35 replies to this topic

[muddy]

As some of you will be aware, and everybody who uses thr Internet ought to be, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 has been foisted on a largely ignorant public. It gives a myriad of government and other agencies the ability to request your ISP to provide them with your browsing history. I don't really want to go into why this isn't a good thing, because I want to keep the hair I've got left in place. What I'd like to know from those involved in online security, is what the best VPN services are for performance and general security. Also, are any free ones worthy of consideration.

I mainly use my mobile, but I occasionally use Mobdro and a few other apps for free stuff. My brother, who uses Amazon Fire TV with Kodi and assorted apps will also be wanting to cloak, not sure how a VPN will work on that though, any ideas?

[Studley Ramrod]

There's a VPN specifically for Kodi apparently.

 

Anyhoos, being the admin in charge of all things IT I recently managed to lock myself out of Carpe after failing my login 3 times.    Sooooo, I installed Cyberghost and used that.  It worked as expected and allowed me to login as usual after giving me a temporary IP address. There are option on where you want to appear to live such as England/Germany etc and also Manchester/London etc  It also prevents dynamic pricing (wish I'd known that when booking my calais-dover ferry), doesn't keep any logs and lots of other tech stuff.  I used the free version which meant I had to wait a few mins in a queue to get onto it and I'd say it was also a bit slower using it than not using it.  You can subscribe to the full blown version and you don't suffer the above problems as a result.

[ChrisG]

I've been using Hola to do the same job as Studly's doing, allows me to get at BBC iPlayer from abroad by spoofing a UK address for free which is nice.

http://hola.org/

 

However there are some security issues with the free ones, and I've been thinking about getting a proper one so I can run my Raspberry Pi Kodi on one as well as well as overseas access.  This thread spurred me in to action and I discovered a lot of sites have "Cyber Monday" sales on at the moment, after reading a few reviews I've just signed up to PureVPN, works out at about £1/month but I can run up to 5 devices on the same login.  Currently browsing Carpe via a proxy in Bude, and Speedtest.net reckons I'm still getting over 100Mbps download so it's not limiting by bandwidth my much.

 

7 day moneyback option so if I can't get it working on OSMC on the Pi I'll get a refund.

Edited by ChrisG, 28 November 2016 - 10:13 pm.

[Favs]

As some of you will be aware, and everybody who uses thr Internet ought to be, the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 has been foisted on a largely ignorant public. It gives a myriad of government and other agencies the ability to request your ISP to provide them with your browsing history. 

 

Too right it has.

 

 

I had the joyous task of lecturing on this......

 

The RIP Act  introduced January 2000 IIRC and since amended, was commissioned much earlier and modified by that darling of the North, M.Thatcher, goes way further than just wanting to know what you've been up to.......in 1997 HMG were intercepting 2.5 million calls and texts per hour (Heathcote, P.M. ) - computing is way more powerful now..............

 

How about go to prison for up to 2 years without trial  as there is no 'burden of proof' reqd e.g. your failure to provide a key if you've used a PGP product and HMG wants to have a looksee. These are, of course, cited by HMG as extreme and unlikely cos if you have tried as hard as you can to provide the key then that's OK, as long as they don't bother saying why they suspect you,  (does trying hard to remember include removal of fingernails?) - yeah right - tried to get on google.com to read the news about scandalous activities?

 

VPN for all and have a see what Terrence is up to.............or sweeping under the carpet......or under six feet of dirt. 

 

I'm not saying HMG or the UK is the worst, but it is odd that the UK is in a very distinct minority in the developed world with RIP.

 

Waits for standard issue to kick in the door...........TTFN off to hide under the covers and sleep soundly in my nanny protected state until stabbed in the leg with a Polonium tipped (very expensive), umbrella     

[fixitsan]

Funny to think that snail mail is now a very good way to transmit and receive contentious data when compared to more modern alternatives ! (though no doubt mail interception takes place)

 

Last I heard was that GCHQ can rewind the internet by 3 days, and stores 30 days worth of metadata.

 

The Menwith Hill iistening station in North Yorkshire apparently for years  has diverted every international phone call made to/from the UK.....your internet connection over the phoneline falls into the same category too.

 

 

There's a lot of talk about this on a few forums I visit, and there are so many people saying "I have nothing to hide so let them do it" that it's worrying.....they think that they have a good point, but then when I mention that for 7/7, Paris, and Boston, in fact probably all recent terrorist acts that affect us, the security services say that  they had the terrorists under surveillance.....and yet the bombs still went off.....they sometimes have a little think about that.

Edited by fixitsan, 29 November 2016 - 08:12 am.

[ChrisG]

To be fair, they can make what laws they like but anyone who's worked on government IT projects will be able to tell you there is no way any government department is checking everyone's emails and search history. Yes they're probably able to snoop on a limited few people they're already interested in, but the government is 100% incapable of procuring and operating a system to do it for everyone. It would take to long to specify and have so many requirements that it would be hopelessly out of date by time it was brought in to service.

