Crime

Via Pharyngula, a video rebuttal to a recent Bill O’Reilly show claim that Amsterdam’s drug policies are a failure that has led it to be a “cesspool of corruption, crime, everything is out of control, it’s anarchy,” according to guest Monica Crowley, Ph.D. (In a bit of irony, her doctorate is in “international relations.” She’s a Fox News foreign affairs and policy analyst who was a personal foreign policy assistant to Richard Nixon from 1990-1994–I didn’t realize former presidents needed personal foreign policy assistants.) Various cities in the Netherlands have placed additional restrictions on coffee shops that sell marijuana, such as not permitting them to operate within 200m of a school. The Wikipedia entry on drug policy in the Netherlands documents this, along with the details of their decriminalization (not legalization) policies. ...

I’ve been collecting data about IPs that have been attempting to spam my mail server for the past few months, and today I decided to take a look at what neighborhoods of /24 networks are the most heavily populated with spamming IPs. Here’s the list of the top ten “worst neighborhoods” trying to send me spam, mostly with dictionary attacks against my domain. These are all blocked by the CBL, so none of this spam actually gets through, but it ties up my bandwidth. I’ve put an asterisk (*) next to the ranges that are probably actually smaller than /24s based on the distribution of IPs. Does anybody have a tool that already exists to identify likely bad ranges to block based on the distribution of known bad IPs? All I did here was count IPs within a /24, but it would be nicer to identify the likely ranges of badness at both a more fine-grained and broader level. Note that these bad neighborhoods may be neighborhoods of poorly secured machines, or they may be neighborhoods of malicious machines. Either way, the providers are not doing a good job of cracking down on malicious activity from their networks. 1. 64.32.26.0/24 (25 IPs) 45 46 51 52 54 66 68 73 81 90 100 102 104 111 113 126 155 157 163 168 194 199 204 236 242 AS 46844 | 64.32.26.0 | ST-BGP - SHARKTECH INTERNET SERVICES Upstream provider: AS 7922 | 64.32.26.0 | COMCAST-7922 - Comcast Cable Communications, Inc. *2. 89.232.105.0/24 (24 IPs) 21 24 29 32 48 57 59 63 64 68 76 89 93 94 97 101 103 107 114 117 126 129 137 139 AS 28840 | 89.232.105.0 | TATTELECOM-AS Tattelecom.ru/Tattelecom Autonomous System Upstream provider: AS 6854 | 89.232.105.0 | SYNTERRA-AS SYNTERRA Joint Stock Company 64.32.26.0 3. 208.84.243.0/24 (20 IPs) 13 30 63 68 78 92 99 123 148 150 175 176 179 185 196 199 216 219 226 250 AS 40260 | 208.84.243.0 | TERRA-NETWORKS-MIAMI - Terra Networks Operations Inc. Upstream provider: AS 22364 | 208.84.243.0 | AS-22364 - Telefonica USA, Inc. *4. 83.149.3.0/24 (17 IPs) 5 6 12 14 16 18 21 22 25 28 30 40 42 47 48 51 63 AS 31213 | 83.149.3.0 | MF-NWGSM-AS OJSC MegaFon Network Upstream providers: AS 12389 | 83.149.3.0 | ROSTELECOM-AS JSC Rostelecom AS 20485 | 83.149.3.0 | TRANSTELECOM JSC Company TransTeleCom *5. 76.164.227.0/24 (16 IPs) 138 155 159 174 182 186 194 199 202 206 210 218 222 230 238 246 AS 36114 | 76.164.227.0 | RDTECH-ASN - R & D Technologies, LLC Upstream providers: AS 6473 | 76.164.227.0 | WCIXN4 - WCIX.Net, Inc. AS 35937 | 76.164.227.0 | MARQUISNET - MarquisNet LLC 6. 76.164.232.0/24 (15 IPs) 13 21 24 33 36 38 40 43 48 57 198 206 218 232 234 AS 36114 | 76.164.232.0 | RDTECH-ASN - R & D Technologies, LLC Upstream providers: AS 6473 | 76.164.227.0 | WCIXN4 - WCIX.Net, Inc. AS 35937 | 76.164.227.0 | MARQUISNET - MarquisNet LLC 7. 77.120.128.0/24 (15 IPs) 20 37 50 85 93 104 107 112 159 162 187 232 239 248 252 AS 43011 | 77.120.128.0 | DATASVIT-AS ISP Datasvit AS Number Upstream provider: AS 25229 | 77.120.128.0 | VOLIA-AS Volia Autonomous System *8. 78.138.170.0/24 (12 IPs) 66 68 77 78 160 166 178 189 190 193 202 211 AS 28840 | 78.138.170.0 | TATTELECOM-AS Tattelecom.ru/Tattelecom Autonomous System Upstream provider: AS 6854 | 89.232.105.0 | SYNTERRA-AS SYNTERRA Joint Stock Company 64.32.26.0 9. 77.232.143.0/24 (12 IPs) 33 37 40 63 69 104 175 182 190 215 218 251 AS 42145 | 77.232.143.0 | BSTV-AS OOO Bryansk Svyaz-TV Upstream provider: AS 20485 | 77.232.143.0 | TRANSTELECOM JSC Company TransTeleCom *10. 95.154.113.0/24 (12 IPs) 140 178 181 185 193 195 197 206 218 246 248 254 AS 44724 | 95.154.113.0 | OCTOPUSNET-AS Octopusnet LTD Upstream provider: AS 34470 | 95.154.113.0 | PTKOM-AS PortTelekom Autonomous system

TechCrunch has published “The Anatomy of the Twitter Attack," a detailed account of how “Hacker Croll” used people’s password-selection habits, use of multiple online applications, publicly available online information about people, and flawed “I forgot my password” mechanisms to gain access first to individuals’ personal webmail accounts and then to Twitter’s internal systems. It’s a good idea to use randomly generated passwords, stored in a password safe, so that they’re different with every service you use. It’s also a good idea to split personal and corporate accounts. Lately I’ve taken to using randomly generated information for my “I forgot my password” answers, as well, and keeping that in my password safe just like another password. The “secret questions” for password recovery are a vulnerability when so much personal information is being shared on the Internet. That’s how Sarah Palin’s email account was compromised last year, as well. ...

