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-
- Computer underground Digest Sun May 26, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 39
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
- Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
-
- CONTENTS, #9.39 (Sun, May 26, 1997)
-
- File 1--HACK - Texas Driver's License database on the web
- File 2--PI/GILC UK Crypto Conference Cybercast
- File 3--EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
- File 4--Last parts of <gov.*> stories and query about status
- File 5--Interactive ACT-UP Civil Disobedience Training Online
- File 6--Cyberculture Studies (fwd)
- File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
-
- CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
- THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 17:23:12 EDT
- From: Martin Kaminer <iguana@MIT.EDU>
- Subject: File 1--HACK - Texas Driver's License database on the web
-
- ------- Forwarded Message
-
- Date--Sun, 25 May 1997 11:15:33
- From--FringeWare News Network <email@Fringeware.COM>
-
- Sent from: Paco Xander Nathan <pacoid@fringeware.com>
-
- URGENT NEWS RELEASE -
-
- Regarding the release and use of personal information from Texas motor
- vehicle records, i.e. our recent news about the "www.publiclink.com"
- web site, the Texas legislature will vote on the floor TOMORROW over
- SB1069, which would attach a criminal penalty to such information use,
- except for "permitted disclosures".
-
- Note that these criminal penalities and their exceptions have been
- substituted onto a proposed bill which was already in play (SB1069)
- in the Texas Senate, one which had already been passed in the Texas
- House. The bill and its history are available online at:
- http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/
-
- Search for "SB1069" under the bill search link. The Texas legislature
- is currently in session, which only happens once every two years, and
- only a matter of days remain in the current session for introducing
- any legislation.
-
- After "www.publiclink.com" went online, a lawsuit was filed against
- the site's publisher, the site was taken down, and the story earned
- widespread headlines.
-
- Governor George Bush Jr., et al., expressed concerns over protecting
- the privacy of Texas citizens vis-a-vis Internet services such as
- Public Link, while failing to mention that Texas State offices have and
- will continue to receive revenue from the bulk sales of this same data.
-
- For example, if another driver cuts you off in traffic, you take down
- their license plate number, then go home, check the Public Link web site
- to find out: the name of the car's owner, where that person lives, with
- whom that person lives, their race/height/weight/birthdate, a list of
- their neighbors, how they have voted in recent elections, what criminal
- convictions they have, etc.
-
- My own comments on KVUE-24 news and the CNN Headline News trailer, along
- with similar comments online by Mike Godwin, et al., of EFF, have shown
- the "double-edged sword" effect of regulating such information.
-
- Certainly the issue of protecting privacy vs. freedom of information
- (since this information is and will remain public record in Texas) comes
- to mind, as has the most prevalent argument coming from women's groups
- in Texas, that such information, even though it has been available for
- years, now placed on the Internet can pose a public threat in terms of
- assisting stalkers.
-
- But the real issues run much deeper. On one hand, the information is
- available (and has been for years) to anybody with enough means to
- hire an attorney or investigator: "Please give me a list of all the
- women over age 65, widowed, living alone in a particularly wealthy block
- of Dallas". That one *might* cost you $75, but think of the potential
- return-on-investment for b&e specialists, televangelists, and other
- social vultures.
-
- Public Link has merely made this same data, derived from public record,
- available to all who have Internet access. Restrictions from the Texas
- legislation on who/what can be listed on the Internet would be pointless
- because servers could easily move to Louisiana, Mexico, or even somewhere
- out in the Indian Ocean....
-
- One the other hand, look at the trade-off of who's agenda will be served
- by making this data only available to those parties authorized for the
- "permitted disclosures". Consider that investigative journalists have
- used this kind of data to breach stories in the public interest which
- the wealthy and powerful might otherwise attempt to keep quiet. Consider
- on the flip side that this kind of information is regularly used by the
- personnel staff at large corporations, who need to make decisions on
- hiring new employees and therefore buy computer-based records about
- private individuals: voting records, criminal records, worker's comp,
- any available medical data, etc.
