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- Computer underground Digest Sun May 2 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 32
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Cyop Editor: Etaoin Shrdlu, Senior
-
- CONTENTS, #5.32 (May 2 1993)
- File 1--If you missed the Galactic Hacker Party of 1989....
- File 2--SPA Needs A Different Direction
- File 3--Some thoughts on Clipper and the Constitution (1)
- File 4--Some thoughts on Clipper and the Constitution (2)
- File 5--Clinton Administration Freedom of Information Policy
- File 6--Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests
- File 7--"Hacker" Executed in China
- File 8--Electronic Privacy Conf w/Oliver North & Chris Goggans
-
- Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
- available at no cost electronically from tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu. The
- editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6430), fax (815-753-6302)
- or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
- 60115.
-
- Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
- news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
- LAWSIG, and DL0 and DL12 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
- libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
- the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
- On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
- on the PC-EXEC BBS at (414) 789-4210; and on: Rune Stone BBS (IIRG
- WHQ) 203-832-8441 NUP:Conspiracy
- CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from 1:11/70; unlisted
- nodes and points welcome.
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-
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-
- Back issues also may be obtained through mailserver at:
- server@blackwlf.mese.com
-
- COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
- information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
- diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
- as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
- they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
- non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
- specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
- relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
- preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
- unless absolutely necessary.
-
- DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
- the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
- responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
- violate copyright protections.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 04:12:57 -0700
- From: Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@WELL.SF.CA.US>
- Subject: File 1--If you missed the Galactic Hacker Party of 1989....
-
- Hack-Tic presents:
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- H A C K I N G A T T H E E N D O F T H E U N I V E R S E
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- An 'in-tents' summer congress
-
-
-
- H U H?
- +-------
-
- Remember the Galactic Hacker Party back in 1989? Ever wondered what
- happened to the people behind it? We sold out to big business, you
- think. Think again, we're back!
-
- That's right. On august 4th, 5th and 6th 1993, we're organising a
- three-day summer congress for hackers, phone phreaks, programmers,
- computer haters, data travellers, electro-wizards, networkers, hardware
- freaks, techno-anarchists, communications junkies, cyberpunks, system
- managers, stupid users, paranoid androids, Unix gurus, whizz kids, warez
- dudes, law enforcement officers (appropriate undercover dress required),
- guerilla heating engineers and other assorted bald, long-haired and/or
- unshaven scum. And all this in the middle of nowhere (well, the middle
- of Holland, actually, but that's the same thing) at the Larserbos
- campground four metres below sea level.
-
- The three days will be filled with lectures, discussions and workshops
- on hacking, phreaking, people's networks, Unix security risks, virtual
- reality, semafun, social engineering, magstrips, lockpicking,
- viruses, paranoia, legal sanctions against hacking in Holland and
- elsewhere and much, much more. English will be the lingua franca for
- this event, although some workshops may take place in Dutch. There
- will be an Internet connection, an intertent ethernet and social
- interaction (both electronic and live). Included in the price are four
- nights in your own tent. Also included are inspiration, transpiration,
- a shortage of showers (but a lake to swim in), good weather
- (guaranteed by god), campfires and plenty of wide open space and fresh
- air. All of this for only 100 dutch guilders (currently around US$70).
-
- We will also arrange for the availability of food, drink and smokes of
- assorted types, but this is not included in the price. Our bar will be
- open 24 hours a day, as well as a guarded depository for valuables
- (like laptops, cameras etc.). You may even get your stuff back! For
- people with no tent or air mattress: you can buy a tent through us for
- 100 guilders, a mattress costs 10 guilders. You can arrive from 17:00
- (that's five p.m. for analogue types) on August 3rd. We don't have to
- vacate the premises until 12:00 noon on Saturday, August 7 so you can
- even try to sleep through the devastating Party at the End of Time
- (PET) on the closing night (live music provided). We will arrange for
- shuttle buses to and from train stations in the vicinity.
