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Software to Support Human Rights

An anonymous reader writes "Some software rollouts have lives hanging in the balance. Human rights workers in massacre zones from El Salvador to Kosovo face prying eyes peering into their address books and logs, who follow up with bullets and poison gas. One project, Martus, takes these hostile environments into account: a leak can get whole families killed. They use encryption, distributed backup, and other techniques designed to survive the ultimate corrosive environment: vindictive armies in countrysides in the throes of war. The source code is open, to allow meaningful contributions from anyone willing to help. These people bet their lives on open source and private data. The sponsor organization, Benetech in Silicon Valley, funds projects that arm global rights workers, and people under siege, with communications tools that counterbalance the overwhelming force used to exterminate everything "Free"."

194 comments

  1. open source dangerous! by SegaVegas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The source code is open, to allow meaningful contributions from anyone,
    [b]including people who do not mean well[b]
    watch out!

    1. Re:open source dangerous! by cperciva · · Score: 5, Insightful

      While I suspect the parent post was intended as humour, it raises a good point: How carefully do people look over contributed code before including it?

      Especially in the case of projects like this, I can see a significant danger of someone deliberately introducing a "mistake" which could completely compromise the system's security. With off-by-one errors routinely being found many years after they were initially introduced, I suspect that such an attempt could easily be successful.

    2. Re:open source dangerous! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      One of these being the U.S.G. (government), thru its Department of State (State Department).

      Clearly, as usual, imperialism wants its finger in EVERY pie; but in this case, because the source is free and open they have little possibility of gaining any kind of meaningful, long-term leverage over this process/phenomenon -- other than the usual up-front political kind (because FI we don't yet have software to make ourselves politically smart).

      My point is that, while states which support this type of NGO activity invariably wish to bend said NGOs to their political will (as in, FI, the situation with Human Rights Watch -- which appears, effectively, to be little more than an arm of the aforementioned U.S. State Dept.) and 'document' the crimes of their opponents, the same methods can and will be used to document the huge number of human rights abuses of these very states -- first and foremost those of the U.S.G. and its corporate backers.

    3. Re:open source dangerous! by Krapangor · · Score: 4, Funny
      How carefully do people look over contributed code before including it?

      Not often enough:
      einstien@mensa> grep -e "31337|h4x0r|0wned|phear|ph34r|r00tk17|sex|pr0n|po rn" -l -r /usr/src/Linux/* | wc -l

      237

      --
      Owner of a Mensa membership card.
    4. Re:open source dangerous! by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      watch out!
      Methinks they do. Possibly to the point of overdoing it.
      Just because the maintainer can accept a patch from anybody doesn't mean that the maintainer will accept a patch from anybody. Somehow I doubt that there are any maintainers so gullible as to accept any patch that says "trust me".
      Actually open source is dangerous, to closed source, that is. Let's say I find a significant bug in MySQL. First, noone is going to just take my word for it, so I need to at least get to where I can duplicate the problem easily. Then I make some sort of patch that makes the problem go away. Now since my patch is probably not all that great and I don't want to have to keep repeating the experience (plus any altruistic motives), the real work begins. Repeat over a few years, and closed source is not competitive.

    5. Re:open source dangerous! by fuzza · · Score: 1

      Someone a while ago made a good point in this regard. It's especially true since these folks would definitely be wary of any code that is submitted through unknown / untrusted sources.

      Someone else made an opposing argument, but I don't think this project will have these problems, for much the same reason.

      I think it's a good idea, all round. These workers get the benefit of peer review, and the peers come away with a good feeling, knowing that they've potentially saved a lot of peoples' lives (not just their jobs)...


      --
      Can't find examples of evolution? No matter, neither could Dawkins
    6. Re:open source dangerous! by sebisor · · Score: 1

      Is this a joke? Your message is rated "funny" but it isn't. Open source alows you to look at the code, look for backdoors, for potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited by "the bad guys".

    7. Re:open source dangerous! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Department of State (State Department)

      Thanks for the clarification. Wasn't quite sure what you were refering to.

      Could you always clear up the following ACRO's

      -NGO
      -FI
      -EVERY

    8. Re:open source dangerous! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sarcasm aside, NGO is Non-Governmental Organization.

    9. Re:open source dangerous! by exhilaration · · Score: 4, Informative
      How carefully do people look over contributed code before including it?

      They look over it very carefully - Patches can create security problems as well as stability issues. Maintainers aren't stupid enough to include untested patches from unknown persons. Their reputations are at stake, as is the reputation of the entire project.

      The poor example from above is pulling words from the comments - and those contain the foulest language imaginable. There was a Slashdot article a while back about this.

    10. Re:open source dangerous! by mrogers · · Score: 3, Funny
      The poor example from above is pulling words from the comments - and those contain the foulest language imaginable.

      Hey, Finnish isn't that bad.

    11. Re:open source dangerous! by Tom · · Score: 3, Informative

      Your count is slightly misleading. For example:

      Documentation/filesystems/proc.txt: echo ':DEXE:M::\x0eDEX::/usr/bin/dosexec:' > register
      drivers/sound/dev_table.h: int (*send_sysex)(int dev, unsigned char *bytes, int len);
      arch/i386/kernel/setup.c: * misexecution of code under Linux. Owners of such processors should

      and lots of @bytesex.org e-mail addresses. ;)

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    12. Re:open source dangerous! by avante · · Score: 1

      I've been keeping my eye on the source for a few weeks. I have more issues with the over-all design. I need it to be more modular so we can build our own client.

    13. Re:open source dangerous! by bahamat · · Score: 1

      Um.....

      grep -e "31337|h4x0r|0wned|phear|ph34r|r00tk17|sex|pr0n|po rn" -l -r /usr/src/linux/*
      bahamat@highwind:/usr/src/linux $

      Where did you get your source tree?

  2. With all the new US laws by miyako · · Score: 5, Insightful

    it might not be long untill we need this or something like it to protect us from our own homland security KGB.

    --
    Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    1. Re:With all the new US laws by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Give the lad a Kewpie Doll...

    2. Re:With all the new US laws by paganizer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hate to tell you this....
      brace yourself...

      We are about a year+ past needing something like this ourselves.
      Unfortunately, this won't work for us, because NO PLACE would be safe for the central database server.
      Our only options are freenet & things of a like nature, which are decentralized.

      On the other hand, you've got nothing to hide, aren't a terrorist, so you've nothing to fear, right?

      right?

      RIGHT, Citizen?

      in times like these it's a good thing the founding fathers realized that future governments wouldn't play by the rules.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    3. Re:With all the new US laws by aminorex · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Here are Chip Berlett's 1992 characteristics of
      historical fascism (as seen in Spain, Germany,
      Italy and Japan):

      *** Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission.

      *** Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for the national or individual spirit.

      *** Use of violence or threats of violence to impose views on others (fascism and Nazism both employed street violence and state violence at different moments in their development).

      *** Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally responsible to an electorate.

      *** Cult of personality around a charismatic leader.

      *** Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks against both liberalism and communism.

      *** Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in German, Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission_often metaphysical and romanticized in character.

      *** Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy_seeing the enemy as an inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that justifies eradicating them.

      *** The self image of being a superior form of social organization beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy.

      *** Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example, ostensible support for the industrial working class or farmers; but ultimately, the forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.

      *** Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.

      --
      -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
    4. Re:With all the new US laws by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Look, this guy's a dickhead, but he's got a legitimate question. Someone should have told him about the innards of the Patriot Act instead of just modding him into oblivion. And to answer your question, in addition to what's in the Patriot Act regarding the govt's increased ability to spy on all of us (for chrissakes, read the thing sometime, I implore you) it seems that the govt can now imprison us for however long it wants and strip us of all constitutional rights. All it has to do is declare us a terrorist and an "enemy combatant". Note that we don't have to be guilty, we just have to be accused.

      No one thinks the USA is Nazi Germany, but our rights are slowly eroding. If you choose not to see it, then you're part of the problem.

  3. Just wondering sonething... by Altima(BoB) · · Score: 3, Funny

    If the encryption software is open source, doesn't that mean that hostiles who want to break the encryption can use the source to make sonething to counter the encryption?

    I have a vague idea on why that's not so, but nothing definate. I heard it being compared to trying to put a sausage into a meat grinder backwards to make a pig.

    --
    Yup...
    1. Re:Just wondering sonething... by russx2 · · Score: 1

      Most popular encryption systems are based on some irreversible algorithm that produces a hash of any sensitive data.

      I'm not to up on the math but the basic idea is that when you look at the encryped string, you don't have enough information to reconstruct the original. The encoded data may or may not have a one to one relation with the original values but this isn't usually a problem (think billions of possibilities).

    2. Re:Just wondering sonething... by ^Case^ · · Score: 2, Informative

      It is not easier to decrypt a good encryption even if you know every little detail of the encryption algorithm. Actually the consensus in the cryptography community is that if an algorithm is not published openly for everybody to poke at it cannot be trusted.

      Just think how many different DSA/SSL/etc. implementations there are out there and several of these in opensource.

    3. Re:Just wondering sonething... by Ed+Avis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The encryption system has two parts: an algorithm, which is publicly known, and a key, which is private. You need both to decrypt some data. The system is designed so that the key is required for decryption, it is not enough just to know the algorithm.

      OK - it might be a little bit harder if you didn't know the algorithm either, but would you trust an encryption system where the author said 'we can't disclose how it works, we're worried that if people knew that they might be able to break it'?

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    4. Re:Just wondering sonething... by collapser · · Score: 2, Interesting

      i can see how it can work in a communications context, but how does this work in the case of an addressbook/contact list?

      such a device would require knowledge of a key/passcode on the owner's behalf simply to access the device/transmission/address. chances are you will find the key-bearer w/ the device. and when they do i suppose it wouldnt be difficult to 'extract' this key from the holder.

      2 way comms i can understand, but as long as you can get the password/fingerprint/retina required for access out of the user, then such safeguards seem pointless.

      all of the security safeguards we usually employ are with respect to people doing it behind your back without your 'assistance'.. ..much better would be to obfuscate the access method or even disguse the device as something seemingly innocuous - say a minidisk recorder with 'easter egg' access.

