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Slashback: Petdom, Denial, Confusion
In an e-mail to Declan McCullagh which has also been posted on his PoliTech mailing list McAfee said the following:
"Dear Sir/Madam:
- Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation has not contacted the FBI, nor has the FBI contacted NAI/McAfee.com Corp., regarding Magic Lantern.
- We do not expect the FBI to contact Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation regarding Magic Lantern.
- Network Associates/McAfee.com Corp. is not going to speculate on Magic Lantern as its existence has not even been confirmed by the FBI or any government agency.
- Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation does and will continue
to comply with any and all U.S. laws and legislation.
Marisa Lewis
Investor Relations Manager
McAfee.com Corporation
NASDAQ: MCAF
535 Oakmead Parkway
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
408-992-8100 phone
408-720-8450 fax
www.mcafee.com"
In a subsquent post AP reporter Ted Bridis responed by saying: "I stand by my reporting for the AP. This information came from a senior company officer. I won't identify this person in this post because I've been unable to reach this person by phone or e-mail since the flap erupted."
He also noted that McAfee never specificly denied that they might write such allowances (for Magic Lantern) into their software, it just says that they have yet to have been asked to.
Original story on slashdot and Politech with follow ups
McAfee's Response and Ted Bridis' response"
Rethinking is always a good idea. javester writes: "Sony has come to its senses and has struck a deal with AIBOPET, after the fan site was shut down when Sony's lawyers came calling last week of October.
Way to go Sony and AIBOPET!!!! More power to both of you for finding a compromise where everybody wins! Hopefully, other parties having DMCA tussles follow Sony's and AIBOPET's example, and have more constructive discussions instead of legal suits galore."
Penguin cause pollution. x136 writes "I saw this on my local Fox affiliate, but found a link on LinuxWorld. IBM has been fined again for spraypainting their blue "Peace, Love & Linux" logo, this time on the streets of San Francisco. The bill? $120,000. First Chicago, then San Francisco ... Who thought this was a good idea in the first place?"
Well, I thought the giant murals in NYC were great, but the sidewalk idea strikes me as IBM playing Brewster's Millions with the billion dollars they pledged to spend on Linux.
Out of the freezer and into the blizzard ... An Anonymous Coward writes "Comcast has decided to offer a backup plan in case their cable modem's die due to Excite@Home's bankruptcy. Good thought but the backup is NetZero. Gee thanks Comcast. Here is a link to their Service Interruption FAQ. http://www.comcastonline.com/info.htm"
Make it obfuscated, but make it snappy. Rosco P. Coltrane writes "If you haven't submitted your program(s) to the International Obfuscated C Code Contest, now is the time : the deadline is December 1st, 2001, there is only two days left !"
sheesh, glad i'm not using comcast. I like my DSL...
Ceci n'est pas un post
In the case of Scarfo (the mob guy), the Fedz had to break into the guy's home and h4x0r his b0x3n with a hardware device. Obvious case of the Fedz breaching the mobster's right to be secure in his home and property.
In the case of Magic Lantern, they'll do it from their office. It'll be up to the target to do the st00pid thing and run the executable. I can see an argument that by voluntarily running trojanned code, he gives up his right to security.
That is, it's not the Feds breaking into the guy's home, it's the Feds sending the user an email. If the user doesn't run it, the user remains safe. If the user chooses to run it, he violates his own security *on behalf of* the Feds. This may be the crucial legal distinction that makes this work in court, where the Scarfo keylogger didn't.
(And besides, isn't this what half the /. crowd says when the latest
Microsoft worm-du-jour shows up? "Well, they were running Windoze,
they shouldn't expect to be secure!" ;-)
Finally, I don't see what the worry is about virus scanners not detecting it.
This is *not* a worm, nor is it a virus. That is, it doesn't try to spread to other computers over a network, nor through infecting files (remember, its goal is to *avoid* changing anything on the target system, to preserve the integrity of the evidence), so there's no risk of collateral damage.
So you have a data collector that doesn't damage data, and doesn't replicate. Since it doesn't replicate, it doesn't leave the infected system. Since it never leaves the infected system, the number of copies of Magic Lantern "in the wild" will always be a small number - likely, "one per suspect".
Since it doesn't exist in the wild, doesn't propagate, and since each instance of it may be unique, there's really no way for a virus scanning company to add its signature to a database, even if they needed or wanted to.
And on that "one copy per suspect" note, because it doesn't need to propagate beyond the infected system, I would guess that it's likely to be an executable tailored to the target machine - which may imply different checksums/signatures, and very probably, different "bait" email messages, tailored to the suspect.
Suppose we decide to use a 'sploit based on Javashit embedded in PDFs. We'd send a PDF of plans for a meth lab to our suspect drug kingpin, and PDFs of the You-Know-Who's "Jihad-HOWTO on CD-ROM" to our suspect terrorists.
OK, so we probably have come up with a totally different infection vector when Adobe calls up and contracts us to perform a hit on m0st-ph33r3d c0pywr1t3 t3rr0r1st Dmitry Sklyarov, but for most dirtbags, it'll work...
Although I recently posted about the fact that Comcast has been ready for the switch for some time now, they of all people should know better than to try to force their users onto NetZero.
:)
The worst part of the whole deal is that you STILL only have 10 free hours of usage, despite NetZero being their backup. You would think that Comcast would at least have struck a deal so you would get more than 10 hours of time. If their network goes down, I doubt it will be back up in 10 hours. They have had individual outages that lasted longer. On top of that, many @Home users don't have standard modems in their computer--why should they? They never needed them with their nifty cable service!
I'm still hoping that Comcast will be up and running tomorrow (they have been trying to run the show on their own for some time), but who knows? At this point, I'll just hope for the best. If I'm posting tomorrow, all is well in Comcast Cable Land.
That's probably cheaper then they paid to the consultants who came up with this graffity idea. Plus all the free publicity of being in the news: now all the country saw this graffity in prime time. I am afraid this is clever enough that we see this marketing done again and again. Not that I like it..
<^>_<(ô ô)>_<^>
@hell has done it again, they are trying to convert their emails from @home.com to @rogers.com. but for TONS of people, the new address just won't work. For example, we used to have "mail" as our pop3 and smtp address. now they change it to "pop" and "smtp" but it won't even freaking ping.
Now there is a TV show on Rogers' channel everyday to help people to trasnfer their EMails. Almost everyone are compalining about the same error (won't connect to mail server) but the "technican" keeps insisting that it's their fault when it was clearly not the case.
kawai
IIRC, FBI's Carnivore is just commerical off the shelf packet sniffer (forgot the company), modified at the request of the FBI to look at SMTP, etc traffic.
