Re: [Tracker] Assigning URIs to Resources

[Martyn Russell <martyn lanedo com>]

On 31/05/13 12:04, אנטולי קרסנר wrote:
> I agree with you, not being able to trust the applications is a problem.
>
> Personally, I use a major distro and install only through the package
> manager, or I install a known development library/tool from source. So I
> trust my packages.
>
> But for other people, it may not be so simple. We have two major threats
> to our privacy:
>
> 1. Privacy-abusing corporations offering very popular services, like
> Google and Facebook (unfortunately it's already been shown they don't
> exactly care about users' private data... I don't like it, but its these
> companies' choice and their fault)
>
> 2. Many people install 3rd party proprietary apps on many platforms,
> especially proprietary ones
>
>
> When it comes to Free Software which actually cares about you - no
> problem. I'm not worried. But since I'm still in the phase of
> requirement specification and starting design, I have a chance to make
> choices now to ensure better privacy.
>
> I guess a good choice is to let Tracker manage privacy because Tracker
> is in charge of the database. If Tracker develops an authentication
> system, all apps should use it, instead of implementing ugly custom
> features which don't integrate.

Well, Tracker can't manage this without changing database backends. 
SQLite specifically depends on file system security and avoids 
implementing this internally itself.

There are various encryption wrappers available for those using SQLite 
on Android, but I don't think that's too viable here. There is also a 
SQLite encryption extension¹

Any authentication Tracker develops can be circumvented with a terminal. 
The easiest way here is to use cgroups/SELinux/other mechanisms that 
prevent file access by process I would think. This is what Aegis did too.

> Encryption without desktop integration would make searching impossible,
> so a temporary solution may indeed be using SELinux. Of course, the best
> solution is to use a system you trust :)

Yea :)

¹ http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/see.html

--
Regards,
Martyn

Founder and CEO of Lanedo GmbH.