Recent news about the “Bullrun” iniziative by NSA (and about similar programs set up by other agencies worldwide) raised a high level of indignation and serious worries about important matters as privacy and legal rights. Google and Microsoft announced legal actions against federal government and/or federal agencies involved in such activities and so on.
To me it sound like a bit of naivety and more than a bit of hypocrisy. Illegal interception of personal data iso ne of the main source of information for secret services since the dawn of civilization, why the Net should be different? Anybody with a degree in History knows about that, the same for anybody who ever read a book about espionage or warfare. Why all the fuss?
All the blame has been put on the NSA, they are the new public enemy for the masses. In the USA there are 17 major National agencies, is there anybody who still thinks that only NSA could intercept your data? NRO, CIA, DIA and FBI got the same choices of NSA, with the important bonus of a lower use of civil contractors like Mr. Snowden. What about them?
Now everybody speak at length about cryptography, about how a normal user could hide his data from the big bad federal government. It’s easy to think that somebody is gonna sell programs big time. Well, wake up! The only kind of code that can’t be cracked is to be used just once and it have to be based on something (i.e. a book) known only to two people (the sender and the receiver of the message). Do you think to change a number of codes every day, for every message you send? Get real, OK?
There’s no practical way to escape from interception and/or decryption. Got it? So put a brave smile on your face and send a kiss to the guys and gals at NSA. If they really want to mess in your lives maybe they will pay for the first round of beer one of these nights.
Links:
Bullrun [from Wikipedia]
National Security Agency [from Wikipedia]
Encryption [from Wikipedia]
Angelo Benuzzi 