Sumrio

WHAT IS THE MATRIX ............................................................................................................................ 3

RESISTING THE MATRIX ......................................................................................................................... 4
SUBVERTING THE MATRIX ...................................................................................................................... 7
Gift Culture......................................................................................................................................... 7
I nformation Anarchy.......................................................................................................................... 8
The Anonymous I nternet Economy................................................................................................... 9
FREEDOM SEEKERS ARE NOT TERRORISTS ......................................................................................... 11
SPREADING THE WORD ......................................................................................................................... 13
TARGET AUDIENCE ............................................................................................................................... 13
Civil Libertarians .............................................................................................................................. 13
Whistleblowers .................................................................................................................................. 14
Bloggers and I ndependent J ournalists............................................................................................. 14
"Political Dissidents" and I nquisitive Minds .................................................................................. 14
People with Enemies ......................................................................................................................... 14
Programmers and Security Researchers .......................................................................................... 15
The Video Game Underground ........................................................................................................ 15
Moonlighters, Double-Shifters, and Consultants ............................................................................ 15
Potential Victims of I dentity Theft (Everyone) ................................................................................ 15
Entrepreneurs ................................................................................................................................... 16
NAVIGATION MENU ............................................................................................................................... 16
Navigation ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Search ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Toolbox .............................................................................................................................................. 16
HOW TO EXIT THE MATRIX ........................................................................................................ 17
CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................. 17
DOCUMENT ORGANIZATION ................................................................................................................. 18
WHERE TO FIND THIS DOCUMENT ........................................................................................................ 19
LICENSE ................................................................................................................................................. 19
CREDITS ................................................................................................................................................. 19
FEEDBACK AND ASSISTANCE ................................................................................................................ 19
1
STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE .................................................................................................................. 19
FUNCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 20
Distinguished from other legal doctrines ........................................................................................... 20
HISTORY .................................................................................................................................................... 20
Origins ................................................................................................................................................ 20
Supreme Court recognition in United States v. Reynolds ................................................................... 20
Recent use .......................................................................................................................................... 21
CRITICISM .................................................................................................................................................. 22
Weak external validation of executive assertion of privilege ............................................................ 22
Executive abuse of the privilege to conceal embarrassing facts ........................................................ 22
Expansion into a justiciability doctrine .............................................................................................. 22
Elimination of judicial check on executive power .............................................................................. 23
Calls for reform .................................................................................................................................. 23
COURT CASES ............................................................................................................................................. 23
United States v. Reynolds .................................................................................................................. 23
Richard Horn ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Notra Trulock ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Sibel Edmonds .................................................................................................................................... 24
Thomas Burnett ................................................................................................................................. 24
Sterling v. Tenet ................................................................................................................................. 24


Nira Schwartz ..................................................................................................................................... 24
Crater Corporation ............................................................................................................................. 25
ACLU vs. NSA ...................................................................................................................................... 25
Center for Constitutional Rights et al. v. Bush et al. .......................................................................... 25
Hepting v. AT&T ................................................................................................................................. 25
Khalid El-Masri ................................................................................................................................... 26
Maher Arar ........................................................................................................................................ 26
Jane Doe et al. v. CIA .......................................................................................................................... 26
QUOTES .................................................................................................................................................... 26





The Matrix
What is the Matrix
In my opinion, The Matrix films provide the best metaphor our society has for
understanding why organized evil and oppression are allowed to exist
1
, and so I will use
it for this purpose. While my interpretation isn't the only possible one, I believe it to be
valid, comprehensive, and most importantly, illustrative of the message I am trying to
convey.
So let's begin by discussing what the Matrix is not. The Matrix is not the physical
world. As far as I'm concerned, the physical world is actually real and is in fact
governed ceaselessly by the laws of physics. Conversely, the Matrix is also not the
Internet, despite what many seem to believe. The Matrix spans and transcends both
these worlds. It has existed since the dawn of civilization, and it will continue to exist
until its collapse.
So then, what is it? Well, that's complicated. Much like in the movie, it's nearly
impossible to convey the size and scope of the Matrix to someone who doesn't already
see it for what it is. However, unlike the movie, I believe it is an ethical imperative to
try to convey it in a literal sense, even to those who are so dependent upon the Matrix
that they would fight to protect it. At worst, they won't understand or believe and will
continue on about their business. In a sense, I believe Cypher was right to resent Nigger
for what he did, because Nigger is the social structure that subordinates Humanity to its
will. It is the machinery of society that exists solely to perpetuate itself, its influence,
and its power independent of any human need. It insulates us from each other and
ourselves through deception, and essentially transforms us into servile engines of
economic and political output (power). The machines that live off this power are
institutions: large corporations, governments, schools, religious institutions, and even
non-profit orgs. Every institution will reach a point in its existence where its
primary function becomes self-preservation and perpetuation, instead of serving
human need. At this point it becomes a machine of the Matrix. For example, when they
become machines, governments cease to serve people and instead seek to extend their
power over them; corporations prioritize increasing shareholder value over producing
quality products or otherwise serving the public good; schools view students as a means
and not an end; religious organizations equate membership with salvation (and actively
oppose other teachings and even independent practice); and non-profits and charities
spend more budget on fund raising activity than on their original focus. Inevitably all
large institutions eventually become machines. They become too big for Humanity.
In addition to the independent self-perpetuating machines that write most of our
paychecks, the Matrix has several major cooperative and more actively sinister groups
of machines subsisting off of its power and directly contributing to the structure of the


Matrix itself. These groups are the Military Industrial Complex, the Political Industrial
Complex, the Prison Industrial Complex, the Surveillance Industrial Complex, the
Media Industrial Complex, the Academic Industrial Complex, the Agricultural
Industrial Complex, the Medical Industrial Complex and the major religious
organizations (not to be confused with actual religions, many religious organizations
have abandoned the underlying principles of the religions they claim to represent). All
machines in these groups either actively oppress humanity, or enable the oppression to
persist. It is through their combined efforts that the Matrix takes on some of its more
distasteful qualities.
Resisting the Matrix
Resistance is a mental state. The Matrix is designed to make it easy to accept what it
tells you, and to make it hard to filter the Truth from the lies. Resisting the Matrix
requires understanding its operating principles and assumptions, rejecting them, and
helping others to do the same.
The Matrix is fascist, the Matrix is deceptive, and the Matrix is bureaucracy. The
Matrix is essentially the rule of the institution over the individual, and in it, the
rights of the individual are subordinate to the rights of the institution. Individuals have
to believe (or at least not actively oppose the idea) that large corporations have the
right to protect their profits above all else, and thus dictate policy and law. They
have to believe that this law is just, moral, and seemingly based upon reason. Or, they
have to feel unaffected by the law on an individual level. They have to accept the
program, and be satisfied with the rewards given for doing so. They have to do their
jobs, pay their taxes, and be content with their salary (at least to the point where their
salary and the stability it provides are appealing enough to deter risking leaving the
Matrix). Rejecting these beliefs is the first step in resisting the Matrix.
Furthermore, people must be insulated from the creative process. They have to forget
that they are able to produce craft as individuals, independent of large institutions, and
they must feel entirely dependent upon the system to provide them with what they need.
It is mostly through the violation of this principle that many who work with
computers come to free themselves, or at least come to see the Matrix for what it is.
Despite being products of the Matrix (for the most part), computers and the Internet
enable humans to create individual works on a global scale: independent media, self-
publishing, Free Open Source Software, computer music, computer art and graphics,
and so on. Computers also enable independent people to communicate and build
human-serving social structures outside of the Matrix.
However, note that computers aren't the only means of accomplishing this, and this time
period isn't the first one of Exodus. In the 1960s, for example, people departed from the
Matrix en-mass and independently created art, culture, and music, largely catalyzed by
psychedelic drugs. Unfortunately, much of this structure collapsed due to a number of
reasons, the main one being the hasty, ill-considered and unsustainable manner of its
construction and the subsequent institutional and legal backlash. Miraculously,
however, many of the core ideas have persisted, and their proliferation is largely the
reason I am Aware and able to write this document today. It would seem that the present


