@@ -704,9 +704,9 @@ You can block ads for any devices connected to your local network by installing
** Set a static IP address
Once you've done that then ensure that your system has a static local IP address (typically 192.168..) using the option on the control panel. You will also need to know the IP address of your internet router, which is usually *192.168.1.1* or *192.168.1.254*.
Ensure that your system has a static local IP address (typically 192.168..) using the option on the control panel. You will also need to know the IP address of your internet router, which is usually *192.168.1.1* or *192.168.1.254*.
When that's done select *About this system* from the control panel and see the IPv4 address (ignore the /24 part). You can use this as a DNS address in two ways:
When that's done select *About this system* from the control panel and see the IPv4 address. You can use this as a DNS address in two ways:
** On each client system within your local network
After the system has installed a README file will be generated which contains passwords and some brief advice on using the installed systems. You can read this with the following commands:
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@@ -338,9 +338,9 @@ To exit you can either just close the terminal or use <b>CTRL-x CTRL-c</b> follo
<h2id="org8d61012">Administrating the system via an onion address (Tor)</h2>
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You can also access your system via the Tor system using an onion address. To find out what the onion address for ssh access is you can do the following:
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@@ -434,9 +434,9 @@ Subsequently even if dynamic DNS isn't working you may still be able to administ
<ahref="https://syncthing.net">Syncthing</a> provides a similar capability to proprietary systems such as Dropbox, and also is well suited for use with low power single board computers. You can have one or more directories which are synchronized across your various laptops/desktops/devices, and this makes it hard for you to ever lose important files. The manner in which the synchronization is done is pretty secure, such that it would be difficult for passive adversaries (mass surveillance, "<i>men in the middle</i>", etc) to know what files you're sharing. Of course, you don't necessarily need to be running a server in order to use Syncthing, but if you do have a server which is always running then there's always at least one place to synchronize your files to or from.
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@@ -446,9 +446,9 @@ Freedombone provides Syncthing shared directories for each user on the system, p
An easy way to play music on any mobile device in your home is to use the DLNA service. Copy your music into a directory called "<i>Music</i>" on a USB thumb drive and then insert it into from socket on the Beaglebone.
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<h3id="orgb0c22f7">Direct Messages (DMs) and privacy</h3>
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One important point about GNU Social is that although direct messages (DMs) are treated as being private their security is quite poor. If you want real communications privacy then use other systems such as XMPP+OMEMO/OTR, Tox or email with GPG. GNU Social is primarily about <i>fully public communications</i>.
If you have the GNU Social microblogging system installed then it's also possible to share things or services between groups or with particular users. This can be useful for sharing items within a family, club or in a local sharing economy. Sharing things freely, without money, reveals the social basis at the root of all economics which money normally conceals or obscures.
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Both Hubzilla and GNU Social try to obtain certificates automatically at the time of installation via Let's Encrypt. This will likely mean that in order for this to work you'll need to have obtained at least one "official" domain via a domain selling service, since Let's Encrypt mostly doesn't seem to work with free subdomains from sites such as freeDNS.
On first visiting your Hubzilla site you'll see the login screen. The first thing you need to do is <b>register</b> a new user. The first user on the system then becomes its administrator.
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IRC is useful for multi-user chat. The classic use case is for software development where many engineers might need to coordinate their activities, but it's also useful for meetings, parties and general socialising.
HexChat (formerly XChat) is compatible with proxying via Tor and so provides the best security when connecting to your IRC server. It will allow you to connect to your IRC server's onion address.
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<h4id="org100db94">Changing or removing the IRC password</h4>
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<p>
By default the IRC server is set up to require a password for users to log in. The password is the same for all users. If you want to change or remove the password:
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A well written article on the state of XMPP and how it compares to other chat protocols <ahref="https://gultsch.de/xmpp_2016.html">can be found here</a>.
In mid 2016 <ahref="https://gajim.org/">Gajim</a> became the first desktop XMPP client to support the <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMEMO">OMEMO end-to-end security standard</a>, which is superior to the more traditional <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging">OTR</a> since it also includes multi-user chat and the ratcheting mechanism pioneered by Open Whisper Systems. To install it:
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The <ahref="https://profanity.im">Profanity</a> shell based user interface and is perhaps the simplest way to use XMPP from a laptop. It's also a good way to ensure that your OTR keys are the same even when logging in from different laptops or devices, and it also means that if those devices later become compomised then there are no locally stored OTR keys to be found.
