Prism Break • Hacker News Board

Re: Prism Break

#131

Post by Joeboy » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 9:37 AM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #129

Tor should NOT be on here. It has little to do with "breaking" PRISM. PRISM is a voluntary program wherein a handful of endpoints have chosen to submit copies of their database to the NSA. Regardless of the mechanism or browser used to access Facebook, the reality is that all of that data gets uploaded to the NSA anyway, so who cares? People aren't interested in the real solution to PRISM, which is "Don't use service…

> On top of all that, Tor traffic is easily distinguished and most likely automatically flags your NSA profile for additional attention.

As a fairly boring non-dissident who's just trying to be a good citizen on the internet, I think I actually consider that to be a feature.

Re: Prism Break

#132

Post by Joeboy » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:03 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #20

If you're going to continue using Google Mail, it's a dumb idea to deliberately switch away from Chrome. The connection between Gmail and Chrome is among the more carefully guarded TLS connections on the Internet.

> If you're going to continue using Google Mail, it's a dumb idea to deliberately switch away from Chrome.

Only if that single feature outweighs your other reasons for switching away from Chrome.

Re: Prism Break

#133

Post by pathy » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:04 AM UTC

lifeguard wrote: post #114

gohrt wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One person's paraphrase of a general system is not evidence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY

https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9909.html#NSAKeyinMicro...

Let's be honest, Why would NSA force MS to add a key like that, in such a way?

Re: Prism Break

#134

Post by _delirium » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:10 AM UTC

dfc wrote: post #103

aray wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure its just google sites, because otherwise you might get false positives as other sites change servers/ips/certificates/etc

https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/net/http/tr...

Interesting. Kind of an eclectic small list: Google, Twitter, Tor, CryptoCat.

Re: Prism Break

#135

Post by Joeboy » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:12 AM UTC

wyck wrote: post #74

Let's pretend I'm the NSA. I don't care right now about what your saying, I just care about who you associate with and where you are hanging out. If those raise my suspicions then I will also track the where/who connections and create a map of activity. Those dots might start to line up and create further interest. If suspicions are founded as actual threats I will do anyone of the following and probably more. FISA r…

> I made this to point out some real tactics that are actually used and why the vast majority of PRISM related posts like these are a bit silly...aka..you're probably not a terrorist. The NSA tracked bin Laden's courier Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti's cell phone which eventually led them to Bin Laden. Does that sound like anything you're doing?

I find this mindset really weird and alien. Surely people who are not terrorists using security measures is exactly what's needed, so that security measures become normalized and the web's vulnerability to malicious actors is lowered. I agree that the site's focus on the NSA and PRISM is a bit misleading, but that doesn't make the site silly (although other things might).

Re: Prism Break

#136

Post by vidarh » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:21 AM UTC

Joeboy wrote: post #122

sharkweek wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But let's also be realistic -- if this technology reached mass adoption, the predictable outcomes are either 1) The government outlaws it or 2) They figure out ways to work around the security

Mass adoption is a bulwark against legislation, not a promoter of it. Eg. alcohol is legal because it's popular, not because it's safer than drugs which are illegal.

But even so, a large percentage of developed countries did prohibit alcohol for a few years, both despite and because of its popularity, and it took years of people being turned into criminals before those laws were rolled back.

Popularity provides some protection, but it also creates a more desirable target for legislation amongst those who oppose it.

Re: Prism Break

#137

Post by Joeboy » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:27 AM UTC

I'd be interested to hear about the state of encryption (particularly end-to-end encryption) in the listed Social Networking projects.

Re: Prism Break

#138

Post by oellegaard » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:30 AM UTC

I think its fair to say that this is a highly opinionated list.

Re: Prism Break

#139

Post by tfgg » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:31 AM UTC

mainevent wrote: post #127

h2s wrote: post #76

While I understand and sympathise with the compulsion to resist surveillance in this practical, technological way, I think it might be the wrong reaction to the information. It's typical of techie people to seek technical solutions to social problems, and this is one such case. It may well be possible to mitigate their ability to watch you by wearing enough tin-foil hats. Even if you succeed, all you've achieved is t…

> If you live in the UK, write to your MP ( http://www.writetothem.com/ ) Does anyone have a suggested template letter for this?

Don't use template letters -- put your thoughts in your own words. MPs/their staff tend to weight template letters lower as they indicate less effort and thought, and writetothem blocks them if it detects them.

Re: Prism Break

#140

Post by gurkendoktor » Tue, Jul 09, 2013, 10:34 AM UTC

azakai wrote: post #16

comex wrote: post #8

Several of these suggestions seem somewhat disingenuous - e.g. many of them to be about free software more than actual concerns about tracking, as reflected in the labels "Proprietary" and "Free alternatives". In particular: - None of the proprietary browsers will track you - well, beyond what's specified in the privacy policy. Two of the alternatives are Tor applications, but the other two are Firefox (which provide…

> Several of these suggestions seem somewhat disingenuous - e.g. many of them to be about free software more than actual concerns about tracking [..] None of the proprietary browsers will track you. No, these issues are very much related. It is the very nature of proprietary software that you cannot inspect and modify it, so you cannot know if it will track you or not, and cannot fix things if you are. (Inspecting ou…

> For example, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari provide ways to sync your bookmarks, all of which track you

Safari is getting especially terrible. You can either sync "Safari" with iCloud or you don't. This includes bookmarks, but also ALL OPEN TABS ("iCloud tabs"). My bookmarks are absolutely harmless, my open tabs are highly sensitive. Apple sucks at services. :(