HTTPS Everywhere | Electronic Frontier Foundation

HTTPS Everywhere is produced as a collaboration between The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Many sites on the web offer some limited support for encryption over HTTPS, but make it difficult to use. For instance, they may default to unencrypted HTTP, or fill encrypted pages with links that go back to the unencrypted site. The HTTPS Everywhere extension fixes these problems by using a clever technology to rewrite requests to these sites to HTTPS.

Information about how to access the project's Git repository and get involved in development is here.

Webmasters and prospective contributors: Check the HTTPS Everywhere Atlas to quickly see how existing HTTPS Everywhere rules affect sites you care about!

Sadly, many sites still include a lot of content from third party domains that is not available over HTTPS. As always, if the browser's lock icon is broken or carries an exclamation mark, you may remain vulnerable to some adversaries that use active attacks or traffic analysis. However, the effort that would be required to eavesdrop on your browsing should still be usefully increased. Update: in recent versions of Firefox, Mozilla has removed the broken padlock indicator. Now, the only difference between a secure and insecure HTTPS deployment is the blue or green tint on the left of the address bar for secure deployments

Answers to common questions may be on the frequently asked questions page.

HTTPS Everywhere can protect you only when you're using sites that support HTTPS and for which HTTPS Everywhere include a ruleset. If sites you use don't support HTTPS, ask the site operators to add it; only the site operator is able to enable HTTPS. There is more information and instruction on how server operators can do that in the EFF article How to Deploy HTTPS Correctly.

Webmasters and prospective contributors: Check the HTTPS Everywhere Atlas to quickly see how existing HTTPS Everywhere rules affect sites you care about!

You can help us test forthcoming site support and new features by installing the development branch of the extension. HTTPS Everywhere uses small ruleset files to define which domains are redirected to https, and how. If you'd like to write your own ruleset, you can find out how to do that here. Information about how to access the project's Git repository and get involved in development is here. Send feedback on this project to the https-everywhere AT eff.org mailing list. Note that this is a public and publicly-archived mailing list. You can also subscribe. Send new rewrite rules or fixes to existing rewrite rules to the https-everywhere-rules AT eff.org mailing list. Note that this is a public and publicly-archived mailing list. You can also subscribe.

Our code is partially based on the STS implementation from the groundbreaking NoScript project (there are other STS implementations out there, too). HTTPS Everywhere aims to have a simpler user experience than NoScript, and to support complex rewriting rules that allow services like Google Search and Wikipedia to be redirected to HTTPS without breaking anything. It also handles situations like https:// pages that redirect back to http:// in a reasonable manner. In an ideal world, every web request could be defaulted to HTTPS. Unfortunately, there's no way to know that what you get from requesting https://www.domain.com/page is the same as what you get from requesting http://www.domain.com/page. So the only way to switch every page to https is to fetch the page insecurely first. There is a Chrome extension called KB SSL Enforcer which attempts to take that approach, but it does not appear to be implemented securely; when we tested it, it seemed to always use http before https, which means that your surfing habits and authentication cookies are not protected (this may be a limitation of the Chrome Extensions framework).

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HTTPS Everywhere | Electronic Frontier Foundation

WhatsApp adds end-to-end encryption using TextSecure

WhatsApps new encryption feature will soon support group chat and media messages. Photograph: LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images

More than 600 million WhatsApp users are about to benefit from default end-to-end encryption, which should prevent any snoops spying on their communications.

The security boost comes after the Facebook-owned messaging provider contracted Open Whisper Systems, the creator of the TextSecure encrypted text app, to incorporate its technology into WhatsApp.

The new feature is currently only available in the Android version of WhatsApp, but Open Whisper Systems co-founder Moxie Marlinspike confirmed to the Guardian an iOS alternative was in the works. There will soon be support for encrypted messaging for group chat and media messages, too.

Systems that use end-to-end encryption are hard to break because the key that unscrambles communicationsis only stored on users phones. In previous versions of WhatsApp, those keys were also stored by servers as well as users phones, giving Facebook or WhatsApp admins access to messages.