So, does anyknow know which company or individual is the author of the Magic Latern program under such a government contract? Or did the FBI itself write it?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
If the FBI wanted to get really snazzy they would go to your ISP and start monkeying with your internet connection. It should be a snap to take over windows on one of the automatic updates, without the user ever being the wiser. Or even do the same with one of McAffee's automatic updates. Could even be possible to do similar things with a Linux box. And in the case where the user does not update his machine, well, there are plenty of holes to exploit then, anyway. So, anyway, I want my FBI to work smarter, not harder.
501 Not Implemented
Has anyone heard any further about AT&T's plan to either: a) purchase Excite@Home or b) launch their own fantabulous network ? The latter option thus far has been very sparsely elucidated and very unclear. It's also interesting to me that, here in the Seattle area, AT&T broadband seems to be sending out a different "special" offer each week with a different pricing scheme. Perhaps they're trying to be proactive about the potential customer loss due to the impending craziness.
As an excite@home customer I am not happy about the current situtation since a fast (or somewhat fast) internet connection is now a necessary part of life. However I am less happy with the lack of communication from excite to their customers. A few weeks ago I recieved one email stating that connections and features could be affected in the future and that they would be in steady contact with further updates. I haven't heard back since! Hopefully DSL is available in my area now.
-- Find the Truth...
Anyone who thinks "Magic Lantern", the FBI's Grandiose excuse for a keystroke logger, should have a virus template is not familiar with what a computer virus actually is. For the faint of wit, I'll break out the definition:
A program or piece of code that is loaded onto your computer without your knowledge and runs against your wishes. Viruses can also replicate themselves. All computer viruses are manmade. A simple virus that can make a copy of itself over and over again is relatively easy to produce. Even such a simple virus is dangerous because it will quickly use all available memory and bring the system to a halt. An even more dangerous type of virus is one capable of transmitting itself across networks and bypassing security systems.
Some people distinguish between general viruses and worms. A worm is a special type of virus that can replicate itself and use memory, but cannot attach itself to other programs.
First of all, Magic Lantern does not replicate. Second of all, it is not malicious. Magic Lantern is not designed to break the law but to enforce it. If McAfee made a "Law Enforcement Tool Scanner", then we could attack them for not doing their job. Since they make a virus scanner, and we're not talking about a virus, the whole conversation is silly.
Why don't people bother looking up the definition of a word before posting a story about it??!?
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
This makes me wonder a couple things:
1) Will there be a mass exodus of cable modem users to DSL? Could this be the shot in the arm Covad needs?
2) Will the NetZero service be able to handle the influx of customers from Comcast? I'm sure all the NetZero customers will be real happy when they get endless busy signals.
3) Will ComCast pay for a user's modem so that they can use this "backup" if they don't already have a modem?
I'm guessing they through this situation at the PR department and that it was the best they could come up with.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Checking the NetZero site to see if I can get one of the "temporary" accounts, I see that there is no Mac version, which means if Comcast goes dark, none of us subscribers who use Macs (all 5 of us) will be able to take advantage of the "temporary" solution.
I'm so damn happy I could spit.
Note that this doesn't deny that another US agency has contacted Network Associates, nor does it deny that the FBI has contacted them about software named something other than "Magic Lantern" (a bug by any other name would still capture your keystrokes, or something like that). NAI may be telling the truth, strictly speaking. One can only speculate whether they're telling the whole truth.
----
I didn't used to be so cynical, but then I learned to read, and to watch the news. The US government has earned our distrust through years of deception and denial. The sad part is that the good, honest, hard-working law enforcement people (which is most of them) are tainted by the abuses of the few.
s/through/threw/
*sigh* I hate when I do that
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
5. McAfee as a corporation has only lied to the public three times. Including this one.
Help fight continental drift.
Oh, and by the way, I believe this magic latern horseshit is actually a trojan horse, not a virus or a worm.
I guess this is what you get when a bunch of web monkeys try to be encyclopedists...
I used to use it on my Windows machines and finally gave up on it--technical support was horrible and it caused all sorts of problems.
56,000,000$ per month evidently wasnt enough for @home....and you know the not providing service to its customers most of the time....that must of cost them money....
it just makes me feel great inside that if my comcast is cut, NETZERO will fly into to the resuce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ummm... shopping list:
All of that---including any fines levied---is very, very cheap relative to a more traditional campaign. Extremely cost effective strategy, especially when you take into account the freepress afforded by media coverage of the pissed city governments.
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
So, the FBI can hack all they want. It is at specifially accomodating that hacking where we need to draw the line.
Um, not WINS alias. Try DNS alias. Two different technologies.
-jerdenn
Furthermore, if antivirus vendors can be currupted this ay in the name of national security, does this mean that OS vendors will do the same, to accomodate the delivery methods chosen by the FBI? Will there be un-closed security holes intentionally left open as delivery vectors (like buffer overflow problems etc.) for 'Magic Lantern'? And regardless of the position of Stmantec that they will try to detect variants of Magic Lantern, what happens when a virus writer succeeds in writing a piece of code with a signature sufficiently similar to the FBI code as to be indestinguishable? the risk introduced here is too great to justify through the promise of improved crime fighting capabilities.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
No, in this case, it is resolving a NetBIOS name to an IP address. That's WINS.
Cogeco did the same thing too. Everyone's been given @cogeco.ca addresses, and the whole network has been switched over to their own system.
This was a month ago.
It's all working just fine. It's fast, and pretty reliable. I think my pings have been lowered as well, since we're not plugged into that awful @Home backbone anymore.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
On the other hand, the FBI would be interested in contacting the PGP division. PGP 6.0.2 (and above) defeats keyloggers. E.g. if you were infected with the BadTrans.B virus/worm and you used PGP to encrypt your files, the h4x0r would not discover your passwords. (And yes, I've tried it.). [BTW, this is why 6.0.2 didn't work well on Win2k, PGP installs a keybaord sniffing driver to accomplish this trick, and it wasn't compatible with Win2k power management].
Host-based IDS (e.g. BlackICE) will likely detect Magic Lantern. The next version of BlackICE will detect the keyloggers like that in BadTrans or trojans like SubSeven. Unless Magic Lantern is a complete departure from today's technology, such an IDS will likely pick it up. I've already got a keylogger detection system up and running on my machine (now I need to test the darn thing on all versions of Windows).
An interesting sidenote, BadTrans is exactly what Magic Lantern wants to be. It could be a worm created by the FBI in order to hopefully catch some info about the 9/11 terrorists. Maybe it's an evil corporation out to find info on competitors.
This story on Wired sheds some light on what is going on with the @Home service. Seems like the debt holders are the ones who want the service shut down, while @Home has drawn plans (according to their chapter 11 filing) showing that they can pay all their debts and be profitable by 2010. It also seems that all cable companies which are currently providing the @Home service are on the debt holders side, since none of them are explaining this part. So make sure your cable companies hear from the @Home users who stand to lose their service - almost all of the cable companies are regulated local monopolies, which have to answer to a city/municipality board.
