EFF Warns That Email Privacy Is In Jeopardy

MojoKid writes with this excerpt from HotHardware: "According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a dangerous legal precedent has just been set that can potentially unravel existing federal privacy protections for e-mail and Internet usage. The alert from the EFF is not just to sound a general warning, but it also takes the form of an Amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief, filed with the federal 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, asking for the court's legal finding to be overturned... The findings of this case could become the foundation of a legal precedent upon which other similar cases can subsequently be based. If that were to be the case, then the unauthorized retrieving of e-mails from an e-mail server would not be considered a violation of the federal Wiretap Act, which will then open the door for government-sponsored snooping."

Comments

Privacy?

[clang_jangle]

Not to be flippant, but does anyone really believe there is any privacy anymore with simple, unencrypted email? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the EFF is on the case. But it does seem to me that any expectation of privacy in any communication medium here in the USA went out the window with the news of the NSA telco backdoors. Our government is obsessed with spying on everyone, and they have demonstrated quite thoroughly they don't care about the rules at all.

Re:Privacy?

[BitterOldGUy]

I've NEVER considered email to have been private: encrypted or not.

Re:Privacy?

[mazarin5]

Of course we should take technical precautions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop this through legal action either. It seems like a Sisyphean task at this point, but we have to hold firm to our principles nonetheless.

Re:Privacy?

[enrevanche]

By not expecting email to be private means that your email provider is allowed to do anything it wants with the information. It means that the government or anyone who wishes to pay for it should be allowed to have it.

Being "not technically secure" is not the same thing as "not private".

Re:Privacy?

[spykemail]

The idea that any communication involving telecommunication companies in the US is private is quite laughable, however, if there's even going to be the slightest chance of restoring or at least slowing down the rate of erosion of the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy every battle must be fought and thank the matrix we've got the EFF to do it.

Personally I'd sign up for the government spy net - after all, the government doesn't listen to my complaints - if they read everything I write maybe something will sink in.

Re:Privacy?

[BorgDrone]

By not expecting email to be private means that your email provider is allowed to do anything it wants with the information.

I'm a bit divided about this subject. On the one hand I think that you should be able to expect some privacy in your email conversations. On the other hand I think you're kind of naive to let the privacy of a mail conversation depend solely on the willingness of others to not look at it.

The government, not just the US but any government, cannot be trusted, simply because they're just a bunch of people. The only way to have a reasonable expectancy of privacy is to enforce it yourself by using insane amounts of encryption. e.g. encrypt a message in AES, 3DES, 32768 bit RSA, and ROT13 for good measure, then stenographically encode the message in a photograph. etc. etc.

Laws guaranteeing privacy in email are great, but they don't actually give you 100% certainty that your email will be private.

Re:Privacy?

[the_raptor]

Exactly. How is unencrypted email different to a postcard? Every server along the path has full access (and probably stores a copy for hours to days) to the contents along with the routing information. Due to addressing problems I was receiving CC orders and other confidential emails for some mail order company, for about two months. I had to respond to every one and tell them not to be so stupid.

The problem is that so few people are set up to read encrypted email, that it isn't useful in day to day work.

Re:Privacy?

[Thiez]

Don't all people except for those in a coma have an agenda? Doesn't that make your 'fix' about as informative as saying that water is wet?

Re:Privacy?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been in a coma and had an agenda you insensitive clod.

Re:Privacy?

[BitterOldGUy]

If I want communication to be private I snail mail, fax, or phone on landline.

Even if the ISP or whomever cannot share or pry into email for whatever reason, what's to prevent someone from accidentally hitting "reply all" or copying their entire address book and sending it out to the world? That's what I meant by my original statement. It's not so much folks prying, it's "accidents" that I'm worried about.

Re:Privacy?

[ccady]

I think you are mistaking the "expectation that you do have privacy" with the "the expectation that you should have privacy."
To me, the "expectation of privacy" says that I am supposed to have privacy, not that I have it.

Re:Privacy?

[ScrewMaster]

How is unencrypted email different to a postcard?

Look, the fact that postcards and most emails are sent in plaintext isn't what this is about.

