After learning more about the scope and breadth of dragnet automated surveillance activities by government and non-governmental entities which we have covered on this blog in articles such as DROPOUT JEEP Your Phone is Their Phone, and If it is Electronic it is Intercepted and Stored I have become motivated to share my energy and expertise.   I believe I may have found out a way to volunteer my unique technical experience to the Liberty movement in general and the American Redoubt objective in particular (other they my daily musing and balmy personality).  I am an “IT” guy by trade.

Because I believe in the Liberty movement, the American Redoubt cause including a man’s God-given right to speak privately and freely (associate) as well as the U.S. Constitution I will begin to host a series of articles here to help you upgrade your computer security.  The goal of the project is to teach you how to be more secure, and much more importantly as anonymous as possible while using the Internet.  The focus will be on anonymity, not necessarily security.  There is not a lock that has been invented that cannot be picked.   However you can communicate as securely and anonymously as possible.   Hopefully this will eventually cumulate into something I am going to call the American Redoubt Darknet (ARD).  This is obviously an expansion of John Jacob Schmidt over at Radio Free Redoubt  American Redoubt Radio Operators Network (AmRRON) and the American Redoubt Network (ARN).

As JJS says the American Redoubt Network (ARN) consist of all people who support the American Redoubt movement.  The American Redoubt are people who live in, or are moving to the American Redoubt for multiple reasons including political reasons.  Everyone, in the ARN should be able to help out in whatever way they can to support other Redoubters in good times and bad.   The AmRRON is a network of HAM, CCB and MERS radio operators who are training to help God-fearing Liberty individuals in time of crisis with wireless radio communications.

I envision the American Redoubt Darknet (AmRD or ARD I have not decided) operators will be guys like me who know a thing or two about computers, IP networks and computer programming and want to volunteer our time and resources in allowing Redoubters to communicate more anonymously.   In general this will be in setting up anonymous (and as secure as possible) AR resources on darknets such as The Onion Router and the Internet Invisibility Project to allow for email, chat and file transfer.   With the Lord’s help we will build systems that can help Liberty groups and individuals in time of crisis with computer and network communications which are as secure and anonymous as possible.  Simply put the AmRD operators are the American Redoubt computer network guys.  We will help Redoubters communicate more securely and anonymously with each other in good times and in crisis.  What I believe will be interesting for the AR computer guys to do is to help build, expand and secure anonymous IP communications now, so that in the future we may be able to leverage these in times of crisis.

But Bard, the grid will be down we will not have network of computers.  Yes, I agree, if we have a complete grid-down situation what we are building will not be useful at that particular time.  However there is something to think about.  One, the grid is not down now.  And second, there is no guarantee that the grid will “completely collapse” as in a solar flare, EMP or coordinated attacks across the nation.   Like semi-functioning countries such as Mexico the grid may come up and down, be up in some places be down in others.  And on the other side of an event, there may be a “rebuilding phase” where the grid and computer networks are coming back on.  No matter if is now, a semi-functioning grid or during a rebuilding phase it may be very useful for as many people as possible, to already know how to use computer networks as securely and anonymously as possible.  One other thing BTW,  you can use computer networks through HAM radios.  We can call an anonymous and secure as possible network of computers a “darknet.”

“A darknet is anonymizing network where connections are made only between trusted peers (or friends in this case redoubters) using non-standard protocols and ports.”  The primary purpose of the darknet is to make communications anonymous, not necessarily secure.   This is critical for you to understand, the objective is anonymity, not necessarily security.   Basically we will implement technology and show you how to implement technology to allow various forms of communications between interested parties and make it very hard, if not impossible for people to prove beyond a reasonable doubt  “you were the one communicating.”  That is anonymity. The core objective is to let people talk to each other, perhaps not in a secure method, but in a method that leaves very little finger prints of who was actually talking.  

Why not focus on security Bard?  It is my opinion that it is very hard, if not impossible to secure communications from the “…larger adversaries…” which are in transit.  You can make them work for it, but you should not trust electronic security, what we call communications security (COMSEC) to any program.  At the same time I believe for a similar level of work, it may be more achievable to make your interactions on the Internet very hard to track.  To use a fantasy cultural reference Think of the Lord of the Ring.  Once the eye of sauron is focused on you, it is nearly impossible to shake, but it may be possible to avoid the eye of sauron gaze and sneak through mordor.  That is what the Hobbits did, they were able to sneak through, because the eye of sauron cannot be everywhere all the time.  Of course that means you don’t “beat drums and walk around in loud colors while trying to sneak pass the eye of sauron in evil mordor.  That is what you are doing now electronically.  Electronically each and everyone of you are beating drums, putting up signs saying “…I am a Christian, Liberty loving patriot, look at me.”   That is not good for avoiding the gaze of sauron.  Focusing on anonymity which may be achievable rather than security, which may not be achievable thus makes more sense.  More bang for the buck.  However we will touch on security, and include security.  If there is someone out there who wants to focus on security ideas (mostly around PGP or the OpenPGP now called GnuPG project I would assume) please volunteer.

There are many reasons you may want to use the web, or communicate with each other anonymously.  The basic reason I am going to spend a lot of time helping you is that you should be “secure” in your effects.  I believe in every man’s God-given right to private and secure communications and the Fourth amendment to the constitution

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The Catholic church teaches that individuals have the right to voluntarily associate.  “Subsidiarity assumes that these human persons are by their nature social beings, and emphasizes the importance of small and intermediate-sized communities or institutions, like the family, the church, labor unions and other voluntary associations, as mediating structures which empower individual action and link the individual to society as a whole.”

Thus I believe first it my God-given moral right as expressed through my Christian faith, and also it is my Constitutional right to freely associate and thus communicate with others.  To freely associate would imply a certain degree of privacy as I may not associate or communicate with you if every thing we said or did was recorded, analyzed and permanently kept.  That is an evil called self-censorship.  And that is the goal of the eye of sauron, control, fear and self-censorship.  These are the motivations of the Devil.

There are many entities; governmental and non-governmental who believe you only have the right to communicate, if they can listen to your conversation.  I disagree with this.   I do not believe you have the ability to make yourself completely anonymous or secure to an entity with world-wide computer network reach.  However you can make your communications very secure and as anonymous as possible to all entities including those with less of a global reach.   You can stop beating drums and yelling “look at me evil eye.”  You can put on some “goblin armor and sneak around at night.”  That is the objective of the AmRD, to help you make your communications as securely and anonymously as possible and specifically focused to support the Liberty movement and the American Redoubt objectives.

Legal disclaimer.  As I explain means and methods to increase your anonymity, I want to be clear  I do not condone the use of any information or products I provide for anything illegal.  Also if it doesn’t work, don’t come yelling at me.  I am freely sharing with you my opinion, not advice.

Please let me know what you think of the ARD / AmRD project.  What can we do better, ideas on security, and ways we can leverage existing tools to help increase security and anonymity.  Next part only for guys who know.  If you are a computer or networking professional supportive of the American Redoubt objectives and would like to assist in the AmRD project contact me.   Right now I think we are looking for PHP , Java and Python developers.  Also developers who are interested in learning the protocols I2NP, I2CP, SSU among others.   We need Linux system administrators, and those who can help out with the user community on services such as IRC.   If you have significant skills you may want to contact me anonymously with a disposable email account.  They know who I am.  I do not need to know who you are, just that you are willing to help.    My email is alex (at) alexanderbarron dot com not blueeyes@abcisp.com.