Get it Here,, plus if your are concerned about Windows only get a copy of VmWare trial license its good for 30days. Last you can get a Window 30days trial at CompUSA etc so you should be all set until Xmas.
Help fight continental drift.
Both the military and the civilian parts of the US government design and implement lots of special-purpose gadgets and software, and they spend billions doing it. Often, the work is done by government employees, not contractors. That is entirely justified when there is no commercial vendor around. The decision is no different from whether any other big company outsources or does something in-house. If the FBI wants Magic Lantern, they can develop it in house; they don't need a vendor.
Beer is the giver of life. And a day without bacon is a day without joy! Really, these are positives, not negatives... there must be some confusion.
P.S. Please stop sending all those cold air masses across our border.
In fact, it is me that is sending them to you... but they keep bouncing back up for some reason. I don't want 'em, so I send them down south. You can keep 'em!
501 Not Implemented
So if I send you anthrax, I can get away wih murder?
Play Again (Y/N)? _
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
What if someone dismembers McAffee ViruScan, and copies the trojan's signature?
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
...and AV programs have been detecting trojans for years.
here's the link for the peace, love and linux thing from ibm:p or t.swf
http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/linux/pass
Om Mani Padme Hum
...and you open it and are killed, it's YOUR FAULT?! What are you, an idiot? If somebody sends me money I'm not entitled to, if I spend it I'm guilty of theft. It's not only a legal definition, it''s a moral and ethical one too. I'm not a thief.
Why do the creditors want @home out of business?
;-]
Considering that one of the major shareholders is AT&T (broadband or parent company it doesn't matter), they MUST keep the service running anyway.
AT&T WILL obtain the hardware and maybe the people who keep the cable internet system running.AT&T WANTS @HOME TO FILE FOR CHAPTER 7 (liquidation, bubye). Why? If they kept @home, they would still have less control over the system and if they obtained @home's hardware when they make the new system it'd be cheaper (not to mention the same people to run the familiar system).
Then why don't they BUY OUT @home? Simple! @home has something like SIX BILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT. If AT&T bought them out, they would have to deal with that debt and do you really think the shareholders would be happy about a sudden 6 billion in debt? HELL NO! AT&T will let @home liquidate and pick up everything (people and hardware) dirt cheap (because no one else will set up a cable system in that area, they CAN'T AT&T controls it, thus they're the only buyer).
AT&T is playing a smart move here, and they probably have @HOME executives in on this too and have other cable providers notified (that's why they're all making "backup" plans, because if they really weren't going out of business, then why would @home tell them, that would make the CO's trust @home less!)
Sigh... just a stupid ploy for AT&T to get full administration to the cable internet system dirt cheap w/o paying any debts.
Smart move AT&T.
If they decide to do anything different, AT&T execs are stupid for not doing this.
One can't help but wonder if a new breed of virii might show up, who's purpose is to remove magic lantern. Though they may be caught, if distributed correctly, their payload would do a lot of good. I mean there is no reason why the fbi needs to see which porn threads I follow.
Actually it's not a NETBIOS name it's the DNS resolver appending the local search domain to "mail"
According to this article, about 50% of AT&T customers use the @Home Network. Of those 1/2, 20% can be transitioned to a new network "quickly"
The remainder of AT&T customers use the RoadRunner network and use @Home only for broadband content. If @Home goes dark tomorrow they won't be able to view their excite homepages but their network access will be unaffected.
In case that gets swamped, here's a reprint:
Cox Communications @Home Service Update:
Following you will find some information to address questions you might have about the email communication that you recently received from us.
Q1. What should I do today?
A1. Cox recommends that you use the following precautionary backup procedures.
Check your @Home email daily. Opened messages will be saved automatically to your hard drive.
Download software from a free dial-up Internet service provider. We recommend that you do not install the software unless service is interrupted.
Back up your personal web page.
Watch for more information from Cox on the transition of your service to Cox High Speed Internetsm. At such time that you can make the transition to our new service, Cox will be providing you with all of the information you need so that your transition is as smooth as possible.
In the unlikely event that there is a disruption in service, keep your cable modem connected to your PC until service is restored.
Q2. I need my e-mail; what am I going to do?
A2. Cox is doing everything that we can to ensure that you are never without your email. If our plans are successful, your service will not be interrupted and you will have a comfortable transition period in which you can convert your service to a new Cox-managed network.
Q3. What about my modem?
A3. In the unlikely event that there is a service interruption, you should leave your modem connected to your PC until service is restored.
Q4. What is this dial-up, temporary service?
A4. In the unlikely event that your service is temporarily interrupted, we recommend that you set up Internet access via one of the free dial-up Internet services that are available. We have arranged for temporary, dial-up access to the Internet via NetZero. You may download this software by clicking here. This dial-up access is meant to be a temporary alternative to provide email and connectivity. The free service offers ten hours per month, which should be sufficient to get you through any short-term outages. This service does not currently support MAC, Windows 2000 or XP. If you are a Roanoke or Hampton Roads resident and a NetZero local access number is not available, please visit www.juno.com as a potential alternative.
We do not recommend that you install the software at this time, just download the software and save it so that it may be installed should you have an interruption in service. This is a precautionary measure that would give you access to the Internet via a phone line plugged into your computer.
Q5. What will I get with this service and is it Cox supported?
A5. Unfortunately, Cox cannot speak to the features and benefits of the free dial-up Internet services that are available, nor can we guarantee or support it. We recommend that you explore this temporary backup plan simply as a precautionary measure. We are taking all necessary steps to ensure that your service is uninterrupted, but we thought that you might be interested in a temporary, although not ideal, solution for Internet access in the unlikely event that your service is shut down.
Q6. Will you credit my bill? When will I see a credit?
A6. Cox will credit you for any time that you are without service. This includes reimbursement for equipment leasing fees if you are leasing your cable modem from Cox. Should your service be interrupted, you would see an appropriate credit on the next statement that you next receive from Cox.
Q7. How do I get updates quickly?
A7. You have two ways of getting the latest accurate information quickly.
We've established a special number (1-877-832-4751). When you call this number, you will hear a recording that provides the latest information.
You can also get updated information by visiting www.cox.com/info.
These are the most accurate and up-to-date sources for information on your Cox Internet service.
Q8. How will you communicate with me if my service is down?
A8. Cox will contact you via mail or courier to provide important status updates and service information concerning the new Cox-managed high speed Internet service that will replace your @Home service. You can also call 1-877-832-4751 to hear a recorded message with the latest, accurate and up-to-date information.
Q9. What will happen to my personal Web page?
A9. As a safety precaution, you should always backup your personal Web page to a CD or hard drive. To Transfer Files from WebSpace to your hard drive using the File Manager:
Download the files from WebSpace to your computer by logging in to the WebSpace login page at http://home-members.excite.com/m_webspace/ and clicking File Manager, located at the top-right corner of the screen.
