Juxtaposition

This is so rich. A group is trying an argument from absurdity tactic to show how ridiculous the claim that Washington State's Andersen v. King County decision is that declared a "legitimate state interest" for the state to restrict same-sex couples from legal marriage.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

If passed by Washington voters, the Defense of Marriage Initiative would:

* add the phrase, “who are capable of having children with one another” to the legal definition of marriage;
* require that couples married in Washington file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage automatically annulled;
* require that couples married out of state file proof of procreation within three years of the date of marriage or have their marriage classed as “unrecognized;”
* establish a process for filing proof of procreation; and
* make it a criminal act for people in an unrecognized marriage to receive marriage benefits.

Posted by at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The BRAD BLOG : HACKED: VIRUS IMPLANTED, SPREAD ON DIEBOLD TOUCH-SCREEN VOTING MACHINE!

Researchers at Princeton, including Ed Felton, have been able to implant malicious code on Diebold touch screen voting machines that was demonstrated to be able to flip election results. They have a video of them doing this as well.

The company response is typically clueless (as is their security). I wonder if the nice Diebold ATMs in use at banks such as USBank are anywhere near as vulnerable?

Posted by at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Time to switch your phone company. AT&T rewrote its privacy policy to basically say that your data is theirs and they will do what they please. Some legal manoevering to allow them to continue to sell those records to the NSA to spy on you. All Cingular customers should now be wary since AT&T will own them once the acquisition is complete.

But I guess, what do you expect when we live in a country that doesn't explicitly grant privacy protections like the EU and where privacy is routinely tromped on by companies and the government for their own ends? And when the US public has been trained that this is okay?

http://www.networkingpipeline.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189600470

The most disturbing revelation was one on June 30, 2006 when it was revealed that the NSA allegedly Sought U.S. Call Records 7 Months Before 9/11 This is a perfect example of the danger of unchecked governmental power and unrestrained trust in governement to not abuse power given them or taken (as in the Bush Administration).

Posted by at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Passionate condemnation of the music industry:

[IP] MUST READ Courtney Love does the math The controversial singertak

[IP] last on this topic -- Does File Trading Fund Terrorism? Successful artists not seeing any profit.

http://www.marketplace.org/play/audio.php?media=/2003/03/12_mpp&start=00:00: 20:00.0&end=00:00:27:30.0

[IP] 2 more on Does File Trading Fund Terrorism?

And to round this out, a great interview with John Perry Barlow on the evils of Digital Restriction Management Wrapped up in Crypto Bottles

And to draw in a security angle to all of this:

Security Blog

Sony rootkit debacle highlights the failure of the security technology industry: The real story, as Bruce Schneier points out - why the hell didn't any Antivirus software (or IDS for that matter), detect this software sooner? Is corporate malware going to continue to be default allow by these products? We are collectively paying these companies billions of dollars for what?

Posted by at 11:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Boing Boing: Encrypted VOIP from PGP creator Zimmermann: Zfone

Encrypted VOIP from PGP creator Zimmermann: Zfone

Good reason to switch to VOIP instead of traditional phones to protect yourself from Big Brother Bush.

Posted by at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Freedom to Tinker � Blog Archive � RIAA Says Future DRM Might “Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Potentially Endanger Lives”

Yet another reason DRM sucks. But unbelievably, the "BSA, RIAA, MPAA, and friends" actually are objecting to DRM exemptions for critical systems!

I was also reading recently about how much extra processor and battery life is sucked up when playing DRM files that have to constantly be checking for a valid license and other cruft.

Posted by at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If your employer or corrupt, undemocratic, dictator-based government uses a filtering service such as Secure Computing's SmartFilter to block access to BoingBoing.net, you can try the following workarounds...

Boing Boing's Guide to Defeating Censorware

Of course, good network admins take evasive action for these evasive actions, but the reality is that there are always ways to get around proxies. Especially when they do stupid shit like "Smart" filter does. Smartfilter will often block an entire domain in a category for one single page that may fit in that category. They blocked attrition.org under "criminal skills" and several other security sites. I recall them blocking geocities.com or something like it when only some of the pages met the criteria. Why don't they block specific URLs or URL patterns instead of an entire domain?

Posted by at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wired News: Tainted Sony CDs Used Open Source

In short: Sony's ill-conceived, ill-executed, and ill-handled copy protected CDs that inserted a rootkit on your Windows computer that were designed to supposedly protect artist's rights by preventing unauthorized copying of music ironically appear to have violated the copyrights of several open source software tools.

