Changing IP address to access public website ruled violation of US law

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by lotuseclat79, Aug 20, 2013.

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  1. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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  2. J_L

    J_L Registered Member

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    Just another excuse used to strip away rights. I'll bet encryption's next once they find a better one.
     
  3. Woody777

    Woody777 Registered Member

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    So, is any person using a proxy now violaing the law. Is the use of Tor illegal in the United States etc. This is a very slippery slope. How about a VPN?
     
  4. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    The case is more complicated that it looks, as it is explained in the article. Reading the whole article also reveals more problems that arise from this ruling, blocking the IP was just one of the issues...
     
  5. Taliscicero

    Taliscicero Registered Member

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    If this ever happens, just find an extension that blocks US websites. Now you can use your VPN or all non USA websites and avoid breaking the law, you can use YouTube's servers in Europe for example, the same with Google. If you live in the USA you can just rent yourself a server in the EU that is not on any block list and tunnel all your traffic that way, as how are they gonna know its a VPN IP if its not a commercial VPN or proxy.
     
  6. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Nomen nescio, as they say ;)

    If one is hiding one's IP well enough, this is irrelevant, no?
     
  8. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    Complicated, yes, but the fact that this decision was made at all is evidence that encryption and anonymity might be in the crosshairs. Using a proxy to evade blocks isn't that far away from using a proxy to do anything. No matter what others might come in and say and come back with "just do this" the decision is bad for everyone but those who don't want you to hide. A lot of folks want to focus on getting around problems like this instead of focusing on the problem and why it exists in the first place.
     
  9. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    Until VPNs, TOR and so on are deemed illegal to use, maybe it is. But, as my previous post pointed out, we need to quit worrying so much about playing cat and mouse and start asking the cat just wtf it thinks it's doing.
     
  10. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    What we may well need is a truly hidden communication channel. There's tons of bandwidth in streaming HD video. I hope that somebody is working on this.

    I doubt that the cats are listening, except to find and kill us :(
     
  11. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    Given that so many corporations and the government itself is cracking down and/or hates streaming anything, even that option might not work out so well. I have to admit though, it's a pretty interesting thought you have there.

    Yeah, we're dealing with some pretty nefarious and unrelenting cats, unfortunately.
     
  12. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    Oh, wanted to add, we both are forgetting the billions of others who access the net and probably know jack about the simple methods of hiding, never mind the advanced methods. What do they do? We can't get everyone on board with VPNs and such technology. For one thing, there are areas of this world where you get caught using them, you get prison and, sometimes, you die. For the rest, we both know your average user doesn't want to (and shouldn't be forced to really) deal with all of this.

    This IP decision is likely to have some major consequences.
     
  13. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    The Guardian Project is focusing on that problem.

    That's very true. But there must be effective tools for activists, or there really is no hope.

    I agree that prospects are looking very bad.
     
  14. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Isn't streaming HD content part of the "bread and circuses"?

    I got it from "True Names" by Vernor Vinge.
     
  15. Taliscicero

    Taliscicero Registered Member

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    You need not worry. If anything like this happened, I would just get a few names together of people who want in and set up a 100MB/1GB server in Belgium and make a private group who donates to stay on the server, and since the group is so small and the IP is not a known VPN, we are fine.
     
  16. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Several of us could do that, I think, so we could build a private multihop VPN service.

    But currently, I only know email addresses for a few Wilders members. And we'd be toast if we couldn't access Wilders. Perhaps those of us who are interested could exchange email addresses. Mine is in my sig, and I would provide others as backup.
     
  17. Taliscicero

    Taliscicero Registered Member

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    Its not very hard to set up OpenVPN for VPN Servers. I think anyone can do it following the guides out there. It really is a case of creating a secret society of well known security and VPN users in the community. Agreeing to pay the rent together as a collective and having a group of 2-4 trusted of the group to run the technical side of the server and to make sure logs stay off and the VPN works well.

    You would also notice much larger speeds due to the users being from the same group and a tight group does not send spam or abuse the servers.
     
  18. LockBox

    LockBox Registered Member

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    With the capabilities of the NSA (as described by Snowden), the "private group" would stay private maybe 12 hours or so.
     
  19. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    This could open an interesting can of worms. A user with a dynamically assigned IP can often change their IP simply by rebooting the modem. A short term power outage or a tripped circuit breaker can end up changing your IP. A legal opinion that broad without taking into account how IPs even work is a problem.
     
  20. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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  21. Mman79

    Mman79 Registered Member

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    And Facebook can stick its face up my..yeah. If this idiotic ruling was taken that literally, your ISP and DHCP itself could cause problems.
     
  22. siljaline

    siljaline Registered Member

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    They have their own specific reasons - none of which I have any real issue with.

     
  23. Taliscicero

    Taliscicero Registered Member

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    That's silly. You clearly don't know how to keep a group private, and or you think the NSA would take down such a small group that is benign and non threatening.

    IPV6 is the real problem, when IPV6 is forced you can pretty much kiss goodbye to your anonymity. IPV6 was developed purely for reasons that are negative under the guise of a positive necessity.
     
  24. NSAcanttouchthis

    NSAcanttouchthis Registered Member

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    do you peoplr only read the headlines? this is not about "any use of proxys" being illegal. it's about any person knowingly deciding to circumvent a ban on a website by chosing to use a proxy to get around a ban. There is no - oh, I click a mysterious link and now I am a wanted fugitive by the nsa or Lassie?! If you read the actual articles, you'd sound a lot less stupid than you do now.
     
  25. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I believe that it's possible to configure devices to use IPv6 anonymously, but I haven't actually worked on that yet. By default, it's true that IPv6 will kill anonymity.
     
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