[liberationtech] The Haven Project - Review

[Anders Sundman]

Dear liberationtech readers,

During the last months I have been working on a new privacy tool: The
Haven Project (THP) [http://haven-project.org/wiki/doku.php].

Haven is a portable operating system (a remix of Ubuntu Linux Live
USB) that creates a temporary, secure and anonymous environment on any
computer.

Installed on a regular USB stick, Haven makes it possible to transport
sensitive information through “hostile” environments. It is a tool
that whistle blowers, journalists and human rights activists can use
to copy, store and distribute computer files without leaving behind
any traces on the computer that could compromise their safety. Haven
also includes tools for secure and anonymous Internet access.

THP can offer some privacy and security, but it has limits. It will
never give a stronger protection than the tools it uses (e.g. Tor).
Neither can it protect against hardware or firmware surveillance like
hardware key loggers.

A rudimentary feature set has been implemented
[http://haven-project.org/wiki/doku.php?id=features] and I now seek
advice on how to proceed. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Drawing on the lessons from the Haystack debacle I will try to keep
the project out of the mainstream media and I have made all the source
code readily available. I have put a highly visible indication in the
Haven environment (and not just in the documentation) that it is not
yet safe to use for anything other than testing. Anything else?

As a next step I would like to establish contacts with organizations
that might find THP useful and that might also be willing to test and
evaluate the tool and to contribute realistic use cases. I am also
looking for help with reviewing the technical solution. Please contact
me if you or your organization is interested in participating in any
way.

If you have access to a computer running Linux (or a CD burner),
please consider testing Haven and answering some review questions:
[http://haven-project.org/wiki/doku.php?id=review]. If you try to
install and test THP but get stuck on some technical detail, please
contact me and I will try to help out.

The current review version (0.2) and the first proper release of THP
will not be intended for the general public. Right now, it is simply
too complicated to use and install and not well tested enough. My hope
is that it might attract a slightly more computer savy crowd that will
help out with testing and perhaps even interest a few contributors.
The focus of the next release will be usability and documentation.
What are your thought on this strategy?

I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Questions, comments,
critique, advice and suggestions will be much appreciated.

Best Regards,
Anders '4ZM' Sundman, The Haven Project [http://haven-project.org]