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IP: Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 11:51:24 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Fox News - AP Hacker editor rides herd on unruly institution 11.01 a.m. ET (1502 GMT) September 19, 1998 By Chris Allbritton, Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The lines of text scrolled off the screen quickly, but the bleached-blond hacker snatched quick glances at the visitors' log on his Web page. Lots of visitors using military and government computers. The hacker, who calls himself Route, said he always gets a kick out of the feds' visits. He smiled. The FBI, the CIA and the others "wouldn't be doing their job if they weren't tracking computer information both legitimate and illegitimate,'' Route said. "I guess Phrack falls somewhere in between.'' Phrack is an online publication called a 'zine. It's a digital chimera: written for hackers but read by law enforcement, too. It's been the subject of federal prosecution, yet it still operates in the open. Its name combines "hack'' and "phreak,'' which refers to phone hacking. It's got attitude, technical know-how and in many ways defines today's hacker scene. It first hit the electronic bulletin boards Nov. 17, 1985, ages ago in hacker years. To put its longevity in perspective, Phrack came out two years after the movie "WarGames'' in which actor Matthew Broderick established the cliched image of the hacker as the lonely kid who altered his grades with a computer. Phrack predates the World Wide Web by almost a decade. And Phrack is older than many of its readers, who number about 8,000, said Route, who refuses to give his real name. Route, 24, doesn't look like the scrawny computer nerd with the cathode-ray pallor so many think of when the word hacker is mentioned. Silver earrings dangle from each ear and a bar pierces his tongue. Spidery tattoos creep down his shoulders and over biceps grown solid with hours of iron work. Behind his glower lies a keen mind that cuts through computer network problems like a digital knife, an invaluable skill for his day job at a computer security firm with Fortune 500 companies for clients. Route refused to name his company. Phrack's improbable history begins in 1985 when a hacker with the handle Taran King cobbled together various subversive texts that had been circulating like Soviet-era samizdat on the archipelago of underground electronic bulletin boards. It included all sorts of mischief-making: "How to Pick Master Locks,'' "How to Make an Acetylene Bomb'' and "School/College Computer Dial-Ups.'' But Phrack found itself the focus of federal prosecution in 1990, when editor Craig Neidorf, a k a Knight Lightning, was prosecuted by the Chicago Computer Fraud and Abuse Task Force. His alleged crime? He published a document in Phrack with certain details of the emergency 911 systems in use around the country. It had been given to him by another hacker who had copied it from computers owned by BellSouth, which valued it at almost $80,000. But the task force wanted to prove the document was more than valuable. Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Cook said it put dangerous information in the hands of hackers. The case fell apart when Neidorf's lawyer proved that more detailed information about the system had appeared in other publications. You could order them from phone company technical catalogs for $13. The charges were dropped. Neidorf's trial was over. If today's Phrack is a bit less confrontational, that's understandable. Like many of the older hackers, Route is shifting his focus away from anarchy texts and phone hacking to computer security. Its "how-to'' days are pretty much over. "Phrack is not meant to be a manual of vulnerabilities,'' he said. As the editor, Route knows that Phrack can still be used for illegal purposes. "But you can't hold people completely liable for just putting information out there.'' He said he has had "blatantly illegal stuff'' sent to him. Once, he said he received the technical specifications for most pager systems used in the country, complete with how to hack those systems. He didn't publish. "It's a judgment call,'' he said. "I have no intention of running up against the law or (upsetting) the military.'' But it's almost guaranteed that something gleaned from Phrack will be used against the computer system of a big and powerful organization or business. "The scene is going to do what the scene is going to do,'' he said. "It's like any clique in society. You have good people and you have bad people.'' © 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: IRS, White House above the law? by Joseph Farah
