On Thu, 22 Dec 1994, Mark Terka wrote:
GROAN! What the hell is this list about anyway?????? I think we are losing perspective about encryption, privacy etc etc... ^^^^^^^ You said it.
Putting it quite simply, the individual was asking about how to make an attack on an opponent. Whether that opponent is a girlfriend, spouse, competitor or terrorist group, who cares? Lets save the sermonizing for Ann Landers...what state the relationship is irrelevant.
And *HE* gave the reason - he wanted go rifling through his girlfriend's private files. And here I was, thinking that this list was about "better privacy through cryptography" - I must have subscribed to alt.2600 by mistake... Come to think of it, that's a better place for the original query...
The gentleman asked a question regarding a standard cryptographic problem... how you can intercept and interpret encrypted information, either in theory in practice. To make judgement calls is WAY out of line and a hell of a bad precedent for this group.
Read it again - he specifically wanted to sneak into his partner's files; that is a clear invasion of privacy. Jeeze - I thought a Yank would have understood this...
I bet the poster would have gotten a more sympathetic response if he said he had gotton his hands on a diplomatic cable....
And would you have been just as sympathetic if somebody wanted to rifle YOUR files?
Oh boy! Pretty soon we will have this list as "cypherpunks giving advice to the lovelorn..."!!! Lets cut the crap, stick to the problem at hand and offer solutions to what the participants of the list know best, namely the the use and analysis of cryptographic problems.
That has nothing to do with it - person A wanted advice on how to invade person B's privacy (he presumably doesn't have the guts to just ask her). Sorry, but privacy works both ways - she's entitled to it just as much as anybody else. -- Dave Horsfall (VK2KFU) | dave@esi.com.au | VK2KFU @ VK2AAB.NSW.AUS.OC | PGP 2.6 Opinions expressed are mine. | E7 FE 97 88 E5 02 3C AE 9C 8C 54 5B 9A D4 A0 CD