1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,979 [Music] 2 00:00:01,979 --> 00:00:03,959 hello everyone thank you for coming to 3 00:00:03,959 --> 00:00:06,480 my talk the man in the middle is a short 4 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,160 history of the black community's battle 5 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:09,300 with big Tech and government 6 00:00:09,300 --> 00:00:12,840 surveillance my name is Alexis Hancock 7 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:14,460 I am the director of engineering at the 8 00:00:14,460 --> 00:00:16,320 Electronic Frontier Foundation a 9 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:18,539 non-profit organization that helps to 10 00:00:18,539 --> 00:00:19,920 protect your digital Liberties online 11 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:21,840 it's been around for a little over 30 12 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:22,740 years 13 00:00:22,740 --> 00:00:24,840 and I've been a technologist for about 14 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,880 10 so 15 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:28,500 I've been everything from web 16 00:00:28,500 --> 00:00:30,660 development web developer to assist 17 00:00:30,660 --> 00:00:34,260 admin to software engineer one two three 18 00:00:34,260 --> 00:00:35,640 all of those things at different 19 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,960 companies and non-profits and agencies 20 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,700 I currently manage to open source 21 00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:44,280 projects certified and https everywhere 22 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,559 under the encrypt the web initiative at 23 00:00:46,559 --> 00:00:48,239 eff 24 00:00:48,239 --> 00:00:50,760 I also create security education content 25 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:52,860 when I can and also give security 26 00:00:52,860 --> 00:00:54,780 trainings when I can 27 00:00:54,780 --> 00:00:57,360 I also research digital identity 28 00:00:57,360 --> 00:00:59,579 technology internet security policy 29 00:00:59,579 --> 00:01:01,079 especially as it pertains to government 30 00:01:01,079 --> 00:01:04,019 Network surveillance and censorship and 31 00:01:04,019 --> 00:01:05,519 occasional mobile security research 32 00:01:05,519 --> 00:01:08,299 especially on Android 33 00:01:08,939 --> 00:01:10,880 so the background to this 34 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,460 was in 2019 I had just finished reading 35 00:01:14,460 --> 00:01:16,080 this book in particular and had a few 36 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,140 questions about how did we successfully 37 00:01:19,140 --> 00:01:21,060 circumvent surveillance 38 00:01:21,060 --> 00:01:23,159 and organize with each other 39 00:01:23,159 --> 00:01:25,580 between not only plantations but 40 00:01:25,580 --> 00:01:28,080 different you know Community Pockets 41 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,000 over time all the way through Jim Crow 42 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,500 when we were under such heavy 43 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:32,939 surveillance by the government even to 44 00:01:32,939 --> 00:01:35,040 this day we still are in many different 45 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:36,840 respects especially if you are involved 46 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:38,400 with black lives matter in any way 47 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,460 respect shape or form you'll probably be 48 00:01:41,460 --> 00:01:43,619 have been you know or known someone 49 00:01:43,619 --> 00:01:45,119 who's targeted by surveillance in some 50 00:01:45,119 --> 00:01:47,939 way and I will tie all of that to modern 51 00:01:47,939 --> 00:01:51,360 times from this period where I had 52 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,520 questions especially since the story 53 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,520 goes over Maroons in particular are the 54 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:58,560 American Maroons we know about 55 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,200 The Maroons in Jamaica a lot of people 56 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,840 may know about the revolution of Haiti 57 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,820 when they had liberated themselves From 58 00:02:05,820 --> 00:02:08,399 Slavery but not much has said it besides 59 00:02:08,399 --> 00:02:11,280 you know the Nat Turner Rebellion or you 60 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:12,840 know Harper's failure fairy rebellion 61 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,000 and those different bigger events but 62 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,040 those bigger events were all led up to 63 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,599 the smaller events of rebellion and 64 00:02:21,599 --> 00:02:24,239 resistance and those smaller networks 65 00:02:24,239 --> 00:02:26,160 that were created outside of plantations 66 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,800 where enslaved people had ran away and 67 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:30,239 freed themselves and actually lived 68 00:02:30,239 --> 00:02:32,160 within miles of the plantation that they 69 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,140 ran away from to stay connected with 70 00:02:34,140 --> 00:02:37,140 family and so they were able to 71 00:02:37,140 --> 00:02:39,300 traffic information between plantations 72 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:41,239 with this network especially with 73 00:02:41,239 --> 00:02:43,080 enslaved Africans that were a little bit 74 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,200 more mobile like boatmen fairy men cargo 75 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:49,200 carriers and such of people who were 76 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:50,819 allowed to at least go Plantation to 77 00:02:50,819 --> 00:02:53,160 Plantation and they were very pivotal in 78 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,340 that network of communication between 79 00:02:55,340 --> 00:02:57,420 plantations since they couldn't read and 80 00:02:57,420 --> 00:02:59,099 write they had to pretty much use their 81 00:02:59,099 --> 00:03:01,319 voice and so they had to use a lot of 82 00:03:01,319 --> 00:03:04,260 verbal cues and communication and I 83 00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:05,879 think the most prevalent example of this 84 00:03:05,879 --> 00:03:08,400 is probably the Underground Railroad 85 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,560 like we're all familiar with that but 86 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:12,659 that was these actions were like the 87 00:03:12,659 --> 00:03:14,519 precursor to help build something like 88 00:03:14,519 --> 00:03:17,040 the Underground Railroad because we were 89 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:18,780 already kind of in practice with that 90 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:20,580 and then this book confirmed to me 91 00:03:20,580 --> 00:03:22,440 something that was very important that 92 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:24,180 you know 93 00:03:24,180 --> 00:03:26,640 and slaves being enslaved during this 94 00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,879 time was such a traumatic situation for 95 00:03:29,879 --> 00:03:32,640 a mass group of people who spoke 96 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:34,620 different languages you know and and 97 00:03:34,620 --> 00:03:36,000 were able to come together and actually 98 