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Egyptians Turn To Tor To Organize Dissent Online
An anonymous reader writes "Even as President Obama prepares to follow Mubarak with his own 'internet kill switch', Egyptians were turning to the Tor anonymiser to organise their protests online. The number of Egyptians connecting to the internet over Tor rose more than five-fold after protests broke out last week before crashing when the Government severed links to the global internet. Information security researcher, Tor coder and writer of the bridge that allowed Egypt's citizens to short-circuit government filters, Jacob Appelbaum, told SC Magazine Egyptians were 'concerned and some understand the risk of network traffic analysis.' Appelbaum has himself been the subject of attention from US security services who routinely snatch his electronics and search his belongings when he re-enters the country and who subpoenaed his private Twitter account last December." Which helps explain why Appelbaum is helping to organize a small fundraiser to get more communications gear into Egypt.
I'm a little confused. How does Tor work when they shut down the Internet?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
This reminds me a lot of that Corey Docterow novel about the kid who was blamed for being a terrorist in San Francisco.
Used TOR and xboxs to make an ad-hoc network. Was actually a bit of an interesting read, although a bit worded for younger people.
He should just move out of the United States of Fascistica already then.
no freedom is left there.
Read radical news here
I see people always going on about that. I can't see how this would help in the US. If people were protesting or there was unrest in the US, hitting the net kill switch would be economic suicide. In Egypt and Tunisia, the net was used more for socializing than business. In the US, the bulk of net use (in pure data) is business related. Our entire economy runs off of the net now. Turning it off would shut down or severely hobble a large number of fortune 500 companies, not to mention thousands of small and medium sized businesses. Also, like in Egypt and Tunisia, it would just give people more reason to go out on the streets. Without the net to bitch about the state of the country/world on, they would turn to going outside and raising hell instead. So sure, the govt can build their kill switch, but only if they plan to jettison our economy with the push oa button.
"Tor, it's not just for child pornographers and anti-Communist dissidents any more!"
They've learned nothing from the history of the internet. There is no need for "kill switch". FUD, few trolls and a bunch of idiots gotta be enough to ruin any sensible group.
Every photo of this guy, he seems to be wearing the same pair of pants. He's either very poor, or lacks personal hygine.
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By turning away from Ra to Allah, now Egypt burns for this treachery. They will lose their Stargate for this insolence.
Proof that anyone using a Tor is a criminal with something to hide. They just happen to be breaking Egyption laws instead of US ones. The scumbags. [/end sarcasm]
Once you start despising the jerks, you become one.
Nothing is going to happen. The punks in power will make just enough changes to make the protesters happy. Then the protesters go home thinking they did something special and nothing really gets changed. Governments are professionals at theater like this. Obama just needs to STFU. He has the audacity to comment on what they need to do for democracy when he is trying to remove it over here. As TFA states Obama wants a kill switch for our USA Net. And with the TSA going "total sack adjustment' on everyone in blatant violation of 4th amendment rights with all the coward Americans just sheeping through the lines with little protest.
Let us know when the citizens start shooting Egyptian officials in the face, then we can know they mean business. We will see who has the brass to say "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!"
Or should america set up an internet or pure twitter satellite ( or satellite network, like iridium ) and hand out a few transceiver dishes ( or units if dish isn't strictly necessary in the case of an iridium type setup ) and then hand out access to key journalists in countries under similar turmoil. Keep the flow of information unchecked?
Um...how does Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Main, putting forward a beyond-all-reason-lame bill, somehow equal Obama following Mubarak? Yes, the bill is to give the president the time power to kill the Internet in various poorly defined ways, but that's one amazingly long politically reaching spin if I ever heard one.
but the rest of the world riots for real. China keeps their populace in line with shear brutality, but Egypt is connected to other countries enough that isn't an option (they're also not powerful enough to resist being "liberated").
Basically, it's only dumb, Fox news lovin' Americans that can be fooled so easily. Mostly because Americans have had 60+ years of indoctrination that's crushed any sense of entitlement and turned us into a nation of abused housewives that always blame ourselves ("The reason I lost my job, car, home, everything was I just didn't work hard enough, it's got nothing to do with H1-B visas, whatever those are!"). Even when Americans accept entitlements they don't feel it's right, and they've got to be tricked into it. Ayn Rand had to be talked into it at the end of her life (medicare/Social Security) so she wasn't homeless, and there's legions of dummy's marching in anti-socialized medicine parades on their Medicare provided scooters. They've got no idea.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
"Even as President Obama prepares to follow Mubarak with his own 'internet kill switch',
WTF??? I'm really getting sick and tired of this partisan garbage on slashdot. It's bad enough that it's in posters' comments, do we really have to have it force fed to us in the summaries? Hey lefties... fuck you... but you righties, a special "go fuck yourself" from me, mkay? Arrogant lying assholes... say anything to make the competition look bad, anything at all to win. Stupid, women-hating, fascist money lovers. Bite me.
