Snowden co-designs a surveillance-proof phone case - UPI.com
UPI reports: "Infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden has co-designed a smartphone case that can help people elude surveillance. [...] The case is called "the introspection engine," and it would alert the user whenever the smartphone's radio signals are being sent, something that can happen even if your phone is on 'airplane mode.'"

Comment: Missionaries and human rights workers operating in repressive countries might want to look into this tech when it becomes available. 

Consumer Tech Encryption

Facebook tests end-to-end encryption on Messenger | Reuters
Reuters reports: "Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Friday said it began testing end-to-end encryption on its popular Messenger application to prevent snooping on digital conversations. The limited testing on Messenger, which has more than 900 million users, comes three months after Facebook rolled out end-to-end encryption to its more popular WhatsApp, a messaging application with over 1 billion users that it acquired in October 2014. The move comes amid widespread global debate over the extent to which technology companies should help law enforcement snoop on digital communications."

Comment: Missionaries working in repressive countries, take note.

My Way News - Here we go again: Paris attacks may renew encryption debate
My Way News reports: "The deadly attacks in Paris may soon reopen the debate over whether — and how — tech companies should let governments bypass the data scrambling that shields everyday commerce and daily digital life. So far, there's no hard evidence that the Paris extremists relied on encrypted communications — essentially, encoded digital messages that can't be read without the proper digital 'keys' — to plan the shooting and bombing attacks that left 129 dead on Friday."

Comment: Christian missionaries operating in repressive countries should carefully note the new class of apps (Telegraph, WhatsApp, iMessage,) and programs (Virtru) which maximize privacy and counter surveillance. 

My Way News - Ideas for keeping your data safe from spying
My Way News reports: "Experts say there are steps anyone can take to improve privacy, but they only go so far. Using anonymity services and encryption 'simply make it harder, but not impossible,' said Ashkan Soltani, an independent privacy and security researcher. 'Someone can always find you _- just depends on how motivated they are.' With that caveat, here are some basic tips to enhance your privacy..."

NYT - Security Pioneer Creates Service to Encrypt Phone Calls and Text Messages
The New York Times reports: "At a security conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Zimmermann introduced the service, which is available for Android and iPhone. Silent Circle lets users make encrypted phone calls, send text messages and do  videoconferencing. Messages are scrubbed completely from the phone after a predetermined amount of time. Communications are secured using a new, peer-reviewed open-source encryption technology."

Comment: Those of you serving as missionaries in repressive countries might benefit from this service, it might protect you and those you minister to.

NYTimes.com - Nadim Kobeissi, Creator of a Secure Chat Program, Has Freedom in Mind
The New York Times reports: This group was building a project called Cryptocat, which has a simple, countercultural goal: people should be able to talk on the Internet without being subjected to commercial or government surveillance [...] Cryptocat and a few other services disguise the content of chat messages so that they look like gibberish to anyone who does not have the encryption key."

Comment: This looks like a tool that might come in handy for missionaries working in repressive countries. You can download Cryptocat here.

My Way News - EU Commissioner calls for new tools for bloggers
My Way News reports: "The European Union should help teach bloggers living under oppressive regimes how to communicate freely and avoid detection, and develop technology to help them, the bloc's digital affairs commissioner said Friday."

Comment: I wish them luck. It's nice to see TOR still in the mix.

Cyberwar - Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors - Series - NYTimes.com
The New York Times reports: "The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but also in determining what information reaches people around the globe."

Comment: This report describes both the methods used by governments to control access to information and the software tools used by activists to circumvent them. Missionaries operating in repressive countries would do well to look into the following:

• Global Internet Freedom Consortium
• Tor Project
• Psiphon

My Way News - Laptop searches at border might get restricted
AP reports: "Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security, asserts that it has constitutional authority to conduct routine searches at the border - without suspicion of wrongdoing - to prevent dangerous people and property from entering the country. This authority, the government maintains, applies not only to suitcases and bags, but also to books, documents and other printed materials - as well as to electronic devices."

My Way News - Internet companies embrace human rights guidelines
AP reports: "Leading Internet companies, long criticized by human-rights groups for their business dealings in China, agreed Tuesday to new guidelines that seek to limit what data they should share with authorities worldwide and when they should do so."

