[allblue]

I haven't been coming to this lounge for long but there does seem to be a few serious posts in between the tits, baseball scores and racial sterotype jokes so here's something to ponder. Presumably most of you would have come across the story about a number of printer manufatcturers who have installed a bit of hardware to print a unique signature on every page printed? If not, you can get up to speed here:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/
I have just come across something even more sinister, a story claiming that (on the laptop in question) there is a 'Device to capture everything you ever type, then can send it via your ethernet card to the Dept. of Homeland Security without your knowledge, consent or a search warrant each time you log onto the internet!'. I should point out that this comes from a site that sometimes posts uncorroborated scare stories so I cannot verify the veracity of the claim, but perhaps a techy or two might like to comment:

"I was opening up my almost brand new laptop, to replace a broken PCMCIA slot riser on the motherboard. As soon as I got the keyboard off, I noticed a small cable running from the keyboard connection underneath a piece of metal protecting the motherboard.
I figured "No Big Deal", and continued with the dissasembly. But when I got the metal panels off, I saw a small white heatshink-wrapped package. Being ever-curious, I sliced the heatshrink open. I found a little circuit board inside.
Being an EE by trade, this piqued my curiosity considerably. On one side of the board, one Atmel AT45D041A four megabit Flash memory chip.
On the other side, one Microchip Technology PIC16F876 Programmable Interrupt Controller, along with a little Fairchild Semiconductor CD4066BCM quad bilateral switch.
Looking further, I saw that the other end of the cable was connected to the integrated ethernet board.
What could this mean? I called the manufacturer´s tech support about it, and they said, and I quote, "The intregrated service tag identifier is there for assisting customers in the event of lost or misplaced personal information." He then hung up.
A little more research, and I found that that board spliced in between the keyboard and the ethernet chip is little more than a Keyghost hardware keylogger.
The reasons a computer manufacturer would put this in their laptops can only be left up to your imagination. It would be very impractical to hand-anylze the logs, and very CPU-intensive to do so on a computer for every person that purchased a laptop. Why are these keyloggers here? I recently almost found out.
I called the police, as having a keylogger unknown to me in my laptop is a serious offense. They told me to call the Department of Homeland Security. At this point, I am in disbelief. Why would the DHS have a keylogger in my laptop? It was surreal.
So I called them, and they told me to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. This is what I got back: Under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) the only items exempt from public disclosure are items relating to "law enforcement tools and techniques" and "items relating to national security."
The real life implications of this are plain: Computer manufacturers appear to be cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security to make every person who buys a new computer subject to immediate, unrestricted government recording of everything they do on those computers! EVERYTHING!
This information can be sent to DHS, online, without your knowledge or consent, without a search warrant or even probable cause! That´s why this device is hard-wired directly into the ethernet card, which communicates over the internet!
I am not certain how long this information will be permitted to remain online for all the world to see before the government takes some type of action to attempt to have it removed from public view. I URGE you to take copy of this page immediately and spread this information to everyone you know immediately! The more people who find out about this, the more can protect themselves and raise a HUGE outcry to force government and computer manufacturers to immediately CEASE installing these devices in new computers! "

Is this 'Total Information Awareness' by the back door? Or the ravings of a loony?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by allblue

I should point out that this comes from a site that sometimes posts uncorroborated scare stories so I cannot verify the veracity of the claim, but perhaps a techy or two might like to comment:

Yeah, you really SHOULD point that out, becuse your story



But just in case, this is what will protect you and your loved ones:





-t

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by allblue

there does seem to be a few serious posts in between the tits

Ooo errr missus!

[mdc]

Originally Posted by allblue

"I was opening up my almost brand new laptop, to replace a broken PCMCIA slot riser on the motherboard.

why would he be opening his almost brand new laptop? all he'll get out of that is time lost and no more warranty.

