MegaSync Your Cloud Data for True Internet Privacy

MegaSync Client for Linux with GNOME Nautilus 'Drag Drop' Support shown on my Fedora 21 Workstation Desktop

Strong Encryption is the only choice to secure the Public's Internet Privacy against unwarranted access.

I really don't know how to make that message any more clear.

You see, ISPs are going to 'feather their own nests' as we bear witness to changing Terms of Service with Google and most recently at Facebook.

Personally, I could not care less about their Terms of Service.

Because, as far as I am concerned, anything put on their sites becomes theirs.  Period.  They can claim otherwise.  It doesn't matter.

Google doesn't want to encrypt your Gmail, or Drive.  Why?  Because 'they claim' it's parsed for Advertising revenue purposes.  Does that seem legitimate to you?

Let me lay it bare for you.

The truth of the matter and what Google won't say is, they profit also from intelligence gathering by parsing keyword triggers that get forwarded to domestic and foreign governmental agencies. That is not Transparency. No, it is outright lying by omission.

Your Gmail and Drive get scrutinized every time you use it.

I've written on how to manage your Gmail using OpenPGP Encrypted Evolution Email on Linux Advocates.

The technique I illustrated renders any third-party's ability to parse clear text useless.

As for Google Drive?  Avoid it 'like the plague'.  MegaSync employs 'zero knowledge' end-to-end encryption and gives 50GB of free space by default.

Mega's strong encryption makes your personal folders and files just streams of block data totally unintelligible, so that Mega doesn't know what is getting stored.

You may recall, the take down of Kim Dot Com's MegaUpload by the U.S. Government.  Kim Dot Com said it was "a death sentence without a trial".

Mega with MegaSync client changes all that.

Now, Mega can reliably claim what is legally termed 'plausible deniability' for what clients store on their site, by virtue of how this method of encryption works.

And, isn't that the way it should have been all along?  Really.  It's nobody's business what a law abiding Netizen stores on the Internet.  It's personal.  It's private.  And Mega fills this gaping unmet need.

In the final analysis, if the government wants to know what is stored in the cloud of an account holder, they need to take out a search warrant issued by a Judge.  Then and only then, should a 'Good Netizen' comply by unlocking their encrypted files.

With MegaSync strong encryption, nobody can see your data without your expressed consent.

MegaSync your cloud data for true Internet Privacy.

-- Dietrich

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• ISPs Are Stripping Encryption From Netizens' Email - EFF

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Google's End-to-End is Unacceptable

by Dietrich Schmitz

Regular readers will know that I have taken issue with Google since last year on how they manage Gmail and Drive.

For starters, should any governmental agency manage to break through Google's firewall (oops, the NSA did and pitched camp last year), they will have unfettered access to your meta data and direct access to your Gmail and Drive files. (Image right: Google's End-to-End Logo)

Why?  Because they are stored in clear text (unencrypted) format.

That's odd.  Google Cloud does just the opposite.  Hmmm.  I Wonder why.  (Taps fingers.....)  That's because Google Cloud is for the 'paying customers' who INSIST that their data meet critical mandated security thresholds (FIPS).  So, Google Cloud customers, in the interest of keeping them from leaving altogether, are being assured, by Google, their data is FIPS-compliant and cannot be viewed by third-parties.  How nice of them.

When it was determined last year that the Fox is in the Hen House, many corporations left en masse U.S. domestic cloud ISPs for Western- and Eastern-Europe ISPs to avoid the NSA.  This concern is quite understandable on many levels and still nothing has been done to impede, much less stop the NSA from continuing their global eavesdropping.

Gmail and Drive are considered part of Google's consumer-facing services which are, at present, offered for free.  Most everyone using Gmail likes the fact that they get it for free, but, were they to make the effort to read their 'Terms of Service' agreement, would discover that Google reserves the right to parse any and all meta and personal clear text data belonging to the respective account holder.

Principally, the main thrust of this stipulation is so that Google can use intelligent advertisements positioned in the account holder's Gmail gutter margins that reflect subjects which might be of potential interest to said account holder by virtue of the parsing logic applied to their data stream.  Very nice, yes?  No!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is fundamentally wrong.  Users may be stuck with the current terms of service for getting their free Gmail and Drive, but, do they have a recourse?

Certainly, one option would be to drop using Gmail and Drive entirely in favor of some other solution.

Another solution is being provided by Google who have been under great public pressure to do something to protect account holders' right to privacy.

The solution is being named End-to-End in an announcement posted on Google's website.  It's not even available yet and coding for the solution is being worked on and tested before it will ever reach production release to the general public.

