New Cat Herding Powers For Canadian Law Enforcement

Lance Levsen on the technical aspects of disturbing draft legislation to monitor internet activity.

The proposed legislation allows the law enforcement (RCMP, CSIS, CISC, etc) to intercept and monitor all Internet traffic without a court order. Currently, all previous forms of covert surveillance (mail, telephone and search without seizure) require lawenforcement to convince a judge for the purposes of obtaining a warrant.

Additionally, the proposed legislation requires ISP’s to monitor all of their clients Internet activities so that they can provide (given 30 minutes warning) reports and data on the target. This includes password protected web sites.

I suppose one can draw some reassurance in the fact that the same government that’s proposing it is giving the job to agencies so chronically understaffed that they are weeks behind in entering stolen passports and Interpol alerts to their own databases.
secret.gif
And then, of course, with legislation like this on the books, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if you want to transmit sensitive information you should probably take steps to conceal it.
(To demonstrate just how easy that is – there are two such messages in this post. Neither are hard to find, but you first have to know they’re here.)
h/t Darcey

42 Replies to “New Cat Herding Powers For Canadian Law Enforcement”

  1. I’ve been trying to decide all day whether to get worked up about this. On the one hand, we (Cdn courts) have tied the hands of the cops/CSIS/good guys to the extent that criminals and terrorists are protected more than the average citizen. At best, this law evens the playing field.
    And I agree with your implication that, given the workload, the odds of “jane” or “joe” Public having their personal emails read are pretty damn slim.
    Would I risk my emails being read for the country’s security? Yup. Hands down.
    Would I risk the same to stop some a$$hole from selling my daughter crack? Even quicker.
    I don’t go on people’s blogs and make illegal comments. Nor do I make them on my own, or in emails. Probably because I’m not a terrorist.
    This law seems to bring us closer to what existed prior to the Charter. That, in and of itself, makes me want to support it.
    To be honest, these are all “gut reactions” – I haven’t done much, if any, research and could change my mind (giving PMPM & his henchmen more power is always scary).

  2. Yes, the idea of governments reading all our emails may seem disconcerting.
    But the reality is that (notwithstanding even a thousand rooms of supercomputers working night and day) picking that one vital terrorist email off the Web is like trying to listen to two people whispering to each other at the other side of the stadium during a sell-out rock concert.
    Add in easily available personal encryption, and you have an intelligence-gathering nightmare.
    And, as we know so well, Canadian governments rarely match their lofty ambitions and aspirations with any substance.* “Do it on the cheap” is the unwritten mantra.
    The probable end result is that CSE will hire one of their employee’s teenage sons part-time to surf the net in search of miscreants…
    * The Canadian Forces! Compare our government’s lofty international aspirations with what we can actually deploy and sustain in support of them.
    I saw “Shake Hands With The Devil” on TV here in the UK one night last week. What marred an otherwise moving programme was the entirely unnecessary (but oh-so-Canadian) appearance of those two Knee-Dipper Bobbsey Twins and professional UN apologists, Stephen Lewis and Gerry Caplan. They went on and on about how Bill Clinton and the US failed Rwanda. Fair enough – but no mention of how Canada failed both Rwanda and poor old Rom�o Dallaire by only contributing the commander and his aide to the UN force.
    THAT’S a typical Canadian gesture: snatch the top-dog position for the publicity but avoid the nuts-and-bolts commitments like troops.
    A couple of battalions of RCR, PPCLI or bloodthirsty Vandoos, had they existed, would have made short work of the murderous Interahamwe rabble!
    Put up or shut up, as it were.
    Oops! Sorry. I note I’ve strayed off-topic and started ranting. I’ll stop now.

  3. Everytime I hear our benevolent dictators talking about how they’re going to take away more of our freedoms (for our own good, of course), I’m reminded of something Benjamin Franklin said: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

  4. SDC–you are so right. That saying of Ben Franklin is more true today than ever before.
    I read in the Ottawa Citizen this morning that B’nai B’rith is monitoring the website of an Ottawa Professor–I don’t imagine they had to apply for permission to do this.
    Everytime this government intervenes in our lives they have a spin all worked out beforehand–‘it is for our own good’! If anyone starts to look at the mess they have made of anything they touch–would they be so willing to accept the spin? Why have we as a society become so compliant to Big Brother? Do we not see the ramifications down the road? Of course this government is incompetent at everything, but that hasn’t stopped them from stomping all over our freedoms. And if I hear one more person say that ‘if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about’ I will scream! Who decides what is ‘wrong’?

  5. Let me put it like this, to give some perspective. If anyone down here in the U.S. (land of the much-maligned Patriot Act) proposed this type of legislation, they would never be elected to any political office again. As we say down here, “He couldn’t be elected dog catcher.”

  6. Exiled American, it’s different in Canada, as you may have noticed. This trial balloon unfortunately won’t hurt the Liberals much at all. After all, too many syncophantic Canadians firmly believe the Libs can never be wrong, no matter what. I have seen this in arguing with Liberals on the blogosphere.
    I have another link here, which makes it apparent that the “Palestinians” do not want peace and are preparing for an all-out war attempt against Israel with the aim, yet again, of destroying her. Hamas has made it very clear.
    http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45859

  7. yeah, sarge sees the same thing happening down here in the united states, of course it’s the evil bush administration behind it. well stated on the PNAC website is the need for the US government to ” gain control the internet”
    so yer liberal canadians and neo conservative americans seem to be on the same page. how nice.

  8. If you want to be sure the government won’t know what your messages are saying just write them in English and not French. No problemo.

  9. Stephen M,
    Of course the Pallaminos won’t stop trying to do Hitlers work, they have built their freaking economy on that industry. Many Canadians have invested in it knowingly or not. Works for them.
    I wonder if Hamas knows that the first three letters of their corporate name relates to pork.

  10. I’m sure if the Liberals were to set up a system to intercept and monitor email and other IP traffic, it would be paid for with a small tax (they’d call it a levy) on emails, web surfing, and cell phone calls. Such a system would only cost a few million to start up and then of course would be self-sustaining, just like the gun registry. And it would be just as effective. Remember it’s not whether something actually works, as long as it “send da right message.”
    But think of all the jobs it would create in some riding in Atlantic Canada!

  11. Giving more power to the present federal regime is like giving a bottle of JD, 3 heavy bombers and the car keys to your teenager…scrap that…. teens aren’t as irresponsible and maliciously sociopathic as the current federal regime.
    We all know what’s going on here.
    First, this federal regime isn’t interested in finding terror cells ( or we would hear about the busts nightly on the news)….it spends more time denying they exist or covering up for their support base or pandering to those sympathetic to terrorists for votes. This Liberal regime is comfortable with ethnic terror cells….they are more concerned about real terrorists like Albertans and duck hunters and pro life activists…you know average Canuks who oppose their policies.
    More importantly, this media control freak Liberal regime has taken at least 3 runs at the internet in an attempt to control Canadians ( dissenters) using it and regulate what they see. The power anonymity on the internet gives common citizens to counter spin official disinformation and express dissenting opinion galls bureaucratic despots like sand in a crab’s claw. Any manipulative martinet governing regime must, of necessity, retain control of the population’s information flow with a slick propaganda machine…Canada’s statist feds have the free worlds most potent partisan/patronage political spin machine….they cannot allow the exponential growth of internet counter spin, free exchange of dissenting opinion or uncontrolled flow of damaging information on their regime to go unsmothered…..note the Fed’s overbearing intimidation of bloggers during the proposed Gomery hearing black outs…not a doubt in my mind we would have no idea what the star witnesses said if it were not for the “wedge” the unrestrained power of the internet to disseminate information to average people.
    This time they’re taking a run at the I-net under the guise of counter terrorism. The key element in the plan..er ..I mean proposed bill is getting the Canadian ISPs registered and intimidated sufficiently to act as stoolies on their clients and provide pass words personal data etc. The second part is there is no clear definition of what an ISP is and an open interpretation would make every computer connected to the net “a server” and it’s operator an ISP…opening domiciles to search and seizure of communications equipment…or worse yet, making each net under an “operator” under the regulation of some spook agency who will harass and intimidate you into ratting on “unregistered operators”. From there it’s a simple matter to regulate the sites you access and what you say in your messaging.
    I say a stark NO! to any attempts at open warrant government surveillance of personal messaging. This proposal is a breach of fundamental justice, charter rights, corruption of the rule of law and steps in to the murky depths of police state dominance over individual rights and freedoms. If you allow this…it will never stop…it will encourage more and larger erosions of what�s left of your personal liberty….and this is a big erosion of your ability to freely express yourself without fear of reprisal. I’m prepared to defend my opposition with whatever is necessary to meet the threat of impending decay of guaranteed charter rights.
    The level of outrage over this soviet era civilian spying gambit is a litmus test of the cognitive state of passion for personal liberty in the Canadian public. I predict that if we fail this test, it’s just a short walk to the gulag for any dissent.

