-Caveat Lector- [radtimes] # 198 An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities. "We're living in rad times!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send $$ to RadTimes!! --> (See ** at end.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: --One of Chicago Seven still protesting after all these years --One in Six U.S. Children Lives in Poverty --US on alert for smallpox terror attack --America fully brainwashed by cybercrime FUD --Big Brother claims an innocent victim --Dot-Com Refugees Find Welcome in Porn Industry --Summit under cyber siege? --Federal agencies beefing up forces for ADB --Police chief warns of May Day 'bomb threats anarchy' --FBI raids media center --IMC responds re: FBI visit and court gag order --MI5 builds new centre to read e-mails on the net --Feds send extra agents for ADB meet --ACLU sues over rally restrictions --A police state in the making --Arrests follow theft of Quebec Summit security plans =================================================================== One of Chicago Seven still protesting after all these years <http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0022_BC_SummitProtests-Dellin&&news&newsflash-financial> By DAVID GRAM The Associated Press 4/22/01 QUEBEC (AP) -- Longtime activist David Dellinger hasn't strayed from his radical roots, which include membership in the Chicago Seven. At 85, he's among the most prominent of the tens of thousands of activists protesting talks aimed at establishing the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a common market stretching the length of the Western Hemisphere. "I'm against the FTAA," Dellinger said. He says that by giving multinational companies greater leeway to move jobs, goods and services across borders, and by restricting regulatory powers of participating governments, the trade agreement would worsen what he has long seen as the excesses of capitalism. "Three percent of the richest people in the world control more wealth than 49 undeveloped countries," he said. "I think the FTAA is going to extend that kind of system." Dellinger got up at 2:45 a.m. Saturday at his home in Montpelier, Vt., and hitched a ride in a van headed to the summit demonstrations in Quebec City. Along the way, he visited the makeshift office of the Vermont Mobilization for Global Justice at Derby Line, Vt., 100 hundred yards from the Canadian border. Then he and his companions joined labor, human rights and environmental activists from around New England, lining up at the Stanstead border station to see if they would be admitted into Canada. Dellinger ultimately was allowed to cross the border, but he had known his prospects were uncertain because Canadian customs officials were turning back people with arrest records. A pacifist and leftist activist his entire adult life, Dellinger says he's never kept track of the times he's been arrested for acts of civil disobedience. His most famous brush with the law came at the 1968 Democratic National Convention when he was among a group including the late Abbie Hoffman, who were arrested for allegedly starting a riot outside the convention center. The group, who became known as the Chicago Seven, were convicted in 1969 but and later cleared by an appeals court. More than 800 activists approached the border station in an eight-hour period Saturday morning as Canadian authorities took IDs and ran computer checks, interrogated people and had a Labrador retriever sniff vehicles and luggage for drugs, guns and explosives. Fewer than 30 were turned back. =================================================================== One in Six U.S. Children Lives in Poverty By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One in six children in America lives in poverty and poor and middle-income families are finding it harder to make ends meet, according to a report released on Thursday. The Children's Defense Fund annual ``green book'' on the state of America's children, said government poverty figures for 1999 showed over 12 million of America's children lived below the federal poverty level of $13,290 a year for a three-person family. ``It's time, it's time to build a mighty movement for children in the richest and most powerful nation on Earth,'' said Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, a non-profit pressure group. The U.S. child poverty rate is roughly twice as high as the rates in Canada and Germany, the report said, and at least six times higher than France, Belgium or Austria. In an era of unparalleled prosperity, the fund said so many children lived in poverty because of their parents' low-paying jobs, more single-parent families and a lack of strong government support for low and moderate-income families. ``Parents are in the work force but are not able to earn enough to lift them out of poverty. We need to get people into higher-paying jobs and get them good child care, good health care and other things,'' said Susan Martinez, vice president for policy at the fund. Children living with married parents were far less likely to be poor -- 8.4 percent of children in married-couple families were poor in 1999 compared with 42 percent of all children with a single mother, the report said. The report said two out of three mothers worked outside the home in March 2000, up from fewer than one in two 20 years ago. The biggest employment rise was among low-income, single mothers, it said, adding that they were spending more and more on child care costs but not earning better wages. Poor families spent 35 percent of their income on child care compared with 7 percent by richer families, the fund said. Highlighting a child care crisis in America, the report said nearly 7 million children aged 5 to 14 cared for themselves on a regular basis without any adult supervision while a parent was at work. Inadequate Health Care Coverage The report also pointed to inadequate health care coverage for millions of children but said there had been an improvement in recent years. In 1999, 10.8 million children aged 18 and under lacked health coverage, down from 11.9 million in 1998. Children of color were far more likely to be uninsured, with one out of six black children and one out of four Hispanic children not covered compared with one out of 11 white children. Children in immigrant families, in particular, are likely to lack health coverage and access to health care. However, the report said there had been some success in immunization programs with 80 percent of 2-year-olds being fully immunized compared to only 55 percent in 1992. Another good news was a drop in juvenile crime rates over the past 15 years, but the arrest rate for girls had risen. Looking at child welfare statistics, the report said nearly 3 million children were reported abused or neglected each year and that 40-80 percent were involved alcohol and substance abuse yet only one in four received treatment. There was also poor news in educating America's children, with only 31 percent of fourth-graders reading at proficient levels and 2.2 million new teachers needed. ``We've sent humans to the moon, spaceships to Mars, cracked the genetic code and amassed tens of billions of dollars from a tiny microchip. Why can't we teach all of our children to read by fourth grade,'' said Edelman. =================================================================== US on alert for smallpox terror attack http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=68020 By Jeremy Laurence, health editor 22 April 2001 The US government has ordered 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine from a British company in a sign of the growing alarm that terrorists could unleash lethal viruses in future battles against Western states. The astonishing size of the contract worth $343m (£200m) highlights the fears on both sides of the Atlantic about the threat of biological terrorism. If a virus such as smallpox was