Cyphernomicon Top
Cyphernomicon 6.6

The Need For Strong Crypto:
Political Uses of Crypto


    6.6.1. Dissidents, Amnesty International
           - Most governments want to know what their subjects are
              saying...
           - Strong crypto (including steganography to hide the
              existence of the communications) is needed
           - Myanmar (Burma) dissidents are known to be using PGP
    6.6.2. reports that rebels in Chiapas (Mexico, Zapatistas) are on
            the Net, presumably using PGP
           - (if NSA can really crack PGP, this is probably a prime
              target for sharing with the Mexican government)
    6.6.3. Free speech has declined in America--crypto provides an
            antidote
           - people are sued for expressing opinions, books are banned
              ("Loompanics Press" facing investigations, because some
              children ordered some books)
           + SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuiits Against Public
              Participation), designed to scare off differing opinions by
              threatening legal ruination in the courts
             - some judges have found for the defendants and ordered the
                SLAPPers to pay damages themselves, but this is still a
                speech-chilling trend
           - crypto untraceability is good immunity to this trend, and
              is thus *real* free speech
  

Next Page: 6.7 Beyond Good and Evil, or, Why Crypto is Needed
Previous Page: 6.5 Digital Signatures

By Tim May, see README

HTML by Jonathan Rochkind