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Hackers: Uncle Sam Wants You!
scraemondaemon writes: "A new TV public service announcement targets U.S. computer hacktivists with a blunt message: Uncle Sam wants you to help fight the war on terrorism. They demonize you and criminalize you and then ask for your help. What's a hacker to do?"
simply come to the (insert local large public gathering place here) to pick up your prize!
a trick routinely employed by authorities to catch wanted criminals. they send out a mass mailing to wanted individuals stating they've won something fantastic, and all they have to do is show up to claim it. they show up, and their prize is an all expense stay in levenworth 8-)
of course, i'm sure our government wouldn't do something like this to hackers.
for the motivated, self starter, http://www.shamalbank.com/ is a bank with known bin laden accounts 8-)
not that i'm suggesting anything...
Frankly, I was hoping that there'd be an opportunity for those of us who are old and/or out of shape to do something more to help the war effort than just giving blood. I can't shoot for beans, but I can run cables and configure routers and code and so on and so on. I'd love to do something meaningful.
six months ago i would never have imagined vint cerf appearing in an ad during a new buffy on upn telling me not to hack web sites in afghanistan.
funny how things change.
go get it
After we haxor his boxen and root his servers and change all of their index.html files, then and ONLY then will Omar Bin Laden and his cohorts know they have been owned.
Their server farms and e-commerce terrorist sites that litter the internet cafes of Afghanistan will feel our rath. Our exploits will decimate their ftp sites and not a single router will go unpunished.
While the superficial similarities between rewarding spook hackers and punishing civilian hackers seem sufficient to establish gross hypocrisy on the part of the Federal government, it's in fact little different from the time-honored tradition of our military and other militaries which, for aeons, have hired people to commit the same act of killing that would be punished as murder if it had been committed by a civilian acting without state authorization. Big deal.
What's more, the Sixth Amendment's "double jeopardy" clause is still in effect (one of the few clauses with some teeth left in it after decades of judicial erosion). If the Federal government establishes an arrangement whereby criminal acts are committed by individuals acting under government aegis and with the encouragement of state agents, then those acts cannot be subsequently punished (apart from certain situations such as genocide and other circumscribed offenses). One only need remind oneself of Whitey Bulger (on the FBI's most wanted list) who has gotten the FBI into a bit of a morass by acting as an informant for many years and during those years receiving tacit permission from the FBI to commit all manner of offenses including murder. The egg on the FBI's face hangs pendulously, because the FBI is now without legal recourse to punish those acts.
That glib tone is unbecoming, by the way.
Vint Cerf was interviewed on NPR's Public Interest yesterday. You can listen to it in RealAudio here. He makes a great case for how the Internet was put its first real test of the original intention of using packet switching, which was to ensure a reliable method of communication in the event of an enemy attack here on US soil - and passed the test pretty well, with the exception of some of the major media sites being slashdotted.
He is joined by George Sadowski, Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy Initiative, GIPI.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
The FBI and CIA have been known to do turnabouts on hackers. Just ask Max Vision. The gov't fought long and hard to demonize and criminalize even the whitest hats of hacking, and Ashcroft's pushing to get them labeled as terrorist acts on top of that.
The DoD's had it's fair share of smudged histories. Be Alert. Keep your pistol handy.
Yes, you can be useful in combatting terrorism. Just make sure you know where the line is getting drawn and be on the correct side of it.
And realize that some of combatting terrorism may go against projects you've been supporting, like anonymous remailers, strong crypto for everyone, anti-censorship protections, and the elusive set of projects working to enable dissidents in countries such as China to safely communicate with the outside world. These and other tools can also be used by the bad guys, and will no doubt become targets.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
If I was ever actually drafted to fight in a war, I know the DOD would rather have a talented computer programmer than another warm body in the front lines. Besides, it takes 3 years to train a soldier to do his (or her) job well.
Ummm, yeah. Right.
Be careful, here. US Marine Corps Boot Camp is 13 weeks, plus anoth 12 weeks of advanced infantry training. That's just over six months, start to finish. Training HVPI's (High Velocity Projective Interceptors) doesn't take three years at all. How is that possible, when the Army has a two-year contract for an Infantry position?
