Slashdot Mirror
Hacker Indicted In France For Publishing Exploits
Guillermito writes "Hello. I'm a French scientist living in Boston. I analyse small security softwares under Windows as a hobby, for fun and curiosity. For example, I showed how to easily extract hidden information from a dozen of steganography softwares, often commercial programs claiming a very high security level. I did the same with a french generic anti-virus, showing several security flaws, and that it didn't stop '100% of known and unknown viruses' as claimed. First the company called me a 'terrorist,' than sued me. I've just been indicted last week in Paris. It seems that it's a general trend in France, and maybe in Europe, these days."
Now you get to search for holes in the French jail system. Find a big enough one and you're free!
What does stenography have to do with software? Didn't they become extinct millions of years ago?
Can't you just hax0r the courts computers and remove all instances of your name? Maybe replace it with bill Gates or something?
Alternatively, mail a picture of a rifle to the French government. that will make them back down.
There is no faster way to make enemies than to point out someone's stupidity, and then prove it publicly. But I am on your side. Companies that market security products that aren't are committing fraud, IMO. And I'd rather have you publish the vulnerability than someone else publish the automated exploit.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
I'm glad to see that the EU has broken the U.S. monopoly on wacky, mindless computer lawsuits!
I sure am glad I live here in the USA where my right to expose the weaknesses of corporate products is enshrined in our beloved Constitut...
Hold on, there's a SWAT team banging on my door.
I'd better go let them know that they must have the wrong house.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
To move to a sane country. There any left?
Mix the failings of Usenet with the shortcomings of the World Wide Web and the result is slashdot.
I'll admit right away that I'm not familiar with France's free speech laws.
But from a common sense point of view, I really don't see how telling the truth about weak software can be illegal. It may lead to damage to a company, but that damage was caused by the security holes, not someone exposing them (hidden defects are a ticking timebomb anyway.)
From the common sense view point, it also seems right to inform the company first, before telling everybody. But telling the truth should not be illegal.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
...that you don't need a DMCA to have people arrested for stuff like this.
You better do this with Linux apps, we will thank you for it instead of sue your ass.
Leave the incompetent crap for incompetents, might be what you have learned from this.
If they publicly called you a terroist in writing without sufficient evidence, can't you sue their berets off for libel?
"You know Myra, some people might think you're cute. But me, I think you're one very large baked potato."
We sue first, and then we call you a terrorist.
SURRENDER to the authorities.
Seriously, though, this sucks ass.
However, I'm quite sure that you're a terrorist, because we all know that terrorists publish the exploits they find. Why, back in June of 2001, I saw an article about how to smuggle knives onto airplanes. I also remember seeing an article shortly after that about putting plastic explosive in your shoes (i.e. Richard Reid). Come on, folks, people who find and PUBLISH weaknesses in software are not the problem.
-paul
Pistol caliber is like religion: everyone has their favourite, and theirs is the only right choice.
"It's dangerous to be right when the government is wrong".
This is a case in point. The author may be in the right, but we are living in hysterical times, and woe unto the man who walks in front of the governmental steam roller with a team of jackasses and corrupt, ignorant polititians at the wheel.
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
Now, if Microsoft is forced to release the windows source because of the EU, does this mean anyone who points out vulnerabilities will get sued too?
Seems like a strange way to thank someone for helping them. It's like beating someone to death with a tire-iron because they told you your tire is flat.
Not a problem. Just stand up for yourself. You're being indicted in France. The French gov't will back down very quickly and probably blame the Americans.
they sued you for experimenting and testing their claims? ie the virii statement. i cant imagine how this is any different than test environments in larg ecorporations before a deployment or rollout.. did you perhaps send them bill, demanding it be paid or you will reveal their mis statment of facts or perhaps, say you found a way around their security pay you to keep silent or ruin toir prifit model like what happened with google perhaps.. im curious to hear more about how this was taken as extortion it doesnt seem to fit with the words definition.
dunno if they can help with french courts, but it's prolly worth it to at least bring it to thier attention:
www.eff.org
-gary
Would publishing these vulnerabilities from an anonymous workstation at a public library on a new hotmail account used once posted to a mailing list be just a bit safer than saying "I, JOHN DOE, FOUND THIS PROBLEM, MOREINFO AT JOHNDOE.COM"?
The French courts would probably back down if you threaten to invade.
Heck I'll help. I could use a spare country.
I have no
don't go tell the company that their product is flawed but rather use your discovery to exploit people who use their product. Either way you will be sued but at least this way they have to find you
this sig intentionally left blank
Don't mess with Proprietary Software(tm). They'll whack ya every time. They don't take kindly to any reverse engineering, hacking or peeking under the hood. They don't want people knowing that their products are usually worthless.
- - - If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?
Is looks like looking for security flaws is increasingly seen as an illegal action by both companies and governments.
Would I be sued if I told a company manufacturing bicycles that their products are not solid enough, and then can be dangerous ? Probably not.
It will soon be forbidden to even talk about flaws. As a french citizen I feel very sad about it...
+100 Points to the first one to create a "Free Frenchy" sticker for this.
Bonus points if they substitute "Freedom" for French and some bad pun about not hoping he fries or whatnot.
Sure it can be said that publishing an exploit will encourage a hacker to take advantage of said exploit, but by not publishing & letting it remain a secret is no guarantee that someone is not exploiting that same exploit. In fact, I'm willing to bet that some 3v1| H4x0r would eventually find it anyway. But I would rather know that it exists so that I may act, since, in my experience software companies are slow to react and try to hide or downplay flaws.
Security solely by obscurity doesn't work.
On the flip side, if the door to my house was wide open, I wouldn't want anybody yelling hey your door is wide open (to the world) without allowing me to fix it.
IMO it boils down to common sense, and in this case I think that it is a beneficial thing to publish that sort of information. An even better route would be to alert the software makers first, and give them a 'short' time to release a patch. But only a very short time.
The Socialists are just as messed up as we are...sweetness!
Note to Europeans: while it is fun to point and laugh at us "stupid" Americans and our silly laws and lawsuits, you might want to take note that the same things are going on in your countries too, and will continue to get even worse.
Casual Games/Downloads
Unfortunately, it appears that expertise in French law is lacking here at slashdot.
I second the suggestion above: contact eff. Now. If they can't help they probably can point you to organizations that can.
If you were simply using the software and found exploits through the interface, then I totally agree, this is bullshit...
HOWEVER, if you were digging through reverse engineered proprietary code, and publishing exploits at the code level... well, that is infact illegal...
Good luck either way though...
"I used to have a sig, but a cheese eating surrender monkey ate it..."
--Ryan
Faceitiously, it looks like the US had the right idea when they started calling everything french "freedom". They were just trying to get a point across...
Hm.
Well mister, I'd say you should stay in the US for awhile and see how things go. Quite possibly you could work on becoming a US citizen. I think we are a little more advanced(not nessisarily lots) than France wrt these issues.
/b
|f(x)dx = F(b) - F(a)
Yes, resorting to rude, foul language. The true sign of a Frenchman. No doubt smoking a cigarette and speaking while looking down your nose. Smug and stupid is no way to go through life.
Lately they were defined as far as I remmember as "moral" person (as opposoed to the physical one). But btter check with a french lawyer since I am too sure.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Worst analogy ever. Robbing a bank puts several people in immediate danger and has an instantaneous effect on the economy. You're actually taking something that's not yours. In this circumstance, he had the software in his possession, and could thus do what he wanted with it, depending on whether you believe that click-through licenses have any effect (and if they do, I seem to be owned by about 30 different companies right now).
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
...because the sun might sue.
They consider what he did to be terrorist-like. Unfortunately, these days, we have little to no recourse in the Witch Hunts that have appeared...
Don't piss off those that pay more money to the "Gods" than you do.
I know a guy who for his senior thesis worked with a group of people and hacked a company's network. At the end of the semester, they gave the company a 42 page document stating all the problems and exploits the company had.
He got an A for the class and a job offer from the company. Granted, he already had better offers, but it is a good example of how it should be.
Does the French constitution contain protection for Freedom of Speach, as the US constitution does? If so, you are probably safe. However, you may have to put up with a legal battle. Also, are there any laws protecting reverse engineering specifically as a form of Free Speach? If you were being tried in the US, it seems likely the EFF would help you with the battle. Is there such and org in France?
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
And we thought that WWII rid the world of all the Nazis.. The truth is we let them all out of Germany and then let them migrate to the rest of the world as corporate and government heros.
Libel is a favorite pasttime of the French. It's their only weapon of defense.
First you tell snake-oil salesmen that their product is broken and next you find them calling you names. O tempora o mores, or something.
I would like to write a letter in support of you. The people that should be legally hassled here is the software vendor whose fraud you exposed-not
you.
IMHO a pile of letters coming from all parts of the world in your support might send a signal. I also think that Amnesty International should be contacted here. This is even more sleezy than most of the stuff they take on--in this case you appear to be hassled not because of your political opinions, but because French officials are using their offices on the behest of corrupt corporate interests.
Yeah. They call them "Les Freedom Fries".
How will the judge look at the terms "fraud" and "deceptive business practices"?
Looks like you better not go home for the holidays.
This is like a mechanical engineer publishing tips and tricks on how to break open safes that claim to be "burgler proof." Or Diebold suing someone who figured out how to rig elections. This is like the "wag the dog" scenario where you start a fight with someone to move attention to them and away from your shortcomming.
Counter-sue them for fraud either as yourself or as part of a class action lawsuit.
Can anybody see this happening if Consumer Reports published a study indicating that a dishwasher wasn't as quiet as claimed or a car wasn't as safe as claimed.
Funny how proving a piece of software isn't as secure as they claimed is somehow special.
Should you be forced to go to France, just show up with a bunch of Jerry Lewis movies on DVD, and declare that you conquer the country in the name of Guillermito the great. They should surrender without a shot.
