Yes. I've always assumed that any useful Internet traffic crossing Chinese or Russian borders would be poached by their intelligence agencies as a matter of cou

Yes. I've always assumed that any useful Internet traffic crossing Chinese or Russian borders would be poached by their intelligence agencies as a matter of course. This is what they've been doing since electronic communications were proven to be valuable during WWII, after all. Why, what did you think they were doing? Even beyond that I have assumed that Internet communications of mine that are unencrypted are likely to be read by botnets, Internet-based organized crime, spammers, and a host of other unsavory characters that I really don't need snooping in my bidness. I have assumed this ever since reading Schneier back in 2001 or thereabouts and making my first GPG key. As Anon has been so fond of reminding us, "The Internet Never Forgets", and I remember that every time I use the Internet.