Yes. If we don't do this same activity in the USA we will find ourselves unable to speak one day. The Internet isn't free anymore. It's corporate controlled. If your asleep wake up. :-)
On Jun 12, 2011, at 7:25 PM, David Barrett <dbarr...@quinthar.com> wrote: > Thanks Julian, care to comment on the technology elements or any of the > factual items in the article? > > -david > > On 06/12/2011 04:11 PM, Julian Cain wrote: >> The Obama administration helping dissidents? That's a lie. He's doing the >> opposite. Sheeple >> >> >> >> On Jun 12, 2011, at 5:47 PM, David Barrett<dbarr...@quinthar.com> wrote: >> >>> Anybody know anything about this? Sounds cool! >>> >>> -david >>> >>> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/world/12internet.html?_r=1 >>> >>> The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” >>> Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine >>> repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or >>> shutting down telecommunications networks. >>> Multimedia >>> >>> Slide Show >>> Technology for ‘Shadow’ Internet Networks >>> >>> Graphic >>> Creating a Stealth Internet >>> The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone >>> networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy >>> novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of >>> young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are >>> fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype “Internet >>> in a suitcase.” >>> >>> Financed with a $2 million State Department grant, the suitcase could be >>> secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless >>> communication over a wide area with a link to the global Internet. >>> >>> The American effort, revealed in dozens of interviews, planning >>> documents and classified diplomatic cables obtained by The New York >>> Times, ranges in scale, cost and sophistication. >>> >>> Some projects involve technology that the United States is developing; >>> others pull together tools that have already been created by hackers in >>> a so-called liberation-technology movement sweeping the globe. >>> >>> The State Department, for example, is financing the creation of stealth >>> wireless networks that would enable activists to communicate outside the >>> reach of governments in countries like Iran, Syria and Libya, according >>> to participants in the projects. >>> >>> In one of the most ambitious efforts, United States officials say, the >>> State Department and Pentagon have spent at least $50 million to create >>> an independent cellphone network in Afghanistan using towers on >>> protected military bases inside the country. It is intended to offset >>> the Taliban’s ability to shut down the official Afghan services, >>> seemingly at will. >>> >>> The effort has picked up momentum since the government of President >>> Hosni Mubarak shut down the Egyptian Internet in the last days of his >>> rule. In recent days, the Syrian government also temporarily disabled >>> much of that country’s Internet, which had helped protesters mobilize. >>> >>> The Obama administration’s initiative is in one sense a new front in a >>> longstanding diplomatic push to defend free speech and nurture >>> democracy. For decades, the United States has sent radio broadcasts into >>> autocratic countries through Voice of America and other means. More >>> recently, Washington has supported the development of software that >>> preserves the anonymity of users in places like China, and training for >>> citizens who want to pass information along the government-owned >>> Internet without getting caught. >>> >>> But the latest initiative depends on creating entirely separate pathways >>> for communication. It has brought together an improbable alliance of >>> diplomats and military engineers, young programmers and dissidents from >>> at least a dozen countries, many of whom variously describe the new >>> approach as more audacious and clever and, yes, cooler. >>> >>> Sometimes the State Department is simply taking advantage of >>> enterprising dissidents who have found ways to get around government >>> censorship. American diplomats are meeting with operatives who have been >>> burying Chinese cellphones in the hills near the border with North >>> Korea, where they can be dug up and used to make furtive calls, >>> according to interviews and the diplomatic cables. >>> >>> The new initiatives have found a champion in Secretary of State Hillary >>> Rodham Clinton, whose department is spearheading the American effort. >>> “We see more and more people around the globe using the Internet, mobile >>> phones and other technologies to make their voices heard as they protest >>> against injustice and seek to realize their aspirations,” Mrs. Clinton >>> said in an e-mail response to a query on the topic. “There is a historic >>> opportunity to effect positive change, change America supports,” she >>> said. “So we’re focused on helping them do that, on helping them talk to >>> each other, to their communities, to their governments and to the world.” >>> >>> Developers caution that independent networks come with downsides: >>> repressive governments could use surveillance to pinpoint and arrest >>> activists who use the technology or simply catch them bringing hardware >>> across the border. But others believe that the risks are outweighed by >>> the potential impact. “We’re going to build a separate infrastructure >>> where the technology is nearly impossible to shut down, to control, to >>> surveil,” said Sascha Meinrath, who is leading the “Internet in a >>> suitcase” project as director of the Open Technology Initiative at the >>> New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group. >>> >>> “The implication is that this disempowers central authorities from >>> infringing on people’s fundamental human right to