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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 09 Issue 65
Computer underground Digest Sun Aug 31, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 65
ISSN 1004-042X
Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
CONTENTS, #9.65 (Sun, Aug 31, 1997)
File 1--Islands in the Clickstream - Beyond the Edge
File 2--crypto-logic US$1 million challenge
File 3--CYPHERPUNKS PARTY -- invite to party in DC on September 6
File 4--INET'98 Call for Papers (fwd)
File 5--An "Underground" Book on Australian Hackers Burns the Mind
File 6--Court docs in Salgado/"Smak" case
File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 20:23:11
From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@thiemeworks.com>
Subject: File 1--Islands in the Clickstream - Beyond the Edge
Islands in the Clickstream:
Beyond the Edge
There comes a point in our deepest thinking at which the
framework of our thinking itself begins to wrinkle and slide into
the dark. We see the edge of our thinking mind, an edge beyond
which we can see ... something else ... a self-luminous "space"
that constitutes the context of our thinking and our thinking
selves.
As a child I tried to imagine infinity. The best I could do
was nearly empty space, a cold void defined by a few dim stars,
my mind rushing toward them, then past them into the darkness.
The same thing happens today when I think about energy and
information and the fact that all organisms and organizations are
systems of energy and information interacting in a single matrix.
I try to imagine the form or structure of the system, but
the structure itself is a system of energy and information. I try
to imagine the structure of the structure ... and pretty soon the
words or images are rushing into the darkness at warp speed and
my mind is jumping into hyperspace.
When we see our thinking from a point outside our thinking,
we see that our ideas and beliefs are mental artifacts, as solid
and as empty as all the things in the physical world -- things,
we are told, that are really patterns of energy and information,
that our fingertips or eyes or brains are structured to perceive
as if they are objects -- out there -- external to ourselves.
That is an illusion, of course. There is no "there" there.
Makes a guy a little dizzy.
At the recent Hacking in Progress Conference near Amsterdam
(HIP97), there was a demonstration of van Eck monitoring. That
means monitoring the radiation that leaks from your PC. Hackers
do not have to break into your system if the system is leaking
energy and information; they just have to capture and
reconstitute it in useful forms.
A participant at HIP said, "It was nice to see a real
demonstration of analog van Eck monitoring of a standard PC,
which meets all the normal shielding and emission control
standards, via an aerial, via the power supply and via the
surface waves induced in earthing cables, water pipes, etc. Even
this simple equipment can distinguish individual machines of the
same make and model in a typical office building from 50 to 150
metres or more with extra signal amplification."
He is saying that the radiation leaked from your PC monitor,
even when it meets all the standards proscribed by law, can be
reconstituted on a screen at a distance greater than the length
of a football field, and everything you are seeing at this moment
can be seen by that fellow in the van down the block as well.
And he can get the radiation from the water pipes under your
house.
We are radiating everywhere and always the information and
energy that constitutes the pattern of what we look at, what we
know ... who and what we are.
A side trip:
All of the great spiritual traditions teach practices of
meditation. They teach that those who enter deep states of
meditation soon discover that paranormal experience is the norm
at a particular depth of consciousness.
At first this discovery is fascinating. It is like scuba
diving for the first time. The beauty of the underwater world is
so compelling, you can stop at twenty or thirty feet and just
gaze in awe at the beauty of the fish. But if you do, you won't
go deeper. You'll get stuck.
So we are told simply to note that what is happening is
real, then keep on moving.
In those deeper states, we observe more and more clearly the
thinking that we often mistake for our real selves. We see that
we are usually "inside" our thinking, living as if our thoughts
are reality itself. We see the edge of our thinking and then ...
something else beyond the edge.
We see that the structures of our thinking -- our culture --
are mental artifacts.
When we think that, and catch ourselves thinking about the
illusion of thinking, we laugh.
That's why laughter peals so often from the walls of
Buddhist monasteries. Enlightenment is a comic moment.
Enlightenment includes the experience of observing our minds in
action and seeing that we are not our minds. Our minds may be as
automatic as machines but we are not machinery. We are the ghosts
in the machine.
We see that in our essence we are more like stars in a
spiralling galaxy. We are not just radiating energy and
information always, we ARE radiant energy and information, a
single matrix of light that is darkness visible.
Back in my days of doing workshops and long weekends, we
used to do an exercise of looking into each other's eyes until we
were lost in a wordless communion. By playing games ("feel a
feeling and communicate it without words, the other receive it
and say what it is") we discovered that what we were feeling was
always transmitted to anyone and everyone around us. All a person
had to do was stop for a moment and pay attention and they would
know who we were. Even when we thought we were providing high-
level descriptions of ourselves that fooled everyone, we were
leaking energy and information.
