TORPARK DISASTER
TOR, (The Onion Router) is a network of virtual tunnels that allows you to travel the internet anonymously. Each computer in the TOR circuit only knows the ip address of the two computers it must link to in the chain. Users can surf to sites without being tracked by computers more than one step away. Torpark is a program which, according to the author, Hactivismo (AKA Cult of the Dead Cow), "will launch a Tor circuit connection, which creates an encrypted tunnel from your computer indirectly to a Tor exit computer". Well thats what they hope, but after trying Torpark, I can say its useless. Torpark forums are full of people who cant get it to work, a few have but for 5 minutes. Anyone interested may like to try Torpark. Anyway the idea is brilliant so its still worth a visit to http://tor.freehaven.net/ especially if you want to set up a TOR server. Further reading is at Wikipedia about Onion Routing BTW you may also like this by the U.S Navy who instigated the TOR project

Gary McKinnon
A British subject, faces 70 years in prison in the USA on charges relating to 2002, when he hacked into US military computers allegedly causing millions of dollars of damage. The story can be read on cnet news, the BBC, and the Free Gary McKinnon website. There is no doubt of his guilt, McKinnon admits to it, but he was not there to steal secrets and sell them. He claims he caused no damage. Infact he claims his only crimes were that he was stupid enough to go looking for evidence of UFO's from outer space, and entering unauthorised computers. I don't doubt him, and anyone that stupid doesnt deserve to spend 2 years in prison let-alone 70 years. If he were charged in the UK he would have got off with a fine. Most murderers in the UK only serve between 2 and 6 years. He is a computer addict and a fantasist idiot (see gary.pdf), not a murderer or spy. He gave up a perfectly good job in IT administration to play computer games and hack for evidence of UFO's. Does that sound like the actions of a rational person? Generally, in Europe, stupidity and mental illness is largely forgiven. McKinnon should face a UK court, if at all. They should just let him go. Anyone who has read the interview in the Guardian will not fail to see that this is a man who didnt steal state secrets, commit data fraud, or have malicious intent. He needs help not prison. Please read the Wikipedia article and give your support to the Free Gary campaign by clicking the logo.

Cult of The Dead Cow
are the most famous hacker group in history, They formed in 1984. Their website is at http://www.cultdeadcow.com. cDc communications is the parent organization of Cult of The Dead Cow which is just one of three groups. The other two are the ninja strikeforce and Hacktivismo. Membership is granted on the ninja strikeforce to those who are the best of the best in their field of hacking. Cult of the Dead Cow promote the ideals of internet freedom, and take great exception to those who seek to impose upon those ideals. On the strikeforce website there is a quote by Charles Bukowski which reads "Censorship is the tool of those who have the need to hide actualities from themselves and others. Their fear is only the inability to face what is real". This is cDc's manifesto
To find out more about Cult Of the Dead Cow, visit their websites and read the Wikipedia entry all about the group. cDc are, without a doubt, some of the best programmers and network specialists around. The websites will introduce you to the concepts of good computer security, the web underground, and above all - humour. There is a lot of humour to cDc and they are well worth a visit.

GOOGLE DORKING or Google Hacking
to be less precise, is the art and science of cutting out the baloney and bull from a searchengine by using an imaginative and logical search term. A typical Google Dork looks like this(go ahead press the link) this is actually a Yahoo Dork but WTH when you get to the page change the word "nirvana" for whichever band you want to get free mp3's of. Ok so now you've seen how it works heres where you can learn more. searchlores Perhaps the best site for this is the famous Johnny.Ihackstuff website. This is a very powerful site with many examples and in a highly user friendly environment. After visiting this site you quickly learn a mass of techniques.

ALTERNATIVE SEARCH ENGINES
Apart from Google, Altavista, Yahoo, and Lycos, there are quite a few other search engines.Check This out, Phil Bradley's website has a comparison of the search engines. Notice why Google is rated so highly, but also note that there are features missing from Google that other search engines have, that could be useful to you. Try Exalead There is a lot going for this search engine in terms of its results that it returns. It has a nifty front page that is customisable too. Infact it even links you to Google, which is probably an acknowledgement that Exalead knows its place. Wisenut is another engine that has a great results return. Of course, again, its not anywhere near being Google but there is just... well... something good about its simplicity. Perhaps instead of me telling you what I think, why dont you visit this list at searchlores,and tell me what you think. Remembering there's more than one way to crack a nut take a look at the graphical database websearch engines. BTW Phil Bradley's website and blog is a mine of information on search engines. If you visit it, look out for the discussion about whether search engines are still about searching, or whether its what else you can do with them that counts.