NATIONAL SECURITY PORN RISK

C'punks,

Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about 
the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs?  Is 
there a crypto tie-in?


 S a n d y

> C'punks,
> 
> Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about 
> the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs?  Is 
> there a crypto tie-in?
> 
> 
>  S a n d y

I've read the "Mercury News" front-page article...does that count?
(It's in today's paper--Tuesday, 1994-07-12.)

The issue, for those who haven't read the article, is that LLL
computers and disks were used (apparently) for storage of GIFs and the
like, for anonymous ftp access. Apparently this site was not
advertised...it was not "ftp.porn.bomb-labs.gov" or anything else.

The crypto tie-in is interesting: steganography. Apparently the
investigators have read about steganography--perhaps in "Wired"?--and
are worried that password sniffers, and the like, are collecting
secrets and then packing them into the porno images.

Very implausible, that someone would go to this trouble. Too many
other ways. No doubt the images are just the usual two-bit use of
someone else's facilities.

My joke, "Debbie Does Fort Meade," turns out be more prophetic than I
thought.

--Tim May



-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
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"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."

On Tue, 12 Jul 1994, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

> Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about 
> the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs?  Is 
> there a crypto tie-in?

From: paulp@nic.cerf.net (Paul Phillips)
Newsgroups: alt.current-events.net-abuse,alt.security,alt.news-media,news.admin.misc
Subject: LA Times Yellow Journalism
Date: 12 Jul 1994 18:43:23 GMT

This on page A1 of the July 12 1994 LA Times:

 "Computer at Nuclear Lab Used for Access to Porn"
[ snip ]
-- Excerpt --
One computer expert, who requested anonymity, said there might be more
to the incident than meets the eye.  The expert suggested that the hard-core
pornography may be a cover for an ultra-sophisticated espionage program,
in which a "sniffer" program combs through other Livermore computers,
encodes the passwords and accounts it finds, and then hides them within
the pornographic images, perhaps to be downloaded by foreign agents.
-- End excerpt --

	It's a Steganography reference. This sets off my warning bells -- 
why would they explicitly mention the Stego technique, unless possibly it 
was used in the porn ring there? Granted, Stego makes good journalism 
fodder ("Hide your encrypted nuclear bomb plans in porn GIFs from the 
Internet!"), but it's definitely not as sexy [sic] as "Taxpayer-funded 
computers used in secret porn ring!" Anybody know exactly what was going 
on at LLL? We can't get papers easily up here. :(

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Brandt Handler                                <grendel@netaxs.com> 
Philadelphia, PA                                    <mh7p+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Currently at CMU, Pittsburgh, PA            PGP v2.6 public key on request
Boycott Canter & Siegel                <<NSA>> 1984: We're Behind Schedule

>  "Computer at Nuclear Lab Used for Access to Porn"
> [ snip ]
> -- Excerpt --
> One computer expert, who requested anonymity, said there might be more
> to the incident than meets the eye.  The expert suggested that the hard-core
> pornography may be a cover for an ultra-sophisticated espionage program,
> in which a "sniffer" program combs through other Livermore computers,
> encodes the passwords and accounts it finds, and then hides them within
> the pornographic images, perhaps to be downloaded by foreign agents.
> -- End excerpt --
> 
> 	It's a Steganography reference. This sets off my warning bells -- 
> why would they explicitly mention the Stego technique, unless possibly it 
> was used in the porn ring there? Granted, Stego makes good journalism 
> fodder ("Hide your encrypted nuclear bomb plans in porn GIFs from the 
> Internet!"), but it's definitely not as sexy [sic] as "Taxpayer-funded 
> computers used in secret porn ring!" Anybody know exactly what was going 
> on at LLL? We can't get papers easily up here. :(

Of course, any machine with classified info on it would neither be on
the net nor would it be connected to one that was.

	--Paul

Sandy Sandfort says:
> C'punks,
> 
> Does anyone on the Cypherpunks Channel have any inside information about 
> the "computer porn ring" that was busted at Lawrence Livermore Labs?  Is 
> there a crypto tie-in?

The information superhighway, and the freedom of America, is
threatened by a couple of government employees looking at dirty
pictures. PRI's (formerly APRs) oh-so-statist "business" news radio
program "Marketplace" had a story on this last night. Naturally, they
had on the LA reporter who uncovered the shocking fact that some
American's like looking at pictures of naked people having sex, and
that the internet can be used for this purpose as well as paper
magazines. Naturally, said reporter was shocked and just HAD to tell
the bosses of the perpetrators of this horrible crime against
humanity.  Naturally, the word "pedophilia" arose in the discussion.

Perry