Posted by at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WAL-MART Movie Screenings

Attend or host a movie screening of the new film Wal*Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. I'll be attending one in Seattle next Wednesday. Hope to see you there!

Posted by at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

[infowarrior] - RIAA Takes Shotgun to Traders

Hundreds of people are being wrongly sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally trading music online, legal experts say.

Attorneys representing some of the 14,000 people targeted for illegal music trading say their clients are being bullied into settling as the cheapest way to get out of trouble. Collection agencies posing as "settlement centers" are harassing their clients to pay thousands of dollars for claims about which they know nothing, they say.

Last week a judge in Michigan dismissed a file-sharing case against Candy Chan, a mother who testified in court that the user name identified in the suit belonged to one of her children.

In the court report (.pdf), Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff wrote: "Chan opposed the motion and asserted that the plaintiffs used a 'shotgun' approach to pursue this action, threatening to sue all of Chan's children and engaging in abusive behavior to attempt to utilize the court as a collection agency."

Posted by at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Following up on my earlier posting on TSA idiocy... Supposedly this was also at SeaTac.

Just met with some friends tonight and the subject of airline/airport "security" came up. A true story about a recent run-in with TSA:

85-year-old resident of Washington state arrives home after an international flight where he had successfully taken about six different flight legs without incident carrying on a small watch/clock repair toolkit with him in his carry-on luggage. On the final leg, he is accosted by TSA because he is carrying a 2 inch hammer in this kit with a metal head and wooden handle!! The TSA tells him that tools are prohibited and that they are going to confiscate this tiny hammer.

Well, they pleaded with TSA:

• The man is 85 years old and lives in Seattle
• Oh, by the way, he had no problems on the other six legs of our flight and this is the final leg.
• He had made the hammer himself with his own hands years ago--both the handle and the metal head. It is a one-of-a-kind and a cherished family heirloom.
• Are terrorists (or _anyone_) known to attack people with 2 inch hammers?

But, the TSA, protecting all of us from 2 inch hammer banditos, refused to budge. The family got several levels of TSA and airport staff involved to press the issue yet their pleas still fell on deaf ears.

To make matters worse, the TSA staff were nasty about the situation too. For example, when asked what they were going to do with the hammer after confiscating it, they said that it would be "discarded", as if it were something with only utilitarian value. No thought about the real human lives in front of them that were being negatively impacted by this policy. I guess "things have changed after 9-11":   Americans are self-righteous and don't care about the American public? No thought is expended to question whether the TSA Policy that does actually prohibit bringing quote-unquote "hammers" on board, but I'm sure the policy writers did not intend for this to apply to 2 inch hammers! Think people!! Sheesh.

Yeah, people supposedly trying to protect us are maliciously obedient to policies that address false risks not based on a threat model, let alone a reasonable one. And, they only care about the letter of the law and not the spirit. The risk mitigation lies in the spirit of the law. Stupidity and a police state lies in strict interpretation of the letter of the law, especially in the case of the TSA where Americans have no ability to confront their accusors and ensure any sense of just treatment under the law.

A great quote I have heard someone say (about "no tolerance" school gun/knife/drug/etc. policies) is that "no tolerance" polices like these are really "no thought" policies. They allow people to be maliciously obedient to idiotic policies and take away any hint of a rational thought process that would normally prevent humans (formerly known to be rational actors) from arriving at ridiculous conclusions to benign situations.

Posted by at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This story from my hometown of Seattle is further proof that the current airport security procedures are nothing more than window dressing and are leading to the loss of civil rights for innocent people.

When was the last time you heard about these security procedures actually catching a terrorist?

komo news | 'This Is Not Right'

DES MOINES - Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a principal at Pacific Middle School in Des Moines, and as of Sunday is also a suspected terrorist.

"This is not right," she told us. It's not right!"

During the stay she made sandwiches for the kids and was careful to pack the knives she used to prepare those sandwiches in her checked luggage. She says she even alerted security screeners that the knives were in her checked bags and they told her that was OK.

But Beaman says she couldn't find a third knife. It was a 5 1/2 inch bread knife with a rounded tip and a serrated edge. She thought she might have lost or misplaced it during the trip.

On the trip home, screeners with the Transportation Security Administration at Los Angeles International Airport found it deep in the outside pocket of a carry-on cooler. Beaman apologized and told them it was a mistake.

"You've committed a felony," Beaman says a security screener announced. "And you're considered a terrorist."

Beaman says she was told her name would go on a terrorist watch-list and that she would have to pay a $500 fine.

