November 20-26, 2003

pretzel logic

Tales from the Cryptome

by Howard Altman

On Nov. 4, as we in Philadelphia were deeply enmeshed in the bug-fueled re-election of Mayor John Street, the operator of one of my favorite Internet sites -- www.cryptome.org -- was being visited by the same organization that planted the devices in Street’s office.

"Cryptome received a visit from FBI special agents Todd Renner and Christopher Kelly from the FBI Counterterrorism Office in New York," Cryptome operator John Young reports on the website. "SA Renner said that a person had reported Cryptome as a source of information that could be used to harm the United States."

Cryptome first hit the web in 1996. The name, says Young, "is a combo of crypto -- shorthand for cryptology -- and tome, for library."

The site is a compendium of documents "prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence and blast protection -- open, secret and classified documents -- but not limited to those."

Pull up Cryptome today, for instance, and you will see a list of subjects including "Wal-Mart, P&G Involved in Secret RFID Testing," "Iraq Reconstruction Invitation," "Calendar of 423 U.S. Military Dead in Iraq," "Pakistan Embassy Radio Data" and "The Security Threat Assessment of Hazmat Drivers." The site also includes two installments in its "eyeball" series of satellite photos -- the Lucas Heights nuclear plant and MI5 bugging the Pakistan Embassy.

Though unannounced, the FBI visit was "no surprise," says Young in a telephone interview.

"They were pretty cautious about telling me what was on their minds, because they were trying to find out what was on my mind," says Young, a 67-year-old New York City architect. "They said "We know you are a patriot and would not harm the U.S., but some of this information could be used by the bad guys.' They said they just wanted to talk to me."

Young says his friends and the sources who provide him with information he posts on the site were rather alarmed by the visit.

"The conventional wisdom is that when the FBI shows up, it is chilling," says Young, adding that many people he knows likened the visit to those paid during the McCarthy era.

The agents, says Young, were "as young as my grandsons, extremely polite, very courteous and not aggressive. I have long expected this sort of thing, and have gotten nasty e-mails from people writing "Are you sure you want to help the bad guys?' and "Are you sure you know what you are doing?' and "Don't you know we are under attack?'"

Young says he even received a call from his ISP asking about Cryptome.

"They asked if we wanted to run all this stuff by the FBI," says Young. "They were well-meaning."

What does the FBI want with Cryptome and Young?

A call to the agents who visited Young was not returned.

Of all the information currently listed on Cryptome, the creepiest has nothing to do with the CIA, al-Qaeda or any foreign government.

The creepiest information pertains to Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble and their use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips in products that allow the companies to track their movements.

"Wal-Mart and Proctor & Gamble conducted a secret RFID trial involving Oklahoma consumers earlier this year, the Chicago Sun-Times revealed on Sunday," reads the Cryptome post. "Customers who purchased P&G's Lipfinity brand lipstick at the Broken Arrow Wal-Mart store between late March and mid-July unknowingly left the store with live RFID tracking devices embedded in the packaging. Wal-Mart previously denied any consumer-level RFID testing in the United States."

Privacy advocates are outraged.

"This trial is a perfect illustration of how easy it is to set up a secret RFID infrastructure and use it to spy on people," Katherine Albrecht, founder of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, told the Sun-Times, which also reported that both companies confirmed that the tests took place.

The RFID case is also a prime example, says Young, of why he set up Cryptome.

"I don't feel we are risking security," he says. "It will help if more people know what is going on. People should not be kept in the dark. The more they know, the more secure we are."

Young says the "eyeball" series is Cryptome's most controversial.

It began with the posting of aerial photographs of Site R -- home of the underground Pentagon, the so-called "Shadow Government" and the place from where, in 2002, an Army M.P. tried to sell City Paper internal photos (Young posted that story on his site; in a few days Nightline contacted us.).

Now Young uses images provided by www.mapquest.com and the United States Geological Service. Young says these are open-source images, but Cryptome identifies their use.

"People need to know where the nuclear sites are and where the chemical sites are," he says. "Those places are well protected, but the people who live near them are not."

Despite all the controversy and regardless of the FBI visit, Young has no plans to take down his site or anything on it.

"Documents are removed from this site only by order served directly by a U.S. court having jurisdiction," Young states on the site. "No court order has ever been served; any order served will be published here -- or elsewhere if gagged by order. Bluffs will be published if comical but otherwise ignored."

Young might ignore the FBI, but it is now clear that the FBI has no intention of ignoring him.