US Government Officials Admit That They Lied About Actual Impact Of Wikileaks To Bolster Legal Effort | Techdirt (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110119/14280012733/us-government-officials-admit-that-they-lied-about-actual-impact-wikileaks-to-bolster-legal-effort.shtml)


So... it seems rather interesting to see that US officials are now admitting that no serious "harm" has been caused by the leaks. In fact, the White House has admitted privately that it purposely lied about the supposed impact " in order to bolster legal efforts to shut down the WikiLeaks website and bring charges against the leakers." Implicated as chief among the official liars: State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley, who lead the propaganda campaign against Wikileaks for the past few months, claiming "there has been substantial damage," and that "hundreds of people have been put at potential risk." And yet, when Congress asked the State Department to back up those statements, officials told them it really wasn't that big of a deal.

Well we saw that coming a mile away.

What a surprise ! The Obots think the Wikileaks espionage is no biggie! No doubt they are secretly cheering Assange on .

Hehe, "Obots" - how juvenile.

What a suprise ! The Obots think the Wikileaks espionage is no biggie !! No doubt they are secretly cheering Assange on .Hello tom:

Not only is it no biggie, it's been a tremendous boon to us. Assange fomented the uprising in Tunisia.. That's GOOD for us and our war on terror... It's certainly GOOD for the Tunisians. Other corrupt Arab regimes may begin to fall. That's GOOD for us and the war on terror. Transparency is GOOD. People do the right things when they know the TRUTH. The TRUTH shall set you free.

You betcha I'm cheering Assange on, and not so quietly either... He's a PATRIOT of the first magnitude...

excon

So this is the big deal... the US government lied... you telling us that like we don't know they lie... I think it's called spin... who knows Assange may even be responsible for the US taking a more reasonable approach to China

You mean sucking up ,bowing and surrendering to the cadres.

you mean sucking up ,bowing and surrendering to the cadres.

Yeh, that's it, showing some oriental respect instead of shooting the big mouth off. Sometimes all it takes is putting yourself in the other fellows shoes.

I recall when we had a visit from Bush with the Chinese leader the following day. The reception couldn't be more different and the mood of the protesters couldn't be more different. You can't treat everyone the same, one is not offended by protesters the other is

I wouldn't allow the butcher of Beijing into the country.
Besides ,he is China's old news . The officer corps has taken over the country . Hu didn't even know the Chengdu J-20 was going to be rolled out during Def Sec Gates visit.

You along with the rest of the free world should be concerned that a schism exists between the Communist dictatorship and a heavily armed expansionist military.

They have been testing the borders all year ;including excursions into disputed borders with India and into North Korea... and yet the
World press remains silent .

Report: Chinese Troops Cross Into Indian Territory - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/10/ap/asia/main7229884.shtml)

China Moves Troops Into North Korea - Salem-News.Com (http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january172011/china-nkorea-ta.php)

They have had provocations against Japan ;are surronding India with their 'string of pearls ' strategy... and are occupying any uninhabited atoll in the South China Sea... even planting their flag with a sub on the sea foor itself .

You see them as a trading partner for your flooded coal mines... but they will soon dictate to you too.

I wouldn't allow the butcher of Beijing into the country.
Besides ,he is China's old news . The officer corps has taken over the country . Hu didn't even know the Chengdu J-20 was going to be rolled out during Def Sec Gates visit.

You along with the rest of the free world should be concerned that a schism exists between the Communist dictatorship and a heavily armed expansionist military.

They have been testing the borders all year ;including excursions into disputed borders with India and into North Korea ....and yet the
world press remains silent .

Report: Chinese Troops Cross Into Indian Territory - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/10/ap/asia/main7229884.shtml)

China Moves Troops Into North Korea - Salem-News.Com (http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january172011/china-nkorea-ta.php)

They have had provocations against Japan ;are surronding India with their 'string of pearls ' strategy ...and are occupying any unihabited atoll in the South China Sea ...even planting their flag with a sub on the sea foor itself .

You see them as a trading partner for your flooded coal mines ...but they will soon dictate to you too.

