Matt Blaze arrested???

I heard a shocking thing on the radio a few minutes ago.
I'm <*really*> sorry I didn't hear the whole report but I'm
hoping someone here can shed some light,

According to the report a Bell Labs mathematician named
Blaze was arrested at the O'Hare airport today, in some
kind of FBI sting operation.  I didn't hear the whole segment,
but it sounded like it had something to do with passing classified
(crypto?) information to a foreign government.  The part of
the report that I heard didn't say what kind of info or what
he was charged with, but I got the impression that it was either
some kind of ITAR thing or maybe espionage.  They did
say it was part of a long term sting operation and mentioned
something (that I didn't hear clearly) about "other arrests"
that either already happened or were likely to happen soon.

Was this Matt Blaze?  It sure sounds like it must be.  Is
there a crackdown going on? Has anyone else been busted?

Does anyone have more complete information about this?

Jim


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

I'm afraid you're confused.  Whoever this report was about, it
wasn't me:

* I'm not at Lucent Bell Labs. (I'm at AT&T Shannon Labs.)  I'm not
  aware of any other Blaze at either AT&T or Lucent, however.
* I'm not a mathematician. (I'm a computer scientist.)
* I've not been to ORD, or any other midwestern airport,
  since August.  (I do fly a lot, though).
* I never been arrested.  (I did accently set off the antitheft
  detector at a local bookstore once, but they let me go
  when I showed them my reciept).  

-matt

>I heard a shocking thing on the radio a few minutes ago.
>I'm <*really*> sorry I didn't hear the whole report but I'm
>hoping someone here can shed some light,
>
>According to the report a Bell Labs mathematician named
>Blaze was arrested at the O'Hare airport today, in some
>kind of FBI sting operation.  I didn't hear the whole segment,
>but it sounded like it had something to do with passing classified
>(crypto?) information to a foreign government.  The part of
>the report that I heard didn't say what kind of info or what
>he was charged with, but I got the impression that it was either
>some kind of ITAR thing or maybe espionage.  They did
>say it was part of a long term sting operation and mentioned
>something (that I didn't hear clearly) about "other arrests"
>that either already happened or were likely to happen soon.
>
>Was this Matt Blaze?  It sure sounds like it must be.  Is
>there a crackdown going on? Has anyone else been busted?
>
>Does anyone have more complete information about this?
>
>Jim
>
>
>______________________________________________________
>Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

> Who are you?  
> 
> While the originating IP of this message is owned by Bell Labs, 

208.198.164.2 alias lpwa.com is their web anonymizer.

Matt Blaze wrote:

>I'm afraid you're confused.  Whoever this report was about, it
>wasn't me:
>...

Not a important question but isn't this the sort of message that would
benefit most from a PGP signature? I checked on the certserver and it did
locate a 512 bit key RSA key from 1993. I don't routinely sign or encrypt
my email but I remain curious about decisions others make. In a program on
NPR a few years ago I recall a few luminaries were ardently discussing the
issues involved in encryption but when asked late in the program how they
used encrryption themselves they all quickly said that it was just too
cumbersome.

Steve Bryan
Vendorsystems International
email: sbryan@vendorsystems.com
icq: 5263678
pgp fingerprint: D758 183C 8B79 B28E 6D4C  2653 E476 82E6 DA7C 9AC5

On Tue, 1 Dec 1998, jim finder wrote:

> 
> I heard a shocking thing on the radio a few minutes ago.
> I'm <*really*> sorry I didn't hear the whole report but I'm
> hoping someone here can shed some light,
> 
> According to the report a Bell Labs mathematician named
> Blaze was arrested at the O'Hare airport today, in some
> kind of FBI sting operation.

NFW that Matt would get arrested. He is too high profile. They haven't
become that blatant just yet. Arresting Matt would trigger more pro-bono
work than the DOJ has staff. :-) Besides, Matt would not engage in illegal
activities.

-- Lucky Green <shamrock@cypherpunks.to> PGP v5 encrypted email preferred.

A Disposable Hotmail Account writes:

> According to the report a Bell Labs mathematician named
> Blaze was arrested at the O'Hare airport today, in some
> kind of FBI sting operation.

Who are you?  

While the originating IP of this message is owned by Bell Labs, 
I find it surprising that a story of this magnitude is nowhere to
be found on the various wire services. 

Can anyone confirm or deny this report?  Color me suspicious.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"

At 10:19 PM -0800 12/1/98, Eric Cordian wrote:
>A Disposable Hotmail Account writes:
>
>> According to the report a Bell Labs mathematician named
>> Blaze was arrested at the O'Hare airport today, in some
>> kind of FBI sting operation.
>
>Who are you?
>
>While the originating IP of this message is owned by Bell Labs,
>I find it surprising that a story of this magnitude is nowhere to
>be found on the various wire services.
>
>Can anyone confirm or deny this report?  Color me suspicious.
>

I'm more than suspicious....the thing is written in a spoof motif.

On the other hand, remember how several of us were apparently "warned" (in
the threatening sense) by the Internal Revenue Service by weird forwardings
of our messages and by pre-announcement of Jim Bell's arrest?

Maybe someone from the State Department is pulling the same trick.

If so, Matt still has enough time to lock and load.....

--Tim May

"I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, just the way the President did."
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Licensed Ontologist         | black markets, collapse of governments.