SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
NSA Spying Fears Force Another Site to Shut Down
Groklaw founder writes that "There is now no shield from forced exposure"
Aug 20, 2013
An award-winning legal and technology news site announced on Tuesday that it is shutting down over fears of email surveillance.
In her final post entitled "Forced Exposure," Groklaw founder Pamela Jones (PJ) writes, "The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too. There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum." She adds that "ensuring privacy online is impossible."
Less than two weeks ago, encrypted email service providers Lavabit, whose services were reportedly used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Silent Circle announced they were shuttering their email services rather than be forced to hand over customer data to the U.S. government.
Explaining why "this is the last Groklaw article," Jones writes:
[I]magine how I feel now, imagining as I must what kind of world we are living in if the governments of the world think total surveillance is an appropriate thing?
I know. It may not even be about that. But what if it is? Do we even know? I don't know. What I do know is it's not possible to be fully human if you are being surveilled 24/7.
[. . .]
There is now no shield from forced exposure. [...] You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel.
So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate.
"They tell us that if you send or receive an email from outside the US, it will be read. If it's encrypted, they keep it for five years, presumably in the hopes of tech advancing to be able to decrypt it against your will and without your knowledge," Jones wrote. But Silent Circle's Technical Operations Manager Louis Kowolowski explained in a blog post on Friday how even encrypted email is still vulnerable because metadata is still retrievable.
If your goal is to not have metadata leakage in your otherwise secure communications, you may wish to avoid email altogether. Email leaks the information about who is communicating, and how often. This information may be just as damaging as the content of the email.
[...]
[E]mail security has become more complex than it used to be. In the past, securing the body of the message was sufficient. The tools and techniques used for snooping were not on a large enough scale to allow the metadata to be useful. With the tapping of backbone internet providers, interested parties can now see all traffic on the internet. The days where it was possible for two people to have a truly private conversation over email, if they ever existed, are long over.
* * *
\u201cClosing of @Groklaw demonstrates how central right to #privacy is to free expression. Mere threat of #surveillance enough to self-censor.\u201d— Privacy International (@Privacy International) 1376995427
__________________
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
An award-winning legal and technology news site announced on Tuesday that it is shutting down over fears of email surveillance.
In her final post entitled "Forced Exposure," Groklaw founder Pamela Jones (PJ) writes, "The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too. There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum." She adds that "ensuring privacy online is impossible."
Less than two weeks ago, encrypted email service providers Lavabit, whose services were reportedly used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Silent Circle announced they were shuttering their email services rather than be forced to hand over customer data to the U.S. government.
Explaining why "this is the last Groklaw article," Jones writes:
[I]magine how I feel now, imagining as I must what kind of world we are living in if the governments of the world think total surveillance is an appropriate thing?
I know. It may not even be about that. But what if it is? Do we even know? I don't know. What I do know is it's not possible to be fully human if you are being surveilled 24/7.
[. . .]
There is now no shield from forced exposure. [...] You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel.
So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate.
"They tell us that if you send or receive an email from outside the US, it will be read. If it's encrypted, they keep it for five years, presumably in the hopes of tech advancing to be able to decrypt it against your will and without your knowledge," Jones wrote. But Silent Circle's Technical Operations Manager Louis Kowolowski explained in a blog post on Friday how even encrypted email is still vulnerable because metadata is still retrievable.
If your goal is to not have metadata leakage in your otherwise secure communications, you may wish to avoid email altogether. Email leaks the information about who is communicating, and how often. This information may be just as damaging as the content of the email.
[...]
[E]mail security has become more complex than it used to be. In the past, securing the body of the message was sufficient. The tools and techniques used for snooping were not on a large enough scale to allow the metadata to be useful. With the tapping of backbone internet providers, interested parties can now see all traffic on the internet. The days where it was possible for two people to have a truly private conversation over email, if they ever existed, are long over.
* * *
\u201cClosing of @Groklaw demonstrates how central right to #privacy is to free expression. Mere threat of #surveillance enough to self-censor.\u201d— Privacy International (@Privacy International) 1376995427
__________________
An award-winning legal and technology news site announced on Tuesday that it is shutting down over fears of email surveillance.
In her final post entitled "Forced Exposure," Groklaw founder Pamela Jones (PJ) writes, "The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too. There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum." She adds that "ensuring privacy online is impossible."
Less than two weeks ago, encrypted email service providers Lavabit, whose services were reportedly used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Silent Circle announced they were shuttering their email services rather than be forced to hand over customer data to the U.S. government.
Explaining why "this is the last Groklaw article," Jones writes:
[I]magine how I feel now, imagining as I must what kind of world we are living in if the governments of the world think total surveillance is an appropriate thing?
I know. It may not even be about that. But what if it is? Do we even know? I don't know. What I do know is it's not possible to be fully human if you are being surveilled 24/7.
[. . .]
There is now no shield from forced exposure. [...] You don't expect a stranger to read your private communications to a friend. And once you know they can, what is there to say? Constricted and distracted. That's it exactly. That's how I feel.
So. There we are. The foundation of Groklaw is over. I can't do Groklaw without your input. I was never exaggerating about that when we won awards. It really was a collaborative effort, and there is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate.
"They tell us that if you send or receive an email from outside the US, it will be read. If it's encrypted, they keep it for five years, presumably in the hopes of tech advancing to be able to decrypt it against your will and without your knowledge," Jones wrote. But Silent Circle's Technical Operations Manager Louis Kowolowski explained in a blog post on Friday how even encrypted email is still vulnerable because metadata is still retrievable.
If your goal is to not have metadata leakage in your otherwise secure communications, you may wish to avoid email altogether. Email leaks the information about who is communicating, and how often. This information may be just as damaging as the content of the email.
[...]
[E]mail security has become more complex than it used to be. In the past, securing the body of the message was sufficient. The tools and techniques used for snooping were not on a large enough scale to allow the metadata to be useful. With the tapping of backbone internet providers, interested parties can now see all traffic on the internet. The days where it was possible for two people to have a truly private conversation over email, if they ever existed, are long over.
* * *
\u201cClosing of @Groklaw demonstrates how central right to #privacy is to free expression. Mere threat of #surveillance enough to self-censor.\u201d— Privacy International (@Privacy International) 1376995427
__________________
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.