Wikileaks Just Released A Massive 'Insurance' File That No One Can Open

[Tony_FLADEM]

Source: Business Insider

Anti-secrecy organization Wikileaks just released a treasure trove of files, that at least for now, you can't read.

The group, which has been assisting ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden after he leaked top-secret documents to the media, posted links for about 400 gigabytes of files on their Facebook page Saturday, and asked their fans to download and mirror them elsewhere.

Here's the cryptic post:




The organization posted the same message about its "insurance" files to Twitter.

You can download the files via torrent but since they are encrypted — and Wikileaks has not yet provided the key — you won't be able to open them.

We can garner at least one thing of note from the file names alone: They probably have a very high level of encryption. The end of the files, "aes256," likely stands for Advanced Encryption Standard-256 bits.

It's a way of locking up your files that even the NSA has approved for use on top secret data.

What's in the files is anyone's guess for now, but there's already plenty of speculation.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-insurance-file-2013-8

[Summer Hathaway]

1. "... but there's already plenty of speculation."

And no doubt DU will be awash in that 'speculation' for weeks.

[marble falls]

4. We're talking Anonymous not Glen Beck. These'll be good.

[kelliekat44]

176. Pot meet the kettle. nt

[Cryptoad]

5. Speculation is all I have seen

from Snowden

[Fearless]

31. And your still wrong.

[Cryptoad]

32. Where 's the proof? nt

[Fearless]

34. What do you classify as proof?

[Cryptoad]

59. Pretty much

that proof that will stand up in our courts and legal system.

[Fearless]

80. A John Roberts court?

[villager]

143. +1

n/t

[Cryptoad]

167. Thats the Point

it is the GOP Appointments that have produced most of this mess... yet it seems yall want to give the GOP the Power to make more Federal Judgeship appointments.... Time to fight the source not the symptoms!

[Fearless]

177. I said nothing of the sort

It is possible to be critical of the failures of this administration and still be against a Republican one.

[Cryptoad]

181. you have still failed

how this lack of oversight by the mostly GOP judges is the Administration fault,,,,,,

[Fearless]

189. Because the administration continues illegal programs

Regardless of a lack of oversight or not

[HumansAndResources]

125. Whose "Legal System" - the one that Generally Backs the Corporate Crooks Game ??

We haven't had a SCOTUS worth a damn (significant pro-civil-liberties) since Reagan. We haven't had a Justice Department do a good investigation since I can remember - even the "independent" Watergate gig was more of a 'Damage Control' operation to blame "a few bad apples" and whitewash the system.

[Cryptoad]

169. Oh yea,,,,

and giving power to the GOP to appoint more federal judges is what you think is really going to help this problem? you better redefine your enemies !

[Fearless]

178. Holding democrats to democratic values

Does not empower republicans. Letting dems act like republicans does however.

[Cryptoad]

180. YOu have already

noted that the oversight is being conducted by GOP Judges... yet somehow this failure of Democratic values.

you logic is getting quite circular in nature!

[Fearless]

188. I said no such thing.

No oversight is being properly done and no sitting should be done. A just court would rule as such.

[rpannier]

142. Apparantly whatever was released will likely stand up in European Courts

So it depends on where you look

[Cryptoad]

170. Seems you don't know the source of our Laws...... nt

[rpannier]

192. Touchy Touchy

The comments have been made that there is nothing in the release of importance. That it is all speculation. European courts seem to feel otherwise.
So first off there is something of substance in the release.
Second, should the proceedings expand, like the Libor scandal, they will likely hit the US as more information is released.

Your vent over this being a waste of time or useless or whatever (IMO) is misplaced. But, have it hoss

[Cryptoad]

194. Another

who reads things that I never wrote....I never stated that nothing of importance was contained in the release. However, I have not seen anything as of yet that was nothing more than speculation.. but it seems speculation is now considered facts among the Demotarians. There was a time when most Democrats knew the difference between fact and speculative conjecture.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Wow, this is released by an anti secrecy group and many are complaining your private information

Is being gathered, are you fighting for privacy or putting all information out?

[Cryptoad]

6. Seems it is

going to be anticlimactic!

[go west young man]

11. How can you possibly surmise that?

What is your opinion based upon?

[Cryptoad]

13. So you believe they are

dragging out the release of this evidence over 6 months for no good reason.....

Who is playing whom here?

LMAO

[go west young man]

18. Love your arbitrary 6 month proclamation!

[Cryptoad]

30. TEll us

why you think they keeping slowly releasing their speculative conjecture,,,,,,,,month after month after month,,,,,,,,

[go west young man]

37. Were the Afghan War logs and all the info on Afghan civilian deaths speculative?

Was Wikileaks exposure of Chinese censorship conjecture? How about UN peacekeeper committing rape or Khazakh leaders nepotism and bribes? Wikileaks doesn't deal in speculation. Those who wonder what is in the files may do so.

[Cryptoad]

54. a little redirect and

reflection there.....

The New Progressive Tea Party calls it the ole "Hey look over there ,,,, a squirrel !" tactic.

I know you are proud!

[East Coast Pirate]

60. No, those were facts that trumped your silliness.

[Cryptoad]

69. What Facts,,,,,????

thats funny

[go west young man]

65. You may want to look up the term "projection"

as the squirrel your in reference to may be looking back at you in your mirror. You've been using these terms "New Progressive Tea Party" throughout DU threads quite a lot today in reference to myself and others. It doesn't hold any water. If you could explain it for me I would be much obliged.

[Cryptoad]

68. YOu havent even answered my Q

,,,yet ,,,, but you want me to explain something to you that if you have to ask to have it explained to you, you are are unable to grasp the answer.

I think not.

[go west young man]

107. Who could possibly take you serious at this point?

I wanted to put up a great response to you by Sabrina1 on a separate thread in which you also used your "Progressive Tea Party" smear.
She nails it so well.


Their worst nightmare is happening. They have lost control of the 'message' although why there

has to be a 'message' rather than simple facts, is and always has been, beyond me.

