869 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
869 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
Computer underground Digest Sun Jan 5, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 02
|
|
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
|
|
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
|
|
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
|
|
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
|
|
Ian Dickinson
|
|
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
|
|
|
|
CONTENTS, #9.02 (Sun, Jan 5, 1997)
|
|
File 1--Re: FBI Law & Enforcement Bulletin gulled by 'Net joke (fwd)
|
|
File 2--The First 10 Seconds After The Big Bang
|
|
File 3--Re: File 3--EDITORIAL: Troubles On The Net...
|
|
File 4--Re: "News.groups reform"
|
|
File 5--Teen Takes on CYBERsitter (From NetAction Notes #10)
|
|
File 6--CWD--Howling at the Moon
|
|
File 7--The CyberSitter Diaper Change, from The Netly News
|
|
File 8--[krb5] krb5 v1.0 is released (fwd)
|
|
File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Dec, 1996)
|
|
|
|
|
|
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
|
|
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 12:18:48 -0600
|
|
From: jthomas2@SUN.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas)
|
|
Subject: File 1--Re: FBI Law & Enforcement Bulletin gulled by 'Net joke (fwd)
|
|
|
|
Original source comp.virus newsgroup:
|
|
From George Smith (crypt@sun.soci.niu.edu)
|
|
|
|
----------------
|
|
|
|
In article <0001.01IDI7A9OVTK72PNOH@csc.canterbury.ac.nz you write:
|
|
From the pages of Crypt Newsletter 40:
|
|
|
|
Most wanderers of the Internet are familiar with the running
|
|
joke concerning computer viruses with names of celebrities, politicians
|
|
or institutions.
|
|
|
|
The names and satirical content evoke a momentary smile or groan.
|
|
|
|
For example:
|
|
|
|
"Gingrich" randomly converts word processing files into
|
|
legalese often found in contracts. Victims can combat this virus
|
|
by typing their names at the bottom of infected files, thereby
|
|
signing them, as if signing a contract.
|
|
|
|
"Lecture" deliberately formats the hard drive, destroying all
|
|
data, then scolds the user for not catching it.
|
|
|
|
"Clinton" is designed to infect programs, but it eradicates
|
|
itself when it cannot decide which program to infect.
|
|
|
|
"SPA" examines programs on the hard disk to determine whether
|
|
they are properly licensed. If the virus detects illegally copied
|
|
software, it seizes the computer's modem, automatically dials
|
|
911, and asks for help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
However, editors and writers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's
|
|
Law and Enforcement Bulletin, published monthly out of the organization's
|
|
training academy in Quantico, Virginia, apparently think they are real.
|
|
|
|
Writing in the December issue of the magazine, David L. Carter, Ph.D.,
|
|
and Andra J. Katz, Ph.D., respectively professors at Michigan State and
|
|
Wichita State, cite them as real examples of "insidious" new computer
|
|
viruses in the magazine's feature article entitled "Computer Crime: An
|
|
Emerging Challenge for Law Enforcement."
|
|
|
|
The authors seem to genuinely believe these computer viruses are in
|
|
circulation, even to the point of citing the "Clinton" joke
|
|
again in an paragraph attempting to explain the motivations of
|
|
virus-writing, would-be system saboteurs.
|
|
|
|
"Some employees could be motivated to infect a computer with a
|
|
virus simply for purposes of gamesmanship. In these cases, the
|
|
employees typically introduce a virus to play with the system
|
|
without intending to cause permanent damage, as in the case of
|
|
the 'Clinton' virus."
|
|
|
|
Put in perspective, this is similar to reading a scientific
|
|
paper on the behavior of elephants and suddenly running across a
|
|
section that straightforwardly quotes from some elephant jokes as
|
|
proof of what pachyderms really do when wandering the African veldt.
|
|
|
|
Alert reader Joel McNamara hipped Crypt News to this Law & Enforcement
|
|
Bulletin gem and wrote:
|
|
|
|
"The two researchers with the Dr. in front of their names seem to be
|
|
totally clueless that this was a tongue-and-cheek joke that is still
|
|
floating around the 'Net. If they did know it was humor, they made no
|
|
effort to inform readers - [readers] I highly doubt are technically
|
|
adept enough to recognize it.
|
|
|
|
"It's really telling that the world's lead law enforcement agency
|
|
allows these types of inaccuracies to be widely distributed to police
|
|
departments and agencies.
|
|
|
|
"Unfortunately, to me this is another example of the credibility
|
|
problem the FBI has when it comes to dealing with computer related
|
|
issues."
|
|
|
|
Neither authors nor editors of the Law and Enforcement Bulletin could
|
|
be immediately reached for comment.
|
|
|
|
The FBI's curious article can be found off the FBI home page on
|
|
the Web:
|
|
|
|
http://www.fbi.gov/leb/dec961.txt .
