From: Brad Huntting <huntting@glarp.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 94 13:34:00 PDT
To: frissell@panix.com (Duncan Frissell)
Subject: Re: 15 years!
In-Reply-To: <199408191618.AA19897@panix.com>
Message-ID: <199408192033.OAA07688@misc.glarp.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



>>In America cops often use armored battering rams to execute knock
>>warrants.  Similarly, they can use court orders to obtain keys to
>>decode encrypted transmissions or files.  If a person is ordered
>>to turn over their password to unlock their documents, they can be
>>held in contempt if they don't, and they can demand their right to
>>not have any of the documents used against them if they do.
>>
>>In America at least, there are no new civil liberties to be found
>>in the use of strong crypto.  The legitimate, constitutional use
>>of police power cannot be thwarted by using this new technology.

> Brad -- perhaps you haven't grasped the full range of possibilities arising
> from the deployment of modern crypto technology.

> By the use of Stego and anonymous networking and operating system software,
> it will be possible to block the authorities from even identifying you as
> the target of an investigation.  

But even wide spread use of these technologies, are nothing more
than the excorcise of free speech and the right to be free from
self incrimination and warrentless search and seizure.

> While it is true that they may be able to try and force you to reveal the
> contents of a "secret message", they can succeed only if:

> 1)  They know that a secret message exists

You have a right to hide this from them.

> 2)  They know that you exist

You have a right to not tell them you exist.

> 3)  They know (and can prove) that you possess the key material necessary to
> decode the message.

Again, you're well within your rights in not aiding their investigations.

> 4)  You are capable of being coerced -- i.e. you are a human being and not a
> software agent or an institutional entity controlled by humans outside of
> the jurisdiction.
> 5)  You are within their jurisdiction.

The US constitution has already been stretched to include foreign
nationals under its jurisdiction.  In fact foreign nationals can
claim many if not all the rights accorded a citizen of the united
States (though they must know exactly how to assert those rights
or they will be forfeited).

In short, borders don't make any difference to the USG.

> 6)  You have not used an encoding scheme that kicks out two alternative
> plaintexts (the 'real message' and the 'duress message') depending on what
> key material you use.

You would arguably be purging yourself if you did this trick under
a court order.  But this is a valid point.

> 7)  You decide not to take advantage of their offer of one or two years of
> free room and board rather than submit to their demands.

This is the recourse of the state.  And it is not merely one or
two years.  Prison terms for contempt of court are indefinite.
Unless you can prove that you _cannot_ be coerced, they can continue
to coerce you.  In all fairness, contempt of court carries a more
serious punishment than any crime except the death penalty (which
IMHO is superfluous and unnecessary cruft anyway, your mileage may
vary).

> Modern crypto techniques can make it very difficult in practice to extract
> any useful information from people's computer files or communication
> streams.  At the least, crypto can make "fishing expeditions" impossible.

"Fishing expeditions" border on being unconstitutional.  As for
expensive law enforcement, nowhere in the united States Constitution
is there any mention of a state's right to cheap and easy law
enforcement.  As

When you combine crypto with the fact that on a network, people
inside and outside the "jurisdiction" are equal, enforcement
capabilities are reduced.

So yes, crypto does have the potential to make the cops present
job much more difficult.  But that is mostly because law enforcement
has, over the years, eroded nearly all our civil liberties.

In short the state today is stretching and even breaking the limits
of constitutionality.  Crypto has the potential to allow us to
swiftly and ruthlessly reclaim our civil liberties.  And yes, the
cops are going to have to get creative to keep up.


brad