Not only that, but the Left/Right/Ron Paul/Rand Paul games they played and some of us for a while, simply aren't working anymore.

Keep the people divided, and many of us fell for it for a long time, was how they remained 'safe' from scrutiny. But some things, and this they don't seem to get, are far, far more important than political game playing.

The day the people unite on some of these issues, is the day they will lose control. And it appears, starting with the Wall St. Bailouts, that has begun to happen.

The propagandists keep trying to play the old cards that used to work 'you're a Paulbot if you oppose these programs' or 'only racists' oppose these programs, have spectacularly failed, not only that, they have become COMEDY, the worst thing that can happen to a propaganda machine.

Maybe some of them will finally start taking their jobs seriously, realizing that job is NOT to facilitate the bottom line of Corporations, but is it, and I know this is hard for them to accept:

TO DEFEND AND PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE US!

Sorry to shout that part, but our elected officials have gone way, way off course and someone needs to remind them why they are there. It is NOT to secure profitable jobs in the private sector for themselves and their buddies.

[Cryptoad]

171. Ah I remember my idealism back in the 60's & 70's,,,,,

First you have produce evidence that out Constitution has been violated, not just speculation. If you are believe in our Constitution you must believe in its solutions.
You can not love part of it and hate the other parts...

But yall go ahead and give power back to the GOP so they can appoint more Federal Judges,, that will surely make things mo better! .......[/sarcasm]

[NealK]

58. +1

Well said.

[HumansAndResources]

127. Piece By Piece, to let The Govt Lie and Get Caught - Again and Again.

The first leaks, then WH/Pelosi/Graham do damage-control with a pack of lies. Then they get "busted" by the next release. So they fearmonger about "new attacks" to try to distract and make us think we "need" Big Brother to "protect us" - but the public isn't falling for it like they did under the Bush-Ridge "color of terror" (which Ridge later admitted was politically-determined). Now again, with the latest release - they get stung again, and even Pelosi has to feign surprise.

In the past, I have been critical of the "drip-drip" approach. But in this case, at least from where I am sitting, it seems Greenwald (et al) are playing this very well - playing Chess with the public-consciousness - just like our Imperial Rulers do every day with the Media they Own and Control (yes, both 'flavors' of it).

[Cryptoad]

172. Anarchist

,,,,,, make me laugh!

Having discussions with them is like trying to explain Calculus to a piss ant!


Good Luck on your Quest!

[Aerows]

72. Oh, there's a very good reason

1. So that the public has time to digest what is released.
2. When assorted government officials make claims to appease the masses over information previously released, more evidence is released that the statements made by assorted government officials is a bunch of malarkey.

So far, we've seen Clapper and Alexander lie before Congress, people in Congress basically admitting they don't know what the hell is going on, the President obviously not knowing what the hell is going on, and the FISA court not knowing what the hell is going on.

That right there tells you that it's way past time to reign in the spying.

[BlueStreak]

113. I'm not sure it is as complicated as this thread implies

They are simply taking precautions against the possibility that some government (or extra-governmental power acting outside normal government authority) could impound the data WikiLeaks has. If the data is replicated thousands of times, then it becomes impossible for the CIA or anybody else to go after the source.

Let us assume that bundle includes some information that the authoritarians really, really don't want exposed. This chess move leaves the CIA only two real options:

1) Try to "off" the person or persons who have the key;

2) Cut a deal with the holders of the key so as to prevent at least part of the data from being released.

And WikiLeaks can forestall option 1) by having a network of trusted individuals who have that key. Each of those individuals has instructions to release the key to the public if anything bad happens to any member of the circle. If they want to get really clever, they can give only part of the key to each individual, to reduce the chance that somebody could go rogue and release the key on his own.

They have created a "Mexican standoff" it would seem. If their file has really powerful information, then the CIA will have to cut a deal.

Doing this in such a public fashion really is a power move -- real balls -- on the part of WikiLeaks. It gives this a real feeling of an impending blowup.

[Aerows]

116. Oh, I agree

but we don't know if this file isn't something completely new, which it very well could be. If it is something new, I agree with you, this could be a major bombshell.

My reply to Cryptoad was the reason they aren't releasing the information all at once is because they have done that before, and it was such a huge brain dump that by the time anyone had gone through it all and gotten the good stuff, it was out of the news.

[BlueStreak]

128. Yes, I agree with your point about timing, and I expect there is fresh data

We really are reaching a climax in all this authoritarian stuff. Snowden and Manning chose one course, and they will pay a huge personal price for that.

But I bet there are hundreds of other people on the inside of these authoritarian machines that are getting really pissed at the enormity of these illegal schemes and all the lying that the front men (including POTUS) are doing. Some of these people are secretly passing information to WikiLeaks because they badly want the information to come out, but they don't want their fingerprints on it.

I bet powerful stuff is coming in to WikiLeaks every day now.

[Cryptoad]

173. HOw much

of the spying do want to reign it ?

[Aerows]

175. Huh? n/t

[Cryptoad]

182. you posted

"...it's way past time to reign in the spying"

I asked you how much do you want to reign in

this is not rocket surgery?

[Aerows]

183. Rocket surgery?

LMAO

[Cryptoad]

184. I was starting to wonder

if you were going to get it!

[Aerows]

186. I think I have

Well played. Enjoy your stay.

[okieinpain]

134. what i find funny about the whole wikileaks, snowden, manning deal

is why hasn't there been any leaks of russia, or china spying. lol.

[Aerows]

163. Do you read the news?

There haven't been "leaks" of China spying because it has been widely reported.

[greiner3]

153. It seems;

That you have enjoyed your stay, for now.

[Cryptoad]

166. YOU got a point ?

[NoOneMan]

7. huh?

[pnwmom]

9. Wikileaks is fighting for whatever will give them the most power.

Transparency? Privacy? They don't really care.

[go west young man]

15. A nonprofit fighting for power!

Man you got your baddies a bit mixed up.

