Monday, January 24, 2011

USB Project: Trace the Sticks

You have to look quite carefully to find them. Worldwide, activists in cities so-called "dead drops" have distributed: USB flash drives, which are freely available for everyone. Is this communicative art - or a gateway for computer viruses? "The classic. Cement are practical but also clay and resin," Christian von Pentz provides the materials before me, that he just installed in Stuttgart Castle Park a USB stick into a wall.

He is clean before in his work, draws on rubber gloves, because "the smelly resin you want to have a day by the hand." Cement is not used today. First, the clay softened and stuffed into a pre-selected hole in the wall, then comes in the prepared USB stick. The edges are repaired using resin.

Per photo of the latest so-called dead drop is then for deadrops. com documented. A close-up, a recording environment and a view from above - other users will find the USB stick after all good, copy files and add new ones. "Go there looking forward to open, on the content. Played something like an Advent calendar," says Christian, the project was the Berliner artist Aram Bartholl launched in October 2010 in New York.

The principle is simple: USB flash drives for local and anonymous file sharing, installed in public places. The project page already lists 117 worldwide Dead drops with a capacity of 295 GB. The relevant installer saved on his stick the manifesto, a kind of short description, maybe a guest book and two or three funny pictures.

Christian von Pentz leaves on the sticks it has made with the manifest his nickname "zzaxx thesymbol" and the description on the project page, where each stick is found, also his blog address www. black internet. de so interested I can contact him. If one looks in the Christian Internet, one while there is a lot of results, but hardly on a right track to him, to his person.

Before the interview, I do not know what makes Christian work or how old he is - he knows these things about me does. "You're too easy to google," he says to me on the head. He works in his spare time with what he calls "this whole Security Zone": "I lead people on like how easy it is to tap their Wi-Fi." He hopes that it will open some eyes.

". The general effect of the people have less fear of technology, most Germans do not even put her computer cable itself - that's in India every nine years." Christian wants that technology is used in a positive sense, so he leaves on his drops even more tracks than necessary. "I want to publicize Drops Dead in the region would be.

For twenty have been there, I would not have the complete run over me," says Christian. He is currently the only one who has installed in Stuttgart USB sticks. In contrast, there was a real race, who first planted the dead drop. Christian has become aware of the mailing list for the shack space, the space hack of him with Stuttgart based on the project.

He knows that you need for the installation of a Dead Drops usually two dates. The first one is looking for a suitable resting place. Rule of thumb: Never dial a main highway, but where no one disturbs the stick. Unusual places, like a tree trunk, are not rare. "If I do in the park but drill a hole in a tree, my S21 opponents jump safely to the neck," says Chris with a grin.

Before the second session prepared one of the USB stick, which is made by scraping the hull with epoxy glue as small and tight. Drop Dead brought his first Christian book store near the widower in Stuttgart. A few days later someone had a joke e-books together with the comment "Wittwer competitors do" it placed.

"You meet a dead-drops-users are not typical computer nerd with obesity and trunks, have the home its 20 screens, but the people who go out sometimes. It's also about things more to take from the net. "Christian's vision is that young people use the drops or someone who goes from work to home and always has his laptop, just hooking spontaneous." It is theoretically yes .

to make possible, drops to all nodes in order to create a fluid movement. "On the sticks to find different things with the" open drop "in Berlin is filled with pictures and music from local artists:" It's cultural profit ". .? In another call, the installer on the project site, the store ten favorite songs on it, risks and side effects Triggers a project that is not legal in a gray area No, say the plumbers in the manifesto is clearly anchored.

A dead drop is no one ". . This is handy when you find a CD on the street, "says Christian This statement also shows the political background to the campaign. - No control of data and information that is not quite as straightforward as seeing that involved. . The worst-case scenario would obviously be a misuse of the opportunity to share anonymously through Drops Data The stick may belong to anyone, the forwarded data may however already pirated copy is pirated, irrespective of the chosen distribution channel -.

remains responsible disclosure. The peer-to-peer principle could also racist material or child pornography will be distributed, as opposed to the Internet can be drawn from a USB flash drive no conclusions on the propagator. Even malicious program could be spread so easily. Viruses would be as Christian "against the hacker ethic." Nevertheless, the risk of infection exists.

Over on many PCs enabled auto-start function could viruses on the computer. Would find it there for a corresponding security issue, would the dead drop a Trojan horse: while the user relaxes the visible files thinned out on the drop, the malicious program rattles secretly from the password storage places and put them in an invisible to the user area of the USB stick by it one who has placed the virus can again simply be copied.

The opinions on Dead drops are in the scene divided accordingly. Many see this as a security risk, others see no point in the project, while in a TV documentary at all from the "WikiLeaks for the common man" was mentioned. "Hey you, I'm da mal mal 'nen USB stick brick in the wall" is very difficult to understand for people who see no such thing in a certain joke, says Christian.
Posted by Manlio Gandolfi at 10:21 AM

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