just a thought, you might want to talk a bit about Bruce Schneiers crew at
Counterpane and there interesting little book "Secrets and Lies" which is
very good for defining and discussing information security as a practice
and as a practical thing. I tend to hand it out to corporate CEO types who
dont have a clue what I'm talking about until I start talking in terms like
"unlimited liability" etc...
cheers
-sr
At 11:43 1/15/2001, Robert Guerra wrote:
>Folks:
>
>I'm attaching a draft copy of an article which will shortly be appearing
>in EYE Magazine (one of Toronto's local free newspapers.)
>
>I'd appreciate any comments or feedback asap so that they can be
>incorporated in the version that goes to press.
>
>regards
>
>robert.
>
>
>---------- Forwarded Message ----------
>Date: Monday, January 15, 2001 5:59 AM -0800
>From: "S. M." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Scott McFarlane: My Completed Article
>
>Dear Mr. Guerra:
>
>I have completed my upcoming article for Eye. I thought that you might like
>to take a look at it.
>
>Thank You.
>
>
>Scott McFarlane
>
>
>
> SPY VS. I
>
> Although I never really bought the grim look at the future found in
>Orwell?s 1984 and in countless other works of fiction, recent developments
>have caused me to re-evaluate my position.
>Last year in the UK, a bill that gave the government the power to access
>e-mail, require British ISP?s to basically monitor all traffic through their
>computers and demand encryption keys to all
>electronic data communications became law, despite the concerns of private
>citizens, businesses and civil libertarians. Also in the headlines in 2000
>was ECHELON (a spy network consisting of
>agents from Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand) whose
>original mandate of monitoring the Eastern Bloc has changed in later years
>to track terrorism and, according to
>critics, invading personal privacy to help governments in commercial
>activity.
> Are these only isolated occurrences or should the general public be
>concerned at the prospect of government and commercial snoops rummaging
>through our electronic information?
>?I think we really don?t know?, says Robert Guerra, the Toronto-based
>Director of Operations for the CryptoRights Foundation
>(www.cryptorights.org) a not-for-profit human rights security
>organisation that was established to promote the use of cryptographic tools
>to protect Human Rights Workers and privacy on the Internet.
> ?Anyone in the world can read your e-mail?, Guerra says, ?but if
>you use a tool that can encrypt it, then only the person you want to read it
>will?. There are options available for downloading or purchase that will
>encrypt personal e-mail and to prevent someone from watching what websites
>you frequently visit available in such software as PGP (Pretty Good
>Privacy--available at (www.pgpi.org) or Montreal firm ZeroKnowledge?s
>Freedom 2.0 (www.freedom.net).
> With all the talk of diminishing privacy, is a public outcry
> against
>cyber-snooping and a corresponding towards encryption programs and secure
>computer networks likely? Probably not, since, as Guerra points out:
>?People don?t realise that it?s a problem until it?s their privacy that?s
>invaded?. A wired world may provide us the conveniences of such things as
>readily-available data and the facilitation of financial transactions, but
>they also leave us with an
>electronic trail that leads directly back to us.
> ?We are allowing people to snoop on us?, says Guerra. At no time in
> history has the world been so open and never have we been so
> open to the
>world. Guerra also believes that a lot of the privacy rights that have taken
>centuries and a lot of political battles to develop could be in jeopardy.
>?The biggest thing we have to fear is ignorance?, he says. ?Anything that we
>do online is like a diary we are writing and it can used by spies at any
>time against us and that?s what?s scary?.
> Since we it is highly unlikely that we will disconnect
> ourselves from the
>world in order to prevent being watched, what can be done? Last year in
>Canada, Bill C6 was passed which promotes electronic commerce by protecting
>how personal information is collected and used. Ontario also has a very
>strong proponent of personal privacy in Dr. Anne Cavoukian, the province?s
>Information and Privacy Commissioner (www.ipc.on.ca). But many other parts
>of the
>world aren?t so fortunate and the electronic monitoring proceeds apace.
> What will wake the public up? Perhaps, as Guerra puts it, a
> ?privacy
>Chernobyl?, where a lot of people are affected by a security breach on a
>mass scale. Although Bill C6 provides government-trusting Canadians some
>peace of mind, we should remain vigilant.
> Whatever happens to personal privacy in the coming years
> depends mostly
> on howseriously society values its privacy and what it is
> prepared to do
>to maintain it. ?It just dependson how much importance we give it?, says
>Guerra. ?It just depends on what everybody does?.
>
> RELATED INFO
>
>1) The Toronto CypherPunks are an organisation that brings together people
>in the city to discuss issues of privacy, cryptography and security?. For
>more information on their monthly meetings,
>check their website (www.toronto.cypherpunks.ca) for details.
>
>2) The Shmoo Group?s SecurityGeeks web page (http://securitygeeks.shmoo.com)
>is an interesting and informative site that deals with computer security
>issues as does the excellent
>Cryptome site (http://cryptome.org), which examines government surveillance
>systems.
>
>3) You can listen to Real Audio speeches dealing with privacy from last
>year?s 10th Annual Computers, freedom and Privacy Conference that was held
>in Toronto (www.cfp2000.org). You can also look ahead to this year?s
>conference (www.cfp2001.org/home.html).
>
>4) The Privacy International website has the Big Brother Awards, which are
>awarded to the government and private sector organisations ?which have the
>most to threaten personal privacy in their countries?.
>(www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother).
>
>5) Check out Electronic Frontier Canada?s Gold Key Campaign to promote
>privacy and security of electronic communication at
>www.efc.ca/pages/crypto/golden-key.html.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________________
>Get 100% FREE email for life from Excite Canada
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>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
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