While that may sound good, a cursory inspection of the Google Code website reveals a few issues which I feel make this solution unacceptable from the start.

1) Google is only offering 'the solution' as a Google Chrome browser extension.  Many use Chrome.  I don't because it is 'proprietary'.  That means it is not 100% open source and so violates one of the cornerstones of FOSS: Transparency.  We cannot and do not know what is or isn't in proprietary code and because of that, potential rogue code and abuses can be introduced without the general public's knowledge and/or approval.  That is what Transparency is all about.  So, Google wants you to have 'their' solution on 'their' terms, stipulating the use of 'their' browser which in and of itself has volumes of code nobody can claim to know or understand.

2) As if #1 wasn't bad enough, Google has chosen to 'reinvent the wheel'.  Namely, the long-standing, mature, fully-debugged gpg2 open source OpenPGP standard codebase is being rejected out of hand, again because they want to do things 'their' way by creating a duplicate, immature, bug-laden codebase port of gpg2 as an incomplete subset into slow, interpretive Javascript.  That's right.  Javascript.  gpg2 is fully compiled C/C++ code.

3) Google chooses to adopt a new Eliptical Curve cryptographic standard over the proven mature RSA standard.  Recall that NIST is now in a public relations dilemma having been exposed as consorting with the NSA in introducing 'weakened' cryptographic string constants into their ECC codebase last year.  In discovering the problem with ECC, the NIST insist they had no part or knowledge of the NSA's intentional introduction of weakened code and put the code out for public review and follow up action to correct any seen defects based on public comment.  That leaves a 'cloud' in my mind over any software dependent on EC.  In terms of severity, in comparison to items 1 and 2, a thorough audit of EC might restore confidence and make item 3 less an issue in the long-term.

But fundamentally, Google's developers, it would appear, are taking shortcuts and making fundamental flawed decisions by forcing a solution which requires proprietary Chrome (Transparency violation) and creating their own immature crypto codebase to 'emulate' a subset of gpg2 OpenPGP features.  EC will only be compatible with version 2.1 of gpg2.

I am giving this project a 'thumbs down'.  Unacceptable.  Back to the drawing board Google.

-- Dietrich

Related articles

• Your Privacy and How Not to be Surveilled on the Internet
• Google: Don't try to change the law. ENCRYPT GMAIL/DRIVE!
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Edward Snowden Email GPG Encryption Tutorial

English: from http://logo-contest.gnupg.org/subm-6.html, copyright info see http://gnupg.org/misc/logo-contest.en.html (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Dietrich Schmitz

Folks, I've been on a privacy jag for over a year now since whistle blower Edward Snowden broke the story of how the NSA monitor everybody's electronic communications (PRISM).

It is understandable that many have been reluctant to start using email encryption.  But there is no risk and if done with strong encryption such as free open source Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG), you can be assured that only your intended recipient will be able to open and read your mail.

So, with that, today I am bringing to your attention a youtube video put up by none other than Edward Snowden himself wherein he provides a step-by-step tutorial of how to encrypt your email with a Windows version of GPG encryption, called GPG4Win.

So, even if you aren't a Windows user per se, you can watch to get a feel for the steps required to set up your public/private key pair and publishing to a key server and how to import a public key from one of your email contacts who has set up encrypted email also.

I use Fedora 20 LXDE with Evolution and GPG.  Once you've created the keys, you don't have to repeat the same process.  It is a 'one-time' affair and then creating and sending email is done with the existing GPG keys in place.

It's not hard after you've done it a few times.  Trust me.  It will make sense.

Here's Edward Snowden's youtube tutorial.  Enjoy!  -- Dietrich

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• NSA: Please Turn the Lights off When You Leave. Nothing to See Here.
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Mailvelope for Chrome: PGP Encrypted Email Truly Made Easy

by Dietrich Schmitz

I've spent considerable time researching the question: Is there an easy to use software that will let you email using PGP encryption?

The answer after several days looking, I am happy to report is 'YES'!

The software is an extension for Google Chrome called Mailvelope.

Watch the below video to help you to configure and use Mailvelope.

I am endorsing Mailvelope as the 'easiest' software, 'to date', and can assure you that if you create your PGP with a minimum of 2048-bit key length, the NSA will never be able to read your email. NEVER.

Please take control of your email privacy with Mailvelope.

Questions, concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.

