From: bill payne <billp@nmol.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 06:31:12 -0800 (PST)
To: john gilmore <newyork@fbi.gov
Subject: BIOS, FBI/ERF, Barbara Boxer,
Message-ID: <350E871B.2E74@nmol.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Tuesday 3/17/98 6:29 AM

Charles Christopher, FBI/NY http://www.fbi.gov/fo/nyfo/nytwa.htm
John Gilmore

Christopher, I received a phone call Monday morning.

The caller asked me to modify my resume to reflect my experience with 
PC BIOS.

I added the following lines.

  Attended Annabooks University week-long course on ROMing
  BIOS in 1992.

  Sixteen years experience interfacing high-level languages to BIOS.

  Reverse engineering BIOS and DOS for Sandia Labs weapons controller.

  Custom BIOS modifications experience for electronic locks for the
  FBI/Engineering Research Facility using Pentium processors.

The FBI paid my course tuition for the Annabooks course.

  http://www.annabooks.com/

I learned several months after Sandia manager Tommy Sellers, who was
entering the crypto business, and ombudsman Harvey Brewster gave me a 
directed transfer to break electronic locks for the FBI that the FBI 
DOES NOT GET COURT ORDERS to do normally illegal work.

The FBI my FBI/ERF supervisors, Mike Uttaro, and his boss Mike McDevitt 
told me that they believe that the above work is CLASSIFIED SECRET. 
http://www.fbi.gov/

I think that we should get this matter settled before it GETS WORSE.

Gilmore, I saw at http://www.jya.com/acp-pols.htm

BOXER CONTINUES EFFORTS TO OPPOSE U.S. EXPORT LIMITS ON COMPUTER
ENCRYPTION 


  March 4, 1998 

  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Americans
for 
  Computer Privacy and a delegation of bipartisan lawmakers at a news 
  conference today to oppose U.S. export limits on encryption
technology. 

  The following is Senator Boxer's statement. 

  "Since the high-tech revolution, Americans have learned that privacy 
  protection is of the utmost importance. Encryption technology is a key 
  component in protecting our privacy - it is the lock on the door that 
  guarantees not only our privacy, but often our safety as well.

Boxer also is known for the following quote

	"Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said,
	'Thank God, I'm still alive.'  But, of course, those who died,
	their lives will never be the same again."
	- Representative Barbara Boxer, after the 1994 [sic] earthquake

            Weird History 101 John Richard Stephens
http://www/adamsmedia.com

Sandian Ron Pate and I were seated in a SF airport satellite area during 
that earthquake.

Pate and I worked on electronic tagging for the CTBT.  This used public
key 
crypto.  I used the Cylink CY1024 for that project.

Electronic locks are mostly connected to Pcs.

The PC keeps both a printed record and disk log entrys.

Electronic lock programmers do not and cannot rewrite an operating
system.

Therefore, the simplest way to defeat an electronic lock is to modify
BIOS.  

Intercept the electronic lock programmer call to BIOS, look for a known
credential,
open the door, and suppress the writes to printer and disk.

Not too tough to do.  

But I was told to modify MANY SYSTEMS which I could NOT DO.  

Hirsch, CardKey, Sensor engineering, ....  I was being set up to fail.

Looks like your legal stuff is paying off in political support.

Let's hope we get this crypto mess settled so that we can all move on 
to more constructive projects.

Later
bill