Recruiting Agents

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Thu Feb 28 09:48:24 EST 2002


--- begin forwarded text


Status:  U
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 08:43:36 -0800
To: cypherpunks at lne.com
From: John Young <jya at pipeline.com>
Subject: Recruiting Agents
Sender: owner-cypherpunks at lne.com

Dell's admission of vetting customer use of its
products on behalf of domestic and national security,
raises the issue of who else is doing that.

About ten days ago I got a telephone message from
a person who claims to work for a major ISP as a sysadmin.
This person had previously disclosed the ISP's cooperation
with federal authorities to run a nationwide surveillance
system from a central hub of the ISP, claiming that the
system was set up under a memorandum of understanding
when the ISP was bought by a foreign corporation. We've
published this allegation on Cryptome.

We returned the call and talked about twenty minutes with
the person, who said that surveillance of the Net is
increasing rapidly over what he had said earlier. Then
came a pitch that I get on board by vetting information
sent to Cryptome with federal authorities if I thought
there might be a threat to national security.

The pitch got intense.The person asked if I had criminal
background. I said no. Did I believe the US had enemies.
I said yes. Did I believe it was my responsibility to protect
the nation. I said maybe. Was it not wise to report threats
to the nation to authorities? I said no, it was wise to report
them to the public so it could protect itself.

But, he said, don't you think the threats should be checked
with the authorities first? No, I said, it is not for me to
decide what is a threat and what is not, that my task is to
make information available and let readers decide.

Wouldn't you like to boost your authority, he said, by having
it supported by official authority? I said no, that I did not
want authority, that such authority is widely available for
those who want it from responsible sources. Instead, I
said, what is needed is more information not filtered by
authorities or responsible sources.

Don't get me wrong, he said, I admire what you're doing
on Cryptome, and I wish I had your courage. Thanks, I
said.

Still, he said, I think it would be a good idea for you to
establish an ongoing relationship with the authorities
so you don't get in trouble. No, I said, that is definitely
not something I want to do, for if I did that it would
be a betrayal of Cryptome readers.

You know, he said, I'm very troubled by what my company
is doing, but I think in times of danger we all have to do
what we can to protect the nation, and I think you should
get in touch with the authorities to be sure information
you get is okay to publish. No, I said, that's not for me,
what is needed in times of danger is more information
about how to protect yourself, and in times of danger
authorities are often a threat as great as what they
warn about.

How can you be sure of that, he said, I think you need
to talk to the authorities to be sure you know what the
threats are and what you are doing is okay. No, thanks,
I said.

Someday, he said, I hope I have your courage, but now
I have to think about my job. Agreed, I said, you should
do nothing that will put you in danger, don't jeopardize
you job and your family.

However, he said, I want you to think very carefully about
arranging to check with the authorities about information
to be published on Cryptome. Look, I said, the authorities
have more than adequate means to keep track of information
going on Crypotme and they don't need my help.

But you need to protect yourself, don't you see, to be sure
that you are not entrapped by information sent to you
for that purpose. Agreed, I said, but we were told soon after
setting up Cryptome to expect entrapment efforts, so we
do, and the reason we don't claim authority is to be sure
readers know they have to protect themselves in the
same way we do.

But wouldn't you like to be protected by the authorities,
to advocate to your readers that they do the same? No,
I said, that is the role of authorities and responsible
publishers, not Cryptome.

-----

I think this conversation is like many going on around
the country, and shows how recruitment of agents is
being done. We'd like to publish such accounts, anonymized
or not.

--- end forwarded text


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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