XPost: alt.society.anarchy, talk.politics.libertarian, alt.polit   
   cs.radical-left   
   XPost: alt.society.liberalism, alt.society.civil-liberties   
   From: matttelles@sprynet.com   
      
   Zepp  wrote in news:kq7p7t$v9b$4@dont-email.me:   
      
   > On Sun, 23 Jun 2013 19:38:32 +0000, Xox wrote:   
   >   
   >> On Sun, 23 Jun 2013 12:15:48 -0600, rbowman wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> Dänk 42Ø wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> With this in mind, ask yourself how Ixquick/Startpage stays in   
   >>>> business if it doesn't sell personal info for profit.  It could   
   very   
   >>>> well be a CIA front company, based on the theory that anyone who   
   wants   
   >>>> to conduct private Internet searches must be up to no good.  In   
   other   
   >>>> words, using StartPage/Ixquick may put you at the top of the KGB's   
   >>>> blacklist.   
   >>>   
   >>> There is the interesting legal argument that if you use Tor and your   
   >>> apparent IP is in Brussels, for example, it isn't apparent that you   
   are   
   >>> a US national and protected by whatever minimal guarantees there are   
   >>> against spyong on US citizens.   
   >>>   
   >>> Whether it's a Christians In Action honeypot is another   
   consideration.   
   >>   
   >> I think one has to assume they look at everything regardless of where   
   it   
   >> comes from or who writes it.  No doubt they will pay more attention   
   to   
   >> encrypted messages, but breaking encryption or even tracking it is a   
   >> certain amount of work, which protects the message from casual   
   >> observation.   
   >>   
   >> On one of the political blogs I read, one of the regulars suggested   
   >> going the other route and CC'ing the NSA on all your mail.  He   
   provided   
   >> a supposed email address for this purpose, but I'm not sure it's   
   valid.   
   >   
   > Personally, if they spend three hours cracking open an email I've sent   
   > that has PGP on it just BECAUSE it has PGP on it, only to discover   
   I've   
   > sent Aunt Dorothea a cute video of kittens playing with string, I   
   can't   
   > be more delighted than to know I've wasted some of their time and   
   > resources.   
   >   
      
   Brute force breaking of PGP encoded email is difficult, to say the   
   least. It has been done, but not normally in the mathematical sense. The   
   weak link is always the user. Hack into their machine, get the key you   
   want, and use that, and you have a decrypted email.   
      
   That said, PGP isn't unbreakable, nothing is. If you have sufficient   
   force behind you (say, a thousand Cray-class machines), you can break it   
   through sheer repetition.   
      
   Honestly, why would anyone send something via the Internet that they   
   were concerned about someone reading? I had to laugh when I read about   
   people thinking their email was safe.   
      
   Matt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)