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<nettime> John Naughton: Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the
by Eugen Leitl 28 Jul '13

28 Jul '13

----- Forwarded message from Patrice Riemens <patrice(a)xs4all.nl> ----- Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 09:47:11 +0200 From: Patrice Riemens <patrice(a)xs4all.nl> To: nettime-l(a)kein.org Subject: <nettime> John Naughton: Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the Reply-To: a moderated mailing list for net criticism <nettime-l(a)mail.kein.org> original to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jul/28/edward-snowden-death-of-in… Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the internet is John Naughton The Observer, Sunday 28 July 2013 The press has lost the plot over the Snowden revelations. The fact is that the net is finished as a global network and that US firms' cloud services cannot be trusted Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story is what he has revealed about the hidden wiring of our networked world. This insight seems to have escaped most of the world's mainstream media, for reasons that escape me but would not have surprised Evelyn Waugh, whose contempt for journalists was one of his few endearing characteristics. The obvious explanations are: incorrigible ignorance; the imperative to personalise stories; or gullibility in swallowing US government spin, which brands Snowden as a spy rather than a whistleblower. In a way, it doesn't matter why the media lost the scent. What matters is that they did. So as a public service, let us summarise what Snowden has achieved thus far. Without him, we would not know how the National Security Agency (NSA) had been able to access the emails, Facebook accounts and videos of citizens across the world; or how it had secretly acquired the phone records of millions of Americans; or how, through a secret court, it has been able to bend nine US internet companies to its demands for access to their users' data. Similarly, without Snowden, we would not be debating whether the US government should have turned surveillance into a huge, privatised business, offering data-mining contracts to private contractors such as Booz Allen Hamilton and, in the process, high-level security clearance to thousands of people who shouldn't have it. Nor would there be -- finally -- a serious debate between Europe (excluding the UK, which in these matters is just an overseas franchise of the US) and the United States about where the proper balance between freedom and security lies. These are pretty significant outcomes and they're just the first-order consequences of Snowden's activities. As far as most of our mass media are concerned, though, they have gone largely unremarked. Instead, we have been fed a constant stream of journalistic pap -- speculation about Snowden's travel plans, asylum requests, state of mind, physical appearance, etc. The "human interest" angle has trumped the real story, which is what the NSA revelations tell us about how our networked world actually works and the direction in which it is heading. As an antidote, here are some of the things we should be thinking about as a result of what we have learned so far. The first is that the days of the internet as a truly global network are numbered. It was always a possibility that the system would eventually be Balkanised, ie divided into a number of geographical or jurisdiction-determined subnets as societies such as China, Russia, Iran and other Islamic states decided that they needed to control how their citizens communicated. Now, Balkanisation is a certainty. Second, the issue of internet governance is about to become _very_ contentious. Given what we now know about how the US and its satraps have been abusing their privileged position in the global infrastructure, the idea that the western powers can be allowed to continue to control it has become untenable. Third, as Evgeny Morozov has pointed out, the Obama administration's "internet freedom agenda" has been exposed as patronising cant. "Today," he writes, "the rhetoric of the 'internet freedom agenda' looks as trustworthy as George Bush's 'freedom agenda' after Abu Ghraib." That's all at nation-state level. But the Snowden revelations also have implications for you and me. They tell us, for example, that no US-based internet company can be trusted to protect our privacy or data. The fact is that Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are all integral components of the US cyber-surveillance system. Nothing, but nothing, that is stored in their "cloud" services can be guaranteed to be safe from surveillance or from illicit downloading by employees of the consultancies employed by the NSA. That means that if you're thinking of outsourcing your troublesome IT operations to, say, Google or Microsoft, then think again. And if you think that that sounds like the paranoid fantasising of a newspaper columnist, then consider what Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission, had to say on the matter recently. "If businesses or governments think they might be spied on," she said, "they will have less reason to trust the cloud, and it will be cloud providers who ultimately miss out. Why would you pay someone else to hold your commercial or other secrets, if you suspect or know they are being shared against your wishes? Front or back door -- it doesn't matter -- any smart person doesn't want the information shared at all. Customers will act rationally and providers will miss out on a great opportunity." Spot on. So when your chief information officer proposes to use the Amazon or Google cloud as a data-store for your company's confidential documents, tell him where to file the proposal. In the shredder. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)kein.org ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://ativel.com http://postbiota.org AC894EC5: 38A5 5F46 A4FF 59B8 336B 47EE F46E 3489 AC89 4EC5

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SSLegance
by tz 27 Jul '13

27 Jul '13

For the interim, the solution might be to have an extension that besides pushing PFS (and alerting when it doesn't work) would cache the Cert hashes or more and allow a browser (e.g. firefox) to run with all CAs as untrusted, but then do a verification on a per-site basis. The big hole in web page security is that there is the web page, then there is the extra info like javascript and css. So, for example, https://amazon.com might be accepted, but https://images-na.cdn.azws.com is in the background ready to rewrite the entire page. And the page will be broken until you manually "view source" and open a link and allow the cert/CA/page for the javascript/css/images/metadata.

