[LINK] Surveillance

Stephen Loosley stephen at melbpc.org.au
Fri Nov 22 05:07:44 AEDT 2013


<http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/googles-schmidt-predicts-end-of-government-censorship-spying-within-a-decade-449032> (snip)


Google Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has a bold prediction: Censorship around the world could end in a decade, and better use of encryption will help people overcome government surveillance.

In a lecture at Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, the executive of the world's biggest web search company made a pitch for .. countries protecting communication from spying.

"First they try to block you; second, they try to infiltrate you; and third, you win. I really think that's how it works. Because the power is shifted," he said.

On the home front Google is now one of several tech companies embroiled in the controversy over the reach of U.S. government spying. 

Top secret documents disclosed by former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden have suggested the National Security Agency has tapped Google's and others' communications links to aid in its gathering of intelligence.

Schmidt at the time said that the NSA's activity, if true, was outrageous and potentially illegal.

"The solution to government surveillance is to encrypt everyone," Schmidt said on Wednesday, referring to the process of encoding data to secure it.

He acknowledged that encryption can be broken and said Snowden's revelations showed the NSA has indeed done it, but added: "With sufficiently long keys and changing the keys all the time, it turns out it's very, very difficult for the interloper of any kind to go in and do that."

Google has recently increased the length and complexity of its encryption keys, Schmidt said, calling it a constant "game of cat and mouse" between the governments and Internet users.

"It's pretty clear to me that government surveillance and the way in which governments are doing this will be here to stay in some form, because it's how the citizens will express themselves, and the governments will want to know what they're doing," Schmidt said.

"In that race, I think (they) will lose, and I think that people would be empowered."

--
Cheers,
Stephen 		 	   		  



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