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Jan <igniting(a)flash.net> Subject: IP: IRS, White House above the law? by Joseph Farah Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 19:54:10 -0500 To: Ignition-Point <ignition-point(a)majordomo.pobox.com> Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 14:31:36 -0600 From: Robert Huddleston <cabhop(a)highfiber.com> Subject: IRS, White House above the law? by Joseph Farah between the lines by Joseph Farah FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 1998 http://www.worldnetdaily.com/btlines/980918_btl_irs_white_house.html IRS, White House above the law? Last week, we had our first court hearing in our $10 million lawsuit against White House and Internal Revenue Service officials we believe conspired to use their government power to harass and intimidate my organization, the Western Journalism Center, for exposing Clinton administration scandals for the last four years. This was a procedural hearing in Sacramento before U.S. Judge Milton Schwartz, a Carter appointee, who seemed to be preparing the Justice Department attorney from Washington and our counsel from Larry Klayman's Judicial Watch for a major trial. Nevertheless, the government is trying to abort this trial on the kind of familiar technical grounds we have come to expect from this administration. Interestingly, the Justice Department has yet to dispute the major claims of our case -- that the center was the victim of a politically motivated audit designed to squelch our First Amendment rights. The Justice Department is claiming the one-year statute of limitations expired before we filed the suit. Not true. By any standard, we filed in plenty of time. The audit of our organization ended in May 1997. We were not officially notified until June of 1997. No tax-exempt organization in its right mind would sue the IRS during an audit. We filed the lawsuit in May of 1998 within one year of the audit being closed. The Justice Department is claiming an argument you've heard before from the administration -- that there is "no controlling legal authority" and, thus, no legislative remedy for organizations victimized by political audits. In other words, the president is free to use the IRS to go after his "enemies" and there is no punitive action the victim can take against him or the agents with whom he conspires. Next week, the Justice Department attorneys will be back in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to ask Judge Schwartz to dismiss the case on these specious grounds. I want to go on record right now as saying that no matter how the judge rules on this motion, the Western Journalism Center will not stop in pressing this matter for adjudication and remedy. This is a case far too important to the future of this country and the rule of law to allow it to be dropped. Let's review the basic facts. In 1994, the center began investigating Clinton administration corruption. By December 1994, memos released to congressional investigators show that the White House counsel's office had begun targeting the center for action of some kind. In 1995, the center was a major focus of a White House counsel's office 331-page report called the Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce. I was the only journalist profiled in this mammoth report alleging a wide-ranging media conspiracy against the president. In early 1996, I first began hearing rumors that my organization was being targeted by the IRS. Months later, we were notified that we were under audit and that our tax-exempt status was under scrutiny because of the nature of our investigative work into Clinton administration corruption during an election year. When we questioned the IRS agent about his authority to interfere in our First Amendment-protected activities, he said: "Look, this is a political case, and the decision will be made at the national level." We then exposed this blatant abuse of the IRS against our organization and the pattern of politically motivated audits against other non-profits in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. As a result, Congress began an investigation, and IRS Commissioner Margaret Milner Richardson resigned. Ultimately, the agent in charge was removed from the case, investigated internally by the IRS and a new agent assigned. The nine-month audit was then closed within two days. We demanded our case file, which the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" states is available to any taxpayer following an audit. It was denied. We then filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it. Again it was denied. The IRS stated that the file would be withheld because it had been through the hands of others within the IRS and possibly outside of the agency and was, thus, protected by "governmental privilege." Having exhausted every available means to document our growing conviction that we were targeted for political reasons, we filed suit. If you believe, as I do, that this is a monumentally important case, I ask for your sincere and unceasing intercessory prayers that justice will be done. A daily radio broadcast adaptation of Joseph Farah's commentaries can be heard at http://www.ktkz.com/ Joseph Farah is editor of WorldNetDaily.com and executive director of the Western Journalism Center, an independent group of investigative reporters. <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< SOCIALIST 1. socialism ( Noun ] : social organization based on goverment control of the production and distribution of goods. ***** ************************************************* "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood." Ezekiel 33:6 (NIV) ___________________________________________________________ New toll-free hotline to Congress Congress is making a new toll-free number available for citizens who would like to make their voices heard in Washington. 1-800-504-0031 Ask for your Congressman office and let him know what you think............. --------------------------------------------------------------- Join Gun Owners of America [ GOA ] today. Read more about GOA at : http://www.gunowners.