Edward Snowden’s Privacy
Tips: “Get Rid Of Dropbox,” Avoid Facebook And Google
According to Edward Snowden, people who care about
their privacy should stay away from popular consumer Internet services like
Dropbox, Facebook, and Google.
Snowden conducted a remote interview today as part of the
New Yorker Festival,
where he was asked a couple of variants on the question of what we can do to
protect our privacy.
His first answer called for a reform of government
policies. Some people take the position that they “don’t have anything to
hide,” but he argued that when you say that, “You’re inverting the model of
responsibility for how rights work”:
When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’
you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right.’ You’re saying, ‘I don’t have
this right, because I’ve got to the point where I have to justify it.’ The way
rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.
He added that on an individual level, people should
seek out encrypted tools and stop using services that are “hostile to privacy.”
For one thing, he said you should “get rid of Dropbox,” because it doesn’t
support encryption, and you should consider alternatives like SpiderOak. (Snowden made
similar comments over
the summer, with Dropbox responding that protecting users’ information is “a
top priority.”)
[Update: In a June blog post related to Snowden, Dropbox actually
says, "All files sent and retrieved from Dropbox are encrypted while
traveling between you and our servers," as well as when they're "at
rest on our servers," and it points to other security measures that
the company is taking. The difference between Dropbox and SpiderOak,as explained
elsewhere, is that
SpiderOak encrypts the data while it's on your computer, as opposed to only
encrypting it "in transit" and on the company's servers.]
[And here's a more complete Snowden quote, from around
1:04:55 in the video: "We're talking about encryption. We're talking about
dropping programs that are hostile to privacy. For example, Dropbox? Get rid of
Dropbox, it doesn't support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files.
And use competitors like SpiderOak, that do the same exact service but they
protect the content of what you're sharing."]
He also suggested that while Facebook and Google have
improved their security, they remain “dangerous services” that people should
avoid. (Somewhat amusingly, anyone watching the interview via Google Hangout or
YouTube saw a Google logo above Snowden’s face as he said this.) His final piece
of advice on this front: Don’t send unencrypted text messages, but instead use
services like RedPhone and Silent Circle.
Earlier in the interview, Snowden dismissed claims
that increased
encryption on iOS will hurt crime-fighting efforts. Even with that encryption, he said law
enforcement officials can still ask for warrants that will give them complete
access to a suspect’s phone, which will include the key to the encrypted data.
Plus, companies like Apple, AT&T, and Verizon can be subpoenaed for their
data.
Beyond the privacy discussion, Snowden talked about
how and why he decided to leak documents bringing the government’s electronic
surveillance programs to light. He repeatedly claimed that he wasn’t pursuing a
specific policy outcome, but just trying to have an open conversation about
these issues:
We can have secret programs. You know,
the American people don’t have to know the name of every individual that’s
under investigation. We don’t need to know the technical details of absolutely
every program in the intelligence community. But we do have to know the bare
and broad outlines of the powers our government is claiming … and how they
affect us and how they affect our relationships overseas. Because if we don’t,
we are no longer citizens, we no longer have leaders. We’re subjects, and
we have rulers.
As for why Snowden hasn’t come back to the United
States to stand trial, he said that when he looked at how the U.S. government
treated whistleblowers like Thomas Drakeand Chelsea Manning, he became convinced that he wouldn’t be
able to present his case to a jury in an open trial.
“I’ve told the government again and again in
negotiations, you know, that if they’re prepared to offer an open trial, a fair
trial in the same way that Dan Ellsberg got, and I’m allowed to make my case
to the jury, I would love to do so,” he said. “But to this point they’ve
declined.”
Snowden acknowledged that there’s some irony in his
taking shelter in China and Russia, countries that don’t exactly have spotless
human rights or privacy records themselves. He said Russia was supposed to be a
transit point on his way to Latin America — but his passport was canceled while
he was at the Moscow airport.
The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer ended the interview on a
light note, suggesting that Snowden was now free to enjoy some vodka. He
replied, “I actually don’t drink alcohol. Little-known fact: I’ve never been
drunk.”
by Anthony
Ha (@anthonyha)
