Plausible Deniability, Wikileaks US Cables & Shadowrun Options

[CanadianWolverin...]

Iranian Martial Arts Clubs Used for Political Repression

So, want any IRL inspiration for your Shadowrun characters or settings? Wikileaks might have what you are looking for.

[Draco18s]

Just as an aside to "The Wikileaks Issue" my issue is that the issue is about Julian Assange more than it is about the data.

[Doc Chase]

What gets me about the entire thing is that Anonymous is being as hypocritical as the companies they're attacking.

Freedom of expression applies to being stopped by .gov, not by private enterprise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Draco18s]

What gets me about the entire thing is that Anonymous is being as hypocritical as the companies they're attacking.

Freedom of expression applies to being stopped by .gov, not by private enterprise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

The "hacktivism" has only taken up a half hour of my NPR, where as "Julian Assange is a rapist" or "Julian Assange thinks its his job to decide what's too sensative" or "Julian Assange this" "Julian Assange that" has taken up four whole days now.

[Doc Chase]

The "hacktivism" has only taken up a half hour of my NPR, where as "Julian Assange is a rapist" or "Julian Assange thinks its his job to decide what's too sensative" or "Julian Assange this" "Julian Assange that" has taken up four whole days now.

I admit, the first time I read this I thought "Anonymous DDoS'd NPR? Why?"

But yeah. The reasoning for such is that the stuff he's released really isn't as newsworthy as his motivations for doing so.

In SR terms, it's everyone questioning why the trid pirate is releasing the notes for AZT's new marketing plan for Nerps, when everyone knows what Nerps are already.

[hobgoblin]

so even if some wageslave was to stumble into jackpoint, and read the topics there, they may just shrug it of as crazy conspiracy theories...

Reinforces my thought about a need for a wageslave pov book or similar.

Btw, there is some research out showing that we humans may defend what we initially read/hear about some subject. This especially if the initial info benefits us more then the new info.

[Doc Chase]

Assange is less like a wageslave and more like...Not even Fastjack because Assange is a figurehead, more like the head of KSAF. The Jackpointers are the ones getting the info and releasing it.

But yes, a wageslave book might be interesting, but I don't see it selling well.

[hobgoblin]

heh, so maybe "a day in a wageslave's life" section in some collection book? Like for example those SOTA books of old?

And i guess the whole Assange and wikileaks thing can be seen as a real life variation on how the TM story was exposed in Emergence.

[CanadianWolverin...]

A wealthy leader from the Caucasus takes precautions. The Rolls Royce and The Kalashnikov.

[Eimi]

Assange is less like a wageslave and more like...Not even Fastjack because Assange is a figurehead, more like the head of KSAF. The Jackpointers are the ones getting the info and releasing it.

But yes, a wageslave book might be interesting, but I don't see it selling well.

Assange isn't Fastjack, certainly (and Wikileaks doesn't do any hacking, they only accept information from outside sources, they don't gather it themselves). But, on the other hand, to do some cut and pasting from his Wikipedia Article:

In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax" (derived from a phrase of Horace: "splendide mendax," or "nobly untruthful"). He and two other hackers joined to form a group which they named the International Subversives. Assange wrote down the early rules of the subculture: "Don’t damage computer systems you break into (including crashing them); don’t change the information in those systems (except for altering logs to cover your tracks); and share information".

In response to the hacking, the Australian Federal Police raided his Melbourne home in 1991. He was reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university, the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel, and other organisations, via modem. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to 24 charges of hacking and was released on bond for good conduct after being fined AU$2100. The prosecutor said "there is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers".

Assange later commented, "It's a bit annoying, actually. Because I cowrote a book about [being a hacker], there are documentaries about that, people talk about that a lot. They can cut and paste. But that was 20 years ago. It's very annoying to see modern day articles calling me a computer hacker. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm quite proud of it. But I understand the reason they suggest I'm a computer hacker now. There's a very specific reason."

&

In 1993, Assange was involved in starting one of the first public internet service providers in Australia, Suburbia Public Access Network. Starting in 1994, Assange lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software. In 1995, Assange wrote Strobe, the first free and open source port scanner. He contributed several patches to the PostgreSQL project in 1996. He helped to write the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997), which credits him as a researcher and reports his history with International Subversives. Starting around 1997, he co-invented the Rubberhose deniable encryption system, a cryptographic concept made into a software package for Linux designed to provide plausible deniability against rubber-hose cryptanalysis; he originally intended the system to be used "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field." Other free software that he has authored or co-authored includes the Usenet caching software NNTPCache and Surfraw, a command-line interface for web-based search engines. In 1999, Assange registered the domain leaks.org; "But", he says, "then I didn't do anything with it."

