J. Michael Diehl guesses the truth:
Lets assume that the poster was a "good-guy," as opposed to just a prankster.
Then he has pointed out a serious flaw in the WB system. He has demonstrated Oh how I like to be told I'm right! Wish it happened more often. ;^)
the ability for a person to obtain (bonefied) classified information and broadcast it worldwide, with out any fear of being caught or censored. I support anonymity, but I wonder about how it will be "regulated" to keep this from happening for real.
Comments?
Well, I _hope_ I am a good guy, at least by the standards of this list.
The reactions have been interesting. Some of you got angry, some even practically foamed at the mouth, calling me a "treasonous fool." Fair enough, as I hoped to see this kind of range of opinions.
Reminder: "Treasonous fools" started the Revolutionary War.
1. Nothing in the posting, as some of you observed, was controversial or classified. I took an article from the book, "Stealth Technology: The Art
Well, I didn't read it completely, but printed it instead, thinking it might be juicy. Can you say Gotcha? ;^)
6. Paul Robichaux and Dave Deltorto have opined that posts like this should *not* be posted (and tell me how they'll ever be stopped in the real world?), as they invite the attention of the NSA and other TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms). This seems overly paranoid for even this list, given the
No it is not. I assume that the TLA's read EVERYTHING I post. How's that for paranoia?
(Actually, the problems with the whistleblower's list or group are sufficiently clear that I'd recommend that nobody be _formally_ affiliated with it. If it just "appears," somehow, probably in the alt heierchy, then people can post to it through anonymous remailers.)
Good point, but please read my closing comments.
7. Speaking of which, a whistleblowers group will likely face attack on several fronts, depending on whose ox is gored. There may in fact be deliberate postings of truly classified material just to cause the group to be shut down (or to cause Internet sites not to carry it, etc.). Some child porn posted anonymously may get nearly any group pulled. Ditto for Holocause revisionism, racist jokes, extortion demands, etc. Consider my little experiment a very benign little "innoculation," a hint of what to expect.
Perhapse by a TLA?
Once anonymous remailers become widely used, they will become "powerfull." When they become "too" powerfull, they will be under attack. The eventual goal being to shut them down on an individual basis. I don't see them being attacked as a whole. The attack will be to simply shut them down. Well, perhapse an attack might be to discredit them...as a whole, but I digress. What we need is a protocol that would notify the rest of the net/world when a remailer is shut down. What if the bbs in opperation Sundevil was expected to send a message every day to other sites around the world. When the bbs was shut down, that message wouldn't be sent and every one would know what happened? I don't have time to go on, but does anyone have any comments? +----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+ | J. Michael Diehl ;-) | I thought I was wrong once. But, I was mistaken. | | +----------------------------------------------------+ | mdiehl@triton.unm.edu| "I'm just looking for the opportunity to be | | Thunder@forum | Politically Incorrect! | | (505) 299-2282 | <me> | +----------------------+----------------------------------------------------+