released, the speed of modern communications could spread the infection all over the world in days. In the UK, the health department warned all NHS hospitals last year to prepare for a criminal or terrorist attack on their local populations involving biological weapons. Police teams trained by scientists from Porton Down, the government research centre on biological and chemical warfare, have been formed to take the lead role in the event of an attack. The British Medical Association said that advances in technology meant biological weapons were now easier to manufacture than chemical ones, increasing the risk that they could be used in an attack. Over the past 40 years there have been 121 incidents around the world involving the use of biological agents. The use of sarin nerve gas in an attack by a Japanese terrorist organisation six years ago, in which 12 people were killed and 5,000 injured, focused world attention on the threat. The US last year set aside $1.4bn (£940m) for protection against chemical or biological attacks. The latest contract for smallpox vaccine is against a disease that no longer exists and the world must hope it will never encounter again. It was eradicated from the planet in 1980 and only two research institutions one in the US and one in Russia still retain stocks of the virus. The threat of a smallpox attack is highlighted in the preview edition of Infectious Diseases, a new journal published by The Lancet. Donald Henderson of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health said: "A large stockpile of vaccine is a very high priority because smallpox has a 30 per cent fatality rate. There is no vaccine production capacity anywhere in the world and we now have a very susceptible population." The vaccine ordered by the US government is being manufactured by a US subsidiary of the Cambridge-based UK biotechnology company Acambis, formerly known as Peptide Therapeutics. Delivery to the US government's Center for Disease Control in Atlanta is due to start from mid-2004. A spokeswoman said: "At the moment we are going through the process of developing and licensing the vaccine, but under the contract we have the right to sell it to anyone who wants it. When the time comes we will be marketing it to other governments, including the UK. It certainly would be a logical step for them to take." The likelihood of a chemical or biological attack in the UK is seen as low by the Department of Health, but the results could be devastating. Working parties have been set up to consider the threat and exercises have been run in parts of the country. Lists of the most likely agents to be used have been drawn up, together with advice on how many people they might kill or injure, and strategies for treating the victims. In the US, fear of biological terrorism has become as unnerving as the threat itself. President Clinton's declaration in 1998 that he expected a biological or chemical attack within the next five years has fuelled alarm and provided fertile ground for hoaxers. =================================================================== America fully brainwashed by cybercrime FUD http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/18079.html By: Thomas C Greene in Washington 03/04/2001 Child-protective hysterics who want to eavesdrop on the electronic comings and goings of ordinary citizens in the name of legions of exploited little lambs have successfully won the hearts and washed the brains of nearly all Americans. The US populace is "deeply worried" about Internet crime; and on-line kiddie porn looms as the greatest terror in the collective imagination. Fully ninety-two per cent of Americans -- far more than have ever so much as touched a personal computer -- claim to be outraged by Internet KP, and half characterize it as "the single most heinous crime that takes place on line," according to a new survey by the Pew Charitable Trust Internet Project. Women are slightly more susceptible to government and media manipulation, with eighty-six per cent reporting being "very concerned" about on-line KP compared with seventy-four per cent of men. Either way, the entire populace sounds like an incredible lot of frightened schoolgirls. Second on the menu of imagined horrors terrifying Americans is credit card theft. Eighty-seven per cent are "concerned" and sixty-nine per cent are "very concerned," in spite of the glaring fact that only a tiny handful have actually had their account numbers stolen and misused due to Internet shopping. "Only eight per cent of those who say their credit card was swiped reported that the thief might have gotten the information because the consumer had provided it on line," the survey notes. (emphasis original) As with the kiddie porn horror, women are slightly more frightened of on-line fraudsters than men by a margin of seventy-two to sixty-five per cent. Next comes the widespread anxiety of Internet terrorism, with eighty-two per cent of Americans claiming to be "concerned" about organized efforts to bring all of civilization to its knees with viruses and packet floods. As one might expect, those who have never used the Internet are considerably more eager to believe in it. Fear of contracting viruses and Trojans, and being victimized by malicious hackers, rounds out the list of persistent fears keeping America awake all night. Interestingly, a majority of Yanks (fifty-six per cent) think it's a great idea for the FBI to monitor e-mail and other IP traffic in order to fight all these crimes, which are in fact largely imaginary. Women and Republicans are the most enthusiastic supporters of the Big Brother approach, the survey finds. Even more interestingly, Blacks are the most concerned about Internet crime, and yet the least likely to approve of federal snooping, while Whites are the least concerned, and yet the most supportive of Big Bro intervening in their daily lives. Now that's a digital divide worth looking into. =================================================================== Big Brother claims an innocent victim http://www.it-director.com/article.asp?id=1760 Monday 23rd April 2001 For some time now we have been talking about the potential for the creation of a "Big Brother" state in the United Kingdom. Usually these discussions have centred upon the impact that the Regulation Of Investigatory Powers Act (RIP to its friends) would have the usage of electronic communications. However, a story reported in the Daily Mail newspaper indicates that in the short term we may have far more to worry about from the increasing use of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras everywhere. It looks like we do, after all, have cause to worry. As you may or may not be aware nearly every hole in the wall cash machine is now teamed up with a video camera that captures the face of each user who utilises the ATM. This "surveillance" technology has an important role to play in combating criminal use of cash dispensers. However, the technology has to be used intelligently. The case reported in the Daily Mail highlights this very issue in an alarming fashion. A man went along to a cash dispenser and used his own card and pin number to withdraw twenty pounds from his account. Unfortunately the user made his withdrawal shortly after a thief had used the same machine with a stolen card. The CCTV monitoring the cash point caught both men on its system. When the police investigated the criminal's actions it is reported that they assumed that the innocent man was an accomplice. At this stage it is interesting to wonder on what evidence they based this assumption, after all the maxim of "innocent until proven guilty" is still widely believed to apply in this country. However, the newspaper then revealed that the police released the CCTV video footage to a television company, Granada, for them to use on their Crimefile program, a regional crime show that "aims to