CareCure and the Patriot Act

[JDR]

I'm writing a paper on the Patriot Act and the Patriot Act 2 for one of my classes at school. I came across this article and found it interesting. It deals primarily with online communities such as ours. Sidenote: I'm not trying to scare people here...I just thought it was interesting.

Here's an excerpt:
"See how scary it can get? My words of warning to you are this: Think twice, even three times, before visiting a chat room, message group, or any site where you are interacting with hundreds of people you don't know. We all love community, and making connections with other people is what drives this world. But as long as Big Brother is watching, we're all at risk."

full story here (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=97296)

"The Great Thing In This World Is Not So Much Where We Are, But In What Direction We Are Moving"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes -

[teyrn]

If the writer of that article actualy had a clue what they were writing about regarding chat servers webhosts and datacenters they would take themselves out in the street and commit suicide imediatly for trying to pass off such idiocy and hoping people will believe it. So should the person that passes this shit around.

Webhost companies that offer webspace colo space or rack space and chat servers very well protect themselves from such threats. I am not saying something can't happen and I have seen my share of dispecable hosting companies. Next the majority of these companies do NOT use windows machines and face the same vulnerabilities that windows machines suffer. Chat servers are a portal through which people connect and the only database of users in existance would be one that keepts track of nicknames and the owners last known IP address that properly identified for said nickname. Message boards such as this are a bit more detailed in the information gathered, but dedicated chat servers are not, I run one. Email addresses sent out by administrative staff at webhosting companies and colo or datacenters get filtered and are read by a multitude of people so actualy getting an idividuals email address like proposed in the article is next to 0. I agree that homeland security gets a good bit of self descresion, but I can promise you ISP's and datacenters that are legit aren't targets. The chat host confiscated by the FBI was some script kiddies home based PC, a datacenter that would allow such activities would be soon out of business. The bandwidth costs alone are worth not doing this sort of thing. Trojans that have compromised indaviduals PC's are hex edited bots script kiddies supplement and modify existing code that is already known about. The FBI and others know that the majority of these originate over seas and the bot owners in the US get shut down pretty quick as soon as they are discovered. Again bandwidth costs to datacenters that are attacked is a fedral crime, you don't want to be in the US and be caught running a botnet. You can find this out going to security discusion groups and news groups online. Your article is a scare tactic using half truths and lies to cause fear. Shit like this needs to be delt with the same way spammers and script kiddies are and throttled on site.

http://www.tuath.org/files/sig.jpg

[JDR]

Originally posted by teyrn:

If the writer of that article actualy had a clue what they were writing about regarding chat servers webhosts and datacenters they would take themselves out in the street and commit suicide imediatly for trying to pass off such idiocy and hoping people will believe it. So should the person that passes this shit around...

....Your article is a scare tactic using half truths and lies to cause fear. Shit like this needs to be delt with the same way spammers and script kiddies are and throttled on site.




Whoa...simmer down there boss. Don't shoot the messenger because of the message. I don't claim to be a computer guru. I just posted the commentary for open discussion.


"The Great Thing In This World Is Not So Much Where We Are, But In What Direction We Are Moving"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes -

[teyrn]

Originally posted by JDR:

Originally posted by teyrn:
If the writer of that article actualy had a clue what they were writing about regarding chat servers webhosts and datacenters they would take themselves out in the street and commit suicide imediatly for trying to pass off such idiocy and hoping people will believe it. So should the person that passes this shit around...

....Your article is a scare tactic using half truths and lies to cause fear. Shit like this needs to be delt with the same way spammers and script kiddies are and throttled on site.




Whoa...simmer down there boss. Don't shoot the messenger because of the message. I don't claim to be a computer guru. I just posted the commentary for open discussion.


"The Great Thing In This World Is Not So Much Where We Are, But In What Direction We Are Moving"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes -
Why not when you come accross things like this do some research. Visit some security related news groups. Call your ISP or a webhost company or datacenter. Check the actual news stories referanced in these articles to find what was actualy reported and follow up stories. Ask questions about specific topics or claims made in the article if you wish to discuss it. Just posting the article and waiting for responses gives the impression that you are posting as passing on something "informative" you think we all need to know, and it isin't. These articles exist for one reason. They generate hype and fear and every one likes a good consperacy. They do nothing in helping people protect their computers or secure their networks. If any thing it makes people want to go offline. Makes people afraid to participate in things like this because "big brother" is looking over their shoulder. Should people use logic and reason it would be obvious that the resorces claimed to be used to do what big brother is doing don't exist.
I am not saying there aren't threats and bad people out there. There are an abundance of them. Most are overseas where the big bad US of A can't get to them yet. There are cells in the US and sympathisers(sp) They steal identity to use for their own purposes regarding terrorism. But the claims made in the article aren't how it is being done. As is the bad case scenarios presented too.

http://www.tuath.org/files/sig.jpg

[metronycguy]

jdr i know of some cases where the patriot act was used to obtain information that was not terrorist related and would have been previous unobtainable under the current laws and subpoenas powers.

[metronycguy]

and theres also the thimerosal liability release that was snuck into the end of the patriot act