I am a #bibliologer and a #cryptologer. I study the Bible, codes, and ciphers among other things. I enjoy #poetry. I like #neologisms. I burn with insatiable curiosity about everyone and everything.

  • 3 Posts
  • 62 Comments
Joined 11 months ago
Cake day: December 10th, 2023
  • firefly@neon.nightbulb.nettoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•*Permanently Deleted*
    103·
    6 months ago

    @helenslunch@feddit.nl

    “I have nothing to hide …”

    Nice story, bro.

    When you post a real photograph of yourself, wife, kids, and all your social security numbers and bank account numbers, along with a complete history of all video rentals and library books, and your private confessions of folly, vice, and sin-- post all that on your Lemmy profile, then I’ll believe you have nothing to hide.

  • firefly@neon.nightbulb.nettoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•*Permanently Deleted*
    16·
    6 months ago

    No easy way at all. The specs would be in-house manufacturer docs. Recall that digital cameras used to embed date and time visibly in images in a corner. The logical progression was to embed other data such as device serial number, geotag data, etc.

    Regarding the schemes for steganographic identification in devices such as cameras and printers, this information is usually kept a trade secret. The Secret Service would probably already have the spec docs for data hiding. Many manufacturers already have working agreements to provide back door assistance and documentation for the hardware surveillance economy. Ink chemistry profiles are registered with the Secret Service. The subterfuge is to ‘investigate counterfeiting’ but it is also used to identify whistleblowers and objective targets by their printer serial number or ink chemistry, or the data embedded in any images they are naive enough to publish.

    If you are a undercover reporter secretly video recording, unbeknownst to you the video could have metadata encoded using a secret scheme. If you registered that product for a warranty, or bought it online and had it shipped, or paid with a credit card or check, or walked beneath the electronics store cameras without a hat and sunglasses to pay cash, it is easy for the state organs to then follow the breadcrumbs and identify the videographer.

    Almost all ‘free’ wifi hotspots offered by chain restaurants and hotels are logged with the data being stored indefinitely, showing your mac address. It takes only a little bit of investigation and process of elimination to find the user on a camera feed history, to see who was connected when a certain message or leak was sent. If you use a wifi hotspot in a McDonalds, Wendy’s, Starbucks, etc. smile for the surveillance camera which will also have your device’s unique MAC address in the wifi history. This MAC address data is automatically sent to a central station, for example at the Wandering Wifi company, and God only knows how long they store it.

    None of this nonsense makes anyone safer. These people hate us.

  • firefly@neon.nightbulb.nettoPrivacy@lemmy.ml•Swiss authorities intervene, Proton Mail not blocked in India
    1·
    6 months ago

    It depends upon your security needs and risk assessment.

    Are you a whistleblower?

    Are you handling confidential business, financial or legal communication?

    Are you being monitored by state agents?

    Are you sharing love letters with someone?

    Are you discussing or transferring confidential records?

    You have to look at and assess your use case before you can decide on a solution.

    No matter what your risks are, every solution should ALWAYS include end-to-end encryption in which the parties own and control their own encryption keys and identity on their own devices, not in the cloud.

    That is the baseline. Then depending on your situation there are other factors and solutions to consider on top of the baseline.

    When you own and control your encryption keys on your own device, then no third party can turn over your keys to a hostile entity. If you encryption is dependent upon a third party, they own your encryption and you have zero security, no matter how much they promise you.

    Here are a few secure communication software examples for consideration:

    Onionshare: https://onionshare.org/
    Retroshare: https://retroshare.cc/
    Bitmessage: https://bitmessage.org