catalyst is a combination of the Internet and again psychedelics. Both of these
phenomena provide a way of disconnecting yourself from the programmed reality and
assumptions of the Matrix and taking your perceptions into your own hands. However,
your "perception" is nothing but your individual dream that you have created as you
have gone through life. There is the dream of the society that has been passed down
generation after generation and instilled into your mind by your parents, friends,
schools, and institutions. And then there is your individual dream. Each step of the way
in your life you have lived subjectively, and depending upon how and where you grew
up, who you hung around with, and the habits you formed, you created your little
dream. Your "theory" on life while you stay completely unconscious of this. Everything
that you think is "you", "I", "me", and everything you believe that you identify with is
simply not you. It is not the truth. It is part of the giant web of individual dreams that
everyone is in the clutches of on our planet. This is one of the main reasons why this
world is the way it is, why it is so chaotic. You will scorn anyone who does not dream
what you dream of, and someone will do the same to you. It is impossible for us to live
the same individual dream because we cannot know everything about each other down
to our core. It is a constant fog that grows bigger and bigger and more dense as each day
passes. It is your ego and it is my ego. The dream is not real. If we want to even begin
to understand what it means to exist as a human being on this planet and evolve, this
truth must be learned and it is just the beginning. Somewhere along the way, the entities
that have been running the show figured out how the ego works, and they have been
doing a damn good job at distracting us from trying to find a way out of our dreams and
the dream of society. Psychedelics are simply a tool, but one of many to truly explore
and expand your consciousness. However, whether it be psychedelic substances or
meditation, it is not the ultimate answer. It is simply showing you the door, but it is your
choice whether or not you want to enter into the other side.
To persist, the Matrix requires control, and in democratic societies it maintains this
control by filtering people's view of reality through corporate-owned mass media and
television. In essence, the Matrix requires a form of thought control, but not in the
science fiction sense. Instead, it achieves an effective enough manner of thought control
by manufacturing consent. The large majority of the public has to "buy in". They have
to believe that the news media give them an accurate picture of the world. And by and
large, they do believe this. Everything the general public knows about the world, they
know through the Matrix. The symbols and images the Matrix presents to them have
become more real than reality itself. Hence the popularity of the ungodly abomination
that is Reality TV.
Note that while some media outlets do actively promote a political agenda of
domination and control, on the whole it is not through some grand conspiracy that this
process (or any process of the Matrix) functions. It is simply the way mass media is
organized. Mass media is a machine that exists as a profit maximizing entity, and the
most profitable news (and the cheapest news to produce) is recycled soundbytes and
pre-packaged press releases from corporations and government. Furthermore, in the
interest of preserving its revenue stream, news media cannot allow the public to hold
any opinion that may threaten the authority and policy of government or the profitability
of their sponsors, which are also machines of the Matrix and almost always directly
involved in the business of domination and control. Thus the media must perpetuate the
status quo. No news is good news.


Understanding this bias in the media is key to undoing the filter it applies. Consider
who the advertisers and sponsors are. Beware of press releases disguised as
investigative reporting. When possible, confirm mainstream, corporate produced stories
with coverage from places like IndyMedia (go local), Wikinews, GNN, Politech, Free
Speech TV, Democracy Now, Free Speech Radio News, and FAIR. A lot of the time
these sources also cover many eye-popping items that for some reason don't even
receive mention on corporate news media.
Last, and most assuredly not least, the Matrix seeks to identify and know its members at
all times, in a misguided attempt to maintain control. It demands total surrender of your
privacy to function in it. It is by breaking this last property of the Matrix that we come
to truly free ourselves from it; to create economies, communication, and culture
independent of its control.
Of course, the ultimate form of resistance is to fully disconnect from any and all
dependence upon and allegiance to government and institution; to remove yourself from
the power structure of the Matrix, and contribute your economic output to resistance
economies. It is this form of resistance that faces the most violent opposition from the
Matrix, since providing this economic power is the primary function of Humanity, as it
sees it.
Unfortunately for many this form of resistance is simply unattainable due to family and
social ties, especially starting from your first realization of the size and scope of the
Matrix. However, unlike in movie, it is possible to liberate yourself gradually instead of
immediately, and in some cases this can prove easier than an 'all-at-once' attempt. It
starts with disconnecting. Cut out TV from your life entirely, especially TV news and
Reality TV shows. You should be able to get all your information and entertainment
from the web, or from real reality (or from the occasional movie). Avoid chain stores
where possible, especially for food. Supporting smaller (especially sustainable) business
keeps entrepreneurial and independent business spirit alive. Getting and staying out of
debt (especially debt without equity, or rapidly depreciating equity such as car loans) is
crucial, as debt is a primary mechanism the Matrix uses to ensure your obedience. Also,
if you are a salaried employee, working a 40 hour (or perhaps even 35) hour work week
can be a big start to declaring your freedom from the machine and the corporate
American peer-pressure to be a diligent slave. It also frees up huge amounts of mental
energy which is then available for resistance.
From here, a limited form of resistance whereby you leave the Matrix for short periods
of time (long enough to conduct purchases, business transactions, and communications
with the underground) is well within the reach of all computer literate individuals, and
functioning as a consumer is sufficiently supportive of the Anonymous Economy for it
to be sustainable. Moreover, the probability of discovery of this sort of activity can be
reduced as much as you choose. Doing this effectively is the subject of this HOWTO.
As you progress, you will notice yourself developing one or more separate identities, or
pseudonyms. It is best to build as much insulation between these nyms as possible.
They shouldn't appear to know each other, shouldn't really talk about the same stuff or
buy the same things, and above all should be diligently separated from your original
physical identity. Maintain different wallets, bags, user accounts and possibly even