      L, R, L, R, U, D, U, D, Select + Start ;)

      --
      <B>note to self:</B> <I>post as html</I>
    5. Re:Just wondering sonething... by Ed+Avis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes they can get the key out of you ('rubber hose cryptanalysis') but there are some systems where you can have several keys and each key reveals different data - so you could disclose a key which gives a dummy, fairly uninformative address book. Then there is no way to show that extra data is hidden unless you have the extra keys. This means that when you say 'I have told you everything I know' there is no way to verify that claim. This has both good and bad points.

      Disguising the data in something else like a minidisk recorder is a good idea but obviously not everyone can do that - each person must choose a different kind of disguise, so it gets tricky.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    6. Re:Just wondering sonething... by ThatMadeNoSense · · Score: 0

      but nothing definate.

      That made no sense.

    7. Re:Just wondering sonething... by ThatMadeNoSense · · Score: 0

      I'm not to up on the math

      That made no sense.

    8. Re:Just wondering sonething... by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      The people doing the killing can come and torture/kill the famillies of natives. But if you are a foreign aid worker you are much much safer. If you are a foreign human rights worker you are much much safer. Also, if you know there is a breech that is helpful too, noone can steel your equipment and replace it after copying everything. If you personally know the info, there is no reason to think that encrypting it is much safer, you are still a liability.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  4. Vim by Yag · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Also vim helps human rights... "Uganda licence" is a good idea to make OS Software even more useful...

    1. Re:Vim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When do we get a Euro-American license? The money donated will help victims of racially motivated attacks by Blacks, Mestizos, and other non-Whites.

    2. Re:Vim by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More than just the Uganda license... it provides people an alternative to emacs. So it prevents cruel and unusual punishment.

  5. Possession by xixax · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And soon enough even the possession of these kinds of tools will be enough to put people in jail. After all, they were probably using them to swap MP3s or kiddie-pr0n or even plan terrorist acts.

    Strong crypto is only a part of the answer (whatever that answer may be).

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
    1. Re:Possession by enigmiac · · Score: 4, Interesting

      what makes you think there is an answer? this is an issue that I am torn on. how is it possible to stop terrorism and child pr0n, with out eliminating human rights? I believe very strongly in personal freedom, but at the same time, I believe that my rights end where yours begin. as long as what I'm doing doesn't affect anyone else, I don't see how it can be wrong. at the same time, how can we tell when some form of communication is about to affect others negativly without inspecting it all (which I find deplorable)? if anyone has an answer, I'd love to hear it

    2. Re:Possession by arvindn · · Score: 5, Informative
      Freenet is an internet infrastructure for completely anonymous communication (its been mentioned on /. before). I imagine it would be an excellent tool for human rights workers. Note that freenet is not tailored for specific content or applications, and so anyone can benefit from it.

      If most people (or atleast a majority of people) started using freenet, it would change the internet in a fundamental way: it would be no longer possible to outlaw freenet. I don't see this happening anytime soon, because most people still enjoy freedom of speech. But if there were to arise a global dictator, technology has given us a way to fight back.

    3. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shoot Bush.

    4. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geeze. A government agent provocateur. We should be flattered.

    5. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      There is one answer. Simple, yet very complex to get started. Revolution. John Locke is the name you would look up. His ideas persist in our own Declaration of Independence.

      Simple idea, simple answer. Yet, people cannot be idle like the people in the mideast. They have to _want_ this freedom enough to lay down their life. In this last sentence _only_ is where you find the complexity.

      This is in reference to the parent as well as the article. The government is there to make laws. If they aren't, then they aren't doing their job. Once a law is in place, it is very hard to remove. Enough of these laws, and you get Homeland Defense. A noble attempt to protect us at the cost of FREEDOM WE HAD. Enough of these Homeland Defenses, and America will be ready for July 4 version 2.

      I am not bitter at any of this nor am I a revolutionary, but I know enough history to see where this goes. It has been written democracy will always devolve into dictatorship. Seems right now it is in the oligarchy area (corporations run us).

    6. Re:Possession by KjetilK · · Score: 1, Insightful

      stop terrorism and child pr0n, with out eliminating human rights?

      By setting human rights first. Always.

      --
      Employee of Inrupt, Project Release Manager and Community Manager for Solid
    7. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am a revolutionary. Which means I don't fall into fatalistic funks like this liberal guy here.

      The people of the Middle East will rise up in revolution soon enough, don't worry about that, my friend. Too bad people in the U.S. will be among the last to do so. Leadership from the people here would solve a lot of problems worldwide caused by the same types who have given us "Homeleand Defence".

    8. Re:Possession by mav[LAG] · · Score: 2, Informative

      Phil Zimmermann has faced this issue for a lot longer than most of us. Read his thoughts here and the thoughts of some of the beneficiaries of PGP here. Restricting technology because it has the capacity to be used for evil is a slippery slope.

      --
      --- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
    9. Re:Possession by ThatMadeNoSense · · Score: 0

      its been mentioned on /. before

      That made no sense.

    10. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > But if there were to arise a global dictator

      What would he look like?

      http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles2/Pitt_PNA C- Empire.htm

    11. Re:Possession by SuperMario666 · · Score: 1

      Strong crypto is only a part of the answer (whatever that answer may be).

      Getting off our collective asses and voting/participating in the political system would be a big part of said answer.

    12. Re:Possession by blibbleblobble · · Score: 1

      And soon enough even the possession of these kinds of tools will be enough to put people in jail... strong crypto is only a part of the answer, whatever that answer may be.

      The answer (currently) is deniable steganographic encryption. At the moment, these systems work by having small amounts of data in large amounts of chaff. Only the correct key can identify data, which appears random without the key. Thus, anyone without the key cannot determine the existance or non-existance of data.

      Similarly, someone holding one or more keys to data cannot determine whether there are any additional filesystems available.

      The main difficulty is that one filesytem has no way of knowing whether it's overwriting the packets of another (because it doesn't know what other filesystems exist), so each piece of data needs to be duplicated to guard against its accidental deletion.

      The other difficulty is that the system works best on a disk with far more storage area than will ever be used, so you might work with a couple of 100Mb filesystems on a 20Gb disk. But with text-files mentioned in the article, this isn't a problem, and 20Gb disks are considered quite normal now.

      Oh, and don't even think of using MS Word to write documents that're going onto a deniable filesystem.

    13. Re:Possession by blibbleblobble · · Score: 1

      "How is it possible to stop terrorism and child pr0n, with out eliminating human rights?"

      It's not possible to stop either, so you may as well take that as given, and keep the human rights.

    14. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh, from your username, I am sure you're trolling, but I'm not wasting much energy explaining the following:

      "It has been mentioned on Slashdot before."

      "its" was meant as "it's", a contraction of "it is" or "it has"

      "./" is short for Slashdot.

    15. Re:Possession by avante · · Score: 1

      For putting people in jail you need a tool that can assemble what Martus puts out and then perform statistical analysis. Martus is just like a big e-mail system, but unlike the analysis tools in development it's more secure and can be used in a hostile country.

    16. Re:Possession by Saeger · · Score: 1
      Mmm, yeah, I give the latest FreeNet snapshot a wurl every few months to see if the network has finally progressed from glacial-speed to molasses-speed. Seems to still be stuck at glacial (and no, I'm not confused about freenet being your standard file-sharing app; it's not).

      --

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
    17. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if there were to arise a global dictator, technology has given us a way to fight back.


      It did that a long time ago. It's called the 'gun' and it's available to most of the more free people of the world...if it isn't where you live, you might want to question that decision...

    18. Re:Possession by xixax · · Score: 1

      I am not convinced there is an answer, or at least there isn't a one-size-fits-all one.

      Even now, you can use the strongest crypto you want, and if you do not surrender the keys to a subpoena, you will be done for contempt of court. So you could argue that we only have the illusion of privacy.

      My own feeling is that any soluion must also come from outside of what a legal system can offer. Fewer people trade kiddie pr0n than than MP3s because most people find it repugnant. Legal penalties are part of policing, but I think the social dimension at least as strong a deterrent.

      Xix.

      --
      "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
    19. Re:Possession by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what, free in the sense of imposing your own views on others to the point of denying them life? wow give me some of that. not.

  6. Still Not Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The evil army will just beat your key out of you. They aren't just going to try a few codes and walk off; they are going to break out the hoses and the electric generators. They may not be able to break the encryption, but they sure as hell can break you.

    1. Re:Still Not Good by supergiovane · · Score: 1
      A good system would be the one hiding the 'dangerous' informations such that none would suspect they even exist (steganography). Obviously it would be very difficult to hide the program used to obfuscate the informations (if they fid the program, they could suspect you use it against them and torture you to know your keys).

      One solution could be something like a Live CD system (which doesn't leave any trace of your activity on your computer) which uses some sort of 'online' information hiding program (which should be accessible without being traced), but in this case even only the possession of this 'suspect' CD could put you into troubles.

      As long as they don't access to your PC and they don't intercept any suspect communication from it (I suspect that a PGP encrypted mail leads straight to torture in some countries), however, this is a good method to raise the chances of success in human rights violations reporting.

      --
      Signatures are for stupids.
    2. Re:Still Not Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And this is exactly what the Homeland Security Gestapo intend to do. They do it in other countries, where CNN doesn't go, and they've always done it "where the sun don't shine" in the good ol' U.S. of A. too. Now they are going to be more open about it right here. Welcome to 1984 + 19.

    3. Re:Still Not Good by c13v3rm0nk3y · · Score: 1
      They may not be able to break the encryption, but they sure as hell can break you.

      You may be in the possession of said encrypted material, but you may not, in fact, know what is in it or how to get at it.

      Many activist organizations work on the same principles as armies and terrorist cells: you operate on a need-to-know basis, with instructions and keys given to you in pieces. Often you have to "share a secret" with someone else to get the answers to critical questions.

      Furthermore, you are often instructed to sing like a bird when captured. It is intended that you don't know enough (as an individual) to seriously damage the whole organization.

      Of course, if you are an important member of an organization who has access to a lot of critical information you are in the dangerous position where you have to hide information.

      In this case, as you say, encryption is not enough. From a brief survey of the Benetech web site referenced in this article, they are interested in the complete package: the secure transmission, obfuscation, encryption and dissemination of critical information under extreme circumstances.

