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Let's say you have your data secured with Ultimate Encryption Method. A couple of thugs appear at your door and mention that if you don't un-encrypt that data,

Let's say you have your data secured with Ultimate Encryption Method. A couple of thugs appear at your door and mention that if you don't un-encrypt that data, they will send these very compromising photographs of you to very public places. Ultimate Encryption Method has just been trivially bypassed.

pdimitar 9y ago
Agreed, and I am very sure governments have been doing that many times since they can force you to keep quiet -- and they got away with very criminal methods probably tens of thousands of times. Hence, the good crypto is really only the most basic first step. Full privacy should be the second and a very important step. Fine, I might have an account in <insert-trendy-social-network-here>. Fine, my real name is known there. OK. But there are plethora of cases where having a user profile and personally identifiable information is simply not necessary -- like web search. Even e-commerce like Amazon can be mostly anonymized: you can pay with an e-gold kind of currency (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and Amazon can only ask politely another API if the goods are deliverable to your address (while Amazon won't have an idea about your physical address). Then, even if that mystical-another-API has your physical address, at least it's not in the hands of Amazon -- fragmentation of personal info gives us a small degree of protection, even if Amazon can eventually procure the info under the table. Hey, every little bit helps. Make surveillance expensive and many will drop it (not everybody of course, I recognize that). Again, every little bit helps. Of course, due to a mountain of vested interests, nobody is talking about such technical solutions. "They" want your info all over the net. It's easier for them, so why change anything? The current status quo is sadly very logical. Back to your example, thugs will just be angrily gnawing at their nails if they have no idea who you are and where you live.

pdimitar 9y ago

Agreed, and I am very sure governments have been doing that many times since they can force you to keep quiet -- and they got away with very criminal methods probably tens of thousands of times. Hence, the good crypto is really only the most basic first step. Full privacy should be the second and a very important step. Fine, I might have an account in <insert-trendy-social-network-here>. Fine, my real name is known there. OK. But there are plethora of cases where having a user profile and personally identifiable information is simply not necessary -- like web search. Even e-commerce like Amazon can be mostly anonymized: you can pay with an e-gold kind of currency (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and Amazon can only ask politely another API if the goods are deliverable to your address (while Amazon won't have an idea about your physical address). Then, even if that mystical-another-API has your physical address, at least it's not in the hands of Amazon -- fragmentation of personal info gives us a small degree of protection, even if Amazon can eventually procure the info under the table. Hey, every little bit helps. Make surveillance expensive and many will drop it (not everybody of course, I recognize that). Again, every little bit helps. Of course, due to a mountain of vested interests, nobody is talking about such technical solutions. "They" want your info all over the net. It's easier for them, so why change anything? The current status quo is sadly very logical. Back to your example, thugs will just be angrily gnawing at their nails if they have no idea who you are and where you live.