Posted on 07/31/2002 8:38:52 AM PDT by Kermit
I scored a coup by getting an interview with Jon David, who hacked al-Queda's homepage. I wish I could have had a little more time to talk with him but considering that he's been getting interviewed by the likes of CNN, ABC, and the Washington Post today I was lucky to get him at all.
John Hawkins: How long have you been going after terrorist run/al-Queda related web sites?
Jon David: Since September 11th. I felt powerless at first like everyone else, then thought that the one thing I do know is the Internet. So I took it upon myself at that point to do everything within my ability to disrupt the flow of terrorist information and communication on the net. I immediately began registering sound-like domains, similars, etc., like Al-Quada.com, Alneda.org, and eventually I succeeded in hijacking Alneda.com, al-Queda's domain itself.
John Hawkins: Was that your first big success?
Jon David: No, actually I had a great deal of success with the similar domains of Alneda.org and Alneda.net because each time the feds shut down Alneda.com, the hostiles would gravitate towards the .net & .org pages thinking that that was the site. Even before I gained control of Alneda.com, I logged information that I passed on to the authorities. I was able to track the people who accessed the website, which reads like a virtual who's who of hostile nations. But, I have to say capturing Alneda.com was certainly the coup de gras.
John Hawkins: You logged the information and sent it to the FBI is that correct? Are they giving you any indication that they're doing anything with it? I ask because if they have IPs and times they can literally go the ISPs these guys are connecting with and then they can turn it into names and addresses they can compare to terrorist watch lists and intelligence reports...
Jon David: We have all the IP addresses to the tune of 27 thousand visitors a day seeking Alneda.com (the calling) from every hostile country imaginable. But interestingly enough, 90% were from Saudi Arabia.
John Hawkins: Just like 15 of the 19 hijackers...no big surprise there.
Jon David: It literally took me 5 days to reach anyone in the FBI that had an even elementary grasp of the Internet. By that time, the hostiles realized the site I had up was a decoy and then advised everyone away from it. I still gave the FBI all the log information and link information to the hostile boards and whatnot, but it's far from what could have potentially been done if they would have acted more quickly. But they are a bureaucracy and as such they move incredibly slow.
John Hawkins: They should have been falling all over themselves to grab the info you were offering them...
Jon David: I would have thought so too but what became apparent was that I had a different definition of the word 'immediate' than the FBI did.
John Hawkins: If you had IPs and times they should have had a dozen agents working with you within the hour. The potential is there to literally put away HUNDREDS of al-Queda members if they're on top of this and can get any real cooperation from the Saudi government. So how did you manage to hijack al-Queda's domain?
Jon David: I hijacked the domain using a snapback utility. They were apparently trying to move the domain to a registrar in India when my snapback entered my owner information and I then took control of the domain. And I must say, they are not happy.
John Hawkins: So any concern for your safety after digitally flipping off the world's foremost terrorist organization?
Jon David: Naturally I'm a little concerned, but no more concerned that any of the young men and women who have been called to duty in Afghanistan. I believe they face more grave peril daily than I will...hopefully anyway. But I still would not advise anyone to sneak up and tap me on the shoulder when I'm walking down the street for a while. LOL
Suppose www.johnsmith.com's domain name registration (whatever you call it) expires. He grabs the site, puts porn links all over it, and someone who's bookmarked johnsmith.com decides to re-visit the site and sees a bunch of porn links.
Sad how one man with a computer can do more damage to our enemies than the entire FBI.
I'm going to go clean my gun.
He should have deluged Saudi Arabian terrorists with porn!! Knowing their inability to control themselves at the sight of even a woman's ankle, that would have probably sent scores of them into fits, rampaging the streets of Mecca!!
Oddly enough, and annoying as it is, the porn industry has probably been the driving force behind (no jokes please!) digital imaging and movies. I guess there is a good side to even the most onerous of activities. At least this guy put some effort into screwing the unwashed terrorists!! Probably more than the Clinton emasculated FBI did.
Yeah, it seems like government employees rarely lose their jobs. I remember a few years ago there was some discussion about treating government jobs like any job, and laying off state and county workers when their performance was lacking. This was discussed on a local radio station, and a few state employees called up hysterical, saying: "We shouldn't be treated like any other job because we go through so many hoops!" ..... as if people who go through school and work up the corporate ladder don't have to go through hoops. I suspect if we cut out every poorly performing government job a LOT of people would be out of work.
Talk about wheels within wheels. The fellow who blades the Township roads provides a usful service. He is paid with tax receipts, but he also pays out 50% in taxes, like everyone else.
Nearly every government job beyond the county level is make work.
For example, many years ago, (back when computers were so unknown that sending your resumé, printed by dot matrix on thermal paper, was enough to get you a fine job), A fellow produced a little data base that churned random numbers into a monthly report he was required to produce. It usually took 2 weeks to compile and type the report. He did it in 5 minutes, mostly printing time. No one seemed to care.
Every Judicial District in the State copied that disk, and someone SOLD copies to other states. They used it for years. The only variable the user could change was the date. The report was useless space filler to meet a make work requirement. No one cared.
Awards were granted for useing modern technology in the workplace, budgets were adjusted to include computers for everyone, and now, they are swamped with more useless reports emailed at the last minute, so they can play solitare and surf stock prices on the net, waiting for their (50% off) payday, until retirement. No one cares.
Government's only job is to insure Governmental job survival. The FBI will show an interest in terrorists when they have to submit them a report, or not get (50%) paid.
God bless you for this Jon David, where ever you are... looking at your work has been the most satisfying experience I've had all day!
I recognize that - it is the 'random walk' projections of the economic health of the country. They still use itm and it is just as full of flaws as then.
There's one problem with this, there's no profit and loss in government, therefore, there is no accurate way to measure performance. One solution is to put governmental activities out for competitive bidding.
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