a little behind, but...
June 5th isn't entirely over yet, right?
This is awesome: Reset the Net.
(boingboing has a nice piece here: http://boingboing.net/2014/06/05/today-is-the-day-we-reset-the.html)
So, yeah… i'm gong to be downloading the set and seeing how easy the various parts are to implement (because, yes, there's a bunch of stuff I could have done but haven't yet). And if I run into more than three snags, I'm going to put out a public call for a "reset party" (along the lines of a cryptoparty) and ask that somebody who knows these tools help out…
And… I'm going to ask that you all consider using these tools, as well (if you're not doing so already). To use a last-century model, these sorts of tools have the utility of a fax machine: one lonely fax machine is worthless, but the more fax machines there are in the world, the more machines each one can talk to. Encrypted email does absolutely nothing if the recipient's machine is not secure, but as more people use secured / crypto systems, they become logarithmically more useful. And while you, personally, might not "have anything to hide" there are a lot of folks who are not so privileged and whose only "wrongdoing" is a lack of conformity (whether through being queer, or not white, or not fitting in the standard binary gender profiles, or being female and loud, or being involved in a local green/political/economic protest, or ...). As Doctorow says, Those who have nothing to hide have a duty to protect the privacy of those who do.
The damage that surveillance does to freedom of speech and freedom of thought is huge. But we can reroute around some of the damage...
This is awesome: Reset the Net.
(boingboing has a nice piece here: http://boingboing.net/2014/06/05/today-is-the-day-we-reset-the.html)
So, yeah… i'm gong to be downloading the set and seeing how easy the various parts are to implement (because, yes, there's a bunch of stuff I could have done but haven't yet). And if I run into more than three snags, I'm going to put out a public call for a "reset party" (along the lines of a cryptoparty) and ask that somebody who knows these tools help out…
And… I'm going to ask that you all consider using these tools, as well (if you're not doing so already). To use a last-century model, these sorts of tools have the utility of a fax machine: one lonely fax machine is worthless, but the more fax machines there are in the world, the more machines each one can talk to. Encrypted email does absolutely nothing if the recipient's machine is not secure, but as more people use secured / crypto systems, they become logarithmically more useful. And while you, personally, might not "have anything to hide" there are a lot of folks who are not so privileged and whose only "wrongdoing" is a lack of conformity (whether through being queer, or not white, or not fitting in the standard binary gender profiles, or being female and loud, or being involved in a local green/political/economic protest, or ...). As Doctorow says, Those who have nothing to hide have a duty to protect the privacy of those who do.
The damage that surveillance does to freedom of speech and freedom of thought is huge. But we can reroute around some of the damage...