[clug] Wickr and previous privacy discussion

[Kim Holburn]

On 2015/Mar/20, at 9:43 AM, jm wrote:

> Let me try that again I meant to hit spell and hit send instead :-(. Not
> enough caffeine this morning or too much?
> 
> On 20/03/2015 2:01 am, James Ring wrote:
>> On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 9:33 PM, Hal Ashburner <hal at ashburner.info> wrote:
>>> I use TextSecure and recommend using it as the default sms app on
>>> Android. I recommend my ios using friends use signal, which is the
>>> compatible ios app.
>> Does this actually protect you against metadata collection? Sure
>> message content is scrambled, but not the headers.
>> 
>> 
> 
> Yes, what you're trying to protect against is traffic analysis. The only
> way to do this is to have a messaging app that will send random messages
> to random users to cloud the waters.

That would be one way but not necessarily the best way.  Another way would be to use a VPN, and have your calls and texts come out somewhere else.  This is how the Blackphone does it.  Of course you have to trust the VPN provider.  Not only no metadata, but only data charges.

> This would have to be don't in a
> manner which would remove statistically meaningful information from
> distribution of messages send and received by users of the system, ie
> flatten the distribution curves for user-to-user messaging. This would
> be easier to do when combined with onion routing across multiple
> separate legal jurisdictions and entities.
> 
> Jeff.

-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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