catch criminals by re-creating serious incidents". The show used the CCTV footage. The innocent man concerned immediately went to the police with his bank account details to point out the error. Alas he was promptly arrested, questioned and then bailed. His employer then went on to suspend him from work. Eventually the Greater Manchester Police recognised the error and apologised unreservedly to the man concerned and his company said that he might return to his job. Unfortunately, it is reported that the man concerned has been unable to return to work because of stress and fear that people who saw the original television show will believe that he is a thief. This case highlights the fact that any technology can only be used with sensible, appropriate safeguards. In this case it appears that both the police and the television company jumped to a totally indefensible conclusion using nothing more than CCTV pictures and coincidence to make a case. Innocent until proven guilty does not look to have much place in today's world. As I have said, such cameras and even the current plethora of "Crime Watch" type television programs have a valuable role to play but there must be safeguards. Evidence must be obtained before the innocent become embroiled in mistakes such as this. Today the UK has more CCTV cameras per head of the population than any other state on Earth. They are in the streets, on the motorways, in shops and offices and the growth in numbers deployed shows no evidence of slowing. CCTV and other surveillance tools available to the authorities (including RIP, Echelon the international Web monitoring system, etc.) must be utilised with care. At the moment Big Brother may be just around the corner. =================================================================== Monday, April 23, 2001 Dot-Com Refugees Find Welcome in Porn Industry http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20010423/t000034314.html Jobs: Internet shakeout and potential Hollywood strikes are good for adult entertainment companies. By RALPH FRAMMOLINO and P.J. HUFFSTUTTER Times Staff Writers Displaced dot-com employees and nervous Hollywood technicians have found an unlikely shelter from the economic downturn: the porn industry. Executives at the area's leading adult entertainment firms report a surge of resumes and telephone inquiries from disillusioned techies, as well as mainstream camera operators, grips and lighting experts who are worried about strikes by Hollywood writers and actors. The porn companies, many of which produce X-rated videos and popular erotic Web sites from San Fernando Valley industrial parks, have not been hit by the faltering economy. Instead, porn is one of the few profitable enterprises on the Internet. For employees, the work is steady, although the nonunion wages generally are low by Hollywood standards. Just how many dot-com refugees are heading to the thousands of porn-related sites is unclear, but a check of some of the larger firms indicated that most are actively hiring technicians from the mainstream Internet world. "We're getting all sorts of calls from technology head-hunters asking if we have openings," said Bert Manzari, chief executive of DHD Media in Santa Monica, an online adult entertainment company. "They're asking to place everything from database administrators to programmers to executives. "It's funny, because a year ago, we couldn't get anyone to call us back," he said. Industry watchers in tech and entertainment centers across the country say the migration is increasing as the porn industry expands. Executives in the recession-proof adult entertainment field say the calls and resumes underscore the mainstreaming of porn into American corporate life. "We get bombarded with calls all the time," said Jimmy Flynt II, director of marketing and public relations for Hustler, founded by his uncle Larry. "The sex industry really isn't affected by the markets. Sex always sells." For film crews, that translates into a short-term solution for a short-term problem. For the tech-savvy, adult entertainment can be a permanent oasis of financial stability. E-commerce sex Web sites blossomed from 230 in 1997, to 1,100 sites in 2000, according to American Demographics Magazine, citing a report from sextracker.com. Web sites offering free sex content jumped from more than 22,000 to nearly 280,300 during the same period. Porn is becoming increasingly acceptable, especially among young professionals. "At least I know my paycheck isn't going to bounce," said Jon, 25, who asked that his last name be withheld. He jumped to take a Web designer job at Vivid Entertainment Group after he was laid off last winter from Los Angeles music start-up ArtistDirect Inc. His old job was the stuff of E-envy. Plush offices filled with chic industrial furniture. Free concert tickets and all the CDs he could carry. A kitchen stocked with hyper-caffeinated drinks and snacks. Cut loose during the Internet bust, Jon now toils in a Van Nuys warehouse that just last week got a refrigerator, filled with the brown bag lunches of a half-dozen other dot-com castoffs. "A friend of mine worked at Vivid and knew that I watched porn," said Jon, who now spends eight hours a day digitally covering up female nipples for the company's front-page, which entices visitors to pay for the full peep show. "Besides, this is a dot-com. We just sell sex instead of CDs." Although he started full time in October, Jon hasn't told his family. "My mom would kill me if she knew." Over the last 16 months, more than 75,500 Internet workers lost their jobs, according to research by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago-based employee outplacement firm. "Right now, it's hard to find any E-commerce plays that seem to be working. Sex works," said President John A. Challenger. Few people want to leave the tech world, say industry watchers. Their specialized skills have made them an ideal work force for the digital porn world. Flynt said Hustler will look to dispossessed dot-com types to beef up its Internet enterprise, a "cash cow" that will be expanded from 60 to 75 employees in the next six months. "We'll expect them to play a big role because we'll be looking for the highest quality people," Flynt said. Chatsworth-based Wicked Interactive interviewed eight programmers who lost jobs after the online venture Etoys of Santa Monica went out of business last month, and hired one. Wicked is looking for high-end programmers to roll out a new porn database for its Internet site. Vivid Entertainment Group, which has expanded its online team in the last few months, says that 35% of its technical staff hail from the dot-com world. And officials with Playboy.com, the New York-based Internet subsidiary of the Chicago-based publishing company, say that "almost all" of its technical employees have--at one time--worked at traditional dot-coms. For many Hollywood veterans, working in porn is just another day on the set. An increasing number of mainstream movie technicians are calling adult entertainment companies to line up work if Hollywood actors and screenwriters go on strike this year. "People have called and said, 'I've been a camera operator for 15 years and we think there's going to be a strike and I'd be interested in shooting camera for one of your productions,' " said Marci Hirsch, production director for Vivid, which makes up to six videos a month. "I'm not sure they really realize what the pay is," she said. "We [porn industry] have no union . . . but I guess if you don't have a job, it really doesn't matter." At Hustler, Jimmy Flynt said he's logged at least three dozen calls in recent months from Hollywood technicians who are inquiring about temporary work. Hustler produces about six videos a month requiring 120 film freelancers, ranging from cinematographers and production managers to line producers, he said. "People of very high caliber are