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1/18/2003



GPS Jamming for $50 :.

I would tuck this one away in a safe place. You might need it someday soon:

A low cost device to temporarily disable the reception of the civilian course acquisition (C/A) code used for the standard positioning service (SPS)[1] on the Global Positioning System (GPS/NAVSTAR) L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz.

This is accomplished by transmitting a narrowband Gaussian noise signal, with a deviation of +/- 1.023 MHz, on the L1 GPS frequency itself. This technique is a little more complicated than a simple continuous wave (CW) jammer, but tends to be more effective (i.e. harder to filter) against spread spectrum based radio receivers.


Related: Homemade GPS Jammers Raise Concerns

Government officials and communications experts are assessing the public safety and security implications of a newly posted online article that provides directions for making cheap devices that can jam Global Positioning System (GPS) signals.

Information in the article that appears in the current issue of the online hacker magazine Phrack potentially puts at risk GPS devices used for commercial navigation and military operations, authorities said.


1/17/2003



Kissinger Running Back Channel Scams for Bush :.

This is like the Mafia getting all their ducks in a row before a big hit. The various mob bosses are figuring out how they're going to carve up Iraq after they whack Saddam Hussein and take his oil:

HENRY Kissinger, the man George W. Bush wanted to investigate the September 11 attacks, will meet John Howard to discuss Australia's involvement in a possible war on Iraq during a low-key visit to Sydney next week.

Dr Kissinger, 79, a former US secretary of state, has approached a cluster of high-ranking politicians for private discussions during his visit to Sydney on Monday and Tuesday, including Mr Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

While Dr Kissinger will not visit in an official capacity, the opportunity for a one-on-one discussion was seized by the Prime Minister.





Let Them Eat Frankenfood: Accept America's Genetically Engineered Food, or Else :.

Membership in the World Trade Organization is all fun and games, until corporations start undermining the most basic requirements of life. Europe, for the most part, is complicit with U.S. hegemony. Europeans want to have their cake and eat it too. They want the benefits of U.S. hegemony without the costs. They are courtiers to an evil king. Well, the king has changed the menu, and substitutions are not optional.

Fascists routinely make arguments for policies that pull on the heart strings of ignorant people. So, according to the latest newspeak, people who are against the proliferation of genetically engineered foods are responsible for starvation in Africa!? Wow. Is this the most compelling argument that Robert Zoellick, the chief U.S. trade representative, could come up with? Someone put a green wig and big red nose on this guy. I think the circus is hiring bozos:

The Bush Administration's top trade official has announced that he wants to file a case against the European Union for its ban on genetically modified food, saying the European position was "Luddite" and "immoral" and was leading to starvation in the developing world.

Robert Zoellick, the United States's trade representative, said he lost his patience with the EU over the safety of American GM food last year when starving African nations refused to accept American food aid because the grain was modified.

"The European anti-scientific policies are spreading to other corners of the world," Mr Zoellick said on Thursday.

"It has been used by political leaders in Africa to not eat the food that you and I eat, and rather let their people starve. I think that is a rather serious development."

In the strongest statements made by an Administration official on the topic, Mr Zoellick said: "I find it immoral that people are not being able to be supplied food to live in Africa because people have invented dangers about biotechnology. That puts it rather high on my scale to deal with."


One can't deny the diabolical genius of this. The U.S. and Europe created Africa's nightmares, with centuries of genocide, pillage and economic rape. Now, U.S. corporations want to end world hunger by selling people patented food and seeds with end user license agreements!

Why doesn't Mr. Zoellick mention the lack of programs that aim to get people growing their own food, with non genetically engineered seeds, so they don't need to be dependent on food and seeds controlled by transnational corporations. Oh, woops, that takes profits away from the corporations selling the food and seeds.

Oh yeah, don't get caught with any of those copy protected crops growing on your land. A Monsanto spook could show up in your field and determine that you are illegally using their intellectual property without paying.

"But, but, I didn't plant any of that stuff," you say.

"We don't care. Pay up," says the Man.

Oh, but wait, it gets better. Try to grow anything from the offspring of genetically engineered "terminator" seeds and you will find that the wizards of industry have inserted a "kill switch" into the seeds. They will only yield one generation of harvestable crops. If you think this isn't happening, and if you think U.S. Trade Representative Zoellick actually cares about the plight of Africans, read, Terminator Technology Threatening African Farmers' Rights:

Long controversial genetic modification has been called an infringement of basic human rights since it prevents farmers from saving, replanting and exchanging seeds, practices going back thousands of years that are still essential to food security.

Multinational food and biotechnological corporations, armed with patent rights and terminator technology have invaded developing countries under the guise of working towards improving food security.

The terminator technology has been widely condemned by civil society, scientific bodies and many governments as an immoral application of agricultural biotechnology. If commercialized, it would force farmers to return to the commercial seed market.





U.S. Military Will Rule Iraq After War, Troops Will Remain for Years :.

