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Defending Against Surveillance?
Extrudedaluminiu asks: "With the recent news about domestic spying by the NSA, American citizens are put in a very difficult situation. Citizens in other countries, around the globe, also find themselves in situations where their lives can be examined by government agencies or other groups of questionable ethics. What can people in this kind of world do to defend themselves? Are there any approaches to thwarting or mitigating surveillance that will work on a mass scale? What technologies can people use to hold on to their freedoms, in a difficult world?"
For Gods sake people, what's wrong with you?! Write your Senators & Reps, and if they don't do anything, then vote these assholes out of office when the elections come! Donate money to the ACLU.
Seriously people, technologies won't help you hold on to your freedoms. There's no silver bullet. You have to do it for yourselves!
I can't say that, no, that'd be blatantly obvious...
Tinfoil hats!
I couldn't resist...
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Pehaphs by being more proactive as citizens, and demanding and electing the right set of people to legislate. This, IMO, whould be a permanent solution - we could keep developing ways of evading 'surveillance', but the the agencies would just develop something better - wouldn't they ? FP, btw :D
"Laziness is an optimisation protocol"
Move to Canada. I hear they still have a few remaining civil liberties here.
I'm sorry, but if they want you, they pretty much have you. Your only hope is to be so utterly dull that nobody wants you. You pretty much have to have no life whatsoever. Since you're asking for advice on Slashdot, I'd say you're safe.
If you have some information that you think is worth keeping, DON'T use electronics to store it. It seems that governments are focusing more on computers than on stuff printed or written on paper and hidden well. If you don't give them 1's and 0's to look at, they might not see anything at all. Just my $.02.
Those who anthropomorphize science and/or nature already believe in an intelligent designer.
There's a super secret high-tech black box invented by the ancient g(r)eeks that is designed to protect your freedoms. It's regular, educated use will prevent survellience. I suggest everyone learn to use one.
It's called a "ballot box."
With 1984 and McCarthy era paranoia "in" this year, my advice to everyone is to turn in as many people who act suspiciously as possible... to draw attention away from yourself!
MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
You trust the system of a country with cameras on every corner, and a government that wants to hold you for 90 days so they have enough evidence to charge you with something?
Our judicial system on this side of the pond may have once been similar to yours, but you guys seem to be going down the 1984 route a lot faster than we are.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
What will work is mass disobedience. Surveillance systems work only if they have clues that they can look out for that stand out in some way. The simplest way to, say, make it impossible for a request for the original translation of the little red book to be flagged, is for loads of people to request it.
So if you can convince large numbers of people, if possible a majority, to continually perform acts which might flag systems like Echelon, eg. by continually generating and sending emails containing keywords like "bomb" and "kill the president" and things like that, you will render their effectiveness null.
Arrests under anti-terror legislation since 11 September 2001: 10,000s.
Convictions under anti-terror legislation since 11 September 2001: 10s.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
You trust the system of a country with cameras on every corner, and a government that wants to hold you for 90 days so they have enough evidence to charge you with something?
The government doesn't want to hold us for 90 days before charging us. They voted on it, they don't want it. The prime minister wanted it. He couldn't convince the rest of the government that it was a good idea.
Our judicial system on this side of the pond may have once been similar to yours, but you guys seem to be going down the 1984 route a lot faster than we are.
Not really. We've had terrorist detentions since the 80s, which was part of the response to the IRA. We've had cameras on the streets for as long as I can remember. Things aren't getting rapidly worse, despite recent terrorist attacks, our laws are remaining quite stable.
You know what? There isn't massive abuse. Sure, there's one or two incidents where somebody fucked up, but we don't have secret police, we have privacy (in fact, we have laws protecting our privacy, which is more than can be said for you guys), we have free association, and all those things that are antithetical to 1984.
