be very heplful My e-mail: culture990(a)yahoo.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/

1 0

Health Care Expenses Too High? Now You Have A Choice !
by rbrown1210＠hotmail.com 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

HealthCare Expenses Too High? Now You Have A Choice! Spam Prevention Notice: Either you, or someone using this address, signed you on to this list. For immediate email address list removal, please do not press "reply" to this email, it will not remove your email address - see the instructions right after the message. --------------------------------- The Future of Health Care -- Today.. Care Entree is a Healthcare Savings Program that can save you 20% to 80% on all your health care needs, including physicians and hospitals. GUARANTEED SAVINGS. This is not an insurance plan, but a patient advocacy program that will minimize your out-of-pocket health care expenses. For membership applications only, email healthcare4u2(a)hotmail.com For information on how you can help predominately black high schools to use Care Entree as a fund raiser, email healthcare4HS(a)hotmail.com What can Care Entrée do for you? Provide a way to get health care that you can afford! For Small Business, Families and Individuals, this includes Medical, Dental, Hospitalization, Vision, Long Term Care and more. Our most popular program is the $40/Monthly Power Program. Can you trust Care Entree with your health care needs? Yes! Care Entree is the 5th Largest PPO Network Nationwide. A Better Business Bureau Online Reliability Program, it has been operating profitably throughout its history. Sounds good to you? For more information, visit to this web site: http://ourworld-top.cs.com/rbrown1205/myhomepage/business.html ------------------------- Your email address was provided from an opt-in list of addresses of persons who are interested in African American Education. To remove from the list, please don't reply to this email, it will not remove your email address - click on the link below: Thank you for your time. Click on the link below to remove yourself via your web browser (which should launch automatically) http://www.sendthisfree.com/cgi-bin/maxuseradmin.cgi?function=manualdelete3… A confirmation screen will show that your email was deleted. In case the browser doesn't start or doesn't show the correct information, select the whole URL line (or lines if it is presented over more than one line) with your mouse, cut and paste it into your browser's address bar and hit enter from there.

1 0

Thought-A-Day
by Fountain Of Joy 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

The shortest and best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours. --Jean de la Bruyere ========================================================== Your name has been recommended to receive thoughts of wisdom from Fountain of Joy. These thoughts will be delivered, free of cost, to your desktop,everyday, for an initial evaluation period of 60 days+.We believe that the meaningful insights of these carefully selected thoughts will make your life peaceful,successful & happy in a way you had never imagined before. If you have received this email in error & if you wish to unsubscribe, reply with 'remove' in the subject line or click mailto:amaha@vsnl.net?subject=remove Director Fountain of Joy ==========================================================

