[ELECTRON] it's a google world .... but an interesting Electron club...

Wed Mar 3 13:16:36 UTC 2010

The FLOSS Manuals project published a pretty comprehensive tutorial on
such tools:

http://en.flossmanuals.net/CircumventionTools

It is primarily aimed at journalists and civil rights activists working in
countries that place heavy restrictions on internet access.

A simple way of running a workshop might be for people to work their way
through the manual (I think it is designed to be used like that).

I would volunteer to help out but if there is an interest in doing such a
workshop this month I am away for most of it. But people could have a look
at the tutorial and see if that provides a decent starting point.

Another social night would be good ....

best wishes
Si

> Well, dear friends, these last few posts remind us that even if we
> disagree about some things, we do have a lot of common ground. That's
> good to remember. Really, it's good once in a while to step back and
> notice that this electron club is a vibrant, interesting bunch of
> people with so much potential. I agree with Bob that we need to do
> more off line in the real world of Scott Street. I think a small
> social evening should be planned soon!
>
> I would like to propose a workshop evening on Anonymity and Privacy
> technologies - I don't know enough by myself but maybe with others we
> could share possibilities for anonymity and privacy for our online
> selves.
> I can think of a few things
> o  Basics of SSL e.g. for accessing email
> o  Firefox add-ons for browsing
> o  'super' cookies and how to defeat them
> o  TOR for private surfing
> o  The coming Internet of Things (RFID, IP6 etc) and threats and
> opportunities for privacy (see http://www.theinternetofthings.eu/)
>
> I'd really be keen to hear from anyone who knows about this sort of
> thing so that we could produce a workshop which could be a service to
> electron club members - expecially those, like me who have a very
> patchy knowledge of this kind of thing. Any takers to do a workshop
> with me?
>
> alan
>
>
>
> On 3 Mar 2010, at 11:32, Bob wrote:
>
>> It is just for these reasons the Common Good Awareness Project was
>> created. Knowledge of the commons is a powerful tool for change.
>> The history of the development of IT is one of free information and
>> knowledge sharing on the information highway that anyone can join?
>> Unfortunately most of this knowledge sits on the shelves of
>> academics or on esoteric websites - well hidden from the view of
>> the general public.
>>
>> There is so much potential for the dissemination of this knowledge
>> at the Electron - is that not what we want to do? There is also so
>> much potential to turn this knowledge into intelligent ideas. That
>> does entail getting away from this thing you are starring at now,
>> now and again, which you probably spend to much time on anyway.
>>
>> We have new members joining every other week who seem keen to get
>> into things - but the club does not just exist out there in
>> syberspace, it is at the corner of Scott Street and Suchiehall
>> Street. Come and visit sometime - lets use the Electron to re-
>> awaken the idea of the Knowledge Commons. One idea anyway?
>>
>> http://www.citystrolls.com/CGAP/
>> http://www.citystrolls.com/CGAP/pages/knowledge.html
>>
>>
>> On 03/03/2010 09:36, Andrew Back wrote:
>>> Google are becoming the new Microsoft. I'm seeing quite a few people
>>> becoming uneasy with them and starting to move their mail and
>>> calendar etc
>>> away. As someone pointed out to me the other day, Microsoft were
>>> kind of OK
>>> around the time of Windows 3.11, when people used things like
>>> Wordperfect
>>> for word processing, there were lots of other 3rd party apps in
>>> use, and
>>> free stuff (much of it crappy shareware, granted). And it just
>>> started to
>>> get bad around Windows 95/98, when they'd eradicated most the
>>> competition
>>> for apps, and you were locked in to a MS software stack. Same
>>> seems to be
>>> happening with Google - they want you to use all their online
>>> apps. Add to
>>> this the concerns raised in the newsletter Simon forwarded and
>>> recent issues
>>> with Buzz etc.
>>>
>>> Apple are getting worse, too, with the iPad adopting the locked-down
>>> approach taken with the iPhone. What happens to all these shiny
>>> iPhones and
>>> iPads when Apple decides that your model is out of fashion, and
>>> that you
>>> need a new one. Can you load leaner, free software on on to it and
>>> pass it
>>> on to a relative, school or charity etc? Not if Apple have their
>>> way. They
>>> would rather the device became no use to anybody, and that you
>>> were burdened
