Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Reality Bytes: The Roof is On Fire
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Roof is On Fire
The APPEAL had given me for the thirteen months I actually believed somebody was listening. WRONG AGAIN! That false strength I kept in reserve to keep going was the part of me that needed to believe that I haven't lost everything. It gave a false sense that somebody was actually listening.
I WAS WRONG.... THE APPEAL WAS NEVER REVIEWED. AND NO ONE SEEMS TO GIVE A DAMN THAT THIRTEEN MONTHS HAVE PASSED, AND MY BENEFITS ARE MORE SCREWED UP THAN EVER!
So listen carefully, my friends. It was not too long ago that I had almost everything a young person needs to succeed in this world.
Or maybe not.
As for my most current insurance dispute... I feel that I have done everything humanly possible to be sympathetic towards health care provider who is NOT providing care. I cannot sacrifice my own well being for every bright eyed bushy tailed wanna be who is too stupid to see that I am far from.
I had such a battle this week. It culminated in the end like every other battle I have taken on. I only won because ultimately but we are all losing.
For every underqualified, health care provider who has NOT provided the adequate, there are many more like me. Alienated just enough to give up on fashion, etiquette and social norms; but not enough to walk away from it all.We are keeping watch. We are taking names, and I for one do not give a rat's ass about "keeping the peace."
Having been on both sides if the proverbial couch, I have the perspective is both enlightening and scary at the same time.
I look back and want to say shout "told you so" from the nearest roof top.
Crazy is crazy does... out loud. I may be enjoying this just a little too much.
Sometimes I try to look at this fight, (I meant to say this life) objectively.
I can see my own future, and I can see where it is taking me. I know how it will end if I don't keep up the pace.
It is amazing at how far we will go to have nothing at all.
I have come this far, and on some level I almost enjoy the dance. No. On some level, I actually love the dance.
But then there are days like this.
Because without this turmoil, this exercise in futility, absurdity, government waste, bureaucracy, irreverent disregard for basic human kindness, decency and humanity-- and all long to go to the kind of place I hear about ain Fairy Tales .
He speaks of a place called Neverland. You see, I don't know the story of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and I have no idea who Wendy is. Of course I've heard of Tink (though I hear she is a pain in the ass ;) but only because I like glitter pens and fairy dust. I don't know these things, because I don't know the innocence, the purity, the make believe world of childhood. I never had one.
I knew cruelty... and though I am not cruel, this is who I am at this very moment: Dark, discouraged, and deeply disappointed.
What if this is all that there is for me? If I can never break free from this cycle of insanity, and trust me when I say the insanity I speak of is NOT in my head. We have all heard the expression insanity is the sane response to insane surroundings; let me assure that there are very few cases that rival mine. I am the stuff psychologists, sociologists, and the occult speak of behind closed doors. My sister and I were raised this way. She may be a lawyer, she may have good credit, she may have a lot of things, but while my father took me to see the same shrink that treated Danton, Milken, Masrtronardo and more, he took her to see a psychiatrist who specialized in serial killers.
So I wonder, and you should too... did he take us there to be healed or did he take us there to create our futures? I will never be good enough for him. Thank god jesus allah and the power invested in this little stupid wifi device... his vision of us, his vision of U.S. is wrong.
I know this now. I didn't know then. I have proof now. I hardly even need it. It all out in the open and I am glad. Never again should the FBI create hatred, men so indoctrinated by power that they have such little regard for human life that they treat their children the same way they treated John Africa and the thirteen members of MOVE the day the Powers That Beat decided it was long overdue to take John Africa out. So what if thirteen people died with him... who cares about the 5 children who died alog with him?
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water let the mother fucker burn, Burn, mother fucker, burn.
And they did. And they died. May 13, 1985.
Burned forever in my mind, and it should be in yours too. OUR COUNTRY. OUR PEOPLE. OUR GOVERNMENT.
FUCK YOU AMERICA! FUCK THE US FOR FUCKING US ALL! And thank you daddy, for letting me in on the secret. Now what?
What else would call if not the City of Brotherly Love? ON A MOVE...
I do. Because my daddy told me to shoot them ya know... just in case. Daddy lost his first and only trial and the CITY of Philadelphia decided it was time to take him out.
No. I won't give up now. I could be next! (As I laugh my fucking ass off!!!!!)
What if I have nothing left? What if the Hook does NOT bring me back?
This demonstration and project in futility and determination has defined me for so long, that without it, I'm not sure if I am anything at all.fuck that... yeah... Reality Bytes. But I won't play dead, and I won't pretend my name is not Elyssa Danielle Durant. My Daddy changed his, my gold-digging bitch of a mother changed her name 5 times, now with $250K invested in it, her face and her body are quite lovely too.
Mumia is STILL on death row. The 39th District is corrupt to the core. The MAYOR dropped the bomb. May 13, 1985. No longer sealed, and I am no longer hiding, Now I know, why my life stopped when it was about to start. I know the truth, and the feds know I'm certifiable. So you decide...
~~~~~this where I must break~~~ all in due time my friends~~~~
I can't lose what I never had. I won’t be another sell-out... mostly because I don't know how.
I am then the voice of perseverance. I am one voice of perseverance. I am one of 47 million Americans. And today I am I am still fighting the good fight.
This battle; this challenge; this half won war this fight has come to define me. And without that, I am not really much of anything at all...