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,700 create a new language Creole and others 99 00:03:38,700 --> 00:03:41,640 um that were similar in dialect and also 100 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:43,440 the fact that they never gave their 101 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,120 enslavers a night of sleep like never 102 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:47,819 and it was you know it's not so much as 103 00:03:47,819 --> 00:03:50,459 comforting but it's a it's a fact that 104 00:03:50,459 --> 00:03:53,280 this book portrays where it's like they 105 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,060 had to outsmart them all the time 106 00:03:57,060 --> 00:03:59,400 um their enslavers um the people who 107 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:01,200 were overseers the people who were 108 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:03,900 plantation owners like they never really 109 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:06,000 got to rest while they enacted this 110 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:07,500 horrible system on this group of people 111 00:04:07,500 --> 00:04:09,540 and I'm glad they never got rest you 112 00:04:09,540 --> 00:04:11,459 know you know I didn't and you don't 113 00:04:11,459 --> 00:04:13,080 want these type of people to sleep at 114 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,000 night and they never gave them a wink of 115 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,918 sleep there was always a rebellion there 116 00:04:16,918 --> 00:04:18,959 was always something in question and 117 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:21,358 this book kind of paints that picture of 118 00:04:21,358 --> 00:04:24,600 the fact that this type of system 119 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,780 uh was not easy to maintain because 120 00:04:27,780 --> 00:04:30,000 people were always organizing always 121 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:31,800 communicating with each other despite 122 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,080 the fact that All Odds were against them 123 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:37,199 terrain language written Communications 124 00:04:37,199 --> 00:04:39,660 you know this book kind of highlights 125 00:04:39,660 --> 00:04:41,699 that really powerful story behind the 126 00:04:41,699 --> 00:04:44,280 scenes of not just you know defeat but 127 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:46,320 large amounts of Triumph in a way 128 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:47,639 because you know we're still here 129 00:04:47,639 --> 00:04:50,360 because of them 130 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,419 and a lot of this too was about you know 131 00:04:54,419 --> 00:04:56,400 the fact that hacker history and stuff 132 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,139 doesn't really get told intended with 133 00:04:58,139 --> 00:04:59,820 black history and I think there's 134 00:04:59,820 --> 00:05:01,259 definitely 135 00:05:01,259 --> 00:05:04,020 particular reasons for that but I try to 136 00:05:04,020 --> 00:05:07,139 group in certain types of situations 137 00:05:07,139 --> 00:05:09,360 like wiretapping in the U in the United 138 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,460 States and and the development of the 139 00:05:11,460 --> 00:05:13,080 Telecommunications technology we use 140 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,720 today so wiretapping and public opinion 141 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,199 on wiretapping was largely shaped by how 142 00:05:19,199 --> 00:05:22,380 it was being used and so the first major 143 00:05:22,380 --> 00:05:24,300 case of talking about how law 144 00:05:24,300 --> 00:05:26,160 enforcement was using wiretapping was 145 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:28,919 Olmsted versus United States Olmsted was 146 00:05:28,919 --> 00:05:30,479 a bootlegger 147 00:05:30,479 --> 00:05:31,440 um this was during the time of 148 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:32,880 prohibition 149 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:34,620 and 150 00:05:34,620 --> 00:05:37,199 they had deployed wiretapping against 151 00:05:37,199 --> 00:05:39,960 his ring of importing liquor and 152 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:41,340 shipping it around 153 00:05:41,340 --> 00:05:43,860 so found out that this wiretapping 154 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:45,720 happened and Olmsted said that his 155 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:47,400 fourth and fifth amendment rights were 156 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,320 violated in this case in the Supreme 157 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:51,240 Court had determined that his fourth and 158 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,280 fifth rights were not violated This was 159 00:05:53,280 --> 00:05:54,720 later overturned by a different case 160 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:57,360 cats versus United States I believe but 161 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:59,699 that was decades later 162 00:05:59,699 --> 00:06:02,520 but this particular case in 28 163 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:04,080 um 1928 164 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,419 was very important in terms of shaping 165 00:06:06,419 --> 00:06:08,639 public opinion on why law enforcement 166 00:06:08,639 --> 00:06:11,100 wanted to wire to happen and saying like 167 00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:13,919 hey look the moral fabric of America is 168 00:06:13,919 --> 00:06:16,380 in danger and in this terminology and 169 00:06:16,380 --> 00:06:18,419 this usage of moral Fabric and Public 170 00:06:18,419 --> 00:06:20,639 Safety gets used a lot when talking 171 00:06:20,639 --> 00:06:23,039 about law enforcement and wiretapping 172 00:06:23,039 --> 00:06:27,120 and then you go into 40s which was you 173 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,940 know that was during wartime and a lot 174 00:06:29,940 --> 00:06:32,280 of uh secret Communications tactics were 175 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:34,259 developed during that time of war and 176 00:06:34,259 --> 00:06:36,060 then you push forward into the 50s and 177 00:06:36,060 --> 00:06:37,680 60s and I point out this particular 178 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:40,860 movie called The called wiretapper it 179 00:06:40,860 --> 00:06:43,440 was based off a really real person uh 180 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:46,380 named Jim Vaughn Jim Voss sorry 181 00:06:46,380 --> 00:06:48,600 and Jim boss used to be more engaged 182 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,039 with criminal activities and then later 183 00:06:50,039 --> 00:06:53,039 on help the police to wiretap because he 184 00:06:53,039 --> 00:06:54,720 had very Innovative devices he would 185 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,340 create where they didn't even need to 186 00:06:56,340 --> 00:06:58,620 break an enter in order to wire to app 187 00:06:58,620 --> 00:07:02,160 so they called on him and then this 188 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,080 movie was kind of created based off his 189 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:06,360 character and his story because he later 190 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,360 on converted to being a Christian and 191 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:11,460 there's even I think the movie ends on a 192 00:07:11,460 --> 00:07:13,139 Billy Graham speech if you're familiar 193 00:07:13,139 --> 00:07:15,060 with Billy Graham