>>> with yet more landfill. Apple used to be cool - but it seems that
>>> with a
>>> growth in market share they decided that they can start to play
>>> fast and
>>> loose with their customer's freedoms. I'm also seeing people on
>>> the more
>>> techy, clued up end moving away from Apple. Hopefully this will
>>> continue.
>>> Like Google, their products may be shiny and appear refreshing,
>>> but they're
>>> ultimately as good for you as a diet of McDonalds and Chewits, and
>>> the
>>> DRM that Apple bakes in is like lard in the digital ecosystem.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>>
>>> On (21:39 02/03/10), Simon Yuill wrote:
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>>
>>>> =================== english ===================
>>>> February 2010 Newsletter
>>>> Google special edition
>>>>
>>>> ----------------------
>>>> Contents:
>>>>
>>>> * Google: creepy and evil
>>>> * How to protect your privacy online
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Google: creepy and evil
>>>> -----------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Google's motto of "don't be evil" has been key to the company's
>>>> success.
>>>> In the year 2000, Google was the only search engine that did not
>>>> privilege search results from advertisers, a significant factor in
>>>> Google's rapid rise. Maybe Google's new motto should be "don't be
>>>> creepy". Recently, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google is "trying not to
>>>> cross
>>>> what we call the creepy line" when it comes to gathering personal
>>>> data [1].
>>>>
>>>> However, Eric Schmidt wasted no time in crossing the creepy line
>>>> when in
>>>> December, he told an interviewer that "If you have something that
>>>> you
>>>> don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the
>>>> first
>>>> place." In effect, the head of the corporation with the most
>>>> surveillance data in the world has just announced that if you are
>>>> innocent you should have nothing to hide. As many people have noted,
>>>> Schmidt's statement is hypocritical and disturbing [2][3]. His
>>>> logic is
>>>> nearly identical to the totalitarian assertion that if you want free
>>>> speech, maybe you shouldn't be saying anything controversial.
>>>>
>>>> Eric Schmidt's comments are particularly troublesome in light of
>>>> Google's recent changes in policy. In March of 2009, Google
>>>> reversed its
>>>> long held policy against behavioral surveillance [4]. Now, Google
>>>> tracks
>>>> the behavior of internet users in order to serve people more
>>>> precisely
>>>> targeted advertising. In February of 2010, the Washington Post
>>>> revealed
>>>> that Google again reversed existing policy by forging an information
>>>> sharing partnership with the NSA (the super secretive electronic
>>>> spying
>>>> arm of the US government) in order to combat "cyberattacks" [5].
>>>>
>>>> In both cases, we are told not to worry because Google will only be
>>>> sharing data that has been anonymized (i.e. personally identifying
>>>> information is removed). But there is plenty of cause for alarm.
>>>> Recent
>>>> research has shown how social media sites leak large amounts of
>>>> personal
>>>> information to their advertising partners [6] and how exceptionally
>>>> difficult it is to create a dataset that cannot be de-anonymized
>>>> [7][8][9].
>>>>
>>>> In fact, the US defense department has a new initiative based
>>>> exactly on
>>>> this principle [10]. Called 'Digital DNA', the goal is to develop a
>>>> digital fingerprint database much like the databases of DNA
>>>> stored by
>>>> many national governments. The goal is precisely to identify
>>>> particular
>>>> individuals from data commonly thought to be anonymous--the tiny
>>>> traces
>>>> of digital footprints we leave behind whenever we use a computer.
>>>>
>>>> Despite all this, Google continues to assure its users that there is
>>>> nothing to worry about. After all, if you have a lot of time on your
>>>> hands, you can use the Google dashboard to adjust a complex array of
>>>> privacy "self-care" settings. The problem is, the dashboard only
>>>> applies
>>>> to data directly tied to a Google account and it ignores all the
>>>> many
>>>> ways Google retains indirect and easily de-anonymized data on
>>>> you. For
>>>> example, it does not let you remove the location data Google
>>>> keeps on
>>>> you every time you send an email to a gmail user.
>>>>
>>>> Google wants our trust. We are asked to put faith in the wizard
>>>> behind
>>>> the curtain who controls the largest assemblage of data the world
>>>> has
>>>> ever known. Google's new motto is clear: "don't be so evil that
>>>> people
>>>> start to notice." We are starting to notice.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> How to protect your privacy online
