On 12/7/23, Arno Lehmann <a...@its-lehmann.de> wrote: > it's quite interesting that you use a platform such as wordpress, > running code you can not control, to discuss such matters.
I was just brainstorming, dumping a stream of consciousness with a relatively comprehensive outline of the main ideas. > Wouldn't it be more reasonable to self host That will definitely happen at some point. I will have to test first the Linux initialization process (it’s runlevels) and how to make it dance together with GRUB nicely (no mysteries whatsoever there). > ... using a hoster providing > decent privacy and aonymity or a technology such as Tor? I am not into protagonism and that is not my main line of research, occupation. I would like to culture (invite more like-minded people to own) that open source project. Anyone could take over hosting it (I would pay for the first two years) and anything we do we would openly (well, almost! ;-)). As they say: true security, privacy, ... can not be hidden. All we do and say we would to the four winds. Once it is vetted we could even ask nicely for it to be included as part of the Debian or some other hosting. > Also, what I know about secure, air-gapped systems, can be summarized > quite easily: > > - You can not use the same hardware air gapped and non air gapped. I beg to differ and at the end of the day this is something that can be physically/technically proved. Basically, how could you hack a computer which you booted without a physical networking interface and (part of the objectives) without loading the networking capabilities from the kernel by exploiting Linux' runlevels? All you would need to do is automating updates to that configuration. > - Maintaining such systems is a pain. Well, not really! Booting a Debian Live DVD doesn't take more time than booting Windows (from scratch) and the whole idea of using a package extensions USB pen drive would automate updates. This basically is all there is to maintaining it. You would be basically making use of the BIOS and RAM of a computer (you don't even need to own), you would keep the whole OS and all extras you need in your shirt's front pocket. If they mess with the BIOS you will notice it because the thing will not work and it would report the BIOS change and exactly how, what the difference is and for basic physical reasons you can't infect a computer's RAM. > - There are no shortcuts. Well, no! ... and this is a good thing! We both, "hackers" and "we the people", have to follow step by step procedures (what Ancient Greek thinkers called "techne" and later we meant by "functions" up to Descartes, before all that non-sensical "black box", I/O mindset took over), what makes the difference is "the touch of God" and that no one can take away from you that you could take care of your own security, privacy (as existential philosophers would say: "absolutely no one, nothing can take away your freedom"). Notice that I am not just talking about computer soft and hardware. I got my education as a theoretical Physicist (basically a double-major in Physics and Math) an der TU Dresden, so I tend to see, understand every through its physics. Experiment: 1) use a hermetic metal (not plastic, looking like metal!) box (one of those they use for candies) 2) turn on your cell phone and carefully put it inside (making sure it stays on) 3) close the metal box 4) right in front of that box place a call to your own phone using another one. * since EM waves can't reach your phone it would not only be functionally off the grid, but off the confines of the universe! and "Vladimir Putin" couldn't do sh!t about it! Isn't that cool!?!?! Now, doesn't it make it even cooler that you can do such thing without spending one cent? > Small anecdote: A colleague recently visited a US agencies secure site > to help them with some software deployment. He could bring one DVD-R, > not -RW, there. No electronic equipment. Well, yes! and how would those kinds of anecdotes speak against a "touch of God"? As anyone could see you could even run a network of detached computers without networking interfaces in a "touch of God" kind of way, some sort of "leased One-time pad touches of God" specifically for each, all coordinated through and which data/information would end up in a kind of "server", you could even use cell phones to do such thing ... lbrtchx
