🚀 go-pugleaf

(part 3)

Being a law abiding citizen like I assume most of the others are who read
this newsgroup, I realize the need to assist our law enforcement agencies
in waging the war against crime of any type.  On the other hand, I also
feel very strongly about the need for individual security in today's world
of electronic communication.  If I want to send a message to Dr. Denning
telling her personally that I agree with her or one to tell her to go take
a flying leap or one to ask her for a date, I want that to be private just
between us.  It's no one else's business as I see it.

Phil Zimmermann, the motivating force behind PGP said, and I quote...

"It's personal.  It's private. And it's no one's business but yours. ...
Whatever it is, you don't want your private electronic main (E-mail) or
confidential documents read by anyone else.     ... We are moving toward a
future when the nation will be crisscrossed with high capacity fiber optic
data networks linking together all our increasingly ubiquitous personal
computers.  E-mail will be the norm for everyone, not the novelty it is
today.  Perhaps the Government will protect our E-mail with Government-
designed encryption algorithms.  Probably most people will trust that.
But perhaps some people will prefer their own protective measures. ...
PGP enables people to take their privacy into their own hands. There's
a growing social need for it.  That's why I wrote it."

And indeed even Internet has realized the need for privacy in E-mail
messages.  Note that there are three (3) RFCs (at nnsc.nsf.net, ie.,
rfc1113.txt, rfc1114.txt and rfc1115.txt) entitled 'Privacy enhancement
for Internet electronic mail:' Parts 1-3 which specifically deal with this
topic.

This is a complicated subject which definitely needs further clarification.
In this regard, I might throw out a suggestion for each of you to consider.
Might it be a good idea to formulate a group of interested parties (and even
perhaps a new newsgroup) to take the results of this discussion and other
such input and draft a proposed standard which would reflect the general
consensus as to how the security issue and the privacy issue should be
solved. Maybe this is too difficult a task, maybe not.  It would be great
if some members of the government would cooperate in such a task also since
all would benefit from such a standard.  Also both sides would understand
the other side's position better.

The subject of public key cryptography is a very interesting one and one
that certainly will get a lot more attention over the next few years.  In
this regard, now is definitely the time to formulate some policy, if any
exists, in this matter.
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 . SM 1.06 ----- . Email: john.eichler@grapevine.lrk.ar.us