[Discuss] email privacy/security

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On 08/05/2013 09:06 PM, Derek Martin wrote:
> If your enemy is the NSA and you are not a crime syndicate with the 
> deep pockets and motivation to fight them (and even then, maybe), you 
> loose. But then, most of us aren't even on the NSA's radar. It's much 
> more likely your foe is some Russian kid trying to steal your credit 
> cards (for example, not to pick on Russians in particular). 

Remember the famous quote from Willy Sutton.  When asked why he robbed 
banks, he answered (roughly) "That's where the money is.".

This cache of data is pretty juicy.  Once only J. Edgar Hoover had such 
powerful government blackmail files, now every NSA analyst does.  And 
did you see the DEA story yesterday?  They do illegal spying, and when 
they want to arrest someone on the secret information they stage a 
traffic stop when they know there will be incriminating evidence, and 
they pretend they got lucky.

And every government agency with a problem wants access to this data 
because it looks like an easy solution to stuff.

And remember how easy it is for an honest person to over-fit the data 
and conclude impressive but erroneous things.   Every little while we 
hear that how some precinct votes in a year when the National League 
wins the All Star game *always* predicts some nonsense-something.

We are all guilty as sin once someone starts mining our histories for 
coincidental events.  "But what are the chances?"  Well, of some 
specific happenstance that the mining finds?  Astronomically small. But 
what are the chances that *some* impressive happenstance can be found?  
Dang certain.

This data will be abused.  Particularly now that we all know it is there.

-kb