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EFF presentation at SIGINT
by Gregory Foster 27 Jul '13

27 Jul '13

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 EFF (Jul 5) - "The Politics of Surveillance: Understanding the National Security Agency" by @RaineyReitman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OESf9y-638k Kudos to EFF for fighting the good fight, and kudos to Rainey for synthesizing and presenting a lot of useful information. Mentioned in the talk, Freedom of the Press Foundation (Jul 2) - "Encryption Works: How to Protect Your Privacy in the Age of NSA Surveillance" by @micahflee: https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/encryption-works gf - -- Gregory Foster || gfoster(a)entersection.org @gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.19 (Darwin) Comment: GPGTools - http://gpgtools.org iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJR80dJAAoJEMaAACmjGtgj9PwP/2O6erOD9Zciwh1wEWe/RpAm av4b9ZDQhcIwkMbCBKL7ptlKYe5lHIlTXqsrfdOJFRCekJYBoenKbyex2qHGi/S+ 1w0C3Qc2CNtjsIOmynDGS2dNa6YeuaRvZkQZ/BkxG5VTV703+JafaCmS2+bGL3uD oWdlbEgLIn/pGM8Hc0Epa7hsrkKt8CuQWSmqu74uuOtzUfCBYQ77/ojDlcOD/CG4 FQVNyB/PyrXXJKg/gPbhRxoWyEQ3DtfFE5/NwVKnpxCJmYeFQy3XV2ZRvGg63xat m4e49c5irQy4MOsJ6eXCvCy+uWIp7/+ce1BFHVS2SxsdAjpsyT2ZnSi9XwGJ0nGd mp9It1cbZ44N+NbrBOOC6nN3tzdFS/jbnaq2GKjnssRAamEdNG/2cYQUtK8EGtMd nWy6rKuJwNxrk8IIqJFNaACPxyeEkhckkajKoUUJRqGOth7LDv0zZI8Y0mEU07OW cZIIBr5KOn1PhPGbqNbPMJjba3cdBVAOauHmlFlWB/0vqv0x3fv8tUhji5hoZOgC Vb2YyfcdkKcvu4m7iKkLOXtLdbwITmzC8iavYFcrurUh3jdvDNcr4aw2+gJFeFBR p/+yMSfb29hW2/5G3QZUNK24+eFAsiGaUG7XFgS480PvTJV0fFxFDzkW0KTFx9qF vbug+icoNC2cBwG1Ju3o =gnIq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Fwd: Goldbug.sf.net - Secure Multi-Crypto-Messenger v0.1 released
by grarpamp 27 Jul '13

