People sharing copyrighted movies and music, as well as child porn and other illegal material through non anonymous peer to peer networks are doomed to be arrested.

The police has a big collection of child porn files product of their raids, they hash those seized files (hashing means creating a unique digital fingerprint) then they insert the hashes into some law enforcement only peer to peer custom software they have, they hook it up to Kazaa, Gnutella, and other peer to peer networks.

The police software searches for other files on the network that have the same hashing algorithm (digital fingerprint), if it matches it, then without even looking at the file the cops knows that user is sharing something illegal, now all they have to do is to log it, get the IP and apply for a warrant to search that person’s home.

One way to thwart this system is by retouching that unique file, for example editing a picture with a photo editor and slightly increasing or decreasing the brightness would convert that file into a “new one”, changing just one pixel could do it and still look the same to the human eye.

The police would now have to get their hands onto that illegal file before they can hash it and insert it into their software. Most of the child porn traded in peer to peer networks is old and chances are that the cops have already come accross it before, unless those pictures or videos are digital changed, the hashing algorithm remains the same.

Changing the name of a picture will not alter its unique digital signature! Only retouching it with an image editor will.

Fuzzy hashing

Some new developments in computer forensics allow for fuzzy hashing, there is already software to do this ssdeep is one such program.

Fuzzy hashing matches files whose hashes (digital fingerprint) are similar and slightly changed files will still be matched, although this is no perfect science, at least not yet, and if the file has changed a lot fuzzy hashing will miss it.

What is peer to peer network Perfect Dark?

Perfect dark is a Japanese peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing application for Microsoft Windows, its anonymity relies on a mixnet where traffic is forwarded according to a certain probability, as well as the deniability of the distributed datastore (“unity”), which is stored and transferred in encrypted blocks, with the keys distributed separately.

Perfect Dark peer to peer network

Kyoto’s High-Tech Crime Task Force arrests Perfect Dark user

According to AnimeNetworkOnline, Kyoto’s High-Tech Crime Task Force has arrested a man named Noriaki Matsumoto for allegedly uploading anime online, without the copyright holders’ permission. Matsumoto is only the second known person arrested for using Perfect Dark, a very porpular peer to peer network in Japan,  intended to maintain its users’ anonymity.

Kyoto police claims that the suspect admitted that he thought he would not get caught because he was using Perfect Dark. Unfortunately they do not reveal how they cracked the network.

Peer to peer networks designed for anonymity

In light of these news, I can’t reccomend any peer to peer network in particular, Freenet seems to be the most popular which means more content available, but it is also slow and you will need the Frost board (a newsgroup like communications board) to make it worthwhile.

Up to this date, nobody has ever been arrested using one of the P2P networks mentioned below but it does not mean they are safe, use them at your own risk.

Anyone sharing copyrighted music should at the very least use full disk encryption with Truecrypt and never leave the computer unatended, but people breaking the law normally don’t have a brain to bother about encryption.

Alternative  P2P networks for anonymous file sharing

Freenet & Frost (Message board for Freenet)

ANts

Mute

Gnunet

Anonymizing Network

i2P & eepSite (to create i2P sites)

(Do not confuse i2P with peer to peer software per se!)

I do not intend to change the content, FUCK YOU GOOGLE!

Fuck you Google!

I am therefore removing all of the Google Adsense advertising from this blog instead. I have also emailed Google Adsense support team asking them to review the case and they have not even bothered to reply, they obviously do not give a dime about small bloggers like myself.

Alternatives to Google Adsense

Amazon: I would not use them because many countries do not have a local Amazon outlet and it is only useful for those with USA traffic.

Adbrite: They work like Google Adsense but with much lower rates of payment. Adbrite only pays in USA dollars through check, a big inconvenient if you live abroad. Adbrite advertisements have very low standards and they accept clear scams of the kind “you have won a million dollars click here” as well as annoying advertisements with sound.

Clickbank: You get a lot of get rich quick programs, dodgy e-books etc. There are some quality products in the mix and commissions are very good.

BidVertiser: You get paid for every visitor that clicks on an ad, BidVertiser enables you to filter-out any unwanted ads. You get a point-and-click tool to help you customize the layout of the ads to fit your site’s look and feel.

ShareASale: Pay per sale, lead & PPC affiliate network, established in 2000. ShareASale has a strict “No Software” policy which means you will not have to deal with affiliates utilizing Adware, Toolbars, or other desktop software.

Online Advertising I am using now instead of Google Adsense

Commission Junction: A wide range of sponsors available, all of them with good banners and a clear explanation on how the program works. The affiliates interface is easy to use and you can get paid in Euros as well as USA dollars. You get paid per sale or lead, not clicks or views.

This probably gives an indication of what is to come once airport x-ray full body scanners have been deployed everywhere.

One easy way people could take images of hot women while they pass x-ray full body scanners is by using a mobile phone or tiny spy camera to take a photograph of the screen showing the scanned images and then upload them to Usenet to share with others.

It is now clear you can revert the scan and get the full naked images of the hot sexy girls with very little effort. You will need a simple image editor for this.

Original full body x-ray image of sexy girl:

Airport x-ray full body scanner naked woman

To achieve the effect below with Photoshop you will need to go to “Image>Adjustments>Invert”. Alternatively click on shortcut CTRL+I.

At other image editing software look for a function called “Invert”.

Reverted airport X-ray scanner sexy woman naked

Your airport x-ray scanner porn is nearly ready, now just apply some additional image editor filters, tweak the brightness and contrast, and you will get the result below.