      --
      -- clvrmnky
    4. Re:Still Not Good by ginnocent · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Excellent point. It's clear that such software requires a feature that allows a user to do the following with minimal keystrokes :-

      'I'm about to be captured. Please assume anybody logging in as me is an evil cracker. Anything that can be decrypted with my key should be re-encrypted with the key of a 'safe' user who is registered with a 'safe' country'

      Determining 'safe' countries and 'users' would require some care. Perhaps a voting system of some kind? or Central control by the project maintainer (via their private key)?
      Both systems could be abused. The first system would be prone to the agents of the 'evil' army registering as users and overwheliming by force of numbers.

      The second system would put require all other users to trust the maintainer, and could be compromised by their capture and interrogation.
      (Being the maintainer of such a project would make one a target of many hostile intelligence agencies).

      I think the most trustworthy system would be a variant of the first, whereby all new users had to be declared 'trusted' by unanimous vote of current 'trusted' users. Of course this wouldn't scale to well, adding new user becoming slower and more difficult as each new user is added.
      Establishing trusted countries could be handled as follows :-

      1) If any trusted user claims a country cannot be trusted, then the system assumes the country cannot be trusted until 'reinstated' by unanimous vote.

      2) If any user who is registered to that country invokes the 'i've been captured' feature above, the country is no longer to be trusted until restored by unanimous vote.

      By unanimous vote I mean a unanimous vote of trusted users in trusted countries.

      Does this make sense?

    5. Re:Still Not Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You speak too much in the abstract. The system will work because trusted people do know each other, there are many of them, and they inhabit many countries, where secret police organs like the FBI cannot easily operate. The point about this information is not that it need be kept secret in whole or in part, forver. The point is that the secret police or the military cannot destroy this evidence, and it can be used against their masters, eventually anyway. And it can thusly also be used to protect people.

    6. Re:Still Not Good by spitzak · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is for use by people who will not be tortured for the keys, ie the UN workers who will be kicked out of the country after their equipment is confiscated. With this that equipment will not give the evil army information that they want.

    7. Re:Still Not Good by ginnocent · · Score: 1

      I take your points seriously. I understand that my points will seem abstract to anybody suffering real repression now. What my point is is to point out the need for an international 'fraternity/sorority' of trust. This international 'brotherhood' can only be protected from remote 'usurpers' with public key cryptography and the stiffening 'backbone' of a unanimous vote. Yes, there will be many occasions where decent, freedom loving pundits' opinions are excluded by the system, but at least you could be assured that a repressive government would have far less chance of suppressing the truth than they do currently. Freedom would be protected by reputation, which would, in turn, be protected by a fraternity of international honour. I realise this sounds a little mad. I'm willing to go into more detail to explain myself.

    8. Re:Still Not Good by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      This is for use by people who will not be tortured for the keys, ie the UN workers who will be kicked out of the country after their equipment is confiscated. With this that equipment will not give the evil army information that they want.

      Or the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Or other groups.

      Most regimes know that kicking out internationally renouned groups like ICRC is very bad for their foreign policies. They may harrass them, "accidently" kill them, etc. But they don't want to be known as a country that is hostile to international law or human rights. So torture is not really an option.

      For example, imagine how much easier it would be to go to war if the Red Cross said their workers had been tortured? Of course indicating that their workers have been mistreated by Israel has not had much effect, but no Western country wants to invade Israel, so that isn't really a problem for that country *at this stage.* But imagine if the Red Cross was saying the same things about Iraq?

      And I suspect that the mistreatment of ICRC workers (using them as human shields, etc.) by Israel has probably taken a serious toll on their trade negotiations with the EU, etc. in the last couple years. So even there, it is not a good idea to abuse internationally recognized human rights workers.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    9. Re:Still Not Good by ameoba · · Score: 1

      What happens when there's nowhere 'safe' left on the planet?

      --
      my sig's at the bottom of the page.
    10. Re:Still Not Good by ginnocent · · Score: 1

      Then the entire system is useless and must be abandoned. As a safety feature, when all countries are declared 'unsafe', the system should delete all its data using the most effective means possible with software.

      In the extreme case where all users/countries had been reported as 'captured' then extreme measures would be required to protect the identities of the 'survivors'.

      Of course, the more users/countries one could get to join this civil liberties 'trust network',
      the less likely would be its total destruction.

    11. Re:Still Not Good by ReelOddeeo · · Score: 1

      Use a challenge/response password system.

      Please login: goldilocks
      Challenge code: 382AQ929
      Password:


      The password you give is somehow easily mentally computed from the challenge code.

      Using a different formula to mentally compute the response is a signal to the system that you can no longer be trusted. Sort of like how some alarm systems have an "ambush" code. If you enter that code instead of the real code, the system appears to disarm, but silently calls the police. My old employer had such a feature on their alarm system.

      Once you've given a response code that indicates that it is YOU, but that you cannot be trusted, then the system, depending on sophistication and investment, could even appear to log you in and let you innocently work on stuff. Hypothetical example, you could read any non-classified documents. Maybe the filesystem needs to support a "secrecy" attribute. Of course, I'm a fan of filesystems like reiserfs that allow the arbitrary attachment of arbitrary attributes to files anyway. That way if you want to annoate your files with a level of secrecy, or with what icon should be displayed for the file, or what coordinates within the containing window the icon should be positioned at, etc. the filesystem will just accept whatever arbitrary attributes you wish to annoated the file with. These attributes don't go into the file's "data", but into the file's "directory entry" so to speak.

      --

      Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
  7. If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Boycott Redhat, never ever use or install Redhat personally or in your work.

    Redhat supported tyrannic mainland China against democratic Taiwan and gladly removed Taiwans status as independant in their latest distributions. The only reason is to make more dollars from China.

    It should be notet that companies like HP and Microsoft has refused to remove Taiwans status as independant despite pressure and fines from the dictatorship in China.

    There is plenty of really good distributions, there is simply no need to support tyranny.

    1. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is important, mod parent up!

    2. Re:If you really care about freedom! by DASHSL0T · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      I use Red Hat. I prefer it over other distributions I have tried.
      Debian - Too slow a cycle for my needs
      SuSE - Too cluttered and didn't care for the config tools and non-standard files all over the place (has this changed with their United Linux approach?)
      Mandrake - Nice, but never quite worked right. It was always a little flaky around the edges.
      Gentoo - Nice, but too complex when something wouldn't work. And too long to compile everything, I just didn't have the time for all that. (I never got KDE or X working, but I did have a heck of a fast CLI only system after a couple of tries).
      Lindows - I won't touch with a 10 foot pole.

      So, who can recommend a really good, quality distro for me to try?

      --
      Freedom Is Universal
      Linux-Universe
    3. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WindowsXP

    4. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Sh0t · · Score: 1

      I use FreeBSd but it sounds like user error to me with your above problems. You probably just need to learn more.

    5. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I like SuSE and Debian but of cause it's a matter of taste in the end.

      Evil companies supporting evil governments is not a small matter and I think it's everyone obligation to not support such companies.

    6. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taiwan was LONG a brutal dictatorship under the Guomindang -- before it bacame the usual U.S.-inspired banana republic it is today. If you compare one, COMPARE THE OTHER. OKAY, MORON?

      Enough with the rightwing stupidity. I could just imagine what YOU would do with this software, creep.

    7. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Stonehand · · Score: 1

      If you take that attitude, to be fair you have to boycott just about every country in the entire world. Not even the United States -- which is willing to sell weapons systems to Taiwan -- recognizes them as independent.

      --
      Only the dead have seen the end of war.
    8. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hm, banana republic? Is that how you would describe a vibrant democracy. Taiwan has evolved from a U.S. backed dictatorship to a full-fledged democracy (one of the few true democracies in Asia). China continues to persecute dissidents. I know which country I'd rather live in.

    9. Re:If you really care about freedom! by isorox · · Score: 1

      Hm, banana republic? Is that how you would describe a vibrant democracy.

      It's what those people call any free state that supports or is supported by the U.S in any way, no matter how small.

    10. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Democratic formalism ain't "vibrant" -- except maybe in the mind of liberal know-nothings who are too-easily impressed by smoke and mirrors. I suppose rallies and bunting for a few weeks every few years -- meant in large part for-show on CNN -- is better than an endless police state, but a country like Taiwan is still just another regime space with a few rich people, a LOT of poor, over-worked (or just plain destitute) people -- and PLENTY of police who know the difference between the two. Same would go for other "vibrant" democracies like the Philippines, Indonesia, Poland, India, Peru, Turkey, Mexico, Guatemala, Alabama, South Korea, North Carolina...

    11. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Taiwan was LONG a brutal dictatorship under the Guomindang "

      Very true, and that is horrible. But it's a democracy today. If China became a democracy I would support them however I could if they came under threat from a cruel dictatorship, I wouldn't use their past as an excause to abandon them.

      "before it bacame the usual U.S.-inspired banana republic it is today."

      Banana repulic? I assume you are not aware that Taiwan is doing really great these days with fairly high living-standard and freedoms.

      "If you compare one, COMPARE THE OTHER. OKAY, MORON?"

      What do you mean?

      "Enough with the rightwing stupidity."

      Rightwing??? What the hell are you talking about? Are you saying that favoring democratic societies and not dictatorships are rightwing and the other way around leftwing?

    12. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is simply not true.

      Taiwan has high living-standard, so does South Korea and Poland is going fast in that direction and if nothing goes wrong they will be at medium European level in a decade or so.

      You need to remember that some of those countries has been dictatorships so they have to work they way up. Which ofcause takes time.

    13. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taiwan is in a very difficult situation and it's not politically possible to directly state their independance since the threat or war is quite high. China would invade if Taiwans cause it put on the table to clearly. Taiwan can reach true independance but it will take time.

      It clear however, that most democratic countries and people in them strongly support Taiwans cause, the US included.

    14. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Gleef · · Score: 1

      If your only issue with Debian is the release cycle, use Debian and upgrade to unstable. Unstable Debian is still, in my experience, more stable than RedHat's releases, and has a much better upgrade cycle, as well as better packaged materials.

