Our Newest App: PixelKnot

 Posted on July 18, 2013  |  mark

Have you ever hidden in plain sight? Worn camouflage in the woods or an invisibility cloak in a narrow crooked alley? It’s really hard to do properly. We’re hoping that all changes with PixelKnot. PixelKnot is an app for hiding secret messages in pictures. Sort of like invisible ink on the back of a painting, updated to the present. The ancient art known as steganography, now updated for the 21st century and requiring a more rigorous set of safety standards. [Read More]
images  privacy  securesmartcam  security  sharing  steganography 

A Weather Report On Security

 Posted on June 14, 2013  |  mark

How’s the weather outside? Sunny with a chance of IP blocking. We recently launched a new initiative we’re calling: The Weather Repo. The goal of the project is for organizations to have a more accurate method of understanding whether the apps they’re using are “safe”. It’s hard to know whether apps that claim to be secure really are. Have they been vetted by a third party? Are there existing case studies? [Read More]
api  metadata  privacy  security  weatherrepo 

The Only Way to Visit Strongbox on a Phone

 Posted on May 16, 2013  |  mark

The New Yorker magazine just launched Strongbox, a whistleblower submission system that’s hosted on a hidden website. There’s only one way to access the hidden site on a phone or tablet, and that’s with our Orweb app. Here’s a simple breakdown of how to do securely and anonymously blow the whistle, explained in an interactive tutorial: Visit guardianproject.info/howto/strongbox for an interactive tutorial on using Strongbox on your phone. The website exists as a hidden site on what is widely known as the darknet, since you are going there hidden or “in the dark. [Read More]
Android  darknet  howto  journalism  magazine  onion browser  orbot  orweb  phone  privacy  proxy  security  strongbox  tablet  the new yorker  tor  tutorial  wikileaks 

IOCipher beta: easy encrypted file storage for your Android app

 Posted on February 7, 2013  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

At long last, we are proud to announce the first beta release of IOCipher, an easy framework for providing virtual encrypted disks for Android apps. does not require root or any special permissions at all the API is a drop-in replacement for the standard java.io.File API, so if you have ever worked with files in Java, you already know how to use IOCipher works easiest in an app that stores all files in IOCipher, but using standard java. [Read More]
Android  beta  encryption  iocipher  open source  privacy  psst  secure storage 

Freebird Flys High

 Posted on June 28, 2012  |  mark

Freebird: Rio group picture via Obscuracam for Android What happens when you gather coders with privacy and security activists from around the world? Freebird! We held a simultaneous event in NYC and Rio, a one-day barcamp aimed to empower users to be more informed and engaged around their use of mobile technology, while engaging with developers to promote interest in open-source tools, security and privacy. Freebird was a pre-event for RightsCon:Rio, which allowed us to continue and extend conversations and ideas into the larger context of information technologies and human rights. [Read More]
barcamp  brazil  freebird  FreeBird2012  freebirdcamp  hackathon  humanrights  nyu  privacy  security 

Singing and Dancing for Encryption

 Posted on April 19, 2012  |  mark

If you see me dancing or signing with my phone in my hand, I may not just be having a great time, but also creating an encryption key. Part of the issue with security is that it can often be difficult to implement or an added step in what users want to be an easy and seamless process. What if we can make secure and private communications fun and easy? [Read More]
award  cryptocat  encryption  hackathon  informaCam  ostel  ostn  privacy  security  transparency  voip  wsjdata  zrtp 

User scenarios to guide our crypto development

 Posted on April 14, 2012  |  Hans-Christoph Steiner

At Guardian Project, we find user-centered development to be essential to producing useful software that addresses real world needs. To drive this, we work with user stories and scenarios as part of the process of developing software. One particular development focus is the Portable Shared Security Token (PSST) project, which aims to make it easy to use encryption across both mobile and desktop computers, as well as keep the stores of cryptographic identities (i. [Read More]
anonymity  encryption  openpgp  otr  privacy  psst  usability  user scenarios  user stories 

Knight News funding of SecureSmartCam = a #WIN for open-source mobile security

 Posted on March 29, 2012  |  n8fr8

Along with our partner WITNESS, we’ve entered our SecureSmartCam project into the Knight News Challenge, and we need your support to get to the next round. Here’s a bit more about the challenge: The Knight News Challenge, an international media innovation contest, is evolving – and will be offered three times, with three different topics. The first challenge will be centered on networks, and will accept applications Feb. 27 – March 17. [Read More]
camera  informaCam  knight  knightnewschallenge  obscuracam  privacy  securesmartcam  witness 

Introducing InformaCam

 Posted on January 20, 2012  |  harlo

These are interesting times, if you go by Times Magazine as an indicator. The magazine’s person of the year for 2011 was The Protester, preceded in 2010 by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Both entities partners with equal stake in freely sharing the digital content that shows the world what’s going on in it, at any time, from behind any pair of eyes.Also casting in their lot with the others is Time Magazine’s 2006 person of the year, You: the You that puts the “you” in “user-generated content;” the You whose miasma of bits, bytes, and the powerful images they express are becoming increasingly problematic. [Read More]
encryption  informaCam  metadata  obscuracam  pgp  privacy  securesmartcam  witness 

Progress on Mobile Video Privacy Tools

 Posted on September 10, 2011  |  n8fr8

If you are a developer you may just want to skip all the prose below, and just jump over to Github to find our new FFMPEG on Android project{.vt-p} and build system. You can also check out our SSCVideoProto Project{.vt-p} to understand how we are using it to redact faces and other identifying areas of HD video right on the Android phone itself. For more context, read on… Last October at the Open Video Conference 2010, the idea of a camera application that could be designed to understand the needs and requirements of the human rights community was born. [Read More]
ffmpeg  obscuracam  open source  openvideo  ovc11  privacy  securesmartcam  witness 

Announcing ObscuraCam v1 – Enhance Your Visual Privacy!

 Posted on June 23, 2011  |  Derek

We’re very happy to announce the beta release of ObscuraCam for Android. This is the first release from the SecureSmartCam project, a partnership with WITNESS, a leading human rights video advocacy and training organization. This is the result of an open-source development cycle, comprised of multiple sprints (and branches), that took place over the last five months. This “v1” release is just the first step towards the complete vision of the project. [Read More]
obscuracam  privacy  securesmartcam  witness 

Addressing a “Privacy Challenge” with Guardian

 Posted on March 2, 2011  |  n8fr8

Organized by the ACLU, Tor Project, and PrivacyByDesign.ca, the “Develop for Privacy Challenge” is an interesting new software development challenge that was announced last month. Developers (teams or individuals) have until May 31st to come up with apps which address this goal: Develop apps for smartphones or other mobile devices that educate users about mobile privacy and give them the ability to claim or demand greater control of their own personal information. [Read More]
challenge  contest  privacy