Select Transfer from the File Manager navigation bar. In the window that appears, select the files you want to transfer from your WebSpace account to your computer, and the location to which you want them transferred, then click Transfer.
A window appears telling you when your file has been downloaded.
Click OK to return to the File Manager page.
Once you are finished with File Manager, log out by clicking Logout on the navigation bar. If you do not log out, and you share a computer with other people in your household, they may have access to your files.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
1. Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation has not contacted the FBI, nor has the FBI contacted NAI/McAfee.com Corp., regarding Magic Lantern.
2. We do not expect the FBI to contact Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation regarding Magic Lantern.
So McAfee do not expect/want any communication with the FBI on this matter at all. So maybe they will detect it unless a law is passed forcing them to. Has anyone actually thought about that?
...and the target is sub-human^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hnot an American citizen.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, but that those created in the United States of America are more equal than others."
Oh, that's changing, though, isn't it? The land of the free - a term which we can now only use sarcastically.
Let's not forget that this is essentially aimed at quelling dissent. I don't care where your sympathies are, or whose politics you favor. The recent spate of surveillance legislation and spyware is directly aimed at eradicating dissent.
Have we forgotten that this country was founded by political dissidents? That so many of the freedoms that we claim to be fighting for are based on the idea that government should not be legally allowed to squash dissenting views?
People have a right to hold views contrary to the government, and expect that their privacy and property is legally beyond the reach of a government that's interested in presevering itself.
i don't know what we're getting all bent out of shape about magic lantern for. any fbi technology that's even being talked about in the press is already old hat. they've moved way past that by now, i'm sure. and if mcafee and symantec did update their virus checking software to detect it, the fbi would just make a new keylogger that they couldn't detect and use it until they caught another mafia thug. then it'd get publicized again, and the cycle would repeat.
there's no way around it, they're always gonna be able to listen. for every carnivore that yuou hear about, there are a bunch of others you don't. i work for a telecom software firm. trust me on this...
"Peace, Love and Linux", hmmm...
And I assumed that their motto was still "THINK". Maybe they overlooked that this time!
For those individuals who have @home, and have been sent the e-mail suggesting that you DL Netzero, beware that it is not supported in windows XP and may cause you to reformat your HD to be able to boot. Just a word of warning...
a while back i wrote somewhat of a humor article about aibo using alice's features on its responce, and seeing that done with "brainbo" on the aibohack site just makes me want to laugh at all the people who made fun of my suggestion and said that would be a waste of time. (now i feel better)
Ave Molech Setting
What happens to my domain names? I have many registered through netsol which is a pain in the arse to update, especially if I won't be able to send email from my @home address! Recently I started registering using GoDaddy because it is cheaper, and I believe I can change my email address in their database with a click of a button, but what about my other domains?
Patrick Clinger
How many of us actually own one of those Aibo dogs?
it's a sig, wtf?
Valued Customer? yea, right.. I'm sure they didn't plan on telling anybody unless they asked about it.
If you haven't submitted your program(s) to the International Obfuscated C Code Contest, now is the time : the deadline is December 1st, 2001, there is only two days left
You mean there's only 'Z' ^ 'J' ^ 18 days left?
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
What if the FBI just stuck a tiny little clause in the middle of the EULA for some software that says "By installing this product, you agree to let the FBI monitor your keystrokes."
Let's face it, no-one EVER reads the EULA. So the sucker just clicks "Agree" and Poof! the whole thing is legit again.
I do ...a 210 model.
...you ain't seen nothin' till you've owned one of these things ...it's a laptop with legs and a personality :)
Talk about a cool device
No, it's actually a DNS suffix, that gets appended to the address, it's not WINS. In fact, I'm pretty sure their instructions tell you to disable NetBIOS.
"Knowledge makes us accountable." - Che Guevara
sorry but does any one under stand the AIBO commercials during a gamespot live stream? i had no idea what they were selling...or am i just uneducated troll that just doesn't understand highclass commercials.
Me and lunchbox here are going to kick your ass.
* 2001-11-27 03:35:00 McAfee Ignoring Magic Lantern Is Bogus? (articles,news) (rejected)
Alas, I could only get it published here.
The situation is even stranger for me. I'm in an area that was originally served by Mediaone.net, which transitioned to Road Runner, and then was purchased by AT&T and converted to @Home. However, all of our servers (NNTP, POP, SMTP, etc) still reside in the old mediaone.net domain, with the exception of the home page server (home.excite.com). I've no idea what'll happen to our connectivity or email access if @Home goes dark...
That would require me to actually install AOL software on my machine. Do you realize the implications of that? Your machine would never be stable again. And even if you did sign up for an account you would just get busy signials for hours...
Charter is switching its customers over to Charter Pipeline, their own service. The transition should be pretty painless, but I've been encountering many problems with the CD they sent out. After giving up on the CD, I tried calling up Charter to get the few bits of info I needed to set things up myself. I sat on hold for 2 hours 35 minutes and finally hung up. This was after an hour of redialing, trying to get through the busy signals.
Pax Digitalia
Your packets will be transferred via carrier pigeon.
When I first heard of "Magic Lantern", I thought "wow... what a cushy development contract." Audit BO2K code. Add some stern boilerplate text and a FBI logo or two. Package it up and ship it out. Voila - Magic Lantern.
Now - this might sound a bit dishonest. But whoever had the chance to do this would be providing an important service.
It has been my experience with a couple of US gov't agencies that often (but not always, of course) senior IT officials have a strong suspicion of "freeware". And, of course, anything "open source" is "freeware" in their eyes. Nevertheless, if open source projects make it in to the IT environment under a contract or commercial product, these same managers do not bat an eyelash.
So the valuable service I mentioned is, in effect, converting BO2K Open Source / "freeware" to "commercial" status.
What a cushy contract.
I've never used my @Home email account in the 6 months that I've had the service through Cox.
Now I've been trying for hours to get it to work, via Netscape, Outlook and Outlook Express. Express hangs on load (I've never bothered to run it before, no loss), Outlook hangs whan I try to access the account. Netscape seems to refuse to see the servers altogether. What gives?
The @Home site provides instructions for setting up Outlook Express as the mail client, and for migrating old email from Netscape. Nothing else.. What gives again?
@Home is a plain old POP3 system, right?
What if I want to use Netscape? What am I missing here?
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
@home went and changed the server names, and never updated the website..
Mail server is no longer just 'mail',
it's now 'mail...home.com'
Would have been nice if they'd made this a bit more clear, somewhere..
Same change applies to the newsgroup servers.. No longer 'news', but as above.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
Those of you in shaw-land, make sure it's shawmail.(two-letter abbrev for city).shawcable.net - it's hidden damn well on their site.
I'm wondering what these people will do for their Internet porn when their cable no longer works... ;-)
I hope the $120,000 aren't being subtracted from the $1B that's supposed to help the growth of Linux. IBM could be using that money to finance the development of technical superiority in this wonderful system. In conjunction with all the other companies and individuals supporting Linux, this would result in a system like no other, with unprecedented power, flexibility and quality.