It is dawning on us that privacy as we used to think of it
is over, that the global village is a community in which the data
of our lives is available to anyone who wants to gather or pay
for it. It ought to be dawning on us as well that the ways we
think we mask ourselves are as transparent as the shielding on a
PC monitor.
The initial distancing we experience when we first connect
via computers is soon replaced with the realization that our
willingness to be present -- to communicate via symbols like
these -- means that we are transparent in our interaction, that
the global network is a mediating structure through which
information and energy is transmitted literally as well as in
symbolic forms. WE show up in cyberspace, not just
representations of ourselves. WE are here, alone together.
The structures of energy and information in the universe are
the universe.
How can we speak of what we see beyond the edge of our
collective selves? It seems to be a ground or matrix, a glowing
self-luminous system of ... nothing ... there is no "there" there
... and we rush through the darkness toward the few stars
defining the limits of our thought then past them.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 22:27:40 +0800
From: dragonXL <cbert@rocketmail.com>
Subject: File 2--crypto-logic US$1 million challenge
I got this from www.ultimateprivacy.com
The Million Dollar Challenge
Ultimate Privacy, the e-mail encryp- tion program combining ease
of use with unbreakability.
Ultimate Privacy is serious cryptography. On the Links page we
have links to other Internet sites that discuss One-Time Pad
cryptography and why it is unbreakable when properly
implemented.
Nevertheless, should you wish to try, the first person to be able
to discern the original message within a year (following the
simple requirements of the Challenge) will actually receive the
million dollar prize as specified in the Rules page. The prize
is backed by the full faith and credit of Crypto-Logic
Corporation and its insurors.
You might be interested in to know how the Challenge was done. We
used a clean, non-network-connected computer. After installing
Ultimate Privacy, one person alone entered the Challenge message
and encrypted it. After making a copy of the encrypted message,
we removed the hard disk from the computer nad it was
immediately transported to a vault for a year.
Therefore, the original message is not known by Crypto-Logic
Corporation staff (other than the first few characters for
screening purposes), nor are there any clues to the original
message on any media in our offices.
Next, the Rules.
The next page contains the contest Rules, followed by the message
itself.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 13:55:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: File 3--CYPHERPUNKS PARTY -- invite to party in DC on September 6
You are cordially invited to a DC cypherpunk working meeting and
patent expiration party on September 6.
On Saturday, September 6, the patent on the Diffie-Hellman public
key cryptography system expires. Along with the Merkle-Hellman
patent (which expires on October 6), this patent is key to the
future of public key crypto. Now programmers can write strong
encryption software without worrying about patent licensing.
But the expiration of the patents doesn't guarantee the future of
strong cryptography. Proposed laws could restrict its use. So the
party has two portions:
-- 5:30 pm: a DCCP working party and potluck supper. Topics include
discussion of the patents and regulation of cryptography. Guest
speakers will discuss legislation in Congress and the Bernstein case.
A speaker from the administration will provide a regulator's
perspective. (Please contribute to the potluck dinner!)
-- 8:00 pm: a post-meeting party to celebrate the expiration of the
patents. (Please bring snack foods and beverages/drinks...)
To RSVP, and for directions and details, e-mail Declan at
declan@well.com with DCCP-DH in your Subject line. The party will
be held in Adams Morgan in Washington, DC.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 14:42:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: "noah@enabled.com" <noah@ENABLED.COM>
Subject: File 4--INET'98 Call for Papers (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date--Wed, 27 Aug 1997 13:31:01 -0400
From--Internet Society <members@ISOC.ORG>
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS - INET'98
Papers, Panels, Tutorials & Poster Sessions
Deadline: 24 October 1997
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
INET'98 ~~~
THE INTERNET: ENTERING THE MAINSTREAM
Internet Society's 8th Annual Networking Conference
21-24 July 1998
Palexpo Conference Center
Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.isoc.org
INET, the annual meeting of the Internet Society, is the premier
international event for Internet and internetworking professionals.
It is the crossroads at which the world's cyberspace pioneers meet
to exchange experiences and plan their next steps. Each year, network
technologists, industry and government representatives, and policy
experts meet to share information and shape the future of the Internet
and its related internetworking technologies.
