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The Chomskybot Code:
Conduct in the Time of Terror
by Mary LaRosa
Dissident Voice
November 1, 2003
Updated Version
In spite of
constant reassurances about the term "democracy" one is rarely
allowed to criticize the country of Israel without suffering some punishing
consequence for it. If you are a Jew you may survive the accusations of
anti-Semitism but if you consistently express yourself online in any dissidence
about Israel's current politick, you will probably not be immune to cyber
attack.
Israeli peace
groups that I have contact with suffer from cyber attack collectively and
individually and at the very least, receive massive spamming. One group that I
have a particular association with is New Profile (http://www.newprofile.org). New Profile
is an organization in pursuit and practice of a more civil, less militarized
society in Israel, with specific support being given to conscientious objectors
who, in good conscience, can not and will not be part of the present IDF agenda
of terrorizing civilians in the Occupied Territories in order to collectively
punish the past and combat the future crimes of suicide bombers, while at the
same time grabbing more land for settlements.
One such
famous conscientious objector noted for his pacifism and also his relationship
to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is his nephew, Yoni Ben Artzi.
While Yoni, a brilliant physics and math student who could better serve Israel
at University, was being shuffled back and forth between military courts that
seem to have real problems understanding the term, "pacifism", there
was another Israeli teen calling attention to himself via computer crime.
His name
is Ehud Tenenbaum. Ehud Tenenbaum is a young man who Benjamin Netanyahu noticed
and noted at the time of Tenenbaum's arrest in 1998, as "damn good ".
The rest of the quote has sometimes been edited but in this case needs
completion. Netanyahu said of Ehud Tenenbaum that he was "damn good ...and
very dangerous". (CNN Interactive: March 19, 1998)
Ehud was
indeed a dangerous variable in our security system just prior to 9-11.
As U.S.
troops, combat aircraft and warships gathered in the Persian Gulf February of
1998, Ehud Tenenbaum was about to be arrested for hacking into the Pentagon, in
what then US Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre called "the most
organized and systematic attack to date" on US military systems. The
attacks were played down and somewhat negligently reported in the media which
seems to reflect the general negligence which allowed the attacks in the first
place. These attacks exploited a well known vulnerability in the Solaris
system, for which there had been a patch available for months. Hamre admitted
grave concerns that the computer attacks and vulnerabilities "might"
be related.
This case
in the Israeli judicial system continued over the next few years and according
to the reporting of Kevin Poulsen, "The hacker known as 'The Analyzer' was
sentenced Thursday in Israel to six months of community service for a series of
intrusions into the U.S. Defense Department computers that triggered America's
first full-blown infowar false alarm" (Security Focus, June 15 2001) Ehud
Tenenbaum, then 22, also received one year of probation and a two-year suspended
prison sentence that could be enforced if he committed another computer crime
within three years. Additionally, the hacker was fined 75,000 New Israeli
Sheqalim; about $18,000 U.S. dollars.
Another
person arrested that year was Calldan Levi Coffman, of Carson, Washington who
was the suspected leader of a group of computer hackers who broke into a
network of NASA labs. US officials claimed that the attacks were serious, but
that no classified information had been compromised. This conjecture, meant as
a reassurance? Was mostly based upon there having been no indication of any
organized campaign against the state and country.
According
to a CNN report at the time of the crime, "The Analyzer" and his online
companions claimed not to have seriously been looking for secrets, but only
wanting to prove weaknesses. He and his online buddies in computer crime did
indeed prove weaknesses in M.I.T.'s plasma energy labs and break-ins were then
reported in a variety of military locations, including the Naval Undersea
Warfare Center as well as NASA and various universities throughout the
country. Tenenbaum had been mentoring
two other teen hackers from California and the NASA investigators further
linked Coffman as the leader of the group called "ViRii" which had
taken control of a Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. After being
apprehended, Ehud was inducted into Israeli military service, just like any
other high school graduate.
Two years
later, while awaiting various pleas and bargaining, Tenenbaum was making busy
as a consultant for the company 2Xs which further cooperated with an anonymous
organization called, The Israeli Internet Underground. This company seemed to
provide patriotic? service by convincing other
companies in Israel how vulnerable you and your computer are while at
the same time, offering you the protection your need in order to survive the
attacks.
BBC News
(February 1, 1999) reported another teen with similar politics who was lauded for
sending a virus to www.iraq.com under the
pretense of being a Palestinian with a computer virus for Israeli sites! According to the BBC Online Network, Nir
Zigdon had read about alleged anti-Semitic sites in a PC magazine and told
authorities,
"I
destroyed the site because it contained lies about the US and Israel and
propaganda against the Jews".
