Tor Stands Pretty Secure Against NSA Attack

We all know that the National Security Agency (NSA) hates Tor. Tor stands for everything the NSA is against, such as anonymity and information security. It comes as no surprise to find out that the spy agency has been attacking the Tor network:

The National Security Agency has made repeated attempts to develop attacks against people using Tor, a popular tool designed to protect online anonymity, despite the fact the software is primarily funded and promoted by the US government itself.

It’s pretty funny when one government agency is focused on destroying something originally created by another government agency (Tor was originally funded by the United States Naval Research Laboratory). Fortunately the NSA has met with very little success:

But the documents suggest that the fundamental security of the Tor service remains intact. One top-secret presentation, titled ‘Tor Stinks’, states: “We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users all the time.” It continues: “With manual analysis we can de-anonymize a very small fraction of Tor users,” and says the agency has had “no success de-anonymizing a user in response” to a specific request.

Another top-secret presentation calls Tor “the king of high-secure, low-latency internet anonymity”.

There has been a lot of speculation about Tor’s security. Even now people are arguing over whether or not the Tor Stinks presentation is still accurate. It is possible that the NSA has developed a way to successfully remove a Tor user’s anonymity since the presentation was leaked. So far we’ve seen no evidence of this though. The two primary stores involving Tor, the take down of Freedom Hosting and the apparent arrest of Dread Pirate Roberts, were both accomplished using old fashioned investigative work. This leads me to believe the the Tor Stinks presentation is still accurate and that the NSA hasn’t found a reliable way to attack a Tor user’s anonymity.

Once again, we can speculate about the powers of the NSA. The problem is we can’t work off of speculations. I agree with Bruce Schneier who said we should “trust the math.” Unless we have evidence to the contrary we can only assume that Tor works. With that said, it’s never good to rely entirely on a single tool. Tor is great but you should also take other precautions to protect your anonymity online (for example, Tor doesn’t do you a lot of good if somebody has already managed to install a trojan onto your computer).

Monday Metal: Angus McFife by Gloryhammer

Since I had a bit of time to actually write blog posts this weekend there’s actually a Monday Metal entry. I decided to go with something very nerdy again, which means power metal. This week’s entry is Angus McFife by Gloryhammer. GloryHammer was recently founded by Christopher Bowes, who is also the vocalist in the awesome pirate metal band Alestorm. Watching the music video will tell you everything you need to know about this band (namely, dragons are likely to be a reoccurring subject matter in its lyrics):

The National Debt

During this entire “shutdown” drama one topic continues to be brought up again and again: the national debt. Fiscally conservative circles are giving the Republicans a lot of credit for refusing to pass a budget that funds the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their reason for this is a belief that funding the ACA will increase the national debt even further, which is true (since the United States is maintaining a deficit any additional spending will increase the national debt). On principle I agree that further increasing the national debt is a bad idea. Practically speak, decreasing the national debt at this point is meaningless.

The national debt is hovering close to $17 trillion. At this point the United States is insolvent. Putting this into perspective, this national has already reach the point many fiscally irresponsible individuals reach when they received a credit card with a high spending limit. The amount of outstanding credit exceeds the debtor’s ability to repay. No matter what the federal government does it will never be able to repay $17 trillion.

One must now ask whether or not attempts to curtail the national debt are meaningful. Honestly, I don’t think they are. At this point the government might as well buy anything and everything it can. Anything of value (that is to say, anything that isn’t perishable) should be transferred to another entity to protect it from seizure when the time comes to declare bankruptcy. If you’ve already overextended your credit limit you might as well go for broke and get everything you can.

I’m of the mindset that there is nothing that can be done to prevent the sinking of the Titanic. Instead, I’m focusing my time on getting to the life boat, loading as many people as I can onto the life boat, and getting the life boat as far away from the sinking ship as possible. Going below deck and trying to weld patches onto the gigantic hole of national debt is futile.

Shooting at the Capitol

For a brief period yesterday every major media outlet was doing wall-to-wall coverage of the shooting at the Capitol. Everybody was speculating about the crazy gun wielding maniac who was shooting up the White House. Until, an hour or so later, it was revealed that the only shots fired were by police officers — at a woman driving a car with a small child in it. Her crime? Attempting to drive around some barricades in front of the White House. The police effectively gunned down the woman for a traffic violation (good job, guys).

But I’m not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on the situation. Shootings happen frequently in Washington DC, which is rather ironic considering the city is effectively a gun-free zone and the home turf of multiple law enforcement agencies. The only difference between this shooting and the other shootings that happen in Washington DC is that this one happened in the privileged zone. Washington DC is separated into two zones: the privileged zone where the politicians and their lobbyist hang out and the unprivileged zone where everybody else hangs out. Most of the unprivileged zone consists of projects. The media gives no thought to shootings that happen in projects.

