Big Brother, Spyware, and You

It wasn't so very long ago that an enterprising computer boffin discovered that certain identifying data hadn't been stripped from a file in a Windows software update. The data identified a cryptographic key as being called _NSAKEY and with a name like that it was a given that people would worry about what it was actually there for and of course conspiracy theories abounded . Then a third key was discovered which surprised one of the Microsoft employees who had been directly involved in developing this section of code. None of this is very surprising as anyone who has used Windows for any period of time would have to realise that at Microsoft the left hand doesn't have any idea what the right hand is doing and possibly wonders at times if it is a double amputee. This is an interesting email exchange between a communication surveillance expert and the Microsoft Security Response Center which amply demonstrates Microsoft stonewalling on the issue.
Fast forward a few years and things are a lot more in your face. I suspect that the powers that be have woken up to the fact that they can get away with just about any obscenity and it isn't that people don't notice it's that they just don't care anymore. Maybe it's something in the water and not just in Britain either.
The latest attack on your privacy and civil rights is a piece of software brought to you by those friendly chaps at the FBI. It's a piece of spyware called Magic Lantern a keylogger that is part of the well documented Carnivore program. You might think that you will be OK because you use an antivirus program but you would be wrong. According to spokespeople at some of the major antivirus vendors they would purposefully not detect it.
Maybe it's about time you installed Linux on your system! I personally use and recommend Mandriva.

Magic Lantern is old news but is still dismissed by most as a silly conspiracy.

Tags: spyware, Computers and Internet, Security, Microsoft, Windows

London Bombings Reloaded

There are many pieces of the London subway bombings on the Seventh of July that make little sense or stretch credulity close to breaking point. In several interviews after the bombings Peter Power of Visor Consultants stated that a training exercise was running that exactly mirrored that days real events. Interestingly property of the suspects has been found at each location with the property of one man found at two of the locations. In light of the professional way these attacks were carried out it is surprising that they carried any identification at all. Also only an hour or so after the bombings two Reuters employees claim to have witnessed two men being shot by police at Canary Wharf. As only one bomber has been forensically identified the question is was the Canary Wharf incident housekeeping to make sure the bombers didn't embarass anyone by showing up alive?

There have been media reports that timing devices were used which facilitated the near simultaneous explosions. Which then begs the question why would these guys choose to die when they have another 16 bombs stored in their forensically convenient hire car at Luton.
Strangely the bombs found in the Luton car were very unprofessional and that doesn't fit at all with the story that professional military explosives had been used.

There are even more questions that could be asked such as;

•Why did the bus bomber seat himself upstairs in a position that would cause minimal damage?
•Why have the public not seen any CCTV footage of the bombers in position?
•Some witnesses are claiming that no one was sitting where the bomb exploded and that the floor was blown upwards
•Conveniently the CCTV was not working on the bus. Employees of the bus company find this suspicious for these reasons.
•Who warned Netanyahu and why did he get a warning? Click here to see proof of the attempted coverup of this early report.

Tags: Terrorism, London explosions, London

Able Danger a Smokescreen?

Everyone seems to be talking, blogging, and/or reporting on the meaning and ramifications of Able Danger. To me it looks like nothing more than a smokescreen to keep the public distracted from the more worrying information that is out there.
We're all aware that General Tommy Franks stated that he doubted the constitution would survive a WMD attack so we should all be thankful to Dear Leader that the Department of Homeland Security is on the ball. They've hired Markus Wolf the ex-head of East German Foreign Intelligence and KGB General Yevgeni Primakov to help design and implement a system of internal passports and controls second to none since the dissolution of the East German state. You probably have heard of it, it's the warm and fuzzy Real ID Act. You're in good hands Citizen just don't forget your papers.
We're also aware that plans for martial law in case of the inevitable attack have already been drawn up and that further plans have also been made to attack Iran, even if there is no evidence of their involvement. Of course, this is going to show those Sino-Russian agitators of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) that the US will not be bullied and hopefully the SCO will cancel the eviction notice given to US forces at the K2 base in Uzbekistan last month. I'm sure that the Spetsnaz troops stationed nearby ready to takeover K2 upon the US departure will then all pack up and go home.
Of course with Syria and Iran signing a mutual self defence pact, China signing their largest energy trade deal with Iran and Russia negotiating multibillion dollar deals with Iran whilst simultaneously supplying weapons to Syria things might just get a bit sticky.
Some pundits are claiming that an attack will be performed by Israel acting as proxy for the US. This would go well to explain the 500 bunker buster type weapons approved for sale to Israel by the US. After all there are historic precedents for Israel attacking their neighbours nuclear facilities without provocation. Iran not being as stupid as your average neocon can see right through this and have said that they will consider an attack by Israel as an attack by the USA and will take appropriate measures against both Israel and the US. Knowledge of Iran's strategic thinking is in short supply in the west but this may give you some idea.

Where's a runaway bride when you need her?

Tags: able danger, Terrorism, September 11th

Greek Crash Tragedy

The crash of Helios ZU552 was a tragedy and like all such tragedies has occupied the mainstream media 24/7. Initial reports claimed that an SMS sent from the doomed aircraft stating that the pilot had turned blue and they were freezing turned out to be a hoax with the claimant subsequently being arrested by Greek police.
After reading several different media accounts of the doomed aircrafts last moments some serious factual discrepancies exist.
In this news report it is claimed that shortly after takeoff a crew member advised the control tower that there was a problem with the airconditioning. Radio contact was lost soon after this communication and two F16s were scrambled to investigate. As is standard operating procedure the two fighters attempted to get the commuter jet to follow them to an airport to land but it did not follow and subsequently crashed.
This news report is similar but claims that the F16 pilots saw oxygen masks had been deployed and that the plane was making continuous right-hand turns to show that it had lost radio contact.
Both of the above news reports state that in the cockpit the captain was not visible, the copilot was slumped in his chair and two unidentified people appeared to be trying to take control of the aircraft. This visual contact by the F16's was supposedly made at an altitude of 34,000 feet (10 kilometres).
The above data has made me wonder the following;

• Why had the captain left the cockpit during an emergency situation?


• Why did the pilots not descend to a survivable altitude? The fact that two people were apparently seen in the cockpit minutes before the crash would seem to indicate that the dial on the autopilot could have been changed by crew immediately upon loss of cabin pressure


• Can you send SMS messages from mobile phones at high altitudes as there appear to be claims coming out now that several SMS messages were received by friends/family of passengers? and if so, why no actual voice calls?


• According to this report about the Payne Stewart accident his planes windows were obscured by frost which is supposedly consistent with decompression at high altitude, so how did the F16 pilots see what has been reported?

NEWSFLASH: According to this breaking story there is NO black box recorder. They have found the recorder casing but the contents have apparently disappeared (been ejected is the story). If anybody out there who knows about black box recorders can tell me if this is a common occurence let me know at this email address.

Tags: Plane Crash, Greece