50,000 Users Test New Anti-Censorship Tool TapDance (www.cbc.ca)

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50,000 Users Test New Anti-Censorship Tool TapDance (www.cbc.ca)

Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday August 20, 2017 @10:34AM from the sneaking-past-censors dept.

The CBC reports: What if circumventing censorship didn't rely on some app or service provider that would eventually get blocked but was built into the very core of the internet itself? What if the routers and servers that underpin the internet -- infrastructure so important that it would be impractical to block -- could also double as one big anti-censorship tool...? After six years in development, three research groups have joined forces to conduct real-world tests.
An anonymous reader writes: Earlier this week, Professor Eric Wustrow, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, presented An ISP-Scale Deployment of TapDance at the USENIX Workshop on Free and Open Communications on the Internet. TapDance is an anti-censorship, circumvention application based on "refraction networking" (formerly known as "decoy routing") that has been the subject of academic research for several years. Now, with integration with Psiphon, 50,000 users, a deployment that spans two ISPs, and an open source release, it seems to have graduated to the real world.
"In the long run, we absolutely do want to see refraction networking deployed at as many ISPs that are as deep in the network as possible," one of the paper's authors told the CBC. "We would love to be so deeply embedded in the core of the network that to block this tool of free communication would be cost-prohibitive for censors."

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Not A Moment Too Soon by Crashmarik · 2017-08-20 10:42 · Score: 1, Insightful

With Google, Facebook, Twitter and Cloudfare all deciding they get to be the worlds nannies this may just what the doctor ordered.
1. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Nutria · 2017-08-20 10:50 · Score: 2
  
  But how does this help when:
  1) Oppressive Regimes don't install this routers, and
  2) hosting & DNS servers and CDNs cancel your service?
  
  --
  "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
2. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 11:01 · Score: 1
  
  You did not even read it did you? It is just a way for internet users to bypass (government) blocks. It does not solve the problem of denying people a forum to spout their ideas in the first place.
  And I doubt it will work as intended. The Chinese will just label it a "circumvention device" and punish anyone that will provide this infrastructure right from the start. In fact, they have already started by demanding all information of chinese users will be stored on servers in China. China will not hesitate to fracture the internet if need be. In fact, I think that is there long term goal.
3. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by JaredOfEuropa · 2017-08-20 11:05 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  "First they came for the Nazis...". If a couple of entities get to decide what speech is acceptable and what isn't, and can effectively keep "undesirable" speech from reaching the public, then who is to say who's next? If the nazis don't have freedom of speech, we don't have it either, even if it feels good to be rid of them and we ourselves don't yet have to feel limited in what we say. Just wait.
  
  --
  If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
4. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 11:23 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And if you want to see this in action, you just needed to see the anti-First Amendment rioters in Boston yesterday. They prevented people from holding a rally in support of the First Amendment and required something like 500 riot police in order to contain. All because they decided that anyone who supports free speech is by definition a Nazi.
  You might not like what they say, but it is absolutely vital to a healthy society that they be allowed to say it. Otherwise, things like the violence in Charlottesville and Boston will continue.
5. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by PopeRatzo · 2017-08-20 11:28 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If the nazis don't have freedom of speech, we don't have it either,
  That's not even close to true. Nazis don't have freedom of speech in Germany, haven't had it for over half a century, but you still hear loud political discourse from all over the ideological spectrum. Nobody was "next".
  Slippery slope arguments are for dopes. Don't fall into that trap. Free speech isn't a suicide pact. Societies, like any natural organic system, has the right to reject cancer, harmful bacteria or viruses.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
6. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 11:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  You're wrong. They literally are arresting people now who blaspheme against Islam, under the same anti-Nazi laws. The slope is real.
  I know that you feel really good about all of this, but you of all people should fight for the right to say incredibly stupid and ignorant shit, because that's what you do constantly.
7. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Opportunist · 2017-08-20 11:49 · Score: 1
  
  Last time I checked those drug sellers didn't mind me speaking my mind, so I guess it's easy to decide who to side with.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
8. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 11:56 · Score: 1
  
  nonesense. all nazis should have the swastika cut into their forehead inglorious bastards style.
  Yes, and all Jews should have a star pinned to their clothing...gee...where have I heard that before...
9. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 11:59 · Score: 2
  
  I would prefer the Nazi sympathizers were made to wear clown suits, because that is what they really are, and it is how everyone sees them in public once they reveal their utterly insane beliefs.
10. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 12:03 · Score: 1, Troll
  
  Remember that this was your claim: "They literally are arresting people now who blaspheme against Islam, under the same anti-Nazi laws. The slope is real." Give me one fucking example where someone was arrested for this outside of Iran, Indonesia, etc. And bullshit answers don't count. Give me case numbers, names, dates, etc. Specific information.
11. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by mSparks43 · 2017-08-20 12:22 · Score: 1
  
  because mutilared genitals isnt enough?
  Although, legend has it, many Jews actually wear the star of david voluntarily.
12. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Z80a · 2017-08-20 12:32 · Score: 2
  
  Anti censorship tools are tools that can be used by the nazi to speak their shit and by their victims to denounce their shit. Also by people smart enough to convince people to not be nazis in first place.
13. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by thegarbz · 2017-08-20 12:46 · Score: 1
  
  Except they aren't and this won't help.
14. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by aliquis · 2017-08-20 12:50 · Score: 1
  
  Dark nets.
  Fucking stupid question.
15. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 12:54 · Score: 1
  
  1) Oppressive Regimes don't install this routers
  Doesn't matter. This relies on friendly regimes installing the functionality. The redirect works whenever someone accesses any site that hosts the redirect capability. The censoring country can only stop the redirects by banning access to all servers that run it. If enough servers run the redirect capability, this is what TFA calls "prohibitive to block" since they'd have to cut off access to basically the internet itself.
  
