<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">Dear Friends and Colleagues</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">I am writing to announce the release of the first Information Warfare Monitor/ONI Asia major investigative report, <b><i>Breaching Trust: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on Chinas TOM-Skype platform</i></b>, written by Nart Villeneuve, Psiphon Fellow, the Citizen Lab, at the Munk Centre for International Studies, the University of Toronto. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">The full report can be downloaded here:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" color="#0018e8" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue; color: #0018e8"><a href="http://www.infowar-monitor.net/breachingtrust/"><u>http://www.infowar-monitor.net/breachingtrust/</u><u></u></a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">John Markoff of the New York Times has just released a story about the report, which will appear in tomorrow's paper, but can be found online here:</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">Surveillance of Skype Messages Found in China</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" color="#0018e8" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue; color: #0018e8"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print"><u>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print</u><u></u></a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue"><b>Major Findings of this report are as follows:</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue"> The full text chat messages of TOM-Skype users, along with Skype users who have</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">communicated with TOM-Skype users, are regularly scanned for sensitive keywords, and</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">if present, the resulting data are uploaded and stored on servers in China.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue"> These text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information, are</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">stored on insecure publicly-accessible web servers together with the encryption key required to</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">decrypt the data.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue"> The captured messages contain specific keywords relating to sensitive political topics such</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">as Taiwan independence, the Falun Gong, and political opposition to the Communist Party</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">of China.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue"> Our analysis suggests that the surveillance is not solely keyword-driven. Many of the</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">captured messages contain words that are too common for extensive logging, suggesting</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">that there may be criteria, such as specific usernames, that determine whether messages are</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">captured by the system.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">As my colleague Rafal Rohozinski and I say in the foreword to the report, "If there was any doubt that your electronic communications even secure chat can leave a trace, <i>Breaching Trust</i> will put that case to rest. This is a wake up call to everyone who has ever put their (blind) faith in the assurances offered up by network intermediaries like Skype. Declarations and privacy policies are no substitute for the type of due diligence that the research put forth here represents."</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">Regards</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica Neue" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica Neue">Ron Deibert</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Ronald J. Deibert</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Director, The Citizen Lab</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Munk Centre for International Studies</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">University of Toronto</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#0018e8" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #0018e8"><a href="mailto:r.deibert@utoronto.ca"><u>r.deibert@utoronto.ca</u><u></u></a></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#0018e8" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #0018e8"><a href="http://deibert.citizenlab.org/"><u>http://deibert.citizenlab.org</u></a></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">/</font></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div>Ronald J. Deibert</div><div>Director, The Citizen Lab</div><div>Munk Centre for International Studies</div><div>University of Toronto</div><div><a href="mailto:r.deibert@utoronto.ca">r.deibert@utoronto.ca</a></div><div><a href="http://deibert.citizenlab.org">http://deibert.citizenlab.org</a>/</div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span></span></span> </div><br></body></html>