The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998/hackers_encyclopedia.iso/etc/hacklaw/fdp.tx2

Text File | 2003-06-11 | 12.1 KB | 299 lines

Uploaded By: THE GRIFFIN

**************************************************
*            ..... The Griffin .....             *
*                   Presents:                    *
*                                                *
*           Freedom of Data Processing           *
*                   Part Two!                    *
*                                                *
*             by  Michael E. Marotta             *
*  (From Loompanics Unlimited 1987 Main Catalog) *
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  Realize that given unlimited time and resources,
any code or cipher can be broken.  However,
welfare department case workers & alcohol tax
agents are government employees; their ability to
follow obvious clues to a logical conclusion is
limited.  On the other hand, if the stakes are
high enough the federal government will devote
incredible resources in a brute force or "tempest"
attack.

  The public key crypto-system developed at
Stanford by Merkle, Hellman and Diffie was broken
by Adi Shamir.  Working at the Weizmann Institute
in Israel,Shamir was continuing the investigations
begun with Rivest and Adlemann at MIT on public
key cryptosystems.  At a cryptosystem conference
held in Santa Barbara, California, Adlemann demon-
strated Shamir's work using an Apple II computer.

  The Stanford public key system was broken by the
brilliant mathematical insights of a single
person.  The Stanford people have in turn
targetted the Data Encryption Algorythm devised
for the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Stan-
dards.  The algorythm is supposed to be used by
all banks and other federal institutions (for
instance, it is used to transfer Air Force pay-
checks).  However, the U.S. Government does not
allow the DEA to be used for even the lowest level
of military security.

  The team at Stanford has set a price of $5
million to build a machine with enough parallel
processors to take apart DEA transmissions in less
than a day.

  Clearly, no cryptosystem is completely secure.
However, it is possible to devise secure means for
communication that are unambiguous, easy to use &
difficult to break.

  The "dictionary code" meets these criteria.Those
who would communicate securely decide upon one or
more books which all own. The Christian Bible, the
Oxford English Dictionary, or an encyclopedia are
obvious choices.  Obscure editions of fairy tales,
nursery rhymes or geology texts could also serve
as code dictionaries.

  Specific researchers who collaborate long dis-
tance will be forced to rely on some standard (and
well-known texts) since books like the bible don't
have the word "microscope" and even the Encyclo-
pedia Brittanica is woefully short on material
about the behavior of the hydroxal ion's valance
electron during cellular respiration. Nonetheless,
a personal computer can be programmed to issue new
dictionaries where the key words (for molecules,
or stock market issues, or bullet calibers) are
constant and the codes (number or letter groups)
change frequently.

  Should anyone try to intercept or monitor these
communications, it could take years, if not
decades, to unscramble the encoded messages and it
could run into millions of dollars.  Consider that
these are still battlefield cyphers from W.W.2
that have never been decrypted.  It is no longer
worth the effort.  These cyphers succeeded in
their purpose to hold secure a transmission.

  Realize that your right to process data means
more than just encrypting your mailing lists.Since
your tax money pays for the collection of govern-
ment data, you have a right to that information.If
you own stock in a corporation, you have a right
to the information created or dicovered by that
joint stock company.  You have a right to any info
which can adversely affect your life.  It is a
matter of self defense to know what chemicals are
put into the water you drink and who puts them in
there.

  Furthermore, you have a right to transmit what
you know.  Yet there are government prosecutors
who chase "pornographers" and reporters from tele-
vision stations by claiming that "freedom of the
press" is limited to those who own photo-offset
lithographic presses.

  The fact is that freedom of the press would be
meaningless if it were limited to a narrow inter-
pretation such as the State cannot seize a
printing press without a court order.  Tele-
communications and desktop publishing are the
active expressions of what Ben Franklin had in
mind 200 years ago.  What, after all, is a
"newspaper?" Consider that the Wall Street Journal
is typset electronically and broadcast via
satellite to several printing plants around the
world.  How is this different from a homebrew
bulletin board system? In Michigan's capital city,
The Lansing State Journal gets its state gov't
reporting from the Associated Press wire service.
If they have a right to gather news
electronically, then so do you.  You have every
reason to go beyond the narrow limits imposed by
the powers that be.

  "Auto-Dialer" programs enable your computer to
search for other data processing machines.  The
Computer Underground, written by M. Harry
(Loompanics, 1986)has a listing for an auto-dialer
program for Apple Computers.  MegaSoft (PO Box
1080, Battle Ground, WA  98604) sells an "auto-
dialer" for Commodore computers; the "War Games
Auto-Dialer" costs about $30.

  In order to realize the fullest possible bene-
fits from the computer revolution, it is necessary
to adopt an attitude which is open and expansive
in regard to data processing.  A feudalists world
of ultra-secure computers and data fortresses is
contrary to the spirit of data processing.

  Every era has its ruling class, and the nature
of the ruling class is determined by the
technology of the era.  Formerly, men on horses
wearing armor ruled.  Later it was people who
could design and produce industrial goods. Today
people who own or can use electronic data
processing equipment are the new ruling class.Call
them the "Datalords."

