More on the"Neighborhood Network Watch" -- not a joke, but a thesis project?

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

-----Original Message-----
From: privacy-bounces+rms=computerbytesman.com () vortex com
[mailto:privacy-bounces+rms=computerbytesman.com () vortex com] On Behalf Of
privacy () vortex com
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 4:35 PM
To: privacy-list () vortex com
Subject: [ PRIVACY Forum ] "Neighborhood Network Watch" -- not a joke, but a
thesis project?


Greetings.  I've been continuing to research the "Neighborhood
Network Watch."  It remained difficult to see how it could actually
be exactly what it claimed to be, and more oddities and
inconsistencies appeared the more I dug down, but it all seemed far
too elaborate for a joke -- and its technical discussions are 
not utterly nonsensical.

But use of terms like "ECHELON keyword list" and "emissary to DHS"
were red flags.  Some readers suggested that the project was
the work of some wacko security wannabee (this seemed a definite
possibility all along).

Some deep Google searches have now exposed the reality.  Not a joke,
and not "real" per se, but apparently rather a complicated
programming/thesis project presented as a "hoax" organization to
critique networking and national security issues.

And while the "project" had notable "screwball" aspects (a la my
"Keystone Cops" title), it certainly found its way onto various Web
sites and into a number of alarmed e-mails I received "alerting" me
to its existence.

Here are links to the relevant NYU blog entries that lay out the
"actual" project design:

http://itp.nyu.edu/blogs/ecm292_thesis/2008/02/

http://itp.nyu.edu/blogs/ecm292/2008/02/26/nnwkaa-30/

Of course, the real point of all this (beyond the programming
elements) is that the described operations, despite dubious legal
status, are not only largely possible, but in this day and age not
something to be dismissed as beyond the pale of actual implementation.

The advisability of publicly presenting a fictional organization in
such a manner in this context without any obvious form of disclaimer
is an issue for another day.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren 
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org 
Co-Founder, NNSquad 
   - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com 
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com 


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