27 Jul '13

This was bcc'd to me for some unknown reason. Kicking it over to a somewhat more appropriate destination. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Randolph D. <rdohm321(a)gmail.com> Date: 2013/7/26 Subject: Fwd: Goldbug.sf.net - Secure Multi-Crypto-Messenger v0.1 released To: "Randolph D." <rdohm321(a)gmail.com> Does anyone know, if this tool is really secure? Fwd: >>> DOWNLOAD & PRESS RELEASE 2013-07-27 - English / Deutsch weiter unten _____ _ _ ____ / ____| | | | | _ \ | | __ ___ | | __| | |_) |_ _ __ _ | | |_ |/ _ \| |/ _` | _ <| | | |/ _` | | |__| | (_) | | (_| | |_) | |_| | (_| | GoldBug.sf.net \_____|\___/|_|\__,_|____/ \__,_|\__, | __/ | |___/ TITLE: GoldBug.sf.net: Secure Instant Messenger V0.1 has been released - with p2p Email and decentral IRC public chat DOWNLOAD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/files/?source=navbar SHORTY: While today thousands of members of the Stop-Watching-Us initiative against surveillance programs like PRISM demonstrated in several cities all around the globe, the EFF in conjunction with the Chaos Computer Club announced a new secure Instant Messenger called: GoldBug.sf.net (http://goldbug.sf.net) Next to chat as well a serverless Email-System and public IRC-Chat has been introduced with Multi-Encryption: a kind of PGP secured with AES over SSL. The new protocol driving this is called "Echo" and has many potentials to be deployed as well for further secure and anonymous communication applications. Some net communities already call it the Neuland Messenger due to the Font Name of the Logo. DESCRIPTION: StopWatching.Us [3] is the initiative half a million web users have signed due to the mass-surveillance programs like PRISM in USA; TEMPORA in Great Britain, MICS in France and XKEYSCORE Software as well deployed e.g. in Germany. While the governments are powerless in regard to prevent foreign agencies to grab internet-line data and to protect their citizens' privacy, the end-users themself are forced to encrypt their communication and stand up for their Human Rights.Thousands of facebook [4] and twitter [5] members declared to demonstrate on the streets on (last) Saturday, July 27, in many decentral cities. As well at this date, the first release of the Secure Instant Messenger GoldBug (http://goldbug.sf.net) has been announced. It uses multi-encryption (a kind of PGP secured with AES over SSL) based on the new echo protocol. While Mega´s "Spy-proof Email" [6] and Pirate Bay Founder´s "Hemlis Mobile Chat" [7] still play around at crypto-parties to find the right development, the open-source project "GoldBug" has chosen the crypto-library "Lib-Spot-On v. 0.1" (based on libGcrypt). The project brought out not only a secure, beautiful and easy to use messenger, but also a new peer protocol behind it: The Echo Protocol. The so called "Echo" creates a peer-2-peer (p2p), respective friend-2-friend (f2f) network, which sends every (strong encrypted) data packet to everyone connected in that network to your node. When you can decrypt the packet, it is yours and readable, if not, you share it with all your connected neighbors. So far so simple. Thinking other Protocols like Jabber, IRC, Torrent etc. based on the Echo opens up a new perspective, as this new kind of Distant-Chat currently shown in the GoldBug Chat Reference Model introduces a detachment with IP addresses and Private/Public Encryption Keys. The Echo Modus can be half or full: half means, to create a dedicated line to your neighbor, and the Echo stops there: Messages are not shared in the half modus. This creates a Web-of-Trust (friend-to-friend)-network within a p2p network (and not vice versa), which is not detectable - as the user defines at each node how to utilize the Echo. This creates a new view on trust and enables a plausible deniability of having ever utilized a Web of Trust (WoT). An important point in times of 100%-surveillance and data retention tracking over several, but stable line-hops. While for example RetroShare [8] as anonymous, decentral network is a good practice model for a Web of Trust, in a Web of Trust with added echo the user can disconnect from the neighbour while keeping the trust and communication - based on the encryption-key (so called "REPLEO") e.g. shown in the GoldBug Messenger Application. Next to chat as well a serverless Email-System and public IRC-Chat has been inlcuded with the GoldBug-release based on the echo protocol and deployed by the Library Libspoton. How the communities of other apps and protocols will evaluate, discuss and test and maybe adopt the security features of the echo protocol, will be shown by some next hybrid applications - and who knows, maybe the Hemlis-Mobile application or the new secure email systems like BitMail [9] or StartMail [10] announced by IXQUICK will integrate the echo as well. WHY THE NAME: GoldBug was the title of a short story of Edgar Allan Poe about cryptograms in 1843. In the short story Mr. LeGrand, who was recently bitten by a gold-colored bug, starts an adventure with two other friends after deciphering a secret message. Poe took advantage of the popularity of cryptography and the success of the story centers on one such cryptogram. "The Gold-Bug" was an instant success and was the most popular and most widely read of Poe's works during his lifetime. It also helped to popularize cryptograms and secured writing. Even 150 Years later a still vaid approach due to the current events in this time. FEATURES: # Instant Messenger Function: Direct Chat, Group Chat, Public Chat. # the integrated Email Client enables encrypted communication without the usage of a central