Comments on: FDL Book Salon Welcomes Cory Doctorow: Little Brother

By: pseudonymousinnc

pseudonymousinnc — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:52:04 +0000

There are encryption plugins for most popular email programs though it’s a bit harder if you use webmail. For disk encryption, TrueCrypt is free, multiplatform, and fairly easy to understand: you create a big password-protected bucket that you can place on your desktop as a hard drive.

A pity I missed this: Cory and I go back a few years, and I’m pleased (though hardly surprised) to see that he’s attentive to his new parental duties…

By: PJEvans

PJEvans — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:07:37 +0000

Clearly they’ve never heard themselves talking about ‘the Bayshore’ or ‘the Nimitz’. (I have to admit, ‘the El Camino’ is just wrong, and I’ve heard it said, usually by people from out of state.)

By: Elliott

Elliott — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:58:44 +0000

yes thanks Bev, but especially thanks Cory & Henry.
this was a wonderful discussion.
thanks Bev.

By: Marion in Savannah

Marion in Savannah — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:56:45 +0000

Sleep well and happily, and thanks for being here.

By: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:56:12 +0000

OK, gang! It’s nearly midnight here and I’ve got to get the baby to the creche by 8:30 tomorrow morning, so I’m going to go turn into a pumpkin.

Thanks everyone — especially you, Henry!

This was amazingly fun.

By: Marion in Savannah

Marion in Savannah — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:56:12 +0000

Start to use crypto for your routine correspondence, your hard drive, etc. It’s not hard, and it’s good hygiene that will protect you from identity thief creeps and other peepers as well as Big Brother.

I’ve got a firewall and good virus protection, but some of us older folks aren’t sure about encryption. Any hints on where I should go to learn?

By: Marion in Savannah

Marion in Savannah — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:53:48 +0000

And they didn’t take anyone from Dalton

[snort] As someone who “did a deuce” at Spence in Grades 11 and 12 you have just made me giggle.

By: Henry Farrell

Henry Farrell — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:53:48 +0000

Thanks!

By: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:52:17 +0000

Thanks, Bev!

By: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:51:49 +0000

It’s a really good question. I think that there are three main imperatives:

1. Take control of your technology and show others how to do so, too. Start to use crypto for your routine correspondence, your hard drive, etc. It’s not hard, and it’s good hygiene that will protect you from identity thief creeps and other peepers as well as Big Brother. Teach your friends to do this too. Start to create the climate that holds that technology *enhances* privacy, rather than destroying it. People demand what they expect.

2. Take control of the debate. We just don’t have good discussions of security in our public discourse. As humans, we’re poor risk-assessors, especially when the threat is a) lurid and b) rare. Stamping out risk-innumeracy is as important as stamping out racism or whatever other cause it is you’re willing to interrupt people midsentence to object to their objectionable sentiments for. Our incapacity to discuss risk intelligently is undermining our entire civil society, turning us into crazed witchburners. We have to fix this, or all is lost.

Finally:

3. Stay engaged in electoral politics. As I said above, voter engagement and turnout are the key to responsive democracy. We *have* to end the politics of discouragement (”You’re not *really* going to hold your nose and vote for John McCain are you? You know that he’s not *really* a conservative Christian, right?” or “You’re not *really* going to hold your nose and vote for Obama, are you? You know he voted for FISA, right? Just another shill in the pockets of the telcos.”).