This makes a lot of sense.[quote=“TechCrunch”]Imagine you are a pro-democracy protester on the streets of a repressive government. You’ve got your cellphone and you are messaging your friends. In the crowd near you, the police start making arrests. Fearing the government will confiscate your phone and investigate your contacts, you push a “panic button” on your phone. It deletes the contacts in your address book and sends out an alert. Such an app wasn’t readily available so the U.S. State Department, acting as a venture capitalist, decided to build one.
The State Department tells TechCrunch government funded work is underway to build an Android version of this “panic button” app. No release date has been set. Another version designed to work on low-cost Nokia phones, more common in the developing world, is being considered. No iPhone app is planned for now.
The special app, first reported by Reuters, is part of an initiative to promote new technologies for social activists. So far, the State Department has funded $22 million in “Internet freedom programming.” The money goes to innovators in the form of small grants ranging from a few to tens of thousands of dollars. TechCrunch asked who was getting the money, but due to the sensitive nature of the project, the government won’t disclose names.[/quote]Only I certainly wouldn’t trust that the gov’t wasn’t installing a backdoor so as to harvest all that data.
Also handy for any drug runner or member of any criminal syndicate suddenly nabbed. I’m sure the federales are working on a way to un-erase the panic button, or as you say, it deletes and downloads to some data base!
Yes. I was thinking about wikileaks activists who have been so frequently harassed that they’ve resorted to traveling without any electronics, or only flash drives encoded with the Bill of Rights, but I expect they’ve better protections already, and wouldn’t trust the gov’t code on this one.
As far as I know data cannot be removed from a hard drive, I’m not sure about flash memory. It would be better to have encrypted data on the cloud in a friendly country.
[quote=“Jaboney”]This makes a lot of sense.[quote=“TechCrunch”]Imagine you are a pro-democracy protester on the streets of a repressive government. You’ve got your cellphone and you are messaging your friends. In the crowd near you, the police start making arrests. Fearing the government will confiscate your phone and investigate your contacts, you push a “panic button” on your phone. It deletes the contacts in your address book and sends out an alert. Such an app wasn’t readily available so the U.S. State Department, acting as a venture capitalist, decided to build one.
The State Department tells TechCrunch government funded work is underway to build an Android version of this “panic button” app. No release date has been set. Another version designed to work on low-cost Nokia phones, more common in the developing world, is being considered. No iPhone app is planned for now.
The special app, first reported by Reuters, is part of an initiative to promote new technologies for social activists. So far, the State Department has funded $22 million in “Internet freedom programming.” The money goes to innovators in the form of small grants ranging from a few to tens of thousands of dollars. TechCrunch asked who was getting the money, but due to the sensitive nature of the project, the government won’t disclose names.[/quote]Only I certainly wouldn’t trust that the gov’t wasn’t installing a backdoor so as to harvest all that data.[/quote]
They certainly will, they have provisions with Microsoft and all the tech giants already, it’s not just China that plays this game.
Of course you can erase data on a hard drive. Any disk utility worth its salt can overwrite your “deleted” data with random 1s and 0s, preventing your deleted data from being recovered.
Of course you can erase data on a hard drive. Any disk utility worth its salt can overwrite your “deleted” data with random 1s and 0s, preventing your deleted data from being recovered.[/quote]
A big magnet or a microwave works on some things too.
Of course you can erase data on a hard drive. Any disk utility worth its salt can overwrite your “deleted” data with random 1s and 0s, preventing your deleted data from being recovered.[/quote]
A big magnet or a microwave works on some things too. [/quote]
Actually, the only thing that could stop anyone from ever retrieving data from a drive, is physical damage.
ie; hammer it to a point where it’s warped beyond recognition.
A powerful enough electro-magnet is also an alternative. (though not always 100% effective)
Otherwise, I or anyone else with the same forensics equipment or a clean room can most likely retrieve it for you.
The cost would obviously run you quite the penny, but it can usually be done.
Costs range from $2,000~$100,000 depending on the size of the media.
Of course you can erase data on a hard drive. Any disk utility worth its salt can overwrite your “deleted” data with random 1s and 0s, preventing your deleted data from being recovered.[/quote]
A big magnet or a microwave works on some things too. [/quote]
Actually, the only thing that could stop anyone from ever retrieving data from a drive, is physical damage.
ie; hammer it to a point where it’s warped beyond recognition.
A powerful enough electro-magnet is also an alternative. (though not always 100% effective)
Otherwise, I or anyone else with the same forensics equipment or a clean room can most likely retrieve it for you.
The cost would obviously run you quite the penny, but it can usually be done.
Costs range from $2,000~$100,000 depending on the size of the media.[/quote]
Damn right! Big brother is always watching! And sifting through your rubbish!
Formatting a drive doesn’t actually erase the data. It makes it inaccessible by normal methods, but there is specialized forensics hardware that can retrieve it.
However, you CAN erase a hard disk completely. Unfortunately, it can’t be done instantly, so if the storm troopers are breaking down your door, it’s probably too late. But if you’ve got an hour or so advance warning, Darik’s Boot & Nuke is your friend:
