Forget Finding A Needle In A Haystack… How About Actually Finding Haystack

Overhype

from the security-through-obscurity dept

We recently wrote about Newsweek’s coverage of Austin Heap and Haystack, a program he supposedly wrote to help Iranian internet users avoid being spied on by the Iranian government. Some of our commenters questioned the overall legitimacy of the story. It has a very too-perfect Hollywood sort of feel to it — and some pointed out the fact that no one seems to be able to actually look at Haystack. It sounds like a lot more folks are skeptical of the claims around Haystack as well. Glyn Moody points us to a post by Evgeny Morozov that rips apart the total secrecy around Haystack, to suggest the whole setup is pretty hard to believe.

I like Hollywood as much as the next guy — and yet something just doesn’t feel right about Haystack. What really bothers me is that one cannot download and examine their software; as far as the Internet is concerned, Haystack doesn’t exist. In fact, Heap says that it is only distributed to trusted contacts inside Iran; putting it online would create a situation where the government could easily get hold of it as well and then reverse-engineer it or ban it or find a way to track its users.

So, in essence, the outside public – including Iranians — are asked to believe that a) Haystack software exists b) Haystack software works c) Haystack software rocks d) the Iranian government doesn’t yet have a copy of it, nor do they know that Haystack rocks & works. (And who could fault them for not reading Newsweek? I certainly can’t). For someone with my Eastern European sensibilities, that’s a lot of stuff to believe in. Even Santa — we call him Ded Moroz — appears more plausible in comparison.

He goes on to note that, at the very least, this security by obscurity actually could be quite dangerous for Iranians actually using this program, since it may be giving them a very false sense of security:

To me, it seems like a no-brainer: if you want to distribute technology that may endanger lives, make sure that the technology is secure. The only good way that I know of to make sure that it’s secure is to let outsiders test it.

Indeed. In retrospect, the Newsweek version of this story had too many holes that should have acted as red flags.

Filed Under: haystack, iran, obscurity, security

Iranian Government Running A Warez Server?

Too Much Free Time

from the watch-those-downloads dept

Torrentfreak has a somewhat amusing article about how it appears that the Iranian government is running a (well-organized) public warez FTP server with all sorts of infringing software, complete with serial codes, cracks and keygens. As the article notes, Iran’s copyright law only protects Iranian copyright holders, and Iran has not signed on to WIPO treaties on copyright that would obligate it to respect others’ copyrights.

Of course, for those of you who do participate in such activities, I wouldn’t be so fast to jump on an Iranian server for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that, the Iranian government has been accused in the past of trying to install malware on the computers of those accessing its servers from countries it deems enemies.

Filed Under: copyright, iran, warez

The History Of Haystack… And Why Online Censorship Will Remain Difficult

Free Speech

from the there-are-always-holes-in-the-wall dept

Over the years, it’s been fascinating to watch the battle over internet censorship, monitors and filters, along with the equally rapid attempts to get around all of those things via technology. Many folks are familiar with anonymous proxies, like Tor, which do help provide anonymity, but can still be blocked once the censor is aware of the tor node. If you follow this space, you’re probably already aware of Haystack, which is, in some ways, a step up from Tor and has been getting more and more attention lately. Newsweek actually has a pretty good article on the history of how Haystack came about, involving a 20-something programmer who had little interest in political activism or Iran, until he started seeing the various protests and responses after the Iranian election. Something clicked, and helped along by a “disaffected Iranian official” who sent him the details of how Iran’s internet filter worked, and led to Haystack, which hides traffic inside what looks like legitimate traffic (and, in the case of Iran, is specifically designed to hide in traffic that is popular in Iran).

What struck me most about the story is just how improbable a story it is if you look at it in a vacuum. We’re talking about a 25-year-old guy, with little interest in Iran or activism, suddenly scratching an itch — and within a week he had an Iranian gov’t official leaking him information that was useful in building a system that could get around the Iranian internet censorship filter. That’s impressive, no matter how you look at it. It also highlights why it’s always going to be difficult to successfully censor the internet on a wider scale. Someone, perhaps from a totally unexpected place, is going to figure out how to get around it.

Filed Under: censorship, free speech, haystack, iran

US Eases Sanctions On Communications Software For Cuba, Iran And Sudan

Politics

from the communication-is-good dept

Realizing that better communications tools would probably help spread important ideas and efforts against totalitarian regimes, the US has finally eased sanctions against providing communications software in Cuba, Iran and Sudan. In the past, economic sanctions against those countries were supposed to create pressure for the regimes to change — but in practice that’s been a pretty big failure. Now, it appears, folks in the administration are finally realizing that more open communication allows for much greater efforts and organization, as well as more information from elsewhere. This is a good move — just many years too late.

