Comments on: The US as Communications Hub http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/ Keeping politicians' hands off the Net & everything else related to technology Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:51:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Henry Miller http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-48205 Henry Miller Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:54:01 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-48205 <blockquote> Foreign governments aren’t stupid. They know perfectly well how their country’s traffic gets routed, and they wouldn’t be dumb enough to transmit sensitive information via unencrypted links that pass through another country.</blockquote> <p><br><br>I think they would be that dumb. Note the people who are involved in spy/anti-spy of course. About half of those in IT are likely to not be that dumb. However that leaves a lot of people who handle sensitive information who don't think that there email is spyable.<br><br>Note that top secret information is likely to be protected better. However sensitive information is often harmless if you expose any one part - the sum of the parts can often enough to know what the top secret plans are - if you can get enough parts.</p> Foreign governments aren’t stupid. They know perfectly well how their country’s traffic gets routed, and they wouldn’t be dumb enough to transmit sensitive information via unencrypted links that pass through another country.



I think they would be that dumb. Note the people who are involved in spy/anti-spy of course. About half of those in IT are likely to not be that dumb. However that leaves a lot of people who handle sensitive information who don’t think that there email is spyable.

Note that top secret information is likely to be protected better. However sensitive information is often harmless if you expose any one part – the sum of the parts can often enough to know what the top secret plans are – if you can get enough parts.

]]> By: Henry Miller http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-39530 Henry Miller Sun, 14 Oct 2007 17:54:01 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-39530 <blockquote> Foreign governments aren’t stupid. They know perfectly well how their country’s traffic gets routed, and they wouldn’t be dumb enough to transmit sensitive information via unencrypted links that pass through another country.</blockquote> <p>I think they would be that dumb. Note the people who are involved in spy/anti-spy of course. About half of those in IT are likely to not be that dumb. However that leaves a lot of people who handle sensitive information who don't think that there email is spyable.</p> <p>Note that top secret information is likely to be protected better. However sensitive information is often harmless if you expose any one part - the sum of the parts can often enough to know what the top secret plans are - if you can get enough parts.</p> Foreign governments aren’t stupid. They know perfectly well how their country’s traffic gets routed, and they wouldn’t be dumb enough to transmit sensitive information via unencrypted links that pass through another country.

I think they would be that dumb. Note the people who are involved in spy/anti-spy of course. About half of those in IT are likely to not be that dumb. However that leaves a lot of people who handle sensitive information who don’t think that there email is spyable.

Note that top secret information is likely to be protected better. However sensitive information is often harmless if you expose any one part – the sum of the parts can often enough to know what the top secret plans are – if you can get enough parts.

]]> By: Timon http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-48204 Timon Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:02:34 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-48204 <p>Isn't it the case that open implementations of public key cryptography make all that traffic just noise? We can assume anyone capable of really damaging the United States (the hapless Padilla notwithstanding) is capable of installing PuTTy or Ubuntu with OpenSSH so what we are really saying with this legislation is: "The NSA can read everybody's mail and listen to their phone calls unless they are banks, foreign governments, or terrorists above 1.5 on a competency scale of 1-10." Who does that leave?</p> Isn’t it the case that open implementations of public key cryptography make all that traffic just noise? We can assume anyone capable of really damaging the United States (the hapless Padilla notwithstanding) is capable of installing PuTTy or Ubuntu with OpenSSH so what we are really saying with this legislation is: “The NSA can read everybody’s mail and listen to their phone calls unless they are banks, foreign governments, or terrorists above 1.5 on a competency scale of 1-10.” Who does that leave?

]]> By: Timon http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-39529 Timon Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:02:34 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-39529 <p>Isn't it the case that open implementations of public key cryptography make all that traffic just noise? We can assume anyone capable of really damaging the United States (the hapless Padilla notwithstanding) is capable of installing PuTTy or Ubuntu with OpenSSH so what we are really saying with this legislation is: "The NSA can read everybody's mail and listen to their phone calls unless they are banks, foreign governments, or terrorists above 1.5 on a competency scale of 1-10." Who does that leave?</p> Isn’t it the case that open implementations of public key cryptography make all that traffic just noise? We can assume anyone capable of really damaging the United States (the hapless Padilla notwithstanding) is capable of installing PuTTy or Ubuntu with OpenSSH so what we are really saying with this legislation is: “The NSA can read everybody’s mail and listen to their phone calls unless they are banks, foreign governments, or terrorists above 1.5 on a competency scale of 1-10.” Who does that leave?

]]> By: Don Marti http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-48203 Don Marti Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:37:59 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-48203 <p>Much foreign communications also passes through "US territory" at the endpoints, if you count crypto software produced by US corporations. Certainly the stuff that the companies are shipping overseas isn't obvious weak or escrowed crypto, but what if, say, the random number generator used to make session keys for ExampleWare Pro 2000 is just predictable enough for the NSA to crack it? Then there's a powerful reason for the NSA to grab international traffic in bulk.</p> Much foreign communications also passes through “US territory” at the endpoints, if you count crypto software produced by US corporations. Certainly the stuff that the companies are shipping overseas isn’t obvious weak or escrowed crypto, but what if, say, the random number generator used to make session keys for ExampleWare Pro 2000 is just predictable enough for the NSA to crack it? Then there’s a powerful reason for the NSA to grab international traffic in bulk.

]]> By: Don Marti http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/comment-page-1/#comment-39528 Don Marti Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:37:59 +0000 http://techliberation.com/2007/10/10/the-us-as-communications-hub/#comment-39528 <p>Much foreign communications also passes through "US territory" at the endpoints, if you count crypto software produced by US corporations. Certainly the stuff that the companies are shipping overseas isn't obvious weak or escrowed crypto, but what if, say, the random number generator used to make session keys for ExampleWare Pro 2000 is just predictable enough for the NSA to crack it? Then there's a powerful reason for the NSA to grab international traffic in bulk.</p> Much foreign communications also passes through “US territory” at the endpoints, if you count crypto software produced by US corporations. Certainly the stuff that the companies are shipping overseas isn’t obvious weak or escrowed crypto, but what if, say, the random number generator used to make session keys for ExampleWare Pro 2000 is just predictable enough for the NSA to crack it? Then there’s a powerful reason for the NSA to grab international traffic in bulk.

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