You wouldn't allow the butcher of Beijing into your country and I wouldn't allow Bush, the butcher of Baghdad, into mine. Yes we'll sell them coal and gas but you know Tom, restriction of supply hurts them, particularly if they have to buy at spot prices, What would you have us do? Not sell to them so the US could grab the supply contracts or force another war over commodities.

Over here we think white man speak with forked tongue. We know from experience your only real interest is what you can grab for yourselves, whether that be wheat supply contacts to Iraq or selling uranium to India. Your rhetoric is whatever conveniently suits the moment. When will Gitmo be shut down or do you need it to house Assange?

We have no interst in occupying atolls in the South China Sea but oddly enough the US sees things differently, still occupying atolls in the South Pacific and parts of Japan.

I'm not too concerned about Chinese internal politics and their military because any direction they might go isn't south. If I lived in Russia I might be concerned, but India, No I expect they see a nuclear armed nation with whom they have a border dispute and they take appropriate action. If the US lived with a nuclear armed nation or two on their borders they would be busily surrounding them. I place China in the same context as I place Russia, they have been invaded by their neighbours in the past and they are paranoid, I think some of that paranoia exists in the US too

I wouldn't allow the butcher of Baghdad into mineThe butcher of Baghdad ? Neither would I . Fortunately he lies a-mouldering in the grave.


When will Gitmo be shut down
When the Obots conduct military tribunals . What's taking them so long ? All the hurdles have been cleared and they are indicating that they will conduct them.

We have no interst in occupying atolls in the South China Sea... I'm not too concerned about Chinese internal politics and their military because any direction they might go isn't south.
No but the Chinese certainly do . They see the South China Sea as their lake. Oh ,I get it... you think they will stop at the Philippines... lol . When you lose the US security blanket I guess you'll be content living behind the rice curtain.

The butcher of Baghdad ? Neither would I . Fortunately he lies a-mouldering in the grave.


When the Obots conduct military tribunals . What's taking them so long ? All the hurdles have been cleared and they are indicating that they will conduct them.

No but the Chinese certainly do . They see the South China Sea as their lake. Oh ,I get it ...you think they will stop at the Phillipines ....lol . When you lose the US security blanket I guess you'll be content living behind the rice curtain.

Bush is the butcher of Baghdad, Tom, count the hundreds of thousands who died for the impossible dream.

Military tribunals, you mean shamtrials. The reason they haven't happened is you have no evidence to convict. All you can really prove is opportunity and that which has been extracted by torture and brutality

We well remember the US security blanket, Tom, and we remember how well you maintained the threat of the iron curtain, and the rice curtain. I think they have proved to be a myth. I'm not sure the planes the US will supply us with are up to the task. You see, when you force others to innovate they come up with innovative solutions. You can run a few aircraft carriers around the Pacific but I'm not sure they represent a security blanket. The Chinese prefer walking to sailing, far easier to move a million men. You will maintain your interest in the Philippines but when it is lost, will you retreat to Hawaii or LA? You need to remember we have seen the scenario you advance before.

You have long forgotten the communist maxim and I will remind you again. We will sell the last capitalist the rope to hang himself. Consider how the Chinese have advanced themselves along the road because I expect the gallows to be built with american timber. Not only have you exported your industries to them, you have borrowed money from them to buy the goods they make

You have long forgotten the communist maxim and I will remind you again. We will sell the last capitalist the rope to hang himself. Consider how the Chinese have advanced themselves along the road because I expect the gallows to be built with american timber. Not only have you exported your industries to them, you have borrowed money from them to buy the goods they make

Nahhh they will use Aussie steel.

Hello tom:

Not only is it no biggie, it's been a tremendous boon to us. Assange fomented the uprising in Tunisia.. That's GOOD for us and our war on terror... It's certainly GOOD for the Tunisians. Other corrupt Arab regimes may begin to fall. That's GOOD for us and the war on terror. Transparency is GOOD. People do the right things when they know the TRUTH. The TRUTH shall set you free.

