Re: Choke Carnivore Day

[Lub Dub Saaaa <lubdub@disinfo.net>]

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On Fri, 8 Sep 2000 20:44:21 -0700 Chung Leong <leong@ocf.berkeley.edu> wrote:
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>>Besides, while encryption masks the content of messages, it cannot hide the identities of the sender and recipient, thus a system like carnivore will still pick it up. The FBI might not be able to decipher the messages, but the thing is, they don't have to. It's often useful enough to know that two people are in communication.

Right, but not only can they pick them up. They can decipher them rather quickly. "It's often useful enough to know that two people are in communication." Well, I don't agree with that part because a lot of "non-subversive" people use crypto, too. And I doubt they get messed into attention. Everyone uses crypto, it's not enough to make you a suspect.

What I'm worried about is this >>> if they have better computers than they can crack your crypto. Remember a debut of some federal crypto standard a couple of years ago that was cracked by some hackteam using widgets? You know, that kind of "distributive computing" thing, were lots and lots and lots of PCs do fragments of work instead of leaving it to this one flagship-ass machine? Well I guess it's no surprise to most of us that this progressive, organic approach to computing proved a hell of a lot more efficient.

Anyway, an almost completely "crackless" format was beaten, and pretty fast too.

Well, I don't want to launch a paranoia-type meme here... But what if there was this miniscule, invisible widget-virus running in your computer right now, hmm? I mean, one that you don't know of yet? What if this widget was actually widely dissiminated through the whole internet by the US military-government-NSA-FBI-mason-octupus (etc, take your pick, mix n'match) not so much to pick up on what you're doing (since that would be a resource hog on your machine and easier to detect), but actually to break codes? What kind of codes? I don't know! All sorts of them, remember that echelon actually only "came-out" as official after the european union denounced the US was using it for industrial espionage? Remember that IBM is a big contractor for the NSA? So begin to see the connection? Maybe IBM wants to steal some ideas and uses it's NSA pals to do it for them?

Anyway (since I'm precisely the techie type), is anybody interested in discussing the research, development and implementation of an un-trace-able widgeting-virus?

Oh yeah, I don't even know how or why this could be used for. I mean, I recognize this is an ideal-based forum, and I agree that purpose is and must remain the main concern, yet...   I dunno, i just thouht about it this morning and maybe someone else can use this idea...



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