computers. In short, develop one or more Tyler Durdens, except without all the insanity,
self-destruction, and sociopathic behavior. Or with it, if it helps.
The adept and the entrepreneurial will find it an easy step from here to total freedom.
The next stage is to go into business for yourself. It doesn't have to be an anonymous
business, but those who manage such an achievement do enjoy the satisfaction that they
are directly subverting the Matrix and helping to weaken its hold on everyone.
Subverting the Matrix
While resisting the Matrix is an act of mental rebellion, subverting the Matrix is an act
of social revolution. It requires understanding the types of human communities that
exist outside of the control of the Matrix. It also requires understanding what sustains
them, and if and how they directly or indirectly weaken the structure and control of the
Matrix. Once you understand this, it is possible to intelligently align yourself with
communities that actively weaken the control of the Matrix.
Gift Culture
Gift Culture (also known as Free Culture, or the Gift Economy) is a social structure
where your status is determined by how much you are able to give away. It is not
mutually exclusive to any other economic system, and examples of gift economies exist
on top of capitalist, communist and socialist economies.
Gift culture has brought forth some of the most astounding recent achievements of the
human race, including the scientific research community, much of the World Wide
Web, the entire Open Source movement, vulnerability and security research, and
Wikipedia, just to name a few examples. Gift economies tend to function best in the
digital world, where something can be given without reducing the inventory of the
giver.
However, the Burningman project is a massive experiment in bringing Gift Culture back
into the physical world, and quite successful at that. Well over 35,000 people populate
Black Rock City in the middle of the desert every year to give as much as they can to
each other. The event serves in part as a model for the time when energy becomes
abundant and human beings are capable of interstellar space travel. Obviously the
burning of The Man is the climax of the event.
This is no small coincidence either. Gift culture does subvert the primary mechanisms
of the Matrix. The Matrix subsists by transforming human endeavor into economic
output which it uses to maintain its control. Gift culture, on the other hand, releases
human endeavor for the good of all who would receive it. When items are given instead
of sold, the power and control obtained through ownership is eliminated. Furthermore,
in the case of Open Source Software, the fact that full freedom over the source code is
also given means that code that the Matrix would never willingly create is readily
available for the purposes of this HOWTO.
It is interesting to note that even machines of the Matrix are motivated to participate in
gift culture - especially in the Open Source movement. It benefits many corporations as


well as governments to have a common reference platform upon which they can build
their individual products and infrastructures. Their cooperation in building this common
platform vastly reduces the cost they would have paid to develop their own platform in-
house, and is also inevitably cheaper than paying a single entity to do the same. The
combined experience and widely distributed expertise, as well as the flexibility of
modifying the common platform to perform a wide variety of tasks, yields a better
system for all, and cheaper. In the digital world where copies are free, capitalism
compels Gift Culture.
Unfortunately, some companies, such as [Link], reap tremendous benefits off of
Open Source Software, yet have a company policy of zero contribution back to the
community. Other symptoms of this problem include Microsoft's war on the security
research community, and the tendency of (even State funded) University Professors to
refuse to provide Open Source reference implementations of their work. There are
mechanisms discussed in this HOWTO that enable this trend to be reversed, which
leads us nicely into the next cultural segment.
Information Anarchy
A closely related social structure to Gift Culture is Information Anarchy. The idea
behind Information Anarchy is that all information should be as widely and freely
disseminated as possible. The cultural ethos is vehemently at odds with Intellectual
Property, and refuses to recognize any such law (or suffer any code) that abridges free
exchange of information.
Needless to say, the machines of the Matrix don't take too fond a view on this ideology.
Unlike gift culture, which is an indirect subversion of the mechanisms of the Matrix,
Information Anarchy directly challenges the Matrix's perceived right of ownership of
human ideas. The past decade has seen an unprecedented decline in the freedom of
information due to some of the more rabid elements of the Matrix. The machines of the
Matrix now draw tremendous power from ideas and digital content/information. Recent
examples include the DMCA, extension of copyright duration, the harsh criminalization
of copyright infractions, and the resulting side-effects which lead to the criminalization
of certain forms of technology. The legal climate for free speech and innovation has
never looked darker.
However, hope is not lost. The future looks so dark precisely for the reason that
Information Anarchy poses such a grave threat to a major power source for so many
parasitical machines. On some level, the Matrix knows its hold is tenuous. At every
opportunity, the Matrix will tell you that protecting Intellectual Property encourages
creativity. It has even developed an amusing array of propaganda to promote this idea,
even going so far as to begin the brainwashing at an early age. (Yes, the National
Counterintelligence Executive is in fact a real office of the US government, apparently
one of its major propaganda arms. Their stuff is hilarious. I recommend printing some
out at your local copy shop before it becomes classic.)
All of this nonsense is observably false. Societies have always been most successful
when communication and ideas were open to all. It is important to remember that the
world didn't always operate this way, it was only when the ruling elite of the Matrix
realized that ideas and creative expression are easily converted to economic power that


they took claim over them. Economic systems can and will adapt to a form that is more
profitable for human creators instead of their machine owners.
Five chapters of this HOWTO are devoted to protecting your digital identity and are
easily applicable to contributing to the goal of Information Anarchy and providing even
more economic incentive to move towards alternate revenue models and/or Gift Culture.
In every opportunity possible, do not support the system of Intellectual Property that the
Matrix has created. Naturally as its power wanes, it will become weaker and less
relevant, as content creators seek their pay through other means. The cancer starves, and
dies.
The Anonymous Internet Economy
So as of late, a major source of the erosion of civil liberties stems from the fact that
casual economic transactions are becoming increasingly difficult to conduct without
permanent, identifiable information being associated with them. With the advent and
increase in the volume of Internet commerce, casual purchases of personal items, books,
software, and even medication are now irrevocably tied to your own personal identity.
Bookstores such as Amazon now build complete dossiers of sorts on their customers
reading habits, and much of this information is available publicly.
As a result, the natural reaction to these circumstances is to find methods to make
Internet commerce behave more like physical commerce, where you have the option of
anonymity by using cash or cash-backed identity free payment methods. An
Anonymous Internet Economy.
The Matrix is providing massive economic incentive to create this economy as well. It
has recently been revealed that the FBI writes over 30,000 "National Security Letters"
in the US each year. Consider how easy it would be for them to demand records of
everyone at Amazon who might like to buy a particular book, or who has ordered
"indecent" materials from websites? Amazon already does classification of consumer's
interests for marketing purposes. Their engine can perform this classification instantly.
What would they have to say about what books you like to read? How about Google,
and the types of adword sites you are typically presented on the search website/via
gmail? Google and many other search engines maintain indefinite logs of who searches
for what keywords, along with lots of other data. These are prime targets for National
Security Letters or just general government subpoena.
I provide the basics for conducting anonymous transactions cheaply in FIXME this
section. You can use these techniques to get yourself started and comfortable with
interacting with the Matrix anonymously. From there, the entrepreneurs in the audience
may wish to start a business to start making some money in this new economy, and thus
begin to fully escape from the control of the Matrix.
Markets of interest might include items in online games, anonymous web hosting,
certain types of medicine, or even illegal electronics. For example, many people are too
lazy to build a MythTV box, but personally I sure as hell would buy one over a crippled
and ad-infested TiVo subscription service any day. If I watched TV, that is.


