A Little Bit of PGP History

http://www.novainfosecportal.com/2012/09/11/a-little-bit-of-pgp-history/

by grecs • 14 years ago

30 11 14 years ago

sukhbir• 14 years ago

FTA:

"If you really are a law-abiding citizen with nothing to hide, then why don't you always send your paper mail on postcards? [...] If you hide your mail inside envelopes, does that mean you must be a subversive or a drug dealer, or maybe a paranoid nut?"

Whenever I try to explain the importance of privacy (online and in real life) to family or friends, not surprisingly, the most common retort to this is: "I have nothing to hide". When I counter this argument and explain why privacy matters, usually by giving them instances from day-to-day life where they want their privacy respected but don't think about it that way, the message gets across quite clearly. There is this paper [0] "'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy" which dives deeper into countering this argument; it's a very interesting read.

[0] http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565

Spooky23• 14 years ago

People in the United States, especially younger people, are amazingly obtuse about this stuff.

When you peruse the mailing lists or other discussion forums re: GPG or PGP, you'll start to notice that you are interacting with, or at least reading stuff from more Germans than you had previously.

Think about why Germans seem to be more interested in privacy and personal email security. Many Germans were or know victims of the pervasive police state, or know folks who participated in that apparatus.

I suspect that people here won't smarten up until some massive and egregious privacy violation emerges.

lhnn3• 14 years ago

"Privacy is as apple-pie as the Constitution."

This really hit me. I finally know how to describe it!

I don't own a weapon because I want to kill someone. I own a weapon because I may have to use it against those who wish to do me harm. The same with privacy!

I don't want to overthrow the government or betray friends, I want privacy because every single person who wants to access my information has their own reasons, and rarely are they in line with my interests. I want privacy so that the expectation of privacy doesn't draw question or ire: it should be a no-brainer! Everyone wants to keep their personal communication hidden!

Or should.

confluence3• 14 years ago

> I don't own a weapon because I want to kill someone.

That is the point of a weapon (hence the term weapon). If you own one - you do want to kill someone with it - context is irrelevant to the purpose of ownership (namely specialised directed use of lethal force).

Stating otherwise is - frankly - bullshit.

beagle3• 14 years ago

> context is irrelevant to the purpose of ownership

Context is extremely relevant to the point of ownership.

I own a knife that can be used to kill. But I use it to cut food. Is it a weapon?

I have poison in my home! It's a detergent I use for cleaning. Am I in possession of a weapon? It could be used as such.

OP may have a gun as a deterrent of some sort, despite not planning to ever use it.

Context is everything. And stating otherwise is - frankly - bullshit.

lhnn3• 14 years ago

There are multiple purposes for a firearm (hunting, sport, and self defense). Already, you're wrong in your assertion. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, since i was obviously talking in the context of self-defense.

No, I do not WANT to kill anyone. I hope I never have to kill anyone. To imply that I sit here now desiring harm against some unknown person since I own a weapon is absurd.

That's like saying I want my house to burn because I have a smokey detector. After all, why would I want to detect smoke unless I wanted smoke to detect?

001sky• 14 years ago

Stating otherwise is - frankly - bullshit

Want != may need | so thats a logic fail

Viz, police, armed forces, etc.

Safety-factor is a principle of engineering. The folks that do stupid shit for "sport" do so in every walk of life, with every set of tools. Viz, black-hat...hacking, etc.

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A Little Bit of PGP History

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