Ricnvolved1956

I wish Vladimir Putin WAS my president!
 
No... seriously. I'm not being sarcastic.
 
Putin has proven he possesses far better leadership and political skills than any Amerikan politician I know of since FDR. I'm not saying he's perfect; no politician ever is. But I will most certainly take him over any political dummy here in the U.S. Of bloody A.

What LZ1 said. : )

Facetime works perfectly going through Air on my iPhone SE and iPad Mini3. However, Facetime doesn't work at all through Air on my iMac desktop. Is there anything I can do to make that possible?

Here is a better solution. DO NOT USE GOOGLE. Just that simple.
https://duckduckgo.com
https://www.ixquick.com/eng/
 
Those both work. Basically nothing from Google is worth supporting them.

On a loosely related note, many cell carrier Wi-Fi calling implementations, including T-Mobile(my carrier) use an IPSEC VPN, so I can only imagine how useful this would be for them to intercept conversations. I have this setup on my router though, so that IPSEC tunnel gets tunneled to Canada over OpenVPN, so take that, NSA!

This. We can have all the open source software and operating systems in the world, but if the men in black have all consumer hardware and infrastructure tailored to them so that they may do as they please with our technology, its all for naught. 
 
We need computer hardware and infrastructure built with the same level of dedication and transparency that goes into projects such as VPN's and Tor. 
 
I don't know how it can be done, but i do believe that it should be done. 

To be fair, we don't know what "part" of Linux is compromised. The fact that any of it is compromised should at least raise an eyebrow
 
Vault 7 seems to indicate that the CIA does know what "parts" of Linux are compromised, the mere fact that we don't leaves us at a disadvantage. 

How does this relate to VPN's specifically?  Odds are, they have a tool to penetrate these?  I have only briefly perused the documents so far and have seen nothing relating specifically to the use of VPNs by individuals.  ( It's probably a safe bet to assume they have little to no interest in persons using VPNs for protection while bittorrenting or streaming pirate media - but, then again, these agencies see people as tools.  The purpose of mass surveillance in my opinion is to have something on everyone, to have as many persons as possible in ones "backpocket" so to speak, as possible. )
 
 

Yeah. OpenSSL was patched to fix that little gem within a few days of the bug being reported.
 
I do not think any part of Linux is a real risk, unless you install and use spyware like Google Chrome.
 
Stick to safe and reliable stuff and you have no fear. (And by "safe and reliable" I mean nothing at all on Windows.)

Funny thing about Amazon. They damn sure don't have a problem with me going through a VPN when I go to their website and place an order.
 
On an interesting aside, I subscribe to MLB Network Premium during baseball season and when I want to watch a game through my desktop or one of my devices, I have never had a problem going through an Air server, even if it's one outside of the U.S.

AirVPN has by far the best technical support and the most helpful community i have seen thus far regarding VPN's. 
 
AirVPN also has arguably the best multi-platform OpenVPN client out there.
 
I am fairly confident that if you try AirVPN, you will likely want to stay. 

One thing that particularly concerns me, is that this dump has proven for a fact that every operating system we currently know of is compromised.
 
The list included Windows, Linux, OSX, Android and iOS.
 
It would be safe to assume most if not all variations of these operating systems, including those deriving from Linux are also compromised in some way.
 
So it leaves the question, if they are all compromised, and every Anti-Virus program is bypassed, then how can we protect ourselves?
 
It will cease to matter if you are using a VPN or Tor if every machine is simply compromised at its core.
 
Would it be too unthinkable to hope that the same forces that gave us Tor and VPN's would act to provide us with secure operating systems? TAILS and Qubes already exist, although i have difficulty believing they are sufficient given the latest revelations.
 
One other thing that should be mentioned is that while we have alternatives for PC's, no alternative more secure OS options currently exist to my knowledge for Android and iOS devices, and their vulnerability is even more critical given their portability and access to information.
 
I for one am infuriated that these organizations have been developing these tools and exploits. If the CIA and FBI and NSA should be doing anything, it's making American cyber infrastructure for both private and government uses more secure than ever before, not more vulnerable. By weakening us, they have weakened themselves in their never ending lust for a 1984 Orwellian future where they could have complete control.
 
In their supposed effort to strengthen the fight on terrorism, they have brittled the American digital backbone, which is becoming evermore critical to maintaining our way of life.

I suggest we all take a very strong look at what has been released in this vault, and any information to follow it.
 
http://heavy.com/news/2017/03/wikileaks-vault-7-vault7-file-download-clinton-obama-trump-assange-what-is/
 
https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/
 
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/838910359994056704
 
It's going to get good ladies and gentlemen
 
Please post any thoughts/discoveries etc. down bellow
 
PS: If you download the file, it may be unlocked in 7zip with the passphrase "SplinterItIntoAThousandPiecesAndScatterItIntoTheWinds" Without quotations.
 

We all know air is the best , who cares where it ranks, keep prying eye away

As Zhang said, There is no problem. For those who do not already know, HMAC is a hash applied to the SHA1 hash. And it is done for each and every packet. Your system, even on a slow dial up modem uses a packet for every 1500 bytes or so. So in order to defeat HMAC-SHA1 you would have to not only break it in milliseconds, but also defy the laws of physics to get your fake packet there before the real one.
 
And let us see how long it takes a whole array of supercomputers to break SHA1 alone?
https://security.googleblog.com/2017/02/announcing-first-sha1-collision.html
Here is the important part to note.
Nine quintillion (9,223,372,036,854,775,808) SHA1 computations in total 6,500 years of CPU computation to complete the attack first phase 110 years of GPU computation to complete the second phase That is to do JUST ONE SINGLE hash. Not to break every hash SHA1 can do. That is one. And this absolutely cannot be done before the relevant packet is done and gone forever.
 
