June 2015 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Pirate Party’s youth wing Activists wiretap high-level political surveillance hawks at Sweden’s top security conference
by Zenaan Harkness 17 Jun '15

17 Jun '15

https://falkvinge.net/2015/01/14/hilarious-activists-turn-tables-on-politic… "They set up an open wi-fi access point at the conference and labeled it “Open Guest”, and then just logged the traffic of about a hundred high-ranking surveillance hawks who argue for more wiretapping, and who connected through the activists’ unencrypted access point. " "...generally everybody present who would argue in public that surveillance of other people than themselves is the best idea since sliced bread." ... "In closing, we are happy to report that we have found no traces whatsoever of preparations of terrorism in our surveillance. However, we do note that people need to get much better at using the net in a secure manner."

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ECHR Censors Comments, Pushes Liability, Likes Monitoring
by grarpamp 17 Jun '15

17 Jun '15

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-155105 https://www.accessnow.org/blog/2015/06/16/delfi-as-v.-estonia-a-blow-to-fre… http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/06/shock-european-court-decision-… In a surprise decision, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg has ruled that the Estonian news site Delfi may be held responsible for anonymous and allegedly defamatory comments from its readers. One of the worrying aspects of the ECHR decision is that it may encourage the idea that intermediaries are liable for "manifestly unlawful" content, without specifying what "manifestly unlawful" actually means. Also troubling is that the judgment upholds a finding that "proactive monitoring" of Internet users can be required.

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Joystream Bitcoin Enabled Torrenting
by grarpamp 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

http://www.joystream.co/ Interesting, yet such a tool / market in forbidden bandwidth still hasn't proposed or integrated the required anonymity and common IPv6 transport that todays multitude of would be JoyBEP compliant BT apps and users would need in order to protect and scale their activities in some sort of point and click cutover of the masses. [Though a few common clients do now work with I2P. No client seems to have the interface / code handle massive (100s, 1000s) torrent libraries very well, such that those wanting to run a profitable business might wish to manage (divide and conquer model excepted).] http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/39xgln/joystream_torrent_client_wi… http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/3a0pff/joystream_pay_or_get_paid_f… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_P2P https://code.google.com/p/phantom/ http://maidsafe.net/ http://storj.io/ http://filecoin.io/ http://www.reddit.com/r/i2p/comments/35lksd/is_there_really_a_reason_to_use… http://dev.vuze.com/

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Possible SigInt Metadata Dump Files Circulating
by Wilfred Guerin 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

Some huge *meaning close to exobyte size* data sets are circulating in storage clouds this last week, appear to be snapshots of signals intelligence metadata including vector tracking of signals targets (possibly cell phones based on movement vectors) and cross-associated metadata for their communications. Indications are that these are recon signal dumps of the american sigint system loaded by a major organized crime syndicate and cover most of last year. There is also a set of organic tracking signals, assumably covert agent communications, and another set that appears to be all American and European cash money transactions(???).

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More Bitcoin Battles for Control and Process ... Blocksize
by grarpamp 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/39wlpj/adam_back_questions_mike_he… All the ongoing talk over blocksize, BIP's, control and process... fine and much needed. This one will pass. But don't be fooled, this one is nothing... the real battles among very large and global entities are yet to come. If they wish Bitcoin to succeed as philosophically conceived, today's devs, users and miners should prepare for war.

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LastPass Network Breached
by Gutem 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

https://threatpost.com/lastpass-network-breached-calls-for-master-password-… - Gutem ----------- “Live Long and Prosper" Registered Linux User: 562142 PGP: 0xE1A697BF / 2522 ECFA DCD2 FF52 3AAB D2A1 154E 14CD E1A6 97BF https://keybase.io/gutem/key.asc

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Kid gets 15y for ISIS Bitcoin, Adults get Facialed at Download
by grarpamp 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2935192/virginia-teen-pleads-guilty-to-givin… Speculation about whether the Islamic State (IS) group is using bitcoin intensified Thursday in the U.S. when government officials said a Virginia teenager admitted to providing the organization with advice on the virtual currency. http://noisey.vice.com/blog/download-festival-is-a-police-trial-ground-for-… This weekend’s Download Festival will be subjected to strategic facial recognition technology by Leicestershire Police, making those 100,000-plus attendees the first music fans to ever be monitored to this extent at a UK music festival.

