Encryption, Cameras and Games

[Al Johnson]

On Monday 18 January 2010, Helge Hafting wrote:
> Rashid wrote:
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > I'm going to need a very safe smart phone for using it for investigative
> > reporting.
> >
> > So I have some questions before I'm going to get a Freerunner:

> > 3. Can you plug in an USB Cam (Like a Webcam) and use it to film
> > (extremly important) on the crypted LVM?
> 
> You can plug in any USB device that linux supports.  I don't know if the
> device is fast enough to actually encrypt and store a video stream
> though. You might want to consider a really small PC like an acerONE. It
> even has a built-in webcam.

There is a further limitation - the port is usb1.1 while many modern webcams 
require usb2 bandwidth because they don't compress the video stream.

> > We have serious problems in Europe with the freedom of the press so it
> > would be great to use the freerunner with openmoko for helping freedom
> > of the press.
> 
> What part of Europe would that be? Definitely not western Europe.

There are certainly more dangerous places to be a journalist, but the National 
Union of Journalists considers the situation in the UK at the moment fairly 
serious[0]. The International Federation of Journalists agree, but say the 
problem is Europe-wide[1]. Stop and search powers under Section 44 or the 
Terrorism Act, which allows searches without suspicion of wrongdoing, are 
widely used against both professional and amateur photographers[2], and are to 
continue[3] even though the European Court of Human Rights recently found it 
incompatible with European human rights laws[4].

[0] http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=910
[1] http://www.ifj.org/en/articles/efj-supports-nuj-campaign-against-
terrorising-journalists-in-the-uk
[2] http://photographernotaterrorist.org/
[3] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/14/only_obeying_orders/
[4]http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=860909&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber