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Re: [tor-talk] "Safeplug"
On 2013-11-22 15:56, andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 07:04:00PM +0600, rm@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote 2.5K
bytes in 0 lines about:
: > On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 04:50:44PM +0600, Roman Mamedov wrote:
: > > https://pogoplug.com/safeplug
Out of all the concerns about how they implemented it and such, my
main concern is that it just adds more clients to the network without
giving back in the form of relays or bridges. Or at least, none of
their documentation mentions the ability to share freedom and privacy
with others.
However, this looks like a fine test case for consumer-level torouter
market analysis. It would be great to learn 6 months from now how
many
they sold and a summary of customer feedback.
I agree with the market analysis aspect, but I am concerned on the
following points:
1. No source or design documents are provided.
Despite making use of open source software, and linking to the relevant
open source licenses here:
http://pogoplug.com/home-en-developers-open-source.html (whoops, a dead
link), there are no design documents published, additional contributions
or source linked anywhere on the website. If I wanted to contribute a
patch, where would I do it? Not providing source for the device is
pretty weak -- plenty of other projects, such as Tails and Whonix, have
implemented transparent torification and provide extensive documentation
and code.
2. Router Registration
According to https://pogoplug.com/safeplug, you must click on the
following link to activate your device.
http://shop.pogoplug.com/store/pogoplug/buy/productID.292114000/quantity.1/pgm.94629500
The link isn't https, and redirects to a page asking for billing
information to *buy* a device. I don't have a Safeplug, so I don't know
if the page would look any different, but it does imply that they have
the ability to differentiate between a Safeplug user and a regular Tor
user (me). That smells bad.
3. Automatic updates
Not only does this imply that the device must phone home and uniquely
identify itself (see, router registration), it also means that code can
be pushed to the device. I'd say "against the operators consent", but
you agreed to that, in the TOS:
"
Updates
As part of the Service, you may from time to time receive updates to
the Software from Pogoplug that may be automatically downloaded and
installed to your applicable device. These updates may include bug
fixes, security enhancements or improvements, or entirely new versions
of the Software. You agree that Pogoplug may automatically deliver such
updates to you as part of the Service.
"
5. TOS
Pogoplug isn't an ISP, and I've never seen a router force a TOS on me
before. And, it's one of those nasty ever-changing TOS that assumes if
someone actually read it once, they will want to read it again:
"
Pogoplug may update or change these TOS from time to time and
recommends that you review the TOS on a regular basis at
www.pogoplug.com/safeplug. You understand and agree that your continued
use of the Service after the TOS has changed constitutes your acceptance
of the TOS as revised.
"
6. Torified Everything and Anonymity Profile
Roger and I had several long talks about the design behind a
theoretical Tor Router product, and one sticking point is that although
the easy way to do it is to simply transparently torify everything down
the pipe, doing so does nothing for the anonymity set of the user behind
the black box. We discussed alternate options, such as providing a
captive portal that would instruct a user to download a copy of TBB and
use the local router device as a first hop into the Tor network, perhaps
by configuring the device as a bridge. Clearly not as easy as
plug-n-play, but since most users of this type of device would continue
to use their original highly fingerprintable browser, transparently
torifying everything probably wont provide the anonymity that they
claim. And although they do link to
https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en, they should probably take a
read through
https://www.torproject.org/download/download.html.en#warning themselves.
--Aaron
--
Andrew
http://tpo.is/contact
pgp 0x6B4D6475
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