-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Dave Otto posted today: < I think the issue, at this point, is not so much whether the NSA goons <actually threatened his life, but that they have consistently attempted to <suppress crypto anyway they can. That the NSA has tried to intimidate <Bidzos is no secret. That the NSA considers PGP a threat to their domain <is also well known. < Given that the purpose of the ITAR restrictions appear to be to prevent <an international standard from forming, I think we need to refocus on the <issue of presenting strong crypto as "a right", inevitable, and ubiquitous. < CPSR and EFF are doing an admirable job of taking the fight to the beltway; <but outside the net, the grass roots support just isn't there. As has been <pointed out by PRZ et al., the primary reason to avoided hacks to PGP is <that doing so fragments what standards we have now. The release of the <MIT PGP was the first step in legitimizing cryptography. The next step is <to install interoperable crypto on EVERY box out there. While I don't <advocate bypassing your local sysadmin, try to get PGP installed on each <machine you touch. Use 2.6 (MIT in U.S., _ui_ elsewhere). Publish your <key. Tell your friends. Annoy your family. Irrate your boss ;-). < My wife suggested that my activities would have gotten me "black-listed" <40 years ago. I suggest that the NSA would like to do exactly that to <individuals like Bidzos and PRZ, but it is too late (and the net would make <it virtually impossible anyway). Besides, some things are worth fighting for. Dave rightly suggests that black-listing and other such stigmatizing and threatening offenses inhibit the rights of citizens. These attacks also intimidate others who learn of the aggression on organizations and persons and who fear they may become targets themselves. To oppose these offenses it seems also right that any attack we learn about should be posted in this forum, at the least. Please post who else NSA -- and its like -- has threatened besides Bidzos and PRZ. John -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAgUBLhCBFyC2hhsUMyZpAQGUnwQAqFgV+nYmG+yaDMfEp7jc3KIsU3dFddvO 8pRKo9049PZMMhScksExpgmQmTQAeXRuShKiRNFzaiO8RGCPOSX/iU8QaGPI/d8o DMvoNYSDrK7IUEjTinaAGtCdHXvRE0JwtEXA/dgvj5X/s4eEzRFu4ZK3nvxsi2ey YtcH8dQ2SnI= =PdKJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----