-
-
- H O W ?
- +-------
-
- Payment: In advance only. Even poor techno-freaks like us would like
- to get to the Bahamas at least once, and if enough cash comes in we
- may just decide to go. So pay today, or tomorrow, or yesterday, or in
- any case before Friday, June 25th 1993. Since the banks still haven't
- figured out why the Any key doesn't work for private international
- money transfers, you should call, fax or e-mail us for the best way to
- launder your currency into our account. We accept American Express,
- even if they do not accept us. But we are more understanding than they
- are. Foreign cheques go directly into the toilet paper recycling bin
- for the summer camp, which is about all they're good for here.
-
-
- H A !
- +-----
-
- Very Important: Bring many guitars and laptops.
-
-
- M E ?
- +-----
-
- Yes, you! Busloads of alternative techno-freaks from all over the
- planet will descend on this event. You wouldn't want to miss that,
- now, would you?
-
- Maybe you are part of that select group that has something special to
- offer! Participating in 'Hacking at the End of the Universe' is
- exciting, but organising your very own part of it is even more fun. We
- already have a load of interesting workshops and lectures scheduled,
- but we're always on the lookout for more. We're also still in the
- market for people who want to help us organize this during the
- congress.
-
- In whatever way you wish to participate, call, write, e-mail or fax us
- soon, and make sure your money gets here on time. Space is limited.
-
-
- S O :
- +-----
-
- > 4th, 5th and 6th of August
-
- > Hacking at the End of the Universe
- (a hacker summer congress)
-
- > ANWB groepsterrein Larserbos
- (Flevopolder, Netherlands)
-
- > Cost: fl. 100,- (+/- 70 US$) per person
- (including 4 nights in your own tent)
-
-
- M O R E I N F O :
- +-------------------
-
- Hack-Tic
- Postbus 22953
- 1100 DL Amsterdam
- The Netherlands
-
- tel : +31 20 6001480
- fax : +31 20 6900968
- E-mail : heu@hacktic.nl
-
- V I R U S :
- +-----------
-
- If you know a forum or network that you feel this message belongs on,
- by all means slip it in. Echo-areas, your favorite bbs, /etc/motd, IRC,
- WP.BAT, you name it. Spread the worm, uh, word.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 29 Apr 93 21:31:10 EDT
- From: Gordon Meyer <72307.1502@COMPUSERVE.COM>
- Subject: File 2--SPA Needs A Different Direction
-
- Michael Alexander, Editor in Chief and Associate Publisher of
- INFOSECURITY NEWS had some interesting comments about the SPA in his
- May/June editorial. Here are excerpts, for the full remarks refer to
- page 7.
-
- Several years ago I attended the first meeting of the Software
- Publishers Association, which was being held during the Winter
- Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas... I recall little about that
- initial meeting other than the fact that it was not particularly well
- organized. Based on the low turnout, ... I wrote a small article about
- the meeting and I think I suggested that the software industry had
- little need for the proposed association.
-
- Obviously I was wrong. The SPA has grown to more than 1,000 members
- in the past eight years and has become a powerful force in the
- industry. The SPA has also be come known as the "Software Police" as a
- result of is raids against copyright infringers and software pirates.
-
- ...
-
- Few people would argue with the fact that all software publishers
- should be compensated fairly for their products and that copyright
- laws must be protected on ethical and financial grounds.
-
- However, I believe that the SPA's much-publicized raids on businesses
- whose users are allegedly making unauthorized copies of software do
- little to advance the cause of information systems security. Any
- infosecurity practitioner will tell you that fear, intimidation and
- threats do not make for better security. What works is education,
- communication and cooperation.
-
- The vast majority of infosecurity professionals are aware of the
- pitfalls of copyright infringement and are working diligently to
- control the problem within their organizations. The SPA itself
- confirms that the problem of copyright in the US is declining. Thus
- it is time for the SPA to put its clout to more productive use.