The Admin and the Engineer
Get some 100 watt FM transmitters make a afsk broadcast(Setting up Soundmodem on Linux). Next plug headphone jack from fm radio into laptop use multimon or windows equivalent. Just have to coordinate freq maybe could try encrypting it with open-ssh and sharing certs
I sense tension. Are you hiding your true feelings?
Wait isn't your side the one's saying love the muslims who don't mind killing their women and daughters? Seems you have some hypocrisy to work out before you start assisting others with theirs!
The people usually talking about partisan problems are the most partisan of all! And by the way. Partisan is GOOD! The more time they spend fighting on capital hill they less time they spend taking freedom away.
he has a point... we visit here because we are nerds and enlightened, beyond good and evil. Besides, it's not the liberals calling for a kill switch, and certainly not the President. It's the nanny-state conservatives, the ones who (believe they have the right to) decide what YOU are allowed to do in your bedroom, that decide what YOU are allowed to put in YOUR body. The first sentence of the summary isn't merely inaccurate. It's a lie, and a dirty trick.
OK, I lashed out... wish I didn't but I did. My bad. I'll try to keep that reigned in a little.
The Admin and the Engineer
thanks for seeing through my idiotic rage. I'm feeling much better now.
The Admin and the Engineer
2 *million* people are marching for their freedom. In passerby interviews they keep repeating that they want a peaceful protest, as they want the rest of the world to stand behind them and see they really want this change.
Despite that, people got killed from police gunfire, live rounds and rubber bullets included.
Sure there are a few looters, some suspected of being undercover police to instill FUD in the crowds, a tactic not beyond the past 30 years of tyranny.
The army publicly announced they will _not_ fire on the people as long as the protest stays peaceful.
Google's official blog explains a new technology developed by a group of tech geeks who wanted to contribute positively to the current situation in Egypt.
This is not just middle east anymore, this is humanity coming together.
Check it out :-) http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
And http://stop404.org/682 :-)
Am I missing something or why is it a bad thing to say Obama is planning to have Internet kill switch? I mean, if you search with the terms "obama internet kill switch" you get plenty of articles about this.
If all internet was turned off and all forms of communication were supposedly disabled, how are the government and police communicating? Either they shot themselves in the foot or they themselves have something set up to use. Why isn't anyone talking about that? Anyone have any information on what the "other side" is doing for internet and other communication?
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
The news is just sensationalistic about everything to attract eyeballs, and the majority of Americans buy it hook, line, and sinker.
an yet ...
... that could be a start.
you might want to look for the difference between causality and correlation
Wow, I have to agree with Catmistake. This is deliberately misleading demagoguery. Save it for Glen Beck. No one else cares.
He did.
He's been living in London for years.
Come to think of it though, that may have been a step backwards...
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
For a European like me, the difference between Democratic and Republican presidents seems minimal with regards to electronic surveillance and censorship.
In my own country, Sweden, the parties conveniently switch to criticising surveillance and censorship when they're out of power, only to conveniently switch back when they're in power again.
You lost me at "sick".
It works best during shutdown, absolutely no traffic and zero routing problems ;)
You can't "shut down the internet", THE internet? seriously? Egypt can shutdown all the subnetworks that constitute the internet all over the world?
When I read "THE internet" in that context, it makes me think of dumb yank going "oh look honey they shutdown THE internet; they cut THE electricity; they cut THE water..."
Yeah because your internet is THE internet...
With this monstruosity called BlockScript installed.
Seriously BlockScript (and others alike) are a thorn in the side of the free internet.
I had trouble with company VPN access because of them, and whats worse they completely ignore you even if you explain to them that you are the one in charge
of the machine connected to the IP they consider a proxy and so on and what you use it for and so on.
IRC servers are another problem, i understand the security concerns, but more and more people ARE GOING TO USE PROXIES AND VPNs AND OTHER SHARED IPs (especially with IPv4 running out too) ...
