From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com> - ----------------------------------------------------------
Daily Telegraph Connected Supplement 16th December 1997
A European Commission report warns that the United States has developed an extensive spying network on European Citizens and we should all be worried, reports Simon Davies.
A global electronic spy network that can eavesdrop on every telephone,email and telex communication around the world will be officially acknowledged for the first time in a European Commission report to be delivered this week.
On a mailing list whose subscribers are alleged to include the last of a variety of dying breeds [Last True CypherPunk, Last Canadian Outlaw, Last Anarchist], it is no doubt inevitable that the Last Lamer CypherPunk must also be among the current ranks. How can you tell if *you* are the Last Lamer CypherPunk? Were you surprised to find out that Knixon knew? Were you surprised to find out that RSA was 'developed' <hee, hee> with funding by Naval Intelligence after *years* of experimentation and use by British Intelligence? Were you surprised to find out that unelected representatives of secret agencies are involved in worldwide monitoring and manipulation of all communications and financial transactions? Do you plan to be surprised when fallout from the Y2K problem turns out to be the definitive excuse for instituting a global, financial New World Order? If you can answer "Yes" to all of the above questions, you may be the Last Lamer CypherPunk.
Until now evidence of such astounding technology has been patchy and anecdotal.
For those living in LamerWorld, maybe. I was aware of the details currently being 'discovered' when I was eight years old. I was also playing with IRS source code at that age, studying the Millennium Bug.
"The Echelon system forms part of the UKUSA system but unlike many of the electronic spy sysfems developed during the Cold War, Echelon is designed primarily for non-military targets: governments, organizations and businesses in virtually every country.
In other words, while list members are decrying Tim C. May's use of the phrase, "broken eggs and all that," in reference to his "other brother Timmy's" political statement, the targets of McVeigh's wrath are busily at work in another government building (still hiding behind children) deciding which individuals, businesses, governments and countries will live, and which ones will die.
Former signals intelligence operatives have claimed that spy bases control led by America have the ability to search nearly all data communications for kev words. They claim that Echelon automatically analyses most email messaging for "precursor". data which assists intelligence agencies to determine targets.
Of course, those who have been disseminating manuscripts concerning this activity across the InterNet for almost a decade are still considered fringe lunatics. This will still no doubt be the case when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, at which time the prophecy that "Gomez is coming" will be fulfilled as described in 1989, in the opening chapter of "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre": "His Login is Panic His Password is Crash When Time is of Essence He'll Rise from the Ash."
The driving force behind the report is Glyn Ford. Labour MEP for Greater Manchester East. He believes the report is crucial to the future of civil liberties in Europe.
"There are times in history when technology helps democratise, and times when it helps centralise. This is a time of centralisation. The justice and home affairs pillar of Europe has become more powerful without a corresponding strengthening of civil liberties."
This time, it is global--it is for "all the marbles." Anyone who still believes that the "Forces of Light" and "Dark Allies" analogies in 'The True Story of the InterNet' are frivolous, should just turn on the TV and go back to sleep. Anyone who fails to see that the encryption, anonymity and privacy issues dealt with on the CypherPunks list will soon be literal life-and-death issues in the near future needs to send their private keys to the government immediately, so that they can 'save' you more efficiently in the future.
Glyn Ford hopes his report may be the first step in a long road to more openness. "Some democratically elected body should surely have a right to know at some level. At the monment that's nowhere."
If you are waiting for "some democratically elected body" to 'save' you from the 'bad guys', then you may well be the Last Lamer CypherPunk (TM). The Revolution Is Now! Sixual Deviate CypherKid Cult of One |<---->| 8"