You betcha I'm cheering Assange on, and not so quietly either... He's a PATRIOT of the first magnitude...

excon

So when he outright stole US docs by pirate methods and publishing them you think he's a HERO. I'm not talking about Manning's dump as bad as it is , I'm talking about his computers in Sweden gaining acess to US military hard drives by some means I'm not clear about but it involved piggy backing and on peer to peer emails the soldiers use when they share music files .
WikiLeaks obtains much secret data from P2P nets, not leaks, firm claims - Computerworld (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9205699/WikiLeaks_obtains_much_secret_data_from_P2P_nets_n ot_leaks_firm_claimsgs) .

That is theft... a criminal act by itself regardless of what Assange ;the self proclaimed arbiter of what the public should know, thought was worth revealing .

However ,the information he revealed was harldy the inconsequential stuff you think. This goes well beyond a joke a diplomat said about Putin .He is revealing things like where the Navy was placing sensors in the Pacific... or the locations of 'safe houses ' for the First Family ,or specifications about the President's helicopter . This is not whistle blower stuff ;it is not journalism... it is espionage plain and simple .

Eric Holder has to do everything in his power to shut down Wikileaks .

I'm talking about his computers in Sweden gaining acess to US military hard drives by some means I'm not clear about but it involved piggy backing and on peer to peer emails the soldiers use when they share music files .
WikiLeaks obtains much secret data from P2P nets, not leaks, firm claims - Computerworld (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9205699/WikiLeaks_obtains_much_secret_data_from_P2P_nets_n ot_leaks_firm_claimsgs) Yup when some noob shares their entire hard drive with a peer-to-peer application the contents of his hard drive are available to all who use the same application. It isn't hacking. Everyone can see the contents by doing keyword searches, even you. If you think Assange is a criminal then you need to go after around 20 million other people who get their kicks searching for stuff on P2P networks for stuff inadvertently shared by people unclear on the technology they are using.

He had hardware that was programmed to troll for national security related information... it is theft and piracy and espionage.

That is theft ...a criminal act by itself regardless of what Assange ;Hello tom:

Who owns the information the government has? The government?? You? Me? I don't think you can steal from yourself.

excon

Any 12 year old on KaZaa could put in the search term "helicopter blueprints", if some stupid grunt installed KaZaa on his military computer and set it to share his entire hard drive then it's available to all.

Give me more details on "hardware that was programmed".

He is an Aussie using Swedish based computers to steal from US government owned data bases for the purpose of undermining the United States .

He is an Aussie using Swedish based computers to steal from US government owned data bases for the purpose of undermining the United States .Nothing was stolen - it was shared for the world to see. You don't seem to get that part. No hacking occurred - it's simple!

Any 12 year old on KaZaa could put in the search term "helicopter blueprints", if some stupid grunt installed KaZaa on his military computer and set it to share his entire hard drive then it's available to all.

Give me more details on "hardware that was programmed".

Show me the specs of the President's helicopter that you could download without stealing it ?

KaZaa and Gnutella/Limewire networks are gone now, or else I could have had some fun with you, getting you to install it and configure it. :)

Kazaa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa#Transitional_Period)
Gnutella - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnutella)

So essentially you link to to pirate sites and that makes it acceptable to steal intellectual property?

He is an Aussie using Swedish based computers to steal from US government owned data bases for the purpose of undermining the United States .Hello again, tom:

Do you think the people of Tunisia feel undermined?? I don't think they do... I think they feel LIBERATED... The guy who feels undermined is the corrupt leader who got overthrown BECAUSE of Assange. Revealing corruption ISN'T undermining anything except the corruption... That's good... I don't know why you don't think it is.

excon

so essentially you link to to pirate sites and that makes it acceptable to steal intellectual property?
They are no links to pirate sites at all, if you don't understand the technology don't post what you think is damning evidence about it.

So you are OK if a hacker can use this to get into your computer to download your stuff ? Or perhaps you think that the victims of piracy deserve what they get . I heard a hacker boast this week that there was no security system that couldn't get hacked . I guess in your mind that makes it OK for them to do it.