Comment: It's nice to see that these companies recognize that they have a responsibility when dealing with repressive countries, but I'd like to see how these new polices fare when tested by real events. Is this just PR?

Off The Field - smh.com.au
The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting on censorship in China and I'm noting this even though Chinese attitudes towards Christianity have become much more relaxed of late, they still censor other religions and spiritual movements. Mindful of Pastor Martin Niemöller's warning, we stand with them. According to the report:

The Great Firewall of China - or the Golden Shield Project, to give it its official name - is intended to prevent, deter and detect anyone who reads, downloads or publishing reports deemed to challenge the government's hold on power.

In addition to the hardware and software - some of it supplied by US companies like Cisco - China also employs tens of thousands of human censors to trawl through popular forums and blogs, spotting and then erasing references to banned or sensitive topics.

I find it particularly shameful that American companies are doing this.

Ahead of Olympics, Congressman Pushes 'Global Online Freedom Act' - Wired.com
Threat Level reports: "Republican congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey used a meeting with international human rights group Reporters Without Borders last week to lobby for passage of a bill aimed at curtailing U.S. tech companies' participation in foreign countries' internet censorship schemes. Smith is hoping that the bill reaches the floor of the house and passes before the Olympics begin in August."

Comment: I've always felt it was indefensible for American companies birthed in freedom and liberty to sell technology to be used for oppression.

My Way News - Ways consumers can safeguard personal data on Web
AP reports: "Your privacy protections may disappear with a court order or subpoena, but there are steps that privacy activists suggest you take to reduce your exposure."

Comment: This AP report gives four tips on protecting your privacy on-line. I'd like to re-post the whole thing (because it's so short), but that would probably be a violation of copyright, so read it before AP removes it and it becomes a dead link. Their best recommendation: use anonymizing software like Tor to avoid leaving tracks on the net. We gave very little privacy left anymore, we need to jealously guard the little we have left. And, of course, for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in repressive countries this issue goes far beyond consumer privacy, it can literally be a matter of life and death.

My Way News - Bush Presses House for Surveillance Bill
AP reports: "President Bush said Monday that telecommunications companies should be thanked, not sued, for helping the government conduct warrantless wiretapping in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks."

Congress worries that .gov monitoring will spy on Americans | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
CNET News reports: "A new Bush administration plan to capture and analyze traffic on all federal government networks in real time is generating privacy worries from congressional Democrats and Republicans alike."

My Way News - Encrypted Laptop Poses Legal Dilemma
AP reports: "Tien, the attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said a person's right to keep a password secret is a linchpin of the digital age. Encryption is 'really the only way you can secure information against prying eyes,' he said. 'If it's too easy to compel people to produce their crypto keys, it's not much of a protection.'"

My Way News - China Steps Up Internet Video Control
AP reports: "The rules are aimed at expanding a Chinese censorship system that tries to block Internet use to spread dissent while promoting it for business and education. Communist leaders are especially anxious about unflattering video showing up online ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, a major prestige project."

My Way News - Ask.com to Unveil New Privacy Control
AP reports: "Hoping to establish itself as the Internet's least intrusive search engine, Ask.com is empowering people to prevent their search requests from being deposited in data banks. The new privacy control, called "AskEraser," is scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday. When it's turned on, the safeguard purges a user's search requests from Ask.com's computers within a few hours."

For those of you looking to practice safe searching, this may be a good tool.

My Way News - China Censors Ratchet Up Web Monitoring
AP reports: "In the lead-up to the sensitive Communist Party Congress, which convenes Monday to approve top leaders who will serve under President Hu Jintao through 2012, authorities have been casting an even wider net than usual in their search for Web content they deem to be politically threatening or potentially destabilizing."

China Cracks Down on Dissent
Here are two news reports that suggest that the underground church in China is in for some very difficult times as the Olympics approach:

My Way News - China Closes Christian-Linked Businesses
AP reports: "China has closed two businesses whose owners allegedly sought Christian converts in a traditionally Muslim region and also revoked the visa of an American citizen for illegal proselytizing, a rights group said Wednesday."

My Way News - Rights Group Condemns China Net Controls
AP reports: "Though the communist government promotes Internet use, it also has set up an extensive surveillance and filtering system to prevent Chinese citizens from accessing material considered obscene or politically subversive."