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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 6 Num. 41
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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INFO BLACKOUT
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By Clark Matthews
[Spotlight, 11/06/95]
Powerful national security insiders have established effective
control over the entrance gateways to Internet. Disturbing signs
are now emerging that the "information superhighway" has been
targeted for systematic surveillance and political dossier
building on Americans' opinions.
This ominous news came in the first of a series of articles by
investigative journalist Steven Pizzo in *Web Review*, an online
magazine of cyberculture and politics (http://gnn.com/wr/)
published by Songline Studios of San Francisco. Pizzo is the
author of *Inside Job*, a groundbreaking expose' on the massive
fraud and theft of insured deposits in 1980s savings and loan
debacle.
According to Pizzo, control of Internet "domain name
registration" has passed into private hands -- with the potential
for serious mischief or worse. "Domain names" are the odd-looking
identifying names that are assigned to individual computer
systems that compose the Internet (logoplex.com, for example).
Through a complex chain of licensing arrangements and corporate
acquisitions detailed in Pizzo's article, this crucial control
over Internet domain names has passed from the non-profit
National Science Foundation to Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) of
Herndon, Virginia. Last May, amid growing public disbelief of
Establishment media reports about the Oklahoma City bombing
provocation, NSI was purchased by Scientific Applications
International Corporation (SAIC) of San Diego.
SAIC is a $2 billion defense and FBI contractor with a board of
directors that reads like a Who's Who of the intelligence
community. Board members include Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, the
former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and deputy
director of the CIA; Melvin Laird, defense secretary under
Richard Nixon; Donald Hicks, former head of research &
development for the Pentagon; Donald Kerr, former head of the Los
Alamos National Laboratory; and Gen. Maxwell Thurman (ret.), the
commander of the U.S. invasion of Panama.
Former members of SAIC's board include Robert Gates, the former
CIA director under George Bush; current CIA director John Deutch;
Anita Jones, Deutch's former Pentagon procurement officer; and
William Perry, the present secretary of defense.
The corporation also has a legion of computer network specialists
and an entire division of computer consultants. SAIC currently
holds contracts for re-engineering the Pentagon's information
systems, automating the FBI's computerized fingerprint
identification system, and building a national criminal history
information system.
The Internet is a marvel of computer software technology. It was
designed to survive a nuclear attack on the United States -- like
the Post Office, it's literally smart enough to find a way to get
the mail through, even if most of the network is missing.
But control of Internet domain name registration means the
ability to remove troublesome -- or outspoken -- computer systems
from the network. Potentially, this control also confers the
power to insinuate "phantom" domains into the network -- for
surveillance purposes, for example -- or for real-time, automatic
censorship.
Furthermore, anecdotal evidence gathered by this author suggests
that actual "truth control" is taking place on the 'net now. E-
mail messages with controversial contents -- including the
details of the SAIC takeover of domain names -- have consistently
disappeared as they travel across the network. News items
concerning the Vincent Foster "suicide" investigation and
allegations of NSA bank spying through compromised Inslaw
software are being quickly and automatically cancelled {1}. And
the cancellations are not by their authors.
-+- Crackdown -+-
With domain names under the control of secret government
insiders, it is even theoretically possible that large parts of
the Internet could be *shut* *down* *and* *silenced* at critical
times. This could be accomplished by suddenly altering domain
name registrations or interposing compromised "domains" at
crucial points. These compromised systems could serve as "black
holes" at critical times, stopping e-mail and important news from
reaching the world -- or the rest of the country.
Exercises in "turning the Internet off" have already taken place
in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In Taiwan, the 'net was successfully
shut down. All network traffic -- including news, opinions and e-
mail sent by computer users -- was successfully "bottled up" on
the island and prevented from reaching the world.
In Hong Kong, the Internet wasn't quite strangled, but the
British authorities who control that colony managed to throttle
free electronic speech with the rest of the world until
everything was bottlenecked into a few little-known satellite
links.
These are alarming precedents and sure signs that powerful,
shadowy forces are preparing to chop at the very roots of
America's new Liberty Tree. The secretive people on the board of
directors of SAIC are intelligence professionals skilled at
manufacturing events -- and then manufacturing public opinion and
consent by controlling the truth. Will Internet disinformation,
censorship or "shutdowns" signal the next American crisis?
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
You may be unable to find The Spotlight at your local library or
news dealer. To subscribe, phone 1-800-522-6292 (Maryland 1-301-
951-6292). Note that I have no personal connection to The
Spotlight nor am I compensated by them. I also neither
necessarily agree nor disagree with either all or parts of the
views expressed in The Spotlight.
---------------------------<< Notes >>---------------------------
{1} Some of this information, regarding Foster and allegations of
NSA bank spying, etc., is still available via anonymous ftp to
ftp.shout.net pub/users/bigred -- see files beginning "og" as,
for example "og003", "og021", etc.
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I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
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For information on how to receive the new Conspiracy Nation
Newsletter, send an e-mail message to •••@••.•••
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Want to know more about Whitewater, Oklahoma City bombing, etc?
(1) telnet prairienet.org (2) logon as "visitor" (3) go citcom
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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O what fine thought we had because we thought | •••@••.•••
That the worst rogues and rascals had died out. | Illinois,
-- W.B. Yeats, "Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen" | I'm your boy.
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Posted by Richard K. Moore <•••@••.•••>
Wexford, Ireland (USA citizen)
Editor: The Cyberjournal (@CPSR.ORG)
See the CyberLib at:
http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib
See Cyber-Rights library:
http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/
You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages and online materials
for non-commercial use, provided they are copied in their entirety, with
all headers, signatures, etc., intact.
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