commit 00053b5515a1364b0741a510afaaf675b0b37b5d Author: Roger Dingledine arma@torproject.org Date: Wed Aug 9 00:21:34 2017 -0400

add files for 2016-03 trsb case --- htdocs/trsb/2016-03-request.txt | 67 +++++++++++++ htdocs/trsb/2016-03-response.txt | 201 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 268 insertions(+)

diff --git a/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-request.txt b/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-request.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c8b1f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-request.txt @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2016 19:10:45 -0400 +From: Kymberlee McMaster kymberlee.mcmaster@gmail.com +Subject: Re: Tor Research Safety Board + +Please see below for our answers to the questions on the website. + + - What are you trying to learn, and why is that useful for the world? + That is, what are the hoped-for benefits of your experiment? + - Team DIRE plans to analyze major events relating to the Dark Internet + and the substituent community response, the culture of the Dark Internet + community, and bitcoin's use as a form of currency in Dark Internet + marketplaces. The communication of a community during and after events can + provide insight into the culture of the people immersed in that community. + In order to understand the culture found on Dark Internet marketplaces, + Team DIRE plans to study the communication among individuals within the + Dark Internet community during events, such as the shutdown of a popular + marketplace. + - Our goal is to answer the following question: How does the + communities response to major events reflect the underlying culture? We + hypothesize that, although members of the Dark Internet are anonymous, + these events will bring the community together and give a representation of + the Dark Internet's culture that is different from the day to day. It is + useful for the world to understand the culture of the Dark Internet as it + expands its reach and is used by more and more people. + - What exactly is your plan? That is, what are the steps of your + experiment, what will you collect, how will you keep it safe, and so on. + - Our plan is twofold. We plan to collect texts form sources such as + blogs, Reddit, and news websites that all discuss the Dark Internet so we + can analyze their view of the Dark Internet. We then plan to take this + analysis and compare it to some events that have occurred involving the + Dark net to see if their view or user reactions change during those times + of crisis. All texts being used are public information available to anyone + with access to the Internet. Each text is coded so that we only use the + coded values in our analysis of those texts. We also plan to purchase items + from both Dark net and traditional Internet marketplaces and compare the + experiences involved with both and the quality of the products received in + relation to the price of the product. + - What attacks or risks might be introduced or assisted because of your + actions or your data sets, and how well do you resolve each of them? Use + the "safety guidelines" above to help in the brainstorming and analysis. + - Our data sets will be limited to the coding of the articles that we + read that have been published for public view on the Internet and Dark + Internet as well as the products that we receive from the purchasing we are + going through. Due to the nature of our project and the fact that we are + only looking to compare the views and products of the marketplaces on the + Dark and traditional Internet, there will be no attacks or risks to Tor due + to our actions and data sets. + - Walk us through why the benefits from item 1 outweigh the remaining + risks from item 3: why is this plan worthwhile despite the remaining risks + - Since we believe there are no risks associated with the conduction of + this study, the benefits of learning about the differences in the way Dark + and traditional Internet marketplaces behave and are viewed can only + provide valuable insight into their cultures. + +Please let me know if you have any questions or need further information on +the above information. We tried to keep it short but also descriptive +enough that you would understand what we were trying to do without bogging +you down with the exact things we are coding in our textual analysis. + +Additionally, my team will need to present our thesis next semester to a +panel of experts, and we were wondering if you would be interested in +serving as a member of the panel. + +Thank you for all of your help with our team! + +-Kym + diff --git a/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-response.txt b/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-response.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8dbf64d --- /dev/null +++ b/htdocs/trsb/2016-03-response.txt @@ -0,0 +1,201 @@ +Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2016 01:07:53 -0500 +From: Paul Syverson paul.syverson@nrl.navy.mil +Subject: Re: Tor Research Safety Board + +Hi Kymberlee, + +Here is the TRSB response to your proposal. +Please share with your team. + +May the season make sense to you and yours, +Paul + +---------------------------------------- + +Dear UMD Gemstone Team DIRE, + +Thank you for your submission of proposed research to the Tor Research +Safety Board. Your proposal was reviewed by three members of the +Board. I have assembled this response from the reviews each has +given. There was no significant discussion since reviews were largely +in agreement. + +Aside from safety considerations, all reviewers noted that they found +the research to be potentially quite interesting. That is not always +so, even for seasoned researchers much less undergraduates. Thus +congratulations already in that respect. + +All reviewers agreed that there are no Tor-specific safety concerns +for your research project. Nonetheless, all noted similar concerns +for such research on the Internet, whether concerning Tor or not. + +Details can be found in the comments of each reviewer, included below. +But in summary the concerns are + +1. Make sure that you take adequate security precautions for yourselves +not just those you research. + +2. Be aware that when coding input from multiple sources, potential +exists for privacy or safety risks to emerge out of the synthesis, +even if the individual items being coded are safe in isolation. + +3. What constitutes "public" information may not be black-and-white and +can have lots of context to it. + +Any or all of these may require the input or analysis of your IRB. In +any case you should look over our comments and make sure that you are +both taking them into consideration yourselves and making appropriate +decisions with respect to your IRB. + +Please let me know if you have any further questions or comments. +I look forward to seeing how your work progresses. + +Sincerely, +Paul Syverson + +--------------------------------------------------------------- +Comments from Reviewer A +--------------------------------------------------------------- +Based on the answers to the questionnaire, I would flag up the +following issues that may be helpful to the research team: + +- The data