Some questions about TAILS and virtual operating systems

6 replies [Last post]
spyfall
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Joined: 09/05/2013

1. What is TAILS useful for?
2. Who is TAILS designed for?
3. When should I use TAILS? When shouldn't I use TAILS?
4. Is it possible to transfer files from a virtual operating system to a USB stick and vice versa?
5. Is it possible to run TAILS as a virtual operating system?
6. Which software can I use to run virtual operating systems? I only know Virtualbox. Are there any alternatives?

Andrew R.
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Joined: 09/27/2013

On 01/11/13 12:02, uedibupi wrote:
> 1. What is TAILS useful for?

Booting an OS to do something that doesn't require any of your own data
is the typical use case for any Live CD/DVD, including Tails.

For example, if I use someone else's computer to do casual browsing for
a few hours I might bring along a CD/USB and boot directly into Tails.

> 2. Who is TAILS designed for?

Whistleblowers, activists, people who might be censored, people who
might be watched, people who care about their own security.

> 3. When should I use TAILS? When shouldn't I use TAILS?

You should not use Tails if you are considered an adversary to the NSA.

> 4. Is it possible to transfer files from a virtual operating system
> to a USB stick and vice versa?

Depends on the VM setup, I haven't tried this. If you directly boot into
Tails, yes it is certainly possible.

> 5. Is it possible to run TAILS as a virtual operating system?

Yes. But Tails will warn you that the host OS can theoretically spy on you.

> 6. Which software can I use to run virtual operating systems? I only
> know Virtualbox. Are there any alternatives?

KVM, qemu, but I've never tried these.

Andrew.

quiliro@congresolibre.org
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Joined: 10/28/2010

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Very informative Andrew. Thank you. I have a comment/question below.

El 31/10/13 21:29, Andrew R. escribió:
>
>> 2. Who is TAILS designed for?
>
> Whistleblowers, activists, people who might be censored, people who
> might be watched, people who care about their own security.
>
>> 3. When should I use TAILS? When shouldn't I use TAILS?
>
> You should not use Tails if you are considered an adversary to the NSA.

If you are an adversary to the NSA then you are not a whistleblower, an
activist, someone who might be censored. So in conclusion, you think
that only people who care about their own security but that do not
belong in the other categories should use TAILS?

Is TAILS free software or does it contain some non-free?

Is there a way to make Trisquel safe for rights activists?

Thank you for your input.

- --
Saludos libres,

Quiliro Ordóñez
Presidente (en co-gobierno con los socios)
Asociación de Software Libre del Ecuador - ASLE
Teléfono: 6008579

Recuerda que todas tus comunicaciones están siendo vigiladas. Lo que
puedes hacer para restar su eficacia es eliminar el software privativo
de tus computadores, evitar el software como servicio, almacenar tus
datos en tus propios equipos y encriptar todas tus comunicaciones.

Toda la información contenida en este mensaje es libre de uso y
distribución con o sin modificaciones y todo correo que reciba implica
que el remitente acepta que tendrá las mismas libertades sin importar
cualquier clausula de confidencialidad o restricción anterior o posterior.
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Andrew R.
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Joined: 09/27/2013

On 04/11/13 00:20, Quiliro Ordóñez wrote:
>>> 2. Who is TAILS designed for?
>
>> Whistleblowers, activists, people who might be censored, people who
>> might be watched, people who care about their own security.
>
>>> 3. When should I use TAILS? When shouldn't I use TAILS?
>
>> You should not use Tails if you are considered an adversary to the
>> NSA.
>
> If you are an adversary to the NSA then you are not a whistleblower,
> an activist, someone who might be censored. So in conclusion, you
> think that only people who care about their own security but that do
> not belong in the other categories should use TAILS?

The adversary bit was a little joke of mine, because everybody is an
adversary to the NSA. ;-) More seriously, I think anyone who can
understand Tor, and can find a use for Tails could use it. A lot of
people do not understand Tor is though.

> Is TAILS free software or does it contain some non-free?
>
> Is there a way to make Trisquel safe for rights activists?
>
> Thank you for your input.

Unfortunately Tails is not fully free software. I asked on the IRC, and
later read on the forums that Tails contains proprietary firmware for
WiFi devices. It also has the Debian non-free repo in its sources.list
activated by default, which is a shame.

Having a Tor enabled Trisquel would be useful, but maybe difficult to
create. I don't really fully understand how Tails is built yet. It's
derived from Debian, so maybe a free version could be derived from
gNewSense instead. Although gNewSense is lagging a little behind Debian
releases, which might make things more difficult.

Andrew.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

>Unfortunately Tails is not fully free software. I asked on the IRC, and later read on the forums that Tails contains proprietary firmware for WiFi devices. It also has the Debian non-free repo in its sources.list activated by default, which is a shame.

Benjamin Franklin's words come to mind

Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither.

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

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Joined: 07/24/2010

An additional question: what about searching and asking at the correct place?

spyfall
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Joined: 09/05/2013

Thanks.