The TextSecure encryption protocol is particularly strong as it uses a form of whats known as forward secrecy, which means a fresh key is created for every message sent.

In a blog post, the Open Whisper Systems team said the WhatsApp project represents the largest deployment of end-to-end encrypted communication in history.

The only other comparable service deployed on such a massive scale is Apples iMessage, which has one notable weakness, in that many people back up messages to Apples iCloud service, where data isnt protected as efficiently.

Though it has just created a rival, Open Whisper Systems will continues to work on its own products, which include RedPhone for Android for encrypted voice communications and the iOS Signal apps that do protected calls and messaging.

Marlinspike and his colleagues want to make encryption the default on all devices. Were more excited about our own apps than ever. Well continue to use TextSecure as a place to advance the state of the art, and hopefully incorporate those gains into third-party products as they progress, like weve done here, he said.

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WhatsApp adds end-to-end encryption using TextSecure

All Things Open 2014 | Karen Sandler | Trademarks and Your Free and Open Source Software Project – Video


All Things Open 2014 | Karen Sandler | Trademarks and Your Free and Open Source Software Project
All Things Open 2014 - Day 1 Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014 Karen Sandler CEO of Software Freedom Conservancy Business Trademarks and Your Free and Open Source Software Project.

By: All Things Open

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All Things Open 2014 | Karen Sandler | Trademarks and Your Free and Open Source Software Project - Video

Is Your Cloud Open by Design, and Open for Business?

While the official attendance is not in yet for the OpenStack Design Summit Paris, the final figure will likely be near 5,000 with representatives from 60 nations.

During his keynote speech, OpenStack Foundation COO Mark Colliersaid attendance was very impressive growth for an open source software community that is only four years old. What fuels all this interest? Is it just a group of software programmers getting their geek on? Whats driving all the rapid growth of engagement and deployment of OpenStack-based cloud solutions? Whats the business value of open cloud technologies?

When an enterprise CIO initially embarks on starting to move an organizations computing processes to the cloud, he or she is likely to begin with a focus on cost reduction. Early messages about the value of Cloud were about the ability to cut costs. However, many early cloud solutions were extensions of proprietary, vendor-specific solutions with closed architectures. At the same time, there was a lot of debate about whether a Public vs. Private cloud was the best way to begin developing your cloud solution approach. I addressed these issues in a prior blog post herein Wired.

Increasingly, the CIO and senior IT leaders have come to understand that its more important to consider the near-term business implications of their cloud strategy, even as they continue to evolve their existing cloud architecture to drive greater value from their current IT infrastructure. They need to understand the strategic implications of selecting their cloud vendor/provider(s), so they can balance the short- and long-term requirements and obtain greater flexibility without locking their organization into a technology straitjacket.

What are the elements of truly open cloud architecture? It has to be a multi-faceted approach to ensure that you dont simply check the open box and miss the point. The fundamental elements of an open cloud architecture are:

By ensuring that your cloud strategy incorporates most of all three of these elements of an open cloud platform, you canbe sure that you are not building a dead-end cloudinfrastructure.

OK, that was a focus on the technology, but what are the net benefits to your organizations bottom line?

Open cloud technologies are not simply important for the CIO and their IT departments. Open cloud technologies provide tangible value to their business. Some of the key areas of value are:

To learn more, visit ibm.com/cloud or join the conversation at #ibmcloud.

Jeff Borek is Worldwide Program Director for Cloud Computing at IBM. You can follow him @jeffborek

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Purism Librem 15 Linux laptop blends high-end hardware with totally free software

Exploring Linux, Chrome OS, and beyond.

We dont normally cover crowdfunding campaigns on PCWorld, but sometimes one comes along thats just begging for a deeper look. The Purism Librem 15 notebook is one of those.

Purism, which launched a drive on Crowd Supply on Wednesday, is seeking at least $250,000 to make a high-end Linux laptop that only runs free, or open-source, software. This means no annoying closed-source driversor binary blobsnecessary to make the hardware work. Make no mistakethis is a serious, slick Linux notebook, not a bit of kit for hobbyist hackers.