With this monstruosity called BlockScript installed.
Seriously BlockScript (and others alike) are a thorn in the side of the free internet.
I had trouble with company VPN access because of them, and whats worse they completely ignore you even if you explain to them that you are the one in charge
of the machine connected to the IP they consider a proxy and so on and what you use it for and so on.
Same goes for IRC servers, I understand the security issues, but more and more people are going to use proxies, VPNs and carrier NAT'd IPv4 in the future
"Even as President Obama prepares to follow Mubarak with his own 'internet kill switch',
WTF??? I'm really getting sick and tired of this partisan garbage on slashdot. It's bad enough that it's in posters' comments, do we really have to have it force fed to us in the summaries? Hey lefties... fuck you... but you righties, a special "go fuck yourself" from me, mkay? Arrogant lying assholes... say anything to make the competition look bad, anything at all to win. Stupid, women-hating, fascist money lovers. Bite me.
u mad bro?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay-tolerant_networking
Build the Bundle protocol into the mobile phones, they support bluetooth and wifi these days. At least then you get email and some store and forward application/protocol like usenet would also work.
Then all you need are some edges which connect with the Internet.
u mad?
u jared lee loughner?
i post a link to your slashdot journal to the feds...
When has president Obama suggested an Internet kill switch? This is the idea of a Republican senator and has not been endorsed or supported by Obama, afaik. This should have never made it to the front page, it is an obvious troll.
i wish i had some mod points i'd mod you up. back in the 90's slashdot was must read stuff for technical information and dialog. now its just another blog site full of agenda driven rabid dogs all seeking to foist their lame pitiful political and moral views. sure trolling is fun but, this crap isn't even entertaining. i browse this site maybe once every 2 weeks now and its mostly rehashed day late and a dollar short drivel. i guess that is what you get when you monetize any kind of conversation. so yeah pretty much fuck all the fucktards with nothing to say about technology and everything to say about their philosophy, morality, and politics on all sides. this is certainly next to the last place on the net i would go for that. the last place being wefartinourcheriosthruastrawandeattheneatthem.com they seem to be a little sharper on the technical side though so i follow them now about as much as i follow slash's content
The people usually talking about partisan problems are the most partisan of all! And by the way. Partisan is GOOD! The more time they spend fighting on capital hill they less time they spend taking freedom away.
You silly fool. It's a way of stripping our freedoms! They can make you want any piece of legislation as long as the other guys really really don't want it. Throw in a few emotionally charged words and everybody's upper reasoning atrophies for the rest of the argument. If these assholes would STOP the partisan shit and start being motherfucking statesmen we'd all be in a hell of a lot better place. Oh wait I'm blaming the wrong people. It is people like you, good sir, that allow this type of shit to continue. Name me one single session of congress that didn't strip your rights away. Name one presidential administration that didn't strip your rights away. You'd probably have to go back to the 19th century to find one. Partisan bullshit isn't doing a thing to stop your rights from being systemically removed. It's a way of keeping you misinformed and distracted.
Fuck partisanship. This is objective evil, free of dem/gop bias. Yes, the "internet kill switch" is designed to do what Mubarak did. In fact, this is it's ONLY use.
It does not have any parallel in any other communication medium: not TV, not the telephone networks, etc. Why? Because our forebears would have sniffed the fascist, totalitarian bent of it and would have shouted "NAZI, STALIN!". Now most of the US is constituted of pussies: "oooh, please save me from the teeeeeeerrorists! please! put everybody in a cage if it would save me from the teeeeeerorrists!"
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
Holy alliteration Batman! What a headline. Did Susy sell sea shells by the seashore also? The rule is do not follow with the same starting consonant more than twice. I'm a troll and even I stick to that rule.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
Partisanship? Which side do you think Obama is on when he proposes this kill switch? Which side do you think /. is taking?
Hint: It's not left vs right. It's subjugation vs freedom. That's the kind of partisanship we need more of.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
"muzzies"!? what an asshole
We do the same. During the Bush years, the GOP meme was "trust the government. It's unpatriotic to stand in the president's way". After Obama's election, but before he took office, that meme changed to "The president is out to push a socialist agenda and I hope the president fails", and these same people who were decrying dissent took a tactic of filibustering and obstructing every attempt at legislation, because they didn't want to give the other guy any victories.
The first sentence of the summary isn't merely inaccurate. It's a lie, and a dirty trick.
