Computer underground Digest Sun Oct 24 1993 Volume 5 : Issue 83 ISSN 1004-042X Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Copy Erattaer: Etaoin Shrdlu, III CONTENTS, #5.83 (Oct 24 1993) File 1--CuD is taking TWO WEEKS OFF (Returning 7 November) File 2--Elansky Accepts Plea Agreement (Hartford BBS update) File 3--A Foreign Embassy Information Infrastructure File 4--DES Broken? File 5--Computers & Sustainable Society File 6--Students Suspended For Electronic Documents File 7--NOMA (Nat'l Online Media Association) BBS Org. Formed File 8--A Reporter meets "cyberpunks" (news item) File 9--"Cyber Comics" (Monterey Cty Coast Weekly Summary) File 10--Belated response to F. Cohen (CuD 5.80) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically from tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu. 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. 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 the PC-EXEC BBS at (414) 789-4210; and on: Rune Stone BBS (IIRG WHQ) (203) 832-8441 NUP:Conspiracy; RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from 1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome. EUROPE: from the ComNet in LUXEMBOURG BBS (++352) 466893; In ITALY: Bits against the Empire BBS: +39-461-980493 ANONYMOUS FTP SITES: AUSTRALIA: ftp.ee.mu.oz.au (128.250.77.2) in /pub/text/CuD. EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/cud. (Finland) UNITED STATES: aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud etext.archive.umich.edu (141.211.164.18) in /pub/CuD/cud ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/cud halcyon.com( 202.135.191.2) in /pub/mirror/cud ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud (United Kingdom) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun 24 Oct 1993 15:19:41 CDT From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 1--CuD is taking TWO WEEKS OFF (Returning 7 November) CuD will be taking two weeks off, beginning after this issue (5.83). Conference and other travel from Oct 27 thru Nov 3, and "cold-turkey" withdrawal from all computer activity during that week means that we won't be answering mail for that eight day period. But, send in the articles and we'll deal with them on return. The next CuD (#5.84) will come out Sunday, 7 November. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, Sep 23 1993 11:22:18 CDT From: CuD Moderators (tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu) Subject: File 2--Elansky Accepts Plea Agreement (Hartford BBS update) ((MODERATORS' NOTE: The case of Michael Elansky (Ionizer), sysop of the former Ware House BBS in West Hartford, Ct., is drawing to a close. Elansky was arrested in August for making "anarchy files," both written by a 15 year old four years ago, available on his BBS. Although the case was compounded by Elansky's previous legal problems, the arrest specifically for possession of Constitutionally protected literature was seen by CuD editors and many others as a potential threat to freedom of expression in cyberspace (see CuD 5.69, 5.71, 5.72, 5.78). While not formally dropping the charges for the literature, a failure that we find troubling, the charges will not be pursued. As Richard Brown, Elansky's attorney, observes, the prosecutor appears to have violated the Constitution. If so, it would be refreshing to the prosecutor held to the same standards of criminal liability to which Elansky and others are held. We are indebted to the anonymous reader who provided the information from the Hartford Courant, edited to conform to "fair use" guidelines)). ++++++++ "WEST HARTFORD MAN MAY GET 3-YEAR TERM IN BOMB RECIPE CASE" By Matthew Kauffman, The Hartford Courant, Oct. 23, 1993 A 21-year-old West Hartford man will not be prosecuted for running a computer bulletin board that told how to make bombs and kill law-enforcement agents, but faces as many as three years in prison on other charges. ((The article explains that Elansky has been held in jail since August on $500,000 bond. As part of a plea agreement on Friday, Elansky admitted to two violations of probation that could include up to three years in state prison)). But Elansky's attorney asked Superior Court Judge Thomas P. Miano to impose no additional prison time. After an hour, Miano halted the Friday sentencing hearing without deciding whether Elansky belongs behind bars. ((The judge indicated that he simply didn't know enough Elansky to make a decision, and required additional time)). Authorities have portrayed Elansky as a dangerous young man, obsessed with explosives and antagonistic toward police. When officials gained access to the bulletin board, they found a file replete with bomb recipes and techniques for "maiming or mortally wounding" law enforcement agents. A Massachusetts man has since acknowledged writing the file. ................ Elansky was given a suspended sentence in 1988 after police found two pipe bombs and gunpowder in a basement workroom of his home. Elansky's father, David Elansky, said Friday that the devices were small incendiaries Elansky had constructed as part of a pyrotechnic display sanctioned by Hall High School, where Elansky was a student. He was arrested again last fall and charged with participating in a burglary at Hall High School in which several bottles of volatile chemicals were stolen. In his basement, police found homemade explosives _ which David Elansky said were part of a high school graduation show. A door in the basement, authorities said, had been rigged with a device that would propel a glass bottle at intruders. That charge also would not be prosecuted as part of Friday's plea bargain. ................. In Superior Court in Hartford Friday, Brown harshly criticized the August arrest, saying the information on the computer was protected by the First Amendment. "It's my very strong feeling that the state of Connecticut, in its zeal to get something on this defendant, violated the constitution of the United States, the constitution of the state of Connecticut and perhaps certain laws," Brown said. ((Elansky's attorney held up a copy of the Anarchist's Cook, purchased at Barnes and Noble, for $20, according to the story. As indicated in CuD 5.78, the volume, along with numerous other over-the-counter publications available to anyone with purchase price, contains explicit instructions for pyrotechnic and other forms of destruction. Such volumes are protected under the First Amendment)). ............ Brown said Elansky may not have taken the criminal justice system or his probation seriously, but said that changed the day in August he was put in jail. Since then, Brown said, Elansky has been assaulted twice, has witnessed a hanging and has had to bribe other inmates daily to ensure his safety. ------------------------------ Date: Sat 23 Oct 1993 2:21:17 CDT From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 3-- A Foreign Embassy Information Infrastructure ((MODERATORS' NOTE: The following, reprinted from The Well's EFF conference, describes another proposal for connecting the world in cyberspace. Reprinted with the permission of the author (amicus@well.sf.ca.us) Author: Ross Stapleton, Intelligence Community Management Staff The US Government should organize and subsidize the creation of an Internet-based information infrastructure for the foreign embassies sited in Washington DC, in order to encourage those embassies to host information of interest to US audiences, to facilitate delivery of US government information to those embassies (and through them, to the sponsoring countries' governments and populace), and to establish a better means for US citizens to correspond with foreign governments. The Washington DC-based diplomatic community is a convenient scope for such a program: having the prospective users local to Washington would make them easier to train and support through the start-up phase; the existing US information infrastructure is much better than many parts of the international and foreign infrastructure; and many or most of the embassies are already repositories for information (albeit largely in nonelectronic form today) that they could be encouraged to provide to a US audience. There are a total of XX embassies in the Washington DC area, along with YY foreign and international government missions. The program would have three major goals: 1. Provide a means for foreign governments, initially through their embassies, to provide a broad range of information of interest to US citizens through the developing US information infrastructure; 2. Provide the US government a faster, more efficient, and more direct means of providing a broad range of information of interest to foreign governments, initially through their embassies (in both the first two goals, it could be expected that embassies would also develop better means to exchange information with their sponsoring governments--very likely through the Internet--and to lessen their obligation to serve as intermediaries); 3. Provide a focus for US citizen interest in foreign countries, for correspondence with foreign officials and governments. As one possible implementation strategy, the US State Department could commission the creation of an Internet site (e.g., a domain of "embassies.int") and provide funding for service, support and training, as well as for some amount of communications equipment to be provided to participating embassies (the last might be unnecessary where participating embassies could provide their own resources, or where corporate or other sponsors might be found to contribute resources). At a minimum, each participating embassy would have at least one Internet account (e.g., "ecuador@embassies.int") for electronic mail purposes. Each embassy that chose to expand its investment in the facility could be provided with its own subdomain (e.g., "france.embassies.int") for the provision of additional services. Each participating embassy should agree at a minimum to provide (1) simple correspondence, which need be nothing more than an auto-response message instructing on how to reach the embassy via traditional means (telephone, fax or letter), (2) basic information on embassy services (e.g., how to receive and file forms for visas), and (3) additional information (economic, cultural, etc.) likely to be of interest to a US audience, in order to build up the program's general information resources, to be made available to the public through standard Internet research tools (e.g., WAIS, Gopher, etc.). The US State Department, with other US foreign policy agencies, would make use of the program for the dissemination, to the embassies, of policy and other materials. This would provide the US government with an efficient and timely means to disseminate information to the whole of the participating embassy community (and this could be done in a manner that would permit the embassies to "pull" information of interest rather than have it "pushed" at them, allowing for a far greater volume of information to be made available without overburdening the recipients). ------------------------------ Date: Fri 22 Oct 92 23:41:43 CDT From: jonpugh@NETCOM.COM(Jon Pugh) Subject: File 4--DES Broken? I recently read a report in a bit of email named the SURFPUNK Technical Journal that a Canadian researcher recently presented a paper describing a dedicated chip designed to break DES. The article claimed that this chip could be manufactured for $10.50 and that a machine with ~30,000 of these could be built for $1,000,000 which would have a 100% probability of breaking ANY DES encryption in a maximum of 7 hours (3.5 hours on the average). I was wondering if the CuD authors or readers had heard anything of this and could verify or denounce its authenticity. This seems like news that ought to be in CuD. As is usual with things of this nature, I seem to have moved the file to some other disk and do not have it accessible here to quote from, but if you are interested I may be able to locate it and send it along later. Perhaps the Surfpunks would care to comment? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1993 01:42:16 EDT From: phyland@AOL.COM Subject: File 5--Computers & Sustainable Society NEWS RELEASE Worldwatch Institute 1776 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20036 tel: (202)452-1999 fax: (202)296-7365 e-mail: worldwatch@igc.apc.org HOLD FOR RELEASE 6 p.m. EDT Saturday, September 25, 1993 COMPUTERS OFFER NEW TOOLS FOR SOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS Faster, cheaper computers, better programs, and rapidly expanding international computer networks are becoming extraordinary tools for environmental protection and sustainable development, according to Global Network: Computers in a Sustainable Society, a new Worldwatch Institute study. Computers have made it possible to model the effects of air pollution on the global climate, as well as to track changes in global temperature. Biologists now use computerized animal collars to study endangered species, monitoring their every movement. Microchips govern the functions of energy-efficient lights, advanced windmills and solar power installations. And thousands of environmental activists and organizations around the world are using computer networks to exchange news and coordinate campaigns. There are environmental costs to computerization, however. "Swept up in our visions of the potential power of computers, we have failed to come to grips with their impacts," said author John E. Young. "Few people realize that Silicon Valley, birthplace of the computer industry, is also home to the highest concentration of hazardous-waste sites in the United States. Or that computers now use about as much electricity each year as the entire country of Brazil." In addition, for computers to realize their potential to promote environmental sustainability, the report stresses, more attention needs to be devoted ensuring public access to computerized information. Computer modeling now makes it possible to identify environmental problems before they become overwhelming, by manipulating thousands of variables. Scientists had theorized since 1896 that carbon dioxide emissions could warm the global atmosphere, but it was not until the early 1980s--when sufficiently powerful computers became available--that climate simulations were able to project with confidence the effects of increased carbon dioxide on climate. In British Columbia, the Sierra Club of Western Canada is using computers to create detailed maps of forest cover on Vancouver Island. Their system has revealed that only 23 percent of the island's original low-elevation, temperate rain forests--an increasingly endangered ecosystem--remain uncut. Eighty-two percent of the island's land is currently allocated to logging. This information has proved vital in the fight to gain government protection for ancient rainforests on the island. Linked together by telecommunications networks, computers are also rapidly becoming an important means of communication for environmentalists and other researchers and activists. The largest collection of computer networks--the Internet--already serves 11 million users; its transmissions are estimated to double every five months. The 11 interconnected networks of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) make up the world's largest assembly of on-line environmental information and activists. The APC networks--which include Econet/Peacenet in the United States--now link more than 17,000 activists in 94 countries. The APC's computer conferences convey information that is detailed, global, and breathtakingly up-to-date. Recently, for example, an APC posting on rainforests reported the murder of Yanomami Indians in a remote corner of the Amazon Basin days before major United States newspapers. The Washington, D.C.