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823 lines
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Computer underground Digest Sun May 26, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 39
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ISSN 1004-042X
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Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
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Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
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Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
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Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
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Ian Dickinson
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Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
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Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
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CONTENTS, #9.39 (Sun, May 26, 1997)
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File 1--HACK - Texas Driver's License database on the web
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File 2--PI/GILC UK Crypto Conference Cybercast
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File 3--EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
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File 4--Last parts of <gov.*> stories and query about status
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File 5--Interactive ACT-UP Civil Disobedience Training Online
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File 6--Cyberculture Studies (fwd)
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File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
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CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
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THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 17:23:12 EDT
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From: Martin Kaminer <iguana@MIT.EDU>
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Subject: File 1--HACK - Texas Driver's License database on the web
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------- Forwarded Message
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Date--Sun, 25 May 1997 11:15:33
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From--FringeWare News Network <email@Fringeware.COM>
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Sent from: Paco Xander Nathan <pacoid@fringeware.com>
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URGENT NEWS RELEASE -
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Regarding the release and use of personal information from Texas motor
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vehicle records, i.e. our recent news about the "www.publiclink.com"
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web site, the Texas legislature will vote on the floor TOMORROW over
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SB1069, which would attach a criminal penalty to such information use,
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except for "permitted disclosures".
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Note that these criminal penalities and their exceptions have been
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substituted onto a proposed bill which was already in play (SB1069)
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in the Texas Senate, one which had already been passed in the Texas
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House. The bill and its history are available online at:
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http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/
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Search for "SB1069" under the bill search link. The Texas legislature
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is currently in session, which only happens once every two years, and
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only a matter of days remain in the current session for introducing
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any legislation.
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After "www.publiclink.com" went online, a lawsuit was filed against
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the site's publisher, the site was taken down, and the story earned
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widespread headlines.
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Governor George Bush Jr., et al., expressed concerns over protecting
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the privacy of Texas citizens vis-a-vis Internet services such as
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Public Link, while failing to mention that Texas State offices have and
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will continue to receive revenue from the bulk sales of this same data.
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For example, if another driver cuts you off in traffic, you take down
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their license plate number, then go home, check the Public Link web site
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to find out: the name of the car's owner, where that person lives, with
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whom that person lives, their race/height/weight/birthdate, a list of
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their neighbors, how they have voted in recent elections, what criminal
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convictions they have, etc.
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My own comments on KVUE-24 news and the CNN Headline News trailer, along
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with similar comments online by Mike Godwin, et al., of EFF, have shown
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the "double-edged sword" effect of regulating such information.
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Certainly the issue of protecting privacy vs. freedom of information
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(since this information is and will remain public record in Texas) comes
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to mind, as has the most prevalent argument coming from women's groups
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in Texas, that such information, even though it has been available for
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years, now placed on the Internet can pose a public threat in terms of
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assisting stalkers.
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But the real issues run much deeper. On one hand, the information is
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available (and has been for years) to anybody with enough means to
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hire an attorney or investigator: "Please give me a list of all the
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women over age 65, widowed, living alone in a particularly wealthy block
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of Dallas". That one *might* cost you $75, but think of the potential
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return-on-investment for b&e specialists, televangelists, and other
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social vultures.
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Public Link has merely made this same data, derived from public record,
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available to all who have Internet access. Restrictions from the Texas
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legislation on who/what can be listed on the Internet would be pointless
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because servers could easily move to Louisiana, Mexico, or even somewhere
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out in the Indian Ocean....
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One the other hand, look at the trade-off of who's agenda will be served
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by making this data only available to those parties authorized for the
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"permitted disclosures". Consider that investigative journalists have
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used this kind of data to breach stories in the public interest which
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the wealthy and powerful might otherwise attempt to keep quiet. Consider
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on the flip side that this kind of information is regularly used by the
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personnel staff at large corporations, who need to make decisions on
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hiring new employees and therefore buy computer-based records about
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private individuals: voting records, criminal records, worker's comp,
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any available medical data, etc.
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Here's the scenario: a personnel director needs to choose between two
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applicants for a position, let's say one is a woman from a racial minority
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who has had a previous C-section birth and voted Democrat in the past four
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elections; then the other applicant is a white male who voted Republican
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in the past elections on record. Now really, given the cost of medical
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insurance and employee relations these days, whom are they going to pick
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for the job?