[pnwmom]

21. Nonprofit? What do US non-profit tax laws have to do with Wikileaks?

There are two points of view on this issue. I go with the one that says you can't claim non-profit status when you're not registered with any country as one.

http://debatewise.org/debates/3230-wikileaks-is-not-and-has-never-been-a-non-profit-organization/

[go west young man]

23. Wikileaks is an "international" nonprofit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks

Not everything revolves around the US. Although plenty of nationalistic souls here at DU think so.

[phleshdef]

27. Most of Wikileaks's efforts revolve against the US though.

[go west young man]

36. Once again this is untrue.

Most Americans think it is true as Wikileaks gained so much attention here after the Apache video and the Iraq War logs were released. In actuality they have released over 600 files on countries all over the world. From China to Peru to Kazakhstan to Kenya. I encourage you to download their archive which is available on the main page. Link here: http://wikileaks.org 4th item from the bottom. Then you can see for yourself what info on other nations and organizations they have released.

[phleshdef]

52. Its not untrue. Look up the definition of the word "most".

Especially, in the last 3 years, almost of all of Wikileaks activity has been targeted at our government and American corporations.

I'm not saying a certain measure of it isn't justified, but theres really no way one can make the case that Wikileaks is some neutral party without an agenda against America in some fashion. Assange himself said he wanted to hasten the total annihilation of the current U.S. regime.

[go west young man]

56. Your propaganda filter is broken!

You should get a plumber to come out. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/30/1220141/-Watch-Julian-Assange-Vaporize-TIME-s-Credibility-in-ABC-Stephanopoulos-Grilling-LOL

[wtmusic]

63. Hadn't seen that. Thanks. nt

[phleshdef]

64. You need to worry more about your fact checking abilities...

....than my "propaganda filter" or whatever other dodgy bullshit you called it.

When asked about Assange’s denial yesterday, Gellman responded:

The early Wikileaks listserv has the e-mail in its full context. People who were on the list told me Assange was the author of that one, and Wikileaks spokesmen did not dispute it at the time. In his Frontline interview, Assange said the e-mail was familiar, said he didn’t know if he wrote it, and then focused his reservations on whether the note said “regime” or administration. The thrust of the quote — that secret government is corrupt and must be toppled by forced transparency — is the core of the philosophy Assange has espoused for years. Until today I had no reason to doubt that those were Assange’s words. Maybe there’s another explanation for the Cryptome document. I’d like to hear it

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/07/01/julian-assanges-annihilation-quote-denial-really/

[go west young man]

99. Here's a link to the Cryptome emails your article references.

http://cryptome.org/wikileaks/wikileaks-leak.htm

Here are two excerpts from the Cryptome Wikileaks email database: Keep in mind all the emails are from 2006 when Wikileaks was just starting up and the Bush admin was in power. Also keep in mind Assange says himself he may have said "regime". He never confirms nor denies the accuracy. He never said he wanted to topple the United States in any way shape or form. I only found this one paragraph on the matter:

Sufficient leaking will bring down many administrations that rely on
concealing reality -- including the US administration. Ellsberg calls
for it. Everyone knows it. We're doing it.

That quote is in reference to a question on leaking and how it might effect Western powers.
After reading the complete archive that is the only quote I can find that references possibly "toppling" the United States government. But most importantly pay attention to what the founder of Cryptome himself writes in my 2nd listed referenced excerpt.

Excerpt 1.

From:
To:
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 23:00:22 -0800

[This is a restricted internal development mailinglist for w-i-k-i-l-e-a-k-s-.-o-r-g.
Please do not mention that word directly in these discussions; refer instead to 'WL'.
This list is housed at riseup.net, an activist collective in Seattle with an established lawyer
and plenty of backbone.]


Hi xxxxxx,

We haven't publically launched yet.

WL has developed and integrated technology to foment
untracable, unstoppable mass document leaking and discussion. Our
primary targets are those highly oppressive regimes in china, russia and
central eurasia, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the
west who wish to reveal illegal or immoral behavior in their own
governments and corporations. We aim for maximum political impact; this
means our technology is fast and usable by non-technical people. We have
received over a million documents of varying quality. We plan to
numerically eclipse the content the english wikipedia with leaked
documents. We believe that the increasing familiarity with wikipedia.org
provides a comfortable transition to those who wish to leak documents
and comment on leaked documents.

We feel that per hour spent this provides the greatest positive impact
on the world and ourselves that is within our means to achieve.

Excerpt 2:

Not long after Cryptome was set up and got a bit of attention from
the authorities a woman called with an urgent request for help get
her boy friend out of a jam. Wanted to meet in an out of the way
place. Claimed she needed help hiding the guy's computer files
before the cops found them. Said he was charged with suspicion
of downloading kiddie porn using his mom's computer, had not done
so, only adult material, must have been somebody else, or the illegal stuff
was buried in the legal without his knowledge.

She cried, lots of tears, said she was desperate and terrified of being
arrested herself, had no one to turn to, didn't understand computers,
could I help, heard about me from someone who read something on
the Internet. Sure I said, happy to oblige. God bless you, she said, I
didn't know there were people like you.

She said she'd arrange to have the data sent to me. I said great, just
make sure there's no kiddie porn in it. Nothing ever came, at least not
that I could identify.

There have been a couple of dozen other such sting attempts, and probably
a lot more than that made it past our inept filtering. Could be the planted
incriminating material is throughout our archives, ready to be harvested
when needed.

In other words anyone could have planted those emails in regards to the Bush admin. Now go to the last paragraph in the Cryptome list and see that the website owner of Cryptome, John Young, says he believes he has been infiltrated by the CIA though out his emails and says he's terminating sharing any more info.

I can only conclude after reading the file, which incidentally, I thank you for, that there is not a shred of evidence that anything there can legitimately be attributed to Assange.

[greiner3]

154. I see;

'You guys' ask and answer OPs in tandem.

Just sayin'.

[pnwmom]

115. That's what they call themselves. But it's a meaningless term

unless they're filing non-profit tax returns with some country.

