8 ms·

I'm just going to leave this here: “When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encryp

by rosser 13y ago

I'm just going to leave this here: “When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald noted. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.”

e3pi 13y ago
ASK HN: How Does Edward's Dead Man Switch(EDMS) Function? How? So, there are these remote backups/sites out there, encrypted. Say, every week ES has somebody Bob post a keyword somewhere, a forum, pastebin, etc. The owner(s) Alice, Doreen, Glen, etc... of these backup sites manually or 'auto-crontab' for this keyword, or coded sequence of keywords, if so, fine, steady as Edward goes. If not, .... ES released his hand(See hyperventilated Dyson's DMS in Terminator II film) sprung trigger. NOT good: This interrupts the auto-cron periodic keyphrase(word) update and the toothpaste tubes are vigorously flattened, and you can't get the toothpaste back in. (How? ie, How does EDMS trigger release become known to remote system trigger manager Bob or crontab daemon?) Neighbor Bob check's local lampposts for Ed's new white tape once a week? Can Bob be automated?
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jlgreco 13y ago
  This is needlessly complex. Just find people that you trust to hold onto the key, and a few other people to hold onto the file. People who's priorities are aligned properly and are use to being leaned on (journalists and/or activists). When they read in the New York Times that Edward Snowden is dead, some or all of them publish. If you are worried about one of those people colluding with another to get the secret sauce too early, then split the secret. Give it to 50 people and require any 10 of them to release their material. Or whatever, you can tune it how you like depending on how many people you trust and how much you trust them. Automation is unnecessary.
  - fixxer 13y ago
    Um, well, er... no, I prefer crontab. It has let me down far fewer times than mortals. EDIT: An agent running on some VM somewhere isn't that tough to implement. You could do it from a friggin' R-Pi. If the "all clear" isn't posted where it is supposed to be, let the monkeys loose. (Kids in the Hall" reference, fwi)
    - e3pi 13y ago
      > I prefer crontab. It has let me down far fewer times than mortals. This opens lifestyle guidance for our aspiring youth: Prefer crontab. It will let you down far fewer times than mortals. Choose bitcoin over any Ben Bernake or Alan Greenspan currency. Believe Snowdenspeak over Clapperspeak, Kieth Alexander's mouth moving, or any Obama-ism. Go to lunch with Richard Stallman before that mean looking bald-headed angry man with that desperate hunted rictus fixed to his face, who works at Microsoft, but not for much longer.
  - staunch 13y ago
    # cat /etc/cron.daily/dead-man-switch #!/bin/bash wget -O latest https://raw.github.com/asdf/feab/data.txt if [ ! grep `date +%m%d%Y` latest ] ; then echo "The key is uRYB9vCT53jCSkjzaf9b" | mail -s "I'm dead." glenn.greenwald@... fi Wouldn't be hard to run this on a few random computers around the world pretty anonymously. The NSA getting the key isn't too big of a deal. Of course, you'd want to test this and make it more fault tolerant.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      It could work, but I know that if I were in Snowden's place I would be more keen on relying on people, and not having to "phone home" (I am fairly confident that news of his demise or "disappearance" would eventually become public).
    - danbruc 13y ago
      Find one, know the page, obtain the logs who accessed the page, find all. Or catch Snowden and keep updating the page yourself. Not that it can not be done in a similar way but it is non-trivial to get it right.
- chacham15 13y ago
  I agree this is wayyy complicated. All you do is send the encrypted data to whomever you want and then have some servers check an email every day to see if it got an email from snowden indicating the date. If its there repeat tomorrow else email key to journalists/publish on the internet.
  - e3pi 13y ago
    ES is vulnerable if physically must be connected. Ideally, if he does a single-bit "I'm alive today" `annnuciator flag', say, once a week, and if this get's interrupted, his total autonomous bot wakes up swinging email, postings, and HWALL w3-wide `Guardian-class Bombshells'.
- antocv 13y ago
