[liberationtech] decloudification: reverting to typewriters?

[Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman]

The cover of Philip Agee's book "CIA Diary: Inside the Company" is a 
picture of his typewriter--rigged by the CIA to capture what he wrote.


On Jul 17, 2013, at 10:11 AM, Joseph Lorenzo Hall wrote:

> Also, there's quite a bit of work on "keyboard emanations" (listening 
> to sound from keyboards) which could be applied to typewriters with 
> little modification. So these had better be well-swept (against 
> listening devices) rooms! Or have tons of typewriters in each room... 
> or dynamically realocate the keys on the typewriter (not sure if that's 
> possible or practical!). best, Joe
> 
> On Wed Jul 17 12:01:00 2013, Griffin Boyce wrote:
>>  If you need something typed, but don't want it to be easily stolen,
>> typewriters would be a good option.  However, if the goal is to prevent
>> leaking, then that's not really going to work.  It's not difficult to xerox
>> something or take a photo and then leak *that*.  Cameras can be very tiny,
>> and portable scanners can be hidden in a jacket pocket or under a pant leg.
>> 
>>  Security hasn't disappeared just because we default to using technology.
>> 
>>  The Kremlin's a big place though. Ordering just four typewriters doesn't
>> necessarily mean that they've changed security or tactics.  I do have to
>> wonder if they're just replacing other typewriters... or maybe the recent
>> leakstravaganza has made them reconsider their own policies :D
>> 
>> ~Griffin
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  If you need something typed, but don't want it to be easily stolen,
>> typewriters would be a good option.  However, if the goal is to
>> prevent leaking, then that's not really going to work.  It's not
>> difficult to xerox something or take a photo and then leak *that*.
>> Cameras can be very tiny, and portable scanners can be hidden in a
>> jacket pocket or under a pant leg.
>> 
>>  Security hasn't disappeared just because we default to using technology.
>> 
>>  The Kremlin's a big place though. Ordering just four typewriters
>> doesn't necessarily mean that they've changed security or tactics.  I
>> do have to wonder if they're just replacing other typewriters... or
>> maybe the recent leakstravaganza has made them reconsider their own
>> policies :D
>> 
>> ~Griffin
>> 
>> --
>> Sent from a tracking device. Please excuse typocetera.
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys at stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
> 
> --
> Joseph Lorenzo Hall
> Senior Staff Technologist
> Center for Democracy & Technology
> 1634 I ST NW STE 1100
> Washington DC 20006-4011
> (p) 202-407-8825
> (f) 202-637-0968
> joe at cdt.org
> PGP: https://josephhall.org/gpg-key
> fingerprint: BE7E A889 7742 8773 301B 4FA1 C0E2 6D90 F257 77F8
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at companys at stanford.edu or changing your settings at https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech


Alan Snitow & Deborah Kaufman
Snitow-Kaufman Productions
2600 Tenth Street #603
Berkeley, CA 94710
510 841-1068
secrets at igc.org
www.snitow-kaufman.org
Facebook: Snitow-Kaufman Productions









-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20130717/ca76c9db/attachment.html>