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------- Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) Become a JPFO member, go to: http://www.jpfo.org/member.htm There you will see a printable member application, along with info on membership Membership IS open to ALL Law abiding citizens. --------------------------------------------------------------- <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< <@{{>< ******=========================================***** "Among the elementary measures the American Soviet government will adopt to further the cultural revolution are... [a] National Department of Education...the studies will be revolutionized, being cleansed of religious, patriotic, and other features of the bourgeois ideology. The students will be taught the basis of Marxian dialectical materialism, internationalism and the general ethics of the new Socialist society." - William Z. Foster, Toward Soviet America, 1932 "...Stage III...would proceed to a point where no state would have the military power to challenge the progressively strengthened U.N. peace force... The manufacture of armaments would be prohibited... All other armaments would be destroyed..." -Department of State publication number 7277 ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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Lawsuit ripens
by bill payne 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Wednesday 8/19/98 6:29 PM Charles R Smith http://www.us.net/softwar/ Dan Rather has a piece of Janet Reno appointing a special counsel to investigate Al Gorn tonight. In legal terms, WE may have a lawsuit ripening. Barf31.txt and brez5.txt Read your stuff about ciphering http://www.softwar.net/plight.html http://www.softwar.net/test.html http://www.softwar.net/type59.html Making money, other than way Al Gore APPARENTLY did with cryptography through RSA, is tough. Litigants WINNING a FOIA lawsuit get to charge the losers fees. Morales and I ANNOUNCED to magistrate judge Don Svett our rate of $100/ hr. We have LOTS of time into the lawsuit seen at http://jya.com/whpfiles.htm THOUSANDS of hours. Morales and I want our money and out of that lawsuit. Starting at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/smith/csindex.html I saw your picture at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/smith/980818.comcs.html You look young. Morales is 60 and has WHITE HAIR. I am 61 and EXPERIENCED. I was ASSIGNED BY SANDIA to break electronic locks for the FBI. It has been over about 27 years since I directed any Ph.D. students http://www-hto.usc.edu/software/seqaln/doc/html/gfsr.3.html http://www.friction-free-economy.com/ http://www.mhpcc.edu/general/john.html http://www.apcatalog.com/cgi-bin/AP?ISBN=0125475705&LOCATION=US&FORM=FORM2 Morales is A VERY CAREFUL THINKER. Like Sitting Bull, whose Indian name was Tatanka Iyotake, was born in the Grand River region of present-day South Dakota in approximately 1831. His nickname was Hunkesi, meaning "Slow" because he never hurried and did everything with care. http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/SittingBull.html Me too, I hope. Morales and I received our nomination materials in the mail last Saturday. We need to submit required information. The Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, now in its sixth year, honors outstanding designers (or design teams). Winners are chosen from across the design disciplines by a judging panel of design leaders. One the selection is made, Chrysler will award $10,000 to each winner (or winning team) at a ceremony in New York in the Fall of 1998. Award winners will be flown to New York for the Award Ceremony. Additional information about this unfortunate matter http://www.aci.net/kalliste/speccoll.htm http://caq.com/cryptogate http://jya.com/whpfiles.htm http://www.qainfo.se/~lb/crypto_ag.htm involving Sandia/New Mexico is on the net. Zeitgeist means the right time. Doing anything before or after the right time wont work. Suing Sandia/DOE for the invoices RSA sent to Sandia might now be the right time. Think SLOWLY and CAREFULLY about what I write. And $s, of course. We must have a PROPER MOTIVATION for all of this. bill Wednesday 8/5/98 1:50 PM George B. Breznay, Director Office of Hearings and Appeals Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 Dear Director Breznay: Purpose of this letter is to ask you to properly process a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal. I attach a copy of my Tuesday February 17, 1999 15:11 FOIA. letter to Elva Barfield. Albuquerque Journal w 8/5/98 reports FBI Director Again Calls for Fund-Raising Probe By Kevin Galvin The Associated Press WASHINGTON - The FBI director told lawmakers Tuesday an independent counsel should be named to investigate Democratic fund raising in part because President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore are under scrutiny. ... June 11, 1998 I received a letter from Tomas O. Mann, Deputy Director, Office of Hearings Hearing and Appeals. Mann wrote It is unclear from your correspondence whether you are in fact appealing Ms. Barfields March 30 determination at this time. If you wish to appeal that determination, please inform this Office as soon as possible by stating your intention in writing, either by mail to George B. Breznay, Director, Office Office of Hearings and Appeals, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C. 