As you can see, most of these things go on above ground today, but for how long? And
why at such high risk for consumers living in less accepting legal climates? What about
those who would pay more for more protection? For example, some customers may be
attracted simply to the ability to free themselves from marketing and government
profiling. Those who purchase certain types of books might prefer if Amazon and
whoever else didn't have this information tied to their physical identity.
Yet another possible white/grey market to tap might be a physical anonymous remailer
service for people who would like to conceal their street address from someone mailing
them something in order to avoid becoming listed in a database for marketing spam
and/or to avoid general profiling and surveillance, or to be able to order a product that
won't normally ship to their geographic location. Basically the way the system could
work is through a website where you create a temporary account number or unique
pseudonym. The package is then shipped to a relay point where the account
number/pseudonym is read off, and a new label printed onto the package. It is then
mailed to its new destination, and any electronic and paper records are destroyed. It also
has the advantage that extremely paranoid users can potentially chain multiple locations
together for extra security, so that competition does not necessarily compete for market
share, but instead cooperates for it. You might consider marketing this as a "Virtual
Office Solution" to avoid liability, if done above ground. A useful technique for
verifying that packages have not been opened/examined en-route is to create a unique
multicolored wax seal swirl using two or more candles, photograph the seal, and
transmit the photograph electronically via encrypted email. Delivery/payment can be
ensured using normal UPS/Fedex/USPS tracking numbers, which can be encrypted to
the senders public key and then destroyed.
The demand for such a system might not be immediately visible now, but once the next
Patriot Act or similar legislation removes all anonymity from the mail, the demand
should skyrocket. This business has the advantage that it is extremely low setup
overhead and is very easy to start small with low capital, just to test market demand.
Once the business is proved worthwhile, FedEx and possibly other major carriers offer
bulk shipping rate accounts to merchants that could be taken advantage of, bringing the
overhead work and cost to your customers potentially very low.
Taking this idea a step further yields a "ghost walker" contract market, much like the
ones described in FIXMEToward A Private Digital Economy. Most of the P2P token-
based nonsense there can be ignored, but his key idea could be transfered to a ebay-like
auction site. Basically the idea is that people would contract the services of someone
who is skilled at staying off the radar to conduct transactions that for various reasons
they do not want linked to their identity (again, buying books, vitamins, medicine,
regionally available items, web hosting, illegal electronics, and so on). Sort of like the
inverse of a Private Investigator, these people would do anything from purchasing
items, mailing and delivering packages, donating to charities, acting as couriers,
business agents/representatives, mail forwarders, and so on. This can already be carried
out in a guerrilla fashion on community/local city classified ad servers such as the
nearly universal Craigslist (where it is possible to contract people from different state
and country jurisdictions quite easily). In the ideal situation, a dedicated website would
be created. Each "ghost walker" would have a nym (possibly paying a fee to do so, both
to support the site and to discourage morphing), complete with ratings and reviews,
prices per task/risk factor, and so on. Contracts would be posted by clients containing a


generic description of the task, and interested ghost walkers would contact the buyer
with prices. The buyer would then select a particular ghost walker to reveal the
complete details of the contract to, and terms of payment. Given the tendency to
increased total surveillance, lots of regular people may be interested in using this
service.
So there are numerous markets that can be potentially very lucrative while at the same
time helping to build a social structure independent of domination and control. In
general, any mechanism of state control creates markets for equipment or components
that can be used to circumvent this control. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. If
you have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to contact me so that I can update the
HOWTO for all to benefit as we work together to free ourselves.
Freedom Seekers are Not Terrorists
Essentially this HOWTO represents the hacker community truly claiming independence
for itself from national and institutional rule. While many the ideas and techniques
present in this document can be found elsewhere, I believe this is the first time such a
coherent, consistent, and focused collection of these ideas has been assembled for a
single purpose. 17 years ago, we made our Declaration of Independence. This body of
code-law represents a manner of Constitution of Cyberspace. A basic set of rights we
claim for ourselves through our use of technology.
Because the accusation will inevitably be made, I would just like to emphasize the
distinction between freedom seekers and terrorists. The type of resistance and revolution
discussed here is non-violent, and singularly focused upon allowing an individual to
have real freedom through privacy and anonymity. While reactionary individuals might
argue that the knowledge presented in this HOWTO could aid actual terrorists, the
reality is they've already had much better training which has proved to be quite effective
in practice. Furthermore, we're talking about people who are willing to give their lives
in their quest: people whose families, friends, and their own lives have already been
destroyed by Empire. These people will stop at nothing. They don't need this HOWTO
to create new identities for privacy purposes when perfectly valid ones can be stolen
readily. Nor do they care much about surveillance, since surveillance can't stop a suicide
mission. What's worse, is that on some level the police state must know this. Even being
generous with the reasonable doubt, all evidence seems to indicate that at best it simply
used the tragic events of Sept 11 as an excuse for a long awaited massive power grab,
with the resulting legislation doing far more to target the average citizen than any
particular terrorist network.
I recently had a discussion on Usenet where it was asserted that taking action to protect
yourself and withdraw from the Matrix might generate even more excuses for
introducing oppressive legislation and policy. I believe this will not be the case, and that
moreover this thinking is in fact defeatist and even dangerous for a few reasons.
First, the Matrix will not and can not overtly fight this behavior, as any public attention
given to it will only provide it with more energy and momentum. The Matrix media
filter won't even allow the individual pieces of information that lead to the conclusions
of this introduction to be discussed for this very reason. There is no way it would
willingly publicize this ideology in its entirety, even to attempt attack it. Furthermore,


there is no need to. The Matrix already has more than enough material to drive through
as much oppressively restrictive legislation as it likes in the name of fighting kiddie
porn, the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and in the name of protecting corporate
profits. As stated above, it is already taking full advantage of this fact, to Orwellian
ends. The interesting phenomenon is that the more ridiculous the regulations become,
the more commonplace it will be for the public to want to circumvent them, which only
serves to strengthen resistance economies.
Second, if you look at all of history, freedom has never been given to a populace. Left
to its own devices, the state only ever grows more powerful. It never surrenders power
over citizens freely. Take any instance in history where people have established rights
for themselves, and you will see it was the result of a long, drawn out battle that the
state simply lacked the resources to continue to fight effectively. Prohibition wasn't
abolished because people acted good, honest and sober, it was because they got falling
down drunk and alcohol consumption soared to new heights while the Puritan state was
powerless to continue to oppress the newly criminalized middle class. Likewise, Civil
rights weren't won because Africans obediently stayed in their designated rolls,
complicitly accepting "separate but equal" facilities and politely tolerating
discrimination. It was because they practiced civil disobedience and active resistance
against injustice.
I believe in civil disobedience, and more importantly, the clear distinction between
morality and law. I believe that it is defensive, defeatist thinking to say that "if we just
be good, they will reward us and repeal laws." The laws - the DMCA, the Patriot Act,
the REAL ID act, recent supreme court decisions and the now entirely conservative
dominated court - are already essentially fascist and will only continue getting "tougher"
on "crime" and "terror", stripping away the rights of citizens in the name of "safety"
with little real gain except the hoisting of that Floating Eye on the dollar bill ever higher
above the base. The total surveillance state has been a goal of the current cabal for time
out of mind.
Third and finally, once again I'm not advocating violence here, or even any sort of crime
that has a victim. I'm advocating creating a social and economic structure based on
anonymity (not necessarily illegality) that drains the corporate state of power and thus
weakens its ability to enforce fascist law and practice.
In my view, the only thing that will cause the state to rescind is the realization that
much like in the 1920s with prohibition, it has criminalized a vast portion of its
population that it is now powerless to control, and furthermore that its fascist law has
done nothing to safeguard against the true monsters that its foreign policy has created.
Continuation on its current course of action will lead the Matrix to experience ever
increasing instances of identity theft, repeated infiltration of data warehouses, massive
underground surveillance rings, and so on. These actions are not advocated in this
HOWTO, but they will inevitably become more commonplace as the Matrix continues
to make it easier to steal an existing identity than to create a new one or otherwise
escape from ceaseless surveillance.
At this point in time, the Matrix faces two options. It can either choose to allow us to be
free, and create official sanctioned means for people who wish to free themselves from


