Hacktivismo

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Hacktivismo
Origin Las Vegas, Nevada
Country United States
Years active 1999–present
Category hacktivism
Founder(s) Oxblood Ruffin
Product(s) Camera/Shy
The Six/Four System
HESSLA
Affiliated Group(s) CULT OF THE DEAD COW
Ninja Strike Force
Website(s) Main Site
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Hacktivismo logo
Hacktivismo logo

Hacktivismo is an offshoot of CULT OF THE DEAD COW (cDc), whose beliefs include access to information as a basic human right. It was founded in 1999. Oxblood Ruffin, the director of Hacktivismo, has argued forcefully against definitions of hacktivism that include web defacements or denial-of-service attacks.

The group's beliefs are described fully in The Hacktivismo Declaration, which seeks to apply the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to the Internet.

Hacktivismo has also authored its own software license agreement, the Hacktivismo Enhanced-Source Software License Agreement (HESSLA), which is source available (but not open source).

Contents

[edit] Projects

[edit] Camera/Shy

Camera/Shy was the first Hacktivismo project released. It debuted in 2002 at the H.O.P.E. 2k2 convention in New York City. Written by The Pull, Camera/Shy is a steganographic tool that scans for and delivers decrypted content directly from the world wide web. It is a stand-alone, Internet Explorer-based web browser. It interprets and displays hidden information stored in the junk bits in GIF files.[1]

[edit] The Six/Four System

The Six/Four System is one of Hacktivismo's products. It was written by Mixter. The software is a censorship resistant network proxy. It works by using "trusted peers" to relay network connections over SSL encrypted links.[2] As an example, the distribution includes a program which will act as a web proxy, but where all of the connections will be hidden until they reach the far end trusted peer.[3]

Hacktivismo and the cDc further gained notoriety in 2003 when the Six/Four System became the first product of a hacker group to receive approval from the United States Department of Commerce for export of strong encryption.[4]

[edit] ScatterChat

ScatterChat is an encrypted instant messaging client based on Gaim. It was written by J. Salvatore Testa II and released at the H.O.P.E. Number Six conference in New York City on July 22, 2006. The code is source available, licensed under the HESSLA. It provides encryption as well as integrated onion routing with Tor, and secure file transfers. Scatterchat's security features include immunity from replay attacks and limited resistance to traffic analysis.[5][6][7] Various flaws in the software have been elaborated by researchers[8][9].

[edit] Torpark

Main article: XeroBank Browser

XeroBank Browser (formerly known as Torpark) is a variant of the Portable Firefox web browser with Tor built into it. XeroBank is intended for use on portable media such as a USB flash drive but it can also be used on any hard disk drive. cDc/Hacktivismo co-released v.1.5.0.7 along with Steve Topletz on September 19, 2006.[10][11][12]

[edit] Notable members

[edit] References

  1. ^ Einhorn, Bruce. "Hackers to Beijing: Have a Cow!." Business Week online edition, August 5, 2002. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
  2. ^ Mixter. "Six/Four System Protocol Specs," 2003. mixter@hacktivismo.com.
  3. ^ Mixter. "The Six/Four System; A Decentralized Anonymous Peer-To-Peer Network Infrastructure With Trust," README file in Six/Four distribution, 2003.
  4. ^ LaCroix, Norman E. "Hacktivismo_DoC_BIS.pdf." United States Department of Commerce, January 2003. Retrieved April 20, 2006.
  5. ^ "Hacktivismo Launches ScatterChat for Secure, Private Communication." CULT OF THE DEAD COW/Hacktivismo press release, July 21, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  6. ^ Tectonic staff, "Secure messenger to guard against totalitarian governments." Tectonic, July 21, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  7. ^ Doctorow, Cory, "ScatterChat: anonymous, secure chat." Boing Boing blog post, July 22, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  8. ^ Murdoch, Steven J., "Protocol design is hard — Flaws in ScatterChat." Light Blue Touchpaper blog post, August 11, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2007.
  9. ^ Schneier, Bruce, "ScatterChat." Schneier on Security blog post, July 31, 2006. Retrieved February 6, 2007.
  10. ^ "Hacktivismo Releases Torpark for Anonymous, Portable Web Browsing." CULT OF THE DEAD COW/Hacktivismo press release, September 19, 2006. Retrieved September 19, 2006.
  11. ^ "Free anonymising browser debuts." BBC News Online, September 20, 2006. Retrieved September 22, 2006.
  12. ^ Broersma, Matthew. "Activists unveil stealth browser." ZDNet, September 22, 2006. Retrieved September 22, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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