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Ask HN: If the NSA offered free backups, would you use them?

1 points by mikewarot 2y ago

mikequinlan 2y ago
Possibly. Can I be certain that 1. They will protect them so only I can access them? 2. Not secretly modify them? 3. I can receive a copy whenever I need one?
FrankWilhoit 2y ago
Who says they don't? Who says I'm not?
JSDevOps 2y ago
Is it free? Yeah they will have some of the most talented people looking after the infrastructure, would be fine to backup non sensitive stuff. Pictures of my cat etc.
chvid 2y ago
Yes. But would encryption be allowed? If not, how would they know if the data was encrypted?
mikewarot 2y ago
So, I'm not the only one. ;-) I'm thinking something functionally identical to Backblaze, but with versions going back to the 1950s. I'd love to be able to go back and read all my emails and BBS messages, I'm sure they're all sitting in Utah, and I paid for them to be there, after all. I don't think that there's any use in arguing about encrypting before the backups, they'll break it no matter what.
nabla9 2y ago
If authenticated encryption is allowed, absolutely. NSA would probably be very secure against criminals and hackers. If authenticated encryption is not enough, NSA, other clouds services are on same category against big brother snooping.
dave4420 2y ago
If it’s via an NSA app I have to download, then hell no. If they provide dumb file storage, so I can write my own script to compress and encrypt stuff before uploading via a standard protocol, then maybe? Other backup services are available, as they say, but they’d either be paid or (probably) sketchier.
WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago
it already exist, they have various flavors - Google Drive - iCloud Drive - OneDrive Free source control too: GitHub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act
- eth0up 2y ago
  This gave a chuckle. It's one of those cognitive dissonance things where it comes off as facetious, but quickly registers as true. And with intel Management Engine, we could probably say the same for most everything else. On that note, I'd be ok using NSA software. Really important stuff, for me, tends to not be digital and as others have mentioned, it would almost certainly be robust against anything/one outside the NSA.

1 points by mikewarot 2y ago

Possibly. Can I be certain that 1. They will protect them so only I can access them? 2. Not secretly modify them? 3. I can receive a copy whenever I need one?

FrankWilhoit 2y ago

Who says they don't? Who says I'm not?

JSDevOps 2y ago

Is it free? Yeah they will have some of the most talented people looking after the infrastructure, would be fine to backup non sensitive stuff. Pictures of my cat etc.

chvid 2y ago

Yes. But would encryption be allowed? If not, how would they know if the data was encrypted?

mikewarot 2y ago

So, I'm not the only one. ;-) I'm thinking something functionally identical to Backblaze, but with versions going back to the 1950s. I'd love to be able to go back and read all my emails and BBS messages, I'm sure they're all sitting in Utah, and I paid for them to be there, after all. I don't think that there's any use in arguing about encrypting before the backups, they'll break it no matter what.

nabla9 2y ago

If authenticated encryption is allowed, absolutely. NSA would probably be very secure against criminals and hackers. If authenticated encryption is not enough, NSA, other clouds services are on same category against big brother snooping.

dave4420 2y ago

If it’s via an NSA app I have to download, then hell no. If they provide dumb file storage, so I can write my own script to compress and encrypt stuff before uploading via a standard protocol, then maybe? Other backup services are available, as they say, but they’d either be paid or (probably) sketchier.

WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago

it already exist, they have various flavors - Google Drive - iCloud Drive - OneDrive Free source control too: GitHub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLOUD_Act

eth0up 2y ago
This gave a chuckle. It's one of those cognitive dissonance things where it comes off as facetious, but quickly registers as true. And with intel Management Engine, we could probably say the same for most everything else. On that note, I'd be ok using NSA software. Really important stuff, for me, tends to not be digital and as others have mentioned, it would almost certainly be robust against anything/one outside the NSA.