|
|
|
|
This and the usual tales of computer-mediated intrigue, crime, shame and
|
|
corporate assholio will be up for grabs in Crypt News 40, posted on my
|
|
page sometime between Christmas and the coming of the new year.
|
|
|
|
George Smith
|
|
http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Thu, 26 Dec 1996 19:20:12 -0500
|
|
From: PJNeal4176@AOL.COM
|
|
Subject: File 2--The First 10 Seconds After The Big Bang
|
|
|
|
The first 10 seconds after the big bang.
|
|
|
|
A recient piece on The News Hour With Jim Lehrer (December 25,
|
|
1996) discussed the Internet, the past year and how it was
|
|
affected by the Internet, and the growth of the Internet. The
|
|
moderator was joined by Cliff Stoll, writer, astornomoer; A
|
|
representative of Amazon.Com, a Mr. Beesos; Steven Levy, writer;
|
|
and another women, who I, with much embarrassment, can not
|
|
remember the name of and she was possibly the most intelligent
|
|
and level minded person in the group.
|
|
|
|
The host started out talking about pornography and the
|
|
Internet, and the woman conveyed the fact that porn was also in
|
|
the bookstores and on street coroners, and people could get it
|
|
there. The host, in agreement, stated that it was on the
|
|
Internet, but not thrust over the modem and onto peoples laps.
|
|
She agreed.
|
|
|
|
Next, the host started talking to Mr. Levy, and when he was
|
|
about 10 seconds into his response, interrupted him to ask what
|
|
E-Mail was (for those people who were unfamilure of the term...)
|
|
I would say that was more for people who have been living under a
|
|
rock for the last year plus.
|
|
|
|
Mr. Stoll, a man who's work has taken him from the leading edge
|
|
of technology, to the point where he is now: Left out to
|
|
technologically die. He is now criticizing the Internet, what
|
|
can be found on it, and what it is used for. (Because I can't
|
|
fully portray Stolls views, I would suggest you read his book,
|
|
Silicon Snake Oil, ISBN 0-385-4193-7)
|
|
|
|
Mr. Beesos, the rep from Amazon.Com (www.amazon.com) was, in my
|
|
view, not really needed. He seemed to distract from the main
|
|
idea, and only offered a view into the business side of the
|
|
Internet.
|
|
|
|
One good conversation was started on the CDA, and the
|
|
governments attempts to control free speach and the Internet. I
|
|
feel that if the government is going to play with fire, they had
|
|
better be prepared to be burnt.
|
|
|
|
All in all, I feel that the News Hour embarrassed themselves
|
|
and tarnished their reputations with this story, and needs to try
|
|
harder. I will be entering the work force in a few years, and I
|
|
hope to work in a technology-based company. If the masses fear
|
|
this technology, which will come about from shotty reporting, I
|
|
fear that I will not have any technology left to work with.
|
|
|
|
I welcome any comments to my E-Mail address, and I will respond
|
|
to them in full. pjneal4176@aol.com
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 00:26:23 +0000
|
|
From: Joe Clark <jclark@supernet.net>
|
|
Subject: File 3--Re: File 3--EDITORIAL: Troubles On The Net...
|
|
|
|
> For instance, the Philadelphia Inquirer's article goes on to say
|
|
> "In an ongoing investigation that has produced 80 arrests and 66
|
|
> convictions over the last three years, the FBI last week raided the
|
|
> homes of Internet users suspected of downloading child pornography
|
|
> in 20 cities in its crackdown on kiddie porn that is being
|
|
> transmitted via online services and the Internet." And for that
|
|
> effort, I must say that this is one good thing that the government
|
|
> is doing in respect to the Internet.
|
|
|
|
I'm not sure how much of a benefit these public servants have
|
|
provided us. I think that same "Inkwire" article compared the 'net
|
|
community to a small country (40-50 million, I think?). One has to
|
|
wonder how the arrest rate for this horrific crime spree -- what's
|
|
that, 0.0002%? -- compares with that of the offline population. As
|
|
is often the case, law enforcement goes after the high-visibility
|
|
stuff because that keeps the public off their backs and makes great
|
|
fodder for budget requests.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
From: Rich Graves <rcgraves@IX.NETCOM.COM>
|
|
Subject: File 4--Re: "News.groups reform"
|
|
Date: Thu, 05 Dec 1996 23:39:48 -0800
|
|
|
|
CU Digest #8.84 carried an article by Stanton McCandlish to which my
|
|
response can be summarized as:
|
|
|
|
YHBT.
|
|
|
|
HAND.
|
|
|
|
Stanton completely misunderstands Chris Stone's proposal for news.groups
|
|
reform, its context, its prospects, and the reasons Paul Kneisel posted
|
|
it to Cu Digest.
|
|
|
|
It is always sad when a respected net.personality betrays his wilful
|
|
ignorance. Had Stanton visited news.groups, he would have known that
|
|
Chris Stone's proposal had been retracted weeks before Paul posted it to
|
|
Cu Digest; that Russ's alternative proposals are the subject of healthy
|
|
discussion; that Paul's posting of Chris's proposal is best viewed in
|
|
the context of unreasonable personal attacks on Chris Stone; and that
|
|
Paul Kniesel doesn't exactly share Stanton's views on the
|
|
rec.music.white-power troll.
