[liberationtech] CryptoParty Handbook

[Jacob Appelbaum]

Samuel Carlisle:
> I was actually really offended by @ioerror's comment on twitter. Even if it
> was justified technically I think the mature approach is to use his
> personal reach and voice online to rally collaborators to help make the
> handbook better not declaim it for the sake of it... I nearly tweeted back
> with the link to the editing portal with a simple statement "well
> volunteered"...
> 
> @samthetechie
> 

Why were you offended?

Did you work on any of the software in the book? Did you try to help a
bunch of the first CryptoParty events out? I did those things - and you
say that I should do more because I dared to not endorse it with fanfare?

I've done some research on these topics and a lot of the advice seems to
directly contradict some of my observations about security realities.
The VPN advice (eg: use PPTP), which I pointed out on twitter, being the
worst of all.

The fact of the matter is that the location of the editing portal was/is
totally non-obvious. I also believe that the right time to edit isn't
when people are *releasing* a book into a dozen formats but rather
during a peer review time. This was apparently skipped according to
others more directly involved and much to their frustration.

I think what I said is reasonable - the handbook isn't impressive and
the advice is fraught with peril. The idea for such a handbook is
generally a good one but the devil, as always, is in the details.

Did you write part of it or something?

All the best,
Jacob

> On 7 October 2012 20:37, Yosem Companys <companys at stanford.edu> wrote:
> 
>> I think Jacob has some issues about the CryptoParty Handbook.  As he
>> noted on Twitter:
>>
>> "The #CryptoParty handbook is really unimpressive and fraught with
>> peril. A good idea and a nice effort but ultimately quite dangerous."
>>
>> Would love to hear why.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Yosem
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 12:09 PM, Greg Norcie <greg at norcie.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I think this is a great project.
>>>
>>> But I do think that a manual is a stopgap measure - it would also be
>>> great if we worked towards making these tools usable enough that they
>>> didn't need a manual.
>>>
>>> If we can make an iPod so easy enough for our grandparents to use, we
>>> should be able to do the same with Tor, PGP, etc. It will be a long,
>>> arduous process, but I think it can be done.
>>>
>>> Usable security it not an oxymoron :)
>>> --
>>> Greg Norcie (greg at norcie.com)
>>> GPG key: 0x1B873635
>>>
>>> On 10/4/12 5:13 PM, Andrew Mallis wrote:
>>>>
>>>> FYI
>>>>
>>>> This 392 page, Creative Commons licensed handbook is designed to help
>>>> those with no prior experience to protect their basic human right to
>>>> Privacy in networked, digital domains. By covering a broad array of
>>>> topics and use contexts it is written to help anyone wishing to
>>>> understand and then quickly mitigate many kinds of vulnerability using
>>>> free, open-source tools. Most importantly however this handbook is
>>>> intended as a reference for use during Crypto Parties.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> PDF available for download and more info:
>>>>
>>>> https://cryptoparty.org/wiki/CryptoPartyHandbook
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Andrew Mallis*
>>>> #ows Tech Ops <http://www.nycga.net/groups/tech> | FGA
>>>> <http://wiki.occupy.net/wiki/Federated_General_Assembly> | Occupy
>>>> Directory <http://directory.occupy.net>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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