zlacker

I don't understand why smart people have so much trust on encryption mechanisms. For any information to be useful, it has to be converted in some way. For example, if it is an image it has to be unconverted and presented as pixels in a screen. If you're typing an email it has to come unencrypted from a keyboard. Encryption only make it difficult to access the information once it is transmitted, but it is still pretty easy to create a virus or something that access the data at the moment it is used. In my opinion there are cases in which using tape on a webcam is far superior than using complicated encryption strategies.

>>colive+(OP)
While it isn't smart to assume that if its encrypted in transit, it can't be viewed by someone else on the other end, it is still necessary to have encryption in transit. You want to minimize the amount of places the data can be accessed by a third party.

>>colive+(OP)
> pretty easy to create a virus or something

Step 1: Find someone using encryption

Step 2: ???? pretty easy to create a virus or something ????

Step 3: Access encrypted information.

Why dig a well when water evaporates into the air? Because pragmatically the amount of water over time matters and what could be described in an incredibly naive way as an absolute suddenly becomes a very different scenario when looking at reality.

The NSA has tapped fiber backbones, encryption would stop them from getting information from that source.

If you think there is already no privacy, post your full name, address and a picture of yourself in the shower, I'll leave it up to you whether you want to encrypt it or not.

(Also the fact that anyone is able to store crypto-currencies pokes an immediate hole in your theory)

>>colive+(OP)
I got dizzy by your own confusion on this subject.

You need encryption for the same reason you need locks. Locks are not the only trick to provide you security but they are pretty much a very necessary tool. Without solid encryption you can't have a lot of the good things on the internet: online banking, online shopping, filling taxes online,...

> it is still pretty easy to create a virus or something that access the data at the moment it is used

It is not so much anymore. Viruses are getting quite harder to make, even for Microsoft Windows. And, even if you were right, you still need encryption for people that are smart enough to avoid viruses.

>>CyberD+D2
> The NSA has tapped fiber backbones [...] If you think there is already no privacy, post [etc.]

I'm actually OK with the idea of sending my full name, address and a picture of myself in the shower to the NSA, CIA, SIS or similar, to be included in one of their databases. Because that's what we're talking about, privacy from law enforcement and intelligence agencies searching for criminals, spies, terrorists etc. To suggest that posting such information publicly is exactly the same as it existing in these agency databases is pretty disingenuous.

>>colive+(OP)
Well, sure, when a low-tech catch-all solution exists, its usually better- the best form of secure communication is to whisper the message in the recipient's ear in a dark alley. But this is not always feasible, so we have a set of more-secure-than-plaintext methods to at least give us a good shot at secure communication other times.

>>grkvlt+n6
This sounds very similar to the bankrupt idea of "I have nothing to hide from the government." It doesn't matter if you're currently comfortable; all it takes is a change in a law, or an new interpretation of an existing law to make you a criminal.

>>grkvlt+n6
And OPM didn't happen, and will never happen again, anywhere.

>>diego_+C4
My point still remains. Even if you have good encryption, pure reliance on that puts you at risk in so many other ways in which information can be accessed. Any time you see information, access your bank accounts, create an email, etc., your information is at risk, and that has nothing to do with the amount of encryption you're using, because encryption will only work during the data transfer/storage stages.

>>grkvlt+n6
How do you feel about sharing it with everyone else at the coffee shop you frequent or the 14 year old "network administrator" at your friend's house? Encryption protects against these threats also.