Retrospective censorship

[Dave Bird]

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In article <E14x6CC-0004ir-00@wisbech.cl.cam.ac.uk>, Ross Anderson
<Ross.Anderson@cl.cam.ac.uk> writes
>If UK online archives are vulnerable to lawyers while US archives are
>not, then why on earth should anybody publish anything in the UK? It's
>not as if there is no bias already - I had my book published by Wiley
>New York rather thah Wiley Chichester because the New York people are
>much more on the ball - but with this news I wouldn't even consider
>Wiley Chichester for my next book, even if they learned to use email
>and to ship review copies on time. Having the electronic versions of
>my book subject to retrospective censorship, at the whim of any 
>vexatious litigant, is simply intolerable.

 The only thing I can suggest it that any article is published
 with a digital signature, perhaps one whose signing (but not
 verifying) side is broken after a year, and a notice:

"-----------BEGIN SIGNED BLOCK-----------------------------------
 Licence is granted to publish this material only on condition
 it is published entire without alteration or deletion including
 this notice and including the digital signature on pageNNN
 (which must verify to the key at XXXX); and that any deletion
 or alteration result in the substitution of equal length explaining
 why and by whom the text was defaced. Unauthorised alteration or
 deletion, without such substitution, voids all licenses to publish
 in this medium from myself as author.  


 - -----------------BEGIN SIGNED BLOCK ----------------------------
 Article or Chapter One
 ........................
 - -----------------BEGIN SIGNATURE------------
 sigsigsigsigsigsigsig
 - -----------------END SIGNATURE-------------------

 (each component with own signature)

 -------------BEGIN SIGNATURE---------------
 SigSigSigSig
 -------------END SIGNED BLOCK.      "

 There should be a mechanism so that nothing but a free, un-coerced
 re-editing and updating by the author will be accepted in place of it.


 Periodic breaking of old signing-sides makes it impossible even for
 the author to lie under coercion that no change has taken place since 
 the origination date hence it will at least be visible if big shithead
 has tried to re-write history.  The "silent disappearing" of parts
 should be made impossible by signatures on contents lists including
 the a copy of the signature on each contained file so it must be the
 same file, and by both on-line and undisclosed backup copies at
 multiple places.  Censorship detection can take place automatically
 by spider-scans of various places to see signatures still verify today.

 This is applicable to controversial web-pages generally.



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