C I A non-profit venture capital company

[matthew gream]

It could be true, but you need to read past the spin-doctoring.

"CIA BACKS ANONYMITY SOFTWARE"

needs to be interpreted as

"CIA TAKES CONTROLLING FINANCIAL STAKE IN ANONYMITY SOFTWARE"

or something like that.

There are various reasons why one would want to put money into a venture, 
and it's not always because "you want to back it and make more money". 
Patents are not always snapped up to be "used"; large organisations can 
afford to burn funds in loss-making ventures purely for other reasons 
(publicity, competitive destruction, intelligence gathering, budgetary 
politics, survival of cold-war entities, etc).

I can't believe that anyone on this list would fail to overlook that 
perspective ?

Matthew Gream - "many things to many people"
(poet,author,hacker,artist,engineer,traveller,intellectual,actor)
http://www.pobox.com/~matthew.gream


>From: "Q G Campbell" <Q.G.Campbell@newcastle.ac.uk>
>Reply-To: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk
>To: <ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
>Subject: RE: C I A non-profit venture capital company
>Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2001 09:13:45 -0000
>
>Donald
>
>Just because the NSA uses workstations from Sun Microsystems does not
>mean that they thus become a security risk to non-NSA users of Sun kit
>like myself!
>
>I may even be using a more secure technology as a result of this if some
>of the security enhancments have transferred from this specialist
>governmental area to the commercial sector.
>
>Quentin
>--
>PHONE: +44 191 222 8209    Computing Service, University of Newcastle
>FAX:   +44 191 222 8765    Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, NE1 7RU.
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"Any opinions expressed above are mine. The University can get its own."
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Donald ramsbottom [mailto:donald@ramsbottom.co.uk]
> > Sent: 01 March 2001 07:20
> > To: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> > Subject: C I A non-profit venture capital company
> >
> >
> >
> > Below is from a law ezine I receive (see after text for
> > copyright details),
> > I could not resist posting the extract below. Now call me an
> > old cynic but
> > who in the world would rely on anonymizing software, funded
> > by the CIA,
> > even if the code is "open source", especially when millions
> > if not billions
> > are spent by them trying to make sure they CAN track everybody down.
> >
> > I'm not having a premature "senior moment" am I? Its not
> > April Fools day is
> > it? Have I slept a whole
> > month.........................................
> >
> > "CIA BACKS ANONYMITY SOFTWARE
> >
> >
> > The Central Intelligence Agency's non-profit venture capital
> > company, In-Q-Tel has zeroed in on software called Triangle
> > Boy, which promises user anonymity on the Internet. Triangle
> > Boy was developed by SafeWeb, a start up company in which In-
> > Q-Tel has invested about $1 million of its $30 million current
> > fiscal year budget. SafeWeb's web site currently provides free
> > access to an "anonymizer" that lets anyone surf anonymously
> > and securely by typing in a Web address. It replaces the URL
> > bar with a JavaScript implementation and establishes an
> > encrypted connection from the user's desktop using 128-bit SSL
> > with cookies automatically disabled. Triangle Boy, which has not
> > yet been deployed, will go still further, using SafeWeb's
> > Privacy Matrix technology (patent pending) to allow users to
> > get to SafeWeb's anonymizer through a third party. The code
> > will be open source, allowing anyone to set up third-party
> > access to the anonymizer. The CIA plans to use the technology
> > primarily to protect the anonymity of its own employees as
> > they do their work, but it would undoubtedly be used to gather
> > information without leaving a trail as well. Further
> > information may be found at
> > https://fugu.safeweb.com/webpage/press_room/in_q_tel.html"
> >
> > copyright stuff: BYTES IN BRIEF is a joint publication of
> > Sensei Enterprises,
> > Inc., an information technology consulting firm and Nelson &
> > Wolfe, a business and technology law firm. The "designer"
> > version of "Bytes" may be found at http://www.senseient.com
> >
> >
> > Donald Ramsbottom BA LLb (Hons) PGdip
> > Ramsbottom & Co Solicitors
> > Internet and Global Encryption Law Specialists & General UK
> > Law Matters
> > 5 Seagrove Avenue Hayling Island Hampshire UK
> > Tel (44) 023 9246 5931 Fax (44) 023 9246 8349
> > Regulated by the Law Society in the conduct of Investment business
> > Service by Fax or Email NOT accepted
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

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