As someone once told me, if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. I've already fallen, but I sure as shit stand for something.
"...so for now, I write. Maybe later read. I am always listening. But if there is any justice left in this world, maybe someday, I might actually live."
That's a;; for now, folks. I think I'll tweet a bit. I think I've earned it the right to play a little. Can't go anywhere anyway. License suspended (thanks again dad! You can manage to moved 1.3 million dollars into two separate trusts within one hour of TRO, but you it takes 22 days to hand over the $4.50 I needed to avoid eviction and 6 months homelessness?)
You must be so proud. I'm finally doing you ordered me to do long ago. Fighting for myself, because you made it clear you will never do it for me. Lesson learned. Bring it on. Again. This time I know what t expect.
Elyssa DurantNashville, Tennessee
[Parts previously posted at United Professionals under: An Appalling Appeal]
Collateral Damage USA: Extremist cells target 350,000 US civilians - National Human Rights | Examiner.com
Collateral Damage USA: Extremist cells target 350,000 US civilians
Extremist cells operating in US manipulate others to isolate target: Easier access for worse assaultPhoto: Targeted Individuals.comHundreds of thousands of Americans could be suffering direct effects of a well-hidden form of terrorism sweeping America involving interconnected extremist cells keeping targets under covert surveillance and assaulting them with psychological warfare tactics and military grade directed energy weapons' (DEWs) invisible ammunition. New FOI documents reveal that the number of Americans targeted by such cells in the campaign of terror could exceed 350,000.
The state-sponsored terror program is a likely arm of the Bush/Obama 'locate and assassinate' New Phoenix Program in the petrochemical-military-industrial-complex (PMIC) 'war on terror' in which anyone not "with" government lies and deceit is a "terrorist." In other words, the program is genocide of good, honest people. (See: Dupe, D. Let's kill all the good people, August 29, 2010) This atrocity could be another WikiLeaks' Modified Limited Hangout distraction from an even greater crime: Collateral Damage U.S.A.
That government is unleashing terror on America's "greatest people," that secret weapons with invisible force and fascist techniques refined since Nazi Germany days are ruining lives of innocent U.S. civilians should come as no surprise. G.W. Bush told the world that the U.S. would apply such wrath on anyone not "with" the PMIC agenda. Seen and heard throughout the world on September 11, 2001, Bush declared via satellite tv the evil plan for Targeted Individuals, precisely what they suffer daily:
"We will direct every resource at our disposal… every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war to the disruption and eventual defeat of terrorism… Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists… Americans should expect a battle unlike any other they have ever seen, not one battle, but a lengthy campaign, some visible, others secret. We will drive terrorists from place to place until there is no refuge or rest." (1)
Extrapolating from Bill Taylor, LPI Targeted Individual cases known to be RFID implanted, one-tenth of extremists' targets have been secretly, forcibly implanted for easier tracking and assaulting with DEWs. (2)
In February, in reporting on the scheduled Directed Energy Professional Society national symposium, some of which was held behind closed doors, the writer highlighted in the article Directed Energy Weapons aimed at American targets: Learning opportunity:
"The Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) fosters research and development in directed energy (DE), including high energy laser (HEL) and high power microwave (HPM) technologies, for national defense and civilian applications through professional communication and education." (DEPS website - emphasis added)
Aside from being the best hidden weapons, the Navy Times reports that DEWs are the "most feared and controversial weapon of modern age." Common bio-effects of electromagnetic and other non-lethal weapons include effects to the human central nervous system resulting in physical pain, difficulty breathing, vertigo, nausea, disorientation and other systemic discomfort. Weapons not considered "lethal" can cause cumulative damage to the human body including death through "slow-kill."
Microwave pulses can affect not only the epidermis (skin), but also the dermis, the thick sensitive layer of skin and connective tissue beneath the epidermis that contains blood, lymph vessels, sweat glands, and nerve endings, generating a burn or inducing terminal disease from as far as 700 yards or more if applied by satellite.
Since the new weapons' ammunition penetrates buildings to injure targets, they leave no evidence of the perpetrator, a perfect crime weapon. The heart attack gun and the ray gun are only a couple of many in the arsenal of military high-tech weapons now passed on to the Department of Justice that can be used to assassinate American civilians exposing too much truth. American Targeted Individuals claim being injured, in some cases tortured and in some cases tortured to death with the new weaponry.
Domestic surveillance, extreme stalking psychological warfare on civilians
New Freedom of Information documents reveal that the DOJ published statistics in a report, Stalking Victimization in the United States in 2009 included a survey that misled the American public by omitting extreme stalking material facts.(3)
“Extreme stalking” involves organized domestic terror cells stalking targets. It is also known as “gang-stalking," "cause stalking," or “organized stalking.”
Stalking experts agree that stalking is terror. For example, among first words to describe stalking, Crime Victim Services states, "Stalking is a form of terror that 5-20% of women in the US experience."
