Shield Law Sponsor Not Sure Bloggers "Deserve" Free Speech Rights

"You can sit in your mother’s basement and chat away, I don't care," says Lindsey Graham (R-SC) but then asks if "they [bloggers] deserve First Amendment protection?" when it comes to classified information.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

J.P. Hicks

Who knew the speech of the media and bloggers wasn't already protected?

The U.S. senate is working on a media shield law that would protect the media against government retaliation for exposing sensitive information.

I thought the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights made it quite clear that all speech was already protected: 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Since the government has been on the rampage to punish whistleblowers who have exposed government crimes, perhaps additional clarity is needed. However, it seems that the politicians are using the media shield law to decide who gets free speech protection and who doesn't.

How to Hide Your Digital Communications from Big Brother

J.P. Hicks

Big Brother is hoping to eliminate anonymous digital communication, but a new messaging protocol may provide privacy advocates a way around their snooping government no matter where they live.

It couldn't come at a better time as governments increasingly demand access to private communications.

In fact, an FBI whistleblower recently revealed that all digital communications are being recorded and stored by the U.S. government.

Since most emails, instant messaging, and all voice calls (land line, cell or Internet) run through central service providers that database all user activity, the government has easy access to this information upon request, secret subpoenas or even backdoors to these services to view private communications in real time.The Associated Press was recently violated the Department of Justice who, with a secret subpoena, forced service providers to hand over phone records of AP's reporters and central offices.

The U.S. government claims the authority to track, trace, and database all electronic communications in order to keep us safe. Despite the obvious intrusion of privacy, it clearly has the intent to spy on all communications and is actively seeking expanded legal cover and technological advances for full spectrum digital surveillance.

Large central service providers make this nefarious goal possible.

But as the government cracks down on Web privacy, a new decentralized communication protocol called Bitmessage has emerged to offer an easy way for people to send and receive encrypted messages. 

What is Bitmessage?

Bitmessage is a peer-to-peer encrypted messaging protocol that allows people to communicate anonymously.

Bitmessage's official description is as follows:

Bitmessage is a P2P communications protocol used to send encrypted messages to another person or to many subscribers. It is decentralized and trustless, meaning that you need-not inherently trust any entities like root certificate authorities. It uses strong authentication which means that the sender of a message cannot be spoofed, and it aims to hide "non-content" data, like the sender and receiver of messages, from passive eavesdroppers like those running warrantless wiretapping programs. (Source)

Based loosely on Bitcoin's open-source protocol, Bitmessage utilizes the computer power of decentralized users to process the messages making them essentially impossible to track. Addresses are made up of 36 random characters as opposed to a name and other personal information that email services require.

Example Bitmessage address: BM‐2nTX1KchxgnmHvy9ntCN9r7sgKTraxczzyE

In their white paper, the Bitmessage developers emphasize that privacy was their main motivation for creating it:

Hiding one’s identity is difficult. Even if throw‐away email addresses are used, users must connect to an email server to send and retrieve messages, revealing their IP address. 

...if just one of those organizations is run by a government agency, and if they have certain network hardware in place between users and destination servers, then they would be able to perform a targeted man‐in‐the‐middle attack of ostensibly secure communications at will... 

What is needed is a communications protocol and accompanying software that encrypts messages, masks the sender and receiver of messages from others, and guarantees that the sender a message cannot be spoofed, without relying on trust and without burdening the user with the details of key management.

The addresses not only emphasize privacy but guarantee sender verification:

While certainly more cumbersome than an email address, it is not too much to type manually or it can be made into a QR‐code. Users have already demonstrated this to be acceptable as Bitcoin addresses are similar in format and length. This address format is superior to email in that it guarantees that a message from a particular user or organization did, in fact, come from them. The sender of a message cannot be spoofed.

Though it may sound complicated, Bitmessage makes it easy for anyone to communicate anonymously. Once the program is downloaded on your computer, you just need to set "Your Identities", "Passphrase", and "Addresses" in your Bitmessage folder which is much like a Bitcoin "wallet".

Then it works similarly to email where you choose from one of your "From" addresses to compose a message to "Send" to another address. The message's encryption is then "processed" by the peer-to-peer network of servers and delivered to the recipient's "wallet" (Bitmessage folder) on their personal computer. The "stream" or "proof of work" takes roughly four minutes to process the message to the recipient.

Bitmessage also offers a "broadcast" feature for mass announcements. So if you run an organization, website or blog with a newsletter, you can send anonymous "broadcasts" to subscribers. Meanwhile, subscribers can sign up without giving out their email address or anything that links them to the information.

Just as Bitcoin has the potential to displace centralized currencies, Bitmessage may be the future of free and private communication. As the government increases its Big Brother spying on average citizens, Bitmessage proves that freedom will always find a way.

Watch the video below for more information about Bitmessage:



Get started with Bitmessage here.

Another great resource for how to get started with Bitmessage:
http://cryptojunky.com/blog/2013/03/09/setting-up-and-using-bitmessage-an-encrypted-communications-platform-based-on-bitcoin/

J.P. Hicks is an entrepreneur, info-activist, pro blogger, editor of BlogTips.com and author of Secrets to Making Money with a Free Blog. Follow @ Twitter, or like on Facebook.

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Decentralized Internet Being Built to Thwart Censorship

J.P. Hicks

Bloggers represent one of the last bastions of independent journalism. Since the Internet presents a level playing field for information, it's possible for talented bloggers to reach millions of people which only used to be available to large media conglomerates.

But the free Internet appears to be under attack on multiple fronts. It seems that these conglomerates don't like losing their audience to lowly bloggers. And, apparently, they have the government on their side not just because they fund politicians to do their bidding, governments themselves also don't like it when pesky bloggers expose their dirty deeds.

The result of this corporate-government merger against the free Internet has resulted in endless calls for Internet legislation from Net Neutrality, blogging taxes, cyber security trolling, to various draconian laws to enforce copyrights like SOPA, PIPA, and international attempts like ACTA. 

Have You Found Your Treasure Yet?

"Wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure." -- Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist

Image source

J.P. Hicks

We are all in search of a treasure. Maybe life may not seem as exciting as following clues on a map where "X" marks the spot of hidden riches, but it really isn't much different. Nor should it be.

Do you believe you are here for a purpose?  Are you following your destiny?

Sadly, most people do not believe they have a destiny to fulfill, but everybody is born with a personal treasure map.

Some people get up every day full of passion to explore the world in pursuit of their treasure and they usually find it. But this treasure is not always defined as physical riches; the true treasure is happiness.

Yet somehow the laws of the universe are such that when one finds happiness in their endeavors, the universe will reward them with ample physical sustenance. "It's true: life really is generous to those who pursue their Personal Legend," Coelho wrote in The Alchemist.