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Amnesty International Releases Tool To Combat Government Spyware

Posted by timothy on from the doing-the-right-thing dept.

New submitter Gordon_Shure_DOT_com writes Human rights charity Amnesty International has released Detekt, a tool that finds and removes known government spyware programs. Describing the free software as the first of its kind, Amnesty commissioned the tool from prominent German computer security researcher and open source advocate Claudio Guarnieri, aka 'nex'. While acknowledging that the only sure way to prevent government surveillance of huge dragnets of individuals is legislation, Marek Marczynski of Amnesty nevertheless called the tool (downloadable here) a useful countermeasure versus spooks. According to the app's instructions, it operates similarly to popular malware or virus removal suites, though systems must be disconnected from the Internet prior to it scanning.

46 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. This will last five minutes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "the only sure way to prevent governments surveillance of huge dragnets of individuals is legislation"

    Ha, you seriously think that's going to stop them?

  2. Sure way to make the government block their site? by Kergan · · Score: 2

    Wouldn't the target government's obvious reaction be to block Amnesty International's site? Or worse, to masquerade as their site in order to distribute spyware?

  3. Meh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Shame it doesn't work on Windows 8.1....

    1. Re:Meh by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Shame it doesn't work on Windows 8.1....

      And the build dependencies gave me a lot of trouble when I tried to install it; the recommended packages don't work with one another, the extra python tools didn't even recognise that python was installed.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  4. Don't bother. by mmell · · Score: 2
    If you're interesting enough that the NSA is watching what you do on your computer, the NSA is already watching what you do on your computer. Now that you have detected this, other (possibly less subtle) methods will be used to ensure that you are appropriately monitored . . . but kudos to you for catching the NSA! X^D

    Oh, and First Post!

    1. Re:Don't bother. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The NSA is watching whether you're interesting or not.

      Apparently you didn't get the memo...

    2. Re:Don't bother. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The NSA is watching whether you're interesting or not.

      No, they are just putting you in a ringbuffer, like every time I visit slashdot I go into their logs. They are just recording you, like those dashboard cams. Those only become interesting if something interesting happens, like a car crash. Otherwise, no one looks at these dashcam recordings and they just get overwritten every few hours.

      In case of NSA, this is a huge waste of resources. Recording everyone requires hundreds of billions of dollars in resources and it's only useful how much? To catch some small time dealer?

      In case of individuals, that is only a $30 device. And that device clears up traffic crashes dozens or hundreds of times every day.

      That is why if you want surveillance to actually work, you need to implement it in distributed fashion - by having individual *people* record things and then asking them to cooperate in investigations. Police forces should be working with communities, not imposing themselves on them. NSA should be looking at state actors, not some individuals. And people should not be afraid of their shadows in a perpetual war. War invented to transfer wealth from the people to the select few.

    3. Re:Don't bother. by RabidReindeer · · Score: 2

      The problem is, since they're using statistical methods, you can become "interesting" without actually being interesting. Which is precisely why people need to be involved at all levels, not merely from some dark lair at the top.

    4. Re:Don't bother. by gsslay · · Score: 1

      Fair enough. But if you think you are interesting enough for the NSA to be watching you (so much so that you download and use this tool) you may have just done enough to make you interesting enough for NSA to watch you.

    5. Re:Don't bother. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      This is still useful as a defence against the FBI and other corrupt law enforcement agencies who might attack you. They don't have the resources that the NSA does, and have to be careful about what they reveal in court as evidence against you.

      Even the NSA is powerful, but not magical. They watch everyone, but if you take some steps to block them you can opt out of much of the mass surveillance. If they target you more specifically, you can still block most if not all their spying until it gets to the point where they bother to bug your computer or building.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  5. Hello, I am calling you from Amnesty International by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You seem to have the government spyware on your computer. Please allowing me to do the needful and install software to clean this spyware away...

  6. Re:Hello, I am calling you from Amnesty Internatio by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 1

    Only 9 comments in, and the ever present, always anticipated, anonymous coward, Amnesty International bashing shows up.

    --
    A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
  7. v1.1 by TFlan91 · · Score: 2

    Seems to be a fast dev cycle.

    v1.1 released 12 hours after v1

    https://github.com/botherder/d...

    1. Re:v1.1 by turp182 · · Score: 1

      The NSA probably infected them with a new threat during that time period, and they had to update the target definitions to protect against it.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
  8. Re:Hello, I am calling you from Amnesty Internatio by OhPlz · · Score: 1

    I think that comment is bashing scam artists, not the particular organization. Unfortunately, a lot of people would be clueless enough to fall for that type of phone call.

