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Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

m.guardian.co.uk

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Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#31

Post by grey-area »

kybernetikos wrote: post #25
capnrefsmmat wrote: post #4

The most interesting part of this is the following paragraphs from Snowden: Further, no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. Chi…

I can imagine systems that would be coercion proof, but I can't imagine any that would be coercion proof and also allow a dead mans switch, which I thought he had also claimed to have.

If reconstructing the secret requires a certain no of keys, but not all, and those people are distributed around the world, it's quite possible to be coercion proof as one party (because you can't decrypt on your own) and the secrets still accessible even if one party is compromised.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#32

Post by Amadou »

Osmium wrote: post #15

Completely off-topic, but oh-my-god if the Guardian mobile website doesn't look so much better on a desktop browser than their non-mobile website... I thought they'd had a redesign for a moment.

Other than the two-column design and the facebook/twitter/etc flare I don't see much difference. I actually liked the non-mobile page better because the formatting in the article was so much more clear, mostly better indentation.

I did turn off requestpolicy, ghostery and noscript to check if there was additional crapola I was missing and it didn't seem all that different but I did notice 30+ cross-site requests, none of which added to the usefulness of the page.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#33

Post by bjornsing »

kybernetikos wrote: post #25
capnrefsmmat wrote: post #4

The most interesting part of this is the following paragraphs from Snowden: Further, no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. Chi…

I can imagine systems that would be coercion proof, but I can't imagine any that would be coercion proof and also allow a dead mans switch, which I thought he had also claimed to have.

True, in the extreme case (deadly torture) it's obviously not possible. I guess Mr. Snowden has to hope and pray that there's nobody capable out there that thinks PUBLIC disclosure of whatever documents he controls is worth killing for...

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#34

Post by rocky1138 »

eli wrote: post #29
pvnick wrote: post #3

"Further, no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China). You may rest easy knowing I cannot be coerced into revealing that info…

I think he comes off as naive and more than a little pompous, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Either way, if he really wants the focus back on the documents, he should probably write fewer letters about his beliefs, his security, and his personal situation.

Actually, how he is treated in this situation is of direct importance to the matter at hand. If the USA does not follow the rule of law regarding his case, it only fans the flames.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#35

Post by inzax »

eli wrote: post #29
pvnick wrote: post #3

"Further, no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China). You may rest easy knowing I cannot be coerced into revealing that info…

I think he comes off as naive and more than a little pompous, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Either way, if he really wants the focus back on the documents, he should probably write fewer letters about his beliefs, his security, and his personal situation.

I totally disagree on slowing down his writing.

think about the federalist papers for a second. Someone needed to wrote them to convince a nation about our beloved constitution. Since all eyes are on Snowden, he has the best ability to sway many minds about what he believes and what I believe to be right.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#36

Post by brown9-2 »

ianterrell wrote: post #7
untog wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To offer an opposing view: I cannot be coerced into revealing that information, even under torture. That is a huge claim. I do not imagine that his training involved being tortured to make sure. If he's wrong, there could be dire consequences for the US. You might even say his ego is writing checks his body can't cash.

I interpret this as it's protected in such a way that any information he can give is not sufficient to access the documents. (copy pasted from my reply on another comment below)

How would that work though? Wouldn't it mean that in order to access the info he is talking about, you need something more than knowledge he has in his head - like physical access to something?

But then, in the worst case scenario - how could Snowden access it himself if he needs the documents?

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#37

Post by 2na »

This is like a dialogue from a spy movie, the good guy is on the run trying to save his country, while this very nation is hunting him down.

I think Wesley Snipes plays the good guy! :-)

Jokes aside I salute Snowden, he's doing a very very brave thing. We should come up with a hacker salute for his cause.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#38

Post by rodolphoarruda »

"...one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China)."

Interesting. Is it from a technical/IT standpoint or more of a "social engineering" one? Or a bit of both? That's a genuine question because I really don't know how feasible this type of work could be when done from within the US.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#39

Post by ianterrell »

grey-area wrote: post #31
kybernetikos wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can imagine systems that would be coercion proof, but I can't imagine any that would be coercion proof and also allow a dead mans switch, which I thought he had also claimed to have.

If reconstructing the secret requires a certain no of keys, but not all, and those people are distributed around the world, it's quite possible to be coercion proof as one party (because you can't decrypt on your own) and the secrets still accessible even if one party is compromised.

If that were the case, there would need to be at least two other parties who share his ideology specifically enough to decrypt the data only after he's presumed dead. They would also need to remain secret in order to not be targeted simultaneously.

Not impossible requirements, but they seem unlikely.

The question is: Can you automate it to remove the human element?

Assuming Tor is perfect, could you create N co-conspirator hidden services that need checked in with periodically to not work together to decrypt it? Assuming the check in would be able to detect duress, that might be a viable system.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#40

Post by brown9-2 »

As Joshua Foust points out, Snowden gave some info to Der Spiegel that they chose not to publish which seems to conflict with some of the "no harm" statements here:

SPIEGEL has decided not to publish details it has seen about secret operations that could endanger the lives of NSA workers. Nor is it publishing the related internal code words. However, this does not apply to information about the general surveillance of communications. They don’t endanger any human lives — they simply describe a system whose dimensions go beyond the imaginable.

http://joshuafoust.com/dangerously-naive-or-a-liar/

The Guardian and Washington Post also decided to not publish the majority of the Prism slides for similar national security reasons, even though Snowden's initial push was to have them all published (and almost immediately after receipt by the Guardian and WaPo).

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