Data Havens, NOT!

[rishab at dxm.ernet.in]

Hal Finney writes:
> The data haven concept as I understood it held data for public access in
> some form (for sale or for free) which would be illegal in some
> jurisdiction.  This might include credit information that was older than
> the legal limit, libelous claims, damaging medical records, etc.
> Frankly, I suspect that most usages would be directed towards reducing,
> rather than increasing, individual privacy.  So this is not an area I am
> interested in working towards.

I believe the Data Haven started out as a Message Haven to get the effect
of anon remailers with less traffic analysis hassles, so there would be no
pseudonymous login or anything, you'd either download everything, or apply
some filter (as with an alt.anon-messages group).

However, the current discussion of glorified remote file systems makes no 
sense to me. If you can keep something encrypted on a remote site as an 
archive, you can do it at home. A data haven is more likely to get busted 
than your home PC; serious efforts (RF pickup of keystrokes/display) will 
be equally effective in either case.

Here's a summary of data havens as I see them:

Remote file system where people can anon/pseudonymously dump and read files
- in the 'pure' variety there'd be no record of who posted/can read a file.

Advantages:
1. Could hinder traffic analysis, if they did not have pseudonymous login
   in any form. 
2. Could act as a store of encrypted data for those who can't/don't encrypt
   on their own systems
3. Could act as a backup

OTOH:
1. Would depend on 'correct usage' ie download of enough irrelevant cover 
   data, and would be vulnerable to analysis at the TCP/IP level. Newsgroups
   remain far better as means to evade traffic analysis
2. Don't keep all your encrypted BlackNet commodities in one basket - it
   can be busted more easily than your home machine. If you can encrypt there
   you can encrypt at home; if encryption is illegal at home, you can't legally
   access the havens.
3. Pfaugh! Rent space on Netcom.

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