Nir
claimed to have received 100's of congratulatory phone calls for his vigilante
work.
Perhaps,
if one is an Israeli Knesset member one can feel "safely" afforded
the opportunity to speak out directly against Israeli government policies via
"democracy". As an American
citizen who does not wish her tax dollars going abroad in support of such
pursuits as house demolitions and the illegal use of administrative detentions,
I have been hated and spammed and recently, placed in a position where my pc
could have been either damaged or hauled off as evidence for complaining.
In order
to keep my computer, I have probably traded off my privacy.
Sound like
exaggeration? Or paranoia? Besides living in a country where government
surveillance seems to know no distinction between terror and patriotism under
the umbrella of an oddly called, "Patriot Act", there continues to exist
groups of computer hackers and spammers intent upon vicious response to public
outrage and political comment concerning Israel's occupation of Palestine.
Michael
Gillespie in an article published by Media Monitors called, "Israeli
Computer Hackers Foiled, Exposed" (September 2, 2002) wrote of Israeli
cyber warfare professionals who target human rights and anti-war activists
across the USA. In late July and August
of 2002, they temporarily disrupted communications, harassing hundreds of
computer users, and annoying thousands more. Some of the email aggressively
connected to a web site that takes control of computers, turns the screen
white, and makes it necessary to shut down and re-start. Some peace activists
also reported that their e-mail addresses had been "spoofed" and
their on-line identities appropriated for distribution of racist and ugly
messages sent out in their name.
A year
earlier in The Nation (October 10, 2001) Abby Aguirre wrote an article called,
"Palestine Activism Spammed" and related current cyber techniques
used to thwart any and all criticism about Israel. This article reported that
most well known peace activists thought to be pro-Palestinian are routinely
targeted along with their contacts. MIT
linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, is one of the more recognized names.
Noam
Chomsky's name is also associated with a small and clever program on the
computer that generates random sentences to sound very academic but which
actually make no sense at all. This has been termed a Chomskybot and it has
evolved into a device used in one of the types of spam I have been receiving
lately. My latest spam appears to be a Chomskybot spinoff.
With
scripted and "foggy" cloning, Chomskybot is able to get through the
usual spamming blocks. As far as I can fathom in my limited knowledge of Geek,
Chomskybot is made generically and lets you specify the number of sentences in
a paragraph to accept any amount of phrase files. Chomskybot has in its
potential, not only the ability to get through spam guards, but the ability to
embed all types of messages which can (and does) distract a pc owner with fear
and paranoia.
Much of my
latest spam, has had Chomskybot style messages embedded with oddball phrases
directly related to quotes from Jules Verne, HG Wells, and Charles Darwin which
have nothing at all to do with the product being overtly advertised. Some of my spam appeared to be phrased with
geographical IPS locations and "vague" references to countries and
military procedures. While this appears more refined than actual cursing and
virus attachments that I have received in the past for daring to write an
article about the conscientious objectors, or Israeli nuclear objector
Mordechai Vanunu, or the illegal use of administrative detentions, it is still
disconcerting as an American citizen to receive this spam and be confronted and
conflicted by an obligation to tell someone or be culpable or be set up as
culpable. Privacy and credibility aside, we are presently at war and I do not
take lightly any of the men and women who serve under US military command.
Therefore, I was more concerned about the nature of this spam, more than the
other spam I have received. And it has made me upset and also angry.
This form of
collective cyber punishment is a waste of everyone's time and energies. It is
yet another bully tactic that has been going on for some time and the fact that
it can elicit similar hateful responses from hackers outside of Israel, does
not make me any less angry about it.
Collective punishment and mass retaliations seem to be the Israeli
standard for cyber warfare as well as ground warfare. Why must it be a standard
for everyone? And what consideration is there in the energy spent on all of
this being rerouted towards creative solutions re: the hideous situation in
Israel and the Occupied Territories?
Last year
much of the Israeli cyber wars were curtailed because of the concerted efforts
of a computer administrator (and detective) from Iowa named Dr. Bassam
Shehadeh. Soon after a cyber attack to his university in Iowa, Shehadeh tracked
hackers to a West Bank ISP and, finally, to an Israeli phone number, while
other computer professionals in the USA, along with some of the targeted
activists themselves, quietly contacted management representatives at various
IP addresses around the globe and notified them that their facilities were
being abused.
