Re: Purpose of Data Havens
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hal writes:
The idea of offsite storage doesn't seem that helpful since you can just store the data on your own disk in encrypted form. Maybe if encryption gets outlawed it would be useful, but then you can't use encryption to communicate with the haven.
As Eric notes elsewhere, off-site backups are useful in general in case some physical calamity strikes your site. It seems to me that a data haven addresses a more aggressive threat model than this. Rather than just worrying about the act of a hacker / nature / etc. eradicating our local copies of data (encrypted or not), we're concerned about intelligent agents (human or electronic) attempting to commit genocide on all instances of some data we possess. Scenario: June is a test engineer at Rockwell Intl. At the lab where she works, it is observed that some rubber O-rings being designed for the space shuttle are liable to crack, and lose their airtight seal, when exposed to the extremely low temperatures of space. The project is behind, so the researchers are instructed to proceed in spite of the problem. June encrypts the test results and deposits them in a data haven. Then she calls her boss's boss and offers a deal (whitemail ?). Either the part is redesigned, or she'll present the incriminating evidence to the New York Times. Even if Rockwell sends some goons to June's apartment while she's at work the next day, to reduce her laptop to solder, she still has the means to carry out her threat. "Rikki don't lose that number - send it off in a letter to yourself"-Steely Dan -L. Futplex McCarthy - --- [This message has been signed by an auto-signing service. A valid signature means only that it has been received at the address corresponding to the signature and forwarded.] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Gratis auto-signing service iQBFAwUBLxVwgSoZzwIn1bdtAQF0vwGAuLRLR9PVcj9Q8NCqNDvRf4bC5zUA4A/U m/9tT74hoQNEBNEzw1TqZTr0ZxHtciwd =uXUO -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Thu, 12 Jan 1995, L. McCarthy wrote:
Scenario: June is a test engineer at Rockwell Intl. At the lab where she works, it is observed that some rubber O-rings being designed for the space shuttle are liable to crack, and lose their airtight seal, when exposed to the extremely low temperatures of space. The project is behind, so the researchers are instructed to proceed in spite of the problem. June encrypts the test results and deposits them in a data haven.
Digression: The interesting thing is that NASA was damn near able to keep this matter secret despite the projects chief engineer kicking and screaming. When Feynman wandered in to Morton Thiokol and started asking questions he was not met with a cover up -- instead he was told the whole story, complete with the chart that lead the chief booster engineer, with the support of the entire engineering team, to send email and written reports that the Challenger would blow up unless the launch was delayed. And despite one of the worlds most famous scientists knowing the truth, and despite the fact that he was the only scientist on the commission of enquiry, they still might well have kept it quiet if Feynman had not ambushed them on TV. And despite Feynmans ambush, they still managed pretty good damage control. Of course today such a cover up would never succeed -- someone would just mail it to the internet, and the story would blow. But the fact is the cover up largely succeeded despite the efforts of the Chief engineer (which got him blacklisted) and despite the theatric efforts of one of the worlds most eminent scientists, perhaps the most eminent living scientist of that time. It makes me realize that the world has already changed, vastly for the better, and those in power do not yet realize it. --------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, because of the kind of animals that we http://nw.com/jamesd/ are. True law derives from this right, not from James A. Donald the arbitrary power of the omnipotent state. jamesd@netcom.com
participants (2)
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James A. Donald -
L. McCarthy