[liberationtech] TICSA New Zeland Law killing freedom of innovation and research

2015-01-15 Thread Marc Bruyere
Title : The New-Zealand NSA, GCSB won't wear a CARDIGAN

How the networking research and innovation project CARDIGAN [1]
 in
Software Defined Networking SDN Openflow [13]
 have been killed by the New
Zealand NSA local agency GCSB [5] [6]

law TICSA [4] [7]
:


All New-Zealander operators have to declare the manufacturing origin of all
their network equipment. How all the component  of a complex pieces of
hardware like an Ethernet switch could have single origin ?!
All New-Zealander operators have to declare 20 days in advance any type of
change on their network, for example adding a new routing policy or a
activating a new link.
If there is no respect of one of those two points they will have to pay a
monstrous redundant daily fine.


The REANNZ CARDIGAN [1]
[2]

[3]

[11]  was the first SDN IXP distributed
fabric network in operation. It was running for more than two years and
important on going academic project like OONI [8] could have reprogrammed
dynamically the fabric routing policy to counter possible censorship. But
no, REANNZ could not offer the economic risk as GCSB  did not like or/and
understand the CARDIGAN project.

FVEY[9]  laws are killing the
Academic Freedom [12] to
preserve interceptions against our privacy.

SDN for IXP [10] 
projects can be used to insure a better control by the citizens on their
own digital contents during local transit and peering.

-


[1] http://conferences.sigcomm.org/sigcomm/2013/papers/hotsdn/p169.pdf
[2] http://homepages.ecs.vuw.ac.nz/foswiki/pub/Users/Josh/TREEHOUSE/fla
-poster.pdf
[3] http://www.zdnet.com/article/treehouse
-software-defined-networking-project-claims-a-breakthrough/
[4] http://www.ncsc.govt.nz/ticsa/
[5] http://www.gcsb.govt.nz/our-work/
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications_Security_Bureau
[7] http://www.police.govt.nz
/about-us/programmes-and-initiatives/telecommunications/questions-answers
[8] https://ooni.torproject.org/
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_exchange_point
[11] http://reannz.co.nz/about-reannz
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom
[13] http://archive.openflow.org/wp/learnmo
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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings
Of course I know about Lavabit. That’s not what you said though. You said that 
I was a “compatriot of that service” when I have no association with it. You 
seemed to presuming some kind of involvement with it on my part. I take it that 
English isn’t your first language though so perhaps this is one of those 
language things.


> On Jan 15, 2015, at 4:00 PM, hellekin  wrote:
> 
> > I’ve never used Lavabit or been associated with it.
> >
> *** I certainly hope you know what I'm talking about.  If not, the
> Lavabit owner preferred to close the service instead of being subjected
> to a gag order and betraying his customers and convictions.  Nothing
> like this happened with other services subjected to such treatment or
> worse.  I won't make you the insult of presuming you didn't hear about
> PRISM as well.

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread hellekin
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Hash: SHA512

On 01/15/2015 07:46 PM, Al Billings wrote:
> 
>> of the late Lavabit service.
> 
> ?
> 
> I’ve never used Lavabit or been associated with it.
>
*** I certainly hope you know what I'm talking about.  If not, the
Lavabit owner preferred to close the service instead of being subjected
to a gag order and betraying his customers and convictions.  Nothing
like this happened with other services subjected to such treatment or
worse.  I won't make you the insult of presuming you didn't hear about
PRISM as well.

>> Since when the LiberationTech mailing list discusses non-free software?
>> I thought software freedom and access to the source code was considered
>> a requirement for considering a system secure.
> 
> According to whom?
>
*** There are plenty of occurrences in the mailing list archive of
solutions claiming security that were dismissed for being proprietary
solutions.  Moxie's work is an exceptional case for he has an
exceptional track record.