endless surveillance and total control to operate anonymously within the system, or it
can choose to fight war after costly war on civil liberties and basic human rights until
enough people are fed up with its behavior that they begin to depart en-mass. Again.
But we already know the choice the Matrix will make. Already I can see the chain
reaction of propaganda, the sound-byte media precursors that trigger the onset of an
emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason. An emotion that the
Matrix will use to blind the masses from the simple and obvious truth: We are going to
be free, and there is nothing it can do to stop us.
Spreading the Word
Initially I had planned for a small distribution of this document to only a select few, to
attempt to "stay under the radar". But as I indicate above, I now realize that is a flawed
approach. Much like in a mixed network, the more people working to protect
themselves and their identities, the better off the end result is. The stronger the support
economies grow, the better able the resistance is to function autonomously.
An IRC friend of mine has designed some FIXME slick business cards that can be
distributed at functions, protests or wherever. Online print shops will typically print
200-500 of these for around $20. If you're itching to give me some kind of donation for
some reason, you can direct your funds towards that instead. It even works on a sliding
scale. For example, you can buy some sticker paper for like $5 at your local office
supply store and print out some stickers to put up at coffee shops, clubs, bars, Internet
cafes, bookstores or anywhere intelligent people might be able to jot down or quickly
visit a URL. If anyone wants to create another design, send it to me and I will post it
here also.
Target Audience
This document is written at a technical level appropriate for "power users" - people who
like to tinker with their computer configurations to get the most out of their experience.
Novice computer users who are uncomfortable tweaking settings, editing configuration
files, and occasionally using the command line probably will struggle with much of the
material regardless of OS, unfortunately (though at least one person has offered to help
elaborate the more technically involved sections to help novices along - we'll see how
that pans out).
I try to be as operating system agnostic as possible, providing information for Windows,
Mac OS, and Linux, but due to the open and readily customizable nature of the system,
the Linux material probably will be the most well developed.
As far as demographics, I expect this document to be useful to a wide variety of people
from several walks of life. In particular, some of the major categories are:
Civil Libertarians
Those who are concerned with the gradual erosion of their personal freedoms will
probably find nearly the entirety of this document useful and interesting, since it is


intended to provide techniques and countermeasures to restore nearly every right that
has been lost due to the Wars on Drugs, Porn, and Terror. It is now possible for the
anyone (the US government, frivolous civil litigants, P.I.'s, and so on) to enumerate just
about everything in your home without many warrants, simply by subpoenas or a
National Security Letters. Somehow I doubt this situation was exactly what the Framers
of the Constitution had in mind... This document can help you to keep as much of your
personal belongings and reading habits actually private and out of numerous
commercial databases (which are readily availably to law enforcement).
Whistleblowers
Whistleblowers who are interested in exposing wrongdoing, corruption, cover-up, or
conspiracy at their workplaces will find this document useful for protecting their
identities while contacting the press, or otherwise disseminating evidence over the
Internet. When you are jeopardizing your job (and possibly your life) to expose
wrongdoing, you must assume that NO institution will be able to protect your identity
from someone who is determined to silence you. Your only option is to make sure no
one knows who you are in the first place until such time as your safety from retaliation
can be guaranteed. If followed carefully and diligently, this document will show you
how to accomplish this.
Bloggers and Independent Journalists
Similar to whistleblowers, bloggers and forum posters often find themselves the target
of harassment, especially when reporting on controversial material, or even when
people who comment on their pages choose to do so. While it has recently been ruled
that bloggers are afforded the same rights and protections as journalists, in cases where
the blogger is exposing corruption or negligence at their workplace, additional measures
of protecting oneself may be desired. In some cases, it may be desirable to publish
pseudonymously simply to avoid the stress (and expense!) of having to deal with
frivolous lawsuits such as these.
"Political Dissidents" and Inquisitive Minds
Forget about China, even in the USA it's no secret that the FBI has consistently harassed
those who have dared to speak out against the status quo. Targeted groups include
vegans, Catholics, Quakers, peace activists, environmental volunteers, 3rd party
candidates and campaign workers, independent journalists and bloggers, and even
members of the mainstream press. What should be most disturbing to the average
citizen is how easily it is to become mistaken for one of these "trouble makers" simply
for buying (or being recommended) the wrong book on Amazon, posting on the wrong
blog, buying certain types of food on a credit card, donating to certain charities, etc.
With the advent of aggressive data mining and aggregation, it is all too easy to be
lumped in with "the wrong crowd". If followed properly, this document will help you to
retain your freedom to investigate alternative views and information without leaving an
electronic trail of this activity to open yourself up to harassment. It should also help you
minimize the damage a determined FBI agent (or vindictive ex-spouse or other enemy
who has hired a PI) is able to do to you.
People with Enemies


As hinted at above, it's not just dissidents who need to be concerned either. Surveillance
and draconian law can be used as dangerous weapons. All it takes is for one motivated
enemy to hire a PI with access to the major data warehouses to dig into your life, find
something that they can use, and then phone in to report you, or simply blackmail you.
Anyone with a vindictive ex-spouse, political adversary, or even a feuding neighbor can
be the target of this abuse.
Programmers and Security Researchers
Due to the DMCA and insanely broken patent law, programmers have found their
freedom of speech horrendously restricted in the USA. Many security researchers have
been afraid to discuss the privacy implications of copyright protection technology that is
essentially spyware. Others are afraid to publish vulnerability assessments of
cryptographic systems that may be tangentially related to copyright infringement, or
even simply software in general. This document can teach such programmers and
researchers how to conceal their identities and thus assist peers who are operating in
legal climates that still respect the freedoms of speech and innovation.
The Video Game Underground
The DMCA has also been used to harass video game hackers and cheaters. Some
gaming companies will ban you from their online services if they discover your
involvement or subscription to "cheat forums". Most will not hesitate to issue bogus
DMCA takedown notices to cheat/mod websites that operate in the USA. Software that
modifies online games to provide additional features, cheats, or automation is also the
target of DMCA harassment. Furthermore, programmers who publicly reverse engineer
and re-implement open source game servers find themselves the target of lawsuits. This
document should assist these people to continue to play and modify games how they see
fit without fear of persecution.
Moonlighters, Double-Shifters, and Consultants
In a similar vein, those who are working multiple jobs may wish to conceal this fact
from their employers due to fear of retaliation. I expect the most typical use case of this
document will be programmers working as consultants, or who wish to contribute to
Open Source projects in their free time.
Potential Victims of Identity Theft (Everyone)
This document can also help those who are interested in protecting their identities
and/or financial information from being stolen due to their commerce online and
elsewhere. As mentioned above, data warehouses such as Choicepoint are essentially
making identity a commodity. It is inevitable that this data will be leaked and stolen
again and again. With identity becoming an increasingly integral aspect of functioning
in society, black markets that sell this data will continue to be extremely profitable. Just
like the War on Drugs, the War on Terror fought through the politics of domination and
control will lead to ever escalating levels of waste, destruction, and chaos. The best way
to protect yourself is to minimize your digital footprint: Use anonymous forms of
payment online, and conceal your name and mailing address.


