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Service Promises To Leak Your Documents If the Government Murders You

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-anything-happens-to-me dept.

Jason Koebler writes With all the conspiracy theories surrounding some high-profile deaths in recent years, how can you, theoretical whistleblower with highly sensitive documents, be assured that your information gets leaked if you're murdered in some government conspiracy? A new dark web service says it's got your back. "Dead Man Zero" claims to offer potential whistleblowers a bit more peace of mind by providing a system that will automatically publish and distribute their secrets should they die, get jailed, or get injured.

67 of 98 comments (clear)

  1. Hosted in the US? by Vadim+Makarov · · Score: 1

    Is there such thing as independent hosting? You will be sharing your secrets with whatever jurisdiction the site is under. Does the service say which country is that?

    --
    17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
    1. Re:Hosted in the US? by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Upload the file(s) as a single encrypted image file. Break that image into stripes. Store each stripe and the decryption key in a different legal jurisdiction? Not foolproof but it does make it more difficult for a single entity.

    2. Re:Hosted in the US? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 3, Interesting

      1, 2, 3, (deep breath)...

      "HONEYPOT!"

      --
      "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
      Never been known to fail..."
    3. Re:Hosted in the US? by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 1

      But then stopping any of the stripes will stop the entire revelation.

      --
      by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
    4. Re:Hosted in the US? by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      Post to USENET, it'll still be on servers everywhere for another decade.

      The trick is releasing the decryption key upon your death.

    5. Re:Hosted in the US? by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      Not if they're RAID-style stripes, where you can reconstruct the data from n-1 or n-2 stripes.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    6. Re:Hosted in the US? by perpenso · · Score: 1

      But then stopping any of the stripes will stop the entire revelation.

      OK. That's not the problem I was trying to address, but I think striping can help here too.

      Rather than an additive approach use a subtractive approach. For instance instead of each site having only 1 of 3 pieces, it has 2 of 3 pieces - 1 piece missing. Each site is missing some number of stripes, so a single entity can not read on its own. However there would be redundancy in that any particular stripe is in more than one jurisdiction. So coordination between jurisdictions is need for both release and denial. Again, not foolproof.

    7. Re:Hosted in the US? by Glarimore · · Score: 1

      Then I'd recommend some sort of RAID 5 scenario, where distributed parity allows for the image to be maintained even when one stripe is missing.

    8. Re:Hosted in the US? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      You don't even have to split the image, you can split the key using the Shamir's Secret Sharing algorithm, which gives you a way to split information into any N pieces with a minimum of M pieces necessary to reconstruct it for any M = N (or some similar secret splitting method with the same properties). That seems much more practical to me, and you can simply keep redundant data copies around since nobody will have access to the clear text without the key anyway.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:Hosted in the US? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      That should have been "for any M <= N", of course... (And M should be at least 2, for any practical safety.)

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    10. Re:Hosted in the US? by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      Upload the file(s) as a single encrypted image file. Break that image into stripes. Store each stripe and the decryption key in a different legal jurisdiction? Not foolproof but it does make it more difficult for a single entity.

      If you do that, how is the site supposed to publish your documents in the event of your death? They're going to have to get access to the data so they can do the job.

    11. Re:Hosted in the US? by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Upload the file(s) as a single encrypted image file. Break that image into stripes. Store each stripe and the decryption key in a different legal jurisdiction? Not foolproof but it does make it more difficult for a single entity.

      If you do that, how is the site supposed to publish your documents in the event of your death? They're going to have to get access to the data so they can do the job.

      You only do the uploading of the image. The service does the striping and jurisdictionally diverse storage.

    12. Re:Hosted in the US? by beakerMeep · · Score: 1

      What if I need to 3D print the result?

      --
      meep
    13. Re:Hosted in the US? by rioki · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is exactly the problem. Sure you could devise a scheme that would be reasonably safe. But the moment you rely on somebody else to do it and you hand him over the entire lot in the clear you are lost. That is the high value place where you can bet all your fortune on the fact that the NSA/CIA will have tapped that spot. For me this kind of service looks like a "whistleblower detection service" for the NSA/CIA. Even if they don't reed the data (they don't need to), they can detect any would be whistleblowers by monitoring the communication channels. One they have a fix on the individual they can talk to them about patriotism and possible health issues of their loved ones.