  12. WLM redux,
    Well said and ever so true.
    The Canadian response to it ? …. Baa-aa-aa-aa
    And hello to the gulag.
    We have been on that road since the Canada’s greatest commie bastard of all times, PE Trudeau siezed power and destroyed our free Dominion.
    With US becoming aware that Canada is an enemy state and with Australia so far away … we have no where to go have we. We few freedom loving Canadians will be the world’s first destinationless refugees.

  13. I assume the “Joe Volpe” remark is secret #2? Very nice.
    BTW, at STEPHEN: you know, it’s actually really easy to define atheism as a religion, since it too is a belief system predicated on assumptions that have no empirical proof to them.
    I’ve been arguing this exact point in web forums for years. I will have to look up that court case, because I’m curious which way the judge ruled. Was the case brought forth by a non-atheist who wanted atheism so defined, or was it brought by an atheist?

  14. WLM Redux–well said–I imagine you have hit the nail on the head–that sounds like the Liberals to a T–thanks for these thoughts–gives us more ammunition–

  15. Look at the case, Ken. Remember, I provided the link above. It’s not a long article. Also, I noted for myself the author’s point that atheism is in fundamental concept anti-religion; therefore to say it’s itself a religion is illogical. I admit I agree there, for to be a religion in declaration rather defeats the purpose of atheism and would therefore require a new concept and name to give some people a direction for being anti-religion.
    Of course, it’s all philosophical to me; I really don’t care if people are religious or not; I just care that they don’t blow themselves up in order to kill other people and all that… anyway, perhaps atheism is a topic for another day or even another site? I wouldn’t know. I’m a mere imperfect mortal…

  16. In a world filled with superstition and religious inspired violence. I want to make it clear that I am a Christian-Athiest.
    I do subscribe to most Christian values since the greatest nations on earth were built on those prinicpals. And I live in what is left of one of those nations.
    I have never felt a need to believe in a god since
    I was raised Catholic. Go figure.
    I have enjoyed a guilt-free life since about age 14.
    I suppose the turning point for me was when I formulated that:
    1. an all loving merciful god coudn’t possible endorse hell.
    2. denial of human nature was unnatural, materbation couldn’t possibly condemn one to hell.
    3. eternal life made no sense … I mean how much freakin golf can a person play or … how long can one do of anything without going nuts.
    4. But the real item was when I began to study the cosmos and realized the dimensions and content of the universe (still can’t quite fully grasp these phenomena since infinity is not actually comprehendable by the human mind) I soon realized that no big dude in the sky built this as a backdrop for the likes of us.
    It is what it is and it’s our job to enjoy it and be happy as possible. We are fortunate to have been born or to have arrived in a place of plenty and of opportunity … and we shouldn’t spoil it by spending our time feeling guilty about it or feeling sorry for the less fortunate of the world. It’s the luck of the draw.
    Best thing to do for the warm fuzzies is be nice to animals, humans can make choices and cannot be trusted anyway.
    My experience has been that when you help somebody, they will always remember you … the next time they need help.

