Dreaming of a Snoop-Proof Net

Dreaming of a Snoop-Proof Net.

Related links:

Eben Moglen Is Reshaping Internet With a Freedom Box.

FreedomBox - Debian Wiki.

freedomboxfoundation.

-- Tom

 

Maybe dreaming about abuse free Net first

 

They can keep dreaming.

1. The net wasn't designed with privacy in mind, and, so far, nobody is stepping up to start over from scratch.

2. Any and all limitations will be rejected by a public addicted to Facebook and other information and privacy-devouring aspects of the current Internet.

3. After years of complacency by that public (world-wide), governments and corporations have become just as hungry for information as the public.

4. Snoop-proof for me and you, means snoop-proof for the bad guys too..take a moment to swallow that rather large pill. All of our discussions here on the forums in regards to all of our "hide from the evil watchers" tools, make for "feel good moments", until we get around to realizing that those watchers and other bad guys use those tools as well..and usually more effectively.

I applaud all efforts to regain and keep privacy and safety. But in order to succeed, healthy doses of reality checks are essential.

 

You may need those Freedom Boxes sooner than you think.

FBI to announce new Net-wiretapping push
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20032518-281.html

 

Tahoe-LAFS -- decentralized storage system with provider-independent security
http://tahoe-lafs.org/source/tahoe-lafs/trunk/docs/about.html

I2P has been integrated into Tahoe-LAFS. This keeps both clients and storage server operators anonymous. I2P is faster than Tor hidden services and is more secure due in part to garlic routing. Deepsites (distributed eepsites) give I2P persistent storage similar to Freenet.
http://duck.i2p.to/

Sheep will be sheep. They chew grass.

The bad guys are the reason Wikileaks exists. Kidnapping, torture, murder, drug trafficking, misappropriation of public funds...yep, those are pretty bad.

 

1. Your first point, Tahoe: That is far from what I meant. The net itself is NOT meant for privacy, meaning communications between you and the web. It has nothing to do with online storage, that's an entirely different matter.

2. Sheep WILL be sheep indeed, my point still stands.

3. The problem with groups such as Wiki, Anon, and so forth, is for every person who legitimately wants to help and uncover corruption, there's 5 more people who either A: Like seeing their names in the media. B: Have their own definitions of what is "bad". C: Have an agenda. (these are the "U.S government is bad", "corporations are evil" people).

Unless everyone is on the same page, these groups end up eating themselves alive. Wiki-Leaks had and has some good, honest, people in there who legitimately want to see change, want to help. Sadly they are overshadowed by either agenda-driven "higher ups" or attention-seekers. The group has also become careless. Anon, well, they always have and always will be attention seekers. These guys are criminals pure and simple, they're nothing like Wiki-Leaks. When they aren't getting themselves in the media by joining their supposed "friends" in the "fight for freedom", they're hacking Youtube videos to point to Metallica instead of Justin Beiber (true "operation", just a few months ago).

 

The "bad guys" have had highly snoop-resistant technologies for several decades, at least. Of course, they sometimes get sloppy -- e.g., Cablegate. OTOH, with broadly available "snoop-proof" technologies, global guerilla movements/swarms such as Anonymous are possible. Guerillas emerge from general populations, strike unpredictably, and fade when idle or directly threatened. Their highly distributed command structure facilitates high-tempo operations, keeping enemies off balance and paralysed, and resists decapitation.

Disclosure: I just finished _The Last Trumpet Project_ by Kevin MacArdy, and am reading _Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd_ by Frans P. Osinga. Just FWIW.

 

The Web and other aspects of the Internet exist within cipherspace networks which are designed to protect privacy and anonymity. People can choose to use them if they want to. My point about Tahoe-LAFS was to draw attention to the development of I2P. The Internet favours anarchists and there are plenty of those around.