> 
> And your solution is what?
> 
*** I have a preference for peer-to-peer solutions.  I also have the
rationality to take for granted that there's no "my" solution, and in
case you're interested I recently made a point that a purely technical
solution is not enough. [0]

==
hk

[0]
https://gnu.org/consensus/talks/quito-2014/gnu-consensus-quito-2014-en.html
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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 2:33 PM, hellekin  wrote:
> 
> Signed PGP part
> On 01/15/2015 04:44 PM, Al Billings wrote:
> >
> > So, since you can’t trust any software (so you say) produced in the USA
> >
> *** Not "any software": non-free software, and software running on
> servers subjected to gag orders, as you well know for being a compatriot
> of the late Lavabit service.

?

I’ve never used Lavabit or been associated with it. I’ve met one or two of the 
folks from it at a security conference, I think. I’ve worked for the same 
company for 7 1/2 years now, an open source one, in fact. 

> Since when the LiberationTech mailing list discusses non-free software?
> I thought software freedom and access to the source code was considered
> a requirement for considering a system secure.

According to whom? I think open source (I’ll leave aside whether “open source” 
is “free software”) is ideal but it is not the only thing worth discussing. 
Otherwise, we wouldn’t be discussing most mobile applications.

> Most people don't understand the extent of the compromise and will
> happily use whatever the experts say is "good enough".  There's a social
> responsibility of technicians towards we, the people, that cannot simply
> be dismissed as lunacy.  I applaud what Moxie has been doing, as it
> provides better-than-nothing for an immediate need of many.  But it's
> patching a sieve with tape: it will slow down the catastrophe but won't
> solve the bigger issue.

And your solution is what?

Al
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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread hellekin
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
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On 01/15/2015 04:44 PM, Al Billings wrote:
> 
> So, since you can’t trust any software (so you say) produced in the USA
>
*** Not "any software": non-free software, and software running on
servers subjected to gag orders, as you well know for being a compatriot
of the late Lavabit service.

Since when the LiberationTech mailing list discusses non-free software?
 I thought software freedom and access to the source code was considered
a requirement for considering a system secure.

As you also well know, there's no way to either escape NSA's tentacles,
nor leave the planet.  When you're not subjected to forced silence by
terrorist laws of the USA, you're subjected to illegal cracking of
machines by the FVEY, as revealed by the FBI's "right" to consider any
foreign system as a potential target.

It's very damageable to think that because the reach of NSA and foes is
unlimited, although illegal, we cannot criticize the claims to offer am
allegedly secure solution to hundreds of millions of people by merging
well-intended and "paladin code" of trusted people with an inherently
insecure proprietary system.  It's certainly better than nothing at all,
but from this to uphold it as an acceptable solution is understating if
not dismissing the need to provide technical solutions to effectively
thwart global surveillance.

Most people don't understand the extent of the compromise and will
happily use whatever the experts say is "good enough".  There's a social
responsibility of technicians towards we, the people, that cannot simply
be dismissed as lunacy.  I applaud what Moxie has been doing, as it
provides better-than-nothing for an immediate need of many.  But it's
patching a sieve with tape: it will slow down the catastrophe but won't
solve the bigger issue.

And no, there's no nation on Earth that can solve that problem either:
global surveillance knows no border, although legally it should.  Global
surveillance is totalitarianism "justified" by the conviction the
watchers are "the good guys" "defending" "our" "values"; they decided
unilaterally that because it's technically feasible, they can do it,
regardless of the rule of Law and ethics.  Therefore no technical
solution alone can remove their power, but what serious technical
solutions can do is to remove the support for such power: centralized
services, reliance on servers and proprietary software.

Cloud providers in the USA know very well the cost of NSA's abuse of
power as foreigners prefer using cloud services outside of the Empire's
jurisdiction.  But that is not enough, as TPP, TTIP and other upcoming
legislations crafted in secret by corporate U.S. and transnational
interests of the Northern Hemisphere demonstrate, which are leading to,
or more precisely aiming at removing national sovereignty everywhere.

If we start taking a beaver's dam for a polder, we're not going anywhere.

==
hk

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread carlo von lynX
On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 10:45:16AM -0800, Al Billings wrote:
> Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
> Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid.

You are free to trust him to spend a night at your home. I would
if he was my friend, but I never met him. Yet the word "trust" in
politics is the root of most evil, and to entrust a person with the
responsability for millions of people whose civil rights may be
respected or infringed without them even finding out.. well, that
is more than trust. That is irresponsible towards all involved
people, including Moxie.