If that doesn't work, just point in the middle of the street, and yell, "Hey, isn't that the German Army approaching!" And then turn and run.
Whats up with this France bashing? Seriously, is this all because France and Germany (unlike Denmark, where I am from) wouldn't fall for baby-boy Bush's nagging and crying? I did not really get the whole "french toast" and "freedom toast" stuff, whats your (and here I mean Americans) problem with the French?
You're talking 'bout the land that banned strong cryptos by law (Who doesn't remember Checkpoint fw-1 french edition).
And now you're brakeing crypto's from the time of the roman empire... no wonder they're pissed!
All generalizations are false
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?
Yeah...or what about calling him a coward?
I keep seeing things about him being French...
There are organizations that can help you (Amnesty International, EFF, etc). Now that that is out of the way...
I'm still waiting for someone to make the 'AssBerets' joke aout the French Government.
At least tell us what we could do!
Let us donate some money. Give us an address where we could write letters to...
Anything.
Nevertheless I hope you are exaggerating, when you say that this seems to be the general trend.
Plese note that he has been accused of copyright infrigement. He seems to have reverse engineered and copied/used part of the intern code of the programs. Whether we like it or not DMCA like law forbid it except in a few case (interroperability and maybe for academia). Since he did not publish it for academia, and he did not contact first the company, they can fall on him and he has big probability of being judged guilty.
The law might be broken in that case (as we all know for DMCA like laws) but nonetheless the company has a case...
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
and it's so difficult on the other hand to explain the scientific method and the deep curiosity that makes us analyze how software works and find their flaws.
Good luck, and hopefully you will have your chance. You should be able to use your rational skills as a scientist to prove that what you were doing was just.
Don't Tread on Me
First the company called me a 'terrorist,' than sued me. I've just been indicted last week in Paris. It seems that it's a general trend in France, and maybe in Europe, these days."
They copied US. We invented FUD and SUE (FAS), and have the current record holder in FAS in SCO. So give credit where credit is due!
GO USA ;-)
JWall: GUI client for IPTables
... when the intrepid crime-fighters in the US DOJ sue the EU for patent infringement to proect their monopoly.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
Maybe try stamp collecting.
you don't have to be good anymore. You don't even have to look good anymore. All you have to do is sue the pants off of anyone who proves you are not good!
Anyone who buys this company's products needs their fucking heads examined!
Maybe I'm missing something, but hasn't the anti-virus company been deliberately marketing a product based on lies? In the US we call that false advertising, not sure what the French call it. Can the consumers of this software take legal action against the company now since it has been proven to not work as advertised?
This kind of bullshit makes me want to go to law school and become a judge so I can point at the plaintiff's lawyer trying to confuse me with the technical details I'm not expected to understand and yell, "SHENANIGANS!". Then have officer Barbrady wack the son of a bitch with a broomstick.
I so glad we didn't go to war for the oil. Because that sure didn't help the consumer.
I'm sure that oil refinery fire in Texas won't be used as an excuse to jack up prices another 6 cents.
Billions of barrels of free, high-quality oil and thousands of dead Muslims as a bonus? How can you possibly call that a "waste?" I'd say it was worth every penny.
The oil infrastructure is a mess and is not producing oil to pay for the invasion as was promised. Saddam Hussein is commonly blamed for this state of affairs, but seriously, if you're going to make a major long-term investment in a country by invading it, you should at least kick the tires first to see if 20 years of sanctions and corruption have affected its ability to produce oil. No due diligence was done on Iraq before the invasion, and as an oil producer it has turned out to be a lemon.
Your "thousands of dead Muslims as a bonus" comment needs no response- it speaks volumes about you. Figures you would post AC, you pussy.
The only screw-up Bush made in Iraq was waiting so long to get started.
I wish he'd waited longer, since it's been costing us one billion dollars per week. Why not just do a targeted assassination, or a snatch, which would have been cheaper? Now we're saddled with rebuilding a country where they drag our dead bodies through the streets.
I was looking forward to my two week France trip as an escape to a place where people knew how to live life. The country was beautiful. The history and art that are simply everwhere was incredible. I'm by no means jingoistic, however, I came back with these conclusions:
1. French culture exists mainly to perpetuate itself. I know all cultures do this, but if you aren't a French-speaking Frenchman doing something French in France, they just don't like you.
2. For a country that derives so much of their income from tourism, they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced.
3. There aren't any fat people in France because their food consists of vegetables boiled to the consistency of glue and the worst cuts of meat I have ever tasted. Service and food were always better in ethnic restaurants.
So, it's not so bad here at home. As long as Bush gets kicked out of office, education becomes a priority, lobbyist power is reduced, the Patriot Act and the DMCA are revoked, and we redesign the city plan of every city not in the Northeast, we'll be just fine.
Ahh, and now my favorite joke. What do you call 100,000 men with their arms raised?
The French Army.
I thought France set the trends! They're just following the U.S.'s lead (i.e., the DMCA) with this foolery! C'est triste!
On vit, on code et puis on meurt.
It should also be a punishable offense for a software maker to NOT close exploit holes in a timely manner.
I can see the case being made that leaving exploits open is essentially supporting terrorism, or depraved indifference at least.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
With the current state of our worlds mentality, being called a terrorist is a dangerous thing. You can be arrested and not charged for 2 weeks! (at least this is the case in Europe) The bullshit that is going on right now is a like a virus going through the minds of anyone with power. Remember the witch hunts of old? Security Cracker = Heretic = Terrorism.
He may be in Le Figaro today. Look for "Quand les createurs de virus se font la guerre" in Le Figaro's archive. You have to pay to read the article, though.
I would strenuously advise you *NOT* to discuss your legal situation or case with anyone but your lawyer.
I'm aware you're French, and likely will be prosecuted in France, however, it's generally the case that any public statements you make can and will be used against you in court, thus, I would advise that you seek professional legal counsel and stop publicly discussing your upcoming case. It can (and usually does) limit the variety of strategies that your lawyer can use to defend you.
Who the hell let you look at the constitution?!!! That's classified!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I'm sure I'll get burned at the stake for this, but what the heck...
How many sides of this story do we have? Hmm, just this guy's side. Interesting.
Did he make any effort to alert the creators of the software before he published the info? Not that I could tell from the linked info. It sounds like he just posted it on his web page and published it in a crackers magazine and let the chips fall where they may. Not exactly responsible activism.
What exactly *is* the law regarding this in France? Here in the States we have the DMCA. It's a terrible law, but we all know what we're getting into if we break it. That's what civil disobedience is all about, isn't it? I seem to recall that Europe has similar laws on the books.
I'm sorry, but with the info we've been given this sounds a little like "I did something naughty and I got caught and now I might get PUNISHED! Oh poor me!"
All kneejerk reactions aside, maybe there's more to this situation than we've been given.
Which time? Before Congress or in his book. I'm afraid they are mutually exclusive.
I'd be surprised if he were not acquitted, but you never know these days. It's very easy to pay off a judge. Anyways, one thing I would like to know is how publishing code in order to expose security flaws, and where the author(s)/owners of the code are referred to, is any different than publishing excerpts from a book in order to expose, say racist sentiment.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
Actually, they call them "pommes de terre a'la politicien flattant bassement stupide", Jules.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
French military uniforms and rifles for sale. Uniforms: Reversable (Axis on one side, Allies on the other) Rifles: Never fired, only dropped once.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Sign at the border closest to Germany:
"Welcome to France - We Surrender!"
As to why - come on, insulting the French is nearly the national passtime!
Consumers Union (which publishes Consumer Reports) was sued by Suzuki in 1988 when it reported problems with its SUVs. The lawsuit was initially dismissed, but Suzuki appealed and they're back in court.
More sugar!
The court of Slashdot seems to be siding against the French judicial system, but shouldn't we hear their side of the story first? I'm not saying this guy is lying - just that there are two sides to every story.
Well prisons are probably better in France anyway, so why don't you just go back?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
They tried and failed with DVD-Jon. Let's hope they fail here as well.
People say I'm crazy, I got diamonds on the soles of my shoes...
A lot of the recent France bashing is due to this, but that is hardly the only reason.
I personally do not like the French in general because both my father and step-father were in the Air Force in Vietnam.
That should be enough info for some of you out there, but for those who don't know:
Some Air Force personnel were shot down over North Vietnam and managed to get themselves safely to the French embassy thinking that since we were allies and we were fighting a war they had started in the first place that they would be smuggled back to their unit.
Instead the French, hoping to get in good for the after war profiteering, turned them over to the North Vietnamese who proceeded to torture and murder them.
That is one reason people (in general, not just Americans) hate the French.
Propaganda, that's the real enemy. Here in the US, Europe is seen as ignorant loaners who don't want to help anyone take over the world. I'm not a big fan of the french attitude, and I am french (Canadian). I just hate to see people blindly spout vulgarities when most of them probably have never met a real frenchman. In my experience, they're annoying but fun at parties.
Der Tod ist der einzige Weg hier raus!
They clearly broke the law if they ever made a claim like you state, sounds like theve been watching to many american news programs and think legal action is everything, I'm pretty sure that if you stuck to your guns that you didn't want a companny deluding there customers with false claims and simply wanted to prove to there customers in a non destructive way that there solution wasn't everything they claim it to be, as well as then allowing the company to see the error of its ways without resorting to direct legal action....
;)
But then IANAL... and I'm not a lawyer either
Looks like the problem isn't that the individual identified security flaws in the products, but that he devised and published exploits to take advantage of them.
The difference is analogous to an auto mechanic explaining why flipping a combination of switches will cause your ancient engine to spontaneously combust, and then actually flipping them to prove it to you.
