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Hosting a Highly Inflammatory Document?
IndianaKim writes "I have been asked if I can host or assist in hosting a highly inflammatory document that reflects poorly on a Police Department. I want to help, but I also do not want the headache and possible subjection to search warrants and/or illegal searches. The document is so inflammatory that it could interest the FBI and DoJ and cause them to investigate the government officials involved. I live in the same county, but not the same city, and therefore could be subject to a search (legal or not) by some of these government agencies. I have been asked to host it on a server outside of the US. At this time, I do not have the ability to do that, but I could set it up if I needed to. My question is: would you host it if you were asked? How would you go about protecting the document and yourself?"
Wikileaks dude
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Assuming the document is small, you could install Xerobank (formerly TorPark) and create an account on Wikileaks and upload it to Wikileaks through the Tor onion router. Your anonymity would be assured in a hilariously sound manner.
Your website need do nothing more than link to Wikileaks and ponder how it got there.
That would be my plan of action. I would also be careful with all the machines/devices used to transfer that file.
Depending on how important/inflammable this document is, I might look into buying a cheap 20GB laptop hard drive, installing ubuntu, going to a star bucks, doing the above and then "disposing" of the drive and all media so that there are no questions. Sorry to sound like Harvey Keitel on Pulp Fiction but
My question is: would you host it if you were asked? How would you go about protecting the document and yourself?
It depends on who is asking me. There are maybe 5 or 6 people in my life that if they approached me with this request and said it was serious and said it had to be me hosting it, I would do it no questions ask. I would not read the document, I would stop them from explaining to me what is the document, I would do it and give them the link. I would then go directly to my lawyer and have a small chat with him. Then I would grab a glass of Chivas Regal and put on a record and take the battery out of my cell phone and relax.
My work here is dung.
To borrow from Captain Braxton. And, To borrow from /. and Terminator 2, and more from Trek you will need to start with:
-- 5 million sun-block,
-- super-mega tinfoil hat, polymorphic
-- Federation Timeship Aeon, mk IV
-- Subspace polarization inhibitor, non-time-domain-collapsing
-- Fluidic Gateway to unlimited supply of Ketracel White
-- Vidian anti-aging/anti-phaging cream
because one, more or all of the cogizant agencies may have reasons to knock your ass across 5 timelines, 27 dimensions, dozens of gender and species reassignments, and multiple states of matter...
GOOD LUCK!
(I survived my own ordeal, but it was QUITE a harrowing experience eludi$_#$#@#*_#@*_*$_*&#&_$(+$%$)
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
I think we know where to send the black helicopters!
Now I'm curious. Be sure to post another story pointing to the wikileaks url once it goes up.
It's posts like this that make me fall in love with /. all over again!!
Post it everywhere.
Don't hide.
Print that shit out and nail it to the wall, Martin Luther style.
"Some say that power comes with responsibility, but this is not correct. Freedom is responsibility, and if one fails to be responsible for their own freedom then those who claim 'power' will become responsible for your freedom, and both will be taken from you." - me
So basically because you fear the ability of law enforcement to abuse their powers in ways that may harm you personally, you are afraid to host this document that I have to presume relates to revealing some potentially illegal police activities? The press refuses to carry this story? And people say they live in a free society, when they are free only to be afraid of the power of government??
Let me say this. If I had such documents, well, speaking from their presumed perspective and content, I would choose to host them. I would do so proudly. And I would share them with others to host as well, openly, without question. I would make sure they were also mirrored of course on something outside the U.S. as I do have resources for that. But I would happily apply my own resources to host them also.
Fascism happens when the efficiency and fear of the state becomes more important than the freedom and rights of the people.
4Chan is where it's at... just scan it and post it.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
This document is "so inflamatory it might interest the DoJ or FBI"?
Then send it to them. Or, if it's valid at all, send it to the closest trustworthy newspaper you can find. Or if nothing else, HIRE A CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYER so you know where the line is where you need to stop -- and so you know what to do if an illegal search comes up.
A random document on the internet means NOTHING to an investigative agency. You might as well walk up and make a random phone call from a stolen cell phone. It's not even probable cause to investigate if you don't have a name to go with the charge.
Go home, read the Constitution again, and decide if you want to help someone throw mud for zero effect, or if you want to actually see change. Our forefathers fought and died for our right to speak what we believe to be true; you are a coward if you will only exercise that when there is zero effect.
(Oh, and for the main question: no, I wouldn't. And I wouldn't try hosting it overseas, either; few countries have as strong a free speech protection as the United States.)