I guess in your mind that makes it ok for them to do it.Nope, I'm just correcting you on the technology. I protect myself from hackers and so should everyone else. I believe in personal responsibility.

Once again it wasn't hacking, it's akin to you putting a box of all your stuff in your front yard and wondering why people are taking a copy of your stuff.

Ex ,it's just silly to think that the people of Tunisia did not know of the corruption of the Ben Ali regime.They lived under his iron fisted rule for 2 decades .The revolt was sparked by the suicide of a university graduate prevented by police from selling fruit and vegetables to make a living.

I give all credit to the people ,not to Wikileaks .

However ,what you will likely see there is the rise of another jihadist state. What is missing is the logic of the Bush Doctrine and the belief that the choice between despots and jihadists is a false choice... that freedom and liberty is a 3rd choice . I pray they make the 3rd choice.

So we're living under a regime that's lying to us? I thought all that was gone with Bush and the installation of the most ethical, honest, transparent administration evah!

Ex ,it's just silly to think that the people of Tunisia did not know of the corruption of the Ben Ali regime.Hello again, tom:

Speculating that your leader is corrupt, and having it CONFIRMED are two different things. His overthrow is a GOOD thing. If you want to attribute it to something else, OK.

excon

Confirmation in the form of a US diplomat's analysis in 2010 ? Why not Foreign Policy's expose on the 1st Lady's shopping prowess in 2008 ? Why not Human Rights Watch analysis of the 2009 Tunisia election that was held according to them in "an atmosphere of repression".
The fact that the leaked cable made mention to protests already underway is comletely besides the point.
I think the self immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on Dec 17 had much more to do with the government's collapse than the release of a US diplomatic cable.

it's akin to you putting a box of all your stuff in your front yard and wondering why people are taking a copy of your stuff.

Or someone picking your lock and walking away with your file cabinet.

Hello again, tom:

Who's to say what's in the mind of a revolutionary? Maybe they read Thomas Jefferson's thing about the tree of liberty. Or, maybe the leak was the straw... I don't know. Somebody burning themselves up would have done it for me.

excon

There have been copy cat suicides in Algiers and Egypt this month..

And yes there have been times where diplomatic cable releases have been the impetus for upheaval . The intercept of the Zimmerman telegram comes to mind.

or someone picking your lock and walking away with your file cabinet.Nope not at all. I've spent a few posts trying to explain to you but to no avail I see.

Soldier A sends soldier B a download of Lady Gaga . Wiki through pirateware hitches a ride on the transmission and gains access to a hard drive it has no right to be in... lifts classified information... releases it around the world .

And you think they have every right to do so ? You're a strange one .Suppose instead of doing that they got into your computer and published your acct #s and passwords or lifted intellectual property that is rightfully yours ?

soldier A sends soldier B a download of Lady Gaga .

And you think they have every right to do so ? You're a strange one .Hello again, tom:

I don't know. A reporter meets a government snitch under a bridge... The snitch is only identified as Deep Throat. Deep Throat leaks government secrets to the reporter, and the reporter writes a best selling book about it.

Did he (they) have the right to do that?

excon

The government snitch called Deep Throat(FBI agent Mark Felt who had a personal vendetta against Nixon .He thought he was due to become director of the FBI after Hoover's death and thought Nixon snubbed him.)... told Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money.. He steered them in the right direction .He never disclosed any classified information .

What we have here is espionage pure and simple. Assange' claim to journalism is very weak.

In the case I cite 'Soldier A 'never knows his private email is being used to penetrate government files. In the case of PFC Manning... he is as guilty as Assange .

BTW... Felt was convicted of a felony for ordering the breaking into members of the Weather Underground' homes in a attempt to prevent the bombing spree they were on. Reagan pardoned him.

soldier A sends soldier B a download of Lady Gaga . Wiki through pirateware hitches a ride on the transmission and gains access to a hard drive it has no right to be in.....lifts classified information ...releases it around the world You have absolutely no idea how the p2p technology works, you're digging yourself a deeper hole, please stop, it's embarrassing.

Yes or no... can it be legally used to go into government computers and download filed that are US property ?

