security and blackmail

TRX
September 7, 2013
61:
@34:
how organized crime doesn't have access to NSA surveillance.... you know, as though there's no way to bribe, blackmail, or intimidate people in government.
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The NSA's back doors of software (and probably hardware) platforms won't remain secret forever. Once the cracks propagate, the [insert name here] doesn't need to trawl and store all communications when they can just target the things they're interested in - law enforcement communications, court dockets, banking information, blackmailable messages, etc.

If you need to move bulk data, there's always the spindle of DVDs and the Royal Mail...

TRX
September 7, 2013
63:
@46:
far more useful for purposes of blackmail than it will every be for catching terrorists.
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True, but the bar for useful blackmail information keeps rising.

Out someone as G/B/L/T? Nobody cares.

Out them as a member of the Klan, Black Panthers, or Greenpeace? Nobody much cares, and it's probably out there in googlespace already.

Out them as divorced, Jewish, or Catholic? Other than a handful of places, nobody has cared for a long time.

Out them as pedophiles, drug users, rapists, or domestic abusers? Maybe some luck there, but enough people have survived (or capitalized on) such accusations for them not to be the kiss of death they once were.

Out them as animal abusers? That's still enough to get the torch-and-pitchfork crowd out, at least until the mainstream media flog it until nobody cares...

I figure it won't be long before most of the traditional blackmail levers won't be worth much.

TRX
September 7, 2013
75:
@71:
Most people don't care about privacy because they don't believe in it. Big Sky Fairy has been watching all along, remember?
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Yes, but other than the occasional, burning bush, golden plates, or euphoric revelation, He/She/It doesn't tattle, and certainly doesn't contribute evidence against you in a court of law...

TRX
September 9, 2013
188:
Unfortunately the false positive rate on vending machines (subset my area, subset machines I've had occasion to use) is pretty high. More than once I've had a pocket full of change, *all* of which was rejected. I've had similar problems with the ones that take paper money.

I had to buy some washers at the hardware store today. Since I only needed two, the price was 14 cents each. They were about the size of a US nickle. If I'd felt like cleaning the swarf off the lathe, it would have been cheaper to drill a couple of nickles... counterfeiting common US coinage would definitely be a losing proposition, as anything you'd use to make a reasonably successful counterfeit costs more than the coin.