Further to the Kremlin purchasing 20 Cyrillic/Latin typewriters and sparking a media frenzy, RT reports that:
An increasing number of businesses are opting out of staying virtually connected and are reverting back to old technologies to avoid being spied on. The move has led to a surge in typewriter sales in Germany.
German typewriter makers such as Bandermann and Olympia have cited climbing sales amid NSA spying revelations. "We sell about 10,000 [typewriters] every year," Bandermann manager Rolf Bonnen told The Local. "We've seen an increase because Brother left the market [in 2012]," he added. The company's sales jumped by one-third over last year since 2012.
Triumph Adler, which is part of Bandermann, began advertising its typewriters as "Bug proof. NSA proof" in 2013 in order to attract more consumers.
Typewriters aren't quite bug proof because analysis can be done on the sound of each strike, or even by simply removing the ribbon which can hold an imprint of the most recently typed document. A larger concern is to be careful about photocopying. Modern, proprietary photocopiers have hard disks which are huge for the task of photocopying. And in a separate issue, some photocopiers have issues when copying fonts and monospaced fonts in particular.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:01PM
when i first heard this story it smelled like propaganda to make sure the "little people" thought their government has hit upon hard times.
They are all in it together. Only some of them are better at it, than others...
(Score: 1, Redundant) by lx on Thursday July 24 2014, @08:04AM
It's from Russia Today, so yes, it's propaganda.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:03PM
Perhaps the manual K-Mart-branded manual typewriter I have will accrue in value! And, of course, if I ever decided to go completely nuts and live off the grid, I can live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and type out my crazy manifesto like the Unibomber.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:28PM
Every typewriter has a fairly peculiar way of printing, due to alignments, wear, and so on.
I tell you this to spare you the effort of signing the manifesto.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by mendax on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:28AM
Yep, I know all that already. They have to find me first to find the typewriter. If they find me, finding the typewriter is rather academic at that point. Fortunately, Americans do not live in a place [wikipedia.org] where every typewriter is registered and its typeface and its imperfections recorded by the police [wikipedia.org] before it can be sold to someone.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Wednesday July 23 2014, @09:35PM
American typewriters are NSA compromised.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 2) by mendax on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:21AM
Nah... not my 1970ish vintage typewriter. But I'll accept your paranoia... and remember to use my typewriter in a room with foil-covered walls.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:06PM
I'm not a security expert, but I'd wonder whether the security threat is mostly from making everything inter-operable. A few, very scrutinized, single function devices might be employed for ultra security without giving up of all digitization.
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by keplr on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:07PM
Just buy some old Thinkpads and disable the networking--they all have hardware switches for wireless. Rip out the radios if you don't trust it. It's probably cheaper than a typewriter, which has thousands of precisely machined moving parts. And hardly anyone makes them anymore, so there's no economy of scale. Thinkpads are $50 on Ebay.
Run OpenBSD and hook it up to an old-fashioned dot matrix printer. Now you have all the benefits of a typewriter and much more capabilities when editing documents.
The only thing to worry about is the hilariously impractical--though not impossible--threat of Van Eck phreaking [wikipedia.org].
I don't respond to ACs.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by modest on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:40PM
You mean pre-Chinese, American-made Thinkpads... shipped from the US no less? No way those could have been tampered with. Also, regarding Van Eck phreaking, see RAGEMASTER in the NSA ANT Catalog [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:16AM
I was thinking similar, except back into the early 90s with non-Wintel systems, like a FM Towns or whatever the European equivalent to an Amiga or Macintosh of the time was. That way they should be well out of the NSA's reach, while still giving them full office-suite type software.
(Score: 2) by DrMag on Thursday July 24 2014, @04:01PM
They'd need to epoxy all the UBS ports and such closed as well. A stack of papers is harder to copy when not in digital format. Can you imagine Edward Snowden having pulled off what he did by carrying hard copies of all those documents?
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:14PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:28PM
A planted bug can easily have its own radio and maybe your wireless never truly shuts off.
I buy it that the Russians would buy typewriters. It reeks of "let's use shovels instead of a Bulldozer because it make more jobs" quality of logic. (Then anyone listening should suggest the use of spoons.)