1 0

Organized Crime and Cybercrime: Synergies, Trends, and Responses
by Scully＠cipherwar.com 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/la… Byliner: Internet Is Likely New Target of Crime, Expert Warns (Criminal Organizations find new opportunities in cyberspace) (2850) (The following originally appeared in the Global Issues Aug. 8 Electronic Journal "Arresting Transnational Crime.") Organized Crime and Cybercrime: Synergies, Trends, and Responses By Phil Williams (Professor of International Security Studies, University of Pittsburgh and 2001-2002 Visiting Scientist at CERT/CC, a center of Internet security expertise at Carnegie Mellon University. Williams is also the editor of the journal "Transnational Organized Crime" at http://www.pitt.edu/~rcss/toc.html) The capabilities and opportunities provided by the Internet have transformed many legitimate business activities, augmenting the speed, ease, and range with which transactions can be conducted while also lowering many of the costs. Criminals have also discovered that the Internet can provide new opportunities and multiplier benefits for illicit business. The dark side of the Internet involves not only fraud and theft, pervasive pornography, and pedophile rings, but also drug trafficking and criminal organizations that are more intent upon exploitation than the disruption that is the focus of the hacking community. In the virtual world, as in the real world, most criminal activities are initiated by individuals or small groups and can best be understood as "disorganized crime." Yet there is growing evidence that organized crime groups are exploiting the new opportunities offered by the Internet. Organized crime and cybercrime will never be synonymous. Most organized crime will continue to operate in the real world rather than the cyberworld and most cybercrime will be perpetrated by individuals rather than criminal organizations per se. Nevertheless, the degree of overlap between the two phenomena is likely to increase considerably in the next few years. Organized Crime and Cybercrime Organized crime is primarily about the pursuit of profit and can be understood in Clausewitzian (1) terms as a continuation of business by criminal means. Consequently, just as brick-and-mortar companies move their enterprises on to the Worldwide Web seeking new opportunities for profits, criminal enterprises are doing the same thing. Criminal organizations are not the only players in illicit markets, but they are often the most important, not least because of the added "competitiveness" that is provided by the threat of organized violence. Moreover, criminal organizations tend to be exceptionally good at identifying and seizing opportunities for new illegal enterprises and activities. In this context, the Internet and the continuing growth of electronic commerce offer enormous new prospects for illicit profits. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the sophistication of organized crime and drug trafficking groups. Colombian drug trafficking organizations, for example, have followed standard business practices for market and product diversification, exploiting new markets in Western Europe and the former Soviet Union. Criminal organizations and drug traffickers have increasingly hired financial specialists to conduct their money laundering transactions. This adds an extra layer of insulation while utilizing legal and financial experts knowledgeable about financial transactions and the availability of safe havens in offshore financial jurisdictions. Similarly, organized crime does not need to develop technical expertise about the Internet. It can hire those in the hacking community who do have the expertise, ensuring through a mixture of rewards and threats that they carry out their assigned tasks effectively and efficiently. Organized crime groups typically have a home base in weak states that provide safe havens from which they conduct their transnational operations. In effect, this provides an added degree of protection against law enforcement and allows them to operate with minimal risk. The inherently transnational nature of the Internet fits perfectly into this model of activity and the effort to maximize profits within an acceptable degree of risk. In the virtual world, there are no borders, a characteristic that makes it very attractive for criminal activity. When authorities attempt to police this virtual world, however, borders and national jurisdictions loom large -- making extensive investigation slow and tedious, at best, and impossible, at worst. The Internet itself provides opportunities for various kinds of theft, whether from online banks or of intellectual property. But it also offers new means of committing old crimes such as fraud, and offers new vulnerabilities relating to communications and data that provide attractive targets for extortion, a crime that has always been a staple of mafia organizations. The anonymity of the Internet also makes it an ideal channel and instrument for many organized crime activities. The notion of a criminal underworld connotes a murkiness or lack of transparency. Secrecy is usually a key part of organized crime strategy and the Internet offers excellent opportunities for its maintenance. Actions can be hidden behind a veil of anonymity that can range from the use of ubiquitous cybercafes to sophisticated efforts to cover Internet routing. Organized crime has always selected particular industries as targets for infiltration and the exercise of illicit influence. In the past, these have included the New York City garbage hauling and construction industries, the construction and toxic waste disposal industries in Italy, and the banking and aluminum industries in Russia. From an organized crime perspective, the Internet and the growth of e-commerce present a new set of targets for infiltration and the exercise of influence -- a prospect that suggests that Internet technology and service firms should be particularly careful about prospective partners and financial supporters. In sum, the synergy between organized crime and the Internet is not only very natural but also one that is likely to flourish and develop even further in the future. The Internet provides both channels and targets for crime and enables them to be exploited for considerable gain with a very low