CIA-funded web privacy firm shuts down
Dr. Jai Maharaj
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
EMERYVILLE, Calif. (AP) - SafeWeb Inc., the CIA-funded
Internet company that allowed Web surfers to browse
anonymously, has closed.
"For the time being, we have decided to turn off the free
privacy service. In the future, we may relaunch the
service on a subscription basis," the Emeryville-based
company said last week.
SafeWeb's technology enabled Internet users to gain
access to the World Wide Web and browse sites through its
encrypted service, making their online habits and history
untraceable.
The company had unsuccessfully sought a contract with
U.S. government broadcaster Voice of America to set up
computer servers aimed at routing Chinese Web surfers to
sites their government had censored.
Last year SafeWeb received $1 million in funding from the
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's venture capital arm,
In-Q-Tel.
AP-ES-11-19-01 2236 EST
Source - http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA0KAT59UC.html
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Posted on 11/19/01 by TheOtherOne
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- To: TheOtherOne
A CIA-funded company running an anonymous server?
Call me suspicious, but that doesn't seem too anonymous
to me...
Posted on 11/19/01 by sargon
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- To: TheOtherOne
> SafeWeb Inc., the CIA-funded Internet company that
> allowed Web surfers to browse anonymously, has closed.
I think my head is gonna explode.
Posted on 11/19/01 by Senator Pardek
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- To: sargon
That's exactly my thoughts when I read this article. The
"anonymous" website sounds like a smokescreen to me. The
CIA was probably trying to get terrorists and purveyors
of kiddie porn to use the website and then nab them.
Posted on 11/19/01 by Hillary 666
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- To: Hillary 666
Yup, sounded like a sting for kidde porn when I first
heard about it. I did not know the CIA was funding them
though.
Posted on 11/19/01 by wirestripper
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- To: Senator Pardek
The internet was developed in great part by American
Intelligence through DARPA, and the name space, through
NSI (Network Solutions), is owned by SAIC.
SAIC is a 20,000 employee-owned company with about 450
offices around the globe. Its boards of directors have
included former NSA chief Bobby Inman, former Defense
Secretary Melvin Laird, and the former head of research
and development for the Pentagon, Donald Hicks. Ex-CIA
director Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense William Perry
and CIA Director John Deutsch have been past SAIC board
members. Eighty three percent of SAIC's $2 billion annual
revenue comes from government contracts, including
defense, intelligence, and law enforcement contracts.
SAIC is designing new information systems for the
Pentagon, helping to automate the FBI's computerized
fingerprint identification system, and last year won a
$200 million contract to provide "information support" to
the IRS.
The entire internet is a child of American intelligence
research, but it's still the coolest tool on the planet.
Posted on 11/19/01 by hogwaller
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- To: sargon
You people are being to cynical. Well, maybe not, but
you're probably wrong anyway ;-) SafeWeb was set up as a
typical dotcom in the boom days, and their big product
was privacy and secure transmissions. The CIA originally
stepped in as a customer of SafeWeb, they wanted to use
their commercial setup to communicate safely with
overseas operatives. Later, SafeWeb was on the verge of
going belly up when the dotcoms dotbombed, so the CIA
handed them a wad of cash to keep them operating. Since
SafeWeb was the only entirely U.S. based company offering
that kind of service, it was in the CIA's interest to
keep them operating (the other anonymizing services on
the Internet use foreign servers to dodge U.S. laws).
While I'll admit that there's a possibility of something
shady going on, I think that the whole thing was mostly
on the up and up.
Posted on 11/19/01 by Arthalion
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End of forwarded messages
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
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Panchaang for 4 Mrgshir 5102, Monday, November 19, 2001:
Vrisha Nama Samvatsare Dakshinaya Jivana Ritau
Vrischika Mase Shukla Pakshe Indu Vasara Yuktayam
Uttarashadha Nakshatra Ganda Yoga
Bava-Balava Karana Panchamee Yam Tithau
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