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Jitsi is the recommended communications client for desktop or laptop systems, since it includes the <i>off the record</i> (OTR) feature which provides some additional security beyond the usual SSL certificates.
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The default XMPP client in Ubuntu is Empathy. Using Empathy isn't as secure as using Jitsi, since it doesn't include the <i>off the record</i> feature, but since it's the default it's what many users will have easy access to.
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Tor Messenger is a messaging client which supports XMPP, and its onion routing enables you to protect the metadata of chat interactions to some extent by making it difficult for an adversary to know which server is talking to which. You can download Tor Messenger from <ahref="https://torproject.org">torproject.org</a> and the setup is pretty simple.
Tox is an encrypted peer-to-peer messaging system and so should work without Freedombone. It uses a system of nodes which act as a sort of directory service allowing users to find and connect to each other. The Tox node ID on the Freedombone can be found within the README within your home directory. If you have other users connect to your node then you will be able to continue chatting even when no other nodes are available.
In addition to voice it is also possible to do text chat via mumble. The security of this is pretty good provided that you do it via Plumble and Orbot on mobile, but compared to other options such as XMPP/Conversations or Tox the security is not as good, since the mumble server currently doesn't support forward secrecy.
Freedombone also supports SIP phones The username and domain is the same as for your email address, and the SIP password and extension number will appear within the README file in your home directory. Various SIP client options are available, such as CSipSimple on Android and Jitsi on desktop or laptop machines. Ideally use clients which support ZRTP, which will provide the best level of security.
<ahref="https://jitsi.org/Documentation/ZrtpFAQ">ZRTP</a> appears to be the current best standard to end-to-end encrypted voice calls, combining good security with simplicity of use. When the initial cryptographic negotiation between phones is done at the start of a call a short authentication string (SAS) is calculated and displayed at both ends. To check that there isn't anyone intercepting the call and acting as a <i>man in the middle</i> - as <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker">stingray type devices</a> try to do - the short authentication string can be read out and verbally confirmed between the callers. If it's the same then you can be pretty confident that the call is secure.
The way that RSS reading is set up on Freedombone gives you strong reading privacy. Not only is there onion routing between you and the server but also between the server and the source of the RSS feed. The only down side is that many RSS feeds are still http only, and so could be vulnerable to injection attacks, but it's expected that more of this will go to https in the foreseeable future due to a combination of growing recognition of security issues and systems like Let's Encrypt which make obtaining certificates much easier.
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To access the RSS reader from a mobile device you can install a Tor compatible browser such as OrFox. It will try to automatically change to the mobile version of the user interface. Remember to add the site to the NoScript whitelist, and you may also need to turn HTTPS Everywhere off.
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@@ -1530,9 +1530,9 @@ A note for the paranoid is that on mobile devices you get redirected to a differ
Github is ok, but it's proprietary and funded by venture capital. If you been around on the internet for long enough then you know how this story eventually works itself out - i.e. badly for the users. It's really only a question of time. If you're a software developer or do things which involve the Git version control system then it's a good idea to become accustomed to hosting your own repositories, before the inevitable Github shitstorm happens.
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Everyone except for advertisers hates adverts. Not only are they annoying, but they can consume a lot of bandwidth, be a privacy problem in terms of allowing companies to track your browsing habits and also any badly written scripts they contain may introduce exploitable security holes.
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@@ -1651,22 +1651,22 @@ You can block ads for any devices connected to your local network by installing
Once you've done that then ensure that your system has a static local IP address (typically 192.168..) using the option on the control panel. You will also need to know the IP address of your internet router, which is usually <b>192.168.1.1</b> or <b>192.168.1.254</b>.
Ensure that your system has a static local IP address (typically 192.168..) using the option on the control panel. You will also need to know the IP address of your internet router, which is usually <b>192.168.1.1</b> or <b>192.168.1.254</b>.
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<p>
When that's done select <b>About this system</b> from the control panel and see the IPv4 address (ignore the /24 part). You can use this as a DNS address in two ways:
When that's done select <b>About this system</b> from the control panel and see the IPv4 address. You can use this as a DNS address in two ways:
You can configure the block lists which the system uses by going to the <b>administrator control panel</b>, selecting <b>App Settings</b> then choosing <b>pihole</b>. You can also add any extra domain names to the whitelist if they're being wrongly blocked or to the blacklist if they're not blocked by the current lists.