-based Right-to-Know Computer Network (RTK Net) offers free, online access to the U.S. government's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The TRI database provides information on industrial releases of toxic chemicals from some 24,000 U.S. industrial facilities. Grassroots groups around the country have used TRI information to produce dozens of reports on pollution, garnering public attention and spurring industry cleanup efforts in a number of states. Agenda 21, accepted by all United Nations members at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, recommends that all nations move to establish such pollution tracking systems. While computer networks are most extensive in the United States, Europe, and Japan, they also reach into many developing countries, as well as the newly democratic states of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Sophisticated communications programs that can run on inexpensive computers are helping link users in remote areas with the rest of the world--often overcoming inadequate telephone systems in the process. Yet Global Network emphasizes that the computer industry needs to address its own contributions to environmental pollution. There are now 23--and there have been as many as 29--federal Superfund hazardous-waste cleanup sites in Silicon Valley, most of them attributed to hazardous substances leaking from electronics facilities into groundwater. Many of those substances--such as glycol ethers, linked to high rates of miscarriages among electronics workers--can cause serious human health problems. The Worldwatch study recommends that governments and computer manufacturers expand their efforts to redesign computers and manufacturing processes to minimize environmental problems.One such project--the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star Computers program--already promises major benefits. It offers the use of a special advertising logo to firms whose computers, monitors, or printers meet power-saving standards. Nearly 150 makers of computers, components, and software have signed up. EPA officials estimate that if Energy Star products capture two-thirds of the market by the year 2000, their use could prevent carbon dioxide emissions equal to the annual output of 5 million automobiles. Global Network cautions that computers will not solve all the world's problems, but argues that they can help people "think globally," as Rene Dubos once recommended. If applied appropriately, Young suggests, "Computers can give us global eyes and ears in an age where our actions often have worldwide impacts." "Made easy to use and accessible to all, computers and computer networks could become a force for reducing the environmental impacts of industrial civilization, ending poverty, and strengthening participatory democracy," Young concludes." - END - John E. Young is a senior researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based global environmental think tank. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 16:26:51 PDT From: ug384@FREENET.VICTORIA.BC.CA(Jeff Kosiorek) Subject: File 6--Students Suspended For Electronic Documents Two Mount Olive (N.J.) High School freshmen have been given three days of in school suspension for possession of documents protected under the First Amendment. School administrators have decided that they have the right to censor any document or material they feel is inappropriate. Two students in the high school were caught in possession of computer disks containing copies of the "Jolly Roger Cookbook" which is widely available, and completely legal, on computer bulletin boards everywhere. The disks were confiscated, parents were notified, and police were involved in the investigation into materials which are protected under the Constitution. Where do school officials get the right to censor any type of publication a student may have in his or her possession? Furthermore, how can they punish these youths when even the investigating officer, Detective Joseph Kluska said, "It's not illegal to know how to do these things." The students were not in anyway using the information found in the cookbook for illegal activities yet they are being punished only because the vice principal, John DiColo, deems them "inappropriate". In a school where they profess the merits of the American Constitution and the rights protected therein, the hypocrisy is absurd. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I just thought everyone might like to know what was going on in my neck of the woods. I find it absolutely ridiculous that these students are being punished for something that is completely legal. I feel the only reason it is made an issue is because of the fact it was found on computer disks. Who would have stood for the seizing of a paperback book and punishment of the student who possessed it? It would be really nice if the EFF could pick up on this and put some pressure on the school to exonerate these students. Any individual interested in making their opinion heard, please write to the school at: Mount Olive HS Flanders, NJ 07836 USA The telephone number for the school is: (201) 927-2200. The local paper that first carried an article on the topic was: The Mount Olive Chronicle 336 Route 46 PO Box 174 Budd Lake, NJ 07828 Feel free to copy and distribute this article. -- Jeff Kosiorek ug384@freenet.victoria.bc.