I remember some articles on Slashdot about something like this happening to hackers like that. Obviously this hacker missed those articles. And now with all the terrorist crap and new laws, it's very easy to put people in prison for anything.
Aniyone at France know the "New costume of emperator" tale?????
So, jail for the children that reveal that the Emperator is naked. Cool.
-Woof woof woof!
1/ Call France 3, TF1 if you can.
TF1 certainly won't give a damn, but France 3 has a local news agency that is capable of nicely covering your story.
2/ Attack the company for "Publicite mensongere" (you Grammar Nazis translate for yourselfs, the guy is french...), bringing with you the proofs you digged out.
2bis/ Attack them for "tentative d'intimidation", and another one with Libel (atteinte a l'honneur)
The Libel one will only bring you 1Eu (the official price for honor)
3/ Include the Paris Chamber of Commerce, 60 millions de Consommateurs, and probably one or two IT Newspapers (01 Informatique, Le Monde Informatique), write to the Minister of Justice (Sarkozi is out of Interior, and he won't care anyhow)
60 Millions de Consommateur is very possibly the best first to call, as they are very touchy on such issues, and help people defend their case.
Just doing the counter attack on "Publicite mensongere" to the responsible organisation will be a frightening step for Tengram...
Also, publishing your discoveries on CERN and all others security sites (french and internationals) will be a de-facto victory.
Also, have the court ask for an independent expert to verify your findings... In France, there is a law against punishing people that just said the truth...
If you really want to be vicious, take a look on their webpage, check all their "reference customers" and have them see your papers and security holes...If one of their customers is a French Governemental Agency, they can be in for a very hard time... Lying to the French Administration, and putting their security under threat for innefiency can bring them under a lot more problems than you can think.
So, this is just the top of my head ideas, but I hope it will help you...
In such cases, the better defense is offense...
Bonne Chance, Courage, et ne te laisses pas faire !!!!
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Unfortunately, it appears that expertise in French law is lacking here at slashdot.
You must be new here. On Slashdot, everyone is a legal expert in everything.
Vulnerabilities in security products, especially those making outrageous claims, need to be exposed.
excerpt from NAI ePolicy Orchestrator Format String Vulnerability
"When deploying new security products within the enterprise, organizations should understand the risks that new security solutions may introduce."
-weld
Computer security can be increased by the following methods:
.com
1) Deny the flaw exists
2) Sue the person who discovered the flaw under the DMCA or something similar in your locale
3) Blame "hax0rs" who write tools like diff
4) "Donate" to campagin funds of elected officals who pass laws that make security research a federal crime
Not an all inclusive list, but it should be a good start for your security minded company or
My only question is, aside from application of the DMCA in the U.S., how is this kind of information any different from say, Consumer Reports? Those guys go out of their way to break cars, appliances, and other consumer products.
Do you own a Porsche ? ;)
It appears that even in the EU, some folks are educated beyond their intelligence. The corporate response makes me want to run out and buy their product. You call to tellthem it didn't work, they respond "tell and we will sue."
Whats up with this France bashing? Seriously, is this all because France and Germany (unlike Denmark, where I am from) wouldn't fall for baby-boy Bush's nagging and crying?
No.
I did not really get the whole "french toast" and "freedom toast" stuff
Most people didn't(including myself)
whats your (and here I mean Americans) problem with the French?
The French have a completely different attitude than Americans. I personally do not and never have considered them an ally of the US. They go to GREAT lengths in attempts to reduce US influence/power in all aspects while always claiming the moral high ground. In my opinion, France's number on policy is to be in the position the US is right now at any cost. And if not in the world, at least in the EU. Note that like the US, the French government does not always represent its people.
Are you still going on about last year's illegal war? The one that hasn't really made any of us in the west any safer? How come Blair is Bush's poodle for going along with the republicans' plans, but France 'just rolled over' for opposing them?
Could you repost your comments in perfect French please?
If people know of flaws, then why would they continue to use a product?
Second, when a product has a vulnerability, it opens the possibility of that computer being used maliciously. Telling the world not to use a certain product is self-defense.
Now what would be cool is to find away to watermark code to see that it was used for nefarious purposes making it easy to track the perps.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
As it was back in the BBS days so it still is now. I always take anything these researchers say with a grain of salt.
Probably ought to have a chat with Merlyn about his case that definitely had some similarities... He might have some worthy insights.
"I can be self-referential if I want to," said Tom, swiftly.
You better hope that work visa doesn't expire anytime soon :P
Richard Clarke is telling the truth.
Which truth?
[August 2002]
"So, point five, that process which was initiated in the first week in February, uh, decided in principle, uh in the spring to add to the existing Clinton strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action, five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda."
or
[60 Minutes, March 2004] "Clarke was the president's chief adviser on terrorism, yet it wasn't until Sept. 11 that he ever got to brief Mr. Bush on the subject. Clarke says that prior to Sept. 11, the administration didn't take the threat seriously."
Yes you are right. National stereotypes are clearly the way forward.
...terrorists sue you. Some coward cherry bomber blows his head off attempting to kill people and his family sues you for not being the intended victim. I know there are lawyers who would take this case (well they might be too busy with SCO right now, but afterwards)
"Look Lois, the two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change."
Which time? Before Congress or in his book. I'm afraid they are mutually exclusive.
Oh really? Why don't you produce some evidence to support this assertion, and I'll change my sig. What specifically did Clarke say in his book and testimony that was "mutually exclusive"?
("Evidence" does not mean links to people simply parroting the same assertion you did without giving specifics. I know you could provide hundreds of links like that.)
Jacques Verges seems appropriate for an evil terrorist like this.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
1/ Call France 3, TF1 if you can.
2/ Attack the company for "Publicite mensongere" (you Grammar Nazis translate for yourselfs, the guy is french...), bringing with you the proofs you digged out.
2bis/ Attack them for "tentative d'intimidation", and another one with Libel (atteinte a l'honneur)
3/ ???
4/ Profit!
<cynicism>
I have no sympathy for terrorists. I'm glad this company is protecting us.
<cynicism>
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
I believe Rice's Theorem only applies if your computational model allows for infinite storage (or something equivalent).
:)
Computers don't have infinite storage, so you could theoretically map out all possible states that a computer could be in and get a proof of termination (or any other property) that way.
Obviously this isn't practical by any means, but that's no excuse for being imprecise.
HAND.
I wonder if they could sue you for pointing out the vault isn't locked during day-time hours?
Mod +5 Drunk
Mon conseil:
- marrie toi a une americaine
- prends la citoyennete US
- ne retourne jamais en France
(ou la meme chose avec une Canadienne si tu aimes la neige).
there's no place like ~
Your rights may become even far less, if the EU gets away with it's latest round of internet-despotism.
...
... organized by BxLug
Soon, scientists and others all over europe may become sued when exposing flaws or reverse-engineering stuff. I therefor urge everyone to react, and this is how:
*PLEASE HELP TO WIDESPREAD*
14-15 April 2004 : Brussels is the Hub to go
Conferences and LUG in Brussels European Parliament Chaired by Dany Cohn-Bendit MEP
http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004/bxl04
http://www.greens-efa.org/agenda
http://laurence.domainepublic.net
Most legal frame related to new technologies is cooked up at Brussels. To get a feet into European Parliament's door and show that you care right before the election. Its future Members will decide on the patentability of software, on data privacy issues, TPRM, and so on), join an install party within parliament (and bring your favourite MEP with you), attend a panel with eg Alan COX, Georg GREVE, Jon Lech JOHANSEN (of decss fame), participate in a guided tour through brussels (anti-swpats "demo"), meet LUGs and programming rights groups from all over the place, and some chaotic nerds of FFII. A Wiki DSL connection will be available.
On 14 April evening, there will be a diner/party at restaurant La Tentation, in the center of Brussels. http://plone.ffii.org/events/2004 (also to book you hotel).
Entrance is free however to access the building you have to register online before 7 April http://www.greens-efa.org/agenda
Contact : lvandewalle@europarl.eu.int
euroG/LUGparty
Brussels European Parliament room ASP 1G2
15 April 2004
The Greens in European parliament invite representatives of GNU/Linux Users Groups of the 25 Member States of the European Union to come to Brussels to
- enhance the networking among the free software community in Europe(in particular with the New Member states)
- prepare the second reading on the software patents directive
- show inside EP what free software is, how it works and what ideas lie behind
- participate to the FFII conference and demo against software patents on 14 April
Programme and registration on http://www.greens-efa.org
lvandewalle@europarl.eu.int
PROGRAMME
9.00-11.00 25 G/LUGs for a Free Europe
Gathering European GNU/Linux Users Groups and associations for the promotion of free software : BxLUG - Belgium, RWO - Plug - Poland, Vrijschrift - The Netherlands, LiLux - Luxemburg, FFS Software - Austria, APRIL - HNS-info.net - France, GUUG - Germany, SSLUG - Sweden&Denmark, LUGOS - Slovenia, Debian - Latvia, AKL - Lithuania, LugRoma - Italy, Grece, Cyprus, Finland, Estonia,
11.00-12.30 Linux Install Party for MEps with Monica Frassoni Dany Cohn-Bendit, Hiltrud Breyer, Bart Staes,
15.00 PANEL I: FAIR USE/COPIE PRIVEE
Gwen Hinze(Electronic Fronteer Foundation), Laurence Lebersorg(Test-Achat Belgium), Jon Lech Johansen(DVD-Jon)
16.00 PANEL II: FREE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
Cristiano Paggetti(Italy): eGovernment,Andrea Glorioso (Italy) : Free Content, Herman Bruynickx(Belgium): Free software in education, Jens Muhlhaus(Germany): Public administration: Linux fur Munchen
17.00 PANEL III : FREE AS IN FREEDOM
Georg Greve, FSF Europe (Germany) Agenda 1910
17.30 Alan Cox www.linux.org.uk co-signatory of the letter sent by Linus Torvalds to the President of EP against software patents(UK)
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
I've mentioned it, over and over on various fora since 9/11: anti-terrorist laws were not written to prosecute terrorists.