> I don’t see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can 
> live within where there won’t be the same issues.

Similar issues, at times, but not the same. Like Germany has this
rule that secret service wants access if you're a communications
provider for more than 9'999 users (if I was told correctly).
But the way that law is written it would not allow the secret
service to impose on the company not to deliver end-to-end 
encryption to the users.

The way laws do not apply on this topic is specific to the U.S,
shared only with non-democratic regimes. Only the U.S. Supreme
Court or an amendment to the Constitution could rectify the power
balance between citizen and president in this matter. [1]

You and I know, that no binary distribution should be trusted,
no matter where on Earth it was compiled. But that is not a point
of view the general public is ready to adopt. The mainstream press 
and the majority of people out there still believe that companies
can have an ethos, can actually do what they market, and that
proprietary software could possibly be trustworthy - at least as 
long as the press says good things about it.

To these people it is no viable argumentation to say, you must
only use free software (I say that all the time), but it does
mean something to them to find out that the laws are such that
the promises a company is making are 1. irrelevant and 2. have
to be deceptive because that is what is expected from them. That
*is* news.

At least in other countries this kind of behavior is ILLEGAL.
We don't know if it's not happening, but at least it could get
some people in trouble if they got caught with their hands in
the pudding.

> Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try to 
> potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their communications? 
> Where is your utopia of freedom?

Utopia is nowhere. But you as a U.S. citizen are better off
in most democratic countries on Earth: not only do almost all
countries respect your civil rights even if you're a foreigner
(The U.S. is the only country that treats foreigners as vegetables
by law [1]. Other countries at least infringe their own laws when
they do this.) Plus, by leaving the U.S. the NSA is still supposed
to not spy on you, so it needs the GCHQ to take care of that. It
may be hard to prove, but I believe GCHQ is breaching its laws
when it does that favor to the U.S.

There are more reasons why some countries qualify as "less bad"
but I prefer not to elaborate.


[1] as before


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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Matt Mackall
On Thu, 2015-01-15 at 11:44 -0800, Al Billings wrote:
> You’re avoiding the question. Please name a nation state in which
> software can be produced which isn’t subject to the kind of legal
> pressures or potential requirements as the USA when it comes to
> national security, spying, and the like. 
> 
> Russia? Nope. The UK? Nope. Germany? Nope. I could go on.

Hell, none of these choices even get you out from under the NSA's thumb,
despite being off USA soil. If you are a communications company with a
non-trivial number of users, you will be a target of multiple national
security organizations. If you don't have the capability to do regular
CIA-level background checks on all your employees and contributors, you
can be infiltrated.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.


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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread J.M. Porup
Centralization is the problem.

If we assume that all centralized software has been commandeered (as we
should), I would rather see that commandeering evenly distributed around
the world, competing against each other, than concentrated into the
vile, toxic stew that is Silicon Valley in the US.



On 01/15/15 14:44, Al Billings wrote:
> You’re avoiding the question. Please name a nation state in which software 
> can be produced which isn’t subject to the kind of legal pressures or 
> potential requirements as the USA when it comes to national security, spying, 
> and the like. 
> 
> Russia? Nope. The UK? Nope. Germany? Nope. I could go on.
> 
> So, since you can’t trust any software (so you say) produced in the USA, 
> rather than just making snide comments about “Merkans,” please tell us which 
> nation will not have these problems so we can all make our software there.
> 
>> On Jan 15, 2015, at 11:41 AM, J.M. Porup  wrote:
>>
>> I know it's hard for some Merkans to understand, but there is this
>> magical place called "Rest of the World." There are even parts you
>> haven't bombed yet! You might try there.
> 
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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Brian Behlendorf


Good point, it's unfair to isolate out just the US.  Seems like some other 
nations viewed the Snowden disclosures as prescriptive or aspirational, or 
were already aligned.  Britain, for instance!  So tragic what's happening 
there.


There are some countries where the respect for individual sovereignty 
seems a bit more integral - Switzerland, Iceland perhaps - where 
government efforts to compell private actors within their borders to 
compromise security seems unlikely, and where business models typically 
seem less surveillance-based.  But that's a pretty weak foundation, 
I concede.