collected is referred to as "public", and as I understand + it consists of discussion forum posts etc associated with specific + "darkweb" topics. While, the "public" nature of those posts does to + some extent mitigate the risks introduced by the research per se, + that data has the potential to be personally identifiable, + particularly when it is subject to coding on the basis of the + content. Thus I would advise the researchers to seek advice at their + institution on whether specific protocols and approvals are needed + when handling such PII. I know for a fact that institutions in the + EU -- where horizontal data protection provisions are in place -- + would have to go through a (lightweight) approval process to collect + and handle such personal information. Probably procedures to ensure + the "anonymity" of the coded transcripts would also have to be + described as part of the approval process. + +- There is a little ambiguity in the description in relation to the + phrase "compare the views and products of the marketplaces". This + may mean simply browsing the pages of underground marketplaces, + which I think is fine (subject to the above). However, if products + are to be bought a certain amount of care should be taken. (1) the + safety of researchers should be thought of when it comes to payment + options, as well as shipping addresses -- ensuring that the + researchers personal information does not end up in the hands of + criminal organizations; (2) there are delicacies associated with + purchasing controlled substances, or other restricted items or + material from specific jurisdictions -- and probably some sound + legal advice will be needed in case this is the plan; (3) there are + ethical issues about providing payment for, or to anyone involved, + in criminal activity, since this may be seen as financially + supporting crime. Note that doing the above for research purposes + per se, is probably not a sufficient moral or legal defence, and + some sound legal & ethical reasoning may be required -- as well as + clear protocols to minimize risks to researchers or society at + large. + +- Besides the above, the research seems to be using Tor as a browser; + it does not involve any access that all other Tor users would not + have (eg. it does not involve observing traffic, running + infrastructure or even hidden services); and no other streams of + data, besides what is made available by hidden services, is likely + to be affected. Thus, I would think that the usual protocols for + collecting PII, and safely interacting with potentially criminal + activity while conducting research, should cover most concerns. + +- Beyond the strict remit of the board: this does sound like an + interesting project! + +--------------------------------------------------------------- +Comments from Reviewer B +--------------------------------------------------------------- +[Note these are written in the context of Reviewer A's comments. -PFS] + +Interesting, I agree! + +I want to underscore two of Reviewer A's points: + +1) If you're giving money to bad people, you need to think through the +ethics of that. + +2) It's important to consider your own safety when you're buying arbitrary +things from arbitrary people on the Internet. + +Both of those are standard IRB topics, and not particularly Tor related, +so we are right to send them to their IRB for more thoughts on those. + +And then here's a third one: + +3) Some marketplaces (both in onionspace and on the insecure web) +require logins before you can browse the wares -- and some of them put +up barriers to creating the account. At what point do the pages behind +such login requirements stop counting as 'public'? "Anybody could have +done these eighteen steps, so the stuff I found after that isn't private" +is a slippery argument. + +But overall, sounds great, thumbs up! + + +--------------------------------------------------------------- +Comments from Reviewer C +--------------------------------------------------------------- +This looks like very interesting and potentially quite useful work. I +look forward to seeing its results. I see no show-stoppers, but I do +have a few safety recommendations and considerations. + +The proposed research is "limited to the coding of the articles that + we read that have been published for public view on the Internet + and Dark Internet as well as the products that we receive from + the purchasing we are going through." + +The researchers therefore conclude that there is no risk expected in +conducting this work. Construed strictly in terms of expected Tor +protocol use or gathering of Tor usage network data, that is +true. However there are a few concerns. + +1. Safety of the researchers is as important as safety of those +researched. While obviously you can give yourselves informed consent, +you should take the same precautions as when purchasing or downloading +anything from the Internet, perhaps with a slight increase in caution +if purchasing items or visiting forums that seem potentially to have +higher than normal likelihood of malicious activity, e.g., if focused +on sensitive or controversial issues or goods. That will of course +depend on the forums in which you participate. To the extent +practicable, you should at least protect your own identities and +network location. It would make sense to conduct all your research +via Tor running on a suitably up-to-date and protected system except +where something specific precludes that, e.g. visiting a forum/site +that restricts access from the Tor network). Discussing the context of +and extent to which such blockage is encountered could be a useful +research output of this work. + +2. "[P]ublished for public view" is not as straightforward as that +expression might seem. + +First of all, as Vitaly Shmatikov is fond of saying, there is no +PII... it's all PII. Cf. his work w/ Arvind Narayanan on deanonymizing +highly dimensional public data using, e.g., publicly posted IMDb +reviews. Coding information from multiple sources potentially runs +that risk, and the research should be conducted cognizant of the sorts +of concerns that research in this space has identified. + +Second, you have not said whether sites you will visit/purchase-from +require registration to participate. That is one indicator of privacy +assumptions. But whether the sites require registration or not, +certainly some forums assume information is to be shared only among +participants or otherwise expect discretion and respect for privacy, +e.g., forums for discussion amongst crime or disease abuse +victims. Similarly, for participants in a purchase or other financial +transaction. + +Third, even if information is publicly available, it may be that +original sources of that information intended it to remain private in +a way that is violated by public posting. Public posting may have +occurred when others violated those assumptions. + +None of these are Tor-specific safety considerations, but the +researchers should be cautious and cognizant of these themselves and +should make sure that their intended research is acceptable given the +guidelines or evaluation of UMD's IRB or its other institutional bodies +for research involving (even public) data about individuals. +