Crime boss uses police database

Crooks covet justice databases
By Peter Shinkle ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Nov. 13 2005

ST. LOUIS -- Adrian Minnis ran a heroin distribution ring that wasviolent and tightly knit, making it difficult for informers to penetrate it, federal authorities say.

The gang also had a secret weapon: It cultivated a police officer to dig into a law enforcement database to figure out which of its customers might be undercover informers, according to an indictment filed against Minnis and 20other alleged ring members.

[snipped]

Declan McCullagh <http://us.f321.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=declan@well.com&YY=69441&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a> 29/11/2005 12:21:44 pm >>>
Other examples, from the archives:http://www.politechbot.com/p-02347.html http://www.politechbot.com/p-02763.html

-Declan

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Crime boss uses police database
Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 06:09:13 -0500
From: Richard Diamond <http://us.f321.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=me@richard.org&YY=69441&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a>
To: declan@well.com

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/59BB18ACEB5349DF862570B9001C67C3?OpenDocument

Wiretapping innocent people on the Internet

The NYT covered this story, on the front page, too. But somehow itwas all about "Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems". It wasn't about the government automating the bugging of every student, professor, and staff person by typing a few commands from the basementof the FBI building. The nasty word "wiretap" didn't appear til the eighth paragraph, "below the fold", and when it did appear, it wasburied in mid-sentence, right next to "criminals, terrorists and spies". (They never wiretap "citizens", "innocent bystanders", or "suspects", and everyone wiretapped is of course guilty-as-charged,though they haven't been charged with any crime yet.)

[snipped]

Declan McCullagh <http://us.f321.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=declan@well.com&YY=57577&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b> 26/10/2005 3:33 am

Dan Solove's note on NYT article:http://www.politechbot.com/2005/10/24/making-universities-pay/

Details on new lawsuit:http://www.politechbot.com/2005/10/24/wiretapping-rules-face/

-Declan

Subject: Re: [Politech] Wiretapping innocent people on the Internet
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:20:16 -0700
From: John Gilmore <http://us.f321.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=gnu@toad.com&YY=57577&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b>

To: Declan McCullagh <http://us.f321.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=declan@well.com&YY=57577&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b>, gnu@toad.com

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence ViolationsSecret Surveillance Lacked Oversight

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations Secret Surveillance Lacked Oversight

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 24, 2005; Page A01

The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork oroversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today. Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view.

[snipped]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/23/AR2005102301352.html

Poem

And now for something truly, absolutely and unabashedly stupid for poetry lovers….

The text of the poem follows:

<>!*”#
^”’$$-
!*=@$
%*<>~#4
&[]../
{,,SYSTEM HALTED

The poem can only be appreciated by reading it aloud, to wit:

Waka waka bang splat tick tick hash,
Caret quote back-tick dollar dollar dash,
Bang splat equal at dollar under-score,
Percent splat waka waka tilde number four,
Ampersand bracket bracket dot dot slash,
Vertical-bar curly-bracket comma comma CRASH.

– Anon.

Source: http://www.info.bw/~jacana/QuotesP.htm

Everyman's Guide to Password Management

Dear Doctor Thomas

I have been unnerved by the recent case of a gang of hackers recording the passwords of people who access their bank accounts online from public computers such as internet cafes.

One solution is to change your password frequently.Because it will probably take them a while to go to all the computers and check the keylogging software.

Problem is, I can't remember all the fuckin passwords I have at the moment anyway.

Ben D., NSW


Dear Ben

Here is a practical way to remember all your passwords.

Your password should have two components: a "service component" that relates to the particular service being opened (eg Banking, Email, Newsgroups, customer loyalty websites), and a "security component" that changes regularly.

For example, in October, your security component might be "Alpine35", so you would open your National Australia bank account with "NABAlpine35", your email with "OutlookAlpine35" and your newsgroup with "AltSexBestialityAlpine35".

In November, you might change your security component to "Frankenstein12", so you would open your National Australia bank account with "NABFrankenstein12", your email with "OutlookFrankenstein12" and your newsgroup with "AltSexBestialityFrankenstein12". You can even make your service component easier to remember by, for example, using some standard rule based on the website address that you are accessing. For example, you might make the service component for the NAB with web address http://www.national.com.au/ to be "wlmu" (last letter of each component of the address" or "national". Or you might make the service component for the bulletin magazine at http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au to be "nnmu" or "bulletin"For all my low security applications (eg newsgroups, customer loyalty websites), I just have the one password "password".

(Put that on your blog Markus - we should start a website that trades useful tips on "how to", perhaps as part of a "normative wikipedia" project...)

Doctor Thomas

Philosophy is dead!

Philosophy invented positivism which spawned economics and management theory.

Now theories of management accountability are being applied against philosophy departments.

How it that for long term negative feedback and unintended consequences?

Why I don't have a blog

As an academic, it is supposedly my job to rant and rave. However, as University's outputs come under more and more scrutiny, and I constantly have to justify my time and there is a reluctance to do anything that doesn't contribute directly to evaluated research output.

Introduction

My name is Doctor Thomas, aka Thomas the Tank Engine, aka Tom-Tom, aka Tomaski (pronounced tom-AHSH-ki), aka 'Backdoor' Brinsmead.

I am too busy doing important work to indulge in such nonsense as setting up a blog on which to record my most brilliant but least financially rewarding thoughts, so in desperation my friends set one up for me for the benefit of posterity.

If you want to see what is so important that I cannot tear myself away from it, go to: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/casrg/research/ccsd.html

Regards

Thomas