to be scared. I refuse to be monitored. I demand that people and governments respect my privacy. Yes, I'm going to sound the alarm about privacy once again. Why? because it is so damn important!
First I'd like to point you all to a recent court decision that basically states that a "cease and desist" letter can be copyrighted. (slashdot article here : Court Says You Can Copyright a Cease-And-Desist Letter) For those of you not in the know, a cease and desist letter basically is used to shut down internet operations that are often critical of those serving the letter. Attorneys, law firms and the works love to send out these notices on behalf of their customers. In response, the party receiving the letter often published it online to show the world what the bullies were up to. Now a judge - with his head up his ass I assume - has ruled that the letter itself can be copyrighted, and thus not published without the sender agreeing to it. Sorry, but if I ever receive a letter that has a possible impact on my presence here, I'll damn well publish it for all to see. If that means I'd be breaking the law, so be it. Another case they can take me to court over. Don't let them get away with things like this, people! Did you know that is has become dangerous to actually report about insecure systems, publish reports or be a whistle blower? If we don't protect the people that aim to disclose information for the greater good, where does that leave us?
Secondly - and this may be even more worrying though not unsurprising to some - is the fact that the German police and government has actively been developing trojans to capture and decrypt Skype voice calls and communications. The documents relating to this matter are online at wikileaks (Skype and the Bavarian trojan in the middle) for everyone to see. Those who want to argue that the intelligence community of a country needs to adapt to the developments that occur in secure communication, are of course right. However, if planting trojans on suspect computers is the level they want to - or need to - lower themselves to, I have little confidence in their overall compliance with regulation and laws when it comes to privacy. I'll suggest you all to pick up a copy of "Chatter", or ask me to borrow my copy of the book and see where all this leads.
Bruce Schneier has said it before : refuse to be terrorized. Not only do I refuse to be terrorized, I also refuse to be monitored.