[LINK] Crypto parties to protect against govt intrusions

[Jan Whitaker]

Privacy movement finds strength in crypto night

Craig Butt and Henrietta Cook
Published: September 23, 2012 - 7:37PM

In a former cream factory in North Melbourne 
around 60 people nestled into beanbags, switched 
on their laptops and learned how to become anonymous.

The group gathered on Saturday night to take part 
in Melbourne's first Cryptoparty ­ a movement 
that started in this city with a tweet last month 
and has since spread to Egypt, Germany, the UK and the US.

The large space was dark except for a big screen 
at the front and the glow of dozens of computers perched upon people's knees.

Students, activists, mums and dads and computer 
developers helped themselves to soft drink, beers 
and lollies while a series of speakers taught 
people how to encrypt their online activity.

Well-known Melbourne Twitter identity Asher Wolf, 
who describes herself as an information activist, 
coined the term Cryptoparty on August 22, the day 
the controversial Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill passed the Senate.

"I wanted a party with crypto and laptops and 
music and beer," she said. "A party where people 
learnt how to protect their right to privacy."

Many people at the party, including Ms Wolf, were 
concerned about a proposal being considered by 
the federal government that would force telcos to 
store the data of all Australians' internet activity for two years.

"Around the world there has been an increasing 
trend to surveil people through the internet, one 
of the most popular ways of communication" Ms Wolf said.

"People have made moves to regain their privacy 
by using legal tools that are available to them. 
Any attempts to enforce surveillance are seen as 
a chilling effect on free communication and a direct attack on democracy."

Partygoers were taught how to use Tor, a free 
downloadable browser which masks an internet 
user's location and prevents anyone else from seeing their web browsing habits.

They were also shown how to encrypt their emails 
with public key cryptography, with presenter Ben 
McGinnes saying "the sun would burn out before one key was cracked".

Tech-savvy members of the audience debated which 
search engine was the safest and a woman with 
long blonde hair jokingly placed a tin foil hat on her computer.

The crowd was played messages of support from the 
founder of file-sharing website Pirate Bay, 
American whistleblower Thomas Drake and 
hacktivist group Anonymous, whose masked 
representative told the audience in a distorted 
voice, “crypto is not just for people in masks, it's for you".

One 25-year-old Melbourne University employee 
said she heard about the event on Twitter and 
came along because she wanted to learn how 
protect her computer. "I don't know much about it," she admitted.

Another attendee, who described himself as a 
WikiLeaks supporter said he feared being tracked 
as a result of his activist work.

According to the Cryptoparty website, more than 
10 parties have already taken place in locations 
such as Vancouver, Cairo and Berlin and another 
30 are scheduled to occur in the next few weeks.

The Melbourne Cryptoparty took place at Electron 
Workshop, a large co-working space that was once 
part of the Bulla Cream factory, that is used by 
start-ups and digital creatives.

Workshop co-founder Nick Jaffe, who also runs two 
web-hosting businesses, said he was deeply 
concerned about any government moves to retain 
data. He said if the proposals became law he 
would have to log the information on his customers.

"Not only is it something I wouldn't particularly 
want to do to our customers, it's also incredibly difficult to do."


This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/privacy-movement-finds-strength-in-crypto-night-20120923-26esu.html 




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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