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Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

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Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#91
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can argue the opposite of anything, and many do; doesn't mean anything. 911 for example, caused the fear, which then was used to pass draconian laws, but those laws were meant to both seize power and alleviate the fear, to the point of implementing things like the TSA, which aren't real protection, but make people feel less fear.

Other than the government with it's war on terror, who has actually done anything to perpetrate fear in the population? Since 2001, there has been no terrorist activity against the US. You are told about threats the war on terror has dealt with, but no actual action or actors can be pointed to yet the government is keeps the fear of terror alive. They have done far more to that end than any terrorist organization has…

Well, we just disagree.

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#93

War on terror is a hoax used for pushing forward an agenda. Save us from the terrorists and drugs! God forbid you travel out of the US and see some of the world, you might be "taken". The way the media sensationalizes some of these shootings, it's like we have to live in a constant state of fear.

God forbid you travel out of the US and see some of the world, you might be "taken".

Ironically, I feel the same way about the US since 9/11: I'd rather freely run my yap about (politics of) the country on the internet and not ever set foot there, than visit it and risk my freedom. Which makes me sad, because I know it has many great people in it... but a lot of things would have to change rather drastically for me to revise this.

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there really actual fear today in a western country? I think actual fear would have to come from injuries to someone you know and can feel empathy towards. Dunbars number suggests theres only very little of that based on the number of deaths due to terrorism.

Fox News would not exist if people weren't scared of foreigners blowing up their house in Nebraska because some Saudi's crashed a plane into the WTC 11 years ago.

Fox News launched in '96 and became the #1 cable news channel in 2000.

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#97
post #9

If you don't host your own mail server, you are a clown-person. Joe 6 pack has an excuse, but nobody here does.

Mail servers are ridiculous PITAs. If it was something simple like installing Apache, you may be right, but it seems every mail server uses its own esoteric configuration conventions and requires a lot of legwork even to get a basically functional mail system together (Postfix+Dovecot+SpamAssassin+ClamAV), that you get for free with Gmail.

And unless you host the server in your residence (disallowed on most residential ISPs), you're still not going to have control over whether someone has a warrant or not when they look at your mail.

The answer is "encrypt all messages". Every other day I could comment on a post to which the answer is "encrypt [thing]". PGP is so important and yet it's nearly impossible to get anyone to use it.

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#98
post #16

Another reason we need better encryption solutions for email. Are there any useful options that encrypt email?

My company is working on this: http://parley.co EDIT: As mentioned a few times elsewhere on this thread, the biggest barrier to encrypted email adoption is the network effect, ie. both ends need to be using it. That is the core problem we're trying to solve--making an email system that would be better than the rest even if it weren't encrypted, but that's the icing on the cake.

where are your servers located?

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another good one is the number of people that die in car accidents in the US every year, largely due to human error - 32,367 people in 2011. If the government took one tenth of the money it spends on defense every year (which was $1.030–$1.415 trillion for 2012), or approximately $100 billion dollars, and invested it in driverless car research and the infrastructure changes necessary for it, a much bigger benefit cou…

military-industrial complex Most of what you said is true enough, but this nonsense loses you credibility. It's like saying "it's the corporations , man."

What? The military-industrial complex is real. If you don't believe me, look at how the Army is requesting LESS money for tanks, claiming that they have enough and that the money would be better spent elsewhere.. And then Congress rejecting that plea and giving them more money for tanks.

Re: Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email

#100
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company is working on this: http://parley.co EDIT: As mentioned a few times elsewhere on this thread, the biggest barrier to encrypted email adoption is the network effect, ie. both ends need to be using it. That is the core problem we're trying to solve--making an email system that would be better than the rest even if it weren't encrypted, but that's the icing on the cake.

where are your servers located?

USA, with backups in Canada (we're a Canadian company). But the whole point is that not even us, with full server access, should be able to access your data (even under subpoena) so using third-party servers close to where we expect most of our users to be shouldn't raise any eyebrows.

We would eventually like to offer multiple options for server location, but that isn't feasible in the short term.

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