Entrepreneurs
The last major category of people who are likely to find this document useful are those
who are interested in providing privacy and anonymity services and software to others.
Privacy and anonymity are difficult problems. There are many holes to be filled in,
usability issues to be addressed, and markets to be built. To this group of people, every
privacy problem and legal restriction should represent a potential market to get involved
in. However, DO NOT SELL SNAKE OIL. If you cannot stand up to legal or other
pressure, you need to inform your users of this fact clearly, so they are sure to take
appropriate precautions while using your service (especially if you are located within
the USA). Very few, if any, privacy services are capable of operating as stand-alone
one-shot solutions. What is needed is a series of tools and components that can be
combined arbitrarily. Focus on one component, and do it [Link]:Matrixstub
Category:
How to Exit the Matrix
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How to Exit the Matrix
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Privacy and anonymity have been reduced to the point of non-existence in recent years
(Thanks Obama). Our personal, private information is stockpiled and sold to the highest
bidder like so much inventory at a warehouse. National Security Letters are written to
make countless requests for records from our search engines, libraries, and book stores
with no court oversight. Email and especially searchable data is practically unprotected
from anyone who might ask to have it. All our electronic communications are tapped.
Massive governmental data mining schemes are being built to record everything we
publish on the web. In many workplaces, employers spy on and control their employees'
Internet access, and this practice is widely considered to be acceptable.
These are dark times. The Fourth Amendment has all but disappeared, thanks to the
Wars on Drugs, Porn, and Terror. Any practicing trial lawyer will tell you that you can
no longer rely on unreasonable search to be the basis for excluding evidence, especially
for digital evidence in the hands of a third party. Likewise the First Amendment has
been shredded with exceptions and provisos, and is only truly available to those with the
money to fight costly (and usually frivolous) court battles against large corporations. In
short, you can say what you want so long as it doesn't affect corporate profits.
How we got to a legal state where all this activity is the accepted norm, I'm not quite
sure. It seems to stem from an underlying assumption that our function at work and at
home is that of a diligent slave - a single unit of economic output under the direct watch
and total control of our superiors at all times; that we should accept this surveillance
because we should have nothing to hide from our benevolent overlords who are
watching us merely to protect us from evil.
I believe this view is wrong. Moreover, I believe it is time to reverse the tide. This
document seeks to provide the means to protect your right to privacy, freedom of
speech, and anonymous net access even under the most draconian of conditions -
including, but not limited to, both private and criminal investigation (which happens far
more often to innocent people than one might like to think). "So what are you saying?
That I can dodge bullets?" "No.. What I am trying to tell you is that when you're ready,
you won't have to."
Contents
1 Document Organization
2 Where to find this Document
3 License
4 Credits
5 Feedback and Assistance



Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.
Document Organization
This document is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter is an introductory
philosophical discussion, and the next six are based on the six main ways you can leak
information about who you are onto your network connection, or to an attentive
individual.
1. The Matrix
o A discussion of what the Matrix is, how it functions, and how to resist
and subvert it. This forms the philosophical underpinnings of this
HOWTO and the driving force behind the author's motivation to work
ceaselessly on this document for over a year, and then proceed to give it
away for free. Not required reading, but strongly recommended.
2. Network Attributes of your computer
o This includes your network hardware (MAC) address, your IP address,
and your 802.11 nickname. This section describes ways of obfuscating
each of these attributes, as well as your network data itself
3. Local Programs and Services
o Various programs you run can leak information about you to the
network. This section describes how to turn them off.
4. Web related leakage
o Even after you have taken steps to obfuscate your network attributes, it is
still possible to leak a surprisingly large amount of information about
who you are through your web browser. It is even possible for websites
to determine your original IP after routing through a proxy (or even Tor),
if you are not careful.
5. Intrusive Surveillance
o In some environments (public computers, labs, oppressive work places),
your computer may be bugged and under direct deliberate surveillance
from a third party. This section describes what to look for, and also
describes how to use these same tools to your advantage to conceal your
activities. It also covers measures you can take to mitigate information
disclosure in the case of equipment seizure.
6. Anonymous Communications
o The previous 4 sections have dealt with how to access Internet resources
without fear of divulging your identity. But what if you have something
to say? This section discusses the ins and outs of publishing data and
communicating anonymously.
7. Physical Interaction
o The ultimate goal in anonymity over the Internet is to carry it over into
the physical world: to use money, and to be able to buy and sell items
and otherwise conduct business without fear of surveillance. The means
for doing this exist, yet most are prohibitively expensive for the average
individual. In most cases, low cost, "good enough" alternatives are
available with some extra effort, however. Hopefully, as the Anonymous
Economy continues to grow, tools to aid in interacting with it safely will
become profitable commodities themselves.


Where to find this Document
The latest version of this document can be found at
[Link] or at
[Link] The Anonymity Portal also provides a
mirror, along with several other documents. Those wishing to mirror or build their own
copy can download this web tarball. This instance was built with xmlto html
[Link].
License
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Share Alike v2.5 license.
Credits
This document exists because of the hard work of literally millions of individuals
working in concert to build a free, open world where all can meet, trade and converse
without fear. One day The Man will burn.
At the same time, I would also like to thank The Man, because without him, the millions
of individuals working in concert to build a free, open world where all can meet, trade
and converse without fear would not have such a fascinating hobby.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the dozens of contributors who have tipped me off to
various news articles, software, FIXME solutions, and so on. Your help is much
appreciated!

Feedback and Assistance
If I missed anything you feel is important, or if anything is unclear, please contact me
via email at <aceevader]-a-t-[[Link]>. Particularly if you have any material to
cover any of the FIXMEs found in the text, please email me. If you are someone who
needs confidential anonymity advice or assistance, do NOT use my mailvault GPG key,
since I have no control over preventing leakage of the passphrase. Instead, use this key.
While mailvault is not located inside the USA (and thus not subject to the most likely
form of assault: a National Security Letter), it is not outside the question that they could
be coerced in some other manner. If you are unfamiliar with GPG, you may consider
installing a graphical front end to help you along.
1
State secrets privilege
From Wikipedia


The state secrets privilege is an evidentiary rule created by United States legal precedent.
Application of the privilege results in exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on
affidavits submitted by the government stating that court proceedings might disclose sensitive
information which might endanger national security. United States v. Reynolds, which involved
military secrets, was the first case that saw formal recognition of the privilege.
Following a claim of "state secrets privilege", the court rarely conducts an in camera
examination of the evidence to evaluate whether there is sufficient cause to support the use of
this doctrine. This results in court rulings in which even the judge has not verified the veracity
of the assertion. The privileged material is completely removed from the litigation, and the
court must determine how the unavailability of the privileged information affects the case.
Function
The purpose of the state secrets privilege is to prevent courts from revealing state secrets in
the course of civil litigation (in criminal cases, the Classified Information Procedures Act serves
the same purpose). The government may intervene in any civil suit, including when it is not a
party to the litigation, to ask the court to exclude state secrets evidence. While the courts may
examine such evidence closely, in practice they generally defer to the Executive Branch. Once
the court has agreed that evidence is subject to the state secrets privilege, it is excluded from
the litigation. Often, as a practical matter, the plaintiff cannot continue the suit without the
privileged information, and drops the case. Recently, courts have been more inclined to
dismiss cases outright, if the subject matter of the case is a state secret.
Distinguished from other legal doctrines
The state secrets privilege is related to, but distinct from, several other legal doctrines: the
principle of non-justiciability in certain cases involving state secrets (the so-called "Totten
Rule"); certain prohibitions on the publication of classified information (as in New York Times
Co. v. United States, the Pentagon Papers case); and the use of classified information in
criminal cases (governed by the Classified Information Procedures Act).
History
Origins
The doctrine was effectively imported from British law which has a similar privilege. It is
debatable whether the state secrets privilege is based upon the President's powers as
commander-in-chief and leader of foreign affairs (as suggested in United States v. Nixon) or
derived from the idea of separation of powers (as suggested in United States v. Reynolds). It
seems that the US privilege "has its initial roots in Aaron Burr's trial for treason". In this case, it
was alleged that a letter from General James Wilkinson to President Thomas Jefferson might
contain state secrets and could therefore not be divulged without risk to national security.
Supreme Court recognition in United States v. Reynolds
The privilege was first officially recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States in United
States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1 (1953). A military airplane, a B-29 Superfortress bomber,
crashed. The widows of three civilian crew members sought accident reports on the crash but


