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If you want to "fight back" as a technical person, please do something useful: - Learn some applied cryptography and use that knowledge to write and review cry

If you want to "fight back" as a technical person, please do something useful: - Learn some applied cryptography and use that knowledge to write and review cryptographic software. Develop and analyze anonymity networks. Work towards development of powerful peer to peer replacements for existing centralized technologies. - Deploy systems with this technology - Teach others to take advantage of it Don't waste your time and everyone else's with worthless campaigns such as this. The only real way to change is to defeat the useful purpose of spying.

ajkjk 13y ago
Of course, your whole point hinges on the last sentence, which many will disagree with. Awareness can go a long way if done right.
- ultramancool 13y ago
  Why settle for awareness when you can have a real solution? Awareness is worthless when lies will be the only response. Never take a half-measure.
  - ajkjk 13y ago
    Who's settling? Awareness is much more achievable for far less effort and has exponential effects in how many people can affect the issue. Always take half-measure, if cost-benefit or your own priorities indicate it's worthwhile, and don't hide behind canned responses to justify irrationality.
zmanian 13y ago
We desperately need less user hostile encryption technologies but our control regime for abusive surveillance technology must include create a societal norm that these systems are morally unacceptable. The toolkit to do this is the popular democratic process and these campaigns are essential in this effort.
- ultramancool 13y ago
  I disagree. Unless systems like TrueCrypt, PGP, Tor and Bitcoin are being outlawed, there is no need for such a protest.
  - unethical_ban 13y ago
    To the other person's point, if you're the only one who gives a damn, then using PGP doesn't matter. >Our control regime for abusive surveillance technology must include create a societal norm that these systems are morally unacceptable. I couldn't have said it better myself.
    - zmanian 13y ago
      Inspired by this wonderful essay on the Oakland DAC https://medium.com/p/b6e6043dad4f https://medium.com/p/b6e6043dad4f
    - ultramancool 13y ago
      But it hasn't done so or has completely failed to do so. Most people I've discussed this with have generally supported privacy, some have even changed usage habits to do so. I believe there have been wide studies even on this that have largely shown that people world wide are against such practices.
  - zmanian 13y ago
    Your threat model doesn't represent the current state of the world. We don't just have have governments passively listening on wires is ways that are thwarted by encryption. The contemporary threat profile is - Wholesale compromises of devices if they meet certain selectors.(Jacob Applebaum and Der Spiegel's reporting) - Self replicating government malware with stockpiled zero days.( Flame and Stuxnet) - Secret court orders for parties to turn over their encryption keys.(Lavabit) - Cell phone tower dumps ( Verizon transparency report) - Comprise of networking gear for large scale traffic analysis. and more. Edit to fix formatting.
    - 13y ago
f_salmon 13y ago
- Deploy systems with this technology - Teach others to take advantage of it Here you go: http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ An all-in-one communication solution that is: - encrypted (public key, as we're supposed to) - 100% decentralized - open-source
pnathan 13y ago
> Don't waste your time and everyone else's with worthless campaigns such as this. The only real way to change is to defeat the useful purpose of spying. Wrong. The only reason that the spying is happening is that it is accepted and allowed. The mentality needs to be clear: only police states(evil states) spy on citizens (their country and others) without a clear reason (c.f. 4th amendment of the US). The concept of mass surveillance needs to be dumped into the ashbin of the US history, along with the internment camps and the Trail of Tears. Only when the mental restraints of the police/espionage forces are lifted does strong encryption become a working requirement for free speech. As a technical person, I would argue that our responsibility is to educate non-technical people on what is happening and the ramifications thereof - encouraging artists to explore the idea of the panopticon; encouraging writers to ruminate on the matter in fiction and non-fiction; talking to police and politicians about what security really means in practical purpose; talking to the neighbors about the implications of the coming internet of things and what mass surveillance means then.
Helianthus 13y ago
>Don't waste your time and everyone else's with worthless campaigns such as this. I mean, you can do both.
sp332 13y ago
In addition to improving our tech, we can also reduce threats by stopping the NSA from launching attacks in the first place.

ajkjk 13y ago

Of course, your whole point hinges on the last sentence, which many will disagree with. Awareness can go a long way if done right.

ultramancool 13y ago
Why settle for awareness when you can have a real solution? Awareness is worthless when lies will be the only response. Never take a half-measure.
- ajkjk 13y ago
  Who's settling? Awareness is much more achievable for far less effort and has exponential effects in how many people can affect the issue. Always take half-measure, if cost-benefit or your own priorities indicate it's worthwhile, and don't hide behind canned responses to justify irrationality.

zmanian 13y ago

We desperately need less user hostile encryption technologies but our control regime for abusive surveillance technology must include create a societal norm that these systems are morally unacceptable. The toolkit to do this is the popular democratic process and these campaigns are essential in this effort.

ultramancool 13y ago
I disagree. Unless systems like TrueCrypt, PGP, Tor and Bitcoin are being outlawed, there is no need for such a protest.
- unethical_ban 13y ago
  To the other person's point, if you're the only one who gives a damn, then using PGP doesn't matter. >Our control regime for abusive surveillance technology must include create a societal norm that these systems are morally unacceptable. I couldn't have said it better myself.
  - zmanian 13y ago
    Inspired by this wonderful essay on the Oakland DAC https://medium.com/p/b6e6043dad4f https://medium.com/p/b6e6043dad4f
  - ultramancool 13y ago
    But it hasn't done so or has completely failed to do so. Most people I've discussed this with have generally supported privacy, some have even changed usage habits to do so. I believe there have been wide studies even on this that have largely shown that people world wide are against such practices.
- zmanian 13y ago
  Your threat model doesn't represent the current state of the world. We don't just have have governments passively listening on wires is ways that are thwarted by encryption. The contemporary threat profile is - Wholesale compromises of devices if they meet certain selectors.(Jacob Applebaum and Der Spiegel's reporting) - Self replicating government malware with stockpiled zero days.( Flame and Stuxnet) - Secret court orders for parties to turn over their encryption keys.(Lavabit) - Cell phone tower dumps ( Verizon transparency report) - Comprise of networking gear for large scale traffic analysis. and more. Edit to fix formatting.
  - 13y ago

f_salmon 13y ago

- Deploy systems with this technology - Teach others to take advantage of it Here you go: http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/ An all-in-one communication solution that is: - encrypted (public key, as we're supposed to) - 100% decentralized - open-source

pnathan 13y ago

> Don't waste your time and everyone else's with worthless campaigns such as this. The only real way to change is to defeat the useful purpose of spying. Wrong. The only reason that the spying is happening is that it is accepted and allowed. The mentality needs to be clear: only police states(evil states) spy on citizens (their country and others) without a clear reason (c.f. 4th amendment of the US). The concept of mass surveillance needs to be dumped into the ashbin of the US history, along with the internment camps and the Trail of Tears. Only when the mental restraints of the police/espionage forces are lifted does strong encryption become a working requirement for free speech. As a technical person, I would argue that our responsibility is to educate non-technical people on what is happening and the ramifications thereof - encouraging artists to explore the idea of the panopticon; encouraging writers to ruminate on the matter in fiction and non-fiction; talking to police and politicians about what security really means in practical purpose; talking to the neighbors about the implications of the coming internet of things and what mass surveillance means then.

Helianthus 13y ago

>Don't waste your time and everyone else's with worthless campaigns such as this. I mean, you can do both.

sp332 13y ago

In addition to improving our tech, we can also reduce threats by stopping the NSA from launching attacks in the first place.