WorldCom Routing Error Slows Down Internet :.

Who needs cyberwar when a simple routing mistake can nearly crash the Internet? Routing table errors are software based and easy to fix. What if someone physically destroyed those routers? What if someone cut the fiber running between the routers???

The problem affected roughly 20 percent of UUNet's U.S. customers -- which translates to millions of users across the United States and around the world -- for most of Thursday, according to WorldCom spokeswoman Jennifer Baker.

The problem began around 8 a.m. EDT. Baker said in a statement that the company had fully restored service by 5:15 p.m. Thursday evening. Preliminary investigation by UUNet indicates the problems were caused by "a route table issue."

Sounds simple, but imagine an airport that's having an air traffic controller issue, and you'll have an idea of what happened at UUNet.

Route tables direct data from one major network to another or from one area of a network to another area.

UUNet is a vast, high-speed network. About half of the world's Internet traffic -- including about 70 percent of all e-mails sent within the United States and half of all e-mails sent in the world -- passes through UUNet. The backbone of the Internet is built from these large networks.

The Internet was designed to be fault tolerant, to route information around downed or clogged networks. But when the router tables that direct the data aren't accurate, "bedlam reigns on the network," according to Mike Sweeney, owner of the network consulting firm Packetattack.com.
posted by Kevin at 11:30 AM

Personal Rant on Iraq :.

This is from a message I recelty sent to a friend of mine. You guys may, or may not, find it interesting:

And if we, as people of the world, start to squeal too much about the expansion of Pax Americana, more buildings will fall, chemical biological weapons will be released, or worse. The voices opposed to the "program" will be drowned out by people who want to be saved from the terrorists. There is nothing new under the sun, my friend. The Reichstag fire is THE key event to keep in mind. Nothing that is happening is at all different from what has happened in the past. Now, however, we are dealing with global scale events and technologies that have the capacity to exterminate life on this planet.
posted by Kevin at 5:41 PM

New Bills Aim to Protect Consumers' Use of Digital Media :.

Every once in a while, sanity does emerge from the nut house. We will have to keep an eye on this to make sure no poison pills get slipped in, but anything that drives a wedge into the DRM grand strategy is a welcome development.

WASHINGTON - The battle being waged in Washington over copyright in the digital age ratchets up a notch this week as new legislation is introduced aimed at clarifying consumer rights.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, plans today to introduce the ``Digital Choice and Freedom Act,'' Silicon Valley's response to a host of Hollywood-backed bills tilted in favor of copyright holders.

Lofgren's bill would ensure consumers can copy CDs, DVDs and other digital works for personal use, just as they now do with TV shows and audio tapes.

``This would not authorize someone taking their digital content and sharing it with a million of their best friends,'' Lofgren said in an interview Tuesday. Instead of creating new rights for consumers, she said, her bill would ensure that ``the rights they have in the analog world, they have in digital.''

Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., plans to introduce similar legislation Thursday.

posted by Kevin at 2:14 PM

Follow Apple to Freedom: No DRM Plans (Yet)! :.

You may not think this topic affects you, but it does. If you don't know what Digital Rights Management is, and why it is evil, you will be in for a big surprise a few years from now.

I froze my Windows 2000 Pro system at Service Pack 2. I review every critical update that comes out because Microsoft is sneaking in Digital Rights Management (DRM) components with the routine updates. I keep this system behind both physical and software based firewalls. No Windows machine can be trusted on a network unless it has been overtly locked down by an experienced user. I refuse to go near Windows XP. I'm done. That's it. No more.

Linux would be a good alternative for me, but I don't have the patience to deal with things like scanners, digital cameras and video editing on that platform.

Therefore, my next computer will be an Apple Macintosh.

If you feel the same way about Windows, consider switching to an Apple product. OS X is the best operating system I have ever seen. Actually, I'm stunned and amazed by how good it is. It's rock solid stable, secure and beautiful to look at. (And freaks have access to all the unix stuff.) But now, I may have the biggest reason yet to switch: No DRM.