It's just the US has become such an embarrassingly good example of this.

Brian

On Thu, 15 Jan 2015, Al Billings wrote:

So, which countries exist where we *can* trust the binaries when they’re made 
within them?


On Jan 15, 2015, at 10:38 AM, Brian Behlendorf  wrote:

Sadly, given what we know about the current state of play and the 
actors involved (state-based, non-state, ad-tech companies, etc) it's 
sadly the case that we can't trust binaries made in the US if the 
public can't reproduce the build from source.




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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings
You’re avoiding the question. Please name a nation state in which software can 
be produced which isn’t subject to the kind of legal pressures or potential 
requirements as the USA when it comes to national security, spying, and the 
like. 

Russia? Nope. The UK? Nope. Germany? Nope. I could go on.

So, since you can’t trust any software (so you say) produced in the USA, rather 
than just making snide comments about “Merkans,” please tell us which nation 
will not have these problems so we can all make our software there.

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 11:41 AM, J.M. Porup  wrote:
> 
> I know it's hard for some Merkans to understand, but there is this
> magical place called "Rest of the World." There are even parts you
> haven't bombed yet! You might try there.

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread J.M. Porup
On 01/15/15 14:25, Al Billings wrote:
> 
>> On Jan 15, 2015, at 11:20 AM, J.M. Porup  wrote:
>>
>> On 01/15/15 13:45, Al Billings wrote:
>>> Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
>>> Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid. I 
>>> don’t see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can 
>>> live within where there won’t be the same issues. From there, the list of 
>>> demands gets rather high and the list of solutions non-existent. 
>>>
>>> I’m well aware of the Snowden revelations. I’m also well aware that people 
>>> like Moxie are doing good work to try to counter some of the NSA grabs of 
>>> Internet data. The post read like crazy person FUD.
>>>
>>> Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try 
>>> to potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their 
>>> communications? Where is your utopia of freedom?
>>
>> There is no utopia of freedom. But we can avoid the dystopia of tyranny
>> the United States is rapidly becoming.
> 
> By going where? Please do say.

I know it's hard for some Merkans to understand, but there is this
magical place called "Rest of the World." There are even parts you
haven't bombed yet! You might try there.

JMP


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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Carolyn Santo
Not by going elsewhere.  By changing the direction and/or leadership of 
the country.


I'd like to go back toward the direction of land of the free and home of 
the brave instead of a place where it's illegal to buy a Big Gulp and 
it's considered unfair that I work my butt off and earn a lot of money 
because people who don't want to work aren't satisfied with the level of 
food stamps they receive or the brand of free cell phone they get from a 
free government program.  ALSO, a place where my last sentence wouldn't 
be considered racist.  It's ridiculous that my 13 year old son feels 
compelled to apologize every time he uses the word black, even when he's 
describing the color of a kitchen appliance.


Sorry, not tech related, but I had to chime in.

Aloha!

On 1/15/2015 9:25 AM, Al Billings wrote:

On Jan 15, 2015, at 11:20 AM, J.M. Porup  wrote:

On 01/15/15 13:45, Al Billings wrote:

Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid. I don’t 
see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can live within 
where there won’t be the same issues. From there, the list of demands gets 
rather high and the list of solutions non-existent.

I’m well aware of the Snowden revelations. I’m also well aware that people like 
Moxie are doing good work to try to counter some of the NSA grabs of Internet 
data. The post read like crazy person FUD.

Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try to 
potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their communications? 
Where is your utopia of freedom?

There is no utopia of freedom. But we can avoid the dystopia of tyranny
the United States is rapidly becoming.

By going where? Please do say.


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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 11:20 AM, J.M. Porup  wrote:
> 
> On 01/15/15 13:45, Al Billings wrote:
>> Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
>> Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid. I 
>> don’t see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can 
>> live within where there won’t be the same issues. From there, the list of 
>> demands gets rather high and the list of solutions non-existent. 
>> 
>> I’m well aware of the Snowden revelations. I’m also well aware that people 
>> like Moxie are doing good work to try to counter some of the NSA grabs of 
>> Internet data. The post read like crazy person FUD.
>> 
>> Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try to 
>> potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their communications? 
>> Where is your utopia of freedom?
> 
> There is no utopia of freedom. But we can avoid the dystopia of tyranny
> the United States is rapidly becoming.

