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Or just don't use tools you don't understand enough to rely on in such a critical use case. My viewpoint is from a very developer's perspective, and rebels may
by cm3 10y ago
Or just don't use tools you don't understand enough to rely on in such a critical use case. My viewpoint is from a very developer's perspective, and rebels may not all possess the needed technical insight, but this looks like amateur hour. They must have trusted some technical person's advice in their organization, if they're a group, and you could be right that they were missing a sufficiently skilled CTO for such an operation.
- rtpg 10y agoOK so don't use tools you don't understand is step one. But now, the coup needs a way to communicate. E-mail's because we know it's insecure. Now what? You research, and find this app, and then.... Feel like this isn't very actionable advice.
- TeMPOraL 10y agoCoups aren't a new invention, they were happening since people first organized into a society. Securing an organization is not a purely, or even primarily, a computer problem. Newest "encrypted" chatapp du jour is only a distraction, and should be at best treated as a shiny replacement for walkie-talkies. If someone is so stupid to base the security of their op on a chat app, frankly, they deserve to fail.
- tamana 10y agoEmail with gpg is about the most secure content format available to the general public, and stable for 20 years. Needs some setup tho
- MBCook 10y agoThe barrier on PGP or GPG is EXTREMELY high for a bunch of normal people on various kinds of cell phones. I can see why someone found an app that someone thought was secure and everyone went with it.
- cookiecaper 10y agoIt works pretty smoothly with K-9 Mail + APG.
- allendoerfer 10y agoNot good enough, you still have metadata, which in this case is gold. "So you were messaging General X, while he was performing the coup. Would you like to tell us more about this, maybe during some waterboarding?"
- bad_user 10y agoEmail addresses are not necessarily identifiable. Use a VPN or TOR and setup a Gmail account. Or maybe buy a prepay GSM card with 3G bandwidth included, and use it while moving through town.
- matheweis 10y agoHave you actually tried to set up an anonymous gmail account recently? Because I think you'll find that it is borderline impossible. Gmail's algorithms end up requiring SMS authentication when you're working over tor, which essentially deanonymizes you or requires the additional step of getting a burner phone for SMS; neither of which is good and probably will get you on all sorts of lists...
- allendoerfer 10y agoAdditionally: "Burner phone" does not work in many countries. Where I am you cannot anonymously buy a prepaid phone.
- kwhitefoot 10y agoBuy one in another country. If you are serious about revolution getting a few imported phones to use is hardly a big problem.
- cm3 10y agoIf you read the alleged chat logs of how they coordinated the event, you will see that there was little coordination to begin with, regardless of the medium. If there had been proper planning, they first of all wouldn't have used a chat room, and they also wouldn't have used a tool that logs chats. This is not how military commanders instruct their troops in the field.