    14. Re:Hosted in the US? by bunratty · · Score: 1

      Even if they don't reed the data (they don't need to)

      Yeah, who needs a flutist when you're already a whistleblower?

      --
      What a fool believes, he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.
  2. False flag ... by perpenso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Probably a false flag operation to identify potential whistleblowers. :-)

    1. Re:False flag ... by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2

      Probably a false flag operation to identify potential whistleblowers. :-)

      Could be.

      The only way to do it is to arrange your own procedure using things you control and know.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    2. Re:False flag ... by theycallmeB · · Score: 2

      Or the Chinese have gotten lazy and/or really smart

    3. Re:False flag ... by BringsApples · · Score: 1

      This is too. Look at Sean McKessy's smile. Creeeepy.

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    4. Re: False flag ... by slick7 · · Score: 1

      And an E Bola plague will make you the host, like everyone else on the planet. Your argument is invalid.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  3. Relevant 1984 analog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    See The Brotherhood

  4. And it comes with ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... a money back guarantee.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  5. Re:Why wait until i die? by hey! · · Score: 4, Funny

    By implementing Obamacare, Obama has saved more American lives than any other person in history. Fact.

    But only to build his army of gay-married socialist drones.

    In certain circles there's no such thing as good news.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  6. Re:Why wait until i die? by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

    By implementing Obamacare, Obama has saved more American lives than any other person in history. Fact.

    You owe me one thousand US dollars. Fact.

    Hmmm... Just saying "Fact" did not work...

  7. And who is to say... by wbr1 · · Score: 1
    ...that they won't sell your info to the highest bidder? Especially if it is juicy. Or as mentioned, it could be a false flag.

    What is needed is a two piece dead man switch. Storage that is encrypted, and a second party to hold the keys. Preferably the two parties do not know each other. Then in your will you instruct the key-holder to send the keys to the storage provider.

    This is more complex and more likely to fail in the event of your death, but after that while it may be nice if your info is outed, buty ou are beyond caring.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:And who is to say... by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Not even. Just use a deadman switch. You just have a website that you log into once a day/week/month what-have you. I for any reason you fail to do so, the information is released publicly on the front page. If it's of any interest, the community will spread it via P2P and other methods; like wild fire.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    2. Re:And who is to say... by rioki · · Score: 1

      Much simpler. Have an encrypted file and distribute it far and wide. Simply put the key in the will.

  8. Re:Why wait until i die? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    By implementing Obamacare, Obama has saved more American lives than any other person in history. Fact.

    You use the word "fact" identically to how the word "inconceivable" is used in The Princess Bride.

  9. TinfoilHat.org? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 1

    ...nah, somebody's already got it parked.

  10. Encourages the opposite too by orange_account · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wouldn't there also be a group of people (not the government) that might want those secrets out? This gives them a reason to kill you with a guarantee that they get what they want.

  11. Holy Honeypot Batman! by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 2
    Upload all your incriminating evidence to who knows where, and then leave enough contact information for them to determine if you are dead or not? Ummm yeah....no. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks this sounds like a fiendishly clever way for the NSA to quickly weed out 95% of the wack-jobs out there that style themselves as the next Edward Snowden so they could devote their efforts to tracking the truly competent activists. I could also see these wackjobs getting an email at their AOL accounts soon afterwards worded something like this:

    Dear Dead Man Zero Subscriber, Thank you for uploading to Dead Man Zero! We're watching. Have a Nice Day! The NSA

    Anybody truly paranoid and knowledgeable would not touch this with a 10 ft pole.

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

    1. Re:Holy Honeypot Batman! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Even if they are legit, by advertising they have made themselves known to the government and a national security letter is already on its way.

  12. Station wagon full of tapes ... by perpenso · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The USA would have the keys to all of them, since they seem to 0wnz the entire world's internet. (NSA spying on all the pipes, etc.)

    Believe it or not, it is possible to move digital information (like a key) around the world without using the internet.