interested in finding work," said Flynt, adding that the pay generally is less than Hollywood union scale. A line producer, for example, will make $2,500 for a three-day adult shoot where he could make $50,000 to $75,000 for a regular movie. Union leaders said they hadn't heard whether members had been contacting the porn shops. "It doesn't sound bad to me," joked Norm Glasser, business agent for Hollywood electricians, Local 728, of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Turning serious, he added: "If there's a strike, everybody's on their own, more or less. . . What people do as individuals, we have no control over." Thom Davis, business manager for Local 80, which represents grips and crafts service workers, wondered aloud what some of his members might do. "Obviously, they [porn productions] have cameras and I'm assuming they have sound, but to what extent they put their resources into lighting, I can't tell you," Davis said. Davis said union scale is $26.22 an hour for grips, in charge of balancing lights and moving cameras, and $25.04 an hour for crafts service employees, gofers who do odd jobs and round up food for crew and cast. That's more than double the wage of nonunion work, which can pay a grip $175 per 14-hour day, he said. At Sin City Entertainment in Chatsworth, there's been a veritable casting call of people inquiring about jobs, said spokesman Jeff Wozniak. "They're trying to line things up now in case there is a strike," he said. So far, the firm has been contacted by a few mainstream film editors, grips, one director of photography and "several B-movie actors and actresses looking for nonsexual roles." Not that there are very many at the production house, which releases six to eight adult films a month ranging from $100,000 high-concept films with plots to those featuring "wall-to-wall" intercourse with little or no dialogue. "If we were to use B-movie actors and actresses, it would be a big-budget thing where we would need somebody in a room or at party . . . or a secondary story line, where we'd need someone to actually act," Wozniak said. Interest in porn industry jobs is clustered around the Los Angeles area, but also is rising in other tech centers. Shea Tisdale accepted the position of E-commerce director for PHE Inc., an adult entertainment firm headquartered just outside North Carolina's high-tech Research Triangle Park. Tisdale, 32, sold his Web design firm last fall and was promised a pile of stock from the new owner. By November, Tisdale's potential stock market winnings "were worth pennies." He interviewed with executives at PHE, the parent company of Adam-Eve.com, a leading erotic mail-order company and video production firm with an extensive online store. "I made a rational decision. I went to go work for a real company," Tisdalesaid. Porn executives say some potential employees express interest but then change their minds because of discomfort with workplace chatter and content. "Our daily conversations include 'anal sex,' things like that," said a Wicked Interactive official. "It's the nature of the business." The official said that reality was too much for one recent recruit, a highly qualified programmer whose salary demand Wicked Interactive matched. "The next day, he called and said his wife wouldn't let him work there." But most of the dot-com refugees are young and fairly comfortable with pornography, which has become a casual form of entertainment on many college campuses. Adult entertainment executives say the bigger recruiting barrier had been matching the promises of stock-option bonanzas and early retirement. That was more than a year ago, before the NASDAQ tanked and Net firms collapsed. The fallout has been a boon for adult entertainment, at a time when porn firms are gearing up for the next wave of E-commerce--videos on demand and DVD transfers, Vivid President Bill Asher said. "We don't need to do any more than run an ad. It's amazing how good their resumes are," Asher said. =================================================================== Summit under cyber siege? <http://www.msnbc.com/news/561761.asp?0nm=T1DO> Activists target 28 Websites to disrupt during Summit of the Americas TORONTO, April 20 Away from the tear gas and street clashes at the Summit of the Americas, a quieter demonstration is underway. Protesters from around the globe are using the Internet to express dissatisfaction with the trade talks about to begin in Quebec City. While one activist group is calling upon "hackers, hacktivists [and] activists" to mount a Web-based "blocking action" against the summit and its corporate sponsors, another group, the "electrohippie collective," is organizing "virtual sit-ins." THE HEAVY SECURITY, and violent clashes on Friday, may be encouraging a far less predictable form of protest at the three-day summit, one aimed at computer systems rather than delegates. As one Website <thehacktivist.com> is pointing out, "The Mouse is Mightier than the Baton." "Where governments and authorities are actively restricting protest and public expression, we regard it as valid to exert some form of restriction back," the Website says. The site has posted a call to participate in an "electronic civil disobedience campaign" against the Summit and its corporate sponsors. "We call upon hackers, activists, hacktivists and netizens to engage in an Electronic Civil Disobedience campaign against the Summit of the Americas, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the Corporate Sponsors. Let data bodies join in non-violent direct action on-line in solidarity with the real bodies on the streets." Leaders from 34 countries, aiming to create a vast trading bloc of 800 million people spanning from Canada in the north to Chile in the south, are gathering this weekend to discuss ways of dismantling hurdles to hemispheric trade. But opponents of globalization, expressing many of the concerns that were voiced at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in December 1999 and at subsequent international meetings, see dangers with the trade momentum. As many as 20,000 opponents of the Summit are expected to rally on the streets of Quebec City. Organizers at thehacktivist.com say they are concerned that the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas was negotiated in secret. "The secrecy has gone on too long," the site asserts. "The right to know is fundamental in a democracy." They demand that the text of the draft agreement be made public and that it be posted to the Internet in at least four languages. They warn that "if these just and reasonable demands are not met," they will endorse "legitimate and strictly non-violent means" to "obtain the texts, physically and electronically." TWENTY-EIGHT TARGETS On Wednesday, one group, called the "electrohippies," which runs the site www.gn.apc.org/pmhp/quebec.html, released a list of twenty-eight Internet targets to disrupt. They said the targets were chosen because "they are involved with the operation of the FTAA conference, they are corporate sponsors of the FTAA conference, or they are involved in the extremely excessive security measures being arranged … to restrict the ability of the public to access the conference.," While the group notes that one of the reasons for organizing the action is the lack of public consultations on the FTAA, it says "the issue that really convinced us of the need to provide support in this instance was the excessive level of security to prevent any form of meaningful lobbying and protest." Indeed, about 1,200 troops, in addition to police have been dispatched to Quebec City. And a 10-foot high chain link fence snakes through the walled city. The "electrohippies" said their online efforts will begin late on April 19 and continue through April 23 and will be targeting various federal and provincial Canadian government Websites. Prime Minister Jean Chretian's Website is on