  Its too complicated. I believe any organization worth its salt that has NSA/CIA as enemy would have thought of something better and easier for a fail-safe device, an insurance on their lives if you will. Wikileaks has an insurance of this form. Post encrypted file to everyone. Probably there is several VMs checking in or even scraping most news sites for "Assange dead", and if that happens, pastebin the keys. And even this is complicated. If I would need a dead-man switch, Id include people I trust to release the keys, or parts of the keys in case I need to trust several people to be in agreement at the same time. A technological solution in case I cant trust anyone, then I would run several php scripts on those free hosting sites, or get a plan with heroku or redhats openshift, all of which check for updates from my sock puppet accounts on facebook, g+ and email, weekly or so. Say every other update on at least one of the public services must contain a secret codeword in hidden form like first letter of each sentence or rot3 of those. If no updates are found for three weeks on all the sites, or if the codeword is not there two times, pastebin the keys all over the internets.
  - e3pi 13y ago
    >... like first letter of each sentence or rot3 of those. After all these years, that is the first interesting application I have seen of rot13(I think you intended?). ty
vinhboy 13y ago
If I am paying so much money for our awesome military industrial complex, I would AT LEAST expect them to know how to stage the house to make it look like a robbery. Or copy the hard drive and then bug the machine & router to intercept all future communications. If the government really did break in and just stole his laptop, this is like the least cool spy thriller ever.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  The polite, gentlemanly global surveillance state. They only take what they need. They don't make a mess. How nice. "We would be happy to replace the laptop too, but we didn't think you'd want to use the new one."
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    Doesn't make sense. Implication: USG was listening to GG's Skype conversations, heard him say he would send big encrypted file, USG stole laptop. But GG says he never did send the big encrypted file. So they're supposedly spying on him, but not well enough to notice the non-transmission of the encrypted material.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - lccarrasco 13y ago
      Maybe there was a transmission of encrypted material (from a third party, something completely unrelated) and since it'd be difficult to determine if it was Snowden's they chose to take it anyways. (this is all, of course, presuming that the USG was responsible)
    - kiiski 13y ago
      Perhaps they didn't want to take the risk that the file somehow got past them (they failed to detect/recognize it, or it was sent another way (courier, etc.)).
    - 13y ago
codex 13y ago
"Rio de Janeiro has been rated “Critical” for crime by the State Department for the past 25 years. Crimes statistics for 2012 reflect continued critically high and rising levels of crimes in both the state and city of Rio de Janeiro in the categories of robbery, rape, fraud, and residential thefts." [1] "The high level of residential burglary has made most residents opt to reside in apartments where the “porteiro” (doorman) ensures 24/7 access control for the building. Having effective access control is critical." [1] https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=13966 https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=139...
- throwaway10001 13y ago
  But thieves don't just take a laptop once in
- jasonkolb 13y ago
  Greenwald wasn't in Rio, his colleague was.
  - fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
    Partner, as in domestic partner.
thomasjoulin 13y ago
So, NSA supposedly has access via PRISM to direct access to Microsoft servers, and yet they supposedly have to go steal a laptop to get access to sent files ?
- cheald 13y ago
  Perhaps they didn't want access so much as they wanted to remove possession of the files from Greenwald's partner? The NSA presumably already knows what's in the archive.
- Goopplesoft 13y ago
  No the key of that phrase was: > I did not end up doing it. It's implying had he sent it the laptop wouldn't have been stolen.
- samstave 13y ago
  The machine could have been shutdown before they had the opportunity to slurp the file.
- Dylan16807 13y ago
  Yes. Are you trying to imply that that is odd? "Sent files" as a general case don't live on Microsoft servers.
o0-0o 13y ago
Wait, what? This dudes gay?
GI8A 13y ago
Reminds me of the time the house I was renting with a bunch of other international students was broken into and obviously searched, but nothing was taken, not even cash.