Targeted Individuals consistently report ongoing, frequent, extreme stalking tactics: professional unforced house break-ins, illegal searches, thefts, pet killings, gas-lighting (such as moving personal property when the subject is away or asleep), use of weapons; and use of a variety of tactics. These are the same tactics that Psychiatrist stalking specialists, Doctors Emmelkamp and Kamphius, identify as “extreme stalking” and as indicators of future physical violence and lethality.(4)
“Somewhat more extreme [stalking] forms include ordering goods and services in the victim's name and charging to the victim's account, placing false advertisements or announcements, ordering funeral wreaths, spreading rumours about the victim, starting numerous frivolous law suits, smearing the victim's home or destroying or moving their property, threatening the victim with violence, or actually attacking them. Stalkers sometimes involve third parties, which leads to victimisation by association of their family, friends, colleagues, lawyers, psychiatrists or psychologists, etc. (Emmelkamp and Kamphius)
Five hallmarks of extremist cell targeting include:
1. High frequency of attacks and long-term duration of attacks
2. Use of a variety of tactics
3. Professional unforced house entry, with no sign of force regardless of types of locks, often to access targets while asleep.
4. Law enforcement refusal to protect targets, investigate, or prosecute
5. Covering-up the crime with torture tactics created to appear so unbelievable that bogus “mental illness” is used to discredit targets, or so well-disguised that the induced “mysterious illnesses” neutralize targetsExtremist stalking cells stalking prey
FOIA request No. 10-00169 to DOJ Office of Justice Programs via a letter dated March 22, 2010 reveal that 446,790 stalking incidents are committed by three or more people, almost half involving offenders working together, a new form of organized crime. (5)
Of the 446,790 episodes of stalking committed by 3 or more persons, 4 in 10 were committed by the offenders working together.
Did All These People Act as a Team or a Group? In the total 3 or more offenders of the 446,790 100, 185,050 41.2 answers were "Yes," and 230,080 51.5 answers were "No," 26,550 5.9 were "Don't know and
6,110 1.4 were "Missing."Significant numbers of group stalkers were reported in groups of between 3 and up to 50 stalkers working as part of a "team or group," in the tens of thousands.
"The study shows at least 185,050 group or cell stalking victims exist in the U.S. "This number is artificially low," however, "due to two confounding variables in the study" states the Now Public report:
1. The 5.9 percent reporting not knowing whether a team or group was involved contains an unknown number of group stalking victims. Assuming it is the same as the 41.2 percent for victims knowing three or more stalkers are working in teams or groups, the number of victims exceeds 200,000.
2. The 2,262,940 "harassment victims" were excluded from the study if they did not state they feared for their safety, or, the safety of a family member.(3) This means that if the excluded harassment group follows a similar pattern of harassment as those deemed "stalking victims, the number of U.S. citizens being gang stalked exceeds 350,000."
"Stalkingis typically defined as the willful, malicious, and repeated following or harassing of another person that threatens hisor her safety." (Meloy & Gothard, 1995, p. 258).
Based on the 350,000 number, 35,000 Targeted Individuals could be implanted unwillingly and unknowingly. As Taylor commented, some sources day all of them are implanted.
Based on the 2009 DOJ report, Katrina Baum, Ph.D., Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., Michael Rand, Kristina Rose found that:
- About half (46%) of stalking victims experienced at least one unwanted contact per week, and 11% of victims said they had been stalked 5 years or more.
- Approximately 1 in 4 stalking victims reported some form of cyberstalking such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%).
- Women were at greater risk than men for stalking victimization; however, women and men were equally likely to experience harassment victimization.(6)
Who works in the cells?
In his book, Cause Stalking, David Lawson describes his 12 years of infiltrating extremist cells and quotes stalking cell recruits:
"'We are like the police except we are ABOVE the police.'
'We are a citizen's group that helps the police. We are trying to alert people in the area about this person [the target] before he gets to do what he did in the last place he lived.'
'When I get the call, I go to whatever the address is. It doesn't matter what they [targets] do, they can never get away from us.'
'Who are we? We drive the ambulances that take you to the emergency room. When your house is burning, we put out the fire. We are security guards. We protect you at night. YOU ONLY HAVE ELECTRICITY, PHONE AND CABLE SERVICE BECAUSE OF US. We are janitors. We have the keys. We fix your cars. YOU DON'T WANT TO MESS WITH US.'"
Most stalking victims do not recognize that they are under surveillance until the intrusions have occurred over a long period or become overtly threatening or violent.
Most families and friends of targets do not recognize that a target is under surveillance and DEW assaults until it is too late.
1. O’Connor. T. The Criminology Of Terrorism: History, Law, Definitions, Typologies, Syllabus for JUS 429. Austin Peay State University. MegaLinks in Criminal Justice
2. See: Dupre, D. Secretly forced brain implants: Ex-SS, FBI contractor defends targets and Secretly forced brain implants Pt IV: Intel expert on the doctors, children, military research)
3. Gang-stalking: New FOIA documents prove DOJ Know Truth, Now Public, http://www.nowpublic.com/world/gang-stalking-new-doj-foia-documents-prove-doj...
4. J. H. Kamphius, PhD and P.M.G. Emmelkamp, PhD, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Stalking — a contemporary challenge for forensic and clinical psychiatry, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2000, 176: 206-209 online: http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/176/3/206
5. DOJ, Stalking Victimization in the United States, page 10, D.O.J. Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, January, 2009
6. DOJ, “Stalking Victimization in the United States: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1211)
Copyright © 2010 Deborah DuprĆ©. All rights reserved. This article cannot be copied, posted, emailed, or republished without author permission.
The author grants permission to copy this article title and first paragraph only - linked to this Examiner page.