the list, as is the site for Quebec's premier. Quebec's city police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are also on the hit list. Corporate targets include Cisco System, Alcan, Telus, and Bombardier, as well Sun Microsystems, Barrick Gold Corporation, CIBC and KPMG. Also targeted are the sites for the FTAA and the Inter-American Development Bank. Activists have used virtual sit-ins, Website defacements and more extreme measures such as hacking to promote their causes at a number of forums in recent years. With protesters at January's meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland stymied by heavy security, hackers broke into the database containing information on delegates and posted the itineraries of visiting world leaders to the Internet. The World Economic Forum said hackers had also stolen credit card numbers and personal information on 1,400 previous delegates. A hacker group called Virtual Monkey-wrench claimed responsibility, saying the theft was aimed at "attacking the powerful and those in power." The stolen information included Bill Gates' e-mail address, the direct phone number of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and the credit card number of Pepsi-Cola CEO Peter M. Thompson. In some cases, attacks on government sites have yielded retaliation. In at least one instance, the Pentagon responded to a Web attack by redirecting participants' browsers to a page that downloaded an applet program to their computers. Once installed, the program endlessly tied up their computers trying to reload a document until they rebooted. In a similar action against the site of Mexico's president, the government retaliated with software that crashed protesters' browsers. For companies or organizations that believe they may become potential targets, the safest route may be to take preventative measures. "Before an event like this, I would backup everything," said René Hamel, a former officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and now a manager at KPMG's Forensic Technology Services, which itself is on the list of the electrohippies' 28 targets. "Whenever you have a feeling that you might become a victim, it's time to raise your system monitoring and logging," he added. "Logs are like fingerprints. They're like an electronic trail, and they make it a lot easier for us to investigate." Hamel said that with the client-based distributed denial of service attack that the electrohippies have coordinated in the past, "it is pretty tough to defend yourself." What about the people on the other side of the screen - the protestors participating in the online campaigns? Dan Lambert, a spokesman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), says the agency is monitoring the potential for politically motivated online attacks. He said attacks that might amount to computer crimes under the Criminal Code would likely be investigated by the RCMP. But noted Canadian criminal defense lawyer, Clayton Ruby, warns that CSIS' comments need to be taken in context. "If they are on the lookout for online attacks they are not going to be zeroing in on one protestor of thousands who happens to join the virtual sit-in and click a mouse," he said. "Besides, it is in CSIS interest to paint a dire picture. By creating fear whether it be of violence on the street or politically motivated online attacks it helps the government justify taking excessive measures that have no place in a country like Canada." Early media reports said police were monitoring activist websites and even infiltrating activist organizations. From a legal perspective, it doesn't matter if the action is for a good cause or if a participant is just one of many. "People have to be aware of the fact that if they do it for a political purpose it's not going to protect them from prosecution," said Jennifer Granick, an American criminal defense lawyer, and a director with the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford University. If the intent of an action is to crash a Website, it would be illegal regardless of the cause, a Canadian Department of Justice spokesperson said. The electrohippies say their virtual sit-in is not intended to crash Websites, though they acknowledged that a crash could happen. The intent, they say, is to provide participants with alternative way of expressing dissatisfaction. "If the intent of an action is making a political statement, and the consequence is that it may end up denying access to a Website without causing damage, it is really like a protest on the street and deserves to be given the same protection," Ruby said. --------- Lesia Stangret is an information technology lawyer with Mann & Gahtan LLP in Toronto and an Internet law columnist for the National Post. =================================================================== Federal agencies beefing up forces for ADB <http://doit3.starbulletin.com/breaking/FMPro?-db=breaking.fp3&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-lay=web&-sortfield=cpriority&-sortfield=serial&-sortorder=descend&public=yes&-recid=36665&-find=> Concern is expressed for windows at Convention Center By Rod Antone Star-Bulletin April 23, 2001 Several law enforcement officials have confirmed that the federal government plans to bring in field agents from the mainland to assist with security for the Asian Development Bank conference next month. Among the agencies which are supposed to be receiving "imported" back-up are U.S. Marshals, the Secret Service and the FBI. "We are accessing our needs and the FBI will have additional agents available as the situation dictates," said FBI agent Max Marker yesterday. "We can draw from any of the 55 other field offices across the country." Marker said the FBI has less than 100 agents in Honolulu. No one from the Secret Service or U.S. Marshals could be reached for comment . Those who attend joint law enforcement meetings with city, state, and federal agencies said that what's happened in Quebec recently has "made people more nervous." Riot police used tear gas against demonstrators protesting at the summit of the Americas over the weekend. One concern in particular for Honolulu involves the glass panes at the entrance of the Hawaii Convention Center. "We are majorly concerned about the glass in the convention center," said assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa earlier this month. Federal officials said they also have concerns that protesters may use some sort of projectile break the glass. Convention Center general manager Joe Davis said that the last pane of glass that was replaced cost $12,000. However Davis said that his concerns center around the actual event itself and not the security surrounding it. "Let's not lose sight of what this is about," said Davis. "We're getting ready to host a major international, financial event that will have great benefits for the state." Approximately 3500 people will attend the ADB conference May 7-11 said Davis. He said that includes about 600 delegates representing bank officials from roughly 60 different countries. Davis also said there is a 50% chance that President George W. Bush will also attend the conference. "It wouldn't be unusual to have him here," said Davis. Whether Bush will being coming for sure is unknown. Federal officials did not say if the preparations they are making include security plans for the president. "We are paying attention to what our needs are going to be and we will have the appropriate people to meet those needs." said Marker. =================================================================== Police chief warns of May Day 'bomb threats anarchy' <http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_270695.html> Tue, 24 Apr 2001 : Police fear anarchists could make bomb threats as they try to disrupt central London during May Day demonstrations,. Scotland Yard expects a hardcore group of around 1,000 anarchists