CryptoRights Foundation
Encyclopedia
The CryptoRights Foundation, Inc. (CRF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Francisco and established in 1998, notable for the development of HighFire and work on other encryption standards, such as PGP
and IPsec
. The organization supports the use of cryptography
to protect the privacy
and security
of communications, ensure freedom of expression and the press
, and to protect the privacy
of individuals from surveillance
and consumer profiling that could negatively affect the work of social justice, journalism and human rights organizations.
Significant technology projects include the development of HighFire (from "Human rights Firewall"), a secure, distributed communications platform for private NGO communications, and the related HighWire, a secure wireless human rights communications networking project based on the pioneering open source Software Defined Radio source code now maintained at GnuRadio. As of 2011, CRF is quiet but still active, continuing to provide free security training and support for human rights and journalism organizations on the use of cryptography
and doing early research and development on a new private identity and medical information security project known only by the cryptic codename "P6".
The organization was conceived and founded on a ship during a total solar eclipse by five cryptography experts and cyberliberty activists led by Dave Del Torto (an early PGP volunteer and employee at PGP, Inc and co-founder of the OpenPGP Working Group at the IETF) and John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
. CRF has included directors, staff, advisors, volunteers and engineers such as Eric Blossom
, Jon Callas
, David Chaum
, Cindy Cohn
, Whit Diffie, Jennifer Granick
, Peter Hope-Tindall, Joichi Ito, Stanton "Mech" McCandlish, Declan McCullagh
, Sameer Parekh
and other notable cryptography, computer security, civil liberties and privacy activists.
Pretty Good Privacy
Pretty Good Privacy is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security...
and IPsec
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session...
. The organization supports the use of cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
to protect the privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
and security
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
of communications, ensure freedom of expression and the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, and to protect the privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
of individuals from surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
and consumer profiling that could negatively affect the work of social justice, journalism and human rights organizations.
Significant technology projects include the development of HighFire (from "Human rights Firewall"), a secure, distributed communications platform for private NGO communications, and the related HighWire, a secure wireless human rights communications networking project based on the pioneering open source Software Defined Radio source code now maintained at GnuRadio. As of 2011, CRF is quiet but still active, continuing to provide free security training and support for human rights and journalism organizations on the use of cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and doing early research and development on a new private identity and medical information security project known only by the cryptic codename "P6".
The organization was conceived and founded on a ship during a total solar eclipse by five cryptography experts and cyberliberty activists led by Dave Del Torto (an early PGP volunteer and employee at PGP, Inc and co-founder of the OpenPGP Working Group at the IETF) and John Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
. CRF has included directors, staff, advisors, volunteers and engineers such as Eric Blossom
Eric Blossom
Eric Blossom is the founder and overall architect of the GNU Radio project. GNU Radio is a free software toolkit for building real-time signal processing systems...
, Jon Callas
Jon Callas
Jon Callas is an American computer security expert and Chief Technical Officer of Entrust. Callas has a long history of work in the computer security field, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Additionally, Callas is a contributor to multiple IETF RFCs...
, David Chaum
David Chaum
David Chaum is the inventor of many cryptographic protocols, including blind signature schemes, commitment schemes, and digital cash. In 1982, Chaum founded the International Association for Cryptologic Research , which currently organizes academic conferences in cryptography research...
, Cindy Cohn
Cindy Cohn
Cindy Cohn is an American attorney specializing in Internet law. She represented Daniel J. Bernstein and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Bernstein v. United States, and in 1997 was recognized by California Lawyer Magazine as one of the Lawyers of the Year for this work. She currently serves...
, Whit Diffie, Jennifer Granick
Jennifer Granick
Jennifer Stisa Granick is an attorney at ZwillGen PLLC. Prior to joining ZwillGen in 2010, she held the position of Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2007-2010. Prior to that, she served as the Executive Director of the Center for Internet and Society at...
, Peter Hope-Tindall, Joichi Ito, Stanton "Mech" McCandlish, Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh
Declan McCullagh is an American journalist and columnist for CBSNews.com. He specializes in computer security and privacy issues. He is notable, among other things, for his early involvement with the media interpretation of U.S...
, Sameer Parekh
Sameer Parekh
Sameer Parekh is best known for being the founder of C2Net Software, Inc.While in high school in Libertyville, Illinois, he published an underground newspaper called The Free Journal, promoting free speech and other libertarian ideas....
and other notable cryptography, computer security, civil liberties and privacy activists.
Further reading
- James Glave, "Is Strong Crypto a Human Right"?" Wired News, Dec. 10, 1998 (available at wired.com)
See also
- Electronic Frontier FoundationElectronic Frontier FoundationThe Electronic Frontier Foundation is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States...
(EFF) - Electronic Privacy Information CenterElectronic Privacy Information CenterElectronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research group in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values in the information age...
(EPIC)