[Vision2020] Startpage: The World's Most Private Search Engine, Offers Startmail Mid 2013

[Sunil Ramalingam]

I don't like the loss of privacy that results from private companies gathering information and selling it. But there is one huge difference between them and the State doing this:

The State can arrest and prosecute, where the private companies can't.

I'm not disgusted by the outrage; I'm disgusted that it is for partisan reasons. The truth is that the current administration has continued the policies started by the previous one. It has continued the same overreaching tactics, continued to grab power. Republicans defended Bush and now attack Obama for the same acts. Democrats attacked Bush but now defend Obama. 

That's crap. We should be attacking the ACTS, not the actors. 

Sunil
From: v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm
To: starbliss at gmail.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:57:04 -0700
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Startpage: The World's Most Private Search Engine,	Offers Startmail Mid 2013

Interesting – thanks for sharing this, Ted. I’m going to take this opportunity share a couple of comments  J I am really frustrated & somewhat disgusted by all the outrage about the whole NSA & PRISM revelati.'ons.  Do I agree with repeated and ongoing decisions US citizens and our legislators have oh, so willingly, made in the name of some pretend sense of security?  Heck NO, and I also don’t agree with the monitoring. But, honestly, what the heck do folks expect given our long history of giving away privacy in general?!  We have long allowed business – big and small – to collect and to use our personal info, including selling that data to other businesses, without even a whimper from probably 99.9% of the population.  And, believe me when I say that the whole PRISM affair absolutely pales in comparison to the personal info you’ve freely been giving away to business for quite a few years now. I remember lots of kudos from folks about HIPPA (medical records privacy), but how many of you are aware that HIPPA was a very belated attempt to shut the barn door long after the horse had gotten out?  For years, our medical privacy was violated by Big Business health insurers, again, without even a whimper from 99% of the population. Then, add to that the “patriot” craze that followed the 9/11 bombing & has continued to this day – those daring to raise the red flag about privacy concerns and any childish notion that privacy compromises were going to make us “safe” were labeled unpatriotic, terrorists, and so forth.  Indeed, many of those expressing outrage about the NSA, PRISM, etc. are some of those very same folks who shrilly branded as unpatriotic those of us who saw the very real risks of the whole “in the name of national security” illusion. Further, some of the quarters that are whining the loudest about this latest non-scandal (at least, for anyone with connected brain cells) are the very ones who continue to advocate propping the privacy door wide open to intrusive government for causes they support.  Consider, for a moment, the issues of equal protection under the law with respect to gay rights and also reproductive rights.  Around this nation – and Idaho is certainly no exception – folks are advocating what amounts to medical rape with those mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds prior to pregnancy termination, and they think inserting government into the private relationship between me and my legal health care provider is somehow justified.  Relegating women to “breeder” status is the direction they want to move.  Somehow, that’s OK, but collecting user data from Big Business is beyond outrageous.  Seriously?! And, in Idaho, our favorite GOP morons continue to make silly arguments against “gay marriage” in the name of “protecting the sanctity of marriage” (read:  “our warped interpretation of the Christian Bible”), and they want to ban efforts of communities around the state to provide equal protection.  But, again, government collecting user data from Big Business (which, IMHO, is only whining because they got caught with their pants down cooperating, to varying degrees) is some “huge scandal.”  Riiight. Ted, I don’t know the answer to your question about StartMail, but I suspect the answer is likely related to StartPage’s small size. For more discussion about online privacy in general, folks might want to read the following links I happen to have handy.  Note:  they are written for laypersons, not techies, so you may – or may not – find them informative and/or helpful.http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/privacy-please-new-technologies-could-hide-your-identity-online-6C10298245http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/6-things-you-can-do-now-be-stealthier-internet-6C10312932    Saundra LundMoscow, ID We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. 
~ Immanuel Kant    From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of Ted Moffett
Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 2:45 PM
To: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: [Vision2020] Startpage: The World's Most Private Search Engine, Offers Startmail Mid 2013 https://startpage.com/
>From the website above:
Take a deep breath. You're safe here.
Click here to learn how StartPage protects you from government surveillance.
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According to this source, those behind Startpage.com will soon offer an email service, Startmail,     https://www.startmail.com/
I heard about this last night on AM Coast to Coast talk radio.  
But consider what this source claims about the security offered:
Federal spy agencies "have the expertise to overcome any kind of encryption system that is used in commercial systems!"
http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2013/06/14/ixquick-and-startpage-are-starting-an-email-service-more-secure-than-gmail/
June 14, 2013
Now, IxQuick, the people behind StartPage, are preparing StartMail, an email system that will offer user privacy as well – of a sort. 
The StartMail system, which will soon enter Beta testing, will not engage in data mining of the sort that has become pervasive in Gmail. The emails will be encrypted using (“PGP encryption”)… and it all sounds great… until one realizes that the federal spy agencies have the expertise to overcome any kind of encryption system that is used in commercial systems.
In the abstract, StartMail seems like a timely idea. In practice, I’m skeptical that NSA cyberspies can be kept out of any email system.
Techies, I’m asking for your help in understanding these issues. Could StartMail actually be made sustainably secure from the government’s online spies? Is StartPage really only secure for now because it’s too small at the moment to catch the attention of Big Brother?
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

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