If so explain how it can be legally used for that purpose .

yes or no ...can it be legally used to go into government computers and download filed that are US property ?If the user has installed software on their machine to allow their contents to be shared then that's the user's decision, it's not a legality issue no matter how hard you're trying to make it. If the user is not allowed to install that software then they should face repercussions within their organization for breach of contract.

So if the user, without knowledge or intention, installs programing that allows pirates to enter his hard drive and steal his files ,it is the users fault and not the person who knowingly enters that person's hard drive to steal the files ?

That is a ridiculous assetion .

so if the user, without knowledge or intention, installs programing that allows pirates to enter his hard drive and steal his files ,it is the users fault and not the person who knowingly enters that person's hard drive to steal the files ?

That is a rediculous assetion .The user installs the software with express intent to share and obtain files from others. When doing a search for keywords or file types you do not know what user has those files.

I don't know what a "rediculous assetion" is, it looks like English but...

Bye tom, educate yourself son.

Unsubscribing.

Hasta la vista . Do you have any other examples where the victim of theft is the one at fault ?


Wait... I take it back.. you have one of those rare opportunities where you can contribute something useful to the discussion.
Educate me! Tell me how by installing software onto my computer I am at fault if a predator uses that software to gain access to my files and steal them . Even better... tell me how the government is at fault if their computers are hacked because someone sends a GI in Afghanistan and Iraq some music files for their entertainment . To piggy back onto those files means the hacker must be some low life scum . To compromise that soldier's safety by publishing order of battle plans is worse .

Tom there is a principle here, practised diligently by your government in parts of its endeavours. What you don't protect, you will loose. How come information isn't in the same category. In the real world if you leave something laying around, it inevietably be stolen or just just be assumed abandoned. Why is information different?

You want to forget that this information has been provided by an insider, one of your own and Assange is merely the vehicle by which it was published, as far as we are aware without attempts to gain directly. Whistle blowers are hated by governments throughout the world, but it is by their actions that we find we are deceived and cheated, not by the actions of governments

Clete if you read the converstion prior to this you would see that I linked to instances where Wikileaks piggy backed on peer to peer file sharing by the troops to gain access to the US data base(comment #13) They then trolled and downloaded files... just like any illegal hacker pirate would . Many of these revelations are very sensitive national security information that even you would agree should not be public knowledge.
This is separate from the traitor PFC Manning's shameful and dishonerable actions .

you would see that I linked to instances where Wikileaks piggy backed on peer to peer file sharing by the troops to gain access to the US data base(comment #13) They then trolled and downloaded files ....just like any illegal hacker pirate would . That article says nothing of the sort. What does "piggy backed on peer to peer file sharing" even mean? Can you explain it to us?

That article says nothing of the sort. What does "piggy backed on peer to peer file sharing" even mean? Can you explain it to us?

Means it was a trojan file that came with the legitimate software.


Anyone that installs P2P software is aware they are doing it. But they may not be aware of the consequences of their actions. Its like leaving the door open to your home for anyone to walk in and have a look around.

Means it was a trojan file that came with the legitimate software.
Agreed that that can happen but the article said nothing like that happened. Tom kept writing stuff like "Wiki through pirateware hitches a ride on the transmission and gains access to a hard drive" which makes no sense whatsoever. Especially when related to music files which are the least likely to contain trojans.

So besides your technical nitpicking ;what I was saying was correct. Wiki was using the P2P to infiltrate US computers to steal it's content .

Edit .last night I heard similar arguments that you surrender your rights when you use file sharing programs ;and it's not theft .

I think that justification is bogus nonsense. If the government gave soldiers the authorization to send music files to each other it doesn't mean they also gave Wikileaks the right to access the computer and plunder government files .

This part of the story also has a Chinese connection . Wilkileaks has been aided by Chinese 'hackers' using the TOR network . According to the 'New Yorker ',the Chinese were the ones who stole the many early documents that Assange used to start up Wikileaks .
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian
Pure speculation... there are no independent hackers in China. They are part of the government apparatchik.They are conducting espionage for the government and they found a useful idiot in Assange .

so besides your technical nitpicking ;what I was saying was correct. Wiki was using the P2P to infiltrate US computers to steal it's content .Absolutely not. You can't use p2p to target a single computer.