Deborah DuprƩ, with post-graduate science and education degrees from U.S. and Australian universities, has been a human and environmental rights advocate for over 25 years in the U.S., Vanuatu and Australia. Support her work by subscribing to her articles and forwarding the link of this article to friends and colleagues or reposting only the title and first paragraph linked to this Examiner page. Dupre welcomes emails: info@DeborahDupre.com See her Vaccine Liberty or Death book plus Compassion Film Project DVDs.
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/extremist-stalking-cells-ame...
Obama targeted individual assassination Phoenix Program includes Americans - National Human Rights | Examiner.com
Obama targeted individual assassination Phoenix Program includes Americans
Obama has now authorized what Bush began, assassinating targeted individuals including Americans on US soil, confirming that the new global Phoenix Program recommended by General Patraeus in 2009 is now officially operational. It has been tested and used on an untold and growing number of innocent citizens since 2001's mass murder.
In Monarch no-touch torture of US targets press conference slated, the writer highlighted Tom Hayden's revelation that "General David Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command advocated the "global Phoenix Program," alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA data-base operation used to torture and assassinate innocent civilians due to their political beliefs. (Tom Hayden, Reviving Vietnam War Tactics, The Nation, 2008) Global includes the U.S."
In "Shocking state secrets: Patriot ACT illegal spy domestic terror campaign, the author detailed how the new Phoenix Program secretly escalated since 9-11-2001 and is not a new Obama administration crime:
"Revelations that the Central Intelligence Agency launched a world-wide assassination program, and then concealed its existence from the U.S. Congress and the American people for eight years, carries an implication that death squads may have been employed against political opponents." (Tom Burghardt, Antifascist Calling, Dick Cheney's 'Executive Assassination Ring', Global Research, July 17, 2009)
Glenn Greenwald writes today in, "Confirmed: Obama authorizes assassination of US citizens," "When Obama was seeking the Democratic nomination, the Constitutional Law Scholar answered a questionnaire about executive power distributed by the Boston Globe's Charlie Savage, and this was one of his answers" to the the question: 5. Does the Constitution permit a president to detain US citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants?
[Obama]: "No. I reject the Bush Administration's claim that the President has plenary authority under the Constitution to detain U.S. citizens without charges as unlawful enemy combatants."
"So back then, Obama said the President lacks the power merely to detain U.S. citizens without charges. Now, as President, he claims the power to assassinate them without charges," writes Greenwald. "As Spencer Ackerman documents today, not even John Yoo claimed that the President possessed the power Obama is claiming here."
Referencing the Muslim cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, believed to be a "terror suspect," Greenwald writes, "No due process is accorded. No charges or trials are necessary. No evidence is offered, nor any opportunity for him to deny these accusations (which he has done vehemently through his family). None of that." Such is typical in a fascist state. It replicates Nazi Germany. Such is the persecution targeted individuals face daily - in secret, invisible, virtual prisons in which remote electronic weaponry is applied to torture and murder with no evidence, the perfect crime.
Instead of any semblance to democracy, "the way guilt is determined for American citizens -- and a death penalty imposed -- is that the President... secretly decrees someone's guilt as a Terrorist. He then dispatches his aides to run to America's newspapers -- cowardly hiding behind the shield of anonymity which they're granted -- to proclaim that the Guilty One shall be killed on sight because the Leader has decreed him to be a Terrorist," writes Greenwald.
Nazi Germany and then Vietnam, using the old Phoenix Program, did the same. Now, in the New Phoenix Program, thousands of targeted individuals, each with personal, real-life horror stories too shocking for most people to accept, especially since mainstream media has blacked them out, know first-hand the treatment.
The GAO has reported that anyone's name can be added to today's terror suspect list, same as in Nazi Germany, then Vietnam, and since 2001, the Middle East and the US and other NATO countries where target reports have been most prevalent.
And who might be deployed to America's death squads? The Central Intelligence Agency is hiring private security contractors such as Blackwater USA (now Xe) for the secret “locate and assassinate” terrorists program according to officials, as reported in The New York Times. Again, this coincides with the dramatic influx of innocent citizens reporting counterterrorism extreme abuses against them since 2001. Some have not survived according to emails from their friends.
Persecution through surveillance
Surveillance is the key tool to target individuals. (See Paul Baird, www.surveillanceissues.com) Targeted individuals' accounts, such as that of Chris Zucker, highlight that terms "illegal spying," "surveillance" and "invasion of privacy" are smokescreens for the new Phoenix Program's lethal surveillance technology that the PATRIOT ACT authorized to target so-called "terrorists": whistleblowers and people opposing high-level corruption such as that fostering the obscenely costly, bogus "war on terror." (See: Shocking state secret: PATRIOT ACT illegal spy domestic terror campaign, Examiner, January 12, 2010.)
Although some are targeted indiscriminately, most targets are notably intelligent, charismatic and are pacifists (opposite to terrorists) with integrity and other leadership qualities. Many are journalists, whistleblowers and human rights defenders - types a fascist regime needs to engage and eliminate, juxtaposed to easily controlled "sheeple."
