101–110 of 130 posts
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A very naive view targeted at equally naive Western audiences. Repression in USSR after WW2 was negligible compared to 1930s.
Negligible? Gulag population was on the rise. It surpassed 1939 levels by 1950.
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Totally bogus. TextSecure-enabled WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted using a widely-respected cryptographic messaging scheme. Telegram isn't. The point of serious end-to-end encryption is that it doesn't matter who runs the servers . TextSecure-enabled WhatsApp beats Telegram on a pure engineering level; we don't even need to reach politics to prefer it.
Whatsapp right now hides all of the encryption from the user, doesnt have a way to do key verification, so its trivial for the whatsapp server to do a Mitm on your conversations. I know they are working on that and I fully expect whatsapp to be the best messenger out after they are finished. But right now, by an objective measure, it would seem like telegram is more secure
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The thing is however that any cryptosystem can be trivially compromised by making its PRNG predictable. This cannot be caught by observing the network traffic and it is really hard to catch by reversing or tracing the binary. Especially if the compromise is not an outright srand(0), but an algorithmic weakness. Then, even if it is found, then it's virtually impossible to determine whether it was benign or deliberate.…
All of these points are orthogonal as to whether source code is required for a security audit.
What smart phone chat apps are considered safe? moxie mentioned TextSecure. Any other notable examples?
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That's just it - there is no privacy. You've got a client which stores plaintext messages server side, just waiting to be broken into by (hackers/government agents/kiddies). The messages are being sent unencrypted unless you enable the "secure" (it really isn't) mode anyways, so we can also add "people who can sniff your traffic" to the list of adversaries. That's pretty much the polar opposite of "private".
> "secure" (it really isn't) There was a contest held by Pavel, with $200k prize who will break this "weak security". No one succeeded.
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It's sort of a Russian tradition, valar_m. Even the most powerful were harassed like that, and even in Stalin era the police would just back off sometimes. It's not them punking out; it's showing contempt. "We are not in a rush, little one". The purpose is to wear the victim down. "[General] Zhukov had always been notified about meetings so this impromptu one worried him. The night before the meeting, three men came…
I know "thanks!" comments are frowned upon, but I wanted you to know that I appreciate your response. You are absolutely correct, at least in my case, about Westerners being unfamiliar with the underpinnings of this society. Thanks for shedding a little bit of light.
During the standoff with the SWAT team, which took place soon after, he wouldn’t answer the door. They went home after an hour. Wait, what? Is that what police in Russia normally do? This would never, ever happen in the United States. LAPD actually even has a "Wrong Doors Unit" which goes around repairing broken down doors when the cops raid the wrong address.[0] [0] http://www.dailynews.com/20080316/repairs-help-reb…
You are judging it by Western standards. They may have nothing on him and don't actually mean to arrest him etc., it's just intimidation tactics
[1] And let's be clear, we're talking about the US here, not the entire fucking West - brutal American LEO tactics are most decidedly not par for the course in the West.
> 67 years ago Stalin defended from Hitler his right to suppress Soviet people Great quote.
A very naive view targeted at equally naive Western audiences. Repression in USSR after WW2 was negligible compared to 1930s.
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> "secure" (it really isn't) There was a contest held by Pavel, with $200k prize who will break this "weak security". No one succeeded.
You're being downvoted because that's not how cryptanalytic research works.
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Yes, to the/a guy who is developing a security application which works only with Android. But can you tell me how can you communicate over TextSecure when your friends are using iOS. Also how can you be so sure about your privacy when TextSecure is located/developed at the USA? http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_WhisperSystems
Does anyone remember when Hacker News didn't have so many trolls? Gee, sorry TextSecure is not on your platform of choice yet... I can think of worse things then something being located/developed in the USA...