[security-news] Bulletin #11, January 13 2003

[security-news-admin at lists.resist.ca]

***************************************************************
Security-news <security-news at resist.ca>
A security bulletin for autonomous resistance movements
Produced by the folks who bring you http://security.tao.ca
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January 13, 2003

We know it has been awhile since the last issue of security-news, our 
apologies for that. With war hysteria ramping up, the forced 
registration of arab americans (& their subsequent arrests and potential 
deportations), and the incursion of the state security apparatus into 
every aspect of our lives... there couldn't be a more pressing time for 
informed and rational discussion on activist security needs. Some 
organizers in Vancouver, BC are putting on a conference in May that will 
touch on many of the themes addressed in issues of security-news and at 
security.tao.ca. We have included their conference call-out below. As 
always, we could use submissions to security-news as it makes our job a 
lot easier to get the information out there when it is sent out way. 
Submissions can be sent to secure at resist.ca as always.


**********************************
Security-news: Issue #11 - Contents
**********************************
* Security tip of the week: PGP 8.0 - RSA Keys	  
* Events: Activist Security Conference - Callout 
* News & Analysis: Peace Groups Monitored by RCMP Secret Police
* News & Analysis: New Tools for Domestic Spying, & Qualms (part 1 of 2)
* How to: Data security for Linux power users (part 2 of 2)

*****
Security Tip of the Week: PGP 8.0 - RSA Keys 	
*****

In case you missed this, PGP 8.0 is now realeased and there is a 
freeware version for mail and file encryption available at pgp.com 
(there is, however, no free version of PGP disk anymore for users of 
Windows XP or Macintosh OSX which is crummy). Our tip is to make sure 
when creating RSA keys in the new PGP 8.0 to select the "RSA Legacy Key" 
option if you want anyone with an earlier version of PGP to be able to 
use your RSA key. If you create a plain RSA key in the new version, 
people with older versions of PGP can't use them.

*****
Events: ACTIVIST SECURITY CONFERENCE, VANCOUVER BC, MAY 9-11
*****

The Resist! Collective in Vancouver, BC is putting out this draft 
conference call to gather interested parties and supporters together to 
plan an Activist Security Conference for May, 2003. 

What we would like you to do is read the preliminary ideas we have put 
together (with help from friends from other organizations), and let us 
know if you are interested in helping us organize this conference, 
speaking at it, providing training or anything else. We are also looking 
for progressive groups to endorse, or co-sponsor this event. 

We will be setting up an organizing mailing list this week, and having 
our first face-to-face meeting of local organizers to discuss local 
logistics. Please let us know if you are interested in organizing 
locally or just interested in helping to shape the conference and 
develop curricula via the email list. Individuals who wish to be on the 
mailing list must be vouched for by an organization or individual who is 
familiar to us in order to cut down on disruption attempts by outside 
parties. Please email secure at resist.ca if you wish to be added to the 
mailing list or have suggestions, ideas, or comments. 

The Resist! Collective is committed to organizing the local logistics of 
such a conference but we need YOU! to make the content of such an event. 
Please respond to this soon so we can start to organize with as many 
people involved as possible.

WHAT: Activist Security - A Conference (to be given a better name 
shortly)

WHEN: May 9-11th, 2003

WHERE: Vancouver, British Columbia

WHO: Security trainers (tech and non-tech), system administrators, legal 
collectives, copwatch and anti-police brutality groups, and activists 
interested in training and getting trained in these areas.
 
WHY: As far as we know, there has never been an activist conference 
focussing on security for our movements. In the past two years, our 
world has rapidly changed for the worse, and security issues have become 
more important to activist communities as the long arm of the state 
continues to grow. An activist security conference would provide an 
opportunity for progressive security trainers, and activists from across 
North America to meet and skill-share as well as discuss issues and 
ideas on these themes. 

POTENTIAL STRUCTURE: We see that there are three very strong areas that 
we would like to develop workshops, discussions, training and skill 
sharing around:

* TECHNOLOGY: Secure system-administration, Communications security, 
Electronics, Encryption, Echelon & Carnivore, Bugs and taps etc. 