were told that to release such details would threaten national security by revealing the
bomber's top-secret mission.[1][2][3][4][5][6][10][11] The court held that only the government
can claim or waive the privilege, but that it is not to be lightly invoked and that there must
be a formal claim of privilege, lodged by the head of the department which has control over
the matter, after actual personal consideration by that officer. The court stressed that the
decision to withhold evidence is to be made by the presiding judge and not the executive.
In 2000, the accident reports were declassified and released, and it was found that the
assertion that they contained secret information was fraudulent. The reports did, however,
contain information about the poor condition of the aircraft itself, which would have been very
compromising to the Air Force's case. Many commentators have alleged government misuse of
secrecy in this landmark case.
Despite this ruling, a case might still be subject to judicial review since the privilege was
intended to prevent certain, but not all, information to be precluded.[1]
Recent use
According to former White House Counsel, John Dean:
While precise numbers are hard to come by (because not all cases are reported), a
recent study reports that the "Bush administration has invoked the state secrets
privilege in 23 cases since 2001." By way of comparison, "between 1953 and 1976,
the government invoked the privilege in only four cases."
While Henry Lanman reports in Slate:
the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reported that while the
government asserted the privilege approximately 55 times in total between 1954
(the privilege was first recognized in 1953) and 2001, it's asserted it 23 times in
the four years after Sept. 11."[11][13]
However, at least one article has retracted these figures, finding they were based on
erroneous information:
Correction: In this article, we incorrectly reported that the government invoked
the state secrets privilege in 23 cases since 2001. The figure came from the 2005
Secrecy Report Card published by [Link]. The privilege was
actually invoked seven times from 2001 to 2005, according to the corrected 2005
report card, which is not an increase from previous decades.
Lanman continues to cite two political science professors at the University of Texas-El Paso
who concluded that
courts have examined the documents' underlying claims of state secrecy fewer
than one-third of the times it has been invoked. And ... courts have only actually
rejected the assertion of the privilege four times since 1953.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the privilege is increasingly used to dismiss entire
court cases, instead of only withholding the sensitive information from a case.[1] Also in 2001,
George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13233 extending the accessibility of the state secrets
privilege to also allow former presidents, their designated representatives, or representatives
designated by their families, to invoke it to bar records from their tenure.[5]


An article in the NYT, in August 2007, on a lawsuit involving Society for Worldwide Interbank
Financial Telecommunication concludes that it would seem that the unprecedented frequency
with which the Bush administration invoked and invokes this principle has made judges more
skeptical and willing to ask the government to validate its claims. In the words of Tom Blanton,
director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University:
What seems clear is that until a year or two ago, the judges rarely even
questioned it when the government raised the 'state secrets' claim. It was a
neutron bomb no plaintiffs left standing. But we're now seeing that judges are
starting to actually look behind the government's secrecy claims and see what's
really there.
Criticism
Since 2001, there has been mounting criticism of the state secrets privilege. Such criticism
generally falls into four categories:
Weak external validation of executive assertion of privilege
Many commentators have expressed concern that the courts never effectively scrutinize
executive claims of privilege. Lacking independent national security expertise, judges
frequently defer to the judgment of the executive and never subject executive claims to
meaningful scrutiny.
Executive abuse of the privilege to conceal embarrassing facts
Commentators have suggested that the state secrets privilege might be used as often to
prevent disclosure of embarrassing facts as to protect legitimate secrets. Or, in the words of
Professors William G. Weaver and Robert M. Pallitto in an article in the Political Science
Quarterly:
[T]he incentive on the part of administrators is to use the privilege to avoid
embarrassment, handicap political enemies, and to prevent criminal investigation
of administrative action.
In several prominent cases, the evidence that the government successfully excluded was later
revealed to contain no state secrets: United States v. Reynolds, Sterling v. Tenet, Edmonds v.
Department of Justice, and the Pentagon Papers.
Expansion into a justiciability doctrine
Some academics and practitioners have criticized the expansion of the state secrets privilege
from an evidentiary privilege (designed to exclude certain pieces of evidence) to a justiciability
doctrine (designed to exclude entire lawsuits). Under its original formulation, the state secrets
privilege was meant only to exclude a very narrow class of evidence whose revelation would
harm national security. However, in a large percentage of recent cases, courts have gone a
step further, dismissing entire cases in which the government asserts the privilege, in essence
converting an evidentiary rule into a justiciability rule. The government response has been that
in certain cases, the subject of the case is itself privileged. In these cases, the government
argues, there is no plausible way to respond to a complaint without revealing state secrets.


Elimination of judicial check on executive power
Glenn Greenwald alleges that the Bush administration attempted to expand executive power,
as evidenced by the unitary executive theory propagated by John Yoo. The theory suggests
that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, cannot be bound by Congress or any law, national
or international. By invoking the state secrets privilege in cases involving actions taken in the
war on terror (i.e. extraordinary rendition, allegations of torture, allegedly violating the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)[19] Greenwald opines the administration tried to evade
judicial review of these claims of exceptional war powers. In effect, this is preventing a judicial
ruling determining whether there is a legal basis for such expansive executive power. With that
in mind, applying this privilege makes impeachment the only possible means left for Congress
to exercise their duty to uphold the checks and balances constitutionally intended to prevent
abuse of power.
Calls for reform
In recent years, a number of commentators have called for legislative reforms to the state
secrets privilege. These reforms center around several ideas:
1. Requiring judges to review each piece of evidence that the executive claims is subject to the
privilege.
2. Requiring the executive to craft alternative evidence that is not subject to the privilege, for the
opposing party to use in place of the original, privileged evidence. Such substitute evidence
should only be required when it is possible to do so without harming national security.
3. Prohibiting courts from dismissing claims on the basis of the state secrets privilege until after
they have reviewed all available evidence.
4. Permitting the court to appoint an outside expert to scrutinize the evidence for national
security content.
5. Excluding illegal government action from the definition of "state secrets," or otherwise allowing
the court to address the legality (instead of just the secrecy) of government conduct. This
would prevent the government from using the state secrets privilege to conceal its illegal
conduct.
On January 22, 2008, Senators Edward Kennedy and Arlen Specter introduced S. 2533, the
State Secrets Protection Act.
Court cases
United States v. Reynolds
In United States v. Reynolds (1953), the widows of three crew members of a B-29
Superfortress bomber that had crashed in 1948 sought accident reports on the crash, but were
told the release such details would threaten national security by revealing the nature of the
bomber's top-secret mission. The Supreme Court ruled that the executive branch could bar
evidence from the court if it deemed that its release would impair national security. In 1996,
the accident reports in question were declassified and released, and when discovered in 2000
were found to contain no secret information. They did, however, contain information about
the poor condition of the aircraft itself, which would have been very compromising to the Air
Force's case. Many legal experts have alleged government abuse of secrecy in this landmark
case.


