Tor Is Looking For Students Who Want To Develop Privacy Tools

After years of having participated in a Google initiative where students were paid to the development of open source software, have the Tor Project, known from the Tor anonymizing network, and the American civil rights movement EFF now decided to launch an initiative in which students from all over the world are paid for the further development of the Tor privacy tools.

From 2007 to the Tor Project participated last year in the Google Summer of Code . Google paid for several months, students who wanted to contribute to open source software projects. So the students could gain practical experience, while the open source projects could benefit from the extra programming power. The size of the Google initiative has been adjusted, allowing Gate and the EFF not participate this year.

It was then decided to start his own initiative, called Tor Summer of Privacy . Students from all over the world, also from the Netherlands can apply for one of the available spots. For every student is a grant of $ 5,000 available. The idea is that students, under the supervision of a mentor, existing Tor privacy tools or develop their own ideas to improve the software.Registration is possible until April 17th. On 25 May, the Summer of Privacy start to finish then on 1 September.

Pentagon Late Develop Online Privacy Tools

The research arm of the Pentagon is working on privacy tools allowing Internet users have more control over their private information, while the value of their online data can still be used. The Brandeis progam, named after Louis Dembitz Brandeis, the man who invented the concept of a right to privacy, it was announced this week and will be conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon.

The program will look at how users can understand data in their systems and the Internet, operate and manage. It is about simple intentions show a purpose, risks and benefits, such as "share photos only with approved family and friends." At this moment are existing methods for protecting private information broadly into two categories, namely filtering data at the source and the confidence of the party collecting the data.

The filtering of data at the source, such as the removal of a person's name or identity, and through the development of algorithms less and less protection. For example, researchers have shown that the combination of postcode and gender is sufficient to identify 87% of Americans by name. On the other hand, confidence in parties that collect data and should be protected, given the large number of data leaks, no solution.

"At present, consumers do not have effective ways to protect their own data, and the people with whom we share data are often not effective in protecting it," says DARPA program manager John Launchbury. "The purpose of the Brandeis program is to break the voltage between privacy and the use of the huge value of data." Instead of balancing privacy and data usage comes Brandeis with a third option, so data can be shared safely and predictably, while privacy is guaranteed.

Impact

According to DARPA Brandeis program the potential to have a major impact. As long as data privacy is assured, for example personalized medicines are developed, for example, by detecting correlations between genetic information and the effectiveness of various methods of treatment, or the development of smarter cities where there is more energy efficient and traffic is handled.

In the case of Internet companies and devices might share continuous data on cyber attacks resulting in a larger "Internet awareness" and creates more online protection. "Without strong privacy controls these possibilities could not fully be exploited," said DARPA. For the development of the program is earmarked 4.5 years, every 18 months part system is demonstrated.

Organization Wants Gate And DuckDuckGo On Library Computers

Libraries are ideal places to promote privacy and anonymity and would therefore privacy tools like Tor Browser, DuckDuckGo, Tails and HTTPS Everywhere must be installed on library computers. This is suggested by the Library Freedom Project , a US organization that focuses on American libraries, but also helps libraries in other countries with this issue.

The Library Freedom Project also helps libraries with giving privacy-oriented computer classes. During the technical part, the aforementioned tools discussed. The library staff will explain how they Tor relays can be set and the standard library website over HTTPS can run. "Librarians are a professional group that have always been important privacy, but the development of mass surveillance has overtaken their technical capabilities," says Alison Macrina, founder of the Library Freedom Project.

According Macrina she learned librarians thanks to the tools of the Tor community to spread the use of anti-surveillance tools to the public. After being trained librarians begin their own lessons. "These lessons make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people who seek practical ways to get their digital privacy," said Macrina. She notes that the feedback from the ordinary Internet users the Tor Project may in turn help to increase the usability of Tor Browser and other tools.