Originally Posted by allblue

That´s why this device is hard-wired directly into the ethernet card, which communicates over the internet!

install a pcmcia wireless network card or use dial up

but in general to this post, :thumbdow

[KeriVit]

Originally Posted by allblue

I haven't been coming to this lounge for long but there does seem to be a few serious posts in between the tits, baseball scores and racial sterotype jokes so here's something to ponder. Presumably most of you would have come across the story about a number of printer manufatcturers who have installed a bit of hardware to print a unique signature on every page printed? If not, you can get up to speed here:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/printers/
I have just come across something even more sinister, a story claiming that (on the laptop in question) there is a 'Device to capture everything you ever type, then can send it via your ethernet card to the Dept. of Homeland Security without your knowledge, consent or a search warrant each time you log onto the internet!'. I should point out that this comes from a site that sometimes posts uncorroborated scare stories so I cannot verify the veracity of the claim, but perhaps a techy or two might like to comment:

"I was opening up my almost brand new laptop, to replace a broken PCMCIA slot riser on the motherboard. As soon as I got the keyboard off, I noticed a small cable running from the keyboard connection underneath a piece of metal protecting the motherboard.
I figured "No Big Deal", and continued with the dissasembly. But when I got the metal panels off, I saw a small white heatshink-wrapped package. Being ever-curious, I sliced the heatshrink open. I found a little circuit board inside.
Being an EE by trade, this piqued my curiosity considerably. On one side of the board, one Atmel AT45D041A four megabit Flash memory chip.
On the other side, one Microchip Technology PIC16F876 Programmable Interrupt Controller, along with a little Fairchild Semiconductor CD4066BCM quad bilateral switch.
Looking further, I saw that the other end of the cable was connected to the integrated ethernet board.
What could this mean? I called the manufacturer´s tech support about it, and they said, and I quote, "The intregrated service tag identifier is there for assisting customers in the event of lost or misplaced personal information." He then hung up.
A little more research, and I found that that board spliced in between the keyboard and the ethernet chip is little more than a Keyghost hardware keylogger.
The reasons a computer manufacturer would put this in their laptops can only be left up to your imagination. It would be very impractical to hand-anylze the logs, and very CPU-intensive to do so on a computer for every person that purchased a laptop. Why are these keyloggers here? I recently almost found out.
I called the police, as having a keylogger unknown to me in my laptop is a serious offense. They told me to call the Department of Homeland Security. At this point, I am in disbelief. Why would the DHS have a keylogger in my laptop? It was surreal.
So I called them, and they told me to submit a Freedom of Information Act request. This is what I got back: Under the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) the only items exempt from public disclosure are items relating to "law enforcement tools and techniques" and "items relating to national security."
The real life implications of this are plain: Computer manufacturers appear to be cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security to make every person who buys a new computer subject to immediate, unrestricted government recording of everything they do on those computers! EVERYTHING!
This information can be sent to DHS, online, without your knowledge or consent, without a search warrant or even probable cause! That´s why this device is hard-wired directly into the ethernet card, which communicates over the internet!
I am not certain how long this information will be permitted to remain online for all the world to see before the government takes some type of action to attempt to have it removed from public view. I URGE you to take copy of this page immediately and spread this information to everyone you know immediately! The more people who find out about this, the more can protect themselves and raise a HUGE outcry to force government and computer manufacturers to immediately CEASE installing these devices in new computers! "

Is this 'Total Information Awareness' by the back door? Or the ravings of a loony?

Huh?

[mdc]

Double Post (the lack of quick reply bothers me)

[dav]

Originally Posted by allblue

"I URGE you to take copy of this page immediately and spread this information to everyone you know immediately!"

Is this 'Total Information Awareness' by the back door? Or the ravings of a loony?

loony spam

[screamingFit]

Originally Posted by allblue

I have just come across something even more sinister, a story claiming that (on the laptop in question) there is a 'Device to capture everything you ever type, then can send it via your ethernet card to the Dept. of Homeland Security without your knowledge, consent or a search warrant each time you log onto the internet!'.

Link, please!

[smacintush]

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors...y%20logger.htm

[scaught]

i think i read this on snopes

[allblue]

