"Dark Alleys" on the Internet

nokilli writes "Sounding the alarmist tone many of us became used to in the early days of the web, The New York Times has a story that talks about "national security" concerns over the myriad ways in which two people (i.e., terrorists) can communicate using the Internet today [NYT=Kneel before Zod]. They're talking about monitoring chat rooms, email servers, etc. I'd like to see how they plan on monitoring my mage as it talks to your cleric in some obscure, nearly impossible to reach (unless you're level 50) corner of our favorite MUD."

Comments

Obviously the answer is simple...

[cnelzie]

...we need to get rid of the entirety of the Internet. It's the only way to save the world from the dark forces of terrorists that want to meet in 'dark alleys' and plot the destruction of the modern world.

After that, we should destroy cell phones, especially the ones that have 'no contract' that can be picked up at a local drugstore, used for a week and then be tossed away.

Our Modern world has just made it to easy for those 'evil ones' to communicate about destroying us. We should foil all their plots by going back to pre-80's technology levels. That will show them!

What about

[afstanton]

encrypted spam? There is frequently junk in spam that looks like noise, but encrypted data also can look like noise. If you send out a million spams and just make sure that a couple of them go to the people you want to get the message...well, there ya go.

Internet caffe ?

[aepervius]

Even simpler, go to a random internet caffe every day, use a random chat cleint on a random server using passphrase convenied in advance. Why make it complicated when you only need good legs or a good trnasportation system in a good metropole to avoid wiretapping ?

Hammer into Anvil

[Thedalek]

Patrick McGoohan, star of the 1960's TV series Secret Agent Man (AKA Danger Man) later went on to write, direct, and star in a show called The Prisoner, which basically amounts to a paranoid Orwellian nightmare mixed with the whimsical trappings of Alice in Wonderland.

In one episode, titled Hammer into Anvil, the protagonist, Number Six, who is constantly being spied upon by the sinister forces who control his mysterious prison (called only "The Village), decides to turn the tables on the chief warden (called "Number Two"). He begins to send secret, encoded messages to nonexistant entities, indicating that he is not really a prisoner, but a mole sent to determine the strength of Village security and staff.

Eventually, he drives the current "Number Two" to a nervous breakdown. It's one of the best episodes.

It seemed somehow relevant.

Re:Uhm

[akadruid]

I already replied, or I would give you an insightful for that.

You can chalk up more victims to Sept 11th - thousands killed in the WTC, tens of thousands killed in Afganistan and Iraq, and millions accross the world living in fear and oppression.

This sort of thing should be a wakeup call to the masses.

Despite my best attempts, my girlfriend still worries when I get a on train every morning for London. She doesn't worry I'll be run over by a black cab, or raise my blood pressure in a stressful job. Instead, she worries that terrorist will blow up my train, my office, or even 'the whole of London'. The Culture of Fear has her trapped.

Re:Uhm

[unixpro]

Well, I'm a server programmer for a very large, very well-known massivly multiplayer on-line game. We're in the process now of developing the next generation of servers for this game, targeted to be released at the end of next year.

Our legal department has informed me that I am required by the provisions of the USA PATRIOT act to provide a back-door that will allow law enforcement to enter and view any conversation taking place in any of the servers, including private conversations, without being observed. I must also provide a way for the chat, including private chat, to be logged, and we must keep those logs for at least 6 months.

Since chat through our servers cannot be encrypted, there is no 128 bit option.

Big brother is watching you, friends.