I nominated Steve and Xerobank for the EFF Pioneer Award

[caspian]

I was going to brush this up a little but I realized that there was a deadline, so this is what I sent:

I want to nominate Steve Topletz and Xerobank for the EFF Pioneer Award. They have created the best VPN service available to enhance personal privacy, anonymity, and individual freedom on the internet. And they employ the most advanced techniques that are currently known, such as lag obfuscation, multiplexing and other techniques that are on cutting edge of this technology, making them leaders in the business of privacy and anonymity, far in advance of any other service. In addition, they are incorporated in Panama and are not subject to the data retention and spying policies that other services are forced to adhere to.

Their VPN is a multihop VPN and servers are spread out over multi-jurisdictions. Xerobank also has encrypted email and will soon release the most advanced browser ever created for privacy and anonymity. It runs on a virtual machine and is impervious to malware. Furthermore, all of these tools will run from a USB stick. Xerobank has continued to remain a step ahead of the mainstream and are one of the most creative and innovative organizations that I have ever heard of.

Steve Topletz, who is a consultant and has been a public spokesperson for Xerobank, is a member of Hacktivismo and has been very active publicly in support of human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, a right to privacy, and has relentlessly advocated for the freedom of individuality that we all should have the right to enjoy. I believe that Steve represents the values and the spirit of Xerbank and I feel that he, along with the Xerobank Team offer the most trustworthy, ethical, and effective privacy service that has ever been created!

Xerobank has also reached out to the world in support of freedom and the common good for all people worldwide. They have offered free bandwidth for bloggers and political dissidents. And more recently they have teamed up with Reporters Without Borders to create an anti-censorship shelter in Paris.

"Reporters Without Borders and the communications security firm XeroBank have formed a partnership in order to make high-speed anonymity services, including encrypted email and web access, available free of charge to those who user the Shelter."

http://en.rsf.org/reporters-without-...010,37809.html

So to sum things up, not only is Xerobank light years ahead of other services, in regards to the techniques that they employ to prevent leakage and other vulnerabilities, but they are truly on the forefront of using these services for the common good as well, in a world that is truly suffering. Therefore, I believe that Xerobank, and especially Steve Topletz, is worthy of this award and deserve to be recognized and applauded for their undying efforts and relentless pursuits in their quest in advocating for human rights, individual freedom, and a more enlightened world culture.

[Keyboard_Commando]

A free account will surely be heading your way.

[tobacco]

Whatever you do Caspian, do not "EVER" nominate Steve Topletz and Xerobank for the "Support Award" lol!

[LockBox]

That's nice of you Caspian. However, there's too much "will soon ____" and not enough meat, imo, for this award. Much of what you wrote cannot be verified and is just based on their own marketing and your acceptance of it as the truth. I'm not saying it's not. I'm saying that there's too much we really don't know about XeroBank and neither does the EFF. To them, I'm quite sure, they're just another VPN service with slick marketing. But good luck to them nonetheless.

Previous Recipients:

2009: Limor "Ladyada" Fried, Harri Hursti, Carl Malamud

2008: Mitchell Baker, Michael Geist, Mark Klein

2007: Yochai Benkler, Cory Doctorow, Bruce Schneier

2006: Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales

2005: Mitch Kapor, Edward Felten, and Patrick Ball

2004: Kim Alexander, David Dill, and Aviel Rubin

2003: Amy Goodman, Eben Moglen, David Sobel

2002: Dan Gillmor, Beth Givens, Jon Johansen and Writers of DeCSS

2001: Bruce Ennis, Seth Finkelstein, and Stephanie Perrin

2000: "Librarians Everywhere", Tim Berners-Lee and Phil Agre

1999: Jon Postel, Drazen Pantic, and Simon Davies

1998: Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, and Barbara Simons

1997: Hedy Lamarr, Johan Helsingius, and Marc Rotenberg

1996: Robert Metcalfe, Peter Neumann, Shabbir Safdar and Matthew Blaze

1995: Philip Zimmermann, Anita Borg, and Willis Ware

1994: Ivan Sutherland, Bill Atkinson, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, Murray Turoff and Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Lee Felsenstein, and the WELL

1993: Paul Baran, Vinton Cerf, Ward Christensen, Dave Hughes and the USENET software developers

1992: Douglas C. Engelbart, Robert Kahn, Jim Warren, Tom Jennings, and Andrzej Smereczynski

[dw426]

Where has this guy gone, anyway? I haven't seen posts by him in a long time...unless I'm extremely blind. I don't mean anything personal towards the guy, but I've never once believed everything out of his mouth. The guy is a great salesman for sure, every VPN option out there has something wrong with it except Xerobank...if you listen to him.

