The Christian Science Monitor
May 4, 2011 Wednesday
In Egypt, encryption for free speech
Whisper Systems donated its software to help Egyptian dissidents
spread the word without the government listening in.
by Ilana Kowarski Contributor
It’s easy to think of Silicon Valley and a rebel camp in Libya or
Egypt as two separate worlds. But one technology start-up is
determined to bridge them through software designed for pinstriped
executives but perfect for pro-democracy protestors.
Whisper Systems, a California company that specializes in data
encryption, mostly caters to businesspeople with trade secrets. But
when the Arab democracy movement ignited this year, the company handed
out its security software to Egyptian protesters free of charge.
The company’s Android mobile phone applications RedPhone and
TextSecure encode calls and text messages, protecting them from
hackers, competitors – or in this case government surveillance.
RELATED: The 10 weirdest uses for a smartphone
Whisper donated this software for a simple reason: Founders Moxie
Marlinspike (his official alias) and Stuart Anderson say they’re
committed to creating a world where people can discuss politics
without fear of government reprisals.
Just as new technology makes communicating around the world easier
than ever, phones, e-mail, and websites make snooping a breeze as
well. This year, Beijing began using cellphone GPS systems to track
and suppress political demonstrations. A March raid on Egypt’s state
security headquarters revealed that former President Hosni Mubarak’s
regime closely monitored the e-mail accounts and text messages of
known political activists.
Such events underscore the privacy threats posed by digital
communication, says Mr. Marlinspike, a programmer who publicly
demonstrates such vulnerabilities at computer-security events such as
the annual Black Hat Conference.
“People think about the Internet as having this democratizing and
horizontalizing effect,” he says, “but the infrastructure itself is
not horizontal or decentralized.” Companies own the wires and servers
that make up the Internet. “It is highly controlled by a small group
of people.”
Troubled by the possibility that technology will empower Big Brother,
Marlinspike and Mr. Anderson view encryption technology as a way to
push back against government spying.
That’s why, when the Egyptian uprising broke out in January, Whisper
changed its encryption scheme to work in the Middle East. For two
weeks, the pair worked 10- to 12-hour days to ensure that their
programs would be accessible to Egyptian activists during the
government crackdown.
Eager to assist democracy movements throughout the world, Whisper
Systems wants to expand its humanitarian operations beyond Egypt and
to provide its software to activists in nations like Belarus, where
opposition movements have been forced underground.
Most cellphones lack strong encryption, so dissidents take severe
risks when they use them to communicate, especially in countries where
antigovernment speech is criminalized, says Katrin Verclas, co-founder
of MobileActive, a global network that uses cellphones for social
change.
Cellphone technology easily hacked
Hackers have found many ways to break into the Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM), the network technology used by most of
the world’s cellphones, including those on AT&T and T-Mobile. Last
year, coders released software capable of cracking the encryption
algorithm used by many GSM phones, and in December a group of
researchers in Berlin publicly demonstrated ways to eavesdrop on GSM
calls with relatively inexpensive and unsophisticated equipment.
While companies and academics work to plug these holes, Ms. Verclas
says Whisper System’s programs are particularly valuable since they
provide high-quality encryption.
“Usually, sending [a text message] is like sending a postcard. Your
message is out in the open,” she says. “Good encryption puts the
envelope around the message.”
However, most encryption programs are so complex and obscure that many
people don’t bother using them. RedPhone and TextSecure are more
intuitive than their predecessors, Verclas says, and thus more likely
to be used.
According to computing researcher Christopher Soghoian, the increased
accessibility of Whisper Systems’ software is critical for mass
movements.
“Other encryption technology is not simple enough for my grandma to
use, and that’s a problem,” says Mr. Soghoian, a graduate fellow at
Indiana University’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research.
“Everyone is susceptible to the weakest link in the chain, and in this
case, the weakest link is the person that isn’t using the technology.”
In Soghoian’s view, programs such as RedPhone and TextSecure are long
overdue. “There are human rights activists for whom arrest is a
routine part of their existence, and they are in desperate need of
these technologies,” he says.
Armenian opposition leader and former ambassador to the United States
Alexander Arzoumanian is one such activist. He says many like him
would use Whisper Systems’ software if they were convinced that it
worked. Mr. Arzoumanian’s yearlong imprisonment, based on wiretapped
phone calls, has convinced him that encryption software could be
invaluable for dissidents in countries like his.
Arzoumanian describes Armenia as a place where spying is so pervasive
that there is little, if any, distinction between public and private
life. He says he is so accustomed to being monitored that he was not
surprised when government officials released transcripts of his
telephone conversations to the press, and his private communications
were published.
Protection from spies, in the form of encryption, would be a welcome
change in Armenia, Arzoumanian says.
“If people know they are under surveillance 24 hours a day, they are
afraid to speak out,” he says. “They hate the idea that someone is
listening to them. It would be good to have places where people feel
free to talk.”
Could encryption hinder activists?
Not everyone is enthusiastic about activists’ use of encryption
software, including Gene Sharp, a Harvard University researcher who is
widely considered to be the foremost expert on nonviolent revolutions.
Mr. Sharp’s seminal work, “The Politics of Nonviolent Action,” has
been used as a guidebook in many successful people-powered movements,
including the Eastern European overthrow of communism and – more
recently – the Egyptian protests that toppled Mr. Mubarak.
Sharp believes that encryption might hinder activists more than help
them. “Anonymous speech assumes fear and encourages fear, and fear is
fatal for a strong movement of nonviolent struggle,” he says.
Because secrecy also limits the number of people who have access to
knowledge, Sharp says it is an impractical tool for mass movements. He
argues that the protests in Cairo earlier this year would not have
attracted as many people or have been as effective as they were had
they been organized secretly.
According to Sharp, public and courageous protests like those in Egypt
are the best way to destroy a repressive regime that relies upon fear
for power. “There are situations where protesters have … good reason
to be afraid,” he says, “But if you are trying to do more than save an
individual, if you want to free an oppressed people, then you must be
open.”
From: A. Papazian