Hi, Ryan-

Yes, the network on which Echelon2.org is now hosted, Voxanon which
hosts an increasingly influential IRC network, has been under pretty
intense attack by unknown parties over the past couple of days in
particular. We just moved the server there a week ago, but unsure if
this is related or not, as there are any number of possible motives,
some petty and/or "personality oriented," that could explain such an
attack. Hopefully whatever's going on will be "resolved" soon.

As for the HBGary e-mails, I've rooted through them via a process
that's necessarily somewhat haphazard, pursuing keywords
(capabilities, names of individuals or firms, etc) that I or others
have come across somewhat randomly (in most cases), so neither I nor
the various people who have volunteered for Project PM can really
claim to have gone through them extensively. As for there being
additional nuggets to be found, I am absolutely convinced that there
are. No single party has conducted anything close to a comprehensive
examination of the contents, for instance. And just recently, a Forbes
blogger I sometimes discuss these issues with, Sean Lawson, used the
e-mails to glean info on an association which had provided a "letter
of support" to relevant Congressional committee on CISPA, and which
turned out to not really exist in any real form. It's all just a
matter of either getting lucky, having an idea of what to look for, or
going through them in some more formal manner than what was done via
Anonymous/Project PM last year.


On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 6:06 PM, Ryan Gallagher
<ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hey Barrett,

Thanks for sending this informative info & sorry for the delayed response.
I've been offline for a few days and have been dealing with an email backlog
today. I was actually thinking about the HBGary emails last week. How
extensively have you searched through them? I'm wondering if there are still
more nuggets in there waiting to be found...

FYI, Project PM appears to currently be offline -- I'm getting a CloudFlare
page.

Ryan
________________________________

Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 01:31:29 -0500

Subject: Re:
From: barriticus@gmail.com
To: ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com

Ryan-

A couple things:

Wanted to make sure you're aware of Telecomix's Blue Cabinet wiki, on
which is compiled a great deal of info on dozens of firms in U.S.,
U.K., and Europe that are known to provide various
surveillance-oriented capabilities to governments (and dictatorships,
in some cases). I don't know how useful this might be for you in the
future, but it could definitely serve as a resource at least in terms
of a jumping-off point. Here's a link to the main page, which lists
all of the firms they've collected info on:

http://werebuild.telecomix.org/wiki/Blue_cabinet

One other thing. Have been going over our own Project PM wiki to fix
it up a bit and add new content and came across something I'd
forgotten about: a discussion between Aaron Barr of HBGary and Tim
Reisen of Archimedes Global and Tim Clair of TASC about a market
survey, presumably put out by a U.S. entity, in reference to
"misattributable marketing services," as they call it in the e-mail
exchange. The source of this exchange is the HBGary e-mails and the
entire exchange is reproduced on our page here:

https://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Misattributable_marketing_services

Based on the self-explanatory moniker as well as the fact that those
involved in the e-mail exchange were also working on a recompete bid
for Romas/COIN, which itself includes some large and mysterious
marketing component that clearly entails hiding the source of certain
forms of output, it's not difficult to get a general sense of what
this capability refers to. It's certainly interesting that one of the
participants ask if AOL has such a thing. It's also possible that some
clues as to its potential/desirability might be gleaned from another
discussion between Barr and Riesen that I've listed on the bottom of
our page on Archimedes Global, here:

https://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Archimedes_Global

At any rate, just wanted to make sure you were aware of the clues
we've found on this. Certainly methodologies by which to hide the true
source of activity of various kinds are of great interest to a number
of agencies and private contractors at this point, and I think it's
likely that some of the more unfortunate pursuits coming out of that
world in the next ten years will be dependent on such things as this,
so it might be something to look out for.

On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Ryan Gallagher
<ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com> wrote:

Good grief, that's worrying. Some of these congressmen are crackpots of
the
highest order... I doubt the amendment they're proposing will make it
into
law, but the very fact that there are people in positions of influence
pushing for these sorts of measures is bad enough in itself.

________________________________

Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 16:03:26 -0500

Subject: Re:
From: barriticus@gmail.com
To: ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com

Also:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/congressmen-seek-to-lift-propaganda-ban

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 7:24 PM, Ryan Gallagher
<ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com> wrote:

I have a few ideas and I know some good editors who I'm hopeful will
show
some spine and step up to the plate. There is a substantial public
interest
in publishing... But the fact we are dealing with one of the world's
largest
defense firms doesn't help -- especially not in the States. It's been
quite
an eye-opener, let me tell you. The chilling effect is quite
extraordinary
and deeply concerning.

Anyway, fingers crossed I'll get something worked out.

Ryan
________________________________

Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 19:11:53 -0500
Subject: Re:
From: barriticus@gmail.com
To: ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com

I guess I'm not really surprised. Although a very strong precedent
has
been established by virtue of the widespread publication of the
materials emanating from the HBGary grab, to say nothing of
everything
Wikileaks has done with its partner publications, few outlets are
willing to take risks on these things. I'm sorry that you're having
difficulty with this, but hopefully you'll have better luck
elsewhere.
In such a case as I can of any further help, let me know.

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 7:00 PM, Ryan Gallagher
<ryan.gallagher@hotmail.com> wrote:

Barrett,

Apologies for the lengthy delay with this Raytheon piece. The
thing
was
written weeks ago but has been hindered by all kinds of editorial
wrangling
and now legal issues. I didn't realize the severity of the
copyright
implications and I've been held up significantly by the fact that
Raytheon
does not want these videos in the public domain.

I've concluded tonight that a fairly drastic solution is required:
I'm
going
to have to move the story from the States to a publisher in the
UK.
Tomorrow
I'm going to send a few emails. I'll keep you updated.

Again, sorry for the delay. I assure you I'm doing all I can.

Hope all's well with you,

Ryan

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
940-735-9748

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
940-735-9748

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
940-735-9748

-- 
Regards,

Barrett Brown
940-735-9748