Tag: Encryption

Dark Wallet Provides Online Anonymity

If you think that the level of online anonymity provided by the encryption system of bitcoin and its other cryptocurrency brethren is high, then wait until you see what Dark Wallet can do to make your online transactions even more hidden from prying eyes.

Dark Wallet
Just what is Dark Wallet, and how does it work? Dark Wallet is the brainchild of two individuals – Amir Taaki, a free-market anarchist of Iranian and British descent, and Cody Wilson, who rose to fame when he printed the very first, fully-working 3D printed gun. The two men tandem has long since grown after the conception of Dark Wallet, and now includes notable figures from the cryptocurrency, unSYSTEM and Libbitcoin fields, among others.

The promise is that Dark Wallet will provide an even more private way of acquiring online anonymity through the use of bitcoin and when doing transactions in virtual marketplaces. As bitcoin became somewhat of a mainstream phenomenon, governmental bodies have been taking action in restricting and decentralizing the cryptocurrency. Dark Wallet’s prominent feature, which is to provide total online anonymity by being a bitcoin transfer and storage platform, seeks to return bitcoin to its original decentralized, anti-establishment roots. The app is poised to completely conceal any and all users’ identity, even stronger than what bitcoin promises.

But how does it hide the cryptocurrency transaction? Via CoinJoin mixing and stealth payments. Dark Wallet hosts its very own independent system of bitcoin exchange, meaning that anyone who has this software can sell or buy bitcoin without going to any other exchange platform. Online anonymity is observed by the user not needing to provide any personal identification or information. The CoinJoin technology lets a particular transaction merge and join a bitcoin transaction in random at the same time. The blockchain transaction records will invariably join together, and the encrypted multi-party sale is encrypted further within the Dark Wallet software to block out any virtual eavesdroppers. The Stealth Address feature works where any user can generate a “hidden address” paired up with a secret key, then publish the address to the sender or the receiver. The bitcoins are then sent to another address that is an encrypted version of the stealth address.

Dark Wallet started out as an idea by the two freethinkers, and sought help for funding by posting their idea on Indiegogo. The duo immediately launched a comprehensive crowdfunding campaign that generated around $50,000 and other funds in bitcoin currency.

bitcard darkwallet
The potential online anonymity of Dark Wallet is enormous. By itself, it can be used to power darknet market and illegal trades that are covertly carried out on the dark web. The online anonymity factor is a huge boon to black market transactions such as the renowned Silk Road, which was taken down in October 2013.

Dark Wallet fills in security holes in anonymous bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin transactions have become more and more transparent, due to the fact that each payment is recorded on a blockchain, which is like a public record. This blockchain is copied and sent to thousands of computers in order to prevent bitcoin fraud and virtual forgery within the network. The addresses themselves can be traced back to the user if the government agency or any corporation looks hard enough.

Dark Wallet developers admit that the software application is still in the early stages of progress, and a lot of work is needed to make it fully realized. The online anonymity software itself is labeled at an alpha stage and is far from being complete. The built-in app may be installed in a Google Chrome browser, with support for Mozilla Firefox web browsers coming in soon. Dark Wallet has paired up with Chip Chap, an app where you can convert Euros for bitcoins, and vice versa. The developers are also urging interested communities to test out their online anonymity application and are looking for suggestions to make it even better.

Experts Disagree Gov.’s Proposals For Encryption Access

A group of computer security experts have come out in opposition to demands by the US and the UK governments to be granted special access to encrypted communications. The move, the experts argue, would put the most confidential data and infrastructure at risk.

National Security Agency

The 14 elite cryptographers and computer scientists from around the globe have a formidable influence in the ensuing debate between the law enforcers pushing for less Internet anonymity and advocates of online privacy. Encryption has come to the fore following Edward J. Snowden’s disclosures that government spying was at a record high. The fact that data is being put online at previously unseen speeds has helped to fan the already heated debate on Internet anonymity.

Naturally, technology companies have been dragged into this face off. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google have increased their efforts to encrypt corporate and customer data since becoming aware that the NSA and other government agencies have been hacking into information centers and intercepting digital communications.

Commercial encryption efforts, law enforcers argue, sabotage their attempts to monitor crime. The UK prime minister even threatened to ban the use of encrypted messages completely. The NSA director, Michael S. Rogers, has suggested that technology companies develop digital keys that can be used to circumvent Internet anonymity and offer access to encrypted data. However, such a key would be shared among different people so that no one person could have full access to the information.

The debate on Internet anonymity is still a long way from an amicable resolution. The timing of the report by the elite group of experts was, for instance, quite opportunistic. The report was released just a day before FBI director James B. Comey Jr., and deputy attorney general at the Justice Department, Sally Quillian Yates were to testify at the Senate Judiciary Committee against the use of encryption technologies that provide the ironclad Internet anonymity that prevents the government from doing its job efficiently.

The report by the technologists is the first of its kind. In the report, the experts claim that by granting the government access to encrypted information, important infrastructure such as the banking system and the power grid would be seriously compromised. Some of the big names behind the report include Whitfield Diffie, considered a pioneering influence in public key cryptography, and Ronald L. Rivest, one of the forces behind the RSA public cryptography algorithm.

The level of trust the government would need to be granted what they need would be unimaginable. This would be especially difficult since the government has been experiencing widespread breaches that would result in the keys falling into the wrong hands. Moreover, the demands would have a ripple effect as other countries such as China would feel obliged to enforce similar measures, and this would put the very people the “back doors” are supposed to protect at risk. The adverse economic impact of compromised Internet anonymity would also be substantial, not to mention an affront to the moral authority developed countries currently wield in the rest of the world.

Encryption

The government’s stand is that end-to-end encryption makes it harder for them to do their job by forcing them to pursue targets rather than the companies supplying the technology. However, those in support of the report released by the experts believe that this report conclusively explains why the government’s proposal is not at all workable.

Strong Encryption And Online Anonymity Are Important To Protect Rights

On June 17th, 2015, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of media expression, David Kaye, presented a documented report on the importance of using encryption and web anonymity in virtual communications. His report was presented to the 29th session of the Human Rights Council for consideration. It recognizes the use of these technologies in helping people exercise certain privileges like the freedom of opinion, self-expression and online anonymity.

KeyCode

Senior researcher at Human Rights Watch Mrs. Cynthia Wong had said that strong data encryption and online anonymity are critical tools in protecting human rights activists, journalists, and other ordinary internet users in the modern age that we live in. It gives them a safe and secure place to express their thoughts without worrying about arbitrary arrests coming from the state, especially at a time when most governments around the world are looking for ways of expanding invasive surveillance programs. Some of the report’s key recommendations include:

I. Signatory countries should avoid taking measures that are aimed at weakening security for citizens who use the Internet, such as authorizing “back door” infiltrations, fallible encryption standards and corrupting key escrow arrangements. The report also requires technology companies to avoid building vulnerabilities into secured digital products, since this can greatly undermine the security of those using such products.

II. Countries should refrain from imposing blanket prohibitions on matters encryption and online anonymity, such polices only infringe on the rights of innocent people to access the web freely and are therefore not necessary. Some of these blanket restrictions include the state controlling importation and export of decoding tools and users requiring licensing before getting encryption on their respective PCs.

Identity Hide

III. Nations should avoid making official identification of users a requirement before accessing web services, or SIM card registry for those who use mobile phones to browse the net. Any restrictions whatsoever on online anonymity should be based on logic, targeted on a specific case-basis such as when there’s enough evidence that one is using their privilege to break certain Internet laws.