|
|
|
|
Had Stanton had an advanced level of familiarity with Chris Stone, he
|
|
would have recognized his self-deprecatory sarcasm, where appropriate.
|
|
|
|
This thread is an excellent demonstration of the folly and danger of
|
|
blind-forwarding articles where they are likely to be taken totally out
|
|
of context, and where the author is unlikely to respond.
|
|
|
|
As a further demonstration, I'll post Stanton's article to news.groups,
|
|
where I expect it to be ridiculed quite severely. I am also Cc'ing this
|
|
post to Stanton prior to publication in Cu Digest, a courtesy he
|
|
apparently did not extend to Chris Stone.
|
|
|
|
If you want to discuss news.groups, I would suggest, well, news.groups.
|
|
|
|
>It would have been easy for me to just ignore this whole proposition,
|
|
>since it will never fly and I have better things to do.
|
|
|
|
With this sentence I agree. You have a lot of things to do; please don't
|
|
make a fool of yourself, because I know you're not.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 00:24:47 -0800 (PST)
|
|
From: Audrie Krause <akrause@igc.apc.org>
|
|
Subject: File 5--Teen Takes on CYBERsitter (From NetAction Notes #10)
|
|
|
|
Source - NetAction Notes No. 10
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
Published by NetAction Issue No. 10 December 21, 1996
|
|
Repost where appropriate. Copyright and subscription info at end of message.
|
|
|
|
~~~ Teen Takes On CYBERsitter
|
|
|
|
For the past couple of months, I have been corresponding with Bennett
|
|
Haselton, the 18-year-old founder of Peacefire.org, which is a teen
|
|
cyber-rights organizing project on the Web <http://www.peacefire.org>. The
|
|
average age of Peacefire's membership is 15. Bennett is a junior at
|
|
Vanderbilt University, where he is majoring in computer science and math.
|
|
|
|
I met Bennett in cyberspace when he contacted me to ask what I thought about
|
|
the IGC and NOW Web sites <http://www.igc.org> and <http://www.now.org>
|
|
being blocked by CYBERsitter, a software program marketed by Solid Oak
|
|
Software as a way to "protect" children from pornography on the Internet.
|
|
Along with several other activists, I offered advice and encouragement to
|
|
Bennett in drafting a letter of protest from representatives of the
|
|
political and advocacy organizations whose Web sites were being blocked.
|
|
|
|
When company officials learned that Bennett had posted information critical
|
|
of CYBERsitter on the Peacefire Web site, they responded to his
|
|
communication by suggesting he "Get a Life" and "hang out at the mall with
|
|
the other kids." When that didn't discourage him, Solid Oak Software
|
|
blocked Peacefire's domain and threatened to sue him.
|
|
|
|
Bennett's experience is a good example of how activists can use the Internet
|
|
for rapid mobilization around an issue.
|
|
|
|
After Bennett notified me that a story about his dilemma was published by
|
|
HotWired, <http://www.wired.com/news/story/901.html> I posted an alert about
|
|
his predicament to several discussion lists that focused on cyberspace
|
|
censorship and cyber-rights issues. Not long after the alert went out,
|
|
activists from all over the United States began sending E-mail letters of
|
|
protest to Solid Oak Software CEO Brian Milburn <bmilburn@solidoak.com>.
|
|
The letters ran the gamut from politely-worded criticism to flames.
|
|
|
|
Meanwhile, Bennett contacted attorneys at the ACLU, <http://www.aclu.org>
|
|
the Electronic Privacy Information Center, <http://www.epic.org> and the
|
|
Electronic Frontier Foundation <http://www.eff.org>. Mike Godwin of EFF
|
|
quickly assured Bennett that he would represent him in the event Solid Oak
|
|
followed through with the threatened lawsuit. And Ann Beeson invited
|
|
Peacefire to participate as a plaintiff in the ACLU's challenge to New York
|
|
state's version of the Communications Decency Act.
|
|
|
|
Could this level of support have been mobilized as quickly without the
|
|
Internet? Perhaps -- but it isn't likely. Free speech advocates rallied to
|
|
the cause quickly because a community of people with an interest in the
|
|
issue were already connected online through E-mail discussion and alert lists.
|
|
|
|
Free speech advocates are ahead of the curve on using the Internet for
|
|
activism because they organized around the unsuccessful effort to defeat
|
|
enactment of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) provision of the
|
|
Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996. But activists working on other issues
|
|
are quickly catching up. E-mail discussion and alert lists are one of the
|
|
most powerful tools available for mobilizing support. And as more people go
|
|
online, it will become an even more important tool for organizing and outreach.
