Privacy is Dead. The NSA Killed it. Now What?

[Purveyor]

The NSA sees and knows everything we do online, it seems, and each time we adjust to the latest loss of privacy, the next revelation leaves us gasping again. Edward Snowden's exfiltrated NSA documents first pointed to PRISM, a program that was designed to capture information about terrorist communication but that clearly overstepped into monitoring innocent citizens. Pretty bad, huh?

But really, we thought, with such an absolute ocean of information, they couldn't really find anything about one single person... could they? It turns out that the XKeyScore tools lets analysts sift and sieve telecommunications data to find anybody, or anything, they want. And it doesn't stop there.

Secure Communication?

The simple urge to communicate privately is not in itself any evidence of wrongdoing (though some might argue otherwise). If you really, really want to communicate both electronically and securely, you'll need to use a very special service, like Lavabit, the service used by Edward Snowden and many others in the security community.

Alas, Lavabit is no more. Its owner abruptly shut down the service and destroyed its infrastructure. It's assumed that this was a response to a government demand for access; since such demands come with a gag order the owner couldn't offer details. A similar service offered by Silent Circle self-destructed shortly thereafter.

In terms of providing secure communication, these two services must have been doing something right... If you do seek a truly secure email service, you'll want to choose one that has no exposure in the U.S.

MORE...

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/hacking/315668-privacy-is-dead-the-nsa-killed-it-now-what

[WillyT]

1. K & R !!!

[kelliekat44]

2. Get on with your life. That's what. nt

[TheMadMonk]

4. And don't rock the boat? Don't presume to interfere in the lives...

...of our betters?

GO FIND ANOTHER WEBSITE, to peddle your sycophancy to power.

[Warpy]

3. The last sentence says it all, IMO

I knew when they busted that big child porn ring using Tor that we'd lost any possibility of anonymity on the web. Haystack didn't last long enough to make much of a difference, either.

I also never thought email was particularly secure since recipients could mass forward it with a couple of mouse clicks.

And about the only thing encryption does for the citizen is make him feel powerful. He aint.

[damnedifIknow]

5. Uh huh

"Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds."

John Perry Barlow