  2) hosting & DNS servers and CDNs cancel your service?
  It doesn't help in this case at all. That's not its point.
16. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 13:20 · Score: 1
  
  You can go from there:
  http://pamelageller.com/2017/08/islam-reich-alliance.html/
  So don't be a lazy shit, just use a search engine.
17. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by OYAHHH · 2017-08-20 13:35 · Score: 2
  
  You don't pay very close attention do you?
  http://grk.am/S1
  
  --
  Caution: Contents under pressure
18. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 14:03 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blasphemy_law#Germany
  You lose. Now shut the fuck up, Nazi.
19. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by hsthompson69 · 2017-08-20 14:11 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yeah, but something doesn't smell right - if friendly ISPs can recognize this protocol and aid and abet the bypassing of firewalls, then censoring entities can *also* recognize this protocol.
  Where's the method for preventing interception of the initial handshake?
20. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 14:50 · Score: 1
  
  So you fucktards are trying to use the arrest of a German-naturalized turk by Spanish authorities responding to an international warrant as a premise? It will be thrown out once the claim by Turkey is recognized as politically motivated because the fellow writes about the Armenian genocide which embarrasses Turkey and Erdogan. You really need to learn how to read and comprehend things, which seems like your fundamental problem. Please repeat primary school.
21. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Mr.+Shotgun · 2017-08-20 15:07 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  That's not even close to true. Nazis don't have freedom of speech in Germany, haven't had it for over half a century, but you still hear loud political discourse from all over the ideological spectrum. Nobody was "next".
  Germany and free speech, Germany and free speech, where have I heard this trope before? Oh right, last year where a comedian was being charged for the crime of "insulting a foreign head of state". Now to be fair they did eventually drop the charges and made moves to drop that particular crime, though the current status of that effort I do not know. Who knows, maybe the made the motion of repealing it but it "Died in committee" only for the law to be dusted off again when it is convenient.
  But the question remains, why was that particular thing codified into law? What prompted the German leaders to make it illegal to criticize foreign heads of state? Was there some pressing crisis of low moral foreign dignitaries in need of a safe space in Germany? I am not sure, but the after effects remain. This is yet another example of the chilling effects that free speech restrictions can have upon "loud political discourse". While you may say there is no slippery slope, I would say that this is but one example of one. Nazi's may not have freedom of speech in Germany, but neither do political comedians.
  P.S. For those Slashdotters living in Germany, I am not aware of the current status of your Lese-Majeste laws but do be aware that U.S. President Trump is also a big fan of expanding Libel laws, so unless you know for certain that the law mentioned above was repealed you may want to keep quite about him. Because he will certainly use them against you if he can.
  
  --
  Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
22. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by AHuxley · 2017-08-20 15:22 · Score: 1
  
  German law goes after anyone who could upset democracy as put in place in West Germany and now in Germany.
  Left, right, faiths, publishers, political parties all face the same political laws and have to be very aware of what they say and comment on.
  The US has freedom of speech and freedom after speech. A much better legal system to publish in as rights are fully protected from any governments :)
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
23. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by PopeRatzo · 2017-08-20 15:31 · Score: 2
  
  German law goes after anyone who could upset democracy as put in place in West Germany and now in Germany.
  Left, right, faiths, publishers, political parties all face the same political laws and have to be very aware of what they say and comment on.
  The US has freedom of speech and freedom after speech.
  
  And yet, if you go to Germany right now, you will hear much greater diversity in political speech and ideology than you will in the US. Far left, far Right, and everything in between. Loudly spoken and debated. Anarchists, fascists, communists, every possible position on the spectrum is heard in Germany. Just don't be a Nazi. "German Law" hasn't done anything to curtail free speech. Just don't be a Nazi.
  Just don't try to pretend the Holocaust didn't happen, because Germany has the fucking receipts for the Holocaust, and they will shut you down.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
24. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by PopeRatzo · 2017-08-20 15:33 · Score: 1
  
  Yes but that rejection should take the form of society (not government) outing and ostracizing nazis till they learn that they are wrong
  OK, that's what Antifa is for. They are the new first responders, and they're here to reject Nazism with extreme prejudice, because that's all Nazis understand.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
25. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by AHuxley · 2017-08-20 15:48 · Score: 1
  
  Re "German Law" hasn't done anything to curtail free speech
  The only speech that is allowed in Germany is legal speech that supports democracy.
  Some of the origins of modern German law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
  Thats very different to the USA and having free speech fully protected before and after speaking or publication.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
26. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 16:40 · Score: 1
  
  It does not relate to claimed anti nazi laws so you are still wrong. Rather this fits under the bullshit category as it is deflection. You fucktards really need to work on reading skills. Or you are worthless and clowns.
27. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Mr.+Shotgun · 2017-08-20 16:44 · Score: 1
  
  "German Law" hasn't done anything to curtail free speech. Just don't be a Nazi.
  Ahem. Though please please please, tell me how this comedian was a Nazi.
  
