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Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction that is best described as "high tech and low life." The genre deals with the conflict between hackers and corrupt governments and megacorporations, in a dystopic near-future setting. Originally gaining popularity in the late 20th century, cyberpunk has stood the test of time, as our present-day world starts to move more and more in the direction of the fictional worlds in Neuromancer and Blade Runner.
On /g/, cyberpunk/hacker culture threads are created daily. If there isn't an existing cyberpunk thread on /g/, please start a new one with the following copypasta: https://github.com/Tracerneo/Cyberpunk-General
Circumventing surveillance, in Cyberspace:
Alternative Networks
Tor
For a more in depth definition, see Tor and their Official Website.
Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against traffic analysis, a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships as well as state security. Generally, it is the name of several related and interconnected projects, all centered around providing you with anonymity and privacy online. In the simplest sense, Tor is the name of a free software project that protects your privacy online by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of computers (called "relays") run by volunteers all around the world. This network of relays is called the Tor Network.
- Tor Onion Sites
- Torchan - Started December 2011. Reincarnation of Torchan, the most famous *chan to exist in .onionland. Used to have heavy CP: http://zw3crggtadila2sg.onion/imageboard/
- RundaChan - Started December 2011. New chan. Helpful to newbies: http://vkfwaglwnbi6vl7s.onion/
- Bobby's Board - Started December 2011. New chan. Low uptime: http://uzz3h4ruguwza4fr.onion/imgboard/b/
- Anonchan - Started November 2011. Went viral. Over 1000 posts in first month - http://od6j46sy5zg7aqze.onion/
- Hidden Image Site - Moderated for CP: http://wyxwerboi3awzy23.onion/
- Boards: Mostly SnapBBS. Normal forums
- Networking
- Social networking.
- Torbook - Facebook for Tor. Has a public square for discussions: http://ajqaivfxtqy3fdlr.onion/torbook/
- Questions and Answers - A cool truth game: http://ajqaivfxtqy3fdlr.onion/qa/index.php
- Email/Messaging
- Communication.
- TorPM - Tor private messaging: http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/pm/
- Tor Mail - Email services. *@tormail.net: http://jhiwjjlqpyawmpjx.onion/
- Hax - Hacking, etc.
- Hashparty - Cracking site: http://3terbsb5mmmdyhse.onion/:HackBB - Forums for hacking, hosts some content: http://clsvtzwzdgzkjda7.onion/
- OnionWarez - Warez forum, kind of dead: http://dts563ge5y7c2ika.onion/
- Weird and Wonderful Old Stuff - Collection of old DOS and wIN software :D: http://xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion/users/dosbox2/
I2P
The name I2P is derived from Invisible Internet Project, which, in pseudo-mathematical notation, is represented as I²P. It is described on their project page that I2P is an anonymous overlay network - a network within a network. It is intended to protect communication from dragnet surveillance and monitoring by third parties such as ISPs. I2P is used by many people who care about their privacy: activists, oppressed people, journalists and whistleblowers, as well as the average person. No network can be perfectly anonymous. The continued goal of I2P is to make attacks more and more difficult to mount. Its anonymity will get stronger as the size of the network increases and with ongoing academic review.
- I2P eepsites
- I2P2 - Main Project Site: http://i2p2.i2p
- Forum - Main Project Forum: http://forum.i2p/
- zzz - Main Developers' Site: http://zzz.i2p/
- killyourtv - Another developer site: http://killyourtv.i2p
- Planet - RSS Aggregator: http://planet.i2p/
- Salt - Crypto-munitions and tutorials http://salt.i2p/
- I2P-Bote - Serverless, encrypted e-mail plugin for I2P: http://i2pbote.i2p/
- PaTracker - Main torrent tracker: http://tracker2.postman.i2p/
- DifTracker - (French) torrent tracker: http://diftracker.i2p/
- id3nt - Microblogging: http://id3nt.i2p/
- Jisko - More microblogging: http://jisko.i2p/
- eepSites - Search Engine: http://eepsites.i2p/
Hyperboria
Hyperboria is a global decentralized network of "nodes" running cjdns software. The goal of Hyperboria is to provide an alternative to the internet with the principles of security, scalability and decentralization at the core. Anyone can participate in the network by locating a peer that is already connected. Their three project principles is to develop software that is open, peer to peer and as secure as possible. They accomplish this by giving everyone the ability to join by peering with someone already connected and routing packets using end-to-end encryption using ipv6 addresses through cjdns.
