Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Privacy With Questions

Our freedom friend George W Bush informed us last week that the national emergency regarding export continues, due to the terror threat. Just another way to say they want to control all export, also cryptography, still regarded as a dangerous weapon! In the UK you can use that crypto weapon freely, but the British sheriffs wanna have their finger on Your trigger. Total privacy, until the police ask you to handover the keys. Sounds familiar.

Clipper chips with government decoding keys integrated, key sharing etc etc. Which part of the word privacy don't they understand? Ofcource, why wouldn't you give your keys, you've got nothing to hide, no? Today's friends could be tomorrows enemies, and vica verse. If politics change, so can change the definition of how terroristic your ideas or opinion are. I believe that privacy should stay privacy. Period!

They won't combat terror by these violations of privacy. The 9/11 hearings showed that the steganography, used by terrorists, was a urban legende. Confiscated Al Qaida instruction manuals showed a preference for secure man to man hand over of messages. They distrust encryption because they recognize NSA's capabilities. "Hey Sir Moustafa, could you please give the keys for the messages you have send to Afghanistan?". "Oh yes Mr Police man, right away!"...Come on, forget it! I hope they don't shoot him first, before asking the keys.

As Phil Zimmermann, the privacy activist puts it. If you outlaw encryption then only outlaws have encryption.

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