And to make it worse, you are guilty without the ability to confront your accuser and clear your name

She says screeners refused to give her paperwork or documentation of her violation, documentation of the pending fine, or a copy of the photograph of the knife.

"They said 'no' and they said it's a national security issue. And I said what about my constitutional rights? And they said 'not at this point ... you don't have any'."

Posted by at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Retard of the Month

No disrespect meant to the disabled, but the content is priceless. Going to keep an eye on this site. Perhaps it will show up in the links section soon.

Posted by at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John Gilmore points out how to have fun with bomb scanners by using hand lotion with Glycerine, or at least points out how easily such expensive equipment can be rendered useless. If equipment has any significant number of false-positives, be sure that it, or procedures, will tune out any hope of finding a real needle in the haystack.

Also, if you notice an "S" on your boarding pass, prepare for extra scrutiny at the airport. The TSA believes, based on often erroneous matching, that you are a member of its "Selectee" list of people who need additional security measures.

Be sure to check out EPIC's site, "Documents Show Errors in TSA's "No-Fly" Watchlist"

-----Original Message-----
From: John Gilmore [mailto:gnu@toad.com]
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2003 3:25 PM
To: Jason C Axley Exchange
Subject: Re: The War on David Nelson

> > ... people who want to see if their name is on either list or who
> > want to make a complaint, can call the agency's contact center at
> > 866-289-9673 or send an e-mail to TellTSA@tsa.dot.gov.
>
> Since this inquiry will no doubt result in a listing where none
previously
> existed, I would suggest that everyone reading this make an inquiry -
> *especially* those of us with very common names. Let the system break
under
> it's own weight.

If you want to break the system under its own weight, I also suggest
using lots of "Kiss My Face" honey scented hand cream. Someone
recently told me setting off the nitrogylcerin censors (oops, I mean
sensors) at that spot where they wipe down your bag with little pads
and then put them through a quick chemical analysis. When she set it
off, they went down a checklist of "Did you do X recently?" until they
got to "Did you put on hand cream recently?" They let her through, of
course; you probably can't blow up an airplane with hand cream. The
problem was with their sensorship, not with her.

If even 1% of travelers refused to show an ID, the system would also
break down under its own weight. Do your part. There is no law or
regulation that requires you to show ID. You are all being sheep for
violating your own privacy, for no reason, when ordered by people who
have no authority. Demand that they show you such a law, and refuse
to show ID until they identify one. As you go up the chain of
command, you will find that you have the option to be searched rather
than show an ID. In regimes where the laws are secret, the only way
to find out what the law is, is to not follow orders.

John

PS: I doubt that sending a complaint to TSA results in them adding you
to the no-fly list. It's random and arbitrary, but not THAT random
and arbitrary. If you want to see the complaints of some of the
ordinary people who TSA mousetraps every single time they enter an
airport, (not just the David Nelsons), check EPIC's FOIA results. The
dozens of complaints forwarded via Congresspeople are well worth
reading:

http://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=03/03/12/06265215;cmt=42

---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to
majordomo@metzdowd.com

Posted by at 10:53 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

How do you measure a cost-benefit for the new security measures or of your liberty? It is hard to even come up with a causal link from the "increased" security measures (ask me about the absurd experience I had in LAX...) to increased safety, let alone quantifying such a benefit.

There is also a discussion at http://www.plastic.com/article.html;sid=03/03/12/06265215;cmt=42

NYTimes.com Abstract

In an unusual twist on cost-benefit analysis, an economic tool that conservatives have often used to attack environmental regulation, top advisers to President Bush want to weigh the benefits of tighter domestic security against the ''costs'' of lost privacy and freedom.

Posted by at 10:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I may have to get this book:

Details from 480BC about painting anti-war sentiment as "disloyalty".

[IP] anti-war == disloyalty

Posted by at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

BlackBox Voting is reporting on a whistleblower lawsuit filed here in Washington state by a software engineer against his former employer VoteHere. He alleges that he was wrongfully terminated to silence his complaints while third party "certification" of the VoteHere system was being conducted. The lawsuit enumerates many of the system's flaws that he documented in defect reports. It is a must-read.

In other unbelievable news, Santa Clara County, CA and Collins County, TX both voted for electronic voting machines without paper audit trails against all sound advice from experts around the world. Santa Clara County reportedly cited the same kinds of "certifications" as evidence that the system is okay without the voter verifiable audit trail.

Posted by at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ABCNews is reporting that several police agencies are under fire for domestic spying. Those of you who think that the government can have all the power it thinks it wants without checks and balances should take heed that this certainly breeds abuses. Read this article. See the trend toward more domestic spying. Be afraid.