and 194 00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:18,000 um televangelist type 195 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,160 um days so 196 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,160 this all kind of pushed wiretapping into 197 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,380 like you can he used it for good and 198 00:07:25,380 --> 00:07:27,979 wiretapping is almost like an act of God 199 00:07:27,979 --> 00:07:31,919 uh in order to uh increase morality in 200 00:07:31,919 --> 00:07:34,080 the United States and maintain you know 201 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:37,919 safety and morality and then you had in 202 00:07:37,919 --> 00:07:40,020 1968 where that same language of 203 00:07:40,020 --> 00:07:42,660 morality and safety gets pushed into the 204 00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:44,460 Omnibus crime and control Crime Control 205 00:07:44,460 --> 00:07:46,740 and Safe Streets act where a particular 206 00:07:46,740 --> 00:07:49,740 Senator uh Senator McClellan 207 00:07:49,740 --> 00:07:51,960 from Arkansas he was a democrat in the 208 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,020 staunch segregationist and he had pushed 209 00:07:55,020 --> 00:07:56,220 for 210 00:07:56,220 --> 00:07:59,580 this act to have Provisions for law 211 00:07:59,580 --> 00:08:01,199 enforcement to be able to wiretap 212 00:08:01,199 --> 00:08:03,780 because he wanted to stop the 213 00:08:03,780 --> 00:08:06,900 extremist groups out there who were in 214 00:08:06,900 --> 00:08:09,300 extremist groups also including you know 215 00:08:09,300 --> 00:08:10,860 anyone involved with the Civil Rights 216 00:08:10,860 --> 00:08:12,360 Movement whether it be black panther or 217 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:13,620 not 218 00:08:13,620 --> 00:08:17,400 um to to be investigated without you 219 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,800 know warrant you know have a warrantless 220 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:21,780 search with wiretapping without being 221 00:08:21,780 --> 00:08:23,879 notified without being served a warrant 222 00:08:23,879 --> 00:08:26,520 so this act was very pivotal in that 223 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,800 case where I I don't even believe that 224 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:30,360 the senator even knew about cointel pro 225 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:31,680 at the time that wasn't Declassified 226 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:33,599 until later because the FBI was already 227 00:08:33,599 --> 00:08:37,200 doing warrantless wiretapping by 68 like 228 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,019 we all sort of know that but this act 229 00:08:40,019 --> 00:08:41,519 kind of put in the public light and put 230 00:08:41,519 --> 00:08:43,320 it on the books as a very legal thing to 231 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,300 do rather than a behind the scenes 232 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:47,459 operation by the FBI 233 00:08:47,459 --> 00:08:49,019 and there was a lot of adjacent public 234 00:08:49,019 --> 00:08:50,820 sentiments that came along with 235 00:08:50,820 --> 00:08:53,700 extremist black groups it was also a lot 236 00:08:53,700 --> 00:08:55,980 of Red Scare Tactics of you know getting 237 00:08:55,980 --> 00:08:58,680 organized crime there was even a lot of 238 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:01,440 um you know push to catch gamblers and 239 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:05,040 and and and even other like mob crimes 240 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:06,660 stuff like that to actually deploy 241 00:09:06,660 --> 00:09:09,120 wiretapping on other organized crime and 242 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:10,980 kind of like reel in 243 00:09:10,980 --> 00:09:13,740 um these groups through wiretapping and 244 00:09:13,740 --> 00:09:16,140 showing these cases as like see look 245 00:09:16,140 --> 00:09:18,180 this is a good example of wiretapping 246 00:09:18,180 --> 00:09:21,620 and this is why we need to do this 247 00:09:21,839 --> 00:09:24,660 and so tracking back to 1964 and the 248 00:09:24,660 --> 00:09:25,920 type of technology that the black 249 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:27,660 community used at the time in order to 250 00:09:27,660 --> 00:09:30,180 organize in order to get information out 251 00:09:30,180 --> 00:09:32,519 there was radio and phone so 252 00:09:32,519 --> 00:09:34,440 radio is most often used for public 253 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,620 information and phone lines uh were used 254 00:09:37,620 --> 00:09:39,600 for communication between civil rights 255 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,140 organizations 256 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,560 and so this goes into a t or the 257 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:50,220 localism uh the term Ma Bell if you 258 00:09:50,220 --> 00:09:52,500 remember hearing that term growing up 259 00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:56,040 but Ma Bell was the Monopoly the ATT 260 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,519 um dominated telecommunications from 261 00:09:58,519 --> 00:10:02,779 1877 to 1983 that's over a century so 262 00:10:02,779 --> 00:10:05,279 they were just one entity that the 263 00:10:05,279 --> 00:10:07,560 police could go to and ask okay we need 264 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:10,140 a wiretap and you know there was no 265 00:10:10,140 --> 00:10:11,940 other companies go through two at the 266 00:10:11,940 --> 00:10:14,579 time was just them and you still see 267 00:10:14,579 --> 00:10:15,899 remnants of the Bell System today 268 00:10:15,899 --> 00:10:18,000 because at T still exists today today 269 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:20,279 even after the Anti-Trust Bank breakup 270 00:10:20,279 --> 00:10:23,700 so they're still doing fine and then you 271 00:10:23,700 --> 00:10:26,279 have Bellow system breakup and it was 272 00:10:26,279 --> 00:10:27,720 kind of like kept this naming Convention 273 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,360 of Bell so Pacific Bell southern belle 274 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,019 southern belle was very much so involved 275 00:10:33,019 --> 00:10:36,180 in a lot of the the issues with the 276 00:10:36,180 --> 00:10:37,920 Civil Rights Movement being wiretapped 277 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:39,180 and so 278 00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:41,100 even after the breakup it was still an 279 00:10:41,100 --> 00:10:43,399 issue 280 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:48,360 uh at T from 1960 to 1975 to push in a 281 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,399 little bit of phone freak history they 282 00:10:50,399 --> 00:10:53,040 were aware about blue boxes in 1961 if 283 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,019 you're not aware what blue boxes are 284 00:10:55,019 --> 00:10:57,360 they are multi-frequency communication 285 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,339 devices that 286 00:10:59,339 --> 00:11:01,860 um mimic that dial tone numbers that you 287 00:11:01,860 --> 00:11:04,079 hear and were able to get free phone 288 00:11:04,079 --> 00:11:06,240 calls essentially and phone freaks were 289 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,220 very into this device during this time 290 00:11:08,220 --> 00:11:10,140 especially through 64. it was very 291 00:11:10,140 --> 00:11:11,339 popular then 292 00:11:11,339 --> 00:11:13,440 and 293 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:15,779 they ran Mass recordings