Okey, I know this is a bit beside the typical scope of this community. However sometimes it's nice to take a step back, zoom out and reflect on why preserving and creating our privacy matters. This video certainly gave me a different perspective on some things, and I hope you will find it useful too.

This post contains a canary message that's cryptographically signed by the official BusKill PGP release key

The BusKill project just published their Warrant Canary #009

For more information about BusKill canaries, see:

• https://buskill.in/canary

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Status: All good
Release: 2025-01-14
Period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-06-01
Expiry: 2025-06-30

Statements
==========

The BusKill Team who have digitally signed this file [1]
state the following:

1. The date of issue of this canary is January 14, 2025.

2. The current BusKill Signing Key (2020.07) is

   E0AF FF57 DC00 FBE0 5635  8761 4AE2 1E19 36CE 786A

3. We positively confirm, to the best of our knowledge, that the 
   integrity of our systems are sound: all our infrastructure is in our 
   control, we have not been compromised or suffered a data breach, we 
   have not disclosed any private keys, we have not introduced any 
   backdoors, and we have not been forced to modify our system to allow 
   access or information leakage to a third party in any way.

4. We plan to publish the next of these canary statements before the
   Expiry date listed above. Special note should be taken if no new
   canary is published by that time or if the list of statements changes
   without plausible explanation.

Special announcements
=====================

None.

Disclaimers and notes
=====================

This canary scheme is not infallible. Although signing the 
declaration makes it very difficult for a third party to produce 
arbitrary declarations, it does not prevent them from using force or 
other means, like blackmail or compromising the signers' laptops, to 
coerce us to produce false declarations.

The news feeds quoted below (Proof of freshness) serves to 
demonstrate that this canary could not have been created prior to the 
date stated. It shows that a series of canaries was not created in 
advance.

This declaration is merely a best effort and is provided without any 
guarantee or warranty. It is not legally binding in any way to 
anybody. None of the signers should be ever held legally responsible 
for any of the statements made here.

Proof of freshness
==================

14 Jan 25 01:01:33 UTC

Source: DER SPIEGEL - International (https://www.spiegel.de/international/index.rss)
A Miracle? Pope Francis Helps Transsexual Prostitutes in Rome
Boost for the Right Wing: Why Did a German Newspaper Help Elon Musk Interfere in German Politics?

Source: NYT > World News (https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/World.xml)
What an Upended Mideast Means for Trump and U.S. Gulf Allies
Russia and Ukraine Battle Inside Kursk, With Waves of Tanks, Drones and North Koreans

Source: BBC News - World (https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml)
Gaza ceasefire deal being finalised, Palestinian official tells BBC
Watch: Moment man is saved from burning LA home

Source: Bitcoin Blockchain (https://blockchain.info/q/latesthash)
0000000000000000000042db9e17f012dcd01f3425aa403e29c28c0dc1d16470

Footnotes
=========

[1] https://docs.buskill.in/buskill-app/en/stable/security/pgpkeys.html

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To view all past canaries, see:

• https://www.buskill.in/category/Canary/

What is BusKill?

BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It's a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.

Watch the BusKill Explainer Video for more info youtube.com/v/qPwyoD_cQR4

If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys -- thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.

Chainalysis uses the fee structure to analyze monero transactions. I thought using the fees hardcoded into monero-gui should be fine, but x0.2 does not show up at all, x200 is less used than x100 (even though not available in the gui, but x200 is).

I guess these fee multipliers are used by other wallets a lot.

Is x1 the safest to use? Is the gitter in between caused by "automatic" transaction priority? Would it increase privacy to sync fee structures between different clients?

Very insightful interview from Whitney Webb (last part of the show). We are already starting to see the same pattern that we’ve seen with Trump’s first term where Trump surrounds himself with deep state figures to advance the surveillance state agenda. At which point liberty-minded Trump supporters will start questioning the role played by Trump?

https://www.youtube.com/live/8BqVnOu1WBs

Hey everyone,

Von der Leyen just secured a second term as EC President, and I'm beyond frustrated. Let's break this down:

1. Privacy nightmare:

• Pushing for Chat Control: Goodbye, digital privacy! This move threatens to undermine end-to- end encryption, making our private conversations vulnerable.

• eID System: This essentially paves the way for mass surveillance, linking our digital identity to nearly every online activity.

• Data Retention Revival: Trying to bring back data retention ignores the EU Court of Justice's stance on its incompatibility with fundamental rights.

• Europol's Mass Data Collection: Europol gets a free pass to collect massive amounts of data without sufficient oversight. This is a dangerous precedent.

• AI Act and Biometric Surveillance: Supporting biometric mass surveillance within the framework of AI regulation is a direct path to an Orwellian society.

2. Corruption allegations:

• Shady Pfizer Vaccine Deal: A €35 billion deal with Pfizer, shrouded in secrecy. Why are we not demanding transparency here?

• Refusing to Disclose Texts with Pfizer CEO: Transparency shouldn't be optional, especially in public health matters.

• EU Courts vs. Von der Leyen: EU courts have called her out for breaking the law. Why is this not a bigger deal?

• Piepergate: The controversy surrounding the EU Envoy is troubling and raises questions about integrity and accountability.

We deserve a leader who champions our rights as non-negotiable and upholds transparency as a fundamental duty, not one who treats our freedoms as expendable and accountability as an inconvenience.

What are your thoughts on this?

What will another five years of Von der Leyen bring us?