* ACTIVIST TRAINING: User-end security. How to communicate 
securely, security culture, surveillance and counter-surveillance, 
securing our communities (copwatch etc), law-enforcement bodies and 
operations. 

* LEGAL: The Patriot Act (US) and Bill C-36 (Canada), how evolving laws 
are affecting activism, the world post-911 and our rights, the pros and 
cons of court challenges.

This is *not* an exhaustive list of topics, but simply a place to start 
the discussions of the conference from. Please help us by letting us 
know what workshop/skillshare you would be interested in doing and what 
resources you need to be able to do it. 

SOME LOGISTICAL ISSUES: It is unlikely we will be able to do much 
fundraising to put this conference together but we will try. If you know 
of any potential funding sources, please put us in touch. Generally we 
will try to do this on the cheap, asking for a registration fee to cover 
costs on location - and trying to billet people with local activists. We 
are currently looking into space possibilities and costs in Vancouver.

For further information, discussion, to be added to the mailing list or 
anything else, please contact: secure at resist.ca

Thanks! We want to get the ball rolling on this ASAP so please reply 
soon.

In solidarity and struggle, 
The Resist! Collective


*****
News & Analysis: PEACE GROUPS MONITORED BY RCMP SECRET POLICE
Posted to: http://vancouver.indymedia.org
Friday, January 10, 2003
*****

PEACE GROUPS MONITORED BY RCMP SECRET POLICE:
FIGHT BACK WITH THEIR SECRET INFORMATION

http://www.peace.ca/peacegroupsmonitored.htm

All across Canada, in cities and towns, the RCMP monitored peace groups 
they considered subversive to the proper order of society. Any protest 
was monitored as the Government feared all organized opposition. The 
RCMP would even break & enter premises in order to gather material for 
the inclusion in their files on protest groups. Many of the RCMP 
Security Service (SS) files were transferred to the National Archives of 
Canada (NAC). This means that secret RCMP files on protest groups ARE 
NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU! All you have to do is request the files from the 
National Archives, and you will be able to prove the wrong-doings and 
civil rights violations by the RCMP which went unchecked for decades, 
and continue today under CSIS.

Now, before you become all worried that this takes lots of time and 
money and knowledge, let us assure you that it does not. Requests can 
be, and often are, hand-written. Although forms for making requests are 
available from public libraries and government offices, they are not 
required. It costs $5.00 to apply for files on groups and activities. In 
the event that they are not forthcoming with the files, making a 
complaint to the Information Commissioners is free, and can be 
hand-written in one sentence. Such simple complaints are often all that 
is required to finally get files. It need only state that you are 
dissatisfied with the response of the NAC, and that you would like the 
Commissioner to investigate and get more material released. The 
Commissioners will do the rest.

In Ottawa, go to the NAC Reference Room and view the public RG146 
finding aids for the secret files. There are hundreds of pages of lists 
of groups and activities and protests which were observed and noted by 
the RCMP undercover agents and their moles and snitches. If you are not 
in Ottawa, you should ask the NAC to make a copy of the finding aid 
available to you in your city through the office of your local Member of 
Parliament.

These files can be accessed by anyone. An electronic version of the AIA 
request form is available at:
http://www.cio-dpi.gc.ca/ip/infosource/Info_6/Request-Frms_e.html
Simply make a request in writing, using the form or letter, by mail, and 
include $5.00 per file part, to:

Access to Information Coordinator
National Archives of Canada
395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0N3
tel. (613) 947-1532/954-4142 fax. (613) 992-9350

Simply state that you request access to an RCMP file under the Access 
Act (AIA) of Canada. Just describe in as much detail as possible the 
records you seek. It is best to have gone through the RCMP finding aid 
(RG146) at the NAC first; this way you will be able to quote the file 
reference. However, you could simply give the name and location of the 
protest group, and have the NAC look it up for you. Then add $5.00 and 
send it to the NAC.

