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Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

blog.tripu.info

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Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#71

Post by globular-toast »

seanw444 wrote: post #26
_Algernon_ wrote: post #9

A bit of a tangent, but I followed the link at the bottom to https://stopchatcontrol.eu/ and while I want to take the site seriously and agree with the message, I can't with that silly usage of emojis (scroll down). Seems more like a joke website than a serious piece of advocacy it purports to be. The original blog post is good though.

Wow yeah, that's bad. I don't get the "end every sentence/paragraph with a relevant emoji" thing.

I think because keyboards on Android etc. suggest an emoji by default based on the last word, and people seem to think it "softens" a sentence, especially when mentioning something embarrassing, like sex.

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#72

Post by anonym29 »

globular-toast wrote: post #48
crazygringo wrote: post #27

I can sympathize with the general notion that more encryption is better, even if I wouldn't go to the extreme of declaring it a duty . But the author just completely lost me at: > We should all use PGP, SSL or equivalent tools; VPNs, Tor and/or SSH tunnelling; IPFS, or other distributed file systems — and ditch proprietary OS's in favour of Linux or truly free Android distros... Those tools and techniques should ceas…

What's unrealistic about it? I've been doing it for more then a decade.

You have an extremely generous and optimistic view of the cognitive capital of the average person.

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#73

Post by jagged-chisel »

globular-toast wrote: post #48
crazygringo wrote: post #27

I can sympathize with the general notion that more encryption is better, even if I wouldn't go to the extreme of declaring it a duty . But the author just completely lost me at: > We should all use PGP, SSL or equivalent tools; VPNs, Tor and/or SSH tunnelling; IPFS, or other distributed file systems — and ditch proprietary OS's in favour of Linux or truly free Android distros... Those tools and techniques should ceas…

What's unrealistic about it? I've been doing it for more then a decade.

Could your technophobic family handle it? You grandmother? That weird uncle that decries anything digital but has the latest iPhone with all the default config in place?

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#74

Post by alexvitkov »

rakoo wrote: post #52
high_5 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unrealistic in technological but sociological terms.

That's not unrealistic then, it's just a lack of will.

Yes, most of these tools are a pain in the ass to use, so people can't be bothered.

The only universally used tech on this list is SSL, because end users don't need to "install SSL and learn to use it" - we had to put in the work to upgrade or shitty servers, and they get the benefits.

Time had proven that the "don't you care about your privacy" argument doesn't work, so it's up to us to make the privacy-respecting tools better than the alternatives

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#75

Post by anonym29 »

rakoo wrote: post #52
high_5 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unrealistic in technological but sociological terms.

That's not unrealistic then, it's just a lack of will.

Extremely generous take on human intelligence.

If you're of above average intelligence, remember that you're likely biased to assume the average person is more intelligent than they actually are.

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#77

Post by rdm_blackhole »

rakoo wrote: post #61
rdm_blackhole wrote: post #30

I am baffled how we went from a liberal "free" democracy to this ersatz of a totalitarian regime where all our conversations/messages/photos need to be dissected, catalogued and approved by un-elected bureaucrats. I mean you can literally go to eastern Europe to see the vestiges of the Stasi where they used to listen to the conversations of their citizens while trying to find dissidents among them. This isn't some ki…

> I am baffled how we went from a liberal "free" democracy to this ersatz of a totalitarian regime > How come we end up here again? Why can't the powers that be just leave the people to live their lives in peace without being snooped on by the surveillance apparatus? You need to read more anarchist/communist literature that explains the situation as it has always been: the presence of a State, as an entity, implies t…

I agree with you, that's why I put the "free" in quotes.

I am not deluded to the point that I think everyone had a great time in the last 30 years or so but since the fall of the USSR and some of it's satellites states , it seemed like we were on an upward trajectory in terms of human rights, democracy and civil liberties.

If the last 30 years have only been a blip in terms of freedom acquired by some parts of the global population, does this mean that we are just returning to the mean value of freedom and that we are by definition always meant to be under some kind of semi-authoritarian regime?

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#78

Post by pmarreck »

tripu wrote: post #20
OfSanguineFire wrote: post #8

The author advocates using encryption as an ethical duty, OK. But it would not be an effective form of civil disobedience. This is unrealistic: > We should all use PGP, SSL or equivalent tools; VPNs, Tor and/or SSH tunnelling; IPFS, or other distributed file systems — and ditch proprietary OS's in favour of Linux or truly free Android distros. This is not anything the general public, for whom today their mobile phone…

Author here. (Thank you for all the comments!) Yes, I know SSH tunnelling and compiling your own Android are tall orders for the average user. Here I'm just hinting at some examples that are well-known among us geeks, but there are easier to use alternatives to all that. I suspect Protonmail is as easy to use as GMail. VPNs are so easy to use nowadays. The UX on Signal isn't particularly challenging to the average us…

> avert catastrophe

Catastrophe, you mean like thousands of radicalized people meeting securely in secret online to disrupt an objectively legitimate thing?

I would like more widespread penetration of critical thinking (such as teaching people to pattern-match on the most common fallacious techniques used by cults, conspiracy theorists, propagandists, modern snake-oil salesmen, and other ne'er-do-wells) before we deploy some "mass security recommendation" that would enable people to more comfortably plan things like firebombing vaccination centers based on secretly-exchanged nonsense. I mean, isn't that why "the authorities" (assuming they are good actors, which is of course an unknown) are nervous about pervasive, easily-accessible security?

Fortunately, it seems like most bad actors are idiots who have zero qualms about insecurely broadcasting their thoughts on social media leading up to their committing of despicable acts. But your efforts might make such "precognitive noise" "secure by default".

(In principle, I agree with you. This Martin Fowler piece on privacy, I consider seminal: https://martinfowler.com/articles/bothersome-privacy.html I'm just saying that no single technology seems to be a universally-satisfying panacea.)

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#79

Post by Grangar »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #43
blackhaz wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. If everyone hides in encryption, they'll outlaw encryption.

That would instantly eliminate all eCommerce. I think politicians still care enough about GDP that they wouldn't do that.

Not just ecommerce, basically anything that relies on confidentiality or data integrity.

Re: Encrypting private data and private communications is now an ethical duty

#80

Post by Chabsff »

globular-toast wrote: post #71
seanw444 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow yeah, that's bad. I don't get the "end every sentence/paragraph with a relevant emoji" thing.

I think because keyboards on Android etc. suggest an emoji by default based on the last word, and people seem to think it "softens" a sentence, especially when mentioning something embarrassing, like sex.

> The EU Data Protection Board, the European Parliament’s Research Service and the EU Council’s Legal Service say they are warning of chat controls. Ursula von der Leyen is not interested in these opinions

This is straight up crass and off-putting. These shitposting emojis do not belong in a serious pitch.

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