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> Working on this issue is really a social problem, not an individual
>>>> problem. Asking individuals to spend a lot of time practicing
>>>> 'privacy
>>>> hygiene' is both impractical and politically dubious. Creating
>>>> privacy
>>>> online, in our opinion, should be done communally by supporting
>>>> alternatives.
>>>>
>>>> However, there are some things which we recommend that are mostly
>>>> 'install and forget' measures, and don't require ongoing or tedious
>>>> maintenance.
>>>>
>>>> If you use Firefox, a web browser we recommend
>>>> (http://help.riseup.net/mail/#use_firefox), you can install various
>>>> extensions to use when browsing. Firefox is free software, and
>>>> community
>>>> members have written software to add new features, and anybody can
>>>> download these extensions (see https://addons.mozilla.org/ for more
>>>> information about Firefox extensions.)
>>>>
>>>> Here are some Firefox extensions that we recommend:
>>>>
>>>> * GoogleSharing (https://we.riseup.net/help/googlesharing)
>>>> * Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) (http://
>>>> taco.dubfire.net/)
>>>> * Adblock Plus (http://adblockplus.org/en/)
>>>>
>>>> You can also do web searches at https://ssl.scroogle.org/ - add this
>>>> to your search engine menu by adding
>>>> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12506
>>>>
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>>> [1] "Google trying not to cross 'the creepy line'"
>>>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10392435-265.html
>>>>
>>>> [2] "Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy"
>>>> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/Google-ceo-eric-schmidt-
>>>> dismisses-privacy
>>>>
>>>> [3] "My Reaction to Eric Schmidt"
>>>> http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/12/my_reaction_to.html
>>>>
>>>> [4] "Privacy Groups Rip Google's Targeted Advertising Plan"
>>>> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/161086/
>>>> privacy_groups_rip_googles_targeted_advertising_plan.html
>>>>
>>>> [5] "Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks"
>>>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/
>>>> AR2010020304057.html
>>>>
>>>> [6] "Social networks make it easy for 3rd parties to identify you"
>>>> http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/09/which-user-clicked-
>>>> on-viagra-ads-ask-myspace-and-facebook.ars
>>>>
>>>> [7] Mielik??inen, Taneli. 2004 "Privacy Problems with Anonymized
>>>> Transaction Databases".
>>>> http://www.springerlink.com/content/rukljup9muhtrpcu/
>>>>
>>>> [8] Shmatikov, Vitaly and Arvind Narayanan. 2008. "Robust
>>>> De-anonymization of Large Sparse Datasets (How To Break Anonymity
>>>> of the
>>>> Netflix Prize Dataset)".
>>>> http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_oak08netflix.pdf
>>>>
>>>> [9] Shmatikov, Vitaly and Arvind Narayanan. 2009. "De-Anonymizing
>>>> Social
>>>> Networks". http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~shmat/shmat_oak09.pdf
>>>>
>>>> [10]"Pentagon Searches for ???Digital DNA??? to Identify Hackers"
>>>> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/pentagon-searches-for-
>>>> digital-dna-to-identify-hackers/
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> members mailing list
>>>> members at electronclub.org
>>>> http://lists.electronclub.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/members
>>>>
>>>> Instructions for changing your mailing list settings:
>>>> http://lists.electronclub.org/emailhowto.html
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> www.citystrolls.com
>>
>> While we all watch television business gets organised.
>>
>> To subscribe
>> sub at citystrolls.com
>> -----------------------------
>>
>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list
>> please send a BLANK e-mail
>> with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the header to:
>> unsub at citystrolls.com
>>
>> Join the Bridge and get yourself and your group connected
>> www.bridgeweb.info
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> members mailing list
>> members at electronclub.org
>> http://lists.electronclub.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/members
>>
>> Instructions for changing your mailing list settings:
>> http://lists.electronclub.org/emailhowto.html
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> members mailing list
> members at electronclub.org
> http://lists.electronclub.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/members
>
> Instructions for changing your mailing list settings:
> http://lists.electronclub.org/emailhowto.html
>