-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- PGP distribution to the masses. To preface this message first I would like to state that the clue full people here on the Internet forget that the rest of the world is truely clue less. Of course they also may consider you as the clueless ones. It is often stated that PGP is available on numerous Internet FTP sites and many BBS's. The average person knows as much about FTP sites as they hear on the evening news about the information superhighway. They may keep financial books or maybe write books on their computer but they do not have substantial online experiance and they may have a need for secure data encryption or secure way to send data to a publisher, business partner etc. Disk mailers are still sold rather widely. The average person trying to download PGP from their local BBS has a few steps to go thru. These clueless computer users once again may be unfamiliar with the intricacies of online BBS use but does not mean that they should not be allowed to access a good crypto program. First they must find a bbs number localy to call. Then they must wait X number of hours before the phone is not busy to connect. Once online they have to register and do a call back verification and then they can access the file area where PGP should be only to find it is not on this board. So they download a list of BBS's in their area and start going thru the same call, verify, is it there loop. This may be an endless loop in some areas. Anyway this is a mute point as the clueless average user has never heard of RSA or public keys or PGP. Should criminals have PGP or other crypto software? Should distribution be regulated to only law abiding citizens? Should guns be registered, or should gun owners be registered. The average low level drug dealer uses both the common plastic baggie and the digital pagger. Maybe the government should regulate the sale of baggies at supermarkets, after all you have to have a container to put drugs in to sell them ("hold your hand out I'll drop an oz. of coke in it"). Then again there could be a five day waiting period on pager and celular phones sales and instalation. This would definatly solve many problems with those pesky drug dealers. Of course there is always cars that could be regulated. They are contributory to many crimes and deaths. How would you make sure the person you are selling your used car to will never drive while intoxicated or break any speeding laws. You can not. What's the point here? Well if there is a mandated crypto standard then every zip on internet of PGP or other crypto software could disapear overnight, just deleted by the system admin under penalty of law. There would still be copies on local BBS's but as we have discovered the average computer user does not access these. How could people change this I wonder? People talk about handing PGP or other crypto software out but there is a substantial cost to the return of each disk. 1 disk=one user. In my opinion the easy way to do it would be this: 1) Find someone with a free use BBS that would like more traffic on his BBS. 2) Upload the files for PGP and other crypto software on their system in maybe a special file area. 3) Take out an add in the Sunday paper (maybe get the BBS owner to pay half of the cost)that reads as follows; "!!!FREE!!! Unbreakable data encryption software. ###-#### 8N1 file area is CRYPTO !!!Absolutely FREE!!!" They now know where and how to precisely find the stuff and what it does. Now the average person has access to the software and use of the software in a rather large scale. If you had a choice to encrypt your data for free or pay to add some chip that is not secure. If you take the secure factor out of the equation then all that is left is the fact that one is free and the other costs good hard earned cash. I don't know about you, but I learned rather young that "If it is free, get two of em!". Thanks for your time! :{)} -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.3a iQCVAgUBLcXai1fzDU5jV4uhAQH3KAP/ee88w1f0kAyYt8ipShd1+DQ0D4oTSle3 L6PbieU0ODJstkXgRsXzD7m4Pf3+xIp0MsN2eYhjP09OFK/OI/VfhhtF9mX9HxJ6 sE74XEo+MRM7kq2O8DkIfZ8oVxrs7W3RTbqulnUz6a5aF2YtLevPuMg15pFyqQrD xol2UYgEKFE= =Ea5b -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.3a mQCNAi3EyycAAAEEALFXi8P43juu9a6L30CUHbNqQ2RtqTueq4wPdc8ov9UTnKZR dCoQBFUk0HPxQs86yN0g+fQV3YXtDOdQzyMGglq+eqAouRsNlvUaFXl/PJcQmjuh anCvC2bNB121j+RgpqtagW2rmzqfc2upnS913lhZ4cW1LTPw11fzDU5jV4uhAAUR tDZKaW0gTmFsYmFuZGlhbiA8bmV0Y29tc3YhbGFzc2llIWppbSVsYXNzaWVAbmV0 Y29tLmNvbT60H0ppbSBOYWxiYW5kaWFuIDxUZW1wZSwgQXJpem9uYT60DkppbSBO YWxiYW5kaWFu =J781 -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- -- * Spelling errors are intentional and international * Jim Nalbandian netcomsv!lassie!jim%lassie@netcom.com Tempe, Arizona, USA N7SZS@K7BUC.AZ.US.NA No free man shall ever be de-barred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain there right to keep and bear arms is as a last resort to protect themselves against tyranny in government. <-------- Thomas Jefferson --