by rosser 13y ago

e3pi 13y ago

ASK HN: How Does Edward's Dead Man Switch(EDMS) Function? How? So, there are these remote backups/sites out there, encrypted. Say, every week ES has somebody Bob post a keyword somewhere, a forum, pastebin, etc. The owner(s) Alice, Doreen, Glen, etc... of these backup sites manually or 'auto-crontab' for this keyword, or coded sequence of keywords, if so, fine, steady as Edward goes. If not, .... ES released his hand(See hyperventilated Dyson's DMS in Terminator II film) sprung trigger. NOT good: This interrupts the auto-cron periodic keyphrase(word) update and the toothpaste tubes are vigorously flattened, and you can't get the toothpaste back in. (How? ie, How does EDMS trigger release become known to remote system trigger manager Bob or crontab daemon?) Neighbor Bob check's local lampposts for Ed's new white tape once a week? Can Bob be automated?

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
jlgreco 13y ago
This is needlessly complex. Just find people that you trust to hold onto the key, and a few other people to hold onto the file. People who's priorities are aligned properly and are use to being leaned on (journalists and/or activists). When they read in the New York Times that Edward Snowden is dead, some or all of them publish. If you are worried about one of those people colluding with another to get the secret sauce too early, then split the secret. Give it to 50 people and require any 10 of them to release their material. Or whatever, you can tune it how you like depending on how many people you trust and how much you trust them. Automation is unnecessary.
- fixxer 13y ago
  Um, well, er... no, I prefer crontab. It has let me down far fewer times than mortals. EDIT: An agent running on some VM somewhere isn't that tough to implement. You could do it from a friggin' R-Pi. If the "all clear" isn't posted where it is supposed to be, let the monkeys loose. (Kids in the Hall" reference, fwi)
  - e3pi 13y ago
    > I prefer crontab. It has let me down far fewer times than mortals. This opens lifestyle guidance for our aspiring youth: Prefer crontab. It will let you down far fewer times than mortals. Choose bitcoin over any Ben Bernake or Alan Greenspan currency. Believe Snowdenspeak over Clapperspeak, Kieth Alexander's mouth moving, or any Obama-ism. Go to lunch with Richard Stallman before that mean looking bald-headed angry man with that desperate hunted rictus fixed to his face, who works at Microsoft, but not for much longer.
- staunch 13y ago
  # cat /etc/cron.daily/dead-man-switch #!/bin/bash wget -O latest https://raw.github.com/asdf/feab/data.txt if [ ! grep `date +%m%d%Y` latest ] ; then echo "The key is uRYB9vCT53jCSkjzaf9b" | mail -s "I'm dead." glenn.greenwald@... fi Wouldn't be hard to run this on a few random computers around the world pretty anonymously. The NSA getting the key isn't too big of a deal. Of course, you'd want to test this and make it more fault tolerant.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    It could work, but I know that if I were in Snowden's place I would be more keen on relying on people, and not having to "phone home" (I am fairly confident that news of his demise or "disappearance" would eventually become public).
  - danbruc 13y ago
    Find one, know the page, obtain the logs who accessed the page, find all. Or catch Snowden and keep updating the page yourself. Not that it can not be done in a similar way but it is non-trivial to get it right.
chacham15 13y ago
I agree this is wayyy complicated. All you do is send the encrypted data to whomever you want and then have some servers check an email every day to see if it got an email from snowden indicating the date. If its there repeat tomorrow else email key to journalists/publish on the internet.
- e3pi 13y ago
  ES is vulnerable if physically must be connected. Ideally, if he does a single-bit "I'm alive today" `annnuciator flag', say, once a week, and if this get's interrupted, his total autonomous bot wakes up swinging email, postings, and HWALL w3-wide `Guardian-class Bombshells'.
antocv 13y ago
Its too complicated. I believe any organization worth its salt that has NSA/CIA as enemy would have thought of something better and easier for a fail-safe device, an insurance on their lives if you will. Wikileaks has an insurance of this form. Post encrypted file to everyone. Probably there is several VMs checking in or even scraping most news sites for "Assange dead", and if that happens, pastebin the keys. And even this is complicated. If I would need a dead-man switch, Id include people I trust to release the keys, or parts of the keys in case I need to trust several people to be in agreement at the same time. A technological solution in case I cant trust anyone, then I would run several php scripts on those free hosting sites, or get a plan with heroku or redhats openshift, all of which check for updates from my sock puppet accounts on facebook, g+ and email, weekly or so. Say every other update on at least one of the public services must contain a secret codeword in hidden form like first letter of each sentence or rot3 of those. If no updates are found for three weeks on all the sites, or if the codeword is not there two times, pastebin the keys all over the internets.
- e3pi 13y ago
  >... like first letter of each sentence or rot3 of those. After all these years, that is the first interesting application I have seen of rot13(I think you intended?). ty

vinhboy 13y ago

If I am paying so much money for our awesome military industrial complex, I would AT LEAST expect them to know how to stage the house to make it look like a robbery. Or copy the hard drive and then bug the machine & router to intercept all future communications. If the government really did break in and just stole his laptop, this is like the least cool spy thriller ever.

fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
The polite, gentlemanly global surveillance state. They only take what they need. They don't make a mess. How nice. "We would be happy to replace the laptop too, but we didn't think you'd want to use the new one."
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  Doesn't make sense. Implication: USG was listening to GG's Skype conversations, heard him say he would send big encrypted file, USG stole laptop. But GG says he never did send the big encrypted file. So they're supposedly spying on him, but not well enough to notice the non-transmission of the encrypted material.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - lccarrasco 13y ago
    Maybe there was a transmission of encrypted material (from a third party, something completely unrelated) and since it'd be difficult to determine if it was Snowden's they chose to take it anyways. (this is all, of course, presuming that the USG was responsible)
  - kiiski 13y ago
    Perhaps they didn't want to take the risk that the file somehow got past them (they failed to detect/recognize it, or it was sent another way (courier, etc.)).
  - 13y ago

codex 13y ago

"Rio de Janeiro has been rated “Critical” for crime by the State Department for the past 25 years. Crimes statistics for 2012 reflect continued critically high and rising levels of crimes in both the state and city of Rio de Janeiro in the categories of robbery, rape, fraud, and residential thefts." [1] "The high level of residential burglary has made most residents opt to reside in apartments where the “porteiro” (doorman) ensures 24/7 access control for the building. Having effective access control is critical." [1] https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=13966 https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=139...

throwaway10001 13y ago
But thieves don't just take a laptop once in
jasonkolb 13y ago
Greenwald wasn't in Rio, his colleague was.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  Partner, as in domestic partner.

thomasjoulin 13y ago

So, NSA supposedly has access via PRISM to direct access to Microsoft servers, and yet they supposedly have to go steal a laptop to get access to sent files ?

cheald 13y ago
Perhaps they didn't want access so much as they wanted to remove possession of the files from Greenwald's partner? The NSA presumably already knows what's in the archive.
Goopplesoft 13y ago
No the key of that phrase was: > I did not end up doing it. It's implying had he sent it the laptop wouldn't have been stolen.
samstave 13y ago
The machine could have been shutdown before they had the opportunity to slurp the file.
Dylan16807 13y ago
Yes. Are you trying to imply that that is odd? "Sent files" as a general case don't live on Microsoft servers.

o0-0o 13y ago

Wait, what? This dudes gay?

GI8A 13y ago

Reminds me of the time the house I was renting with a bunch of other international students was broken into and obviously searched, but nothing was taken, not even cash.