A new book published this week aims to help human rights defenders ensure their digital security, writes Karlin Lillington

Tunisian human rights activist Mohammed Abbou uploaded an article to the internet that compared Tunisian prisons to Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib. Now he sits in a cell in one of those prisons, sentenced to 3½ years' punishment for his online post.

Programmer and security consultant Dmitri Vitaliev hopes many others might avoid a similar - or worse - fate with the publication this week of his book, Digital Security for Human Rights Defenders, which is dedicated to Abbou.

Vitaliev says at least 10 human rights activists have been imprisoned because of their use of technology and new legislation introduced to curtail such activities.

Produced for the Dublin-based organisation Front Line, which supports and defends human rights activists around the world, Vitaliev's book is a detailed but accessible guide to numerous aspects of digital security.

It explores a range of topics, including locking down files on a computer; using encrypted e-mail; steganography (hiding messages within the digital information in an image); creating secure networks; circumventing internet censorship, malicious software and viruses; identity theft; and using anonymisers to post files or visit websites safely.

It even gives a brief history of computing and case-study scenarios to help defenders decide on a security approach that fits their situation.

"In today's world, security for activists also means information technology security. It's a driving force but also the reason behind so many campaigns," says Vitaliev, speaking from Montreal, where he launched the book at the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference this week.

His goal with the book, which can also be freely accessed online, was to give activists "a more theoretical component on security that explains what to do and why to do it. It explains a certain tool, method or technology, and when to use it."

Front Line director Mary Lawlor says: "Governments are increasingly getting into people's e-mails and files."

She says the organisation realised human rights defenders needed tools and techniques to keep digital data secure and protect their identities online.

A former director of the Irish branch of Amnesty International, Lawlor set up Front Line five years ago with €3 million in funding from businessman Denis O'Brien, a long-time supporter of Amnesty and now Front Line's chairman.

"No other organisation concentrates on human rights defenders at risk," she says. Front Line provides a range of supports, from advocacy, research and lobbying to grants towards security.

About two years ago, it released its downloadable "NGO In a Box" security software, which Vitaliev helped develop along with Front Line's information systems coordinator, Wojtek Bogusz.

"It's a set of tools, manuals and documents and is holistic in approach. We show people how to make their computer work safely, how to secure it against hacking, how to send information securely, how to protect their privacy," says Bogusz, a former physicist from Poland who says he wanted to make a difference in the everyday world. That brought him to the Tactical Technology Collective in the Netherlands, which gives technology tools to activists, and then to Front Line.

Dealing with computers and networks is often a new world for activists. Bogusz and Vitaliev had to make both the software and the book accessible to beginners. "For most people, computers and technology are like going to a strange country where you've never been before," says Bogusz.

The security package, which will be available in an expanded second edition soon, is based on Open Source or free software because the code is freely available for examination. This guarantees there are no hidden "back doors" built in for surveillance. The Open Source programmer community is also quick to help with problems or requests for new features, he says.

Vitaliev says one of the more ironic aspects of writing the book was explaining how to get around censored websites and networks with in-built surveillance that had often been provided by large western technology firms eager to get a foothold in developing economies like China.

For example, the text chat function is filtered on Skype's Chinese service; Cisco provided a network which enables surveillance; Google agreed to censor websites from its search service; Microsoft pulled some weblogs at the request of the Chinese government; and Yahoo handed over details on an activist which led to his imprisonment (his wife filed a lawsuit against Yahoo last month in San Francisco).

Vitaliev scoffs at suggestions made by some companies that their presence will help democratise the countries and eliminate the desire for censorship. "I don't buy that. When you begin to yield some of your rights, you'll never get them back."

• NGO in a Box can be downloaded from http:// www.frontlinedefenders.org/manuals/

Digital Security for Human Rights Defenders and a discussion forum can be found at http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/manual/en/esecman/