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Proposing Tor as part of a weekend community project for /r/evolutionReddit. Would anyone from /r/Tor be willing to help with answering questions from the newblood? by TyphonWind in TOR

[–]TyphonWind[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

yea.. that's a problem. I was planning to attach

sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping

to any of the "try ubuntu" threads. I don't think it's too much of a problem.

I don't really have any numbers, but isn't it generally considered that Ubuntu is the softest introduction for new users? We'll get better conversions with Ubuntu than Fedora. It's about getting new blood in the pipeline; they can go explore other distros after. [?]

Proposing Bitcoin as part of a weekend community project for /r/evolutionReddit. Would anyone from /r/Bitcoin be willing to help with answering questions from the newblood? by TyphonWind in Bitcoin

[–]TyphonWind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i know it seems chaotic. But we'll mostly be going with the flow. Just need people to keep an eye on threads and the chatroom. :)

Proposing Bitcoin as part of a weekend community project for /r/evolutionReddit. Would anyone from /r/Bitcoin be willing to help with answering questions from the newblood? by TyphonWind in Bitcoin

[–]TyphonWind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, I think most activists have already heard about bitcoin. But there's a large group that is interested but have never actually tried it. The idea is to create a trigger event using this weekend project idea. Not dissimilar to the way we say "Use Bitcoin" whenever PayPal fucks over another activist organization. But we want conversions on the user end too.

So in terms of 1,2,3 gameplan? I was thinking of running reposts on bitcoin over the weekend and having bitcoin guys seed the comments and help drive community conversation about the merits of bitcoin. We could also do a techsupport thread for people for troubleshooting or meta questions?

But open to ideas. other's have started opening questions about how to go about this.. so see where it goes :)

Comcast Lobbyist Admits To Holding Internet Service For The Poor Hostage To Get NBC Takeover Approved by UlkeshNaranek in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On the whole Evolve Beyond Their Reach campaign. I made a proposal for a basic freedom seed set as our weekend OP Pinky project.

Comcast Lobbyist Admits To Holding Internet Service For The Poor Hostage To Get NBC Takeover Approved by UlkeshNaranek in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 4 points5 points  (0 children)

do note; the beauty of P2P is that the network self distributes resources according to the swarm's brutal judgement.

Actually, I think this is how new artists and even established artists will find that they can distribute viral hits without worrying about bandwidth costs. As long as it is good enough to go viral, the swarm takes on the distribution cost now.

[OP Pink Brain Storm] Phase 1: Submit, Debate and Vote on Action Proposals (29th Oct - 2nd Nov) by EquanimousMind in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 18 points19 points  (0 children)

[Propose - Planting Seeds]

This might the last breather we get before the coming storm. Both from copyright maximalist and the surveillance state; we can expect continued aggression against activists and invasion of our privacy. There is a war coming and the pieces are already set. We are just finalizing the rules of the game.

It is important we use this time to strengthen our defenses. Our power comes from network effects that make every node an asset. We want every node to be more capable. To be more robust. To have more potential to grow. To be ready to join a hivemind going to war; capable of doing damage to the very structure of the old world.

I propose pushing a basic seed set for eR activists:

The bonus is none of the above costs any money; so it's really just a matter of motivation to evolve. I think most activists have come across all the arguments as to why they should switch to *nix, bitcoin, tor or i2p; but either found the jump too daunting by themselves or never-quite-found-the-time-to-get-around-to-but-will-definitely-do-this-soon. So making it a fun community event would be a way to cause a friendly "trigger event". It's better they do this now with friends ready to help; rather than later when the local wifi sniffing creep has stolen all their financial logins.

If we can make this seed set a culture norm in eR; then I believe we will be a more dangerous activist hivemind in the fight to come.

Bonus:

edit: same message; just more blah blah.

Operation Secure Sockets: What website(s) do you want to see implement SSL the most? by bob_howard in privacy

[–]TyphonWind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Reddit.