All over the world, these travesties are now in place. For "evil to succeed", now all that is required is to redefine "terrorism". And we're well on the way for that: now reverse engineering is "terrorism". A marijuana smoker is a terrorist. Someone who criticizes the American government, like Bill Maher, can be advised to "watch what he says". Eventually EVERY infraction can be redefined as terrorism. The ground's the limit.
For the life of me, I cannot see the difference between the Red Nightmare so feared for the last century by the Right, and what the Right is building for us now. Besides a lot of wealthy people and the option to own your own property, what is the real difference between the old Soviet empire and the Brave New World being built by our new jailors?
What we're witnessing is a anti-civil rights movement across the world. The various governments and police/military/spy boys are in the middle of building a new system of law only tangentally related to English common law and the American constitution. They are creating a new world of harsh law unbounded by the rights of man. Altho as many have noticed, corporations aren't men, and aren't bound by any of these new paradigms.
I don't have to even bother finding examples anymore. It's happening every day. Faster and faster, impossible to monitor because it's happening too fast for a single human mind to keep track of it all.
The "terrorism" war is a crock. They aren't using these spiffy new un-laws to capture bombers and the other usual stereotypes. They're using them against US.
Good to know that we as Americans aren't the only ones with a crappy gov't. Let's revolt!!
Don't worry, the French don't go after terrorists so you should be perfectly safe.
/sarcasm
Tell them your American friends are proud of how like the Americans your government is becoming. If that doesn't get you off, I'll be surprised.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
Did you notify the companies and give them a chance to fix the holes before you made them public? If not then your not a terrorist, just a moron.
and no I don't have time to RTFA...
Yes there are such laws, but they are carefully ignored by everyone...
A bit like the "High Security Encryption Patch" from Microsoft, that gave you 128 bits encryption...
And it has been released something like 1 week after it had been proven that ANY top 10 National Security agencies with a supercomputer can break it under 2 hours...
Or the fact that American encryption schemes are forbidden to be exported to a select list of countries.
Just to be on the point...128 Bits encryption will protect you from 99.9% of would be hackers.
Anyone with the right tools can hack it...And please remember that some Quantum Computers are on the prototype stage, meaning LARGE governments already have one or two monstruous calculations beasts working and spitting numbers all day long...
Encode at 2048 bits minimum, and even then they can just knock your door and get the datas from your hdds...
Security, yeah, right...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
stop going through the wrong chain of command with these issues.
First you take it to the company. And if they won't listen you take it to the authorities and they can decide if the company is defrauding their clients with false promises and whatnot. And if they won't listen you throw your hands up in the air and unless you know a company personally who uses the software you just let it go.
Making it public information just makes the danger to the companies very real and very much now which in fact punishes them by not giving them time to deal with the issue.
Unless you have a feasible immidiate solution to go with your findings all you're doing is sabatosing a lot of innocent companies who had no way to know and you've just tied their hands behind their backs and made them sitting ducks. Companies cannot just shut down software at a moments notice.
And here's a nutty idea, if you're really obsessed with finding holes in a certain company's software seek a job. The obvious problem is that you're a problem person. You find problems and that's it. That doesn't help anybody. And when you then blackmail people with this information by going public if they don't deal with it, no duh you're going to get in trouble.
If you're sincere about helping the company you find the problems, find the best solutions you can with the information you have and then go to the company and explain the situation and tell them you'd like to help and know how to fix the problems but need access to the source to do so. You then request a job as a programmer and get to work if they hire you. If they don't hire you, you leave them with your findings and move on.
If you ever, in the process of these discussions, even hint at going public it's called blackmail and you'll rightfully be thrown in jail. Give one copy of your findings to the company and one copy to the proper authorities. That's it.
By pressing the issue you assume you have some kind of right to tell the company what to do. You also assume that the company isn't working on the issue. And you also assume that the company owes you some kind of update on the status of the issue. Which are all three very wrong assumptions unless you actually work for the company and are in an upper position. By going public you've basically forced the company into a bad position because they didn't act in a time frame you thought was fast enough. You don't have a right to do that. DMCA or not.
If you don't have a feasible immediate solution to go with the problems you've found going public is just hurting everyone and helping no one.
If this is something you like to do, you should have gotten a job so that you'd be recognized as a legitimate software security expert that companies can hire for testing their software. But now you've kinda screwed yourself because nobody can trust you to work within the system. Your mouth is too big for the job.
You've made yourself singularly responsible for anything bad that happens because of your findings. Instead of an "I told you so" you would have earned by going through the proper channels you earned an "it's your fault." Because you assumed anyone could have found and exploited the problem and now they can.
Let the bad guys go public. If you have no solution and you go public without permission, you are the bad guy. With Open Source you have all the permission in the world to report hacks without posting solutions. Work on Open Source if you can't stand keeping secrets.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Pourquoi veut-on prendre la citoyennete US? Il n'y a aucun pays dans le monde dont on deteste les citoyens. On a un gouvernement dingue avec un president non elu et qui est au service des personnes riches et leur compagnies. De plus en plus on enleve les droits des citoyens avec l'aide du Cour Supreme, controle aussi par le president et ses amis neo-conservateurs.
Mieux d'aller au Canada, qui est mille fois plus sensible que les USA.
(Je m'excuse pour des erreurs... je parle francais mais ce n'est pas ma langue maternelle. J'aime bien essayer de le parler de temps en temps.)
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
> marrie toi a une americaine
I thought you were trying to make this guy feel better?
What's he going to do, chance his place of birth to "Freedom"?
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Becoming an American citizen won't help you. We have this nasty piece of merde called DMCA that provides for hefty fines. A company that doesn't like you can point to DMCA as a vehicle to charge you under.
I agree with the previous poster, a good offense is the best defense. Hit them hard in the court of public opinion, and if it is indeed true that you cannot punish someone in France for telling the truth, then by all means, hammer away.
For example, an honorable corporation would say, publicly, "Oops! We screwed up! Here's a fix for that exploit and we'll be doing a thorough audit of our code and design process to insure that our product is as secure as we say it is!"
A dishonorable corporation (Are these two words used together like this redundant?) would attack the person exposing the flaws in their product as this company has.
You should challenge their CEO to meet you on the field of honor for a duel to the death.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Bien vu tout ca!
Is "Arte", channel 5 still around? I'd definitely give these guys a call. While their audience is prolly a small fraction of France 3's, they're usually an educated audience. They like doing documentaries, seek out truth and present things as they are. i couldn't find any direct contact information beside this mailing address:
I'd do whois arte-tv.com and send an email to the contact info on there, you never know.
Bon courage vieux! Fous-leurs une grosse bite au cul de ma part, avec mes remerciments ;]
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices
I believe the right to free speech is guaranteed by the E.U.
People can bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights - even to allege their own govt. has denied them their rights. It's been quite popular with various people in Northern Ireland.
-- *~()____) This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds...
to be right is an unforgivable sin.
good luck,
"Nothing was broken, and it's been fixed." -- Jon Carroll
Already done
I find it impossible to believe that the author of these documents is employed at either Harvard or Mass. These are incredibly competitive institutions; they would NOT bring onboard someone with that kind of spelling and grammar. Someone want to call the Harvard Bio department and make some inquiries?
So quit your job, pack your bags, and move on out to snow country!
The ironic thing is that if he had told the company before he released the exploit, they could probably have been able to charge him with the French equivalent of Blackmail.
It kind of brings a whole new meaning to the saying, "you're damned if you do and damned if you don't."
First off, I don't know much about the case and laws in Norway...
However, I do know in the US you _can_ be tried for a crime more than once. Especially in case like this were 'time of war' = 'terror' label is slapped on the crime (which the French company did).
Also - consider that OJ Simpsons had two trials: one for criminal, the one for a private lawsuit (IIRC, he was found guilty).
god damn it stop writing in french! i don't know french! arrgg!!
'nuff said...
..the loser in the next world war has to keep France.
Hey - maybe we say the French gubmnet is supporting al Quida and use this as an excuse to invade and set up a puppet government.
Wait. Nevermind. I guess we can see it already has one.
Cruising the internet on my TI-99/4A @ a whopping 300 baud!
...French post at +5, and no translation? Let me guess (I speak Norwegian, English, German but no French):
:) And why the US? With the DMCA, isn't that going from the frying pan into the fire?
My council (advice):
- Marry to an American (woman, -in postfix like in German?)
- Pretend you're a citizen of the US
- Never return to France again
Though I have no clue what the last one means, apart from mentioning "with a Canadian". Any better translators than me?
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
You can vote the rascals out. Make it as issue oriented if you like. I personally don't care how someone votes, just VOTE!
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Blackmail? Surely you mean Extortion.
See the American Jury Institue/FIJA page for more info. We need juries that also decide whether the laws are valid, not just whether they were broken. That is the whole reason we have juries and not 'Star Chambers.'
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Are you kidding? Some of the most brilliant people in the world are at these institutions educating young minds in unintelligible english. This is nothing new.
The first comment recommended hiding from his accusers instead of fighting them. Specifically hiding in the USA or Canada. The second post agreed, and bemoaned the sad state that France is in these days, and how much nicer of a place to live the USA is.
I haven't spoken French since High School, but I think this is doable:
My advice:
- Marry an American girl.
- Acquire a US citizenship.
- Never return to France
Or do the same thing with a Canadian girl if you like snow.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Even if he did break the DMCA, he was charged in France.
The US is not the World.
damn, and i thought france was supposed to be perfect? guess not.
OK. I'll just say:
Illegitimi Non Carborundum!