    Drive that station wagon full of tapes to a port and have the station wagon loaded into a cargo container? :-)

    1. Re:Station wagon full of tapes ... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      You can print a key with any black-and-white laser printer into a 2D-barcode equivalent of a microdot. Or embed it into a random printed article with pictures using image steganography. It's an amount of information sufficiently small to make the key quite inconspicuous unless someone else knows where to look and for what to look.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Station wagon full of tapes ... by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      ...but there's still the problem of releasing the "secret" to your hidden-in-plain-sight key later.

      Having published the photo steganographically is one thing. Telling people to get the key out of your lolcat photo after you're dead is another.

    3. Re:Station wagon full of tapes ... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I was referring to a person keeping a part of the key (not the whole key, obviously!) in this manner while being aware of the extraction method, just to be on the safe side (if you're a government, you'd need some extra torture to recover it instead of just finding a readable list of numbers).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  13. Not a chance in hell by penguinoid · · Score: 1

    It's not that hard to arrange for info to be distributed should something happen to me.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
    1. Re:Not a chance in hell by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Probably not with state secrets.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  14. Duress password by arobatino · · Score: 2

    There should be a duress password to indicate coercion.

    1. Re:Duress password by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 1

      Klaatu barada nikto!

      --

      Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

      Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  15. Too many secrets by Tofof · · Score: 1

    More than an hour in and no one has even made a passing reference to 'My Socrates Note' yet?

    For shame....

    1. Re:Too many secrets by mythosaz · · Score: 1

                                  - Setec. - What?

                                  Setec Astronomy.

                                  I just love it when a man says that to me.

                                  Setec doesn't mean anything.

                                  Excuse me.

                                  Carl... ...can you get me some cable and that l/O interface, please?

                                  "Monterey's coast."

                                  Does "Monterey's coast" mean anything to you guys?

                                  - No. - No.

                                  Here, help me with this.

                                  Carl, get the diagnostics.

                                  How about "my Socrates note"?

                                  No.

                                  - No, I don't... - No. No.

                                  Got it. Move to another one.

                                  Give me another one.

                                  Stay in that quadrant.

                                  It's kind of the same thing. Try another quadrant.

                                  Mother, what was that? Go back one.

                                  All right.

                                  Holy cow.

                                  What the hell is this?

                                  "Too many secrets."

  16. Wanted Dead or ... Dead by ramriot · · Score: 1

    This sort of idea can make you more valuable dead to those who want the information leaked in one massive hit, so it can be run through the 24 hour news wash and then forgotten.

  17. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    What if a "foreign power" wants the information released? All they have to do is kill you.

    Isn't that why, allegedly, Snowden turned-over all his documents to journalists? So that if he's killed, there's no remaining stash of documents to be released upon his death?

  18. Blackmail Use? by Irate+Engineer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Read the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton". Got the goods on someone? Upload them to Dead Man Zero, set the timer, and then go squeeze the victim. The victim won't retaliate as they then won't be able to stop the disclosure.

    --

    Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!

    Vote for Bernie in 2016!

  19. Actually... by dnebin · · Score: 1

    This is a new government program. They do want to kill you, but they really want to know what you have first, just in case it is really damaging. By giving them your stuff, they can make an informed decision whether to murder you right away or possibly (although not likely) hold off for awhile.

  20. Re:Why wait until i die? by plopez · · Score: 2

    17K lives by one estimate
    http://www.newrepublic.com/art...

    A testimonial:
    http://theweek.com/speedreads/...

    I'm unsure home how that compares to the millions of lives W. saved when he invaded Iraq ;)

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  21. After Dearth - Alas Michael Crichton was early by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Consider, Michael Crichton wrote a book in which the villains were a group of ecological alarmists. Then suddenly he dies at a young age from a previously undiagnosed cause, his book is pulled from publication and his personal web site is "cleansed" of his questions about the science of alarmist climate change (See Aliens Cause Global Warming). What details would have been leaked had he this service? We will never know.

  22. I Am Invincible! by westlake · · Score: 1

    Holding all the cards makes you the one everyone want to kill --- or crack wide open.
    The geek who can keep his big mouth shut outside the narrow bounds of the darknet is a rare beast indeed. If I held secrets hot enough to burn, my first instinct would be to publish them straight-way and slip away quietly in the ensuing chaos.

