magrathea

Keep in mind, I think my data stored by Google is probably safe for now.  But forever is a long time for them to hold that data.  You never know what can come back to haunt you in 30 years, when a terabyte is too cheap to meter.

I am not against Google.  I can't say I'm for Google either.  I am pretty much Google-Neutral.

But if I have any desire to keep myself from being monitored, Google has no part in that equation.  They are not trustworthy for that task.

Obviously, there is a time and a place for Google.  For stuff that's out in the open, they offer great, quality tools.  But when the information positively, absolutely must be secret, no Google.

It is not because Google has failed me.  I just know they eventually will.  I expect nothing less than treacherous betrayal.  They have not given me any real assurance that my data would be secure from unlawful search and seizure.  Google may have a fine privacy policy at the moment, but there is just no assurance of that over the long haul.  And Google is in for the long haul.

They have done a great job of showing how a 70% market-share can really put a cramp in your style, if you choose not to use them that is.  At least we still have the option of avoiding them for now, if we want better assurance of trust.

Even using cryptography within Google is tricky.  There's a great plug-in for FireFox called FireGPG.  It takes some of the difficulty out of dealing with GMail.  For instance, FireGPG will disable GMail's auto-save feature.  If your goal is to keep Google out of the loop, auto-save must be disabled.  Even then, it's easy to slip up.

I think the fact that GMail offers to enable 100% SSL (not just for login) can lull the security minded into a false sense of ... security.  I'm not sure if that's the point.  Sure, the data is safe from third parties, but not Google.  What will Google do with it?  I do believe they intend to do nothing but profile you.  They intend to better serve you ... for now.  Have you seen The Twilight Zone episode with the aliens who want To Serve Man?

Google will store that data forever.  Even if you delete it, Google will keep it and associate it with you forever.  Maybe that's fine for 90% of your data.  That other 10% should either never reach Google.  That, or you should do everything you can to ensure it's garbage to them.  The odds are stacked in favor of ... Google Paradise.

Posted via email from magrathea

Tags: theory

Here in my new blog, I will be looking at different slices of security and some of the practical ways to keep agoristic activity a secret from the adversary.  However, the exact principles need not be a secret.  Only our individual implementation of such principles should be kept a secret.  Everything else can be out in the open.  There's no need to hide that a particular principle is in play, only the individual's method to exact that principle should be clandestine.

As an example, it is openly broadcast that an agorist avoids paying taxes.  The thing that is not openly broadcast is how much a particular agorist avoids.  Is it less than 1% or greater than 100%?  It is unknown specifically who has implemented a particular approach, but those approaches can be widely written about and disseminated.  This is the best kind of security too.  It goes beyond cyphers and obscurity.

One thing that's important to remember is that the weakest link in security is you yourself.  The amount of technology is never the key.  You must be diligent to keep your own privacy.  It's your own property, after all.  If anyone else helps you, that's gratis.

Of course, anything we agorists see as additional security is seen as an additional compromise by our adversary.  The effort we use to protect our natural rights translate to a direct threat to the status quo.  We experience an asymmetrical opposition; the adversary can claim we are nefarious when in fact, we are righteous.

And we will continue to be righteous so long as we keep the initiation of violence out of the equation.

Posted via email from magrathea

Tags: agorism, theory

This site is coming soon! Brought to you by Freedom Blogs, a free blog hosting service for freedom-lovers everywhere!
Tags: blog, free, freedom