Unless you’ve lived totally unconnected for the past week I’m sure you’ve heard the latest “scandal” – that NSA is being fed data by the big computer companies in the USA, all to try to catch bad guys before they do something bad against them. And the guy who blew the whistle left his life in the states and fled to China and god knows where he is now, and he’ll probably always be a wanted man in the states.
Regarding the fact that NSA can read my e-mails? … anyone who thought anything differently really haven’t been paying attention! I’ve always said e-mail is one of the least secure ways of communicating. And I’ve always assumed that the US authorities _can_ access my files on Dropbox, so I’ve bought an encrypting software so anything personal that I’d never want exposed is encrypted. I’ve always treated my online data with the sceptic view that “if someone really wanted it they could get it” and very aware that with the Patriot Act so could the US authorities. And you know what? I’n fine with that. ‘Cause I’ve got nothing to hide really. I just wish all the IT managers around the world would consider this before being so fast to jump on the “could” bandwagon! As a matter of fact, only two months ago I wrote a recommendation to our IT manager about using Microsofts online cloud-based Sharepoint solution to host a collaboration site. I had the big reservation that “by doing so, we must acknowledge that all the data we put there is only as secure and safe as Microsoft states and as the laws in that country allows”. I almost feel like a prophet now for writing that!
Regarding the guy that blew the whistle … although I totally support people who blow whistles when they feel something is wrong and standing up for their principles, I gotta say, throwing your life away for something that most of us kinda shrugs our shoulders at and say “yeah, so?” at seems kinda dumb. I mean it’s a good thing he did it I guess, but was it really worth it? … especially now that both Google and Microsoft are coming out swearing that basically “no the NSA doesn’t have direct access to our servers, we only send them data they ask for and only when we’re told to”. Should we trust that? I’ve made it a practice not to trust anyone that stands to make a profit out of it. Call me sceptical or paranoid, but time and time again I’m proven right.
stoff
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