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October 2014

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November meetup ; CryptoParty at OSDC
by Fraser Tweedale 17 Oct '14

17 Oct '14

Hi everyone, In lieu of our regular monthly meetup, the timing of which coincides with the Open Source Developers' Conference (OSDC) being held at Griffith University on the Gold Coast, I am co-organising a CryptoParty (https://www.cryptoparty.in/) to be held on Tuesday 4 November from 6pm to 8pm. This is a great opportunity to follow up Andrew Roffey's privacy talk at our October meetup by getting your hands dirty with software that protects your privacy and communications. For more schedule and location details, head to http://2014.osdc.com.au/program. The event will include a PGP keysigning session. Please submit your key(s) in advance at https://frase.id.au/osdc2014. I will follow up with more details as they become available. In the mean time, please voice any questions you might have. Cheers, Fraser

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minutes of October meeting
by Fraser Tweedale 06 Oct '14

06 Oct '14

Hi everyone, Minutes of Thursday 2 October meetup: <<EOF Administration -------------- - We now have a group page on LibrePlanet wiki: http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:LibrePlanet_Brisbane. I will be updating it with details of past meetups. - Our usual meetup time for November clashes with OSDC. For November, will probably have some sort of meetup down on the Gold Coast during OSDC. Ideas welcome. News ---- - FSF endorses libreCMC router distro. - Announcement: http://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-adds-librecmc-to-endorsed-distros-list - libreCMC website: http://librecmc.org/ - Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification of ThinkPenguin WiFi router. - Announcement: https://www.fsf.org/news/thinkpenguin-wireless-router-now-fsf-certified-to-… - Runs libreCMC. - Third RYF-certified product by ThinkPenguin - FSF & Debian collaborate to improve h-node hardware compatability directory. - Announcement: http://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-and-debian-join-forces-to-help-free-software-us… - FSF statement on new Apple products, services: https://fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement-on-the-new-iphone-a… - shellshock - Catastrophic remote execution vulnerability in GNU bash. - FSF statement: https://fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement-on-the-gnu-bash-she… - GNOME 3.14 released - http://www.gnome.org/news/2014/09/gnome-3-14-released/ - Conferences: - OSDC 4-7 Nov Gold Coast: http://2014.osdc.com.au/ - Want to help out? v o l u n t e e r (at) o s d c (dot) c o m (dot) a u - linux.conf.au 12-16 Jan Auckland: http://linux.conf.au/ - LibrePlanet 2015 21-22 Mar Cambridge, MA: https://www.libreplanet.org/2015 - Theme: "Free Software Everywhere" - CfP closes 2/11: https://www.libreplanet.org/2015/call_for_sessions/ - Discussion on Matthew Garrett blog post "My free software will respect users or it will be bullshit" - http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/32686.html Talk ---- Andrew Roffey gave a talk about free software and privacy. Slides at http://andrew.roffey.org/fs-privacy-final.pdf. Notes below. Disclosure: Roffey is board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation (APF); was not speaking as representative of APF. What is privacy? - A human right. - Freedom from intrusion and interference. Freedom to seclude oneself. - Information privacy; privacy and how it relates to information systems. - CCTV example - only an information privacy issue as of recently due to facial recog software. - Before 1990s, information privacy wasn't as much an issue. - Didn't collect massive data on people. - General life activities were more or less anonymous by default ∴ few information privacy issues. - Information privacy issues generally occur once info has been collected. - Note on anonymity: - Has been around a very long time; only recently being taken away. Why privacy is important: - Freedom of speech; chilling effect. - Social networks monitored by employers, govt, etc limits free expression. Threats to privacy: - Mass collection of data - Number plate recognition; all travel used to be more or less anonymous; now not so much. - ATMs, EFTPOS; all transactions used to be more or less anonymous; no longer so. - Collection of geolocation info from phones. - Individuals' *choice* to privacy is under threat. - Companies using personal/personally identifying info. - Social network "real name" policies (e.g. Facebook, Google+) - 3rd party cookies tracking your web usage. - "The Cloud" - Don't store your data on *your* computer, store it on *their* computer. - Gmail keyword scanning, ostensibly for more relevant ads but involves huge amounts of personal data collection. - Data subject to patriot act; US Govt can collect it without notification. - Snowden revelations: companies cooperate with NSA to give them access (or at least don't impede them). - Australian government "metadata" access. - Not content of comms, but everything else e.g. parties involved, durations, locations (physical or network), etc. - Mandatory data retention; all of this data being retained by ISPs for long duration should govt wish to access. - Skype - Microsoft hits server after previously unadvertised server address sent in msg. - They are reading your messages. - http://is.gd/7Qh773 - Ubuntu/Microsoft computer search bars - Sends content of "start menu" searches to Amazon/Microsoft - On by default (can be disabled) - Reveals personal information including. information about computer use habits to companies. - Mobile phone tracking - We know they're doing it in US - In Australia by law the capability must exist for emergency use (000/112 call) but we don't know if/how often it is being used by authorities. - Eavesdropping: http://news.cnet.com/2100-1029-6140191.html - E-reader/music/movie/entertainment store purchases. Free software and privacy: - Freedom 0: you can be in control of your computer. - Proprietary EULAs can add usage conditions and *permit* privacy invasions. - Freedom 1 (modification): malicious or questionable features can be removed, and privacy features can be added/improved. Bugs can be fixed. - Freedoms 2 and 3: Important that people can *share* programs with privacy-enhancing improvements. Why free software is important: - Legislation *can* help (or hinder) but is rarely cross-jurisdictional. - Laws can't keep up fast enough (even if law-makers are trying to protect citizen privacy). - Software can move a lot faster to improve user privacy and address issues. Some privacy-related free software: - Network - Tor (anonymity on internet). See also Tor browser bundle. - GNUnet - Web - GNU Icecat: blocks 3rd party cookies, pixel images/cookies, LibreJS built in (only runs free javascript) - Email - GnuPG (email encryption; parties known) - bitmessage (parties anonymous) - Chat - Tox (Skype replacement; FSF high priority project) - Payment - Bitcoin - Utilities - bleachbit and shred (data shredding/cleaning) - full disk encryption solutions - Federated social networks: - Look after your own data - Diaspora - Operating systems - Replicant; aims to be completely free distribution of Android - GNOME has a strong focus on privacy Related groups: - Free Software Foundation/GNU project - rms has announced that privacy and communications is a new focus for GNU. - Electronic Frontier Foundation and Electronic Frontiers Australia - no speciifc organisational committment to free software but a lot of common goals. Also interested in censorship, copyright, information policy, security etc. - Australian Privacy Foundation - Civil Liberties Australia EOF Thanks to everyone who came along - a new attendance record! Stay tuned for info about the November meeting. If you have something you'd like to present on or news or discussion topics you'd like covered at a future meeting, drop me a line. Cheers, Fraser

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