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CryptoSeal Shuts Down Consumer VPN Service To Avoid Fighting NSA
sl4shd0rk writes "CryptoSeal Privacy, a VPN provider, has closed down its consumer VPN service. The company says it has zeroed its crypto keys, adding, 'Essentially, the service was created and operated under a certain understanding of current U.S. law, and that understanding may not currently be valid. As we are a US company and comply fully with U.S. law, but wish to protect the privacy of our users, it is impossible for us to continue offering the CryptoSeal Privacy consumer VPN product.' The announcement ends with a warning: 'For anyone operating a VPN, mail, or other communications provider in the U.S., we believe it would be prudent to evaluate whether a pen register order could be used to compel you to divulge SSL keys protecting message contents, and if so, to take appropriate action.' Sounds like another victim of FISA-endorsed NSA activity."
Back in the old spy days, the gentlemanly thing to do was crack the other guy's encryption, NOT beat his keys out of him. This is just cheating, pure and simple.
Time Bomber the Book coming soon.
Sounds like it's high time time to start a VPN provider in SeaLand (or what do we have left that's not firmly in jurisdiction of governments with grubby hands and long noses)?
You are not going to have much advanced IT business left over there soon if this goes on.
What is to stop the NSA doing a form of DoS attack on these types of services by demanding keys, and giving the services little option but to shut down?
The effect of this is to remove secure competitors from the market and force users onto pre-compromised services.
We've got technology businesses shutting down their services because they are now afraid of (i.e.: terrorized by) their own government?
Did the terrorists actually win this war on terror?
For anyone operating a VPN mail or other communications in any country you should consider that your government can compel you to produce information.
This intellectual exercise has been done a long time ago by those who looked a little deeper than you. It's why there were crazy ideas such as offshore data havens.
In the end, you can't really do anything about it. The government your company is under (at the very least, maybe other entities too) can compel you. So now it's just a matter of which government you're least worried about.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Some European companies really don't care. But some do. That's why there was always a healthy mistrust in competetive European companies concerning their crucial data out of house, and why cloud computing has a slower uptake here than in the US. (Their unimportant data, they could care less about, even if it's personal data and against the EU privacy laws. That's life.)
Joachim
People don't write Manifestos any more -- what's going on in this world? [Frank Zappa]
It's even cited with references on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Examples_of_industrial_espionage
Joachim
People don't write Manifestos any more -- what's going on in this world? [Frank Zappa]
The end result seems to be in line with general terrorism. Cause enough fear and confusion in your enemy until they change or give up.
As a side to this.. at least it tells us something...
they can't break the crypto.
So you are going to believe the former director of a spy agency?
Donate to Lavabit legal fund
The legal briefs filed so far look like they are about to hand the government its own ass in respect to seizing SSL keys.
Old spies were Sean Connery. New spies are Daniel Craig.
I can't speak of the bribery, I haven't done the leg-work to find out, but as for the rest...
The general tone of the whole piece is that of someone who thinks the American way is superior and infallible and no other way can have merit, which makes me instantly suspicious of his bias. That he sits there and declares there is nothing worth stealing is a bit unlikely, unless you believe in US-superiority in all things.
I question his judgement because he talks about Europe as if it's one entity. He talks about Europe like it has a single communist government, when its member states have a large range of political leanings.
I suppose if your job is constantly looking outward at the threatening foreign lands then you're going to get a bit... tainted.
http://xkcd.com/538/
Only works if you actually know the password.
Don't remember the password, use a token like a USB flash key. If they take the laptop without the key then it's useless, if you smash the key then it's also useless.
No, this won't stop them from torturing you anyway, but on the other hand, they might pick up the wrong person who didn't actually own the laptop and torture them instead. This is the great thing about torture: it's only useful to confirm what you already know, not to extract anything new; there's no way to tell if someone is lying because you haven't broken them yet or lying because they don't know anything but really want the pain to stop.
"This is just cheating, pure and simple."
It is illegal, pure and simple.
Since several crypto companies have in fact closed down, affecting thousands (at least) of people, we can come to some basic conclusions.
First, we have proof that the NSA spying has had the effect of chilling otherwise legal, free speech.
Second: we now have thousands of people who have provable legal standing to sue the government over it.
First Lavabit.
Then Groklaw.
Now CryptoSeal.
Who's next?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
#1 prison population in the world; and with a moderate population density too!
#1 military, #1 spy system (by size) and both are actively used.
Secret tapping of citizens phones,etc with a massive cover up (seriously, does anybody believe them after all that they did when they say "it's only meta data?") Almost more surveillance than a classic police state (it's just missing your neighbors turning against you.)
Uncivilized prison system (many but not all; but the society is taught to believe and accept the known conditions. The system keeps the public from knowing about the horrible things... such as 12 year olds in adult prison with their rapist's name carved into their skin, for example.)
Self exempted from most international laws. Pre-emptive wars, bribing, blackmailing corrupting foreign governments...(wikileaks put that stuff on paper) Killing or arresting or persecuting anybody on earth without respect for laws / jurisdictions (doesn't matter what you do, if you go to a safe nation the idea was you were safe when sovereignty was respected... not that it was all that highly regarded; but it's just openly dismissed today.)
Police in most schools; more coming. Children arrested and processed as criminals for being children --in school; handcuffs on 8 year olds. Teens executed as adults. Adults executed... just like in China and Iran do. Teens tweeting being prosecuted for bullying outside of school...
People generally afraid to express a wide range of "controversial" opinions not on the unofficial acceptability list. Obama a Muslim? that is ok. Telling on the bankers? nothing, if you harm them, jail time (but perhaps a big IRS reward...for afterwards...)
Every police state has two systems-- one to go soft on the elite and one for everybody else. We have that situation too.
Right to Peaceable Assemble? Result? Beat downs, false incrimination and nobody really cares; you'd think nobody ever reads past "free press" and that the other one "bear arms"... whatever, pass me a beer.
Free speech and free press? Allowed but rendered nearly ineffectual which is why those are allowed.
No internet based company should be headquartered in the US.
Fighting against your own government/leaders who are enemies of your country, is not the same as fighting against your country. It's still fighting for your country.
To me it is more patriotic than killing people in some other country.
If more people around the world did that sort of thing there would be much less need to kill people of other countries.
That said I'm not a big fan of patriotism. Seems to cause more harm than good.