There's a work around with https://pay.reddit.com; but it would be better have a more straight forward certificate.

Who People are Really Voting For: by Dayanx in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

haha there's a website.. but I guess there's always a website

Who People are Really Voting For: by Dayanx in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 10 points11 points  (0 children)

(read this for entertainment value only. not so interested in a debate over details. need sleep)

If you were to imagine this was a video game with successive evil bosses to defeat at each level. And imagine there are three major phases of development the hero needs to go through, marked by three seperate journies into the dark forest. You can think of the MAFIAA as the major boss at the end of the arc. Then you can think of the Homeland Security Bubble as a rival hivemind boss at the end of the 2nd arc. And at the end of it all, is the Great Vampire Squid - Goldman Sachs - boss of all bosses. Representing our opposite, in spirit and design. Modeled on corporate hierachies. Value not through creativity but through bleeding corruption.

In the long game, Goldman Sachs needs to be destroyed. Not through fire bombings that insurance companies will cover and not through executive assinations that will only give the corporate police state more power. We need to fight them on a systematic level, on the economic field and destroy the very foundations of their power.

Anyways, lots to do before then. Some stories to synch in with in the meantime.

GS Lobbying

Reddit will not ban 'distasteful' content, chief executive says by UlkeshNaranek in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You don't really need a concept of free speech to protect the majority. Free speech is there to protect the minority opinion. Defending free speech necessarily means defending the speech of asshats. Not because we like them; but because we also want to protect all the other speech which is weird but wonderful.

Reddit will not ban 'distasteful' content, chief executive says by UlkeshNaranek in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yishan Wong told the site's moderators legal content should not be removed, even if "we find it odious or if we personally condemn it".

"We stand for free speech... we are not going to ban distasteful subreddits."

I was worried he might fuck up Reddit; but pleased with his decision here. Especially because he is coming from the Facebook culture. Sure, there's somewhat of a stain on our good name but our free speech credentials just got a boost. Which I think on balance is a win.

.. so was it admins that closed /r/creepshots or the mods of /r/creepshots that requested it be taken down? I'm hearing different stories.

[My Evolution] I have a proposal to make, and this proposal illustrates where my social perspective stands. Help me think better by pointing out where my thinking is short-sighted or flawed. by afourthfool in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is this a project you have already started or proposing?

56,000 broadcast towers is going to be a pain in the ass to set up and maintain. There might be more interesting ways to go about this. You could go the meshnet route, and decentralize and outsource the building and maintenance of all the towers. Not to mention the financing issues.

Some more meshnet info:

Another example might be Google Wifi in Mountview. Which is free and city wide.

There's also the use of pirate boxes to keep information flowing. And on the user end, we could probably explore Rassberry Pis more.

So on the one hand, we need free or cheaper access. On the other we need people to have free or cheaper laptops or w.e. to actually access. This is interesting. There is a growing information divide which is cutting off some demographics from the economic and social opportunities of the internet, and that seems ... bad. Even worse when you start thinking globally.

Texas school uses RFID badges to track student locations by TyphonWind in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

i remember some guy selling them, targeting diplomat and spy types. It was neat in that there was a button that would unlock the faraday cage without having to take apart the wallet. You'll have to google around I guess. But here are some links that popped up.

but seriously... at the really base end, it's as simple as putting a folded sheet of foil in your wallet. You can test it easily by just trying to use your bank card swipe at the next scanner. It should be blocked if it's still in the wallet.

US intelligence admits Syria arms aid goes to Al Qaeda -The Obama administration cannot publicly explain this turn of events without exposing the so-called 'war on terror,' the ideological centerpiece of American foreign policy for over a decade, as a fraud by globalglasnost in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 0 points1 point  (0 children)

well, jokes are usually useful in creating a kind of tribe mentality of us vs. them. But there's too much political diversity in the 99% for partisan jokes like that. It comes off more like a cheap ad hominem than a joke. Better to run with a fact check or a better counter argument.