Depending on how important/inflammable this document is, I might look into buying a cheap 20GB laptop hard drive, installing ubuntu, going to a star bucks, doing the above and then "disposing" of the drive and all media so that there are no questions.
You could probably sell the hard drive on eBay, make a few bucks. I wouldn't worry about scrubbing it tho. Nobody checks those things.
http://downwithpants.org Overthrow the tyranny of your pants
Isn't this slashdot article enough to cause problems for you? If corrupt police suspect you have information that could harm them, then what is to stop them from causing problems for you? They're already corrupt aren't they?
I would say put it on wikileaks as fast as you can.
I'm not a lawyer though, so perhaps there are reasons to not do this? Perhaps contact a lawyer first. Give them a copy of the documents.
Why use Xerobank, a commercial service? I recommend installing Tor (which is free) and accessing Wikileaks only through their .onion address, http://gaddbiwdftapglkq.onion/. That way you don't use any exit servers, so nobody can sniff your traffic or even know that you're talking to Wikileaks except Wikileaks themselves (who won't know who you are).
"Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
It's all quite easy if you can find an obscure pay phone that still works and will let you make 800 calls. Get yourself an acoustic coupler and find one of those free dial up accounts. Set up some sort of old laptop, that you found in the trash, to dial in using a script. You could also have it dial in to a bunch of different services to keep them off your track for awhile. Next set up a dyna DNS account and set up the laptop to update it. Hide the laptop somewhere in the phone booth. You will also need to steal power for the laptop from somewhere so get a dc-dc converter and steal the power off of the phone line going to the booth. No one ever uses pay phones anymore but you might want to leave something nasty in the booth to keep the homeless out.
That's assuming there's nothing in the document itself that only a particular author would write. That's how they ended up identifying the unibomber.
Well the first thing I would do is post about it on Slashdot under my username. That way the cops could have absolutely no way to trace it back to me.
A Magic the Gathering Article and Forum Aggregator
You could use an existing laptop with an os installed on a flash drive or a live cd, buy a cheap $10 usb wifi adapter and chuck both the cd + wifi in the trash for about $20. Just a fyi ;)
Certain lawyers have faced a very similar issue. They have learned to live outside of cities and counties that they sue. They have also learned to use drivers and never, ever drive in those cities and counties.
I also had one friend whose home was burned when her husband ran for county sheriff.
All in all it is better to be rather remote from the people who may feel endangered by your actions. It it involves crime it may be organized and deadly.
Simple, either you host it cause you feel that the document is important enough. Or you don't.
Important enough for what? Important enough to justify the risk. What you call a simple choice isn't. To make that decision, the OP has to know what the possible consequences of their actions are, and the chances they will have to face them, and weigh that against the importance of the information in question. To know the risk, they have to weigh their options for publishing, the chances of adverse consequences being linked to the amount of personal exposure involved in going public. A person might perform an act that has a chance of landing them in jail, but might decline to do so if it were certain they would be imprisoned for it.
What seems to you like a case of "not having the balls" seems to me like someone weighing their options and trying to make a rational decision.
Best to do it from the computer of someone that you genuinely despise. This makes it a 2-for-1 when the cops and their associates go after the other guy.
That ain't liver; that's beef kidney!
Depending on how important/inflammable this document is, I might look into buying a cheap 20GB laptop hard drive, installing ubuntu, going to a star bucks, doing the above and then "disposing" of the drive and all media so that there are no questions.
You could probably sell the hard drive on eBay, make a few bucks. I wouldn't worry about scrubbing it tho. Nobody checks those things.
Well, I have several problems with that. One is that it is uncharacteristic of me to sell something on ebay. Especially hardware like that. This could be easily seen as odd behavior leading them to the drive. The other is that it's probably becoming common to check drives for interesting stuff when you buy them on eBay. The other is that I don't care about the money a 20GB drive would net me if I'm dealing with the law.
..."
No, I am afraid my course of action would be to vigorously scrub the drive, take the drive apart and spot weld the platters together to make a set of ugly ass coasters with magnets attached as feet to the coaster. I would keep the set in plain view in my living room. Then one day when a guest inquired about them I could say, "Funny story
My work here is dung.
How appropriate considering the other story today.
Well said. You do what's right even if it means it won't be easy. The good news is, we live in a country where the chances of being assassinated by government officials is not as great.
My opinion to the submitter...
Could mean some headaches, so prepare for them by consulting with an attorney.
More importantly, if this is something that the FBI or other agencies are going to be interested as you say, then why not go straight to them?
Don't put something out on the internet because it's cool to do so. That's not the right way. Take it through the proper legal channels. Then if it doesn't go forward, you put it out in the wild.
