"I was surprised to realize that there were people in news organizations who didn’t recognize any unencrypted message sent over the Internet is being delivered to every intelligence service in the world. In the wake of this year’s disclosures, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless. "
Not only the news people. My country's politicians as well. They didin't even change the standard code for voicemail, exposing all their messages to anyone with their number. For any whistleblower trust is the key. Even if you can trust the journalist/politician, you need to know if they know how to guard their communication.
(Edit: typo's)
I've seen Universities have been security for their professors than politician's laptops. It's truly bewildering - then there is the fact that the technology MPs are generally not well versed in technology at all - witness the myriad of awkward speeches given on tech topics in governments around the world. Does any country actually have a genuine politician with a CS degree in office?
>>>Does any country actually have a genuine politician with a CS degree in office?
These two things are not mutually exclusive. Meaning, most tech people distrust politicians and would never enter politics. Likewise, most politicians have no desire to learn about technology, or delve deep into things like cryptology and how to make technology secure from prying eyes.
FYI - the majority of representatives in the US Congress are attorneys:
"168 Representatives and 57 Senators have a law degree. Of these, five (Representative and two Senators) also hold a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree."
Also keep in mind most of the people in congress are also from the baby boomer generation. They grew up long before the internet even happened. I've been told by a few friends most don't even use smartphones and barely use email. Maybe in another ten years this will start to change, but for now, don't expect too many computer science majors to enter politics.
Yes. Italy: Stefano Quintarelli, MS in Computer Science, he brought internet in Italy in the early 90s, then sold i.NET and founded a few startups. One of the smartest and most brilliant people on the planet.
He now sits in parliament. Unfortunately, he had a bad car accident a few months ago and he's still recovering.
This thought hit me hardest yesterday (I even blogged about it !). We are wide open to commercial and political abuse from anyone with access to this level of surveillance.
I brain dumped a few of the ways, but really, those who could help government really remain anonymous are actually helping NSA gather the stuff (i.e. GCHQ)
I suspect the most likely approach is a open collaboration and funding from say Brazil or Uruguay or Japan. Folks whose governments are being listened to but not getting the juice afterwards.
Not only the news people. My country's politicians as well. They didin't even change the standard code for voicemail, exposing all their messages to anyone with their number. For any whistleblower trust is the key. Even if you can trust the journalist/politician, you need to know if they know how to guard their communication. (Edit: typo's)