Sources:

Privacy:

European Digital Identity

Is eID Building Trust or Invading Privacy?

Heise Article about data retention (German)

Europol's Data Retention Critique

EDRi on the AI Act

Von der Leyen Rejects Criticism on Biometric Surveillance

Corruption:

PfizerGate Vaccine Scandal

EU's Top Court Rules Against the Commission

Politico on PfizerGate

Patrick Breyer on Digital Age Misunderstandings

Corporate Europe on Piepergate

“It is completely absurd to inflict mass surveillance on the general public under the premise of fighting theft.”

It comes at a cost to the privacy and civil liberties of the people of Britain.

I was kind of blown away to what length the developers go to ensure your communication is as safe/secure as possible (while still delivering a very useable app).

This is an interesting article for anyone trying to navigate the banking system and KYC rules that not only affect crypto but also the ACH fiat money transfer system.

2:21 – • Andrew Tate's Privacy & Freedom Lessons

4:32 - • Why You Should Fear Cybercrime

7:48 - • Paul Rosenberg: Of Anarchy and Abolition

11:58 - • Standard Notes: Model Privacy Software

18:32 - • Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons with Carey Parker

27:20 - • All About Linux w/ The Linux Experiment

33:03 - • Leaving Humanity: The Technocratic Worldview with Joe Doran

40:08 - • Intro to Monero: With Seth for Privacy

45:24 - • Samourai Wallet: Waging War on Fiat

49:21 - • Sparrow Wallet with Craig Raw

52:27 - • Tor Part I: History and Basic Features

56:30 - • What is Private Email? Andrew Milich from Skiff

58:17 - • Jayant Bhandari: The Empire Strikes Back

59:55 - • “An Unencrypted Hard Drive on Wheels:” Car Privacy with Andrea Amico

1:02:26 - • James Wesley, Rawles: Private Guns, Economic Collapse, and Survival

1:07:05 - • Bitcoin Privacy Reignited with BitcoinQnA

1:12:02 - • The Politics of Bitcoin (Zelko & Samourai Wallet)

Zero click “Triangulation” compromises Macs, iPods, iPads, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches at the hardware level.

edit: iPhone is the particular device focused on for the exploit documentation here, but the hardware vulnerability exists in all of the above.

The right time to start protecting your digital privacy is before your trip […] The simplest and most reliable precaution against border searches is to reduce the amount of information that you carry across the border.

Sometimes law enforcement officials achieve so-called “consent” by being vague […] You can try to dispel this ambiguity by inquiring whether border agents are asking you or ordering you […] If an agent says it is a request only, you might politely but firmly decline to comply with the request.

If you are a U.S. citizen, border agents cannot stop you from entering the country, even if you refuse to unlock your device, provide your device password, or disclose your social media information. However, agents may escalate the encounter if you refuse.

If you elect to comply with a border agent’s order to unlock your device, provide your password, or disclose your social media information, you can inform the agent that you are complying under protest and that you do not consent.

It is possible that if you unlock your device, and agents then search your device, a court will rule that you consented to the search. […] As noted in Part 1, the best way to avoid an inadvertent “consent” to search is to decline to unlock your device, provide the device password, or provide any social media information.

Technically, you don’t even need to admit that you know the password.

If you believe that border agents violated your digital rights at the border, please contact EFF at borders@eff.org.

See also:

• https://www.eff.org/document/eff-border-search-pocket-guide
• https://www.eff.org/issues/border-searches
• https://monero.town/post/402125 Fifth Circuit says law enforcement doesn’t need warrants to search phones at the border

The fact that the issue was discovered by Google TAG suggests it was exploited by a nation-state actor or by a surveillance firm.

As usual, Google did not publish details about the attacks exploiting the flaw in the wild.

See also: https://www.cert.europa.eu/publications/security-advisories/2023-100/

This vulnerability also affects Chromium-based web browser such as Microsoft Edge [3], Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi.

privacy has nothing to do with having something to hide. Instead, privacy means protecting the human being that you are, all the personal details that make you, you. What you care about, what you love, what you hate, what you are curious about, what makes you laugh, what you fear. And most importantly, choosing when you decide to share that information and who you share it with.

it is possible to build technology used by millions of people with privacy at the heart. We build technology to advance that right in order to help users reclaim their agency in digital spaces.

(But by default, Tor Browser is not shipped with uBlock Origin.)

PS: ONION LINK http://pzhdfe7jraknpj2qgu5cz2u3i4deuyfwmonvzu5i3nyw4t4bmg7o5pad.onion/tor-in-2023/index.html

NOTE: This is about the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination after a search warrant for someone’s cell phone is procured; not about digital privacy in general at the U.S. Border (a warrantless search).

See also: https://monero.town/post/1134494 EFF to Supreme Court: Fifth Amendment Protects People from Being Forced to Enter or Hand Over Cell Phone Passcodes to the Police

Now before the House, HR 6570 proposes to reauthorize Section 702 for three years — but with reforms including requiring all US intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before conducting a US person query.

a competing bill, the FISA Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2023 (HR 6611), doesn't include a warrant requirement — and, in fact, includes language that many worry could be used to force private US companies into assisting in government-directed surveillance

House Intelligence Committee bill would also expand the definition of an electronic communication service provider include a broader range of providers, including those who “provide hardware through which people communicate on the Internet.”

See also: Tell Congress: They Must Defeat HPSCI’s Horrific Surveillance Bill | EFF Action Center