-
- ...
-
- One of the first things the SPA should do is to withdraw its current
- print ads, such as the ones depicting users behind bars. These ads are
- in poor taste and insulting both to infosecurity professionals and to
- the people who provide the billions in revenues that the SPA's members
- receive.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 28 Apr 93 12:57:01 PDT
- From: Spartan@CUP.PORTAL.COM
- Subject: File 3--Some thoughts on Clipper and the Constitution (1)
-
- Date--Mon, 26 Apr 93 17:55:36 -0500
- From--mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
- Newsgroups--austin.eff
- Subject--Some thoughts on Clipper and the Constitution
-
- Note: These notes were a response to a question during Saturday's
- Cypherpunks meeting about the possible implications of the Clipper
- Chip initiative on Fourth Amendment rights. Forward to anyone else who
- might think these interesting.
-
- --Mike
-
-
- Notes on Cryptography, Digital Telephony, and the Bill of Rights
- By Mike Godwin
-
- I. Introduction
-
- A. The recent announcement of the federal government's "Clipper
- Chip" has started me thinking again about what the principled "pure
- Constitutional" arguments a) opposed to Digital Telephony and b) in favor
- of the continuing legality of widespread powerful public-key encryption.
- B. These notes do *not* include many of the complaints that have
- already been raised about the Clipper Chip initiative, such as:
- 1. Failure of the Administration to conduct an inquiry before
- embracing a standard,
- 2. Refusal to allow public scrutiny of the chosen encryption
- algorithm(s), which is the normal procedure for testing a cryptographic
- scheme, and
- 3. Failure of the administration to address the policy questions
- raised by the Clipper Chip, such as whether the right balance between
- privacy and law-enforcement needs has been struck.
- C. In other words, they do not address complaints about the federal
- government's *process* in embracing the Clipper Chip system. They do,
- however, attempt to address some of the substantive legal and
- Constitutional questions raised by the Clipper Chip and Digital Telephony
- initiatives.
-
- II. Hard Questions from Law Enforcement
-
- A. In trying to clarify my own thinking about the possible
- Constitutional issues raised by the government's efforts to guarantee
- access to public communications between individuals, I have spoken and
- argued with a number of individuals who are on the other side of the
- issues from me, including Dorothy Denning and various respresentatives of
- the FBI, including Alan McDonald.
- B. McDonald, like Denning and other proponents both of Digital
- Telephony and of a standard key-escrow system for cryptography, is fond of
- asking hard questions: What if FBI had a wiretap authorization order and
- couldn't implement it, either because it was impossible to extract the
- right bits from a digital-telephony data stream, or because the
- communication was encrypted? Doesn't it make sense to have a law that
- requires the phone companies to be able to comply with a wiretap order?
- C. Rather than respond to these questions, for now at least let's
- ask a different question. Suppose the FBI had an authorization order for a
- secret microphone at a public restaurant. Now suppose it planted the bug,
- but couldn't make out the conversation it was authorized to "seize"
- because of background noise at the restaurant. Wouldn't it make sense to
- have a law requiring everyone to speak more softly in restaurants and not
- to clatter the dishes so much?
- D. This response is not entirely facetious. The Department of
- Justice and the FBI have consistently insisted that they are not seeking
- new authority under the federal wiretap statutes ("Title III"). The same
- statute that was drafted to outline the authority for law enforcement to
- tap telephonic conversations was also drafted to outline law enforcement's
- authority to capture normal spoken conversations with secret or remote
- microphones. (The statute was amended in the middle '80s by the Electronic
- Communications Privacy Act to protect "electronic communications," which
- includes e-mail, and a new chapter protecting _stored_ electronic
- communications was also added.)
