Re: [perpass] perens-perpass-appropriate-response-01

[Jacob Appelbaum <[e-mail]>]

Bruce Perens:
> On 12/04/2013 11:55 AM, Jacob Appelbaum wrote:
>> Dear Bruce,
>>
>> Why do you dignify these actions as 'law enforcement' or even as
>> 'national defense' when we're discussing illegal spying?
> Because some of them are in my interest. And yours.

What about the illegal spying is in your interest? It certainly isn't in
my interest - I have been targeted for years by this spying and I most
certainly do not feel that it is in my interest.

I'm sure the non-Americans on the list would also love to hear about it too.

> 
> We have a nasty part of government that thinks it is in an an endless war. Every 
> liberal nation, historically, discontinues its nice rights and protections 
> during wartime.
> 

This is an oversimplification that is not legally correct.

> But I don't kid myself that nothing that they are doing is done to protect me 
> and others like me from a zillion nut-cases who conspire to do people harm and 
> sometimes actually carry it out. I have met some of those nut-cases.
> 

...

> Every society chooses its balance between freedom and enforcement. Ours isn't 
> the right balance today, agreed. But the proposals I see here are the hacker 
> approach - we're not patient to deal with this as a political problem, so we'll 
> change everyone's web browser.

This is the number one vector for the TAO at the NSA, fyi. Ensuring that
Man-on-the-Side is impossible will improve the security of everyone.
There will be other attack vectors, of course.

>> Pervasive surveillance, censorship and malware is a serious threat regardless of your feelings about the NSA.
> And will continue to be so after all web transactions are encrypted. You're not 
> going to actually solve any problems.

I am actually working quite hard on solving these problems. We're having
this discussion partially because of my efforts, so please speak for
yourself and not for me, alright?

I look forward to seeing some more positive contributions from you. You
have a big brain and are a person of good character - come help us fix
the serious issues on the internet, Bruce.

All the best,
Jacob