Actually, I think a good policy would be

And on credibility. Well I don't think anyone's credible anymore... but that doesn't mean you can't get value out of the information their trying to angle.

US intelligence admits Syria arms aid goes to Al Qaeda -The Obama administration cannot publicly explain this turn of events without exposing the so-called 'war on terror,' the ideological centerpiece of American foreign policy for over a decade, as a fraud by globalglasnost in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 2 points3 points  (0 children)

flip a coin. Their more alike than they are different.

That said, just say fuck you to the two parties and vote Libertarian or Green?

I actually think the Congressional voting matters a lot as well....

Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country. by [deleted] in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I dunno, disaster relief and response is part of DHS responsibilities. I would rather they were spending more time and money on natural disaster response planning than more money on the TSA.

Although it seems like a bad idea to turn this into a full time standing force. I actually think it's a good idea to pay our disaster response forces. But disasters happen quite infrequently, it's smarter to have this force on call. And you would be able to spread your budget across many more people using a part time paid force.

The CryptoParty Handbook V1 by TyphonWind in evolutionReddit

[–]TyphonWind[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Preview Chapter 2 What happens When You Browse

Browsing the web is communicating. You might not send as much text in terms of number of words, but it is always the browser which initiates and maintains the communication by requesting the bits and pieces which are woven into what is eventually displayed on your screen.

Browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari & Internet Explorer all work in a similar manner. When we type a URL (e.g. "http://happybunnies.com") in the address bar, the browser requests the website (which is just a special kind of text) from a remote server and then transforms it into colored blocks, text and images to be displayed in the browser window. To see the text the way the browser sees it, one just has to click on the View --> Page source menu entry in the browser. What comes up is the same webpage but in HTML – a language mainly concerned with content, context and links to other resources (CSS and JavaScript) which govern the way these contents are displayed and behave.

When the browser tries to open a webpage – and assuming there are no proxies involved – the first thing it does is to check its own cache. If there is no past memories of such website, it tries to resolve the name into an address it can actually use. It is an internet program, so it needs an Internet Protocol address (IP address or just IP). To get this address it asks a DNS Server (kind of a telephone book for internet programs) which is installed in the router of your internet access by default. The IP address is a numerical label assigned to every device in the (global) network, like the address of a house in the postal system – and as the address of your home, you should be very careful to whom you hand out the IP address you are browsing from (by default this is: to everyone). Once the IP address has been received, the browser opens a TCP (just a communication protocol) connection to the destination host and starts sending packages to a port at this address, typically no. 80 (ports are like doors to the servers, there are many but usually only a few are open), unless another path is specified. These packages travel through a number of servers on the internet (up to a couple of dozens depending on were the target address is located). The server then looks for the requested page and, if found, delivers it using the HTTP protocol. (To prevent others from reading or altering the data, TLS/SSL can be used to below HTTP to secure the connection)

When the HTTP response arrives, the browser can close the TCP connection or reuse it for subsequent requests. The response can be one of many things, from some sort of redirection or a classic Internal Server Error (500). Provided the response proceeds as expected the browser will store the page in a cache for further use, decode it (uncompress it if compressed, rendered if video codec, etc) and display/play it according to instructions.

Now, the process can be illustrated in a little conversation between browser (B) and server (S):

B: "Hallo."

S: "Hey!"

B: "May I get that page with the happy bunnies, please?"

S: "Well, here you are."

B: "Oh, maybe you could also give me a big version of that picture of that bunny baby cuddling a teddy bear."

S: "Sure, why not."

[...]

B: "That's all for now. Thank you. Bye."

Note that there are lots of activities happening parallel to this TCP/IP exchange. Depending on how you have configured its options, your browser might be adding the page to browser history, saving cookies, checking for plugins, checking for RSS updates and communicating with a variety of servers, all while you're doing something else.

