11–20 of 122 posts
Most things around my life in the last 15 years fit familiar, cynical pattern that politicians spit in our face and get away with it. That leads to desperation and learned helplessness. To give EFF a credit, they actually fight. Unfortunately, quixotically
I find EFF to be a deeply cynical organization, even though I for the most part share their policy objectives.
This kind of thing doesn't matter. Encryption simply can't be stopped by governments.
The reasons it matters to me:
- The government shouldn't have the right to wire-tap all citizens at once. We already established that for analog telephones, but digital has become an excuse to undo the annoying requirement of establishing probable cause. If they have the right to listen to you through mass means, no encryption will help you.
- They are spending our tax dollars doing this. The money matters, and they basically taking our money and using it against us. At best it's a waste of that money.
- If they establish the right to curb strong encryption, you may be right in the sense that it doesn't matter to the criminals who use illegal and strong encryption. But it does matter to the vast majority of the law abiding world who get stuck with "encryption" that is readily readable by anyone who expresses an interest, and allows the govt to keep collecting mass surveillance unhindered.
Does this EFF post say anything new, or is it voted to the top of the site because (a) anti-surveillance and (b) EFF? I find EFF to be a deeply cynical organization, even though I for the most part share their policy objectives.
Does this EFF post say anything new, or is it voted to the top of the site because (a) anti-surveillance and (b) EFF? I find EFF to be a deeply cynical organization, even though I for the most part share their policy objectives.
Does this EFF post say anything new, or is it voted to the top of the site because (a) anti-surveillance and (b) EFF? I find EFF to be a deeply cynical organization, even though I for the most part share their policy objectives.
Most things around my life in the last 15 years fit familiar, cynical pattern that politicians spit in our face and get away with it. That leads to desperation and learned helplessness. To give EFF a credit, they actually fight. Unfortunately, quixotically
I wouldn't say it's quixotic, because they do win many fights: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=eff%20wins
This kind of thing doesn't matter. Encryption simply can't be stopped by governments.
Most things around my life in the last 15 years fit familiar, cynical pattern that politicians spit in our face and get away with it. That leads to desperation and learned helplessness. To give EFF a credit, they actually fight. Unfortunately, quixotically
~I was thinking the other day, and I think I figured out the government's plan for ending terrorism. (Yes, I was wearing my foil hat. Thank you for asking.)~
~What is the goal of terrorism? To make people afraid.~
~How do you end terrorism? Option 1 is to stop the things that make people afraid from happening. But there is an option 2. You can just stop people from being afraid.~
~So who is not afraid of terrorism? Who doesn't even feel a twinge of anxiety about being attacked by terrorists? That's right--terrorists.~
~To stop terrorism, all we have to do is turn everybody into terrorists. Now we don't know how to actually turn an ordinary person into a terrorist, even though the federal TLAs are doing research experiments, but we do know how to treat everyone like they already are terrorists. Do it long enough, and people will eventually get the hint.~
~So it all makes sense now. They want everyone to become a terrorist, so that nobody will be afraid of terrorists, which will destroy terrorism utterly, and so nobody can ever be a terrorist again. Brilliant!~
~I'm sure the EFF means well, but if we stop treating everyone like terrorists, the terrorists win.~
"If you give up your freedoms, we'll protect you next time."
Great, thanks. Pricks.