More nitpicking . I used the plural suggesting it was the government network they were accessing .

Jesus dude, read up on the technology. P2P computers are anonymous on the network. You can't send a file a specific computer, it has to basically come get it from you.

Let me make it easy for you . I am not really interested in the nuts and bolts about how he was able to access the US database . There were 2 points to make .
1. We have been told that he was receiving information from whistleblowers. It turns out it was more than that . Besides the pfc Mannings ,he was also hacking into the government system to illegally obtain the files he released.

2. That the information he has released is not the inconsequential stuff your op suggests . Some of it is . But there is also a lot of stuff released that have real national security implications .

I really am not interested at all about how p2p works except that according to a number of links on the web. that was his means of access.

Here's a Google search: -inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:"index of" mp3 "pearl jam" - Google Search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&q=-inurl%3Ahtm+-inurl%3Ahtml+intitle%3A%22index+of%22+mp3+%22pearl +jam%22&btnG=Search)

Click on it, click on the first result, see that list of music? Feel free to right-click and download any song. Congratulations, you are now an amazing hacker and a criminal. That's pretty much exactly how trolling KaZaa worked. Stupid people leave web directories open (as in this case) or choose to share the contents of their C: for the whole world. No hacking required.

You can't send a file a specific computer, it has to basically come get it from you.

And? In the same way you searched for open files you don't think Assange could do the same? Geez dude, we're not stupid.

And? In the same way you searched for open files you don't think Assange could do the same? Geez dude, we're not stupid.
So you're saying that Assange found the army guy's computer on an anonymous network and sent him a virus? Yea you are stupid about P2P, you can't find a specific computer in the anonymous P2P cloud. If you can show me the specifics on how that can happen I'd be interested to know. You do realize that when you download a file on a P2P network you're getting it from multiple sources, right?

So you're saying that Assange found the army guy's computer on an anonymous network and sent him a virus? Yea you are stupid about P2P, you can't find a specific computer in the anonymous P2P cloud. If you can show me the specifics on how that can happen I'd be interested to know. You do realize that when you download a file on a P2P network you're getting it from multiple sources, right?

Without going into a long and technical explination. Lets just say it can be done. The proof resides in the lawsuits that have been filed against college students for violation of copyrighted materials. And all the bills that came with it.

Absolute protection is a discipline and most people never reach that far. Look at how many people on a daily basis come here and share way too much information thinking they are imune from harm. As much as a benefit the net is it can also be a nightmare. And yes anyone can be found with the right diligence.

Without going into a long and technical explination. Lets just say it can be done. The proof resides in the lawsuits that have been filed against college students for violation of copyrighted materials. And all the bills that came with it.That's setting up a honeypot and logging all who connect to it. Even the RIAA don't know who those IPs are, they have to petition the ISPs to get that information. Wow this Assange guy is truly a mastermind and a powerful, powerful man who can get ISPs in many countries to give out personal information. Even the US government can't do that.

That's setting up a honeypot and logging all who connect to it. Even the RIAA don't know who those IPs are, they have to petition the ISPs to get that information. Wow this Assange guy is truly a mastermind and a powerful, powerful man who can get ISPs in many countries to give out personal information. Even the US government can't do that.

Here is where your dropping the ball. All that is needed is an I.P. address and you can do a DNS to see who owns it. If it falls back to the government then from there he did his homework. DNS registration is open to the public and anyone that wants to look.

Also the government is pushing ISP's to allow them to find anyone at anytime they want without warrant. Its been part of the new debates surrounding the internet and its users. They keep asking and pushing for the key to the door.

A honey pot necessitates that the army guy connected to a computer Assange set up, what file would the army guy be looking for in order for Assange to snag him? Did he host a million songs on the off chance that it's one the army guy was looking for? Also if he gets the external IP of a army network, how again does he get files from a specific computer afterwards?

