From: tom.jennings@f111.n125.z1.FIDONET.ORG (tom jennings)
Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:26:42 PPE
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: drugs for sale
Message-ID: <3373.2AF03157@fidogate.FIDONET.ORG>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



A cross posting from FidoNet PUBLIC_KEYS. It would be nice if some
other cypherpunks could join the PUBLIC_KEYS echo. 



;Date      29 Oct 92  11:28:07
From:      Jesse David Hollington@1:125/33
To:        Arol Ambler@1:125/111
Subject:   Test
>----------------------- Do not change this line -----------------------------<
 AA> Anyway, anyone who is concerned can always use some method that hides the 
 AA> fact that any secret content is even being communicated.  (Variations on 
 AA> read every fifth word to see the real message, or other standard 
 AA> methods).

 It's funny you should bring that up.  One of the major proponents of 
encryption here in Region 12 posted the following in the Regional Sysop Echo 
some time ago... 

=============================================================================

Having said that, I also wonder whether this insistence upon having
everything in plain text isn't fostered by some sysops as a means of
receiving information that they otherwise wouldn't be privy to. If
one is truly paranoid ( *not* that I would fall into that category 
in anyone's wildest dreams...ahem), one should worry about why some
netmail is read so assiduosly by passthrough systems in the first place.
 
Fortunately, even mail that I send direct to nodes is quoted back and
often passes through a whole variety of systems for their inspection and
review.
 
Since almost all of my netmail is incredibly innocent there might
always be the possibility that some of it will come back to hover
like a bad dream in some creative complaint. In broader legal terms,
every other communication system avoids eavesdropping on mail.
 
 
P.S. To understand how powerless you  are to prevent encrypted text, read 
the leftmost letter of each sentence in the last three paragraghs 
downwards...ahem.
 
===========================================================================

 He raises a valid point.  Sysops who are so paranoid about encrypted mail 
being sent through their systems should realize that they are really powerless 
to prevent it if somebody is determined enough to send a coded message to 
somebody else.  

 I've sought legal opinions in Canadian law (I don't know how it is in the 
U.S.) and I've discovered that the less I know about mail passing through my 
system, the safer I am.  If I keep every message on my system, and read them 
all, then I can be held liable if somebody routes something illegal through my 
system and it slips by me.  If I kill all passthrough mail, and read nothing 
except what is addressed to me, I am operating under common carrier status, 
and can't be held liable any more than Federal Express or UPS could.

 As a result, it's actually better to *encourage* people to send encrypted 
mail through your system.  The belief that if people are sending encrypted 
mail they're doing something wrong is a fallacy... then again, I'm preaching 
to the converted here.

Cheers,
 Jesse.


--- Maximus 2.01wb
 * Origin: On a Clear Disk You Can Seek Forever (1:225/1)
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