From jericho at attrition.org  Fri Dec  1 16:29:02 2006
From: jericho at attrition.org (security curmudgeon)
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 16:29:02 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] MPAA engages in piracy of Kirby Dick film
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612011628420.2349@forced.attrition.org>



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Richard Forno <rforno at infowarrior.org>
To: Infowarrior List <infowarrior at attrition.org>
Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 13:25:20 -0500
Subject: [Infowarrior] - MPAA engages in piracy of Kirby Dick film

MPAA engages in piracy of Kirby Dick film
http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/001953.html

MPAA:

     Manufacturing, selling, distributing or making copies of motion pictures
without the consent of the copyright owners is illegal. Movie pirates are
thieves, plain and simple. ALL forms of piracy are illegal and carry serious
legal consequences.

Except when we do it:

     The Motion Picture Assn. of America, the leader in the global fight
against movie piracy, is being accused of unlawfully making a bootleg copy
of a documentary that takes a critical look at the MPAA's film ratings
system.

     The MPAA admitted Monday that it had duplicated "This Film Is Not Yet
Rated" without the filmmaker's permission after director Kirby Dick
submitted his movie in November for an MPAA rating. The Hollywood trade
organization said that it did not break copyright law, insisting that the
dispute is part of a Dick-orchestrated "publicity stunt" to boost the film's
profile.

Yes, it's a publicity stunt. But the MPAA did copy a movie without
authorization. One fact doesn't negate the other.

The MPAA puts on publicity stunts all the time as part of its anti-piracy
efforts. But that doesn't mean there aren't movie pirates out there.

The MPAA needs to explain how an act they consider a great moral crime under
any circumstances is not a great moral crime when they do it:

     Anyone who sells, acquires, copies or distributes copyrighted materials
without permission is called a pirate.



From lyger at attrition.org  Sun Dec  3 22:02:52 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 22:02:52 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] Review: Movie: Casino Royale
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612032201290.13142@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/movies/casino.html

Casino Royale
2006
Martums

     M: This may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand. Any thug
        can kill. I need you to take your ego out of the equation.
     James: So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman.
     M: I knew it was too early to promote you.
     James: Well, I understand double-ohs have a very short life
            expectancy. So your mistake will be short-lived.

Ian Fleming would be pleased. From the onset, this film does every bit of 
justice to the Bond franchise. Take the locations for example: Venice, 
Montenegro, Miami, Nassau, Madagascar, Mbale and Prague. All excellent 
locales in their own right, but string them together and you trace the 
path of one of the most 
glue-your-asses-to-your-seats-and-your-eyes-to-the-screen adventures to 
visit box offices in recent years.

Don't let the locations alone justify my grading of this motion picture. 
Look at the performers: Eva Green, who is stunning and capable beyond 
description; Giancarlo Gianini who, for the first time since 2001's 
Hannibal, makes you grin and grimace nearly simultaneously; Judy Dench, 
who is second only to Kevin Spacey in Se7en in her ability to transform 
from icy to warm in less time than it takes you to blink. Then there's the 
new guy, playing our old favorite, in an old story where we see him again 
for the first time, which makes him the new guy. My head hurts. 
Regardless, Daniel Craig is excellent in his performance as Bond. He 
displays virtually every quality flawlessly, which is equally true of 
Green. Green and Craig are an excellent pair, both playing strong and 
confident, then injured and vulnerable, in a combined performance that 
makes you wonder, what the hell are they up to?

[...]

From lyger at attrition.org  Fri Dec  8 19:47:54 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 19:47:54 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] postal: ass-first down the chimney
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612081945150.25663@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/postal/p0013.html

For only the second time ever, the staff and volunteers at attrition.org 
reveal our "uber-intellect" and "inner workings" to you, the reader. We 
sometimes discuss information security, vulnerabilities, and world 
politics. Most of the time, we talk about gaming, ass sex, poor grammar, 
and chugging cock. Before we proceed, a few words of holiday cheer from 
us:

[...]

dumb chicks can be fun

strategic positioning

the force feels too

p1ng... p0ng

must have been good shit

what a guess

bend over and touch your toes

first date

pwn3d

we wish you a merry xmas

From lyger at attrition.org  Fri Dec 15 08:24:42 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:24:42 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] 100 million... the gloves come off.
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612150813070.27729@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/dataloss/rant/100million.html

Thu Dec 14 20:31:40 EDT 2006
Lyger

I'm going to preface this entire rant with one caveat: I have respect for 
Beth Givens and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for their efforts to promote 
awareness regarding data breaches that involve personally identifying 
information. I have respect for other groups and entities who care enough 
to report these breaches, analyze them, and provide meaningful and 
insightful commentary and analysis. However:

I really have a hard time respecting journalists who fail to do basic 
background research regarding this topic, especially when their writings 
openly praise the "popular kids at school" and fully ignore the hard work 
of others who make those "kids" so popular.