Reverted airport X-ray scanner sexy woman naked

Anyone who comes across x-ray full body scanner images of children could also manufacture naked images of real children, but this is not advised as it would most likely be illegal.

How long for do social network sites and email companies keep logs and what data is included on them?

That is something that most of them will keep secret from you and do not relase to the public domain, at the same time you will be forced to sign an abusive agreement written in giverish, giving them the power to retain your personal data (username, IP logs,timestamps,anything) for as long as they want and share it with law enforcement if requested to do so.

The FBI is watching you

Facebook, Paypal, Microsoft, Myspace and other law enforcement data compliance guides have now been leaked and posted at Cryptome.

Microsoft even attempted some of their bully boy tactics and issued a DMCA take down notice against Cryptome for posting their Global Criminal Compliance Handbook.

Microsoft seems far too worried that you may find out that Hotmail keeps yougs of your IP for 60 days or that they have a law enforcement hotline for emergency data requests. Something they should make clear to any user signing up for their services anyway.

If you want to know what data does Windows Live Messenger stores in Microsoft servers, How long does Facebook and MySpace keeps your IP logs, and the kind of logs that Paypal and Ebay keep, then download the guides below from Cryptome website.

Microsoft Global Criminal Spy Guide:
http://cryptome.org//isp-spy/microsoft-spy.zip

Ebay-PayPal Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/ebay-paypal-spy.pdf

MySpace Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/myspace-spy.pdf

Comcast Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/comcast-spy.pdf

Facebook Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/facebook-spy.pdf

AOL Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/aol-spy.pdf

Skype Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/skype-spy.pdf

Cox Communications Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/cox-spy.pdf

Stickam Law Enforcement Guide:
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/stickam-spy.pdf

Cryptome is also a great resource for anyone interested in privacy, I highly recomend it, and if you want to support their work you can buy from their website two DVDs containing the full website archive.

I would have a higher regard for the people enforcing the law if they learned to respect people’s dignity and right to privacy in the first place.

For those who do not know, the RSA Conference is a meeting of information security professionals from around the world to debate, network and learn about computer security.

I just downloaded and registered it and so far so good, it works fine with Windows Vista 64 bit. East-Tec Eraser is last year’s version of this software but still has lots of great features. It can clean your Windows registry, email software, Windows OS unwanted backups and page file, cookies, history, and a long etc.

East-Tec Eraser 2009 is highly configurable and it has a wide range of wiping methods.

Eas-Tec Eraser 2009 wiping software

Note: Do not fool yourself! East-Tec Eraser does a great job making life difficult for anyone trying to recover data from your computer. But if your life is at stake, use full disk encryption (Truecrypt)! Sometimes only a single picture or a single document is necessary to ruin your life for ever.

Free East-Tec Eraser 2009 (link valid until 31st January 2010):
http://www.east-tec.com/offers/softpedia/2009/eraser/register.htm (Offer gone!)

Late readers: get Eraser (Freeware):
http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

Richard Schaefer, NSA Information Assurance Director quoted

“Working in partnership with Microsoft and elements of the DoD, NSA leveraged our unique expertise and operational knowledge of system threats and vulnerabilities to enhance Microsoft’s operating system security guide without constraining the user’s ability to perform their everyday tasks”

PRIVACY WARNING: Before visiting the NSA website use a proxy!

Full testimony: http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/speeches_testimonies/17nov09_schaeffer.shtml

spooks spying on innocent citizens

Protection against possible NSA backdoors on Windows 7

If you are a Windows 7 user you will want to protect your life, wife and kids from outside interference, but this will be extremely hard now that it is known the NSA had access to Windows 7 before you.

The obvious advice is that you should not use Windows 7 at all, but if you must, at the very least try to stop any possible NSA malware with open source security software:

• Do not use the Windows 7 firewall get some old computer and install a free open source firewall based on FreeBSD such as M0n0wall

• Do not use Microsoft Windows Defender get a free open source antivirus such as ClamWin

• Watch what data packets are being sent out and where, download a free packet sniffer such as Wireshark

• Visit the Open source as alternative website and grab your alternative open source software to any Windows 7 applet

UK child pornography law at odds with digital strip searching of kids

Since producing a naked image or pseudoimage of a child is illegal and they have no written parental consent for scanning children(i.e. taking a naked image), the only problem Manchester airport is facing right now is that their full body scanners probably contravene UK child porn law. The scanners have been banned for use on children until this is clarified.

The technology has already been trialled at Heathrow airport as well and if successful it could be rolled out across Britain.

Full body x-ray scanner

The technology behind backscatter x-ray

Backscatter X-ray is a new imaging system which detects the radiation which comes back from the target, A “high energy x-ray beam” moves rapidly over the person’s form and a high resolution image of the person’s nude body is constructed when the scattered x-ray “from a known position” is detected. The images produced by the scan also show breast enlargements and piercings.

The USA following Brits ideas

The US has already taken delivery of x-ray machines from the same company, Rapiscan Systems, there are 23 airports in the United States – with 40 machines collectively – which are also running tests, but it is not clear about which airports they are placed at.

Will airport staff be able to resist this full body scan?

FAKED SCAN (illustration purposes)

The device was originally intended to be used by American warships but it is now being used for crowd control by the US Government. These devices are also currently used at Camp Bucca, Iraq, and are being tested in regions of Baghdad, Fallujah, along with other regions of Iraq.

According to the magazine Foreign Policy LRADs have been sold to the government of the People’s Republic of China, even thought American companies can not sell weapons to China since the Tiananmen Square massacre.

WARNING: You can hear the Long Range Acoustic Device on this video, this will not be pleasant!