server. You can even email to offline-friends: other friends from you chace the message for you until your friends come online again. # IPV6 Support: As IPV6 integrates the IP-Adress of the senders into each Datapacket, you can drop this with the Gemini-Feature of a detached communication. # The so called Repleo-Feature based on the Echo-Protocols enables the detachment of logged data retention, that means Data Retention has a solution: a TTL+1 function in an elastic network environment. # Optional you can use furthermore the "GoldBug"-Feature, a kind of password, a hybride-multi-encryption, which integrates a kind of pgp with AES end to end encryption, which offers new standards in regard to Instant Messaging and the Agenda Setting of crypto parties. # Hybrid, optional P2P and F2F Modi. # Proxy Modus: Can run over Tor, 127.0.0.1. : 9150 The GoldBug logo uses the Neuland font: "Neuland is a German typeface that was designed in 1923 by Rudolf Koch. It is often used today when an “exotic” or “primitive” look is desired, such as the logos for the Jurassic Park films", says Wikipedia. That has to be regarded just as a coincidence, no one in the net community would ever have the view to call it the Neuland Messenger or subscribe it to a person, e.g. like Rudolf Koch. WEBSITE: http://goldbug.sourceforge.net https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/?source=navbar DOWNLOAD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/files/?source=navbar SOURCE: http://spot-on.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/spot-on/?view=tar (as well included in the GB windows installer for your convenience) DEVELOPER-SVN: svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/spot-on/code/ spot-on-code PROTOCOL-SIMULATION: http://goldbug.sourceforge.net/img/bitmail.gif Add this gadget to your bog or website - it describes, how the echo protocol works. References: [01] http://goldbug.sourceforge.net [02] https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/?source=navbar [03] https://optin.stopwatching.us/ [04] https://www.facebook.com/events/566858663364951/ [05] https://twitter.com/stopwatchingus [06] http://torrentfreak.com/dotcoms-mega-debuts-spy-proof-messaging-this-summer… [07] http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-announces-encrypted-nsa-proof-co… [08] http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ [09] http://bitmail.sourceforge.net/ [10] https://beta.startmail.com/ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GERMAN LANGUAGE / DEUTSCHE SPRACHE: TITEL: GoldBug.sf.net: Sicherer Messenger mit Multi-Crypto V0.1 veröffentlicht - Auch p2p Email und dezentraler IRC Chat DOWNLOAD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/files/?source=navbar KURZ: Während heute tausende von Mitgliedrn der Stop-Watching-Us Initiative gegen Massen-Überwachungsprogramme wie PRISM in vielen Städten rund um den Globus demonstrieren, hat die EFF in Verbindung mit dem CCC mitgeteilt, dass es ein neues Sofortnachrichtenprogramm gibt mit dem Namen GoldBug.sf.net (http://goldbug.sf.net) - zu Deutsch: Goldkäfer. Neben dem Chat wird damit auch ein Email-System ohne zentralen Server und ein öffentlicher IRC Chat vorgestellt mit Multi-Verschlüsselung durch eine Art von PGP abgesichert mit den Verschlüsselungsstandards AES über SSL. Das neue Protokoll, das dieses umsetzt, wird "Echo" genannt und hat zahlreiche Potentiale auch für weitere sichere und anonym eKommunikationsanwendungen genutzt zu werden. Einige Netz-Gemeinschaften nennen das Programm inzwischen auch den Neuland-Messenger. BESCHREIBUNG: StopWatching.Us [3] ist die Initiative, bei der mehr als eine halbe Million Internetnutzer unterzeichnet haben und sich gehen Massenüberwachungsprogramme wie PRISM in den USA, TEMPORA in Großbritannien, MICS in Frankeich sowie der XKEYSCORE SOftware, die ebenso auch in Deutschland angewandt wird. Während die Regierungen kraftlos sind in bezug die jeweils außländischen Agenturen davon abzuhalten, die Daten der Internet-Leitungen abzugreifen und ihre Bürger entsprechend zu schützen, sind die End-Nutzer auf sich selbst gestellt, ihre Kommunikation zu verschlüsseln und für ihre Menschen- und Grundrechte auf Privatheit aufzustehen.Tausende von Facebook [4] und Twitter [5] Mitglieder erklärten, am (letzten) Samstag, 27. Juli, in den Straßen von vielen dezentralen Städten demonstrieren zu wollen.Ebenso an diesem Datum wurde die erste Veröffentlichung des Sicheren Sofortnachrichten Programms / INstant Messengers Golbug (http://goldbug.sf.net) bekannt gegeben. Es nutzt eine Multi-Verschlüsselung (eine Art PGP mit zusätzlichem AES und SSL Standard) basierend auf dem neuen Echo-Protokol. Während für das "abhörsichere Email" von Mega [6] oder dem mobilen "Hemlis Chat" [7] des TPB Gründers immer noch auf Verschlüsselungsparties nach dem richtigen Entwicklungsansatz gesucht wird, hat das quelloffene Project "GoldBug" die Verschlüpsselungs-Bibliothek "Lib-Spot-On v. 0.1" (basierend auf libGcrypt) ausgewählt. Das Projet brachte nicht nur einen sicheren, schönen und einfach zu nutzenden Chat Messenger heraus, sondern auch ein neues Peer-Protokol dahinter: Das Echo-Protokol. Das sogenannte "Echo" erstellt ein peer-zu-peer (p2p), respektive ein freund-zu-freund (f2f) netzwerk, welches jedes (stark verschlüsselte) Datenpaket an jeden der vorhandenen Kontaktknoten senden. Wenn das Datenpacket entschlüsselt werden kann, ist es Deins, und es ist lesbar, wenn nicht, wird es weiterhin mit allen verbundenen Netzwerkknoten geteilt. Soweit so einfach. Andere Protokolle insbesondere der Kommuikation wie Jabber, IRC, Torrent etc neu zu denken basierend auf dem Echo eröffnet ganz