Table of Contents
Goal
Further the use of FOSS encryption technologies within Washington legal and journalism circles.
Tor
Tor relay and Tor exit relay adoption by organizations because of resources and stability. EFF “Tor Challenge” is unsuccessful at gaining long-term relays because they are focused on individuals that are largely not focused or lack stable resources. ACLU-WA support could happen in three ways: write to local organizations who are likely to deploy a Tor relay, provide written education or in-person training, and create public reports on successes and failures. Supporting Tor supports human rights work 24/7/365, globally.
HTTPS and StartTLS
Many organizations who require privacy lack website/service transport security. Focusing on specific types of organizations, such as law firms and news agencies, would benefit the public and overall Internet health. HTTPS is critical for keeping private specific pages and forms visited in addition to any transmitted information. StartTLS is critical for keeping entire emails confidential. In light of recent developments in Texas [1], it would be timely to push Washington state legal policy organizations to adopt similar rules. The “Let’s Encrypt” project has been pushed out to November 16th, 2015 [2] — it would be great to have 2 months to start an ACLU-WA parallel initiative (focused on law firms and news agencies, for example) when it launches in order to benefit and enhance the initial press.
TextSecure, RedPhone, & Signal
While HTTPS and StartTLS are important for public and private communication, mobile apps can greatly strengthen inter-org privacy. Classic telephony and SMS communications are insecure. The Open Whisper Systems ecosystem uses state of the art encryption, is scalable, and is free and open source software. Purchasing 5th gen iPod Touch devices is a small cost for law firms and allows lawyers to register their work phone number with Signal. Doing so would let anyone with their regular work phone number to leverage end-to-end encryption instead. No wiretaps, no SS7 tracking, no IMSI catcher tracking, and no baseband or SIM card vulnerabilities that are inherent with any cellular device.
SecureDrop
Whistleblowing is a critical part in a democracy by keeping the public informed and organizations accountable. SecureDrop, by Freedom Press Foundation, is a powerful tool that allows anyone to leak information to targeted organizations. SecureDrop has been around for 2 years and is largely used by news agencies. That being said, a very small fraction of news agencies support SecureDrop which creates two problems: overall diversity and market diversity. Overall, there are too few options in terms of trusted organizations for whistleblowers to choose from. If a specific person who has access to specific information is only comfortable providing information to a specific organization or person, but secure a whistleblowing platform does not exist, nothing will get leaked. Similarity, if only news agencies support secure whistleblowing platforms, other NGOs who might be better equipped to handle response will not get leaks. ACLU-WA could work with Freedom Press Foundation to focus on evangelizing SecureDrop to NGOs.
Conclusion
It is ethics and education apathy that is preventing people from adopting FOSS security systems that provide privacy. It is one thing to be apathetic in our personal lives, but it is not acceptable in professions that demand privacy in order to keep people safe.
2 https://letsencrypt.org/2015/08/07/updated-lets-encrypt-launch-schedule.html