In one of the most significant making water to date regarding National Security Agency ( NSA ) spying , theNew York Times , theGuardian , andProPublicareported Thursday that the NSA has hold out to extraordinary lengths to on the QT undermine our unafraid communication substructure , collaborating with GCHQ ( Britain ’s NSA equivalent ) and a blue-ribbon few tidings system worldwide .
These frightening revelations imply that the NSA has not only follow up on an aggressive computer program of obtainingprivate encoding keysfor commercial-grade products — allowing the organization to decrypt huge amounts of Internet traffic that use these products — but that the agency has also attempt to put backdoors into cryptographic standards designed to procure users ’ communications . Additionally , the leaked documents make clear that party have been complicit in allowing this unprecedented undercover work to take position , though the identities of cooperating companies remain unknown .
Many important detail about this programme , codenamedBullrun , are still unclear . For example , what communications are target ? What service provider or software developers are join forces with the NSA ? What percentage of individual encryption keys of targeted commercial products are successfully obtained ? Does this storage of individual encoding winder ( presumably procured throughtheft or company cooperation ) contain those of popular web - based communication providers like Facebook and Google ?
What is well-defined is that these NSA programs are an egregious intrusion of our privateness . We can and should enjoy a future where it is still potential to speak privately with fellow citizens , to freely associate and engage in political activism , and to be left alone when we want to be . If the NSA is allowed to persist in build back entrance into our communications infrastructure , as law enforcement agencieshave buttonhole for , then the communications of million of mass risk being forever insecure against a mixture of adversaries , ranging from foreign governments to criminals to domesticated spy agencies , which would have disastrous economic consequences .
face up with so much bad news , it ’s comfortable to give in to privacy nihilism and despair . After all , if the NSA has discover way to decipher a meaning portion of code online communications , why should we bother using encryption at all ? But this monolithic disruption of communications substructure need not be tolerated . Here are some of the steps you may take to fight back :
Sign the petition tostop NSA spying . permit Congress know that It ’s time for a full accounting of America ’s secret spying programs — and an end to unconstitutional surveillance . If you are not in the US , please take the meter to sign ourinternational petition .
In addition to signing our petition , take the time tocall your elected representativeusing the consecrate call line : 1 - STOP-323 - NSA ( 1 - 786 - 732 - 3672 ) to vocalize your confrontation .
Use unassailable communicating tool ( learn someuseful tipsby security expert Bruce Schneier ) . Your communications are still significantly more protected if you are using encipher communication tools such as message over OTR or browsing the entanglement usingHTTPS Everywherethan if you are send your communication in the clear .
Finally , the engineers creditworthy for building our infrastructure can defend back by building and deploying well and more usable cryptosystems .
The NSA is assault our secure communications on many fronts and we must oppose them using every method we have at our disposal . Engineers , policy Godhead , and netizens all have central role to take on in standing up to the unchecked surveillance state . The more we instruct about the extent of the NSA ’s abuse , the more important it is for us to take steps to take back our privacy . Do n’t let the NSA ’s flak on good communication be the end biz . get it be a call to limb .
Republishedfrom the Electronic Frontier Foundationunder Creative Commons
ikon viaShutterstock
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