The Offending Stronghold posts...

[John Young]

Robert Hettinga wrote:

>> * I'll supply copies of messages cited if you like.
>
>Would you please, just so I could trash them myself this time. :-).

OK. Here they are:

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Return-Path: cypherpunks-errors at toad.com
X-Sender: jya at pop.pipeline.com
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1997 17:23:14 -0500
To: cypherpunks at toad.com
From: John Young <jya at pipeline.com>
Subject: Re: More on Stronghold Charge - 1
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com

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Return-Path: cypherpunks-errors at toad.com
To: cypherpunks at toad.com
Subject: Disappearing articles?
From: dlv at bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Comments: All power to the ZOG!
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 97 10:39:11 EST
Organization: Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com

We already know that Sandy's bot automatically discards submissions from
people he doesn't like, irrespective of contents. In the past the rejected
articles were tossed to the "flames" list.  Now Sandy has gone one step 
further.  The following article criticized the product Sandy is paid to
peddle. It showed up on the 'unedited' list, but Sandy hated its contents
so much that it hasn't made it to EITHER censored or the 'flames' list!

This is the beginning of the censored article:

To: cypherpunks at toad.com
Subject: Security alert!!!
From: dlv at bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)
Comments: All power to the ZOG!
Message-Id: <aw5c2D4w165w at bwalk.dm.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 16:15:21 EST
Organization: Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com
Precedence: bulk

WARNING: There's a rogue trojan horse out there on the internet known as the
"stronghold web server".  It's actually a hacked-up version of Apache with a
backdoor, which allows hackers (or whoever knows the backdoor) to steal credit
card numbers and other confidentil information on the Internet.

Be careful! Always use encryption. Do not send confidential information 9such
as passwords and credit card numbers) to any site running the trojan horse
"stronghold". 

In general, beware of "snake oil" security products and hacked-up versions of
free software.

Please repost this warning to all relevant computer security forums.

(rest snipped to save bandwidth)

---

Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Return-Path: cypherpunks-errors at toad.com
X-Sender: jya at pop.pipeline.com
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1997 18:10:58 -0500
To: cypherpunks at toad.com
From: John Young <jya at pipeline.com>
Subject: Re: Is Sandy really censoring criticisms of Stronghold, his
  product?
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com

My version of DV's ploy came via the unedited list.

There was also a good, brief discussion about Vulis's multi-pronged
Denial of Service attack on Cypherpunks, which came unedited, along 
with other informative comments about how a technologically adept 
attacker singles out a quarry amongst a lumbering, slumbering, cud-
chewing herd. Quite beastly cryptoanarchistic.

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Return-Path: cypherpunks-errors at toad.com
X-Sender: jya at pop.pipeline.com
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 1997 13:17:32 -0500
To: cypherpunks at toad.com
From: John Young <jya at pipeline.com>
Subject: Who's Censoring Who?
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at toad.com

Sandy's e-mailed several of us who've sent messages about Vulis's
ploy to put Sandy in a conflict-of-interest bind -- a well-known attack 
on moderators of all kinds, not just on the net. 

What's worth admiring is how Vulis has adeptly managed to get others
 -- targets and witting and unwitting cohorts -- to go along with his attack, 
attack, attack, by opposing or supporting it. A useful lesson.

Smart dude, that Vulis, but no more so than others on the Net, say, Tim
May, and in the world who've done the same elsewhere, maybe 
by even smarter dude(s) who provoked, angered, insulted, an unwitting 
Vulis, or May, to attack on behalf of ... 

But such deception is to be expected, along with feigned suprise and
outrage at the unfairness of opponents fighting as dirty as one's own
pure-blackhearts.

Sandy's not censoring cypherpunks, nor is Vulis or May or any single 
person alone. As Pogo said, it's all of us, posters and lurkers and spooks, 
each trying to get one's way to prevail, under guise of a high principle not 
easily honored when the squeeze is on alone in a dark cell. Come on out
Sandy, it was just a drill.

It's probably worth saving accusations of censorship for the real thing, 
after trial usage here for what is truly nasty high-stakes global info-war 
gaming.

[Note: Thorn, "cuckoo" and TCM responded to this; none were forwarded
to the cp-edited list, AFIK.]

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