      --

      ----
      Open mind, insert foot.
    15. Re:If you really care about freedom! by justins · · Score: 1
      Not even the United States -- which is willing to sell weapons systems to Taiwan -- recognizes them as independent.

      Um... no. Actually, part of our stated foreign policy in Asia is that Taiwan will remain independent and any invasion from the mainland will be met with the full force of the US military. It's been that way a long time. (since Nixon?)
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
    16. Re:If you really care about freedom! by OneEyedApe · · Score: 1

      Take another look at Gentoo. You can get a good bit of it precompiled.

      --
      Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all....
      --Thomas J. Kopp
    17. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your comment reveals your ignorance about Taiwan politics. To simply label Taiwan as a banana republic sorely misses the point.

      The Taiwanese movement for democracy was born from a movement for human rights and self determination. Taiwan has been ruled by one occupuying power after another - starting with Japan during WW2 and then the defeated Nationalists who fled China after losing to the Communists.

      Currently, Taiwanese elect their own president, national legislature and local governments. This was a result of hard fought process of native folks organizing and undergoing repression, torture, imprisonment by the authoritarian nationalist regime. Why is this important? Its important because it shows that a democratic society can work and flourish in a society descended from Chinese culture and refutes the notion that Democracy is just for westerners.

      Taiwan has been defacto independent for quite sometime, yet is unable to gain membership in the UN and was not allowed to enter into the WTO until after China was admitted. Taiwanese politicians are not even allow to stopover in Europe or the US due to pressure from China - who seeks to eradicate any trace of Taiwanese national identity in world economic and political bodies. This is despite the fact that Taiwan is a top 20 trading partner of the US and a major exporter of technology to the world.

      Our politicians are chicken when it comes to Taiwan - they are unwilling to back a true democracy formed through grassroots civil society and instead kowtows to Chinese pressure for short term business interests.

      The gentleman who posted the original comment raises a good point and points out that major tech companies in the US (Microsoft, RedHat, Cisco) are willing to forsake democractic principles when it comes to doing business with China. This is unamerican.

    18. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Taiwanese movement for democracy was born from a movement for human rights and self determination. Taiwan has been ruled by one occupuying power after another - starting with Japan during WW2 and then the defeated Nationalists who fled China after losing to the Communists.

      Currently, Taiwanese elect their own president, national legislature and local governments. This was a result of hard fought process of native folks organizing and undergoing repression, torture, imprisonment by the authoritarian nationalist regime. Why is this important? Its important because it shows that a democratic society can work and flourish in a society descended from Chinese culture and refutes the notion that Democracy is just for westerners.

      Taiwan has been defacto independent for quite sometime, yet is unable to gain membership in the UN and was not allowed to enter into the WTO until after China was admitted. Taiwanese politicians are not even allow to stopover in Europe or the US due to pressure from China - who seeks to eradicate any trace of Taiwanese national identity in world economic and political bodies. This is despite the fact that Taiwan is a top 20 trading partner of the US and a major exporter of technology to the world.

      Our politicians are chicken when it comes to Taiwan - they are unwilling to back a true democracy formed through grassroots civil society and instead kowtows to Chinese pressure for short term business interests.

      The gentleman who posted the original comment raises a good point and points out that major tech companies in the US (Microsoft, RedHat, Cisco) are willing to forsake democractic principles when it comes to doing business with China. This is unamerican.

    19. Re:If you really care about freedom! by isorox · · Score: 1

      First I dindt make any comment about china, I believe you were talking about the guy above me.

      second when will the U.S. get a president like Jack Ryan?

    20. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Daisywheel · · Score: 1

      Taiwan gave up its chance to become independent when China was still "closed" to the outside world due to their delusion of re-conquering the mainland. The GuoMinDang was playing the game of "we are the true legitimate ruler of china ... blah blah blah". With China's return to the world stage, nothing will be allowed to hijack the place of the true "heir of the Dragon". Democracy ? Taiwan mafia buys their way into political parties and the government. Thanks to Lee Teng Hui , the ex head honcho of the GuoMinDang who brought in this "black gold" politics era. The mafia in turn brought in "fist-fighting politicians " clown show on International TVs. Taiwan's moment in the sun has gone. Now its the giant's turn.

    21. Re:If you really care about freedom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One word: Slackware

  8. Can This Work? by DASHSL0T · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I mean, the Government says "give me your decryption key or we will put you in jail until you do". Here the choice will be giving up your key vs. giving up your life. Unless someone is VERY dedicated and brave, they are going to give up the key when they have a gun to their head (or worse).

    --
    Freedom Is Universal
    Linux-Universe
    1. Re:Can This Work? by Sh0t · · Score: 1

      well thats the idea behind that other kind of crypto that the name eludes me.

      Bascially it's the HIDING of info, not so uch protecting it.

      Better to say it's not there than to say it's hidden.

      THere was an article about it last week about hiding info in binaries in the same amount of KB etc

    2. Re:Can This Work? by fyonn · · Score: 1

      steganography, and it's not crypto in itself, just a way of hiding data in other data.

      dave

    3. Re:Can This Work? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "give me your decryption key or we will put you in jail until you do"

      Having the key won't do you any good once the data is sent to a server in another country.

    4. Re:Can This Work? by justins · · Score: 1
      "give me your decryption key or we will put you in jail until you do"

      Having the key won't do you any good once the data is sent to a server in another country.

      If I captured your entire transmission as it was going over the wire it will do me lots of good.
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
    5. Re:Can This Work? by avante · · Score: 1

      Actually, you would be suprised...

      On the other hand, one of the MAIN purposes of Martus is not to always prevent the authorities from gaining access, but rather to prevent the NGO from losing their documentation. Right now, most NGOs store information haphazardly in stacks of paper. This leaves them open to being damaged or stolen, particularly because it remains in the hostile country.

      With Martus, that data gets transmitted to ANOTHER country where the government would not be so forthcoming about that kind of information. The data is backed up. The government could ALWAYS come in and just steal the computers, in fact it happens all the time, but the NGO still has the data.

      Also, it's not always as easy for governments or hostile groups to kill activists as you think it is.

  9. but ... what if the black vans pull up..? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    if the setting is so dangerous and THEY use truncheon keys aint this java based thing pointless.

    from the website--
    "Martus bulletins are created and saved locally on your personal computer. Whenever an Internet connection is available, saved bulletins are automatically sent to a Martus server."

  10. Irony by Jesus+IS+the+Devil · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Next thing you know, Al Queda will be using it.

    --

    eTrade SUCKS
    1. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stupid comment. Stupider sig.

    2. Re:Irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Well, yes. They are, in all likelyhood, also using cars, phones, GPS devices, Google, and numerous other technologies.

      In fact I'd propose that we all start living in caves again, but there are two problems:

      1. That's what they *want* us to do.

      2. They have plenty of caves where they come from; not even 'cave technology' is safe.

    3. Re:Irony by error0x100 · · Score: 1

      How is it ironic? Almost every technology ever created by man has had the potential to be used for both good and evil. No surprise here.

    4. Re:Irony by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1

      Or maybe diplomats of the United Nations, to protect themselves from being spied upon by the NSA! :oO

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  11. Mod Me Sleepy/Stupid by E-Rock-23 · · Score: 1

    I posted in the wrong discussion. Damnit. That's what I get for waking up and trying to be funny...

    --
    Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
  12. Re:Thank You, Drive Through by Sh0t · · Score: 1

    YOu replied to the wrong article. YOurs is the one before :)

  13. In some situations by xixax · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hence my other comment somewhere in here.

    If it's a high profile, or an International organisation that can tell the authorities where to stick it, crypto can be very valuable. For example, to keep intercepted communications secret. OTOH, no amount of crypto is going to do you any good if they can haul you away and beat it out of you.

    It's a very useful tool, but only in the right circumstances.

    Xix.

    --
    "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
  14. MOD PARENT UP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks. This really need to be said.

  15. Don't expext the thugs to play fair by de+la+mettrie · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'm sure this is, technically, good cryptography software. However, keep in mind that this software is explicitly designed to hide information from governmental law enforcement authorities. Therefore

    it is just as useful to criminals as to human rights workers. This is not, of course, a problem per se, but

    using this as a pretext, governments will simply ban possession and usage of this software. If they need any pretext, that is - in the kind of country this software is designed to be used, "human rights worker" is just another word for criminal.

    This kind of software is useful to preserve personal privacy in a civilized nation. In a thugocracy, however, the police will just confiscate your computer, or you will be extradited/tortured/shot for being in possession of this software.

    1. Re:Don't expext the thugs to play fair by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      However, keep in mind that this software is explicitly designed to hide information from governmental law enforcement authorities.

      This software is also designed to widely disseminate the information. Once the cat is out of the bag on a global basis it is out of the reach of any single governmental organization.

      the police will just confiscate your computer, or you will be extradited/tortured/shot for being in possession of this software.

      Some people care enough to risk their lives in this cause.

    2. Re:Don't expext the thugs to play fair by Stonehand · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Everybody has a breaking point.

      Most people, for instance, would probably talk if the alternative was seeing acid injected into the eyeballs of their coworkers, or being forced to watch the slow execution of villagers they're supposed to be helping and then to eat their remains.

      --
      Only the dead have seen the end of war.
    3. Re:Don't expext the thugs to play fair by supaflah · · Score: 1

      Double hosing, baby!

      Surpised no one commenting thought of that.
      If you get tortured, you give the key to encrypted data that you feel can be compromised- and say it's all the data.

      Make sure to include some actuall significant data there.

      Sacrificing one operative is better than sacrificing all.
      This has been implemented in http://rubberhose.sourceforge.net/ (site down when i last checked)

      --
      --- Nothing but Blood and Kosmos
    4. Re:Don't expext the thugs to play fair by Lodragandraoidh · · Score: 1

      What scares me more than the government misusing its power, is the people here who say "its too difficult - I would give my key away if a gun was to my head..."

      If you are an American, you should be ashamed of yourself. This is exactly the situation we faced 200+ years ago. What if the people who founded this nation decided the sacrifice was too hard? Would they have turned turtle and spilled the beans, giving their friends and compatriots a death sentence?