U.S. military commanders will likely rule Iraq for at least several months in the aftermath of a U.S.-led ouster of President Saddam Hussein, according to Bush administration blueprints for Iraq's future that outline a broad and protracted American role in managing the reconstruction of the country.

The administration's plans, which are nearing completion, envision installing a civilian administration within months of a change of government, U.S. officials said. But the officials said that even under the best of circumstances, U.S. forces likely would remain at full strength in Iraq for months after a war ended, with a continued role for thousands of U.S. troops there for years to come.


Related: U.S. Executing Plan to Expand Hegemony


1/16/2003



Former U.S. Marine Recruits Human Shields :.

As war with Iraq seems to edge ever closer, former US Marine Kenneth Nichols O'Keefe - who fought in the Gulf War - plans to lead a group of Westerners to be human shields.

Research Credit: DG





Israeli Operatives Will Assassinate People Inside the U.S. and Other Allied Nations :.

BW submitted this story and wrote, "I am getting sick of the Israelis and their bullshit. If Bush allows this he should be put on trial for treason."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Theocracies breed the most frightening fascist regimes because they think their abhorrent and ridiculous behavior is endorsed by God:

Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach to the war on terror that will include staging targeted killings [this means assassinations] in the United States and other friendly countries, former Israeli intelligence officials told United Press International.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has forbidden the practice until now, these sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli statements were confirmed by more than a half dozen former and currently serving U.S. foreign policy and intelligence officials in interviews with United Press International.





Total Information Awareness Program Hits Snag :.

Have no doubt about it: TIA, and much worse, is going to happen because people who speak the truth about fascism are a far greater threat to the established order than any of the fabricated boogiemen we are conditioned to fear. The dissidents who are refusing to go along with the program need to be monitored and, if necessary, eliminated. If any effective legislative resistance could be mounted against the ascension of the police state, "terrorist" incidents will silence any voices of reason, and even more draconian legislation will sail easily into law. Imbeciles will wave flags, bombs will fall, and so it goes. At some point, of course, the entire show will fly off the rails, but until then, we're in for a slow and painful grind toward overt fascism:

A Pentagon antiterrorism plan to link databases of credit card companies, health insurers and others--creating what critics call a "domestic surveillance apparatus"--is encountering growing opposition on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., is planning to introduce a bill on Thursday to halt the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness program. A representative said on Wednesday that if passed, the legislation would suspend the TIA program until Congress can "review the data-mining issues."





ACLU: It's Almost 1984 :.

An ACLU report released Wednesday warns that the United States "has now reached the point where a total 'surveillance society' has become a realistic possibility."

The problem, said ACLU analysts, is twofold: Increasingly sophisticated technologies make advanced surveillance a snap, while the erosion of constitutional protections in the wake of Sept. 11 threatens the legal safeguards shielding Americans from excessive government snooping.

"Given the capabilities of today's technology, the only thing protecting us from a full-fledged surveillance society are the legal and political institutions we have inherited as Americans," said Barry Steinhart, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, who co-authored the report. "Unfortunately, the Sept. 11 attacks have led some to embrace the fallacy that weakening the Constitution will strengthen America."


Research Credit: RS





Prozac for Everyone! :.

There is too much happening for me to focus on medical fraud and the quackery of conventional medicine, but this is too much! Time asks, with a straight face, "If Prozac can make you feel better even if you are not depressed, why shouldn't we all be taking it?"

HA! What ever happened to Victory Gin?

Let it suffice to say that Psychiatry is a criminal enterprise. If you see any type of MD, take NOTHING at face value. Question everything. Look for alternatives. Just because someone attended college for several years doesn't mean they know anything. Well, they know a lot about selling you FDA approved drugs and procedures that, if used, may injure or kill you.

If a quack tries to put you or a loved one Prozac, please read, Talking Back to Prozac: What Doctors Won't Tell You About Today's Most Controversial Drug by Peter R. Breggin.





More Kids on Psychoactive Drugs Than Ever :.

The number of American children taking psychiatric drugs rather than psychotherapy has soared in 15 years because health insurers want cheaper options, a study says.

More than 6 per cent of children use drugs, including Prozac and Ritalin. Between 1987 and 1996 the number of children prescribed such drugs increased threefold and researchers say that rate of increase shows no sign of abating. The study's authors say cost-saving techniques introduced by insurers, and marketing by the pharmaceutical industry, push children and parents towards the use of such drugs rather than more costly therapy.





Study: Surgery Tools Left in 1,500 Patients a Year :.

When I covered a similar story previously, I took the opportunity to slam conventional medicine. If you are suffering from any chronic disease, including cancer, or know someone who is, you might want to check out this entry.

Surgical teams accidentally leave clamps, sponges and other tools inside about 1,500 patients nationwide each year, according to the biggest study of the problem yet.

The mistakes largely result not from surgeon fatigue, but from the stress arising from emergencies or complications discovered on the operating table, the researchers reported.

It also happens more often to fat patients, simply because there is more room inside them to lose equipment, according to the study.


