[plug] Government report suggests backdoors for law enforcement (fwd)

[Marc Wiriadisastra]

I'll suggest my two cents.  I know from personal experience that there is corruption in the police force so for curiosities sake how long will it take for some hacker to think and give a bit of money to the police force so that they can receive the entrance setup or however they enter.  As well as if there is a loop hole I'm sure some smart little hacker will figure a way to get it which is utterly ridiculous from my side.

I thought the point of having a network was to keep it safe.  If so I wish someone would turn around and tell the police force where there job should stop otherwise reprocutions will be immense.

My $0.02 worth,
Marc

*********** REPLY PARTITION ***********

On 14/01/99, at 9:07, Matt Kemner wrote: 

>
>Well, it looks like we've got to hack a backdoor into Linux so our
>government can get their grubby hands onto our customers' traffic and
>data.
>
>*sigh*
>
>Bloody politicians
>
>- Matt
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 21:32:36 +1100
>From: Darren Reed <avalon at COOMBS.ANU.EDU.AU>
>To: BUGTRAQ at NETSPACE.ORG
>Subject: Government report suggests backdoors for law enforcement
>
>After reading about things like Back Orifice, it is is somewhat amusing
>to read that similar tactics are being propositioned as a way for law
>enforcement officials to gain access to data.  One wonders how long they
>could expect to keep such access "secret" and out of the hands of crackers.
>
>This email has been forwarded from aucrypto.
>
>Darren
>
>>      By Gerard Knapp
>>      InternetNews.com Australia Correspondent
>>
>>      [January 4, 1999--SYDNEY] Law enforcement agencies in Australia
>>      ought to be able to "hack" into corporate computer systems and
>>      change proprietary software to enable monitoring of
>>      communications, according to a 1996 report which had been
>>      censored by the Australian government but recently uncovered by a
>>      university student.
>>
>>      The report also suggested that technology vendors could also be
>>      recruited to help modify software or hardware that they installed
>>      at a company's premises.
>>
>>      However, Australian police agencies have not taken the advice,
>>      opting instead to concentrate their energies on interception of
>>      telecommunications by tapping into the systems of Internet
>>      service providers (ISPs).
>>
>>      The report, entitled "Review of Policy relating to Encryption
>>      Technologies," was prepared for the Federal Attorney-General's
>>      Department by Gerard Walsh, a former deputy director-general of
>>      the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). It
>>      had been released in 1997 with some passages omitted after a
>>      request by civil liberties group Electronic Freedom Australia.
>>
>>      Greg Taylor, chair of the EFA's Crypto Committee, said a
>>      university student in Hobart had discovered an archival copy of
>>      the so-called "Walsh report" with the censored material intact.
>>
>>      Censored recommendations included giving police and espionage
>>      agencies "the authority to 'hack,' under warrant, into a
>>      nominated computer system as a necessary search power," and "the
>>      authority to alter proprietary software so that it may provide
>>      additional and unspecified features." These additional features
>>      might include "the introduction of other commands, such as
>>      diversion, copy, send, [or to] dump memory to a specified site,"
>>      the report said.
>>
>>      The agencies might need to obtain the "cooperation of
>>      manufacturers or suppliers" to help with the insertion of these
>>      extra software agents.
>>
>>      "When manufacturers or suppliers are satisfied the modification
>>      has no discernible effect on function, they may consent to assist
>>      or acquiesce in its installation," Walsh said in the report.
>>
>>      The establishment of a separate agency to perform such work would
>>      approach AUS$500 million, Walsh estimated, but could be performed
>>      by the existing Defence Signals Directorate.
>>
>>      The report recommended changes to the 1914 Crimes Act and the
>>      1979 Australian Federal Police Act, but the only legislative
>>      changes in this area were made over a year ago in the
>>      Telecommunication Legislation Amendment Act 1997.
>>
>>      This act enabled law enforcement agencies to access
>>      communications directly from ISPs, and for the resulting cost to
>>      be incurred by the ISPs. The non-censored version of the report
>>      is available on the EFA's Web site.
>>
>