Re: Privacy Concerns with UbuntuPhone

Thomi Richards wrote:
"You cannot prevent the sustained interest of a powerful organisation once
they make you a target."

Isn't this like the argument that if someone wants to steal your car or
break into your house and steal stuff they'll find a way to do it?  And
that's true.  But most of those crimes are a cross between total
opportunism - walk along street casually trying car doors until finding one
that opens - or a cross between that and evaluation that this house looks
like it's got good portable stuff and there's good access and we know that
security system like the back of our hands.

People who can reasonably expect to be targets of "a powerful organisation"
have to take extraordinary measures, from e.g. never using email to every
encryption and anonymiser tool available, and being super-aware of any
vulnerabilities discovered, ceasing to use systems that have leaky fences
until these have been mended or replaced.

Others users belong on a bellcurve of vulnerability - and anxiety.  I don't
have expensive easily-sold stuff in my house, my vehicle is a brave
survivor of rust.  Nonetheless I'd be majorly pissed off with the
inconvenience of being without my wheels, and I don't want randoms turning
stuff out of drawers and cupboards and wrecking things "just because" even
if they didn't take anything more than a half-full jar of Vegemite.  So I
have locks on windows and doors and the rustbucket, but not extreme
security lights and sirens that go off at possums and annoy the entire
suburb.

Horses for courses.  I'm glad there are people whose need for security
leads them to put in the hours, making it easier to use and harder to
break.  In time this migrates from being a giant time-gobbling
inconvenience for people like me, to being easy to use.  Thank you,
worriers and warriors wherever you are.  May the Flying Spaghetti Monster
hi-five you without drawing attention i.e.  when the intrusive Eyeball Of
Evil blinks.

Kathinka.



On 23 April 2014 11:28, Worik Stanton <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 22/04/14 17:48, Thomi Richards wrote:
> > Seriously though - you really cannot. You can have the illusion of
> > security, and you can prevent casual snooping. You cannot prevent the
> > sustained interest of a powerful organisation once they make you a
> target.
>
> That is an invalid argument.
>
> I can illustrate with an analogy" I cannot be *totally* safe driving my
> car.  Does not mean that wearing my seatbelt is an illusion of safety.
>
> Security is a process and it has a cost.  The real question is "what
> security can I afford" and is that sufficient?
>
> > If all you care about is prevention of casual snooping, then I think we
> > have larger problems to hand than a closed baseband OS.
>
> Not wanting to put words in Strypy's mouth but I think he is concerned
> with more than that.  The question is can two people establish a covert
> channel of communication that is not accessible to outside observers.
> Either the content nor the fact of the channel being opened.
>
> Clearly if some one follows you around with a high definition long
> distance observation kit, bugs your house etcetera etcetera you cannot.
>
> Also it would seem it is not possible using the cellular network.  That
> would be the conclusion of this thread?
>
> But it is possible in the general case (the TOR project is doing very
> interesting work), and technology for doing it is very interesting and
> very important right now.
>
> I know of no way of doing it that would not make it clear that I was
> communicating some time with some one in a covert manner.  Now that
> would be cool.
>
> W
>
> --
> The only true evil is turning people into things....
>                                          Granny Weatherwax
>        [email protected] 021-1680650, (03) 4821804
>                           Aotearoa (New Zealand)
>
>
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