FBI Surveillance Software to be Part of Windows XP Updates (fwd)

[Jei]

http://www.vnunet.com/News/1127639

Microsoft, cDc and FBI Cut a Deal: FBI Surveillance Software 
to be Part of Windows XP Updates 

By John Robbington
13-12-2001

The controversy, rumours and speculation surrounding the FBI's Magic
Lantern tool has attracted ridicule from the internet underground.

Not so any more. Now both the infamous hacker group the Cult of the Dead
Cow (cDc) and Microsoft have offered a helping hand to the Feds and are
preparing to include the surveillance software in all future editions and
updates of the new Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

"This Magic Lantern could easily become a part of Windows XP Dynamic
Updates, or even become a standard part of the operating system."  
Microsoft spokesperson Bob Null said. "We are really looking forward to
experimenting this on a large scale. Our direct Marketing department was
jumping out of their pants when they heard we would be doing this." As
well they should. - The dreams of both direct marketers and FBI agents
coming true at the same time.

Also to be included in the future Microsoft Windows XP (R) are
Microsoft's trademark profiling software meant for tracking individual
users:

See: Microsoft licenses profiling software for digital TV
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/23318.html]

Microsoft's New Technology enables the FBI to profile individuals 
through their browsing and typing habits and so provide FBI with 
useful information about potential terrorists and other criminals.

Both Microsoft and FBI point out that individual profiles are
not given a name and that the information is stored on the FBI
government computers only and not on public computers. But this 
holds little sway with privacy advocates.

Predictive, a Microsoft partner in this venture, has also filed a patent
for a biometric system which identifies different individuals within the
same household.

The system works on recognising people's keystroke, mouse or
remote-control usage patterns. It says that it generates random, perfect
IDs each time, which have the effect of identifying all the household's PC
users, even if they didn't write anything that would otherwise indicate
to FBI and Microsoft who is using the computer.

Andy Beers, senior product manager for Microsoft said of the deal:
"Predictive Networks' solutions will provide customers of Microsoft
with state-of-the-art software to understand suspected terrorists'
characteristics and interests. The result will be the technology and
expertise needed to make thought police operation a seamless reality
for the consumer, while enabling the incremental criminalization 
and hunts for file swapping terrorist within the United States and
abroad."

Evidently still grizzled about the fact that their security is
too bad to afford any real protection, Microsoft has withheld the 
publishing of a notorious security track record, that of Microsoft
being the most often penetrated OS of the Millennium.

Reid Fleming, a cDc member and now a secret Microsoft employee, said:
"Never before has the US faced a more troublesome enemy. To meet this
growing challenge of fileswap terrorism, the FBI has announced an
ongoing effort to create and deploy best-of-breed electronic surveillance
software."

"While we applaud the innovation and drive of the federal law
enforcement agency, those of us who are US citizens would be remiss
if we did not offer our expertise in this area."

A tongue in cheek announcement from the group claims that cDc "has
more targeted experience than anyone else in this field".

And they're right. Their Back Orifice would do the Magic Lantern job
beautifully. Although the hackers are quite confident that the Microsoft
and FBI's Engineering Research Facility is more than capable, cDc intends
to re-architect Back Orifice from the ground up.

"There will be absolutely no shared code between the two projects, in
order to skirt detection by commercial antivirus packages. The code
will remain totally secret. The software will never surface publicly.  
And it will be far more stealthy than anything we have ever released,
demonstrated or publicly discussed," the group said.

Indeed, the central design principle of Magic Lantern and this new
breed of Back Orifice could easily be interpreted as "an artificial
witness which is capable of intercepting any and all relevant activity
during, after and even leading up to the commission of a computer
crime", it added.

The cDc concluded that the project would deliver "the ultimate
intelligence gathering tool to the govenrment. And we intend to construct
it, at no cost, exclusively for the use of Microsoft and the federal
government," said Fleming.

"We are confident that Microsoft and the government will limit the use of
this technology only to targets relevant to legitimate investigations," he
added, further underscoring the cult's faith in federal law enforcement
organisations. "The FBI has a long history of following Title 18 to the
letter."

----- End forwarded message -----