-
- Here's the scenario: a personnel director needs to choose between two
- applicants for a position, let's say one is a woman from a racial minority
- who has had a previous C-section birth and voted Democrat in the past four
- elections; then the other applicant is a white male who voted Republican
- in the past elections on record. Now really, given the cost of medical
- insurance and employee relations these days, whom are they going to pick
- for the job?
-
- This exact data is at question. It is commericially available and in
- widespread use throughout "human resource departments" and "security"
- firms. Moreover, an older issue of workplace drug testing brings in
- related concerns. Random drug testing used in corporate America is at
- best 60% accurate, i.e. practically meaningless, BUT those tests provide
- employers and government agencies with a legal "foot-in-the-door" for
- correlating all of the personal information listed above along with the
- individual's medical records and SSN. Think about it. Think really hard
- about the implications, for a long time, and then ask yourself if drug
- testing really concerns "family values", not to mention the other privacy
- abuse practices in question.
-
- To the point of Texas Senate Bill 1069, an unofficial comment from one
- Texas capitol legislative analyst responsible for independent research of
- this issue was that "journalists are going to hate this bill."
-
- If you read the text of SB1069, it becomes hauntingly clear that government
- agencies, employers, insurance companies, private investigators, and even
- firms which conduct "surveys, marketing, or solicitations", will all keep
- their bulk access to Texas citizens personal data, BUT that any other use
- would become a criminal offense. Furthermore, this portion of the bill is
- what has been added at the last minute, i.e. subsequent to the news reports
- about Public Link.
-
- To wit, it will be fine for a spammer to buy and use the data to tailor
- "bulk distribution" mailings, but it will become a criminal offense for
- anybody to place the same exact data up for public use on a web site.
-
- Also, it will be fine for personnel managers and insurance agents to use
- this data in private while deciding about an individual's hiring potential
- or quoted insurance rates, but it would become a criminal offense for a
- newspaper journalist (or Internet email list participant) to access the
- same exact data in public record for the purposes of, say, exposing illegal
- hiring practices.
-
- Note that this bill has been slid through the voting process quietly, as a
- deliberate act by the legislators. It was substituted onto a bill already
- passed by the House, and then "recommended for local & uncontested calendar"
- by the Senate, i.e. so as not to draw public attention.
-
- If you live in Texas, we urge you to take action. Flood the legislature.
- If you are an attorney or expert familiar with Texas State privacy laws,
- please render a written opinion faxed to your representative. Current
- estimates project that the SB1069 will pass the Texas Senate tomorrow (i.e.
- quietly while most of the state is off on holiday).
-
- 1984 is only 13 years away...
-
- Paco Xander Nathan
- FringeWare Inc.
- 25 May 1996
- Austin, TX, Earth
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 00:29:18 +0100
- From: Dave Banisar <banisar@EPIC.ORG>
- Subject: File 2--PI/GILC UK Crypto Conference Cybercast
-
- For those of you interested in hearing a live cybercast of the Privacy
- International/GILC conference on UK cryptography policy, theURL is:
-
- http://www.encryption.co.uk
-
- Speakers will include Phil Zimmermann, Whit Diffie, Ross Anderson, and Carl
- Ellison.
- The Department of Trade and Industry and the National Criminal Intelligence
- Service will also present. The event is being hosted by the London School
- of Economics.
-
- A copy of the agenda is available at:
-
- http://www.privacy.org/pi/conference/dti/
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:08:43 -0500 (CDT)
- From: Crypt Newsletter <crypt@sun.soci.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 3--EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
-
- CRYPT NEWSLETTER 42
- April -- May 1997
-
-
- EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
-
-
- Long-time readers of Crypt Newsletter will be astonished to hear
- death -- due to heroin overdose -- came to the famous Australian
- virus-writer Clint Haines on his twenty-first birthday, April 10.
- He was from Brisbane.
