How to defeat spyware

[Declan McCullagh]

On Mon, Jan 07, 2002 at 04:46:02PM -0800, Tim May wrote:
> Setting a trap gun to blow away anyone who inserts a floppy (or hooks up 
> a cable) to a machine he has not been given access to is morally 
> permissable.

Except when the local firefighters show up when your house is on fire,
you're away, and the gun is rigged...

> As the Mafia case shows, Big Brother and his courts no longer even think 
> a warrant is needed.

Actually, the warrant in the Scarfo case was signed by a federal 
magistrate judge. That doesn't mean it's constitutional, but the
judge had exactly this in mind.

See:

http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/fed/html/scarfo2.html-1.html
> Because the encrypted file could not be accessed via traditional
investigative means, Judge Haneke's Order permitted law enforcement
officers to "install and leave behind software, firmware, and/or
hardware equipment which will monitor the inputted data entered on
Nicodemo S. Scarfo's computer in the TARGET LOCATION so that the
F.B.I. can capture the password necessary to decrypt computer files by
recording the key related information as they are entered."

-Declan