  17. Duke:
    If we have nowhere to run then it’s fight or fall for those of who value personal freedom and an uncorrupted constitutional rule of law.
    I agree the majority are comatose towards charter breech and creeping fed statism…..and most will sleep right through the attacks these satists try to pull on our ability to freely communicate because they think it doesn’t directly effect them.
    Freedoms are taken a bit at a time….they do it by attacking one group at a time whom they percieve to be a politically vulnerable minority who swim out of the mainstream… so the grazing sheep don’t start bleating before the bureaucratic preditors decide to make a meal of them.
    First it was Canada’s duck hunters that were made public enemey number one and draconian charter breeching laws were foisted on them…but it didn’t effect the average sheep, so they weren’t concerned that 5 million Canadians had been criminalized with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen…then it was Christian churches and faithful who were attacked with numerous stautes that punish open expressions of their faith…but Christian bashing is popular with the secular media and militant athiest left so we patch over the charter breech with massive amounts of MSM blabfeed. Now it’s those evil anti-government Internet bloggers, particularly those with dissenting opinion who are being targeted…they’re political terrorists in the eyes of the ruling kleptocrats so if we lump ’em in with Al Queda cells, who’s gonna notice eh? …. the comatose sheep are not bloggers so they snooze through another charter breech….divide and conquer is the statist’s credo for deconstructing those horrid old constitutional freedoms which keep interfering with police state enforcement of utopia.
    However, there is a healthy net community in this nation that can make a lot of noise on this issue….then there are options like getting an ISP or web host outside this crumbling authoritarian jurisdiction and using PGP for all your files and communications…..that puts the ball back in the court of the police state utopians…the only thing left for them to do is take the velvet glove off the iron fist and start licencing Net users and their equipment, banning and confiscating “unregistered” personal internet communications equipment from Citizens…just like they did their duck guns….when that happens the charter will be floating in the sewer anyway and whatever you chose to do to resist this tyranny will be morally justified.
    So.. back to the wall or not,the charter may be imperfect and in the hands of a lot of dangerous fools ….but it’s all you got standing between you and Orwell’s nightmare….get out and defend it or take the consequences like livestock.

  18. “Ok, I found Secret Message #1… where the hell is #2?”
    I tried extracting data from the .gif it via notebook.exe, mspaint, and HideSeek; no dice. I give up.

  19. Everyone would be more secure by following the rule of two computers.
    [1] Main computer always off line.
    [2] Minimum box always on line.
    I�m sure someone gained access and looked around my on-line box. Not too worried though.
    Nothing much to discover except my right leaning opinions and my left wing comments when attempting to influence Lefties.
    Your computer privacy has already been breeched by people who mainly want to make credit cards up in your name.
    I use one only credit card on the net with a fixed low limit. The first attempt to use it will break the limit and set off alarms. The card issuer agrees to absorb any false charges.
    All the hackers need to beat security or firewalls is the Email address. There is no such thing as a secure computer.
    Understanding the sophistication of cookies would curl everyon�s hair. You can set security approval so that anytime a site wants to set one, a permission box appears on your screen and you can choose to *disallow* – *Allow for session* or *allow permanent placement*.
    If the site is risky, [lots of free stuff], I usually disallow the cookie and still get to see what was interesting.
    If the site is safe looking, then *allow for session* seems to work fine.
    Only those sites I am certain about and return to often get to place a *permanent* cookie.
    I don�t worry about the state snooping about my computer because there is no way to prevent it. Microsoft is rooting around in the box every night when they run the anti-virus sweep and I�m sure they do other corrective things as well.
    Microsoft is fighting a cyber war 24 hours a day. They have everything to loose if vandal hackers take the fun out of the internet.
    Hoping for security on-line is like hoping security video can�t see you walking by the jewellery store. The internet is a public place and so is any hard drive connected to it. 73s TG
    These brash statements will push buttons of those who really know about security, and steaming with indignation, they will add words of wisdom to give us real understanding�.I hope.