- E. Should we understand the law the way Digital Telephony
- proponents insist we do--as a law designed to mandate that the FBI (for
- example) be guaranteed access to telephonic communications? Digital
- Telephony supporters insist that it merely "clarifies" phone company
- obligations and governmental rights under Title III. If they're right,
- then I think we have to understand the provisions regarding "oral
- communications" the same way. Which is to say, it would make perfect sense
- to have a law requiring that people speak quietly in public places, so as
- to guarantee that the government can bug an oral conversation if it needs
- to.
- F. But of course I don't really take Digital Telephony as an
- initiative to "clarify" governmental prerogatives. It seems clear to me
- that Digital Telephony, together with the "Clipper" initiative, prefigure
- a government strategy to set up an information regime that precludes truly
- private communications between individuals who are speaking in any way
- other than face-to-face. This I think is an expansion of government
- authority by almost any analysis.
-
- III. Digital Telephony, Cryptography, and the Fourth Amendment
-
- A. In talking with law enforcement representatives such as Gail
- Thackeray, one occasionally encounters the view that the Fourth Amendment
- is actually a _grant_ of a Constitutional entitlement to searches and
- seizures. This interpretation is jolting to those who have studied the
- history of the Fourth Amendment and who recognize that it was drafted as a
- limitation on government power, not as a grant of government power. But
- even if one doesn't know the history of this amendment, one can look at
- its language and draw certain conclusions.
- B. The Fourth Amendment reads: "The right of the people to be
- secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
- searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue,
- but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and
- particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or
- things to be seized."
- C. Conspicuously missing from the language of this amendment is any
- guarantee that the government, with properly obtained warrant in hand,
- will be _successful_ in finding the right place to be searched or persons
- or things to be seized. What the Fourth Amendment is about is _obtaining
- warrants_--similarly, what the wiretap statutes are about is _obtaining
- authorization_ for wiretaps and other interceptions. Neither the Fourth
- Amendment nor Title III nor the other protections of the ECPA constitute
- an law-enforcement _entitlement_ for law enforcement.
- D. It follows, then, that if digital telephony or widespread
- encryption were to create new burdens for law enforcement, this would not,
- as some law-enforcement representatives have argued, constitute an
- "effective repeal" of Title III. What it would constitute is a change in
- the environment in which law enforcement, along with the rest of us, has
- to work. Technology often creates changes in our social environment--some,
- such as the original innovation of the wiretap, may aid law enforcement,
- while others, such as powerful public-key cryptography, pose the risk of
- inhibiting law enforcement. Historically, law enforcement has responded to
- technological change by adapting. (Indeed, the original wiretaps were an
- adaptation to the widespread use of the telephone.) Does it make sense for
- law enforcement suddenly to be able to require that the rest of society
- adapt to its perceived needs?
-
- IV. Cryptography and the First Amendment
-
- A. Increasingly, I have come to see two strong links between the
- the use of cryptography and the First Amendment. The two links are freedom
- of expression and freedom of association.
- B. By "freedom of expression" I mean the traditionally understood
- freedoms of speech and the press, as well as freedom of inquiry, which has
- also long been understood to be protected by the First Amendment. It is
- hard to see how saying or publishing something that happens to be
- encrypted could not be protected under the First Amendment. It would be a
- very poor freedom of speech indeed that dictated that we could *never*
- choose the form in which we speak. Even the traditional limitations on
- freedom of speech have never reached so far. My decision to encrypt a
- communication should be no more illegal than my decision to speak in code.
- To take one example, suppose my mother and I agree that the code "777",
- when sent to me through my pager, means "I want you to call me and tell me
- how my grandchild is doing." Does the FBI have a right to complain because
- they don't know what "777" means? Should the FBI require pager services
- never to allow such codes to be used? The First Amendment, it seems to me,
- requires that both questions be answered "No."
- C. "Freedom of association" is a First Amendment right that was
- first clearly articulated in a Supreme Court case in 1958: NAACP v.