neue Perspektiven, als dass diese neue Art einer Distanz-Kommunikation derzeit gezeigt in dem Forschungs- und Entwicklungsmodell Gold Bug Chat eine neues Beziehungsgefüge von IP Adressen und privaten-öffentlichen Schlüsseln vorstellt. Der Echo-Modus kann halb oder voll sein: Halb bedeutet, eine direkte Verbindung mit dem Nachbarn herzustelen und das Echo stoppt dann auch dort: Nachrichten werden nicht weiter geteilt in dem Halb-Modus. Somit wird ein Vertrauensgeflecht, ein Web of Trust (WoT) inmitten eines Peer-zu-Peer-Netzwerkes erstellt (und gerade nicht umgekehrt), das nicht erkennbar ist, weil der Nutzer selbst definiert an jedem Knotenpunkt, we er das Echo einsetzen möchte. Das ermöglicht eine neue Sichtweise auf Vertrauen im Interner und eröffnet auch eine Plausible Abstreitbarkeit ein Vertrauensnetzwerk (WoT) jemals eingesetzt zu haben. Das kann ein bedeutender Punkt in Zeiten von 100-Prozent-Überwachung der Netzwerkkommunikation und der Vorratsdatenspeicherung selbst über mehrer, aber stablile Netzwerküberleitungen. Während beispielsweise RetroShare [8] als anonymes und dezentrales Netzwerk ein gutes Anwenderbeispiel für ein Vertrauensnetzwerk (Web of Trust) ist, kann der Nutzer jedoch in einem Web of Trust mit hinzugefügtem Echo sich vom Nachbarn abmelden, während die Vertrauens-Signatur und die Kommunikatiosnfähigkeit erhalten bleibt - basieren auf dem Verschlüsselungs-Code (so genanntes "Repleo") wie es beispielsweise in der Anwendung GoldBug Messenger genutz wird. Neben dem Chat is tauch ein dezentrales, severloses Email System und ein öffentlicher IRC CHat in dem GoldBug Release integriert - ebenso basierend auf dem Echo Protokol, das von der Bibliothel Lib-Spot-On umgesetzt wird. Wie nun die Netzgemeinden von anderen Applikationen und Protokollen die Sicherheitsmerkmale und das Echo protokoll evaluieren, diskutieren, testen und möglicherweise auch übernehmen, wir durch ggf. entstehende Hybrid Applikationen gezeigt werden können. Und wer weiss, möglicherweise werden die Hemlis-Mobilanwendung oder die neuen sicheren Emailsysteme wie BitMail [9] oder StartMail [10], angekündigt durch IXQUICK, das Echo ebenso integrieren. WARUM DER NAME: GoldBug wer der Title einer Kurzgeschichte von Edgar Allan Poe über Cryptogramme im Jahr 1843. In der Geshichte startet Herr LeGrand, der neulich von einem gold-farbenen Käfer gebissen wurde, ein Abenteuer mit zwei weiteren Freunden - nachdem sie eine geheime Botschaft entschlüsseln konnten. Der Dichter Poe hat die Popularität von Verschlüsselung damals schon verhergesehen und der Erfolg der Kurzgeschichte basiert auf der Entschlüsselung eines solchen Kryptogramms. "Der GoldKäfer" war ein sofortiger Erfolg and das am meisten populäre und von vielen Bevölkerngsschichten gelesene Werk von Edgar Allan Poe während seiner gesamten Lebenszeit. Es halt ebenso geholfen, die Verwendung von Kryptogrammen und das Schreiben mit Verschlüsselungstechniken populär zu machen. Auch 150 Jahre später ein gültoger Anspruch in Anbetracht der derzeitigen Ereignisse in dieser Zeit. FEATURES: # Instant Messenger Function: Direct Chat, Group Chat, Public Chat. # the integrated Email Client enables encrypted communication without the usage of a central server. You can even email to offline-friends: other friends from you chace the message for you until your friends come online again. # IPV6 Support: As IPV6 integrates the IP-Adress of the senders into each Datapacket, you can drop this with the Gemini-Feature of a detached communication. # The so called Repleo-Feature based on the Echo-Protocols enables the detachment of logged data retention, that means Data Retention has a solution: a TTL+1 function in an elastic network environment. # Optional you can use furthermore the "GoldBug"-Feature, a kind of password, a hybride-multi-encryption, which integrates a kind of pgp with AES end to end encryption, which offers new standards in regard to Instant Messaging and the Agenda Setting of crypto parties. # Hybrid, optional P2P and F2F Modi. # Proxy Modus: Can run over Tor, 127.0.0.1. : 9150 The GoldBug logo uses the Neuland font: "Neuland is a German typeface that was designed in 1923 by Rudolf Koch. It is often used today when an “exotic” or “primitive” look is desired, such as the logos for the Jurassic Park films", says Wikipedia. That has to be regarded just as a coincidence, no one in the net community would ever have the view to call it the Neuland Messenger or subscribe it to a person, e.g. like Rudolf Koch. WEBSITE: http://goldbug.sourceforge.net https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/?source=navbar DOWNLOAD: https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/files/?source=navbar SOURCE: http://spot-on.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/spot-on/?view=tar (as well included in the GB windows installer for your convenience) DEVELOPER-SVN: svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/spot-on/code/ spot-on-code PROTOCOL-SIMULATION: http://goldbug.sourceforge.net/img/bitmail.gif Add this gadget to your bog or website - it describes, how the echo protocol works. References: [01] http://goldbug.sourceforge.net [02] https://sourceforge.net/projects/goldbug/?source=navbar [03] https://optin.stopwatching.us/ [04] https://www.facebook.com/events/566858663364951/ [05] https://twitter.com/stopwatchingus [06] http://torrentfreak.com/dotcoms-mega-debuts-spy-proof-messaging-this-summer… [07] http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-announces-encrypted-nsa-proof-co… [08] http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ [09] http://bitmail.sourceforge.net/ [10] https://beta.startmail.com/

