Approaching Utopia

Author: Approaching Utopia Staff

  • It turns out sustainability *is* cheaper.

    Approaching Utopia Newsletter 1.2

    Two US electric utilities have promised to go 100% carbon-free—and admit it’s cheaper.

    This is a fantastic sign for the future. Finally, sustainability is taking priority and the capitalists are starting to be convinced.
    Filed under “This is why we can’t have nice things”.

    Bad people ruined another good thing, and now DerbyCon is ending.

    The toxicity in tech circles never ceases to amaze me.
    I am not even close to mastering all 28 of these tips, but I’ve been thinking about them a lot since I first read them.

    Which was in 2016.

    So, that should say a lot about this post.

  • Sadvent Calendar

    Launching December 1st, 2018.

    Sign up now.

  • We have been shadow banned from GOPUSA.com

    We will be using doNOTlink.it to link to the page as to not give them any “link juice”, as well as protect your identity when you view their pages.

    GOPUSA.com says they believe in free speech.

    We discovered their site through a HackerNews link on Mastodon that shared an article of theirs, “Google’s ‘Good Censor’ Document: The End of Free Speech as We Know It?”. In the article they state complaints such as:

    Apparently, Google and companies like Facebook and Twitter feel that it is their job to tell you what you should or should not believe and what you should or should not read.

    Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo in 2017 wrote, “[Twitter is] the free speech wing of the free speech party.”…I guess all those conservatives who were shadow banned and who continue to have their content limited didn’t get Costolo’s memo.

    And other comments, such as:

    Free speech should always be celebrated, and we’ve all come to realize through documented examples that when Google or Facebook or Twitter talks about removing “harmful content” from its platform, what that really means is removing or limiting conservative content…As freedom-loving Americans, we must continue to point out the obvious bias in these social media platforms.

    But it seems that GOPUSA.com is interested in removing and limiting non-conservative content.

    Though not a social media platform, GOPUSA.com’s About page says:

    GOPUSA strives to educate, enlighten, and engage conservatives through a host of features and services including news, online discussions, commentary, and information.
    We strive to be the first source Republicans and conservatives turn to for news and information, both at the state and national levels.
    All content, products, and services delivered by GOPUSA reflect our dedication to professionalism, quality, and innovation.

    Really, though?

    Our Comment Content

    We were fairly courteous and respectful in most of our comments. Most of our comments called for fair looks at both sides. We provided commentary on joining the left and the right for a better America.

    Their commentors weren’t interested, and apparently neither are they.

    Their site exists for one thing and one thing only: to hate on the left.

    They are not interested in making America better. They’re interested in politics as a spectator sport. They want their team to win, no matter what.

    How we know we were Shadow Banned

    First, it started off as a new registered user that we had to wait for our comments to be approved. No problem, and totally understandable! Don’t want spam or any actually toxic crap coming through. We agree with the stance of moderating comments.

    After we posted a few comments that waited to be moderated, we were approved enough that we could post w/out need for moderation. We did this for a day or so.

    After that, we were back in the moderation queue. It was probably because they posted an article about all the violence from the left, without mentioning any of the right, and we provided a short list of reported violence from the right. They didn’t like that, presumably because they’re only interested in showing one side, their side, to every story.

    At this point we thought “You know what, they stand true to their principals. They have been letting us post stuff that clearly clashes with their world view, and we’ve been polite, so…they truly do believe in free speech.”

    We decided to leave a comment, back on that original Google censorship article, commending them on this.

    But our comment didn’t go through. It didn’t get held for moderation. It just…disappeared. The page refreshed and the comment never appeared.

    So, we tried another browser. Same thing.

    We tried a third browser. Same thing. We can log in. We can see our old comments, change our profile information, and do everything else a user can…except comment.

    Not even held for moderation. They just disappear.

    So much for being defenders of the right to free speech.

    That’s it. Freedom of speech has died with the hypocrisy of GOPUSA.com.

    Side Notes:

    • They’re also running an outdated theme and an outdated version of WordPress, which mean there are various security flaws in their site and most likely outdated plugins which also contain security holes. We reached out to have one of our experts help them out, but they didn’t respond.
    • The commentors weren’t much better. They complained about how Google, Facebook, and Twitter are “liberal bias media” (as they perceive it), but were unwilling to make any changes to their habits of using said platforms.
      They don’t actually care about what they say they are fighting for if it means doing any small amount of research finding alternatives and learning something out of their comfort zone.
  • Is ProtonMail Trustworthy?

    Is ProtonMail Trustworthy?

    Today I was reading an article about a hacker kid who made fake bomb threats and ran a DDoS-for-hire group that attacked protonmail servers at least once. They were also ProtonMail users.

    The Problem

    It turns out ProtonMail, my encrypted mail service of choice (and vpn) colluded w/ government(s) to catch him.