level of risk. For organized crime it is difficult to ask for more. It is critical, therefore, to identify some of the ways in which organized crime is already overlapping with cybercrime. Major Trends in Organized Crime and CyberCrime Organized crime groups are using the Internet for major fraud and theft activities. Perhaps the most notable example of this -- albeit an unsuccessful one -- occurred in October 2000 and concerned the Bank of Sicily. A group of about 20 people, some of whom were connected to mafia families, working with an insider, created a digital clone of the bank's online component. The group then planned to use this to divert about $400 million allocated by the European Union to regional projects in Sicily. The money was to be laundered through various financial institutions, including the Vatican bank and banks in Switzerland and Portugal. The scheme was foiled when one member of the group informed the authorities. Nevertheless, it revealed very clearly that organized crime sees enormous opportunities for profit stemming from the growth of electronic banking and electronic commerce. Indeed, organized crime diversification into various forms of Internet crime is closely related to a second discernible trend -- organized crime involvement in what was once categorized as white-collar crime. The activities of the U.S. mob and Russian criminal organizations on Wall Street fall into this category. During the late 1990s there were numerous cases of criminal organizations manipulating microcap stocks using classic "pump and dump" techniques. While much of this was done through coercion or control of brokerage houses, the Internet was also used to distribute information that artificially inflated the price of the stocks. Among those involved were members of the Bonnano, Genovese, and Colombo crime families as well as Russian immigrant members of the Bor organized crime group. As criminal organizations move away from their more traditional "strong arm" activities and increasingly focus on opportunities for white-collar or financial crime, then Internet-based activities will become even more prevalent. Since Internet-related stock fraud results in a $10,000-million-per-year loss to investors, it offers a particularly lucrative area for organized crime involvement. This is not to suggest that organized crime will change its character. Its inherent willingness to use force and intimidation is well suited to the development of sophisticated cyberextortion schemes that threaten to disrupt information and communication systems and destroy data. The growth of cyberextortion is a third significant trend. Extortion schemes are sometimes bungled, but they can be conducted anonymously and incur only modest risks, while still yielding high pay-offs. Indeed, this might already be a form of crime that is significantly under-reported. Yet it is also one that we can expect to see expand considerably as organized crime moves enthusiastically to exploit the new vulnerabilities that come with increased reliance on networked systems. A fourth trend is the use of what were initially nuisance tools for more overtly criminal activities. Perhaps the most notable example of this occurred in late 2000 when a variation of a virus known as the Love Bug was used in an effort to gain access to account passwords in the Union Bank of Switzerland and at least two banks in the United States. Although this episode received little attention -- and it is not entirely clear who the perpetrators were -- it gives added credence to the theory that organized crime is developing relationships with technically skilled hackers. A fifth trend that we can expect to see is what might be termed jurisdictional arbitrage. Cybercrimes -- certainly when they are linked to organized crime -- will increasingly be initiated from jurisdictions that have few if any laws directed against cybercrime and/or little capacity to enforce laws against cybercrime. This was one of the lessons of the Love Bug virus. Although the virus spread worldwide and cost business thousands of millions of dollars, when FBI agents succeeded in identifying the perpetrator, a student in the Philippines, they also found that there were no laws under which he could be prosecuted. The Philippines acted soon thereafter to pass prohibitions on cybercrimes, and other countries have followed. Still, jurisdictional voids remain, allowing criminals and hackers to operate with impunity. Indeed, it is possible that some jurisdictions will increasingly seek to exploit a permissive attitude to attract business, creating information safe havens (paralleling offshore tax havens and bank secrecy jurisdictions) that make it difficult for law enforcement to follow information trails, and offering insulated cyber-business operations from which illicit businesses can operate with a minimum of interference. A sixth trend is that the Internet is increasingly likely to be used for money laundering. As the Internet becomes the medium through which more and more international trade takes place, the opportunities for laundering money through over-invoicing and under-invoicing are likely to grow. Online auctions offer similar opportunities to move money through apparently legitimate purchases, but paying much more than goods are worth. Online gambling also makes it possible to move money -- especially to offshore financial centers in the Caribbean. Moreover, as e-money and electronic banking become more widespread the opportunities to conceal the movement of the proceeds of crime in an increasing pool of illegal transactions are also likely to grow. A seventh trend involves growing network connections between hackers or small-time criminals and organized crime. In September 1999, for example, two members of a U.S.