From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sat, 18 Jun 94 11:33:43 PDT
To: jrochkin@cs.oberlin.edu (Jonathan Rochkind)
Subject: Having your own computer means never having....
In-Reply-To: <199406181742.NAA28347@cs.oberlin.edu>
Message-ID: <199406181833.LAA23673@netcom4.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Jonathan Rochkind wrote:

...

> 2) You obviously don't want to leave your private key in your unix
> account, as the sysadmin could just use it to decrypt all your mail
> and read it. Obvious of course, but sometimes it's easy to overlook the
> obvious.
>  
> Of course the best solution would be to have your correspondents send you
> PGP encrypted mail, but I guess the best solution isn't always available.

And an even better solution is for folks to have their own private
machines and access to one of the cheap Internet service providers
springing up all around. Then they won't have to worry about their
corporations "snooping" in their e-mail files. Or restricting them
about using PGP or other crypto.

Corporations have a legitimate reason to tell employees what they can
and can't use. After all, corporations are held liable for most
employee actions (so those death threats to whitehouse.gov will
reflect back on the company) and have other concerns as well
(espionage, extortion, bribery, too much use of the Net, etc.).

Having your own computer means never having to say you're sorry.

(I fear laws telling corporations they *can't* snoop as much as I fear
Clipper. The reasons are obvious, to me at least, and I can expand on
this point if anyone's really interested.)

--Tim May



-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
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W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."