By going where? Please do say.
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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread J.M. Porup
On 01/15/15 13:45, Al Billings wrote:
> Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
> Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid. I 
> don’t see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can live 
> within where there won’t be the same issues. From there, the list of demands 
> gets rather high and the list of solutions non-existent. 
> 
> I’m well aware of the Snowden revelations. I’m also well aware that people 
> like Moxie are doing good work to try to counter some of the NSA grabs of 
> Internet data. The post read like crazy person FUD.
> 
> Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try to 
> potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their communications? 
> Where is your utopia of freedom?

There is no utopia of freedom. But we can avoid the dystopia of tyranny
the United States is rapidly becoming.

JMP



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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings
So, which countries exist where we *can* trust the binaries when they’re made 
within them?

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 10:38 AM, Brian Behlendorf  wrote:
> 
> Sadly, given what we know about the current state of play and the actors 
> involved (state-based, non-state, ad-tech companies, etc) it's sadly the case 
> that we can't trust binaries made in the US if the public can't reproduce the 
> build from source. 

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings
Insisting that we both can and cannot (at the same time) trust people like 
Moxie simply because they live in the USA and the NSA exists is stupid. I don’t 
see a suggestion of what jurisdiction the author thinks people can live within 
where there won’t be the same issues. From there, the list of demands gets 
rather high and the list of solutions non-existent. 

I’m well aware of the Snowden revelations. I’m also well aware that people like 
Moxie are doing good work to try to counter some of the NSA grabs of Internet 
data. The post read like crazy person FUD.

Which country should people be in where the government isn’t going to try to 
potentially legally compel them to do things or spy on their communications? 
Where is your utopia of freedom?

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 10:30 AM, hellekin  wrote:
> 
> Signed PGP part
> On 01/15/2015 02:35 PM, Al Billings wrote:
> > Pull that tinfoil hat a little tighter.
> >
> *** Aren't the Snowden leaks enough?  What else do you need really?
> Then go visit the GNU.org section on Malware.
> 
> Deflecting legitimate criticism with such a tongue-in-cheek comment is
> not going to change the fact that the USA have been led by tricksters
> doing whatever in their power to confuse their and other countries
> citizens in order to serve the short term and strategic interests of the
> military industrial complex, with impunity and a complete lack of touch
> with reality and ethics.
> 
> If by now this is not clear to you, you're delusional or a part of that
> system.  You can certainly criticize lynX's hard position if you like,
> but dismissing its criticism as lunatic is entirely on you.  Frankly,
> having a security person from Mozilla do this is a bit staggering.

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Brian Behlendorf

On Thu, 15 Jan 2015, carlo von lynX wrote:

On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 12:50:41PM -0500, Richard Brooks wrote:

Actually, you also need to have source code for the compilers
used and the compiler's compilers...


Yes, we have those. We have systems completely produced from
source and others that are working on complete reproduceability.


If anyone would like a decent intro and overview of why this is important 
and what the current state is, Mike Perry's and Seth Schoen's presentation 
from CCC is worth the time:


http://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6240_-_en_-_saal_g_-_201412271400_-_reproducible_builds_-_mike_perry_-_seth_schoen_-_hans_steiner.html#video

Sadly, given what we know about the current state of play and the actors 
involved (state-based, non-state, ad-tech companies, etc) it's sadly the 
case that we can't trust binaries made in the US if the public can't 
reproduce the build from source.  This is tragic both for users and for 
US firms in this space.  This is not tinfoil-hat terrain.  The good news 
is every incremental step towards that goal - reproduceable builds from 
public source - brings some benefit.  So no need to be cynical or feel 
helpless.  Axolotl seems like a good first step; maybe it'll be a gateway 
drug to ChatSecure.


Brian

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread hellekin
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-
Hash: SHA512

On 01/15/2015 02:35 PM, Al Billings wrote:
> Pull that tinfoil hat a little tighter.
> 
*** Aren't the Snowden leaks enough?  What else do you need really?
Then go visit the GNU.org section on Malware.