[go west young man]

28. First paragraph from the link you gave:

Julian assange is a slippery character and so is his organisation. What do we really know about wikileaks. Not very much. It is an organisation that encourages whistleblowing and the leaking of secrets. Wikileaks says of itself "WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organisation dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public... We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices." By its very nature it is a murkey organisation so how much can we trust it?


And you expect to be taken seriously with that? Couple that with the fact that the link you gave actually says yes and no at the same time in regards to the debate over nonprofit status for Wikileaks. It's semantics coupled with arbitrary belief in certain laws and how they apply internationally.

[pnwmom]

118. The link I gave is a DEBATE site, so it has opposing views.

That's why it says "yes" and "no" at the same time.

Yes, I expect people to take it seriously who are actually trying to have a serious discussion, as opposed to cramming their views down other people's throats.

[go west young man]

135. Your "debate" sit starts off with a smear against Assange

as I referenced above. As far as "cramming views down people's throats" I'm gonna take that as you feel the debate we are having is not going your way at the moment.

[pnwmom]

137. On the top left, there is one point of view. On the top right, there is the other.

They were both presented at the top of the page in equal positions of prominence.

[go west young man]

139. Reread your link please.

Here's your link. http://debatewise.org/debates/3230-wikileaks-is-not-and-has-never-been-a-non-profit-organization/

Here's the smear at the top.

Julian assange is a slippery character and so is his organisation. What do we really know about wikileaks. Not very much. It is an organisation that encourages whistleblowing and the leaking of secrets. Wikileaks says of itself "WikiLeaks is a non-profit media organisation dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public... We publish material of ethical, political and historical significance while keeping the identity of our sources anonymous, thus providing a universal way for the revealing of suppressed and censored injustices." By its very nature it is a murkey organisation so how much can we trust it?

Then follows non relevant discussion as neither your cause nor mine is proven by you posting that tripe.

[Thinkingabout]

16. Maybe if they had started with the truth articles released now might be creditable but they got off

On the wrong foot. Don't think they have the integrity to have power now. It seems the more which is released the deeper they are in sinking sand.

[greiner3]

155. "Maybe if they had started with the truth articles..."

Uh, I am curious as to your interpretation as to 'untruth' articles.

[Thinkingabout]

159. Lies, non factual informational, unintentuinal false statements

[Aerows]

101. Um, Yeah

I'd imaging that Assange is feeling downright powerful being stuck in the Ecuadorean embassy for the 2+ years he's been there and can't leave. I'm sure Snowden was feeling extremely powerful and wealthy when he was camped out in the Russian airport for several weeks.

Woohoo, they are just reveling in power and profit.

[pnwmom]

119. I didn't compare Snowden and Assange. I believe Snowden's parents

that he's probably being taken advantage of by Assange and Greenwald.

Similarly, Manning was taken advantage of by Assange.

[go west young man]

164. Folks like yourself

would have said Paul Revere's parents believe he was taken advantage of by someone else. Do you see how silly it sounds as an argument?

[pnwmom]

174. It's no sillier than your choice to believe that he's a patriot concerned about US

internal surveillance who decided all on his own to also share information with foreign media about our spying on China and Russia.

It would make sense if he were out for a buck or some worldwide attention, but not if he's a patriot concerned about the US. . . . unless he was duped by the older, much more worldly men -- who both have their own agenda.

[Cryptoad]

3. Ohhhhhhh,,,,,,,

this must be the evidence of the criminal acts of the NSA that Snowden keeps whining about! I sure will be glad when we finally see this evidence!

[HumansAndResources]

129. You Mean ADDITIONAL Crimes, right?

Unless you think secret rulings by secret courts and Congressmen who are told, "This is what we are doing, and if you speak of it, we throw you in a cage," are an A-OK way to do so-called "oversight."

[Cryptoad]

165. Whats your

good idea of good oversight? More GOP appointed judges,,,,, ?

[greiner3]

156. Whining about????????

You fail!

[pnwmom]

8. Another blackmail attempt. n/t

[Aerows]

106. What was the first one? n/t

[pnwmom]

120. In this go around? Greenwald said that they had information that

would be much more harmful to the US that they were ready to release if they decided to.

[Aerows]

121. We don't even know what's in this file

They haven't said. It's highly likely that it is something completely new that has nothing to do with Snowden and Greenwald. It could be a collection of the greatest hits of the 70's for all we know at present. So my question would be blackmailing whom?

I don't see Greenwald saying that they had harmful information that they could release as blackmail so much as it is "don't knock us off". "Don't extra-judicially kill me" is quite a bit different than "Give me $1 million dollars".

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. I'm sure someone will pop the code. It would be funny it they used free software too.

[iamthebandfanman]

17. yep.

if someone out there cares enough, probably so...

with the internet, the old saying 'where theres a will, theres a way' is very accurate

[wtmusic]

19. Full AES has never been "popped".

Maybe you're up to it, if you have some spare time let us know what it says.

[Posteritatis]

22. Brute-forcing 256-bit encryption isn't going to happen. (nt)

[Spitfire of ATJ]

42. I've seen the "equal to all the atoms in the universe" thing.

[bemildred]

62. Longer than the universe will exist is more the idea.

And nothing breaks a one-time pad, still.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad

[Spitfire of ATJ]

76. This all assumes they don't WANT the info out there.

[bemildred]

88. That is usually what one uses encryption for? nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

92. Uh huh. So if it gets popped we know it was meant to be popped.

[bemildred]

102. Sort of like Orville Redenbacher, eh?

http://www.orville.com/

But seriously, it could be fake, if I was Assange I'd do this from time to time, like he has, to spread your own FUD. To keep your story "hot", as a distraction, and there are other things ...

This is a "war", and it's being fought as a "war", no rules, the only rules I see are the "what can I get away with" rule, all sides.

