E2E is only as trustworthy as the endpoints:
Undercover NYPD infiltrated small groups of Black Lives Matter activists and gained access to their text messages, according to newly released documents obtained by the Guardian. ...
...Undercover officers were able to pose as protesters even within small groups, giving them extensive access to details about protesters’ whereabouts and plans.
@sarahjeong This seems so common as to be banal, but *why*?
Why do police departments expend *so* *much* effort infiltrating protests?
I wonder if it's partly because they're obvious? Criminal gangs aren't always public, but protests are obvious and visible?
cf: That strange Scotland Yard story of long-term infiltration of UK Animal Liberation groups. (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29743857)
@RAOF same with FBI infiltration of environmentalists
@sarahjeong @RAOF Because protests and movements can actually be subversive (to the status quo), if left alone. And the police, if nothing else, are meant to enforce the status quo. Thus, gotta keep an eye on them and make sure they don't get out of hand.
@khoover3 @sarahjeong a somewhat cynical (but not necessarily innacurate) take :pensive:
I don't think that's what the police commanders tell themselves, though. What *do* the police commanders tell themselves?
@sarahjeong @RAOF I'd argue they don't really have to see it differently. The status quo is order, the law as it stands. When someone speaks out against it, they're creating a disturbance. Whether that's within their rights or not, it's logical (from a gatekeeper's PoV) to keep an eye on them.
As for why it seems some organisations get hit by this more than others, I'd argue it's a problem of personal biases at the top.
@sarahjeong I'd be surprised if they were using end to end encryption, but I get you're point. Clearly it takes a lot more than just e2e encryption to plan this sort of stuff securely.
It seems to me most likely that one of the organisers was an informant (rather than any police actually posed undercover).
@sarahjeong Hmm.. Seems kinda illegalish.