Hi all! I just conducted an experiment whose results indicate how far we (Cypherpunks) have to go in educating the American Public WRT encryption technology: I send an encrypted message via fidonet! (awk!) I had heard a rumor that fidonet forbade encrypted e-mail, but I had to find out for myself. Well, they do. Now I understand that these sysops are spending their own money and equipment to provide these services and have the right to regulate it in any way they see fit. That's not the point. The point(s) is/are: 1) They ACTIVELY enforce this policy. They don't simply say "no," they check (presumably) all of their user's email to enforce this policy. 2) They seem to be afraid to pass/store encrypted messages on their system. This indicates to me a lack of understanding of the concept of privacy. They seem to buy into the idea that "only BAD people encrypt email." We need to educate the electronic community before we can hope to educate the general public. The text of the messages follow with the names removed. BTW, the text of the plaintext message was "this is a test." Just thought you'd be interested. Comments? =========================================================================== BBS: The Tech Source Date: 09-16-93 (00:00) Number: 261 To: MIKE DIEHL Recvd: YES (PVT) Subj: Encrypted Mail Conf: (0) PrivateE-M --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a test. -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- version: 2.2 mQCNAiu/jPkAAAEEAMGeUcJS+AfY32cDfy/v/UcA9JdqNOBOl/K37jFOBuCkXCSp lBa ---END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Mike, Please advise the sender of this message that I DO NOT allow encrypted mail to pass thru this system. I expect folks to abide by this rule voluntarily... I would hate to have to block all messages from this source becuase someone wishes to violate my policy :) BTW, the debate about "encrypted" mail with me is MOOT... I will not vary from my position... (just thought I'd let you know in case you wanted to try to convince me it is OK to allow encrypted mail...) please have the other person send encrypted mail directly to your machine... Thank you.. Sysop of Another BBS?