You didn't give details, but it is possible that leaking the information could hinder any potential investigation that the FBI or whoever may need to conduct to get more evidence.
Dual Opteron < $600
For this to work you would also have to change your wireless interface's Ethernet MAC (hardware) address. By default this is a vendor-specific code that is probably unique enough that it could be used to link you to the upload. This would require that (a) the coffee shop kept some kind of long-term logging on their wireless device, (b) the authorities were able to trace the upload to the coffee shop, and (c) the police had some kind of suspicion of you already. All are improbable, but none are impossible.
Most wireless cards will let you change the hardware address. I'll leave instructions for how to do that to the enterprising googler.
The alternative is to use a cheap throwaway laptop with wireless, or a disposable wireless ethernet card.
(Yes, it's paranoid, but so is the original question.)
It depends what you're worried about. If you're concerned about it being proven that you were part of the distribution of the document, then any of the suggestions posed so far will work. Buy a new hard drive, encrypt it, receive the document to it from a USB device (destroy the USB device afterwards). Upload to Wikileaks from the encrypted drive. Destroy the drive.
However if you are more concerned with being thought to have been part of the distribution (as that is, after all, what's going to get you raided) then you have a bigger problem. You don't care so much whether in 5 years anybody can show you were involved, you only care about right now, can you stay under the radar.
I would build a suitable alibi (get out of town) and then receive the document from the source. Afterwards, have a change of heart, convince the source that you are NOT going to host it anywhere, convince them you have destroyed the media, and lay low for a while.
Then upload it to WikiLeaks at your leisure. If your source is convinced that you didn't upload it the Man hopefully won't think so either.
For this to work you would also have to change your wireless interface's Ethernet MAC (hardware) address.
(Yes, it's paranoid, but so is the original question.)
No, none of this security "voodoo" is required at all. It's nothing but paranoid delusional compulsion driven obsessiveness.
Really, who is going to be watch 'YOU?' You are nothing, a tiny insignificant electron fart on the massive, anonymous Internet freeway. There is no way that anyone could possibly track such a posting back to you even if you sent it from the comfort of your West Virginia trailer park, wood panelled double-wide. By the way, the cat is scratching at the door. Please let her in. The noise is driving me nuts.
...anyway. Like I was saying, the level of grandiosity required to believe that jack-booted, neo-conservative thugs with brush cuts and small testicles are following the every movement of this document and your friend Herb's handling of it is just beyond the bounds of all sane thought processes.
Damn it Frank, let that frikin' cat in already. Put down the JVC multi-function remote. Holy crap, man. You DVR'ed the mud wrestling match last night while your aunt Emma was over for dinner. It's not like you can't pause the damn show. Don't you know that Princess is very sensitive to heat and humidity? Maybe you won't have to take her to the vet 20 times this summer (like you had to last year) if you leave her in air conditioning for a change.
So, have we learned anything? No one is watching you. The government doesn't care what you do with that damn document that Herb wants you to host for him. No need to take ANY type of security/privacy countermeasure!
We ... I mean, the government is not watching anything you do. Really. This is the voice of reason speaking to you.
Well, "they" didn't identify the Unabomber - his brother did, because he recognized his writing style in his published manifesto, which in turn resulted in the forensic investigation and comparison of his manifesto to some earlier stuff that he'd written. The method is called stylometry (or stylometrics) and is used widely in forensic linguistics, but it's still only an indicator of authorship - not proof.
In the Unabomber case, they had two sets of texts, the manifesto written by the Unabomber and the texts written by Ted Kaczynski, hence it was relatively easy to compare the two sets and see if there was reason to believe the author of both sets to be the same. In this case, you'll have a single text by an unknown author... What will you compare it to first when you have no suspect or suspected texts? Exactly... This document will have to mean the end of the world before they start trawling the web for random texts and comparing. Mind you, these stylometric comparisons must be verified by a human, even though a lot can be automated with principal component analysis.
I'd say that the author can feel pretty safe, as long as he/she isn't a well-known author and/or uses linguistic constructions specific for his/her dialect or regiolect. Remove all meta-data from the file (e.g. go with plain text or HTML as suggested (far) above) and publish to wikileaks through Tor from a public hotspot. At least, that's what I'd do. I don't know about Brian Boitano, Buddha, Muhammed or Jesus.
Oh, and yes, I am a linguist. :)
"Live free or don't."
Martin Luther (with special attention to the 95 theses)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"If I am such a genius, how come that I am drunk and lost in the desert with a bullet in my ass?" --Otto (Malcom ITM)