On 07/23/2017 11:07 AM, Marina Brown wrote:
I don't think the gov even needed to compromise networks or sites to catch her.
I agree with that. I thought the government figured her out due to a steganographic watermark in the dox along with the short list of people who had accessed them, but I wasn't following carefully. Rr
On 07/23/2017 08:55 AM, John Young wrote:
Keep in mind any prominent leak site/dark net is thoroughly compromised, wittingly or unwittingly upstream, downstream, inside, outside. Not a few were, continue to be, established and run for that purpose, the rest evolved by publicity and notoriety into perfect nodes for capturing leakers, discovering networks (Tor a prime example), sending contaminated loads to recipients eager to receive material for which sources can be denied, or simply disclosed to officials through consultation, vetting, ass-covering after laundering through amateurishly secure drop boxes
Reality Winner is merely one among many others gulled into believing what should be by now unbelievable due to insertion of loggers along transmission paths from suppressed leakers to highly advertised, incessantly bragging, outlets who never admit to being de facto honey pots.
Outlets all too readily check with officials authenticity of material to protect themselves from being duped, burned, tricked by a range of parties out to disrupt the ancient practice of deception by "unauthorized" disclosure. Above all they aim to protect their financial stability, assured by government regulation, from attack.
The bind leaks/secrets suffer from is converting from unknown by the public to known by the public. Far too much leaked is tampered with in the inevitably failure-proned process. Far too much leaked is based on blind faith in the inevitable insecurity of transfer from source to outlet.
WikiLeaks has become the global leader in deception about leaks and the vulnerability leak sites and news outlets pose to leakers. Privileges of journalists in avoiding culpabililty is the fly in the ointment. As WikiLeaks reinvented itself as a journalistic operation to protect itself, it adopted the practices of government-bestowed-and-protected organizations, and in the process accepted self-serving corruption as inherent, indeed, essential, to survival.
No need to have a formal relationship with authorities to betray and harm leakers, merely operate a highly publicized, promoted, bragging of security and transparency, albeit secret about itself, leak site, a watering hole in the desert for thirsty prey to seek.
Not too soon to forego the nightmare of secure leak outlets.
- Make sure that AT LEAST ONE of the people you leak to simultaneously, know how to get your leak to Wikileaks and the dark net, so that your leak persists in the case that you are posth-leakishly murdered!
Correct me if i am wrong, but my understanding is that Reality Winner essentially exposed her own activities by contacting the intercept using a NSA controlled and monitored network. She was one of a very few who printed out the document and then mailed a document with a barium meal to the intercept. The intercept verified the doc to the gov and they tracked Winner with the barium meal.
I don't think the gov even needed to compromise networks or sites to catch her.
-- Marina