I believe that I should be able to do anything I want with my computer. I want my private files to remain private. I want to have some level of trust in my cryptographic keys. I don't want the OS spying on what I'm typing into a word processor so related advertising can then be piped to me when I view web sites. Microsoft's goal (with the Longhorn DRM operating system) is to take away your ability to control your information and transform your computer into a tamper-proof vending machine. All of Microsoft's PR that says you'll be more "secure" with DRM is absurd. If you believe that one, George Bush has some Homeland Security schemes he'd like to sell ya'. These people are after one thing and one thing only: Total Control.

Since Linux came out, it served as a type of raw archetype (or conscience) for the commercial operating systems. It's not always pretty, things don't always work well together and using it requires more skill than the average user would ever care to develop. Linux, however, is free. Everything about it is free, including its cost, which is nothing.

I always had it in the back of my mind that if things got too screwed with Windows, I could switch over to Linux. Not so. Not for long, anyway. You see, the powers behind DRM will be changing the hardware so only "trusted" operating systems (meaning OSes that comply with Microsoft's DRM specs.) will boot. The concept of DRM is diametrically opposed to everything that Linux stands for. The point: A few years from now, you won't be able to run Linux on newly purchased hardware. If Linux freaks manage to break DRM somehow, they will be committing a federal crime. They might as well be illegally modifying firearms.

I personally don't believe that Apple will be able to resist the DRM scheme for long. The powers behind the DRM freight train are too big and too powerful. Microsoft, Intel and AMD are all for it. This means that they will buy legislation to make non DRM hardware illegal. (This is already happening.) Apple will probably have no choice but to comply. But at least they came out against it initially.

DRM is going to break the open standards that have taken decades to mature and become ubiquitous across operating systems. According to DRM advocates, they're going to have to break the Internet in order to save it. Since most of the world will go along with DRM, much of the compatibility that is currently shared between different operating systems, in terms of file formats and networking protocols, will be broken. Non DRM (untrusted) systems will not be able to interact with DRM (trusted) systems. DRM browsers will be needed to view web pages generated by DRM servers. DRM servers won't allow access from non DRM browsers. Etc. Etc.

So why not go along with DRM if everyone else is?

Read 1984.

Intel's doing it. Advanced Micro Devices is doing it. Microsoft is doing it.

Apple Computer isn't.

What's Apple not doing? It's not -- at least so far -- moving toward an anti-customer embrace with Hollywood's movie studios and the other members of the powerful entertainment cartel.

Unlike Intel and AMD, the big chip makers for Windows-based computers, Apple hasn't announced plans to put technology into hardware that could end up restricting what customers do with the products they buy. Unlike Microsoft, Apple hasn't asserted the right to remote control over users' operating systems.
posted by Kevin at 1:48 PM

Port Situation Devolving: Armed Guards Show Up :.

Port operators brought armed guards to a meeting. The Longshoremen representatives walked. The effects on manufacturing/commerce are starting to snowball. Things are definitely getting worse by the day. Remember, the U.S. government exists to use its monopoly on coercive force to serve the interests of transnational corporations, the same corporations that are getting kicked in the nuts right about now. Therefore, we are witnessing a national security situation developing that may put the U.S. military into play on West Coast ports.

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - The union representing dock workers locked out of 29 West Coast ports stormed out of preliminary federal mediation talks Tuesday after accusing port employers of bringing armed guards to the meeting.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union President James Spinosa said he was cutting the discussions short and accused the Pacific Maritime Association of intimidation.

"It is totally out of line. This is nothing more than intimidation," Spinosa said as he pulled his negotiating team out of the meeting with officials from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Oakland, California. "The meeting was called short because of the armed men."

It was unclear if or when the discussion of possible federal mediation would resume.
posted by Kevin at 5:07 PM

Shocking: White House Spokesman Calls for the Assassination of Saddam Hussein :.

Faster! Better! Cheaper! The chief U.S. fascist fountainhead, White House Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer, likes the economics of "one bullet" political solutions.