-
- Writing in the Usenet comp.virus newsgroup On April 19, Rod Fewster,
- a moderator of one of the Fidonet's virus information newsfeeds and
- one who knew Haines, said:
-
- "Clinton Haines, who earned his place in virus-writing history at=20
- the age of fifteen as Harry McBungus, became a household name in
- the=20 virus world by the time he was eighteen as Terminator-Z
- and=20 TaLoN . . . [Haines] gained widespread fame a couple of years
- ago=20 with front-page newspaper headlines yelling about how his No
- Frills=20 virus had stopped the Australian Taxation Office dead in
- its tracks=20 for two days, and was regarded by his peers as one of
- the best virus=20 writers of all time . . . [He] will be cremated
- tomorrow morning.
-
- "Clint quit virus writing two years ago to concentrate on his
- university studies and he had the intelligence to go a long way in
- his chosen field of microbiology, but unfortunately being
- intelligent doesn't always give you street smarts.
-
- "Clinton Haines/Harry McBungus/Terminator-Z/TaLoN died from an
- overdose of heroin . . . on his twenty-first birthday."
-
- Haines' interest in controlled substances could be seen in frequent
- posts to the Usenet where the University of Queensland student waxed
- enthusiastically on topics ranging from the synthesis of LSD and
- methamphetamines to his own experiences with Prozac. In April, it
- all came off the rails, rendering him dead and an acquaintance
- comatose.
-
- For example, on the date-rape drug, rohypnol: ". . . a friend of
- mine had 10 rohypnols and a 6-pack, woke up in the lockup with 25
- stitches=20 in his head and a broken arm, and couldn't remember a
- single thing=20 from the last 12 hours . . . turns out he was
- vandalizing a train seat=20 and the security guards beat the shit
- out of him . . . then he got off=20 at the next station only to try
- skateboarding and broke his arm."
-
- On speed and LSD: ". . . I assure you people that LSD and
- amphetamines are a rather wondrous combination, the ceaseless and
- energetic progression of thought along a myriad gossamer threads of
- abstract reality . . . throw nitrous on top of that and you have God
- mode happening . . . thinking is simply a matter of choosing where
- you want to go inside your mind and insight/thought rushes abound to
- the point of not having enough time in which to follow every branch
- point . . . to the point where your individual thought threads meld
- themselves into higher denominations . . ."
-
- Haines rambled wildly on his thrill at sniffing laughing gas: ". . .
- nitrousing out in this state of mind can be <I>wicked</I> because
- you go so far out on a mental limb . . . sometimes you get to this
- point where everything becomes completely fluid, not in the physical
- sense, but one can see, perceive, visualize, etc., every
- ramification of everything that goes on in the particular mental
- environment you construct . . . including, say, the passage of a
- tennis ball under the influence of gravity, or the evolution of an
- argument and the interplay of multiple factors, even your own
- thought reasoning . . . when one nitrouses out to a point of total
- thought fusion, and the concurrent realization/visualization of an
- extended range of thought capabilities occurs, one gets the rare
- chance to 'refit' aspects of one's mind, much like getting into
- newly-washed clothes or something."
-
- And, sadly, on heroin synthesis in a post on September 20, 1996:
- "WARNING ---- MAKE SURE you cut the rock so produced down to NO MORE
- than 30% purity -- otherwise you'll end up killing a whole bunch of
- people . . street-grade heroin is usually in the range of 10-20%,
- maximum."
-
- The Australian VLAD virus-writing group promptly published a
- memorial virus to Haines, called "RIP Terminator Z," according to a
- story by technology writer Julie Robotham in a piece published in
- the April 29 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
-
- Fewster commented to Crypt Newsletter, "[Clint Haines] had a bright
- future ahead of him, and in my opinion could have done some good in
- the world if he'd just kept his head together."
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 14:31:13 -0400
- From: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>
- Subject: File 4--Last parts of <gov.*> stories and query about status
-
- DID THE CREATION OF <gov.*> VIOLATE CIVIL SERVICE RULES?