  23. Hahaha by s.petry · · Score: 1

    Haha, oh shit.. that is hilarious! The lack of *snark* indicates that you are such a tool you actually believe such a sad statement too. I'm sure in your mind he deserved that Nobel prize, Gitmo was closed, Torture stopped, the Government became more transparent and accountable, we finally have a balanced budget, the deficit was reduced, Bankers were held accountable for embezzlement and fraud, and the wars in the Middle East really ended.

    I wish I could say that you were just a shill, but in reality there are many that believe false claims and have no idea what a "fact" really is.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:Hahaha by davester666 · · Score: 1

      I believe responding to the GP have been whooshed. Fact!

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:Hahaha by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I'm pretty sure that no one in this particular thread is posting seriously.

      Really, I heard Obama thinks VI is better than EMACS. And big-endian is more efficient.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Hahaha by rioki · · Score: 1

      Really, I heard Obama thinks VI is better than EMACS.

      That is brilliant, best invitation for nerd fueled flame war.

  24. "Publish and be damned." by westlake · · Score: 1

    Read the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton".

    Milverton was shot dead by one of his victims who wouldn't pay up and suffered accordingly, with Holmes instinctively tidying things up for her afterward.

    in Elementary, both blackmailer and accomplice are killed by a not-so-innocent victim who saw a chance to take their place.

    In "Sherlock," it is Holmes himself who pulls the trigger.

    The character of Charles Augustus Milverton was based on a real blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell. He was an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, including the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

    Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for predators. Howell died in 1890 in circumstances as strange as any of Doyle's novels: His body was found near a Chelsea public house with his throat posthumously slit, with a ten-shilling coin in his mouth. The presence of the coin was known to be a criticism of those guilty of slander.

    The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

    1. Re:"Publish and be damned." by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      There's a theory that, in Doyle's Sherlock universe, it was also Holmes who pulled the trigger. Watson was being discreet about it when he wrote it up. I forget the details, but I think there wasn't a very good reason for the shooter to have been present at that time.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  25. Encourages the opposite too by Aeros · · Score: 1

    agreed!

  26. Something to consider by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    Someone wants you dead anyway. Particularly if they know that you know something they either don't want you to know or it getting out. Release it anyway, he's either going to kill you afterward or run for the hills (depending what it is). Consider yourself fortunate if he does the latter. Blackmail NEVER works.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  27. That one Law & Order episode by RevWaldo · · Score: 1

    Where a service promised to email personal messages to friends and family "left behind" after the rapture. The three members who founded it would log in every day, assuming that if at least two of them failed to log in, being god-fearing Christians, the rapture has occurred. You can see where this is going.

    .

    --
    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
  28. Name sounds familiar. by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    This is from the same company I bought meteor insurance from.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  29. Re:IT IS THE ONION!!!! by xxdinkxx · · Score: 1

    can't tell if you are a troll or being genuinely stupid, but .onion are tor links. I'm inclined to think you are trolling.

  30. Re:Why wait until i die? by davester666 · · Score: 1

    not really, because there isn't any point to spying on dead people.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  31. dark web service? by DarthVain · · Score: 1

    That must run on dark fiber...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

  32. But I Can't Find it! by Toad-san · · Score: 1

    Curiously I can't seem to find the site. And there are very few "Dead Man Zero" hits on Google. The link in the main article doesn't get you there either. (I was going to ask them for a free account, just to foil the NSA or whoever if in fact this _was_ a honeypot.

  33. Re:Why wait until i die? by mrjimorg · · Score: 1

    Does this take into account that fewer people have healthcare now than before Obamacare took effect?

  34. The name by mrjimorg · · Score: 1

    The name of the website is TrustUsWereNotTheFBI.com

  35. Too easy to stomp into quiet by jraff2 · · Score: 1

    What is to prevent the Gov. from infiltrating "Dead Man Zero" and NSLing them into silence! The only way to ensure that the information gets out would be to have multiple storage site scattered around the various countries where the NSL, CIA, FBI and other TLAs don't have standing.

  36. Re:IT IS THE ONION!!!! by stoborrobots · · Score: 1

    I assumed you were trying to be funny. But yeah, not everyone knows all of the mystery TLDs...

    --
    "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco