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A more practical approach: contribute to open source projects that enable privacy and security on the internet (Tor, Truecrypt, et al.). In addition to technic

by tsally 17y ago

A more practical approach: contribute to open source projects that enable privacy and security on the internet (Tor, Truecrypt, et al.). In addition to technical work, these projects need UI work badly. Long term success depends on whether non-technical people can understand how to use these technologies effectively. If the quality of these open source technologies is high enough, it wont matter what legislation any government passes.

jrockway 17y ago
Oh, I agree. But as soon as the governments realize this, who are they going to come after? I am speaking out now, before it ever gets that far.
- tsally 17y ago
  I can definitely respect that point of view. My view is that people need to play their strengths. Personally my ability as a programmer is stronger than my ability as a political activist. So I choose to donate my time to free software and my money to the EFF. I also choose to invest my money in companies that have a proven progressive stance on patents and copyright (ex: Red Hat [1, 2]). The only direct political thing I do is vote. Everything else is by proxy. [1] http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html [2] http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/blog-entry/red-hat-files-new-brief-software-patent-case http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/blog-entry/red-hat-files-new-...
- Groxx 17y ago
  Definitely, but hopefully it'll be too late by that stage for governments to do anything. Personally, I realized a few years ago that I feel no bond with America in particular, and I value ethical government more than I fear running from unethical ones. If guaranteeing they can't control certain things has a cost, I'm happy to pay it. As to speaking out now, I've already sent off a few emails, and encourage everyone to do everything they can to fight opaque governing. In a (idealized as a) democracy, keeping information away from voters is downright unethical, and goes against its core principles. Sheeple are not governing bodies, they're weapons for people who want more power. The only way to prevent that in a democratic-styled government is education, and more (healthy) distrust of the government.
Groxx 17y ago
Tor in particular is a target of mine once I get out of college (two classes I'm taking should help directly with it). It's in a rather frightful state. I've essentially made it my goal to make sure privacy is out of the hands of anybody but the individual. Without it, there's no guarantee of free speech. With it, there's always a line of communication. Ease-of-use is one of the biggest cliffs to scale, as plenty of tech exists to make things secure, it just needs to be put in everyone's hands, and made simple enough to be the default instead of for geeks-only.
- abstractbill 17y ago
  A not-insignificant fly in the ointment is that Tor gets used a lot right now by spammers. So much in fact that we had to ban Tor nodes from connecting to any justin.tv server. I wouldn't be surprised if many other websites have the same system in place - it's technically easy to arrange - see http://www.ahbl.org/ http://www.ahbl.org/
  - jrockway 17y ago
    Tor does not mean that you are barred from authenticating end-users. It means that the network they are on can't tell who they are. Freenode runs a hidden Tor service that requires you to register a PGP key with them. Otherwise, Tor connections are blocked (because of spam).
  - Groxx 17y ago
    Yeah, I've been pondering over similar problems with anything totally anonymous. I think a combination of asymmetric keys for verification and intelligent throttling might do enough to prevent most of the damagers. If nothing else, picture an internet where your upload location is totally anonymous (TOR), but you can sign everything you do with a key (already in place, but nothing does it easily, much less free and ubiquitous). Journalists / investigators can be anywhere, but verify that they're them, without fear of being discovered by their uploading data. Undercover journalist heaven.

by tsally 17y ago

jrockway 17y ago

Oh, I agree. But as soon as the governments realize this, who are they going to come after? I am speaking out now, before it ever gets that far.

tsally 17y ago
I can definitely respect that point of view. My view is that people need to play their strengths. Personally my ability as a programmer is stronger than my ability as a political activist. So I choose to donate my time to free software and my money to the EFF. I also choose to invest my money in companies that have a proven progressive stance on patents and copyright (ex: Red Hat [1, 2]). The only direct political thing I do is vote. Everything else is by proxy. [1] http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html http://www.redhat.com/legal/patent_policy.html [2] http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/blog-entry/red-hat-files-new-brief-software-patent-case http://ldn.linuxfoundation.org/blog-entry/red-hat-files-new-...
Groxx 17y ago
Definitely, but hopefully it'll be too late by that stage for governments to do anything. Personally, I realized a few years ago that I feel no bond with America in particular, and I value ethical government more than I fear running from unethical ones. If guaranteeing they can't control certain things has a cost, I'm happy to pay it. As to speaking out now, I've already sent off a few emails, and encourage everyone to do everything they can to fight opaque governing. In a (idealized as a) democracy, keeping information away from voters is downright unethical, and goes against its core principles. Sheeple are not governing bodies, they're weapons for people who want more power. The only way to prevent that in a democratic-styled government is education, and more (healthy) distrust of the government.

Groxx 17y ago

Tor in particular is a target of mine once I get out of college (two classes I'm taking should help directly with it). It's in a rather frightful state. I've essentially made it my goal to make sure privacy is out of the hands of anybody but the individual. Without it, there's no guarantee of free speech. With it, there's always a line of communication. Ease-of-use is one of the biggest cliffs to scale, as plenty of tech exists to make things secure, it just needs to be put in everyone's hands, and made simple enough to be the default instead of for geeks-only.

abstractbill 17y ago
A not-insignificant fly in the ointment is that Tor gets used a lot right now by spammers. So much in fact that we had to ban Tor nodes from connecting to any justin.tv server. I wouldn't be surprised if many other websites have the same system in place - it's technically easy to arrange - see http://www.ahbl.org/ http://www.ahbl.org/
- jrockway 17y ago
  Tor does not mean that you are barred from authenticating end-users. It means that the network they are on can't tell who they are. Freenode runs a hidden Tor service that requires you to register a PGP key with them. Otherwise, Tor connections are blocked (because of spam).
- Groxx 17y ago
  Yeah, I've been pondering over similar problems with anything totally anonymous. I think a combination of asymmetric keys for verification and intelligent throttling might do enough to prevent most of the damagers. If nothing else, picture an internet where your upload location is totally anonymous (TOR), but you can sign everything you do with a key (already in place, but nothing does it easily, much less free and ubiquitous). Journalists / investigators can be anywhere, but verify that they're them, without fear of being discovered by their uploading data. Undercover journalist heaven.