Identity: Zero
By Micah Holmquist
What is Freedom?
"Surf, email, chat, telnet, and post to newsgroups in total privacy. It’s a simple concept, but so far only partially attainable.
"That’s about to change.
"Freedom™ is here. With it, a revolution in the concept of online communication."
So goes the web page of Zero-Knowledge Systems (www.zeroknowledge.com — hereafter the company will be referred to as ZK). Computer companies regularly describe even minor improvements as a "revolution" but this might be a situation when the term has some validity.
Freedom is a software program that aims to give users a much higher level of privacy than they currently have. After installation, it hides in the background as you use the same browser, email program, and Internet connections as always. Freedom routes all data transfers through a "cloud" of several servers. A number of Internet Service Providers has donated servers for this purpose and ZK calls them "the Freedom Network." The system is set up so that no server on the freedom network knows the identity of both the sender and recipient. Thus, according to ZK "the only way that user identities can be traced is if all Freedom servers used in the route are compromised." The Freedom software also encrypts data at a level twice as high as most encryption programs. As if that was not enough already, the software allows users to create up to five nyms —short for pseudonyms. These are completely separate and independent online identities. ZK recommends that users create a separate identity for any interests of theirs that might be in conflict. That is, a person looking up information on hereditary heart disease might want to use different nym when looking of health insurance.
The main advantage of this software over other privacy options is that users do not have to put their trust into any entity. ZK itself would not be able to turn over data on Internet activities. They are not shielding people from prying eyes so much as they are assisting in escape.
Helping people achieve privacy is what ZK is all about. The Montreal-based company formed in 1997 with the purpose of helping Internet users keep control of their identity. The Canadian location is important because the United States has more stringent regulations on encryption software than Canada. ZK believes that privacy is an issue of human rights and treats it as such. The company issued press release last year mark the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ZK correctly pointed out clauses in this document saying that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence…"
Right now, Freedom is not available commercially. There is a beta program that individuals can sign up for on their web site but the wait to get the program is at least a couple of weeks. Nevertheless, even before Freedom hits store shelves, ZK is drawing fire for its product. This National Security Agency (NSA) has contacted the company and is interested in using the technology for their own actions but expresses great reservation about the public distribution of Freedom. This software will be a boon to terrorist groups and other criminal networks according to the NSA.
It would be easy to just label the NSA as bunch of spooks and dismiss their concerns but others do have similar qualms. Anita Lahey expressed this view in an article for Canadian Business this past February. According to Lahey, "if you get to be invisible, so does the mobster, the racist and the child pornographer." Later on the article goes "what happens if terrorists use pseudonyms to plan an attack and authorities have no way to find and stop them?" (This article is on the web at http://www.canadianbusiness.com/archives/02269904.htm.)
The concern is real but such scenarios should not stop technology such as Freedom. Without or with out this software, the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings are likely to be repeated in the future and other advancements in technology mean that these incidents are likely to be even more destructive. Correcting the root causes for these actions will be far more effective at combating their future occurrence than restricting computer programs or, for that matter, curtailing civil liberties. In the mean time, let’s hope that software programs such as Freedom do allow Internet users to shake off prying eyes.