-
- by tallpaul (Paul Kneisel)
-
- Most of the newly-created 200+ news groups in the <gov.*> hierarchy are
- formally moderated. This raises several issues concerning Civil Service
- employment norms as well as broader issues of discrimination.
-
- The basic core of people behind <gov.*> was chosen outside the normal
- established Civil Service procedures. "A call for volunteers was issued on
- the email list <govnews@census.org>, which was created to hash out the
- issues involved in creating a <gov.*> hierarchy. Those who responded to
- this initial call recruited some additional members."[1]
-
- The formal notion that people "volunteered" for <gov.*> does not alter
- anything concerning Civil Service requirements. Nor might the fact that the
- "volunteers" get no special financial rewards for their work moderating or
- administering <gov.*> groups. Renumeration can occur in the area of special
- training or of improved working conditions, or both. In other words, two
- low -level clerks may normally sort mail for eight hours a day. Let one,
- however , be freed for four hours to moderate a group and that person's
- working condition can be far more pleasant than the other who is still
- limited to the boring job of sorting mail all day.
-
- A similar point holds for training. The <gov.*> "volunteer" moderator gets
- a considerable amount of extra experience, all of which can look very good
- on a job resume; the other clerk does not. In this sense, "volunteering"
- becomes a lateral job transfer, even if there are no other salary increases
- or improvements in working conditions. But normal Civil Service regulations
- also require that such lateral transfer opportunities be officially posted.
-
- I do not believe that the official rules of the U.S. Civil Service
- recognize <govnews@census.org> as an official location for job postings.
- Nor does the private word-of-mouth recruitment of people satisfy any
- government regulation of open posting of job openings.
-
- The idea of a Civil Service functioning according to declared procedures
- was a great advance for democracy. No longer did one's opportunity for job
- advancement depend on Uncle William being a Cabinet Minister or mom the
- King's mistress. Nor, non-discriminatory Civil Service rules expanded,
- could one be formally denied government employment because of
- ethnic/racial/national or gender reasons. Civil Service regulations
- equalized job hiring and promotion opportunities for all.
-
- The issue of ethnic/national/racial and gender discrimination also appears
- in the <gov.*> recruitment of volunteer moderators. The demographics of the
- existing Internet are severely twisted towards a race[2] (white) and a
- gender (male). It seems reasonable to infer that the composition of the
- list <govnews@census.org> reflects this bias. There is certainly nothing
- illegal with the demographic bias of the Internet, until that bias involves
- the promotion, training, or lateral transfer of government employees. Then
- the issue of bias is quite relevant and any actual bias exceedingly illegal.
-
- Of course anyone might have subscribed to <govnews@census.org> and many
- would have had known that government jobs were--in any fashion
- whatsoever--advertised on the list. The same point could be made for some
- hard-copy magazine like _White Guys Quarterly_. But this was not the case
- and it appears exceedingly unlikely that any reasonable man or woman would
- have turned to a Census discussion list when seeking government employment,
- transfer, or promotion.
-
- The Civil Service and discrimination problem does not disappear with some
- <govnews@census.org> subscribers "recruiting some additional members."
- Rather it replicates the classical activities of the Ol' Boys Club. At one
- point such word of mouth information was the norm in government hiring and
- promotion. You got the job because you heard about the job and the other
- man or woman did not. Perhaps you heard from your old roommate at Eton,
- Oxford, or Harvard. Or you played golf with them, attended the First
- Episcopalian Church with their father, or shared a joint membership in the
- Benjamin Davis Hunting Club. This was one of the major ways that the Ol'
- Boys Clubs around the world and throughout history maintained their power.
-
- It was something that was ultimately deemed socially destructive and
- discriminatory. It led to the development of the professional Civil Service.
-
- Hiring, promoting, or transferring via the Ol' Boys (Inter) Network is also
- something that <gov.*> should be legally powerless to reinstitute.
-
- The volunteers for the top level HCC also reflect the composition typical
- of Ol' Boys networks.
