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Do you really think that writing our own encrypted messaging apps and using our own servers instead of Azure/AWS/Google is an important step in protecting ourse

Do you really think that writing our own encrypted messaging apps and using our own servers instead of Azure/AWS/Google is an important step in protecting ourselves from a totalitarian government? It seems to me to be too little too late

pjc50 10y ago
It does sound too little too late, but it does seem to be possible for a subset of people to outrun an oppressive state. It's helpful but not sufficent; we've all seen how the "Arab Spring" turned out. My favourite example of using digital comms against totalitarianism is "Talking to Vula": http://www.anc.org.za/content/talking-vula http://www.anc.org.za/content/talking-vula
pseudalopex 10y ago
Decentralization and encryption make mass surveillance harder to implement and harder to hide, so yes. Technology alone isn't enough, but technological and political approaches support each other.
- spunker540 10y ago
  You know what else would make mass surveillance hard? If we encrypted all our hand written notes and invented spoken languages known only between friends and families-- but sometimes privacy is sacrificed for the sake of convenience. Clearly there is huge variance in the value individuals place in privacy. And I guess that is where the author and I disagree.
  - pseudalopex 10y ago
    Mass surveillance of handwritten notes and in-person conversations is impractical because they're decentralized. Would this site be more convenient without forward secrecy? Would WhatsApp be more convenient without end-to-end encryption?
hackuser 10y ago
> It seems to me to be too little too late Why can't we fix it? We can't do it tomorrow, but we can do it. We built the Internet; Facebook didn't exist 15 years ago. The statement seems like the perfect propaganda, written by those who want surveillance and want to spread hopelessness among their opposition.
- spunker540 10y ago
  I meant too little too late if we fall in the hands of a totalitarian government. I mostly just think cloud computing provides a lot of benefits to society and spurs innovation, and the idea that we should roll our own (costly) servers for the sake of privacy is not convincing.

pjc50 10y ago

It does sound too little too late, but it does seem to be possible for a subset of people to outrun an oppressive state. It's helpful but not sufficent; we've all seen how the "Arab Spring" turned out. My favourite example of using digital comms against totalitarianism is "Talking to Vula": http://www.anc.org.za/content/talking-vula http://www.anc.org.za/content/talking-vula

pseudalopex 10y ago

Decentralization and encryption make mass surveillance harder to implement and harder to hide, so yes. Technology alone isn't enough, but technological and political approaches support each other.

spunker540 10y ago
You know what else would make mass surveillance hard? If we encrypted all our hand written notes and invented spoken languages known only between friends and families-- but sometimes privacy is sacrificed for the sake of convenience. Clearly there is huge variance in the value individuals place in privacy. And I guess that is where the author and I disagree.
- pseudalopex 10y ago
  Mass surveillance of handwritten notes and in-person conversations is impractical because they're decentralized. Would this site be more convenient without forward secrecy? Would WhatsApp be more convenient without end-to-end encryption?

hackuser 10y ago

> It seems to me to be too little too late Why can't we fix it? We can't do it tomorrow, but we can do it. We built the Internet; Facebook didn't exist 15 years ago. The statement seems like the perfect propaganda, written by those who want surveillance and want to spread hopelessness among their opposition.

spunker540 10y ago
I meant too little too late if we fall in the hands of a totalitarian government. I mostly just think cloud computing provides a lot of benefits to society and spurs innovation, and the idea that we should roll our own (costly) servers for the sake of privacy is not convincing.