The British agents claimed the NSA even helped intercept communications from Amnesty International and Christian Aid. People, for better or worse, don't trust the Internet. What we need is strong encryption available to everybody. But, of course, exporting sophisticated encryption technology is prohibited, and everything bureaucratically possible is being done to restrict its widespread dissemination in the United States and overseas. . . . . Mike Godwin, an attorney with the California-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the government is afraid.
Encryption is frightening to the government because it makes transactions hard to trace.
We have the technology to shift the balance back to the 19th century, where you could be certain someone was not listening outside of your house. But you can't be certain today. Indeed you can't. Apparently not even at an international conference of world leaders hosted on American soil by the president of the United States. Worse still, under this administration it may even be that the electronic pockets of America's top security agencies are not safe from gumshoe counterspies who, for reasons of politics or money, deliver vital information gained from snooping and otherwise to political operatives eager to trade it for contributions from international corporate operators or whomever is paying the most today. . . . .