[liberationtech] Lavabit, Silent Circle both shut down

[taxakis]

Hi guys:

Safe and secure are relevant.  But, Arjen is absolutely right, Switzerland
is at the moment the best place to have your materials hosted. It's also the
place where Silent Circle looks at. And one where Wikileaks is hosted. Some
on this list still have doubts, even about Switzerland. Never a bad idea to
be paranoid of course, but there are some logical reasons why Switzerland is
a good choice. Here are the main ones: 

The Swiss are well known for their bank secrecy. A fact which is hated and
regularly contested by the E.U. and the U.S. Banks in CH need to be
extremely careful in guarding their own nations' interest, of which banking,
tourism, cheese and watch making are core values. There are some pretty
harsh rules in place to protect those interests. Of course when there is a
major crime Swiss police cooperates with other nations. But saving money in
a bank is definitively not seen as a crime. And so far as I know there is
not any remote chance that the U.S. and/or the E.U. will be able to force a
change. Like lately by levying huge fines on the UBS bank. They try though:)

  
There is yet another reason. And that is because Switzerland is the second
seat nation of the United Nations, while being itself not a member, only
observer to U.N.  The U.S. has many times (as also revealed by Snowden)
attempted to bribe Swiss officials and business people and/or coerce them.
CIA has been fairly active, but to no avail.  Swiss have also taken serious
countermeasures against intrusions. This hostile behavior from the U.S.
towards Switzerland is taken seriously into account as well. It isn't really
productive to enhance friendships. 

Then Switzerland still feels abused by the U.S., in particular by the NSA,
because of the Crypto AG affair of some decennia back. Search the web to get
the historical details.  Whatever happened, happened, but it was surely not
in the core interest of the Swiss people.

And finally, once every year there is a meeting of all chiefs and directors
of (western)European intelligence services, called the Club du Berne, in
Switzerland.  Switzerland was chosen as a meeting place because of its
impartiality and integrity. 
Surely, one of the 'Five Eyes Nations' is present as well. And word has it
that it's not playing a role of any significance.

No the above is not a guarantee that nobody will attempt to intrude in a
system, in Switzerland. It will happen, and occasionally with success. But
the Swiss government, businesses and people are very keen to stop the
bullets before these hit somebody. In particular from other European nations
and the United States.

And finally, am I Swiss? Absolutely not, but these days I wish I was :) And,
yes, I do host my Internet business activities there, and I mean since 1994.
That's almost 20 years, and I have never been disappointed. And that does
count for something.  Do follow Arjen's leads, search the web, and by all
means go there and meet them in person. 

Greetz
RTF


-----Original Message-----
From: liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu
[mailto:liberationtech-bounces at lists.stanford.edu] On Behalf Of Ralph Holz
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 10:52 AM
To: liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu
Subject: Re: [liberationtech] Lavabit, Silent Circle both shut down

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Hi Arjen,

>> May I ask what Swiss providers would you recommend?
> 
> (disclaimer: I am normally very hesitant to 'advertise' for specific 
> companies since as a consultant I do my very best to remain 
> independent from having any interest in procurement of specific 
> products or services).

Duly noted. :)

> SwissVPN provides some nice VPN services but it is not the only VPN 
> provider I use.

That's the company I use, too - and ultimately the reason I am asking
because Chris Soghoian once told me that they log the connections.
This seems to be supported by this inquiry made in 2011:

http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-
111007/

They log for 6 months and say they will respond to requests under Swiss law.

I would be surprised if other Swiss providers wouldn't do the same, but I am
very happy to hear otherwise?

Ralph

- --
Ralph Holz
I8 - Network Architectures and Services
Technische Universität München
http://www.net.in.tum.de/de/mitarbeiter/holz/
Phone +49.89.289.18043
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