Comments on: I wonder if the hacker was a disgruntled ex? http://www.nycskeptics.org/blog/i-wonder-if-the-hacker-was-a-disgruntled-ex/ The official blog of NYC Skeptics Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:34:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Doron http://www.nycskeptics.org/blog/i-wonder-if-the-hacker-was-a-disgruntled-ex/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Doron Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:49:12 +0000 http://www.nycskeptics.org/blog/?p=1530#comment-331 Just a clarification, email is indeed intended for the sender and receiver eyes only, and privacy rights are far more important in an open environment. However, aside from this ideal, in practical terms email is a fairly old technology and can be easily sniffed and breached. Even more so, in most cases when we sign up for an email service, you agree to no liability by the service provider, as well as to ownership of your data. Most any software package we use presents a contract we sign (usually called EULA or end user license agreement) by which we agree to in most cases without reading and impose awful draconian terms) It is important to acknowledge that what is culturally and socially a norm, is often not the case from a technology and more so from a legal point of view, put simply norms do not matter much in the eyes of the law. As it stands it is far easier for law enforcement to gain access to your email than to your paper letters stored in a drawer at home. Hackers are not that much of a problem in a grand scheme of things. If one is working on a controversial field (be it scientific or political or both) one should take measures to protect themselves, and i would wager it is an important and completely missing aspects of public discussion and education today. Encryption is a good measure for many basic breaches, but more important then that, it is not a paranoid statement to acknowledge that by any good measures our online movements are watched, and one should take steps to protecting their data. Just a clarification, email is indeed intended for the sender and receiver eyes only, and privacy rights are far more important in an open environment. However, aside from this ideal, in practical terms email is a fairly old technology and can be easily sniffed and breached. Even more so, in most cases when we sign up for an email service, you agree to no liability by the service provider, as well as to ownership of your data. Most any software package we use presents a contract we sign (usually called EULA or end user license agreement) by which we agree to in most cases without reading and impose awful draconian terms)

It is important to acknowledge that what is culturally and socially a norm, is often not the case from a technology and more so from a legal point of view, put simply norms do not matter much in the eyes of the law. As it stands it is far easier for law enforcement to gain access to your email than to your paper letters stored in a drawer at home. Hackers are not that much of a problem in a grand scheme of things. If one is working on a controversial field (be it scientific or political or both) one should take measures to protect themselves, and i would wager it is an important and completely missing aspects of public discussion and education today.

Encryption is a good measure for many basic breaches, but more important then that, it is not a paranoid statement to acknowledge that by any good measures our online movements are watched, and one should take steps to protecting their data.

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