Anyhoo, the Spiegel article (referencing The Guardian), confirms what I always suspected: If you write an e-mail, someone else can read it. If you encrypt it, someone will read it SOONER, because of course they can use filters like "all e-mails encrypted using PGP". So if you think you can be sneaky and encrypt your e-mail, not because you have something to hide, but because you think that it's bad manners reading other people's mail, think again. Because they think the other way around ;-) And if you think your e-mail is encrypted SO WELL, think again again ;-) Big Brother is here to stay, and I'd bet money he can break your encryption. So what to do if you actually believe in a 'right to privacy'?
An old saying modified : Just the fact that you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not reading your mail !
I did read that using TOR for example meant you were automatically 'selected' for further monitoring and decryption.
ReplyDeleteWhile ultimately I agree that it is somewhat futile to use encryption and expect that'll stop them, I do think it's "bad manners" to spy on people and wish to waste as many of their CPU cycles as I can by encrypting my completely meaningless emails. (Also I do receive a lot of other people's passwords and don't want to expose them to non-NSA people either).
The only hope is that the honey-boo-boos get off the sofa and yell about constitutions sufficiently loudly.
I agree on all points, but wouldn't get my hopes up on the last point ;-(
ReplyDeleteThe Roman emperors ruled by "Panem et Circenses" (Bread and Games), meaning that their rule was safe as long as the populace was fed and entertained. IMHO, both of these have been achieved in the present Western world to a degree as never before, so people are way too comfy and too entertained on their sofas to think about getting up.