RiseUp Invites and the Encrypt Everything movement

[horsebox2]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I don't know where else to ask this. I recently read an article about Googles encrypt everything movement:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2065479/encrypt-everything-googles-answer-to-government-surveillance-is-catching-on.html

and I agree with it wholeheartedly, the more people who begin utilising these privacy and freedom protection tools, the more impossible it becomes for the power/control hungry ones to label encryption and privacy as a suspicious activity. I like that quote from Snowden "saying I don't care about privacy because I have nothing to hide is like saying I don't care about freedom of speech because I have nothing to say". That really sums it up, we all have a responsibility to help freedom activists by doing our part to make freedom/privacy protection techniques mainstream. I'm getting on board 100% with this and plan on doing my part by contributing my programming skills to make it easier to implement these tools. I've always been a supporter of the EFF and everything they are doing to keep the internet a tool for empowering the people and creating freedom and I see even in my case, often times I don't feel like going to the trouble of setting up my system so everything is completely secure. I'm gonna contribute to the movement by writing scripts (preferably contribute to projects already started on github) so I'm doing this as I learn. I started using enigmail with thunderbird, but I want to also use a proper, pro freedom email provider and the one I came across which I really like is riseup.net. Unfortunately you need two invites. I don't know many people that are into these kinds of things so don't know anyone who can send me an invite.

I only started making the scripts so have nothing to show for them, the plan is to make a bash script with a minimal whiptail interface that makes it easy for people to set up all of these features but as I go along, I plan to make a clean GUI app for all platforms (using PyQt or Kivy). I don't wanna reinvent any wheels though so if theres already a project out there, I'll contribute to that instead. Theres a very cool linux hardening script called bastille, that would go hand in hand with this but it would really need to be built into a really simple, user friendly GUI which walks basic users through the bare necessities, and provides more advanced users with more options.

Anyhow, I would really appreciate if someone can send me an invite to riseup.net, and also if you know of a github project which is working on building a user friendly app to enable basic users to easily setup all of the encryption and security tools necessary to become an active part of the encrypt everything movement.

[Perfect Storm]

Moved to The Cafe.

[vasa1]

And just a reminder:
Politics: This topic has caused serious problems in the past, and as such is subject to tight control. Discussion of the politics of open source is permissible within the Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat forum. No other political posting is permitted in any form in any other area of the forum.from Ubuntu Forums Rules (https://ubuntuforums.org/misc.php?do=showrules)

[exploder]

horsebox2, I agree mostly with what you are saying. One of the main reasons I chose to use Linux was because of privacy concerns. RMS commented on privacy in an interview I watched. The interviewer said he had nothing to hide, RMS response was brilliant! "Would you just let someone go though all your belongings in your house?" Of course the answer was no! The same applies for your computer use in my opinion. (That was not an exact quote I used but you get the gist of it.)

I have never encrypted everything but it's not a bad idea. I keep my data encrypted, use a hardware and software firewall and recently tested the security of my systems thanks to a link provided by a member of this forum. You and I probably have nothing to hide but that does not mean we should just give up our privacy.

[lysander6662]

I wouldn't trust Google at all, nor Yahoo, nor any of the major firms to advocate an 'encrypt everything' policy without having some kind of secondary agenda which benefits them. Unfortunately surveillance is a fact of life on the internet. I think the very best one can do is, rather than go for extensive encryption, is primarily not to use Google. Of course, they make it very, very difficult for you to do this since you'd have to stop using their search engine, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Chrome, and if you have an Android phone, well, you'd have to stop using that too. I personally don't have a smartphone or use Chrome but I do use Gmail and Google search, so they do have a lot of ideas as to what I'm up to. The best thing to do would be to ditch Gmail and use another search engine. I don't think encrypting everything is the answer. I think just not using Google is the answer. In any sense, I'm sure they would comply with any gvmt if their hand were forced.

I know that a lot of Linux users are into their privacy [myself included] but many Linux distros are not completely safeguarded [apart from, say, Tails] but they are much better than using OSs made by immense, multinational corporations.

[QIII]

"Would you just let someone go though all your belongings in your house?"

No. Of course not.

The problem is that the analogy is not accurate. When you choose to use the internet, you send some of your belongings out and down the street where others can look at them. And so long as you have your front door open to let that stream of belongings go, people can look in the door.

I have no problem with encrypting and protecting everything. I do have a problem with non-applicable analogies used to make illogical arguments.

I also want to warn everyone again against letting this thread drift into the purely political. I have closed way too many threads on important subjects because somebody just couldn't resist the temptation. And I have said this over and over.

Talking about how to protect yourself from prying eyes, be they governmental or otherwise, is fine. Drifting off into the motivations and ethics of governments and their agencies is not fine. Please. Don't go there.

[1fallen]

"Would you just let someone go though all your belongings in your house?"

No. Of course not.

The problem is that the analogy is not accurate. When you choose to use the internet, you send some of your belongings out and down the street where others can look at them. And so long as you have your front door open to let that stream of belongings go, people can look in the door.


+100 and well said.

[mörgæs]

When I send a good old-fashioned paper letter I expect it to be transferred unopened to the guy written on the envelope. The contents is mine and only mine even though I have chosen to let someone transport it. It's not just an idea I have grabbed out of thin air, it's the law (at least where I live and I would guess in most countries).

If paper letters were opened by routine, the contents photocopied, stored forever and shared among governments and foreign agencies people would not accept it. For some strange reason people are less offended by the same actions going on in the digital world.

[QIII]

Less offended or simply aware of what sometimes happens -- but most likely not to the 3x5 glossy pictures of your cat bound for Auntie Rose?

[lysander6662]

When I send a good old-fashioned paper letter I expect it to be transferred unopened to the guy written on the envelope. The contents is mine and only mine even though I have chosen to let someone transport it. It's not just an idea I have grabbed out of thin air, it's the law (at least where I live and I would guess in most countries).

If paper letters were opened by routine, the contents photocopied, stored forever and shared among governments and foreign agencies people would not accept it. For some strange reason people are less offended by the same actions going on in the digital world.

I see what you're saying and at the risk of getting lost in analogies, an even better form of security would be to have your hand-written letter delivered by a person whom you trust. Because if the letter you send [or receive] has been generated on a computer system, it can be accessed [and probably will be]. Even your 'personal' verbal conversations with your friends or significant others are at risk if there's a smartphone in the room. Anything can be digitised and it's best to do as little as possible to encourage it. Encryption only encourages communication when it's better to use different channels, or not use them at all.

[mastablasta]

When I send a good old-fashioned paper letter I expect it to be transferred unopened to the guy written on the envelope. The contents is mine and only mine even though I have chosen to let someone transport it. It's not just an idea I have grabbed out of thin air, it's the law (at least where I live and I would guess in most countries).

If paper letters were opened by routine, the contents photocopied, stored forever and shared among governments and foreign agencies people would not accept it. For some strange reason people are less offended by the same actions going on in the digital world.

i thought so as well. but then i saw many packages do get opened. Also many countries would open letters (maybe not in USA&EU and those down under, but there are many others...). not sure what law gives them the right.

then there are postcards. we have social media for those i guess. i remember how every one has otnotify their family where they were at and we alsways got a lot of them in summer. oh and new year cards for new year.

anyway the porblme for Google with encrypt everything is, how would theythen get the data they need for targeted advertising? it's where their money comes from.

another problem with encryption is data recovery. a small disk error and you can lose it all. ok there are backups for that, but then those need to be also encrypted and can give errors on restore.