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 16:12:10 CDT From: Lance Rose Subject: File 7--NOMA (Nat'l Online Media Association) BBS Org. Formed NOMA National Online Media Association Contacts: Phill Liggett LIGGETT@delphi.com (203)233-3163 Lance Rose elrose@echonyc.com (201)509-1700 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE A new trade association, the National Online Media Association (NOMA), was formed at ONE BBSCON '93 in Colorado Springs on August 27th, 1993. NOMA comprises BBS operators, Internet service providers, and other online media and services. NOMA's mission is to act for the BBS and online service industry on matters of national importance by creating an industry presence in Washington, D.C. and other means; assist its members at the state and local levels; educate the public on the unique social, business and legal roles of BBS's and other online services; establish appropriate industry standards and guidelines; promote business development in the industry; and maintain and provide access to resources and industry information for use by the public and the industry. An 11 person Organizing Committee was elected to develop a proposal for NOMA's charter, bylaws, membership requirements, structure, and form of leadership. The proposal is to be completed and distributed within the BBS and online services industry by November 30th, 1993. Discussion areas are being set up immediately for those interested in participating in NOMA's early development. An Internet mailing list is available to all those interested at natbbs@echonyc.com (subscribe to natbbs-request@echonyc.com). A conference area is also being made available on the Delphi national information service. The members of NOMA's Organizing Committee are: Phill Liggett - Chairperson LIGGETT@delphi.com Joe Balshone BALSHONE@delphi.com Celeste Clark BBS #: (805)520-2300 Pat Clawson 76357.3572@compuserve.com P. Victor Grambsch - Secretary PVICTOR@delphi.com Tony McClenny BBS#: (703)648-1841 Robert Pataki PUGDOG@delphi.com W. Mark Richmond BBS#: (209)685-8487 Steve Sprague steve.sprague@uboa.org Jim Taylor jim.taylor@F5.N310.Z1.FIDONET.ORG Bill Wilt wilt@aol.com In addition, three advisors agreed to assist NOMA's Organizing Committee: Mike Godwin, Esq. mnemonic@eff.org David Johnson, Esq. djohns06@reach.com Lance Rose, Esq. elrose@echonyc.com For further information, please contact Phill Liggett, (203)233- 3163 or Lance Rose, Esq., (201)509-1700 Mailing Address: NOMA c/o Phill Liggett Solutions, Inc. 89 Seymour Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06119 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 21:35:31 -0700 From: haynes@CATS.UCSC.EDU(Jim Haynes) Subject: File 8--A Reporter meets "cyberpunks" (news item) This week's (October 21) "Coast Weekly", a Monterey County free entertainment (mostly) paper has an article on "hacking" by staff writer Nicole Volpe. I'll quote part of an introduction from the editorial page. "While interviewing computer hackers for this issue, it occurred to me that there are a lot of similarities between reporters and cyberpunks - We share a belief in freedom of information, a general suspicion of those in power who operate secretly, and an unfortunate tendency to invade privacy. This reporter got a taste of what it's like to be on the receiving end of privacy invasion when a hacker I was interviewing handed me a printout of personal information about me that he had retrieved, using nothing more than my home phone number. His reasons were valid enough - he wanted to be sure I was who I said I was. As a reporter I was impressed with the investigation, but on a personal level, it gave me the creeps. It was a lesson they don't teach you in J-school..." The main article covers the exploits of some crackers in the Monterey area, their concern about the Clipper proposal, some stuff about arrests of crackers in other parts of the country, and an interview with a security man from Metromedia's long distance business. The latter says, "If you picked up the phone a year ago, dialed one digit, and then hung up, I could go back and find out what that one digit was. All the records are stored on magnetic tape." He goes on to say about the prospect of seizing and confiscating valuable equipment, "The cops are a little more aggressive in going after these kinds of crimes when they learn about that aspect of it." A companion article by Hannah Nordhaus, a San Francisco freelance writer, tells about the use of networking and BBSes by all kinds of groups, from white-supremacisist to leftists, and everything in between. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 23 Oct 93 22:13:17 -0700 From: haynes@CATS.UCSC.EDU(Jim Haynes) Subject: File 9--"Cyber Comics" (Monterey Cty Coast Weekly Summary) "Cyber Comics" by Matt Ashare (in Coast Weekly for October 21, 1993 - says it originally appeared in Boston Phoenix, doesn't say when.) "Comic books are a longtime fixture in America's traditional love of escapism. primarily they've been a forum for exploring the realm of fantasy and science fiction... The most popular comics have also touched on the themes of the day. Superman of the '50s was a clean cut crusader for Truth, Justice, and the American Way;... The genetically mutated X-Men came of age as the effects of radiation and other biological toxins were becoming an issue in the '60s; to the extent that they were shunned by 'normal' society, they personified the tensions in an increasingly diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural landscape. The scientific frontier that offers the most possibilities these days is the computer, and sure enough, computer-based themes like virtual reality, artificial intelligence AIl, and hacking are rapidly finding their way into the pages of comic books. At the same time the comic-book vision of reality and the future has darkened to accommodate the contemporary perception that the world isn't the friendly place it was when Clark Kent was growing up in Smallville.... The first comic-book experiments with cyberpunk began a decade ago, with more sophisticated precursors to the graphic novel like Frank Miller's "Ronin"...issued by DC Comics in 1983...