Brits to be Commanded to Yield PGP Keys?
May 18, 2006
9:36 a.m., MT

That's sure what it's looking like, according to a c|net news article titled British legislation to enforce encryption key disclosure. First two paragraphs (all links in original):

The British government is preparing to give its police the authority to force organizations and individuals to disclose encryption keys, a move that has outraged some security and civil-rights experts.

The powers are contained within Part 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The RIP Act, also known as RIPA, was introduced in 2000, but the government has held back from bringing Part 3 into effect. Now, more than five years after the original act was passed, the Home Office is seeking to exercise the powers within Part 3.

I'm not sure which is scarier, frankly—trying to force individuals to violate their own privacy; or the fact that the British government apparently has the power [and the people are okay with this??] to enact components of the law whenever they deem necessary.

Jomama has been recommending buying a donkey for quite some time, and is being proved a right-thinking cuss already in our economic end game. To which I add: get PGP.

Apparently there are some games afoot with PGP versions; last time I went to PGPI.com (PGP International—and yes, Virginia, GPG is available there too), trying to get version 6.5.8 for a friend, we kept getting shunted to PGP9—which is a commercial product that, if one doesn't pay for it, reverts after a test period to a still-functioning version. Or that's the claim. Today, PGP 6.5.8—which will work on lots of platforms, but not XP—is available for download. Start at the Freeware PGP versions page to select your platform, then if possible, click through to get 6.5.8. I'm still insanely busy, but if you want/need help on installing or using it, let me know in private email and I'll do my best. It's that important. If there's a lot of interest, perhaps a tutorial session on ICQ could be arranged.

And before I get any of that bullshit about having something to hide, check this out:

We do nothing wrong when we make love or go to the bathroom. We are not deliberately hiding anything when we seek out private places for reflection or conversation. We keep private journals, sing in the privacy of the shower, and write letters to secret lovers and then burn them. Privacy is a basic human need. ....

For if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable.

Read it all, including the dynamite concluding paragraph: The Eternal Value of Privacy by Bruce Schneier.

Sunni

Comments: 5 people have contributed to the conversation

On Thursday, May 18th, at approximately 12:37 p.m. Mountain time, Happy Curmudgeon said:

Saw the UK/encryption keys outrage on Slashdot as well. Wonder if the Brits will roll over on this one like they did on the government gun grabbing.

On Friday, May 19th, at approximately 4:35 p.m. Mountain time, NonEntity said:

Of course they will. What a silly question!

:-(

- NonE

On Friday, May 19th, at approximately 5:27 p.m. Mountain time, bob r said:

program and source code available at

ftp://ftp.zedz.net/pub/crypto/pgp/pgp60/

The 'ckt' versions will work with Windows XP also.

On Saturday, May 20th, at approximately 12:41 a.m. Mountain time, RenaGade said:

Follow the link, and you're in the pink.

http://correolimpio.no-ip.com:8081/--APP/--%20PGP/

On Saturday, May 20th, at approximately 7:32 p.m. Mountain time, Random Thoughts said:

For anyone interested, here is a link to Shyfile. A multi-purpose encryption tool
with many different uses.

http://www.shyfile.net/page2.html

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