Hyperboria Websites:
HypeChan - Imageboard: http://chan.limitedideas.org/
HypeOverflow - a stack overflow clone: http://hypeoverflow.com/
socialnode - microblogging: http://socialno.de/
HypeDicuss - Exclusive Hyperboria Forums for any topic: http://hypediscuss.com/
Uppit - a reddit powered community: http://uppit.us/
Hyperboria.name - Hybrid mail and personal sub-domain service: http://hyperboria.name/
NodeInfo - your flashlight in the darknet: http://[fc5d:baa5:61fc:6ffd:9554:67f0:e290:7535]/
Oscar - Search engine: http://oscar.hype/
iRcann - the info.cern.ch of Hyperboria: http://[fc38:4c2c:1a8f:3981:f2e7:c2b9:6870:6e84]/cjdns.html
Luke Evers' personal blog - Personal blog from project developer Luke Evers: http://blog.lukevers.com/
Blake Gardner's research blog - A blog about bg's master’s thesis on ProjectMeshnet, its community, and politics as his focus: http://anthro.hype/
NL-HX - Website for the Netherlands Hyperboria Exchange: http://h.nl-hx.com/
Freenet
Freenet is free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish "freesites" (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Freenet is decentralised to make it less vulnerable to attack, and if used in "darknet" mode, where users only connect to their friends, is very difficult to detect. Unbearably slow.
OpenLibrenet
OpenLibrenet aim to create a decentralized global mesh communication network that is robust, secure and anonymous. OpenLibernet is built around a robust payment system inspired by the Bitcoin protocol that rewards its users for actively joining, expanding and maintaining the network, and creates a traffic economy with perpetually decreasing prices.
Mesh Networking
The only truly free networks are the ones that everyone can own a piece of.
olsrd
The olsr.org OLSR daemon is an implementation of the Optimized Link State Routing protocol. As such it allows mesh routing for any network equipment. It runs on any wifi card that supports ad-hoc mode and of course on any ethernet device. OLSR is a routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks. The protocol is pro-active, table driven and utilizes a technique called multipoint relaying for optimized message flooding.
B.A.T.M.A.N.
The Better Approach To Mobile Adhoc Networking (B.A.T.M.A.N.) is a routing protocol for multi-hop ad hoc mesh networks which is under development by the "Freifunk" community and intended to replace OLSR. B.A.T.M.A.N.'s crucial point is the decentralization of the knowledge about the best route through the network — no single node has all the data. This technique eliminates the need to spread information concerning network changes to every node in the network. The individual node only saves information about the "direction" it received data from and sends its data accordingly. Hereby the data gets passed on from node to node and packets get individual, dynamically created routes. A network of collective intelligence is created.
bmx6
Yet another routing protocol.
OpenBTS
Build your own GSM network.
Tools
EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights group based in the United States. They provide funds for legal defense in court, present friend of the court briefs, defend individuals and new technologies from what it considers baseless or misdirected legal threats, work to expose government malfeasance, provide guidance to the government and courts, organize political action and mass mailings, support some new technologies which it believes preserve personal freedoms, maintain a database and web site of related news and information, monitor and challenge potential legislation that it believes would infringe on personal liberties and fair use, and solicit a list of what it considers patent abuses with intentions to defeat those that it considers without merit.
In short and given the context of cyberspace: they fight for your freedoms.
They also provide tools and information for the privacy-concerned individual, such as:
- Panopticlick - See how unique - and trackable - your browser configuration is.
- HTTPS Everywhere is a browser extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites.
PGP
PGP over time has since been turned into a commodity; open alternatives exist. You can find them here: GnuPG, Open PGP
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting, and decrypting texts, emails, files, directories, and whole disk partitions and to increase the security of e-mail communications. It was created by Phil Zimmermann in 1991 while working at PKWARE, Inc. Nowadays it's primarily used for email.
OTR
Off-the-Record Messaging, commonly referred to as OTR, is a cryptographic protocol that provides strong encryption for instant messaging conversations. OTR uses a combination of the AES symmetric-key algorithm, the Diffie–Hellman key exchange, and the SHA-1 hash function. In addition to authentication and encryption, OTR provides perfect forward secrecy and malleable encryption. The primary motivation behind the protocol was providing deniability for the conversation participants while keeping conversations confidential, like a private conversation in real life, or off the record in journalism sourcing. This is in contrast with other cryptography tools that produce output which can be later used as a verifiable record of the communication event and the identities of the participants. In most cases, people using such cryptography software are not aware of this and might be better served by OTR tools instead. The initial introductory paper was named Off-the-Record Communication, or, Why Not To Use PGP.
With OTR, no one else can read your instant messages.
You are assured the correspondent is who you think it is.
The messages you send do not have digital signatures that are checkable by a third party. Anyone can forge messages after a conversation to make them look like they came from you. However, during a conversation, your correspondent is assured the messages he sees are authentic and unmodified.
And lastly, if you lose control of your private keys, no previous conversation is compromised.
XMPP
Private XMPP (Jabber) chat with forced encryption
Like Google Talk, but private.