  In each age, the ruling class tailors the law to
suit its own ends.  During times of transition,the
innovators must fight against an established order
as they develop their own worldviews.  The best
example in Western Civilization is the existance
of real estate laws.  Land is called "real" estate
because you can't put it on a horse and carry it
out from under the control of the king.  It is
called real "estate" because title to it comes
"ex-state," i.e., from the state.  The king can
grant titles; the king can revoke titles.

  The advent of capitalism brought about a legal
system that recognized the ownership of a drop-
forge without a deed certified by a govermental
unit or a title search performed by a government
licencee.

  The cybernetic revolution will require a legal
system which supports the view that while a
machine is still property in the capilist sense,
the data in the machine is regulated by new laws
that better suit its nature.

  Consider that silver and gold are "static"
commodities.  There is a fixed and known amount of
each on Earth and the materials are universally
useful to humans.  Wheat and lumber are "dynamic"
commodities.  The amount of each is determined by
the demand. The demand is universal and the supply
is limited by economic factors which control the
amount of land and human effort avaliable to
produce wheat and lumber.  No one will refuse a
free loaf of bread.  Data is a "fluid" commodity.
It can be produced in super-abundance.  It can be
copied.  Copying data does not destroy it. (There
is no way to copy gold or wheat.) Moreover, unlike
bread and gold, data is not universally useful.

  In the Christian Bible, there is a story about a
shepard boy named David who defeats a giant named
Goliath.  At one point in the story, the King
offers David his royal armor to wear into battle.
The Bible tells of how the boy David trudges back
and forth, trying the burdensome metal plate.David
respectfully declines the offer, trusting in his
god to protect him.  Now you know this cute story.
Can you use the data?

  On Thursday, October 9, 1986, Nissan Motors
over-the-counter stock was bid at 7 1/8 while the
asking price was 7 1/4.  Can you use that info?

  Consider the E.F. Hutton economist who in late
1982 relied on his own Federal Reserve System
computer password to discover money supply
figures.  The Fed announces these figures weekly
and the amount of paper in circulation has a
direct effect on interest rates.  Knowing in
advanced what the money supply would be announced
to be, the man from E.F. Hutton was able to trade
profitably on behalf of his employers.  Time
magazine for January 13, 1983, called this
"Filching Figures."

  However, it is clear that nothing was "filched;"
the figures still resided in the machines.  What
the government (and Time) objected to was the fact
that this individual didn't wait for some lackey
to read the data from a cue card at a press
conference.

  In his book ELECTRONIC LIFE, author and screen-
writer Michael Crichton states that it is inherent
in the technology of both computing and video to
copy and transfer information.Himself a big earner
of copyright royalties, Crichton says that the
present system is archaic.  In his novel The
Shockwave Rider, Brunner makes a case for opening
all government data files.

  There is a real good reason why selling stock in
a company is called "going public."  Does your
electric utility company have a right to privacy
that prevents you from accessing and auditing its
books?  As a stockholder in a major corporation,
don't you have a right to know about the company?
Why doesn't your local manufacture release to you
the info they have already provinded the U.S.
Patent Office or OSHA?

  Similarly, your state's wildlife dept. has land-
use data which can help you find a homestead or a
campsite or a ski-slope.  The dept. of transpor-
tation computers can warn you in advance of where
holiday traffic accidents have occured over the
last 10 years.  The state treasury can show you
how much you, your employer or your neighbour has
paid in taxes.

  Go out there and get that data!!

The Liberaterian E-Mail Directory is avaliable
from Dan Tobias, 4025 Golf Links Blvd Apt. 340,
Shreveport, LA 71109, for $5.00.  It contains the
personal names and datapath names for about 40
libertarians using ARPA, CompuServe, Delphi,
Internet, and other electronic mail systems.

 -= A FINAL NOTE =-  In November of 1986, the
Reagan administration launched a direct assault on
your right to process data.  Then-security advisor
JoHn Poindexter said that the gov't was seeking
ways to limit access to PRIVATE DATA BASE
SERVICES.  This was echoed by Diane Fountaine, a
Dept. of Defense speaker at a convention of the
Information Industry Association.

  Poindexter said that the feds want to stop
access to info in the PUBLIC DOMAIN which they
considered "sensitive but unclassified."  He
targetted data on hazardous materials, Federal
Reserve policy, social security and the Securities
Exchange Commission.

 Fountaine's goals involve restricting access to
public database services like Nexis, Dialog and
Delphi.  The Dept. of Defense would have a law
which requires database services to "red flag"
individuals who ask too many questions about so-
called high tech subjects like lasers; users who
are "red flagged" would have their names turned
over to the feds.

<================================================>
 And so ends another doc by the world famous
 Griffin.  I hope you enjoy this as more will be
 uploaded as soon as possible.  Also, me and
 another Victoria Hacker/Phreaker are thinking
 of coming out with a newsletter every month. We
 haven't thought of a name as of yet but the
 newsletter (or magazine) will cover just about
 everything.  If you are interested, leave me
 E-Mail on this system.  Thanks.

             ..... The Griffin .....
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