Farewell, friends

Howzit SumRandos!


Together we have been on a journey to live online, but under the radar. Starting in South Africa, we ducked cyber sharks and looked for a safe harbour to surf the internet without having someone looking over our shoulder. In Mauritius we decided to live the island life and imagine a world where dodgy folk weren’t spear-phishing our good times. Now, nine years later, it is time we part ways.

SumRando (Mauritius) Ltd has made the decision to discontinue its consumer VPN and chat application offerings. My team has always had your back and it has been an honour to safeguard your online presences as you went about your day-to-day. I am confident that the lessons we have learned together, prepared us to venture forth and stay safe and secure, to treat uncensored, private internet access as the human rights that .

As we approach Halloween, my favourite holiday, I want to give you notice and time to choose a new provider as your go-to VPN—someone you trust. SumRando will officially go dark on the 1st of October. While we could have partnered with a different provider, we have made the decision to allow you to research and choose your own provider. Your SumRando account information will cease to exist and, as you know, there are no traces to sweep up.

I know this is not welcome news, but I believe there are a handful of reputable providers who will also treat your privacy as paramount. There are others who, given the chance, will safeguard your online identities and prioritise integrity over profits.

With that, put on your cyber masks, be safe and live life like just Sum Rando.


Cheers,


Jonathan de Wolff
CEO, SumRando 

*Note, if you are a Platinum user, we will be refunding transactions processed August 1st or later and terminating recurring payments. Additional questions? Please emailsupport@sumrando.com.

Apps Against Apartheid

As the world watches country-wide protests and the failure in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we can't help but wonder if we are witnessing the end of the United States of America as we know it. We hope not. For all of its faults - its foreign policy, its systemic racism, its colonial legacy - America has been a beacon of hope for the world. The fabled "American Dream" is the dream of humanity.

Where would we be without the United States? Its contributions to science to medicine, to technology, to our very way of life, and yes, despite everything, to human rights, are such that the world would be a vastly different place, a boring place, a sick place, had it never existed.

We all dream of freedom. We all dream of equality. We all dream of home ownership, good schools for our children, good health, enough food to eat, love of family and friends, and physical and economic security to live life as we see fit.  Alas, we don't live in that world. We live in one where exploitation is the norm, one where the wealthy and powerful use Fear of the Other to maintain control. What is racism? It is a learned evil. It spreads like a virus.

Black Lives Matter is part of the cure. What we are seeing from the protestors gives us hope, not only for the United States, but for the world. Dictators abound these days. While the Western world thought democracy had triumphed and the rest of us hoped to achieve said democracy, recent history has trended the other way. Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Nkurunziza, Sisi, Khamenei, Maduro, Orban, Modi, Duterte, Erdogen, Bin Salman, Xi Jinping, Johnson, Aliyev, Lourenco, Kim Jong-un, al-Maktoum, Biya, Deby, al-Khalifa...oh, this is exhausting. Can we stop this descent into global fascism, please?

Sumrando supports #BlackLivesMatter. Founded in a nation well-versed in the evils of racism, we seek to provide the tools global citizens need to protect their freedom. Our VPN, Messenger, and STASH apps provide the privacy, security, and anonymity you need, whether you are a protestor, a journalist, part of a marginalized group, or just an average citizen who wants to protect their rights, our apps are there for you. The best part? They are free! (Get them here)

Look, we'd love to not have to exist, but someone has to provide encryption apps to protect the oppressed from their oppressors. Until we achieve the dream of freedom for all, end systemic racism, and annihilate global exploitation, we will continue to provide these tools of protection. So go Black Lives Matter, go America! You can do this.

Here's to the future!

#appsagainstapartheid

Covid-19 and Tech roundup - May 27

How we act in times of crises defines us.

The world has been brought to its knees. Too many people are using it for profit. Is crisis profiteering not the worst that humanity has to offer? Whether it be war or natural disasters or this awful disease, making money from human death is despicable. It doesn't matter if you are a legit business or a criminal enterprise, it is all the same evil.

Maybe worse than profiteering, though, is actively interfering with recovery efforts, like cyberattacks on hospitals, which has gotten so bad that the Red Cross had to beg governments to take action to clamp down on hackers.

Or what about being the chair of an organization that exists to promote computer science in schools and calling a security researcher a criminal because he brought to your attention a potentially devastating security flaw in your website, and you are also governor of a US state and your website is a pandemic unemployment assistance site and that security flaw exposes people's bank accounts? (Why hide the flaw if you aren't benefiting from it in some way?)

Uganda has used Covid as an excuse for further censorship it imposes under the guise of a social media tax. The tax undermines the fight against the disease.

And what of those who use this pandemic as an excuse to inflame ethnic hatreds and oppress those who are different than them, such as the Rohinga at refugee camps in Bangladesh or the people of Jammu and Kashmir? Internet shutdowns, especially in a time of crisis, endanger lives.

Then there are those using the pandemic as an excuse to surveil us and collect our data.
الصحة العامة واحترام الخصوصية: توصيات أكسس ناو فيما يتعلق بتطبيقات تتبع مُخالطي المرضى بفيروس الكورونا (كوفيد-19)

Let's do better, so we can all recover from this pandemic with some human dignity intact.

Roundup of COVID-19 related tech and privacy stories - 5 May

Israel's coronavirus surveillance is an example for others - of what not to do

UK finds itself almost alone with centralized virus contact-tracing app that probably won't work well, asks for your location, may be illegal

COVID-19 and Online Freedom for #GivingTuesdayNow

Malaysian journalist faces six years in prison over COVID-19 Facebook posts

Pew Survey: Use of Location Data to Enforce Social Distancing “Unacceptable”

MENA: amid COVID-19 fear and chaos, don’t be a privacy offender!

Here We Go Again: Russia Gears Up to Interfere in 2020 Election With Coronavirus Disinformation

Censorship in Zimbabwe: When fake news is true and ‘official’ news is fake

Piracy Sees 'Unprecedented' Pandemic Bounce, But So Does All Media Consumption

Cybersecurity Pros See Roles and Duties Change Due to #COVID19

How worried should South Africans be about Covid-19 cellphone tracing?

Researchers Spot Banking Trojan Using #COVID19 Crisis to Attack Users

Unequal Internet Access Exposed by Coronavirus

How is COVID-19 affecting tech and privacy issues? A roundup

Surveillance:

India

Will the coronavirus crisis inevitably result in an expansion of the surveillance state in India?

Drone data to play a part in a lockdown exit strategy


Balkans

COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects digital rights in the Balkans


United States

EARN IT bill is the government's not so secret plan to scan every message online

Tested positive coronavirus health workers may share your address to police

ACLU white paper shows the limits of location tracking in an epidemic


Lebanon

What the Lebanese government can do to respect users' privacy while fighting COVID-19



 Access:

United States

Can we all agree now that internet access is a necessity?


India

Kashmir's internet shutdown is preventing people from getting coronavirus information



Political Oppression:

Egypt

Now the Sisi regime has arrested Alaa's family for protesting coronavirus conditions in his prison #FreeAlaa