Slashback: Petdom, Denial, Confusion

Slashback tonight features updates (below) on Aibo hacking (a rare bit of good news on the technical freedom front), some not-great information for excite@home users concerned about the looming darkness, a strange update in the FBI/Magic Lantern story, and more. Only Carnivore operators will know the truth. elem writes "McAfee has now come on the record and has denied contact with the FBI about the 'Magic Lantern' Project.

In an e-mail to Declan McCullagh which has also been posted on his PoliTech mailing list McAfee said the following:

"Dear Sir/Madam:

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.
3. 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.
4. Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation does and will continue
   to comply with any and all U.S. laws and legislation.

Regards,
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 !"

Comments

Magic Lantern isn't the way to go.

[Henry V .009]

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.

Re:Magic Lantern: Big effing deal.

[Tackhead]

> The big deal, really, is that the FBI shouldn't be writing virii. Either they politely ask, 'can we violate your security,' or they politely ask, 'can we break into your home.' "Cloak and dagger" should not be their MO, "implicit permission" is unacceptable.

"Hello! We send you this file in order to have your PGP passphrase!".

C'mon, what could be more polite than that? ;-)

Re:A *real* ISP

[rho]

Don't you wish you live in Canada?

No, all you Canucks eat is back bacon and beer.

P.S. Please stop sending all those cold air masses across our border.

Re:AT&T's backup plan(s)?

[Rick the Red]

According to this Reuters story, "AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news) is expected by Monday to receive offers from Cox Communications Inc., Comcast Corp., and AOL Time Warner Inc. to take over its broadband cable television unit, as well as a proposal by Microsoft Corp. for an investment of up to $3 billion to $5 billion, sources familiar with the situation said."

So it looks like we'll either be forced onto iComcast, Scientology.net^H^H^H^H^H^HEarthLink, AOL, or MSN.

I'm rooting for Comcast as the least objectionable option. Oh, well, back to 24,000bps dialup for me!

Re:A *real* ISP

[DickPhallus]

Actually, Molson has just announced the newest addition to their line-up: Molson Back Bacon Beer. Now you can your bacon, and drink it too!

Think

[DaoudaW]

"Peace, Love and Linux", hmmm...

And I assumed that their motto was still "THINK". Maybe they overlooked that this time!

Obsfucated deadline

[nytes]

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?