    ProtonMail got angry because he was fsking with them, too.

    I’m all for them going after anyone who messes w/ them, but I’m not sure how I feel about working with government(s) to do it, especially considering it seems like they handed over some information related to what they knew about him.

    So, I sent ProtonMail an email:

    Hey there I was just reading an article about how ProtonMail helped catch some hacker that was causing trouble. The article mentioned that ProtonMail said

    “Our mission is to bring privacy, security, and freedom of information to citizens around the world. However, this does not extend to protecting individuals who are engaged in criminal activities. That’s why we will investigate to the fullest extent possible anyone who attacks ProtonMail or uses our platform for crime. We will also cooperate with law enforcement agencies within the framework of Swiss law.”

    I’m concerned about the bit about “crime”. I don’t plan on committing any crimes, but my concern is not now but the future. What happens if an unjust law is instated in the U.S.A.? With the way things have been going it concerns me that some day something as innocuous as simply attending a protest could become a crime.

    How do I know ProtonMail will have my best interests at heart if a government instates unjust laws?

    Thanks for your time.

    What We Found

    Our friend and freaquent collaborator J did some digging.

    I actually went back through ProtonMail’s privacy policy a few times. They straight up say in there if you are EFFing with them, they will take you out. This dude was. They also have a WARRANT CANARY page where they put up what info they can about how they react. There are several cases where they have colluded, others where they haven’t. Case-by-case international law crap. Sheesh…

    >> ProtonMail transparency report <<

    Here were some of his favorite excerpts:

    In August 2017, we received a request for assistance from the government of Turkey that was passed to us through the Swiss Federal Police. We rejected the request on account of the Turkish government’s human rights record and will take the case to Swiss courts if the Turkish government files for an international proceeding.

    In January 2018, we received two requests for assistance from US law enforcement, regarding bomb threats made with ProtonMail. We rendered assistance to Swiss law enforcement working on this case without having yet received a court order, but with the understanding that an approved court was on its way to us. Update: The court order was indeed received soon after we rendered assistance

    In March 2018, we received a police request from Austria involving a politician who was accused of sexual harassment. The authorities are trying to identify the person who reported the accusation. Since the person who made the report is likely entitled to certain privacy protections, we have rejected the request even though it was approved by a Swiss court, and have requested that the Geneva prosecutor’s office review the facts of the case again and provide Proton legal with additional information.

    J also outlined each one for simplicity while we analyze:

    1. [some government] wants info, PM don’t like their [history] and said “No.” They will go to court if needed.
    2. [some government] wants info, went to Swiss law enforcement first. PM said “Yes.” even before a court order was in place.
    3. [some government] wants info, went to Swiss law enforcement first. PM said “No.” even though court said to do it.

    The ProtonMail Privacy Policy says:

    IP Logging: By default, ProtonMail does not keep permanent IP logs. We also don’t record your login IP address unless this feature is specifically enabled by the user. However, IP logs are sometimes kept to combat abuse and fraud, and your IP address may be retained if you are engaged in activities that breach our terms and conditions (spamming, DDoS attacks against ProtonMail infrastructure, brute force attacks, etc).

    …and…

    The Company is domiciled in Switzerland and all data storage infrastructure is also located solely within Switzerland, and thus governed by the laws and regulations of Switzerland.

    At least we know they acted within accordance of their privacy policy. We can’t say they caught us by surprise here. It’s in the policy. They did not betray anyone, so to speak.

    But, something still doesn’t feel right.

    If you have an account with ProtonMail, they can’t see your email content. It’s encrypted client-side. However, J pointed out that they could just delete your account.

    Like I said in the email, I’m not concerned w/ right now but I am concerned with the possible future. Where is the line drawn? And is it drawn clearly?

    J pointed out:

    Looking at their warrant canary page, it is super fuzzy!

    I mean, what happens if sending encrypted email becomes illegal in the US?

    They have _some_ IP logs (although not permanent). Would they give those up?

    Like a digital prohibition.

    Opinions

    These are scary times, which is why I’ve been working on decentralizing and encrypting everything I can.

    I just don’t trust where this is all headed, and I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

    I will update if/when I hear back from ProtonMail.

    Update:

    Here’s the canned response I got from ProtonMail:

    Please note that all user data is protected by the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act (DPA) and the Swiss Federal Data Protection Ordinance (DPO) which offers some of the strongest privacy protection in the world for both individuals and corporations. As ProtonMail is outside of US and EU jurisdiction, only a court order from the Cantonal Court of Geneva or the Swiss Federal Supreme Court can compel us to release the extremely limited user information we have.

    You can find read a more detailed explanation in the following article: https://protonmail.com/blog/switzerland/.

    Our Verdict:

    For now, ProtonMail is fine as long as you don’t fsck with them yourself. If you do, you probably deserve whatever you get.