J. D. Fielder

Proper Operations Security on the Tor Network

First, for those who don't know what Tor is: https://www.torproject.org/

"Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis."

That said, I saw this Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram newsletter.  Basically a list of tips for improving your Tor anonymity game. Some is common sense: Tor benefits don't amount to a hill of beans if you go about bragging that you use it. Other tips are considerably more technical and fine grained for you gearheads out there:

Cryptome: Tor Operations Security

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Infographic: Visualizing the Global Digital Divide

I need to post more abstracts! In the meantime, Gregor Aisch at vis4net has a fantastic map of the digital divide, or disparaties between Internet haves and have-nots (note: clicking in the image will take you to Gregor's full post):

If you want to read up on the digital divide, I recommend:

Chadwick, Andrew. Internet Politics: Sates, Citizens, and New Communications Technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Mossberber, Karen, Caroline Tolbert, and Mary Stansbury. Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2003.

Mossberger, Karen, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Ramona S. McNeal. Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008.

Norris, Pippa. Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

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AP: No Wikipedia? What if the Internet went down?

From AP News. Interesting observation on how lack of online information encouraged Egyptian protesters to meet face to face:

"The government of Hosni Mubarak tried to stop protests in January 2011 by switching off the Internet. The shutdown halted businesses, banking operations and - at the height of the demonstrations - the ability of the protest leaders to organize and communicate with one another.

During the five days that the Internet was out, anti-Mubarak activists had to rely on help from abroad to spread their news and update Web pages. The outage harmed protesters' ability to organize or to counter government propaganda that portrayed them as agents of foreign powers, said Ahmed Saleh, who was in charge of managing the Facebook page that was credited with mobilizing thousands of Egyptians to take to the streets.

With the shutdown, the protests swelled as people unable to follow minute-by-minute what was going on took to the streets.

"No Internet meant that more people went down and realized that this was for real. The protests grew, and so did the anger against the government domestically and internationally," Saleh said."

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(Video) The Internet in Society: Empowering or Censoring Citizens?

Been reading and writing my @$$ off to get my dissertation prospectus done! Hope to defend the prospectus ~17 January.

Anyways, have an interesting video for you, courtesy of one of my professors:

"Does the internet actually inhibit, not encourage democracy? In this new RSA Animate adapted from a talk given in 2009, Evgeny Morozov presents an alternative take on 'cyber-utopianism' - the seductive idea that the internet plays a largely emancipatory role in global politics.
 
Exposing some idealistic myths about freedom and technology (during Iran's 'twitter revolution' fewer than 20,000 Twitter users actually took part), Evgeny argues for some realism about the actual uses and abuses of the internet."

 

Wall Street Journal: The Surveillance Catalog

Not sure how long the below link will work for non-WSJ subscribers:

From WSJ.com: Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal open a rare window into a new global market for the off-the-shelf surveillance technology that has arisen in the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The techniques described in the trove of 200-plus marketing documents include hacking tools that enable governments to break into people’s computers and cellphones, and "massive intercept" gear that can gather all Internet communications in a country.

The documents—the highlights of which are cataloged and searchable here—were obtained from attendees of a secretive surveillance conference held near Washington, D.C.

The documents fall into five general categories: hacking, intercept, data analysis, web scraping and anonymity. Below, explore highlights related to each type of surveillance, and search among selected documents.

Continued at The Wall Street Journal

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Bit Rebels Infographic: Importance of Real-Time Compression

 

Interesting infographic from BitRebels:

Infographic continues at BitRebels.com

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On Communication, Mission Statements and the Occupy Movement

For my dissertation, I'm studying information and communication technology (ICT) effects on dissent within authoritarian states. I came up with the idea back in 2008, and must say the Arab Spring came at a good time for my research.  To build my argument, I've read widely in civic culture/social capital, democratization, collective action, state coercion, and computer mediated communication.  No surprise, then, that many existing theories apply just as well to democratic states.

I've poked through the Occupy Iowa City camp several times to see what's going on and drop the random "hello." It's a sedate affair in comparison to larger movements in New York and Oakland. No shouting, no jostling, no police in riot gear--indeed, it's steeped in Midwest politeness and sensibility.  I also have friends participating in, observing, or dismissing movements in New York, Denver, Seattle, Portland, and Eugene. And I follow all of it from the comfort of my recliner, thanks to the wonders of Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds.

ICTs are double-edged, however.  On one hand, the Internet (one ICT facet) is a real time, asynchronous and reasonably cheap communication medium. Indeed, while Web 2.0 tools permit richer experiences (plotting movements on Google Maps is a nice touch), text-enabled cellphones are often sufficient for information flows. ICTs also flatten organizational structures and thus decentralized decision and coordination processes. ICTs also mitigate the tyranny of distance, meaning geographic proximity is no longer a major obstacle.