      While most moments of your life are spent on less than stellar events, when the time comes to be measured I only hope you will rise to the occaision, instead of slinking away like a dog.

      --

      Lodragan Draoidh
      The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
  16. MOD PARENT DOWN! REDUNDANT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no text

    1. Re:MOD PARENT DOWN! REDUNDANT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah, mod THIS parent down, and this post.

  17. moron the dreaded takeDOWn(tm) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    & other related softwar gangster 'techniques'.

    only one solution to that type of behaviour. vote with your wallet.

    Warren said the offending software was apparently posted by a reader in a feedback forum relating to a news story on the release of Microsoft's Windows XP Peer-to-Peer SDK.

    "We are all a bit dazed as to why Microsoft or its contracted partner decided to contact our server host and not us," he explained. "Neowin was not contacted by Microsoft, only by our ISP that alerted us as to why we were down."

    But the Microsoft representative said that in most cases of piracy Microsoft contacts the ISP directly, asking only that the offending software be removed.

    "The objective of Microsoft's notice and takedown program is to facilitate the removal of unauthorized downloads of Microsoft programs from the Internet," the representative said. "In this case Microsoft investigators...sent a takedown notice to the registered host of the IP address requesting takedown of the download."

    The representative again emphasized the company would have been happy with the removal of the software and "for the site to post a link" to msdn.com. Microsoft did not request that the entire site be disabled.

    Since the provider deleted the Web site, Neowin returned only partially restored. Due to a problem with the SQL Server backup, the site lost as much as a month of content.

    "We lost our Longhorn articles and Office 2003 articles," Warren said.

    The Microsoft representative said that the company would do whatever is necessary to help the site, again reiterating that the company sent a second notice to the ISP restating that its request was only about one specific page.

    "With that made clear, Microsoft has no objection to the site being restored and will do whatever is appropriate to help ensure that the interested parties and their host are able to get this situation resolved," the representative said.

  18. A related project by ronys · · Score: 4, Informative

    People interested in this might also be interested in the rubberhose project.

    From the homepage:

    "Rubberhose transparently and deniably encrypts disk data, minimising the effectiveness of warrants, coersive interrogations and other compulsive mechanisms, such as U.K RIP legislation. Rubberhose differs from conventional disk encryption systems in that it has an advanced modular architecture, self-test suite, is more secure, portable, utilises information hiding (steganography / deniable cryptography), works with any file system and has source freely available. Currently supported ciphers are DES, 3DES, IDEA, RC5, RC6, Blowfish, Twofish and CAST."

    --
    Ubi dubium ibi libertas: Where there is doubt, there is freedom.
    1. Re:A related project by cliffiecee · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You didn't snip enough to tell folks the REAL power of Rubberhose.

      It is possible to create encrypted containers 'embedded' in other ecrypted containers (Matryoshka-doll fashion), each protected with a password. So when the 'thugs' come knocking, you can give them a password which will unlock the outer container, without compromising the inner ones (which, obviously, aren't visible- you have to KNOW they exist).

      Of course, the thugs already know about this software, so you can repeat the above process- give them three passwords and then say "that's all there is"- they can't prove otherwise.

      Let's be pragmatic, though- this is only going to work if you believe the thugs would let you go if they couldn't prove anything. Otherwise, it's simpler to use gpg and a cyanide pill.

    2. Re:A related project by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you missed the most important part.

      From the guide to rubberhouse:
      Rubberhose was originally conceived by crypto-programmer Julian Assange as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field, particularly lists of activists and details of incidents of abuse. Human rights workers carry vital data on laptops through the most dangerous situations, sometimes being stopped by military patrols who would have no hesitation in torturing a suspect until he or she revealed a passphrase to unlock the data.

      That part near the bottom, "who would have no hesitation in torturing a suspect until he or she revealed a passphrase to unlock the data" this is where the Martus project seems to fail.

      If anyone is interusted the documentation goes rather indepth about possible scenarios of tourture and how Rubberhouse was designed to circumvent these types of attacks.

      Of course, a truth serumn might still be able to compromise this system, but if you assume an attacker can know everything you know, the only true protection would be if you didn't know...

    3. Re:A related project by muleboy · · Score: 1

      Rubberhose is non-free. If you want an alpha-quality steganographic filesystem that also doesn't work on 2.4 kernels, check out StegFS

    4. Re:A related project by xixax · · Score: 1

      That is a *really* good design feature that takes into account the human dimensions of the problem. Neat.

      I think there is value in it even when the thugs have you. You may be toast, but it would let you limit the amount of information divulged to what they can sweat out of you.

      Xix.

      --
      "Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
    5. Re:A related project by ReelOddeeo · · Score: 1

      Ah, comrad. I see you have an encrypted filesystem on your laptop.

      You must be hiding a collection of mp3's! Quick! Seize him!

      --

      Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
  19. Misuse of drm/palladium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If Microsoft remains as unethical as it is, it could sell palladium technology to rouge countries to help with human right's violations. If you were caught trying to crack it (which would be obvious), you would get shot!

    More reasons to stop palladium, as it could be abused like this.

    1. Re:Misuse of drm/palladium by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Rogue", not "rouge"!
      RTFOED.

  20. This concerns me greatly. by Henry+Stern · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I see this software and I find myself very afraid. It neatly packages up a military grade cryptographic communications solution and makes it freely available to the public. While the people who it is intended for will benefit greatly from it, those who intend to do harm will also have easy access to it.

    Martus is a cryptographic solution: overt, secret communications. The people who this is intended for are already under surveilance by those who wish to do them and their contacts harm, so making the already-intercepted messages unreadable is the solution to this problem.

    Criminal organisations would likely need more of a steganographic solution: covert, secret communications. An often-overlooked fact about secret communications is that the mere presence of secret messages can be an indicator that something is going on.

    When Nazi Germany was using the Enigma, they had their communications officers send garbage messages[1] so that the Allies would not detect a sudden burst of communications activity indicating some sort of military action.

    If a terrorist organisation* were to begin using a system like this, any intelligence services watching them would be tipped off and would have to figure out what's going on the old fashioned way (we all know what that means). But, the fact is that they are alerted to what's going on and can then follow up.

    If you think about these points, I hope that your fears of evil people exploiting this effort may be eased. If anything, using this (or similar) software will tip their hands and expose that something is going on.

    *An organisation targetting civilians with violent actions to serve political means.

    [1] Simon Singh, The Code Book. (1999) Random House, New York

    1. Re:This concerns me greatly. by hughk · · Score: 2, Insightful
      It concerns me that you should believe that the state is to be any more trusted with information than law-abiding individuals.

      Under recent laws, not just in the US, but in other countries like the UK, you may be forced to disclose keys. The state by definition is generally law abiding, but the officers of the state are individuals. Some of those, I may trust, some I definitely will not. Yes there are criminals working for the state too.

      Once information is acquired, it can not be forgotten. It may then be abused by the less honest state officials.

      You raise the prospect of terrorists using this system. Look, I do not need crypto to tell a terrorist to attach. In WW2, the British SOE used the BBC to send messages to the French Resistance.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
    2. Re:This concerns me greatly. by vadim_t · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Yay, again this argument.

      Oh the horror! Imagine what would happen if terrorist organizations got their hands on communication devices that allowed them to plan attacks while being even in different countries! (also known as cell phones). Or what could happen if terrorists could obtain information about how to make explosives (chemistry books come to mind).

      Come on people, this argument makes no sense at all. By that logic, we should ban all technology, since even a big wheel can be used to kill somebody! Heck, I could use the cup of tea I have here and use it as a weapon by breaking it against somebody's head.

      When will people understand that there's no way of turning the world into a padded cell? Even if all technology was suddenly taken away we'd be still be able to kill people with our bare hands. What then, forbid exercise?

    3. Re:This concerns me greatly. by frdmfghtr · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I see this software and I find myself very afraid. It neatly packages up a military grade cryptographic communications solution and makes it freely available to the public. While the people who it is intended for will benefit greatly from it, those who intend to do harm will also have easy access to it.

      Such is the price of Open Source and the desire for freedom of speech. Should a terrorist organization start using strong encryption, they could do as the Germans and send those "garbage" messages so that the level of communication traffic is relatively constant. One would have thought they would have figured this out by now, but I guess not.

      I would be more concerned of such cryptography were NOT available to the public. I have just as much right to secure my data and communications as anybody, and I'm not a political activist, human rights worker, or terrorist. PGP secures data on my Windows box, and I try to encourage the use of PGP in e-mail whenever possible (besides the fact that spammers don't use it and it would make spam filtering SOOO easy, but that was the topic of another post some time ago).

      --
      Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
    4. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a confused mess of naive crap and political common-sense. Bottom line is that the US and Britain and their satellites are every bit terrorist organizations themselves as those they perport to fight. viz: Chonsky's "Wholesale" vs. "Retail" terrorism, etc. The criminal intent of "legally"-acting state bureaucrats is beside the point here.

    5. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For the anal-retentive: I meant "purport".

    6. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Henry+Stern · · Score: 1

      I think that you've read the deliberately misleading subject of my post and inserted statements where it fits your own agenda. I said nothing at all to the effect of the state being trusted with any information.

      To summarise my previous post for you, I said that "this system is not very useful to terrorists because using this system would give away that something's up and invite scrutiny."

      You do need secret communications if you want to do a terrorist attack in countries like the USA. If you've watched CNN or read the newspapers over the past 18 months, you may have noticed that the FBI and friends are actively looking for terrorists to lay the smack down on. Setting off alarm bells by using an obvious secret communications tool (Martus) would just invite them to watch you more closely.

    7. Re:This concerns me greatly. by blibbleblobble · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "I see this software and I find myself very afraid. It neatly packages up a military grade cryptographic communications solution and makes it freely available to the public."

      As opposed to the people who package up miltary-grade firearms and make them freely available to the public?

      Or indeed, to Iran, China, Iraq, Indonesia, and others...

    8. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Forget the rest of this. I don't think you grasp what Martus is really about.

      It's about whisking incriminating data out of the reach of the powerful and into the hands of the rest of the world.

      The more easily this data slips through their hands, the more circumspect the fascists will be about harming people (at the very least).