Compare that with you holding files on peaceful protestors, with you actually having terrorist detentions that are demonstrably wrong, with you torturing your prisoners... it seems that you are much further along than the UK. Seriously, you held UK citizens as terrorists for years, and when we finally had them released to us, we responded by saying "Huh? There's no evidence whatsoever to suggest that these guys are terrorists", and promptly let them go. Are you really so convinced that we are further along than you? Because of a few cameras and a failed attempt at passing a stupid law?
What if you want to do something that's not wrong, but it is illegal? What if a future government introduced laws similar to those of Nazi Germany in the 1930's? Maybe it becomes illegal to shelter Muslims. You're saying you'd not do that because it's illegal? Or you've convinced yourself that "that couldn't happen here"?
Yeah, it looks like a bunch of terrorists are getting off on legal technicalities.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Get fat and walk around naked.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Encrypt everything. Don't make it obvious what is important and what isn't and force "them" to waste lots of processor cycles to get Aunt Betty's cobbler recipe. I'm planning to convert all my web sites to HTTPS.
Also, help throw up smoke screens. Spare bandwidth can be used to send random garbage - some of it should be truly random so no amount of work will allow someone to conclude that they have successfully decrypted usless data but rather that they still have work to do.
Educate yourself so you know how to protect your rights in the event that you become an unjust target.
Donate to the EFF, ACLU or other rights-defender of your choice.
Write your legislators, support those who will defend your freedoms, fight those who don't, and vote.
And remember to separate the people, the goals and the techniques. There really are "bad guys" out there and we have many smart and dedicated people defending us against them. Help them where you can. But remember that they are all sworn to defend the Constitution (here in the U.S.) and it's up to us to make sure they remember and abide by that pledge. The ends do not always justify the means.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
"Are there any approaches to thwarting or mitigating surveillance that will work on a mass scale?"
Poison their databases.
Plan and publicize, but don't hold, activities which fall under their "threat" category but aren't actually threatening, ie. protests at military related sites.
Call a flash mob that happens to be at such a place, but don't let that fact on when calling it.
Make sure to be at grandma's for Sunday dinner when such things do or do not occur.
Put up a web site for a bogus anti-something organization and encrypt the hell out of the pages, those being fair use snippets out of "Cryptonomicon" or some such.
There's far more potential spookees than spooks.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
weeping the room with an AM radio,while switching channels.... hello? other frequency ranges?
Actually, this used to work with early miniature transmitters. In an effort to keep them small, very little attention was paid to what undesirable RF was being thrown off by the device.
.sig: Now legally binding!
> Coat Hangers in the ceiling does nothing, nor does the tinfoil/aluminum foil hat.
Sure they do. After spending a few hours watching you putting up the hangers and making the hat, they'll write you off as a kook and spend their time spying on someone else.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
> How about just not doing anything wrong in the first place and putting some belife in the judicial system, im not sure about you yanks, but i know that i generally trust the judicial system over here in the good ol' UK.
Yeah, the worst they'll do if you're innocent is chase you through the subways and shoot you six times in the head.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Encryption isn't a sure-fire solution for all privacy problems. Its an easy word to throw around, but the question that is more important is what to encrypt and how to handle the infrastructure around that.
For example, I could encrypt all my email, ever. But then who would be able to read it? A lot less people than now. I could encrypt or hide all traffic to/from my computer (Tor, stunnel, etc.), but those won't solve everything.
Also, what about getting data from organizations? Like asking universities, bookstore, online data vendors, phone companies, and more? Dropping off the "grid" entirely is a difficult option. But those services could hold enough data about you to drive massive holes through any comprehensive privacy policy.
Bzzztttt!
Appeal to Fear.
Well known logical fallacy.
You lose. Try again.
Other examples:
"You know, Professor Smith, I really need to get an A in this class. I'd like to stop by during your office hours later to discuss my grade. I'll be in your building anyways, visiting my father. He's your dean, by the way. I'll see you later."