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This exact data is at question. It is commericially available and in
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widespread use throughout "human resource departments" and "security"
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firms. Moreover, an older issue of workplace drug testing brings in
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related concerns. Random drug testing used in corporate America is at
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best 60% accurate, i.e. practically meaningless, BUT those tests provide
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employers and government agencies with a legal "foot-in-the-door" for
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correlating all of the personal information listed above along with the
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individual's medical records and SSN. Think about it. Think really hard
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about the implications, for a long time, and then ask yourself if drug
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testing really concerns "family values", not to mention the other privacy
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abuse practices in question.
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To the point of Texas Senate Bill 1069, an unofficial comment from one
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Texas capitol legislative analyst responsible for independent research of
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this issue was that "journalists are going to hate this bill."
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If you read the text of SB1069, it becomes hauntingly clear that government
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agencies, employers, insurance companies, private investigators, and even
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firms which conduct "surveys, marketing, or solicitations", will all keep
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their bulk access to Texas citizens personal data, BUT that any other use
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would become a criminal offense. Furthermore, this portion of the bill is
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what has been added at the last minute, i.e. subsequent to the news reports
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about Public Link.
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To wit, it will be fine for a spammer to buy and use the data to tailor
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"bulk distribution" mailings, but it will become a criminal offense for
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anybody to place the same exact data up for public use on a web site.
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Also, it will be fine for personnel managers and insurance agents to use
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this data in private while deciding about an individual's hiring potential
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or quoted insurance rates, but it would become a criminal offense for a
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newspaper journalist (or Internet email list participant) to access the
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same exact data in public record for the purposes of, say, exposing illegal
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hiring practices.
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Note that this bill has been slid through the voting process quietly, as a
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deliberate act by the legislators. It was substituted onto a bill already
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passed by the House, and then "recommended for local & uncontested calendar"
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by the Senate, i.e. so as not to draw public attention.
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If you live in Texas, we urge you to take action. Flood the legislature.
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If you are an attorney or expert familiar with Texas State privacy laws,
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please render a written opinion faxed to your representative. Current
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estimates project that the SB1069 will pass the Texas Senate tomorrow (i.e.
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quietly while most of the state is off on holiday).
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1984 is only 13 years away...
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Paco Xander Nathan
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FringeWare Inc.
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25 May 1996
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Austin, TX, Earth
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------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 00:29:18 +0100
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From: Dave Banisar <banisar@EPIC.ORG>
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Subject: File 2--PI/GILC UK Crypto Conference Cybercast
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For those of you interested in hearing a live cybercast of the Privacy
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International/GILC conference on UK cryptography policy, theURL is:
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http://www.encryption.co.uk
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Speakers will include Phil Zimmermann, Whit Diffie, Ross Anderson, and Carl
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Ellison.
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The Department of Trade and Industry and the National Criminal Intelligence
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Service will also present. The event is being hosted by the London School
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of Economics.
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A copy of the agenda is available at:
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http://www.privacy.org/pi/conference/dti/
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------------------------------
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Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:08:43 -0500 (CDT)
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From: Crypt Newsletter <crypt@sun.soci.niu.edu>
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Subject: File 3--EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
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CRYPT NEWSLETTER 42
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April -- May 1997
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EX-VIRUS WRITER CLINT HAINES DIES OF OVERDOSE AT 21
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Long-time readers of Crypt Newsletter will be astonished to hear
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death -- due to heroin overdose -- came to the famous Australian
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virus-writer Clint Haines on his twenty-first birthday, April 10.
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He was from Brisbane.
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Writing in the Usenet comp.virus newsgroup On April 19, Rod Fewster,
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a moderator of one of the Fidonet's virus information newsfeeds and
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one who knew Haines, said:
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"Clinton Haines, who earned his place in virus-writing history at=20
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the age of fifteen as Harry McBungus, became a household name in
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the=20 virus world by the time he was eighteen as Terminator-Z
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and=20 TaLoN . . . [Haines] gained widespread fame a couple of years
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ago=20 with front-page newspaper headlines yelling about how his No
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Frills=20 virus had stopped the Australian Taxation Office dead in
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its tracks=20 for two days, and was regarded by his peers as one of
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the best virus=20 writers of all time . . . [He] will be cremated
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tomorrow morning.