  20. download the gif, open it in a graphics program (photoshop will probably do), then click save again – and watch for the comment box to come up.
    Now, if one wanted to communicate in a way that wouldn’t arouse suspicion, the last thing you’d do is plaster it on Islamic websites. Why not just put your old china cups up on Ebay – complete with digital pics?
    Or why put up a visible pic at all – I decided the first version of this post was too difficult – because the secret message gif I had embedded was transparent.

  21. Yes… we had the US Department of Homeland Security stop by our blog yesterday, so I posted this message for them…
    Hello to our friends at DHS in Washington, DC. I presume you are just surfing on your lunch break, because if your visit is anything more than that, you probably wouldn’t be using your current in-house ISP.
    Hmmmm… Using Netscape rather than Explorer, eh? Can’t say as I blame you.
    Lost Budgie is a Mac/Safari user, himself… but you guys probably already know that.
    HostName : n0XX.dhs.gov
    Last Visit: New
    ISP: DEPTHOMELANDSECURITY
    Country: UNITED STATES
    Region/State: WASHINGTON DC
    City: WASHINGTON
    Domain: United States
    Language: English US
    Browser: Netscape [Win XP]
    (Some of the above info was redacted by Lost Budgie)

  22. Everyone who comments on Blogs has probably already been targeted by the government( come and get me, you bastards)This year I found evidence that Public Works and Government Services Canada distrusts their own investigators so much that they tap their phones.The only way we found out was because they were too cheap to use high tech taps and the low tech stuff gave them away.I guess PWGSC had given so much loot to their friends in ad agencies there wasn’t enough money left over to buy the good surveillance stuff. That could be our saving grace under the proposed legislation…. cheap, bureaucratic stupidity!

  23. The idea of government authorities reading all our emails but not being able to target or bug the known terrorists and criminals for fear of being accused of racism or racial profiling is simply stupid. It is similar to the f**king Gun Law that only targets and disarms law-abiding citizens. This whole business makes me want to puke.
    How much money do you think it will take to run an operation like this? It will take F**king trillions. Already the American and Canadian agencies watching known terrorists and the Drug Cartel have years of data they still haven’t read, let alone entered into a database so it can be, you know, actually used by anyone.
    This is just another intrusion into our lives and another money-making scheme by government. If it might help in fighting terrorism or crime then I might be willing to listen. But it won’t.
    All the information anyone would ever need to know about me already exists in several large databases around the world. We do not need any more god damn little bureaucrats watching everything we do. We need ’em to watch the F**king terrorists and criminals. And they actually know who these bastards are. If our stupid laws allowed our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to target the right people I’d be willing go give them more authority, and more tools. Until then F**k all of them.
    Do I sound upset with this idea? It’s because I’m upset with all stupid ideas like this that encroach into the little bit of freedom we still have, which isn’t much.

  24. ‘Terrorism’ is being used to curtail our few remaining freedoms, while our ‘glorious leaders’ shout long and loud that the ‘terrorists’ will not change our way of life’!!! I have to agree–the terrorists won’t change us–but our governments will use them as the excuse to control us totally. By the time the brain dead Canadians wake up it will be too late.
    Now Cotler wants to control our freedom of speech by controlling the ‘Net. Will he succeed? Only if we let him–