    9. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed: the real problem is the ruling class and the capitalist system itself. What is actually happening right now is that many people are realizing that these monsters are leading us into a cul de sac of wars, massacres and international privation on scale never before imagined.

    10. Re:This concerns me greatly. by hughk · · Score: 1
      About twelve years or so ago, I contributed towards a popular public domain encryption program. I have reason to believe that it may have been used by terrorists, but I also know that it was used by human-rights organisations and even state institutions. The principal author of this little program wrote at the time that if everyone used 'envelopes' for their electronic letters, it would make some those persons who make it their business to read other people's mail a little harder.

      Actually you don't need cryptography to attack the USA, words can have many meanings and it is easy to prearrange code words within an organisation. Where cryptography is important and vital in the west is business. There are lots of us who use cryptography on a daily basis. Most are just doing mundane things like legal money laundering (investment banking) or even just buying/selling over the internet.

      Btw, forget Singh as an author. Go to Kahn's "The Codebreakers" instead. His book is far more authoritative.

      Finally, I prefer to watch news rather than views so I gave up on CNN a long time ago.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
    11. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 1

      What concerns me greatly is the fact that you probably believe everything you just wrote. While the fact that you are unable to distinguish between the US and the UK and a terrorist organization is a good thing-- it means you have never actually encountered a terrorist organization, which is a privilege I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy-- the degree to which you are unaware of your own ignorance gives me pause.

      Incidentally, citing "Chonsky" never buys you any credibility with those who are familiar with his work. Great linguist; abyssmal student of international policy.

      --

      I write in my journal
    12. Re:This concerns me greatly. by paganizer · · Score: 1

      Accuratepowder sells reloading supplies. gunpowder.
      Something any moron can make after a trip to the library.
      And it's not only legal, it's constitutionally protected, for now. as if that meant anything anymore.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    13. Re:This concerns me greatly. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      James? Is that you?

  21. Ha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    from whois fuckthat.org

    johnson, magnum
    31337 haxor street
    bremerton, WA 98310
    US

    Why do I get the feeling that this isn't a Fortune 500 company? ;)

  22. There's only one way... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

    to really cover yourself on-line, and that is quite simply do not put anything that your life will depend on on your computer. Rather like all those putative criminals who leave all their contacts on their mobile phone's SIM card. Stupidity, no other word for it.

  23. Java by Guanix · · Score: 1

    This stuff runs on Java and includes a JRE. Even assuming that computers are widespread within human rights organizations in third world countries, would a large proportion of them be powerful enough to run Java desktop applications?

    1. Re:Java by hughk · · Score: 3, Informative
      The main offices all have reasonable systems, Pentium 2s or better. Roaming field workers for HROs may have quite reasonable laptops. Field offices may have just 486s. PCs tend to get looted or are gratuitously destroyed by militia, so you don't really want to have your latest cool stuff there.

      Please remember that Java can be compiled. When it is, it can run ok even on older systems. We did a stock exchange client in Uzbekistan in Java on a 32MB 66MHz 486 under Win98SE because that was all they had available for the dealers at the exchange.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
    2. Re:Java by Guanix · · Score: 1
      Please remember that Java can be compiled. When it is, it can run ok even on older systems.

      In this case, it isn't. But it probably should have been.

    3. Re:Java by hughk · · Score: 1

      As the program is distributed in source getting it to compile is just a matter of hacking. Getting numeric code compiled tends to be easy, it is just the GUI framework that tends to be painful to adjust, at least that was when we did it.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
  24. Why this is a useless plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I read the website, it seems the creators of Martus (along with humanitarian workers) are under the delusion that nothing gets done about these human rights violations because nobody knows about them.

    They are wrong, people do know about them (many of them).

    People don't give a shit. That's the problem, nobody wants to go solve other people's problems. It's not lack of awareness. Sure there is lack of awareness, and yes very few of the human rights violations of the world are documented.

    But fundamentally, people only care about their own problems even if they are much smaller in comparison. People do not want to sacrifice for others, especially people they dont know are dont have a cultural bond with. It's a combination of ignorance and apathy, with apathy being the MAJOR dominant factor.

    Martus and other projects like it will be a disappointment until people figure start caring about issues of human rights and try to solve them in a meaningful and logical manner (and that excludes the "let them kill each other" excuse/way).

    1. Re:Why this is a useless plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But fundamentally, people only care about their own problems even if they are much smaller in comparison.

      We want to solve the Iraqi people's problems.

    2. Re:Why this is a useless plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bullshit.

      People are simply well-trained -- like seals -- not to care about others. Governments and corporations are simply making use of people's ignorance in their calculations. People do care about other people -- it's just easier to care about your family, over fellow citizens, or fellow citizens against "foreigners", etc. As you climb the 'tree of enlightenment', you care more about people you will never, ever meet.

      It's just that people in the West have been encouraged to be selfish and narrow-minded. And now we shall pay for that.

    3. Re:Why this is a useless plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We want to solve the Iraqi people's problems.

      Think about that for a second, are you sure?

      There are ruthless rebels and leaders in Africa that need to be gotten rid of as well. No progress is being made on that. Why Iraq? Why are the Iraqi people more important than people in countries of Africa and elsewhere?

      I agree 100% Saddam's got to go, and force is the only way. But I do question whether the reasons behind many people's motivation to get rid of him is because of caring towards the Iraqi people. That being said, I'm glad we're getting rid of him. One less murderer/rapist.

    4. Re:Why this is a useless plan by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

      I see what you're saying, but ignorance and apathy go together. Cure one, sometimes you alleviate the other.

      Where have the worst massacres of the last fifty years happened? They've been in places that were difficult or impossible for Western TV crews to reach. Imagine if Rwanda had been as widely publicized, while it was happening, as Bosnia.

      The Martus software has value after the fact, too. What happens after the nasty regime falls? Publicizing solid evidence of horrors can discredit the old regime and prevent it from coming back. Think Nuremberg, think South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

  25. FINALLY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone will get killed for using Microshit :) ...

    Where is that country?? I wan't to send eMails with congratulations to their goverment!!!

    1. Re:FINALLY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's "Microsoft"... not "Microshit"!

  26. Oxymoron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's secure software that runs on Windows to help human rights activists.

    Talk about your oxymorons....

    1. Re:Oxymoron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It runs on Linux too. Sheesh!

  27. Trusted Computing can get you killed by TaranRampersad · · Score: 1

    in some parts of the world.

  28. In the U.S. Context by jsav40 · · Score: 1

    The Current climate in the US is leading in exactly that direction- I reckon than non government personnel will soon be limited as to which (if any) encryption tools they may possess/use. It is true that strong encryption could be used to ill effect by criminals/terrorist organizations etc. BUT it is critical that the 4th amandment not be further eroded (by the Patriot Act) than it already has.

    Amendment IV

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

  29. Specious reasoning by droleary · · Score: 1

    They may not be able to break the encryption, but they sure as hell can break you.

    Then it would be pointless to encrypt in the first place. If you're so weak willed that you'll give up the content (vis encryption key) before you give up your life, then your willingness to be tortured for that access accomplishes nothing.

    Now I'm sure some will come to your defense and site a situation where encryption is used for non-life-or-death data, but then the logic breaks down there, too, because while you can encrypt all your email with GPG or the like, doing so without the resolve to meet any attack the encryption may face is an indicator of just how important the content is. For most, encryption is merely a "prying eyes" issue, not an "oh fuck; they've crippled me and may kill me (or jail me for contempt of court, for those dealing with more benign powers)" issue.

    1. Re:Specious reasoning by treat · · Score: 1
      "oh fuck; they've crippled me and may kill me (or jail me for contempt of court, for those dealing with more benign power

      Where you will be repeatedly ass-raped and contract AIDS, be given insufficient medical care, and die anyway.

  30. Rubberhose Filesystem by singelet · · Score: 1

    Rubberhose transparently and deniably encrypts disk data, minimising the effectiveness of warrants, coersive interrogations and other compulsive mechanims, such as U.K RIP legislation. Rubberhose differs from conventional disk encryption systems in that it has an advanced modular architecture, self-test suite, is more secure, portable, utilises information hiding (steganography / deniable cryptography), works with any file system and has source freely available. Currently supported ciphers are DES, 3DES, IDEA, RC5, RC6, Blowfish, Twofish and CAST.

    1. Re:Rubberhose Filesystem by Gonzoman · · Score: 1

      Just a thought. Would this be useful to oganizations such as libraries in the US who wish to keep patron records secure from the FBI etc.?

  31. Re:Great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Hey -- I've got a BETTER idea: why don't we let the U.S. rulers NUKE anybody they don't like?
    No -- wait. They're on-record as intending TO DO JUST THAT.

  32. Martus for tiny, cheap. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It occours to me that (all political discussions aside) this software would be most effective on legacy equiptment and Palmtop computers. It should probably be ported to a text-based interface for DOS, Linux, and some sort of port for PalmOS.

  33. Key logging, trojans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Don't forget that their favorite present methods are surreptitious entry into your domicile to plant key logging software or hardware, etc. I'm sure they're even now using trojaned software to piggyback spyware right onto your machine without even having to jimmy your locks.

  34. Why your perspetive is shortsighted and useless by JohnDenver · · Score: 1

    Don't you find it ironic that you're critisizing Martus' website for making a blanket statement (human rights violations exists because nobody knows about them) with your own blanket statement (most people are apathetic, so nothing can be done if you don't change most people)?

    Personally, I think you're severely underestimating the people involved with the Martus project. In my experience, voluteers are almost always very aware of the apathy factor. It's usually assumed that everybody is aware of the apathy factor.

    A lot of people don't give a shit, and each for thier own different reasons. However, there *are* a lot of people who do care and actually dedicate thier time to make a change. While thier work doesn't make the problems go away, contributions like this help.

    While apathy/involvment can be a big factor in fighting issues like these, you're also forgetting political/commercial factors. For every political/commercial interests abusing human rights, there are usually opposing political/commercial interests who would love to expose thier opponent's corruption/evil to topple thier regime. Documenting human rights abuses, especially if it can indict key political figure can be extremely useful.

    If Martus's system can make the process of gathering/distributing of key evidence more effective, kudos to the Martus team.