"I don't think a Red Ryder BB rifle would make a good present for you. They are very dangerous and you'll put your eye out. Now, don't you agree that you should think of another gift idea?"
"You must believe that God exists. After all, if you do not accept the existence of God, then you will face the horrors of hell."
"You shouldn't say such things against multiculturalism! If the chair heard what you were saying, you would never receive tenure. So, you had just better learn to accept that it is simply wrong to speak out against it."
The government doesn't want to hold us for 90 days before charging us. They voted on it, they don't want it. The prime minister wanted it. He couldn't convince the rest of the government that it was a good idea.
Good point...I forgot that distinction. It's worth noting that Tony Blair, up to this point, has largely been doing whatever Bush asks for.
Are you really so convinced that we are further along than you? Because of a few cameras and a failed attempt at passing a stupid law?
Not anymore. You have some good points.
Really, I can't wait to vote again. From copyright law to terrorism legislation, it's been crazy here for years.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
Are there any approaches to thwarting or mitigating surveillance that will work on a mass scale?
No. Because if there were, or were actually used on a mass scale, they would be illegal very quickly.
Keep talking. All the time. Say nothing but gibberish. Overwhelm them with data to the point that they can't cope anymore.
If 20% of a given ISP user's would, everyday, post random gibberish on 10 different USENET groups, this would be a good start. Let those fuckers wonder what the hell we're talking about.
Let them outlaw encryption. Let them sue everybody.
"The best way to force a redesign is to throw a monkey wrench in the works".
Don't cooperate with the police. Never talk to them. Let them wonder. Let them find out by themselves that you're up to nothing bad. Bog them down. Let them think that EVERY civilian is suspect.
Make yourself a cap visor and shoulder pads festooned with infrared LEDs. Cameras are sensitive to infrared radiation, and this will cause a bright halo around your face so you won't be identified by the cameras, yet people will not see the obstuctive light.
Want to read my stuff? Go ahead and crack it - no warrant necessary.
Get the rabbit installed on a machine behind your firewall
==> http://freenet.sourceforge.net/
Faster than freenet
==> http://www.i2p.net/
Encrypt Jabber
==> http://www.vanemery.com/Linux/Jabber/jabberd.html
Onion Routing
==> http://tor.eff.org/
Emerging Network To Reduce Orwellian Potency Yield
==> http://entropy.stop1984.com/
Free Internet telephony
==> http://skype.com/
GNU-ified P2p
==> http://www.gnu.org/software/gnunet/
DO NOT DENY yourself about 2 hours @ InfoAnarchy.org
OMG! ==> http://www.infoanarchy.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Pag e
LearnLearnLearnLearn ==> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography
=================EMAIL ENCRYPTION===============
GPG (Free PGP)
==> http://gnupg.org/
Integrated with Thunderbird
==> http://enigmail.mozdev.org/
Mutt can't be beat as a mailreader and integrates GPG wonderfully.
==> http://mutt.blackfish.org.uk/
==> http://www.mutt.org/links.html
==> http://wiki.mutt.org/index.cgi?UserPages
!!! Please do not immediately send newly created keys to the keyservers (as many HOWTOs instruct new users to). They are already overflowing with "test keys" and other people's experiments from over the years THAT HAVE NO EXPIRATION and will never be deleted. These keys are "orphans" and most will never be used. As keyservers sync together, and most keys are never deleted once submitted - GET YOUR KEY SETUP CORRECTLY AND HAVE PRACTICE WITH IT BEFORE SENDING IT OFF TO THE KEYSERVERS!!! Otherwise storage requirements will continue to grow and using these in the future will become more difficult FOR ALL. Please, if you are just starting out with PGP or GPG or GnuPG or anything similar (the last two are in fact the same thing) use manual key distribution to begin (ascii armor your public key with
$ gpg --export --armor my@email.address.org
and copy and paste it into an email body or attach it to an email
$ gpg --export --armor my@email.address.org > myPubKey.txt
to gain practice with GPG before uploading your key. This way if you need to create another you won't have uploaded your mistakes. Many choices need to be made and it's worth getting things right before "going public" with your new digital ID. Experiment with yourself and a few different email accounts or with some friends first.)
