
Wikileaks Releases New 'Insurance' Files - jlgreco
https://www.facebook.com/wikileaks/posts/561645433870573
======
Renaud
I wonder what are the risks associated with downloading and sharing such
torrents.

Evidently, anyone getting them becomes a highly visible target and once the
content of these torrents is known, you could become involved in the
distribution of classified data.

Even if the content is not known, it could be viewed as an 'unfriendly' act
and could make you become a "target of interest" to some zealous 3-letter
agency...

Maybe I'm too paranoid. On the other hand, maybe not enough. Hard to know
these days.

~~~
Karunamon
If I understand the law correctly, only military people have any prohibition
about touching, reading, distributing, etc classified data.

Normal citizens agreed to no such terms.

~~~
zdean
If I understand the law correctly, U.S. citizens cannot be assassinated by its
own government without the benefit of due process.

~~~
rayiner
You do state the law correctly, your confusion seems instead to be with
regards to the phrase "due process."

It means literally what it says: everyone is entitled to "due" (i.e.
warranted) process, not judicial process. What process is "due" in any given
case? It is, on its face, a context-sensitve inquiry.

If you trace the due process clause back to its origins in Clause 39 of the
Magna Carta, you'll see that it is not a guarantee of a trial in every case,
but rather a protection against arbitrary action: "No free man shall be seized
or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or
exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with
force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of
his equals _or by the law of the land_." The AUMF is, for better or worse, the
law of the land.

People gave Eric Holder a lot of flak when he stated that the Constitution
guarantees due process and not judicial process, but his comment was a totally
uncontroversial statement of the law. I'm pretty sure Greenwald knows that
too, since last time I checked NYU (where he got his JD) doesn't teach some
bizarro version of Constitutional Law where down is up and due process always
requires a trial.

~~~
greenyoda
Before mentioning "due process", the Fifth Amendment states:

 _" No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous
crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service
in time of War or public danger..."_

The exclusion for "cases arising in the land or naval forces" apparently
applies to members of the U.S. military, who can be tried under military law
(like Bradley Manning was). [1]

Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment says:

 _" In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been
previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of
the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the
Assistance of Counsel for his defence."_

So I don't understand how the Constitution allows the federal government the
right to execute a citizen without judicial process. Any references would be
sincerely appreciated.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Grand_jury)

~~~
brymaster
> So I don't understand how the Constitution allows the federal government the
> right to execute a citizen without judicial process. Any references would be
> sincerely appreciated.

I think you'll be waiting a long time for rayiner to give you one.

~~~
euroclydon
Clearly it is the "time of war."

~~~
greenyoda
The "time of war" clause applies to soldiers serving in the U.S. armed forces,
who are subject to military law. It doesn't apply to random U.S. citizens.

~~~
brymaster
That won't dissuade him. We live in strange times where people practicing
cognitive dissonance want to deny others their basic rights because
"terr'rists wanna blow you up!"

------
ChuckMcM
So what is the chance they put out an insurance file that they know can be
decrypted by the NSA and has really damaging documents in it? I mean it would
be a way of showing the NSA what you have, having it already in the hands of a
bunch of other people. I wonder if that would be a useful strategy. It could
give the NSA time to build a counter story (parallel construction :-) which
would be mitigate some of the impact, but it could also be construed as a form
of "responsible disclosure" letting them know before the world knows so they
can "patch their systems."

I hope some creative writer is out there doing some exploration out there in a
novel. Lots of interesting questions to think about with regard to the
mechanics of this whole story.

~~~
tjohns
If they're releasing something that they could reasonably expect the NSA to be
able to crack, there's a non-zero chance other governments would be able to
read it as well. That's not really "responsible disclosure" anymore.

It would be safer to just send the decryption key directly to the NSA on a CD.
;)

~~~
chimeracoder
Well, that also lets the NSA (or anybody who intercepts the CD) release the
key to try and make it look like it came from Wikileaks.