|
|
|
|
As for Bennett, who had just turned 18 when Solid Oak threatened to sue him,
|
|
speaking out about CYBERsitter has been a lesson in real-world politics.
|
|
|
|
Bennett credits online news reports by Brock Meeks and Declan McCullough,
|
|
and Jon Katz's article in Wired magazine on the rights of children in
|
|
cyberspace, for sparking his interest in CYBERsitter and other blocking
|
|
software programs.
|
|
|
|
"Our organization was not founded on the principle of attacking blocking
|
|
software," he told me when I asked what he had learned from the experience.
|
|
"We started out as some lame 'young people for freedom of speech on the
|
|
Internet' type of thing, and even someone on fight-censorship (an online
|
|
discussion list) referred to us as a 'junior EFF' once -- I think meaning it
|
|
as a compliment."
|
|
|
|
When the CYBERsitter issue came up, Peacefire's members were asked to speak
|
|
up if they didn't want to see the organization move in that direction.
|
|
|
|
"In the end," Bennett said, "when we discovered the *kind of sites* that
|
|
were blocked by Cyber Patrol and CYBERsitter, most members were convinced
|
|
that more should be said publicly against this type of software."
|
|
|
|
Thanks in large measure to Solid Oak's astonishingly belligerent response to
|
|
this teen cyberspace activist, much more *has* been said.
|
|
|
|
================
|
|
|
|
For more information about NetAction, contact Audrie Krause:
|
|
E-mail: akrause@igc.org * Phone: (415) 775-8674 * Web: http://www.netaction.org
|
|
Or write to: NetAction 601 Van Ness Ave., No. 631 San Francisco, CA 94102
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 11:49:41 -0800 (PST)
|
|
From: "Brock N. Meeks" <brock@well.com>
|
|
To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
|
|
Subject: File 6--CWD--Howling at the Moon
|
|
|
|
|
|
CyberWire Dispatch // Copyright (c) 1996 // December 20
|
|
|
|
Jacking in from the "Your Agenda is Showing" Port:
|
|
|
|
Washington -- It's a long held maxim that technology is "agenda
|
|
neutral." Until now.
|
|
|
|
As an earlier Dispatch investigation proved, the so-called "blocking
|
|
software" industry, praised for enabling parents, teachers and
|
|
corporations to block porn from being sucked into the computers of those
|
|
trolling the Web, often comes with a shrink-wrapped, encrypted agenda in
|
|
the form of the database of web sites and newsgroups these programs
|
|
actually block.
|
|
|
|
Porn sites aren't the only ones blocked. Sites with decided political
|
|
or activist agendas, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW)
|
|
or animal rights groups, also are blocked. Trouble is, these blocking
|
|
software programs don't make this known to the user. For some
|
|
companies, shedding a spotlight on their underlying agenda, makes them
|
|
sweat bullets or foam at the ascii mouth. Such is the case with Brian
|
|
Milburn, president of Solid Oak Software, developer of an insipidly
|
|
named blocking program called "Cybersitter."
|
|
|
|
When confronted with his agenda ridden software, Milburn isn't shy about
|
|
it, indeed, he was outright indignant when he originally told Dispatch:
|
|
"If NOW doesn't like it, tough... We have not and will not bow to any
|
|
pressure from any organization that disagrees with or philosophy."
|
|
|
|
So when Bennett Haselton decided to put a sharp edge on this subject by
|
|
focusing on Cybersitter with laser like precision, Milburn went off the
|
|
charts.
|
|
|
|
Milburn wrote to Media3, the ISP that houses Haselton's website
|
|
<www.peacefire.org>, saying he was adding the entire domain of Media3 to
|
|
the Cybersitter blocking database, in order to keep anyone using his
|
|
company's product from gaining access to Haselton's article.
|
|
|
|
Milburn ranted to Media3 that Haselton had made it "his mission in life
|
|
to defame our product" exhibiting "extreme immaturity," by "routinely"
|
|
publishing names of sites blocked by Cybersitter. Milburn claimed that
|
|
Haselton may have "illegally reversed engineered" the Cybersitter
|
|
database. Milburn has threatened legal action. Haselton, however, found a
|
|
white knight. After hearing about Milburn's actions, Mike Godwin, legal
|
|
counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, decided to represent him.
|
|
|
|
In an Email to Wired News correspondent Rebecca Vesely, who wrote about
|
|
Milburn's beef with Haselton, Milburn said he was swamped with
|
|
"geek-mail" from Wired News' "loyal following of pinhead idiots."
|
|
Milburn characterized Haselton, "an aspiring felon" and said that he had
|
|
confirmation that Haselton was the "ghost writer" for the original
|
|
Dispatch article that broke the story of the hidden agendas in blocking
|
|
software.
|
|
|
|
All this bluster over Haselton, an 18-year-old with too much time on his
|
|
hands. If right about now you're thinking that Milburn should pick on
|
|
someone his own size, well, he's already "been there, done that" and got
|
|
his ass kicked in the process.
