Who knows what evil lurks in your system? (Update)

Next week, presuming I still have a roof overhead and food in the fridge, I hope to write at some length about the growing number of reports alleging that pedophile rings service the powerful in various countries. As a prelude to those investigative pieces, I'd like to bring up a related claim made by 9/11 informant Randy Glass in a conversations with writer (and former Soft Skull Press president) Sandor Hicks.

Now, this is not the place to detail my reactions to Hicks; suffice it to say that while I admire much of what he has done, I am not an unalloyed Hicks fan. (He takes Ambrose Evans Pritchard seriously, for chrissakes!)

Neither can I here do justice to the story told by Glass. It is a fascinating story indeed, and it may well be true. Among many other claims, Glass says that, while functioning as an FBI informant, he uncovered a plot to sell nuclear weapons to Al Qaeda. Alas, Glass also has a criminal history; whenever his name crops up, a discussion of credibility must needs ensue.

We will have that discussion later. For now, I would like focus on one minor aside that Glass made in a recorded conversation which was later broadcast. Glass averred that if any government whistleblower sufficiently annoys the powers-that-be, the annoying personage will be set up on kiddie porn charges.

Is that allegation true? I do not know. Offhand, I cannot think of any instance in which a whistleblower was undone by such an allegation.

But let us allow ourselves to speculate for a moment. How might such a sting take place? Here is one possible scenario:

Let us suppose that a virus or trojan places an illegal image on your hard drive. Actually, we need not restrict our discussion to child pornography -- if you have any imagination, you can probably think up other illegal materials which serve the purposes of a sting.

Let us suppose further that the same trojan erases the illegal file the moment it hits your disc. There would be no evidence that the offensive material ever existed -- not in the registry, not in the file directory, not anywhere. Of course, after a while, that sector of your hard drive will probably be overwritten by some other material.

My understanding of computer forensics is very flawed. But I am told that a professional investigator may uncover overwritten material on your drive, much as a documents expert may recover an erased and overwritten text from a palimpsest.

How would the trojan get onto your computer? Here's one excellent method: A company allied with a "friendly" foreign intelligence agency could offer to the public an excellent free firewall program. Such a program, in wide distribution, might conceivably contain a means to provide "back door" access. "Approved" malware could thereby leap onto your system, and you would never know.

Under such circumstances, an FBI or police computer tech could -- while operating in good faith -- discover illegal material on your computer. Who knows? Perhaps such "gotcha" images exist in the majority of PCs around the world.

Yes, I am indulging in dark and irresponsible speculation. Still, I'd like to hear what other people (hopefully people with greater computer savvy) have to say about the technical feasibility of this unnerving scenario.

Until then...pleasant dreams!

UPDATE: A respondent to this post brings up the case of weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who has said things critical of the Bush administration. According to some news reports, misdemeanor charges were brought against him in a New York court for speaking in a chat room to an undercover officer who identified himself or herself as a 16 year-old girl.

"Police and prosecutors have declined to discuss the case, which involved at least one class B misdemeanor, because it was adjourned in contemplation of dismissal and ordered sealed by a Colonie Town Court justice."

Isn't 16 the age of consent in Canada and in some states? The grey area here may explain why the case was dismissed. At any rate, this situation does not quite fulfill the prophecy made by Randy Glass.

Another respondent suggests the use of an open-source firewall because all others may be compromised. I would take those words of advice seriously.