"All warfare is based on deception." -- Sun Tzu

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1771.Sun_Tzu

[Spitfire of ATJ]

130. Deep down everyone is hoping something will come out that will reveal "The Big Lie"....

The problem is that everybody has a different "Big Lie" they want exposed and the actual one that could cause the world to be a better place probably isn't on anyone's list.

[bemildred]

152. Yeah, sure they are, mean and nasty underneath, all of them. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

179. Well,....I DO have a reputation to uphold.

[Fearless]

33. You have no idea what your talking about.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. What would be funny is if the key was "Atlas Shrugged".

[Iliyah]

55. Beam me up Scotty!

And there off and running. Which country will break it first, inquirer minds want to know!

Street party here, beautiful day in Los Angeles.

[Paulie]

104. The key for the cables from Manning was

CollectionOfDiplomaticHistorySince_1966_ToThe_PresentDay#

Not rely a lot of entropy. So the insurance files will likely be similar. People have their habits.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

122. Nuthin like copy/paste....

Beats capturing a U-Boat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505

Start reading at "Outcome"

[Iliyah]

12. No worries WaPo

is on it! Front complete full page! Gosh darn it, only if WaPo had printed back yonder about the bullshit false information of WMD which could have saved over 250,000 lives huh.

Yeah, I'm still pissed about that one.

[greiner3]

158. I'm pissed;

That the Post will never again be an international paper of any great influence what with Bozo now the owner.

There will never be another 'Woodward and Burnstien' revelation and now the Times is the only US paper capable of any real journalism; for now!

[iamthebandfanman]

14. lol

sure sounds like blackmail to me

so much for the transparency they claim to worship so much ...


ya'll have the freedom to speculate guys !

[defacto7]

132. That's the word I would put on it.

Last edited Mon Aug 19, 2013, 05:40 PM - Edit history (1)

They are either posting info or they're not. Outside of that is certainly is blackmail. Transparency doesn't bother me a bit but I have no use for these games.

Edit per post 193, 199 and muriel_volestrangler's comments.

Reply title: That's the word I might use for it.
Message text: Outside of that is certainly may be blackmail.

[muriel_volestrangler]

160. Yes, they are blackmailing ... errr... who?

I know, they must be blackmailing the entire world, because there's no indication whatsoever what the files are about. Could be banks, could be the US government, could be another government, could be other companies ... given that various entities have tried to shut down Wikileaks (eg cutting off means of funding them), it seems quite reasonable to put their data where it can't be shut down by a concerted legal (or hacking) attempt.

[defacto7]

191. Yes, I understand protecting data is important especially when you have

information that could be damaging. Again, I have no problem with transparency but there is one word that sticks out... "Insurance". It has a certain ring to it. I would have chosen a different word if I were simply trying to safeguard the information and promote an atmosphere of openness at the same time. It could be superfluous usage or It could be a threat. We don't need to know what those files are about to be a threat; it's not necessary for anyone to know, it's only necessary for one to think there may be something to know. It could be Grimm's Fairy Tales for all it matters.

Ever played poker?

[muriel_volestrangler]

193. You said you were certain it is blackmail

but now you are saying it's just your guess. I presume you base that guess on a hatred of Wikileaks, and an automatic assumption that whatever they're doing, it's illegal. Other people use the word 'insurance' in their everyday lives for legal activities. They use it as a metaphor for legal activities too - a football coach can have a good back-up player for a position "as insurance", for instance. Insurance is something you have in case something unwanted happens to to.

[defacto7]

199. I stand by my posts in general.

You can be as legalistic as you wish but you are also reading a lot into it that isn't there. How can you be so legalistic in your approach to communication and yet throw in presumptions that don't exist? I may have been lightly contradictory in my first post which is normal when replying to a comment on the cuff, but I think I made up for that in the second thanks partly to your rebuff that you felt necessary; maybe it was. But it seems you simply make stuff up. I have been a wikileaks advocate but I question certain motives or decisions as of very recently and questioning one's allegiance to anything is healthy. That's not too far from some Dems who are questioning their position in the party due to new circumstances that have arisen. Questioning is good. Lies are not. Manufacturing another persons opinions is religiosity and I'm not religious.

I will update my first reply just for the record. It should have been more simplistic and less specific.

[bunnies]

20. Well...

I guess we know what the worlds hackers will be working on. Someone will crack it.

[wtmusic]

24. The world's fastest supercomputer could knock it out in 3.17 billion years.

No, no one is going to "crack" it.

It would be hundreds of millions of times more likely for someone to steal the key from Assange's hard drive.

[iamthebandfanman]

26. Just curious

do you have a background in computers or programming at all?

EDIT:
was just going to ask some questions, but found what I need here

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1279619

"The bottom line is that if AES could be compromised, the world would come to a standstill. The difference between cracking the AES-128 algorithm and AES-256 algorithm is considered minimal. Whatever breakthrough might crack 128-bit will probably also crack 256-bit.

In the end, AES has never been cracked yet and is safe against any brute force attacks contrary to belief and arguments. However, the key size used for encryption should always be large enough that it could not be cracked by modern computers despite considering advancements in processor speeds based on Moore's law."

[wtmusic]

35. A fair question.

The fastest computer today, as far as I am aware, is the IBM Sequoia at 16.32 petaflops/second.

AES-256 has been technically "cracked", or shown to have a computational complexity faster than a brute force attack. This can be accomplished using bicliques, but the cc is still a rather big number: 2²⁵⁴.

If you divide 2²⁵⁴ by 16.32 quadrillion (peta-) you get some number with 17 zeros, the coefficient isn't critical. Divide that number by the number of seconds in a year, 31,557,600, and you get several billion years.

[Babel_17]

45. I've wondered about other factors

Even if you hypothesize a processor a million times faster than the best that can be had aren't there other factors to consider? The processor has to continually access the file and confirm the success/failure of each attempt. Even with multiple copies loaded into the fastest memory, the circuitry between the processor and the file(s) in memory presents a limitation, I would think.

And of course there might be redundant encryption. The file could have layers, each of which could have encryption.

[wtmusic]

50. Good points.

My estimation was an idealized calculation which might be within three decimal places of an actual result.