I followed
in example of this technique and sent my most unusual spam to Sun Technologies
with regards to its ownership of iPlanetMessaging Server 5.2 HotFix. I received answer but went further and sent
it to individual computer scientists whose job at Sun is computer security. I
also used my skills as a librarian and discovered that all of the spam phrases
and quotations originated from four websites. Three of the four websites that I
found ranked were sometimes the only reference, originating from online
libraries that collect user information and the fourth, was a private website
located in Israel.
All of this
certainly distracted me. But it also succeeded in recharging my efforts with
energies based upon the response to being bullied. I suggest that all effort be
made to continue to get real truth to America and the international community
at large. Besides the advantage that
the internet gives us as, we need to further apply direct pressure to news
medias who display slant or who ignore one group for another. And we must
indeed make a more concerted effort through all medias to investigate
violations into human rights issues in the Occupied Territories. Until such time as Israel makes good its
"good will" especially re: a military that operates outside of legal
jurisprudence and that victimizes civilians in such a way as to constitute what
Amnesty International has most recently termed "War Crimes", we as
Americans must stop funding terror.
Some
really dedicated Israeli dissenters are my example and inspiration.
Devorah
Brous is a diligent grass roots peace activist who frequently complains about
being subjected to the continuous effort her government makes in order to
suppress the truth: that there are many in Israel who wish to make a sincere
and lasting peace effort and in doing so are in direct conflict of their
present government. Her computer and
her daily coming and going have been constantly interrupted, especially against
her most recent political effort, educating the public about the 100 Bedouin
homes demolished this year by the IDF.
The
bullying principle, whether cyber or in person, produces not just an individual
outrage but a connection with others in their outrage. It is that connection
that shares the higher value beyond anger and retaliation. It is that
connection that studies a situation and brings it forth into the light for all to
see. Imagine if the efforts spent on suppression could be better spent in
gestures of good will?
One
interesting study that has come to me because of all this spam is my
retrospective upon Israeli leadership and party ideals in Israel's government.
I am very interested in that period when, by elected agreement, the leadership
of Israel was "shared". Do you suppose an Al Gore could possibly have
shared an office with a George Bush, the way Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir
shared? What better way to study the direct cause and effects of government
policies as applied by the leadership of two distinctly different men.
For
instance, not since the reign of Yitzhak Shamir has there been such an increase
and obvious jump in Israeli casualties AND causalities with relationship to
....home demolitions of the Palestinian people. If there seems to be no actual
intelligence in present authority that can look at such figures and consider
the relationship of the one upon the other and the grave consequences upon two
people.... then it is time for a change! Israel! Wake up!
Ethnic
cleansings and continued abuses against human rights have PROVEN to not make
for a safer or better Israel. Neither will a wall nor barrier protect those who
live within the barrier while represented by those who would inflict terror
upon Palestinian civilians. The statistics provided by B'tselem make it obvious and clear that the Oslo
Accord and Rapprochement plans made for a direction towards a lasting peace.
Since then, that peace plan has been discarded and replaced with a Road Map
going Nowhere, but taking everyone on a horrible and endless detour.
As an
American citizen I wish to remove my monetary support at such a time when
America needs my dollars and Israel needs to prove it worthiness and its good
will and intentions towards the Peace Process.
Others
like myself join with the growing minority in Israel who wish to live without
fear from the reprisals of a bellicose nationalism enacted by the present IDF.
As an American citizen, I am horrified by my country’s lack of foresight in
entering Iraq and I am not reconciled to the consequences and expendabilities
which my government consciously elected to choose in its occupation of another
country. In this way, I feel very much in empathy with Israeli peace activists.
Israeli
peace activists are a presence and role model to everyday folk everywhere
working daily towards a better means of existence and government; who do not
wish to live within the repetitive cycle of violence and terrorism.
Imagine,
again, if all of the effort and money spent on aggression and suppression was
better spent in gestures of good will. There does not need to be a Road Map or
any map at all about Good Will:
Releasing
political prisoners held with out charges under administrative detentions,
especially children is such a gesture of Good Will.
Rebuilding
100 Bedouin homes is also such a gesture of Good Will.
Our voices
will not be suppressed by hackers. Internet bullying no doubt causes distress
and harm and can temporarily be disruptive as well. But it also represents how
much we are really feared by those who would keep us quiet. That fear is a
powerful worm, stronger than any computer worm or virus. It produces a greater
and longer lasting harm unto itself and the Bully...and as a result...a
virulent, more powerful "worm" is created and when cut up or
separated, will regenerate itself and will attract more consideration of better
values and concerns about Human Rights issues from more people.
Yoni Ben
Artzi is a young man of courage and honor. He respects his heritage by properly
addressing his dissidence. His mother and father and uncle and generations to
come can be proud of him and of his commitment towards a better Israel. History will prove the worth and value of
one such young man over the misconduct of others.
Mary
La Rosa is an artist/librarian who now lives in Firewall, New York.
She can be regularly spammed at her usual address: mddalton@optonline.net.
References:
Department
of Homeland Security News Service
The Latest Fatalities in the al-Aqsa Intifada,: 29
Sept. 2000 - 22 October 2003
In the Occupied Territories
2,194
Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces in the Occupied
Territories, of whom 414 were minors under the age of 18.
Ages of the
minors killed: Seventy Eight minors were age 17, Seventy Seven were age 16,
Fifty Six were age 15, Fifty Three were age 14, Forty Four were age 13, Twenty
One were age 12, Fourteen were age 11, Twelve were age 10, Nine were age 9,
Thirteen were age 8, Five were age 7, Five were age 6, Four were age 5, Four
were age 4, Seven were age 3, Five were two years old, Five were One year old
babies, One was a 6 month old baby girl and One was a four month old baby girl.
At least
125 of the Palestinians killed were extrajudicially executed by Israel. In the
course of these assassinations 85 additional Palestinians were killed.
32
Palestinians were killed by Israeli civilians, including Three minors: One was
age 17, One was age 14 and One was a Two month- old baby girl.
Nine
foreign Citizens were killed by Israeli security forces gunfire.
194
Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians, 30 of them were minors under the
age of 18: Six were aged 17, Five were age 16, Seven were age 14, Two were age
13, One was age 11, Two were age 9, Three were age 5, One was a 10 month-old
baby girl, One was a 7 month-old baby girl, One was a 5 month-old baby boy and
one was a one day old baby boy.
Seven
foreign citizens were killed by Palestinians.
173
members of the Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinians.
86
Palestinians were killed by Palestinian civilians on suspicion of collaborating
with Israel. 18 of them were killed while held in the custody of the
Palestinian security forces. 29 Palestinians were killed by members of the
Palestinian security forces. 9 of them were killed while held in the custody of
the Palestinian security forces. 3 of them were executed, 2 after being
convicted of collaboration with Israel and 1 after being convicted of criminal
charges. One Palestinian was killed by gunfire by a Palestinian who opened fire
at Israeli civilians.
One
Palestinian civilian was killed by gunfire when IDF soldiers forced him to
serve as their human shield.
Within Israel
48
Palestinians, residents of the Occupied Territories, were killed by Israeli
security forces gunfire. One of those killed was a minor aged 14.
376
Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians, residents of the Occupied
Territories. 74 of them were minors under the age of 18. Of them: Twelve were
age 17, Thirteen were age 16, Fourteen were age 15, Six were age 14, Four were
age 13, Three were age 12, Two were age 11, One was age 10, Two were age 9, Two
were age 8, Two were age 7, One was age 5, Three were age 4, Two were age 3, One
was a two years old baby, One was an Eighteen month old baby, One was a 14
month old baby, One was a One year old baby, One was an Eleven month old baby,
One was a nine month old baby, and One was a seven month old baby.
3 Israeli
civilians were killed by foreign citizens
32 foreign
citizens were killed by Palestinians. Two of them were minors: One of them - 16
years old and the other - Five months old.
76 members
of the Israeli security forces were killed by Palestinians, residents of the Occupied
Territories.
Palestinians
who died after medical treatment was delayed due to restrictions of movement.
Palestinians
killed by an explosive device that they set or was on their person: 12.
Palestinian
citizens of Israel killed within Israel by the Israeli Police: One
Jewish
Israeli citizen killed within Israel by a Palestinian-Israeli citizen in
October 2000: Two
Jewish
Israeli citizens and One member of the Israeli security forces, killed by a
Palestinian citizen of Israel in Nahariya in September 2001: Four
Palestinian-citizens
of Israel killed by IDF gunfire in the Territories.
One
Palestinian-citizen of Israel killed by Border Police gunfire in Israel in July
2003
Other
Articles by Mary La Rosa
* Conscience
or Complicity: The Altered State Solution
* The
Prisoner of Zion and the Secret of Bassam Abu Sharif
* The War Against
Human Rights Groups
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