Policy Observatory
Tor (The Onion Router) is an anonymity network that directs Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network that consists of relays, known as nodes, concealing the location and usage details of users, to protect their privacy. It is used for example by journalists and political activists to guarantee the confidentiality of their communications, but can also be used by criminals to hide their tracks from law enforcement.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation briefing, Flash cookies are stored outside the browser’s control and users cannot view or delete them. Nor are users notified when the cookies (which have no expiry date) are set. Flash cookies can track users in all the ways traditional old-style cookies do, but they can be stored or retrieved whenever a user accesses a page containing a Flash application – which is almost every page that most people access.
Andrea Shepard, the Tor developer who uncovered the real identity of her troll, says she was being harassed on and off for a year by a range of tweeters, all believed to be the sockpuppets of one man.
The suspected mastermind of the online drug emporium Silk Road is facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison after a jury returned a guilty verdict at the end of a four-week trial that revealed a plethora of detail about US investigations into the use of the bitcoin digital currency for drug trafficking and other crimes.
Ross Ulbricht, 30, was convicted on all seven charges which he had faced at Manhattan district court, including drug trafficking, criminal enterprise, aiding and abetting the distribution of drugs over the internet, computer hacking and money laundering.
In June 2015, the U.N's free speech watchdog, David Kaye, intends to present a new report on anonymity and encryption before the 47 Member States of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Yesterday, EFF filed comments urging Mr. Kaye to reaffirm the freedom to use encryption technology and to protect the right to speak, access and read information anonymously. Mr. Kaye’s report could be one of the most significant opportunities to strengthen our fundamental freedoms in the digital age at the international level.
Mr. Kaye’s official title is “Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression”. Special Rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme. His mandate is part of the Special Procedures, a central element of the United Nations human rights machinery that contributes to the development of international human rights standards.
Encryption and anonymity on the internet are necessary for the advancement of human rights, according to a new report from the United Nations. The report from David Kaye, a UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, asserts that privacy is a “gateway for freedom of opinion and expression.”
The report is available for download here.