17 May 2013
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Spy-Bill and the results for internet usage in Namibia
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Written on: 09. 09. 2009 [19:45]
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gjensen
Gerard Jensen
Topic creator
registered since: 02.01.2009
Posts: 39
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Aparently, the vast majority of internet users in Namibia has not quite understood yet, what the "Spy-Bill" will mean for their daily lives - essentially it means throwing back Namibia into a pre-Internet era... and more. - GSM telephone networks: outlawed. Yepp, no more cellphones, please. Since GSM uses encryption algorithms both when autheticating a user (so called A3 encryption) as well as when transmitting the actual speech data (using A8 encryption), plus the fact that it uses a certain amount of anonymisation (at least on the ai side of the system - the IMSI is usually not transmitted between cellphone and cell station), utilising the current set of cellphones available in Namibia effectively becomes outlawed if the spy bill is enforced as it is now. Selling Tango cards (which contain equipment to encrypt information with an encoding algorithm that is kept secret - not only from Namibian authorities) becomes a crime. Owning a cellphone or UMTS data card / stick / 3G box (which obviously operates as it should - and as such uses encryption for the transmission of speech and/or data, no matter what the user thinks he has activated or not) becomes a crime. Calling your mother (and as such initiating an encrypted transmission between two endpoints) becomes a crime. Rediculous? Read the bill - *that bill* is crazy, not me... - Internet Banking: outlawed Back to the good old checkbooks, as using your computer to transfer funds turns out to be a risky business as soon as the spy bill becomes law in Namibia: after all, all communication between your computer and that of the bank is encrypted (and rightfully so - you do not wish your neighbour to be able to intercept your transactions or make transactions on behalf of you) - and that makes both you and the bank using it a criminal. ATM machines that are not directly located within a banks branch office will be outlawed too - after all, they too transfer data in an encrypted format. Centuries ago they used dedicated lines for that - these days all this communication works over normal phone lines. Mind you: paying your bill in a restaurant and using one of those speedpoints (which also transfer information in an encrypted way) essentially renders you a criminal: you have (knowingly or not) established a (hopefully) non-interceptable, encrypted communication between the restaurant and their bank on your behalf. - Using Skype for internet telephony: outlawed Headline news had it for quite some time right up the front page: Skype calls are so well encrypted, that even the Unites States National Security Agency (NSA) calls it a "mission impossible". In Namibia, they simply prohibit you from using Skype in the first place, as such encryption will be outlawed. Having a computer with Skype installed thus is already enough of a "smoking gun" to get you into legal trouble. I wonder what they will do with the thousands of tourists that come into Namibia with their laptops and cellphones that have Skype already installed on there (some Netbooks have it by default, Skype can be installed on Niokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson cellphones in just a few minutes) - jail them right as they arrive at Hosea Kutako? - Using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs): outlawed Most compnaies in Namibia these days connect to their branch offices and "road warriors" (here: sales staff - we're not talking about road rage here...) using VPN connections that use encrypted (and in many cases: *WELL* encrypted) communication channels. All this becomes a no-no - which in essence means that all companies in Namibia that do such communication (for example also to exchange business information with headoffices in South Africa, Europe or anywhere else) become criminals at an instant. Yet nobody seems to complain about this fact yet: as soon as the spy bill becomes active, you are actually obliged to cut all communication ties that use encrypted data in whatever form - does you business contingency plan actually cater for such complete stop of communication? - Using Microsoft Office: outlawed You may be tempted to gasp "what?!" here - but hang on a minute: according to section 76, subsection 2 (b), any equipment or software that "may be used to prevent lawfull interception or monitoring or rendering it less effective" will become prohibited. And since the encryption module of Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc. surely allows to encrypt an entire document or parts thereof in such a way that virtually any attempt to get to that data is at the very least rendered "less effective" than it would be if the data would be stored in plain unencoded text, this common business software will surely fall under that prohibition. Surely a bit like prohibiting you from using cars in Namibia, as you may conceal weapons in it in such a way that it would be "less effective" for police officers to find them than if you would be carrying them in your hand. - Usage of radio controlled alarm systems: prohibited! Securing your house may well be a criminal act: as the equipment used in such alarm systems has been specifically designed to defeat any attack (no matter if it is a government agency spying on you or a burglar trying to rob you blind), these units obviously also "render it less effective" for any intriding agency, if any attempt to enter a house or business premises "undercover" gets caught on video (obviously also stored forwarded in an encrypted format), if the alarm system can only be disarmed using a device that knows about the correct code and frequency hopping sequence, etc. - so both you and your surveillance compnay run the risk of becoming criminals just for protecting your posessions. In essence, the spy bill includes a hidden expropriation clause with this: you may own your house, but you are not allowed to own a lock or even be in the mere posession of a simple key, as that may make entering your premises without your knowledge "less effective". - Using the Internet in Namibia: outlawed!!! Indeed so, since every router and switch used in this country (nevermind the firewalls and VPN gateways) that can be termed "industrial sized" most likely has a remote administration interface built in, which (you guessed it) uses some or other sort of encryption. Since the usage of such equipment will become outlawed (it is not just me who doubts that politicians ever make correct assumptions when it comes to technology - so this scenario *will* materialze), operating networks that use such equipment will be outlawed. As internet providers can however not resort to qickly switch to unmanaged versions of such equipment (or for that matter: can't switch of encryption without risking illegal interception of all Internet traffic in Namibia by foreign hackers), they will simply have to halt using such equipment completely. I sincerely wonder if it should not be possible to show the Namibian gorvernment in a very drastic manner what kind of chaos they are inviting into this country with that half-baked law: what if all telecommunication companies in Namibia would pick a single day where they shut down all (!!!) equipment that could be termed to "render interception less effective"? Just for one day. My bet is: everything in Namibia grinds to a complete (and probably: rather expensive) standstill. It would be more effective that any union strike anywhere - and it may indeed turn out to be the most expensive learning exercise for the Namibian government ever, if these companies then decide to call it a day with all these services - at least to a point where a *seriously* revised version of that communications bill gets tabled - and not just bullied through. I wonder what the Namibian government could possibly do about that too - after all, all what they'd be doing is comply (to the very letter that is) with the new communications bill... Think that what I post here is nonsense? Read the bill yourself - and check out what's having less sense: my comments or that bill... |
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Written on: 05. 10. 2009 [16:51]
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Joe
Joe Brown
registered since: 05.10.2009
Posts: 2
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Thanks for this excellent analysis of the patent absurdities that under-pin the spying policy; surely the current paranoia is symptomatic of a deep unease within the ruling circles about the potential of the web and new media to break the information dam and flood the society with vital facts. The government does not want us to know what they are doing. It is becoming clear to everyone that by 2030, there will not be much left of our wealth, our country or our people. We must resist now in order to exist in the future. |
