Download WASTE before DOJ taps your IMs, email, VOIP calls, and browsing

[scottxyz]

The DOJ is wants to require "backdoors" so they can snoop into your Instant Messages, emails, Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) phone calls, and the websites you visit.

Maybe it's time to download WASTE - a small, fast, popular "private networking" system using unbreakable encryption to give you your privacy back for instant-messaging, forums and file-sharing.*

http://waste.sourceforge.net/index.html

Download it now before they make Waste illegal - like they've done for other computer code (such as the DVD-decryption program).

AOL already pulled WASTE from their website after their Nullsoft employee and WinAmp developer Justin Frankel wrote it and posted it there - but you can still get it at the link above. (Frankel has since quit AOL.)

Even if you can't figure out how to use it now, it could be handy to already have WASTE available on your machine. It's small and downloads fast - has the same sleek interface as WinAmp. WASTE is just the type of program the DOJ would love to ban - if they could ever figure out a reason why. (Maybe they'll manufacture a headline "Terrorists plotting using encrypted peer-to-peer software.")

It feels really awesome having a program where everything you send and receive on it is TOTALLY encrypted so nobody who intercepts your message can ever break it.


http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/31759
The Justice Department is seeking to expand its ability to monitor online traffic by forcing broadband providers to make their services "wiretap-friendly," and a petition filed with the FCC this week says you will foot the bill. Get ready for CALEA 2.0.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3856719,00.html
http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/calea/calea_law.html

= = =

*WASTE doesn't do browsing yet - but if you're interested in that, there is a totally different project from Ian Clarke called FreeNet.

[DBoon]

1. Was Justin Frankel involved in Gnutella per chance?

n/t

[scottxyz]

6. Yes

Justin Frankel is a old hand at peer-to-peer networking.

I like his WinAmp because it's got such a clean interface and it's small and fast. (I use version 2.78 - before AOL "dumbed it down".)

[gristy]

2. Ask me if I care if the DOJ sees what I am sending over the internet.

I really don't!

[name not needed]

3. theyd only care

if theyre after me bitching about teachers and selling paintball stuff.

[scottxyz]

5. The FCC cares what Howard Stern says on the air

Of course YOU don't think you're saying anything that bad on the Internet.

Trouble is, YOU don't get to decide whether what you say is ok or not.

THEY do.

[gristy]

8. They aren't going to arrest me for what I post

on the internet (i.e., on DU). They really aren't. Of that I am absolutely certain. :)

[TrueAmerican]

4. I hope you're not helping the terrorists

The terrorist communicate using the internet. You are giving them the information to do it better.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. Oh, PUHLEEZE.

Email encryption methods such as PGP and others have been available for free download worldwide since the days of DOS. Perhaps I'm wrong, but we seem to still be here so far...

I for one will not spend my days and nights hiding under the bed waiting for spooks and hobgoblins to attack me. Life's way too short to live it in fear, the way they want us to.

[scottxyz]

11. How many websites have been pulled recently under the DMCA?

Remember when blackboxvoting.org got pulled simply because Diebold said bbv had posted a link to an internal Diebold memo?

That was done under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

There's a reason they put laws like this on the books - websites, and now chat and messaging, are places that don't have much censorship - like Clear Channel and CBS do.

They want laws like this on the books not just so they can listen in - but also so that they can SHUT CERTAIN PEOPLE DOWN.

Maybe they're not gonna shut us down - because we're not saying much.

But maybe they want to shut down some of the sources we get our information from.

That's what they've been using DMCA for. The New York Times just used it to shut down a parody website making fun of their "Corrections" section.

CLEA 2.0 will probably be used to SHUT DOWN COMMUNICATION ON THE WEB. Not just to monitor it. Monitoring is only half of it. Once they find stuff they don't like, THEY'LL JUST SHUT IT DOWN.

Christ, already you've got the country's top shock jock whose only crime was saying VOTE AGAINST BUSH and they're trying to find a way to shut him down.

There's a reason they want all these laws allowing surveillance and censorship and lockups on the books.

They're planning to USE 'EM somday.