The new Global Phoenix Program that Marshall Thomas calls a developed continuation of the Monarch Program, employs both high-tech and foot soldiers to spy, blacklist (to ensure loss of career and income), and in the third degree, torture and assassinate. Referring to this military operation as "organized stalking," as some self-identified targeted individuals do for lack of better term or for less noble reason, creates another smokescreen for death squads. It covers-up the intricate web of the Nazi-based political program. It is like calling Gladio Nazis "stalkers."
Glenn Yeadon stated in a No Lies Radio interview that his book, Nazi Hydra, was conceived to fill a gap in the literature by providing a detailed overview of the influence of fascism within the U.S... to sound an ominous warning as to the direction this country is taking at the hands of the right-wing.” (DuprĆ©, Progressive solutions to US Nazi-corporatism, Examiner, February 9, 2010)
The new Global Phoenix Program is a tentacle of the American Nazi hydra that has had a 100-year history suppressed for its secret development. Now refined, the hydra tentacles have reached into average American communities.
The monster hydra tentacles are embedded in the justice and health systems to terrorize those who disdain its Nazi psychopathic nature. Its false imprisonments, psychotronics, directed energy weapons and chemicals, are destroying the fabric of what was once a great nation, compassionate integrity. The hydra rages and attacks when truth is spoken. It feeds on lies and violence to satisfy its appetite for oppression.
This final stage of American fascism is what Bush secretly began. It is what Obama openly authorized.
As Baird asserts, "Passive resistance to oppression is the only way... but resist we must."
Deborah DuprƩ, B.S., M.S., DipConEd, has been a human and civil rights advocate for over 25 years in the U.S., Vanuatu and Australia. Feel free to support her work and book in progress about targeted individuals at www.DeborahDupre.com , by subscribing to DuprƩ's reports, and by posting the link to this site unless republishing permission is granted. Email info@DeborahDupre.com. DuprƩ's book, Operation H1N1: Vaccine Liberty or Death, is available at DeborahDupre.com. Follow her on Twitter @gdebd.
Privacy Tool for Iranian Activists Disabled After Security Holes Exposed | Threat Level | Wired.com
Privacy Tool for Iranian Activists Disabled After Security Holes Exposed
- By Kim Zetter
- September 14, 2010 |
- 1:55 pm |
- Categories: Cybersecurity, Surveillance
A highly lauded privacy tool designed to help Iranian activists circumvent state spying and censorship has been disabled after an independent researcher discovered security vulnerabilities in the system that could potentially expose the identities of anonymous users.
Users have been instructed to destroy all copies of the software, known as Haystack, and the developers have now vowed to obtain a third-party audit of the code and release most of it as open source before distributing anything to activists again.
Haystack is designed to encrypt a user’s traffic and also obfuscate it by using steganography-like techniques to hide it within innocuous or state-approved traffic, making it harder to filter and block the traffic. Despite its nascent status, Haystack got widespread media attention, including from Newsweek recently.
The tool is still in development, but an initial diagnostic version was being used by “a few dozen” activists in Iran when security researcher Jacob Appelbaum, a U.S. volunteer with WikiLeaks, discovered vulnerabilities in the source code and implementation of the system that could potentially place the lives of activists at risk.
Austin Heap, one of the tool’s developers, has faced sharp criticism from Appelbaum and others for failing to vet the tool with security professionals before distributing it for use. The media have also been criticized for failing to properly examine the system before praising it as an option for activists.
“The more I have learned about the system, the worse it has gotten,” Appelbaum said. “Even if they turn Haystack off, if people try to use it, it still presents a risk…. It would be possible for an adversary to specifically pinpoint individual users of Haystack.”
Heap told Threat Level that distribution of the test program had been highly controlled among a small group of select users, and that all of the participants, except one, had been informed beforehand that there were potential risks in using software that was still in development.“They are all people who are aware of the risks who use other anti-censor tools and had expressed a direct interest to me or others that they would like to be part of the test program,” Heap said.
Nonetheless, he and colleagues decided to halt human testing of the program this week and use only machine testing going forward, in light of the criticism from Appelbaum and others. He said the group would open-source 90 percent of the code before releasing a version to users.
“All of the encryption routines, all the parts that are tantamount to protecting a user’s privacy will be publicly released,” he promised.
Appelbaum, a developer for the Tor Project, which developed and maintains the Tor anonymity and anti-censorship tool, disputed that distribution of Haystack was controlled. He said the tool was available for download from multiple sites on the internet, including Heap’s own web site, which Threat Level confirmed.
Although Heap assured Appelbaum that the program had been disabled by Saturday, Appelbaum found he could still use it without problems as of Sunday evening. He decided to go public with his criticism out of concern that some users might still be unaware of the risks of using it.
Appelbaum said he reverse-engineered and broke the code in a couple of hours with friends on Sunday. He planned to release a paper later this week discussing the vulnerabilities.
He was reluctant to provide details of the problems, which he feared could give Iranian authorities a map to track users, but described two vulnerabilities in the way the system was implemented. The vulnerabilities could allow authorities to easily and quickly identify anyone who used the program.
The issue has caused a rift between Heap and his chief programmer Daniel Colascione, who only recently returned to the project after a hiatus. Colascione told Threat Level Monday evening that he was considering withdrawing from the project permanently due to Heap’s implementation of it and Appelbaum’s criticism.
“I [had taken] a hiatus with the project because I had become disillusioned with our opaque development style and our approach to the press, and I came back because I convinced myself that I could try to improve the situation,” he said. “I wanted a policy of transparency and forthright disclosure of our progress. But after this has happened, I’m wavering with whether I want to continue with that direction.”
