[Nettime-bold] CYBERWAR: FBI Surveillance Software to be Part of Windows XP Updates

["Dimitri Devyatkin" <devyatkin@earthlink.net>]

Unfortunately, the link to the story no longer seems to work

To: Jei
Date sent: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 16:05:31 +0200 (EET)
Subject: [ParanoidTimes] FBI Surveillance Software to be Part of Windows XP
Updates
Send reply to: ParanoidTimes@yahoogroups.ccom


Microsoft, cDc and FBI Cut a Deal: FBI Surveillance Software to be Part of
Windows XP Updates

By John Robbington 13-12-2001

The controversy, rumors
and speculation surrounding the FBI's Magic Lantern tool has attracted
ridicule from the internet underground. Not so any more. Now both the
infamous hacker group the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc) and Microsoft have
offered a helping hand to the Feds and are preparing to include the
surveillance software in all future editions and updates of the new
Microsoft Windows XP operating system. "This Magic Langern could easily
become a part of Windows XP Dynamic Updates, or even become a standard part
of the operating system." Microsoft spokesperson Bob Null said. "We are
really looking forward to experimenting this on a large scale. Our direct
Marketing department was jumping out of their pants when they heard we would
be doing this." As well they should. - The dream of both direct marketers
and FBI coming both t! rue at the same time. Also to be included in the
future Microsoft Windows XP (R) are Microsoft's trademark profiling software
meant for tracking individual users:  See: Microsoft licenses profiling
software for digital TV [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/23318.html]
Microsoft's New Technology enables the FBI to profile individuals through
their viewing habits and so provide FBI with useful information about
potential terrorists and other criminals. Both Microsoft and FBI point out
that individual profiles are not given a name and that the information is
stored on the FBI government computers only and not on public computers. But
this holds little sway with privacy advocates. Predictive, a Microsoft
partner in this venture, has also filed a patent for a biometric system
which identifies different individuals within the same household. The system
works on recognizing people's keystroke, mouse or rem! ote-control usage
patterns. It says that it generates random, perfect IDs each time, which
have the effect of identifying all the household's PC users, even if they
didn't write anything that would otherwise indicate to FBI and Microsoft who
is using the computer. Andy Beers, senior product manager for Microsoft said
of the deal: "Predictive Networks' solutions will provide customers of
Microsoft with state-of-the-art software to understand suspected terrorists'
characteristics and interests. The result will be the technology and
expertise needed to make thought police operation a seamless reality for the
consumer, while enabling incrementally criminalizing various aspects of file
swapping terrorist hunts within the United States and abroad." [ meaning
more targeted marketing and spam - rf] Evidently still grizzled about the
fact that their security is too bad to afford any real protection, Microsoft
has withheld the publishing of a notorious security track record,! that of
Microsoft being the most often penetrated OS of the Millennium. Reid
Fleming, a cDc member and now a secret Microsoft employee, said: "Never
before has the US faced a more troublesome enemy. To meet this growing
challenge, the FBI has announced an ongoing effort to create and deploy
best-of-breed electronic surveillance software. "While we applaud the
innovation and drive of the federal law enforcement agency, those of us who
are US citizens would be remiss if we did not offer our expertise in this
area." A tongue in cheek announcement from the group claims that cDc "has
more targeted experience than anyone else in this field". And they're right.
Their Back Orifice would do the Magic Lantern job beautifully. Although the
hackers are quite confident that the Microsoft and FBI's Engineering
Research Facility is more than capable, cDc intends to re-architect Back
Orifice from the ground up. "There will be absolutely no shared code between
! the two projects, in order to skirt detection by commercial antivirus
packages. The code will remain totally secret. The software will never
surface publicly., And it will be far more stealthy than anything we have
ever released, demonstrated or publicly discussed," the group said. Indeed,
the central design principle of Magic Lantern and this new breed of Back
Orifice could easily be interpreted as "an artificial witness which is
capable of intercepting any and all relevant activity during, after and even
leading up to the commission of a computer crime", it added. The cDc
concluded that the project would deliver "the ultimate intelligence
gathering tool to the government. And we intend to construct it, at no cost,
exclusively for the use of Microsoft and the federal government," said
Fleming. "We are confident that Microsoft and the government will limit the
use of this technology only to targets relevant to legitimate
investigations," he! added, further underscoring the cult's faith in federal
law enforcement organizations. "The FBI has a long history of following
Title 18 to the letter." http://www.vaspnet.com/News/1127637







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