Reason Magazine - Burn After Reading

In this issue of Reason Magazine, we offer how-tos, personal stories, and step-by-step guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.

Usually Reason brings you stories about people who have crossed the lines of legality, the people who help draw those lines, and the people who want to erase them entirely. This month we thought we'd try something a little different. In this issue, we offer how-tos, personal stories, and step-by-step guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen right at the borders of legally permissible behavior.

These stories are handily packaged into a removable section in the middle of the magazine. Pull it out and when you're done reading, you can decide whether to keep the pages for future reference or to follow the instructions printed on the front and burn them.

If you decide to hang out on the edges with us, a couple of notes. As we circulated early drafts of the stories in this issue, it was interesting to see how different articles struck different readers as the most risqué. One worried that Mark McDaniel's step-by-step Glock-building instructions and the accompanying video at reason.com were a bridge too far, while another homed in on Ronald Bailey's slightly sloppy dabbling in gene editing at home in his kitchen. Some found Declan McCullagh's tutorial on spousal snooping unsettling. We've tried to push our own boundaries in this issue—while not actually committing any crimes in the course of publishing it—to help you think about yours. In our view, the fact that something makes you uncomfortable isn't a good reason to ban it; it's a good reason to research it, report on it, maybe even try it, and then write about it.

Keep in mind that the legal lines we describe may well be shifting under your feet. The first draft of Maggie McNeill's story about how to hire an escort was written before the passage of the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) this spring. It is now illegal, under federal law, to host digital content that promotes or facilitates prostitution, and the new law holds web publishers and platforms liable for doing so. As a result, this issue is being printed in a world that is more uncertain and dangerous for sex workers and their clients than the one we inhabited just a few months ago. As the story itself illustrates, human desires flow like water around the rocks of prohibition, and they always will. But do remember that the advice in this issue could quickly become outdated, and that laws might not apply or be enforced predictably in the jurisdiction where you happen to be reading.
(Reason, May 31, 2018)
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Want to Cut the Long Lines at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport This Summer?

Want to cut the long lines at the Seattle-Tacoma airport this summer?  All you have to do is hand over scans of your face, eyes and fingerprints to a private company called CLEAR, and pay a fee of $179.00 per year.

CLEAR is a concierge program which allows you to go to front of the security line. But after you cut the outer line, you still have go through regular airport screening like everyone else.

So why does CLEAR need all that your biometric data?

On its website, the company says the concept is to make travel and shopping easier. In the future, maybe you could buy a beer at a ball game with just your fingerprint. And CLEAR's system for securing your biometric data is government-approved.

The Port of Seattle agreed to let CLEAR set up shop in 2016.  Now, the Port gets 10 percent of CLEAR's gross sales at SeaTac. Delta Air Lines also has a 5 percent stake in the company.

So if you don't mind handing over some money—and your data, of course—CLEAR is now available in 30 airports and sport stadiums nationwide, including Safeco field.  (KUOW, June 22, 2018)
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To use the CLEAR program you have to provide this private company with large amounts of your personal and biometric data. These types of databases are constant targets for criminal hackers and government abuse. It's not a question of will the data be breached or misused, it's only a question of when.

If you are concerned with your personal privacy you should make every effort to limit the amount of data that is available about in in business and government databases. The more information that is available, the greater your risk of being compromised in a data breach.

Washington State Patrol Trooper Flying a Confederate Flag by His Official Vehicle

A Washington State Patrol trooper who flew a Confederate flag at his Silverdale home with his official vehicle parked underneath in view of neighbors took the flag down after his supervisors were tipped off by a public records request from the Kitsap Sun.

Trooper James Manning claimed he inherited the flag from his grandfather and further claimed he was not aware of the "implications" of such a symbol, State Patrol spokesman Kyle Moore said.
Manning, who has been with the State Patrol since at least 2002, did not return a message left Wednesday with State Patrol dispatchers seeking comment.

The Confederate flag is so inflammatory that simply flying it on private property or being photographed wearing Confederate flag boxers has resulted in the firing of law enforcement officers from their jobs in other states. Moore said the State Patrol was not investigating the matter as misconduct because Manning took down the flag and no official complaint was lodged.

The flag could still affect Manning's ability to do his job, however. A local defense attorney said if Manning investigated a person of color, the attorney would try to use the photo at trial to impugn Manning’s credibility in front of jurors. The attorney cited two court cases — one from federal court in 2001 that found that it is reasonable to view the flag as a racist symbol.

