Re: Civil Disobedience

["Josh Crane" <jcrane () bit net au>]

well said...

I would put it to you that there are far more hackers subscribing to this
and other secfoc groups than any of us hackers, admins/hackers, admins or
non-hackers could imagine.

It is a show of absolute ignorance and a crime in itself to respond to such
a harsh manner.

I'm in Australia and I haven't heard of anything like this heading our way
just yet, but in the interests of all who may suffer at the hand of this
display of impatience, again ignorance and lack of resolve now and in the
future, I think we all need to demonstrate our objection very clearly.

The real question is, how can we best show this both publicly and sensibly?

Cheers.


-----Original Message-----
From: John Thornton <jthornton () hackersdigest com>
To: declan () wired com <declan () wired com>; ah () well com <ah () well com>;
vuln-dev () securityfocus com <vuln-dev () securityfocus com>; oth () 2600 com
<oth () 2600 com>
Cc: John Thornton <jthornton () hackersdigest com>
Date: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 1:48 AM
Subject: Civil Disobedience


> ( Moderator: Please pass this though Blue Boar. Please just allow this
> thread even if it is just for a day )
>
> In case you have been living under a rock the past few weeks. You should
> know that our civil liberties are under attack. Kevin Poulsen wrote:
> "Hackers, virus-writers and web site defacers would face life imprisonment
> without the possibility of parole under legislation proposed by the Bush
> Administration that would classify most computer crimes as acts of
> terrorism."
> ( http://www.securityfocus.com/news/257, Hackers face life imprisonment
> under 'Anti-Terrorism' Act). When you read the news this morning you will
> see that this bill was passed by the Senate.
> (http://www.securityfocus.com/news/265, Senate passes terror bill).
>
> I will say that most of the readers of this news group are not hackers but
> Network Administrators that are very involved with the Security Community.
> That is why I am asking you, not to report minor scans against your network
> to the abuse department of any ISP if this bill becomes law.
>
> I as a Network Administrator for many years now have been on a routine to
> check my logs for scans against my network every morning and send the logs
> of attacks to the abuse department of the ISP. I encourage every Network
> Administrator I ever talked to follow this practice to this day. It is my
> job Network Administrator to report these attacks on my network, it is what
> I am paid to do. However if/when this bill becomes law I will no longer
> report these attacks and I urge every Network Administrator to join me in
> this Civil Disobedience Protest against this bill.
>
> If/When this bill becomes law, Hackers/Script Kiddies will no longer be
> looked at as just kids messing around with computers, but as terrorists.
> Just as the press started to tell the difference between a criminal who
uses
> computers and a Hacker. Now they all are just going to be terrorist. I have
> a problem with this.
>
> Perhaps you think this could not happen to you. Well I would suggest you
> read the story on Jerome Heckenkamp ( http://www.freesk8.org/ ). I
> contributor to BugTraq who wrote a exploit for qpop who is now facing 16
> counts of computer crimes, a maximum sentence of 85 years, and up to $4
> million in fines. After Qualcomm reported him to the FBI. This case is
harsh
> now, just imagine if this happen under the 'Anti-Terrorism' bill. This
could
> happen to you.
>
> Again, I have always felt it was my duty to report attacks against my
> network to there ISP. I looked at it as doing my part to make the internet
> more secure. I figured it is a good lesson for the kid to have his service
> taken away. If this bill becomes law then its no longer just some kid
> getting his service taken away. It is something that can escalate to much
> more and could result to some kid going to jail for a long time. I will not
> be a part of it even if there is just a slight possibility that this can
> happen. I want nothing to do with it.
>
> I ask each and every one of you to join me in this protest. It is not to
> late to make a difference. Once you lose your right you will never get it
> back.
>
> Thank you for your time,
> John Thornton  -  jthornton () hackersdigest com
> Editor in Chief
> Hackers Digest -  www.hackersdigest.com
>
>     H  A  C  K  E  R  '  S    D  I  G  E  S  T
> --------------------------------------------------
> Issue 2 comes out November 1st. Will you get it?
> --------------------------------------------------
>                www.hackersdigest.com