Re: [projectvrm] The NSA hits close to ... no, directly at: home

[Tom Crowl < >]

Frankly, this is my problem with the:

 

"I'm going to make myself and everything about me totally secret and I've got all these neat new devices and services to do it." approach to the problem

That guy is right about being pissed off about the NSA and the corporate invasiveness... but the 'real world' trouble with that solution is this:

1. A very, very small minority will take these steps.. which will always be a hassle (see number 5)

2. They'll immediately draw the attention of the "NSA" types... no matter how Jeffersonian the secretive user may be...

3. Some idiot will use these technologies to actually do something nauseating

4. Which makes 'anonymity and privacy' types look inherently dangerous

5. And a tech 'arms' race develops... like the cold war all over again..

6 Vested interests develop that want to keep the 'war' going

7. Nothing gets fixed.

8. The water gets hotter and the frog dies.

9. The hideous movie "Logans Run" gets remade

Its all clear as a bell!

Tom Crowl

http://CulturalEngineer.blogspot.com

On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 4:36 PM, Sean Bohan < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

I was being a wiseass with my first reply, "I feel so much safer now" and my last one... I honestly can't think of a benign theory. 

All I can think of is "gee, wasn't it great we tracked who read those articles in Linux Journal" was a serious attempt to monitor people wit the ability to use TOR because they can. Which is both weak and sad.

On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 4:32 PM, Johannes Ernst < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

I'm not sure that would meet my definition of "benign", because now we have to ask the same question just one level removed.

What benign purposes could what you/Doctorow suggest possibly have?

On Jul 3, 2014, at 16:01, Sean Bohan < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

With something like this, I normally start with "what will cost the most money and have the least value" and work my way backwards :)

from the BoingBoing article:

"One expert suggested that the NSA's intention here was to separate the sheep from the goats -- to split the entire population of the Internet into "people who have the technical know-how to be private" and "people who don't" and then capture all the communications from the first group.

http://boingboing.net/2014/07/03/if-you-read-boing-boing-the-n.html

On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 3:50 PM, Johannes Ernst < " target="_blank"> > wrote:

That Linux Journal selector is baffling ... (even if it was accidentally too broad and only intended to be about Tails/Tor-related articles.)

I've been pondering what purpose tracking people reading that article could possibly have. What might you possibly want to accomplish when you go "gee, wasn't it great we tracked who read those articles in Linux Journal"?

None of the answers I can think of are reassuring. Anybody have a benign theory? I wouldn't mind hearing one at this point.

--

------------------------------------------------
Sean W. Bohan

------------------------------------------------
Mobile: 646-234-5693

Email: " target="_blank">

Skype: seanbohan
Blog: www.seanbohan.com
Twitter: @seanbohan

AngelList: http://angel.co/sean-bohan

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanbohan 

--

------------------------------------------------
Sean W. Bohan

------------------------------------------------
Mobile: 646-234-5693

Email: " target="_blank">

Skype: seanbohan
Blog: www.seanbohan.com
Twitter: @seanbohan

AngelList: http://angel.co/sean-bohan

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/seanbohan