communicate,” Mr. >>> Meinrath added. >>> >>> The Invisible Web >>> >>> In an anonymous office building on L Street in Washington, four unlikely >>> State Department contractors sat around a table. Josh King, sporting >>> multiple ear piercings and a studded leather wristband, taught himself >>> programming while working as a barista. Thomas Gideon was an >>> accomplished hacker. Dan Meredith, a bicycle polo enthusiast, helped >>> companies protect their digital secrets. >>> >>> Then there was Mr. Meinrath, wearing a tie as the dean of the group at >>> age 37. He has a master’s degree in psychology and helped set up >>> wireless networks in underserved communities in Detroit and Philadelphia. >>> >>> The group’s suitcase project will rely on a version of “mesh network” >>> technology, which can transform devices like cellphones or personal >>> computers to create an invisible wireless web without a centralized hub. >>> In other words, a voice, picture or e-mail message could hop directly >>> between the modified wireless devices — each one acting as a mini cell >>> “tower” and phone — and bypass the official network. >>> >>> Mr. Meinrath said that the suitcase would include small wireless >>> antennas, which could increase the area of coverage; a laptop to >>> administer the system; thumb drives and CDs to spread the software to >>> more devices and encrypt the communications; and other components like >>> Ethernet cables. >>> >>> The project will also rely on the innovations of independent Internet >>> and telecommunications developers. >>> >>> “The cool thing in this political context is that you cannot easily >>> control it,” said Aaron Kaplan, an Austrian cybersecurity expert whose >>> work will be used in the suitcase project. Mr. Kaplan has set up a >>> functioning mesh network in Vienna and says related systems have >>> operated in Venezuela, Indonesia and elsewhere. >>> >>> Mr. Meinrath said his team was focused on fitting the system into the >>> bland-looking suitcase and making it simple to implement — by, say, >>> using “pictograms” in the how-to manual. >>> >>> In addition to the Obama administration’s initiatives, there are almost >>> a dozen independent ventures that also aim to make it possible for >>> unskilled users to employ existing devices like laptops or smartphones >>> to build a wireless network. One mesh network was created around >>> Jalalabad, Afghanistan, as early as five years ago, using technology >>> developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. >>> >>> Creating simple lines of communication outside official ones is crucial, >>> said Collin Anderson, a 26-year-old liberation-technology researcher >>> from North Dakota who specializes in Iran, where the government all but >>> shut down the Internet during protests in 2009. The slowdown made most >>> “circumvention” technologies — the software legerdemain that helps >>> dissidents sneak data along the state-controlled networks — nearly >>> useless, he said. >>> >>> “No matter how much circumvention the protesters use, if the government >>> slows the network down to a crawl, you can’t upload YouTube videos or >>> Facebook postings,” Mr. Anderson said. “They need alternative ways of >>> sharing information or alternative ways of getting it out of the country.” >>> >>> That need is so urgent, citizens are finding their own ways to set up >>> rudimentary networks. Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian expatriate and >>> technology developer who co-founded a popular Persian-language Web site, >>> estimates that nearly half the people who visit the site from inside >>> Iran share files using Bluetooth — which is best known in the West for >>> running wireless headsets and the like. In more closed societies, >>> however, Bluetooth is used to discreetly beam information — a video, an >>> electronic business card — directly from one cellphone to another. >>> >>> Mr. Yahyanejad said he and his research colleagues were also slated to >>> receive State Department financing for a project that would modify >>> Bluetooth so that a file containing, say, a video of a protester being >>> beaten, could automatically jump from phone to phone within a “trusted >>> network” of citizens. The system would be more limited than the suitcase >>> but would only require the software modification on ordinary phones. >>> >>> By the end of 2011, the State Department will have spent some $70 >>> million on circumvention efforts and related technologies, according to >>> department figures. >>> >>> Mrs. Clinton has made Internet freedom into a signature cause. But the >>> State Department has carefully framed its support as promoting free >>> speech and human rights for their own sake, not as a policy aimed at >>> destabilizing autocratic governments. >>> >>> That distinction is difficult to maintain, said Clay Shirky, an >>> assistant professor at New York University who studies the Internet and >>> social media. “You can’t say, ‘All we want is for people to speak their >>> minds, not bring down autocratic regimes’ — they’re the same thing,” Mr. >>> Shirky said. >>> >>> He added that the United States could expose itself to charges of >>> hypocrisy if the State Department maintained its support, tacit or >>> otherwise, for autocratic governments running countries like Saudi >>> Arabia or Bahrain while deploying technology that was likely to >>> undermine them. >>> >>> Shadow Cellphone System >>> >>> In February 2009, Richard C. Holbrooke and Lt. Gen. John R. Allen were >>> taking a helicopter tour over southern Afghanistan and getting a >>> panoramic view of the cellphone towers dotting the remote countryside, >>> according to two officials on the flight. By then, millions of Afghans >>> were using cellphones, compared with a few thousand after the 2001 >>> invasion. Towers built by private