to infiltrate legitimate protests taking place on May 1. And London mayor Ken Livingstone has urged people not to take part in the demonstrations. "Some may try to cause disruption by making bogus bomb scares," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told a news conference. "This cannot possibly be seen as a legitimate form of protest. Such action is irresponsible and we are presently under a terrorist campaign in central London. "It is a highly dangerous activity. Let's not forget the loss of life at Omagh following misinformation," he added. Amid growing fears for public safety during the so-called May Day Monopoly protests Mr Livingstone said: "My message to the public is clear - don't attend the May Day Monopoly actions. "The primary intention of the Monopoly organisers is to cause serious disruption to London. "Strong evidence indicates there is a hardcore of people intent on acts of vandalism and violence. People living and working in London should be able to travel across the city without fear of disruption or getting caught up in acts of vandalism. " All police leave has been cancelled and about 5,000 officers from the Met, City of London and British Transport Police will be deployed. Security will be boosted at banks, City institutions and commercial chains such as McDonald's, which have been identified by police as potential targets for attack or occupation. Damage costing more than £500,000 was caused in 10 hours of mayhem at last year's protest. =================================================================== FBI raids media center http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/19980_security24.shtml Stolen security plan for Quebec meeting was put on Internet here SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER Tuesday, April 24, 2001 By PAUL SHUKOVSKY Security plans intended to protect Western leaders attending a trade summit in Quebec City were stolen from a car there over the weekend and posted, hours later, on a Seattle-based Web site, authorities said yesterday. On Saturday night, FBI agents raided the offices of the Independent Media Center in downtown Seattle, seizing computer-log records, according to federal sources. No arrests have been made. Center spokeswoman Sherry Herndon said she and other staff have been told "not to talk about" the incident under threat of being held in contempt of court. She referred inquiries to attorney Bob Goodman of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City, who also declined comment. He said the court order that was served on the IMC "contains a fairly broad gag order; therefore, we cannot talk." The three-day summit, which experienced mass protests similar to those that rocked Seattle during the 1999 World Trade Organization conference, ended Sunday without serious security incidents. Virtually every head of state in the Western Hemisphere with the exception of Cuba's Fidel Castro was in attendance. No mention of the FBI raid could be found yesterday on the IMC Web site. But the organization's home page carried a boldface note stating, "Everything is fine at the Seattle IMC. We will keep you posted on any further developments." One federal criminal justice source said the speed with which the sensitive stolen document appeared on the Internet speaks to the sophistication of the movement that is opposed to unrestricted global trade. "The fact that you have something of this magnitude out there on the Web, it really shows these groups are strong, resourceful and resilient," the source said. The IMC calls itself "a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grass-roots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues." The organization has committed "no clear-cut violation of U.S. law" by posting the document on the Web, and the action may be protected as free speech, according to federal criminal justice sources. President Bush, who attended the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit, was not placed at risk, according to one source. The breach of security, however, is another embarrassment for the Canadian government, which recently lost a highly sensitive, anti-terrorism document. It was stolen from a government official's car while he was attending a hockey game. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police referred a call for comment on the IMC incident to Quebec Provincial Police, which was in charge of security at the summit. No one was available to comment on the matter yesterday at police headquarters in Montreal. =================================================================== IMC responds re: FBI visit and court gag order Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 From: Micah Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> the imc has been served with an order, the contents of which are covered by a protective order issued by the court, which essentially means we can't talk about it. we're consulting with our lawyer in nyc as well as local counsel, both of which are avidly opposed to any violation of the bill of rights. the situation is under control and we'll be passing along information as soon as we are able, once we are able to not perjure ourselves due to the gag order, all will be clear, but the IMC has not been compromised in any way, no RAID happened. We had a visit, but it was strictly to serve the order. It is in no way as bad as it sounds. Trust me, the full information will be available when we can make it so, but at this point we have to make sure that we aren't harming ourselves by revealing. It is simply a matter of making sure we don't harm the IMC as an entity by perjuring ourselves before the court. Unfortunately this sort of silence and secrecy is what makes the left paranoid (rightly so, see the FTAA text for a good example), and claims to be made that may or may not be true. Our highest priority is to make it so we can set the record straight and not harm ourselves by doing so, but it is safe to say that things are just fine, there is no need for fear, and definitely no need for rumors. Micah =================================================================== MI5 builds new centre to read e-mails on the net http://www.urban75.com/Action/news114.html New bill promises email tapping by Nicholas Rufford Sunday Times 30th April 2000 MI5 is building a new L25m e-mail surveillance centre that will have the power to monitor all e-mails and internet messages sent and received in Britain. The government is to require internet service providers, such as Freeserve and AOL, to have "hardwire" links to the new computer facility so that messages can be traced across the internet. The security service and the police will still need Home Office permission to search for e-mails and internet traffic, but they can apply for general warrants that would enable them to intercept communications for a company or an organisation. The new computer centre, codenamed GTAC - government technical assistance centre - which will be up and running by the end of the year inside MI5's London headquarters, has provoked concern among civil liberties groups. "With this facility, the government can track every website that a person visits, without a warrant, giving rise to a culture of suspicion by association," said Caspar Bowden, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. The government already has powers to tap phone lines linking computers, but the growth of the internet has made it impossible to read all material. By requiring service providers to install cables that will download material to MI5, the government will have the technical capability to read everything that passes over the internet. Home Office officials say the centre is needed to tackle the use of the internet and mobile phone networks by terrorists and international crime gangs.Charles Clark, the minister in charge of the spy centre project, said it would allow police to