5 ms·

I'm not so sure. There have been offshore gambling sites (sports, poker etc...) that have been shut down before with the cooperation of local authorities, altho

by eksith 12y ago

I'm not so sure. There have been offshore gambling sites (sports, poker etc...) that have been shut down before with the cooperation of local authorities, although not always easily. They may see revenue for local industry as a nice plus, but not so nice as to risk the ire of the U.S. govt. In the end, your allies offshore may only be as loyal as the force they're willing to ignore. And your friends may only be as trustworthy as the information you choose to share with them. Edit: Link to that poker takedown news http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=234980 http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=234980

duaneb 12y ago
With TOR, though, it's very easy to move servers quickly. Who wants to play a foreign game of 'whack a mole'? Authorities will tire quickly of complying with an endless game.,
- noir_lord 12y ago
  > Authorities will tire quickly of complying with an endless game Oh I wish that was true but we are in our fourth? decade of the War on Drugs, Authorities don't care, they just hire more people at tax payer expense.
  - jessaustin 12y ago
    The never-ending nature of these "Wars On" is actually the main appeal of them for the lobbyists and their minions. What is better than cash this year? Cash every year until the Republic falls.
    - noir_lord 12y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nea-MpVgRL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nea-MpVgRL0 War on a Noun.
- yourad_io 12y ago
  I'm not sure how this is a whack-a-mole game. If you run a single-server hidden service, the NSA can track it (unless you think otherwise - tried to initiate discussion here[1]). Once they track it, they will get your hosting provider to cooperate and before you know it, your server has been imaged and that irrevocable .onion private key is in the authorities' hands. The most you'll see from your end was some downtime, which a cooperative host (an assumption here, granted) would cover up for the FBI (status update: rack/sector/DC failure at XXX). They can now impersonate your server, MitM you, the works. After that, in order to move, you have to literally move to another onion address. What you're saying makes sense if there is anyone who habitually rotates servers as a matter of OPSEC, but that sounds like an invitation for disaster. AFAICT the name of the game isn't whack-a-mole, because when the NSA sees the mole, it will whack it. It's "bury the mole in the moleyard" - multiple mirrors so as to make locating the actual service very unlikely. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568667
  - zanny 12y ago
    I'm wondering why they would image the server. Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? How would they be able to access anything on it, I know if I were running SR2 I'd have the longest private key ever stored in my brain to decrypt the drives.
    - wmf 12y ago
      If you're in San Francisco, how do you type the disk password into a server in Iceland? Through a BMC with clownshoes security?
      - deleted 12y ago
        [deleted]
    - yourad_io 12y ago
      > I'm wondering why they would image the server. For offline analysis and to be used as evidence, presumably. > Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? (...) longest private key ever So the process for you would be slightly different: There would be a "power outage" in your rack, your encrypted disk would be imaged and (unencrypted) bootloader would be bugged. Then they'd wait for you to see that your server had some issues, upon which time you'd have two choices: -enter your private key to resume the service. -abandon the server. The correct choice would be (2), but you don't have enough information to make that call.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
The difference though is 'seizing the website' versus 'seizing the person running the website'. What surprises me is that US citizens, knowing they live in an undeclared police state, take the risk of starting up high profile web businesses. It would be like Kim Dotcom moving to Florida to run Mega.

by eksith 12y ago

duaneb 12y ago

With TOR, though, it's very easy to move servers quickly. Who wants to play a foreign game of 'whack a mole'? Authorities will tire quickly of complying with an endless game.,

noir_lord 12y ago
> Authorities will tire quickly of complying with an endless game Oh I wish that was true but we are in our fourth? decade of the War on Drugs, Authorities don't care, they just hire more people at tax payer expense.
- jessaustin 12y ago
  The never-ending nature of these "Wars On" is actually the main appeal of them for the lobbyists and their minions. What is better than cash this year? Cash every year until the Republic falls.
  - noir_lord 12y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nea-MpVgRL0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nea-MpVgRL0 War on a Noun.
yourad_io 12y ago
I'm not sure how this is a whack-a-mole game. If you run a single-server hidden service, the NSA can track it (unless you think otherwise - tried to initiate discussion here[1]). Once they track it, they will get your hosting provider to cooperate and before you know it, your server has been imaged and that irrevocable .onion private key is in the authorities' hands. The most you'll see from your end was some downtime, which a cooperative host (an assumption here, granted) would cover up for the FBI (status update: rack/sector/DC failure at XXX). They can now impersonate your server, MitM you, the works. After that, in order to move, you have to literally move to another onion address. What you're saying makes sense if there is anyone who habitually rotates servers as a matter of OPSEC, but that sounds like an invitation for disaster. AFAICT the name of the game isn't whack-a-mole, because when the NSA sees the mole, it will whack it. It's "bury the mole in the moleyard" - multiple mirrors so as to make locating the actual service very unlikely. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8568667
- zanny 12y ago
  I'm wondering why they would image the server. Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? How would they be able to access anything on it, I know if I were running SR2 I'd have the longest private key ever stored in my brain to decrypt the drives.
  - wmf 12y ago
    If you're in San Francisco, how do you type the disk password into a server in Iceland? Through a BMC with clownshoes security?
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
  - yourad_io 12y ago
    > I'm wondering why they would image the server. For offline analysis and to be used as evidence, presumably. > Did SR2 not use full disc encryption using LUKS? (...) longest private key ever So the process for you would be slightly different: There would be a "power outage" in your rack, your encrypted disk would be imaged and (unencrypted) bootloader would be bugged. Then they'd wait for you to see that your server had some issues, upon which time you'd have two choices: -enter your private key to resume the service. -abandon the server. The correct choice would be (2), but you don't have enough information to make that call.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

The difference though is 'seizing the website' versus 'seizing the person running the website'. What surprises me is that US citizens, knowing they live in an undeclared police state, take the risk of starting up high profile web businesses. It would be like Kim Dotcom moving to Florida to run Mega.