Liberty's Blog

Maybe we just can't trust anyone anymore. Hushmail has long been considered one the most secure ways of communicating., They even advertise their service as a protection against government surveillance.

In some countries, government sponsored projects have been set up to collect massive amounts of data from the Internet, including emails, and store them away for future analysis. This data collection is done without any search warrant, court order, or subpoena. One example of such a program was the FBI's Carnivore project. By using Hushmail, you can be assured that your data will be protected from that kind of broad government surveillance.

There were some emails the U.S government wanted to look at and it looks like the Hushmail just turned it right over to them. Well, they turned it over to the Canadiens who then turned it over to the American DEA.

Hushmail claims to offer unreadable email as it uses PGP encryption technology and a company specific key management system that it says will ensure only the sender and recipient can read the emails. However it seems the Canadian company has been divulging keys to the American authorities.

The document describes the tracking of an anabolic steroid manufacturer who was being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The document alleges that the majority of those engaged in the trade in anabolic steroids use Hushmail to communicate.

The DEA agents received three CDs of decrypted emails which contained decrypted emails for the targets of the investigation that had been decrypted as part of a mutual legal assistance treaty between the United States and Canada.

Thats right, it wasn't about terrorist, or narcotics. It was about steroids. I got to wonder if there is any privacy over the net any more. My real concern though is if whether we've tipped off any Islamic Terrorist that might be using Hushmail. The government showing its hand over something petty like seems silly. It does confirm our belief that the government is more concerned about the war on drugs than they are about the war on folks who are trying to blow us up.

You can't trust anyone anymore.

Update: More details on how they did it can be found on Wired