The NAC then has 30 days under the AIA to respond, and they will not 
meet this deadline, so you must immediately, on day 31, write a letter 
of delay complaint to the Information Commissioner, stating that the NAC 
is in a deemed refusal (late) position. Make the complaint soon, as it 
will help force the release of information. Simply state your name, 
address and the fact that the NAC has not properly responded to your 
request. You must write to the Commissioner and say that your request 
was not done in the required time limit, and/or that the response did 
not include all the requested records, and/or that the response
was heavily and unjustly severed:

Information Commissioner of Canada
300-112 Kent Street, Ottawa, ON, K1A 1H3
tel. (613) 995-9976/995-2410 fax. (613) 947-7294
http://infoweb.magi.com/~accessca/oic.html

Eventually, and you can wait a year for an initial release, some 
documents will show up in your post-box. Remember to give the NAC a new 
address if you move. At least 50% of the material in the subject files 
will have been deleted by CSIS before it is released by the NAC. 
Immediately complain to the Commissioner (see above) about the 
unreasonable deletions, and that office will undertake an investigation 
which will hopefully result in the NAC releasing more documents. You do 
not have to justify the reason for the deletions, as this was not your 
fault. Just complain! Many researchers have had to make multiple 
requests and ask for multiple investigations by the Commissioner in 
order to finally access much of the files.

Last, if you are interested in current (1984-1999) secret police files 
about a group, you should consider writing to the RCMP and CSIS and 
requesting a file release under AIA. You will note that the RCMP still 
show up at all demonstrations, and were certainly active in monitoring 
peace and protest groups long after that function was to have been 
transferred to CSIS. Using the method described above, simply write or 
fax, and send $5.00 to:
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Mr. Garnet Barlow, Access Coordinator
PO Box 9732, Ottawa, Postal Terminal
Ottawa, ON, K1G 4G4
tel. (613) 231-0107, fax. (613) 842-1271
toll free 1-877-995-9903

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Access to Information Coordinator
Access to Information Department
1200 Vanier Parkway
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R2
tel. (613) 993-5162, fax. (613) 993-5080

PEACE and PROTEST GROUPS MONITORED by the RCMP Notes: the first number 
(between 697 and 801) is the volume number, and should be used in the 
request. The number following the file name refers to the number of file 
parts for each title. If there is no number, then there is only one file 
part. The largest has some 50 file parts. If you want the file on End 
the Arms Race from Vancouver, then ask for: RG146, Volume 697, End the 
Arms Race Committee, Vancouver, 2 file parts. Send the NAC $10.00 for 
the two AIA file requests. 

For a full list of organizations and their RCMP file numbers - go to 
http://www.peace.ca/peacegroupsmonitored.htm

*****
News & Analysis: New Tools for Domestic Spying, and Qualms
By MICHAEL MOSS and FORD FESSENDEN
December 10, 2002
(Part 1 of 2 - next part in the next issue of security-news)
*****

When the Federal Bureau of Investigation grew concerned this spring that 
terrorists might attack using scuba gear, it set out to identify every 
person who had taken diving lessons in the previous three years.

Hundreds of dive shops and organizations gladly turned over their 
records, giving agents contact information for several million people.

"It certainly made sense to help them out," said Alison Matherly, 
marketing manager for the National Association of Underwater Instructors 
Worldwide. "We're all in this together."

But just as the effort was wrapping up in July, the F.B.I. ran into a 
two-man revolt. The owners of the Reef Seekers Dive Company in Beverly 
Hills, Calif., balked at turning over the records of their clients, who 
include Tom Cruise and Tommy Lee Jones - even when officials came back 
with a subpoena asking for "any and all documents and other records 
relating to all noncertified divers and referrals from July 1, 1999, 
through July 16, 2002."

Faced with defending the request before a judge, the prosecutor handling 
the matter notified Reef Seekers' lawyer that he was withdrawing the 
subpoena. The company's records stayed put.

"We're just a small business trying to make a living, and I do not 
relish the idea of standing up against the F.B.I.," said Ken Kurtis, one 
of the owners of Reef Seekers. "But I think somebody's got to do it."

In this case, the government took a tiny step back. But across the 
country, sometimes to the dismay of civil libertarians, law enforcement 
officials are maneuvering to seize the information-gathering weapons 
they say they desperately need to thwart terrorist attacks.