By Tuesday morning, Colascione announced his decision to resign from the Censorship Research Center, the nonprofit established to support Haystack. In a note sent to the Liberation Tech mailing list, Colascione wrote that the organization’s actions had done “irreparable” damage.
I would like to stress that I am not resigning in shame over the much-maligned test program. It is as bad as Appelbaum makes it out to be. But I maintain that it was a diagnostic tool never intended for dissemination, never mind hype. I did have a solid, reasonable design, and described it in our brief overture of transparency. _That_ is what Haystack would have been. It would have worked!
What I am resigning over is the inability of my organization to operate effectively, maturely, and responsibly. We have been disgraced. I am resigning over dismissing pointed criticism as nonsense. I am resigning over hype trumping security. I am resigning over being misled, and over others being misled in my name.
Colascione acknowledged to Threat Level that in addition to the vulnerabilities, there had been mistakes in how distribution of the tool was controlled.
“That was the stated policy that everyone would be fully informed of the risks and that we would control distribution tightly, but unfortunately in this instance that policy broke down…. At least one of our testers distributed the copy without authorization and without our knowledge.”
It was intentionally distributed to two dozen people and, based on traffic logs, it did get into other hands — though not many.
“If we had seen a vast spike in traffic, we would have been aware long ago that something amiss was going on,” Colascione said.
The diagnostic tool was distributed to gather user experiences and to examine specific features, according to Colascione.
“It was never intended to be an early version of the tool, just a program that establishes some parameters for developing the tool,” he said. “Frankly, this is a debacle, a disaster and an embarrassment, because this tool was not representative of our final plan for Haystack. It’s a separate lineage, and to be judged on the basis of that is immensely frustrating.”
Heap and Colascione developed Haystack last year after the Iranian government clamped down on the internet activities of local citizens who were protesting the results of the country’s national elections.
Heap told Newsweek last month that the tool would have advantages over other anti-censorship tools, such as Tor, Psiphon and Freegate — which could hide a user’s identity but could not hide the fact that someone was using the privacy tool. Haystack hides a user’s packets inside nondescript packets that aren’t barred by censors or raise suspicions — such as packets sent from officially sanctioned government agencies themselves.
The tool and Heap quickly garnered a lot of media attention in the wake of growing interest over the Iranian government’s efforts to censor and track protesters. But there was one obstacle in the way of Haystack being adopted by Iranian users — U.S. laws bar trading with Iran without a special government license. According to Newsweek, the State Department took a special interest in Heap’s program and fast-tracked his application. Heap told Threat Level, however, that he got no special consideration and that it took nine months to get his license.
Appelbaum said he doesn’t have confidence that Heap or anyone working with him will be able to put out a finished product that achieves the level of privacy and security they claim the tool will achieve.
“There are definitely possibilities for steganographic protocols,” he said. “But I have zero confidence that they could do it. With the Iranian government doing deep-packet inspection and having a copy of their [Haystack] program and [Haystack developers] failing to do peer review, I believe they will never get it correct…. When charlatans make these claims, they should not be trusted.”
White hat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia #hACkTivists UNITE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hat
White hat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, searchThis article is about computer hackers. For other uses, see White hat (disambiguation).
Look up white hat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A white hat is the hero or good guy, especially in computing slang, where it refers to an ethical hacker or penetration tester who focuses on securing and protecting IT systems.[1]
White hat hackers are computer security experts, who specialize in penetration testing, and other testing methodologies, to ensure that a company's information systems are secure. White hat hackers are also called "sneakers"[2], red teams, or tiger teams[3]. These security experts may utilize a variety of methods to carry out their tests, including social engineering tactics, use of hacking tools, such as Metasploit, which exploits known vulnerabilities, and attempts to evade security to gain entry into secured areas.
The National Security Agency offers certifications such as the CNSS 4011. Such a certification covers orderly, ethical hacking techniques and team management. Aggressor teams are called "red" teams. Defender teams are called "blue" teams.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Black hat
- Computer hacking
- Exploit (computer security)
- Grey hat
- Hack (technology)
- Hacker Ethic
- IT risk
- Metasploit
- Penetration test
- Vulnerability (computing)
- Wireless & RFID Identity Theft
[edit] External Links
Afghan Leader Admits His Office Gets Cash from Iran… | Project World Awareness#
Project World Awareness
Afghan Leader Admits His Office Gets Cash from Iran…
Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
President Hamid Karzai, right, with his counterpart from Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, at a joint news conference on Monday.By DEXTER FILKINS and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: October 25, 2010KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday that he regularly receives bags of cash from the Iranian government in payments amounting to millions of dollars, as evidence mounted of a worsening rift between his government and its American and NATO supporters.
During an often hostile news conference, Mr. Karzai also accused the United States of financing the “killing” of Afghans by paying private security contractors to guard construction projects and convoys in Afghanistan. He has declined to postpone a December deadline he set for ending the use of private security forces despite urgent pleas from Western organizations, including development organizations, that need protection here.
President Hamid KarzaiHis statements were the latest indication that American relations with Mr. Karzai were badly frayed, despite diplomatic efforts to mend ties and improve governance in Afghanistan. The tensions threaten to undermine President Obama’s goal of handing responsibility for the war against the Taliban to Mr. Karzai and the Afghan military, allowing the United States to begin withdrawing troops next year.