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As US Marshals director resigns amid scandal, questions mount over agency's cell phone tracking
by coderman 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/jun/12/us-marshals-director-res… --- As US Marshals director resigns amid scandal, questions mount over agency's cell phone tracking Agents instructed to hide StingRay details “to the greatest extent legally possible” This week, the director of the US Marshals, Stacia Hylton, announced that she will step down within the year. As reported by The Hill on Tuesday, Director Hylton’s resignation follows increased scrutiny regarding allegations of fiscal mismanagement, cronyism and dubious surveillance practices. But unlike Michele Leonhart, who resigned as director of the Drug Enforcement Administration last month after an awkward hearing over sexual misconduct by DEA agents, Director Hylton’s announcement did not ride the wake of any dramatic findings or even a hearing to review potential impropriety. A handful of members of Congress — most vocally Senator Chuck Grassley of Idaho — have voiced concerns over USMS management and called for independent investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general. No findings will be published for several months, at least, but the USMS director has now announced her resignation even before results from this new investigation are in. As Director Hylton winds down her tenure, what few documents we have regarding surveillance practices by the US Marshals leave many questions unanswered. The US Marshals Service has spent millions of dollars on StingRays and similar devices to track cell phones. Policy directives released by the agency confirm that its investigators — like their counterparts at the FBI and other law enforcement agencies — are instructed to go to lengths to keep details of cell phone trackers out of courtroom testimony and legal filings. Over the past year, key details have emerged regarding deployment of cell site simulators by USMS investigators and deputy marshals. A Wall Street Journal investigation published last November uncovered a USMS program that uses airplanes outfitted with cell site simulators in nationwide fugitive manhunts. The Justice Department refused to confirm or deny the program’s existence, but insisted the undertaking was legal. Last summer, the US Marshals physically removed documents regarding StingRays used by one Florida police department. Two weeks later, the ACLU obtained emails indicating that the USMS asked the same agency to phrase court filings so as to obscure the role cell phone trackers played in an investigation. One April 2009 email chain details an agreement among the U.S. Marshals, an assistant state attorney and local police regarding the wording of probable cause affidavits (PCA) for a case where a StingRay was deployed to locate a suspect. “In the past, and at the request of the U.S. Marshalls (sic),” Sgt. Ken Castro of the Sarasota Police Department wrote, “the investigative means utilized to locate the suspect have not been revealed so that we may continue to utilize this technology without the knowledge of the criminal element.” “In reports or depositions,” the sergeant further explained, “we simply refer to the assistance as ‘received information from a confidential source regarding the location of the suspect.’” Notably, the US Marshals replied it was unable to locate any communications with Sarasota police or its Florida regional task force regarding cell site simulators, despite considerable media coverage and litigation over the rapid document transfer. The Justice Department upheld the agency’s response upon appeal last August. Forty-one pages of undated policy directives released in February by USMS in response to a Freedom of Information Act request include instructions to keep details of StingRays and similar surveillance tactics out of courtroom filings. One of the broad directives indicates that the US Marshals must obtain a pen/trap order from a judge in order to capture “signaling information” from wireless devices. This information includes numbers dialed and the signals a cell phone exchanges with nearby network towers. StingRays and similar cell phone tracking equipment use this information to triangulate a particular device’s location or record communications activity. To capture the content of communications, US Marshals must request a “Title III” or wiretap court order, which demands a higher evidentiary burden. The FBI told legislators last year that its new StingRay policy requires agents to secure a warrant to deploy StingRays, rather than simply a pen/trap order, except under particular circumstances. The Justice Department also recently announced that it is reviewing policies across all of its components, including the US Marshals, when it comes to cell phone tracking. MuckRock is seeking documents related to both announcements. Another USMS directive — entitled “Security and Protection” — stresses that surveillance division agents must be kept off the stand, if possible, and disclosure of techniques minimized “throughout the judicial process.” “It is imperative that investigators understand,” reads the directive in part, “that they must minimize, to the greatest extent legally possible, any testimony by [surveillance division] personnel or the disclosure of [surveillance division] techniques throughout the judicial process.” “Such disclosure could significantly impair the future effectiveness of the technique and jeopardize the safety of ongoing and future surveillance operations by both the USMS and other investigative agencies.” A spokesperson for the US Marshals indicated by email that the directive is current. The USMS policy documents do not, however, define what constitutes the “greatest extent legally possible” or the limits of such efforts. MuckRock will be monitoring these proceedings closely - please email all tips to info(a)muckrock.com.

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Re: Russia and China crack Snowden Cache
by Shelley 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

On June 14, 2015 6:27:18 AM Zenaan Harkness <zen(a)freedbms.net> wrote: [Snip] > Seems like they'd want to keep something like this quiet if their > > operatives really were in danger. Jmo. > >>> Well, may be not. > > <can't resist>Lie back, relax. Now imagine you're 5 years old.</> > > Actually, so you have 20 operatives in say North Korea and you need to > contact them urgently so they know their holiday picture taking is > over and must return post haste, since their holiday cover is about to > be blown - how do you contact them without personally contacting them, > to maximise their safety? > > Is a daily Tor sign in the best idea for operatives in other > countries? Of course for those who do their daily Tor duty, they > presumably will be notified. > > So perhaps just reading the daily newspaper from the country from > which you're officially on holiday from? "Oh, there's some > international spy scandal going on, think we better leave now dear, > since we foreigners might be targetted regardless - how about an > opportunistic trip South?" You do raise a valid point (and I enjoy "explain it like I'm five!") It's an angle I hadn't considered; I should wait to reply until I'm not in the throes of insomnia ;) The larger points, which occurred after I'd already hit 'send': where did they get this 'cache'? (Snowden insists he released what he had to Greenwald/Poitras et al in HK, and until proven otherwise I choose to believe him.) Sure, I guess he could have been blackmailed / rubberhosed... And the TLAs whine loudly about being thwarted by encryption, when they themselves have weakened EC anyway, and Russia/China have decrypted it but not the US?! Why would they even admit to that... I can't put my finger on it, and I'll readily admit I'm biased in that I don't trust the five eyes or their propaganda at all, but there is just something "off" about this whole thing. -S

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Slashdot - Multinational Digerati Probe Tank
by Zenaan Harkness 14 Jun '15

14 Jun '15

Ever notice some "articles" on this far less than illustrious yet overly popular digerati yank tank (aka /.) - which come across as Govt think-tank created probes to do their work for them?

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