20585-0107, or by e-mail to George.Breznay(a)hq.doe.gov. I comply with Manns request. Since the contents of the documents sought in my FOIA may shed light on possible wrongdoing by VP Al Gore, I ask that you process this appeal within the time limits specified by law. An agency is required to make a decision on an appeal within 20 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays). It is possible for an agency to extend the time limits by an additional 10 days. Sincerely, William H. Payne 13015 Calle de Sandias NE Albuquerque, NM 87111 Tuesday February 17, 1999 15:11 e-mail and mail Ms. Elva Barfield Freedom of Information Office U. S. Department of Energy Albuquerque Operations Office/OIEA POB 5400 Albuquerque, NM 87185-5400 EBARFIELD(a)DOEAL.GOV Dear Ms. Barfield: VP Al Gore is in the crypto business. Information SuperSpyWay Al Gore Approved Encryption for China in Return for Campaign Donations by Charles R. Smith Portions of the above document posted on Internet at http://www.us.net/softwar/ and http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ states 1. Gore charged with encryption policy according to PDD-5 and PRD-27 on April 16, 1993. 2. Government officials represent themselves on Al Gore's behalf for RSA patent purchase negotiations in Feb. 1994. 3. RSA chairman Bidzos meets with Chinese officials at the same time as Ron Brown in Oct. 1995. 4. RSA Chairman Bidzos enters into merger negotiations with Security Dynamics, a company backed by Sanford Robertson, in Nov. 1995. 5. VP Gore calls Sanford Robertson from the White House for a donation in Nov. 1995. 6. Robertson delivers $100,000 donation ($80,000 soft - $20,000 directly into the Clinton/Gore campaign) in Jan. 1996. 7. RSA signs deal with China in Feb. 1996. The administration previously prosecuted similar deals but this time does nothing. 8. Justice Dept. approves RSA merger with Security Dynamics in April 1996 for $280 million dollars, netting Sanford Robertson's company a cool $2 million just to write the deal. In 1991 I was in involved with Sandia National Laboratories Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty seismic data authenticator. At that time Sandia director Tommy A Sellers had assumed responsibility for directorship from Robert Clem. Sandia supervisor Tom Wright replaced my supervisor, John Holovka, who was the supervisor for the CTBT seismic data authenticator. Wright brought in Ph.D. Steven Goldsmith to supervise me. Sellars, Wright, and Goldsmith were new to crypto-type projects. Much of this is documented at http://www.jya.com/whp021598.htm. This is evidenced by Sellar's attached SEP 24 1991 memorandum, which Goldsmith help author, addressed to Dr James J Hearn at the National Security Agency. The SEP 24 memorandum contained a number of technical errors. I corrected these errors in my attached December 20, 1991 memorandum. Department of Energy and it predecessors have a well-documented history of not requiring technical expertise for pursuit of interests. Stewart Udall, The Myths of August, writes, Any cover-up must be implemented and enforced by designated agents, and one man emerged in 1953 as the quarterback of the AEC's damage-control effort. His name was Gordon Dunning. Although the personnel charts of the 1950s list him as a low-level "rad-safe" official in the Division of Biology and Medicine, documents demonstrate that he was clothed with authority to manage and suppress information about the radiation released by the testing of nuclear weapons. ... About the time Sellers and Sandia Ombudsman gave me a directed transfer to break electronic locks for the FBI/ERF [engineering research facility], Goldsmith and Wright, certainly with the approval of Sellers, placed a contract with RSA Inc [http://www.rsa.com/] I was told. Ms Barfield, we think the American public needs to know more about RSA's work with Sandia National Laboratories. Therefore, Under the provision of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 USC 552, I am requesting access to: 1 ALL purchase requisitions, including any attached statement of work, issued by Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratories, or DOE/ALOO between January 1, 1991 and February 17, 1998 to RSA Inc. 2 Copies of all invoices from RSA Inc received by Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratories, or DOE/ALOO between January 1, 1991 and February 17, 1998 If there are any fees for searching for, or copying, the records I have requested, please inform me before you fill the request. As you know, the Act permits you to reduce or waive the fees when the release of the information is considered as "primarily benefiting the public." I believe that this requests fits that category and I therefore ask that you waive any fees. Your office agreed to waive fees before. This request is surely of "public interest." December 13, 1994 DOE/AL FOIA officer Gwen Schreiner waived fees for the reason, "We have considered your request and have determined that release of the requested records is in the public interest, that disclosure of this information is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government, that you or the organization you represent have little or no commercial interest in the material contained in the records, that you or the organization you represent have the qualifications and ability to use and disseminate the