...get a new hobby
I don't see any contradiction here. Is this the best they can come up with?
[August 2002]"So, point five, that process which was initiated in the first week in February, uh, decided in principle, uh in the spring to add to the existing Clinton strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action, five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda."
While it was decided in February that resources would be increased (by whom? Note passive voice), according to Clarke now, from an operations standpoint nothing was done until September. All that happened between February and September was Powerpointing and meetings to rearrange the war on terror as a formal process, during which time no action was taken on it. Meetings and Powerpoint presentations don't stop terrorists. But when doing spin for the White House, especially the loyalty-obsessed Bush White House, you might want to leave that part out. The omission doesn't make any of the rest of it inconsistent with what he is saying now.
[60 Minutes, March 2004] "Clarke was the president's chief adviser on terrorism, yet it wasn't until Sept. 11 that he ever got to brief Mr. Bush on the subject. Clarke says that prior to Sept. 11, the administration didn't take the threat seriously."
Yep.
Clarke has dared them to release all his testimony. But they won't do it. The White House has the CIA reviewing his testimony, looking for politically useful sound bites to declassify and use against him politically. Makes me wonder if this happens in France. Does the French government use its intelligence agencies for petty domestic political purposes?
If companies and governments punish people for publishing flaws in software, they are just shooting themselves in the foot. Soon these companies will be the last ones to know about a vulnerability...when its too late.
One of the guards at the company I work for showed me how a simple strip of metal with a notch in it can be used to penetrate the security system of almost any motor vehicle. Naturally, my first reaction was to notify the Dept of Homeland Security. Hopefully they will visit this terrorist at his home in the middle of the night, and remove him to an undisclosed location where he belongs.
Alien representatives, Messiah, Godot, whatever. He ain't coming, get over it. Get off your ass and DO SOMETHING if you want to stop oppression and killing.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
IMO, if you publish it without notifing the companies and allow them to have time to fix it and distribute the patch to the customers, then you are a terrorist.
Justice is supposed to be blind, but not the judges. I think that is the single biggest problem we face with existing computer crime legislation - neither the legislators nor the judges understand what it is that the law is actually saying.
BTW, I really enjoyed your steganography articles. It's comforting to realize just how difficult it is to implement stego correctly. It really puts mainstream media hand-waving about terrorist use of steganography into perspective.
---- Just another spud server.
Because we all know this could never have happened in the U.S.
-- Repeat with me: "There is no right to profits".
I read his originial analysis (in french) of this antivirus software which, according to him, prompted the charges of "counterfeiting". This article contains a description of the software, a section about "exploits" (you will agree about my question marks in a minute), a section where he demonstrates false positives, a test against a couple of known viruses, a short section about 2 points he liked about the software, then a list of detailed suggestions to improve the product, and finally an epilogue on the response from the company.
Probably didn't like the first suggestion for improvement "First of all: stop making believe that Viguard can do miracles." (The other suggestions are completely technical.) But let's focus on section 2, containing the 6 "exploits":
-
2.2 Deactivating Viguard by simulating the mouse-clicks with which a human would deactivate it
- 2.3 Just use TerminateProcess() (the windows equivalent of kill -9 if I understand correctly)
- 2.4 Add the md5sum of the trojan to an (unencrypted) whitelist of md5sums maintained by Viguard
- 2.5 In each directory, Viguard maintains a file "certify.bvd" which lists all known-good executables in this directory, "encrypted" by a XOR with a fixed key. So a virus just has to install itself in a new directory along with the appropriate certify.bvd file.
- 2.6 "For a good laugh": Rename a virus from
.exe to .bat
- 2.7 Almost the same as 2.5.
All completely trivial. The only thing that comes close to the counterfeiting charges is that he offered programs for download that decrypt the configuration file and the certify.bvd files (both "encrypted" by XOR with a constant and short byte sequence).Too bad this probably wont be seen and wont be modded informative :)
For your legal funds, I suggest you start a legal donation fund.
A few years ago, Serge Humpich discovered a flaw in the French smart-card payment system, and proved that it was possible to get money from an ATM with a false card ; he never earned money with it and just showed journalists he could get money, and gave it back.
Banks sued him, and won: 10 months jails (deferred), about 4000 euros to pay (amends+banks' laywers fee). Technically, he was guilty of "unallowed access to a computer system". Banks have denied that the flaw existed but changed their system ; it didn't prevent many false cards to appear in the following years. Disgusted, Humpich wrote a book ('Le Cerveau Bleu').
Although similar, I hope it won't finish the same way. Guillermito didn't crack any computer, so the Humpich precedent does not apply. The European version of the DMCA is not yet voted in France (it won't last), and copyright infringment claims are stupid. But America does not have the monopoly of technically illiterate judges, and he influence of good lawyers, as was already shown in his case. The "terrorist" accusation should be enough to sue ("diffamation"). Ironically, cryptography and stenography are supposed to be terrorists' tools!
I'd say he should contact "60 millions de consommateurs" and "UFC-Que Choisir", two powerful consumer organizations.
Christophe (Don't hesitate to point out my spelling and grammar mistakes, I want to learn - Thanks).
Here, read it in french (his native language) and see if it flows better.
It wasn't comparing so it had to be transitioning.
Yeah!! French invasion!! Let's kick the americans out of /.!
and remember that: I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
His English spelling and grammar are significantly better than my French spelling and grammar. You did notice that he is French, didn't you?
flossie
Write now. Defend liberty
would anyone want to do THAT??
He said "DMCA like law" not "DMCA", and as I recall a number of draconian DMCA-like software laws have been passing throughout the EU, non?
...but reverse engineering proprietary code is NOT illegal.
is a link to the actual text of the indictment anywhere? without it we won't know exactly what the claims are, and only have his version of the story to go on.
I don't understand why the various security types try to help other people be aware of their problems.
Is it really worth that much trouble?
At least in the Linux world (for now) you don't have to worry about going to jail or getting sued over discovering a security problem. We rejoice when one is published so we can all hack away at the code to fix it.
Let windows die it's death.
We have the EUCD (European Union Copyright Directive), but it explicitly allows reverse engineering for the purpose of research.
Donate free food here
You forget the fromage-eating part. Really, where are all you Americans who bashed the French over Iraq and boycotted French restaurants even? Still not buying any Dixie Chicks music? Read the Hall of Fame "Strike on Iraq" story and see the irrational fear-mongering that went on there and be ashamed.
Rather ironic that there was the whole mess about changing "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries", given that US citizens no longer have some of their basic freedoms anymore.
Technically..the "don't" bit in this story is if he'd kept it entirely to himself.
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
un Beowulf Cluster de ca! M'enfin!
In light of the Madrid bombing, France has raised their terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide".
The Defense Ministry noted that the only two higher levels in France are "Surrender" and "Collaboration"
Actually, the second post asked why one would want to take out US citizenship, given how the Supreme Court, with the help of the president and neoconservatives, is taking away civil liberties. He highly recommends Canada instead.
Note to parent poster: Tu dois ameliorer ton francais! (And I live in New Jersey, hardly a bastion of French...)
The French aren't the only "bad guys". As a Canadian I have some resentment against the US because in recent years several Canuck soldiers have been killed by American "friendly" fire. The US pilots involved were basically just slapped on the wrist.
War is hell.
Be happy. Nothing else matters.
Or as an alternative - join the foreign legion :)
Literal translation: My Advice: Marry yourself to an american woman Take a US citizenship Never go back to France (Or the same thing with a canadian woman if you like the snow) I know this has been done, but never preserving the original intent of the French!
SAILING MISHAP
These programs that have a price indicate that Guillermito must have purchased them to find the vulnerabilities. Purchasing gives him the right to force the companies to fix their product because he is a paying client of a company that makes fraudulent claims. This argument may or may not work for the free/shareware products he tested.
- I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
That is why I said DMCA like law. You are spot on.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
The NZ government has gone out of their way to try and destroy my life since I publicized the risks associated with home-built cruise missiles.
:-(
I still have my missile (largely due to the fact that a network of friends have stored it safely in such a way that I can honestly say "I have no idea where it is") and had considered taking it on a tour of the country so that people could actually see what I've been talking about.
My lawyer advises me however, that to do so would almost certainly result in a very severe prison term. After all, they've already broken the law in respect to the actions they've taken against me so they've proven that, as far as they're concerned, the ends justifies the means.
He's strongly of the opinion that the government is just itching for an excuse to throw me in jail on some trumped-up terrorism charge because I've become such a thorn in their side.
In this country It's not illegal to build a cruise missile, and it's not even illegal to own one, nor is it illegal to transport one -- but, as a criminal lawyer of long standing he made it quite clear to me that under the new anti-terrorism laws we now live in a police state and that the government can do whatever it wants to who-ever it wants to -- by simply accusing them of terrorist activities.
In the case of my tour, they'd likely accuse me of moving the missile as the precursor to a terrorist action.
It wouldn't matter whether they were able to win such a trumped-up case, because here in NZ (as in the USA), people accused of such things seem to spend inordinately long periods of time in jail just waiting for their case to come to court. We have a guy here who's been in prison for 16 months already and, even though our High Court ruled just the other day that the head of our Security Inteligence Service had shown bias against the guy and has had to resign -- the imprisoned "suspect" is still having to wait at least another 6 months for his day in court.
It makes no difference apparently, that I've always been totally open in my activities and the reasoning behind them, and was planning to have a media contingent on my little tour. I don't recall any *real* terrorists inviting the media along on one of their attacks or offering to share all their information with the government.
I don't know whether I should really angry that governments have used the war against terror to give themselves such draconian powers, or if I should feel sad that the public are allowing them to do this without even a whimper.
I suspect that we will eventually regard these days as a dark period in the world's history -- not because of terrorist activities, but because so many people gave up so many freedoms so easily.
