Sign the EFF petition to ask U.S. Congress to stop Rule 41

[Kepler_452b 77]

Step 1: understand why Rule 41 is so dangerous, especially to users of VPNs

 

Step 2: try to do something about stopping it, like signing the EFF petition to ask the U.S. Congress to stop Rule 41. There is already a bill being introduced to stop it. There are some big names behind stopping it like Google, EFF, ACLU, TOR and many others. Here's the link for the EFF petition:

 

https://act.eff.org/action/noglobalwarrants-petition

 

 

Step 3: feel good about yourself for doing something

 

Step 4: Think about making a small (or large) donation to EFF or other org fighting for your cyber freedom

[zhang888 1066]

And then the FBI,NSA, and US Cyber Command will say "Wait, we cannot attack this target. There are x people signed a petition against it"?

[mehāniskākaravīrs935 24]

And then the FBI,NSA, and US Cyber Command will say "Wait, we cannot attack this target. There are x people signed a petition against it"?

The government will always do what it wants. Does not mean you need to bend over and take it.

[Kepler_452b 77]

And then the FBI,NSA, and US Cyber Command will say "Wait, we cannot attack this target. There are x people signed a petition against it"?

 

Of course not. They are probably already hacking these targets. The difference is whether they have legal authority to do so. The change in Rule 41 gives them legal authority. Without that change, they could not use any evidence they find in a court of law. And that is a big difference! There was recently a case that had to be dismissed because of the lack of jurisdiction under the existing Rule 41. The ONLY thing that will protect privacy in today's world of incredibly invasive technology is STRONGLY ENFORCED LAW TO PROTECT PRIVACY and the commitment of societies to enact those laws and defend them.

 

SOPA and PIPA were prevented from becoming law because people (and big companies) opposed them. The U.S. government tried to ban private access to and use of unbreakable encryption (PGP - Phil Zimmerman). They failed because of widespread push back.

 

I suggest you watch the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) conference keynote by Cory Doctorow. There are lots of very very smart people working on subtle or blatant ways to preserve privacy and freedom of information. But they also need the grassroots support of large numbers of people who are technically savvy enough to understand the issues and aren't mere passive consumers of pervasive surveillance devices enabled by indifference.

 

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/eff-eleventh-hope

 

zhang888, I always enjoy reading your posts because you are one of the savviest contributors around here. When I see your nick, I know there'll be something intelligent following.  I think you will enjoy Doctorow's talk...he's a brilliant guy.

[OpenSourcerer 1435]

Petitions are like "Shared a video of Kony, I saved Africa".

[zhang888 1066]

I suggest you watch the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) conference keynote by Cory Doctorow.

 

Thanks, I attended his talk during 28C3 and can't really say I liked the style.

Too much visionary and bureaucratic, without much actionable things you can do as a person.

Nice ideas but on practice there is really not much with that, imho.

But he is some kind of book writer, so this is understandable.

 

HOPE 2016 was a little non-technical in my opinion, not too many promising things came this year.

One nice idea was actually a British guy who decided to open a new type of ISP, where all the traffic

will go via Tor, in such way he wants to create next generation ISPs that are transparent by design:

 

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/brass-horn-tor-ISP-says-buzz-off-surveillance

 

This, by the way, is one of the possible solutions to this new "Rule 41".

But I doubt that such ISP can obtain a license in the US.

[RidersoftheStorm 20]

With all the alleged ?ILLEGAL? black op projects assign by the CIA, NSA etc... alleged criminals do not need those legal documents to arrest someone.

 

People/victims/criminals just go on a real real long term vacation!!

[Kepler_452b 77]

 

I suggest you watch the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE) conference keynote by Cory Doctorow.

 

Thanks, I attended his talk during 28C3 and can't really say I liked the style.

Too much visionary and bureaucratic, without much actionable things you can do as a person.

Nice ideas but on practice there is really not much with that, imho.

But he is some kind of book writer, so this is understandable.

 

HOPE 2016 was a little non-technical in my opinion, not too many promising things came this year.

One nice idea was actually a British guy who decided to open a new type of ISP, where all the traffic

will go via Tor, in such way he wants to create next generation ISPs that are transparent by design:

 

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/brass-horn-tor-ISP-says-buzz-off-surveillance

 

This, by the way, is one of the possible solutions to this new "Rule 41".

But I doubt that such ISP can obtain a license in the US.

 

 

People are usually applauded for being visionary. What "actionable things you can do as a person" are included in your vision of ways to defend and enhance cyber freedom and civil liberties?

[zhang888 1066]

Something that can help you and possibly others. Like educating yourself about anonymity and privacy, and passing this knowledge to others.

[Kepler_452b 77]

Lame.

While I appreciate your concern for my education, I've been using VPNs and learning about anonymity and privacy issues for twenty years.

Passing information on to others is precisely what I've been trying to do with many of my posts. And that is part of what Cory Doctorow does for a living these days: raising public awareness of these issues and building coalitions to fight people and organizations opposed to privacy and anonymity. He is also an active part of an EFF plan to eradicate DRM and its abuses.

If you will research him on Wikipedia or any engine you will learn that besides being generally brilliant, he has a long history of accomplishments and is heavily involved on many fronts as an activist fighting for cyber freedom. I suppose that is why he was invited to speak at the 28C3 conference which you attended. Also possibly because he is a paid MIT Media Lab "Activist in Residence" whose time is donated by MIT to EFF.

You could also actually listen to his talk at HOPE11 (see my post above). You might come away grokking that nihilism is worse than useless, it's self-defeating.

If after actually learning about his extensive work in the battle for cyber freedom you still want to dis him because you don't like his style, you could send him your style guide.