I present code cracking in the best possible light to illustrate how ridiculously hard modern ciphers are at being broken. We're many orders of magnitude away from a task which is feasible within the next decade.

[xocet]

46. Though the orders of magnitude are what matters, here is a list of the fastest computers.

China surpassing U.S. with 54.9 petaflop supercomputer
Intel-based system has China poised to take the global lead in Top500 supercomputing list this month
By Patrick Thibodeau

Computerworld - China has produced a supercomputer capable of 54.9 petaflops, more than twice the speed of any system in the U.S., according to a U.S. researcher who was in China last week and learned the details.

China's latest system was built with Intel chips, but includes indigenously produced Chinese technologies as well. The Chinese government spent about $290 million on it.

Today, the world's fastest supercomputer is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The Cray system was running at nearly 18 petaflops, according to last November's biannual Top 500 list. That list will be updated in mid-June.

With its new supercomputer, China is raising the stakes in supercomputing for the U.S., as well as for Japan and Europe. It is showing a willingness to push for leadership in HPC and the race to develop the next generation of systems, exascale.

...

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9239710/China_surpassing_U.S._with_54.9_petaflop_supercomputer

June 2013

Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, is the world’s new No. 1 system with a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark, according to the 41stedition of the twice-yearlyTOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The list was announced June 17 during the opening session of the 2013 International Supercomputing Conference in Leipzig, Germany.

Tianhe-2, or Milky Way-2, will be deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho, China, by the end of the year. The surprise appearance of Tianhe-2, two years ahead of the expected deployment, marks China’s first return to the No. 1 position since November 2010, when Tianhe-1A was the top system. Tianhe-2 has 16,000 nodes, each with two Intel Xeon IvyBridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors for a combined total of 3,120,000 computing cores.

Titan, a Cray XK7 system installed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and previously the No. 1 system, is now ranked No. 2. Titan achieved 17.59 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark using 261,632 of its NVIDIA K20x accelerator cores. Titan is one of the most energy efficient systems on the list, consuming a total of 8.21 MW and delivering 2,143 Mflops/W.

Sequoia, an IBM BlueGene/Q system installed at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also dropped one position and is now the No. 3 system. Sequoia was first delivered in 2011 and has achieved 17.17 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark using 1,572,864 cores. Sequoia is also one of the most energy efficient systems on the list, consuming a total of 7.84 MW and delivering 2,176.6 Mflops/W.

...

http://www.top500.org/lists/2013/06/

[Aerows]

93. The geek in me took over for a moment

and wondered "what score on the Futuremark bench would that Titan kick out"? .. Or even better "I wonder what it would get on 3dMark06" LOL

[greiner3]

161. Of course;

This is assuming the US government has no faster computers.

Could it be the NSA secretly has one with say double, triple or more computing power and that makes makes Moore's Law 6, or more years head start of any other entity; given the possibility China also does not have such a similar secret computer.

Also, quantum based computers, in their infant stages now, will make Moore's Law obsolete.

These computers use 'qubits' which are comparable to bits.

It is thought a 512 qubit computer will be 10 billion times faster than what was one of the faster CPUs only a few years ago.

From 'Roses Law';

http://nextbigfuture.com/2013/01/dwave-systems-512-qubits-projected-to.html

A computer using 2,000 qubits will be able to 'solve problems that would take classical computers longer than the age of the universe.

Moore's Law 'out the window'.

[Half-Century Man]

25. I see it as Assange is tired of his embassy cell.

So, he posts a doomsday bomb online. So, let me go or we blow up together.

[go west young man]

44. Or maybe he's just doing what he has always been doing.

Exposing lies and deception among the worlds governments and elites.

[HumansAndResources]

131. Assange-ing is a Distraction Technique

Hell, the John Birchers, of all people, put out THIS " target="_blank"> www.youtube.com /watch?v=BbnpN07J_zg , exposing Dick Cheney for the Tool is Is. And I thank them for it - however much I am repelled by many tenets of their "philosophy."

And then after you watch THIS " target="_blank"> www.youtube.com /watch?v=LYq3TaBik64 , the full picture gets a bit clearer. Why would good people go to a place which could be truthfully-named "The Hall of American War Criminals" - EVER ?? - and certainly not call it a "pleasure" to be there.

(sorry about the links - not sure what the deal is - just remove the space between 'com' and ' /watch... ')

[JDPriestly]

138. Since when does the freest country on earth view the truth as a doomsday bomb?

[Half-Century Man]

144. No person on Earth, no group of people on Earth, wants complete exposure.

We all have things we would prefer to not become general knowledge. In some cases (and I suspect a huge majority) those things hidden are criminal acts. Things like, petty theft at check out lanes (observing a mistake in pricing which benifits you) and the undetected intoxicated operation of motor vehicles. We all have an image of ourselves we would prefer to be the public one, and do take steps to defend it.

And no matter what we might wish our history as a country was. We, as collections of people are want to do, did things that were petty, undetected, criminal, disloyal, and benificial to ourselves. And within our big collection exist smaller collections, each with a history and position they would prefer to control.

All I am proposing is that Mr Assange might be wanting to change his situation and has information that a collection of people wish to keep hidden. I do not suggest that the targeted collection of people is the big collection, just 1 or more of the smaller ones.

[JDPriestly]

145. So, what if you are right? What if you are wrong?

What difference does it make to you or me?

Are you saying that Assange may be trying to blackmail someone, perhaps our government or someone else?

Isn't that kind of what the whole Swedish sex accusations were about? Blackmailing Assange.

I just don't think that is a relevant issue to whether the NSA spying on Americans should be stopped. And that is the priority issue right now.

We can worry about Assange and his mysterious file later. It may just be a ruse. We don't know. The NSA spying excesses are not a ruse. Too many people have corroborated that there is a problem with the NSA's program. There is no changing the subject until we have stopped the NSA in that regard.