And, as a former Marine, I would state that any "talented computer hacker" who knows nothing about the actual operations of the military would be better off catching bullets than writing bugs.
- Hans
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. -
You've never been in the military I take it? Let me fill you in. It don't mean squat what you know when you go in. Yes you could get lucky and they make use of your computer skills, but I've seen plenty of people with technical skills get plopped right in the infantry. I've even seen people sign up for technical training, receive it, and THEN get sent to infantry school. When you sign the contract, all they gaurantee you is training in a particular MOS (miltary occupational specialty). It does NOT mean that's how you will be assigned. If combat arms needs bodies, that's where you go. Three years to train a soldier? Where'd you get that from? You go from raw recruit to front line soldier in 12 weeks. And this is in the peacetime military, where the need for combat soldiers is not so great. In a draft situation, you're pretty much gauranteed nice comfy accomodations in a foxhole.
-Jeff
-Vercingetorix
"Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
In WWII Alan Turing was recruited by the allies for his mathematical genius. He essentially saved the world from fascism, and afterwards he was demonized and led to suicide by a government that disagreed with his lifestyle.
The government has been known to do turnabouts. Just ask Osama Bin Laden.
I rejoice that there are owls.
At least, I hope it was a joke. There is nothing to attack in Afghanistan.. The Taliban banned the internet a while back because it permitted access to "immoral content". Afghanistan doesn't have an information infrastructure, much less one that connects to the big wide world.
Check out the .af domain sometime. Totally barren. That's what makes this whole thing so ridiculous.
This
You think they'd have messed with 767's if they had nukes? This isn't a game.
You think they'd have done anything at all if the CIA, through Pakistan's ISI, hadn't trained them to be extremists? Like you said, this isn't a game - I just wish states and their "intelligence" arms would realize that next time someone involved with them feels like installing a military junta or training "freedom fighters" to "uphold policy". Nations in both East and West are guilty of this, and until these deadly cloak-and-dagger games of subversion and manipulation stop, there will be more incidents involving "blowback," where innocent civilians - like WTC employees, and women in Afghanistan - get caught in the crossfire of others who should know better.
And you wonder why people trust their governments less and less...
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
They ask hackers to help them.
But they don't say how.
For all we know maybe they just want to test biological weapons on us.
From the article:
"Cyberangels hopes to enlist politically motivated hackers instead to help with online intelligence gathering, such as tracking down computer criminals who attempt to attack the Internet infrastructure, said Aftab.
The organization is also seeking information on any terrorist groups that may have attempted to commission computer security experts to aid them, she said."
Seems pretty clear to me. Contact the cyberangels and offer your services if you believe you can help gather intelligence, or give them ayn info you may have on terrorists attemptimg to commission security experts.
It looks to me like they have contact info on their website
Stupid like a fox!
The English tried this before... giving ships the right to be privateers, attack their opponents, and keep the loot. When the war ended, the government took back the permission, and pirates were born.
I'm not an USA citizen, but if I was, that's what I'd do: write an open letter to the Govt, saying I'd be happy to help if they (a) nullify the DMCA, (b) nullify the Sonny Bono Act, (c) abort the SSSCA and (d) FIRE ASHCROFT!
Publish on a Web site. Ask for signatures. Make clear that the signers DO mean to enlist if the above happens.
As I said, I'm not from the US, so it'd be weird if I made such page myself. Anyone who likes the suggestion, fell free to go ahead. The idea is hereby placed in the public domain.
EXT - NAMELESS AFGHAN PLAIN - MORNING.
An Apache helicopter settles onto the barren plain. Out from it emerge three plain males. They wear an assortment of camouflage combined with curious t-shirts, with sayings like "I don't work here" and "will frag for bandwidth".
Just as Geek1 begins to aim his machine gun at JonKatz, to put an end to his ravings once and for all, a crazed member of the Taliban comes flying over the desert horizon. He is screaming something.
The Geeks all stop and look at him. Terror strikes into their very hearts and souls. The words of their enemy shock them into utter panic. The three begin to flee in the opposite direction, now heading directly into a minefield. Geek1 stops running, a serene expression coming across his face. He grabs Geek2's shoulder by his t-shirt, quietly, allowing JonKatz to continue to flee further into the minefield. The two geeks turn to face their adversary, brandishing their weapons with a newfound confidence and sense of purpose. JonKatz vanishes over the horizon, screaming wildly.
