On 7/14/15 3:11 PM, Alfie John wrote:

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015, at 01:52 AM, dan@geer.org wrote:

CxO: We have to prepare for the day when no software we depend on is run on premises.

Zen Master: Then we have to prepare for the day that all adversaries
know all our secrets.

On hearing this, the CxO was enlightened.

Sharing all of your secrets, then prosecuting adversaries that make ill use of it, in court and the court of public opinion, is a valid path. Better, throw in some misinformation so that they are mislead in self-sabotaging ways.

If you are speaking on a line that you know is being recorded by "authorities", what should you be talking about? In the US at least, perhaps something that would make listeners blush or spend time chasing phantoms or something. Might as well get your money's worth. At some point I realized that I should just go to court for every ticket or other opportunity. If the alternative is that you certainly have to pay, then you might as well learn, get comfortable protecting yourself in court, say your peace, and try whatever legal argument you can think of. I have about a 50% win rate.

Interesting how certain companies, Apple, feel they need to be totally opaque while others, Google and others, are closer to being mostly open. Space-X and/or Tesla are giving away free use of some patents, a somewhat related example.

Alfie

sdw