|
|
|
|
You see, after the first Dispatch article, Milburn sent us a
|
|
saber-rattling Email. His Aug. 15th Email claimed that "your willful
|
|
reverse engineering and subsequent publishing of software code is a
|
|
clear violation" of copyright law. And although he claimed he was sure
|
|
he could win a case in civil court, he was instead seeking "felony
|
|
criminal prosecution" by going to the FBI with his beef.
|
|
|
|
I referred Milburn to my lawyers at Baker & Hostetler, who promptly
|
|
pointed out that Dispatch hadn't been the one to hack the cybersitter
|
|
database. Further, our article was "protected by the full force of the
|
|
First Amendment," our lawyers said.
|
|
|
|
And because Dispatch only published "fragments" of the Cybersitter
|
|
database (a word used first by Milburn in his own threatening letter),
|
|
such publication "fits squarely within the fair use provisions" of the
|
|
copyright act, our lawyers reminded Milburn.
|
|
|
|
Finally, Milburn was left to chew on this: "If you persist in accusing
|
|
[Dispatch] falsely of copyright infringement and if you proceed with
|
|
your ill-conceived threat to encourage the FBI to commence activities...
|
|
you should understand that, unless the information you provide is
|
|
accurate and complete, you and your firm may be incurring liability of
|
|
your own."
|
|
|
|
Not a peep has been heard from Milburn since he received that letter,
|
|
until he decided to pick on the kid.
|
|
|
|
Milburn is apparently operating in some alternative reality. His
|
|
so-called "confirmed sources" about Haselton "ghost writing" our
|
|
original story are utterly false.
|
|
|
|
Haselton had nothing to do with our article. Dispatch obtained the
|
|
cracked code of Cybersitter and the other programs we mentioned from an
|
|
entirely different source. Haselton did nothing but build on the work
|
|
of our original story, but never wrote a single word of the article nor did
|
|
he provide us with the hacked databases.
|
|
|
|
All of Milburn's heartburn has me confused. Rather than try and slay
|
|
Haselton, he should pay him for the right to reprint his article and
|
|
findings. Milburn makes no apologies for his agenda; indeed, he is
|
|
proud that one of his major distributors is "Focus on the Family" a
|
|
conservative Christian organization.
|
|
|
|
And for people that brook with the conservative, straight-arrow family
|
|
values ideals that Focus on the Family advocates, Cybersitter is the
|
|
perfect fit. Indeed, this is the free market working at its best.
|
|
Products spring up in direct response to demand. Cybersitter fits that
|
|
model for a particular segment of the society. You may not like it; I
|
|
certainly wouldn't use a product with this built in agenda, but nobody
|
|
is making us buy it.
|
|
|
|
You would think that Milburn would eat up such "negative" press and wear
|
|
it like a badge of honor. But he is too petty; too small minded. And
|
|
when he discovers that Haselton did nothing more than run Cybersitter
|
|
through its paces, much the same way that a reviewer for computer
|
|
magazine might, and then report the findings, he'll have nobody left to
|
|
harass. I hope he doesn't have a dog he can kick...
|
|
|
|
Have a Merry Christmas, Mr. Milburn. Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.
|
|
|
|
Meeks out...
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 12:53:58 -0800 (PST)
|
|
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
|
|
Subject: File 7--The CyberSitter Diaper Change, from The Netly News
|
|
|
|
Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
|
|
|
|
[From this morning's Netly News. Check out the HTML version of the article
|
|
at netlynews.com for links to the threatening letters, etc. --Declan]
|
|
|
|
The Netly News
|
|
http://netlynews.com/
|
|
December 20, 1996
|
|
|
|
The CyberSitter Diaper Change
|
|
By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
|
|
|
|
Brian Milburn is angry. The president of Solid Oak Software,
|
|
makers of the CyberSitter Net-filtering software, has seen his
|
|
company's product come under heavy fire this year. Its offense?
|
|
Critics say that CyberSitter has reached far beyond its mandate of
|
|
porn-blocking and instead has censored innocuous, even invaluable web
|
|
sites.
|
|
|
|
I admit I'm one of its critics. In a CyberWire Dispatch that
|
|
Brock Meeks and I published in July, we revealed that the censorware
|
|
bans such places as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
|
|
Commission and the online home of the National Organization for Women.
|
|
Our Dispatch showed the world -- or at least our readers -- that the
|
|
makers of CyberSitter have a clear political agenda. The article
|
|
prompted follow-ups in CyberTimes and the National Law Journal and an
|
|
editorial in the Washington Post with an exchange of letters to the
|
|
editor between a NOW executive and a representative of Focus on the
|
|
Family, a conservative group that markets CyberSitter.
|
|
|
|
To Milburn's mind, our act of revealing the truth about his
|
|
company's product was, literally, criminal. In August, he told us that
|
|
he had asked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a criminal
|
|
investigation into the publication of our article. He was particularly
|
|
upset with one paragraph that included a fragment of his database
|
|
demonstrating that CyberSitter expressly bans info about gay society
|
|
and culture.