  25. Mr. Crittenden is right about the whole Orwellian Big Brother is Watching idea being floated by the Libranos for heaven knows what reason. He wrote: “How much money do you think it will take to run an operation like this? It will take F**king trillions.” Well, John, billions for sure. We certainly don’t have trillions, do we? Nevertheless, the Libranos are not going to do it; they can’t. Why not? They’re too bloody stupid and incompetent and cannot direct spending properly to save their lives. We’ve seen this for sure. Why, we’ve seen they can’t even run the country! I don’t know why they leaked that nonsense about legislation to spy on everyone without getting a warrant. They’ll do it anyway as they have the judicial and legal system in their back pocket. They, remember, can do anything they please and get away with it. They will NOT bother with legislation. They’ll just order the RCMP to snoop on someone for whatever reason and it’ll be so.
    Believe me, people, they’re not going to bother with any such legislation. This’ll be another issue that dies quickly. They’re just fecking with our heads. Probably to soften us up for some real legislation they’re actually preparing to ram down our throats. After our relief that they’re not going to control the internet, the next bad piece of legislation will feel like nothing. That’s what they’re doing. I believe this since it would fit their behavioral patterns as I’ve observed over the duration of their regime.
    Don’t forget, the Liberals are still in power illegally. It’s going to take a political revolution to reverse the deconstruction of Canada they’ve wrought.

  26. Interesting ruling on the atheism, I must say.
    As I said before, I’ve debated numerous atheistic individuals on that subject, and to a man (and woman) they all have vehemently…nay, almost violently rejected the idea.
    So it’s odd, to say the least, that here an atheistic individual is arguing the opposite. Very odd indeed. I’m not sure completely whether I agree (most of the debates I have waded into have been started by a somewhat juvenile friend of mine who relies on me for help when he gets stomped on). It’s just interesting to see.
    ON THE SUBJECT OF THE GIF: if you have a free-for-download image program like IrfanView, you can open the .gif in HEX mode and read the message that way, too. Saves you having to purchase or otherwise acquire Photoshop.

  27. Stephen McAllister. I agree with you but, when I mentioned trillions, I was thinking about the mess the Americans have gotten themselves into just trying to cope with all the data they’ve amassed over the last few years on international terrorism alone. Much of it has never been analyzed, let alone entered into a database so it can be cross-referenced.
    And perhaps I was thinking of what they’d have to pay Oracle or Microsoft to design the software, and then pay Microsoft to keep fixin’ it.
    I agree, it will never happen officially, because it is already happening unofficially.
    But the second point I was trying to make, in addition to the sheer costs of such an exercise, is the lack of racial profiling in law enforcement. We know who the terrorists are, because they’ve told us. And we know who the street gangs are, because the cops keep arresting them and the judges keep putting them back on the street, and many of them are either recent immigrants or here illegally. Until this problem of racial profiling is dealt with and corrected it doesn’t matter how much money is spent on watching the rest of us. And I don’t appreciate the prospect of having someone read my email, even though I don’t really care, just because they can’t target the scum from Asia or the Middle East directly. I mean, what a waste of time. If they asked me I’d send them all my damn email, or CC ever bloody one of them just so they can spend their time on more important things, like maybe catching real terrorists and criminals.

  28. “I read in the Ottawa Citizen this morning that B’nai B’rith is monitoring the website of an Ottawa Professor–I don’t imagine they had to apply for permission to do this.”
    Er, George, I’m “monitoring” Kate’s website right this very minute and I didn’t apply for permission either…
    Is that tinfoil hat comfy?
    Or maybe I’m a ZIONIST too.

