National Security?
The recent phone tapping issue has really got me angry. I really think that the Republicans think we are as stupid, as they would like us to be. Do people really think that the wire tapping issue is to catch terrorists? Come On!!! There have been freely available cryptography products for computers for years now! Terrorists could also easily use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) products to establish encrypted voice phone calls using the Internet. *NOBODY* could listen in to those phone calls – not even the government.
This whole wire tapping in the interest of national security is just another ploy by the Republicans to sneak around. Please, please teach yourself a little about cryptography, and how it can easily, and freely be used to totally make wire tapping a joke. There is now way they are using wire tapping to listen to terrorists’ phone calls.
And no, we should not take crypto away – not that it could ever happen anyway. It would be like taking guns away. Sure, guns kill people (well, people kill people, the gun is just the tool). It is a double edged sword – good people own guns, and bad people own guns. Also, if you take away crypto, you lose the ability to conduct secure transactions on-line, and the movie makers would not be able to “protect” their DVD’s from being copied (not necessarily a bad thing), although that crypto has already been cracked. There are many good uses for crypto, as well as potentially bad, but it is something that can never be stopped.
All I ask, is that people learn more about technology, so the Republican party cannot try to pull a fast one over our eyes, by lying yet again, and hiding behind “National Security”. If anything is a National Security issue, it is the fact that we have George W. Bush as president. He threatens National Security, and our way of life, more than any other factor.
My advise to the Democrats is to embrace crypto, and start using it! It is so simple to intercept emails, and watch other activities on the Internet, if it is not encrypted. I smell Watergate all over again with this current wire tapping issue.
Listen to this great Podcast (links below) describing the uses of Crypto, and make the judgement for yourself, and hear why there is no way that the terrorists would ever consider using a regular phone line to make phone calls to each other, while freely available crypto phones are available to hide any conversation they may have. Get a clue Dubya, and stop lying to us!!!
Audio File: http://media.grc.com/sn/SN-030-lq.mp3
Written transcript (PDF): http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-030.pdf