  --
  Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
28. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by PopeRatzo · 2017-08-20 17:08 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Though please please please, tell me how this comedian was a Nazi.
  He wasn't a Nazi and his freedom of speech was not curtailed and he was not prosecuted. Merkel said the prosecution could move forward, but it never did. And all this happened after his poem was published and distributed widely. And the law was changed.
  Go back and read the article more carefully. And remember, free speech does not mean consequence-free speech. You can still be dragged into court for libel or slander. If you cry "fire" in a theater, you can be prosecuted. Even right here in freedom-loving Texas, you can be prosecuted for "fighting words", defined as:
  
  1. Use “abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language,” of the kind likely to provoke a physical altercation.
  You think flying a Nazi flag or telling people that you're going to put them in ovens or promoting the Klan in a majority black community might fit that definition? Of course it does. Free speech does not give you the right to say whatever kind of shit you want without consequences. It didn't in 1789 and it doesn't now.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
29. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by kipsate · 2017-08-20 18:08 · Score: 1
  
  Slippery slope arguments are for dopes.
  It is undisputable that Germany is on a slippery slope.
  
  At first, only Nazi propaganda was outlawed. The new "Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz" now also makes “evidently unlawful” content illegal and forces Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to remove it or be fined. It is unclear what is meant by "evidently unlawful" but it is definitely no longer just confined to Nazi propaganda.
  
  Textbook slippery slope.
  
  --
  My karma ran over your dogma
30. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Mr.+Shotgun · 2017-08-20 18:46 · Score: 1
  
  He wasn't a Nazi and his freedom of speech was not curtailed and he was not prosecuted. Merkel said the prosecution could move forward, but it never did.
  Yeah, if I saw someone escape prosecution by the skin of his teeth I am sure going to be encouraged to speak up like him. Chilling effects dude, they happen.
  
  Go back and read the article more carefully.
  I could but I have taken notice of what happened already. Germany has a lese-majeste law on the books. This guy (rightly or wrongly) criticized Recepe Erdrogen and his stalking of hobbits up Mt. Doom personal characteristics,and he tried to use that law to silence a critic. And Merkel was ok with that. Do you think that encouraged "loud political discourse"?
  
  You can still be dragged into court for libel or slander.
  
  the U.S. has a much stricter definition of libel and slander than European countries, so much so that we passed the SPEECH act. Germany on the other hand moved to prosecute a comedian for criticizing Erdrogen, who recently wanted to make the teaching of evolution illegal.
  
  You think flying a Nazi flag or telling people that you're going to put them in ovens or promoting the Klan in a majority black community might fit that definition? Of course it does. Free speech does not give you the right to say whatever kind of shit you want without consequences. It didn't in 1789 and it doesn't now.
  Quit trying to drag neo-nazis into this shit. You asserted that " if you go to Germany right now, you will hear much greater diversity in political speech and ideology than you will in the US.". And I have already shown that is not the case. I, here in the US, can criticize any leader i want and not fear prosecution. Trump is a narcissist, Edrogan needs to lay off them hobbits, Merkel is a coward and Theresa May is a way worse leader than Lord Buckethead. Can anyone in Germany say the same?
  
  --
  Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
31. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by johanw · 2017-08-20 19:10 · Score: 2
  
  Terrorist attack? Get real, someone was beaten up by the SWJ extremists and flipped. While of course illegal I would not call that terrorism.
32. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Dog-Cow · 2017-08-20 19:11 · Score: 1
  
  You asserted that " if you go to Germany right now, you will hear much greater diversity in political speech and ideology than you will in the US.". And I have already shown that is not the case.
  No, you haven't, you stupid, illogical wad of used condoms.
33. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by fustakrakich · 2017-08-20 19:27 · Score: 1
  
  Censorship is suicide, or it's murder. Who cares? It's poison. But you're right, free speech is not a suicide pact, it's a vaccine against tyranny.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
34. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by fustakrakich · 2017-08-20 19:36 · Score: 1
  
  As they say, the law is an ass. Any technology that can circumvent all censorship will be the best thing that can happen. Then we won't have to hear all the stupid masturbatory arguments about it.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
35. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by l0n3s0m3phr34k · 2017-08-20 19:39 · Score: 1
  
  I really think that has FAR more to do with Germany being a federal parliamentary republic VS. the US's "winner takes all" system. The US system seems to end up with only two parties, no matter how many times a "third party" splits off. A parliament allows many different groups to share power, although theoretically it can "collapse" into a "snap election" for Prime Minister at any time.
36. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by JaredOfEuropa · 2017-08-20 23:05 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  This happened in the Netherlands. A case was made against a cartoonist who made fun of Islam, descendants of slaves on a guilt trip, politics in general, that sort of thing. Hate speech? Not at all a clear cut case, nevertheless an indictment was made and 9 heavily armed policemen broke into his flat in the middle of the night to grab him and his laptop. In the end all charges were dropped, but the guy got the message and stopped making cartoons. Mission accomplished, one undesirable voice silenced.
  