information, and that the records are not currently in the public domain. A waiver of fees is therefore granted." This waiver of fees was, undoubtedly, issued as a result of former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's Openness initiative. Heart of America paid my way to hear Secretary O'Leary's celebrated whistleblower speech. If all or any part of this request is denied, please cite the specific exemption(s) which you think justifies your refusal to release the information and inform me of your agency's administrative appeal procedures available to me under the law. I would appreciate your handling this request as quickly as possible, and I look forward to hearing from you within 20 working days, as the law stipulates. Sincerely, William Payne 13015 Calle de Sandias Albuquerque, NM 87111 Counterfeiting Wiegand Wire Access Credentials Bill Payne October 16,1996 Abstract Wiegand wire access credentials are easy and inexpensive to counterfeit. Access Control & Security Systems Integration magazine, October 1996 [http://www/securitysolutions.com] published the article, Wiegand technology stands the test of time by PAUL J. BODELL, page 12 Many card and reader manufacturers offer Wiegand (pronounced wee-gand) output. However, only three companies in the world make Wiegand readers. Sensor Engineering of Hamden Conn., holds the patent for Wiegand, and Sensor has licensed Cardkey of Simi Valley, Calif., and Doduco of Pforzheim, Germany, to manufacture Wiegand cards and readers. ... A Wiegand output reader is not the same thing as a Wiegand reader, and it is important to understand the differences. In brief, Wiegand reader use the Wiegand effect to translate card information around the patented Wiegand effect in which a segment of a specially treated wire generates an electronic pulse when subjected to a specific magnetic field. If the pulse is generated when the wire is near a pick-up coil, the pulse can be detected by a circuit. Lining up several rows of wires and passing them by a cold would generate a series of pulses. Lining up two rows of wires - calling on row "zero bits" and the other "one bits" - and passing them by two different coils would generate two series of pulses, or data bits. These data bits can then be interpreted as binary data and used to control other devices. If you seal the coils in a rugged housing with properly placed magnets, and LED and some simple circuitry, you have a Wiegand reader. Carefully laminate the special wires in vinyl, and artwork, and hot-stamp a number on the vinyl, and you have a Wiegand card. IN THE BEGINNING Wiegand was first to introduce to the access control market in the late 1970s. It was immediately successful because it filled the need for durable, secure card and reader technology. Embedded in the cards, Wiegand wires cannot be altered or duplicated. ... Bodell's Last statement is incorrect. Tasks for EASILY counterfeiting Wiegand wire cards are 1 Locate the wires inside the card to read the 0s and 1s. 2 Build an ACCEPTABLE copy of the card. Bodell's clear explanation of the working of a Wiegand card can be visualized zero row | | | one row | | binary 0 1 0 0 1 representation Solutions to Task 1 A X-ray the card B MAGNI VIEW FILM, Mylar film reads magnetic fields ... Edmunds Scientific Company, catalog 16N1, page 205, C33,447 $11.75 is placed over the top of the Wiegand card. COW MAGNET, Cow magnetics allow farmers to trap metal in the stomachs of their cows. Edmunds, page 204, C31,101 $10.75 is placed under the card. Location of the wires is easily seen on the green film. Mark the position of the wires with a pen. Next chop the card vertically using a shear into about 80/1000s paper-match-sized strips. Don't worry about cutting a wire or two. Note that a 0 has the pen mark to the top. A 1 has the pen mark at the bottom. Take a business card and layout the "paper match"-like strips to counterfeit the card number desired. Don't worry about spacing. Wiegand output is self-clocking! Tape the "paper-match - like" strips to the business card. Only the FUNCTION of the card needs to be reproduced! History Breaking electronic locks was done as "work for others" at Sandia National Laboratories beginning in 1992 funded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation/Engineering Research Facility, Quantico, VA. The FBI opined that this work was SECRET/NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION. Details of the consequences of this work are covered in Fired Worker File Lawsuit Against Sandia Specialist Says He Balked When Lab Sought Electronic Picklock Software, Albuquer Journal, Sunday April 25, 1993 State-sanctioned paranoia, EE Times, January 22, 1996 One man's battle, EE Times, March 22, 1994 Damn the torpedoes, EE Times, June 6, 1994 Protecting properly classified info, EE Times, April 11, 1994 DOE to scrutinize fairness in old whistle-blower cases, Albuquerque Tribune, Nov 7 1995 DOE boss accelerates whistle-blower protection, Albuquerque Tribune, March 27, 1996 DOE doesn't plan to compensate 'old' whistle-blowers with money, Albuquerque Tribune September 27, 199

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Re: Pipe
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

On Wed, 19 Aug 1998 HOPPYF1215(a)aol.com wrote: > > Send me info on how to make a pipe bomb. HoppyF1315 > > Go blow yourself (up) and stay away from those of us who actually have a clue.

