
Anonymous Twitter Alternative Created For Protesters & Revolutionaries - server102
http://prohackingtricks.blogspot.com/2011/10/anonymous-twitter-alternative-developed.html
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bcl
Brought to you by the author of Belly Dancer and Pole Dancer.

This isn't a 'twitter alternative', it is an app for the iPhone. And it is
anonymous only because the author tells you so -- who knows what is being done
with the data on the backend.

The paranoid in me asks how hard would it be for 'the man' to put together an
app like this in order to track protesters activities, including location...

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eli
It's _much_ easier to block a messaging service used mostly by revolutionaries
than one used by everyone.

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vsl2
I guess its "anonymous" in the sense that the authorities couldn't quickly
identify posters in order to disrupt gatherings immediately. However, I don't
believe that there's any long-term anonymity (e.g. if you incite a deadly riot
by falsely yelling "bomb", the authorities will come looking for you). If the
police really wanted to find out who posted something, they could subpoena
Vibe for information about the phone (e.g. phone number) that made the
anonymous post.

Perhaps Vibe destroys all data about users/posts as soon as the posts
expire...but even then, the cell networks would have some record.

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redthrowaway
Vibe probably wouldn't have a record of your phone number, just your ip. If
messages were sent over SSL and detailed logs weren't kept, the best anyone
could say is that you accessed the site at that time. It's not perfect, but it
does have the potential to be reasonably good.

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garethsprice
Protesters and revolutionaries with an $x00 iPhone and a $99/mo data plan...

Interesting idea though - how could you create a system that would be useful?
Self-hosted/decentralized? Would hooking it into TOR or something cause an
unrealistic barrier to entry for average people?

How much of the value of Twitter/FB during a revolution is in pulling in the
extended networks of people who are already on the system but not yet involved
and how much is as an anonymous communications device between people who are
already involved?

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nateberkopec
prohackingtricks.blogspot.com? Sure, sounds legit.

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bsaunder
Vibe could address some of these concerns (and maybe already has done so) by
encrypting the communications and blurring the time and the gps coordinates in
the client prior to sending the data. Then server logs and network logs
wouldn't line up with the application reported data. Additionally they could
insert a random delay in the posting of any message so that it wouldn't be
clear which application message went with which server communication message.

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athoma
Pretty cool idea however I wonder when limiting the radius to who receives
your vibes how do you calculate the range to display your vibes. Also, if you
are protesting an area, and send a vibe, how do you prevent your vibe from
being reached by the authorities in the vicinity? Its a pretty cool idea to
have them self destruct after a couple of minutes though.

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micah63
Is there an android version?

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dreww
so... you give it your location? from your cellphone? sounds pretty anonymous.