P.T. Barnum was right I'm afraid
It's actually not that hard to detect infinite loops of the parent variety. It's only a nondeterministic finite autonoma with two elements. A computer looking at the program would do just what a person would do. It would see that if you followed it you simply oscillated between being virus ladden and not virus ladden.
// do something }
The proof is that the number of states in an infinitely long running program would be infinite. If the number of possible program states is larger than what you can pack into your memory then you cannot determine if there is an infinite loop. Consider for example how a computer program would determine if this were an infinite loop:
while(rand()) {
You need knowledge about the statistics of the rand() function in order to answer this question quickly. Otherwise you would have to just run the program for all the possible rand() seeds before you could answer it.
Michael
The creation of an unauthorised copy of a copyrighted work, in French law, is a form of counterfeiting ("you are creating illegitimate goods"). This just means he's indicted for a copyright violation and an attempt to conceal that he (allegedly) did.
Tough time for the guy. I hope he did things the right way (ie. that the allegations are proven false or falling within fair use), and has enough juice in the bank to countersue and prevail for his costs.
Could this all just be made up?
Well..I guess you have a different definition of contradiction than I do.
"increase resources to go after Al-Qaeda" and "didn't take the threat seriously" sure sound different to me.
No good deed goes unpunished.
Terrorist = Witch
Im wondering how long before we all get into a full scale witch hunt and how far it will go! It seems realistic that anyone with any computer skills above 'Excel' who doesnt belong to some software company will soon be branded terrorist, anyone who protests _anything_ is sure to join them and if you dont think [insert leader] is a wonderful person you better keep your mouth shut. Who thinks it will go as far as voting? with electionic voting coming in its going to be easy to tell who voted what, or to just fix votes, and once that happens, the only way to change things will be to rise up against the governments in some way, and that really will get you branded terrorist.
Just remember, the fight against terror is a catch-all filter.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
- marrie toi a une americaine
Come on, the indictment is not that serious, they're not threatening to send him to Devil's Island for life, he's probably only risking a 10-year prison sentence. Extreme measures like this are worse than what he's trying to avoid.
He stated that *Canada* is a much better place to live. And I agree.
Slashdot anagrams to "Sad Sloth"
and publishing how to rob it on the internet. When someone does and fingers you as the guy they got the info on how to rob the bank you've just become the accessory to a felony. He hasn't done anything illegal that wasn't illegal before the DMCA.
"And do you argue that companies that make claims like "catches 100% of known and unknown viruses" don't deserve to be punished for blatantly lying to the public?"
You should try reading a post before responding. I stated exlicity a couple of times to give a copy of your findings to the authorities or to sue the company yourself for false advertising. The authorities can then determine whether or not you have a case worth pursuing. This guy made himself prosecutor, jury and judge. And not shockingly he's going to jail for it.
What this guy did was scope out a bank and then published how to rob it publically. He was an idiot that made himself an accessory to crime because he couldn't keep his big mouth shut and go through the proper channels to resolve the issue.
Watch "Sneakers" for how to legally handle security issues if common sense isn't your thing. You get hired by the bank, you get permission from the authorities in case something goes wrong and then rob the bank and then you take the money to the manager and explain to him how to fix the holes. You do not call a press conference at any time, before, during or after the security check unless given express written permission to do so. Doing so makes any problems the bank has your sole legal responsibility.
It's really going to hurt his case if the company already had experts working internally to resolve the issues.
Black hats are the people who commit computer crimes. If White Hats are stupid, they make themselves accessories to those crimes. This is what happened to this guy. And now he's screwed. Admitting his crimes on Slashdot isn't going to help his case either. The best he's going to do is a plea bargain.
"So their customers have no right to status updates on problems with a product that they have purchased?"
Nope. Microsoft never offers anybody any notice that new patches are available. You have to subscribe to newletters for any update notices from any company (even Linux) and none of them are legally responsible for such notices. You are not legally obligated to know anything about what's going on with a company unless you work there and even then it's at the manager's discretion what they tell you.
"Go home and read a book"
Go home and get a clue.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Libre Guillermito!
to force a company to do anything.
You cannot force Microsoft to make a 100% secure product. They do it from market pressures and their own volition on their own time table. Exposing holes in their software that can lead to crimes makes you an accessory to those crimes if they are committed using information you provided. If MS provides that information and doesn't offer a patch to go with it and that information leads to the committing of a crime, MS is responsible. Well would be if you didn't agree not to hold them responsible by using their products. It would just make them stupid to supply exploit explainations without fixes.
Linux is under these same rules.
If a product is insecure the only right you have is to not use it and warn people it's not secure. Posting how to exploit a flaw is not the same as claiming it's insecure and describing the consequences. The latter is legally safe, the former could make you an accessory.
A black hat who discovers an exploit on their own and commits a crime is solely responsible. Just like a bank robber who scopes out the bank himself and plans the act and carries it out.
A white hat who discovers and exploit and posts it publically is the same as a person who goes into a bank, finds all it's flaws and then posts the information publically. Anybody who uses that information to rob the bank and points the finger back at you for telling them how will get themselves a partner in crime.
Windows and Linux et al don't have exploits on purpose which is why they're aren't liable. You willfully expose the exploits for the intent to allow or cause harm. This is why you are responsible if you post them.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
They are, their not on current affairs, he'd have a lot more chance going to M6, who'd jump on the possibility of telling us just how bad things have become. Then again mabey they've changed, I haven't had a TV for seven years :).
Ask 8 slackers a question, get 10 awnsers (a citation, but I can't remember from who)
Oh really?
Where I live, DMCA-like laws have been proposed but denied for being to idiotic.
Note to Americans:
All European countries aren't the same. We speak different languages, have different religions, different monetary systems, have different cultural habits, different laws, etc.
France is known to other Europeans to always think that they are more clever than others, and the rest of the world should follow their lead. Just like many Americans do.
For example, France had some really stupid cryptography laws for years. This had the impact that Internet providers had to make sure the connections never, ever crossed the France borders, even if that would've been the sane thing.
French laws caused GSM to have a non-encrypted mode; otherwise it would have been illegal in France.
(Yes, they've changed those laws.)
Oh, and have you ever listened to french radio stations? They are required, *by law*, to play some-percentage of french music. And some radiostations did get into some *really* deep shit for sending a few percent too little.
So please don't assume that the rest of Europe works as France, or any other particular country for that matter.
I Television also has a pretty good local coverage, but less audience than France 3. I'd also suggest writing to Le Canard Enchaine, which has a dedicated column for this kind of stories ("Couac").
I'm not as optimistic as the previous poster, remember what happened to Serge Humpich. This guy found a way to crack the so-called most secure bank card system in the world (french Carte Bleue). He then contacted the system's proprietor (GIE Cartes Bancaires), offering help (not freely, alas for him) to fix the system thanks to his expertise, and as a demonstration bought a handful of metro tickets. He was indicted, temporarily jailed and found guilty of fraud, falsification and unauthorized access to an automated system. During the trial GIE kept on claiming that their system was unbreakable, yet some time later the first "Yes-cards" appeared on the black market and cracking info spread on the Net. Had the GIE taken Humpich seriously, no yes-cards could have been produced and no businesses harmed (usually small ones such as automated video cassette rental).
Merde pour la suite (frenchmen never wish good luck)
So I presume you fight for money and knowledge? Who exactly fights against money and knowledge?
Well..I guess you have a different definition of contradiction than I do.
"increase resources to go after Al-Qaeda" and "didn't take the threat seriously" sure sound different to me.
As vague cherry-picked sentence fragments, these "sound different" but that doesn't mean anything. It's a far cry from a "contradiction". The 2002 statement refers to a decision made in February 2001. The 2004 statement refers to the failure to implement that decision in the period between February 2001 and September 4, 2001. Do you get it now? Bush can plan a fivefold increase in counterterrorism resources- hell, he can plan a hundredfold increase- and until he implements the increase, it's all talk that does nothing to stop terrorism.
A government with the luxury of selectively declassifying the classified statements of its political opponents should be able to come up with something better than this.
Rien n'est mal des conservateurs. Les problems avec le monde aujourd'hui sont que tout le monde essaient employer la liberalisme pour justification des moins morales. Le Canada n'est que meilleur parce que les plus personnes parlent francais la.
*blinks*
Oh. I thought you said "All the world, these transvestites are now in place."
ne pas oublier 30 millions d'amis!
The monetary increase was proposed for the budget, approved, and was to be instituted in the new budget year beginning Oct 2001.
But that's besides the point. This is not the 'government' declassifying and putting forth these statements, but rather Clarke himself.
Did the Bush administration actively seek to increase the pressure on (and/or eradication of) the Taliban? Or did they not take the threat seriously.
These are the two conflicting statemnts coming out of Clarke's mouth (and book). First he says one thing, then quite another.
Again, I ask..."which truth"?
And then he apologized for having such crappy french. Which means he should have written in his native tongue in the first place.
Feed Guillermito and Spanska into Google.
Then feed Spanska and virus into Google.
Happy 99?
Hybris?
Boo hoo, boo hoo.
I suggest that this case be brought to European court of human rights after an appeal.
This case involves free speech which is a case for a human rights trial.
Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. Bertrand Russel
From (a translation of) Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, 26 August 1789
"The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may therefore speak, write, and print freely, if he accepts his own responsibility for any abuse of this liberty in the cases set by the law."
What ever financial hit these bad software companies (or at least companies with bad software) take is surely outweighed by THE TRUTH and secondly by this guy's right to say what he wants. In a free country. With good, no great cheese.
While you suggest marrying an american an pretending that you are an american and never returning to France, I note that you did not specifically direct that he live in the United States. I interpreted it that way in the original post as an implied "live in the US" but you did not actually include it there.
