Constants and variables 116, I'd rather not edition
For many years I've been marveling at the naivete and innocence of techmonsters. They know ... or CLAIM to know ... the details of the Web, the packets and protocols and encryption. They claim to be ferocious advocates of privacy. BUT they still go ahead and USE the Web for everything. They never LEAVE the web and use plain conversation or paper or hand signals or shortwave or any other communication channel.

The most obvious example is Bitcoin. As I've been POINTING OUT since 2013, Bitcoin is Deepstate. It's OPENLY DEFINED AND DECLARED. The fictional founder SAYS he's CIA. What more do you want? All transactions go through NSA, all "mining" performs free mathematical labor for NSA. Still, the cultists chant nonsense about avoiding Big Brother, decentralization, etc, etc, etc.

Before NSA dissolved our brains, we had a MUCH more careful attitude about opsec, and media helped us by modeling the careful attitude. In movies and radio shows from the '30s and '40s, shady types constantly said "I'd rather not discuss this on the phone. We need to meet in the [cough cough] usual place." Everyone understood that phones could be tapped, that operators could listen in.

Does anyone ever say "I'd rather not discuss this by texting. Let's meet in person." If so, I've never seen it in reality or fiction.

In fact the OPPOSITE attitude is universal. Even when people are sitting at the same table they'd rather discuss by text. They're rigorously trained to send EVERYTHING through NSA.

The key variable is not the behavior of ordinary people, it's the behavior of people who know they need privacy. People engaged in illicit or highly unfashionable activities have a good reason to understand how communication systems work. Before the brain melt, those folks said "I'd rather not use the phone." After the brain melt, those folks INSIST on using the phone, delusionally believing it's safe.

Labels: Constants and Variables

  ¶ 12:13 AM