Is the free market better at everything?
Posted by Paul Musgrave on 17 January 2005 | one response
Including, apparently, Internet surveillance. Security Focus reports the government has abandoned use of its proprietary “Carnivore” web-snooping software in favor of using commercially available products. (via DefenseTech.Org)
One Response to “Is the free market better at everything?”
This isn’t surprising, Carnivore required the compliance of ISPs to work (which was not always forthcoming) and then was defeated by end to end encryption systems such as PGP. Organized criminal groups already were/are running their info at an encryption layer that would render Carnivore useless.
Common Black Hat tools compromise their intended targets at a much lower level and would then render PGP useless. Encrypting your email is pointless if someone can track each keystroke you make.