Posted on 11/03/2013 5:39:39 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
In recent months, Lavabit, based in Texas, and Silent Circle, based in Washington, D.C., both shuttered their encrypted email services. The companies said they couldn’t keep them running knowing they were vulnerable to surveillance if faced with a dedicated enough attacker… which for Lavabit came in the form of the federal government when it wanted access to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s Lavabit account. Now the companies are teaming up with plans to offer an open-source tool that could make peer-to-peer, end-to-end encryption an easy add-on for any email service.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I routinely use internet privacy tools but it is correct that many don't use them because they are hard to set up and use properly.
There, of course, is the crowd that thinks that email/internet privacy is no big deal as "I have nothing to hide." Given enough data collection on your internet communications, a determined government will find something to harass you about.
I’m almost of the opinion every one should include several, multiple in fact, key words designed to trigger the NSA and Obama’s minions to have to scan the email by human.
Inundate them with data they HAVE to assess manually.
I say this because I truly believe there is no encrypted communication that can be captured by the NSA that isn’t breakable.
Given enough effort, the NSA can break encryption one way or another. Keyloggers and improper use are two of the easier ways. It’s no big deal if there is a miniscule portion of the population using encryption. However, if millions are, then it’s far more difficult. Swamp them.
As for smart phones, never plan to own one.
I think mine may predate that one. They're gonna have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.
/johnny
All that the FBI plus the NSA and 20 or so other intel agencies have to do is lobby Congress to pass a bill banning encrypted email and any other computer communications.
Don’t write any sensitive password down. For now anyway, I believe that the Fifth still protects memorized passwords. Also, techniques like OTR don’t involve a multi-instance user generated password. The key disappears after the communication is concluded.
For general use you can use OpenPGP with Tor and Torbirdy for secure and anonymous emailing. Having a privacy protecting off-shore email server doesn’t hurt.
Related...
No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/world/no-morsel-too-minuscule-for-all-consuming-nsa.html?hp&_r=1&;
“For now anyway, I believe that the Fifth still protects memorized passwords.”
Nope. Courts routinely order under penalty that passwords be revealed.
“Having a privacy protecting off-shore email server doesn’t hurt.”
The NSA is between you and that off-shore server.
Rockwell - Somebody’s Watching Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ82pqHa-70
XKCD
/johnny
Good enough for my needs and wants.
The web page for Silent Circle “cannot be displayed”. Hmmmm?
In any event, I don't ever think (well I hope) that I'd ever be in a position where the courts would demand that I give up a passphrase. That said, I also don't want to assist the NSA vacuum cleaner to accumulate plain text info on me. If they want to spend lots of resources to find out some trivial facts about my life, so be it. They'll be disappointed.
” If they want to spend lots of resources “
The NSA already spends lots of resources, tens of billions every year, and they need to make themselves useful. So, they offer up our sensitive and useful information for polidiots to use who then grant them more money. The NSA built all kinds of capabilities over the Cold War years and they are far better at it than anyone will ever publicly admit. Using that technology isn’t a hindrance, it is helpful to their cause.
But, you are right, they can use that technology and they wouldn’t learn much more than you can learn about me right here on FR. I’m a fairly open book to those who know me. I have my secrets but nothing the NSA could ever use against me. They’re just not that kind of secret.
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