Another lesson to be learned from this story is how quickly the media jumps to completely wrong conclusions. First we heard there was an exchange of gunfire. Some began speculating about the “assault weapons” the suspect was using. Later we learned that the police were the only ones sending fast moving pieces of lead into the air. There was also whispers about this being a terrorist attack. Later we learned that it was a woman, driving a car, with a child inside. Some terrorist. My point is this: when a story first breaks nobody has any details so you should assume that nobody knows what the hell they’re talking about. Don’t believe anything reported within the first hours of a major incident. Everything being reported initially is bullshit based on speculation. The only thing the media is doing by reporting on a situation right away is attempting to drum up ratings (and Odin knows they need those ratings).

The Only Pain Incurred by the Shutdown is Intentional

As this “shutdown” continues we see more demonstrations of its arbitrary nature. First of all, this isn’t a shutdown. A shutdown would imply a complete end to all government provided services. Instead, what we have, is an inconvenience. The only things being shutdown are ones that cause direct harm or inconvenience to the general public. In fact, as demonstrated by the blockage of a World War II memorial, the government has actually invest time and resources into this inconvenience. Many parks and memorials that are unmanned or maintain a minimal staff are now surrounded by police officers who are tasked with keeping everybody out.

If that didn’t make it apparent that this shutdown is a direct swipe at the general population this should:

The IRS is still collecting taxes during the government shutdown, but it isn’t sending refunds — and it also has stopped complying with a subpoena to turn over documents to members of Congress who are investigating the agency’s targeting of tea party groups.

The government will still pay people to rob you at gunpoint but it won’t pay people to send you refunds or documents that have been subpoenaed, which should slap the bigwigs in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with contempt of Congress.

Instead of referring to this “shutdown” as a shutdown we should call it what it really is: a giant dick waving competition. Right now the Republicans and Democrats are pulling out tape measures and seeing who has the longer dick. Because both sides are coming up short they’ve decided to take their anger out on all of us. The only question we should be asking is, why the fuck do we take these children seriously and allow them to run our lives?

By Shuttering Silk Road the Government Helped Escalate Violent Crime

As mentioned earlier today, the state has finally shuttered the online “black” market hidden service known as Silk Road. In so doing the state has also helped escalate violent crime. How? By shuttering one of the most effective ways of reducing violent crime: a hidden service that allowed individuals to buy illicit substances without physical interaction.

Due to its illegal nature the drug market is ripe with violence. The more virtuous tend to avoid manufacturing, selling, or buy verboten drugs because they would rather not get on the wrong side of the state. This leaves individuals who, for the most part, have few quarrels with using violence. Since the more violent make up a bulk of the manufacturers and sellers of verboten drugs prospective buyers end up having to deal with nefarious individuals.

Silk Road offered protection for manufacturers, buyers, and sellers. By maintaining each person’s anonymity, Silk Road allowed otherwise scared manufacturers and sellers to enter the market. With the veil of anonymity in place the threat of state violence is reduced. Furthermore, since manufacturers and sellers don’t know who each other are they cannot use violence in an attempt to establish a monopoly. Buyers, also enjoying the layer of anonymity between themselves and their suppliers, didn’t have to physically go to pick up the drugs, which reduced their potential exposure to both state and seller violence. By raising a barrier between the identities of manufacturers, buys, sellers, and the state Silk Road stood a good chance of making the illegal drug market a much safer place.

By shutting Silk Road down the state actually helped violence proliferate. This is why I never take the claim that the state is necessary to protect the people. Everything it does seems to revolve around increasing the amount of violence in our society.

My Line in the Sand

Thanks to a few guys carrying rifles into Starbucks the topic of dickish gun owners has cropped up. Most of this discussion has revolved around the more zealous advocates of open carry. You know the ones, they sometimes walk into coffee shops with rifles and shotguns slung across their backs. I’m not going to waste more time berating those individuals, I think they’ve been reamed thoroughly already and, frankly, I don’t really care. But since we’re on the topic I thought it would be a good idea to bring up another group of gun owners that come off as dickish in the eyes of the public: the “lines in the sand” guys.

One of my anti-state friends was recently approached by a few individuals who had formed a militia. From the description these people weren’t forming a militia in the sense of community protection. Their primary goal appeared to be fighting a revolutionary war against the federal government should it cross their, probably highly mobile, line in the sand. Assuming these characters aren’t feds (feds love to form faux revolutionary organizations in an attempt to lure peaceful anti-statists into a compromising position), they represent a group that certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the general public.

“Line in the sand” people are quick to point out that this country was founded on a group of revolutionaries who rose up and violently overthrew the British. While that’s true, most people living in the United States today don’t believe things are currently as bad as they were back then. In the eye’s of the general public the only thing wrong with this country is that the right people aren’t in charge. According to them everything wrong would be righted in a day if only the Republicans/Democrats/Libertarians were given complete control. If you’re calling for violent revolution most people think you’re jumping the gun.

