[sudo-discuss] BAD IDEA Re: Opt out of PRISM

[Paul Ivanov]

Hi Matt, 

Matthew Harbowy, on 2013-06-12 16:17,  wrote:
> I'm mystified how any of this helps.

There is no silver bullet, so those recommendations won't be some
magical privacy pixie dust you can just sprinkle and feel warm
and fuzzy about, but at least encryption helps you secure the
content of your communication (not the fact that communication
occurred). 

One can imagine even the latter being obscured. I could automate
the sending of randomly generated encrypted messages at a
particular time of day (say at 16:17), but have that process be
pre-empted by a real message, should I choose to send one (so not
my randomly generated message gets sent out, but the one I want
to actually send). One drawback, of course, is that if I queued
up a message at half past four, it would be almost 24 hours
before it got sent. (Though the upshot of a protocol like this
would be that the intended recipient would know they'd only have
to check their email once a day, if they're interested in
receiving messages from me)

Should more frequent communication be desired, you could switch
to sending gobbledygook messages  at a certain minute of every
hour. Of course, the recipient has to "wade" through potentially
more random messages with that, but that's the price you pay.

> So, for my vote, following recommendations like this is a
> terrible idea.

Are you proposing an alternative, or should be just throw our
hands up in resignation?

best,
-- 
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Paul Ivanov
http://pirsquared.org