- Alabama ex rel. Patterson. In that case, the Court held that Alabama could
- not require the NAACP to disclose a list of its members residing in
- Alabama. The Court accepted the NAACP's argument that disclosure of its
- list would lead to reprisals on its members; it held such forced
- disclosures, by placing an undue burden on NAACP members' exercise of
- their freedoms of association and expression, effectively negate those
- freedoms. (It is also important to note here that the Supreme Court in
- effect recognized that anonymity might be closely associated with First
- Amendment rights.)
- D. If a law guaranteeing disclosure of one's name is sufficiently
- "chilling" of First Amendment rights to be unconstitutional, surely a law
- requiring that the government be able to read any communications is also
- "chilling," not only of my right to speak, but also of my decisions on
- whom to speak to. Knowing that I cannot guarantee the privacy of my
- communications may mean that I don't conspire to arrange any drug deals or
- kidnapping-murders (or that I'll be detected if do), but it also may mean
- that I choose not to use this medium to speak to a loved one, or my
- lawyer, or to my psychiatrist, or to an outspoken political activist.
- Given that computer-based communications are likely to become the dominant
- communications medium in the next century, isn't this chilling effect an
- awfully high price to pay in order to keep law enforcement from having to
- devise new solutions to new problems?
-
- V. Rereading the Clipper Chip announcements
-
- A. It is important to recognize that the Clipper Chip represents,
- among other things, an effort by the government to pre-empt certain
- criticisms. The language of announcements makes clear that the government
- wants us to believe it has recognized all needs and come up with a
- credible solution to the dilemma many believe is posed by the ubiquity of
- powerful cryptography.
- B. Because the government is attempting to appear to take a
- "moderate" or "balanced" position to the issue, its initiative will tend
- to pre-empt criticisms of the government's proposal on the grounds of
- *process* alone.
- C. But there is more to complain about here than bad process. My
- rereading of the Clipper Chip announcements will reveal that the
- government hopes to develop a national policy that includes limitations on
- some kinds of cryptography. Take the following two statements, for
- example:
- D. 'We need the "Clipper Chip" and other approaches that can both
- provide law-abiding citizens with access to the encryption they need and
- prevent criminals from using it to hide their illegal activities.'
- E. 'The Administration is not saying, "since encryption threatens
- the public safety and effective law enforcement, we will prohibit it
- outright" (as some countries have effectively done); nor is the U.S.
- saying that "every American, as a matter of right, is entitled to an
- unbreakable commercial encryption product." '
- F. It is clear that neither Digital Telephony nor the Clipper Chip
- make any sense without restrictions on other kinds of encryption.
- Widespread powerful public-key encryption, for example, would render
- useless any improved wiretappability in the communications
- infrastructure, and would render superfluous any key-escrow scheme.
- G. It follows, then, that we should anticipate, consistent with
- these two initiatives, an eventual effort to prevent or inhibit the use of
- powerful private encryption schemes in private hands.
- H. Together with the Digital Telephony and Clipper Chip
- initiatives, this effort would, in my opinion, constitute an attempt to
- shift the Constitutional balance of rights and responsibilities against
- private entities and individuals and in favor of law enforcement. They
- would, in effect, create _entitlements_ for law enforcement where none
- existed before.
- I. As my notes here suggest, these initiatives may be, in their
- essence, inconsistent with Constitutional guarantees of expression,
- association, and privacy.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 28 Apr 93 10:21:16 PDT
- From: Spartan@CUP.PORTAL.COM
- Subject: File 4--Some thoughts on Clipper and the Constitution (2)
-
- Mike Godwin's recent essay on the Clipper Chip (reprinted above),
- Digital Telephony and the Constitution raises several interesting
- points. I'll confine my response to those points relating to the
- "chilling effect" that encryption may have on the use of emerging
- communications technology.
-
- Firstly, I have to admit my philosophical bias against the
- crippled-security scheme employed in the Clipper Chip. I do not have
- any better reason (better than the government's reason) for wanting a
- snoop-proof communications system; however, I acknowledge that the
- government believes that it has a good reason for desiring it. As in
- most civil liberties cases, the issue comes down to a balance of
- "good" reasons by both parties.