  This sort of thing shouldn't be possible in a society that takes free speech seriously. And that starts with not having vague delimitations of that freedom. In Europe, critique of Islam is increasingly seen as "hate speech". In the USA, you don't have to wave a swastika around to be branded a nazi, it is enough to defend a statue of a confederate general. Or maybe a trump bumper sticker is sufficient these days. Look at what happened on some social media sites in the wake of events in Charlottesville: suddenly all of alt-right (whatever the hell that is) is branded undesirable.
  
  --
  If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
37. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by AmiMoJo · 2017-08-21 00:02 · Score: 1
  
  Oh right, last year where a comedian was being charged for the crime of "insulting a foreign head of state".
  You own link says that he wasn't charged, merely that the state's prosecutors were allowed to decide if there should be charges based on Turkey's request for extradition. There was no prosecution in the end.
  Basically she refused to block it outright for diplomatic reasons (Turkey helping with the migrant crisis), knowing that it wouldn't go anywhere and that it was due to be repealed next year anyway. And Germany is hardly alone in having stupid old laws on its books.
  And to be clear, Merkel or anyone in the government doesn't have the power to prosecute people, only the judiciary can do that.
  
  though the current status of that effort I do not know. Who knows, maybe the made the motion of repealing it but it "Died in committee" only for the law to be dusted off again when it is convenient.
  Or perhaps if you read your own fucking link you would have noticed that they are planning to do it next year, and due to the linear nature of time that means it hasn't happened yet.
  
  But the question remains, why was that particular thing codified into law?
  Historical reasons. You may remember Germany had some issues with bad laws in the past.
  
  another example of the chilling effects
  Not really. This guy set out to test the limits of the law, and his actions resulted in it being changed. If anything, this episode should have emboldened people wishing to say controversial things as it has proven that the old law won't be used and no prosecution will result.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
38. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by jellomizer · 2017-08-21 00:38 · Score: 1
  
  So what will stop you from clicking on the link that downloads malware. Spyware, and other harmful material.
  Unfortunately the process to protect your network from bad actors is also the same technology to "protect" your government from alternative interpretations of history.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
39. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by johanw · 2017-08-21 00:48 · Score: 1
  
  Then let them battle it out. It seems to me the score nazi vs. antifa is 1-0 at the moment.
40. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2017-08-21 00:50 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, and all Jews should have a star pinned to their clothing...gee...where have I heard that before...
  In Medieval Europe?
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
41. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by Applehu+Akbar · 2017-08-21 00:52 · Score: 2
  
  At the behest of Muslims, UK police are tracking and arresting as terrorists immigrants who fought for Peshmerga and other anti-jihadist militias.
42. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2017-08-21 00:59 · Score: 1
  
  I'm not sure that *races* have countries. In the modern age of nation states, nations have states.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
43. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by PopeRatzo · 2017-08-21 01:10 · Score: 1
  
  The 'Holocaust' is the central lie that the Jew uses to terrorise their slave population...
  I hate Slashdot Nazis.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
44. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Ol+Olsoc · 2017-08-21 01:31 · Score: 1
  
  "First they came for the Nazis...". If a couple of entities get to decide what speech is acceptable and what isn't, and can effectively keep "undesirable" speech from reaching the public, then who is to say who's next? If the nazis don't have freedom of speech, we don't have it either, even if it feels good to be rid of them and we ourselves don't yet have to feel limited in what we say. Just wait.
  Define freedom of speech.
  
  --
  The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
45. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by GameboyRMH · 2017-08-21 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  "First they came for the Nazis..."
  Hilarious that this is being used unironically in defense of nazis now, considering that it's a paraphrasing of a quote about being persecuted by nazis.
  But maybe if we keep defending and coddling nazis, the original context will become more relevant again.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
46. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by GameboyRMH · 2017-08-21 01:40 · Score: 1
  
  Horseshit. The "free speech rally" was organized by the "alt-lite," which is a splinter of the alt-right composed of people not comfortable with openly supporting white nationalist views. They're still anti-immigration nationalists in a white-majority country, which is practically almost the same as being a white nationalist.
  
  --
  "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
47. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by AutodidactLabrat · 2017-08-21 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  When Freedom of Speech = freedom to lie, Putinism results.
  Hitler liked the tactic of "alternative facts" and that short lived democracy died of the disease
  Until and unless Putinism is confronted at EVERY post, gathering or meme posting, freedom, even the idea of a rePUBLIC, is in danger.
48. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by AutodidactLabrat · 2017-08-21 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  "Every Other Race" like China, being more than 30 different 'races' from Mongol to Uzbek?
  Idiot, that very claim is a lie
49. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by pedantic+bore · 2017-08-21 05:37 · Score: 1
  
  TFA doesn't provide much technical info, but the papers it links to explain this in some detail.
  In a nutshell, crypto and steganography: using the public key of the system, the client hides a signal in a TLS connection, which the TapDance station can recognize because it knows the private key. If you don't know the private key, the TLS connection looks like an ordinary stream of encrypted TLS records. In fact, it is a valid TLS connection, so the server doesn't think anything is weird about it either.
  
