Labour Party goes pro-GAK - Surprise.

[OpenPGP]

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From: nospam@synernet.com (Ed Stone)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,alt.security.pgp,comp.security.pgp.discuss,talk.politics.crypto
Subject: Labour Party goes pro-GAK - Surprise.
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Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 08:36:35 -0500
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"The Labour Party has agreed to allow police access to
Internet encryption codes despite a pre-election pledge
to protect privacy on the Net."

see http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_52000/52117.stm

Earlier discussions asked whether democrats or republicans in the US were 
more or less pro gak/recovery/escrow/wiretap. The Labour party in the UK 
had "promised" (to those who still give credibility to political 
promises) to protect privacy on the net.

My observation is that gak/recovery/escrow/wiretap is not a dem/rep, 
conserv/lib, authoritarian/democracy issue rather it is a government 
persons/non-government persons issue. Crypto serves as a technical 
barrier or point of resistance to government intrusion, and as such, 
almost all who are in government will fear it and attack it. Agreements 
on curtailing non-government people's access to un-gak'ed crypto will 
likley bring together such bedfellows as China and the US, as they share 
an interest in removing barriers to their powers to intrude upon their 
respective non-government persons.

GAK/recovery/escrow/wiretap will be demanded no less fervently by the 
government of the US, than the government of China. In the US, a few 
"technical obstacles" (the Constitution and Bill of Rights) must be 
hurdled.


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William H. Geiger III  http://www.openpgp.net
Geiger Consulting    Cooking With Warp 4.0

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