-
- All twelve are male. None have Asiatic surnames, and only one (Sacarto)
- could be arguably Hispanic. Ten of the twelve represent the U.S. or United
- Kingdom. The two "international" representatives are Ian Barndt and Paul
- Nielson, names not likely to reflect any other world culture outside
- northern Europe.
-
- Of particular interest is the total absence of women administering the 200+
- group addition to the world's Village Green. Did the twelve men make a
- conscious determination to exclude women? Or did they look around, see only
- men, and not even notice that women were lacking?
-
- One wonders which of the two is worse.
-
- FOOTNOTES
-
- [1] Richard A. Bjorklund, "Re: HCC members and moderators ," 18 Mar 1997,
- e-mail to P. Kneisel. Bjorklund is the official postmaster the National
- Science Foundation and FinanceNet. Both groups were intimately involved in
- creating <gov.*>. He is also a member of the top-level international
- Hierarchy Coordinating Committee responsible for administering <gov.*>.
-
- [2] I use the word "race" guardedly. "Race" as a scientific concept has no
- meaning; it is a mystical construct. But "racism"--a pattern of
- discrimination based on the false concept of race--certainly exists. Thus I
- use the term "race" in the above context to indicate the continuation of
- racial bias.
-
- [END INSERT: CIVIL SERVICE]
-
- [BEGIN INSERT: d00d VS. DOD]
-
- SHOULD THE PENTAGON CONTROL ANY PART OF THE INTERNET?
-
- or
-
- d00d versus DOD in Cyberspace
-
- by tallpaul (Paul Kneisel)
-
- "... the teenage hacker is just as deadly an opponent as a Force XXI
- soldier assaulting a position."
- -- Douglas D. Buchholtz[1]
- Lieutenant General
- Director for Command, Control, Communications, and Computer Systems
- Joint [DOD] Staff (J6)
-
- While the newly created <gov.*> hierarchy on UseNet created some 200+
- groups, users should not think that this is the end of the matter.
- Documents for <gov.*> now hypothesize about the creation of yet another top
- level hierarchy called <usgov.*>[2]. Don't confuse this with <gov.us.*>;
- the two are entirely different.
-
- One purpose for the suggested <usgov.*> hierarchy is to allow the
- Department of Defense (or DOD) to establish special groups on the UseNet,
- dedicated to DOD issues and with a special dissemination controlled not by
- the existing Internet Service Providers but by the DOD itself.
-
- "... the NetNews system and supporting software can provide a very
- convenient form for internal communications within a government, or
- internal communications between a closed set of agencies. The internal
- newsgroups are called 'local' newsgroups within the Usenet NetNews system.
- Each local newsgroup hierarchy must have a unique prefix. The prefix 'gov"
- is reserved for public newsgroups with wide distribution, but another
- prefix could be created by a particular government or agency. For example,
- 'usgov. dod' could be a prefix reserved by the Department of Defense within
- the U.S. government, which is reserved for internal use by the DOD. In this
- example, DOD news server sites would exchange these groups only with DOD
- and other approved sites."[2]
-
- This is rather like arguing that the public address system at the shopping
- mall can "provide a very convenient form for internal communications
- between a closed set of stores." UseNet is likely the least appropriate
- form on the Internet for the exchange of such "closed" information. The
- information broadcast over UseNet is not sent over secure point-to-point
- communications lines like the famous Hot Line between Washington and Moscow
- of the Cold War period. A far more accurate UseNet analogy would be
- distributing information by throwing xeroxed leaflets on the ground at the
- Village Green and then having tireless clerks examine each leaflet to see
- if it is addressed to you .
-
- Nor, except for the name, is there anything "local" about "local" groups. I
- sit in New York and read posts to the "local" <israel.*> group;
- hypothetically, someone in New Dehli or Dublin could as easily read posts
- to the "local" <tx.*> group with news and discussions related to Texas. At
- one time most Internet Service Providers would not carry such
- geographically distant groups. But that was in the pre-competitive bad old
- days of expensive hard disks and bandwidth. Today, almost all major ISPs
- advertise "full Internet access" and carry upwards of 20,000 different news
- groups.