  --
  Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
50. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by hsthompson69 · 2017-08-21 08:53 · Score: 1
  
  Read the paper, but it wasn't terribly clear either - they seemed more interested in scalability than operations.
  Anyway, so the trick is you need to make sure that end users behind the firewall can get your public key...which, if they're doing DPI, they can filter out, so that someone has to send it via snail mail, or otherwise stego it somewhere. Difficult, but not impossible.
  I guess the other problem is if the censors shove you behind an encryption terminating firewall (i.e., they insist you instantiate a valid TLS connection to *their* front end, which will only establish a TLS connection beyond it if they approve of the contents they see. Make SSL/TLS/etc illegal behind the censor firewall, and that'll put an end to any sort of hiding of the protocol.
51. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by pedantic+bore · 2017-08-21 09:19 · Score: 1
  
  They had the Psiphon folks doing the operations side of things. There's a presumption that the users can get the Psiphon software through some mechanism, and install it on their computers. I guess the Psiphon bundle includes the public key, maybe hidden in some way, maybe not, but in any case if they've figured out some way to sneak the Psiphon bundle past the bad guys, sneaking the public key past the bad guys seems like it wouldn't be any harder.
  
  --
  Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
52. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by pedantic+bore · 2017-08-21 09:29 · Score: 1
  
  In most parts of the world, everyone uses the government ISP already. That's a given.
  This software is installed in an ISP that's beyond the control of the censors. I don't think Merit Network or the University of Colorado are going to worry much about whether they or their users are breaking the network laws of some random country halfway around the world.
  
  --
  Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
53. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by hsthompson69 · 2017-08-21 10:27 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, that makes sense.
  I was thinking the other way they could implement would be with some port knocking sequence to the friendly ISP - that crap is hella hard to notice, even with DPI. I wish there were more useful implementations of it, but my bet is the deep state is intent on suppressing that kind of tech.
54. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by ArmoredDragon · 2017-08-21 13:16 · Score: 1
  
  This is especially relevant in the current climate of having politicians and the media deciding who is a nazi and who isn't based on a whim. Or worse, groups like Antifa and universities like Evergreen State essentially being able to justify violence and censorship against anybody that they decide is a nazi, with the police and university staff only providing protection to the side making those accusations. Take for example, the Coulter and Milo speeches at Berkeley.
55. Re: Not A Moment Too Soon by OYAHHH · 2017-08-22 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  The obvious reaction from someone who has been bested. Consider yourself lucky. I save my smackdowns for those who deserve it the mostest.
  
  --
  Caution: Contents under pressure
56. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by JesseMcDonald · 2017-08-23 03:42 · Score: 1
  
  Define freedom of speech.
  The precise definition really doesn't matter. Freedom of speech is a natural consequence of the fundamental principle of proportional response. Simply avoid escalating matters by answering speech with physical violence (including "legal" violence like jail, fines, etc.) and the rest will take care of itself.
  
  --
  "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
57. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by Ol+Olsoc · 2017-08-23 07:00 · Score: 1
  
  Define freedom of speech.
  The precise definition really doesn't matter. Freedom of speech is a natural consequence of the fundamental principle of proportional response. Simply avoid escalating matters by answering speech with physical violence (including "legal" violence like jail, fines, etc.) and the rest will take care of itself.
  Is murder of your opposition an expression of free speech? Keep in mind, his supporters expressed that they support the murder.
  
  --
  The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
58. Re:Not A Moment Too Soon by KingBenny · 2017-08-26 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  Well, im keeping my sig, i had it for years and i think it says all i have to say on the matter but ... does everyone really think the united lobbies of the free world and PC-Europe will just let it happen ? cos you can't block the nazi's either like that HAHAH ... which imo is as said ... well you either have free speech or you dont, i think its better to let it so you know at least where every fringe is hiding
  
  --
  Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
U.S. Citizens right to speak by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 10:54 · Score: 1, Insightful

See subject: It's what I believe in. No matter who you are/what your views are you have the right to speak (especially if you back it w/ fact. Not just "relative truths" but absolute hard fact). It's up to others to listen (or not) but if "a truncheon is used in lieu of conversation" we have a problem.
APK
P.S.=> A truly VERY serious problem that subverts 1 of this nation's fundamental values & rights... apk
1. Re:U.S. Citizens right to speak by indi0144 · 2017-08-20 15:24 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Correct me if Im wrong but weren't you, Americans, the ones that beat the crap out of the nazis and chest pounded over that fact for the next 60 years? And now you are getting all triggered because some wannabe nazi gets bitchlapped on the street? What the fuck happened to you America? How many RPMs do your grandparents are getting on their graves? How come you got so easily manipulable all for defending a $party that does not give a fuck about you.
  
  Is this karma for all the presidents you planted on "banana republics" that now you are going even lower in the cognitive dissonance regard?
2. Re:U.S. Citizens right to speak by AmiMoJo · 2017-08-21 00:05 · Score: 1
  
  2015: Sorry snowflakes, there are no safe spaces in real life
  2017: Help I need somewhere safe to discuss my nationalist bullshit
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
3. Re:U.S. Citizens right to speak by Mashiki · 2017-08-21 01:58 · Score: 1
  
  Can't figure out the difference? Do you need me to tell it to you, or would you rather work it out for yourself.
  
  2015: Sorry snowflakes, there are no safe spaces in real life
  Sorry snowflakes, we're not censoring media because it hurts your feelings.
  
  2017: Help I need somewhere safe to discuss my nationalist bullshit
  Help, there's insane communists trying to stifle everyone's speech, by declaring it 'hate speech.'
  