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"Clint quit virus writing two years ago to concentrate on his
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university studies and he had the intelligence to go a long way in
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his chosen field of microbiology, but unfortunately being
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intelligent doesn't always give you street smarts.
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"Clinton Haines/Harry McBungus/Terminator-Z/TaLoN died from an
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overdose of heroin . . . on his twenty-first birthday."
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Haines' interest in controlled substances could be seen in frequent
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posts to the Usenet where the University of Queensland student waxed
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enthusiastically on topics ranging from the synthesis of LSD and
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methamphetamines to his own experiences with Prozac. In April, it
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all came off the rails, rendering him dead and an acquaintance
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comatose.
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For example, on the date-rape drug, rohypnol: ". . . a friend of
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mine had 10 rohypnols and a 6-pack, woke up in the lockup with 25
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stitches=20 in his head and a broken arm, and couldn't remember a
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single thing=20 from the last 12 hours . . . turns out he was
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vandalizing a train seat=20 and the security guards beat the shit
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out of him . . . then he got off=20 at the next station only to try
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skateboarding and broke his arm."
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On speed and LSD: ". . . I assure you people that LSD and
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amphetamines are a rather wondrous combination, the ceaseless and
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energetic progression of thought along a myriad gossamer threads of
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abstract reality . . . throw nitrous on top of that and you have God
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mode happening . . . thinking is simply a matter of choosing where
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you want to go inside your mind and insight/thought rushes abound to
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the point of not having enough time in which to follow every branch
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point . . . to the point where your individual thought threads meld
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themselves into higher denominations . . ."
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Haines rambled wildly on his thrill at sniffing laughing gas: ". . .
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nitrousing out in this state of mind can be <I>wicked</I> because
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you go so far out on a mental limb . . . sometimes you get to this
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point where everything becomes completely fluid, not in the physical
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sense, but one can see, perceive, visualize, etc., every
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ramification of everything that goes on in the particular mental
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environment you construct . . . including, say, the passage of a
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tennis ball under the influence of gravity, or the evolution of an
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argument and the interplay of multiple factors, even your own
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thought reasoning . . . when one nitrouses out to a point of total
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thought fusion, and the concurrent realization/visualization of an
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extended range of thought capabilities occurs, one gets the rare
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chance to 'refit' aspects of one's mind, much like getting into
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newly-washed clothes or something."
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And, sadly, on heroin synthesis in a post on September 20, 1996:
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"WARNING ---- MAKE SURE you cut the rock so produced down to NO MORE
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than 30% purity -- otherwise you'll end up killing a whole bunch of
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people . . street-grade heroin is usually in the range of 10-20%,
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maximum."
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The Australian VLAD virus-writing group promptly published a
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memorial virus to Haines, called "RIP Terminator Z," according to a
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story by technology writer Julie Robotham in a piece published in
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the April 29 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
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Fewster commented to Crypt Newsletter, "[Clint Haines] had a bright
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future ahead of him, and in my opinion could have done some good in
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the world if he'd just kept his head together."
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------------------------------
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Date: Mon, 14 Apr 1997 14:31:13 -0400
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From: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>
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Subject: File 4--Last parts of <gov.*> stories and query about status
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DID THE CREATION OF <gov.*> VIOLATE CIVIL SERVICE RULES?
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by tallpaul (Paul Kneisel)
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Most of the newly-created 200+ news groups in the <gov.*> hierarchy are
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formally moderated. This raises several issues concerning Civil Service
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employment norms as well as broader issues of discrimination.
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The basic core of people behind <gov.*> was chosen outside the normal
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established Civil Service procedures. "A call for volunteers was issued on
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the email list <govnews@census.org>, which was created to hash out the
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issues involved in creating a <gov.*> hierarchy. Those who responded to
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this initial call recruited some additional members."[1]
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The formal notion that people "volunteered" for <gov.*> does not alter
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anything concerning Civil Service requirements. Nor might the fact that the
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"volunteers" get no special financial rewards for their work moderating or
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administering <gov.*> groups. Renumeration can occur in the area of special
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training or of improved working conditions, or both. In other words, two
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low -level clerks may normally sort mail for eight hours a day. Let one,
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however , be freed for four hours to moderate a group and that person's
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working condition can be far more pleasant than the other who is still
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limited to the boring job of sorting mail all day.
