The Solution to NSA Snooping? - Comments Page 2

I think Ed Snowden is absolutely right. I didn't feel that way about him at first, but now he's right on.

We need more Ed Snowdens!

Thanks for your wonderful e-mails

And, how do I, as a simple computer user, have any reason to believe that PGP (or the likes) doesn't have some backdoors in it that lets the NSA snoop on things that I thought were tightly encrypted?

Snowden may be a hero regarding domestic snooping, but he's also revealed to other nations, both allies and enemies, that we were spying on them. He's taken refuge in a nation run by a despot who's gleeful about all of this. He has become a permanent thorn in U.S.-Russian relations

Encryption is great... if you don't go anywhere. But cross a border and you will be REQUIRED to reveal all of your passwords or they will confiscate your equipment... and maybe charge you with some crime... like recently, refusing to talk (that old dead 5th Amendment) CAN be presented in court as an indication of guilt. So when crossing borders, just know that your "private papers" aren't.

>>There is a simple maxim - 'If you haven't got anything to hide you've got nothing to be afraid of'.
Think about this for a moment. Does it sound reasonable? Supposing we re-phrased this as "Only guilty people require any privacy..." does this still ring true?
Do we want to give unelected people the power to decide who is electable? Has anybody led such a blameless life that they cannot be embarrassed by any revelation?

Unless I am mis-interpreting something that you say, at least part of it is not true. When I go to http://www.google.com/ on either IE or AOL this is what I end up with: http://www.google.com/webhp?nord=1. Https never shows up anywhere. However, when I go to Google on Chrome it does open as Https.

Another option for end-to-end encryption is the service from Virtru.com With it, you can send encrypted mail from web based e-mail to anyone, even if they don't have virtru installed on their system. Extremely easy to use. I would be interested in hearing from someone smarter than I (that doesn't take much!) about security on what they think of this service/extension.

Any yes, Edward Snowden is a hero - Keith Alexander and James Clapper are liars.

Bob,

You have to be a little bit more cautious when you praise the encryption used by Goggle and other corporations.

You took it for granted that “End-to-End Encryption” provides solid privacy. This assumption is not necessarily correct.

The “S” in HTTPS may mean that you and I cannot decrypt the allegedly “secure” data. How can you be sure that the NSA cannot decrypt it?

You wrote,

“Encryption adds quite a bit of overhead to any computing process.”

Your statement is correct and I suggest the following statement is almost certainly also correct,

“Decryption adds a little bit of overhead to the NSA’s snooping process.”

Encryption is an illusion. E

This is only temporary, after a time they will work around this encryption and start spying. There is nothing we can do about it, this will be only temporary fixes. After all they took (stole)your Social Security taxes so you would have it when you retire, and now they keep saying SS will be broke soon. If a bank did this there would be He... to pay, but if you'r the government it's OK. This will never change. It is the best around, but not error-less.

It is VERY interesting to note that the data from the replies to this article, when you toss out the 'outliers' from misreading, forms a single-tailed Chi Square with a virtual horizontal line(no real slope). And with only a couple of questionable response along the lines of 'only history will tell' - p seems to = 1. Like I said VERY interesting. p=1 is VERY significant (ya think?). I think this tells you more about your readership than you ever thought it would. Or at least that only people who post are the pesky trouble makers. It's worth thinking about (really). Perhaps it simply shows that only people with "inquiring minds" "who want to know" read your newsletter. Either way, I sure won't skew the graph with my "well informed and considered thoughts" (the etymological definition of 'opinion'). Which leads to the sad but inevitable conclusion that NO!, many people are NOT entitled to voice their opinion, since they don't really have one. Congratulations on reaching p=1!!!! I an now officially impressed.

I can't believe some of your readers did not catch the satirical tone of your opening comments, Bob. That is the danger of satire I guess.

>>Do we want to give unelected people the power to decide who is electable? Has anybody led such a blameless life that they cannot be embarrassed by any revelation?

Last time I checked both the USA and the UK were democracies.

Neither the NSA or GCHQ are tools of unelected people. They are directly managed by our elected representatives. Just because we may not have voted for those in power (as I didn't) doesn't mean that they were not elected.

Perhaps it is our own prejudices we should look at rather than the 'missdeeds' of others. For example Clinton was pilloried BUT the recent squabble in France was because the politician in question was being impolite to his mistress by taking the person he was having an affair with to official functions - bad manners always unforgivable!

This is the business of government, it's a lot cheaper and safer than 'boots on the ground'.

Simple solution send letters and keep post people in jobs. If secrecy is so important can't it wait a few days?

Jon

P.S. Aren't all the bad boys and girls using the draft function of gmail as dead letter boxes these days anyway? Is the NSA as behind the times as MI6?

@dgm21
>> if you want to read about the latest NSA whistle-blower look up James Tye and EO12333
>> if you want to hear about one of the early whistle blowers: 1. WHAT HE DID: A fierce supporter of the airplane and a separate air force, Gen. BILLY MITCHELL (U.S Army, 1926) alienated his slow-to-adapt superiors, finally accusing them of “almost treasonable administration of the national defense.” THE PRICE HE PAID: Mitchell was court-martialed and found guilty of insubordination. He resigned his commission but didn’t live long enough to see Pearl Harbor prove him right.

Just checked the Chrome browser extension link for end-to-end encryption, but it doesn't appear to be ready for prime time on the great, unwashed masses' devices yet.

Yes, NSA is Snooping. But don't be fooled by those big named web mail providers. They are collecting as much information as possible. Even most smart phones are collecting for those big names that I will not mention as they may be a supporter of this blog.

Has anyone forgotten that we still need privacy protection from Google, a major snooper before the NSA even existed. And the definition of irony is anyone who joins Facebook and then complains of privacy violations. But those are topics for other articles.

Whenever the message is de-encrypted for you to read it is readable to everyone. E

What if I want to send a single encrypted email to multiple email addresses (distribution list).

"Before anyone thinks I am about to run off and start the British Tea Party, I'm a Socialist, member of the UK Labour Party.

Privacy and safety are not always compatible. I for one would favour safety every time."

I, too, am a U.K. citizen and have occasionally voted for the Labour party in the past. However, it's comments like this which ensure I will never do so in the future. When will these idiots ever understand that it's our own governments that present the greatest threat to, not only our liberty, but our safety too.