-
- Nor, *at present*, is there any ability for the UseNet protocols to permit
- the DOD or any other group to limit the ability of ISPs to intercept and
- re-transmit such material to non-DOD sites.[3] Last year's battle involving
- the Church of Scientology and the net illustrated the impossibility of
- limiting the spread of information.
-
- In short, absent massive intervention into cyberspace by the U.S. federal
- government, backed by the military might of the DOD, there is no way that
- such DOD or any other material could be "reserved for internal use," as the
- <gov.*> FAQ hypothesizes.
-
- How might such an intervention develop? One way is to adopt a new federal
- law saying "don't look." In the age where official DOD policy on
- non-heterosexuals in the military is "don't ask; don't tell" the idea of
- "don't look" is not as strange as it may first appear.
-
- Nor need it be part of some future sci-fi scenario.
-
- It is already done and part of U.S. law.
-
- Cellular phones broadcast on an easily accessible part of the public
- airwaves. When they first came out, anyone with an inexpensive Radio Shack
- receiver could listen to the entire cellular band. You might think that
- this disturbed the Wall Street-types discussing mega-million deals who
- wanted a bit of security. And it did.
-
- How did the companies and government respond? If you thought that the
- companies soon added strong encryption or other forms of hardware security
- you'd be wrong. Instead, the government passed a law making it illegal to
- listen in, and required receiver manufacturers to cut the band out of the
- capability of their future products.
-
- Naturally, the hacker mags like _2600_ soon ran articles on how to modify
- the new receivers to give them back the old capability.
-
- One can easily imagine a new hacker group called "Dear Blabby" that
- intercepts all of the otherwise-confidential DOD communications and posts
- them to <alt.politics.pentagon.internal>. This provides Pentagon
- info-security with roughly the same "biggest bang for the buck" of a small
- damp firecracker in a typhoon. But these are the days after the $400 hammer
- and $500 coffeepot via the military procurement procedures. Today, after
- the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the estimated increased cost of
- boosting the U.S. info-security system is three billion over the next five
- years.[4] The cost estimate did not include the price of protecting <usgov.
-
- dod.*> from the machinations of the evil 14-year-old cyber-terrorist Baron
-
- ScullDrool working out of dad's rec room.
-
- At the risk of being unpatriotic, I say we bring back the Red Menace and
- save the money.
-
- In order to defend against aggression you first have to be aggressed upon.
- Pumping DOD material over UseNet while demanding that it not be improperly
- distributed promises to make the Pentagon the "victim" of every curious
- Internet sysop in the world. Such victimization creates an equal need to
- defend against it.
-
- In this sense, the inappropriate move by the DOD onto UseNet permits the
- organization to extend itself into every part of UseNet in order to defend
- itself against a vulnerability that should never have existed in the first
- place. If the DOD wants limited channels of info-distribution it should not
- use the net. And if it want to use the net, it should not worry about
- having its mail read by any UseNet user. But the world's citizens hardly
- have an obligation to act as unpaid security consultants for the Pentagon.
-
- The issue of civil liberties is far more important. <usgov.dod.*> creates
- another fait accompli where the U.S. government moves to control parts of
- the global Internet, backed by the full might of the same government
- against those "cyber-terrorists" who would resist. In this sense the
- Pentagon neo-Pretorians[5] reverse von Clauswitz's dictum that "war is the
- continuation of politics by other means."
-
- One way this is done is by redefining the classical dichotomies like
- internal vs. external; foreign vs. domestic; war vs. peace; violent
- resistance and civilian vs. military. It is easy to argue that the Internet
- produces a unique breakdown of these dichotomies. But then, if one so
- wishes to so describe them, so do a number of other things from moveable
- type to the telephone.
-
- The forces behind such Orwellian redefinitions are neither confined to the
- DOD not the forces instituting such concerns into law. (There is, in fact,
- a strong DOD current opposed to neo-Pretorianism today.[6]) One of the most
- ominous redefinitions concerns the very nature of state sovereignty and
- state-citizenship, again presented as the need to combat terrorism.