they being ATT 294 00:11:15,779 --> 00:11:19,620 to detect this toll fraud but they 295 00:11:19,620 --> 00:11:21,720 didn't really want to admit to 296 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,339 um but publicly say like Hey we're 297 00:11:23,339 --> 00:11:25,500 recording without consent and they 298 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:26,700 didn't want a lot of heat on them so 299 00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:28,680 they had a very cozy relationship with 300 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:31,260 law enforcement to make sure that you 301 00:11:31,260 --> 00:11:32,820 know I guess the heat was off of them 302 00:11:32,820 --> 00:11:34,620 because they look we are helping the 303 00:11:34,620 --> 00:11:38,160 police catch the bad guys so they you 304 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,620 know allowed them to wire tap whenever 305 00:11:40,620 --> 00:11:42,480 warrantless search whenever on phone 306 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:45,060 calls and in exchange it kind of kept 307 00:11:45,060 --> 00:11:46,860 Anti-Trust at Bay because they were 308 00:11:46,860 --> 00:11:48,360 pretty much seen as friends of the law 309 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,459 and it didn't keep it long for that long 310 00:11:50,459 --> 00:11:52,139 keep it off for that long you know 311 00:11:52,139 --> 00:11:54,899 because in 83 they were broken up but 312 00:11:54,899 --> 00:11:57,180 still they were still um 313 00:11:57,180 --> 00:12:00,779 very much so involved with uh keeping 314 00:12:00,779 --> 00:12:02,940 their power in this way of of forging 315 00:12:02,940 --> 00:12:04,320 their relationship with the law which 316 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,200 became turbulent in the 90s but I will 317 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,880 get to that point a little bit later 318 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,680 and so a particular type of phone line 319 00:12:13,680 --> 00:12:15,600 that was used by civil rights 320 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:17,279 organization was called wide area 321 00:12:17,279 --> 00:12:19,680 telephone service or watch phone lines 322 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:23,160 they would have precursor to 800 numbers 323 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:25,320 back then long distance even through the 324 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:26,880 90s was still considered pretty 325 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,639 expensive and even then during the 60s 326 00:12:29,639 --> 00:12:31,740 50s and 60s like County day County calls 327 00:12:31,740 --> 00:12:33,779 were built as long distance so if you 328 00:12:33,779 --> 00:12:35,160 had an in-watch phone line that your 329 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:37,200 company or organization paid for anyone 330 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:38,760 making that call to that phone line 331 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:40,560 would 332 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:42,300 um it would be for free for them and you 333 00:12:42,300 --> 00:12:44,339 would have to pay pay a flat monthly fee 334 00:12:44,339 --> 00:12:47,100 to maintain that line so organizations 335 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:51,480 with watch lines were Snick core kofo 336 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,240 seoc or organizations that we probably 337 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,639 are very familiar with in passing of 338 00:12:56,639 --> 00:12:58,500 learning about civil rights organizing 339 00:12:58,500 --> 00:13:00,240 and 340 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:02,579 and they use these lines in order to get 341 00:13:02,579 --> 00:13:04,860 information out there fast 342 00:13:04,860 --> 00:13:06,660 between each other and now it actually 343 00:13:06,660 --> 00:13:08,820 have like something called Watts reports 344 00:13:08,820 --> 00:13:10,980 which is widely documented and you can 345 00:13:10,980 --> 00:13:13,200 see like the list dump online of watch 346 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,480 reports from different organizations 347 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:17,040 and how they were able to communicate 348 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,260 with each other they had a format for 349 00:13:19,260 --> 00:13:20,519 these things 350 00:13:20,519 --> 00:13:22,440 um and they were intaken usually by 351 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:25,800 black women on the phones 24 7. these 352 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:27,480 lives were open so they were taking in 353 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:29,579 shifts very very organized work on 354 00:13:29,579 --> 00:13:31,380 getting information out there in between 355 00:13:31,380 --> 00:13:33,420 each other 356 00:13:33,420 --> 00:13:36,420 so traditional oops sorry traditional 357 00:13:36,420 --> 00:13:37,680 phone pairing 358 00:13:37,680 --> 00:13:39,720 uh you know you would go through a 359 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:41,399 switchboard operator at the time this is 360 00:13:41,399 --> 00:13:42,920 when things are a little bit more manual 361 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,300 and that switchboard operator was 362 00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:47,579 usually a white woman and if that 363 00:13:47,579 --> 00:13:49,560 particular person wasn't really 364 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,839 uh sympathetic to the civil rights 365 00:13:51,839 --> 00:13:53,519 movement in any way shape or form and 366 00:13:53,519 --> 00:13:54,540 knew that you were trying to make a call 367 00:13:54,540 --> 00:13:56,820 to like say kofo they could just end the 368 00:13:56,820 --> 00:13:58,440 call drop the call and the other person 369 00:13:58,440 --> 00:13:59,699 here then would never receive the 370 00:13:59,699 --> 00:14:01,980 information and often they would 371 00:14:01,980 --> 00:14:04,440 possibly tip off law enforcement in the 372 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,060 area too saying that you know there's a 373 00:14:06,060 --> 00:14:08,699 high mass volume of requests going to 374 00:14:08,699 --> 00:14:09,839 this organization for a particular 375 00:14:09,839 --> 00:14:11,100 reason you might want to watch out for 376 00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:13,079 this organization so this was often 377 00:14:13,079 --> 00:14:15,839 unprompted uh 378 00:14:15,839 --> 00:14:18,360 you know relationship with the law at 379 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:22,019 the time to capture activity by civil 380 00:14:22,019 --> 00:14:24,300 rights organizations 381 00:14:24,300 --> 00:14:26,100 and so with 382 00:14:26,100 --> 00:14:28,920 phone calls and Watts what ended up 383 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:30,720 happening was you could bypass the 384 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,579 switchboard operator and directly call 385 00:14:32,579 --> 00:14:35,040 to organization now I did not stop 386 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,100 wiretapping but a lot of coded language 387 00:14:38,100 --> 00:14:41,420 was used to kind of confuse the police 388 00:14:41,420 --> 00:14:43,920 and it would buy them enough time 389 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,019 because watch phone lines weren't 390 00:14:46,019 --> 00:14:47,820 necessarily for 391 00:14:47,820 --> 00:14:50,399 um I would say Communications for a 392 00:14:50,399 --> 00:14:53,220 long-term events or things it was to get 393 00:14:53,220 --> 