|
|
|
|
He wrote: "Your willful reverse engineering and subsequent
|
|
publishing of copyrighted source code is a clear violation of US
|
|
Copyright law. While we would easily prevail in a civil court in
|
|
seeking damages... we will seek felony criminal prosecution under 17
|
|
USCS sect 503(a) of the Copyright Act, and are preparing documentation
|
|
to submit with the criminal complaint to FBI [sic]."
|
|
|
|
Milburn was upset because CyberSitter's database is scrambled to
|
|
prevent kiddies from grabbing addresses of porn sites from it. It's
|
|
lightweight encryption, sure, but just enough to frustrate Junior. The
|
|
scrambled database also allows Solid Oak to add and delete banned
|
|
sites without the user's knowledge -- something that we believe is a
|
|
dangerous practice. Now, I should point out here that neither I nor
|
|
Brock did the actual decrypting; we had received a copy of the
|
|
descrambled filter list from a confidential source.
|
|
|
|
In any event, Dispatch's attorneys replied to Milburn, saying
|
|
that the article was "protected by the full force of the First
|
|
Amendment to the United States Constitution" and fell squarely within
|
|
the copyright act's "fair use" provisions. We never heard back from
|
|
him or the FBI.
|
|
|
|
But that nastygram from Milburn wasn't his last. As criticism of
|
|
CyberSitter becomes more intense, he's stepped up his counterattacks,
|
|
threatening legal action, blocking critics' sites, or both.
|
|
|
|
Take Bennett Haselton, a college student who cobbled together a
|
|
site called Peacefire in August. This fall he started an
|
|
anti-CyberSitter page that listed some of the more controversial
|
|
actions of the software.
|
|
|
|
Milburn complained. On December 6 he wrote to Haselton's Internet
|
|
provider, Media3 Technologies, and tried to persuade them to give
|
|
Peacefire the boot. His e-mail said: "One of your subscribers has made
|
|
it his mission in life to defame our product as he appearantly [sic]
|
|
has a problem with parents wishing to filter their children's access
|
|
to the internet." Another charge was that Haselton had linked to a
|
|
copy of our Dispatch.
|
|
|
|
Solid Oak then added Peacefire and Media3 to its list of blocked
|
|
sites. To Marc Kanter, Solid Oak's marketing director, it was
|
|
necessary. "The site directly has links to areas that have our source
|
|
code decoded on it.... There's no reason that our users should be able
|
|
to go to sites that effectually inactivate our program," he said.
|
|
|
|
Milburn also accused Haselton of reverse-engineering CyberSitter
|
|
to get the text of its database -- that is, of being the confidential
|
|
source for the CyberWire Dispatch. "Reverse engineering had to have
|
|
been done in order to get the information, and we believe Mr. Haselton
|
|
was the one who did it," Milburn wrote.
|
|
|
|
Note to Millburn: Haselton wasn't our source.
|
|
|
|
Then there's the case of Glen Roberts. His web page giving
|
|
instructions on how to disable CyberSitter is now banned -- as is his
|
|
Internet service provider. That's because CyberSitter differs from its
|
|
competitors CyberPatrol and SurfWatch, which can restrict access by
|
|
URL; instead, CyberSitter has to block access to the entire ripco.com
|
|
domain.
|
|
|
|
So what's my problem, really? If people don't want to use
|
|
CyberSitter or other nanny apps, they don't have to. It's voluntary.
|
|
It's effective. It protects children, and it sure is better than the
|
|
Communications Decency Act.
|
|
|
|
I have one major objection to all of the software filters
|
|
currently on the market: Consumers have no way of knowing what's being
|
|
blocked. Without knowing what's on the filter list, parents can't know
|
|
what Junior will or won't be seeing. When reporters who try to reveal
|
|
that information are faced with potential criminal investigations, the
|
|
press's ability to shed light on these companies is threatened.
|
|
|
|
Such programs also give parents near-complete control over what
|
|
their children can and can't read. Traditionally, kids have been able
|
|
to browse the stacks of a library away from parental supervision. But
|
|
when the library is online, access can be completely controlled by
|
|
censorware. Pity the closeted gay son of homophobic parents, prevented
|
|
by CyberSitter from accessing soc.support.youth.lesbian-gay-bi.
