Re: Message from Cambridge

Posted by Arlo Barnes on Nov 04, 2013; 8:45am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Message-from-Moscow-tp7584171p7584216.html

nothing you find can be used in court against me.

The problem is the same one government has right now: we cannot immediately know Snowden is not making up any given leak (although we probably have good reason to think not by now), but most any claim he makes we can FOIA. It is the knowledge that knowledge exists (and simple things about it) that is almost as powerful as the knowledge itself; this is the metadata the NSA (and many technologies we all enjoy) uses. I think the releases helped the average person reflect on this fact. Also, it lets us know where we stand: web encryption standards are a lot closer to being broken by sufficiently determined and supplied parties than we thought. The Onion Router network is still secure, though the default TOR client software has a hole, and obviously people's slipups are the most holey (see Silk Road takedown).

Data mining has its merits, though. The last couple of times I've flown, I was waved through security (didn't have to take off my coat or shoes; open my laptop) because clearly, the TSA has discovered and examined my blameless if eccentric life. A sort of silver lining.

This seems a little bit like 'probabilistically guilty until proven innocent', though.
-Arlo James Barnes

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