[fixitsan]

To be fair, they can make what laws they like but anyone who's worked on government IT projects will be able to tell you there is no way any government department is checking everyone's emails and search history. Yes they're probably able to snoop on a limited few people they're already interested in, but the government is 100% incapable of procuring and operating a system to do it for everyone. It would take to long to specify and have so many requirements that it would be hopelessly out of date by time it was brought in to service.

 

 

I think that's why GCHQ collect mainly metadata, IE the data about who talks to who, and the websites they visit. Only when they need more information do they start collecting the data within the traffic.

 

Operation Karma Police https://en.wikipedia...llance_program)

[muddy]

There's a lot of talk about this on a few forums I visit, and there are so many people saying "I have nothing to hide so let them do it" that it's worrying.....they think that they have a good point, but then when I mention that for 7/7, Paris, and Boston, in fact probably all recent terrorist acts that affect us, the security services say that  they had the terrorists under surveillance.....and yet the bombs still went off.....they sometimes have a little think about that.

I have never thought mass surveillance, or pre-crime snooping, was about preventing terrorism. It's a political tool that uses 'the war on terror' as a pretext for the state to intrusively inveigle itself into every aspect of our lives. It's Stasi 2.0, a technocratic means's to prevent subversive elements from rocking the globalist boat too much. That's a bit deep for these shores, but I think enough people now have a strong inkling of the soft totalitarianism enfolding us.

On reading what Chris wrote, I'd quickly add, that like TV detector vans and BBC license letters, a big element is scare tactics. As with the Stasi, who were way understaffed for the remit, it's about creating the perception that your whole life is being scrutinized. Though technology is bringing us far closer to that reality.

Edited by muddy, 29 November 2016 - 08:52 am.

[fixitsan]

I have never thought mass surveillance, or pre-crime snooping, was about preventing terrorism. It's a political tool that uses 'the war on terror' as a pretext for the state to intrusively inveigle itself into every aspect of our lives. It's Stasi 2.0, a technocratic means's to prevent subversive elements from rocking the globalist boat too much. That's a bit deep for these shores, but I think enough people now have a strong inkling of the soft totalitarianism enfolding us.

 

 

By and large I agree with you there.

 

Anti terrorism, 'catching the bad guys', as an excuse for mass surveillance is a clever way to fool those who think Hollywood tells it like it is !

[muddy]

Interestingly, and marvellously coincidentally, this amendment to a US hacking bill is purposed for December 1.

Right now, Rule 41 only authorizes federal magistrate judges to issue warrants to conduct searches in the judicial district where the magistrate is located, the EFF explained.
The new Rule 41 would for the first time authorize magistrates to issue warrants when technological means, like Tor or virtual private networks (VPNs), are obscuring the location of a computer. In these circumstances, the rule changes would authorize warrants to remotely access, search, seize, or copy data on computers, wherever in the world they are located.

Source: https://archive.is/XNiJM

[Studley Ramrod]

To be fair, they can make what laws they like but anyone who's worked on government IT projects will be able to tell you there is no way any government department is checking everyone's emails and search history. Yes they're probably able to snoop on a limited few people they're already interested in, but the government is 100% incapable of procuring and operating a system to do it for everyone. It would take to long to specify and have so many requirements that it would be hopelessly out of date by time it was brought in to service.

 

But if you look at the pace of technology, computers will soon be able to do this.  Then it'll be the inevitable slide to the bottom where anyone and everyone will have access to everything we say and do.  Much the same way as councils can look at your bank accounts, tax returns and credit/spending habits now.

[fixitsan]

Won't be looking long before the switch from cash to electronic money becomes compulsory and then not only do all your finances face scrutiny, non of the money needs to exist in reality. Stuff it in the mattress !

[TYREDNGRUMPEE]

Won't be looking long before the switch from cash to electronic money becomes compulsory and then not only do all your finances face scrutiny, non of the money needs to exist in reality. Stuff it in the mattress !

 

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Consider that I do have all mine stuffed in the mattress. Fuck the banks!

Then take a look at India now.

 

I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that our UK fivers are being changed into polymer format.

Tenners supposedly Summer next year and then Twenties sometime before 2020.

 

I don't intend making any serious purchases until I can lay my mitts on a ratty but solid narrowboat.

So my personal issue is this

I recognise that a polymer note is "super legal tender" as far as a note can be.

I also recognise that the "concept" of polymer is being fed to the punters.

I can see that for some odd reason, there are long periods between the issue of denominations, especially between tens and twenties.

What if....... what if, the BOE does an India in that intervening period between the tens and twenties?

What if that is the plan all along?

What if summat else forces the issue?

