Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

AT&T, Voice Encryption and Trust

Yesterday, AT&T announced an Encrypted Mobile Voice. As CNet summarizes: AT&T is using One Vault Voice to provide users with an application to control their security. The app integrates into a device’s address book and “standard operation” to give users the option to encrypt any call. AT&T said that when encryption is used, the call […]

 

"We can’t circumvent our way around internet censorship."

That’s the key message of Ethan Zuckerman’s post “Internet Freedom: Beyond Circumvention.” I’ll repeat it: “We can’t circumvent our way around internet censorship.” It’s a long, complex post, and very much worth reading. It starts from the economics of running an ISP that can provide circumvention to all of China, goes to the side effects […]

 

What Was Wrong With the Old FISA?

The Get FISA Right group is publicizing our need to re-think the laws. They have discussion going on on their site, as well as on The Daily Kos. I recommend catching up there, or reading Adam’s recent post here. I have to ask what was wrong with the old FISA? It wasn’t a bad system, […]

 

What Should FISA Look Like?

Jim Burrows is working to kick off a conversation about what good reform of US telecom law would be. He kicks it off with “What does it mean to “get FISA right”?” and also here. To “get it right”, let me suggest that we need: One law that covers all spying Require warrants when the […]

 

"Get FISA Right" Pointer

[Update: This got to #5 on change.org’s list, and they’re now working to draw attention to the issue on change.gov.] Jon Pincus has asked me for help in drawing attention to his “Get FISA Right” campaign to get votes on change.org. When I’ve tried to look at this, it’s crashed my browser. YMMV–I use a […]

 

Actually, Randall, We Tried That

And the reason it doesn’t work is that just because you’re allowed to own something doesn’t mean you’re allowed to export it. The use, ownership, production, etc. of crypto was never restricted, only its export. In an Intenet-enabled world, export control brings lots of hair with it, which is why it was important to fight […]

 

New FISA Analysis

Vox Libertas, a blogger at the Daily Kos has written an analysis of the new US FISA law in his article, “I think I understand the FISA bill. Do I?” Vox Libertas has taken an approach that I can appreciate. On the one hand, many people are unhappy with the telecom immunity. I’m one of […]

 
 

Inside Carnivore

Ryan Singel has a long article in Wired: “Point, Click … Eavesdrop: How the FBI Wiretap Net Operates.” I was pretty stunned at some of the numbers: FBI endpoints on DCSNet have swelled over the years, from 20 “central monitoring plants” at the program’s inception, to 57 in 2005, according to undated pages in the […]

 

Shock Horror! Ashcroft Am Not Devil Incarnate!

In 27 B Stroke 6 Threat Level, Kevin Poulsen writes, “News from Bizzaro World: Ashcroft Opposed Taps.” Kevin, your reality tunnel is showing. There are many things that Ashcroft was (I apologize for using the past tense), starting with prig and prude. I’m not particularly a fan of his, but the Venn diagram of what […]

 

On Illegal Wiretaps

What, indeed, was the nature of the “program” before Goldsmith, Comey and Ashcroft — those notorious civil libertarian extremists — called a halt to it, and threatened to resign if the President continued to break the law? And what was the nature and breadth of its legal justification? I am hardly alone in realizing that […]

 

Facebook Hangover

On Dave Farber’s list, Brock Meeks pointed us to a delightful Facebook Smackdown. Brock says, What do Facebook, the CIA and your magazine subscription list have in common? Maybe more than you think… http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/ Trust me, it’s worth the look. And indeed it is worth looking at, along with Patrick Schitt’s contribution of the background […]

 

Weak Crypto Contest

The 2007 Underhanded C Contest has a marvelous theme — weak crypto. The object of this year’s contest: write a short, simple C program that encrypts/decrypts a file, given a password on the command line. Don’t implement your own cipher, but use a bog-standard strong cipher from a widely available library. […] Your challenge: write […]

 

Fear Wears Off: More UK Liquid Explosives Plot

As the shock and awe wears away, we learn more about what happened and why. Perhaps this plot was not about to go operational, as MSNBC reports that “U.S., U.K. at odds over timing of arrests.” Meanwhile, after years of debate over warrantless surveillance, the Washington Post reports that a “Tip Followed ’05 Attacks on […]

 

Small Bits of Chaos

“Los Angeles Consumers File Class Action Lawsuit Against Used-Car Dealer Drive Time For Allegedly Leaking Their Private Financial Information to Unauthorized Third Parties.” “Down To Business: Time To Get Tough On Security Slackers” Rob Preston in Information Week, “Perhaps if the VA secretary faced personal fines or jail time for that foot dragging, those security […]

 
 

That didn't take long

Verizon is facing a $5 billion lawsuit over its alleged law-breaking. The NYT reports today that this suit may actually involve as much as $50 billion in damage. Previously, a $20 billion suit had been filed regarding the aspects of the NSA program that had become publicly-known in December. Interestingly enough, when you don’t take […]

 

Tip of the iceberg

A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to […]

 

Cell phone records market seemingly no longer important?

Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey asks Dennis Hastert whether legislation protecting mobile phone users’ privacy has been sent to a “legislative ‘Guantanamo Bay’” in order to modify it so that intelligence gathering activities analogous to those affecting land lines would be unimpeded.

 

NSA Wiretaps: General Hayden Speaks

In “Hayden Delivers Impassioned Defense of NSA,” Powerline excerpts Hayden’s Speech to the National Press Club (PDF). One section that jumped out at me was: GEN. HAYDEN: You know, we’ve had this question asked several times. Public discussion of how we determine al Qaeda intentions, I just — I can’t see how that can do […]

 

On the NSA Wiretaps

One of the noteworthy aspects to the ‘NSA Wiretap’ revelations is how it has galvanized a broad swath of people, far beyond the “usual suspects” to state that the program was a mistake, and we need to function within the rule of law. For example, Suzanne Spaulding, former assistant general counsel at the CIA: Before […]

 

Russell Tice and NSA Wiretaps

Democracy Now has a radio interview, downloadable in several formats, and a transcript at “National Security Agency Whistleblower Warns Domestic Spying Program Is Sign the U.S. is Decaying Into a “Police State.” Reason’s Julian Sanchez has an interview “Inside The Puzzle Palace:” REASON: You’re referring to what James Risen calls “The Program,” the NSA wiretaps […]

 

Do Wiretap Revelations Help the Terrorists?

The question is a fair and natural one to ask, and I’d like to examine it in depth. I think my intuitive answer (“revelations about wiretaps don’t help the terrorists”) is wrong, and that there are surprising effects of revealing investigative measures. Further, those are effects I haven’t seen discussed. Allow me to explain the […]

 

I'll have to check with my manager

If you watch “The Simpsons”, you’ve probably seen “Puberty Boy“, the pimply-faced kid who appears in many episodes in a variety of menial jobs. Well, it looks like he may be working for the NSA: Q If FISA didn’t work, why didn’t you seek a new statute that allowed something like this legally? ATTORNEY GENERAL […]

 

Government Secrecy and Wiretaps

I’d like to respond to Dan Solove’s article “How Much Government Secrecy Is Really Necessary” with the perspective of a veteran of the 1990s crypto wars, in which we fought the NSA for the practical right to build and use encryption to protect sensitive data. A central tenat of the government’s position was that there […]

 

NSA Spying on Americans Without Warrants

“Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11, Officials Say.” A 10 page story in the New York Times opens: Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without […]