00:14:54,779 quick information out there so while 394 00:14:54,779 --> 00:14:56,279 they're trying to figure out what these 395 00:14:56,279 --> 00:14:58,740 with this coded language meant they 396 00:14:58,740 --> 00:14:59,760 could get the information to the 397 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:01,800 organization even if they were being 398 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:03,060 recorded 399 00:15:03,060 --> 00:15:05,040 because the important thing was making 400 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:06,300 sure that the other person or the 401 00:15:06,300 --> 00:15:09,740 organization knew what was going on 402 00:15:10,380 --> 00:15:12,720 and so the ways that the FBI wiretap 403 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,240 during cointelpro they would just do 404 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,300 like Dragnet records of tapped phone 405 00:15:18,300 --> 00:15:21,420 lines uh either through the company and 406 00:15:21,420 --> 00:15:23,339 it would have like a pair number with um 407 00:15:23,339 --> 00:15:27,060 the cable connecting to the FBI in the 408 00:15:27,060 --> 00:15:28,980 field office or 409 00:15:28,980 --> 00:15:32,040 they would do install microphones like 410 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,259 on the target's home device 411 00:15:34,259 --> 00:15:37,100 so what ended up happening there was 412 00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:39,360 wiretaps were a lot more easier to 413 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:40,980 accomplish because it didn't need to 414 00:15:40,980 --> 00:15:43,740 enter a target's home even though that 415 00:15:43,740 --> 00:15:45,779 was fairly easy to do most times anyway 416 00:15:45,779 --> 00:15:50,180 the wiretaps were just more convenient 417 00:15:52,380 --> 00:15:54,540 so there was interference a lot with you 418 00:15:54,540 --> 00:15:56,279 know organizations and this was actually 419 00:15:56,279 --> 00:15:58,560 a watch report that had talked about how 420 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:01,920 a kofo office was denied installation of 421 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:03,899 a phone from a local Telephone Company 422 00:16:03,899 --> 00:16:06,779 because what ended up happening here was 423 00:16:06,779 --> 00:16:10,860 during this time a lot of people 424 00:16:10,860 --> 00:16:12,000 um 425 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,519 didn't exactly own the phone think about 426 00:16:14,519 --> 00:16:16,199 it as like internet service providers 427 00:16:16,199 --> 00:16:18,000 and the way they provide modems but it's 428 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:20,040 not your modem in particular you just 429 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,500 rent it out and you could use your own 430 00:16:22,500 --> 00:16:25,199 modem in your own router if you knew how 431 00:16:25,199 --> 00:16:27,360 to like pair it up with your system and 432 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,639 had the know-how to configure it but a 433 00:16:29,639 --> 00:16:31,740 lot of people just accept the modem 434 00:16:31,740 --> 00:16:33,899 router device that's from their ISP 435 00:16:33,899 --> 00:16:35,940 today and just run it out so it's kind 436 00:16:35,940 --> 00:16:37,680 of like the same system here where you 437 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:39,540 would get a phone from the Bell System 438 00:16:39,540 --> 00:16:41,759 and it would say like property of Bill 439 00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:44,339 system under under the phone like emboss 440 00:16:44,339 --> 00:16:45,720 under the phone so it's kind of like the 441 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:48,060 same relationship so they could deny 442 00:16:48,060 --> 00:16:50,399 um installing their device even though 443 00:16:50,399 --> 00:16:53,279 any telephone probably could have done 444 00:16:53,279 --> 00:16:56,120 pretty well but it had to be a telephone 445 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,800 established by the company 446 00:16:58,800 --> 00:16:59,899 um so 447 00:16:59,899 --> 00:17:02,220 this watch report was interesting to see 448 00:17:02,220 --> 00:17:05,099 like kind of how this was going on still 449 00:17:05,099 --> 00:17:09,059 how unprompted by law enforcement 450 00:17:09,059 --> 00:17:10,619 different entities like 451 00:17:10,619 --> 00:17:12,839 telecommunications companies were still 452 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:14,039 interfering with the Civil Rights 453 00:17:14,039 --> 00:17:16,400 Movement 454 00:17:16,439 --> 00:17:18,780 and you know if you're familiar with the 455 00:17:18,780 --> 00:17:21,059 cyber security term you know man in the 456 00:17:21,059 --> 00:17:22,980 middle or monster in the middle attacks 457 00:17:22,980 --> 00:17:24,780 used to be very literal during this time 458 00:17:24,780 --> 00:17:27,480 where you know Clan Knight Riders and 459 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:28,740 such would 460 00:17:28,740 --> 00:17:32,280 you know be out here and actually attack 461 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,140 different organizations burn down 462 00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:35,940 buildings things of that nature or even 463 00:17:35,940 --> 00:17:37,919 kill someone you know these watch 464 00:17:37,919 --> 00:17:40,140 reports get really dark some of it gets 465 00:17:40,140 --> 00:17:41,880 a little light where it's like okay 466 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,520 um someone was doing a protest to 467 00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:46,580 someone was denied admission somewhere 468 00:17:46,580 --> 00:17:50,760 to a car you know being lit on fire 469 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,260 outside someone's home to someone 470 00:17:52,260 --> 00:17:54,660 showing up missing or dead it was very 471 00:17:54,660 --> 00:17:57,419 dark stuff so this information was 472 00:17:57,419 --> 00:17:59,400 important to get out quickly and that 473 00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,200 was the main goal of watch phone lines 474 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,700 and it literally saved lives 475 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,280 and so going back to like a small take 476 00:18:08,280 --> 00:18:10,380 on radio really quickly 477 00:18:10,380 --> 00:18:12,360 um radio was very important too because 478 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:13,799 it got out 479 00:18:13,799 --> 00:18:16,380 public information quickly to a lot of 480 00:18:16,380 --> 00:18:18,900 people and so voter education especially 481 00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:20,880 when people weren't really quite aware 482 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:22,860 of how to register or how to circumvent 483 00:18:22,860 --> 00:18:24,299 the dangers that involved with 484 00:18:24,299 --> 00:18:26,100 registering to vote because it was very 485 00:18:26,100 --> 00:18:28,140 high dangers on that where people were 486 00:18:28,140 --> 00:18:29,700 getting threatened so this information 487 00:18:29,700 --> 00:18:31,440 was sent out there's like hey watch out 488 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,260 for this group on this corner or hey 489 00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:36,120 there's these police blocks then they 490 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:37,919 would coded language we could come in 491 00:18:37,919 --> 00:18:40,140 again saying traffic you know jams or 492 00:18:40,140 --> 00:18:42,179 something like that in order to kind of 493 00:18:42,179 --> 00:18:44,220 you know give the feeling that they 494 00:18:44,220 --> 00:18:46,020 