4 ms·

On a personal level the disclosure was that "little additional push" (a wake up call) that made me abandon use of main Google services (email and voice). I advo

by readhn 10y ago

On a personal level the disclosure was that "little additional push" (a wake up call) that made me abandon use of main Google services (email and voice). I advocated my close friends and associates to do the same and some of them are following the lead.

theGimp 10y ago
[edit: the downvotes aren't warranted...] Aren't email and phone calls monitored anyhow since they're not encrypted (by default)? Why wouldn't the three-letter agency capture all email traffic if it can?
- DavideNL 10y ago
  If the three-letter agency would be the only one invading our privacy that would be a lot better already; Of course this is not the case, many companies are invading our privacy for commercial reasons, they sell our personal data for their own financial profit (Google, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.)
  - theGimp 10y ago
    Of course I won't contest that, but Snowden's revelations did nothing to change that knowledge. We have always known private companies keep all the data they can get their hands on and use it to sell ads.
  - oldmanjay 10y ago
    The companies that publish policies and give you control over the "invasion" of privacy, up to and including not interacting with them. The saintly three-letter agencies simply consider all the information their right to take. I have a hard time seeing your point of view in light of that reality.
    - DavideNL 10y ago
      what i meant was that i agree with what @readhn said; i think many people (around me) have become more privacy aware because of Snowdens disclosures, which i think is a good development, even though no matter how hard they try they are still not protected, and probably never will be, from three-letter agencies collecting their data...
zerognowl 10y ago
What struck me about the Snowden leaks, as opposed to previous (much smaller) leaks regarding the NSA is the fine grained insight into the apparatus, the machinery, and the scope of the spying. Whereas previously we only knew of vague scenarios like tapped undersea cables, we now know the specifics, mechanics, and even operational details of the NSA. I think fine grained insight into what an intelligence service looks like on the inside is enough to compel people to change their behavior. I know for me, I was skeptical of claims the NSA even could do half the things people were purporting they could do, and having confirmation like this was the real game changer.

by readhn 10y ago

theGimp 10y ago

[edit: the downvotes aren't warranted...] Aren't email and phone calls monitored anyhow since they're not encrypted (by default)? Why wouldn't the three-letter agency capture all email traffic if it can?

DavideNL 10y ago
If the three-letter agency would be the only one invading our privacy that would be a lot better already; Of course this is not the case, many companies are invading our privacy for commercial reasons, they sell our personal data for their own financial profit (Google, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.)
- theGimp 10y ago
  Of course I won't contest that, but Snowden's revelations did nothing to change that knowledge. We have always known private companies keep all the data they can get their hands on and use it to sell ads.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  The companies that publish policies and give you control over the "invasion" of privacy, up to and including not interacting with them. The saintly three-letter agencies simply consider all the information their right to take. I have a hard time seeing your point of view in light of that reality.
  - DavideNL 10y ago
    what i meant was that i agree with what @readhn said; i think many people (around me) have become more privacy aware because of Snowdens disclosures, which i think is a good development, even though no matter how hard they try they are still not protected, and probably never will be, from three-letter agencies collecting their data...

zerognowl 10y ago

What struck me about the Snowden leaks, as opposed to previous (much smaller) leaks regarding the NSA is the fine grained insight into the apparatus, the machinery, and the scope of the spying. Whereas previously we only knew of vague scenarios like tapped undersea cables, we now know the specifics, mechanics, and even operational details of the NSA. I think fine grained insight into what an intelligence service looks like on the inside is enough to compel people to change their behavior. I know for me, I was skeptical of claims the NSA even could do half the things people were purporting they could do, and having confirmation like this was the real game changer.