I wouldn't put it past the Russians to communicate by morse-coded-sex.
(Score: 1) by arslan on Wednesday July 23 2014, @10:21PM
umm wrap the laptop in lead? That'll one up the Russian's analog typewriter :)
(Score: 1) by Adamsjas on Wednesday July 23 2014, @11:32PM
If you unplug your network, it means unplugging the cat 5 cables.
I doubt anyone in a secure facility is using wifi.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday July 24 2014, @01:12PM
Secure facilities still have managers.
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:22PM
Just thinking... Wouldn't put it past most politicians...
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:33PM
Just because sales went up for the survivors AFTER a market consolidation doesn't mean that sales are surging.
Nor does it mean that people are more security aware or worried.
It might just be replacement sales on worn out units when printing on multiple copy forms are required and fighting computer driven printers is more trouble than its worth.
Says something about Russian security and tech experts if they feel the only way they can protect themselves is to revert to typewriters.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Wednesday July 23 2014, @10:09PM
FTFY. Trolling again?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 23 2014, @10:47PM
Germans have an excuse to be worried, they have Embedded US cia/nsa liaison officers and we tapped Merkel's phone.
Russians: Not so much.
Why is it if you disagree with someone you have to accuse them of trolling?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Geotti on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:10AM
Why do you think you know me so well to accuse me of acting like that? You take every. single. chance. to lash out against Russia. Would you have left your last sentence out, it would have been fine.
Really? Aren't they the enemy #1 of the neo-cons? Aren't they spied upon as well (them spying back notwithstanding)?
(Score: 2) by frojack on Thursday July 24 2014, @07:48AM
The Russians aren't so stupid at to allow CIA and NSA liaison officers into their headquarters and then act all surprised when they find they've been bugged (like the Germans did).
It wasn't a lashing out of Russia, it was more of a compliment to them for not letting the camel's nose under the tent in the first place. Since the Russians were smart enough to keep the CIA from wandering around in their buildings, they have very little worry about CIA planting bugs in their air-gapped computer systems.
I think you owe me an apology. I'd settle for just a little more careful reading on your part.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Thursday July 24 2014, @11:23PM
In this case, I guess I've misread your original comment and stand corrected.
I'm sorry, Cpt. Obvious! ;)
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:49PM
Snort.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:50PM
hard disks which are huge for the task of photocopying
Is the word you were looking for used?
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Informative) by ragequit on Wednesday July 23 2014, @11:21PM
no. huge is about right. Do you really need a 250GB hard drive in a copier?
The above views are fabricated for your reading pleasure.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday July 24 2014, @04:07AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by GWRedDragon on Wednesday July 23 2014, @08:54PM
Suppose you are an average citizen who doesn't want spooks reading their personal papers.
In an era where every device which can phone home, does, people with little tech saavy can be sure they don't have a device that reports in en masse by opting for a purely mechanical device. This provides real protection for this data from being swept up in the global intelligence dragnet.
If they care enough to physically bug your house, what technlogy you are using is secondary. But that case is exceedingly rare in comparison to all the data on the internet that is being swept up.
And if the user is technically inclined, they can make more certain that an electronic device is not able to contact the internet. In that case, electronics are more convenient.
[Insert witty message here]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday July 23 2014, @09:28PM
Which is exactly why a computer unplugged from the net is just about as safe as a typewriter. If they want to bug your off-the-grid computer or your typewriter they would have to break into your house to get close enough to pick up keyboard pulses.
And if they are willing to break into your house they will just replace your typewriter ribbon with a new one, and carry away the old one, and photocopy all your papers with their phones.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GWRedDragon on Wednesday July 23 2014, @09:53PM
My point is that having a purely mechanical device, for the nontechnical person, is a good guarantee that it is not phoning home online.
[Insert witty message here]
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Wednesday July 23 2014, @10:17PM
And his point is that an unplugged computer achieves the same. (It should, of course, be a computer with PS/2 and parallel ports only and with a removable harddriv, which is put in a safe overnight.)