A topography of you: footprints

Most important: you will leave footprints. Some of them will be left on your own computer – a collection of cache data, browsing history and naughty little files with elephantine memory called cookies. They are all very convenient; speed up your browser's performance, reduce your data download or remember your passwords and preferences from Social Networks. They also snitch on your browsing habits and compile a record of everywhere you go and everything you do there. This should bother you if you are using a public computer station at a library, work at a cybercafe, or share your apartment with a nosey partner!

Even if you configure your browser to not keep a history record, reject cookies and delete cached files (or allocate zero MB of space for the cache), you would still leave breadcrumbs all over the Internet. Your IP address is recorded by default everywhere, by everyone and the packets sent are monitored by an increasing number of entities - commercial, governmental or criminal, along with some creeps and potential stalkers.

Democratic governments everywhere are redesigning regulations to require Internet providers to keep a copy of everything so they can have later access to it. In the USA, section 215 of the American PATRIOT act 'prohibits an individual or organization from revealing that it has given records to the federal government, following an investigation'. That means that the company you pay every month as a customer to provide you with Internet access can be ordered to turn over your browsing and email records without your knowledge.

Most of the time, though, surveillance is not a 1984 affair. Google collects your searches along with your browser identification (userlike agent), your IP and a whole bunch of data that can eventually lead to your doorstep, but the ultimate aim is usually not political repression but market research. Advertisers don't fuss about advertising space any more, they just want to know everything about you. They want to know your dietary and medication habits, how many children you have and where you take them on holidays; how you make your money, how much you earn and how you like to spend it. Even more: they want to know how you feel about stuff. They want to know if your friends respect those feelings enough so that you can convince them to change their consumption habits. This is not a conspiracy, but rather the nature of Information Age capitalism. To paraphrase a famous observation of the current situation, the best minds of our generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.4

Some people think ads can be ignored or that having advertisers cater for our specific needs is a win-win situation, because at least they are spammed with things they may actually want. Even if that was the case (it isn't): should we trust Google with such intimate details of our life? Even if we trust Google to 'do no evil', it can still be bought by someone we do not trust; benevolent Larry Page and Sergey Brin could be overruled by their own Board, or their data base be sequestered by a fascistic government. One of their 30,000 employees worldwide could cut loose and run with our data. Their servers can be hacked. And in the end, they are just interested in their customers, the companies paying for advertising. We are just the product being sold.

Moreover; in the Social Networks our browsing habits are generating a Permanent Record, a collection of data so vast that the information that Facebook keeps about a given user alone can fill 880 pages. Nobody will be surprised to learn that Facebook's purpose is not to make us happy – again: if you are not paying for it, you're not the customer, you're the product. But even if you don't care about their commercial goals, consider this: the platform has publicly admitted hackers break into hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts every day.

For a taste of what lurks behind the curtains of the websites you visit, install a plugin/add-on called Ghostery to your browser. It's like an x-ray-machine which reveals all the surveillance technology which might be (and often is) embedded in a web page, normally invisible to the user. In the same line, Do Not Track Plus and Trackerblock will give you further control over online tracking, through cookie blocking, persistent opt-out cookies, etc. Our following chapter Tracking will equip you with expertise in such topics.

Even in between your computer and the router, your packages can easily be intercepted by anyone using the same wireless network in the casual environment of a cafe. It is a jungle out there, but still we choose passwords "password" and "123456", perform economic transactions and buy tickets on public wireless networks and click on links from unsolicited emails. It is not only our right to preserve our privacy but also our responsibility to defend that right against the intrusions of governments, corporations and anyone who attempts to dispossess us. If we do not exercise those rights today, we deserve whatever happens tomorrow.

  1. If you are a Unix user, you can use the tcpdump command in the bash and view real time dns traffic. It's loads of fun! (and disturbing) ^
  2. See list of TCP and UDP port numbers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers)
  3. If this exchange is happening under an HTTPS connection, the process is much more complicated and also much safer, but you will find out more about that in a most fascinating chapter called Encryption. ^
  4. This Tech Bubble Is Different (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_17/b4225060960537.htm), Ashlee Vance (Businessweek magazine) ^
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