Secure and Private Communications via QuantumGate
Shortly after the new “national security law” became active in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, I saw a spike in traffic on the QuantumGate GitHub repository. It might have been just coincidence, but it seemed to me that perhaps people in Hong Kong and China were looking for alternative ways to hide their Internet traffic from the local criminal governments.
If you haven’t been following what’s going on there, here’s a summary from “National security law: Hong Kong internet firms ‘will have to comply’ with police requests” (July 3rd 2020):
Hong Kong’s internet service providers will have no choice but to help police with national security requests now that officers have been given “unfettered” power, analysts say, warning that online privacy and freedom could be under threat.
Under the new national security law Beijing has imposed on Hong Kong, police no longer have to seek court orders before requiring internet users or “relevant service providers”– believed to cover social media platforms and also firms – to remove information or help with an investigation.
…
The sweeping security law also gives police the power to search electronic devices that may contain evidence of a national security offence. The law also says the Hong Kong government shall take “necessary measures” to strengthen supervision and regulation over national security matters on the internet.
There’s more in an article on Hong Kong Free Press titled “Hong Kong security law: Police handed power to do warrantless searches, freeze assets, intercept comms, control internet” (July 6th 2020).
Needless to say, the situation is quite precarious in Hong Kong given that the criminal government can now come into your home and/or seize your electronic devices without a warrant at any time. So it’s no surprise that people started looking for secure alternatives to communicate with each other. Given the way things are going right now, it’s probably only a matter of time before they begin to make certain software and encryption technology illegal. Elements within the criminal US government have certainly been trying already to get legislation passed in recent months.
I’ve said it in the past already, the way things are going I might become a ‘criminal’ and/or ‘terrorist’ myself given the fact that I’m developing software that people can use to protect themselves from their criminal governments. In any case, developments such as the above keep motivating me (and many others around the world) to continue working hard on alternative communication platforms. I’ll continue to work on QuantumGate with high priority.
To that extent I’ve published two new tutorials yesterday on how to use the TestApp that is included with QuantumGate to set up a SOCKS5 tunnel that can be used for secure and private communications using QuantumGate. It should be very easy to follow and if you’re ever in need of shielding your traffic from your Internet Surveillance Provider (ISP) this could be an option. You can find the tutorials “Getting started with the QuantumGate TestApp” and “Using the QuantumGate TestApp as a SOCKS5 Proxy” on GitHub.
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