Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

We are at an interesting juncture of history. It seems like Snowden has accomplished what he set out do to: raise awareness of government abuse and bring about positive change. Initial fears after the NSA leaks seemed to be that the public would become outraged and then forget about it. Clearly, this is not happening. A more secure Internet is needed, and instances like this highlight that necessity.

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#5

Post by frank_boyd » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:29 PM UTC

Something to keep in mind:

Privacy International criticised the climate that had led to Jones's decision. "The closing of Groklaw demonstrates how central the right to privacy is to free expression. The mere threat of surveillance is enough to [make people] self-censor", it said in a statement.

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#6

Post by toyg » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:30 PM UTC

This is a tragedy.

We need to reboot email. Encrypt everything, including metadata -- given current hardware, the client can easily bruteforce it from a list of known keys. Build some sort of easy key distribution tool (connecting via p2p, dns, whatever, just build a goddamn UI). Ask existing transports to relax their restrictions enough to let fully-encrypted mail through, and build some intelligent webmail interface for this (Mailpile, currently being kickstarted, is trying to do smt like that).

We've been dicking around with PGP since the 90s without making any real progress, we've traded security for convenience (GMail, Facebook), it's time somebody reverts the trend.

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#7

Post by toyg » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:34 PM UTC

itsallbs wrote: post #4

We are at an interesting juncture of history. It seems like Snowden has accomplished what he set out do to: raise awareness of government abuse and bring about positive change. Initial fears after the NSA leaks seemed to be that the public would become outraged and then forget about it. Clearly, this is not happening. A more secure Internet is needed, and instances like this highlight that necessity.

weirdly enough, I think the public would have forgotten about it, but establishment leaders seem bent on doing everything they can to keep the story alive (lying to Congress, grounding Morales' plane, forcing Snowden to defect to Russia, harassing journalists, now even attacking their families...).

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#8

Post by bluecalm » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:46 PM UTC

One of the Internet's very best :( At this point I hope more follow. If anything that's one way to make a stand. We just need one country/countries to make a stand and allow security friendly regulation and start-ups will flock. Unfortunately it seems no country at this point could guarantee it and be strong enough to not succumb to pressure.

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#9

Post by random42 » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:46 PM UTC

toyg wrote: post #6

This is a tragedy. We need to reboot email. Encrypt everything, including metadata -- given current hardware, the client can easily bruteforce it from a list of known keys. Build some sort of easy key distribution tool (connecting via p2p, dns, whatever, just build a goddamn UI). Ask existing transports to relax their restrictions enough to let fully-encrypted mail through, and build some intelligent webmail interfac…

I disagree. This is a political fight. Technical means can drag the resistance longer, which is helpful, but the political system needs to be put in checks and balances against becoming a police state. There is no substitute of "taking roads and doing peaceful protests" as out of comfort zone they might be.

We sometimes fall in love with our methods because that is what _we_ are good at, not what is necessarily the best course of action.

Again, I am not discounting the importance of improving technical measures, I am just cautioning against losing the sight of the forest for a tree.

I repeat, This is a political fight!

Edit - Added explanation.

Re: Groklaw legal site shuts over fears of NSA email snooping

#10

Post by devx » Tue, Aug 20, 2013, 12:51 PM UTC

random42 wrote: post #9

toyg wrote: post #6

This is a tragedy. We need to reboot email. Encrypt everything, including metadata -- given current hardware, the client can easily bruteforce it from a list of known keys. Build some sort of easy key distribution tool (connecting via p2p, dns, whatever, just build a goddamn UI). Ask existing transports to relax their restrictions enough to let fully-encrypted mail through, and build some intelligent webmail interfac…

I disagree. This is a political fight. Technical means can drag the resistance longer, which is helpful, but the political system needs to be put in checks and balances against becoming a police state. There is no substitute of "taking roads and doing peaceful protests" as out of comfort zone they might be. We sometimes fall in love with our methods because that is what _we_ are good at, not what is necessarily the b…

I agree it's primarily a political fight, but I think we should work on both.

But it's true that with absolute government power where they can justify anything, and with so many partner countries willing to play along with them - encryption won't get you very far, no matter how good it is and where you are in the world. They'll find a way to put a backdoor into the systems somehow with or without the service provider's knowledge.