[Half-Century Man]

146. Ah, sorry. I guess I came over as flippant.

I was trying to point out that whatever Mr. Assange has on his very famous files, is there to make someone nervous, the who and why are undetermined.
The file content is also undetermined, so assigning it value in the NSA scandal is premature.

Mr. Snowden has been pretty constant with his avenues of release, using Mr. Greenwald and the New York Times. To suddenly switch over to Wikileaks seems to me to be unlikely. Whatever small piece of freedom Mr. Snowden has is due in part to promises made to a person I think is unlikely to forgive broken promises.

The NSA scandal is not the only scandal. I am not suggesting that asshole who worked on, fought for, suggested, stood blindly along side of, or under-reported the illegal overreach of spying; be given any mercy. If they help us sort it out a lessening of punishment could be worked out.

[another_liberal]

29. What kind of insurance? Insurance against what? Insurance for whom?

Perhaps it's the NSA's "insurance" in case someone really decides to get serious about trying to slash their secret, bloated budget, or even tries to charge some of their top administrators with crimes? This could be a massive trove of sensitive information on the private lives of every member of Congress, every CEO of a major corporation, and every high-ranking officer in our military, just to name a few possible subjects. Four hundred gigabytes is a lot of fucking data.

[Luminous Animal]

61. Insurance against prior restraint. It's in the article.

[another_liberal]

70. That is why Wikileaks released them . . .

That is why Wikileaks released them. What they contain is still unknown, except to Wikileaks and the NSA, right?

[Luminous Animal]

71. They've done this before. Releasing the encrypted files globally without the key.

So, if Wikileaks.org is shut down, they can release the key and multiple mirrors will be created. This happened with the cable release. Mirrors kept popping up staying ahead of the attacks.

I haven't a clue if the NSA knows what they have. What makes you think they do?

[another_liberal]

79. One should assume . . .

I think it wise one should assume the NSA knows just about everything there is to know, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[Aerows]

83. I would think they

would have a damned good idea by now of what Snowden accessed and copied.

[another_liberal]

86. No doubt.

Considering how dangerous he has become to their intelligence empire, I think there can be no doubt they have checked-out every key stroke he ever made.

[Luminous Animal]

94. I agree. But I don't think that the insurance files are Snowden's documents.

[Aerows]

98. It could be anything, you are correct

but I am leaning towards it having some of the juicier stuff Snowden got. But you are right, there really is no telling what's in there unless someone releases the key.

[Luminous Animal]

103. Snowden has been so adamant about a deliberative vetting and publishing process

that it would surprise me if he handed the files to Wikileaks.

[Aerows]

110. That's a good point.

Who knows? If they ever release the key, I guess we'll find out. It could be a bunch of pictures of cats LOL.

[Luminous Animal]

141. : )

[Luminous Animal]

84. I suspect they are striving for such capability but aren't quite there yet.

[another_liberal]

91. Lets hope so at least.

It is still a very big World, and that makes for a great many balls to keep in the air at once.

[Aerows]

112. You know

now that I think about it, this could be something completely new and they are releasing the file beforehand so it can't be gotten rid of?

[Luminous Animal]

140. That's what I'm thinking.

Hoping that this is the "Snowden Effeft"... more whistle-blowers.

[DeSwiss]

38. You have to know that this totally pisses the NSA off......

...having to first find out about and then have go to a subsidiary like Facebook for those links! The nerve!

- I blame the parents! There's just no respect for spy agencies out there anymore......

K&R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

74. What would totally piss off the NSA is if it came out that they were working for Wall Street.

[Aerows]

77. I thought that had already (sort of)

come out.

[tridim]

39. Everyone FREAK OUT!!!!11

[MjolnirTime]

41. the Wiki that cried Wolf. Sorry, they lost the public attention long ago.

Now it's just more noise amid the din.

[Aerows]

75. You comment on every one of these threads

I'm thinking they still have your attention.

[NealK]

109. Lol!

[Duer 157099]

43. First, didn't he release this years ago, under the same premise?

I remember reading about it right about the time the video came out (the troops in Iraq killing those journalists).

But what good is this "insurance" if nobody has the key? I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now.

[tridim]

47. His scam is falling apart.

[Iliyah]

48. Hey at least he's raking in the

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[wtmusic]

53. How so?

How on Earth do you think he's profiting from this?

That's one of the most asinine conclusions I've seen on DU.

[go west young man]

57. Sadly DU isn't about well sourced data anymore.

It's more of a name calling hate fest.

[NorthCarolina]

168. FACT: To the Right Wing, a "Fact" is any statement that reinforces personal biases and convictions.

It does not need to be true, and can even be made up (as is generally the case). The only requirement is that the 'fact' mirror RW ideology and talking points.

[Luminous Animal]

78. The cables were "insured" in a similar manner.

Thousands of people downloaded the encrypted cable files prior to their release from Wikileaks. And it was a good thing that they did because it allowed for dozens and dozens of mirrors around the world when the official Wikileaks site was under attack.

WHEN (or IF) Wikileaks publishes this latest and they come under attack, the key will be revealed which will allow mirrors to publish the info and people to access it.

[Aerows]

81. It can serve as a Dead Man's Switch

Somebody pops him, the key gets released. They try to redact the extremely sensitive information that could get people killed, but if whatever is in there is that sensitive they presumably would release the key if he gets knocked off.

They say it's information against prior restraint (meaning censorship) and the easiest way to censor a person is to put them six feet under.

[hueymahl]

49. I see the NSA apologists, statists

and security before liberty folks are out in full force on this one. The government must have expanded their payroll.

[go west young man]

51. It's funny reading all their posts.

All they have is character assassination. In their defense they do make for some good humor. And to think the NSA is actually paying for this!

[NealK]

67. Yup.

I got a couple of good chuckles reading some of these posts.

[delrem]

66. 400GB of data???????????????

I call bs.