“If I ever have a trial with this trooper that involves a minority defendant, I will move to admit the photograph as a racist act under rules that allow defendants to explore bias of those that testify against them,” attorney Adrian Pimentel wrote in an email to the Kitsap Sun. “There is considerable persuasive authority for admission of this photograph. Courts have consistently held that the Confederate flag is legitimately viewed as a symbol of white supremacy.”  (KENS5 News, June 25, 2018)
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There is no indication that the WSP Trooper advocated any type of racist ideology or white supremacy. Some believe the flag can be viewed as a symbol of pride for living in the American South or as a symbol of nonconformity or rebellion. The WSP Trooper had an ancestor who fought in the Civil War. To the Trooper, he was honoring his family and history, he had no ill intent.

The idea that a defense attorney would use this photo / incident to create false allegations against the WSP Trooper to defend a minority defendant, or would draw out an investigation based on clearly false allegations, is far more concerning than any possibly poor judgment displayed by the Trooper who flew this flag outside his home.

 

 

 

Simple Privacy Steps You Can Take Today

Opt-Out of Use of Your Credit Reports for Marketing Purposes. - Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies (i.e. Equifax, Experian, Innovis, and TransUnion) are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you. The FCRA also provides you the right to "Opt-Out", which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for marketing purposes. To opt out for five years: Call toll-free 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com. The phone number and website are operated by the major Consumer Credit Reporting Companies.

Add Your Telephone Numbers to the National Do Not Call Registry. - You can reduce the number of unwanted sales calls you get by signing up for the National Do Not Call Registry. It’s free. Legitimate companies don't call if your number is on the Registry. If a company is ignoring the Registry, there’s a good chance that it’s a scam.

 

Add HTTPS Everywhere to Your Browser. - HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.

 

Add Privacy Badger to Your Browser. - Privacy Badger blocks spying ads and invisible trackers. Privacy Badger is a browser add-on that stops advertisers and other third-party trackers from secretly tracking where you go and what pages you look at on the web.  If an advertiser seems to be tracking you across multiple websites without your permission, Privacy Badger automatically blocks that advertiser from loading any more content in your browser.  To the advertiser, it's like you suddenly disappeared.

Start using a encrypted e-mail service such as Tutanota or ProtonMail. - End-to-end email encryption is a method of transmitting data where only the sender and receiver can read email messages. With end-to-end email encryption, the data is encrypted on the sender’s system. Only the intended recipient will be able to decrypt and read it.

Start using an end-to-end encrypted messenger such as Signal, Wire, or Wickr. - Don't send SMS / Text Messages. According to the American Bar Association (2015): ‘While text messages have increasingly replaced phone calls, users do not always stop and realize that individually identifiable information, once captured in a traditional text message or third-party messaging system, likely becomes a PII record.’ Consumer text messaging services also offer little protection from sending messages to an unintended recipient.

Use a Search Engine that Doesen't Track You - like Duck Duck Go.

 

 

 

Keep Yourself Informed. Visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Surveillance Self-Defense site. Surveillance Self-Defense is a guide to protecting yourself from electronic surveillance for people all over the world. Some aspects of this guide will be useful to people with very little technical knowledge, while others are aimed at an audience with considerable technical expertise and privacy/security trainers.

 



 

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The Wiretap Rooms: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs

An article in The Intercept (June 25, 2018): "The Wiretap Rooms: The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities" is informative and important to everyone interested in privacy and the surveillance state.

Hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not publicly known. They are an integral part of one of the world’s largest telecommunications networks – and they are also linked to a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.

Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, The Intercept has identified an AT&T facility containing networking equipment that transports large quantities of internet traffic across the United States and the world. A body of evidence – including classified NSA documents, public records, and interviews with several former AT&T employees – indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.
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Change Your DNS Settings for Privacy

In May 2018, I mentioned the CloudFlare DNS Resolver 1.1.1.1 as adding an additional layer of privacy to your on-line activities. In that post I also mentioned the Quad9 DNS Resolver.

Most computers connect to the DNS that’s automatically set by their internet service providers, but there are often safer alternatives.

Quad9 has a short YouTube video that shows you how to change your DNS settings. DNS Watch also provides guides on how to change your DNS settings.

In April 2017, certain U.S. privacy laws were overturned, allowing internet service providers (ISP) to sell your browser history to advertisers without your consent. Setting your DNS to 1.1.1.1 or to 9.9.9.9 could help block your ISP from monitoring your on-line searches.

I note that Quad9 DNS also filters malware sites. This can add another layer of security to your on-line activity.

OSINT Handbook 2018

The Open Source Intelligence Tools and Resources Handbook is a 327 page list of URLs (web-site links) to sources of information that may be useful for on-line research.

The URLs are divided into categories, some of which include the following, but are otherwise provided without description or comment.

Search
Social Media
Blogs, Forums, Discussion Boards
People Investigations
Company Research
Researching Terrorism, Crime, and Cyber-Security
Web Intelligence
Researching Dark Web
Working with Data and Statistics
Privacy and Security
... and more

The OSINT Handbook is a useful resource, that is available as a free download.

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