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Ask HN: Whatever happened to Paranoid Linux?

5 points by josh_fyi ↗ HN
Cory Doctorow described in brilliant detail the fictional distro Paranoid Linux in his novel, _Little Brother_. "Paranoid" fully protects its users: encrypted communication and Tor by default, continual network chaff, etc.

Why isn't this in wider use?

There is no distro called Paranoid, but there are other security-oriented distros like LPS and Tails http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/linux-distros-paranoid-secure-distros-si/

Yet none is widely known and in wide use. Not even HN chatter talks a lot about these.

Why?

Does no one really care about security? Do these distros have usability or security flaws? Is it just a lack of marketing?

5 comments

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pezh0re
Back in the day there was ELE (Everything Leaves Encrypted) that attempted to utilize a livecd and Tor to encrypt all network traffic - but the same thing happened to it as it did to the Paranoid Linux attempt - Lack of support/time/resources to continue development.

As far as why... people who really need encryption already use it and/or are suspicious of a silver bullet solution. People who don't need it don't seem to care as much about it.

zellio
Because it's a pain and users, when given the choice between proper security and videos of dancing pigs will pick dancing pigs 90% of the time.

Also shameless Shmoo group plug: http://tinfoilhat.shmoo.com/

shakeel_mohamed
If such a distro existed, I'd love to run it on my CR-48. I probably would stick to Windows and OS X on my other machines.
thesmileyone
I have this novel on my bedside table; is it worth the read?