What always puzzles me when that thread of arguments is repated, is that one aspect is left out: scale. In my opinion, the technical details of wifi, or even the fact that electronics is involved at all is completely irrelevant.

So yes, feel free to listen in on my conversations in public. However, if you decide to do so to everybody, everywhere, all the time, it doesn't matter whether you well intended, malicious, Google, or NSA. To me, you're the same enemy of society, privacy and democracy.

I've heard that he learnt coding from print-outs he fished out of the trash can.

Actually, I think this is their inspiration:
http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/438558-zak-mckracken-and-the-alien-mindbenders-atari-st-screenshot.png

> Using for-pay Wifi for free is stealing.

That is why I always download Metallica's forth album over DNS. The two injustices cancel each other out, and it all becomes flowers! You didn't know that!? You should really try it some time!

Tried this over the airplane wifi the other day. Works like a charm!

Two wrongs doesn't make a right. So in terms of growing up, the "they also did it" excuse is as mature as a six-year old who gets caught red-handed, and tries to justify his wrong-doing because the other kids also stole from the cookie-jar.

Regarding perspective, I think it would help if more people would read Bruce Schneier's "Beyond Fear". There he gives a very straight forward, for they layman, introduction to analysing risks and appropriate security measure response. In that light, it becomes clear that neither NSA's nor FSB's programs have anything to do with mitigating risks. It's not even about the pretence and security theatre any more (after all NSA's programs were mostly secret).

It's pure corruption based cocaine induced money-making and dick-swinging: "Look, our data center has a gazillion coca-bytes!"; "We'll monitor you so thoroughly, we'll know when your wife is PMS'ing"; "I want a Star Trek Command Center! Wabu-wabu!!!" See Keith Alexander's ego trip for the last one - talk about being out of touch and lacking perspective.

Microsoft is in the past, if you ask me.

Show of hands, everybody: Who hasn't used Windows for work nor leisure in the last ten years? (Tech-support for parents and friends doesn't count).

Precisely. I've never understood the attitude of not doing anything while waiting for disaster to strike. But SSD, which at worst will wear out after many years of normal use - No definitely not touching any of that! Too risky!

You'd think technically inclined people were better at analysing the benefits and risks of the technology they use. Apparently not.

In my personal opinion, it was wrong, not because it was digital, but because of the scale they executed at. It would have been just as bad if they had driven around with audio microphones and recorded snippets of everbody's voice and put all of that on the Internet.

In fact, I fail to see why Google should get a pass on this, when we all clearly see the problems with NSA doing the same, but on fiber. Oh, and don't get me started on Street View.

Dude, did you just dial in from 1980? Tell me which week, and I'll beam you the lottery numbers, OK? Oh, and if you could do something about that horrible fashion trend coming up, that'd be great!

That's too concise and too much to the point. I believe the reviews would be more personal, littered with titbits of no relevance to the product at hand. Let's see, maybe something like this:

My wife's third cousin twice removed made an interesting comment the other day about her neighbor. Apparently, he had been doing some handy-work on his house lately, but there seemed to be any issue with the payment of the electricity bill. So, his other neighbor had helped out with an extension cord from his house. Now, my wife's third cousin twice removed found all this somewhat suspicious, so she called in the NSA to do a complete check, including a full house search by the local swat team and cavity checks on all family members, even the dog. They didn't find anything, but if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, so they are all good. Thanks CSI for your thorough work. I would definitely order again.

> this kind of religious devotion is mental illness

That strikes awfully close to home, don't you think? According to a 2007 Gallup poll, about 43% of Americans believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so." Viewed from the other side, our current mission to bring "democracy to the world" (or whatever the hell we're doing and excusing it with), might just as well be seen as modern day crusades. I'm absolutely sure both you and I would fight it if we were at the other end of the stick.

As for the quote from Rudyard Kipling's story, that applies to any enlisted or ranked man, in any military at any point in history. See Gwynne Dyer's documentary "War" for an excellent view into the training of Western world enlisted men. So yeah, maybe your comment was indeed sarcastic? Hard to tell. Some people actually do believe that "the team I'm with is better than and morally superior to yours". Tribe belongingness is after all how human kind has survived over the millennia. I wouldn't call it sophisticated, though.

Finally, are we supposed to be afraid? Well, but of course we are! How else would our masters be able to pull a sock over our head and go on with their cocaine induced power-trips? "We've always been at war with Eastasia", and so on.

Relax. What he's advocating is an expiry date for information. That's an old concept, already implemented in many systems and companies. If you work for a shop big enough to employ one or two in-house lawyers, chances are you are not allowed to keep your e-mail around indefinitely. In his 2009 book, "Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age", Viktor Mayer-Schönberger concluded that an expiry date on data was the only feasible solution to the security and privacy nightmares we find ourselves in today.

Now, can this kind of system be circumvented? Well, but of course it can. However, just like ignoring the expiry date on food-stuff you buy, you would do so at your, and possibly other's, peril. Viewed as a recommendation from somebody with your best interests in mind (just like the pack of beef you buy at the supermarket), it is actually a very good idea.

The summary says the requirement is for official communication. Presumably, inter-department, but still intra-government. So if one part of the Indian government has to spy on another to get information, instead of just requesting it, that's a sad state of affairs, but less of a security or privacy problem for the common citizen.

The original premises of the AC poster, which I repeated, and you also quoted, was that you would be forced by a spy agency to alter the code or system. That is the type of intervention we have seen in the past, and "it cannot be done because of the way the system is designed" would not work as an excuse or defence. You would simply be forced to re-design your system.

So no, the problem is not solved by any technical means. Rather, it has to be solved at a political level, where the kind of requests discussed in the article, and the hypothetical scenario we are discussing here would be illegal to make.