Assange has reportedly attended six universities. From 2003 to 2006, he studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne. On his personal web page, he described having represented his university at the Australian National Physics Competition around 2005. He has also studied philosophy and neuroscience.

End excerpts.

While he may be the chosen face of Wikileaks (they didn't want to have one at first, but people kept claiming to represent them online who weren't affiliated with them, so, as the founder and head editor, he was picked), he's not just a Face. And while he's no Fastjack, I wouldn't say he'd make a bad Captain Chaos.

[bernardo]

Don't know if Assange is Fastjack or Captain Chaos. I think, though, that this whole wikileaks thing does feel shadowruny to me. Specially when you wake up in the morning and cyber attacks and hacker storys are all over the newspapers... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

And if you remmember that helicopter attack video leak, they did had to roll their decrypt software...

[Fortinbras]

so even if some wageslave was to stumble into jackpoint, and read the topics there, they may just shrug it of as crazy conspiracy theories...

Reinforces my thought about a need for a wageslave pov book or similar.

So let's write it. I'd be happy to contribute as much copy as you need. Let me know the parameters and a place to send it.
Worse case scenario it becomes some fan drek roaming cyberspace.

[CanadianWolverin...]

The Soldier Who Survived the Ambush

[Elvaron]

I think, though, that this whole wikileaks thing does feel shadowruny to me.

That is the only part that feels shadowruny to you? I've seen my fair share of companies acting with extraterritorial powers already... Add to it the rise of islamistic tendencies (keyword: euro wars)... Okay, the date on the 2nd korean war and the unification of both halves is off... And next year we're supposed to see elves, dwarves and a dragon on christmas...

[hobgoblin]

don't know about dragons, but i see elves and dwarfs every christmas...

[Draco18s]

don't know about dragons, but i see elves and dwarfs every christmas...

You're not being creative enough. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

(I can't find this really awesome one I found a few years ago; I've got the images one another PC that I could dig up later)

[Elvaron]

Damn, you're right.... Crap... I must be a racist, I guess, cause I want to shoot those elves and dwarfs...

[Doc Chase]

Don't know if Assange is Fastjack or Captain Chaos. I think, though, that this whole wikileaks thing does feel shadowruny to me. Specially when you wake up in the morning and cyber attacks and hacker storys are all over the newspapers... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

And if you remmember that helicopter attack video leak, they did had to roll their decrypt software...

Neither. FJ and CC both have skill with the computer. Assange does not.

Rolling Stone did an article on one of the Wikileaks backers, who claims to have written the program that allows people to send the data that Wikileaks gathers without being caught. It's also been claimed this program is used by intelligence services worldwide.

Part of me wonders if it's actually been looked at to see if it's sending a copy to these guys automatically.

[hobgoblin]

Assange used to hack Australian systems as a teen.

[Elvaron]

Assange used to hack Australian systems as a teen.

That's no big news. Every teen with some knowledge of computer did it at that time. The news is that he was caught.

[CanRay]

Assange used to hack Australian systems as a teen.

Yeah, well Tony Stark did it, in a cave, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

Sorry, couldn't help it.

I remember when the Hacker Scare was heating up and one was found in my hometown. (Actually a town outside the city I was living in.).

The scary part? He was using such an obsolete POS machine that faith in the security of the USA was pretty much shot.

Of course, I live in Canada, and we knew our systems were hack-proof back then. They were still on paper.

[hobgoblin]

i was just trying to point out that Assange indeed knows (or did know) computers.

[Elvaron]

Certainly not to the extent where he would be called the world's best hacker, though, thus he can't be the mentioned named NPCs.
My money's on metahuman-form great dragon.

[Doc Chase]

i was just trying to point out that Assange indeed knows (or did know) computers.

Most people in '72 'know' computers. Folks like CC or Fastjack also know how to keep their mouths shut in the right way, I.E. how to air the secrets without it coming down on them.

Assange clearly does not, and as I said - the lion's share of his accomplishments re: WikiLeaks have been on the backs of supporters.

[Elvaron]

Maybe he's Poolitzer?