“They do give us bags of money — yes, yes, it is done,” Mr. Karzai said, responding to questions about a report in The New York Times on Sunday that Iran sends regular cash payments to his chief of staff, Umar Daudzai. “We are grateful to the Iranians for this.”
“Patriotism has a price,” he said.
Afghan and Western officials said the Iranian payments were intended to drive a wedge between Mr. Karzai and the United States and NATO.
On Sunday, Mr. Karzai held a volatile meeting with the NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, as well as other senior Afghan and Western officials to discuss the private security firms. Mr. Karzai stormed out of the session, saying that he did not need the West’s help, according to people knowledgeable about the confrontation.
President Karzai has so far refused to modify the ban, although he has said that he would consider requests to delay it on a case-by-case basis. In many respects, his sharp words reflect a widespread feeling among Afghans, especially in insecure areas, that foreign security firms are running roughshod over them and intruding in culturally unacceptable ways on their daily lives.
At the news conference, Mr. Karzai lashed out at the United States, implying that American officials had leaked information to The New York Times about Iranian payments because of disagreements over the private security companies.
The private security companies, many of which are paid for by the United States, are spreading chaos and unjustly killing Afghan civilians, Mr. Karzai said.
“The money dealing with the private security companies starts in the hallways of the U.S. government,” he said. “Then they send the money for killing here.”
Under a decree he issued in August, all private security firms must stop operations by Dec. 17. The United States and other Western governments here say they accept the ban, and they are trying to switch to the use of the Afghan police and soldiers to protect their military convoys. But many Western officials say the Afghan police and military are undertrained, overstretched and ill equipped to provide proper protection for foreign interests.
They have asked for additional time to make the change, especially for civilian development organizations. Those organizations say they will not be able to continue work without security for employees, potentially endangering several billion dollars worth of programs and projects.
The Afghan president said security companies were responsible for a litany of bloody crimes against the country’s people. “When this money comes to Afghanistan, it causes insecurity in Afghan homes and causes the killing of Afghan children and causes explosions and terrorism in Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai said.
He leveled several accusations against Western interests in Afghanistan and the news media, even going so far as to say that the security companies were interchangeable with the Taliban.
“In fact we don’t know how many of the explosions are the fault of the Taliban and how much by them,” said Mr. Karzai, referring to the security companies.
Mr. Karzai’s distrust of the Western alliance has increased over the past several months even as more soldiers have flowed into the country and more civilian development workers have begun to carry out projects, leaving diplomats and military officials increasingly frustrated and confused.
Western officials said they were disheartened but not surprised by the virulence of his tone, and they said they would continue to try to find a solution that allowed development projects to continue.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s vintage Karzai,” said a Western official in Kabul, adding that the accusations were hurtful when Western soldiers and Marines were dying in the field. “But when you are losing the numbers we are as an alliance and then when you got your reliable partner in Kabul saying such things, it sticks in the craw a bit.”
The Iranian payments are another significant source of tension. Mr. Karzai discounted their importance, claiming that the cash transfers were well known, and that he had even disclosed them to former President George W. Bush during a meeting at Camp David. He says that he uses the money to pay expenses incurred in the course of doing his job, including for “special expenses and helping people.”
Mr. Karzai says others give him cash payments as well. “The United States is doing the same thing. They are providing cash to some of our offices,” he said.
He says Mr. Daudzai is the courier for the Iranian cash, which amounts to about $1 million “once or twice a year.” The Times previously quoted Afghan and Western officials as saying that Mr. Daudzai has received regular payments from Iran that totaled about $6 million.
Asked what he does in return for the Iranian money, Mr. Karzai said: “They have asked for good relations in return and for lots of other things in return.”
Mr. Karzai’s admission followed firm denials by members of his staff that such payments existed. Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Feda Hussein Maliki, also denied that he or his government passed any money to Mr. Karzai’s office.
The Iranian payments are not large, at least compared with the hundreds of billions of dollars the United States has spent to oust the Taliban from power, support Mr. Karzai’s government and fight a tenacious insurgency intent on toppling Mr. Karzai.
But Western officials say they are disturbed by Mr. Karzai’s close relationship with Iran’s leaders, in part because of mounting evidence that the country’s intelligence services are aggressively trying to undermine the American-led mission here. NATO officials say that Iran is paying for, arming and training Taliban fighters, as well as financing political candidates in the parliamentary elections.
In his news conference, Mr. Karzai also attacked The Times for publishing the report about Iranian payments, even as he confirmed receiving such payments. He urged the Afghan news media to “defame The New York Times as they defame us.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/world/asia/26afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world
Afghan Leader Admits His Office Gets Cash from Iran… | Project World Awareness via @rockingjude
Afghan Leader Admits His Office Gets Cash from Iran…
Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
President Hamid Karzai, right, with his counterpart from Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, at a joint news conference on Monday.By DEXTER FILKINS and ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: October 25, 2010KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai acknowledged on Monday that he regularly receives bags of cash from the Iranian government in payments amounting to millions of dollars, as evidence mounted of a worsening rift between his government and its American and NATO supporters.
