The Most Dangerous Man in the World by Andrew Fowler

The Most Dangerous Man in the World by Andrew Fowler

Author:Andrew Fowler [Fowler, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2011-05-23T07:00:00+00:00


The Californian town of Carmichael, north-east of Sacramento, is a sleepy place where the local newspaper’s front page is rarely more interesting than road traffic accidents or the fact that a local vet has been named businessperson of the year. It’s hardly the kind of town where you’d expect to find Adrian Lamo. His exploits are legendary, not just in his home state, but everywhere the Internet reaches. He’s described as a ‘grey hat’ in the Internet world where ‘white hats’ work for security companies, ‘black hats’ hack into everything with an open port, and ‘grey hats’ like the challenge of breaking in but say they do no damage. Lamo is an unusual character: a sometime journalist, he’s been a habitual drug user, hospitalised with Asperger’s syndrome—and convicted of breaking in to the New York Times and rifling through the personal data of its contributors. He also chewed up several thousands of dollars of free searches using its data research accounts. At times he’s been broke, wandering America, living with friends where he has them, or just ending up in a new city with nowhere to stay but a park bench. However, among the hackeratti he’s a celebrated star, a hero of the Internet. Lamo also has interesting relationships with members of US military intelligence.

In late May 2010 he received a message via an Internet chat room from Private First Class Bradley Manning, an intelligence officer with the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, based at Forward Base Hammer in East Baghdad. Manning had access to two computers connected to SIPRNET: the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications Systems (JWICS)—systems of interconnected computer networks used by the US Defense Department and State Department to transmit information classified ‘Secret’. Others, too, were plugged into the classified system, up to half a million people of both civilian and military staff, as the US government tried to share information more openly in the hope of heading off another 9/11 terrorist attack.

The dark towering walls do a good job of protecting the base from sandstorms that regularly sweep across the desiccated landscape outside—and other hostile forces. Inside, the military has tried to create some semblance of normality for the men and women stationed there, creating a ‘town’ with a supermarket, bars, a canteen and even a jazz band playing some nights. Even so, by many accounts Manning, aged twenty-two, had not been happy for some time. It seemed to be a repeat of his life at school where he had apparently been bullied and accused of being effeminate. According to ABC News America, he had been reprimanded for assaulting a fellow soldier and demoted from Specialist to Private First Class. He was also sent to a chaplain after officers noticed what was called ‘odd behaviors’. His Facebook page gave an insight into his state of mind. ‘Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment,’ he said, and quoted a joke about ‘military intelligence’ being an oxymoron.

At the beginning of May,



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