Besides, $120,000 could have gone into a very helpful advertising campaign. Instead, IBM is being made to look very unprofessional, despite everything else they do.
Oh well.
Here's my recent email that I got from Cox:
--
As you know, Excite@Home has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection,
and it is currently in the midst of bankruptcy court proceedings. On
Friday, the bankruptcy judge is expected to rule on a motion to
determine whether Excite@Home has the right to shut down service to its
customers. We are actively negotiating with all parties involved to
come to an agreement before Friday. We are hopeful that we can reach an
agreement before the court ruling, which would mean that this ruling is
a non-issue.
In the event that we do not reach an agreement before Friday, then we
will look to the judge for a ruling on if Excite@Home has the right to
shut down service. If the judge rules that Excite@Home does have this
right, we will take all possible legal actions, such as filing an appeal
and asking for a stay, which is essentially a hold on any action.
In addition, we have service contingency plans to address all possible
outcomes, and we will keep you informed on developments as we have more
information. Please know that your satisfaction is our first priority,
and we are taking all necessary steps to ensure ongoing, reliable
high-speed Internet service for our customers now and in the future.
--
I don't know all of this legal jibber-jabber, but could Cox actually force @home to stay alive until they can get their own service running?
--- There is a man in a smiling bag.
-- Imagine how much more advanced our technology would be if we had eight fingers per hand.
Apparently, Rogers' DNS is supposed to magically resolve "pop" properly. Didn't work here... fortunately, I was able to pull the relevant info from a dslreports.com thread.
The proper names for the POP and SMTP servers are:
pop.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com
ssmtp.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com (note: that's not a typo. Seriously.)
To make things a bit less obfuscated, aliases exist:
pop.broadband.rogers.com
smtp.broadband.rogers.com
Those should work beautifully. I kind of wish Rogers had just listed those in the first place, instead of relying on m4d DNS m4gik. It screws up in certain cases, as you and I both discovered.
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
From the Wired Article:
There you have it. $7,800,000,000 ---> $10,000,000. Excite.com is now worth 0.00128 PERCENT of what it was worth two years ago!As I said, these companies simply can't predict what the market will do. Do you trust the prediction of profitabilty in 10 years from a company that couldn't forsee one of its primary assets devalue 780 times in 2 years?
Even worse, let's say they have managed to draw up a plan to be profitable. Why didn't they have this plan a year ago, so they wouldn't be in the dilemma they face today? Oops, they can make those numbers move when they're forced to!
Believe me, I really don't want to see @Home go. My Internet connection this weekend will be Comcast@Home, and they don't even have a contingency plan (oooh, they say to use NetZero for 10 free hours! What a joke!). But this is absurd, and they simply cannot be allowed to continue on this joke of a profitablity plan of theirs.
-- Imagine how much more advanced our technology would be if we had eight fingers per hand.
The point is, NO YOU DON"T HAVE TO CLICK ON WHATEVER THE FBI SENDS YOU. Why don't you READ the bloody USA/PATRIOT stuff and what has been released so far of the FBI's "evil plans" before you waste our time?
The FBI is given carte-blanche to install spyware on your machine in any way they wish, without needing a search warrant (which takes a relatively high measure of cause to get) from a Court in your jurisdiction, but rather by getting a wiretap order (much lower showing of cause) from Any Court ANYWHERE. They don't even need to go to your jurisdiction to a real Court--they can go to any Court whatsoever, like for example a Mickey Mouse Court right down the street from FBI HQ where there's a judge who hands out orders like they're Tick-Tacs.
That in itself is troubling. They can pick any judge anywhere to ask for permission to hack anyone's box. I'm sure they already have a good working relationship with judges who'd give them anything. Jurisdiction is there to protect you from judges like that. But not any more.
And the FBI can get their spyware onto your machine by any electronic means, including by exploiting any security vulnerability there is to get the conde on your box. Remember the bad root exploit that was revealed a few days ago for Linux? You can bet the FBI is subscribing to every bug track list and logging exploits they can use as they come up, so that they'll know how to break into your computer before you even know what the security flaw is and how to patch it. So, it isn't just stupid people who run foreign executables who are hackable. It's everyone.
Now, combine all that with what the FBI has done in the recent past, like getting a warrant and a gag order against the Independent Media Center to seize all their logs so that they could trace users who reported on the Canadian police report on how to deal with WTO protestors that someone had lifted from an unattended car in Canada, and interrogate them for the Mounties to try to find the guy who did it. Oh, and the IMC would have been unable to inform anyone of the order, and that visitors to the site were being logged and monitored by the FBI.
Now, that order was reversed the very next day by a real judge who actually knew what the Bill of Rights means. But with these new laws and regs, the FBI doesn't even have to tell anyone that an order ever existed in the first place. There's no real oversight, and no chance for an order to be overturned or deemed fraudulent or unconstitutionally vague or overbroad or just plains wrong. Today, the FBI would simply handle the above IMC freedom of press/speech "problem" like this: they'd go to the chambers of Judge Unconstitutional next door, get an order to install spyware on the IMC web server so that they can retrieve the logs they want and monitor any connections which might be from the user they want, and then go down a list of known exploits--some of which probably won't have been announced yet and won't have patches at all--until they get their software onto the IMC's server. Then they get their logs, and monitor connections--and of course if anyone talks about any protest plans that may be questionable to the FBI while the spyware is installed, then hey, it's in plain sight during an investigation which required them to view server logs. And even if it isn't, who cares--the FBI isn't known for their oppenness and honesty; they'll use the information to find or manufacture a legally more acceptable excuse for going after their new suspect. Their new suspect who was just exercising his right to free speech and his right to peaceably assemble to ask the government for redress, BTW.
As you can see, the potential for this legislation goes far beyond just logging keystrokes to get PGP passwords of terrorist suspects. Right now, that's what the FBI has publicly disclosed about Magic Lantern. What they haven't disclosed could well be the cababilities to remotely access the whole system to do things like what I outlined above. Remember that when the Carnivore documents were initially released, the parts about Magic Lantern were blacked out. What makes you therefore think the FBI has told us everything about Magic Lantern now that its existence is no longer blacked out?
At any rate, if you read the new laws, they give the FBI the chance to do far more than sniff PGP keys. Knowing what we all know about the FBI, they are planning to exploit the law to its fullest. If Magic Lantern really is only a key logger, then you can bet they have another piece of software that's still classified to do the rest. And isn't a key logger bad enough as it is, since they now have the ability to get secret installation orders from any judge they choose at any kangaroo Court? That in itself can be used to access a lot more than your PGP keys, which is already an invasion. Every word you ever write on your computer could be theirs, and you'd never know it if they disguise their program well enough--have it replace your networking layer, let's say, so that for all intents and purposes it's indistinguisable from the processes that run whenever you're net-connected. What might any of us be suspect for? Going to the IMC website and posting our opinions or protest experiences? Running a site like the IMC, which might itself get bugged and logged thanks to a sympathetic judge? Again, the orders can be secret, so there's no real oversight.