keep pace with technology. "Hardly anyone was using the internet or mobile phones 15 years ago," a Home Office source said. "Now criminals can communicate with each other by a huge array of devices and channels and can encrypt their messages, putting them beyond the reach of conventional eavesdropping." There has been an explosion in the use of the internet for crime in Britain and across the world, leading to fears in western intelligence agencies that they will soon be left behind as criminals abandon the telephone and resort to encrypted e-mails to run drug rings and illegal prostitution and immigration rackets. The new spy centre will decode messages that have been encrypted. Under new powers due to come into force this summer, police will be able to require individuals and companies to hand over computer "keys", special codes that unlock scrambled messages. There is controversy over how the costs of intercepting internet traffic should be shared between government and industry. Experts estimate that the cost to Britain's 400 service providers will be £30m in the first year. Internet companies say that this is too expensive, especially as many are making losses. About 15m people in Britain have internet access. Legal experts have warned that many are unguarded in the messages they send or the material they download, believing that they are safe from prying eyes. "The arrival of this spy centre means that Big Brother is finally here," said Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes. "The balance between the state and individual privacy has swung too far in favour of the state." =================================================================== Feds send extra agents for ADB meet <http://starbulletin.com/2001/04/24/news/story5.html> Security for the event will be strengthened By Rod Antone Star-Bulletin Tuesday, April 24, 2001 Several law enforcement officials have confirmed that the federal government plans to bring in field agents from the mainland to assist with security for the Asian Development Bank conference next month. Among the agencies that are supposed to be receiving "imported" backup are U.S. marshals, the Secret Service and the FBI. "We are assessing our needs, and the FBI will have additional agents available as the situation dictates," said FBI agent Max Marker yesterday. "We can draw from any of the 55 other field offices across the country." Marker said the FBI has fewer than 100 agents in Honolulu. No one from the Secret Service or U.S. marshals could be reached for comment yesterday. Those who attend joint law enforcement meetings with city, state and federal agencies said that what happened in Quebec over the weekend "made people more nervous." Riot police used tear gas against demonstrators protesting at the Summit of the Americas over the weekend. One concern in particular for Honolulu involves the glass panes at the entrance of the Hawai'i Convention Center. "We are majorly concerned about the glass in the convention center," Assistant Police Chief Boisse Correa said earlier this month. Federal officials said they also have concerns that protesters may use some sort of projectile to break the glass. Convention Center General Manager Joe Davis said that the last pane of glass that was replaced cost $12,000. However, Davis said that his concerns center around the actual event itself and not the security surrounding it. "Let's not lose sight of what this is about," said Davis. "We're getting ready to host a major international financial event that will have great benefits for the state." Approximately 3,500 people will attend the ADB conference May 7-11, said Davis. He said that includes about 600 delegates representing bank officials from roughly 60 different countries. Davis also said there is a 50 percent chance that President George W. Bush will also attend the conference. "It wouldn't be unusual to have him here.: Whether Bush will being coming for sure is unknown. Federal officials did not say if the preparations they are making include security plans for the president. "We are paying attention to what our needs are going to be, and we will have the appropriate people to meet those needs," said Marker. =================================================================== ACLU sues over rally restrictions <http://starbulletin.com/2001/04/24/news/story6.html> The lawsuit accuses state and city officials of conspiring to deny constitutional rights By Mary Adamski Star-Bulletin Tuesday, April 24, 2001 Groups planning to demonstrate at the May Asian Development Bank convention charge that state and city officials have conspired to deny their constitutional rights to expression and assembly by setting limits on access to public areas around the Hawaii Convention Center. A suit filed yesterday asks the U.S. District Court to restrain officials from enforcing security zones that, it says, would keep organizations from communicating with conferees. The plaintiffs asked that the court compel the city to issue a permit for a planned "March for Global Justice" past the Convention Center, and to allow public access to the Ala Wai Promenade, which authorities plan to close. "By trying to shut down free expression, the state and city are increasing the possibility of confrontation rather than ensuring peaceful protest," said Brent White, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Hawaii. The ACLU and the law firm of Davis Levin Livingston Grande filed suit on behalf of ADBWatch, a local network of groups and people concerned with human rights and the environmental effects of industrialization in developing countries. The National Lawyers Guild, the Rev. Renate Rose and Matt MacKenzie are also plaintiffs in the suit. About 3,000 people are expected to attend the convention of the Manila-based, 60-nation group that promotes investment in Third World countries. The state and city hope to avoid kind of confrontations that marred last week's Quebec summit of 34 Western Hemisphere leaders, including President Bush. Hawaii is eager to make a good showing during the ADB meeting, Gov. Ben Cayetano said. "The ADB is a very important event for us," he said. "It's a global or international event at the same level as the WTO, and, if we do a good job, I think you'll see Hawaii will become really a center for these kinds of meetings, whether they be political, economic or cultural." The state and city are preparing for all contingencies, the governor said. "But I'm really confident that the demonstrations that we will see here will be peaceful, civil, unlike the demonstrations that we've seen in Seattle or now in Quebec." Cayetano said officials know there will be a radical element "whose sole purpose in life seems to be is go around and hold demonstrations." "Well, we've prepared for them, and I'm just hopeful not too many of them will come for the ADB," Cayetano said. It is important, however, not to stifle the legal demonstrations, he said. "That's why we're working very hard to make sure, first of all, that the right of free speech is not impinged in any way. We want to make sure that people who want to express their concerns to the ADB have the opportunity to do so." Steps are being taken to get people in the community with objections about the ADB in touch with ADB officials, "because the ADB itself wants to address issues which are of concern to these people," Cayetano said. City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa said the city has "bent over backwards to accommodate (protesters') requests." In a written statement, he said the city has met with the ACLU and ADBWatch to prepare for peaceful protests, but, he said, the group has made numerous changes to its parade permit application and to date has not submitted a revised application. ADBWatch applied for a rally and march for 5,000 to 7,000 protesters, but member groups have said they are not sure how many participants