From: "Albert P. Franco, II" <apf2@ctv.es>
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 10:00:10 +0800
To: cypherpunks@EINSTEIN.ssz.com
Subject: Re: Stego-empty hard drives... (fwd)
Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19980924170248.006b469c@pop.ctv.es>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



> Don't most memory scans do a keyscan anyway? looking for an ESC to 
>bypass the scan? So have it also check for something else to bring up 
>your special routine. It should pass all but the most detailed signature 
>analysis.
>

Also most BIOS'es scan for the <DEL> key (or other combinations) in order
to jump to the BIOS config screens. From here you have two options: 1) add
a second possible jump directly to hidden configuration for the HD, or 2)
within the Bios configuration menu add a scanner for a key sequence to
enable the blacked out HD sectors.

I can't imagine that anyone that wasn't already sure that you were playing
tricks with the HD would be able to detect either of these on a normal
startup. Again I think the key is that it would vastly expensive and very
time consuming for customs services to make more than a cursory check. More
and more people are carrying notebooks with them on trips and just like
most bag searching has ended due to very fast, but not perfect, technology,
notebook scanning is limited by the very important public factor--the
people waiting in line behind you will tend to get very anxious. :)

If on the other hand you are a "real" suspect then you best bet is not to
carry a PC into these countries. These techniques (all of the ones
mentioned in this thread) may even have a decent life-span if the ones that
want to get you are locals (ie. street cops), but as has been pointed out
before they don't have to know what's on your HD to place you under
psychiatric evaluation, etc. 

I think perhaps a tougher question is, "Is there a way, without resorting
to bloodshed, to regain control of our private property and private lives?"

That's not a troll! I know that there are a lot people on this list with
their assault rifles at the ready, that are convinced that only armed
resistance will work. But. I think that's the "easy" way out. (How) can it
be done another way? Especially, given the fact that so much progress has
already been made by the very Anti-American US Government and others.

How do we get back our civil rights that have been so eroded over the past
40 years? Is it too late? Are people in general so comfortable that liberty
isn't important anymore? 

Why is it that almost every state has a system for introducing legislation
at the popular level (referendum) but we don't have that freedom at the fed
level.  I wonder what the feds would do if we the sheeple could put
propositions on the federal budget. Imagine...Prop PGP: no export control
on crypto or work performed by US citizens living abroad; Prop 666: strict
public oversight on CIA/NSA/FBI wiretapping and surveillance activities;
add your favorite proposition here...

eor..

Al Franco, II
I can't sign this with crypto because the bastards might use it to try to
"prove" that I have illegally exported software (that can be freely
obtained in places outside the US).