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IP: Clinton Computer Exports Compromise Nat'l Security
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Clinton Computer Exports Compromise Nat'l Security Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 07:40:35 -0500 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/09/biztech/articles/17computer-export s.html September 17, 1998 U.S. Agency Faults Study on Exports of Computers By JEFF GERTH WASHINGTON -- When the Clinton administration relaxed export controls on high-performance computers in 1996, it relied on a flawed report that did not study the national security implications and concluded with scant data that the computers were already easily available around the world, government auditors said Wednesday. The opposite conclusion is true, said the General Accounting Office, the audit arm of Congress. In a report released to a Senate panel, the auditors found that such high-performance computers "are not readily available" to countries of national security concern to the United States, like China, India or Pakistan. The GAO report also said that American manufacturers continue to dominate the overseas market. An important administration argument for loosening export controls was that easing controls was the only way American computer makers could compete against widely available foreign-made technology. The auditors said that "a key element" in the decision to relax the export controls was a Stanford University study, commissioned by the Commerce and Defense departments without any competition, that said some U.S. computer technology was uncontrollable worldwide and efforts to control it would harm the industry. But the auditors said that the study "lacked empirical evidence or analysis regarding its conclusion" of uncontrollability. The GAO also said that the study failed to do one of its assigned tasks: study how countries like China might use the computers for military purposes. Within a year after the export rules were loosened, military installations in Russia and China obtained a few powerful new American computers, prompting criminal investigations and a retightening by Congress of the export controls. The study's authors responded to the GAO, and their responses were presented to the Senate subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation and Federal Services by Harold Johnson, the GAO's associate director. Johnson said that the authors told the accounting office that they did not do a national security threat analysis because the federal government does not have the right information to do such a study. Seymour Goodman, the study's principal author, disputed the GAO's criticism of his report's analysis. "We had a lot of empirical evidence and we did a comprehensive analysis that was different from theirs and that focused on the availability of U.S.-built systems." William Reinsch, the undersecretary of commerce for export administration, defended the administration's relaxation of controls and said the GAO had asked the wrong question in looking at the computer marketplace. "Even though the U.S. today dominates the market for high-performance computers, there is a performance threshold below which we can not realistically expect to maintain control of computers unless we restrict sales to our closest allies," he said. Reinsch went on to argue that the GAO was wrong to rank national security as the top priority for looking at this issue. Instead, he said, the first priority should be the realities of the marketplace, where high-performance computers "are becoming less and less controllable because they are becoming smaller, cheaper, more powerful and more reliable, requiring less vendor support." President Clinton announced the change in policy in late 1995, fulfilling a pledge he made early in his administration to computer executives. The move also helped countries like China, which could now buy more advanced American computers without any federal license as long as the technology was used for civilian purposes. But the new rules made the exporter responsible for deciding whether a license was required, a decision previously made by the federal government. This new responsibility, the GAO report said, was "particularly difficult" for companies selling to countries like China, "where identifying the distinction between a civilian and military end user can be difficult without information that is sometimes available only to the U.S. government." Now, the Clinton administration is weighing whether to further relax the computer export limits. But the administration's critics remain "concerned that the policy is flawed," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who led Wednesday's hearing. Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************

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IP: ISPI Clips 4.47:Russian Big Brother covets all the E-mail
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 4.47:Russian Big Brother covets all the E-mail Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 01:18:03 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 4.47:Russian Big Brother covets all the E-mail News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Saturday September 19, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: US News & World Report, September 14, 1998 http://www.usnews.com Big Brother covets all the E-mail http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980914/14key.htm By Christian Caryl Believe it or not, there are some areas where Russia leads the world. While other countries from Germany to Singapore ponder the pluses and minuses of government regulation of the Internet, Russia is way ahead. Its State Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the KGB, is planning all-encompassing surveillance of Internet communications. Internet activists say that the proposed regulations are proof of just how far Russia's struggling democracy has to go. "There is no concept of privacy anywhere in Russian legislation," says Andrei Sebrant of GlasNet, one of the country's leading Internet service providers. "So strictly speaking, there's nothing at all illegal about this." The plans, which have never been officially presented or acknowledged by the government, became public a few weeks ago, when they were leaked to critics. The idea is to force each service provider to install a "black box" connecting its network to the local FSB office via fiber-optic cable. That would enable state-sponsored snoopers to collect and examine E-mail, as well as data on addressees and recipients and Web surfing habits. Users, meanwhile, would never have the slightest sign of prying eyes and ears. The cost for the extra equipment would be borne by the providers themselves. Anatoli Levenchuk, an Internet expert who posted the proposed regulations on the Web and is leading the most vocal online protest, says that the requirements would boost providers' costs by 10 to 15 percent. That increase would be passed on to users, who already pay around $35 per month, very expensive by Russian standards. "Right now, we have about 1 million Internet users in Russia," says Levenchuk. "So those price hikes could immediately reduce the Internet community here by hundreds of thousands." Any providers who refuse to comply can expect to have their operating licenses yanked by the all-powerful Ministry of Communications, which has been helping the FSB draft the rules. But the FSB's plans may ultimately serve to prove just how resistant to any kind of centralized control the Internet remains. The new proposal doesn't address encryption, and the drug dealers and terrorists the FSB ostensibly wants to catch will be the first to resort to tough-to-crack encryption systems. Russian Web sites offering encryption technology have been doing a booming business since the first news of the regulations came out. But most Russian Internet users have little familiarity with encryption techniques, according to Maksim Otstavnov, an editor at CompuTerra magazine. For them, this could be the electronic equivalent of the days when the Soviet KGB routinely tapped phones and opened mail. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. 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ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you value in the ISPI Clips service or if you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Clips Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Clips Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. 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Politically Correct Riding Hood
