PGP problems

[Brian Morrison]

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On Fri, 04 Aug 2000 22:30:54 +0100, David Gaskill wrote:

>If I merely encrypt some of my e-mail, as others have pointed out, "they" are 
>bound to become suspicious simply because that which is not in encrypted is so 
>innocuous. 

Indeed, assuming that they have the ability to monitor all traffic.

>
>If I encrypt everything and, as you have pointed out, most do not, then there 
>must be a strong suspicion that I am engaged in full-time espionage. 

Perhaps, but maybe you just like frustrating the state.

>
>But what if I encrypt nothing? "They" will  imagine that my plotting to 
>overthrow the state is conducted via dead letterboxes and cryptic personal ads 
>in newspapers. I will obviously be put under 24 hour surveillance so that "they" 
>can discover how I communicate with my network. 
>
>There is no escape. 

The escape will come when people realise that by concerted action they
can begin to regain some of their lost privacy. Police should have
evidence of criminal activity before looking for crime, at present the
law favours law enforcement over the individual as far as encryption is
concerned, at least in the UK. If I have nothing to hide, but choose to
hide everything in any case, no adverse inference should be drawn. If I
am a criminal and succeed in hiding my activities by good discipline,
then I deserve to get away.

Let's face it, the police are not 100% effective in detecting crime in
any category, why should the internet be any different?


- -- 

Brian Morrison                                  bdm@fenrir.org.uk

 "Almost noon, and she had yet to go the launderette in Concreton to 
 thaw out chickens in the spin-drier..."

PGP Public Key Fingerprint= C7 12 B9 54 00 0F 51 F6  37 9B 18 D1 E1 61 14 0B

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