Deflecting legitimate criticism with such a tongue-in-cheek comment is
not going to change the fact that the USA have been led by tricksters
doing whatever in their power to confuse their and other countries
citizens in order to serve the short term and strategic interests of the
military industrial complex, with impunity and a complete lack of touch
with reality and ethics.

If by now this is not clear to you, you're delusional or a part of that
system.  You can certainly criticize lynX's hard position if you like,
but dismissing its criticism as lunatic is entirely on you.  Frankly,
having a security person from Mozilla do this is a bit staggering.

==
hk

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[liberationtech] Fwd: Call for Applications: Fletcher Summer Institute 2015. Application Deadline February 16

2015-01-15 Thread Althea Middleton-Detzner
Greetings Liberation Tech Community!

I wanted to pass along the annual call for applications to the Fletcher
Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict
,
a joint executive education program put on by International Center on
Nonviolent Conflict  and The Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy. This rigorous, week-long interdisciplinary
program explores the theory and practice of strategic nonviolent conflict
(a.k.a. civil resistance) and how it has shaped both history, as well as
the conflicts of today and into the future.

The institute brings together a dynamic group of activists, scholars,
journalists, policy makers, and members of civil society from all over the
world for an intense and gratifying week!

I hope you will share the announcement with friends and colleagues you
think might be interested.

If you or anyone you know has questions about the program or how to apply,
please feel free to have them email me in the coming weeks.

Best,
Althea

*Apologies if you already received the announcement*

---
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Facilitator | Trainer | Strategist
Skype: altheamd
Twitter: @altheamarie 
Connect via LinkedIn 



Having trouble viewing this email? Click here




*Call for Applications: Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of
Nonviolent Conflict*


 * Deadline to apply is February 16, 2015   *
 The Fletcher Summer Institute for the Advanced Study of Nonviolent
Conflict (FSI)

is the leading executive education program in the world focusing on the
advanced, interdisciplinary study of civil resistance.

 Civil resistance campaigns for rights, freedom, and justice are capturing
the world's attention as never before. Campaigns to protect democracy in
Hong Kong, for women's rights in India, for indigenous rights in Latin
America, for police accountability in the United States, against violence
in Mexico, against corruption in Cambodia, against growing autocracy in
Ukraine and against dictatorship in Burkina Faso are all examples in the
last year of a profound global shift in how political power is developed
and applied.

 Since 2006, over 400 participants from more than 90 countries have
gathered at FSI to learn and share knowledge. The program is taught by
leading international scholars, practitioners, organizers and activists
from past and current struggles. It provides both a firm academic grasp of
the subject of civil resistance as well as a practical understanding of the
use of nonviolent struggle in a variety of conflicts for a wide range of
goals. Organized in conjunction with the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University, the program offers a certificate in the
Advanced Study of Nonviolent Conflict.






* When:  June 7-12, 2015Where:  The Fletcher School, Tufts University,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA   Deadline:February 16, 2015 *

   - Click here to learn more and apply
   


   - Click here to download the FSI 2015 flyer
   


Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread carlo von lynX
On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 12:50:41PM -0500, Richard Brooks wrote:
> Actually, you also need to have source code for the compilers
> used and the compiler's compilers...

Yes, we have those. We have systems completely produced from
source and others that are working on complete reproduceability.

> And that ignores the use of hardware trojans.

No, it puts things in perspective. Hardware backdoors I think
are more likely to be suitable for targeted surveillance, not
mass surveillance. Targeted surveillance is not a problem for
democracy as much as bulk surveillance, so I consider that
progress.

Also having to bring backdoors down into the hardware drives
up the cost of surveillance. That is good. Surveillance must
be expensive if we want democracy to prevail.

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Richard Brooks
Actually, you also need to have source code for the compilers
used and the compiler's compilers...

And that ignores the use of hardware trojans.

