Prying Eyes: Inside the NSA’s War on Internet Security
Summary:
US and British intelligence agencies undertake every effort imaginable to crack all types of encrypted Internet communication. The cloud, it seems, is full of holes. The good news: New Snowden documents show that some forms of encryption still cause problems for the NSA.
A very long and comprehensive article from the SPIEGEL on encryption that may cause issues for the NSA. It is too complete to easily summarize so I suggest you read it in full and then take the following actions:
- If you are not a cryptographer or child of a cryptographer, donate to one of more of the open source encryption projects you will find in the SPIEGEL article. Monthly if at all possible. Perhaps you can’t write encryption code but you can support those who do.
- Use and consistently update your encryption technology and support those who work to make encryption easier to use. We need to create a tsunami of highly encrypted data everyday. From phone calls and IMs to emails and documents.
- Politically resist all laws or regulations that make interception and/or decryption of communications legal and/or easier. You may not think you are committing a crime, but when government officials declare crimes and execute the guilty in private, how do you know?
- Should you encounter any documents or data that expose government surveillance programs, there are existing examples of what you should do.
Once upon a time, privacy was a matter of the difficulty of tracking down physical copies of public records and asking neighbors what you liked to talk about. Those difficulties no longer exist and the electronic debris of our lives tells more than you might know.
The only privacy you have today is the privacy that you stake out and protect on your own. There are no guarantees that you will be successful in protecting your privacy but I can guarantee you won’t have any privacy if you don’t try.