[Electric Monk]

73. 325.39 GB of data if you want to be more precise

All three torrents can be found here: http://isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=wlinsurance

[delrem]

82. You do know how easy it is to send a torrent with 1TB of crap,

should anyone want to do it?
Take a walk on the wild side and download a new and yet to be released on DVD movie. 6 or 8GB max, so it's a comparatively painless experiment. Pay no attention to the feedback that says "FAKE". Do it. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to download a movie that requires a "special codec" that you can get if you patiently go through the process of clicking links from ad-server to ad-server. Perhaps you'll get tired after awhile... but still be thinking "but, perhaps if I click on one more ad-server link I'll get the codec!"

Now do that for 357GB. OK.

[Electric Monk]

85. Sure, I'm not bothering to DL any of it myself, just pointing out where it can be found.

Either you believe it is something legit or you don't

[delrem]

89. wtf kind of info requires 350G?

I don't believe Snowden is associated with 350G of info, nor do I believe this cockamamie story.
I'll wait for it to play out on the news.

[Aerows]

87. ?

I'm very puzzled by this post.

[Electric Monk]

90. I think they're saying that they think wikileaks is just bluffing with these torrent files.

Or they want others to think wikileaks is just bluffing

[Aerows]

95. Yeah..I don't know

Once before Wikileaks did this, and somehow the key got out (think it was CableGate) and had legit information, so I wouldn't doubt that this one is, too. But you never know.

[delrem]

97. Snowden hasn't gone through wikileaks, ffs.

He's gone directly through a few trusted journalists.

[Electric Monk]

100. I don't know why you're posting that in reply to me. See posts #94 and #98 above. nt

[delrem]

105. Because you're suggesting that these files were torrented by wikileaks.

[Electric Monk]

108. Did you read the OP? Try reading it again, where it says "Wikileaks just released a..." nt

[Aerows]

111. Wikileaks released these files

It was stated that they were insurance against prior restraint. This may be another bombshell that has nothing to do with anything Snowden had and so beforehand they are releasing the data so that it can't get censored.

It could be anything.

[delrem]

96. Consider size of package vs kind of info promised.

It's fucking absurd is what it is.
That's just one alarm bell suggesting this torrent isn't "wikileaks".

[Aerows]

114. They released a 1.7 TB file before

CableGate was another one, I can't remember how big it was (but it was massive), but the key accidentally got out and it was legit. This may be something entirely new, who knows. It's fun to speculate, but in the end it's all speculation.

Oh, and what kind of information was promised? I haven't seen anything but that this is an insurance file. They haven't said a word about what's in there. It could be new.

[delrem]

124. Snowden's leak is unlike "cablegate".

If you don't understand that, you haven't been watching.

Snowden's leak is to an express purpose.

This fake Manning scenario doesn't pass the smell test, but if your olfactory system is willing to conflate Manning with Snowden, as this hoax tries to do, there's nothing more I can do to explain.

OK

[Aerows]

126. Okay

Do you know what is in this file? I don't. Therefore I can't conflate it with anything because I don't know what the hell is in it. No one will know until the people who DO know what is in the file volunteer that information.

As far as it passing the smell test, I don't know what the fuck is in it so I don't know what I'm supposed to be smelling yet. If you do, please volunteer that information so that I can form an opinion other than "I wonder what the hell is in that file".

[NealK]

117. What kind of info was promised?

And by whom?

[hobbit709]

148. Fast connection, lots of seeders, doesn't take that long.

I started it on my backup system last night about 10 PM. At this point I have 60Gb downloaded.

Don't know what you've been downloading with missing codecs and ad-server links but I never had anything like that.

[PatrynXX]

123. already have one but certainly don't have space for another release 400 times bigger n/t

[hobbit709]

149. Drives are cheap. Around here you can get a 1 Terabyte external for $60 on sale.

I probably have about 8 Tb worth sitting around. And about another TB in flash drives.

[Summer Hathaway]

133. I'm in!

I broke the code about an hour ago.

All of the messages seem to be the same: I have been instructed to watch Captain Midnight every Saturday at noon - and to drink more Ovaltine.

[go west young man]

136. Best post of the night.

[MADem]

147. Ralphie Parker, newest member of the SECRET CIRCLE, is that you?

[DiverDave]

151. LOL, good one

summer, and yes, we have ovaltine for my kids, they've been drinking alot lately.
That was pretty funny.

[dipsydoodle]

150. That it can't currently be opened isn't material

Its out there and under adverse circumstances doubtless they'll provide the key to sufficient people/organisations to get the message out.

[BlueStreak]

157. That it can't be opened is THE WHOLE POINT

It is an "in your face" power move against the CIA. They are saying, in effect,

"You cannot stop the distribution. That train has left the station. The only thing that stops its widespread disclosure is the key. If you #### with us, the key goes public."

Now we sit back and watch. What do they have? Is it a bluff? Do they really have information that would be so devastating to the authoritarian state that the state has to negotiate with WikiLeaks -- or at least leave them alone? Is this enough to get Assange out of his spider hole?

[The Stranger]

198. I'm beginning to wonder if CIA and all of the Governments have already called his bluff.

I mean, with the Edward Snowden affair, it was disclosed that the U.S. government essentially spies on the whole fucking world.

Do you see people outside in the streets? Neither do I.

So what else could their be that hoi polloi simply won't continue to snooze through.

[greiner3]

162. This is good news for Wikileaks.

Julian also released such a file soon after he was a fugitive from justice, just in case he 'was disappeared'.

[Sunlei]

185. lot of clever computer persons who would take 'no one can open' as a challenge.

[JoePhilly]

187. Probably a tracking program that quietly scans your computer and sends

data back to its host servers.

If I was the US government, trying to spy on people, this would be an easy way to do it.

Get the people to download the "secret files".

[Ash_F]

190. Why would you make a post like that?

Don't you want people to take you seriously? Have some dignity.

[JoePhilly]

195. Awe, now you're just trying to hurt my feelings.

Didn't work, but that's ok.

[Ash_F]

196. No just trying to help you

That was a really inane comment and you know it.

[JoePhilly]

197. What is "inane" is downloading any file with unknown contents.