there will be. The May 9 march is planned to proceed from Magic Island past the Convention Center, then down Kalakaua Avenue to a rally in Kapiolani Park. =================================================================== A police state in the making by Sinclair Stevens, Minister of Regional Industrial Expansion in the Mulroney government. The Globe and Mail April 24, 2001 Our government forgot to practise what it preached, says Sinclair Stevens, when it trampled democracy in Quebec City I never thought I'd be writing this article, surely not in Canada. There aren't many people in this country who view free trade as positively as I do. As industry minister in the Mulroney government, I participated in the 1985 Shamrock Summit that set the stage for our trade agreement with the United States. I was even responsible for replacing the Foreign Investment Review Agency with Investment Canada, a welcome mat for our partners to the South. There also aren't many people who view the maintenance of law and order as a higher priority than I do. But this past weekend, I was shocked by events in Quebec City. Shocked by what I saw, and stunned by what my wife, Noreen, and I personally experienced. I believe Canada is right to view free trade as a model for democratic development in every corner of our hemisphere, and I was delighted to see us host the Summit of the Americas. But our government is dead wrong to behave in a manner that suggests we have forgotten what democracy is all about. Noreen and I arrived in Quebec City last Friday at about 5 p.m. We had heard about the so-called security fence and wanted to see it firsthand, to walk along beside it. My first view of the fence was in front of the Chateau Frontenac. It brought back memories of many happy visits to that hotel. But, this weekend, I could not enter: The hotel was inside the fence, I was outside. As we walked around the perimeter, a 40-year-old chap passed us, and asked: "Where is your gas mask?" I asked what he meant. He said: "There is gas farther on -- watch out." We continued until we saw our first contingent of riot-geared police lined up three deep behind a closed gate. They were an intimidating sight -- in battle dress, with helmets, masks, shields and assorted elaborate weapons. I was glad, this time, that they were inside the fence and we were outside. Farther on, just before we got to Dufferin Street, there were perhaps 50 people -- protesters, it turned out -- who were standing or sitting on a small side road. At the end of the road, we saw a much larger group of riot police standing shoulder-to-shoulder, several rows deep. The road was well away from the security fence. In fact, the fence was nowhere in sight. I spoke with many of the people in the street, asked them why they had gathered, why they opposed the free trade proposals. It was a lively but friendly exchange. We were interrupted as the police down the road began an eerie drumming, rattling their riot sticks against their shields. Slowly, in unison, one six-inch step at a time, they began marching toward us. Noreen and I moved to the side of the street, as the protesters remained stationary. Some formed V signs with their fingers. To my horror, the police then fired tear gas canisters directly at those sitting or standing on the road. As clouds of gas began to spread, Noreen and I felt our eyes sting and our throats bake. We pulled whatever clothing we could across our mouths. One young woman, who had been among the protesters, offered us some vinegar. "What's that for?" I asked. "It takes away the sting," she said. And it did help. The police, however, kept advancing. One large policeman with the number 5905 on his helmet, pressed right against me and ordered me to get behind a railing. "I haven't done anything," I protested. "Why?" He simply replied: "Get behind the rail." Then he added, "and get down." I did so. I shook my head. I never thought I would ever see this kind of police-state tactic in Canada. What we witnessed that night was mild compared to events the next afternoon. This time, walked along the fence until we reached the gate at Rene‚ Levesque Boulevard, where a great crowd had gathered that included TV cameras and reporters. I was asked for an interview by a CBC crew but, before we could begin, dozens of tear gas canisters were fired, water cannons were sprayed and rubber bullets began to hit people nearby. Three times, I felt I could not breathe, my eyes were sore and all I could do was run. In the bedlam, my wife and I were separated for almost three hours. She said she had almost passed out from the gassing. We lost something else, besides each other, last weekend in Quebec: our innocence. This government, and some reporters, like to brand the Quebec City demonstrators as "hooligans." That is not fair. I talked to dozens of them, mostly university students, aged about 20. They came to Quebec, not to have "a good time," as some suggest, but to express their well-thought-out views on a subject that is important to them, to all of us. I may not have agreed with their position, but I sure believe in their right to express it. The police had no cause to violently suppress it. Some will say that a handful of demonstrators got out of hand and forced the police to take collective action. I can't agree. The police action in Quebec City, under orders from our government, was a provocation itself -- an assault on all our freedoms. ---------- Sinclair Stevens, minister of regional industrial expansion under Brian Mulroney, was an MP from 1972 to 1988. =================================================================== Arrests follow theft of Quebec Summit security plans <http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_272017.html> Wed, 25 Apr 2001 : Two men have been arrested after security plans for the Summit of the Americas in Quebec were stolen and placed on an anti-globalisation website. Police revised their plans after the originals were stolen from a police car. They appeared hours later appeared on the Seattle-based Independent Media Centre website. "We had to adjust to the theft, however, it did not affect...the summit," Richard Gagne, a police spokesman told the National Post. "We had planned many other scenarios." FBI agents raided the website's centre, seizing computer records. =================================================================== "Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control." -Jim Dodge ====================================================== "Communications without intelligence is noise; intelligence without communications is irrelevant." -Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ====================================================== "It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society." -J. Krishnamurti ====================================================== "The world is my country, all mankind my brethren, and to do good is my religion." -Thomas Paine ====================================================== " . . . it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds . . . " -Samuel Adams ====================================================== "You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no results." -Gandhi ====================================================== "The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable." -H.L. Mencken ______________________________________________________________ To subscribe/unsubscribe or for a sample copy or a list of back issues, send appropriate email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. ______________________________________________________________ **How to assist RadTimes: An account is available at <www.paypal.com> which enables direct donations. If you are a current PayPal user, use this email address: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, to contribute. 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