In 1998, INET will address both the traditional and evolving frontiers
of the Internet as well as its significant impact on education, commerce,
and societies throughout the world. Multiple conference tracks will
address critical issues ranging from network engineering to user needs,
from regulatory issues to the Internet's role as a conduit for social
change, and from the transformation of education to the redefinition
of commerce.
The INET'98 Program Committee solicits abstracts of papers and
suggestions for panels, tutorials and poster sessions which describe
innovative developments, encourage vigorous discussion and further
the understanding of the Internet's frontiers.
CONFERENCE ~~~~~~~~~~
INET'98: 21-24 July 1998
Exhibition Hall Open: 22-24 July 1998
PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS ~~~~~~~~~~
Network Training Workshop: 12-19 July 1998
(France, Latin America and Switzerland)
Technical Tutorials: 20-21 July 1998
K-12 (Primary & Secondary) Workshop: 21 July 1998
African Networking Symposium: 21 July 1998
KEY SUBMISSION DATES ~~~~~~~~~~
24 October 1997
~~ Deadline to submit Abstract, Tutorial, Panel and Poster Session
proposals for Program Committee review.
8 December 1997
~~ Authors notified of accepted Abstracts and invited to submit full Papers.
~~ Presenters notified of accepted Tutorials, Panels and Poster Sessions.
13 February 1998
~~ Deadline to submit full Papers for Program Committee review.
27 March 1998
~~ Authors notified of accepted Papers.
10 April 1998
~~ Deadline to submit final copy of Paper for inclusion in the INET'98
Proceedings.
20-21 July 1998
~~ Technical Tutorials
21-24 July 1998
~~ INET'98 Conference
TOPIC SCOPE ~~~~~~~~~~
The following list is indicative of the scope of the conference. It should
not be interpreted as limiting submissions:
New Applications
~~Push Technologies
~~Caching and Replication
~~Digital Libraries
Social, Legal and Regulatory Policies
~~Security and Cryptography
~~Regulation
~~Legal
~~Governance
Commerce
~~New Industries and Services
~~Electronic Commerce
~~ISPs
~~Electronic Publishing
Teaching and Learning
~~Curriculum Innovations
~~Network Learning
~~Collaboration
~~Teacher Empowerment
Globalisation and Regional Implications
~~Internationalisation
~~Multilingual
~~Community Networking
~~Development
Network Technology and Engineering
~~High Speed Networks / High Speed Applications
~~International Infrastructure
~~Wireless Technologies
~~Hardware and Software
~~Nomadic Computing
~~Collaboration
~~ATM
~~Satellite-Based Networking
User-Centered Issues
~~Multimedia
~~Access
~~Disabilities
TRACK DESCRIPTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~
TRACK 1: New Applications
The exponential growth of the Internet involves not only computers, domain
names, addresses and packets, but also content and people. The Applications
Technologies track focuses on innovation that taps this growing wealth of
information and people, including mechanisms for finding and accessing
information and collaborative environments. In addition, this track covers
technologies just below the user interface that are equally important:
caching and prefetch technologies to improve access to information, and
security technologies to support interactions such as contract signing and
Internet commerce.
TRACK 2: Social, Legal, Governance, and Regulatory Policies
As the Internet keeps evolving and covering new territory, new forms of
communication emerge and new social groupings appear. Sometimes these
changes reinforce the old, sometimes weaken it or even threaten it. Weaving
new human communities is a tricky business. Cultures, legal systems and
institutions must find new compromises and mesh in new ways. What are the
possible long-run governance structures for the Internet, and what are the
implications of adopting them?
TRACK 3: Commerce
The promises of commerce on the Internet have come nearly as fast as new
commercial sites. Yet many organizations are struggling to come to grips
with the realities of the Internet for their business. What are these
realities? Share the experience of successful projects, see how traditional
forms of electronic commerce are adapting to the Internet and listen to
experts argue the benefits and pitfalls of commerce on the Net.
TRACK 4: Teaching and Learning
The Internet evolved from computer science research projects to connect
disparate and decentralized computer systems. Is this the same technology
that is the hottest thing to happen in education in years? Once the
private laboratory of university and post-secondary education, the Internet
is now firmly entrenched in primary and secondary schools around the world.
This track will look at what is happening on the Net today in support of
primary, secondary and post-secondary education. Papers will cover current
research in educational technology, case studies from the classroom,
examples of collaborative learning and thought-provoking discussions on
what effect the Internet will have on how we teach and learn.
TRACK 5: Globalisation and Regional Implications
Every day, the Internet is expanding to new parts of the world, to new
groups of population, and to new, sometimes unanticipated, areas of usage.
