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The "programming community's" threat model in cyberspace is no different than anyone's threat model in meatspace. If a well funded government decides you are an

by dfc 14y ago

The "programming community's" threat model in cyberspace is no different than anyone's threat model in meatspace. If a well funded government decides you are an enemy of the state they can harm you in meatspace or cyberspace. Are you staying up at night worried about a hellfire missile coming in your window?

vecinu 14y ago
His fear stems from the fact that most people believe they have a right to the Internet and are essentially anonymous. To respond to your hellfire missile analogy, if I am in Canada or the US, I'm not worrying about it but if I'm in the middle east, it's a different story.
- dfc 14y ago
  And I am saying that he does not have to worry about NSA, Mossad or The Secret Army of Northern Virginia spending years to develop Flame 2.0 so they can read his email. On the flip side if you are a high level enemy of the state you should still be worried if you are in Topeka or Ottawa; if its not a hellfire coming in the window it will be equally lethal scary rough men dressed in black.
- danielharan 14y ago
  If your government starts sending hellfire missiles in people's homes (well, on your territory), that might get peopled worked up. But if it's something that can evade detection for years, you have no idea you're being spied on. That's slightly unsettling, no?
jcfrei 14y ago
the great thing about the internet is that it puts you as a citizen in a superior position to your local government (assuming you can somehow hack your way thru government controlled routers, which is in most cases trivial), because thanks to the anonymous nature of the web and the global access to it you can circumvent any national censorship and expose any kind of unjustice happening in your own country. those kinds of cryptographic attacks reduce anonymity on the web and make internet users an easier target for national espionage. as internet citizens (or netizens) it would just be nice if we could keep the upper hand in this game.
- niels_olson 14y ago
  This is why Sergey Brin is netizen hero number one in my book. He actually cares, at a visceral level, about this and has taken actions to protect the net.

by dfc 14y ago

vecinu 14y ago

His fear stems from the fact that most people believe they have a right to the Internet and are essentially anonymous. To respond to your hellfire missile analogy, if I am in Canada or the US, I'm not worrying about it but if I'm in the middle east, it's a different story.

dfc 14y ago
And I am saying that he does not have to worry about NSA, Mossad or The Secret Army of Northern Virginia spending years to develop Flame 2.0 so they can read his email. On the flip side if you are a high level enemy of the state you should still be worried if you are in Topeka or Ottawa; if its not a hellfire coming in the window it will be equally lethal scary rough men dressed in black.
danielharan 14y ago
If your government starts sending hellfire missiles in people's homes (well, on your territory), that might get peopled worked up. But if it's something that can evade detection for years, you have no idea you're being spied on. That's slightly unsettling, no?

jcfrei 14y ago

the great thing about the internet is that it puts you as a citizen in a superior position to your local government (assuming you can somehow hack your way thru government controlled routers, which is in most cases trivial), because thanks to the anonymous nature of the web and the global access to it you can circumvent any national censorship and expose any kind of unjustice happening in your own country. those kinds of cryptographic attacks reduce anonymity on the web and make internet users an easier target for national espionage. as internet citizens (or netizens) it would just be nice if we could keep the upper hand in this game.

niels_olson 14y ago
This is why Sergey Brin is netizen hero number one in my book. He actually cares, at a visceral level, about this and has taken actions to protect the net.