weren't necessarily guiding anything 495 00:18:46,020 --> 00:18:48,660 with protests but still giving that 496 00:18:48,660 --> 00:18:51,000 indicator to the community and black 497 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,740 owned radio stations were definitely 498 00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:54,419 interfered with as well but they did 499 00:18:54,419 --> 00:18:57,000 sustain during this time and so you had 500 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,580 this like picture illustrates from a 501 00:18:59,580 --> 00:19:01,679 really good book that 502 00:19:01,679 --> 00:19:04,320 I also read called radio and a struggle 503 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,059 for civil rights in the South by Brian 504 00:19:06,059 --> 00:19:08,460 Ward and his pictures from that book 505 00:19:08,460 --> 00:19:10,380 where it kind of described the 506 00:19:10,380 --> 00:19:13,260 relationship between werd Atlanta black 507 00:19:13,260 --> 00:19:16,140 owned radio and SCLC office sharing the 508 00:19:16,140 --> 00:19:19,500 same building so that was a very very um 509 00:19:19,500 --> 00:19:21,840 a great visual indicator of like what 510 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:23,160 the relationship looked like at this 511 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,559 time despite the the barriers and the 512 00:19:25,559 --> 00:19:27,980 issues 513 00:19:28,020 --> 00:19:29,220 and so I want to talk about really 514 00:19:29,220 --> 00:19:31,020 quickly the permit systems from times of 515 00:19:31,020 --> 00:19:34,919 fear so you have crying you know being 516 00:19:34,919 --> 00:19:36,660 you know you have to stop crime you have 517 00:19:36,660 --> 00:19:38,820 to stop socialists or commies like 518 00:19:38,820 --> 00:19:41,160 during the Red Scare Tactics during like 519 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,620 the labor movement and then 520 00:19:43,620 --> 00:19:46,679 you know the language shifts to a war on 521 00:19:46,679 --> 00:19:50,940 something War on Drugs war on terror 522 00:19:50,940 --> 00:19:54,000 um were war on nouns but it was very 523 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,360 much war on people and so when you talk 524 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,179 about war this is a very specific case 525 00:20:00,179 --> 00:20:02,340 of War time 526 00:20:02,340 --> 00:20:04,140 you know tactics and things that 527 00:20:04,140 --> 00:20:06,419 wouldn't normally be deployed during 528 00:20:06,419 --> 00:20:10,380 saying times of quote unquote peace 529 00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:12,500 um 530 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,940 War on Drugs you know had entire 531 00:20:14,940 --> 00:20:17,700 organizations created like dea war and 532 00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:19,740 Terror you had a DHS and then subsequent 533 00:20:19,740 --> 00:20:22,140 organizations out of the DHS like TSA 534 00:20:22,140 --> 00:20:25,260 and ice and you know you have all of 535 00:20:25,260 --> 00:20:27,720 this language that sort of justify 536 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:31,200 creation of systems and also Justified 537 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,600 um immense amounts of a warrantless 538 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:36,600 search in different areas and even you 539 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,360 even if you push on tours today you'll 540 00:20:39,360 --> 00:20:42,179 have things like the Patriot Act Right 541 00:20:42,179 --> 00:20:44,760 um that definitely was invoked to just 542 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,400 bypass all means of like warrants or any 543 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,179 sort of procedure or due process so 544 00:20:51,179 --> 00:20:53,460 you look at this language shifting to 545 00:20:53,460 --> 00:20:56,640 war on a noun but it's very much so 546 00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:00,059 beyond that it's not about the drugs it 547 00:21:00,059 --> 00:21:01,919 wasn't about the terror itself it was 548 00:21:01,919 --> 00:21:04,320 about monitoring or justifying a group 549 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,840 of people and it would be justified if 550 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:08,460 it was just like oh we're just catching 551 00:21:08,460 --> 00:21:11,100 the bad guys but then you see something 552 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:13,380 like the war and Terror where it goes 553 00:21:13,380 --> 00:21:16,500 from trying to surveil bad guys to just 554 00:21:16,500 --> 00:21:19,980 monitoring mocks wholesale wiretapping 555 00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:22,500 Moss Communications and then you really 556 00:21:22,500 --> 00:21:25,500 have to question you know who is framed 557 00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:29,159 as the person perpetuating the fear and 558 00:21:29,159 --> 00:21:32,039 who is the entity trying to push towards 559 00:21:32,039 --> 00:21:34,380 even more violation of privacy and 560 00:21:34,380 --> 00:21:37,200 rights so it's really hard to come back 561 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:38,760 from this type of thing where you're 562 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:40,860 establishing permanent systems during 563 00:21:40,860 --> 00:21:42,659 times of like immense amount of like 564 00:21:42,659 --> 00:21:45,059 fear for Public Safety and we really do 565 00:21:45,059 --> 00:21:46,799 have to check ourselves during these 566 00:21:46,799 --> 00:21:49,320 times of fear on what are we pushing for 567 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,900 exactly when we ask for or certain 568 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:54,860 solutions to things 569 00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:57,360 and so I want to talk about really 570 00:21:57,360 --> 00:21:59,520 quickly a case that the FBI had used to 571 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,980 try to expand wiretapping Beyond just 572 00:22:01,980 --> 00:22:04,860 requesting telecommunications so a lot 573 00:22:04,860 --> 00:22:06,600 of you may be familiar with the case 574 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:08,880 that happened where there was like this 575 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:10,559 huge Crackdown of computer hackers in 576 00:22:10,559 --> 00:22:13,200 the early 90s and 577 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,580 you know groups like masters of 578 00:22:14,580 --> 00:22:16,260 deception and such were like brought in 579 00:22:16,260 --> 00:22:18,020 they were wiretapped 580 00:22:18,020 --> 00:22:21,240 for their Communications as well and 581 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,340 then what ended up happening is like the 582 00:22:23,340 --> 00:22:25,559 FBI got involved wiretapped them and say 583 00:22:25,559 --> 00:22:27,480 look like this case was successful 584 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,940 because we caught the bad guys we caught 585 00:22:29,940 --> 00:22:32,220 the computer hackers and we did it 586 00:22:32,220 --> 00:22:34,620 through wiretapping so therefore every 587 00:22:34,620 --> 00:22:38,340 device in any home should be installed 588 00:22:38,340 --> 00:22:39,960 with some sort of wiretapping mechanism 589 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,960 that we can just tap into ad hoc and 590 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,360 that was a really extreme request that 591 00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:47,039 the Electronic Frontier Foundation had 592 00:22:47,039 --> 00:22:48,419 spoke on 593 00:22:48,419 --> 00:22:49,980 