How far has the Internet gone on the road to true globalisation? What
obstacles remain to its expansion in developing countries and to less
advanced regions of the globe? What challenges should be expected in the
future by those who, like ISOC, want to "take the Internet where it has
never been before"? This track will address these questions, looking at the
political, legal, cultural and economic aspects of the issues raised, while
giving a central importance to the respective experiences of users and
promoters of the Internet in all regions of the world.
TRACK 6: Network Technology and Engineering
The physical and administrative infrastructures of the Internet are being
subjected to many stresses created by the explosion in the number of users
and the demands of many new and exciting applications being developed. New
support technologies are required in many areas to counter these stresses.
This track will present a range of developments designed to make the
network more reliable, more predictable, more scaleable and more manageable
in the immediate future.
TRACK 7: User-Centered Issues
Frontiers don't exist just at the cutting edge of technology or in the
remote regions of the world. Today, nearly everyone is an Internet user and
many are responding to the challenge in unique and valuable ways to put
this new tool to use. This track will examine contributions from a range of
users, what they are doing and the impact the Internet has had on their
daily lives.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES ~~~~~~~~~~
Register your interest in contributing to the INET'98 program by
subscribing to the INET'98 Authors and Presenters Contact List. Send the
command "SUBSCRIBE INET98-PRESENTERS" in a one-line email message to:
<<listserv@listserv.isoc.org>. You will receive an immediate
acknowledgment of your subscription and periodic updates from the INET'98
Program Committee.
I. PAPERS AND PANEL SUBMISSIONS
~ To view a sample Abstract, visit the Web-site
<<www.isoc.org/inet98/presenters>.
~ An Abstract should provide the following:
a. Motivate/define the problem addressed (1-2 sentences)
b. Outline the results obtained or expected (1-2 sentences)
c. Explain why the work/results are significant (1-2 sentences)
d. Describe the work sufficiently for the Program Committee reviewer to
have confidence that it was done well and that the result will be of
interest to conference attendees (half to one page)
~ The official language of the conference is English. All abstracts must
be submitted in English.
~ Abstracts of papers and proposals for panels should be submitted in
plain ASCII by
24 October 1997 to: inet-abstracts@isoc.org. (No attachments will be
reviewed by the Program Committee).
~ The following must be at the beginning of every abstract or proposal:
a) A title (paper) or topic (panel).
b) First and surname/family name(s) of all authors/presenters.
Note: Please CAPITALIZE each surname/family name.
c) Organisational affiliation(s).
d) Full mailing address(es), telephone and fax number(s) for each
author/presenter.
e) E-mail address(es) for each author/presenter. Note: All correspondence
is via e-mail. It is imperative that e-mail addresses are viable and that
ISOC be informed of any changes to e-mail addresses.
f) Identify a single point of contact if more than one author is listed.
~ Each abstract or proposal should be between one and two pages long
(approximately 250 words) and contain a list of key words or topics. An
abstract should be a brief summary of a paper and should not be divided
into subsections or include tables, footnotes, or reference lists.
Submissions will be acknowledged within 72 hours. If acknowledgment is not
received within this timeframe, contact ISOC immediately at
inet-program-chair@isoc.org.
~ The Exhibition Hall will provide the exclusive medium for product
advertising. Papers should be directed at substantive issues and not focus
upon marketing or sales issues.
~ Each panel proposal should indicate and justify the theme of the
proposed session and include the names (with full presenter information) of
suggested panelists.
~ Accepted abstract submissions will be invited to contribute full papers.
Final selection will be based on full papers.
II. TECHNICAL TUTORIAL SUBMISSIONS
The Internet Society is pleased to invite submissions for Technical
Tutorials, which precede the INET'98 Conference, 20-21 July 1998.
~ Tutorials are three hours (1/2 day) or six hours (full-day) in length.
~ All tutorials must be presented in English.
~ Tutorial proposals should be submitted in plain ASCII by 24 October 1997
to: inet-abstracts@isoc.org.
~ Each tutorial proposal must contain the following information:
a) A topic or tutorial title.
b) A 100-word description of the proposed tutorial, including three (3)
learning objectives, three (3) learning outcomes, and a brief lesson plan.
c) An indication that it is a tutorial proposal and the proposed length of
the tutorial (1/2 day or full-day).
d) Presentation titles, locations, and dates of previous
seminars/tutorials/presentations the presenter/s have made on topics
related to the proposed tutorial.
e) First and surname/family name(s) of all presenters. Note: Please
CAPITALIZE each surname/family name.
f) Organisational affiliation(s).
g) Full mailing address(es), telephone and fax number(s) of all presenters.
h) E-mail address(es). Note: All correspondence is via e-mail. It is
imperative that e-mail addresses are viable and that ISOC be informed of
any changes to e-mail addresses.
i) Identify a single point of contact if more than one presenter is listed.
~ Each tutorial proposal should be no more than two pages in length.
Submissions will be acknowledged within 72 hours. If acknowledgment is not
received within this timeframe, contact ISOC immediately at
inet-program-chair@isoc.org.
~ The Exhibition Hall will provide the exclusive medium for product
advertising. Tutorials should be directed at substantive issues and not
focus upon marketing or sales issues.
III. POSTER SESSIONS SUBMISSIONS
The Internet Society is pleased to invite submissions for Poster Sessions,
which will be held during the INET'98 Conference, 22-24 July 1998.
~ Posters will be on display throughout the conference, with a number of
speaker opportunities for the poster session presenter.
~ Proposals should be submitted in plain ASCII by 24 October 1997 to:
inet-abstracts@isoc.org.
~ Each poster session proposal must contain the following information:
a) A topic or poster session title.
b) A 50-word description of the proposed session, including two (2)
learning objectives.
c) An indication that it is a poster session proposal.
d) First and surname/family name(s). Note: Please CAPITALIZE each
surname/family name..
e) Organisational affiliation.
f) Full mailing address, telephone and fax number.
g) E-mail address. Note: All correspondence is via e-mail. It is
imperative that e-mail addresses are viable and that ISOC be informed of
any changes to e-mail addresses.
~ Submissions will be acknowledged within 72 hours. If acknowledgment is
not received within this timeframe, contact ISOC immediately at
inet-program-chair@isoc.org.
~ The Exhibition Hall will provide the exclusive medium for product
advertising. Poster Sessions should be directed at substantive issues and
not focus upon marketing or sales issues.
REGISTRATION FEES ~~~~~~~~~~
Chosen presenters of papers, panels and poster sessions will be admitted
into INET'98 at the ISOC member/early conference fee, although a limited
amount of partial support may be available to assist presenters, generally
from developing countries. Tutorials instructors will receive a stipend.
Expenses such as travel, hotel, and meals are borne by presenters.
GENERAL INFORMATION ~~~~~~~~~~
INET'98
The Internet Society
12020 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 210
Reston, VA 20191-3429 USA
Telephone: +1 703 648 9888
Fax: +1 703 648 9887
Email: inet98@isoc.org
PROGRAM INFORMATION ~~~~~~~~~~
Email: inet-program-chair@isoc.org
We would appreciate if you would forward this announcement to your
interested colleagues and within your own networks.
------------------------------
Date: 27 Aug 97 00:36:12 EDT
From: "George Smith [CRYPTN]" <70743.1711@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: File 5--An "Underground" Book on Australian Hackers Burns the Mind
Source - CRYPT NEWSLETTER 44
AN "UNDERGROUND" BOOK ON AUSTRALIAN HACKERS BURNS THE MIND
Crypt News reads so many bad books, reports and news pieces on
hacking and the computing underground that it's a real pleasure to
find a writer who brings genuine perception to the subject.
Suelette Dreyfus is such a writer, and "Underground," published by
the Australian imprint, Mandarin, is such a book.
The hacker stereotypes perpetrated by the mainstream media include
descriptions which barely even fit any class of real homo sapiens
Crypt News has met. The constant regurgitation of idiot slogans
-- "Information wants to be free," "Hackers are just people who
want to find out how things work" -- insults the intelligence.
After all, have you ever met anyone who wouldn't want their access
to information to be free or who didn't admit to some curiosity
about how the world works? No -- of course not. Dreyfus'
"Underground" is utterly devoid of this manner of patronizing
garbage and the reader is the better for it.
"Underground" is, however, quite a tale of human frailty. It's
strength comes not from the feats of hacking it portrays --and
there are plenty of them -- but in the emotional and physical cost
to the players. It's painful to read about people like Anthrax, an
Australian 17-year old trapped in a dysfunctional family.
Anthrax's father is abusive and racist, so the son --paradoxically
-- winds up being a little to much like him for comfort,
delighting in victimizing complete strangers with mean jokes and
absorbing the anti-Semitic tracts of Louis Farrakhan. For no
discernible reason, the hacker repetitively baits an old man
living in the United States with harassing telephone calls.
