On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 8:40 AM, the dragon<ce...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > oops, didn't reply all... > > And if you look at the cases reported, these are not system admins refusing > to divulge data, or even regular people trying to protect their privacy - > they are child molestors and wanna-be terrorists. > > encrytion is about maintaining personal and data privacy; it's not about > having a tool to break the law. [clip]
If you truly believe that, then there's no reason not to hand over your encryption key immediately to your local police department. For that matter, turn over a copy of your house key too: that's about protecting you from the "bad guys", not the police, right? Clearly I'm being a little extreme (ad absurdum) , but you need to re-read the article: it said the cases had to do with the crimes you mention, but it specifically didn't say that the people being charged with refusing to turn over their key were actually suspects. For all we know, they could be childhood school mates of the suspect who haven't seen him/her in thirty years. And, as many on this list have already pointed out, even if they were suspects, that in no-way means that they actually are child-molesters or terrorists, it means somebody things they might be. I could very well claim that there's a secret message coded in your lengthy email signature which admits to a vile crime; that doesn't mean you actually did it. Would you want to turn over all your encryption keys and passphrases just because I made some accusation? Clearly this is a tricky issue, because there are two important but conflicting values at stake: public safety and private rights. But I'd like to just keep one thing in your mind when this comes up; a little mantra to chant to yourself: "I am innocent until proven guilty." -Brian -- Feel free to contact me using PGP Encryption: Key Id: 0x3AA70848 Available from: http://keys.gnupg.net _______________________________________________ Gnupg-users mailing list Gnupg-users@gnupg.org http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users