  --
  Om, nomnomnom...
4. Re:U.S. Citizens right to speak by Mashiki · 2017-08-21 03:06 · Score: 1
  
  This isn't the middle ground. That's what people ended up protesting in Boston Commons. Insane communists indeed, with people wrapped in a media hysteria bubble.
  
  --
  Om, nomnomnom...
5. Re:U.S. Citizens right to speak by indi0144 · 2017-08-21 15:30 · Score: 1
  
  IDK about muslim immigrants where I live now, those that came more than a hundred years ago and they all set successful business and there is no muslim mosques or culture whatsoever around here they all assimilated the local culture probably because we weren't bombing the shit out of them since the dawn of industrialization... oh wait you thought I was from Europe. Carry on
Unaddressed question by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2017-08-20 11:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

As described in the article, it seems like this might be ripe for abuse as a hard-to-block DDOS tool. How would that be prevented?

--
#DeleteChrome
What ISP? by manu0601 · 2017-08-20 11:34 · Score: 1

They want an ISP-based system, but TFA does not makes clear that there are some ISP willing to implement the idea.
One problem I foresee is that there seems to be no gain for a participating ISP, and most ISP are primarily driven by profit.
1. Re:What ISP? by pedantic+bore · 2017-08-21 05:47 · Score: 1
  
  TFA (well, the second one, the USENIX paper) makes it clear that there are already two ISPs running this software.
  Not a tier-1 ISP, granted, but MERIT carries a pretty large chunk of the traffic in and out of the Midwest. It's a start.
  
  --
  Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
Tor, I2P, vpngate. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 11:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

The technologies are already there.
The former two need more development work, since many of the obfuscation formats for networks utilizing DPI have been fingerprinted sufficiently to kill connections/flag suspected users.
The latter, vpngate, works out of the box and has rotating IP addresses and many 'volunteer' outproxies. Unlike Tor it works with both TCP and UDP, doesn't support port forwarding (limiting p2p apps running through it to client-only modes.)
I2P supports both stream and datagram style packets, can tunnel either over the other, with the streaming mode offering a performance penalty, and only has a single http outproxy enabled by default, although it could in theory support TCP+UDP outproxying if someone wrote the socks5 support for it.
Arrogant. by Gravis+Zero · 2017-08-20 12:18 · Score: 2

What they are failing to recognize is that repressive governments can dictate what people can and cannot run on a server within their own borders. You can argue they can use servers outside their borders but that's just likely to cause them to completely segment their chunk of the internet.
The real-world result of this tool is going to be enabling individuals that were banned from various sites for ToS violations to continue spreading hate/spam on those sites.
It's good in concept but the reality is the $5 wrench will win.

--
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
proxy certificate by dhammabum · 2017-08-20 12:24 · Score: 1

Refraction networking certainly makes it very difficult but not impossible to intercept comms. Would it not be possible to 'mandate' the use of a govt-sponsored root certificate on browsers? They could then do man-in-the-middle decryption at the router level. This would require a massive effort, but then the Great Firewall is pretty massive.

--
I am not a robot. I am a unicorn.
FreeNet by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 12:56 · Score: 5, Interesting

How is this better than FreeNet?
https://freenetproject.org/
Terrific! by argStyopa · 2017-08-20 13:40 · Score: 1

...so this means that people like the KKK and white supremacists can finally avoid being censored?
That's good, right?

--
-Styopa
1. Re:Terrific! by aardvarkjoe · 2017-08-20 13:52 · Score: 2
  
  ...so this means that people like the KKK and white supremacists can finally avoid being censored?
  That's good, right?
  Yes.
  Because if you can censor the KKK, you can censor anyone. And those that support censorship are never satisfied.
  
  --
  
  How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
2. Re:Terrific! by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 14:32 · Score: 2
  
  If the KKK and Nazis just wanted to talk then they wouldn't kill people or carry rifles like hand bags. As it is, they bring violence upon themselves, or mockery. I prefer to mock the little fake-ass imitation soldiers who are so stupid they can't even tie their own fucking shoes without pictorial instructions.
3. Re:Terrific! by Jzanu · 2017-08-20 15:28 · Score: 1
  
  You are a stupid fucking idiot, I'm German so have nothing to do with US political bickering. My position is vehemently anti-Nazi though. I will destroy any Nazi or sympathizer who attacks anyone. That does include killing them in a war, and to prevent them killing others as part of a revolution. Otherwise they are stupid fucks who get treated like the clowns they really are inside.
4. Re: Terrific! by Reverend+Green · 2017-08-20 18:45 · Score: 1
  
  How much does Putin pay you to agitate against freedom of speech and undermine American values?
5. Re:Terrific! by Opportunist · 2017-08-20 20:52 · Score: 1
  
  Then arrest those that commit crimes and let the rest speak. What exactly is your problem?
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
6. Re:Terrific! by Mashiki · 2017-08-21 03:12 · Score: 1
  
  You're a fucking idiot then. There was more damage in and to Germany from antifa and their ilk in the last year, then there has been by actual nazi's in the last decade.
  
