From: Lizard <lizard@mrlizard.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 07:37:11 +0800
To: declan@well.com
Subject: Re: PGP, Inc.--What were they thinking?
In-Reply-To: <88256538.007CF786.00@pcwhub.pcworld.com>
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19971022162041.00909360@dnai.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 04:05 PM 10/22/97 -0700, spencer_ante@webmagazine.com wrote:
>
>Declan, perhaps the Big Brother vs. The Boss debate has been talked about
>for years in the crypto community but, as far as I can tell, it hasn't
>crossed over into the mainstream mediasphere. And that's partly due to the
>rhetoric of cyberlibertarians, who have consistently pointed their finger
>(justifiably most of the time) at the evil government, at the expense of
>seriously analyzing surveillance in the private sector. For example, how
>many people know what their company's security policy is? Do they read your
>email? How often and with what cause?

My companies security policy is great -- I'm the only one who understands
the network. But it's a significant concern for most other people, I grant
you.

One of the main differences between corporate and private crypto is that,
fundementally, your boss owns your work PC -- he's given it to you so that
you can do your job, not play Doom, or exchange sexy email with the gals in
the secretary pool (do they still have those?). I think most workers are
more productive and more loyal when they are NOT being spied on, but that's
an issue of ethics and efficiency, not of rights.

But your home computer...that's a very different story. That one is YOURS,
bought by you for your purposes, and no one -- not Uncle Sam, not Mr.
Dithers -- has a right to go prodding around in it.