In any case, why not some other country? What makes you think that this scenario is any more or less likely in the US? Also, what about extradition? I think that the US would extradite under these circumstances.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
" The first comment recommended hiding from his accusers instead of fighting them."
Actually, he recommended going to America, finding an American, (or Canadian - if you like snow) girlfriend, and marrying her for the citizenship so you could live there. It was funny.
"The second post agreed, and bemoaned the sad state that France is in these days, and how much nicer of a place to live the USA is."
Nope (or are you trying to be funny?). The second poster asked him why he would want to live in the USA when everyone in the world detests its citizens, when it has a government with a president that caters to rich people and their companies, etc., etc... He then said it was better to go to Canada, which is a thousand times more sensible than the USA. (I'm paraphrasing here, since my French isn't so good these days.)
"Anyone that has ever gotten an idea based on any of my work and done something better with it-good for you."--J.Carmack
"Of course I'm going to defend myself, but to be frank, I'm kind of pessimistic."
GET A LAWYER to defend you, anything else is suicide.
I don't know much about this affair, but we only have one side of the story. Don't we? From what I see, "Guillermito" has posted at least 500 articles about this antivirus. Not all nice things about the company, product and the people who work there. Maybe it has something to do with the company's lawsuit? Maybe they didn't just sue you for the vulnerabilities you found (from what I know about French law, this is definitely not enough to make a case work against you). Guillermito, are you really telling us the truth? I mean, the entire truth?
it sucks but. friendly fire and being turned over to be tortured / murdered are a little different. once again i know it sucks. friendly fire is shity but not done out of malice or greed ( i guess this is where they get the friendly part). turning an ally over to a war time enemey for future profit is disturbing at best.
You are in many cases responsible for any harm that results from information you make publically available.
This information was posted with the intent to allow or cause harm to the software owner. And that is why he's in deep shit. He didn't have to sense to just let it go.
If the company is being retarded, that doesn't give you the right to sabatoge them and their clients. It's called the legal system. If he actually had a case he could have taken the company to court over it.
He didn't. He took the law into his own hands and now he's screwed.
"not because of some intrinsic right of a company to produce shitty products."
They're not liable for both reasons. The reason companies have to put it in writting is the same reason we have stupid warning labels. Too many lawyers and too many stupid people.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
If you are private citizen doing something that is even remotely shady., expect to be sued by corporations and jailed by your government. Thereby stripping you of most of your rights and freedoms for life.
If you are a private citizen doing nothing wrong, expect the rules to change to include you in the above group. Again, in order to strip more people of their rights and freedoms.
If you are a corporation or a government, expect neither.. as you are exempt.
Its amazing how quickly things are degenerating.. if I was religious id say the end was near.. But I'm not, so Ill hold out hope that we the people can stop this carnage on our rights.. before there are none left.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
He could always marry a french canadian ..
get a lawyer. A team of lawyers.
Contact organizations that may be interested in your cause and that fight for civil liberties. (EFF?)
Then, show you are a responsible, God-fearing pillar of society, and what-not. Make sure people say the same about you. Good publicity is a requirement these days.
Also show that it was just research, and of a casual nature. Everyone has a right to investigate. There was no intent to injure. You were just researching and presenting facts. True facts. (And woe betide any that misrepresents facts.) There was no misrepresentation, no slander. And it wasn't over money. You didn't get money for it. No one was paying you to do it.
And fight like hell for your right to free speech.
I wish you well.
Doesn't this smell like DVD Jon? The norwegian guy who coded "illegal" dvd software.
He won in court. Destroying his youth by this sword of justice penduling over his head.
What difference is there between "illegal" dvd software and "illegal" exploits?
If I would see a car with a faulty part that could result in death to the driver, and suggest a fix for that part, I am a terrorist ?
Suppose I tell everyone in the world that the car has a faulty part, but I would not tell the manufacturer.
(After all I am a hobbyist, I don't know how to reach the manufacturer.)
People knowing the flaw could alert the manufacturer, or obtain a proper working part for their car themselves.
As a person I would feel the urge to spread my findings. It would too be convenient.
Even so, would a faulty part in piece of software not be heared of ? It would too be convenient.
Not Guilty.
Expenses paid.
Have a nice day.
Don't speak about time until you have spoken to him.
according to my phrasebook
"Arte" ... They like doing documentaries, seek out truth and present things as they are.
:)
This is the same station that did the documentary about how Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landings for the Americans... screened here on April 1 a couple of years back, and from that link looks like they'll be playing it again very soon.
deus does not exist but if he does
We have a special program for people oppressed by repressive regimes - Asylum.
the majoritys of you whitehats thought
you were being bright and intelligent showing
off your exploits , well thar goes yar brilliance!
If you would have stuck to your
irc.2600.org or irc.debian.org and joined
the elite group you wouldnt be sitting there
feeling sorry for yourself....
just that 8)
I hereby grant you a virtual karma point...
Joining the Legion...
Any Army, Anywhere, Anytime...They'll beat their asses till they can only speak in Farts !!!
Recently (some 20 years ago), they modified the entry selection a bit...You can't enter if you are sought for a crime of blood...of course, being somewhat fit will help, but be sure you will lose all fats or die trying...
I think you have to sign for 10 years minimum. Then you are given a new name, a new (empty) bank account with the Banque De France, and will have to become a Legionnaire.
It was created under Napoleon (don't hesitate to correct me 8) as a last chance for those that had nothing to lose or where you went when you were very, very badly in need of a new identity.
With 15 years surviving the Legion (at the time), it was considered as an equal or superior punishment for almost anything you had done...
As I said, today, they don't accept people with blood on their hands.
And still considered punishment enough for most of what you may have done...
Lets say Human Granted Redemption... The Hard Way..
So do it only as the very, very last ressource 8)
(I really hope it never goes to that point... he didn't do anything that bad...I hope 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Hem...
You heard of TF6 ? the joint venture tv between TF1 and M6?
And an 8'clock News that is called "l'actu en 5 Minutes" ?
Arte is (I think) a better way to have some time in the news and/or (mostly or) a nice small 10 minutes of their next public questions...
Also someone up there added something about "la bite au cul" or something close... Well, that's the spirit ! 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
It's quite interesting to discover, from the inside, how the french justice system works. I'm back from Paris. I've just been indicted and charged of distributing programs that violated Intellectual Property rights (literally translated, it's "counterfeiting and concealment of counterfeiting"). Maximum punishment for these charges are two years in jail and a fine of 150.000 euros. I'm not yet judged guilty or innocent, but I already had to pay around two or three thousands dollars for two trips to Paris (I live in Boston, MA, USA), plane tickets, and lawyer fees. I already talked about my story here (in french).
That's the way justice systems work in general: if someone accuses you of a crime and makes what looks like a reasonable case to the police, it ends up costing you money. Welcome to the real world. Life sucks sometimes.
If it's a civil complaint, in some countries, the people sueing you may have to pay your expenses if they lose, but that's also not exactly a blessing--it also means that if you have a complaint against someone else, you may end up paying them a lot of money if you lose--a strong disincentive to enforcing your rights when you have been wronged.
In Europe, many people have private legal insurance, which will pay for legal fees and lawyers when you get sued; something like that might cover this case. Many people who work professionally in some field also get professional insurance, which also often covers them against lawsuits. So, the short answer is: in order to avoid getting bankrupted by frivolous legal claims, people insure themselves.
If you have been falsely accused, your accuser may have committed a criminal offense themselves and you may also be able to recover damages in civil court. However, in a case like this, that may be too hard to prove even if it is obvious to you and me.
If independant researchers cannot analyse security softwares and publish their discoveries, final users will just have marketing press releases from editors to assess the quality of a sofware. Unfortunately, it seems that we are heading to this kind of world in France and maybe in Europe.
No, it just means you have to go about exposing their product differently. Publish an article in a respected publication. Then, they'd have to take on the publisher.
Or file a complaint against them for false advertising. That could be either a complaint to an organization like the Better Business Bureau (or the French equivalent), or an legal complaint.
It may still be worth filing a counter-complaint at this point. You need to talk to a lawyer about that.
but then he have GIE Cartes Bancaires (you non french imagine a company that have ALL banks as customer, plus most card security related, and that for most of Europe and the part of the civilized world that have a data chip and a pin code with their cards, as in cell phones, etc...) and his affair escalated to the "high" (dope suspected 8) levels of executives from the financial (read, we got the money, we own you...) world.
And I think the Humpich case was a gross injustice.
(detail of the technical flaw, for this is Slashdot, after all : the last 4 or 8 digits of the "I don't remember how long,search for yourself's" code were...0s. Making the Credit Card encryption testing (brute-force) a lot easier.
Since then, the problem has been fixed, and almost all the old card have been renewed, so this technique is no more as usable...
And he DID use the card, even if it was only for 2$ of metro tickets...which is what lost him in the end...
Here we have someone that have proof that someone is a liar, and is calling it out loud.
And a Bully, that might have been smart by trying the Hard Legal Way.
This one is against a "small one", so I think he stands a good chance if he makes a good case and some fuss...Especially as in France, we don't really have that much "Attorney General" thingy, with pre-trial, auto-guilty for cheap resolutions.
Also, if you have to, explain very simply what you did, use Powerpoint or OOO a lot and help them understand of what you made, and show the international and national organisations that do just what you do...exposing flaws so they can be corrected, and, if the bad coder doesn't fix, tell the world so people can be aware of the risk they have wrongly feeling safe and having paid for it.
Also, the part about Publicite Mensongere...
You are bookmarked. Tell us more as it goes...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Bank robbery is a serious crime because it strikes at people's trust in the financial system.
This is why the FBI doesn't investigate armed robberies -- that kill and maim more people -- at the 7-11 or the gas station.
Revealing exploits also strikes at people's trust in "the system." This is why various governments take it so much more seriously than actual crimes like armed robbery and murder, which only victimize private persons.