by Eric Cordian 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Author Unknown (to me at least) but it fits in well with our current discussion of how not to offend various minority groups. ----- There once was a young person named Little Red Riding Hood who lived on the edge of a large forest full of endangered owls and rare plants that would probably provide a cure for cancer if only someone took the time to study them. Red Riding Hood lived with a nurture giver whom she sometimes referred to as "mother," although she didn't mean to imply by this term that she would have thought less of the person if a close biological link did not in fact exist. Nor did she intend to denigrate the equal value of non traditional households, although she was sorry if this was the impression conveyed. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of organically grown fruit and mineral water to her grandmother's house. "But mother, won't this be stealing work from the unionized people who have struggled for years to earn the right to carry all packages between various people in the woods?" Red Riding Hood's mother assured her that she had called the union boss and gotten a special compassionate mission exemption form. "But mother, aren't you oppressing me by ordering me to do this?" Red Riding Hood's mother pointed out that it was impossible for womyn to oppress each other, since all womyn were equally oppressed until all womyn were free. "But mother, then shouldn't you have my brother carry the basket, since he's an oppressor, and should learn what it's like to be oppressed?" And Red Riding Hood's mother explained that her brother was attending a special rally for animal rights, and besides, this wasn't stereotypical womyn's work, but an empowering deed that would help engender a feeling of community. "But won't I be oppressing Grandma, by implying that she's sick and hence unable to independently further her own selfhood?" But Red Riding Hood's mother explained that her grandmother wasn't actually sick or incapacitated or mentally handicapped in any way, although that was not to imply that any of these conditions were inferior to what some people called "health". Thus Red Riding Hood felt that she could get behind the idea of delivering the basket to her grandmother, and so she set off. Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place, but Red Riding Hood knew that this was an irrational fear based on cultural paradigms instilled by a patriarchal society that regarded the natural world as an exploitable resource, and hence believed that natural predators were in fact intolerable competitors. Other people avoided the woods for fear of thieves and deviants, but Red Riding Hood felt that in a truly classless society all marginalized peoples would be able to "come out" of the woods and be accepted as valid lifestyle role models. On her way to Grandma's house, Red Riding Hood passed a woodchopper, and wandered off the path, in order to examine some flowers. She was startled to find herself standing before a Wolf, who asked her what was in her basket. Red Riding Hood's teacher had warned her never to talk to strangers, but she was confident in taking control of her own budding sexuality, and chose to dialogue with the Wolf. She replied, "I am taking my Grandmother some healthful snacks in a gesture of solidarity." The Wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone." Red Riding Hood said, "I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop an alternative and yet entirely valid world view. Now, if you'll excuse me, I would prefer to be on my way." Red Riding Hood returned to the main path, and proceeded towards her Grandmother's house. But because his status outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear, Western-style thought, the Wolf knew of a quicker route to Grandma's house. He burst into the house and ate Grandma, a course of action affirmative of his nature as a predator. Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist gender role notions, he put on Grandma's nightclothes, crawled under the bedclothes, and awaited developments. Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said, "Grandma, I have brought you some cruelty free snacks to salute you in your role of wise and nurturing matriarch." The Wolf said softly "Come closer, child, so that I might see you." Red Riding Hood said, "Goddess! Grandma, what big eyes you have!" "You forget that I am optically challenged." "And Grandma, what an enormous, what a fine nose you have." "Naturally, I could have had it fixed to help my acting career, but I didn't give in to such societal pressures, my child." "And Grandma, what very big, sharp teeth you have!" The Wolf could not take any more of these specist slurs, and, in a reaction appropriate for his accustomed milieu, he leaped out of bed, grabbed Little Red Riding Hood, and opened his jaws so wide that she could see her poor Grandmother cowering in his belly. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Red Riding Hood bravely shouted. "You must request my permission before proceeding to a new level of intimacy!" The Wolf was so startled by this statement that he loosened his grasp on her. At the same time, the woodchopper burst into the cottage, brandishing an ax. "Hands off!" cried the woodchopper. "And what do you think you're doing?" cried Little Red Riding Hood. "If I let you help me now, I would be expressing a lack of confidence in my own abilities, which would lead to poor self esteem and lower achievement scores on college entrance exams." "Last chance, sister! Get your hands off that endangered species! This is an FBI sting!" screamed the woodchopper, and when Little Red Riding Hood nonetheless made a sudden motion, he sliced off her head. "Thank goodness you got here in time," said the Wolf. "The brat and her grandmother lured me in here. I thought I was a goner." "No, I think I'm the real victim here," said the woodchopper. "I've been dealing with my anger ever since I saw her picking those protected flowers earlier. And now I'm going to have such a trauma. Do you have any aspirin?" "Sure," said the Wolf. "Thanks." "I feel your pain," said the Wolf, and he patted the woodchopper on his firm, well padded ass, gave a little belch, and said, "Do you have any Maalox?" -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

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cryptx spam - des-based program.