So far as I'm aware, the United States Post Office doesn't scan, OCR, and store the contents of every postcard that goes through its facilities. If they did, and then made that information available to the government or anyone else that wanted it, you would have a point. In other words, unencrypted does not mean "indexed, cross-indexed and searchable."

Re:Privacy?

[TubeSteak]

How is unencrypted email different to a postcard?

Differing expectations of privacy.
An intermediate mail server is not a postal worker.

Perhaps most importantly:
Different laws regarding e-mail and postcards.

An analogy

[Daimanta]

Even if breaking in houses is illegal, I still have a lock on my door. Why? Because some people don't care about the law.

Even if snooping on e-mail is illegal, you still need to encrypt your mails. Why? Because some governments don't care about the law.

Re:An analogy

[rustalot42684]

The problem, for me, at any rate, is twofold:

1. People with whom I communicate mostly use web-based clients like the GMail client, the Hotmail client, or some university's email site, all of which don't support encryption in an easy-to-use way. Also, at the moment (for several reasons) I happen to be using one of those clients.
2. Most of the same people don't see why encrypting their emails is neccessary in light of the previous point. Given that it takes a great deal of work do do it, why bother?

Whether I'd like to use encryption or not is irrelevant if those with whom I am communicating do not.

<sarcasm>

Why? Because some governments don't care about the law.

Well, I'm sure you could write them a nice letter asking them if they are illegally syping on you to find out. I see no reason why you wouldn't get an honest answer....

</sarcasm>

Re:An analogy

[megaditto]

If you think your padlock is keeping the Government away (the guys with aircraft carriers and nukes), you must be crazy.

US Government very much cares about the laws since that's about the ONLY thing that can stop them from doing to you what they do to everybody else. For example, the CIA torture manual advises you to always check the local laws first: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torture_Manuals#CIA_manuals

Re:An analogy

[Firehed]

Regardless, it's not a very good analogy. It takes considerably more than the technological equivalent of a hacksaw to break a solid encryption scheme.

Even worse

[Anonymous Coward]

IANAL, but as I understand it, this does not just apply to the government. Anyone can snoop without legal liability.

Re:Yet another reason...

[mccalli]

... to maintain your own mail server.

And how does maintaining your own email server help? Those outgoing mails are going to somewhere right? And the incoming ones arrived from somewhere? Then they're likely being transmitted in the plain somewhere along the line.

Unless you encrypt the messages themselves, you're on your own. Having your own mailserver, which I do, simply doesn't help with this problem.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:outlook encryption for POP3, SMTP, IMAP usage

[ettlz]

Install Thunderbird, GnuPG and the EnigMail extension.

Just copyright your emails

[moteyalpha]

Then let RIAA defend you, (ducks and covers ).

HIPAA says no privacy

[m0s3m8n]

Working in the health care field as an IT admin exposes me to lots of HIPAA crap. One thing you learn on day one is that EMAIL IS NOT SECURE. And if it is not secure then considered public. I have no expectation that email is private UNLESS IT IS SECURE. This is why emailing of patient data is forbidden. It would sure make life easier if it were.

Assert your rights

[Anonymous Coward]

I have discussed this issue with some friends who seem to believe that Obama will reverse the current warrantless surveillance practices. If history is to serve as a guide, it seems clear that he will not. I am convinced that contacting our legislators and voting for Democrats are two of the least effective means of protecting our rights. Indeed, the most effective way of protecting our rights is by asserting them. We as Americans have the responsibility of actively protecting our rights, rather than depending on the ineptitude and conflicted interests of our elected officials. This is why I propose not only opportunistic encryption, but also what I call gratuitous encryption. This means the ubiquitous use and advocacy of PGP, SSH, SSL, VPNs, tor, full disk encryption, and every other tool we have at our disposal.

Check out this page for ways to assert your rights.

Re:Yet another reason...

[Pitawg]

Grabbing a message from the stream is not that hard. Yes.