(Score: 1) by GWRedDragon on Wednesday July 23 2014, @10:23PM
Of course, but you need some technical saavy to know if it has wireless, etc. A lot of people don't have that level of sophistication.
[Insert witty message here]
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:19AM
I think I've got an idea there:
1. Buy PCs with only PS/2, serial and parallel ports (thus, guaranteed without Wi-Fi) off Ebay
2. Sell them as safe from internet-based attacks
3. Profit!
Wait... Where are the question marks?
But seriously, it's possible to go to a store and buy a computer without wireless by asking the salesman. And if you've really got something to hide, you surely know someone (or get introduced to someone) who can tell you (or have the incentive to inform yourself about) how to hide it.
(Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Thursday July 24 2014, @12:25AM
Unless the person goes with an older system. If I was of that mindset, as an American I'd probably try to pick up an old Amiga or early-mid 90s Macintosh computer -- they both have good graphical OSes, office software, but no wireless and most likely no modem or ethernet ports either.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Yog-Yogguth on Thursday July 24 2014, @02:50AM
While I disagree it probably doesn't matter.
If you're a normal person a simple cheap laser bouncing off your window is more than enough. If you ever notice any breaking and entering having taken place (like Appelbaum) you're far beyond that stage and well into the mind games territory. They'll know you'll know, otherwise they wouldn't bother. If they just want to make you uneasy they would be far more subtle and create external/removed situations where you're likely to make worrying inferences. These things are not NSA territory nor commonly "mass" anything beyond the usual media propaganda and cultural conditioning.
But let's leave the retro stuff behind :) As far as computers go you're making a very big assumption considering the stuff the US politicians raised a stink about concerning Huawei and which has been proven when it comes to NSA and US companies. That's why US networking gear is a no-go, that's why US businesses and US-connected multinationals are losing money.
Network gear is broken and any hefty networking gear is a computer, the differences (and not favorable) is that personal computers and devices are more powerful, more complicated, and easier to subvert. Air-gapping has been proven dead already and there are many more side-channels to explore than "inaudible sound". No matter where they're from seed numbers aren't large and they're the keys to keys so to speak, if any keys are needed at all that is.
All bets are off against adversaries that range from making cables that call home on their own to running circles around Google & all of silicon valley. Subverted chip forgeries or (more sensibly imho) chip designs are likely. It's not like factory fresh equipment delivered with pre-installed malware is rare and that's just the lowest of the low-hanging fruit that even non-TLAs can reach.
But so what? I wonder if any such concerns are truly relevant in a world where posting this link [boum.org] is enough to make you (and everyone else ever visiting this page or associated with this site) an "extremist" just like me? You don't have to click it, or read it, or even know about the existence of this comment! (MIME-types aren't just mail, it's pretty much everything).
So you don't get to decide but anyone else can game the system like I just did and it didn't need anything more than an ordinary text-field (content-type: text/plain and/or content="text/html" *cough* that's MIME): the rest is fully automatic and entirely outside my control. I'm already an "extremist" so why shouldn't I love some company? Same goes for you now. If I wanted to be absolutely sure rather than just 99.999999% sure I'd send you the link instead and let it rot unnoticed in your spam filter (although as long as it has been sent it would work even if you never received it, one could use non-valid "servers" to send it, any ordinary and minimal OpenBSD system could do it using mail and a non-registered/"fake" domain like more.muppets.org).
This whole thing has barely gotten started (they're still making and adding to haystacks), yet the momentum (and human stupidity) is already mind-boggling. I doubt typewriters or unplugged computers or pen and paper will matter much if at all: the people/entities who go to such extremes are known quantities and that's what it's all about: for each amazing failure more unknown variables will be removed in any way possible.
Bite harder Ouroboros, bite! tails.boum.org/ linux USB CD secure desktop IRC *crypt tor (not endorsements (XKeyScore))
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Wednesday July 23 2014, @11:49PM
I could go for a nice typewriter. Provided that these aren't the mediocre daisywheel kind, I'd be perfectly fine with a government driving down the price of typewriters by buying new ones in bulk.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.