Filed Under: communications, cuba, iran, sanctions, software, sudan

Iran Says No To Gmail; Yes To 'We Spy On You' Email

Email

from the well-that's-comforting dept

Given reports that Iran is potentially handing out death sentences to bloggers whose content the Iranian gov’t dislikes, you would think that a secure and private means of communication is important for many people in that country. And apparently the Iranian government realizes this and doesn’t like it. So it’s decided to try to pull the plug on Gmail, and instead roll out a “national email service.” Of course, that just means an email service that the government has full access to, which I’m sure doesn’t fool anyone. However, it does make you wonder if Iran thinks it can possibly block all other types of email beyond just Gmail (and I’m sure plenty of folks in Iran can quickly figure out how to get around the blocks).

Filed Under: gmail, iran, privacy, spying
Companies: google

The Speed At Which Wrong Information Flows

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the unfortunate dept

If you’ve been following the news of the protests in Iran over the past few days, you’ve no doubt heard about the story of Neda Soltani, who was shot and killed on video, and has become, as some news reports have noted, “the face of Iran’s struggle.” Not to get into the politics of it all, what is quite fascinating is the news that the photo that many individuals and news sources are using for Soltani isn’t just of a different Neda Soltani, but it’s due to confusion over how Facebook works (found via Mathew Ingram).

Basically, a woman named Amy Beam, who was interested in the Neda Soltani in the video contacted other Neda Soltani’s found on Facebook, and one communicated back with her, and eventually they “friended” each other on Facebook. Soon after, the “living” Neda Soltani posted a translation of an article about the killed Neda Soltani on Amy’s Facebook “wall.” However, the way this works, is that along with the post on the wall, it includes the poster’s own avatar/profile photo — in this case the living Neda Soltani. From that, others who were friends of Amy saw the name Neda Soltani, the story about the killed woman, and the photo of the living woman — and assumed they were all the same woman… and from there the photo started spreading like wildfire, including websites, TV, banners and elsewhere. And the really scary part is that the living Neda Soltani is now quite afraid for her life, since she’s suddenly become “the face of the face of the struggle in Iran” despite not being the woman who was shot.

Certainly, bad information flows at incredible speed in this day and age, but the series of events and confusion that led to this result is quite fascinating, if a bit scary (especially for the living Neda Soltani). There’s an effort under way to alert everyone using the wrong photo to change their images, but you have to wonder how effective that will be.

Filed Under: bad information, iran, neda soltani, photos, protests
Companies: facebook

Twitter, Data Center Delay Upgrades Rather Than Cut Off Iranian Communications

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the the-power-of-twitter dept

I recognize that it’s still fashionable to bash Twitter as being a useless toy for people with too much free time (despite many, many examples of how useful it is for those who use it properly). Yet, for anyone paying attention this past weekend, Twitter has emerged as an amazingly powerful communications tool as to what’s happening in Iran, where there are massive protests, riots, rallies and attacks following the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iran Twazzup page has had a tremendous wealth of information from inside and outside Iran — the sort of information that we wouldn’t know about otherwise. It’s an amazing view into the country that simply wasn’t possible in the past. I remember in the runup to the war in Iraq, there were a few Iraqi bloggers you could follow to get a sense of what was going on in the country, but nothing like the massive ability of thousands of people to easily get the word out on what they’re seeing on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere. It’s really quite impressive, and I’m hard pressed to see how anyone could look at what’s coming out of Iran via Twitter, and then claiming that Twitter isn’t a useful or different communication tool.

With all that going on, it’s fascinating to see that Twitter and its data center partner, NTT, have actually chosen to delay some critical updates, knowing that cutting off communications from Iran just as so many people are relying on it would be a disaster. While this does highlight a separate problem — about the fact that as Twitter becomes a critical communication channel for some, the fact that it is a “single point of failure” is worrisome. It’s definitely something that will need to be addressed at some point.

Filed Under: communication, data center, election, iran
Companies: twitter

Iran Blocks Facebook… Though There Are Disagreements About The Reason

Culture

from the let's-vote-for-political-reasons dept

There were a bunch of stories this weekend talking about how Facebook appeared to be blocked in Iran, with many assuming that it was due to upcoming elections, where some reformist candidates have been using the social networking site to build support. Current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is apparently claiming that he has nothing to do with it, and that he “believe[s] in maximum freedom of expression,” and that he’ll “look into” the block. Meanwhile, others are claiming the ban is for moral, rather than political reasons. The reality is probably a bit of both — with the government being able to use the cover of “morality” to block an effective organizing technique for an opposition candidate. Either way, this action only seems to be calling more attention to the opposition candidate, so if the goal was to stifle his campaign, it might just have backfired.

Filed Under: blocks, iran, mahmoud ahmadinejad, politics
Companies: facebook

Iranian Matchmaking Site Shut Down For Promoting Prostitution

News You Could Do Without

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

Apparently an Iranian matchmaking site, that pretty clearly seemed set up for the purpose of linking up potential husbands and wives, rather than traditional “dating,” has been banned in the country for promoting prostitution. The details aren’t clear, but it certainly sounds like they viewed any kind of internet matchmaking, even for the purposes of marriage, as somehow “promoting prostitution.”

Filed Under: iran, online dating, prostitution