"It is dangerous to be right too soon" -- Robert A. Heinlein
?
nuff said.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Spelling Vichist, mon fils ? (lol)
Travail, famille, patrie, et fellation 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
What? And not be able to return to the home of the FREEDOM FRIES and the FREEDOM KISS?
Jamais!
Seriously: too bad you were so naive. Or did you think these jerks would react better? Because they don't. They're petty people, and petty people rule the world.
You have our full support here.
I bet he thought he was "Doing them a favor" by finding these flaws in a french generic anti-virus and other "high security" commercial programs. A hacker sees this as doing them a favor, A company equates this to Neighborhood Watch Would you want someone jiggling your door handles in the middle of the night, just to tell you that you left your window unlocked? I mean come on they may blow things out of proportion but the did break the "Terms of Service".....
you really want me to make a list for the "American Governments Sins" ?
...Feel lucky I didn't even google and that I like to keep them posts short...
I dislike 2-3 pages comments, even more on slashdot... so I'll keep it short and quite recent, say around the same events you mention, and without any google help (yeah, I do like bragging 8)
"Kinda like how the French changed the term "e-mail" to "courriel" at about the same time?"
So what ? english is mandatory in france now ? we don't have the right to have a world translated in our langage ?
"How about how when the French government convicted cop killers like Mumia Abu-Jamal an honorary citizen of Paris or how about when they refused to extradite convicted murderer Ira Einhorn? "
South America small political disturbances the last 50 years or so.
Giving a medal to Sharon.
CIA/FBI/The Others I don't know about various crimes and hoopsys.
Financing the Talibans.
Financing Sadam Hussein.
Lotsa, lotsa things I never heard about.
"These are the same guys who gassed the Kurds"
Yep, the gas formula was french made, and sold for use against Iran. The planes and tanks and pilots training from the US were just a nicety to bring the gas there.
"France should be our best friends, right there with the British"
No comment.
Sorry, found one. LOL.
"But for some reason, the French people take it upon themselves to trash the U.S. any minute you get. Now don't think I'm one of those "the USA saved France" people, I know it was a collective effort from the Allies. However, please don't forget thousands of Americans died defending your country."
First part...So what? If the critics hurts, maybe it's because there is a truth somewhere that someone doesn't want to be said...
Second Part.
One "Lafayette" helped create yours. Along with some men from France....Or maybe history has changed since I last looked.
still wanna play ?
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Yeah, my French sucks.
I think it has something to do with being so close to Quebec.
KFG
They're trying to cover up their own mistakes with this lawsuit. Everyone knows that.
Keep up the good work!
And if you mention it, his controllers will imprison you.
Its just a shame you can't find some 6 year olds to point it out in this case.
OK.... For all you who missed the Freedom/French toast/fries joke... It's an oblique reference to WWII, when anti-germanism made people change names like "sauerkraut" to "liberty cabbage", or hamburger to "liberty sandwich" because they're words with a german root. It's like the french are the enemy, like the germans were. Anti-french beliefs. :)
"Give a man a fire, he's warm for a day, set a man on fire, he's warm for life."
/cynical //cynical /wise //wise
Well, let me think...
doesn't almost everyone ?
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
A friend of mine recently discovered that Clemson University has made all of our student personal information available to the world after a simple Google search. The information can be found directly also. What recourse does a student have when his or her personal information is published like this? And how can we make sure that this will never be done again?
"free speech" in the context of the first amendment was intended to mean fredom of political speech, ie, freedom to criticise the government. I am not sure that pointing out exploits in software comes under "free speech," not that i really care because i have little-no interest in the subject. However, I read the constitution and related texts as if they were the bible.
While quite frankly it would be a rather bullshit instance of legislation (which the federal government does on an almost daily basis (the fact they're really not supposed to do much of anything being rather apparant to anyone who actually reads the founding documents)) not withstanding, i expect that it would hold up under judicial review for this fact (although i want to know who gave the judicial branch the de juris power of review).
Not to troll, i'm just saying.
Since flaws are all you people talk about to begin with! (If it's on Monty Python it MUST be true!)
It always used to be the Maid or the Butler but now enter THE HACKER!
The monetary increase was proposed for the budget, approved, and was to be instituted in the new budget year beginning Oct 2001.
Yes. And do you remember what happened, then, while we were waiting for that new budget year to start in Oct 2001?
But that's besides the point. This is not the 'government' declassifying and putting forth these statements, but rather Clarke himself.
Clarke is a private citizen, so he can't declassify anything. And the 'government' is selectively declassifying his testimony, documents, and emails with an intent on catching him in a contradiction. Bill Frist even threatened a perjury charge against Clarke and withdrew it hours later, just to get the words "Clarke" and "perjury" into newspaper headlines together. This is just thuggish behavior. It's an abuse of government power.
Again, I ask..."which truth"?
Generally, I was referring to these two charges:
-That the Bush administration in the first eight months considered terrorism an important issue, but not an urgent issue.
-That by invading Iraq, the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism.
Thank you for the keen interest in my sig.
...drole!
"Our interests are to see if we can't scale it up to something more exciting," he said.
It is a sad fact that unless you publish a working proof of concept exploit, the company will ignore you saying it is "only theoretical". And before you say go to the company first, you should know that "responsible disclosure" in stages is quite possibly blackmail (i.e. respond within X days or I go public). The safest way, believe it or not, is to publish the whole thing including the exploit without notifying the company.
Then you get charged with blackmail. Sorry, but the most legally safe option (without releasing the information while staying anonymous) is to go public with everything without any notification to the company at all.
"Billy!! Billy!!! Dammit! I TOLD you to never play with that boy. His family are one of *those* kind, you know the ones I have told you about."
"But daddy, why can't I play with emacs users?"
"Just you listen to me."
"Yes daddy." he runs off.
"A little harsh there werent you dear?"
"What?? Oh sure, do you want him to grow up and marry one of those BSD types?? Do ya?"
Oh yeah, cant wait for geektopia when all is good and wholesome and we all live off the fat o' the lan.
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
That's never an option.
Ironically, cryptography and stenography are supposed to be terrorists' tools!
In other news, US troops storming a deserted Al Qaeda hideout in the Afghan mountains discovered suspicious notepads full of what an army spokesman described as 'cryptic stenography'. Looking into the matter, the Department of Homeland Security discovered an entire profession devoted to teaching stenography methods in the US. "We had no idea this was going on right under our noses," Tom Ridge declared in a hastily convened press conference. "We'll have these terrorist teachers round up and sent to Guantanamo faster than they can write 'uncle'".
Steganography, people. Big diff.
Be faithful to your obsessions. Identify them and be faithful to them, let them guide you like a sleepwalker. JG Ballard
What is this need to go public... Send it to the company. Thank them for fixing it and move on...
Oh wait, we all want to be famous...
*blink* -1 Offtopic? Since when is providing a translation off topic? Bleh.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Ever looked in /etc/ on a Solaris box? I have 72 binaries in mine. So, to answer your question, Sun puts configuration files in with userland binaries.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
You, Sir, can bite me. I demand satisfaction! How DARE you cast aspersions on my motives! The quote was appropriate, and I don't need the karma - I'm quite sure I'm well in the 40's, even with the karma suicides I had fun with last week. I will see you in hell, you miscreant, and blight on the earth!
Mod down people who tell people how to mod in their sigs
"Doesn't it seem funny that the term e-mail was used for so long (let's say ~10 years) and then all of a sudden they want to translate it?"
...
Doesn't it feel funny that French Fries became Freedom fries ?
Also, it was not out of the blue... the term has been in discussion in the French Speaking world, and we finally used...the Canadian usual expression.
"
You missed the point, again. I'm saying the the Iraqi regime need to be removed. I don't care who made the gas or who made the tanks, planes, or pilots."
where did you imply ? I seem to have missed it
"These are the same guys who gassed the Kurds"",
So, if I follow your line of though, when the US gave money to Saddam to help him in the war against Iran, it was a long-term plan to have him suffocate under dollars...yes, interesting...
"The French aided us in the revolutionary war only because we were fighting the British."
Yeah ! We most certainly had a political motivation...Just like the US started getting interested in WW2 only after the German Allies (japaneses) bombed pearl harbor, and didn't want to give any sort of aid before that...
The fact that USSR was doing a nice military comeback in Europe also didn't have any effect on the american intervention decision...
"
"Feel lucky I didn't even google and that I like to keep them posts short..."(me)
"I'm sure if France was important, they'd have all sorts of short-comings on google as well."(you)
Here are my 2 cents... Go buy a brain upgrade with them.
you sure need them, seeing such powerfull, intelligent and effective arguments as you demonstrated.
You're not even worth being the first entry in my foes list.
Yours faithfully...
Da5id
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Btw, I just used that quote in another thread and got (so far) a +1. ;-) (But I see you already saw that as you replied to a child.)
Yer a Friend now too. Enjoy!
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
we'd just bitch about him on Slashdot, and how he didn't have any proof if it wasn't up on BugTraq.
You could not possibly have eaten at "La Tour d'Argent", which features the best food and service I've ever seen (the only experience that has come even vaguely close in the US was "Absinthe" in San Francisco). We spoke passable french (my accent is better than my diction) and in Paris we found that once people figured out that English was our native language they would switch to that.
The only time I ever experienced rudeness was when I made the mistake of summoning a waiter in a bistro by raising my index finger -- very bad form which I knew but managed to lapse. And generally the only bad mark I'd put against service in general over there is that it can be a bit slow -- which I'll take any day over the all-too-usual US choices ... either feeling rushed through every part of a meal, or over-attended to death by waitstaff who seem to think that constant interruptions will get them a better tip.
Linux is Linux, if One need clarify their dist: <Dist>/GNU Linux
bsds are of course just BSD