You and I both know that none of the above happened or else it would have been mentioned in the article. What really happened is happened millions of times a day on those Limewire/KaZaa clients: some kid searches for .pst or .doc or Quicken file extensions to see what losers are sharing their entire C:. Geez even I did it for fun, it's too easy. It's just a matter of throwing search terms in the app's search window.

So you're saying that Assange found the army guy's computer on an anonymous network and sent him a virus? Yea you are stupid about P2P, you can't find a specific computer in the anonymous P2P cloud. If you can show me the specifics on how that can happen I'd be interested to know. You do realize that when you download a file on a P2P network you're getting it from multiple sources, right?

Here is where you're stupid, you're making assumptions. I never said you could "find a specific computer in the anonymous P2P cloud." You proved however that one can search for open directories and come up with things that don't belong to you..


WikiLeaks May Have Exploited Music, Photo Networks to Get Data (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-20/wikileaks-may-have-exploited-music-photo-networks-to-get-classified-data.html)
By Michael Riley - Jan 19, 2011 11:00 PM CT

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- WikiLeaks, condemned by the U.S. government for posting secret data leaked by insiders, may have used music and photo-sharing networks to obtain and publish classified documents, according to computer security firm Tiversa Inc. Bloomberg's Megan Hughes reports. (Source: Bloomberg)

WikiLeaks, condemned by the U.S. government for posting secret data leaked by insiders, may have used music- and photo-sharing networks to obtain and publish classified documents, according to a computer security firm.

Tiversa Inc., a company based in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, has evidence that WikiLeaks, which has said it doesn’t know who provides it with information, may seek out secret data itself, using so-called “peer-to-peer” networks, Chief Executive Officer Robert Boback claimed. He said the government is examining evidence that Tiversa has turned over.

The company, which has done investigative searches on behalf of U.S. agencies including the FBI, said it discovered that computers in Sweden were trolling through hard drives accessed from popular peer-to-peer networks such as LimeWire and Kazaa. The same information obtained in those searches later appeared on WikiLeaks, Boback said. WikiLeaks bases its most important servers in Sweden.

“WikiLeaks is doing searches themselves on file-sharing networks,” Boback said in an interview, summing up his firm’s deductions from the search evidence it gathered. “It would be highly unlikely that someone else from Sweden is issuing those same types of searches resulting in that same type of information.”

‘Completely False’

Tiversa’s claim is “completely false in every regard,” said Mark Stephens, WikiLeaks’ London attorney, in an e-mail. Stephens regularly represents media organizations, including Bloomberg News.

Tiversa declined to say who its client was when it noticed the Swedish downloads. Howard Schmidt, a former Tiversa adviser, is cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to U.S. President Barack Obama.

Tiversa researchers said the data-mining operation in Sweden is both systematic and highly successful.

In a 60-minute period on Feb. 7, 2009, using so-called Internet protocol addresses that every computer, server or similar equipment has, Tiversa’s monitors detected four Swedish computers engaged in searching and downloading information on peer-to-peer networks. The four computers issued 413 searches, crafted to find Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and other information-rich documents among some of the 18 million users the company estimates are on such file-sharing networks at any given moment.

Those searches led to a computer in Hawaii that held a survey of the Pentagon’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in that state. Tiversa captured the download of the PDF file by one of the Swedish computers. The document was renamed and posted on the WikiLeaks website two months later, on April 29, 2009, according to a mirror image of the site.

Apologies accepted.

The Google example isn't an example of a P2P network.

The article you linked simply says that they were doing searches for Excel spreadsheets, just like you or I or any 12 year old can do.
That last paragraph is dodgy and needs more technical detail on how they did that.

And your point is what?

Hello Steve:

Let me answer. The point is, Wikkileaks is great, and Obama sucks.

excon

Hello Steve:

Let me answer. The point is, Wikkileaks is great, and Obama sucks.

excon

Obama sucks? Seems I remember some of us trying to tell you that in early '08.

Obama sucks? Seems I remember some of us trying to tell you that in early '08.Hey, Gal:

Where you been? I missed you. Yeah, I don't like any president.

excon