Data Haven problems

Mats Bergstrom asgaard at sos.sll.se
Mon Jan 9 03:07:59 PST 1995


wcs at anchor.ho.att.com wrote:

> Filtering by filename and type can also be useful - if you don't allow
> files named *.gif and *.jpg, users may be less likely to
> spam you with pornography.

Hardly. (*.gi0 and *.jp0 for a start?)
But what are data havens for, if not for controversial data?
One of the greatest needs, if not _the_ greatest, in our times
for a data haven is probably for storing porno. There is a
tremendous, world-wide demand for porno. Yet, there are numerous
countries where sex.gif's found on your disk (encrypted or not,
they can use thumb-screws to force the key out of your hands)
will put you in a very difficult situation (loss of social
status, jail, decapitation). It might be much more convenient
for, let's say, a Saudi teenager to store his encrypted private
gif's in a data haven in Sweden, download them when he feels
the urge and purge the copies after every use.

Mats







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