  --
  Om, nomnomnom...
7. Re:Terrific! by BlueStrat · 2017-08-21 04:17 · Score: 1
  
  Coming from a non-US English nation, what is wrong with Americans in general? Their collective psyche is like no other nation on the planet; the closest to a general national identity that can be described appears to be "paranoid schizophrenic on crack". That's a generalisation, obviously, but it's an awful one to consider.
  A few decades ago this was not so much the case in the US as it is today. What you are witnessing is the result of identity/group politics dividing people along every conceivable social dividing line...be it race, religion, gender, wealth, or ideology...then fanning-up the flames of hate and pitting these groups against each other so that TPTB can maintain and grow their power, control, and wealth, with little pushback possible from the fractured and infighting plebs who are too busy hating and fighting each each other to resist anything TPTB wish to do.
  Strat
  
  --
  Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
8. Re:Terrific! by argStyopa · 2017-08-21 06:13 · Score: 1
  
  Honestly that was the point of my comment, but I fear Poe's Law got in my way.
  I just got torched for insisting that Google de-listing 'hate sites' is a dangerous slippery slope, prompting my post here.
  
  --
  -Styopa
9. Re:Terrific! by Jzanu · 2017-08-21 18:32 · Score: 1
  
  You are a deluded idiot. Look up the NSU a self-declared Nazi criminal gang with an action group murdering immigrants who were more productive and beneficial to society than those clowns ever could be. They killed 10 including a policewoman, but when those drooling idiots tried to rob a bank they were beaten and were so cowardly they killed themselves instead of surrendering. Ample evidence shows it is a larger group numbering around 200 who must be hunted down and they will be on short notice.
Won't be allowed in Australia... by jezwel · 2017-08-20 14:37 · Score: 1

Down under we're busy blocking more torrent sites - like that ever worked in stopping piracy...
http://www.news.com.au/technol...
First they came for... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 15:13 · Score: 1

EXACTLY.
I am amazed at the number of people that think they can take free speech away from someone without destroying it for everyone.
It's like they stopped teaching civics entirely.
1. Re:First they came for... by Rockoon · 2017-08-21 00:36 · Score: 1
  
  It's like they stopped teaching civics entirely.
  In 2001 to number was down to 34 States that still required passing civics in order to graduate high school. By 2012 the number was down to only 9 States that still required passing civics to graduate high school:
  
  Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia
  
  So yes, essentially they did stop teaching civics entirely.
  
  --
  "His name was James Damore."
Uh, No. that's not how it works. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-08-20 15:20 · Score: 1

The counter protesters are EXACTLY as entitled to march as the protestors. Even in the same place. It's free speech for everyone. E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E.
The only acceptable counter to free speech is MORE, BETTER free speech.
Being outnumbered is not being censored. It is only showing you that you have a minority opinion.
The alt reich carried guns and surrounded and intimidated groups of counter protestors, are you as willing to call that anti-first amendment action? Because that CLEARLY was with armed protesters isolating unarmed counter protestors...
1. Re:Uh, No. that's not how it works. by Dog-Cow · 2017-08-20 19:05 · Score: 2
  
  The First Amendment only prohibits the government from imposing limits on speech. It says nothing about private citizens.
2. Re:Uh, No. that's not how it works. by Pig+Hogger · 2017-08-21 02:25 · Score: 1
  
  The First Amendment only prohibits the government from imposing limits on speech. It says nothing about private citizens.
  Fuck I’m glad to live where the constitutional feedom protections do not just apply to government but to everyone, including coporations
3. Re: Uh, No. that's not how it works. by sound+vision · 2017-08-21 03:48 · Score: 1
  
  I find it difficult to believe all the guys in Charlottesville with the Swastikas were celebrating US heritage. Pretty sure they were Nazis, but if you want to argue they were just Hindus that picked an unfortunate color scheme, and happened to get whipped into racially-tinged xenophobia by opportunist politicians, that seems the next most likely option.
4. Re:Uh, No. that's not how it works. by AutodidactLabrat · 2017-08-21 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  So by exercising their first amendment right to get in the way of liars, you claim they "shut down" free speech?
  All they did was keep you from having an audience where you wanted it!!
5. Re: Uh, No. that's not how it works. by AutodidactLabrat · 2017-08-21 05:26 · Score: 1
  
  And the only VIOLENCE was the attack on the black man with pipes BY NAZIS leading to a $3000 reward for information on the Nazi fuck who did the violence.
  you DO know about that, right?
6. Re:Uh, No. that's not how it works. by fustakrakich · 2017-08-21 08:13 · Score: 1
  
  *sigh*
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
7. Re:Uh, No. that's not how it works. by ArmoredDragon · 2017-08-21 13:19 · Score: 1
  
  Being outnumbered is not being censored. It is only showing you that you have a minority opinion.
  That would be fine and all if they hadn't assaulted the protesters unprovoked.
The internet by AHuxley · 2017-08-20 15:36 · Score: 1

Finds new ways around social media censorship and SJW bans.
If the activist big brands want to remake the www, the internet will just find new services and methods of moving new content and data around.
The more social media and big search engines ban words, thoughts, authors, publications, politics, reviews, comments, users, blasphemy, history, whistleblowers, cryptography the more people seek new networks that support freedom of speech.
The users now have the bandwidth to move text around globally.
Having to go to some portal on a 28.8 modem to get information to download is the past.
People can publish their own content and text now. Then they will do video. Video content that does have a big brand SJW correcting search results.
A new generation of search engines will search the net again for content rather than filter smaller sets of SJW approved content.