I have done a significant amount of investigation into a group of organised criminals (non-political, but with links to political figures) mostly (but not exclusively) on the internet. As this took place in the UK, a country with extremely restrictive libel laws, anything we published had to be absolutely corroborated first. This was a good discipline to learn, because until something is definitively verified you cannot presume it to be true. The reverse also applies, just because someone has denied it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't true. Our investigation provided an insight into methodology. Essentially there is information (verifiable fact); misinformation (incorrect fact) and disinformation (deliberate falsehood). There is also circumstantial evidence (useful, but not definitive) and conjecture (either useful or unhelpful depending on its accuracy). As Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes say "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, must contain the truth." The Golden Rule is to always be prepared to accept that your theory is wrong, you simply cannot ignore valid contradictory evidence because it does not fit in with your idea of what is correct.
re the two stories I posted at the top of the thread. The unique signature wired into printers looks genuine to me, the EFF (and PCWorld) have done their research and given instructions on how this can be verified (I don't have one of the printers named as having the technology, perhaps if you do you might want to test it yourself).
The hard-wired 'call-home' story has only the word of the author that it is true, which is why I qualified the post to allow for the fact that I had no way of knowing if it was information, misinformation or disinformation. I also stated that it appeared on a site (http://www.iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/) which doesn't filter third party contributors, which makes it susceptible to the latter two inaccuracies. I followed the link from smacintush to truthorfiction.com and I have two comments to make about their response. Firstly, by reading some of it the site clearly has its own agenda. Secondly, the actual rebuttal contains just one 'fact' which denies the veracity of the story - the doctored letter. The original version I saw did not have that letter, so how an we know that they did not produce that themselves? We can't know for sure, can we? They don't put a link to the posting where they claim the latter was posted so it is only their word that such a document existed in the first place. What would be helpful is if someone who knows electronics analysed the evidence presented (along the lines of mdc), because if it is impossible that closes the case.
The responses to the original post have all been dismissive, maybe rightly so. The story might be crazy, but the FBI now has the right to find out what books you have borrowed from the library - how crazy is that? How secure is you surfing history at your ISP? Have you heard about Echelon? I don't live in the US, but looking on from outside it seems to me that all the steps needed for the imposition of a police state are being incrementally implemented. Total Information Awareness is either here already, or soon will be. Now is not the time to trust your government people.
Peace and love.

[Artful Dodger]

Originally Posted by allblue

I have done a significant amount of investigation into a group of organised criminals (non-political, but with links to political figures) mostly (but not exclusively) on the internet. As this took place in the UK, a country with extremely restrictive libel laws, anything we published had to be absolutely corroborated first. This was a good discipline to learn, because until something is definitively verified you cannot presume it to be true. The reverse also applies, just because someone has denied it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't true. Our investigation provided an insight into methodology. Essentially there is information (verifiable fact); misinformation (incorrect fact) and disinformation (deliberate falsehood). There is also circumstantial evidence (useful, but not definitive) and conjecture (either useful or unhelpful depending on its accuracy). As Conan Doyle has Sherlock Holmes say "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, must contain the truth." The Golden Rule is to always be prepared to accept that your theory is wrong, you simply cannot ignore valid contradictory evidence because it does not fit in with your idea of what is correct.
re the two stories I posted at the top of the thread. The unique signature wired into printers looks genuine to me, the EFF (and PCWorld) have done their research and given instructions on how this can be verified (I don't have one of the printers named as having the technology, perhaps if you do you might want to test it yourself).
The hard-wired 'call-home' story has only the word of the author that it is true, which is why I qualified the post to allow for the fact that I had no way of knowing if it was information, misinformation or disinformation. I also stated that it appeared on a site (http://www.iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/) which doesn't filter third party contributors, which makes it susceptible to the latter two inaccuracies. I followed the link from smacintush to truthorfiction.com and I have two comments to make about their response. Firstly, by reading some of it the site clearly has its own agenda. Secondly, the actual rebuttal contains just one 'fact' which denies the veracity of the story - the doctored letter. The original version I saw did not have that letter, so how an we know that they did not produce that themselves? We can't know for sure, can we? They don't put a link to the posting where they claim the latter was posted so it is only their word that such a document existed in the first place. What would be helpful is if someone who knows electronics analysed the evidence presented (along the lines of mdc), because if it is impossible that closes the case.
The responses to the original post have all been dismissive, maybe rightly so. The story might be crazy, but the FBI now has the right to find out what books you have borrowed from the library - how crazy is that? How secure is you surfing history at your ISP? Have you heard about Echelon? I don't live in the US, but looking on from outside it seems to me that all the steps needed for the imposition of a police state are being incrementally implemented. Total Information Awareness is either here already, or soon will be. Now is not the time to trust your government people.
Peace and love.

I only read trilogies. Until then, I am holding out for the third installment.

[allblue]

Originally Posted by Artful Dodger

I only read trilogies. Until then, I am holding out for the third installment.

Goodnight. Sweet dreams.

The End.

[nredman]

Proud of You®

[Sarc]

Well, submit the story to Slashdot, they love this kind of stuff there, someone will pick it up and in a massive collaboration effort you will unveil a conspiracy, or you will discover that that chip does something like ... monitor temperature.

[Sarc]

Dp.