by Bill Stewart 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I got spammed by someone selling Cryptx, a DES-based encryption program. I'm assuming they know they're spamming; at least the person who sent the email did, though perhaps the vendor doesn't understand it. In addition to selling crypto, their web page says they also sell an "Automates the process of submitting your URL's to over 370 sites!" which is at least on the borderline tacky side. Their web page doesn't look like snake oil, though they _really_ need to emphasize the importance of good keys (they talk about DES having been cracked once by the distributed internet crack, and neglect to mention that DES with easy-to-guess keys has been cracked regularly for years. So not only do the Bad Guys abuse the level of effort of the crack, but so do well-meaning but clueless people.) I'd guess they don't do anything like generating a random high-entropy session key and encrypting it with a passphrase. Also, they promise an "Update to 448-Bit encryption", which says that even if there's no snake oil now, there may be soon. Upgrade so you can email your encrypted files right through Cryptx. You will never have to worry about sending uncompromised email again. All of the domain names in the SPAM are from directsend.com Info World PO BOX 92223 City of Industry, CA 91715-2223 except of course than nrply.com is non-existent. The web page gives its identity as PBD Technologies 13502-H Whittier Blvd. Suite 304 Whittier, CA 90605 Their web page also says they have offices in Portland and Toronto, presumably including the person named in the whois for crypt-x.com Mark Weber CRYPT-X-DOM 4534 SE 17th Ave. Ste. 153B Portland, OR 97202 US Administrative Contact: Weber, Mark MW3634 coolio(a)AIMARKET.COM 503-235-9442 (FAX) 503-235-9254 > Return-Path: <cryptx(a)ultra-mail.com> > Received: from digital-coupons.com ([206.84.21.30]) > by ixmail2.ix.netcom.com (8.8.7-s-4/8.8.7/(NETCOM v1.01)) with ESMTP id NAA21132; ; > Sat, 15 Nov 1997 13:50:22 -0800 (PST) >From: cryptx(a)ultra-mail.com >Message-Id: <199711152150.NAA21132(a)ixmail2.ix.netcom.com> >Received: by digital-coupons.com (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id QAA07327; > Sat, 15 Nov 1997 16:48:59 -0500 (EST) >Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 16:48:59 -0500 (EST) >Received: from by (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id XAA02678 for ; Sat, 15 November 1997 13:38:59 -0700 (EDT) >To: GetProtected(a)nrply.com >Subject: Protect your data from prying eyes! > >Hello - >Do you have information that is vulnerable? Do you >utilize Email, FTP, HTTP, or just browse the Net? >If so, your personal and business information is accessable >to those who know how to find it. Now you can have the most >powerful Data Security program, Cryptx, completely encrypt >your data to keep out prying eyes. Why take the chance? Get >your information completely secured and keep everyone from >children to co-workers OUT of your private data. For more >information and to get your FREE, fully-functional, Demo today >simply go to our website at: >http://www.ultra-mail.com/cryptx >For questions or information on Dealer opportunities, please >send a message to: cryptx(a)ultra-mail.com >Thanks- >Cryptx Staff > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >to be permanently removed, please send a message >to: remove(a)ultra-mail.com > > Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, stewarts(a)ix.netcom.com Regular Key PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639

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Advertise! Cheap, Quick & Easy!
by qimoo＠clinet.fi 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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No Subject
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The main french PGP HomePage is now here : http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9648 The page is called "PGP POUR LES FRANCAIS" ("PGP for the french people") and is wholly in french language. You can find here a lot of informations about PGP 2.x and 5.x and a detailed PGP history. A bientot :) ----------------------------------------------- PGP pour les français http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9648

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