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Before talking about this article we think that a small preface is necessary, partly for those who don't know us and partly to try to be as clear as possible. Today's topic, in fact, is a little off-topic with respect to the topic of this site but in our opinion it is still worthy of note. The news can be briefly summarized with the title: the CIA spied on everyone.
On this site we try to leave conspiracies aside and talk only about facts. Beyond this we dedicate ourselves above all to private companies which, too often, they have some policy on the decidedly opaque privacy. So what does this article called have to do with it The CIA spied on everyone?
In fact, on this site we look for alternatives to programs or to services. We don't try to make you perfect hackers or totally anonymous on the web. We believe there is a huge and substantial difference between being spied on by a government for national security or being persecuted by advertising for mere profit, totally not caring about privacy.
National security and private companies
In the first case it can and must be discussed at length to understand how far the State must go and what is right compromise Between personal privacy and national security. Don't get us wrong, it's not right to do this tout court, this is simply not the place to talk about it. We don't have the potential, the knowledge and above all that's not our goal.
In the second case, the one we are mainly concerned with, it is above all a question of principle. Earn tons of money using our data it's annoying. If then private companies they also begin to have control and management of our data, choosing for us what is right and wrong and then even thinking about it draw our psychological profiles based on our online activities… well, that's starting to be everything very disturbing indeed.
And we think there should be rigid and severe rules that allow users to really control their privacy and their data. In short, we no longer want to be slaves to advertising, we believe that we have really gone further.
Was the CIA spying on everyone?
Having said this, let's try to summarize a little the news we want to talk about today. A further premise: according to Attivissimo and Daily fact this is old news and of which everyone was already aware of it since 1994. The news of the last few days is that some public documents that were previously secret have been made public.
The Washington Post investigation: The CIA spied on everyone
In practice, according to an investigation by the Washington Post and German TV ZDF, the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY and the BND they were the secret owners of the company Crypto AG. Crypto AG it was a Swiss company specialized in encrypted communications.
In very few words thanks to this secret acquisition both the CIA and the BND could read with extreme ease all the documents and secret communications of the governments of the world. Among others, of course, also Italy.
Until 1994 (or perhaps at least until 2018, the year Crypto AG closed?) two nations (or little more, probably also UK and Switzerland itself) they secretly monitored the documents and encrypted conversations of around 120 countries. A reality that probably goes far beyond some theories worthy of the worst conspiracy theorist. This is absolutely not intended to justify conspiracy theorists because when you make strong claims you must also have strong evidence. But be careful not to make the opposite mistake, i.e believe that conspiracies don't exist. They exist and every now and then they are also exposed.
Was the CIA spying on everyone? And what do I care?!
What perplexes and worries us most about this matter is the total lack of care on the part of almost everyone. The USA and Germany have been spying on governments for 50 years and, essentially, nobody gives a damn.
Returning to our prefection: if you think that the private companies they go more subtle or whatever have a greater interest in protecting your conversations, we have bad news for you.
For more information on the news and on Crypto AG you can read the article Washington Post (Outline), Wired or the Crypto AG Wikipedia page.
If you are interested in other news on privacy, visit our section News. Otherwise you can search alternatives to Google products or read our product reviews FOSS (Free and ORpen Source Ssoftware)
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