SET AN EXPIRATION OF 2-5 YEARS OR SO AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR PREFERENCES THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM BEFORE SENDING TO A KEYSERVER! Better yet is to HOST YOUR
Recommended order: soap, ballot, jury, ammo.
Speak truth to power.
In 1979, largely unarmed civilians overthrew the government of Iran, which boasted the world's sixth largest armed forces and was led by Shah Reza Pahlevi, whose brutality toward dissidents was legend---he was torturing children to make their parents talk long before Saddam Hussein was.
The current regime in Iran is almost as bloodthirsty and evil as the Shah's but my point is not to defend them, just to point out that revolutions don't need weapons if people understand political tactics. Most importantly, if the soldiers and police were to lose faith in the current regime then repression becomes impossible.
We don't have the sort of corrupt and evil government that you hypothesize above, but if we did, the people would not stand for it and would throw them out of power in a heartbeat.
I can only assume it's because FISA requires that there be probable cause that the subject of the intercept be a foreign power or agent thereof.
Suppose the government captures a terrorist's cell phone addressbook. They then decide they'd like to eavesdrop on everyone in that list, in case some of them are also involved in terrorism. The administration may not be able to convince a FISA judge that simply being in someone's phone list is "probable cause" that the person is themselves a foreign agent or terrorist.
Details on FISA
The problem with that theory is, there's no credible indication that we've captured any terrorists to get address books from in the first place. Instead (from related reports) it seems more likely that they're going after administration critics, anti-war protesters, and others who they would be hard pressed to come up with probably cause for.
--MarkusQ
P.S. Another hole in the theory ("The administration may not be able to convince a FISA judge that simply being in someone's phone list is "probable cause" that the person is themselves a foreign agent or terrorist.") is that the problem isn't that they asked for permission, were denied, and went ahead anyway. They never asked in the first place, which makes it look a lot like they knew they were in the wrong from the very start.
It's conceivable that there are cases in which there is a legitimate reason for surveilance but in which the courts would not under current law issue a warrant. However, I think that it is important to note that NO SUCH ARGUMENT HAS BEEN MADE by the Bush Administration. They haven't outlined any such situations much less described any actual cases in which this problem has arisen. There is not a shred of evidence that the requirement for a warrant has been, or would have been had Bush not authorized warrantless interception, an impediment. Bush et al. just don't like having anyone keeping them in check. Its part of their general contempt for the rule of law.
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He wasn't chased at all. De Menezes *walked* through the station, broke into a trot on the platform to get into the train and then sat down. Next thing he knows a man who had accompanied him onto the train (a police officer, but Charles couldn't have known that because at no point did they identify themselves to him. Also at least 2 other surveillance officers were on the train with him) physically restrains him and pins him down into his seat, while two or more special ops police officers (or possibly soldiers..) come running along and then shoot him *eleven* times, no questions asked, over a 30 second period.
Course, he lived in the same building and had vaguely the same skin colour as a suspected terrorist, and he went from that building to a tube station, so you can't really blame the police.
The man reported by witnesses as running through Stockport station and jumping over the barrier was not Charles but one of the police officers (or SAS squaddies possibly, we don't know yet - MoD confirms military were involved, though they deny they were directly involved) running to go execute Charles.
I use Friend/Foe + mod-point modifiers as a karma/reputation system.
Gandhi's revolution in India, Solidarity's revolution in Poland, the real Irish Revolution (the one that liberated Southern Ireland, not the terrorism in the North masquerading as a republican war of independence), Chile's revolution against colonialism in 1810-2.
One could also point to the Mexican revolution, but that was much more complicated and bloody although I would still argue that its outcome was better (if only marginally) than the antecedant conditions.