-based group known as the "Phonemasters" were convicted and jailed for their penetration of the computer systems of the telecommunications companies MCI, Sprint, AT&T, and Equifax. One of those convicted, Calvin Cantrell, had downloaded thousands of Sprint calling card numbers. They were sold to a Canadian, passed back through the United States, resold to another individual in Switzerland, and finally the calling cards ended up in the hands of organized crime groups in Italy. Network connections between the two kinds of groups are likely to deepen and widen. In addition, of course, organized crime groups use the Internet for communications (usually encrypted) and for any other purposes when they see it as useful and profitable. Indeed, organized crime is proving as flexible and adaptable in its exploitation of cyberopportunities as it is in any other opportunities for illegal activity. The implications are far-reaching and require a response from government that is strategic, multi-level, multilateral, and transnational in nature. Responses to the Organized Crime-CyberCrime Synergy The response to the growing overlap between organized crime and cybercrime requires a truly comprehensive strategy. There are precedents and models for this that can be particularly helpful, even allowing for the need to balance law enforcement and national security concerns against such considerations as personal privacy. The key principles that have guided the international community's responses to transnational organized crime and money laundering can serve as one good model. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a body set up by the G-7, has attempted to create norms and standards for governments and financial institutions to follow in the development of laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms at the national level. Although criticisms can be made of the FATF, in 2000 it launched an effective "name and shame" campaign that identified 15 "non-cooperative" jurisdictions whose efforts to combat money laundering were grossly inadequate. In some cases, the results were remarkable, leading to much more stringent anti-money laundering programs and far greater transparency of financial activities. While the FATF's campaign was the culmination of a 10-year effort, it nevertheless provides an approach that could usefully be emulated by the international community as it moves to combat cybercrime. The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, largely supported by the United States, is the first major step in this direction and can be understood as the beginning of the process of setting norms and standards that national governments ultimately will be expected to meet in their legislative, regulatory, and enforcement efforts. Underlying the convention approach is a fundamental recognition of the need to harmonize national laws. In recent years, international cooperation in law enforcement has been achieved through a series of extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) that allow governments to share information and evidence with each other. For MLATs and extradition treaties to go into effect, however, there is usually a requirement of dual criminality (i.e. the crime involved must be designated as a crime in both jurisdictions). In other words, international cooperation is enormously facilitated by convergence of what is criminalized in national jurisdictions. Furthermore, as pointed out by Ernesto Savona, head of the Transcrime Research Center in Trento, Italy, the imposition of similar laws in various countries both spreads the risks that criminal organizations have to confront and goes some way towards equalizing the risks across jurisdictions. In effect, the more widespread the laws, the fewer the safe havens from which organized crime-controlled hackers (or indeed individual hackers) can operate with impunity Harmonization is necessary for both substantive and procedural laws. All countries have to reappraise and revise rules of evidence, search and seizure, electronic eavesdropping, and the like to cover digitized information, modern computer and communication systems, and the global nature of the Internet. Greater coordination of procedural laws, therefore, would facilitate cooperation in investigations that cover multiple jurisdictions. In addition to appropriate laws, it is also important that governments and law enforcement agencies develop the capacity for implementation of these laws. This requires the development of expertise in the area of cybercrime as well as effective information sharing across agencies within a country and across national borders. Moreover, this sharing has to go beyond traditional law enforcement bodies to include national security and intelligence agencies. It is also essential to create specialized law enforcement units to deal with cybercrime issues at the national level. Such units can also provide a basis for both formal international cooperation and informal cooperation based on transnational networks of trust among law enforcement agents. Ad hoc cooperation and multinational task forces can both prove particularly useful -- and there are already cases where international cooperation has been very effective. Indeed, successful cooperation can breed emulation and further success. The other important component of a strategy to combat cybercrime is partnership between governments and industry, especially the information technology sector. Once again, there are precedents. In recent years, the major oil companies, although very competitive with one another, established information sharing arrangements and worked very closely with law enforcement to minimize infiltration by organized crime figures and criminal companies. Government-private sector cooperation of this kind is not always easy but it is clear that a degree of mutual trust can make a difference. For cooperation to be extended, law enforcement agencies have to exercise considerable care and discretion not to expose company vulnerabilities, while the companies themselves have to be willing to report any criminal activities directed against their information and communication systems. Even if considerable progress is made in all these areas, organized crime and cybercrime will continue to flourish. If steps are made in these directions, however, then there is at least some chance that cybercrime can be contained within acceptable bounds, that it will not undermine confidence in electronic commerce, that it will not so enrich organized crime groups that they can further corrupt and threaten governments, and that the big winner from the growth of the Internet will not be organized crime. (1) Refers to the German philosopher Karl Von Clausewitz, well-known for the maxim "war is the continuation of policy by other means." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- End forwarded message -----

