A while back I was talking to a man and he asked me if my emails were encrypted and I told him that no my emails were not encrypted. He encouraged me to use an encryption system and I asked him why I needed one? He replied that that way no one could read what we were emailing each other about.
Okay security is important, common sense is important and discretion is also important. But the undercurrent of the discussion was that what we were doing is illegal or at least seen as illegal by some government organisations. It's a popular idea that we are all under surveillance and that they are gathering information so that they can pounce on us. Maybe.
The truth is that in the computer age everything we do with computers or mobile phones is not a secret. If they want to know what you are interested in then they know. The idea that you can be secret on the internet is probably not true. Now I'm not suggesting that the government is all powerful and all knowing, because it isn't. However if the Eye of Sauron happens to fall on you then you probably don't have any secrets that they don't know. That becomes less true the more people that the Eye of Sauron falls upon, a 100, 1000 or 100,000 people. Each step becomes harder.
But all of that is void when we remember an important detail, nothing that we are doing is illegal. I think far too many people think that what we believe is illegal, it isn't. Nor is what we write, or say, or do. Leafletting, attending rallies, organising, socialising are all legal.
If what your doing is illegal then yes, security and secrecy are paramount. If it's not then common sense and discretion are enough.
The Left and now Liberals like to pretend that what we believe is so far beyond the pale that it's illegal. Thats how they write, it's how they speak and it is what they believe. However it just ain't true!
Don't fail for the idea that we are doing is wrong or illegal, it's a trick and it is not true at all!
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I think encryption is useful simply because it denies the state metadata that they can use, but thats not why I promote its use.
ReplyDeleteThere is a better reason for it. The risk isn't the ISP, or the state, but other activists who may gain access to your e-mail accounts. If you're password is leaked, or there is a security leak which allows some political troublemaker access, they can use that information against you. Addresses, names, contact details. Sure, it may be legal, but they may gain access to details which they can use to make your life difficult.
Encryption makes that information useless to them.