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News and commentary from the cross-platform scripting community.
cactus Mail Starting 10/2/97

From: filsa@gol.com (Philip Suh);
Sent at 10/3/97; 3:01:17 PM;
Privacy Discussion at DaveNet Live

At DaveNet Live the other night , someone commented that "Privacy requires strong encryption". And then followed a little explanation of 40-bit, 128-bit, gizillion bit encryption.

I wanted to yell out, "No!", because this is such a technical viewpoint, that, while important, totally leaves out the big picture--the users.

For privacy to work, users need not only strong, but *ubiquitous*, encryption. That means that when I go into my emailer, I want an encryption light switch: on/off.

The arguments about privacy/encryption were far too complicated. It's realy very simple.

1. I have a right to choose who hears what I say, who reads what I write. I do that to provide context and understanding--without which my message gets distorted. Particularly, the government has no right messing in my personal life.

2. The right of privacy can't truly be protected if there are any backdoors for the government to check what we write or say--no matter how good intentions are.

3. While most people think privacy is important, in the digital realm (ie, email) it's been far too difficult up till now to get encryption.

4. Goverment is worried about criminals using encryption to their own advantage; the answer is that even with backdoors in encryption schemes (ie, Clipper, key recovery), criminals can still put an encrypted message inside another. There will always be schemes to defeat key recovery--and honest citizens will be vulnerable to abuses of power.

I think efforts to make people understand their privacy rights are very important, so Bill Gates' efforts in that area are appreciated. But it's also important that the software companies (and preferably the OS companies) put encryption into their systems and make it easy to use. And speedy implementation could make any laws that are going to be passed moot.

Thanks for Davenet! Good to see you in person; wish I had longer to talk but I had to hit the road-- I had to get up really early for my flight back to Japan. Next time, hope to have longer to chat.

From: timt@ssaweb.com (Tim Tate);
Sent at 10/2/97; 4:02:01 PM;
Re:"Oh those boys at Microsoft!"

I wonder... what exactly is a "life size" version of the IE logo? How big is small e in real life? :)

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