[bryanjoe]

Originally Posted by dw426

The guy is a great salesman for sure, every VPN option out there has something wrong with it except Xerobank...if you listen to him.

hahahahah...... the market is so big !!!!
Not sure why he wants to do the every-other-vpns-are-not-as-good-as-xb thingy

and for that..... i will never buy xB products

[noblelord]

The problem with Steve/Xerobank, is the lack of delivery. Anyone can announce services and features, but if they never appear then whats the point?

[bryanjoe]

Originally Posted by noblelord

The problem with Steve/Xerobank, is the lack of delivery. Anyone can announce services and features, but if they never appear then whats the point?

don't really bother about their services or features......

[developers]

Do you remember DeAnonymizer?
lol

others stuffs
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showp...0&postcount=24

[caspian]

Originally Posted by LockBox

That's nice of you Caspian. However, there's too much "will soon ____" and not enough meat, imo, for this award. Much of what you wrote cannot be verified and is just based on their own marketing and your acceptance of it as the truth. I'm not saying it's not. I'm saying that there's too much we really don't know about XeroBank and neither does the EFF. To them, I'm quite sure, they're just another VPN service with slick marketing. But good luck to them nonetheless.

Okay thanks for your opinion.

2006: Craigslist

I am not really familiar with craigslist other than it being an advertising site. I am surprised to see them in your list.

[caspian]

Every man and every organization will always have shortcomings and limitations. Nothing is perfect. But when someone is taking a step in the right direction and creating positive change in the world, I appreciate it and think it is worthy of recognition. I don't really know much about Hacktivismo. But when they create software like scatterchat or whatever and say that they care about human rights, I don't think that those are empty words. They have their limitations, and so does Steve, but they are trying to do something, and they have. I personally think that Xerobank is the best VPN service available. And I appreciate it that they are offering free services to journalists, bloggers and political dissidents.

[Metastasio]

Originally Posted by caspian

Every man and every organization will always have shortcomings and limitations. Nothing is perfect. But when someone is taking a step in the right direction and creating positive change in the world, I appreciate it and think it is worthy of recognition. I don't really know much about Hacktivismo. But when they create software like scatterchat or whatever and say that they care about human rights, I don't think that those are empty words. They have their limitations, and so does Steve, but they are trying to do something, and they have. I personally think that Xerobank is the best VPN service available. And I appreciate it that they are offering free services to journalists, bloggers and political dissidents.

And if your unfounded assumption is false, and XeroBank is a honeypot, then let's hope your surfing is spotless.

I feel you place too much blind faith is something and should be more incredulous. It is my belief XB could very well be some sort of honeypot. While assistance to dissidents may in fact be part of the service, so could be evidence-gathering and netting of cyber-criminals.

See http://ipcbootcamp.eventbrite.com/ and note Steve's father's connections to the Gamma Deuteron chapter at U. of Texas at Austin (http://new.texasaepi.com/#history). Texans for Israel (TFI) is a highly conservative group directly related to this fraternity.

And are you also aware of Steve's family's donations to the Republican Party (disgraced Republican Senator Bob Packwood among them)? Republicans are not pro-privacy, much more so than Democrats. Political donations are all reported and online. Follow the money.

Contact me personally via IM for more details, Caspian.

[dw426]

Originally Posted by Metastasio

And if your unfounded assumption is false, and XeroBank is a honeypot, then let's hope your surfing is spotless.

I feel you place too much blind faith is something and should be more incredulous. It is my belief XB is some sort of honeypot. While assistance to dissidents may in fact be part of the service, so is evidence-gathering and netting of "criminals."

Cf. http://ipcbootcamp.eventbrite.com/ and note Steve's father's connections to the 100% Jewish Gamma Deuteron chapter at U. of Texas at Austin (http://new.texasaepi.com/#history). Texans for Israel (TFI) is a highly conservative group directly related to this fraternity.

And are you also aware of Steve's family's donations to the Republican Party (disgraced Republican Senator Bob Packwood among them)? Republicans are not pro-privacy, much more so than Democrats. Political donations are all reported and online. Follow the money.

Contact me personally via IM for more details, Caspian.

I don't normally go on the attack like this, but just what is this complete, utter load of BS you're spewing out? Do you have a point to make about what fraternity the mans father is in? Is it some secret, "gonna take over the world" society, or is there an issue against Jews? And what's with blaming one particular political party over another? Newsflash dear member, both sides have politicians screwing citizens over. What does ANY of that have to do with Steve's business? Is he not allowed to support a political party? Get something together besides your biases when you're casting suspicions on an individual or a company.

[Metastasio]

Originally Posted by dw426

I don't normally go on the attack like this, but just what is this complete, utter load of BS you're spewing out? Do you have a point to make about what fraternity the mans father is in? Is it some secret, "gonna take over the world" society, or is there an issue against Jews? And what's with blaming one particular political party over another? Newsflash dear member, both sides have politicians screwing citizens over. What does ANY of that have to do with Steve's business? Is he not allowed to support a political party? Get something together besides your biases when you're casting suspicions on an individual or a company.