We're on dangerous ground. I visit forums where people sometimes talk about illegal things, like borderline protest activities, or illicit datastreams, though I never do so and never do any illegal things (except maybe smoke cigars in public--what a country) myself. Does that mean my PC should be tagged, bagged, and monitored? The FBI probably thinks so. Anyone who'd even think of protesting must be a communist--if only we could tap 'em all like we did with the civil rights leaders in the 60s. Oh wait, now we can! Who needs J. Edgar Hoover, when you have thousands of FBI agents who are trained according to the methods he set up himself?
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
This Magic Lantern thing sounds terrific, but i anticipate a few problems may crop up. First of all, will legislation will be considered to outlaw dyslexia, so as to avoid wasting valuable Agent time when deciphering the eventual keyboard logs? Or will dyslexic persons be afforded the protection of their condition regardless of criminal intentions?
;)
Also, isn't this whole thing merely a knee-jerk counter in the race for mo' betta communistic tools of oppression? I'll bet a goodly sum that the Russians are still way ahead of all things American in this regard, so don't congratulate yourselves yet..
When taken in the proper context, it becomes clear that the only real advantage that you Yanks have is that your FBI and CIA are clearly uncorruptable and would never abuse this 'advanced' key logging technology (if indeed such ever existed
Looks like those pesky nazis are getting a lesson in police state operation from you obliging Yankees!
well who am i kidding anyway.. we'll have a DMCA Act of our own here in Canada soon enough, and we've already got the gun control part down pat (see 'Popular Hitlerian Tactics to Subvert Your Country's Ideals in An Age of Unchecked Freedoms' @ http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/rp01100e.html) so i guess i'll see y'all in prison when the shit goes down
I received this message from Insight@Home yesterday. They are planning on posting updates tomorrow as soon as they get work about the court's decision. Insight is the cable provider for the various areas throughout Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. They also suggest that they will support a portion of the network locally until a better resolution is found.
Sorry, perhaps I'm taking you too literally. However, seeing as how your post has been moderated "funny" and I'm failing to find it funny just staring at it, would some one mind explaining what's so funny about it? Do 'Z' and 'J' refer to certain numbers or something? (Their decimal numbers with the "A=1 B=2 C=3" code would be too high. As would their int values in a computer.) If so, I'm not seeing how raising them to powers would at all be equal to 2. Especially with that 18 in there.
However, I could just be trying too hard to make sense out of it.
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
One might expect McAfee to be working under a plausible deniability agreement. But I for one grant Ted Bridis undeniable plausibility!
In ascii, Z=90, J=74, so Z^J=16, and 16^18=2. Mixing ascii chars, integers with logical and binary operators is a classic trick to obfuscate C.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
It's funny, but I got an email from @Home Monday or Tuesday saying the network was going down at midnight for hardware upgrades. I can just picture the meeting:
Lawyer: I have some bad news. We may be forced to take our network offline Friday.
PHB: Uh oh. We'd better deploy that new hardware tonight instead of next week then.
Lawyer: Ummmmm...
PHB: You see, this way we show our customers that we're commited to serving them.
Lawyer: Errrrmmmmmm...
PHB: You have to take public opinion into consideration. If we upgrade the network, maybe our customers won't ditch us for DSL.
Lawyer: But...
PHB: It's settled then. I'll have my secretary send out a memo.
Mark Knopfler was not in Lynyrd Skynyrd, you silly boy! He did do the music for "The Princess Bride", though.
Their Housecall product, at least, is used all over the world, I'm sure that people will not trust something with a known built in weakness.
My employer just changed to Trend Micro from Semantic/Norton. Good riddence.
It's easy enough to just reverse engineer these things, if you know what you're looking for. And certainly the people who do fear the FBI's being able to scan them will pay some hungry cracker for such information, and to release a hostile virus under the umbrella of the FBI's requested/required "weakness".
Having to develope/deploy a new trojan every week to cover the fact that the last one was hacked and released is going to make the FBI efforts completely useless and wasteful.
Bob-
The Ludwig von Mises Institute. The reasoning individuals economics
That's what I thought. However, I rejected this possibility, as, according to calc.exe, 90^74 = 4.110983167056966365830008693908e+144. And then 16^18 = 4722366482869645213696. However, I'm looking at this again and seeing that 90-74 = 16. And 18-16 = 2.
Hrm. The carat isn't 'modulus', though. Erm, what does the carat mean in C, again?
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
I dial up at 28.8 and it's not so bad. Granted, you have to do without seeing the latest movie trailers/Flash vids/pr0n clips, and _no_ Counterstrike, but overall it's remarkably tolerable. Still entirely possible to check web mail, telnet, surf the web with little frustration. You tend to be a little more picky about which web sites you visit: simple clean site design and minimal/no Flash or Javascript become definite merits. You _do_ end up watching a bit more TV, and even reading books. It's not so bad. Repeat after me, "fast internet access is not oxygen, I can do without it"... :-)
Freedom: "I won't!"
^ stands for xor (bitwise exclusive or). What do they teach in CS classes these days?
'Z' == 0x01011010 == 90
'J' == 0x01001010 == 74
0x00010010 == 18
result == 0x00000010 == 2
NetBIOS is a M$ hack that lets you use SMB file sharing over a TCP/IP network. It has nothing to do whatsoever with any standards-based email delivery system.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Ahem ...
0x01011010=16846864
01011010b=90
What do they teach in touch-typing classes these days ;-)
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Well, I'm not technically a CS student, though CS is looking more tempting (currently in Elec./Comp. Engineering). And I don't really do much coding, so I've rather forgotten the C/C++ that I do know. (The software I need is either already coded, or the work it would need is beyond my ability.)
Thank you, eblake, for the explanation. I guess I really did know what it was, I had just forgotten. And I had always learned it as "modulus" and not "bitwise xor".
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
... $15 per @home subscriber per month. 4.6 mil. subscribers: 828 million per year.
This should read 4.16 million subscribers: $748 million per year.
Spraypainting sidewalks? Spraypainting
This is simple vandalism. What's the question?
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
The New York Times (free reg, etc) is an article about the latest @Home issues. Its an interesting read.
I wonder which broadbamd providers will be left... Verizon DSL is looking pretty good at this point. What a sad result of the times.
forma3
Seriously folks, who hasn't seen the writing on the wall for at least the last 18 months about the dire straits of @home? Let's be generous, and say only since the "economic meltdown" (actual quote!); who didn't see this coming?
