NATIONAL SECURITY PORN RISK
C'punks, Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs? Is there a crypto tie-in? S a n d y
Sandy Sandfort says:
C'punks,
Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs? Is there a crypto tie-in?
The information superhighway, and the freedom of America, is threatened by a couple of government employees looking at dirty pictures. PRI's (formerly APRs) oh-so-statist "business" news radio program "Marketplace" had a story on this last night. Naturally, they had on the LA reporter who uncovered the shocking fact that some American's like looking at pictures of naked people having sex, and that the internet can be used for this purpose as well as paper magazines. Naturally, said reporter was shocked and just HAD to tell the bosses of the perpetrators of this horrible crime against humanity. Naturally, the word "pedophilia" arose in the discussion. Perry
C'punks,
Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs? Is there a crypto tie-in?
S a n d y
I've read the "Mercury News" front-page article...does that count? (It's in today's paper--Tuesday, 1994-07-12.) The issue, for those who haven't read the article, is that LLL computers and disks were used (apparently) for storage of GIFs and the like, for anonymous ftp access. Apparently this site was not advertised...it was not "ftp.porn.bomb-labs.gov" or anything else. The crypto tie-in is interesting: steganography. Apparently the investigators have read about steganography--perhaps in "Wired"?--and are worried that password sniffers, and the like, are collecting secrets and then packing them into the porno images. Very implausible, that someone would go to this trouble. Too many other ways. No doubt the images are just the usual two-bit use of someone else's facilities. My joke, "Debbie Does Fort Meade," turns out be more prophetic than I thought. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."
On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Sandy Sandfort wrote:
Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs? Is there a crypto tie-in?
From: paulp@nic.cerf.net (Paul Phillips) Newsgroups: alt.current-events.net-abuse,alt.security,alt.news-media,news.admin.misc Subject: LA Times Yellow Journalism Date: 12 Jul 1994 18:43:23 GMT This on page A1 of the July 12 1994 LA Times: "Computer at Nuclear Lab Used for Access to Porn" [ snip ] -- Excerpt -- One computer expert, who requested anonymity, said there might be more to the incident than meets the eye. The expert suggested that the hard-core pornography may be a cover for an ultra-sophisticated espionage program, in which a "sniffer" program combs through other Livermore computers, encodes the passwords and accounts it finds, and then hides them within the pornographic images, perhaps to be downloaded by foreign agents. -- End excerpt -- It's a Steganography reference. This sets off my warning bells -- why would they explicitly mention the Stego technique, unless possibly it was used in the porn ring there? Granted, Stego makes good journalism fodder ("Hide your encrypted nuclear bomb plans in porn GIFs from the Internet!"), but it's definitely not as sexy [sic] as "Taxpayer-funded computers used in secret porn ring!" Anybody know exactly what was going on at LLL? We can't get papers easily up here. :( -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Brandt Handler <grendel@netaxs.com> Philadelphia, PA <mh7p+@andrew.cmu.edu> Currently at CMU, Pittsburgh, PA PGP v2.6 public key on request Boycott Canter & Siegel <<NSA>> 1984: We're Behind Schedule
"Computer at Nuclear Lab Used for Access to Porn" [ snip ] -- Excerpt -- One computer expert, who requested anonymity, said there might be more to the incident than meets the eye. The expert suggested that the hard-core pornography may be a cover for an ultra-sophisticated espionage program, in which a "sniffer" program combs through other Livermore computers, encodes the passwords and accounts it finds, and then hides them within the pornographic images, perhaps to be downloaded by foreign agents. -- End excerpt --
It's a Steganography reference. This sets off my warning bells -- why would they explicitly mention the Stego technique, unless possibly it was used in the porn ring there? Granted, Stego makes good journalism fodder ("Hide your encrypted nuclear bomb plans in porn GIFs from the Internet!"), but it's definitely not as sexy [sic] as "Taxpayer-funded computers used in secret porn ring!" Anybody know exactly what was going on at LLL? We can't get papers easily up here. :(
Of course, any machine with classified info on it would neither be on the net nor would it be connected to one that was. --Paul
participants (5)
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Michael Handler -
Perry E. Metzger -
pstemari＠bismark.cbis.com -
Sandy Sandfort -
tcmay＠netcom.com