1 0

Organized Crime and Cybercrime: Synergies, Trends, and Responses
by Scully＠cipherwar.com 14 Aug '01

14 Aug '01

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/la… Byliner: Internet Is Likely New Target of Crime, Expert Warns (Criminal Organizations find new opportunities in cyberspace) (2850) (The following originally appeared in the Global Issues Aug. 8 Electronic Journal "Arresting Transnational Crime.") Organized Crime and Cybercrime: Synergies, Trends, and Responses By Phil Williams (Professor of International Security Studies, University of Pittsburgh and 2001-2002 Visiting Scientist at CERT/CC, a center of Internet security expertise at Carnegie Mellon University. Williams is also the editor of the journal "Transnational Organized Crime" at http://www.pitt.edu/~rcss/toc.html) The capabilities and opportunities provided by the Internet have transformed many legitimate business activities, augmenting the speed, ease, and range with which transactions can be conducted while also lowering many of the costs. Criminals have also discovered that the Internet can provide new opportunities and multiplier benefits for illicit business. The dark side of the Internet involves not only fraud and theft, pervasive pornography, and pedophile rings, but also drug trafficking and criminal organizations that are more intent upon exploitation than the disruption that is the focus of the hacking community. In the virtual world, as in the real world, most criminal activities are initiated by individuals or small groups and can best be understood as "disorganized crime." Yet there is growing evidence that organized crime groups are exploiting the new opportunities offered by the Internet. Organized crime and cybercrime will never be synonymous. Most organized crime will continue to operate in the real world rather than the cyberworld and most cybercrime will be perpetrated by individuals rather than criminal organizations per se. Nevertheless, the degree of overlap between the two phenomena is likely to increase considerably in the next few years. Organized Crime and Cybercrime Organized crime is primarily about the pursuit of profit and can be understood in Clausewitzian (1) terms as a continuation of business by criminal means. Consequently, just as brick-and-mortar companies move their enterprises on to the Worldwide Web seeking new opportunities for profits, criminal enterprises are doing the same thing. Criminal organizations are not the only players in illicit markets, but they are often the most important, not least because of the added "competitiveness" that is provided by the threat of organized violence. Moreover, criminal organizations tend to be exceptionally good at identifying and seizing opportunities for new illegal enterprises and activities. In this context, the Internet and the continuing growth of electronic commerce offer enormous new prospects for illicit profits. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the sophistication of organized crime and drug trafficking groups. Colombian drug trafficking organizations, for example, have followed standard business practices for market and product diversification, exploiting new markets in Western Europe and the former Soviet Union. Criminal organizations and drug traffickers have increasingly hired financial specialists to conduct their money laundering transactions. This adds an extra layer of insulation while utilizing legal and financial experts knowledgeable about financial transactions and the availability of safe havens in offshore financial jurisdictions. Similarly, organized crime does not need to develop technical expertise about the Internet. It can hire those in the hacking community who do have the expertise, ensuring through a mixture of rewards and threats that they carry out their assigned tasks effectively and efficiently. Organized crime groups typically have a home base in weak states that provide safe havens from which they conduct their transnational operations. In effect, this provides an added degree of protection against law enforcement and allows them to operate with minimal risk. The inherently transnational nature of the Internet fits perfectly into this model of activity and the effort to maximize profits within an acceptable degree of risk. In the virtual world, there are no borders, a characteristic that makes it very attractive for criminal activity. When authorities attempt to police this virtual world, however, borders and national jurisdictions loom large -- making extensive investigation slow and tedious, at best, and impossible, at worst. The Internet itself provides opportunities for various kinds of theft, whether from online banks or of intellectual property. But it also offers new means of committing old crimes such as fraud, and offers new vulnerabilities relating to communications and data that provide attractive targets for extortion, a crime that has always been a staple of mafia organizations. The anonymity of the Internet also makes it an ideal channel and instrument for many organized crime activities. The notion of a criminal underworld connotes a murkiness or lack of transparency. Secrecy is usually a key part of organized crime strategy and the Internet offers excellent opportunities for its maintenance. Actions can be hidden behind a veil of anonymity that can range from the use of ubiquitous cybercafes to sophisticated efforts to cover Internet routing. Organized crime has always selected particular industries as targets for infiltration and the exercise of illicit influence. In the past, these have included the New York City garbage hauling and construction industries, the construction and toxic waste disposal industries in Italy, and the banking and aluminum industries in Russia. From an organized crime perspective, the Internet and the growth of e-commerce present a new set of targets for infiltration and the exercise of influence -- a prospect that suggests that Internet technology and service firms should be particularly careful about prospective partners and financial supporters. In sum, the synergy between organized crime and the Internet is not only very natural but also one that is likely to flourish and develop even further in the future. The Internet provides both channels and targets for crime and enables them to be exploited for considerable gain with a very low level of