On 01/15/2015 12:29 PM, carlo von lynX wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 08:49:31AM -0800, Steve Weis wrote:
>> Note you said "users will never know" if e2e is being used, but as Moxie
>> says "we'll be surfacing this into the UI" of upgraded clients.
> 
> There is a systemic legal problem by which neither Facebook, nor
> Whatsapp, nor Textsecure nor Moxie are in a position to guarantee
> that whatever is surfaced into the UI actually means what it says.
> 
> Still, as long as these systems are operating from U.S. American 
> ground, the current legal situation is such that the President of 
> the U.S.  has under the U.S. Constitution the sole and final power 
> of deciding whether companies and individuals in these companies 
> get to implement anything they would like to implement, or not. [1]
> And the services we have been hearing about a lot operate under 
> direct executive mandate of the POTUS.
> 
> So, I again express respect to Moxie and everyone involved for
> trying to improve the lives of everyday users, but I see a terrible
> risk in promoting any such technology considering the NSA's track
> record on making use of its given privileges. The chances this is
> actually happening can only be considered minimal.
> 
> It would take millions of people running independenlty built
> clients from source code, and a credible procedure thereof - only
> then would a hindrance for the NSA exist to exercise its privileges.
> 
> As we are by now familiar with its inner workings and strategies,
> the agency will intervene in the process early enough to impede
> anything like this from happening.
> 
> Prove me wrong. Give us a way to reproduce the exact client millions
> of humans are relying on, from source code. And make that information
> arise to the UI surface. Then we will know that Whatsapp and TextSecure
> are doing the right thing, and we will have to continue worrying about
> Google and Apple (the NSA may choose to pick up the TextSecure ratchets
> or private keys via Android/iOS backdoors).
> 
> 
> [1] Caspar Bowden, 31c3, 
> http://cdn.media.ccc.de/congress/2014/webm-sd/31c3-6195-en-The_Cloud_Conspiracy_2008-2014_webm-sd.webm.torrent
> 


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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Al Billings
Pull that tinfoil hat a little tighter.

> On Jan 15, 2015, at 9:29 AM, carlo von lynX  
> wrote:
> 
> There is a systemic legal problem by which neither Facebook, nor
> Whatsapp, nor Textsecure nor Moxie are in a position to guarantee
> that whatever is surfaced into the UI actually means what it says.

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread carlo von lynX
On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 08:49:31AM -0800, Steve Weis wrote:
> Note you said "users will never know" if e2e is being used, but as Moxie
> says "we'll be surfacing this into the UI" of upgraded clients.

There is a systemic legal problem by which neither Facebook, nor
Whatsapp, nor Textsecure nor Moxie are in a position to guarantee
that whatever is surfaced into the UI actually means what it says.

Still, as long as these systems are operating from U.S. American 
ground, the current legal situation is such that the President of 
the U.S.  has under the U.S. Constitution the sole and final power 
of deciding whether companies and individuals in these companies 
get to implement anything they would like to implement, or not. [1]
And the services we have been hearing about a lot operate under 
direct executive mandate of the POTUS.

So, I again express respect to Moxie and everyone involved for
trying to improve the lives of everyday users, but I see a terrible
risk in promoting any such technology considering the NSA's track
record on making use of its given privileges. The chances this is
actually happening can only be considered minimal.

It would take millions of people running independenlty built
clients from source code, and a credible procedure thereof - only
then would a hindrance for the NSA exist to exercise its privileges.

As we are by now familiar with its inner workings and strategies,
the agency will intervene in the process early enough to impede
anything like this from happening.

Prove me wrong. Give us a way to reproduce the exact client millions
of humans are relying on, from source code. And make that information
arise to the UI surface. Then we will know that Whatsapp and TextSecure
are doing the right thing, and we will have to continue worrying about
Google and Apple (the NSA may choose to pick up the TextSecure ratchets
or private keys via Android/iOS backdoors).


[1] Caspar Bowden, 31c3, 
http://cdn.media.ccc.de/congress/2014/webm-sd/31c3-6195-en-The_Cloud_Conspiracy_2008-2014_webm-sd.webm.torrent

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Re: [liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread Steve Weis
Hello Carlo. This is about backward compatibility. WhatsApps is running on
hundreds of millions of iOS, Android, Windows, Blackberry and Nokia phones.
There are even people using it on 8 year old Java ME feature phones. It's
not feasible to simultaneously upgrade their installed apps to support
end-to-end crypto at once.