I just find it highly ironic that the Topletz family supports privacy... which could be a ruse to gather info. on cybercriminals. Let me see if I can find the link that shows XB supports an anti-child pornography stance, for example. Wonder how many paedophiles use XB?

[Metastasio]

Bottom line to my comments... just consider that XeroBank (XB) may not be 100% in support of you online. I mean, do you honestly think the three-letter agencies would turn a complete blind eye to untraceable net traffic going to TX and IL? Please... do not be so naive. At least consider the possibility before placing complete blind trust in such claims.

As I have said before, law enforcement (LE) does not have to tell the truth to ensnare criminals. LE routinely lies... Ask any felon who was nabbed as part of an undercover operation.

At worst, XeroBank seemingly knows no more about its users and their activities than their ISPs (and anyone with access to their servers). And it is true that anything that folks want to be "private" is protected by additional layers of encryption and anonymity. I believe, though, that the use of XB could falsely encourage bad behaviour in some customers since use of anonymity service can give a false sense of personal freedom without any legal consequence. In that case, XB could have full knowledge of such misdeeds and be in a perfect position to nab offenders.

"Girls gone wild" only come about when they expect no ramifications from their drunken orgies. No one misbehaves in plain sight (well, at least not reasonable people).

[dw426]

Originally Posted by Metastasio

Bottom line to my comments... just consider that XB may not be 100% in support of you online. I mean, do you honestly think the three-letter agencies would turn a complete blind eye to untraceable net traffic going to TX and IL? Please... do not be so naive. At least consider the possibility before placing complete blind trust in such claims.

As I have said before, law enforcement (LE) does not have to tell the truth to ensnare criminals. LE routinely lies... Ask any felon who was nabbed as part of an undercover operation.

I don't have blind faith in Xerobank, just check my comments a few posts up. Your post just came across as incredibly biased and, to some, possibly racist. There's enough bias going on around here as it is, and there's certainly no room for racism. Don't get your underwear twisted up, I'm not accusing you of racism, just that your post could have been worded better. If you are one, well, that's your problem, but otherwise, yeah, just the wording sounded bad.

I have issues trusting ANY VPN service to be very honest. These days, anything that is used to hide something, automatically draws suspicion from law enforcement/governments. Hell, look at Blackberry, Middle Eastern governments went straight to the company and told them they WOULD cooperate, all over encryption. Things like that are on their way here, just a bit longer. I don't believe anyone who claims nothing is logged. For one, it's impossible to not log ANYTHING. For another, don't think for one second these providers won't cover their behinds when fires start being lit under them. I don't want to hear any of that patriotic, freedom fighter BS from Steve or anyone else. When people come along and tell you they'll ruin you and maybe even your family financially or lock you up for however long they need to, you'll talk.

[Keyboard_Commando]

Originally Posted by dw426

I don't normally go on the attack like this, but just what is this complete, utter load of BS you're spewing out? Do you have a point to make about what fraternity the mans father is in? Is it some secret, "gonna take over the world" society, or is there an issue against Jews? And what's with blaming one particular political party over another? Newsflash dear member, both sides have politicians screwing citizens over. What does ANY of that have to do with Steve's business? Is he not allowed to support a political party? Get something together besides your biases when you're casting suspicions on an individual or a company.

I think Metastasio has some valid 'pointers' in the links and information he is posting. When you think about why so many people are looking to use these anonymizer services Steve is offering, SOME people are going to be suspicious ... that is if Steve even gives a flying watsit about the things his Dad may hold dear. We don't know, that's the whole point, right? We don't know Steve at all.

It's just rational questioning of a person in control of people's private information. I think the more scrutiny Steve and those that are entrusted with private user information ... THE BETTER. That way he won't forget the trouble he is in ... should he abuse his powers.

It's just unfortunate that people are going to question Steve, now, because his family are linked pro-Jewish groups (going by the links Metastasio has shown).

[Keyboard_Commando]

EDIT: PRO-ISRAELI STATE GROUPS.

(going by the links)

[hierophant]

Originally Posted by Metastasio

I just find it highly ironic that the Topletz family supports privacy... which could be a ruse to gather info. on cybercriminals. Let me see if I can find the link that shows XB supports an anti-child pornography stance, for example. Wonder how many paedophiles use XB?

Ummm, "Topletz family" <> Steve !!! Let's see. My father was a high-level Mason, and a rabid racist. Many of my relatives were KKK members. What does that say about me? Nothing, IMHO.

