Civil Liberties

is to ENCRYPT EVERYTHING.

When the Cypherpunks were discussing their fears of government on their mailing list, some 20 years ago now, I thought their fears were perhaps a bit overblown. I thought they were perhaps a little too paranoid. In hindsight, I have to admit I was wrong -- as were they -- if anything, they weren't paranoid enough. It used to be commonly accepted that the government would target certain individuals and groups -- it was widely believed that this was being done. Even the most paranoid of the Cypherpunks would have dismissed outright the idea that the government would be spying on EVERYONE -- this was considered infeasible. Fast forward 20 years, and here we are. When that data centre in Utah goes online, they'll be vacuuming-up all traffic that transits the United States.