Upgrading all those clients takes time and there will be a significant
fraction of non-e2e clients for a while. Until enough clients are upgraded,
senders will need to distinguish which receivers support end-to-end
encryption and will need to retain the ability to fallback to
transport-only encryption.

The original message
 you
cited by Nadim Kobeissi mentions this: "Upgrading [old WhatsApps] clients
to Axolotl might be challenging". Moxie Marlinspike also addresses it in one
of the replies
:
*"Clients need to negotiate encryption capability until all clients support
encryption.  We'll be surfacing this into the UI for each client once
protocol support is complete on that client.  Rolling something like this
out to 600MM+ devices is an incremental process that takes time."*

Note you said "users will never know" if e2e is being used, but as Moxie
says "we'll be surfacing this into the UI" of upgraded clients.

On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 5:26 AM, carlo von lynX 
wrote:
>
> Concerning Whatsapp there is a very interesting clue
> in a thread on "messaging" that suggests users will
> never know if end-to-end encryption is being used, since
> the server decides whether they are allowed to, and
> the user is not informed. Knowing the NSA that means
> that Whatsapp would never encrypt anything end-to-end.
> Whatsapp should therefore be considered a Trojan horse
> for people seeking easy to use privacy. Read about that at
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Re: [liberationtech] Telecommunications to Cuba in New Policies

2015-01-15 Thread Collin Anderson
Hello Libtech,

The Cuba new rules are out, since there are two jurisdictions covering the
country, they are split between services (Treasury's OFAC) and goods
(Commerce's BIS). The short story is that Cuba is close to Iran's policies
now, which a bit of difference owing to how it was done. Positive news
though.

OFAC:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-00632.pdf
BIS:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-00590.pdf

Cordially,
Collin

On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes <
alps6...@gmail.com> wrote:

> I agree that the credit card stuff is by far the most important, and not
> principally because of its implications in terms of "tech"
>
> Not sure about the impact or not of the "democracy promotion" programs,
> but my feeling is that there's going to be a "surge" of those "programs!"
> So what? I'm pretty sure though that hardly anybody in Cuba would stop
> making a CC transaction in the island thanks to his US relatives & Obama
> because of that..
>
>
> Best Regards | Cordiales Saludos | Grato,
>
> Andrés L. Pacheco Sanfuentes
> 
> +1 (347) 766-5008
>
> On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 7:47 PM, Collin Anderson <
> col...@averysmallbird.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 17, 2014 at 8:33 PM, Ellery Biddle 
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> The financial piece here is also really important to follow, I think.
>>> Although a lot of what Obama laid out today was actually somewhat
>>> preliminary and short on detail, he very explicitly stated that US credit
>>> cards would now be accepted in Cuba.
>>
>>
>> Actually in this regard, perhaps the most important contribution will be
>> the removal of Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list and the
>> allowance of direct correspondent banking relationships.
>>
>> --
>> *Collin David Anderson*
>> averysmallbird.com | @cda | Washington, D.C.
>>
>> --
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[liberationtech] Whatsapp, a Trojan horse for seekers of easy privacy?

2015-01-15 Thread carlo von lynX
Concerning Whatsapp there is a very interesting clue
in a thread on "messaging" that suggests users will
never know if end-to-end encryption is being used, since
the server decides whether they are allowed to, and
the user is not informed. Knowing the NSA that means
that Whatsapp would never encrypt anything end-to-end.
Whatsapp should therefore be considered a Trojan horse 
for people seeking easy to use privacy. Read about that at

https://moderncrypto.org/mail-archive/messaging/2014/001133.html

Careful on using that mailing list however. If I
understood correctly it is being maintained by one
of the developers of TextSecure, which is the end-to-end
encryption system that has been integrated into Whatsapp,
possibly with the purpose of looking good, making good
headlines and never being actually run.

http://www.wired.com/2014/11/whatsapp-encrypted-messaging/

Of course I assume everyone is operating in the best of
intentions, including the NSA. This is just FYI.


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