[liberationtech] to encrypt or not to encrypt?

[Michael Rogers]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

It's unfortunate that Ars Technica has chosen that angle, since I
believe it misrepresents the situation: if you use encryption, the NSA
may indeed retain your encrypted traffic, but won't be able to read
it. If you don't use encryption, the NSA will be able to read your
traffic, and will retain it if it contains anything interesting, or if
you're not an American. So encryption is still a net gain for privacy.

Blending in is a red herring in my opinion - metadata (which isn't
subject to the restrictions discussed in the Ars Technica article)
reveals who talks to whom and when. That's sufficient to identify
persons of interest, regardless of whether they use encryption. Any
activist or journalist should assume they're already a person of
interest, thanks to their job and the people they talk to. Not to be
subject to surveillance would be something of a professional
embarrassment. ;-) So forget about blending in. Assume you're subject
to surveillance, and think about what steps you're going to take in
response.

Cheers,
Michael

On 21/06/13 16:41, dan mcquillan wrote:
> a few people who came to our university cryptoparty asked whether 
> they're just going to draw attention to themselves by encrypting
> email.
> 
> the latest leaks seems to give a firm 'yes', as the NSA
> specifically keeps encrypted comms indefinitely.
> 
> sample news item:
> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130620/15390323549/nsa-has-convinced-fisa-court-that-if-your-data-is-encrypted-you-might-be-terrorist-so-itll-hang-onto-your-data.shtml
>
> 
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130620/15390323549/nsa-has-convinced-fisa-court-that-if-your-data-is-encrypted-you-might-be-terrorist-so-itll-hang-onto-your-data.shtml?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter>
> 
> how would list members answer the question 'to encrypt or not to
> encrypt'?
> 
> cheers dan
> 
> 
> 
> -- Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change
> password by emailing moderator at companys at stanford.edu or changing
> your settings at
> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
> 

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJRxHajAAoJEBEET9GfxSfM2HkH/Rm25AIazNgkqxadf/vzXX+6
mF7r0OCJxskiItRiGIYPLQm82Ig7lPe2cKdi+B7EGkxe9e2CekgC5gFlY8m5b7dt
F9ivv//LjZnBscwHKNT4mZ073188BlsDRB0pSKQuYlZ1R8PCHfjM+U8l5nVaX0Ox
+tmwylPA5GKV9IQYtRHUlZlOd2wM2fmaaGMRZCdxOF/rk4m8fxZn/Emsj3Yq4IeG
syVZHqRwB6VkVA6YL5TllATpOqd+NE0JpwNPOsFUBVVN7XsUVeZeYIGx7k7lZ8AU
VI+dklvAIGDrkHEabnMhRQPABVh4XyWuwstJUPiDtMCDQ8f0vXz8tVAaGfN/p/Q=
=4kJw
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----