Part two of the three-part series in the St. Petersburg Times on Scientology has been published, and it’s a detailed account of the death of Lisa McPherson. Some of the previously unpublished details include that David Miscavige was personally monitoring McPherson’s auditing over closed circuit television and deemed her “clear” in 1995, prior to her minor car accident and subsequent death after being held for 17 days in the Fort Harrison hotel and being subjected to the “introspection rundown.” This is according to Tom De Vocht and Don Jason, both former high-ranking Scientologists in Clearwater. The Church of Scientology denies that Miscavige was even present in Clearwater. In December 1999, when a judge ruled that Miscavige could be added as a defendant in the McPherson wrongful death case, he allegedly became more abusive and irrational. The criminal case against the church fell apart when the medical examiner changed her ruling from undetermined cause of death to accidental death. Former Scientologist Marty Rathbun, one of the critics speaking out for this series, agrees with the church on this point that the medical examiner’s decision was based on the evidence rather than on blackmail or pressure from the church. (Previously.) (Photograph is of a Scientology Sea Org bus near the Fort Harrison Hotel, with a couple members of the Sea Org in uniform, on June 25, 2005. Sea Org members sign billion-year contracts.)

“It’s important for people to understand that in a democracy, there will be a full investigation. In other words, we want to know the truth. In our country, when there’s an allegation of abuse … there will be a full investigation, and justice will be delivered. … It’s very important for people and your listeners to understand that in our country, when an issue is brought to our attention on this magnitude, we act. And we act in a way in which leaders are willing to discuss it with the media. … In other words, people want to know the truth. That stands in contrast to dictatorships. A dictator wouldn’t be answering questions about this. A dictator wouldn’t be saying that the system will be investigated and the world will see the results of the investigation." And on the treatment of war crimes: “War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, ‘I was just following orders." The former quote is from the video below, the latter quote is from this March 2003 CNN transcript. (First quote via Dispatches from the Culture Wars, second quote via The Agitator.) And, for your edification, please read Scott Horton’s article, “Busting the Torture Myths." ...

There’s FUD spreading about Sec. 14 of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, maintaining that it amounts to an effective repeal of the 4th Amendment for the Internet. That’s not so–the scope is restricted to “threat and vulnerability information” regarding the Internet, which I interpret to mean network service provider knowledge about compromised systems, botnets, etc., much of which is no doubt already being voluntarily shared with the government as is permissible under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, when, in the course of a provider’s normal service monitoring, it becomes aware of possible criminal activity. I expect I’ll have more to say after I have a chance to read through the whole bill (PDF).

From the Philadelphia Daily News: ON A SWELTERING July afternoon in 2007, Officer Jeffrey Cujdik and his narcotics squad members raided an Olney tobacco shop. Then, with guns drawn, they did something bizarre: They smashed two surveillance cameras with a metal rod, said store owners David and Eunice Nam. The five plainclothes officers yanked camera wires from the ceiling. They forced the slight, frail Korean couple to the vinyl floor and cuffed them with plastic wrist ties. ...

Portugal decriminalized drugs in 2001, and Glenn Greenwald discusses the evidence that he says shows it has been “an unquestionable success, leading to improvements in virtually every relevant category and enabling Portugal to manage drug-related problems (and drug usage rates) far better than most Western nations that continue to treat adult drug consumption as a criminal offense.” Historical Comments Ktisophilos (2009-03-17): The Drug War Body Count by Debra J. Saunders supports your case, and cites some former Central and South Americans as well as The Economist ...

Remember how the press was all over the story of the 29-year-old millionaire white supremacist and fan of Adolf Hitler in Maine who was building a dirty bomb that he planned to set off at Obama’s inauguration, but it didn’t happen because his wife shot and killed him? Me neither, but James G. Cummings of Belfast, Maine, had (quoting Wikileaks) “four lots of one gallon containers of bomb-grade hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium (also radioactive), lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium (radiation booster), boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon” which he somehow planned to set off at the inauguration. Personally, I don’t think that volume of material could have been easily smuggled in anywhere near the inauguration activities without raising suspicion. Why no press coverage of this story, apart from the Bangor Daily News? Wikileaks has a summary; Wonkette has summarized that; the Washington D.C. Regional Threat and Analysis Center report (PDF) is here. ...

Jeff Jacobsen has a new article on Scientology’s use of religious R-1 visas to bring people from other countries to the U.S. to work at menial labor for $50/week (with billion-year Sea Org contracts). R-1 visas are supposed to be for religious ministers who have been working for the U.S. organization sponsoring them for at least two years, and it appears that Scientology has abused these conditions to get cheap labor. And in the process, they’ve brought in people like Artur Solomonyan from Armenia, who was subsequently arrested and found guilty of illegal weapons sales after trying to sell weapons including surface-to-air missiles to an FBI informant. ...