Welcome to Reason Express, the weekly e-newsletter from Reason magazine.
Reason Express is written by Washington-based journalist Jeff A. Taylor and
draws on the ideas and resources of the Reason editorial staff. For more
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REASON Express
February 14, 2000
Vol. 3 No. 7


1) Slow-Witted Attack on the Net
2) Silicon Promised Land?
3) Politics the Way They Should Be: Wacky
4) AOL in Full Reverse on Open Access
5) Quick Hits


- - Hacked Off - -

When is a hack not a hack? When it is done by wannabes too dense to be
hackers. That seems to be the case in the brute force attacks against several
e-commerce sites last week.

Nothing terribly clever or original about the attacks. Net culture even has a
term for those who download executables they don't understand to do their
vandalous bidding: script kiddies.

If the mainstream media were to lead their reports with that phrase, the
average American might think the Net is under attack from Hollywood child
stars. So hackers it is.

By whatever name, these hacks are pretty lame. The systems were never
penetrated; no intruder "gained root" and turned the system rogue. But there
is no dispute the damage is real. One analyst puts the cost at $1.2 billion
and rising.

As with most break-ins, these sorts of attacks can usually be deterred with
better locks. Better locks means better security, and that means doing things
which bother both the privacy lobby and national security organs.

Last year Intel and Microsoft both were branded evil snoops for shipping
products with ID codes embedded in them. Truth is, individual users will
likely always find ways--either built in or hacked in--to defeat ID codes and
surf anonymously. But for large organizations with lots of excess computing
power and Net connections--the very ones our script kiddies zombify in order
to launch their dummy traffic--user authentication should be part of a total
security package.

The other part of security involves real system oversight that uses encryption
to hide vital information or tools from prying eyes. Little reported is the
fact that one of the programs thought to have been used to launch last week's
attacks uses encryption to mask what it is doing.

So more than anything what these attacks show is that the U.S. government's
ten-year war against the widespread use of powerful encryption has kept it out
of the hands of exactly the wrong people.

And the need for good security is only going to spread. For e-commerce
operations that should go without saying. But the evidence is that far too
many have opted for the good-enough-for-now approach, which leaves customers'
credit-card numbers unencrypted on servers or fails to build enough back-up
bandwidth into their systems.

Soon both ends of a transaction will need better security. As high-speed,
always-on Net access like cable and digital subscriber lines ramp up, average
users will have to familiarize themselves with firewalls and system logs or
risk having their computer zombified--or worse.

On that scale no government agency will possibly be able to police every
access point. And the truth is the FBI is terribly outgunned right now, with
only 193 of 12,000 agents trained in "cybercrimes." There will be plenty of
calls to shove more money at the FBI to double, triple, or increase five-fold
its capabilities.

But more cops on the beat cannot make everyone lock their doors. More cops
can, however, make for a police state.

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1547115.html
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/ic/xml/00/02/10/000210icyankees.xml
http://upsidetoday.com/Opinion/38a211670.html
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/12/075l-021200-idx.html




- - Boom and Bust  - -

It should be a fairly straightforward story. The latest census figures show
that for the first time in five years, more people are moving out of Silicon
Valley than moving in.

The net loss was small, about 1,000 people for Santa Clara County, but it is
still unmistakable evidence that prices do change behavior. With the median
home price at $420,000, no wonder the area is not gaining residents. Local
officials predict the net loss in population will continue for several more
years.

But these facts got in the way of a front-page piece in The Washington Post,
which set out to chronicle the "high-tech homeless."

Besides introducing readers to a cast of beaten-down characters beset by bad
marriages, bad debts, and bad choices--the kinds of things which can land
people at a soup kitchen in any microeconomic environment--the piece waited
until the in the 34th paragraph of a 41-paragraph story to note the latest
population numbers.

That, of course, is burying evidence that the market is working. Moreover, it
is burying that evidence in favor of emphasizing the story of a small
percentage of Silicon Valley residents who have not benefited from the boom.
And even that is not exactly right, as they appear to have benefited in many
ways, but just not to the extent others have.

And that isn't news, that's just envy.

http://www.charlotte.com/click/wiretech/pub/196649l.htm
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/12/108l-021200-idx.html
http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/Demograp/E-2press.htm




- - Anarchy, Fate, and Myopia - -

Gov. George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain are headed for a crackling finish in
the GOP primary in South Carolina. But in many ways that is the least
interesting thing going on.

The Reform Party just pulled off a rarity in American politics: an in-house
coup, complete with shouting, shoving, and general Three Stooges-style mayhem.
It made for the best political video since Bob Dole fell off that stage back
in 1996.

Reform Party sire-in-exile Ross Perot has also floated the idea of McCain
carrying the loony-tunes Reform Party banner in November, but only if he also
wins the GOP nomination. In turn, Perot's arch Reform Party foe, Minnesota
Gov. Jesse Ventura, suggested during an interview with ABC that he'd gladly
serve as Veep in a McCain administration.

If nothing else the paring of an ex-Navy SEAL and an-ex Navy flyboy should sew
up the Annapolis vote.