-
- How much will the crippled encryption scheme really "chill" our use of
- emergent communications technology, i.e., threaten our free speech
- protection to the point that we may opt (if possible) to use other
- communication media? My understanding is that law enforcement
- officials will still need to procure a warrant prior to decrypting
- encoded communication. If this is the case, will not encrypted
- communication enjoy the same expectation of privacy as standard
- telephone communications and postal mail? It seems that the warrant
- is the best device we have to protect us from illegal search and
- seizure. The threat of a warrant does not seem to have a wide
- chilling effect on the use of standard telephones and postal
- mail--yet, the possibility of interception is still ever-present.
-
- We have created and authorized government to see to our mutual
- protection, among other things. This protection involves the
- execution of duly legislated laws and the prosecution of alleged
- criminals. In order that government may carry out this charge we have
- empowered it with the ability to investigate crimes by seizing
- evidence and arresting suspects. It is in this area that we seek a
- balance: evidence is often someone's valuable (and private) property
- and suspects are innocent until proven guilty.
-
- Does not the warrant sufficiently address this balance? It protects
- suspects and property from frivolous seizure. It allows law
- enforcement officers to investigate cases for which there appears
- sufficient probable cause and supporting evidence. If the protection
- that a warrant offers is not sufficient to alleviate our fears of
- unwarranted search, seizure, and arrest, then perhaps there are bigger
- problems to deal with other than encryption schemes.
-
- I'm nowhere near as qualified as Mike to offer an opinion on this
- issue, but it seems to me that the "process" is exactly where we
- should be focusing--the Constitutional issues are fascinating, but
- distracting. I have to believe that the warrant is an acceptable
- safeguard to both sides of the balance. Given that, it appears that
- the balance has been disturbed by an unilateral decision with respect
- to the Clipper Chip. The plan presented by the Clinton
- Administration, as far as attempting to balance the concerns of
- government and the people, seems sound. The fact that the people (and
- its organized interest groups) were not consulted has attracted undue
- criticism to a feasible plan that is actually wanting of process.
-
- This is a political problem in that a practical solution is available,
- but cannot be agreed upon because the process leading to that solution
- did not allow for the necessary consultation and input to insure its
- acceptability. I'm certain that once bruised egos are attended to and
- future assurances of consultation are gained, that the solution
- settled upon will be very much like the one that stands.
-
- Rich MacKinnon
- Department of Government
- University of Texas-Austin
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 11:23:41 EDT
- From: Paul Hyland <phyland@ESSENTIAL.ORG>
- Subject: File 5--Clinton Administration Freedom of Information Policy
-
- >Originally From--rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
-
- /* Written 2:09 am Apr 14, 1993 by nigel.allen@canrem.com in
- igc:alt.news-media */
- /* ---------- "White House Official Outlines Freed" ---------- */
-
- White House Official Outlines Freedom of Information Strategy
- at 'Information Summit'
- To: National Desk, Media Writer
- Contact: Ellen Nelson of The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center,
- 615-321-9588
-
- NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 13 -- A White House official today outlined
- a broad open government strategy for the Clinton administration,
- throwing support behind legislation to apply the Freedom of
- Information Act to electronic records.
-
- "At the Clinton White House, most of the debate over the E-mail
- system is about how we can interconnect it to public services rather
- than how we can destroy the records or tear out the hard drives before
- the subpoenas come to reach us," said John Podesta, assistant to the
- president and staff secretary.
-
- Podesta made his comments in front of 70 participants in the
- nation's first Freedom of Information Summit, sponsored by The Freedom
- Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University.
-
- Though the economy dominates the headlines, Podesta said the new
- administration was quietly working across a broad front to open
- government. His "predictions for the first year," included:
-
- -- Working with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) to win approval
- this session for a bill allowing access to dozens of electronic
- databases in the federal government.