-
- One such effort is Presidential Decision Directive 39 of 21 June 1995.[7]
-
- The unclassified portion of PDD-39 states that "We shall vigorously apply
- extraterritorial statues to counter acts of terrorism and apprehend
- terrorists outside the U.S. When terrorists wanted for violation of U.S.
- law are at large overseas, their return for prosecution shall be a matter
- of highest priority and shall be a continuing central issue in bilateral
- relations with any state that harbors or assists them. Where we do not have
- adequate arrangements, the Department of State and Justice shall work to
- resolve the problem, where possible and appropriate, through negotiations
- and conclusion of new extradition treaties."
-
- The gang that can't declassify straight failed to delete a paragraph marked
- SECRET when it released unclassified sections of PDD 39 in response to a
- Freedom of Information Act request by the Federation of American Scientists.
-
- That paragraph states "If we do not receive adequate cooperation from a
- state that harbors a terrorist whose extradition we are seeking, we shall
- take appropriate measures to induce cooperation. Return of suspects by
- force may be effected without the cooperation of the host government ...."
-
- Could we really see elite anti-terrorist units of the U.S. government
- covertly invading the Netherlands to kidnap some junior high school d00d
- for reading DOD documents on the Internet?
-
- The idea has a farcical character.
-
- But then we remember that it is not a third-rate movie scenario by a
- second-rate screen writer. It is a scenario developed by some leading
- thinkers from the Pentagon and parts of academia whose speculations and
- advocacy are publicly available on the net. So, thanks to incompetent
- clerks, is the kidnap provision of PPD 39.
-
- Need this be the famed pot of gold at the end of the global information
- superhighway?
-
- We think not.
-
- FOOTNOTES
-
- [1] quoted by Major Jay W. Inman, I Corps G6, CAMO. 3 Feb 1997, via <http:
- //www.infowar.com>. accessed 15 Feb 1997.
-
- [2] "GOVNEWS: GOV Hierarchy Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ #28: Can gov.*
- newsgroups be used for internal, confidential, or closed distribution
- communications?" <http://www.govnews.org/govnews/info/govnews-faq.html>.
- accessed 17 Mar 1997.
-
- [3] One can use encryption for every message but this defeats the purpose
- of using UseNet instead of e-mail and secure servers. Public key encryption
- systems like PGP are designed for one-to-one communications and are
- unsuitable for widely disseminated discussions on UseNet; private key
- systems like DES are insecure when used by thousands of potential users,
- each of whom needs the "private" key to read and post messages.
-
- [4] "Report on the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare
- for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology," 25 Nov
- 1996, released 8 January 1997. <http://www.jya.com/iwd.htm>. accessed 30
- Mar 1997.
-
- [5] for "neo-Pretorianism" see Col. Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., "Melancholy
- Reunion: A Report on the Collapse of Civil-Military Relations in the United
- States," "I.N.S.S. Occasional Paper #11, Oct 1996, (United States Air Force
- National Institute for Security Studies, U.S.A.F. Academy, Colorado: 1996).
- <http://www.usafa.af.mil/inss/ocp11.htm>, accessed 22 Feb 1997.
-
- [6] See, for example, "Prisoner 2223055759" [sic: Col. Charles J. Dunlap,
- Jr .], "The Origins of the American Military Coup of 2012." _Parameters_,
- Winter 1992-93. This paper, formally a social-science fiction short story,
- was a co-winner of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1991-92
- Strategy Essay Competition. <http://carlisle-www.army.
- mil/usawc/Parameters/1992/dunlap.htm>, accessed 22 Feb 1997. While the form
- of Col. Dunlap's arguments are fictional, the story has non-fictional
- footnotes equal in length to the story itself.
-
- [7] <http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/pdd39.htm>, accessed 8 Mar 1997.