[...]


From lyger at attrition.org  Sat Dec 16 14:02:34 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 14:02:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] review: Book: Fedora Linux
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612161401220.11531@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/~lyger/works/reviews/fedora.html

Chris Tyler - Amazon.com
ISBN: 0-596-52682-2
O'Reilly Media Inc., Copyright 2007

About fifty percent of the way into this book, I quit taking notes and 
just kept reading. Even though the front cover labels this book as "a 
concise task-based approach", a more accurate description would be "a 
completely-thorough-to-the-point-of-being-scary approach." Chris Tyler 
clearly knows his stuff; after 600 pages of technical detail about Fedora 
and Linux in general, all I can say is "dot... dot... dot...".

The book starts off with a chapter titled "Installing Fedora". Good 
choice. From there, other chapters include desktop usage, notebook usage, 
system management, storage administration, networking, and security. One 
middle chapter about "package management" will mean little to those with 
no interest in Fedora or Red Hat, but the chapter itself, as well as the 
book in general, is fairly well detailed about RPM and 'yum' technologies. 
In my opinion, chapter 5 (Package Management) wasn't particularly useful 
for me, but Fedora and RH junkies will probably find more than a few 
tidbits of information that should be useful, especially the installation, 
roll-backs, and creation of RPM packages.

[...]

From lyger at attrition.org  Sun Dec 17 14:43:57 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 14:43:57 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] review: Movie: The Illusionist
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612171442380.6029@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/movies/illusionist.html

The Illusionist
2006
Czarina

Movies at their core are illustrated illusions, celluloid chimeras, and 
digital deceptions. We go to the theaters to watch what we already know is 
not real; even if it is "based on a true story or actual events," we know 
that someone else is in control of both the vertical and horizontal. 
People happily pay good money to be lied to, which is about the only time 
that people will do so without filing a complaint with the local BBB or 
news channel consumer action reporter.

So, keeping this in mind, I will look at The Illusionist, a film that 
proves to be quite enjoyable; although it doesn't look like much at the 
beginning, it slowly turns into an enchanting and magical film. With solid 
performances from the entire cast, this tale encases a story of forbidden 
love and one man's attempt to reclaim it.

In turn-of-the century Vienna, an extraordinary magician, known only as 
Eisenheim (Edward Norton), has enraptured the city with his wondrous 
talent at sleight of hand. Eisenheim is no stranger to the town, as he 
spent his formative years there but hastily quit the city when his 
forbidden love with the aristocratic Sophie (Jessica Biel) was discovered 
by the girl's mother, who did not want her to consort with someone below 
her station. Eisenheim, not of blue blood, loses the one thing in life 
that he treasures most, and with nothing left to tie him to Vienna, he 
treks the globe and learns the art of legerdemain.

[...]

From jericho at attrition.org  Thu Dec 21 19:54:48 2006
From: jericho at attrition.org (security curmudgeon)
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:54:48 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] Postal makes the news..
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612211953560.29268@forced.attrition.org>


http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/9999

Congressional aide admits trying to hire hackers -- to boost his college GPA
By Paul McNamara on Thu, 12/21/2006 - 6:59pm

The communications director for Montana's lone congressman solicited the 
services of two men he falsely believed to be criminally minded 
hackers-for-hire -- with the expressed goal of jacking up his college GPA 
-- during an exchange that spanned 22 e-mails over two weeks this past 
summer.

Todd Shriber, 28-year-old press aide to U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., 
e-mailed the security Web site attrition.org on Aug. 9, writing: "I need 
to urgently make contact with a hacker that would be interested in doing a 
one-time job for me. The pay would be good. I'm not sure what exactly the 
job would entail with respect to computer jargon, but I can go into rough 
detail upon making contact with a candidate."

After initially denying knowledge of the exchange, Shriber told me this 
afternoon in the final of our three phone conversations: "I did something 
that's greatly out of character for me and it's a mistake that I regret."

Two members of attrition.org, "Lyger" and "Jericho" (a.k.a. "security 
curmudgeon") corresponded with Shriber and fooled him into believing that 
they would carry out his wishes, with Jericho warning him at one point: 
"You are soliciting me to break the law and hack into a computer across 
state lines. That is a federal offense and multiple felonies."

Shriber wanted Lyger and Jericho to break into the computer system at 
Texas Christian University, from which he graduated in 2000.

In the final e-mail on Sunday, Aug. 27, Lyger tells Shriber that his 
hacking attempts had been detected and "we are SO busted." He urges him to 
"duck and run if you can" in an exaggerated, obscenity-filled -- and 
completely fictional -- missive that put an end to their working 
relationship.

While the name Todd Shriber and a Yahoo address appear on the e-mail 
string that has been posted at attrition.org since September -- the site 
posts many of the oddball requests it gets, including some seeking illegal 
services -- it was only today and after a bit of search-engine work here 
that the person involved was identified as a congressional aide. (Shriber 
did send Lyger a note in September asking that the e-mails be removed from 
the site.)

Asked why he launched the scheme, Shriber told me, "I would rather not get 
into that at all. I just got a little too far ahead of myself thinking 
about things down the road." His college grades "weren't that great," he 
acknowledged.

Shriber contends now that he "got cold feet" toward the culmination of the 
hack that never happened and wanted out, although there is no indication 
of second thoughts in any of the e-mail.

"A solicitation was made but no action was performed," he told me. "These 
are people misrepresenting themselves for a laugh."

Lyger expresses little sympathy for a man who, after all, was willing to 
pay others to commit a crime.

"You'll notice that we even intentionally redacted his Social Security 
number and date of birth in one of the e-mails (on the site)," Lyger told 
me in an e-mail this afternoon. "Pretty ironic that he even sent them 
since we maintain a data-loss database, Web page, and mailing list."


From lyger at attrition.org  Tue Dec 26 15:35:08 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:35:08 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] image: Microsoft Vista: ready for a new 0day
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612261533350.31112@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/news/content/06-12-26.001.html

Sent from an anonymous visitor, we now see how Microsoft should have 
packaged Vista:

http://attrition.org/images/vista2.jpg

If Vista isn't even secured against malware from 2004, can you imagine 
what 2007 will bring?

From lyger at attrition.org  Wed Dec 27 17:01:30 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 17:01:30 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] Movie: Perfume: The Story of Murderer
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612271700290.12407@forced.attrition.org>


http://attrition.org/movies/perfume.html

Perfume: The Story of Murderer
2006
Czarina

I remember seeing the trailer for this film with a friend of mine. When it 
was over, we both turned to each other and said "that looks stupid". So, 
when the DC Film Society offered an advanced screening of this film, I 
took full advantage to see this picture... even though I knew it would be 
stupid... but I wouldn't have to pay to have that conclusion confirmed.

I have to admit that I was a bit curious about the movie, so I waited an 
hour in line for my free pass, and sat in the theater next to women who 
took the title literally and marinated in cologne, and an obnoxious 12 
year old who complained throughout the whole movie that there were no 
black people in it.

The film opens with grisly and graphic images of the streets of 18th 
Century Paris -- eviscerated fish, a new-born fresh from the womb, and 
general filth all around (makes one grateful "smell-a-vision" isn't 
mainstream). Anyway, our narrator, John Hurt, compliments the visuals with 
poetic verbiage that provides insight into the thoughts and motivations of 
our protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (Ben Wishaw: Layer Cake), a boy 
of few words -- but what he lacks in verbal expression, he makes up in 
olfactory reception. In fact, his ability to smell far surpasses any 
ability of any human on this earth. Like a blood-hound, Grenouille soaks 
up smells like a sponge, trying to sate his hunger to capture every odor 
in the world, but his hunger begins to devour him and Grenouille becomes 
obsessed with possessing every aroma that exists -- or yet to exist.

[...]

From lyger at attrition.org  Thu Dec 28 17:55:27 2006
From: lyger at attrition.org (lyger)
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:55:27 -0500 (EST)
Subject: [attrition] Going Postal: "Best Of" submissions?
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.0612281752140.30378@forced.attrition.org>


In the last week, the "Going Postal" section of attrition.org has been 
receiving quite a bit of media attention due to the story originally broken 
here:

http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/9999

Attrition was "slashdotted" last Friday, we've done a few phone and email 
interviews for the media, and have received dozens of emails about the topic. 
So we started to wonder:  what do you, the loyal attrition followers, consider 
to be the "best of the best" of the Going Postal section?  So far, we have the 
thread listed above and one other up for consideration.

Let us know what you think.  What would round out a "Best Of" list?  Shoot us 
an email to staff at attrition.org and let us know.  We'll work on getting the 
list compiled for a future release.

http://attrition.org/postal/