|
|
|
|
Finally, it's a kind of intellectual bait-and-switch. The "smut
|
|
blockers" grab power by playing to porn, then they wield it to advance
|
|
a right-wing, conservative agenda. Family values activists would never
|
|
have been able to pass a law that blocks as many sites as CyberSitter
|
|
does. Besides censoring alt.censorship, it also blocks dozens of ISPs
|
|
and university sites such as well.com, zoom.com, anon.penet.fi,
|
|
best.com, webpower.com, ftp.std.com, cts.com, gwis2.seas.gwu.edu,
|
|
hss.cmu.edu, c2.org, echonyc.com and accounting.com. Now, sadly, some
|
|
libraries are using it. Solid Oak claims 900,000 registered users.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 15:42:13 -0500 (EST)
|
|
From: "noah@enabled.com" <noah@enabled.com>
|
|
Subject: File 8--[krb5] krb5 v1.0 is released (fwd)
|
|
|
|
From -Noah
|
|
|
|
------- start of forwarded message (RFC 934 encapsulation) -------
|
|
From--"Theodore Y. Ts'o" <tytso@MIT.EDU>
|
|
Date--Fri, 20 Dec 1996 12:32:00 -0500
|
|
|
|
At long last, the MIT Kerberos Team is proud to announce the
|
|
availability of MIT Kerberos V5 Release 1.0. This release includes
|
|
everything you need to set up and use Kerberos, including:
|
|
|
|
* The Kerberos server.
|
|
|
|
* A full-featured Kerberos administration system, including
|
|
support for password policies.
|
|
|
|
* Secure, encrypting versions of common network utilities:
|
|
telnet, rlogin, rsh, rcp, ftp.
|
|
|
|
* All the libraries needed to integrate Kerberos security into
|
|
new applications: GSS-API libraries, Kerberos 5 libraries,
|
|
cryptographic algorithms, and more.
|
|
|
|
This release is available both as source code and as pre-built binary
|
|
distributions for a number of Unix platforms. To retrieve either the
|
|
source or binary distriubtions, visit our new Kerberos web page:
|
|
http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www/index.html. (See below for
|
|
instructions on obtaining the source distribution via FTP.)
|
|
|
|
Warning: We are providing binary distributions for this release
|
|
as a convenience to sites that are interested in experimenting with
|
|
Kerberos for the first time, without needing to build it all from
|
|
source. However, in general it is a very bad idea to run security
|
|
software that you've downloaded from the net, since you have no way of
|
|
knowing whether someone has left any "surprises" behind. If you are
|
|
going to be using Kerberos V5 in production, we strongly recommend
|
|
that you get the Krb5 sources and build the Krb5 distribution
|
|
yourself."
|
|
|
|
MIT Kerberos V5 1.0 has been tested on at least the following
|
|
platforms:
|
|
|
|
* Digital Unix (OSF/1) 3.2
|
|
* Digital Unix (OSF/1) 4.0
|
|
* HPUX 10
|
|
* FreeBSD 2.1 (i386)
|
|
* Netbsd 1.x (i386, m68k, and sparc)
|
|
* Linux 2.x (i386)
|
|
* Ultrix 4.2
|
|
* Irix 5.3
|
|
* AIX 3.2.5
|
|
* SunOS 4.1
|
|
* Solaris 2.4
|
|
* Solaris 2.5.1
|
|
|
|
The Macintosh port is now fully functional, although the UI still
|
|
leaves much to be desired. This will be the focus of future work on
|
|
this platform.
|
|
|
|
The Windows 16 port is also fully functional, although one major (but
|
|
obvious and easy to correct) bug crept in at the last minute. (See
|
|
our known bugs web page for more details.) One major difference from
|
|
the previous Beta releases is that the DLL has been renamed from
|
|
LIBKRB5.DLL to KRB5_16.DLL. This is to avoid conflicts with the a 32
|
|
bit version of the Krb5 DLL.
|
|
|
|
Unfortunately delays with stablizing and integrating the NT release
|
|
prevented us from shipping this functionality with the 1.0 release.
|
|
We are making available, concurrent with the 1.0 release, an ALPHA
|
|
snapshot (release WINNT_ALPHA1_SNAPSHOT). This should not be used in
|
|
production, as it has several known problems:
|
|
|
|
* The GSSAPI test application doesn't work, so the GSSAPI
|
|
library has not been tested.
|
|
* The GINA doesn't yet work.
|
|
* Help files are not yet available
|
|
|
|
The only working applications for Windows NT are the credentials
|
|
manager and a telnet application.
|
|
|
|
In addition, we are continueing to work on this release on an on-going
|
|
basis, so if you plan to be doing any NT work, you should contact us
|
|
at krbdev@mit.edu, so that we can more properly coordinate our work.
|
|
NT support will be folded in to the mainline release before the next
|
|
major release.
|
|
|
|
Notes and Major Changes since Beta 7
|
|
- ------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
* We are now using the GNATS system to track bug reports for Kerberos
|
|
V5. It is therefore helpful for people to use the krb5-send-pr
|
|
program when reporting bugs. The old interface of sending mail to
|
|
krb5-bugs@mit.edu will still work; however, bug reports sent in this
|
|
fashion may experience a delay in being processed.
|
|
|
|
* The default keytab name has changed from /etc/v5srvtab to
|
|
/etc/krb5.keytab.
|
|
|
|
* login.krb5 no longer defaults to getting krb4 tickets.