[Ronin's] most telling enemy is a thoroughly hostile, violent, and lawless urban reality where one of his few allies is the computer. Merging form and content, First Comics published "Shatter", the first fully computer generated comic, in 1985....a loose affiliation of renegade, non-superhero protagonists has to confront another common cyberpunk enemy - a government controlled by a powerful, exploitative, multinational corporation. The kind of government that cyberpunk fiction seems made of. [for?]... ...DCs computer-generated "Digital Justice" graphic novel, a Batman program is booted up to counter the Joker's computer virus. Hey, even the Punisher's arch enemy, the Kingpin, gets a little assistance from a skateboarding hacker kid these days. More recently, both DC and Marvel have introduced new series that deal almost exclusively with cyberpunk themes. "The Hacker Files" which ended its 12-issue run this summer, is part of the same DC universe that's home to traditional heroes in tights like Green Lantern, but the protagonist is a scruffy thirtysomething hacker who uses computers instead of superpowers to fight his battles. ...Lewis Shiner, a writer whose 1984 novel Frontera(Bane) was part of the first cyberpunk wave, at the creative helm of "The Hacker Files"... 'Right after that computer virus at the Pentagon,' recalls Shiner, 'Bob Greenberger [a DC editor] calmed me and asked, "Why don't you do a comic about that and we'll get all these kid hackers started reading comics."...' As Shiner sees it, 'the idea of empowerment is what's behind a lot of superheroes, and the computer represents a source of empowerment to kids these days, so it's only natural...' "Wild Thing", Marvel Comics described... Beyond providing some colorful, escapist thrills, comic books like "Wild Thing" present a bleak, paranoid view of the future. Multinationals rule the world, violence and betrayal are commonplace, virtual reality is a new kind of drug, and computers are the heroes' only real friends." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 10:07:48 -0700 From: bjones@WEBER.UCSD.EDU(Bruce Jones) Subject: File 10--Belated response to F. Cohen (CuD 5.80) To recap the argument to date, Fredrick B. Cohen (fc@jupiter.saic.com) notes (CuD 5.78) that he once applied for permission to export crypto technology and was granted permission to do so. Finding it relatively easy to obtain permission, he fails to see what the fuss is about. I counter (CuD 5.79) that I see no reason why anyone should have to apply for permission in the first place. He responds (CuD. 5.80) with: >... why should I need any permission from the government for >anything? Perhaps I shouldn't, but the fact is, [the gov't has] >the power, and if you work within the structure, you may find that >it is not as oppressive as you thought. "Not as oppressive as [I you we] thought" implies some oppression. Now, perhaps I am again mis-reading you and all you are really saying is that, if the government imposes restrictions on specific activities and then allows permission, upon application, for citizens to engage in those activities, there is little or no problem. I disagree. It is important for a people who would be free to stay alive to the dangers inherent in all forms of power -- especially those that take away rights and then hand them back under license as privileges. As I noted at the end of my first response, one of the founding ideas of the United States of America is that the government of the US is ideologically and legally constrained by the powers granted it under law, and all other rights and privileges belong, by default, to the people. Mr. Cohen asks: >Where does the constitution say this? I agree that I would prefer >it that way, but I don't think there is any basis in law for your >statement. These ideals and ideas are part of two important documents, founding our country. The idea arises first, early in: THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: In Congress, July 4, 1776, THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA [Paragraph 3] That to secure these rights [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. And is instantiated in Law in: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Amendment IX (1791) The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment X (1791) The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. The government doesn't have rights. Amendment IX above says, quite clearly, that the people have rights, some enumerated under the Constitution, and others not enumerated but extant nevertheless. The government, under Amendment X requires permission from the people to engage in specified acts. Many agencies of our government seem to have forgotten these passages and they act as though their agencies and agents have the moral, legal, and ethical right to hand down decisions on how we may live. Just because they get away with such high-handed behavior most of the time doesn't make the agencies, the agents, or their decisions just. Nor as they discovered in the Steve Jackson Games case, and may again discover with PGP, does it make their actions legally justifiable. ------------------------------ End of Computer Underground Digest #583