Getting access to a pile of email that was sent over the course of days to years, I believe, is a much bigger issue. The stream takes good timing, access and preparation. Access to inbox or other folders of an entire email collection is scary. If the private sign leaves the stored email it will allow providers to do what they will with these email documents in the collections of users. Sending a message to a friend about a need for a product could turn into a barrage of ads for same or competing products. Storing old messages with idle threats with a buddy could turn into law suits. There could be corporate theft of ideas and more. How about getting fired from a job for idle discussions of other things you think about regarding other lines of work or even a competing company. Then there are the criminal cases that could be setup against you for some idle "what-if" messages with a child, friend, or co-worker. Information and insight about an individual could cause all kinds of difficulties in the wrong hands. If I wanted someone to be party to a conversation, I would have sent the message to that party when I wrote it.

Email server ownership is a big help in these times. "Guilty until proven Innocent" is the opponent of privacy laws and practice. I do not have the time to waste proving every little aspect of my life was not a crime just because someone came into a conversation late, reading their own storyline into my existence. As it is now in consumer America, I have to open boxes at the checkout counter just to ensure the actual item purchased is in the box, and not just floor tiles. I also have to call phone and credit companies over charges that were added in error. Do I need to mention the corrections on food from a drive through, even after seeing the list in perfect order on the screen before getting to the window?

Do not add to my itinerary, as it is full.

What goes around ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Time to revive the good 'ole FIDO mail system and BBS technology. This is not such a bad thing though as it is NOT the internet - it's the phone lines. Hmm .... Oh well, so much for freedom. It was nice while it existed.

Still, one can PGP that style of mail easily and it is by today's standards pretty secure in it's travels to and from. The phone company is involved though so look out. Short of floating our own satellites and running the entire thing end to end, there is NO WAY ANYTHING WE DO from this point on is beyond scrutiny or observation, "we" being those that still believe in the Constitution, Bill Of Rights, etc. and they that watch and record are those we think we'd like to avoid.

I work a FL county GIS and in 1998, our aerial maps were good enough that we zoomed down to look in the back of a co-worker's pickup truck and could easily read "Budweiser" on the case of beer in the truck bed. We were told that the military had these same maps but in 4 or 5 stages better resolution! THAT was 10 years ago - now it's LIVE.

I ran a multi-line BBS for 15 years and hubbed mail for FIDO most of that time. The mail "bags" came in, got sorted and went back out. It was true store and forward technology and with today's packer and encryption options, I believe that FIDO could once again offer relatively secure email. It would take a network though and with each added "node" would come potential trouble. Who's to say that hub in New Hampshire is not the FBI? With the right email client software, the playing field could be vastly leveled - are you listening Santos's?? End to end PGP enabled mail times the quantity factor would be REALLYPGP and the hardware that would have to be dedicated to breaking all that mail would be ridiculous. All this could run on old time BBS systems. Imagine this - NO SPAM (yet).

Rx --> Doctor Smith

Re:IPSec, S/MIME, SSL, SSH, VPN, etc.

[Lead Butthead]

Encrypting the whole Internet wouldn't be a bad idea anyway (not just for the reasons presented here). Each user or at least each computer on the Internet should have a set of keys.

You do realise that it's a matter of time before mandatory backdoor to all encrypted traffic is required by law.

Not just e-mail...

[Stanislav_J]

Not to be flippant, but does anyone really believe there is any privacy anymore with simple, unencrypted email?

Does anyone really believe there is any privacy anymore with ANYTHING? Technology, government and law enforcement practices, and the general public indifference are all converging to insure that nothing is hidden. Rant and rave, fight the good fight, but those of us who give a shit are becoming increasingly rare. It's an out of control freight train that can't be stopped -- delayed maybe, diverted to do less damage perhaps, but unstoppable.

The only thing you can do is try to leave as small a footprint as possible. I know damn well that if someone really wanted to find me, or know my business, they could do so. I long ago abandoned any notion of being able to prevent any and all personal, corporate, or governmental snooping. All I can do is use some common sense, do nothing to call attention to myself, and try to make it as difficult as possible so as to not be worth the effort for all but those who are truly determined. And try to avoid doing the things that would make those determined folks want to find me.

Unfortunately, the list of those things gets longer everyday, and all those peculiar interests and eccentric foibles I used to take pride in may now well brand me as "suspicious" and worthy of further scrutiny.