The NSA’s Secret War Against Online Privacy Seekers

If you haven’t seen this yet, I’m sorry to drop it on you:

On September 5th, Glenn Greenwald and others revealed the extent of the NSA’s destruction of privacy – not just the privacy of people who are oblivious to the situation, but that of privacy seekers as well. You can find the story here or here, and commentary by a legitimate expert here.

Here’s What Was Revealed

The biggest tech companies and Internet providers are cooperating with the NSA (which may be why they’re big) to break encryption everywhere. They are installing “secret vulnerabilities” and “covertly influencing product designs.”

they’re big) to break encryption everywhere. They are installing “secret vulnerabilities” and “covertly influencing product designs.” Encryption for Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook is already broken. Others as well.

Your data streams are recorded and decrypted, since the NSA (and their British counterpart, GCHQ) already have access to your secret keys.

These attacks involve something called key exchanges (involved in all encryption) and the subversion of certificate authorities, such as Symantec, Comodo and GoDaddy.

(involved in all encryption) and the subversion of certificate authorities, such as Symantec, Comodo and GoDaddy. They have already broken 30 Virtual Private Network systems and are working toward 300.*

Greenwald and others report that in the NSA documents, ordinary Internet customers are referred to as “adversaries.”

The NSA has capabilities against “HTTPS, voice-over-IP… [which are] used to protect online shopping and banking.”

However, it can be said that encryption is still effective, if used well. As Edward Snowden said, “Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on.”

What This Means to You

If you hadn’t taken this seriously or were content to let others keep you safe, now’s the time to wake up and act. You have to protect yourself. No one is going to step in and do it for you. Magic hackers will NOT ride in to your rescue.

You must either learn to handle your own security, seriously, or pay for a top-notch service. If you go cut-rate, you’re just paying for the NSA to spy on you.

I may be preaching to the choir here, but don’t even try to pretend that the government will fix this – they are the people who are doing it – and they love the power. And don’t pretend that the military will step in either – the NSA is part of the military.

We’re all perps now. If all Internet users are “adversaries,” do you really think anyone is safe?

What This Means to Us All

Forget about the US Constitution; it’s a non-factor now. This is just the latest example of people who are drunk on power and don’t care about the principles on which this country was founded.

The NSA and the entire US/UK “security” apparatus is a gigantic drunken beast. The operators are arrogant and untouchable. Their bosses have openly lied to Congress, with no consequences. Do you really think they will remain angels? (Did you ever really think they were?)

The reality is, the system is beyond broken, no matter what kind of happy talk you hear on TV.

Make no mistake, this is the eye of Sauron. It is the empowerment of arrogance and power… and ultimately of death. You might think me dramatic but history doesn’t lie: Surveillance kills.

Once they have your communications, they have your thoughts. They are currently analyzing those thoughts and have already begun to quietly manipulate them. That is, if you choose to let them. Yes, it is your choice.

Be aware of the danger, take it seriously and become the kind of person you want to be… not the one they want to manipulate you into becoming.

[Ed. Note. An important paid report… yours today for free: How Surveillance Destroys Us (and what we can do to stop it).]

While the various program specifics of government surveillance have been well covered, Paul Rosenberg has come up with a brilliant perspective different from anything else we’ve seen. In this important report, he talks about the (often subtle) psychological effects that non-stop surveillance has on us as living, breathing and thinking human beings. Specifically, he sheds light on how governments routinely use surveillance to quietly manipulate us into doing what they want without question. That may sound crazy but the evidence doesn’t lie. And it’s all out there in plain sight for those who choose to see it. This is traditionally a paid members-only benefit, but for a limited time, we’ll make it available to anyone who wants it. Click here to grab your copy.]

* The service I am associated with, Cryptohippie, is unaffected by this. Like other professional services, we operate our own public key infrastructure, without outsourcing trust and control to a third party, like an unaccountable Certificate Authority. We use Perfect Forward Security cipher suites, which prevent communication from being decrypted after the fact, or when keys are lost. We will be publishing a detailed explanation of why Cryptohippie remains safe for our customers, and we’ll ask FreemansPerspective.com to post it as well.

Paul Rosenberg

FreemansPerspective.com