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NSA Foils Much Internet Encryption
An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times is reporting that the NSA has 'has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show. ... The agency, according to the documents and interviews with industry officials, deployed custom-built, superfast computers to break codes, and began collaborating with technology companies in the United States and abroad to build entry points into their products. The documents do not identify which companies have participated.'" You may prefer Pro Publica's non-paywalled version, instead, or The Guardian's.
No, it's not a false dichotomy. And I'm continually impressed by the inability of people to distinguish between bombing targets that happen to have civilians in them in order to primarily kill military people, and bombing targets that have civilians in them in order to primarily kill civilians. That's exactly why they used Sarin; it kills (or injures ) EVERYBODY in an area. It makes no distinction between civilians and combatants. Perhaps you should.