Explain this to me. Not only is the first sentence of this summary accurate, it's the only way a reasonable person could construe the situation. How can you look at the "kill switch" proposal and think that it's for anything other than what Mubarak has just done? What other possible use is there?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I really want to support online freedom of expression, but I struggle to justify the operation of a Tor exit node or of similar open proxy services given all the potential abuses. I don't want to unwittingly further crime or terrorism. I also don't to waste my scarce computational resources on someone else's anonymous access to entertainment. I cannot ignore the fact that by allowing other people's traffic to transit my personal network connection, I am liable (or culpable) for their activities to a certain degree. For example, if someone threatens the president from my exit node, the Secret Service will turn my life upside down (and rightly so). Does anyone else share similar reservations about Tor or Freenet? I could restrict the sites accessible from my server (e.g., set up DNS so that only Google, Facebook, and Twitter resolve), but then the question becomes, how would I know which sites the activists need to access? Any suggestions?
I'm proud of my Northern Tibetian Heritage
Nobody investigated me. :-)
http://epistolatory.blogspot.com/2011/01/piercing-through-egyptian-internet-void.html
I'm just going to quote the comment above my OP to show you what a silly person you are.
Um...how does Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Main, putting forward a beyond-all-reason-lame bill, somehow equal Obama following Mubarak?
Let me help you understand this a bit... liberals would never propose a kill switch. Obama is a liberal. The idea comes, for a second time, from the ranks of the REPUBLICAN party. FYI Obama is a DEMOCRAT.
The Admin and the Engineer
The bill is also sponsored by Sen Lieberman (I formerly D), and Sen Carper (D). A similar bill in the past was sponsored by Sens. Rockefellar (D) and Snow (R). This bill was unanimously passed by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, a body with the same number of Democrats as Republican. (more D if you count Lieberman). This bill is as bipartisan as it gets.
I agree, that liberals would never pass such a bill. However, there are no liberals in the US government. Obama is a center-right statist. He has continued the practice of warrentless wiretapping. He has prosecuted no one for commiting acts of torture. He has done nothing, at any juncture, that decreases the power of the state. He has given no indication that he would veto this mainstream, bipartisan bill if it comes to his desk. Given all that, it is in no way misleading to put Obama's name on it. If he doesn't want the power to shut down the internet, all he has to say is "I'll veto that".
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Also, notice this article.
So you see, Obama's position is even worse than that put forth in the bill. This bill would explicitly authorize an internet kill switch. Obama thinks he already has that power, without any further congressional oversight.
That is straight up hard core statism. If you care about freedom at all, oppose Obama.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
According to this article, it's Senator Joe Lieberman's idea and "other sponsors of the bill are Senators Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, and Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat."
Personally, I don't care whose idea it is, I think it's a bad idea period.
who routinely snatch his electronics
Just think about how many pairs of sensor equipped Nikes he must have lost during jogging already..
For a European like me, the difference between Democratic and Republican presidents seems minimal with regards to electronic surveillance and censorship.
In my own country, Sweden, the parties conveniently switch to criticising surveillance and censorship when they're out of power, only to conveniently switch back when they're in power again.
Never imagined it could ever get this way, though many were nibbling at the edges. After 9-11, all the creeps in the world rolled out with a plan. Unfortunately they were successful. Fear it will be a long time before we take this country back.......
OC no Net kill switch cant ever kill your community wireless WAN be it a short range community project or a a lot of bonded inter connected long range directional point to point http://www.zeroshell.net/eng/ live cd , No ISP required so no problems for a so called "kill switch" and if you use low power ARM boards to make these you can run them off grid for many hours too in case of power loss.
By not denying you like to stick hot pokers up your ass, you must love it. You are a sick fuck, Hatta. Just keep your ass and your bloodied anal pokers away from us, Hatta, or should I call you Glenn Limbaugh or Rush Beck?? Hock your sadist partisan bullshit somewhere else. This site is for nerds, you lying douche-pimple.
I think it would be a good idea to brainstorm utilizing the power of Slashdot readers. One of those: "What would you do?" How can we support a civilian network with no ISP backbone. WDS? Mesh networks? Analog modems? Rsyncing important websites the wikileaks way? Using BBS or text oriented technologies to preserve civilian bandwidth? GSM cellphones ala Burning man? Seriously... With no Internet we are completely segregated and powerless. At least the US, we are not even withing walking distances from downtowns. Can Slashdot help organizing this info? It would be awesome testing some of these technologies!