Have we lost control of our online privacy? Americans think so.

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by lotuseclat79, Nov 17, 2014.

  1. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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  2. MrBrian

    MrBrian Registered Member

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  3. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Well, they're right. Anything put online is no longer controllable. That's just how it is.

    What is possible is controlling what we put online ;)
     
  4. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    The URL is http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/u...hey-want-privacy-but-act-as-if-they-dont.html

    And seriously, Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center is quoted thusly:
    PGP key prints? So did he say "fingerprints" and the author blew it?
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2014
  5. MrBrian

    MrBrian Registered Member

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  6. Veeshush

    Veeshush Registered Member

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    While that's all true, these surveys takers don't really grasp much though: http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/12/public-privacy-perceptions/

    I mean, they just poll average people and they just jot down what sounds the best for the answers. Even the landline phones example is just cause it's a more traditional means of communicating, yet out of all of them, it's probably the least secure. "I think landlines are secure, cause even my grandmother grew up using them" sort of thing. Their familiarity with a thing affects their answer.
     
  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Anyone else ever use a party line?
     
  8. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    There's some old memories. We were on a 4-party line. 3 of the 4 homes had teenage kids. You could always tell when a neighbor was getting a call and which neighbor it was. The phone would vibrate on a different pitch. You didn't say anything on those phones that you wanted to stay private.

    When you think about it, that's what the internet is, a giant party line.
     
  9. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I was a bad child. I would listen in after removing the mic. As I recall, there was a way to pickup quietly, but I've forgotten the trick. At some point, I had a handset with alligator clips ;)
    Indeed :eek:
     
  10. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    The title of that article is misleading. You can't lose something that you never had. You can't have privacy without security. You can't have security on something that was never designed to be secure.
     
  11. hawki

    hawki Registered Member

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    Our What?

    I was doing handstands on a clothes-drying line and asked my friend to cover me with a wet sheet so no one would know who I was. I think that's as good as my control of online privacy gets today.

    Our control over privacy, on or offline, in the 21st Century is a myth.

    Having fun with your wife in bedroom in a soundproofed, 10 foot thick concrete and steel, x-ray/ULF reflective, covered Faraday Cage buried 1000 yards underground may be an exception. Not sure. I'll give it a try and report back.

    The State's drive to protect itself is unstoppable.

    Snowden"s next release of a NSA Manual is rumored to be: "How to Work-a-round a Work-around-of Our Work-around of Their Work-around of Our Work-around of Their Work-around of Our Work-around of Their Work-round of Our work-around..................in Three Simple Steps." It describes a program named "Peek-a Boo-I See/Hear-You."

    Snowden is also rumored to preparing a defensive manual of his own entitled: "Speak No Evil, See No Evil, Hear No Evil," To be followed by "Speak Not, Hear Not, See Not,Do Not."

    I fear spending one's time seeking the "fountain of youth" would be more productive than seeking assured privacy.

    Security against the "Evil Doers" (as defined by who knows) has it's price. Brush up on your Constitutional History.

    Accept it or Fight It. There is no middle ground.

    Anyone out there prepared to take on the US Corporate-Owned Government, US Military, and Highly Paid Private Security Organizations, please prepare your Will, say your good-byes, and meet at Lafeyette Park, Washington,DC, today at 4:00PM. (I'll be the one covered by a wet sheet).
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2014
  12. Palancar

    Palancar Registered Member

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    What a cheerful thread!! Unfortunately its all too true.
     
  13. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    USA still the best. But barely.
    Those of us that have nothing to hide from 3 letter agencies face a quandary. When we try to implement more than pedestrian solutions to insure privacy. This just attracts more attention. And the higher level of protection (viewed as evasion) implemented the more scrutiny.
     
  14. Reality

    Reality Registered Member

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    LOL We had one old lady on ours who would talk and talk and TALK...so being typical cheeky kids we'd say things like "get off the line, a trains coming". :)
     
  15. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    That is exactly what it boils down to.
    It's a quandry because we are a small minority. We're a small minority because most either don't understand the extent of the problem or are afraid to resist it. As long as the majority are afraid, distracted, or don't care, we'll remain a minority and the downward spiral will continue.
     
  16. SweX

    SweX Registered Member

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  17. Veeshush

    Veeshush Registered Member

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    I know with the early wireless home phones you could occasionally pick up someone else's conversation a few houses over. I noticed that right up to the late 90s models. Now there's "DECT 6.0" but I've read that even is broken now.
     
  18. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    I seem to recall being able to listen in on wireless phones with a radio. Years ago, a friend brought one over. Amazing what you could hear. If I recall, selling radios that could receive those frequencies became illegal.
     
  19. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    But now with SDR there is no illegal ;)
     
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