  9. ROTFL by sribe · · Score: 2

    ... the only sure way to prevent governments surveillance of huge dragnets of individuals is legislation...

    What, they really believe that will work???

    1. Re:ROTFL by Pablew+Nopl · · Score: 1

      It's all well and good to hand-wave about what the constitution does, but the literal constitution does not directly address the issue. It must be interpreted and the interpretation is then applied. Interpretation is where legislation becomes necessary.

      You're an insufferable fool. The spirit and the wording of the 4th amendment both clearly prohibit mass surveillance.

      The 4th says you are secure in your person, papers, and effects. Why would it say "paper"? To literally protect your paper? No, to protect the information on the paper. What is the NSA collecting? Nearly everyone's information, even if they're not suspects of any sort and the government doesn't have a warrant.

      And do you really believe that the founders would have allowed the government to conduct this sort of mass surveillance had it been used against them? When writing the constitution, they took action against all sorts of injustices they knew of at the time, such as general warrants. They very likely would've done the same to mass surveillance had they known about it.

      Finally, the constitution itself does not *explicitly grant* the government the power to conduct this sort of mass surveillance. The constitution is a whitelist of things the government can do, not merely a blacklist of things it can't.

      So no, the constitution can indeed be applied here; it's just that the government ignores the constitution, much like you apparently do. You think that because it doesn't explicitly say that mass surveillance is forbidden, that it must not be; that is an extremely ignorant understanding of the constitution.

      Not in the constitution either, so yet another place where legislation comes in to play.

      It may not be, but I think we need a constitutional amendment. Especially so that harsh punishments can be handed out for anyone who okays violations of the constitution. Right now, absolutely nothing happens.

    2. Re:ROTFL by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It can certainly make life difficult for them. The recent revelations that GCHQ spied on the privileged conversations between suspects and their lawyers only came out because they were dragged in to court. It's not perfect but it's a useful weapon.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  10. Re:Amnesty International by Guy+Harris · · Score: 4, Informative

    Amnesty International has a terrible track record of attacking Western Democracies disproportionately more so than Dictatorships. I guess they like picking on easy targets, instead of actually trying to make a difference. When is the last time we heard them lobby government action in Africa or the Middle-East?

    You mean like this, for Syria, or this, for Iraq, and archived campaigns such as this, for South Sudan, and this, for the Central African Republic?

  11. Re:... and grandma ain't going to know how to use by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    And does it work against putative Nigerian royalty?

  12. Re:Hello, I am calling you from Amnesty Internatio by ihtoit · · Score: 1

    Hi, is that Dave in Bangalore? That software you sold me isn't working as expected, in fact the mouse cursor seems to have taken on a life of its own and gone hunting for bear porn.

    --
    Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
  13. MS-Windows by markdavis · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't this article be tagged "MS-Windows"? The download is an .exe file (which is exactly what I expected)

    1. Re: MS-Windows by hduff · · Score: 1

      I ran it in a virtual Win7 machine and it displayed a splash screen and just sat there like that for hours until I killed it.

      How is this any better than, say, ComboFix,exe? http://www.bleepingcomputer.co...

      --
      "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
  14. Re:Sure way to make the government block their sit by currently_awake · · Score: 1

    I would think the NSA's response would be to MITM the internet connection and have it download NSA spyware when you think you are loading the spyware detector. Blocking the download just draws attention to them, it won't actually block those who want the software from getting it elsewhere.

  15. Bug #1 for this software makes it pretty useless. by supernaut · · Score: 2

    This software does not support Windows 8 or 8.1 x64.

    This makes it kind of useless for a whole swath of people like journalists, human rights defenders, etc who have purchased a new Windows machine in the last year or so can't use it.

    --
    Supernaut
  16. Brilliant Social Engineering! by INT_QRK · · Score: 2

    So, how can you be sure that "click here" in TFA doesn't itself download malware disguised as malware detection? If I were a black-hat govy who wanted to root out people worried about government malware, I might use such a ruse. Think about it.

  17. Re:Amnesty are tools by Falconhell · · Score: 1

    Is there some part of that's not what they are there for you don't get, fuck me what a morn.

  18. declared terrorists in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Amnesty International added to the list of terrorist organizations in 3... 2... 1...

