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(L)Awful Interception

mullvad.net

31–36 of 36 posts

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#31

I've only heard good things about mullvad and their Wireguard-based VPN solution (...so long as random reddit comments and forum posts are to be trusted). I wonder what 5/9/14 eyes actually do with the intercepted data? Isn't mere processing of the said data, a gargantuan task? Is this where Palantir comes to play or is it more like of a `cat atlantic_pipeline | grep bomb` thing?

> or is it more like of a `cat atlantic_pipeline | grep bomb` thing For what us ordinary people know, there are "selectors", something similar in purpose to regular expressions, that can filter out data out of the streams (not just raw IP communications, but also phone call metadata and PIR datasets from airlines) for storage and human inspection. Think of stuff like the phone numbers, names or email addresses of kno…

[deleted]

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#32
post #16
post #11

How trustworthy are these VPN services? I use them because it's the best I can do, but I'm very suspicious. I would think the NSA is misappropriating my tax dollars if they hadn't compromised all of the VPN providers years ago. We also know the US has a history of selling compromised security equipment ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-... ) Don't get me wrong, I wish the NSA wasn't what i…

Depends on what you want to use a VPN for. If your use case is pirating the latest TV show, any VPN that's been subpoenaed and produced no records like PIA will be fine. If your use case is something that could get you in trouble with actual authorities, you'd be a fool to ever use your own internet connection. A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotsp…

> A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotspot is the only level of security I find acceptable.

People that used that method have been caught.

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#33
My info is dated, back in the day when LI was passed became federal law, I working in telecom and we had to have LI ports on all backbone ISP routers. No idea what legal process they had there, but operations didn't touch the LI ports. I heard it had a federal portal that the feds could access directly.

This was almost 2 decades ago, but on mobiles, they had a custom portal where you put in a phone number, and all traffic is logged, location, etc. Also they had a department to handle just warrants for data for mobiles.

This is almost the same way we did for child porn cases about 10 years later in photo hosting. Either a photo matched a known md5 sum of content, or a cop would submit a warrant, legal would contact operations and ask us to run the warrant script. The script would zip up the entire user's data and burn to dvd. The cop would walk into the data center and pick it up.

No chain of custody would include an employee. I'm assuming facebook/twitter has portals for feds now, since they already have government portals for cities/state employees.

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#34
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you want to use a VPN for. If your use case is pirating the latest TV show, any VPN that's been subpoenaed and produced no records like PIA will be fine. If your use case is something that could get you in trouble with actual authorities, you'd be a fool to ever use your own internet connection. A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotsp…

Generally speaking - You want a library computer booted from a throw away bootable usb drive, located in a library a few hours away from your residence.

And never the same library. Probably change your hardware frequently as well or even use disposable devices. Also don't commute to them in a traceable way (no personal vehicle, no Uber, no taxi with credit card, no public transportation without mask to cover facial recognition + outfit changes).

Real "vs. NSA" security is nigh impossible right now for any persistent operation. Especially given ARGUS style eye-in-the-sky citywide object tracking.

Maybe the most successful model would be an actual homeless person who wanders by walking and hitchiking and never sleeps in the same area twice.

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#35
post #32
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on what you want to use a VPN for. If your use case is pirating the latest TV show, any VPN that's been subpoenaed and produced no records like PIA will be fine. If your use case is something that could get you in trouble with actual authorities, you'd be a fool to ever use your own internet connection. A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotsp…

> A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotspot is the only level of security I find acceptable. People that used that method have been caught.

If they're dumb enough to use the same hotspot from the same location over and over, sure.

Re: (L)Awful Interception

#36
post #35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A clean (never had any of your PII or files on it) computer and a long-range wifi antenna to a public hotspot is the only level of security I find acceptable. People that used that method have been caught.

If they're dumb enough to use the same hotspot from the same location over and over, sure.

That's not the only weak link in that strategy. On the top of my head, patterns come to mind. The date/times you do - whatever questionable activity - you're doing, the way of doing it(say, your unique words, posting style, etc) all create a unique fingerprint of you. All they have to do is match it with your logged in(Google,MS,etc) data habits.

I guess the best way to be anonymous is to be schizophrenic.

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