companies had sprung up across the >>> country. The United States had promoted the network as a way to >>> cultivate good will and encourage local businesses in a country that in >>> other ways looked as if it had not changed much in centuries. >>> >>> There was just one problem, General Allen told Mr. Holbrooke, who only >>> weeks before had been appointed special envoy to the region. With a >>> combination of threats to phone company officials and attacks on the >>> towers, the Taliban was able to shut down the main network in the >>> countryside virtually at will. Local residents report that the networks >>> are often out from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., presumably to enable the Taliban >>> to carry out operations without being reported to security forces. >>> >>> The Pentagon and State Department were soon collaborating on the project >>> to build a “shadow” cellphone system in a country where repressive >>> forces exert control over the official network. >>> >>> Details of the network, which the military named the Palisades project, >>> are scarce, but current and former military and civilian officials said >>> it relied in part on cell towers placed on protected American bases. A >>> large tower on the Kandahar air base serves as a base station or data >>> collection point for the network, officials said. >>> >>> A senior United States official said the towers were close to being up >>> and running in the south and described the effort as a kind of 911 >>> system that would be available to anyone with a cellphone. >>> >>> By shutting down cellphone service, the Taliban had found a potent >>> strategic tool in its asymmetric battle with American and Afghan >>> security forces. >>> >>> The United States is widely understood to use cellphone networks in >>> Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries for intelligence gathering. And >>> the ability to silence the network was also a powerful reminder to the >>> local populace that the Taliban retained control over some of the most >>> vital organs of the nation. >>> >>> When asked about the system, Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for the >>> American-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, would >>> only confirm the existence of a project to create what he called an >>> “expeditionary cellular communication service” in Afghanistan. He said >>> the project was being carried out in collaboration with the Afghan >>> government in order to “restore 24/7 cellular access.” >>> >>> “As of yet the program is not fully operational, so it would be >>> premature to go into details,” Colonel Dorrian said. >>> >>> Colonel Dorrian declined to release cost figures. Estimates by United >>> States military and civilian officials ranged widely, from $50 million >>> to $250 million. A senior official said that Afghan officials, who >>> anticipate taking over American bases when troops pull out, have >>> insisted on an elaborate system. “The Afghans wanted the Cadillac plan, >>> which is pretty expensive,” the official said. >>> >>> Broad Subversive Effort >>> >>> In May 2009, a North Korean defector named Kim met with officials at the >>> American Consulate in Shenyang, a Chinese city about 120 miles from >>> North Korea, according to a diplomatic cable. Officials wanted to know >>> how Mr. Kim, who was active in smuggling others out of the country, >>> communicated across the border. “Kim would not go into much detail,” the >>> cable says, but did mention the burying of Chinese cellphones “on >>> hillsides for people to dig up at night.” Mr. Kim said Dandong, China, >>> and the surrounding Jilin Province “were natural gathering points for >>> cross-border cellphone communication and for meeting sources.” The >>> cellphones are able to pick up signals from towers in China, said Libby >>> Liu, head of Radio Free Asia, the United States-financed broadcaster, >>> who confirmed their existence and said her organization uses the calls >>> to collect information for broadcasts as well. >>> >>> The effort, in what is perhaps the world’s most closed nation, suggests >>> just how many independent actors are involved in the subversive efforts. >>> From the activist geeks on L Street in Washington to the military >>> engineers in Afghanistan, the global appeal of the technology hints at >>> the craving for open communication. >>> >>> In a chat with a Times reporter via Facebook, Malik Ibrahim Sahad, the >>> son of Libyan dissidents who largely grew up in suburban Virginia, said >>> he was tapping into the Internet using a commercial satellite connection >>> in Benghazi. “Internet is in dire need here. The people are cut off in >>> that respect,” wrote Mr. Sahad, who had never been to Libya before the >>> uprising and is now working in support of rebel authorities. Even so, he >>> said, “I don’t think this revolution could have taken place without the >>> existence of the World Wide Web.” >>> >>> >>> Reporting was contributed by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Andrew W. Lehren >>> from New York, and Alissa J. Rubin and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul, >>> Afghanistan. >>> _______________________________________________ >>> p2p-hackers mailing list >>> p2p-hackers@lists.zooko.com >>> http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers >> _______________________________________________ >> p2p-hackers mailing list >> p2p-hackers@lists.zooko.com >> http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers > _______________________________________________ > p2p-hackers mailing list > p2p-hackers@lists.zooko.com > http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers _______________________________________________ p2p-hackers mailing list p2p-hackers@lists.zooko.com http://lists.zooko.com/mailman/listinfo/p2p-hackers