-
- -- Developing an electronic mail system within the federal
- government to improve citizen participation in government.
-
- -- Making the government's archives available on the nation's
- "information highway," and appointing a national archivist "who cares
- more about preserving history than about preserving his job."
-
- --Creating a "mood of declassification" with new executive orders
- from the president outlining what government may keep secret.
-
- -- "Reinventing government" under initiatives developed by the fall
- by Vice President Gore to require more openness on the part of civil
- servants throughout the bureaucracy.
-
- Podesta also pledged lobbying reform and political reform to "get
- rid of the soft money in campaigns." The Freedom of Information Act
- may need strengthening in addition to electronic access, he said.
-
- Pinched by a dozen years of tight information policy, news
- organizations have sent President Clinton a freedom of information
- policy paper calling for wholesale personnel changes in FOIA-related
- jobs, junking the secrecy classifications of President Reagan's
- Executive Order 12356, overhauling the Freedom of Information Act and
- ending military censorship of war reporting.
-
- "People working on behalf of the public on more openness in
- government at all levels are heartened by the prospect of the White
- House taking the lead in this area," said Paul McMasters, executive
- director of The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt
- University.
-
- The conference, sponsored by The Freedom Forum First Amendment
- Center at Vanderbilt University, is focusing on issues ranging from
- the Clinton administration's policies on open government to
- restrictions on public access to crime, accident and disaster scenes.
- The conference, open to the public, is at the Stouffer Hotel in
- downtown Nashville.
-
- Speakers on the Clinton FOI Agenda included Richard Schmidt Jr.,
- general counsel to the American Society of Newspaper Editors and
- partner in the law firm of Cohn & Marks in Washington, D.C.; Theresa
- Amato, the director of the FOI Clearinghouse in Washington, D.C. and
- staff counsel for Public Citizens Litigation Group in Washington,
- D.C.; and Quinlan Shea, former Carter administration official who
- discussed problems of access to government. Former American hostage
- Terry Anderson will give the keynote address at the dinner tonight.
-
- The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University is
- an independent operating program of The Freedom Forum. The Center's
- mission is to foster a better public understanding of and appreciation
- for First Amendment rights and values, including freedom of religion,
- free speech and press, the right to petition government and peaceful
- assembly.
-
- The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan, international organization
- dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.
- It is supported entirely by an endowment established by Frank E.
- Gannett in 1935 that has grown to more than $700 million in
- diversified managed assets. Its headquarters is The Freedom Forum
- World Center in Arlington, Va.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 13:25:21 -0700
- From: Peter shipley <shipley@merde.dis.org>
- Subject: File 6--Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests
-
- (Reprinted from RISKS DIGEST, #14.55)
-
- Hacker Accused of Rigging Radio Contests
- By Don Clark Chronicle staff writer
- San Francisco Chronicle 22 Apr 1993
-
- A notorious hacker was charged yesterday with using computers to
- rig promotional contest at three Los Angeles radio stations, in a
- scheme that allegedly netted two Porsches, $20,000 in cash and at
- least two trips to Hawaii.
-
- Kevin Lee Poulsen, now awaiting trial on earlier federal charges, is
- accused of conspiring with two other hackers to seize control of
- incoming phone lines at the radio stations. By making sure that only
- their calls got through, the conspirators were assured of winning the
- contests, federal prosecutors said. A new 19-count federal indictment
- filed in Los Angeles charges that Poulsen also set up his own wire
- taps and hacked into computers owned by California Department of Motor
- Vehicles and Pacific Bell. Through the latter, he obtained
- information about the undercover businesses and wiretaps run by the
- FBI, the indictment states.
-
- Poulsen, 27, is accused of committing the crimes during 17 months on
- the lam from earlier charges of telecommunications and computers fraud
- filed in San Jose. He was arrested in April 1991 and is now in the
- federal Correctional Institution in Dublin. In December, prosecutors
- added an espionage charge against him for his alleged theft of a
- classified military document. The indictment announced yesterday adds
- additional charges of computer and mail fraud, money laundering,
- interception of wire communications and obstruction of justice.
