5 ms·

Technology will be the solution, not politics. Cryptography is the only way out of this hell.

pstuart 13y ago
Crypto to what degree? Are your medical records safe? Correspondence with other secure on the other side? Credit card history? If you drive, your license plate being scanned to track location? Do you have a cell phone? Do you send postal mail (envelopes are now scanned). Et cetera. Crypto is great, but if the population as a whole doesn't care then it's more an exercise in keeping your journal entries secret (possibly). We need to foment public anger over this, and have a clear course of action to channel that anger.
hobbes300 13y ago
Crypto is a tool, not a solution.
- baddox 13y ago
  "How are we going to push this nail into this board?" "We can use a hammer." "A hammer is a tool, not a solution."
  - thirsteh 13y ago
    It'd be great if it were that simple, but it isn't.
  - scott_karana 13y ago
    The foundations of our building are crumbling, causing all the wood beams to fall out of place. Do you use a hammer to right them all?
  - olefoo 13y ago
    The question is "How can we build a house on a solid foundation that helps us live free, happy, healthy lives." Hammers may be a part of the toolset, but they won't solve issues like siting it on the edge of a sand dune, or that the septic tank is currently in the master bedroom.
baddox 13y ago
Cryptography is one big part of it, but I think all of counter-economics is the real hope. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-economics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-economics
thirsteh 13y ago
This is primarily a political problem. Talk to people who really understand the capabilities of state-level adversaries--applied cryptographers in particular--and you'll invariably get "well... what can you do?" Entities like the NSA are too powerful for you as an individual to defend against. Crypto will help, and it will put a dent in dragnet surveillance, but it is dangerous to think we can "just put SSL in everything" and be done with it.
sneak 13y ago
Were it that simple we wouldn't have the problem in the first place. They then just subvert those implementing the crypto like Hushmail, Skype, or iMessage.
Luc 13y ago
Exactly the opposite. The NSA already had firmware exploits for BIOSes, harddrives, mobile phones in 2008. They have won on the technological front - if they want to track your communications, they'll find a way. Only laws could rein them in. There's simple no computing platform that can be trusted to do your encryption on.
- amagumori 13y ago
  what about the loongson laptops? they run on their own proprietary silicon, designed and built in china. yep, this is where we're at in 2014...the technology designed in a communist country is more trustworthy than the stuff designed here.
freshhawk 13y ago
Technology makes things more efficient, in general. That means those in power have a heightened ability to abuse that power. The idea that technology is a democratizing force is based on wishful thinking. Technology is not, and has never been, a solution to the concentration of power. I say that as someone who would absolutely love for this not to be true by the way.
- mercer 13y ago
  Indeed. Perhaps the most hopeful thing to say about technology is that it is a disrupting force, and at least offers some interesting new avenues to explore (both for good, and evil, though).

Crypto to what degree? Are your medical records safe? Correspondence with other secure on the other side? Credit card history? If you drive, your license plate being scanned to track location? Do you have a cell phone? Do you send postal mail (envelopes are now scanned). Et cetera. Crypto is great, but if the population as a whole doesn't care then it's more an exercise in keeping your journal entries secret (possibly). We need to foment public anger over this, and have a clear course of action to channel that anger.

hobbes300 13y ago

Crypto is a tool, not a solution.

baddox 13y ago
"How are we going to push this nail into this board?" "We can use a hammer." "A hammer is a tool, not a solution."
- thirsteh 13y ago
  It'd be great if it were that simple, but it isn't.
- scott_karana 13y ago
  The foundations of our building are crumbling, causing all the wood beams to fall out of place. Do you use a hammer to right them all?
- olefoo 13y ago
  The question is "How can we build a house on a solid foundation that helps us live free, happy, healthy lives." Hammers may be a part of the toolset, but they won't solve issues like siting it on the edge of a sand dune, or that the septic tank is currently in the master bedroom.

baddox 13y ago

Cryptography is one big part of it, but I think all of counter-economics is the real hope. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-economics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-economics

thirsteh 13y ago

This is primarily a political problem. Talk to people who really understand the capabilities of state-level adversaries--applied cryptographers in particular--and you'll invariably get "well... what can you do?" Entities like the NSA are too powerful for you as an individual to defend against. Crypto will help, and it will put a dent in dragnet surveillance, but it is dangerous to think we can "just put SSL in everything" and be done with it.

sneak 13y ago

Were it that simple we wouldn't have the problem in the first place. They then just subvert those implementing the crypto like Hushmail, Skype, or iMessage.

Luc 13y ago

Exactly the opposite. The NSA already had firmware exploits for BIOSes, harddrives, mobile phones in 2008. They have won on the technological front - if they want to track your communications, they'll find a way. Only laws could rein them in. There's simple no computing platform that can be trusted to do your encryption on.

amagumori 13y ago
what about the loongson laptops? they run on their own proprietary silicon, designed and built in china. yep, this is where we're at in 2014...the technology designed in a communist country is more trustworthy than the stuff designed here.

freshhawk 13y ago

Technology makes things more efficient, in general. That means those in power have a heightened ability to abuse that power. The idea that technology is a democratizing force is based on wishful thinking. Technology is not, and has never been, a solution to the concentration of power. I say that as someone who would absolutely love for this not to be true by the way.

mercer 13y ago
Indeed. Perhaps the most hopeful thing to say about technology is that it is a disrupting force, and at least offers some interesting new avenues to explore (both for good, and evil, though).