I have no problem with gun owners pointing out that one reason for gun ownership is to keep the state at bay. History has demonstrated that governments tend to become a bit more tyrannical when the people it claims lordship over are unarmed. But it still sounds a little crazy to people who see the state’s tanks, aircraft carriers, and drones and have no concept of fourth generation warfare tactics. It’s one thing to discuss the hypothetical situation where the populace would need arms to overthrow a tyrannical government, it’s another thing to say that you are going to personal take up arms to overthrow a tyrannical government if it crosses that precious line you drew in the sand. Doing the latter makes the general public see you as a bloodthirsty monster that is looking for an excuse to cap some feds. It reflects poorly on yourself as well as fellow gun rights advocates who are trying to remove the public’s erroneous belief that gun owners are violent.

Another problem with the “line in the sand” people is that they usually move their line in the sand whenever it’s crossed. When you keep revising the one thing that will cause you to start a violent revolution people stop taking you seriously. And it’s not just your rhetoric people stop taking seriously, people laugh at others who never put their words where their mouth is. By drawing a line in the sand, declaring that you will start a war if that line is crossed, and moving that line back when it’s crossed you are setting yourself up for ridicule. Actions speak louder than words so if you’re not actually planning on going to war when your line in the sand is crossed do yourself a favor, shut up. You make yourself look like a damned fool and, by association, cause the public to take what fellow gun rights activists with a grain of salt. That’s a problem when trying to discuss statistics that demonstrate a negative correlation between gun ownership and violent crime rates.

As always, I’m not saying you can’t be a “line in the sand” person. But every action has consequences. Some consequences are positive and some are negative depending on your position in life. For gun rights activists who are trying to help people see that gun owners aren’t violent psychopaths the consequences of the “line in the sand” attitude is negative.

More to Come

I had a late night so I didn’t manage to get any new posts up. A lot has happened since I wrote my posts for yesterday though. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) claims to have Dread Pirate Roberts in custody:

The FBI arrested Ross William Ulbricht, known as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” in San Francisco on Tuesday, according to court filings. Federal prosecutors charged Ulbricht with one count each of narcotics trafficking conspiracy, computer hacking conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to a court filing.

As of right now Silk Road remains offline so Mr. Ulbricht may very well be the actual Dread Pirate Roberts. Reading through the complaint [PDF] explains how the FBI was able to nab him. Tor wasn’t exploited as far as we know, Mr. Ulbricht simply fucked up by failing to separate his “legitimate” life and his secure life. I will write about this in more detail later. For now I urge you to read through the complaint because there are many things we, as online denizens, can learn from Dread Pirate Roberts’ mistakes.

More Dogs Shot by Police

We can’t even get through an entire week without a report of another dog shot by another police officer. This time around police officers stormed a home looking for a man who hasn’t lived there in six years. Upon seeing dogs at this address they had no business being at they opened fire:

Warrant officers stormed a home overnight waking up a family and nearly hitting their dog with a gunshot.

Bienvenido Gutierrez said he and his fiancé, Nina Castro, heard noises coming from the back of their row home on Ashmead Street in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia around 12:30 a.m.

Gutierrez told NBC10’s Jesse Gary that they then heard a knock on the front door and he let in about a half dozen First Judicial Warrant Unit officers who said they were looking for Gutierrez’s brother Joshua Gutierrez.

Gutierrez said he tried to explain to the officers that his brother moved out six years ago. He also said he warned the officers that there were two dogs in the home, including one pit bull sleeping in the same room as Gutierrez’s children — ages 7, 2, and 10 months.

So the National Security Agency (NSA) is spying on every phone call and e-mail message and the state still can’t figure out where people live? Also, why couldn’t the cops have walked up to the front door, knocked, and asked if the person they were looking for was there? It’s a pretty simple procedure and far less dangerous than trying to break into a home, especially when you’re not sure if the person you’re looking for is even there.

The Peer-to-Peer Economy

Technology has allows us, as a society, to move further away from centralization. Now that we are able to communicate with anybody in the world, perform pseudonymous transactions, and ship products we can more easily avoid the crushing state and its regulatory bodies. This is an excellent article that discusses how activists have begun to remove themselves from the system and create their own communities:

The Occupy Movement recently celebrated its second anniversary with very little fanfare leaving many to wonder where all the activists went. It seems they, and many anti-establishment activists, are vacating the system rather than occupying it.

Progressives may call it the “sharing economy” while Libertarians may refer to it as Agorism – a “society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, thus engaging in a manner with aspects of peaceful revolution.”

Whatever it’s called, together, they’re opting out of the current socioeconomic matrix and creating a new alternative economy where trading occurs peer-to-peer and increasingly without government-issued currency.

It’s a space where mutual trade occurs without burdensome taxes, regulations, or licenses. Simply put, it’s an underground black market enabled by the Internet and regulated by social feedback mechanisms — and it’s growing exponentially.

As I progress down the path of anti-statism it has become more apparent to me that eliminating the state isn’t a winning strategy. Instead we need to create “underground” communities that exist within the state. If we want to win against the state we must make a community that people prefer over the one controlled by the state. When enough people move into the “underground” communities the state with die without the need for civil war.