um Mike Godwin at the time was staff 594 00:22:49,980 --> 00:22:52,500 Council and had talked about it with the 595 00:22:52,500 --> 00:22:54,720 actual representative um with the FBI 596 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,299 who had problems with um eff's take on 597 00:22:57,299 --> 00:23:00,840 denying um the FBI's requests to do this 598 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:02,340 and the telecommunications companies 599 00:23:02,340 --> 00:23:05,280 weren't really uh too too hype about 600 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,080 this either so it was really interesting 601 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:08,520 to kind of see them finally sort of 602 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:10,320 fight back for once and this is post 603 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,799 Anti-Trust breakup so this was not as 604 00:23:13,799 --> 00:23:15,360 much money and resources to do this 605 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:17,039 stuff so this type of wiretapping was 606 00:23:17,039 --> 00:23:18,240 getting a little expensive and 607 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:19,980 installing device on everybody's phone 608 00:23:19,980 --> 00:23:21,900 was probably very expensive so I'm going 609 00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:23,039 to go ahead and say it was more about 610 00:23:23,039 --> 00:23:24,539 money than privacy from the 611 00:23:24,539 --> 00:23:27,600 Telecommunications standpoint but this 612 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,039 is kind of like the precursor to what's 613 00:23:29,039 --> 00:23:31,380 going on today with the FBI too so I 614 00:23:31,380 --> 00:23:33,539 wanted to talk about that so today you 615 00:23:33,539 --> 00:23:35,940 have back doors on encryption or the 616 00:23:35,940 --> 00:23:37,980 requests from the FBI for back doors on 617 00:23:37,980 --> 00:23:39,179 encryption 618 00:23:39,179 --> 00:23:41,580 once again large companies like apple 619 00:23:41,580 --> 00:23:45,120 Google who you know dominate iOS 620 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:48,179 dominate the the creation of Android and 621 00:23:48,179 --> 00:23:50,840 especially with iPhone so stay um Apple 622 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,039 controls the operating system and the 623 00:23:53,039 --> 00:23:56,520 manufacturing of the phone FBI I went to 624 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,440 Apple many times to tell them like hey 625 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:00,900 give us a key that will allow us to tap 626 00:24:00,900 --> 00:24:04,080 into phones ad hoc and so far they have 627 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:05,400 denied them this 628 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,080 um but this is yet another private 629 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,419 company that's left up to their own 630 00:24:09,419 --> 00:24:11,940 whims on why they would say no or not 631 00:24:11,940 --> 00:24:13,620 thankfully a lot of public pressure has 632 00:24:13,620 --> 00:24:15,779 been put on Apple to uphold their word 633 00:24:15,779 --> 00:24:18,120 but then you see that the FBI is like 634 00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:20,760 labeling encryption as a barrier to good 635 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,279 police work like this is not giving us a 636 00:24:23,279 --> 00:24:25,500 key to see people's Communications uh ad 637 00:24:25,500 --> 00:24:29,880 hoc is is not good for our own work and 638 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:31,440 not being able to catch the bad guys 639 00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:33,360 even though the FBI has been fully 640 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:36,600 capable of being able to do this without 641 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,760 needing to break encryption tools for 642 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:39,419 everyone 643 00:24:39,419 --> 00:24:41,520 uh there's a recent story that came out 644 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,340 in motherboard by advice about how they 645 00:24:44,340 --> 00:24:46,799 had a whole operation that that pushed 646 00:24:46,799 --> 00:24:48,539 out you know fake encrypted messaging 647 00:24:48,539 --> 00:24:50,279 apps that actually was secretly managed 648 00:24:50,279 --> 00:24:53,400 by the FBI called in nam and so they are 649 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,260 able to do police work without breaking 650 00:24:55,260 --> 00:24:57,179 encryption for everyone and that's not 651 00:24:57,179 --> 00:24:58,980 the main point here because the fact 652 00:24:58,980 --> 00:25:02,220 that not bad guys aren't the only ones 653 00:25:02,220 --> 00:25:03,480 using encryption it's journalists 654 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,220 activists and if we don't have 655 00:25:05,220 --> 00:25:06,419 encryption it actually at least 656 00:25:06,419 --> 00:25:09,000 everyone's susceptible to bad guys even 657 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,520 more especially people who get targeted 658 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,039 by different governments or people who 659 00:25:14,039 --> 00:25:15,900 get targeted by different groups or even 660 00:25:15,900 --> 00:25:18,480 their abusive partner so you have to 661 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:19,679 really think about these things when 662 00:25:19,679 --> 00:25:21,240 you're talking about and framing things 663 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:22,799 as we're trying to save the children 664 00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:24,900 we're trying to save 665 00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:27,240 um you know people from Mass amounts of 666 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,100 crime they're trying to save them and 667 00:25:29,100 --> 00:25:30,440 help them 668 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,140 not be targeted by the bad guys but for 669 00:25:34,140 --> 00:25:35,880 the most part if you break encryption 670 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,380 for everyone you actually make everyone 671 00:25:37,380 --> 00:25:41,900 more susceptible to said back eyes 672 00:25:42,299 --> 00:25:44,640 and so I talk about this framing the FBI 673 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,679 actually monitored heavily monitored 674 00:25:46,679 --> 00:25:49,200 Freddie gray protests with spy planes 675 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,020 and this was really like unprecedented 676 00:25:52,020 --> 00:25:54,240 in a certain way because of the type of 677 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,279 aircraft that was deployed 678 00:25:56,279 --> 00:25:57,720 um the way that they had monitored 679 00:25:57,720 --> 00:25:59,100 people who were involved with the 680 00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:00,779 Freddie gray protests and these are 681 00:26:00,779 --> 00:26:02,700 people who weren't an extremist group 682 00:26:02,700 --> 00:26:05,100 these were people who were 683 00:26:05,100 --> 00:26:07,380 out there trying to get Justice for a 684 00:26:07,380 --> 00:26:08,520 particular person that was shot by 685 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,080 police and the fact that the FBI got 686 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:11,940 involved and also framed them as the bad 687 00:26:11,940 --> 00:26:14,220 guys and tried to like push this 688 00:26:14,220 --> 00:26:17,159 narrative onto people exercising their 689 00:26:17,159 --> 00:26:19,620 right to protest it makes you it gives 690 