How NSA access was built into Windows <OT>

[David Boles]

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Ric Moore wrote:
> On Fri, 2007-01-19 at 21:13 -0800, David Boles wrote:
> 
>> Gee, thanks Ric.
> 
> Any time! :) 
> 
>> The plonk was for the 'Selinux is evil' thread not this list. I gather that I
>> did not make that clear. 
> 
> No, I didn't want you to jump ship either. 
> 
>> And I guess that I have turned it off too soon? I had
>> grown tired of the 'chicken little' attitude. The sky is falling!! The sky is
>> falling!!
> 
> It's a matter of perspectives. I saw a lot of intelligent people
> wrangling the issue of the "Right Thing", which is always the Geek
> Imperative. 
> 
>> Not one of you had any idea of what you were talking about here. Not one of
>> you had any idea what SElinux does. Or why it does what it does. But you all
>> were more than willing to damn SELinux and search for bogey men in the closet.
>> Or bogey men under the bed. To spread FUD. 
> 
> That's a rather broad brush to tar us all with. It's merely a matter of
> deciding to wield it, which you did. 


Yeah. My fault. I did do that. And a micro second after I clicked send I
kicked my own rear end for not being more clear about who was in the audience,
asking questions, and just who was at the podium stirring up and confusing the
crowd.


>> And all of this started by an
>> article about Windows dated mid summer 1999. Which has nothing to do with
>> Linux. And certainly does not qualify as news.
> 
> Yeah, once that was pointed out, my jaw dropped too! I try to stay
> current on Geek News, and that one sure passed me by. That was when we
> had the last RedHat Expo in Chapel Hill, and while hanging with my
> Caldera buddies there, it was never brought up that I recall. Evan
> Liebovich brought a bag of chicken feet from Canada for me to salt cure.
> We were big on "waving a chicken foot" at a computer problem, one of my
> inventions. I was trying to build some. God did they stink by the time
> they traveled from Canada to NC. :)


I have been in one-to-one contact with some people from here and on here also
so forgive me please if this is not familiar or too familiar.  8-)   You
mentioned the 1999 article. You do know that SElinx has been in Fedora Core
since FC-2. 2004? Right? Do you understand that SElinux is designed to protect
your HD and files from unauthorized access. Malware can not erase or scramble
your system. from what I have read it almost works too well.

Oh. And BTW thanks for mentioning Caldera. Someone asked me what Linux I
started with so long ago. That is the name that I could not recall.


>> But once again thanks for the invitation to rejoin the list that I did not leave.
>>
>> Next time you have I problem I hope that I can help. Feel frre to ask. I'll be
>> glad to help if I can.
> 
> Sure! Dnload Croquet and see if you can make it run under Linux. It's
> supposed to, and plenty of folks haven't managed to do so. 
> 
> Back to the topic though, to me one of the main benefits of lists like
> this is the sense of community. No one gets paid, everyone pitches in as
> they are able, and from personal thoughts and revelations we can make
> new friends and associates. Sure, this topic has really broken all
> attendance records. But, you can also gain insights into the
> personalities here and how they problem solve. 


Croquet? I have never heard of it but if could give me a little more
information I will look at it. My Linux is rawhide, soon to be FC-7. Would you
know if that make any difference to this for you and the others?


> LX smoked his machine (no greater love hath a man that he lay down his
> computer) testing the removal of SELinux. What a hoot! I enjoyed that
> telling of his experience. I now also know that he is the type that will
> jump into a thing, to gain some new knowledge. I know from all of the
> posts where people stand on personal liberties, and Government
> encroachment, which is a very relevant issue to computer users as
> Citizens. Some will take more, some will take less. People expressing
> their personal views, the thing between the chair and the computer makes
> the community that makes the OS go as well. 
> 
> You betcha that some of us (like me) are clueless as hell about SELinux
> except to turn it off. But, I am not condemned to remain so, as I pretty
> much trust what is written here from a pile of folks that I have come to
> care for. Without the OT stuff, I wouldn't know any one well enough to
> do so. As the commercial says "It's the human element." In my personal
> avocation a computer is just a shovel, as a useful tool to do useful
> work. At one time it was my life. I don't do that anymore. It wasn't
> healthy for me. I just see this whole NSA deal as an opportunity to know
> everyone better. Plus, a computer will filter it all into the dustbin,
> especially if the Subject line properly contains <OT> to respect those
> that do not wish to receive the chatter. On that point you are
> completely right. You should not be inconvenienced. Please note I
> replied after inserting that into the Subject Line. It would be better
> if we did that, I'll agree. Ric


And this whole, shall we call it a problem?, can be solved with some clear
heads and some clear thinking. That is one of those 'Linux' things' that seems
to have been missing before now.

Don't forget the information about Croquet.
- --

  David

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