During an often hostile news conference, Mr. Karzai also accused the United States of financing the “killing” of Afghans by paying private security contractors to guard construction projects and convoys in Afghanistan. He has declined to postpone a December deadline he set for ending the use of private security forces despite urgent pleas from Western organizations, including development organizations, that need protection here.
President Hamid KarzaiHis statements were the latest indication that American relations with Mr. Karzai were badly frayed, despite diplomatic efforts to mend ties and improve governance in Afghanistan. The tensions threaten to undermine President Obama’s goal of handing responsibility for the war against the Taliban to Mr. Karzai and the Afghan military, allowing the United States to begin withdrawing troops next year.
“They do give us bags of money — yes, yes, it is done,” Mr. Karzai said, responding to questions about a report in The New York Times on Sunday that Iran sends regular cash payments to his chief of staff, Umar Daudzai. “We are grateful to the Iranians for this.”
“Patriotism has a price,” he said.
On Sunday, Mr. Karzai held a volatile meeting with the NATO commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, as well as other senior Afghan and Western officials to discuss the private security firms. Mr. Karzai stormed out of the session, saying that he did not need the West’s help, according to people knowledgeable about the confrontation.
President Karzai has so far refused to modify the ban, although he has said that he would consider requests to delay it on a case-by-case basis. In many respects, his sharp words reflect a widespread feeling among Afghans, especially in insecure areas, that foreign security firms are running roughshod over them and intruding in culturally unacceptable ways on their daily lives.
At the news conference, Mr. Karzai lashed out at the United States, implying that American officials had leaked information to The New York Times about Iranian payments because of disagreements over the private security companies.
The private security companies, many of which are paid for by the United States, are spreading chaos and unjustly killing Afghan civilians, Mr. Karzai said.
“The money dealing with the private security companies starts in the hallways of the U.S. government,” he said. “Then they send the money for killing here.”
Under a decree he issued in August, all private security firms must stop operations by Dec. 17. The United States and other Western governments here say they accept the ban, and they are trying to switch to the use of the Afghan police and soldiers to protect their military convoys. But many Western officials say the Afghan police and military are undertrained, overstretched and ill equipped to provide proper protection for foreign interests.
They have asked for additional time to make the change, especially for civilian development organizations. Those organizations say they will not be able to continue work without security for employees, potentially endangering several billion dollars worth of programs and projects.
The Afghan president said security companies were responsible for a litany of bloody crimes against the country’s people. “When this money comes to Afghanistan, it causes insecurity in Afghan homes and causes the killing of Afghan children and causes explosions and terrorism in Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai said.
He leveled several accusations against Western interests in Afghanistan and the news media, even going so far as to say that the security companies were interchangeable with the Taliban.
“In fact we don’t know how many of the explosions are the fault of the Taliban and how much by them,” said Mr. Karzai, referring to the security companies.
Mr. Karzai’s distrust of the Western alliance has increased over the past several months even as more soldiers have flowed into the country and more civilian development workers have begun to carry out projects, leaving diplomats and military officials increasingly frustrated and confused.
Western officials said they were disheartened but not surprised by the virulence of his tone, and they said they would continue to try to find a solution that allowed development projects to continue.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s vintage Karzai,” said a Western official in Kabul, adding that the accusations were hurtful when Western soldiers and Marines were dying in the field. “But when you are losing the numbers we are as an alliance and then when you got your reliable partner in Kabul saying such things, it sticks in the craw a bit.”
The Iranian payments are another significant source of tension. Mr. Karzai discounted their importance, claiming that the cash transfers were well known, and that he had even disclosed them to former President George W. Bush during a meeting at Camp David. He says that he uses the money to pay expenses incurred in the course of doing his job, including for “special expenses and helping people.”
Mr. Karzai says others give him cash payments as well. “The United States is doing the same thing. They are providing cash to some of our offices,” he said.
He says Mr. Daudzai is the courier for the Iranian cash, which amounts to about $1 million “once or twice a year.” The Times previously quoted Afghan and Western officials as saying that Mr. Daudzai has received regular payments from Iran that totaled about $6 million.
Asked what he does in return for the Iranian money, Mr. Karzai said: “They have asked for good relations in return and for lots of other things in return.”
Mr. Karzai’s admission followed firm denials by members of his staff that such payments existed. Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Feda Hussein Maliki, also denied that he or his government passed any money to Mr. Karzai’s office.
The Iranian payments are not large, at least compared with the hundreds of billions of dollars the United States has spent to oust the Taliban from power, support Mr. Karzai’s government and fight a tenacious insurgency intent on toppling Mr. Karzai.
But Western officials say they are disturbed by Mr. Karzai’s close relationship with Iran’s leaders, in part because of mounting evidence that the country’s intelligence services are aggressively trying to undermine the American-led mission here. NATO officials say that Iran is paying for, arming and training Taliban fighters, as well as financing political candidates in the parliamentary elections.
In his news conference, Mr. Karzai also attacked The Times for publishing the report about Iranian payments, even as he confirmed receiving such payments. He urged the Afghan news media to “defame The New York Times as they defame us.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/26/world/asia/26afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world
1 comments:
hifrommes;your sufferin soul ashines so manys lifes truths from our freezin world your skyclear words strenhths aflows like rivers jumppin rocks..wow is reads your thoughts and feel the life you are.
isa sends yous ahumblethankyos.
ps. love your shine