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Yahoo secretly scanned customer emails on behalf of U.S. intelligence


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Every Yahoo customers emails scanned for content by US government, not just metadata.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-nsa-exclusive-idUSKCN1241YT

 

 

Does you still use Yahoo, Gmail, hotmail etc?  

 

Do revelations like this tempt you to switch to Protonmail, signal or other secure encrypted email/message services?

 

 

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I use Gmail and I'm not one of these that claims "I'm doing nothing wrong so they can read my emails" but I honestly couldn't give a shite. I don't really send "personal" emails that I need to worry about someone reading, and I quite like it when I book a holiday and Google gives me flight updates by trawling through my emails.

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I still use gmail. To be honest, this shit doesn't bother me probably as much as it should though... At the end of the day, I can't imagine that they're literally reading each email. It'll be scanning them for words they potentially don't like, but given that I've no plans at present to overthrow the state, I don't see my emails being of any real interest to them.

 

I'd feel differently if they were using this as a means of corporate espionage.

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I'll send it on to the couple of Luddites I know who still use it.

 

Is it bad that I don't really care anymore?  Just seems like the cost of doing business these days, and is only really dangerous in a dystopian future where the likes of Trump and Le Pen get into power.

 

I use Gmail too and everything else Google tracks; my DNA is on file too.

Edited by adios
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I use Gmail and I'm not one of these that claims "I'm doing nothing wrong so they can read my emails" but I honestly couldn't give a shite. I don't really send "personal" emails that I need to worry about someone reading, and I quite like it when I book a holiday and Google gives me flight updates by trawling through my emails.

 

I think that is the the massive consensus view as well.  Yahoo's stock price hasn't been impacted at all so there seems to be no fear that this will negatively impact their customer satisfaction.

 

I'd prefer all of my search, browsing, messaging, mailing etc to be completely private, but even with TOR and DuckDuckgo and that, the convenience of google syncing everything is too attractive to forego entirely.  Looked at Qubes OS as well, then thought "Nah, fuck that, much too much of a carry on".

 

I'm trying to separate out personal & financial stuff into Protonmail and keep the the crap you get from Amazon, MoneySavingExpert and that in Gmail.  but even that is a borderline pain to keep up.

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I still use gmail. To be honest, this shit doesn't bother me probably as much as it should though... At the end of the day, I can't imagine that they're literally reading each email. It'll be scanning them for words they potentially don't like, but given that I've no plans at present to overthrow the state, I don't see my emails being of any real interest to them.

 

I'd feel differently if they were using this as a means of corporate espionage.

 

That's the problem isn't it.  If anyone had any thoughts of overthrowing the government for overreach, they'd be sniffed out and extinguished.  Build a Stazi surveillence state to keep everyone in check while promoting the notion of freedom and privacy.

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That's the problem isn't it.  If anyone had any thoughts of overthrowing the government for overreach, they'd be sniffed out and extinguished.  Build a Stazi surveillence state to keep everyone in check while promoting the notion of freedom and privacy.

 

Yes except that anyone with designs on such a thing wouldn't use gmail or yahoo. Or if they did, they'd deserve to get caught.

 

For you, is it just the principle, or do you see some manner of long term issue posed to yourself as a result of ignoring this?

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This reminds me of that bloke who was denied entry into the US after putting on FaceBook or Twitter or whatever that he was going to destroy America.

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Yes except that anyone with designs on such a thing wouldn't use gmail or yahoo. Or if they did, they'd deserve to get caught.

 

For you, is it just the principle, or do you see some manner of long term issue posed to yourself as a result of ignoring this?

 

It's not just principle.  Anyone could be thrust into the limelight for any reason at any time.

 

The authorities can then leak personally embarrassing information about you or someone close to you, even stuff you're unaware they were up to, that might damage you.  All well and good saying you wouldn't be daft enough to buy anything embarrassing online. or email anything that could taint you, but you don't know that's the case with every one of your contacts and every one of their contacts.

 

Associations get made.

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It's not just principle.  Anyone could be thrust into the limelight for any reason at any time.

 

The authorities can then leak personally embarrassing information about you or someone close to you, even stuff you're unaware they were up to, that might damage you.  All well and good saying you wouldn't be daft enough to buy anything embarrassing online. or email anything that could taint you, but you don't know that's the case with every one of your contacts and every one of their contacts.

 

Associations get made.

 

Ah true enough - I've already concluded that I could never go into politics based on some of the rants made in private messages on facebook (where I'm less restrained). It depends on how likely you are to show up on their radar I guess.

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I'm in the couldn't give a shit camp. Nothing I do it say is remotely interesting enough for MI5 or the CIA to give a shit over.

 

Regarding politics, I see Bridget is deleted from here. Can still see her when quoted though.

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I'm in the couldn't give a shit camp. Nothing I do it say is remotely interesting enough for MI5 or the CIA to give a shit over.

 

Regarding politics, I see Bridget is deleted from here. Can still see her when quoted though.

But say you do something one day ie civil liberties or some kind of whistle blowing......??

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And when HF puts it like that, very believable they would destroy the career of an honest politician who didn't toe the party line, even today.

 

One more thing to be concerned about.  Cheers @@Happy Face

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The worlds shit these days like. 20 years ago, when I was a kid, you could do pretty much what you wanted, where you wanted within reason and people were none the wiser.

 

These days you can't walk down a street or into a shop without being on cctv, you're probably being watched through your laptop or smart tv, your phone and credit card tracks every website you view and every payment you make, your car is on every ANPR camera it passes, your emails are tracked.

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