shanen's Journal: Nobody Expects the Email Inquisition!

But if you use email, you should expect the Email Inquisition!

Actually, the Email Inquisition has already begun, though it isn't clear when the floodgates were opened. Probably after 9/11, when Cheney could get anything he wanted through Congress without any pretense of debate. What we're probably seeing now may well be a turf war. The FBI just wants email-inquisition parity with the NSA and CIA.

We might disagree on a lot of things about Hillary Clinton, but surely you agree that she would like to increase the privacy of email. However email privacy is like a contagious disease. If she wants to protect hers, then she has to protect yours. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon is a REAL contagion from the FBI's perspective.

If Hillary had won big, which now appears unlikely because of the FBI's sudden intrusion into the election, then she surely would have supported legislation to increase email privacy. Now, even if she still wins, it's apparently going to be a narrow presidential victory. She won't have any leverage or Congressional support for any major changes and we really will get four more years like President Obama's last eight. Can you really imagine finding 60 Senators who are willing to work together on ANYTHING? To protect YOUR privacy? ROFLMAO. You silly peasant.

Now try to imagine the ramifications of a Trump presidency. Do you think he will resist giving the FBI more tools to use against HIS numerous enemies? Heck, if he actually wins, he owes it all to the FBI, so he should give them whatever they want. For example, do you know any Muslims? Have you ever exchanged email with one of them? That will be enough to justify keeping a permanent record of ALL of your email. Heck, they'll have to keep copies of all of your spam, too, just in case some of the spam was really secret communications from the Russians working for Putin.

Just in case it isn't sufficiently obvious to the most casual observer (in the idiomatic sense this time), let me remind you of why privacy matters to freedom, per my old equation:

#1 Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice{5} â (Beer^4 | Speech)

Killing your freedom is about limiting and controlling your choices. Sometimes it involves lying to you, as when the (sociopath) Donald tells you he really feels your economic pain, even though he's been fabulously wealthy since the day he was born and he has dedicated his entire life so far to making you poorer. However, more often it involves carrots and sticks. In discussions of privacy, the focus is usually on the sticks, how the dangerous information about your mistakes or personal flaws can be used to threaten and control you. However, the carrots are also important, because your interests, preferences, and even your strengths can be used against you to influence and control you, from the job you work at to the toothpaste you buy to the presidential candidates you vote for. Your email is FULL of carrots and sticks.

Everybody should expect the Email Inquisition!

[This is actually modified from another venue, so I guess this is mostly a reference copy. Your sincere and thoughtful (or at least thinking-based) comments and questions are welcome, but if they aren't based on what I actually wrote, then my response will probably be some number of ZZs. Such ZZs will basically signify that I saw your comment and dismissed it for some reason (though the most frequent reason seems to be for marking trolls' posts for ignoring without reading past the handle). [If Slashdot had a member-driven economic model, reducing the visibility of trolls would be high on the list of features I'd support.]]