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OHAI. Also: the shortest Internet censorship debate... EVAH
by rysiek 27 Jul '13

27 Jul '13

OHAI Cypherpunks, I am new here, I am not however new to the topics discussed here. I was involved in many a thing related to privacy, anonymity, freedom of speech (and *after* speech), copyright reform, yadda, yadda, etc. Aaanyway, I bring bad tidings from Poland: yesterday morning the Minister of Justice praised David Censormoron's plan to filter porn in the UK and suggested that maybe it should be implemented in Poland as well. I also bring good tidings from Poland: yesterday evening Polish Prime Minister and the Minister of Administration and Digitization (you should get one of those in your country, they're great) strongly denounced any such ideas. Hence, I have been involved in the shortest Internet porn censorship... ever: http://rys.io/en/109 -- Pozdr rysiek

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Re: SSLegance
by grarpamp 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

> This does nothing for the case of "server gives their keys to the feds" Can SSH operate in ephemeral mode? > is active MITM a big enough threat that we need to be worrying > about it other than in airports and hotels? Recent news apparently confirms that 'cooperating' with large adversaries centrally is apparently easier and less costly than those same entities screwing around in the wiring closets of such random local places against specific targets.

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Forward Secrecy
by grarpamp 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

Check your preferences are set. Somehow I bet there will be a move to this rather soon. Yet note, Dec, a provider simply logging the session keys is still possible. Though much costlier for evil pursue that cheap route if there are lots of small mail providers out there for people to use... who says you have to use the big three, or cannot run a mail service? Or a distributed social / call / sharing platform, etc? Next topic, DHT p2p tech... we are 'always on' right? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57595202-38/feds-put-heat-on-web-firms-fo… http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57591179-38/data-meet-spies-the-unfinishe… http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com/2011/11/protecting-data-for-long-t… http://vincent.bernat.im/en/blog/2011-ssl-perfect-forward-secrecy.html http://nmav.gnutls.org/2011/12/price-to-pay-for-perfect-forward.html

3 2

Feds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys
by Eugen Leitl 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

