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I'd rather prefer they store my encrypted data forever over storing my unencrypted data for five years. Yes, they might be able to break the used cipher during
by danbruc 13y ago
I'd rather prefer they store my encrypted data forever over storing my unencrypted data for five years. Yes, they might be able to break the used cipher during my lifetime but there is at least a (good) chance that they will never see my data in plain. Therefore I have to completely disagree with the headline.
- quchen 13y agoI agree with this, especially if you keep in mind that there will probably be a large gap between being able to decrypt today's data in individual cases and being able to crunch it on a large scale.
- Swizec 13y agoXKCD once had a very salient comic on this point: https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/ The idea being, you think they can't break your encryption, but they can just break your fingers one by one until you tell them the password.
- shiven 13y agoHTTPS with perfect forward secrecy is passwordless :P Right?
- danbruc 13y agoTrue, but that only applies to data in flight. For everything you want to store and look at again you better have a key - otherwise you could just delete everything and arrive at essentially the same result.
- rgbrenner 13y agoSo you're saying: don't force the NSA to get a court order and force you to reveal the unencrypted data, just hand it over to them now so they can look at it any time they want?
- Svip 13y agoOnly if you care about your fingers.
- ctdonath 13y agoAKA "rubber hose cryptanalysis".
- TimCinel 13y agoIt's not really useful in defending this point because the threat doesn't scale. The NSA can't hire enough heavies to break fingers of every person sending and receiving encrypted data (assuming they could even find the people sending and receiving it without first decrypting).
- scarmig 13y agoCould be a new jobs program.
- LoganCale 13y agoAt this point, no one has to worry about that if they aren't being individually targeted. I think most people just want to avoid being sucked up in a dragnet along with everyone else and having their communications permanently on record.
- bigiain 13y agoThe difference is, if the assumptions/reassurances about the math/crypto/physics hold, I can be _reasonably_ sure that if they haven't broken my fingers or hit me with a wrench, they've probably not read my email/files. That knowledge of whether they have or haven't "broken my crypto" is of value.
- gyardley 13y agoAll perfectly true, but you've at least made it a bit harder for someone to break your encryption without your knowledge and monitor your communications on an ongoing basis.