Now there are loads of resilient polymer tens and fives out there, but just for laughs, the BOE plays the fake news card and says "hey, twenties, criminals use you, you're not legal tender".

 

My money is under the mattress, but I'm still faced with the dilemma of how to recycle my notes, into kosher polymer at a rate the bank won't object to, while passing through the digital matrix.

It is a real concern and I do think it may be necessary to take the digital red pill now, so that I can withdraw some plastic legal tender folding later.

[ChrisG]

 

But if you look at the pace of technology, computers will soon be able to do this.  Then it'll be the inevitable slide to the bottom where anyone and everyone will have access to everything we say and do.  Much the same way as councils can look at your bank accounts, tax returns and credit/spending habits now.

 

Its not the technology, it's the procurement process.  Look at the NHS, Ministry of Justice, National Air Traffic Control, several military systems I can think of...  They take so long to agree a specification, and then include loads of needless specs that just complicate it, have a competition among suppliers and then award the contract to the company that put in the bid at a price it can't actually do it for.

 

Computers can already do the stuff*, it's the corporations you want to watch not the government, they're the ones who can implement it in time to actually have an impact.  Target's Pregnancy Index is an amusing example.

 

http://www.forbes.co...d/#149c3eb734c6

 I'd quickly add, that like TV detector vans and BBC license letters, a big element is scare tactics. As with the Stasi, who were way understaffed for the remit, it's about creating the perception that your whole life is being scrutinized. Though technology is bringing us far closer to that reality.

 

Especially as it was generally considered that detector vans capability was a myth when he had analog TV, with digital it's impossible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

* as an aside, I'm about to start training a neural net to recognise various objects by showing it 3D models and photos of them.  One of the categories is motorbike, but annoyingly turbosquid, the site I'm buying models from, only has a Mk2 TDM (in red) and not a Mk1 or a 900, and the Mk2 was a bit over my planned budget so I've had to go with a Ducati monster instead.

Edited by ChrisG, 29 November 2016 - 02:33 pm.

[fixitsan]

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
Consider that I do have all mine stuffed in the mattress. Fuck the banks!
Then take a look at India now.
 
I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that our UK fivers are being changed into polymer format.
Tenners supposedly Summer next year and then Twenties sometime before 2020.
 
I don't intend making any serious purchases until I can lay my mitts on a ratty but solid narrowboat.
So my personal issue is this
I recognise that a polymer note is "super legal tender" as far as a note can be.
I also recognise that the "concept" of polymer is being fed to the punters.
I can see that for some odd reason, there are long periods between the issue of denominations, especially between tens and twenties.
What if....... what if, the BOE does an India in that intervening period between the tens and twenties?
What if that is the plan all along?
What if summat else forces the issue?
Now there are loads of resilient polymer tens and fives out there, but just for laughs, the BOE plays the fake news card and says "hey, twenties, criminals use you, you're not legal tender".
 
My money is under the mattress, but I'm still faced with the dilemma of how to recycle my notes, into kosher polymer at a rate the bank won't object to, while passing through the digital matrix.
It is a real concern and I do think it may be necessary to take the digital red pill now, so that I can withdraw some plastic legal tender folding later.

Pretty sure the different denominations suffer vastly different rates of wear....hence the different renewal rates

[dandywarhol]

Great thread - just about getting my head around it all - I'm yer typical technophobe but learning......................

[fixitsan]

Great thread - just about getting my head around it all - I'm yer typical technophobe but learning......................

 

 

The bottom line is that the new law is actually the formalisation of practices which have been going on  for a very long time, without anybodies consent, and now that they've figured out how to perform the task of tracking everyone's online experience efficiently a law has been written around that....a sort of 'best practice' guide for spooks

[ChrisG]

Except what they've actually done is told Internet Service Providers that they need to keep a log of all their subscribers traffic for a year.  That's a lot of data and they'll need systems and processes in order to log and store it.  Guess who's going to pay for that...

[fixitsan]

Except what they've actually done is told Internet Service Providers that they need to keep a log of all their subscribers traffic for a year.  That's a lot of data and they'll need systems and processes in order to log and store it.  Guess who's going to pay for that...

And guess who'll profit (Seagate, HP etc)

Most ISPs were already saving at least 6 months of data as a voluntary conscession, and Google had saved years of data until they were told to (act as if they would) delete it.....because all of that data is valuable to marketers

[dmmsta]

Blockchain is one of the interesting ways forward.

 

It may not help with the snopping thing, but it certainly has some very real world applications as far as data security is concerned...

 

If you're interested this TED Talk is a good use of 20mins of your life!

 

As for VPN - I use PIA, but there are others.

 

Make sure that whatever you choose they have a "Warrant Canary" or a very specific reason (with backing evidence) as to why they don't.

Edited by dmmsta, 29 November 2016 - 10:37 pm.