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FBI Seizure of Mastodon Server is a Wakeup Call to Fediverse Users and Hosts to Protect their Users (www.eff.org)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/main@sh.itjust.works
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[–] 2 points 3 years ago (1 child)
  • Step 1: Don't host in the USA
  • Step 2: Don't host in a USA puppet ally
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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    Probably good advice but not exactly relevant. The person was hosting a server in their house and got raided for unrelated reasons and all their electronics were seized. Had they hosted in a data center or at least had off premises back ups, this wouldn’t have happened.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I thought one of the points of the fediverse was to not be centralized in data centers that are more easily controlled. It's supposedly supposed to be easy and relatively cheap to spin up your own instance on your own hardware. Just outsourcing to a data center I think goes against what the fediverse promised.

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  • [–] 0 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Like anything, it’s a trade off. The fact that you can do whatever you want is the good thing. As long as everyone isn’t in the same datacenter, it’s fine. There’s datacenters all over the planet.

    If you’re self hosting, you can mitigate the risks by having some kind of contingency plan though. Just having backups in another location would have made it possible to get back up after the interruption. Now, this instance is probably just screwed.

    Data centers aren’t inherently bad and neither is self hosting. But there’s different risks that need to be planned for.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    If you’re self hosting, you can mitigate the risks by having some kind of contingency plan

    Like a degaussing loop hidden in the door frame?

    Just having backups in another location would have made it possible to get back up after the interruption

    Oh. Not that kind of contingency plan

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    • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

    There should be a way to encrypt things when the server is off and then have a Killswitch for situations like this. Idk if it'd be overkill in this case thougj

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    Luks is a thing. No reason it can’t be done on the server though things like patching won’t be automated.

    Kill switch is well, not as easy. But possible.

    That said. The government would just lampoon you in the media as some child porn hoster or whatever they want and taint the jury pool. And probably charge you with obstruction and a host of other things if you didn’t decrypt the server.

    There is case law where refusing a description password isn’t covered by the 4th or 5th amendment so they could just Guantanamo your ass as pressure.

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/man-jailed-indefinitely-for-refusing-to-decrypt-hard-drives-loses-appeal/

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/08/nj-supreme-court-no-5th-amendment-right-not-to-unlock-your-phone/

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/florida-court-says-password-disclosure-not-protected-by-fifth-amendment/

    https://www.eff.org/press/releases/appeals-court-upholds-constitutional-right-against-forced-decryption

    https://www.postschell.com/insights/third-circuit-imprisonment-refusing-order-decrypt-device-cannot-exceed

    TL:DR - there’s no established case law that protects you from withholding the encryption key from government and there’s conflicting rulings in the current US districts. In some places you can be held indefinitely. Unsure what occurs if you can’t remember the key though.

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