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发帖数: 1034 | 1 Edward Snowden’s Privacy Tips: “Get Rid Of Dropbox,” Avoid Facebook And
Google
Posted yesterday by Anthony
According to Edward Snowden, people who care about their privacy should stay
away from popular consumer Internet services like Dropbox, Facebook, and
Google.
Snowden conducted a remote interview today as part of the New Yorker
Festival, where he was asked a couple of variants on the question of what we
can do to protect our privacy.
His first answer called for a reform of government policies. Some people
take the position that they “don’t have anything to hide,” but he argued
that when you say that, “You’re inverting the model of responsibility for
how rights work”:
When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care
about this right.’ You’re saying, ‘I don’t have this right, because I’
ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way rights work is,
the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.
He added that on an individual level, people should seek out encrypted tools
and stop using services that are “hostile to privacy.” For one thing, he
said you should “get rid of Dropbox,” because it doesn’t support
encryption, and you should consider alternatives like SpiderOak. (Snowden
made similar comments over the summer, with Dropbox responding that
protecting users’ information is “a top priority.”)
[Update: In a June blog post related to Snowden, Dropbox actually says, "All
files sent and retrieved from Dropbox are encrypted while traveling between
you and our servers," as well as when they're "at rest on our servers," and
it points to other security measures that the company is taking. The
difference between Dropbox and SpiderOak, as explained elsewhere, is that
SpiderOak encrypts the data while it's on your computer, as opposed to only
encrypting it "in transit" and on the company's servers.]
[And here's a more complete Snowden quote, from around 1:04:55 in the video:
"We're talking about encryption. We're talking about dropping programs that
are hostile to privacy. For example, Dropbox? Get rid of Dropbox, it doesn'
t support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files. And use
competitors like SpiderOak, that do the same exact service but they protect
the content of what you're sharing."]
He also suggested that while Facebook and Google have improved their
security, they remain “dangerous services” that people should avoid. (
Somewhat amusingly, anyone watching the interview via Google Hangout or
YouTube saw a Google logo above Snowden’s face as he said this.) His final
piece of advice on this front: Don’t send unencrypted text messages, but
instead use services like RedPhone and Silent Circle.
Earlier in the interview, Snowden dismissed claims that increased encryption
on iOS will hurt crime-fighting efforts. Even with that encryption, he said
law enforcement officials can still ask for warrants that will give them
complete access to a suspect’s phone, which will include the key to the
encrypted data. Plus, companies like Apple, AT&T, and Verizon can be
subpoenaed for their data.
Beyond the privacy discussion, Snowden talked about how and why he decided
to leak documents bringing the government’s electronic surveillance
programs to light. He repeatedly claimed that he wasn’t pursuing a specific
policy outcome, but just trying to have an open conversation about these
issues:
We can have secret programs. You know, the American people don’t have to
know the name of every individual that’s under investigation. We don’t
need to know the technical details of absolutely every program in the
intelligence community. But we do have to know the bare and broad outlines
of the powers our government is claiming … and how they affect us and how
they affect our relationships overseas. Because if we don’t, we are no
longer citizens, we no longer have leaders. We’re subjects, and we have
rulers.
As for why Snowden hasn’t come back to the United States to stand trial, he
said that when he looked at how the U.S. government treated whistleblowers
like Thomas Drake and Chelsea Manning, he became convinced that he wouldn’t
be able to present his case to a jury in an open trial.
“I’ve told the government again and again in negotiations, you know, that
if they’re prepared to offer an open trial, a fair trial in the same way
that Dan Ellsberg got, and I’m allowed to make my case to the jury, I would
love to do so,” he said. “But to this point they’ve declined.”
Snowden acknowledged that there’s some irony in his taking shelter in China
and Russia, countries that don’t exactly have spotless human rights or
privacy records themselves. He said Russia was supposed to be a transit
point on his way to Latin America — but his passport was canceled while he
was at the Moscow airport.
The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer ended the interview on a light note, suggesting
that Snowden was now free to enjoy some vodka. He replied, “I actually don
’t drink alcohol. Little-known fact: I’ve never been drunk.”
Here’s a full video of the interview. The discussion of privacy and
consumer Internet services (which, again, consisted of two questions in a
row) begins at around 58:30 |
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