the j.e.d. operation (and the struggle against spam)

[jesse hirsh <jesse@tao.ca>]

[: hacktivism :]


i received 432 emails today. a large proportion of which were spam. i once
had a wicked procmailrc file, but i've recently spared it down for the
wonders of discordant immersive co-operative processing.

nonetheless, what a mess :?
let's (re)read what scotartt said:

> From: scotartt <scot@systemx.autonomous.org>
> And lastly, a little food for thought: how do you know that ECHELON
> doesn't exist, and the NSA (or whoever) merely want us to believe it
> does? We could all be participating in a black ops misinformation
> campaign!


which really made me step back (again) and look at what had happened
recently, and speculate a little bit about the whys. i'm reading bruce
sterling's recent novel called 'distraction' and what i find intersting in
it are those network dynamics that exist between people, social networks,
and the ripples of linguistic, neural, and cultural currents. he really
focuses on the political economy of those dynamics, which is perhaps what
a lot of oct21 was about. i posted to tao-org@tao.ca:

my part in jamming echelon today was to make a deposit into our meagre
credit union account thinking that if the combined forces of state
intelligence saw that we were saving a few dozen dollars they would get
scared that we were actually capable of focusing our economic power.

but back to reality, let's take a look at the web stats:
http://hacktivism.tao.ca/hackstats.html

unfortunately they do not speak of the real phenomena of j.e.d. which was
in and of itself spam. rather violent spam if you bother to read any of
it. so this would naturally bring us to read the most recent (0.2) version
of the hacktivism list FAQ, explicitly section 7:


> From: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/list-faq.txt
>
> Subject: 7. What shouldn't I post to the list?
>
> Don't post:
> * Unsubscribe requests (see above)
> * Spam (see below)
> * Blatantly off-topic material (I won't try and define this for now)
> * Material which will attract unneccesary attention to yourself, others or
>   the list providers from the authorities, such as specific hacking
>   techniques, or details of illegal project organisation.
> * Flames: try and keep debate reasonably calm, please don't start flame
>   wars! If you do, please consider take taking them off list!
> * Messages people can't read. Try and avoid messages in HTML or messages
>   with attachments. Plain text rules!
> This list will change as the list culture develops.

the listworker <grugnog@tao.ca> maintaing this list also included:

> I refuse to censor this list in any way. If the list provider (or their
> provider, ect) forces removal of any information I will endevour to ensure
> it is available elsewhere on the net.

thus i must be clear in explaining the following actions, as they are
definitely part of a changing culture for this list, if not the activities
that either arise from or explicitly flow through it.

two list subscribers have been removed from the list, and placed in the
/etc/mail/deny files on the tao.ca systems. the rational for this is spam,
and clear violation of the published list guidelines. the following are
the entries in the /etc/mail/deny file:

idiot1@netzero.net "550 PSYOPS is a wonderful art. Let's see who's
practicing it."

kroms@megsinet.net "550 we're against Nuclear Attacks"

the  /etc/mail/deny file is explicitly an anti-spam mechanism to ensure
that a systems (such as ours, but also the ones along the route) ability
to exchange information with the world remains intact, and that they are
not overwhelmed by large quantities of unwanted email.

if any member of this list would like to either object to the removal of
these two addresses, or would like to request the addition of new email
addresses to this file, they can email abuse@tao.ca. any address placed in
the /etc/mail/deny file that is of relevance to this list will be reported
to this list.

members of the list should also feel encouraged to fill out the user
surveys and expres their desire for the direction of this list. there is
currently almost 400 subscribers, and it is thus wise to better understand
the nature of this rather spontaneous constituency.

as well, the movement to turn this list into one that is moderated (while
still open) is gaining ground, so people should feel encouraged to comment
on this direction (while refraining from spamming).

yours for a clear and open network of networks
jessinthearlymorning

p.s. this is the other spam that filled my box and made the deny file on
oct21



Date: 21 Oct 1999 15:22:11 -0700
From: ORAPOST <ORAPOST@us.oracle.com>
Reply-To: openssl-users@openssl.org
To: openssl-users@openssl.org
Subject: Return Message
Parts/Attachments:
   1       Shown      3 lines  Text
   2       Shown    7.3 KB     Message, "Return Message"
   2.1     Shown      3 lines  Text
   2.2     Shown    5.2 KB     Message, "Return Message"
   2.2.1   Shown      3 lines  Text
   2.2.2   Shown    3.1 KB     Message, "Re: RNGs - Use input from your
sound card!"
   2.2.2.1 Shown     22 lines  Text
----------------------------------------

The included message could not be delivered to the following invalid mail
names.  Please verify these names and try
them again.

Bad name:  tphan

    [ Part 2: "Included Message" ]

Date: 21 Oct 1999 14:16:28
From: ORAPOST <ORAPOST@us.oracle.com>
Reply-To: openssl-users@openssl.org
To: openssl-users@openssl.org
Subject: Return Message

The included message could not be delivered to the following invalid mail
names.  Please verify these names and try
them again.

Bad name:  tphan

    [ Part 2.2: "Included Message" ]

Date: 21 Oct 1999 13:30:33
From: ORAPOST <ORAPOST@us.oracle.com>
Reply-To: openssl-users@openssl.org
To: openssl-users@openssl.org
Subject: Return Message

The included message could not be delivered to the following invalid mail
names.  Please verify these names and try
them again.

Bad name:  tphan




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