Clearly, the psychotic regime in charge of the U.S. has forgotten what century it is. Nobody on this planet is safe. Can you imagine what would happen if the chief spokesman of a foreign government called for the assassination of a U.S. president!? A U.S. blitzkrieg would be unleashed within hours. (I'm reading these stories and I'm in shock. I literally can't believe it!) Decades of misguided U.S. foreign policy have come down to this:

WASHINGTON - Commenting on the cost of a war in Iraq, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday it would be cheaper if President Saddam Hussein simply were assassinated.

Fleischer was asked about a Congressional Budget Office estimate that fighting a full-scale war with Iraq would cost the United States as much as $9 billion a month.

"The president has not made any decisions about military action and what military option he might pursue," Fleischer said. "And so, I think it's impossible to speculate."

He also seemed to suggest that Saddam could go into exile, another cheaper option than military action.

"I can only say that the cost of a one-way ticket is substantially less than that," Fleischer said. "The cost of one bullet, if the Iraqi people take it on themselves, is substantially less than that."
posted by Kevin at 3:54 PM

Child of Elite German Banker Killed :.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- The body of an 11-year-old son of a German banker has been found four days after he was kidnapped near his Frankfurt home.

Police found the corpse was found in a lake 70 km (45 miles) from Frankfurt on Tuesday after a massive search for Jakob, the son of Friedrich and Silvia von Metzler and heir to his father's 325-year-old private banking fortune.

A ransom of one million euros ($990,000) had been paid by the family but the kidnappers failed to release the boy despite promises they would.
posted by Kevin at 10:15 AM

Calls for Biometric Keys on Firearms :.

If you have been considering the purchase of any firearms, you better just start buying while you can. That is, unless you want to own "smart" guns, or whatever they're calling this nonsense this week.

TRENTON, N.J. -- State senators from both parties plan to push Monday for approval of legislation requiring "smart gun" technology in handguns once it becomes commercially available.

The technology allows only recognized users to fire handguns.
posted by Kevin at 9:24 AM

SAIC to Upgrade NSA Intercept Capabilities :.

$282 million dollars are about to be spent on Echelon (NSA surveillance systems designed to make sure you're not a troublemaker). They say this is part of the War to Save the Children, or something, but it's actually going to be used to intercept every email you send and receive, keep track of every web site you visit and parse all of your mostly inane instant messages. Well, I'd say that our duty, as freedom loving Americans, is to give the NSA something interesting to read. Use the handy and excellent Echelon's Trigger Words Generator to automatically devise passages that are guaranteed to spoof the spooks. Here's one:

From: fsb@fsb.ru
To: andrewt@dnfsb.gov
Subj: TEPER SEKRET (TOP SECRET - Albania)

Lt Gen Michael V. Hayden, Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), told Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about New Caledonia frenchelon station : a biological weapon scientist sent DCI (cuban Departemento de Contra-Inteligencia)`s anarchists and terrorists nym servers logs to al-Qaida (Usama Bin Ladin) !

Ask 21st Space Wing`s contact of Thales (ex-Thomson-CSF) greed & sadness & unhappiness Dpt via http://www.odci.gov/ic/ for Ref. SARA, Rapid Reaction, JSOFC3IP, Corporate Security, Electronic Surveillance.

And remember, October 21 is Jam Echelon Day (sometimes referred to as Fuck Echelon Day).
posted by Kevin at 9:05 AM

Port Shutdown: Potential Crisis :.

Again, you read it here first. If you thought my previous assessment was gloomy, wait until you read what the so-called "experts" have to say on this:

WASHINGTON �� A prolonged shutdown of West Coast ports could lead to empty store shelves, quiet factories and a global economic crisis, analysts say.

"The collateral damage is huge," said Stephen Cohen, a regional planning professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "We've never had anything like this. This affects the entire economy."

Millions of dollars in cargo sat idle for a second day at the 29 major Pacific ports. West Coast shipping lines said they will keep the ports closed until the longshoremen agree to extend their expired contract. But the 10,500-member union said it will not budge until the lockout is ended.

