Fwd: GNU hackers discover HACIENDA government surveillance and give us a way to fight back

[MFPA]

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Hi


On Wednesday 27 August 2014 at 5:15:09 PM, in
<mid:53FE040D.2080005 at sixdemonbag.org>, Robert J. Hansen wrote:


>
> I've run into self-styled privacy advocates here in the
> U.S. who are furious over how the U.S. has been reading
> their email.  The only problem is there's very little
> evidence of that occurring.  Reading email metadata,
> maybe, but not email content.  When I try to explain
> that to them I usually find myself wondering inside of
> two minutes why I ever bothered trying to bring fact
> and reason to what is fundamentally an argument from
> passion and emotion.  I have had people literally yell
> in my face over the metadata-versus-content
> distinction.


Is there really as much of a distinction as some would have us
believe?

The EFF [0] puts it quite well, albeit using phone rather than email
metadata:-

    They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke
    for 18 minutes. But they don't know what you talked about.

    They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the
    Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret.

    They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor,
    then your health insurance company in the same hour. But they
    don't know what was discussed.

    They know you received a call from the local NRA office while it
    was having a campaign against gun legislation, and then called
    your senators and congressional representatives immediately after.
    But the content of those calls remains safe from government
    intrusion.

    They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and
    then called the local Planned Parenthood's number later that day.
    But nobody knows what you spoke about.

    Sorry, your phone records—oops, "so-called metadata"—can reveal a
    lot more about the content of your calls than the government is
    implying. Metadata provides enough context to know some of the
    most intimate details of your lives.


[0] <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/why-metadata-matters>






- --
Best regards

MFPA                    mailto:2014-667rhzu3dc-lists-groups at riseup.net

Wisdom is a companion to age; yet age may travel alone.
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