You are safe. Relax.

I'm not necessarily positive and optimistic by nature. Having said that, I'm not convinced this will be the humanitarian disaster some think it could be. Think about it-- If you could go back in time say, a hundred years ago, and told people in the most general terms about computers and the internet, I think it's safe to assume that most if not all would be pretty freaked out. (Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" was rooted in fear of technology and the negative use of such.) The point is that technology, and its inevitable advancement, isn't inherently a bad thing. It always comes down to the intent and purpose it's used for.

Really? You refuse NSA's practices, aren't you? Does it help yet?
We're already in the game, there is no refusal. The only way is action, not such passive nonsense. Working actively against disruptors. Even if it means breaking open the code of such technology, rewrite it if necessary to better suit the interests of those it's designed for.

I could, theoretically unplug and never use the internet, but it would only serve to inhibit my ability to access information. 
 
And i do refuse the NSA's practices. As much as possible given today's current circumstances, that's why I'm here in the first place
 
And i do agree that if this tech is ever used for malicious intent, we should recode and repurpose much in the same way we do with VPN technology and Tor today.
 
What i am suggesting, is that such recoding and repuroposing will be just as inevitable as the introduction of malicious intent.
 
Believe me, I'm not exactly the "head in the sand" type, otherwise i would still be using my naked ISP and screeching "Noting to faer noting to hide cirminal scum!" 
 
EDIT: Post 200, Yay!

Friends don't let friends use Windows.

Don't travel out of the country with your smartphone. Get a burner phone that can be used wherever you're going. You can throw it away before boarding the jet to come home, or if you keep it on the return flight, erase all data before the TSA goons demand to see it. If they demand to keep it (whether from frustration, or just because they're overzealous, stupid assholes), so what? It's a burner phone, what have you lost?

The Investigatory Powers Bill scope is not applicable to our company, and it can be challenged after it has been found by the Europen Union Court of Justice incompatible with human rights and EU legal framework (EUCJ decision of December 21, 2016). After the defeat at the EUCJ, various parts of the Act pertaining to data retention are not operative and the technical implementation has been frozen. UK government announced "an appeal" against the decision.

The Act provides three main lines of investigation: interception, interference and retention. The first two methods may cover datacenters in the UK, but they do not pose new challenges. The same can happen, and has happened, legally or illegally, virtually in any country in the world (see our article from 2011 about partition of trust). About retention, our policy does not change and any interferences with that will cause us to discontinue any server in the UK, just like we already did in France..

Kind regards

The IP bill is a real threat to your online communications. 
Its not paranoia, this legislation is quite possibly the most intrusive piece of legislation on your online activities to ever be introduced in the western world.
 
Regardless of your thoughts on it, when using a VPN you should always use another country, even if it's one that's close by, so that your data is in another jurisdiction.
 
Common sense.

OmniNegro-- Not sure I would've put up with being "detained" for 6 hours on the suspicion that I was refusing to cough up a mobile phone I didn't even have. I think most people have heard the expression, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease". If I were in your place, I might've been........ LOUD. Whiney.... complaining in a highly irritating manner.... perhaps crying.... muttering about having a cardiac condition.... dramatically wondering why God was putting you through this trial..... making clear inference to the sh*theads that you just might be a real head case. Just be sure to stay loud in your behavior, but punctuate it with an occasional sudden dramatic drop in tone as an eerie and disturbing contrast to the loudness.
 
My guess is that after an hour or two of that kind of behavior, they would forcibly push you out the door just so they wouldn't have to hear it anymore. 

So, Democrats are corporate shills, but at least you feel a little warmer knowing they at least pretend to care about you?
 
That's extremely naive.
 
I don't support Donald Trump's views on a great many things, climate being one of those key topics. Thinking climate change is a Chinese hoax is absolutely fucking retarded. 
 
But it's almost as retarded to think that the beloved Hillary or the beloved Bernie would piss down your throat if your lungs were on fire, much less solve all the worlds environmental and economic issues.
 
Fact of the matter is, none of the candidates in this election gave a flying fuck about the American people. The fight for the office of president is not an effort of moral good to help the American people, it's an individual and party level struggle for power and control of the countries decisions and resources. 
 
A president is incapable of tackling the entire nations environmental and economic issues, if anything is to be done to help our environment, it must be done on an individual basis and on a business/company level. 
 
See someone throw something out of a car window? Pull over and pick it up. Discover a company is dumping dangerous chemicals into the water supply? Boycott their services, and urge government officials to stop funding them if they are funding them. 
 
If you want to see a situation change, take the initiative to actually do something about it aside from ticking a ballot every four years. 

Idiot lawmakers are already trying to make it illegal to even own a burner. Why? Because they think "Only criminals need them". And those TSA goons? They are the real criminals.
 
I do not even own a mobile device. No phone, no tablet, no laptop. And a few years ago I was "detained" by the idiots at an airport I was going to because I "would not produce my phone upon demand".
 
I was there six hours until the shift change where the new shift asked why I was there and promptly released me. I swear they never even asked me if I had a phone. (The next shift that is.)
 
So if you require a phone with you at all times, do as MoT suggested and buy a burner. If you cannot for some reason, then you can and will survive without one. While you waste away from phone withdrawal, I suggest you take the time to write your lawmakers about how stupid things are.