US and UK intelligence have reportedly cracked technology used to encrypt internet services such as online banking, medical records and email.

Disclosures by leaker Edward Snowden allege the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK's GCHQ are hacking key online security protocols.

The encryption techniques targeted are used by popular internet services such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

The NSA is said to spend $250m (£160m) a year on the top secret program.

Even the Sydney Morning Herald is singing to the Murdoch tune

UGLY...

Fairfax Media chairman Roger Corbett attended a $500-a-head Liberal Party fund-raiser and stood to applaud Tony Abbott on Wednesday night, amid increasing criticism and a suggestion that he should resign from the Reserve Bank board for publicly criticising the Prime Minister.

joke

k

I’m just off the phone after dozens of radio interviews. Our [GetUp!] member-funded ad calling out Murdoch’s bias is causing quite a fuss.

You may not be like me: a paranoid idiot who sees conspiracies everywhere...

And here is my latest take on the Queensland vote for the senate where oodles of small parties are fighting for a sixth spot, possibly a fifth spot and remotely a fourth spot...

This is where the conspiracy comes in.

Dated June 2010, the "top secret" NSA document reveals that the intelligence agency was particularly interested in the diplomats' computer network. All of the country's embassies and consulates are connected with the Paris headquarters via a virtual private network (VPN), technology that is generally considered to be secure.