To the best of my knowledge, the Occupy movement has no single leader, yet all the movement cells appear to function in good working order. Volunteers step up to cook, clean, post to-do lists, organize meetings, process information, and so on without a central headquarters. Thus, the movement captures the best of early American Town Hall politics and the type of civic engagement that makes de Tocqueville smile.

On the other hand, there are significant risks associated with decentralized control/decentralized execution. I must turn to my primary employer--the U.S. Air Force--as a comparison.  One of our mantras is "centralized control/decentralized execution," meaning the commander issues a unified mission intent but gives subordinates wide latitude in pursuing the objective. Under this construct, everyone starts on same sheet of music, and ideally, everyone down to the lowest ranking Airman will know--and can articulate--the objective.  Yet, every units has free reign to maximize their strengths during planning and execution, and can even pursue additional objectives of opportunity during execution.  After the dust clears, units then compile and send after action reviews up the chain of command and the commander uses the reviews to refine or change the mission intent. All in all, an elegant command and control solution for a chaotic environment.

In contrast, I assess the Occupy movement is well organized but poorly articulated. Is there as unified "commander's intent?" As an outside observer, I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what the movement's goals are. So far, I've read a heady mix of statements that punish the banks, big business, the rich, and Washington D.C. I've read calls for tax increases and decreases, wealth distribution, entitlement demands, and my fill of snarky statements scrawled on notebook paper, photographed, and shared on Facebook to generate support, angst, amusement, and schadenfreude. Basically, the noise to signal ratio is so high that I can't draw conclusions. Rather than reading information online, I'd be better off baking cookies for the Iowa City camp and talking in person (a few beers might help, too).

Also, if I may loosely invoke Michel's Iron Law of Oligarchy¹, without centralized leadership, each movement risks forming their own fiefdoms centered on local leadership and local demands. The result would be leadership struggles, a mish-mash of geographically dispersed mission statements, and potential squabbles between different movement locations (so far, though, egalitarianism has the upper hand). The Tea Party runs similar risks, too, but the TP Movement (heh, that sounds bad) appears to have more nationally known names, offices with nice desks, multifunction phones and maroon carpeting, and direct involvement in early presidential fisticuffs. The only big Occupy name that comes to mind is Cornell West, and he's getting arrested too much to articulate a statement. In other other words, there is effort, but not unity of effort.

The result? No one seems to give a s**t about the Occupy movement, except participants and sympathetic observers (to paraphrase Lemony Snicket, movements fail if the suit and slacks people in tall buildings with impressive views don't become patrons). In contrast, the Tea Party demands tribute and gets it. While flash mobs, hash tags and miles of ethernet cable are a nice touch, the Occupy movements at least needs a unified mission statement.

By the way, I lean more towards Occupy than Tea Party. Both share some common ground, though, notably the idea we've been collectively shafted.


¹ Michels, Robert. 1915. Political Parties: A Sociological Study Of The Oligarchical Tendencies Of Modern Democracy. Kessinger Publishing, LLC.  Iron Law of Oligarchy refers to the tendency of all complex organizations, including radical or socialist political parties and labour unions, to develop a ruling clique of leaders with interests in the organization itself rather than in its official aims.

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The Netizen Report

First edition of The Netizen Report, a new series at Global Voices Advocacy:

"This is the first post in a new series on GVA called “The Netizen Report”: A regular overview of recent global developments related to the power dynamics between citizens, companies and governments on the Internet. I hope that these regular reports can provide netizens around the world with useful information about who is seeking to influence and shape the digital platforms and networks we increasingly depend upon, and how.

Armed with information, we are in a better position to defend our rights, and to make sure the Internet evolves in a manner that is compatible with free expression and dissent. The format and content of the report will evolve over the coming months based on reader feedback and author experimentation."

CONTINUED AT GLOBAL VOICES ADVOCACY

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Infographic: Chronological History of Computers

Preview of an interesting infographic over at Bitrebels:

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Software for Evading Internet Censorship?

NPR: China is stepping up Internet censorship, telling hotels and cafes they need to monitor public Wi-Fi usage or face fines and punishments. China is already one of the most heavily censored places in the world — along with places like Burma (Myanmar), Iran and many Middle Eastern countries.

Now, new software being developed at the University of Michigan may help Internet users find away around the blockages. Alex Halderman is an assistant professor of computer science at the university, and one of the developers of the new system, called Telex. CONTINUED

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