@home was a bad company with a bad business plan, hoping to get rich on a bunch of early high-speed subscribers. When that proved to be a disaster, they naturally dealt with it in the standard way--by lying until they could bail.
Why this is news, I'll never understand.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Modulus is the % operator. Stick to EE/CE. They need you more than we do. ;-)
Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
But if you already have control of the users machine, what the hell would the point be of hijacking windows update? remember, the whole point of the operation? to get control of the users machine?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
It's good to see old Big Blue changing its image from boring, staid men in suits and serious scientists with no sense of humour to "teenage rebel". I'm sure even the $1billion is they're spending on promoting God's own OS is mere small change, and they'll just consider the paultry fines as marketing costs. As the article says, the target audience for this campaign will be giving shouts to IBM for doing this. It's a way cool publicity stunt!
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
Has anyone found a link to the picture? I just want to have it on my desktop?
Correction: I post TEXT to alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen , which is more or less a discussion group these days despite its location in the binaries hierarchy. People who look for illicit material usually go elsewhere these days, like alt.binaries.pictures.underage-admirers or alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.mclt . I'm sorry if you think posting text messages to a discussion forum, not unlike the messages we're posting now to this discussion forum, should be a shooting offence.
:-)
/. to concentrate Net traffic through a few Carnivore-equipped nodes on the backbones, to the fact that the new laws allow the FBI to monitor and log all header data even with no warrant and even on a broad basis, and you have a framework under which the FBI will really be watching anyone it doesn't like without warrant and without oversight. And with dicks like the AC above permeating the FBI, I won't be the only one watched--everyone who goes anywhere online that the FBI dislikes, like the IMC abnd other alternative news outlets or hacker hangouts, will be monitored. They'll be able to look at all your headers with no warrants or orders, and for going somewhere "subversive" or alternative or progressive and talking to the wrong people they'll be able to use that to get an order from their favorite judge to install monitoring or keylogging software on your PC. Before you think it's far-fetched, remember what they tried to do with monitoring the IMC website just recently, and what they did all the time to people like Martin Luther King Jr. in the not-so-distant past. And remember what FBI Director Freeh said: "The American people must be willing to give up a degree of personal
Since you seem intent on mentioning to everyone my text posting habits at that forum, you could also mention that I arrived in my capacity as a writer conducting research on pedophiles online, observed the text postings to get an understanding of the subject, and then started talking to the regs over there because dspite their odd habit of collecting images of nude 12 year old girls, they're largely intelligent guys with a very twisted and enjoyable sense of humour. Imagine John Cleese portraying a paedophile in a sketch, and that's what some of the regs are like. And what geek doesn't like John Cleese?
See, it's folks like yourself we should all be worried about, because it's people with your attitude who usually work for the FBI. I have little doubt I will be unfairly and unconstitutionally monitored online by some law enforcement agency or another thanks to the legislation like this which makes it far too easy to monitor people for any reason, even if it only be because of the opinions they hold or the company they keep. Fortunately for me I only hang out with people who collect illegal binary 1s and 0s, rather than doing anything illicit myself. And I'll also note, lest anyone think the company I sometimes keep is truly bad company, that I'm informed that almost all of the images they trade in are scans of magazines from the 1970s when such magazines were legal and sold in normal porn shops, and that the new images are soft Playboy-esque photographs shot in art studios in Russia where it isn't illegal to possess a picture merely because a minor is nude in it in a nonsexual way. Minors are even occasionally seen nude in mainstram movies in Europe--like the Oscar-winning German film *The Tin Drum* which was declared by hillbilly Courts in Oklahoma to be child porn yet which has been shown on Cinemax and HBO. So, the notion of such things is usually very distorted--the idea of hardcore porn involving minors even offends the regulars at alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen , and most of what is termed such by the FBI for publicity purposes is usually from what I hear soft and artistic like the famous Robert Mapplethorpe photograph which was unsuccessfully prosecuted in Cincinatti as depicted in the recent Showtime movie *Dirty Pictures*.
Getting back on-topic, add the Internet wiretapping provisions in Magic Lantern mentioned here, to the FBI plan discussed befor on
privacy in exchange for safety and security." And that was years before 9/11, the day the FBI got carte blanche to do anything it wants as long as it claims to be fighting terrorists and other baddies.
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
Rumours abound that it was a Microsoft idea, in the first place. While we can't be sure if Microsoft thought up the idea before anyone else - I believe EasyJet tried a similar thing in Belfast, Northern Ireland with chalk drawings on the pavement, and were sued accordingly - it's been rumoured that Microsoft was forced to get their checkbook out after hiring spraypaint artists to advertise the X-Box in a number of cities.
So, if it makes you feel any better... it's not just the Penguins who are causing all that pollution. :)
oh and taco is spelled with two ff's.
<lie>I hate to be pedantic</lie>, but NetBIOS is SMB file sharing (and printing, and MSRPC). The M$ hack you are thinking of is NBT, or NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP. NBT includes NBNS, the NetBIOS name service, which Microsoft calls WINS. The other confusing bit is that Microsoft sometimes uses "WINS" to refer to "NBT name resolution by any mechanism", and sometimes to mean "NBT name resolution by consulting an NBNS server".
And ... while ordinarily WINS has nothing to do with email delivery, in Microsoft land this is not always true - the TCP/IP stack will use NetBIOS to look up what should be DNS names - sometimes, at least - before falling back to DNS. I'm not sure whether to consider this a bug or a feature, because it would help in a case where you run an internal web server ("intranet" in LRMT, the Lexicon of Redundant and Misleading Terms) but are too clueless to run your own DNS.
(Whether such people should be encouraged to manage a web server at all is an open question.)
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
Nice lookin' page there.. Guess the public has nothing to fear from Magic Lantern if these are the security experts responsible for it.
No, fast internet access is like crack, once you're hooked, the withdrawl pains are brutal.
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
Are they insane?! 10 hours per month? "Sure, after having always-on internet, after realizing that it's easier and faster to just visit dictionary.com rather than break out the deadtree version, after discovering the wonderful mix of interactivity but on-your-own-schedule that trading emails with a friend throughout the day is...sure, 20 minutes a day out to be plenty, right?"
Incredible. 100% false statements like these framed as happy truths in a company's public communication just make me want to scream. They should say "We know this sucks for you; understand that it sucks for us, too. We're really trying hard to minimize the effects on you, and have come up with a plan where you at least can have a LITTLE bit of access to the internet for free."
Phah!
How am I ... *halp* ... supposed to speak when ... *hulp* ... I can't ... *help* ... breathe?
The big deal, really, is that the FBI shouldn't be writing virii.
They're not going to be writing "virii," because "virii" is not the plural of "virus." It would be the plural of a hypothetical Latin term *virius. How hard is it to say "viruses" fellas?
Will I retire or break 10K?
Do you think M$ wouldn't jump at the chance to get these anti-trust issues taken care of?
