Bonum Certa Men Certa

Tell Lawyers That 'Privilege' Without Encryption is Just a Mirage

No encryption



Summary: The sad truth that law firms claim to respect privacy and security; they do in principle, whereas in practice they respect neither

YEARS ago I wrote a long rant about laywers' electronic mail still not being encrypted (even after Snowden's NSA and GCHQ leaks). They don't value privacy. They claim to care, but not really; not in practice, not in the technical sense or by any technical means. An envelope in the post (snail mail) or a phonecall (on the landline) might offer more privacy than electronic mail because surveillance on those (voice recognition, opening letters etc.) is a bit more expensive. There's an overhead, but no encryption.



"An envelope in the post (snail mail) or a phonecall (on the landline) might offer more privacy than electronic mail because surveillance on those (voice recognition, opening letters etc.) is a bit more expensive. There's an overhead, but no enryption."This has sadly become the 'norm'; law firms speak of aspects such as privacy and "privilege"; but in practice? Well, they do hardly anything towards that. Usually nothing towards it! To make matters worse, they give a wrong impression or the false expectation of privacy. It's an illusion or deliberate deception. If you are not going to encrypt your data and your communications, then quit speaking of "privilege" altogether. You value it only in principle or in theory, but not in practice. So your practice misleads clients.

This isn't limited to patent law firms, where subpoenas can lose one a case.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Corporate Media: Blame the People Who Enter the Abandoned IBM Buildings, Not IBM for Abandoning Workers in Pursuit of IT Sweatshops
When the media spreads falsehoods stocks can go up (a lot higher), but at whose expense and how long for?
SUEPO Munich Report on the Recent EPO Demonstration and Rolling Strikes That Continue to Grow
"increasing registrations for the 'rolling strikes' running until autumn"
Gemini Links 11/07/2026: Old Computer challenge, Poems, Antenna, and More
Links for the day
 
Blogs May be Making a Comeback (They're Not Fediverse, They Are Joined by RSS Feeds)
Don't fake expansion where none existed
ChromeOS and GNU/Linux in the United Kingdom Reach 11%
the UK shows signs of digital maturity
Canonical is Selling Microsoft, It Pays The Register MS to Sell Microsoft
It's all about money to them. And they call this journalism.
When Red Hat's HR Becomes the Same as IBM's HR (Bluewashing)
Red Hat keeps sacking very experienced engineers and adding temporary interns
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia
Assuming this is more or less accurate, we could use a plausible explanation
Over a Week After Microsoft Discontinued Some XBox Models It Apparently Exits Some Markets Altogether
We seem to be witnessing the end of XBox
Links 11/07/2026: "Trademark wars of Influencer Culture", Xinuos Uses Copyrights Versus UNIX
Links for the day
North America: GNU/Linux Measured at 10%
To better understand what contributes to the gains
Following Corrections and Adjustments statCounter Sees GNU/Linux at 7.1%, an All-Time High
There is a lot of layoffs at Microsoft this month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 10, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, July 10, 2026
Links 11/07/2026: Wednesday-Saturday News Catch-up
Links for the day
Prioritising High-Importance News
In order to fully catch up with news we'll not publish many new articles until next week
The Register MS: "AI" More Than 80 Times in One Article. But It's Not an Article, It's Sponsored Keyword-stuffed Page.
The Register MS is being paid to actively promoted this scheme
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 09, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, July 09, 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 08, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 08, 2026