Don't bother searching re Hacktivismo's and XeroBank's position re child porn -- they state that it violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and will not be tolerated. It would be very unwise of paedophiles to use XeroBank

Edit: I don't know Steve, or anyone who knows him. I've read a lot that he's written online, and a lot that others have written about him, is all. Everything that I've read indicates that he supports human rights, and opposes those who violate them. Although I have no knowledge of any direct connection, he's arguably an intellectual descendant of the Laissez-Faire City project, Dodge City, etc. That's my opinion, in any case. I suspect that there are others who frequent Wilders. Anyway, that's why I trust him, and use XeroBank. I could be wrong. I was wrong about Anonymizer.com -- as I realized after reading that Abraxis had purchased them.

[hierophant]

Originally Posted by Metastasio

I'd look for your comments on the newly revised XB forums, hierophant, but they're still not up.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I don't believe that I've written anything there that's inconsistent with what I've written here. XeroBank's TOS and Privacy Policy are available on the website, FWIW.

Regardless, I am not bashing anything per se, just saying you better be sure what you're buying into for $35/month. The problem really is, you will never be certain of any anonymity provider's true nature as there is no transparency to them by definition.

Right. Well, $35/month is nothing to me. I use several VPNs, sometimes tunneled using VMs. None of my activities violate human rights. Mostly, I simply don't want clients (and potential clients) to come across my posts here and on other forums.

Good luck with XB. You have hung in there for a good, long while.

Thanks. I have. And I'll bail, and let y'all know about it, if presented with probative evidence, beyond reasonable doubt, that they're evil. I trust that y'all would do the same. The fact that nobody has contributes to my trust.

[caspian]

Originally Posted by Keyboard_Commando

I think the more scrutiny Steve and those that are entrusted with private user information ... THE BETTER.

True. We should scrutinize and question everything.

We don't know Steve at all.

We know him better and know more about his associations and personal thoughts than those of another rep from any other service. Far more, in fact.

It's just unfortunate that people are going to question Steve, now, because his family are linked pro-Jewish groups (going by the links Metastasio has shown).

I think that is silly too. My father watches the Fox News Enquirer and thinks that Pres Obama is a Muslim and that he wants to destroy the U.S. He is ultra Conservative in many respects. I, on the other hand, am a pretty fer piece way on over to the other side of the fence. My sister is a fiscal Conservative but very much a free thinker when it comes to social issues like sexual orientation and spirituality, and drug laws. My mother is a very kind and loving liberal, for the most part, although she was raised in a more socially conservative times when it comes to sexuality. And she hates Fox News.

I went home for a visit a few months ago and she came up to me with this really stressful look on her face, pleading with me that she desperately needed my help. And I thought, oh no something serious has happened. Well it turns out that my father did something that caused his head phones to quit working for the TV in their bedroom and she was forced to listen to Fox News and "that Bill O'reily" at night while trying to read. It was driving her nuts. And of course my point is that many families, maybe most, are a diverse group of people.

[caspian]

Xerobank is a honeypot for the government?? And the Pope smokes dope.

Steve hangs out with human rights activists, and Xerobank's term of service I think are based on Universal Declaration of Human Rights so one could only assume that sexually abusing children wouldn't be cool with them. Although I kind of doubt that they would bother with a few questionable pictures. And of course terrorism wouldn't be welcome.

However, I seriously doubt that a person who was really into serious child porn or terrorism would use Xerobank.

As for spamming and DOS attacks or whatever? I think he said that they have some software that can detect certain types of activity

But anyway, I can understand some of the concerns people have. But think that I am right about this.

[SteveTX]

Caspian,

Thanks for the nomination. The EFF's lawyers do a lot of good work with what they have and who they know. However, there are many greater contributors to privacy than myself; and they will never be named or recognized, and do not want to be. While it is nice to be generally recognized, it is truly the understanding by individuals like you that I appreciate the most.

Steve

[tobacco]

Originally Posted by SteveTX

Caspian,

Thanks for the nomination. The EFF's lawyers do a lot of good work with what they have and who they know. However, there are many greater contributors to privacy than myself; and they will never be named or recognized, and do not want to be. While it is nice to be generally recognized, it is truly the understanding by individuals like you that I appreciate the most.

Steve

Steve

How about using your efforts to get your forum back online instead of posting here. Your link has said "a few days" for what, "2 weeks now"

It's time to do damage control man!

[caspian]

Originally Posted by SteveTX

Caspian,

Thanks for the nomination. The EFF's lawyers do a lot of good work with what they have and who they know. However, there are many greater contributors to privacy than myself; and they will never be named or recognized, and do not want to be. While it is nice to be generally recognized, it is truly the understanding by individuals like you that I appreciate the most.

Steve

You are certainly welcome and I meant every word of it and I appreciate all that you have shared both though Xerobank and here at the forum.