risk. For organized crime it is difficult to ask for more. It is critical, therefore, to identify some of the ways in which organized crime is already overlapping with cybercrime. Major Trends in Organized Crime and CyberCrime Organized crime groups are using the Internet for major fraud and theft activities. Perhaps the most notable example of this -- albeit an unsuccessful one -- occurred in October 2000 and concerned the Bank of Sicily. A group of about 20 people, some of whom were connected to mafia families, working with an insider, created a digital clone of the bank's online component. The group then planned to use this to divert about $400 million allocated by the European Union to regional projects in Sicily. The money was to be laundered through various financial institutions, including the Vatican bank and banks in Switzerland and Portugal. The scheme was foiled when one member of the group informed the authorities. Nevertheless, it revealed very clearly that organized crime sees enormous opportunities for profit stemming from the growth of electronic banking and electronic commerce. Indeed, organized crime diversification into various forms of Internet crime is closely related to a second discernible trend -- organized crime involvement in what was once categorized as white-collar crime. The activities of the U.S. mob and Russian criminal organizations on Wall Street fall into this category. During the late 1990s there were numerous cases of criminal organizations manipulating microcap stocks using classic "pump and dump" techniques. While much of this was done through coercion or control of brokerage houses, the Internet was also used to distribute information that artificially inflated the price of the stocks. Among those involved were members of the Bonnano, Genovese, and Colombo crime families as well as Russian immigrant members of the Bor organized crime group. As criminal organizations move away from their more traditional "strong arm" activities and increasingly focus on opportunities for white-collar or financial crime, then Internet-based activities will become even more prevalent. Since Internet-related stock fraud results in a $10,000-million-per-year loss to investors, it offers a particularly lucrative area for organized crime involvement. This is not to suggest that organized crime will change its character. Its inherent willingness to use force and intimidation is well suited to the development of sophisticated cyberextortion schemes that threaten to disrupt information and communication systems and destroy data. The growth of cyberextortion is a third significant trend. Extortion schemes are sometimes bungled, but they can be conducted anonymously and incur only modest risks, while still yielding high pay-offs. Indeed, this might already be a form of crime that is significantly under-reported. Yet it is also one that we can expect to see expand considerably as organized crime moves enthusiastically to exploit the new vulnerabilities that come with increased reliance on networked systems. A fourth trend is the use of what were initially nuisance tools for more overtly criminal activities. Perhaps the most notable example of this occurred in late 2000 when a variation of a virus known as the Love Bug was used in an effort to gain access to account passwords in the Union Bank of Switzerland and at least two banks in the United States. Although this episode received little attention -- and it is not entirely clear who the perpetrators were -- it gives added credence to the theory that organized crime is developing relationships with technically skilled hackers. A fifth trend that we can expect to see is what might be termed jurisdictional arbitrage. Cybercrimes -- certainly when they are linked to organized crime -- will increasingly be initiated from jurisdictions that have few if any laws directed against cybercrime and/or little capacity to enforce laws against cybercrime. This was one of the lessons of the Love Bug virus. Although the virus spread worldwide and cost business thousands of millions of dollars, when FBI agents succeeded in identifying the perpetrator, a student in the Philippines, they also found that there were no laws under which he could be prosecuted. The Philippines acted soon thereafter to pass prohibitions on cybercrimes, and other countries have followed. Still, jurisdictional voids remain, allowing criminals and hackers to operate with impunity. Indeed, it is possible that some jurisdictions will increasingly seek to exploit a permissive attitude to attract business, creating information safe havens (paralleling offshore tax havens and bank secrecy jurisdictions) that make it difficult for law enforcement to follow information trails, and offering insulated cyber-business operations from which illicit businesses can operate with a minimum of interference. A sixth trend is that the Internet is increasingly likely to be used for money laundering. As the Internet becomes the medium through which more and more international trade takes place, the opportunities for laundering money through over-invoicing and under-invoicing are likely to grow. Online auctions offer similar opportunities to move money through apparently legitimate purchases, but paying much more than goods are worth. Online gambling also makes it possible to move money -- especially to offshore financial centers in the Caribbean. Moreover, as e-money and electronic banking become more widespread the opportunities to conceal the movement of the proceeds of crime in an increasing pool of illegal transactions are also likely to grow. A seventh trend involves growing network connections between hackers or small-time criminals and organized crime. In September 1999, for example, two members of a U.S.