Where all this leads is anyone's guess. What it does suggest is that the old
labels, rules, and canned issues have little utility in today's politics.

http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/14/056l-021400-idx.html

Visit the Reason Online Breaking Issue "The Real McCain" at
http://reason.com/bi/mccain.html


- - Open Nonsense - -

As predicted in this space last month, America Online has dropped its lobbying
efforts to force cable companies to open up their lines to all Internet
providers. AOL, along with local Bell companies, had been providing the juice
to a nationwide lobbying effort at the state and local level in favor of "open
access."

But with its move last month to buy Time Warner, AOL itself become an operator
of cable lines which reach into 20 million homes. AOL is now preaching the
virtues of the marketplace.

"We have come to the view that the most effective and expeditious way of
getting to open access throughout the cable industry is to just go do it," AOL
General Counsel George Vradenburg III said. "The need for these state
legislative initiatives has been lessened now that we are likely to get
effective and expeditious movement in the marketplace."

So-called consumer activists still want the Federal Communications Commission
to rule in this area, which it steadfastly refuses to do. The AOL about-face,
the activists say, just shows that business interests are trumping public
interest.

But anyone who steps back from the issue should be able to see that the only
hope for high speed wire to reach the populace is competition between the
cable guys and the phone guys. Saddling one side with new requirements will
not spur that competition.


http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/12/103l-021200-idx.html



QUICK HITS

- - Quote of the Week - -

"I am human and probably the first woman to go to jail for PMSing," former
Chicago City Treasurer Miriam Santos, blaming her conviction on extortion
charges on pre-menstrual syndrome. Santos was freed on January 19, after
serving four months of a 40-month prison term. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, which cited the trial judge's refusal to reschedule the trial to
accommodate Santos' lawyer, overturned her conviction. Santos, a Democrat,
intends to reclaim her office. She was caught on tape asking brokerage firms
for campaign donations in return for city business.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=62720


- - Quote of the Week, Legal Differences Division - -

"It seems like a whole bunch of people in that department received it.
Needless to say employees were not happy receiving it because it came across
their computer unsolicited," Clark County (Nevada) Manager Dale Askew on a
pornographic photograph sent by e-mail to dozens of county employees. The
sexually explicit photograph of a man and a woman was originally received by a
deputy district attorney, who then forwarded it to a senior judge who passed
it on to other county workers. An investigation into the matter was deemed a
personnel issue, and those responsible will likely would be suspended without
pay.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-gov/2000/feb/09/509825202.html



- - Hair Raising --

Cheerleader Erin Godby, who dyed her hair red and was kicked off her high
school squad by school officials, was reinstated when the Sheridan, Indiana
school superintendent overturned that decision.

http://www.starnews.com/news/citystate/2000/feb/0204st_cheer.html



- - Tax Them, Not Us - -

Just in time for Thursday's final meeting of the Internet Tax Commission, a
cadre of net-tailers proposed exempting the sale of books, music, records, and
other information from taxation both in brick-and-mortar stores and on the
Internet. State governments would then be allowed to collect other sales taxes
on Internet and mail order commerce across state lines.

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2435197,00.html
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/news/articles2000/000210-5.shtml


 - - Click and Drive - -

A new study by J.D. Power & Associates finds that half of car buyers surveyed
want to buy direct from the manufacturer even if they don't save any money.
Peg the savings at $3,000 and the percentage who want a dealer-less
transaction jumps to 70 percent.

http://www.edmunds.com/edweb/news/messages/434.html


- - Passive Smoked - -

A study in the British Medical Journal finds that the increased risk of lung
cancer from passive smoking is more likely to be around 15 percent as opposed
to 24 percent. Tellingly, the researchers noted that research which suggests
an increased risk is more likely to be published than research which does not.
As a result a simple analysis of the published literature will give a false
picture of the true risk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/health/newsid_637000/637758.stm



- - High Def, Low Ratings - -

The Republican National Committee announced that its 2000 convention in
Philadelphia will be the first broadcast in HDTV format. NHK Japan
Broadcasting is providing the HDTV tech gratis.

http://www.gop.org



- - Spontaneous Header - -

Friedrich August von Hayek gets a plug in a report on the state of
professional soccer in the U.S.

http://espn.go.com/soccer/s/2000/0202/331176.html



- - Contract Hits - -

From the front lines of the latest clash between technology and law, Maryland
and Virginia debate changing state contract law to suit the pleas of software
sellers. The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act has consumer groups
inflamed.

http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/13/209l-021300-idx.html



- - Mo' Money - -

Overview on Clinton's last budget, including such must haves as a 20 percent
increase for the Justice Department, a 13 percent hike for Labor, and eight
percent hikes for Energy, HUD, and HHS.


http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-02/08/068l-020800-idx.html



REASON NEWS

For the latest on media appearances by Reason writers, visit
http://www.reason.com/press.html.

LAST CHANCE to register for Reason's 2nd Annual Dynamic Visions
Conference, featuring cutting-edge speakers from the worlds of technology,
design, public policy, history, science, and more! The conference is February
19-21 in Santa Clara, California.

For more information and secure online registration, see
http://www.reason.com/dynamic/dynamic2000.html



On 24 February Wade Hudson, RPPI Economic Policy Analyst, and Adrian Moore,
RPPI's Privatization Center Director, will be in Orlando, Florida, speaking at
an all day session on managing employee transitions during privatization. The
session is part of the 2000 World Outsourcing Summit.



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