Linux laptops can be hard to find. Even harder to find are Linux laptops where the hardware works perfectly well with free software. Even Linux laptops that look nice and slick might have closed-source binary blob drivers running in the Linux kernel.

Enter the Librem 15, which claims to be the first laptop in the world that ships without mystery software in the kernel, operating system, or any software applications. This claim may be a bit overblownwere sureRichard Stallman and his Leemote YeeLoong would disagreebut it certainly does look like an awesome, high-end laptop that blows systems like the Leemote out of the water.

Purism claims the laptops hardware has been meticulously designed chip by chip to work with free and open source software, saying its the first laptop to reinstate your rights to freedom and privacy. Marketing the privacy angle is probably a smart move in this post-Snowden world, but this campaign may be just as exciting for any Linux user or developer looking for a solid piece of well-supported hardware that doesnt require potentially unreliable closed-source drivers.

The system will ship with the Purism GNU/Linux Operating System, a Linux distribution based on Trisquel. Trisquel is Ubuntu-based, but includes only free software. If you prefer another Linux distribution, it should be trivial to switch.

Theyre not lying when they say they want to make high-end hardware, either. The Librem 15 includes a 15.6-inch 1920x1080 display, an 8-core 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA graphics, 4 or 8 GB of RAM, Wi-Fi, a 720p webcam, and all the other goodies youd expect in a high-end laptopincluding a brushed metal exterior. The price is high-end too, with the cheapest retail configuration starting at $1899, or $1499 if you commit to buying it during the crowdfunding campaign.

Price and configuration options for the Purism Librem 15.

Purism says theyve put together final prototypes, and now theyre seeking $250,000 to make it a reality.

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Purism Librem 15 Linux laptop blends high-end hardware with totally free software

Julian Assange embassy exile inspires BBC comedy | Media …

Julian Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadors Lond embassy in June 2012. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Julian Assanges two-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy has inspired a new BBC4 comedy called Asylum.

Created by Fonejacker star Kayvan Novak and producer Tom Thostrup, according to the BBC Asylum is a satirical comedy about a government whistleblower and a millionaire internet entrepreneur trapped together in a London embassy.

Assange sought political asylum in the embassy in June 2012 to avoid a perceived threat of extradition to the US for publishing military secrets. Swedish prosecutors want to question him about allegations of rape and sexual molestation, although he has not yet been charged.

Asylum will air early next year and is being made by 2LE, the independent production company behind prank E4 show The Work Experience.

Written by Thom Phipps and Peter Bowden, the comedy is part of a BBC season next year called Taking Liberties, celebrating 800 years of the Magna Carta and exploring democracy in the run-up to the general election.

The season will begin on 5 January with a four-part Radio 4 series on the Magna Carta, presented by Melvyn Bragg.

Other highlights include a day of live events under the title Democracy Day on 20 January the 750th anniversary of Englands first parliament plus a four-part BBC2 series by acclaimed political documentary-maker Michael Cockerell called Inside the Commons, in which he gets unique access to the inner workings of the institution, from clerks to MPs.

BBC3s contributions include Magna Carta 2.0, a documentary packed full of stunts, fun and comedy from The Revolution Will Be Televised comedian Jolyon Rubenstein.

To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly for publication.

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Pussy Riot members join whistleblower foundation backed by Julian Assange

Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokkonikova said they found they had 'more in common than we expected' with Julian Assange. Photograph: Chris Williamson/Getty Images

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, two members of the Pussy Riot collective, have agreed to sit on the advisory board of an international whistleblower organisation of which Julian Assange is a trustee, after meeting the WikiLeaks founder at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The two women, who were imprisoned in Russia for protesting against Vladimir Putin and who are currently touring the UK, told reporters outside the embassy on Tuesday that they found they had more in common than we expected with Assange. The Australian has not left the embassy since June 2012 after seeking political asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden to face accusations of sexual assault.