-
- Ronald Mark Austin and Justin Tanner Peterson have pleaded guilty to
- conspiracy and violating computer crime laws and have agreed to help
- against Poulsen. Both are Los Angeles residents. Poulsen and Austin
- have made headlines together before. As teenagers in Los Angeles, the
- two computer prodigies allegedly broke into a Pentagon-organized
- computer network that links researchers and defense contractors around
- the country. Between 1985 and 1988, after taking a job at Menlo
- Park-based SRI International, Poulsen allegedly burglarized or used
- phony identification to sneak into several Pacific Bell offices to
- steal equipment and confidential access codes that helped him change
- records and monitor calls. After being indicted on these charges in
- 1989, Poulsen skipped bail and fled to Los Angeles where he was
- eventually arrested at a suburban grocery store. One of the
- unanswered mysteries about the case is how he supported himself as a
- fugitive. The new indictment suggests that radio stations KIIS-FM,
- KRTH-FM and KPWR-FM unwittingly helped out.
-
- Poulsen and his conspirators are accused of hacking into Pacific Bell
- computers to block out other callers seeking to respond to contests at
- the stations. The conspirators allegedly used the scheme to let
- Poulsen and Austin win Porsches from KIIS and let a confederate win
- $20,000 from KPWR. Poulsen created aliases and phony identification
- to retrieve and sell one of his Porsches and launder the proceeds of
- the sale, the indictment states. In February 1989, they arranged for
- Poulsen's sister to win a trip to Hawaii and $1,000 from KRTH, the
- indictment states.
- [Included in RISKS with permission of the author]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 28 Apr 93 22:24:19 EDT
- From: Anonymous <nowhere@unix.anon>
- Subject: File 7--"Hacker" Executed in China
-
- (Associated Press, April 26)-- A man accused of invading a computer
- and embezzling some $192,000 has been executed in China. The French
- Agence France-Press International News Service says Shi Biao, an
- accountant at the Agricultural Bank of China's Jilin branch, was
- accused of forging deposit slips from Aug. 1 to Nov. 18, 1991. AFP,
- reporting from Beijing, quoted the Xinhua news agency as saying the
- crime was "the first case of bank embezzlement via computer" in China,
- adding it came to light when Shi and his alleged accomplice, Yu Lixin,
- tried to wire part of the money to Shenzhen in southern China.
- --Charles Bowen
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 22:25:12
- From: CuD Moderators <tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 8--Electronic Privacy Conf w/Oliver North & Chris Goggans
-
- Systems Technology Services, Inc., of Newton, N.J., is sponsoring the
- ELECTRONIC PRIVACY IN THE 90'S conferenceon May 13-14, 1993 in
- Washington, D.C. Billed as "A management Awareness Program, the stated
- intent is to "present an array of guest speakers with a diversity of
- backgrounds." According to the conference brochure:
-
- This presentation has been designed to introduce the threat of
- loss of assets due to the growing changes in electronic
- technologies. Participants are experienced professionals, each
- of who offers years of real time experiences within his own realm
- of expertise.
-
- Featured participants include Stansfield Turner, former director of
- the CIA, Oliver North, described as:
-
- ...CEO of Guardian Technologies, which manufactures protective
- equipment for law enforcement, serves as Prsident of Freedom
- Alliance, a non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting the
- principles of liberty, strong defense and traditional morality
- in national policy.
-
- Other featured speakers include Jim Ross of Ross Engineering, Tobey B.
- Marzouk, an partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Marzouk &
- Perry, and Donald P. Delany, a computer crime investigator with the
- New York State Police.
-
- Chris Goggans is the final featured speaker.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Computer Underground Digest #5.32
- ************************************
-
-