-
- [END INSERT: d00d VS. DOD]
-
-
- -- tallpaul@nyct.net (Paul "tallpaul" Kneisel)
-
- NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS:
-
- Please note that my e-mail address is back to "tallpaul@nyct.net" and is no
- longer "paulk@nyct.net"
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 12:42:13 -0600
- From: Joey Manley <joey@freespeech.org>
- Subject: File 5--Interactive ACT-UP Civil Disobedience Training Online
-
- Free Speech TV has created an online RealVideo application based
- on ACT-UP's civil disobedience training materials and AIDS
- Community TV's video documentation of an ACT-UP training session.
- This is the first _interactive_ video FStv has posted, and one of
- the first politically useful video applications anywhere on the
- web.
-
- The training "modules" (twelve in all) will be presented every
- Thursday beginning today, May 22, for three months. All modules
- will be archived indefinitely.
-
- Visitors to the site will need the RealVideo player to watch the
- video. A Javascript-enabled copy of Netscape Navigator or
- Microsoft Internet Explorer is necessary to experience the
- interactive features.
-
- Free Speech TV is a programming service dedicated to providing
- cable and internet broadcasts of progressive, community-based,
- activist video covering issues routinely ignored or distorted by
- the mainstream media.
-
- Joey Manley
- Web Editor, Free Speech TV
- http://www.freespeech.org/
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 21:57:12 EDT
- From: Judith Preissle <JUDE@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
- Subject: File 6--Cyberculture Studies (fwd)
-
- I am forwarding this message on request of the sender. jude
-
- *************************************************************
- * Judith Preissle *
- *************************************************************
- -------------------Original message----------------------------
- Judith Preissle,
-
- Hello, my name is David Silver. I am the founder of the
- Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies, a non-profit
- organization devoted to the study and development of
- cyberculture. I was wondering if you would be interested
- in posting the following message to QUALRS-L? I believe
- it may be of interest to many members of the list.
-
- If you have any comments and/or questions, do not hesitate
- to email me.
-
- Thanks,
-
- David Silver
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
-
- A fully operational version of the Resource Center for
- Cyberculture Studies is now up and running:
- <http://otal.umd.edu/~rccs>
-
- WHAT IS RCCS?
-
- The Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies is an online,
- not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to research, study,
- teach, support, and create diverse and dynamic elements of
- cyberculture. Collaborative in nature, RCCS seeks to establish and
- support ongoing conversations about the emerging field, to foster a
- community of students, scholars, teachers, explorers, and builders of
- cyberculture, and to showcase various models, works-in-progress, and
- on-line projects.
-
- In the future, the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies hopes to
- sponsor a number of collaborative projects, colloquia, symposia, and
- workshops. Presently, the site contains a collection of scholarly
- resources, including university-level courses in cyberculture, events
- and conferences, and related links. Further, the site features an
- extensive annotated bibliography devoted to the topic of cyberculture.
- Finally, the site includes "conversations/collaborations," an online
- listing of scholars researching various elements of cyberculture.
-
- WHAT'S NEW?
-
- Since its initial launch in January 1997, RCCS has developed two
- new major features. The first is "Conversations/Collaborations."
- Here, visitors are invited to browse through the research interests
- and undergoing projects of a number of scholars, researchers, and
- instructors affiliated directly and indirectly with the field of
- cyberculture. Moreover, visitors are encouraged to contribute
- their own entries, listing their interests and contact information.
-
- The second new feature is called "Internet Interviews." This
- section includes a list of links to online interviews with a
- number of digerati. The list includes Nicholas Negroponte,
- Allucquere Rosanne (aka Sandy) Stone, Sherry Turkle, and Gregory
- Ulmer.
-
- Feel free to circulate this announcement
- as far and wide as you wish.
-
- Questions? Comments? Contact:
-
- David Silver
- Founder, Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies
- Graduate Student, Department of American Studies
- University of Maryland, College Park
- <rccs@otal.umd.edu>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
- From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
-
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- ------------------------------
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- End of Computer Underground Digest #9.39
- ************************************
-
-
-