-based group known as the "Phonemasters" were convicted and jailed for their penetration of the computer systems of the telecommunications companies MCI, Sprint, AT&T, and Equifax. One of those convicted, Calvin Cantrell, had downloaded thousands of Sprint calling card numbers. They were sold to a Canadian, passed back through the United States, resold to another individual in Switzerland, and finally the calling cards ended up in the hands of organized crime groups in Italy. Network connections between the two kinds of groups are likely to deepen and widen. In addition, of course, organized crime groups use the Internet for communications (usually encrypted) and for any other purposes when they see it as useful and profitable. Indeed, organized crime is proving as flexible and adaptable in its exploitation of cyberopportunities as it is in any other opportunities for illegal activity. The implications are far-reaching and require a response from government that is strategic, multi-level, multilateral, and transnational in nature. Responses to the Organized Crime-CyberCrime Synergy The response to the growing overlap between organized crime and cybercrime requires a truly comprehensive strategy. There are precedents and models for this that can be particularly helpful, even allowing for the need to balance law enforcement and national security concerns against such considerations as personal privacy. The key principles that have guided the international community's responses to transnational organized crime and money laundering can serve as one good model. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a body set up by the G-7, has attempted to create norms and standards for governments and financial institutions to follow in the development of laws, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms at the national level. Although criticisms can be made of the FATF, in 2000 it launched an effective "name and shame" campaign that identified 15 "non-cooperative" jurisdictions whose efforts to combat money laundering were grossly inadequate. In some cases, the results were remarkable, leading to much more stringent anti-money laundering programs and far greater transparency of financial activities. While the FATF's campaign was the culmination of a 10-year effort, it nevertheless provides an approach that could usefully be emulated by the international community as it moves to combat cybercrime. The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, largely supported by the United States, is the first major step in this direction and can be understood as the beginning of the process of setting norms and standards that national governments ultimately will be expected to meet in their legislative, regulatory, and enforcement efforts. Underlying the convention approach is a fundamental recognition of the need to harmonize national laws. In recent years, international cooperation in law enforcement has been achieved through a series of extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) that allow governments to share information and evidence with each other. For MLATs and extradition treaties to go into effect, however, there is usually a requirement of dual criminality (i.e. the crime involved must be designated as a crime in both jurisdictions). In other words, international cooperation is enormously facilitated by convergence of what is criminalized in national jurisdictions. Furthermore, as pointed out by Ernesto Savona, head of the Transcrime Research Center in Trento, Italy, the imposition of similar laws in various countries both spreads the risks that criminal organizations have to confront and goes some way towards equalizing the risks across jurisdictions. In effect, the more widespread the laws, the fewer the safe havens from which organized crime-controlled hackers (or indeed individual hackers) can operate with impunity Harmonization is necessary for both substantive and procedural laws. All countries have to reappraise and revise rules of evidence, search and seizure, electronic eavesdropping, and the like to cover digitized information, modern computer and communication systems, and the global nature of the Internet. Greater coordination of procedural laws, therefore, would facilitate cooperation in investigations that cover multiple jurisdictions. In addition to appropriate laws, it is also important that governments and law enforcement agencies develop the capacity for implementation of these laws. This requires the development of expertise in the area of cybercrime as well as effective information sharing across agencies within a country and across national borders. Moreover, this sharing has to go beyond traditional law enforcement bodies to include national security and intelligence agencies. It is also essential to create specialized law enforcement units to deal with cybercrime issues at the national level. Such units can also provide a basis for both formal international cooperation and informal cooperation based on transnational networks of trust among law enforcement agents. Ad hoc cooperation and multinational task forces can both prove particularly useful -- and there are already cases where international cooperation has been very effective. Indeed, successful cooperation can breed emulation and further success. The other important component of a strategy to combat cybercrime is partnership between governments and industry, especially the information technology sector. Once again, there are precedents. In recent years, the major oil companies, although very competitive with one another, established information sharing arrangements and worked very closely with law enforcement to minimize infiltration by organized crime figures and criminal companies. Government-private sector cooperation of this kind is not always easy but it is clear that a degree of mutual trust can make a difference. For cooperation to be extended, law enforcement agencies have to exercise considerable care and discretion not to expose company vulnerabilities, while the companies themselves have to be willing to report any criminal activities directed against their information and communication systems. Even if considerable progress is made in all these areas, organized crime and cybercrime will continue to flourish. If steps are made in these directions, however, then there is at least some chance that cybercrime can be contained within acceptable bounds, that it will not undermine confidence in electronic commerce, that it will not so enrich organized crime groups that they can further corrupt and threaten governments, and that the big winner from the growth of the Internet will not be organized crime. (1) Refers to the German philosopher Karl Von Clausewitz, well-known for the maxim "war is the continuation of policy by other means." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: usinfo.state.gov) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- End forwarded message -----

1 0