  19. Closed source executable by ourlovecanlastforeve · · Score: 1

    A single closed-source executable from a German organization claiming to have the support of Amnesty International.

    Seems legit.

    1. Re:Closed source executable by RGuns · · Score: 2

      Umm, it's released under the GPL. So not closed source at all.

  20. Re:Sure way to make the government block their sit by CauseBy · · Score: 1

    Yeah, or this entire announcement is just cover for a program like the fake vaccines in Abottabad.

    Also, this: "the only sure way to prevent governments surveillance of huge dragnets of individuals is legislation".

    Can anyone explain to me how legislation would prevent government surveillance? I don't get it. If the Constitution isn't enough, why would a law be? Maybe because laws are how dollars get spent?

  21. Re:Amnesty International by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1
    AI has always been an anti-Western institution, right from the very beginning. Do you not know this, or are you being deliberately misleading?

    "Alec saw the battle lines redrawn with stark clarity, with the victims of capitalist and imperialist oppression all over the world on one side, and the United States and its allies, including Spain, on the other. Given such a contest, he realised that to undertake the defence of the Spanish freemasons had been timely as well as symbolically correct because it opened the door for victims of injustice everywhere, but especially in countries friendly to the United States, to join his former comrades-in-arms in Spanish prisons in a grand international coalition of the oppressed whose plight, when efficiently publicised, would bring embarrassment and opprobrium to the adversaries of the Soviet Union."
    -- foundation of Amnesty International, 1954

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  22. Re:Amnesty International by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    I can see why you might not to have wanted to post a link to that. The first one I found was a right wing rag, so now I'm wondering who's farting into the wind here. Then I find the original article (pdf, pg 11) at another right wing rag...

    As they say, Nice try :-)

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  23. Re:Amnesty International by HairyNevus · · Score: 2

    Amnesty International was founded in London in 1961 . I have no idea what that that paragraph was from, Googling bits and pieces of it and "Amnesty International 1954" yielded nothing. But given how long an nonsensical that last sentence was, I'm guessing you're just manufacturing bullshit.

    --
    You were critically hit for no damage. The bruise will look nice, and maybe the scars will make good party talk.
  24. Re:Amnesty International by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Sorry, forgot the first link...

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  25. Re:Is it just me, or are there a lot of A/C's here by mmell · · Score: 1

    Offtopic!?!. Bull - that was damned funny - and dead on-topic, in view of what we're talking about here.

  26. Re:Only win32? by hduff · · Score: 1

    I guess the spyware it detects only runs on Windows platforms. Would be nice, though, to be able to do an offline scan of a windows system from a bootable usb, or linux cd.

    My thoughts exactly.

    The win32 binary will not run with WINE. I get a segfault.

    --
    "I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
  27. Says my version of windows is unsupported by Mistakill · · Score: 2

    Using Windows 8.1 Update 1, fully patched.... *facedesk*

  28. Re:Is it just me, or are there a lot of A/C's here by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    A/C? Are you kidding? It's 2 degrees and snowing here, they've got the heat shut down this afternoon while they're flushing the radiators, and I've got my space heater going. Why do they not do this in, say, August?

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  29. Re:Bug #1 for this software makes it pretty useles by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

    €10 says this is because you can't build 64-bit binaries with the free version of MSVS.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  30. Re: ... and grandma ain't going to know how to use by aavery · · Score: 1

    what about ubuntu/linux?

  31. Re:AI co-authered "babies thrown from incubators" by crtreece · · Score: 1

    Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein.

    --
    file: .signature not found
  32. Re:Only win32? by Zanadou · · Score: 1

    Runs in WINE for me. ("wine-1.7.31") Not an issue.

    Naturally, it didn't find any spyware. :)

  33. Taxpayer-funded malware. *facepalm* by wad4ever · · Score: 1

    I love my government. -_-

    --
    --- wad
  34. But I DID get the first post . . . by mmell · · Score: 1
    You see, I was in an automobile going through a yellow light, really fast. There was a mountain nearby. The combination of gravity and velocity created localized distortions in the space-time field making time go slower for me (Lorenz-Fitzgerald contraction, time dilation).

    No, wait. That wasn't the first post . . . THIS IS!!!. Yay!! First Post!

  35. From NGO to no-go? by lissnup · · Score: 1

    As a "non-government" organisation, is Amnesty International crossing a line into "anti-government" behaviour? How might this impact Amnesty's credibility when engaging with government on human rights issues?"