well it came out on the news that yahoo actually created software for our government that would scan for keywords in people's inbox and would actually send the email to the software for the government in realtime. I'm not totally shocked because I heard the same thing a few years back using yahoo's messenger/cam program.
Yeah I know, it's nothing new or different. Someone just reported it. Besides, the NSA doesn't need them to do it. It's like saying I built an automatic alarm to call the fire department if the firehouse starts burning.
Like I said they all do it. Even Hushmail that sold itself as high level encryption and security and privacy based was found to actively and willingly hand over any and all emails they have.
The ONLY way any of us have ANY reasonable expectation of privacy in electronic correspondence is by registering and managing our own domain/server. Even then, the content of that correspondence is available to the webhosting service.
The point? If you're planning a coup, best not to do it by email.
Don't get me wrong. I'm the biggest champion of civil liberties you'd ever wanna meet, but I'm by no means oblivious to the absurdity of expecting 'privacy' on a medium invented, controlled and monitored by the government. :-)
If I get on a CB radio and announce to a friend (and, subsequently, to the world) that I'm gonna _____ the _____, and the police promptly show up to arrest me, will I have a 'reasonable expectation of privacy' as a defense even though I know I communicated on a very PUBLIC radio frequency? I don't think so...and it's the same thing with email.
Edit: as a deliciously ironic aside, the only way to have a reasonable expectation of privacy in electronic correspondence is to register, own and manage one's own domain/server....you know, kinda like clintonmail.com? :-)
This post was edited by Transquesta at October 5, 2016 2:32 PM MDT
I do care because it's a violation of our rights, I don't think treating everyone like a criminal helps catch actual criminals and I know a few people who still use yahoo, but I have no idea why.
As it respects surveillance, no there's probably not much of a difference. But I prefer the overall experience of gmail to yahoo! mail. I was a loyal user* of yahoo! since 1997. It was the first email account I ever created. But over the years they turned to crap as an email provider. The site as a whole went to crap completely in 2010 and although I maintain the same email with them, I've had so many problems receiving emails through their service that I don't depend on it.
I can't stand google, but the one thing that keeps me using their email service is that it's reliable and I don't have the spam issues with them that I've had with so many other sites.
This post was edited by ForkNdaRoad at October 6, 2016 1:51 PM MDT
It does seem like a violation of privacy rights, but its not like I'm totally concerned about the content of my emails. I'm sure there are people out there who are concerned.
I don't think it works, so we're possibly* sacrificing a freedom and for what? In an effort to make the country more secure, we make the problem more complex which seems counterproductive.
Whether or not there is anything criminal to be found is relatively inconsequential to the fact that people keep a lot of private information in their emails and having some database from which to steal all of that in one fell swoop is like a cyber-criminal's wet-dream. Does not that potentially encourage more crime than it stops?
Governments are hacked all the time, I don't want some hacker in Ecuador auctioning off my banking statements to the highest bidder. And where is government when it comes to protecting that information: "Sorry, but we're not liable even though we shouldn't have been rooting through there in the first place." The federal govt. may well be the single worst steward of peoples' private information I can think of.
That's before we even get into the precedents such a system would set. I think probable cause is important, otherwise there can be no privacy, you know?
This post was edited by ForkNdaRoad at October 5, 2016 12:11 PM MDT
Just being completely honest: I don't care since there's nothing in my email that would be scandalous to release. That said, I oppose government surveillance of email on principle.
Three years ago Snowden said that the State was using key words to comb thru millions of citizens emails. We got all upset and called him a criminal. Today, Yahoo admits, that per request of the.State, they are using keywords to comb thru millions of citizens emails. We get all upset and call them criminal. Go figure.
If I want private email (an oxymoron) I'd register my own domain and use my own server...oh, wait...I do!
Hint: ANY data that you store on somebody else's machine is the property of the owner of that machine. If the owner(s) of that machine want to turn it over to the government, they can and potentially will. Do you store 'your' electronic correspondence on Yahoo or Google servers? If so, Yahoo or Google OWN YOUR CORRESPONDENCE. Do you store all your 'dirty' images in the cloud? If so, all those images are the property of the owner of that server.
That's the whole thing... There is nothing barring a company from turning it over voluntarily. With the feds offering exemption from FOIA requests for companies that oblige, what incentive is there for them to say no?
Well, it shouldn't* exist, but yes, it does. What bothers me most is what Snowden described... Being able to watch someone literally form their thoughts, potentially seeing it written in real time. That's a whole other level of creepy.
This post was edited by ForkNdaRoad at October 5, 2016 6:40 PM MDT
Benedict Arnold 