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A similar point holds for training. The <gov.*> "volunteer" moderator gets
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a considerable amount of extra experience, all of which can look very good
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on a job resume; the other clerk does not. In this sense, "volunteering"
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becomes a lateral job transfer, even if there are no other salary increases
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or improvements in working conditions. But normal Civil Service regulations
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also require that such lateral transfer opportunities be officially posted.
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I do not believe that the official rules of the U.S. Civil Service
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recognize <govnews@census.org> as an official location for job postings.
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Nor does the private word-of-mouth recruitment of people satisfy any
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government regulation of open posting of job openings.
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The idea of a Civil Service functioning according to declared procedures
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was a great advance for democracy. No longer did one's opportunity for job
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advancement depend on Uncle William being a Cabinet Minister or mom the
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King's mistress. Nor, non-discriminatory Civil Service rules expanded,
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could one be formally denied government employment because of
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ethnic/racial/national or gender reasons. Civil Service regulations
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equalized job hiring and promotion opportunities for all.
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The issue of ethnic/national/racial and gender discrimination also appears
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in the <gov.*> recruitment of volunteer moderators. The demographics of the
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existing Internet are severely twisted towards a race[2] (white) and a
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gender (male). It seems reasonable to infer that the composition of the
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list <govnews@census.org> reflects this bias. There is certainly nothing
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illegal with the demographic bias of the Internet, until that bias involves
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the promotion, training, or lateral transfer of government employees. Then
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the issue of bias is quite relevant and any actual bias exceedingly illegal.
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Of course anyone might have subscribed to <govnews@census.org> and many
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would have had known that government jobs were--in any fashion
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whatsoever--advertised on the list. The same point could be made for some
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hard-copy magazine like _White Guys Quarterly_. But this was not the case
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and it appears exceedingly unlikely that any reasonable man or woman would
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have turned to a Census discussion list when seeking government employment,
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transfer, or promotion.
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The Civil Service and discrimination problem does not disappear with some
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<govnews@census.org> subscribers "recruiting some additional members."
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Rather it replicates the classical activities of the Ol' Boys Club. At one
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|
point such word of mouth information was the norm in government hiring and
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|
promotion. You got the job because you heard about the job and the other
|
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|
man or woman did not. Perhaps you heard from your old roommate at Eton,
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|
Oxford, or Harvard. Or you played golf with them, attended the First
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|
Episcopalian Church with their father, or shared a joint membership in the
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|
Benjamin Davis Hunting Club. This was one of the major ways that the Ol'
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Boys Clubs around the world and throughout history maintained their power.
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It was something that was ultimately deemed socially destructive and
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discriminatory. It led to the development of the professional Civil Service.
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Hiring, promoting, or transferring via the Ol' Boys (Inter) Network is also
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|
something that <gov.*> should be legally powerless to reinstitute.
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The volunteers for the top level HCC also reflect the composition typical
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|
of Ol' Boys networks.
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All twelve are male. None have Asiatic surnames, and only one (Sacarto)
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could be arguably Hispanic. Ten of the twelve represent the U.S. or United
|
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|
Kingdom. The two "international" representatives are Ian Barndt and Paul
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||
|
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)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
|
||
|
available at no cost electronically.
|
||
|
|
||
|
CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
|
|
||
|
Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
|
||
|
|
||
|
SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST
|
||
|
Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu
|
||
|
|
||
|
DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6436), fax (815-753-6302)
|
||
|
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
|
||
|
60115, USA.
|
||
|
|
||
|
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Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
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libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
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the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
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On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
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on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
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CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
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In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
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Web-accessible from: http://www.etext.org/CuD/CuD/
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ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
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aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
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world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
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wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
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EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/CuD/CuD/ (Finland)
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ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
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The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
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URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
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COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
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------------------------------
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End of Computer Underground Digest #9.39
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************************************
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