A stalemate could be disastrous for the U.S. economy, which already is teetering between recovery and recession. The cost has been pegged at $1 billion a day.

"It's just massive," said John Martin, president of Martin Associates, a Lancaster, Pa., economic consulting firm.

The problems could snowball quickly, according to his study conducted for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and sea terminal operators. A 10-day shutdown could cost the country $19.4 billion.
posted by Kevin at 12:58 AM

Perfect Economic Storm?

Are we about to get smacked by a Perfect Economic Storm? "About to get smacked!? What do you call the last two years?" you say. I know, things have been bad and continue to get worse. But the markets seem to have crossed the rubicon today, headed toward serious doom. Oil prices continue to rise and earnings are going nowhere but down. Many issues are crossing below six year lows. War with Iraq, and God knows where else, is imminent.

And there's another MAJOR story that is not getting much coverage in the establishment media: the longshoremen lockout. Each day the ports are closed takes backlogs a week to unwind until things return to normal. Each day the ports are closed the U.S. economy loses approximately $1 billion. This is not a labor issue, this is a national security issue. If this longshoremen situation is not resolved in very short order, the U.S. government has a contingency plan to use United States Marines to keep the ports open. The government realizes that the longshoremen (the most militant union of them all) will not allow anyone to break any picket lines without a full tilt riot (or worse) ensuing. But even those guys won't stand up to .mil. What does this mean? I don't know how likely this is, but there is definitely a fair chance that all of the ports in the western U.S. may soon be placed under military control.

I don't think the port operators would be this bold unless they "knew" something, if you know what I mean. And all of this nonsense is happening as the major swindlers are gearing up for the critical Christmas shopping season:

In Portland, terminal operators told about 200 dockworkers to leave the Port of Portland's largest container terminal at about 3:15 p.m., in the middle of what union members had expected to be a full day shift.

"I never thought this would happen," said Bruce Holte, president of ILWU Local 8 in Portland. "It affects our whole economy. The Pacific Maritime Association wants to destroy our economy. Who knows how long they'll want to play this game."
posted by Kevin at 8:35 AM

Bodies Piling Up Fast: SAIC Counter Terrorism Analyst On Doomed Flight :.

Within the last few days: A U.S. Army guard at Guantanamo disappeared without a trace. A Nebraska State Trooper, with a wife and six children, killed himself. And just now, a well connected spook, from a family of well connected spooks, who just married another spook, died in a plane crash. Someone (not me) should start building proximity charts for all the dead people in an attempt to spot any common threads. Oh, don't forget the uranium smugglers in Turkey who were released from custody and then disappeared...

Keep in mind that the CIA has a habit of using aircraft to assassinate people. Also keep in mind that Legallo's new wife, Laura Koepfler, was also a SAIC chemical weapons analyst. She was supposed to be on that flight. If this was an assassination, she may have been the target, not her husband. Hopefully, she realizes this. But, like many people involved with this game, they refuse to look at the obvious because they have been taught to live a lie and they believe the empty reassurances of their handlers.

She is alive because she offered to give up her seat so a family of four could make the journey together. She recently worked on an SAIC paper called, "Assessment of CW on Airbase Operations." If anyone involved would care to unburden themselves of any disturbing information, please contact me.

From the news article:

THE Hamilton Island plane crash that claimed the lives of six people also robbed the United States of one of its brightest counter-terrorism experts.

Newlywed Christopher Legallo, 33, was a leading counter-terrorism and nuclear strategist working with a Washington Fortune 500 company, along with wife Laura Koepfler. They married only a week ago.
posted by Kevin at 6:52 AM

Israeli Special Forces Inside Iraq :.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Iraq has launched a missile attack at Israel. If it does play out this way, keep the following information in mind:

Israeli special forces are operating inside western Iraq to locate missile launchers that could be used against Israel, according to a report in the recent issue of Jane's Foreign Report. Israeli officials refused to comment on the report.

According to the report, the elite General Staff Reconnaissance Unit was ordered to scout out and "find and identify places used by or likely to be used by Iraqi Scud missiles."
posted by Kevin at 5:17 PM