CUT TO...
"You think they'd have messed with 767's if they had nukes?"
Hell yes! The goal of these extremists is to destabalize the US and give their own forces a chance to set up what is essentially a police state across the Muslim world. Think of the Iron Curtain back in the bad old days.
Stratfor.com suggests that bin Laden and his peers feel that they can get the US out of the picture by dragging the US into another Vietnam-esque war, destabalizing the US government as Americans get pissed off once again at the meat grinder war a conventional invasion of Afghanistan would turn out to be.
The reason such an invasion of Afghanistan would be such a pain is because we need to borrow other countries' airspace (if not ground bases). A nuclear attack by these terrorists, on the other hand, would justify a nuclear response by the US on the terrorsits and their sponsor countries (legally if not morally). ICBMs don't need to travel through anybody's airspace but ours and the target's. We might be nice and borrow Pakistan's airspace just long enough to send over B-52s to drop leaflets warning civilians near targets to get out of the way, but that's it.
When it's all over, instead of taking over the Islamic world, there may not be an Islamic world for these people to take over.
These people may be cruel, but they're not stupid. They know they need a US hampered by it's own morality/decadence/sloth (depends on your point of view) than MIRVs raining down on their heads.
As a Brit that has been living in the States for the last couple of months I've had the opportunity to experience the behaviour of the US media and the government first hand, and to be honest it makes me sick. Let's get a few things straight:
.mil or a .gov.
- America is the largest producer and exporter of weapons on the planet.
- America has the largest arsenal of nuclear and toxic weapeons on the planet.
- America is the largest producer and exportor of torture equipment on the planet.
- America is the largest producer and exportor of anti-personnel landmines on the planet.
America supports more oppressive regimes around the world than anyone else, as and when it suits them. A while ago they were supplying the Iraqis with weapons. Then they went after them. During the Russo-Afghan war, they were funding, supplying and even training the very afghans that are now described as 'evil'. 20 years ago they were called freedom fighter. Now they are deemed 'evil'.
Two weeks ago hacking was illegal. Now it's OK, just as long as it's not a
Just because you are not shooting at someone doesn't mean your actions are peaceful. This is another attempt by the American government to whip up what is already a frenzy of 'They're evil! Get them!' sentiment.
If people had the foresight to try and work out *why* the events of the 11th happened, then maybe we could make some progress. As it is we'll be bombarded with the same old footage of disaster and death followed by Bush claiming that these people are 'evil'.
No doubt people will start port-scanning the few afghan/islamic websites that are around. Maybe while you are waiting you go to Amazon and buy The Plague by Camus. Oh, and switch of CNN.
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
I saw a letter about this in the most recent (summer 2001, p. 52) issue of 2600. It is as follows...
"Dear 2600: I was going to send you an e-mail two weeks ago stating that we should channel many of our frustrations with the U.S. justice system toward our adversaries, i.e., China. All of us in the U.S. hacker community are still U.S. citizens. Let us not completely denounce our country. We can utilize our special skills in a constructive manner that is conducive to U.S. information warfare policy. Later, we may use this as legal leverage for future legislation. -ICFN PMP
*response* As one of many such messages we got from the Navy, let us remind you that hackers are not soldiers and are far too individualistic and free-thinking to buy into jingoistic nonsense, regardless of the source. You should seriously consider the effects of reducing hackers to the equivalent of some kind of weapon. It will only increase paranoia and fear. And we find it extremely telling that the authorities, the media, and apparantly a whole lof of people in the military feel it's OK to vandalize sites if it's done for nationalistic purposes."
(As an aside, there's an interesting picture of an Ewok holding a rifle behind the article)
It would seem quite hypocritical for us (typical /. posters), who are so against Big Brother poking his nose into our business to turn right back around and do EXACTLY the same thing to other members of the US public. I seriously doubt "fighting terrorism" involves busting into a secret (insert arabic country here) computer and taking vital military plans. Rather, it will involve spying on your neighbors and seeking internal 'threats,' probably in ways which violate the 4th amendment to the constitution.
A different kind of animal