[liberationtech] Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF
This may be of interest to the list. Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Dec-04/197114-sehnaoui-opposes-handing-data-to-isf.ashx Judiciary Rejects Security Agencies' Demand to Obtain Text Messages, Internet Passwords Data http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/63094-judiciary-rejects-security-agencies-demand-to-obtain-text-messages-internet-passwords-data I see how can they easily store/provide with SMS and related logs but it claims that the ISF requested all Lebanese citizens' passwords for email and social media sites. Do any of you know if they have they been spoofing certificates? Blocking SSL? If the sources are misleading or incomplete I'd appreciate any better reference or clarification. Thanks in advance, Enrique -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
Re: [liberationtech] Censorship hardware - BLUECOAT IN SYIA
You can find the original 54GB logs (gzip) that were released last summer (that prompted the WSJ WaPo coverage) here: http://bluesmote.com/ I'm still hoping someone will dig through that data in depth - we've never had a look at censorship from the censors' perspective quite like this. Could make a great masters/PhD thesis topic for a graduate student in CyberForeignAffairs or PoliticoCompuMidEastStudies or Data Journalism or whatever. On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 3:15 PM, Pierre Romera he...@pirhoo.com wrote: Hi guys, Is there someone who knows which kind of data are generated by such equipment (ProxySG ) ? If so, how can we read it ? Thanks. -- Pirhoo -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
Re: [liberationtech] Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF
Yep! I'm in Beirut right now and this is blowing my mind NK On 2012-12-04, at 5:48 PM, Enrique Piraces pira...@hrw.org wrote: This may be of interest to the list. Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Dec-04/197114-sehnaoui-opposes-handing-data-to-isf.ashx Judiciary Rejects Security Agencies' Demand to Obtain Text Messages, Internet Passwords Data http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/63094-judiciary-rejects-security-agencies-demand-to-obtain-text-messages-internet-passwords-data I see how can they easily store/provide with SMS and related logs but it claims that the ISF requested “all Lebanese citizens’ passwords for email and social media sites”. Do any of you know if they have they been spoofing certificates? Blocking SSL? If the sources are misleading or incomplete I’d appreciate any better reference or clarification. Thanks in advance, Enrique -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
Re: [liberationtech] Censorship hardware - BLUECOAT IN SYIA
On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 11:14:18 -0600 Peter Fein p...@wearpants.org wrote: I'm still hoping someone will dig through that data in depth - we've never had a look at censorship from the censors' perspective quite like this. Could make a great masters/PhD thesis topic for a graduate student in CyberForeignAffairs or PoliticoCompuMidEastStudies or Data Journalism or whatever. A few people started to dig through the data, and then either gave up when they realized the volume of it, or didn't publish their analysis widely. Here's one example, http://picviz.blogspot.com/2012/01/syrian-bluecoat-logs-analysis-part-1.html Blue Coat logs are just ELFF format, nearly anything can parse them and make pretty reports good enough for enterprise bosses. The value comes from understanding what's missing in the logs, what's being tracked overall, and who is communicating with whom. 500GB isn't that much data. One could just take the raw logs, parse and import them into a SQL database and then generate queries until the cows come home. Heck, maybe I'll do this. -- Andrew http://tpo.is/contact pgp 0x6B4D6475 -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
Re: [liberationtech] Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-security-forces-give-us-your-facebook-password On 12/04/2012 07:27 PM, Nadim Kobeissi wrote: Yep! I'm in Beirut right now and this is blowing my mind NK On 2012-12-04, at 5:48 PM, Enrique Piraces pira...@hrw.org wrote: This may be of interest to the list. Sehnaoui opposes handing data to ISF http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Dec-04/197114-sehnaoui-opposes-handing-data-to-isf.ashx Judiciary Rejects Security Agencies' Demand to Obtain Text Messages, Internet Passwords Data http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/63094-judiciary-rejects-security-agencies-demand-to-obtain-text-messages-internet-passwords-data I see how can they easily store/provide with SMS and related logs but it claims that the ISF requested “all Lebanese citizens’ passwords for email and social media sites”. Do any of you know if they have they been spoofing certificates? Blocking SSL? If the sources are misleading or incomplete I’d appreciate any better reference or clarification. Thanks in advance, Enrique -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
[liberationtech] NYT: For Syria’s Rebel Movement, Skype Is a Useful and Increasingly Dangerous Tool
This piece from NYT over the weekend should be of interest here, and, unless I missed it, I don't think it's been yet posted. Excerpt: If the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were Twitter Revolutions, then Syria is becoming the Skype Rebellion. To get around a near-nationwide Internet shutdown, rebels have armed themselves with mobile satellite phones and dial-up modems. Quotes CL and EFF's Eva on risks. Main news here that sticks out for me is that Syrian activists largely seem aware of the risks, yet many are still using Skype due to a lack of alternatives. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/world/middleeast/syrian-rebels-turn-to-skype-for-communications.html For Syria’s Rebel Movement, Skype Is a Useful and Increasingly Dangerous Tool By AMY CHOZICK Published: November 30, 2012 In a demonstration of their growing sophistication and organization, Syrian rebels responded to a nationwide shutdown of the Internet by turning to satellite technology to coordinate within the country and to communicate with outside activists. When Syria’s Internet service disappeared Thursday, government officials first blamed rebel attacks. Activist groups blamed the government and viewed the blackout as a sign that troops would violently clamp down on rebels. But having dealt with periodic outages for more than a year, the opposition had anticipated a full shutdown of Syria’s Internet service providers. To prepare, they have spent months smuggling communications equipment like mobile handsets and portable satellite phones into the country. “We’re very well equipped here,” said Albaraa Abdul Rahman, 27, an activist in Saqba, a poor suburb 20 minutes outside Damascus. He said he was in touch with an expert in Homs who helped connect his office and 10 others like it in and around Damascus. Using the connection, the activists in Saqba talked to rebel fighters on Skype and relayed to overseas activists details about clashes with government forces. A video showed the rebels’ bare-bones room, four battery backups that could power a laptop for eight hours and a generator set up on a balcony. For months, rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad have used Skype, a peer-to-peer Internet communication system, to organize and talk to outside news organizations and activists. A few days ago, Jad al-Yamani, an activist in Homs, sent a message to rebel fighters that tanks were moving toward a government checkpoint. He notified the other fighters so that they could go observe the checkpoint. “Through Skype you know how the army moves or can stop it,” Mr. Yamani said. On Friday, Dawoud Sleiman, 39, a member of the antigovernment Ahrar al-Shamal Battalion, part of the Free Syrian Army, reached out to other members of the rebel group. They were set up at the government’s Wadi Aldaif military base in Idlib, a province near the Turkish border that has seen heavy fighting, and connected to Skype via satellite Internet service. Mr. Sleiman, who is based in Turkey, said the Free Syrian Army stopped using cellphone networks and land lines months ago and instead relies almost entirely on Skype. “Brigade members communicate through the hand-held devices,” he said. This week rebels posted an announcement via Skype that called for the arrest of the head of intelligence in Idlib, who is accused of killing five rebels. “A big financial prize will be offered to anyone who brings the head of this guy,” the message read. “One of our brothers abroad has donated the cash.” If the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt were Twitter Revolutions, then Syria is becoming the Skype Rebellion. To get around a near-nationwide Internet shutdown, rebels have armed themselves with mobile satellite phones and dial-up modems. In many cases, relatives and supporters living outside Syria bought the equipment and had it smuggled in, mostly through Lebanon and Turkey. That equipment has allowed the rebels to continue to communicate almost entirely via Skype with little interruption, despite the blackout. “How the government used its weapons against the revolution, that is how activists use Skype,” Mr. Abdul Rahman said. “We haven’t seen any interruption in the way Skype is being used,” said David Clinch, an editorial director of Storyful, a group that verifies social media posts for news organizations, including The New York Times (Mr. Clinch has served as a consultant for Skype). Mr. Assad, who once fashioned himself as a reformer and the father of Syria’s Internet, has largely left the country’s access intact during the 20-month struggle with rebels. The government appeared to abandon that strategy on Thursday, when most citizens lost access. Some Syrians could still get online using service from Turkey. On Friday, Syrian officials blamed technical problems for the cutoff. The shutdown is only the latest tactic in the escalating technology war waged in Arab Spring countries. But several technology experts warned that the use of the Internet by rebels
[liberationtech] Congress' Wicked Problem--obsolete and overloaded--now online
*For Immediate Release* Tuesday, December 4, 2012 *Media Contact* Clara Hogan (202)-596-3368 ho...@newamerica.net *NEW REPORT:* CONGRESS SEVERELY LACKING IN STAFF, BIPARTISAN EXPERTISE *It Once Housed One of the World’s Premier Scientific Advisory Bodies, But Congress Now Struggles with an Antiquated System of Collecting and Sorting an Overload of Information* Washington, DC – The U.S. Congress, in its present dysfunctional state, cannot serve the needs of American democracy today due to a lack of bipartisan expertise, understaffing and outdated methods of handling an overwhelming amount of information, according to a *first-of-its-kind report * http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/congress_wicked_problem released today by the New America Foundation’s *Open Technology Institutehttp://oti.newamerica.net/ *. Avoiding the “fiscal cliff” is just the latest among many complicated policy problems faced by legislators. The “new” Congress is set to inherit many major policy decisions that require nuance, genuine deliberation and expert judgment. But the report, *Congress’ Wicked Problem: Seeking Knowledge Inside the Information Tsunamihttp://newamerica.net/publications/policy/congress_wicked_problem *— based on dozens of congressional staff interviews — shows policymakers and their small staffs are forced to sort a tsunami of incoming communication with an increasingly archaic system. “The absence of basic modern knowledge management is holding us back,” said report author and OTI Research Fellow *Lorelei Kellyhttp://newamerica.net/user/452 *. “Congress is the most powerful legislature in the world, and it lacks the wherewithal to compete on substance in today’s 24-hour news cycle. It needs more bipartisan expertise and a modern and more inclusive approach to policymaking.” Congress wasn’t always lacking in these areas — in fact, less than 20 years ago it operated one of the world’s premier scientific advisory bodies. The report explains how Congress went from maintaining an extensive network of shared experts to where it is today. The report recommends that Congress use technology to become more successful and efficient. It also states that non-governmental sources of trusted and reliable expertise without a financial conflict of interest are critical players to step in and fill the information gap. *Read the full report, “Congress’ Wicked Problem: Seeking Knowledge Inside the Information Tsunami.http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/congress_wicked_problem * *Read an opinion piece by Lorelei Kelly in Reuters todayhttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/12/04/why-congress-cant-deliberate/ . * *This report is the first in a series that will examine open government trends on Capitol Hill and around the world.* -- *Lorelei Kelly* Research Fellow, Open Technology Institute New America Foundation Smart Congress http://oti.newamerica.net/smart_congress Tweeting @loreleikelly cell: 202-487-7728 -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
Re: [liberationtech] NYT: For Syria’s Rebel Movement, Skype Is a Useful and Increasingly Dangerous Tool
On Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:13:23 -0700 fr...@journalistsecurity.net wrote: Quotes CL and EFF's Eva on risks. Main news here that sticks out for me is that Syrian activists largely seem aware of the risks, yet many are still using Skype due to a lack of alternatives. Syrian activists aren't much different than activists anywhere else in the world. The ones with which we've worked are activists first, technologists second/third/fourth. They don't go through an evaluative process upfront. They use what technology their friends use. “I saw this incident right in front of my eyes,” Mohamed said. “We put his info on Skype so he was arrested and killed.” In August, an activist named Baraa al-Boushi was killed during shelling in Damascus. Activists later circulated a report saying that a Saudi Arabian claiming to support the revolution was actually a government informant who determined Mr. Boushi’s location after a long conversation on Skype. Stories like this are powerful, but make me ask lots of questions and to go find evidence. At tor, we ran into this problem when working with southeast asian activists. They used skype, believed it was encrypted, and therefore they were safe. They did zero vetting of other activists, and they completely ignored the fact that government agents were sitting across the street with parabolic microphones recording the conversations. Skype is not going to solve the problem of moles and out of band recording. A Skype spokesman, Chaim Haas, said calls via the service between computers, smartphones and other mobile devices are automatically encrypted. But just like e-mail and instant messaging can be compromised by spyware and Trojan horses, so can Skype. “They’re listening to the conversation before it gets encrypted,” Mr. Haas said. “That has nothing to do with Skype at all.” Mr. Haas is likely correct here. There are technicalities of some phones disabling encryption in calls because the either the phone operating system or the cpu cannot handle skype's encryption routines. However, for the most part, skype uses some sort of variable voice encoding with encryption. However, if the govt is infecting people with spyware, then no matter which technology is used, the activist has already lost. If you cannot trust your laptop/desktop/phone, then no application on it is going to make it safe. Using a livesystem (such as tails, liberte, or any number of linux/bsd livecds) is going to help, but only if you can assess risk correctly. Knowing about installed hardware keyloggers, ram snapshot devices, gps trackers, imsi catchers, covert audio/video recording devices in the area, etc will help you make better risk assessments. This is as true in Syria as it is in Germany. However, all of this knowledge takes time to accumulate, internalize, and practice. There is no app for that. -- Andrew http://tpo.is/contact pgp 0x6B4D6475 -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