Be well. Be safe. -- Dietrich

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• Email encryption: Mailvelope
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Google: Don't try to change the law. ENCRYPT GMAIL/DRIVE!

by Dietrich Schmitz

Okay so Google are pushing today for changes to be made to Internet request for access to their data infrastructure by third party entities, namely, our Government.

I think this is the wrong way to go about it, and I won't sign their petition (below). (Image credit: zeroknowledgeprivacy.org)

If Google can encrypt their 'Google Cloud' product, then they should apply the same standard for the general consumer (public) of their Gmail/Drive services.

If software vendors like SpiderOak, Wuala, and now Microsoft and Yahoo can muster the requisite technology to facilitate encrypting all of consumers' private data, there is no excuse for Google not following suit.

Do the right thing Google.  ENCRYPT GMAIL/DRIVE with Zero Knowledge Encryption technology.  -- Dietrich

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• Microsoft Strikes Back at Spying, Will Encrypt All Cloud Activities
• Yahoo vows to encrypt all its users' personal data
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Google Drive Gets Failing Grade on Privacy Protection

by Dietrich Schmitz

Never mind that Google reneged on their promise to bring a native Google Drive Client to Linux.  It really doesn't matter to me at this point.  We have much bigger fish to fry.

You see, Google is as much complicit as any other ISP in cooperating with our beloved U.S. government in handing over your private data without a warrant.  The government waltzes in simply cherry picks whatever they are looking for unimpeded.

This is flouting our privacy rights and, with each successive day, more and more of our constitutional rights are being dismantled in the name of fighting terrorism.

"At what point do we stop taking away our rights?", is an open question everyone should be thinking about.  Because, the latest news regarding disclosure of the NSA's Prism project confirms just how far 'out of hand' things have progressed with the overreach by our government into our private affairs.  Seeing such news, one wonders where we will be in five years.  I fear the erosion of our rights will continue unless these projects are abandoned.

Your only recourse in fighting back to hold off these intrusions?:

ENCRYPTION

Folks, I cannot stress this enough.  There is no other option if you plan on storing any personal data on the Internet other than encryption to keep prying eyes from reading it.

And, I feel obligated to tell you that NONE of your data stored in Gmail or Google Drive is encrypted.

In fact, Google will not offer an encryption service in the interest of protecting your privacy.  Why?  Because, it will render their 'parsers' useless in parsing through your data for advertising purposes, their main 'cash cow'.

This stands as being a gross conflict of interests and Google has overtly chosen to make profit a higher priority than protecting your privacy.

I give Google a FAIL on their moral ethics and stance on privacy.  

The bottom line?: Don't use Google Drive or Gmail if you don't want your data seen by third parties.  

-- Dietrich

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• Reclaim Your Internet Privacy. Encrypt!
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• Google Drive

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Reclaim Your Internet Privacy. Encrypt!

by Dietrich Schmitz

I've written about Retroshare and how to surf anonymously with secure shell in response to the recent outcropping of news flooding the Internet with stories concerning the ongoing practices of our beloved National Security Agency.

There is no shortage of media information and disinformation. You can sort through it and build opinion by consensus across different sources and their relative reliability for giving factual information verses sensationalism.

When it comes right down to it, most everything you do on the Internet is out in the open, or, by explicit or implied consent from you, being shared in some fashion in the name of monetization.

After all, nobody is in business to lose money and if their isn't a good business model for capturing profit then there's no point in being a Capitalist.

In the final analysis, regardless of who you are, what you do on the Internet will be exploited for profit in some fashion as long as there is information to be mined from the stream of data that your activity provides.

To illustrate a point, take Google Drive for instance.

Drive has become a cornerstone of Google's product strategy and the data you store there is in plain human readable clear text. In other words, it is not encrypted.

In fact, Google will not offer a service which encrypts your data.

After all, if your data were encrypted, and you and only you have the private key to unlock it, all of Google's profit from sharing your social activity will cease to exist because they no longer can parse your activity when in an encrypted form. Yes?

This is fundamentally at conflict with your best interests.

I believe that nothing short of your using strong encryption will keep away prying eyes from seeing your personal information.

Encryption is a lock and, when used judiciously, will ensure that your right to privacy on the Internet is upheld even against the NSA.

I have written about how email is fundamentally broken. The government has no interest in it changing since it is clear text and they can read it with impunity and without your knowing along any point it travels across intermediaries to its recipient.

In coming days, I will provide information about what you can do to protect your Internet privacy including useful encryption tools and services.

I hope you will be here to follow along. Remember that encryption is a lock and the only sure fire way you can keep your personal information private--as it should be.

Reclaim your Internet privacy.  Encrypt!

-- Dietrich

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