    While everything I might have said may not be true, atleast I have enough imagination to realize my own ignorance and shortsightedness.

    --
    "Communism is like having one [local] phone company " - Lenny Bruce
  35. Appearance vs. Reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What a load of crap. The U.S. and their allied ruling classes directed investment for a long time from their 'overpaid' countries into low-wage havens like Taiwan and South Korea (they tried Vietnam too, but that didn't work out...) for the *express* purpose (among other things) of 'proving' that communism 'doesn't work'. This, besides the primitive capitalist acumulation of the local rulers (like I said: low-wage/high-police).

    NOW these 'vibrant democracies' are suffering in the throes of economic slump, as that international 'investment' no longer 'needs' them, and has other venues for investing -- former socialist satellite states, Africa, etc. *and Mainland China*.
    What irony that. Lost on some of you, I'm afraid.

    Only a taiwanese with a background in political-economy (or a reasonable facsimile of such a person) would be capable of convincing me otherwise. I say this, because even a taiwanese would not be a reliable reporter in this regard if they simply parrot their own government's NewSpeak.

    1. Re:Appearance vs. Reality by justins · · Score: 1
      What a load of crap. The U.S. and their allied ruling classes directed investment for a long time from their 'overpaid' countries into low-wage havens like Taiwan and South Korea (they tried Vietnam too, but that didn't work out...) for the *express* purpose (among other things) of 'proving' that communism 'doesn't work'. This, besides the primitive capitalist acumulation of the local rulers (like I said: low-wage/high-police).

      NOW these 'vibrant democracies' are suffering in the throes of economic slump, as that international 'investment' no longer 'needs' them, and has other venues for investing -- former socialist satellite states, Africa, etc. *and Mainland China*.
      What irony that. Lost on some of you, I'm afraid.

      There are so many quotes and astersisks implying irony up there that some of it was bound to be lost, due to one-off and sign errors, if nothing else.
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
  36. The real benefit of Martus by regen · · Score: 4, Informative

    is not that it uses cryptography. It basicly uses pgp, which you or any terrorist or human rights (HR) activist could download. But the software isn't about just sending encrypted messages, which is all terrorists would want.

    The point is that in Martus, the crypto is integrated into a package that allows HR groups to a) send the data to a secure server, where there is b) a central database, and c) allow other, approved groups to view the data. This allows HR groups to get the info out from problematic areas to a place where the international community can see what's going on. Sure, terrorists could use the software to send messages, but what the heck do they need a database for? For HR groups, the problematic gov't could come cart off every computer and piece of paper in their office, and the data would still be secure and accessible. And as soon as they got access to another computer, they could start adding to it again.

  37. Rubberhose looks cool, but... by Artifex · · Score: 1
    1. has it been abandoned/is it no longer actively being worked on? If I'm looking in the right place, the last alpha release has a 2001 file date, and the README says explicitly not to trust the code.
    2. Has it undergone any sort of peer review? I can't read code well enough to tell if any source distribution is concealing a trojan, and even if I could, I don't know anything about encryption, and couldn't guess whether an encryption program actually works.

    For the purposes of argument, you have to assume that the world's best hardware is enslaved to the people who want to kill human rights activists; it really needs rigorous testing if the source code has been available to the bad guys for about 2 years.

    Then again, maybe the activist groups have their own great coders and have secretly forked the source for continuing development, and are relying on obscurity as well as advancement to protect them against the bad guys.
    --
    Get off my launchpad!
  38. what "firearms" are free? by Artifex · · Score: 1
    As opposed to the people who package up miltary-grade firearms and make them freely available to the public?


    I only saw powder on that website, and they sell it through retailers/dealers. I don't think that's a fair comparison.
    --
    Get off my launchpad!
    1. Re:what "firearms" are free? by blibbleblobble · · Score: 0, Troll

      "I only saw powder on that website, and they sell it through retailers/dealers."

      Okay, I was using that page as an example listing of gun-suppliers. If the example I chose was inaccurate, apologies. However, I remain convinced that it's possible to purchase military-grade firearms in the US, which puts into perspective the poster's concerns over offering encryption capabilities to the public.

      Personally, I'd rather see the "terrorists" [communists, witches, frenchies] armed with copies of PGP, Rubberhose and Martus, than with the weaponary available for purchase in neighbourhood stores.

    2. Re:what "firearms" are free? by Artifex · · Score: 0, Troll
      Okay, I was using that page as an example listing of gun-suppliers. If the example I chose was inaccurate, apologies. However, I remain convinced that it's possible to purchase military-grade firearms in the US, which puts into perspective the poster's concerns over offering encryption capabilities to the public.


      Yes, I agree with you that military-grade weaponry is a bad thing in the hands of the average consumer. In fact, when I was in Oregon, a guy at work told the rest of us about some guy he knew who was buying up tanks and stuff from army surplus sales, fixing them (apparently a lot of that stuff is not nearly as irreversibly decommissioned as they claim) and driving them around/firing them or whatever out on his huge ranch somewhere in the vast ruralness of the state. People like that scare me a lot.

      On the other hand, the bad guys have that grade of equipment (generally not tanks, but the rest of it), and so do the police (and if they don't, they're outclassed by the bad guys). Having a population out-armed by the police and bad guys means they're unable to defend themselves against either.

      If the bad guys have machine guns, I want the same. Yes, with all the machine guns around, some crazy guy will eventually go off on the populace, but since I don't think I'm the crazy one, that makes the other guys more likely to be crazy, and that's all the more reason. Yee-haw.
      --
      Get off my launchpad!
    3. Re:what "firearms" are free? by identity0 · · Score: 1

      Yes, I agree with you that military-grade weaponry is a bad thing in the hands of the average consumer. In fact, when I was in Oregon, a guy at work told the rest of us about some guy he knew who was buying up tanks and stuff from army surplus sales, fixing them (apparently a lot of that stuff is not nearly as irreversibly decommissioned as they claim) and driving them around/firing them or whatever out on his huge ranch somewhere in the vast ruralness of the state.

      Did you work at Rogue Wave Software, or in the Corvallis area by any chance? I had a friend working in the Rogue Wave offices there, and he told me about a coworker (or was it a friend of a coworker?) that owned bazookas and such, and would spend his free time blowing stuff up on his farm. Maybe it's not so suprising that there was an Al-Qaida cell found to be running a training camp in that state... : /

    4. Re:what "firearms" are free? by Artifex · · Score: 1
      Did you work at Rogue Wave Software, or in the Corvallis area by any chance? I had a friend working in the Rogue Wave offices there, and he told me about a coworker (or was it a friend of a coworker?) that owned bazookas and such, and would spend his free time blowing stuff up on his farm. Maybe it's not so suprising that there was an Al-Qaida cell found to be running a training camp in that state... : /


      Nope, I didn't. But it doesn't surprise me that there's lots of weird goings-on out there. If you look at a map of Oregon, a lot of it isn't just rural, there's just plain no roads, etc. And the tiny ex-logging towns you see may have just 50-1000 people in them. So a lot can be hidden away.

      I loved the place. It's very beautiful, and the people in major population clusters are friendly. But remember those news stories about parents who killed their kids and went to beaches and parks and dumped their bodies? There's tons of places where nobody is around.

      Don't forget the fact that the suicide rate is among the highest in the country, there. So other psychiatric/sociopathic/psychotic disorders are probably relatively high, also. Don't forget the large proportion of homeless people that live on the west coast, either, when considering mental illness.

      Remember those two suburban girls that a neighbor killed, etc.? Even with people around, somehow they didn't hear anything. Twice. Don't forget that great police work after the fact, or the work of Child Protective Services in responding to one victim's accusations against the killer beforehand.

      --
      Get off my launchpad!
  39. life is conflict by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

    Yes, but which human's rights do we set first?

    --
    0 1 - just my two bits
    1. Re:life is conflict by OneEyedApe · · Score: 1

      Some rights should be honored for everyone, other rights to be curtailed only for a predefined and publicly known time only when in has been found beyond a shadow of a doubt that the individual in question has violated a law that does not in itself infringe upon human rights.

      --
      Life sucks, but death doesn't put out at all....
      --Thomas J. Kopp
  40. Newspapers make great weapons. by Artifex · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Come on people, this argument makes no sense at all. By that logic, we should ban all technology, since even a big wheel can be used to kill somebody! Heck, I could use the cup of tea I have here and use it as a weapon by breaking it against somebody's head.


    Did you know that you can kill someone with a newspaper? (And no, I don't mean whacking them over the head with it, or death by papercuts!)

    Yup. In fact, it's one of the many personal defense tactics you can and probably should learn: If you see someone threatening coming toward you as you're sitting in the park reading your newspaper (or magazine, or something similar) you can quietly roll your reading implement along the short axis so that it makes a long cone. Then, when you are attacked, you can surprise them by shoving the cone up into a vulnerable spot, like an eye, or even better, into the throat, (which may kill the attacker if it destroys the windpipe, etc., but certainly puts him or her into a world of pain, regardless) and then while the attacker is flailing about, you can run away. Yes, run. Because you don't know for sure that the attacker is disabled enough not to hurt you if you stick around, or may be working with others.

    Oh, the nice part is: if you're in a country that may not take kindly to your self-defense, or if you think the police might be after you already, you can let the newspaper unroll as you run away, and then drop it in a nearby trashcan or body of water, and there's no evidence trail. Unless you broke the skin of the attacker, the implement of defense will now just be slightly crumpled on one side, possibly with skin flakes from the attacker, but it's highly unlikely that anyone would recognize it as the implement unless the attack and defense were witnessed, anyway.

    I'm not saying carry a newspaper if you think you will be attacked; obviously, if you ave time to prepare, arm yourself properly if at all possible. However, this is an excellent example at how articles (pun intended) commonly at hand can be easily used in your defense.

    Moral: The pen may be mightier than the sword, but it takes a thoughtful reader to really get his point across.
    --
    Get off my launchpad!
  41. that's why... generic commentary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..that's why you have your own gun. And the gun is unregistered, unknown to anyone else but you, even your spouse doesn't know you have it, even if you own "public" guns that other people know about. And that's why you fight when your unknown neighbor gets the kicked in door in the middle of the night and you hear the screams. You don't wait unitl it's YOUR door.

