[Cryptography] 78716A

[Jerry Leichter]

On Dec 18, 2014, at 5:22 PM, Ryan Carboni <ryacko at gmail.com> wrote:
> Common Americans are no longer considered worth protecting as part of national security.
That's a silly conclusion.  I would not have expected it ever to be part of the NSA's mission to protect your home network.  It's about like expecting the Army to provide you with guidance and tools to protect your home from foreign invaders.

Let's get real here.  There are levels of attack and protection.  The Army is supposed to protect *American society as a whole* against foreign attacks.  The NSA is supposed to primarily protect the communications of the US government, and secondarily the communications of the Americans in the aggregate.  They haven't been doing much of a job at that - too busy listening in on everyone - but that at least is arguably their mission.  Protecting you, personally ... no.  (And frankly, would you real *want* them to have that responsibility?  With responsibility necessarily comes power.)

Hell, it's been confirmed by the courts that municipalities and their police forces don't even have any specific duty to protect individuals:  If you call the cops to say someone is breaking in to your house but they don't get there in time to protect you - well, it's sad, but they have no *particularized* responsibility to protect *you*, and you have no recourse.

                                                        -- Jerry