Depending on how an adversary times that, it could be damaging for Wikileaks.

~~~
gizmo686
They could encrypt it using a pre-existing NSA public key.

------
msantos
Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) tweeted at 1:00 AM on Sun, Aug 18, 2013: For
those asking, @MikeGrunwald's now-deleted tweet: "I can't wait to write a
defense of the drone strike that takes out Julian Assange"
([https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/368885133803143168](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/368885133803143168))

~~~
notdrunkatall
That's just horrible.

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hnha
why on earth is this a link to Facebook of all things?

~~~
buster
I don't understand why they don't post it on their own site.. but well.. here
is twitter:
[https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/368426845735120896](https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/368426845735120896)

~~~
brokenparser
Thanks, I can't access Facebook from here. Might as well post the direct
torrent URLs:

3,6GiB (20130815-A):

    
    
        http://wlstorage.net/torrent/wlinsurance-20130815-A.aes256.torrent
        magnet:?xt=urn:btih:e0a092ac0f9b56c886c41335ca36f34aaed6b80c&dn=wlinsurance-20130815-A.aes256&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80%2Fannounce
    

49GiB (20130815-B):

    
    
        http://wlstorage.net/torrent/wlinsurance-20130815-B.aes256.torrent
        magnet:?xt=urn:btih:95381785c3fb446df35c5b4a8e5ef167dcb72011&dn=wlinsurance-20130815-B.aes256&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80%2Fannounce
    

349GiB (20130815-C):

    
    
        http://wlstorage.net/torrent/wlinsurance-20130815-C.aes256.torrent
        magnet:?xt=urn:btih:091eed7793fdb48c5bd8488431e888dde41a889f&dn=wlinsurance-20130815-C.aes256&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.publicbt.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.istole.it%3A80%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.ccc.de%3A80%2Fannounce

------
adamnemecek
I wonder what could be 349GB worth of data. Probably not text. Video?

------
hayksaakian
This seems like a good plan to me, but can any crypto pros poke holes in it?

~~~
JoachimSchipper
Clearly, just use a standard solution (PGP). Don't do this with a weak
passphrase, and use key-strengthening (bcrypt etc.) just in case. Assange is
pretty good at crypto, so I'd expect Wikileaks to broadly get this right.

Also, they already got in trouble for reusing a password
([http://boingboing.net/2011/08/31/wikileaks-guardian-
journali...](http://boingboing.net/2011/08/31/wikileaks-guardian-journalist-
negligently-published-password-to-unredacted-cables.html)), so I'm pretty sure
they won't do that again...

~~~
stefantalpalaru
> Assange is pretty good at crypto

Not really. He gave a moron the password to a publicly distributed insurance
file instead of making a new encrypted file just for him.

~~~
JoachimSchipper
Are you aware of
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_(file_system)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberhose_\(file_system\))?

~~~
stefantalpalaru
No, I wasn't aware of it. The concept looks similar to TrueCrypt's plausible
deniability.

~~~
trevelyan
I think he is suggesting you read up on the authors.

~~~
stefantalpalaru
I've done that, but the project is long dead and it doesn't really showcase
the technical chops of its authors. It's more about good intentions.

------
crdoconnor
I wonder what specific eventuality they're actually insuring against. Capture
of Julian Assange?

~~~
nwh
I would expect that they are going to be releasing something big in the next
couple of weeks/months.

------
runn1ng
Frankly, given what is going on, I would bet on this being the Snowden's NSA
data

------
0x45696e6172
Part of Wikileaks' manifest is a promise to the leakers to release the
information eventually, and they have proven track record of doing so.

Aware of this, I wonder if new insurance files will have any influence on the
actions of their enemies.

~~~
thirstywhimbrel
| I wonder if new insurance files will have any influence on the actions of
their enemies.

Even without that, no effect. Blackmailing a bureaucracy... it's not like
dealing with a single rational actor. That's the Hollywood version of
Washington.

It's like coming upon a traffic jam and deciding you should bribe those
responsible so you can go on your way.

~~~
saraid216
> It's like coming upon a traffic jam and deciding you should bribe those
> responsible so you can go on your way.

This is officially my new favoritest analogy.

------
Sami_Lehtinen
Reading those comments on that Facebook page make me cry. Where is this thing
called humanity heading to?

