John Young sends along an Expresso newspaper article. It says the paper's reporters uncovered an 82-page handwritten manual in an Al Qaeda base in Kandahar. That manual, according to a Babelfish translation, included instructions showing terrorists how to use PGP.
Concidentally, the Washington Post says in an editorial today that terrorist manuals talk about buying guns -- and concludes this is a reason for more regulations and new federal felonies: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46728-2001Dec14.html > A document posted on a Web site used by al Qaeda operatives tells >followers that they "should use lax firearms laws in the United States >to get sniper and military assault training." The posting also notes >that in the United States it is "perfectly legal" to purchase >high-powered firearms. [...] Why not make it more difficult for >terrorists to operate in this country? The gun show loophole is >outlandish and dangerous. Anyone want to bet how long it'll take before some politicos start talking about the "encryption purchase loophole?" -Declan --- http://semanal.expresso.pt/primeira/artigos/interior.asp?edicao=1520&id_artigo=ES45132 [...] Ao lado de algumas t�cnicas de combate, aparentemente rudimentares, foi poss�vel encontrar um manual sobre uma das t�cnicas de criptagem de comunica��es electr�nicas mais avan�adas do mundo, o Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). Este m�todo, considerado praticamente inviol�vel, foi proibido pelo Congresso dos Estados Unidos por receio que pudesse ser utilizado para encobrir actividades terroristas. Num dos molhos de pap�is, encontr�mos tamb�m algumas p�ginas arrancadas do n�mero de Janeiro de 1998 da revista �Flying�, com an�ncios sobre cursos de pilotagem, uma reportagem sobre uma s�rie de cat�strofes a�reas e um artigo sobre as caracter�sticas t�cnicas do Saratoga, um modelo de avioneta. [...] And: http://semanal.expresso.pt/primeira/artigos/interior.asp?edicao=1520&id_artigo=ES45175 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