(See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergence_(SSL) ) http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57595202-38/feds-put-heat-on-web-firms-fo… Feds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys Whether the FBI and NSA have the legal authority to obtain the master keys that companies use for Web encryption remains an open question, but it hasn't stopped the U.S. government from trying. Declan McCullagh by Declan McCullagh July 24, 2013 4:00 AM PDT Large Internet companies have resisted the government's demands for encryption keys requests on the grounds that they go beyond what the law permits, according to one person who has dealt with these attempts. (Credit: Declan McCullagh) The U.S. government has attempted to obtain the master encryption keys that Internet companies use to shield millions of users' private Web communications from eavesdropping. These demands for master encryption keys, which have not been disclosed previously, represent a technological escalation in the clandestine methods that the FBI and the National Security Agency employ when conducting electronic surveillance against Internet users. If the government obtains a company's master encryption key, agents could decrypt the contents of communications intercepted through a wiretap or by invoking the potent surveillance authorities of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Web encryption -- which often appears in a browser with a HTTPS lock icon when enabled -- uses a technique called SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer. "The government is definitely demanding SSL keys from providers," said one person who has responded to government attempts to obtain encryption keys. The source spoke with CNET on condition of anonymity. The person said that large Internet companies have resisted the requests on the grounds that they go beyond what the law permits, but voiced concern that smaller companies without well-staffed legal departments might be less willing to put up a fight. "I believe the government is beating up on the little guys," the person said. "The government's view is that anything we can think of, we can compel you to do." A Microsoft spokesperson would not say whether the company has received such requests from the government. But when asked whether Microsoft would turn over a master key used for Web encryption or server-to-server e-mail encryption, the spokesperson replied: "No, we don't, and we can't see a circumstance in which we would provide it." Google also declined to disclose whether it had received requests for encryption keys. But a spokesperson said the company has "never handed over keys" to the government, and that it carefully reviews each and every request. "We're sticklers for details -- frequently pushing back when the requests appear to be fishing expeditions or don't follow the correct process," the spokesperson said. Sarah Feinberg, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said that her employer has not received requests for encryption keys from the U.S. government or other governments. In response to a question about divulging encryption keys, Feinberg said: "We have not, and we would fight aggressively against any request for such information." Apple, Yahoo, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Opera Software's Fastmail.fm, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast declined to respond to queries about whether they would divulge encryption keys to government agencies. Encryption used to armor Web communications was largely adopted not because of fears of NSA surveillance -- but because of the popularity of open, insecure Wi-Fi networks. The "Wall of Sheep," which highlights passwords transmitted over networks through unencrypted links, has become a fixture of computer security conventions, and Internet companies began adopting SSL in earnest about three years ago. "The requests are coming because the Internet is very rapidly changing to an encrypted model," a former Justice Department official said. "SSL has really impacted the capability of U.S. law enforcement. They're now going to the ultimate application layer provider." An FBI spokesman declined to comment, saying the bureau does not "discuss specific strategies, techniques and tools that we may use." NSA director Keith Alexander, shown here at a Washington, D.C. event this month, has said that encrypted data are "virtually unreadable." (Credit: Getty Images) Top secret NSA documents leaked by former government contractor Edward Snowden suggest an additional reason to ask for master encryption keys: they can aid bulk surveillance conducted through the spy agency's fiber taps. One of the leaked PRISM slides recommends that NSA analysts collect communications "upstream" of data centers operated by Apple, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and other Internet companies. That procedure relies on a FISA order requiring backbone providers to aid in "collection of communications on fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past." Mark Klein, who worked as an AT&T technician for over 22 years, disclosed in 2006 (PDF) that he met with NSA officials and witnessed domestic Internet traffic being "diverted" through a "splitter cabinet" to secure room 641A in one of the company's San Francisco facilities. Only NSA-cleared technicians were allowed to work on equipment in the SG3 secure room, Klein said, adding that he was told similar fiber taps existed in other major cities. But an increasing amount of Internet traffic flowing through those fiber cables is now armored against surveillance using SSL encryption. Google enabled HTTPS by default for Gmail in 2010, followed soon after by Microsoft's Hotmail. Facebook enabled encryption by default in 2012. Yahoo now offers it as an option. "Strongly encrypted data are virtually unreadable," NSA director Keith Alexander told (PDF) the Senate earlier this year. Unless, of course, the NSA can obtain an Internet company's private SSL key. With a copy of that key, a government agency that intercepts the contents of encrypted communications has the technical ability to decrypt and peruse everything it acquires in transit, although actual policies may be more restrictive. One exception to that rule relies on a clever bit of mathematics called perfect forward secrecy. PFS uses temporary individual keys, a different one for each encrypted Web session, instead of relying on a single master key. That means even a government agency with the master SSL key and the ability to passively eavesdrop on the network can't decode private communications. Google is the only major Internet company to offer PFS, though Facebook is preparing to enable it by default. Even PFS isn't complete proof against surveillance. It's possible to mount a more advanced attack, sometimes called a man-in-the-middle or active attack, and decode the contents of the communications. A Wired article in 2010 disclosed that a company called Packet Forensics was marketing to government agencies a box that would do precisely that. (There is no evidence that the NSA performs active attacks as part of routine surveillance, and even those could be detected in some circumstances.) The Packet Forensics brochure said that government agencies would "have the ability to import a copy of any legitimate key they obtain (potentially by court order)." It predicted that agents or analysts will collect their "best evidence while users are lulled into a false sense of security afforded by Web, e-mail or VOIP encryption." With a few exceptions, even if communications in transit are encrypted, Internet companies typically do not encrypt e-mail or files stored in their data centers. Those remain accessible to law enforcement or the NSA through legal processes. Leaked NSA surveillance procedures, authorized by Attorney General Eric Holder, suggest that intercepted domestic communications are typically destroyed -- unless they're encrypted. If that's the case, the procedures say, "retention of all communications that are enciphered" is permissible. Valerie Caproni, who was the FBI's general counsel at the time this file photo was taken, told Congress that the government needs "individualized solutions" when "individuals who put encryption on their traffic." (Credit: Getty Images) It's not entirely clear whether federal surveillance law gives the U.S. government the authority to demand master encryption keys from Internet companies. "That's an unanswered question," said Jennifer Granick, director of civil liberties at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society. "We don't know whether you can be compelled to do that or not." The government has attempted to use subpoenas to request copies of encryption keys in some cases, according to one person familiar with the requests. Justice Department guidelines say subpoenas may be used to obtain information "relevant" to an investigation, unless the request is "unreasonably burdensome." "I don't know anyone who would turn it over for a subpoena," said an attorney who represents Internet companies but has not fielded requests for encryption keys. Even a wiretap order in a criminal case would be insufficient, but a FISA order might be a different story, the attorney said. "I'm sure there's some logic in collecting the haystack." Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, challenged the notion that current law hands the government the power to demand master encryption keys. Even with a FISA order for the private key, Opsahl said, the amount of technical assistance that a company must provide to the NSA or other federal agencies "has a limit." Federal and state law enforcement officials have previously said encrypted communications were beginning to pose an obstacle to lawful surveillance. Valerie Caproni, the FBI's general counsel at the time, told a congressional hearing in 2011, according to a transcript: Encryption is a problem, and it is a problem that we see for certain providers... For individuals who put encryption on their traffic, we understand that there would need to be some individualized solutions if we get a wiretap order for such persons... We are suggesting that if the provider has the communications in the clear and we have a wiretap order, that the provider should give us those communications in the clear. "One of the biggest problems with compelling the [private key] is it gives you access to not just the target's communications, but all communications flowing through the system, which is exceedingly dangerous," said Stanford's Granick. Update, 11:40 a.m. PT: Adds additional comments from a Facebook representative saying the company has not received such requests. Disclosure: McCullagh is married to a Google employee not involved with this issue.