Assange had asked them to join the advisory board of the Courage Foundation, alongside the philosopher Slavoj iek, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and others, and they had accepted, the two women said. The organisation, of which Assange is one of three trustees, raises funds for the legal defence of whistleblowers around the world, including Edward Snowden.

Asked if there was any contradiction in members of a feminist collective pledging their support for a man who is wanted over sexual assault allegations, Tolokonnikova, speaking through a translator, said: We did not review this charge that has been directed at him. We do not think it is in relation to the things that he is doing right now.

We also try to see the direction of ones intentions in the future, what he is trying to do and is doing right now, added Alyokhina. Assanges legal team maintain that he has not been charged with any offence.

The women are in Britain to promote their campaign for prison reform in Russia, and an alternative news agency website called Mediazona, both of which they founded following their release from prison last December after 21 months in jail.

Alyokhina said they and Assange had a huge amount of things in common, particularly in relation to the Chelsea Manning case, which they considered one of the most important cases in todays world.

The handful of news organisations invited to cover their visit to the embassy did not include RT, the Russian Kremlin-backed broadcaster which hosted Assanges chatshow The World Tomorrow, which normally follows the Australians movements closely. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have been outspoken in their criticism of the channel during their visit, dismissing it as a source of pro-Putin propaganda and saying: Some people on the left regard it as an alternative source of media but leftists in the west should realise its in no way a leftist channel.

They had raised the question of RT with Assange, said Alyokhina, and obviously we disagree with Julian Assange on the RT issue, but it is enough that we definitely agree with each other on the most basic and important things.

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Pussy Riot members join whistleblower foundation backed by Julian Assange

Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Silk Road Bitcoin Auction and Scotcoin Migration to Counterparty

The price of bitcoin has dipped back below $400 following its remarkable surge last week.(IBTimes UK)

The price of bitcoin has dropped again slightly over the last 24 hours, making last week's surge look increasingly like a spike.

Most other major cryptocurrencies have seen a similar decline, with litecoin, dogecoin, and namecoin all falling by between 2% and 3%.

The worst hit of the big players was darkcoin, which fell by around 12% since yesterday. The anonymity-focussed cryptocurrency now has a market cap of less than $12 million having risen to almost $15m last week.

The US Marshals Service (USMS) is to auction a further 50,000 bitcoins seized from Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of the Silk Road online black marketplace.

It follows a similar auction of 30,000 bitcoins in June, from an estimated pot of 140,000 bitcoins - worth around $54 million at today's prices.

"On January 27, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of New York entered a Stipulation and Order for Interlocutory Sale of Bitcoins," the USMS announced.

"In this order, both the United States and Ross William Ulbricht agreed that 'the United States, in its sole discretion, may sell any portion or all of these bitcoins, on a date or dates and in a manner to be determined by the government.'"

The auction will take place on 4 December between 8am and 2pm EST, with any bidders required to register by midday on the 1 December.

Scotcoin, the unofficial national cryptocurrency of Scotland, has taken a major step forward in its development by migrating to the Counterparty.io solution.

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Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Silk Road Bitcoin Auction and Scotcoin Migration to Counterparty

Russell Brand, Oliver Stone, Other Celebs Co-Sign Statement in Support of Snowden

A few A-list actors, artists, and celebrities have joined together with Nobel laureates to co-sign a statement in support of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. Two names worth highlighting here are Oliver Stone, who is currently making a movie about Snowden, and Russell Brand, an actor-turned-revolutionary of sorts whos been speaking out on politics more and more this year.

The statement, from the Courage Foundation, shows strong support for whistleblowers like Snowden, who risk their lives and careers to stand up for truth and justice. The statement also singles out Daniel Ellsberg, the man behind the infamous Pentagon Papers, and the website Wikileaks; in the case of the latter for its fearless dedication in defending these sources and publishing their truths.

Musician Tom Morello and clothing designer Vivienne Westwood also put out statements of their own in support of these whistleblowers.

And heres a partial list of other people who co-signed the statement:

[image via screengrabs]

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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Russell Brand, Oliver Stone, Other Celebs Co-Sign Statement in Support of Snowden