|
|
|
|
* The Windows (win16) DLL, LIBKRB5.DLL, has been renamed to
|
|
KRB5_16.DLL. This change was necessary to distinguish it from the
|
|
win32 version, which will be named KRB5_32.DLL. Note that the
|
|
GSSAPI.DLL file has not been renamed, because this name was specified
|
|
in a draft standard for the Windows 16 GSSAPI bindings. (The 32-bit
|
|
version of the GSSAPI DLL will be named GSSAPI32.DLL.)
|
|
|
|
* The directory structure used for installations has changed. In
|
|
particular, files previously located in $prefix/lib/krb5kdc are now
|
|
normally located in $sysconfdir/krb5kdc. With the normal configure
|
|
options, this means the KDC database goes in /usr/local/var/krb5kdc by
|
|
default. If you wish to have the old behavior, then you would use a
|
|
configure line like the following:
|
|
|
|
configure --prefix=/usr/local --sysconfdir=/usr/local/lib
|
|
|
|
* kshd has been modified to accept krb4 encrypted rcp connections; for
|
|
this to work, the v4rcp program must be in the bin directory.
|
|
|
|
Instructions for obtaining the release
|
|
- --------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Via the WEB:
|
|
|
|
Go to the MIT Kerberos home page at:
|
|
|
|
http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/www
|
|
|
|
and click on the link: "Getting Kerberos from MIT".
|
|
|
|
Via FTP:
|
|
|
|
FTP to athena-dist.mit.edu, in /pub/kerberos. Get the file
|
|
README.KRB5_R1.0. It will contain instructions on how to
|
|
obtain the 1.0 release.
|
|
|
|
>> <<
|
|
>> Please report any problems/bugs/comments using krb5-send-pr <<
|
|
>> <<
|
|
|
|
|
|
Acknowledgements
|
|
- ----------------
|
|
|
|
Appreciation Time!!!! There are far too many people to try to thank
|
|
them all; many people have contributed to the development of Kerberos
|
|
V5. This is only a partial listing....
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Paul Vixie and the Internet Software Consortium for funding
|
|
the work of Barry Jaspan. This funding was invaluable for the OV
|
|
administration server integration, as well as the 1.0 release
|
|
preparation process.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to John Linn, Scott Foote, and all of the folks at OpenVision
|
|
Technologies, Inc., who donated their administration server for use in
|
|
the MIT release of Kerberos.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Jeff Bigler, Mark Eichin, Marc Horowitz, Nancy Gilman, Ken
|
|
Raeburn, and all of the folks at Cygnus Support, who provided
|
|
innumerable bug fixes and portability enhancements to the Kerberos V5
|
|
tree. Thanks especially to Jeff Bigler, for the new user and system
|
|
administrator's documentation.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Doug Engert from ANL for providing many bug fixes, as well
|
|
as testing to ensure DCE interoperability.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Ken Hornstein at NRL for providing many bug fixes and
|
|
suggestions.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Sean Mullan and Bill Sommerfeld from Hewlett Packard for
|
|
their many suggestions and bug fixes.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to the members of the Kerberos V5 development team at MIT, both
|
|
past and present: Jay Berkenbilt, Richard Basch, John Carr, Don
|
|
Davis, Nancy Gilman, Sam Hartman, Marc Horowitz, Barry Jaspan, John
|
|
Kohl, Cliff Neuman, Kevin Mitchell, Paul Park, Ezra Peisach, Chris
|
|
Provenzano, Jon Rochlis, Jeff Schiller, Harry Tsai, Ted Ts'o, Tom Yu.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1996 22:51:01 CST
|
|
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
|
Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Dec, 1996)
|
|
|
|
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 (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302)
|
|
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
|
|
60115, USA.
|
|
|
|
To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST
|
|
Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
|
|
(NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line)
|
|
|
|
Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
|
|
news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
|
|
LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
|
|
libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
|
|
the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
|
|
On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
|
|
on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
|
|
and on Rune Stone BBS (IIRGWHQ) (860)-585-9638.
|
|
CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
|
|
1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
|
|
|
|
EUROPE: In BELGIUM: Virtual Access BBS: +32-69-844-019 (ringdown)
|
|
In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
|
|
In LUXEMBOURG: ComNet BBS: +352-466893
|
|
|
|
UNITED STATES: etext.archive.umich.edu (192.131.22.8) in /pub/CuD/CuD
|
|
ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
|
|
aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
|
|
world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
|
wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
|
EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/CuD/CuD/ (Finland)
|
|
ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
|
|
|
|
|
|
The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
|
|
Cu Digest WWW site at:
|
|
URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
|
|
|
|
COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
|
|
information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
|
|
diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
|
|
as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
|
|
they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
|
|
non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
|
|
specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
|
|
relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
|
|
preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
|
|
unless absolutely necessary.
|
|
|
|
DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
|
|
the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
|
|
responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
|
|
violate copyright protections.
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
End of Computer Underground Digest #9.02
|
|
************************************
|
|
|