US Policy Would Allow Government Access to Any Email

An anonymous reader writes "National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell is currently helping to draft a new Cyber-Security Policy that could make the debate over warrantless wiretaps seem like a petty squabble. The new policy would allow the government to access to the content of any email, file transfer, or web search."

Luddite revolution

[ari_j]

I guess we'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way. Now accepting (paper) applications for the next Paul Revere.

Re:Diminishing returns

[Bobzibub]

You mean spam?

Re:Diminishing returns

[chuckymonkey]

This is one case where I think an enterprising spammer could have a ton of fun. Just start spamming emails through all the bots that have an "interesting" generator for keywords and phrases. Considering the volume of spam it would be very difficult to watch.

Re:Really?

[UbuntuDupe]

And what is it going to do about my encryption keys?

Well, considering that you live your life with such privacy paranoia that you feel you have to post AC and therefore probably aren't much threat to the government ... probably nothing.

Re:Diminishing returns?

[Anonymous Coward]

This might be a good cue to invest supercomputer stocks.

Re:Amendment IV to the Constitution

[frank_adrian314159]

The Fourth Amendment? That's so Eighteenth Century. In America, only old people use the Fourth Amendment.

Make your voice heard

[cohomology]

Tell the highest levels of the intelligence community what you think about this idea by picking up a phone and calling any number.

I know, it's not original.

Re:And what about foreign nation TLD's?

[nuzak]

> We'll see what our governments have to say about that.

Something along the lines of "More! More! Harder! Deeper!" is my guess.

Re:The Constitution...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry about it. If this passes, I will immediately stage an attack on the central offices of the NSA and FBI. I'll never allow this to go forward.

Wait... /. uses SSL, right? And maybe I should have loaded tor... Oh crap...

Re:You can't let the terrorists win

[chuckymonkey]

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

As this applies to regular mail, I think that it applies to email as well despite the government not getting a cut of the money.

No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Self Explanatory, encrypt. Also as the beginning states they cannot do anything to you unless they bring you before a Grand Jury. The wording is clear that the only exception are members of the Military. Which brings me to a fun story.

When I was in the Army deployed to Iraq they told us that they had to scan our computers before we left to look for secrets and obscene material. Well this made me very angry so first I offered my services to a few friends and setup truecrypt volumes for them. Then I took a picture of myself flipping off a camera, labeled them things like Fuck Me hard(several different variations on that theme) and distributed 30,000 copies all over my hdd. Let's just say that when they put in the scanning disk the person performing the scan got really tired of seeing me flip him off and they didn't find anything. I know it was petty and he really wasn't doing it because he wanted to, but I think that I made a point even if it was in a very small way. The leadership never ever scanned anything of mine again.

Re:Really?

[Lehk228]

from you after 127 hours of waterboarding.

Re:Diminishing returns

[Deadstick]

Well, at least the government would get lots of instruction on how to make its pecker bigger. And considering what it's already doing to us, that's not a very good thing.

rj

Re:Really?

[TheSpengo]

I already use PGP for most of my emails. If they ever ask for my key I will forget and "accidentally" run a file shredder on my hard drive and clumsily drop it in a box full of neodymium magnets. :D Hire a good lawyer and you become the pimp while the US legal system becomes your ho. That's what it seems like these days anyways...

Re:Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

your password -which is something absolutly neutral

Not necessarily. My password is "I'm planning a massive attack on U.S. soil."

Or You Could Go With the Reagan/Bush/Rove/Cheney

[NeverVotedBush]

Defense...

"I don't recall"

Re:Really?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

And what about the 5th amenTHWACK THWACK THWACK

Re:127 hours?

[Lehk228]

nah, i haven't been to rotten.com or cia.gov in a while.

Re:You can't let the terrorists win

[domatic]

When I was in the Army deployed to Iraq they told us that they had to scan our computers before we left to look for secrets and obscene material. Well this made me very angry so first I offered my services to a few friends and setup truecrypt volumes for them. Then I took a picture of myself flipping off a camera, labeled them things like Fuck Me hard(several different variations on that theme) and distributed 30,000 copies all over my hdd.

Just curious. Weren't you a little worried that you might have gotten fucked over a bit for those shenanagans? I applaud your feisty spirit but ranking officers and non-coms have options for screwing with you that aren't available to the typical PHB. It isn't like they have to court martial you or anything to give you a bad time.

My Dad was in the Army in the late fifties. He had a few ways of screwing with them too. All of the guys were griping because inspecting Sergeants liked to poke the soldiers at attention in the nose with the hard brims of their hats. Dad had everyone spread on a super-thin layer of Vaseline where they liked to jab with those hat brims. Jabbing one guy wouldn't stain a brim but jabbing a whole platoon would and it wouldn't be immediately noticeable by the Sarge. "And then some officer would get to chew him out for a stained hat after chewing us!"

Inspecting officers and non-coms were also fond of measuring the exact placement of collar insignia. They had to be within some fraction of an inch on the lapels. So Dad had them put the insignia just inside regulation boundaries but each man would do it in a completely different direction from the man next to him. So when you looked down a line of men at attention, those collar insignia were all over the place yet when measured they were within regulation. Basically, if you gave Dad a small fraction of inch he found a way to turn it into a mile.

Re:Really?

[BigDumbAnimal]

Thanks for the tip, James. Or should we call you Sean?

Re:Really?

[Firethorn]

For instance you can moisten a hair or thread then stick it on a door placing it so that it sticks to both the door and the molding. If while you're away the door is opened the "seal" will fail and you can spot it.

Personally, I prefer my homemade claymores for that purpose.

Bloodstains are much easier to spot when I get home. ;)

Re:Really?

[mike2R]

While British prisons are no doubt dangerous places, the explicit enjoyment of locking someone up in the hope that they will be anally raped is a uniquely American phenomenon.

Re:Really?

[SpydeZ]

Someone warn the soil farmers!