--
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
1. Re: The internet by Reverend+Green · 2017-08-20 18:48 · Score: 1
  
  Nazi Nazi Nazi Reeeeeee! Nazinazi! NAZI!!!!1!!
  Damn, the 50 Cent Army is working overtime today.
2. Re:The internet by Opportunist · 2017-08-20 20:51 · Score: 1
  
  So asking that everyone can be heard is now a "nazi" point?
  That I get old enough to hear that "nazis" are now defending our right to speak... Have we arrived at nineteen-fourty-eight at last?
  War is Peace;
  Freedom is Slavery;
  Ignorance is Strength;
  Either that or I woke up in Bizarro world while I wasn't watching.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
3. Re:The internet by Mashiki · 2017-08-21 03:23 · Score: 1
  
  That I get old enough to hear that "nazis" are now defending our right to speak... Have we arrived at nineteen-fourty-eight at last?
  Remember all those speeches by social justice advocates trying to shut people down, deplatform people, censor political views over the last year? Been going on for at least a decade now. They've got their allies in feminists, and other fringe groups as well. Your UID is low enough that you're you're involved in the OSS community(or were), then you'll have seen it with the push of "codes of conduct" that they'll try to push through, which will include things like: Revoking ownership of a project, censoring access to a project if someone holds a politically unacceptable view(in their eyes), witch hunting on political views. Of course those CoC's only ever seem to fall one way. Remember donglegate? The shitflipping stupidity at mozilla over a private citizen supporting something? When github turned it's back on meritocracy?
  You can see it in current campus culture with "free speech" walls, restrictions, students demanding view points not be talked about, buildings being renamed because *insert reason here.* Screams that science, math, history, in western universities is "white, so should be removed." And the list just keeps going on and on.
  
  --
  Om, nomnomnom...
4. Re:The internet by Opportunist · 2017-08-21 03:45 · Score: 1
  
  a) We can agree that Nazis are bad. Only a Nazi would consider Nazis good.
  b) Label everyone disagreeing with you "Nazi".
  c) It's easy to silence your opposition because nobody would want to defend Nazis.
  Works with everything. In the past it was Witches and Commies, the label du jour being Nazi.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
5. Re:The internet by Opportunist · 2017-08-21 03:49 · Score: 1
  
  A decade being maybe a bit much, but the bullshit level got really high in the past 3-4 years. I can easily speak, sitting in old Europe where people oddly are still way more sane (and currently way more occupied with immigrants to deal with other bullshit), but I do see the problem the US is hitting right now.
  In a really bizarre cooperation between religious nutjobs and SJWs they seem to have joined ranks in an attempt to destroy what's left of science in the US.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
6. Re:The internet by Mashiki · 2017-08-21 04:36 · Score: 1
  
  I remember the forerunners of this stuff back in the 1990's, it's simply become more pervasive the last 3-4 years. But there was always an undercurrent. Many of the worst examples of deplatforming and so on in the last 3-4 years have been from European schools, debate clubs, and so on. The last year though has been very bad for the US and Canada.
  It's not really surprising. SJW's picked them as their own allies when they decided to pull the "muslim = racism" card and refuse to have any discussion on the need to deal with serious problems stemming from it. Not even touching on the cultural stuff. They're the same though as you noticed, that's simply because authoritarian is and authoritarian will be.
  
  --
  Om, nomnomnom...
Re: Arrest by hackwrench · 2017-08-20 19:01 · Score: 1

Well the claim was arrest and not about going to trial.
Equal opportunity employee by hackwrench · 2017-08-20 19:04 · Score: 1

I haven't worked for them directly, but I'd be happy to work for ether.
Security through obscurity? by Suomi-Poika · 2017-08-21 01:59 · Score: 1

TFA: "The user's circumvention software tags this innocuous request with a little extra data — basically a secret flag the censor can't see that says "Hey, I actually want this request to go somewhere else.""
Secret flag? That sure sounds really a bullet proof method from the 80's. I'd like to know more details of it. It can't be fixed to anything, because investigating the packet payload is trivial and dropping all the unnecessary headers is also easy. Censors can see every byte you send, so hiding in the plain sight is difficult. Specially if the censors can install the same software, then run it side by side with regular web browser and just run "diff" between the two identical flows trying to access the same site. Not only they will discover where the user is going but who has that software installed.
1. Re:Security through obscurity? by JesseMcDonald · 2017-08-23 03:31 · Score: 1
  
  The protocol works by piggybacking a TLS connection to an unblocked host and hiding data in the ciphertext ("chosen ciphertext steganography"). This hidden data is separately encrypted with the ISP's public key and invisible to everyone else, camouflaged within the regular ciphertext which also looks like random noise to anyone without the key. All the censors see is a standard TLS connection to a perfectly normal and uncontroversial web site. An active MitM interception (with TLS proxy certificates installed on the end-users' device) might be able to tell that the plaintext is gibberish, but still wouldn't be able to decode the hidden instructions intended for the "refracting" ISP.
  
  --
  "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
Re:Everyone in the USA has a right to free speech by indi0144 · 2017-08-21 15:40 · Score: 1

No, their right to speech was not my point. My point was WTF happened to America that ended up divided against something that back in the day united the world. Anybody who takes this incident and spins it over A or B party talking points is taking a big DUMP over the graves of the people that fought the real Nazis, IMHO. All because both party followers cant accept that they fucked up. Grow up.