Revealed: US Military Bought Mass Monitoring Tool That Includes Internet Browsing, Email DataThe “Augury” platform includes highly sensitive network data that Team Cymru, a private company, is selling to the military. “It’s everything. There’s nothing else to capture except the smell of electricity,” one cybersecurity expert said.
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Rambler OP wrote
Agreed, however, from the same article you have it mentioned that a board member of Tor is also the CEO of the company that sells this data to the US Military / Government.
The Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General, which the whistleblower alleges referred their complaint to the Navy, told Motherboard it had received Wyden’s letter and was reviewing it. The Office of the Naval Inspector General declined to comment and directed Motherboard back to its Department of Defense counterpart.
Beyond his day job as CEO of Team Cymru, Rabbi Rob Thomas also sits on the board of the Tor Project, a privacy focused non-profit that maintains the Tor software. That software is what underpins the Tor anonymity network, a collection of thousands of volunteer-run servers that allow anyone to anonymously browse the internet.
“Just like Tor users, the developers, researchers, and founders who've made Tor possible are a diverse group of people. But all of the people who have been involved in Tor are united by a common belief: internet users should have private access to an uncensored web,” the Tor Project’s website reads.
When asked by Motherboard in April about Thomas’ position on the Tor Project board while also being the CEO of a company that sells a capability for attributing activity on the internet, Isabela Bagueros, executive director for the Tor Project, said in an email that “Rabbi Rob's potential conflicts of interest have been vetted according to the standard conflicts disclosure process required of all board members. Based on the board's understanding of Rabbi Rob's work with Team Cymru, the board has not identified any conflicts of interest.”
spektor wrote
Yeah, I don't think Tor is the answer to this issue.
il_douche wrote
Look into I2P.
Less centralization, (no hard-coded directory servers; because on I2P everyone is a directory server) more relays, (everyone is a relay by default) faster than Tor.
Downside: Less exit nodes. I2P is meant for communicating mostly within I2P, not outside. But this can be a good thing, because most of the attacks that the feds use to deanonymize tor users are based upon the user using exit nodes to talk to the regular internet.
spektor wrote
More reasons to develop alternetworks that make this kind of thing more difficult.