Sounds a little like a conspiracy theory, yes. But ask yourself if it could happen. You betcha it could.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
More from Politechbot
Good question. And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call when you are unable to speak?
Freedom: "I won't!"
Hmm... magic lantern 'released' and then the "BADTRANS.E" virus comes out, which, by coincedence installs a keylogger on everyone's machine... CNN runs the story, people install the patch, and voila, simple misdirection and lots of people have Magic Lantern voluntarily installed on their machine... call me paranoid...
but M$ + DOJ + The George Dubya I'm a goddamn fucking texan with nukes for testicles = conspiracy...
I wasn't aware of M$ using WINS in preference to DNS, but then I don't do windows if I can possibly avoid it. However, this sounds like a bug to me, because a machine's NetBIOS name doesn't have to be the same as it's DNS name. I don't see where someone would be clueful enough to set up a WINS server but not a DNS server; the only place I can see this being useful would be in a small peer-to-peer workgroup setting, and that's pretty marginal.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
In the brief this portion was clarified:
1. Posting
The initial issue is whether the posting prohibition is content-neutral, since, as we have explained, this classification determines the applicable
constitutional standard. The Appellants contend that the anti-trafficking provisions of the DMCA and their application by means of the posting
prohibition of the injunction are content-based. They argue that the provisions "specifically target . . . scientific expression based on the particular topic
addressed by that expression--namely, techniques for circumventing CSS." Supplemental Brief for Appellants at 1. We disagree. The Appellants'
argument fails to recognize that the target of the posting provisions of the injunction- -DeCSS--has both a nonspeech and a speech component, and
that the DMCA, as applied to the Appellants, and the posting prohibition of the injunction target only the nonspeech component. Neither the DMCA
nor the posting prohibition is concerned with whatever capacity DeCSS might have for conveying information to a human being, and that capacity, as
previously explained, is what arguably creates a speech component of the decryption code. The DMCA and the posting prohibition are applied to
DeCSS solely because of its capacity to instruct a computer to decrypt CSS. That functional capability is not speech within the meaning of the First
Amendment. The Government seeks to "justif[y]," Hill, 530 U.S. at 720, both the application of the DMCA and the posting prohibition to the
Appellants solely on the basis of the functional capability of DeCSS to instruct a computer to decrypt CSS, i.e., "without reference to the content of
the regulated speech," id. This type of regulation is therefore content- neutral, just as would be a restriction on trafficking in skeleton keys identified
because of their capacity to unlock jail cells, even though some of the keys happened to bear a slogan or other legend that qualified as a speech
component.
Content neutral as to the speech component of the code! What this means is that it would be legal to post a "version" of DeCSS that would be non-functional. For example, if a bug were purposely inserted into the code and it would no longer run. If the code is not functional, it is not banned - the speech component of it is not what is being prohibited.
Ok, I suggest this to 2600 or anyone else who wants to post DeCSS or other decryption programs - add typo/bug's to it. Don't actually state where the bugs are, leave it as an excercise for the reader. Since the code is speech, I imagine most readers who can comprehend the speech can also mentally fix the typos - but computers cannot (typically) and, therefore, you've removed the objectionable portion of the code...
Writing is the only socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. (E. L. Doctorow)
Not only that, but NetBIOS names are not even analogous to DNS names. A DNS name is presumed to be for a single server (in practice, of course, it is often round-robin, but that's the theory anyway) whereas a NetBIOS name is per-service on a given server.
Sure, on an average Win95 box or NT workstation you don't see much difference, but do a NetBIOS name status query ('nbtstat -a' on Windows, 'nmblookup -S' on Unix with Samba) on a domain controller, Exchange server and/or IIS server some time. All three add funky names to the namespace advertising their services.
Which isn't to say DNS-lookup-via-NetBIOS-names doesn't work (it does) but it's conceptually wrong.
No doubt you are right, but by WINS lookup I meant NetBIOS name lookup (you know, the "other" Microsoft definition of WINS), not necessarily via a WINS server. NetBIOS names are more or less plug-n-play on a simple network topology.
"How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
Funny, I never thought of that, but I did think the original SirCam was an attempt by some d00d to get people in the financial industry to unwittingly leak insider information.
Two kinds of sysadmins. Paranoids and losers.
I think the thing that pisses me off the most about Comcast offering me NetZero service (that doesn't run on my Linux workstation) is that they're doing it with a REFERAL ID. WTF? Are they trying to make a few bucks off of my misfortune or what?
--Insert catchy
Funny. They seem to do the same thing (to me).
Are there cases where bitwise xor and modulus give different answers for the same number?
Withdrawal before climax is very ineffective and those who try this are usually called "parents."
Yes. For example, 5 ^ 2 == 7, 5 % 2 == 1
Mr. Mosqueda,
... well...
I very much appreciate your prompt reply and it will teach me once again not
to trust the Washington Post. My apologies. This takes care of your point
1.
Points 2 through 4, however, are not as reassuring.
2-Your expectation that the FBI will not contact you is nice, but
irrelevant. Possibly naive. Best of luck.
3-Um, I would not expect them (or, necessarily, you - and this is the point)
to confirm it.
4-The question of compliance with US laws and regulations is not in
question.
_Carnivore_ is public knowledge. The principle the FBI may wish to apply is
not in dispute.
So, the issue at hand is whether there may be a secret "law or regulation"
requiring you to let "Magic Lantern" pass your protection. Or, if you would
do so voluntarily (despite the scurrilous history of The Post).
If there is such a "regulation", and it is a secret, the public might well
have the expectation that McAfee would not acknowledge compliance.
If you can be demonstrated to have offered
Therefore, a stronger statement would be more reassuring. Something on the
order of: "We are a provider of personal and corporate security products.
Leaving such a hole in our protection software is not only demonstrably
ineffective, but also dangerous to our customers and the security of
critical data in the United States. Unless required by the EXPLICIT laws or
regulations of the United States, we cannot, in conscience, comply with any
such request. Since it would be discovered in any case, it would be
corporate suicide to offer this unasked. If any government agency asks for
such a consideration we will insist that a warning label (similar to that on
a cigarette package) be required by Federal law on all such products."
This would be neither unpatriotic nor unreasonable. However, I will be
looking for the inevitable freeware products which will supplement my virus
protection anyway.
Since we have the Internet (and if we didn't this would be moot) the FBI
cannot accomplish its goal (assuming it has this goal) by forcing your
compliance with a secret regulation. If it should try, you should be
leading the charge to make that attempt public. It cannot work for long,
and it jeopardizes your stockholders' investments and your employees' jobs.
Finally, I sympathize with the position in which your company has been
placed by this erroneous reportage. Probably there is nothing you (and by
simple extension, any other company in your marketplace) can do to squelch
this.
I am sorry that I can presently provide no better advice as to how this
problem may be resolved. Perhaps suing The Post for libel? Maybe asking
slashdot????
Duane Hershberger