Anthrax spends months of his time engaged in completely pointless,
obsessed hacking of a sensitive U.S. military system. Inevitably,
Anthrax becomes entangled in the Australian courts and his life
collapses.
Equally harrowing is the story of Electron whose hacking pales in
comparison to his duel with mental illness. Crypt News challenges
the readers of "Underground" not to squirm at the image of
Electron, his face distorted into a fright mask of rolling eyes
and open mouth due to tardive dyskinesia, a side-effect of being
put on anti-schizophrenic medication.
Dreyfus expends a great deal of effort exploring what happens when
obsession becomes the only driving force behind her subjects'
hacking. In some instances, "Underground's" characters degenerate
into mental illness, others try to find solace in drugs. This is
not a book in which the hackers declaim at any great length upon
contorted philosophies in which the hacker positions himself as
someone whose function is a betterment to society, a lubricant of
information flow, or a noble scourge of bureaucrats and tyrants.
Mostly, they hack because they're good at it, it affords a measure
of recognition and respect -- and it develops a grip upon them
which goes beyond anything definable by words.
Since this is the case, "Underground" won't be popular with the
goon squad contingent of the police corp and computer security
industry. Dreyfus' subjects aren't the kind that come neatly
packaged in the
"throw-'em-in-jail-for-a-few-years-while-awaiting-trial"
phenomenon that's associated with America's Kevin Mitnick-types.
However, the state of these hackers -- sometimes destitute,
unemployable or in therapy -- at the end of their travails is
seemingly quite sufficient punishment.
Some things, however, never change. Apparently, much of
Australia's mainstream media is as dreadful at covering this type
of story as America's. Throughout "Underground," Dreyfus includes
clippings from Australian newspapers featuring fabrications and
exaggeration that bare almost no relationship to reality. Indeed,
in one prosecution conducted within the United Kingdom, the
tabloid press whipped the populace into a blood frenzy by
suggesting a hacker under trial could have affected the outcome of
the Gulf War in his trips through U.S. computers.
Those inclined to seek the unvarnished truth will find
"Underground" an excellent read. Before each chapter, Dreyfus
presents a snippet of lyric chosen from the music of Midnight Oil.
It's an elegant touch, but I'll suggest a lyric from another
Australian band, a bit more obscure, to describe the spirit of
"Underground." From Radio Birdman's second album: "Burned my eye,
burned my mind, I couldn't believe it . . . "
+++++++++
["Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the
Electronic Frontier" by Suelette Dreyfus with research by Julian
Assange, Mandarin, 475 pp.]
Excerpts and ordering information for "Underground" can be found
on the Web at http://www.underground-book.com .
George Smith, Ph.D., edits the Crypt Newsletter from Pasadena,
CA.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 16:08:40 -0700
From: Greg Broiles <gbroiles@NETBOX.COM>
Subject: File 6--Court docs in Salgado/"Smak" case
I was over at the federal courthouse in SF on Friday, and copied
documents from the court's file in _US v. Salgado_, the case
which got national front-page coverage last week in which the
defendant, a 30-something resident of Daly City, was able to gain
access to many credit card numbers through security holes at some
un-named ISP's.
The documents (complaint + affidavit, indictment, pretrial
release memo, and motion to seal record) are online at
<http://www.parrhesia.com/smak/>, and also available at
<http://jya.com/smak.htm>. The files were graciously and
skillfully transferred from paper to digital/HTML format by John
Young (thanks, John).
I found this file interesting for two reasons:
1. Salgado used an unspecified crypto app/algorithm to encrypt
his communications with his co-conspirator, an informant working
for the FBI. (Details found in the affidavit accompanying the
complaint). This case, a high-profile and high-value credit
card/access fraud case, was brought quickly to a favorable
conclusion for law enforcement, despite the use of crypto -
there's no indication that crypto use hindered law enforcement at
all.
2. The government has filed a motion to seal the transcripts of
Salgado's guilty plea, because in the course of pleading guilty,
he revealed the identity of some of his victims; the government
would prefer that the public not learn which ISP's had security
inadequate enough to protect their customers' and customers'
customers credit cards. (Criminal defendants, as part of a guilty
plea, are required to tell the court in their own words what it
is that they did that constituted the crime - this is intended to
help prevent defendants into being tricked/coerced into guilty
pleas to crimes they don't understand.) The government's motion
was filed on 8/25/97; no opposition was filed, and I don't
believe it has been granted (yet).
--
Greg Broiles | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com |
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | Export jobs, not crypto.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
Subject: File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
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End of Computer Underground Digest #9.65
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