  29. Well, you don’t “monitor” websites, you go to them. But are you monitoring anyone’s e-mails?
    No one in their right mind would want the police handcuffed when dealing with terrorists, or with criminal organizations. But the idea that someone’s e-mails can be tapped without a court order is very disturbing, because the last bastion of opposition that the Liberals and their many interests have not managed to corral is the blogosphere — it is the only consistent and effective opposition left. Anyone who thinks that the Libs don’t know that is a little bit naive.
    All other mass communications — the billion dollar, statist CBC, the CRTC who get to decide and enforce how a good (Liberal) Canadian must broadcast, the ROgers Communication empire, Bell media, which owns the GLobe and Mail and the CTV, right through to the various newswires — they are all pretty much in line with Liberal (eastern, urban) ideology.
    Legislation which would allow the policing arms of this particular government to intercept and monitor conversations with no judicial oversight is just beyond the pale. It is disturbing how many apologists there are for this legislation. It’s like the Geoff Berner song, Maginot Line — “your guns are pointing the wrong way”.
    I don’t mean to sound paranoid, but the statist dogs of the last century are standing up and having a good morning stretch, once again, while people are watching the proverbial hand.
    And when you consider that little quietly tucked-in addition to C-11 which would silence thousands of bureaucrats for life, well, gosh, these are interesting times, in the worst sense of the word.
    On a final note, the Conservative party under Stephen Harper is turning into a serial disappointment. If the Conservatives don’t awaken from their torpor soon, non-liberal and non-leftist Canadians will have to push them aside, and replace them with a party with a bit more fight left in them.

  30. More fun than a barrell of monkeys.
    Nigerian scam dupes federal tax man. Page A3 Nat. Post today.
    Every time you read about a Libscammer Lackey at the trough, there seems to be an attempt to set new incompetancy standards.
    B.C. based Federal tax collector sent Nigerian scammers a fee in order to collect a huge inheritance from a relative he didn’t know he had. Brilliant!
    He did this from his federal work place!
    130 long-distant phone calls to Nigeria!
    63 similar calls to neighbouring Benin.
    187 Emails from the goverment computer!
    Faxes, using Govt. of Canada head!
    This all learned through Access to Information Act by the Vancouver Sun, lest you think this may be a fiction plot for a novel.
    The perp’s name was blacked out. Libscammers protect their resident idiots.
    This is the part you must sit down for. Please remain calm, but Spokeswoman for Canada Revenue, Kareen Dionne refused to say if any disciplinary action would be taken and states the *perp* still works for the agency. [Mp’s relative obviously]
    I have this weak hope that our personal tax info and ID details are not being pressed into bogus credit cards by the Nigerian mob as we speak. 73s TG

  31. “Well, you don’t “monitor” websites, you go to them. But are you monitoring anyone’s e-mails?”
    Only when I’m really bored.

  32. ” If I had a rocket launcher, I would not hesitate…”
    OOps. That wasn’t suppose to go out unencrypted!
    Shame on me!!

  33. on the GIF again the info window in QT (ctrl-i) works quite well
    if you have QTpro you can create/add stuff like this to just about any file
    and if your a mac user the Finder has a separate but similar function(which I do not reccomend using in this country as the RCMP have oddly high Mac OS skills(don’t ask))

  34. It looks like everyone will be moving to PGP and steganography if they don’t want Big Brother reading their mail. Oh, wait, THE BAD GUYS ALREADY DO!
    http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41658,00.html
    Another example of Liberal waste and excess.
    The old saying “A day late and a dollar short” with a Liberano spin – 4 years late, and bound to cost far more than a dollar (can you say “gun registry”?)

  35. SDC:
    “Everytime I hear our benevolent dictators talking about how they’re going to take away more of our freedoms (for our own good, of course), I’m reminded of something Benjamin Franklin said: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.””
    Franklin never said that. He may have said: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
    http://www.futureofthebook.com/stories/storyReader$605
    But the point is made, and on this issue I see there is some rapprochement of Left and Right:
    http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2005/08/police-state-follies-911-and-more.html

  36. No such thing as an unbreakable code?…yet,
    If both coms had code booklets of four lists of numbered items – who, where, what and when. The why is a given.
    Your message could be 21 = the group or person
    5 = the zone or place [where]
    17 = the action [what]
    22,4 = day and time [when]
    3 = offset number = the other numbers are all +- 3 or whatever the agreed offset is.
    The message is never in the transmission itself. Code only points to the message as it constucts from the book.
    If the code book falls into the wrong hands, a chip detects movement out of a tiny zone, keying a net wide alarm. Break that with super-computer algorithms. 73s TG

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