-Caveat Lector- THE STANDARD'S M E D I A G R O K A Commentary on What the Press Is Reporting and Why ===================================================================== | http://www.thestandard.com | Wednesday, February 7, 2001 We Hear Criminals Use Cell Phones, Too Terrorists use Internet to plan attacks! Hidden messages in porn sites! Loch Ness monster captured! Oops, sorry. That last one was from the current Weekly World News, but the first two were roughly translated from some USA Today articles. The paper broke the story of "Muslim extremists," including boogeyman Osama bin Laden, using the Net to plan terrorist attacks. It didn't take long for the New York Daily News Express to follow up with the sensationalistic lede, "Noticed any plots to bomb the Statue of Liberty on your Web browser lately?" The Feds blame encryption. A terrorist can encrypt a map in a naughty picture, for instance, and upload it to a porn site. The bad guy on the other end finds the image, downloads it, and decrypts it. That's the new "dead drop," defined by USA Today's Jack Kelley as "a Cold War-era term for where spies left information." Reuters added that the dead drop of choice used to be newspaper classified ads. Yet, "Spies place ads in newspaper" doesn't have quite the hysterical ring of the USA Today headline, "Terror groups hide behind Web encryption." "Once the exclusive domain of the National Security Agency, the super-secret U.S. agency responsible for developing and cracking electronic codes, encryption has become the everyday tool of Muslim extremists," said USA Today. The implication that the NSA should have kept encryption under wraps is enough to get Slashdotters angry - then again, what isn't? - but here's the line that must have really blown PGP users' minds: "It's no wonder the FBI wants all encryption programs to file what amounts to a 'master key' with a federal authority that would allow them, with a judge's permission, to decrypt a code in a case of national security." Privacy was mentioned tangentially in both articles, but mainly to credit (blame?) privacy groups with making the encryption technology freely available. TheRegister.co.uk, doing a bit of Media Grok's job for us, claimed that USA Today "extends the argument that in the fight against terrorism, the right to privacy on the Internet is secondary to the needs of law enforcement." Good point, but giving writer John Leyden the not-funny byline of "John bin Leyden" doesn't make privacy advocates look any saner. - Jen Muehlbauer Terrorist Instructions Hidden Online http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-02-05-binladen-side.htm Terror Groups Hide Behind Web Encryption http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-02-05-binladen.htm Web Sites Act As Host for Extremist Plots (Reuters) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010206/ts/crime_encryption_dc_4.html Bin Laden's Using the Web http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-02-06/News_and_Views/Express_Edition/a-98883.asp Militants Plan Terror in Chat Rooms Shocker http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/16684.html Nasty Bad Men Are Using Encryption http://slashdot.org/articles/01/02/06/2046202.shtml <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om