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Forward Secrecy
by grarpamp 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

>> Somehow I bet there will be a move to this rather soon. > I have my doubts. Newer SSL libraries have PFS support but whether or > not admins or hosting providers will upgrade to them (or enable PFS > ciphersuites) in a reasonable period of time remains to be seen. For > example, Dreamhost has no immediate plans to upgrade their server > infrastructure to include releases of OpenSSL that support PFS. It could be viewed as an interesting differentiator given the leaks in the news. Who will, who won't? What's their motivation? And does it matter? >> Yet note, Dec, a provider simply logging the session keys is still >> possible. > On the server side, or in their production networks? >From the servers obviously, it's just another log item, master/session key... openssl s_client -connect google.com:https -cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (leaving in the -no_ticket and not using -reconnect as some might not.) >> Though much costlier for evil pursue that cheap route if there are >> lots of small mail providers out there for people to use... who >> says you have to use the big three, or cannot run a mail service? > running a personal mail service is problematic today for several > reasons. > Firstly, the CPU power required to perform decent spam filtering is significant. No, CPU is cheap and largely sits idle, particularly for limited nodes. > it makes more sense to buy the services of a provider who factors that in. You are your own provider, often protected by current provider law. So run things, a mesh, a node, whatever might be of interest. Noting whatever contract law you wish to recognize... > Second, if your server is on a net in CONUS, it can be blackbagged. As is no different than any other country. > Third, antispam blacklists are notorious for deciding that an IP is hostile and blacklisting it Then further develop heuristic science, markov windows, various local classifiers and distributed consensus subscriptions, non soley IP based things. > this is why I stopped running my own, incidentally - > fewer and fewer people were receiving mail from me Stop chickening out and relying on sole services, complain according to your inalienable rights, stay strong and force the market to incorporate and honor distributed ones. There's been talk of coordinating a next gen mix mail deployment, tor/i2p nodes, etc... well those are already sunk costs, same as your own internet connection is, so give them a domain and call it free/bitcoin email up to 25k accounts per node. Today that's a few thousand nodes or 75mil people. Much costlier to produce/demand session keys from 3k nodes around the world than from say google's 10. > A few of us have been testing Retroshare (http://retroshare.sf.net/) Yes, people should openly publish invitations to their technology tests, joining up in them to qualify the technologies and models would be a good thing. We need to break free of this simple 'get it all in one place' mentality. Start signing your current apparrent node into a global DHT. Start looking at things like diaspora. Start distributing services. Start using anonymization and encryption by default.

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Subquantum Crypto Attack
by John Young 26 Jul '13

26 Jul '13

Has subquantum crypto attack been substantiated? arXiv:quant-ph/0203049v2 12 Apr 2002 Subquantum Information and Computation Antony Valentini It is argued that immense physical resources for nonlocal communication, espionage, and exponentially-fast computation are hidden from us by quantum noise, and that this noise is not fundamental but merely a property of an equilibrium state in which the universe happens to be at the present time. It is suggested that non-quantum or nonequilibrium matter might exist today in the form of relic particles from the early universe. We describe how such matter could be detected and put to practical use. Nonequilibrium matter could be used to send instantaneous signals, to violate the uncertainty principle, to distinguish non-orthogonal quantum states without disturbing them, to eavesdrop on quantum key distribution, and to outpace quantum computation (solving NP-complete problems in polynomial time). ... 6 Eavesdropping on Quantum Key Distribution Alice and Bob want to share a secret sequence of bits that will be used as a key for cryptography. During distribution of the key between them, they must be able to detect any eavesdropping by Eve. Three protocols for quantum key distribution BB84 [20], B92 [21], and E91 (or EPR) [22] are known to be secure against classical or quantum attacks (that is, against eavesdropping based on classical or quantum physics) [23]. But these protocols are not secure against a subquantum attack [7]. ... E91 is particularly interesting for it relies on the completeness of quantum theory that is, on the assumption that there are no hidden elements of reality. Pairs of spin-1/2 particles in the singlet state are shared by Alice and Bob, who perform spin measurements along random axes. For coincident axes the same bit sequence is generated at each wing, by apparently random quantum outcomes. The eavesdropper cannot elicit any information from the particles while in transit ..... because there is no information encoded there [22]. But our Eve has access to information outside the domain of quantum theory. She can measure the particle positions while in transit, without disturbing the wavefunction, and so predict the outcomes of spin measurements at the two wings (for the publicly announced axes).12 Thus Eve is able to predict the key shared by Alice and Bob.

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