in Relevant BCN #23 (3rd anniversary edition) published in print in Barcelona...
In countries where speech remains free enough, it is easy to disregard the real meaning of censorship online when such a wide array of information lies at our fingertips already offering a spectrum of beliefs and viewpoints.
Stepping into the deeper world of the internet is like taking a walk through a matrix of uncensored ideas in a realm of apparent anonymity and data security where it is impossible for those connected via conventional means to tell who lurks yonder in the shadows.
Strange things be occurring in those shadows, for this is nerd turf now and no normal human mind could possibly comprehend the ingenuitive complexities and systems operating in this web that connects the planet, a nightmare land for technophobes.
Our actions online leave digital trails easily traced by surveillance systems programmed to mine through data in search of terrorists or capitalising opportunities.
Unless you have questionable surfing habits, or you live in a country where censorship reigns supreme limiting the type of information available, you need not fear extensive government internet surveillance but your data will never be truly safe. Your bank details are out there, those love notes too, and the tools and methods to access them are easily employed by those that know.
Millions of dollars are invested into data mining technologies aimed at tracking consumer trends and online activities for the greater purpose of that battle between good and evil, the so-called ongoing War on Terror. But few savvy terrorists would communicate their intent via the surface web for precisely these reasons. Certain email and social networking tools are not as secure as we like to think.
Osama bin Laden still seems to be a popular man these days but you won’t find him on Facebook updating his status; “Still in the mountains, not sure where anymore. Waziristan, maybe. Waiting for CIA so I can finally use a toilet.”
The likes of Osama would prefer networks that still hold privacy and data security as a virtue, understanding that even private messages sent between friends on Facebook or Hotmail are easily intercepted, the data never deleted. Don’t believe? This is no conspiracy, the truth is out there, on the internet (funnily enough.)
Echelon is the codename for “a signals intelligence collection and analysis network” with listening posts across the world that can eavesdrop on every telephone call, fax, or email made in any country. Despite US and UK government denial, the Australian government confirmed its existence to the BBC in 1999.
A top secret US military base in North Yorkshire, England, is said to hold facilities capable of two million intercepts per hour.
We can potentially be surveyed around the clock for this is technology and, unlike us, it doesn’t sleep. Traffic analysis is a constant. Canada and New Zealand are also involved in its operation.
People, innocent and criminally-inclined alike, the world over are finding ways to retain internet privacy using various forms of cryptography that are constantly evolving so as to keep one step ahead of the game.
Darknets provide shelter within the online world. A darknet is a decentralised network of inter-communication and information sharing distributed within routed IP addresses usually within areas of the internet rarely used, if at all.
A darknet is tough to destroy for the servers making up its fabric are distributed across the network. If one client is taken down then the server moves on, effectively untraceable. Data within a darknet is encrypted, fragmented and distributed across the network making it equally difficult to find the source.
According to the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert), “in order to create a Darknet and invite someone to participate in it, one just has to send an encrypted mail containing a connection URL. Once the recipient gets the email, he just has to connect to the provided URL so that the browser downloads a peer-to-peer application. Users can then communicate together through encrypted channels.”
To join a well-established darknet like Freenet or Tor all you needs to do is download the appropriate software and you no longer need to connect via a conventional browser.
Not all darknets provide the relevant software so willingly, but the likes of Freenet and Tor exist to protect against surveillance that threatens freedom and privacy, keeping internet analysis safe from analysis.
Tor says it protects users by “bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.”
Other darknets operate in a more isolated manner. Osama bin Laden, if he obtained a derelict URL, could set up a more covert darknet wherein an elite group of members could share information amongst each other without the fear of an outsider entering.
Theoretically, I could do the same only allowing certain people into this circle so that we might share whatever the fuck we wanted… movies, music, stories, you get the point.
The existence of these types of darknets renders government investments tracking our online activities useless.
Darknet users are cloaked in anonymity. Although this is not absolute, using a darknet provides enough camouflage online to conceal most activities, moreso than using anonymous proxy servers. For criminals or those who want to access information their government frowns upon this is all very appealing.
Take China, for example. Although someone in China would not be able to download Freenet software vie the surface web due to censorship and paranoia of the type of information available, it is still possible to obtain that software via more covert means such as downloading from CD or a USB stick.
Once the software is downloaded, a user can access all manner of sites and information (some available conventionally) and their government could never know.
After downloading the Freenet software, just a few clicks and I had the index before me listing guides to anarchy, Mein Kampf, and poison handbooks. Curiosity got the better of me and I found myself reading the Mujahideen Poison Handbook, also available on the surface web but without the protection of anonymity. I would never be in any mood to explain to the authorities why I had been reading such material.
Written in English, raising questions about its authenticity as a Jihad document, there it is nonetheless informing me that 0.06mg of pure nicotine kills in 12 - 24 hours. The tobacco of ten cigarettes, heated in easily available iso-propyl alcohol will produce enough poison to kill three people. I cannot verify if this is true, nor do I intend to, but this erases any doubts on the dangers of Pueblo.
Although it is true that most darknets are by no means foolproof and are still open to external attacks and surveillance tracking, the chances are slight.
The development of quantum cryptography heralds a new era of online security.
In the context of darknets, using a quantum key to encrypt data and messages makes it just that little bit harder to decrypt, if at all, because essentially only users will ever hold the key needed to unlock relayed information, but this type of technology is not readily available to you or me, and can take years of studying to grasp the concept as its fundamentals are based on quantum mechanics.
Darknets are not new, but they are becoming increasingly popular. As with many things in life they can be used for both good and bad, for sharing information freely that is otherwise kept secret or for more sinister purposes such as coordinating a terrorist attack.
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