00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:21,059 you pause when they make requests to 691 00:26:21,059 --> 00:26:23,059 break encryption 692 00:26:23,059 --> 00:26:25,380 and you know so black movements and 693 00:26:25,380 --> 00:26:27,059 encryption have you know developed a 694 00:26:27,059 --> 00:26:28,620 really close relationship because this 695 00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:30,419 technology is out there now for our 696 00:26:30,419 --> 00:26:32,880 usage and we can use it to organize with 697 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,820 each other and so this um byline says 698 00:26:35,820 --> 00:26:37,140 that the Civil Rights activist cited 699 00:26:37,140 --> 00:26:39,720 with apple against the FBI Apple Feud 700 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:41,640 but I would wouldn't say that they sided 701 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,679 with apple I would say that they are 702 00:26:43,679 --> 00:26:46,440 enforcing the notion that no company no 703 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,559 matter who controls the keys should be 704 00:26:49,559 --> 00:26:52,980 um saying yes to the FBI to just give a 705 00:26:52,980 --> 00:26:54,840 back door and if that company is Apple 706 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,000 or Google then that's the company that 707 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,919 you're going to go after to actually 708 00:26:58,919 --> 00:27:01,260 uphold their word because we've all know 709 00:27:01,260 --> 00:27:03,179 that we have the most experience here 710 00:27:03,179 --> 00:27:05,220 with cointelpro and we don't want to go 711 00:27:05,220 --> 00:27:07,559 back to that realm again where we have 712 00:27:07,559 --> 00:27:09,179 end-to-end encryption and then they're 713 00:27:09,179 --> 00:27:12,120 using quote unquote once again black 714 00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:13,620 extremist groups 715 00:27:13,620 --> 00:27:16,679 um to to kind of push towards this Mass 716 00:27:16,679 --> 00:27:19,080 surveillance again in order to keep the 717 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,779 public safe and so signal downloads have 718 00:27:21,779 --> 00:27:24,419 been way up and and we don't want to um 719 00:27:24,419 --> 00:27:26,279 impede on those things because in the 720 00:27:26,279 --> 00:27:27,779 end encryption is for everyone it's not 721 00:27:27,779 --> 00:27:30,000 just for nerds it's for activists it's 722 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:31,620 for journalists it's for people who are 723 00:27:31,620 --> 00:27:34,200 trying to organize and we want to be 724 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,779 able to keep using these tools despite 725 00:27:36,779 --> 00:27:38,760 the fact that 726 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,440 um we're being targeted and monitored 727 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,840 for trying to organize for our rights 728 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,200 and so a lot of people may be out there 729 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,120 you know this group can be I guess can 730 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:49,860 considered you know hackers in this 731 00:27:49,860 --> 00:27:52,020 group right and there's some people that 732 00:27:52,020 --> 00:27:54,000 have been making calls like black owned 733 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,919 communication apps but if you do make an 734 00:27:55,919 --> 00:27:57,720 app that's targeted towards our 735 00:27:57,720 --> 00:27:59,520 community I also want you to know you 736 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:01,020 will also be susceptible to law 737 00:28:01,020 --> 00:28:03,720 enforcement requests so be very careful 738 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,960 about creating stuff as well that you 739 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:10,500 know have etee encryption because you 740 00:28:10,500 --> 00:28:12,659 will see requests come your way as well 741 00:28:12,659 --> 00:28:14,220 and then you'll have to answer the same 742 00:28:14,220 --> 00:28:16,260 question that Apple has answered do we 743 00:28:16,260 --> 00:28:18,419 succumb to law enforcement or want that 744 00:28:18,419 --> 00:28:20,700 consequence and also shout out to crypto 745 00:28:20,700 --> 00:28:22,500 Harlem for teaching the community about 746 00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:24,659 signal and tour and other devices out 747 00:28:24,659 --> 00:28:27,000 there and tools 748 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,220 so my takeaways from this uh you know 749 00:28:29,220 --> 00:28:30,779 open Protocols are very important 750 00:28:30,779 --> 00:28:32,520 interoperability with different systems 751 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,140 are very important because obviously 752 00:28:34,140 --> 00:28:36,000 monopolistic communication companies are 753 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:37,860 a single point of failure 754 00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:39,659 um and and this that's been a big thing 755 00:28:39,659 --> 00:28:41,460 for me when I did this research was like 756 00:28:41,460 --> 00:28:43,679 wow you know this is kind of like the 757 00:28:43,679 --> 00:28:45,179 trend that I'm seeing because it's very 758 00:28:45,179 --> 00:28:48,480 easy to ask one entity versus many so 759 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,340 open protocols and interoptability with 760 00:28:50,340 --> 00:28:52,140 those Protocols are very important 761 00:28:52,140 --> 00:28:53,640 because then other people can create 762 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,980 their own systems outside of big Tech or 763 00:28:55,980 --> 00:28:58,740 whoever in the future is considered too 764 00:28:58,740 --> 00:29:00,600 big to fail right and then black 765 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,100 movements have already always been 766 00:29:02,100 --> 00:29:05,399 monitored but the main point of them 767 00:29:05,399 --> 00:29:07,320 was getting information out there 768 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,600 quickly to the community and so that was 769 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,340 something for me to always consider is 770 00:29:11,340 --> 00:29:13,799 like what is the safest fastest way for 771 00:29:13,799 --> 00:29:16,679 me information to be spread so 772 00:29:16,679 --> 00:29:18,120 I want people to think on these things 773 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,059 and think about how our ancestors were 774 00:29:21,059 --> 00:29:23,640 you know surveilled but also they use 775 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:25,620 the technology at hand to get 776 00:29:25,620 --> 00:29:27,659 information to each other in order to 777 00:29:27,659 --> 00:29:29,940 keep each other safe and they did such 778 00:29:29,940 --> 00:29:32,100 an amazing job despite the fact that 779 00:29:32,100 --> 00:29:34,740 cointelpro was in full force in the 60s 780 00:29:34,740 --> 00:29:37,919 right so thank you for coming to this 781 00:29:37,919 --> 00:29:40,320 talk um I hope you all learned a little 782 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,779 something out of this I try to merge in 783 00:29:42,779 --> 00:29:44,159 a little bit of hacker history here too 784 00:29:44,159 --> 00:29:46,559 to kind of see the parallels and I hope 785 00:29:46,559 --> 00:29:50,039 you also go out there and push for 786 00:29:50,039 --> 00:29:52,320 encryption or etee on normal 787 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,840 Communications for everyday lives thank 788 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,379 you so much