[kwlug-disc] The Open Technology Fund is a front of the U.S. government.

[Chris Frey]

On Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 11:47:00AM -0500, Mikalai Birukou via kwlug-disc wrote:
> To your general (of course related to emotion) statement, quote, "
> 
> It will mean less surprise should things take an odd turn
> in the future.
> 
> "
> 
> I say that "those things" are not going to "turn odd in the future".
> 
> Let's note that we have no idea what "turn odd" means to you. I see that
> article pushes human psyche to fill the gaps, opening emotionally charged
> gaps. This reminds a cold reading technique, mechanism in human head is
> probably the same.

Let me expand on that a bit.

Do you trust the US government?  I do not.  They have been caught
lying repeatedly, and what was once wild conspiracy theory regarding
things like massive surveillance (remember those 90's rumours of ECHELON
anybody?) came to light with Edward Snowden.  Revelations such as those
by Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and (at the time) Bradley Manning
(while each have their own oddities), would equal what I would consider
an odd turn revealed in the past.  It would be foolish to assume that
another odd turn can't happen again.

Do you trust Signal?  I do not.  Things might be fully open source now,
but there was official resistance from Signal against people including
their own compiled versions in their own projects, such as the Android
project F-Droid.  The lack of openness was a black mark on them
which I have not forgotten.

Do you trust Tor?  I do not.  That doesn't mean I wouldn't use it if
I needed it and it solved a particular problem for me.  It also doesn't
mean that I'm unhappy with others using it.  It if helps them, great!
If it makes things harder for oppressive governments, great!  But I don't
know who runs the exit nodes, and it is a giant target for surveillance.
Those that use it have to balance that risk with the benefits.

Do you trust governments that try to restrict technologies like Signal
and Tor, or work to undermine them through technology or propaganda?
I do not.  This would include both US and Russia.  The crackdown on
privacy and individual freedom is a sad pandemic of its own, spreading
around the world.  Don't you see that the propaganda and legal fight
against Tor is the same anti-freedom philosophy behind the removal of
individual freedom to choose one's own healthcare?

So when I read an article like the one on Mint Press News, it is merely
adding more data to what I already know.  And it is data.  There is a
link from that article to a PDF from usaid.gov, titled
"Congressional Budget Justtification" which directly links the US
government, USAGM, and OTF.  Is there a reason I should not believe
a document from usaid's own website regarding their own plans and funding?
What am I missing?  Did I read something wrong?

Sure, Mint Press may be a propaganda arm of Russia.  I'm glad Doug
posted those links too.  But that doesn't matter when they can point
to the US themselves to support a reported fact.

None of this means that I want Signal or Tor to go away.  None of this
means that I object to people using either technology, regardless
of which oppressive government they are under.  Nor do I object to
the revelation that US Gov, USAGM and OTF are linked.  Nor do I
believe that Tor is the only game in town when it comes to privacy
technologies.  There's HTTPS, GPG, openvpn, wireguard, regular vpn's,
multi-hop vpn's like cryptohippie, steganography, and last but not
least, you can combine them all in multiple ways and invent your own.

I don't know why it is important that we all be cautious regarding
Mint Press or Russia in particular.  We're talking privacy and security
here.  Caution is the order of the day.  Trust no one.  Test everything.
And grant your neighbour the same freedom you yourself would like to
enjoy.

- Chris