Tox
A project that grew out of /g/ after the Snowden Leaks first popped up during the summer of 2013. The project's goal is to create a distributed Skype alternative void of third parties. How they accomplish this is by having users connect directly to their peers.
Circumventing surveillance, in Meatspace:
The only way to stay private is to stand out. The automated systems that look for specific points of your bodies and use that information to identify you. Obfuscate these points using the methods suggested and you'll be on your to living a life free from data laundering.
IRhat
You wouldn't believe how non updated the surveillance infrastructure most cities and their respective businesses have. Many cameras do not have infrared filters on their lenses so all one needs to do is shine infrared light in their direction and all the camera will see is a blur of white light covering where your face should be.
CV Dazzle
Dress like a more fashionable juggalo.
Stealth Wear
Grind up some cheap mylar thermal blankets, make a solution and dip your clothes in it to become invisible to thermal cameras:
Still swapping dead presidents? My sides are in orbit, chummer.
In case you weren't aware, hierarchical trust systems are fundamentally a scam. Maintain your sense of autonomy by using Cryptocurrencies and while you're at learn how to distribute your data flow:
Ethereum
Ethereum is a platform and a programming language that makes it possible for any developer to build and publish next-generation distributed applications. Ether, Etherum's internal currency, powers its applications and acts as a 'token of exchange' on the decentralized network. Ethereum can be used to codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything: voting, domain names, financial exchanges, crowdfunding, company governance, contracts and agreements of most kind, intellectual property, and even smart property thanks to hardware integration. Ethereum borrows the concept of decentralized consensus that makes bitcoin so resilient, yet makes it trivial to build on its foundation. To find out more about how Ethereum works, consult the whitepaper.
Bitcloud
Bitcloud is an open source distributed database and escrow agent that allows people to share data and create distributed applications. The decentralized nature of Bitcloud allows anyone to publish large amounts of content that is free from censorship, high costs, and proprietary software. Bitcloud can be the base for decentralized applications that require data storage and bandwidth. There are many Bitcoin 2.0 projects in the works right now, but they all still rely on some type of blockchain. In Bitcloud, the blockchain is replaced by a distributed database, also known as the nodepool. Bitcloud creates a new decentralized system of trust where entire web applications can be hosted without a centralized server.
ownCloud
ownCloud gives you universal access to your files through a web interface or WebDAV. It also provides a platform to easily view & sync your contacts, calendars and bookmarks across all your devices and enables basic editing right on the web. Installation has minimal server requirements, doesn’t need special permissions and is quick. ownCloud is extendable via a simple but powerful API for applications and plugins.
Basically, it provides a relatively streamlined way to make your own personal cloud storage system.
Tahoe-LAFS
Tahoe-LAFS is a Free and Open cloud storage system. It distributes your data across multiple servers. Even if some of the servers fail or are taken over by an attacker, the entire filesystem continues to function correctly, preserving your privacy and security.
Like ownCloud but less streamlined.
SSL
SSL root certificates, e.g., Verisgn, Comodo, Entrust -- corporations that have placed themselves the top of the pyramid, but why do you trust them? Why should you pay $1500 so a corporate fatcat can vouch for your identity for a year? Self sign your own certificates, anons.
DNS
ICANN has a monopoly on the domain name system, but why? So they can release stupid vanity domains like .donut and .shoes? Top fucking lel. Use ORSN or use a distributed system like Namecoin
For more information on this, see this article.
Cellular Surveillance
For your smartphone.
Custom ROMs
- ParanoidAndroid
- Here is a helpful infographic.
- Cyano-- some genMod
- Here is a helpful infographic.
Note: don't use gapps.
App Stores
Search Engines
Note: decentralized alternatives to search engines like YaCy are shit at the moment.
Maps
XPosed Modules
Use the XPosed Framework with the XPrivacy Module.
Firewalls
- AFWall+ (Android FireWall Plus) is a free firewall available for Android, which claims to restrict which apps may access the Internet over WiFi, data, and when roaming. Also useful for those without unlimited data plans: you can disallow data-intensive apps from using cellular data. Editor's Note: It seems to work, but as far as privacy is concerned, I cannot vouch for it being effective at all at the time of this writing. Use at your own risk.
Miscellaneous
- Spoof your MAC address constantly.
- Create or obtain a faraday cage in the form of a phone case in order to block WiFi signals entirely. Example: https://offpocket.com/
Due to the distinct lack of physical WiFi togglers in mobile hardware, these are currently our only options from being tracked by corporations when out in meatspace.
Additional Reading
Computer Programming
Think Python
A free book that teaches the fundamentals of proper programming, using a popular and easily accessible programming language called Python.
Install Python on your computer
Computer Networking
Daryl's TCP/IP Primer
An excellent and thorough introduction to, and overview of, the structure and operation of the Internet.