    Owning computers, and using crypto and being 1337 is one thing, actually fighting a police state takes more than pamphlets, digitized or dead trees, and soap boxing. And "voting" NEVER removed a dictator, and it never will. It takes actual for-real shooting the bastards when you get down to it. Any dictator, as has been proven throughout history, has NO problem assembling a mercenary force of fighters/jailers/torturers, and also assembling a bureaucacy to do the busywork of the dictatorship. See they get rewarded with their checks and thinking they will never become a victim. usually they DO become victims, or are hung at the end of the revolution, but history shows there's too many cowards who will go along with tyranny. And these people always wrap themselves FULLY in the regimes flag and insist they are "patriots" while the dictatorship is in full swing. All of those elements are just as guilty as the ruler, IF the regime in question is in fact a dictatorship and is run as such.

    Political differences are one thing, but making the call on whether or not you are truly being tyrannised is another. If one makes the determination that you are, then you will need more than fancy crypto. Like has been pointed out, even using crypto will become a reason for "them" to charge you with a crime, so why wait? Go ahead and fight while you can, don't want for the camps to be operational. Don't decide to fight after you are already locked up and waiting your turn for interrogation. History calls those sorts of people "clueless victims".

  42. Oh please. by error0x100 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Redhat supported tyrannic mainland China

    Oh please, if you all feel so strongly about tyrannic China, then why don't we see a boycott of Chinese products? Take a look around you and see how many products you use all the time that were "made in China". My Microsoft mouse, my Logitech mouse, my keyboard at work, some of the parts inside my computer, my Microcom modem etc, all made or assembled in China. Americans don't want to support China's tyranny, but they don't feel so strongly about it that they will stop buying China's cheaper products as a protest.

  43. Excellent -- another blow to censorship! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if anti-war protestors could use this to keep them safe from government monitoring systems like Carnivore and TIA? Has anyone actually tried this software - does it work well? I am going to download a copy now.

  44. Encrypted databases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've always like the idea of encrypted databases.

    (http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/feigenba um91cryptographic.html)

    This isn't exactly what it sounds like at first notice; the idea is that the encryption is (mostly) transparent, but it still protects each entry in a key-value pair database.

    Here's the basic rundown:

    You have a database, a cryptographic hash algorithm H(X), and a symmetric encryption algorithm whose encryption and decryption functions are denoted by E(K, X) and D(K, X), respectively, where K is a key and X is a plaintext or ciphertext.

    Given a key-value pair (K, V), compute:

    K' = H(K)
    V' = E(H(K + K'), V)

    Store the new key-value pair (K', V') in the database.

    When looking up K, simply compute K', retrive V', and compute V = D(H(K + K'), V').

    If an oppressive government wishes to view the contents of the database, it's forced to attempt to recover all the K values from the K' values-- which, if the hash function is secure, shouldn't be possible.

    Of course, the government can always check every name in a phone book against the database, but that assumes the names used are IN the phonebook.

    Some of the neater aspects of this system include:

    * It's fast (I've tried it in some major applications, there was no noticeable slowdown to the user)
    * It's deniable, under certain circumstances.

    The second item bears some explanation.

    Let's say that I decide I want to password protect my database. It's a simple operation: simply add a new variable P to the mix as follows:

    K' = H(P + K)
    V' = E(H(P + K + K'), V)

    Here's the neat part about using a password: unless an attacker (e.g., an oppressive government) can PROVE that a certain entry exists in the database through some other means, it's impossible for them to even tell whether or not a password was even used to secure the database! Pretty useful feature, that...

    Anyway, more power to Martus, may they keep up the good work!

  45. Open Source is a double-edged sword. by Ardias · · Score: 1

    The article demonstrates well that open source software can be used by those who want to document human rights abuses. This is good where the open source project are cryptography protocols and algorithms.

    However, repressive regimes can also use the open source nature of networking protocols to spy on its own residents or limit what they can do over the internet. The repressive government just makes its own malware based upon the freely available source code.

    1. Re:Open Source is a double-edged sword. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thats not double edged, that govt would simply create all of the code themselves.

      not doubled edged

  46. Privaterra by Ian+Bicking · · Score: 1

    Privaterra is an organization dedicated to training human rights workers to use encryption tools to ensure their safety. Less about new software, and more about training people to use the software that already exists.

  47. Ported to Linux by avante · · Score: 1

    It works under Linux just fine as far as I can tell. The binary distribution is Windows only.

    For DOS, you would need to do a C based client interface re-write, but the protocol for this is XMLRPC, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. We look forward to your version.

    As far as the PalmOS, it's not as useful as you might think. Most of these countries don't have a use for hand-helds that are relatively expensive, get lost, broken. When you are out in the field collecting data, you need a good old fashioned pencil and paper.

  48. Other things they could do by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

    Since bulletins are going to an offsite server and originated with a private key, Marus could add a signing/timestamping service. That could come in really handy if and when the reports are used as evidence at a war crimes trial.

    They should also have something like PGP's designated revoker functionality, so that when a friend notices that you've been abducted by the Gestapo, the friend can invalidate your private key, making it impossible for the Gestapo to forge bulletins from you.

  49. Hmmm... by black+people · · Score: 0
    How is it possible to stop terrorism and child porn without eliminating human rights? As long as what you're doing doesn't affect anyone else, I don't see how it can be wrong.

    Anyway, if you're a terrorist and you need a laptop, I am currently selling them for $100(USD) each at fuckthat.org.

  50. fucking hypocrites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    open source is being used by the military to kill people. all your multiprocessor garbge, all your US army shit, its all being used to kill the dissidents you claim to help . cowards. assholes. morons.

  51. EXACTLY!!! Hurrah for the AC! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Freedom is owned by those willing (and capable) of exerting more force than those who would take it.

    Freedom is won in one of two ways:
    1) those with power feeling pity for the weak.
    2) the weak *fighting* for power.

    If anyone wants to make this software truly useful for "human rights workers" (whatever the hell that is), package it with a firearm.

  52. Nah, they'll just arrest them for software piracy by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    Unless they're using open source software.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  53. Politicized projects and propaganda campaigns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really don't think, this is anywhere close to the spirit of open source or free software. I mean, I am all for development of strong cryptography, anonymous communications, extremely attack-resistant networks and distributed storage. However I am against attaching this to a pre-defined political goal, or using them as a propaganda tool -- "Human right worker sent it over an encrypted link, so it must be trooo!!!".

    If the stated goal is to develop a system that is resistant to compromise even if people that perform intrusion or sabotage have the power of a government or large corporation, it will be at least fair to state that -- and do the design that is resistant to compromise or sabotage that originates from any of those entities, including US government, major telecommunications companies, sponsors of the project, etc. Then the design should shield the developers from liability (legitimate use for human rights, no control over the content and inability to delete it, etc.) but the system must be content-neutral. Then it's fair, even though it's quite possible that it will be used by KKK, NAMBLA, Al-Qaeda, PETA, spies of every country, schoolyard bullies and finks, Mafia, or other organizations that most of people dislike. And by people that publish internal email in companies, to reveal their shady deeds.

    However when the propaganda comes into play things become not exactly what they look. "Human rights abuse" is a very broad term, it covers anything from firing a journalist that adds "Death to $COUNTRY_LEADER! Free $BANK_ROBBER!" somewhere in every his report, to summary executions of innocent civilians. Propaganda workers know that and present information that is true in a way that suits their needs, so perversely large amount of biased blood-curdling messages that have some grain of truth in them may be used for a more effective pick-and-publish propaganda tactics against any chosen target, no matter how guilty or innocent. It may lend credibility and simplify the delivery of "protest everything" stream of messages, easy to be harvested and used by propaganda workers to serve their goals.

    This means, I am skeptical about:

    1. Intent of the whole thing.
    2. Effect of it.
    3. Consequences matching with the intent.

    If no intent is stated, and no one is interested into supporting _some_ kind of organizations, the development is justified, even though it's very likely solving the least significant problem. But having a direction of collecting the input about human rights abuse is completely inappropriate.

    Other aspects of this may be even uglier. People using this will often do it illegally (by the laws of the countries involved). In fact, even some speech in US, passed through encryption or not, is illegal -- and even if we omit obviously unethical kinds of it, imagine a person that claims that US election system is rigged in the favor of incumbent parties, and therefore the only true elections can be done with bullets, by killing certain politicians that he does not like. Is he right? At least in part about rigged election system. Is it ethical to say such a thing? It depends on whom are you asking -- his opinion might be supported by, say, Jefferson that once claimed that the country needs a revolution every 25 years. But won't it be blatantly illegal? Will the "glorious human rights fighters" allow a non-anonymous and/or non-distributed storage of such thing on their servers, and face the charges in supporting a distribution of a death threat? And where does it start and end?

  54. Martus author comment by Benetech · · Score: 1

    We quite appreciate being slashdotted! Some great and insightful comments. I'll start by addressing two main ones:
    1. Crypto is not the end-all security answer.
    We agree. Much of our documentation is designed to educate about this issue. The main security threats to this data are not someone cracking a strong crypto solution, by our attack analysis. It's the bad password, snooped keyboard strokes, torture, etc. We are also pretty upfront that today's strong crypto is the next generation's college coding project. Our crypto makes HR data 99% more secure (maybe 95%). The most important thing is that it gives these groups more control over their information and makes it a lot less likely that it will be lost.
    2. The Al Quaida concern.
    The terrorist groups already use/have access to secure communications for email. Martus is designed for human rights bulletins. While it is conceivable that terrorists could use it, why would they if they have better tools for their needs? I like to use the example of guns/machetes/hoes. All of them can be used in committing genocide. Hoes just happen to be far better for farming than for killing, and it's rare for them to be used as a weapon. Design is a strong signal of intention.

  55. Last Post! by alpg · · Score: 0

    Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth but supreme beauty --
    a beauty cold and austere, like that of a sculpture, without appeal to any
    part of our weaker nature, without the gorgeous trapping of painting or music,
    yet sublimely pure, and capable of a stern perfection such as only the
    greatest art can show. The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense
    of being more than man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is
    to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry.
    -- Bertrand Russell

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...