The undercover war on your internet secrets: How online surveillance
cracked our trust in the web
By Steve Ranger techrepublic.com
Learn
how the battle over privacy technologies could define the future of the web.
This TechRepublic cover story explains the strange history and the serious
consequences of the fight over encryption.
Ablack
shrouded figure appears on the screen, looming over the rapt audience, talking
about surveillance. But this is no Big Brother figure seeking obedience though,
rather the opposite.
Perhaps
even his nemesis.
NSA
contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden is explaining how his former
employer and other intelligence agencies have worked to undermine privacy on
the internet and beyond.
"We're
seeing systemic attacks on the fabrics of our systems, the fabric of our
communications... by undermining the security of our communications, they
enable surveillance," he warns.
He
is speaking at the conference via a video link from Russia, where he has taken
refuge after leaking the documents detailing some of the NSA's surveillance
projects. The room behind him is in darkness, giving away nothing about his
exact location.
"Surveillance
is not possible when our movements and communications are safe and protected —
a satellite cannot see you when you are inside your home — but an unprotected
computer with an open webcam can," he adds.
Over
the last two years a steady stream of documents leaked by Snowden have laid
bare how intelligence agencies in the US and the UK have waged a secret war
against privacy on the internet. How they have worked to undermine the
technologies used by billions of people every day to protect everything from
mundane messages — or webcam chats — to their most secret thoughts.
Edward Snowden speaking at the CeBIT tech show
Image: Deutsche Messe, Hannover
One
of the most significant technologies being targeted by the intelligence
services is encryption.
Online,
encryption surrounds us, binds us, identifies us. It protects things like our
credit card transactions and medical records, encoding them so that — unless
you have the key — the data appears to be meaningless nonsense.
Encryption
is one of the elemental forces of the web, even though it goes unnoticed and
unremarked by the billions of people that use it every day.
But
that doesn't mean that the growth in the use of encryption isn't controversial.
For
some, strong encryption is the cornerstone of security and privacy in any
digital communications, whether that's for your selfies or for campaigners
against an autocratic regime.
Others,
mostly police and intelligence agencies, have become increasingly worried that
the absolute secrecy that encryption provides could make it easier for
criminals and terrorists to use the internet to plot without fear of discovery.
As
such, the outcome of this war over privacy will have huge implications for the
future of the web itself.
The code wars
Codes
have been used to protect data in transit for thousands of years, and have long
been a key tool in warfare: the Caesar cipher was named after the Roman emperor
who used it to protect his military secrets from prying eyes.
These
ciphers were extremely basic, of course: the Caesar cipher turned a message
into code simply by replacing each letter with the one three down in the
alphabet, so that 'a' became 'd'.
Ciphers
became more sophisticated, and harder to break, over the centuries, but it was
the Second World War that demonstrated the real importance of encryption — and
cracking it. The work done at Bletchley Park to crack German codes including
Enigma had a famous impact on the course of the war.
As
a result, once the war was over, encryption technology was put on the US
Munitions List alongside tanks and guns as an 'auxiliary military technology',
which put restrictions on its export.
Happy World Wildlife Day!
========================= For a great satire on email, please see the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTgYHHKs0Zwscoop_post=bcaa0440-2548-11e5-c1bd-90b11c3d2b20&__scoop_topic=2455618
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