1/15/2003



The United States of America Has Gone Mad :.

I have no idea what kind of people read Cryptogon, so just in case you're not familiar with him, John le Carr� is one of the most famous spy novelists of all time:

America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.

The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press.

The imminent war was planned years before bin Laden struck, but it was he who made it possible. Without bin Laden, the Bush junta would still be trying to explain such tricky matters as how it came to be elected in the first place; Enron; its shameless favouring of the already-too-rich; its reckless disregard for the world�s poor, the ecology and a raft of unilaterally abrogated international treaties. They might also have to be telling us why they support Israel in its continuing disregard for UN resolutions.

But bin Laden conveniently swept all that under the carpet.





Announcing Premium Content on Cryptogon

On occasion, I will be offering articles for sale. The cost of these in-depth articles is $2 each. The reason I'm not going with a subscription based service for premium content is because I don't know how long I'm going to keep doing this.

The small number of readers who previously made contributions to Cryptogon through Paypal will receive premium articles free of charge.

Q: How many premium articles will there be?

A: There will be at least one, since it's already written. I may never write another one, or I may write one per day.

Q: How does one pay for the articles?

A: Paypal.

Q: Is there a physical mailing address to send payments for those who don't have/refuse to use Paypal.

A: Unfortunately, no.

Q: How does one receive the articles?

A: I will send them to you in email.

Q: What other premium content will be available?

A: I may do an occasional zine/newsletter thing that will cost $5 per issue, but don't hold your breath.





U.S. Military and Intelligence Activities Involving the Internet

This essay examines evidence of possible U.S. military and intelligence activities involving public information gathering (open source intelligence) and psychological operations (PSYOPS). CNN recently reported that the U.S. government was using email as a PSYOPS tool against Iraq. What follows greatly expands on the CNN story by offering insights into other information the U.S. government appears to be searching for online, as well as technical details of how they can cover-up their tracks.
Cryptogon Premium Content
HTML document, 5 printed pages
Cost: $2 USD


1/14/2003



DARPA: Monsters, Inc. :.

Pentagon dark lord Donald Rumsfeld is shoveling billions of tax dollars into the research furnaces of federal laboratories and private universities across the land in the wide-ranging effort to spawn "super soldiers," fired by drugs and electromagnetic "brain zaps" to fight without ceasing for days on end. The work is being directed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) -- yes, the same outfit now laboring under convicted terrorist-conspirator John Poindexter to build the "Total Information Awareness" network that will allow the government to monitor the electronic records and communications of every citizen.

The DARPA "war fighter enhancement" programs -- an acceleration of bipartisan biotinkering that's been going on for years -- will involve injecting young men and women with hormonal, neurological and genetic concoctions; implanting microchips and electrodes in their bodies to control their internal organs and brain functions; and plying them with drugs that deaden some of their normal human tendencies: the need for sleep, the fear of death, the reluctance to kill their fellow human beings.





Riot Police Break Up Baby Shower :.

A massive police response to a report of a riotnear a Roslyn Heights community center left residents angry yesterday and questioning a police policy of using anti-terrorism tactics against what locals said was a peaceful gathering of people for a baby shower.

Residents said the incident started with a simple verbal argument between a man and a woman as the shower ended about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. It ended amid clouds of pepper spray after about 50 police officers from four precincts, including mounted police, highway patrol officers, a helicopter and Nassau's Bureau of Special Operations, mobilized when a police sergeant called in to report a riot.

The residents said there was not a riot, nor any violence at all - except that brought by the police.

Five men were arrested, and several of the estimated 50 people at the scene were treated for exposure to pepper spray, police said.





More on Radio Frequency Identification :.

Cryptogon covered RFIDs long ago. I guess they're starting to garner attention in other circles:

A technology called RFID (radio frequency identification) consisting of miniscule microchips the size of a single grain of sand that listen to a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID can make this possible. Most RFID tags use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response and hence can be placed anywhere imaginable. Retailers are adoring this concept and soon everything more expensive than a Snickers bar will sport RFID tags making tracking possible through our own personal possessions. The privacy threat comes when RFID tags remain active once you leave a store and currently the RFID industry seems to be giving 'mixed' signals about whether the tags will be disabled or left enabled by default.


1/13/2003



Email Lists

The email lists of top Iraqi generals, officials and staff. Email for private clubs in Sudan. Email addresses for Iranian government. Email Saudi Arabia. Email Yemen. Email Qatar. Email Jordan. Email Pakistan. Email Syria. Email North Korea. Kurdish top traders.

Standby for details.





Greatest Danger to World Peace: Shocking Poll Results :.

Remember, this isn't me, running a poll on my little, backwater website, with you guys skewing the results. This is Time.com, with Joe and Jane Sixpack for readers:

Research Credit: CW





Helen Thomas Isn't Maintaining Appearances :.

The only person with any balls in the White House press corps is an 81 year old woman:

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.

MS. THOMAS: I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision -- including us.




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