I hope that Seattle maintains their current ban on this practice.

ABCNEWS.com : Is Police Spying Back in Fashion?

Posted by at 4:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The Washington Post has a story about the victory for free speech handed down by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday. They upheld a lower court injunction blocking the law (COPA) as being too squishy to withstand constitutional muster.

"Previously, the 3rd Circuit had ruled the law unconstitutional on grounds that it allowed the legality of Internet content to be judged by "contemporary community standards."

Also see discussion at
Slashdot | Appeals Court Rejects Child Online Protection Act, Again

See the full decision here. Monitor any future developments at EPIC's site

Note: Updated on 3-12-03 to change content to reflect CIPA to COPA. This law acronym alphabet soup is just as bad as telecom's! A CIPA announcement came out recently but this was supposed to be about COPA...

Posted by at 4:11 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Among other nasty things, the US government is trying to make the use of encryption while committing a crime over a computer a new crime that would add 5 years onto your sentence, if convicted.

"If you order a book from Amazon.com and fail to pay state tax, the SSL session with Amazon supports a five year felony. [RFF - I'd also include using GSM cell phones with the built-in encryption....]"

The ACLU has a section-by-section analysis for the full dose of insanity.

[IP] Outlawing Encryption under PATRIOT II

Several members of congress have sent an open letter to John Ashcroft chiding him for the administration's handling of PATRIOT II. The Justice Department is being very secretive about this new act, even lying to congress about its existence even though it has been leaked on the Internet.

From the FoxNews story:

"If there's going to be a sequel let's find out what it's going to be" before reading about it in the newspapers, Leahy said, accusing the Justice Department of lying to his staff about whether a new bill was in the works.

Posted by at 1:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Seth Finkelstein has details on a troubling case about someone in Chester county in the UK complaining to google about a site run by someone calling themselves "Chester the Molester" as an illegal paedophile site that they found by searching for "Chester Guide" on google. The site, in fact, was not illegal at all but a list of "sick humor" that included a link to a humor article entitled, "Chester's guide to: picking up little girls".

So, all it takes is for someone to make a complaint, for google to not really research it, and you can get someone's site removed from google's cache.

[IP] Google removal - Chester's Guide to Molesting Google

Posted by at 8:53 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Senator Ron Wyden (D) from Oregon is pitching a simple idea to lead to a market-driven solution to the DRM problems being imposed on consumers: to require music companies to disclose to consumers the restrictions they will impose on the consumer's use of the product.

"When customers know, for example, that the compact disc they're buying is technologically rigged so they can't rip MP3 files from it for use on a portable player, they won't buy it. Eventually, these informed customers will demand change in the copyright laws."

[IP] Truth in labeling

Senator Seeks Full Copyright Disclosures

Posted by at 8:51 AM | Permalink

With all of the millions of protesters out there this weekend, you would think that Viacom would not be opposed to a fairly popular viewpoint being broadcast. However, they have refused to run an anti-war ad by MoveOn.org and have given an alleged lame rationale.

The organization was going to pay for the ads just like any other entity would. Interestingly, "According to Boyd, the donations came rolling in�after just two hours the group had met its goal." They raised $75,000 through an e-mail campaign in 2 hours!

Billboard Ban

Viacom won't run the ad but you can view it on MoveOn.org's website.

MoveOn.org's poster:

Posted by at 10:49 PM | Permalink

A Feb 10 American Bar Association resolution "urges Congress to ensure, through appropriate legislation, regular and timely oversight, and expanded
reporting requirements, that the FISA is used only when the government
has a significant foreign intelligence purpose -- as required by the
USA PATRIOT Act -- and not to circumvent the stricter Fourth Amendment
warrant requirements applicable to ordinary searches and surveillances. "

The ABA also lambasted the Bush Administration for denying so-called "enemy combatants" the right to meet with counsel. The vote was overwhelming, but not unanimous. About 70 or so ABA members voted against this measure.

Excerpt from EPIC Alert 10.03.

Posted by at 11:32 PM | Permalink

Declan McCullagh asks a good question on the cryptography list:

When encryption is omnipresent in everything from wireless networks to hard drives to SSH clients, might the basic effect of such a law [Patriot 2] be to boost potential maximum prison terms by five years?

It is a terrible idea to presume that using encryption is an aggravating circumstance. "Why are you using encryption? You must have something to hide..."

Original SAFE Act: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:h.r.00695:
Leaked new Patriot Act 2 draft: http://www.privacy.org/patriot2draft.pdf

Posted by at 11:23 PM | Permalink