Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Caveat Internetor

3/26/07
How is your computer running lately? Some of our computers haven't been doing so well. As a matter a fact the last few months have seen an epidemic of computer failures among machines running the Microsoft Windows operating system. Everywhere we turn we are hearing more and more about these sudden failures.

Anyone who runs Windows knows that it has become a part time job to just keep it running. Something always seems to be going wrong. No matter how persistently you update your firewall(s), spyware program(s), virus definitions, operating system, etc. things just don't work they way they should. Even after you repeatedly run various scans to identify what has gotten through these barriers things continue to get worse.


We are meticulous about computer maintenance around here. However, when things still go wrong it is not as of you can get on the phone with some well informed technician at Microsoft as you could just a couple of years ago. Now if you call for help you are directed to Hyderabad or Mumbai where you find yourself speaking to someone called "Bob" reading from a script. The script is almost always wrong.


About a month ago we found ourselves with four dead Windows computers. They all just suddenly died. I wondered out loud whether it was possible that someone in the White House might be upset that some of us had gone "too far" in our persistent criticism of this administration. It seemed quite possible that our computers had made some Executive Branch hit list. I mean they hacked two elections didn't they?


Then I heard that Jeff Rense and a number of other kindred spirits were also experiencing a similar pattern of computer attacks. Hmm.... some sort of cyber warfare seems to be taking place.


Then, as if it were choreographed by divine potentiation, one of the people I had enjoyed a great rapport with at Microsoft contacted me! He had recently gone into retirement. He said that he was coming through my neck of the woods and it might be a good idea for us to get together. We met at a local bookstore and sat down for a chat.


I told him what many of my friends and I have recently been experiencing with the nightmare that the Windows operating system has become. He responded by saying, "You don't know the half of it." He went on to say that Windows had become such a behemoth of tangled "spaghetti" code that it was nearly impossible to protect.


But it goes way beyond that. He told me that some of the source code for the Windows OS was now in the hands of programmers in India. He was certain that this was a "major mistake" on the part of Microsoft's upper management. He said he considered it "a threat to International Security".


"I know there are some very competent IT personnel in India. I have been there several times for the company. When you consider the fact that some of these people are almost undoubtedly Islamic militants, I think it was a tragic decision to allow anyone in that country access to the source code. On top of that other companies such as Symantec have also outsourced much of both customer service and product maintenance to India. So here you have potential adversaries with the source code for the most widely used operating system in the world and the most widely used security software."


He continued, "Purportedly there is also a special group within the NSA that has complete access to every Windows machine through the supercomputer/server farm that maintains the Windows operating system and processes those "error messages" Windows users frequently generate. The operating system itself can be used as a real time monitor of every keystroke you make as long as you are online."


"It is even possible to do selective data mining through the Microsoft/Redmond access whereby someone writing emails or articles against this ridiculous war or this absurd administration can be identified and attacked with various exploits in real time."


So you have potential foreign adversaries and domestic adversaries within the administration who have the keys to the vast majority of computers in the world.


"Practically speaking this means that "Bob's" cousin Abdul could potentially hack into your computer or even shut down large banks of servers in the United States or any other country. A team of skilled programmers with access to the source code and online access to Microsoft can wreck havoc. It is just another in the long series of national disgraces encouraged by the policies of this Administration."


"On the other front Bush/Cheney can give the order to shut down free speech on the Internet. If you say something negative about them you could become a target. These guys can just reach into your world through Windows/Redmond and screw your computer to death. Logistically they don't even need thousands of agency employees attacking you."


"The NSA supercomputer assigned to data mining and other nefarious tasks purportedly has a half-petaflop (500 trillion floating point operations per second) throughput capability. It also has complete access to all Windows users through Microsoft's central computer array. This system is said to be capable of developing and improving its own pattern recognition skills second by second. It is learning like HAL did in 2001 a Space Odyssey."


"In this all too real scenario the computer can be programmed to think that it is supposed to protect the "president" and all of his cohorts at all costs. If you are saying something like, "when is someone in Congress going to find the courage to do something about these guys?" BAM! Your computer is slammed."


"The way this works is that after a few weeks of this program running on this insanely powerful computer it isn't just the high profile guys who get hit. Millions of Americans can lose their computers to this crap. Gates can't do a thing. It is his deal with the devil."


I was kind of stunned when I heard this but it all made sense. Then today an old friend contacted me. She told me that she was writing a chapter in her new book wherein a sentient canine character is making fun of the "president". As she was writing, her font suddenly started changing until she found it impossible to continue. Finally her computer just died. She said, "The strangest thought crossed my mind. I thought for a moment that I was personally under attack for making fun of this guy. Do you think that is possible Adam?"


I told her what I just told you...


If you have experienced these kinds of difficulties recently (and I know that many of you have) then write and print out a letter (or even hand write it) to your Senators and Representatives on the State and Federal level demanding that a real, full blown investigation of this alleged abridgement of our rights is started immediately and that those responsible are prosecuted. Just consider the people, who hacked the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio, who are now sitting in prison.


http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2506


Use snail mail. Sign your real name. Let's have a tsunami of real physical mail hit the Capital. Make the effort. Network exponentially. Raise your voices to the high heavens before HAL (or is it Dick?) hacks another election or finally seizes complete control of Spaceship Earth. There is no escape pod.


Adam Trombly
Mail To: Founder Project Earth

Project Earth Online

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