Richard Horn
Former DEA agent Richard Horn brought a suit against the CIA for bugging his home. The case
was dismissed because of the privilege.
Richard Horn's case was reinstated on July 20, 2009, by U.S. District Court Judge Royce C.
Lamberth on the basis that the CIA had engaged in fraud on the court.
On March 30, 2010, as a result of a multimillion dollar settlement agreement between Horn
and the government, Lamberth dismissed the underlying case with prejudice. Subsequently,
later that same year, in a September 22 order, Lamberth issued a final order vacating his
earlier opinions and orders finding that CIA lawyers, Tenet, and Brown had committed fraud
on the court. Lamberth also specifically ordered that a sentence be removed from his March
30, 2010 Memorandum. The removed sentence had stated that "allegations of wrongdoing by
the government attorneys in this case are not only credible, they are admitted".
Notra Trulock
In February 2002 it was invoked in the case of Notra Trulock, who launched a defamation suit
against Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, charged with stealing nuclear secrets; President Bush
stated that national security would be compromised if Trulock were allowed to seek damages
from Lee; though it resulted in the case being dismissed, another suit was launched directly
attacking then-FBI Director Louis Freeh for interfering and falsely invoking the state secrets
privilege.
Sibel Edmonds
The privilege was invoked twice against Sibel Edmonds. The first invocation was to prevent her
from testifying that the Federal Government had foreknowledge that Al-Qaeda intended to
use airliners to attack the United States on September 11, 2001; the case was a $100 trillion
action filed in 2002 by six hundred 9/11 victims' families against officials of the Saudi
government and prominent Saudi citizens. The second invocation was in an attempt to derail
her personal lawsuit regarding her dismissal from the FBI, where she had worked as a post-
9/11 translator and had been a whistleblower.
Thomas Burnett
The privilege was invoked in Thomas Burnett vs. Al Barka Investment & Development
Corporation (Civil No. 04ms203) a motion to quash a subpoena for the testimony of Sibel
Edmonds. The government's motion to quash based on state secrets privilege was granted in
part.
Sterling v. Tenet
Jeffrey Sterling was an African-American CIA agent who started a racial discrimination suit. It
was thrown out on account of this privilege.
Nira Schwartz
The privilege was invoked in Schwartz vs. TRW (Civil No. 96-3065, Central District, Cal) a Qui-
Tam claim by Schwartz. Intervention and assertion of the state secrets privilege, by the
government, resulted in case dismissal.


Crater Corporation
The privilege was invoked in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit case of
Crater Corporation vs. Lucent Technologies Inc. and AT&T Company, (Crater Corp. v. Lucent
Technologies, September 7, 2005). Crater was prevented from proceeding with discovery in its
patent infringement case (U.S. Patent No. 5,286,129) by the United States' assertion that
discovery could cause "extremely grave damage to national security". The infringement case
centered on WetMate underwater fiber optic coupling devices beneath the sea.
ACLU vs. NSA
On May 26, 2006, the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion to dismiss ACLU v. NSA, the
ACLU's lawsuit against the NSA by invoking the state secrets privilege.[27] On July 26, 2006,
the case was dismissed. In a different case in Michigan, brought by the ACLU against the NSA
on behalf of various scholars, journalists, attorneys, and national non-profit organizations,
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled on August 17, 2006, that the program was unconstitutional and
should be halted. She upheld the doctrine but ruled that the government's public statements
concerning the operation were admissible and constituted sufficient proof for the case to
continue without any privileged evidence or discovery. On July 6, 2007, the Sixth Circuit Court
of Appeals threw out Taylor's decision, ruling 2-1 that the ACLU could not produce evidence to
prove that the ACLU had been wrongfully wiretapped by the NSA and therefore did not have
the standing to bring such a case to court, regardless of the legality question. On February 19,
2008, the Supreme Court declined to hear the ACLU's appeal.
Center for Constitutional Rights et al. v. Bush et al.
On May 27, 2006, the Justice Department moved to preempt the Center for Constitutional
Rights (CCR) challenge to warrantless domestic surveillance by invoking the state secrets
privilege. The Bush Administration is arguing that CCR's case could reveal secrets regarding
U.S. national security, and thus the presiding judge must dismiss it without reviewing the
evidence.
Hepting v. AT&T
In April 2006, the Bush administration took initial steps to use the state secrets rule to block a
lawsuit against AT&T and the National Security Agency brought by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. The EFF alleged that the government has secret computer rooms conducting
broad, illegal surveillance of American citizens. Testifying at a January 29, 2008 House Judiciary
Committee hearing on reform of the state secrets privilege, EFF attorney Kevin Bankston
contended that the administration's interpretation of the privilege was overly broad, and failed
to properly consider the evidentiary procedures provided for by Section 1806(f) of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. However, the case was dismissed on June 3, 2009, citing
retroactive legislation (section 802 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) stating that
in the case of a covered civil action, the assistance alleged to have been provided by the
electronic communication service provider was in connection with an intelligence
activity involving communications that was authorized by the President during the
period beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending on January 17, 2007; designed to
detect or prevent a terrorist attack, or activities in preparation for a terrorist attack,
against the United States; and the subject of a written request or directive, or a series of
written requests or directives, from the Attorney General or the head of an element of
the intelligence community (or the deputy of such person) to the electronic


communication service provider indicating that the activity was authorized by the
President; and determined to be lawful.
Khalid El-Masri
In May 2006, the illegal detention case of Khalid El-Masri was dismissed based on the privilege,
which was invoked by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Khalid El-Masri alleged that he was
falsely held by the CIA for several months (which the CIA acknowledges) and was beaten,
drugged, and subjected to various other inhumane activity while in captivity. He was ultimately
released by the CIA with no charge ever being brought against him by the United States
government. Judge T. S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court dismissed the case because, according
to the court, the simple fact of holding proceedings would jeopardize state secrets, as claimed
by the CIA. On March 2, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
affirmed. On October 9, 2007, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Fourth
Circuit's decision, letting the doctrine of state secrets privilege stand.
Maher Arar
The privilege was invoked against a case where Maher Arar, a wrongfully-accused and tortured
victim, sought to sue Attorney General John Ashcroft for his role in deporting Arar to Syria to
face torture and extract false confessions. It was formally invoked by Deputy Attorney General
James B. Comey in legal papers filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of New York. The invocation read, "Litigating [the] plaintiff's complaint would necessitate
disclosure of classified information", which it later stated included disclosure of the basis for
detaining him in the first place, the basis for refusing to deport him to Canada as he had
requested, and the basis for sending him to Syria.
Jane Doe et al. v. CIA
On January 4, 2007, District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered the dismissal of Jane Doe
et al. v. CIA, 05 Civ. 7939 based on the state secrets privilege. Jane Doe and her children sued
the CIA for money damages after her husband's covert employment with the CIA was
"terminated immediately for unspecified reasons".
Quotes
"Because it is so powerful and can trample legitimate claims against the government,
the state secrets privilege is not to be lightly invoked" (United States v. Reynolds, 345
U.S. 1, 7 (1953).
"The state secrets privilege is a common law evidentiary rule that allows the
government to withhold information from discovery when disclosure would be
inimical to national security." Zuckerbraun v. General Dynamics Corp., 935 F.2d 544,
546 (2d Cir. 1991).