[charlie]

12. You're arguing with the wrong guy

Read the goofy post he's responding to.

[scottxyz]

14. OK, scrolled back up and re-read it

I got it now.

A serious reply to a serious reply to a sarcastic (or just goofy) post - gets confusing after a while!

[w13rd0]

16. HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Yes, and they (the terrorists) also pass secret codes by encoding messages into images on innocuous appearing webpages. But shhhh... If we ignore technology that's been around since the 70s and ASCII characters, maybe it'll go away.

[Ms. Clio]

20. yes indeed the terrorists eagerly peruse DU looking for communication tips

that they could never, ever, find anywhere else.

How utterly laughable.

[DBoon]

9. Has it been reviewed by a professional cryptographer?

I know CIPE (an open source VPN product in wide use) was recently demolished after such a review.

Open source may mean no NSA back doors, but it is no assurance of quality otherwise.

[scottxyz]

13. It uses the popular unbreakable Blowfish encryption

"Has it been reviewed by a professional cryptographer?" DBoon asks.

It uses RSA strong encryption, the popular Blowfish implementation.

Most so-called computer professionalism nowadays is a "commodity". You don't need to be a "professional cryptographer" to get good encryption - just like you don't need to be a professional mechanic to buy a car that runs.

[DBoon]

19. But is the protocol secure?

Is it susceptible to "man in the middle" attacks? What's the key entropy (could a dictionary attack work aganst the key)? Would a replay attack work (does the protocol guarentee messages are fresh)? Are the trust assumptions valid? Are the random numbers used by it really random? Are the nonces in the protocol handshake unique (unrepeatable)?

etc...

Something like SSL/TLS has been though this type of scrutiny for years. Has this product?

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Only if they delete all the spam

that I get on my email account while they're at it.

Otherwise it would be a complete waste of time.

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. We Await Silent Trystero's Empire. (n/t)

[shance]

17. Scott ,thanks. Youre trying to offer some valid help

and well the DU world is ripe with freepers and nitwits these days.

I dont care if they read my stuff, but THAT is not the point.

Like it or not, when people spy on other people, the people spying are attempting gain control and domination over the ones they are spying upon.

Its like studying an animal or any prey. You learn their habits, their weaknesses and strengths, you learn what motivates them and what frightens them so you can CONTROL them.

By invading their world you can then learn how to manipulate them.

Of course people can use any excuse they want for violate privacy laws, including a War on Terrorism.

THis is why privacy is so important. It is essentially our freedom.

Dont kid yourself by thinking otherwise.

A peeping tom goes to jail for looking where hes NOT ALLOWED TO LOOK. It just another form of an privacy invasion. Stalkers invade privacy. Their victims are vulnerable because of it too.

Fences are made for boundaries. So should these individuals must legally abide by peoples material boundaries. In short, no one should want to be able to invade someones privacy unless they are seeking a way to dominate and control.

Healthy individuals have no need or desire to dominate people by violating privacy boundaries. Healthy human-beings realize its none of their business, and quite frankly people that are healthy and essentially honest moral people have nothing to hide, therefore arent expecting others to have something to hide.

That can become a catch 22, because we must always protect our privacy. There is an invaluable power in maintaining our privacy, namely its self respect.

These indviduals seeking to spy on innocent American citizens are not three year olds, although they are honestly behaving like individuals with a mentality of three year old, have no sense of anyone elses boundaries and certainly lack any normal amount of self control.

Squeaky wheels and LOUD ANGRY VOICES like Howard Stern are what get extremists attention, not calm Swiss mocha* moments, quiet thought provoking discussions. The extreme narcissists flatten that deal with one smash.

Extremist powermongers must learn to respect rules of privacy that are in place, they certainly are tyrranical when it comes to THEIR OWN privacy, and yet they dont abide by laws, unless they are forced to respect the laws that EVERY other American has to abide by.

[Deja Q]

18. Cool! Microsoft helped the hackers and now our own governemnt will too!!!

One disgruntled employee is all it takes. And I sure as hell don't trust the people in charge. Not now. Not anytime soon, I regret to say.